Music

My Year In Review (Fan Club Tape) Year: 1995 | Run Time: 56:15

Track List

Tokyo Rose (live) [5:20]
My Year in Review (live) [4:56]
Deep End (live) [5:30]
Berlin in '53 (live) [6:30]
Bolt Action (demo) [4:59]
Certain Slant of Light (demo) [6:01]
Postscript (demo) [3:48]
Double Cure (demo) [3:43]
On To Bethlehem (My Heart's Electric) [6:03]
Sing Angel Choirs [3:15]
Where My Seed Might Find Purchase (demo) [6:08]

Did you know?

Side B of the fan club tape began with track number seven, "Postscript."

A Review by Pharaoh Mobius / Oct 29, 2002

I remember receiving this in the mail back in '95. A good friend of mine had given me a fan club membership as a birthday gift, and I was happy to see the tape arrive. I popped it in my cassette player and listened with rapt attention.
To put it succinctly, I was not disappointed. I had been a big fan of Bill and VOL since "Driving The Nails", and had seen them in concert repeatedly (Cornerstone once, and numerous times when they played local venues). The live tracks capture the energy and intimacy of Bill's performances quite well, making his unpretentious delivery and between-song banter (for lack of a better word) readily evident. I was particularly pleased with the inclusion of his "re-imagining" of "Deep End", which we had first heard when he was touring with Michael Been in support of Struggleville.
The demos were solid and competently performed, with occasional flashes of brilliance: the atmosphere of desperation at the end of "Certain Slant of Light" is downright palpable (helped along by just the right amount of echo effect), and the visceral, raw, urgent immediacy of "Where My Seed Might Find Purchase" made that track my favorite of the entire tape.
I was also pleased at the inclusion of the tracks Bill had done for the Flagpole Christmas albums (tracks that I wouldn't have had the pleasure of hearing otherwise). "On to Bethlehem (My Heart's Electric)" has become my favorite non-hymn Christmas song.
In closing, I have nothing but fond memories of this tape. Thankfully, I still have it and it's in good shape, but the perishability of the cassette medium makes me all the gladder that it was re-released on CD (of course, the inclusion of "All We Left Unsaid" is yet another incentive for purchasing it). I'm making it a point to buy the re-release, when I'm not so darned broke. =/

Liner Notes

First, a warm, wonderful happy New Year to one and all. The band and my family wish you good health, peace of mind, rich friendships and lots of good old-fashioned holiday cheer. In your hands you hold our very own little bootleg cassette...a New Year's Gift, if you will. I'm excited about it for at least 3 reasons: 1.) Most of these songs are new and therefore unreleased. 2.) Sonically speaking, they cover a great deal of territory and are of fairly high quality. 3.) The release of these to the fan club is a way of saying "thanks" for your interest and support. These recordings were gleaned from four sources: "Tokyo Rose," "My Year in Review," "Deep End" and "Berlin in 53" were taken from a digital source tape recorded live at the Cornerstone '95 Festival in late June (Wednesday night). Vigilantes played an "unplugged" set the day before the festival officially opened and it was a great success! We hope to carry on the tradition next year. Huge thanks go to Rob Martin and Martin Hogan of Intaglio Productions, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for taping this (unknown to Chris Donuhue and myself at the time!)

"Bolt Action," "Certain Slant of Light," "Postscript" and a solo "Doublecure" were all demos from Blister Soul recorded in Dec. '94....

Next up are 2 Christmas songs I recorded for two local compilations. "On to Bethlehem (My Heart's Electric) was on >Chilly, the Flagpole Christmas Album That Could Not Love< with proceeds going to Community Connectio. "Sing Angel Choirs" was done for the >Sleep in Heavenly Peace< CD, benefitting the Rape-Crisis Center of Northeast Georgia. These songs were recorded very quickly one afternoon in my basement in Sept. 95 by Herb Guthrie.

Sometimes artists are guilty of having a lack of perspective on their careers, their material, their whatever...obviously they're more emotionally "connected" to their latest material. "Ah, man, if you liked THAT you should hear my new stuff!" And so I succumb and offer a crude home demo ("Where My Seed May Find Purchase") I did a few days ago. I like it partially because of that "first-take" feel of it, and also because some of it is autobiographical (which makes it that much more self-indulgent!). I don't have much recording gear. I use one nasty microphone and split the difference between the guitar and the vocals. I hardly have any idea what I'm doing besides pressing "record" and playing.

It should be stated that very little effects were used on these recordings. Studio tricks such as reverb, compression, delays and whatnot will NOT be found here...it was set up a mic and go! Nevertheless, if the song is "believable," (an old Mark Heard term), you could probably play it on a Ka-Zoo and it would still move you. I'm really happy about the stuff we've assembled here. Sometimes you find yourself blessed to have an audience (such as I have), who will stop and listen to someone sewing a little something of their little heart on their ragged little sleeve. At times, that can be messy. Your encouragement and prayers for me, my bandmates, and my family have allowed me to work as a songwriter who writes from that perspective...a greater gift than one could hope for in this pop/commercial record biz.