These are the complete recordings from the sessions for Paper Bag:’s third album, “Music To Trash”. 25 of the 67 pieces recorded were used for that release, so in addition to those in a different state, you will also hear the remaining 42 pieces.

I think the rereleased pieces sound noticeably different from the original release, hopefully making their repetition worthwhile for those already familiar with them.

Everything is in the order it was recorded. The first night, March 6th, was the longest session, and it takes up what would be 2 CDs (29 tracks).

When I started putting the album together, I hadn't heard the tapes since 1988, when they were recorded. It's easy to forget things in 35 years. There were a lot of surprises, most of them good! As I write this, M. and George have not heard them yet.

We always recorded enough to have plenty to choose from for a complete album. Since this one was going to be 74 minutes, we needed
more to choose from, which explains why there’s so much material here.

As for the tracks themselves, maybe five sixths are things I think we all would have released, if there'd been a format which would have allowed for it. That didn't exist back then. Now we have downloads. I miss physical formats, but I'm thankful for the possibilities we have now. Of course, not all of the tracks are good. It’s to be expected, they were made up on the spot. It's a hazard of the method.

It was particularly hard to choose which pieces to use, because we were so happy with most of it. Now, even if I were to cut out everything I didn’t personally like, we’d still have over three CDs worth; so it wouldn’t make any sense to do that, considering it’s only 4 discs worth for the complete sessions. And what the band or the musician prefers is not always the same as what a listener might choose. So here is all of it.

Making the original album was an unforgettable experience for all
of us. On behalf of the band, hope you enjoy it!- GS


Personal thoughts about the album

Getting reacquainted with these was both wonderful and painful. Mostly wonderful. What we did didn't always work but when it did, which I feel was most of the time, it was something to celebrate.

I was able to hear the other guys more objectively. It's hard to see when you're right in the middle of it, hard to properly appreciate it. You know, they're just your band mates. You know they do what they do well, but for example it's difficult to think of them in comparison to your own favorite players. At least it was for me. I could do it now. Damn, they were good!

One comparison wasn't possible. How could you ever find another musician like Kenny? Impossible. A one of a kind creator.

I like the tracks better without the reverb. It's what we did in the room and I prefer it. Also, in general, I have come to really prefer things dry. You can hear the subtleties in the playing, things the musicians work for, which might not be audible otherwise.

One of the great joys of these sessions was having the company of David McIntire, Tom Shannon, Brigid Crawford (soon to marry M. and become Brigid Segal), Mary Keith (eventually to become Mary Radai), and Nubs. These folks not only helped us out on all levels, but were truly fun to be around. Example: there was a porn video place across the street with a lit marquee board on the sidewalk. It was dead out there late at night, and they'd sneak across the street and change the letters around like at the beginning of Fawlty Towers. The results produced some very good radio set titles.

More personal personal notes:

Looking back at my playing: I am happy with a lot of what I did. The main cringe-inducing part was hearing my deficiencies in playing with taste, rather than problems with skill. Those are there too, but bother me a lot less.

Defensive testimony: I know there are those who think I didn't know how to change chords, or wanted to remain on one due to some lack of knowledge about how to follow up. No. The real reason was that it was often hard for us to hear each other accurately, and I was afraid of derailing things. George could easily lead us into changes and be heard, he initiated them and I followed. He played a loud, mostly non-chordal instrument, which could get changes across very easily to Kenny and I. If you listen to these tracks carefully, you'll hear how successful chord changes usually were when George led them, and how out of kilter things often got when I tried it. (Even so, George experimented with tone and effects enough that we couldn't always hear the notes. The same can easily be said of Kenny and I.)

It has to be said though, I do like modal soloing, like you might hear in Indian music. It's always felt natural. When I was new to playing, I heard something about a lesson which supposedly happened early on in learning the sitar. For a year, you could think of any note you wanted, but you could only play one. All of the other notes, you played in your head over that one. I have no idea if this accurate or even true, but the idea stuck with me, and influenced my approach, for better or worse.

Why are there a couple of quasi-Indian 12-string pieces on here? It goes back to the Land Without Fences session. There was a piece like that recorded for the album, I was really proud of it, but when we went to listen back, there were technical problems, so it couldn't be included. I was really mad about this, and vowed that this time, I'd get one. I did (A Raft On The Sansar), but now with this sessions release, you can hear other related attempts. The main one is "All Fall Up". People who know my other work may recognize it. Imagine how shocked I was to discover that, prior to my use with Cold Sky and Jugalbandi, I had brought in a section of Under The Bridge to try out with Paper Bag! I'd totally forgotten about it. I had been messing around with this since '83 but hadn't really used it. However, I had tried it out in my first jam with Hyam in February '88. At the time this was recorded, I had no idea if anything was going to materialize with Mr. Sosnow, so with the Bag being my first priority, I took it to the studio with me to see what the guys would do with it. When it didn't get picked for the album, I was free to do what I wanted with it, so it got used elsewhere.

Sometimes when somebody would point to me to begin a piece, I'd just dive in quickly with whatever came to my hands from my unconscious. This can be heard to unfortunate effect at the beginning of "Ninety In Reverse", when I started with something pretty much identical to an earlier piece, "The Ostrich Master". M., who was conducting, heard it immediately and gave me a disapproving look. It turned out all right anyway.

Tech stuff / conductors and rotations (inc. nights and reels) / where to put breaks if you want to make CDs to listen to

The music was taken from flat mixes on cassette. The cassettes were good quality, which really helped. Even better, the flat mixes were excellent. But some may wonder, what is this flat mix thing you speak of? (If you know, skip the next paragraph.)

After recording is finished, and before mixing begins (mixing: getting everything sounding good and all the instruments at the right volume), the musicians are sent home with a copy of all the tracks at the same volume, so they can decide how best to mix, saving time in the studio (time is money!). This is also to spot mistakes that need to be fixed. We never had to correct mistakes, but the mixes were important and we were all sticklers and nitpickers anyway.

There are two main problems with making an album from these.
The first is that you have no control over the loudness of individual instruments. If something is too loud or too soft, you have to live with it. EQ can help- sometimes a lot- but overall, you're still stuck. If the musicians keep a good volume between each other in the room, this isn't nearly as bad as it might be. Luckily we had become pretty good at that, because if you can't hear the other players while you're improvising, there's a good chance you will be playing terribly, in context, and screw up what everyone else is doing too.

This was the easier of the two problems to deal with.

The second problem has to do with pitch/speed. As the ancients among us know, if the motor running the tape machine ran slow, on playback the performances would speed up and the pitch would go up too. This is how the Chipmunks came unto the world. Reel-to-reel tape machines ran at different preset speeds. If the tape was running slowly when you recorded it, and you played it back at the next speed up, everything was twice as fast and twice as high-pitched.

Cassettes, however, have troublesome speed problems, and on most machines they're uncontrollable.

You could wind up with pitches and speed which were really off from the originals, and they weren't exactly half or double, they were fractions in between. These are the kinds of differences which, if it's your work, can make you want to smash things and retire in deep frustration.

If the cassette deck ran a little fast, what you recorded would then play back a little slower and lower. This would make you sound Goth, whether you liked it or not.The reverse was possible if the motor was slow. This was enough of a problem using one cassette deck, taping from another source, like 24-track master tapes. But if you used a dubbing deck (a player and a recorder in one machine) commonly used to make copies for everyone, the problems multiplied. Worse, sometimes the cassettes themselves ran quicker towards the end of a side. So if you are trying to digitally correct these problems, even with today's technology, you will need patience. You may find that the music at the beginning of a tape side starts at one speed/pitch, and ends at another. Everything in between slowly shifts between those two.

Trying to get the pitch/time correction right for the album was a godawful pain in the ass and I hope my wrangling with that will be minimal in the future. But I doubt it.

That being said, I feel like my production/restoration skills get better each time I do one of these archival releases. I hope so. I learned a few skills this time which should be valuable in the future.

Conductors and rotations/Nights and reels:

A bit of trivia: the band members each took turn in conducting the pieces- starting them, giving minor directions if desired, and ending them. In order to know who was next, we'd go either clockwise or counterclockwise from player to player. We would switch directions from one gig to the next. For these sessions, it looks like we only switched directions once or twice, usually depending on switching reels. Here is what's on each reel, in order, and who conducted. It's also broken down by night/session.

Note: It's not necessarily the rotation of whoever starts the piece. "Ninety In Reverse" is M.'s rotation, for example. But he nodded at me to start.

k: Kenny Ryman
m: M. Segal
gr: George Radai
gs: Greg Segal

Night one, March 6, reels 1-6

Reel 1: pieces 1-5

1. The Hour of Return (k)
2. One Rainy Evening (m)
3. This Is My Stop (gr)
4. The Ostrich Master (gs)
5. Oral Spirits (k)

Reel 2: pieces 6-10

6. The Fall of the Mighty (m)
7. Drunk, Fat, and Dancing (k)
8. Norman's Dance Party (gs)
9. Czak az Ido (gr)
10. Garlic Whistles (m)

Reel 3: pieces 11-16

11. The Perfect Lard Pastry (gr)
12. All Fall Up (gs)
13. Chase the Unicorn (k)
14. Stain-Mart (m)
15. Music Icons (gr)
16. Rustic Codpiece (gs)

Reel 4: pieces 17-20

17. Rico's Dementia (k)
18. Ninety in Reverse (m)
19. The Wedge Of Happiness (gr)
20. A Raft on the Sansar (gs)

Reel 5: pieces 21-25

21. Edvard Gets Down (k)
22. New (m)
23. All Hover (gr)
24. Open And Blue (gs)
25. Joker (k)

Reel 6: pieces 26-29

26. Because I care (m)
27. Fluid Dynamics (gr)
28. Forecast (gs)
29. Save Your Ass (k)

Night two, March 7, reels 7-10

Reel 7: pieces 30-33

30. Like A Gun, I Get Loaded (m)
31. Colin Oddible (g)
32. Moving Off Into The Long Night (gs)
33. Gopher Tasting (k)

Reel 8: pieces 34-39

34. Memory Chip Jungle (m)
35. I Give To You (gr)
36. Treehouse (gs)
37. Stability Elasticity (k)
38. All Men Are Cattle (m)
39. Ratio (gr)

Reel 9: pieces 40-44

40. Submerge (k)
41. Dreadlocks of Steel (m)
42. Prince Whackamole (gr)
43. Carefree Valium Vacation (gs)
44. Three Headed History (k)

Reel 10: pieces 45-49

45. Splattmandoo (k)
46. I Wish You Love (m)
47. Sundowing In Villa 31 (gr)
48. Shell-Shocked and Merry (gs)
49. Just Another Day (k)

March 8th:
No recording.
Making video during the day at Cal Arts, of “Don’t Forget To Vote”,
dir: Anita Marto

Night three, March 9, reels 11-13, pieces 50-60

Reel 11: pieces 50-54

50. Vigilante McCoy (k)
51. Chemistry In My Hair (gs)
52. Swamplife (gr)
53. I Took My Love (gr)
54. I Told You (k)

Reel 12: piece 55

55. Tetrad (gs)

Reel 13: pieces 56-60

56. Cards (gs)
57. Decisions, Decisions (gr)
58. The Fit (gs)
59. Sez You (k)
60. Agave Worm (m)

Night four, March 10, reel 14 pieces 61-67

61. I Hate Being Broke (m)
62. Voodoo Dance Spell #39 (gr)
63. Not What I Was Expecting (gs)
64. The Last Factory (k)
65. When The Power Fails (m)
66. Crack Attack (gr)
67. The Fat Lady Sings (gs)

Where to split up CDs if you want to burn copies for listening:

Old Habits die hard.I burn CDs to listen back anyway, and know others who do as well. Here is the necessary info to do that.

Numbers in parentheses are the numbers which will show on the CDs.

CD 1:

1. The Hour Of Return
2. One Rainy Evening
3. This Is My Stop
4. The Ostrich Master
5. Oral Spirits
6. The Fall Of The Mighty
7. Drunk, Fat And Dancing
8. Norman's Dance Party
9. Czak az Ido
10. Garlic Whistles
11. The Perfect Lard Pastry
12. All Fall Up
13. Chase The Unicorn
14. Stain-Mart
15. Dead Men's Music
16. Rustic Codpiece
(CD1 end)

CD 2:

17. (1) Rico's Dementia
18. (2) Ninety In Reverse
19. (3) The Wedge Of Happiness
20. (4) A Raft On The Sansar
21. (5) Edvard Gets Down
22. (6) New
23. (7) All Hover
24. (8) Open And Blue
25. (9) Joker
26. (10) Because I Care
27. (11) Fluid Dynamics
28. (12) Forecast
29. (13) Save Your Ass
(CD2 end)

CD 3:

30. (1) Like A Gun, I Get Loaded
31. (2) Colin Oddible
32. (3) Moving Off Into The Long Night
33. (4) Gopher Tasting
34. (5) Memory Chip Jungle
35. (6) I Give To You
36. (7) Treehouse
37. (8) Stability Elasticity
38. (9) All Men Are Cattle
39. (10) Ratio
40. (11) Submerge
41. (12) Dreadlocks Of Steel
42. (13) Prince Whackamole
43. (14) Carefree Valium Vacation
44. (15) Three Headed History
45. (16) Splattmandoo
46. (17) I Wish You Love
47. (18) Sundowning In Villa 31
48. (19) Shell-Shocked And Merry
49. (20) Just Another Day
(CD3 end)

CD 4:

50. (1) Vigilante McCoy
51. (2) Chemistry In My Hair
52. (3) Swamp Life
53. (4) I Took My Love
54. (5) I Told You
55. (6) Viewpoints
56. (7) Cards
57. (8) Decisions, Decisions
58. (9) The Fit
59. (10) Sez You
60. (11) Agave Worm
61. (12) I Hate Being Broke
62. (13) Voodoo Dance Spell #39
63. (14) Weird Bills Blues
64. (15) The Last Factory
65. (16) When The Power Fails
66. (17) Crack Attack
67. (18) The Fat Lady Sings
(CD4 end)