The Viper & His Famous Orchestra - A Song for All Seasons [Full Album]

Details

Description

Live five-song EP, recorded at The Highdive and Mike & Molly's in Champaign, Illinois at the turn of the last millennium. The Songs:

Limehouse Blues - 00:00
Heaven on Their Minds / This Jesus Must Die - 02:50
The Rumpsteak Serenade - 08:35
The Amendment Song - 12:48
Whispering - 15:12

The musicians:

Riley Broach: double bass, trumpet kazoo, vocals
Rob Henn: trombone, trombone kazoo, egg, vocals
Edward Burch: suitcase, tambourine, egg, straight-but-not-narrow kazoo, vocals
The Viper: baritone ukulele, tiple, vocals
with special guest Colin McKoy: violin on "Limehouse Blues," saw on "Whispering"

Notes on the recordings:

All songs were recorded live and straight to tape. "The Amendment Song" comes from an upper room performance for a crowd of about 20 on April 29, 1999 (the block-rocking beats to which Edward refers in the pre-song patter were coming from the loud jukebox playing in the downstairs bar areas). I had just bought a 1920s Regal tiple (a ten-string, steel-string ukulele that would meet its unfortunate end at a house party some years later), and I was going to use it.

The other four songs are from a pair of shows on the 20th and 24th February, 2000, at the then-recently-opened Highdive, which had a pretty nice sound system and so what you're hearing is the mix straight off the boards, Grateful Dead bootleg style.

Mastering was by Jonathan Pines at Private Studio in Urbana, Illinois on June 27, 2000. Package design by Edward Burch with photographs by Rachel Leibowitz, based on a great LP cover by 1960s harpist Robert Maxwell (also titled "A Song for All Seasons").

On making this music your own:

An All Wrote Records recording. Available for purchase through CD Baby at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/theviperhfo2 , through iTunes at http://bit.ly/YN9VKh , and through Amazon at http://amzn.to/YNa8ND (along with other online sellers). For more on the Viper, see http://theviper.org