Bob Drake's discography.

I've finally gotten around to trying to do this. It's still quite incomplete, and I'll eventually put the details and info about each album on their own page rather than squishing all the info here on this one. I'll work on this as time allows, which won't be much for the rest of the summer, but check back from time to time, and please keep in mind it's a work-in-progress! BD, 22 July 2008
Artist: Crank Call Love Affair
Title: What's Wrong Yvette / Celluoid
Format: 7" vinyl 45
Label: Self-released
Year: 1982
Link:
What I did: Engineer, producer, mix
My comments: Recorded at the Packing House Studio in Denver, you can really hear that natural Packing House reverb on the drums. The band were all good friends of mine and we all played in lots of bands together. It was the first thing I ever recorded that came out on vinyl, and the first session where I had to make an (unnoticeable) edit in a MASTER TAPE. I was terrified but kept my cool...the resulting splices were perfect and the band just assumed I knew exactly what I was doing. Naturally I acted as if that were the case.

Artist: Spray Pals
Title: Happy Go Lucky / Dead Sea
Format: 7" vinyl 45
Label: Self-released
Year: 1982
Link:
What I did: Engineer, producer, drums, bass.
My comments: The band was Susanne Lewis who wrote the songs and played guitar, and Kirsten Gushurst on keyboard. It was the first time Susanne and I met and worked together. They also brought in a Greek bouzouki player they'd met at a Greek restaurant. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the studio on the day they wanted to mix it, so it was mixed by someone else and doesn't sound nearly as good as it would have. Oh well. After the record came out we decided we wanted to do some concerts so we drafted Mike Johnson to play bass, and did a few shows around Denver.

Artist: Geoffrey Landers
Title: The Ever Decimal Pulse
Format: LP
Label: Self-released
Year: 1982
Link:
What I did: Engineer, co-producer along with Geoff, drums, bass, violin, maybe some other things, mixed some tracks.
My comments: Geoff was the owner of the Packing House Studio and this was his first album. Susanne Lewis wrote some lyrics and sings on a track. Many, many times I have been asked: "why doesn't Geoff re-release his albums?" and the answer is: he doesn't want to, period, so please don't ask me!

Artist: Endgame
Title: Nothingness / A Process
Format: 7" vinyl 45
Label: Limbo Records
Year: 1982
Link:
What I did: Engineer, producer, mix.
My comments: Another Packing House recording. A young group who really appreciated my way of working, it was a good collaboration.

Artist: Susan and God
Title: Fluffy Goes to Hollywood / C. Spot Run
Format: 7" vinyl 45
Label: Pancake Bitch Records
Year: 1982 (?)
Link:
What I did: Engineer, producer, mix.
My comments: Another Packing House recording, a wacky young group and a strange record. The drummer Kurt Bauer is still one of my best pals.

Artist: Young Weasels
Title: Twist & Burn / Happy Feathers
Format: 7" vinyl 45
Label: Local Anesthetic
Year: 1982
Link:
What I did: Engineer, mix.
My comments: Young Weasels were an important 80's Denver group. This was recorded at a live show with a couple of really cheap mics and a worn-out Teac 3340 four track tape machine. The sound was a bit pale as you'd expect, and I couldn't do much about it in the mix. The guy who ran the label didn't seem to understand why I couldn't get a big, rich, "produced" sound from a couple of cheap mics and zero budget at a live gig in a crappy little room!

Artist: Your Funeral
Title: I Wanna Be You / Final Abbyss
Format: 7" vinyl 45
Label: Local Anesthetic
Year: 1982
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production.
My comments: Your Funeral was a trio of young women. The songwriter and guitarist was Jeri Rossi, with whom I did several more projects together over the years. Shortly after the record came out, the group re-formed with Jeri on guitar, me on bass and Grant Hall on drums (a drummer I played with in another important 80's Denver group called The Metrotones, who never did make a record) and we did a raucous show in Denver with The Birthday Party sometime around 1982-83. Anyway, back to the record: I recorded it, but according to this page it wasn't mixed by me. I honestly don't remember, and don't have a copy of it to remind me, but if it had been mixed by me as well it would have sounded lots better of course!

Artist:Jeri Rossi
Title: I Left My Heart but I don't Know Where / This is a Man's Man's Man's World
Format: 7" vinyl 45
Label: Local Anesthetic
Year: 1983
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, drums, bass, mix.
My comments: At the Packing House again. Jeri on guitar and vocal, me on drums, bass, and organ, and instrument inventor Neil Feather on sax.

Artist:Geoffrey Landers
Title: Habitual Features
Format:LP
Label: Self released
Year: 1983
Link:
What I did: Engineer, co-production with Geoff, drums, maybe some other things I don't recall?
My comments: At the Packing House again, naturally, and it's Geoff's second record. I do recall that I mixed side 2, the long piano/synth piece.

Artist: Thinking Plague
Title: ...a Thinking Plague
Format: LP
Label: Endemic Records
Year: 1984
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix, drums, bass, guitar, balaliaka, Arp2600, voice, and ????
My comments: At the Packing House again. Mike Johnson and I borrowed money to press 500 LPs, I hand-painted 500 covers, and we sent a few copies out to various distributors, hardly daring to hope for a response. Some weeks later I received a letter from Recommended Records in London, saying they'd take 200 copies. What a great feeling that was! We couldn't afford to send them and had to borrow the money for that too. This was the first record I worked on that started to get some notice in various countries.

Artist: Mau Mau 55
Title: Mau Mau 55
Format: Cassette
Label: Self release
Year: 1984 (?)
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix, drums, bg voc.
My comments: Recorded on 4-track in a big reverberant hallway at our abandoned yogurt factory rehearsal space. We did several shows around Denver, there was always a crazy chaotic vibe and lots of fun. The vocalist Mike Savage and guitarist Randy Walters later moved to LA and carried on as Pigmy Love Circus. The bassist, Wolfgang, who played bass on an Arp Oddysey, left to join the Marines...

Artist: Corpses as Bedmates
Title: Babaa & Scheibel=69
Format: Cassette
Label: Cow-Op
Year: 1984
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix, percussion, bg voc, ???.
My comments: Recorded in the largest and most reverberant room at our abandoned yogurt factory rehearsal space, by ping-ponging between two cassette decks. The group was me, Susanne Lewis on guitar, voice, viola, etc, and Karen Sheridan on bass and voice.

Artist: Corpses as Bedmates
Title: Halo
Format: Cassette
Label: Cow-Op
Year: 1985 ?
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix, drums, synth, bg voc, ???.
My comments: Recorded in various rooms at the yogurt factory rehearsal space. I can't remember if we were still ping-ponging between cassette machines or if we borrowed Bruce Odland's Sony F1 two-track digital recorder and ping-ponged between that and the cassette. Maybe it was a Teac 3340 4-track. Same line-up as "Babaa..." except Mark Fuller joined us on drums and percussion for some tracks.

Artist: Mau Mau 55
Title: In The Trenches
Format: Cassette
Label: Self release
Year: 1985 (?)
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix, drums, bg voc.
My comments: Patrick Bowers replaced synth-bassist Wolfgang (who'd gone to join the Marines!) on bass guitar, and we recorded this set of songs in a small 8-track studio. The sound in this really dead, muffled studio was nowhere near the raw intensity of our performances! This version of the group did several more gigs before vocalist Mike Savage and guitarist Randy Walters moved to LA and carried on as Pigmy Love Circus.

Artist: Bruce Odland Big Band
Title: Crossover
Format: LP
Label: XO Records
Year: 1986
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix, bass, bg voc.
My comments: This was a group with a 5-piece horn section, two drummers, two singing keyboardists, and me on bass. The band was really something, and was at its best live. For some reason we took a different approach for the record; a little more like a science project, recorded the drums alone first and then overdubbed the other instruments individually. One thing I'll say about the drum tracks: they were recorded in stereo, both drummers playing at once, with the craziest jerry-rigged mixer and mic setup you could imagine, with speakers and mics setup all over the yogurt factory so I could change the sound by sending the signal from whichever mic into different rooms. For one song we took the drumkits to a pedestrian tunnel under a freeway and recorded them there on Bruce's Sony F1 digital two track recorder. In the end these drums tracks hold up perfectly even after the layers of stuff that were to come later. I'd learned a lot over the previous years about recording in basic stereo out of necessity, and here it really paid off. I still record all the drum tracks for my solo albums directly to two tracks. In the end I'll simply say it was an exhausting and extremely educational experience, an "interesting" album but we probably ought to have done a live album.

Artist: Ron Miles
Title: Distance For Safety
Format: LP
Label: Prolific Records
Year: 1986
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix.
My comments: Our friend Arnie Swenson had started a record label and booked us a few days in Avalance Studio in Denver. The tracks for this album sounded great, but during the tracking session the studio's house engineer (famous for that desperately wannabe slick jazzrock sound) came in, listened for 30 seconds or so, and said: "If I'd known you wanted such a crappy sound I would have mis-aligned the tape machine before you came in". It went so far as the studio manager saying they didn't want the studio credited on the album! (I think they relented later.) We had to deal with a lot of that kind of attitude in those days; they didn't understand why anyone wouldn't want to slather glorious Lexicon 224 digital reverb all over the tracks and put expensive stereo chorus on everything for example. So as a joke, for the benefit of that disgruntled engineer we made one ridiculous "gated reverb" snare hit during the first tune.

Artist: Corpses as Bedmates
Title: Venus Handcuffs
Format: LP
Label: Dead Man's Curve
Year: 1986
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix, drums, trash, bass, viola, bg voc, etc.
My comments: It's me and Susanne Lewis, recorded on dilapidated equipment in our abandoned yogurt factory rehearsal building. Chris Cutler says it best I think: "These are recordings that capture the empty rooms and alien machinery of their birthplace", and that it "sounds like a spirit photograph". It's a "tron"-full album, featuring Mellotron and Orchestron, and I really used the sound of the rooms on this one. The terrible sounding cheaply pressed LP was released by a label which immediately went bankrupt so most of the LPs also immediately vanished along with the label. Nearly 20 years it was released on CD by AdHoc Records in 2005, remastered (by me of course!) from the original cassette tape on which I'd mixed it.

Artist: Cage of Reason
Title: Shoving The Fork In The Ground
Format: Cassette
Label: self released
Year: 1986
Link:
What I did: Engineer, production, mix.
My comments: It was a band with Susanne Lewis on vocals, Mike Johnson on guitar, Patrick Bowers on bass, and Chad Ferguson on drums. If I recall correctly, some of it was recorded on 4-track cassette in our yogurt factory rehearsal space and some at a small 8-track studio. In any case I know I recorded the band at both of those places, and the cassette stuff sounded best!

Artist:
Title: Mind Killer
Format: Film
Label: First Films
Year: 1987
Link:
What I did: Sound effects, mix.
My comments: For a couple of years I'd been working with an acquaintance making sound effects for Halloween "haunted houses" in Denver. Somewhere along the way he'd met this guy who started a film company making cheap horror films and got me involved. It was in my most penniless period of a generally penniless decade and the $150 for two months work seemed like wealth beyond measure. Of course I didn't have anything but a cassette machine and a Radio Shack mic with which to do the job, but I did it. Of the three films I worked on for First Films, this one is the "best"...
Artist:
Title: Night Vision
Format: Film
Label: First Films
Year: 1987
Link:
What I did: Sound effects, mix.
My comments: Another no-budget affair. The film required a lot of city ambience so I spent much time walking around downtown Denver with a cassette machine and a borrowed mic in a backpack. I'd look around behind the bushes at the base of skyscrapers or in parking garages and always find an electrical outlet, plug in the cassette deck and record the street ambience. Here's a good hard luck story that happened during the making of this film: One day while walking around downtown collecting sounds, I stopped by Wax Trax record shop to try and sell my last couple albums so I could buy something to eat, sat my backpack down just long enough to ask the guy at the counter if they'd give me a dollar or two for the albums, picked the backpack up again and it was empty...the cassette deck and mic had been stolen. Just like that, and right at my side! Naturally nobody in the store had seen anything. That taught me a lesson I should have already known living in Capitol Hill for so many years... Anyway, I survived, and the film also has music made by me and Eric Moon and Ron Miles, and it's a worse film than the first one ("Mind Killer", above.) I have no idea how they managed to do it, but the music was printed out of phase on the release!
Artist: Thinking Plague
Title: Moonsongs
Format: LP
Label: Dead man's Curve
Year: 1987
Link:
What I did: Bass, drums, engineering, production, mix.
My comments: The Packing House studio was finished, so we recorded most of this album in a very small studio which had a very dead, muffled sound. We were attempting a production miles beyond the capabilities of this little 8-track studio, and though it has its charms the production sounds a bit dated to me now, except for the track we recorded live in our rehearsal room "Etude for Organism". I wrote a fairly detailed account about recording this album (about recording all the TP albums actually) which will be posted soon, I'll put the link here once it's posted.
Artist:
Title: Lone Wolf
Format: Film
Label: First Films
Year: 1988
Link:
What I did: Sound effects, mix.
My comments: The last film in my First Films resumé. The bigger the budgets got for this company, the worse the results seemed to be. To make a long story short, this film was in my opinion, to put it as kindly as possible, not good, and taught me once and for all that the film world was not for me. The post-production ended up being a rush job (naturally) and I had to mix it in a marathon session, just me alone, lasting over 30 hours non-stop to finish it in time for the premiere. There was something strangely fascinating about doing these films and I'm glad I did them, but I certainly would NOT recommend watching any of them! I must put in a good word though about the guy who ran the film company, Michael Krueger. He was always extremely kind and generous to me, letting me borrow tape recorders and use the office after-hours as a recording studio for Thinking Plague and Hail. In 1990 he succumbed to cancer at the age of 39.
Artist: The Fluid
Title: Clear Black Paper
Format: LP
Label: Subpop
Year: 1988
Link:
What I did: Engineer, mix.
My comments: This great band from Denver and asked me to engineer an album for them so I did. It was done very quickly and not under the best circumstances, but they were really grateful for my patience and hard work and even credited me on the album as "The Amazing Bob Drake"! I also remember singing a high harmony part on a song called "Cold Outside". I'd love to hear this album again because I haven't heard it since we recorded it.
Artist: Hail
Title: Gypsy Cat and Gypsy Bird
Format: LP
Label: Prolific
Year: 1988
Link:
What I did: Engineer, mix, bass, drums, a bit of guitar, ???, bg vox.
My comments: The first Hail album. We recorded this one in a small, oppressive 8-track studio, a place I never really liked sonically but we made the best of it, and it was a relief from the broken and barely functioning recording equipment we'd used on the Corpses as Bedmates albums. The LP was pressed by a label who promptly went out of business so most of the LPs disappeared along with them. A couple of tracks from it were released on our Turn of the Screw CD, and we might be able to re-release the whole album on CD soon. It was named after Susanne's pets who were both called "Gypsy".
Obviously I haven't gotten to the following yet:

Kim Stone: Earth School, Prolific Records 1989.
Thinking Plague: In This Life, ReR Megacorp 1989.
MC Smooth: Smooth & Legit, Crush Music 1990.
Calypso Rose: Soul On Fire, Strakers - 1990.
Hail: Turn Of The Screw, ReR Megacorp 1990.
U-Totem: U-Totem, Cuneiform Records, 1990.
Ice Cube: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990).
Everlast: Forever Everlasting, Warner Archives 1990.
Bruce Odland: Leaving Eden, Arcadian Records 1991.
Boyz 'n the Hood: Film Soundtrack, 1991.
Charo: Guitar Passion, 1991.
Latin Alliance: Latin Alliance, Virgin Records America, Inc. 1991.
Winslow Crockwell: Follow The Way Of Your Heart, 1991? 92?
Duc Hoy: The Best of Duc Hoy - 1992 (?)
The College Boyz: Radio Fusion Radio, Atlantic Records 1992.
MC Jr Cas: Born 2 Flow, 1992.
Hail: Kirk, ReR Megacorp 1992.
Yoyo: Black Pearl, 1992.
Emmett North Jr.: I'll Never Let You Go - 1992.
Jim Witzel: Give & Take, Joplin & Sweeney 1992.
5UUs: Hunger's Teeth, ReR Megacorp 1994.
Bob Drake: What Day Is It? Self-released, 1994.
The (EC) Nudes: Vanishing Point, ReR Megacorp 1994.
The ReR Quarterly Volume 4 Number 1, ReR Megacorp 1994.
Cleee: Hello Hello Hello, 1995.
Otolithen: Otolithen, MF Records 1995.
Cal Bennett: A Stolen Moment, 1996.
Peter Blegvad: Just Woke Up, ReR Megacorp 1996.
Kampec Dolores: Zúgó - Rapid, Bahia Music 1996.
So Nicht: Boop, 1997.
Dull Schicksall: Ambush, AMF Records 1997.
5UUs: Crisis In Clay, ReR Megacorp 1997.
Steve MacLean: Opposite Of War, ReR Megacorp 1997.
N.O.R.M.A.: L' Arpa e L'Asino, ReR Megacorp 1997.
Otolihen: SOD, Cuneiform Records 1997.
Mauro Franceschi Band: Mauro Franceschi Band, 1997.
Vakki Plakkula: Una Barca, Angelica 1998.
Peter Blegvad, Hangman's Hill, ReR Megacorp 1998.
Bob Drake: Little Black Train, ReR Megacorp 1998.
Ossatura & Tim Hodgkinson: Dentro, ReR Megacorp 1998.
Peter Blegvad: Hangman's Hill, ReR Megacorp 1998.
Thinking Plague: In Extremis, Cuneiform Records 1998.
Jason DuMars: Singularity, self-released 1998.
Positive Nuns: The Bible II, 1999.
AA Kismet: Where's the rest of me? ADM Records 1999.
Bob Drake: Medallion Animal Carpet, ReR Megacorp 1999.
The Science Group: A Mere Coincidence, ReR Megacorp 1999.
Enhanced Gravity: Absolute Gravity, Yucca Tree Records 1999.
Jason Kahn: Drums and Metals, Cut 1999.
Jason Kahn: Select Dialect, Cut 1999.
Jason Kahn: Analogues, Cut 1999.
Fred Frith/Chris Cutler: 2 Gentlemen In Verona, ReR Megacorp 2000.
Thinking Plague: Early Plague Years, Cuneiform Records 2000.
Faust: The Wümme Years 1970-73 (5xCD Box) ReR Megacorp 2000.
Faust: BBC Sessions +, ReR Megacorp 2001.
Steve Buchanan: Tiny Grimes, Hanan 2001.
Jason Kahn: Plurabelle, Cut 2001.
AA Kismet: What's the Use of Crying When the Wolves Have Arrived? Z6 Records 2001.
Bob Drake: The Skull Mailbox and Other Horrors, ReR Megacorp 2001.
Hamster Theatre: Carnival Detournement, Cuneiform Records, 2001.
The Dead Brothers: Day Of The Dead, Voodoo Rhythm 2002.
Chris Cutler/Tom DiMuzio: Dust, ReR Megacorp 2002.
Think Of One: Naft 2, Zonk Records 2002.
Coolhaven: Blue Mustache, 2002.
Dick El Demasiado: No Nos Dejamos Afeitar, Tomenota Records 2002.
Chris Cutler: Solo, ReR, 2002.
Best Before: 04/04/44, SMI, 2002.
Les Ormores: Aus Der Reihe, Z6 records 2002.
Les Collègues Pasha: Les Collègues Pasha, RecRecRecords, 2002.
Blast: Altrastrata, Cuneiform Records 2002.
Sotos: Platypus, Cuneirform Records 2002.
Dick El Demasiado: No Nos Dejamos Afeitar, Tomenota Records 2002.
NeBeLNeST: NoVa eXPReSS, Cuneiform Records 2002.
Fred Frith: Prints- Snapshots, Postcards, Messages And Miniatures. Fred Records 2002.
Jason Kahn: Pool, Cut 2003.
Dick El Demasiado: Pero Peinamos Gratis, Tomenota Records 2003.
Bob Drake: 13 Songs and a Thing, ReR Megacorp 2003.
Zoambo Zoet Workestrao: Svakoga Dana U Svakom Pogledu Sve Manje Nazadujem, Manufracture 2003.
The Science Group: Spoors, ReR Megacorp 2003.
The Homosexuals: The Homosexuals CD, ReR, 2003.
What's Wrong With Us?: What's Wrong With Us? 2004.
Thinking Plague: Upon Both Your Houses, Nearfest Records 2004.
Slapp Happy: Desperate Straights, ReR Megacorp 2004.
Nikola Kodjobashia: Reveries of the Solitary Walker, ReR Megacorp, 2004.
Miriodor: Live at Nearfest, Cuneiform records 2005.
Vril: Effigies In Cork, ReR Megacorp 2005.
Woof 7 Inches, AdHoc Records, 2005.
Nimby: Songs For Adults, AdHoc Records 2005.
Dick El Demasiado: Al Perdido Ganado, Tomenota Records 2005.
Vialka: Curiosities Of Popular Customs, VIA 2005.
Bob Drake: The Shunned Country, ReR Megacorp 2005.
Lentin / Martignoni: Un Fils De Constantine, 2006.
Henry Cow: Henry Cow Concerts, ReR Megacorp 2006.
Zaar: Zaar, Cuneiform Records 2006.
Pamela's Parade: Shake Sharks, 2006.
Dead Brothers: Wunderkammer, 2006.
News From Babel: Complete (all albums re-mastered) ReR Megacorp, 2006.
Coolhaven: Strömblock Phantasieën, Taple Records 2006.
Buttercup Metal Polish: 50 Ballets, Creativesources Records, 2006.
Picchio Dal Pozzo: Abbiamo Tutti I Suoi Problemi, ReR Megacorp, 2006.
Hail: Hello Debris, ReR Megacorp 2006.
Hamster Theatre: The Public Execution Of Mr. Personality / Quasi Day Room, Cuneiform Records 2006.
The Rude Staircase: Sookie Jump, What Delicate Recordings 2007.
Vialka: Plus Vite que la Musique, VIA, 2007.
Condor Moments: "And Though We're Told We've Got It All, The All We've Got Is Freezing Cold", What Delicate Recordings 2007.
Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp: Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, Strabique 2007.
The Peeesseye: Mayhem In The Mansion, Shivers In The Shack, Evolving Ear 2007.
Max Der Zinger: Acoustique, 2007.
Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer: Cold Peace Counterpoints, ReR Megacorp 2008.
What's Wrong With Us? Cat's Claw, Urgence Disk, 2008.
Stinky Lou and the Goon Mat: 12 Roots and Boogie Blues Hits, Voodoo Rhythm 2008. (Great entertaining album but someone else re-mastered it volume-war style)
Mama Rosin: Tu as Perdu Ton Chemin, Voodoo Rhythm 2008
Zeno Tornado: Ramblin' Man, Voodoo Rhythm 2008 (great album, great mix but someone else re-mastered it harshly and unnecessarily in my opinion.)
The Brainville Trio: Trial By Headline, ReR Megacorp 2008.

Things I can't find any information about:
Engineered and mixed some tracks for a Brujeria record around 1993 or 94, don't know which one they ended up on if any.
Engineered and mixed an album by Francesco Cusa, late 90's perhaps, don't have a copy, don't know what it was called...
Mixed a second Cleee album with Paed Conca, entitled "Low", don't remember what year. I'll ask Paed.

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