Oct. 2014: Green Pajamas – Happy Halloween

THE End of  Summer is Nigh upon us. The frost will soon be on the leaves. And spiders, creepy crawly little spiders, well …

So what’s new you ask?

Well it’s this – Green Pajamas – Happy Halloween! – 30 years new. This was originally released on a cassette with a total of ten copies made back in 1984. I didn’t have one. I did know about many of these songs however. There is a live tape of me and The Icons from about 1985 or so playing the leadoff Happy Halloween! track, “Dancing In The Jailhouse” and of course you know The Icons did their own lively version of it on the 2011 Appointment with Destiny! album (you also note both album titles end with an exclamation mark – coincidence?). However, dear reader, this is probably your first listen. Remarkable.

Truth be told, if you want to know why you are hearing it at all, you should probably blame Joe Ross. While Jeff Kelly is certainly the main instigator of many/most of these songs long ago, it was Joe who has held that lighted pumpkin high yea those decades to shine this work on the world. Joe was on me to put this out the same year as I re-issued Summer of Lust. I just said no – had too much old stuff already and would rather put out some new stuff. We wrestled over whether “Stephanie Barber” should be on Lust as it always was on the GMR cassette version. Joe wanted it saved for its original place on Happy Halloween! So we saved it – we did.

Finally this year we got around to Happy Halloween! In 2014, plain and simple – this is Joe’s baby. He picked the songs. He picked the order. He wrote the liner notes. He designed the back cover and kibitzed on the rest of it. He even paid 20 bucks for a video in 1984 or ’85 that we are going to use to make a video of “Thinking Only Of You (Lust Don’t Last)”. Good planning Joe.k

So let me take this opportunity to say, Thanks Joe! Job well done.

Next month we are going to dredge up a little Seattle history as album of the month – when we do our best to pull together the complete works of Chemistry Set, featuring Scotts Sutherland and Vanderpool. Long out of print and as a result, legendary, this is sure to delight.

That’s it.

td

October 2014

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Green Pajamas – Happy Halloween (GM1026)

1. THINKING ONLY OF YOU (LUST DON'T LAST)(Kelly)
2. ALL I WANNA DO (Ross)
(Tracks 1 & 2 Recorded January 1985)
Released 1993 on Goar EP #8

3. IN THE SKY (Kelly)
(Recorded October 1984)
Released June 2012 on Lee Jackson In Space compilation

4. DANCING IN THE JAILHOUSE (Kelly, Ross)
5. A MURDER OF CROWS (Kelly, Ross, L. Wilhelm)
6. STEPHANIE BARBER (Kelly)
7. LAST DAYS OF AUTUMN (Kelly, Ross)
8. GOTHIC FUNK (Kelly, Ross)
9. I'LL WANT TO RUN TO YOU (Kelly)
10. HAPPY HALLOWEEN (Kelly, Ross)
11. ONE MONDAY (Kelly, Ross)
(Tracks 4-11 Recorded October 1984)
Released October 1984 as Happy Halloween! cassette

12. JOHNNA JOHNNA (Kelly)
(Recorded January 1985)

13. NEARLY WINTER (Kelly)
(Recorded October 1984)

14. ONLY A FOOL (Kelly)
(Recorded June 1984)

15. THE HATE SONG (Kelly)
(Recorded September 1984)

16. SHE'S SO WEIRD (Kelly)
(Recorded June 1984)

17. I'VE GOT A CRUSH ON YOU (Kelly)
(Recorded August 1984)

18. LITTLE RED (Kelly)
(Recorded December 1984)

19. EVERYTHING IS GREEN (Kelly)
(Recorded August 1984)

20. WALKING IN THE RAIN (Kelly)
(Recorded February 1985)

21. THIS WINTER'S NIGHT (Kelly)
(Recorded December 20, 1984)

All Songs © St. Brigid Publishing
except  A Murder of Crows, Stephanie Barber & Walking In The Rain © Half the World Publishing.

 Produced by Jeff Kelly

Mastering notes:

Mastered by Tom Dyer from cassettes.

All of the recordings here came from cassette tapes recorded without noise reduction. The tape hiss was significantly reduced and some EQing was done to even things out. There are imperfections in the “masters” we worked with that you can hear, but the beauty far outweighs the flaws. Enjoy!

Tom Dyer September 2014

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