Artist: Spin Doctors
Album: If the River was Whiskey
Bitrate: 251kbps avg
Quality: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.98.4 / -V0 / 44.100Khz
Label: Ruf Records
Genre: Rock
Size: 81.96 megs
PlayTime: 0h 43min 23sec total
Rip Date: 2013-04-20
Store Date: 2013-04-19
Track List:
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01. Some Other Man Instead 4:35
02. If The River Was Whiskey 3:17
03. Sweetest Portion 4:02
04. Traction Blues 3:42
05. Scotch And Water Blues 5:16
06. About A Train 6:14
07. The Drop 4:40
08. Ben's Looking Out The Window 3:09
Blues
09. So Bad 5:56
10. What My Love? 2:32
Release Notes:
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You think you know the Spin Doctors. Think again. When the legendary New York
quartet release If The River Was Whiskey in the UK on May 6th through Ruf
Records, casual fans will discover the secret past the hardcore have never
forgotten.
To the wider world, the Doctors might be the multi-million-selling icons behind
hits like Two Princes and Little Miss CanÆt Be Wrong, not to mention the classic
Pocket Full Of Kryptonite. But in 2013, Chris Barron (vocals), Aaron Comess
(drums), Eric Schenkman (guitar) and Mark White (bass) are reconnecting with the
flat-broke twenty-somethings who scraped for dollars at the sharp end of the Big
Apple blues circuit. The Spin Doctors have come full circle.
"We were four guys in our twenties," remembers Aaron of early days in the
late-Æ80s. "Our goal was to write our own songs and make a living doing it. The
blues is such a big part of our roots, but one of the reasons we came up with
such a big catalogue of blues songs back then is that weÆd play these downtown
blues bars in New York. You were supposed to play blues covers û but we were
actually playing our own songs!"
We all know what happened nextà the hits, the hysteria, the fame and the money.
"At one point, we were selling 50,000 records a week," recalls Chris, "IÆd walk
into a shopping mall to buy underwear and 300 kids would surround me."
If The River Was Whiskey hits rewind. ItÆs the deep-blues album the Spin Doctors
almost made before mega stardom came knocking. It finally bottles those
near-mythical songs from that sweatbox circuit. ItÆs simultaneously a tipped hat
to the bandÆs lost past and the freshest record youÆll hear all year. "Every
note feels dangerous," says Barron. "ItÆs like this ramshackle, broken carriage
running down a cobblestone hill, with pots and pans, and a screaming babyà"
The concept to revisit these songs struck as the Spin Doctors toured Europe to
toast the 20th anniversary of Pocket Full Of Kryptonite, and polled ⁿber-fans
David Landsburger and Daniel Heinze on what theyÆd like to hear as the encore
that night. Their answer û So Bad û was a song so old that Chris had almost
forgotten the verses, but when the venue exploded, a lightbulb lit over the
bandÆs heads. "We had such a good time playing these tunes," the singer
explains, "that we thought, æWe should go make a record of this stuffÆ. ItÆs
really brought us back as a band, musically and interpersonally."
The songs on If The River Was Whiskey are different vintages. "Some Other Man
Instead and the title track, I wrote those lyrics in the last year or two,"
explains Chris. "I wrote Sweetest Portion when I was only 19. IÆd run away from
home, and when I got back, my friends were really upset and there was a rumour
going around that I had died. So I wrote that song û and IÆm not sure if IÆve
ever written a better one since."
The songs might be a quarter-century in the making, but If The River Was Whiskey
took just three days to record when the four members convened last summer in New
York. The original plan was to get together at AaronÆs His House Studios in
Manhattan and record some demos (no pressure) before heading upstate to a
boutique analogue facility and start tracking in earnest. "We didnÆt expect to
make a record," smiles Eric. "We were just going to make a demo and play at the
Rockwood. And then, lo and beholdà"
Instead, without the pressure of the red light, the sessions began to unfold
with an effortless magic. "We just kinda winged it, man," says Mark. This album
sounds exactly the same as it does onstage, because we recorded it live, which
is the way it should be done. There are no overdubs. Anybody that tried to do an
overdub was gonna get whacked!"
"We really kinda fooled ourselves and tricked ourselves, and I think thatÆs one
of the reasons why it sounds so fresh," says Aaron. "There was absolutely no
pressure on us of any kind. We just hit a moment. Everything came together and
we created this great record. Usually, the best things happen when youÆre not
trying. ThatÆs exactly what happened here."
The band quickly realized the supposed rough-cuts captured by engineering ace
Roman Klun couldnÆt be topped. "By the third day," reflects Chris, "weÆd
recorded all ten of the demos. We went out to dinner that night, we were all
having a cocktail, and someone was like, æGentlemen, I believe our demo is a
recordÆ. We all just laughed."