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Early Jaffe & McGee
Tape #21
Early Jaffe & McGee Tapes home
related pages:     Gabble Ratchet
60 Minutes Of Laughter
12 Seconds Of Laughter zine
Picture
Picture
Tape Specifics:
   Scotch brand “LOW NOISE/HIGH DENSITY” C-60 cassette.
   The words “VISCERA demo side one” were written by Debbie in black ink over white-out which covered up the original words written on the cassette label. There is a big black “X” to the left. The same on the second side, except that she wrote “side 2”. On both tape labels the words "60 Minutes" are scratched out.
   The material on this tape, starting at about 00:41 on Side A, is apparently an early version of 60 Minutes Of Laughter. It is not so much a “Viscera demo” (as written on the cassette labels), but moreso an early/first alternative/practice/“demo” mix/edit/sequence of 60 MOL, no doubt compiled from numerous and various original source tapes. It seems that the sound quality of these versions is much better than what we have available on the extant 60 MOL master.

   You can read about the 60 Minutes Of Laughter release here.
   And an even more detailed history of 60 MOL here!
Side A:

00:06 - We hear Debbie and Hal talking, then a bunch of bumping, distorted sounds, then we hear “Slipping Away” by Viscera faintly for a few seconds
-----

60 MOL demo starts here

-- 00:41 - This material of Debbie and Hal simultaneously reading texts was used on “Red Houses, Blue Houses” on 60 Minutes Of Laughter.

through about 1:42 -- I believe that this was used on 60 MOL. A split-second fragment of this was heard just before the part at 00:06 above.

-- 03:26 - fragment of pre-recorded music

-- 03:29 - “This is Beethoven’s Other Life As A Turnip or Lee Harvey Oswald’s other existence as a yellow duck that quacks at people with snot hanging out of their noses” - Hal spoken word

-- 03:43 some kind of feedback sounds, with “Bird” chirping

-- 04:00 some kind of cow mooing sounds

4:20 - 05:59 Viscera -- excerpt from “The Edge” -- This was used on 60 MOL but is uncredited on the release.

06:00 - Toby O’Brien (L. Extentensa) talking in the left channel, telling a very mundane story).

at 06:23 Hal playing electric guitar starts in the right channel.

at about 08:18 Toby’s voice fades out in the left channel.

09:13 - 10:18 stereo recording of percussion ensemble from a record

10:21 - 11:43 banging percussive sounds made by Hal or Deb -- probably Hal because I recognize my “sense of rhythm”, ahem.

-- 11:44 through 11:59 “Black Water” -- Hal intoning these words with a thumping sound accompaniment:
I can’t die
I can’t sleep
I am feeling like black water
My hair is burning
My eyes are rotting
I don’t exactly feel at home


-- 12:00 “Kurtz Kapers” section through 12:41 used on 60 Minutes Of Laughter. This is 18 seconds longer than the fragment used on 60 MOL. “Kurtz Kapers” comes from a recording of Debbie’s junior high school band in Des Moines Iowa, 1975.

-- 12:59 laughter from sound effects record used on 60 MOL

-- 13:29 Hal reading from Judges 3:12 in The Old Testament, again with the thumping percussion heard on “Black Water” above”:
And the people of Israel again did what was evil in sight of the Lord
And the lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab
because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord
He gathered to Himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites
etc.


--14:05 Breaking Glass from sound effects record

-- 14:21 “Love In The Tropics” -- thunder, wind sounds from a sound effects record -- was on 60 MOL

--14:29 “Starvation and Beating” - on 60 MOL but I think it’s a different edit than what was used.

Hal intones these words while Debbie plays Casio VL-1:
Always black and white pictures
The rot!
Lock in on starvation and beating
Of course there’s not much you could do about it
No one would believe it was happening
They didn’t fight it
It’s just a book I studied…


(On 60 MOL Debbie repeated the last line. Here it is just heard once.)

15:07 -- “Floatin’ On The Waves” through 16:27

16:29 -- Trish & The Swishettes - “Love Is On My Side”

Trish (a petite red-haired waitress we knew from The Jumping Beanery Mexican restaurant where I worked) screams, then Debbie, then Hal. And then it becomes an all-out scream-fest.

17:12 - phone ringing (as heard through the phone of the caller) from sound effects record, used on 60 MOL

17:32 -- Debbie’s voice saying “hello”

17:35 -- and then “Home” by Viscera through 19:16
Why do I live in this place?
Mister Lincoln tomorrow’s figure
Redeemer of the cloth sack
What is this place?
Broken eye
Crumbling pacing bewildered eye
Simple eye
Straight like a rapid whole valley
The colored locks of silk burnoose
Every man knows the science like the back of his hand
Every dog knows his master’s call
Then why in hell’s name don’t I know why I live in this place?
A brokedown wheel
A bad poem
I bed down for the night
A shot of whiskey
Wind whistling the telephone line


19:17 -- music from an unidentified record (not used on the final 60 MOL)

“Composition”
Composed and executed by Hal. Two programmed melodies  on the Casio VL-Tone played simultaneously.

21:23 “Outraged Civilized World” by Viscera
Cruelty in the pages
A deep murky prison
Outraged civilized world dying
[???]
Heartsick immediate dead effort
I know it should make me want to cry
but it doesn’t
A few bloody days
He refused to repair it
The bottom fell out of the sack
I saw bone through the skin
Money taken
Actual results
Crucial little difference account
What are those men’s names behind those bars?
And these doors?
And these windows?
Frozen
Rough
A handle to speak less harshly for the public ear
I know it should make me want to cry
but it doesn’t


23:47 -- “Another Simon and Garfunkel Hit” on 60 MOL -
a vinyl record being back and forth spun by hand with the turntable motor not engaged (Emergency/police vehicle siren can be heard in background)

24:19 -- “Seeing The Future” by Viscera

[Hal intones the words while Debbie does little girl sing-song -- the contrast of an older world-weary man, full of disappointments with the carefree nature of youth]
Suspense division rectification
See the future dressed in rags
See the women in a row
Expectant money
Dropping his hands
He sees the long years
He does not know
Jumping light disc thrown
Rug off the truck
His sister on a rooftop
Simple
Contrite
Simple wares
He sees his whole life before him
Behind him
Remembering
Lightning space stars dreams
Grown tired of waiting for it to happen
He takes hold of it with his own two hands
No continuity
Is it dying?
Did he take hold too late?
He has to strain his eyes
He sees the things he wants to see
Is it any wonder?, he asks himself
He is moving
He is seeing [?]
He is the gray lightbulb lying down, down
His eyes begin to hurt
He turns away from the page
[?]
Light swimming in pools of still water


26:15 whispering

26:21 Airplanes And Engines (Are Beautiful) – Dancing Invisibles

28:58 (?) Pain Research – Trish & The Swishettes

29:38 “Wurlitzer Intermission”

31:21 music ends

side of tape ends at about 31:30

Side B:

00:05 “Wurlitzer Intermission” continues

“Collage/Gertrude Stein”
much different mix than what was used on 60 MOL
Gabble Ratchet jam with Deb reading from Gertrude Stein is more dominant. Tape collage (more in the background) is mixed together with GR jam instead of the two parts being split into separate channels.

06:04 “Dharma Proclivity/Butchered Calf – JK & MP”
different mix element/edit on right?

8:24 birds from sound effects record used on 60 MOL
08:56 “Live At The Sanctuary” -- JK & MP

15:09 “Bird Is Dead” – HM & DJ
longer version!
17: calliope/carnival/marching band sound used on 60 MOL
18:18 Repercussive Illusion – HM
18:30 Hal on electric guitar through 19:05
19:21 more Viscera, not used on 60 MOL?
19:38 “The Edge” fragment
19:53 tinkly piano fragment
19:58 Army Brats
22:57
- Rules and Regulations
My Balls – LE
- unknown material
Public Lavatory, Blue Light – HM & DJ
Negative Image
“Everything And Nothing” – Viscera
26:22 Debbie’s voice: “you’re all probably wondering what this has to do with anything”
unknown material
26:27
different/longer edit of “Freedom To Be Immoral” – The Conversations
“Accepting Things As They Are” – Viscera
homemade audio folk art by Hal McGee and friends 1981-2022
  • HalTapes Home
  • Indianapolis 1981-88
  • Contact
  • Walls Of Genius
  • Jay T. Yamamoto
  • Girls On Fire
  • Harsh Reality Music
    • HR107 If Bwana Godfather Revue