HR177 - Phinney/McGee - Shell - C60 — 1990
SIDE A:
Momentum Of A Rectangle Box Inside A Box |
SIDE B:
Sandcastle Theory Cast Thy Stone My Friend |
Review by Jerry Kranitz
Hot on the heels of their Heads album (HR176) is another new Phinney/McGee collaboration – Shell. Recorded when Chris visited Hal in Florida in March 1990, the set consists of four lengthy tracks that explore the deepest and often most tumultuous regions of SPACE.
‘Momentum Of A Rectangle’ opens the set and gets right down to business. We’ve got a cosmically cavernous atmosphere, with a busily ongoing barrage of icy ringing, pulsating waves, alien chatter tones, and miscellaneous effects fun. Total sci-fi!
‘Box Inside A Box’ is next and propelled by its chuga-chuga electro pulse the barrage is now a full-blown onslaught. We’ve got alien chirps, drips, laser attacks, growls, barks, drone-tones, gurgles, racing engines, anguished sirens and more. And it all comes together to create a cacophonous symphony of sci-fi sounds and effects.
Side B begins with ‘Sandcastle Theory’, which dials down the intensity several notches. It’s still a space effects master class and at times feels like the interstellar equivalent of downtown Chicago during rush hour. But it’s relatively calmer and the listener doesn’t need a crash helmet. I especially like the part late in the piece where it sounds like the engine is struggling and seems to be taunted by a chirping melody.
‘Cast Thy Stone My Friend’ is the most ‘musical’ track of the set. Dual somber keyboard melodies lead the way, surrounded by rushing wind and other soundscapes, cymbal washes, and only a few more elements. A hypnotically lulling 17 minutes that brings the set to a close.
INTERVIEW with Chris Phinney and Hal McGee by Jerry Kranitz
Jerry Kranitz (JK): So, you visited Hal in Florida to record your first collaboration (Usufruct – HR144). Heads (HR176) which was next and immediately precedes Shell was a mail collaboration. And then you visited Hal in Florida again in March 1990 to record Shell in person.
Chris Phinney (CP): Yes. You’ll see we used more instruments this time. I brought more instruments.
JK: I’m comparing the gear list with Usufruct and Heads and on Shell there’s more, but the one new instrument is the Moog Prodigy.
CP: I brought my Moog Prodigy. I can’t remember if Hal had one or not.
JK: You’re both credited with using it.
CP: Yeah, but I don’t recall if I brought it or we used his. The Korg Poly-800 was mine. I think he had an Axxe, a Rogue and a Korg MS20. Anyway, we both played everything and Hal mixed it down.
Hal McGee (HM): At that time, I owned ARP Axxe and Moog Rogue synthesizers, which I had bought at secondhand shops in Tampa. I seem to recall that Chris had borrowed a Korg MS20 from a friend and brought it along with his Moog Prodigy and Korg Poly-800. Chris also brought several effects units. I owned no effects boxes at that time.
CP: That’s right, I borrowed the MS20 from Tim Price, a friend of Mike Jackson.
JK: So, you recorded live at Hal’s and Hal did the final mix. You were there for three days. How many hours of recording did you guys do to produce these four tracks?
CP: I imagine I arrived and we recorded a tune. Then the next day maybe we recorded two tunes. And then the third day we may have recorded one tune. But I don’t recall exactly.
HM: I had a 4-track cassette recorder with which we made all of our recordings. If I recall correctly – and with the copious amounts of pot we smoked who knows what I do recall correctly?! – Anyway, we hooked up our synths and effects. Chris plugged his gear into Track 1 and I plugged my gear into Track 2. We toked up and then we recorded simultaneously onto the first two tracks on the 4-track tape. You know, just jammed out and see/hear where the sounds took us, really getting into the zone, just letting it flow in a super-intuitive way, until it seemed like it was time to stop. Then after recording those first two tracks, to refresh our brains we would hop in Chris’ car and go sightseeing around Tampa Bay, get a meal, drink some coffee, etc. After a couple of hours of running around we would come back to my apartment in Apollo Beach, hook up the gear, plug into Tracks 3 and 4 of the 4-track tape, toke up, and improvise along with what we had previously recorded on the first two tracks. We repeated this process over and over until we recorded enough for a 60-minute release. In the case of Shell we had eight recording sessions. This was pretty much the same process we used on all of the in-person-recorded Phinney/McGee audioworks. So, each 60-minute cassette release such as Shell consisted of a total of 120 minutes of recordings. After Chris went home I mixed down the 4-track recordings into stereo mixes which became the four pieces on the cassette release.
JK: There’s interesting variety across these four tracks. Both tracks on Side A are high intensity. But then ‘Sandcastle Theory’ starting Side B dials the intensity down a bit. And ‘Cast Thy Stone My Friend’ is musical! I love the melody that carries the listener throughout the piece.
CP: I believe we both played keyboards on that one. That was probably the mellowest out of the four tunes.
JK: It really stood out for the melody playing throughout. An interesting contrast to the others.
CP: And I’m pretty sure we both named the tracks.
Hot on the heels of their Heads album (HR176) is another new Phinney/McGee collaboration – Shell. Recorded when Chris visited Hal in Florida in March 1990, the set consists of four lengthy tracks that explore the deepest and often most tumultuous regions of SPACE.
‘Momentum Of A Rectangle’ opens the set and gets right down to business. We’ve got a cosmically cavernous atmosphere, with a busily ongoing barrage of icy ringing, pulsating waves, alien chatter tones, and miscellaneous effects fun. Total sci-fi!
‘Box Inside A Box’ is next and propelled by its chuga-chuga electro pulse the barrage is now a full-blown onslaught. We’ve got alien chirps, drips, laser attacks, growls, barks, drone-tones, gurgles, racing engines, anguished sirens and more. And it all comes together to create a cacophonous symphony of sci-fi sounds and effects.
Side B begins with ‘Sandcastle Theory’, which dials down the intensity several notches. It’s still a space effects master class and at times feels like the interstellar equivalent of downtown Chicago during rush hour. But it’s relatively calmer and the listener doesn’t need a crash helmet. I especially like the part late in the piece where it sounds like the engine is struggling and seems to be taunted by a chirping melody.
‘Cast Thy Stone My Friend’ is the most ‘musical’ track of the set. Dual somber keyboard melodies lead the way, surrounded by rushing wind and other soundscapes, cymbal washes, and only a few more elements. A hypnotically lulling 17 minutes that brings the set to a close.
INTERVIEW with Chris Phinney and Hal McGee by Jerry Kranitz
Jerry Kranitz (JK): So, you visited Hal in Florida to record your first collaboration (Usufruct – HR144). Heads (HR176) which was next and immediately precedes Shell was a mail collaboration. And then you visited Hal in Florida again in March 1990 to record Shell in person.
Chris Phinney (CP): Yes. You’ll see we used more instruments this time. I brought more instruments.
JK: I’m comparing the gear list with Usufruct and Heads and on Shell there’s more, but the one new instrument is the Moog Prodigy.
CP: I brought my Moog Prodigy. I can’t remember if Hal had one or not.
JK: You’re both credited with using it.
CP: Yeah, but I don’t recall if I brought it or we used his. The Korg Poly-800 was mine. I think he had an Axxe, a Rogue and a Korg MS20. Anyway, we both played everything and Hal mixed it down.
Hal McGee (HM): At that time, I owned ARP Axxe and Moog Rogue synthesizers, which I had bought at secondhand shops in Tampa. I seem to recall that Chris had borrowed a Korg MS20 from a friend and brought it along with his Moog Prodigy and Korg Poly-800. Chris also brought several effects units. I owned no effects boxes at that time.
CP: That’s right, I borrowed the MS20 from Tim Price, a friend of Mike Jackson.
JK: So, you recorded live at Hal’s and Hal did the final mix. You were there for three days. How many hours of recording did you guys do to produce these four tracks?
CP: I imagine I arrived and we recorded a tune. Then the next day maybe we recorded two tunes. And then the third day we may have recorded one tune. But I don’t recall exactly.
HM: I had a 4-track cassette recorder with which we made all of our recordings. If I recall correctly – and with the copious amounts of pot we smoked who knows what I do recall correctly?! – Anyway, we hooked up our synths and effects. Chris plugged his gear into Track 1 and I plugged my gear into Track 2. We toked up and then we recorded simultaneously onto the first two tracks on the 4-track tape. You know, just jammed out and see/hear where the sounds took us, really getting into the zone, just letting it flow in a super-intuitive way, until it seemed like it was time to stop. Then after recording those first two tracks, to refresh our brains we would hop in Chris’ car and go sightseeing around Tampa Bay, get a meal, drink some coffee, etc. After a couple of hours of running around we would come back to my apartment in Apollo Beach, hook up the gear, plug into Tracks 3 and 4 of the 4-track tape, toke up, and improvise along with what we had previously recorded on the first two tracks. We repeated this process over and over until we recorded enough for a 60-minute release. In the case of Shell we had eight recording sessions. This was pretty much the same process we used on all of the in-person-recorded Phinney/McGee audioworks. So, each 60-minute cassette release such as Shell consisted of a total of 120 minutes of recordings. After Chris went home I mixed down the 4-track recordings into stereo mixes which became the four pieces on the cassette release.
JK: There’s interesting variety across these four tracks. Both tracks on Side A are high intensity. But then ‘Sandcastle Theory’ starting Side B dials the intensity down a bit. And ‘Cast Thy Stone My Friend’ is musical! I love the melody that carries the listener throughout the piece.
CP: I believe we both played keyboards on that one. That was probably the mellowest out of the four tunes.
JK: It really stood out for the melody playing throughout. An interesting contrast to the others.
CP: And I’m pretty sure we both named the tracks.