‘Chow Down’ — Really rocks, a wall of guitars and a very kick ass bass line conceived by T.F.

‘Inventions’ — A whole different song here, I was experimenting with different beats/feels, and went with one very different than the normal live version. If this song were mixed, we’d probably lighten up the electrocution “shocks” we simulated with a quarter inch jack.

‘Sugar Bullets’ — Holy shit. Do NOT purchase this version expecting to get anything resembling the Sugar Bullets you know (and maybe love). As I do with many songs, I wrote many different songs called “Sugar Bullets” before settling on the version that’s on The Late Stuart Davis. THIS VERSION is a completely different song, different lyrics, it’s in a minor key, and it’s a kind of dark, brooding pop rock song with big, crunchy guitars and synth. Forget it, whatever you think it’s gonna sound like, it ain’t that. I actually prefer this version, but it can’t be pulled off live very well, so I went with the other one.

‘Elizabeth Ascends’ — This shit ( I mean shit in a good way) sounds like the fucking Eagles broke in and laid down a Sad Café version to this song. It’s a mind bender, but the vocal performance needs work. Weird.

‘Penguins’ — Pretty straightforward solo acoustic version of this song, but I doubled the guitar and voice in some places, which is a technique I INVENTED DAMMIT!! I don’t care what the guy from ELO says, or the Beatles, for that matter. I was the first person to double vox in a studio.

‘Love’ — Now this song is a real secret. I’ve only played it live once or twice in my life, but I really love it. I always heard it as a band song with nice distorted guitars and poppy-happy drum loops, which is exactly what it is here. I really love this version, great loops by T.F.

‘Nothing In Between’ — This version has a bass line and doubled guitars.

‘Original Face’ — Another big secret song. This is one of my all time favorites, actually, but I don’t like to hear it without a band. This version isn’t exactly what I want (I’d change pre-choruses), but it’s a great demo, including the Arabian Orchestra we simulated with the synthesizer (I couldn’t afford the real Arabian Orchestra). It’s my nephew’s favorite Stuart song, and the opinion of a person nick-named “Enso” ought to be worth something.

‘Windmills And Wheatfields’ — What’s really sweet here is the squeeze box we laid down. It gives it that red light district Amsterdam-Is-Naughty-And-So-Am-I feel. Nice effects on the vox too.

‘Glimpse’ — An instrumental. I wrote this song as a meditation, there are indeed vocal tracks to it, but no “words” you would recognize. It was part of a breathing exercise I was doing at the time with singing. I think it’s quite beautiful, and has only been performed live maybe two or three times.

Z-.

Some details about why you may want to consider getting the one from Cafepress: The artwork! More of it (art on the disc itself!) and all done for you. And sound quality – even though the downloaded mp3s are stunning quality, the cafepress disc is technically a tad better, according to those who know how it was assembled.

Though the audio difference will not be detectable by human ears, the audio purists among you with super-high-end audiophile ears, may want to spring for the CD.

“And that’s all I have to say about that.”

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