"catalogue 90" - any crowded ceiling

Daniel Prendiville sets the scene...

"Being somewhat keen to explore other avenues of making money through music, I decided to see whether I could write some tracks for possible use in TV commercials or as signature tunes. I spent some time in 1990 (God knows how long. it was sooo long ago now) working up some tracks using Steinberg Pro-24 MIDI sequencing software (which was pretty nifty stuff way back then). I came up with six short pieces, which I recorded using my Roland D110 sound  module, directly onto stereo cassette. I couldn't be bothered coming up with titles for the tracks, since the intention was that their purpose was to be in the background to video images; to be virtually anonymous. So I ended up calling them  'Alpha', 'Beta',  'Gamma', 'Delta' ,'Epsilon' and 'Zeta' after the first six letters of the ancient Greek alphabet. It was my intention to repeat this exercise as an annual event, which is why all the tracks included '90' in their titles. The album would be released on a cassette, that would effectively be a catalogue for my theme -writing prowess. So  can you guess how the album's title came about, then?

"I got a hundred or so copies of the taped duplicated and attempted to send them to Irish film-makers, TV producers and advertising companies. Everything is a bit of a blur at this point, but I don't think I was able to send out the full 100 copies (which probably indicates just how few film-makers etc. there were in Ireland at the time). I seem to recall one film-maker commenting not unfavourably  about the material. But it never came to anything. Ah, me...

"I'd forgotten all about 'Catalogue 90' until the necessity to clear out my briefcase for a business trip to London led me to find the cassette master for the album, which had remained in my briefcase for over 13 years, ever since getting the master back from the duplicating house, in fact.  I wasn't sure whether, after all these years, the cassette would still play. But it did.

"There are some interesting stories about the tracks (well some of them anyway):-

• 'Alpha 90' got featured on a compilation tape issued by the wonderful Danceline Records in 1990 and the track got a rather negative review in Hot Press, which led to a very short exchange of correspondence between the editor of the magazine and yours truly;

• 'Beta 90' was worked up to a full song and was recorded for inclusion in 'Good Riddance', but it didn't feature on the final release, as the singing was atrocious on the recording. The track was pitched too low for my singing voice - everything sounded alright in my head, but  the reality was something rather different. Shame really, because the tune is rather good;

•  Conversely, 'Gamma 90' actually started life as a  song entitled 'A Couple of Photographs' which was the last song I  recorded in my own right  in a "proper" recording studio. The song came out quite well, and I was able to use some nifty string samples of the old reliable Ensoniq Mirage. 'Gamma 90', on the other hand, had the rather crappy synth presets off the D110, and suffers  majorly as a result. Still the tune is spot on. The instrumental passage towards the end of the track bears a very slight resemblance to a tune called 'The Lonesome Boatman' , which was gumming up the Irish charts in the 1980s. If I ever come across the master for 'A Couple of Photographs', I'll release it to the world;

• 'Delta 90' started out as an instrumental track called 'Fortuna' which I used to play to myself on a Casio organ in a draughty bedsit in Dublin back in the 80's. This track, too, was worked up into a song called 'I Used to Be Alive, But I'm Alright Now', which was actually performed live at the infamous  Baggot Inn venue in Dublin. I tried to re-create the Casio's rhythm preset for the track, but not with much success...;

• 'Epsilon 90' came out of the blue. The fact that it sounds like an incredible bad UB40 playing a track of Roxy Music's album 'Avalon' cannot be excused. Nor can the attempt at a 'sax' solo at the end of the track. Those bloody D110 presets...;

• About the best thing one can say about 'Zeta 90' is that the intro bears a passing resemblance to the theme for 'Emmerdale'. What was I thinking?

A word about the sound quality of the tracks. They sound surprisingly good given the primitive circumstances in which they were recorded. Loads of reverb, though. I was going through a Phil Spector phase at the time, so it was reverb with everything.  You have been warned..."

(c) 1990 Christian Yoga Productions / (p) 2003 Reincheque Recordings

Alpha 90 - Beta 90 - Gamma 90 - Delta 90 - Epsilon 90 - Zeta 90