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"garagiste" - daniel prendiville

5 treasures from the musical heritage of Daniel Prendiville, uncovered during a rare visit by him to his garage. 4 of the tracks were recorded on his 4-track Portastudio, while the fifth was recorded straight from the mixing desk to a cassette machine.

The tracks date from 1996, a time when Mr. P. would admit himself that his musical ambitions had pretty much fallen flat. Numerous failed attempts over the years to secure a record deal had left him somewhat disillusioned with music in general, although you'd never think to listen to these tracks. There is a certain joyous playfulness about the tracks, even allowing for the less-than-ideal circumstances surrounding their recording.

"I'd take off early from work and try to wrestle anything vaguely resembling music out of my open E min guitar tuning. And recording the vocal tracks was a terrifying experience...the neighbourhood kids would be playing outside the house and I'd be scared that they'd hear my yodeling and start slagging me," sez Mr. P., perhaps prophesying the reaction that a paying public might have had to his singing on stage, had he copped that elusive deal...

Two of the tracks, DO THE WASHING-UP and AMNESIA INTERNATIONAL will be familiar to those of you who have heard Mr. P's debut album, "tantrum ego", while two of the other tracks are different versions of HUMPTY DUMPTY'S SONG, a poem which features, if memory serves, in Lewis Carroll's "THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS".

" I encountered HUMPTY DUMPTY'S SONG originally when I was daft enough to buy a copy of PALGREAVE'S GOLDEN TREASURY through the Book Club of Ireland. I'm not a great fan of poetry, personally, but I reckon it must have been the first page that fell open when I got the book, and I was immediately taken by the sheer lunacy and unfinished quality of the words. Somehow I was inspired (steady on there, m'man - Ed.) to come up with a rhythm and overall musical style that reminded me vaguely of artists like Can, Captain Beefhart and Stump. I decided to do a number of improvisations of the track, and the two most memorable versions, as far as I'm concerned, are featured on the CD. Since they're improvisations that will never be bettered by me due to my limited musical capabilities, they appear on the CD or else they moulder in the garage. And I'm not that much of a bastard..."

PAGEANT was written as a soundtrack for a pageant that was to form part of an arts and culture festival in Nenagh around 1995/96. While the festival went ahead, the pageant never materialised. "Probably just as well, the sound quality of the finished track is fairly rough and ready. Still, it's an interesting piece of music, and one which could be revived fairly easily were a Mr. Moneybags to require some ambient music for a film or TV programme."

As if...:-)

Humpty Dumpty's Song - Best Version - Pageant - Do the Washing-Up - Amnesia International - Humpty Dumpty's Song - Original Jam Version