Practice Makes Perfect

This album comprises many different production styles- from full-out rock band stuff like “Leftover Dreams” and “Cornsilk” to just guitar and voice songs like “Practice makes Perfect” and “Love Comes Apart”.

In most of my projects, there is a unifying mood. I often record a bunch of stuff over several months (that is, quickly), representing a particular approach. Rubato is a good example. Home Isn’t Home is another. But that’s not what’s happening here.

In the late 80’s and through the 1990’s I was working at various recording studios in Boston and San Francisco as a producer and engineer, recording all kinds of acts. I had good relationships with the studio owners, and they would let me use the space during slow times for almost nothing. In this way, over the years, I recorded songs in a catch-as-catch-can way. Since this took place over different periods of my life, I was making different kinds of music, and the songs could be very different from each other.

Because of this, let’s go over some of the pieces on Practice Makes Perfect as individual statements.

“Companion”, for instance, has three French horns. I wrote the parts by improvising ‘horn parts’ on a synth, then wrote out sheet music parts from that. Eric Achen (a great symphonic horn player) realized them for me at Synchro Sound in San Francisco- a great studio now long gone. This experiment turned out to be one of my favorite pieces, but was not part of any larger idea.

“A Deeper Sense of the Seasons” and “Cornsilk” were recorded as a set, at Sierra West Studios in Canyon, CA-- another studio long disappeared-- where I worked from 1986 into the early 2000’s. Both tunes have similar rock roots styles.

I love the Hammond B3 organ parts played by the intense and larger than life Grace Garne, who could (I guess) never play the same thing twice. Each take was unique, so I never knew when to say ‘when’. In those pre-computer days, recording a new take meant erasing the last one, so I had to choose with care. Sonically, they sound more beastly and real than any synth patch (the common modern substitute) ever could.

I wanted to create a ‘band vibe’ and so hired a bassist, drummer, and organist to all play (and be paid) all at once while I tried to engineer, produce, play rhythm guitar and sing simultaneously. The pressure almost killed me, but here I am. From that session, the bass parts did not work out, and I erased and replayed them all myself later. Drummer Jimmy Sanchez did great on “Seasons”, but refused to play the ‘Cornsilk” drum pattern I asked for, insisting the offbeat high-hat idea was a ‘drum machine thing’ (it was). Later, Phil Thompson sat down and replaced Jimmy’s part with a shrug, nailing it perfectly.

These two songs hang together and, once again, belong only to themselves.

“Leftover Dreams” is the exact same cut as the title song of the cassette album. I included it on this CD because I love it and I wanted it released on more than a cassette. Bassist Mac Stanfield and lead guitarist Steve Fredette of Scruffy the Cat fame, together with my friend, multi-talented Simon Ritt on drums, formed an excellent pop-up band. The tracking was produced by Glenn Beauchemin. The organ was overdubbed later- in yet another studio!- by friend and jazz guitarist Frank Singer.

“Practice Makes Perfect” originally had bass, more guitars, and string synthesizers. This version is just guitar and voice: perhaps a better way to showcase the loneliness of the song than all that rigmarole. A careful listener will detect the guitar reaching an octave lower than any guitar actually can. I painstakingly added a very simple electric bass, shadowing the bass strings of the guitar part to deepen the sound and fill it out.

“Deep Shade” was derived, interestingly enough, from the same drum pattern as “Cornsilk”, even though the final impressions of the two songs are very different. One night I improvised the entire song on guitar while the pattern played quietly into my headphones. The whole composition was there immediately- that never happened to me before! My next job was to write it out and learn to play it properly. I also learned to play harmonica for this- and then never picked up the instrument again.

I played everything on “Deep Shade”, and then for the final touch, the incredible John Santos overdubbed all the percussion, except for me on ‘bass drum’ (added after John)-- actually me gently tapping my fingertip on a suitcase and then turning it WAY up. Voila!

“Love Song to Myself” and “Love Comes Apart” were written by Adina Sara, and “River Stone” was written by Christie McCarthy. These songs were included as an ode to these two extraordinary women who I had the privilege of producing- Adina in the early 90’s, and Christie in 2005. I loved these songs. Like “Practice Makes Perfect” they were recorded in the minimalist style I was experimenting with in the mid 2000’s that would eventually develop into the production approach I describe in notes for Home Isn’t Home and elsewhere.

So these songs hang together only because they all came from me during this long period of experimentation.

Thanks for reading!
Mark Lemaire Nov 2023