Recorded to 8 tracks of ADAT as Adam repeatedly hammered his fists on the console, swearing \"god damn it I need Pro Tools!\" Despite sync problems, the sessions were relatively fun.
This was still Adam's house, before he moved his studio to Parasol, and then back to his house again. Despite Adam's tendency toward hermit crab, everyone seemed to drop by during the sessions. Dawna Nelson and Jay Bennett appear simply because they happened to drop in. (Admittedly, there was a longstanding plot to get Jay's 1986 Urbana Junior High School faculty picture in a liner notes with as little effort as possible.)
\"Sticks and Stones\" arrived in 1998, during a summer I spent studying for the bar exam and consequently being Very Aware and Not Drinking A Lot but instead Playing A Lot Of NerfHoop while Reciting Mnemonic Devices. From the \"Gypped by Gyne\" sessions I still had Henry Frayne's Rickenbacker 12-string — an instrument that demanded to be played, and made magic from simple structures. Four of us (Dave Cialkowski, Jake Brookman & Brendan Gamble) worked it out in Brendan's basement while practicing for CMJ 1998 (we played at Rodeo Bar on an all-womyn's line-up).
I don't remember the appearance of the other songs. The album was finished in late 2000. The previous album was Spring 1998. So to the extent that it was personal, The Partial Shebang chronicles 1998-2000. Thematic (millennium) songs are the focus, and brunt of the record. The Cacophone Bell, Doomsday Machine, Remember the 19s, Sevens & Nines, Beta Babies and Nova Millenial visit this theme. Vim, Sticks and Stones, Esther Rolle and Careering retrospect a sharp relief: Sometimes sober reflection, sometimes atonement, sometimes cautionary advice; there's a learning from our past mistakes. It's hard to think futuristic without acknowledging learned lessons.
By the way, when this album came out, everyone was thinking futuristic. We were an optimistic people at the turn of the century. It's hard to describe how much freer everything felt then. September 11 killed 3,000 people, but the militaristic response, the enforced patriotism, the huge spending changed America. When this album was recorded, we were hopeful, excited.
I don't expect to record a better album than this one.
