Wahray and Soul Songs

   Song  Year Length Track
 7 To 8 Then Back To 6 Again 1988  2:43  Bonus
 A Lot of These Things 1988  3:18    3
 A Shock To the System 1991  2:57   31
 A Snowy Day In April 1989  4:14  Bonus
 Alright! 1991  3:01  Bonus
 And So It Goes 1990  2:16  Bonus
 Another Lazy Sunday 1991  2:41  Bonus
 Ballad of a Big Breasted Bimbo 1991  3:42   26
 Best Shot 1990  3:27   21
 Black Jack 1991  5:03  Bonus
 Blue Flowers and Beige Towers     1989  5:24   13
 Blue Frog 1991  2:03  Bonus
 Can’t Get Back 1987  3:24    2
 Concrete and Mustard 1989  3:39  Bonus
 Dark Side Suite 1989  8:35    9
 The Deer With the Golden Eye 1988  6:30    5
 Diamond Ships 1989  4:55   12
 The Difference Between 1995  4:24   35
 Disagree 1989  4:15   18
 Discouragement 1989  5:09   11
   Song  Year Length Track
 Don’t Look Back 1993  5:55   34
 Dry Water 1989  1:32   14
 End Result the Same 1991  3:32  Bonus
 Everything I Forgot 1991  4:19   32
 Fear 1992  3:05  Bonus
 Fire On the Mountain 1991  4:00  Bonus
 The French Toast Affair 1995  4:28   38
 The Fountain 1995  4:00  Bonus
 Free 1988  3:25    6
 Get Together 1989  3:46   15
 Got To Abide By the Rules If You Want to Play     1989  3:22   19
 The Gift 1988  2:40  Bonus
 Girl 1995  3:30  Bonus
 Green Dog 1991  2:35  Bonus
 Heart 1991  3:01  Bonus
 Hopeless 1989  3:36  Bonus
 I Think I’m Losing My Brain     1987  3:02    1
 I Need Her Bad 1989  2:58   17
 It’s Hip To Live In Disgrace 1990  4:15   22
   Song  Year Length Track
 Jennifer 1991  3:17   25
 Kill the Monster! 1988  3:47  Bonus
 King Of the Hill 1991  3:27   28
 Loneliness 1989  4:06   10
 Love In a Pocketbook 1990  4:25  Bonus
 MCMXC 1990  1:45  Bonus
 The Miracle of Surprise 1989  1:54  Bonus
 Mixed Signals 1991  2:43   29
 Mrs. McCleary’s Farm 1990  3:42  Bonus
 Noise 1991  2:16  Bonus
 The Object 1993  2:27  Bonus
 The Old Man 1989  4:38  Bonus
 Olive Hill 1990  2:04  Bonus
 Pressure 1990  2:13   24
 Rabbit Food 1989  4:23  Bonus
 Ric Is Dead, Long Live the Snake 1992  6:17  Bonus
 Rock 1994  6:54  Bonus
 Run 1992  3:31   33
 Sex, Drugs, Rock n Roll 1988  4:14  Bonus
   Song  Year Length Track
 Someday     1988  3:33    7
 Springtime 1989  4:39    8
 Sweet Judy Brown 1989  2:15  Bonus
 Take It As It Comes 1995  4:57   39
 The Telephone 1989  3:16   16
 Things May Never Be the Same 1995  7:43  Bonus
 Try Again 1992  5:30  Bonus
 Under the Appletree 1988  1:49  Bonus
 Used To Be 1995  4:11   37
 What Comes Around, Goes Around 1990  3:18   23
 What Do I Have to Do? 1994  3:34  Bonus
 When It All Falls Down 1990  3:19  Bonus
 Whenever I’m Near You 1995  4:15   36
 Wild Child 1991  5:11   30
 Wilderness 1990  2:02   20
 Witches 1987  3:41  Bonus
 You Drive Me Mad 1991  4:36   27
 You Will Regret This 1989  2:11  Bonus

 
 

The Evolution of Noise Album       More on Wahray and Soul

Wahray and Soul

The Evolution of Noise Album       List of All Wahray and Soul Songs

 
The Evolution of Noise, 1987-1995The analog recording process has all gone the way of the horse and buggy, so it may be a good time to reflect back on this recently past age. With this realization, producer Ric Albano has decided to finally release the many semi-professional, analog recordings he made close to a quarter century ago with The Evolution of Noise, 1987-1995 by Wahray and Soul.

These recordings of original songs were all made in an attic “studio”, on a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder. There is alot of trial and error, experimentation, and development of technical proficiancy along the way.
 

Suggested Listening
Someday (1988)
Blue Flowers & Beige Towers (1989)
The Telephone (1989)
I Need Her Bad (1989)
It’s Hip to Live In Disgrace (1990)
When It All Falls Down (1990)
Ballad Of a Big Breasted Bimbo (1991)
Everything I Forgot (1991)
Run (1992)
Don’t Look Back (1993)
The Difference Between (1995)
The French Toast Affair (1995)

 

Animal Society Songs

   Song  Year Length Track Notes
 Believe 2009  4:04 Bonus Imaginary Lines Cover
 California 2009  5:32   1 First Band Composition
 Change You Can Believe In 2009  4:50  10  
 Changes 2008  3:47 Bonus David Bowie Cover
 Emily In Her Day 2009  7:10   5  
 Emily (Edit 4) 2009  5:16 Bonus Unused Portion of Suite
 From the Beginning 2009  4:37 Bonus E.L.P. Cover
 Gnarled Visions 2010  1:12   3  
 The Lion 2009  5:21   8
 Love, Crime & Paradigm 2009  5:04   7  
   Song  Year Length Track Notes
 Matt’s Hat 2010  3:09   9  
 Matt’s Hat (Live) 2010  4:14 Bonus  
 Pitch Black Noon 2009  2:48 Bonus Unfinished Song
 Say No More 2009  3:48   4 Based on The Telephone
 Sol’s Lament 2010  0:50   6  
 Stone 2010  3:27 Bonus Unfinished Studio Track
 Vieux Carre 2006  2:43   2  
 We’ve Gotta Get Outta This Place 2010  3:12 Bonus Animals Cover
 Wild Child 2009  2:28 Bonus Doors Cover

 
 

Animal Society Album       More on Animal Society

Animal Society

Animal Society in 2009Animal Society was formed in October 2008 by Matt Roy, Erik Trabert, and Ric Albano. Matt and Ric had been jamming together for several months with Matt on drums and Ric on keyboards, but soon found this arrangement was very limited in potential and scope. So Erik, a co-worker, was asked to come to one of their “jam” sessions to see if they could come with anything interesting. They did and the band was born.

The name Animal Society stemmed from an argument between Ric and Matt over whether, in fact, animals (non-human) could actually form a society. Although the argument was never settled, the name stuck.

In those earliest days, the band worked on covers from such classic rock staples as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Rush, The Kinks, The Animals, and Pink Floyd, as they were each big fans of this genre. On the flip side, the band also played covers of more non-conventional acts such as Widespread Panic, Cheap Trick, Men at Work, The White Stripes, and Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. This reflected the deep diversity within band that would grow over time to make Animal Society a very unique and interesting group.

This diversity is present on several different levels within the band. In musical background, Erik and Matt had a bit of structured and formal training, while Ric is nearly 100% self-taught. In age, there is now currently a member of the band in his twenties, his thirties, and his forties. And then there’s politics – Ric is fairly conservative, while Matt is fairly liberal, and Erik, well, he believes that politics itself is an evil concept planted in our minds by a sinister galactic overlord.

With this diverse selection of cover songs and the difficult vocals styles of favored bands such as Rush and Zeppelin, the band sought a fourth potential member to provide lead vocals as well as additional instrumentation. But, as time went by, no one suitable for these duties was found and the band eventually decided to continue as a trio, which meant cutting back on some of the more ambitious covers.

Also, after several months of working on covers, the band decided to start working on originals. The first of these were some adaptations of Imaginary Lines songs, such as “Tommy’s Got a Gun”, as Ric was still working on that project through 2008 and 2009. Eventually, though, it was agreed among the band that they would find their own distinct sound for Animal Society and develop exclusive originals. This process was slow at first, as each member came in with ideas, hooks, riffs, and, beats and matching these together into a cohesive composition was initially difficult.

In June, 2009, the band completed its first song, “California”, built from a bass/drum riff by Ric and Matt, a chorus by Erik, a mid-section anchored by Matt’s frantic drumbeat and Erik’s psychedelic-surf guitar lead, and lyrics by Ric. It was a true collaboration that was interesting and unique and a preview of many other Animal Society songs that were composed in 2009 and 2010.

Animal Society’s first public performance was on July 18, 2009 in Zion Grove, PA at a graduation party for Ric’s eldest son. The gig consisted of two sets made mostly of cover songs along with “California” and a few original “jams”. At the request of Ric, the band rehearsed and performed several songs just for this special occasion, including songs by Oasis, Stealers Wheel, and The Doors.

Later that summer, on August 22nd, the band played the “No Regrets” benefit at Gullifty’s Underground in Camp Hill, Pa. This would prove to be the first of several benefit shows that the band would donate their talents to, including Dollars for Diane 33 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa in January, 2010 and Sound Off for Vets in Harrisburg, Pa. in June, 2010.

Animal Society Album, 2010After composing new material through much of the winter (2009-10), the band went to Saturation Acres recording studio on the first day of spring, March 20, 2010, to record their debut album with legendary music man, Bret Alexander. In a single, exhausting day, the band recorded ten original songs from scratch, nine of which would be included on the Animal Society’s debut album, Any Atomic Lies.

Originally scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2010, internal disagreements ensued and the project was halted before publication and Animal Society disbanded in late 2010. Cygnus Wave published the mixes of the songs as they were in December 2010, presented as the eponymous album Animal Society. This album contains a diverse selection of truly original songs that cross the boundaries from rock to pop to folk to country to jazz to funk to some things that are just not easily categorized.

Hormoans

Not One of You Album

Hormoans 1981An authentic “new wave” band from the early 1980s, Hormoans offered cutting edge, original material to Central PA at a time when most acts where strictly cover. This approach brought them a respectable measure of success, including several gigs in legendary venues such as CBGB’s in New York City.

In December, 1981, the band recorded a few dozen tracks made up of their original compositions along with original “translations” of some standard material. Unfortunately, the band broke up soon thereafter and these recordings remained “lost” for over a quarter century. Finally in 2008, these recordings were remastered and produced to form the Cygnus Wave album Not One of You. This 13-track release preserves the energy and Hormoans sound for the future.

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