Having finished 'West Of The Rest' in early 2009, producer Ben Morgan and I decided it was time to bring the back catalogue up to

the technical and performance levels we had attained with the new album.

The first step was to remix and remaster the albums 'Gone West' and 'All This', recorded in 1994 and 1998 respectively, thus creating '20th Century Squirrels'.

It was a joy to work on these recordings again and especially, for me, to listen in wonder to my dear, departed friend, drummer, Colin Snell.

THE SONGS

Me and My Uncle

From 'Gone West'

This song was written by John Phillips of the Mamas and Papas and is a cautionary tale of blood being thinner than greed.

It was much covered by the Grateful Dead from whom I learned it in the early seventies.

Massed guitars and 2 bass players (spot the edit).

Boxcar Blues

From 'Gone West'

Butch Hancock wrote this reality tale for Texas country great Joe Ely and we jazz it up with the support of Rhythm Doctors

bassist Dave 'Lo-cost' Lucas and 3 guitarists !

Added Hammond organ on this version

Brass Buttons

From 'Gone West'

A wonderful Bob Buchanan song written for Gram Parsons, this features a pedal steel to satisfy my long felt desire so to do.

Jess Carter plays drums on this cut and Tony Roach is the pedal steel player.

Added piano on this version

All This

From 'All This'

This sees me dreaming of what might be. But, of course, things turned out differently as they often do. (See Tap)

Added Hammond and piano, re-recorded vocals and an extra verse

Mexico

From 'All This'

One of my earliest songs, this was written in California in 1976 and tells of an incredibly drunken trip I made to Tijuana with a band

I was working for at the time. (Oh alright then, it was the Tubes) Standout trumpet by Rhythm Doctors ace Jerri Hart

Added Hammond

Tap

From 'All This'

This was inspired by a night when I was playing a gig and watching a girl I liked getting off with someone else. Not recommended!

Jazz waltz lifted by inspired saxophones from Jimmy Cannon. Added Hammond on this version

Love Fades Away

From 'Time to Remember'

Although recorded later this was written just after the recording of 'All This' hence its inclusion here

A bit of a rock'n'roll thumper this features Pip Harbon on drums. Lyrically a line is drawn through my third and probably last marriage.

Added pedal steel and re-recorded bass

Running

From 'All This'

Written in 1982 this song was never recorded to my satisfaction until now (2009)

The drums are the only survivor from the earlier attempt, everything else added by me for this album.

Lyrics self explanatory !

She Don't Care About Time

From 'All This'

An early Squirrels live favorite, this song was written for the Byrds by Gene Clarke in 1965 and our version features wicked slide from Matt Exelby, and crunch rhythm from me. Awesome BV's from Matt and Greg Thomas. The recording of BV's by these two throughout the original album provided us with more hilarity than I can convey. The outtakes still exist. You have been warned!

Added Hammond

Karma

From 'All This'

Penned as a Waterboys B-side by Mike Scott, this is rip roaring rock and roll.

Drummer Colin Snell provides the unfortunate verbal coda.

Added Hammond

THE MUSICIANS

TECHNICAL

The improvements made were mostly in the mastering due to the vastly better equipment now available

but we were also able to add quality Hammond B3 and piano parts.

Virtual instruments were not even a dream when these recordings were originally made.

Tracks 1.2 & 3 were rescued from cassette, there being no surviving multitracks.

Produced by John Greene & Ben Morgan

Engineered by Ben Morgan

Artwork & Photos by arteden48