Cassette Release 1987

Release date:
1 January 1987
BPM: 138

Guest artist Rik Savering on Ensoniq Piano sample and synth. Samples culled from a Morton Downey Jr. show on white supremacy featuring former KKK leader Tom Metzger.

Do You Think That's True?

Today's dystopic vignette is a loop of Shanghai citizens expressing their lockdown anxiety while a drone-borne announcer implores them to stay inside and close the windows.

“Please comply with covid restrictions. Control your soul’s desire for freedom. Do not open the window or sing.”

Shanghai is Screaming

Contribution to K.O. City Studios 1988 Turn of the Grindstone compilation album and Artware Production's 1989 The Other Sides of Madness double-cassette promo sampler.

BPM: 98

Two slaved Sequential Circuits Pro One synths, a Yamaha TX7, A Roland S-50, and a Siel DK600, played by guest artist Ferd, recorded on a Tascam 8-track RTR.

'Turn of the Grindstone compilation

Vast Listening Audience

Unfinished sketch, late 80s? Drums and bass recorded on a Tascam Portastudio 4-track cassette at Veneman Music with guitar and synth/vox overdubs at home.

BPM:  120

sinking ship sketch

Alternative mix version of "The Dead Zone" on 1990's Compound's Cinema Verité

BPM:  120

Andrew Szava-Kovats: Vocals, lyrics, bass, drums
Lewis Francis: Alternate mix, guitar, strings, synth, Tiananmen Square DC Embassy protest samples, cable TV host samples

Recorded 1989 on Fostex 80 8-track RTR 1/4 tape mailed between Springfield, Va. and Amherst, MA.

Cinema Verité

Compound: The Dead Zone (dry mix)

From Compound's 1990's Cinema Vérité

BPM:  125

Recorded 1989 on Fostex 80 8-track RTR 1/4 tape mailed between Springfield, Va. and Amherst, MA.

Drums, bass/rhythm synths, Andrew Szava-Kovats
Vox, lyrics, synths, samples, mix, Lewis Francis

"Break the mold that has held us back since the beginning"

There is a game we play
One where you cry at something I say
Then you run away
Escape the conflict
But it's not escape

It is a ruse
That first part
That first part of the game

The second part is where I run after you
What happens if I don't follow?
Can I quit the game?

The rules of the game state that I must follow 
The rules state not following means not loving 

I think that love is not a game

I usually follow anyway
Your crying overcomes my reason
 I hate myself for that

We should hold reason in high regard
Instead of drowning it
Instead of drowning in the tears of a runaway emotion

We should hold hold reason in high regard instead of drowning it in the tears of a runaway emotion

Compound: We Should Hold Reason

Recorded on an AudioTechnica 4-track cassette recorder in Annandale, Va. 1983
BPM:  129

Twist:
Vocals: Tommy Lee James
Guitar: Michael Harvey 
Bass: John Combs
Drums: Jim Starboard
Keys, production/engineering: Lewis Francis

Lewis Francis

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