Soul Work

"The Psychedelic Drifter. Soul Work.
Soul Work on YouTube

The Original Critical Mass on ReverbNation

More Critical Mass mk II pics!

Different shows at Sal's.

One Last Knock

(c) 1984 Karen Suzi Austin and Lee McKee

Tell me what possessed you to open the box deep in your heart
You knew the conditions of the situation were designed
Specifically with you in mind

This evil is free upon the earth and strikes at will
With no regard for human life the beast inside me won't be still
I think he's sharpening his wit

And I can't tell the killers from the ones who wish me well
Just the memories won't bring me back from hell

Since it seems that there's some lesson to be learned
In purging your soul and letting your fingers be burnt
For what it's worth, I'd rather not have opened this discussion

Serious repercussions thrive
I move to the window quite alive
Accusions fly
I hide my eyes


From Critical Mass' second studio effort Strings Attached (1984).

Strings Attached (Fads)

Lyrics (c) 1984 Karen Austin
Music (c) 1984 Andy Austin

I came just for you
Now I take my leave
You did not expect a life time, did you?

Don't know how you do
Know who to believe
When you've only done what blind faith bid you

Check it out!
Ain't it bad?

Fads

The feeling escapes me
But the color's bright
Does it mean to you what it means to me?

It will be flashy
Underneath the lights
Wait... and see...

Check it out!
Ain't it bad?

Fads

I'm just mad about fads

I'll knock you for a loop
Rock you with my hula hoop
Videotape you dancing
To be laughed at by your offspring
Yeah

Check it out!
Ain't it bad?

Fads

I'm just mad about fads
Mad about fads
Aren't you glad the're fads

I'm glad

The title track from Critical Mass' second studio effort Strings Attached (1984).

Immortal

Andrew Austin (c) 1983

A draft in a crack of window
A cold shoulder
A faint smoulder
A withered plant stuck in the snow

The empty trees look skyward
Above the sparrows tracks
Below my windows growing cracks
Beside my father's world war sword

Staring out my frosty portal
Hanging from a rusty gutter
Drip icycles to make me shutter

The empty trees look skyward
Above the sparrows tracks
Below my windows growing cracks
Beside my father's world war sword
He can't remember which one, though

I wish like rain
I could be immortal
Flowing to a sea
Of endless wisdom

From Critical Mass' second studio effort Strings Attached (1984).

Life by an Open Window

Andrew Austin (c) 1983

Cobblestone wet drawing dew down
Dark pools collect all around and reflect
Refracting neon lights and crimson in the night
Gray shadows grow on maudlin glow

A man in an overcoat roams the dim streets
Street lights discreetly fade on with the night
Quietly observing the time line in progress
You can only guess why their lonely

Light penetrating the blanket you're under
Clouds in the distance rumble in the mist
Twilight's movement is forward to dawn
The night is done and you're alone

From Critical Mass' second studio effort Strings Attached (1984).

Death Dealer Update

Work continues on Death Dealer.

Death Dealer reached the final stages of production in late August and was set for a round of critical listening by band members and associates. However, another complete song from the Death Dealer sessions was discovered in early September, a song that carried various names in recordings with the earlier Critical Mass lineup ("Icy Portals," "World War Sword"), but which will appear under the title "Immortal" for this release.

"Immortal" goes straight into "Quietly Passing On," here presented with a different guitar solo than the previously announced version of the song. The previously announced version has been renamed "Quietly Passing On (Grand Reprise)" in honor of the magisterial synthesizer work that appears on it and placed last in the track listing.

The release of the CD has been postponed until a mix of the song is completed, all the tracks are mastered, and the round of critical listening finds participants satisfied with the results.

Mixing the album has been difficult for obvious reasons. The session was originally recorded on a cassette tape using a 4-track machine. Each track was digitized separately, and so syncing tracks has consumed more of my time. I still have more syncing to do. I fear that some of the long-running tracks may never be perfectly synced, but I have split the difference so it is not intolerable. I may divide tracks to deal with the problem more fundamentally. Other problems involve dropout (the tape was more than two decades old at the time of transfer), missing tracks, and awkward track sharing due to the constraints of 4-track recording.

Mastering has been quite difficult, as well, since bass and treble response change with the decomposition of the tape. The transfer process could have perhaps been done better given what I have learned during the process, but the age of the tapes and the amount of work put into the project so far makes starting over virtually prohibitive, although I may at some point give it one more try.

Overall, I think the final product will be the best I can make it and I predict that the listening public won't be dissatisfied. It is a special moment in the history of Critical Mass.

Track Listing:
1. Osiris Arises
2. Death Dealer
3. You're Own Your Own
4. Beneath the Sea
5. She Likes the Night Life
6. Mist
7. Immortal
8. Quietly Passing On
9. In the Name of the Lord
10. Burn Gypsy Town
11. Reflections
12. Quietly Passing On (Grand Reprise)

The Story of Critical Mass Mk I

In the fall of 1983, after leaving Miami, Florida, Andy Austin, formerly of Liquid Rainbow, started college at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He wasted no time in forming a trio with Kip Jarrell, also formerly of Liquid Rainbow, on drums and Sean Perkins on bass. A friend of Andy's, Michael Weiss, was tapped for vocals. Sean left the band to focus exclusively on jazz. Weiss also left. Kurt Wallenhorst, former bassist for Liquid Rainbow, was recruited and the trio began writing songs. Recordings of two songs, "Cry of the Crusaders" and "Icy Portals," survived the years. Kip soon quit to pursue other things.

Andy and Kurt continued working together. Searching for a better sound, Andy bought a black Fender Stratocaster (which he still owns), a Peavey Bandit, and an Ibanez UE-305 (the best foot pedal Andy says he ever owned). He also bought a Drumulator, an early drum machine the Emu corporation introduced in Spring 1983. Inspired by Fripp's League of Gentlemen, Andy and Kurt recorded five quirky songs. Andy enrolled in Jerry Roberts’ classical guitar class. Kurt became busy with other things. Lance Hill, a student of Andy's was tapped to play bass. Andy and Lance recruited country drummer John Pope. Michael Weiss briefly joined as vocalist and served off and on as stage manager. It was at this point that Andy began what he considers to be one of the most creative periods of his music career. They called the band Critical Mass.

Critical Mass entered Haynes House, a 16-track facility on the MTSU campus in 1983. They recorded four songs, "A Real Witch," "Heat of Travel," "Tyranny," and "I Don't See You." "A Real Witch," is a many-layer guitar-only track which obtains its name from the fact that a Wiccan, Andrew Crowl, engineered that session. He blessed the recording by placing a pentagram coin - right side up, of course (Wiccans aren't Satanists, after all) - on the console. This song was used to open Critical Mass live performances.

Andy's sister, Karen, wrote the lyrics and melody for "Heat of Travel." Using the Drumulator, Andy performed the drums on the fly. Karen vocals are featured on the song. "I Don't See You" was a song Andy wrote in the context of Liquid Rainbow and was originally titled "Conquest of the World" (the original version of the song was recorded by Critical Mass only a weeks before in their rehearsal space). "Tyranny" would become a song called "Death Dealer." The lyrics on this early studio version in haste only moments before they were recorded.

Critical Mass quickly developed a following after making the project public and played several high profile gigs during the first half of 1985. They opened for Lust at Mainstreet, performed headline gigs at 12th and Porter and Cantrel's, and drew large crowds at open rehearsals.

Several recordings in addition to the four mentioned exist of this version of Critical Mass. Their first rehearsal yielded three tracks for the upcoming release Icy Portals." They were "Icy Portals," "Conquest of the World," and "Conventional Bliss." The tracks were originally two-track recordings are are the earliest known recording of Critical Mass. There were five songs on the tape altogether, accompanied by a lot of band chatter, tuning, and stops and starts as John was learning the songs. Two of the songs will not released publicly because Andy cannot make out the lyrics and hence can’t enhance them. "Icy Portals" and "Conventional Bliss" had to be pieced together to produce the completed versions.

Various open rehearsals for the bulk of the songs. Icy Portals will be completed using enhanced recordings of "Audio-Visual," etc. All the songs suffer from considerable tape noise (tapes used were of inferior quality), though there is relatively little drop out and no tape swirl. Vocals were overdubbed on all songs in 2008 to render the lyrics clear and audible.

Finally, I need to note that I traded the Drumulator for a Fostex X14, the first 4-track cassette tape recorder, introduced in 1983, some time in the summer of 1984 (see below).

Critical Mass—Widows Walk 1984
1. Break Her Down (Austin)
2. Widows Walk (Austin)
3. Rapid Neuron Firing (Austin)
4. Purple Haze (Hendrix)
5. Osiris Arises/Premeditator (Austin)
6. Lost in Thought/World War Sword (Austin)
7. I Don’t See You (Austin)
8. Rocket Lag (Austin and K. Austin)

Andrew Austin – guitar and vocals
Lance Hill – bass
John Pope - drums

Notes

These songs were extracted from open rehearsals recorded during December 1984. This restoration took place in 2008.

Critical Mass—Strings Attached 1985 (EP)
1. World War Sword (Austin)
2. Strings Attached (Fads) (Austin and K. Austin)
3. Dark Pools Collect (Austin)
4. Stay with Me Tonight (Austin and B. Austin)
5. Rapid Neuron Firing (Austin)

Andrew Austin – guitar, bass, and vocals
John Pope - drums

Notes
These songs represent the first recordings produced using the 4-track Fostex cassette tape recorder. The tracks were laid down after Lance Hill left the band. Critical Mass MI broke up soon after the basic tracks were recorded. This restoration took place in 2008.

Andrew Austin

Spare Happenings 1985
1. A Real Witch (Austin)
2. Elephant Boy (Austin and McKee)
3. The Box (Austin, K. Austin, and McKee)
4. Frogs (Austin and Wallenhurst)
5. Knocking Around (Austin and Wallenhurst)
6. Fading Away (Austin and Wallenhurst)
7. Righteous Shrew (Austin)
8. Kicking Them in Their Shins (Austin, McKee, and Weiss)
9. Elephants (Austin)
10. After the Storm (Coleman and K. Austin)
11. Walls Came Tumbling Down (Coleman and K. Austin)

Andrew Austin – guitar, bass, drums, and vocals
Kurt Wallenhurst – bass, drum machine
Karen Austin – vocals, drum machine
Lee McKee – vocals
Michael Weiss – vocals


Notes
These are recordings come from three periods. Tracks 10 and 11 are the only recordings of Liquid Rainbow I have. Liquid Rainbow was my first band, formed in 1978 and dissolved in 1981. I flirted with using the name for Critical Mass at various times, but decided to leave it in the past. The tracks were recorded in either late 1980 or early 1981. The songs recorded with Wallenhurst are from early 1983, around the time I started Critical Mass. I owned a drum machine produced by the Emu corporation. Kurt, who played bass with me in Liquid Rainbow (my first band) borrowed it and programmed the drums for tracks 3 and 4. The guitar arrangements were improvisations on first listening. The other tracks are from the interim period between Critical Mass mk1 and mk2. Track 2, mostly my sister’s composition, came to me with drums and vocals already recorded. She recorded the drum tracks. I had to tune the guitar to her vocal lines. This restoration took place in 2008.

Critical Mass Photos

Pics of the band (courtesy of Zane Carroll). These were shot at a club called Sals in Nashville, Tennessee, during several shows, February , March, and April, 1986.



Andy Austin



Zane Carroll



Robert McNair



Dylan Vaughn

Death Dealer (1985) Nearing Completion

The restoration of Critical Mass' 1985 album Death Dealer is nearing completion. Samples to be posted soon!

Death Dealer was produced by arguably the band's best line up: Andy Austin on guitar and vocals, Zane Carroll on bass, vocals, and synthesizers, and Dylan Vaughn on drums. The tracks run from state-of-the-art heavy metal - "Death Dealer" and "In the Name of the Lord" - to straight-forward hard rock numbers - "You're On Your Own" and "She Likes the Night Life." With Death Dealer, Critical Mass demonstrates that, while big news around Nashville in its heyday, it was one of the great unknown heavy metal bands of the mid-1980s on the national scene.

The track listing:

Critical Mass Death Dealer (1985)

1. Osiris Arises (1:16)
2. Death Dealer (4:10)
3. Beneath the Sea (3:40)
4. You’re On Your Own (3:30)
5. In the Name of the Lord (5:14)
6. She Likes the Night Life (4:01)
7. Burn Gypsy Town (4:02)
8. Reflections (3:30)
9. Quietly Passing On (1:50)
10. Voices (6:43)

The album was recording on 1/8" analog metal tape using a Fostex 4-track machine (the first 4-track machine using cassette tape) in September 1985 and transferred and edited using Apple's GarageBand3 in 2008. Some parts of the analog tape are damaged, but overall the product sounds far superior to what one might expect from a 23-year-old 1/8" analog metal tape. In fact, it sounds terrific! The final product will reflect hundreds of hours of work, as anybody working with old analog tapes will attest to.

Post production will run through the summer and early fall, with final product release being scheduled sometime in late fall or early winter. Everybody involved is looking forward to it. We'll keep you posted.

Critical Mass: Old School Heavy Metal

Critical Mass is old school heavy metal. The band was formed by Andy Austin (formerly of Liquid Rainbow) in 1983 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (just south-east of Nashville), and disbanded in 1988 (Andy went on to form Numb Skull in 1990). This web page will document the history of the band and provide updates concerning the restoration project of studio and live performance recordings.

Critical Mass produced several analog recordings of its music. These are being digitized, restored, and remixed, with limited contemporaneous tracking. Several album-length CDs are scheduled for production:

A Real Witch (1983)
Audio-Visual (1983)
Live (1984)
Strings Attached (1984)
Death Dealer (1985)
Seize Control (1986)
Take No Prisoners (1988)

Personnel through the years:

Andy Austin guitar, vocals, drum machine (1983-1988)
Karen Austin vocals, drum machine (1983, 1984, 1988)*
Kurt Wallenhorst bass, drum machine (1983)**
Lee McKee vocals (1984)***
Lance Hill bass (1983-1985)
John Pope drums (1983-1985)
Zane Carroll bass, vocals (1985-1986)
Dylan Vaughn drums (1985-1986)
Robert McNair bass, vocals (1986)
Tommy Stotler drums (1988)

* Karen appears on A Real Witch, vocals on "Heat of Travel," Strings Attached, drum machine and vocals on "One Last Knock," and Take No Prisoners, vocals on "One More Dollar."
** Kurt appears on A Real Witch, bass and drum machine on two tracks.
*** Lee appears on Strings Attached, vocals on "One Last Knock" and "Elephant Boy."