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.
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.
