Ulysses

Ulysses - Push You Away
Ulysses - Evening Star

I was never that into apples in stereo - though i'm reconsidering that opinion given how much i usually like robert schneider's (don't call him bob) side projects.

in fact, i always kind of assumed that schneiders commitment was just a fitting counter piece to mangums brilliance - but schneider over time has demonstrated the platitude "slow and steady wins the race". while mangum is more myth than artist today, schneider appears borderline predatory in his work ethic, releasing records like the chinese new year; you're never sure when it is, but it happens every year.

schneider's discography reads like a diary - you can track his whereabouts at any given time by the band he's working on - whereas mangum is more of a campfire story. some say he still haunts the mountain caves of denver colorado - his wails can heard on quiet nights when planes pass too low overhead.

after 2002's (that would be 2003 if my math is correct) Apples record the velocity of sound (which by all accounts is the bands best), schneider apparently left colorado for lexington. while in attendance at a show by local act Big Fresh, schneider approached a couple of the band members (john furgeson, ben fulton) about working on a project. like i said - predatory (or "assertive"... whatever you want to call it). the band added a fourth (robert beatty of Hair Police) and started working on schneiders material.

the 10 tracks on the record were all recorded in schneiders garage within a 4 hour span around a single microphone. the plan was just to capture a sketch of the record then take the band in-studio to cut a finished version. but at the end of the day (figuratively i assume), the band decided that what they had achieved in that 4 hour session represented the best takes of each song, and finished the album using the single-mic sessions.