"And though the sky is what I wish I saw, I'll settle for your memory"
---More Heat Than Light
This album is not a concept album. While the last few recordings we have done, have revolved around a central searchlight, this one does not. It seems more like memory itself, layered and fragmented, sliding slowly from one sensation to another. It is an album made out of pieces of conversations half-remembered, towns forgiven and tears forgotten, blurry polaroid pictures of old friends, and soundtracks found waiting along a curve in the road.
It is an eclectic collection of songs. That was purposeful. Many albums these days seem as though they are the same song rehashed over and over, the same micro-sound experiment, spit out into ten interchangeable pieces. Recent musical fashion has not been kind to eclecticism. In the past, that wasn't so much the case. Most of the albums we loved when were growing up, shot out in many different directions. You didn't always know what was coming next. In this respect, maybe "Ended Up A Stranger" is a bit nostalgic.
Such an effect does not have to be haphazard. A collection of songs can be a zig zag, bending and turning, while remaining part of an unbroken line. Memories are like that also, distinct in their voices but still somehow chained to each other.
We recorded the album in Seattle during April and May of this year. The basic sessions were co-produced by the band and Larry Crane, the splendid engineer who was responsible for recent recordings by the Go-Betweens, Sleater-Kinney and Quasi. After these first two weeks, we took the album back to our home studios for a month, where we did most of the overdubbing. In the end, our collaborator from "Trail Of Stars," Phill Brown, came to Seattle for the mix. Phill is a bit of a legend, and has been involved in projects with Roxy Music, Talk Talk (the late period), Led Zeppelin, Kristen Hersh, Midnight Choir and countless others.
When we made this album, we tried to keep things moving. We didn't always worry about rounding things off. Even in the slow songs, we tried to keep sparks of energy. Spontaneity played a big role. Nothing arrived fully formed, and we spent a lot of time experimenting with textures and nuances, often finding ourselves at the end of blind alleys. But the rule was not to over think things. I guess we trusted we would eventually find our way back to something that we liked.
We tried to bring each song to an individual conclusion, not worrying so much about uniformity and consistency of style. Style is strange. What starts out as a freedom, often ends up as a prison.
Part of the album's reach, definitely comes from the fact that the songwriting effort was more spread out this time. In addition to the songs that I wrote, Glenn composed the two instrumental pieces ("Mary Edwards" and "Incidento") and Carla wrote the music for one song ("More Heat Than Light") and co-wrote the words for two songs ("More Heat Than Light" and "Lest We Forget").
Terri Moeller, our longtime drummer, rejoined the band for this project. Joe Skyward, a veteran of the "Train Leaves At Eight" sessions, played bass. The combination felt like a good match of new energy and shared experience.
Many other musicians contributed to this recording (including a string quartet and a brass section). Anne Marie Ruljancich played violin and sang. Kevin Suggs played pedal steel guitar. Mary Lorson (Saint Low, Madder Rose) played piano and sang. Brian Young (Posies, Fountains Of Wayne) played percussion. David Michael Curry and Paul Austin (Willard Grant Conspiracy) contributed viola and baritone guitar respectively. Matt Cameron, the drummer from Pearl Jam, played Moog synthesizer.
Glenn's 11 year-old daughter Fern even played keyboards on her father's instrumental, "Incidento." I think this alone says something about the spirit of the sessions.
Possibly I should comment on the title of the album. "Ended Up A Stranger" could refer to the loss of heart and home, and the confusion that memory lays upon us. A day may come, when you no longer recognize the dream that is yourself.
But there is also another possible meaning to the title. Not all loss is tragic. In terms of The Walkabouts music, after so many years of being a band, we have indeed become strangers to many of the musical places and ideas we started with.
That is fine. It was an adventure and privilege to make this album, and we are intrigued by the new place we find ourselves.
---Chris Eckman; Ljubljana, August 2001
Glenn Slater: analog synthesizers, piano, organ, string arrangements
Carla Torgerson: vocals, guitars, tapes
Chris Eckman: vocals, guitars, keyboards, samples
Terri Moeller: drums, percussion
Joe Skyward: bass guitar
"Ended Up A Stranger" was produced by The Walkabouts with Larry Crane and Phill Brown
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