Track listing
Show track credits
- A1 Jazz Clone Clown 4:00
- A2 Jonathan Toledo 10:10
- A3 Smoke Another Cigarette 4:19
-
saxophone
-
- A4 Soldier's Room 3:34
- A5 Word of Honor 4:11
- B1 Anna-41-Box 10:33
- B2 Tamara Told Me 4:32
- B3 Living in the Valley of Pain 11:19
- B4 Stand in Winter 5:32
-
lead guitar
-
- Total length: 58:10
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This is not a review. I was the bass player for the Toll, and several members here suggested that I post this story as a review after I shared it with them.
I'm just sort of revisiting/reliving the recording to Price Of Progression recently, since it turns 20 this year, and I thought it might be interesting to some people.
The biggest single chunk of the 'Price Of Progression' budget (other than the producers' fees and studio cost) was the tape cost. This was recorded in 1988, and everything was still recorded to tape. Producers Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, knowing that there would be a lot of improvisation going on to capture the narratives, bought a lot of 2-inch tape, and even at that we ended up going overbudget on it, as a reel of 2-inch only lasts for about 15 minutes.
The main room at Bearsville Studios in near Woodstock, New York was huge, and if you imagine a large gym with a window at one end, you've got the concept. The ceiling, as I remember, was higher than a gym would've been. The drums were set up nearest the control room, and Brett's back was to the control room window. I stood by the drums, a bit farther from the window, and with my back to the wall on the right (as you looked out from the control room), and my bass rig was set up upstairs somewhere so the sound would be isolated. They built a vocal isolation booth in the middle of the room but on the opposite wall from me, and it had a few windows so we could see Brad, as we relied on both visual and vocal cues during the narratives. Rick was in the far end with his amps set up in an isolated area, but it was partly open so he could get in and get the guitar/amp interaction so he could get feedback when he needed to. It was important to keep the vocal booth isolated enough from the room sounds so Brad's vocals would be usable. Normally, this would be a scratch vocal or guide vocal to be replaced later, but with the band coming in on Brad's vocal cues in the beginning, it was important to have all his vocals recorded so they could be kept. Obviously, the narratives had to be kept as a complete package, as the interplay between voice and instrument would be impossible to fake later.
We all had these little stands that sat about 2-1/2 feet high with a headphone amplifier on it. They had a small mixing capability to them, so we could each dial in the instruments so we could hear what we needed. The drums were all on one dial, bass, guitars and Brad's vocals each had their own. There were several 1/4 plugs on them, so more than one set of headphones could be plugged in. They called them R2s, obviously after the Star Wars robots. I remember being kinda proud that, after Barbiero walked around and plugged into each of our units to hear what we were keying on, my mix was deemed the best.
We had already run one pass on Pain, but stopped for some reason or other before we got through the main body of the song. Not wanting to lose the energy we had going, T&B told us to start again right away as we hadn't used much of the tape.
It was going great, and I remember thinking that this might be 'the one', when, towards the end of the narrative, my headphones started to come off. I used to keep tempo with my head and neck as much as I did with anything else, and I was shaking them off. I tried to keep them on with my shoulder, because my cue to lead back into the last chorus was Brad's last 'Rain meets the river' twice and then 'Everybody's going insane!' If I couldn't hear that, I wouldn't be able to build into the last chorus and could kill a great take.
Because of this I didn't see Thompson in the control waving frantically at Brad.
I remember thinking that he moved kind of abruptly from the narrative into the closing, but I was kind of relieved. I shook the headphones off and followed the drums the rest of the way, as once we were in the last chorus it was going to be a normal chorus.
As we walked out of the studio, the mood in the control room was ecstatic. Thompson highfived each of us as we walked in. He just kept saying 'That was close!'
As they ran the playback, and we knew it was the keeper, we figured out what Thompson was talking about. Not 15 seconds after the song stopped, the tape came off the reel and ended. We were that close to losing the take.
If you have read this but haven't heard the song, PM me and I'll send you a link if you're interested.
I'm just sort of revisiting/reliving the recording to Price Of Progression recently, since it turns 20 this year, and I thought it might be interesting to some people.
The biggest single chunk of the 'Price Of Progression' budget (other than the producers' fees and studio cost) was the tape cost. This was recorded in 1988, and everything was still recorded to tape. Producers Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, knowing that there would be a lot of improvisation going on to capture the narratives, bought a lot of 2-inch tape, and even at that we ended up going overbudget on it, as a reel of 2-inch only lasts for about 15 minutes.
The main room at Bearsville Studios in near Woodstock, New York was huge, and if you imagine a large gym with a window at one end, you've got the concept. The ceiling, as I remember, was higher than a gym would've been. The drums were set up nearest the control room, and Brett's back was to the control room window. I stood by the drums, a bit farther from the window, and with my back to the wall on the right (as you looked out from the control room), and my bass rig was set up upstairs somewhere so the sound would be isolated. They built a vocal isolation booth in the middle of the room but on the opposite wall from me, and it had a few windows so we could see Brad, as we relied on both visual and vocal cues during the narratives. Rick was in the far end with his amps set up in an isolated area, but it was partly open so he could get in and get the guitar/amp interaction so he could get feedback when he needed to. It was important to keep the vocal booth isolated enough from the room sounds so Brad's vocals would be usable. Normally, this would be a scratch vocal or guide vocal to be replaced later, but with the band coming in on Brad's vocal cues in the beginning, it was important to have all his vocals recorded so they could be kept. Obviously, the narratives had to be kept as a complete package, as the interplay between voice and instrument would be impossible to fake later.
We all had these little stands that sat about 2-1/2 feet high with a headphone amplifier on it. They had a small mixing capability to them, so we could each dial in the instruments so we could hear what we needed. The drums were all on one dial, bass, guitars and Brad's vocals each had their own. There were several 1/4 plugs on them, so more than one set of headphones could be plugged in. They called them R2s, obviously after the Star Wars robots. I remember being kinda proud that, after Barbiero walked around and plugged into each of our units to hear what we were keying on, my mix was deemed the best.
We had already run one pass on Pain, but stopped for some reason or other before we got through the main body of the song. Not wanting to lose the energy we had going, T&B told us to start again right away as we hadn't used much of the tape.
It was going great, and I remember thinking that this might be 'the one', when, towards the end of the narrative, my headphones started to come off. I used to keep tempo with my head and neck as much as I did with anything else, and I was shaking them off. I tried to keep them on with my shoulder, because my cue to lead back into the last chorus was Brad's last 'Rain meets the river' twice and then 'Everybody's going insane!' If I couldn't hear that, I wouldn't be able to build into the last chorus and could kill a great take.
Because of this I didn't see Thompson in the control waving frantically at Brad.
I remember thinking that he moved kind of abruptly from the narrative into the closing, but I was kind of relieved. I shook the headphones off and followed the drums the rest of the way, as once we were in the last chorus it was going to be a normal chorus.
As we walked out of the studio, the mood in the control room was ecstatic. Thompson highfived each of us as we walked in. He just kept saying 'That was close!'
As they ran the playback, and we knew it was the keeper, we figured out what Thompson was talking about. Not 15 seconds after the song stopped, the tape came off the reel and ended. We were that close to losing the take.
If you have read this but haven't heard the song, PM me and I'll send you a link if you're interested.
Published
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It took me numerous listens to this one to really wrap my head around it. The Toll are a band that eat ambition for breakfast. I can think of few other bands that manage to weave 10 minute+ narratives that manage to be contain both a sense of mystery and yet remain interesting and captivating. This reference point here is Jim Morrison's flights of fancy, but Brad Circone's Alice Cooper-infected storytelling comes off considerably better than Morrison at his most verbose. The infamous single "Jonathan Toledo" is the definite highlight here, spinning a complex tale of colonialism and consumerism.
Unfortunately, the shorter songs are less interesting and they seem constrained by their runtimes, and yeah, this does have a bit of a sterile '80s sheen to it. Yet this is a record ahead of its time, and although not entirely my cup of tea, deserves to be discovered and uncovered as a cult classic.
Unfortunately, the shorter songs are less interesting and they seem constrained by their runtimes, and yeah, this does have a bit of a sterile '80s sheen to it. Yet this is a record ahead of its time, and although not entirely my cup of tea, deserves to be discovered and uncovered as a cult classic.
Published
Started out aping U2, then regresses to the pretentious side of Jim Morrison. Hasn't worn well over time. Sorry guy's. What were we thinking, seeing them so many times. Thanks for the liner note mention though.
Published
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Catalog
26 Jun 2022
31 Mar 2022
29 Mar 2022
14 Nov 2020
15 Oct 2018
19 Jun 2018
4 May 2018
7 Apr 2017
27 Mar 2017
-
A1
Jazz Clone Clown
-
A2
Jonathan Toledo
-
A3
Smoke Another Cigarette
-
A4
Soldier's Room
-
A5
Word of Honor
-
B1
Anna-41-Box
-
B2
Tamara Told Me
-
B3
Living in the Valley of Pain
-
B4
Stand in Winter
2 Feb 2015
15 Nov 2013
20 May 2013
21 Jul 2012
7 Nov 2011
24 May 2011
| . | . | . | . |
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