Charlie Crystle: Music

Mockingbirds

I wrote this in 1993 after a lousy breakup--one of those relationships that couldn't possibly be good for anyone but tough to let go. Lots of obtuse references. This recording is the second, recorded in Columbia at Right Coast Studios with Chad Kinsey on guitar, Andy Sinesi on drums, John Freund on organ (amazing sound), and Garry Lee on bass. Produced by Robbie Adams (engineer on Achtung Baby). I used Robbie as an engineer for a record I produced in NY the following year by Marly Hornik, who has since quit the biz.

Download Mockingbirds.MP3

Come Home

I wrote this partly in 1990 when I lived in London; at the time it was called Wembly. Revived it at Smart Studios and rewrote parts of it.

Download come_home.MP3

I really like two things about this--the organ parts (chords by me, pull stops by Chris Walker to get that swirly sound), and the drum parts by Ronny Crawford. That's a single drumset, single take, single drummer, just really nice tasty stuff. He's the most musical drummer I've ever played with--his work with LIsa Loeb and others doesn't reflect how amazing he really is.

Check his stuff out here. http://ronnydrum.com/Home.html

American War

This is a very old song--wrote it in 1989 about our history of turmoil and conflict internally (our internal American War, which is a war of ideas, beliefs, and policy), and then specifically about the first Gulf War and US interventionism in general (3rd verse). Pretty aggressive song, lyrically ok.

The amazing Ronny Crawford on drums, Garry Lee on Bass, Chris Walker on Keys, me on guitars and vocals. Produced by me, Steve Marker and Butch Vig of Garbage at Smart Studios in July 1993, the summer of floods.

Download american_war.MP3