Hope​.​.​.

by Blackhouse

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Jay Pee Bee
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1.
Hope Like A Candle 01:57
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2.
#11 02:34
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3.
What Do You Know About Me? 01:45
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4.
Roger Wasn't... 05:24
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5.
Let Me Count The Ways 04:23
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6.
Rhythmus 03:19
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7.
Mercy Seat 01:50
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8.
The 2 Classes Of People 02:23
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9.
Be Good 05:32
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10.
Pro-Life 02:58
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11.
Long Live Life 03:50
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12.
30 Seconds To 00:30
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13.
Infinity 30:00
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about

When I recorded "Hope Like A Candle" I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I had a stereo cassette recorder... I had 2 tiny 4 in/1 out mixers... I had a couple "Y" cords.... a drum box... a fuzz tone and two microphones... a tiny synthesizer... and a radio. Somehow I took all that junk and made an album. I did it in real time. I did it live. It was all improvisation except for a few texts that I had prepared ahead of time. It takes about 38 minutes to listen to it - it took 45 minutes to record it. I'd set up a drum beat I liked, arrange the two mics and just start. When I felt I had done enough I'd put the tape on pause and rearrange the drum box and mics and then hit the record/play buttons again. Rolling! All the words were improvised... made up on the spot except for those prepared tracts. Extra added effects like the radio were just plopped in and mixed as I went. There were no overdubs. No multitracking. I suppose it's an authentic LIVE album. Truly. The same story goes for my first release "Pro-Life". It was all live. All improv. No doubt. Listen to it. There were no fancy multi-tracks. No reel-to-reels. Just the cassette recorder, the y-cords and my inspiration to create something new. Something. That's what I wanted to create. That SOMETHING that existed in my head and my heart.

When RRRecords asked me to do an album I said SURE! Why not? RRR wanted an album that was mostly "Hope Like A Candle" with a few cuts from "Pro-Life". I called it "Hope...". Nowadays, I never would allow such a thing. After all, I am a purist. To me, each album is an entity to itself... a representation of my moods based within a certain time frame. That's OK.... It's the way I operate, but looking back, the hybrid was viable as well. After all, I did both albums in the year 1984 so they are connected in some strange, magnificent way. Still, I had some fun with it: I wanted the final cut to be a lock groove of the very first recording I made as Blackhouse: The Blackhouse Hum.

The Blackhouse hum was simply a split stereo recording of the sounds of my apartment's refrigerator in one channel and the sounds of my apartment's gas heater in the other. Simple - eh? Told ya so. But... it's a nice hum. I've used that hum in just about every Blackhouse album and CD I have ever produced. It's a beautiful hum, this Blackhouse Hum. The original LP of "Hope..." used the Blackhouse Hum for the final cut. That cut was called "30 Seconds To Infinity". You see, the track lasted exactly thirty seconds before it hit the lock groove. If you had an automatic turntable, the cut lasted thirty seconds until the needle/arm of the record player hit the lock groove, then it would end as the automatic arm lifted off the groove and the album ended. BUT.... if you had a manual turntable, the track would go for thirty seconds, hit the lock groove.... and then play FOREVER until you removed the turntable arm. Many people could not experience the lock groove because they had an automatic turntable. That's a shame because the lock groove HUM is rather hypnotic after a while. It may even alter the brainwaves. I personally know it does.

On this version of the "Hope..." album, the track plays for 30 seconds, hits the lock groove and then plays that groove for 30 minutes straight. It's as accurate as I can get to the original intent of the album. Personally, I have never heard a lock groove on a compact disc. But what do I know? Perhaps it's been done already. I don't know. I didn't do it as an experiment nor to make a statement. I did it to preserve the integrity of the original "Hope..." album. It does. I hope you enjoy it.

Like I said, when I recorded this stuff 25 years ago I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I still don't. But I did it anyway. It's the way I work. Or... the way Blackhouse works... as an Artistic Statement delivered through my body and mind... from a power much greater than my fingers or my brain.

"Hope..." is that statement. It's 25 years old now. It's an adult. It has grown, and I have grown along with it.

Still.... like a proud parent, I look back on my creation. And like many a proud parent, I ask myself... "What the heck was I thinking? How did I ever do it?". I don't know.

I'm just glad that I did. Maybe you are too.

What else could I possibly ask for?

credits

released July 11, 1985

THIS ALBUM HAS NO GAPS OF SILENCE BETWEEN THE SONGS!

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all rights reserved

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about

Blackhouse image

Blackhouse Eureka, California

since 1984

blackhouse has a record, tape or cd release on:

ladd-frith
dark vinyl
staalplaat
rrrecords
metal field
daft
geschmack
syntactic
cause & effect
body antler-subway
minus habens
klang galerie
discordia
blacklight
nowhere arts
le syndicat
m-tronic
divine comedy
and more! ... more

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