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| Pete Yorn Debut Album Celebration An artist who bridged East Coast and West Coast roots-rock movements, and led the next generation of post-2000 acoustic-based singer-songwriters, Pete Yorn now receives a well-deserved tribute with musicforthemorningafter: 10th Anniversary Edition. This double-disc repackaging of his classic debut album will be available at all physical and digital retail outlets starting March 29, 2011, through Columbia/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. Prior to the release, Pete Yorn returns to the road for a major 27-city headlining North American tour. Dates begin February 14th at the Marquee in Tempe, Arizona; and conclude two months later on April 22nd at Center Stage in Atlanta. (Please see complete itinerary below.) Released by Columbia Records on March 27, 2001, musicforthemorningafter has now been newly remastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Bob Ludwig. The original 15-song album comprises CD One of this commemorative 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION. Collectors will note that the final track of the album, which has remained an unindexed "hidden" track in catalog all these years, is now formally indexed and identified: "A Girl Like You." The 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION adds a second CD, which starts with the entire acoustic performance given by Yorn and his band on "Morning Becomes Eclectic, " the popular radio program hosted by Nic Harcourt at KCRW-FM in Santa Monica. The show reprised about half the songs on the album ("Life On A Chain, " "Strange Condition, " "Sense, " "For Nancy ('Cos It Already Is), " "On Your Side, " "Just Another, " "Murray"), plus a cover of the Smiths' "Panic, " and an interview segment. The KCRW show took place on the day of the album release, March 27, 2001. Although promotional copies were circulated, and material subsequently turned up as bonus tracks on various releases, it has never been commercially available in its entirety until now. The band included Pete on vocals and acoustic guitar, musicforthemorningafter album producer R. Walt Vincent on bass, long-time college bandmates Waz on guitar and Joe Kennedy on piano and electric guitar; and Scott Cougan on bongos and percussion. The rest of CD Two comprises four rarities: A previously unreleased demo version of "Closet" (from Yorn's personal archive); a previously unreleased song titled "The Barber" that was cut during the musicforthemorningafter sessions; "Knew Enough To Know Nothing At All, " which has appeared as a bonus track and a B-side on various vinyl configurations in Europe and Japan; and "Life On A Chain (Hooky's Mix), " a previously unreleased mix by Brad Wood (another musicforthemorningafter album producer) made especially for this 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION. musicforthemorningafter: 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION will be available as a two-CD set, and also as a special two-LP set on 180-gram vinyl. The two-CD set will include a new liner notes essay written by Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke, along with a personal note written by Yorn to his fans. At the time of its release, musicforthemorningafter sent critics into a tailspin, as they attempted to nail down Pete Yorn's sound. "Yorn's influences, " Entertainment Weekly wrote, "from Springsteen to Pavement, cast too strong a shadow. But he effectively marries creaky jam-band vibes and swirly indie-rock riffs and even makes a simple 'uh uh uh uh uh' chorus ('Murray') sound amazingly fresh, " referring to the song Pete wrote in New Zealand, after reading Heroes & Villains, the biography of the Beach Boys and their father, Murray Wilson. "I like an element of mystery, " Pete said in 2001, "I don't want to explain myself. I couldn't really if I tried. I don't think it would make much sense to anybody anyway." In fact, Pete Yorn was just a regular kid from suburban Montville, New Jersey, born in 1974 to regular parents - his father, a dentist, and his mother, a former concert pianist turned schoolteacher. At age nine, Pete taught himself to play his older brother's drum kit, and it was '80s classic rock - "Rush, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen, " as he told Details - that was his first point of reference. Later on, a girlfriend turned him on to Morrissey and the Smiths, and Echo & the Bunnymen; R.E.M. and Big Star also figured into the mix. And of course, the Boss was unavoidable - early shows a decade later might include Pete's cover of "New York City Serenade" from 1973's The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. By the time he was in high school, Pete was playing drums in basement bands with names like Backgammon For Troubled Youth. One story recalls his bandmates talking him into singing the Replacements' "Talent Show" - at a talent show - even though he'd never sung in public before. It caused such a stir that a competing band cajoled Pete back onstage to sing Neil Young's "Rockin' In the Free World" with them. He never looked back. It was a quick segue to his first blush of songwriting. Pete graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in communications, and headed to Los Angeles to seek work composing for film and television. His brother Rick was a highly successful agent there, representing an A-list of Hollywood stars; their other brother Kevin was an equally successful entertainment lawyer with his own A-list. When Pete started playing out at clubs, it was not uncommon to see a quorum of these celebs in the audience. Early fans of Pete's music ran the gamut from Liz Phair and Hole's Eric Erlandson, to Ed Burns, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, and Wynona Ryder. One patron was the Farrelly brothers' longtime producer Bradley Thomas, who caught Pete's sets at Largo and took a copy of his demo. Within a week, Pete received a phone call from Thomas, and the Farrellys, with "Life On A Chain" cranking in the background in their office, asking if he wanted to score their new film, Me, Myself & Irene, starring Jim Carrey. They were intentionally looking for someone who'd never done a score before; it took Pete and R. Walt Vincent three weeks to complete the score in Vincent's garage. In addition to the score, the film (released June 2000) also included Pete's original compositions, "Strange Condition" and "Just Another." The soundtrack album (Elektra), predominantly Steely Dan covers by major artists, also included "Strange Condition, " which was soon discovered by Modern Rock and Triple-A programmers. "Just Another" made waves when it was heard on an episode of Dawson's Creek. At the same time, Pete had won the heart of Columbia Records' A&R, and was working on his debut album. He was paired with several producers, including Vincent, who had a large following after his work on Jonathan Elias' The Prayer Cycle (Sony Music, 1999), a fascinating spiritual-based symphonic work with the London Chamber Orchestra and vocal soloists including Alanis Morissette, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Ofra Haza. Besides Vincent and Pete himself, other producers on musicforthemorningafter included the ubiquitous Don Fleming (Gumball, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Teenage Fanclub); Brad Wood (Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins, Ben Lee); and Ken Andrews. As a result of loyal radio airplay for "Strange Condition" (which hit #36 on Billboard's Modern Rock Chart) and "Life On A Chain" (#35 on the Adult Top 40 chart), the album sold strong and steady throughout the decade, surpassing RIAA gold with sales north of 650, 000 copies to date. Pete Yorn's first three albums on Columbia Records constituted a trilogy of sorts, a day-in-the-life (although he would not admit that it was an intentional release concept): musicforthemorningafter (2001), Day I Forgot (2003), and Nightcrawler (2006). His next album (and final for Columbia) was appropriately titled Back and Fourth (June 2009). Three months after its release, Yorn returned on a new label (ATCO/Rhino) for an album of duets with Scarlett Johansson, the 29-minute Break Up (September 2009), reportedly inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's 1967 and '68 collaborations with Brigitte Bardot. Most recently, Pete was back on a new label (Vagrant) with the self-titled Pete Yorn (2010), produced by Frank Black of the Pixies. write your comments about the article :: © 2011 Jazz News :: home page |