TRACK
LISTING
1. Given for You
2. Life
In the City
3. Take Us Out
4. Pull Us All Together
5. Singing
Seems to Ease Me
6. Protein Sky
7. Channel Island Girl
8. Sarah Bellum
9. Such a Thing
10. Emotional Gold
11. Del
Mar Station
12. Rich Little Girl
13. Smoke
14. Seaward Son |
TIM
BLUHM
guitar, vocals, keys
GREG LOIACONO
guitar, vocals, keys
ISAAC PARSONS
bass
JOHN HOFER
drums
with
guest:
PAUL
HOAGLIN - vocals (7,9), mellotron (12)
Produced by Gideon Zaretsky
and Mother Hips
Recorded by Gideon Zaretsky
Mastered by John Golden
Design by Erik R. Bluhm
Future
Farmer Records (2001) |
|
Taken
from the title of a sci-fi book by author Robert Anson Heinlein, guitarist
Greg Loiacano explained the resonance of the title "Green Hills of Earth"
with the band. "We liked the image of the title, referring to the earth
like you're not on it." Fitting for a band that began recording their
latest album trying to make music in this new decade that would sound
like a band that wasn't part of it. Frequently pegged as Americana or
accused of lurking on the fringes of the alt-country scene, singer/guitarist
Tim Bluhm said the new record was inspired by influences more along the
lines of pop giants like the Bee Gees and the Kinks, than anything alt
or country."There's no country rock on it at all. It's more pop music
and a little more experimental. The lyrics are more like dream style lyrics
and the music is a little fancier. We really wanted to play some music
that wasn't being played by anybody else. When we recorded "Later Days"
there were a lot of people playing that kind of music, the acoustic kind
of sit down thing."
Even though some
of the new tunes were nearly a year old the Hips tinkered tirelessly with
arrangements and instrumentation, swapping bass lines for piano parts
and endlessly -seeking new ways to bring their ever-evolving sound forward.
Typical
of this approach was the recording of "Seaward Son," the final
song on the album. "I had a very stripped down acoustic version of the
song and that's all," said Greg. "I put it down with 12-string and sang
over it and then we slowly started adding things that weren't bass, drums
and guitar." Some mellotron, tape loops, sound effects and grand piano
later, and it was done, shimmering in its final reinvented form. |
|