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Black Box Blues - The Bedroom Tapes, Vol. 4

by Bill Ludwig

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1.
Time To Go/An Ordinary Man 07:07
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2.
Self-Made Hell 04:59
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3.
The Outsider 03:40
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4.
Untitled I 08:45
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5.
Reminiscences 02:55
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6.
Untitled II 05:42
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7.
The Good Machine 06:37
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8.
No More Time 03:40
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9.
Truly 04:16
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10.
Blues 04:03
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11.
Mother's Angels 07:42
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12.
Afraid 05:31
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13.
Place 05:08
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14.
Rainy Day Noodling/Again And Again 08:17
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15.
See What I See 04:46
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16.
Plastic 07:25
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17.
Tripping Just To Fall 05:16
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18.
The Man I'm Not 03:42
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about

Black Box Blues - The Bedroom Tapes, Vol. 4 includes songs written and recorded between Fall, 1994 and Spring, 1995. The first tracks are again an attempt at a concept string of songs - several songs around a single narrative. The story here is of a man who receives a mysterious package and reminisces about his life and the world as he ponders what may be inside. Those who get engaged in the thing will ultimately be disappointed to find a clear lack of resolution.

Highlights include the first three songs (if you can ignore the spoken word segments) and "The Good Machine".

The second side of the cassette is a series of unlinked tunes. Some really great ones here: "Mother's Angels", "Place", "See What I See" and "Tripping Just To Fall".

A note from Bill:

"These songs represent an emergence from the sadness of my mother's passing and finding lifelong love. During this period, I was engaged to my wife Winona (as I write this, we are in our 24th year of marriage). We were young and engaged, generally broke and trying our best to get by. These were hard but happy times.

The early songs are a little cringe-y for me - the spoken word parts in particular. Still finding my songwriting voice, I sometimes felt disconnected from what I was writing... expressed perfectly in the song "Place":

"I hear my voice like some lost friend
I wish it would transcend
And give that magic back to me

'Cause I'm afraid my soul is lost
Enlightenment came and ran it's course
And now my shell is cold"

... as if the writing was just happening on auto-pilot... songs from a stranger. That said, songs like 'The Good Machine', 'Mother's Angels', 'Tripping Just To Fall', 'Place' and 'See What I See' are as good as anything I'm writing today.

- Bill Ludwig, January 4th, 2020"

credits

released January 7, 2020

Recorded on Bill's Panasonic RX-5500 between Fall, 1994 and Spring, 1995 in Bill's bedroom in Manchester, CT,

Remastered December, 2019

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Bill Ludwig image

Bill Ludwig Manchester, Connecticut

The founding member of MARMO (marmoband.bandcamp.com)

But mostly just a guy who writes and records songs... mostly so I have stuff to listen to in my car on the way to and from work.

Sometimes I sing to my chickens. ... more

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