Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pleasantly Surprised

I didn't realize it, but as far as I can tell, 14 years later, Pleasantly Surprised was our hit album. I have had several people tell me--people that I really don't know very well--that they had the tape and it was one of their favorites growing up in Tucson (and by several, I mean like three!).

Speaking for the band (or at least speaking for myself), I think that we view Pleasantly Surprised as a precious first effort. We labored meticulously over it. We were very excited when it was released: the process of buying the blank tapes, dubbing each of them and packaging them in those white jackets with Jon Thwaits's artwork--it was all a labor of love that we all had some part in, small or large.

And the songs on Pleasantly Surprised are literally snapshots of our 16 and 17 year- old lives. Hopefully, Jon will tell you here about the Snowman Ring--it's real. Footsteps to a Castle? There's a story there too. There was green carpet and sofa sitting and Hunt on the Moon was about our best friends Andy and Steve Hunt who had moved and left us sad. And of course, the Polish Tavern has a wonderful history attached to it too, one going back several centuries.

Pleasantly Surprised was the story of our lives put to music.

I am happy to announce that it is now available as a complete download in the album/song listing to the left.

2 comments:

Aubry Wilkes said...

OK -I'll be honest and say that I saw your update on facebook about this album, and I was very happy. I was your friend's older sister, never much involved with you or the band. But became a fan, and loved my copy of the tape. Plus, I was friends with Kelby, so that helped too. So thank you for posting it here to download... I am downloading it now as I type this.

Dustin said...

So many memories! I had one of the tapes with all 9 songs on each side. Jon T was in my seminary class and I remember him saying he was going across the street to "proselyte" the tapes to our schoolmates. Thanks for getting this stuff available. Technology is great sometimes.