David Thomas and wooden birds
Monster Walks The Winter Lake

Released in March 1986.
Produced by David Thomas.

Out of print.

Release Notes

In 1985, More Places Forever was released and the David Thomas and pedestrians trio (Thomas, Lindsay Cooper and Chris Cutler) and quartet (with Tony Maimone) continued to tour in Europe and America. As well, Thomas took on a number of solo / spoken word appearances. A new project, the wooden birds, was inaugurated at the Knitting Factory, New York City, with accordionist Daved Hild (The Girls) and cellist Garo Yellin (The Ordinaires). At the end of the year, David Thomas and the accordion club (Thomas, melodeonist John Kirkpatrick and drummer Cutler) toured Europe.

I wanted to capture the spirit of my solo shows in the studio. I decided on a live recording to two-track digital, no overdubs - 100% live. I enlisted Hild, Yellin and Maimone and added Allen Ravenstine. We got together the day before the session. The rehearsal was a disaster. I called the session off. Allen convinced me to go ahead and see what happens. From the start it went flawlessly.

Well, not quite 'flawlessly.'

I wanted to use a pre-recorded sound in the song Coffee Train. I told Paul Hamann (the engineer) to pan it left to right as the rest of us played the song. He misunderstood and panned the entire performance 100% left to 100% right!

Production Notes

Produced by David Thomas.
Recorded live in the studio by Paul Hamann at Suma on November 18, 20 and 21, 1985, using the Sumex custom digital processor and a Sony F1 betamax video recorder. There were no overdubs. Fostex X-15 and Tascam 144 multitrack cassette recordings were used as real time accompaniments for Coffee Train, My Town, Monster Magee and Monster Thinks About The Good Days.

Digitally edited by Paul Hamann at Telarc.
Digitally transferred and eq'ed by David Thomas and Paul Hamann at Suma, October 1996.
Front cover photo by Mik Mellen.
Back cover photo by Ellen Zoslov.
Design by John Thompson.

Revision in 2014 consisted of listening through all the original session recordings, 5-6 hours. Some different takes chosen and used. All edits were from scratch.

My Theory of Spontaneous Simultude / Red Tin Bus David Thomas vocals
Daved Hild seat cushion
Tony Maimone bass
Allen Ravenstine EML synthesizers
Garo Yellin cello

What Happened To Me David Thomas vocals, melodeon
Daved Hild seat cushion, background voice
Tony Maimone bass
Allen Ravenstine EML synthesizers
Garo Yellin cello

Monster Walks The Winter Lake David Thomas vocals, 2nd melodeon
Daved Hild melodeon
Tony Maimone bass
Allen Ravenstine EML synthesizers
Garo Yellin cello

Bicycle David Thomas vocals
Roz Ilett melodeon
Tony Maimone bass
Allen Ravenstine EML synthesizers

Coffee Train David Thomas vocals, accordion
Tony Maimone piano, tape
Allen Ravenstine EML synthesizers

My Town David Thomas vocals, melodeon, tape
Tony Maimone bass
Allen Ravenstine EML synthesizers

Monster Magee, King of The Seas David Thomas vocals, tape
Tony Maimone bass
Allen Ravenstine EML synthesizers

Monster Thinks About The Good Days David Thomas vocals
Tony Maimone bass, tape
Allen Ravenstine EML synthesizers