Yet another album from the annals of the Merge catalogue will be getting reissued as part of the label's 25th anniversary celebration. Following revamped versions of full-lengths from Lambchop, Superchunk and more, East River Pipe (a.k.a. F.M. Cornog) will have his The Gasoline Age repackaged on vinyl for an October 7 release.
Originally issued in 1999, the album found Cornog utilizing automobile imagery ("cybercars, stolen cars, pimpmobiles") throughout the set, with the themes "creating a lyrical mood without tying [Cornog's] flights of fancy down to specifics," the press release explains. The reissue pairs the album's original 13-song tracklisting with nine previously unreleased tracks, which apparently took a bit of coaxing to get Cornog to unleash.
"F.M. agreed somewhat reluctantly to go through his old tapes to see if there was anything there," the musician's partner Barbara Powers explained in a statement. "Some songs, we barely remember even hearing ourselves. But once he had a sense of what there was to choose from, he was finally able to agree that some of the songs weren't too bad."
She continued: "If there is one consistency to East River Pipe, it would have to be F.M.'s insistence that what he does is nothing special. I'm glad that at least on this occasion, I was able to override his general view of his work as worthless and pry a few songs loose from the 'vault.'"
Back in 1999, Lambchop's Kurt Wagner also had these fine words to say about East River Pipe:
When I listen to East River Pipe I not only hear beautiful melodies and words, but I also hear the personification of pure, unfettered musical thought, brought about by a commitment to concentrate solely on his craft and his art. This is the sound of a man completely focused on the task at hand, not sidetracked or swayed by any outside forces, be they record labels or any other aspect of the music industry.
This is the sound of a man whose only musical relationship is that of sound to tape recorder. Because he chooses not to perform live, he further reinforces the significance of this relationship between a man's ideas and the form in which we are able to perceive these ideas. He knows that when he makes a record that "THIS IS IT, this is all there is." Pure. Simple.
The Gasoline Age:
1. Shiny, Shiny Pimpmobile
2. Hell Is an Open Door
3. Cybercar
4. Wholesale Lies
5. My Little Rainbow
6. Party Drive
7. King of Nothing Never
8. 14th Street Boys Stolen Car Club
9. All You Little Suckers
10. Astrofarm
11. Down 42nd Street to the Light
12. Atlantic City (Gonna Make a Million Tonight)
13. Don't Hurry
Bonus tracks:
14. How's It Feel to Piss It All Away?
15. Here Comes the Hurricane
16. The Handsome Cruel-Eyed Men
17. Here Come the Pill Armiesv
18. Let's Kill the Matador
19. Golden Hate
20. Flyin', Lyin', Dyin'
21. WTC
22. Easy to Forget
Originally issued in 1999, the album found Cornog utilizing automobile imagery ("cybercars, stolen cars, pimpmobiles") throughout the set, with the themes "creating a lyrical mood without tying [Cornog's] flights of fancy down to specifics," the press release explains. The reissue pairs the album's original 13-song tracklisting with nine previously unreleased tracks, which apparently took a bit of coaxing to get Cornog to unleash.
"F.M. agreed somewhat reluctantly to go through his old tapes to see if there was anything there," the musician's partner Barbara Powers explained in a statement. "Some songs, we barely remember even hearing ourselves. But once he had a sense of what there was to choose from, he was finally able to agree that some of the songs weren't too bad."
She continued: "If there is one consistency to East River Pipe, it would have to be F.M.'s insistence that what he does is nothing special. I'm glad that at least on this occasion, I was able to override his general view of his work as worthless and pry a few songs loose from the 'vault.'"
Back in 1999, Lambchop's Kurt Wagner also had these fine words to say about East River Pipe:
When I listen to East River Pipe I not only hear beautiful melodies and words, but I also hear the personification of pure, unfettered musical thought, brought about by a commitment to concentrate solely on his craft and his art. This is the sound of a man completely focused on the task at hand, not sidetracked or swayed by any outside forces, be they record labels or any other aspect of the music industry.
This is the sound of a man whose only musical relationship is that of sound to tape recorder. Because he chooses not to perform live, he further reinforces the significance of this relationship between a man's ideas and the form in which we are able to perceive these ideas. He knows that when he makes a record that "THIS IS IT, this is all there is." Pure. Simple.
The Gasoline Age:
1. Shiny, Shiny Pimpmobile
2. Hell Is an Open Door
3. Cybercar
4. Wholesale Lies
5. My Little Rainbow
6. Party Drive
7. King of Nothing Never
8. 14th Street Boys Stolen Car Club
9. All You Little Suckers
10. Astrofarm
11. Down 42nd Street to the Light
12. Atlantic City (Gonna Make a Million Tonight)
13. Don't Hurry
Bonus tracks:
14. How's It Feel to Piss It All Away?
15. Here Comes the Hurricane
16. The Handsome Cruel-Eyed Men
17. Here Come the Pill Armiesv
18. Let's Kill the Matador
19. Golden Hate
20. Flyin', Lyin', Dyin'
21. WTC
22. Easy to Forget