Monkey Rhythm was founded by Adam Gates, Graham Clarke and Chuck Risby in 1981 (per unsourced info in Adam's wikipedia entry, likely anonymously provided by Adam himself).
The band only released a single four-track EP entitled "This Must Be The Place" on 415 Records in 1985, with Matt Wallace producing two of the tracks. One track features Derek Greenberg on piano
(Gates' wikipedia claims that he had collaborated previously with Derek in a band named Town Number Eight).
The United States copyright office also shows a two-song cassette ("I've Been Burned", "Buried In The Sand") registered in December of 1984 but no other details are known.
Bay Area newspapers show advertisements for Monkey Rhythm performing live as early as May 1983.
The band played live extensively, easily logging over one hundred shows - primarily locally (Bay Area)
but also a short national tour with The Fine Young Cannibals in 1986. In addition, the band received local airplay on KUSF.
On May 4, 1986, the San Francisco Examiner featured an article announcing that John Berg had joined the band, shortly after the tour with the Fine Young Cannibals.
Gates' wikipedia describes the initial configuration of Monkey Rhythm as dissolving in 1987 and Gates keeping the name while collaborating with various other musicians such as
Jeff Trott and Brian MacLeod (both of Wire Train). Presumably John Berg departs with the initial dissolution of the band.
Per newspaper archives, there is a one year gap in live performances between August 1987 and July 1988 which likely aligns with the break-up and reformulation of the band.
Demos, demos, demos, demos, and finally an album
What eventually becomes The Spent Poets is a partnership between Adam Gates and Matt Wallace as they recorded a number of demos in Matt's bedroom in Fremont, California by themselves - often with Winegar handling all the instruments
and Gates handling the vocals.
If this pairing of names seems familiar to you, it's likely because they co-produced Primus' "Suck On This" together.
Additional demos were later recorded with Matt Wallace
at Dancing Dog Studios. Eventually they were signed to Peer Music in 1990 (still using the name Monkey Rhythm), and then were ultimately signed to Geffen Records by Mio Vukovic. More demos would be recorded at Peer, as well.
A variety of demos from these various sessions circulate among fans, as documented on this page.
Per Derek Greenberg's recording diary, the additional members of the band (Derek Greenberg, John Berg, Michael Urbano) all join after the publishing deal is signed.
Per notes Matt sent regarding some of the demo recordings it is likely that Greenberg and Urbano joined before Berg, but Gates' wikipedia reports that Gates was working intermittently with Berg all along.
The last concert under the Monkey Rhythm name that I can find record of is July 20, 1991. There are records of at least three performances (July 1990 - August 1991) under the name The Holy Ghost People, though Derek's
recording diary implies that the band name was still Monkey Rhythm during the recording of the album. The first record I can find of a live performance under the name The Spent Poets is November 10, 1991.
(The legal partnership/business formed by the band during the recording of the album was named "Uncle Lou's Traveling Circus of Pain". Also note music publishing for the
first album belonging to "Uncle Lou's Songs".)
The self-titled record was recorded at Track Records Studio with Matt Wallace and Jack Joseph Puig during March to May of 1991, with additional recording at Coast Recorders in June of 1991.
Derek kept a detailed recording diary, some of which is lost, but portions of which are rehosted here. Hopefully he can supply the missing portions someday. The album was released in May 1992, with a
video being released for "Dogtown".
An aborted tour
Per newspapers of the era, The Spent Poets played at small handful of concerts around the Bay Area in late 1991 and early 1992. Starting in June 1992, they joined Live's national tour, opening for Wire Train and Live.
They performed (approximately) the first thirty-nine dates of the tour, but did not perform the last seven dates (and possibly more). The Milwaukee Journal reported the band as "broken up" when they departed the tour. It's unclear what happened.
The second album curse
In May 1993, Adam, Matt and Derek recorded the follow-up album "Steve". At least twenty demos had been prepared at Matt's home studio (and circulate among fans),
and the album recording happened at Coast Recorders with David Bianco.
The final album consisted of twelve songs (two of which were the original home demos). Cover art was prepared and a catalog number was assigned. One track
("Waiting For The Man") appeared
on a compilation CD, and five tracks were released on a promotional cassette (one of which was a longer "Single Version" remix).
Ultimately, the record was shelved by the label and the band was dropped.
Per Matt Winegar, "We were dropped soon after Mio Vukovich (same A&R guy who dropped Wilco from Warners) told us to stop making 'Circus music'."
According to Gates (via email), there was consideration to signing with other labels and at least Virgin and A&M made offers.
In the end, the band did not sign with another label and broke up.
Matt was quoted in the April 26, 1997 issue of Billboard: "Spent Poets broke up, basically because I wanted to sing my own songs".
After the Poets...
John Berg makes ambient music under the name Attempt No Landing There, and has two albums: "The Beckoning" (2009) and "Modular Lifeforms" (2024).
One of the albums is also on bandcamp.
Starting in 2013, John operated the now-closed Samyama Yoga Center in Palo Alto
(closure date is unclear, the website died in 2024). Press articles about Samyama describe John as a former animator for Pixar Studios
who discovered yoga while recovering from lymphoma.
John owned the bonefactory.com domain from at least 1998 until 2005 but the site never contained content beyond an "Under Construction" placeholder.
Adam Gates continues to create music under a variety of aliases and with a number of bands, including but not limited to Les Claypool & the Holy Mackerel, The Filthy Ape, No Forcefield, Electric Apricot, Aphid, MIRV,
and Madame Blavatsky Overdrive (aka MBO). Gates deleted the entire online presence of MBO around 2015, making it somewhat more challening to obtain their five albums and five EPs.
The album Gates record with MIRV ("The Million Pound Bomb") is also still unreleased.
Gates may or may not be working on a musical project under the name The Black Pope Of Lafayette County - but the half-built website for it died sometime in 2023-2024.
(There are a number of albums announced during the Filthy Ape / Stray Records era that have never materialized - this site strives to fully document the ones that actually exist.)
Gates continues to occasionally work with Primus, most recently creating the artwork for "The Revenant Juke" and "Adverse Yaw" boxsets as well as the
artwork for the 2024 NYE Claypool Gold concerts, where
he also performed as part of The Holy Mackerel and Beanpole, as well as appearing as Bob C. Cock.
Gates has done graphic design work under a variety of names including his own name, The Filthy Ape, and IfThenWhy as well as working at Prawn Song Design and occasionally partnering with Zoltron.
His wikipedia page states that he has worked on graphics for "many major label acts".
Gates is curently employed by a small film animation studio (now openly documented on his wikipedia).
More info about Adam's various projects is available here (on-site page), MBO info here (on-site page) and No Forcefield info here (on-site page).
Derek Greenberg still creates music under the name Beanpole, as well as posting to Song-A-Day each year since 2008. Various collections of Beanpole tracks have circulated in the trading community for years.
A full album of the old Beanpole recordings ("All My Kin") was released in 2018 on the Chimera Music label,
thanks to Sean Lennon.
In 2018 and 2024, Derek resurrected Beanpole in order to open for Primus at their
New Year's Eve concerts. In 2021, Derek premiered the first new Beanpole song in years entitled "Beanpole Loves An Ice Cream Pop (Rough Mix)" on the Primus Tracks podcast.
Derek operated BeanpoleLand.com from approximately 2001 to 2007. One of the features of the site was the The Spents Poets Recording Diary which has partly been restored here.
When not creating music, Derek works as a software engineer.
More info about Beanpole and Derek is available here (on-site page).
Michael Urbano is perhaps best known for his work with Smash Mouth, and has also worked with many other artists including John Hiatt, Todd Rundgren, Lindsey Buckingham, Paul Westerberg, Sheryl Crow,
Camper Van Beethoven, Bourgeois Tagg, and Third Eye Blind. Michael's career is beyond the scope of this webpage.
Matt Winegar went on to form the band Slider with Wic Coleman and Josh Freese, releasing the album "Sudden Fun" in 1997.
Matt is a two-time Grammy Award winner (2016, 2018) and has his own recording studio and works as a producer, engineer, mixer and masterer.
Matt's LinkedIn page states that he has
"produced over 500 LPs for multiple established and emerging artists" and while an exhaustive list is not available, a simple Internet search readily turns up dozens of albums that he has worked on.
Some of his most prominent production work has been with Fantastic Negrito (both Grammy Awards), and Chuck Prophet.
Matt's LinkedIn page reports "composed, produced and mixed multiple opening themes and spots for television" but it is tricky to find many details - his page lists the following:
Showtime series "Billions"(2017), USA series "Shooter" (2016), CBS series "The Good Wife" (2016), CW series "Vampire Diaries" (2016), the Amazon network original series, "Hand of God" (2014, 2017)
and Velocity networks "Kings of Crash" (2013), composed and produced music for the Touchstone / Polygram film "Boys" (1996).
In recent years, Matt has performed live with Beanpole (most recently NYE 2024) and MoFu (a Mordred / Fungo Mungo hybrid band).
More info about Slider and Matt is available here (on-site page)
Discography:
Artist: The Spent Poets
Title: Dogtown
Label: Geffen
Catalog Number: PRO-CD-4392
Format: promotional cd-single in cardboard gatefold slipcase
Track times shown in the CD art are wrong for all tracks.
12" has white labels with no writing - can only be identified by the matrix numbers.
Cover art uses a photograph of author James Joyce. The photographer and most of the details are unknown, but the photo is typically described as having been taken in France in 1919 or the early 1920s. Many versions of the photo online are cropped or colorized, etc.
starts with a sample of producer George Martin discussing recording technology for a TV special, likely filmed in 1967. The footage can be seen here.
My Useless Heart (2:36)
the first six seconds or so are taken from a field recording that can be found on the demo tape B
Your Existential Past (3:52)
Grassheads (5:51)
the last 1:23 is taken from an unreleased demo "Sleepwalker"
Winegar: "We took part of Sleepwalker and placed it on the album in between tracks. I think because we were going for a schizophrenic, "why is this music happening here?" kind of thing. We wanted a few elements to sound out of place."
Special (3:46)
the last 15 seconds includes a sample from Beanpole's unreleased "Raccoon Boy"
per Derek's recording diary the screaming children are sampled from Beanpole's unreleased "Children In My Head"
an excerpt from this song can be heard on Primus' _Frizzle Fry_, which was co-produced by Matt.
original demo version, recorded on 8-track in Matt's bedroom, produced by The Spent Poets
Walt Whitman's Beard (4:35)
He's Living With His Mother Now (5:19)
original demo version, recorded on 8-track in The Jesus Room, produced by The Spent Poets
Ali Ali Ackbar (4:33)
The Rocks In Virginia's Dress (5:24)
You Don't Know Me (6:22)
original demo version, recorded on 8-track in The Jesus Room, produced by The Spent Poets
Why Are You Sleeping With Mr. Brown? (5:00)
A Bad Case Of Melancholy (2:35)
original demo version, recorded on 8-track in Matt's bedroom, produced by The Spent Poets
Notes:
The Spent Poets:
John Berg - organ sampled instruments, mellotron; background vocals on "Your Existential Past"; background vocals on "Grassheads"; piano on "Special";
intro piano on "The Rocks In Virginia's Dress"; mutations on "You Don't Know Me"; acoustic tamboura on "Why Are You Sleeping With Mr. Brown?"
Adam Gates - voice; acoustic guitar on "My Useless Heart"; background vocals on "Your Existential Past"; background vocals on "Grassheads";
mutations on "Dogtown"; outro fuzz bass guitar and mutations on "The Rocks In Virginia's Dress"; mutations on "You Don't Know Me"
Derek Greenberg - bass guitar; bass guitar and skank guitar on "Mr. Einstein"; mellotron and sampled oboe on "My Useless Heart";
acoustic and electric guitars, and background vocals on "Your Existential Past"; background vocals on "Grassheads";
lead and slide guitars on "Special"; backwards guitar on "Dogtown"; mellotron on "Ali Ali Ackbar"; bass guitar on "Why Are You Sleeping With Mr. Brown?"
Michael Urbano - drums
Matthew Winegar - guitars, sampled instruments, organ, vocals, mellotron;
bass guitar, piano and mellotron on "Mr. Einstein"; acoustic and electric guitars, accordian, melodica and background vocals on "Your Existential Past";
drums and background vocals on "Grassheads"; lead and slide guitars on "Special"; lead organ on "Dogtown"; all instruments on "You Can't Kill Michael Malloy";
fretless bass on "Walt Whitman's Beard"; mellotron on "Ali Ali Ackbar"; piano solo, harmonica, and fretless bass on "The Rocks In Virginia's Dress";
outro detuned fuzz bass and mutations on "The Rocks In Virginia's Dress"; mutations, piano and electric piano on "You Don't Know Me";
fuzz bass on "Why Are You Sleeping With Mr. Brown?"; all instruments on "A Bad Case Of Melancholy"
Other Musicians:
Matt Wallace - background vocals on "Your Existential Past", unwanted scat vocal on "Why Are You Sleeping With Mr. Brown?"
"Grassheads": Stephen "Doc" Kupka - saxophone, Steve Berlin - saxophone, Lisa Maxwell - saxophone, Lupe Refrain - aleatoric phone lunatic, Uncle Doug - Uncle Doug [Greenberg's actual uncle per the recording diary]
"The Rocks In Virginia's Dress": Les Claypool - outro drums, Larry LaLonde - outro feedback guitar
Songwriting:
"Mr. Einstein", "My Useless Heart", "Dogtown", "Walt Whitman's Beard", "He's Living With His Mother Now", "Ali Ali Ackbar", "The Rocks In Virginia's Dress", and "Why Are You Sleeping With Mr. Brown" by Adam Gates.
"You Can't Kill Michael Malloy" by Matthew Winegar.
"Grassheads", "You Don't Know Me" and "A Bad Case Of Melancholy" by Adam Gates and Matthew Winegar.
"Your Existential Past" by Adam Gates and John Berg.
The outdoor band photo was taken at the memorial for Emma Hanchett Crocker at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, CA. (Note that the sky has been replaced with a computer-generated backdrop - most likely by The Bone Factory, rather than Mr. Reniers.)
"JJP = 666" (a joke directed at Jack Joseph Puig, see also "Jack Is The Beast" on Steve)
"A hearty "whatever" to Steven Rosen, Jack Joseph Puig, Matt Wallace, Mio Vukovic, Rusty Reniers, William Ireland Coleman, Peeetar, Mell, Jeffrey Taylor Light, our pals at Peer Music and Geffen, Mark at Paradigm, and those ugly bastards Primus"
Other credits:
Produced by Matt Wallace, Co-produced by The Spent Poets
Recorded and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig
Recorded at Track Record
Mixed-up at Studio 55
Additional tracking at Coast Recorders and The Jesus Room
Assistant Engineers: Pete Magdaleno at Track Record; Eddie Sexton and Jamie Seyberth at Studio 55
Mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab
The Japanese CD includes a Japanese-language brief bio of the band in the booklet, the colors on the picture disc are much lighter.
Some promotional copies are identical except for the word promotional added to the disc artwork (pictured).
Geffen has re-issued the album in a mid-price version (look for the Geffen Goldline logo in the lower left corner of the back cover). The Goldline disc is not a picture disc. There are unconfirmed reports of differing sound quality.
Band Quotes:
Derek said in a YouTube comment: "I haven't heard this in AGES. I agree that Steve, the unreleased album, is far superior to this album, in terms of overall sound, musical performances and song-writing. I cringe when listening to most of these tracks. However, I do enjoy the following tracks: 'Mr. Einstein' - simply because to this day I think the lyrics are hilarious and clever - 'He's Living With His Mother Now' - because the Spent Poets recorded this as a demo on my old Tascam 38 1/2" 8-track recorder in our rehearsal studio - and because the lyrics (all about the mental breakdown of Syd Barrett) are well written, and 'Ali Ackbar' - simply because it's a catchy tune with wickedly clever lyrics. And I have happy memories of recording "You Don't Know Me" on the Tascam 38, where the demented middle section was created courtesy of Matt Winegar's deft manual control of the Tascam 38's primitive analog controls to create the results. I watched him create that entire middle section - where the tiniest mistake would result in erasure of precious pre-recorded material - and was amazed. Finally, I like the Mr. Brown track because the lyrics are clever and subversive, and some good decisions were made when editing the final track into one piece. Notice Matt Winegar's brilliant guitar playing throughout, most of which was edited out, but you get to enjoy moments of his brilliance."
Matt commented on Tape Op about the recording diary: "i think i'm referred to as "winegar" in the diary. what a lot of pain and misery to make a crappy record no one bought. the diary's really good though. i love the moving of kicks and snare's by 5ms what a waste of time."
Vinyl/cassette editions: the end of Side One features a small snippet (approx. 35 seconds) from "You Don't Know Me" played backwards.
The back cover photo is of The Jesus Room, which was the band's rehearsal space. John Kalodner's face has been inserted over John Lennon's due to copyright issues.
Artist: The Spent Poets
Title: [no title, it is effectively a Steve sampler]
Label: Geffen
Catalog Number: None given
Release Date: 1993
Format: one-sided promotional cassette
Tracks:
The Black Pope
Sleep
Heroin
Reasons To Drink (Single Version) (3:40)
differences versus the album version are a 1) a repeat of the second chorus, 2) a repeat of the instrumental section without the guitar solo, and 3) a slightly longer fade out.
Prodigy Suit
Labeled "Promotional Copy. Not for Sale."
See the entry for Steve for more recording details.
Unreleased Recordings:
Artist: Monkey Rhythm
Title: [a cassette of demos discovered on eBay - A]
Release Date: [probably assembled in 1990-1991]
Format: cassette
Tracks:
Mr. Einstein (3:40)
Winegar: "This was recorded at my Mom's house in Fremont, CA. I'm terrible at dates, but this would be after the Matt Wallace demos. Recorded to Tascam 388. The drums are a Roland 505 drum machine with a real snare that I played along to the machine. This was just Adam and I."
Work Of The Devil (3:20)
Winegar: "From the Matt Wallace Monkey Rhythm demos. Recorded at Dancing Dog Studios in Emeryville, CA."
Art of Forgetting (3:23)
Winegar: "More Wallace demos. Dancing Dog."
Virginia's Dress (4:54) [The Rocks In Virginia's Dress]
Winegar: "Another 388 demo at Mom's house. Adam and I. Real piano and organ. You can hear us yelling in the piano and closing the lid at the end of the song. Drums played with plastic coat hangers because we had no drum sticks! I hadn't the funds to pay for such extravagant items."
David Put Her In Her Place (3:12)
Winegar: "388 at Mom's in Fremont. I recorded most of the music using a Yamaha toy keyboard that had a microphone and could sample a short sound. I sampled one note of the real piano. That little keyboard was amazing. Some [E-mu] Emax sitar and string sounds added later. Roland 505 drums with snare triggered from a digitech delay pedal with a short sampling option. It was an instrumental piece that Adam wrote lyrics for later."
Ali Akbar (5:41) [Ali Ali Ackbar]
Winegar: "This is a 388 demo from our rehearsal space in Oakland with Urbano and Derek. I think John Berg was starting to play with us around this time as well."
[children playing in park] (8:10)
At the end of side 2, after a 2-minute gap there is approximately 8 minutes a field recording of the sounds of walking in a park and children playing. The section from 3:47 to 3:53 (or so) featuring children yelling and an airplane flying overheard are sampled at the beginning of "My Useless Heart" on the self-titled album.
Cassette tape obtained via eBay auction 155195893800 on Oct 7, 2022.
The Rocks In Virginia's Dress - Intro GREAT (6:00)
"turn around bright eyes...you're the antichrist" (2:44)
A Bad Case of Melancholy - #3 NO (2:05)
A Bad Case of Melancholy - #4 NO (2:05)
David Put Her In Her Place (3:48)
[synth noises] (0:37)
Sleepwalker (3:55)
Walt Whitman's Beard (4:19)
Cassette tape obtained via eBay auction 155195893800 on Oct 7, 2022.
All recordings are demos, recorded prior to the self-titled album. There are little snippets of other things between some of the tracks.
Matt Winegar: "[this cassette] is crazy. It has weird recordings on it with us acting stupid. I love it. I can only wonder how somebody ended up with these deeply obscure recordings."
There is some lyrical overlap between "She Eats Men Like Air" and "Special": "slaughterhouses for her eyes", "the one-eyed milkman cries" and of course "she eats men like air" -> "chewing men like air".
There is a small bit of musical overlap in the bridges of "Compassion" and "Sleepwalker".
Winegar: "There's a pretty great story where Geffen tells us to quit sending them "fucking Beatles circus music". We immediately sent them a song called "Beatles Big Top"."
Pink Elephant (5:46)
Sleep (3:03)
Saville Row (2:23)
Fair Weathered Friend (3:23)
Prodigy Suit (4:21)
Jack Is The Beast (4:16)
Dope (3:41)
The Phantom Of My Own Opera (2:02)
Troubled Young Man (2:28)
Mobius (2:53)
I'd Like To (2:27)
Reasons To Drink (2:46)
Mrs. Thompson (2:25)
Complicated Jane (3:12)
Won't You Let Me Join Your Band? (4:19)
I Want (3:43)
Heroin (4:05)
I Was Dead (4:24)
The Black Pope (4:10)
All recordings are 8-track demos, recorded on a Tascam 388.
Personnel on this recording: Adam Gates, Derek Greenberg, Matt Winegar
Recorded and produced by Matthew Winegar.
Studio: The Jesus Room, Fremont, CA.
All music and lyrics by Adam Gates except: "Troubled Young Man" - music and lyrics by Matt Winegar, and "Mrs. Thompson" - music and lyrics by Derek Greenberg.
Artist: The Spent Poets
Title: "The Lost EP"
Label: Geffen?
Catalog Number: ?
Release Date: is this something the label would have released? or simply something the band gave to friends?
Tracks:
Saville Row
The Absolute Core Of Happiness
Fair Weathered Friend
Mrs. Paglia
All recordings are 8-track demos.
Personnel on this recording: Adam Gates, Derek Greenberg, Matt Winegar
recorded by Matthew Winegar at The Jesus Room, Fremont, CA. taken from the 8-track demos.
Troubled Young Man (2:34)
Mobius (2:50)
Reasons To Drink (2:32)
Waiting For The Man (3:13)
Mrs. Thompson (2:36)
Pink Elephant (6:05)
recorded by Matthew Winegar at The Jesus Room, Fremont, CA. taken from the 8-track demos.
All music and lyrics by Adam Gates except: "Troubled Young Man" - music and lyrics by Matt Winegar, and "Mrs. Thompson" - music and lyrics by Derek Greenberg.
Personnel on this recording: Adam Gates, Derek Greenberg, Matt Winegar
Produced by The Spent Poets and David Bianco.
Engineered and Mixed by David Bianco.
Studios: Coast Recorders, San Francisco, CA and The Jesus Room, Fremont, CA.
Band Quotes:
Adam wrote: "The album was made at Coast Recorders (when Dan Alexander owned the joint) and was engineered/produced by David Bianco. A few of the tracks were also recorded in Matt Winegar's bedroom (Matt did all the recording and played many of the instruments on all of the poets stuff) on a charmed Tascam 388. For this album the band consisted of myself, Matt and Derek Greenberg. We had fun making this music."
Derek said in a YouTube comment: "I met with Adam a few days ago and told him that I had just listened to the Steve album on YouTube recently and was pleasantly surprised by the experience. He was quick to point out its shortcomings, which are plentiful, but when I reminded him of nice moments such as the final chorus of 'Sleep', with that glorious slapback echo on his voice, he admitted that it was a good moment. I have a million complaints about the unreleased Steve album, but I also admit that there are some nice bits of music in there. For what it's worth, this is the only Spent Poets album that showcases Matt Winegar's incredible guitar playing - something that to this day I consider to be mind-blowing in its artistry and skill."
Matt on Tape Op: "We were dropped soon after Mio Vukivich (same A&R guy who dropped Wilco from Warners) told us to stop making "Circus music"."
Back cover text: "The exotic sounds of THE SPENT POETS Beautiful music evokes sentimental memories, and The Spent Poets have chosen the warmest ballads for their new album "Steve" - nostalgic songs that recapture tender moments of deep romance. As they have demonstrated time and time again,
The Poets have an infallible touch - a deft, sure feeling for mood and melody that has made distinctive a shelf of wonderful albums for the Geffen label. In "Steve", they create another alluring setting for romantic reveries.
The Poets have proven that there is nothing so through and absorbing as evocative music. With a particularly vivid poignancy, a familiar melody can call to mind a certaain girl, a certain tender emotion,
a certain stain. David Bianco conducts the orchestra, conjuring a special kind of mood and an irresistible blend of enchantment in these twelve romantic standards.
The selections in this album are especially beautiful examples of The Spent Poets mastery over a provocative romantic style, tender arrangements of romantic songs that have not only soared
to success, but have remained top ranking favorites among music fans everywhere. So listen to Steve - and remember."
How to hear it
Matt previously shared a WAV file of "Jack Is The Beast" in the Tape Op forums http://home.comcast.net/%7Evelvetsound/JACKISTHEBEAST2.wav
Adam posted the full set of "Steve" mp3s to the now dead MBO tumblr http://mboverdrive.tumblr.com/post/87322122666/i-was-once-in-a-band-called-the-spent-poets-we#disqus_thread, the zip file shared by Adam
Liner notes include the following biography: "On their self-titled debut, San Francisco's Spent Poets shower the listener with highly decorative orchestration, lavish melodies and a penchant for Beatlesque sounds -- they even sample Beatles' producer George Martin. One of the CD's prettiest songs, 'My Useless Heart' is a demonstration of their superb songwriting skills and is a harbinger of great things to come from this band."
Artist: Various
Title: CD Compilation #8
Label: MCA Records Canada
Catalog Number: MCAD-9224
Release Date: May 1992
Format: promotional CD
Country: Canada
Tracks:
Dogtown (Edit) (4:00)
This is possibly the same item as "DGC Comp. #8" that has shown up in some lists over the years.
CD is one continuous track made to sound like a radio broadcast including: DJ chatter, songs, bumpers, caller requests and advertisements.
DJ chatter after the song: "You've been listening to The Spent Poets, with 'Dogtown' from their self-titled debut album on Geffen. This band emerging out of San Francisco is comprised of John Berg, Adam Gates, Derek Greenberg, Michael Urbano and Michael [sic] Winegar. Quite a unique sound. You'll be hearing a lot more about these guys in the future, I'm sure."
"From San Francisco to England and back to the US, The Spent Poets' soulful vocals and gentle melodies have traveled more in the last year than most new bands. Originally from Northern California, then subsequently signed to England's One Little Indian label, the band quickly found major label distribution and promotional salvation in the form of Geffen Records. 'Dogtown', the first single from the forthcoming CD, builds from a slow, soulful slink into a organ-backed, guitar grind that's suitable for framing."
Cassettes created in conjunction with New Route Magazine.
Liner notes written by Marlene Goldman: "Strange and obtuse stories surround California's The Spent Poets. Reportedly, the quintet recorded parts of this debut LP in a living room, between segments of "The People's Court". And they claim to have taken a post-recording, one-year sabbatical to Morocco (which ended early). Whatever the story, these Poets combine XTC/Beatlesque pop, U2-like vocals, literary references and snippes of bizarre instrumental tinklings for an eclectic brew. "Dogtown" is but one side of their prism."
This track is a non-album bonus song released on Jackson's website (http://www.jacksonbjackson.com/, http://jacksonjackson.homestead.com/index.html)
Worth noting is the lyrical change he makes - the original line is "And as she brings her hands to pray, She gave her life away, Nothing ever changes", but Jackson sings "And as she brings her hand to pray, She gave her life away, Something in her changes"
Site created in 2002, <spentpoetsfan at gmail dot com>, Copyright 2002-2025, This page last updated: 12 January 2025
This site is not sponsored or endorsed by the musician(s) or their current or former record label(s).
