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Nature's Timeless Rhythm

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Two hour double-album.
Release Info
Band Memoirs



[to top] Release Info

Tracks

    Spring and Summer

    Spring

  1. Glory to The Blanks
  2. Glory to The Blanks II
  3. Summer Cruisin'
  4. Proud Mary
  5. Jolly Trail
  6. Nature
  7. Ode to Sabrina
  8. It's Dance Time
  9. The Town Bully
  10. Killing Time
  11. Dreams

    Summer

  12. Fire in the Hole
  13. House of Fog
  14. Ball of Grief
  15. Late Night
  16. Go With Your Heart
  17. The Banks of Ottso Wokko
  18. Devil's Odyssey
  19. Fish Soup
  20. Morning Song
  21. Rebecca
  22. Best Policy
  23. Simple Reasons
  24. The Plane
    Fall and Winter

    Fall

  1. The Fishing Song
  2. I Think That She Loves Me
  3. Stay out of My Way
  4. Can't Forget
  5. Gentle Annie
  6. I'm So
  7. Dime a Dozen
  8. Stinky
  9. The Cowboy Christmas Song
  10. My True Love
  11. Twigs
  12. Don't Misunderstand Me
  13. Unless

    Winter

  14. Opening Song
  15. She's Got Everything
  16. I'm So Great
  17. Someone's Been Talkin'
  18. Pure Love
  19. Lopnihood
  20. Haunted Man
  21. Bacon
  22. Old Suicidal
  23. You're So
  24. Farewell to The Blanks IV
Fast Eddy: guitar, bass, and backing vocals
Kar: vocals and synthesizer
Ran: bass and keyboard
Spike: drums and backing vocals

Recorded at Drum Room Studios, Houston, TX and Wolfgang-Sly Studios, Houston, TX. Mixed at Wolfgang-Sly Studios, Houston, TX. Produced by The Blanks.
©1992 The Blanks.

1992: First issue, double cassette, Blanks Enterprises


[to top] Band Memoirs

This was our biggest undertaking yet, 48 songs nicely mixing sanity and insanity. This album was a result of us mainly wanting to get it all out there. We really were afraid that this might be our last album. In a way it was like stream of consciousness recording. Almost any idea, no matter how developed or underdeveloped, was put down on tape. I believe this may have been the first time when we would record music with Ran or Mr. Ed not in the studio and then have them add their parts afterward.

It's been said about The Clash's Sandinista that it would have made a good double or single album, instead of the triple or quadruple album that it is. Some might say the same thing of Nature's Timeless Rhythm. But I've heard Joe Strummer say that it was more important to record what was happening then, and I feel the same about our album.

Nature's Timeless Rhythm had some big hits. “The Town Bully,” “Summer Cruisin',” “Haunted Man,” and “Banks of Ottso Wokko” were all well received as singles. “Can't Forget” is still one of my all time favorite Blanks songs. Regions as diverse as Alaska and New York responded well. The album as a whole, though, may just have been too big for people to get their mouth around. Yes, we could have spent the time to polish each and every song on that album, but who knows what other songs would have been lost had we used our time differently. As much as some songs could stand some polish, I would hate to miss gems like “House of Fog” or “Ball of Grief.” This album was big enough to include a little of everything including some of Kar's darkest lyrics since Sweet Love.

Anyway, it was the last Blanks album at least for a while. So, I think it's good we left that many songs released considering the scarce recording to come. In '93, there was an EP with one new song it and some alternate versions of other songs. Then in '94, there was the strange Full Moon Sessions, which was shelved for a couple of years.

– Spike



I remember all 48 songs (along with several more released later on Joy of Chicken) being recorded in one long, almost nonstop weekend. At one point I left the session to have dinner with my family, which took about forty-five minutes, and when I got back there were at least two new songs on tape that I needed to add my parts to, and a third one ready to go. I am pretty sure the two songs were “Twigs” and “It's Dance Time.”

Up to this point our recording sessions had been intensely private. No one that wasn't directly involved in the recording process was aloud in the studio. But for reasons I am still not sure about, this all changed with NTR. Wilke, a friend of the band, showed up with Ed (I think) at the start of the weekend, and feeling like time was precious, we just decided to go ahead and start working anyway. Right away, Wilke perched himself on top of a small mini fridge in a corner of the studio, and didn't move or speak for hours at a time. In the end, I am really glad that he was there. I think his presence added a lot to the album.

– Ran