Besides

I know it looks like gold lamé, but trust me, it’s lime green lamé. And yes, I know that lamé and lame are virtually the same word.

The photo in question was taken in the fall of 1996 by my pal John Rosenblatt. The location was a then-shuttered, long-since razed theater on 42d Street — back when The Deuce was still just a little bit dangerous. It was my first New York headshot.

I’ve been making records for fifteen years. Many of them are available on CD Baby. Many of them are available on iTunes. Some of them (Smokey Junglefrog’s “Crumble”) are lost forever, which might be for the best. A few, though, never really saw the light of day.

My closet, though, is stuffed with master tapes: DATs, CDRs, Hi-8, Beta. Saturday night’s housecleaning excericse reminded me just how many unreleased EPs I had.

Take “The Happy Not Happy EP.” Recorded with producer Steve Feldman in Palm Springs, CA, this collection of six songs included a cover of Matthew Sweet’s “I’ve Been Waiting,” as well as my brother’s favorite original, “Debris.”

Never been released.

Take “The Christopher Street EP.” Recorded with producer Kevin Antnony in New York City, this collection of five songs includes the demo of “The Rest Of My Life.” Unless you were one of only a handful of people, you’ve never heard any of it.

And there’s more.

Which got me thinking. In this age of iTunes, the long tail, and niche programming, why shouldn’t everything I’ve ever recorded be available?

And so it is that I’ve decided to re-master and release a collection of my previously unreleased material. I’m calling it, “Besides.”

The Rest Of My Life
Christopher Street
Beholden
Untitled No. 1
Wishes
Annalia (Come Back Home)
Who You Are
Afternoon Calling
Swallowed By The Cracks
Manifest Destiny
The Michael Song
I’ve Been Waiting
Debris
Black Hole
Running Away
Long Way Down
Message In A Bottle
Blue Eyes Cryin’ In The Rain

Nada’s bassist and “Heartland” producer Jon Locker is mastering it.

And yes, it will contain at least two new, previously unreleased tracks.

Previously unreleased tracks on an album of previously unreleased tracks.

How meta.

Look for it sometime prior to Q3.