UNFANTASTIC FEW (live on WMFO)

Playing live on the radio was always a goal of mine and I am lucky to have done so a number of times. There is some great college radio in Massachusetts too. WMFO is the station of Tufts University in Medford MA and it is a truly great station. They are one of the few free-form stations left in the country. This was the 4th visit I'd made to their landmark local music show, On the Town. The band was very happy to have Joel Simches engineer the show - Joel has been a long time supporter of my music, so I knew he would make it sound sweet. Plus, he is an all around good guy. So all of the stars were in line for a great show but I have to say, I missed the mark for most of it. I don't know what it was - but I felt WAY OFF for this performance.

Sorry to say that most of you will never hear the proof of how wrong it went. Just trust me.

The good news is the sound was terrific, as is evidenced by this recording of this song off of the Inventory record.

I Just Wasted My Dream - BONUS TRACK

Written from the perspective of a man whose dream was murdered while it was walking alone on a quiet street through a bad neighborhood. It wasn't me, but I feel bad for the guy.

Some great keyboard nonsense in this song. Note to self: Need more of that in the future.

Stop Drop Enroll - BONUS TRACK

The title is a rather obvious play on the fire safety campaign, "STOP DROP AND ROLL". Commuting on the train to and from Boston did some odd things to my lyrical content and inspiration pool. But this song keeps my interest 6 years later. It has some of my favorite images and maybe even some of my proudest moments. Why would I keep it s secret until now then? In particular I am fond of the triumphant last line of the second verse:

I'll get up on the table
So I can LOOK AROUND

Getting a new perspective sometimes can make all the difference.

There is No Free Lunch - BONUS TRACK

So true!

There is no free lunch
in this world of prompts
so erase that thought from your book

Written and recorded around the time of the Errors Intact EP. Full of Roland Juno and some scrappy guitar work. I was surely influenced by Andy Cohen on those guitar solos. He believed the emotive guitar solo was not dead, he may still believe that.

Thanks for the Stammering - BONUS TRACK

The banjo was a Sovereign 4 string. I was working on weekends for an ephemera collector. On of his obsessions was Hawaiiana. He would go to auctions throughout the week prior and I would clear out his car. Posters, books, coins, stamps, radios - things some would call junk but to me it was inspiring. They said he never lost a bid at auctions but that did not mean he was always right on target. One Sunday I was clearing out the car and found the Sovereign and asked what the story was. Story was short - for some reason he thought banjos were Hawaiian. Once he discovered that was not the case, he let me have it. Years later, after I had upgraded to a Goodtime, I sold it to Paul from Sunburned.

I just rediscovered this song while digging through some other unreleased songs. The equivalent of a hidden bonus track for me. It is curious to me how as a songwriter, I can put so much into the writing, performing, and recording of a song (relative of course) and then is vanishes from my mind. But as soon as I heard the first notes of this, the whole thing rushed back from that dusty corner of my brain. But don't ask me to perform it for you....

Torn Green Velvet Eyes - BONUS TRACK

This is a cover of a Magnetic Fields song I did for a tribute compilation published by Slight Record, which is an imprint of the webzine Slightly Confusing to a Stranger. Due to some legal complications this was never released as a CD, only as free downloads. I don't think these are available anywhere anymore, which is too bad. Of note here is the fake mellotron plug-in which creates a warbley, seasick drone. I think Djim mixed this with me, but I can't be sure.

Funny thing about covers, I never recall how to play other peoples songs so it takes a ton of effort to record a cover. I decided I am lucky to remember how to play my own songs. So don't try yelling out for this one at my next show (April 7th at the Red Door in Portsmouth, NH) is all I am saying.

As it Turns Out - BONUS TRACK

How do you explain fear?

There is a fair amount of dread that I view some of my songs with. This is something I never knew until embarking on this blog project. To me this is so definite, so specific. Maybe to the listener that comes through all wrapped up in tin and rust. But maybe this is just for me. In general, I don't know why I write songs, it is a compulsion. But when I listen to this one I know just why I wrote it and it is still raw. I came up with this phrase once to describe what I do for some press papers: ABSTRACT PRECISION. As it turns out, it may only be precise to my brain.

Production notes:
Another stellar slide guitar performance from Jim. Recorded at the Estate by Jim during the never-ending Inventory sessions or before them, who knows. This was put out on one of the magnificent Ball of Wax compilations, what great things those are. Buy some.

So Far Away - BONUS TRACK

Carole King wrote this one and I tried my best. Jim and I recorded it and he played slide guitar on too. I must have a high opinion of myself to even attempt one of her songs. You be the judge of the result in the comments please. Myself, I like this weird version, my apologies to Ms. King of course.

This was part of a limited edition compilation for the label I used to be on (before they went under).

Gradually I am working my way up to starting to post songs from my 2005 CD, Inventory. Why am I stalling? No clue. This better be worth the wait Roff.

The Best is Yet to Come - BONUS TRACK

From concept to completion, I've got to know
How the west was won and why the east let go.

Before the record Inventory was released, I had this hot idea to do a little radio "teaser". The first two tracks were right off of the record and then there was this song. This was recorded live on WMBR's classic local music show, The Pipeline in 2002 (engineered by the one and only Ramsey Tantawi). This was a super-group of some sort. A rare combo in its entirety. Jim Reynolds on banjo, David Michael Curry on viola, Gregg Porter on drums, and TW Walsh on piano and bass. This lineup was always one of my favorites because these are such intuitive musicians who can do anything at the suggestion. They really care about the songs and serve them well and that is a rare thing. This is the definitive version of this rambling number. There are bouts of atonality that are just perfect to me - everyone finding their way and it is all good.

Give it (why?) back to me
What a mild discovery
call it what it is, it is ornamental

Also of note, is that I think this is the first public performance under the moniker, Brian Michael Roff and the Deer. And for what it is worth, the radio teaser idea kind of fell flat on its face.

Often I Am Thought to Be Full of Beans - BONUS TRACK

Here we have a W/# bonus "cut". From around 2003? I will admit I love the building repetition of this song. In fact, throughout my music, I have had a love for repetition and layering new sounds with each repeat. It seems that when I do that, the lyrics tend to be more skewed and less overtly personal, but still some truth sneaks by:

You might think, what a miserable fuck
and you would be right, just as right as a Captain
is alone at sea, spies land from the galley
gets held in an alley
your suspicions were right

OK...so the part about being a lonely captain coming to shore and being "held" in an alley is totally not true. I am sure this happens regularly in the port towns and cities of this state, but not to me.

As for the cursing, I don't do that too often, but I do it when it is appropriate. I mean I am no Liz Phair, but I occasionally sing the foul. Sometimes it is the only thing to get the point across.

The Sweet Science - BONUS TRACK

Don't let this song fool you, I don't know anything about boxing, AKA "The Sweet Science". But this song was the kernel that led to naming a record "A Sweet Science". Perhaps it was an understanding that the concept of me singing about boxing was absurd, I mean COMPLETELY unbelievable, that led me to leave this one off the record. There is some pretty funny stuff going on here and it has only ever been heard by friends and family.

By the way, greetings to all elbow.ws referrals, a pleasure to have you poking around.

Please let me know your enjoying this pursuit and leave me some notes. As the songs get more recent, I am finding it harder to get to the bottom of them. That is weird to me.