The Catalogue
By my reckoning, Superifical Hero has about 7 “legacy” songs to work on. These are songs that were, for the most part, written and performed during the original lifetime of the band, but never properly recorded or released on one of their two official releases. Here’s a quick rundown for our legions of adoring fans:
She Believes. This is basically the reason we’re even approaching this project. It’s a nice, driving pop song, with loud guitars and a catchy hook and a breakdown that was sometimes anchored by glitchy electronic sounds. If we could record only one of these remaining songs, this would be the one.
Cameo AKA When The Credits Roll. This one had potential, but never quite lived up to it. I think it’ll need a little re-working to be really effective, but it’s pretty close. Heavily rhythmic without sacrificing pop sensibility. Maybe a little too long and scattered in it’s “current” form though.
The Owl in Daylight. This is a good one. It’s built around harmonized guitar/glockenspiel arpeggios over a rolling bass melody, and lots of dynamic changes. It’s engaging, which is surprising since it’s essentially the same chord progression over and over. The lyrics are odd….At this point I think of them being about a very specific person and situation, even though they were written before that situation happened. It was one of those things where after the fact, you can’t imagine the words being about anything else, even though they weren’t about that at the time they were written.
How To Save The World. This is one of my favorite songs from the end of the S. Hero era. The guitar work is creative and odd, in a Sonic Youth-y way, and it’s got a hook that will knock your ass out. Probably second to She Believes on the priority list. It needs a little polishing, but it’s 99% there, I’d say. It also has the lyric that we’re taking our working title from. More about that in a later post.
The Mixed Meter Song. Completely composed, but lacking lyrics. The working title comes from the fact that it moves between 4/4 and 9/8 between the verse nd chorus. There may be some 6/8 thrown in as well. the demo version we were working with had a giant, layered synth string part on top of tom-heavy drums that really brought it home.
Drop D Epic. There’s a 10-minute demo recording of this made on 4-track, but no full band version. It’s played in Drop D tuning, and it’s really long, hence the name. Another track with no lyrics, and that could definitely use some work, but it’s got a lot of promise.
Untitled #3. This one’s not really a legacy song like the others, as it was released on the original Castaway EP, way back in the day. But it evolved a lot during the life of the band, especially after we went drummer-less. There’ a late-era 4 track version that really blows away the original recording, and we’re planning on trying to recapture that energy.
Pacific Daylight. Not even sure I should include this on the list, since it’s pretty lost. There are no remaining recordings, and neither if us really remember how to play it. I remember some bass chords, an outro in 5/4, and a difficult guitar part to sing along with. We’ll really have to jog our memories on this one. It may be lost forever…
And finally, there’s a bit of a new song in the works. So far it’s just a couple of guitar parts and a vague idea of an arrangement, but I’m already excited about it. Reed hasn’t heard this one yet, so maybe we’ll get a second opinion of it soon. If I can get off my ass and get him a demo recording.
So that’s the run down. We’ll see where this set of songs takes us in the next little while.