Back from the Dead

Automatic Pilot

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 29, 2005)
• Original Release Date: November 29, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Brown and McQueen Records
• ASIN: B000CEVCKG
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,160,035 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
Automatic Pilot, San Francisco's satiric / erotic jazz wave ensemble, was the bleeding edge of the gay musical movement from 1980 to 1985. Born as the first unofficial subgroup of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, they soon came into their own as an independent force. Using an acoustic punk rock parody with choralistic settings of nasty gay lyrics as a starting point, the songwriting team of lead singer Matthew McQueen and pianist Karl Brown forged a new musical form incorporating elements of jazz, classical, theater and the avant-garde. Automatic Pilot played their hits Killer Purses and Sit on My Face at the Kabuki, Fabulous Follies, Palms, I-Beam, Valencia Rose and the Castro Street Fair, venturing as far as the Chute II Bar in Reno. They shared bills with SFGMC, Silvertone with Chris Isaak, Jane Dornacker, Margo Crossman and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and made a number of studio recordings. In 1983, vocalist Tony Kramedas set out to produce an album for major release, with new songs and arrangements featuring some of the Bay Area's best studio musicians. These tracks have a decidedly more 80's, electric sound. Derelict in My Doorway, was played on the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento radio show. Six songs were completed as Tony's health began to fail. The album was unfinished when Tony died in 1985. Five other Automatic Pilot members have died since. The master tapes sat on the shelf until they were digitized in 2002, and published on the official Automatic Pilot website (www.automaticpilot.org) along with photos, posters, complete lyrics and detailed historical documentation. Two compact discs were produced in 2005: Back from the Dead - the very best of Automatic Pilot's studio works, and Live On Broadway - the historic 1982 concert at San Francisco's On Broadway Theater.

Product Description
Automatic Pilot, San Francisco's satiric / erotic jazz wave ensemble, was the bleeding edge of the gay musical movement from 1980 to 1985. Back From The Dead documents this unique musical journey from a great variety of perspectives The band had existed less than a year when they first entered the recording studio. Bitter Taste is the only example of original sax player Steve McDowell's classical tone. Next summer, following a year of gigs and rehearsals, the band's definitive lineup of lead singer Matthew McQueen and vocalist Tony Kramedas backed by Karl Brown, piano / vocals, Tom Gschwind, violin / vocals, John Selby, sax / flute, Steve Graham, string bass and John Orlando, drums returned to record their entire set live to 2-track in one day. Killer Purses, Why Are You Asking? Clone Butt and Doughnut Shop Dream are among the bands strangest and most resolutely queer songs. They would play the same set two months later at the On Broadway Theater; it is now available on the compact disc Live On Broadway. But first, they undertook their most ambitious, experimental project. Recorded during their last session at Mobius Sound, Are You in Love? stretched the band 's acoustic foundation to incorporate the Synclavier, an early programmable digital synthesizer. Their final sessions as a working band, with bass guitarist Dave Moseley and new drummer Jeremy Rexford, were done at Out There Recording Studio in Belmont. Smart Woman centers around a hard driving sax solo from John Selby. None of these tracks were published as indie recordings, because vocalist and business manager Tony Kramedas kept holding out for a major release. To that end, he set out in 1983 to produce an album featuring some of the Bay Area's best studio musicians supporting the core of Kramedas and songwriting partners Brown and McQueen. These recordings have a decidedly more 80's, electric sound replete with guitars, synthesizers and drum machines, tempered by horns and! percussion. They revisited their first three songs Prelude to a Quaalude, Bobbing for Apples and Sit On My Face Of the new songs, Derelict in My Doorway was heard on the nationally syndicated Dr. Demento radio show. The techno dance beat of Dream A Lot was provided by a real drummer. Say Mongoose is the one Automatic Pilot song that is truly for everyone, especially appropriate for kids. These six songs were completed over two years in four different studios as Tony's health began to fail. Around the time of these final sessions, Brown and McQueen joined in the collaborative production of The AIDS Show at Theater Rhinoceros, and produced the original cast recordings of Rimmin' at the Baths and Safe Livin' in Dangerous Times. The album was unfinished when Tony died in 1985. Five other Automatic Pilot members have also died since. Twenty years later, here is the very best of Automatic Pilot, Back from the Dead. This compact disc was mastered from the original analog master mixes in 2005 by John Cuniberti at The Plant, Sausalito.