Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails

The Baseball Project

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 8, 2008)
• Original Release Date: July 8, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yep Roc Records
• ASIN: B00197U10C
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #51,388 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn share a fanatical interest in America's national pastime and have formed The Baseball Project, whose debut,''Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails'' (****, out July 8 on Yep Roc), is filled with their clever songs about such stars as Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams and Satchel Paige.

Whether writing about the famous or obscure, Wynn (Dream Syndicate, Gutterball) and McCaughey (The Minus 5, R.E.M.) display an obvious love for the sport, and they get some notable backup from their longtime friend, guitarist Peter Buck of R.E.M. And yes, two Detroit Tigers do get name-dropped along the way: Denny McLain and Jim Bunning. At press time, the album was being streamed in its entirety at yeproc.com/artist_info.php?artistId=12539. --Detroit Free Press

Product Description

Rock n' roll vets Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5, R.E.M., Young Fresh Fellows) and Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate, Gutterball, Danny & Dusty, Miracle 3) have an unhealthy love for music undermined only by an even more unhealthy love of baseball. The compatriots blend their two passions with The Baseball Project -- Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails, an album of buzzing guitars and baseball back stories. The heroes and villains of America's (in)famous pastime are explored with cutting wit and fanboy detail in songs that satisfy both the summer's need for rock anthems and sweltering afternoon double-headers. Drummer Linda Pitmon (Miracle 3, Golden Smog) and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck round out the squad, as they spin tales of ill-fated drinking binges ('The Yankee Flipper', 'The Death of Big Ed Delahanty'), near mythical icons ('Ted Fucking Williams'), folk heroes ('Fernando', 'Satchel Paige Said') and, on 'Gratitude (For Curt Flood)', the overlooked man who changed the game. A passionately funny and sarcastically reverent commentary on the state of the sport, The Baseball Project provides a hip soundtrack to the backstage party at America's game.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Stand-up Triple, July 18, 2008

By	P. Goode - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The brainchild of Seattle musicians Steve Wynn and Scott McCaughey (with assistance for REM's Peter Buck and drummer Linda Pitmon), this CD is way more than a cute exercise in nostalgia. In turns ribald ("Ted F---ing Williams"), bitter ("Gratitude [for Curt Flood]), nostalgic ("Sometimes I Dream Of Willie Mays"), and rueful ("Long Before My Time"), Frozen Ropes successfully and accessibly makes the case that baseball isn't that much different from everyday life, reminding us in "Harvey Haddix" that "We're drawn to tragic stories/The ones that suit us best." Incidentally, the title refers to baseball slang for line drives and pop flies.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For Baseball Fans or Music Fans or Both...Equally Smashin' Baby!, September 29, 2008

By	M. Swinney "Marc My Words" (Flower Mound, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm listening to track 6, "Fernando," right now as I write this and am transported to a Mexican Sonoran village where folks only speak in la espanol and baseball on a sand lot under the hot hot Sonoran sun is the El Jeffe. Young Fernando, the Mayan, or is it Incan?, legend, channels the spirit of El Toro and reaches back within himself eyes closed and blazes a screwball to the young ninos of the village and screws himself right into the legend and lore of America's past time--baseball (and music).

So what is this Baseball Project thing all about? Well, its four veteran indie rockers coming together to spout off all things baseball and build upon the significant amount of history (past and fairly current) that's out there on the sport. Fans of the game will find themselves (like me) listening close to all the lyrics, "It's 1965 / Me and my Dad Mac / 50 miles to Candlestick / In a Green VW van / The giants start their pennant race / Mays and Koufax face to face / Sometimes I dream of Willie Mays / And tell him I was there / And the sun comes out and the fog lifts and he's there." This comes from track 9, "I Dream of Willie Mays," and the lyrics steeped in an obvious love bordering on obessession for the game comes through. But try to not allow yourself to be pulled into the sentimentality and nostalgia the game (and this music) produces. Try. Try as you might, I doubt you'll be able to resist. What's a real beauty about this CD (and this song) is that there's some real musical chops behind all the baseball. "I Dream of Willie Mays," is a perfect send-up of The Beach Boys summertime dreamy pop, a band who REM's Peter Buck (and his Athens Georgia 3 or 4 coherts) have been aping on shamelessly for years. And the music is solid throughout.

Now I'm listening to "The Death of Big Ed Delahanty," a player previously I knew nada about. But thanks to Ex-Dream Syndicate member, Steve Wynn, and REM's own Scott McCaughy I get this great little song that sounds a little like David Lowery's Cracker and get to know all about Delahanty and his boozing and baseball-ing ways in the late 19th century. So Ruth and the boys used to live a hard living life and abuse alcohol regularly and we rail today about the demise of baseball due to steroids. Baseball players have been abusing drugs of one kind or another for a full-on century and baseball is still going strong. But these kinds of stories, of which there are plenty, in the game make it rich and make this CD a great little find.

And the CD wraps up with a little tune titled, "The Closer." A perfect baseball bookend to the stereotypical personality of the closer. The pariah iconoclast seeps through in dramatic fashion as we get a do or die situation with an edgy pitcher that quickly becomes hero or goat in the matter of 3 outs when the game is on the line. "MVP / Strike 3 / My work was done again." I can't say enough good things about this little project, "The Baseball Project." I recommend you grab a shiner on a Sunday at the Ballpark in Arlington, have this crankin' on your MP3 player and have family all around you (preferably your Dad who coached you for oh 15-odd years & taught you everything you neeeded to know about the game and life) and your bro (who coulda shoulda ended up at least on some double if not triple A team) and bask in America's pasttime baby! ...mmw

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please let there be a Volume II, December 2, 2008

By	Susan Petrone (Cleveland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What is it about baseball that would make a group of otherwise successful musicians form a side band that's basically a baseball research project? No other sport has inspired so many books, songs, and films, and The Baseball Project's Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails is a worthy addition to the lineup. The music is great--let's get that out of the way first. They're good tunes. But the lyrics are what lift this from just another side project to something greater. The lyrics are alternately witty, poignant, funny, and dirty (sometimes all at the same time). On what other CD can you actually learn a bit of baseball history? Want to learn the origins of free agency and the players who benefited from the courage of Curt Flood? Ever wonder how Big Ed Delahanty died? Want to learn the names of every pitcher who's ever pitched a perfect game in the majors (including one who should be included in that list)? Ever wonder if Ted Williams had an ego problem? It's all here. This may be my favorite album of 2008.