This is the fourth collection of my four-track recordings released under my own name. Up until 1992 I was able to compile them in roughly the order of when I recorded them. After 1992, recording sessions became more sporadic and a lot of songs missed getting the Tascam 244 treatment and went straight into a proper recording studio for Godstar, Sneeze and Chewee albums.
The first four songs (and “Young Mum”) were recorded in January 1993, when I was on a break from touring with Boston band the Lemonheads. “Feels So Fine” and “Under the Ground” were going to be released as a Godstar single on a small US label, but like a lot of plans, that never happened. The chorus of “Young Mum” was added to the outro of the live version of the Lemonheads’ “Kitchen” if anyone wondered what that was all about.
Evan Dando plays drums on “Sunday. God, What a Drag”, which were recorded at a Lemonheads soundcheck in the USA in 1993 on a Walkman cassette player (that’s why it has a very different drum sound to all the other songs). Quick way to get down a beat! Thanks David for the use of your kit.
When Godstar recorded the Sleeper album in 1992, I had a lot of songs to choose from. Some of these I’d already done four-track versions of (which I’d usually be happy to be ‘the ones’) but since I now had some funds to go into a studio, I re-recorded the ones I wanted to go on Sleeper. These are the last seven songs on Okinawa to Forrest, which I put down on my Tascam 244 in October 1990-January 1991. The version of “Everything You Give Me Breaks” features Alison Galloway on the drums and is a demo of an unfinished song.
I’ve added three songs recorded in 2019 in Canterbury, NSW. “The Desert Heat” (written in 1992) and “The Pelican” (written in 1993) were never recorded at the time and, like many unrecorded songs in my songbooks, I finally get them off the page and onto tape. The second verse of “The Desert Heat” will sound familiar to Lemonheads fans as it was ‘donated’ to “Dawn Can’t Decide”, a song I co-wrote with Evan when he needed a quick b-side.
All songs recorded on a Tascam 244 at the Nook (Canterbury and Telarah) by Nic Dalton (some drum tracks recorded at Troy Horse, Newtown). Tracks 1-2, mixed by Tim Kevin at Tempe River, 10-16 mixed by Michael Levis and Nic at Troy Horse, Newtown 1993. Tracks 3-4, 9 mixed by David Coulthard-Clarke at Charing Cross 1993. Track 5 mixed by Geoff Mullard at Rock the Nation, West Mayfield 2023. Tracks 6-8 mixed by Nic at The Nook 2025. Mastered by Nic at the Nook, June 2025. All songs written by N. Dalton