A Confederacy Of Dunces: Clean Garbage (Dunces With Wolves), 1991
TRACK LISTING
Side A
The Coolest Guys
Everybody’s Nice Until You Know Them
I Still Have Him
Mr. Stinginess
Hating Me Again
Something To Complain About
The Land Of opposites
Losers In Love
8 Months Ago
The Fine Art Of Settling
Thought That It Was Love
How She Used To Feel
She Loves Wintertime/A Sight To See
Betsey Johnson Dress
PERSONNEL:
Joe Pampel, lead & rhythm guitars, bass, percussion
John Dunbar, vocals, guitars, piano, bass, percussion
Sean Grissom, cello, “Betsey Johnson Dress”
Lou Cortelezzi, oboe, “How She Used To Feel”
Phoebe Legere, accordion, “How She Used To Feel”
Produced by Joe Pampel, John Dunbar and Ivan Purvis
All songs written by John Dunbar ©1991 Snooppenned Music /BMI
Recorded at Soundscape Levelhead Recording, NYC
Engineered by Ivan Purvis and Gary Wade
Mixed at Water Music, Hoboken, NJ by John Siket
I met John Dunbar at the New Music Seminar in 1988, the year I took over the “Independents’ Day column in The Musician’s Exchange from Paul E. Peaghe, writing as Andy Glass (a nom de plume assumed because I was, at the time, the editor of a competing publication, Music & Sound Retailer. John approached me first as “Andy” but before long we were Jim and John, and a lifelong friendship commenced.
A Confederacy Of Dunces released just two CDs, Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, in 1989 and Dunces With Wolves in 1991. This cassette looks like Dunces by another name; the track list is identical. Are they the same performances? I assume, but John only knows.
Dunbar will always be in my pantheon of songwriters, and it all started here. The talent on this recording is overwhelming. Highlights: “Everybody’s Nice Until You Know Them”, “Something To Complain About”, “The Land Of Opposites”, “The Fine Art Of Settling”, “How She Used To Feel”, “Betsey Johnson Dress”, and, uh, all of it. Fans of literate, acerbic Kinkpop, prepare to swoon!
Not long after the Dunces split, John went full bedroom, recording only solo and performing rarely, only recently stepping out with a new band, The John Sally Ride, and a Bandcamp page of recent recordings.
This album was recorded by my good friend and musical colleague, Gary Wade. R.I.P.
5 thoughts on “A Confederacy Of Dunces: Clean Garbage (Dunces With Wolves), 1991”
Hi Jim,
Yes, IIRC this is identical to DWW; it was just an earlier concept for the title prior to the tongue-in-cheek Kevin Costner movie reference that made the final CD. (yeah, remember those?) I think I have the same cassette floating around here somewhere… This may have been pre-mastering but I’m not sure anymore.
Glad to see you’re still at it!
Cheers,
Joe P
It’s the great Joe Pampel! How the hell are ya, Joe?
Doing well, thanks! How are you? Still playing out, although less frequently. In a couple of original bands and a cover band. Btw, I love the phrase, ” went full bedroom”. Pure genius. 🙂
Cheers,
Joe
How much would I expect to pay for the cd The Confederacy of Dunces, Tsk,Tsk, Tsk and where do I find one?
Hi Michael, that CD is out of print, I believe. I will ask J.D. if he has any to sell.