A Baseball Lover's Musical Delight ...
Not sure about you, but I'm thrilled to learn there's music life in baseball beyond "Talking Baseball" and "Centerfield". They've been worn out and I'm OK with not hearing them again for 100 years.
So I'm thrilled to introduce you to The Baseball Project. The brainchild of baseball fanatics and musical greats Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn, this album pays tribute to their heros and probably a few of yours as well. Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, and Ted Williams are highlighted, along with a few less well-known but equally notable people and events.
So I'm thrilled to introduce you to The Baseball Project. The brainchild of baseball fanatics and musical greats Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn, this album pays tribute to their heros and probably a few of yours as well. Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, and Ted Williams are highlighted, along with a few less well-known but equally notable people and events.
The Baseball Project's First Album
Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails
Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails
Amazon Price: $13.99 (as of 12/09/2009)
List Price: $15.99
Used Price: $8.68
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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Song List from Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails
1. Past Time
2. Ted F***** Williams
3. Gratitude (For Curt Flood)
4. Broken Man
5. Satchel Paige
6. Fernando
7. Long Before My Time
8. Jackie's Lament
9. Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays
10. The Death of Big Ed Delahanty
11. Harvey Haddix
12. The Yankee Flipper
13. The Closer
2. Ted F***** Williams
3. Gratitude (For Curt Flood)
4. Broken Man
5. Satchel Paige
6. Fernando
7. Long Before My Time
8. Jackie's Lament
9. Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays
10. The Death of Big Ed Delahanty
11. Harvey Haddix
12. The Yankee Flipper
13. The Closer
The Baseball Project Singing Past Time on Letterman
Lyrics for Past Time by The Baseball Project
When Campy Campaneris played all nine positions in a game.
When Pete Rose demolished Ray Fosse he was never the same.
31 wins and an album on Capitol for Denny McLain.
So long ago, so long, Pastime, are you
past your prime?
The DiMaggios, Shoeless Joe, Minnie Minoso, Yo La
Tengo.
Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox made the Sox go go. The sideburns of Pepitone and Oscar Gamble's afro.
So long ago, so long, Pastime, are you past your prime?
One thing you can say about time is that it always passes.
One thing you can say about the game is that it's not getting any faster.
You can get tangled up in a ball of rubber bands and twine, the cowhide and pine tar, snuff, spit and chalk dust lines.
Two round-trippers and a nohitter, that's Rick Wise (not Bobby Wine).
So long ago, so long, Pastime, are you past your prime?
When Pete Rose demolished Ray Fosse he was never the same.
31 wins and an album on Capitol for Denny McLain.
So long ago, so long, Pastime, are you
past your prime?
The DiMaggios, Shoeless Joe, Minnie Minoso, Yo La
Tengo.
Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox made the Sox go go. The sideburns of Pepitone and Oscar Gamble's afro.
So long ago, so long, Pastime, are you past your prime?
One thing you can say about time is that it always passes.
One thing you can say about the game is that it's not getting any faster.
You can get tangled up in a ball of rubber bands and twine, the cowhide and pine tar, snuff, spit and chalk dust lines.
Two round-trippers and a nohitter, that's Rick Wise (not Bobby Wine).
So long ago, so long, Pastime, are you past your prime?
The Baseball Project
Who is The Baseball Project?
Steve Wynn - guitar, vocals; The Dream Syndicate, Gutterball, Danny & Dusty, Miracle 3
Scott McCaughey - guitar, vocals; The Minus 5, REM, Young Fresh Fellows
Peter Buck - bass; REM
Linda Pitmon - drums; Miracle 3, Golden Smog
Scott McCaughey - guitar, vocals; The Minus 5, REM, Young Fresh Fellows
Peter Buck - bass; REM
Linda Pitmon - drums; Miracle 3, Golden Smog
News from The Baseball Project's Blog
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Articles on The Baseball Project
- YepRoc Records
- Background article from the production company
- Review from Variety
- Tenor of the music is playful throughout, which carries over into the lyrics, most of which stick with non-fiction. Names of players who have benefited from free agency ingeniously form a chorus in "Gratitude (For Curt Flood)"; a similar, slightly sharper, rhyme scheme comprising names of pitchers who have thrown perfect games shape "Harvey Haddix."
- Review in Boston Glove
- They appeal directly to the literary fan, recording mid-tempo rockers about Satchel Paige's folk wisdom, Sandy Koufax's existentialism ("I must go on, I can't go on"), and McCaughey's magical night at Candlestick Park with his pop ("Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays").
This being baseball, the great equalizer, they focus on hard-luck stories - 19th-century superstar Big Ed Delahanty, who was swept over Niagara Falls, or Pittsburgh Pirate Harvey Haddix, who pitched 12 perfect innings and still lost. "One thing you can say about time is that it always passes," they pontificate, Yogi-like, on "Past Time." - Review on CBSSports.com
- On paper, the half-highbrow concept -- songs! about baseball guys! with loud guitars! -- sounds like a dodgy proposition. After all, the history of popular music includes precisely 3.5 passable songs about baseball and/or the people who play it: Steve Goodman's A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request, Warren Zevon's Bill Lee and Bob Dylan's Catfish; give partial credit to Say Hey (the Willie Mays Song) by The Treniers, because Mays himself sings background on it. Who the dickens are Wynn and McCaughey to have the audacity to believe they can triple this figure their first time out of the batter's box?
Harvey Haddix
Celebration of the Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher's perfect game. Which he lost in the 13th inning.
Lyrics for The Yankee Flipper by The Baseball Project
He's a friend of the Smithereens, an old pal of Eddie Vedder.
For a good few years there weren't any pitchers better.
He loved R.E.M. and he played a Rickenbacker guitar, but for a night on the town with Mike Mills you get hit pretty hard.
Mike and I met up with Dennis Diken and Black Jack somewhere.
As this was New York City, you may have heard they have a few bars there.
Jack loved the Replacements, and we drank enough that we became them.
Two guitars, bass and drums--yeah our line-up was the same then.
He was crowned the Yankee Flipper by the foul ball of fame.
He gave 50,000 fans the finger, but we'd like to share a little bit of the blame.
It was Spike and Mike and Black Jack and me.
I'm told Jack ended up on the cold tiles of the floor, with his mom who was visiting banging on the bathroom door.
Next time he took the mound was not a pretty sight, and I've always figured it had a lot to do with that night.
The photos filled every front page of the morning editions.
Now he's the poster boy for a grand baseball tradition.
Templeton, Tejada, Billy Martin and Albert Belle--from old Hoss Radbourne all the way to David Wells.
For a good few years there weren't any pitchers better.
He loved R.E.M. and he played a Rickenbacker guitar, but for a night on the town with Mike Mills you get hit pretty hard.
Mike and I met up with Dennis Diken and Black Jack somewhere.
As this was New York City, you may have heard they have a few bars there.
Jack loved the Replacements, and we drank enough that we became them.
Two guitars, bass and drums--yeah our line-up was the same then.
He was crowned the Yankee Flipper by the foul ball of fame.
He gave 50,000 fans the finger, but we'd like to share a little bit of the blame.
It was Spike and Mike and Black Jack and me.
I'm told Jack ended up on the cold tiles of the floor, with his mom who was visiting banging on the bathroom door.
Next time he took the mound was not a pretty sight, and I've always figured it had a lot to do with that night.
The photos filled every front page of the morning editions.
Now he's the poster boy for a grand baseball tradition.
Templeton, Tejada, Billy Martin and Albert Belle--from old Hoss Radbourne all the way to David Wells.
Reviews of The Baseball Project
- The Baseball Project Joins The Bash - Len and Bob
- We have great news. The Baseball Project (a power pop supergroup. featuring Steve Wynn, Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck from R.E.M. and Linda. Pitmon) is confirmed for our 4th Annual Len & Bob Bash for Chicago ...
- Count Five: The Baseball Project's Ballpark Memories - Spinner
- The Baseball Project, Scott McCaughey's national-pastime-themed collaboration with Steve Wynn, Linda Pitmon and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, just finished touring for the first time since the release of last year's 'Frozen Ropes and Dying ...
- Every Day I Write The Blog: The Baseball Project “Ted F---ing ...
- The Baseball Project practically constitutes a genre of its own---a band that writes song only about specific baseball players. Some of the musicians behind the project are probably familiar, including Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Scott ...
- Atlanta Music Guide: Live Review: The Minus 5, The Baseball ...
- Last year he formed The Baseball Project, a band that combined his love for baseball and rock 'n' roll, and they released the CD Volume One: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails to stellar reviews and even an appearance on David Letterman. ...
Favorite baseball songs of The Baseball Project
Dying Fan's Last Request
MP3 Download of A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request By Steve Goodman
More Baseball Music from Steve Goodman
MP3 Download of Catfish by Bob Dylan
Catfish
Amazon Price: $0.99 (as of 12/09/2009)
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