Selecting songs for an album is a lot like selecting them for a particular set. You want to open with something to get folks' attention and you want to close with something they'll remember. You consider where you are playing, what type music is expected, what people have liked in the past. You try to mix things up, fast, slow, hard driving, pretty ballads - kind of keep people guessing as to what's next. You hope that everyone will find a song or two that they really like.
We opened at times with songs like Willie's Whisky River, Lonnie Mack's Wham, and even At The Hop for golden oldies nights. One night we were opening for one of the better known local bands at a bigger venue than our typical small bar. Not many people recognized Also Sprach Zarathustra but most had seen the 2001: A Space Odyssey movie. It was scored for a symphonic orchestra blowing the walls down. We didn't have an orchestra handy so we did a Jimi Hendrix and played it with three screaming electric guitars, a Fender bass, and my Roland synthesizer. Our timpani drums where a pair of cut down oil drums. And - it was all pushed through 3000 watts of Peavey Electronics's best with the master volumes punched all the way to the top. We didn't quite knock the walls down, but we gave 'em a darn good scare. This version is only strings and timpani. Not quite as wild, but maybe you'll get the idea.
Sometimes our closing song was cast in stone. If you are playing at Silver Wings Ballroom you WILL close with Silver Wings. If we were doing a hard rock night, we took a lesson from Quicksilver Messenger Service and ended with a C and W acoustic Happy Trails. And - a couple of times we wrapped it up for the night with the last little ditty on this album. So - That's All Folks - until the next one.
By the way - Stars and Stripes Forever is done with only drums and sixteen piano tracks. (Sometimes you just gotta try to show off!)
Reeves
PS The photo is of the night launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS‑8 from August 30, 1983. Can't think of a better opening to anything than watching 70,000,000 horsepower depart Earth for orbit. If you've never seen a heavy lift rocket launch, add it to your bucket list.
Sadly, it is also a reminder of closing because I also remember with the same razor edge clarity on January 28, 1986 as I returned to my office being met at the door by a grim faced colleague with the news of STS-51-L, news that Challenger had just disintegrated 73 seconds into launch.
