Album of the Week #28: Heimlich Maneuver

Project name: The Two-Tones
Album name: Heimlich Maneuver
Release date: December 5, 1989
Release format: cassette
Studio name: none

Tracks:
1. Hog
2. Swine Time
3. Italian Sunrise
4. Belmont
5. Princess
6. Disco Primavera
7. Euthanasia
8. Fat Girl
9. Art Thing
10. What About That?
11. Rock of Ages
12. Bird's-Eye View of the Bema
13. Tim es Tuff
14. Dairy Queen (Revisited)
15. Donkey Hotay
16. Tres Gringos
17. Misnomer

It was at the end of Jason and Harry's junior year (1987-88) in high school when they got together with their friend Jeremy at Harry's house and recorded a song called "Hog" about their English teacher. That song was the catalyst for them to continue writing and recording music for the next year.

They had been recording since March of 1988 but "Hog" was their crowning achievement. Most of their songs dealt with inside jokes during their senior year at school and making fun of various people.

The origin of the album title has been lost to history. But there was a play on words at one point and it was almost titled The Hind-Lick Maneuver.

It was mostly Jason, Harry, and Jeremy in the songs but their friends Darrin and Joe were at some of the recording sessions.

The recording technique was as basic as one could get. They set a standard cassette recorder in the middle of Harry's bedroom and usually sat in a circle around it and played the music and sang. The songs were usually recorded in one take, although alternate takes of some songs do exist.

In June of 1989, Jeremy moved away to attend West Point. So the first week of July was spent by Jason timing all their recordings and arranging a playlist for the album. Soon the album was created and a lyric booklet typed up. But then the album sat on a shelf for months. It wasn't until October that the lyric booklet was printed and December when the tape was finally loaned to various people to hear.

There was a second version of the Two-Tones in the fall of 1989 where Joe sat in for Jeremy. A few songs were recorded but it was after the Heimlich Maneuver was complete. So they have never been released.

This album will no doubt end up on CD some day, possibly a 2-CD set containing many of the other songs not on the original album. But that's another project in a long list to be completed.


Next week's Album of the Week: My First Album by Paige from 2007.