Song Of The Week: "Gardens Of Hope"

I'm delving into the Radio Free Charleston archives for this one, sort of. Actually, this song was recorded a few months after RFC was strangled in its crib, but it's by Three Bodies, one of the most popular local bands that I played on my old radio show. Three Bodies consisted of Kris Cormandy on guitar, Brian Lucas on bass, and Brian Young on drums. All three were frequent guests on Radio Free Charleston, and good friends of mine. In June 1990, I was asked to lend my ears to the Bodies as they entered Pat Arnold's recording studio above Gorby's to cut four songs for a demo tape. Spencer Elliott was also on hand, as we co-produced the songs with the band.

My main contribution was on the day before, when the Bodies took over The Empty Glass to rehearse. It was a criminally hot June afternoon, and while I listened and offered suggestions, the guys repeatedly tore through the four songs they intended to record--for more than six hours. The songs were pretty much worked out by the end of the day. My only real suggestion that made it to tape was the song arrangement I'm going to post here next week. The song I'm posting today was Spencer's baby. He came up with the piano intro and arranged the song on the spot. It was the standout of the four tunes.

I did the illustration above for a flyer advertising a performance by the band. I recall drawing it using duotone Craftint while sitting on the porch of Spencer's bohemian hangout, across the street from Asbury United Methodist Church. I colorized it in the computer just a few minutes before writing this.

Three Bodies went their separate ways later in 1990. Spencer went on to form Mother Nang with Brian Young, before jetting off to become a world-class litigator. Lately, however, he and Brian have teamed up with Dan Jordan to form Whistlepunk, who you can check out here. It's great that the old local scene from the RFC days isn't totally dead.

So, here's our song of the week, "Gardens Of Hope." It's a particularly relevant plea for peace these days. Click the song title to listen, or right click and save, to download. Next week I'll post the song that I helped arrange.