Phil Angotti - People & Places

"PEOPLE and PLACES is what the songs are about," Angotti says. The record represents Phil's best work to date and the maturity of his song writing will be obvious to the listener. Angotti's deeply rooted love for 'Beatles' style Pop continues in this collection of original songs although; he includes a country influenced song "Same Ol' We" and a fabulous heartfelt contemporary ballad "Parting for Awhile" Accompanying Phil, as he plays and sings his way through the carefully thought-out song order, are some of the finest musicians performing in and around Chicago, Illinois today. This is a must hear album from a great composer / songwriter. The following album notes were written by Phil Angotti, about his inspiration for the songs, instrumentation, and the musicians that played on the record. #1] My Ol' Records This song is actually a sequel to "Psychedelic Sunday" from my East Side Soul album. Another song declaring my love for 33 1/3 vinyl records. Instead of talking about the actual albums, it's really more about a place, my old room at my parent's house. When I go there to visit yet today I find myself going into my room and looking through my old books, magazines, letters, flyers from gigs, drawings and writings that I did, and of course my records. When you move, the heaviest and most important boxes are your records. As I say in the song, "I can't believe that everything is still here, but I'll save it all my dear... for at least another year." #2] You Were Right (Probably) A sort of confessional song, but not really it is not directed toward any one person, but to situations where you realize you were wrong. "I thought I was the king" refers to our feeling of being invincible when we are young and not being able to admit when we are wrong. Thankfully those thoughts change a bit as we grow older; I think? It's also a tribute to Tom Petty, as you can hear in my vocal delivery. I am playing a couple of my old Rickenbacker guitars on this one. #3] I'm Yer Man I've never spent so long writing, arranging, or mixing a song! It's not that complicated, but it just didn't feel right. Although, I always thought it was a good song and worth continuing to work on. I recorded it once after I finished "East Side Soul" but then decided to scrap it. I brought it back to life when we started playing it on our live sets. It started to shape up, but still wasn't quite there. We finally recorded it again and I thought we had it this time as the vibe felt great. The jazzy middle part still drove me crazy, but I liked it. During overdubs it came to me that the part should be a piano break instead of guitar and that's what we did. The piano really pulls the song together. The vocal is pretty high, inspired by the Shins, a favorite band of mine. I added several layers of guitar parts and background vocals. We pulled the electric guitars back somewhat in the second verse so you can hear the drums and acoustic chugging the rhythm together. The lyrics are fun and conversational and fit the groove of the song. A very fun song to play live. #4] I Guess My favorite song on the album I wrote it about a couple of friends who were struggling in their life somewhat. It melds together lyrically, as if I were speaking to just one person. I'm telling them it will be alright, if they believe it will. It is simple and to the point, but does not give too much away..."I guess". #5] Same Ol' We My first real country song though I've written a few over the years. This time I wanted to really get into the feel, so I asked Chicago guitar legend Joel Patterson to come in and play pedal steel. Joel suggested that I play the guitar solo, so I brought in two of my old Gretsches'. The first part is played on a '66 Country Gentleman, the second part on my '64 Tennessean. Jacky Dustin from the Nashville band "The August," came in and sing harmony and second lead vocal. She really helps move the song to the country feel that I was looking for. The lyrics are my poke at country lyric writing "same ol' you, same ol' me, same ol' song, same ol' we..." kind of like an old country couple fighting over something or another. #6] Whatever Happened To... In the last year or so, I put together a few shows with various band members to perform my favorite Paul McCartney album "Ram." I had my ukulele around, probably going over "Ram" one day playing some chords and came up with this song. I taped it so I'd remember it and wrote down some lyrics. Since the song had a sad, whimsical sound to it, I thought about writing something like "whatever happened to..." Things like my grandma's old record player, where as a child I'd stand and watch the records spin around and around. It was an old tube driven record player built into a television console and my teeth marks were in the wood on the top of the cabinet. So, when the needle touched the record, it would make a loud boom sound. I can still smell the wood and see the old records going' around. I also put in a line about my daughter and the pictures she draws for me all the time. The gorgeous viola part added a lovely mournful sound to the song. I played three different uke's, a concert, a soprano and a baritone. An '80's "Nashville tuned" Kim Leland Schwartz acoustic guitar, a '64 Gibson Hummingbird six string acoustic, and a '64 Hofner bass filled out the instruments arrangement. I love how you can hear the squeaks and scratches of the wooden acoustic instruments on the recording; a departure from modern over processed and generic sounding instruments. I also did the lead vocal in one take all the way through, and we left it. "It's so much better when you sing along!" I'm sure you'll get it when you listen. #7] Broken Baby Doll House This is the oldest song on the album. I did a version of this song years ago with my band the Idea for an IPO promotional CD that we gave away one year. I didn't change the arrangement much for this version, but the piano is a nice change from the staccato guitar, drum intro and middle parts. Very '60's pop harmonies and "bops' throughout. The song title was influenced by the original title of the Beatles white album "A Doll's House." I wrote it with the image of a little girls doll house in an adult world (my daughter strikes again). The lyrics, are simple, but that's the messages: "poor little girl in her miniature world." #8] Railroad Angel Possibly the first new song of the bunch, I developed the arrangement while playing it live. It is recorded pretty much the way we do it live. It is written about my memories of being on the train tracks behind the Short Line on 97th and Avenue L; just below the Skyway bridge in East Chicago. A place I hung around a lot as a kid; even now I occasionally stop by and have a walk. In fact, we shot part of our new video "Parting for Awhile" at this location. The tracks run along the Calumet River, where also stands an old railroad bridge, the "Jackknife" bridge as many people call it. The "Jackknife" bridge was hit by a freighter several years ago and two huge grain elevators stood there also, but now only one. These images have been implanted in my brain since I was a young boy. The railroad angel is actually the big black railroad bridge. The jackknife sections are the wings pointing back home and that's what I am alluding to in the lyrics. Mixed in with dreams that I often have about walking there are the river barges and the trains. I have climbed the grain elevator and walked across the Skyway catwalk. The line "singin' songs that wanna soothe me" is a nod to my bass player friend, Casey. The line "walkin' on the water" is as spiritual as I've ever been in any of my songs. But, this is a special tune that came so naturally without much thought... #9] National '36 The last song we recorded for the album. We went into the studio to record basic tracks for "Parting For Awhile." After we finished I figured why not give this new rocker that I was working on a try? It was so new we hadn't even p