54th & 3rd

nothing is new i've executed everything i had for you don't wonder why the wonder's gone be back here another day and i will always be identical in every way and it still means nothing is new you're still a street and i am still an avenue no wonder all the wonder's gone when every time we cross you say that i will always be identical right down to the way that it still means nothing is new you made your mark you left a permanent tattoo i wonder why the wonder's gone each time i think its passed away the sigh i say is still identical in every way it still means nothing

Imagine you have a painting and you keep going back to it trying to add more detail or improve on it until in the end it's just a mess of colour and you can't even see what it was meant to be in the first place and then imagine that painting is in New York and its title is a bad pun on a Ramones song. Mr Gary Thatcher plays 12 string guitar throughout and then towards the end he gets busy with some slide e-bow work. I also forced him to play some piano over the last section. Mr Steve Bailey plays the drums and Miss Joanne Mordey plays PCM Celesta on the Gazio Keyboard. Bible Ref: Ecclesiastes 1:9

gwiazdami na wodzie

Pidgin Polish being a speciality, the title roughly translates as "stars on the water", but probably means something more like "distant planetary bodies submerged in liquid". Banjo debutante is Mr. Oliver Wright while the harmonium is pumped manfully by Mr William Stone. Recorded one night after a medium-to-heavy session on the Whiskey. Will & Ollie play in a band called Stars On The Water, hence the title of the piece

First Born Jesus

if you take away all the things you took from the things i gave then something somewhere just doesn't add up if the place i stayed reminds you of a hospital i'll explain they only nurse me because they have to because they're paid to painted in a corner you check-mate me if the love you gave seemed too mechanical that's ok we know people who prefer it that way and if nothing else gets saved then one day you'll treasure the pieces all the tiny scraps of paper remember we said we'd call our first born jesus you take it so graciously i take it so gratefully if i could take some leave from me then i'd escape from me too

Mr Stephen Howard Woodward plays some beautiful acoustic guitar and makes all the strange bleeping noises with a Korg M-500 SP Micro-Preset synth while Miss Joanne Mordey sings backing vocals on the chorus. No one will ever know how serious I was about calling my first born child Jesus

Any Gaps?

A long forgotten catchphrase from our school days. A rudimentary measure of how successful an attempt at conversation had been. Like she was counting the seconds. This one is for John P.

The Beatings Of My Heart

i've avoided this for so long kept the beams apart but still you close the spaces between the beatings of my heart i don't glitter like i used to so how can i hold on to the only hand i want to i hold on to myself this all seems so familiar the dark side lets it start but still you close the spaces between the beatings of my heart i've pictured every ending i've been flat and i've been sharp but still you close the spaces between the beatings of my heart

This is a tender love song which somehow managed to get references to Ghostbusters and Star Wars shoe-horned into it. I pulled a Hawaiian guitar solo out from nowhere to redeem things

The French Guy I & II

Part I of this song is the only track on the album where euphonium gets a look in. At one point the whole record was going to be drenched in tijuana brass, but I came to my senses. Part II features Mr Steve Bailey on drums and also Mr Stephen Howard Woodward on acoustic guitar and Korg once more. Whereas the drummer was visibly excited at the prospect of playing along to a song in 13/4 time, Mr Woodward had to perform through the tears as his jazz chip got exercised good and proper. Not to be defeated however - he came up with the goods, and for that I thank him

Gyproque

why did you tell me i don't know where is the love in you and just what did you think i would forget this story you say the funniest things i will keep this to myself until you make me use it don't you ever think that i won't sometimes you know you're priceless you say the funniest things just how much can you love him as far as you can push things if it means that you get what you need i've seen your magic working you say the funniest things you are the funniest thing so were you still warm from him when gyproc climbed back inside you and you felt sure he felt nothing wrong and neither did his sister you say the funniest things you are the funniest thing you do the funniest things

Gyproque is one song I don't care to explain at this point. But I will. One day I will enjoy explaining it all.

Los Gatos:Midnight

and you still believe every lie that i told you like when i said i was resurrected by the love you poured on to my lifeless body i'm sorry i'm so sorry i never meant it when i said i loved you

Miss Kacey Michelle Carmassi recorded the voice-over for this track down the phone all the way from Berkeley, California. The title of the song comes from the time she spent driving me round Los Gatos in the middle of the night because I had nowhere to stay. Quite how this incident ended up inspiring a festival of confessional faux doo-wop is not entirely clear

Burning The Bodies

her mother writes books her father is a historian they lived down in the house near the crematorium and some nights when i stayed there if i caught the wind just right you could smell them burning bodies all night i'd have married her if she'd have only thought to ask me i could have made her happy if she hadn't been so happy already her hair was shining black like an old 78 she crackled with charm in much the same way and some nights when i stayed there if i caught her mood just right we would stay up breaking records all night she moved away her family moved her away they had to move her away for both our sakes

The age old story of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girls father puts boy in hospital, boy never sees girl again

Many To Many

The name Frankie Machine originally comes from the Nelson Algren novel "The Man With The Golden Arm" wherein Frankie is a heroin addict & card-dealer who also happens to play jazz drums. The semi-joke therefore was, that this here incarnation of Frankie Machine didn't feature drums. Until now - in homage to the original, Mr Steve Bailey plays a jazz drum solo extraordinaire, Mr Stephen Howard Woodward contributes more from the bowels of the Korg M-500 SP and the new improved Mr Machine goes off the tracks with a slide guitar

The Black Map

i thought about you so hard my arm began to ache if only i'd known you were still awake i'd have come much quicker i thought it but began to scar like a black map at your feet if only i'd know you were dead not asleep it could have changed everything

To be honest this one was tossed off in a matter of seconds. I've not seen the black map since so it must have done some good.

Vibration White Finger

Forever conscious that this Frankie Machine album could end up as bleak and as harrowing for the listener to ear-witness as it was for me to write, this interlude should be treated as a bit of light relief. It also features elements of Bette Davis and Sylvia Saint

To Completion Without

you can hold it like a pen i use it for communication you knew what i was saying i think you knew what i meant when i wrote the word frustration all over your face you need to get me out of your hair go on wash me clean right out of there you can hold on to the end until you feel realisation you knew that i was hurting and you caught the tail end i slept through the explanations but at least i stayed the night

It's so easy to make a mess of things when you don't really care all that much anymore. The trick is to not spend the rest of your life paying for it. Meanwhile a ghostly Theremin plays in the next room.

We Are Jigsaw

you need to put this all together and tell me what is in the picture in case i wait around forever do you see you and me eventually you're finally defeated you've given in you've let me win i tell myself it's love i need your honesty upon me would life be quicker if it's empty you make me hurt you are so lovely do you see you and me eventually you've finally conceded you've let me win you've cashed me in i'll tell myself it's love i'll swear that it's enough i'll tell us both it's love in case it's enough you and me eventually you're finally defeated you've given in you've crumbled and I tell myself it's love

The idea for the phone ringing at the end of this song came from Mr Hibbett. He was actually listening to a demo of this track when his phone rang towards the end and he thought it sounded rather lovely. A few months later and I'm beginning to regret it. It catches me every time. I shouldn't have used a recording of my own phone

1:07

For the past 7 years I've been obsessed by a number. It all started when the girl I loved at work would ring me and my phone would flash up her extension - 607. After that, if I found myself checking the time it would always be 07 minutes past the hour, bills would turn up for £23.07, bus tickets, rounds in the pub - everything started to end in 07. It started to scare me after a while, but now I'm used to it. I'm sure it must mean something, I just don't know what. So here we have a song called 1:07 that is 1 minute 7 seconds long. Exactly.

Tragic Love, Easy Meat

i'm tragic love i'm easy meat you can understand it i never use the L word because you never command it and if it ever passed my lips it was headed inwards like catching snowflakes on my tongue it never lasted you feel the grooves upon my soul but you didn't etch them still you're the only one who hears the song they play keep away from me just keep away from any good you see in me it's probably long gone so keep away from me i'm tragic love i'm easy meat but that shouldn't excuse it no matter what you make me say you'll never disprove it and if you thought for just one day that i was mended then that says more about your faith than the way it ended

Miss Joanne Mordey plays the shaker and sings backing vocals on this tune. If you have also got this far - congratulations. I am a stuck record sometimes

Eighteen Seventy Three

And so this chapter of the Frankie Machine story closes with the same song that it all started with back on the first track of the "Why Are You?" EP in 1999. There will be more I promise, but can I just say - if you ever come to one of our gigs, please try not to talk too loud during the songs. Thanks.