Liner Notes- Recording the Modern Illusion by Paul Curtiz - Intro and Foreword

Join us each week as we release exclusive, never-before-seen chapters from Paul Curtiz's latest book, "Liner Notes- Recording the Modern Illusion", the companion to the highly-anticipated album release of "Modern Illusion". Be sure to listen to the first single "Nothing Like California" from the album available on Apple Music or Spotify, and you can also follow Paul on Facebook or Bandcamp for more updates.

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Copyright © 2024 by Paul Curtiz

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover picture & design Paul Curtiz

Author picture by Axel Tihon

 For Dominique, Sarah & Isabelle 

who heard these songs too many times,

and for All those who enjoy reading liner notes.

And to Denis

who agreed to play along

my eternal gratitude.

Foreword

« Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others. »

— Groucho Marx —

If  you are reading this, it means you bought the record and felt at least mildly interested or amused enough to dig a tiny bit deeper. Warning: be careful what you wished for.

When we were kids, listening to an album you’d just spent a bunch of money on was a powerful ritual. We would listen to the whole record in a single sitting, holding the record cover in hand —but handling the record itself as if it were some precious artefact. We would read the lyrics and eagerly devour any tidbit of info we could find about the band, where the music was recorded, who played on it, who produced it (even who was credited with a “special thanks”, the very least an artist can do to reward any long-suffering human being who’s had to live with a bunch of egomaniacs in the midst of a creative flurry). If we were lucky, there’d be proper “liner notes” 1, an actual essay about the record for which the label would hire some clever music journalist known for having a smidgen of a good rapport with the artistes and a fair talent for coming up with an engaging review of the opus at hand (as a matter of fact, starting in 1964 a Grammy Award has been presented for the best notes). On a rare occasion, the artists themselves would draft the liner notes.

In the early 90’s, when the internet arrived, recording artists began exploring this new platform to communicate with their audience. Blogs became a thing, and artists discovered they could express themselves more freely on their own platform than through sometimes contrived journalistic interviews. It also allowed the artists to broach wider subjects —sometimes really off-topic— and for many music fans this was a chance to get a deeper insight into the creative path behind the music. Now, many people don’t need this, and they enjoy the music for what it is:  the record is self-sufficient. But for us who were into recording ourselves, this was a goldmine. Not to mention, some of it was extremely funny.

So, I thought it would be cool to let you in on the “making of” this somewhat quirky record and share with you this small collection of anecdotes in the form of extended liner notes. On a personal level this has been an amazing experience and one which I’m extremely proud of as a musician. I will always be thankful to my partner in crime Denis Moulin who agreed to do this with me and who was integral to its successful completion. This project was a long shot from the beginning, and to be honest began as wishful thinking. Actually, I’m still amazed we managed to push it over the finish line. We also got some help:  both of us are immensely grateful to the musicians who joined us along for the ride. You guys are the best!

As for you, our Dear Listeners, I hope you enjoy this little peek behind the curtain. To say it is all rigorously authentic would be somewhat of a stretch. But even the parts I’ve —shall we say— “enhanced” are 100% based on real-life episodes and have mostly been adapted for comic relief. And, as a famous author wrote, “Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story”.

—Paul Curtiz—

1 sometimes also called “sleeve notes”, but how less sexy is that?