Bryan: During "Bon Voyage," Bill and I forgot how to work together. I recorded the rhythm track while he was upstairs. Bill did his really amazing keyboard track while Brian and I shot pool or something. I did the final mix almost a year later. What teamwork! Anyway, we finally combined "pop" with "beauty," something we had been trying for a long time.
Brian: Great opener. Great keyboard sound. Nice song.
Bryan: Songs weren't coming as easily as they had near the beginning of the third record and I began to get lost in all the details. I had half a dozen well-produced songs that couldn't exist on their own, but I discovered that when put together, they made up a really great epic narrative. At this point, I believe Bill and Brian had completely lost all their confidence in me, but I expected this to be practically another solo record anyway and pressed on.
Brian: I had lost all confidence in Bryan at this point. I thought he had reached a new low. Now this song only feuls my confidence in him. It brought him to a higher level. A very significant work in the catalogue.
Bryan: The final installment of my "Airplane Trilogy." I was really into the idea of using airplanes and aviation as a means to examine and illustrate different aspects of humanity. Brian liked it a lot, too.
Brian: This may be the most well-produced song Bryan has done up to this point. One of the few times that the intensity of the song itself perfectly matches the intensity of the song's feeling. It ranks up with "Last Thoughts" in my list of favorites. This one is truly powerful.
Bryan: I always loved this song, but I couldn't stand the "vocal mix" anymore and had been meaning to remix it. Since Bill still hadn't given me anything since "Bon Voyage" and I was again hard up for new material, I seized the opportunity and placed it as a bridge between the "Airplane" and "Christmas" sections of the record. Now I sleep at nights.
Brian: Much better than the original.
Bryan: I'm a lazy man.
Bryan: Merry Christmas from Bryan Ward.
Brian: My stereo helped edit this conceptual masterpiece.
Bryan: This is one of our best songs. Around the end of recording for Volume 4, I thought Bill had gone completely insane, artistically speaking. He was writing some of the most incomprehensible pop music I'd ever heard, neglecting all these beautiful guitar melodies he had. "Feathers" is the only thing that I'd heard from Bill during this period that doesn't sound like it was recorded in a psychiatric hospital. This is one of the classic pop songs of our time.
Kamikaze Lost In A Snowstorm is an odyssey of the human condition, viewed through a kaleidescope of aviation and holiday.
Things To Do In An Airport
There are lots of things you can do in an airport, especially if you've got a good beat and a keyboard.
Leaving The Planecatcher
A woman describes to her friend the failings of the planecatcher while the title character takes off on another supersonic flight. The planecatcher listens to the hum of the engines, explores his desire and need to fly, and dreams of exotic locations before his wife decides to leave him.
Airplane In Fields
Set against a backdrop of total war, an airplane crashes into the ground, a parallel to the human spirit.
Cemetery For Dead Unicorns
Remixed, Thank God.
Swan Dive Into Egg Nog
Still a Christmas song for the space age.
Christmas All Year 'Round
This'll take awhile.
Feathers
Bill Lives!
