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| With the exception of "Western Skies,"
all of the items listed below in CD format can be ordered - at a reduced price -
online (by credit card) directly from CD Baby. A link to CD Baby follows each
available CD. The following is a chronological list of releases which have garnered me little in the way of monetary reward and, some might say, even less in the way of artistic validation. Be that as it may, I've always enjoyed writing songs and the more I did it, the more satisfaction I got out of it. Although I've received my share of favorable reviews, I've never taken them seriously because, as I do when someone does not like my material, I always think it wise to consider the source. |
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"BAD KID" - 7" Single (1983) Jerry Studenka engineered this droll, meandering li'l gem at the now defunct Fifth Floor Studios in lovely downtown Cincinnati, Ohio (The Studio was on the top floor of one of those abandoned manufacturing/warehouse buildings that you find in urban centers in America. This particular one was minimally renovated and turned into an "artist's colony." A few years after I recorded this embarrassment, somebody torched the building. All those poor, hard-working artists without a roof over their heads, not being able to give us all that wonderful Modern, Post-Modern, Neo-Post Modern, Neo-Reductive-Post Expressionist Modern Art that I so dearly love. For a while, they turned the place into a parking lot. After that, they ran the highway over it.) I can't remember where I found the piano player but the bass player and drummer were friends of mine. I hate this record. Cost: $1.00 + shipping* |
 
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"THIRTY DOLLAR WEDDING" b/w "THE LAST TIME I SAW RICHARD"- 7" Single (1988) "Thirty Dollar Wedding" was done during the same session that produced "Bad Kid." To this day, certain local DJ's (Let me clarify something. My records only get played with any kind of consistency, on public radio stations - the absolute bottom rung of the radio community but, ironically, one of the few places you're going to hear any decent music anymore. I'm right there next to the Sisters of Sapphos Hour or the Black Power Hour or Germania Music Society Hour, or the Worthless Books by Local Authors Hour, etc.) who are either too lazy to listen to my other recordings or have horrid musical taste (This could very well be true) or feel like they are doing me a favor, play this song. It does very little for me although I do like the B-Side, "The Last Time I Saw Richard." The B-side was recorded much later at Group Effort Sound Studio. I stole the title from Joni Mitchell. The cover for the single took me about two years to complete (I never did finish it, really). Cost: $3.00 + shipping* |
 
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"GRANDVIEW" - CD (1995) My first CD was also the first time I recorded without a back-up band. It took three years to record, doing up to 50 takes of some of the songs in order to "get it right." When, after its release, I saw how little most people paid attention to what they were listening to, I became much more relaxed about the recording process. One local critic (Larry Nager, The Cincinnati Enquirer - see fuckface.com) didn't even review it, saying that although he liked the songs, because they were done with only vocal and acoustic guitar accompaniment, it sounded like a demo recording (I think he felt that he was being kind). I haven't listened to this record in about 5 years. My song writing got better toward the end of this project. The best songs - "Lover Man," "Widow's Walk," "It's Too Late To Say I Told You So" (Track not listed because, well.... it's the hidden track) - were all written as the recording was coming to a merciful close. Cost: $13.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
 
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"CAREFREE LIFE" - Tape Cassette (1996) In stark contrast to "Grandview," "Carefree Life" was recorded in about 4 hours. Overall, I think it's probably a better record. I mixed covers and originals - about half and half - and tried to approach it like a live recording - one song recorded after the other without a break, as few second takes as possible, not stopping the tape after each take, etc. Some of my best songs are on this tape - "Not Enough," "Carefree Life," "Claudia Buckles." Unfortunately, the engineer (Dan Murphy, Group Effort) thought that I was just doing a demo and, as a result, the mix is a little weak. Cost: $8.00 + shipping* |
 
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"MANDATORY MINIMUM" - Tape Cassette (1997) Another "live" in-studio recording. Except for a couple of covers, the rest of the material is original. Dan could not be there for this session so his partner, Jeff Monroe, engineered the recording and we didn't get our signals crossed this time (the mix has a more finished sound than on "Carefree Life). My performances are also a bit better than on the previous record. The first 3 cuts are good but the side drags after that. The second side is more consistent and it contains one of my favorite songs, "I Came To Dance." Cost: $8.00 + shipping* |
 
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"UNDER WHIP & CHAIN - The Best of Maurice Mattei" - CD (1997) Of the 20 cuts on this disc, half are done with a full band. Most of those are up-tempo Rock'n'Roll numbers. Since the whole record had what is deemed a "retro" feel, I decided to use a retro cover, retro liner notes, and retro artist makeover job (Whatever that means.). I like this record for many reasons but essentially because it contains quite a number of good songs. There are also 4 new songs and band versions of several other previously released tracks. The cover design was stolen from the Jerry Lee Lewis LP covers during his Mercury years - the great country records he did with Jerry Kennedy producing. Of the new songs, perhaps my favorite is "20 ft. Drop." At the time, I thought that this was going to be my last record so I wanted it to be fun and fast and a kind of tribute to a style of music that had always been so dear to me. Upon its release, the record generated more airplay than my previous releases but it was still minimal at best. Dan Murphy once again engineered and he did a nice job at stringing together many disparate sounds into a nearly cohesive, if schizophrenic, whole. This was unquestionably the best CD of 1997. Cost: $15.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
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"BIG BLONDE" b/w "JANE GANG" - 7" Single (1998) While recording the follow up to "Under Whip & Chain," I thought I'd promote the current CD I was working on and my prior CD release by putting out a seven inch which contained a cut from both CD's. The result was the "Big Blonde" single and, to a certain extent, the idea worked. The problem was that DJ's - because they are generally such lovely people (program directors are even better) - only ended up playing the two songs on the seven inch, ignoring most of the material on the two CD's. "Big Blonde" (Title stolen from Dorothy Parker) was the A-side and "Jane Gang" (from the upcoming "Welcome Love" CD) was the B-side. The sleeve was a lot of fun to work on. Cost: $3.00 + shipping* |
 
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"WELCOME LOVE" - CD (1998) This was the first CD since "Grandview" in which all the songs were written for this specific CD itself. The 2 tapes I released after "Grandview" had songs I'd written before, during and after the recording of "Grandview" and they were more or less assemble into a record length format without them initially being conceived of in that manner. I have mixed feelings about this CD. The songs (for the most part) are very nice but something in the sound is not quite what I envisioned. It's not bad, it's just not quite what I had in mind. I love the opening three songs and the two closing numbers. In particular, I like "(She Wants) A Lot of Something Else" which was a true story that someone told me about a guy who tied his wife to the bedposts - at her insistence (Because she wanted to engage in a little sexual experimentation) - and then left her there while he went out to a bar. Cost: $13.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
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"TREATED AND RELEASED" - Tape Cassette (1998) A few of the longer songs that I'd written for "Welcome Love" didn't make the final cut so I took those, added some newer material along with a couple of covers and released this tape while I was working on writing material for the next CD. Again, as with "Carefree Life" and "Mandatory Minimum," this recording was done live, in-studio. Unlike the previous tape, however, Dan came up with a very solid mix. When I record in this manner, all mixing is done within the first hour of being in the studio. "My Queen's Logic" closes out the tape on a rather somber note. Cost: $8.00 + shipping* |
 
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"NOT ENOUGH TO STAY" b/w "GREENWICH TIME" - Tape Cassette (1999) My one and only cassette-single, done to promote the upcoming "Girl On Girl" CD. The B-side, "Greenwich Time" does not appear anywhere else, which is fine since I don't particularly care for it. "Greenwich" was yet another song I wrote about the Walnut Hills Jazz club of the same name. A seedy little den of filth that is far too base and common to be called decadent. Why is it that Jazz clubs invariably turn into drug distribution centers in urban environments? Is it the clientele? The locations? The fact that they can't make enough money peddling fringe music that nobody gives a shit about? Cost: $2.00 + shipping* |
 
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"GIRL ON GIRL" - CD (1999) This is one of my better recordings and I don't even remember writing half these songs. One number seemed to follow the other, sometimes I had 2 or 3 songs going at the same time. Dan engineered and he came up with a hard, loud sound that was ideal for the type of material I was writing. I don't really consider myself a "Folk" singer. My songs make much more sense to me if they're viewed as Rock'n'Roll songs done on acoustic guitar, without other accompaniment. "Folk" sometimes implies that soft, idyllic sensibility that marred a lot of Dylan's early work. I like a more fundamental, countrified approach - just talkin' 'bout livin' day to day wid da crackheads, pimps, parasites, losers, debutantes, TB merchants, worthless musicians, aw heck, just your average American sailorboy lookin' for a good time. Most of the songs run about 3 to less than 4 minutes in length and generally they're uptempo, though the mood may be seen as somewhere south of there. As a reward for being one of my best CD's, "Girl On Girl" received almost no airplay and the absolute minimum of press coverage.I recorded this in about 8 hours and mixed it in 3 - it is unquestionably the best CD of 1999. Cost: $15.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
 
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"WORLD ON FIRE - The Best of Maurice Mattei Vol. 2" - CD (2000) Another "Best Of" collection. The songs here were all post-"Under Whip & Chain" releases. Additionally, there are 6 new songs. One of the new ones - "Suit of Clothes" - is a favorite of mine. "100 Coffins" was written for all my good friends in the city who helped me when I was a little down. "Set the World On Fire" is dedicated to Coophie - get it together girl. "Daddy Wants to Know" goes out to Jeffy. "Heaven, Send Me a Stranger" is for the Wrecking Ball. "Baby Me" is for my dear wife. 20 cuts, just like the first "best of" but a bit more cohesive since the material was all completed within a 2 year period. At the time, I thought the world was soon going to be coming to an end so I tried to make this a very good record and I succeeded brilliantly. Cost: $15.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
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"A WORLD ON FIRE" - Video CD (Mac compatible) Dave Miller (See garageartmail@aol.com) assembled this video to two of my songs - "The Losin' Kind" and "Half A Mind" (See Lyric Page) - from footage he had of one of my shows along with images from Bike Week in Daytona and some home movies he had shot. It was a complete surprise to me when he dropped it off especially after seeing how well it turned out given the limited amount of material he had to work with. Dave wisely chose a couple of my more, shall we say, visual songs and assembled images which corresponded very well to the lyrical content. The viewer will forgive my prosthetic second (and third?) chin which I had forgotten to remove before walking onto the stage that fateful evening. Cost: $9.00 + shipping* |
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"WESTERN SKIES (A MUSICAL)" - Demo CD (2002) These songs were never written with the intention of tying them together in the form of a musical (Actually, this isn't a musical. It's more like a Pop or Folk Opera - can you think of anything worse than that?). After I recorded them, however, I thought it would be fun to see if I could develop a storyline from the way the songs were sequenced on the CD. The narrative turned into an black comedy, end-of-the-world piece revolving around the bestial atrocities that occurred in America on September 11, 2001 (to see the text, go to: "Western Skies," A Musical). The original intention of this recording was to have demo versions of songs (only about a third of which ended up on this CD) that ultimately would be more properly re-recorded by myself and my wife and released as a double CD entitled "Westwood Sex Club." Cost: $10.00 + shipping* |
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"I WANT IT BACK" / "YOUNG MAN'S WAYS" - CD Single (2003) This was done as a promotional single, not really intended to be distributed to the public. (You can, however, order it through this site.) The first cut appears on the "Room Full" live CD, and the second cut, "Young Man's Ways," is a previously unreleased new studio cut. Cost: $4.00 + shipping* |
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"MAURICE MATTEI AND A ROOM FULL OF VICTIMS" - Live CD (2003) When Dave - the owner of The Zen And Now Coffeehouse - asked me if I wanted to play there I took a look around the place and I said "Yes." Later, I remembered that I had a few songs that didn't fit in with the project I'd been working on - the "Westwood Sex Club" double CD - and that I could use those tracks and a few of my older songs to make a live album (a wonderful dream that I have always had). I asked Dave what he thought and he said he thought it would be a great idea. Then I called Dan - my recording engineer - and we arranged the show's date to fall on a night when he could make the recording. As it turned out, it was a joy to do and a real hoot with a lot of good fun-loving people who, at times, actually listened to what I was doing. There are three new tracks here - "California Man," "I Want It Back," and "Crown Vic." The rest of the material is from past releases. Cost: $15.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
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"MAURICE MATTEI ON CITY NIGHTS" - DVD (2004) A friend of mine put together this DVD collection of my performances from the local cable TV show City Nights. One of the great advantages of being a solo acoustic musician - as opposed to being in a band - is that set-up time for your act is minimal. This automatically gives you greater access to television spots where time and audio technicalities often come into play. Given this, I have found that if you're a fairly accomplished performer and you can tell time, you are likely to land a television spot at some point in your career. Included in this collection are seven songs as well as an interview of me conducted by the delightful Tiana Paraz. Cost: $13.00 + shipping* |
 
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"RING OF SMOKE" - CD (2004) The title track was the first song I wrote for this collection and it set the tone for the rest of the material which, in general, concerns itself with the average Joes and plain Janes that I have sometimes had the great pleasure of running into in my life. Along with this are songs about delivering clowns to New Yorkers, narcotics-crazed bar flies, and a debutante's fling with the wild side of life. The music itself is a bit more grounded than that of "Western Skies" since the subject matter tends to be about all-too common day-to-day occurrences. Ideally, I wanted the music to have an off-hand easy flow to it and, due to this, many of the tunes have an accessibility which does not always line up with what the words are trying to say - this, perhaps, may be what I like most about this collection. There are a couple of tunes that stick extremely close to song styles of bygone eras. One, in particular, is a tribute to the immortal Boswell Sisters who are on my current must-play list. I wrote the material over the course of several months and recorded it in two 4-hour sessions. The bulk of these songs are first takes which not only helps capture the ever-so-important "live feel" but also allows for more of my money to remain in my ever-so-important bank account(s). Cost: $15.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
 
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"DEAD RAILS" - CD (2005) I hadn't written a song in 8 or 9 months when I came up with the first of many cuts that would end up on this release. I'd been busy with other things - model plane building, making ice cream, girl watchin' - and songwriting didn't quite fit into the schedule. Strangely, after the first number, the other ones came along quickly. Many of the songs reference gentlemen of the more aged variety. I've heard it said that every man over 40 is a scoundrel and I suppose much of this material is a testament to that. I find the middle-aged lech so appealing because his tragic side has a very acute comic edge. Also, you will find there are a number of references to alcohol consumption in this batch of songs. I'm not much of a drinker myself but I admire those who are. I've noticed that this is where many elders seek solace and to not make a note of such a preoccupation would have clearly been an oversight on my part. The young also seek solace in the grape but, truthfully, their motivations are not nearly as interesting. Two of the numbers - "Southern Lean" and "That's Close Enough" - harken back to the "Carefree Life" character from 1997 (see "Under Whip And Chain" CD above). He is a particular favorite of mine because he has such a wonderful view of this crazy world we live in. Maybe if one day I can crawl out of this oddball little town, I'll look him up. Cost: $15.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
 "THE TEMPERS PERFORM THE BEST OF MAURICE MATTEI VOL. 3" - CD (2007) If some of this material sounds vaguely familiar, you may be more than half right. There are those who will complain of regressivism but this will likely abate after repeated listenings. If not, one might remember that the parameters of "Youth Culture" are not nearly as wide as one might hope. Whatever the case, it is worth noting the singing here is essentially self-effacing. The slight double-tracking helps fill in emotional lapses but I find it reminiscent of "Plastic Ono Band" or "Dirty Mind" without the heaviness of meaning of either. Story lines peek in and out and become secondary to the interplay of guitar(s), drum or whatever else was gathered in the mix; this is record production as vanishing act. I am particularly drawn to the contrasts of Pop, Rock, Country and Blooze - at times, all in one number. The characters - which are less than half the news here - range from loners (Cruel Master), failed Pop stars (Dead Rails) and truckers (Breakdown Lane), to factory workers (Jackie's Bambalance), married couples (The Daily Riot) and Manhattan carneys (Carnival Delivery). Like the musical stylings, they too sometimes cross similar paths and, for purists, these are the most efficacious moments of all. Additionally, the female vocalist is not only a welcome idea but she deserves extra kudos for understatement. Apparently, some girls do just want to have fun. The most enjoyable Pop recording of the year. Cost: $15.00 + shipping* Click here to order this CD online - at a reduced price - direct from CD Baby. |
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Back To Top MAKE CHECK OR MONEY ORDER PAYABLE TO MAURICE MATTEI. CONTACT ME DIRECTLY FOR FURTHER DETAILS. *Shipping: All items are shipped USPS First Class/three-day delivery. Add one dollar per item ordered. No items will be shipped without appropriate shipping costs. | |
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© 2007 Maurice Mattei All Rights Reserved | |