Draw the Line

andrewsrea · Wed Feb 16, 2022 4:35 pm

From the summer of '85, The Rob Andrews Project's 'Draw the Line.' And no doubt, it is a pure 80's pop song penned by yours truly.

And yes, that is me in the Miami Vice linen suit below.

Remastered today from a 45RPM record (the master tapes are long gone). Tom Annas: bass guitar, James 'J.T.' Fagen: keys & vocals, Mike Geleff: drums & vocals, Dave Miller: sax Rob Andrews: vocals & guitars.
Recorded at Four Star Studios in Aston, PA. Engineered & produced by Bob Freed.

Partscaster · Wed Feb 16, 2022 5:02 pm

Good singing, Rob
Did it it ever get some uptempo nasty attitude played live,
braziers flying, and all?

toomanycats · Wed Feb 16, 2022 5:36 pm

That's a real mid 80s flashback. It has an Elvis Costello meets Huey Lewis and the News vibe.

What is the make and model of that superstrat in the band photo? I can't identify it at that resolution.

andrewsrea · Wed Feb 16, 2022 8:07 pm

Partscaster wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 5:02 pm Good singing, Rob
Did it it ever get some uptempo nasty attitude played live,
braziers flying, and all?

Lol. Not that tune. That got a lot of people dancing. Like a fast slow dance for couples and 80's girl-strut dancing for the solo girls. Solo guys would just cry in their beer.

Had some hard rocking tunes later on which garnered a few women to raise their shirts. I'd catch like every other one and my band mates would come off stage and say: did you see the girl in the (fill in the outfit) take off her shirt?" I'd be like no, then see who they were describing and of course, I missed the hottest girl in the club flashing us.

andrewsrea · Wed Feb 16, 2022 8:24 pm

toomanycats wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 5:36 pm That's a real mid 80s flashback. It has an Elvis Costello meets Huey Lewis and the News vibe.

What is the make and model of that superstrat in the band photo? I can't identify it at that resolution.

Funny,the strat was not the guitar used in those recordings - just the photo sessions. The guitars used was mainly an Ibanez George Benson GB10, with a Rennaissance acrylic doing some odd parts. All through a Roland JC120 for that song.

The superstrat is my AMI 'Lady' built in 1985, which was purple metallic with a Floyd and a metallic blue lady silhouette behind the Floyd. It originally had a JB in the bridge and a DiMarzio chrome single coil in the neck. By the time of the photo had swapped the DiMarzio single for a Duncan Distortion neck humbucker, which lasted a few days. I painted all but the 'lady' area, gloss black, repainted the lady white and red and stuck in a Duncan '59 neck which lasted until a few years ago. Scalloped the frets above the 12th in the 90's.

She and I took a long time to bond, to which she was always relegated as my backup or slide guitar.

She has been creme since the mid 90's. Here she is today, with an AMI '10' bridge pickup, AMI Smokey P-90 & AMI Songbird neck.

Narsh · Wed Feb 16, 2022 8:59 pm

This has such an amazing early 80's vibe to it. Thanks for posting this. Honestly took me back. I mean, I was a kid back then but it brought back very fond memories of lazy afternoons with my Mom that I miss very very much.

tlarson58 · Wed Feb 16, 2022 10:08 pm

This is a great song. It's something to be proud of and dust off from time-to-time (like this). Thanks for sharing.

Do you have any others?

Tonray's Ghost · Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:47 am

Post Punk dreamy

yesca · Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:51 am

Man, you gotta be Scottish! 1st on on the left. That looks nothing like you, old friend. That fucking amp, brother, is tough sounding. You're a good looking guy, man....

andrewsrea · Thu Feb 17, 2022 2:41 pm

tlarson58 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 10:08 pm This is a great song. It's something to be proud of and dust off from time-to-time (like this). Thanks for sharing.

Do you have any others?

Thank you. Yep - bunches more. The challenge has been recovering them from the ancient, obsolete formats they are stored on. I may do another today.

andrewsrea · Thu Feb 17, 2022 2:42 pm

Narsh wrote: ↑Wed Feb 16, 2022 8:59 pm This has such an amazing early 80's vibe to it. Thanks for posting this. Honestly took me back. I mean, I was a kid back then but it brought back very fond memories of lazy afternoons with my Mom that I miss very very much.

Having this song remind you of your mom, just made my day.

andrewsrea · Thu Feb 17, 2022 2:50 pm

yesca wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:51 am Man, you gotta be Scottish! 1st on on the left. That looks nothing like you, old friend. That fucking amp, brother, is tough sounding. You're a good looking guy, man....

Lol. You need to explain the 'Scottish' comment - I am intrigued!

Let's see the avatar version of me is basically the same guy, 35 years, 20 pounds and a lot of miles later. At least I get to feel like 20's occasionally.

Which amp are you referring to the one on the track or the newer photo of my AMI Lady?

jhull54 · Thu Feb 17, 2022 3:03 pm

Love it. Absolutely an 80's artifact, and that's a great thing.

yesca · Thu Feb 17, 2022 3:39 pm

andrewsrea wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 2:50 pm
yesca wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:51 am Man, you gotta be Scottish! 1st on on the left. That looks nothing like you, old friend. That fucking amp, brother, is tough sounding. You're a good looking guy, man....
Lol. You need to explain the 'Scottish' comment - I am intrigued!

Let's see the avatar version of me is basically the same guy, 35 years, 20 pounds and a lot of miles later. At least I get to feel like 20's occasionally.

Which amp are you referring to the one on the track or the newer photo of my AMI Lady?

Haahaha. What I'm saying to you is this, I remember you from way back then in the 80's. You looked different every time that I saw you. Don't you have a tattoo on your arm so you can recognize yourself from time to time? I meant no disrespect! We Scotts tend to change lookswise. It was a term of endearment, sir. From one Scott/swede to another.

PsychoCid · Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:34 pm

Ohhhh hell yeah

The world sounded so real back then

Don't get me wrong I loved the blink 182 ultra tuned and overly polished sound of my high school era, but didn't like where it went after that. Until that time I didn't even like 90s music.

Anyway, what a great sound. Thanks for sharing. Definitely would like to hear more.

RiverDog · Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:52 pm

That was great Rob! Thanks for sharing it with us. It's so cool that you still have this stuff!

I played on exactly one recording for my buddy's song back in about 1988 in some guy's basement studio in NE Philly. Man, I'd give almost anything to hear it again. I don't really talk to him much these days but I've asked once or twice over the years and he has no idea what happened to the original tapes.

golem · Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:50 pm

I enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing.

andrewsrea · Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:53 pm

yesca wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 3:39 pm
andrewsrea wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 2:50 pm
yesca wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 7:51 am Man, you gotta be Scottish! 1st on on the left. That looks nothing like you, old friend. That fucking amp, brother, is tough sounding. You're a good looking guy, man....
Lol. You need to explain the 'Scottish' comment - I am intrigued!

Let's see the avatar version of me is basically the same guy, 35 years, 20 pounds and a lot of miles later. At least I get to feel like 20's occasionally.

Which amp are you referring to the one on the track or the newer photo of my AMI Lady?
Haahaha. What I'm saying to you is this, I remember you from way back then in the 80's. You looked different every time that I saw you. Don't you have a tattoo on your arm so you can recognize yourself from time to time? I meant no disrespect! We Scotts tend to change lookswise. It was a term of endearment, sir. From one Scott/swede to another.

I didn't take offense to it - I was looking for context. Actually, I am about 18% Scottish so that counts. - right?

That is super cool that you remember me! You are spot on about me changing my looks often. I think that was my last haircut for 6 years and clothes fashions seem to change quickly in those days. If it isn't a problem, PM me with your name and where we ran into each other.

Also let me know which amp you were commenting on.

andrewsrea · Thu Feb 17, 2022 8:07 pm

RiverDog wrote: ↑Thu Feb 17, 2022 6:52 pm That was great Rob! Thanks for sharing it with us. It's so cool that you still have this stuff!

I played on exactly one recording for my buddy's song back in about 1988 in some guy's basement studio in NE Philly. Man, I'd give almost anything to hear it again. I don't really talk to him much these days but I've asked once or twice over the years and he has no idea what happened to the original tapes.

I had what was considered a full-featured demo studio in the basement of my house in Aston, PA (1/2" 8 track reel-to-reel, 16 channel mixer, etc.). I also did session work and repairs for Four Star Studios (owned by my dear friend, Bob Freed), which was also in Aston. PA. He would flip me clients too small for his studio, who sometimes would work their way up to his studio. When I wasn't doing my aerospace day job, I was writing, performing, producing, engineering, repairing, etc. I probably slept 5 hours a night on average.

I still have most of the studio work I did in Playpen (my studio) - stacks of reel tapes, Beta carts (early digital), etc. The problem is finding the proper playback equipment and baking the tapes back into shape to be transferred into the computer. Which is what I've been doing, including recovering my old client's work. To which I've remaster a few and sent them out.

I hope those tapes turn up for you. I know how you must feel, as I have a 1/4" 2-track tape on a 6" reel with 2 or 3 songs from a session I did in 1980, which I do not have a machine to play it.