The Ideal Home Music Library, Vol. 3 (2024)

 

Audio

The Story Behind the Album

Reviewing the "original Ideal Home Music Library collection" with Dr. Middling in 2003

The story behind the third installment of the Ideal Home Music Library dates all the way back to the late nineties, when I heard The Juliette Letters by Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet. I had always wanted to write pop music for string ensemble and voice, and after I heard that album I thought, "I want to do that!" At that time I experimented with songs that contained just string quartet and voice, such as “Venezuela (Hating Trains)” from Reclinerland (1998), “Meet Me Later In The File Room” and “Pears” from Reclinerland (2001), but I always thought writing for full orchestra was out of my reach. Where would I get the players? How could I afford it? It just didn’t make sense for me to write music that I didn’t have instruments for, music that I would be able to imagine, but never hear, never share.

In 2003 HUSH Records put out the first volume of the Ideal Home Music Library series, whose fictional back story continues in this volume. The story behind this third volume is that my collaborator, Dr. T. Middling, after locking up the office of his research firm in Seattle one evening, was strolling home with “The Ideal Home Music Library” song book snug under his arm, when a group of rival musicologists attacked him for the book. Dr. Middling held on tightly, but struggle led to his heart failure, and the attackers had to forcefully take the book from his cold, dead hands. I decided that the next installment in the series needed to be big, to honor Tad’s memory, so I arranged many of his favorite songs from the collection for orchestra. Dr. Tad Middling is survived by his cat Migrou, and, by me, his only friend. The man’s intrepid spirit, passion for music, and passion for research ought to be an inspiration to all of us. Rest in power, Tad.

The office at Reclinerland HQ, where the arrangements took shape.

Orchestral arrangments, you ask? Why, none other! You see, in 2008, I was working with Jenny Conlee on The Ideal Home Music Library, Volume 2, when she remarked that it would be cool to have an orchestral version of the Ideal Home Music Library, since the first volume consisted of jazzy songs, and the second volume was all voice and piano, Nöel Coward style. So, in 2014, while thinking about this third volume, I thought back to Elvis Costello and made an arrangement of the song “A Storybook And A Lullaby (Is All You Need To Sail To Dreamland).” Since I still didn’t have the resources to write for a full orchestra, I arranged this song just for string quartet and voice, but I never finished the arrangement. Nevertheless, I had planned, when getting to work in earnest on The Ideal Home Music Library, Volume 3, to open the album with that song.

I have also been a longtime fan of the Divine Comedy, whose art-pop orchestral arrangements I have always found awe-inspiring. They were one of the groups that inspired me to form Parks & Recreation and strive to make big orchestral sounds an integral part of our music. But again, orchestral players were hard to come by, and prohibitively expensive. But I’m so excited now because sound technology has come so far! These days I can get an affordable, convincing, full-orchestra sound, and thanks to the folks at the BBC Orchestra, I was able to get really good orchestral sounds and use them on the third Parks & Recreation album, as well as on the Year Zero single. So, in the summer of 2022 while studying orchestration I started tinkering with “Storybook And A Lullaby…” again. From there, these 12 songs poured out of me. I think the result makes for a nice album.

Credits

Woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings - The Reclinerland Symphony Orchestra
Vocals - Michael Johnson

Recorded and mixed starting in 2022 at Reclinerland HQ in Paris, France. Mastered at Bughouse Studios in Stockholm, Sweden by Jarkko Heiniö

All songs: words, music, arrangements by Michael Johnson
© 2024, Zubsongs, Ltd.