Album: Levin Torn White
Artist: Levin Torn White
2011 Lazy Bones Recordings, Inc.
CD: 7 39523 73641 6

Tony Levin: bass, Chapman Stick
David Torn: guitars, textural events
Alan White: drums, percussion

with Scott Schorr: piano, keys

Produced by Schorr/Levin
Recorded at Cell Labs East, bearsville, NY / London Bridge Studios, Seattle, WA / Studio 41, Kingston, NY /  Grandma's Itchy Place, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Engineered by Dave Carnahan, Robert Frazza, Tony Levin, Jonathan Plum, Scott Schorr, David Torn
Mixed by Tony Lash at Mandible, Portland, OR
Mastered by Larry DeVivo
Graphic design: Ben Brown


Tracks:
1. No Warning Lights [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (2:11)
2. Ultra Mullett [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (4:42)
3. White Noise [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (2:57)
4. The Hood Fell [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (3:35)
5. Monkey Mind [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (4:27)
6. Cheese It, the Corpse [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (4:49)
7. Convergence [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (4:08)
8. Pillowfull of Dark [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (4:19)
9. The Eggman Cometh [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (1:33)
10. Sleeping Horse [Levin/Torn; arr. by Levin/Torn] (5:35)
11. Prom Night of the Centipedes [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (4:40)
12. Crunch Time [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (4:05)
13. Brain Tattoo [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Levin/Schorr] (3:15)
14. Lights Out [Levin/Torn/White; arr. by Schorr] (5:00)



Notes: Levin and Torn have worked before, on several projects, with Bill Bruford, but this is the first time they have worked with White. The project was recorded in 2010/1. Torn, in an online forum, described it:

this was a real "project"-project,
w/deep involvement, concept & direction from the producer.....
scott schorr, who, fwiw, is a lovely & hyper-enthusiastic dude.
also, the mixer --- tony lash --- was very positively involved.

Schorr described how the project came about on Yesfans.com:

[It] all started when I produced Tony Levin's solo CD, "Stick Man." Tony & I hit it off so well that we were looking for something else to work on. Alan has always been one of my fav. drummers and Yes my all time fav. band. I mentioned it to Tony & he dug Alan so he was way into it. Tony then recommended David Torn [...] What a crazy trio that would make!! So, that's the story. It was really cool to watch how these 3 powerhouses came together & really gelled. I can tell you that each guy pushed themselves to the limit. I was hoping for a hard core sound w. melody as well. I think they pulled it off.

In a Sep 2011 interview, Levin said:

I've known Alan and admired him for some time, but never got to do a project with him. (Not counting the "YES" album where we both played with different incarnations of the group, but not together!)

David is an old friend and co-conspirator [...]

When I realized from Alan's ideas, and my reactions, how radical the direction was for this music, David seemed not only the best choice, but pretty much the ONLY choice for guitar!

He went on to describe how the album was made:

It's a category I don't know quite how to describe. Improvisational, to be sure, but with each player improvising separately to what the others had done, and then re-assembling and then re-improvising.

Schorr, on Yesfans.com, described White's work for the album as "more in the style of Classic Yes (Relayer, Tales, Going for the One.)"

For a project of this type on a small label, it appeared to sell well. As of 15 Sep 2011, the album has been as high as #68 at Amazon.com (#48 in Rock).

Asked about the possibility of live work, Torn said: "we've been talking about it, but a few periods-of-time already haven't worked-out, so..... dunno." Levin, in the aforementioned interview, said, "We're indeed talking about that… too early to know if it can come together. Alan busy touring with Yes -- I have Fall and Winter commitments with Stick Men sharing a bill with Adrian Belew. So … we'll see." (HP, 15 Sep 11)
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