Senrick Chuck
Dreamin'
Label: Notes On A Journey
Genre: 60s / 70s Rock / Pop / Progressive / Kraut
Availability
- LP €22.99 Out of Stock
<p><span class="bcTruncateMore"><span>Building castles in the air, though, was something Chuck Senrick never did during his career. His first and only record “Dreamin” wasn't meant to signal the start of an illustrious career in the music business. The dozen songs he recorded in friend's living rooms during 1976 were for the by then 21-year old, freshly married Minnesotan, just a plain and simple collection of compositions capturing the world around him and recounting humble tales of his life in it. “Drop A Dime” is a simple account of the flat he shared with three friends, while, as the title suggests, “Wedding Trilogy” is dedicated to his wife and is a living reminder of his marriage which happened around the time of these recordings. It was also his first wife who drew the illustration for the cover of “Dreamin”: A portrait of a young Chuck cross-fading between Minneapolis' bustling city life (sung about in “Downtown”) and the comforting mountain scenery of Montana embedded in familiar unity. The songs, starting with the title track “Dreamin”, invoke the calm, humble life and bond with nature, which is still dear to Chuck Senrick's heart to this very day. The songs also address the conflict between harmony and adventure, a facet of his personality which embodies him all the same. These days, Senrick's personal favourite from the collection is, “Don't Be So Nice”, the best example of this discrepancy. Hard to be topped in its reduced purity, the song is scored in a restrained and jazzy manner, as all tracks of the album, with just a Fender Rhodes accompanied by a simple beat coming from the drum machine, the Donca-Matic by Keio/Korg. This minimalism, paired with a preference for bittersweet melodies and his ingenious vocals, bestow Chuck Senrick's music with a brutal honesty that will never go out of fashion, therefore bearing the imprint of timelessness. The soundtrack to eternity one could say. </span><br /><br /><span>Just 200 copies of the record were pressed, which Senrick gave away to friends or sells to his audience at his gigs. Only many years later, in 1993 to be exact, during his stay in Florida, does Senrick again record further material. A few of his live gigs are put onto cassette tape and distributed them under the name “Island Live“ and “Cheap Thrills”. Somehow, through a series of unknown events and coincidences, 40-years later those original songs finally meet the catalyst for exposure to a bigger listenership. Not in Minnesota nor in Florida but a Japanese second-hand store of all places, Jazzanova member and NOAJ co-founder Stefan Leisering finds a copy of “Dreamin”. A magic moment for the passionate musician and DJ, one that stands out strong in his decades of record collecting. It's exactly this type of songwriting and these arrangements that hit him emotionally, ticking every box along the way. Back in Berlin, he plays the record to some friends, who are also deeply moved and impressed by Senrick's thoroughly honest music. </span></span></p>
<p><span class="bcTruncateMore"><span>The author of these liner notes also remembers the first time he heard “Don't Be So Nice” very vividly. It was during a car trip through Berlin with friends and fellow record collectors, Danny McLewin (Psychemagik) and Alex Barck (Jazzanova), when Alex played the track on the stereo of his A-Class; I couldn't believe my ears for a moment. Once in a blue moon do you hear such a perfect pop song, minimalistic yet overflowing with charm owing to its sincerity. Knowing about its extreme scarcity, I didn't even attempt to try to find the record. All the more delighted I was when Notes On A Journey asked me to write the liner notes for this re-issue. Finally, I can hold this beautiful record in my hands and I can listen to this ageless, bonafide and touching music again and again and again. I hope you dear reader, gets a kick out of this the same way I did and that I and the whole Notes On A Journey crew still do.