November, 2003

"Collection on Desktops was recorded on the 8th of October, 2003. A grouping of folk songs, Collection... is one of the first less-conceptual solo recordings I have done, despite its obvious connections through use of traditional folk music structures. Bob Dylan comes to mind when listening to this record along with other folk musicians. The record focuses on poetry and strong melodies, rather than complex musical production. In fact, vocals and acoustic guitar are the only instruments on the recording. The album was recorded live in a studio atmosphere and transferred to tape by Vince Perri." -Taken from the old MikeVasas.com site.

I am committed to releasing similar material that makes sense on the same record, but not necessarily the best material in one record. I still think of records as a connected piece rather than a collection of strays. I have to feel like the material flows, and sometimes that means cutting really good songs so the big picture of the record isn't destroyed. So, after Bad Luck,I had my biggest burst of prolific songwriting ever. Plus, I had been decently prolific during the writing of Bad Luck, too, so I had tons of material laying around my desk. A lot of it was laying around because it didn't work [read as "bad" or "incomplete"] but I'd say at least 20 songs didn't seem to have the chance for release because many of them were rejects from Bad Luck or rejects from my two 2003-2004 projects The City and The State.

A lot of the rejects from Bad Luck were adequate songs, and some were even better than the material on the record (especially lyrically), but they didn't fit the scheme of the album. And the songs that were rejects from the double-project were songs I loved but I didn't want to include these folk tunes on those records. So they all sat around. I felt guilty that all these songs were would all disappear without any effort on my part. So, one day in October I assembled a list of songs I really liked from the three projects and I recorded them all. Beyond the July-January Songs records, Collection on Desktops is by far my least selling record, and yet is one that I am really happy with. Ironically, the record ends up being more consistent then many of my "conceptual" records because of the performance and production.