edhale.com

The 3 disc compilation of the best of Ed Hale’s work with underground rock group Broken Spectacles featuring over 40 songs, out-takes, home demos, live in concert tracks, and radio interviews. Remastered and Released in 1998 (currently out of print).

The first ED HALE album was released on the independent record label Alarming Talent Records when Hale, who went by the name Eddie Darling then, was 17 years old and still in high school. The album was simply titled EDDIE. Hale was discovered by pop-music historian and critic Murray Silver, author of the Great Balls of Fire Jerry Lee Lewis Story book and movie who had started a small record label in the burgeoning Atlanta music scene. Though it is clear now, looking back there was no way one could predict the many stylistic roads Hale would travel down throughout his career as a recording artist. Described as a musical Picasso he is known for creating entirely different landscapes, little worlds each unique and special, with each new album he releases. More like movies than music albums. Some fans find it difficult to keep up with Hale’s voracious appetite for exploring different musical styles.
It may be due to the fact that Hale was still in his teens, new to the business, and under the guidance of heavy-handed executives and the pressures of the business, but the Eddie album did not foreshadow the style-surfing of Hale’s future work with jangly-pop college rock darlings BROKEN SPECTACLES, nor his later world-music forays with his current group TRANSCENDENCE. It did not indicate Hale would over the course of three years steer from middle-eastern and Brasilian music on Rise and Shine, to heavy commercial alt-rock on Sleep With You, to garage-pop and indie-rock on Nothing is Cohesive. The Eddie Album is a relatively consistent work. The influences are easy to spot, the Beatles, T. Rex, Dylan, though it is also slightly marred by when it was recorded. The music of the eighties had a very distinct sound, and this album was no exception.
For those searching for the quintessential starting point of the Ed Hale sound and story, the EDDIE album is it. It is moody, dreamy, bouncy, romantic 80’s euro-pop. His voice is soft and whispery, neither matured nor fully developed, he was often compared to a young Marc Bolan or David Bowie. He comes off like an innocent but daring young Casanova, ambitious and romantic, and a touch too cheeky. But the album is filled with catchy melodies that fans would soon come to expect. Raw passion, plenty of lust, and teenage emotion and angst.
Lush, orchestral production, and punchy eighties beats are the focus of this ten song disc. Standout tracks on the newly re-mastered release include She Says You’re the One, and You and Me. There is a yearning in both songs which is touching and poignant and similar to many songs Hale would write and record on future albums. Then there are the hints of what would soon be a trademark song style that he would explore deeper in Broken Spectacles” the anthemic and operatic long-song form in the likes of I’m Not Crazy, in which he ominously pleads “I’m not crazy/but I’m on my way.” It features an intriguing orchestral break in the middle of the song. Very Bowie, Elton John. Depending on whom you ask. Just Don’t Matter At All finds the artist waxing philosophic on growing up with a characteristic Beatlesque sing-a-long multi-voiced outro.
There is the misogynist dance-club hit Since I lost You which was all the rage in the dance clubs of Atlanta in the summer of ’89 which Hale still claims to prefer to forget, and the ego-infested rocker Obsession with Hale chanting “I’m the solution to all this talk about revolution” in the chorus with hubris typical of an American teenager, a super-hero confidence theme that dominated the lyrics of his early records; until the middle period of his Broken Spectacles work when his songs became more introspective and pensive, taking on an a nearly nihilistic and self-deprecating nature.
Ed Hale’s Eddie album is a classic for collectors of his work, but not a classic album. One can clearly hear the singer still developing and searching for a sound of his own. And the album as a whole is a much simpler transparent work than what we are used to by this point. But there are however four must-haves on the album: the aforementioned You and me, She says you’re the one, I’m not crazy, and Just don’t matter at all. These songs are classic Ed Hale and say much about what was to come. The purity, passion, and raw romanticism of each still bring goosebumps and a skip of the heart.
ALBUM CREDITS
ORIGINAL RECORD LABEL: Alarming Talent Records
ORIGINAL Release Date: October 20th, 1989
RECORDED: August 1988 – October 1988
STUDIO: Important recording studios, Ft. Meyers, FL
PRODUCED BY: Murray Silver, Ed Hale, and John McLane
ENGINEERED BY: John McLane
DIGITALLY REMASTERED BY: Eddie Mashal at Alle Audio; Hollywood, FL
MUSICIANS: Ed Hale – vocals, guitars, keyboards. John McLane – guitar, bass, keyboards, sax, and background vocals, Max Mazzone – Drums. Diane Kerri – background vocals.
All songs music and lyrics written by Ed Hale

Acoustic in New York is a collection of 10 previously unreleased songs Ed Hale recorded as demos while in New York City in late 1995. The songs were recorded live to a two-track as record company demos only and were never meant for public release.
Although the sound quality of the recordings themselves is less than perfect – evidenced by the honking of car horns and the ringing telephones in the background – the power and the passion that comes through as Ed sings and plays each song has a tremendous impact and tells a lot about the artist in the peak of his craft as a guitar player and as a singer/songwriter.
There is an ambition and a hunger and a passion that pours out of his voice and guitar on these tracks that is breathtaking.
And so it was that this collection was put together as a compendium of some of Ed Hale’s most complex and intricate compositions during this particular time period – the anthemic I’m so fucking bored is almost 10 minutes long. More than anything else this collection showcases the versatility of Ed Hale as the songwriter and illustrates the ease with which he can spin a great song.
It highlights the start of the open tuning phase of his guitar playing and song writing style, where the songs take on an almost orchestral tone, with long and lush instrumental introductions before the vocals are even introduced. It provides an intimate environment in which to soak up some of “the paradise spilling all over us” when Ed Hale sings some of his best songs ever. His voice is the strongest it has ever been on record. And there is an optimism that comes through in most of the songs that is entirely different than his previous work with Broken Spectacles.
Many of the songs are uplifting and spiritual in nature, such as The Greatest Gift and Promised Land. The longest song on the album, the Dylanesque Rooms of My Mind, is another standout track, and like the album as a whole, it is raw soul-music, pure expressive poetry set to music on a six-string. Acoustic in New York is a deep and heartfelt exploration of the soul of the artist as a young man in one brief moment in a tiny studio in New York City.

Song	Hear	Free	Price	Buy
Buy the CD (physical media)			$10.99
Buy the whole album (download)			$8.99
Bored			$1
Promised Land			$1
Paris			$1
Jesus			$1
In the Movies			$1
The Greatest Gift			$1
Cool Rider			$1
Stay			$1
Jelly Roll			$1
Rooms of My Mind			$1

RISE AND SHINE is a concept album that fuses many styles into a modern-rock masterpiece, from the dreamy pop-rock smash “do you know how you are” to the harder-edged infectious “better luck next time” to the anthemic world-music character of the title cut “rise and shine” to the feel-good groovy funk of “Tres cool”.

Song	Hear	Free	Price	Buy
Buy the CD (physical media)			$10.99
Buy the whole album (download)			$8.99
Better Luck Next Time			$0.99
Do You Know Who You Are? (intro)			$0.99
Do You Know Who You Are?			$0.99
Paris			$0.99
Love Is You			$0.99
Mother			$0.99
The Journey (A Call To Arms)			$0.99
Letter To A Friend			$0.99
Rise And Shine			$0.99
Ma Petit Naomi			$0.99
Tres Cool			$0.99
So Quero Um Xodo/All You Need Is Love			$0.99
Dreams			$0.99

Ed Hale and the boys deliver 13 new tracks (plus bonus material) on this follow up to last year’s worldly Rise and Shine. Sleep with you is darker (Junkie, Vicodin) and rocks harder (I’m not the only one, Sleep with you) than its predecessor. Its mood is at once passionate and romantic (Beautiful one, Veronica) and cheeky (Minnie Driver, Girls) and fun (Super hero girl). Gone are the multi-cultural world-music leanings as the band delivers over the top alt-rock and brit-pop ear candy dressed up in beautiful melodies and soaring guitar. This is the heaviest the band has ever sounded, and the most authentic as a “rock band” as evidenced by the pounding bass and drums on almost every track that warrants such. Not that Sleep with you is all rock. As much as it rocks, its not. Guilty is as radio friendly pop as you can find, and Keep moving on could be an alternate track from U2’s All that you cant leave behind. The album closes with the delicate and gorgeous fire-side ballad Little tree, and then explodes into a thunderous one chord anthem complete with Zeppelinesqe strings and some seriously head-spinning guitar before trailing off into dreamy samples and feedback.

Song	Hear	Free	Price	Buy
Buy the CD (physical media)			$10.99
Buy the whole album (download)			$8.99
Sleep With You			$0.99
Superhero Girl			$0.99
I’m Not The Only One			$0.99
Veronica			$0.99
Girls			$0.99
Minnie Driver			$0.99
Vicodin			$0.99
Junkie			$0.99
Watching Shira Cry			$0.99
Beautiful One			$0.99
Guilty			$0.99
Keep Moving On			$0.99
Little Tree			$0.99

The prolific and chameleon-like modern rock quintet Transcendence recorded this bold and beautiful collection of post-modern garage rockers and lush seventies-style piano ballads that the band in their garage studio in 2004. It just may be their best effort to date. And that says a lot coming from the very prolific and experimental group that features the impassioned vocals of Ed Hale and the guitar histrionics of their well known and much respected guitarist Fernando Perdomo. Nothing is Cohesive, the band’s third CD, is raw, unrefined, and surges with an honest musical sensuality that is breathtaking at times. It mixes a variety of classic and modern rock styles in a surprisingly cohesive listen for how far-out the band was willing to travel in their sonic explorations to achieve something completely different from last years Sleep with you. Transcendence has been enjoying major radio success across the country with their hit single “Superhero Girl,” while bridging the gap between passionate new-rock with an old-school melodic seventies rock. While their over the top electrifying live performances have been taking indie-music audiences by storm, there has been a slow-brewing flurry of anticipation over their soon to be released new CD entitled Nothing is Cohesive. The album’s off the cuff schizophrenia has been described as “Radiohead meets Lou Reed or somewhere in between.” The new CD, which the band recorded in a garage studio with no producer on-hand, may be their most honest work to date.
Nothing is Cohesive, the band’s 2005 release that earned them 5 star reviews and A+ reviews from coast to coast.

Song	Hear	Free	Price	Buy
Buy the CD (physical media)			$10.99
Buy the whole album (download)			$8.99
Intro
Somebody Kill The DJ			$1
I Wanna Know Ya			$1
Tomorrow (Intro)			$1
Tomorrow			$1
Caetano			$1
Come On			$1
All This Is Beginning To Feel Like An Ending			$1
Revolution In Me			$1
Cleopatra Ecstacy			$1
Cleopatra Ecstacy Outro			$1
Softening			$1
Bored			$1
If Your Baby Could			$1
Nothing Is Cohesive			$1

At first listen The City of Lost Children could be, more than anything else, a testament to how much great talent we have been lucky enough to work with over the last eight years in TRANSCENDENCE. From musicians to songwriters, producers, engineers and singers, we have been very lucky and truly honored by all the brilliant hearts and minds that have worked and played with us. TRANSCENDENCE has always been more of a community rather than simply a band of five guys. It’s a community of music, about music, founded on music, flowing out of music. Music was from the start the spark that ignited the formation of TRANSCENDENCE. We came together as strangers attracted to one another because of our shared love and passion for music. Music of all shapes and sizes and styles. We stay together for the same reason. Over the years we have been blessed almost divinely to be open to anyone who wanted to stop by the studios, say hello and talk shop, and ultimately lay down something of their own on whatever project we happened to be working on. This album perhaps owes more to this idea than anything else we have ever released simply because it pulls together 14 songs from various phases of our working together as a group and spans a period of over 8 years.
Stylistically the Lost Children collection also bears witness to the fact that those pesky critics may be more accurate in their assertion that TRANSCENDENCE has been all over the map than we ever cared to admit; hence the Nothing is Cohesive album title but where has it ever been written that artists of any medium are supposed to stick with the same style throughout their careers or even within the context of one work? TRANSCENDENCE has always gotten off on exploring different musical territories as a group. In fact the more diverse and eclectic our musical explorations are the more stimulated we as individuals become. Truth be told, writing and recording a song such as Whenever I’m with you, a song which at first listen might appear to be far removed and light years away from “our usual sound,” was no more difficult or challenging than one of our more typical indie rock or brit-pop styled songs. With a few more listens it gets easier and easier to recognize the same five guys in that song. This collection of songs, as disjointed as it may be when gathered all under one roof, does run the gamut from R&B to straight ahead alt-rock to Brasilian pop to avant-garde experiments in sound, and yes it may seem odd that the same group and various other stragglers and fellow explorers found it so appropriate and commonplace to try our hands at so many different styles of music. But luckily for all of us we never questioned this aspect of ourselves. We just forged onwards, critics be damned, and did whatever we wanted to in order to get ourselves off and maintain that high and inspiration that compelled us to come together in the first place.
Because of the general over the top eccentric nature of each member of the band, I have noticed that we have actually found it more difficult to create straight ahead commercially accessible pop and rock at times compared to the more esoteric and experimental stuff that has managed to make its way onto our albums. But that’s TRANSCENDENCE. At times this yearning to branch out and cover as many bases as possible has created problems for the band. With producers, with engineers, with record labels, distributors, DJs especially, critics, other musicians, and perhaps even with fans. Over the years we have had to make sacrifices artistically and cut certain tracks off of albums in order to make them more cohesive and streamlined. Even if we were madly in love with those tracks. At other times it was more of a question of just space or just having too many songs for one disc. And occasionally a single or two has gotten recorded and for whatever reason never found a home and made it to an album.
So more than anything else for us as a group these various reasons make The City of Lost Children a very special album indeed. It was an idea we had been harboring for years and just never had the time to see through. It may seem odd, and perhaps even strategically impractical, to release an album such as this when we have two new albums coming out in the same year. Most artists and labels save projects like this for dormant periods in between recording sessions or when the band is on tour. But as trite as it sounds because so many musicians say the exact same thing about their songs, almost every song we birth and take the time to explore and record as a group does have a very special place in our hearts regardless of whether or not it ever gets released. This makes The City of Lost Children a very very special project to each of us. For the first time we were able to sit down and reflect and reclaim all of our lost children and pool them all together so they had a permanent home and were lost no more. Compiling this album gave us all a sincere feeling of relief and satisfaction and completion. For music fans we hope that some get as much pleasure from being able to have access to all of these rarities for the first time under one roof as we did in putting the album together. As always thank you for listening.

Song	Hear	Free	Price	Buy
Whenever I’m With You			$0.99
Jacquie			$0.99
Andrea’s Fault			$0.99
Rebuild America			$0.99
Kill The Monkey			$0.99
Free Love			$0.99
Eu Se Que Vou Te Amar			$0.99
Vampire Song			$0.99
All Is Lost			$0.99
All Of My Love			$0.99
O Leaonzinho			$0.99
Morning In Venice			$0.99
The Greap Leap Into The Forever Unknown			$0.99
Nothing Is Cohesive, Part 2			$0.99

The new album from multi-faceted singer/songwriter Ed Hale of the indie rock/power pop outfit Transcendence is entitled Ballad On Third Avenue and is a melodic feast that should appeal to the same audience that loves the music of Wes Anderson films, the Garden State soundtrack, Simon & Garfunkel, Nick Drake, Bright Eyes, or Coldplay. Known for being unabashedly willing to take risks on and off stage, on his first solo outing in years, Hale cranked down the volume and slowed things down, way down with Ballad. Not one electric guitar was used on the album. Instead Hale and producer and fellow Transcendence bandmate Fernando Perdomo (of Dreaming In Stereo) crafted a moving and delicate acoustic pop record that features a sparse but lush arrangement of pianos, a variety of acoustic guitars, cellos, flutes, organs, mellotron, tambourine, and handclaps that serve as the perfect backdrop to the most personal and intimate lyrics Hale has ever recorded. Another surprising twist, five of the album’s eleven songs were cowritten with up and comer lyricist Tyler Bejoian. Ballad On Third Avenue just might increase Ed Hale’s brand name recognition in the national spotlight more than any of the prior eight albums he has released over the last ten years owing to the fact that the album still feels and sounds comfortably edgy and independent – so should easily please long-time fans in the indie world; “Hello My Dove,” the title track “Beautiful Losers,” and “Incompatible,” are classic Ed Hale melody and over the top high drama and passion. But Ballad also sounds surprisingly commercial at some points. The first song on the album “Scene In San Francisco” could be James Blunt, Five For Fighting, or David Gray. The second song and first single “I Walk Alone” will be the first Ed Hale song, with or without Transcendence, to ever go to commercial Top 40 hit radio. Other standout tracks on the album are the Irresistibly catchy “It Feels Too Good” and “Architect’s Daughter,” as well as the six-plus minute political flame-thrower “New Orleans Dreams.”

Song	Hear	Free	Price	Buy
Buy the CD (physical media)			$10.99
Buy the whole album (download)			$8.99
Scene In San Francisco			$0.99
I Walk Alone			$0.99
Hello My Dove			$0.99
Incompatible			$0.99
Ballad On Third Avenue (Beautiful Losers)			$0.99
It Feels Too Good			$0.99
Everywhere She Is There			$0.99
New Orleans Dreams			$0.99
Architect’s Daughter			$0.99
Thoughts Of California			$0.99
Never Let Me Go Again			$0.99