Circular Reason

For years Mark Freddy honed his performing skills as a street musician traveling around Europe and North Africa. From the streets of Dublin, Ireland to the streets of Cairo, Egypt he played in many weird and wonderful places while meeting some interesting characters along the way. This experience helped shape his approach to music, giving it a tongue-in-cheek attitude. At the same time he soaked up the predominantly new wave music that permeated Europe in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. In a twist of fate, he missed “The Magic Bus” (yes, that bus) that drove non-stop from Athens, Greece to New Delhi, India. The next bus would leave a week later. But while waiting he had second thoughts and decided to return home to southern California and pursue a recording career. Being influenced by the likes of David Bowie, Talking Heads, and XTC; he made forty-something recordings at four different studios with eight different sound engineers between 1982-1989. These were primarily done as record company demos, but a number of them found their way to the airwaves. Now for the first time, nineteen of these have been digitally remastered and compiled into an album titled Circular Reason. Many have found these songs a little quirky to outright zany. Still, there are some serious themes sprinkled throughout. And although the accompanying musicians named The Flanger Managers are serious artists themselves, their performances on these tracks are fun and freewheeling. The Flanger Mangers are not a band per se, but a group of musicians who are friends, friends of friends and family who've mingled together through the recording studio and live performances. Their contributions on these recordings are obvious (see album liner notes). Mark Freddy & The Flanger Managers debuted November 1, 1982; not as a live show, but on a Los Angeles radio station KLOS 95.5 FM with their song “Work Is A Four Letter Word,” something he wrote while on the Greek island of Crete. Mark Freddy - guitar / vocals Mark Cardinal - guitar / bg vocals Dennis Embry – guitar Bodhi Jones - keyboards / drums Peter Bogdanoff – keyboards David Woodford - tenor & baritone sax Penny Watson - alto sax Moon Dog Zephyr - bass / bg vocals Glen Hinman – bass Kevin Maravich: drums