minutes , it ’ s without the contrast and quiet . You don ’ t know what fast is . And I think the same thing goes for songwriting . If you have busy songs and complex songs , you need to follow them with stuff that is a little easier to think about so that when you run into one where there is a lot to think about , you ’ re not already overwhelmed when you get there .
How did you go about choosing the songs for “ Symmerty ?”
JIM : Initially , I always thought that the record company would like us to do an acoustic record , obviously , there ’ s been plenty of acoustic records done by plenty of bands . And generally it always comes across to me like the band played this similar arrangement with acoustic guitars , instead of electric guitars , and a real set of drums . Then they would have somebody put a little forced string quartet on it or a full string section . That ’ s the pleasant little kind of version of the acoustic version of the band . And I thought we got to do something that you just shouldn ’ t do and man “ Pitchman ” is a great example . You ’ re not supposed to really play “ Pitchman ” acoustically . And then I thought , what ’ s he going to do for the guitar solo without his whammy bar and his strat ? And he starts off with a banjo , which when I first heard it , I was on my hands and knees and just cried . It was just killing . I just loved it . It was so wrong , but wonderful . Yeah , you ’ re just not supposed to be doing this . Prog rock bands don ’ t use banjos for the soul . So I just thought the whole record was like that . For me , there ’ s a whole bunch of moments on the record where I just get a big grin . You ’ re not really supposed to be doing this . And it was just fun to do .
1982 comes , you guys are all over MTV ,” On the Loose ,” “ Wind Them Up .” Then you go to “ Heads or Tails ,” “ The Flyer ,” “ Behaviour ,” getting tons of airplay . And then all of a sudden a slight drop off as far as airplay goes . What happened during that time ?
JIM : I think , you know , the music business wanted us to come up with another hit . And we pretty much just kept making records as best we could . We always talked about the fact that if you just sit down and try to write a hit , this song is gonna suck . So you know , in the style that we ’ re playing , it ’ s gonna sound completely obvious what we ’ re trying to do . t felt like Saga that year . The most ridiculous one was when we got to ( Continued on page 63 )
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