The correct lyrics and credits of “The Art of Being” album.

EARTHBOUND PARADISE (Paulus Wieland)/STARCASE (Ton Willekes).

To be the star in your own fairy tale, that’s what you always liked to be.
Here I am you’re lucky chance; concede your very special demands.
Sad frustrations I transform in an overwhelming delight.
You will go to a higher hemisphere through this urban area light.

Earthbound paradise presents enlightenment by machines.
Do you’ve got a dime to spend for this relaxing experience?
The pleasures of your wedding night are not half of what they will be here.
Yes this is the only pleasant place in your mental escaping world.

Everybody sings and laughs what a great a sight ha-ha.
We don’t look if you’re gay or male, for everyone there’s a place to be.
Night after night the time is right to let yourself go.
Don’t bother for confrontations it’s time for amusement show.

Earthbound paradise presents enlightenment by machines.
Do you’ve got a dime to spend for this relaxing experience?
The pleasures of your wedding night are not half of what they will be here.
Yes this is the only pleasant place in your mental escaping world.

Richard Neumöller - Voice, Roland TR 606 drumcomputer programming, Pearl SY1 syncussion, tapes.
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Siel Orchestra stringensemble, tapes.
Ton Willekes - Yamaha CS30 synthesizer, Korg MS-20 synthesizer, Roland TR 606 drumcomputer programming, tapes.


LOVESONG (Paulus Wieland).

Who says: “I do like something Ells”.
Who says: “I do like something else.”
Who tells these stories of honor ship and worry?

What Ells? What else!
What else does it bring, what else does she sing.
I don’t like thanksgiving, give me a living.
Cheap, this is cheap.
Cheap, this is cheap.
Who tells these stories of honor ship and worry?

Who says: “I don’t like something else.”
Who says: “Well I don’t like something Ells”.
I don’t like thanksgiving, give me a living.

Cheap, is this cheap?
Cheap, is this cheap?
Who tells these stories of honor ship and worry?

Richard Neumöller – Voice, Roland TR 606 drumcomputer programming.
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Siel Orchestra stringensemble, Pearl SY1 syncussion, second phrase voice.
Ton Willekes – Yamaha CS30 synthesizer, Korg MS-20 synthesizer.
Marge – First phrase voice.


*EDELWEISS (Paulus Wieland).

Richard Neumöller – Roland TR 606 drumcomputer programming.
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Siel Orchestra stringensemble, Yamaha CS30 synthesizer.


ARTIFICIALS (Paulus Wieland).

Ill comedians always act in desorientative ways.
Play down your values and your flavors; demolish the sequence of creative days.
Their slogans are dipped in cynical phrases they always reinforce the trends.
Eccentric is their misbehavior but it sells better to their rich, rich friends.

A narrow-minded teacher in shabby clothes forces his religions in my throat.
O my god I can nearly breathe, all these religions just are not for me.
Now he gets mad: "You don’t want to learn, the passion for art doesn’t turn you on.
There’s only one thing a real artist does: to live a life where art will suck him up".

Junkies of the city noise deal guitar sounds for human voice.
But junkies of art or artistic fame sell only arrogance as a kind of game.
Concessions in ethics and aesthetics the need for money just never sleeps.
Antics, fanatics and dementia, I saw the artificial art school freaks.

A narrow-minded teacher in shabby clothes forces his religions in my throat.
O my god I can nearly breathe, all these religions are just not for me.
Now he gets mad: "You don’t want to learn, the passion for art doesn’t turn you on.
There’s only one thing a real artist does: to live a life where art will suck him up".

Richard Neumöller – Voice, Roland TR 606 drumcomputer programming.
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Siel Orchestra stringensemble.
Ton Willekes - Yamaha CS30 synthesizer, Korg MS-20 synthesizer.


**AFTER I BOUGHT MY SIEL (Richard Neumöller & Paulus Wieland)/A RELIEVING SHOUT (Paulus Wieland)/ AFTER I…. (Reprise)/ BOSS A. NOVA (Paulus Wieland).

I’m still searching for the keyboard name that might acknowledge this synthetisized brain, how often did I fizzle out, I wish to heave a relieving shout.
This staring investigation put in a foreign coat, could tell me where to choose the flavors for making this message heard.
In doubt I am, in stress I feel, did I strayed in irrelevant fields, could any altering possibly stand for fame?

I never played real rock and roll, for that my lack of success.
O what are my mental needs, passion is meaning less.
Distant sounds they drive so far, I want to rock on my brother’s guitar, but still I’m searching for the keyboard name that might acknowledge this synthetisized brain.

Richard Neumöller – Voice, Bozo electric guitar (rhythm part), Roland TR 606 drumcomputer programming, Pearl SY1 syncussion.
Paulus Wieland - Siel Orchestra stringensemble, Kasuga electric guitar (lead part).
Ton Willekes - Yamaha CS30 synthesizer, Korg MS-20 synthesizer, Roland TR 606 drumcomputer programming.


DISTANT DANCE (Paulus Wieland).

This this disco kid, this this this this disco kid,
this kids dance, what a dance.
This this disco dance, disco fever, a super chance.
Come, get in trance.

Night after night it’s a dancing flight,
I flashed through neon signs and laser lights.
Bouncing boy’s and glamor chicks,
American cars and terrific licks.
The cool kid image and the elegant knight, they both look a little ladylike.
Escaping in these disco nights only mirrors the tough day urban life.

This this disco trance, funny feelings, a new romance.
Chance, through this dance.
This this disco chance, the kids blitz and a blessing dance.
Dance, oh what a chance.

This this disco strain kills his disco fame, it’s a shame.
Disengage the tricks of this trickery trade.
Fuck, it’s getting late!

Night after night it’s a dancing flight,
I flashed through neon signs and laser lights.
Bouncing boy’s and glamor chicks,
American cars and terrific licks.
The cool kid image and the elegant knight, they both look a little ladylike.
Escaping in these disco nights only mirrors the tough day urban life.

Richard Neumöller – Voice.
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Siel Orchestra stringensemble.
Ton Willekes - Yamaha CS30 synthesizer, Korg MS-20 synthesizer, Roland CR-78 drumcomputer programming.


JUST SHINE ON ME (Paulus Wieland).

Richard Neumöller – Bozo electric guitar, Pearl SY1 syncussion.
Paulus Wieland - Siel Orchestra stringensemble, Yamaha CS30 synthesizer.
Ton Willekes – Boss Dr. Rhythm, Fender Musicmaster bass guitar.


ASH GREY AS SUNDAY (Richard Neumöller & Paulus Wieland).

The happy few, their faith ain’t true.
New luxury, poor fantasy.
Predictable, the way of del.
The organization sells:

My time this town
Highway numb sounds
Crowds clouds so many
Tunes and replays
Ideal displays
High above the streets
Conducts and treats
This mellow sugar and meat
Ice cream, narrow scenes, bacon beans
Who screams?

Richard Neumöller – Voice, Bozo electric guitar.
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Siel Orchestra stringensemble, tapes.
Ton Willekes - Yamaha CS30 synthesizer, Korg MS-20 synthesizer, Roland CR-78 & TR 606 drumcomputer programming, tapes.
-----------------------------

Engineered and produced by Ton Willekes.

Recorded during three different recording sessions, starting in the summer of 1981 and ending early 1982. “Just shine on me” was recorded at Paulus Wieland’s home and all other songs at the home of Richard Neumöller/Ton Willekes.

It is falsely claimed that the original (master)tape was used for this record, simply because I accidentally erased that tape myself not very long after it was made. The recordings were mastered on my Revox A77, the best recorder for this purpose we had at that time. This mastertape was the source for three cassette copies (one for each one of us) that were made on an Akai cassette deck. At its best one of these cassettes is used for this record.

*This song title was changed on the album into “Wieland's Wonderorgel” which is in my view a typical Willekes joke and I was not very amused by it. If they really didn’t knew its title they could have called me, as easy as that.

**The term “medley” was wrongly used on the album and has probably to do with an incorrect understanding of what this word means in musical terms.

Just as with the re-release of “For this is past” Willekes/Neumöller didn’t check the lyrics with me, and so all of the published lyrics I wrote (alone) contain faults ranging from one to a lot. The lyric of Distant Dance even misses a whole couplet. I think that shows little respect towards you as a buyer and me as a writer.

This past year I’ve been reading different story’s about how record companies and especially Polydor reacted on these recordings. What really happened is that we send a cassette to EMI and Polydor containing Distant Dance, Earthbound Paradise, Artificials and a fourth song, which was either Love Song or Ash Grey as Sunday. We knew that with a song like for instance “After I bought my Siel” we would not score, so we send what we thought were our most commercial sounding songs in the above mentioned hierarchy. EMI was not interested, but Polydor didn’t reject anything. This is what they wrote: “Dear Sirs. With interest we listened in our A&R meeting to the tape of your group that you have sent us. We thought the repertoire was really quite nice and want to ask you if you have an idea for a single”. I remember still clearly how Ton and Richard looked at me open minded about how to react (which was quite normal because I wrote the majority of the songs). I thought the Polydor reaction was a bit stupid because in my opinion it was obvious that we would send them our most commercial sounding songs first. Beside that I was afraid that if we would have said that Distant Dance was our first single candidate, they would force us to make a lot of alterations (which was, and maybe still is, very common these days). So I decided not to react at all on their proposition, which was, looking back, not the right decision because they gave room for further correspondence and I shouldn’t have closed that down.

There is on one side of the inner sleeve a picture of a church (I think it is) with a text heading: “ENSEMBLE PITTORESQUE THE EARLY YEARS”. It says that Ensemble Pittoresque was formed in 1979, which is incorrect because I introduced that name not earlier then in 1981 because it reflected the way and the sort of music we were making at that time (although I have to say that more then one song on this album was written before 1981). It is also mentioning a forced split up I really don’t know anything about and furthermore its says that “The beautiful Wassenaar area and their relentless spirit inspired the sound in these songs…”. That is peculiar because I wrote six of these songs at home in Wolphaartsdijk, which lies on a roughly 100 kilometers distance from Wassenaar. On the lyric side of that inner sleeve a photo is printed which has nothing to do with this album. It is a photo taken from the control room of the studio the “Frequenz” album is recorded in. There are no composer credits on this album. Could it be that mentioning the composer became an inconvenient truth for Mr. Willekes and Mr. Neumöller? Maybe not all the differences, which I’m mentioning here, between what was written on the album and what happened in reality are that important, but If you add them all up and combine them with the mainly incorrect, untrue and misleading info on their www.ensemblepittoresque.net/story site, you do get a quite different image of what really happened inside and with this band. I will go further into this when I write my version of the Ensemble Pittoresque story, which I will largely substantiate.

On my first contribution of this blog (the august one) I wrote already several things about how Mr. Willekes lied to Minimal wave and provided them with all the above mentioned incorrect information and the cassette copy without asking my permission nor consulting me in any way, so I won’t repeat that here. But there are some additional remarks to make about the way Mr. Willekes as self pronounced representative was (neglecting in) handling things. In my correspondence with him that followed on the re-release of the “For this is Past” album, he made it clear that he wasn’t very happy with various actions of Minimal Wave and idea’s they incorporated in the publishing of the “The Art of Being” album. Contrary to what he tried to achieve, blaming Minimal Wave, it became clear that he didn’t had an album cover ready (he just gave a couple of photographs), he didn’t had an album title ready and there was no mastertape of which it was made clear that it had to be used in an unaltered form. Now this is asking for trouble and his e-mail makes it very clear that trouble came, which didn’t quite improve their mutual relationship. I will not quote anything out of the e-mail I received from Mr. Willekes concerning this issue because it is already embarrassing enough for those involved that I talk about it here, but one of the things Minimal Wave wrote to me (in our correspondence that followed after I found out of the albums existence through the internet) was: “There's been some major confusion here, and if I had known what I know now, this record would never have been released. It's causing more problems than I ever imagined.” After the aforementioned e-mail I received from Ton Willekes I started to understand how much problems it must have been given.

Now although this may be superfluous, I want to state firmly that I am convinced that Minimal Wave acted in good faith and were truly shocked when it became clear that they were misled by Mr. Willekes, Mr. Neumöller and my brother Ronald (the little swindler). There is nothing that came to my attention that would proof otherwise, on the contrary. They offered me to do my side of the story and supply it with the album on an extra inlay combined with the correct lyrics and credits, which is a completely different approach compared with the way the Clogsontronics label and their distributors treated me in connection with the re-release of the “For this is Past” album. Minimal Wave, I myself and you as a buyer are all victims of the way Mr. Willekes and Mr. Neumöller have operated, because with a different approach on their side, a much better product could easily have come to light and a lot less ill feelings would have been produced!

How does the album sound? (added: 2009-05-29).
This album can’t be considered as a representation of how the original recordings sounded and were offered to Polydor and EMI, this is a fact and not a matter of opinion.
This is what the description of the album on the Minimal Wave site says: “The songs have been restored and mastered from the original tape”. I wrote Minimal Wave already in November 2007 and on this November the 14th 2008 blog that the mastertape was erased shortly after it was made and that for the album, at its best, a cassette tape copy of that mastertape had been used. This fact has now been confirmed by Ton Willekes in the interview he did with Chain D.L.K. on December 15th 2008. Maybe even more important is the fact that the recordings haven’t been restored but edited considerably by Ton Willekes and very badly as Minimal Wave made clear in their answer to me after I informed them about this and the way it was done (see further on under: What is changed compared with the cassette tape?). Minimal Wave: “This is an interesting story and it makes sense at to why the record pressing plant was having such issues with the frequencies in the master (the edited wav’s that Ton Willekes gave them-PW). Ultimately, the quality of the release was compromised and there's nothing we can do now about that. However, it is important for people to know that the audio source isn't an accurate representation of the songs which appear on the record. I honestly don't know what should be done at this point”.
Richard and Ton made lying and deceiving their art of being and so if you bought the album what you get are inaccurate and incomplete lyrics, a nonsense story on the inner sleeve etc. etc. and worst of all a record that isn’t what it promises to be, but something that might be called a monstrosity.

Why didn’t I publish these facts earlier?
Some time before I received the copy of the “The Art of Being” album in November 2007 from my brother Ronald, my record player had broken down and since there is no one I know that still owns one, I never played or heard the record. Because the Minimal Wave site mentioned that the songs had been restored, there was no reason for me to presume that it sounded different than the cassette copy it was taken from.
In the e-mail correspondence that followed the re-release of the “For This is Past” album, this is, amongst other things, what Ton Willekes wrote me concerning the sound of The Art of Being record: “I had been substantially editing the audio. The cassette doesn’t sound that good” and “There were some problems cutting but after two tests she (=Minimal Wave-PW) said that everything was and sounded OK. I didn’t get the result to hear myself but well…you have to trust the judgement of someone else and give space. Anyway. I got the record home and played it. What I heard was a completely flat limited sound-scape. Even worse than Radio 3 (=a Dutch radio station-PW)”.
I interpreted the “substantially editing” as an effort to reduce the noise level of the tape but couldn’t give the subject much thought because there were so many things I had to discuss with him on that moment. After I finished “The correct lyrics and credits of The Art of Being album” contribution, I started to become curious how the original recordings Ton gave Minimal Wave sounded and asked them to send me a copy which I received on February the 4th 2009. I was really puzzled when I played the Cd and wondered if it was a copy of the wav’s Ton gave them or a copy of the (vinyl) album. The sound differed completely compared to my cassette tape copy of the original mastertape. The main reason that I doubted if they were the ones Ton gave them was mainly Ton’s remark of a “completely flat limited sound-scape” combined with the way “Just shine on me” sounded. There is, maybe best described as, a slow pumping effect in that song which in my view indicates the use of either a very low quality compressor/limiter or a terrible faulty use of one. I didn’t want to bother Minimal Wave again and being in the middle of writing my Ensemble Pittoresque story, I forgot about it until I coincidently bumped into an interview Ton did with Chain D.L.K. It was when reading this part that an alarm bell started to ring:
“Chain D.L.K.: I didn't have the chance to listen to those recordings. Have you produced them as well as the album "For this is past"? What do they sound like?
Clogsontronics (=Ton Willekes-PW): I recorded them, yes. It was recorded on a 4 track AKAI and mixed down to a Revox A77. The mastertape was accidently erased and all that was left were cassette copies which did not sound too well. By digital means they were restored somehow. The demo is a prelude to the "For This Is Past" album. The sound is overwhelmingly in one frequency area, due to the fact that the main instrument used is the Sielorchestra string ensemble which to my taste is too dominantly present. Thank God that was corrected on the "For This Is Past" album”.
Although he uses it in another context, it was the word “corrected” that made me wonder if he “corrected” the cassette tape too, so I wrote Minimal Wave again and asked them if the Cd really comprised the wav’s Ton Willekes gave them, which they confirmed.

What is changed compared with the cassette tape?
To describe it as understandable as possible; the way Ton edited most songs was by raising a certain frequency area considerably (my guess is that by doing so he made a forced attempt to compensate the to his taste "too dominantly present" sound of the Sielorchestra string ensemble). Apart from that there’s the aforementioned “pumping” effect on “Just shine on me” and I really don’t know what he did with “Distant Dance” but that song sounds totally weird.
I still haven’t heard the vinyl version because repairing my record player has a low priority, so I can’t say anything about how the record sounds.

How does the cassette tape in reality sounds?
First of all you have to realize that these songs were recorded with substantial lower quality recording equipment than the “For This is Past” album was recorded with. Compared to the mastertape, the cassette tape copy of course suffered somewhat in the field of dynamics, frequency range and signal to noise ratio. Aside from that I do have to say that these recordings have a certain smoothness I really like and they are again a fine example too of what Ton was capable to do with old and/or limited recording equipment. It is the only Ensemble Pittoresque music alongside the songs The Art of Being, O.B.W.T. and Maître Satori of the “For This is Past” album, I still play once in a while.

I have e-mailed Minimal Wave asking them to put a link to my blog also in their catalog and description page so that potential new buyers could consider if they really want to have the album.

After I finished the Ensemble Pittoresque story I thought I was finished with the subject. Now there is this issue again and I‘m starting to get fed up with having to bring unpleasant Ensemble Pittoresque news. Maybe one issue is left to write down and that is how Richard and Ton arranged the financial side of things. Of all that they have published, on record or for download (free or paid for) on various site’s, no royalties (=a percentage of the revenues composers/songwriters get) were paid to me, although I wrote/co-wrote almost all these songs. It is good to keep that in mind for anyone engaging in some sort of business with them as they are the same persons (together with Eugenius Otte) behind the Clogsontronics label, the label which dares to present itself as “The musician’s label”. What a joke.

I wonder if, within a few years, this band will still be remembered for its albums or for all the idiocy surrounding it. Time will tell.

The correct lyrics and credits of the "For This is Past" album.

BETTER LIFE'S (Paulus Wieland).

Say no more, say no more, say no more don’t die.
Disorder, disorder this spirit’s on strike oh my oh my oh my.
Divided we stand, divided we speak, divided we did laugh.
Who conversates about purity and asks me who the hell I am!
Nice scheme’s the morning comes, who is out of real again?
Glitter on the on stage star tonight mankind start to dance.
Happy fellows and happy tunes, they’re divided by the trends.
Is it because I’m talking now, or would we ever take that chance?

Guitarlicks, guitarlicks, throwing dope on ice.
In fashion styled, in fashion styled, wherever I come I am.
Tonight's the night, the night to know, to know tonight.
Say too much, break the break and tell me who the hell I am!
Nice scheme’s the morning comes, who is out of real again?
Glitter on the on stage star tonight mankind start to dance.
Happy fellows and tuny tunes, they’re divided by the trends.
Is it because I’m talking now, or would we ever take that chance?

Richard Neumöller - Voice.
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Roland SH-2 synthesizer*, Kasuga modified electric guitar, Tapes
Ton Willekes - Tapes

Roland TR 808 drumcomputer programmed by Ensemble Pittoresque.


THE ART OF BEING (Paulus Wieland).

Living with a mental strike is like flying around a bulb.
Expecting the escaping days in all the frequent frenzy ways.
Foreign recruiting stressed his fans, the schizophrenic clapped his hands.
Philosophic maniacs die in lonesome nights, spiritual playboy luxury doomed the daybreak light.
Now for explanatory way’s I’d say: there’s no disbelief in trust!

A telephone is ringing all the time somewhere in this room,
a fog forbids the answering, I need a damp-proof gloom!
Lower judgment, narrow escape. “Nurse come in, I’m on tape!”
Talking to humanity it scares uncertainty. Concrete phrases of fishermen, a blowout flashed again.
A rope is trembling inside this can, cold sweat cracks this voice, a sham?

“Exhausting!” cried the paradox, o bless this intelligent mess,
empty the emphasing pillar of guts, o my friendly chest it sucks.
Just how tiring is this to say, cries the other day.
Copper mud’s the bloodstream vessel and tea with sugar vomits sad thinking levels.
The dictionary of this diary test closes in order to get a rest.
Perspective thoughts I dare to say, I dare to say!

Richard Neumöller - Voice
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Roland RS-09 stringensemble, Aria Pro II SB600 bass guitar
Ton Willekes - Roland TR 808 drumcomputer programming


AURATORIUM (Richard Neumöller & Paulus Wieland).

Richard Neumöller - Tapes, Roland SH-2 synthesizer*, Roland TR-808 drumcomputer programming
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Kasuga modified electric guitar
Ton Willekes - Tapes, Roland TR-808 drumcomputer programming


ARTIFICIALS (Paulus Wieland).

Ill comedians always act in disorientative ways.
Play down your values and your flavours; demolish the sequence of creative days.
Their slogans are dipped in cynical phrases they always reinforce the trends.
Eccentric is their misbehaviour but it sells better to their rich, rich friends.

A narrow-minded teacher in shabby clothes forces his religions in my throat.
O my god I can nearly breathe, all these religions just are not for me.
Now he gets mad: "You don’t want to learn, the passion for art doesn’t turn you on.
There’s only one thing a real artist does: to live a life where art will suck him up".

Junkies of the city noise deal guitar sounds for human voice.
But junkies of art or artistic fame sell only arrogance as some kind of game.
Concessions in ethics and aesthetics the need for money just never sleeps.
Antics, fanatics and dementia, I saw the artificial art school freaks.

A narrow-minded teacher in shabby clothes forces his religions in my throat.
O my god I can nearly breathe, all these religions just are not for me.
Now he gets mad: "You don’t want to learn, the passion for art doesn’t turn you on.
There’s only one thing a real artist does: to live a life where art will suck him up".

Richard Neumöller - Voice
Paulus Wieland - Oberheim OB4 synthesizer, Roland SH-2 synthesizer*

Roland TR 808 drumcomputer programmed by Ensemble Pittoresque.


O.B.W.T (Paulus Wieland).

Paulus Wieland – Oberheim OB4 synthesizer, Roland SH-2 synthesizer*, Roland RS-09 stringensemble, Kasuga modified electric guitar, Aria Pro II SB600 bass guitar, Roland TR-808 drumcomputer programming


MAITRE SATORI (Richard Neumöller & Paulus Wieland).

Maître Satori et la belle Veronique dansent le souffle.
C’est le bateau rouge dans le dôme des invalides.
Deux hommes très timide.

C’est Long John the sailor.
Well, qui est vous, je ne reconnai pas.
Le souffle, aaaahh.

Richard Neumöller - Voice, Korg Polysix synthesizer, Roland SH-2 synthesizer
Paulus Wieland - Kasuga modified electric guitar, Roland TR-808 drumcomputer programming


BUILDING BRAINS (Richard Neumöller & Paulus Wieland).

Garden party’s swinging round with pretty pulse,
major Morgan’s chest is getting dull.
I don’t see a beauty but I do see a beast.

Lying on my back the numbers turning nil,
the sun is shining in it’s got no time to kill.
The boiling oil is running and the eyes fixed on the bill.

Richard Neumöller - Tapes, Roland SH-2 synthesizer*, Roland RS-09 stringensemble
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Kasuga modified electric guitar

Roland TR 808 drumcomputer programmed by Ensemble Pittoresque.


LOVESONG (Paulus Wieland).

Who says: “I do like something else”.
Who says: “Well I do like something Ells.”
I don’t like thanksgiving, give me a living.

“Natuurlijk we zijn niet getatoeërd, maar we zijn wel getatoeërd in onze hersenen, voor altijd.” (=Dutch, meaning: “Of course we aren’t tattooed, but we are tattooed in our brains, for ever.”)

What Ells? What else!
What else does she sing and what else does she bring.
I don’t like thanksgiving, give me a living.

Cheap, well this is cheap.
Cheap, cheap, cheap, this is cheap.
Who tells these stories of honour ship and worry?

“Natuurlijk we zijn niet getatoeërd, maar we zijn wel getatoeërd. Niet getatoeërd, maar we zijn wel getatoeërd.” (“Of course we aren’t tattooed, but we are tattooed. Not tattooed, but we are tattooed.”)

Who says: “I don’t like something else.”
Well who says: “I don’t like something Ells”.
I don’t like thanksgiving, give me a living.

Cheap, is this cheap?
Cheap, cheap, cheap, well is this cheap.
Who tells these stories of honour ship and worry?

Richard Neumöller - Voice
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Roland RS-09 stringensemble, Kasuga modified electric guitar, Roland SH-2 synthesizer*, Tapes

Roland TR 808 drumcomputer programmed by Ensemble Pittoresque.


ASH GREY AS SUNDAY (Richard Neumöller & Paulus Wieland).

The happy few, their faith ain’t true.
New luxury, poor fantasy.
Predictable, the way of del.
Organisation sells:

My time this town
highway numb sounds
crowds clouds so many
tunes and replays
ideal displays
high above the streets
conducts and treats
this mellow sugar and meat.
Ice cream, new screen, narrow scenes, who screams?

Richard Neumöller - Voice, Acoustic guitar, Roland TR-808 drumcomputer programming
Paulus Wieland - Roland Jupiter 4 synthesizer, Roland RS-09 stringensemble, Baby grand piano, Tapes
Ton Willekes - Roland SH-2 synthesizer, Tapes, Roland TR-808 drumcomputer programming


REICHSDORF ROOM 6 (Richard Neumöller).

Richard Neumöller - Tapes, Roland TR-808 drumcomputer programming
Paulus Wieland - Korg Polysix synthesizer, Roland SH-2 synthesizer
Ton Willekes – Roland TB303 bassliner, Roland TR-808 drumcomputer programming
------------------------

Composer credits are in accordance with the original album.

*Original basslines were played by the mentioned musician. To save space on the multitrack recorder these basslines were programmed by Ton Willekes in the Roland TB303 sequencer which was connected to the Roland SH-2 synthesizer. Together with the Roland TR-808 drumcomputer they were triggered by a pulstrack on one of the multitrack recorder channels, only to be added during the final mix.

Engineered and produced by Ton Willekes.

Recorded during November/December 1982 in Marion’s room (at Huize Nieuw Rijksdorp, Wassenaar, The Netherlands).

Original cover art and design by Peter van Wijland Tieman.

Thanks to Hylkia de Jong for lending us her Korg Polysix and the use of the Baby Grand Piano.

Special thanks to Hans Rooyakkers who, at a time Ensemble Pittoresque was hardly known, had the vision and courage to finance the original album for the biggest part and for his own risk. The re-release should of course have been dedicated to him, because without his trust in the quality of these songs they would never have been released on vinyl (Mr. Willekes and Mr. Neumöller were not willing to borrow anything for this purpose and I had to borrow the remaining amount under ridiculous conditions from someone who could just as well be called a loan shark). This is the main thing that has been on my mind since I was displeased with the reception of the re-release and I wanted to state it here.

Warning when buying the Ensemble Pittoresque-For This is Past re-release (Clogsontronics sg 007).

25 years after its initial release this could have been a nice re-release with lots of additional information about the way this album came to birth. The actual result has unfortunately become the opposite of it and for a very sad reason. The two persons who run the www.ensemblepittoresque.net site Ton Willekes and Richard Neumöller (so it isn’t an official E.P. site at all, it’s just a Neumöller/Willekes site) wanted a bigger slice of the credit pie and to be able to do so, they brought out this album behind my back. They did it before but in a slightly different way. When Minimal Wave showed interest in releasing what was known internally as demo 1, Ton Willekes lied to their explicit question if he represented the whole band and said yes. That brought Minimal Wave in an embarrassing situation. When I got connected to the internet November last year, I found out about the existence of the “The Art of Being” album three months after it was released. In recent correspondence with Mr. Willekes about this, he produced a whole series of lies and tried to pass his responsibility on various subjects concerning this album onto other persons.

If you wonder what this all has got to do with you as a (potential) buyer, then read this.

1. As is the case on their E.P. net site and "The Art of Being” album, again all the lyrics I wrote/co-wrote contain several faults. Words or parts of the lyrics that they couldn’t understand were filled in with wild guesses or not at all. Although I warned both of them more then once about this fact, they still keep using these incorrect lyrics. “I doubt if the lyrics contain a lot of faults, what is a lot. Is it deliberately done? Does it make much difference?” comes from the same Mr. Willekes who said in the Minimal Wave interview: “I never wrote any lyrics. I’m no lyrics fan”. No wonder that in the song the art of being for instance “I need a damp-proof gloom” is mutilated into “I needed them proof gloom”.
2. Not only were a handful of credits taken away from me to be divided between the both of them, on parts were I was correctly credited they made again a mess of it, for instance: the brand and type synthesizer behind my name is for 80% incorrect. In that respect Mr Willekes wrote in one of his emails to me “OB4, OB8, Polysix, Jupiter4, 6 or 8 what does it matter?”
3. So why didn’t Willekes/Neumöller simply call me, inform me about their plans of a reissue and check their information with me and/or ask to provide them with the correct information. The answer is just as simple as it is absurd. Mr. Willekes wanted to be more than the engineer that he in reality was and now out of the blue puts his name as a co-writer on three songs. He knows that in my presence he would never have gotten away with that, so that’s why I was (again, just as on their e.p.net site and “The Art of Being” album) left out and you have to do with the limited and largely incorrect info that he provides you with.

What more strange things have passed?.

1. The title of “The Art of Being” album was Ton Willekes idea. A title of a song that was not in any way part of that album itself but part of a different album. Can this be seen as a lack of creativity? Realize that the names Ensemble Pittoresque, Clogsontronics, For this is past and almost all song titles until Frequenz (and that title as well) came from my hand and that the cover art was done by myself under my real name Peter van Wijland Tieman (Paulus Wieland is my pseudonym). “Every Past has its History” would have been a much more appropriate title for that album since these recordings preceded the “For this is past” album. Mr. Willekes, for some idiotic reason, starts for this re-release to cut and paste with the original album cover, with the result that only the lithography I made for that album remains and is glued on a carpet glue colored cover which breaths nothing of the original atmosphere. The rear cover photograph with the caption “the art of being” is removed completely. What a mess!
2. The material of which the cover is made of is completely ill chosen. The vinyl record on the open side of the inner sleeve made a 6,5cm cut in the outer sleeve when I received it.
3. You get two stickers with “Hosumuku Collectief” on it. These stickers have nothing to do whatsoever with Ensemble Pittoresque. I invented the name, that’s all (so I did not design these stickers and “his never established art collective” is incredible nonsense and maybe one of Mr. Willekes “jokes”). I invented for instance the name “EyePerformances” too and that has as well nothing to do with Ensemble Pittoresque.
4. On the bottom of one of the sides of the inner sleeve you will see my real name with an address and telephone number behind it. Please do not call that number or write or send anything to that address since I’m not living there for almost 25 years. International decency describes to tape of an address in such cases. Mr Willekes obviously does not care about this, I wrote him about this matter since the same picture is on the Willekes/Neumöller www.ensemblepittoresque.net site, but until now he didn’t undertake any action to tape it off.

Although it’s not very pleasant to see you’re lyric legacy treated this way, it is in the first place that I think if given any, the info you receive should be correct and true. Since the start of the www.ensemblepittoresque.net site you largely received neither one of them. Until now I did not seek publicity although Minimal Wave gave me the opportunity to do so after it became clear that Ton Willekes had been misleading them. I refrained to do so for the sake of Mr. Willekes/Neumöller's children and in the hope that it would have ended with that “Art of being” album, but now I know that I have been naive. I have tried everything that has been lying legally in my power to stop the release of this album in this form, except going to court, but I failed. On a certain moment Mr Willekes even started harassing me and my wife by telephone and eventually threatened me by telephone and email. With that I think a line is crossed and that makes me furious. I have informed Clogsontronics of this all but still, after a couple of weeks, didn’t receive any apology. There has been a lot of controversy within Ensemble Pittoresque and in the coming months I will tell you a whole different side of the story than you can read on their site. I will supply you with correct versions of my lyrics and all kinds of other (background) information that might be interesting for you, but since I’m limited in the time to do so, it will be bit by bit and unfortunately not all at once, but I promise to do my best. Although in number relatively small, judging by the prices paid for second hand albums, there must be (much to my surprise) very dedicated fans and I think you deserve more than been given so far.

It could very well be that in defense Ton Willekes will try to hide behind my younger and small-time criminal brother Ronald who, knowing I had no internet connection at the time, approached Minimal Wave, initially as being Paulus Wieland and then falsely as being my representative, when he found out about the upcoming release of “The Art of being” album (in that way he claimed the three albums Minimal Wave reserved for me, only to send me one after he was charged for them when I informed Minimal Wave about the matter in November last year, so that 3 1/2 months after its release I received a copy of the album). If someone claims to be representing a person he would have to proof it somehow, this proof doesn’t exist, was never asked for and was never even checked by the means of a simple phone call with me. It came just too convenient for Mr Willekes to do so.

This re-release does not have my approval and therefore I do not consider it as being an official one.

I'm not related, in any way, to the current Clogsontronics label.

The quality, especially of the cd, of the re-release is fine and you can buy it for that if you wish, but remember that it’s wrapped up in something that only can be called an utter disgrace!