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#Post#: 394--------------------------------------------------
Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Northern Li
ghts & more)
By: tongues Date: May 13, 2022, 6:43 pm
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After the events of 1969-70, Paul Watkins and Brooks Poston
continued to compose and perform songs together. Some of their
earliest output as a duo bears strong similarities to the music
of Charles Manson and The Family Jams. Later, the two formed
several bands, including Desert Sun, Northern Lights, and
possibly more. Brooks Poston additionally recorded solo
material.
If you would like to view all of the files contained in this
document in one Google Drive folder, click here
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GhR7HLOeyte8VnNY2mAgpJNr-l18s-G-?usp=sharing.
Desert Sun
Psychedelic folk-rock band from Inyo County, CA formed in 1971
and managed by Paul Crockett. Vocalist Jane Boltinhouse was
recruited after the band's formation, along with other musicians
(apparently recruited locally
HTML https://scottaweiss.medium.com/life-or-death-valley-75fa0599a79f)<br
/>including Paul Watkins' brother John, and Clinton Crable.
The group toured around Inyo County in the 70s, performing at
the Legion Hall in Independence, Furnace Creek, and "Sierra
Inn's Sierra Belle", which seems to be an old venue[?] at a
lodge near June Lake (Mono County).
Many lyrics were reminiscent of Poston and Watkins' apparent
observations during their time with the "Family". Songs such as
"Young Girl" and "You're So Very Young and All Alone" seem to
focus on the perceived vulnerability of the girls who lived at
the ranches. The words to the song "My Friend?" speak of a
naivety Poston observed in himself in his past. One track is
titled "The Son of Man". Though the group often tried to muffle
their former involvement with Manson (at least during live
performances), an overt reference to him is made in the track
"Look Down Thru History (When Will It Stop?)":
Look down through history,
Tell me brothers, what do you see?
Everyone from Nixon to Charlie,
When will it stop? When will it stop?
During live performances, Desert Sun would frequently close
their sets with a cover of Manson's "Home Is Where You Are
Happy". Also among their live setlists was the track "Look at
Your Game, Girl". One live recording of "Home Is Where You Are
Happy" opens with Poston claiming the track is one of the only
cover songs performed by Desert Sun, but not stating who the
original composer is.
At some point, Desert Sun broke up, possibly due to a falling
out between Poston and Watkins. Watkins remarried, raised a
family, pursued a career in mining, and wrote a memoir about his
time with the Family. After becoming President of the Death
Valley Chamber of Commerce and "the unofficial mayor of Tecopa"
(as claimed by many sources), he died on August 4, 1990 at age
40 of leukemia. Brooks and Boltinhouse followed Crockett north
to Washington State and began performing under the name Northern
Lights.
Hearsay says Desert Sun had some of their music professionally
recorded at Reice Hamel Recording USA, 1712 Birch St., Las
Vegas, NV. The same person who provided this information said
the owner of the studio was involved with President Nixon and
the Watergate scandal, leading the studio to being shut down by
the FBI.
Regarding Desert Sun's actual discography, very little is known.
There are no known official releases of the group's music,
though plenty of bootlegs have popped up over the years.
Discography:
Desert Sun Presents a Potpurri of PB&J
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xnWbsEYVz7268Xe1HfQ4G3aIh9FODQ7k?usp=sharing:<br
/>May have been recorded in 1974. This release has 20 tracks fro
m
varying sources: some stereo/some mono, some studio/some demos,
and some may even be live recordings. It's messy.
Jazzacide
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18qv_r1z_82i8GGmDQZo5ByP3M-WQoDBm?usp=sharing:<br
/>This release has 18 tracks, with many of them being instrument
al
jam sessions. Some live recordings which appear on other
bootlegs are featured on this disc.
Live at Furnace Creek
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gzl3m2lY7QnDo05z7nd4iYBFTaP_ktQg?usp=sharing:<br
/>Unsure of the precise recording location. 18 tracks, but 11 ar
e
unidentified. Decent quality. This recording features renditions
of "Look at Your Game, Girl" and "Home Is Where You're Happy".
Live in June Lake, California at Sierra Inn's -Sierra Belle
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nAYkCwnMqUPS-v_dr0kC3J0I2xSLqIxp?usp=sharing:<br
/>Unsure of the precise location. There is a retreat in Mono
County called Sierra Lodge which is about 20 minutes away from
June Lake, so it may have been recorded at a stage called Sierra
Belle near the lodge. Acoustic live recordings of 18 tracks -
this sounds like just Poston and Watkins. Poor quality with
plenty of tape hiss. This recording features renditions of "Look
at Your Game, Girl" and "Home Is Where You're Happy".
Welcome to 1974 With Desert Sun: Independence Legion Hall (New
Years Eve 9 PM to ?)
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yI-mvW3QpmJhI_YsTk_nMMXECKBexjWy?usp=sharing:<br
/>19 tracks recorded live at Legion Hall in Independence, CA. It
seems this show coincided with the clock changing from 1973 to
1974. Decent quality, but noticeable distortion in some parts.
This recording features a rendition of "Home Is Where You're
Happy".
Live in Death Valley
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aaWQSpA_uReSZ5mEzvX_Yr0cHZyjw6jA?usp=sharing:<br
/>18 tracks (presumably recorded live). Scans of the front, back
,
and disc are available, but no audio source is available.
Author's note: I was told by a Soulseek user that this release
was widely shared on P2P networks in the early 2000s, so it's
surprising it hasn't popped up yet.
All of the above releases are bootleg CDrs issued by DiRT
Productions in or before 2013.
Studio recording of "Young Girl"
HTML https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BkAH7LxSjse2HAM3eNML1frtgRW6tLjE/view?usp=sharing:<br
/>This was uploaded to YouTube in 2021 and has a runtime of 8:24
.
Jane Boltinhouse sings lead vocals. The video was removed at
some point. It is not known where this recording is sourced from
and no info was provided by the uploader in the description.
Tape hiss is present.
Paul Watkins & Brooks Poston
As a duo, Paul Watkins & Brooks Poston performed the soundtrack
to Robert Hendrickson and Laurence Merrick's 1973 documentary
film "Manson". This is perhaps what the two were best known for
as musicians. Five of their songs were featured in the
documentary, though more may have been recorded for it. The
documentary's soundtrack never saw an official release.
On some represses of Manson's first album, LIE: The Love and
Terror Cult, Watkins is credited as a hornist. Poston and
Watkins both sang and performed with The Family Jams according
to the liner notes of one CDr bootleg.
Discography:
Five songs in the "Manson" documentary:
[list type=decimal]
[li]Is It That You Recall (Moments)[/li]
[li]White Cloud Machine[/li]
[li]Young Girl[/li]
[li]Bright, Bright Yellow[/li]
[li]Look Down Thru History (When Will It Stop?)[/li]
[li]Up Beat (instrumental)[/li]
[/list]
All of these tracks ended up on a CDr bootleg titled "the
Un-Official 'MANSON' movie soundtrack
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12vFPHWbIX16sNvMuOvUyQIy8nBGGy5Ke?usp=sharing"<br
/>released by DiRT Productions in or before 2013, along with two
bonus tracks by the duo and an additional three by The Family
Jams. The recordings are not the original recordings featured in
the documentary.
Bonus Tracks:
[list]
[li]Country Girls[/li]
[li]Bright, Bright Yellow (instrumental)[/li]
[/list]
A widely-circulated P2P copy
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eBi_w5-fFo_NGNzcj7gTBamtxWmUoAXf?usp=sharing<br
/>of the documentary's soundtrack is available, which seems to
have been ripped from the audio track of the film. It is
currently incomplete and of very poor quality.
In 2009, a 7" re-release
HTML https://www.discogs.com/release/2340335
of "Young Girl" from the
documentary was released by labels Helter Skelter Records and
Celebrate Life. The quality of this recording is unknown, and
Discogs has blocked it from being sold on its marketplace for
unknown reasons.
Northern Lights
Northern Lights was a duo comprised of Brooks Poston and Jane
Boltinhouse, formed after the disbandment of Desert Sun and the
relocation to WA. Poston sang and played guitar, while
Boltinhouse sang and played flute[?].
The two reappeared in the SoCal area during the mid-80s and
performed a few concerts, some setlists containing a number of
Desert Sun-era compositions. At least three cassette tapes were
sold around this time, along with some "Northern Lights" posters
and T-shirts. All three tapes are said to sound of professional
quality and contain choirs/orchestral arrangements on them.
Poston and Boltinhouse eventually went back to WA, allegedly
after being called back by Crockett. In 1986, the duo released a
single credited to their real names called "Duck Song" backed
with "Sailor" as a B-side, both recordings copyrighted 1984.
Some copies of this record came with a handwritten note
informing readers that the group plays as Northern Lights around
Seattle and has a mailing list. The note also asks listeners to
use the provided open space to leave feedback on the music or
draw a picture for the group, and mail it to "Northern Lights"
at 1011 Boren Ave #123, Seattle, WA 98104.
In 2020, one of the duo's compositions titled "UFO" appeared in
the Epix television series Helter Skelter: An American Myth.
Discography:
[list]
[li]At least three cassette tapes sold in the SoCal area in the
mid 80s (Malcolm Tent of TPOS has suggested 1984 as a release
year)[/li]
[li][1986] Jane Boltinhouse / Brooks Poston - Duck Song / Sailor
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ATz42h4XuvzEHn_GVq9dmDT2mrzsbHBT?usp=sharing<br
/>(Gold Dust Records © 1984/86 Live Wire Music)[/li]
[li][aired 2020-08-09] "UFO
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WuZcMtk_A7D49gT5__G-2IJKENgtmWxJ?usp=sharing"<br
/>featured in episode three ("Nobody Joins a Cult") of Helter
Skelter: An American Myth.
Note: "UFO" files are not true FLAC files - they were exported
lossless to prevent further quality loss. The original audio
source (16kHz) is at a low bitrate with a 48kHz sampling
rate.[/li]
[/list]
Brooks Poston
Brooks Poston had some solo material recorded in addition to his
recordings with groups. It seems he had at least some studio
time as a solo artist, but the majority of his solo material is
sourced from live recordings.
Discography:
[list]
[li]Brooks Poston
HTML https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yydnB7j3xiwJTI06nRRWGWWYXTeRVibC?usp=sharing<br
/>(self-titled): bootleg CDr released by DiRT Productions
(...maybe. I've never seen physical evidence of this disc
actually existing - only a mockup of the disc's design). 11
tracks total - 3 seem to be studio recordings while the rest are
live. Alleged to have been recorded in 1974, this bootleg was
released in or before 2013.
(Note for GDrive users: an additional copy of the cover art
titled "original.webp" will be in the folder with the music. The
file marked "cover.png" is my edit of the original image,
removing the watermarks).[/li]
[li]Live & Otherwise vol. 1, vol. 2: This double-album bootleg
is listed on John Aes-Nihil's list of CDs
HTML http://www.aes-nihil.com/CDlist.html
on his website. No audio
source or cover art is available at this time. The release has
been on the list since at least 2003
HTML http://web.archive.org/web/20031231204501/http://aes-nihil.com/CDlist.html.[/li]
[li]Then & Now: Another bootleg from Aes-Nihil's list of CDs. As
with the above, no audio source or cover art is available, and
the release has been on his list since at least 2003.
(Note: Poston's name on the above two releases are misspelled on
Aes-Nihil's list as "Brooks Posten".)[/li]
[/list]
"Fmjf" (?)
A 61-minute long track called "Quetzal After Midnight Party" was
in a 2013 Desert Sun Mediafire archive I downloaded in 2020. It
certainly sounds like Brooks Poston on the recording and the
guitar style is reminiscent of the Desert Sun bootleg
recordings. A second deep voice can be heard in a
call-and-response type conversation with Poston[?]. The first 18
minutes of the recording feature acoustic guitar accompaniment,
while the remaining 43 minutes are just the voices. It sounds
live. Tape hiss is present. The year on the file's metadata is
set to 2011.
Discography:
[list]
[li]Fmjf'session: one track titled "Quetzal After Midnight Party
HTML https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LHfE2jQHr6ye1JQbeRHlNbwb7YztcrY8/view?usp=sharing"[/li]
[/list]
-- Final Notes --
Readers may notice the term "in or before 2013" popping up a
lot. This is included for the sake of accuracy - when these
files were first downloaded, they were from a Mediafire archive
dated October 2013, so they couldn't have been issued after that
year. I would personally date the CDrs to the early-mid 2000s.
Regarding the label, one source claims the owner of DiRT
Productions modeled the label name off his initials ("DRT").
Brooks Poston's compositions have been featured in works
nominated for an Oscar and a GMS Award.
Major thanks to Jack Cook for his online preservation efforts!
These bootlegs and most of this information would not be
available without his work (via blog comments, forums, etc.).
Here's to hoping this board can help in discovering more
information about the works of Poston/Watkins. This thread will
be updated with new information if/when available.
[last updated: 2022-05-17]
#Post#: 395--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Norther
n Lights & more)
By: CEddy Date: May 13, 2022, 9:01 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Fantastic - thanks for sharing. I listened to Brook's 1974 CD
today before you posted this, so I look forward to reading and
listening to this thread over the weekend.
#Post#: 397--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Norther
n Lights & more)
By: Alti2de Date: May 14, 2022, 4:12 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Thanks so much for this! I've been wanting to hear more of
Brooks & Paul since I first heard their music in the Manson
documentary. Much appreciated!
#Post#: 399--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Norther
n Lights & more)
By: guest335 Date: May 14, 2022, 10:04 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Been looking for a Live version of Is It That You Recall
(Moments)... no luck till now thank you .
#Post#: 404--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Norther
n Lights & more)
By: tongues Date: May 16, 2022, 3:24 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=CEddy link=topic=186.msg395#msg395
date=1652493694]
Fantastic - thanks for sharing. I listened to Brook's 1974 CD
today before you posted this, so I look forward to reading and
listening to this thread over the weekend.
[/quote][quote author=Alti2de link=topic=186.msg397#msg397
date=1652562721]
Thanks so much for this! I've been wanting to hear more of
Brooks & Paul since I first heard their music in the Manson
documentary. Much appreciated!
[/quote][quote author=Citrus_Acid link=topic=186.msg399#msg399
date=1652583897]
Been looking for a Live version of Is It That You Recall
(Moments)... no luck till now thank you .
[/quote]
With the Poston/Watkins' stuff being such a small and specific
section of the Manson-related music history, it's a pleasure to
be able to share this with you all!
I'll be making a brief update to Brooks Poston's solo section
soon following some new information I found on Jon Aes-Nihil's
website. If you'd like to have a look for yourselves:
HTML http://www.aes-nihil.com/CDlist.html
("Poston" is misspelled "Posten" in the above link)
#Post#: 408--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Norther
n Lights & more)
By: CEddy Date: May 16, 2022, 5:56 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
One obvious thing I’ve wondered, and Paul said in his book that
he wished he made a recording, have their ever been rumblings of
any recordings of the Family Jams with Paul and a Brooks from
the Death Valley era? It seems strange that no recordings of
them all - including CM and/or Bobby - were made. Books refer to
them playing electric at Spahn, yet every single recording we
have of Charlie is on acoustic.
#Post#: 409--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Norther
n Lights & more)
By: Alti2de Date: May 17, 2022, 4:04 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I'm pretty sure Charlie plays an electric on Arkansas, Don't Do
Anything Illegal and Cease to Exist. Brooks and Paul can be
heard on "Ego" (LIE version) and "Mechanical Man", on French
horn and sitar respectively. Paul also blows a few notes in the
middle of "Don't Do Anything Illegal". These were all recorded
during the Gresham Street period to the best of my knowledge.
I went back and listened to these songs on headphones several
times, and it's hard to make out exactly what Charlie's playing
since the mix is so awful, not to mention all the pops and
clicks; but there's a few isolated guitar parts in the three
songs I've listed where I can tell he's playing through an amp.
On "Ego" and "Mechanical Man" it sounds like he's playing an
acoustic to me. On "Garbage Dump" I can't tell if it's an
acoustic or a hollow-body run through an amp, but I'm leaning
towards acoustic. Somebody needs to find these tapes and remix
them, if they even exist anymore.
You asked: [quote]have their ever been rumblings of any
recordings of the Family Jams with Paul and a Brooks from the
Death Valley era?[/quote]
None that I've heard of. If any desert-era recordings existed
featuring everybody, they would have to have been recorded
between November 1, 1968-January 15, 1969, but I've never found
any evidence of the Family having been recorded during that
period.
They couldn't have recorded as a complete unit after Gresham
Street because at that point the family bifurcated, with some of
them going back to Spahn while others went up to Barker's.
Brooks would have been in Death Valley while Paul and Charlie
were in Chatsworth. Paul finally made it up to Barker's in May,
but Charlie did not make it back there until September, when his
relationship with Paul and Brooks was strained and thus no music
was played.
All the info in the previous paragraph is courtesy of Paul
Watkins via his testimony in the Shea trial.
#Post#: 412--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Norther
n Lights & more)
By: CEddy Date: May 17, 2022, 8:53 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Yes, excellent point about the electric (probably hollow body?)
that CM may play on a few tracks. His technique doesn't seem to
be modified at all from acoustic to electric, nor is his
electric tone heavily driven or effected, so it easily sounds
just like his acoustic playing. Thanks for the insight - love
it!
#Post#: 413--------------------------------------------------
Re: Paul Watkins/Brooks Poston music thread (Desert Sun, Norther
n Lights & more)
By: CEddy Date: May 17, 2022, 1:25 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I'm really enjoying the music and info shared in this thread -
thank you!
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