Self-titled opening track from Dead In The Water. Part one of the Format Sea suite.

5. The 'Hidden" track, appears after a lengthy pause on the CD version. The little artsy trick that all prog albums must have at the end.

4. The prog album's musical climax, with full orchestral treatment. I did NOT get the London Symphony to come to the session, alas.

3. This is the "preferred" track from the 2008 challenge, and I think it stands well by itself. It is the narrative climax to the piece. Thanks, Mick!

2. "This Wall Within Me" exposes the struggle to overcome one's own limitations during the RPM challenge. Story (and struggle) by Mick, music by Alan Hall

1, Intro to the arduous task of facing one's personal wall.

V. The bug-like creatures celebrate their victory over the alien invaders (formerly known as space pioneers).

IV. While the space colonists are sleeping, the alien creatures descend on their camp. A battle between space bugs and the interstellar Orkin man ensues. The space pioneers beat a hasty retreat from the supercharged bugs.

III. The ion storm draws nearer to base camp, and with it, weird alien creatures that are part bug, part raw energy. The bugs play fetch with the elemental forces that surround them.

II. Off in the distance, an ion storm is brewing while the space colonists enjoy cocktails on the spaceship's veranda.

I. The triumphant space pioneers land on the new planet, set up camp and decide to have a party.

This song is one of the few i wrote just for Abide. I've been listening almost non-stop to Dylan's latest release and this is what I got out of it. I mean no disrespect to Bob, just trying to sing my songs.

This is one of the songs I wrote for Filthy Time that's been hiding in the back of a notebook waiting for music to be chugged out. I'm really glad I let this seep for a while before letting loose.

Supposed to be the biggest joke on this album, Candle turned more into an actual like-able song. I was trying to make fun of Sonic Youth stuff, but it ended up growing and becoming an instant Mud Octave classic track. The Lyrics were written…

I'm not usually good at mixing two of my songs together, but i think this turned out great. Maybe a little too Velvet Underground. Maybe nothing is ever too Velvet Underground... Written just for Abide.

Inspired partly by a co-worker who was a great, now lost musician. This track is somewhat about my five year stint in Gallup, New Mexico (Bob Dylan anyone?). This was written as a poem before I started writing Slumber Love.

Not much to say about this but that it's one of the first songs I actually wrote down every note for. I think that makes it a small cut above most of my instrumental songs.

A couple months in a metal band called Season's Legion inspired this song. The lyrics were written in what we (Katie Lawrence Co-wrote) thought would be what their singer would have written for this type of song. The title was supposed to be…

I don't know if even I can tell, but this is inspired by Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica. Ok, maybe its not so well hidden. Katie Lawrence can be heard on this track, recording this having never seen the lyrics prior to.