Lisa being the west coast girl, never experienced wintertime in the Midwest, which could be the bone chilling cold or ten feet in snow and although I'm sure she would have jumped at the chance to move out to be with her new discovery and boyfriend, I told her to check it out first before you uproot yourself. So she took my advice, came out a couple days after Christmas and ended up getting phenomena in the process, which she still fighting when I went to see her in March. By then, it was ending. In our final quest, both of us did convince Debbie to hang with Russ and she eventually not only stayed with him but did move from Rochester New York to be with him and marry him on Valentine's Day 2001, three years after my breakup with Clarice. When Russ and Debbie got engaged, me and Lisa split apart.
That became the start of the new album There's Nothing Left. The song that started off the album Another Year, I was still reeling from breakup with Lisa and toward the end of the song, I ended up doing a wail that the hurt from the breakup, came from deep within. And a lot of the songs on that album dealt with the breakup. I Rather Not Cry, really spoke volumes about us breaking apart. I'm losing you and you're not even out the door, is a very cryptic line. I don't know if I wrote that when she was down here with me, or my last time up in Portland a couple months later. The sad feeling of This Will Happen No More, is the realization that even an intimate moment that it wasn't meant to last. That also comes up on After The Dance, a two note song later in the album. Or It's Not For Me To Say, which is basically a you can't call it cheating if both parties agree to it song.
Although like Land Of Abandonment, There's Nothing Left does analyze the failures and falling apart of love, it's not a total downer like the previous album. For the first time, I let another singer sing one song, Mark McClelland on Hey Cowboy Nice Hat, a tongue in cheek parody about bullshit artists. Could You Ever I think was a viewpoint toward Debbie when she had her doubts about my best friend. Last Chance Train Song stems from the 1992 Art Deco Sessions of the songs that were used for Drive In Blues and the 1992 version was a demo which I revisited 9 years down the road with a more rocking and driving beat. Bring It To Light, is really Same Old Thing, from 1981's Power Of Positive Thinking with an extra verse and chorus, Geoff really does a fine job playing the guitar on this number. For Your Love is another Redding showcase of processed guitars going through the four track we used on the previous album. You Chase Me Till You Lost Me, was another songs channeling Neil Young/Crazy Horse Ragged Glory era, complete with trainwreck ending. What I Thought, which ends side one, is another Crazy Horse attempt with yours truly actually doing a guitar lead and at the end having a very long and feedback driven ending which ends things. But it sounds druggy and the words are not very well thought out of. I have no idea why I started out with Well It's Stardate ten thirty one, and I'm staring into the sun. It may have been influenced by Hawkwind but in all reality it's a long throwaway song.
The last song is Isabella, which is about the woman that replaced Lisa as my girlfriend. This woman hailed from Spokane, had snakes for pets and had a CD collection which rivaled mine, she had plenty of them. And yeah we talked about being together. But looking back upon that, I feel that she used me as a pawn in her game of life. At that time, she was whacked out on drugs and while folks in the social media dating site warned me of her and her antics, I thought I could change her. Another burr in the saddle was that she was actually married to somebody although she swore they were not together, it seemed weird to once again aligned myself into another sticky situation that was going to end bad. While we did get together in July for five days in Seattle, things seemed to go quite well, it didn't rained up there at all, the skies were sunny and blue and the sunsets at 10 PM were beautiful coming off the ocean. And we hang at the finest records stores and enjoyed each others company. Alas, when I saw her in October, things changed for the worst. There was 9/11, the worst terrorist attack on our soil and somehow Isabella was making excuses after excuses not wanting to get together, however the ticket to Spokane was bought so I had to show up one way or another. Needless to say it was a disaster, Isabella was cold and distant and she did some of the strangest things I ever seen from a person. Even bringing a pet rabbit to the motel room to which Bugs Bunny would peed on three different sets of pillows. The last straw was an outburst from her losing her methodrome prescription in a pizza joint after spending three lost days in Seattle and fighting a snowstorm. And then somehow catching her body piecing on something and her in the bathroom for about an hour. By then it was over and I wanted her gone. The disgust of that encounter would make me not even date anybody for almost 8 years.
Nevertheless Isabella is really one of our better harder rocking songs, including a tag ending that ends the record. Unlike the previous albums, the session notes are lacking and nobody bothered to write down the session dates and times and songs. The album started around November 2000 and concluded in March of 2001.
I tend to look at There's Nothing Left in a positive light. Once again The Townedgers music was changing and evolving as well, there's plenty of music styles on this album and Richard Dennanbaugh did a great job in getting the sounds out although the new Line 6 guitar tended to be a bit more deeper in sound which cause some bad mastering on the first go around. It was impossible to get the feedback right on the end of What I Thought. The sound of Bring It To Light is damn near perfect.
Overall, There's Nothing Left is an emotional rollercoaster that does have some highs and lows to it. The inspiration of failed love has always made some great songs that came from the heart and even if Isabella turned out to be a failure of love on the rebound, she did inspire me to still believe in love, although in the despair of having enough of her antics in the cold October night up at the Super 8 in Spokane to the point that I took half an Xanax to come my nerves after her Methodrome misplacement, I still hoped that we could work something else. But then again all I was to her, was a prop in her misguided life. She may have been a cosplayer for all I know. She's still alive and doing fine up there and I wish her well. I still think There's Nothing Left is one of the better TE albums done at that time. The next album would turn the tide for the better as well.
The Songs:
Another Year (R.Smith) 3:10
Hey Cowboy, Nice Hat (Smith/Redding/McClelland/Dutcher) 3:48
Could You Ever (Smith/Orbit) 2:20
The Equation (R.Smith) 3:52
Last Chance Train Song (Smith/Redding) 4:45
It's Not For Me To Say (R.Smith) 2:21
What I Thought (Smith/Orbit/Redding/McClelland) 6:30
I Rather Not Cry (R.Smith) 4:00
For Your Love (Smith/Orbit/Redding/McClelland) 4:45
This Will Happen No More (Smith/Redding) 3:39
Bring It To Light/Same Old Thing (Smith/Redding) 2:23
You Lost Me (Smith/Orbit) 5:00
After The Dance (Smith/Redding) 4:05
Isabella (R.Smith) 5:30
Lyrics: Rodney Smith, Music: Where Noted (C) 2001 Townedger Music Emporium
Band: Rodney Smith, Geoff Redding, Mark McClelland, Jack Orbit
Recorded at Smith Brothers Studio, Springville Ia (November 2000-March 2001)
Recorded by Richard Dennanbaugh, assisted by James Marvetts and R. Smith
Mixed by Hugh McConnell
Released as Maier Records MRK 25143 There's Nothing Left in April 1, 2001
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