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Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour met around 1967 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at an afternoon screening of A Hard Day's Night. Dwight had taken his kid brother and Phil had taken a neighbor, each for the same reason: it was 'bring a kid and get in free day' at the theatre, and both were Beatle fans. Being the two tallest people in line, they noticed each other, talked, and discovered they had a mutual friend, who had just moved away. It was one of the most fortuitous meetings since the church picnic at which Paul McCartney met John Lennon.
That same day, they went back to Twilley's house and began to record songs together that Twilley had written; from the very beginning, they conceived a partnership with both singing lead vocals that would take them to the top of the charts. Both of them were already proficient multi-instrumentalists and singers. For the next several years, they continued to record literally hundreds of songs together, sometimes with assistance from a lead guitarist, Bill Pitcock IV. Both also performed live in various combinations with other Tulsa musicians who would figure later in their careers.
They developed a close two-part harmony sound derived from The Beatles, with influence from many other top chart acts. The band christened itself 'Oister,' signifying two halves that made up a whole. Years later, after signing a record deal, Shelter Records honcho Denny Cordell rechristened them The Dwight Twilley Band, but the name Oister was used on the records as Twilley & Seymour's production team name. Right from the time they met, Dwight and Phil would get together in Dwight's room and/or at the Seymours' house and record songs, with Dwight overdubbing piano, guitars, and vocals, and Phil adding drums, and vocals. All would be mixed onto a AKAI 2-track deck. They recorded constantly, and even put together their own little 'concept' records.
The TEAC Tapes are a pretty remarkable accomplishment. For starters, remember that in 1973-1974, NO ONE was doing DIY recordings. Sure, Pete Townshend made his home demos, and there was McCartney's 1970 solo album, along with excellent one-man-band albums by Emitt Rhodes (1970) and Todd Rundgren (Something/Anything in 1972). But those were albums produced for a label in professional recording studios, and, most importantly, with a sizeable budget attached to the recording. The TEAC Tapes admittedly sound a bit rough and tinny - they were recorded in a home studio on 4-track, two decades before home recording was truly available and affordable for the masses - but the quality of the songwriting, the singing, and the arrangements was outstanding. Of the familiar titles fans will recognize from later studio versions done for Sincerely, the songs sound like blueprints. You can hear how great they'd be with better production values, and indeed they were. Several of the songs that were not redone for Shelter are as good as anything the band ever did, including "Pop Bottle" (with actual pop bottles used for percussion), the original of "Love Is A Train" (sung by Seymour), the rockin' "Hot Mama" (a quintessential Midwest rock song), and especially, "Lightning" with its haunting refrain "… a man can't live on lightning/with the woman out in the rain …."
Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour met around 1967 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at an afternoon screening of A Hard Day's Night. Dwight had taken his kid brother and Phil had taken a neighbor, each for the same reason: it was 'bring a kid and get in free day' at the theatre, and both were Beatle fans. Being the two tallest people in line, they noticed each other, talked, and discovered they had a mutual friend, who had just moved away. It was one of the most fortuitous meetings since the church picnic at which Paul McCartney met John Lennon.
That same day, they went back to Twilley's house and began to record songs together that Twilley had written; from the very beginning, they conceived a partnership with both singing lead vocals that would take them to the top of the charts. Both of them were already proficient multi-instrumentalists and singers. For the next several years, they continued to record literally hundreds of songs together, sometimes with assistance from a lead guitarist, Bill Pitcock IV. Both also performed live in various combinations with other Tulsa musicians who would figure later in their careers.
They developed a close two-part harmony sound derived from The Beatles, with influence from many other top chart acts. The band christened itself 'Oister,' signifying two halves that made up a whole. Years later, after signing a record deal, Shelter Records honcho Denny Cordell rechristened them The Dwight Twilley Band, but the name Oister was used on the records as Twilley & Seymour's production team name. Right from the time they met, Dwight and Phil would get together in Dwight's room and/or at the Seymours' house and record songs, with Dwight overdubbing piano, guitars, and vocals, and Phil adding drums, and vocals. All would be mixed onto a AKAI 2-track deck. They recorded constantly, and even put together their own little 'concept' records.
The TEAC Tapes are a pretty remarkable accomplishment. For starters, remember that in 1973-1974, NO ONE was doing DIY recordings. Sure, Pete Townshend made his home demos, and there was McCartney's 1970 solo album, along with excellent one-man-band albums by Emitt Rhodes (1970) and Todd Rundgren (Something/Anything in 1972). But those were albums produced for a label in professional recording studios, and, most importantly, with a sizeable budget attached to the recording. The TEAC Tapes admittedly sound a bit rough and tinny - they were recorded in a home studio on 4-track, two decades before home recording was truly available and affordable for the masses - but the quality of the songwriting, the singing, and the arrangements was outstanding. Of the familiar titles fans will recognize from later studio versions done for Sincerely, the songs sound like blueprints. You can hear how great they'd be with better production values, and indeed they were. Several of the songs that were not redone for Shelter are as good as anything the band ever did, including "Pop Bottle" (with actual pop bottles used for percussion), the original of "Love Is A Train" (sung by Seymour), the rockin' "Hot Mama" (a quintessential Midwest rock song), and especially, "Lightning" with its haunting refrain "… a man can't live on lightning/with the woman out in the rain …."
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