After Dinner "Glass Tube"

After Dinner
Souvenir Cassette
cassette
(RēR Megacorp, 1988)

My longest-running roommate back in my college days, Brian, bought the eponymous After Dinner LP released by Recommended Records when we were on a record buying trip once, most likely with our friend Mike. The local stores were OK, but one generally had to drive to Richmond, VA or Washington, D.C. to get the good stuff, and to Manhattan and Hoboken for the even better stuff. Brian thought the packaging for the album was really cool, and I agree. Unfortunately, he decided after a while that he just didn't much care for the music, so he passed the LP along to me. I wasn't sure what I thought at first, but it quickly grew on me. Very quickly.

After Dinner were led by composer, vocalist Haco, who continues to make wonderful music, long after the demise of After Dinner. As it turned out, the LP I was given was a compilation of tracks from a 7" single, After Dinner, and LP, Glass Tube, released in their native Japan. The two were reissued in their original configuration several years ago in Japan, as a 5" CD for the LP and an accompanying 3" CD for the single. Unfortunately, it's apparently no longer in print.

The Recommended LP, on the other hand, was reissued on CD, along with nine live bonus tracks, as Editions. Four of those live tracks were from the above pictured cassette-only release, recorded on their 1987 European tour. Glass Tube is one of the tracks that made it onto Editions; it was truncated, however, from ten-plus minutes to just over four for some reason. Today's selection, therefore, is the full piece as it appears on the Souvenir Cassette.