Parador (Japanese Import)

Release Date: 2005
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Track List & Lyrics

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Album Credits

Produced by: Linus of Hollywood & Willie Wisely
except 05 by Petur Smith & Wisely and 10 by Wisely
Mixed by Chuck Zwicky
Engineers: Linus of Hollywood, Bruce Witkin, Gabriel Mann
Recorded at: Asylum Studios (Culver City), Studio 9 (Hollywood), Franklin Castle (Hollywood), French Hill (West Hollywood), Bruce’s Place (West Hollywood), Weepah Way (Laurel Canyon), Digital Jungle (Hollywood)
Additional recording by James S. Levine, Peter Anderson & Dorian Crozier
Mastered by: Dave Collins (Los Angeles)
String Arrangements: Linus of Hollywood & Willie Wisely
Photography: Shari Simonsen (interior), Brent Roske
Design: Kenji at Bad News
Videos created by Brent Roske

Endless love to my wife Kay. Dedicated to our daughter Ella B. Gilbert Wisely born July 16th 2005.

Additional thanks to everyone who, in ways more sublime than obvious, helped shape this project and bring it to light:

Mark Bacino, Joe Berardi, James Buckley, Kate Clarke, Ryan Daple-Perez, Paul Davis, Andy Dick, Heather Dotson, John Fields, Leslie Frank, Steven Greenberg, Linda Good, James Gunn, Christian Gustafson, Collin, Sarah Hersack, Steve Hurley, Marc Joseph, Jasyon Larson, Magnets For Bad Energy, Dave Maricich, Christopher McGuire, Jimmy “Coup” Mecherle, Robert Pavlicsek, Emily Polsby, Joe Poindexter, Braxton Pope, Quruli & all at Noise McCartney Records, Ed Raeker, Robbie Rist, Brent Roske, Galit Rueben, Nao Sekine, Amanda Stark, Brian Tighe, Patrick Whalen, Jake & Shannon Kim Wisely

All songs by William J Wisely Jr (©2005.Wisely Publishers ASCAP) except add cowriters: Tracy McMillan (©2005.Wisely Publishers ASCAP/Super Joe Music ASCAP)1, Rebecca Elizabeth Lord (©2005.Wisely Publishers ASCAP/Becky Buckskin ASCAP)2,11, James Benno Nelson (©2005.Wisely Publishers ASCAP/National Dynamite Music ASCAP)3, Andras Jones (©2005.Wisely Publishers ASCAP/Previous Music ASCAP)6,8, Linus of Hollywood (©2005.Wisely Publishers ASCAP/ I Can’t Believe It’s Not Music / Figs. D Music, Inc. BMI c/o The Bicycle Music Company)9

Drums:
Rob Kurzreiter 1,6,8,9,11
Adam Marcello 3,4
Peter Anderson 2,8
Petur Smith 5

Guitar:
Wisely 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11
Paul Gilbert 1,6,9
Linus of Hollywood 2,3,6,11
Petur Smith 5
Ben Eshbach 7

Bass:
Linus of Hollywood 1,3,9
Bruce Witkin 2,4,6,11
Petur Smith 5
Wisely 8

Keyboards:
Linus of Hollywood 1,3,4,6,11
Wisely 2,5,7,11
Dorian Crozier 3
Petur Smith 5
Brian Kehew 5
Peter Adams 8
James S. Levine 11

Percussion:
Linus of Hollywood 1,2,3,4,6,8,9,11
Wisely 1,6,9,11
Adam Marcello 1
Petur Smith 5

Backing Vocal:
Mike Ruekberg 1
Wisely 5,8
Jimmy Swan 6
Anna Waronker 6
Heather Reid 6
Rebecca Lord 11

Cello:
Peggy Baldwin 2,3,4,9

Violin:
Amir Yaghmai 3,4,9

French Horn:
Probyn Gregory 4,11

Japan beat the rest of the world to the punch, first releasing PARADOR as an exclusive enhanced CD with two videos. Co-writers include: Andras Jones, Tracy McMillan, Rebecca Lord, Linus of Hollywood, Andy Dick & Benno Nelson.
A Teenager In A Record Store

With Shigeru Kishida in Tokyo, 2005

With Shigeru Kishida in Tokyo, 2005

In 1996, a Japanese record store telephoned the sales person at the offices of October Records, requesting 25 copies of the CD SHE be shipped. Eight years later a string of emails hit my inbox from the Japanese record label Noise McCartney, requesting to re-release SHE and with an offer to open up for Quruli––a platinum selling alternative rock band based in Tokyo.

I was familiar with Quruli. By chance, my drummer Christopher McGuire had spent years as a member of the band, living the life of a rock star in Southeast Asia, pounding out his inimitable beats to Quruli’s psychedelic rock sound. So I knew this could be a really explosive opportunity.

Japanese Tour with John Vanderslice, 2005

Japanese Tour with John Vanderslice, 2005

Turns out Quruli’s lead singer/songwriter Shigeru Kishida was a young teenager in 1996 when he walked into that local record store and saw the 25 SHE’s on an end-cap listening station. He put on the headphones and loved what he heard. When I finally got to meet and play with Shigeru eleven years later, he would tell me in rough English that the album inspired him to write songs and start the band. Those were heavy words considering that Shigeru and I have all the same influences and that he’d built Quruli into one of Japan’s most popular alternative acts. I stood in the wings watching their shows, fairly blown away by their inventiveness, and of course, by the adoration of the thousands of Quruli fans.

On my 2005 Japanese tour, joined by my frequent collaborator Mike Ruekberg and film/TV director Brent Roske, we were treated like royalty, eating at unspeakably delicious restaurants, being introduced to dozens of musicians and industry wonks, enduring full day press junkets, and then playing to sold out venues. The cherry on the sundae was having John Vanderslice on the bill with us, and being awed by the universe he creates with his songs––a lovely human being that JV.

Shigeru also told me (this might be something lost in translation) that he started his own record label for the sole purpose of re-releasing SHE. Noise McCartney Records is his baby and they would be the first in the world to release PARADOR––in conjunction with the tour.

At the time, enhanced CDs were popular in Japan, so the Japanese pressing contains two videos and an extra song not on the US version.

Co-writers include: Andy Dick, Andras Jones, Tracy McMillan, Rebecca Lord, Linus of Hollywood and Benno Nelson.

Watch a backstage performance in Japan by Shigeru Kishida, Willie Wisely & Mike Ruekberg