By no means a release of new or current Don Caballero material (and originally released in 1999), ‘Singles Breaking Up (Vol. 1)’ offers quite a range of the band’s history to appreciate.

The oldest recordings found here were recorded in a ½” 8 track studio by Lee Hollihan of Valencia, PA (the original ‘Good Morning Vietnam’ man) for only $25 an hour. The next batch were recorded by Steve Albini in his once home studio and were a part of the For Respect sessions. Program 10 was also recorded in this same studio by colleague engineer Bob Weston.

Program 11 was recorded in Detroit by engineer Al Sutton and was a part of the sessions for ‘Don Caballero 2’. Lastly, programs 12-13 were recorded again by Steve Albini in the B room portion of this Chicago studio Electrical Audio.

The photographic art concept for the whole anthology is simply this: 7” phonograph singles breaking up, in the kind of setting of giving Abby Road back to the people. With the exception of programs 12-13, these songs were recorded in the early part of the 1990s. The intention was not to release them in this form, if at all but to give the record company a rough idea of the songs Don Cab at the time. The ‘punky’ songs were written with the sole intention of obtaining a record contract. It seemed at the time that contracts flowed like water for this kind of music. The band soon found out that it wasn’t quite that easy but did, eventually, manage to sign a deal with Touch and Go. It is interesting to see how some of these songs, or parts of them, developed into others that have become wellknown.

For fans of Breadwinner, Tortoise, Trans Am, Mahavishnu Orchestra.

LP includes digital download code.