Albums are listed in reverse chronological order.
Click image or title to see album details. Click image again to return.
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NOTE: The sound files found on the album pages are compressed mp3 files. These sound files are for your enjoyment, but if you would like to obtain a high quality CD recording of any album, e-mail me with your mailing address, and I will send you a free copy. The CDs feature original artwork (designed mostly by me) and are hand made, in the true spirit of the rebel outsider musician! |
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX |
2018-Present Solo
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In C Variations Digital album on USB thumb drive Released 2022 RS DIA033 |
When I first heard the recording of Terry Riley's minimalist composition In C, I wondered what it would sound like with a rock band playing it instead of classical musicians. And what if there weren't so many musicians all playing at once? You could more easily detect the musical structure behind the mass of notes. With the advent of MIDI, I was able to do explore those ideas. And it got me thinking what other groups of players might do with this material. |
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USB032 USB thumb drive double album Released 2020 RS USB032 |
A thumb drive containing my two coronavirus-themed digital albums 225,511 and The Exposure EP. |
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The Exposure EP 3 song digital EP Released 2020 RS DIE031 |
While working on 225,511, I thought about incorporating a cover song. I came up with Robert Fripp and Peter Gabriel's song "Exposure." While not about a pandemic per se, the song seemed to capture a certain paranoia that comes from living with a threat you cannot see. The song was too avant-garde for the album, but I decided to pair it up with a shorter "single edit" of "Girl (with a Black Mask)" along with an alternate look at "The One with the Long, Self-Indulgent Guitar Solo." This 3-song EP was the result. |
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225,511 Digital album Released 2020 RS DIA030 |
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 shut down the world, and what started out as six to eight weeks began to extend into the future and over the horizon. With time on my hands and growing feelings of frustration, I turned to one of my proven methods of dealing with life's challenges: turning my experiences into art. These songs were all written in response to the pandemic. I did not mention the virus by name, preferring to adopt a more oblique approach that addresses my real life, on-the-ground experiences. To understand the science and politics of the pandemic, you need only consult the news. This album represents a more personal view. (The title refers to the United States coronavirus death count as of the day I wrote the liner notes.) |
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Working From Home Digital single Released 2020 RS DIS029 |
With the world shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, I decided to use my forced free time in a creative way. I began to write a set of lyrics each day I was quarantined. This is the first set I picked out and set to music. Like many people, I was asked to work from home, bringing with it an array of positives and negatives, all perfect grist for a song. And a blues at that. Features a rare performance of me soloing on harmonica. |
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USB028 USB thumb drive double album Released 2019 RS USB028 |
A thumb drive containing my two digital albums Thinking and Making Instead of Wanting and Having and Ones and Zeros. |
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Ones and Zeros Digital double compilation album (2004-2014) Released 2019 RS DID027 |
To help hype my going fully mp3, I decided to pair my latest studio offering, Thinking and Making Instead of Wanting and Having, with an overview of the songs I recorded with my first digital studio from 2004-2014. I could fit it all on a thumb drive. All the tracks were remixed using my updated studio software for superior sound. A couple of dodgy vocals were replaced, a few mixes tweaked just a hair. A few guest musicians show up. A good overall introduction to my solo musical activities. |
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Thinking and Making Instead of Wanting and Having Digital album Released 2019 RS DIA026 |
On my last album, Panda, I tried to see what a digital recording studio could do for me, utilizing lots of samples and programming. This time, I returned to playing almost all the instruments (the drum program is too good not to use). It's a wide-ranging assortment, featuring original songs, a remake of an old song, and some covers. The covers range from Frank Zappa and Nick Lowe to Taylor Swift(!) and Justin Bieber(!). It's a grab bag of musical ideas that I've spent some time thinking about and making. |
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Delicate/Love Yourself Digital single Released 2018 RS DIS025 |
The girl who inspired my (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding single also suggested a mash-up of two songs she liked from Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. Initially skeptical, I got into editing and arranging the music to form something cohesive. When Swift's "Delicate" began to top the pop charts, I decided it was a good time to launch my own version with a YouTube release, my first digital-only single. |
2015-2018 Solo and with the band The View
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(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding 2 song CD single Released 2018 RS CDS024 |
I came in contact with a girl who wanted me to produce some singing demos for her. She wanted to slow down some electronic dance music, arrange it for acoustic instruments, and put the emphasis on the melody instead of the beat. I had wanted to cover Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" since I had heard Elvis Costello's version. The acoustic, melodic approach seemed to be a good match here, where I wanted to emphasize the lyric content, so I stole the arrangement concept and turned the hard rocker into a rhythmic acoustic protest ballad. |
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Panda CD Album Released 2017 RS CDA023 |
The purchase of updated recording software allowed me to do a lot of things easily and quickly that used to take much more effort, while achieving a more professional sound. This album became a test of how far I could push the software. Some of the songs were totally programmed with me playing nothing but perhaps vocals. One song consists of nothing but my vocals. Most are a mixture of playing and programming. I felt this was my most accessible album in ages, hence the title (who doesn't like pandas?). |
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Black Holes with The View 4 Song CD EP Released 2016 RS CDE022 |
My old band The View used to record at home in our practice studio using cassette tape. This allowed us to capture every performance and gave us complete control over the finished product. Low-fidelity be damned, it was about capturing the best performance. The band also had some free "real" studio time and put four songs on a reel-to-reel tape. It took years to find a recording studio with the ability to dub old-fashioned reel tape to digital files that I could mix in my studio. I was surprised at how good the performances were, really capturing the sound we had. |
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I Can't Breathe 4 Song CD EP Released 2015 RS CDE021 |
I arrived home, switched on the news, and saw video footage of New York City police strangling a black man to death on the sidewalk. The black community was outraged, but as a thinking, feeling human being, I was also appalled. Is this what law enforcement is in this country? I had a new recording studio and was looking for something to try recording. I came up with this song, and used the studio magic to make three vastly different arrangements. |
2010-2014 With the bands Lost On Our Way and Human Resources and Solo
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Not a Through Street with Human Resources CD album Released 2014 RS CDA020 |
After Lost On Our Way broke up, I began working as a drummer with a new bass player to form a band. We auditioned and recorded a few guitarists. I took the instrumental improvisations we recorded and used them as material for songs, trying to show everyone how close we were to being onto something. Digital editing allowed me to turn the music into structured songs with intros, verses, bridges, etc. I added lyrics and became the default singer. Unfortunately, the project, as the album title implies, never came to anything. |
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Concrete Music CD album Released 2013 RS CDA019 |
Most of this music stemmed from attending a concert by classical composer Steve Reich. I was so carried away that I found minimalist classical ideas driving my compositions. There is a lot of material based on repetition and breaking down compositional structures. I also tried to do a "not-quite-cover" of sorts, taking Reich's 60's tape loop experiments as a model for "What You Make of It." |
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No Victory with Lost On Our Way CD album Released 2012 RS CDA018 |
By now, Lost On Our Way had lost it's lead guitarist (with the rhythm player taking lead) but had attained a full time bass player (with me on drums). I felt like the band was in a good spot, musically. For promotion at an upcoming show, I assembled this collection of takes from practice sessions. It includes rearranged versions of previously released songs as well as some of our improvisational work. Sadly, the band leader decided to forego music and broke up the band soon after. |
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California Sun 2 song CD single Released 2012 RS CDS017 |
This single came about from testing a new microphone setup for my drum kit. I replaced the drum machine on the song "Eyeball Skeleton" from my Eastern Sunset album with real drums to get that "real band" effect I had wanted for that song. I decided I wanted to re-release it, so I gave a tip of my hat to my new home with a cover of the Ramone's version of "California Sun" to serve as the A-side. |
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Assembly Line with Lost On Our Way CD album Released 2012 RS CDA016 |
The definitive Lost On Our Way album. I had taken up drums by now, and I served as drummer, bassist, keyboardist and producer. Features some excellent original tunes and a couple of covers including Pink Floyd's "Time" and Against Me's "We Did It All For Don." The cover was "built" virtually using a 3D design program. |
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...beyond silence with Lost On Our Way 4 song CD EP Released 2011 |
The full session from which The World Alive single was lifted. The band had lost our drummer, so I provide drum programming as well as bass and keyboards. |
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Jean Marie 2 song CD single Released 2011 RS CDS015 |
I was pleasantly surprised to find how open California was in regards to marijuana. Medical marijuana was legal, and there were magazines and tv shows devoted to the subject. I found the host of one tv show, Jean Marie Tolkien of Cannabis Planet, particularly charming, and I wrote this reggae-influenced pro-marijuana song with her in mind. |
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The World Alive with Lost On Our Way recording as "The Silence" 1 song CD single Released 2010 |
Upon arriving in California, I hooked up with a band called The Silence, soon to be renamed Lost On Our Way. The band's songwriter picked this recording out to release as a promotional single. A friend of his provided the cover art. One of my few recordings not released on my own label. |
2005-2010 Solo and re-issues of cassettes on CD
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Eastern Sunset CD album Released 2010 RS CDA014 |
This was my farewell to the east coast. It was mainly recorded in Georgia and finished in California. Many of the songs deal directly with moving, and there are a couple final tracks I did with an old bandmate. Features my "hit" cover song "Eyeball Skeleton" (which got some radio play in Atlanta) and a blues take on Rush's "New World Man." |
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Nude Remixes with Radiohead 5 song CD EP Released 2008 RS CDE013 |
When Radiohead released their "Nude" single, it was available broken down into "stems." Each stem was the song with only one instrument or vocal part. Playing all the stems simultaneously would result in the original song playing back. The band gave permission to use the stems to create new versions and mixes. I do a straight remix, then play the song myself while keeping Thom Yorke's vocals, and finally do a tongue-in-cheek "60's" remix. |
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Free Speech CD album Released 2007 RS CDA012 |
A problem I had with the Atlanta music scene was the way everyone had a fetish for playing music "correctly." Nobody could improvise, they had to know the song first. This album was done in reaction to that. I tried to find ways to compose and play music that didn't play into established musical truisms. One of my focal points was trying to stretch out songs to great lengths without them becoming too repetitive or boring. My most radical album, and a personal favorite. |
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Deja View with The View 2-disc CD compilation album (1988-1990) Released 2007 RS CDD011 |
After remixing The View's professional years, I turned to the recordings we made as an amateur garage band. The first disc is a compilation of the best from our cassette albums along with a couple of unreleased nuggets. The second disc presents this personnel's only live show, a New Year's concert given in front of a small audience. |
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Out of Our Minds with The View CD album reissue Released 2006 RS CDA010 |
The View's 1995 EP is given the digital remix treatment. Not as many quality outtakes as with the 3 = 4 reissue, but, as with the original cassette version, a good addendum to previous album. |
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3 = 4 with The View CD album reissue Released 2006 RS CDA009 |
After digitizing my old solo recordings, I turned to my work with The View. The first album to be remixed was the 1992 3 = 4. I was surprised, when I listened to the original tapes, how many quality outtakes we left in the can. With the additional tracks, this truly becomes the touchstone for this band. |
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Lean 2-disc CD compilation album (1981-1992) Released 2006 RS CDD008 |
After tasting the magic of digital recording, I decided to revisit my past and polish it up. This collection reprises my 1991 Lean album, in that it is a summation of my cassette tape recordings. The main difference is this newer collection has left out the rarities for an expanded straight-ahead best-of collection. The tracks were all digitally remixed and mastered, with a few new subtle parts added. Virtually everything worth anything I did solo on tape is found here. |
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Surface Tension 6 song CD EP Released 2005 RS CDE007 |
While working on The Shattered's album, I was building my new digital studio. For the first time, I had more than four tracks to play with, and this EP represents my experimentation with denser arrangements. "Tracking Shot" is probably the star track here, using improvised music to build up a backing track, then laying down a heavy-ass bass solo (my revenge for being told in The Shattered that I was playing "too many notes" on bass). |
2004-2005 With the band The Shattered
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Breakin' the Rules with The Shattered CD album Released 2005 RS CDA006 |
This album was recorded at our basement practice space, with overdubs and mixing done at my studio. The band served mainly as a vehicle to give voice to Steve Shattah's songs, and I found them idiosyncratic and original. But perhaps the best track is a cover tune we did of an obscure song called "$1000 Car." Oddly, I was fired from the band just as this album was being finished. I ended up putting the artwork together and releasing it myself. |
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Basement Apes Vol. 1 with The Shattered 7 song promotional CD EP Released 2005 |
I joined the band The Shattered as bassist, and I also served as the band producer. While mixing down the album we recorded, the leader put together this collection of finished tracks to help promote the band. One of my few recordings not on my own label. |
2002-2004 Solo (CD singles)
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Nowheresville CD compilation album (1989-2004) Released 2004 RS CDA005 |
I was building my new fully-digital studio, and I figured it was time to sum up my final analog recording years. I took my four recent singles, added some stray tracks recorded during my band years but after my last compilation album, Lean, and came up with this retrospective. Features my drum-machine cover of Rush's "Red Barchetta" and the rock-rap hybrid "Rappin' Up Pam." |
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The Eye So Red 2 song CD single Released 2003 RS CDS004 |
Looking for my next single, I decided to re-record my first cassette single, The Eye So Red. It was interesting to see how all my new equipment changed the song, and it had proven popular when played with my old band, The View, so I knew it had potential. The B-side was a song done in a reunion with one of my former bandmates from The View. |
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Gimme Some Truth 2 song CD single Released 2003 RS CDS003 |
The US was invading Iran, based on lies from the government. Religious leaders were being condemned for hiding and lying about child abuse. And Enron corporate liars led to the biggest bankruptcy of all time. I wanted to protest, but was having a hard time writing a protest song. I turned to John Lennon's song "Gimme Some Truth." In an effort to do something different as well as modernize it, I rewrote some of the lyrics and presented it in a hip hop arrangement. |
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Lonely Woman 2 song CD single Released 2002 RS CDS002 |
Once I got my creative juices flowing again with the Girl Like You single, I began to write new songs regularly. This A-side was written around a new guitar wah pedal, while the B-side is a long psychedelic guitar duet, "Loop Phase For Two Guitars." "Loop Phase" would provide a template when it came time to record my 2007 album Free Speech | where I further explored the idea of extended improvisational pieces.
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Girl Like You 2 song CD single Released 2002 RS CDS001 |
I was a bit burned out after The View folded. After a few years, I was inspired by a woman I knew to write "Girl Like You." In an effort to present the song to her quickly, I released it as a single. I was still recording on 4-track analog, but I had a computer. I was now able to manufacture CDs and do much better cover art. The first release on my Rick's Studio label. |
1988-1995 With the band The View and solo
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Out of Our Minds with The View 4 song cassette EP Released 1995 |
My band The View moved to Atlanta, and we wanted a new recording to highlight some of our newer material. Done in similar fashion to 3 = 4, we had fewer songs to deal with since our last recording, so we released a 4-song EP, with one song by each of our song writers on the cassette A-side. On the B-side was an improvised, spliced-together composition taken from practice recordings to show off our improvisational side. Goes well as an addendum to 3 = 4. |
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Marriagemusic 3 song cassette EP Released 1993 |
A wedding gift for my brother. "Brothers" was written for him and performed with my bandmate and musical brother. "D.H. Lawrence" incorporates some television dialogue regarding romantic expression. The third track is a long guitar improvisation meant to cull up the variety of emotions I felt at seeing my little brother getting all grown up. Probably totally unappreciated by all concerned ("Don't sound like no wedding music I ever heard!"), nonetheless a favorite of mine. |
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3 = 4 with The View Cassette album Released 1992 |
At this point, The View was near its zenith. We needed a good quality recording for promotion, and we cleared our schedule and got to work. Using our own practice space/studio, we meticulously cut rhythm tracks, overdubbed vocals and lead instruments, and spent an inordinate amount of time mixing it down. A real group effort, this was our blueprint for success. Every song, in my opinion, is a killer, even the outtakes added to the later CD version. |
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Lean Cassette compilation album (1984-1991) Released 1991 |
As I was busy with my band at this time, it seemed a good point to summarize my 4-track recording projects. Along with my best from Mirror, Abandon and View With a Room (some remixed), I re-recorded some of my earlier 2-track songs, added a short film soundtrack and a couple of new compositions including "Rappin' Up Pam", a particular favorite of mine. |
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Play It Loud! with The View Cassette album Released 1990 |
After Blackmail, we made a more pointed effort to create an album intentionally. We recorded backing tracks live, then overdubbed vocals and lead instruments. This was pretty much our entire repertoire and features the made-up-on-the-spot-no-overdubs "She Had a Cute Face" and the definitive take of my song "Gina." |
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View With a Room Cassette album Released 1989 |
While playing with my band, I finished work on my third 4-track album, after Mirror and Abandon. The title track is one of my favorite compositions, while "Jade," "The Guitars Cry," and "Little Angel" found their way into our band's playbook, although in slightly re-arranged form. |
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Blackmail with The View Cassette album Released 1989 |
When I joined The View, we used to tape our practices in case anything noteworthy happened. When our singer ended up in the hospital for an extended period, I used the free time to edited some of our best practice moments into an album for the band's encouragement. While much of it is pretty rough, the title track especially shows us in good form. |
1984-1988 Solo (4-track cassette albums)
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Abandon Cassette album Released 1987 |
Mirror Part II. I experiment with more layered production ("Don't Give Your Heart Away", a nod to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound) as well as more intricate arrangements ("8½ Shades of Gray"). "Feel" and "Sweet Sweet Rock 'n' Roll would find great success played with my band in a few years, while "As I Lay Awake Dreaming of Charles Ives" shows my first foray into taking apart classical music ideas and restaging them in a rock idiom. |
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Mirror Cassette album Released 1986 |
Still one of my favorites, despite its primitivism. I had a 4-track recorder, and I could overdub all sorts of things, bounce tracks, add lead overdubs and backing vocals, etc. There is noise ("Broken Pick"), psychedelia ("Inner Space" and "Forbidden Planet"), slide guitar ("Sometimes"), jamming (all over the place), and some straight rock songs ("The Eye So Red"). The 4-track, along with a new keyboard and a couple of guitar effects, released my imagination, and for the first time, I was hearing something on tape similar to what I heard in my head. |
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The Eye So Red 4 song cassette EP Released 1986 |
As my album Mirror approached completion, I figured I needed a single to promote the release. I thought "The Eye So Red" was the most commercial sounding (relatively speaking). I wanted an unreleased B-side, so I quickly tried to cover Bob Dylan's song "Queen Jane Approximately." I apologize for the massacre. The album sold zero; this EP less than that! |
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Sound and Vision & Atmospheres My first and second albums on one cassette tape Released 1986 |
After graduating college, I purchased one of the first home 4-track recorders put out by TEAC. While working on my next project, I revisited my Atmospheres album. The 4-track gave me mixing abilities my previous single recorder set-up just didn't have. I found the album perhaps a bit self-indulgent, so I shortened it up and remixed it for a tighter listening experience. Coupled with my nearly as primitive first album. |
1977-1983 College years, solo and with friends
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Atmospheres Cassette album Released 1983 |
I lost access to the second tape recorder I had used to bounce tracks for Sound and Vision, so I was forced to simplify. I had to record in one take and rely more on editing and mixing to impose order. Much of this album was improvised on guitar, then edited, and the more structured songs were limited to me singing over simple guitar accompaniment. |
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Sound and Vision Cassette album Released 1982 |
I began to write songs in college. My first attempts were recorded using sound-on-sound techniques. This involved recording a part, then playing another part along with the playback and recording all that onto a second recorder. You ping pong the parts back and forth until you have everything on tape. It's very unforgiving, though, as there is no redoing a part or changing the mix once you move on to the next part. |
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Larch Songs with "Sgt. Hershey's Lonely Hearts Club Band" Cassette album Released 1978 |
Winter snow storm. College classes cancelled. My friends gather in a dorm room and we jam on guitars and a practice drum kit. Add a few songs recorded with some of the same guys in other dorm sessions, and you have my first "album," a memento assembled for the residents of Hershey dormitory. |
All work displayed on these pages © Rick Hines and/or The View or The Shattered or Lost On Our Way.
Material may not be used without the artist's written permission.