The Swinging Orangutangs: Discography

All the way back in the summer of 1997, five fresh-faced kids entered a now-defunct recording studio in Parkersburg, West Virginia to record an album of their original music. The studio, SuperTrax, was at the top of two steep flights of stairs, so the band exhausted itself carrying its gear up to the studio. A week later they were recovered and ready to record.

Andy Thompson (The Bard of the Swinging Orangutangs) and his brother Bill, composed the songs and the rest of the band--Julie Zickefoose, Bob Ward, and Mike Buell helped create the arrangements. The result, at the end of that summer, was "Mood Swings."

The playlist on "Mood Swings" is

1. Love You Too Much (A. Thompson/TSO)

2.Vegas Baby (A Thompson/B. Thompson)

3. Sadness Turns to Slush (B. Thompson/R. Hine)

4. Carry Me Away (A. Thompson)

5. Mayan Love Dance/Tie You Down (B. Thompson)

6. Clock Strikes Ten (A. Thompson)

7. Bitterest Fruit (A Thompson)

8. Musta Left Town (A. Thompson)

9. Magnetic (B. Thompson)

10 Dark Side of Love (A. Thompson)

11. Sevillana (A. Thompson).

Special guest musicians on "Mood Swings" included Bill Thompson, Jr. on keyboards, Bruce DeMoll on saxophone, and Brian Nutter on etheral backing vocals and sound console knob-twiddling.

If you have high-speed Internet access you might be hearing some of "Mood Swings" right now as it streams from this very website. The band pressed 500 CDs and hawked them relentlessly at gigs. We did the math and realized that if we sold all 500 at $12 each, we'd only lose about $1,000 on the project. Well, glory be, the CD DID sell out.

Copies of "Mood Swings" made it into the hands of many famous people, including Bonnie Raitt (still waiting for her to call back), got rejected by "Don't Quit Your Day Job Records," and slightly panned by "Graffiti." We even got played on the radio and acted even more stupid than the wacky kids in "That Thing You Do!" It's all been such a blur!

Now that Mood Swings is nearing its 10th birthday, we think it's time to record some new material. BT3 is writing and composing feverishly. We promise to debut some of the new material here on this site. And if you want a copy of ""Mood Swings" send us $15 and your address and we'll burn one for you. Each and every copy has a little of the band's DNA on it, making it a great collector's item and one that your childrens' childrens' children will surely cherish.