The Special Goodness (album)

The Special Goodness
Studio album by Patrick Wilson
Released	November 21, 1998
Recorded	March–April 1996
Studio	Tom Ackerman's house (aka "the Special Land") White Horse Studios
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	37:04
Label	Rock Records
Producer	Tony Lash
Patrick Wilson chronology
Huge Guy demos (1995) The Special Goodness (1998) At Some Point, Birds and Flowers Became Interesting (2001)

The Special Goodness (also known as the Bunny Record or Bunny Album) is the debut album by the eponymous side project of Weezer drummer Patrick Wilson. It was recorded in 1996 and officially released in 1998 on the Japanese label Rock Records. Handmade copies of the album were made to sell during the band's fall 1999 and spring 2000 tours in the US.

Recording

Jon: So let's talk briefly about your side project. The band's called Special Goodness?

Pat: Yes, The Special Goodness. That will probably be the name of the album and it will be out on Geffen Records.

Jon: And how did the recording go?

Pat: I recorded all the instruments myself, but I had help in producing it from my friend Tony Lash and he's a very thorough engineer. We took a lot of time in order to assure a really smooth sound.

Jon: How did the writing go?

Pat: I did the writing myself, but a lot of the songs were only half done arrangement wise, and he [Tony] helped me a lot with the arrangements, because at that time the whole thing was getting really incestuous with myself. I was just too close and I couldn't see what needed to be done.

Jon: Why did you opt for the single chemistry as opposed to a band chemistry?

Pat: Because dealing with people can be a big nightmare. Not only that, but I just felt like I had these personalities on the drums and guitar and bass, why not see if they made a nice band?

—Game Informer interview with Pat Wilson, February 1997

Wilson began experimenting with writing his own music in 1993–1994, when he created the demo tapes My Spine and Suburban Advantage. During the fall 1995 recording sessions for Weezer's Pinkerton at Electric Lady Studios, Wilson used spare studio time to record a handful of new demos under the working name "Huge Guy".^{: a} When he returned home to Portland, OR after Rivers Cuomo's semester at Harvard began, he continued developing the "Huge Guy" material; he recorded a set of acoustic demos in October 1995, then re-recorded many of the same songs on electric guitar in November.^{: b c} The songs written and demoed during this period nearly all appear on The Special Goodness.

In early 1996, Wilson received a budget from Weezer's label, Geffen, to record his own album. Wilson recorded The Special Goodness in musician Tom Ackerman's basement — a recording space nicknamed "the Special Land" by Wilson, which became the band and album's namesake — and White Horse Studios between March–April of that year. The songs were recorded using digitally, at Wilson's preference. The album was produced, engineered, and mixed by Tony Lash, the drummer of Heatmiser and Wilson's then-roommate. Lash provides some instrumentation on "I'd Like to Know" and "A Fortunate Mistake"; Pat Finn also plays bass on the latter song. The album was otherwise recorded completely by Wilson.^{: d}

Release

Although the album was complete in spring 1996, Geffen reportedly delayed its release to avoid overlap with Pinkerton's rollout.^{: a} In late 1996, Geffen issued at least two promotional CD-R copies of the album. In the January 1997 issue of Alternative Press, interviewer David Daley reports that the album was slated for a September 1997 release. This date was later pushed to February 10, 1998.^{: b} In October 1997, the band shot photos in Weezer Fan Club assistant Tiffany's basement for the album's artwork^{: c} and rehearsed for touring planned for December^{: b} (later cancelled as drummer Lee Loretta was unavailable^{: d}). In November, news circulated amongst fans that Geffen had unceremoniously dropped Wilson and no longer planned to release the album^{: b} — Tiffany clarified in a mailing list post that Geffen had diverted resources away from the album and offered Wilson the choice to take the album to another label, which Wilson chose to do.^{: f}

On the reason for Geffen's loss of interest in the album, band member Pat Finn said in July 1998:

bands get dropped constantly, and because the special goodness hadn't even played a show and had no following or interest it only makes sense that a label in the midst of downsizing cut an act they really hadn't invested too much into and didn't really seem to be doing anything at the time.

—Pat Finn, alt.music.weezer message

After some time spent seeking out a new label, the album was released in Japan by Rock Records on November 21, 1998. Wilson had minimal influence over the album's overseas release; it is marketed as a Patrick Wilson album (despite the fact that The Special Goodness was, by then, a three-piece band) and the album's cover artwork was chosen without Wilson's input. Finn reports that the album had sold 8,000 copies in Japan by March 1999. Without a US release, some fans imported the CD from Japan using Amazon and similar websites.

In December 1998, Wilson partnered with Vast Records to distribute the album in the US — the label had been responsible for the Hear You Me! tribute CD a year prior. The label sought a deal with Universal Music Group to have the album released by summer 1999, however this ultimately fell through and Wilson exited the label. By November, Wilson was in talks with Loosegrove Records (owned by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard). The label printed, and possibly issued, a 3-song promotional CD-R before the end of the year. Around December 30, it was announced that the Special Goodness had officially signed with Loosegroove, yet by mid-January 2000 this deal also folded, likely due to the label's impending closure. Ultimately, the album was never officially distributed in the US.

A prototypical CD-R copy of The Special Goodness issued on tour during fall 1999

Although Wilson failed to secure an official release of the album outside of Japan, he found ways to distribute the album informally to US fans. Pitchfork reported in September 1999 that Wilson was "offering 'subscriptions' to the Special Goodness for $19.95," which included "the band's full album, alternate versions of songs, any applicable live stuff, all in delicious MP3 format."

In addition to circulating MP3s of the album, the band crafted handmade CD-R copies of the album to sell on tour during 1999–2000. These copies each had unique artwork designed by Wilson and Karl Koch. The earliest versions done during their fall 1999 tour were cut-and-paste collages made with paper ephemera the band found while traveling: a copy of Gene Clark's Roadmaster, Chinese propaganda artwork, a stack of Handsome Boy Modeling School stickers, etc. Eventually, the band began photocopying these collages (first in color, later in black-and-white) to keep up with demand. For their spring 2000 tour, they standardized the format: every CD-R was housed in a slimline jewel case with photocopied artwork of an amp. Only a few hundred of these tour CD-Rs were made; Wilson has given a very rough estimate of 250. They are now exceptionally rare.

Personnel

• Patrick Wilson - guitar, bass, vocals, percussion
• Pat Finn - bass on 8
• Tony Lash - percussion on 4 & 8, keyboards on 8, producer, engineer, mixing

Track Listing

All songs written by Patrick Wilson.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Congratulations"	3:43
2.	"Fatigue"	2:32
3.	"Pay No Mind"	3:11
4.	"I'd Like to Know"	3:54
5.	"Conquistadors of Nothing"	3:59
6.	"A Hundred Times as Good"	2:56
7.	"Pardon Me"	2:52
8.	"A Fortunate Mistake"	6:50
9.	"I'm Not Too Proud"	2:28
10.	"It's All Here in This Book"	4:42
Total length:		37:04

Gallery

1996 Geffen CD-R promos

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1998 Rock Records release

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  Cover

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  Insert

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  Inside insert

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  Back cover

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  Disc

1999–2000 tour CD-Rs

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See also

• Huge Guy
• List of Patrick Wilson songs