The Special Goodness' unreleased 2005 album

Unreleased 2005 album
by The Special Goodness
Released	Unreleased
Recorded	2005
Genre	Alternative rock
Label	n/a
The Special Goodness chronology
Land Air Sea (2004) Untitled 2005 album (unreleased) Natural (2012)

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Scott Shriner (right) and Atom Willard (left) pictured in-studio during the album's pre-production in late 2004/early 2005.

In spring 2005, between recording and post-production work on the Weezer album Make Believe, the Special Goodness recorded, mixed, and mastered a full-length studio album. The album featured Atom Willard on drums and Weezer member Scott Shriner on bass. Late into production it was scrapped in its entirety by Patrick Wilson, citing dissatisfaction with its overall sound. No audio from the album has ever been publicly released.

Overview

Recording

Work on a fourth Special Goodness album began in June 2004. Around 15 songs were in contention to be worked into album tracks, some of which had been written for consideration as Weezer songs, and others which were borrowed from previous Special Goodness albums and recordings. Joe Barresi, who had worked with the band on their previous album Land Air Sea in 2003, returned to produce the album. Atom Willard, having recently completed a tour with the Offspring, would additionally return on drums and Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, who had played with the Special Goodness live on prior tours, would make his debut appearance on a studio recording with the band.

In August, the album entered a "new phase of preproduction whittling everything down to guitar and [vocals]." Development continued through November in-between Wilson's work with Weezer finalizing Make Believe, with recording sessions projected for late January or early February 2005. The band began rehearsing album material on November 8. Wilson posted a handful of in-studio photos to the band's official website thespecialgoodness.com.

In March 2005, after roughly four months of silence, Wilson provided another update on the album's development: "new cd - 12 songs - a mighty effort to get it on tape (!) by the time all the =w= craziness starts". The band recorded the album at the Steakhouse Studio in Los Angeles, California throughout the following month. Under the supervision of Barresi, overdubs were recorded and the album was mixed and mastered at two private studios in the city of Sun Valley. On June 16, Wilson shared the album's tracklist online and proposed a potential January 2006 release.

Delay and ultimate cancellation

On September 30, Wilson again updated the band website: "After a lengthy review, I've decided to keep working on the cd. The recording sounds great, Joe Barresi did a great job but ultimately I'm unsatisfied with the songs and arrangement . . . rest assured that the result will be more satisfying." Wilson worked to improve the album over the course of the following months, maintaining the goal of eventually releasing some completed version of the album; in late 2005, an article about the Offspring mentioned that the album, as well as a tour, were planned for the spring of the following year.

On January 5, 2006, Wilson wrote a blog post summarizing his experiences over the previous year recording for the Special Goodness and working with Weezer. He explained some criticism he had with the unreleased album: "the songs were basically an excuse to shred on the instruments which ultimately was unsatisfying". Having gained new perspective during Weezer's recent touring, Wilson indicated a desire to move the Special Goodness in a new direction. No mention was made of progress on the recorded album's material.

Finally, in a blog post on January 24, Wilson formally announced that the album had been shelved. The post, which also provides some context behind the album's cancellation, reads:

As you may know, myself, Atom Willard and Scott Shriner made a recording in the first half of 2005 that has since been shelved. After a reasonable period of reflection I believe now is a swell time to examine what took place and why it was ultimately unsatisfying on many levels. At that time, =w= was right in the middle of recording Make Believe and many things were up in the air. Rivers was in school and it seemed as if we (I) had a short period of time to record some TSG before =w= became very busy. This effort was rushed and there really was no clear understanding of the artistic goal beyond the frenzy of a rock ensemble performing well. In my opinion, the songs weren't very good. The lyrics, melodies, chords and playing were strong but these do not add up to compelling songs. I'm very excited to have realized these things. Along with a year of playing to large audiences I've begun to understand what I truly value about playing and writing. More to come. - Pat Wilson, thespecialgoodness.com blog post

Along with the desire for a change in sound and direction, Karl Koch has suggested that Wilson cancelled the album over "concerns of commercial viability." He later reminisced in 2023, "He's just not satisfied with what it sounded like, even though I remember being in the studio and him, Adam, and Scott were raging and it sounded cool to me. But I think he just wasn't quite pleased with the songs he was writing. Pat's got this thing where it has to be, like, a vibe . . . he's not too concerned about the song being, like, a tight pop song, he really doesn't like that. So whenever you try to get him to bend something into a pop song, he always kinda feels like that's when we're losing the magic."

Afterwards

Wilson began to share progress on new and revised album material starting on July 12, 2006. On August 13, he said he'd "like to release something in the spring but [will] sell no wine before it's time." On February 15, 2007, he wrote: "Lots of new songs have been written and I think an album will be released this year." New recording sessions were slated to begin on November 19, but delayed until 2008 because Wilson was expecting a child. After this, work on the album was abandoned without further announcement. Dissimilar to the 2005 material, nothing is known of the songs from this period.

The Special Goodness would eventually release a fourth album, Natural, in 2012. It was recorded and produced by Wilson alone and exists divorced from the 2005 album or its subsequent songwriting efforts.

Track listing

Tracklist as of June 16, 2005
No.	Title	Length
1.	"All the Time"
2.	"Let's Go Down"
3.	"Reason to Worry"
4.	"If I Had My Way"
5.	"Story"
6.	"In the Mall"
7.	"Sun off of the Sea"
8.	"Turn Your Love Around"
9.	"What's the Point"
10.	"Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday"
11.	"Always"
12.	"What Goes On"

Personnel

Although official credits for the unreleased album do not exist, the following roles are known:

• Patrick Wilson – lead guitar, lead vocals
• Atom Willard – drums
• Scott Shriner – bass guitar
• Joe Barresi – engineer, production

See also

• Songs from the Black Hole
• Natural
• List of Patrick Wilson songs