b'OVERCOME BY HAPPINESS25TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITIONJoe Perniceven if youre not in prison, 25 years is aPeyton (who has always been a wonderful chef)myself. Making Overcome by Happiness was an long time. That said, I vividly remembercooked for us when he wasnt tracking his guitars.eye-opening experience in so many ways. Though much about every stage of making Overcome byWe ate like kings. We got up early (for musicians,Id already made three albums with my band the Happiness. Most of the songs were written in thethat is) and worked late. There was a seven-dayScud Mountain Boys, Overcome has always felt same house in Northampton, Massachusetts. All ofstretch when it dawned on me I had not left thelike a start for me. The Scuds were a band in the the pre-production took place in the 1979 Pontiacbuilding a single time. We must have misplacedtruest sense. But when Thom, Peyton, Aaron, Bob, Bonneville Id inherited from my late Uncle Josephthat case of ginger brandy. Yes, thats exactly whatMike, and I showed up on day one of the sessions, Ducky Vitale. It was early fall, and Thom Monahanhappened I think we spent 35 days there fromit was the first time all of us had ever been in the and I would drive along the wooded roads in theload-in to post-mixing load-out. Seems extravagantsame room. There were no rehearsals. Things Knightville Dam area and listen to my crude demos.to me today. It seemed extravagant to me then,could have gone much differently than they did.(A few of these earliest demos are included on thebut we used every last second of time. Maybe we bonus LP included in this lovely package. And acould have done it in 25 days. Who knows? But IMiraculously, Sub Pop Records (who paid the bills) number of the photos also included were taken onrecall Thom turning me on to the expression: Themade zero objections when I pitched my idea for and near the Knightville Dam.) Those were prettygoldfish grows to the size of the bowl. If wed bud- the record in late summer 1997. In fact, they were exciting drives, chain-smoking coffees and map- geted 25 years, Id be writing this from the B roominto it. And to their credit, they stayed completely ping out where certain instruments might go whenat Studio .45 with two mixes to go. out of sight until the last day of tracking. They (aka we tracked in earnest.my now-partner of 25 years, Joyce Linehan) only Most of whats worth me saying about Overcomeshowed up at all because the orchestra was track-But I recall the recording sessions at Studio .45I already said for the fine prose piece thats alsoing that day, and she loves strings as much as I do. in Hartford, Connecticut, most clearly. We movedpart of this book. To be honest, I did not reread itThat day remains a high point in my record-making into the apartment a floor beneath the studio, andbefore writing this, so forgive me if Im repeatinglife. Strings. Big. Yes.'