THE MAGIC SWIRLING SHIP
Jim Thomas – Guitar
Martyn Jones – Drums
Jennifer Burnes – Bass
December, 2017
Recorded and mixed by Jim Thomas at Pleasure Point Recording, (The Mermen’s studio), in Santa Cruz, CA
Album Design by Denise Halbe
The cover photo is of Jim Thomas surfing Ortley Beach, New Jersey, summer, circa 1983, early morning. The back cover is “Fishing Boats at Chôshi in Shimôsa Province” by Katsushika Hokusai. The CD disc art is “Masculine Wave” also by Hokusai.
“THE MAGIC SWIRLING SHIP”
“Take me on a trip upon your
magic swirling ship………
Out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach
Of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky
With one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate
Driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today
Until tomorrow”
BOB DYLAN – ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’
Since The Mermen are an instrumental band, you would think that guitarist/composer Jim Thomas’ favorite artist would be a guitarist. Not so. Jim’s number one has always been Bob Dylan. In addition to just loving all of Dylan’s work, Jim says Bob Dylan’s stage presence, for one remarkable minute at a performance in San Francisco, was the most powerful live-performance minute of all the shows he has ever been to in his life. Jim’s favorite song of all time is ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. The song speaks to him about the trials and tribulations and the “sweet Mystery of life”. ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ is the closest he can get to an anthem for his life.
The album, ‘THE MAGIC SWIRLING SHIP’ began with Mavericks big wave surfer/film maker, Grant Washburn, asking Jim to put together some music for a film he was working on with big wave surfing legend, “DA BULL”, Greg Noll. Besides his time spent as big wave surfer, Noll was also making surf films in the 60’s alongside filmmakers like Bruce Brown, Bud Browne, and John Severson. Grant said that they dug out old film stock from Noll’s archive, took it to Los Angeles and converted it to digital video. The film is in the works right now.