home

back to the Refrigerator index

Refrigerator - Refrigerator (1997) [Shrimper, SHR101, LP/CD]

I think this is one of Refrigerator's best.

You may want to turn down your stereo at the end of "Young Confusion", because "California" starts with some fun noise/squeal, and that frequency seems to hit every audio output differently. The song itself is great, so crank it back up after a few seconds! Dennis and Allen bounce some stuff back and forth throughout, and holler the chorus together.

You might see this album pop up on ebay and other sites due to "Unrealized" featuring Buckethead on banjo. This is good news, because "Unrealized" is also a great song in its own right. Drummer Chris Jones gets some time on acoustic guitar on "Jive Jive" while Dennis plays electric. It's a minute and a half instrumental, and it's nice. I don't even want to tell you what this album sounds like, go listen to it! 

This is one of the Refrigerator records I most like to recommend people to start off with (as long as they know to brace for the intro on "California") if they want some variety. (My other go-to is Glitter Jazz, if you want something with a more cohesive sound.) Hit the links above to look for a copy.

From the booklet:

Recorded January 26, 1996 - 1997 by
Robert Curtis Durkee @ FBE studios in San Dimas
(that phone #: [redacted here])
Allen Callaci - vocal s
Dennis Callaci - gtr, pump organ, v ocal s
Chris Jones - drums, acoustic gtr, accordian
mastered by John Golden
cover art by Amy Maloof (as well as photos on
pages 4, 5, 8, and 9)
photographs on pages 3, 6, 7, 10 and 11 by Marc Campos
photo on page 2 by Chris Jones
layout by Bill Magdziarz
Thanks for their help in making this record:
Aaron Alcala, Buckethead, John Davis, Bob Durkee,
Gary Held and the Inland/outland crew
all songs 1997 Refrigerator
lyrics Callaci/Callaci inland publishing except
where noted
Refrigerator can be reached c/o Shrimper

01. Young Confusion

you tell me that its raining
inside the freak storm corner of the world
where you've been staying
and your prayers they don't get answered
only questioned
young confusion
everybodys selling
nobody understands
faulty sensitive transmissions
from where you've been
over accessoried positions
to misfit in
young confusion
keep your notes and kick a stand
should they ask you if you know
just don't ask

02. California

gather in
gather out
maybe stay til we can stay
i don't know where
i don't know how
california
all i ask is somewhere else
another chance
i can't go back
california
and we'll march out open to
the orchards we never had
paved their way into
fortunes in the sand
cut down in the back
where we used to stand
gather in
gather out
i can't stay in
i'm fallin out
california

03. In Another Room
i don't know what i'm for
only know what i'm against
one minute i'm winning
not the next
and everything to me
more important than it is
she rushed her hair in a
soft denial
hides herself inside a smile
clipped and saved in bedroom grey
she lays alone awhile
old yearbook shots
of her cause
beneath a mattress
it's not really losing
when you let it get away

04. As If You Were No Ones
you know it's kind of late
call me anyway
we stay on the phone
you hang up your side
as if you were no ones
and i'm your silent fool
your cheap vacation
your sympathetic solution
but i keep stickin around
as if you were no ones
it's wrong and it's wrong and
we don't have what we have
we dont' have what we have
as if you were no ones

05. Instead Of Flowers
i'd like to help you read the funny pages
win you stuffed visions at an amusement park
send you bouquets of pregnant hours
play assertive when you act up the coward
teach you to pull weeds instead of flowers
pull the coins from the eyes of your death bed
come here lover
it's pretty easy
it's pretty easy

06. Somehow
something was bound to break
something did
something was bound to give
nothing did
someone was bound to get hurt
someone did
sometimes it all adds up
sometimes it's all a loss
somehow it could have happened differently
somehow it happened like this
somehow
you wanted early returns on me
ask your friends inside if this heart is pumping
answering machine ghosts hover over and stay
rewind
replay
someone was bound to change
no one did
some things are best just left to be
something is

07. Western Lights
sat myself down with a girl
sat myself down next to the
edge of the world
in the western night
the western lights
and a falling with the saints
bet my wings on the wrong things
shooting the breeze
with the would be kings
with their liquid crowns
and their liquid queens
the western lights

08. Undue Tragedy

somewhere there's a key
to undo tragedy
unloved undone unknown
while the lovers unravel
like freak stage shows
explaining in detail
the plight of each separation
as if watching us
could
maybe someone kinder
will explain in detail
all the footnotes and headstands
every highlighted failure
too much to endure
for much too long a time
too much to endure
for far too long a time
somewhere there's a key
somewhere there's a key

09. Come Spring
he left holes in the jar
so you could bleed
cracked your skull in the car
so you could breathe
stole songs from a guitar
so you could sing
took your credit cards and jewelry
won't it be great come spring
when all these futures that he can't see
leave him invalid like a crushed airplane
she drilled holes in the caps
of her teeth
pulled the fillings from beneath
her cavities
poured blood into all
the openings
won't it be great come spring
that'll leave you and me
that'll leave you and me

10. Jokes and Seeds
dream took form
wore it magnificently
on a long winded walk around the block
i spied out boxes and boxes of the stuff
scattered all over town
if you hear of anyone
run to here when you can
and when you do
i will plant jokes and seeds
to half come true
we'll see if anything takes hold
if you hear of anyone
11. Motel Arrest
i'd been sick all week
throwing up pillows and sheets
no sleep could get to me
after i emptied out the bed
touched up the trash
sorted the magazines
took a matches flame
to light a fire
inside this dead wasp nest
served this sentence
under motel arrest
while no one was present
these transluscent wings were cheap
everyone's saving up for feathers
this plastic interior
in trade for insect ridden leather
to get inside
i didn't need a thing
scraped my way out
with a stolen diamond ring
and i'm learning to whisper about
so i don't have to scream
what good is half a dream
when you can't get to sleep

12. Sea Level

with a folded hand
troubles on each shoulder
why let the doubts
rise up to sea level
i know you can't see it now
but these skies too shall fall
with some hidden moves
a silent face that's telling
holding fast to mirrors and tripwire
i know you can't see it now
but these skies too shall fall
the darkness has a light life all its own
we'll make it through the end of the world again
i know you can't see it now
but these skies too shall fall

13. Unrealized
if it's all the same
i'd rather not be anything
not a poorly written romeo
forever one step shy
from your rescue
unrealized
and when it's all the same
you'd rather not be anything
not a daughter of a revolution
in and out of style
a barefoot Cinderella
on kitchen tile
unrealized
and when it's all the same
it's best not to be anything
not a bad shot forget me not
stranded in the parking lot
without a stop
unrealized
i always see you
you're never there
always where you've been
never where you're at
unrealized

14. Splitting Atoms
we found a hole to crash out of
while the sound was immobilized
splitting atoms with a shotgun
your well of fortune and good eye
i should be ashamed of my luck
i should learn to survive
i should learn to devise
new techniques to hear you
through the veins where the beat lies
an allowance of degrees
for which to rise or decline
a service to render fora need
i should learn to devise
new techniques to hear you

15. Jive Jive
instrumental

16. The Sky Swam Into View

the light we're under tonight
borrowed from stilts built to seize the sky
puncture the paper thin layer of wind
if you want to get into its riverside
build a piano of pearl strings
to hold every sound caught between
the vowels and consonants
this world of cold
sealed with signature chrome
a tarp of grey on loan
keeping our cheap heat in
i'd like to explain
i'd like to stay
here's where the truth comes in
i had your cousin call the colors
call them off, all of it off
there's been a terrible accident
call them off, everyone we sent
if we can
there must be somewhere else we can send them
somewhere their majesty won't seem a travesty
mocking every crushed heart residing near
a terrible accident
call this off
i'd like to explain
i'd like to say
here's where the sky gave way

Click any thumbnail below to view a full size scan:

any images, lyrics, song titles, etc are property of the original artists, where at all possible images are pulled from my own scanned copies and any found/submitted images are noted and credited. this is a fan site without ads, trackers, or even so much as one of those site counters from the late 90's. if you see your intellectual property here and want it removed, email away. thanks