Organic Software: Penny Hanna's Pop Tunes from the 1980's
Over a three year period beginning in 1985, Ms. Hanna penned and recorded three albums worth of pop tunes under the "Organic Software" banner. These recordings were done in our home project studio using what was in the 1980s the latest computer-controlled synthesizer technology along with semi-pro multi-track tape machines. Penny would write the tunes and author the basic MIDI tracks and then hand them over to Slim for further enhancement before laying down the vocals and other instruments. Back then we got as far as the album cover but unfortunately none of these albums ever made it to vinyl -- so we just sold cassette versions at our gigs. There's some terrific (if somewhat dated) material here, so please give a listen...
We're currently in the process of remastering and re-releasing all of these recordings. Volumes two ("Cruel Lottery") and three ("Often Running") are published here and on the major streaming services. Volume one as well as a collection of unreleased singles are in the works.
Volume 1
Note: The Volume 1 content is still under construction, links to this album on the streaming services, lyrics, etc... will be added in the coming weeks. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy the music...
Download a zip of the album (it's 47MB of mp3s and you can import the expanded folder into iTunes):
Click here to download
Volume 2: Cruel Lottery
Penny's songs on this album were, with a couple of exceptions, political in nature. It was 1987, Reagan was in the White House and plenty of bad stuff was happening here in the USA. The lyrics riff on wide-ranging subjects including nuclear annihilation in "DEW Line" and "They Say, I Say", televangelist con men in "Oral Tradition" (fellow oldsters might remember Oral Roberts in the prayer tower), the never-ending racism towards African Americans in "Still Walkin'", the feminist lament "Girls Can Play", and Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars) in "Somewhere Up In Outer Space". Sadly, much of her biting commentary holds true to this day. Most of all, I hope that you'll agree that the craftsmanship in these songs, both lyrically and musically, is exceptional -- a thing of beauty.
- Slim, February 2023
Organic Software Vol. 2 - Cruel Lottery
DEW Line
Still Walkin'
They Say, I Say
Girls Can Play
Rock Out
Oral Tradition
Somethin' Happened
Somewhere Up In Outer Space
DEW Line
Penny riffs on the cold-war era DEW Line (Distant Early Warning) system.
The year was 1987 and we were on the road doing a hotel gig in Hutchinson, Kansas. One night on the local news we caught a story about Martha Woodard Rawlins, a local African American civil rights leader who had recently organized Hutchinson's first MLK Day celebration. Rawlins had awakened to find racist graffiti spray painted all over the outside of her home. Penny was outraged and channeled her anger over this into a song Penny was outraged and channeled her anger over this into a song which we recorded and subsequently performed during a return engagement in Hutchinson. The grainy footage incorporated in this video was taken by the news crew of Wichita TV station KWCH for their follow-up on this story.
