Selecting The Songs for the New Record

A few days before the next recording session, the band got together at my house to select the two songs we would be recording for the next record. The only thing I insisted on was..that a song be one of Mark's, and the other, one of mine. I also hoped that we could pick two songs from our repertoire that covered different musical territory from the first two songs. The band was very versatile. The music could vary greatly. And clearly, both the writers should both be showcased. What was obvious was..the musical "identity" of Avalanche music was unmistakeable, no matter what songs we decided on. We talked about it for a few hours, and batted a lot of ideas around. We ended up with a very short list of four songs. I had written a song about the politics of drug dealing, in which I plainly stated that drugs flowed into this country because the government had a hand in the business, and used the cash to fund black ops that Congress would never approve funding for. It was also hugely autobiographical as well, and related some of my New York City exploits. The name of the song was "You Just Can't Stop It".. and it was a heavy song...and because that title of it fit in so well with our name Avalanche, and with what was happening with the band at the time, we decided to go with that song as the "A" side... Mark had written another song, during our rehearsals, and we ended up collaborating on harmony guitar sections that showcased a different side of the band...it was very straight ahead rock, but featured double guitar harmonies, with a third harmony played by Charles on bass..it was very cool, and it also rocked. And it was the only song that featured three part vocal harmonies...something Annie had mentioned that her agency hoped to hear more of from us...it was called "It's the Way It Should Be"..and so we decided on that song as the "B" side... Now that we knew what we would be doing...we practiced those songs for a day or two, and went back into the studio...only this time it was a new and improved studio.