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Place Without A Computer

by Bedford Level Experiment

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1.
It's too cold to go out, I'm tired of cartoons Nothing to read, got nothing to do Ten years old, 1983 Got false notions of misery Sit and dream of having my own My own computer in my bedroom I'm bored in my room, I got nothing to do I'd program it, make my own games Draw on graph paper, pixel each frame Create new worlds, a computerized brain Mazes and dungeons, dragons and kings Explore outer space, and the ocean below I'd never be bored, never oh no
2.
I'm seeing those games everywhere At the laundromat At the grocery store At Grandma's Restaurant But none at home This place without a computer At the corner store At the roller skating rink At the pool hall At the mall Why can't it be for me? I saw their phosphorus glow I saw the new worlds Places I've never been But always wanted to be At the hotel At the airport At the K-Mart At the Chinese take-out At the bowling alley
3.
You're watching paddles moving You're watching pixels bouncing In Sault Ste. Marie You're watching paddles moving You're watching pixels bouncing Sault Ste. Marie A couple girls are playing You're intensely watching Sault Ste. Marie Family trips weren't boring When everywhere we went New games to see Family trips weren't boring When everywhere we went New games for me Pong in their basement Hooked up to the t.v. Couldn't keep away Black & white didn't matter Monochrome forever 4 game variations Black & white didn't matter Monochrome forever I liked the hockey
4.
Rogue 02:20
Going to the dungeon, that's what they called it Down in the basement, at the university Going to play Rogue on the terminals Just 10 years old, my aunt brought me I just wanted to play % rogue Didn't know any other way Delving in the caverns, fighting all the monsters Searching in the corners, gathering the treasure I was looking for the Amulet of Yendor It must be down here somewhere Fighting with the vi movement keys Didn't seem a good idea to me Thunderstorms make the power flicker 20 minutes to reboot the server!?
5.
Hoping that I could play again I went over to a friend's Anticipation overwhelmed me Hoping didn't help, he played first Hardly ever gave me a turn Restarted every time he lost I want a turn, You get to play all the time But I watched him play Pitfall! And Cosmic Ark, it was the best of all Rescuing those strange little creatures Later he told me he finished the game Travelling far enough, the ending came The Ark had returned to earth
6.
Collecting the bottle caps, we needed all six Trying to spell Pac-Man, the C was hard to get I got my prize, a plastic yellow disc With four buttons, and in the middle a Vacuum fluorescent display The brilliant glow Pierced my soul I got Defender, on sale at Kay-Bee Toys Powered with four Ray-O-Vac batteries A variable speed control that would shift the pitch So many buttons, like hyperspace! Then Tron with light-cycles and throwing discs Defeating the MCP, without the help of Bit Playing an electronic game about a game inside the game Wrapping the score at 1,999
7.
We had a water main break at our school All the kids got sent home My parents were both at work So I got sent to a classmates' house And in the basement, they had an Atari 2600 I played Vanguard all afternoon long And when my parents got back home I didn't leave We had a gas leak at our school Another big evacuation My parents were both at work So I got sent to another kid's house And in the basement, they had an Atari 2600 I played Smurf's Rescue all afternoon long And when my parents got back home I didn't leave There was a blizzard during the day So they shut down the school My parents were both at work So I got sent to my buddy's house And in the basement, they had an Atari 2600 I played Fast Food all afternoon long And when my parents got back home I didn't leave
8.
After years of resisting my pleading & whining Saying no to me asking for an Atari An Intellivision, any game console Mom heard that a computer would be good Surely I could learn something from it Instead of just playing those games So it was decided, and Dad put in charge We went to Coles bookstore and there we found A Buyer's Guide for Computers We didn't buy the book, we just stood in the store Going to buy a computer today Going to buy a computer today Buying a Computer Dad looked through each model, comparing the price The cheapest one a Timex/Sinclair 1000 So back home we drove, to look in the phone book And called stores until we found who stocked it We drove to the store, the only dealer in town An albino with a crooked sneer smile "A consultation" in his dimly lit office To sell us a more expensive computer. Dad insisted we wanted the Sinclair Recalling the one thing he read in the guide "At 99 dollars, it could be considered The world's first disposable computer." Eventually the man relented and decreed That perhaps the Timex/Sinclair 1000 Was the best computer for us after all. So we bought it and brought it back home. Went and bought a computer today Went and bought a computer today Bought a computer!
9.
I brought home my first computer, hooked it up to the black & white t.v. Tiny flat membrane keyboard, set it on a desk my grandpa built The computer came with an instruction book; I read every page but needed more So my mom found a red-covered book: 101 Timex/Sinclair 1000 Tips & Tricks I typed in nearly every program, a virtual etch-a-sketch was my favourite And I learned how to input a string from the keyboard, and do IF/THENs This led to me making my first game on my own computer A text adventure where you typed in "north" or "east" Exploring a dangerous space station I worked on it for two days and never saved, because it couldn't save When I finally had to turn the computer off it was lost forever I came down with a horrible fever during this time So sick I couldn't go to school But I got out of bed and sat at my desk And programmed that machine for hours Mom brought me to the doctor to get me checked out She told him about the computer and how I wouldn't stop She wanted him to make me quit using that computer But he only laughed and said that wasn't the problem
10.
Unsaved 03:24
I loved my Timex/Sinclair But couldn't get it to save or load Hooked up a cassette recorder to it Through a rats' nest of cables Tried everything I could think of But nothing worked If I could save and load I could do so much more I'd make my dreams I asked my parents for help but They knew even less than I did So they asked friends & family My aunt said her boyfriend could So she brought me out to his place To take a look at it If I could save and load I could do so much more I'd keep my dreams And build them more He lived in a trailer surrounded By Volvos in various states of repair He tried for a while with no success either Then he showed me his VIC-20 And some programs that he made Like a program that calculated pi But we gave up on the Sinclair Couldn't get it to save or load Would have done so much more I lost my dreams They are no more Couldn't get it to save or load Would have done so much more I lost my dreams So I returned the computer today So I returned that computer today Had to return it
11.
Saved 05:17
Back, back to being bored No computer, empty desk Had my dreams, and then lost them "We'll get another," my parents said "We can look on our spring break trip." Down, down the road A 200 mile drive to Duluth Went to the Target, to buy a VIC-20 Almost bought it, but my parents saw The Commodore 64 had dropped in price "We'll get another", my parents said We bought the C-64 at Target I brought it back to the hotel, still sealed in the box So impatient, I wanted to play it Wanted to hook it up to the TV in the room But my parents were worried I'd break it, or set off some alarm So all I could do was read the User's Guide About how to type in programs to play Row Row Your Boat Or make a Commodore balloon fly across the sky I couldn't wait to go back home And back home we finally went Walking to the corner store to buy the new issue of Transactor or Ahoy! Riding my bike down the road to Zellers to buy Jumpman Junior on cartridge Typing in that balloon sprite demo from the Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide Bought a computer, my very own computer

about

Bedford Level Experiment’s debut full-length album, “Place Without A Computer”, is the true story of a young boy growing up in the 1980s, obsessed with video games and computers, but without one of his own.

The album takes us from the opening song, the lament “Bored In My Room”, through the eye-opening experience of seeing Pong for the first time in “Sault Ste. Marie”. From the ode to the earliest handheld games, “Vacuum Fluorescent Display”, and the first RPGs played on mainframe computer terminals in university basements, “Rogue”, to a tribute to the Block Parent’s helper, the Atari 2600, in “School Evacuation”.

Through the emotional highs and lows of the three-part retelling of purchasing and then being forced to return that coveted first personal computer, the Timex/Sinclair 1000. Finally, the album ends with a surprise happy ending, with the much more successful purchase of a second computer.

credits

released October 22, 2016

Music by Bedford Level Experiment
Lyrics, vocals, guitars, bass: Robin Harbron
Drums, keyboards: Rianna Harbron

Recorded & mixed by Robin at Zero Page Studios.
Mastered by Jon Törnblom at Transparent Mastering.

Cover photo: Robin
Cardboard computer: Ben
Layout: Darren Foulds

Thanks to:
Carla & family for putting up with us
Darren for the drum kit and love
Tim & Doug for the encouragement
Richard, Sam, Corey for the test listens

Inspiration thanks:
Midnight Oil for their album Place Without A Postcard
Cheezlekane for "64"
M.J. Hibbett for "Hey, Hey, 16K"
Richard Pepper for "I Can't Sing (Worth Beans)"
Rob O'Hara for “Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie”
T.C. Elliott and the rest of the FAWM gang for making it happen

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Bedford Level Experiment Thunder Bay, Ontario

Bedford Level Experiment makes sincere nerdrock, ranging from folk-rock to post-punk to shoegaze. We focus on creating concept albums around geek themes - procedurally generated Shakespeare lyrics, the sci-fi musings of John Wyndham, or growing up in the '80s as a computer nerd without a computer, for example. ... more

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