Amnesty (1999)

"TWBA mixes hypnotic guitar riffs, dynamic arrangements and Mary Beth Kite's versatile vocals into a musical Cuisinart that spits out some engaging rock 'n roll... Amnesty is a satisfying contemporary rock CD. The band has developed a cohesive sound that pays tribute to its influences without sounding particularly derivative. It's an album that I can put on without ever wanting to reach over and skip a track. Definitely a worthwhile album for those who like their rock with a little edge to it."
-- Wayne Ellis, The Every Other Weekly, Feb. 10-23, 2000

"The noise of the Whole Bolivian Army isn't the ominous stomping of boots on dirt, Paul Newman and Robert Redford's sweat making wet splats in the dust as their fate approaches in a flurry of gunfire. This Whole Bolivian Army is from Seattle, not South of the Border, and dispatches a crisp-as-Wasa-bread power-pop sound, spread with a touch of honey and butter for added sweetness. 'Modern rock' -- that is, the left-of-center pop mode that predated "alternative" -- is a descriptor that springs immediately to mind. Mary Beth Kite's throaty, vibrato vocals slither over resonating guitar chimes, and elastic bass lines alternately recall the Sundays and 10,000 Maniacs."
-- John Graham, Willamette Week, Jan. 7, 2000

"The key to any creative act, whether baking cakes, building model airplanes, or making music, is to improve with each endeavor. With Amnesty, The Whole Bolivian Army have succeeded in this, smoothing out many of the glitches that made 1998's Spinner an enjoyable but inconsistent record. Mary Beth Kite's clear, high voice, which grated on some of Spinner's tracks, sounds much more relaxed and confident. She still glides through mid-tempo songs such as 'Wake Up,' but she handles the faster songs much more capably. TWBA play guitar-based, melodic, modern pop music with brains. Their songs are all about something, rather than mouthing pleasant generalities; many of the lyrics on Amnesty seem to deal with people trapped in no-win situations. 'A Thousand Miles Away' is a simple, impossibly sad tale of a relationship splintered beyond hope of repair. 'Party on the Prairie' is hilarious, skewering any romantic notions of an idyllic life in the old American West. Featuring the most dysfunctional family since the Ramones' 'We're a Happy Family,' it'll prevent you from watching 'Little House on the Prairie' for weeks. As always, Matt Kite's sure-footed guitar work is the core of TWBA's instrumental sound. On several tracks here, he seems to hit a groove just as the song fades out. Still, that's a minor quibble. Amnesty shows a band hitting its stride."
-- Robert Allen, The Iconoclast, Fall 1999

"Great big wonderful things do come in small packages -- proves front woman Mary Beth Kite of The Whole Bolivian Army (TWBA). Unlike the soft, girly-like vocals saturating the airwaves these days, Mary Beth delivers something beyond an extraordinary ability, she delivers passion."
-- Stacy Emerson, Tacoma Reporter, Nov. 18, 1999

"'Ah-Ah-Ah' is the greatest song I have ever heard. The whole album is pretty."
-- KEXP's John Richards, Pandemonium Online, Oct. 26, 1999

ALBUM CREDITS: MB, vocals, percussion; Matt Kite, guitar, vocals, keyboard, percussion; Jay Perry, bass; Dave Warburton, drums, percussion. Produced by Scott Ross and TWBA. Preproduction and arrangements by Claude Flowers and TWBA. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Scott Ross at Hanzsek Audio (Seattle, WA). Cover photo courtesy of Scott Ross. Music by TWBA. Lyrics by Matt Kite. © 1999 Gargantuan Records/TWUBBA Music (ASCAP).

SOUND SAMPLES
You can listen to free song samples from Amnesty at Giant Radio and MySpace.

TRACK LIST
1. Too
2. Split Rail
3. Absolutely
4. Amnesty
5. Big Frank
6. Crack in the Tree
7. Party on the Prairie
8. Ah-Ah-Ah
9. Death of a Thief
10. A Thousand Miles Away
11. Wake Up
12. Indian John Hill

STUDIO JOURNAL
here

VIDEO
"Party on the Prairie" live at Graceland
Filmed by Don Chisholm

Too

too unkempt for myself
for my way
to the broken glass in my room
in my way

you won't find me
you won't find me
you won't find me anywhere

I wash the mud away
the mud, the mud away
I wash the mud away
the mud, the mud away

too much muddle for me
for my head
too much trouble to repeat
what I said

you can't hold me
you can't hold me
you can't hold me anymore

I wash the mud away
the mud, the mud away
I tried to get clean
to clean the things I've seen

I tried to make it straight
I tried to make it right
to take the gray
and turn it black and white

to the spoken word
I lost my past, I lost the truth
too much wasted breath
to break the cast holding you

I can't see you
I can't see you
I can't see you anywhere...

Split Rail

snow underneath studded tires
it follows me as the road goes higher
I've never been in -- I've never seen a white out before

headlights plow a line of sight
they show me how to pray tonight
I found out
I found God
I found everything buried in white

summer's long gone
suddenly
I can't feel the road I'm on
suddenly

horizon fades, shrinking silhouettes
the split rail thins around the furrowed fields
I tunnel inside the frozen cloud
I watch the flakes swirl on the windshield

headlights plow a line of sight
they show me how to pray tonight
I found out
I found God
I found everything buried in white

summer's long gone
suddenly
I can't feel the road I'm on
suddenly
I take my foot off the brake
suddenly
I know I can stay awake
suddenly

Absolutely

I'm from L.A
I love the rain
I love the way the farmers walk

I'm from New York
I love that town
I love the way the cowboys talk

I know you know
you know me
absolutely, you can see me
I'm not from here
I'm not me
I crashed this party
and now I flee thee

I'm from the south
way up south
I broke my arm in North Dakota

I'm headed west
to the rising sun
I bought the farm in East Virginia

I know you know
you know me
absolutely, you can see me
I'm not from here
I'm not me
I crashed this party
and now I flee thee

I'll keep the light on
I'll keep the fight up
I see the way you look at me
you've got your guard down
I'll keep my pants on
despite the way you think of me

I'm from the country
in front of me
you can still see where I was buried

I'm from the city
wild, open city
you can see the stars like crazy

I know you know
you know me
absolutely, you can see me
I'm not from here
I'm not me
I crashed this party
and now I flee thee

Amnesty

at night when I lie awake
I feel your heart beat to survive
you're a thousand miles away
and I pray you're still alive
I sent you a letter
but they wouldn't let you read it
and I sent food for you
but they wouldn't let you eat it

love, my leader, it's strange
I saw you with her, and I changed

you swore by your God
that the truth would not burn
you held your head up high
as the verdict was returned
you can't chew your food anymore
or walk in a straight line
but you stood up for us all
as we waited for a sign

love, my leader, it's strange
I saw you with her, and I changed
I led them to you, you see
I hoped they'd break you, then me

you never thought about your family
or what this might do to us
the boys, they try not to hate you
but they've learned to tell lies and to cuss
We wait for you...

at night when I lie awake
I try to imagine your cell
I sleep on the cold hardwood
and dream about your hell
I wonder if you know
I'm the one who turned you in
I never thought they'd take you
now I know my sin

love, my leader, it's strange
I saw you with her, and I changed
I led them to you, you see
I hoped they'd break you, then me

Big Frank

you need what I don't have
you want what I can't give
you see what I don't say
and I don't know...

if I can change all you can take
if I can bend but not break
(two rivers run inside of me
I dam the one that swallows me)

I don't want to cut you down
I don't want to break us down
I don't want to make you cry
you don't want to wonder why
we don't want to tear this down

'cause we can't change your secret sin
but we can bend in the wind
you can change
your secret's safe
you can bend... you can bend
(two rivers run inside of me
I dam the one that swallows me)

Crack in the Tree

I threw
I threw my love away
I threw
I threw the letter away
I feel
I am
I feel like a fool

I wish I had a second chance
I would not run away
I wish I had a second chance
I would not run away

the tree
I stare at the crack in the tree
look at me
there's no one left but me
I feel
I am
I feel like a fool

I wish I had a second chance
I would not run away
I wish I had a second chance
I would not run away

Party on the Prairie

here comes Laura down the hillside
she's got hornets in her bonnet
she's screaming through the gap in her teeth
buck teeth

here come five desperate people
they throw parties with no laughter
and someone's really angry with you
what's new?

soon we'll be away from here
we'll run so far away from here

I think Mary's got the fever
I think Charlie's got the cancer
thank God for the leaches we found
we're cured

there's a fire in the barnyard
there's a fire in their hearts
thank God they help us live out our lives
we're spared

soon we'll be away from here
we'll run so far away from here

here comes Laura down the hillside
she's got hornets in her bonnet
she's screaming through the gap in her teeth
buck teeth

here come five lonely people
they throw parties for each other
they're coping with their problems again
again...

Ah-Ah-Ah

I wanted to be you
I wanted to feel what if feels like to be you
I wanted to beat you
I wanted the world to watch me while I beat you

ah-ah-ah...

(Thomas) Mann would have loved you
with your blue eyes and your blonde hair
he would have loved you

ah-ah-ah...

ooh -- I love you
ooh -- you love you

I wanted to meet you
I wanted to see what you see
but I already know you
there's nothing inside you
it's all on the outside and that's fine
I guess I love you

ah-ah-ah...

Death of a Thief

let me feel this on my knees
I've always hated what's good for me

all my life now
I've run from you and my own fate
so I'm shaking now
you've come to steal the life I made

do you feel the man?
can you see who I am?

let me see her one last time
I've always loved her
she was good to me

I dreamed I saw you here
but you were the one in chains -- not me
and Allah spoke to me
he told me I should set you free

do you feel the man?
can you see who I am?
will you feel any pain?
can you ever be the same?

A Thousand Miles Away

the truth -- it's simple
it's sitting in front of me
just sitting in front of me

won't you be true to us?
and say goodbye to me?
just say goodbye to me

you won't be happy
'til you're a thousand miles away
a thousand miles away

what am I to do?
what am I to do with you?

Wake Up

sweet morning kiss
on my breath
on my lips
falling hard
falling fast
on my life
to the last

sweet morning rays
on my skin
on my face
trusting you
trusting me
in my heart
I am free

wake up
wake up, boy
I saw you dreaming
I heard you speaking
something's haunting you
I felt you crying
I held you screaming

sweet morning kiss
on my breath
on my lips
falling hard
falling fast
on my life
to the last

wake up
wake up, boy
I saw you dreaming
I heard you speaking
something's haunting you
I felt you crying
I held you screaming

something's wrong
but I don't know what
If you don't talk to me
we'll never sleep

sweet morning lost
in the scream
in the cost
shaking you
shaking you
in the dark
please come to

wake up
wake up, love
I saw you dreaming
I heard you speaking
something's haunting you
a voice somewhere low
coming from the radio

I can hear the bells ringing
hear the pigeons scatter
I can see the church glowing
hear the old town clatter
we're golden in the sun
golden in your sun
our eyes shimmer like the sea...

Indian John Hill

the sky's frozen still
grey against the steel
I found my lover still
asleep against the wheel

across the broken hills
stone against water
I found my lover's hill
the engine running hotter

he told me
"be still, be free"
he holds me
we run on empty
I'm falling
today, too fast
I'm dreaming
one more, one last

the valley cannot hold
a storm we've never seen
I see the clouds unfold
come to wash us clean

inside a frozen truck
he's got no heat to spare
we've always been stuck
somewhere next to nowhere

he told me
"be still, be free"
he holds me
we run on empty
I'm falling
today, too fast
I'm dreaming
one more, one last