The Real World (1988): A Rock Album by Gary Marks, with Stef Burns and Paul McCandless
The Real World is a rock album written and recorded by Gary Marks, American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and author of The Dance and the Diamond Sky. The Real World was never distributed through professional channels.
NOTE: The original 1988 vinyl LP was pressed in an edition of about 100 copies. Several songs were later added to the above digital edition.
Press Coverage of the Title Track
NOISE11: “Gary Marks Revisits Lost Albums With Release Of ‘Sky High’ And ‘The Real World’,” June 2026
Noise11’s Paul Cashmere connects “The Real World” to the larger story of Gary’s archival rediscovery through Crossroads, identifying the song “The Real World” as the title track from an unreleased 1988 album.
Popdust: “Gary Marks Unearths Long-Lost Single ‘The Real World’ With a Remarkable Story Behind Its Recording,” June 2026
“For five decades, Gary Marks has written songs about power, compassion, democracy, and freedom internally and externally, themes that feel strikingly current in 2026.”
— Popdust
A 1988 Rock Album Featuring Paul McCandless of Oregon
The Real World (1988) — featuring jazz great Paul McCandless (of the jazz group Oregon). Of course, it was always amazing to work with Paul, one of the greatest musicians in jazz history. But then there is a side story worth mentioning about the drums: All the drum parts were arranged, programmed, and played by me on my “super modern,” now ancient Roland drum machine.
My goal was to have the tracks sound like they were played by a "live" drummer. I think it sounds pretty realistic, even now. See what you think!
In fact, I have a funny secret to tell you: I used that same 25-year-old drum machine for a few tasty "techno" drum fills on my No Turning Back album, released in 2013. I'm definitely getting my money's worth from that little gray box.
A few other memorable things about The Real World:
Joining me on back-up harmonies were Teresa Trull, and Vicki Randle. That was really fun! And Stef Burns played the electric guitar parts. He is a wizard! Stef eventually went on to work with the Alice Cooper Band, Narada Michael Walden, and so many others.
A truly great recording engineer from L.A., Ricky Sanchez, asked to be the recording engineer for one of my sessions. So I chose the song, For Molly's Sky. I told Ricky beforehand that I wanted to sing and play the song at the same time (live) and just get one good take. I came into the studio and something magical happened. Ricky had moved the piano to the middle of the room, mics were set up all around the piano, the lights were dimmed, a vase of flowers was on a tall stool next to the piano, and headphones had been placed on the piano seat. I put them on and started to sing and play for a sound check and it felt like I was singing at the Oakland Coliseum. I started laughing. Ricky said, "Ready when you are," and I said, "Okay, roll it."
After the first take I sat down with him to listen. Then I said, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is, that's the take. The bad news is I don't get to do it over and over again." Ricky became one of my favorite engineers to work with.
Recorded Entirely for Free
My most interesting memory about The Real World was that it was recorded entirely for free. The story goes like this: I met this girl at a party. Her name was MaryAnn Zahorsky. Her boyfriend introduced me as a great piano teacher. She told me she was studying music at UC Berkeley and would love to take lessons from me but that she couldn't afford it. So I decided to challenge her. I said, "Don't worry about the money. Just show up, I dare you!" She did. And I taught her for free for over a year.
Fast forward three years later. She calls me out of the blue and tells me she's now a recording engineer at Alpha Omega Studios in the city. She asks me if I'm writing new songs for my next album. I said yes. She asks me, "Are you willing to record at odd hours if I can get you a good rate?" I said, "What kind of rate are you talking about?" And she said, "Zero dollars an hour. Just show up, I dare you." And that's how I recorded The Real World for free. MaryAnn was awesome, both as a friend and as an engineer. MaryAnn recorded all the tracks except For Molly's Sky.
Many of the songs were mixed by MaryAnn's friend, the great LA engineer, Moira Marquis. I still love the way The Real World sounds to this day.