Still been feeling a little miserable. The mild depression has only just begun to lift and my day has been lived under the cloud. I thought it would pass quickly as these things usually do, but it was only until later in the day and some vigorous vacuuming that things didn’t seem that bleak.
Managed to record three noodly pieces for my ambient CD. There are called Mist on Stone, Mist on Water and Mist on Mist. They are three piano looped pieces using the RC-50 and are very calming. I have edited them together to create an elongated “Mist Suite”. How fricking pretentious. But when I listened to the reverbed piano, the only image I saw was shapes coming through the mist. So the name stayed. I like them a lot but I am sure others will find them deathly dull. Tough titty.
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Yesterday, we spent lunchtime at the pub, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Events of the past week have been weighing on me and I was a bit snappy. I vented. I vented and I vented. Luckily, The Missus has seen this impotent rage before and so just lets me clear my pipes before letting me apologise for my stupid outbursts. I’ve been fairly up recently, so yesterday can be classed as a bit of a downer. Thankfully the booze and the venting helped me feel a bit better – even though it was completely pointless.
After listening to the tracklisting of the vocal songs I have recorded so far, I have decided to stop the CD at 44 minutes. It’s a nice size and doesn’t outlive its welcome and there are six songs from the past and six songs from the present. This gave the CD a name: SIx of One, Half a Dozen of the Other. I like the symmetry.
So now I have three of the four CDs complete and mastered. The fourth CD is about half done with 30+ minutes of ambient noodlings in the can. The fourth CD is my usual “experimental” fare and I hope that each CD gives the listener a different aspect of my musicality. The boxset title has also changed now. It was going to be called “You Are Allowed to Enjoy This”, but that has been dropped for an old expression that my late grandmother used to say: “God Pays Debts Without Money”. It seemed kind of apt with the way life goes.
Now I’ve just got to do some more noodling – hopefully aided and abetted by the new RC-50 and get the artwork together. I nixed any idea of getting this done properly because the costings are beyond me. This is a great shame, but The Missus said that CD packaging is going to be a thing of the past and that everything is being delivered digitally anyway and that I was just being too fussy. She is right, of course. And so, I am going back to the old 4-DVD cases I used before because they give me the maximum space to fit in all the details. No booklet either, but that doesn’t matter because I’ll set up a webpage where the listener can come and read all the details and lyrics.
The funny thing is that I keep listening to CDs one and two and I am really enjoying them. I hate to have any pride in my work (because pride always comes before a fall) but the work and effort in these discs really shows and I feel that I have made more progress that I could ever have imagined. Yes, I honour my mistakes and leave them in for “freshness” and so that I get a sonic smack when I play these songs back. I just hope that I get some good feedback on this stuff. I don’t want money – I just want the odd person to say: “Hey – I really like this, Darren.” That’s not much to ask, is it?
Meanwhile at Chez Lock, I opened the curtains to be greeted by this sight…
Don’t worry, this giant spider was captured by yours truly and released back into the wild.
Yesterday, spent the morning re-recording an old song of mine called “Gone”. Revitalised the original music tracks and remixed it, before adding a new vocal. Also, added a new vocal to “Mr Straight” where I managed to channel the spirits of Mike Reid and Ian Dury. Throat was a little hoarse after that.
Later in the evening, I sat down to re-record the drum loops for “Age of Communication”. The original loop, which you heard the other day, was actually nicked from a commercially available song and was used as a guide rhythm. And so I had to sit down and recreate the rhythm myself, which is a bit tough when you are not a drummer, but I managed to pull something out of my arse which was suitably driving and ramshackle at the same time.
I now have 44 minutes of vocal songs in the can for the third CD. The Missus recommends that I stop after the next tune – afterall, an hour of me warbling is probably torture. Thinking hard about reviving my first ever recorded song “Electric God”, but I am worried that I won’t be able to get the same drum track. Need my old Alesis HR-16B back. This is the problem with recording stuff and then moving on – you end up thinking “I really like that drum machine” and then realising it sold it over a decade ago. I am sure I can come up with something…I still need that pet drummer in a cage. That would make recording a little easier.
Here’s a clever video that is doing the viral rounds at the moment. It’s the band OK Go with “Here it Goes Again”, which is reminscent of those smart videos we used to get in the 1980s when the medium was still young and full of creative vigour:
Here’s something different. I thought I’d start doing some retrospective reviews and today I just happened to decide on putting these two records on my MP3 player while I walked Alex the Wonderdog.
The first rock band I ever got into was Queen. I think it might have had something to do with my raising in the 1970s and listening to Radio One over breakfast and hearing the hits of the band played with frightening regularity. Neither of these albums were my first proper Queen purchase – that honour goes to “Greatest Hits” and then “The Works”.
Queen – Queen
I listened to this album today and it was the first time I had given it a spin in a couple of years. I managed to bag a cheap version of “The Crown Jewels” boxset a few years back which contains a remastered version of this album. Instantly, the opening chords of “Keep Yourself Alive” took me back to being a withdrawn 13-year-old and the many times I had spun this album in my bedroom. In those days, I never bought LPs, preferring tapes. The reason for this was that our old house in Alber Road was so damp that in a matter of weeks, any LP was reduced to a crackly mess. So cassette tape was my weapon of choice and I can still remember buying Queen on cassette.
I was on a family holiday to Jersey in the Channel Islands with my grandparents. They always took me away during the majority of my teenage years and I purchased the cassette in Boots The Chemist in King Street for £3.05. This was at the beginning of a two-week holiday and I didn’t have a Walkman and the longing to hear the tape was burning a hole in my ears. My nan suggested that I should ask the Portuguese family who ran the hotel we were staying to play the tape over their PA system, so that I could listen to it. But I was too shy to ask and I waited until we got home.
Good job I did as the tape itself had been loomed into the casing the wrong way, meaning that on playback you heard the whole thing backwards. Subliminal messages ahoy! But this meant I had no album and there were no other large Boots The Chemists in the locality that sold music. So I had a further wait until we had a family day-out at Southend where my mum exchanged the tape for a fresh, working copy. Aahhhh, the good old days – I waited about five weeks to hear that album. Now we can download music at the click of a mouse – but you try and tell the younger generation and they won’t believe you!
So back to the review. The first Queen album is the sound of a young band trying to find themselves – it is incredibly rough in places, but I think that adds to the charm. Some of the ideas are just “out there” – “My Fairy King” for example, though I’ve always loved “Great King Rat” as it reminded me of my own errant father and shared the same birthday and sentiment. What always captured my imagination is the playout of the proto-demo version of “Seven Seas of Rhye”. I was already familiar with the proper version, but how amazing was this band that they put a preview of a future song at the end of an album. That was just brilliant in my book.
There’s a lot to like about “Queen” and what it lacks in production, it makes up for in charm and sheer energy. Some of the songs on this are better served on the “Live at the Beeb” album that was released in the early 1990s, but it is an important record, especially if you listen to it back to back with its successor.
Queen II
This is a completely different prospect. Here is a record by a band that now has confidence and a vision of what it wants to achieve in the studio. But is this a progressive rock record? I think it is because there is some kind of concept behind it, from the Black/White sides to the song cycle on the second side that starts with an “Ogre Battle” and ends with “Funny How Love Is”. I can’t get over just how good this record is. You can even hear the conception of the Queen sound shaping before your ears – with “The Fairy Fellers Master-Stroke” and “The March of the Black Queen” showing that the band were interested in creating walls of operatic sound and not afraid to screw about with the stereo field. Get your hands off than pan control, Deacon! And it finishes with a fully realised “Seven Seas of Rhye” – its almost as if the first album was a dry-run for this, the real deal.
What’s great when you listen to these two classic albums together is that you can actually hear the band growing and that’s quite unusual in rock. Usually bands break onto the scene fully fledged and its not until you listen to their fourth or fifth subsequently released platter than you detect any development. But with these two records its a steady progression which continues onto “Sheer Heart Attack” and culminates in their magnum opus “A Night at the Opera”. It’s really tough, but with the benefit of retrospect, I am beginning to think that Queen II might just be my favourite record of theirs purely because of the embyonic ideas within.
Again, there are bits of this album that are truly brilliant, like the opening instrumental “Procession” where Brian May manages to coax a tone from his guitar the likes of which have never been heard of before. It is earthy and kind of alien, but provides a suitable introduction to the crashing “Father to Son” – a song that always has an effect on me (or any song dealing with fathers and sons, for that matter). I like the way that the first side is more of a classic rock album before every wigs out with the backwards experimental nightmare that starts side two and “Ogre Battle”, a song that delights with every listen – can you hear the ogre ripping the man’s arms off. Great!
The final song cycle on the record is just inspired and the level of detail and the amount of ideas bouncing around truly are a portent of things to come. The next thing you know the record is over and you are wanting more. And then there’s the iconic cover from Mick Rock where Freddie and the band do a Dietrich. A bona fide classic.
Managed to tart up and fix “Don’t Want to Be Found” the other day. It’s new name is “Over It Now” and the vocals have been redone and some bass drum added to the mix. These are never the final mixes I post here – I wouldn’t want you to think that this is how this songs are going to end up on the new CD. No, there are rough mixes and very often I re-record the vocal guides and nail down my wavering voice.
I’m not a particularly big Beatles fan, but I understand their value and contribution to popular music. My favourite ever Beatles track is “Tomorrow Never Knows” – purely because it is the first progressive pop record. I’ve always wanted to do a homage and last night I sat down to record the backing for “Age of Communication” – a direct rip of that track. OK – I hope all you staunch Beatles fans won’t throw bricks at me – this was created out of love. This is a rough mix and the lyrics are below, so you can don your favourite Beatles wig and adopt a Scouse nasal drone…
Direct download: CLICK HERE
The Age of Communication
Turn off your phone, sit down and read a book
This is just chit-chat, this is just small talk
Being on the train does not constitute a reason to dial
This is just trivia, not that important
You might chat on the Internet to your friends
During work hours, when you should be working
The need to share every mundane moment of your life
Is just futile, is just stupid
Surrender all, surrender to the void
Pointless communication, strong irritation
Where mobile phones and text speak is the norm
A world where no-one is left alone
The self-importance of your call is king
You are paying, you are wasting
Limit the need and cast your eyes within
Then you’ll be knowing, slightly less showy
This age of communication that we live in
Is just the beginning, is that your phone ringing?
Is just the beginning, is that your phone ringing?
Productive couple of hours before lunch saw me pen the following little ditty. OK – I am the first to admit that I am not the world’s greatest songwriter and I find it hard to fit lyrics to tunes, but I think this one has some spirit. It’s called “I Don’t Want to Be Found” and the lyrics are below so you can sing along.
Direct download: CLICK HERE
I Don’t Want to Be Found
What happens if you go to ground?
They come looking for you
But you don’t want to be found
Things have changed
I don’t want to know
I am over it now
Won’t let my feelings show
I’ve been hurt
So hurt
And I’m tired of the same old,
Same old, same old pain
When I wanted you there
You were never around
Don’t come looking for me
I don’t want to be found
I’m lost
Adrift on my sea of troubles
I’m lost
Alone to face my fears
The same old situation
Goes round in my head in heavy rotation
I’m at my best when left alone
Tongue-tied and word-blind in desperation
Just let me go
I told her how it was
And she gave me strength to let go
And forget the pain
Time is the healer
But the scars remain
I’m over it now
There’s not much more to say
You’re twenty years too late
So stay away
As someone who sells items on eBay quite a lot, I use the services of the Post Office and I often sit at home weighing letters and padded envelopes for transit around the UK. Today, a guide arrived to explain how from the end of August, the way we pay for postage is changing. The size as well as weight is going to affect how much we pay. I sat and stared at the brochure over breakfast and fell into a stupor. Maybe I am being thick, but I don’t get it. A small packet is bigger than an envelope and therefore heavier. That is fact. So I don’t understand why the size has much to do with the overall cost because size and weight are exponentially connected. I tried to do the math and worked out that there’s a possibility that the Royal Mail are attempting to screw another 20p out of us for this service. So instead of sensibly increasing prices, they spend god know how much money printing posters and leaflets to be distributed nationwide, telling us of this hidden price hikes. Goodness me, another waste of money where that saving could have been used to keep the cost at normal rates. But this is the UK – a nation preoccupied with wasting money and creating large inneffective structures in the name of customer service. Anyone remember how much cash was wasted on the whole Consignia debacle? The sooner they open up postal delivery to the market forces, the better.
Last night, I recieved a mysterious email from a chap called “G” asking about my music. Nothing weird about that because I often get a couple of emails a year thanking me for the tunes. The odd thing was that the name was a little familiar and so I went back to Friendsreunited and re-affirmed that “G” is also the name of my half-sister’s current squeeze. If he’d been John or David, I might not have noticed. Of course, I might just be a little paranoid (I blame the new neighbours) and this fellow is perfectly innocuous. They are coming to take me away – aha!
On a musical note, the Boss RC-50 is turning out to be quite a useful tool. I was expecting it to be used purely for creating soundscapes and looped ambient music, but I have discovered that it can also be used as a natty, on-the-fly compositional tool. So now I hit the loop button and record some chords, then overlay a slight melody and then use this as a template to solo. Below is another example. Of course, this isn’t a serious tune, but an insight to how I come up with guitar solos. I normally improvise until I find something I like and then refine the idea with a honest dollop of musical spit and elbow polish.
Direct download: CLICK HERE