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This is why I've been quiet for a while.

Twas a bit of a struggle, but now I can play my new EDB and now I know how to make the BR1600's drums work (anyone else notice they've mixed the kits as a left-hand drummer! :D).

I wrote this in 1994, in a sort of cathartic "let's write a long rambling thing exploring some stuff that's been getting in the way a bit". I wrote it with just an acoustic and was quite impressed with the result at the time. But I never expected to ever do anything with it.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I was looking for a song to do with the bass. I rootled around and found this amongst the more likely candidates. I showed Mrs R the lyrics and asked what she thought. She said "intriguing, what does it sound like?". So I played it to her.

"Give it a go" she said, condemning me to weeks of toil :D

It was my intention to record one guitar and the bass and then sing it to that. Somehow it just didn't have it like that though... So I went all "full-band" over it.

I haven't had to mix drums etc for ages, and it was a real trial. But I've learnt an awful lot while I was doing it.





EDIT1: You can find the full lyrics in Reply Number 25.
EDIT2: 01/03/2011 I've just hosted the mp3 at alonetone.com. It no longer appears in "Play all my songs" above my avatar. Use the Alonetone button in my sig below to play or download any of my songs.

Epic rock opera type stuff. Really well recorded and arranged. Tight and intense. I am only at 3:25, my lighter's in the air...my co-workers are giving me strange looks but I don't care. As it picks up again at 5:45 I go running through the never ending floor of my office like Fred Flintstones running by the same couch, table and lamp again and again...Tommy can you hear me? Meatloaf can you see me, feel me?

Amazing, absolutely amazing!! I love those doubled chugging rhythm guitars and the bass work was perfect.

Another listen!!

Mark

What Sandy said...........and he said it so well........I'll be back for another listen and more thought provoking analysis.............right now all I can say is ..........I'll be back, too noisy to listen and think right now, son and friend playing the Wii...........can't hear the epic-ness properly.......Damn this is good.....do I hear some Wishbone ash there, perhaps.........such a grand song

Wow...Monster of a song..I totally had Meatloaf in my head too. Very tight and high quality recording.

That bass sounds phenomenal and your vox sure keep us listening telling the whole story.

Freakin awesome man!!

Another quality performance from one of the top songcrafters, epic song with great story telling, will download for further enjoyment love it, loved it!!

I've been waiting for this since you said you started working on it. I saw you were posting a new song and was all exited. Downloaded it and put it on my mp3-player and went for a long walk.

Man that walk was easy !!!!

Epic prog combined with Knopfleresque lead guitar (from his good first album period). Shadows of Uriah Heep. Familiar chordprogressions ( D-C-G ?) combined with original twists and modulations (F-G-Bb-C-.....D ?) ... and syncopations and just fantabulous vocals !!!

And that brave but oh so brilliant naked ending !!!

This is a song I'm gonna listen to many many times !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, quite time finally......lets see what we have here............its proggy, its English folky, its jazzy (must be the bass), its syncopated which gives a proggy feel, I love the strat solo, punchy and really moving, its orchestral..... without sounding overblown....a little flute and it would sound Jethro Tullish, maybe........its dynamic.  crystal clear recording, hats off for the recording and mastering, very good job there......love the organ stabs here and there, really fills out the sound good, without overpowering.........A Minstrel in the Gallery kinda girth............girth, thats it, this has real girth......I keep hearing snatches that remind me of Rush..............I'll be back for another listen later on.......

Very impressive! Your voice reminds me of Chuck Negron (Three Dog Night) and Ian Gillan (especially from the "Jesus Christ Superstar" soundtrack).

Superb work, Andy! Great tune and performing. The drums sounds real and you have done fine job on programming! Just a fabulous post...

Kari

An AndyR post is always a treat, and always guarantees supreme quality.

This is a colossal piece of work, all cleverly pieced together and love the way it rises and falls throughout...real prog feel to my ears.

I can't single out anything that is outstanding, because it all bloody is, once again you keep setting the bar higher in terms of song writing, performance and production.

Six minutes passes very quickly when you get engrossed in something as fantastic as this!

FMGWABP

I'm running out of words to describe how impressive your music is, Andy. This is another masterpiece.

Regards,
  Steffen

Wow!  What a pleasure to be able to sit back and listen to a new work that has been so carefully put together.  You manage to keep control of it all the way through with great performances on all the parts.  Everything has got great tone and clarity.  A very believable drum track too. Congratulations for this accomplishment! 

can i say fmgwbp again

Thanks folks :)

Interesting hearing the various influences mentioned - most of them have been nailed now.

Meatloaf I couldn't hear at all, but then the missus went "yeah, it's like something off of Bat Out of Hell in places" - and I realised you guys meant the Jim Steinman arrangement etc... yeah it is a bit like that in places, hadn't noticed.

But BB nailed it right on the head:

Jethro Tull. I was right in the middle of a huge Jethro Tull patch when I wrote this. Minstrel In The Gallery, Passion Play, Aqualung, and Pibroch would all have had a bit of a hand in what I was trying to achieve.

And then Rush. I didn't know a great deal about them in 1994, but for the last six months or so I have had the entire Rush catalogue cycling round on my personal stereo. I must have listened to them an hour and a half a day, five days a week, since last summer. On my way into work I might be thinking about what was recorded/etc last night and listening to Rush to figure out how they did it. You would have thought I'd have got bored with them by now, but everytime I try taking them off the player I end up putting them back on the next day.

On the guitar solo, I deliberately set out to get as "Mark Knopfler" as I could. I even tested all three of my main strats to find out which did it best. And then I worked the part really hard to make it as Knopflery as possible (1st or 2nd Dire Straits album). I went for an MK approach originally because on later Jethro Tull, Martin Barre's playing sounds increasingly Dire Straits like (as Ian Anderson's voice deteriorated so all he could manage was MK-type singing).

If I could play flute it would have been on there! :D

Actually we were looking at flutes earlier today, thinking "how hard could it actually be?" I tend to stand on one leg at a mic-stand as well, always have, even before I knew he existed. I've even got the hair now (he hasn't!)... anyway, I decided against getting one at the moment - I'm still mastering this bass thing!

Anyways, glad you like it folks - I had fun doing it, even though it was hard work. I wasn't too sure that I'd got it right, that I'd managed to keep it interesting all the way through without overdoing it... and as usual, you post the minute you think you're done, and you're never quite sure whether it's any good anymore at that stage... But with a bit of re-assurance from the missus and you lot, it's really growing on me now, and I'm quite proud of the overblown thing that I put together back in 1994. Just writing it served it's purpose back then, but it's been 4 sheets of A4 I didn't know what to do with since then. Discovering that it actually works as a piece has been a bit of a bonus.

Quote from: AndyR on February 12, 2011, 08:55:22 AMThanks folks :)
And then Rush. ..... You would have thought I'd have got bored with them by now, but everytime I try taking them off the player I end up putting them back on the next day.

Thats my exact experience with Rush, I can't seem to ever get tired of them, the 1975 - 1982 era.......and I have been listening to them like this since 1975, growing up outside of Toronto Canada...they were our home band back then, they even played at our highschool.  I was listening to "Moving Pictures" just this morning in fact, they had a real infectious groove that is really hard to replicate.  One of those bands, you either love them or hate them, no inbetween with those guys.  I have a feeling they were influenced by "A Minstrel in the Gallery" era Tull, its just a theory of mine, no confirmation, but that album, especially the Title song, really seems to point the way to the Rush sound to my ears, and it came out in 1976, just when Rush were finding their sound.......You have crafted a song worthy of those influences for sure.  

Un-fuckin-believably  Awesome!!

Quote from: Bluesberry on February 12, 2011, 09:42:10 AM

Quote from: AndyR on February 12, 2011, 08:55:22 AMThanks folks :)
And then Rush. ..... You would have thought I'd have got bored with them by now, but everytime I try taking them off the player I end up putting them back on the next day.

Thats my exact experience with Rush, I can't seem to ever get tired of them, the 1975 - 1982 era.......and I have been listening to them like this since 1975, growing up outside of Toronto Canada...they were our home band back then, they even played at our highschool.  I was listening to "Moving Pictures" just this morning in fact, they had a real infectious groove that is really hard to replicate.  One of those bands, you either love them or hate them, no inbetween with those guys.  I have a feeling they were influenced by "A Minstrel in the Gallery" era Tull, its just a theory of mine, no confirmation, but that album, especially the Title song, really seems to point the way to the Rush sound to my ears, and it came out in 1976, just when Rush were finding their sound.......You have crafted a song worthy of those influences for sure.  

If you want to know all about RUSH. Pick up Beyond the Lighted Stage and the making of 2112 and Moving Pictures. I have them on Blu-Ray...Freakin Awesome like Andy R`s song!!

Good lord, this is a monster...  :o

Can't add much praise above what's already been said, although I think I catch the Tull vibe a bit more than Rush.

Epic.

What a great vocal performance. And a really well orchestrated tune.  I was leaning forward into the speakers, awaiting the next section eagerly.  Upright bass, you say?  Like the Knopflerish tone on the solo as well.

Great stuff.

Blooby

This is epic! Incredibly good playing, programming and production. It's worthy of any monster prog!

How long did you work on this? It's fabulous.

I was looking at an electric upright, which one did you get?

Great stuff Andy, as always a completely awesome track with stunning production. I definitely think you nailed Knopfler for the guitar solo, and the upright bass gives a wonderful rich feel to the track. This, coupled with the organs, give it an almost analogue/tapey feel and adds to the 70s/80s aura of the track. The vocals are superb as always, spot on and really well recorded.

Another fantastic track which sounds a bit like a musical economic treatise on the velocity of money. Could you post the full lyrics, I can only make out some of them?

I think the biggest positive from me is that although it is a long track, it just whizzes by when you play it. I've had it looping for a while now and it doesn't feel like a "long" track at all. Wonderful.

Cheers,

Nigel

Quote from: Ferryman on February 14, 2011, 04:29:14 AM... sounds a bit like a musical economic treatise on the velocity of money. Could you post the full lyrics, I can only make out some of them?

:D

That's quite amusing, Nigel, or it is now anyway, 16-17 years on.

Yes it does sound like that, and money was a little of the driving force behind it all at the time... but I wrote it as a debate between two suicides (and various other parties involved - the "who is talking when" in the lyrics is slightly confused, and I reasoned this was actually a good thing for what I was trying to represent - a desparate conversation in one person's head)... One of the suicides is the singer, the other one is talking to him from beyond the grave via the note left with the money. In my mind, the "Where is the money that I gave you" voice is someone else entirely, one of the people applying some of the stress, it's just a quick interjection though ("Gaze deep into the water" is back to a narrator almost).

It was very theraputic writing it. The alternative at the time was jumping in the river myself.

Although the "you can buy your way out if you've got the money you came in with" didn't have a direct literal relevance to my situation, it was kind of the answer for me: There is an alternative way out, and you've got the resources for it... so you don't have to use the "no alternatives" solution. (Importantly, which solution is which doesn't really matter - the message I got out of it was "don't die", but I'm equally happy if "buying your way out" means dying. As a listener myself all this time later, I'm happy to believe that "I have it here, a hundred and twenty pound" is the immediate precursor to his turning away and walking home or equally as a precursor to his slipping into the water)

HOWEVER! If none of this is what comes across to the listener, I not at all worried, it seems to be a story that tells itself in your own head, and the writer shouldn't be too fussed whether one person's story is exactly the same as another's...

I'm at work at the moment... I'll try and get the lyrics sorted this evening and respond to some other things I've spotted above, as well.

My goodness, this is a bit special! Powerful and subtle in equal measure, with some incredible changes that take the listener on a real journey of discovery. Every part of the instrumentation is beautifully performed and mixed. It has a huge, epic storytelling quality - rock opera / musical territory for sure. I agree with Sandy that there are some definite parallels with 'Tommy' in this. And that vocal is delivered with real skill and conviction. It's impossible to find fault or offer any constructive criticism, because it's as perfect as it could be. Onto listen number 2....

Here's the lyrics:

=================================
A Hundred and Twenty Pound - A A J Russe
=================================

Sewn into the lining of an overcoat I found
There was the princely sum
Of a hundred and twenty pound
Beside this welcome windfall there came a crumpled note -
Bear with me stranger
And I promise my overcoat

I watched the burning candle from seven through to eight
I tried to call the office
But it was way too late
I listened for the rolling of thunder in the hills
The tell-tale flash of lightning
But everything was still

And you can buy your way out
If you've got the money you came in with
Yeah you can buy your way out
If you've got the money you came in with

Where is the money that I gave you?
Your inheritance?
You spend it all on contracts
With people who make no sense
Gaze deep into the water
Underneath the arch
That's where you saw the body
And now you understand in part

You won't forget easily
The pale and bloated face of he who saved you
You won't forget easily
The contents of the crumpled note he left you
'Cause where you're going he has been
He's written back to say he's seen the queen
Of despair

You noticed how emphatically
He pointed out the bitch does not care

She will whisper in your ear
Slip into the water dear
Then the sods can keep their overdraft
Your wife and kids are catered for
They're better off with you no more
Slip into the water dear with me
We'll go swimming
It's not cold
With me you never will grow old
Sleep with me
We'll have some fun

And you read how emphatically
He warns you how despair does lie to one
And how her tale of giving up
Can almost sound as sweet as having won

Money in and money out
Management buy-out
Or should I wait for the earn-out?
Lord my hands are tied

Protect the mortgages
Keep up endowment policies
My pensions will be no use to me
If I decide to die

Round and round no money goes
Round and round and I don't know
Round and round and so it goes
Round and round and round and round and round

And you can buy your way out
If you've got the money you came in with

I have it here
A hundred and twenty pound

(26th March 1994)
=================

Cheery little bugger, isn't it? :D

Epic is right, and pro production all around.  I think an entire Broadway musical could be built around this.  On the one hand it sounds like modern Broadway rock, on the other hand this also has a bit of old Genesis, Peter Gabriel era, to it.  You could put white powder on your face, dress up as a purple bulgy mushroom, and jump around your living room while playing this.

Wow, this is a bit special!!
Wonderfully crafted song, the time and effort that must have gone into this sure got its reward.
One of them songs that needs a few listens to take in the full magnitude of it all.
In fact thats what I am going to do now :)

Songcrafting at its best, this must have given you some sleepless nights but is so worth it. I couldn't get near the production work on this. A definite download for when I get home.............Willie

Whoa ... this is EPIC ( Did ten people already say this?)
Tremendous production.

kb

Quote from: AndyR on February 14, 2011, 12:31:34 PMCheery little bugger, isn't it? :D

Wow, it's pretty intense. And very relevant for these times. Nice work sir.

My hearing is really bad so I can't make out most lyrics, so I only picked up on some of what this song was about. Having the whole lyrical content in front of me gives it even more depth. Glad you decided not to jump in btw.

Cheers,

Nigel

Just been reading back through the thread...

Flash Harry - the bass is a Stagg EDB. As far as I can make out it's about the cheapest you can get, but it beats some of it's more expensive "budget" competitors. It needed a bit of fettling - so far I've stuffed a sponge between the strings below the bridge (the piezos picked them up quite a bit) and filed the nut slots down. Apparently, if you can find a double-bass luthier prepared to work on an electric stick, then it could seriously benefit from a re-profiling of the fingerboard. I understand that it's got the traditional curvature but it hasn't got the sag in the board that a real bass would have on the bass side. Word is that fixing this (and re-profiling is a standard job on real instruments) would make it a lot easier to play. Right at the moment though I'm not really having many problems, so I've not chased this.

Apparently some of the early ones had battery-life problems, but mine seems ok. I'm on the second battery since buying it. The first was the one that was shipped in the box, and I've played it to death anyway. I absolutely love playing it.

Sound-wise, it's capable of sounding a lot more "acoustic" than this track shows - I ended up moving it away from the acoustic sound to satisfy the rock aspects of the song/mix.

Anyway, hours and hours of fun are to be had.... watch lampshades and doorposts when you're moving it about the house though!! At least I've finally got an instrument that makes my Gibson Explorer seem small... :D


About the song, though... interesting the other musical references getting mentioned.

A big interest in Jethro Tull, and then finally sitting through Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, got me into Genesis sometime in the 90s. I wasn't aware of the connection when writing this one back then - it was definitely "put the Ian Anderson hat on" - but when I was recording it it very much made me think of Gabriel-era Genesis. Even down to level of realising that I could write a little story to go on the album sleeve to paint the extra pictures that are in my mind...

eg, for reference, over the weeks while recording this, me and the missus watched the recent Dorian Grey and the recent Sherlock Holmes movies, both at my request because that's the mood I was in after a day's recording. Dark damp alleys, deserted river or canal sides, echo-ey arches under bridges... that sort of thing.

And The Who and Tommy reference is relevant as well - I finally got into them in the late 90s, after writing this, but I discovered that my own take on the kind of stuff that Jethro Tull and Genesis do is a LOT closer to what Pete Townsend does.

Quote from: des0free on February 14, 2011, 11:01:05 PM...this also has a bit of old Genesis, Peter Gabriel era, to it.  You could put white powder on your face, dress up as a purple bulgy mushroom, and jump around your living room while playing this.

hahaha, great image...I can see it now...........purple bulgy mushroom.........hahaha........I love oldschool prog.....

Hey AndyR, at the risk of repetition, magnificent track.  Very impressed with the drum programming, you really nailed them here - I haven't been game to tangle with the 1600 drums. 

Everything is top notch - powerful, beautifully recorded vocals, crystal clear guitars, killer bass (upright no less) - yep, another winner here.  The "rock opera" references ring true for me - JC Superstar, Tommy - this would be right at home in either!

Don't know how I missed this - and as everyone agrees, and epic piece of work in all regards!

AndyR You never disappoint. Outstanding!

An impressive production. Excellent engineering and performing. I can only dream of this.

Thanks folks :)

I've recently joined alonetone.com for hosting my mp3s. I've decided I'm going to use it to lighten the load on 64's servers :).

I've therefore removed the mp3 from the songcrafters server and used the singlemp3 widget in the OP of this thread.

This means that over the next few days this and other songs are going to be disappearing from my "Play all my songs" link above my avatar. You can get to a similar thing for all my songs by clicking the Alonetone button in my signature below (you might even leave comments there as a guest - it helps my stats! :D).

And Glenn - why?! Dream higher and harder :)

Quote from: AndyR on March 01, 2011, 03:50:17 AMI've recently joined alonetone.com for hosting my mp3s. I've decided I'm going to use it to lighten the load on 64's servers :).

It's Flash Harry's server really since he pays for it. But thanks for this. Our attachments directory currently has about 8,000 files totalling just over 20GB. So anything we can do to reduce the number of additional attachments added will help.

I hadn't looked very closely at alonetone before, but I just had a look now and it seems quite good. They don't seem to limit bitrate or file size, so you can post very high quality MP3s. And they don't hide the URL of the MP3, so you can link to it here with our [singlemp3] tags. The bitrate and file size isn't a problem for us if the file is offsite, so you can use as high of a bitrate as you like.

Quote from: AndyR on March 01, 2011, 03:50:17 AMThis means that over the next few days this and other songs are going to be disappearing from my "Play all my songs" link above my avatar.

Sorry about that. I hope to someday have a way for members to edit their jukeboxes and add songs that are stored offsite. In the meantime, I think the benefits of using alonetone (no filesize or bitrate limits, create playlists, track listener info, get comments from listeners, etc.) out-weigh the disadvantage of not having alonetone-hosted song posts in your Play All My Songs jukebox here at Songcrafters. So maybe some other members will follow your good example and start hosting their songs at alonetone instead of attaching them to their messages here.

Glad you like the idea 64 :)

Yes, I looked at alonetone the other day and nearly everything about it said "Come to me Andrew... you know you struggle with Soundclick..." :D

It hasn't got the interraction and support-group type of community we have here (their forum seems to have suffered a "punch-up" a few months back and hasn't recovered yet) - but I get all that side of things on here :)

But what it has got (and the fact I can almost seamlessly use them as host for what I want to do here) far outweighed any downside I could see. I'd also recommend folks from here to go and have a look/listen - there are some stunning artists over there, and some of us as well! :D

I'm personally not too worried about the "Play all my songs" not doing the job any more - there's the button in my sig if someone wants to listen to or download something. (Although it did cross my mind that for a cheap get-round you might be able to add a "Play all me songs" URL field in our profiles - if we leave it empty we get the songcrafters juke-box, if we supply a URL you link to that instead. Is that a possibility? No worries at all if not. I suspect it would break the original idea of everyone's avatar having a button with a consistent look-and-feel juke-box on it)

I'm gradually moving everything across. All that will be left will be the various challenges I got involved with a year or two ago...

Holy crap Andy... I totally missed this. Saw it on your selections for the new Juke... I musta been asleep at the wheel. This is sooo good in every way. Your production is soooo friggin good and the structure of this track is off the charts pro all the way. Your one helluva musician my friend. This Juke is going to be the bomb for sure.