Rock Opera / Concept Album: The Picasso Album (working title)

[FuzzFace]

Hi Folks.  As I mentioned before, I was off on vacation.

I'm glad to see this has been moving!

And of course I am open to tweaks or rewrites of the lyrics.

I myself am not yet 100% happy with what I have written so any improving or polishing will be a good thing.

Regarding the question of opera versus concept album, in my mind it's a story, but told as emotional responses as opposed to plot developments.  I have plot developments in mind but I am not explicitly making them clear in the lyrics.

I'm glad you are finding inspiration in them.  I will continue posting some more soon.

[Bluesberry]

I've started thinking about/working out a rough outline for my treatment of "Barcelona Beach", so far the lyrics have stayed relatively untouched, just a few words here and there to make it easier to sing.  I'll say it again, great lyrics Fuzz.  Stay tuned I have a feeling its gonna be a whopper when I am finished with it.

[FuzzFace]

I've started thinking about/working out a rough outline for my treatment of "Barcelona Beach", so far the lyrics have stayed relatively untouched, just a few words here and there to make it easier to sing.  I'll say it again, great lyrics Fuzz.  Stay tuned I have a feeling its gonna be a whopper when I am finished with it.

I'm highly looking forward to hearing it!
And thank-you, your comments about my lyrics are really encouraging!

[FuzzFace]

Here is a new one:


The Old Guitarist

You could be me
and would that make me you?
Had I been born in another time
would all that's old be new?

It was never meant to be this way
times they change / this time has been so blue
people see themselves in you
and in all the pain you've been through

If you went home where would that be?
"My home I carry with me
everything I have is a gift
the world is a bountiful tree"

If you could give the world one gift
then what would that gift be?
"I would give the world what it needs most:
the ability to see"

Need a man be blind to teach the world to see?
Need a man be shackled in order to be free?
Is a life the price of living?  I can get down on one knee
If I do all I can, will I be all that I can be?

[Ferryman]

Should've kept my eye on the thread here, been busy over the weekend. I think Henwrench's idea of posting individual versions is great, that gives me an idea of how the artist(s) wants them to sound. The idea of the "single" producer is more to give all the finished tracks a similar mastering feel and volume level at the end of the process so it really is an album, rather than just a collection of tracks.

And Dave is right, I will probably be very slow anyway.........

Cheers,

Nigel

[Kenneth]

Nigel, do we send you the entire song folder from the BR or can we mix a bit and send a few tracks mixed. Sorry to be absent minded ,but still learning this stuff.
Usually I take the file from the usb folder on the BR after mixing and convert it to an MP3. Do you want vocal racks seperate, or can we mix drums in etc.?

[Geir]

I suggest that those with MBRs and BR800s send Nigel the ARRANGE2.BR0 file for the drums. And links to wav-files for the rest. In my experience that's the best way to do collabs.

 A little waring regarding mp3's. Tho they are small enough to send by mail, and quality can be good enough if using 192kbs+ bitrate, they often result in an unwanted timeshift. If you compare a wav file from the br with a mp3 of the same often the mp3 have a delay with respect to the wave-file.

[Ferryman]

I suggest that those with MBRs and BR800s send Nigel the ARRANGE2.BR0 file for the drums. And links to wav-files for the rest. In my experience that's the best way to do collabs.

 A little waring regarding mp3's. Tho they are small enough to send by mail, and quality can be good enough if using 192kbs+ bitrate, they often result in an unwanted timeshift. If you compare a wav file from the br with a mp3 of the same often the mp3 have a delay with respect to the wave-file.

Geir's right, I will need the wav files and drum arrangements separately so I can mix everything from the same basic tracks you all have. I can't produce stuff if I only have a stereo mix of your final output, and mp3 format will lose significant quality, so we need to work in wav format. Use the BR Wave Converter to extract all the .wav files - if you do "bounces" along the way, make sure you make copies of the tracks you bounced. So for example, if you have bass, two tracks of guitars, keyboards and two vocal tracks all on the MBR, I would want the six individual .wav files for each track, not a mix of all six tracks, nor a mix of four instrument tracks and the two vocal tracks.

If you use the BR drums, you can either send me the ARRANGE2.BRO file or you can record the drums onto a stereo pair of tracks and send me the .wav files.

The wav files are very big, so we will need to use a file sharing site. I use SkyDrive, which is free and works well. If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me.

Cheers,

Nigel

[FuzzFace]

Some of you are inspired and ready to start or have already started working with my lyrics.  

This is cool however they are still a work in progress.

If there are lines that are hard to sing or don't sound good, feel free to PM me and let me know... I myself am not 100% happy with the lyrics at this stage so I would be happy to do some additional polishing.

I am still revising the stuff I posted earlier and will be posting a Version 3 of everything shortly.

[FuzzFace]

Earlier, I posted "Salome" in a stream-of-thought format however I am breaking those lyrics into a few songs.

Here is...

Blind Minotaur (Led By A Girl)

An angel
guides me with her staff
where I come from
no one ever laughs

Awakening
from my state of dormancy
muscles contract
like machinery

This world
is too bright to see
I was born today
will you give me what I need?

Will you feed me
pet me like an animal
wean me and teach me
the tricks I need to know?

I adore you
my life is in your hands
Do I please you?
I am merely dust and sand

But the sun it burns
and the ground it quakes
you know what you want
but do you know what's at stake?

These chains that bind me
could so easily break
I'll pitch all that's in my path
into the fiery lake

When I open my eyes I can't see you
for all that I know I could be you
the place where I'm from is darker than this
I hate to think ignorance is bliss

My love burns like fire
Fire is the end / Fire is death
The hottest fire is invisible
We learn with our final breath


* * *

Here is the painting it was based on:
http://nonsensegrandcentral.com/?p=128