Way back into Love (from the film Music and Lyrics)

[AndyR]

I was just posting something in the songwriting section and I suddenly remembered I meant to post this the other day.

Who's seen "Music and Lyrics" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore? My wife saw it in the cinema with some friends. They were all convinced I'd love it, but I was very, very doubtful about it indeed.

Then she got it on DVD, ages ago now, and we must have watched it 4 or 5 times in less than a year... which kind of supports their theory

Mebbe it's a bit cheesy, but I like romantic comedies anyway. And there are some very funny moments (there are some even funnier moments in the scenes they cut from the final version).

ANYWAY - if you have doubts about it, or have never heard of it, as a SONGWRITER you owe it to yourself to watch it at least once.

If nothing else, the song that the film centres around, "Way back into Love", is an absolute stunner. The rest of the music is fine in the film, but utterly awful if someone makes you sit through the soundtrack album  

[Oldrottenhead]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR4f8XYluJ4never actually watched it i might give it a go, it might help me get over my hugh grant aversion. lol. cheers

[AndyR]

EDIT: It probably won't do that

[Oldrottenhead]

m didnt think so, when i get round to seeing it i will let you know if it did or not lol.

[Kevin Mammoth]

funny you mention this movie, I was just thinking about it the other day, for no particular reason.  I see quite a few rom-coms, courtesy of my wife - she will rarely see anything else when we go to the movies.  I have seen plenty of absolute turkeys, but I remember this as one of the better ones.  I enjoyed the DIY home recording/songwriting angle.  All though I recall old Hugh's rig was a bit over the top - how many songcrafters out there have a baby grand in their high-rise bachelor pad home studio?  Or Drew Barrymore for that matter....

[AndyR]

In his defence though - his character is the equivalent of a "where is he now" Gary Barlow or something, so he would have had a fair bit of cash behind him at some point. Give me that amount of cash, and after sorting out the pad, my next very next acquisition would indeed be a grand piano... or maybe I'd want to get Drew Barrymore (or equivalent) first...

The only thing that gets me (and I have to point it out to the missus every time, poor girl) is the speed with which they manage to create the demo after writing the song.

"her plane leaves in an hour and we've got to record a demo" - and they manage the following:

1. Record a completed backing with acoustic, bass, piano, and drums... all played by one person.
2. Sing the song as a duet (including convincing a non-singer to sing and then train her how to do it).
3. Mix it.
4. Burn it to a CD.
5. Get across town to wherever the artiste is about to fly from.

But the song itself... wooo... it is a cheesy torch-song type ballad, but it's one of those "shivers down the back" songs.

So, Kevin, have you got "Sleepless in Seattle", "You've got Mail", "About a Boy", etc, etc, on rotation as stand-by DVDs at your place? . We have... but give her her due - Band of Brothers, Die Hard, Predator, Zulu, and other manly films are stand-bys as well.

[Ferryman]

In his defence though - his character is the equivalent of a "where is he now" Gary Barlow or something, so he would have had a fair bit of cash behind him at some point.

I once met such a person. I was doing a recording session in the early 1980s and had to go and pick up some gear for the engineer from a guy who lived nearby. Turns out this "guy" was one of the Climax Blues Band (remember them? I saw them at Reading Fest in 75 IIRC), who by the 1980s had been wiped out by punk and new wave. Really nice guy, lived in quite a nice detached house, after we chatted for a while he took me down into his studio to pick up the gear. The studio was the double garage and associated basement rooms that were packed with the most amazing gear, the place looked as well equipped as the pro studio we were in. I had to ask - the Climax Blues Band were great, but were never massive, so I was surprised he had so much "stuff" in a nice house. He said that one of the tracks he had written was a massive hit for them, especially in the US, and it kept getting covered and featured on "Best of..." type albums, so the repeat royalties were very healthy.

He didn't look like Hugh Grant though, apart from that, the great studio in the private home concept checks out. Mind you, as Andy says, it would've taken more than an hour just to set the gear up in this place.....

Cheers,

Nigel

[Geir]

The only thing that gets me (and I have to point it out to the missus every time, poor girl) is the speed with which they manage to create the demo after writing the song.

"her plane leaves in an hour and we've got to record a demo" - and they manage the following:

1. Record a completed backing with acoustic, bass, piano, and drums... all played by one person.
2. Sing the song as a duet (including convincing a non-singer to sing and then train her how to do it).
3. Mix it.
4. Burn it to a CD.
5. Get across town to wherever the artiste is about to fly from.

He'd have to have a MicroBr to do that

[AndyR]

You might be able to achieve that sort of productivity on an MBR, Geir...

But if I was really motoring, I think I'd only manage the following in an hour:

1. Switch the MBR on.
2. Create a new song.
3. Spend some time establishing the correct tempo.
4. Create a drum arrangement with two patterns (lead in click and one pattern for the song).
5. Record the acoustic.
6. Record a vocal.
7. Find the tempo is wrong.
8. Repeat steps 3, 5, 6 and 7 until happy.
9. Pick up a bass.
10. Try to play a bass part.
11. Try to tune the bass and discover it's in tune but the acoustic wasn't.
12. Put down bass and redo steps 5 and 6.
13. Repeat steps 9 and 10.
14. Discover I've forgotten how to play bass again.
15. Lie down on the sofa for a bit.

 

[Kevin Mammoth]

Ha - in an hour I might have fiddled with two or three bass presets, and still not found anything just right

So, Kevin, have you got "Sleepless in Seattle", "You've got Mail", "About a Boy", etc, etc, on rotation as stand-by DVDs at your place?

Once upon a time there was plenty of that sort of thing at our place  - but these days the only thing on high rotation is "Bob the Builder"!...