Edith Finally Gets It - AndyR Original (Remastered)

[Redler]

Liked this right from the start; captivating bass (with perfect tone) on the simple drum track! Catchy lead guitar additons and stunning vocals - excellent songwriting and performance!! I listened to this one time, yesterday and now this sounded event better! So well done, Andy!

[AndyR]

Many thanks everyone

I was a little worried about this one - needlessly, it seems

I've got a fair bit to reply to... and some info I left out of the original post... but I'm meant working at the moment - so I'll be back later!

[Hilary]

Wow - a monumental beast! I really liked the long intro and then the blistering vocal (builds the tension).

It's a corker!

[Greeny]

Cor Blimey! I absolutely love it. The production and the performance are both stellar. That chord change at the chorus - you bugger, lol. The slide guitar work on the refrain is gorgeous. Gives me a slight Gerry Rafferty vibe on the guitar work - just classic, wonderful stuff.

What a beauty.

[Mike_S]

So original Andy... that's a weird and wonderful journey you took us on. I was getting slight King Crimson vibes at the start, but then it breaks into something totally different. Very interesting piece and your slide playing is brilliant... on the money. Super stuff.

Mike

[AndyR]

I forgot I was coming back to this.

It was actually meant to be longer - there's a minute and half left in the can - but I couldn't play the improvised slide solo I wanted over the end. I got lots of great ideas, but nothing that worked that well when exposed that much for a couple of minutes (too many fluffs and "stopping to think" moments). Talking of exposed... do you you really want that slide louder Ferryman?! lol ... I had to restrain myself because some really gorgeous tones and nuances revealed themselves when it was turned up louder.

Don't worry, though, I have plans to do more slide like this.

The story behind the song is actually quite simple.

Edith is the guitar I wrote it on - a Fiesta Red strat that can do Mark Knopfler, Hank Marvin, and... Robin Trower.
I hadn't played it in a while, so I cranked it up and played "Robin Trower"  ... my fave RT song is "I Can't Wait Much Longer".

I changed key, turned the guitar part upside down, inside out and then started doing James Dewar vocals over it.

"Edith Finally Gets It"  was a reference to not having played her for a while.

I ended up wanting to remove most of the "Robin Trower" vibe, and discovered my Korg can do both Ray Charles electric piano (Shake Your Tail-feather in the Blues Brothers) and Stevie Wonder clavinet.

I replaced most of Edith's parts with a P90 Gibson, and that's when the slide became a possibility. You can still hear Edith on the choruses - the guitar with wang bar action.

After that it turned into needing "space" in the verses... that's when the "EEEEeeeedith" turned out to be quite aggressive... I had all sorts of worries over vocals after that... In the end the ONLY option was belt it out like this and then figure out how to mix it so it was gut-wrenching but not ear-splitting! (I tried singing it more reflectively... that was, er, NAFF!!)

Obviously the lyrics ended up not about a guitar. It's about an elderly neighbour.

[StephenM]

one more...bump today.... this one reminds me of a lost PF track....
amazing work here man....this came on just before I joined up the site in August so I never heard it...until today i put your list on to play during my workout...great music all down the list... but I had to mention this..

[AndyR]

one more...bump today.... this one reminds me of a lost PF track....
amazing work here man....this came on just before I joined up the site in August so I never heard it...until today i put your list on to play during my workout...great music all down the list... but I had to mention this..

Yep, it's one of my favourites. And the main electric (not Edith) is one of my favourite recording guitars. It's also one of the cheapest of the "regularly in use" ones. Needs restringing actually, ready for some more rocking, or for use as clean electric on other stuff.

It's one of those generally hated Gibson Les Paul Special Tribute DC (double-cut with two P90s) from a few years ago. People hated the scratch-plate.
The design changed later, but this is one of the originals.
I got it new in a sale, just before the change. Mine's the blue stain.

It was used on nearly all the songs around this period, loud and quiet. It's especially good at lead parts (here and The Practical Gardener). Actually, it's still got the same strings on from then!

By the way - this song is slated for remastering again when all the other projects have got out of the way!!
This one was remastered, from the original BR1600 stereo mix wav, in Studio One a few months back - the difference (to me) was WOW.
I'm halfway through the next batch (on pause for the acoustic songwriting demos for FAWM), and I've learnt even more about mastering - this one and all the first batch can be improved on even more. Like all remastering, it won't seem much of an improvement if you accepted the original, but it's the "initial effect vibe" I'm interested in - first listens - even these old recordings are starting to sound more like commercial releases to me.

[StephenM]

well if it sounds this good now then it will only be even better after remaster...look forward to that!

[SteveAlton]

Minimalist arrangement with enough interest to draw you in and keep you there.  Great recording

All I can say is it's about damn time that Edith gets it...