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Notes:
I wish I didn't start taking so
long to do one of these.
This whole CD started out to be an
instrumental CD that was supposed to pass the time until
the Spring. What else is there to do when it's
cold and crummy out? I thought that'd be easy to
make since it bypasses the longest part - making the
words. But that didn't happen. Maybe it's
habit, but the songs lent themselves to the typical
verse/chorus/verse. I ended up using 4 of the
then-instrumentals and started a follow-up to
Drives It
Home.
This thing probably would have been
up and done for last month (May) but that playing
schedule in April bumped everything back. Also
there was a few days where I worked on CD digipak covers
instead of the tracks (those turned out looking pretty
good though). And, I started getting into ponging
tracks, just to beef up the guitar sound and not have
all the guitar tracks being mono.
Speaking of guitar tracks, the
newest edition to the cozy collection - my new
Gibson
SG-3 makes its recording debut. It really is a
great guitar.
So how is the CD? I like it,
actually, considering I rushed it near the end.
It's easy to tweak and tweak and never finish.
Also, I caught myself spending a lot of time on the
vocals but I'm not a singer. Once I did a few
passes I kept the most in-tune ones and then moved on.
Wish I did that a month ago. The main "vocal date"
was Saturday the 16th. The main "guitar solo day"
was May 18th. Mixing took me up until the 28th.
Mastering should be on June 6th.
I don't hear any "singles".
That's OK - I'm not trying to get on the radio or
anything, so there aren't any 3 minutes ditties.
Anyways, here we go:
Track by track:
Track 1 -
Dirty Tricks
A song about a female
magician. I didn't have any tricks up my sleeve since I
wasn't wearing a shirt. This was one of the
original instrumentals.
Guitars: There's a whole bunch.
The centre one is my new SG-3. The two panned ones
and solo are the
Studio Plus. The auto-wah/slide
is the
Junior. That came out at the last minute
because I really had no idea what to do for a lead
guitar part. It's the Fleetwood Mac/Bob Weston sound
from the Mystery To Me album. That's a pretty great album.
And the solo at the key change is the
Goldtop.
Track 2 -
Blind Date
A quick one about going on a blind
date and the chick's actually blind. Cute, I know.
Guitars: here's the first song I
got to use the SG-3's 3rd position so that's why it
sounds "Straty" (or like an old SG Custom?). Also,
the main guitar's going through the Rotovibe. The
two panned ones is the SG again, using the back pickups
and the solo is the Goldtop.
Track 3 -
Ransom Note
Nobody ever said you had to pay up.
It is just a throw-away but so are most of my other
ones, so it's right at home. Loops courtesy of the
Sony site.
Guitars: The SG-3 is the main
guitar. All other guitars are the Studio Plus but
the lead is the Goldtop.
Track 4 -
Let Yourself Go
After hearing Mark Knopfler's Song
For Sonny Liston, I knew I wanted something like that.
Listening to it now, you'd never know that's what
"inspired" it. Anyways, as you get older, some
people's appearances change. Some look better than
others.
Guitars: The Studio Plus is the
panned guitar in the right ear (just to balance the
organ on the left). The SG-3 is on the back pickup
leads and the Goldtop has the front pickup sound.
Track 5 -
Head For The Hills
Well, hills are obviously... I
didn't have to type it, did I?
Guitars: The SG-3's in the left ear
and the right rhythm guitar and lead at the end is the
Studio Plus. The Goldtop gets the solo.
Track 6 -
Let It Steep
For all you tea lovers out there.
Another of the original instrumentals that ended up
getting words.
Originally it was going to be called Pencil Test until I
read that the Pencil Test is actually about breasts
rather than
what we used to think. The bass-line is basically
Stratus only in E and, I'm not a proud guy, I did have
two bass tracks, one with the pattern and then one
chugging the notes.
Guitars: The SG3's front pickup
position through the Rotovibe is the main guitar.
It's a big sound; takes up a lot of space. The
Studio with the Octave pedal gets the lead. The
Goldtop's in there a bit, playing with the "Steeeeeeep"s
after the 1st and 2nd choruses.
Track 7 -
Setback
The lick started this, then it
turned into a minor I-IV-V. The lick reminds me of
The Eagles' King of Hollywood but that was in F#
so...it's not really a lift.
Guitars: The Studio Plus through
the Rotovibe with the intensity off, just to get that
Jimmy Page sound, starts the song off. The "hidden
guitar" off to the right is the SG3. The leads are split
between the Junior (slide) and the Goldtop.
Track 8 -
Gypsy
It's a lame title but a friend of
mine always said I needed a Gypsy tune since everyone
else has one too. Here it is. This is the fourth song
from the instrumental bit that got words.
Guitars: The SG is the main guitar, followed
by the Studio Plus through the Rotovibe in each ear.
The lead is the Studio Plus with my new Vox wah.
At least for basses, the
EB-3 is pretty silent, only
making it to
Let It Steep,
Dirty Tricks and
Gypsy.
All others are using the ever-faithful
Goya.
And for the first time in many years,
there isn't one acoustic guitar on here. After
years of doing home recording, I can still manage to do
some "firsts".
There is also this instrumental that
wasn't included on the CD.
Click here to hear that.
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