A look back at the Colours set - Part One

I had already put this piece together as another blog, but have decided to put it on here, basically to cover for the fact that I haven't typed a blog up for today.


Soon you will be able to find the Colours set available again at iTunes, Amazon, and wherever else.  It is an interesting set to listen back to, but with the revisionist eye, it has it's faults.  Here we go, tearing my work to pieces?  Well, not really, but just finding the odd thing here and there that aren't quite right.  It's just natural that there are things like that.

It starts with the song Changes.  I love playing with different tunings on the guitar, and this is most definitely inspired by that.  It utilises a tuning where the guitar is tuned to a C major chord, with the extreme dropped tuning giving it an ominous and grungy tone.  I found myself coming up with lyrics that were very grunge inspired as well, thinking mainly Alice In Chains,Temple Of The Dog, Soundgarden, and that sort of thing. When it came to recording it, I put down the acoustic guitar and vocal first in the same take, which was then followed by Ellie Mason playing drums.  After that I put on the very busy bass guitar part, which I thought would add some contrast to the piece, as well as emphasise the off beat drums and hi-hat work in the verse.  Andy Wright first put down the fender rhodes electric piano part, but it was badly recorded and was re-recorded with John Sampson playing at a later date.  Andy did however perform the fantastic synth solo that features on the finished piece.

The whole thing is filled out with the ever present tambura sample, with me adding to the Indian feel by playing a real tambura in the bridge section.  The piano in the bridge is by Ellie, backwards guitar by John Sampson, as well as John performing the harmony vocal in the choruses.  I double tracked the lead vocal eventually, and then I added thumb piano and a sampled didgeridoo.

Changes benefits from the fact that I did a live recording in the studio for it while I was recording sessions for A New World Order, not for inclusion but just to get it out there.  I handed a copy to Jim Annison, who made a couple of alterations to the words.  He changed "hurt me" to "cut me", and altered the middle eight as well slightly.

There was also the fact that there was a frame of reference to work from.  The funny thing is that the song Bridges recently  I videoed myself at home running through it, so me and Rob used it as a reference, which is similar to the Changes situation.  It's something that I'm tempted to do more now, because the bonus of video is seeing what I do.  I may throw in a run or something improvised and later think I'll use that in there somewhere, so I can see exactly what I did.  I've wasted time before when I've had to relearn something.

The second song on the set is Wreath For The Suicide Heart, which is an incredibly emotional song.  The lyrics came first, to which I had a melody in my head.  Then I had to find the chords to fit the melody, which is a rare thing for me.

I first of all put down the acoustic guitar alone to a click track, reading the lyrics to myself as I played.  The vocal was put down much later but features me "losing it" at one point.  It's a veiled lyric in truth, which covers the true story of friends I heard had died who were from Castle Hill School where I went to.  I thought the vocal was so emotional though that it was more poignant because of it, even though I missed a word or two in one bit.

Joff thought that an almost African/ethnic feel to the rhythm would enhance the piece, so we programmed a rhythm using Reason on the Mac, mainly Joff's work.  Then I put on the bass guitar using my 5-string Fender JP.

I can't quite remember how things happened fully, but the slide guitar and wah guitar were played by Craig "Brow" Waring.  The whispering voices, which technically are the title of the song, came about because I was listening to Morcheeba on the way to the studio and heard the song "Who Can You Trust".  I just thought that was what Wreath needed, and so me, Ellie & Brow recorded whispers, and I asked my brother's children to add whispers as well.  Luke & Connor did, but Beth didn't, oh well.

It was during this time that I had booked a ten-day stretch of the studio, and I was tired so John Sampson said I could come in late and and he would get some bits done on the songs.  Among these changes were his harmony and backwards guitar on Changes, but he also harmonised the choruses on Wreath - all in the hour or so I gave him.  Wow.

This is going on a bit isn't it.  It won't last I promise you, it's just that I think the first three songs are really good.

In a chat with John and his friend Ben we were discussing Simon & Garfunkel, vocal groups, and vocal rounds.  They then said Wreath would work with a finish that was similar to that.  Ben and John went in and sang the refrain, which was mixed to start with the whispers and get louder.  Me and John then did the "aah" bits, and finally Ellie did the "la la" bits.  After that me & Ben added percussion to the ending, the bell was from the church next door, and a sampled tambura.

That's part one then.