A New World Order bonus song 2 - Mystery

I know another melancholy love song, but also probably one of my best.  I didn’t put it onto A New World Order originally because, to be honest, I thought back then of leaving it to work on for the follow-up set Colours, but I never did.

I wanted someone else to sing it as well, because I was always self-conscious about my vocal and the basic live arrangement to it of just vocal and acoustic guitar.

The song itself all stemmed from the initial first line, “Promises turn into lies as things keep moving on”.  This is a relationship that has been going for a long while, and has suddenly become stagnant now.  In some ways I was cherry-picking subject matter.  I knew someone who was having an affair because they said their marriage was boring.

The verse about “I’ve known true love once before it was like magic to my heart…” was from my own past.  And so in truth the whole song is a mish mash of a few people that I knew.

Musically I think the song is beautiful with the chord structures, the different sections, and how everything works with each other.  I am very proud of the song.

I think my voice is bad in places, and I’m not completely sure but I may have gone wrong at one point in the song on the guitar.  Other than that, I think it is a really good song.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order bonus song 1 - Fireflies

Fireflies is another song from that first initial session that brought about Slave Song etc.

Played with a capo, the song is once again a case of free-form writing, where I just put down what came into my head at the time of writing.  Song written in less than five minutes.

When I was thinking of fireflies themselves, I was really thinking of the cartoony types that glow and have cheeky smiling faces and... okay, you get the picture.

It's really about getting something out of darkness. In despair lies potential to get past it. Well, that's what everything in it is about, except for the third verse about buskers, which spoils the song in my opinion. The rest of it is really good I think.

The melody, chords and feel absolutely push this song all of the way home. I really did feel bad about not including this in the set originally and, in fact, I had the same quandary when putting the songs together for the follow-up set Colours. I wanted something from this period in there to break from the produced sound and it was either this or Hypocrites, and the latter won out.

It's rare that I used a capo back then. In fact, I don't think I've used one for a few years now either, so that's given me an idea. Here though, I just thought that I would try it and see what happens, and I was so pleased with the results, especially with the surprising rise in the last chorus, where I do a Beatles trick by throwing in a quick key change and then back to the proper key. Beautiful.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

More thoughts from the work place

So I went to work then on Saturday and Sunday after pulling a sicky on Friday - wow, I admitted it.  I'm past caring now to be completely honest with you.  I wasn't feeling great though, but I may have overacted a bit.  I posted on Saturday about my work thoughts of that day.  That shift was at Mansfield Woodhouse and, by looks at my rota, I am guessing that will be my last shift there.  I'm hoping to be able to visit my family more now anyway because of the new job requiring very little (or no) driving, so I will probably nip in there if I need anything when I'm out that way anyway.  So in essence it is more of an adieu.

On Sunday I worked at the store in Lincoln, which I suppose that I will miss to a point, for a lot of reasons that I won't go into right now.  Needless to say that it was a busy day, but also one that had a few giggles courtesy of John and Kel on the Fish Counter.

After that I went home and quickly got changed.  Then myself and Louise got into the car, and I drove us to my aunt's in Shirebrook for a great barbecue.  We don't get to go out very often for a few reasons, and it was nice to just go out and spend time with people, and to actually go out together.  Normally out going out consist of a shopping trip (busman's holiday for me) or our journey's to where we work.

Anyway, the food was great as was the company.  Two of my aunt's were there (Lynn and Ann), as well as Ebo (Lynn's husband so technically Uncle Ian, but everyone calls him Ebo), Ebo's dad, my brother Mark and his wife, along with their three children Luke, Connor & Bethany, Adie (Ebo's son) and Dee had brought their three kids - Jake, Scott & Ebeke.  There were also my younger brother James (BSc), James' mate Chris (ROCK ON!!!", my cousin Liam, plus my cousin Rachel with her boyfriend Sandris and her daughter Damia.

Not such a quick blog now this?

Obviously a good time was had by all, and my camera came out of course, although only for around a dozen photographs.  It was a barbecue after all, so putting the camera down to eat was mandatory.

We stayed much later than intended, but that's because we enjoyed ourselves.  We left a little before eleven, and got home between ten to and five to midnight.  This meant a nice cup of tea.  Very late for one I know, but there is nothing like coming home to a cuppa.

It didn't take very long to drop off because I was so bloody tired.  So was Louise.  I had a couple of nightmares, but that's nothing out of the ordinary.  I just hate when they are violent nightmares because I am scared of hitting Louise in my sleep, not for the first time - sorry darling. xxx

Monday was a relatively lazy day, except for me nipping to Wilko's and Blockbuster.  The latter to get two films that are on my initial signing with them, so free.  I like freebies.

I am a big fan of Pixar anyway, so I got Wall-E, and Louise suggested the film Bee Movie.  We watched the latter Monday night, and both enjoyed it.  I'm personally looking forward to Wall-E because it ticks three boxes for me - Family film, Pixar, and Science Fiction.  Louise isn't so much in to Sci-Fi unless it's time travel or the odd Superhero film.

I'm sure that we will both enjoy Wall-E, even if Louise isn't fond of space based sci-fi films.  I may have to introduce her to Galaxy Quest?

Now here I am at work on Tuesday writing this, and it is Lincoln again.  John is here, but Kel finished his shift before I started.  I've also already said hello to M'Lard (I call him that because his name is Donald, so that brings to mind Donald Duck, and that made me think of Mallard - see where I'm going there?)  I like coming here.  Matt who's the duty Manager at the moment is a little serious I think, but that might just be me.  Mike, who's duty manager later, is much less serious.

Anyway, that's the last few days then, and I'll sort of leave this blog as it is because it looks blinking long to me.  We will watch Wall-E, and see what else else happens during the Wednesday and Thursday off.

Thank you for reading, please take care.

27 July 2011 (40 years, 8 months, and 1 day old)

Thoughts about work

Here we are there, back at work and quite obviously loving it... NOT!!!  I've been offered another job, but unfortunately have to work a month's notice, which is irritating to be honest.  What makes it more so is that this week alone two of my shifts are around 120 miles each day travelling.  I suspect that it's a case of sending me here, there and everywhere just to have a laugh at my expense.

It doesn't really matter that much because I know there isn't long left for them to keep pulling these stupid tricks on me.  There's also the fact that I don't give a shit.  What's the worst that can happen?  I get fired and start my new job sooner?

I know that it's not much of a change.  I'll still be working as a Security Guard, but I wouldn't have to travel more than 15 miles to and site I get put onto.  Most of their sites are in Newark as well, so those would be walking distance a lot of the time (no driving).

It would mean less driving of the car for work, and more using the car to go to places, visit people, and all of those other things that I never have the fuel for.

The general hours are longer shift wise, with an average of 12 hours each time, but a lot of the time now I'm out much longer with the travelling and such.

I am looking at doing maybe four shifts a week, and be available for one extra if needed.  That is plenty to be honest.  48 to 60 hours a week will be fine I'm sure.

There is a certain joy in the fact that I have another job to go to.  In some ways it is like losing a weight off my mind, metaphorically speaking of course.  There is the fact that I can think about what will be, which helps in a way to get through what I have to until I am there.  It is the certainty that no matter what, I have a job.  I like that feeling.

My friend Drew talked the other day in his blog about bosses good and bad, and I have put up with both as well.  Occasionally though you can also find those who are somewhere in between, or you're never too sure of.

Gone are the days when you could go from one job to another without any problems no matter what.  Here though I am lucky, because my C.V. speaks for me in the security circles.  I have done so many different types of security work that that alone can get my foot into the door, and it obviously worked this time.  It's not much of an industry I'll grant you, but it is a job.  I am one of the lucky ones.

Thank you for reading, please take care.

23 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 27 days old)

My brother's Graduation

Me and James

Flying Pizza

We all met at Lynn's in Shirebrook - me, Mark (brother), Bethany (niece), and James (brother).  When we arrived at Sheffield we parked at John Lewis and made haste to the University Of Sheffield, passing places of such repute as Aslan's Kebabs, where I was watching for a lion jumping out at us.  The thought of a lion may have spurred us on more, but I'm guessing we hurried because time was moving on, and my jokes were really not that good.  Especially when I mentioned that we should keep an eye out for a Flying Pizza.

Aslan's Kebabs

By now we were going at ten to the dozen, because we had parked so far from the University, it felt as though we were having a tour of the whole city itself.  I even saw that great place where I had seen my friends' band The Find play (The Plug) as we had passed in the car to get parked at John Lewis.

Mark had driven us to Sheffield from Shirebrook, where I would go back to afterwards for a bloody good bit of gaming and socialising.  But that is not what today is about is it!

Today was about my smarty pants brother James receiving his degree for 'Chemistry with study in Japanese' at his graduation.

Convocation Hall, University Of Sheffield

The Convocation Hall at The Octagon Centre is a very large place, and it was nicely set out.  After about half an hour of waiting (with a good brass quartet performing some nice jazz pieces), the whole thing started with something called The Processions, where all of the tutors, professors, and such like come into the hall, walk around, and make their way to the front - gives them something to do I suppose.

It was great to see James get his degree, although my camera work wasn't quite as brilliant as I would have liked.  My video camera in so old in digital terms, that the resolution on it is absolutely appalling.

James with his certificate in the folder

I did take some photographs on my own camera as well, but it too isn't the greatest, so I cheekily took James' own camera out and took a few on that (which I'm still waiting to get copies of).  Using the video camera in one hand and his in the other at the same time to get the actual moment itself wasn't easy, but I tried my best.  What can I say?  I'd better get a new camera some day because my technology obviously doesn't have what it takes (much like my home recording).

The ceremony itself seemed very quick in a way.  I sort of expected there to be speeches, but I suppose there are so many people that it would take forever, and probably be akin to the Oscars and all of those sort of things.

War memorial

I know that I was thinking of James' father all day, and how proud he would be if he were alive.  It's sad in a way, but also joyous because James has done something great and to be proud of.  John (his dad and my step dad) would be so very happy.

The speech from the chancellor lasting a good while, but it was interesting.  After that there was the whole processions thing again, but this time with all of those people leaving, but this time followed by those who had graduated today.

After going from there, more photos were taken, as you can guess.  We all like to take photographs in my family, and I am now quite obviously a very serious blogger.

James with Rebecca & Michael

We met James' friends Rebecca Nichols and Michael Gee near to the Firth Court building.  After a little while there, where James spoke with them, as well as Rebecca's parents I think, we went on to The Dainton building for some reason that I found out eventually, because I was too busy writing this blog to take much notice at that point.

Beth didn't want to use the lift, so I walked up to floor G with her.  We were going to look at James' poster outside the Theoretical Chem room.

After that we went back down to his lab on Floor D.  I probably lost loads of weight today with all this!  Oh guess what, after that it was more stairs!

James meeting with Ed & Ashley

In the 'Write-up Room', James met with his friends Ed Rab and Ashley Butler.  Ed's name is quite cool, and I thought he looked like a young Art Garfunkel, but I am guessing he wouldn't burst into a rendition of 'The Boxer' or 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' any time soon.

More stairs, but now down!

We walked back to the car after we had got some food and drink from John's Snack place.  Very good value for money I thought.  I got myself a ham salad roll and coffee, and I got James a ham salad roll with a can of Pepsi - all that for a fiver, and the rolls were about the size of a tea plate and absolutely packed (wish I had taken a photo)!

On the way back to the car I took more photos and picked up a pen from the floor so that I could carry on writing this blog, because I had written so much that my pen had run out.  That's me though nowadays, I seem to be writing all of the time.

James, Mark & Beth

The Cash Converters had some very nice stuff in, including a couple of TokaiPonderings or something very much like that.  Anyway, waffled there, but suffice to say that I want a ukulele very much.

Have tram will travel

The journey back was nice, where more photographs were taken of course.  Places we could see in the distance included Bolsover Castle and some other place that Mark mentioned, but me and James were too busy having Camera Wars (you're basically taking pictures of others taking pictures of you).

Back at Lynn's we all spent a long while chatting in the front living room, until Mark and Beth left, and then I stayed there until a good time later as we carried on with the talking.  I was having too much gun with chatting there to go and play games.

Blog being written

After that of course I would be making my way home to have a lovely evening with my sweetheart, and hopefully not irritate her with how long it will take to type out this blog!  I actually wrote this through the day, and am now finishing writing it at Lynn's while we're chatting away.

Thank you for reading, please take care.

20 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 24 days old)

A New World Order song 22 - A New World Order?

The last song then on the original released version of A New World Order then is the title track itself.

I wanted something random and different for the ending of the set, so Joff dug out a finger piano, which Ellie played.  This was placed both played properly, and reversed.  Added to this were other things from songs from the set including reversed guitar bits from A Fishing Port Town.

I like this very much.  It's weird yes, but also surprisingly serene and peaceful.  A nice ending.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 21 - Journeyman

Again this is a song from the first session that included Slave Song, etc.  Perhaps I was more prolific then because I was in a period of unemployment, and always had the acoustic guitar or bass out.

This song just seemed to almost write itself.  The lyrics came very quickly, and the music seemed to  just have a great feel immediately.  Sometimes you just come up with words, and have no idea where they're from.

The chords are simple really, and I sort of like the fact that the lines aren't always perfect.

Recording was a simple affair.  I had done the initial eight songs with John engineering, and there was an hour left maybe, so he suggested that  I just use 20 minutes to record what I wanted to.  This was the fifth of five songs in that time.

So, there I am playing live (acoustic guitar. vocal, and harmonica in a harness).  As I finished, John explained that the time allowed by the computer's software only allowed so long as the limit of recording time and it had run out just shy of the finish of the song.  What we had done basically was just to start recording and keep playing without swapping to a different file on the computer.

That recording was then split and edited to the five separate songs, and Journeyman here faded out due to the ending being missed.  It sort of gives the impression that even though the music had ended, I didn't want to stop.  Very much how it was that day in a way (and is most of the time I'm in the studio I might add).

I like the song very much, despite the obvious digital glitch in there.  Like most of A New World Order, a basic arrangement and quickly recorded to catch the moment and just recording the songs without flowery production (that would come with Colours and the forthcoming One Day set).

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 20 - Lonely Songs

Lonely Songs is a very quick in and out song.  Despite the last verse lyrics, I actually don't mind the song at all, or I would probably not have included it.  I wasn't short of material to choose from obviously.

The lyrics were all free form really, made up as I wrote it, and I left it as it is.  The last verse is actually a case of self-parody, where I have just tossed in a set of lyrics without much thought because I couldn't be bothered.  The downside to that is that you don't use the songs, because there is always something glaring at you.

This song though I don't mind.  It's over with too quickly to get boring or monotonous.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

Thoughts from this week

This week has been very much an up and down affair.  In a lot of ways I'm worried about writing about it, but then I am always honest with these things aren't I...  Sometimes too honest maybe, but what the hey.

It's been a completely messed up week work wise, with my rota being completely screwed up.  When I received my rota the previous week (on the Tuesday), I was told Lincoln for Monday, and Mansfield Woodhouse on Thursday.  That same day I got a text from the Area Manager saying that Lincoln had been changed to Tuesday instead of Monday.

Monday was a day off then, and me and Louise had a nice day together.  Tuesday was, as normal, a nice shift at Lincoln, although in every way I am getting more and more pissed off with the job as I keep doing it.  There we go, I'm moaning again.  On Wednesday I was just chilling when at about 11.45 in the morning I got a phone call from work asking if I'd arrived on site yet. "What, today is a day off and I'm back to work at Mansfield Woodhouse tomorrow!" "No, you're on our board for Mansfield Woodhouse today.  How long until you can get there?"  "I'll be there for a quarter past 1" I said.  I did, and I wished that I hadn't because it was shit from the word go.

As soon as I go there it was "what time do you call this?" and "we've already had two attempted shoplifts today".  I should have read the signs immediately.  That on top of the fact that I've not been sleeping well lately spells danger let's face it.

I got asked while I was there if I could help to "face up" the Wines and Spirits on the aisle and, while I was doing that I somehow missed someone picking up four bottles of Jack Daniels and a bottle of Jim Beam (a la the shows on television I can be seen on the camera doing the shelves behind while he is there picking up the items and placing them into his basket, ready to try and get off with them).  Luckily the Store Manager himself got the man.  I'm so surprised that I never got replaced that day, even though I rang the office and told them every embarrassing detail.  I'm really surprised I wasn't fired, never mind anything else.  I could see Lord Sugar pointing his finger at me saying "you're fired!"  Yet, it didn't happen.

I also missed the emergency messages on the tannoy for me as well.  It was surely the day from hell when it comes to work.  I am embarrassed beyond words.

The day after I arrived at Mansfield Woodhouse again, which I was bothered about considering what had happened the previous day, only for one of the ladies there to say "have we got two guards today then?"  I went outside and rang the office, who told me that my rota said that I had a day off today, and always had done.  Obviously I was not happy, because I had just wasted an hour getting there, not to mention the use of my fuel, which is really expensive nowadays.  With that in mind I knew what to do.  I'd been applying for work elsewhere anyway, and had a voicemail on my phone asking me to ring one of them up.  I did so, and arranged an interview for the day after (Friday - yesterday).

Me and Louise had a lovely time together the rest of Thursday, and when we got up on Friday (for the first of my seven days off with holidays), I got ready and went for the interview.  It was a great interview, again sold by my extensive history of work in the security industry shown by my CV, and the fact that I looked damn good as well in my light purple shirt, and that tie - DAMN!

I remembered being told when I started my current job that it was a week's notice, and with that in mind I contacted my employers, only to be told that it was actually a month's notice.  There was the ultimate downer for me.  Here I was being offered a job where I could sort of pick and choose my hours, in a way anyway.  I could say that I only so much, and they would be willing to do so, as long as I helped every now and then when they were in a fix.  That was okay with me.  Now, I have to ring them and let them know that it's not a week's notice, but a month.  Hopefully, they will be okay with that, because to have a job where I don't have to use the car most of the time, and where there is flexibility, that is great.

Friday afternoon I spent finishing the vocals for my cover of the Sex Pistols' song God Save The Queen, and added something to my version of Band On The Run for the eventual ReCovery set, that at present has four completed songs and one that's started.  My version of Subterranean Homesick Blues will integrate aspects from Bob's version and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' cover from their Uplift Mofo Party Plan album, all done with my home recording less than glory.

Last night we watched the film The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez and Alex Loughlin, which we both thought was absolutely awful.  We normally like J-Lo in these romcom's, but this was just bad in a so many ways.  The dialogue itself was appalling, and the set pieces just didn't work most of the time.  It couldn't make up it's mind whether to be another film similar to classic romcom fare such as Sleepless In Seattle et al, or go into the modern area of the American Pie series styled gross out humour.  With doing that it completely failed, because it lacked any direction at all.  They should have picked one or the other, but not to cross the two.  The funniest thing in the film, was the dog called Nuts!

Today is going to be a lovely day, and a great weekend lies ahead.  I have the joy and pride of going to my younger brother's graduation on Wednesday, where I will obviously be taking photographs, and I am so very happy for him.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and take care.  Thank you for reading.

16 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 19 days old)

A New World Order song 19 - I

Ooh, next up is the song I, with a few naughty words.  I was obviously in a bad way at the time, but it still rocks.

It's an incredibly messy song in terms of performance, but it works okay.  First put down was the electric guitar, then bass guitar, drums, and finally vocal - all by me without a click track.  This explains the messiness.

It's a very punk inspired piece, and isn't too bad musically, with some good riffs, you could almost say that I had wasted all those riffs on one song, but whatever.  It does it's job by surprising the listener with something very different, but like the rest of the set (apart from When I Was With You) it is raw.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading.  Please take care.

A New World Order song 18 - Towards The Sun

Towards The Sun wins where I Can't Understand That fails in my opinion.  It's a steady slower paced song, but not one that lumbers along.  Another from the initial session that included Slave Song, etc, this was recorded live as live acoustic guitar and vocal first, with the overdubs added almost straight away.

The bass on the song is gorgeous, and incredibly deep toned for an acoustic (because it was plugged in with the tone completely down).  It's an incredibly fluid bassline for saying that it was improvised on the spot, influenced by players like Jaco Pastorius, who did some incredible work as a session player for Joni Mitchell etc, as well as his solo work and of course Weather Report.

After that there is an harmonica overdub.  Yes, it is an overdub.  I hate to admit it, but I don't want to lie.

What also helps this is a decent set of lyrics for the most part too, with good imagery for me (must have been in the writing zone).  A nice and thought provoking song that doesn't outlast it's stay, and has a melody that nicely matches the message rather than it taking over the message, as is the case sometimes these days.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 17 - Ballad Of The Oppressed

I've just remembered that Ballad Of The Oppressed is from the same session as Slave Song and What Can He Do.  A very productive session as you'll see, since there are two more songs from the original release of A New World Order left to talk about from that session, not to mention the bonus tracks.

I remember when I wrote the song that I was so pleased.  I'd got great lyrics, and the music worked incredibly well.

When it came to recording the song, it was basically a live recording of vocal and acoustic guitar.  John felt that there was a great tonal quality to the guitar, which was recorded with two microphones to capture the stereo field, and a third microphone picked up my vocal (and a bit of guitar too obviously).

We were both happy with it.  I was happy because I am very much a fan of Bob Dylan, and I love the early feel of just him live.  John mentioned Bonnie Prince Billy to me which, after listening to him sometime later, I loved.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 16 - Our Freedom

Our Freedom would make a good cover version for someone I think.  Inspired lyrically by my study of the slave trade in a big way, the song is supposed to be celebratory in music form to match the lyrics - "Throw down axes and lose your shackles."  Also, inspired by my very pro-Amnesty International stance obviously.

It is another song that if you listen carefully is the same chord progression throughout for verse and chorus, but cleverly covering that fact with a changing bass line and lead guitars.

Everything is performed by me except for the shakers and drums by Ellie Mason.  The drums by Ellie were in two takes - the first being the bass drum, and the second the rim shot snare playing.

Another decent enough song, with very 60's style panning, heh heh.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 15 - I Can't Understand That

This is my least favourite song on the set looking back now.  The first line is fantastic, but then spoilt by everything that comes after it.  Very grumpy old man type of lyrics, a plodding background with slow acoustic guitar, plus a lingering (and morbid) bass guitar.  I do love how the harmonica and slide guitar work together though.

Looking back on this, I'm not sure why it finished up on the set, when there was superior material, as you'll see with the bonuses.  Perhaps back then I really liked it, and I will admit that I was in a dark place back then.  Now though, it's a regret that I included this when I had something like the songs The Political Prisoner and An Outsider Looking In, which you'll hear about later as they are bonus tracks.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

The Sunday Epistle

So what's happening then?  What is there to talk about?

I'm starting to get really irritated by not getting much time to spend on the internet now.  I don't want it to sound like I was an addict or something...  Okay I was.

In my previous job I took my laptop to work with me, and probably used it for about eight out of the twelve hours there.  So I found that it was easier to keep up with what was going on, as well as keep up with the games on Facebook.

Now I find it tricky to keep up with people, never mind harvesting crops in Farmville, working the factory in Yoville, or setting up stings and things in Mafia Wars.  Shame, I mess those things.  All those game are cons now anyway, because it's all about using real money, which I think is taking the piss.

Work continues, the travel getting more and more tedious.  I suppose I never realised that when I didn't drive.  Back then I got lifts from Malc, the Ian's, and occasionally Steve.  Now I have a job where I travel to lots of places, it is even more of an irritation.

Yesterday was really bad.  To get to Mansfield Woodhouse from where I live in Newark, I normally use (I think) the A616 to get to Ollerton, and then go through Edwinstowe to Peafield Lane, and then I am in Mansfield Woodhouse.  However, this time I got to the roundabout at Ollerton, and couldn't take the exit for Mansfield Woodhouse because of the police blocking that exit off.  So I turned back and tried to go through Old Ollerton Village where the line of traffic would apparently take a half hour to get through, according to a lady going the opposite way.  So, I turned around and found an alternative route.

Being the very road rage type that I am, a lot of "colourful metaphors" left my mouth.  For those not in the Star Trek know, I mean I used a lot of bad language.  Eventually I got to work 45 minutes late!  That was nearly two hours of driving for what is normally a 21 mile trip each way.

If I got a job that was where I live, then I wouldn't even drive, except for trips on days off, gigs in places, and that sort of thing.  The sort of thing that others seem to be able to afford, but not me for some reason I can't fathom.

My frittering away of money with the last pay day was £16 for a book - Paul McCartney Chord Songbook Collection that says inside that it is complete... Yeah, except it doesn't feature C Moon, Arrow Through Me, Reception... ... ... I'm sure the list goes on, because I've started looking online for songs that aren't included in there.

I was thinking of doing a blog about the solo Beatles songs, and this is the start of it all, or I intended it to be.  We'll see what happens.  You know what I'm like!  I have these ideas, but never seem to get around to finishing any of them off.  I have enjoyed going through other people'd songs though recently, and it has been sort of cathartic in a way.  It helps me because being away from everything and music, and all of that is really depressing me inside.  So it does help.

I have numerous projects on the go at the moment musically, which is probably more to do with the fact that I should knuckle down and get things finished.

With the One Day set, Rob Huskinson has done an organ part for the song Together, and I'll see about adding some keyboards to it myself as well as the vocals (I wish someone else would sing it).  There are also vocals needed for The Rising Storm, Down The Line, and NSTB.

I've already started work on the follow-up set, which has the working title of Bridges.  This set already has a few songs that have been started on, including Bridges itself, Between Woman & Man, I Didn't Do It, Trying To Break Me, Indian Visions (working title), and a few more.

I am also, as I said, enjoying doing the cover versions and am going to do a CD (or three) of them that I can't sell, because of copyright.  I already have Band On The Run (Wings), Never Tear Us Apart (INXS), God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols), and have started on Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan).  I'm also working through the solo Beatles stuff, and have already started on the Wings song Winter Rose/Love Awake, which I really love.  I'm looking at songs by others such as Alice In Chains, Lenny Kravitz, Extreme, Far, Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam, Queen, Rush, and others.  Giving them the unique Marv touch, and really not great sound quality.  I'm still enjoying it, and the sound sort of adds to the experience.

I'm also sort of busy with the lead up to the reissue of A New World Order, which I've obviously been blogging about.  I am actually thinking of doing some gigs as well to promote it, which should be an interesting prospect.  There are some places I'm interested in doing this.  Unfortunately I am sad about the Town Mill in Mansfield, because that would have been great to play there again, and in front of friends.

Anyway, I hope that you are all okay and have got through this long slog of a blog today.  Please take care, and look for another blog soon about a song from A New World Order.

10 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 14 days old)

A New World Order song 14 - Harvest Time

Harvest Time is one of my attempts at doing funk, and it came so very easily, as well as being lazy.  Once again I am using the same pattern throughout, which people have mentioned since it should have been broken up with a change maybe in a couple of places.

I was very much on a political anti-this, that and the other thing back then, which isn't so bad really.  In a few places there are some bad rhymes, and I cringe some moments of it, especially since I am technically rapping and wasn't even an experienced singer back then.

The initial guide recording was the first acoustic guitar, which was looped (of course).  The second job was the vocal, which at a later date had an edit made where the original was messed up for one verse, so I re-recorded that verse.

After this, I put down the percussion tracks, and then I think the second guitar.  Finally the bass was put down, which was essentially made up on the spot, and is some of the best playing I've done in my own opinion.  When it came to the end of the song I just kept going for it on the bass, and I actually think the music is great.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 13 - A Fishing Port Town

A Fishing Port Town was written around the period when the North Sea fishermen's quota was lowered so they were having to sack and cut wages of the boat's crews.  I saw it on the news and just started playing guitar while watching it and making the words up on the spot.

Obviously I had put some thought into the lyrics by editing it afterwards a good few times, and the completed set took a while to get to.  I am very proud of the lyrics, and the music fits it very well.

The initial recording session with this was the rhythm strummed acoustic guitar, vocal, and percussion.  About six weeks later I added the lead acoustic I'd made up in the interim through playinig along to a rough mix I'd done.

A sweet and lovely song, with nice reverbed feedback at the end.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 12 - A Dog Eat Dog World

A Dog Eat Dog World is a case of my love for alternative guitar tunings, and I think this is a D major chord tuning, where the strings are tuned to the chord.  Recorded in the same session as Sunset, which is in the same tuning, the song has a very simple but effective arrangement.

There are basically three tracks on here.  The first track was the acoustic guitar, and then I put my vocal, and while listening back, Ellie started to make up an harmony, so I suggested she record it, because it reminded me of Simon & Garfunkel.

After this it was a case of mixing the track.  The song was acapella for a verse, mainly because of a couple of bum notes on the guitar track, so we thought that we could make it part of the arrangement to pull the guitar out for a while to leave that little bit with just the voices.

The downside to the song is poor lyrics in the bridge I think, but perhaps that is just me.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

Waffling Wednesday

How is everyone today? I hope you are all feeling fine. Today is Wednesday (hence the title) and once again I am at work. Already I have been asked if I can work an extra shift, to which I said yes. So I no longer have Saturday off, instead I have a ten hour shift with about two hours total driving time - a quick trip.

Clever people among you may have noticed that I posted the blog for Slave Song after Everyday News, so in essence I blogged track 11 before track 10. I had already typed both up and actually pressed PUBLISH on the wrong one first. Trust me. I hope you're enjoying the music though.

Sorry, finished other bit too soon. Basically I'm working the extra because I figure with a week off soon that I can rest then. Well, between everything that's being organised of course.

Anyway, there will be some visiting going on while I have my seven days off, and I hope that I can get to watch a gig or two as well, and hope I can get some music worked on.

I will carry on blogging about the songs on A New World Order, including the bonus tracks and, when complete, I will get blogging about the songs on the forthcoming One Day set, which is another beast of a set with over 20 songs on it.

Thank you for reading and please take care.  My friend's blogs are great, and I suggest checking them out.  I mention them frequently.

6 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 10 days old)

A New World Order song 10 - Slave Song

I actually think that Slave Song is one of the best songs that I have ever written and recorded, and it was recorded very quickly.

The song itself was based on some poetry I was reading from the Caribbean, which is a favourite of mine.  It inspired me to write a few songs in fact, but I have never recorded the other songs.  I was intending on writing a musical about racism through generations of the same family, but never got around to it.  That is still something that does interest me but I will probably never get around to it.

The words to the song came relatively easy, I think because they were loosely based on a specific poem, but I'm not sure now.  The chords and melody too just seemed to come out.

Recording wise it was quick as well.  I'd recorded myself playing and singing the song on a little tape deck at home, which I then played back and recorded that plus myself playing another guitar part, and carried this on for the bass line and tin whistle.  This way I had already got the parts practised ready for recording in the studio, with John Sampson engineering (check out the band SWIMMING with him, Joff and Andy Wright in).

First to go down was the lead vocal and acoustic rhythm guitar, which included a count-in for the eventual overdubs, which didn't end up coming in then, but I like the fact that the song starts with a count-in.

I think the next things to be put down where the bongos, and then the maracas.  Both of these I believe came in initially at the same time as the guitar, but John thought that it would be better to come in at the vocal, and I agreed.

Next thing to go down was the bass guitar, then the tin whistle, and finally the lead guitar.

It was all recorded very quickly.  Probably less than half an hour I think for every instrument to be put down.  I worked quickly back then because, as I said, I had practised a lot.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

Tuesday chatter time

Let's see if I can do a quick blog that my phone will let me write without having to resort to editing later on laptop when I get in at 10.45 pm , since the mobile limits how much I can blog.

It's Tuesday then, and again I am working. John on fish bar was talking about Bob Marley, and in particular the Redemption Song. He was quoting it the other day and I just couldn't quite remember what song it was but knew I should. A great song.

I bet you can guess that I am enjoying the blog lately with the songs. A bit of response would be nice, but I'm happy in the knowledge that people read it. Unfortunately, blogspot won't let me place music directly, so I have to place links to the dreaded myspace instead. I say dreaded as since it changed it is absolutely terrible to use.

In some ways I think it's a better way to release material than when I just put stuff on iTunes expecting people to buy it. For those not interested, I am sorry, but I wil do the same for the One Day set leading to it's release, and that very new material to a lot of people.

Anyway here I am at work again.  I hope that everyone is okay.  Thank you for reading.  Please take care.  Obviously I had to finish this post at home.

5 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 9 days old)

A New World Order song 11 - Ev'ryday News

This is such a simple song, using the same two chord pattern throughout.  It is also cheated, because all I did was play the pattern a good few times, and then looped it for a vocal overdub.  After that I added bass guitar, and finally me on drums - good for me too!

The lyrics just seemed to come out, so I just wrote down what seemed to come out.  Even the chorusy bits just came about that way.

The big thing that pushes this song is the rhythm in the bass and drums.  If you alter the rhythm, then you can give the impression of separate verse and chorus, even though technically they are both the same.  It shows in a way how you can get different melodies from the same chord pattern.  It's something that has been done many times, especially with funk based music.

The icing on the cake I think is the fact that Joff's mix is so great with fantastic use of reverb, and the dead stop ending.  It is also a very quick song as well (2 minutes 54 seconds).

Thank you for reading.  Please take care.

HERE IS THE SONG!

3 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 7 days old).

The Mix Disc

So, I mentioned that I would make a "Mix Disc" in my blog the other day, and here (for you to pull apart maybe) is a list of the 18 songs that ended up on there.  I'm not completely happy with the way the songs run from one to the other, but here we are;

1. Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan
2. The Leaves That Are Green - Simon & Garfunkel
3. Use Me - Bill Withers
4. What's Your Favourite Colour - Living Colour
5. Cloud Nine - The Temptations
6. Earth Song - Michael Jackson
7. Why Should I Love You - Kate Bush
8. Would - Alice In Chains
9. The Pass - Rush
10.  Sugar Water - Cibo Matto
11. The Downeaster Alexa - Billy Joel
12. Phantom Of The Opera - Iron Maiden
13. Indiana Feeling - The Revolution Noise
14. Killing Yourself To Live - Black Sabbath
15. Job's Eyes - Far
16. Life Itself - Bruce Springsteen
17. Lifelong Passion - The Fireman
18. Dilate - Four Star Mary

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 9 - Sunset

Sunset is an instrumental piece based around the same tuning as the later song A Dog Eat Dog World.  In fact, both guides were recorded simultaneously.  It's basically a D major guitar tuning if I remember rightly.

The slide guitar part came at a later date.  I used to do very rough mixes each session back then, and I was listening to this and thought that slide guitar would work, and it did.

A rather nice and simple instrumental piece.

Thank you for reading. Please take care.

HERE IS THE SONG!

2 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 6 days old)

A New World Order song 8 - Funk On A Shoestring

Here's something very simple.  At home I came up with a bass part and thought of using knee slaps as the percussive background.  I recorded myself on tape, then copied it over to mini disc and basically made up a loop (I had no music software on my computer then).

I then played the knee slaps loop on the disc, and played along on bass, recording it all onto tape (I didn't even have a four-track then either).  Then I played that back on mini disc again and added some guitar, and then a vocal.

When I went into Bandwagon Studios I basically replicated what I did at home, but this time did most of it as loops, which wasn't clever as there is a very obvious mistake that repeats itself of course.  Oh well, nice try.

After all these I added an harmonica solo.  Song finished, and so bloody simple.  It's basically a blues arrangement, funked up.

HERE IS THE SONG.

Thank you for reading, please take care.

A New World Order song 7 - What Can He Do?

What Can He Do is a case of writing something that was very much of it's time.  With the Shadowplay line-up, me and Paul McLaughlin wrote a song called What Can I Do, and this is basically that song with different words.  I knew that Paul was in the army and I just started imagining him in Iraq for some reason, and then I thought about what was going on in Iraq at that time.

I was sort of trying to let Paul know that I was thinking about him at the time.  Despite the fact that we were no longer in a band together, I still got on with him and wondered how he was.  Spookily I wrote the lyrics before they discovered Saddam Hussein in a hole in the ground, so when they did it was very strange to me.

It was recorded in the same single day session as Slave Song and eleven other songs.  Bloody quick work that day because I'd practised for ages.  Basically it was live acoustic guitar and vocal on the first recording, and then I overdubbed the tin whistle solo, which was surprisingly made up on the spot.  I think the simplicity of the arrangement works.

Thank you for reading, please take care.

HERE IS THE SONG!

2 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 6 days old)

Another Lost Day

So, I've ended up not getting today off then. Such is life I suppose. What else would I have done then? Stayed in bed longer with my sweetheart? Watch a film or two maybe? We did watch Hereafter last night, and still have Sherlock Holmes and Inception to watch before monday evening (seven free rentals available from joining Blockbuster). We could have gone out even. So many things could have been done. But such is life (see what I did there?)

I suppose that with each passing day the hatred for my job continues to grow and grow, but how many people get to do a job that they love one hundred percent? So I resigned to the fact that I will never have a job that I love that much. I just work because I have to and, unlike a lot of my neighbours, I don't particularly like the idea of constantly signing on.

What I do instead is to dream, and to enjoy what moments I can get, even if it's just the odd half hour or so of telly, such as the brilliant World's Craziest Fools on BBC3 with Mr T.

This is life then I think.  Most of us doing jobs that we hate, but finding fun in those little moments that we can get.  Whether that fun be television, a film, some music, a book, a bit of time on the computer, we can find it.  Sometimes it can be visiting friends or family, or even eating a sandwich in the park on a sunny day.  I personally find it a lot in the time I spend with my sweetheart, as I'm sure we all do with our partners.

Here's to a good weekend for all, and here's to you all having at least one moment of fun.  Thank you for reading, please take care.

2 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 6 days old).

A New World Order song 6 - Medley

There is a sort of interesting thing to this song in that originally there was one song called Divisions, which is the first part of this medley.  While practising it though, I started going into some other chord structure (which I'm sure everyone does at time), and a different feel.  I liked it and thought I would try writing something for it, which became the second part of the medley - What Will It Take?

For a while I thought they could be two different songs sequenced together on the eventual disc, but much later on I was going through the second song again and suddenly once more started playing something else and ended up writing the third song - Revolution Glory.  After this I just decided to keep them as a medley.

The first thing recorded was vocal and acoustic guitar together, and over time I added more acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, tin whistle, harmonica, harmony vocals and drums, all performed by me surprisingly.  The drums were made up on the spot, which I suppose is obvious.

I actually think that it has turned out pretty well considering there was no click track, but the lack of a click did cause some problems with a lot of songs.

HERE IS THE SONG!

Thank you for reading, please take care.

1 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 5 days old)

Friday catch-up

So, I've now discussed five of the songs that are on A New World Order, and that has only skimmed the surface.  When first issued, it featured 21 song, but when reissued it will feature an extra ten songs.

I will be honest and admit that talking about my music is in part a publicity thing, which is why I won't be streaming every song from the album on Myspace.  That means that when it comes out, there will still be some surprises there.  Even those who have it from back then will have some surprises, because of the bonus tracks.

Anyway, that's enough blatant promotion for the time being.  We'll be getting back to that soon enough I promise you. ;-)

So, here I am at work (on Thursday writing Friday's blog) looking forward to the next two days off (fingers are crossed metaphorically).  Friday will hopefully be musically related, where I'm looking forward to getting some music done.  Saturday I'm not sure what's happening.

I need to get the music written to Dreamworld, a song with four parts to it, much in a similar way to how Rush songs lasted for an entire side of vinyl back in the seventies.  I don't know how it came to be like that, but I just couldn't stop writing lyrics.  It's like that sometimes the muse just takes you where it takes you.

I'm going to learn a couple of songs as well, and possibly finish my version of God Save The Queen, although I'm not sure of the vocal style that I have used so far on the song and wonder if I should go for a more folkish throaty vocal instead.  We'll see.

I feel bad that I'm not going to visit people, but I am looking forward to music time, and it does save on fuel, which is difficult to afford these days.  I will hopefully get some more visits in again soon.  We'll see what the future brings, because I have applied for a few jobs.

I might do something else that I haven't done for donkey's years as well, which is to make myself up a mix-tape.  Well, CD to be more exact, but it would give a CD for me to listen to when I have the place to myself. I've made them for Louise over the years, but not for myself for so very long.

Now what caused this decision to make a "mix disc"?  What was the cosmic big bang that caused this ultra-momentous explosion of... yeah, I lost it there I'll admit.

This will explain the extremes of my taste in music.  Four songs that played on my iPod in a row on the way to work were What's Your Favourite Colour by Living Colour, Cloud Nine by The Temptations, Earth Song by Michael Jackson, and Why Should I Love You by Kate Bush, to which I'll probably add an Alice In Chains song, and more.  I just like the idea of having some music playing in the background sometimes, and I miss it being my music collection (that plus it will teach the neighbours what music actually is, and not that bloody club music they keep playing - grumpy old man alert!!!)

Anyway, there's the plan then, and let's see what happens.  It probably won't pan out that way.

I hope that everyone is okay.  Thank you for reading, please take care.

1 July 2011 (40 years, 7 months, and 5 days old)