Second wind and thank you 

I have said the same thing to myself several times over the years. OK lets get some more music released. Time passes and nothing happens. Then I get frustrated with myself because I failed to release any new music.

I'm not the only one. I hear the same thing from some of my peers. It seems to be a common ailment that artist report. Getting stuff finished like this sente.... . .. . 

Recently however due to lockdown, and time alone, I've revisited this topic. I tried tiktok because I was told its a quick…

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Hello 

This is track 10 from the album Focal Point and is really the closing track. I wrote this song for my Dad when he was very poorly and spent his final years in and out of hospital.

This song was originally recorded in a more contemporary style with the fantastic vocals of a good friend of mine, Marc Atkinson. The original version I gave to my Dad and he loved it.

Later it was played a his funeral.

I could not bring myself to put the original version on this album so I re-recorded it.

It was / is a hard song…

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Hold On 

The main piano riff came from a song I wrote called "Still it rains" but after witnessing the Tsunami tragedy on TV on boxing day 2004 the song became "Hold On".

That Tsunami left 230,000 people dead or missing and another 2 million homeless. Our attention has since moved away but the effects of such a catastrophe are very much a reality for many people, especially children, in that area.

Please visit www.savethechildren.org and make a donation.

LYRICS

Despite ourselves we cannot win
No magic cream for…

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Big Cars 

Big Cars is track 8 on the album Focal Point.

Nothing too deep and meaningful here but I do like to drive and I hate traffic jams. The inside of a car can be a great place to be or a prison depending on the journey.

But on a visit to the USA I was surprised that if one was so inclined they could drive their car at 55 mph with auto cruise set, and no reason to touch the steering wheel for some considerable time, due to the length of straight highways. Give me the twisty country roads of the Yorkshire Dales any…

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Senza Tempo 

Senza tempo is track 7 from the album Focal Point. Senza tempo is the second instrumental on the album and its name is derived from the musical term "Without Tempo".

The guitar was recorded in one take during a 30 minute chill out late one night. It was simply a jam that I recorded and forgot about. When I uncovered it, I added the keys to enhance the mood of the guitar solo. I was then in two minds as to whether it should be used on Focal Point or not.

It was when adding the keyboards I realised there was…

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Hello 

 This song started as a guitar riff in 7/8. The piano came next, then the story started to unfold while I was talking into the microphone very quietly.

The drums were added towards the end when I asked Andy Edwards (IQ / Kino / Frost*) to play. His runaway train drums were the icing on the cake, and I loved the voices and phone sounds as they weaved the story within the haunting soundscape.

LYRICS

I hear your voice on the answer phone
I said I’d call on my way home
I hope you’re in when I get there
To hold you…

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Scared To Dream 

Scared To Dream is track 5 from the album Focal Point.

Sometimes we chase our dreams at the expense of our existing relationships. Is it worth it? Well I guess only you can answer that one.

I have had comments about one line in the lyrics that for some reason seems to feel awkward... but hey I like it.... Can you guess which one it may be?

LYRICS

I don’t know what comes across me every day
I change my mind like it’s a dirty shirt
I’m fingers and thumbs at holding on to all I have
They fall and lie discarded in…

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Soul Words 

Soul words is track 4 from the album Focal Point.

It was originally written around 2005 and is simply a tune questioning our ability to look at tragedies on the TV and be numb to the real live devastation that is happening in other lives.

Will we ever be judged for not caring and ignoring the needs of others? We may all have our own judgement day...

LYRICS

You take what you can find
You know the place, the time
You bend the rules that bind
You dance to free your mind
You give what you can’t take
You won’t admit…

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Riff For The Day #2 and #3 plus a middle finger for Steinberg 

    

Here's Riff for the day number 2 and 3. Apologies for clumping them together but I upload to youtube and then paste to this blog and sometimes I forget. So please jump over to my youtube channel and subscribe.

RFTD #3 is not so much a file from an archive, but a little improvisation to test out a new piece of studio equipment.

But first a dig at hardware and software developers. Stop updating stuff.

Today's riff was jammed after I'd spend literally days trying to solve a recording issue. The bottom line…

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Riff For The Day #1 



Riff for the day #1. Recorded in March 2010.

Over the years I've used my phone to capture musical ideas. They spend a little time on my phone but are eventually backed up onto memory cards or hard drives. Some mysteriously appear in the cloud? Spooky.

Anyway during the C19 "stay at home" I decided to do an experiment. The premise is simple...

Gather all the musical ideas together and review them for use in future tracks. Simple: Find them then index them.

Stage one is complete and I've found over 700 clips.

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