leftybassman392 Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 (edited) I recently found an old CD of a music project I undertook with a couple of friends some years ago (mid/late '90's if memory serves). It was instigated and guided by a friend of mine (John) who had recently lost his wife (the love of his life) to breast cancer. He wanted to document his thoughts & feelings surrounding the death and it's aftermath. After I found it I thought long & hard about whether to make it public at all, but decided that on balance it would be better to publish than not for reasons that I hope will become clear as you listen to it. A couple of technical points that are relevant:[list] [*]The production is extremely haphazard by modern standards (starts & endings not tight, people playing across each other, mostly live takes and almost no editing, etc. - you'll hear it as you listen). This was deliberate on John's part: he wanted it to have a very 'live', warts-n-all feel, as if it was just a few mates sitting around playing together - John never thought of himself as a musician (although I've always thought he was a better fingerstyle guitar player than he gave himself credit for), and was very specific about not wanting any massaging. Had it been my choice I wouldn't have let it go like this in a million years - but it wasn't (which I guess is part of the reason I decided to post it). [*]Recording system was very basic - Spirit Studio analogue desk, single Adat LX20, minimal outboard (Lexicon Alex for reverb, little Joemeek optical compressor) and AT4033 mic for vocals/harmonica and John's guitar + AT pencil mic for guitar fills, everything else D.I.'d straight into the desk. [*]Personnel: John M. - vocals, fingerstyle guitar and harmonica; Steve G. - keyboards; Andy K. - various guitars, bass, recording & mixing. [/list] The reason for posting is not to impress anyone with our musical prowess - in truth some of the playing is a bit patchy - but to shed some light on how one man struggling to deal with the loss of his wife was enabled to see light at the end of the tunnel by expressing his thoughts and feelings through music with the help and encouragement of a couple of friends Shortly after completing this project he emigrated to Spain and spent some years painting what he found there. I did hear a rumour that he came back to the UK in due course, but sadly I lost contact with him. One of the nicest men I ever met, and I wish him well in whatever he's doing now. Anyhow, here's the music. Feel free to comment but please bear in mind what I've said above before judging it too harshly. [url="https://soundcloud.com/andy392/sets/camping-with-the-dog"]https://soundcloud.c...ng-with-the-dog[/url] Edit: the Sound cloud feed sounds a bit distorted on my laptop - don't know how that happened. The recording was basic, but it wasn't distorted! If anyone knows why this happened can they PM me so I can put it right? TIA. Edited May 13, 2014 by leftybassman392 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnyboy Rotten Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 I'm on track 4 and I love it! (Its not distorting for me either). I like the raw and rootsy feel of it. Perhaps you should see if you can find him on facebook or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madshadows Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Loved it, thanks for posting, hope you can find your old mate, try facebook etc. as Mr Rotten suggested John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-bbb Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.