GATEFOLD COVERS OF THE 1970s [audio CD LP 2006]
Audio tracks >> Transport / 8th Is 10th / Chris Sullivan's File / Dogs Lounge / Stet / The Completist / Gatefold Covers of the 1970s / Sleep Comes Slowly / Isolated Farmhouse / Stepladders of the Rich & Famous / He Fills The Stage With Flags / A Sprung Life / As Beautiful As The Day / Song Like Stone / Magpies / The Intermediate Group
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR "ISOLATED FARMHOUSE" |
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ABOUT THE CD
When I first got seriously into music (school bands, swapping LPs in the playground, serious discussions about who would win the Melody Maker poll for best guitarist), the gatefold LP cover reigned. Single sleeved LPs left you feeling short changed. You haven't really lived until you've attempted to open the cover of Yessongs or Santana's Lotus. To this day I'm convinced there's vinyl inside those sleeves which I'm yet to discover.
The CD booklet was a major step backwards in the development of western civilisation and how the heck do you shrink wrap an MP3?!
So, in the spirit of the early 1970s, I offer you an overlong meandering eclectic (and yet strangely musical and accessible!) double (it only just fits on a single over burnt CD!) magnum opus (what does that mean?).
Oh alright, here are the last 16 tracks I recorded cobbled together into an LP. Sorry, no concept at all. And dammit to hell, no gatefold cover either!!!
TRACK NOTES
Transport
I was listening to a program about the first convicts sent to Australia from England, it reminded me of Peter Ustinov who later went there himself. He was asked at immigration if he had a criminal record to which he replied "I didn't know you still needed one". This tune is a really simple 2 chord exercise over which a suspended harmony is sung. Of course, the chords are major 7ths!
8th Is 10th
This is a smooth jazz groove with a bossa inflection. The bossa guitar is a Strat, the lead tunes is a Takamine nylon, and the solo is played on an Ibanez archtop but my favourite part of the recording process is playing the shaker!
Chris Sullivan's File
A summer vibe. I was passing through the reception area of a well know South London music college when one of the admin staff called out "Where's Chris Sullivan's file?". Don't know who he is, what he's doing or if he passed his qualification, but we're all thinking of him now. A potential single I suppose (not that they sell anymore). This has a classic verse-rise-chorus-mid8 structure.
Dogs Lounge
Conceived as a cocktail lounge jam with some lovely classic bossa chords. Learn 4 shapes and the structural and harmonic possibilities are endless, I love them!
Stet
I was listening to Little Feat's "Time Loves A Hero". If you've never heard them you should. Wonderful rhythm section and interesting time signatures. And thus Stet was born from a 6/4 time signature. If you were in the print trade before DTP arrived you'll know that stet means "leave it as it is". I recorded 5 guitar solos but the first was the best. I cannot tell you how rarely that happens!
The Completist
My friend Dan said this should be the title of the CD and that I should be photographed with my Frank Zappa LPs. OK I'll put my hand up to this, I did spend 10 years collecting Frank's complete catalogue on vinyl, but around the time of "Them & Us" I came to my senses and disposed of the 15 or so crap ones (I still have the 30 good ones and a copy of "Thing Fish" which no-one will take off my hands).
Gatefold Covers of the 1970s
Ah yes. The promise of the inner double page spread once the shrink wrap was off. Always a disappointment wasn't it? This tune started as a nylon guitar bossa piece but mutated into a long rambling instrumental piece with a 4/4 rhythm. Bit prog really.
Sleep Comes Slowly
This is an instrumental version of a song I wrote back in the early 90s.
Isolated Farmhouse
I read a book on semiotics once (don't ask!) and it said that words carry different meanings for people. "Jetty" may signify danger to one and escape to another. "Isolated Farmhouse" is such a loaded phrase. Anyway, fear is the primary tool of capitalism. Business and the media wants you to think that the moment you step outside your home a pitbull will bite your face off and your children will be abducted by pedophiles.
Stepladders of the Rich & Famous
You think I'm kidding? Coming to a cable channel near you soon.
He Fills The Stage With Flags
This phrase appeared on the posters of a long forgotton entertainer. I'm too young to have lived through the music-hall era but I would love to go back in time to the 1940s and spend one saturday night at the Golders Green Hippodrome. There was no TV back then so everyone in my Dads family sang or played the piano and were required to perform at Christmas and holidays in the palour. Now all I hear is "did you watch whatever last night?". Fuck TV. It's turning us into morons. Its not the bad programs that are the problem, its the good ones. They trap you into indolence and apathy. Do you want to spend your time on earth watching other people's lives and ideas or do you want to have some of your own?
A Sprung Life
I was trawling through a tape of old discarded song ideas and came across this jam. It had a nice vibe so I developed it into this smooth-jazz tune. Not much to say about it really.
As Beautiful As The Day
This tune was based on Ravel's Bolero. Ravel always said "its strange that this is my most well know piece of music, because there's no music in it". The idea was to have a seamlessly building arrangement and one modulation at the end. Anyway, it's for Finn who is beautiful.
Song Like Stone
I don't really like this track much! Straight 4/4 back back doesn't really float my boat anymore. Still it works OK and was hanging around getting in the way so I thought I'd pack it off onto this LP, which is after all an audio garage clear out!
Magpies
I wrote this on piano as a song for Sarah Moule the great great British jazz singer. This is my instrumental version.
The Intermediate Group
This is an interesting track, kinda jazz-rock fusion and the oldest composition on the LP. My favourite bit of this whole CD is the guitar riff on the outro, so I made the fade really long!
Matt Sept 2006.
