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'castles' is up on soundclick. first RELEASE from new disk


bluesway

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hey all . . . i mentioned it in the other thread about another tune, but here is "castles" in its own thread. i've already gotten some feedback from people whose opinions i greatly respect in here, but i'd love to hear what the others think about it

 

it's on auto-play on my soundclick member page under gschmitt-the year in pictures

 

CLICK HERE....it'll be fun and {censored}

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You know, my only reservation about this is the Hendrix reference. I guess I generally don't like self-referential art. But I appreciate that it means something to you to have done that. (You certainly picked a good tune to refer to.) Regardless, your song's cool and slick and tasty like all of your other work. :thu:

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The riff at :10 is tremendous. No, I take that back, the whole rhythm guitar part is great. I love the way you integrate clean single note riffs and arpeggios with crunchy partial chords and then make the whole thing work in the context of the vocal melody. Not totally crazy about the backwards lead guitar - it adds something, but your chops are obviously top notch - just let the tape run forwards and really knock my socks off.

 

I was paying so much attention to the guitar (did I mention that I think you've got an awesome guitar tone as well) that I didn't pay attention to the lyrics until about the fourth time through, but the lyrics are pretty cool. Some of the lines are a little ... far out, but in general it works with the transcendental theme of the song. I guess I can accept that "a golden winged ship comes passing her way" is a metaphor for an escape from human frailty/physical handicaps wrapped up in solar imagery, but the way you phrase it just makes it sound like you are tripping your ass off on LSD. But outside of that line and a word here or there, I really like the two portraits of "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown", and the imagery in the chorus ("Castles made of sand/Fall in the sea/Eventually") is pure gold.

 

Great song - can't wait to hear what else you have up your sleeve.

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the jimi thing is 100% on purpose. it's a total quote. the lyric in my tune is "castles in the sand crumble to the sea -
someone
sang to me." the whole concept is basically taking part of that jimi tune
(the part where the couple fights and he says "what happened to the sweet love you and me had?")
and just adding a few related situations/details.

 

 

The lead in the intro is a little tentative/stiff on the beat. Jimi really slid around, but he was never tentative about it - you always know that he is coming back onto the beat and that his little detour will pay off at some point. I like the crunchy guitar on the bridge (Evangeline) and the one-two-one clean guitar on the verse, but I think I would like them better if they were not so structurally separate - one of the great things about Hendrix is the way he sat right on the edge of the amp breaking up - if he played single notes or picked more gently it could get pretty clean, but if he played chords or picked harder he would get some crunch, and he used these tonal dynamics (in addition to the volume dynamics) very expressively in his playing. It's definitely beyond my comfort zone (and probably outside of my abilities as well - but you are a much better player than I am) but I would try combining all three guitar parts into one take, using an amp setting that will let you cover as much of the tonal range as possible, and just let it rip. Drop some of the rhythm guitar is something has to give - I really like almost all of your fill work in between the vocal lines (I wouldn't be upset if it stepped on the vocals here and there, right now it is almost too tasteful/respectful).

 

I posted the Hendix review above because we were talking about grading on a scale/relative merits in the other thread, and I wanted to give my positive comments/critical judgments a little bit of context.

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but I would try combining all three guitar parts into one take, using an amp setting that will let you cover as much of the tonal range as possible, and just let it rip.

BULLSEYE. this is something i've REALLY been thinking about myself. i think i overdid the amount of guitar and settings on this record and it's something i'm going to strongly consider on a new disk. it's just too exciting to NOT do on your first disk in a real studio with top-notch equipment....you have every track you could ever imagine you'd need.....so get a hard-on for just fillin' em all up! (every single guitar part was a combination of THREE mics....neumann u87 on area, sennheiser 609 on 1 cabinet, sm57 on another cab..... :cool: now THAT, i wouldn't change, but the amount of tracks, i would. it SHOULD give an idea of how crazy one can go in that situation.)

 

.as far as what i said for another approach...i already have a few tunes picked out for another CD...i plan on sending scratches to drummers next month. many of the tunes are my 'home recording' tunes that you guys already know from SC, since NONE of those are on the current "year in pictures" record that i'm 'releasing' now. (or whatever word you use instead of 'release' when you're just a normal guy making a record with his own cash! :) ) true to what we just addressed, it will have a very different character.....(and it'll probably take another three years to complete!) :)

 

. . . "a golden winged ship comes passing her way" is a metaphor for an escape from human frailty/physical handicaps wrapped up in solar imagery, but the way you phrase it just makes it sound like you are tripping your ass off on LSD. But outside of that line and . . .

well.....*blush*...i'm a bit embarrassed to say this, but i didn't write a line like that. where are you hearing that? i'm confused and i'm sure it's a result of me not knowing a reference you're making and NOT you being off on something.

 

 

thanks as always for your ears. you'd be surprised how much creedence i give your (and a short list of others') input and how much it affects how i approach my tunes.....very surprised.

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Yeah, it's too buh...buh...buh... BWAHAHAHA. I can't do it. YANKEES LOSE!!! RED SOX WIN!!! Yet again! BWAHAHAHA

 

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

 

the red sox REALLY win b/c i believe we were the only team that had a chance at stopping them........

 

:mad:

 

and satan {steinbrenner} wants to axe torre. stupid

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Are you playing this live? I'm pretty much a basement guy myself, but road-testing this one should let you/force you to try out this kind of reduced arrangment.

 

 

no. not right now. i'm still between a power trio and another guitarist. i don't know yet. (and you're totally right about that.) with the advent of high quality home recordings, not enough is being road-tested these days.

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