The Change.......

I'll be stretching the rules a bit with this thread and I do hope I get away with it.

This is the second song in our collaborative adventure. It is still technically a WIP, as it has been since last August, but what I am really asking for is guidance in the next step in this collaborative process.

We intend to move forward immediately with another song. And as I look back on these last two I see a pattern that has already developed, albiet somewhat unintentionally. We spoke of 'The End Game' and then of 'The Change'. As the world was due to end just the other day it seems that we may have unwittingly ripped our ongoing theme from the very headlines. I am hoping to bring something to the table very soon to take this theme to the next level.

As I see it, songwriting, while being an event specific endeavor is also something that has to be looked at as a process that also develops the theme of a multi-song project such as this. To that end I ask that you take a look at this latest song, consider listening to the previous offering in the JDL link, and perhaps offer ideas for the next move.

This song is still in the mix stage, fwiw, so any and all input specifically on this one will be appreciated. My illustrious and multi-talented partner played all of the guitars and programmed the drums along with handling the board in our many collaborative mixing sessions while I.........sang and offered moral support and comic relief.

Goes like this:

The Change

Verse

We are staying

How about you

Are those tears of joy or have you just been used

Do you have inside information

Well we do

That's true

Prechorus

That's why we're waiting

Yeah we are waiting

what more is there to do

Chorus

Are you ready

For the change

Don't stop if the pieces don't fit

You've got to keep trying

You just can't quit

Get ready

For the change

Don't stop we know you want more

Here's the key

There's the door

Verse

We're still playing

How about you

Can you still make noise or is it just no use

Do you still need more conversation

Or more truth

Well we do

That's why we're waiting

etc.

Are you ready

For the change

Don't fight have no fear

It'll be alright when it all becomes clear

Get ready

For the change

A small spark will make a big flame

And we'll pierce the dark

If you let us take you higher

Bridge

Prechorus

Chorus (extended

Very cool. Bears some similarity to the Queensryche stuff I used to listen to back in the day, with the high neck minors, the chorus power chords and the brief interlude after the 2nd chorus.

Songwriting-wise, there isn't a thing I would change with the possible exception of the very opening. Mixing-wise, I think the bass could be upped and the drums seemed a little too "in your face" at times (not in how they were played, just in how they sat). I also think some choice fills with an electric could be useful, especially at the end. Give that final chorus some freshness and a little more oomph.

Fantastic. I wasn't expecting this style at all and you knocked it out of the park.

Wow. You got a midwest type rock toon! That and an "Adult Alternative" type sound mixed together. And DRUMS! nice Mr. Len. Nice harmonies too. Love the panning choices. Is that a Beatles reference? Very cool. Cool synth touches. Great job.

Nice. I think the lyric needs a little work, though. (Big surprise coming from me, right?)

The lines I've underlined are the ones that I think aren't totally up to snuff.

"Here's the key, there's the door" is {censored}ing brilliant.

As for the line in bold, was that used as a reference to your previous song about building a fire and letting the flames go higher? Because it almost seems like a direct quote. If you intended it that way that's fine (maybe), but if both songs are going to appear as part of the same CD, album, gig, whatever., you might want to change it so that you're not repeating yourself lyrically.

Very well done musically and conceptually!

LCK

We're still playing,

raising the roof.

Do you really believe things could all go poof?

Do you still need more conversation

Or more truth

Well we do

LCK

I like the sound of that.

We appreciate the kudos on this one........very much. Collaboration can be a wonderfully fulfilling experience when the partnership has such good chemistry.

Thinking that maybe the next one has to deal with........future choices or maybe......reconciliation.....or......

Blegh. The link only plays the first few seconds of this for me for some reason. I must be defective.

don't know where to go from here but I love the sound of the drums!!!

I finally was able to listen to this properly, and I LOVE it. It's quite different to your usual solo stuff...which I also love, as you well know...

And I LOVE your voice Lenny, my dearest. It's gorgeous...even more than usual.

I agree, I thought the drums were too up front (and a little shallow) at times.

I think I'd like to hear another voice on harmony. A chick would be nice. Maybe Grace could phone in a performance.

What an amzing idea!

Could even work......

Grace?

Heheh, sure, why not?

Marshal...you keep pushing Lenny and I together in various ways I notice...

Just name your first child after me.

;)

HAHAHAHA!! Oh my goodness me...

Sounds like a blanket over the song! What mp3 encoder did you use? What bit rate, etc did you use. Nice words-can be interpreted in so many ways. Joe

Just name your first child after me. ;)

Yo, Grace......is there something you haven't told me?

You have good ears, my friend. This first mix was bounced at 128 Kps. Don't tell my esteemed partner.......he thinks I bounced it at 320 Kps.

After the next, and hopefully final, mix session we'll put this out at the highest bit rate possible. I hope you'll check back in and tell me if you can hear the difference.

Thanks to everybody who helped us get down with this final mix.

thanks also to His Blueness for letting me stretch the rules a bit.

Final mix.....

The Change

Thanks to everybody who helped us get down with this final mix. thanks also to His Blueness for letting me stretch the rules a bit. Final mix..... The Change

This sounds great! I love the modulated guitar in the back. The cool Beatles guitars. The mando. The synths. The cool hooky rhythm guitars. The message!

Love it...

See Lenny my dear, Lee loved it so much he posted twice!!! lol

Oh, now I see this...

If work is continuing, it's a w-i-p, as far as this kindergarten cop is concerned.

For those who get it (that the rules are there to help discourage promo posting and attention-seeking for its own sake), it can pretty well be considered the honor system on the work-in-progress rule.

(Basically, we just need to keep guys like me -- with 150+ songs more or less in the can that he'd love more people to hear -- from abusing the system.)

Thanks, blue...

And thanks, Lee........

And thank you too, dear Grace. Just for being.......you.

Just want to say..........there are many reasons why we post songs in places like this, though there are few places as good as this one. I won't get into all of them......we all have our motives, right?

But with two new songs up for review at the Studio for the next big JDL project I went to bed last night realizing that neither of them stood up to the above standard for a good song.

......and because of that I woke up this morning and went into the studio to catch something new that just might.

Thanks, Lee.