**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 5
Written Thursday 10th February 2022
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What can I say? Mrs R likes it.
I knew she would.
Scheduling-wise, songs per day, I've now caught up with having missed the first 5 days of…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 3
Written Tuesday 8th February 2022
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So, here's today's little ditty.
(I don't know whether folks outside the UK would know what a Chelsea Bun is. I love them, they are extremely yum…
Great story line - has a true troubadour feel about it! Love it - kind of dark.
I have had the pleasure of a Chelsea bun here in Canada - yup, extremely yummy.
Very creative song. I'm listening to a great concert of all your songs ...loving it.
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 2
Written Monday 7th February 2022
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I wrote this one a couple of hours ago.
I set up for recording, and busted a string on the Martin... GAH!!!
I tried a big ole dreadnought thing…
holy cow......I hadn't heard this one before! Gorgeous!!! That Fender did it's job well. Absolutely love this. I think this one is perfect as an acoustic version.
As If It Really Matters - A A J Russe
Written 16th January 1999
Recorded 12th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
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Crumbs, even this is 23 years old!
We used it as a set-opener in the last band I was in.
I've been trying to make…
Wow!!! This song did not age ....it is gorgeous. Truly beautiful and I love the complexity of the melody and how it moves about. I imagined hearing it live at a concert (I'd be in the front row!).
No-one To Blame - A A J Russe
Written 1st January 1988
Recorded 6th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
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Nearly forgot to post this one! (it's been a busy week at work)
I was 24 when I wrote it. What more can I say…
The Feast - A A J Russe
Written 26th September 1985
Recorded 3rd March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
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This one's been sticking out of the shoebox for a long long while. It always shows up in a list of maybes. And it did this time…
Just To Make It What You Want - A A J Russe
Written 1st October 2016
Recorded 4th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
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I was going to choose a more uptempo one next, then this one jumped out of the shoebox at us, shouting "me me ME…
Gates Of Heaven - A A J Russe
Written 15th January 1988
Recorded 6th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
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This is about as naked as I can get.
This is how I wrote it. It's never had any accompaniment.
I was a bit young to sing…
Isn't This Fun - A A J Russe
Written 1980 (Completed 16th June 1991)
Recorded 6th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
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I wrote most of this in my first year at university.
But the Shoebox says I completed it 16/06/1991 - and the…
I Want You To Know - A A J Russe
Written 21st June 1987
Recorded 6th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
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This was to the same lady who inspired Foolishness. There's a couple of others from the same period, related to her, that will…
I Want You To Know - A A J Russe
Written 21st June 1987
Recorded 6th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
This was to the same lady who inspired Foolishness. There's a couple of others from the same period, related to her, that will…
Gates Of Heaven - A A J Russe
Written 15th January 1988
Recorded 6th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
This is about as naked as I can get.
This is how I wrote it. It's never had any accompaniment.
I was a bit young to sing…
I Hope I Love Them - A A J Russe
Written sometime in 1989
Recorded 2nd March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
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This one has tugged at me for many many years.
I absolutely adored it from the moment I wrote it in 1989... But I thought…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 1
Written Sunday 6th February 2022
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OK, this is a bit of a departure for me - posting songwriting demos.
This is a one mic recording made this morning in the living room, touch of reverbs…
First time hearing your stuff. After the first song, I love your writing. I'll be listening through what you have posted for the rest of the day!
Completely agree with RPM. I do enjoy it, however this year, my focus was more on songwriting and having fun. Production took a back seat.
I Want You To Know - A A J Russe
Written 21st June 1987
Recorded 6th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
This was to the same lady who inspired Foolishness. There's a couple of others from the same period, related to her, that will…
I Hope I Love Them - A A J Russe
Written sometime in 1989
Recorded 2nd March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
This one has tugged at me for many many years.
I absolutely adored it from the moment I wrote it in 1989... But I thought…
The Feast - A A J Russe
Written 26th September 1985
Recorded 3rd March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
This one's been sticking out of the shoebox for a long long while. It always shows up in a list of maybes. And it did this time…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 13
Written Saturday 19th February 2022
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UPDATE: 8 Hours after posting I just spotted that I listened to and favourited a song called... um... "We're Done" by oldfolks2 - check it out…
I had your FAWM playlist going and sort of forgot I was supposed to be active listening, but this one pulled me right back into it... then I saw your liner notes. I know the feeling of not being happy with something but needing to get it out, but this is great. I'm curious to see what you do with it, because I think it works far better than you it seems.
You better close the stadium with this one, because all those lighters and voices in unison are going to violate some sort of by-law.
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 3
Written Tuesday 8th February 2022
****
So, here's today's little ditty.
(I don't know whether folks outside the UK would know what a Chelsea Bun is. I love them, they are extremely yum…
I'm a little perplexed at the narrative, but oh what a great narrative it is. That second verse paints a pretty vivid picture, although I'm a little unsure that being denied pastries is an apt consequence, but then Ive never had a Chelsea Bun.
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 1
Written Sunday 6th February 2022
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OK, this is a bit of a departure for me - posting songwriting demos.
This is a one mic recording made this morning in the living room, touch of reverbs…
Congratulations on the FAWM "win", especially with only 23 days to do it. A great start as well.
I share the sentiment on production. Part of me wants to do RPM next year because I wonder if I had too, could I move fast on production? It sounds a lot more exhausting than FAWM, that's for sure.
Update: Gene offered to improve the Mix on this song! This is that improved version. Thanks so much Gene! You are awesome!!!
I wrote this song earlier this summer, and had played it a few times with Greg Connor, fellow alone toner, and…
Nice one. Sounds very real and spontaneous... Looks like I missed this first time round. I was thinking about Gene the other day, talking about him to my wife.
A simple guitar groove. Haven't sat in a coffee shop since before the lockdowns, and I miss the atmosphere and the music! This tune feels to me like sitting in a cafe.
(Every time I think it's done, I end up tweaking it a bit more in Audacity…
This is the last song on The edge of Winter but it is not finished there is another part yet to be written ...
Winter's tale of woe : Part 1 - The end of winter. Part 2 - The last snowstorm
And now for something completely different... Right now it's hot.. and I mean 50 degree hot. So I had in my mind's eye a summery, trippy 'under a palm tree' kind of vibe. And I got that... but I got more... much more...
LOL - we watched that the other week :) .... cool track... I'm getting flavours of summery, under a palm tree, and... a girl dressed like an Australian's nightmare...
Not sure how I got here... but yeah, this is WAY cool. And yes, I can hear those piano runs... I THINK I'd have recognised them if you hadn't said... but it saves me wondering later (when we're trying to decide what to watch) why I'm suggesting Thomas Crown Affair!
AKA New Wave or "Unknown #1"
As always, apologies to the band for the guesswork.
LYRICS:
New wave
Wine
Dine
Smile
because I said so that's
Why
Mired
Fired
because I said so
And of course, you posting this earlier started me off down this rabbit hole!. I went searching and discovered that they were called Skid Row. And I found a demo recording of Unknown #1. This cover is pretty darn cool. Like it... and now you've got me listening to Nirvana too
I was working on something else when I started wondering what KC's solo fragment would sound like as a full-fledged studio song.
LYRICS:
You can't change me
Another cover of a rare KC solo guitar song.
Apologies to KC for the extrapolation.
LYRICS:
So my time is on time
it's too much to belie what may
On my own at the prom
She would never just lied and laid
Now I'm bound by her tests…
I don't know too much about Nirvana, kinda "after my time", let alone the rare Kurt songs. But the idea of creating band songs from what he did on his demos is very cool.
Thank you Greg, Colleen, and Andrew for your comments. I need to add a little more from that day so long ago.
The Battle for Layfayette Square were improvisational warm ups and cool downs for practicing this progressive rock attempt that clocks…
Excuse the weird title. After completion of the track i had a really weird dream and this is my interpretation of it.
Min 4:00 and on is a calming landing into peacefulness and mindfulness.
Wowsers. This is very cool indeed. Interesting how others react to sounds... in the peacefulness and mindfulness section - v pretty btw - I kept "jumping" and "looking around" because of the various sound effects that come with it. Come 5:15 or so, I was able to relax - but only second time round because I knew they'd REALLY finished! LOL - I wonder what that says about me?!
GORGEOUS guitar sound. And cool song. VERY cool song.I found the problem round the other way... too much interest in living (well, sleeping) resulted in an unbalanced something or other.
Comments on Andrew Russe's stuff
Absolutely beautiful! Warm and an interesting narrative :). Loving it!
Great story line - has a true troubadour feel about it! Love it - kind of dark. I have had the pleasure of a Chelsea bun here in Canada - yup, extremely yummy. Very creative song. I'm listening to a great concert of all your songs ...loving it.
holy cow......I hadn't heard this one before! Gorgeous!!! That Fender did it's job well. Absolutely love this. I think this one is perfect as an acoustic version.
Wow!!! This song did not age ....it is gorgeous. Truly beautiful and I love the complexity of the melody and how it moves about. I imagined hearing it live at a concert (I'd be in the front row!).
I think I dated this one. I like the guitar lick. The song really moves along well.
I can feel that being a great Rockin' song .....
That's a great song in the making ......
A little bit of magic ...
Very good ..... afraid the 80's are so far away for me ..... old age ;)
Top notch my friend ....
An enjoyable listen, and a little different.
This is beautiful.
Poignant, affecting. Something everyone can relate to. I'm glad you were able to revisit this old song, and I also hope recording it was cathartic.
First time hearing your stuff. After the first song, I love your writing. I'll be listening through what you have posted for the rest of the day! Completely agree with RPM. I do enjoy it, however this year, my focus was more on songwriting and having fun. Production took a back seat.
Funny I don’t get stalker vibes but I can see if one knew the backstory that might be the outcome. Another great piece of writing!!
Sparse and beautiful
This is a good listen.
I had your FAWM playlist going and sort of forgot I was supposed to be active listening, but this one pulled me right back into it... then I saw your liner notes. I know the feeling of not being happy with something but needing to get it out, but this is great. I'm curious to see what you do with it, because I think it works far better than you it seems. You better close the stadium with this one, because all those lighters and voices in unison are going to violate some sort of by-law.
I'm a little perplexed at the narrative, but oh what a great narrative it is. That second verse paints a pretty vivid picture, although I'm a little unsure that being denied pastries is an apt consequence, but then Ive never had a Chelsea Bun.
Congratulations on the FAWM "win", especially with only 23 days to do it. A great start as well. I share the sentiment on production. Part of me wants to do RPM next year because I wonder if I had too, could I move fast on production? It sounds a lot more exhausting than FAWM, that's for sure.
Comments made by Andrew Russe
Nice one. Sounds very real and spontaneous... Looks like I missed this first time round. I was thinking about Gene the other day, talking about him to my wife.
Very cool groove.
Yeah, like this a lot.
Nice one, like it.
Cool sounds. Very nice first track to listen to at 6.30am at the start of this work-at-home Monday morning.
LOL - we watched that the other week :) .... cool track... I'm getting flavours of summery, under a palm tree, and... a girl dressed like an Australian's nightmare...
Not sure how I got here... but yeah, this is WAY cool. And yes, I can hear those piano runs... I THINK I'd have recognised them if you hadn't said... but it saves me wondering later (when we're trying to decide what to watch) why I'm suggesting Thomas Crown Affair!
That does feel good. Can I hear an e-bow in use there?
And of course, you posting this earlier started me off down this rabbit hole!. I went searching and discovered that they were called Skid Row. And I found a demo recording of Unknown #1. This cover is pretty darn cool. Like it... and now you've got me listening to Nirvana too
This one too - nice one.
I don't know too much about Nirvana, kinda "after my time", let alone the rare Kurt songs. But the idea of creating band songs from what he did on his demos is very cool.
I thought I'd commented?! .... anyways, WOW that's a monster. I'll give it another listen over the next few days.
Wowsers. This is very cool indeed. Interesting how others react to sounds... in the peacefulness and mindfulness section - v pretty btw - I kept "jumping" and "looking around" because of the various sound effects that come with it. Come 5:15 or so, I was able to relax - but only second time round because I knew they'd REALLY finished! LOL - I wonder what that says about me?!
Oh yes... This is wonderful. The guitar sound is soothing and expectant. The sentiments in the lyric - yesss (or "Nice" lol)
Also... "Grrrreat" :)
Nice. (one needs to be a fan of the Fast Show - an old TV program in the UK - to fully appreciate the delivery of that word).
Oh yeah. This is my favourite one so far. OR... it's the one that fitted my mood best at the time I decide to listen to it? :)
GORGEOUS guitar sound. And cool song. VERY cool song.I found the problem round the other way... too much interest in living (well, sleeping) resulted in an unbalanced something or other.
I only really know the Thin Lizzy version... and this one!
Nice one.