Rock instrumental. Recorded Christmas 2008.
I'd struggled with a DAW. I'd stopped recording. And then my lovely wife got me a Boss MBR for Christmas. I thought this little thing the size of a fag-packet would be a nice "scratch-pad" songwriting…
A cover of Larry Wallis's fine ditty (it's always been one of my favourite Dr Feelgood songs).
This was my second recording with my Boss MBR, recorded early 2009. It confirmed for me that I was a "standalone recorder" kind of guy, and there was…
Pop-rock song. Recorded 2009.
I wrote this several years earlier and rehearsed it with the last band I was in.
The recording was my first "serious" project on my Boss MBR, I was stunned that you could do something like this on a little silver…
Acoustic tale of revenge. Recorded 2010 on a Boss BR1600CD.
*****
**The Knife - A A J Russe**
A dark and star-less night
Probably driving rain
That's what they think became of me
A foolish walk along the cliff when he was drunk…
Haha! My mum wrote this in 2011: Andrew, welcome to Alonetone.
Oh love your sound.
Man, you’re really good.
A little gruesome lyrically, but brilliantly well performed.
:) I concur.
A cover of Justin Currie's Sleep Instead of Teardrops. Recorded 2010.
It has always been one of my favourite Del Amitri songs. I was strumming away at it one day and my missus said I should record it...
A cover of Justin Currie's Sleep Instead of Teardrops. Recorded 2010.
It has always been one of my favourite Del Amitri songs. I was strumming away at it one day and my missus said I should record it...
A cover of Justin Currie's Sleep Instead of Teardrops. Recorded 2010.
It has always been one of my favourite Del Amitri songs. I was strumming away at it one day and my missus said I should record it...
Recorded Oct 2010.
It was meant to be a full band pop-rock song. But I started overdubbing on the original exploratory demo I'd done to work out the arrangement (with no click track). I kept coming back to it intending to start afresh... but…
Acoustic tale recorded Christmas 2010.
I wrote it years ago. Even tried rehearsing it with the band I was in at the time. But I couldn't play it properly. It took several weeks of practicing DADGAD (never really used it in anger before) until…
A tale of keeping your head above the water, or not...
Recorded Jan-Feb 2011.
I wrote it many years ago, never thought I'd ever do anything with it.
I intended to record this with just an acoustic and my new EDB (electric upright bass…
New one from me. It's ended up as a bit of a "crying into yer beer at Bob's Country Bunker" sort of song lol...
I've been sat on these lyrics in some form or another for absolutely years. I first wrote them one very dark night a few years after…
First new one from me in a long time.
Kind of a love song, I guess.
Recorded in my new "studio" (3rd bedroom in the new house). Almost up and running now... shine and don't stop wondering!
****
**Shine - A A J Russe**
On my way…
Not enough is made of your talent for musical arrangement as it's taken for granted in the shadow of your vox. You have such a huge talent, Russe. More please.
A new original from me. Another one-voice, one-guitar, "live" performance in my broom-cupboard. This time it's the good ole tin guitar.
I wrote this one in 2002 during the "dark years" lol. I've ummed and aahed over the years on whether to…
One of the many things I love about your voice is that you can turn from low key rev to buttock-grabbing throttle in a split second. That's pretty fantastic.
So I was locked in the broom-cupboard, checking out some old songs that need recording.
I'd just picked one and then suddenly this thing came out of nowehere. It started with one of those guitarist doodles that other musicians love so much…
Well, here we go then...
****
**Cobwebs - A A J Russe**
Yeah you know what it is that I want
Oh you knew, didn't you, before I did?
How many times did you wonder whether I would dare?
Oh never mind...
Take off your underwear
Over…
Here we go.
This one started out one morning several weeks ago when the sun was still shining...
If it's as wet and dark as it is here, just close your eyes, I'm sure you can imagine it if you try hard enough...
Lollies, chips, and beer…
This song has been sat on the marvellous mechanical mouse organ in the broom-cupboard for well over a year.
A few weeks ago I got a bit of a scare - the mouse organ nearly broke down (in the middle of sorting out Delta Dawn). While I was fixing…
This song has been sat on the marvellous mechanical mouse organ in the broom-cupboard for well over a year.
A few weeks ago I got a bit of a scare - the mouse organ nearly broke down (in the middle of sorting out Delta Dawn). While I was fixing…
Finally, at last... I've got something finished...
Been working on this for a few weeks.
A bit of a rocker... (and an aging lecherous one at that)
I got it as close as I could and then mixed it loud... I've over-cooked it slightly - but…
This is one of the many songs going round my head from when I was young. No idea whose version I heard and used to sing along to back then, but it was written by Larry Collins and Alex Harvey.
(EDIT: Done some research. It was Dottie West's…
It’s like floating down a river
When you’re not quite in control
That river’s going to take you
Only where it wants to go
So you reach out with conviction
At debris along the way
That river’s going to take you
If you give up and say…
It’s like floating down a river
When you’re not quite in control
That river’s going to take you
Only where it wants to go
So you reach out with conviction
At debris along the way
That river’s going to take you
If you give up and say…
Cool sounds and fabulous lyrics. Over the last few days I've been sharing this very message in various forms in various places... That's probably why I like it so much... And I've come across others saying the same thing... It might not be filtering through to the media (at least not the stuff I'm seeing/hearing)... but then it's not very news-worthy! ... But if there's a bunch of us ordinary people thinking and saying this and similar... then I'm feeling quite encouraged :)
(Sadly, sometimes one friend thinks they are more than friends?)
Friend, she calls me friend. and I'll never tell her the truth
What I feel, how I wish that this friend could be so much more
But she's too close to ever see, that this friend…
Nice one. I've often talked about this situation with my wife (usually when we're watching Four Weddings and a Funeral!!) ... I'm convinced boys and girls experience this friend vs possible partner thing slightly differently, she's convinced I'm wrong... oh well, at least I don't have to worry about this kinda thing anymore!! (it happened to me a couple of times in my 20s-40s)
A song about two sides of Nashville. One, loving and perfect to nurture an upcoming songwriter. Two, a business of endless circles of deception and frustration. I mostly know the second.....
The rejection letters keep piling up, saying your…
(Funny song about an embarrassing moment that turned out well.)
I was making the rounds, gaining ground on this cute little brunette
In a bar in Fort Worth, Texas, one night I'll never forget
But then that bartender ruined my plans…
Winter 1977 / 1978 - band is Clay percussion, Evan guitar and guitar pedals (synth sounds), Mike Barry piano, Mike Craddock bass, and Chris guitar (with echo / volume pedal)
This was the next to last jam of the night
Only just seen your reply on this one - about HAIM's version of the Fleetwood Mac song... I keep getting recommended it on youtube - I shall press play ..... WOW! The reason I keep getting recommended it is because I'm a big fan of Larkin Poe, have you heard of them? Check out their "Tip O the Hat" series of home vids - two sisters, lead and backing vox, six string and... a KILLER lap-steel player (thinking of getting one)(a lap-steel, not a Megan Lovell, she's already taken!)
It’s a Parthian Shot, from my head to my heart
Another night gone between the dusk until the dawn
I’m sending a signal flare up
A fever dream but it’s real
I’m asleep at the wheel
It seems every time that my body breaks down
I’m sending…
Bare with me place your cameras down
The lens inside your head is good enough tonight
No filter can project your mind
The colors seem to dull, an uninspired shade
Dare witness, don’t close your eyes
Take the leap and be surprised
A…
I hear the whispers again, so best I start
Mending my broken heart
I’ve gone to weaving again, needle and thread
Mending my aching head
Can’t you tell I just wanted to love you, but you were making other plans
So fare thee well and remember…
Ever lasting love from a brainwashed disciple
Basking in the rays from the blue light within
Born without a sense of the whole world outside you
Gyroscope to all as they’re caught in your spin
Never enough
Drinking their blood
Why does…
Raising the blood red curtain
Whispers and eyes uncertain
The orchestra begins the theme and chorus
As the tension breaks down before us
I’m sinking, I’m sinking down, I’m sinking down
While we drown in paper waves
from the safety of…
This one came solely as the chorus melody and the basic hook "So I'll sing my song for Carolina" It's all I had for months, but I thought it was a good chorus line so I kept humming it to see if it would sprout further ideas. The mid section is…
After hearing Jarrettt Osborn's take on this one, I had to come back and go again. Yep, I was reduced to "Wow" on this Last time I listent to it too! I like the stripped back version, but I also love all the carefully placed arrangement on this. And the song... shivers down the back... And I can perfectly visualise how you constructed it... having this chorus melody and one hook, just KNOWING it needed a song round it. I love how this version gives me that hook and melody, and the beautifully constructed finished song and arrangement around it ... and then Jarrett's version digs the raw song performance out of it - that possibly you didn't even know existed? (I don't know how you write/record) - and goes "here you go, this is the song I could hear and loved"
Crumbs... I'm a BIG Gary Fox fan... and this is a superb stripped down version that shows how, with the right performance, this song stands on its own without its maker... Wow, nice one.
THE TIDE POOLS OF CALIFORNIA
When you're born in California
There are things you take for granted
The sunshine and the desert and
The forests, and the bears and the beaches
In the tide pools of California
In the memories of one little…
LOVE this. I first listened while finishing work earlier, back then I mainly noticed your signature lush backing vocals on the chorus (bit loud on this one maybe?). But when I listened again in comfort, able to concentrate... woah, gorgeous song.
2013 was a decent year, song wise. I came up with a few good ones during the RPM Challenge in February, and one good one during NaSoAlMo in November.
This version is faster, shorter, has a bunch of new key changes, and has a little bit of…
Oh yeah. Nice. Love the guitars, as usual. The sound effect is cool, glad you left it in. AND, it was always a cool song, but it REALLY improves for just a little increase in tempo. There's more of a bounce to it... and it suits the vocals a lot more at this speed. That breakdown at 3.40 with the slide is mighty cool too (makes me think Jimmy Page 1969 lol) - it would be interesting to hear a whammy bar version... but I SUSPECT that the slides are the better effect.
JUNK
This week's prompt is "DIRTY LAUNDRY"
Key C
I got a call from Russell
He had to move his Junk
He'd filled his car
He'd filled his trunk
Big black bags of Something
I said, "What's with these?"
He said…
Another song from my 2013 RPM Challenge album. I always like this one, but I'm not sure I did it justice this time. There is a lot of really sloppy guitar playing, even if the Klon KTR overdrive pedal sounds EPIC. Sorry, gear nerd.
This…
Yep, like it. I recognised the chorus - and I probably only heard it once back in 2013 - it's quite memorable. I checked the original out earlier (I was typing when a windows update crashing my machine got in the way!! That's an hour of my life I'll never get back again ... I thought my laptop was dying!) ... Anyways, I found that this one, for me, is an improvement on the original...
Love those guitar harmonies, by the way.
Comments on Andrew Russe's stuff
Cool jam!
Super fine cover.
E-P-I-C, A-N-T-H-E-M-I-C.
Haha! My mum wrote this in 2011: Andrew, welcome to Alonetone. Oh love your sound. Man, you’re really good. A little gruesome lyrically, but brilliantly well performed. :) I concur.
Ooh no - I can't claim credit for this one. Justin Currie of Del Amitri wrote it. The original is absolutely GORGEOUS :-) (even makes me cry)
World class song-writing.
That melody is rip-your-heart-out gorgeous. Tear-jerking evil man.
BANGS IT HARD AGAINST THE WALL. Dude.
My first middle name, thanks.
Enjoyed!
Just spectacular song-writing (oh, and performance, SHOCKER!!).
Not enough is made of your talent for musical arrangement as it's taken for granted in the shadow of your vox. You have such a huge talent, Russe. More please.
One of the many things I love about your voice is that you can turn from low key rev to buttock-grabbing throttle in a split second. That's pretty fantastic.
Beautiful vocal - beautiful.
OK. I'm up for it.
Sauce.
"And when you wonder..." gets me every time.
There's magic in your words...
This is absolutely brilliant, Andy.
awesome cover!!! One of my favorite songs. Beautiful harmony
Comments made by Andrew Russe
I likes it more with each listen
Cool sounds and fabulous lyrics. Over the last few days I've been sharing this very message in various forms in various places... That's probably why I like it so much... And I've come across others saying the same thing... It might not be filtering through to the media (at least not the stuff I'm seeing/hearing)... but then it's not very news-worthy! ... But if there's a bunch of us ordinary people thinking and saying this and similar... then I'm feeling quite encouraged :)
I am SO tempted to follow the advice in this one ... but I'm meant to be working!! Lovely melody and chords.
Nice one. I've often talked about this situation with my wife (usually when we're watching Four Weddings and a Funeral!!) ... I'm convinced boys and girls experience this friend vs possible partner thing slightly differently, she's convinced I'm wrong... oh well, at least I don't have to worry about this kinda thing anymore!! (it happened to me a couple of times in my 20s-40s)
Oh yeah. Rocks. And a very cool song... shoulda been a hit, but... (!)
Hahahahaha... my Mum had a Lime Green Toyota. Very cool song.
Only just seen your reply on this one - about HAIM's version of the Fleetwood Mac song... I keep getting recommended it on youtube - I shall press play ..... WOW! The reason I keep getting recommended it is because I'm a big fan of Larkin Poe, have you heard of them? Check out their "Tip O the Hat" series of home vids - two sisters, lead and backing vox, six string and... a KILLER lap-steel player (thinking of getting one)(a lap-steel, not a Megan Lovell, she's already taken!)
What a fabulous album. Glad I've found your stuff. I'll be back for more.
Wow wow wow... fabulous (need a quick pause to see Mrs R off to work... I'll be back)
Oh yes, this too.
Oh my goodness, what song
Listening to this playlist (Signal Flare) while working in another window - might not comment on everything....
After hearing Jarrettt Osborn's take on this one, I had to come back and go again. Yep, I was reduced to "Wow" on this Last time I listent to it too! I like the stripped back version, but I also love all the carefully placed arrangement on this. And the song... shivers down the back... And I can perfectly visualise how you constructed it... having this chorus melody and one hook, just KNOWING it needed a song round it. I love how this version gives me that hook and melody, and the beautifully constructed finished song and arrangement around it ... and then Jarrett's version digs the raw song performance out of it - that possibly you didn't even know existed? (I don't know how you write/record) - and goes "here you go, this is the song I could hear and loved"
Crumbs... I'm a BIG Gary Fox fan... and this is a superb stripped down version that shows how, with the right performance, this song stands on its own without its maker... Wow, nice one.
WOW!
LOVE this. I first listened while finishing work earlier, back then I mainly noticed your signature lush backing vocals on the chorus (bit loud on this one maybe?). But when I listened again in comfort, able to concentrate... woah, gorgeous song.
Oh yeah. Nice. Love the guitars, as usual. The sound effect is cool, glad you left it in. AND, it was always a cool song, but it REALLY improves for just a little increase in tempo. There's more of a bounce to it... and it suits the vocals a lot more at this speed. That breakdown at 3.40 with the slide is mighty cool too (makes me think Jimmy Page 1969 lol) - it would be interesting to hear a whammy bar version... but I SUSPECT that the slides are the better effect.
Love it.
Cool sounds.
Yep, like it. I recognised the chorus - and I probably only heard it once back in 2013 - it's quite memorable. I checked the original out earlier (I was typing when a windows update crashing my machine got in the way!! That's an hour of my life I'll never get back again ... I thought my laptop was dying!) ... Anyways, I found that this one, for me, is an improvement on the original... Love those guitar harmonies, by the way.