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…
Foolishness - A A J Russe
Written 3rd January 1988
Recorded 1st March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
While writing and recording songs for FAWM 2022 I discovered that I can create acoustic demos of nearly any song I've ever written…
Hehehe... there's LOTS of youthful angst is these Songs from the Shoebox... possibly an embarrassing amount... You wait... let's see if I'm brave enough to record the ones from 1978/9!!!
Foolishness - A A J Russe
Written 3rd January 1988
Recorded 1st March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
While writing and recording songs for FAWM 2022 I discovered that I can create acoustic demos of nearly any song I've ever written…
Foolishness - A A J Russe
Written 3rd January 1988
Recorded 1st March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
While writing and recording songs for FAWM 2022 I discovered that I can create acoustic demos of nearly any song I've ever written…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 5
Written Thursday 10th February 2022
****
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 1
Written Sunday 6th February 2022
****
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…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 5
Written Thursday 10th February 2022
****
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 15
Written Wednesday 23rd February 2022
****
I wasn't able to stop! I really meant to, but... Oh well.
It's still February, so it can go with the others.
IT IS MY FIRM INTENTION TO…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
I've been missing in action for ages - apologies to all, I'm about to start listening again too.
For ages, I'd been considering a move away from my trusty Boss BR1600 on which I've recorded and mixed nearly everything…
I saw your comments on my site. Thanks. It sounds like you’ve got this recording process figured out. I’m still learning as I go. Thank God for YouTube. 😎
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 15
Written Wednesday 23rd February 2022
****
I wasn't able to stop! I really meant to, but... Oh well.
It's still February, so it can go with the others.
IT IS MY FIRM INTENTION TO…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 1
Written Sunday 6th February 2022
****
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…
This is kick-ass! You have a great voice and I love your guitar playing. When you have great ingredients like that, you don’t need much more than good material, of which there is plenty here! I am very inspired listening to this. I appreciate you sharing it and I look forward to delving deeper -bjk
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 6
Written Friday 11th February 2022
****
I was meant to be resting and chilling.
In fact, I was resting and chilling.
But then I got a message from Lala saying she was listening to the…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 13
Written Saturday 19th February 2022
****
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…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 14
Written Monday 21st February 2022
****
This is it ... FAWM's all finished for me... time for a lie down now.
There's still nearly a week to go, but I'm done, 14 songs written in 16…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 15
Written Wednesday 23rd February 2022
****
I wasn't able to stop! I really meant to, but... Oh well.
It's still February, so it can go with the others.
IT IS MY FIRM INTENTION TO…
Love this song! Congratulations - what an accomplishment. I can imagine your fingers are a bit sore and your voice is craving a cold libation. But very glad you shared these with all of us.
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 14
Written Monday 21st February 2022
****
This is it ... FAWM's all finished for me... time for a lie down now.
There's still nearly a week to go, but I'm done, 14 songs written in 16…
Wow!!!! Congratulations. All 14 songs were amazing. And this one - quite the pinnacle moment itself. Gut wrenching in parts... especially the chorus. Your writing is always an inspiration to me, and this one certainly has done that job.
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 14
Written Monday 21st February 2022
****
This is it ... FAWM's all finished for me... time for a lie down now.
There's still nearly a week to go, but I'm done, 14 songs written in 16…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 8
Written Monday 14th February 2022
****
It's not entirely true. But it's CLOSE ENOUGH!
It was actually the 16th of February.
But we were corresponding by email on the 14th.
Then we…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 6
Written Friday 11th February 2022
****
I was meant to be resting and chilling.
In fact, I was resting and chilling.
But then I got a message from Lala saying she was listening to the…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 5
Written Thursday 10th February 2022
****
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…
Here's a song I recorded a couple of months ago when I had the flu ... as the voice reveals :)
Recorded early in the morning,in the bathroom, using the built-in mics on my boss br800.
Yes. Lovely.
Not sure I've heard your voice like this before (away from lots of instruments). You've got a lot more bottom-end to it than usually shows up on bigger arrangements. Think about discovering how to bring it out on those as well - not too much, just a bit :-)
Of course, it might just have been the flu!!! lol
I haven't been listening to your stuff enough recently - kinda catching up here.
This is fab. Luckily I'm too old and creaky to attempt to dance to it, thanks for the warning anyway lol
Bethan wanted to make a lullaby for her new grandson and asked me for to make a music track for her to sing to.
Tess added 2 extra riffs and pitched it down as well. She also did the mixing and the vocal arrangement.
Shadows Come, Day Is All…
Fantastic, gorgeous, yum...
Bethan, so far, this is my ABSOLUTE favourite vocal of yours (not heard them all yet, though! lol).
And I reckon Tess must have the same muse bothering her as the one that watches over and hassles me: I was getting ready to type...
"and that line 'My love sits in the front row' is just fabulous"
... when I read the previous comments!
Superb job everyone. Now, does it actually work as lullaby on the chap in question? :-)
Wooo... Not heard this one before - I assume it was the same punkfest I know about and, as I didn't pay too much attention to the stuff getting posted, I must have missed this.
Love it. What it most reminds me of is Motorhead's first album (and, actually, the originally unreleased first album, On Parole), before they "became" Motorhead. So they were still a mixture of Hawkwind, The Pink Fairies, and goodness knows what else that went into it (speed and vodka lol).
My old live sound engineer from the 80s would have LOVED this, he always trying to get me more into stuff like this. Looks like some of it stuck, I love it too.
Had a bad day when I wrote this.
There is a rule I stick by though.
"Divert and sublimate your anger and potentially virulent emotions to creative energy"
So I did..
Picked up the Kay G101 and pressed record on the iPhone voice memo…
Ah - you've uploaded this one as well, nice one :-)
But I still don't quite understand how you manage to channel stuff so apparently effortlessly, and invariably produce a song worth listening to at the same time. (And do it so often)
Mebbe I'll just press record one day and see what happens! (And then spend 3 hours/weeks/months twiddling with the EQ afterwards lol)
Once upon a life
By OsCKilO
Once
Upon a life
Do we find
A happy ending
More
Are the times
That we try
To race from the line
Slow down Laddy
Wont you go a little bit Slow
So Daddy can
catch up
Hey there Laddy
I could run fast in my day
And…
No problem :-)
I hope a lot of people hear it. For me, it's one of those songs/performances that gives the listener a lot of reward for just listening.
My missus thinks so too (and she's the one who ALL of my stuff goes through before it gets out - I don't post anything without her reassurance first!).
Not all songs do this. And the writer never really knows that they've done it, or whether they're imposing on people with it if they have... The minute I heard it I knew this was one (might not be for everyone, I guess, but it is for me and Mrs R), and I suspected you might need to know it was cool and needs to be "out there"...
Once upon a life
By OsCKilO
Once
Upon a life
Do we find
A happy ending
More
Are the times
That we try
To race from the line
Slow down Laddy
Wont you go a little bit Slow
So Daddy can
catch up
Hey there Laddy
I could run fast in my day
And…
T
So glad you put this one up on here. Tis still as beautiful as when I first heard it this morning.
The song itself, simple and from the heart. And the performance matches it.
Wonderful creation.
A song about my wife. Recorded 2005.
I'd just taught myself how to play piano (badly).
I'd always wanted to be Freddie Mercury when I was younger... still got a bit of a ways to go.
****
**Now It's Done - A A J Russe**
I said it…
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…
"I like that notion of optimism right around the corner . . . but not quite here yet."
Yep, I like that as well now, VERY much... but I didn't really believe it when I wrote it! lol - it was more of a yearning for it to be true.
This is Mark's First adventure into Song Writing
Big Legged Woman -- Written by Mark Imsdahl
Mark's alonetone site: http://alonetone.com/imsdahl
Mark Imsdahl -- Harmonica
Greg Connor -- Dobro
Here is Ron Rouch's version of Mark…
Oh yeah, faved immediately.
I bought some blues harmonicas once - this'll be easy I thought... NOPE! lol (I ended up giving them to a harp player I knew)
I might try again one day, and it's performances like this that make me want to do it.
Fine song, fine everything :-)
A tune I wrote and recorded last year as a result of a good friends hungry teenage daughter sitting in the dance tent at the Sunrise festival chanting 'pizza, pizza!'. Working on a new album if yer interested. New tracks soon with any luck.
a mind
escaped
destruction
signalling
for help
taking refuge
with the dead
afore arrival
of the shifter
o you who turn the wheel
and look to windward
o you who turn the wheel
consider phlebas
the search
ensues
determined
are the foes
questioning…
it finally happened the guys from jemima's kite got together for a gig in otley yorkshire, with geir and osckilo joining in the festivities.
this was a wee practice before the event, with me on vocals and greeny on guitar and backing vox live…
it was my intention to use alonetone just for my solo endeavours but i couldn't resist introducing you to jemima's kite
http://songcrafters.org/JemimasKite/index.html
I tied Jemima's kite
To my bicycle
We're gonna send it
Soaring through the…
And of course this version :-)
I don't think I've listened to this one this close before - or mebbe I've better headphones on, I dunno - it's fab, worth two faves.
WOW!!
This must've been for the Beatlesfest over at Songcrafters? How did I miss it???!
I nearly skipped this one in a mood of "oh this old chestnut..." (I do love the original, but you kind of dread a cover of it).
But I reasoned, "you never know with orh..."
So I thought I'd listen to the first "I read the news today" and then decide...
FLIP!! lol
Comments on Andrew Russe's stuff
Great tune Andrew. we held back on a few old ideas too. i'm glad you put it out there
Hehehe... there's LOTS of youthful angst is these Songs from the Shoebox... possibly an embarrassing amount... You wait... let's see if I'm brave enough to record the ones from 1978/9!!!
That's rather wonderful ...... a bit of youthful angst ??
You've been a writer / poet for so many years!!! How delightful to put these songs out. I'm glad you found the shoe box.
Another beautiful piece of storytelling through haunting voice and gentle music
You sing these words perfectly … I am just in awe of your story telling
So lyrical
Intrigued … who is this written for? Whoever it is is a lucky person … love this
I saw your comments on my site. Thanks. It sounds like you’ve got this recording process figured out. I’m still learning as I go. Thank God for YouTube. 😎
Another little gem ......
This is kick-ass! You have a great voice and I love your guitar playing. When you have great ingredients like that, you don’t need much more than good material, of which there is plenty here! I am very inspired listening to this. I appreciate you sharing it and I look forward to delving deeper -bjk
Good stuff. I'm always amazed at how versatile you are.
That's a good song. I like the "acoustic demo," but do you also envision this as a rocker (2 guitars, bass, and drums)? I think it'd kill.
RIP to your pretty one....!!
Love this song! Congratulations - what an accomplishment. I can imagine your fingers are a bit sore and your voice is craving a cold libation. But very glad you shared these with all of us.
Wow!!!! Congratulations. All 14 songs were amazing. And this one - quite the pinnacle moment itself. Gut wrenching in parts... especially the chorus. Your writing is always an inspiration to me, and this one certainly has done that job.
***** A lie down ?!!!? You to get yourself a hobby .... Ha Ha, after all that hard work, I'll have to retire ...... Oh ... already am ......
Agreed with the other comment, very Elbow-esque, the melody and even the vocal has a Guy Garvey style to it. Excellent!
Toe tapper, this one. Nice chord changes.
Touching.
Comments made by Andrew Russe
Yes. Lovely. Not sure I've heard your voice like this before (away from lots of instruments). You've got a lot more bottom-end to it than usually shows up on bigger arrangements. Think about discovering how to bring it out on those as well - not too much, just a bit :-) Of course, it might just have been the flu!!! lol
Yep, still more of a Geir than a Hen (I can hear reverb on it for a start!) lol. VERY cool, sir
Crazy! :-)
I haven't been listening to your stuff enough recently - kinda catching up here. This is fab. Luckily I'm too old and creaky to attempt to dance to it, thanks for the warning anyway lol
Fantastic, gorgeous, yum... Bethan, so far, this is my ABSOLUTE favourite vocal of yours (not heard them all yet, though! lol). And I reckon Tess must have the same muse bothering her as the one that watches over and hassles me: I was getting ready to type... "and that line 'My love sits in the front row' is just fabulous" ... when I read the previous comments! Superb job everyone. Now, does it actually work as lullaby on the chap in question? :-)
Wooo... Not heard this one before - I assume it was the same punkfest I know about and, as I didn't pay too much attention to the stuff getting posted, I must have missed this. Love it. What it most reminds me of is Motorhead's first album (and, actually, the originally unreleased first album, On Parole), before they "became" Motorhead. So they were still a mixture of Hawkwind, The Pink Fairies, and goodness knows what else that went into it (speed and vodka lol). My old live sound engineer from the 80s would have LOVED this, he always trying to get me more into stuff like this. Looks like some of it stuck, I love it too.
Ah - you've uploaded this one as well, nice one :-) But I still don't quite understand how you manage to channel stuff so apparently effortlessly, and invariably produce a song worth listening to at the same time. (And do it so often) Mebbe I'll just press record one day and see what happens! (And then spend 3 hours/weeks/months twiddling with the EQ afterwards lol)
No problem :-) I hope a lot of people hear it. For me, it's one of those songs/performances that gives the listener a lot of reward for just listening. My missus thinks so too (and she's the one who ALL of my stuff goes through before it gets out - I don't post anything without her reassurance first!). Not all songs do this. And the writer never really knows that they've done it, or whether they're imposing on people with it if they have... The minute I heard it I knew this was one (might not be for everyone, I guess, but it is for me and Mrs R), and I suspected you might need to know it was cool and needs to be "out there"...
T So glad you put this one up on here. Tis still as beautiful as when I first heard it this morning. The song itself, simple and from the heart. And the performance matches it. Wonderful creation.
Wow, I'd forgotten all about this one. She's upstairs having a lie-in. Gonna make her a coffee in a minute... Thanks guys :-)
Oh this is brilliant. BRILLIANT.
Oh yes, I do like this. Love the kind of 60s vibe to it. I'm going to have to listen to more of your stuff.
"I like that notion of optimism right around the corner . . . but not quite here yet." Yep, I like that as well now, VERY much... but I didn't really believe it when I wrote it! lol - it was more of a yearning for it to be true.
Oh yeah, faved immediately. I bought some blues harmonicas once - this'll be easy I thought... NOPE! lol (I ended up giving them to a harp player I knew) I might try again one day, and it's performances like this that make me want to do it. Fine song, fine everything :-)
Oh yeah. I wasn't too sure as it started... but by the end I had a big smile on my face. Gorgeous sound and groove.
Nice... I love the way the vocals work in headphones. And some juicy Ronson-esque guitaring.
I love this still.
I thought I'd pressed send on this one!! It was along the lines of "yes, like this version, nice job" :-)
And of course this version :-) I don't think I've listened to this one this close before - or mebbe I've better headphones on, I dunno - it's fab, worth two faves.
WOW!! This must've been for the Beatlesfest over at Songcrafters? How did I miss it???! I nearly skipped this one in a mood of "oh this old chestnut..." (I do love the original, but you kind of dread a cover of it). But I reasoned, "you never know with orh..." So I thought I'd listen to the first "I read the news today" and then decide... FLIP!! lol