(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here is the first reply to In Your Hands.
I say "first" because I've found another one, When I Try To Be Me, that Mrs R says I have to do too... but that's unlikely to be the next one I post because I'm working…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
OK, let's delve once more into the magical shoebox of unused songs...
I've already recorded several that were written in 1994 (Sleeping with the Ghost, Elizabeth's Room, With Mum Again, If You Knew, A Hundred and…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here we go - Edith FINALLY gets it...
Actually, she's been getting it ever since I wrote it on the 29th May. I thought it would take a week or so, but it proved to be more of a fight than I was expecting.
On…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
Here it is in all of its glory...
THIS is the song that Mrs R and I had decided was a suitable response to a request to "Upload something HAPPY, stat!!!!!!!!!"
I tried to record it back in 2013 when I wrote it…
I was once asked to write a happy song. It turned out to be about a woman who killed herself and when I found out THAT SHE ACTUALLY KILLED HERSELF I wasn't sure what to think about my premonition.https://alonetone.com/jamesmichaeltaylor/tracks/a-happy-song. THEN, later an old friend asked if I had any happy songs so I wrote this:https://alonetone.com/jamesmichaeltaylor/tracks/if-it-makes-you-happy-092914-1
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I was asked (told?) to upload something happy. Hmmm, I thought. This will end well...
So, a few days later, I was rehearsing a pleasant little thing I wrote several years ago that has a working title of "She Was…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
Here's the very latest from the broom-cupboard.
I wrote it one dark night over 23 years ago.
****
**All I Have To Do - A A J Russe**
There isn’t much time to get this out
You won’t hear me if I have to…
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Okies, so I'm working on some other thing and it's taking a while... drums to do and wotnot. But in the middle of it I'm digging how my Martin acoustic is working out. You probs won't even be able to hear it amongst…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
I wrote this one last September.
Allison Jane Sixsmith 1965-2016.
****
**Forever - A A J Russe**
I can see you on your rocking horse now
The one that turned around and kicked you in the teeth
He thought…
I hear you’re drinking at the chocolate fountain
You pulled the handle off the door
But they won’t mind
They’ll be mending it forever..." Great images...
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
I wasn't even sure the recording machine was still going to work after nearly five years... Certainly, bits of me don't work anymore... But, surprisingly, I got this done in 24 hours, start to finish... Strange old world…
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…
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…
As If It Really Matters - A A J Russe
Written 16th January 1999
Recorded 12th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
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…
No-one To Blame - A A J Russe
Written 1st January 1988
Recorded 6th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
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…
What's really cool about these songs written long ago is that you are still able to remember the melody... I'm always having to remember my own music. I really like this one! Wise words of a twenty something... wiser that his years!
Who Is My Neighbour - A A J Russe
Written sometime in 1992
Recorded 12th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
I wrote this 30 years ago when I was 29. There were a bunch of people killing other people. There were refugees.
By the…
As If It Really Matters - A A J Russe
Written 16th January 1999
Recorded 12th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
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…
**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…
Congratulations!!!! Ended with another amazing tune - YES! That is a wealth of creativity in you my friend. I look forward to hearing all your other tunes. I hope you took a good rest after all this!!!
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 14
Written Monday 21st February 2022
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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…
Amazing how this came towards the end of the challenge...simply gorgeous. I don't hear any fatigue in it. A sad song though and I'm imagining the story behind it. Beautiful.
**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…
This is another great one!!! and catchy too. I also loved hearing your description of how this came about - I totally relate!!! I actually don't like most of my own songs. This song captures the spirit of these challenges :)
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 11
Written Thursday 17th February 2022
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Feels like I'm on the last lap now. Only 3 more needed.
This one came from a suggestion from Mrs R this morning. I didn't quite fancy it, but…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2022**
Song number 10
Written Wednesday 16th February 2022
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I've had the little guitar bit in the middle for years and years and years.
Even my wife recognises it, I play it so often.
Yesterday while…
Lovely track. Gorgeous feel. I'd have been happier if it had been longer - I put it on and went "yeah" and wandered off to another window. There was a real feeling of "Oh!" when it stopped - had to come back and hit play again! lol
"Lovely tinkly bits" - Can't really top that for a comment, B lol
And it's so true!
Loved it all. I thought it was just OK when it started, not quite my kind of thing... But it grabbed my attention enough to stay, and then it just dragged me in. Faved by the end. Nice track.
I heard Wildgeas track Erase the Breeze on alonetone earlier and this came to me straight away so i had to get both sides of Reg on this one.. and kick it out while i had a little time ….hope you enjoy…Thanks Paul
I need to feel real real Love…
Yep, that works :-)
Cool song on the original track. Enhances and brings out that riff. I listened to the original first and thought "it's the riff I'd go for" - and I'm guessing that's what gave you the mood for the lyrics/vocal.
Nice work both!
A Dave/Davidsen production:
Dave - acoustic (right side), keyboards, vocal on verses, electric solo - Epi Sheraton (left side), Bass and BR-80 drums in solo section, various sounds and effects.
Davidsen - acoustic (left side), chorus vocals, electric…
A Dave/Davidsen production:
Dave - acoustic (right side), keyboards, vocal on verses, electric solo - Epi Sheraton (left side), Bass and BR-80 drums in solo section, various sounds and effects.
Davidsen - acoustic (left side), chorus vocals, electric…
Oh this hangs together very well... VERY well. Really interesting arrangement - all the different parts shouldn't really go together... but they fit seamlessly.
Love it.
I like this one a lot. Gotta get me a banjo, or a mandolin, or both!!
You realise you're gonna have to get a fiddle as well now? (Or have you got one already!).
Fine track. Love those falling chords.
I kept meaning to listen to this ever since you first posted it. I didn't have 9 minutes at the time!
Then I noticed the attention it was getting - so I reckoned it must be something special...
... found the 9 minutes and..
YES! It is...
Coming from a completely different space than I've been dwelling in for the past few hours - and very refreshing because of that.
Enjoyed it a great deal.
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…
a new song finally came out of my head .....
Here's the lyrics:
Numbers spinning ‘round my head
like bees around a hive
if I try to divide them
they only multiply
even if I round them up
or try to find their root
colors swirling ‘round my…
And another one! Fantastic.
"Far too high, far too bright.."
Love it...
This is definitely the last one I'm listening to... I'll catch up some more later... I'm off to the broom-cupboard now.
Oh fantastic song and performance. Love the "mandolin" - is it one, or the "capo up the neck" trick?
(I keep meaning to stop and actually go and do some stuff myself - but another one of yours keeps starting and I keep listening instead!)
This one is utterly fabulous.
This was made for an EMUfest a year ago ... played on my really old Rolan D10 and the robot-voice is me through a vocal patch on my boss BR800.
Have fun :D
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
Comments on Andrew Russe's stuff
Simple and clear...
"Teddy bead kisses..." So sad.
Sounds like another suicide song to me... We can feel the pain in your voice.
I was once asked to write a happy song. It turned out to be about a woman who killed herself and when I found out THAT SHE ACTUALLY KILLED HERSELF I wasn't sure what to think about my premonition.https://alonetone.com/jamesmichaeltaylor/tracks/a-happy-song. THEN, later an old friend asked if I had any happy songs so I wrote this:https://alonetone.com/jamesmichaeltaylor/tracks/if-it-makes-you-happy-092914-1
"But still I love the comfort I find in misery…" Great line. Beatle like...and that's always good.
Great guitar sound.
Love this. Beautifully done. Tonight I was trying out a song from that era: Twilight Time...https://www.e-chords.com/chords/the-platters/twilight-time
I hear you’re drinking at the chocolate fountain You pulled the handle off the door But they won’t mind They’ll be mending it forever..." Great images...
Rock on Dude...! Good to listen to some of your tunes. It's been a while. Strange relationship in this song.
Another great song! Maybe it’s time to get the band back together!,!
Like it.
Beautiful piece.
What's really cool about these songs written long ago is that you are still able to remember the melody... I'm always having to remember my own music. I really like this one! Wise words of a twenty something... wiser that his years!
This is a universal message with a hauntingly sad melody. Everyone should be open to these words. Thank you Andrew.
The words really speak to me … as ever!
Congratulations!!!! Ended with another amazing tune - YES! That is a wealth of creativity in you my friend. I look forward to hearing all your other tunes. I hope you took a good rest after all this!!!
Amazing how this came towards the end of the challenge...simply gorgeous. I don't hear any fatigue in it. A sad song though and I'm imagining the story behind it. Beautiful.
This is another great one!!! and catchy too. I also loved hearing your description of how this came about - I totally relate!!! I actually don't like most of my own songs. This song captures the spirit of these challenges :)
I can't help but comment again! This is fabulous!!! Love how it came about - thank you Mrs. R.
What a loving ballad .....just perfect. That "little guitar bit" found its home :) Beautiful vocals here too.
Comments made by Andrew Russe
Lovely track. Gorgeous feel. I'd have been happier if it had been longer - I put it on and went "yeah" and wandered off to another window. There was a real feeling of "Oh!" when it stopped - had to come back and hit play again! lol
Back for another listen. Can't believe I didn't fave it last time!
"Lovely tinkly bits" - Can't really top that for a comment, B lol And it's so true! Loved it all. I thought it was just OK when it started, not quite my kind of thing... But it grabbed my attention enough to stay, and then it just dragged me in. Faved by the end. Nice track.
Yep, that works :-) Cool song on the original track. Enhances and brings out that riff. I listened to the original first and thought "it's the riff I'd go for" - and I'm guessing that's what gave you the mood for the lyrics/vocal. Nice work both!
And I forgot to mention those drums on the first listen. Yeah!!
Oh this hangs together very well... VERY well. Really interesting arrangement - all the different parts shouldn't really go together... but they fit seamlessly. Love it.
I like this one a lot. Gotta get me a banjo, or a mandolin, or both!! You realise you're gonna have to get a fiddle as well now? (Or have you got one already!). Fine track. Love those falling chords.
Not come across this tuning, not sure how it gets played, can't imagine it. Might have to give it a go. You seem to know what to do with it, though!
Good work guys. Very effective guitar track and mighty fine vocal from Hooky :-)
Nice. Like the riff, and lovely keyboards.
Rockin' :-) Sooner or later I've got to treat myself to a Sunday afternoon like this. Some well tasty guitaring going on here.
I kept meaning to listen to this ever since you first posted it. I didn't have 9 minutes at the time! Then I noticed the attention it was getting - so I reckoned it must be something special... ... found the 9 minutes and.. YES! It is...
Coming from a completely different space than I've been dwelling in for the past few hours - and very refreshing because of that. Enjoyed it a great deal.
Had to give this another listen before I lock myself away in the room with too many guitars. Thanks for the inspiration.
And another one! Fantastic. "Far too high, far too bright.." Love it... This is definitely the last one I'm listening to... I'll catch up some more later... I'm off to the broom-cupboard now.
Oh fantastic song and performance. Love the "mandolin" - is it one, or the "capo up the neck" trick? (I keep meaning to stop and actually go and do some stuff myself - but another one of yours keeps starting and I keep listening instead!) This one is utterly fabulous.
Lovin these guitar sounds.
Rockin
Always liked this one
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