(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.
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**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...
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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
****
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…
I've disappeared into a total rabbit hole with these 70s/80s synths. This one features the ARP2600 (in several guises), the Jupiter 8, Prophet 5 and the Fairlight (what a machine that was back in the day!)
This started in my head as another…
I was wondering what you meant by "reminds you of ELO", and then every now and then there was a momentary "oh yeah! I see what you mean", but then I don't know what bit it was that made me feel it!!! (So that's a good thing). Cool track, digging the bass sound.
Oh baby let me take you
To that screen-saver dawn
To Hallmark scenes
On a snowy winter’s morn
You can’t do this on your own
You can’t do this on your own
Oh baby let me take you.
Oh baby let me take you
Out to the windy cliff
Where…
So I had this song, not quite finished, I sort of insisted Greg Connor sing it, he also wrote the last verse. Steve Krell added the solo break. I think they helped to bring the song alive. Oh yeah, I'm in the Chorus ...... hiding Somewhere. :) :)
SKINNY GIRLS
Capo @ 3 in G
...and then he said,
I like skinny girls
Toothy girls
Flat chested girls
I like girls with Adam's apples
A mouth full of titty
And a hand full of ass...
A girl with a six pack
is my kind of...
And then…
I wondered if that was the case :) ... mine's still with me, though she claims she's on the way... and every now and then she goes "but you like skinny girls" and I go "not since I met you!" :)
SKINNY GIRLS
Capo @ 3 in G
...and then he said,
I like skinny girls
Toothy girls
Flat chested girls
I like girls with Adam's apples
A mouth full of titty
And a hand full of ass...
A girl with a six pack
is my kind of...
And then…
Hehehehe... This was me when I was in my 20s! Tastes change, though.... You learn you probably do need something to grab on to... Like you did with your Mum or Gran... Otherwise you end up falling over in the street and stuff like that...
This bouncy little groove brings the 2020 50/90 Challenge to a close. I end with 51 songs written in 88(?) days. I've only finished this challenge once before, in 2014. That year I stopped at 50 songs but I got there with a lot more time to…
WOW! What an achievement. A superb body of work. I've seen that you don't like some of it, but as a whole it really hangs together and is good to listen to all the way through. Then when you realise these 51 were created in 88 days... crumbs. Well done... FLIPPIN WELL DONE! :)
I think we have a winner here.
I already had 50 songs in process for the 50/90 challenge and I was starting to feel like I was going to finish with time to spare. Then my wife and I were having a Facetime call with my step daughter who is…
I think you're right ("I think we have a winner here"), I've been enjoying all of them playing (it's turned up quite loud, I'm kinda digging it) ... but this one made me come back to the window that's playing it, there's something about this one that commands attention. Nice one! (Back to work now!)
50/90 runs from July 4 through October 1. Three months. When I work on it I tend to break the project up into four pieces. Songs started and finished in each of the three months, and songs that cross between months. This is the only cross…
You've posted SO many songs since I was last listening, I'm just gonna pick up where I left off and let them play while I'm working. I can see you completed the challenge, 51 in 88... WOW! Congratulations :)
A first venture into open G tuning ....... Poor old Reg has been let down by a lot friends in his time and now he's down to just a few fingers on one hand .........So he thought he'd write a song about it ... Gibson acoustic tuned to open G recorded…
Oh yes, like this - very inventive. On the Steel... Hehe... I've used G for years and years and years for slide playing... and it's only recently I discovered that G is the secret to this guitar part (that I've loved for even longer!). I think I watched some Earls Court footage a couple of years back and the penny dropped.
The second one born from my first week of quarantine. I dusted off my 5 string Sandberg bass guitar and wanted to evoke a Motown-ish vibe on this one and really got into the snare and bass guitar following the same rhythm rather than the usual…
Only 1 week ago I was luxuriating at a beautiful hotel in Dubai, floating blissfully in a lagoon pool... Forward wind one week and I'm here in the cold, wet, windy UK having to quarantine...
Now, at the aforementioned pool, they played a chill…
Yep. Cool sounds (although I feel less in need of chilling out, more a case of "where's my long hot water bottle I bought the other week but my missus has nicked so she can have two at once...")
Well... this took a left turn at Odd Street. The main melody started off as riff written and played on bass guitar and the early version had guitars, and real drums etc.... Then I got introduced to a suite of 80s synth plugins and it all went…
I'm playing catch-up. I was about to listen to your latest and realised there's been an upheaval... so I've come back here to the oldest one I haven't heard so I get them in the order you posted. In case you haven't revisited it to decide on what it is... may I suggest it's "a steaming pile of really catchy electronic pop"! :)
Song #50!! Another part of the super-skirmish weekend. Prompt was to use 5 of 10 randomly generated words. I used: cowgirl, alaska, fools, madness, top, taco
V1:
Drivin' down Main I noticed her license plate
Man, she was a long, long…
Last skirmish of this years 50/90. Great prompt: "Wonder"
A1:
The days
The Days of Wonder
Are they gone
Gone forever
It makes me sad
I thought I'd never
I'd hoped my hard-nosed nature was a fad
With blinders on
Can't see the beauty…
Engine stalling
Redwood falling
Babies bawling
Sheriff come calling
Another child missing
Black snake hissing
Radio squawking
Searchers walking
Media stalking
Everybody talking
Mother in ruins
What’s black snake doing?
Fox in the…
Another collab with Paul Chapman (Chaperzee) from the other side .....
Nothing here
Is this all you had to say
When you talked to me today
I can’t see the games you play
Is it that you with your minds astray
I stand here in dismay…
So, as a major change from countryside walking...a random leap for no. 6 in this series to visit the Greek Goddess of the Hunt...Artemis. More discordant, but hopefully capturing some drama!!
OK, for some reason, this has put an image of Angelina Jolie in my mind... (In a Lara costume, obviously!). Nice one... both the soundscape and the image!
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
I was wondering what you meant by "reminds you of ELO", and then every now and then there was a momentary "oh yeah! I see what you mean", but then I don't know what bit it was that made me feel it!!! (So that's a good thing). Cool track, digging the bass sound.
Yep, beautiful song. And some gorgeous guitar playing.
Woah... this is mighty fine. Heading Somewhere... yeah...
I wondered if that was the case :) ... mine's still with me, though she claims she's on the way... and every now and then she goes "but you like skinny girls" and I go "not since I met you!" :)
Hehehehe... This was me when I was in my 20s! Tastes change, though.... You learn you probably do need something to grab on to... Like you did with your Mum or Gran... Otherwise you end up falling over in the street and stuff like that...
WOW! What an achievement. A superb body of work. I've seen that you don't like some of it, but as a whole it really hangs together and is good to listen to all the way through. Then when you realise these 51 were created in 88 days... crumbs. Well done... FLIPPIN WELL DONE! :)
I think you're right ("I think we have a winner here"), I've been enjoying all of them playing (it's turned up quite loud, I'm kinda digging it) ... but this one made me come back to the window that's playing it, there's something about this one that commands attention. Nice one! (Back to work now!)
You've posted SO many songs since I was last listening, I'm just gonna pick up where I left off and let them play while I'm working. I can see you completed the challenge, 51 in 88... WOW! Congratulations :)
Oh yes, like this - very inventive. On the Steel... Hehe... I've used G for years and years and years for slide playing... and it's only recently I discovered that G is the secret to this guitar part (that I've loved for even longer!). I think I watched some Earls Court footage a couple of years back and the penny dropped.
Oh yeah. Mighty cool.
Yep. Cool sounds (although I feel less in need of chilling out, more a case of "where's my long hot water bottle I bought the other week but my missus has nicked so she can have two at once...")
I'm playing catch-up. I was about to listen to your latest and realised there's been an upheaval... so I've come back here to the oldest one I haven't heard so I get them in the order you posted. In case you haven't revisited it to decide on what it is... may I suggest it's "a steaming pile of really catchy electronic pop"! :)
What a vocal! I was about to pause it and move on, thinking "fair enough, things to do, though..." and then the vocal kicked in. Woof!
Very cool sounds.
Yeah!
Woo! Nice one. Followed. Looking forward to hearing more of your stuff (I'm playing catch up after being quiet for a few weeks)
Welcome!! I've had a bit of a hiatus, but I remember this from a few weeks back on songcrafters... loved it then, love it now, so well put together.
Yeah. That's pretty cool.
Hehe... kinda "March of the cloth masks"
OK, for some reason, this has put an image of Angelina Jolie in my mind... (In a Lara costume, obviously!). Nice one... both the soundscape and the image!