Year of creation : 2006
Acknowledgments :

This is probably the most ambitious thing I’ve tried yet, in terms of arrangement, on my home recording set up. The tune came to me whilst I was cycling to work, the idea for the lyrics has been kicking around since I was on holiday in January 2007.

This recording marks the debut of my new toy, a bass guitar that I bought for the princely sum of £20.00!! I was planning to borrow a bass guitar for this recording, but Elmo from China Dogs offered me this, and at that price I could not say no. It’s a really quite horrible looking thing, made by Stagg but it plays & records okay, just don’t think I’d want to be seen with it in public.

To me the song sounds quite Hollies-esque, especially in the vocal harmonies, though I really was going for an ‘XTC/Dukes Of Stratosphear’ kind of feel, especially in the bass part. I’ve never recorded a song in which I’ve indulged a really noodly bass part, so I threw every note at it that I could.
Having recorded the basic track, it occurred to me that the middle-8 would suit a Beach Boys type of arrangement, so I added in an extra middle 8 and dropped out the drums, re-recorded the vocals in falsetto and added a block of vocal harmony, although I have no qualms in admitting that I cannot arrange vocal harmony layers anything like Brian Wilson would.
In an attempt to get that ‘Carol Kaye bass’ sound I stuffed a huge lump of foam rubber under the strings at the bridge, rolled the tone off, played it with a pick and added a bit of reverb. I think it’s pretty convincing.

Please let me know what you think, I do appreciate that the song has a rather strong element of pastiche about it, is it any the worse for that?

Instrumentation -

Rhythm Guitar -Peavey Generation XP

Lead Guitar - ‘Vintage’ Les Paul copy

Bass - Stagg Fusion Electric Bass (twenty quid, yes!)

Organ - Yamaha PSS580 home keyboard

Drums - Courtesy of the Boss BR-864’s internal drum machine.

Tambourine - nicked from the Strand Theatre 11 years ago.

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Album : Elise
Year of creation : 2001
Acknowledgments :

From my first album Elise. Recorded late 2000 and early 2001. Produced by Martin Fisher at his studio in Islington. Martin programmed all of the drums on this album.

"I knew a girl who looked like you" is a phrase that popped into my head one morning, complete with music. I'd obviously spotted someone who resembled my then most recent ex-girlfriend, the song just grew from that point.

I'm a huge fan of The Byrds & this song seemed THE place to indulge my love of the sound of 12-string electric guitar. (I actually had to buy one for these sessions, a great sounding thing but ultimately not very practical, I sold it a few years later when I was more in need of space & money than instruments). The intro is played on my beloved green Danelectro U2, and is my little homage to the intro of There She Goes by The Las which is one of my all time favourite song intros (and indeed one of my all time favourite songs).

This is the first track we worked on for the album.

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Album : Elise
Year of creation : 2001
Acknowledgments :

From my first album Elise. Recorded late 2000 and early 2001. Produced by Martin Fisher at his studio in Islington. Martin programmed all of the drums on this album.

I wrote this song in 1990-ish, lyrically it's really just a vague look at childhood, centering round my Dad's car, an Austin Cambridge.

Musically it was strongly inspired by the song Last Chance Texaco by Rickie Lee Jones. I was also listening heavily to Lyle Lovett's Pontiac album at the time, which may not be an obvious influence, but I loved the atmosphere of it.

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Year of creation : 2006
Acknowledgments :

What motivated me to write this song? I'll tell you, spending too much time listening to Nickel Creek and Aimee Mann, that's what. There are a couple of lines in the middle eight that could be described as 'ripped off' an Aimee Mann song,I see it it more as homage than plagiarism. But hey, in the unlikely event of this tune ever making any money, I'd be more than prepared to offer her a co-writing credit. This song quite excitingly (for me) cotains a single use of the 'F' word, hence the parental advisory status. Edgy stuff huh?

Instruments used-

Gibson J50 accoustic guitar.

Double Bass.

Aria Mandolin.

Dobro.

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Year of creation : 2006
Acknowledgments :

Not that I want to sound like some sort of jet-setter, but this tune popped into my head whilst I was wondering around in San-Francisco, October 2006. I sung the tune into my mobile phone and there it sat till January 2007 when I was in Martinique. I mucked around with it a bit and the title phrase just kind of turned up as a guide lyric. So the rest of the lyrics have really just come about as an extension of the title.
I hereby confess that that's not a real accordion on there, it's the accordion setting on my old cheapo home keyboard.

The instrumentation is -

Rhythm guitar - my crappy holiday guitar, I bought this pile of rubbish to take on holidays with me, it's only just playable and doesn't sound at all good but for some reason records really well.

Lead guitar - Gibson J50

Double bass

Fake accordion - A cheap old Yamaha home keyboard.

Drums - courtesy of the built in drum machine on my Boss BR864

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