Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 08:54AM
Today's SF Chronicle wrote a STELLAR review of Larkin Gayl's new CD, but I'm not surprised. In my opinion, the review couldn't have been effusive enough.
And here's a link to Amazon, where you can preview Larkin's tunes.
Monday, July 14, 2008 at 05:29PM What is it about rock music and drug abuse? So many rockers find themselves staring down and empty bottle... and wanting more. Ron Wood seems to be the latest
Sunday, July 13, 2008 at 07:16AM
If you're like me and cursed with a terrible singing voice -- plus a little bit stupid -- you might be a touch shy about belting out your melody and really making sure it works before heading into the recording studio. DON'T BE. Sing it loud and sing it proud, because that's the only way to know for sure whether it will work. Trust me, I speak from experience. Just the other day, I happily trotted off to Hyde Street to do some mixing, and I figured I'd quickly lay down a few scratch vocals to a new tune I've been penning and -- I kid you not -- in the second line of the first verse, I realized one of the chords was wrong for the melody that had been looping through my brain for days. Luckily, ace engineer Jaime Durr set me up to overdub the right chord, but by then I was rattled. Further, there were phrasing problems galore and, well, the whole process was a fiasco. So, again, sing out your melodies before committing to recording them. The best place is probably in the car -- just make a rough MP3, pop it on your iPod, and you're good to go -- but even better might be using an acoustic instrument (guitar, piano) and singing while you play. If you're not sure of your notes, use scales to find what works and what doesn't (yes, sadly, it pays to know your scales).
Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 06:53AM
The other day, a post appeared on Measure for Measure discussing bridges. Personally, for me, a bridge has always been a confounded thing, because I was never sure what exactly a bridge was. The source of my confusion is the interchangeable way people use the terms bridge and middle 8. Well, sometime in the last few years, I finally settled on what I think the definitions of the terms should be: a bridge is exactly that, it connects one part of a song to another, usually a verse to a chorus; a middle 8 is a tangent, a detour into some other musical territory that while different from the bulk of the tune still fits.
To me one of the greatest bridges ever happens in U2's Stuck In A Moment. The way the music moves so gracefully and builds so powerfully from the verse into the chorus gives me goosebumps. And a lump in the throat.
Actually, that same song also has a fabulous middle 8 starting with "I was unconscious". I mean, wow, wow, wow. For me, only the Beatles outdo U2 for songcraft. Speaking of the Fab Four, they were the kings of the middle 8. Lennon's in We can Work it Out is one of their very best.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 05:19AM As I've been writing about recently, an email from a reader has got me thinking harder about this blog than ever. As a result, I'm making some changes, which are:
1) A new blog banner (words, pic is same), which I think is more true to what this blog is about than my old banner.
2) Minimal whininess about my plight, although I can't promise I will never again wade in the pool of self pity!
3) Posts that are as interesting as possible, which means more emphasis on songwriting, the music biz and recording and less emphasis on a simple recounting of events.
Stay tuned for more.