Reminds me of Randy Newman and Warren Zevon, not only the music, but
the observational perspective of the lyrics. I kept thinking that it would be
nice if some piano and drums came in at some point, but the
orchestration is really nice.

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Hi guys, I'm new here so I apologise if it takes me a while to find my feet and
sort out replies and reviews.

I'm also new to macs and this was my first GB effort. It was originally intended
as a country type number with Tom Franz from the musesmuse songwriting
forum doing vocals. I sent Tom the lyrics and he came back with an
outrageous chorus that had me thinking of a completely different treatment.
It's Tom singing btw.

It's deliberately over the top. I wanted the excess of the music to counterpoint
the stark lyrics and neither piano or drums fitted into what I wanted. Similarly
I didn't think there was space for a guitar.

The lushness of the arrangement was also supposed to mirror the kind of
luxury hotels my wife stayed in on the trip with the reality outside the hotel
gates still ever present in the lyrics.

Most of my songs normally have some kind of moral theme underpinning
them but they are mostly within a contemporary guitar setting. This is the
first time I've tried to orchestrate a whole song and on the whole I'm quite
pleased and learnt a lot - like how good GB is but how limiting it can be for
tempo changes for instance.

My next song will be very different :-)

Your comments are much appreciated. I'll get some reviews of my own sorted
later.

Cheers

Dick

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Really nice narrative very well sung, honest and strong and focus. Just as
Jim, my ears wanted something that could have provided a rhythmic sense
at the outset of verse 2, either a strumming/picking guitar or a piano. But
your singing has such power, it carries the song. I thought the ending was
rather sudden, for the epic quality of the song. I'd place it under Adult
Contemporary, too, since I imagine Pop Orchestral to be an instrumental
category.

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Oops sorry didn't realise I was replying to an individual post.

see above :-)

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Your vocal style and the tremendous orchestation make this a very
powerful song--I like the subject material of your lyrics too--unexpected
(for me) to hear in this style of song.

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See above

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Enjoyed this adventure. Loved the whole arrangement. Vocal very strong, lyrics thought provoking too.Reminded me of a holiday I had in Turkey,but I suppose it could be about a lot of foriegn climes. Thanks for sharing with us. Cheery

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jie, yes it could have been Turkey or anywhere that extreme poverty lurks underneath the tourist gloss.

Cheers

Dick

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with a passionate vocal treatment... the emotional rendering is really quite good... and you've made interesting and unusul choices on how to frame the song... the orchestration leans toward the dramatic... I'm not a stickeler for format, but in this case I think the arrangment could use a bridge... it could serve 2 purposes.. break up the toggle between the verse and chorus sections and maybe look at the subject matter from a different angle

welcome aboard

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it did have a bridge which did exactly what you said but we couldn't get the vocals to sit right so I took it out.

Good idea though

Cheers

Dick

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Your orchestration on this sounds superb!

Thanks

Steve


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Your orchestration on this sounds superb!

Thanks

Steve


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I thought you did a great job with the orchestration. The horns were particularly fetching. The lyrics also were very good.

It reminds me somewhat of the United States grand objectives in Iraq, with less insight than your traveler.

Colonialism for the juke box.

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Will get my head around this board eventually.

Steve - many thanks, my first real attempt to orchestrate anything so I'm rather pleased how it turned out

monkaton - comments appreciated. The Symphony pack French Horns are very good but need subtle handling ;) I'll get there......

Cheers

Dick



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Great work, I've listened to this before but haven't commented. Amazing music orchestration, great vocal performance... I love it!

Take Care
- Yeman A. Al-Rawi

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Wow I am totally blown away with this song and it sounds nothing like you. I don't mean to sound unkind that is not how I meant it. I have always loved your songs and still do up to date. Hey a good song is a good song.

My goodness I really mean this. You got 10z from me. I am very impressed. Put this back up I would definately just as it is.
I genuinley love it. Problems are not effecting my song judgements. Amazing sang with such emotions I litterally had tears in my eyes. Thanks for the download.

Peace Dee :)

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