Get Flash to see this player.
Description
Words/Music : John Carlin, Stephen Robb
lholden : lead vocal
Saltaireguru77 : Guitars, Bass
Symphony101 : Drums & Percussions programming, orchestration, production
Stephen's notes :
"This is one that my friend John Carlin wrote the lyrics to years ago and I'd worked up a basic multitrack demo at the time. Having listened to it off and on I had a good idea how I'd like to do it properly, so I recently re recorded the guitars, bass and created a basic mix. Thinking about the tune, it occurred to me in the shower one day (where I have all my best ideas…) that it would be great as a big punchy orchestral number, almost like a James Bond theme tune-type song. The recorded guitars had loads of wah, distortion and delay, sounding more like an unused track from "Achtung Baby" than anything else so I sent it on to Yves with a basic guide vocal asking if he'd like to collab together, after the success of "You and me". Thankfully he said yes and the main instruction I gave him was "here's the track - all those guitars, yeah we'll be pretty much getting rid of them". He worked up this orchestration, layer by layer and we discussed and debated every step of the way, my direction usually being "make it louder, brassier, punchier, more!" The original vocal track I supplied was always just intended as a melody guide and I always fancied this as being sung by a female vocalist. Following on from the work Yves has done with Freddy (Loob) and Laurie (Lholden), he was able to secure Laurie's services as vocalist and I can't tell you what a kick I got out of her singing a song I wrote. I found it actually quite a tricky song to sing technically for me and she worked tirelessly to get us just the right performance. I'd like to add my personal thanks to Mark Holbrook who helped us out by pitch shifting the original guitar tracks up a few keys to better suit Laurie's vocal range. That saved me a lot of work re recording my guitars and Mark is, as you'd expect, a great guy to chat with as well as superb technical help. I think the song kinda fools you. It builds up and the basic first verse is a lot tamer than the full on face slap it reaches by the end. I love Yves and Laurie's work on this and it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that they are superb to work with. What a pleasure. "
Yves' notes :
I'd like to thank Stephen for this great opportunity working with him again on a beautiful tune and also for his limitless patience. This collab really took a very longtime to complete. Once again, it's been a fantastic experience and it's been wonderful meeting with Laurie on this project. I'd like to thank Sigmund as well, for his valuable feedback and insights on my production questions. Each interaction with Sig is a great learning opportunity and I hope I was able to follow his great advice within my abilities and understanding. In any case, I learned a lot.
lholden : lead vocal
Saltaireguru77 : Guitars, Bass
Symphony101 : Drums & Percussions programming, orchestration, production
Stephen's notes :
"This is one that my friend John Carlin wrote the lyrics to years ago and I'd worked up a basic multitrack demo at the time. Having listened to it off and on I had a good idea how I'd like to do it properly, so I recently re recorded the guitars, bass and created a basic mix. Thinking about the tune, it occurred to me in the shower one day (where I have all my best ideas…) that it would be great as a big punchy orchestral number, almost like a James Bond theme tune-type song. The recorded guitars had loads of wah, distortion and delay, sounding more like an unused track from "Achtung Baby" than anything else so I sent it on to Yves with a basic guide vocal asking if he'd like to collab together, after the success of "You and me". Thankfully he said yes and the main instruction I gave him was "here's the track - all those guitars, yeah we'll be pretty much getting rid of them". He worked up this orchestration, layer by layer and we discussed and debated every step of the way, my direction usually being "make it louder, brassier, punchier, more!" The original vocal track I supplied was always just intended as a melody guide and I always fancied this as being sung by a female vocalist. Following on from the work Yves has done with Freddy (Loob) and Laurie (Lholden), he was able to secure Laurie's services as vocalist and I can't tell you what a kick I got out of her singing a song I wrote. I found it actually quite a tricky song to sing technically for me and she worked tirelessly to get us just the right performance. I'd like to add my personal thanks to Mark Holbrook who helped us out by pitch shifting the original guitar tracks up a few keys to better suit Laurie's vocal range. That saved me a lot of work re recording my guitars and Mark is, as you'd expect, a great guy to chat with as well as superb technical help. I think the song kinda fools you. It builds up and the basic first verse is a lot tamer than the full on face slap it reaches by the end. I love Yves and Laurie's work on this and it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that they are superb to work with. What a pleasure. "
Yves' notes :
I'd like to thank Stephen for this great opportunity working with him again on a beautiful tune and also for his limitless patience. This collab really took a very longtime to complete. Once again, it's been a fantastic experience and it's been wonderful meeting with Laurie on this project. I'd like to thank Sigmund as well, for his valuable feedback and insights on my production questions. Each interaction with Sig is a great learning opportunity and I hope I was able to follow his great advice within my abilities and understanding. In any case, I learned a lot.
Leave a Comment
You must be registered and logged-in to comment.
Lyrics
Will be posted soon.
alackbass
Wow! Now that's a high quality collab! Excellent songwriting and an equally excellent vocal. Yeah, that chorus sure has a bond vibe. Great guitar and bass work. The orchestration takes this to a whole other level. Awesome percussion and strings.