July 2014 Songs and Voting

Views of Eddie Custard:

Stephen Clarke: Gotta Head On - a fine shift from verse to the chorus that Brotherhood of Man would have grabbed with both hands. Buck’s Fizz would have foolishly ignored it, leaving them at the risk of finishing at the bottom of the leader board following block voting by the Balkan states. It’s hard to play with a nobbled index finger, which means your results are impressive. The singing is really good in the chorus.

Colin Steward: Back in Time - a blend of folk rock, shuffle, and beach party with hula skirts. Lyrically, there’s a long wait before we find out why the singer actually wants to go back in time, but I like the dreamy guitar solo, which reminded me of an Elvis film set in Hawaii.

Phil Sanderson: Beneath the Waves – an otherworldly psychedelic mood is established from the off and there’s no doubting the melodic invention. Things get a bit cluttered in the ‘how this water flows’ section. Is this where the older software is imported? I really like some of the piano bits near the end, which takes it into Ibiza trance territory. The acoustic guitar sound is excellent.

Mike Gosling: Under Your Sky – you’ve hit the bullseye with this one, Mike. A terrific, driving, melodic rocker with excellent harmonies. There’s power behind those strums and the title is good too. Writing a good song and recording it well are two different skills but you’ve mastered both here. Deserves to be heard on the Pyramid Stage as the sun goes down, while Tom Petty looks on enviously.

Robbie Good: Call My Name – The bit where the backing voices sing ‘I think I’m going crazy’ gives the song some impetus. The descending piano run works really well and makes me wish it had been repeated as a hook elsewhere. As before, there is an energy and a bristle in the production that is gained by recording everything live. All the playing is very good, and there is clearly an accomplished band at work.

Tim and Julie Warner: Is that it? - the birdsong is very welcome at the beginning but a very sad lyric follows quickly after. Is this the narrator’s suicide note? I really like the vocal in the first section and you’ve conjured up a very dark and desperate mood alongside some good classical guitar playing. It sounds medieval. I found it hard to come to terms with the unexpected shift in tone for the second section though. I like the idea of bookending the song with two people giving their viewpoints of the situation. It’s unsettling and sad at the end when the woman has to cope with what appears to be his death.

Patrick Duffin: The Machine of 87 - pint-sized midfielders will be cheered by this one, but there’s universal appeal too. It’s a blend of jazz and funk and even a bit of ska, and some words about working ‘with the ball and without’ which sound a bit saucy. The backing vocals chime beautifully in the chorus, and the bursts of brass sound great in that same bit later on in the song. The section about his name being on everyone’s lips makes for an excellent bridge and adds extra urgency. An impressive hymn to the little man, using football as a metaphor. Alan Ball and Nobby Stiles would have enjoyed it.

Rob Warner: What Are You Waiting For? – the military drumming works to good effect, and the vocal is as strong as ever. The signature cry of what are you waiting for is powerful and memorable, and I like the chord at the very end of the chorus. America seems to be a reference point with the nickels and dimes line although I’m not sure whether this means the song is set there or whether you just prefer American vernacular to British. It’s short, sharp, lean and melodious. In other words, very good.

Patrick's thoughts on July's songs

1 Stephen Clarke - Gotta Head On
Echoes of Pet Sounds to start with, like one of Brian Wilson's early demos. The harmonies of the chorus lift it nicely, like a great pop song, it has lots of hooky bits.
The phrases all work well no unnecessary syllables, with this simple arrangement the song demonstrates that it could belong in any era from the 50s to the 70s.

2 Colin Steward - I like the female voice/classical guitar start, reminds me of the Sandy Denny/Fairport convention songs, also reminds me of Beatles And I love her with classical guitar in a pop context. Colin always puts in a nice combination of guitar sounds which complement each other, same here with a slidy George Harrison esque guitar solo. It feels like there's a lot more than four chords. Reminds me of Help era Beatles, I like it.

3 - Eddie Custard - Nice honest dry, vocal sound, witty, intelligent lyrics which never lose sight of the theme, wistful harmonies lift the chorus nicely. The fairground organ is a welcome surprise. Like 2 it feels like there's a lot more chords than 4. After hearing Horse don't wear no shoes, and this, there won't be a dry eye in the house at one of Eddie's gigs. Feels simple but it's not which is always the mark of a well crafted song.

4 Phil Sanderson - I like the 808 style drum box backing, gives it a nice movement under the vocal, nice clear guitar sound, 12 string ? got to have strong fingers for those. Haunting Oceanic sound which suits the lyric

5 - Mike Gosling - I always look forward to Mikes songs, nice strong forthright electric guitar strumming propels it along. Mike understands what a four chord song really needs, this could become a standard for three piece bands everywhere. A brick shithouse of a song, definitely suited to the big sound of a festival stage, smart lyrics as usual. Particularly the repeated, "If you're not coming back…." another strong end of show song.

6 - I like the drudgy garage rock sound, reminds me of something from Iggy Pop's lust for life album. I like the sound of a band playing.

7 - Nice unusual start of classical guitar and birdsong, gets a bit erie. Nice dry brave vocal sound, no need to hide this one with effects and stuff. Sounds like there's loads of chords, but perhaps there isn't. Reminds me of Jaques Brel or Leonard Cohen, a nice poison pen love letter. Risky and commendable three act structure, unusual, but it shows you're aiming for something a bit different. I'm relieved that the voices are natural sounding and not covered in effects.

9 - Rob Warner - what are you waiting for - I like the unusual instrumentation of the opening, refreshing. Reminds me of 50 ways to leave your lover drumming. Nice clear sound with the horns ? and strings, accomplished backing vocals. Doesn't sound like there's only four chords, wait a minute ! it's over !, this is a short one for you Robbie lad, but I like it.

Stephen Clarke

I think this is less ‘Eurovision’ and more ‘Beach Boys’ (helped by the ‘authentic’ sound!) I love your voice and I loved this song from the first time I heard it. You mentioned in your own review that you thought the sound was sh*te, but I think the sh*teness really adds to the charm. I’m pretty sure that your songs would sound great with a pristine 96kHz, 24bit recording but they sound good with the ‘tape-to-tape’ dubbing technique. I overuse the phrase ‘effortless’ but that’s exactly what this appears to be. The song itself is effortless; the playing is effortless and the singing is effortless. To use a Louis Walsh-ism, your songs have ‘like-ability.’ This also has a Steelers Wheel feel to it. It’s great.


Colin Steward
An interesting voice. Very olde English. This song, for me, is from the same era as Stephen Clarke’s (mid to late sixties?) helped by the guitar choices, the skiffle drums and the fact that the lyrics reflect the ‘retro’ feel with my favourite line, “I’m going back to a time, a time when we sang La Di Dah and shoop di doo, when days were long and cares were few.’

Stephen’s song is from ‘over the pond,’ whereas this is very Carnaby Street, very British. The voice gets stronger and more confident throughout and like the song, it’s a ‘grower.’ I’m very impressed with Colin’s guitar playing because he’s a keyboard man. I think I’m doubly impressed because I am more keyboard than guitar and just can’t be arsed to pick out a melody or chords on a guitar so either do everything on keyboards or draft in a friend to play. It’s a very confident and happy-sounding song which is amazing given that I think I’m correct in saying that until the SWC, Colin had never written a song before! I like it about as much as I like Stephen’s song (I’m already trying to figure where my 2 votes will be caste this month!)


Eddie Custard
Is it just me or all of these songs deliberately set back in the sixties and seventies? I can see Eddie singing this in wide bell-bottom, checked trousers! David Cassidy could have covered this at the height of his career but Eddie’s ‘midlands-twang’ (his accent not his guitar playing!) takes us oop-north and at times the delivery and sound is quite Lennon, McCartney or Harrison. It even has a Noel Gallagher nuance to it at times (and before I get complaints, I do know that the midlands is the midlands - Staffordshire etc - and Liverpool and Manchester are in Lancashire! I'm just saying he doesn't sound like he's from Essex.)

I have nothing bad to say about this, it’s brilliant. The only slight complaint I have (having said I have nothing bad to say about it) is that the harmonies (which are excellent) sometimes don’t follow the path that I thought they would follow and I don’t know if that’s my problem or a product of the fact that Eddie was only allowed four chords. For me, this is another brilliant effort and I thought that the lyrics were great.


Phil Sanderson
I spoke to Phil about this one evening when we were out running together. He said that this song had received the most positive reaction from his family. I can see why. Every month, Phil conquers his software a little more (in the early months, it felt that it was controlling Phil rather than the other way round.) Phil also spoke about the odd time signature in the chorus and I can honestly say that it didn’t particularly sound odd (which is a compliment) and that’s amazing given alternating bars of 6 & 5 beats. If I were being critical and commenting on why this song doesn’t quite climb the heights of the previous three, I’d say that it somehow doesn’t sound as crafted as the others (which is bizarre as it could be argued that sonically-speaking, this is much better.) I know I criticised him in the first month for not ‘building’ the song and that’s a complain I would make about this one too. It’s almost as though he throws everything in from the off and then adds in a deep bass sound for the chorus. In other words, there’s not enough light and shade. I also feel that Phil should work on his melody a little more. I really struggle at times with my own melody ideas and I have to try one thing, leave it, listen back, scrap it. For me, melody is king. I think that in this song, melody is prince!!

I really loved the piano solo; sound and note choices. It's very bold (though again, I think you should be braver with your mix because this wasn’t cutting through.) A really good effort overall though and there were parts that worked really, really well.

Mike Gosling
Sonically-speaking, Mike is in the top two and so it’s so easy to just sit back and judge the song. Mike has really unlocked what works for his voice (the way Chris Martin of Coldplay has) and he’s delivering vocals with increased confidence (and that’s the key.) The song sounds so simple and cuts straight to the point from the outset and never loses direction and builds perfectly (I’m comparing Mike to me; someone who has to constantly check whether the original ‘meaning’ of the song is consistent, which it never is!) This is just a really well put together pop song and though I would take exception to the idea of this being an anthem at Glastonbury, I think it would be a crowd pleaser at most venues. Well done, Mike. Another winner.


Robbie Good
Robbie, like Colin Steward, is growing in stature month on month. Some of the others have commented that ‘Bowie is back’ but I think that Robbie is pushing Bowie further away with his confident delivery (though, like me, there are some phrases where we just can’t help ourselves, eh Robbie?) I heard that this was the demo that ended up better than the band version but this sounds like a band. A band that have been playing on the road for years. It sounds really, really good and his writing is just becoming increasingly assured and listeneable. I’m sure I’m not the only one who is in a real quandary this month regarding where to put my vote. Keep doing what you're doing because it's working.


Tim & Julie Warner
This was the only song I had listened to before I composed my own. The guitar-playing is great and once again Tim displays his ability to sing effectively in the lower tenor/upper baritone range (as opposed to his buttock-clenching high tenor voice.) He even displays a very effective rasp in places.

This was (again) a song that took me back to the 70s and really reminded in places of some of the Alice Cooper material from that period (particularly the ‘Love it to Death’ album. There was even the ‘Mommy, where’s Daddy?’ section when Julie sings at the end.) The electric section really worked for me on every level (great guitar sounds, brilliant bass sound and fantastic drum samples - I refuse to believe you programmed them knowing that you’re rhythmically dyslexic!) Julie’s voice at the end is perfect and completes the slightly disturbing picture. It’s very haunting and really, really effective and unexpected.


Patrick Duffin
This starts out as Steely Dan and morphs into Wings circa 1974 (this could have been an album track from ‘Band on the Run’) I re-read the notes after Stephen mentioned Lionel Messi and then I actually listened to the lyrics. This is so typical of Patrick - i.e., his songs always sound so complete and so effortless. The lyrics meander like wisps of spun gold through the landscape of his perfectly manicured garden of brilliant-sounding backing. Patrick is the class of the field in every department. His melody choice is just perfect. I’m always blown away by his abilities and I love this song more every time I hear it. Well done..again!

Me
I think, having now listened to all of the songs several times (and having not listened to mine for a week or so) I hear it differently. As I mentioned in the notes, I really struggle with lyrics but having said that, I think this is arguably my best song for the SWC (perhaps because it’s mercifully short!) Thank you all for the kind comments.

I agree with the last comment from Tim. I cold have done with at least seven votes this month.

A little late in responding, sorry!  I have deliberately left July songs alone for a few days, partly as not wishing to dwell on my own entry, partly through working on drumtrack month as I had what might be ( but probably isn't) a 'decent' idea, and mostly through a combination of multiple computer failures and being a full time taxi driver to my own children.

Gotta Head On:  I really like this one more and more.  It has a wonderful retro feel, but to me still sounds modern.  The backing is totally complete without percussion -  to my ears.  The sound immediately conjures up a sixties style video.

Back in Time :   Very listenable, I particularly like the English voice and the combination of instruments.  There's a definite unique mix of styles here which works really well, great lyrics, too.

We Were Lovers :  I just echo comments made by others, from first note to last the vocal is performed so well - great delivery.  Love the piano throughout and backing vocal so good, too.  The keyboard sound is a surprise when it comes in, but perfect!

Under Your Sky :  Effortless, but obviously lots of effort.  The whole song is a winner from beginning to end.  I might have added a guitar solo somewhere on this not a criticism at all, just an observation as to what I would have done. 

Call My name :  Much better than Bowie, as others have commented.  It is a live sound, but an excellent one.... you're there watching the band play!  Great keyboards.  Another retro song this month.....

Is that it ?  :  As soon as I read your comment about the 'disagreement' and the song started, I just knew it would be a wild guitar section that caused the family 'dischord'.  I'm with Julie on this one, although more because I think the sound of that section doesn't quite work, guitarwise.  Great classical guitar and moody vocals in sectin 1 and 3.  A prog song, like mine?  All packed into 3.37, great!!

The machine of 87  :  Slick and catchy, tuneful and witty... a lot of great influences in this song.  I'm getting what others have said about other artists, but would have to say that there is a very large slice of Neil Finn, eg at 1.24, and 1.54. Wonderful!

What are you waiting for?  ( Too many words in the title, Rob, ...see other songs this month!!)   I can't  recall previous version now.  The shortness of this makes it all the more effective. I won't mention Peter Gabriel, whoops, done it now, too late. The lack of guitar also makes it PG style.... It is a really effective melody, as you know. I think you should film a video for this, upload and then make a million! I like your lyrics, although, like me, I know you find this aspect of songwriting less easy. Theo thinks you might have added a guitar to this, by the way!

Beneath the Waves :  If you listen from piano solo to end it's just about passable.  The 6/4, 5/4 section was never intended to have had vocals on.  I wished I'd stuck to my original version, but no use dwelling on past....!
Footnote:  Have only really used software once properly, so far ( Song Word month )  Hopefully I can get a higher power PC for August as the laptop I was using struggled and virtually gave up this month.

After Karl's comment I feel I should clarify that Patrick and I are not one and the same person. I don't want him picking up extra votes for my work. I'm actually Patrick's deformed brother, Christian, and I live chained up in a cellar in Wanstead.
Patrick never did like the family name of Custard and so he changed his surname after being the victim of playground bullying - forgetting that Duffin also rhymes with puffin and muffin.
-Eddie

OK folks, that's it! The Poll has now closed and, yes, we have another new winner this week...ME!!! There's a lesson here, keep it short!! Thank you everyone for taking part.

Congratulations Rob. I hope this doesn't mean you'll be independent from now on. We need you in the union.

Great song, Rob. Worthy of first place.