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Post by Rob W on Jan 10, 2016 20:20:29 GMT
Duets comments and voting is here. Songs can be found HERE |
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Post by mikegosling on Jan 11, 2016 20:43:03 GMT
Apologies to my fellow songwriters as I have missed this month's duet task and I'm afraid I will also miss the next two tasks. We will be away visiting my daughter Alice in Australia / New Zealand and won't be back until the end of Feb. I'm sorry to miss out out on these tasks but will be back with you for the March song. All the best, Mike.
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tandg
Junior Member
Posts: 67 
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Post by tandg on Jan 14, 2016 23:15:03 GMT
It's a shame that we're down to 4 songs this month - it would be good to brainstorm whether we should be attracting new members or somehow encouraging everyone who has participated to continue. From a purely personal point of view, I think I value the comments more than the scoring - I don't know if that's an issue. We really value the discipline of writing, recording and really importantly finishing songs.
I was really looking forward to seeing Tim and Robbie play but we're heading down to Gloucester for a long weekend. Do let us know when you're playing again. On which topic, we're playing at The Bell in Castle Hedingham again on 29th January. Hope someone can make it from the collective.
Under the Austin Moonlight – Christian Duffin
This is a lovely piece of work. I heard it first using built-in laptop speakers and didn’t realise until hearing it over headphones just how carefully constructed the arrangement is. Sounds include (I think) piano, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, mandolin, strings and brass. On top of that, the interleaved voices, great harmonies (I really liked the octave-apart vocals from Emily) add to the playful atmosphere, somewhere between a ballad and a hoedown.
We particularly loved the ‘you’re like Picasso without the madness’ line and the repeated ‘stay with me / lay with me’ melody lines in the chorus. This is a really catchy vocal line, it flows along nicely and is a thoroughly enjoyable song.
Brother from Another Mother – Tim Warner & Rob Good
Immediate impression is made first by the great growling electric piano sound that bubbles away throughout the song. Guitars weave in and out and the playing has a delightful looseness without becoming baggy or muddled. The contrast between the vocals is great – as we’d expect of Robby, the vocals sound great – smooth and full of expression but it’s really pleasing that Tim’s half-spoken / half sung delivery sounds equally effective.
It sounds like you had real fun doing it – it’s catchy, interesting with good-time, fun lyrics. Particular highlights are the middle 8 – love the change of sounds and the guitar solo with clean vs distorted sounds interweaving. Thoroughly enjoyable. Who’d have expected such a frank bromance?
Falling in Love Again – Phil Sanderson
Like Christian’s song, this really benefits from listening over headphones. There’s a real depth to the arrangement and the range of instrumentation used. In particular, the swirling vocal parts are mesmerising over headphones. Phil really has developed his own distinctive guitar sound – it sort of shimmers along behind the violin and cello sounds and as always, in spite of being a relatively short song, the structure is not obvious and the vocal parts in particular keep developing throughout.
I really want to know how Phil did all the vocals – the pitch and sound of the higher voices in particular is lovely but the fascinating element of the production is how they sometimes sound like a higher echo, sometimes an octave apart, sometimes as harmonies and that is really unusual and really effective.
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Karl
Junior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by Karl on Jan 16, 2016 13:44:53 GMT
Under The Austin Monlight - Christian & Emily
I like the banjo, the piano, the harmonies (where Emily's voice works best for me), and some of the lyrics are really good too. Not keen on that brass sound for the solo though, I think it would sound better played on the piano. There is a feel of The Beautiful South to this, which I also like.
Easy Living - Tim & Glyn
A slow burner, but the listener is rewarded with repeated listens, especially in the choruses where the harmonies work so nicely, and where Tim's voice sounds at it's best. Glyn's voice sounds good - as always.
Brother from Another Mother - Tim & Robbie
Nice funky groove, and good contrast between the 2 voices. A suitably quirky set of lyrics for the subject matter and nice to hear a duet with both voices of the same sex. I listened to this less than a day after the death of David Bowie, so it was great to hear Robbie's voice again. I'm a big fan of a "less is more" catchy minimalist chorus - and this is certainly the case here. I do have a minor criticism though - one vocal part sung over the other for the last verse is a nice idea, but sounds messy on this occasion.
Falling In Love Again - Phil & Phil
Once again, both voices from the same sex, in fact from the same person! ... although the high vocal part does the job of a second singer very well. In fact, and this is a common theme this month, the harmonies and interweaving vocal parts are very clever, especially in the choruses.
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Post by timwarner on Jan 17, 2016 12:01:53 GMT
Under the Austin Moonlight - Christian Duffin
This is a little gem. It’s so fresh and innocent and perfectly captures the early stages of courtship (or what I remember of it, anyway). A really great blend of instruments and no drummer again (I don’t miss him). I would perhaps have liked a more low tech instrument for the break but this is such a small point (it doesn’t even qualify as a niggle).
I wonder how this would have looked if I saw it in a guitar book when I was first learning? I think there would be too many changes for me to try and learn it, but it never sounds busy, it just pushes the melody along.
I’m even more pleased I didn’t try and do a duet with Julie now.
Easy Living - Tim and Glynn
The song has a melancholy about it that haunts. It’s a delicate tapestry of a song with some lovely bass and piano. The vocal harmonies a very rich and work very well. I wonder if you should have stuck to your initial thought and reduced the backing a bit more to let them contrast to the space more. Be brave! If we're ever going to try any experiments on a group of people, this is the place to do it!
Brother from Another Mother -
Thanks to Robby for the encouragement.
Falling in Love Again - Phil Sanderson
Trade Mark Phil production: it sounds great but the finer points are lost when listening to it in sub-optimal conditions. I really like that it seems to start half way through a chorus. I think the new vocal confidence you display needs be used to add a bit more variety to the melody lines.
I think there’s the bones of a really good song here.
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Post by eddiecustard on Jan 19, 2016 12:49:42 GMT
I agree with T&G, we should try to get some other writers into the club. We don't need too many more - 8 or 10 is a good number I think.
Tim and Glynn – Easy Living
I know about Glynn’s singing of course, but the revelation here is the velvety voice of the bloke. Is that you Tim? If so, you should be using this asset more in your songs. I like the laid back nature of this one. It’s not easy to sing low like that - hats off to you. The two voices combine really well on the chorus – there’s a forceful tugging at the heartstrings.
There are some nice jazz-tinged chords on the verse, and the line of ‘you know you are a dreamer’ sounds great. Good swell of voices on the second chorus with Glynn’s high and low contributions combining beautifully.
I like these sorts of arrangements where the voices are given centre stage – the stakes are high because any errors can become glaring, but there’s no suggestion of that here. Superbly sung and with oomph as well as style. Excellent.
Tim Warner and Rob Good – Brother from Another Mother
Great title, and you also deserve credit for the bold and interesting decision to do a bromance.
The slightly psychedelic organ works to fine effect on the verse, and Tim’s characteristic and likeable eccentricities shine through once more. I really like the line: ‘You were really standing out from the rank and file, you didn’t have a haircut you had a hairstyle.’ Another good bit is: ‘You were tall and calm, with chaotic charm.’
Tim’s drums always sound good, and Rob is on form again with his vocals, especially during the bits when the harmonies come in. Things get very tender at times: ‘Certain and confident, this boy seems heaven sent.’
The bridge at 1.30 gives a propulsive lift just at the right time and it’s followed by an impressive duel guitar attack at 1.45 - one of my favourite bits. Very enjoyable.
Phil Sanderson - Falling in Love Again
No messing about from Phil here as he launches straight into the chorus. This is an impressive tune - I’m fond of some of Phil’s dense epics but his pop/folk songs such as these are sometimes even more enjoyable. Not sure how this can be considered a duet, though, as Phil effectively acknowledges in his blurb – but hey, we’ve all bent the rules once in a while. If he could find someone else to sing the verses it would really shift things into another orbit.
All told, it’s another fine effort, combing the elements that have made up some of his best work lately; strings, very well crafted acoustic guitar playing and a memorable chorus that doesn’t do quite what you expect. Another quality addition to his vast canon.
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Post by Rob W on Jan 21, 2016 9:15:15 GMT
Duets
Christian
Arguably this is more Christmassy than CD’s Christmas song. It has a touch of the ‘…New York’ Kirsty/Pogues collaboration.
As it progresses it’s an odd mix of classic Christian/Eddie fayre with touches of ‘Texan’ thrown in courtesy of the (sampled?) banjo. It also has a feel of Jake Thackery (the antithesis of anything Texan!)
The chord progressions are complex and yet roll out effortlessly. This is the type of song (as a bass player) I dreaded being asked to learn quickly as one isn’t allowed to rest on ones laurels given this complexity of chords.
The female singer, Emily, is a perfect foil for Christian’s lead vocal.
It seems a simple tale of love and infatuation and perfectly suits the instrumentation.
My only minor criticism would be the horrible synth break. Everything else is perfectly judged and weighted but the synth-brass break is terribly incongruous.
However, it can’t distract from another ‘banker’ for Christian. He now has a vault full of hits in my book. Perhaps it’s time to upgrade some hardware to turn excellent songs into zinging, clear, 96kHz, sonic journeys.
Tim & Glyn
This instantly has an advantage over Christian’s composition for the clarity of the recording.
Glyn’s voice is high in the mix and the combination with Tim’s voice is perfect. Her voice is, as Pavarotti used to say, an instrument and it’s improving with age (that’s not to say Tim’s isn’t, but she’s the lead vocalist!)
This is lovely and the layered vocals build beautifully and I can imagine why you got carried away with this as you probably couldn’t believe your ears every time you added another line of vocal!!
If I had a criticism (but I’m not sure it is one) it’s that the song rolls on in a similar vein with no discernible difference between what we hear at the beginning and what we end up with (the vocal build notwithstanding.) That may be because of the requirement of the task, but the range (in terms of ‘notes used’) seemed quite narrow.
Having said that, it’s a beautiful song and - as with Christian - is another one of the ‘goodies’ for the over-flowing vault of songs that Tim & Glyn now possess. Presumably, with your up-coming gig, you’ll be playing your hits from the SWC??
Well done
Tim & Robby G
Up tempo!! And instantly smile-inducing.
I am open-mouthed at this! If anyone reading this were to go back to April 2014 and listen to Tim’s first offering, one would be forgiven for thinking that THAT Tim has been spirited away and has been replaced by Chris Difford or Paul Simon or Lou Read such is the power, humour and just listenability of his 2015/2016 songs both musically and lyrically.
Tim in person always seems to defer to me (or anyone else for that matter) in terms of musical ability or songwriting prowess but it’s time to throw that monkey off your back because you are producing, month-after-month, really, REALLY good - nay, great - songs. The lyrics are sharp and witty and one wants to catch every word to gain an insight into a real and believable relationship. I love the lyric about not calling what they have ‘love’ (because they’re both men).
Great drumming throughout (I can no longer tell if this is a ‘real’ drummer or not.) And the guitar break is one of the best I've heard from Tim both in terms of the sound and how well it appears to have been thought out.
If I have a criticism, it’s the vocal mix. At times I was struggling to hear Tim’s voice so if I were offering advice, take a leaf out of Tim & Glyn’s book and sort the vocal in the mix; it would give it an instant lift.
This, I am bound to say, is my song of the month so far. Brilliant work.
Phil S
It’s always straight in with Phil!!
Phil HAS taken a leaf out of Tim & Glyn’s book by putting his voice really high in the mix with the added bonus of not having it swimming in reverb. And Phil's voice in this range is very pleasing on the ear.
This is REALLY good. I love the sentiment, the arrangement and particularly the performance. This is the best-sounding Phil song I’ve heard…ever! New tech for Christmas, Phil?
I was worried that I’d have to mark Phil down for not having a ‘partner’ but he did a great job of making the difference between the first and ‘second’ vocalist clear and distinct.
If I have a criticism, it would be that - as with T&G - the melody rolls and rolls using a seemingly narrow band of notes so I’m left wondering whether there is sufficient difference between the verse and chorus (though Phil eschews the need for restrictions such as ‘verse/chorus/verse’ in many of his songs.
This would - putting my hear on my sleeve - be a winner this month if it were not for your fellow Little Oaklian!! Well done, Phil.
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Post by philsanderson on Jan 22, 2016 0:00:12 GMT
Under the Austin Moonlight – Christian Duffin
A proper duet, quite touchingly performed but with, I suspect, a dose of wry humour! The vocal lines and wonderful ( as ever ) lyrics still leave me standing on the start line. The lyrics and musical style seem a perfect match right from the off. Like others I’m not too keen on the synth solo bit, but I really like all the other sounds you used and unlike my unfortunate crooning effort you have a genuine female vocalist as your duet partner. Envy and admiration.
By the by I would not class your chord changes etc as complex or difficult to learn...just as really really well written and effective.
Tim and Glyn
Work life balance! That’s something I’ve grappled with for ‘n’ years, but think I may finally be getting in top of!: completely relevant and thought provoking from the off. As others have said the voices work so well together: another ‘leave Phil on the start line’ effort. The keyboard work behind the vocal parts is so well judged- I’d like to perhaps hear the track without the vocal so I can work out all the notes. ( As usual I like to play along and learn majority of what I hear on SWC...)
The production on this song is outstanding. All the voices have a clear separation and you can ‘follow’ each vocal part clearly whilst hearing the rest. Another masterpiece.
Tim and Rob
The injection of drums come as a nice shock after the more gentle sounds of previous two tracks. The electric piano and ‘drums’ are my favourite sounds. This is rather retro- not sure how far back this takes me, I think all the way to the late 60’s / early 70’s! The juxtaposition of the 2 vocalists seems like a good idea, and it is on headphones, although less successful on less than high optimum listening devices!( To quote Tim!)
You need to enlighten us on your electric piano sound now, too, as well as the drums!
Phil
Well, looks like another relegation track offering. If we had more contributors I feel I would be seeking re-election again ( and again...) to the 'Vauxhall Conference'
No new equipment, Rob. Just ( in theory ) better recording and more experience with mixing and production. In part this may be because I’m turning out such large quantities of songs in the past few months, but also may be due to using fewer instruments. No ‘tricks’ with higher vocals on this one- just me singing rather higher than might be comfortable. ( no copying and pasting for once if I remember correctly ) The vocal line and chord structure on verse was indeed different / more varied on the track when I started it, I just couldn’t get the high vocal part decent enough without stripping it down to basics.
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Post by Rob W on Jan 24, 2016 8:47:53 GMT
Congratulations to Tim & Glyn and to Tim & Robbie. As you may have noted, you have become the first winners of 2016 (there is a quick explanation somewhere on the forum regarding 'structure' etc.) Great songs and great perseverance. It puts us lightweights to shame. However, with my newly acquired Fender Jazz Bass, there really is no excuse for me not producing at least a Bass Solo once a month for the next decade.
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Karl
Junior Member
Posts: 72
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Post by Karl on Jan 24, 2016 12:57:16 GMT
Congratulations Glyn, Robbie and both Tims. Good songs.
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Post by timwarner on Jan 24, 2016 13:17:43 GMT
Thanks for the votes. Congratulations to Tim & Glyn and many thanks to Robby.
Like Tim said, the voting is probably the least important aspect of the SWC but it is interesting. On listening to these songs I imagined everyone would vote for Christian and, as he couldn't vote for himself, second place would got to whoever Christian voted for. It's just further evidence that I don't know anything about anything.
To answer Phil's question, all the drums and keyboards are generated in garageband.
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Post by eddiecustard on Jan 25, 2016 0:28:44 GMT
Well done T&G, and Tim and Robby.
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