The Album "Finding New Ways To Love"
Album Updates November 2003, April 2004, September 2004
1. Album Update November 2003
At the end of 2001 I first paid a visit to Julian Tardo at
Church Road Studios in Hove, mumbling to him about the possibility
of a long-term musical relationship and making my first album since 1997.
Since then we have been working on possible tracks for "Finding New
Ways To Love". In November 2002 I made a brief visit to Dublin and
recorded a few acoustic demos of some of the songs with Bobby Boughton
at Richmond Studios. Now,
at the end of 2003, we are at the final mixing stage of most of the album
in Hove. We hope to have it all finished early next year. Even though
its very hard work and by my standards a big financial risk (studio time
alone has cost £5000 so far), I am very excited about it all!
Pondering my next move....
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Smith and Hastings rock out!
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Musicians All the musicians involved so far are still too humorous to mention, but they include bassist and original Burnessence member Keith Hastings (also with Gypsy Kings style Latin band Andalus and previously with major guitar hero Alan Darby), smiling drummer Fudge Smith (also with veteran prog rockers Pendragon, Henry Fool, and in the past ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett), Brighton hammer dulcimer supremo Chris Cordrey, percussionist extraordinaire and ambient guru Martin Franklin (main man from 90s global ambient trio Tuu) and last but not least, keyboards player Monty OxyMoron (also with original punks The Damned). Engineering and co-producing has come courtesy of the Julian Tardo Benevolent Fund (Helping Musicians To Help Themselves)! Julian has had extensive production experience working with various record labels (including 4AD and One Little Indian), Brighton bands (including Clearlake) and his own projects in the nineties (Earwig and Insides). |
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 Chris Cordrey |
 Ambient maestro Martin Franklin |
1) Open Man With An Open Heart Straightforward kind of ballad thing, a bit Alanis Morissette meets Peter Gabriel.
2) Love Is For Giving One of my favourites so far. Nice cello keyboards from Monty and percussion from Martin.
3) God Knows If God Knows Ironic pop song about searching for God. We are going to be re-recording this before Christmas as the original backing track is a bit naff.
4) The U2 track Self-explanatory, a bit sketchy so far, still being written.
5) The backwards U2 track! An inspired move by engineer Julian at Church Road Studios, who like me has been listening to Boards Of Canada ;o)
6) Atmospheres Various ambient guitar bits, some in the style of Robert Fripp Frippertronics/Soundscapes which are being incorporated into various tracks.
7) Heal Your Soul Dark ambient guitar piece originally written around 1995. Sting and Police an influence here.
8) One Dream Very short but effective acoustic song originally recorded in Dublin.
9) Here Comes The Darkness Due to be re-recorded as the original drum loop was too slow. Excellent potential.
10) Stepping Out Recently re-discovered upbeat song of mine from the mid nineties. Good Fudge drumming here.
11) Power In Your Hands Re-recorded dance/ambient version of 1990 track.
12) Unstoppable Waves Of Joy Originally based around a guitar riff going through two echo pedals. Julian transferred this to keyboards and the track now sounds like Tangerine Dream meets Steve Hackett meets Rush... or something.
13) Everyone Hears Voices In Their Head Acoustic song, we may try a band version.
Julian fiddles around
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The all important coffee break
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2. Album Update April 2004
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Inevitably the final mixing and mastering has taken longer than expected, but I am now poised to go ahead with manufacturing and release, latest proposed release date is June 2004. Please contact me if you would like a review copy for a website or fanzine. For the last few months it has been a case of "Needs a little bit of extra guitar on that track, a keyboard line on this track, some congas there, oh yes and I always thought the lead vocal at this point was just slightly out, then again good to keep some live feel in rather than make it too perfect, seems the bass percussion here is just a touch too booming, bollocks actually maybe we could take that extra guitar out after all, do you think that other track is a bit too bright, time for another coffee break...". However I feel it has been worth the effort! By the end of March, communication between Julian (co-producer and engineer in Hove) and myself was rapidly deteriorating into a series of animal noises and quotes from The Office. I finally escaped to Dublin at the end of March for the final mastering with Bobby Boughton at Richmond Studios and a few pints of guinness. Further changes have since been sent over and the final, final master is just about done at the time of writing. Final track listing for "Finding New Ways To Love" as follows...
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Recording in Dublin
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| Tim and Bobby in Dublin | After a jolly big breakfast! |
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| Monty and Julian in Hove | Two psychiatric nurses |
3. Album Update September 2004
After a bit of an emotional breakdown at the end of June (I won't bore you
with the details), I finally got myself together enough to send out all
the promo copies by the end of July. The reviews, radio play, downloads from
the site and actual sales of the c.d. started soon afterwards and have
continued ever since. It's a fantastic feeling to know that one way or
another several thousand people around the world have listened to my music
over the last few months. Many people consider "Open Man" and "Unstoppable
Waves Of Joy" two of the best tracks and they are available in entirety as free
downloads here.
I am very unlikely to get anything like my money back, but to firmly
(re-)establish myself as an artist after all this time is fantastic, and a
bit of a relief to be honest, as I had invested a great deal of time and
money in "Finding New Ways To Love". I have been making music on and off for
over 25 years and this is my best shot at it so far, both musically and in
my efforts at independent worldwide promotion. Perhaps the only thing
missing this time round has been some gigs to tie in with the release. I
certainly haven't
finished in that department either...
A big THANKS to everyone for their support over the last few months!