Posted: Monday, November 05, 2007 Motor or computer parts laid out before me to put together? No thanks. I’d rather be forced to pick 500 apples in a grocery store (if you read my last blog, you’ll understand). I’m always intrigued by how parts come together to make a greater whole. Dismantle a piece of furniture and, well, it’s easy to see how and why the parts come together. However, starting out with a box of parts, without pictures or directions, and the role of each part is no longer as obvious. Seems to me most everything is the result of endless cycles involving, and in no particular order, perspective, decisions and outcomes. Since recording Gathering Change was done in various homes with numerous people and with a multitude of instruments, I thought it might be interesting to post sets of photos on www.NeZrecords.com to illustrate some of the parts that came together to record each song.
The first set of photos is from the song “Home”.
The song “Home” is what it is today because I don’t sing well. A few years back I completed a CD on which I sang (not well)! Upon some objective insight, I decided not to release it. Thankfully I met Gus soon after and upon hearing him sing, I knew I wanted him to sing the songs that I had written. One of the songs on this never released album was “Home”. At a couple of years old, this song went through many stages and versions before Gus ever heard it. While Gus had learned a few of my other songs, I think Home was the first song he could really hear himself singing. While the original version of Home included a clarinet, I almost convinced myself it was not needed for this newest version. On a whim I contacted Jim Sivard, who plays the clarinet, and soon found myself recording him on the last recorded track for this song at his beautiful home in Leesburg, VA.
The song “Home” is what it is today because I don’t sing well. A few years back I completed a CD on which I sang (not well)! Upon some objective insight, I decided not to release it. Thankfully I met Gus soon after and upon hearing him sing, I knew I wanted him to sing the songs that I had written. One of the songs on this never released album was “Home”. At a couple of years old, this song went through many stages and versions before Gus ever heard it. While Gus had learned a few of my other songs, I think Home was the first song he could really hear himself singing. While the original version of Home included a clarinet, I almost convinced myself it was not needed for this newest version. On a whim I contacted Jim Sivard, who plays the clarinet, and soon found myself recording him on the last recorded track for this song at his beautiful home in Leesburg, VA.
The second set of photos is from the song “Is As If”.
“Is As If” was the last song written and recorded for Gathering Change. While most songs take me a while to write, “If”(the working title) was written in one afternoon. Thankfully Gus had some great ideas for rewording the original choruses to make the song what it is today. A lot of people don’t get the title of this song, so the first 3 people to correctly tell me how we arrived at the title “Is As If” will get a free Gathering Change t-shirt! Email answers to info@NeZrecords.com.
The photos for the rest of the songs will be posted on the website soon.
joe
www.NeZrecords.com
joe
www.NeZrecords.com
