Miyazaki day lyric from CD booklet in English & Japanese

I thought I might start this blog by writing something about each of the twelve tracks of my new album, ‘If you’re a cat…’

Track one, ‘Miyazaki day’, is to my mind the most likely candidate for being a first single. I think of it as the most ‘commercial track’. But then again maybe not because of my rather obtuse use of a title and hook line lyric that many of my potential audience may find baffling! To me Miyazaki is a most apt name to drop in my song of childhood reminiscence, as nostalgia for the innocence and wonder of childhood tinged bitter-sweet with the pathos of lost youth is a recurring theme in his work, as indeed it is in much of Japanese art. As the most prolific and successful animated feature film maker Japan has produced, Hayao Miyazaki’s work will be familiar to many. His most recent ‘Ponyo’ has been successful world wide, ‘Spirited Away’ won the Academy for best animated feature in 2003, and many other great films including ‘Princess Mononoke’, ‘Porco Rosso’, ‘KiKi’s Delivery Service’, ‘Laputa’ and my personal favourite 1988′s ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ are well known and much loved.

Specifically it’s his visual imagery that inspires me to use his name in my lyric. As an expression of his obvious love of nature (perhaps even a worship of it in a traditional Japanese Shinto animism sense) and a strong element in all his films, inevitably a scene will come which manages to create the look and feeling of one of those few days a year, what I think of as a perfect day, usually in spring or early summer, where everything is right with the world… the sort of day I remember most from my own childhood. My lyric starts ‘Spring is here, perfect day, like a Miyazaki anime, birds in song, kids at play, can there be a better way?

The chords and melody came first as they usually do with me, but I don’t know where they came from. The harmonic tone set by my favourite chord of sixth/ninth and the bossa-nova like rhythm is typical of my style, although the key of Eb is a bit unusual, but the chord progression is quite wacky, with its semi-tone descents; the only bit I recognise influence-wise is the tag chorus line near the end which I think may reference ‘Watch what happens’ by Michel Legrand from ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’. Originally I played the melody on my classic guitar as usual, but later had the idea for the lyric, which I sang myself initially, an octave lower than the final version. George Butrumlis added his magical accordion part, Steve Hadley his double bass and lastly Denis Close his intricate and authentic Brazilian style percussion. You may be able to hear a synth sound in the mix, called ‘Martian Lounge’, and the strings are also synth ones… I put both these parts in at home quite early. Although no pianist I can play parts like these digitally. Apart from that there are just nylon string guitars; the initial rhythm, a second picking syncopated part, and some lead lines later.

Although initially I sang my vocal as a guide only, I became convinced that it was such a quirky song that my quirky voice would be the best choice. Although like most so called side-men (as non lead singers in bands are sometimes called) I have had a go at singing lead vocals in my time, previously I have not featured myself singing except in a few carefully choses instances on my last album (see ‘Dance with a flower in your hair’). But encouraged by some very favourable reactions I felt emboldened to try more. I got right through the recording, mixing and even mastering, at no little expense, before finally realising that I had bitten off more than I could chew. Suddenly I hated my singing on this and some of the other tracks! Luckily I had only done a small trial press of the CD’s, but I had sent some out… they’re still out there somewhere!

Here is where working with good people pays off, because when I got back to it, after a break and re-think, Craig Pilkington (who mixed the album at his Audrey Studios) suggested Sara Liversidge as a possible singer of ‘Miyazaki day’. Sara has a jazz background and a successful career behind her, and I was flabbergasted by how very right her sound and approach were for the song, not to mention her beautiful pitch and succinct diction. As local DJ and vintage music expert Emma Peel describes, her voice ‘has a breezy early-Gal Costa/Rita Lee quality to it.’  I couldn’t have been blessed by a more appropriate singer. So I’ll end my first album track blog by saying,

thank you Sara for making my (Miyazaki) day!

Starting with a quite funky and very live sounding drum loop and with an atmospheric string line setting the minor mood, a very simple piano melody line arrives with three strummed minor chords on the classical guitar repeated over a four bar sequence. Having a lot of sonic room gives the guitar a lute-like clarity. Then the electric bass adds another element, followed immediately by another classical guitar, this time playing a simple response to the piano line in octaves, falling at the end of each two bars. The piano melody then gives way to a third classical guitar playing a new more staccato melody in thirds, with the piano slipping back in sympathetically and leading into the first breakdown. Here George Butrumlis on accordian adds his inimitable touch. This section leads into a more cheerful major key, with the original piano melody now played on the synth strings, and some lively vamping by Steve Hadley on bass. The second breakdown reverts to the minor mode, and here Diana Clark beautifully improvises some atmospheric, perhaps you could even say elegiac, wordless vocals. With the re-introduction of the original piano line, and Diana and George seeming to answer each other, the chord changes stop, the strings build  the tension till there is a sudden end of TIME

lyric for 'Say you will' from CD booklet

The song of the Australian magpie, described sometimes as quoidling, has always been one of my  favourite sounds and a fitting start to the third track, Little creatures; an ode to nature and mature love. If you listen carefully you can hear an answering magpie, as well as some crows and a bellbird in the background… all sounds to bring tears to the eyes of ex-pat Australians. Following this charming interlude the intro sets the harmonic foundation of the track; a scale on stereo harmonised classical guitars with the mellow richness of a major ninth chord strummed on the steel string acoustic guitar and the exquisite sound of Jen Anderson’s violin. This is the only track on the album I sing myself, my vocal flanked by violin, accordion and guitars, all acoustic, with no drums or percussion, keeping the atmosphere intimate. The string section which enters with the first verse was multi-tracked by Jen, three violins and a viola, and then with the second chorus a low frequency synth drone fills out the bottom end. During this chorus Diana Clark sings a background harmony, and she is joined by Mei Lai Swan for the breakdown vocal section. The guitar solo is over a different chord progression, giving it a bridging role, before resolving back to the chorus structure, where all the different elements weave amongst each other. Then, after what seems to be the final E major chord on the vintage Suzuki steel string acoustic, three nylon string classical guitars triplet the major ninth chord again, while George Butrumlis’s accordion at its most lyrical gives a subtle “Lark ascending” like outro, slipping quietly into more nature sounds, this time a billabong at night, where the Little Creatures are stirring.

Anyway, this ‘instrumental with a sung chorus’ (!) opens with a Bacharach inspired intro trombone line, smoothly played by Andrew Hammond, leading into the by now usual form of twin acoustic guitars left and right, (steel strings this time), with a rhythm section of Steve Hadley (double bass) Tony Floyd (drums) and Denis Close (congas). Around the central theme (played in unison on my classical guitar and Bruce Haymes piano) once again George Butrumlis on accordion and Jen Anderson on violin weave and wend the most delectable and sympathetic threads of counter melodies; Jen especially excelling with her usual passionate intensity. How lucky I am to have musicians of this caliber to draw on!

The first and second verses slowly take form with drums gradually added, (I’m particularly happy with the sound of all the instruments on this track), then the chorus with Sara’s lovely vocal. Also joining the mix now are two harmonised acoustic slide guitars, double-ing with the trombone for an answering line; but very much in the background. The rhythm guitars go into a muted unison throb, which gives it a quite pop like vibe. Then the Bacharach line brings us back into verse three, where the melody is developed slightly, before the second chorus which leads into the guitar solo, once more over different chords making it take the role of a ‘middle eight’. The slide guitars get a go here as well. Finally one more chorus is followed by a reprieve of the guitar solo, resolving down to a peaceful end of what I think has ended up, after beginning as a problem child, as ‘Baby’… the lullaby.

lyric for 'Samba by the sea' from CD booklet

Diana Clark has been my go-to Brazilian vocal specialist ever since I first heard her and Doug De Vries live on the PBS FM Saturday morning Jazz show way back in 2003. At the time I was looking out for someone to sing on ‘St Tropez’ (my second album, released in 2004), and she knocked me out with her sultry low register, great control and a musicality based on a heartfelt love of Brazilian music. She and Doug have spent extensive time in Brazil and are well connected and respected both there and back here in Australia. The ‘St Tropez’ recording was a learning experience for both of us… I was initially thinking of a Segio Mendez 1960′s style multi-tracked unison sound, to be used only as an adjunct to the guitar melody. But when Diana came up with some great harmony parts and I found her vocals added so much I felt I should feature her on the three tracks she sang on…’St Tropez’, ‘Dream’ & ‘If not for freedom’. Diana followed this on my 2007 release ‘Dance with a flower in your hair’ with equally great performances on ‘Sensual’, ‘Wine of Tuscany’ (for which she also wrote an excellent lyric) and ‘On gossamer wings’ as well as on four other tracks including a fabulous and fun duet with Rob Price on the title track ‘Dance with a flower in you’re hair’.

So in what has become normal procedure I looked to her again for my new album, and especially for this track; ‘Samba by the sea’.

My inspiration for this song was a fantastic documentary I saw on SBS TV, about the old style Samba Schools that made up the famous Rio carnival back in the 50′s and 60′s, when the rhythm was much slower and the melody more prominent than in today’s frenetic drum based style. In the SBS doco surviving members of one great old school were together for a party, high up in the favellas, to reminisce, have a few drinks and sing some of the old songs one more time. This was cut with archival footage from the good old days, and I found it very beautiful and very moving. Once again the theme of time passing makes itself felt on this record…

And once again my initial idea, which was to have Diana and my voice in unison, had to change when I heard how great she sounded by herself, though I have kept my voice in a couple of bits. The altogether different vocal sound of Mei Lai Swan I found perfect for adding a more vintage element in the backing vocals parts. My usual bevy of guitars, all classical nylon strings appropriately, are joined by a very latin and lively electric base part from Steve Hadley, excellent drums from Tony Floyd and percussion from Denis Close and the horn section of Andrew Hammond, Bruce Sandell and Craig Pilkington to round out the ensemble.

edit of Eyeful of Paris sample track click on this to hear my frenchy sample

Streets of Paris is a track that is a result of the new technology, although there is an element of that in all recording now. But this more blatant use has allowed me to create a sound almost impossible in the real world. Yet we are so used to this kind of aural manipulation that it sounds quite acceptable to our modern ears.

It all started with a quite brash dance style drum loop, which makes no attempt to disguise its machine origins. On this I laid a guitar track of chords, using my nylon guitar plugged directly into my imac, with a heavy chorus effect. Normally I would re-record this in the studio using a good mike to get a quality sound, but in this case it sounds just right for the track the way it is. Then I added what I thought would be the bass part, even though played on the same guitar, so rather a ‘guitar-as-bass’ part, using my first finger-nail as if it were a plectrum. This is the rhythm section you hear when the track first starts… the actual real Fender bass which comes in for the second verse I added at a later date. Then I thought I’d try some piano accordion, even though I can’t play this great instrument properly I do own one and can manage simple melodies and chords. Curiously the only mike I had at home at the time was a very cheap Shure, on which I managed to get enough volume (without a pre-amp) by holding the mike against the accordion while I was playing! I thought I was just getting ideas, so it didn’t matter what it sounded like, I was just making do. The funny thing is I ended up with a very appealing sound, a bit like a blues harmonica… which just goes to show you; its not how you get it but what it sounds like that matters. So a simple but haunting riff came out of the accordion takes, and thats what you hear now, with the piano part added later. Once again, though not what you would ever call a pianist, with the magic of technology I was able to add the piano myself. This section ends with the swell of an accordion chord, which sounds like lots of other accordions joining in, which is exactly what it is as I just added tracks and copied and pasted the line and then stereo spread them to get massed accordions, five in all! Then, after a break (and a single triangle note, a sample from the keyboard, as is all the percussion) the riff starts again, to be repeated using an effect called ‘ping-pong echo’ which makes the line bounce back and forward from left to right. Soon a mixture of accordions, with different effects, combine to introduce a rich string part, also keyboard generated and known usually as ‘synth strings’. The voicing of these ‘strings’ and the interplay with the inter-weaving accordions creates an atmosphere that is quite largely accidental; but I sure was pleased with the result as it gradually came together. The first breakdown comes after all the whistles (keyboard samples again), and the weird sound on the drums is phasing added in the studio later.

Now comes the strangest thing of all. Looking for some sort of dialogue to add, with a frenchy feel, I tried various things including sampling a very old (1950′s) record I had, called An eyeful of Paris by Nestor Amaral and his Continentals. This is a kind of record I love, and is great to play in the shop, being a good example of the sort of record a tourist in the ’50′s might buy to remind them of their holiday, in this case a trip to Paris. Although guitarist and bandleader Nestor Amaral is Brazilian and recorded in the US, his arrangements for this selection of classic French tunes (Under Paris Skies, Pigalle, La Mer, La Vie En Rose etc etc) are done in a typical French cabaret/cafe band style, including a cheesy French accented intro, with a French ‘count-in’ “un, deux, trois, quatre…” This is what I sampled and added to my track, and the thing is, IT’S IN TIME! There is no time-bending or whatever, it just happened to be at the same tempo as my track! So I just copied and pasted it to add a little something extra, as the elements all come together for the climax, and finally fade-away, leaving the French accent to count us out.

One final anecdote…. a charming young woman who was getting some work experience at Audrey studios the day Craig Pilkington and I were mixing this track didn’t realise that the voice sample was French… she thought they were saying “un-, der, the, cat…” !!!

…I guess it’s stating the obvious to say that Wendy and I love Paris! thanks to her for the footage and Denes Ujvari for the edit of the Streets of Paris film clip shot in the Rue Abbess, Montmartre

When Clouds first starts you hear percussion, accordion, and then a classical guitar melody in octaves. This guitar was in fact the melody until I found myself singing a counterpoint, and so what started as an instrumental morphed into a song, as sometimes happens. But I kept the original lead guitar in as a sort of greek chorus to the vocal. And once again I thought I might be able to sing this myself, but then imagined how much better if Joe Camilleri sang it instead. Joe and I go way back to the late 70′s when I joined Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons after returning from a spell in the UK. I could imagine him singing this song in his gravelly Dr. John voice, and contacted him about it, with some little trepidation as he is always so busy. But he generously agreed to give it a listen, and then to have a stab at it. We supplied the backing track and also my vocal as a guide, and he worked on it himself at his own studio. Some little time followed, with up-date messages from Joe as to the projects interrupted progress… but when the result finally came through I felt sure that the time taken was a result of Joe’s typical dedication to his craft; that he made sure he did the best version that he could possibly do. Certainly his interpretation and performance speaks for itself.

Rather than the ‘gravelly’ voice, Joe chose what I think of as his Elvis Costello voice (references to other singers is my way of describing, but all these ‘voices’ are unmistakably Joe’s own), rich with tremolo. And he departed from my melody and phrasing to put his own take on the song, even leaving out a line towards the climax, preferring to leave the slide guitar to express the emotion I was trying to sing in my version.

This slide guitar, coupled with some rare shredding and power chords, represent a guitar voice that I don’t use on my records very much. It’s funny really, but the sound of my wailing SG Gibson special that I’ve been playing since 1968 and which has been my trademark throughout my career  I can’t seem to find a place for very often in my current work. It’s not that I don’t want to, its just that I find that the classic distorted guitar often sounds cliched to me, and even, dare I say it… just a bit naff!

But I think it works here though, coming in with the rhythm section just as the accordion line turns intro strings for the second verse. As usual I have steel acoustic guitars playing the chords, one on either side. A word here as well to compliment Craig Pilkington at Audrey Studio for getting such a great sound on Tony Floyd’s drums, as well as the excellent mix, and to Bruce Haymes at Parkside Studios for the parts he  recorded. Tony Floyd with Steve Hadley… who could ask for a better rhythm section? The organ and synth strings I recorded at home.

The lyric starts off a bit randomly. I sang these words spontaneously when I first got the idea of putting the vocal on. Many times I tried to come up with something else that had a bit more meaning to it, but nothing seemed to sound as good, so I kept the first verse as is. Then finally I found  a second verse that seemed to suggest something, without coming right out and saying it, and I took it from there. My message is that we all stand at a crossroads. Although we didn’t ask to be put in this position, unless we rise to the current challenge our lovely world is doomed. Climate change is an issue we all have to deal with, but to state the case directly sounds a bit preachy in a pop song. Instead, I’ve just tried to hint at what I’m trying to say, and to express musically what I find difficult to put into words. That is; don’t drive the clouds away…

As anyone familiar with my work would know, I’m a little obsessed with the sea.

‘Sea daze’ I think of as my ‘Albatross’; not that I wish to be compared to that classic, but the sense of calm and lyricism so appropriate to the guitar surely comes from a similar inspiration. My tune is meant to invoke the oceans slow deep power.. as well as its peaceful calm. Think of the sun glinting on the smooth surface, the light reflecting off a sandy bottom, and perhaps the flashing scales of barely visible fish. Or slow rollers out in the Pacific, with clouds reflected on a surface broken only by the surreal sight of flying fish.

Starting with sibilant slide noises, a harmonic arpeggio heralds in a tabla Bollywood-like sampled drum loop; my usual left and right guitars, one steel string and one nylon, with the melody also as usual on the classical guitar. Very understated piano notes, which are matched with airy-fairy slide seagull-cry effects played on a delightful little ‘Hawaiian’ guitar called The Burlington, circa 1930′s, that I was lucky enough to find in a thrift shop. Long Fender bass notes, and an understory of various sampled percussive effects. In between all this Steve Hesketh weaves sympathetic Hammond organ, going through the rotating speaker of the Leslie cabinet. I was very keen to get Steve (well known Hammond wizz-kid) on the album. He very kindly agreed to do to the session to return a favour. This favour related to the use of a Tessa couch… such is the way our vintage furniture shop and my music life can intertwine! Being in Northcote is great for networking with musicians, as apparently it has the highest ratio of musicians in Australia, going by APRA member postcodes. Added to that I’ve been told it also has the highest fertility rate as well… there must be something in the water! But I digress.

Following a rather nifty middle eight comes a pause, perhaps representing being on the edge of nodding off for a siesta on a sunny seaside afternoon. But a slow downward arpeggio is countered by a faster upward harmonic one and we’re back in the groove, with the addition of a three piece horn section, which slowly, slowly, slowly builds to the inevitable end of my SEA DAZE.

Yet another tune that started out as an instrumental, sounding perhaps a bit like the ubiquitous movie soundtrack, perhaps a western of the spaghetti variety.  The usual rhythm guitars, double bass, drums and piano accordion line-up; also a lovely piano track, dramatically played by Bruce Haymes. With the strings I tried for an effect that I had heard Joe Hisaishi use on the soundtrack of a Miyazaki movie (yet another Miyazaki influence), a chord played by a large string section starting very quietly and then swelling to a sudden cut-off. As before I used the technique of Jen Anderson on violin and viola and Mei Lai Swan on cello multi-tracking to build my string section.

Up till this point the melody was played as usual on classical guitar, but listening to it back one night I started singing along with it and decided it would make a very dramatic song, so I wrote some rather arty words for it all about the music of the spheres, angels, symphonies-out-of-tune and other esoteric waffle. This I recorded with me singing. Not such a great idea, but its all part of the process.. that’s the theory anyway! After much effort and angst I threw out my vocal and the lyric, and luckily had the weird idea of copying Villa-Lobos and many other classical composers wand use a wordless vocal sung by a trained voice… meaning an opera singer. Diana Clark kindly put me on to Tanya, and she adapted my melody to fit the key and recorded it very professionally, coping with the different musical environment with aplomb.

So there we finally have it, and it still sounds like the soundtrack for a spaghetti western!

Faraway tree

A very soft and intimate four bar intro figure played on the classical guitar sets the mood, before slipping into the first verse, where the melody and picked chords are combined. Beautiful real strings add lushness and take the pressure off the solo guitar. The strings are layered as usual by Jen Anderson. I am grateful to Jen for first suggesting to me that I write my own string parts… something I now love doing.

For the second verse my initial guitar stops playing the melody and picked chords and instead takes on a percussive rhythmic chord role, leaving the melody to a second guitar on the right hand side of the stereo mix. This is the same classical guitar (a Takamine EC 132-S for those interested in such things) but sounds quite distinct from the other because the expressive single note technique has such a different tone to picking. From this verse on the sound is bigger, with viola and cello added to the string section and a bass part played in unison on the Fender bass and Hammond organ. Also added to the mix are some delightful and very subtle weavings-in-and-out by George Butrumlis on accordion.

This verse is left hanging in tension, to be resolved by a chorus like refrain, introduced by an ascending slide guitar, the same little vintage Burlington Hawaiian acoustic I used for the gull effects on Sea daze. After this another breath-holding pause is finally broken by the third verse, with the Glockenspiel making it’s entrance. This addition followed another chance event. I happened to pick up a rather nice but quite modest vintage Glock at auction. Finding to my delight that it added a great texture to this particular arrangement I wrote a little part for it, and then had a great time recording it. Such is the nature of the process… letting chance play its part.

Well, there’s not much else to say, the tune continues happily through to its lullaby-like ending, except I wish all my recordings went as easily as this one. Perhaps I could mention the title. I wasn’t really thinking of the Enid Blyton story in particular, but of enchantments in general… sailing through moonlit-treetops on a ship of dreams.

This is how I met Mei Lai Swan. It is her cello in the album’s string sections and her voice on some very effective backing vocals. Now her solo cello is heard on this nouveau-flamenco inspired “Shadows”, supplying a deliciously dark counterpoint for my rambling guitar melody. And another female to feature on this track is the versatile Diana Clark whose stunning bravura ad-lib flamenco-style vocal on the chorus is one of the album’s high points. I was moved to tears when she recorded this and its highly emotive power still knocks me out, even after so many listens.

It only remains to mention Tony Floyd’s powerful drumming and Craig Pilkington’s excellent mix, and “Shadows” can fade to black.