04. Spanish blues
(Karen Clegg / Reg Clegg / Simon Withers / Paul Biggins / Denise Weston)
Backing track recorded 23rd March 2003
Paul Biggins - Spanish Guitar
Karen Clegg - Electric Piano, Vocals
Reg Clegg - Guitar
Denise Weston - Lead Vocal, Door
Simon Withers - Drums, Freeform Percussion

Reg's track notes:
When Karen came up with this sequence, it's working title was 'Russia', but naturally we moved across Europe to warmer climes; originally written at the same time as 'Extraordinary' (from the CD 'Sinistra'), it's got a bit of everything about the piece in this version, although each one is different it's always about interplay and dynamics.

Spanish Blues

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Reg: …as they do, someone said! And how; sometimes things are better left unsaid.
Paul: we rescued the lovely classical chords from an earlier (frankly horrible!) song to create the verses.

Endangered Species

People Talk

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Reg: Tackling individual demons and taking control of life; Karen's piano piece became the catalyst for changes…

I'm Changing

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Paul: begun in England and finished in Spain, a bitter-sweet song charting the break-down of a relationship from the victim's perspective. But who is the victim here? All is not what it seems. Underlaid with a latin/flamenco rhythm and complemented by Reg's awesome guitar soloing. I wanted the brief piano riffs to sound like someone idly playing 'off-stage' - Rubén González in a back room, indeed...
Reg: We'd been talking about doing something in this vein for a while; and it personally means a lot to us all.

That's It

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Reg: Like 'White Shirt', the lyrics were a response to the 9/11 tragedy and the fragility and uncertainty of everything and anything; one of the first things we wrote as a trio this year.
Paul: One to listen to in the dark. This was the first track I tried with an electronic rhythm - I used Hammerhead software running on the laptop, which provided just the right laid-back rhythmic groove - thanks to Bram Bos for writing the software; read about Hammerhead here. The name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen", and also a trunk road in north-east England. Now you know...
Additional credit: voiceover by Greg Hoeth.

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Reg: All instruments have songs in them; I bought the nylon guitar in Brighton last year and by the time we returned to the hotel, the song was writing itself; Sometimes we all feel like we're not here, but somewhere else outside ourselves…
Paul: one of the first songs where we worked out complementary rhythm guitar parts, giving the track much more harmonic depth than just sticking a bass line under it, especially playing live. An approach we've since applied to a number of songs.

Somewhere Else

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Paul: a delicate, persistant guitar progression to which Karen added equally delicate lyrics. Reg's slide guitar sets the scene. Dream-like...drifting...
Karen: A celebration of the great silent movie stars of the early 20th Century (Garbo, Gilbert, Swanson, Valentino) and some of the early black and whites talkies (Bogart, Hepburn, Grant) that influenced my early childhood.
Reg: A lovely juxtaposition of imagery - Silent & Golden Hollywood overlain on the wide open spaces of Americana.

Black & White Stories

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Karen: It speaks of a couple who are reaching another significant point in their lives – 40th birthday. The wife is beginning to feel that her man isn’t perhaps the one she wants to be with anymore, he’s holding her back.
Reg:…tension & drama, left & right, both one thing and another without resolution.

Green & Red

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Karen: This was inspired by an amazing trip over Greenland on the way to the States. The clear skies allowed you to see the vast frozen desolation it was unbelievable. This song goes some way to expressing this experience. 
Reg: An empty continent acting as a metaphor for an empty heart…
Paul: We experimented with a few arrangements for Wilderness, until we struck on this 'Hot Club de France' version. Hmm...nice!

Wilderness

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Paul: a classic 'road song', never-ending horizons and endless miles of tarmac, tail-lights fading into the distance, and that feeling that, no matter how far you go, you'll never recover the situation you just lost.
Karen: The realisation that you’ve made a mistake that can’t be reversed.

I Can't Believe I Let You Down

Written and recorded by the trio between February and October 2004, 'Endangered Species' is the first album by the new trio line-up of Reg, Karen and Paul.
Reg: A song about everything in the world going on simultaneously at any moment, whether it is day or night, good or bad, it's all happening at the same time; the answerphone message happened as I was recording the original demo and came in at the right section of the song at the time - and it was about the delivery of ZOO CDs!

In Different Places

Composer / musician / sound engineer / photographer

Paul Biggins

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