GregDeK and I had been looking for an opportunity to collaborate for a while. After several false starts and experiments, interrupted by vagaries of life, I offered up an idea: do a new take on an old chestnut that we both knew and enjoyed. The point was to take a great song with a well known version that's very much anchored in its time (in this case by Herb Alpert in 1968), and attempt to give it a modern update. Or at least push it about 20 years into the future.

GregDeK supplied the lovely vocals. I listened to his voice about 500 times while mixing, and I'm still not tired of it. He's like a mix of Bryan Ferry and Paul Buchanan. Everything else in this track is my fault; please forgive us, Burt and Hal.

Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
Vocals by GregDeK, recorded at home.
All instruments and programming by Stickster.
Mixed at Fifth Dominion Studios, March-April 2021.

This Guy's In Love With You

UPDATE: This track is available for download at:
https://paulwfrields.bandcamp.com/track/the-vine

This is a work in progress. Needs better arrangement, backing vocals, new guitars (by a real guitarist), etc. Also working with new Slate Digital plugins. I used some budget gear and this was done in my basement (a standard family room).

The Vine v3

UPDATE: This track is available for download at:
https://stickster.bandcamp.com/track/the-vine

Slight audio tweaks, but no additional tracking or anything. I'm overseas and just opening up the track (it was private before) for people who might have liked the v3 cut and might appreciate the way this version has a little more life to it. Thanks to all those who commented on the previous one and gave me the confidence to keep writing more in the future!

The Vine v3a

Remixed from original demo, same scratch vocal.

What We All Need (Orlando)

An early "wannabe Knopfler" song I wrote and recorded in 2002 about a garbage collector. Pretty trite and clumsy but there are some things in the mix I still like. The "acoustic" is an original Line 6 Variax, not one of them! In fact the other guitar is also the Variax. Apparently I never was good at writing bridges. Mostly here for reasons of nostalgia. The original was tracked to ADAT and I've long since lost the tape itself, sadly (or luckily).

Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash.

Throwaways (2002 demo)

The Vine v6

Confrontation is practically a religion now. We already let it govern us, why not give it the robe, crown, and sceptre while we're at it? Then we can abandon all pretense and follow it over the cliff.

I played and sang everything on this track, recording it over Christmas break 2018. Mixing, production, and mastering was done in January-February 2019 at Fifth Dominion Studios. Photo by Richard Lee on Unsplash <https://unsplash.com/photos/9ME5tBjVyMQ>.

King Confrontation

Cover of the Finn Brothers song. Home studio recording from 2014 done in collaboration with my friend Arch Alcantara (guitar and lead vocal). I added the backing vocal, bass, and a little audio work. I just rediscovered the old tracks and decided to put a quick mix up here.

Disembodied Voices (feat. Arch Alcantara)

I mixed this from a soundcheck recording taken from a gig I did with Patrick Green and the Blues Buckets at Wilderness Run Vineyards in Spotsylvania, Virginia. The date is unknown, sometime in 2017 (possibly August 21). This is our cover of the old George Jackson tune, "Aretha, Sing One For Me." There's a little vocal wonkiness at the end of the bridge. I recall dimly that Pat had a cable issue going on and it distracted him. But otherwise this shows how tight that trio got -- and this was just a sound check!

Aretha Sing One For Me - Blues Buckets soundcheck 2017

I hope this track finds you and yours well. The year 2020 has been pretty tough on people so far. I made this cover of one of the most beautiful songs to bring some joy to people who may be stuck at home. Play it and sing along with your kids. If you have a partner or spouse, I hope you take them in your arms and dance with them like no one's watching. Most of all, I hope you feel love, hope, and peace that will drive away unhappiness for a while.

I played and sang everything on this track, working in my home studio (5thdom.com) over Easter weekend 2020.

For those who enjoy production and music, see if you can pick out some of these little tidbits I've left in this track:
* At least two overt nods to Jeff Lynne
* George's sitar
* A callback to a deep cut from Annie Lennox

Remixed and remastered with better clarity and balance. Props to Slate VSX for the ultimate home studio monitoring solution.

Across The Universe

Bassist, songwriter, engineer/producer, music lover, geek wrangler, hubby, dad, all-around super guy. [[aka Stickster]]

Paul W. Frields

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