In celebration of our mutual birthday, here is my cover of Frank Zappa's Treacherous Cretins, from his album, "Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar." As with all of my SoundCloud covers, I'm playing all the instruments here. I really had a lot of fun playing this one and I hope you enjoy it. Happy Birthday to us, Frank!

Both the rhythm and lead guitar were played on my small Ibanez (aka
"Steve") mic'd with the Vox VT 20X, plus a stereo effect from cakewalk
 "Sonitus' Classic Sweeping Flanger." The drums are "Session Drummer 3
 Sizzle Kit" played on the Nord 88 keyboard. The Rhodes piano,
 orchestral percussion (gongs, cymbals and glockenspiel) from the
 Sonatina Orchestra Percussion, and Chamberlin female voice (also
 using a cakewalk stereo effect "Sonitus' Black Metal Vocal") were all
 from the Nord piano HA 88. The acoustic guitar and sitar were played
 on the Yamaha M06. And the bass was the fretted jazz bass using the
 bass pod with an amp model preset called "360." The wild sounds at the
 very end when the song stops were three different voice recordings
 from my iPhone. On the original, Frank uses some wild tape dialogue
 stuff in between songs to go to the next one.

Hope you all enjoy this! ~ Rachel Flowers

Treacherous Cretins - Frank Zappa (cover)

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Rachel's birthday gift to all of you, her cover of Frank Zappa's "Inca Roads" from his album "One Size Fits All."
Rachel is playing everything on this track - keyboards, vocals, and yes, electric guitar.

Inca Roads - Frank Zappa (cover)

I thought I would like to share with you my cover of an Amy Winehouse song from her posthumous album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures. “Halftime” is one of a couple of songs whose lyrics reflected the crucial role music played throughout her tragic life. I wanted to warn you a little about the third verse: Amy had a very unique way of describing her love for traditional jazz, completely different from my own songs. However, it’s the drum patterns of Questlove that led me to cover this song. 

During her life, Amy longed to make a jazz album with Questlove, and sadly, her team wouldn’t allow her the opportunity. So after she passed, her producer Salaam Remi reached out to Questlove, so that the world could hear kind of the direction she wanted to go with that supergroup. However, I later found out that she wanted to perform a wild Duke Ellington album, which is a 180 from this song. I’m currently in the process of making an album inspired by that particular story, and would love to find some way for Questlove and the rapper Mos Def to record those Ellington songs with me, along with my own songs featuring a style like “Halftime.” Anyway, hope you like it. This was a fun cover to do!

Halftime  - Amy Winehouse cover

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This was recorded using a combination of the Nord Electro 4D and Yamaha M06 sounds, plus voice for the "air" sounds.

Atmospheres - György Ligeti

I wanted to start this year off by covering one of my favorite songs by Elton John. After listening to the Disney+ stream of his Farewell concert, and checking out plenty of early performances on YouTube, I wanted to cover this song.

The drums were played on the keyboard using Sonar’s Steven Slate Black Bird library. The piano was performed on Nord’s White Grand sample (which is still my personal favorite). I played my five string bass with my bass pod, the MarbleHead guitar mixed with the Vox amp, and a little shaker here and there.

Then with my Victor Reader Stream and mixer, I recreated the crowd using plenty of samples Brian sent me a while ago.

This was a lot of fun for me, and I hope you all enjoy it too!!! (Smile)
R F

Bennie and the Jets

Benny And The Jets - Elton John Cover

Continuing my Elton John repertoire, I decided to cover “Madman Across The Water.” I was inspired by not only the album version, but also the piano demos, the live Australia performance with the orchestra, and Bruce Hornsby’s jazzy version. I ended up with kind of a quartet version with a guitar part during the chorus, but for most of the song, I chose to have only piano, bass and drums. For the piano, I used Nord’s “extra large” version of their Grand Imperial, than turned the bright filter on my Nord Grand to get more of that Elton-type sound. I played my five string bass, and keyboard drums using one of Sonar’s non-accessible libraries. This ended up being a lot of fun to cover!!! Hope you enjoy it! (Smile)

Madman Across The Water - Elton John cover

I thought it would be fun for you to hear me cover a little future soul repertoire by Hiatus Kaiyote. They’re an Australian band combining elements of jazz, soul, hip hop, and electronic sounds. This song is originally off of their first album. The song also has a wild remix featuring the rapper Q-Tip from the hip hop group, A Tribe Called Quest. I chose to do the band only arrangement. Their music also got noticed by several people from the soul, and hip hop community including Questlove, Erykah Badu, and especially Prince. I really like Hiatus’ second album, because there’s more of a jazz meets hip hop sound. Next time, I’ll share you my cover of one of those songs. Hope you enjoy it.

Nakamarra - Hiatus Kaiyote cover

I thought it would be exciting for you to check out a Phish cover I did around 2016 or so. This is before I began mixing final versions at a good volume, which started around 2020. Anyway…

When I was in my Frank Zappa phase, I would check out plenty of guitar driven bands, from The Grateful Dead, to Phish. I was fascinated by the improvisations that took place in their live performances. I was inspired to cover “Divided Sky” after listening to their Halloween concert in 1994, where they performed the entire Quadrophenia album by The Who. The album is called, Live Phish Volume 14. What I love about the live renditions are the expansion of the song. A personal favorite part about studying the live jams are the interaction between all four members. I would often memorize some of my favorite solos from their guitarist Trey Anastasio, learning about vibrato, when not to use vibrato, etc. Just a lot of fun stuff!!!! Having listened to a bunch of other live versions, I thought about covering it in the spirit of the band on stage. I began with the drums, played live on the keyboard using my Yamaha for midi, and the drum samples from Sonar’s Session Drummer Andy Johns kit. I think I did the piano and organ next, then the bass, and guitar. I played on my short Ibanez with a sustain switch, so I can extend notes without having to crank up the amp, plus, I love feeling the vibration of the string while the note keeps playing! I wish I knew the name of the sustain pick up… Anyway, it was an exciting piece to cover!

Hope all of you enjoy it! (Smile)

Divided Sky - Phish cover

I was fascinated by the music of Amy Winehouse. Once I started diving into her influences which include jazz vocalists Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, and especially Dinah Washington, I wanted to challenge myself and write songs, imagining what would happen if those singers made a hip hop soul record.

One difficulty I had while listening to Amy, is that she mumbled her words, and forced the jazz vibrato. While listening to Frank and Dinah, I learned a lot about vibrato control (for that style of singing), as well as enunciating the words! So when I covered this song from Winehouse’ first album, I wanted to channel a hint of Frank and Dinah, while taking an Ella (Fitzgerald)/ Sarah approach in the scat singing.

The fake sample of the Nas song “Made You Look” wasn’t looped, and was played live from start to finish. Every instrument except the guitar or flute were played on the Korg Grandstage 88. The drums and congas are from Sonar’s Session Drummer’s library, and the fake trumpet and saxophone solos were from Garritan’s Jazz and Big Band library.

Recreating Amy’s approach to playing jazz guitar was kind of a challenge: less harmonious like Joe Pass, and more like written chord charts. I wanted to make my flute solo more expressive than the original, and it was just fun!!!

Hope you like this cover.

In My Bed - Amy Winehouse Cover

Here’s a wild Phish cover I did after experiencing the jam band at the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks ago. It was a fun challenge learning the first half of this particular song. I started by listening to the studio version featuring a horn ensemble, then I focused on a couple of live versions I have: Live Phish Vol. 7 recorded in 1993, and Live Phish Vol. 4 recorded in 2000.

Musically, it features the whole tone scale, which I include during the jam section. Also, I love how the chords change to reflect the dark nature of the lyrics, something I feel is sometimes lost in music. As a fan of the band’s live recordings, one version could be laid back, and another could be faster. I took more of the fast approach, with a dreamy, atmospheric jam.

The keyboard drums were played without a click track. Later, I played the piano using Nord’s early piano sample, the Studio Grand 2 (Yamaha C 7). Then I played my five string bass using my line 6 bass pod, the “Session” preset. I finished with the guitar with the sustain pick up. All the echos, including the spacey, dreamy sounds were completely live on the spot!

Anyway, I would love to compose a song that features the whole tone scale in unusual ways, and unlike this song, write a vocal idea inspired by Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. I hope you like this cover.

Split Open And Melt - Phish Cover

I thought I’d like to share with you a cover I did back in 2021 while in the process of making my close-to-finished fourth album, "All That." 

One thing that gets me motivated to write songs in many styles are covering repertoire I’ve been checking out. I wanted to make my next album towards a jazzy, soulful edge like my favorite singer, Gino Vannelli. His early ‘70s albums from "Powerful People" to "Gist Of The Gemini" feature some jazzy, soulful, at times progressive combinations.

I first heard Vannelli’s song “Powerful People” in an archived stream DJ Questlove did on The Roots YouTube page. I then listened to the full Vannelli album, and thought about covering the title song, including the jazzy instrumental break. A lot of the orchestral synth sounds were played on my Nord Grand 88. The synth bass was played on my Moog Little Phatty, the organ on my Nord C2D, the chimes on my Korg Grandstage 88, the drums using Session Drummer’s Modern Basic kit (I can’t remember if I played the midi drums on my Nord or Korg…) The drums were first, as I often changed tempos throughout the song, not only to give the music a live band feel, but to make sure everything is played tight like having an incredible band!

I also studied a live recording of this song, which gave me the idea to extend the end of the vocal before the jazzy instrumental breakdown.

Anyway, covering this song helped me write “If I Could Change The Past,” which is going to appear on my next album. I hope you enjoy this cover.

Powerful People - Gino Vannelli Cover

I thought about recreating one of my favorite Amy Winehouse songs, “Me And Mr Jones," from her popular album, Back To Black. Although I altered some of the lyrics a bit, I kept the music very true to the original version. Musically, I like how the 1950’s rock sound blends with jazzy vocals, as well as call and response singing inspired by The Shangri-las. At the end of the day, I had a lot of fun covering this song! Hope you like it.

Me And Mr Jones - Amy Winehouse cover

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Rachel got out her strat and recorded this today for fun. Hope you like it!

Zoot Allures - Frank Zappa (cover)

Recently, I got to experience one of my favorite singers, Gino Vannelli, in concert. This inspired me to recreate one of his soul driven tunes, “Valleys of Valhalla,” from his album, A Pauper In Paradise, which came before Brother to Brother. Normally I rarely cover songs by my favorite singers, because the original recording is so amazing. However, I wanted to give this song a try.

This will also be the last thing I’m recording on my old equipment, which include the program Cakewalk Sonar. I’ll be transitioning to a Mac computer, with an easier recording platform called Reaper, where I can access virtual sound libraries independently, so I won’t have to rely on sighted assistance. It’s going to make my work flow easier, especially when it comes to creating drum sounds, etc. But that’s another story for the future.

I hope you enjoy this cover.

Valleys Of Valhalla - Gino Vannelli Cover

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Rachel Flowers - all instruments
Rachel and the Rachettes - vocals

Montana - Frank Zappa (cover)

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Solo piano, performed by Rachel Flowers.

Images (Book 1), Reflets dans l'eau - Claude Debussy

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Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part 1 - King Crimson (cover)

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Rachel is playing all the parts here including the flute - that's real flute not a synth, by the way. Distortion was added using the Cakewalk effects.

Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part 2 - King Crimson (cover)

Here is Rachel's cover of Proclamation by Gentle Giant. As always, Rachel is playing all the instruments and performing all the vocals - organs and pianos are played on her Nord Electro 4D and Nord Piano 2 HA88 keyboards, drums were played live on her Yamaha M06, bass was played on her custom Flowers short scale jazz style bass, and guitar was played on her Ibanez GIO guitar. Enjoy!

Proclamation - Gentle Giant (cover)

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Toccata And Fugue in D Minor by J. S. Bach, arrangement by Leopold Stokowski. Multi-tracked in Sonar, each track was played live using the Vienna Symphonic Library, no sequencing, no quantizing, and with no click track. Rachel learned this piece from listening to the soundtrack of the movie "Fantasia" made in 1940. Hope you enjoy it. Rachel had a blast recording this!

Toccata And Fugue In D Minor - J. S. Bach

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This is my cover of Teen Town by Weather Report composed by Jaco Pastorius, from the album Heavy Weather. I didn't use any click track. The drums were all played live, starting with the basic rhythm track, then I added the drum hits. I later made the two drum tracks separately in mono, so I could control the reverb for the drum hits. The synth sounds were a combination of the Nord piano 2 88 and Yamaha m06. The Rhodes piano was done on the Korg SV 88, and I played real fretless bass. For the doubling unison spots, I recorded them separately without hearing the other bass track, so it would make it easier to concentrate on the pitches. I sang the soprano saxophone parts also through a Lewitt MTP540 microphone. The conga drums were done on the Yamaha m06. ~ Rachel Flowers

Teen Town - Weather Report (cover)

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Here's my new Jaco cover!

I doubled the bass in two tracks. The only parts that are not live are the parts with thirds and sixths harmonies after the first fast part, but the rest was played all together.

The drums were from Session Drummer, the pianos are the Nord Piano 2 HA88. The rest is fretless bass.

This is from Jaco's self-titled album.

Continuum - Jaco Pastorius (cover)

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Here's a wild Mahavishnu tune I covered in one day!

I memorized most of the solos, too. This is very close to the record!

All of the guitar parts were played on the Marble Head using the Vox
amp with the Lewitt mic. Then for the drums and violin tracks, I
played on the Yanaha m06. I also used one of the clavinets off of the Korg SV-1, and the Rhodes from the Nord 2 HA-88. I played on the fretted bass using the bass pod, and the synth parts were done on the Little Phatty. The gongs were from the Garritan Instant Orchestra "Earth Metal Percussion."

I put a whole bunch of wild effects on some of the instruments. For
another instance of the gong track, I added a flange effect. (I first
put a mono preset in both tracks.) Then for the synth solo, and violin
tracks, I added a distortion effect off of the Cakewalk Ampsim (I
think I used "British Crunch" on the synth solo, and "Fuzz 1" for the
violin tracks.)

Anyway, I had a lot of fun doing this one.

Birds Of Fire - Mahavishnu Orchestra (cover)

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I learned this song off of the Abbey Road album. I played all the guitars first, using the Marblehead Imperial guitar played through my Vox amplifier. I think I did the bass next. The organ was played on the Nord Electro 4D. The "white noise" sound was done on the Yamaha M06 and I did all the vocals using the Lewitt microphone. (I also recorded the guitar tracks using the Lewitt mic.) The drums were Session Drummer, Funk Kit. 

I listened to Abbey Road with my headphones one day, and then I started to hear myself covering this song.

Covers

I Want You (She's So Heavy)- The Beatles (cover)

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When I heard this song by Jacob Collier, I started imagining an orchestral arrangement of this piece. I did the orchestration using a mixture of EastWest, Garritan, and Vienna Symphonic orchestral libraries. The percussion is mainly from the Garritan Jazz & Big Band library. The piano is the Nord Grand Imperial. The organ was played on the Nord Electro 4D. The drums were the Andy Johns kit from Session Drummer 3. I did all the vocals using a Lewitt microphone. The electric bass was played on a Fender Jazz bass. The synth bass was played on a Moog Little Phatty. It was pretty wild listening to the vocal harmonies and working on getting them right! It was a lot of fun! Hope you enjoy it!

Don't You Know - Jacob Collier (cover)

I had fun covering this song. To commemerate the anniversary of the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper, I thought it would be great for me to share this cover with you!
The orchestral tracks were played using the Garritan Instant Orchestra library. The guitar part was played on one of my electric guitars using an acoustic amp setting on the Vox miced with the Lewitt microphone. The bass was my fretted jazz bass played through the Line 6 bass pod. The main piano was the Nord Velvet Grand, and the final chord was a combination of Garritan CFX, Synthogy Ivory Tack Upright and Nord Honkytonk (tack also) Upright. The drums are VSL Jazz Drums. I don't remember if the vocals were done on the Lewitt, or what shaker I used.
I hope you enjoy it.

A Day In The Life - The Beatles (cover)

Trilogy was one of the first songs by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer that I ever heard. The sound of the Moog really grabbed my attention, and I am very happy to cover this song now in honor of Keith and Greg.

The piano was played on the Amber Upright from Nord, on the Nord Piano 2 HA88. The lead synthesizers were played on the Moog Little Phatty. The organ was played on the Nord Electro 4D. The synth strings in the intro and synth horns were played on the Yamaha M06. The bass was played on a fretted Fender Jazz bass copy that has been modified for me. The drums were Session Drummer 3, Andy Johns Kit. The suspended cymbal rolls were from the Vienna Symphonic Library Percussion Collection. I did all the vocals using a Lewitt handheld condenser microphone.

Trilogy - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (cover)

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The Black Page #1 by Frank Zappa, cover by Rachel Flowers

Frank was always hearing the studio musicians in LA talking about the fear of going into sessions some morning and being faced with "the black page."  So he decided to write his "Black Page."

The drums were from Session Drummer plus some percussion. More percussion was from Garitan Jazz and Big Band, along with the horns. The marimba was from the Nord Electro 4D. The xylophone, violin, fretless bass, and synth were all on the Yamaha M06.

The Black Page #1 - Frank Zappa (cover)

Composed, orchestrated, and performed by Rachel Flowers on piano, keyboards, voice, flute, and fretless bass

Copyright Rachel Flowers 2015

Away

Away - Rachel Flowers

All the drums were a combination of Session Drummer's Linn Drums, and all the extra wild percussion and cymbals were on the Yamaha M06
by itself. All of the synth sounds are a mixture of the Nord Electro
4D, and the M06. The fretted jazz bass was played through the Line 6 Bass Pod. All the guitars were played using an Ibanez guitar going through the Vox ValveTronix VT20X amp. The condenser Lewitt microphone was used to mic both the guitar amp and the vocals, and multiple cakewalk effects were then used to get close to the original.

Let's Go Crazy - Prince (cover)

All the Mellotron strings were played on the Nord Piano 2 HA88. The drums are Garritan's fusion kit, as well as their percussion (different blocks and cow bells) all from the Jazz and Big Band library, plus the
orchestral percussion (triangles, suspended cymbals, gongs and bells),
and oboe from the Vienna Symphonic Libraries. I also played the Muramatsu flute, the Ibanez guitar through the Vox Valvetronix VT20X, and the fretted jazz bass through the Line 6 Bass Pod to get the right mixture of clean, and distortion. Then added some low strings using the Yamaha M06 keyboard by itself. Both the vocal and guitar were recorded through the Lewitt condenser mic.

Starless - King Crimson (cover)

I wanted to explore some more music from the 1980s. I also love the instrumentation and lyrics of this song! 
I sang all of the vocoder parts, and all the orchestral tracks were a combination of my Yamaha M06 keyboard and the East West Hollywood Strings Library. The guitars were a combination of my custom MarbleHead and Ibanez guitars. The drums are the Session Drummer 3 Glam Kit.

Sowing The Seeds Of Love - Tears for Fears (cover)

My gift to you for 2019 - Love is the answer.

Mind Games - John Lennon (cover)

From the Emerson, Lake, and Palmer album Works Volume 1, Pirates is one of my favorite pieces that combines orchestra, band, and vocals.

I hope you like my version of this great song!

Pirates - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (cover)

This is one of my favorite pieces off of Jacob Collier's "Djesse Volume 1."

With The Love In My Heart - Jacob Collier (cover)

You can now purchase Rachel's solo albums "Bigger on the Inside" (2021), "Going Somewhere" (2018), and "Listen" (2016) along with "3x2," Rachel's collaboration EP with Michael Sadler of Saga!

From the first moment she touched the piano, Rachel Flowers has been consumed by music. Like a sponge she has spent her life absorbing every kind of music she encounters. This channel is her outlet where she gets to play, creating covers of the music she loves, and sharing that music with the world.

Now you can also hear Rachel's original music! Just visit shop.rachelflowersmusic.com

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