Cover of the classic 80s tune from Tears for Fears. An iconic smash hit in the synthpop genre, written by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, and produced by Chris Hughes, appearing on their Songs From the Big Chair, a great album! Orzabal was quoted as saying (about the song) "It is a romance song that goes a bit perverse at the end." Ha ha. Always loved this tune, so I thought it would be a challenge to try to catch the vibe and imitate some of the sounds given meagre production resources. Lead vocals from Karaoke, and moi in backups; also in chant backups Chris Adamidis, and Jeanette Kennett. I'm responsible for the other schmozzle ;)--- all instruments, programming and production.

Head over Heels (by Tears for Fears)

Not my usual thing. A cover of an Australian Indie band song called Streets of your Town. The band was The Go-Betweens. Impossible to capture the sweetness and brilliance of the original, which is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M_P_xX9Cmw
Help on this one: Paul Matthews, P Bass + vocals.
Jeanette Kennett: backup vocals.
(I get the blame for everything else!)

Streets of Your Town (The Go-Betweens)

Past Reflection

Lived on Blues Point Road for 10 years, till 2020. That's Blues Point Hotel in the pic. I thought 'Blues Point Road' would make a good name for a guitar blues!

Blues Point Road

Some escapism! 

One from the back of the filing cabinet. My sincere thanks to the very brilliant Roger Stankovic who sang lead vocals on this song. (https://soundcloud.com/roger-stankovic.)
Image: Megapixl.

Only You

A tune about possibilities. 
Music, all instruments, programming and production: Steve
Lyrics: Lydia Mathewson
Vocals: @Roger Stankovic
Image: Dreamstime

Fly High

Some notes loosely devoted to the idea of eternal recurrence and return. Jazz rock fusion instrumental.

Cosmic Deja Vu

Started life as an acoustic demo. Last month I pulled it out and built a groove around it…and voila! Light, and slightly tongue-in-cheek, a joyful tune about falling in love on New Year’s Eve. The poppiest thing I’ve posted. Vocals shared by Roger S., Jen D B, and myself.

Eleven Fifty Nine

Downtown. Streetside bars. Instrumental. Kind of a latin/blues/jazz thing that morphed into hard rock, then synth pop.
Credits: Freesound for street/crowd samples. Gencraft image.

Streetside

Follows on from my earlier track "Passion for the Beyond", though a little jazzier. Brass sounds from a VST (MIDI-triggered) instrument. Image: Gencraft.

Beyond Passion

I strained my wrist playing guitar while practicing a new piece I hope to post in a month or two, so in the meantime I decided to freshen up a short piece I had on SC from a few years ago. It’s a simple melody, a musical meditation, towards peace; the dove of peace carries this message, through many cultures and religions. Peace is needed now, more than ever. Hope you may spend 2 minutes with me to meditate.
PS. Wasn't able to master this with clarity, so headphones/earphones best.

Peace Dove

"They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us."

Acoustic steel string, for two main guitars, with occasional single note line decoration from a third. (All parts played on my Maton M225.)

Songbird Boo

Blue Joey

Some new acoustic guitar stuff is under construction, but meanwhile here’s a very different beast, called 'Relentless'. About the relentless assembly line of life.

Relentless

This track is dedicated to Noodle, our son's gorgeous little dog who recently left the world. He will be missed very much.

Noodle

About the pages that go missing in our stories. 

VERSE 1
He dreamt a child’s dream
Of candy floss and cream 
Echoes call his name 
But no body’s there…any more 
Faces blurred away
Words he will not say… 

VERSE 2 
Sitting in the shade 
Where the oak once grew 
The leaves whisper low 
Of moments he once knew
But time it steals the light 
The dusk it falls too soon.  

CHORUS 
Pages torn away 
Words he can’t recall 
Memories that betray 
Faces far away 

VERSE 3
He holds a picture close
Its corners bent and frayed 
The faces blur with time
But their smiles have stayed
Names begin to fade, but 
The sense of warmth remains.

A Child's Dream

Graceful Pari

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.”

Forbidden Funk

“It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with such speed. If I’d known, maybe I’d have kept tighter hold of them, and not let unseen tides pull us apart.”

Never Let Me Go

Balancing Act

Crossroads

Haven’t been on the cloud much lately. Been travelling across the southern Australian coastline, to the beautiful and remote Kangaroo Island. Its beauty seemed strangely juxtaposed to the horrors going on elsewhere.

Haunting Moods of Change

Port Charm

An electronic/industrial piece, with some fusion elements.

Cosmic Call

The Lovely Blue Waves

Remix and re-invention of an earlier track from many years ago. Messier 83 (see the image), also known as the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, contains structures within structures. The images are stunning. This track has interlocking aspects, hence the title.

The Ferns of M83

I had these two little blues pieces – in E and C – and an arrangement for When I’m 64, and they seemed to fit, and voila! The whole piece runs for 100 bars, but subtracting the repeated two blues sections the piece adds up to 64 bars. I swear this was an accident!

Credits: When I’m Sixty Four by John Lennon & Paul McCartney, 1967. (McCartney wrote the song.)


Sixty-four Bar Blues

This is the last renovation of several songs I wrote some years back and recorded with Roger Stankovic (https://soundcloud.com/roger-stankovic), who did the lead vocals. Started as a basic piano and vocals track, but I took it down and added some new elements. Very happy with Roger's amazing work on this! Harmonies, moi, and Jen DB.

Falling Sands

This is a lovely song written and produced by my friend John Wright. John is not on SC, so I thought I'd showcase his brilliance on my page. Some other credits include the beautiful voice of Clare O'rourke. Bass part is played by Tony Harwood. John played nearly everything else. I added a couple of acoustic guitar strums. I hope you like!

Call me (by John Wright)

A cover of the Tears for Fears song off their album of 1985: Songs From the Big Chair. A huge worldwide hit, the song reached #1 in Canada and New Zealand, and #2 in Australia, and the UK. Wiki info is that the song was written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley and Chris Hughes, and produced by Hughes. Curt Smith sings lead vox. Song is in G, but don't try to work it out from the original album because I believe they sped up the tape so it would play slightly faster (sounding better) but making life hard for covering it. A nice relatively recent live version is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGPFmBbnsNM. 
It's a nice challenge to try to cover these synthpop masterpieces with basic equipment. I had some help. Lead vox Karaoke; backups moi, and all instruments, programming, production. (I use an old version of Nuendo, plus assorted programs and plugins.) 
I extended the second guitar solo at the end. The chord changes there are cool and the key is guitar-friendly!

Everybody wants to rule the world (by Tears for Fears)

After updating my new time travel profile pic, I figured it was also time to refresh the bio. The amount of world-class talent on the Cloud never ceases to amaze me. I don’t say that lightly – I’ve learned so much from so many of you. There are artists here I genuinely consider among the best musical talents I’ve heard anywhere. And I have heard a ton of music.
I’m a lifelong music addict. For me, music can be transformative, cathartic, joyful, and intellectual – often all at once. My taste? Almost anything done well. Almost. My own music is eclectic: from acoustic guitar pieces to jazz fusion, to prog/alternative/psychedelic rock, to electronica.
What really keeps me here, though, is the community – the interaction, and the sense of connection that somehow forms even when we never meet in person. The goodwill and respect are something special, and I don’t take that for granted.
Finally, regarding recording – if you’re still reading! – my humble studio hasn’t changed in 15 years. I’m even still running Windows 7 to support my old Steinberg DAW. No AI tools – just me, I like to control the physical process at every step, from idea, to playing, editing, mixing, and final production.

Steve Matthews

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