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)

Main parts --- nylon and steel string acoustic with some electric guitar overdubs later. A kind of study, with some almost experimental electric guitar ornaments. Recovered the acoustic guitar files, fixed them up, and glued it together! A bit of unevenness in the quality means best on earphones I think.

Step into the Light

‘Dark Seven’ is about wrath.  Starting with a riff in 7/4 and some overdriven guitar, a fast middle, finishing with synthy pads and guitar flourishes.

Dark Seven

Combines different styles, kind of jazz and film soundtrack. Rhythm is driven by bass and keys, with a stack of guitar overdubs.

City Life

After many drafts, hopefully I have a final version of this song! It’s about narcissists, who can seem shiny and attractive at first. But the dissonance eventually reveals itself.

Lyrics:

I love you, yes I do!
And you love me, I can see!
I’m the one, yes the one.
Shining bright, I’m the sun.

Little darlin’ fall for me,
The false charms ring true.
Magnetic ways I save for you,
A little scene, I make the score.

You love me, I’m a catch!
No one else in the race!
But can’t they understand
I’m the best in the land.

Little darlin’ fall for me,
The false charms ring true.
Magnetic ways I save for you,
A little scene, I make the score.

Ooh, why do they fall
For the lies
That make us despise
The size of his ego
Ooh, what can be done, for
The lives that have been
Taken
Why do they fall for the lies
Time to make the move.
Arise.

Narcissus

This is about the consequences of bullying. Morgan was 13, bullied at school mercilessly and relentlessly, until she committed suicide. When I read about the case years ago I found it distressing and later was moved to write this song. Don’t have a personal connection to what happened, I just found it really sad.


They found her in the morning
The sadness in her eyes remained
They had taunted and they teased
And broke her
She died in her sleep
Alone.

She fought them off as long as she could
They wore her down until the pain took…
She begged everyone
Rescue me from this pain.

They found her in the morning
The gladness in her heart erased
The tragedy of Morgan
Will haunt them
Each night as they sleep
Alone.

She fought them off as long as she could
They wore her down until the pain took…
She begged everyone
Rescue me from this pain.

Morgan can you tell us where you are
(The) life you lost was beautiful to us
Morgan can you show us what to do
(Your) life will shine a light for us from you.

Morgan
We miss you
Morgan 
We miss you
Morgan 
We miss you
Where are you, today?
We miss you.

Morgan can you tell us where you are 
(The) life you had was beautiful to us
Morgan can you show us what to do
(Your) life will shine a light for us from you.

Morgan

A slow, and sad one. (With Jen Di Biasi, vocals.)

One More Try

A jazz-rock fusion thing, with a few experimental elements. Guitar, keys, bass, sax... mainly. A bit of a jam at times but mainly written out.

Short Fuse

A phone call, and your world is turned on its head. No heartfelt goodbye. This is a song about the losses that come without warning.

Cried a lot today
When she called to say
Feels like the end has come
Can we start again?
Travel back in time.
Never said a word
About the things you’d heard
If only you’d told us all.
Oh, now we say good-bye
Forever asking why.
Will I see you again?
Or is it the end?
Will you open
Your eyes to the sun?
Remember when we smiled
A look just like a child
A gift that you gave to me
Oh. Now I look instead
Across the lonely day
~
Can I come see you sometime
Nowhere I know?
To stay and talk about the time we had
Nah, nah, nah.
	~
A wave came crashing down
In tears of spray we drowned
The words that were left unsaid.
Oh. I guess it’s too late now
I’ll say it anyhow.
That I love you
I love you
That I miss you
I miss you
Will I see you again? 
Or is it the end?
Will you open 
Your eyes to the son?

Will I See You Again

I recently renovated this one. An instrumental, with moments where you can tap along, and slower reflective moments. It signifies the ebb and flow of a workday. So I named it Working Day!

Working Day

It covers a lot of ground, marks my words.

A Lot Of Ground

A trip into a forest to sight an elusive tiger. Enthusiastic calls, tension, a roar, release...and home again!

Lots of pianos, guitars, basses, synths, percussion...Had so much fun with this one...I hope you do too! :)

Tiger in the Forest

Reach Out is a song about love and friendship in the midst of tragedy. It could be war, or the pandemic, or any circumstances where two people try to make it work, against the odds. We probably all have such a story. The resilience from close friendship always comes…so long as we continue to reach out. 

The song was written a while ago, and sung with Jen Di Biasi; it started with some arpeggios on my classical guitar (C maj 9, G sus2/B, Am7), and some sketchy vocal lines. I’ve come back to it periodically, always building in new ideas and layers…but I think this baby is ready now! It’s got an 80s rock ballad feel I guess, with a little dancing section just past half way!

Reach Out

A playful piece of music around a cat dreaming about its nine lives – and so the song has nine sections. An electric guitar piece – if you like a bit of overdrive on the axe, then this one’s for you!

Kat Dreams

Spielberg’s famous anti-war film, Saving Private Ryan, depicts a mission by US soldiers, led by Captain John Miller, to extract James Ryan whose three brothers were killed in battle. The mission is ordered in order to spare Ryan’s family the loss of all their sons. Ryan is saved, but the captain is killed. His dying words to Ryan are ‘earn it’. The film ends, fast forwarding many decades where Ryan, now an older man, stands at John Miller’s grave, reflecting on whether he has led a good life, whether he has lived up to Miller’s beseeching words to ‘earn it’. ‘Tell me I have led a good life’, ‘Tell me I’m a good man’, he says. It's a moving scene, reflecting an intimate internal tale, one about self-doubts and moral debts. I always liked this film, and I thought the theme of moral self-reflection and doubt – doubts about who we are, really – might form the basis for a song. 
And this is that song.

Who am I?

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

I took this one down a little while ago to fix up the structure, and I think its internal balance is better now. Ultimately I think it will sit best as Part II of a three part larger track. Just need to write the other parts now!

Crazy Sad

The graphic is panel 7 of a major work called The American Dream, 1969, by Australian artist Brett Whitely. Whitely completed the work while in New York in the late 1960s. He said, commenting on the zeitgeist of the time 'I thought...that there would be a catastrophe beyond anything I could imagine...'.

The American Dream

I saw this amazing short video (90 seconds, and worth it) called A Great Homage to Nature of changing appearances and mimicry of nature. This piece was going to be called The More Things Change, but the video inspired a change (!) of title. The graphic is a still shot from the video, which I gratefully acknowledge. Look closely.
The vid can be found on Youtube - search with that title above. (The link I had no longer functions.)

Changing into You

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

Tempest

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

Sometimes it's good to climb the hill and look at life from beyond the daily grind.

Passion for the Beyond

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. For us guitarists, holding a large stretch (in this case a 5 fret stretch on the third fret) for periods of time can cause problems! (Guitar players nodding their heads right now 😊). Anyhoo, I can’t play my guitar at the moment, so I decided to freshen up a short piece I had on SC from a few years ago. It’s very simple, 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

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)

I like Soundcloud because it's a friendly community for sharing our music. When I like your music, I say how it affected me, maybe something about how you wrote, performed or produced it. I'm blown away by how many amazing artists are out there, so many folks who are recording their wonderful musical ideas, and doing it on a shoestring budget! I have a bit of a musical split personality, mainly writing music in two different styles: pop/rock songs, and jazz-rock fusion/prog instrumentals. Main instrument is guitar; I also play a Fender P-bass on most of my tracks. I am not a keyboard player or singer, but hopefully I can do enough to make my work sound ok.

Steve Matthews

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