Always trying to be helpful by offering suggestions made this tune a natural for me. Recorded back in 1983 or so, I had the lyrics laying around with no tune to go with them. While perusing through old reels of guitar noodling some experiments with tape echo presented itself. Used a Roland Space Echo to recreate it in the studio. My good friends Denny and Jay helped out. This came out of a project I was helping Denny on at the time. That project is available under the title "Test Patterns" by allen/carlson at iTunes and Amazon.

The intro was inspired by some listening I did around the time of some mix downs. The particular one I was listening to was recorded at 15 ips - I was listening at 3.75 ips. What fascinated me was the way the harmonics "fired" off as the sound played in reverse - particularly the piano on this tape. I decided I wanted to to do the same thing for the intro of Maybe. Unfortunately the time it took to hear this affect took way too long for a song intro so it was shortened to what you hear here.

Since I could never come up with a good vocal - I don't really like my voice - I decided to do a cross between Jackie Lomax and Boz Scaggs. 

At one point a music video was done due to the MTV bubble that was growing at the time. It never aired anywhere that I am aware of.

Maybe

This was done quickly for a friend who suggested the idea. It dates back to 2003 or so and was done entirely on a Fostex VF16. Yeah, the singing is not entirely on pitch, but it's supposed to be a comedy thing so I decided not to go back and fix it. No loops with everything done manually by myself. If it brings a smile I accomplished my purpose.

This is included as a bonus track on the release "Test Patterns" by allen/carlson at iTunes and Amazon

Feliz Navidad Parody

A tune by Judy Brown that I recorded with a couple of friends back in '84. We liked the song demo we'd heard and wanted to take it to another place. Denny did bass, guitar - lead and rhythm, and lead vocals. Jay played drums and did background vocals. I did 12-string and background vocals. Judy liked the Beatle influenced end thing we did. The rest of the music that was recorded around the same time is available at iTunes and Amazon under the title "Test Patterns" by allen/carlson.

A Love Like Mine

The sounds inspired this one. It was done in the box first with Garageband and then bounced over into Pro Tools. Percussion is a couple of loops that went well with what I had came up with. Everything else was played in real time. To me this is movie music as I get visuals fairly easy listening to it. The "strings" were not meant to sound real necessarily. Was going for the mood of the synth sounds in "Waiting for a Girl Like You" sort of - swirly and somewhat loose in arrangement. Shadowfax was another influence, specifically their tune "Kindred Spirits".

Sway (News)

Since I've noticed several other folks have put up covers I figured I'd take the chance on posting this one. This came out of the same project other's here did around 1983 or 4 with my friend Denny. Denny and I were big Beatles fans - he actually took me with him in 66 to see the Fabs in Chicago - and he wanted to do this song to see what we could come up with. 

I learned the 12 string part that George did and John's vocal harmony. Originally the OB-Xa bass line played by Denny was going to be replaced with Denny's actual bass part which was to be similar to Paul's original. I talked him out of that as I quite liked the synth part he had come up with. The idea to tag on "every little thing she does is magic" was Denny's idea. It was not executed as he envisioned. (I think he wanted it to go into more of a Police flavored treatment and then end.) Our good friend Jay played drums. The whole mess was recorded at A&R in Ames, IA. We were just learning our way around the studio and, by this time, starting to hit our stride. Unfortunately the owner passed away about then and the studio was sold and closed. The balance of the sessions that this came out of is available at iTunes and Amazon under the title "Test Patterns" by allen/carlson.

This copy has a bit of print through from being stored poorly on reel tape. Would love to get the master 2-inch to re-master it, but not sure if Denny still has it. Hope you like it for what it's worth. 

Every Little Thing (cover)

Been involved in music since the 60s. In and out of different bands from 66 through 91 or so. Always been enamored with recording - tape first then digital - so it was natural to want to put music down in that manner.

I would put myself under the category of "hobbyist" as I don't spend a lot of serious time doing music. Life has a way of intruding as some of you can attest. Listen to a wide range of things, but I'm drawn to a well done pop or rock tune. Maybe it was all that time watching American Bandstand when I was a little kid. It came on just before the Mickey Mouse club in my area. Really enjoyed watching the kids dance and listening to the music. I thank Kirk Kaufman at Junior's for giving me my first exposure to studio recording back in the late 70s. A talented and nice guy - thanks Kirk!

I also appreciate humor in music whether it's "She's Going Bald" by the Beach Boys, "The Prince's Panties" by Mason Williams or "Blow Up Your TV" by John Prine. 

Most of the stuff I do is for myself. Of course, at one point like many my age caught in the garage band explosion of the 60s, I wanted to be the Beatles. Now I'm more of the mind - as mirrored in the Raspberries tune "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" - to just enjoy hearing one of my tunes on the radio. I've read about those moments as others experienced them - and was depicted well in the movie "That Thing You Do" - and am sure it would be a "stop and then go crazy" thing for me if it would happen.

Some of the songs here appear on the album "Test Patterns" by allen/carlson which is available at iTunes and Amazon along with Spotify.

Thanks for listening to my stuff (and reading this jumble).

THX1136