Illusion

Electro Nu Jazz at a Chill 85 bpm

The last of three songs, including Equinox and yet to release, Harvest Moon, written in past few weeks.

Ripples was inspired by gratitude — never underestimate the short- and long-term impact of kindness. Sometimes we never see the impact, the why something mattered and to whom. I still remember past kindnesses from people that to this day motivate or comfort me. They couldn’t have had the slightest idea — unless they had a crystal ball — to foresee how important their acts of kindness would matter to me later in life. So 🙏

Lyrically, a question is not asked, but is implied in the song:

Who dat knockin’ at my door?
Do you bring a blessin’ or a chore?

(Hat tip to New Orleans and survivors of Hurricane Katrina, August 29, 2005)

Composed digitally MIDI to DAW via VST instruments, all original, no AI, made by a human

………………………..
85 bpm

Variations of Bb minor & F

DAW: Apple Logic Pro X
MIDI: Akai Professional Keyboard 

VST E-INSTRUMENTS
Concert Grand 
Ambient Lead
Clarinet Solo 
Synth Upright Bass 
Deep Round Bass 
Dynamic String Ensemble 
E-PERCUSSION 
2-Step Remix Kit 
Latin Kit 

VOCAL audio recorded live microphone to computer on September 14, 2025. Water droplets recorded live using an iPhone on September 17, 2025.

………………………..

COVER ART is original CGI by SUNNYBECK using composites derived from AI-generated images rendered as original CGI, then retouched and designed in Photoshop.

Released on SoundCloud 
Friday, September 19, 2025, 3:33 AM ET
2025 All rights reserved

Ripples

New song written by David Cooper and Glen Granthem

Music and all instruments - Glen Granthem

Lyrics and all vocals - David Cooper

Lyrics:

Catch a whisper on the wind
Catch a bird up on the wing
Catch your breath, breathe it slow
Concentrate and don’t let go

Chorus

What do we stand for?
Give me a clue
What is it all about? 
What are we gonna do

Across the sea in a land so far
Sits a girl in a rundown bar
What she wants she doesn’t know
Time passes oh so slow

Chorus

Solo

Break

Far, far, far away – The flame keeps burning etc

Far, Far Away (Cooper/Granthem Collaboration)

Was discussing The Replacements with a friend and had the urge to write a tune in that vein, and, gosh, there was inspiration right there in the daily news.  This was a quick & dirty one day write &  record, but then quick & dirty seems to be the order of the day.

hey mr tangerine man you're not fooling me
I'm not stupid and we all know what you're trying to do
hey mr tangerine man you're not fooling me
and you know we won't be mourning when they're burying you

you rake the air incessantly with your heinous flapping lips
while your golf shirt hides your tits
and your tiny grey hands twitch
all the citizens feel gypped
we're all waiting for a massive stroke to do you in
i'm ready to move anywhere I want to emigrate
but come back for the parade past the golf course where you're laid
i'll fight the urge to urinate

Mr Tangerine Man

Cast of Characters:

The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl -- vocals, lyrics, Ovation acoustic guitar, and composition
J.J. Terrell– @j-j-terrell – organ and upright piano, and JJ's angels (voice synth)
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass and Collings mandolin
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark –- VST fiddle
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – Fender Stratocaster electric guitar
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken -- drums
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen — Earle Scruggs custom banjo, production, mix, and mastering

This is the latest in our series of songs Carl has written about us. Being as both Tez, a lifelong, and to a lesser degree, Carl are Manchester United fans, Carl siezed on the opportunity to celebrate their shared fandom. Although the lyrics are a little inscrutable to us Americans, we love that football (soccer) fans from across the pond will know exactly what he's talking about. 
  Carl wrote this song on his acoustic guitar, and upon sharing it with us, we weren't sure as to the direction we wanted to take it. JJ threw down first, adding his good-time-sounding upright piano and strikingly beautiful organ to the mix first. He also added the subtle human voice choral synth you hear throughout. Enchanted with Carl's composition, Josh next added his bass and mandolin both in the same recording session, without even closing his DAW. Mark was in right after, adding his friendly fiddle solo as well as fiddle fills throughout. Being as the song is about him, Tez came along shortly after and added the tuneful intro and outro on his guitar. Then, as it was just about to sit for a while, Ken added his very tasteful, perfect drums to the mix, thus completing the rhythm section. 
  Before we put a bow on it, though, Stephen made it back from his week in the Colorado wilderness in time to add his magical banjo to the mix. Speaking of mixes, now it was time for one, and we turned it over to him, our in house pro, to do the honors.
  We all really enjoyed working on this one. It is an example of Eclectic Collective taking one of Carls songs and having our way with it. Always a team effort getting it over the line, but we always manage to do it. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark:

Division Two Champs, '75
Small consolation for '74 cries
Fan wow land psyched
True Red Devil in this life

We fell to Leeds
Last Division 1
We had the Irish
Man, I followed them
McGrath didn't train
A different breed
Golden era
Boozed up greats as seed

Then, we mostly won
But still, these moments to memories shone
Keane's end at Juventus
His team's power won
Beast perseverance
2-3 semi so they march on

Teddy & Ole
Broken Bayern lines
Videos with no YouTube
In sport mad mind

Great from great, Cantona
Flying curve ball martial artist
Old Leeds leech
A la French finest

Man Utd before Glazier fud
Old Trafford dreams
Red Devil blood
A fan forever no matter loss
Good grinding Fergie
Our hairdryer boss

True Red Devil
Hughesy's volleys
Arsenal disheveled
Good Giggsy speed
End to end
Back of the net
Great teen we get
Front of our dreams

True Red Devil
Scars from Aguero
And Barce's better
New cycles please
We've been Malcolmed
Bought like shop
These greedy Glaziers fucking up
Our theatre of dreams

If only for Fergie time
We'd be doing just fine

True Red Devil (Eclectic Collective)

Find Seagull's brilliant music here: @farout-music-studio

Find David's sublime guitar work here: @david-dunhamuser589535203
_______________________________________________________________________________

You know, don't you?  Oh, yes you do.  
You know you're being monitored, observed, assessed by something that knows you intimately.  
Knows you better than you’d like to think.  
Your secondary semi-subconscious once-removed.  
That's why you talk to yourself - or pretend to.  
Admit it - you're not really you, at all, are you?  
In fact, you're not real, are you?  You are watching “you”.  
You are nothing but your alter ego's doppelganger temporarily encased in a piece of warm, wet meat.  
A transient instantiation of a mirrored reflection of some lump of sentience from precisely one, of an infinite number of parallel universes.  

It’s called “conscience”.  

Handle with care.  

You were gifted it for a reason.
_________________________________________________________________________________

"…..Neatly packaged, all my doubts, the rationales and bellyaches,
Wracked without, passion in thrall to humanity's handicap diamond stakes…."
_________________________________________________________________________________

Ghost of a Sense

Yes, I know you.
I can feel your presence.
I can touch you, smell you.
I see you not by sight of eye
And yet I ken that you are I
That vespered wraith that writhes within
To test my faith, try my sin
Push the bounds to cause offence
A moral, soul thing, ghost of a sense recalls myself, so well defined
Entrenched, walls behind, built so sound of dust that crowned the pity, falling soft amiss, 
Deep inside the tears I cry as here I find my self-abyss.

Whispers bringing shadows, filled of secrets therein held,
Memories, morose, piece me still, to wear in time, my wasted face.
And now reside, cast aside, to forge and ever meld,
Of haunting, ringing echoes, that will alone their chime erased.

Ah! But you won't twist me, nor bind me fast, to the sandy doctrines of the misty past, 
With its beards and staffs and crinkled testaments.
My future's sprinkled here present with your crass irrelevance and matters not that sat right there, 
The blackest chasm in my simpling world so spare, 
Where space and time have overspilled the leaking psyche of a crippled mind,
That barely copes, unfulfilled, a crooked, limpid moral health of broken shrines
That hopes to find ....
   .......some worthwhile inner self.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash

Ghost of a Sense ... with Seagull and David Dunham

Original Lyrics by Tony Harris that inspired Mike.
Vocals, instrumentation and mix by Mike Fox.

HE GREW UP BACK IN THE DAY
WITH TWO GUITARS IN THE HOUSE
ONE WAS SPECIAL TO HIS MOM
NOBODY KNEW HOW TO PLAY

IT BELONGED TO HIS UNCLE
THEY CALLED THE GUITAR MAN
THAT WAS KILLED IN THE BIG WAR
NEVER GOT TO PLAY IN A BAND

(CHORUS)
HE WROTE THIS SONG
ABOUT THE GUITAR MAN
HE NEVER GOT TO MEET HIM
OR WRITE A SONG WITH HIM
PRAY HE'S UP IN HEAVEN
PLAYING IN A BAND

HE CARRIED HIS GUITAR 
EVERYWHERE HE WENT
ALWAYS HAPPY TO PLAY
HIS PLAYING WAS HEAVEN SENT

(GUITAR SOLO)

THEY ALWAYS SAID HIS UNCLE A. J.
WOULD BE A STAR SOMEDAY
BUT LIKE SO MANY OTHERS
HE HAD A BIGER PRICE TO PAY

HIS MAMA GAVE THE GUITAR AWAY
CAUSE NOBODY KNEW HOW TO PLAY
IT WAS JUST COLLECTING DUST
WISHES HE HAD THAT FLAT TOP TODAY

(REPEAT CHORUS)

2025 (C) Lyric by Tony Harris

Playing in a Band - Collaboration by Tony Harris and Mike Fox

Inspired by Sergei Rachmaninoff's Sonata No.2 in B Flat Minor Op.36
Overwhelmed by the pain and suffering of mortal men, women and children, she pleads for divine intervention.

Her Prayer

Glad to be part of the team !
🐞 T. Schmitt - Guitar
🐞 Lofi Menta - Bass ... @user-672449547
🐞 joerxworx - Saxophon & EWI
🐞 Ratzzz - Keys im Fuchsanzug ... @cosmic-ratzzz

Ghost of a Sense ... with Seagull and David Dunham

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