revisiting an old favourite with new & improved sound quality, mixing and arrangement. This is basically a repeating chorus, which is pretty catchy, but I’d love to eventually compose the rest of this tune, and have it played by jazz musicians with live instruments one day. This is probably still one of my top 3 favourite tracks, but there’s a couple other versions I’ve posted on here - one with a saxophone playing lead melody: 
https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/jazzy-ditty-new-med-quartet?in=user-432503709/sets/bestest-ones

and a slower extended version:
https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/jazzy-ditty-belle-curves-blues?in=user-432503709/sets/bestest-ones

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Jazzy Ditty (trio - piano)

originally recorded as a solo piano boogie, now with a whack of instruments added to sound like a country rock & blues band. With different instruments taking turns at solos, this one’s a pretty fun romp. 

instruments include piano, bass, rhythm guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, slide dobro, organ, drums (all instruments are electronic samples, except me playing piano live, and some bits on drums, organ, and harmonica)

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Mark's Album (post-2020)

Backroads Boogie & Blues

one of the very few tunes I've arranged almost entirely with sampled sounds & loops, this one was created entirely in Garageband without my trusty keyboard. Definitely going to try more of this...

instruments include upright bass, dobro (slide steel guitar), electric piano, vibraphones, drums, and me playing various percussion

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Dark Roast (electro-acoustic blend)

After I got myself some pretty realistic sounding VST horn sounds, the first thing I did was go back to the original solo piano version of this tune ("Finished Diminishing [echo version]) and laid down the muted trumpet melody, which I love.  Then I figured while I was at it, I'd also add an upright bass to round out a slow jazz combo. Threw in some vinyl static for an old skool feel. This is probably one of my top 3 fave original things I've written/recorded. And of course, I'd love to hear it played live by real Jazz musicians one day.

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)

Photo taken from Trane Studio Jazz Club, Toronto
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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Finished Diminishing (jazz trio, ft muted trumpet)   [[my BEST track]]

Arguably my most popular track, at least it was for 20 years until I started writing new stuff in 2022. The violin solo near the beginning is one of my favourite bits I've recorded, but the "guitar" solo (played on keys) needs work... I don't know anything about playing real guitar! This is a pretty old recording which I'd love to hear some day with better sound quality.
 
instruments include drums, bass, piano, electric piano, violin, electric guitar, xylophone, organ (all played on keyboard)

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Multi2dinal

The title and middle chorus (the only lyrics in the song) came from the fact that after recording, i felt it needed another section, like a bridge, but got too lazy to find something to fit. Thus the line “I can’t find the bridge to New Funk City”. 

Still can’t find it.   ;O)

This can probably be considered the 3rd in a trilogy of tracks created almost entirely with short loops and sound samples in Garageband ('Dark Roast', and 'Sneaky Reggae' are the other 2).
***Warning: your toezies might get sore from all the tapping they’ll be doing.


lyrics / chorus:
"Everybody tells me I got to go
but I can't find the bridge to New Funk City"


All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

New Funk City (where’s da bridge at?)

My grandma's favourite song. that's papa on guitar, me taking a turn at vocal. I also do a pretty lame job trying to strum accompaniment while dad plays the middle solo. 
This song’s got a lot of meaning in our family. About as close to a perfect country song as it gets for me. 

(written in 1946 by Fred Rose. covered by the likes of Hank, Roy, Charlie, Elvis, and of course, Willie.)

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)
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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Voice Memos, country

blue eyes crying in the rain (cover, with Dad)

The title of this track is a reference to the wartime term "no quarter", which also means "take no prisoners". The 'blood' red flag is often used as a symbol of this horrible practice and, in fact, it is considered a war crime to refuse to spare the life of anybody - i.e. to refuse quarter. The term "No Quarter" prompted me to research the meaning, which is where the concept for the song title came from.

In the original 1999 version of this tune, the only instrument was the echo-y electric piano sound, which was influenced heavily by the song "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin. This is another tune I'd recommend listening to with headphones because of the heavy panning movement throughout. 

(special thanks to Chris [cgmaness] for the thoughtful perspective that reminded me of this incredible video, which speaks for itself. more like screams!  www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x7FGbW3IVc) 

Make music not war.

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Red Flag

I seem to be on this experimental kick these days where I'm composing stuff by layering and building instruments toward some epic cinematic finish. I was looking for an interesting chord change for another (upcoming) piece, and stumbled upon this interesting piano line. The whole thing is just the piano line repeating, overlayed with horns, strings, percussion and synth pad. This one was uncharacteristically really short to complete... basically about a day from initial idea to recording. Then another day or so of tweaking here & there, which will probably continue as usual. Enjoy!

image created with DALL·E AI using the song title as prompt. 

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)
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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Nowhere is Here, Never is Now

I've had this idea for a while to insert a Reggae/Dub section into a Jazz or Blues tune, and finally got around to it. Luckily, this is both - a 24 bar Blues structure in a Jazz style, with 3 horns. As a bonus, I managed to work in a little tribute to Pink Floyd. See if you can spot the several references to the song 'Money' in the Dub section starting @ 2:46, and the subtle nod in the track art. 

Also, one of my fave sounds in music is hearing a trombone player 'go off' in an unhinged solo, bonus points if it's muted with a plunger  ;). I tried at least a very small attempt at that... it comes in right after the 'Dub' section while the sax & trumpet swap melodies from the first half. Maybe it works maybe it doesn't, but I laugh whenever I hear it. All instruments are played by me on keyboard.

***Also, check out the really cool take that fellow Canadian 'Big Al From The Grove' has on this track, where he graced it with his brilliant guitar playing: 
https://soundcloud.com/user-543408605/1-for-the-money-3-for-the-blues

thanks for listening!  

(just realized, this is actually track #100 in my SC catalogue, since starting in 2013. yay!)

-sound sample & some music themes from 'Money' by Pink Floyd (written by Roger Waters)
-image created using Dall-E

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)

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- Here's a funny photo I took & Photoshopped which was inspired by this Pink Floyd song: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/53706894609/in/dateposted/

- my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

1 For The Money, 3 For The Blues (& Dub tribute to Pink Floyd)

This collaboration came about when I was commenting on a track from @cosmic-ratzzz, saying how I was very inspired and influenced by his incredible music and style - both solo, and the over 100 (!) songs he & @Joerxworx have worked on together. Then suddenly, Ratzzz offered to send me a track he created - a complete backing arrangement (bass, drums, clav, synth, keys, some sax, effects, etc.) - and suggested I add something to it. I was apprehensive cause his stuff is top notch quality, but I took a stab at it, and this is what came out. My part is the 2 lead horns - sax & muted trumpet (both played on keyboard), and Ratzzz did everything else. 

The title comes from the fact that Ratzzz made it so easy to work with because of his incredible talent and a fully baked track to solo over. I tried to leave some space and work around what he was doing and I think it turned out quite nice for a first try.
The image is a bit of a mashup I did of both our SC avatars.

Thanks Ratzzz for your generosity and amazing music; hope you all like this!

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Eazy Breezy (with Ratzzz & mistermark)

On a personal note, working with this group of fine fellows is joy and a continuing learning experience for me. The original basic piano melody here has gone through several 're-births', appearing in a number of my other songs. But this version with the EC gang is definitely the most... recent   ;)
Kidding. 
It's actually like a totally different piece of music, where these guys flexed their masterful musical muscles to take it to a place I would never have imagined on my own! Fantastic job guys, really. 

These are a couple other versions based on the main piano theme:
   - Harp of My Dreams - reprise (2022): https://on.soundcloud.com/Kb17j
   - Elementus: https://on.soundcloud.com/NxFm8

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Cast of Characters:
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark—electric piano, composition
Mysterious Decibel--@themysteriousdecibel --MD—lyrics and primary vocals
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– electric guitar
J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –organ, synth
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums and percussion, arrangement, production, mix
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four string fretless bass guitar, lap steel 
This was brought to us by Mark, who had written it a while back, but wanted to dust it off and give the Eclectic Collective a shot at it. He recorded it with a keen eye toward collaboration with an electric piano synth with heavy stereo tremolo. We just recently found Mark, and he has proven to be a very creative, passionate, and easy to work with collaborator—all the good things. 
  Mark set it loose to Josh first, who of course got Ken in on the act before anything else could transpire. After Ken added his wildly creative, very skillful drum beat, Josh was able to come up with a suitable bass line. He also came up with the lap slide part you hear with the heavy tremolo. Then they turned it over to Stephen, who added a very psychedelic, electrifying solo at the end. Also, JJ set upon it with a very hooky organ. 
  Last, but certainly not least, MD came up with the lyrics, which are a metaphor for trying to break into the business of music, and delivered his fiery vocals, too. Then, we all realized that the song wasn't long enough for our ambitions, so Ken came up with an idea for the arrangement, and lengthened the song to suit our needs. He also very ably mixed and produced this one for us. We had a lot of fun working on Mark's tune. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it. 

Lyrics (by The Mysterious Decibel):
 
Sometimes when we shout they can't hear us under the flow
Of the rapids

I'm screaming from the other side of the river
A shot to try
can you hear me?
I'm jumping in and swimming straight to you

All I can say is I tried
I tried and I met my own waterfall
A short way down
Did I try hard enough?
Cuz I hit the rocks below just hard enough
To hibernate me without a care
It's all just business and never fair

Home's Album

Away With The Rapids (with The Eclectic Collective)

One of my fave comedy scenes in a movie is the "this poem sucks" beat poem in 'So I Married an Axe Murderer'. Written & performed by fellow Cannuck Mike Myers, the visual performance is as much of the fun as the lyrics. Here's my take (apologies for the vocal quality, which was recorded at different times & locations with just my phone mic). All instruments played by me on keyboard; I kind of like the realism of the snare drum brushes in particular. still needs practice tho. 
Hope you find this song "love...ed"  ;)

here's the original video from the movie: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XgmTYm-6x4

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Harriet ('this poem sucks') - cover

Cast of Characters:
J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –piano, synth, and composition
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark—synth effects, synth strings and flute, lyrics, and vocals
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– electric and acoustic guitars, production, and mix
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums and percussion
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four-string Fender P bass
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This is a song that JJ created late one Saturday night on the piano, drums, bass, and guitar. He then presented it to the rest of the Eclectic Collective so we could do our thing with it. Josh replaced JJ's rough bass with his interpretation of the line as soon as Ken replaced the drums with his interpretation of the beat. Interestingly, Ravel's Bolero had a lot to do with the inspiration for the second part of the song. After the rhythm section was done, we turned it over to Stephen, who came up with some really subtle, yet much needed guitar lines. 

 We then turned it over to our relatively new collaborator, Mark, who came up with the lyrics and vocals. This is a lyrical and vocal songwriting debut for Mark, who was inspired by his very first listen to JJ's rough draft. Thus, this song is extra special for him.  

Mark's lyrics are about our Earthly relatives in the far distant future. At that point life on Earth will have just about reached its limits, and so mankind embarks on a journey through space to find another place to call home.

We all hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we did creating it.
--------------------
LYRICS:
Part 1:
All you know, all you love is here today
Feel the sun, see the flowers embrace her rays
And you know, all we are must fade away
And now its time to go… away…

Part 2:
Here we are, flying high, flying high above the moons of Mars
And beyond another sunrise greets a world once again,
a million miles from where we are
To embrace the flowers of Jupiter, once again…

On and on we sail away, searching for another day,
the universe an endless sea
And you know that somewhere out there,
a brand new world, for you and me….

--------------------
Credit: Sample at 1:14 is from original Star Trek tv show theme ("Where No Man Has Gone Before") written by Alexander Courage

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)
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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Flowers Of Jupiter (with The Eclectic Collective)

First, to answer the question I know everyone wants to know about this one - "Is that your real hair?!?" 
No. No it's not.   😎 
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I lived in Japan for a year between 2002-2003 doing the teaching English thing, and made some good friends at one of the schools I worked at. We sometimes went out for Karaoke (of course!) and on one such night around Christmas I took a turn to sing one of my faves - Blue Christmas, the Elvis version. 

This is a live recording of me that night. The exuberant reaction from the group is partly due to the fact that I was/am normally a pretty quiet & reserved fellow, especially in crowds, and they were both shocked and seemingly quite impressed by my getting up to sing Elvis, and by how much I apparently sounded like him. 

I could translate some of what they're saying here, but you'll get the idea. For example though, the word "Sugoi" means "Cool!". In another spot, someone walks into the room mid-song, and another person says "hey hey, this is cool, it's Elvis!... watch this..."
See what you think.  ;)

Happy holidays everybuddy!

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve.   :)
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- 
here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/
my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Blue Christmas (Karaoke in Japan)

I have some friends in Toronto who are serious students of West African Malinke drumming. This is an excerpt of a performance their band - Bolokelen - did in Kensington Market several years ago. I got to be a guest drummer on the Dun Dun (more specifically the Sangban - the colourful drum seen on the right side of this photo, played with a stick). Not my usual drum of choice (that would be Djembe or Congas) and it showed at times!

This photo is from the popular Afrofest show in Toronto, and the dancer is Tapa Diarra, a Malian singer now living in my home town Montreal. The fellow in the orange poncho is my best friend Frank, seen playing Dun Dun here.  :)

Just wanted to put up a few examples of my Latin & African drumming from back in the day since I am a drummer/percussionist first, but I don't have much here on Soundcloud.  apologies for the poor sound quality.

here's s few photos of my ever-growing drum collection:
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=28551615%40N00&sort=date-taken-desc&text=percussion&view_all=1

Live in Kensington

Bolokelen (live West African drumming performance)

Yoshi & Chie are friends of mine from Osaka, Japan, where I lived for a year back in 2002-03. They now live here in Toronro, where I got to know them while busking together on the street, and jamming at my house with a few other friends. Here's a medley of music from that day:
https://on.soundcloud.com/UtPSC

Yoshi is an incredibly talented and super creative sitar player, sometimes playing with a violin bow, or with trippy electronic effects. He participated in a performance of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band full album re-enactment here in Toronto several years ago. Together with wife Chie, who plays didgeridoo, sings, and plays various percussion and electronic effects, they form the group Kaminari. Kaminari is a very popular act performing at various music festivals around Toronto, with shows now including dancing performances by their daughter.

This is a song from their early album Triangle, where I was honoured to be asked to play the drum (djembe) part - the only other artist on the album. 

Here's a video of a show they did a while ago to give you a sense of their stuff. I just like to plug them cause they're a super nice couple and a joy to play with. 
https://youtu.be/xAsKFPaRp24?si=thr44agGgN1ZXWND

thanks for listening!

(Written by Yoshito & Chie Yamano)

Triangle

Running Carpet (Kaminari with mistermark)

Here it is! A highlight reel of Eclectic Collective's greatest moments in the year 2023. This medley includes short interviews with group members, interspersed with their music. Special thanks to Jeff (StonerJazz) for hosting the Q&A, and to J.J. for assembling the medley. 

The Eclectic Collective (EC) is a very loose band of musicians who collaborate over the internet and communicate via email only. I'm honoured to have worked with the EC on a few songs, and look forward to playing with them again soon! Hope you enjoy listening!

CAST OF CHARACTERS (including interview start times):
Hosted by: StonerJazz on.soundcloud.com/6qwFQ
(1:32)    J.J. Terrell - keys, synth, organ on.soundcloud.com/ivM1E
(4:30)   Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary) - bass, lap slide guitar @josh-clary-1
(7:03)    K2 and the Three - drums, percussion @k2andthe3
(9:02)    Llanpsych - guitar, effects on.soundcloud.com/xehCe
(11:06)  TexMex Shaman - guitar, effects @texmex-shaman
(18:20)  MisterMark - piano, synth strings, vocals, effects on.soundcloud.com/qMWgp

Not interviewed in this piece, but a big thank you from all of us goes to:
Artur of Surfers Like Us @user-411502040
Mysterious Decibel @themysteriousDecibel
Steve of Steve’s Planet @Steve-Vervaet
Chris Maness @user-419254289-15129531

No animals were harmed in the making of this medley. ;)

(logo design my MisterMark)

Eclectic Collective Rockumentary - 'Bits of Hits'

Cast of Characters:
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark-- VST sax solo, harmonica solo, organ, tremolo guitar (synth), composition, arrangement, mix
Mysterious Decibel--@themysteriousdecibel --MD—lyrics & vocals
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– second electric guitar solo, and mastering
J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –piano and electric piano solo
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums and percussion
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four string fretless bass, first electric guitar solo, rhythm guitar comping 

This song originated with a slower more Jazz oriented track Mark had previously written ('1 For The Money, 3 For The Blues' https://on.soundcloud.com/BtSS4). However, he wanted a more 'suped up' version with solos turns, so he turned to The Eclectic Collective (EC) to fill in the pieces by replacing some of his solos with their own. Mark had some lyrics in mind too, however, once he heard The Mysterious Decibel's excellent lyrics and vocals, the song totally changed the direction and the vibe, for the stellar. 

   Once we had a basic structure, Ken, as always, came up with the rhythmic foundation for the song, allowing Josh to add his version of Mark's bass line. Then, after MD gave us the vocals, we got down to adding the solos. As more EC members jumped on board with new parts, Mark kept lengthening the song, moving the solos & vocals around until it's final current arrangement. JJ opens the song with his thrilling piano solo, as well as the electric piano solo where he joins Mark on VST Sax right after the first singing verses. Then Josh added a melodic and very clean toned guitar solo with a very clean tone - the first of the two guitar turns. After that, Stephen added his fiery guitar solo with a more overdriven tone. After one more vocal verse from MD, Mark stepped back in to close it out with his nasty harp solo at the end. After Mark handled the mixing on this song, we turned once again to Stephen to take care of the final sound production and mastering, which he fulfilled expertly.  

  We hope you enjoy this jazzier side of the EC as much as we enjoyed making it. MD's lyrics are about a psycho killer artist who hides clues about his murders in his paintings. 
-Original Lyrics by The Mysterious Decibel:

Some might say he's crafty and planned
With a shade of black and a brush in his hand
Some might say the world is his oyster
But no pearl lays inside just a conjuring blur

He'll paint you a murderous scene
With the blending of  sin all between pigments of green
He's a shady fella who hides behind the canvas!
I spy something with my little eye
This art might show just where he died

Will you find it?
The secret
Some freak shit
are you so sure you'll really wanna Keep it ?
The secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?
Ahhh a little secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?
It'll haunt your mind like it does him too
He's a swifty one he'll come for you!
The secret
The secret
The secret
Are you so sure you'll really wanna keep it?

I spy something with my little eye
This art might show just where he died

His art might show
might show
might show
just where he died 

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Side Note:
This past Tuesday, we released a fun little series of interviews over a 20 minute medley of some of our favorite musical moments. If you want to hear our voices and some of our thoughts about music, check it out! You might really enjoy it, especially if you follow us, and have been for a while. It's a celebration of all of our work over the past almost year together in various forms. This song was supposed to be a showcase of all of our skills to accompany that medley, except Tez isn't in on this one. He'll be on the next one, though, for sure! 
Thanks for listening!

----------------------------------------------------------
All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)

'A Brush With Death' Blues (with The Eclectic Collective)

Cleaning the basement today I realized it's been about 10 years since I last played any of my drums, so I dusted them off and recorded a little something. I also found my old flute which hasn't been played in even longer, and added that to the mix. The didgeridoo is played by me too, though I can't really play it properly. This is a pretty rough take slapped together in a couple hours, but had fun messing around. :)
Best experienced loud(ish), with headphones

instruments played:
  -Wind:  flute, didgeridoo 
  -Drums: djembe, congas (2), talking drum
  -Percussion: maracas, cowbells, calabash, small log drum

here's a version with (my) voices added. See which you prefer...
https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/flute-loops-jam-with-voices

Image designed & created with Dall-E

Flute Loops & Jam (*original version*)

same as previous upload, but with (my) voices added. see which you prefer...

See the original for details: https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/flute-loops-jam

Flute Loops & Jam (*voices version*)

Second attempt covering the beautiful song, Watermark, by Enya. The strings are still not as good as they could be, but this version includes those Enya harmony hums in the middle bridge section, so it's a nice improvement over the previous version I had uploaded.

(song written by Enya)

***funny note re: image art - i did a little edit job in Photoshop, morphing my face onto Enya's. Not the most appealing result, but who am I to say?! lol...

here's the real album cover for reference:
https://imagez.tmz.com/image/46/1by1/2018/10/09/46585da9b70459589a6d1dc81550fe07_xl.jpg

and the real me, early 2023:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/53550250098/in/dateposted/

As always, thanks for listening, and don’t hesitate to give any critical feedback to help me improve. 😉

Watermark (cover - see description re: image art)

Like most of the guys playing parts on this song, this one's a pretty special one for me, because of my dad's love for country music and being an amazing guitarist who was a big influence on me to play music. Thanks to Josh for reaching out to invite us along for this one, and to all the guys for putting their hearts into the performances here!

Dedicated to Dad.

Cast of Characters:
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Lead and harmony vocals, synth guitar intro, auxiliary percussion, mix, arrangement, and production
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– guitar, banjo, and mastering
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – mix and production
J.J. Terrell–@j-j-terrell –piano 
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums and vocal harmonies
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –-four string fretless bass, mandolin, and lap steel

This song began when Josh asked the rest of the guys if they'd be willing to put together a couple of songs for his father as a Christmas present. His dad is from West Virginia, and Josh was born there, too. The original version featured his son, Marshall, singing the lead with him, and hearing his grandson sing a song about West Virginia really meant a lot to elder Clary. Of course, everyone was enthusiastically generous in giving their time, effort, and skill to Josh's family for the holiday. This song also has special meaning for JJ and Ken in relation to their fathers, as well. JJ's dad has had a rough year with his health. He also is a musician who inspired and encouraged JJ to play music. His dad also likes this song, so it was fun for him to present it to him, as well. Ken, who's father never really supported his decision to be a rock-and-roller, loves this version of the song we did, and made Ken know how proud of him he is in regard to it, which really meant a lot to Ken, too. Another cool connection Ken has to this song is that whilst attending elementary school, he was in the same school choral cohort with the Maria Carey. He actually sang this song with her when they were kids. Also, we feel like we should acknowledge Artur's dog, even though Artur isn't in on this one, his dog loves country music and responded enthusiastically to this one.
 
 The story of the song itself is a little convoluted. After Josh asked for everyone's help, Ken laid down a rudimentary beat, to which Josh started the tonal part with the bass. Stephen added the guitar and banjo soon after, and Josh added the mandolin shortly after that. JJ inserted his piano around this time, too. We pretty much had it working enough for Josh and his son to sing it for his dad. Tez mixed that version perfectly suited to the occasion. 
  After presenting Josh's dad with the present, it sat for about a month, until we asked Mark if he'd get in on it, too. Mark not only sang it better the John Denver, but also arranged it so there is an instrumental break now. He also added the guitar lick around the beginning. Ken took the opportunity of having Mark's great vocals to sing against to add his cunning harmonies. Mark threw down a harmony line as well during the verse, and one of the 2 high chorus harmonies. Then Mark, being the perfectionist that he is, noticed that the slide part was missing from the second verse. So, Josh added it. Mark also mixed this version, with Stephen doing some mastering at the end. 
  We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed putting this personally meaningful piece together.

All comments welcome, and don't be shy to be critical or suggest ideas to help me improve. :)

(song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, and John Denver)

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here's some pictures I took: www.flickr.com/photos/mark_boucher/

my best photos on 500px (safe site): 500px.com/p/mrmark?view=photos

Take Me Home, Country Roads (cover - with Eclectic Collective)

(apologies for being away from SC for a while, looking forward to catching up with all your latest creations...)

Well, I finally finished the full version cover of one of my all time fave songs, In Your Eyes, by Peter Gabriel (previously uploaded only up to the first verse). This is a straight up cover that's as faithful to the original as I could get. It's definitely the most time and meticulous effort I've spent on a song trying to do it justice. All instruments are played by me on keyboard, as well as the live talking drum and spotty singing, and then some backing synth pads and the vital backing vocals by @remnant60 (https://soundcloud.com/remnant60). Bill was also instrumental in giving feedback and offering suggestions, and providing the mastering duties. I'm very grateful for his help, and since we both agree PG's original song is a masterpiece, we have a bit of a surprise remix version coming up that highlights all the layers of sounds that go into this song. Can't wait to share it with you!

Song written by Peter Gabriel

(image is a mash-up of my face on the album cover, done in Photoshop)


Here’s the ‘cluck’ version by acarboni:

https://on.soundcloud.com/RVCa1PY1HgvriWsE7

In Your Eyes  (cover)

(re-uploaded after being deleted in error)

I'm only doing the singing on this one (trying to anyway). Not the greatest vocals but I just think this is a special song, one of Peter’s best, and wanted to share it, especially with those who haven’t heard it before. It's about growing old and getting your cherished memories in order while you're still able. 
Music downloaded legally from YouTube. 

'Playing for Time' - song by Peter Gabriel, from I/O album, 2023

Art by Annette Messager

vocal cover of Peter Gabriel song

Back in the day we used to get together fairly often with our large family and spend the evening listening to the dads play & sing country songs. This is one of the last such gatherings at my parents' house in Montreal, and features my uncle 'Moss' singing and playing guitar, and my dad accompanying on guitar, and picking the solo spots. 

I recorded the entire evening, and hearing these songs, and the voices of my aunts & uncles and especially my mom brings back a lot of memories. Sometimes I would join in on singing a bit of harmony, or quietly playing along on harmonica, but this time I just sat back and enjoyed the show.

Here's another from that night, where I'm joining in on Harmonia (the first time, as you can tell). 
https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/fourty-shades-of-green?in=user-432503709/sets/singing-stuff&si=fab64ac3dfcb4922944e97e829dcca78&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

hopefully if you're listening to this, it'll sound like you're right there, right at home, welcomed into the gathering...

(song by Hank Williams)

home style country

long gone lonesome blues (live family cover)

Around the time I turned 50, a couple years ago, we got a nice electric piano and I promised myself I would try to learn to play boogie style piano. After a few recordings of much shorter and simpler attempts, this is about as far as I got, after about half a year.

This tune was used as the basis for a longer, heavier version I did more recently, building other instruments around it. Here's that 'expanded' version...

https://soundcloud.com/user-432503709/backroads-boogie?in=user-432503709/sets/album-the-goods

...but I always meant to include the original solo piano version. now I did.  :)

Boogie Piano - 12x4 (original piano solo)

This track uses sound samples from GarageBand which I then arranged into this thumpin’ thingamabobber. Like lots of my stuff, this is just an idea which may be developed into a fuller arrangement later.

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