Making The Night

I was playing around with a little melody. It gave Julie an idea. That evening she wrote a very moving poem. The poem gave me ideas for more melodies.

The Beech Tree

Chris: I was due to fly out of the country at 4:00 am so had decided to stay up for the night, working in the studio. At about 1:00 am I had a message from Julie, containing a poem that she'd written as she awoke. As I read the poem, the melody presented itself so I quickly recorded it. The verses presented here are virtually unchanged from the early morning recording session.

Something Rich and Strange

Feeble Fading Grey

Words by Julie West & Chris Marsh (based on the poem, 'Hypothermia' by Julie West). Music by Chris Marsh.

A Single Red Sock

11/09/17: complete remix. Some small lyrical changes. New f/x.

30/8/17: Remixed vocals. Vocals still rough. They need to be re-recorded. I'll do this as soon as the lyrics reach their final; form.

History:

As of now (18/2/17) this is my first completely new piece in a few years. I wonder if the move to our new house has kick-started the creative process?

Lyrically, this started from a random memory. In the late 70's I went through a period where it seemed as if everyone I met was called Robert. I already had a few friends called Robert so, for a time, I started calling everyone 'Robert'. Even Robert. Though I won't tell you which one.

As always, comments most welcome.

Various Roberts - Long (Big Bob) Version

A new one. Not mixed and lyrics still need a lot of tweaking but I thought i'd let it run free while I work on other stuff.

You see, there are times when I'm in a writing mood and times when I'm in a mixing/recording mood. Sadly, I can't remember the last time I was in a mixing mood :-(

Hand-Me-Downs

A taster from a much bigger piece (15/04/18).

Brightening (from Brown Study)

This the first airing of one of the other pieces using the voice of the rather splendid Boyd Clack. Unfortunately, the recording of Boyd is a tad distorted in parts (a few crackles) but we plan to re-do all of these in the near future

Winter Girl - 1st Rough - With Boyd Clack

First new song since I was ill (for over a year). This is an early version uploaded for a friend.

The Friends Of Dangerous Men (Finished-For-Now Mix)

Started work on this in April 2020. Was intended to be about two minutes in length. Main theme and bass were taken from a multi-track, pre-MIDI recording that I did in about 1976.

19/10/2020: Updated mix.

Tommy Torrence And Later Laurence

Based on a chant by Hildegard von Bingen. Loosely.

Brown Study - Mix 1

An early version of this piece was the second composition I attempted when I bought my first MIDI Synth and sequencer. It was used as the backing to a monlogue which was, in effect, a 15 minute sc-fi mother-in-law joke (called 'On-Ice'). I arranged a simplified version for a short-lived band (I think the band was short-lived because of this piece). A recording of the simplified version was sent to a record company as a demo. A reply quickly came back, proclaiming the piece to be 'far too pompous'. So, for a few years (in the late 80s & 90s), it went under the title of 'Pompous' - complete with a new story (about a proto-credit card fraudster* who called himself 'Pompous').

I recently found just a single page of the mother-in-law joke and was surprised by the mood of the thing. And the new title (and arrangement) were born.

All The Rage (From Sorrow Growing)

What Larks! features the music of Chris Marsh and the words of Julie West. And the music of Julie West and the words of Chris Marsh. And the humour of both. And the menace of thinking.

What Larks!

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks