This is a collection of the what I would say best represents my work from the first four albums.
The 60 minute long album is available from me either as a audio CD-R or as a paid download mp3. The no frills audio CD-R is priced 7GBP including shipping and Paypal fees. The download is a 192kB/s mp3 and is priced at 2GBP. Methods of payment are given on my prices page but Paypal is the most effective way if you live away from the UK.
Track Listing
I have included some 30 second sound snippets of some of the songs. Just 'right hand mouse click' on the blue name and 'save as...' to download the mp3 file. All files are around 400KB.
Y Garreg Wen
I was asked to write a piece of music that reflected the Celtic origins of Cumbria and this is it. Starts moodily with the Oakley Modular and builds up with Rachel's ethereal vocal work. The Welsh language lyrics are loosely based on John Ceinog Hughes' (1832-87) poem of the same name.
Exactly the same chords as The Bell later on in this collection but with a different feel to it completely. The main 'ethnic' drum pattern comes from a preset rhythm from a Solton home keyboard called 'New Age'! My five year old daughter provides the 'balloons' bit.
Sto Helit is a three part piece inspired by the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. Susan's grandfather is 'The Grim Reaper'! The three parts to Sto Helit are 'Grandfather', 'The Dark House' and 'Susan'. All drums Roland MC303. Bassline: Oakley TB3030. Sequence: OB-Sx through Equinoxe phaser. Chords: Roland D-50. Electric piano: TX-7. Singer: Rachel Allgood.
Shimmer Jarresque theme to this one. Solo lead line and bass line: Oakley modular. Choir sound and drums: Korg 03r/w. Chord chops: TX-7 marimba.
Merlin
Very much a musical homage to Jarre's first album 'Oxygene'. This one uses Oakley modular to produce the wonderful phasing noise heard throughout the track. A sound sample collected from somewhere on the net of a real Korg Minipops drum machine was tidied up and then replayed by an Akai S01 sampler. The chords are from a Polysix played through a smallstone phaser pedal, whilst the sounds of the merlin are from the Oakley modular. The brass line is an OB-Sx, while the haunting flute is played with a Roland SH2000.
Halls Fell: The Bell
Mike Oldfield inspired work, but based on my own track 'Hall's Fell' first written in 1987. The task of this track was not to waiver from the four chords used in the original 1987 track. Rachel again provides the odd vocal bit. That's odd as in occasional and not odd as in...
This is the first track on the Drumlin CD. The lead sound is my homemade Poly-4 alongside a voice from a D-110. The plinky high riff is a TX-7. The block chords are from a D-50. The base line is also a D-110 voice. The main arpeggio is one half of the Orbital V1 mono. The drums are the D-110 and a chopped up loop. The flutey solo that comes in at the end is the other half of the Orbital.
The titles to my tracks come mainly straight out my head the moment the first few bars are laid down. The computer needs to have each track saved as a name, and for this one I thought of a nonsense word as usual. Tarshi. If you do a Google search on the word 'Tarshi' you may find it amusing. This track is huge and it was due to all the complexities in recording it that made me realise I needed to move away from the Atari. That I accidentally erased all the audio work on my old sampler for this track is another reason. The vocals are mostly Rachel, but you can hear me during the bit with the tabla...
Angel (XL1 Mix)
I don't often write songs these days. But this one is more songlike than usual. You could even call it a pop song; it has lyrics and a catchy tune. It was recorded on Cakewalk Sonar. And after that experience I went and bought Tracktion. The synth pads are mostly the Korg 03R/W and the bassline and leads are my modular.
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