Blood and Roses

Not dead - just busy.

Let's see now - miserable bastard songs. This is a great song from The Smithereens. Click on the title to hear my version.

Life gets Better...again

This is more what I had in mind. GPs original is great but it is very jaunty.

This is just guitar (no BIAB at all this time) and vocal.

Life gets better

New idea...

A lot of uptempo songs are really sad bastard singer songwriter fodder. I'm going to recover the misery from some songs. First cab off the rank is Graham Parker's Life Gets Better.

This try is almost all BIAB with just a little guitar riff on a real guitar. I've taken an axe to my voice with doubling and compression. I don't think it works but it's an attempt.

Just Another Nervous Breakdown

This is getting silly now. It seems when approaching sophisticated muscianship I resort to Gumby style music. This another attempt at a song from Breakfast in America that wasn't finished before the deadline for Coverville.

Take the Long Way Home

This is a bit of a joke, too. I was trying to see how noisy I could get BIAB and then added brainless grungy guitar and keyboards. Supertramp minus subtlety and a singing voice. However, my fourteen year old son who hates everything I record on principle, thought it was better than usual because it didn't sound much like me. Bonus points for picking that the different mixes of the backing rack are recorded twice slightly out of sync rather than just tweaked later. I used to do this with two reel to reels in the old days - the horror.

Lord is it Mine

Well that didn't work.

I tried to do this properly. There's no BIAB here just 6 string, 12 string, bass and ukelele. Unfortunately I couldn't stay even close to in tune this time so I gave up. My wife Robyn had a go with a different arrangement for Coverville. The only thing that survived in her version was the little uke riff.

The Logical Song

Ok this is really a terrific song from "Breakfast in America."

My only beef is that the instrumental at the end suggests that the singer has escaped from the restricted world he describes. My version suggests he did not. I wanted it mechanical and stripped back for the most part, but there is a tubular bells alert on this track.

I was trying for Gary Numan synths at one point but wound them back to a much smaller part. I'm trying to talk the song which means I probably do a bit of a Shatner.

Click the title to hear the result.

Casual Conversations

Brian at Coverville (http://coverville.com/) has invited contributions for virtual tribute album to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of "Breakfast in America" by Supertramp.


This is no easy task as the hits are so well known that they are hard to approach and the album tracks are either all over the place or seriously pretentious and in some cases very lame. I don't know what I'll submit but I'll have a go at a few in the hope one is at least presentable.

I'm starting with a song that is hard to like. It is wimpy and whingy and Supertramp's version manages to sound like it was recorded in MIDI before MIDI was invented.

Such pomposity begs for a cuzzoo solo and ukelele backing and I couldn't resist. Click on the title above to hear my version which is so much more fun but much less appropriate than Supertramp's.

Play that Funky Music

Since I've run out of BIAB recordings that I'm happy to post - unless I get very drunk - this is something very strange. I must have recorded this in the 1980s and it is basically using various applications on a Commodore 64 multitacked to a 4 track cassette recorder. It is far too long and very silly but am not exactly sure how it was possible.

Monday Monday

Hmm - an unremarkable cover. If you've just come across this blog listen to the first ones I posted - I think they are better. Otherwise, click on the title to hear this one.


The Mamas and the Papas made their very basic song into something wonderful.

I'm a Believer

A fun song to play. I'm clearing a backlog of songs to encourage myself to do some more recording.



The Monkees version is great but Neil Diamond's original still is the best.

April After All

This is a cheat because I don't use Band in a Box at all on it.

My daughter was cajoled into adding cello with no practice to make it less obvious I couldn't hit the low note!

I couldn't find Ron Sexsmith's original but I did find a really good cover.

Mr Tamborine Man

Click on the title to hear layers of guitars real and BIAB literally cover this Dylan track (via the Byrds).





Just for contrast here's the Byrds cover.

All Messed Up

Click on the title to hear a cover of Peirce Turner's "All Messed Up."


Sorry nothing on U-Tube for this.

Hazy Shade of Winter Again

On the other hand you could remove the hook from the sing and choose an inappropriate Latin Beat to see what happened. Click on the title to hear how it all went wrong.

Hazy Shade of Winter

Click on the title to hear a version of this song.


This is just a MIDI backing this time based on a BIAB file plus the riff and brass added on Cakewalk. I made the backing some time ago and added grubby guitar work and vocals recently.



Of course you could just listen to the gorgeous Simon and Garfunkel original:

A Whiter Shade of Pale

Click on the link to hear this cover.


This song is a Bach ripoff with ludicrously pretentious lyrics but is nonetheless so "of the moment" to be valued.

Now if you were covering this gem you'd do it to a reggae beat with a synthesized Mariachi brassband doing the organ part... and so would I.




If you want the original go here:

I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass

Click on the title for my funky and fun version of this Nick Lowe song.




People used to say that Nick Lowe just nicked things on the wonderful "Jesus of Cool" album. You know, "So It Goes" is Steely Dan and Breaking Glass is David Bowie, blah blah blah.

Nonsense - the bass line alone of this song makes it stand out.

I don't know what the visuals on this clip are all about the song is the original.

Just Walk Away Renee

Click on the title to hear my cover of this daggy great.


The original has strings, timpani, a flute solo, the kitchen sink, etc.

You'll see:



Cool non?

Ruby Tuesday

Click on the title to hear my cover of Ruby Tuesday. I had fun with some toy keyboards that survived from the 80s. I wanted to create seriously dischordant noise - like Polyphonic Spree in a Box.




I only loved this song because my older sister had a Melanie album with it on. I do like the Rolling Stones original, but my heart is with Melanie. Is it just me or is this just same song as As Tear Go By. It's still great.