Just a quick update on how the songs for my third album are progressing.
I've decided to forge ahead with songwriting and recording and abandon the YouTube video making (for now!) as I think this should be my priority. I now have six completed tracks and one very nearly finished. I am aiming for ten tracks again and to have it finished in the New Year. I shall be doing a series of local concerts (hopefully also a broadcast one) to launch the album. Some of the finished tracks are available on my website but not all (and not the very latest ones). They are:
"Wake Up!" is a big band song and a paraphrase of the Martin Niemoller poem "First they came for the trade unionists"
"Accident of Birth" started out as a Ray-Davies-style social commentary (like "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" and "Well Respected Man") but morphed into a jangle-pop song (complete with Byrds-style electric 12-string).
"Absent Friends" is a Paul McCartney/Beatles style track written for a good friend who died back in 2004.
"Magic Button" is an a-capella track - just voices and finger clicks. Light-hearted but with a semi-serious message at the end.
"Garden (in Memoriam)" is a Cook/Parks collaboration and is dedicated to my granddaughter who died tragically young. It is a setting of Martin's beautiful words arranged for voice, guitar and chamber orchestra.
"Busker, Busker" is a song with an early 60s girl-group vibe (Shirelles, Crystals, Ronettes etc) and political refugees as its theme.
"Miss Jemima Can Dance" is the track I am currently working on - just the vocals to add now. It's similar to the theme of "Eleanor Rigby" as it tells the story of an elderly lady in a care home and her memories from when she was a girl.
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