Carpenters Coverfight?

[jack]

I'll post some reviews today. Not now. Later.

[jack]

Ok, make that now.

BBABM
I love this. I might be biased because you sound just like e money, the better half of brody. I'm not real familiar with the original, but I like that you took it in a completely different direction. And the alien vox filter works.

Karenvan Ray
So did you get inspired by the Sonic Youth cover? I like the arrangement, the vox could be a bit higher in the mix, but I like how you paint a bleak audio picture of the title.

Sportswriters
and, we transition from the depressing, suicidal tendencies of karenvan ray to the clean power pop of Sportswriters. Love the arpeggios, great vocals and supporting harmony chorus vocals. Excellent mix and production. Love the fretty masturbation in the bridge. You shred on guitar. Also, that organ track really supports the whole arrangement well. This track made me feel happy. You did this proud.

Johnny Cashpoint
Johnny and his MIDI horn madness. Talk about a complete 180. Irreverent, cheeky, and fun.

Paco
I'm always a sucker for a good vibrato. The strummy acoustic is a perfect compliment to the intro. As usual, your bass rivals Les Claypool, your vocals are honest, goofy, but still heartfelt. And that nylon string acoustic lead shreds!

Noah
Your singing reminds of early Neil Diamond. Or maybe the guy from Widespread Panic. Nice mix. This whole thing has a "ghost riders in the sky" feel to it. Another carpenters track I'm not really familiar with, but I'm gonna have to go check it out now just to compare.

DJ Ranger Den
Yay, we got at least one female singer! Very nicely executed. The sparse arrangement has just the right amount of flourishes (the ride hits, etc) without overpowering your vocals. Kind of sad.

The Heartbreak of Invention
Great production. Not big on the hard panning in the intro but it's effective. The shimmering flute is spot on. Love the string plucks for the bass, the harp, the triangle, and all the other little touches that I've come to expect with one of your tracks. Your wife is a pretty good singer. Give her my kudos. Another fine example of a different take on a very familiar track.

bgm
Love your production on this. Vocals are front and center (and very good too). And your backing tracks are all perfectly suited for this. Radio ready. This might be my favorite track in this group.

Octothorpe
I love this. A big part of that is understanding the back story behind it. But your singing here is pretty good Spud, heartfelt and honest. It's daft in an Octothorpe kind of way, but it's sad to me in that I know it comes from the heart. We'll miss you Mad Dog.

[Spud]

Thanks Jack. I never thought I would see the words "your singing here is pretty good" in my life, but I thought this was probably my best effort to date from that perspective. Not good, mind you, just my best.

[j$]

Johnny Cashpoint
Johnny and his MIDI horn madness. Talk about a complete 180. Irreverent, cheeky, and fun.

MIDI horns? That's four tracks of heavily effected lead guitar, and a bass line, played in one take each by me, and drums by the mighty Andy Balham! Also this is, honestly, one of my top ten songs of all time, so the irreverence is accidental.

That said I'm glad the fun i had making it gets across. one out of three ain't bad

[j$]

W.A.I.L. I.A.A.C. Thanks so much to Jack for organising this. And just to clarify, I am not being ironic when I say i f*ckin' love Carpenters (no "the", like Buzzcocks.) my reviews might be a bit tough as a result.

BBABM - I am suspicious of people who enter a coverfight while admitting they don’t know any of the original artists’ work, AND also diss the song they chose (there is no compulsion to take part in everything going on), but I will try mah hard-y-est not to be partisan.
I do have to say the original is a favourite of my other half and I am partial to it as well, so while I admire the breaking down of the song into its constituent parts trying to reveal the tune within, I feel you’re taking it too far and in the process losing the charm of the song. This is well performed and recorded and all that, but for it’s just no fun to listen to, whereas the original has fun pouring out of all its big alien visitor orifices. Minor issue - I love the alien voices on the original and I am not partial to your flangy ones. In short, and I feel bad saying it as I’ve enjoyed other stuff I’ve heard of yours – if your aim was to show how dull you found the original, congrats, you succeeded.

Sportswriters – Love that organ / organ patch. Also the BVs in the chorus. Good, smooth mix. I realise I don’t know the original. There is a melody part here which reminds me of TMBG (is it Birdcage?) Nice to know they have good nicking taste. This makes me want to check the original out, which is a compliment. Not sure about the extended break-down – I kind of want that to be the extended psychedelic fade-out, and the song to end there. Yeah, this is just way too long for what’s there, but what’s there is as smooth as, so no complaints. And had it ended where I wanted it to end, I would have missed the spazzy Wakeman keyboards fade-out

Shite-icus – Oh, I feel stoned just listening to this! Lovely jazzy tone on the bass and the keyboard tones are hill-arry-oose. Vocals are buried for the first minute or so, which is a shame. Seems to right itself towards the end. I am not sure if this isn’t a BMP or 10 too slow for me – i think the issue only reals comes to bear on the chorus which should jump alive and sprinkle its moondust all over ones ears, but here it’s not quite perky enough for my tastes. Now THAT’s a MIDI horn ... solid, but for me just lacking that final cupcake of greatness somewhere, I know not where.

Karenvan Ray – I think people have said before the vocals are just a tad too low in the mix, especially with the vocal performance being so good, and in a lower register than I associate with you. Really cool eighties electro feel to this. I kind of wanted the drums to kick in faster, like the Human League, although I guess this wouldn’t be out of place on “Being Boiled”. Don’t know the original. Perhaps between two stools – could have gone for mid-era League in the beat or early Cabaret Voltaire in the keys – but between those two stools sounds pretty good to me. (oh, that last phrase sounds filfthy to me.)

J$ - hey, it’s me! MIDI horns, my a*s! Jack, I TOLD you to stop chewing the leaves from the Green Tree. This song is my favourite Carpenters track, and it’s always tickled my fancy to think it’s about a first drug experience, so I wanted to make an aural equivalent of someone tripping their t*ts off. Didn’t quite come out as the Spiritualized track I wanted, but me happy with it. A bit too bassy, I realise as I playback. I am lousy at mixing. Amongst other things.

Paco – I love the arrangement- - manages to keep the jazzy feel of the original with the usual Paco style – which I liken to having bouncy castle inflated with laughing gas thrown at you by mischevious goblins whizzing past on roller-skates. Maybe dropping the key a little lower would help on a couple of the high notes? What would I know about that, right? But admirably bonkers. On second listen, I wonder whether maybe the drums could be a bit more driving? Lovely Spanish guitar solo. Ahhh, must go, someone’s throwing bouncy castles at me again.

Noah – Ha! I don’t think I know the original, or if I do, I don’t know it this way! Awesome American Gothic on this. Like the sludgy effect on the BVs. A very pleasant listen. The kicking in of guitars under the second chorus could do with being much louder. It should threaten to swamp the song before the break down relief, in my opinion anyway. Sweet solo-ing. You could have probably wrapped it up there, and left out the final chorus. Not a big thing, but it felt like it was ready to stop there, to me.

DJ Ranger Den – Creepy in a good way! I can hear it over the credits of some psychological thriller. Your voice sounds very good. It makes me think one-eyed, batter baby dolls, slighty scorched in some previous house fire with a pull-string that doesn’t work any more, so the voice comes out all strange and gurgly. This is, believe it or not, a massive compliment. I really enjoyed this one.

The Heartbreak of Invention – Is that a melodica? What a pretty cover. This gets pretty ridiculous by the time of the chorus, mind. Super-camp. I have to say, the original’s another favourite of mine, I don’t like the re-arrangement of the chorus at ALL (It should be “babybabybaby” as all one word), and I am not sure of the significance of the spoken word contrapunt (I know that’s not a word, it just should be). Wow, that’s a sudden ending! Hmmm, there were lots of elements in this song that threaten to make it the runaway best cover here, including the “Best of Random Orchestral Hits” sample pack in use (jk), but there is something a little too skew-wiff, even for me, to fully accept this into my love-house. It’s definitely got a place on the lawn next to my Herb Alpert gnome, mind.

Bgm - (NB All my reviews are Written As I Listen. The following one captures perfectly my thought process as I work from reaction to response. It may be a bit fractured to follow easily. Sorry about that. Also I. Am. A. C*) The vocal take is very moving, you’ve captured that fragility which is the lion’s share of Karen’s charm (or at least the public perception of her.) Everything here is good – I fear this is going to be one of those “not my bag” moments – as soon as it kicked into the sluggish-punk-pop-ballad moment, I actually felt nauseous and had to take 30 seconds before carrying on listening - seriously. It’s sacrilege, man. I can’t find any fault with it, I just hear/see a Scottish Travis. Which is not a good thing to be seen as. Ah, hang on, I AM going somewhere with this! So Travis covered Britney Spears on a B-side in early 2000s, and made the “take pop song, give it slow, indie ballad take to reveal its inner beauty” a bit of a cliché, one this cover doesn’t fully escape (though organ and wobbly guitar thing in verse are excellent) – no, sorry every time the chorus hits, I have to sit down in a darkened room. It’s all really well done, and I feel like a total heel going on about it. But obviously not so much of a heel as to stop doing it!

# - Say it ain’t so, Daddy! This can’t be the end of the ‘thorpe! Don’t they have internet in Sacramento? Great opening. I am not sure how I feel about covering a cover. It’s kinda cheaty, but it’s also very ‘thorpe, I suppose. This is great. “do right by me” section is just all kinds of charm offensive! I hope, when you and The ‘dog are doing your reunion cabaret, you’ll end each sell-out stadium show with this number.

Good coverfightage, folks. I liked them all. I think if it's only one vote, I'll give it to DJ Ranger Den, cos with heavy heart cast out # for being an (awesome) cover of a cover. I don't know how else I would decide. If I can vote for multiple, well lots of ya are gettin' em!

NOTE TO FIGHTMASTERS - SMILEY LIMITS WITHIN POSTS SHOULD BE LINKED TO LENGTH OF POST. DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK FOR ME TO FIND AND REMOVE ALL BUT 4 SMILIES IN THIS BIG BLURGE OF TEXT? REALLY! SMILIES ARE MY BREAD AND BUTTER! PEOPLE MIGHT ACTUALLY TAKE ME SERIOUSLY! B. JEE. SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSS!

[BBABM]

BBABM - I am suspicious of people who enter a coverfight while admitting they don’t know any of the original artists’ work, AND also diss the song they chose (there is no compulsion to take part in everything going on), but I will try mah hard-y-est not to be partisan.
I do have to say the original is a favourite of my other half and I am partial to it as well, so while I admire the breaking down of the song into its constituent parts trying to reveal the tune within, I feel you’re taking it too far and in the process losing the charm of the song. This is well performed and recorded and all that, but for it’s just no fun to listen to, whereas the original has fun pouring out of all its big alien visitor orifices. Minor issue - I love the alien voices on the original and I am not partial to your flangy ones. In short, and I feel bad saying it as I’ve enjoyed other stuff I’ve heard of yours – if your aim was to show how dull you found the original, congrats, you succeeded.

fair enough. i didnt find it "dull" per-say, i found it full of crazy arrangement, and lots of little piano "diddly-doos"... musically it was very exciting and as you said "fun." i didn't mean to diss the song, it (nor really any of the other songs i found by them) wasnt my cup of tea. however i am always wanting to learn new songs, and hear music that i had never really given a chance before. here i found that i probably wont be a diehard carpenters fan, but i did enjoy learning a new song... even if i like my version better, though it could use some fiddle/mandolin or some accompaniment top the guitar.

as for the alien voice, that was the most alien sounding filter i could find, i actually like the original ones better as well.

[j$]

Yeah, maybe "dull" is the wrong word. it just felt like what I was hearing had been a chore, which is a shame if it wasn't! Certainly another instrument on top would improve it. It felt a bit thin in the arrangement. I didn't dislike the song, it just felt a little under-cooked.

[RangerDenni]

Thank you
I am still writing a lot - reviewishly
I had a lot of fun with this sidefight and learned heaps.

(I also get Caught Out by the smily limit!! when the posting entity inside the computer told me "no! That's too many!" well..THAT was an Alarming Day!!!)

[Paco Del Stinko]

Thanks for giving this a kick in the pants, Jack. And thanks for the comments, all. I will still post some remarks as well, but not today. No, really, not today.

[RangerDenni]

These reviews are really meander-y. But they exist, nonetheless. I am going to copy this here and deal with the Smileys Police. Then push Submit without Backward Glance.

BBABM: I started liking you and wondering "ooo! who is that.." around the times of 'If I Had One' and then really liked your live fight. This was done in the same endearing style that I've come to associate with you; kind of understated and casual. You have a vocal that I do really like because it seems charming to me. I feel that it went on a little long and got repetitive. Your effect-y vocal could have blended more subtly with your main, but the idea was correct. It seemed a little arbitrary with the style, although fitting in with subject matter. That could have been the point. This was agreeable and you can sing real fine and it was not at all grating on the nerves even with my silly attention span. I have not listened to the original, and should. Well done, I feel.

KARENVAN RAY: Cute rename. {illegal smiley} This is just really well produced. This is the kind of production-sound that I really look up to. As a matter of fact, I really felt very spaceshippy; you set an atmosphere very well and I almost wanted it to drag MORE with epic drum hits and no moving-forwardly beat-age at all. I wanted gongs or booms or something. I would not have chosen that drum rhythm. It felt more..familiar(?) to me as it went on though. Your sounds were just perfect and I try not to factor that I love your accent into liking your tunes so much just because Texans have stolen my husband's cool way of talking. But on this it is really hard not to get really nostalgic - both because of the song's wistful subject matter and your ethereal delivery. …. *sigh*

SPORTSWRITERS: This was almost TOO well done, which is kind of a horribly silly thing to say. I have the same feeling about this as I have about a couple of your other tunes - which is that with a few VERY subtle adjustments this is perhaps Radio Ready. It does not have enough of a casual feel. I, however, do not possess the expertise necessary to explain this further because in my own work I'm not QUITE up to the level you and many others here have going on. I just feel like something a little special and different is needed to hook us into your obviously epic personality which should be shown in the music. But This Sort of Thing cannot be covered by technique. You're a character and it's peeking out every now and then. But I'm a musical voyeur and I guess I kind of want to climb up a tree and strip a little bit of the production away and peek into your apartment #inappropriate

JACK SHITE: I don't know why (yessss I do!!!!! *SMILEYYYYYYYY* ), but this made me cry. I'm not kidding for effect. This was adorable. There are some things that I can say about it that are criticisms but I don't want to because for me the experience that it gave me was enhanced by some of the "but no-s" and "why did you-s" that I might give it. It does do the same thing for a long bit, in the fashion of BBABM's. I do feel bad in both cases saying that when I like a song, like it's a failure on my part or society or something. {pouty frown} It's a bit the same way with the Octothorpe track, in that nothing should be said about this on This Day. Your voice was just so well suited and pointed for this. It feels like such an emotive and fun risk to have done this. I think that if this was just dropped out there into a room of people a lot of people wouldn't go with it as I have, but I would Not invite them to any Fun Parties.

JOHNNY CASHPOINT: This was jarring. And totally different from what one would expect of this number. Please forgive my narcissism. I seriously saw this at the end of an episode of a couple key episodes of the TV show that the Evil Gnomes will make about my life. They will stop at the convenient stop you left before the second verse, but it's fine for this that you went on - charming, even. I was thinking, oddly, that it fit strangely well with my song, companion-wise … in a bizarre fairground sort of way, like on the same record. This will probably be the fight that has really gathered you in as "and that was when I became a fan of HIS vocal and went back and heard all HIS songs correctly." Because you are not really a fan until you 'get it' through one song, I think. As mentioned in the KarenvanRay track, I am a sucker for an accent.

PACO DEL STINKO: Another which was very endearing because of the vocal. I don't feel that you needed to repeat the motif at the beginning; you could have done it once and it would have done just as well. The way it comes in full force is just so nice with the bass and when you bring your power in it always works for me. I wanted a different resolution note or a harmony on "together." I am not sure. …..Vocally, I feel like you manage your attributes similarly, but in a more methodical way than me - although sometimes you drift… out of character into a strange vibrato that you don't have at other times? Does that make sense? You have an awfully good range and sure can sing. To me, you have an accent too, did you know that? In other news, you are a salsa superhero. A merengue maniac! A savior of samba. Oh geez can you play the guitar so awfully well …. I'm going to stop now…

NOAH MCLAUGHLIN: Again you bring the Noah sound as you do, quite well. Meandering vocal, which you know, but you are making it suit you and still crafting your sound so this also continues to evolve into a Well Done Thing that you are making. This is very emotive as well. The alt-country-proto-outlaw plugged-in thing seems to suit you, perhaps because you are Southern-ly-living, hey? You'll need to tighten it up a bit and maybe also bring it a bit back into the past for a more authentic sounding streak (or maybe not! {winkysmile meaning, 'do what you want, bro..'}), but I think that it gives you a kind of rough-around-the-edges thing that sexes up your vibe and takes the taking-yourself-too-seriously out of it a bit, if I may say. This was well done.

{aside. Damn. I have run out of smileys. HAH! I shall cheat, ruining the whole point of The Great Smiley Injunction or Whatever! I am just THAT rebellious!}

DJ RANGER [a self-immolation]: Dude, that THERAMIN. But I LIKE the theramin… It's just not NECESSARY! I've had a hard year… I NEED A LITTLE CRAZY! You sound like you just threw every VST you had at every track you had space for I do not know what you are talking about This review is boring All of your reviews are boring..I think I will write songs like this all the time! But you did not WRITE this song... But I AM this song. I will do ALL my songs in this way, from now on ... The hell you will
Ahem. I don't think I can do this anymore. That's kind of where I was when I did this song. You can probably tell. No. I am not emo in the least! I need a hug. Is this song about me? Who knows these things?

THE HEARTBREAK OF INVENTION: Another female who is a singer is nice in this fight. She sounds lovely and sophisticated which made me tilt my head to the side and sigh enjoyably. I like that lots. This was also lush and just well orchestrated and well produced and envisioned. The way it is laid out though made it more of an experience than a specific memory. I'm categorizing you with BGM because it just fades into the landscape of my brain - as you tackled the tune as though it was yours already. Another thing which made me feel a little out of my depth. You're just really talented and do things which are well thought out and planned. I kind of saw this as an epic journey. Still am wondering if I connected with it because of the way it was done or if it is because it is a songfight with a female presence, which always makes me sit up and say 'oh, yay!' like i think when I hear BSS tracks or lalabrookie or when anyone else i don't know well comes around but is of female persuasion. A little sexist perhaps, unfair to the fellas. But there just aren't as many of us and this singer is so lovely {at least two heartfelt smileys, please}

BGM: This was adorable-yet-epic. Damn, that vocal is really heartbreaking and I was harmonizing along with it. I think I REALLY wanted that harmony in the chorus. Maybe though, this is one of those songs with such a GREAT melody hook that people will harmonize to it as they sing along (the VERY BEST!!). You sing it like you own it, as if you wrote it and that is the way to do it. The development and when guitars and other voices come in is so well done and I wish that when it had continued that the drums had been more … violent? Pretty much all that means is a different sound on the snare. More snap and "THACK!" [BOOM … THACK!] . Perhaps that's really formulaic though (I am addicted to drama). Perfect high-hat though. I LOVE that little synth voice that comes in and I'm going to steal that *way* of doing things at some point so don't get mad, kay? I'll just make it all goofy anyway so you'll hardly recognize it

OCTOTHORPE: What gorgeous piano. I am 87-96% this is you Spud, correct? I remember hearing you play the piano…. I really loved to hear you sing. You have a wild, rich vocal and a complicated sound which is completely impossible to categorize. I (don't) want to say there are parts that are not tight. Saying that is a rough thing because I have instances like that all over my work and sometimes I make decisions exactly that on purpose to good effect. You have a sound, for sure. I have always thought of Octothorpe as "joyfully overwhelming." This was so sectionalized. Still, the way I think of to describe it is - charming, and you can hear the camaraderie and emotion in it. That is also a well done thing.

[nyjm]

Oh gawd, Denni beat me to reviews... Hey, I've been busy! It was finals week, and then a film series to put together and then... yeah... a new song and yeah...

Time to suck it up and get this done. Oi.

Thank you, everyone, for the reviews so far.

[inevitableguy]

I finally listened to this fight...nice work, everyone!

[Jim of Seattle]

Jack Shite covers Close to You
You clearly listened very closely to the original. I wish you had tried to change it up a little and bring something of yourself to it. This version is much too close to the original for me to feel the effort was "worth it". You match the original SO closely, that's impressive in itself. Right at the end of the instrumental break, there's this little descending figure in the organ that's sort of syncopated, and I've always had trouble with that little run, because it never fails to confuse my sense of the downbeat. Even though I've heard it huindreds of times in my life. I don't think I'm ever going to get my head around it. Not really part of the review, but interesting anyway. That's a whole forum topic: 'Songs that you always "hear wrong"'. Another one for my is the opening riff of "Drive My Car". I know it isn't, but to my ears I've always heard this bizarre time signature weirdness, and the band never seems to be coming in at the right place. Total digression, sorry. Anyway, this was not the right approach for you, Jack. When you mimic the opriginal so exactly, all that's going to do is compare your voice to that of uh... Karen frickin Carpenter. Why set yourself up for that comparison?

[Jim of Seattle]

Paco del Stinko covers "We've Only Just Begun"
One of my favorites in the fight. Great arrangement concept. When the whole band comes cascading in at the second verse, it's most satisfying. You guys are good at managing the key changes so effortlessly. I like the hits on "so. much. of. life. ahead". Now what I don't like about it. The lead vocal completely belies the groove of the band. It sounds like you hate the song and are mocking it, and only performing it at all because some dweeb made you do it. This is a terrific song, but the vocal performance seems to say to me "We're too cool for this". But at the same time, the band is doing it straight and sounds good. It's a disconnect.

Noah McLaughlin covers "I'm Caught Between Goodbye and I Love You"
I don't know the original, so I heard this like a brand new song. I think I just came up with an idea why covering the Carpenters is trickier than it sounds. Their songs are schmaltzy, and (since I was there I remember) people thought that about them even at the time too. The reason they worked is Karen sold it 100%, ("Sure we're corny, but we sound AWEOMSE, so shutup) so even though they crossed the line and were too sappy a lot of the time, SHE believed it, so you sort of had to. Now when all of us are trying to do these songs, we either have to sell that schmaltz (in this more jaded age), make fun of it (which is likely to fail since it's so good when seen purely musically), or mess with it until it rings more sincere (which is the approach I tried). Which brings me to this cover. My initial reaction was negative, so I sat and listened trying to figure out what that was about. All the individual pieces are good. And they all fit together well. And it's recorded nicely, so what's this negative reaction about? Hmmmm.... Then I realized, that since I don't already know this song, I'm hearing it as an original, and I just can't buy that this band would sing the sentiments in this song. The performance has a seen-it-all-before feel to it, and I don't believe this person would say those lines. So the whole thing feels like a put-on. I'm not really dissing your cover at all, but I have to be honest here, I didn't like it, and I'm just trying to figure out why since I can't put my finger on anything that's not good about it. Weird, huh.

DJ Ranger Den covers "Goodbye to Love"
Still working on getting the piano recorded properly I see. In this instance that 50-feet-away-microhpone sound kind of works in your favor. This one reminds me a lot of my entry. There's a sense of honesty to it that really works well. Your style can pull this sentiment off, where as most of us can't. Their songs are often so feminine that guys sound sort of silly trying to sing them. You remind me a lot of Zooey Deschanel in "The New Girl", and your voice always sounds to me like it should be featured on a iPod commercial. I think you could lose the theremein-like solo. The creepy vibe I think you were going for doesn't really work. All in all, really excellent concept and performance. Could have used a bunch more rehearsal to get a little tighter. You want a song like this to feel loose and improvised, but maybe a little less ragged would work better, since the arrangement does have a lot of details and effects which took some effort to do. Very successful.

Heartbreak of Invention covers "Superstar"
This was mine, at that's my wife singing. Thanks for all the positive feedback!

bgm covers "Solitaire"
This is a fuilly realized realization of a worthy take on the song, so there's not much to say other than bravo. To my ears it's a little too slow, but great job.

Octothorpe covers "Ticket to Ride"
First off, this is my all-time least favorite Carpenter's song. I don't know what Richard was thinking. He bled out everthing's good about the original. Some slow covers of fast songs work surprisingly well, this one has always felt painful to me. OK, that out of the way, I can tell you're covering the Carpenter's version of it, not the Beatles. The lead vocal is the best thing about this. It suffers from "first-run-through"-itis as do so many # songs I've heard, but I like your vocals a lot. I would like to hear you do a faster song in a more rehearsed setting, because it sounds like it has a lot of untapped power to it. But as for a review of the entire song, I hope I made clear that you were already working in the red because I hate the Carpenters' version so much. This was a no-win for you guys for me.

[Spud]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. As you all know, since Mad Dog is on sabbatical for now, future recording will probably feature me on vocals, at least in the short term. I was relatively pleased with this raw take, but would like to improve moving forward, so I will try to heed Jim's advice, extending it not only to rehearsing, but warming up as well.

That's Crash on piano btw, Den, not me. I am on horn, vox, and drum machine on/off button .

[RangerDenni]

That's Crash on piano btw, Den, not me. I am on horn, vox, and drum machine on/off button .

a well rounded bunch then

[nyjm]

Noah McLaughlin covers "I'm Caught Between Goodbye and I Love You"
[...] I'm not really dissing your cover at all, but I have to be honest here, I didn't like it, and I'm just trying to figure out why since I can't put my finger on anything that's not good about it. Weird, huh.

Well, it could be that you don't like the original song:

I can see what you're saying about needing to sell these tunes, because they are soooooooooo schmaltzy. I tried to make Karen's fragility my own, inflecting it with more frustration than "oh woe is me." And maybe for you, it just didn't work. Also, it looks like my musical metaphor (with the dual solo guitar parts) wasn't deliberate enough, since no one's commented on it yet. Ah well.

[j$]

Is is just me having problems voting? I place my choices, click "vote" and then it freezes on "loading". I've tried a couple of times from different machines (though always in chrome) - sorry I am accidentally stacking the odds in my preferred tracks' favour!

[jack]

Hey Johnny, the voting mechanism registers the IP address. If you know one of the IP addresses you voted from, I can see if it registered.

[jack]

Last chance to vote (or in Johnny's case, perhaps try to vote) on this as the voting ends at 11:59PM tonight (Pacific time).

Thanks again everyone!

[nyjm]

Congratulations The Heartbreak Invention!

As promised, here are some reviews at last:

http://jardincandide.blogspot.com/2011/ ... fight.html

[sportswriters]

Hey, thanks for the reviews everyone. Haven't been around Songfight much recently due to ridiculous over-commitment musically and otherwise. Specially wanted to respond to this from RangerDenni:

SPORTSWRITERS: This was almost TOO well done, which is kind of a horribly silly thing to say. I have the same feeling about this as I have about a couple of your other tunes - which is that with a few VERY subtle adjustments this is perhaps Radio Ready. It does not have enough of a casual feel. I, however, do not possess the expertise necessary to explain this further because in my own work I'm not QUITE up to the level you and many others here have going on. I just feel like something a little special and different is needed to hook us into your obviously epic personality which should be shown in the music. But This Sort of Thing cannot be covered by technique. You're a character and it's peeking out every now and then. But I'm a musical voyeur and I guess I kind of want to climb up a tree and strip a little bit of the production away and peek into your apartment #inappropriate

There's a mass of truth in this! The last year has been all about me learning to produce properly and I've finally been able to nail some of the stuff that I've always heard in my head. As a result I've been tending towards overproducing everything, which is kind of addictive, but it's also easy to use it as a way to disguise the weakness of my vocals. I've really got to find the sweet spot between production and performance. I'm always tempted to go epic - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and too often it verges into cheese. I think what I'm interested in is riding the knife edge but you always run the risk of falling off into the void of muzak.