So, lastly, we come to Album 4 “Not All It Seems – Redux” (2021).

‘Flat White’ had taken 2-3 years to gestate and create.  Each song was something I was proud of, was quite unique, and had been taken as far as my non-professional abilities would allow. 

It was therefore quite chilling to realise, especially after my near-fatal motorbike accident before the full recording began, that all the time, effort and creativity actually counts for nothing if you never get to press ‘ENTER’ to digitally release an album onto the global stage.  “If a tree falls in the forest ...”.   Its 2020 release date had been in my 69^th year, so the general statistics for age-related decline in health and senses were increasingly less in my favour for starting and satisfactorily completing any longform project.  Also, now on a fixed pension, technical problems, replacements, upgrades, subscriptions etc. all loomed as possible project breakers.

Waiting for the usual post-album blues to come and sit on my shoulders for a few months, I embarked on the challenge of doing the 30 music videos required.  But while doing these it occurred to me that there was one short album project that I could do and complete within six months that would not only be fun itself but would allow me to address a number of issues that had irked me for years.

My first album in 2002, done in a commercial studio, had been a fabulous experience but tackled as a complete novice ... hell, I couldn’t even play accurately to a click track!  There was no production help from the engineer supplied by the studio.  The 3-day studio booking demanded that things just keep moving with little to no time to experiment and polish.  I still felt, after 20 years, that those songs were strong but needed some production skills to make them shine.

This is where making my Songbooks actually paid off in spades.  I’m no professional and I've always had huge difficulty in remembering chords and lyrics ... even my own songs!!  The Songbook for Album 1 “Not All It Seems” was an immediate solution, and probably saved me a solid 30% of the overall album timeline.  Not only did I not have to write anything, but I could treat the whole original album as a good demo version for each track.   All I wanted to do was improve the arrangements, then perform and record all the parts on my own.

The melodies and lyrics stayed the same. Tempos were generally increased, and there were some tempo ramps added within songs.  Song pitch was usually lowered by one or two semitones to suit my voice which had deepened a little over the 20 years.  Still led by my 12-string, new instruments were added, along with new riffs.  A few choruses were changed to minor keys, and some intros/endings were enhanced. 

With the permission/blessing of my original collaborator (he was a little wary until he heard my re-do of the first track), everything went smoothly, and the album was released well within the anticipated six month window. Again, all the recording was done during the cooler months here (April-October). 

I decided to keep the original album title, merely adding ‘Redux’ – commonly used in movies for the 'Directors Cut'.

The Songbook PDF is provided here, which includes a short ‘making of’ section.  I’ve also, for the first time, created a book with a screengrab from each Pro Tools recording session to show the song structures.  (The second half of this book shows the video timelines.)

“Fields and Sunny Skies” was the first song I ever wrote back in 2001.  It was a fantastic thrill when a husband and wife team (local performers who run their own commercial studio) did a cover version in the second half of 2021.  They are professionals so I paid them for their work, but I gave them complete freedom to re-interpret it.

This was the icing on the cake for me. I'd rather be considered a writer than a performer/technician, and here was evidence that the songs could shine if only given the right treatment.  It served as a neat and complete 20-year songwriting cycle.  Should nothing else ever transpire creatively for me, I can at least fade into obscurity a happy and contented man. 😊

Any questions ... please ask.

Box Vol 4a - NAIS Redux SongBook.pdf Box Vol 4b - NAIS Redux Recording & Videos.pdf