It's been a while since Chris and I did a blues song, so we thought it would be nice to start out 2018 getting back to the reason we got together in the first place.

New blues from Dave and Chris: Chain and Ball

The band

Drums: BluesRock 12/8
Bass: 1922
Organ: 2734

Mixed in reaper using plugins from Waves and Izotope, mastered with Ozone 8 and LMC.

Chain and Ball (Christiane Spruit, 2018)

Like a bird in the cage
I am losing my faith
There’s no easy way out
Leaves me chained to the ground
Like a chain and a ball
like nothing at all
You fill the free in me.


I sleep near the door
I am chained to the floor
I feel home but bound
Like I am tied to the ground
I can hardly breathe
I am in such a bad need
You fill the free in me.

You say that you need me
And I know that you do
But please don't you blame me
I don't want you to do
Like a chain and a ball
I don't need that at all
You fill the free in me.

As always we appreciate any feedback.

Edit: Just uploaded to soundcloud, here: https://soundcloud.com/blue-attitude/chain-and-ball

Dave,

Just great! A blistering blues piece - Chris's voice is tremendous - she really hits this one in all the right places. Also, your guitar is excellent throughout.

Loved it!

Bob

What and awesome tune Dave and Chris. Loved your guitar work on this one. Chris's vocal was just awesome. Well done. Super listen.

Chris & Dave,

HOT!

Bob said it well - hit all the salient points:
"Just great! A blistering blues piece - Chris's voice is tremendous - she really hits this one in all the right places. Also, your guitar is excellent throughout."

Chris' vocals seem to reach a notch higher with each new release. A little more confident. A little freer. (free-er?). She put a little "Janis Joplin" into that last verse. Nice.

Dave your guitar is on fire.

The mix is excellent. Everything in the right place. Nothing "gets in the way".

Sweet!

floyd

Dave and Chris, this is a wonderful production! Dave, your guitar work is always great and this is another example! You are a true bluesman! Some great licks provided in this and Chris's vocal is excellent as always! Thanks, Torrey

This song has got some serious attitude to it. What more is there to say? Everything about this song is just *so* good. Great job, guys!

Dave

Some wonderful expressive playing and singing by Chris.Can you teach me the lick at 1.52?
Gary Moore would be proud of this one (bit of Jimmy Page near the end?).
Loved it!

Peter

Dave,

Wow, this is great! Great guitar work, Chris really nailed the vocals. Great sound!

Steve

Love Chris's voice. First time I've heard you guys. Like your guitar work as well. You've done this before!

Dave and Chris,

the very first thing that struck me as I clicked onto this was "Gary Moore would be smiling ear to ear if he were still with us." I'm a huge fan of his. Your tone and style remind me a lot of him.

I agree with Floyd's comment about Chris' voice - has a Janis Joplin aura to it.

Everything about this says "Smokin' Hot". What a great listen!!!! Best to both of you.

Alan

Lawwwwdddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's quite possible that I'm your third man girl!!!

But it's a fact that I'm the seventh son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Gawd Almighty lay it on me now!!!!!!!!!!

Whew...son...this song so makes me gotta go crank up the Twin right now and plug her in and turn her up to 10. My wife is gonna kill me but I got to.

All I can say is I'm plugging in right now and gettin' me a piece of this.

Mmmmmm mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmm son!



That's what I'm talking about.

Wow.

Just... wow.

Thanks very much, Bob!

Dave, That's what I'm talkin bout. The mix is outstanding, a leap forward. The guitar and vocals are outstanding. Love the over the top bends. Your best post to date. Smoldering Blues done the way they should be done. Fresh out of the oven and red hot, Tom

Wow - this is stunningly good! I would not bat an eyelash hearing this on the radio among the classics. The mix here is nearly perfect. Not a single sound comes across as too loud, or too quite, or incorrectly panned. Not to mention - those vocals! Oh my goodness, those vocals are tremendous. I was loving that intro and tapping my foot along, but when she started singing that sealed the deal.

Great work here - you should be proud of this! Thanks so much for sharing

Dave,
Well that cut through the morning fog!
It takes quite something to get my eyes closing, goosebumps and hair standing up on blues tune... top shelf in all respects.

Robert

Happy you liked it, Scott, thanks!

"just great! A blistering blues piece - Chris's voice is tremendous - she really hits this one in all the right places. Also, your guitar is excellent throughout."

We'll also jump in with what Bob said.

Deep simmering blues...make no mistakes...the real deal here.

If you don't like this you don't have a blues note in your body. And you are leading an empty life

Like Tom said "Fresh out of the oven and red hot..."

Every aspect of the production is in the pocket. All of it.

Our only regret is that we can't add it to our fav Soundcloud list!

Smokin wonderful!

J&B

Thanks for your always awesome reviews, Floyd! It means a lot to both Chris and myself, she reads them as well.

And thanks especially for the comments on the mix, I was hoping I got the drums loud enough

GREAT Blues, GREAT Attitude, GREAT Vocal (my fave from Chris)!!! This is done just right in every way. Down and Dirty!!! Take care. Greg

Thanks for stopping by and giving this a listen, Torrey, I appreciate it

Always nice when someone from pgmusic stops by, thanks Ember!

Thanks Peter, I thought you might like this!

I would be more than happy to show you any licks I know. BUT! In return you would need to show me some of the cool things you have going on, that really fast thing you do for example

P.S. Someone over on soundcloud mentioned the Jimmy Page thing too. He is not a player I studied, but I listened to lots of Zeppelin back in the day. Something slipped in by osmosis maybe?

Dave and Chris,



This really sizzles!!!!!

The production is spectacular, the arrangement is magnificent, Dave's guitar work is inspired musical poetry and Chris's vocals are absolutely incredible.

Whichever speaker I turned to, nothing but the very best quality music met me. It was a journey and half in stereo on steroids!

Totally loved it.

All the best,
Noel

P.S. I'm glad you've linked this to Soundcloud. It's great being able to leave a comment.

Happy you liked it, Steve! Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment

Man, the back and forth with the guitar and vocal is SOOOOOO cool. Just playing off each other and together. Authentic. I like this! A LOT!

Great stuff!

Very down to earth old school.
Good background for a brawl in a bad biker bar.

Lovin it!
Cheers.

Man I loved that. Very reminiscent of Since I been Loving You by Zep from the early days.

Well played... I heard a few licks that I really enjoyed, that stuck out to me as... "yeah man"....

Tone on the guitar was right where it needed to be on this.

Vocals were good too.

Back again for a SC listen...now we can add it to the playlist!

Gets better each listen..if that’s possible!

Janice mentioned how much she likes the open airy live sound....and threw down her highest compliment “she has a lot of soul and so does his playing.”

Bud

Yeah, once or twice

Thanks, Steve! Looking forward to hearing something from you too.

Thanks very much, Alan!

He was a great player indeed, one of a kind. I did a tribute to him a few years ago, shortly after he passed. It's up on reverbnation if you want to give it a spin, you might like it.

Edit: Just remembered you are not allowed to post covers here so I removed the link.

hahaha, you always make me smile with your reviews! And, I would love to hear you plug into a Twin and let it rip, I like your style!

It's all been said and I agree with it all.

This is how blues should be played!

I can definitely see this being played on the TV show NCIS New Orleans.

You took me to a smokey blues bar where when this is played live even the pool players stop to listen!

This is a keeper.

Thanks, David!

Awesome comments!

Thanks very much, Deryk!

Tom, you have no idea how much that means to me! I'm always trying to improve my production and mixing skills and it made my day to read that.

Cool snuff, Loved it!

Thanks, Robert, happy you liked it!

Thanks very much, Bud! I respect you immensely as a producer and as someone that knows what real blues music is, so comments like that make my day.

For the soundcloud thing, I always upload there but usually wait for a few days after I upload to reverbnation, because I have a lot more followers there.

Thanks again!

Thanks for stopping by and giving this a listen Greg, I appreciate it

Thanks Noel

I always post to soundcloud but typically a few days after I upload to reverbnation.

You mentioned the stereo sound, I used the Ozone Imager on this and also used the new widening tool that is part of Neutron 2 on the guitar track.

Thanks for noticing the trade offs between the guitar and vocal! I love doing that, having a conversation between the guitar and the vocal. More fun than playing solos (almost :p)



Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment, I appreciate it!



Thanks, Herb, always nice to get feedback from a fellow guitarist.

Yeah, I listened to a lot of Zeppelin back in the day! That music never gets old for me, most of it anyway.



Thanks for giving it another spin!

And that comment from Janice “she has a lot of soul and so does his playing.” , man! I couldn't ask for anything better than that, just an awesome thing to say

Wow!!! What an intro!

And then Chris starts singing and it's wow all over again!

A wonderful, classic vibe in her voice.

Great song from start to finish and everywhere in between!

Now I get it - BlueAttitude.

Yeah, Chris knocked it out of the park with this one for sure. Thanks very much for the kind comments!