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The Bells Of Terror

Not the fire alarm or recess bell...HMS Terror was one of the two 1845 lost Franklin expedition ships which disappeared with all hands attempting to find the North West Passage. All the searches and many of the theories of what happened to the men and ships were put to rest in 2014 & 2016 when the sunken ships were found, remarkably well preserved, under the sea ice.The ships bell of HMS Erebus is in a Canadian museum- the bell of Terror still on the ship.
ScottC recorded three guitar tracks for this.
Your thoughts on any aspect of our Shipwreck Rock are most welcome!

Style is _RAININ+.STY (Raining Americana Flk MultiStyle)

RealTracks : 387 Bass, Metal ev
RealTracks in style: 2780:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm Songwriter8thsBrent Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 3027:Vocal Oohs, Background Pop3-part Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 3027:Vocal Oohs, Background Pop3-part Ev 085
RealDrums in style: AmericanaRoots16th^01-a:Toms, b:Snare
RT805Guitar Electric DrivingCountryBallad
RT1856Cello BackgroundPop
Loops Bodhran,Bell



The Bells of Terror

under a patient sea
bright fish feed on failure
silence mans the winch
waves thrum cables
ice ghosts are real
will you believe the fables
see the captain at his table

kelp hands hold the helm
coral city cabins
wine bottle spins slowly
a note for the future to find
did they raise a parting glass
to boyhood`s grand design
never lower the banner never resigned

colours flying when she went down
every hour they sound
the bells of Terror

loaded musket on the rail
facing the night
dark dreams sail
through centuries of ice

colours flying when she went down
every hour they sound
the bells of Terror

© Robert Cordrey Aug.2018

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What a fantastic lyric. The progression, backing and production made me shiver. It has a feel between Ghost Riders and the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald...both high praise from my point of view. Scott's guitar fit this haunting absolutely beautifully. Even the title is emotional.

I adored everything about this...except. Your phrasing of "coral city cabins wine bottle spins slowly" feels off to me, and kinda ruined it for a while.


BIAB 2021 Audiophile. Windows 10 64bit. Songwriter, lyricist, composer(?) loving all styles. Some pre-BIAB music from Farfetched Tangmo Band's first CD. https://alonetone.com/tangmo/playlists/close-to-the-ground
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Great title!

First thought is... a tad long of an intro. But only by a few seconds. For a moment I wondered if it were an instrumental, then the vocals began. I'm probably just impatient.

Evocative lyrics, the arrangement fits nicely. But the vocals are a bit low in register, which makes them hard to make in some places.

I like the instrumentation - it's not too busy, but still does interesting things.

Spooky harmony. Love the bell tolling at the end.

All in all, I enjoyed it a lot. The only complaint is that the vocals don't stand out in the mix, so they're a bit hard to make out.


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Robert / Scott

Very evocative music. Some excellent guitar, vocals and an interesting mix of sounds. Liked the lyric (recently saw the British television series called "The Terror" which was a fictional account(based on the incident) of this voyage). Bells were a nice touch at the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable.

Peter

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Love it!

I think this has to be your best collaboration yet.

Great use of dynamics! Love the way the song builds during the second verse.
Use of the Bodhran was inspired, worked really well, and the bells end things off nicely.

Vocals, and the way you are processing them, sounds great to these ears, I love the way you handled the chorus especially, very effective. And of course the lyrics are always a treat.

Scott has his usual great tone and smooth, melodic lines.

All in all a great listen (listened twice actually)

Well done!

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This too me sounds like the theme tune to some epic episodes of …Game of thrones sort of thing.
It worked well and the haunting intimidating style leads me to the comment as above.


good sounding guitars and vocals giving it this feel.

Thanks


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Robert & Scott...

A big WOW on this one.

Robert - you have really kicked it a notch (several really) on this.

"under a patient sea
bright fish feed on failure
silence mans the winch
waves thrum cables
ice ghosts are real
will you believe the fables
see the captain at his table"

A super write.

A super production! Each element adds perfectly - at the right time. The loops help give this a "fresh, new" sound. And a nice mix. Nice vocal.

Scoot - your guitar parts are really nice - taking this up one more notch.

Well done. Your best, I think...

fj

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Originally Posted By: Tangmo
What a fantastic lyric. The progression, backing and production made me shiver. It has a feel between Ghost Riders and the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald...both high praise from my point of view. Scott's guitar fit this haunting absolutely beautifully. Even the title is emotional.

I adored everything about this...except. Your phrasing of "coral city cabins wine bottle spins slowly" feels off to me, and kinda ruined it for a while.



Shivers are what we were aiming for, so thanks for that!
Scott`s solo here gives me goosebumps.
I went back and forth with that section of lyric. I have a habit of leaving unnescessary words in- in this case I think you`re correct, the meaning gets a bit lost by paring the original
line... I`m going to fix it.

Robert

Originally Posted By: dcuny
Great title!

First thought is... a tad long of an intro. But only by a few seconds. For a moment I wondered if it were an instrumental, then the vocals began. I'm probably just impatient.

Evocative lyrics, the arrangement fits nicely. But the vocals are a bit low in register, which makes them hard to make in some places.

I like the instrumentation - it's not too busy, but still does interesting things.

Spooky harmony. Love the bell tolling at the end.

All in all, I enjoyed it a lot. The only complaint is that the vocals don't stand out in the mix, so they're a bit hard to make out.


Hmm.. I thought the intro a bit short ( but then I love songs like Mercy Street with looong intros!).
Vocals are in a low key on purpose- to me it adds something to the doomy feeling; they`re also slightly lower in the mix than I`d do on a folk tune.
I`ll admit the whole works better on headphones than monitors.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

Robert

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very interesting lyrics and overall sound

you guys just keep turning out great songs

should have about an albums worth by now?

nice guitars Scott

nice kind of hypnotic song

enjoyed,

Kenny

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Hi Robert. There's nothing wrong with those lines. Sure, they are a bit shorter, but evocative. I'd never suggest someone to re-write. I just think you can find a more rhythmically natural way to sing them. That may take a small re-write, but I don't think it would.


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It's a well constructed ballad with a great narrative.
The 1st percussion note seems to come in oddly or conflict with the vocal a bit.
I agree with Tangmo about lines in that verse. The read a little oddly and that's reinforced by the change in meter of the delivery.
Otherwise it's fabulous.


Cheers
rayc
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Hello, Robert

I cannot say which genre this song belongs to, but it is a cool song with the grand story.
I agree with rayc.
It's a well constructed ballad with a great narrative.
The 8-beat bass played throughout the song and the percussion produce something scaring mood. And Scott's guitar excites more scare.
And finally the bell of terror sounds.
It is a wonderful direction.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

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Robert, your gift for lyric writing and melody is a potent combination! This song has such a haunting feel to it and is just a excellent composition! You really put together a nice piece of music here and Scott’s contribution really is a big plus on this! Thanks, Torrey

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I really enjoyed being a part of this project with Robert. Very cool subject matter. One of Roberts best lyrics.

I used my PRS for this song to get the different sounds for the different tracks. The amp is my Ceriatone Cwreck.


Scott Collingwood
https://soundcloud.com/scottt709
https://soundcloud.com/spiritlevel-ca
https://www.youtube.com/@SpiritLevel-ge3hm/
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What a unique and creative tune smile A really enticing title, and really interest subject matter for a song. Some of the lyrics here are really otherworldly, and your delivery of them on the tune is incredible too. Not sure what compelled you to write this one, but I'm glad you did! Crazy where inspiration can come from.

Great work and thanks for sharing!


Cheers,
Deryk
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"kelp hands hold the helm
coral city cabins
wine bottle spins slowly
a note for the future to find
did they raise a parting glass
to boyhood`s grand design
never lower the banner never resigned"

We just kept reading the lyric over and over. "Kelp hands hold the helm" is stunningly rich imagery.

We love history and we love what you do with it in songs.

Take that creative write, add the perfect vocal for it and the wonderful guitar and you have one of the top collabs posted here.

You two are quite the team. Y'all keep pushing that bar on up.

Kudos!

J&B


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Hi, Robert and Scott !:))

FANTASTIC ! Hard to find
any other word for this
remarkable tune and production
(co-op) !!!

Masterpiece is another word
that comes to mind between
the ringing bells !!!!

Cheers
Dani

Last edited by dani48; 10/15/18 05:46 AM.
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Great story...great "mood" piece!! Some wonderfully descriptive lyrics, and Scott's guitar has the perfect emotion! Another gem from a wonderful team!! Take care. Greg

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This sounds great guys.

Really warm mix, and an excellent production.

Very cool lyrics and a great overall vibe. Really enjoyed it.

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Originally Posted By: PeterF
Robert / Scott

Very evocative music. Some excellent guitar, vocals and an interesting mix of sounds. Liked the lyric (recently saw the British television series called "The Terror" which was a fictional account(based on the incident) of this voyage). Bells were a nice touch at the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable.

Peter


Peter,
Thank you!
Bells were held back `til the end, but obligatory I think.
I saw that series too...it played a bit too loose with the history for my taste, but great acting and sets.

Robert

Originally Posted By: BlueAttitude
Love it!

I think this has to be your best collaboration yet.

Great use of dynamics! Love the way the song builds during the second verse.
Use of the Bodhran was inspired, worked really well, and the bells end things off nicely.

Vocals, and the way you are processing them, sounds great to these ears, I love the way you handled the chorus especially, very effective. And of course the lyrics are always a treat.

Scott has his usual great tone and smooth, melodic lines.

All in all a great listen (listened twice actually)

Well done!


Dave,
It`s encouraging to hear those positives from you- particularly on the dynamics. Glad you came back for more!

Robert

Originally Posted By: beatmaster
This too me sounds like the theme tune to some epic episodes of …Game of thrones sort of thing.
It worked well and the haunting intimidating style leads me to the comment as above.


good sounding guitars and vocals giving it this feel.

Thanks


I can relate to that - GOT can use it if they let me have a bit part like Ed Sheeran!
Thanks for your listen.

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