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These Times

These Times (2019, Christiane Spruit)

How we look, unbelieving , everything turns out fine?
No one feels for each other, raise against the tide
we are ruled by bad preachers,
swallow their lies
blind and sold-out souls
with no way out of these times

Did we subdue the earth, as the Bible says?
Deprived of power and gold under the Fall of Man?
we were taught by bad teachers ,
all money can buy
blind and sold-out souls
with no way out of these times

BRIDGE
down to empty phrases
all that money can buy
you can have all these diamonds ,
just tear down the sky


Paying fools, we are the soldiers of an empty sky
tomorrow's rain will come and wash away the stain of crime
we rely on bad leaders
for money they die
blind and sold-out creatures
with no way out of these times

The Band

RealTracks in song: 2615:Bass, Electric, FunkPumpingQuarters Ev 100
RealTracks in song: 3099:Organ, Rhythm AmericanaSlow16thsMike Ev16 060
RealTracks in song: 573:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Blues BB Ev 085

I used EZDrummer2 for the drum track and I'm playing the lead guitar parts.

The mix

Mixed in Reaper, mastered with Ozone8

I have CLA Drums on the drum track and the EQ section of Neutron2 on the bass.

Lead guitar is a strat style guitar I built myself using parts from Warmoth and other places. It's the guitar I use the most for the rock type songs we do. It is going through the Mercuriall Tube Screamer plugin (free), then through S-Gear and CLA Guitars.

I'm using the Ozone Nectar3 plugin on the vocal, second time I've used it, and it has replaced a huge signal chain I used to use on vocals. I'm also using the Waves Vocal Rider plugin.
I don't use the built in reverb, instead I send the output from the vocal track to a separate reverb bus that has Neutron2 followed by Nectar2. Nectar has the reverb set at 100% and I'm also using the saturation module.
I also send two instances of the vocal output to a separate delay bus which has the Waves MannyM Delay module followed by the Reaper ReaComp compressor. Second output from the vocal track is controlling the side chain input of the compressor, so the delay is ducked while the vocal is actually active.

As always I would be grateful if you give our song a play, and comments on all aspects are welcomed.

Hey Dave & Chris ...

Man, this is just so good! There's a lot of truth in that lyric! Chris' vocal is spot on, as usual, and your guitar work is first class all the way. You play a mean Blues guitar, my friend! I hear a little Gary Moore and maybe a touch of Stevie Ray. But mostly I hear the signature sound of Dave Bell ... and that's a good thing.

You guys put out first class music on a regular basis ... you're a great pairing! Totally loved my listen. You guys rock ... or should I say, you guys Blues??!!

My first listen of the day and what a start! Wishing you both the very best!

Alan

Really strong song. The way the verses both repeated and changed was effective. Chris sounds good and convincing. The progression is excellent, dark and gritty. Loved the vocals at the end.

I listened once on phones at mid volume, then kept them on and cranked it up a couple or three notches. Really clear in both instances. I like the way you limited the band to one guitar, essentially, with the edits and panning choices. It was a somewhat surprising choice not moving your lead section more center, but a good choice I think to get that small combo feel.

I really like this.

Dave & Chris,

You do such tasty openings. Always.

Love your guitar in this. You play like a seasoned studio pro - the right things at the right times and nothing "unnecessary". Nice solo.

Your songs are always worth (at least!) two listens. Three actually. One to pay attention to all the fine production details and the playing. One to pay closer attention to the lyric and the vocal. And finally to simply enjoy the package as a whole.

A well written rock song. It has a Airplane vibe to it - enhanced by Chris' excellent vocal.

The vocal sits in the mix really well. I did think it was almost too "smooth" (the processing) - velvety. Thought it could use some edge (and I mean the processing, because Chris is giving it the vocal edge...).

Drums sound great. Bass sounds great. Excellent mix.

Turn back the clock 30 years (to when people paid attention) and you guys would be tearing up the charts.

fj

We listen to and dabble around producing songs in multiple genres...but our hearts reside in the blues.

Whether blues, blues rock, rock blues, delta blues, Texas blues, Chicago blues or BlueAttitude blues we love it all.

We have no difficulty in placing your productions in the top tier of our blues listening. Pro stuff all the way.

Your drums and bass always lay down such a fine foundation sounding like a couple of players who've worked together for a while.

This song is no exception. Chris sounds great and she delivers the write in convincing form.

Your fills and solo have the ability to sound distinctive yet so well support Chris. A great combo.

Yeah, we like it

J&B

GREAT guitar tone to kick off.
The guitar=organ balance is nicely done.
Vocals are ace.
Everything sounds period perfect except for the kick drum.
The kick has the ultra modern thump free sound that is preferred in modern metal.
I's not impossible to EQ carve & boost to get some vintage thud n thump.
Excellent solo.

I really love the way the guitar sounds in this! Great job. Thanks for sharing.

Dave & Chris

Loved it and so very tasty! Excellent vocal and delivery. Superb guitar parts loved the repeating riff and a wonderful solo.

It all sounds great to me.

Peter

Dave and Chris
Tasty is the word. Nice vocal and lyrics (I particularly like the line 'you can have all these diamonds, just tear down the sky') and outstanding guitar work.
Regards,
Leon

Had a nasty bite to it that I loved and was perfect for the lyrics. Solo was right there and the singing was tops.

Reading comments like that make my day, thanks!

Great to see you back here, Alan, the showcase is a better place when you are here and I mean that sincerely.

Hi Tangmo!

Normally I would have a rhythm guitar panned and a lead guitar closer to the middle. But I decided I only wanted one guitar in this so it made more sense to pan it, as you surmised, to give it that small band feel.
It is very easy with BIAB to add in lots of tracks, but I think with the music that Chris and I do that often less is more.
Thanks for the listen and comments, happy you liked this one!

Nice work! I'm getting some strong 70's vibes on this one. Delightfully catchy. I think it flows really well, and the vocals on this are top notch.

Thanks for sharing

Dave & Chris,
What a riff to open with- Mercuriall Tube Screamer- couldn`t have put it better!
On first listen your guitar fills are so good the lyrics ( which have a nice edgy poetry, as Chris` often do)take second billing. Going to take in the vocal and strong message there now.
Retro hard rock at its best.

Robert

Another high quality production from the blues masters!! Chris has developed into such a great singer, and Dave has wonderful tone and style!! Fantastic bluesy tune guys!! Take care. Greg

Awesome, great song!

Hi, Dave, Chris and Christine !:))

What a wonderful tune
so professionally sung and
played !:)) A most superb
production that i hope will
go very high !:))

Cheers
Dani

Ok, this will be an embarrassing story; but since it's a compliment to you; I will allow my own embarrassment.

I was at Walgreen's waiting for my prescription to be filled. It was going to be a few minutes; so I went to walk around the store a bit. They had some pretty killer music on; much to my surprise. I thought "this makes the wait worth it." I couldn't place the song; but the band sounded familiar. Really good too! After a bit it was bothering me that I couldn't figure it out. I wanted to know who the band was; but also the name of the song. I figured I would add it to one of my playlists. I went to grab my phone out of my back pocket and...the song was coming from MY phone! It was YOUR song! It took me a minute to figure it out. I had your song lined up to listen to and somehow bumped it to play.

I guess telling this on here wasn't so embarrassing; but realizing I was leaving the line and walking around the store with "my own music" was a bit of an embarrassing realization. Oh well. It's not the worst.

That being said, I was so enamored by the song that I was going to look up the artist to hear the song again. I liked it that much! As it would turn out, it sounds even better on a proper system.

Chris sounds great, you sound great...the mix, the write, the call and response...everything.

How long before PG has "Blue Attitude-Dave" real tracks?

Hi floyd,

Man, you say the nicest things!

Thank you very much, it means a lot to both of us.

Re: turning back the clock, Chris and I have talked about that before, being born in the wrong era with the music we both love to listen to and create.
But we do it because we love it and as long as a few other people like what we do, I'm good with that

Very good song Dave and Chris. Loved the intro. Panning the guitar was very nice add to the song. Super vocal and your guitar was just smokin. Well done... Very interesting on how you mixed the song.