PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase BLUE JULY Janice & ray with Bud.

Good afternoon folks,
The merits of working with the Merritts are many and varied.

I recently had the opportunity to write a song with Janice and here it is, fully formed and wonderfully informed by her voice & melodic sense, for your ears & eyes.
It's a finished piece, mastered et al, but ANY feedback is most welcome.

Soundcloud audio:
AUDIO ONLY



RECORDING DETAILS:
Janice tracked & treated by Bud. The vocal FX chain:
Izotope Breath Control > Nectar EQ > Nectar Compression > Nectar Reverb
The slight reverb is an EMT 140 Plate Reverb sim.

The band/instruments:
735 Piano Acoustic Rhythm Jazz ballad Hipass filter
Real Drums Jazz Brushes - sticks
1065 Trumpet soloist smooth bluesy w slap back delay,
quite a bit of Multiriffing as well as cut n paste work.

The additional stuff:
Bass - Emperador semi acoustic flat wound strings BDI21 HEAVILY compressed
Guitar - Bruno Royal Artist semi acoustic, neck pickup DI hipass + trem

Mastered by Fran Ashcroft at HappyBeat Studio.

Words (because they do matter to some folk)
Back in your arms I'd
Learn, listen & grow,
There was purpose in the meaning
I'd have to take it slow.
I'd learn through living
They'd teach me with pain.
I'd take the experience
They'd each leave a stain.
Look around you and
know where you stand.
Be sure that the soil
Is part of the land.

But be careful of
The seed that you sow
Be certain which fruit
Is going to grow
We want no death in the soil,
No blood at the root, no!

Back on the farm they'd
Reap, tend & sow,
There was effort in the weeding
But some would have to go.
They'd avoid using poison
As that'd taint the soil.
They'd put in the hours
They'd put in the toil.
Look around you and
Know where you stand.
Be sure that the soil
Is true to the land.

But be careful of
The seed that you sow.
Be certain which fruit
You've chosen to grow
We want no death in the soil,
No blood at the root, no!

SOLO

Back in time they'd
Learn, listen & grow.
The fear on which they're feeding
And their anger would glow.
With their bread they were learning
Old lies, oh so plain.
Old newspapers said
There'd be nothing but pain.
They looked around and,
Took up flame & gun.
Assured that their victims
Had no place to run.

But be careful of
The seed that you sow.
In choosing which fruit
You've elected to grow
We want no death in the soil,
No blood at the root, no!

Ray, Janice & Bud,

This is an exceptional piece of music... The writing, performance, video and production is of the highest caliber. The RTs sound tremendous - what a great jazz band.

I am truly blown away by the vocal - no one does this type of music like Janice. Her performance is superb - controlled, emotional and recorded perfectly.

AWESOME collaboration! Would also love to hear this in a SoundCloud link if possible.

Bob

This is a cool tune. Very different which really showcases Janice's versatility as vocalist. Excellent lyric video and production. Well done

Oh, I already told you how much I love this song. What a great sultry feel, and Janice is the perfect choice. Oh, man, it's all so good. It's a really good video, too. Such a good write, and the best band mixed so well. Very interesting changes with a strong Blues melody. Doesn't get any better.

I hear your writing style in there. I hear Janice singing the way she does the best.

Nicely done to both of you and everyone else involved in this project.

Bob, I truly appreciate your music and that makes your comments about my performance even more meaningful.
Thank you,
Janice

Dark and powerful lyrics, real nice chord changes and melody, well sung and produced. The video was interesting, I listened to it with and without watching.

Very interesting composition...very well arranged and performed...love the trumpet solos and Janice's vocal was spot on with the wandering melody and the bluesy feel of the entire piece...well done to all!

Janice, Ray, and Bud, this is one outstanding collaboration.

Janice's vocals are always top shelf.
The mix is spot on.
Fantastic trumpet leads.

All I can add is WOW!

Talents collide! Haunting, dark and beautiful. Unusual, emotional music, double edged lyrics amplified by deep Janice's vocals. Cool experimental tune. Ray, bass is great, guitar a little quiet. It's done professionally and listens well. I am a fan of old time imagery, I found video interesting. Congrats to all participants and thank you for sharing.

Misha.

Well, Ray.
I must admit I never got Jazz but I can appreciate the work involved, lyrics and all.
The only thing I found slightly irritating was the too up front, upright bass.
Clever stuff.

Vic

Hi, Ray.

I found there was a lot to process in the song. I wasn't sure if the song was meant to be more metaphor than actual event, but kept wondering what event that might be. So when I heard "they", I kept wondering who that could be referring to.

I figured it was likely metaphor because you generally don't sow fruit. Then it mentioned a newspaper and victims having nowhere to run, which sounds far too specific to be metaphor.

Bouncing between those two was just confusing to me.

The use of jazz also threw me, since that particular style is usually for an entirely different subject matter.

So while it was well done it didn't draw me in emotionally because I kept thinking about the form and content.

But there's nothing the matter with music that makes me think, so I can't really complain.

My only real nit is that Janice's voice feels a bit muffled, like someone cut the high end off. It's not the plate reverb, since I can hear that.

Anyway, an interesting bit of music, well done.

Thank you Bob, a very generous appraisal and one I'll bank any day.
Soundcloud link added as per your request.

Thanks Scott.
Janice is exceptional.

Thank you Marty,
the changes are me shuffling around in A again though with some influence from God Bless The Child.
Yes sir, Janice is as you describe.

Thanks,
Yes, my stain is hard to miss but Janice's top coat makes up for an awful lot of my bad brush work.

Thanks for going the extra kilometre Elliott.
There's an audio link in the O.P. now.

Why, thank you sir.

Ta Mario,
I had the trumpet in mind from the get go - given the major influence on this song is Elvis Costello's Shipbuilding and Lady Day's Strange Fruit.

Thanks Misha,
My guitar playing isn't really up to the standard the RT & Janice set but I gave it a bash and set it at a level that didn't damage the rest.