I've not been writing too much through the summer but now things are getting back to normal.... so I start off with a simple remake of an older song that's been collecting dust.

The song is called: PARTY TONIGHT

wow.... I just looked up the copyright form to see how old this song is..... 1983.... 31 years ago this was written.

So here's the lineup.

Me singing. The vox are: lead take #2 front to back one shot.... and all other tracks one take no fixes. I intended to play some guitar but I have other songs that need writing and other tracks to record for other projects I'm working on, so I sat this one out. I'll be playing on the next one...I promise.

Drums= Craig Scott
Bass= Steve Mackie
Rhythm= Rob McNelley
Piano= John Jarvis
Lead= Brent Mason
B3=Gene Rabbai

Party Tonight (R&R feel)


Verse 1

There's country music playing on the radio
Listen to the singer, he's singing soft and low
A little bit of bluegrass to kick up your heels
It's Saturday night and you know how I feel

We're gonna have a good time, we're gonna have a party tonight.

Verse 2
I got my baby with me and she's holding on tight
We're gonna do it one time, and it's gonna be right
A little bit of candlelight a bottle of wine
I know we're both gonna feel so fine

We're gonna have a good time, we're gonna have a party tonight.


Chorus....

Ohhhhh.... I can feel it coming on
Yeahhh... I know it won't be wrong
Ohhhhh I can feel it coming on
We're gonna have a good time, we're gonna have a party tonight.

Verse 3
Well here she comes now and we're ready to go
We won't take it fast, but we won't go slow
A little bit of kissing to start the night
A whole lotta love with no end in sight

We're gonna have a good time, we're gonna have a party tonight.


.... enjoy.

No headphones to listen to this one - used my speakers and had'em loud. Enjoyed you and the band. I thought this was a very good mix and clean throughout. The song has a nice live feel to it. Kept listening for a bunch of "all right's" at the end.

Nice.

Charlie

Charlie.... I actually did 99% of the mixing on cans.... I simply checked it on speakers this morning....

Thanks for listening.

I almost always listen with phones too. Started this one on phones and could tell the mix was good, it just needed air (specifically air with the smell of beer mixed with a generous amount of background chatter, laughter and people having fun enjoying a rocking tune in a club.) Everything came together on this song for me. Instrument choice was good and it fit your vocal style really well. Wife is gone to work, so I let the song out of the cage. By the way, too early in the morning for me to be at a club partying and drinking beer (which I actually don't do anyway) but the song fits really well with a big cup of coffee too. ;=)

Nice job Herb!! Totally worked for me. Fun track, good energy....just what I needed to kick off a Friday! Looking forward to hearing your guitar playing but Brent held down the fort in your absence. Vocal sounded great-comfortable and spontaneous. Great work!! Take care. Greg

Hi Herb,

"Great sound, great energy, professional sounding mix" were some of the thoughts that ran through my brain as I listened. Overall, this was a very enjoyable listening experience.

Is it possible to get the Realtrack numbers? There are a couple you've used that I'd really like to investigate

Regards,
Noel

Love it, very well produced and written; thanks for sharing!

Greg: Thanks for listening. Glad I could get your day started on the right note.

Noel: Thanks as well.... and yes, certainly. I also write down the track numbers I see others using when I hear something cool..... but I have yet to use them in a tune intentionally.

drums rock even 8
bass 2149
Rhythm guitar 2150
lead guitar 1708
piano 2151 & 1565
B3 690

I believe those numbers are accurate. Enjoy.


PGfantastic: glad you like it and thanks for the kind words. That was an old song. I wrote that 30+ years ago and it was setting collecting dust. I decided to give it a shot in PG.... I actually attempted a rewrite about a year and a half ago..... but that didn't work out and I abandoned the project.

There was a reason for this recording, but I'm not at liberty to discuss the details of this quite yet. Perhaps in a few weeks.

nice rocker!

just love the lead guitar it sounds so natural here

much enjoyed!

Gruverider: Yeah the guitar does sound really good. I am always amazed at the real tracks.... of course, there is some voodoo-hoodoo going on there too. Just a tiny bit of behind the scenes brightening and EQ.... wink wink...

FYI.... I posted a new version with a single word change....

chorus word "long" is now "wrong".... I think it makes a bit more sense...

So... you see..... I nit pick my own music as well as that of others.....

Good job on the production on this. Got some life to it. The vocal is well done - one of your better ones - but it seems a bit too clean and dry for this type song. Some reverb, maybe a touch of slap-back, would help rough it up a bit. This type of song ought to have strong harmonies - like a party - you have them pretty much buried so you hardly know they are there until the music gets out of the way.

The solos all sound good. I still don't get dropping the piano so low that it can't really be heard - particularly right after it has soloed. But all in all, a good lively sound.

I understand that these type songs are pretty cliché. But you should consider putting some furniture in it somewhere. And I think it's a little confusing that you are mixing party clichés with romantic-song clichés. Right off the bat when you sing

"Listen to the singer, he's singing soft and low"

...made me wonder what soft and low music had to do with a party song. Then the switch to bluegrass throws it in yet another direction. Then in verse 2 you have your baby "holding on tight" - a truck-song cliché (unless you intended that as a sexual innuendo) - followed by a bottle of wine and candlelight - more romantic-song cliché. Then in verse 3, she's coming to you, ready to go, but she was already with you in verse 2. And then back to kissing and loving like it's just a party for 2 - but that doesn't seem clear. So your music says "Party!" and most of your verse says "soft music and candlelight".

Just some thoughts if you ever decide to rewrite any more.

Hi Herb,

Fun and energetic. One of your best vocals - loved hearing you cut loose. Great overall sound and choice of RTs.

+1 on what Floyd said. That's some excellent advice - especially on the lyrics if you decide to revisit this one. 30 years ago when you wrote this, I'm imagining you were a fairly new songwriter.


Josie

Floyd: Thanks for listening and commenting in detail as you did. Lots of good points in your observations. I was aware of the cliche's and the issue you mentioned with "her presence" in verses 2 & 3. I could go into a discussion of what I was thinking but that doesn't matter since it was 30 years ago. The only thing that really matters is what a new listener, such as yourself, "hears" in the words of the song. Clearly, there are issues that could stand some resolution and perhaps I will work on a rewrite of this to be a bit more coherent and consistent in the story line of the song. I have this in for some "professional" ears to critique so it will be interesting to see how "they" hear this tune. I will let you know what "they" say when I hear back from "them". (I may just PM you if this song is down the page a bit at that point)

Rewriting it is something I will certainly consider. Back when I wrote this, I was not rewriting any of the stuff I wrote, so this version essentially amounts to the first draft version of the song. Thanks again for the in depth look into the lyrics.

One more thing: I did in fact consider putting a slapback on the lead vox. I have it on the BGV but they are kinda low and it's not audible. If I record this again after I consider the rewrite of the lyrics, I may experiment with the vox slapback fx a bit.

Josie: Thanks.... it was a quick recording on the vocals..... so I didn't really spend much time on them....maybe that's what I need to do on all my tunes.... slam those vox into the track and let it roll.

Hi Herb,

I like this song very much, a real rock song. Reminds me of "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis.

Regards,
Anne-Marie

A&M: yeah, I agree. I was hearing that in the piano parts as I started to work on them.

Thanks for the listen.

Her, life has been getting in the way so I haven't been getting to too may parties lately but I'm sure glad I came to this one!

This has a very solid mix and great vocals and lyrics. I can hear Toby Keith singing this one!

Great job!

Mario, thanks for listening..... this isn't a "party" per-se..... it only takes 2 to party in this manner......