Soulless Confrontation (9-12-2015)

https://soundcloud.com/lawrence-olivier/soulless-confrontation

Soulless Confrontation (9-12-2015)

Half a sandwich in your left hand/ half a pickle in your right
That guitar in your lap man/ we’ve been at this thing all night
You know you lied when you said/”just an in and out”
Let’s put this damn thing to bed/ before it turns to doubt

The smudges on your window/ your smoky chandelier
The dull glow and the shadow/ like no one’s living here
There’s meaning in your movement/ there’s downhill in your stride
There’s room for some improvement/ obstruction in your pride

And you’re all: quiet conversation, moody celebration, Soulless Confrontation

You claim this is your college / it plays more like free-style
I claim no secrete knowledge/ but this might take awhile
You say let’s groove until dawn/ you can’t escape your ghost
I say I want to move on / maybe get out to the coast

And you’re all: groovy modulation, jazzy inspiration, Soulless Confrontation
Arrested maturation, peculiar occupation, Soulless Confrontation


Except for the melody, the key change at the solo and the intro which I wrote last, this is the first song I've written almost entirely in Band In A Box from the beginning. I had an idea of the direction I wanted to go in. For the intro and key change I used my guitar to assist my limited knowledge of theory.

Realtracks: Drums JassFunkGrovin; Bass 1433; Elc piano 1437; Elc Gtr 1435; Horns 2110; Soloist Alto Sax 1441

All of the Realtracks are unedited. I must say Band In A Box is awesome.

I've been studying mixing on Youtube a lot lately for clarity of mix. My references are "Car Wheels On A Gravel Road" by Lucinda Williams and "Aja" by Steely Dan.

Musically I was going for that funky Steely Dan vibe. I also wanted to mimic their cryptic lyrical approach. It does tell a story from my life but not explicitly. As it's funky, and soulful I thought the title would hold the proper irony.

I got some Randy Newman there. Good song interesting lyrics liked it. Nice mix.

yeh, definitely a Steely influence.
nice vocals and voice sounds good
good mix

thoroughly enjoyed

Alyn

If you were going for a Funky feel, well, you definitely won.

And yes, I can sense Donald Fagan in there somewhere for sure.

Hi Lawrence,

interesting lyrics and chords.
Nice arrangement and mix.
And as always your voice tops it all.
Very enjoyable listen.

Guenter

Nice work, Lawrence - on many levels.

Your vocal recording has a more "right there with me" feel/sound...

The instrument grouping sounds like a band tight-from-years-of-playing-together. Cool, funky, confident...

Nice write.

I do hear the "Dan-ness" of this, but I thought it sounded most like the old SNL band (when they would play out to commercial).

Great listen.

floyd

Man, you got everything right in the pocket here.
That band is cooking.

"The smudges on your window/ your smoky chandelier
The dull glow and the shadow/ like no one’s living here
There’s meaning in your movement/ there’s downhill in your stride
There’s room for some improvement/ obstruction in your pride"

It's all a strong write but the above is our favorite.

And the vocal and production? You are so
consistently outstanding throughout all of
your varied genre endeavors. Another for
the ever expanding Gruve SC playlist!

Kudos!

J&B

I feel the Steely Dan spirit in this, musically and lyrically.
Great groove, great use of the BIAB tracks, this rocks!
I appreciate and relate to your studying on YouTube, there are excellent resources there and just re-listening to songs from the past can start some inspiration. Enjoyed!

Kenny

Not much I can say that hasn't been said. Very tight band you got there

I dare say if this were a different epoch in the music biz you might have a record contract. Your stuff never fails to impress; I will listen again!

All good here. Great arrangement lyrics and vocals. Cheers.

This style really suits your vocals. Very tight and and enjoyable listen from start to finish. You got it right this time for sure.

Charlie

You da Funky Monkey, GR! Like Bud said - the lyric is great, as well as the production. You've got a Nouveau-Beatnik thing going on that I dig.


Funny you should be referencing "Aja". That song is used by many live sound engineers for sound checking a venue, because it was so well recorded. Roger Nichols and Al Schmitt both worked on that record.


Regards,

Bob

Thank you Peter.

Thank you Alyn

Thanks for stopping in for a listen

Thank you Guenter. It was really fun to play with the arrangement and figure out a key change.

Thank you Floyd.

Hey guys thank you. Lyrically it was a fun write. A songwriting friend from long ago would stick his hand in the pickle jar, take a bite of pickle and if an idea struck him, strum his guitar with his pickle fingers. I found that quite amusing.

Thank you Kenny. Yes there are a lot of producers with technique videos and I'm beginning to learn just how much I didn't understand. It's a fun journey!

That's very generous of you. Thank you.

Always good to hear from you.

Thank you Charlie.

I suppose I set the bar at the top but why not? lol! Thanks for commenting Bob.

You're on a roll Lawrence!! This is very cool. The changes and the way the horns work is killer. Very live, spontaneous feel! And, many have mentioned the Dan. There's no greater fan of the Dan than I, and you definitely have elements of them in this tune. It's excellent all the way around. The strange, cryptic lyrics make in all the more like the Dan. Really dig it!! Take care. Greg

Ever since the first song you've posted here, I've held your song-writing ability in very high regard. You've got a bunch of undefinable things going that really work for you. GRUVERIDER is a good nick for you, because you do seem to be riding the crest of multiple grooves...

Even before I read your intro, it was obvious you've been listening to steely dan... you nailed it, too.

And I find it interesting that you zeroed in on what you call their "cryptic lyrics" because in my opinion, most of your lyrics leave me wondering where on earth you got the idea to use a certain phrase or collection of unrelated thoughts in a lyric. But wherever you get them, I must say you are really GOOD at it!

Thank you Greg. The horns sound so cool they really lifted this song to a different place. Dig the Dan!

Thank you Pat for your time and comments. Your love of music shines through in all of the comments you leave and not just on my songs. I'm glad you liked this one. It was fun to put together.

Wow! Thanks for doing this song! I was blown away by how good the "players" were! I try to listen to the song before reading anything about it...including to what extent BIAB was used. I was actually worried, or convinced, you were either playing the parts, or had a band that you were a part of. Great job picking RT that go well together.

I like the song all the way around. It seemed confident and laid back, but NEVER even remotely boring. That was GREAT!

Nice groove!

Thank you. BIAB has done a great job with these Realtracks and I was happy to put them to use.

Glad you liked it!

Lawrence,

This is fantastic. Floyd mentioned that it sounded like band that had been playing together for years. It's so true. What I heard was not BIAB at all. To me, the audio journey was a group of elite musicians making sophisticated music: jazz meets blues meets rock meets funk. The arrangement, the musical interplay, the song and your singing were all bursting with confidence and competence.

Totally enjoyed it.

All the best,
Noel

• latest re-visited BIAB arrangement: Road With New Horizons

Lawrence, I love the opening. Great vocal as usual. I might have put a little reverb or delay on the sax but other than that the mix sounds super. Fantastic chord progression and arrangement. Really cool and a great listen. Tom

Noel, how much fun we are having with BIAB? What a privilege it is to be able to arrange a song so easily and have it sound so professional and be able to share it with other people. Just a joy all around! And thank you for the kind words.


Thank you Tom. The intro was fun to write. And I am constantly remixing (thanks to soundcloud allowing "replace file") so I will play around with the Fx on the sax.

Lawrence,

I'm a big fan - always look forward to what you have to offer. This one is really excellent.

Bob

Hi Bob, glad you liked it. And I look forward to your songs as well.

Hi Lawrence,

We thought the intro/solo parts were kind of too busy for our taste.
But, you very successfully managed to emulate that Steely Dan sound.
Yes, this definitely also shows BiaB's versatility.

Rob and Anne-Marie

Thanks guys. Glad you stopped in for a listen.

Hey I liked the intro! Every instrument sounded as if they were in my room giving me a solo performance. A+ on this one!
Sonny

Very NICE! I love the intro. Your vocals are always good. I agree with Floyd, a little SD needs SNL.

Great use of RealTracks. Like it!

Steve

Thank you Sonny.

Thank you Steve.

Interesting take on the term "soulless"

I thought it was

Gruve,

+1 to all the accolades said already.

I loved your opening line - "Half a sandwich in your left hand/ half a pickle in your right" - now that's an attention grabber.

Your first with BIAB - wow how cool is that...

Josie

Thanks for listening and commenting. Yes, I've always come to BAIB after I've finished writing the song on guitar. So choosing a Style, key and tempo, then typing in chords and then playing it back over and over until a melody emerged was a fun experience.