The
Songs
At the moment, these are in no particular
order, I'll try to clean it up later and make it more complete.
For the most part, these are quick song demos with only Charlie
and myself, but a few have the addition of my friend Austin Willacy
(of The House Jacks) on lead vocals, and a few others are the
original Ice-O-Matic tracks from the 1980s.
Charlie is playing his Roland TD-20 electronic drum kit through
just the stereo outputs on most of these tracks - the original
intent was to replace the drums with his 1965 Ludwig kit when
we decided on which songs would make the cut. I still have the
MIDI information sent from his performances, so replacing drum
sounds using Charlie's original performances is still an option.
I left some of my original notes on here
from when we were getting input on picking songs for an actual
release, but later on might add some other human interest info
behind each song. I'll try to get these all into one format soon,
rather than some as mp3s and others as m4a like they are now.
For now, just enjoy them - that's what Charlie would have wanted!
New Addition January
1, 2007 - here is the unfinished last song. Charlie was writing
lyrics for it when he got sick. The tentative title was Fix
Me Up, according
to Charlie's unfinished lyric sheet. This would be Charlie's final
performance on drums.
New Addition November 6, 2007 - New mix of Rainin',
finally adding the harmonica and sax, added by Ross Walters in
Nashville. Also experimenting with tweaking the drum sounds while
leaving Charlie's performance intact.
Too Tight
Tonight - this is an Ice-O-Matic
song that we had Austin sing a new lead vocal over the original
1980s instrumental tracks. More recently, Charlie and I decided
to re-do the song from the ground up, so we took the track Austin
did, as well as the original clav intro part because it was pretty
cool, then recorded a whole new background with Charlie on drums,
and myself on bass, guitar, Rhodes piano, organ and backing vocals.
Since the original wasn't recorded to a click track, we had to
move some stuff around, so the lead vocals may not be sitting
in the pocket yet, but close enough for the moment.
Unusual - Charlie and
I wrote this one, and Austin is singing lead vocal. Probably our
most "contemporary" effort, while still sounding fairly
oldschool.
Empty Dreams - Another Ice-O-Matic
song, re-done by Charlie and myself. Lead vocals are me, but may
be replaced by Austin later. The horns come from the original
1985 tracks.
Baby Wanna Get Down - See "Empty
Dreams" above - exact same description!
Anastasia - The first
one we wrote together. Not of the same Soul/Funk ilk, but still
pretty 70s anyway! Austin on lead vocal. I believe that Charlie's
daughter Emily contributed the lyrics to this one.
Harpy in High Heels - Another new
one not in the Soul vein. One thought I had was to do the album
with just the funky stuff - kind of a concept thing, like a band
from 1975 you haven't heard before that was locked in a vault
somewhere - which would render some of these other styles unusable
for this project... I don't know... 2 projects? Doesn't matter,
just use the best songs?
Move
On
Too Much
Love
All I Want - Heh,
Charlie's daughter dared us to write something rougher...
Box Me In - Wow,
stealin' from everyone in this one...
Bold
Is Your Lovin' - kind of the same ol' formula, but what the
heck - maybe there's something in there...
Santa Claus Is Comin'
To Town - yes, we did... kind of fun, though
New Addition - 9-22-06:
Two Tone Baby - we were looking
for something to do yesterday and re-discovered this song in the
"reject" pile.
3 Doors Down
You're The Most
Hob
Nailin' - got to use one of the more unusual patches on the
Variax for the lead on this one!
Watch That
Pressure - Another Ice-O-Matic tune, rebuilt from the ground
up by Charlie and me. Just got my new Variax guitar that day,
so I had to try the "Sitar" setting for the intro and
middle sections! :-) There is also a version with Austin
on lead vocals, but mine has the correct words - should Austin
redo it, or keep my vocals?
Bent On Normal
- These next 4 songs were written and recorded very quickly over
a few days, I don't remember much about them.
Gettin'
Blurry
Too Much
Love
Better
Or Worse
Little
Bit Of Nothin' - Charlie wrote this soon after John Lennon
was shot.
Underground (new slower version)
Steal Your Love - I was
sick when I sang this one, will redo if the song is worth it.
Apologies to George Harrison for the ending, it just happened...
Passed It - Bill and
Charlie again - would like to replace synth horns with real thing
if the song passes muster.
It's Rainin' - Going for
a "War" sort of thing, in fact, hoping to get Lee Oskar
to play harmonica on it, hence the blank parts, but maybe a saxophone
if not... Charlie also wanted me to include the version
with my vocal on it. Added
note 9/20 - I spoke to Lee Oskar already, he's going to take a
listen and get back to me.
Gone
Forever - Charlie got the bad news that his brother had died
suddenly, and this song is about that.
Strange Girl - Ice-O-Matic
1985 original recording with their original singer, Al.
Mechanical Man - Charlie likes
this one, I don't care for it much.
You Gotta Stand Up - Original
Ice-O-Matic recording with Austin adding lead vocal 20 years later!
Underground - Same description
as above
Mombassa - Weird little ditty
that was inspired by a malfunction of Charlie's Midi-triggered
drumset, playing marimba notes instead of drum hits, so we wrote
a song around it, and added some chanting from the movie "Zulu"
for good measure.
Mombassa instrumental
movie soundtrack - This isn't really for contention, but it's
kind of fun... Charlie was trying to re-write the lyrics today
and I did an instrumental rough for him to do it by, but while
I had it open I started hearing it as a movie soundtrack or something
and added some Kalimba and guitar to make it a background instrumental.
This
Can't Be Love - A blues jam that turned into a song.
Kisses in the Wind
Hang
It Up
Ten Times - Ice-O-Matic 1985 with Austin
2005
My Lucky Day -
quick demo, I don't even remember doing the song - don't know
what that says for it! :-)
Don't
Send Nobody Else - The only cover song of the project (with
the exception of the quick version of "Santa Claus is Comin'
to Town".) This is a song by the group "Ace Spectrum",
scratch vocals right now, I think Austin should do the real vocals.
Kinda Cold - I was also sick for this
one, which makes me sound like David Bowie on some lines...
If You Need Me - Ice-O-Matic with Austin
overdubbed
Only The Good - Voice was shot
for this one, will redo later
Hard
Way - kind of a mess, but here anyway to see if there is anything
salvageable in it.
Gonna
Be So Happy - And now for something completely different,
with slide guitars and country picking, and a banjo just for fun!
Maybe You Don't Really Love Me
- Original Ice-O-Matic recording with original singer.
Why Don't You Love Me? - A "roller"
as Charlie calls Soul ballads. Ice-O-Matic song redone from the
ground up with Austin on lead vocals.
Mavis
- needs work, but the idea is there
Desperately
- Bill and Charlie going back to the 60s again, trying for 4 Tops,
but maybe only getting as far as Gary Puckett and the Union Gap...
Can't Stand Another Day - Another
song from the "sick vocal day", but it kind of works!
Sounds like I'm trying to channel Jorma Kaukonen from Jefferson
Airplane through my guitar at the end...
Can't
Dance - Another Jam-turned-song, with Austin
An Old Star - What? Interesting stuff,
nonetheless!
January 6, 2007 - looking
back through Charlie's backup hard drive, here are 20+ more songs
from the Ice-O-Matic days and the early days of our collaboration
a few years back. The original impetus of this project was to
remix the multitrack tapes that Charlie had found in his garage
- these are those remixes and some of the early original experiments
that started the rest of the project:
Baby
Wanna Get Down - this is the
original Ice-O-Matic recording
Come Closer
- Ice-O-Matic instrumental with Austin vocal
Empty Dreams - original Ice-O-Matic
recording, with experimental overdubs before we recut the song
Freebase - original
Ice-O-Matic recording, shows the great tightness of the original
band!
Girl Like You
- original Ice-O-Matic recording - a nice roller, as Charlie would
say...
Give Me Time
- Ice-O-Matic track with Austin overdubbed on lead vocal 20 years
later. I think I added some guitar and backup vocal too.
Got Me Where You Want
Me - Not sure what the deal is on this one - original Ice-O-Matic
track, but sounds like I did some overdubbing on it... I have
no memory of it.
If You Need
Me - Ice-O-Matic track with Austin overdubbed on lead vocal.
Japanese
Car - Early collaboration between Charlie and I - playing
my Japanese Koto that my mom bought at a garage sale when I was
a kid. Charlie speaks his mind at the end...
Little Bit
Of Nothing - Original Ice-O-Matic recording
Maybe You
Don't Really Love Me - Original Ice-O-Matic recording
Baby, Why You Playin'
This Game? - Original Ice-O-Matic recording
Rivers Of Truth
- Original Ice-O-Matic recording
Strange Girl
- Original Ice-O-Matic recording
Tools Are For Fools
- an early collaboration between Charlie and I. The "Barry
White" break needs explaning I guess... in early mixes after
I would lay a vocal (when Charlie would be outside on a smoke
break) I started adding these "dead Barry White" vignettes
- I don't know why - but it entertained us!
Underground
- Original Ice-O-Matic recording
Watch That
Pressure - Original Ice-O-Matic recording
The Way It Used To
Be - Charlie's new electronic drum kit came with demo song
sequences to practice with. I heard him doing this beat with his
headphones on, so we wrote a new song fragment around it - never
finished it because we thought it sounded kind of cheesy, but
here it is anyway! :-)
Why Don't
You Love Me? - Original Ice-O-Matic recording
You Bet Your
Life - Charlie had a 45-pound barbell weight that he would
put in front of his kick drum to keep it from moving around. One
day we recorded him hitting it with a hammer (I don't remember
why) and we used that sound as the basis for this song with Austin
singing.
You Gotta Stand
Up - Original Ice-O-Matic recording with Austin overdub