anthill1956

Circadian Rhythms is an instrumental concept album. 

The theme is inspired by disasters and extreme events that happen somewhere, everyday, in one part of the world or another.  Some will occur naturally, as Mother Nature flexes her muscles with devastating effect,  others may have a more sinister cause!  Debates and arguments continue over how much  Mankind's interference  on our planet has affected the Earths Circadian Rhythm.

Some believe that mankind has upset the Spirit of Gaia and the changes affecting the planet are actually the Earth's way of fighting back and compensating for this assault. Others believe the changes are part of a natural cycle lasting many thousands of years which we have no power to affect. Yet more people believe that we are totally responsible for our own fate and that drastic action is needed to save us from Global disaster while others see Global Warming as a political conspiracy supported by big business interests.

Whatever the truth, and I have to accept we may never know one way or the other, we are all involved.  Either we have been  directly affected by flooding, fire, earthquakes, blizzards  and hurricanes or simply by watching horrifying satellite images beamed from around the world into the safety our homes. 

The music was mostly composed during the 1990's and probably reflected my knowledge and interest in the environment and the pattern of changes we were just becoming aware & fearful of.  

Most of the compositions start with an initial theme which is then expanded upon with counterpoints blended  from Rock, Ethnic and Orchestral instruments. Sometimes played in collaboration,  other times in opposition,  but always contrasting,  complementing and expanding out of  my control....or whatever control I have!

Quite where these themes and variations derive from is something I can't even guess at, they just seem to appear at my fingertips when needed,  although I do admit to borrowing a small section from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an exhibition  for "Where the Wind takes me".

My music isn't going to change anything but,  like Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burnt, maybe it will provide a little distraction while we watch and  wait for the Apocalypse to arrive.

As usual I have taken some artistic licence with the titles but  feel free to interpret them in whatever way works for you. 

Track listings are as follows:-

   (1) Introduction                                         

   (2) Silent Satellite       

   (3) Snowbound                          

   (4) Tsunami  

   (5) Spirit of Gaia

   (6) Monsoon Moon               

   (7) Epicentre                   

   (8) Where the Wind takes me

                                     Below are samples from the above album. 

Songs of Agony & Ecstasy.

A  little bit of  a compilation this one with songs recorded over the last  30 years.   All these songs have been 

remixed or, where I only had master stereo recordings,   I have  equalised,  compressed  and  generally  tweeted  the  recordings,  occasionally  adding  new  lines  to  improve the overall quality and satisfy my desire to endlessly fiddle about. 

The name speaks for itself and is an all encompassing title applicable to those relationships that are very good and also to those that aren't so good and those we would rather not talk about but feel we must and which stay with you for most of your life.

To protect the innocent (and the guilty) I have to say that none of these songs were inspired by any real persons or events......and,  if you do recognise something from you dim and distant past, it's probably just a  coincidence?

Track Listings:- 

1) Awakening 5.21

2) How Well I Know Her (My Night & Daydream) 5.00

3) Always Tomorrow 4.32 (featured below)

4) Raining 5.17 (Featured below)

5) I Want You Back 5.17

6) Catch As You Can (Don't Blame The Children) 4.42

7) In My Own Domain 5.42 (featured below)

8) Awakening Reprise 5.00

Soliloquy.  

 A collection of  instrumental  music inspired by the novels of Stephen King, Dean Koontz and James Herbert.

When composing and recording this music I have attempted to compile an often long and detailed story into a simpler piece of music that was inspired by the emotions aroused in me by the tale I was reading.

The reaction is obviously going to differ for every reader so I always try to make each composition work as a standalone piece of music that can be appreciated without any knowledge of the book. 

I hope it would also inspire you to actually seek out and read  these great novels as well,  and if the music doesn't do it for you maybe the book will.

The track listings are as follows:-  

(1)  Lightning                          5.18       (featured below)
(2)  It                                          17.36       (featured below)

 (3)  Domain                           11.32       (featured below)

 (4)  Twilight Eyes               6.54           

 (5)  Tommy Knockers      9.01       (featured below)

 (6)  The Stand                     24.01  

All the above has been recorded using software and equipment that is no longer available to me and therefore my recent editing has been limited to a few tweaks and adjustments to the original DAT stereo recording.  This has been a little frustrating as there are certain passage I wish I had never left in the final mix but I guess they need to remain as a reminder to leave my options open when completing a work.  For these who may be interested in the technical side of these compositions I can remember that all the tracks were composed on an Atari mega 4 computer running Notator C Lab midi recorder (which eventually became Logic Audio).  Tracks 1 & 4 were recorded at Subway Studios Nottingham and back then all the keyboards and modules and effects were  routed through a 32 channel Soundcraft mixer.

The other tracks were all recorded in my home studio in 1990's using the same software but a variety of sub mixers.  I remember the Track for The Stand being one of my most challenging projects and from what I recall I had to use over 60 different instruments over 40 different midi channels to get the sound I wanted.  Back then there was no automation available, apart from midi volume and panning, so all the sounds had to mixed and blended by hand in a live sequence which was mastered to DAT.  This probably took the best part of 3 months to complete and really was a labour of love but no less than this amazing novel deserved.  In this recording every main character in the novel has their own theme, as do the locations, from sleepy Nebraska to wild and sinister Las Vegas. Mother Abigail, Nick Andross, Tom Cullen, the Trashcan Man and Randall Flagg among others are all represented. The huge range of instruments from acoustic guitars to Banjos,  Brass and Strings sections and pianos to Rock Guitar and drums, Timpani and Tubular bells and choirs are all used in harmony and sometimes in opposition to create a landscape of sound placing each character in their own location in the story.  As I said, a huge labour of love which I am glad to have created but which I would not want to repeat....not yet anyway, although I feel that The Dark Tower is calling my name!

Twilight Eyes had my midi software synced to an 8 track cassette portastudio on which I recorded the live guitar tracks before mixing the live sound with the midi sequence for the final mix,  again this was before Audio recording was possible or was an option in a home studio setting.

My interpretation of Stephen Kings "It" started as an experiment while I was working at Subway Studios back in the 1980's.  I had read the book and was playing around with ideas for new compositions and ways to test out all the new equipment I now had.  I was often working in the studio until the early hours,  basically letting bands in and out and collecting payments but had a lot of spare time to play around and, back then, after locking up, I had a drive of about 20 minutes to get home.  So I set myself a challenge, let's see if I can write a score to accompany the book that Is as long as it  takes to  drive home.  So with book in hand I started to work out some themes and Rhythms that seemed to fit and eventually, after some weeks I completed my first epic composition.  This was a few years before the first movie was  released but I still take the credit for writing  the score to It first.   The version on "Soliloquy" is actually a 're-working from the 1990's of the original as I didn't think my first effort really stood the test of time, however the recent mix does include the original opening (together with sound fx) and also closes with an extract from the 80's version.