MR. MOOG AND THE MAGIK HAND / SP ALBUM UPDATE

Let me start by saying how much appreciate my partners-in-arms at this moment, as all who are supporting me have engendered a confidence I haven’t felt for a long while. Amen.

3 songs got the work over today: TIBERIUS, RUN TO ME, and AELITA; with a short stab at Howard’s fave, MONUMENTS.

As a holdover from last night, TIBERIUS had been the recipient of a hybrid riff that when I woke this morning didn’t feel exactly right. And as those things go, subtle changes are often the difference in a riff sounding dumb or smart. Harkening back to an early form of the same idea, I took out the fluff and stuck with the repetition and lo and behold, it lined up to the previous spot without any time changes; a miracle. Add Moog.

Howard objected to RUN TO ME’s 80’s drums, so that was our first order of deconstruction. Much head scratching ensured, and knowing how this works I laid down to watch the zeros and 1’s parade march by. To his credit, Howard was able to help us walk the tom-tomming back to a place that sounded more like classic SP and less like, say, Big Country (a band Jeff and I love by the way). So in its current form the song is simpler, more direct, and has more current currency. Yes still, miles to go.

On AELITA, we harkened back to those titans that found a pile-driving figure gets the people moving, and back engineered the why of what they might do. This led to a Shredder solo, and a leaner-meaner middle 8. Hail Van Halen, ZZ Top, KISS, Pantera…

Oh yeah: MONUMENTS. I accused Howard of falling in love with the original demo sound; a condition called ‘demoitis.’ A 30-minute discussion followed, where said producer reiterated his belief the song could be a single. And though I don’t disagree, the legacy of SP is to make adaptations of different styles that in their hybridity create singularity. Where I’ve failed at that (often) sit as odd blights, and where I’ve succeeded at that (enough), tower epics. Sounds grand, eh?

I find it annoying, honestly. But that’s R N R…

W.P.C.