"And now I am become Death..."

It's pure coincidence that the drums for "Days to Midnight" were recorded the same day Oppenheimer was released on DVD, but given the song's roots I think it's incredibly appropriate.  (Sadly I haven't got my copy yet.)

I found the first take of this drum part breathtakingly cathartic to witness.  Not only was it a testament to how good Escapade material can potentially sound, but it also crystallized in four exhilarating minutes the intense feelings that have been hidden in this song this whole time.  In many ways, that moment felt like the real beginning, and everything before it a mere warm-up.

I'm actually going on a much-needed holiday next week, but after that it'll be time for some bass guitar.  The lead and rhythm guitars are going in last on this track.

Skeleton of an (anti-?) apocalypse

My parts for "Days to Midnight" are (provisionally, at least) done.  I think it's generally good practice to have as many recorded instruments in place as possible before letting other musicians loose on a song, so they have the best idea of what's going to work well.  This is where being a keyboardist gives me an advantage, as I can easily create placeholder "guitars" and "basses", whereas if I were primarily a guitarist I probably couldn't make placeholder keyboards.

There's actually a bit less piano in the song this time.  I think the busy piano parts in the original "verse" sections don't work too well, so they'll (hopefully) have some rhythm guitar work instead.  In the "refrain" and "solo" sections, meanwhile, I didn't follow the original very slavishly, instead basically sitting down and improvising a part around the chords and what I could remember of the arrangement.

For the synth pad, I chose a soft, fairly bright "strings" sound rather than the not-very-convincing "pipe organ" tone used in the Escapade 2 version.  This actually brings the feel of the song more in line with the Escapade version, if anything, which is only appropriate given the far less pessimistic lyrical tone.  For the "Strange Days"-like looped synth line in the "intro" sections, I fleshed out the arrangement a bit by giving it to two instruments: a "plucked" synth tone in the foreground, and a more sustained bright bell sound tucked into the background.

(I should note that in 2009, when I wrote the music of this song, I hadn't heard any Doors beyond their self-titled debut album, whose atmosphere I found off-putting.)

I removed the "Westminster Quarters" quote in the "re-intro" after the solo.  Besides not really fitting with the re-worked lyrics, it clashed harmonically and, as it now turns out, I'd got the quote wrong!  My guess is that what I was remembering, when I arranged this for Escapade all those years ago, was not the actual Westminster chime but a simplified version in my maternal grandparents' old clock.  I can't verify that, as I no longer have access to said clock.

I basically did the lead vocal in one take - it seems that the "Look and See" history is repeating!  There are a few very slight rough edges, but it's interesting that those little imperfections become much more acceptable when the performance is captured on a microphone that's actually intended primarily for singing into.  It probably also helps that, because of the song's age, I've had plenty of time to think about how to phrase the melody effectively, even with significantly changed lyrics.  As in the Escapade 2 version, I added a supporting harmony part underneath where the melody goes into my (still pretty weak) falsetto at the end of the refrain.

I sang the backing vocal parts through... how should I put this?  Through an accessory for the lower face that, not so long ago, was horribly familiar.  This has the effect of slightly obfuscating and depersonalizing them, without making them sound artificial in the way that electronic encoding in post-production would have.  I found it startling, though, that the effect is akin to a mild version of the ludicrous close-miking of the vocals throughout Escapade.  Still, I like the symbolic value of having, in this first track of Chronicles, "good versions" of both previous Escapade vocal sounds.

Finally, it seems I was correct that a slightly slower tempo makes this song a lot more impactful.  At 170 BPM instead of the 180 of previous versions, the solo section in particular already rocks out more than either of its predecessors.  This is especially impressive since, at this stage, the solo section is just a pounding piano and placeholder MIDI guitar and bass.

So this is already promising!  Drums are (hopefully) coming next.

Poetry Corner I

Since there's little to change musically in "Days to Midnight", I'll dive straight into the lyrics for this one.  Originally, this song was vaguely apocalyptic in tone, with "midnight" referring to the iconic Doomsday Clock.  (I don't think I was familiar, at the time, with the Iron Maiden song that does this reference so much better.)

It's honestly one of the (relatively!) less embarrassing offerings, I think.  If it were to be buried in the middle of Chronicles, I might even consider leaving it unaltered.  The fact that it is going to be the opener this time, however, gives the song bigger shoes to fill.  An opener usually sets the scene for the whole album, and if I do it wrong, it's just going to bog the proceedings down in the same way that "March for the Age" did.

So rather than having it be a refined version of an apocalyptic vision, I'm instead going to frame this as a put-down of those who incessantly spout alarmist rhetoric in situations where it accomplishes nothing besides spreading feelings of hopeless futility.  On a meta level, it was those same terrible feelings that found their way into the Escapades, and I really don't want Chronicles falling into the same trap.  Hopefully, this will nip that issue in the bud.

When the clock is ticking every day,
So, you always say,
And the people, they could never care,
No, you say beware.
I hear it's closing in,
The day there'll be no more.

I hear you on the phone,
The signal's breaking down,
And the flames are flying out of town.
So I'm stuck with you alone,
With nowhere to run or hide,
You leave me feeling dead inside.

As I hear you more, I can't contain
Those clouds in my brain,
And I watch the people walking out,
So, who'll hear you now?

I hear you on the phone...

Now you've got me right here in the room
Where you'll speak my doom,
If you won't let me answer your call,
Why bring me here at all?
I feel it closing in,
The day I lose my mind.

I hear you on the phone...

I've chosen not to include, in the above transcription, the backing vocals that sing the title during the call-and-response refrain.  As much as I'm not a fan of post-production gimmickry, I think it might be worth experimenting with heavier vocal encoding for those (there's some light phasing in the Escapade version and nothing of the sort in the Escapade 2 version).  This should further emphasize that it's not ME being a generic prophet of doom this time!

Also note that the revised lyrics are quite a bit more dense and tongue-twisting.  Using a slightly slower tempo (because it doesn't have to be exactly 4 minutes anymore) makes that practicable.

The Plan

Broadly speaking, there are three areas in which the Escapade material needs improving.  These are the production, the lyrics, and the way the material is framed.

Production

Since the release of the Escapades, several people have cited Frank Zappa's Synclavier experiments of the 1980s as an example of the computer-music approach "done right".  Consequently, in preparation for this project I decided to familiarize myself with some of this stuff.

Actually not as misleading an album title as some have insinuated, I think.

I think the difference lies in Zappa's artistic aims (even at his most purely musical) being significantly different from mine.  The atmosphere the Synclavier creates is an eerie one, and Zappa tends to lean into that.  The unsettling mental picture I get is of a computer engaging in some sort of Satanic ritual.  Certainly none of the programmed music remotely aims for the kind of rarefied beauty so much of my work goes for: the track that does, "St. Etienne", doesn't feature the Synclavier at all, and is instead edited down from a surprisingly moving live rendition of "Drowning Witch".  It's lovely, and the effect of the preceding "Damp Ankles" segueing into it is almost cathartic.

The obvious conclusion is that while the computer-music production approach isn't inherently a bad one, it is a poor fit for me.  Fortunately, other developments in recent years have made it so that I can't pretend that I need to make music that way anymore.  The huge game-changer is the fact that it's now possible to work with other musicians remotely, meaning that the high quotient of classical specialization among my immediate acquaintances is no longer a barrier.  Moreover, it's already become clear that my grounding in classical is eminently transferrable, as several of the artists I've worked with on other projects have warmly complimented the clarity of my notation.

So this time, there will be a healthy dose of real guitars, real basses, and real drums!  I shall be playing piano and synthesizer.  There'll probably still be some programming, too, but only for parts where that's actually the right choice.  (Some string parts in "Faraway Island" come to mind.)

I'll probably be handling about half the vocals.  I basically have the same range as Mark Knopfler, so it's not like my voice is unworkable for this material, but I do have a plaintive intensity in my higher registers that probably isn't the best fit for a lot of it.  And more generally, I've known for years that my voice is more naturally a soul voice than a rock one.

To the surprise of some I don't use anything more sophisticated than Audacity for mixing these days.  While this free program used to be a bit of a joke, it's evolved over the years into something quite respectable.  It doesn't offer a lot of post-production gimmicks, but I've never been wild about such things anyway.  Moreover, by forcing myself to do things the hard way, I greatly reduce the risk of falling into the mixing complacency that so crippled Escapade 2.  Finally, my background in classical (in which a rigid tempo is rarely desirable) means that thinking in seconds, rather than in beats, at the mixing stage feels normal to me.

Lyrics

The lyrics will be re-worked much more ruthlessly here than on Escapade 2, where (notwithstanding "Look and See") I only ironed out some of the more flagrant verbal creases.  It's been so long since I originally wrote this material, that my thoughts and feelings on what I'm writing about have become far more nuanced.  This different perspective may well make it easier to come up with enough verses to fill the songs without having to repeat anything: I feel this could improve "Faraway Island" in particular.

"Modern Art" will be instrumental this time, probably with the melody on nylon-string acoustic guitar or something.  While the author of the text did give me his permission to turn it into a song all those years ago, I feel guilty that some of the mockery that met the Escapade version spilled over onto the actual poem, too.  I just don't want to fan those flames again.

Presentation

As Escapade 2 made painfully clear, the original running order bogs the album down.  Setting the scene is all very well, but only one song is needed to do that.  Since most of "March for the Age" is going to be cut, I no longer have the option of using that slab of electronic bombast to open the proceedings.  And "My Next Escape" isn't really opener material without it.

Therefore, instead I'll be opening with "Days to Midnight".  It's fast, it's catchy, and in the context of this project it has the advantage of being a song that requires (relatively speaking) little attention besides lyrics.

On both extant Escapades, "Days to Midnight" is followed by "Modern Art".  I, however, have always seen "Modern Art" as middle-of-album material more than anything, so that won't do this time.  I think a controlled amount of contrast is needed.  Another fast song would throw the whole album off-balance, while "Look and See" would be too jarring.  That leaves only one (perhaps surprising) choice: "Faraway Island".

After this, "Modern Art" falls into place as the "side A" closer, taking its rightful place as a relaxed, moody breather of sorts.

"Them", in any version, is going to be quite a wake-up call of a song.  On Escapade it follows two slow-to-mid-tempo songs in a row, and I think that works quite well.  Therefore, "Them" will retain its place as the "side B" opener.

"Them" is fast but quite dark, so I think the best way to follow it is with something that keeps the energy level up but in a more relaxed way.  The Escapade 2-exclusive "One of My Goof Attacks" is perfect for this.

Possibly my favourite juxtaposition on either Escapade is that of "One of My Goof Attacks" and "Look and See" on 2.  Moreover, retaining this transition also makes "Look and See" the penultimate song on the whole album, giving it a role akin to what "Faraway Island" tried to be before.  Its more vulnerable tone compared to the visionary "Faraway Island" makes it far more suitable, if anything.  Even the keys that "Look and See" and the "Escapes" are in seem to have been hinting at this all along.

Finally, there's the matter of the "Escapes" themselves.  I do think the long C-sharp major chord that ends "My Last Escape" is the right ending for the album, and (hopefully) won't make me sound like such a Pink Floyd wannabe in this new structure.  Therefore, I think the thing to do is to rework the "Escapes", together with salvageable material from "March for the Age" and "After the Party", into a suite to close the proceedings.

I'm not planning to call the album Escapade 3.  That would just draw attention to the fact that it took me three goes to have it not sound like the sort of thing that gives home-made music a bad name.  Instead, unless I change my mind before finishing the first song, this album will be called Chronicles of a Dead End - yes, the nickname I gave to the set after coming to terms with 2 having failed.  This title appeals to me because, while it might not have been the musical dead end I once thought, the place in my life the material came from was an emotional dead end.  I've always loved a good double meaning.

In summary...

Chronicles of a Dead End (?2024) track listing:

1. Days to Midnight
2. Faraway Island
3. Modern Art
4. Them
5. One of My Goof Attacks
6. Look and See
7. Escapade

Song titles are subject to change, too.