I'm tired of this structure

We come now to the first real challenge of this project.  The sprawling "Faraway Island", in its Escapade and Escapade 2 incarnations, has some lovely ideas but fails to hold my attention for its entire length.  This mostly has to do with its overly rigid formal structure exacerbating the production weaknesses.  (In all fairness, it also doesn't help that on the Escapade version in particular, I'm audibly struggling with the vocal even by that album's standards; let's just say I do not plan on singing it myself this time.)

So before turning my attention to the lyrics (which could use quite a bit of work) I've sat down and refined the song's structure and arrangement.  The extention to the intro I wrote for the Escapade 2 version will be retained, as it contextualizes the "C" section nicely:

The very opening, minus the echoed piano and sound effects

The distinctive chord progression of the "C" section, plus the first note of the organ solo

The first real change is one that my younger self would have been unwilling to make.  Previous versions of this song included an earlier-than-expected instrumental verse in the first "A" section (à la "Nowhere Man"), with the intention of telegraphing the song's scope to the listener.  I now feel that this solo is redundant in that spot because the big, sweeping intro has already served that function.  More pressingly, though, the solo needs to be held in reserve for later.  There's a reason why an instrumental verse is almost always late in a song - "Nowhere Man" is the only exception I can think of, off the top of my head.

Both the "B" and "C" sections have their origins in separate sketches.  This is significant because, in previous versions of "Faraway Island", I truncated the short guitar solo that tops off "B", thinking that its second half wouldn't fit.  It turns out, however, that with a little tweaking it does fit after all.  It also makes a far more interesting transition back to "A" for that triumphant chorus!

The guitar part sounds as written.  Yes, I know it should, strictly speaking, be written an octave higher.

The "C" section consists of a set of five variations on an unusual chord sequence somewhat reminiscent of early Pink Floyd, transcribed above; the final two change key.  I've decided to elaborate the bass part in variation 3, and (hopefully) variations 4 and 5 will have an improvised guitar solo of gradually building intensity.  This section needs a far more dramatic build-up than in previous versions, if it's to avoid being the point where the song becomes boring.

Not unexpectedly, I've decided to remove the second "B" section altogether.  It simply didn't work as a pay-off after "C".  What I think will work, though, is the very same synthesizer solo that I chose to cut from its original place in the first "A".

Just need to find the right synth tone, now.

And from there to the end, it's pretty straightforward!  I've written a new guitar fill for the final verse, based on one lick from the original "B" solo that would otherwise be lost in the process of restoring the original second half.  The final chorus and coda, though, will be as per the Escapade 2 version.

And with that, it's time to start thinking about the lyrics.