New Song Open Your Heart

[Top Cat]

After taking a long break away from working on music, I recently began to feel the gentle nudging within me to see if there were any sparks of creativity still left.
I sat down at my keyboard and I could hear the bones of a possible new song.
This is how it turned out, while it's not what I could call progressive music, it is what it is, and I hope some of you will enjoy it.
Thanks for listening.




Now available to listen on Soundcloud.
This version Mastered by Bruce Wheelock at http://flyingwhalerecording.com/

[battema]

Uh oh, that song title has 2/3 overlap with the title of a generally-hated Yes album, WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN NOOOOooOOOOOooooo




Nice tune Richard! Glad to see you back in the writing saddle

[Top Cat]

am I a bad person if I say I happen to like Open Your Eyes? lol

Thanks for listening John and your comments, always mucho appreciated.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Nice feel. I particularly like the slow fadedown back to Chief DG. (Is that public domain...?)

[clivey]

Lovely piece of 21st century Americana/ ist Nation music. I liked pretty well every aspect of the mix. With percussion, keys and guitar all sounding awesome. I also heard female backing Vocals in my head. Tee hee.. but we can't always get what we want.
Fab stuff man.

[Top Cat]

Nice feel. I particularly like the slow fadedown back to Chief DG. (Is that public domain...?)

Thank you so much for listening and glad you like it.
The Chief Dan George spoken word is from a 20min documentary educational film from the early 70s about Native Americans.
The site I use(Internet Archives) for some material is very good about providing what the legal status is for downloads. It didn't list it as public domain, but it didn't list any copyright either. Internet Archives is a fascinating website, I love it. You may find it interesting as well https://archive.org/
I think it's ok, I'm using the clip for non commercial and full credit is given to the Chief and the film.
As far as his estate, I think they would be happy his vocal spirit was used in a positive way, and not for commercial purposes. And it may also raise interest in the film, which discusses the history of how the Native American tribes were treated by the US gov't, not a very proud moment in our history.
I only posted this song on Youtube, and to be honest, I don't get many views to begin with.
Thanks for your interest.

Lovely piece of 21st century Americana/ ist Nation music. I liked pretty well every aspect of the mix. With percussion, keys and guitar all sounding awesome. I also heard female backing Vocals in my head. Tee hee.. but we can't always get what we want.
Fab stuff man.

clivey, thank you so much for listening. I appreciate your writing and music a lot, so to read your compliments means a lot to me.

[Guitarplyrjvb]

Nice job, Richard! Love the keyboard sounds!

[Top Cat]

Nice job, Richard! Love the keyboard sounds!

Thanks Joe, appreciate you giving it a listen..

[Quantum Cat]

Nice TC! Really like the layered sounds and production, the sentiment and the Chief Dan George words. Well done.

[Top Cat]

Thank you so much QC, glad you like it. Always great to get a comment from you.
Looking forward to some new music from you soon. I don't get to Soundcloud very much these days, but I'll keep my eye open.

[EBES]

Lovely song Richard! I like how the opening and closing narration ties everything together. The line "between the tears and laughter" is very effective; it suggests the complex ambiguity of emotional experience. The hint of buildup at 1:10 and 1:55 is very clever dynamically, and it makes the heavy guitar more impactful when it does fully arrive. Most of all though the mellotron(ish?) sounds here are great! The flute sound is woven through in a way which makes it quite immersive and the string sound at 4:00 adds richness.

[Top Cat]

Lovely song Richard! I like how the opening and closing narration ties everything together. The line "between the tears and laughter" is very effective; it suggests the complex ambiguity of emotional experience. The hint of buildup at 1:10 and 1:55 is very clever dynamically, and it makes the heavy guitar more impactful when it does fully arrive. Most of all though the mellotron(ish?) sounds here are great! The flute sound is woven through in a way which makes it quite immersive and the string sound at 4:00 adds richness.

Thank you so much for listening Hans.
The "between the tears and laughter" section were once again contributed by my longtime friend and collaborator, Marvin Cripps.
I love that Mellotron preset, it's from the Arturia V Collection which I was able to pick up during the holiday sale for only $199.
I've used MTron Pro since it was first released, while I still love it, the Arturia Mellotron has really grown on me.
Thanks again, appreciate your observations and thoughts on the music.

[EBES]

Thank you so much for listening Hans.
The "between the tears and laughter" section were once again contributed by my longtime friend and collaborator, Marvin Cripps.
I love that Mellotron preset, it's from the Arturia V Collection which I was able to pick up during the holiday sale for only $199.
I've used MTron Pro since it was first released, while I still love it, the Arturia Mellotron has really grown on me.
Thanks again, appreciate your observations and thoughts on the music.

I've always been an MTron Pro guy but I'm curious now about the Arturia V collection because your 'tron sounds are quite good. Might add it to the shopping list.