[cowparsleyman]

This one is a gain part of the Genre Jumping suite...

I wanted to re create the vibe of the very brilliant Stock-Aitken-Waterman, they were the backbone of the 1980's pop vibe, Kylie, Jason Donovan, Mel&Kim. The essence was plastic compressed very catchy 3 min wonders, with super attractive young Artists that were up for a life of endless tours, interviews, media intrusion and the heavy pay cheque at the end of the month.

Anyway...Here it is, the SC notes explain the idea in my head (another Sunday morning inspiration, October 2018 with a cuppa and chocolate digestive), I also listened to a lot of 5 Star, (their producer was Jay Graydon - he too was superb, so clean, so small sparkley hooks)

I had the bones of the song and couldn't get any inspiration for the melody nor lyrics, A Fox to the rescue, she is a natural lyricist, so she nailed it in no time at all.

Then I passed it to Cazrolina and she was kind enough to do a few takes of different styles that might suit, my brief was bubble-gum Kylie, but she also did Lilly Allen and Paloma Faith versions.

A huge thanks to both Cazrolina and A Fox.

Let me know what you think and as always Gloves off please.

[Neil C]

CPM,
Simply catchy synth pop. You've got the backing chord sequence, a variance from Blue Monday and some cool melody lines, neat vocals and then you steps it up for the chorus.
It all sounds wonderfully arranged and clear as a bell production-wise.

Thoughts: the non-singing piece from 1.00 to 1.40 lost my attention and I'm unsure what you trying to achieve there - more like remix? Anyway then you're straight into chorus, what happened to verse 2? Then you get the guitar solo and the outro vocals.

So I think you have all the bits but I'd go back to the SAW approach to structure, even if you repeat the 1st verse and re-assemble.

Hope this helps
:-)
neil

[Darren1664]

Cowparsleyman!

You definitely achieved what you set out for here! I loved the vibe of this and found it quite nostalgic in a great way! The music is really upbeat and catchy and the vocals were superb!! I could hear this in the charts for sure. The lyrics were also on point and tied nicely back to the whole feel of the song, a brilliant collab!

One slight note (oh here I go ) but the vocal (edit: its not the vocals ...listened again and not sure what is causing the noise, again probably just my device) sounded a little muffled/distorted (to me), it’s not the singing but is it something in the mix? I’m not great with mixing but thought I’d mention - most likely cause is I’m listening on my phone but that’s a mega minor point!

Brilliant work, all of you

Cheers

Darren

[pompeyjazz]

Nicely put together @cowparsleyman Thoughts, I got a more early 80s vibe rather than SAW. I listened to an interview with Pete Waterman the other day and he said that they just layered and layered and layered. This to me has more of an early Depeche Mode poppy vibe. Super cool clean and crisp mix. I dunno if the guitar solo worked for me, nothing wrong with the solo but it just seemed a bit "stitched" in there if you know what I mean. However,  it's another top quality piece of work from yourself 

[MonnoDB]

Hey @cowparsleyman - very catchy indeed! Great collab! Very well sung! Love the way that you nail the different genres although I would agree it's a bit more DP than SAW.. Only thing I wasn't sure about was that very low in the mix BV (I think it's you? Sounds like a male BV so buried you can't quite hear it.. I'd commit and bring it up or strip out if it was me I think! It's nice when you bring it up and do the Ooh-ooh-oh at the very end, I mean the bit just before that...

Nice work again, sir!

K

[Modestmouse1965/]

Please don't fall out with me but having lived through this scene i was glad i had bought so many punk albums to keep me sane.
Pete Waterman was behind the scenes on quite a few decent bands til SAW spewed on to the scene, the Specials being one of them.
A whole generation of great bands were lost due to the Radio preferring the passionless paint by numbers formula SAW gave us.
Having said that and being older now i understand that SAW songs were supposed to be fun, uplifting, positive and full of energy which equals perfect pop!
No matter how much i listened at the time i just couldn't feel a thing as it all seemed so soulless to my friends and i.

However having listened to your song i can appreciate the effort in the arrangement, mix and well sung vocals. As Darren has said you have achieved what you set out to do. I like the guitar breakdown but couldn't help feeling it belonged to a different song. Maybe just me sorry.
I love a lot of your other stuff so please don't hate me for not being a fan of this style and sorry for the rant at the beginning.

[cowparsleyman]

Wow! thanks to those who have listened and critiqued, these comments are just what I was after. It wasn't supposed to be deFacto SAW, just a vibe...mixed with a few other influences at the time - Nik Kershaw, 5 Star etc...

@Neil C - I was trying to create a distraction away from the main hook, but without going into a formal M8. I like the idea to return to the V1, although I'd probably just use the 1st line. I'm not one to stick rigidly to well trodden formats, although in this case I think you are right.

@Darren1664 - Thanks for your kind comments, glad you like it.

@pompeyjazz - Thanks John, that's the thing...these days layering is much easier, the solo, yeah I wasn't sure about that, I popped that in as a nod to Nik Kershaw and Jay Graydon, they seemed to get away with it.

@MonnoDB - Cheers K for the comments, you are spot on, the BVox need to come up, I commit indeed I will be fixing this. (Yes it was me, sometimes a couple of voices get rather exposed, so I'll do more tracks, add some microshift, spread them around the stereo soundspace,  bring it up a bit and job done.

@Modestmouse1965/ -  Oh that's OK, no offence taken, funnily enough at eh time, I thought punk was killing real music and hated it with a passion, although I wasn't keen at all on Kylie when she first arrived on the scene.

I'll prune back the perc as well, not too convinced about that, and probably remove the straight guitar, but I'll leave the solo in.

Gloves off is definitely the best approach, thanks again your comments have been most helpful.

Rich

[jacksimmons]

Hi! Your production is so crisp and clean it makes me churn with jealousy! The electric guitars at the beginning have shades of Maria by Blondie, which suckered me in straight away, but then the synths sound and electric drums are so authentically eighties. Lovely clear vocals as well, but I would say they struck me as being a little upfront when they came in. If it were me I would have EQd them a little thinner and slapped a bit more reverb on them so they sat back a bit in the mix. But to be fair they are as clean and clear as all the synths and drum sounds.

Chorus feels more 90s pop than 80s pop to me, though that's not a bad thing. It actually took me back to being a kid at birthday parties haha. My favourite melody here by far though is the pre-chorus/second half of the verse. "You see I really didn’t care." That lovely falsetto break on 'care'. Sweet!

Super cool instrumental break too. That lead guitar is soooooo dirty. I really like the outro but I think you could have come back in for a round of choruses. I love the temptation to keep this at 3mins but I think it's a little too short for this kind of song - the 80s really drew everything out and I just expected another chorus to end on.

Some beefy harmonies on the chorus would be awesome and really lift it up. I do feel like I give this advice to everyone but, man I just love big block harmony choruses. Or maybe some backing vocals? Just seems like the lead is a little bare here. Likewise when the song drops out in to the OOs at the end it's cool, but imagine those OOs in three part. Just a possibility - ending the song with a nice hum of harmony.

Great tune. Great production. I need some of whatever you've got - maybe more experience behind the desk? O.O

PS. The spelling made me think of Priti Patel. Is this a love song to our Home Secretary?

[Wicked Deeds]

@coparsley man,

Job done!  This is very Stock Aitken and Waterman.  I was expecting Carolina  to break out into "The locomotion."  This is a journey back to the eighties and sounds like great fun which of course, music should be!

Well done to everyone involved!

Paul

By the way, the brief guitar solo is fab!

[cowparsleyman]

@Jack Simmons - Thanks for your detailed critique, very welcome and valuable comments Jack, This forum really works for me (@Boydie - a nod to all the Admins efforts)

"If it were me I would have EQd them a little thinner and slapped a bit more reverb on them so they sat back a bit in the mix. But to be fair they are as clean and clear as all the synths and drum sounds." - Interesting observation Jack, If you mean the LVox, then I think that is rather thin as it is, and usually I only put a hair of EchoBoy on it, and sometimes a touch of SmallPlate verb.

Then depending on the overall vibe either pop a Lexicon MPX on the Master buss to wet it all up (really only a touch) a bit so it sounds believable reverb wise, or on the busBVox, it all rather depends how I hear it, and how much verb is on the busInstruments.

"My favourite melody here by far though is the pre-chorus/second half of the verse. "You see I really didn’t care." That lovely falsetto break on 'care'. Sweet!" - I have @AnitaFox - to thank for that, she is a very skilled wordsmith and melody-finder.

I'll be putting a few more layers of HVox on, as well as BVox. Would you be up for doing them? your idea, Vocal range and timbre is perfect for this song. (I'm not in an hurry if your'e busy.) So much for Gtr Solos, you either love em or loathe em, I think sometimes they are dis'd a little too often, but back then they were really the thing to fill out.

As to the production, a lot of it is down to believing in what I hear, mixing under Cans, listening in various places to the current mix (Car, Speakers, iPhone earbuds, wav, mp3 etc.) and the rather tasty audio engine of Samplitude pro X3 (my DAW).

I would also say that like many others I practise not only my instruments, but the DAW - things like Audio Quantizing, Audio to MIDI, Object level automation, Spectral cleaning and all that kind of stuff that benefits from practise and written 'my own interpretation of the user manual'. I also read and practise the more involved plugins/VST's such as Melodyne Studio...  they can all lead one to places that you don't want to go, I'm always in control, and I don't mind waiting years before releasing something, it has to be ready...And as you can see from the above this one can still benefit from some work.

@Wicked Deeds - Hi Knackered Dudes ... Now there's an idea, Cazrolina broke out into Teardrops by Womack and Womack once rather unexpectedly on some stems she sent me, managed to incorporate it in one of my more weird pieces (Don't Try this at home).

Thanks for the compliments re: the solo, gratefully received, especially as my arthritis in my fingers gives me jip through the winter, could be worse, (a blister on my/a blister on my thumb...as someone once said)

 regards coparsleyman

[PaulAds]

Aw...I thought the mid to late 80s in general and Stock, Aitken and Waterman in particular were the absolute lowest point in popular music of my lifetime   

To me, they were the Nigerian Princes of the pre-internet era.

Having got that off my chest, this is very well done. From what bits I was unable to blank out of my memory, I think it's like very early SAW sort of Hazell Dean kind of sound ...I think I once read that one of her big hits was one of their first and saved their asses to a large degree. More's the pity. A bit of Sabrina "Boys Boys Boys" too maybe, I dunno...I remember bobbing my head to it on TOTP...but not when I couldn't see the pictures 

Vocals are very good of course, and I thought they had that kind of cold 80's slightly passive feel to them...that seemed very clever to me.

That tom fill at 0:41 is bang-on for the period...and took me right back to somewhere awful I haven't been to in decades. Cheers 

The guitar break is great. In fact, vocals, instruments, production, sounds and performances are all brilliantly done. Just unfortunate that from a personal point of view, it's a style of music I really disliked initially and gradually grew to hate.

Quite often in those days, "The Hitman and Her" would be on TV when I rolled back home from the pub...and I would sometimes sit watching it like a tramp reading the Financial Times.

Brilliantly done, though, CPM. Now, where did I put those gloves...

[cowparsleyman]

@PaulAds - Gee thanks guy...Too kind notwithstanding your inate hatred of 80's pop. I also felt kind of similar, due to the way those young kids were hoisted into the jaws of fame, when they really didn't know what awaited them, you can't put it back once you take that poisoned chalice, they didn't know they couldn't buy cornflakes in a supermarket without being recognised...so sad.

As for the music, some was bearable 5Star was simply brilliantly produced, didn't like the way lived their life, but hey that's down to them, and the financial advice they were given.

If ever you feel too happy, can't puke up after a night on the lash, or just about to track a LVox for a Death Metal tune...go straight to 0:41

btw now THAT is my equivalent of your nemesis...Death metal. (don't tell SlavaB) it's all 7 string double stops and pinch harmonics...uuuurgh (as Les Dawson would say)

There sure was a lot of bobbing around when Sabrina was on TV....

btw one of my old birds (when I was about 17), her Aunty was Hazell Dean....she gave me a signed photo and I chucked it away when I went home and my old mate went out with Sally Oldfield, but the night was dark, could have done with a Moon Shadow.

Thanks very much for the kind words and taking me back to those days in the '70's aaaaaahhh arrrrrghh.

(I see FTSE 100 is nearly 20 points up on the day - best cash in your USD, you should be so lucky....)

Sleep well
 

[Paulski]

Lots to like here - catchy as a Canadian flu.
Love the synth work and drive of the track.
Vocals are great but I think they could use a bit of pitch correction near the start if I were to be super picky.
Apart from that - it's radio ready IMHCO.
Good collab guys
Paul

[cowparsleyman]

@Paulski - thanks man -

"Vocals are great but I think they could use a bit of pitch correction near the start if I were to be super picky."

yip, I'm glad you mentioned that, I wasn't sure about it, I will fix this.

I'm working on a revised mix...based on the comments in this thread.

Thanks to everyone that contributed.

and a huge thanks to Cazrolina and Anita Fox

[shadowfax]

Hi, like Paul the SA and W period wasn't my favorite music time but there is no denying how well you've pulled it of my friend..