The Linear Canvas

I wrote this song about all wars, whether they are perceived as righteous or not. There is always an element of war profiteering regardless of whoever or whatever started the conflict. There was some push back in World War Two against war profiteering. I admire their effort, but knowing that some of the same people may have known about the Pearl Harbor attack ahead of time, tempers my admiration a bit.

I also remember being motivated by a sign in the front of a VFW in Delphos, Ohio and also the aftermath of the the first middle-east conflict. I love it when our soldiers win, but I am dismayed when what they won was a victory for big oil corporations and a handful of Saudi businessmen.

“Ghost of War”

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I am getting really efficient at my re-mixing of material I previously recorded. This only took me a week to complete. I think I recorded this somewhere around the middle 1990’s.

The analog tracks were originally recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction.

I think the acoustic guitar I played was a Takamine. I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and maybe an Ibanez Les Paul (?). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. I played keyboards on a Casio CZ-101 FM synthesizer. The drums and cymbals, plus some analog editing, are from the original recording using my Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine sounds. I was using a Yamaha MIDI drum pad.

I don’t hate the Dr. Rhythm samples. It was just the compromises I had to make to get a full drum set recorded. The Yamaha has only four pads and no trigger inputs, so I had to record cymbals and drums separately. I have a Roland Octapad here now with a trigger, but I thought I really couldn’t make this performance any better without playing my Ludwig’s (ankle injury). So I just did some editing, and here it is.

One day I was being nostalgic and started thinking about being in elementary school. I wrote this song about being on that playground, but also about coming back from summer vacation and being with all the other kids, most that I hadn’t seen for a few months. It was always the old gang plus whoever moved into town minus those that had moved out. You never really knew who you had seen for the last time or the first time until the bell rang for recess on that first day.

“Playground Days”

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I have posted this song before, but this is a new mix with some new sounds.

I can’t remember when I wrote this. I can’t tell you if any of the tracks were originally analog or not. If there were any, the analog tracks were originally recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction. I know some were recorded on my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track. I’d suspect they are all digital.

I think the acoustic guitar I played was a Takamine. I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and maybe an Ibanez Les Paul (?). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. The cymbals, plus some analog editing are from the original recording using my Dr. Rhythm drum machine sounds using a Yamaha MIDI drum pad. I recorded some more cymbals recently using my Zildjian ride cymbal. Because of my ankle injury, I had to add the drum parts on a Yamaha MIDI drum pad, and a Roland Octapad using Session Drummer 3 software.

I wrote Hard Change about the influence of corporatist power over government in America. In our case the corporatists have seized the power of religion and the media to keep the fear of fear in the weakest among us. Always keeping us fearful of all the Emmanuel Goldstein’s out there. Real or imagined.

The truth is it will never change. There’s something about being mega-rich and powerful that makes men want more riches and more power. Some would say communism would be the answer, but the truth is men are men and behave the same no matter the style of government. The common citizen is always left holding the check at the end.

“Hard Change”

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“When fascism (corporatism) comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” 
–Sinclair Lewis, in 1935

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military (and congressional) industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
-President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) in 1961

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
-President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) in 1932

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The analog tracks were originally recorded in about 1994 (?) on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction.

I think the acoustic guitar I played was a Takamine. I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster and maybe an Ibanez Les Paul (?). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. I recorded the percussion more recently using my Paiste and Zildjian cymbals and because of my ankle injury, I had to add the drum parts using a Yamaha MIDI drum pad and Session Drummer 3.  I also added some cow bell.

I wrote Whoya Lovin’  around the mid 1990’s sometime. I was in London,Ohio when a relative told me that she was gay. I must say, I was stunned and didn’t know how to react. I think outwardly I seemed mostly unfazed, but internally I had many thoughts and emotions that were very difficult to resolve so quickly.

I had a long drive home to think about it and wrote this song when I arrived at my house. It is more than anything, me processing the information and moving from one emotion to the next. It was a turbulent few hours, for sure.

“Whoya Lovin’”

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I am not sure when I recorded these tracks. I assume it was around 2000. I used my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track and I didn’t get it until about then. I have worked on this re-mix for weeks now, and I am glad I have finally let go of it. I had a couple more ideas, but I have got to move on, finally.

Syncing the track to the computer time caused me more headaches that it should have. Other than allowing the measures to fall on the beat markers, I’m not sure why I even bothered. Had I recorded the tracks with some time code data originally, I might have had an easier time syncing it. Back then, I usually played  a digital drum track into the Fostex as an analog signal. I presumed the digital drum machine could maintain a solid beat. What I found was that it was off by a few tenths of a beat from what I set it at. Not too much, except for over several measures the beat would drift off on it’s own. So much for digital precision.

I played the electric guitars on a Fender Stratocaster. The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. I recorded the percussion more recently using my Paiste and Zildjian cymbals and because of my ankle injury, I had to add the drum parts using a Yamaha MIDI drum pad and Session Drummer 3. My wife Jill provided some of the handclaps. I added some cow bells and handclaps too.

I recorded the original tracks into my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track, then transferred the tracks to my computer. I added and processed the audio with Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge v9.

I could write a book or make a movie about my childhood friend Billy Thompson. But I doubt anyone would believe some of it. His parents and mine were very close as all had come from eastern Kentucky to Ohio in the 1950’s and I believe we were distantly related to one, or both of Billy’s parents, Estill and Ann Thompson. I always called Ann “mom” as she always treated me like one of her own. Estill played with a bluegrass band at my father’s funeral. I was close to the whole family and spent many evenings having supper with them and hanging around the cemetery next door smoking cigarettes with Billy.

“Billy”

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Billy and I had been friends since elementary school and he had made it very clear to me about his bi-sexuality in fifth grade. It caused a little problem at first for me, but after awhile our other common interests, hillbilly parents, partying and music, would draw us together again. I’m not completely sure that he was gay, at least at first. He had a couple of girlfriends during that time. I also remember talking to him about girls while we sat in a tree at the cemetery. I would suggest girls for him but he always said no girl would ever like anyone like him. I think he was just bashful. Billy wasn’t an unattractive person, but he was also not very tall. I was just as scared of girls rejecting me as he was. Billy’s insecurity and height did not help him, no doubt.

By the the time we graduated, Billy and I had gone our separate ways mostly. We had attended the same vocational school and that allowed us to interact on a daily basis until then. After high school though, Billy and I didn’t see each other too much. I had a steady girlfriend and I wasn’t too interested in his new circle of friends. Some time later, Billy and his associates all moved to the west coast. After he lived there for awhile, I found out that he had been killed. I am not sure I know the whole story, but I was told it was no accident.

Billy always lived on the edge and I am surprised this hadn’t happened sooner. A few times I had to come between him and a certain beating by someone who wasn’t very happy with something he had done. Other times I just shook my head and told people, “You know Billy, You should have known better than to trust him.” I thought when I had heard of his death, that being so far from home, there was no one there to protect him. No one knew him like we did. Not a single person would just roll their their eyes and say, “…well you know Billy”.

—

The analog tracks were originally recorded on a Yamaha MT-100 II 4 track cassette recorder using high speed (3.75 IPS) and dbx noise reduction.

The acoustic guitar I played was a Takamine (maybe a Yamaha). I played electric guitar on a Fender Stratocaster (maybe an Ibanez Les Paul). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001 (for sure). I recorded the drums more recently using my Ludwig’s. I also added some drum parts using a Yamaha MIDI drum pad and Session Drummer 3.

As on other analog to digital re-mixes I’ve done lately, I had to piece this together from audio tracks that were not in sync. This project was made more difficult because during the original recording, I did not use any rhythm device or metronome, just my own sense of timing. I think I did pretty good, but that made no real consistent timing reference to work with.

I played the original analog tracks into my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track, then transferred the tracks to my computer. I processed and added audio with Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge v9.

Recently I have said several times that a certain album is one of my favorite of all time. I thought that maybe I should make a list so that I (and others) didn’t think I was just making it all up as I went along.

I thought my first attempt at a favorite album of all time list would be a top ten list. Then I went for top twenty, etc. I soon discovered that unless I went to a top fifty, I wasn’t happy with the contents. The only criteria I used was that the album couldn’t be a compilation of greatest hits. Live albums were OK.

I have said many times that Shawn Colvin’s “A Few Small Repairs” is my favorite album of all time. I still agree with that.

My Top Fifty Favorite Albums

(in alphabetical order)

I have just released my first album on SAIGATI Records called The Galloway Sessions. It is currently available from Amazon.com as a CD or as individual MP3 tracks. 

The songs on The Galloway Sessions are:

1. Pray For The Sun
2. Why Do I Have To Leave This Place?
3. Wipe Away The Tears
4. Sorry It Came To This
5. This Place Is Not Your Home
6. The Old Prisoner
7. Hangin’ On To Yesterday
8. Days Go By

The album is $14.95 for a physical CD (plus any S&H). It can be purchased at the link below:

Alexander Fisher’s "The Galloway Sessions" order page

Each song is available as  MP3 downloads and are available for 99 cents each at the link below. The entire albums is also available as an MP3 download for $7.92.

Alexander Fisher MP3 download page

I hope you enjoy my music as much as I did creating it.

The Changeling is pretty much autobiographical. As a teenager I used to spend a lot of time in my room with my headphones on and some sort of thing in my hands, as my guitar, playing in front of packed imaginary auditoriums. I grew my hair down to the middle of my back and read Rolling Stone, Creem and Circus magazines dreaming about being a rock and roller when I grew up. I thought I was ready and destined for fame. I had the hair, I just needed a real guitar.

It is also about not having much support in my circle of friends for that dream. Once a “friend” told me I’d never learn to play guitar. I guess he thought that only he had the gift and that I should just give it up. It is also a reference to a song by the 1970’s progressive-rock band, Be-Bop Deluxe and their song Sister Seagull. A changeling normally refers to a child that has been switched at birth with another baby, on purpose or by mistake, sometimes by a fairy or a troll. I always felt my early performances of that song were of a changeling of sorts. Confident that I had what it took before hand, but too scared to perform without being so wasted, pitch went right out the window. I realize now that stage fright is not curable by any chemical courage, it only degrades your performance. It also would have helped to sing Sister Seagull and other songs in my key, not Bill Nelson’s. Not being a student of music at the time, I didn’t know any better.

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The acoustic guitar I played was a Takamine. I played the electric guitars on a Fender Stratocaster. The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001. The drums were Ludwig’s. I also played tambourine as well. I recorded this performance right after performing it live at my 25th high school reunion in about 2002. There’s a video tape of that out there somewhere. It originally had a creepy Hammond organ part in it that I left out. I recorded all tracks on my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track, then transferred them to my computer. I processed the audio with Cakewalk Sonar v8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge v9.

You can look at the cover songs I have recorded over the years and see what kind of music I grew up listening to. For one you would see that I was a big  Mott The Hoople fan in the mid-seventies. I liked the Ian Hunter ballads, but I loved the Mick Ralphs rockers. When Mick left the band and formed Bad Company, “Mott” lost a little of its appeal to me.

I also remember this song being a turning point in the way I recorded my music too. I believe I had just gotten Sonar 7 Producer digital audio workstation software, and music production got so much easier for me. My copy of Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 had served me well, but it is was really dated. I had really relied mostly on my Fostex multi-track for most of the recording and mixing anyway. Now the Fostex is a bit of a relic, sitting beside my Yamaha 4-track on a a table. I still can use it occasionally, but it only fits into my recording methodology in minor ways now. It’s been a good dog…

One Of The Boys

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The guitar is a Fender Stratocaster electric. The bass is a Rickenbacker 4001. The drums are Ludwig’s. I originally recorded the song on my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track and processed it with Cakewalk Sonar 7 Producer and Sony Sound Forge. I thought I posted this before. Guess not.

I had a magazine that had the sheet music to Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit around the time it came out in the early 1990’s. I had been playing it and decided to record it. My original mix of this song sounded a little “small” and I was embarrassed to play it. It was mostly due to the recording process I used then. The other day I decided to re-mix the tracks of the version I had recorded. I think this mix is much better.

I had done a re-mix of these tracks about a year ago, but I really wasn’t satisfied with the outcome. I am much better at lining up out of sync tracks now than I was then. I used several methods to sync these tracks, but the one that gave me the most satisfaction was stretching the audio, quantizing it the nearest sixteenth note and then manually editing the stray beat transients, I didn’t use that method on all of these tracks, but I wish I had.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

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I recorded this song in about 1992. I played the guitar from the sheet music, but just played the bass and drums parts pretty straight forward. I didn’t put a lot of effort into duplicating the original recording. I also didn’t add any new parts to it either. The guitar is a Fender Stratocaster electric. The bass is a Rickenbacker 4001. The drums sounds are from a Boss Dr. Rhythm drum machine and were played on Yamaha MIDI drum pads. I originally recorded the song on my analog Yamaha MT-1000 4 track recorder using dbx noise reduction. I transferred it to my Fostex VF-16 digital multi-track and processed it with Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 Producer and Sony Sound Forge 9.