The Musical Diary of Greg Scheer

Our Half the Man collection continues with a new mix of an oldie but goodie: 55 Feet.

This song was a staple of my singer-songwriter days. (Or as one place advertised me: “Greg Scheer, single guitarist.”) More recently I finished a full band mix which won 3rd place in the 2009 National Speleological Society Cave Ballad contest. (Significant feather in my compositional cap? You betcha!)

This new mix builds on the speleological version, but I think it’s starting to feel more organic and exciting. Don’t get me wrong, I love that larger-than-life sound, but I’m starting to miss the days in which pop music sounded like it could have been born in something like sonic reality. (Listening to some early David Bowie this morning reaffirmed how rich of a musical palette was available before the advent of digital recording.) But enough recording philosophy. Listen to the song.

7 down, 5 more basically finished, and a few more waiting in the wings. This thing is starting to take shape! Good thing, too, because I need to begin working on some other projects.

In order to bring this Half the Man CD to a timely closure, I’m planning a listening party in October, most likely the week of October 27, when I’ll be running a half marathon. (Get it? A half manathon the week of the half marathon. It was too good to resist.) Anyone in driving distance is welcome to attend. Anyone who has a good stereo system and room for a half dozen people is welcome to host the event. (Really, my house is nice, but my stereo system is a boom box.)

In the meantime, here’s another track from the project. If you’re a loyal follower of this blog, you heard it on Valentine’s Day: Starting Fires.

The Half the Man project continues with Silent Star. You’ve heard this one before here at the blog, once with the Allegro String Quartet and once as a solo. With each version I get a little closer to what I hear in my head: Sandra McCracken on lead vocals, Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark band, and the Children’s Festival Choir of Pittsburgh singing the the Glorias. And T-Bone Burnett producing. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

For now you’ll have to settle for me, me, and more me. Luckily, there’s also Erin De Young making a guest appearance as the angel choir. Take a listen and let me know what you think: MP3.

As promised, my Half the Man project is taking a more mellow turn this week, with a song called “This House Is Lonely.”

I posted this a few years ago as a Valentine’s gift to my wife, Amy. Why am I posting it again? Because I recorded a new vocal, replaced the programmed drums with brushed real drums, and spent lots of time on the mix. You can take a listen to the old version and compare it to this one. I think it’s headed in the right direction.

What do you think of the song? How about the mix? Do you think this has any hope of peacefully coexisting on a CD with a song like “Doghouse“?

One more punk song and then I’ll slow things down a little: Doghouse, MP3.

Now for some good old three chord punk. I can’t remember what ignited such an angry song. I seem to remember some frustration with a music department’s bureaucracy, but that doesn’t make for very good punk rock, now does it? Whatever the cause of the frustration I was feeling, it channeled itself into this song of spite for the love that left: Maybe That’s the Same Thing.

I’ve always imagined it taking its cue from the somewhat-unknown-but-in-my-estimation-classic “Another Lone Ranger” by David Kubinec, brimming with crazed anger. A friend who heard it remarked that it sounded like early U2. That would make sense; they were a big influence on me. Mission of Burma, Joe Jackson, Iggy Pop–they’re all there.

So now question is whether I’m too late for old new wave or too early for new old wave?

Continuing my Half the Man marathon, “Not At All” is an epic song featuring a Faustian character who comes to the end of the line and realizes that all his life’s dreams are evaporating before his eyes. It was originally entitled “Dialogue with the Devil” as an homage to the Bruce Cockburn song of the same name, and also to make it clear who the “you” is, with whom the singer has bargained his soul.

There are lots of things that please me about this song and recording, and probably just as many that leave me unsatisfied. The main question that’s nagging at me is whether this is epic enough. That is, at 7 minutes and 23 seconds, it’s certainly of epic proportions as far as pop songs go; but is there enough Sturm und Drang in the performance and recording to sustain that?

Like all of these recordings, I’ve spent so much time with the song at this point that I’ve lost all perspective. I’ll be happy to put it away for a while and let you, my faithful readership, chime in with your wisdom and clarity.

Weekly? Did I say weekly? Well, I just couldn’t wait that long to add another song to the Half the Man project. So there!

“True Confessions” is sort of a mid-life reflection, which, of course, means that it’s too old and wimpy to be anything like rock and roll. So be it. The kids can ride the endless merry-go-round of their youthful fads. I’ll cast my lot with Jethro Tull, who is too old to rock and roll and to young to die.

I finished this one ahead of schedule because when I opened it up this morning I realized that it was more complete than I’d remembered. I finessed the levels a bit and out came a reasonable-sounding mix. The energy of real drums would add a lot to the track (any volunteers?), but otherwise I feel like the song is hanging together well as an Elvis Costello-esque anthem.

What do you think?