"Conversation off Floral Street"

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In recording incomplete versions of all of these songs, I've remembered that I also know the bass part for "Conversation off Floral Street."  However, I'm not going to post it until I learn an-other part of the song because otherwise, it's nearly three minutes of only three different notes, and it would be really boring - not only to listen to, but also to play.

Mostly, it's a continual repetition of C Bb F, but at one point, it's just a constant stream of Cs.  No pun intended.

"I'll Keep Trying"

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I don't really have anything to say about this one.

"Gotta Get a Hold of Myself"

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This may be the song that I know the most parts for, which is sort of ironic because this wasn't written by the Zombies.

The organ part is more complex than I play it, but I discovered its complexity only a few months ago (when I got The Decca Stereo Anthology), and I haven't tried learning it more completely since then.

Also, can I just mention how great that descending chromatic bass line is?  I think it's supposed to represent the "footsteps sound[ing] down the hall."

"Maybe after He's Gone"

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I have a version of "Maybe after He's Gone" that I recorded in October of 2011, so this is an-other one that's long overdue.

This ends a bit abruptly because the end is just voices and I recorded just the instrument parts.  Or at least what I know of the instrument parts.  I may be missing a bit of piano (and I'm not entirely sure that what I have is correct); I haven't started learning the bass yet (although I'm pretty sure that it follows the same bass notes as the guitar finger-picking); and I'm totally clueless when it comes to percussion.

"Pay Me Later"

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Along with the chords for "Telescope (Mr. Galileo)," I also learned the chords for Colin Blunstone's "Pay Me Later" on Wednesday.  Though, again, I'm not sure if they're actually played in the original recording.

Catching up on posting demos of what I know isn't going so quickly because I keep learning new parts, and I feel that those should take precedence.

"Telescope (Mr. Galileo)"

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After doing the guitar parts for "It Never Fails to Please Me" yester-day, I got thinking about the Into the Afterlife album.  Back in November, I had apparently figured out the bass part for "Telescope (Mr. Galileo)," but I don't really remember it and I didn't record a version.

But I think I figured out the chords for it.  I'm pretty sure these aren't actually played in the original version, but I find that it helps to figure out the parts if you know the chords.

It's interesting that the verses and the chorus use the same chord progression - just different melodies - but that doesn't make this any more interesting to listen to.

"It Never Fails to Please Me"

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This is just the guitar parts (and a few notes of the bass part), and since most of the guitar parts are chromatic and sort of sparse, it's rather disjointed listening to them on their own.

This is an-other one that fades out at the end, so I had to extend one phrase for a few notes.

Furthermore, this has necessitated a new "miscellaneous" section in the catalogue, since this was recorded in the nebulous period between the Zombies and Argent.

"How We Were Before"

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I'm pretty sure the chords are broken into arpeggios during the "And as you've waited for me" part, but I'm still a bit unsure of how they are broken up, so I just play them straight.  Or attempt to.  Barre chords on twelve string guitar are still really difficult for me, but it's necessary to play some of these chords that way.  Like Gm.

I've been working on the bass part for this too, but there are still a few parts I'm unsure of, so I've held off on that for now.

"Beechwood Park"

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I have a list of what songs I have left to do rough versions of, and I realized that "Beechwood Park" wasn't on there.  I hadn't listed it because I didn't know all of the guitar parts.  The only chords I knew was the transition from Bsus4 to B.

So I felt bad about that and figured them out last night.  I think they're correct, but I'm a bit suspicious of the F major I put in here.

A few other things:

This is the first time I've really used any effects.

I have four versions of this that I listened to in order to learn it, and it's interesting how much the song changes between each of them.  It's also interesting that for a song written in 1967, the first performance was in 2006 (according to the Live at the Bloomsbury DVD).

This ends a bit abruptly, but on the original record, the organ and voices are the only things at the very end.

"Just out of Reach"

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I included a bit of the bass part even though I don't think it's also played on guitar in the original.

"Brief Candles"

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I finally got around to updating what I know of "Brief Candles."  I had a few parts in the bass wrong, and the guitar part was in the wrong octave.

A few months ago, I did some work on the piano part.  I know that it's mostly centered around the first five notes of the E major scale, but I don't know it that well (I haven't practised it, and I'm not even sure if I ever figured out the whole melody) and I certainly don't know the accompaniment.  I didn't include it here, which is why this starts at the beginning of the first chorus and why there are a lot of empty places.

Also, I'm not sure if I have all of the bass part for the very end.  It fades out, so it's a bit hard to hear.  Though, like the piano part, I haven't done any work lately on figuring that out either.

"A Man for All Reasons"

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I've been listening to Argent's Nexus every Friday since April, and I started playing along to "A Man for All Reasons" when I listened to it to-day.  I figured out most of the bass part just by doing that, and, after an-other three or four listens, I had the whole thing.

I do make some mistakes (because some parts are a bit difficult to play - jumping between the lowest and highest strings, for example) and I'm pretty sure I have some of the rhythms wrong, but I just learned it to-day.

"The Way I Feel Inside" [rehearsal version]

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This is just the guitar chords of the rehearsal version, as heard on disc three of Zombie Heaven.  I'm a bit dubious of the accuracy of this.

"Nothing's Changed"

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I can't take complete credit for learning this one.  About five years ago, I got a copy of a book published by the Alfred Company that has some music for the Zombies' songs, and I learned this from that about three or four years ago.

"Lula Lula"

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I learned this from the demo, so it's slower and slightly different from the version that appears on New World.  Also, I had to extend it a bit at the end because even the demo ends in a fade out, and I'm against fade outs and refuse to use them.

"I Remember When I Loved Her"

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I hit quite a few bad notes in here because, while this isn't really difficult to play, it's difficult to play well.

Also, in learning this, I've noticed that there seem to be two different endings.  In one, the final guitar strum occurs after the last lyrics, and in the other, they occur at the same time.

"Andorra"

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Until yester-day, I didn't know any songs from Colin Blunstone's solo albums (aside from a bit of "Though You Are Far Away"), so I decided to learn the chords for one of them.  I figured that "Andorra" would be pretty easy, and, for the most part, it was.  The only difficult thing to figure out was a weird B7 in the chorus.  Usually, a B7 will retain a B as the root, but this one doesn't (assuming that I'm playing it correctly).

"I Don't Want to Know"

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I only started putting serious effort into learning "I Don't Want to Know" a few days ago, so this may be a bit rougher than most.

For instance:  I need to find a new way to play the riff because otherwise the A note sustains for too long.  I don't know the solo yet, so there's a sonic dead spot in the middle of this.  And I'm not sure if the chords are played straight or broken up into arpeggios or something.  I'll have to listen to the Decca Stereo Anthology version.

Also, to-day marks the tenth day in a row I've done VCP demos!

"Friends of Mine"

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I still have some more songs from Begin Here that I have to post rough versions of, but I decided to skip ahead to "Friends of Mine" for now.

I tried doing the vocals for this too, but they didn't turn out very well.  So either my voice changed or I'm more particular about it because I remember recording a version of this in 2010 (though - sadly - I've since deleted it).

"Can't Nobody Love You"

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Back in April, I learnt the bass part for "Can't Nobody Love You," but I never posted it.

So, again, this is long overdue.

"I Don't Want to Know"

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Lately, I've been posting rough versions of a lot of songs from the Begin Here album, and I'm getting close to the point where I can play all of the songs straight through on at least one instrument (although most of them are just the guitar chords), so I thought I would try learning some of the other ones.

So I went back to "I Don't Want to Know," which I figured out the main riff for about a year ago.  If I can trust the "date created" for the .txt file I started for it, it was 28 April 2012.

Anyway, in playing through that, I've discovered that - again - Chris White uses the F#m G A D chord progression that he's (apparently) so fond of.

"I'm Going Home"

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The isolated guitar part of this sounds even weirder than the isolated guitar part of "Sticks and Stones."  The opening notes are meant to be played on bass, but I included them anyway.

I'm not sure if I have one of the riffs right either….

Apparently, this is a cover of a song by Gene Vincent (written by Bob Bain), but unfortunately I do not have a version by Gene Vincent, even though I do have his first two albums.

"It's Alright with Me"

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I learned the bass part for this back in March, and I'd already known the chords and the riff for some time before then.

"Is This the Dream"

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It seems like I've known the bass part for this for a few months, but it's probably closer to a year or more.  I also know the first part of the electric piano solo.  I learnt it on bass, but it's a lot harder to play on electric piano.

I sort of think that the electric piano solo is in a different key from the bass part because the bass is solidly in E major, but the first notes of the electric piano solo are E, G, A, and Bb.  Aside from E, none of those notes are in the E major scale.  So something weird is going on there.

Back when the only Zombies album I had was a compilation album called Night Riding, this was my favourite song by them.

"Whenever You're Ready"

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After recording this, I found that I had a version of just the bass part that dates from 12 September 2012.  So this is long overdue.

I've been working on learning the guitar parts, and The Decca Stereo Anthology has helped somewhat, but the riff is the only guitar part I know so far.

"Sticks and Stones"

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Again, since I mentioned "Sticks and Stones" a few days ago, I felt I should do a version.  Because I always play along the recording, I didn't realize how empty this sounds without drums.

This is just the riff and the chords; I don't know the solos yet.

"Road Runner"

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Because I mentioned "Road Runner" a few days ago, I thought I'd record a version of it.

I think the volume peaks a few times, but I had already adjusted the input volume twice and done a few bad takes, so I didn't feel like doing it an-other time.

"Remember You" [single version]

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While listening to The Decca Stereo Anthology two days ago, the bass part for "Remember You" didn't sound very hard.  So I sat down last night and figured it out.

It's pretty fun - especially the glissando from C to D and the arpeggios outlining B major and E major.

I already did a rough version of "Remember You" back in March, but I didn't know the bass part then, so I'll have to get around to re-doing that sometime.  (Which I'd wanted to do anyway because I know I can do it better than I did.)

The Decca Stereo Anthology

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I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology last night.  I think it was only the second time I've listened to it since I got it a few months ago.  (I'm sort of ashamed I haven't listened to it more.)

In any case, it's a really great resource for trying to learn the parts because it's in stereo.  Things that are covered up by other parts when mixed in mono are easier to hear, especially if you listen to it in the dark, like I do frequently.

I learned "Road Runner" to a greater accuracy.  I'd known it was mostly a three-chord song with a riff in E, but I found I'd been missing a few notes.  I also finally figured out the part at the end (it's the same as a part in "Sticks and Stones," which I suppose makes sense because "Sticks and Stones" is also a three-chord song in E).

I also hadn't realized just how many songs Paul Atkinson uses his twelve-string for.  Or how good of a twelve-string player he is.

Most importantly for this project, listening to the album made me realize just how many songs I know (or know parts for) that have not made their appearance here yet.  So I'm hoping to rectify that.

"Dance in the Smoke"

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I said I wasn't going to post a version of Argent's "Dance in the Smoke" because my voice isn't suited for it, but I am anyway (without vocals though).  I know less of the solo than I thought I did.

It's a bit sparse in the "I recall it was too tall / To see the flames grow high" parts but whatever.  Also, I'm pretty sure that the chords aren't played on guitar in the original, but I find it helps to figure out the chords before working on specific parts.