I'm very fortunate to have gotten all my master recordings back in my own possession and over the last week I have been able to get them back up online and on the streaming sites.
Streaming has it's flaws, no doubt, but it is still the best way to reach more people, larger audience and all that and NOT being on the streaming places can actually work against you in an irritating way. Technology always wins, even when it's evil.
That said, I hadn't really listened to my own music in quite a while but while doing all the uploading and all that - I had to and I'm quite proud of what I've released. Is there a lyric or bad note in there that I'd like to change, yeah probably but that's a whole rabbit hole. The one thing I did want to fix was the intro to the song "Angelia" as the acoustic guitar sounded a bit thin to what I wanted. I knew that if I made any changes to the mix, I'd have to get the song remastered as well and did I really feel like opening that back up?
Well, I did. I didn't do any new recording. I opened up the song and un-muted one guitar part and turned off some compression and the song just seemed to spring to life and be more like I had intended. I turned up Tracy's bass playing and her singing in this song really fill it out as does Brandon Allen's relentless drumming. Travis King stopped by and we cranked up the 4 watt Vox amp and he shredded a great solo.
And I love this song. Typically there's a bit in a song where you're like, I didn't get it exactly right but I really think I did with this one. It's a song about wanting to be a better person. It's about fighting against, not small towns but small town thinking. When I sing it, I travel through my hometown of Billerica, starting at the Center Cafe and driving north past where Grossman's burned down and over the black ice on Boston road in front of where Stan's garage used to be - out to the darkness on the edge of town where we could stare up at the stars and dream of more.
Angelia is not just one person but several that all, in their own way, challenged me and dragged me into the future and to new ways of thinking about life. She is my angel that saved me from a life of small town thinking.
I just got the new master back from my buddy Jason and here it is. I hope you will give it a listen and know that this song really is my life.