New Album Diary, part 2
Another visit to Bigsqueak and we have Barking Up The Wrong Tree (take 5) complete. We’ve also kept take 6 as I think it may be interesting to do too different versions as has become de rigeur for us (see also Cocoon- no less than three versions available, but also What’s Under The Stairs and A Moment of Clarity). Take 5 was definitely the best performance, but my tuning was ever so slightly off (not for the first time!) and due to recording minus vocals we’d inadvertently added an extra line to one of the verses. Take 6 had more precise tuning but maybe lacked the same verve, plus you can tell we’re knackered as the ending peters out like a clockwork toy winding down. So, we decided Take 5 had the edge; for all its flaws it was the best performance and having to add an extra line and remember to sing it differently seemed like only minor hassle in the cold light of day. Any normal songwriter would have had the verses the same length from the start anyway…
So, we had ¼” tape and we had the DAT. The tape sounds terrific, but as described there are problems with drop-outs and our old friends wow and flutter. For most of the other tracks it’s going to be a case of either DAT or tape, but for this song we decided to try and blend the two. This meant some particularly frenzied mouse clicking from Mr.Barwick as he went through the parallel tracks (already transferred to Cakewalk! How 21st Century) compensating for where the tape moved in and out of synch with the DAT version (making for some decidedly queasy echo effects). Job done, we ended up with an OTT chorus effect, sort of What Goes On-style Lou Reed meets Johnny Marr via Wilko Johnson (for the guitar at least, I’d like to think so, anyway…). Powley’s bass (the toxic green Warwick) sounded FANTASTIC- chunky and twangy, but allowing plenty of space for my relentless strumming and Leo’s equally relentless drumming. Leo used a mixture of Bigsqueak’s Premier kit and his own Ludwig and KR (??) hardware, although for this song he used my old 50’s Ajax snare that has a very distinctive, old-fashioned marching band-style timbre. Anyway, the whole caboodle sounded ace. Barwick made me sing through a tweed Fender Reverb Twin reissue, which blended nicely and I emulated Leo’s backing part, left back in the mix as I always liked the sound of it bleeding into the other mics when we played it live as he rarely had one of his own (we had to travel light, you see!). The combination of lugubrious baritone vocal and frenzied backing led to the throw-away description of ‘The Smiths on crack’; Gav’s typically droll riposte was: ‘You mean it sounds like Andy Rourke on his own?’ Ho-very-ho. So, it’s as good as done. It’s been suggest that the chorus ‘needs something’ and even that we should add disco strings (!), neither of which I’d rule out, although we may save them for take 6, our alternate/experimental version…
More overdubs shortly!