The Wagtunes Corner (Featuring My Best Yet)

[Spring Goose]

16th and final track from my upcoming CD "Outtakes II"

This wraps this one up. Next is my disco CD. In spite of the fact that I actually grew up during the era (from 1974 to 1978 I was 17 to 21 years old) I am going to first listen to a ton of disco tracks. I never really studied the structure of these songs during that time so I want to make sure I get it right.

Anyway, here's the last track of Outtakes II

Out With The Old

As we come to the bitter end
We look back at past mistakes
The regrets we had along the way
And all of those bad breaks

If we'd done it all differently
And listened to all our friends
All the tears we shed from day to day
We might have made amends

But now
There's only one thing to do

Out with the old
In with the new
This is goodbye
For me and you

We pretended all was okay
And denial the game we played
The fights we fought I can not say
We felt we had to stay

But now it's come to this
We're parting but not as friends
And the war we lost unto this day
I guess it's how it ends

So now
There's only one thing to do

Repeat Chorus

Instrumental Break

Repeat Pre Chorus 2 and Chorus

Outro

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... th-the-old

Wow! This is my favourite i've heard from yours so far Wagtunes. Strongly reminded me of Blur and i'm a big fan of Blur. The lyrics great. The pre-chorus remind me of Morrissey again and of Blur, the chorus very Blur (my favourites are Modern Life Is Rubbish and The Great Escape and also a notable mention for Blur - Blur (eponymous). I haven't heard all the later Blur albums.) The chorus very Blur. I missed the instrumental break. I'll give it another listen now.

[Spring Goose]

PS - Will list songs I listened to in this post. Updated as I go along.

Let's Stay Together - Al Green
I'll Take You There - Staple Singers
Family Affair - Sly & The Family Stone
Me And Mrs Jones - Billy Paul
Pillow Talk - Sylvia
I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby - Barry White
I'm Doin' Fine Now - New York City
Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - The Spinners
So Very Hard To Go - Tower Of Power
One Of A Kind (Love Affair) - The Spinners
Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra
TSOP - MFSB
Rock Your Baby - George McCrae

Have you tried High Energy by Evelyn Thomas? This one i like.

Also, 1984? This is a disco project, not a dance music project. There is a difference. I'm focusing on the era between 1974 and 1979. By 1984, disco was dead.

When i heard the song for the first time i thought "what a great disco song!"

Sorry i overlooked that its not US.

[Bansaw]

Out with the old...
Nice. It was quiet predictable until 1:01 when you threw in a nice chord surprise. And 1:53.
Liked the guitar solo at 2:11.
-------------
Disco does take a bit of extra production work to make it sound good. Those brass stabs, lazer plucks, white noise risers take work to set up. Poor disco is easy to do, a good disco track is harder and takes time.

[Spring Goose]

16th and final track from my upcoming CD "Outtakes II"

This wraps this one up. Next is my disco CD. In spite of the fact that I actually grew up during the era (from 1974 to 1978 I was 17 to 21 years old) I am going to first listen to a ton of disco tracks. I never really studied the structure of these songs during that time so I want to make sure I get it right.

Anyway, here's the last track of Outtakes II

Out With The Old

As we come to the bitter end
We look back at past mistakes
The regrets we had along the way
And all of those bad breaks

If we'd done it all differently
And listened to all our friends
All the tears we shed from day to day
We might have made amends

But now
There's only one thing to do

Out with the old
In with the new
This is goodbye
For me and you

We pretended all was okay
And denial the game we played
The fights we fought I can not say
We felt we had to stay

But now it's come to this
We're parting but not as friends
And the war we lost unto this day
I guess it's how it ends

So now
There's only one thing to do

Repeat Chorus

Instrumental Break

Repeat Pre Chorus 2 and Chorus

Outro

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... th-the-old

Wow! This is my favourite i've heard from yours so far Wagtunes. Strongly reminded me of Blur and i'm a big fan of Blur. The lyrics great. The pre-chorus remind me of Morrissey again and of Blur, the chorus very Blur (my favourites are Modern Life Is Rubbish and The Great Escape and also a notable mention for Blur - Blur (eponymous). I haven't heard all the later Blur albums.) The chorus very Blur. I missed the instrumental break. I'll give it another listen now.

I forgot to say that also it reminds me of gypsy music like i've heard on the Uncut (magazine) compilations. Morrissey explored this sound in (1993?) Vauxhall & I. I heard the instrumental solo strongly this time, very Blur to me! I did hear it last time, i thought "very Blur".
Listened twice, thoroughly enjoyed twice!

[wagtunes]

PS - Will list songs I listened to in this post. Updated as I go along.

Let's Stay Together - Al Green
I'll Take You There - Staple Singers
Family Affair - Sly & The Family Stone
Me And Mrs Jones - Billy Paul
Pillow Talk - Sylvia
I'm Gonna Love You Just A Little More Baby - Barry White
I'm Doin' Fine Now - New York City
Could It Be I'm Falling In Love - The Spinners
So Very Hard To Go - Tower Of Power
One Of A Kind (Love Affair) - The Spinners
Love's Theme - Love Unlimited Orchestra
TSOP - MFSB
Rock Your Baby - George McCrae

Have you tried High Energy by Evelyn Thomas? This one i like.

Also, 1984? This is a disco project, not a dance music project. There is a difference. I'm focusing on the era between 1974 and 1979. By 1984, disco was dead.

When i heard the song for the first time i thought "what a great disco song!"

Sorry i overlooked that its not US.

I'm basically going for that Love Unlimited Orchestra, Silver Convention sound. In fact, there are probably going to be no synth tracks in this project.

Drums
Bass
Piano
Guitars
Strings
Brass

And that's pretty much it. Synths really weren't a thing in the mid 70s. In some ways, I think it was a better time. But that may just be the old man in me talking.

[Spring Goose]

Was that your guitar VST plug again, Wagtunes? Sounded great.

[wagtunes]

Out with the old...
Nice. It was quiet predictable until 1:01 when you threw in a nice chord surprise. And 1:53.
Liked the guitar solo at 2:11.
-------------
Disco does take a bit of extra production work to make it sound good. Those brass stabs, lazer plucks, white noise risers take work to set up. Poor disco is easy to do, a good disco track is harder and takes time.

Well, I'm going to be concentrating on the disco era before synths, so it won't be quite as difficult. Of course those string arrangements, wow. You need to know how to write to do this stuff. Having started yesterday, I am already finding this extremely difficult.

[wagtunes]

Was that your guitar VST plug again, Wagtunes? Sounded great.

Yes, that's Music Labs Real LPC or Strat. I forget which one. Of course the amp sims I run them through (Guitar Rig 5, Amplitube 4, Revalver) help a lot. The raw sound is kind of meh.

[Spring Goose]

15th track from my upcoming CD "Outtakes II"

This one, minus the vocal, was made entirely with the brand new K1 that is actually free. If anybody owned a Kawai K1, it was a cool rompler. Noisy as hell, which the VST isn't, but cool just the same. Those 8 bit samples had charm.

I had a lot of fun doing this and, as you can hear, is not to be taken seriously AT ALL.

Why Kawai

Why Kawai
Why did you hurt me so
Why did you let me go
Oh please I've got to know

Why Kawai
Why did you break my heart
Why did we grow apart
Why did we ever start

I thought I couldn't live without you
I thought my life was meaningless
I thought you'd make me oh so happy
But you just made my life a mess

Why Kawai
Why did you seek me out
Why did you scream and shout
Until there was no doubt

Why Kawai
Why did you so insist
Til I could not resist
Now I just make a fist

Repeat B Section

Instrumental Break

Why Kawai
Why won't you leave me be
Why won't you set me free
Someday I'll find the key
To say goodbye to Kawai

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim/why-kawai

PS - Still waiting for somebody to comment on "Looks Like Today" Anybody?

I enjoyed this. I don't really understand why you say "not to be taken seriously", i reckon i don't understand the context of the song.

[rotku60]

Hi Wags, Disco? hmmm.. okay. We are about the same age. I was subjected to disco during a time when I preferred listening to rock and progressive. However, looking back, there were some great tunes. I might suggest something by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Rose Royce, or Chic. Otherwise the list you have is a pretty solid start. I will look forward to stopping in for a listen.

[wagtunes]

15th track from my upcoming CD "Outtakes II"

This one, minus the vocal, was made entirely with the brand new K1 that is actually free. If anybody owned a Kawai K1, it was a cool rompler. Noisy as hell, which the VST isn't, but cool just the same. Those 8 bit samples had charm.

I had a lot of fun doing this and, as you can hear, is not to be taken seriously AT ALL.

Why Kawai

Why Kawai
Why did you hurt me so
Why did you let me go
Oh please I've got to know

Why Kawai
Why did you break my heart
Why did we grow apart
Why did we ever start

I thought I couldn't live without you
I thought my life was meaningless
I thought you'd make me oh so happy
But you just made my life a mess

Why Kawai
Why did you seek me out
Why did you scream and shout
Until there was no doubt

Why Kawai
Why did you so insist
Til I could not resist
Now I just make a fist

Repeat B Section

Instrumental Break

Why Kawai
Why won't you leave me be
Why won't you set me free
Someday I'll find the key
To say goodbye to Kawai

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim/why-kawai

PS - Still waiting for somebody to comment on "Looks Like Today" Anybody?

I enjoyed this. I don't really understand why you say "not to be taken seriously", i reckon i don't understand the context of the song.

It was sung to a synth (Kawai)

Yeah, pretty weird.

[wagtunes]

Hi Wags, Disco? hmmm.. okay. We are about the same age. I was subjected to disco during a time when I preferred listening to rock and progressive. However, looking back, there were some great tunes. I might suggest something by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Rose Royce, or Chic. Otherwise the list you have is a pretty solid start. I will look forward to stopping in for a listen.

That list is actually the "non disco" stuff that I listened to, with a couple of exceptions. I have already played all the top disco hits of the era in preparing for this including the ones you mentioned.

This might be my greatest challenge yet.

[Spring Goose]

14th track from my upcoming CD "Outtakes II"

Looks Like Today

Been waiting for a long long time
The clouds are starting to fade
Been trying to make you mine
Thinking of the plans I'd made

But the waiting is over
Done wishing on a four leaf clover

Looks like today
Is gonna be a great, great day
And there's just no way
That anything can make me sing
Louder than anything you can say
Now it's time to play
Looks like today

Been holding out for you to come
You make my head spin round
I always knew you were the one
I thank the day when you were found

And now the waiting is over
Done wishing on my big dog rover

Repeat Chorus

From now on it's gonna be
A lifetime of just you and me
As far as anyone can see
Your love it holds the key
To my happiness

Instrumental Break

Repeat Chorus

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... like-today

I enjoyed it. It didn't make me think many references this one, maybe a bit Morrissey (Vauxhall & I onward). I noticed your mix, great production. It looks like i'm a fan of your ""Outtakes II" cd, Wagtunes!

[Spring Goose]

15th track from my upcoming CD "Outtakes II"

This one, minus the vocal, was made entirely with the brand new K1 that is actually free. If anybody owned a Kawai K1, it was a cool rompler. Noisy as hell, which the VST isn't, but cool just the same. Those 8 bit samples had charm.

I had a lot of fun doing this and, as you can hear, is not to be taken seriously AT ALL.

Why Kawai

Why Kawai
Why did you hurt me so
Why did you let me go
Oh please I've got to know

Why Kawai
Why did you break my heart
Why did we grow apart
Why did we ever start

I thought I couldn't live without you
I thought my life was meaningless
I thought you'd make me oh so happy
But you just made my life a mess

Why Kawai
Why did you seek me out
Why did you scream and shout
Until there was no doubt

Why Kawai
Why did you so insist
Til I could not resist
Now I just make a fist

Repeat B Section

Instrumental Break

Why Kawai
Why won't you leave me be
Why won't you set me free
Someday I'll find the key
To say goodbye to Kawai

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim/why-kawai

PS - Still waiting for somebody to comment on "Looks Like Today" Anybody?

I enjoyed this. I don't really understand why you say "not to be taken seriously", i reckon i don't understand the context of the song.

It was sung to a synth (Kawai)

Oh yes, i got that, but I didn't think it weird!

[wagtunes]

Sure, because we all sing songs to our synthesizers.