MacJams.com - Song: Takin' it all down (w/steck) by apb

Takin' it all down (w/steck)
by apb

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Submitted on: Jul 31, 2007 - 04:51:25 PM
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Keywords Catch (4), analogapalooza (11)

Description One from the vaults. Recorded: the old BBC Scotland studios across from the Botanical gardens in the West End (when noone was in) and over a recording of Aly Bain & friends, analog 24-track: 8th and 9th Feb 1992, mixed 23rd Feb.

I took a cassette I had and recorded it into GB, no treatment.

'Catch' were:
Graham S. - vocals, synths, composition, arrangement, lyrics and sequencing. Welcome to MJs my old band mate!
Iain McD - drums
Graham K - bass, bit of Talkin' Heads tsk tsk & all recording & engineering & mixing (still working at the Beeb)
Pavla? - backing vocals (just this session)
Edwina - sax
Alan (apb) - guitar

© 1992 Graham Steel & Catch, used with permission.

Lyrics Takin' it all down, even the words you say.
I'm takin' it all down, even the words you say.

To be on the road again,
Is what I want right now.
I wanna be free from the rush,
Cos it's about time,
I should find the reason,
That makes me wanna say ...

I'm takin' it all down, even the words you say.
Show me a sign gimme a number
I don't want it any other way

What's on your mind?
Is this for real?

Shouldn't be alone,
Or have enemies
It's what you say and do
The thing to catch out,
Are the ones that try to spin you around,
When they try to ignore,
I bet they notice everything,
But I can see right through your stupid little games,
Tryin' an' losing, cos it makes me wanna say...

Say that you want me to ...

© 1992, Graham Steel

Hardware 24 track analog reel-2-reel
the bands gear ..
I used a J.P.Player guitar (it had a wireless thing built-in .. cool :o))
VOX AC120 amp, BOSS ME-5 FX, Cry Baby Wah.

Software: GB v3 used to record from cassette.

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	jiguma said 478 days ago
	Is that ... ... Aly playing the fiddle solo?? Cool look back Alan. Neil

	apb said 474 days ago
	:o) felt good to get that off my guilty conscience for so many years .. hahahah. Have you any idea how much a new 24-track wide tape reel cost in those days? Me neither .. but it was alot ...so Aly had to go. It was funny when mixing .. we took it in turns to get to hit 'stop' before the return of Aly's shindig ... dee dee diddly diddly diddly dee .. ;o)

	lengold said 478 days ago
	Alan... That was a good band. Something to look back on and be proud of. Excellent. Cheers Len

apb said 473 days ago

Thanks Len ..
good times, fond memories .. I don't think I've ever left a
band on bad terms ... I just kept moving somewhere (in this
case I left to go work in England .. my folks were kinda
keen to get me out the house hahahah)... but I do recall that at my audition for "Catch" .. the lead singer at the time (not steck) stormed out .. never to return... I thought ..
wow .. what a band! hahahah... he and the drummer had been on
each others nerves for some time .. and it just the stress of
my audition to bring everything to a head.

Ah... memories .. lol.

	Allen Dean said 478 days ago
	great drums man, they sound fantastic... no substitute for the real thing, no offense, d.o.d...... great tune, alan!!

apb said 475 days ago

Thanks Allen
I recall a fair amount of time went into getting the drum
sound right .. the foundation .. still one of the best drummers I have ever had the pleasure to play with .. and
a good pal too ... he played to the sequence click .. and
did his recording of the song from start to finish without
any backing (could do this with all our songs I believe) .. never listened to us .. hahahha :o) .. well more in rehearsal
and live .. from bleed and positioning of his cans.

Drums on demand (DOD)loops is the next best thing ..I agree,
though I've heard some pretty good alternatives .. still I
think those alternatives take much longer time to get as good sounding results.

	Faelin said 478 days ago
	alan.. great, fun track! nice funky playing! sounds pretty good for an old analog, too. great stuff, bro!

	egobandit2 said 478 days ago
	Straight outa the studio You guys are tight Realy good wow!

	Kenta said 478 days ago
	Wow Alan, what a nice suprise this is too me. Like this music a lot.... Did you do a CD or was it only a tape for the band? Nice flashback love it. Take care -- Kenta

	Feter said 478 days ago
	Takin' it all down super !!! what a cool band and recording this is alright !!! Rock rock rock !!! the guitar work so remarkable ..the singing so cool ...the bass as well ..thnx for sharing this cool one here !!!

	steck said 477 days ago
	Thanks apb Seems like it was only a few years that we recorded this but 15 - wow...... Having free and open access to Studio 2 at the BBC in Glasgow was way cool. Kudos to Alan for pulling this one out of the vault and we're in the process of hunting some some more trax...... Oh yes, sorry Aly Bain for recording over your tape lol Graham S aka Steck

	bronco said 477 days ago
	Cool Sound Your vocal here was really cool! Reminded me of The Band and The Subdudes. Backing tracks were superb as usual. Haven't heard you do a bad one yet!

	bud said 477 days ago
	Cool guitar tones Tasty rhythm work. Very tight outfit you got there. I hear the T Heads bass quote after the break. Cool track - strong groove.

	Moviz said 476 days ago
	Super recording, great song and sounds all round. This still sounds like it was recorded yesterday, M

	J.A.Stewart said 474 days ago
	Hearing This Reminds Me... how much musical talent there is in the world that has gone undiscovered for lack of that elusive hit that resonates with the masses. Lots of talent in this group... and now 1/3 of it is on MacJams! ;) --- Joe

apb said 473 days ago

Thanks Joe
.. still time to hone those skills and crafts .. I hope to
do some procuding of my nephews band... but I'm still learning
all the new technology I feel .. it does bog you down from
writing new things but .. I get round to everything eventually.

There seems to be two distinct approaches: listen to what is
charting .. and emulate or just do what you like to do.. but try to make it a bit different .. and hope for the best .. I tend to be more in favour of the second approach... although
what I do like in 'different' music .. hasn't had much
commercial success. ie. the folk/rock/pop/metal/psychedelic mix :o)

	echoroom said 472 days ago
	Bass! Great bass sound - kinda late 80's/early 90's - this woulda been a chart hit if you'd had the publicity. Reminds me a little of Deacon Blue (probably the backing vox), but a lot better. Great stuff ... how deep are your vaults??? Steve

	apb said 467 days ago
	Thanks Steve .. . I don't recall really what the band attempted to do with these recordings .. we could have done with a manager .. was great fun to play and the experience too. My vaults aren't very deep... I think prior to 1987 .. I just have a few Tascam 4-track recordings of my first ever band...they are priceless .. hahahah.

	apb said 467 days ago
	Actually .. .. funny you mention 'Deacon Blue' .. when I joined, the band did do a cover of "Dignity" .. which I had to learn for our "set" .. we dropped doing covers fairly quickly in favour of our own material... but we instead played all covers under a pseudo, for some cash :o)

	thetiler said 471 days ago
	cool rockin!

	estellie said 465 days ago
	nice voices got a college folk sound to it, too. wait, I would say college folk, electronica. hee hee. Funny cover art. poor man. I'm glad you've made your retributions.

	Heightened said 327 days ago
	Another solid rock piece. Great work!

	apb said 475 days ago
	Thanks Jason .. unless MJers had heard the collab So invisible with Craft et al they might not have known I am a bit partial, from time to time, to a little pop/funk INXSish guitar playing :o) The playing I did in steck's band illustrates this side of my playing. Probably one of the reasons I went for it in Craft's song.

	apb said 473 days ago
	Thanks Ego we did rehearse/practice alot .. Clydeband in Glasgow first .. then nearer the town centre .. where was it again steck? .. we had a dedicated rehearsal room in a warehouse .. and built a bar in the corner too .. called "splashos"... drums had a little platform too built from old palette crates. Great times ... gets all teary .. lol.

	apb said 475 days ago
	Thanks Kenta ..we never got signed or a deal, so we never distributed a CD sadly. steck did mention he backed up some of the studio recordings from DAT to CD about 5 years ago. If you send him a note, he might be able to send you (and me!) a copy :o)

	apb said 473 days ago
	Thanks Feter too kind. I think at this stage I was the slopiest player of all the members ... got a bit tighter and more confident later ..I was still finding my niche in their sound at this point.

	apb said 472 days ago
	Thanks .. glad you hired me! It was great times ...do you remember we did an impromptu cover in a restaurant/bar in Italy too? (just us two on hols) .. man that grappa is nasty .. lol.

	steck said 467 days ago
	"More than Words" performed inpromptu in deepest Tuscany.... How could I forget Mr Volcano Pizza minus the Grappa.. Steck

	apb said 474 days ago
	Thanks bud .. .. that T.Heads 'quote' was quite blatent and cheeky. To be honest, I think out of all voices recorded, the production on the guitar sound is perhaps the weakest ..I mean, this was a VOX AC120 mic'ed up played loud .. but it sounds so distant in the back in the mix .. I think some duplication and panning might have been the trick ;oP

	apb said 464 days ago
	:o) .. they all were (and still are) great singers. The bass player did backing live until he left .. that's when I first started in the role as backing singer and had to learn some harmonies etc... but for this recording it's all just steck and Pavla. Nothing poor about Sir Aly , he's "minted" as they say in Scotland... still was good to get it off the conscience. :o)

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