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Quick links — Part III (acoustic 06.30.18) • Parts I - IV Update (11.24.20)

I wrote the music for “Getting Close to the Edge” in 1976, when I was 16.

In 2020, I decided to record it.

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GC2TE is a four-part, 20-minute-long progressive-rock composition.

It’s a in-progress, complex musical adventure.

Why “Getting Close to the Edge”?

In the 1970s, I lived in the UK, a time when progressive rock was in its prime.

I was — I still am — in awe of YES.

IMHO, YES’s “Close to the Edge” is greatest rock album of all time.

At 16, I dreamed of getting close and…

Where would we be
without dreams?

The lyrics for GC2TE have been re-written several times since 1976.

Early attempts were never quite right.

Then in 2020, I finally got there, drawing upon and adapting an edgy,
unnerving Indian folk tale I remember well from childhood.

Finally hit the GC2TE spot.

(I hope!)

The BIG challenge:

How to get Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass), Rick Wakeman (keyboards) and
either Bill Bruford or Alan White (drums) to help co-create “Getting Close to the Edge” into reality.

Fortunately, the 21st century is upon us, and one musician working a full-time job can now call upon
today’s incredible music technology and online forums for brilliant assistance, even co-creation.

I hear the “only the best session musicians recording in the best studios” grumblers already.

True, this project will not be completed in the same way a YES, Kacey Musgraves, Taylor Swift,
The National or Shawn Medes might complete a project.

But grumblers?

You do what you can with the materials at hand.

If artists can make worthwhile art with a pencil on a scrap piece of paper,
a musician can bring a dream to life without recording in the best LA studios
with the best session musicians money can buy,
then handing the project off to world-class mixing engineers
who will pull it all together for the perfect master.

You do what you can with the materials at hand.

That’s what creativity is all about.

Grumblers, please grumble elsewhere.

YES had Roger Dean to provide artwork that fit their musical visions.

I… have the internet!

I am grateful to all those who make artwork and fonts available free online for personal projects.

I am grateful, too, to my long-time friend and artist Greg Manchess for art direction when I stray too too far afield.

Thanks Greg!

When I don’t have time to work on the music, it’s a true solace to come up with another “CD design”!

The first stage in the creative process is to GENERATE lots and lots and lots of ideas.

Selecting “the best” idea(s) — quality focus — comes later. Generation is all about QUANTITY.

Quantity! Quantity! Quantity!

Another one. One more. And another one! Just one more… Keep going.

It should go without saying: when you generate a lot, you learn a lot.

Friends who are used to my acoustic playing may not like “Getting Close to the Edge” — at least not Parts I and IV.

Parts I and IV are “heavy/dramatic” — and instrumental.

Since 1976, I’ve always played Parts I and IV on an acoustic guitar, usually a 12-string.

It’s been great fun bringing GC2TE’s progressive-rock soul to light!

Parts II and III are “light/melodic.”

Part II is the vocal section. Fingers crossed I can record the vocals in a proper studio.

Part III (“It Is Done”) is an acoustic-guitar instrumental.

Part III was “lost” for a long, long while. (Scary!)

Once remembered (06.30.18), I immediately captured it on my iPhone, never to be forgotten again!

To listen to Part III (iPhone recording 06.30.18), click arrow in dark circle below:

Focused work on all four parts of GC2TE began in early October 2020.

The first step: recording “reference” on my iPhone with an acoustic guitar.

(Some of the acoustic reference can still be heard as of 11.23.20, see update video below.)

This turned out to be more important than I knew at first.

While I’d always “just played” Parts I and IV, I was not consciously aware of the time signature changes.

And that took some figuring out!

Then came getting all the musical “Lego blocks” in place.

Guitars, drums, bass, keyboards and important extras.

And — making some (hard) “final” arrangement decisions.

Working alone during COVID-19, there’s been a lot to re-learn and learn.

A lot.

But that’s all part of the adventure, neh?

That said, I can’t wait to get some serious feedback and help from others!

I’m working as quickly as I can in the limited time I have.

And — this is turning out to be a bigger project than I’d imagined at first.

But as I’m not inclined to leave major projects undone,
“Getting Close to the Edge” will be completed as quickly as humanly possible,
while also ensuring it will be as good as it can be!

Project updates below!

Project Update

11.24.20 — Drums & bass focus (for now)

Unhappy with 11.23.20 update — something very messy with the drums.

Problem 1: too many splashy hi-hats. Nasty splashy hi-hats removed. Much better. (Now I can sleep again.) Still have to figure out how to get the Peter Gabriel “Red Rain” hi-hats-at-the-beginning sound I’m after…

Interesting (new) problem 2: a hi-hat I like isn’t even on the drum track — it’s the hi-hat metronome for the original acoustic reference track recorded on my iPhone!

The never-ending to-do list gets… longer…

Much better than yesterday…

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