All
This is intended as a general alert for some new/old music I would very much like to share with you.
This work encompasses a highly ambitious project that I first embarked on some ~49 years ago. The journey goes back to one of my very best bands I was ever involved with in the early/mid 70’s when I was living in the east side of Milwaukee, WI.
The 4 band members composed and rehearsed a lengthy prog rock composition that covered 26 different sections, or movements, which were all complex in nature. These featured rapidly shifting time and key signatures and stretched our technique and musicianship to their limits, as it was intended to be executed in one complete performance rather than individual songs. This epic adventure, which grew into a running time of over 35 minutes, became known as “The Symphony”.
Sadly, we were not able to perform this for a live audience due to the band breaking up as some of the members moved on with their lives and left Milwaukee. I lamented this greatly and began calling it “The Unfinished Symphony”.
Roughly 30 years later I was reunited with the band’s original bassist after discovering that he lived about a half hour from me in WA State where I was also now living. We picked up where we left off and started playing together again. It was at this time that I discovered a reel-to-reel tape recording of The Symphony we had done in the basement in which we rehearsed in Milwaukee 30 years ago, which we had recorded for posterity sake.
Both Len, the bassist, and myself, quickly came to the conclusion that we needed to get ourselves into a recording studio and revisit this incredible project to bring it to fruition. So we embarked on a plan to realize this dream which fortunately included the original organist Mike. Unfortunately, Jim, the original drummer, had hung up his sticks but we found a competent drummer who executed the original tracks pretty faithfully. We also drafted the skills of a fabulous and talented flutist and fiddle player, so off we went.
The result became a CD release back in 2005, and while it served to show the nature of the project I was always dissatisfied with some of the performance for a lot of different reasons. This became plainly evident the more I listened to it as time went by.
All to say is that over the past year, my current studio engineer has been painstakingly looking at the tracks closely and dedicated himself to the enormous task of remixing it. This is no small undertaking as some of the sections had to be scrutinized under the microscope, so to speak, in order to determine why there was disharmony in the passages. Basically he had to rebuild it section by section, and he soon took ownership of this as though he was one of the original band members.
The result is a work I can now listen to without flaws, awkward moments, etc, but yet is certainly not sterile or one dimensional. The tremendous performances are still there as is the raw power of the piece. One can now hear each instrument plainly in the stereo image, there is no longer any clumsy execution with respect to pitch, timing, or articulation, and a few sections that were completely out of control before have been reworked to my original concept. It has now finally been made whole after some 49 years since inception and has fully achieved the bold vision I’ve always had for it.
I would like to share this with anyone who is interested. I'd be pleased to send you a CD at absolutely no cost provided you still have the ability to play those funny little round things. If not, it is available on my website for download at n/c. If you would prefer to receive a CD please pm me with your details. I hasten to add I ask nothing in return for this - no 'baccy - no nothing. It's just a means of sharing my music with those who would enjoy it. In fact all my music is available for free download on my site-
www.randereed.com
To say I’m excited about this is an understatement. It clearly marks a milestone in my life as a musician and I hope you will enjoy listening to this as much as I’ve enjoyed being a part of it. It certainly closes a chapter in my life and I regard it as my Magnum Opus!
Cheers,
RR
This is intended as a general alert for some new/old music I would very much like to share with you.
This work encompasses a highly ambitious project that I first embarked on some ~49 years ago. The journey goes back to one of my very best bands I was ever involved with in the early/mid 70’s when I was living in the east side of Milwaukee, WI.
The 4 band members composed and rehearsed a lengthy prog rock composition that covered 26 different sections, or movements, which were all complex in nature. These featured rapidly shifting time and key signatures and stretched our technique and musicianship to their limits, as it was intended to be executed in one complete performance rather than individual songs. This epic adventure, which grew into a running time of over 35 minutes, became known as “The Symphony”.
Sadly, we were not able to perform this for a live audience due to the band breaking up as some of the members moved on with their lives and left Milwaukee. I lamented this greatly and began calling it “The Unfinished Symphony”.
Roughly 30 years later I was reunited with the band’s original bassist after discovering that he lived about a half hour from me in WA State where I was also now living. We picked up where we left off and started playing together again. It was at this time that I discovered a reel-to-reel tape recording of The Symphony we had done in the basement in which we rehearsed in Milwaukee 30 years ago, which we had recorded for posterity sake.
Both Len, the bassist, and myself, quickly came to the conclusion that we needed to get ourselves into a recording studio and revisit this incredible project to bring it to fruition. So we embarked on a plan to realize this dream which fortunately included the original organist Mike. Unfortunately, Jim, the original drummer, had hung up his sticks but we found a competent drummer who executed the original tracks pretty faithfully. We also drafted the skills of a fabulous and talented flutist and fiddle player, so off we went.
The result became a CD release back in 2005, and while it served to show the nature of the project I was always dissatisfied with some of the performance for a lot of different reasons. This became plainly evident the more I listened to it as time went by.
All to say is that over the past year, my current studio engineer has been painstakingly looking at the tracks closely and dedicated himself to the enormous task of remixing it. This is no small undertaking as some of the sections had to be scrutinized under the microscope, so to speak, in order to determine why there was disharmony in the passages. Basically he had to rebuild it section by section, and he soon took ownership of this as though he was one of the original band members.
The result is a work I can now listen to without flaws, awkward moments, etc, but yet is certainly not sterile or one dimensional. The tremendous performances are still there as is the raw power of the piece. One can now hear each instrument plainly in the stereo image, there is no longer any clumsy execution with respect to pitch, timing, or articulation, and a few sections that were completely out of control before have been reworked to my original concept. It has now finally been made whole after some 49 years since inception and has fully achieved the bold vision I’ve always had for it.
I would like to share this with anyone who is interested. I'd be pleased to send you a CD at absolutely no cost provided you still have the ability to play those funny little round things. If not, it is available on my website for download at n/c. If you would prefer to receive a CD please pm me with your details. I hasten to add I ask nothing in return for this - no 'baccy - no nothing. It's just a means of sharing my music with those who would enjoy it. In fact all my music is available for free download on my site-
www.randereed.com
To say I’m excited about this is an understatement. It clearly marks a milestone in my life as a musician and I hope you will enjoy listening to this as much as I’ve enjoyed being a part of it. It certainly closes a chapter in my life and I regard it as my Magnum Opus!
Cheers,
RR
