Music

Music is my first love. It is truly the universal language of nature and of humanity. When I listen to music my mind reverberates with the infinite possibilities born of the sounds, textures, and colours. My songs are nothing special but I have found great pleasure in writing and recording them.

stave

On this page, you will find the complete album 'JIGSAW' as well as its individual songs. There are also links to videos of my guitar covers of some great tunes. 'Jigsaw' was put together from various pieces recorded over five years or so - hence the name. Because of this and the variety of recording mediums, and other equipment used over that time, some of the tracks vary in tonal and dynamic quality. Because I worked alone I had to play all of the instruments myself. Some tracks, such as 'Jigsaw' and 'Waiting For You' reflect the fact that I had acquired a Keyboard at that time and was learning to play it.

COVER1

I started writing and recording songs in 1991 when my son Stuart asked me to look after his music gear while he went away for a few weeks. Along with his things was a 4-track tape recorder and he kindly set it up so that I could record my guitar. I soon had an idea for a song and started laying down some drums and guitar chords. Ideas formed into words and then verses and before long I had a song - 'Heart of Things', which was inspired by the looks on people's faces as they passed by a cafe window. I eventually lost the original track and had to re-record it years later using my computer. These days, all of my recording is done on a computer, from which I can draw on an almost endless supply of instruments and editing power along with my trusty guitar. In 1993, after the siege of Sarajevo had been raging with continual bombardment for over 18 months, with the TV showing pictures of children dying in the streets (this was to continue for another two years) and the support for Nelson Mandela growing at a fast pace worldwide, I wrote 'Mandela People' in sympathy with oppressed people everywhere. I have written backgrounds to all of the 'Jigsaw' tracks with each of the individual audio videos.

'Jigsaw' was put together in 2000 by gathering the few songs that survived the 1990s and then writing and recording a couple of new tracks for a more modern balance. Because it was essentially odd pieces I called it 'Jigsaw' after the first track.

I hope you enjoy.


AUDIO

'JIGSAW', the full album, was put together using odd tracks that had been recorded at various times and with a wide range of equipment. Most of the equipment was cheap toy-town stuff at first but as time passed I acquired better gear and made cleaner recordings. It came to the point when I decided to tidy things up and make a clean start. So I edited the best tracks and put the album together from all of the bits and pieces. Some tracks had been damaged or parts were missing or were so badly recorded that I had to redo them from scratch.

Most of the tracks have a story behind them; something that inspired them or an incident that led to a song. The earliest track is 'Deep in the Heart of Things' (1992) and the latest is 'The Sky is Falling Down' (2001). Since then I've been too busy with the TS to find the time and energy to write and record more but my mind is still fertile and I hope to get back to it someday soon. Because I have always worked alone writing and recording, I played all of the instruments myself (drums only on Kelt - the rest using an elasis drum machine). Principally a guitarist, my keyboard skills took some time to develop (at least to the point where I could play a backing without missing a note - with hours of practice). The single track - 'Jigsaw' is the best effort to date.

FULL ALBUM -