Scopes II

I can't believe we're going to go through this again. And in my own state, no less.

slowly, slowly

Going back through old tapes that I made, trying to find the versions of various songs that I think sound the best--or the least bad, as the case may be.

Contrary to what you might think, it's pretty tedious. This is the part where analogue sucks, because it requires a lot of rewinding and fast-forwarding as I go through them. On top of that, I didn't bother to write down what I had recorded on several of these tapes, or the dates. Actually, most of them don't have dates, aside from maybe the year--such as "2003 Atrocities".
It will be nice to have some sort of demo with things that I wrote and recorded over the past decade. Most of what I wrote a long time ago still seems decent to me, and not totally embarrassing, so at least I might be happy--even if everyone else thinks it sucks.

The goal is an online "album" that you can download for free, maybe with some sort of donation or patronage system similar to Steam Powered Studio.

Listening

For whatever reason, I've been listening a lot to the Band lately, I even rented The Last Waltz recently, which I haven't watched in a long time. I think I'm even more impressed with them than I ever was, especially watching them play so effortlessly with such a variety of musicians--Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, Emmilou Harris, The Staples...who else am I missing? It's just great to watch. The DVD also includes an extended jam at the end of the show with most of the performers.
Then there's the Band's original material, which sound like traditional songs that have been around for over a hundred years, as opposed to being written in the 1960s and 70s. "Cripple Creek", "Ophelia", etc. Maybe I'm being subliminally influenced by hearing "The Weight" in, like, every other commercial that's on television.

If you don't already have it, I definitely recommend the soundtrack to the The Last Waltz. There's a studio track towards the end of the second disc called "Out of the Blue". It features a rare lead vocal by Robbie Robertson that is so damn souful.