Never Far From Mind

Track Comments 
(Click on track title for MP3 clip)

Intended as an overture to the album, this came from the original demo of the track Eyes Of Imagination which was written in 1997. I wanted to present the theme in a very unstructured fashion. There is no set tempo to this track.  Voice and percussion was recorded at the studio. I recorded the keyboards at home on a 4 track mini-disc.  If you listen close, you will hear the piano introduction from Noah’s Dream, and the melody from I Think Of You.

2. Eyes Of Imagination

This is a variation of a song I wrote in 1997 and presented here as a taste of what is to come.  Listen to Pat’s interpretation of the time signature before the solo section.  The band is in ¾ or 6/8. Pat just might be in a few different time signatures and it worked out great.

3. Never Far From Mind

The initial idea for this song came from an improvised jam with my friend Mike Leggett.  Fortunately we were recording and I later expanded the ideas.  One of the transition riffs in this song came from a song that I wrote while I was in Prymary.  The song was called Dream To Reality and I will get to it one day soon.

4. Noah’s Dream

This was written in a piano lesson room long ago.  I am very intrigued by dreams and this sounded like it could be background music to a very pleasant dream.  Noah is my cousin.

5. I Think Of You

This song was quite a shock to realize that I wrote it.  I am a rocker at heart, and this pretty, mostly acoustic composition just came out.  I had the introduction for quite a while and when inspiration hit many months later, the song was completed very fast. Roger gave this track such a great feel especially in the odd time sections.

6. Desert Wind

This song was written and originally demoed in 1992.  I to this day have no clue where some of the riffs and chord progressions came from. Sometimes you just have to go with an idea and Desert Wind is what came out of that.  The guitar solo in the middle and at the end was improvised.  This was probably the first time I allowed myself to just go with it and not compose a solo beforehand.

7. Morning Light

I came up with the introduction to this song one night while playing my acoustic while Mike Leggett was playing along on a drum machine.  When that riff came out, I figured out the chords and we  recorded it.  I did nothing with it until I was watching television and playing my acoustic on Thanksgiving Day a year later when the chord progression and song structure came to me.

8. One Promise

This song was written and demoed in 1994.  I wrote this thinking it would be a vocal song for a progressive rock band.  Well after spending time recording the parts, I will normally try to write the vocal melody by soloing over the track on guitar.  My first take became the inspiration for keeping this song an instrumental.  Some of the lead electric guitar parts were improvised in the studio. Most of it was based on that original demo.

9. Felicitas

Felicitas was originally written as a solo guitar piece.  When I demoed it with bass and drum machine it really seemed to work well so I went with it.  In the 6/4 middle section, I had recorded some really annoying controlled feedback which didn’t work very well. So when it came time to record it for real, I brought in Lisa to sing in that section of the song.  What she came up with is wonderful.  Felicitas is my niece.

10. In Memory

The original demo for this song sounded very classical to me.  It was just guitar and keyboard with no drums or percussion.  The idea to use different types of percussion came later and it changed the direction of the song.

11. On Second Thought

On Second Thought was originally a recorded jam with Mike Leggett on the same day that we wrote Never Far From Mind.  Once we heard the idea, we began to structure it right then and there.  I wrote the melody and solo section, and recorded a more complete demo later that year.