Tag: Jim 'Pasty' Thomas

July 2021

THIS MONTH’S AUDIO UPLOADS:

Victorious (Anlg) – SKETCH – 1996:

Victorious gets us underway this month. It’s a rough sketch of what I’d imagined to be a celebratory theme to open a Winter Olympics or something along those lines. It’s just an old analogue cassette recording with a couple of glitches in it, and only an incomplete rough sketch of an idea! So, do excuse the lack of polish.

Always Be There (Mason Techno Remix) (Anlg) – 1995:

My old University mate, Jim Mason, was the second person to add their own special colour to my Always Be There track, with this high-energy German-style Techno Remix. Jim was very much the king of the synths and electronica back then and probably still is to this day. It’s sadly just an old analogue cassette recording as the original digital master has yet to be found. Still love this rendition to this day.

Sassy Queen (Alternative Mellow Mix) – 2008:

Another, slightly less in-your-face mix of this exotic theme that the eagle eyed/eared amongst you will already recognise from a couple of different mixes that have been uploaded to this site in previous months.

The Moon The Stars & The Planet Mars (Late Version – 2021 Edit) – FINAL DEMO – 2012:

The full story behind The Moon The Stars & The Planet Mars (MSPM) can be found in the A-Z Section of this site, so I’ll save repeating myself here. South African/Swedish singer Linnea Södahl provided the vocals. This particular demo mix was tweaked a little in 2021. There still is no definitive mix in existence of MSPM. It remains to this day the classic abandoned track with any number of demo takes clogging up Gigabytes worth of hard drive space.

Bluebird – 1991:

I remember as clear as day programming the backing track (on my trusty Yamaha QY10) for this piece, in a common area of a Youth Hostel I was staying in, somewhere on the West Coast of the USA. Probably Seattle, come to think of it. It was only once I got to the studio at Dartington College of Arts in 1992 that it fully came to life thanks to the guitar playing of Jim ‘Pasty’ Thomas. Another cut from that first ‘album’ Just Enough. Absolute frantic bedlam. Enjoy!

Incidental Music For Animation (Karma 4 Beginners) – 2010:

Here’s one I’d almost forgotten about. A project that came up on the now defunct site, Humtoo. It was requesting incidental music to accompany an in-progress animation. This was my submission which, admittedly, clearly borrows heavily from Henry Mancini’s theme and incidental music to the Pink Panther cartoons. I thought that this choice of inspiration might work against me, but lo and behold, the music that was ultimately used for the animation not only miraculously used exactly the same source of inspiration, but was a version that appeared to have been composed by a deaf three year old. It was properly shit. Can’t help but feel that my idea(s) were taken on board and then the animator had badly re-worked them via whatever means, so as not to pay me a commission fee. Perhaps I’m wrong. Not that I’m bitter or anything!

Hardest Part – 1992:

Written for an ex-girlfriend of mine, Hardest Part, is the slow cut from the Just Enough album. It’s a production mess owing to its roots being a busy Yamaha QY10 backing track, which has subsequently then been swamped by Korg M1 overdubs, but I like to think that the emotion and sentiment still shines through.

Flexible Films (Customer Care Theme) – 2010:

Another main theme to accompany one of Sybil and Russ’s excellent mental health initiative films for the NHS.

Unrepenting Heart – SKETCH – 1997:

This early set of ideas gives us an insight into the creative process that ultimately led to the track, Unrelenting Heart. One for the HughCarsonMusic anoraks out there, if anyone, I suspect.

Upbeat Song Backing (Anlg) – SECTIONS – 1994:

I could hum you the melody if you like, but Lord alone knows what the lyrics were or even the name of this song. Fortunately, the backing track, though a little warped in places, stands up fairly well on its own as an instrumental. All composed on my old Yamaha SY85 workstation linked to an old Atari 1040 STE.

April 2021

This Month’s Audio Uploads:

Double Piano & Glock Study – 2012:

Double Piano & Glock Study actually started life as “G.C.S.E’d“, a piece that I was commissioned to write as a soundtrack for a charity marketing campaign. Ultimately that project never reached fruition, but the process of creation was a particularly enjoyable one as it introduced me to larger-than-life character, Donald Banks – a true entrepreneur if ever there was one.

Wayward Wolf Media Showreel – 2012:

I slaved away on this showreel video for absolutely hours during my time working at Specific Media in 2012. That’s the same Specific Media, in conjunction with Justin Timberlake, of the ill-fated $35 million attempt to revitalise the ailing social media platform, MySpace. I barely left the premises to be honest. By professional standards the video’s not really up to scratch, but as a relative editing amateur at the time, I was quite pleased with the simple but effective results that it yielded. Voice-over was courtesy of the lovely Lauren Wentzel.

Price Of Life – 1992:

The opening slice of nonsense from the Just Enough album. Here it is, folks, in all of its 29 year-old crusty glory. Price of Life, was written, along with many other tracks, during my six-month travels around the good ol’ U.S of A, back in 1991. Subsequently, it was recorded at Dartington College Studios by way of a mash-up of an old Yamaha QY10 dry backing track that had been captured on C90 cassette, some 16-Track recording through a desk, and some Korg M1 synth overdubs. Despite nearly deafening the odd session musician here and there due to my studio ignorance at the time, somehow I wasn’t lynched, and a final mix was ultimately achieved, and this is it. Thanks to Jim ‘Pasty’ Thomas for the axe contributions, and more recently to Graham Joiner for rescuing the audio from an old Sony DAT master tape that I wasn’t even aware existed until relatively recently.

Flexible Films – Restraint – End Titles – 2013:

This is the rather sinister-sounding closing theme for Flexible Films‘ powerful Restraint film which I was involved in some years back.

Right From Wrong (Anlg – 2021 Edit) – DEMO – 1995:

Another rough-cut demo from the mid 90s. The one-shot vocal was intended for guide purposes only, so excuse the plethora of issues with that. It’s another song with a sound which very much anchors it in the 1980s / early 1990s, but it’s a pretty momentum-filled memorable little number. Go on, admit it!

The Chase – Section – SKETCH – 2014:

A lively little sketch intended to be used as upbeat energetic library music for any particular project that might require such a thing.

Wrong (Delpy Song) – Section – SKETCH – 2006:

Was it Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise or Before Sunset in which the film’s chief protagonists ultimately find themselves in Julie Delpy‘s apartment and at which point she proceeds to play Ethan Hawke a little whimsical musical ditty that she’d written? Well, anyway, it was that film which inspired this little idea for a song – “Wrong“. I’ve no idea why, but no sooner had the DVD concluded, I was plugged into the studio once again, playing around with my own equally whimsical flights of musical fancy. It’s a song that never got beyond the quick sketch stage, and is, as you will hear, largely lyric-less. See what you think.

80s Style Slap Bass Song Backing Track (Anlg – 2021 Edit) – 1994:

Catchy little track name, don’t you think? Spot the early Mark King / Level 42 influence, as well as my mild obsession with throwing in 70’s-esque sort of Charlie’s Angels French Horn lines! Magic. Lord alone knows what this song was actually called, or how the vocal melody was meant to go, but fortunately it’s a backing track that stands up pretty well on its own as an instrumental.

Intergalactic – SKETCH – 1996:

One of the numerous Yamaha SY85 Workstation instrumentals that I threw together in the mid 1990s. It was intended to conjure an atmosphere of vast infinite intergalactic nothingness. Or something.

Walkabout – Section – 1996:

Nik Kershaw‘s “Walkabout” is one of the two or three stand-out tracks from his oft-overlooked 1987 album, The Works. Tasked with doing a cover version that stayed faithful to the track’s original format and instrumentation as a part of my university degree, I ventured forth bravely into Studio A in Salford. This track was an absolute pain in the arse to put together from start to finish as there were some severe restrictions imposed upon me, and there really are so many things that I’d have done differently had I been given the scope to flesh the production out and go with my own ‘vision’ of things, but it is was it is, and indeed was what it was. A particular highlight was having to punch-in one or two bar segments of bass line at a time for the track’s entire duration, as that particular instrumental part was a little beyond our bassist at the time. I forget the bass player’s name, but fair play to him, he hung in there and we kind of got the job done in the end! I forget the vocalist’s name too (decent effort by him), but it was definitely Jimmy Drew on drums (summoning the spirit of the late, great Jeff Porcaro – the original drummer involved on this track), and probably Nick Rundall on guitar, but I couldn’t swear by that. At the end of the day, it’s a passable impression of what is actually a really great song, even if Nik Kershaw, himself, had some serious reservations about that album, in general.