Tag: demo

Music Monday – Volume Fifty Three

MarcyB0yLeave a comment

1) The 1975 – Settle Down

I love every single song from The 1975’s debut album but some tracks do get more listens than others! I neglected this song for quite a while but was recently reminded of how awesome it is. The slamming beats and funky guitar riffs contribute to its catchiness.

2) Gabrielle – I Wish

90’s R&B at its best with an awesome new jack swing vibe. Smooth, soulful with a message we can all relate to, this is an underrated beauty! Gabrielle has one of my favourite voices in Pop music and is worthy of far more credit than she receives. Many only know her for ‘Dreams’, ‘Out of Reach’ and ‘Rise’ but a listen to her Greatest Hits album proves her diversity and her level of talent. Love this.

3) Broken Social Scene – Major Label Debut

I watched ‘It’s Kind of a funny story’ for the first time last week and completely fell in love with it. Funny and moving, it tells the story of a teen boy who checks himself into a mental-health clinic. These guys did the score all the way through and this song played during the credits. It’s just a great feel-good song.

4) Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure

One of Queen’s best songs and certainly one of my favourites. Gives me plenty of fond memories from performing in my school production of ‘We Will Rock You’ and from seeing the musical live in the West End twice. Bowie is a legend too of course. Irresistibly good.

5) Janet Jackson – That’s The Way Love Goes

Smooth and sultry, this song captures everything Janet Jackson is as an artist. Awesome production, clever sampling of James Brown’s ‘Papa don’t take no mess’ and a timeless song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUOkg4jFNus

6) Michael Jackson – Beautiful Girl

Stunning demo which appeared on Michael’s 2004 Ultimate Collection box set. The finished version (if it was ever fully completed) has never come to light but fans value this version greatly. Michael’s falsetto is gorgeous. Even his unreleased material was in a different league. Beautiful song.

7) S Club 7 – Sunshine

Track from the album with the same name, I’ve always adored this song. It’s so optimistic, so catchy and has an irresistible feel-good vibe. It’s a little bit more mature than some of their best known singles and Jon Lee’s voice is absolutely incredible on it. Some beautiful memories always return to me with this song.

8) S Club 7 – Have You Ever

Upon its release, I was never that fond of this track. Since their split, however, this song has found a place in my heart and it’s now one of my all time favourite S Club 7 songs. Written by one of my favourite songwriters Chris Braide along with Cathy Dennis (responsible for many of S Club 7’s material in addition to some of the best loved pop music over the past twenty years), this was released as Children in Need’s Official Single back in 2001. Beautiful, relatable lyrics, amazing vocals from Jo O’Meara and simply pop music at its best. Gorgeous.

9) S Club 7 – Two In A Million

Beautiful, mellow ballad from S Club 7’s début album and one of their more underrated singles. Jo O’Meara’s voice is absolutely incredible.

10) S Club 7 – S Club Party

This remains an absolute classic in the history of pop! Was very lucky to be able to experience this live once again when I saw a newly reformed S Club 7 perform live at the 02 Arena – the atmosphere was incredible during this song. Still much loved today.

 

NEW:

Album of the week:

Revolutionary Road: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Thomas Newman

Stunning score by my favourite composer, Thomas Newman. He’s been responsible for the scores of some of my favourite films e.g. American Beauty, The Green Mile & The Shawshank Redemption. His scores are always haunting and accompany any scene perfectly.

A reflection…

MarcyB0y2 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F9L1_7ieCM

I was feeling all reflective and thinking about my friendship with somebody and so I decided to write this brief little reflection about this song.

It’s funny how times and feelings change. This song is incredibly personal and it means a lot to me. When I uploaded it, I received some of my best feedback for any of my songs which I am entirely grateful for. I wrote this at around Easter last year, a few months after me and a person I was really close with fell apart. As a sense of closure I wrote this song to deal with the gaping hole that person left.

Our relationship was an odd one. We weren’t a couple or anything but we were two people who were polar opposites and a bit lost for a while who found each other. Being opposite was a small part of what made us so ‘toxic’ and whilst we were in one sense a great comfort to each other, in another we messed each other up a lot. It was a weird time for both of us and despite the way things turned out at the time, I am eternally grateful for that closeness we shared.

When we fell apart I felt both optimistic and lost at the same time. I felt optimistic because as things had become more and more difficult towards the end, I knew now we could be free without each other. But then I felt lost because I’d lost someone I talked to every single day and someone who meant the world to me. In the end I think it was for the best. We needed time out and that was that. The song kinda reflects that – I think musically it’s pretty bright despite it being mid-tempo but the lyrics are darker.

I can’t actually remember the ins and outs of how I wrote this song but I believe it was one that wrote itself in my head if I can remember correctly. Lyrically, I think it’s probably one of my favourites and the song pretty much explains everything.

Earlier this year, in a bizarre turn of events, we both tracked each other down again, both realising we missed each other. Things move on in a year and lots had happened but slowly, we’ve rebuilt all of that friendship we once destructed. I don’t regret what I said through this song but I certainly look at things a different way now, especially after talking to each other about things. It makes me happy knowing things have moved on from this song.

It just goes to show how different everything can look in a year.

 

Toxic

MarcyB0yLeave a comment

I wrote this around a year ago but only got round to making a demo for it a few days ago. It’s not a reflection of current emotions but it’s still a personal track to me.

It also samples a well known pop track somewhere – just thought it fitted well despite it being a very different song!

As usual, comments are appreciated and please try and see past my exceptionally weak vocal ability!

 

http://www.reverbnation.com/marcbarritt/song/19964793-toxic-demo