Assembling an album

Lots of people make recordings and present them in many ways. Sometimes they are random collections of recorded material just tossed up online somewhere. When I start writing & recording it usually evolves quickly into having an album in mind. A cohesive collection of tunes destined to be grouped together as a whole. I have had it said to me many times that Mastermind albums flow well and tend to sound best as a whole. That is no accident. My new solo work has also evolved into a collection that seems quite cohesive to me and sounds like an "album". How this whole guitar album idea came about I will get into later, but it's not what you might think and not really what I thought I'd be doing next, but do it I did.

Right now I am working out the final running order. Even though the songs were conceptualized to be together early on, the reality of running order is sometimes tough to work out. I want an emotional ebb & flow of course, but mixing up keys and tempos is also vital to creating an engaging album. Some songs end in a very resolved fashion, some feel more open ended like you are waiting for more, so what follows what can be critical to how a song hits you. I can think of many albums where running order is so embedded in my brain it feels funny hearing a song without its immediate relative. Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker - Living Loving Maid" comes to mind right off.

A conceptual idea I am applying to this album is to think of it as a good old fashioned vinyl LP with two sides. Each nearly equal length "side" has its own flow and feels quite satisfying as a group, yet all together on a single CD it also flows well as a whole. To achieve this a little juggling is required. Anyway, in light of the previous blog, here it is April 1st, 2009 and I can say I have finished a new album. I am guessing it will take a few months to get it out there, but it feels good to have completed something brand spankin' new!