Volume 11 - Rockin' the Heroes

On and on I went. Writing song after song. It was amazing really. No writer's block for me. And I wasn't complaining about that. But my wife was. During this period in my life, I was spending hours and hours on my keyboard. It was the latest electronic piano from Yamaha, which could synthesize any instrument, including drum kits.

I had two small children, but that didn't mean I wasn't spending time with them. Everywhere I went I took my little sons with me. But when I was home, it was a good bet I was on that keyboard, playing music and writing new songs. So I wrote the next ten songs and because the last song is called Hero, I thought that Rockin' the Heroes is a good title for my 11thh album. 

I was talking about controversial songs in my last post. You may notice song #1 is called Racist. I don't believe it's controversial, but some people might think it is. What it is, is a parody of how much some people use the race card. I got so tired of hearing about how this person or that person is a racist. It was like if you stubbed your toe, then that meant someone was a racist.

So the parody song Racist was born. And if you don't like it, then YOU are a racist! LOL, just kidding. I don't expect anyone to like any of my songs. I was just making a point.

Anyway, the playlist is as follows:

Racist

It Couldn't Get Worse

The Last Time

I'm So Glad

Diamond Ring

Hittin' the Road

You Told Me

Another Plan

Courage

Hero

And btw, I now have three of my albums on SoundCloud. Starting with this one. If you go to the right margin of this blog, you will see Volumes, 11, 12, and 13 posted, and if you click on any of the images, then you will be directed to SoundCloud where that specific playlist is located. 

And yes, I have the redone Volume 12 on there now, too. Up until yesterday, I had a version on there from two years ago. I had used cassette tape technology about twenty years ago to record it. But now, using digital technology I re-recorded it, so it's a little better now. 

I will post more about Volumes 12 and 13 when I have them on the blog here. But like I was saying, Volumes 11, 12, and 13 are available on SoundCloud right now.

Volume 10 - Rockin' the Dark Side

 So after nine terrific albums of great original tunes, I was in no mood to stop. In fact, like before, the original riffs were still pouring out of me. It was like I could come up with an all original riff in a heartbeat. And that is just what I was doing.

So Volume 10 was quick to materialize. That is, it materialized just as quickly as the next ten songs were composed, and that didn't take long at all. It's like I was an open faucet, and the water was pouring out full blast. I'm talking about ten volumes of original music created in the span of about three years.

I say that because I started Volume 2 in about the year 2000. And by the time Volume 10 was done, it was about the year 2003. So, yeah, that's nine albums in three years. That's about 3 albums a year by average, and I wasn't slowing down, either.

But there was something a little bit different about this one. For the first time I wrote some controversial lyrics. Well, it could be argued that my lyrics bordered on controversial topics before. But I had made it clear that the meaning was anything but clear. It was all up to the listener to decide what the lyrics were about, as I wrote the lyrics deliberately unclear.

But on Volume 10, there are two songs in which the meaning of the lyrics are very clear. And that's because the lyrics do not mince words so to speak. As a result, the songs could be a boon to one faction of people and a bane to another. But whatever. It's what I was feeling at the time, and the songs, regardless of the lyrics, are excellent. So the playlist is as follows:

So Good

Breakin' Down

Witnessing

Time Will Tell

The Dark Side

You Keep Talkin'

Sacred One

Who Saves the Day

What's in the Mix

Where is Justice

If you guessed one of the controversial songs is Where is Justice, you are right. The other one is Who Saves the Day. Like I said, it's not like I hadn't written anything controversial before. But the meanings were ambiguous, and deliberately so. But these two songs are not ambiguous. 

I suppose it doesn't really matter. No one is going to hear them anyway. But I do plan on posting all of these songs on SoundCloud one day soon. And maybe on Spotify, also. Let's see what happens then.

Volume 9 - Rockin' Your Heart Out

I was in a phase of creativity not like I had ever known or even heard about before. After composing 8 volumes of original tunes, complete with rockin' riffs, guitar solos, organ solos, from slow ballads to fast hard rockin' songs and everything in between, the songs just kept coming. So Volume 9 quickly materialized, almost as if from thin air.

Like I said before, I was writing new song after new song. And every ten songs constituted a separate album. A bit of trivia is that every song on every album is listed in the order that I wrote it. So once Volume 8 was done, the next ten songs became, of course, Volume 9. 

And I am glad to say the lyrics are just as good as the music. I can also say that the lyrics are not so cut and dry as to the meaning. Which is what I was saying in my prior post of Volume 8. Sure, Your Heart is about my wife, but that is the only one that isn't shrouded in multiple meanings and/or involving a deeper context than what might appear on the surface.

Crooked Cutlass is a perfect example of that. It was originally a different title. But I thought the original title might be a little too controversial, meaning it might have crossed the political correctness line. Usually I wouldn't worry about that, and I really don't have to because no one is ever going to hear any of my songs anyway. But just in case, I reeled it in and renamed it into a non-impacting title. The words might give clues as to what the original title was. But like I said before, it's up to the listener to figure out what each song is about, and it's not up to me to explain it.

The playlist is as follows:

Long Time

Your Heart

Word Is Out

What Do You Say

Crooked Cutlass

My Attention

I Can Do It

Once Upon a Time

Russian Roulette

I Was There       

Actually, Long Time was originally about a politician. And when a colleague of mine read the lyrics, he even guessed which one. (Don't forget, I wrote these songs nearly 20 years ago.) But I revised the song, and the lyrics, so it might not be so guessable anymore. 

As for the cover. Clearly it's based on the song Your Heart, thus the image of the heart. I found the image on the internet and liked it enough to choose it for the cover. That's all.