The Beginning of the End...Pt 1

I've found that often I have much I'd like to say, but don't say, mostly because others are already saying it—probably better—and my two-cents will go unremarked. And as I have other outlets for writing what falls into my febrile mind, this blog often goes quiet for longer periods than I'd like. So maybe it's time to let go, save for a last hurrah.

Which got me thinking...

As the above photo illustrates, I have a new album, This Wonderful Life, that will be released on January 7th.  In the following series of posts, I'm going to bring you along this mostly solitary endeavor (which is of my own making, which I'll explain later) from starting to finishing.

I'm doing this mainly as an exercise, to share what I've learned over many years. We'll make a record, have physical copies made, copyright the album, register it (or more precisely make sure it gets registered) with publishers and PROs, in my ASCAP, as well as SoundExchange, so that whatever revenue the songs produce, I'll get my cut. 

Part 1.

In the beginning was the idea and the sounds in my head—and there are always sounds in my head. Having finished Whispers (From a Forgotten Memory), I rashly decided to start another series of songs about the world we live in these days—something I'd done with albums Apologia and Nothing Left to Say, among others. This was in late 2018. That it took more than 3 years is more a monument to my going in too many different directions and that the project itself grew as the years passed.

Initially, it was supposed to be 8 songs on social issues with the title of Primitive Desires, and the early songs, for the most part reflected that, but...

I was also working on Winter, an album of songs I wrote in 1984, that I had originally planned to record with a band in 1985. That didn't work out, but I'd always harbored the idea that I should record the songs proper-like. So naturally, it made sense to record those songs while I was working on This Wonderful Life. And as happens when you're working on two things at the same time, one inevitably takes over. I finished Winter in 2019, all the while continuing to write songs for This Wonderful Life.

I had 13 songs at that point, and again rashly decided to do a traditional double album, which to me meant two 8 songs sides, like all the dinosaur bands I grew up with and admired. Seemed appropriate. Anyway, with Covid slamming the door on all our use-to-be-normal get-togethers, I used the time to work on the songs, and I challenged myself to go for it, to push my limits of ability and gear.

In the end I did that.

Next: Part 2, the songs...

©2021 David William Pearce