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Inventive
solo arrangements for acoustic guitar and voice.
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1.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” 6:03 [MP3
excerpt #1] 
[MP3
excerpt #2] Written by Freddie Mercury, published by EMI Glenwood Music Corporation (ASCAP) 2.
“God Only Knows”
2:39 [MP3
excerpt #1] 3.
“Blackbird”
2:28 [MP3
excerpt #1] 4.
“Sweet Baby James”
3:52 [MP3
excerpt] 5.
“Hallelujah”
6:28 [MP3
excerpt] 6.
“She’s Always a Woman”
3:08 [MP3
excerpt] 7.
“Leader of the Band”
4:17 [MP3
excerpt] 8.
“Sister Golden Hair”
2:53 [MP3
excerpt] 9.
“Castles Made of Sand”
3:12 [MP3
excerpt] 10.
“Coconut”
3:44 [MP3
excerpt] |
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About
Interpretations... My Mom For five days in December, 2000 I took a stab at recording 10 cover song arrangements I’d worked up, intending to put them all on a CD-R as a Christmas gift for my mother, Carol Turner. I soundproofed my office, set up multiple mics, fired up my Mac, and for the next four days (recording each song “live” at least twice), went hog wild! I finished recording and doing a rough mix (soon to be the first of many) within hours of hopping onto a plane bound for Seattle. My “stocking stuffer” was in hand! On Christmas Day, my mom, sister Lisa, and some of my relatives had tons of fun eating, drinking, and generally being merry, with these tunes blaring in the background. As far as this little 10-song treat was concerned, that was that. Or so I thought... A Few of My Friends Bottom line: After I played some of these tracks for a few of my friends, their positive feedback and advice transformed this “stocking stuffer” into an actual album. Without them, I wouldn’t have gone the distance necessary to make this intimate recording available! (Three years later...) I’d like to thank them now, in alphabetical order: Joy
Basu But most of my thanks goes to my sweetie pie, Jennifer Rybine, whose sincere interest in what I do, understanding in why I do it, and appreciation for art in general has made all the difference in the world in keeping the ol’ fire lit. I reckon Jenschka rules!!! (She also designed this CD’s artwork!) Jeff Buckley Prior to August 1998, when I first heard the eclectic vocal/guitar stylings of Jeff Buckley, I was the last guy who ever messed with playing other people’s songs. Sure, I played some covers—either for cover band gigs, solo performances at weddings, etc.—but I never took it as a serious artistic pursuit. Basically, hearing cover songs (on radio or record) usually hit me like the “artist” thought, ”Hey! Let’s record a song someone else wrote, that’s already great to begin with, but let’s do it with [insert ‘modern production approach’ here] to ‘update’ it so we can cash in!” It really bugged me when I heard cover songs that were essentially rehashes of the original. But after hearing Jeff Buckley’s amazingly individualized treatment of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” J. Shelton’s “Lilac Wine,” and Benjamin Britten’s “Corpus Christi Carol” (all from Grace), among others, I viewed playing (and listening to) covers in a whole new light. So much, in fact, that between late 1999 and late 2000, I all but abandoned the 25 or so original songs I’d been working on and transcribed/arranged at least 50 different cover tunes for acoustic guitar and voice. I was particularly intrigued with the idea of taking piano-based songs and adapting them to an acoustic guitar, arranging them in a manner that retained as much of the song’s instrumental motifs as possible. I also wanted to get really good at the technical aspects of singing and playing guitar at the same time—striving for the level of rhythmic independence between parts I was hearing in Jeff Buckley. I was obsessed with this, actually. Given that I’d been diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (eventually this mellowed out into bad tendinitis, which I still have), I couldn’t really practice complicated guitar stuff anymore. But I could practice fine-tuning rhythmic independence between my vocal lines and accompaniment patterns till the cows came home, with no fear of doing further damage to my traumatized tendons! It felt great to be able to practice *something* again, so... What you hear on this recording is 10 songs I recorded at the tail end of this period, all of which were written by artists who thrived in the 1960s and 1970s. At the very least, I hope people dig the somewhat adventurous approach I took in arranging these tunes! I certainly had fun assembling them. Thanks for listening! —Dale Turner All
correspondence welcomed: |
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Notes
On These Arrangements... “Bohemian
Rhapsody” - QUEEN
jimmy gnecco,
covers, cover versions, ours Piano
and ensemble figures arranged for acoustic guitar and voice. Transposed
down one whole step from Bb to Ab. (I learned this song first in Bb, playing
in standard tuning with a capo at the 1st fret, but play it here on a
capo-less guitar tuned down 1/2 step, FYI.) In listening to this, it probably
won’t take you long to conclude that this was fun as hell! The “opera”
part pretty much says it all. I’d never heard one person try to pull
off this famed “Galileo”
“God
Only Knows” - THE BEACH BOYS Piano and ensemble figures arranged for acoustic guitar and voice. Played in the original key of... E? A? F#m? Bm? Whatever key(s) it is, I like it :) One of several Pet Sounds-era songs I learned in 1999-2000. “Blackbird”
- THE BEATLES Transposed
down one half step from G to Gb (i.e., tuned down 1/2 step). For the most
part, this is faithful to McCartney’s masterful original. BUT, with
the addition of my trademark, goofball “bird”
“Sweet
Baby James” - JAMES TAYLOR Played in the original key of D major, at a slower tempo, and with a swing feel. Performed 99% pickstyle, as opposed to w/fingers. “Hallelujah”
- LEONARD COHEN Features
an intro arranged by Jeff Buckley. Transposed down one whole step from
C to Bb (with a capo at the 3rd fret). This is a tribute to Jeff Buckley,
who I feel is one of the greatest male vocalists—and self accompanists—of
all time. Nevertheless, I tried to not rip him off! (Who could?) Includes
a unique guitar solo/interlude
“She’s
Always a Woman” - BILLY JOEL Piano arranged for strummed acoustic guitar (tuned down 1/2 step). I used mostly “homemade,” open-string chord voicings, throughout. Played in original key of Eb. “Leader
of the Band” - DAN FOGELBERG For
what it’s worth, it’s impossible for me to listen to the original
version of this song and not think of my personal mentors whom are no
longer on this planet, namely EC “Duke” Miller, Paul LaRose,
and my dynamite dad, Doug Turner. I kept the ol’ emotions in check
though, and didn’t “lose it” in the 3rd
verse
“Sister
Golden Hair” - AMERICA Transposed down a minor 3rd from E to Db (w/capo at 1st fret), played at a faster tempo than the original. I fabricated a pretty elaborate Travis Picking arrangement for this, replete with some fancy “Carter strumming”—playing country-style alternating bass notes with percussive strums—in the 3rd verse. “Castles
Made of Sand” - JIMI HENDRIX This
stays fairly faithful to the original version’s chorus and intro
guitar parts, but I tried to come up with my own “Hendrixesque”
stuff for the verses. Features a personal trademark—a little mouth
guitar solo
“Coconut”
- HARRY NILSSON How many ways can I play a “C7” chord? Listen to this track to find out :) FYI, the “crashing” sound at the end is my set of headphones hitting the floor! I originally intended to fade it out, but figured it punctuated this disc nicely, so I left it in. |
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