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Flyshit

For "Heroic Blues" (2001)I really wanted to have a bunch of songs that I could play in many different set ups, either with our 5 piece band or just by myself. I wanted the chords to carry the whole song, not the production and its manipulation of textures.

pic tony mahony

"Don't mess with the blood" is in E6/Maj7th to AMaj7th.
It was a real soft soul number with the answering backing vocals. It also goes to F#m7 to E to F#M7 to A and then to B.
Clare added the conga idea in a demo version. Stuart plays that sweet guitar lick and the brilliant solo on the outro, Bill plays the frisky, funky , trebley rhythm. Adele, Bill and Clare do the harmonising.

"Anchors aweigh" began with the chords going from Em7/6 to Esus to Em to E9/7 to Eb9/7 to Asus to A9/7 to Bm.
The chorus is in Asus to Gm7/9 to Dm7/9 to Dm9.
I was looking for a kind of Marvin Gaye feel here. Clare plays the vibes which we recorded with two overhead mics in our studio and they provide a spooky bed for the whole track. Adele is on double bass and Stuart got straight to the heart of it with that peculiar guitar effect.

"Son of Maggie Mae" is built like a I-IV-V song. It starts with A7sus and goes to A7sus13 and then back to A7sus.
The chorus is D7sus to C7sus a couple of times and then F7sus to G7sus.
Adele is on that driving double bass. I'm playing all the guitars on this, as well as the keyboards.

 

"Leavin' the Mount" is in E , A and B. Like a 12 bar. A country blues song. The chorus is C#m to A maj7 to B and then to E.
Stuart plays that brilliant solo, Bill improvised the sweet acoustic picking in one take.

"Clingin' to the coast" is E to Emaj7 to A to A9 to F#7 to F#sus.The chorus is A7 to Amaj7 to F#7 to F#maj7.
Again, Bill improvised all the acoustics. Clare is on the keyboards I'm driving the acoustic rhythm.

"I will always hate you" goes from Amaj7 to Emaj7 to Bmaj7. The chorus is Am7/6th to Em7/6th to Bm7/6th to F#m7/6th.
Clare and Adele had the backing vocals going in the chorus and the solo verse, then Adele improvised the "ba-ba-ba" part, taking it somewhere else for a while.

"Heroic Blues" is based around Dm7/9 to Dmaj7/9 to G7sus back to the D and then to Em to A7/9/6 ( with an F#,G and B in it).
It's all improvised at a soundcheck in Tarwin lower one wintry day.

"I don't know anything" starts at A#maj7 and moves to Cmaj7/9 to Dsus. Then to Fmaj7 to Gmaj7/9 to A7sus.
The verse is Esus to E Esusmaj7 to A7/9/6 to D6. Then to Asus to Asusmaj7 to D7/9/6 to G6.
Adele is on acoustic bass, getting all those great string slapping and woody sounds. The ending is just as long as the whole song, I wanted it to have an effect like in a horror movie, like the ending of "the incredible shrinking man" where he gets smaller and smaller and falls into the void. I didn't want to have any phasing effects doing this, just the vocal staying the same and the music rising continually with the chords.

"Eye o' the vibe" goes from Bmaj7 to C#6 to Emaj7 to Bmaj7 to C#6 to Amaj7.
The chorus is Emaj7 to Dmaj7 to Emaj7 to Cmaj7.
Originally, I was going to make this a "military" type of arrangement but we went for a hip hop / folky vibe. I'm on acoustic and keys and Clare is on bass and rhythm.

"are we goin' too fast for love?" begins at Dm to Dm9 to Am7/9 to B to A etc.
The verses are in Em7/9 to Am7/9. Its built around that I-IV-V pattern.
Adele is on double bass, I'm on acoustic and Clare is on piano and congas. The chords sounded very lonely and "open" when I played them and dictated the feel of the lyric and the song.