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Post by claytonm4500 on May 2, 2019 0:00:47 GMT
I have already started a cover of Midnight Blue, and thought it'd be cool if this forum got together and made a few ELO covers. It's ambitious and all, and wouldn't have to be studio quality at all. Just for fun.
If this ever happened, what would be your song choice?
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Post by eloneen on May 2, 2019 0:47:08 GMT
Off the top of my head, for just the sheer fun of it, "Jungle," "Don't Bring Me Down," "Hold on Tight" and "The Bouncer" would be my picks! Not that I specifically have talents that would match the demands of these songs, but they would be fun for a lot of people to work on together IMHO.
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Post by Helmut83 on May 2, 2019 0:54:32 GMT
Mine could well be the same as yours, Midnight Blue. Others could be Summer and Lightning, Jungle, The Bouncer, Can't get it out of hy Head, Buildings have Eyes, The way life's meant to be, Illusions in G Major, Ordinary Dream... When you say "cover" do you mean recording different tracks, as if you were in a studio? Or a live cover, someone playing a guitar or piano while singing? If it's the former, tedblight has covered many ELO songs with results being very close to the originals. If it's the latter, at some point I have shared a few very poor covers (still, the best I can do... I'm a terrible singer), I remember "Illusions" was one of them.
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Post by ShardEnder on May 2, 2019 0:58:27 GMT
Purely to help build understanding for a chapter you'll hopefully soon get to read in my upcoming book on the making of ELO's 1980s albums, I once started work on a note-for-note cover of Hello My Old Friend, which included recreating its opening few bars using VST equivalents of the Oberheim OB-Xa and DMX for maximum authenticity (though I'd naturally have loved to get my hands on an actual full "system"). I even managed to find out the exact swing setting used on the drum track, and I'd definitely consider sharing some of my findings with anyone who may wish to take this idea further... All I can say for now is that you'd probably struggle the most to 100% match that repeated Frère Jacques sample heard throughout this song, as it was a field recording of a school near Wisseloord Studios manipulated through an AMS RMX16 digital effects rack at various intervals with different speed rates applied - if I had an unlimited deadline, it might be theoretically possible to figure out the precise rate of each instance, but that's highly unlikely.
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Post by Helmut83 on May 2, 2019 1:06:30 GMT
Off the top of my head, for just the sheer fun of it, "Jungle," "Don't Bring Me Down," "Hold on Tight" and "The Bouncer" would be my picks! Not that I specifically have talents that would match the demands of these songs, but they would be fun for a lot of people to work on together IMHO. Whoa, what a coincidence! I swear I hadn't read your answer when I wrote "The bouncer" (and "Jungle" too, but we already know we are both fans of that one), in fact I was writing my answer and I only saw yours when I posted. Great minds think alike.
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Post by claytonm4500 on May 2, 2019 4:25:43 GMT
Jungle and the Bouncer would be fun. Of course, so would Hold On Tight... gah can't choose! Helmet, it'd be an individual track recording, just like the studio. Then someone could contribute to a specific track if we wished!
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Post by StrangeMagic on May 3, 2019 0:29:30 GMT
I was standing behind the door when musical talent was handed out, so I'll keep writing novels based on Jeff's work. I'm 45K words into Secret Messages.
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Post by jackpunch on May 3, 2019 3:07:25 GMT
Bluebird is Dead. An absolutely cracking song... If Jeff can't get round to doing an album of new material, I wouldn't mind him doing an album of old stuff stripped back to vocals, piano, acoustic guitar, drums and bass.
I might have a go at recording it over the next few weeks and see if I can hoy the results up here....the melody will sounds great on Tuba I'm sure.... Not!
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Post by Buttler on May 3, 2019 13:01:26 GMT
I have already started a cover of Midnight Blue, and thought it'd be cool if this forum got together and made a few ELO covers. It's ambitious and all, and wouldn't have to be studio quality at all. Just for fun. If this ever happened, what would be your song choice? Probably my fav ELO song.
I tried in the past to record a cover of this song. Well it's neither a "Proper" cover nor a first attempt. I only wanted to know how it sounds on the piano. Sorry for the poor quality (I used the mic of my cheap phone), and for all the mistakes (I can surely play it better).
Enjoy.
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Post by eloneen on May 3, 2019 16:03:35 GMT
Buttler I'm not a fan of "Midnight Blue," but I find your instrumental piano version to be quite lovely. Thanks!
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Post by Helmut83 on May 3, 2019 18:40:48 GMT
Excellent version, Buttler ! It really allows to appreciate better the beauty of the chords of this (sadly underappreciated) masterpiece. That inversion of the bass note at the beginning of the chorus sounds incredible here. I like how you managed the tempos of the song, like concert pianists like to do, stretching some bits, taking some extra time to pass on to the next chord, creating that suspense. Excellent execution.
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Post by Buttler on May 4, 2019 8:19:07 GMT
Thank you for your kind words.
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Post by BSJ on May 4, 2019 15:59:33 GMT
I don't like Midnight Blue. But this I love! Helmut83 said it, "beauty of the chords." Maybe it's the lyrics.
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Post by Helmut83 on May 4, 2019 19:20:27 GMT
I don't like Midnight Blue. But this I love! Helmut83 said it, "beauty of the chords." Maybe it's the lyrics. You mean that maybe it's the lyrics what makes it bad to you? To each their own. For me lyrics are a side piece of art, something that's happening on another field which I sometimes don't even pay any attention to. Bad lyrics never ruined a musically good song for me, in the same way that good lyrics never made a bad song sound any better. But maybe that's because some of us are more sensitive to music than we are to words, while others are more sensitive to words than they are to music. I'm clearly not too sensitive to words so there's a part of your perception about Midnight Blue -probably the parts that ruins it for you- that I'm sort of immune to.
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Post by eloneen on May 4, 2019 21:58:29 GMT
For me, the lyrics (too cloying) and the vocals (too sing-songy) for "Midnight Blue" are not appealing.
Typically, if I really enjoy a song, the vocals, the lyrics, and the music are all at least somewhat appealing, and at least one of the three is very pleasing to me --often two of the three. It's not really a concious, analytical process, but for me that's basically how it breaks down when it's all said and done. Of the three, I think the singing is most important to me.
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