I, like many other people, don’t really like New Years resolutions. Some empty promise you make to yourself that, within about 2 weeks, you usually forget or lose interest in. Lose weight, read more, etc, etc, etc.
And yet, here I am, thinking about making one. But not only to I want to be resolute for just the new year, but from this point forward.
I find myself not reaching my full potential, and I definitely see room for improvement with my music, but more so, I see room for improvement with my attitude towards my work. I am far too critical on myself, and therefore I end up with many, many half-finished ideas that are still sitting on my hard drive, collecting digital dust.
What to do, what to do. Get motivated, that’s what! First off, I’ve noticed that if my work area is a mess, my brain is a mess. Guess what kind of state my work area has been in for the last little while?
Yeah.
Secondly, I feel like I have to rekindle that love I know I still have for discovering new musical ideas, and working on new projects. There are a few projects that are currently on the go, and I’m happy to have them, but I don’t feel that they’re 100% mine to play with. Don’t get me wrong, I have much respect and trust in the ideas and plans of the people that I’ll be doing them with, and wouldn’t want it any other way, but there still needs to be a little section of my work where I have total control, no matter what. A little artistic endeavor that I’ve had in my head for quite a while that includes better versions of a few tracks I’ve already posted here. There are a bunch that I’m not showing off until the album is actually done. I WANT to show them off, but it acts as a bit of a motivator, having to guard them close until they’re all ready.
That brings me to February. RPM 2010 is coming up, and I am very excited! A few people over at www.logicprohelp.com will hopefully be joining in. I have promised myself to get more done than I did last year (one track, “Acquaintances”), and that one I didn’t actually finish (drums are off, and it’s missing a few change-ups.)
Back to the motivation I was referring to, the Beatles are, of course, becoming a large part of that. My music will never sound like theirs, and I’m not about to put myself anywhere near the pedestal that they so rightfully deserve to be on, but who can’t be inspired by them? I don’t own any of their albums, and growing up, my dad only had “the hits”, but recently (as in the past 3 years), My fianceé has been introducing me to a lot of their full album work, and they’ve been playing almost constantly now that we have The Beatles: Rock Band. Yes, it took buying a video game that uses plastic instruments for me to finally hear all of Abbey Road. Sad, I know.
I’m not going to go on and on about what I find inspiring, because everyone has either already been inspired in one way or another, or they’ve heard about people being inspired. The bottom line is, I feel like once I get some cleaning done, the sounds will follow.
They’re all there, they just can’t seem to find a way out amidst all the clutter.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:00 AM
I wasn’t exposed to the Beatles growing up. First year of university, my girlfriend gave me several albums and my head exploded. It was all i listened to for a year straight. I bought a half dozen biographies (my fav is Peter Brown’s “The Love You Make” – I highly recommend it.)
TOTAL ASIDE: it took me a little while to realize that many of Lennon’s interviews post-Beatles are full of lies! Lies! I know! Crazy. Ha. Anyway.
One of the things I love about the Beatles is how liberally they borrow from other artists. That mixed with talent, pop sensibility, and prolific quantity made them into the giants they are.
Think of all of the people that they are “borrowing / ripping off”. BUT they get away with it because they do it arguably just as well or better. Elvis, Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys, Ravi Shankar. They admit it themselves.
The second factor was the competition. Lennon and McCartney were perpetually trying to one-up each other.
“I just wrote a new song, have a listen.”
“That’s nice, i wrote a new song too. But first i need to go to the loo.” Runs to the loo to quickly come up with a new song.
I digress.
And completely agree with you Jordan! (But about my own production quantities, not yours.
)
Happy New Year, friend. Best to you and yours.
December 31st, 2009 at 12:44 AM
I really want to read that book that was compiled with studio notes from almost all of their sessions. What was that called? And yes, competition definitely breeds creativity, at least most of the time.
Hmm.. perhaps I should become prolific. Yes. Never let the pen/mouse/keyboard stop moving.
Happy New Year to you as well!
December 31st, 2009 at 12:59 AM
Pauses to consult bookshelf…
Are you referring to “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn? Doubleday, 1988. Excellent book. So cool to see all of their tracking sheets, etc. So many candid studio photos too.
It actually makes a great companion to the Anthology albums which feature so much great alt takes. (Two of my favs are Your Mother Should Know from 2.2 and Rocky Raccoon from 3.1.)
December 31st, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Weird, I thought the book I was referring to came out recently (within the last 2-3 years…)
That one looks neat too, though!
December 31st, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Ah, ok, got it now. It was a re-release of the same book you’re referring to. Came out in 2005 at its latest.
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:41 PM
Is the book even in print anymore? I found it at a used book store for about $20.
It’s too bad we don’t share a neighborhood…. I’d have no problem with you borrowing it for a few months.
January 2nd, 2010 at 12:56 PM
I would indeed label that “a shame”. Your neighbourhood, though. Not mine. Nothing happens here.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:22 AM
Strangely enough, I also never got into The Beatles until I was 23. They had always been a band that I found I really had to sit down and listen to one day, mostly because of how it influenced so many of the bands I listen to today (anything from the Foo Fighters to Metallica).
My girlfriend owned their “1″ greatest hits compilation, and I listened to it in my car for about two months straight. I couldn’t believe how the melody and little “secrets” (let’s just call them that) would just stick with me throughout the day. Every time I’d listen to a song, I’d hear something new.
I turned into a Beatle-maniac, per se. I bought all their albums, and couldn’t get over how many songs I’d say to myself “They wrote this???”
Even when I wasn’t listening to them, they were a part of my consiousness since I was a kid. Imagine that.
As for biographies, I got a kick out of George Harrison’s “I Me Mine” semi-autobiography. It was a pretty honest look at the perks of being a Beatle.