"Lucifer"

I've been reading Robert Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys, and yester-day, I encountered a chart of the Morse code signals (on page 65).  It reminded me that the album title Eve is spelt out in Morse code in "Lucifer" (the APP website notes this in the comments on the expanded edition of the album).

The part is basically a repeated, one-measure phrase (in the last iteration of each section, however, the final note drops to an C#).  In the notation below, I delineated the Morse code letters by color:  blue for E (•) and gray for V (• • • -).

Note that the lengths for • vary:  those for the two Es are the same (eighth notes), but the initial two of the three in V (a pair of sixteenth notes) are shorter than the third (an eighth note).

Tales of Mystery and Imagination

I listened to Tales of Mystery and Imagination yester-day and for the first time noticed that the recorder part from "A Dream within a Dream" is reprised near the end of "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether."  When I lookt into the parts more closely, I discovered that they are slightly different.

The recorder in "A Dream within a Dream" (starting at ~1:03) is something like this:

In "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," the recorder starts at ~3:29 and repeats throughout the rest of the song:

The keys are different, and some note values have been shortened in "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," but all of the intervals are the same.

"A Dream within a Dream" and "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" are the first and last songs, respectively, on the first side of the original vinyl album.  Since this recorder part appears near the beginning of "A Dream within a Dream" and in the coda of "(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether," it creates a sort of book-ending effect.

"May Be a Price to Pay"

This evening, I figured out the brass part at ~2:22 in "May Be a Price to Pay."  (Later, I lookt in my file and discovered that I'd already figured this out.)  In notating it, though, I realized that there are a few elements in it that illustrate how "something's wrong" (the lyrics that are sung at the same time).

I think the part is something like this:

The song is in D minor, but there are some accidentals here.  (I don't know if it's technically correct to mix the accidental signs, but I notated them as Eb and C#).  In every other measure, the brass plays on the off-beats, and this also contributes to a sense of something wrong.

"Nothing Left to Lose"

I recently got a Hammond SKX.  It has more accordion sounds than I could probably ever use, and/so I felt that the first thing I record with it should use an accordion sound.

Here's the accordion solo in "Nothing Left to Lose."  I used the A-120 accordion sound, with the |:| symbol.  To give it some context, I played the bass part on the lower manual (using the SKX's Fender Piano Bass sound).  I'm fairly confident in the accuracy of the part itself and my notation, but I may have something wrong.

To-day's also Eric Woolfson's birthday.

"I Robot"

Recently, I was thinking about the synth phrase at the beginning of "I Robot."  I vaguely remembered a comment Alan Parsons had made about the perceived shift in its rhythm, and I eventually tracked this down again in the liner notes in the legacy edition of I Robot:

I played a 7-note sequence which was continuously 'looped' by the synth [the EMS Synthi-A].  I was fascinated by the fact that the sequence could be interpreted in different ways according to where, within the seven notes, the downbeat (or the first beat of a 4 beat bar) was placed.  Most people hear this sequence as having a certain rhythmic pattern when it first starts, but without anything on the sequence actually changing, the entire feel changes when the drums enter and establish a new downbeat.

I figured out how this works.  When the part fades in, the perceived rhythm is:

(This is two iterations of the sequence; I felt that having more than one would be a better illustration.)

Since there's nothing to indicate where the downbeat is and that C note is held the longest, it seems to occur on the first beat.  But actually, that C note is tied across the bar line.  The sequence is really:

"Winding Me Up"

When I listened to Eve a couple days ago, I noticed what I think is a recorder part in "Winding Me Up" (from ~2:12 to ~2:41) that I guess I hadn't been fully aware of before.  Recorder isn't listed among the instruments in the "credits" section for Eve on the APP website, but it sure sounds like one in the song.

Here's my recording, with just guitar chords for accompaniment (I doubled-tracked recorder and guitar):

Here's the notation of the recorder part (with - of course - the disclaimer that I might have something wrong):

The day after I listened to the album, I was still thinking about this song, and I realized that in the title line, the "up" is sung to a higher note than the others ("Winding me up" is sung to the phrase E E E G), musically giving something of a sense of its meaning.

In looking at the song again in order to write this post, I also noticed that "too long" is sung with melismas (G E for "too" and E D for "long"), musically giving a sense of degree and of duration, respectively.

"Lucifer"

I learned a part for "Lucifer" to-day, and while it's not listed among the instruments in the credits on the Alan Parsons Project's website, I think it's kantele.  It first appears at ~1:42 and is repeated at ~3:02.  I was writing out the notation as I learned the part, and it reminded me of the kantele part in "I Robot," so I found my notation for that and compared the two.

Here's what I think is a kantele in "Lucifer":

And here's the kantele part in "I Robot" (starting ~4:26):

There's a bit of similarity in the melodies, but only in that there are a fair number of conjunct note groups (more in "Lucifer" than in "I Robot").  The main similarity is rhythm.  In both, almost every other measure consists of a whole note that's tied to a note in the following measure.

Of course, both "Lucifer" and "I Robot" are also instrumental tracks that start their respective albums, so this might be an intentional resemblance.

"Genesis Ch.1 V.32"

Last night I figured out the electric piano and acoustic guitar parts in "Genesis Ch.1 V.32."  While recording a version to-day, I sort of stumbled across the electric guitar part too, although my guitar tone isn't even close to matching.

The sections repeat with little variation, so I just did a couple of them in my recording.

As always, I might be wrong about this, but here's the electric piano part:

It just repeats throughout the song.  The guitar chords are D minor | C major | Bb major | A major.

"A Dream within a Dream"

About two years ago, when I figured out the recorder part for "A Dream within a Dream," I mentioned that I have a recorder but it wasn't working.  Recently, I discovered why it hadn't been working:  I wasn't covering any of the holes (although I think its not having been played for over a decade didn't help either).  According to a fingering chart I found, covering at least one hole is required to make a note.  Now that I discovered my error, I can play my recorder again (although I'm still re-learning the fingerings).  The only part I could think of that's specifically for recorder is in "A Dream within a Dream."  Since it's only four pitches, I learned how to play that, and I also figured out the notation:

I have a soprano recorder, but I'm not sure that's what's used in "A Dream within a Dream."  Mine sounds higher.  The APP website lists just "recorders," which isn't very specific.

"Limelight"

Last week I learned the bass part* for "Limelight," but because that's the only part of the song I know, I didn't bother recording it.  I did notate it though.  The standard disclaimers that this isn't official and that I might be wrong apply:

While notating this, I found a few parts that connect to the lyrics.

For the line "Holding on isn't always easy" (later "Holding on wasn't always easy"), there are rests, almost as if the music can't hold on either:

For the second line in that couplet, "I ain't gonna change my mind" (later "Nothing can change my mind"), the bass plays only Bb notes.  There's a constancy of pitch, reflecting the determination in those sentiments:

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*There are actually two bass parts in "Limelight."  In the "credits" section on the APP website, there's the distinction between just "bass" (played by David Paton) and "fretless bass" (played by Ian Bairnson).  On the CD re-issue of Keats, there's a bonus track that's an interview with Bairnson, and in response to the interviewer's question about his bass playing, he says:

You do actually hear some of my bass playing from time to time, for example on "Limelight," an Alan Parsons track.  David played bass on that, but after he'd left and gone home, I was in doing [the] guitar solo and bits and pieces like that, and at the very end of the song "Limelight," there's that kind of piece where it, where the tempo disappears.  You know, it's just, just before the last line: "After all the years of waiting..." da di da di da.  That stuff.  And Alan said, "Oh, we need something in these gaps," so we hired a fretless bass, and I played the bass licks in between these bits.

I haven't learned that part yet; what I notated above is David Paton's bass track.