This “Album” is merely a collection of recordings I did between 2003 and 2005. What’s unique about this album is that two songs, “All the Lists in the World” and “Rabbit Stew”, feature other musicians. In “All the Lists in the World”, Shu Wei Tan (fellow Wheel bandmate) plays the piano. In “Rabbit Stew”, Fernando Neves (The Wheel, Seven Bridges), and Noor add piano, drums, and vocals respectively.

Because this is a collection, I can’t say this album has any real theme to it. “Beg the Hour” and “All the Lists in the World” are about war, the first a song about being in the trenches, the second about the plight of Jews during the Holocaust (”All the Lists in the World” was inspired by Spielberg’s Schindler’s List). There are several songs inspired wholly by Noor, my wife: “Song Bird”, “Much Closer”, “Take it Slow”, “This Song”, and “Valentine Song”. By sheer volume, you could say this album is a dedication to her!

“Mindy page Davis Paige” is about — you guessed it, Trading Spaces host, Page Davis. This was a fun song to write and record (she has a fun full name too). I wrote “Here’s to You” for my sister Sharon for her wedding (and my mom convinced me to have the DJ play it during the reception). “In Brighter Times / Odumbrata” is a song about the changing of times (and how things never seem to change). “His Story” has a similar theme, but is more about how parents should impart wisdom on their children.

Recording

All songs were written, recorded, programmed, mixed, and engineered by me. I sing on all tracks and play all of the instruments (with the exception of “All the Lists” and “Rabbit Stew” mentioned above ). For drums, I played my red Pearl (no drum programming on any songs). Direct audio was recorded exclusively with Cakewalk Pro Audio and fed into my PC using my trusty Eurorack MX 602A.