In August of 2008, I recorded and released an album you know as See That Gleam — it was 12 tracks that I loved dearly; however, I felt the recording fell short of the vision. It’s a short coming that has haunted me ever since.
As a blatant sufferer of OCD, I’ve mulled it over for years; Should I re-record See That Gleam or move on with my newer music? Is it worth re-visiting or should I just cut my losses and look to the future? Am I being hyper critical or is a re-recording truly justified? What are horse shoes? Are there horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?
A persistent burden.
It was early November of 2010 when the answer hit me like a ton of bricks — a resounding YES. Like a wave crashing over me, I was all at once convinced that re-visiting See That Gleam 2008 was the right thing to do as it would forever settle my soul and clear all doubt.
I was going to make it happen. Quickly.
Without hesitation, I instantly contacted my good buddy Laz who was the chief engineer at a local Nashville studio (I was living in Nashville at the time) and, as I had recently received of a $1,000 check for some design work, I asked him, How much studio time will you give me for $1,000? He agreed to block off a marathon week and we set the date for the Monday after Thanksgiving.
The goal was to track EVERYTHING in that one single week and while we didn’t quite finish EVERYTHING in that long-winded week of recording, we covered about 80% of what needed to be done: drums, guitar, vocals, harmonies, percussion, keys, strings and more.
Ask around; not many albums get tracked in one week.
All of that said, the bulk of the process was swift but there was an unfortunate delay in completing the final 20% chunk. While most of it was recorded at MEG Productions in Nashville within a matter of hours, some of the recording came back to Portland with me and the upright bass was just recently tracked in New York City by my enormously talented friend Logan Coale.
Three cities and five months later, I have finally received round one of the almost-final mixes. Another Gleam has found its form in 2011 and I’m proud to say, it has reached its potential and more than exceeded my expectations. It’s beautiful if you ask me.
To think, I started writing these songs in 2003, See That Gleam took raw shape in 2008 and at last, Another Gleam has been realized in its totality in 2011. A long process but well worth it.
While there is still some fine tuning to be done (mixing and mastering), the grunt work is finally finished and I’m ready to show it off. Please join me for the CD Release Party on Friday June 17th at Someday Lounge in Portland, OR. It is on that evening that I’ll finally release a version of a record that will stand in stone forever … plus two bonus tracks.
RIP See That Gleam … Welcome to the party Another Gleam.