The birds

Before I became embroiled with the quest of writing an HTML enabled Hebrew mail client, I had some spare time which I devoted to musical pursuits. Still involved in my series of Van der Graaf Generator/Peter Hammill covers, I decided to record a version of "The birds". This is a song which appears on Peter's first solo album, "Fool's mate", coming at the end of a wonderful sequence.

Listening to the album once again in order to refresh my memory, I was struck by how beautiful Hugh Banton's piano playing was on this song; Robert Fripp's guitar work also impressed me but less than it used to (and I've been listening to this record for 40 years). For the first time, I got the impression that Fripp might have added his contribution after the basic track had already been recorded.

I should also point out that whilst Banton's incredible piano work is all over the record (check out "Vision"), he very rarely played the piano in the context of VdGG, leaving that to Hammill. I suspect that his delicate and filigree playing would have been lost in the wider context of the group, which is a shame.

Anyway, "The birds". This song harmonically is very simple, having the same line F/C/Dm/C repeated three or four times during the verse. Banton's playing disguises this simplicity but I would have to suffer it. After working out a brief swung version which didn't get past the demo stage, I started work in earnest with a pad and bass; I found a lovely guitar patch which was playing harmonics and utilised this with one of Fripp's licks. I balanced these harmonics with vibes, which at one stage play a lick from the Doors' "Riders on the storm". A solo was played on a slightly distorted electric guitar; after a few days, I improved the solo and added an arppegiated organ to fill out the background.

Recording the vocal went very quickly, and in no time I had a completed track ready. It's  fairly good, although also fairly basic. It's certainly lighter than some of the other epic tracks which I have recorded, although I deliberately aimed for some light contrast.