Dallas, TX –
Guilty pleasures, we’ve all got them.
Maybe its watching trashy, so-called “reality” shows on television.
Maybe it’s pigging out on Cheetos using chopsticks so that the telltale orange powder doesn’t coat your fingers like gloves.
Maybe its following click-bait links to discover what might be revealed in the “shocking” historical photos they promise to reveal.
Whatever your guilty pleasure might be, you’ve got one, and you may or may not keep it hidden from others.
Wait, I take that back. You’re more likely broadcasting it on Facebook than hiding it from others.
For a moment, I forgot what age we’re living in.
The age of advertising our every thought in hopes of finding others who think the same way.
Or at least will “like” what we’ve thought.
Well, one of my guilty pleasures for this past year has been listening to the Steven Wilson re-mixes of albums by bands that I grew up listening to.
King Crimson, Yes, and Jethro Tull.
Not exactly the “top-of-the-pops” hit parade, but these were three of the bands that helped to form my teenage soundtrack.
And these are not what often is thought of when some piece of music is “remixed”.
What Steven Wilson is doing is going back to the original multi-track tapes, converting them to digital, and then re-mixing the albums using modern technology and techniques.
The result is new versions of old albums that sound like they were recorded and mixed for the digital age, instead of just making a few EQ tweaks to a master that was mixed for vinyl to try and make it sound decent on CD.
But it was the two Gentle Giant albums that he’s remixed that I was listening to when I sat down to start thinking about this year’s Christmas song.
“Octopus” and “The Power And The Glory”.
And listening to those brought the whole of Gentle Giant’s recorded repertoire to my mind as I was trying to decide what song to do and what direction to take it in.
Songs like “On Reflection” from the Free Hand album.
Of course, as usual, that provided just the germ of an idea.
Soon enough, things took off in their own direction, leaving all originating influences far behind.
But then, that’s usually how these songs evolve; take an old, familiar Christmas song, with an initial idea of a new way to approach it, and things tend to evolve from there.
Sometimes continuing to change and evolve up until the final version is mixed and mastered.
It’s like I’ve heard from numerous musicians, a song is never “finished”, it just gets to a point where you’re willing to let it go and release the recorded version as it currently exists.
And sometimes I could have done better if I had taken more time to continue evolving the song.
But that’s the thing about releasing an annual Christmas song.
I have a deadline to meet.
I can’t go past it.
Well, I could, but then what’s the point?
It’s not a Twisted Belated-Christmas song, is it?
Nope, I have a hard-and-fast deadline that I have to meet every year.
And when I get to that point, I have to be willing to let it go.
And that deadline influences my decision making every step of the way.
And provides me a project roadmap to follow.
Let’s see, I have to have X done by Y date…
Good enough, now let’s move on to Z…
Not that deadlines don’t get pushed from time to time.
Or that directions change, causing a lot of re-work when I can least afford it.
But that’s not normally an issue.
See, I’m usually pretty quick at making decisions that cause a change in direction, so when that happens, there’s not normally a lot of work to re-do.
And overall timelines don’t slip much.
Plus, at this point, I start out with an overall deadline that allows for slippage.
So, in other words, I plan for having timeline slippage.
It allows me the luxury of not having to rush too much at any stage of the production.
Or pre-production, for that matter.
Yes, there is a pre-production phase.
See, that was when I was listening to those Gentle Giant re-mixes.
And developing the germ of an idea for what to do this year.
Which eventually led to where we are now.
So, without further ado, this year’s Twisted Christmas song is…
For the full archive of Twisted Xmas songs, click here.
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