Reflections
Ballads, bossas, and some singer-songwriter roots songs
with a touch of the wistful about them.
background
I had reached a reflective point in my life. I was a bit blue. to be honest, and this album came out of the blue one gloomy winter. I decided to record another songs album -
The
songs I had to to hand came from diverse origins.
In the end they included...
- my versions of 2 songs of mine that Vikki Clayton had sung and recorded.
- 4 new songs, 2 of which are bossas
- 5 songs from a file dating back 20 years. I've drawn on this file also on Time Traveller.
- 1 hybrid of a 20+year old song with new additions and music.
- 1 song left over from 2011's Time Traveller album sessions.
- an instrumental interlude...
Depite the different origins, dates and styles, somehow a similar vibe came though as I worked on the album. Reflective, yes, but with a glow to it. Looking back to find a better way forward.
There aren't any funny songs or space songs - my last album Deep Space Love more than covered that for a while. But funnily enough, when I finished recording the album I found I was out of the blue...
Another Way Of Living
Ten Years
Lost In My Mind
Out Of The Blue
Easier
influences
David Crosby, Alan Stivell, Donal Lunny, Van Morrison, Marcos Valle, Lorraine Bowen, Bob Lind, Paul Kantner, Richie Havens, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jesse Colin Young, John Sebastian, Tom Pacheco, Brain Wilson, Jimmy Webb, John Phillips, Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler, Vikki Clayton.
trivia
The working title of the album was "Lost" as there are 3 songs with the word Lost in the titles.
The cover photo was taken at one of CC's monthly Quadelectronic improvised electronic music nights.
Strangers Still was recorded instrumentally in 3/4 time with my jazz trio Happy Landings on our album Meet You There in 1991
Islands was recorded sung by Vikki Clayton on the 2002 My Minds Island album.
Ten Years was recorded by Vikki Clayton on her 1997 Movers And Shakers album.
Out Of The Blue & The Storm both use an unusual split course tuning on CCs 9 string guitar - The bottom twinned pair being tuned to E/D. Relive also has this tuning when played on guitar which it was written on.
CC's
fave tracks - Lost In Time & The Storm
review Vocal CD Of The Month One of my favorite "acts" in the contemporary music scene, the UK-based North American composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Conway is a complete artist. His impressive discography shows that he is capable to travel through pop, jazz, bossa, new-age, ambient, avant-garde... any "style" you can name. With no prejudice, he ignores boundaries with true hipness.
This new album reveals, in some tracks like "Lost In My Mind," the influence of Michael Franks. But Conway is his own man, and a very wise one that doesn't mix all the ingredients in the same album. He knows that each project has its own soul. He lists "Out Of The Blue" among his two dozens of "songs albums." So, sit back, relax, and enjoy. - Jazz Station - Los Angeles Jazz Producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro Jazz, Bossa & Beyond Blog
***
Feeling a little blue, Chris Conway chose to get therapeutically creative and, during the gloomy winter months, collected a selection of material that he'd had languishing in the archives in various forms, along with four new songs plus others unrecorded or unreleased previously. As Conway puts it, on Out Of The Blue he's looking back to find a better way forward.
The differing styles - there's a couple of bossa-influenced numbers, for example, alongside the pop, jazz, world music and singer-songwriter ingredients - are framed by that overall mood of reflection, epitomised in the mellow, wistful "Ten Years" and the nostalgic "Easier", on the latter of which Conway croons "everything was easier than today". A typically rich yet light and elegant sound from Conway the composer, arranger, producer, and performer (other than Zorpinda Zorpin on percussiona nd electronics, and Mo Coulson, Celtic harp) Out Of The Blue will certainly please his increasing number of fans, and has me once again wondering how he manages his prodigious work rate. - David White - R2 Magazine
track
by track
1.
Another Way Of Living
This jazzy/Celtic song goes back 20 years, when I was a Rainbow Warrior in local Greenpeace and Friends Of the Earth saving the planet, and I wrote several songs reflecting that back then. I used to play this with my band The Talking Fish and it used to be the big finish to our set.
2.
Ten Years
Vikki Clayton picked this song out of a tape of new songs and recorded it in 1997 on her Movers And Shakers album, and I have played the song with her on many a stage including Cropredy twice. After all this time I fancied recording my own version.
3.
Lost In My Mind
This new bossa song is about the ongoing struggle I have between what is in my mind and what is reality. Reality can never macth up. The verse about restaurants is a reference to my mother who always preferred what someone else had ordered.
4.
Out Of The Blue
A new song, and another one about being different and appreciating the differences between us, despite outside pressure to conform. This one took a long time to write and went through many changes. I almost gave up. Then suddenly I made some big changes and it clicked and I love it now.
5.
Easier
This new song took almost no time to write. Peple, myself included often hark back to halcion days and simpler times. I realised, that actually, one had just as many hassles and worries back in those days.
6.
Living
I always love interludes on songs albums. Especially when they reference a track to come. :-)
7.
Lost In The Rain
This song was recorded for the 2011 album Time Traveller, but there wasnt room for it. I then forgot all about it and was delighted to find it again and finish the recording. It's about how confusing life is, so listen to your instincts and your heart. Got a bit of a Brian Wilson/Jimmy Webb vibe to this one.
8. Islands
I recorded this on 2002's My Mind's Island album but Vikki Clayton sang it. I have taken to singing it live and fancied recording my own version. The song was inspired by a series of birthday parties I used to throw, when I noticed how diverse friends had become over the years, and how that diversity strangely binded us together.
9.
Silver Wings
A hybrid of old and new. The verse lyrics go back 20 years, the chorus and the music is new. The bridge was partially from a different 20 year old song. The people in the verses weren't actual people, but types of people that I knew that had escaped or become trapped in their worlds and a desire to show them something else.
10.
Strangers Still
This song goes back so long the lyric sheet I found had been written on a typewriter! - I recorded it instrumentally with my jazz trio Happy Landings on our album Meet You There in 1991, and the lyrics would've been from soon after that. I can hear influences of jazz group Azimuth and Kenny Wheeler/Norma Winstone/John Taylor's writing in this.
11.
The Storm
So great to finally record this old song from about 20+ years ago - I think I had to wait til now to do it the way I heard it in my head. It's a kind of dreamy post-deluge revolution song. The image of people going out on the street I think was inspired by the lyrics to The Mamas & The Papas song Safe In My Garden, which I used to sing at the time. "All the people on the street, all the hassles with the heat".
12.
A Long Goodbye
Another song from the 20+year old file is about an old girlfriend of mine. We'd not long split up - amicably - and she used to come over and we'd enjoy the familiar company, a cup of tea, a chat and a hug. Moving on but mentally not quite moved on yet. We still chat on Facebook :-)
13.
Lost In Time
This new magical bossa is about a couple who only meet in a parallel universe. Their time together is always in an unreal space. These times are fleeting, they never quite get together because they can't fully enter the parallel universe, and reality pulls them back and they have to say goodbye.
14.
Relive
This old song was originally for guitar, but as I thought it would be nice to do it with electronics. The idea of replaying your life, would you erase the bad things, or are they good for you, etc fascinated me. Another song I am so glad to finally record, and ona reflective album a good note to end on.
1. Another Way Of Living
Walk with me,
Through city streets at night
My love.
Where the cars drive by,
Where the people sleep by streetlight
My love
Well there's got to be another way of living someday.
Well there's got to be another way of living someday.
Walk with me,
Where the stores are full of food to eat.
My love.
Walk with me in Africa,
Amongst the bare feet
My love
Well there's got to be another way of living someday.
Well there's got to be another way of living someday.
My love.
Everybody everywhere,
Make a move don't stand and stare
Everybody everywhere,
Have a look around
Everybody everywhere,
Always rushing here and there,
Never with the time or care to
Have a look around
Look around
Walk with me,
Where the trees they die from the rain.
My Love
Walk with me,
Where no living thing lives again
And we spend our money and act surprised
When the heats up and the oceans rise.
Well there's got to be another way of living someday.
Well there's got to be another way of living someday.
CC - vocals, acoustic 9 string guitar, piano, keyboards, tin & low Irish whistles, bodhran, drum loops, percussion
Zorpinda Zorpin - percussion
2. Ten Years
Photographs are dangerous
They send you back down avenues,
You thought were one way streets
For so many miles.
And the long forgotten details
Like paintings and ornaments
They’re reaching out to haunt you
Like holiday smiles
chorus
Ten years is it really ten years?
How did your voice sound and how did you look?
Ten years is it really ten years?
All I have is snapshots in my head and some faces in a book
Memories don’t satisfy
You reach out to touch them and the bubble will break
And leave you hanging there
So tread upon them lightly
No amount of wallowing can bring you back faster
Than a fragrance in the air
chorus
Rose tinted eyes only see sunny skies
But I’ll live with the lies for a while longer
I remember the occasions
Birthdays and New Years and the first day that we met
Down by the railroad track
But I’d change them in a second
For the taste and the feel of just an ordinary day
Please take me back
chorus
chorus
CC
- vocals,
acoustic 9 string guitar, keyboards, kalimba
3. Lost In My Mind I think I can talk to people pretty well
I've got a few funny stories that I can tell
But when I'm in company I can't understand
Why the conversation never goes the way that I planned
I'm in a restaurant I order something to eat,
I can visualise a culinary treat,
But when it arrives what do I find?
A plate of disappointment every time
chorus
Coz I'm Lost in my mind
Searching for a door that I can't seem to find
Coz I'm lost in my mind
And my virtual friends can't help me this time
When I feel I need to get away
I can picture a perfect holiday
But when I get to my destination
It can't match up to my imagination
There's a beautiful girl in my minds eye
Every time I think of her it makes me sigh,
But when I find the real thing, it makes me feel,
That I don't think I wanted her quite that real.
chorus
bridge
There's not enough joy and too many tears,
In a prison of preconceived ideas,
It's a strange situation that I find,
I really do want to go out of my mind.
There's got to be a way to disconnect,
The outside world from what I expect.
And plan my own little role reversal
And play a few scenes without a rehearsal,
Its time to shut my brain and computer down,
See what's happening in this town,
Feel the wind in my hair and just follow my feet,
And walk through my life down a two way street,
4. Out Of The Blue
Every day a thousand voices,
Some of them are almost real.
On the screens of my machines,
Asking me how I feel,
Always questions and opinions,
Am I too blind to see?
Why would I want to do that?
What will become of me?
And the say – I shouldn't talk like this,
And they think – I shouldn't think like this,
But I do, yes I do, and I think you do too,
And it came to us out of the blue
Those that say they rule us,
Weave their deceptive dance.
Somehow I'm not included,
In their corporate masterplans.
You ask me what is this blindness,
That only sees what there is to gain?
You ask me the price of kindness.
Well there you go again.
And the say – I shouldn't talk like this,
And they think – I shouldn't think like this,
But you do, yes you do, and you know I do too,
And if came to us out of the blue
I am a cosmonaut, you are an acrobat,
I love the space station, you love the laundromat
Were not the same,
We shouldn't be the same,
And I love the difference
I want to see the difference in you.
The difference in you.
In the things that we do.
Those of us beyond the borderline,
Who live outside the norm,
Who may not love the sunshine,
But prefer a thunderstorm
We have to find our own way,
On a road misunderstood,
But our numbers grow everyday,
Bang goes the neighbourhood.
And the say – I shouldn't talk like this,
And they think – I shouldn't think like this,
And the say - we shouldn't hope like this
And they think - we shouldn't dream like this,
But we do, yes we do, and we know that it's true.
We were born to live out of the blue.
Out of the blue
Sky blue
5. Easier
Everything's so complicated.
Always running out of time.
I seem forever fated,
To be standing last in line.
So I think about the past,
To simpler times.
When the world was not so fast,
And in my mind.
Everything was easy
Everything was easy
Easier than today
Kids and teachers locked in school
Each one vying for control.
The pressure of the rules,
Fights the pull of rock and roll.
Examinations pass or fail?
Like a life sentence then.
But my delusions still prevail,
Coz in my memory...
Everything was easy
Everything was easy
Easier
It's not that I'm forgetful,
I remember darker days.
But my nostalgic mind,
Needs to remember things this way.
There's a girl in my mind's eye
Strong emotions swing and sway,
I try to talk but my tongue is tied.
Not a problem I have today...
Broken hearts and sleepless nights,
I don't miss at all.
But when I turn out the lights,
All that I recall – is that...
Everything was easy
Everything was easy
Everything was beautiful
Everything was wonderful
Everything was easy
Easier
CC -
vocals, acoustic 9 string guitar, keyboards
6. Living
CC - keyboards, theremin
Zorpinda Zorpin - synthesizer
7. Lost In The Rain
Lost in the rain,
On a hot summer night
Sometimes I wonder, and I look at the sky
Sometimes I wonder, why I'm wondering why
Sometimes the rain falls from a sky of blue
And sometimes I wonder about you
Sometimes answers to the future lie somewhere in the past
Sometimes you go slower by moving too fast
Sometimes the rain falls but never hits the ground
Sometimes the loudest cries don't make a sound
Turn it around
chorus
Seeing is not always believing
The mirror image is real
You can hear your instincts breathing
Believe what you feel
Feel what you breathe
Breath what you believe
See how you feel
Sometimes the saddest people can make you laugh
Sometimes the shortest road is the longest path
Sometimes the rain falls but doesn't clear the air
Some things you feel things most when you just don't care
Just stand and stare
Some people are closest when they're further away
Some make the most sense when they've nothing to say
Sometimes the rain falls and the world falls apart
Sometimes there's comfort in a broken heart
Your back to the start
8. Islands 1. It was a time of celebration
A gathering of friends
When I saw an isolation
In their eyes
A strange separation
Came between us that night
I saw the whole situation
I realized that I
Was
chorus
In a room full of islands
Waiting for the tide
We’ll meet up on the dry land
When the waters subside
So many different islands
Some of sand some of stone
But we know that when the time comes
We’ll not be alone
We’ll not be alone
2. There are worlds I never dreamed of
In your eyes tonight
Each glow of experience
A lighthouse in the night
There may be oceans between us
But the distances are small
And when one of us goes under
It touches us all
chorus
Linking hands across the water
Holding back the sea
Archipelago of souls
United in diversity
3. With all our names and numbers
There are so many ways
To keep us in touch
And keep us away
When did I last really talk to you?
And not your machine
When were you last at my house
Tell me where have you been
Have you been
chorus
CC - vocals, acoustic 9 string guitar, keyboards, tin Irish whistle.
9. Silver Wings
Dory-Anne rang me today,
Says she can't think what to do,
Long ago mistakes were made,
And she's got to see it through,
She and her partner
They've developed X-ray eyes.
They can see right through their bodies,
They can see right through their minds
Michael thinks the world
Is not exactly how it seems
He lives his life in darkness
Surrounded by computer screens
With his facts and his figures
And his high philosophies,
And his unshakable devotion
To his world conspiracies
How many nightingales,
Have forgotten how to sing?
I want to take you away from here
And we'll fly away on silver wings.
Charlotte lives inside
A tower of books
She escaped to academia,
Passing all exams she took,
Now she teaches and she reads
And she dreams and reads,
And she teaches and she reads,
And turns her dreams to PhDs.
Jenny's got depression,
She takes multi-coloured pills,
She attends a monthly session
That will cure her of her ills.
Her world is a circle
That gets smaller every day
While she dreams of magic carpets,
that will carry her away.
So many nightingales,
Have forgotten how to sing,
I want to take you away from here
And we'll fly away on silver wings.
So many people – reaching out
So many people – are so hard to see
But they're seeking connections
Seeking contacts.
I wish they could fly away with me
David thinks he has a daemon
Deep inside his soul
That interferes with reason
And he struggles for control
Every time he takes some action
And starts to feel alright,
There's an opposite reaction
From across the other side
So many nightingales,
Have forgotten how to sing,
I want to take you away from here,
Somewhere where the air is clear
High into the atmosphere,
And we'll fly away on silver wings.
CC
- vocals, acoustic & electric 9 string guitar, keyboards, drum
programming
10. Strangers Still
She takes his hand
And knows he'll understand
And he touches her hair,
He knows something's in the air
They're together but apart,
Strangers still at heart.
Memory lingers like footprints in the snow
She looks at his eyes,
And knows what's on his mind,
And he knows that smile
And what it tries to hide
Between them the divide,
It still is just as wide
Hearts move together but minds in reverse,
Each of them hoping the other one moves first.
Faces and shadows they come and they go.
Memory lingers like footprints in the snow
Strangers - they are strangers.
They are strangers still at heart,
But they'll never part.
The air is clear
His heartbeat changes gear,
Maybe in the dark
They'll start to feel that spark,
and the light in their eyes is on,
One moment and it's gone.
Memory lingers like footprints in the snow
It's much too late,
They can't communicate
What they feel inside,
It's easier to hide
Why did they get involved?
A mystery unsolved.
Hearts move together but minds in reverse,
Each of them hoping the other one moves first.
Faces and shadows they come and they go.
Memory lingers like footprints in the snow
Strangers - they are strangers.
They are strangers still at heart,
But they'll never part.
CC
- vocals, piano
11. The Storm Then there was thunder
With a flash of light
A feeling of wonder
Flew through the autumn night.
And you took my hand.
And we took to the street.
Where the people had gathered,
In the strange shimmering heat.
And then the rains came
And washed away the tears.
I heard an old man say,
“What have we been doing all these years?”
Like we had been shaken,
From a nightmare sleep.
Hope reawakened.
Coming up from the deep.
chorus
We can live again,
We can breathe again,
Now the future's in our hands.
Right on track again,
Wont look back again,
We are taking back this land.
We tore down the barricades,
Of politicians and thieves,
Sweeping the decades,
Away with the autumn leaves.
We were laughing together,
In the pouring rain,
We swore we never, we never, we never would make,
The same mistakes again.
chorus
And when the last dark clouds,
Had finally fled,
Our love surrounded us,
The air was still warm.
And we meant every word that we said.
After the storm x 4
Theres a new storm coming x 4
We can live agaain,
We can breathe again,
We wont be afraid,
There's a brave new world.
After the storm.
CC
- vocals, acoustic & electric 9 string guitar, keyboards, zither, samples, drum loops, percussion
Zorpinda Zorpin - synthesizer Mo Coulson - Celtic harp
12. A Long Goodbye
Well here we are again,
With the sound of natural laughter,
About the same old things,
We know we're more than friends,
We're subtly attracted by a strange power.
You've been trying to leave now for over an hour.
But it's
chorus
A long goodbye.
A long goodbye,
A warm embrace and a lingering eye.
Long goodbye
There seems so much to say,
To draw each other closer,
You're afraid to cross the line.
Afraid to pull away.
You stretch and say that this time you have got to go.
But a look between us means that we both know,
That it's
chorus
We know it's time to be moving on,
Part of us is already gone.
But there's something about a familiar smile.
That makes me want to linger a while.
Maybe you wont go.
You're weighing up your two minds.
Coz it's come to the poin tin the evening...
When time runs slow.
A tremble of the fingers and a whisper in the night.
And a candle that burns long til the morning light.
And a
chorus
CC - vocals, acoustic 9 string guitar, keyboards
13. Lost In Time
How strange,
Here we are again
Like nothing ever changed
We never got to finish
What we started.
We were not sad or broken hearted,
We just walked away,
With nothing more to say
It was easier that way.
Til I saw you stood right...
There
There was something in the air
We pretended not to care
Afraid that all the voices from before
Were getting harder to ignore
Like echoes deep inside
A world inside our minds
We followed all the signs
But we're lost in space and time
I know I must fly stronger, higher, further, longer,
Just a little longer,
Just a little longer.
Lost in space and...
Time
Time to say goodbye
With a smile, and then a sigh
Maybe in a year or maybe more
We'll find this room without a door
But until then
So farewell my old friend
I'll meet you here again
In a world that never, world that never ends...
Neverending... neverending...
Never ends...
CC - vocals, piano, nylon string guitar, keyboards, bodhran,, percussion
14. Relive
Live your life over.
Every hour, one year older.
What would you change?
Catch every day like a leaf in an autumn breeze.
Would you make the good times longer?
Do the bad times make you stronger?
Or would you erase them?
Scenes don't run the same,
The second time around.
Live every sight and sound.
As if it was your last.
Hindsight and perspective.
Not every mirror is reflective.
Some draw you in.
Catch every day like a leaf in an autumn breeze.
Forward to tomorrow.
Just how far would you want to know?
Would you watch the ending?
Scenes don't run the same,
The second time around.
Live every sight and sound.
As if it was your last.
Relive
Live your life over.
Every hour, one year older
What would you change?
Live your life over.
Live your life over.
CC
- vocals, synthesizers, piano
Zorpinda Zorpin - synthesizer
