Light Is Out

We had a song called “Light” on the record. Did you notice the past tense “had?” It was a weak track. Musically and lyrically the song is ok, but “not earth shattering” as Sam Glaser told me. He’s right. Even when you take “earth shattering” in its metaphorical sense, not literally. And the arrangement we did was just not working.

We played around with several ideas about how to improve it, both within the mix (of existing tracks) and recording new tracks. Some of the ideas might have worked. All would have added more time, and possibly cost, to the project. I even sent it to Sam Glaser to see if he could “rescue” it.

Earlier in the project, Sam had offered to donate a cameo appearance on the CD. When “what should we do about Light” started to become a mantra, I had the idea to send it to Sam with the instructions “Please Rescue.” I suggested that he would be free to do anything to it – rerecord it, write new words, just sing – anything to save it. In the end, I would still have creative control. We all went back and forth on it for a while and finally decided that instead of throwing all of our time and resources (and Sam’s tremendous talent) at the weakest song, our time and resources and talents would be put to better use on the other stronger songs, making them even better and stronger. So we’re dropping “Light” from the mix. There are still twelve songs, and the whole project will be stronger for it.

I can’t thank Sam enough for his time and energy and input. We may still be able to use him somewhere, but we’re pretty full.

In other news:

I’ve finally been in contact with the studio. They tell me my project is a priority and that they are working on it. The editing, that is. I’m hoping that by the end of the month it’ll be ready for David and me to get back in and do the final mix.

I’d love to set a release date, but am reluctant to do so until I have something a little more concrete. That’ll be my next major announcement about the project. Until then, adieu.