Impressions of a Day - 4th Movement

Written and Recorded in 1990

This is the 4th Movement of my conceptual composition titled Impressions of a Day.
This composition is consistently written under a principle that each Movement basically accommodates three different ingredients, and the same principle is applied to this 4th Movement as well.

Unlike other counterparts, this 4th Movement features its own main guitar riff theme, which represents moving places on foot in the afternoon. The flow of this theme is to be interrupted three times corresponding to the three ingredients. Here, all these ingredients are played briefly and are presented as if they are pieces from Classical music.  The first ingredient is written for the harpsichord, which stands for a philosophical argument with someone else. This may take place in a quiet room in a certain public facility. The second ingredient is written for woodwinds ensemble and is associated with nighttime activities, so is the third ingredient, which is written for the brass ensemble at the end. To give an example, the protagonist would walk out of his workplace to visit a public library to take part in a debate (perhaps, as a part of his job). Then he walks out of the library and on his way back to the office, calls into a pub for clearing his throat by having a pint. When he finally comes back to the office, the clock strikes five o'clock. He clocks out the office and goes out for his nighttime activities.

Witch

Written in 1991 / Recorded in 1991 and 2013

This was originally written as a song, which attempted to describe a girl I knew at that time as a 'witch', with little or almost no knowledge on historical implications associated to that very word. In terms of music, except for the brief organ solo in the middle that provides mysterious atmosphere, this tune must be asserted as poorly written thing. Though this was not the only composition I wrote under the spell - or inspiration - of the girl I called 'witch' here, it would be fair to say that when I wrote and recorded this tune, I might have been in the peak of a sort of infatuation.

For making this video, I removed the voice part that delivered a poorly written lyric from the original 1991 recording and replaced it with a newly added lead guitar part, which was also filmed and presented in this video.

Prime for a Week

Written and Recorded in 1989

This tune was written by the end of 1989, while I was temporarily playing in a make-shift band called The Intellectual Gnomes. Though the band was not supposed to last for a while, I found playing with the guys quite comfortable so that I could not help writing another material for us to play next. Unfortunately, the band couldn't survive long enough to pick up this tune to play, but the fact remains that I wrote each part in accordance with the personnel of the band, featured a couple of keyboard players, a bassist, a drummer and me as the sole guitar player. Musically, the composition was also inspired from Can't Afford No Shoes by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, one of my favourite tracks at that time.
The title was taken from a quite packed week I spent with the Gnomes guys filled with intensive studio rehearsals and some incidents involving a couple of girls.

Sunday Afternoon

Written in 1995 / Recorded in 1995 and 2013

Musically, this tune was kinda my tribute to The Kinks' Sunny Afternoon. This doesn't deprive me of the authorship of the tune but I have to admit that I made little effort for writing the basis of this piece of music.
It was coincided with splitting up with my girl friend, when I was writing the tune and that made me write stupid lyrics to go with, in which, I tried to make a contrast between one Sunday afternoon I had spent with her at a beach side in the previous summer, and another Sunday afternoon, when I was writing and recording this tune all by myself. Obviously, the major key part was set for the former to describe the memory, whilst the main part in minor key set for the latter situation. The recording ends with me playing the bass briefly give a cue as if I was about to start playing next tune. Perhaps, unconsciously I was implying to myself that my time for love is over and now it's time to go back to play Rock'N'Roll.

For making this video, I added the rhythm guitar part again to enhance the entire ensemble and filmed it for giving the video a bit of tutorial taste on playing this kind of chord progressions by the guitar.

For Guitar No. 1 in D Minor (1989)

Written and Recorded in 1989

This tune was written at the end of 1989. Initially, it was not intended to be a tune for solo classical guitar and had an extended sequence that later provided a basis for writing another tune called Spanish House.
When I focused on completing this material based on the initial ideas, I decided to remove the extended 'Spanish' sequence and added newly written sequence, whose idea came from analysing and practising to play a Steve Hackett composition for Genesis called Horizons.
When it came to the demo recording, I struggled so hard that I had to play the tune countless times until I could capture one live take with making no mistake. In order to enhance the structure of the composition, I used a technique called double tracking for capturing the sound of classical guitar; both were recorded stereo by using a couple of microphones, set in different locations so that they could pick up a wider range of guitar sounds.
The tune was first called A Girl and a Year for a certain reason I can't no longer recall. By the time I first played this tune live in front of the audience next summer, I changed the title accordingly to the manner of Classical music. Though I have written some other pieces of music for solo guitar, there's no sequel composition of this No. 1 -  so far.

Rollies and Pints (1992)

Written and Recorded in 1992

This tune was written in the spring of 1992, while I was settling down to a life pattern of typical office employee; Monday to Friday, nine to five like stuff. There was a sense of stability and a certain confidence in my new identity as a participant of society as a whole, but at the same time I began to get bored with the repetition of same days and weeks, in which I only developed my dependence on alcohol, gradually. The tune was more about the lyrics I wrote for grumbling about such boredom ornamented with silly consolations like smoking and drinking, where the song title came from. Additionally, this was one of the last attempts I chose the keyboard to play solo instead of the guitar. While I was mixing the final material, I still remember that I recognised I am not a good keyboard player at all.

P. S. I made the best of the opportunity for making this video, as you can see me enjoying a pint of dark beer, smoking of rollies and acting the role of a fake music composer :D