Blair leaves, Bob arrives.
So we get started at 10.30 or so. Good news and bad – the accordion mid section is working well. The intro isn’t. We revisit the demo and just try to get as close as we can. The key ends up being a brass part – French Horn section. God Bless Kontakt – their patch is great (I often prefer the sound of synth or sampled bras to real brass…) and Blair’s part adds a lovely melancholy to counter the inherent whimsy of the piece. Once that is done, getting the accordion to work isn’t too tough.
Then we add brass to the middle section, and strings and we’re done, except for the chorus. B had an electric piano figure on his demo. It sounds too Steely Dan, as we used to say, on Wurly, so we use the Celesta for more of a fairground sound.
On to Man Overboard – more accordion. We have approximately an hour and a half to get in done. Luckily the song is a basic folk ballad format which B is a natural at, the refrain which was previously just on my guitar works nicely on the box (as I’m told they are called). Verses, I’m not sure, but we play through them. The chorus B part accepts a nice trad oom pa pa part and this resolves back nicely to the refrain.
Bob has arrived and takes a nap (he had to rise at 4 AM in Austin to get here) and I take B to the airport. Frantic stuff and I honestly don’t know if the accordion on Man Overboard is good enough (later in the afternoon I listen, and indeed the choruses and refrain do work well), but we got them down.
I wish we’d had more time. I’ll see him in Glasgow, I guess.
I take Bob to an early dinner at the Cellar Bar and we get an early night. It’s another 10AM start tomorrow.