End of the Year Goals

Once again we are here in the final one-sixth of the year and I've got a plate stacked full of musical ambitions. Why do I do this? Not sure but I do know that there are some times throughout the year when I'm just not interested in working on my music. And it's not because it is some kind of a fleeting, semi-passion for me. It has more to do with a general malady of frustration and at times a quiet desperation at the thought that maybe--probably, in fact--this is not going to ever go anywhere. Those are hard sentiments to deal with and can be very paralyzing when it comes to creating or even forcing oneself to work on unfinished projects. In addition to that, I'm easily carried away by other interests I have and can easily devote hours to those things, which although not being bad things they are things nonetheless which will not necessarily take me where I want to go. Thus, another year almost over and quite the unproductive one at that.

So how do I make up for precious time lost? By creating a long laundry list of things to accomplish by Christmas. The list includes:

-Finish recording the new song I've been working on for release on the album
-Make final touches on some of the other songs for the album
-Release the album (by Thanksgiving)
-Record a cover of a traditional Christmas song
-Write & record a brand new Christmas song

What do you think? All this along with keeping my other interests/obsessions in check. I think everything but perhaps the brand new Christmas song is feasible. My top priority is doing whatever needs to be done in order to finally release my first full-length album by Thanksgiving. That means finishing up recording the song I'm currently working on which will be the 10th track on the album. I have just about 3 weeks to do that AND tweak some of the other songs. Once that is done I can devote the next few weeks to recording a Christmas song or two. I plan on doing my take on another traditional Christmas song. Something in the public domain of course so I don't have to concern myself with copyrights and licensing and all that holiday-spirit stuff. There most certainly are some contemporary ones I would love to do but many of my favorites are so definitive-sounding that I don't think I could add anything to them. And there's that issue of licensing. Public domain it is.

But getting back to the album.
I decided on a new, original tune to fill out the album. With that I don't mean to say that it's filler material. But I was severely lacking in terms of a solid 10th track. I tried going back and rewriting lyrics to some solid tracks I had; however those did not pan out well. If you keep going back trying to fix the old material you will never move forward and produce new material. I wrote that this new song is the 10th song but not referring to it in a way of significance. It is the last song I needed for a somewhat cohesive album, but it will also be featured as the last track on the album. It is a song of hope. Thus the project closes out on a high note.

Here is a tentative track listing. I am trying to pick the song order as if it were to be released on a vinyl LP:

Side 1
1. Another Morning (What a Drag)
2. Tomorrow
3. The Moment of Truth
4. Call On Me
5. Doesn't That Blow Your Mind

Side 2
1. You Are So Good
2. Where I Belong
3. The Rain
4. Erie's Song
5. We're Gonna Make It

In conclusion, as much as I would love to start tackling all those things at the same time, I need to first finish recording "We're Gonna Make It" in a manner which is quick yet as pleasing as possible to me. I do not plan to go all-out-production on this song so within several days it should be completed. Then, if at all constructive and possible, I want to go back and 'touch up' about 6 of the other songs. Some have very minor issues. Others have a bit more work. Some of those songs have been previously released on my EP a few years back so I would like for these to have a slightly different mix at the very least.

Well, it's time to get to work. And I don't mean wage-slavery-type work, LOL. I mean work that matters. The kind of work that each one of us was placed here to do. Mine is music. What's yours? I will provide more frequent updates on my progress. Thanks for reading!