Soulless Confrontation

I was going for that Steely Dan thing when I wrote this one.  Mixed in Sonar
 
https://soundcloud.com/lawrence-olivier/soulless-confrontation
 
 
Half a sandwich in your left hand/ half a pickle in your right
That guitar in your lap man/ we’ve been at this thing all night
You know you lied when you said/”just an in and out”
Let’s put this damn thing to bed/ before it turns to doubt
 
The smudges on your window/ your smoky chandelier
The dull glow and the shadow/ like no one’s living here
There’s meaning in your movement/ there’s downhill in your stride
There’s room for some improvement/ obstruction in your pride
 
And you’re all: quiet conversation, moody celebration, Soulless Confrontation
 
You claim this is your college / it plays more like free-style
I claim no secrete knowledge/ but this might take awhile
You say let’s groove until dawn/ you can’t escape your ghost
I say I want to move on / maybe get out to the coast
 
And you’re all: groovy modulation, jazzy inspiration, Soulless Confrontation
Arrested maturation, peculiar occupation, Soulless Confrontation

You're definitely in the neighborhood of Steely Dan, gruverider, no doubt about that. Great sounds all around and I loved the sax intro. One thing I missed is the great background vocals that so lift up a typical Steely Dan phrase or chorus, or even just in a transition to a new chord. Lots of great places for something like that in this grooving tune. Really wonderful work!

Hey Lawrence!  this is really great!  love the groove!  love the sound (yes, I think this is definitely a similar sound to Steely!)
 
the ONLY crit I have is on the intro - that horn is squashed so hard that it's harsh, IMO.
 
mix is excellent, performances are excellent, loved that minor drop on 4 throughout the bridge!
 
awesome work!

Yep, definitely in the neighborhood of Steely Dan.  A couple nits from my ears:

• bass needs more bottom
• drums are too compressed, maybe take the hat down a bit
• lead vocal might be a tad too hot

Very nice playing and still sounds real good, above notwithstanding.  Kudos!

synkrotron
Sounded pretty "pro" to me Lawrence. I am not familiar with Steely Dan though, so can't comment on whether you're on target with that aim
 
Vocals are good... Is that you singing? Nice...
 
All the elements sit well in the mix as best I can tell.
 
cheers
 
andy

Andy, thanks for listening. Yes that is me singing. Glad you liked it.
 

kevinwal
You're definitely in the neighborhood of Steely Dan, gruverider, no doubt about that. Great sounds all around and I loved the sax intro. One thing I missed is the great background vocals that so lift up a typical Steely Dan phrase or chorus, or even just in a transition to a new chord. Lots of great places for something like that in this grooving tune. Really wonderful work!

You are so right! Those background vocals were off the charts! I did not think that I could even do that aspect justice.
 

ohgrant
Awesome tune, great performances and production too.

Glad you liked it!
 

Beagle
Hey Lawrence!  this is really great!  love the groove!  love the sound (yes, I think this is definitely a similar sound to Steely!)
 
the ONLY crit I have is on the intro - that horn is squashed so hard that it's harsh, IMO.
 
mix is excellent, performances are excellent, loved that minor drop on 4 throughout the bridge!
 
awesome work!

I agree with you about that into note on the sax and I played with it for a long time.  I couldn't really fix it but I did not want to take it out.  So...
 

michaelhanson
I think you definitely hit your mark if you were going for a Steely Dan thing.    
 
Really nice tune.  Excellent writing, love the lyrics.  I think your mix is really well done, though I am having to listen at work, not on the studio monitors.  Here, it comes across real well though.  
 
Great work, gruverider!

Michael, thanks for listening and glad you liked the song.
 

Walt Collins
Yep, definitely in the neighborhood of Steely Dan.  A couple nits from my ears:

• bass needs more bottom
• drums are too compressed, maybe take the hat down a bit
• lead vocal might be a tad too hot

Very nice playing and still sounds real good, above notwithstanding.  Kudos!

You have a good ear for detail.  Three of the things that I struggle with the most. lol!  Thanks for listening.
 

audiomyth
Nice jazzy start !! Good variations in the singing.
 
Cheers,
Kane

Thank you.  That intro was fun to write. I sort of heard it in my head then used my guitar to work out the chords.

Nice....     Mix comments already made sound about right to me, particularly backing off individual instrument compression so that the song can breathe more - it deserves it.    Cool melodies over great SD-ish chord changes, the piano is just right, and the sax parts really throw it over the top IMO.    You may not sound like Donald Fagen, but your voice works great on this! 
 

Great tune and you are defiantly in Steely Dan's neighborhood.
 
Are the horns synth or real? I get the feeling they are synth although they are very realistic.
 
I agree with the mix comments Walt Collins made he is on point I think.
 
You are very close on this and you have done a good job so far bringing the style into focus.
 
The only thing I would add is that a few nice sax licks in the vocal gaps between verses etc.