New Calamity Pop song, Beautiful Blessed Soul

the forum seems very 'rock' and cover heavy at the moment, so I thought I'd post this latest effort. It's a very short original piano ballad that's the first Calamity Pop collaborative effort. Zuq and Miqael (the occasional bass player) turned up last week with some soppy lyrics that Miq wanted to put to music. Turns out that they're written by some Canadian chic who turns up to watch the band play, and if he does a good job he might get laid. Now who am I to turn down a request like that?

So, starting with his chord sequence and then adding some new bits in the studio, we wheel out this in about 3 hours. I didn't like it at first, but it's grown on me and now I'm considering putting it on the next album. What do you think?

Unfortunately the Soundclick encoding has flattened it a bit, but it should sound OK.
Beautiful Blessed Soul

Me too....I dont have the cable modem hooked up till monday so a dial-up is my only method of connection so it could be why I am also getting an error page. I am going to go to sc main page and search for CP and this song...I will let you know if I access it or not...
Mark

Paul,
Zuq carries the day. Music is well done, piano and pad sound nice. Drums kick in nicely. The lyrics, well... sure, why not - a beautiful downer.

It sounds like the vox path goes through a gate into a slamming compressor - I'm hearing some ungated boosted background at 0:07 through 0:10. Don't notice it later when the pad comes in to cover it. Not sure what to do with it.

This is nice ballad to put on a CD, mixes it up with your usual up tempo stuff. Maybe add a bridge to take it out to 2:20 sec - very radio friendly.

Hi Ed, Shaun

Thanks for pointing out the background noise, a quick application of Gate has sorted that out. I've also taken some of the compression off the piano so that it's more subtle. Now if I could just get Zuq into the studio to finish off the next album....

ORIGINAL: Paul Russell
What do you think?

The words 'beautiful blessed soul' could use a bit of harmony vocals (maybe in 3rds or something) the last few times.

I don't like the ending - it seems like you just ran out of track. If I were going to end this song, I'd repeat the phrase 'beautiful blessed soul' several times and slow down a bit - then you can do the last snare hit thing. That would feel better to me.

I like the piano, and I think it could play around with the lower register of the piano too.

It's a nice song, simple and straightforward.

Paul,

The vocals and the way you mix them are outstanding.

This is a very pretty song. IMHO, the piano arrangement is distracting. The piano sounds like it is in a different meter or maybe it's how some of the notes are accented or maybe it's too busy for me.

I really like the snap of the snare. I agree with making the song longer.

Darryl

Wunderbar...
but i think this song needs a more quality piano (the sound)...
and maybe less reverb on drums...smaller room...
enjoyed..

Beautiful song Paul.. Zuq has got quite the pipes! I've got three grand piano sample collections; the Bosendorfer, the Old Lady, and the Yamaha C7.. send me the midi file and let me see what I can do with it...

Hi Paul:

Like you, I didn't care for it that much at first, but it is also growing on me. I've listened to it a number of times now. I really like the melody and harmony. The vocal is very well-performed and nicely recorded - excellent job on that! Zuq, you got the goods, man!! Also, I like the sparseness. I don't usually like drums without the support of a bass, but to me this works. I like the pad - nice "angelic" quality to that, which supports the concept of the song.

I guess everyone has commented on the piano tone, which I also agree with. My other thought on the piano is: I like keeping to the upper register in the beginning, but how about adding some fullness by moving into a lower register later in the song. It would remove some of the sparseness, but it think it might help the song move forward. Maybe you tried that and didn't like it.

Lastly, and I don't know how you feel about this--also I know you're working with the lyric that was given you--I like the title phrase, but some of the other lines sound cliche to me. "Called home" and "set free" are two cliches that immediately come to mind. "Beautiful Blessed Soul" is nice, poetic, and unique. I like the way that phrase sounds. But, some of the other lines sound shallow next to that. In my opinion, of course...

Anyway, I think you've done a wonderful job with what was given you.

isn't Beautiful Soul the title of the No 1 song right now in the US? God Paul, they stole your idea. You never know who you can trust.

That was awesome. I love when you bring in the organs and beats. It all is put together perfectly, the song is great man.