Walking The Dog (with Danny Danzi, Philz, Bob, Bapu & Son)

OK, kids its time for an interpretation of a classic song by none other than Philz. Seems the song was inspired by his dog Jenna who gives it five woofs. 

This song traveled down a long road. Philz started the arrangement in late April based upon the guitar styling of his longtime writing partner the late Bill Britt. I laid down my initial bass part on my last night at Philz house in May.  


On that same trip in Chicago I met up with Mooch and his friend (and drummer from church). Bob, the drummer, laid down some tasty chops to the song. Not a finished track by any means but certainly something we wanted to explore further. 


Ultimately I decided my Custom Spacey 5-String Bass had the tone I was looking for so I rerecorded the track. Phil asked me to conjure a "bass solo" in the middle. I decided to show everyone what my Kala Uke Bass could do. Hope you all like it.


In the meantime Danny Danzi was asked to join the project and he laid down yet another set of smokin' guitar tracks as well as the solos.


On top of that, Philz (ever the "isn't there one more thing we can add to this menudo?" kind of guy) asked me to have my son listen to the track and see if he thought anything should be added. My son immediately said "HORNS!" and proceeded to lay down a Bari, Tenor & Alto saxes and horn section in my studio.


Back to the drums. We asked Mooch if he could have Bob come back to his studio and redo the drums. After some false starts and reschedules, Bob finally laid down what was to become the final drum track. Thanks to Mooch for his help on this one. And thanks to Danny and Philz for helping me with the drum tracks.


After much discussion, cajoling and sample mixes flying around the internet for what seemed like an eternity, the song is now ready for you all to listen too.



You can hear the song on Philz SoundClick page HERE.



Alternatively, if you'd like to hear a Hi-Rez version, please go HERE (remember to turn up the volume). 


Enjoy!

WHOA................. Excellent stuff gentlemen. Wow. Production is top notch, performances too. 
Is it in Am?

Heheh.

Slinky Slink and his Slinky Slinkers are Slinking here.

It all sounds good but I gotta say that guitar is off the scale man.



Superb version, kudos all.

The only thing I noticed was the drums seemed to kind of hiccup at 1:58 and 2:08 and personally, I would like to hear the guitars a little more crispy sounding, I find it hard to hear the attack on Danny's lead. And the fade is kind of quick. All trivial minor things.

I never heard the original but this is great. Love Danny's lead, horns, vocals, well ... everything. And the bass is killer as always.

Wow, that lead guitar is incredible... It sounds, well I just don't know how someone can play the instrument like that? And I've played it all my life.

Wow this tune is finally done Ed? LOL! I never got a chance to listen to the final...but you did good brother. I kinda wish I did because there were a few things I would have mentioned to ya...but, you did good with this man...seriously. If I wasn't so busy with stuff over here, I would have given you a bit more "Spiritual Guidance". Thanks for the mention there. I also didn't want to say too much to you on this because you were really going nuts with all the changes and issues we had with the tune. All in all though, it turned out pretty good man. A few little issues like Bub mentioned that I heard as well on this. The thing that leaps out at me the most (other than the drums which we knew would be a nightmare) is the fade in the end is a bit abrupt. But honest, ya done good man...and I'm proud of you. :) This was a fun tune even though there were several things that hindered us with it. Thanks to Phil for allowing me to be a part of it and for doing an excellent job on the vocals and arrangement. :)

Thanks for the guitar comments guys, much appreciated. I had originally wanted to hang in the pocket on this...but Phil kept saying "no, unleash the Daniac" as he calls me. LOL! So I had some fun with it.

Bub: yeah, those drums drove poor Ed nuts. Something weird happened somewhere with them from the time Mooch did them and the time we got the actual drum files. Bob played this killer first take just to see if Phil would dig it. We all liked it so Bob did another take that was more honed in. But for some odd reason, when we got the midi track, it was all whacked...and we know the guy can play well. So something screwy happened somewhere...maybe a corrupt file or something, but both Ed and I were clueless on what to do with it. So Ed, Phil and me tossed around some suggestions and picked at it a little at a time with Ed and Phil doing all the work. I heard one of the drum tracks they both liked and hated it. So I said "ok, enough messing with this thing...I'll play the darned drums!"

I played a section for Ed and Phil, but Ed wasn't digging how I was grooving to it. I was doing some snare work that was a bit busy...kinda like what Liberty Divito from Billy Joel or Danny Seraphine from Chicago would do if they played on the tune. Phil liked some of it, Ed hated most of it...so we agreed they would try and work the one they had already started. I just wish we could have figured out what the heck happened to that track as we were positive Mooch and Bob tracked it right. But when we got it...man, Ed and Phil spent countless hours on that thing. Anyway, it was still a fun tune that I sure was glad to have been a part of. Thanks again. :)

Great interpretation.  Love your leads Danny.

That sounds excellent.  I love Danny's guitar tone and solo over this type of song.

Extra fantastic thru and thru! Super guitar leads by Danny! This one has true wow factor!

That's a great song.  We used to play it in the late 60s.  You guys do a great job in updating it.  Good production and instrumentals.  The voices fit nicely!  Great job on a great tune.

What Jon said.

Plus WOW!!!  :)  You guys RAWK!! 

Hi All, excellent production all round. Who said the song forum smelled funky? Special mention for the guitar work, top notch Danny.

Rik

I also enjoyed "Rough patch" from you guys...

Been avoiding this one, 'cos I played this tune in a band (who didn't) and got utterly sick of it, but...you guys brought it back to life very nicely, I like the arrangement a lot. As noted, some real guitar wizardry from Danny, wonderful stuff.

One nitpick - I like the intro a lot, the stereo arpeggio synths work really well, but something about the vocal isn't sitting well there, sounds like Phil is in a different place.

Wow!  This has so much good content.  Absolutely awesome job on every level guys.  Congrats!  I especially liked the organ and horns.  I am not familiar with the original tune but this colab is awesome..
 
Great job on the mix Ed.  The guitar solo, with no doubt, Danzified this song !
 
Kudos!!!