Steve,
  Wow, great tune!  This feels very Yes like but with your own unique style stamped on it.  The guitar has a very Steve Howesque sound.  Cool tune and the mix is pristine on my system.  Nice guitar playin!  Great stuff.

Very good. Happy melodies, I like. Great instrument and voice work. To me it sounded almost fusion when the guitar got wild.

The mix, arrangement and execution are top notch.  There are places where the drums drag it a bit -- around the 2:00 mark -- when the lead guitar comes in -- and in some other places. That's some cookin' bass and good guitar playing.  I enjoyed listening to this piece :)  
(I liked the *sitar* part in 'Castles of Sand' and the well done guitar work.)
 
Allan
 

Russ - thanks!  My "normal style of prog" huh...  well, I will certainly take that as a compliment!  
 
Jesse - thank you!   The bass is just me, played on a cheap Sam Ash special I bought years ago livened up with a CA-X FX Chain.  The intro is four tracks of mic'd acoustic guitar in four different ranges/positions.  The leads were probably my favorite part to play though.  
 
Reece - thanks!  Always appreciate a Howe reference!  The intro was my poor man's attempt at creating a bit of that acoustic/vachalia thing he used to do.      And the electric parts, yeah, they're mostly clean-ish which I guess was also a sub-conscious nod in that direction.
 
Tom - thanks!   Now I'm going to have to look up The Samples.  
 
Furry one - thanks!   Glad you liked it!
 
Tony - thank you!    Once again I appreciate the Howe/Yes references (my favorites growing up) and am glad you liked the mix too.
 
Antti - thanks!   Yes, this was definitely meant to be a major key "happy" song even with the prog-ish bits so I'm glad that comes across.  
 
Allan - thanks!  I'm happy to know things are working.   I'll have to go back and listen for those drum hits, though it's possible the "drummer" was just laying back a bit.  Yeah, that's the ticket.        I'm not sure what "Castles of Sand" is though?         (PS... love the avatar).
 
 
Almost forgot...   second mix is up, with some minor drum tweaks and a bit more reverb as per comments above.  Oh, and I've posted the lyrics in the OP as requested by Daryl.   Just don't ask for the hidden meaning. 
 
 
 

Holy Moly, I tought it sounded a hint of celtic at the start then it started get punk like. Im  huge fan of the off time beats and fills. This piece has some fantastic musiciality and theory in it. And like another member said, it seems like a music that came like like you might talk, straight out of your head with a flow.
 
I dont think I remembered one word if thats a problem or not!
 
Im impressed

Yep,,, still diggin it ... I had to come back and I stand by the Strawbs sound! Ghosts perhaps? it's been so long since I've listened to those old cassettes. This time I'm also getting a little Zappa as well (Orange county lumber truck?)
Great stuff lovin it!
 

Superb song, Steve.  I've been a prog-rock fan for many years.  The mix I heard seems complete to me.  The vocals are great and really make this song stand out from the crowd.  You are definitely in the top tier of songwriters.

Cian - thanks!  Some of it definitely falls into "make it up as a I go along" territory, including some of the syncopated stuff.  I go with whatever seems to work.   And no worries about the words - I certainly don't consider myself a lyricist! 
 
James - thanks for checking in again!  I appreciate it.  I'm going to have to catch up on some Strawbs. 
 
Lynn - thanks!   I would not consider vocals my strong suit at all, so I appreciate the comment.   As far as songwriting goes...  Nah, I'm just happy to be in the company of the talent on this forum, yourself included!   
 

Steve,
 
Quite an ambitious undertaking, sounds really good.  Guitars, bass, vocals, et. al...  very cool progressive song and well executed.   It is really difficult to get drums to sound real in this type of music, i.e.  MIDI drums can sound quite mechanical, particularly with a busy progressive style.   For the most part, the drums sound pretty realistic but there are a few spots in the verses (around :42 for example)-where the drums get a bit stiff.   Maybe you could adjust the swing on a few of those clips to loosen things up a bit.   The instrumentation is very good, and very interesting throughout. 
 
Regards

Hey Steve , That was Great  Man
Lots of Brilliant Musical Ideas throughout ...
I'm happy I came over here and listened to your song ...
 
thank you for posting it
 
Kenny