If Simon doesn't mind another question...

[Lucibelle]

Simon, I was just curious... What is the (approximate) ratio of songs that were written as to songs that were actually released? Not counting the infamous 'last' album, of course! ;) But I was wondering if a lot of songs get scrapped or if the band tended to use most of what was written. Of course, there were several EPs. Were these most of the 'extras', or were there many others? I've often wondered about this. :confused:

[Lucibelle]

Just had to put something in to move this thread back closer to the top. It was starting to get buried. Just want Simon to be able to see it when he gets the chance to stop by again! ;)

Luci

[seeingtree]

back up to the top you wee blighter.

I'd be interested too and I don't want Lucibelle losing sleep wondering too much. Something I often do, although not about this specific question...although now that I think of it........
:)

[Lucibelle]

POP! Back up to the top with you! :D

[simon raymonde]

there is actually only one song that is unreleased, it did have a working title, oh yeah that's it 'my head is full of magic', but we didn't think it was up to it...probably was from either HOLV session of BBK but my memory is v bad.
There are a few, and i mean few as in less than several, bits and pieces, but nothing of note.
99% of our songs started as instrumentals and if Liz didn't like them , they didn't become songs, and we'd usually get her in quite soon after starting something, so if she wasn't keen, we'd just leave it and move on...hmm, weird isn't it? Seemed perfectly normal at the time!
Cheerio

[Lucibelle]

No. I don't think that's too wierd. Between the bands I know and the bands that I've worked with, everyone has their own way of doing things. I think one of the best things about music is that there's really no 'wrong' way of doing things. Hell, you can even have every instrument out of tune and there will be people out there who will love it! Now THAT'S strange! ;)

I will say that I am surprised that there is so little that never made it to our ears. I would have figured there would have been more. Just from my own experiences, most bands I've seen have to pick and choose carefully when it comes to releasing their CDs. I think I've only known one band personally that used almost everything that they wrote. But they just wrote damn good songs, so 'rejects' weren't really an issue. Some bands THINK that everything they write is good, while others really know how to use what's good and let go of what doesn't have that certain magic. So I'd say everyone was lucky in your situation. You didn't have to beat yourself up by having to choose amongst your 'children', and we, the listeners, didn't miss out by not hearing it all! :D And thanks for answering this. I've often wanted to be a fly on the wall to hear what kind of music you guys wrote that might not have been released.

As far as bits and pieces laying around, boy, do I relate to that one! When working with other people I find it much easier to create full, finished songs, but when I'm writing solo, I tend to create a lot of little segments and it may take forever before I figure out where they go next. I might have a great chorus idea, but can't work out a verse that does it justice, or vice-versa. There are many that never make it past the segment stage. Once in a while, inspiration will hit and an entire song will come out within a matter of minutes and I'll be able to capture it onto disk. I find that usually these are my best pieces. From that moment of inspiration I can work with it until I have a finished song that I'm really happy with. Sometimes I can take one 'scrap' of music lying around and connect it to another 'scrap' and have something wonderful come from that, but undoubtedly my best songs just kind of happen. While I'll always do music on my own, my highest satisfaction has to be from working with other musicians. I just find hearing other people's ideas to be thrilling in the sense of "boy, I'd have never thought of that..." and it lets me create on top of it things that never would have occurred on my own. Either way, it's magic.

Thanks again for answering, Simon! :)

[mmmender]

*bump*