Except Her Heart | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

I mentioned last week that I recorded four of my songs live in the studio at the Point Ephemere last week with a couple of guitarists, a drummer, a bass player and me singing and playing my guitar. Here are the recordings. Remember, these are live: We are playing all together in the studio as if we are on a stage in front of you. First time I’ve done this. I hope you like it. I am happy with the experience, and what I found that was fabulous was the way the songs transformed from my living room experience of sitting in the corner playing by myself – same in an open mic alone – to this collaboration that changes the songs and helps them grow.

I have decided to put them up here in the order we recorded them. On drums was Hervé, on bass Virgile, me on vocals and guitar. For the first two songs Félix played lead guitar. For the second two songs, Laurent played lead guitar. If you get bored with one, go on to the other. Oh, oh, oh – let me not forget the beautiful touch of harmony by Virgile on “Since You Left Me.”

But taste them all, if you get a chance, because they are all quite different…:

Lighter, shrimpy, easy to download but less good quality file versions:

Memories

Except Her Heart

Let Me Know

Since You Left Me

Big, fat, heavy, high bandwidth better quality file versions:

Wow, just as I was preparing to fly off to China today for the Chinese Grand Prix, just as I was packing my bags, finishing my preview race stories, thinking about blog items and trying to remember things not to forget, I receive a message on Facebook from my friend Félix Beguin.

Félix is a guitar player who is studying sound engineering and who wants to make a career out of music. Since around November 2008 Félix has accompanied me on and off at Earle’s open mic in Paris, giving a lot more depth to my songs with his electric guitar support. A month or two ago I sent Félix a rough recording of me playing a new song called “Except Her Heart,” that I wrote about a failed relationship, in order for him to hear the structure so that the next time we played together at Earle’s he’d have an idea of where the song was going.

In fact, I don’t think we played the song after that. But this morning Félix sent me a WAV file of the song with a complete magnificent arrangement that he worked out for it, with drums, electric piano, his lead guitar, bass, etc. Man, this is the first time I’ve had a piece of my music completely arranged and orchestrated, and the result is inspiring to me. I hope it is also inspiring to other listeners.

Here is the low quality MP3 version of “Except Her Heart,” that will be quicker to listen to:

Except Her Heart

Here is the high quality WAV version of the “Except Her Heart” song that will take a while to download:

Except Her Heart

When you play music in your living room for years and you go out with your guitar and play in open mics, you have to do it first and foremost because you love it. It is often hard to believe in yourself and see beyond the horizon of the microphone that night, or your back garden and your own ears. But with what Félix sent me here today, I have a lot more belief in the possibilities of my songs. A million thanks to Félix, who plays his own music on his myspace, and also plays with a band called The Wasters and also a band called The Burnin’ Jacks, which is a very cool band, I last saw them perform at the Gibus in Paris last month, and they KILLED the audience.

Thanks again Félix! Now I can head off to China and wear out my batteries listening to your arrangement on my long, long flight to Shanghai. I’ll be singing the song there, too, in an open mic, I hope. Stay tuned….

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Brad, Hervé, Virgile, Félix and Laurent in the Ephemere Recordings

“Except Her Heart” Comes Alive Thanks to Félix