Soft Touch (CDAMM1903)

 

Andy Milner's "Soft Touch" collection of songs and music was recorded over the past three years at my studio Ground Sound.
Two of the songs "Lost at Sea" and "Time" are folk tracks, namely my old faithful Gibson J50 acoustic guitar with vocals, and were written some 15 years ago. I feel the songs retain some innocence which is the way I always planned them.
"Be With You" started out as a samba around 1998 with guitars and programmed drums, it was when I recorded the bass in 2001 that it was apparent their was space enough for a vocal, so after getting a loose 1st take on the drums with rod, I set to paint a picture and recorded the vocals in October 2003, it stayed that way till September '05 when Nik Turner supplied a reassuring Sax solo.
"Hands and Head" and "Counterfeit State" are self explanatory. Its fair to say I wrote the words on days when I felt very vulnerable due to my crohns problem, which leads to "Ramblings" and "Take Me Up" which came to me at Prince Phillip Hospital Llanelli in 2001 whilst experiencing morphine following life saving surgery (I must mention my surgeon Mr.Evans.... thanks for saving my life).The vocals were recorded in the autumn of 2003. More loose drums on these four tracks with Django Freil adding plenty of feel. Sax with Nik Turner was added in September of this year 2005. My son Ben joined me with a bass guitar sample on "Counterfeit State".
"Astrosurf" is a remix from my "Lost on the Border" CDAMM 1902. This time its got live drums by rod, recorded at Steer Studios in 2000. Saxophone by Nik Turner and a trumpet sample by Lawrence Ford.
"Folly" dates back to the last century again....... 1998, its an instrumental utilizing a big chunk of E minor pentatonic scale with associated chords.
On reflection writing and producing the songs and music has been seriously hard work, surprisingly the keyboard work was the most enjoyable especially on, "Be with You" and "Ramblings". The bass guitar parts I found demanding often working on the structure/playing for weeks with each song, trying not to copy my guitar parts whilst offering some virtuosity to the performances.