Two Songs. Acoustic/orchestral/pop/

[Bob Gravy]

Hi all,
Haven't been in for a while. Would be nice to get a bit of feedback on these two. Great singer and songwriter I'm doing stuff with. Very bleak lyrics. One's a pop thing with an orchestra and steel guitar. The other a very sad song, an even sadder song, with acoustic guitar and a faked up string quartet.
I know that:
There is a really crap drum fill that is played way too often in one song, and that there is creaking and noise on the audio in the other.
Any feedback on anything else would be welcome. I've been doing this stuff in a vaccuum, so say on, my friends, say on.
http://www.myspace.com/thetemplecloudcountryclub

[Lite_Rock_FM]

Schrodinger's Cat:
Good:
-I think the synth strings work really well with the steel guitar and make a nice texture.
-The song is decent! Actual song with, you know, a song there.

Bad:
-The backing vocals sound under-rehearsed and under-confident, especially the first time they come in at around the one minute mark.
-The instrumentation doesn't really help demarcate the structure, it just goes and goes, disregarding possible opportunities for dramatic entrances and exits.

[Lite_Rock_FM]

A Hole In Water
Good:
-Hookier vocals! Like the melodic sequence in the B half of the verse.
-Better differentiation in the arrangement here.

Bad:
-The sustained string tones are masquerading as real strings but don't sound real when they're held out in the foreground.

I don't see the creaking as a problem.

[JOBU]

I would have loved to have a listen, Bob, but I've given up MySpace. It's so full of shit that I wount load it into my puter anymore. Do you have the tunes somewhere else?
Regards

[Bob Gravy]

JOBU, given up on myspace? It's just a website. It won't blow your PC up. Anyhow, if you decide not to click the link, fair enough. Up to you. For now I don't have them anywhere else. Thanks for your interest though.

Lite. Yeah, Hmm. The orchestration just 'going and going' was not really waht I meant. I mean I like minimalism and gradual tiny developments. It's supposed to sort of 'breathe' It's meant to be like a series if of breaths or sighs. Take the point about the strings sounding a bit fakey in Hole, though. I might try Synful instead of GPO.

[JOBU]

JOBU, given up on myspace? It's just a website.

I know what it is. I even have an account with music myself. But I don't like the way MySpace is an open forum for anything, and I don't like the layout, and it does do something to my puter now and then that I don't like and even quite understand why. So I just stay away.

[Bob Gravy]

But I don't like the way MySpace is an open forum for anything.

Actually, that's exactly what I do like about it. Awww, Look. Now I've hijacked my own thread .See what you made me do? Bloody myspace....

[JOBU]

Actually, that's exactly what I do like about it.

Well, I don't for sure.

I've broken my priciples :cry: and listened to your track. Nice and relaxed . Who is the lead singer,..you?

[Bob Gravy]

Thanks JOBU.
Naw, the singer's the guy who lives in Turkey and wrote the songs on his acoustic geetar. Then I mucked about with it. And stuff.

[kerry and casio]

Schrodiger's cat:
This is nice - the strings work well, the strums seem a bit distant, but I have no idea about rock production, tbh!
Hole in water:
Really like the feel of this - the pizzicato, the strums... In fact, this song is really good. It reminds me of the Auteurs, who are one of my favourite bands.
Could you send me a link to D/L it? - I'll play it on my radio show.