| *****The Asterisks
show
the quality level of the tune in Ralo's world or from fan feedback on a per
song basis. If
you only plan to download one or two songs, download the 5 star ones.
When you're done, shoot us an email
to help our ranking system. |
|
|
|
Song
|
About the Song
|
Production
|
|
Death Of Superman**** |
In November 1991, Superman died. He died defending
earth from Doomsday, a huge hulk of muscle with adamantium claws.
This song is a tribute to that event. People wore black armbands with
the black & red logo below. The cover of the death issue
is below too.
Later Superman did get revived through an interesting storyline that
created Superboy and Steele (anyone remember Shaq Steel the
movie?). This also was the time when Batman's back was broken and
Hal Jordan (Green Latner) went berserk and killed the Green LaternCorps. |
The intro is the very famous intro to the black &
white Superman TVshow and radioshow. The drum track was composed
of several awesome drum loops from loopology.com with some echo effects
in CoolEdit. Right at the tail end there's a big drum hit, that
was done with the keyboard synths. I used the electric
guitar, with some distortion on the mixer. I did back up vocals in
a different octave, as I did with several songs on this
album.
|
|
Getting A Date
(skit) |
This is simple a skit to prepare the listener for Good
Lovin's. Ralo is trying to hookup with Lahta Luv, but gets dissed,
so she can go "Paint the dog". |
This was performed with help from Laurie Harden and a
telephone recording via home phone and cell phone.
|
|
Good Lovin's*** |
This song was inspired by a CD I received at work in the
mail from a customer called Chito. His customer was some
entertainment venue sporting tunes from Dean Martin, Old Blue Eyes, and
many other singers crooning Italian tunes. Though this song isn't
intended to be Italian, I was shooting fro a mellow tune reminiscent of
the early days of light hearted love tunes. |
This song is mainly composed of keyboard in studio piano
mode, with some piano solo and a supporting piano chord track. Some
light percussion is all that's extra after the voice track. To mix
things up a bit, the chord progression has an echo effect applied in the
latter half of the tune to give a light ethereal effect.
|
|
Shitlist***** |
I enjoyed this tune, and most people who listen to the
album mention this one as the song they like. It strikes a
creative tune with anyone wanting a little revenge; how many ways can I
say "I've had it, and I'm gonna get you back". It's laid
out in a happy, upbeat tempo. |
This has a ticking in the background laid down by wooden
spoons, adding a bit of energy to the tune. Acoustic jam with an guitar loaned to me by Mike Polder,
a friend of mine who is a guitar enthusiast and awesome player.
The percussion track is a simple country high tempo (80bpm). Fills
are also done with the acoustic.
|
|
Ginger's Song** |
A song written for my sister, Ginger, to let her know how
impressed I am with how well she recovered from a car accident. |
The second song I created with my new Carlo Robelli
acoustic electric. I kept it simple on this tune with a single
guitar and vocals straight through, a little cleanup and reverb, and a
small back up vocal in a few places. I wanted to keep from
overworking this tune, as the important part here was the message.
|
|
Birthday Cake Fiasco
(skit) |
This skit sets the listener up for Hipy Phartd
Bay. |
Recorded with Scott Harkless, another friend of mine who
is a talented guitar player, whom I've actually gotten to jam a few
times with on Tenacious D, Beatles, and some other contemporary
tunes.
|
|
Hipy Phartd Bay** |
A take off on the Happy Birthday Tune, this tune
celebrates what would happen if someone misspelled "Happy
Birthday". In 2003, I got a cake for Laurie's birthday,
and tried to rearrange the wax candles to make a new phrase. Hipy
Phartd Bay was the phrase, and it inspired the song, which I sang to her
that day. Here's a photo of the cake with mixed up candles:
 |
A simple tune with just a single guitar and single
vocals.
|
|
Who Am I*** |
Vampires have been all around me lately - not literally,
of course. But after being a big Buffy fan for years (after Laurie
showed me what a good show it was) and I have been working on a 6 issue
vampire comic book, I had some creative ideas on vamps to get off my
chest. I also wanted to explore a little rap and a darker tune, so
this provided a perfect opportunity to do so. I've been told
this reminds people of Eminems' style and even Korn. I love both
of these talents, so I'm not surprised if they come through when I get
the chance. |
This was one of the more layered tunes on the album,
containing 17 tracks. Some of these were the base techno track,
three vocal tracks with a variety of stereo separations, electric guitar
ran through the Adrenalinn effects box for an eerie echo. The "who
am i" track was done with a lot of vocal hissing and some whispery
echo effects in CoolEdit. Finally for effect I through in human
choruses and a buzz saw effect during the solo, like Fat Boy Slim made
popular in the late 90's.
|
|
Drivin' Me Crazy***** |
One of the most liked songs on the album, Drivin' Me
Crazy was written while Laurie and I drove the 7hour drive back from my
10thyear high school reunion. Scribbling on the back of an
envelope, we wrote the song after having talked about drinking and
driving earlier that evening. I've been told this song has a
beer-drinking Jimmy Buffet feel to it, another favorite artist of mine. |
The first song I created using FruityLoops for the drum
track, using everything from snares to noise makers to my favorite-the
cowbell. I still have a lot to learn with that powerful program.
This has a tone of layering in it as well: like the lead vocals, the
crowd scene, clapping, the beer and ice sounds, the acoustic guitar, the
electric guitar fills, harmonica, and the drum track. The
harmonica was run through the Adrenalinn to add a punchy echo effect to
it.
|
|
Special Thanks
(skit) |
Just a quick thanks to the folks that helped me make the
album a reality: Larie Harden. Scott Harkless, Jim Carstensen, and Chris
Steinwand. Ken Wincel was not mentioned on the album, but he helped me
create Drivin' Me Crazy. Thanks Guys! |
A simple baseball crowd track and some heavily echoed
vocals.
|
