Doing Is Better Than Watching (2015)

My first homemade album of original songs. I finished it in 2015 and it's still on Bandcamp and SoundCloud.

You can also stream it in its entirety on this very page, just by clicking on the white "Play" triangle (on the album cover, above the playlist).

It's also (back) on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.

The story

"There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'." - Dave Barry

I wrote most the songs on this album back in the 80's, when my friends and I had kind of a songwriting collective.  It was great fun.

In the ensuing decades, home computers developed amazing music-recording capabilities. So, years ago, I got it into my head to try recording homemade demos of some of my old songs, on my own, as time allowed while raising a family, working, etc.

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to record. But without any deadlines or pressures or studio expenses, it was always just fun to be able to steal 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, and a few hours in a row whenever possible to try to slowly arrange, perform, record, edit, mix and master each of these songs.

Along the way ...

... I had a ton of fun, but I realized that by trying to do everything myself, I was essentially trying to be all four Beatles AND George Martin all at the same time, which is kinda nuts. Hence the Dave Barry quote  :-)

I did finally finish it, with the help of a few great backing vocals, riffs and suggestions from family members and close friends.

So, yes, amazing what you can do with a computer these days. But it's also more fun playing music a) with other people, and b) without computers.

 

The album title

"Doing Is Better Than Watching" was what I re-discovered every time I decided to work on a song instead of watching TV at the end of a long day. Way more fun and energizing.

Other titles that I was considering for this album included:

  • 15 Bits More Than I Needed
  • More Songs About Bitterness and Appreciation
  • The Beatles Had Talent But I Have Software BWAHAHAHAHA

The sub-title: "Homemade Demos"

If anything, I'm more of a songwriter than a musician or performer. I made the songs on this album as demos, to sketch out how I think the songs might be arranged and sound if they were to be played by actual, proper musicians.

No Auto-Tune

autotune-freeDidn't use it, don't like it, don't believe in it. Not because I'm such a great singer; I'm not. But when it comes to vocals, I just prefer honest human singing to synthesized illusions of perfection.

Lyrics

Please click a song title to read the lyrics (and listen to the song):

Friday Afternoon
Love Today
A Sidewalk Holds The Heat
Days Like This
Sad Little Man
Nothin’ To Do With Me
Brain Cages
Christmas Rock
Two Bag Dog
Walk Through The Forest
The Sweetest Surprise
Sally Fills Out Forms
Tonight There’s A Train
World Like This

Where you can get it

You can stream the album at:

And you can buy and download it in digital format at:

Thank you

Special and very heartfelt thanks to Alison and Julia for your fantastic backing vocals, and to Sue, Dennis and Dave for your awesome feedback, suggestions & encouragement.

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