'it's too long and it all sounds the same'

horsemouth feels a bit tractionless and yet he has things he needs to get on with (isn't that always the way). the travs are parked up near bow ecology park (and for some reason the park is locked up). as an alternative, yesterday horsemouth wandered down to east india dock - he's reading dostoyevsky white nights, he's read it before but he can't remember how it ends, the characters sit talking on a park bench by the river. here  we are later in the year,  the sun is gradually removing its patronage - sneaking back behind the blocks of ex-council flats opposite or showing up late for work, hiding its face in clouds as yeats would say.

of horsemouth and howard's cover versions it seems it still might be possible to do I'm sad and I'm lonely on the basis that it is a traditional tune and lyrics (a trad. arr. - a traditional song arranged by... as it is known in the music trade), gently johnny from the wickerman may not be possible as the arrangement owes much more to paul giovanni than to the original folk song (gently johnny, my jingalo) - paul giovanni took the first two lines of each verse (the A) and then lost the 'fol-de-rol, de toodle-ay-ye' second part of each verse  (the B) - so the song then became AAAA rather than ABABABAB (see the wallace house's version for folkways) - even though musicians of bremen have changed the chords against which these words and the A part of the melody is sung (broadly to those used in the cuckoo) it would be difficult to argue that they are not in fact singing paul's version rather than the original folk song. for silver raven, a  la luna yo mi voy, blue crystal fire, father death blues - these are clearly songs written by discernable authors and nothing much can be done with them until musicians of bremen are more firmly established, similarly for the werewolf and what a wonderful world even though horsemouth and howard have made substantial changes. 

one reason for doing the covers - other than interest/ curiousness  - was to leaven and broaden the set of howard's songs (which often arrived fully formed) and their instrumental textures - musicians of bremen now think electronic distribution on two EPs is the best way forward and have divided up the songs accordingly. 

reviews of the CD are arriving slowly from the smurfs of bremen  - horsemouth's personal favourite (and he thinks the most useful) is 'it's too long and it all sounds the same' , similarly 'it needs another instrument', he also liked the comment that singled out the musicians of bremen tunes and in particular all my dreams for praise (it is interesting that they haven't played this live yet). almost everybody likes the way the CD looks (the cover etc.) - horsemouth was uncertain. horsemouth approached a possible backing singer additional instrumentalist (harmonium) - but she hasn't got back in touch (so that's probably a no)  - howard's voice is much multi-tracked on the recordings but it needs a better more accurate voice than horsemouth's to do it live.

it's all about getting the maximum of variation out of limited means while remaining true to the core impulse  - good luck horsemouth!