"Cheating the Evening"
by Chris Moore
Get at least an "evening's" worth of great Chris Moore music for only $1.00!
This CD, the third in a series of Chris Moore initial releases, features eleven classic Chris Moore songs from a very prolific period in Chris's life.
Again, Chris sings songs that compel the listener with vivid lyrics. And, again, songs like "The Power of Son" play on norms of society to present funny matches with everyday people and things. This, during the height of Chris's "mysterious" phase, shows how Chris can shroud a topic in another cloak, much as people do with their feelings towards each other.
But, then again, Chris may have been thinking something totally different. That is the mark of a great artist: always giving the listener something to think about. It makes Chris's music more interesting when a person has to sit back and think, "Hey, was that meant to be funny?"
See what you think...
Liner notes for “Cheating the Evening”
Written by Chris Moore
Introduction
Purple skies, lost brothers, and relationships are what this album is all about. It’s what it was always meant to be, from the very beginning. At its conception, “Cheating the Evening” was meant to be a keyboarded masterpiece—a grand drama of piano-laced, lyrically-driven music, united as a single thought.
The result, frankly, is not exactly the masterpiece I had originally intended. I had planned to improve my ability on the keyboard, but I hadn’t anticipated buying an acoustic guitar and diving head first into that medium. Once I began playing guitar, the keyboard left my room and CTE was stuffed inside a notebook under my desk.
Now that I’m assembling a box set of my first three albums, I can’t ignore CTE’s contribution to my musical development. I also can’t ignore the time crunch that is inherent in this project. Facing the option of ditching my first three albums in order to start sessions on my three most recent albums, I decided that I could not deny my history—my “Keyboard Years.” So I got to work recording the songs. By the time I came to CTE, I was very busy with school work and I had to consider holding off on the box set…
But that simply wasn’t an option! After all, I had music to record that was much more near and dear to my heart.
The principal tracks—vocals and keyboards—for all eleven songs were recorded in one day. Even though I had originally planned to record only keyboards, I decided shortly after to record guitar tracks to fill out many of the mixes. Which brings me to a major point of discussion—the mixing of CTE. On a good number of the songs, the right channel remains quiet throughout a majority (if not the entirety) of the song. There are two reasons to explain this mixing phenomenon:
(1) The artistic explanation: Because I was unable to complete CTE in the exact manner that I had originally intended, I pushed the keyboard to the left channel and put the vocals in the center, leaving the right channel quiet, to signify a missing piece. When the guitars do come in, they are often in the right channel, representing the fleeting presence of the otherwise absent components of my originally conceived notion of the album.
(2) The practical explanation: In addition to the artistic explanation, there is also the issue of the aforementioned time crunch. In order to save time, I recorded most of the vocals at the same time as the keyboard. In order to record both at the same time with my existing equipment, I had to lose the ability to mix the keyboard anywhere other than the far left channel.
Personally, I’m a fan of explanation #1. But that’s just me. And while we’re on the topic of favorites, I have to say that track four, “The Power of Son,” is one of the more solid efforts on the album and it’s also the standout track, in the sense that it is the only track to feature acoustic guitar, one of the few to offer a lead vocal that was overdubbed, and a harmonica solo. If anything, this song belongs on a future album, a guitar-based album!
On a historical note, CTE signals my first serious attempt to incorporate new chords into my songs. I began to break free from using only major and minor chords, branching out to flats and such. I know, it’s hardly a musical revolution, but everyone has to start somewhere!
Finally, I suppose I should comment on the lyrics of the songs. Perhaps I should indicate the significance of the chord progressions at the beginning of each song, overlapping from the previous songs. But I most certainly cannot bring myself to do such a thing—out of artistic integrity, pride (a.k.a. fear), and sheer laziness.
All kidding aside, the impact that this album, “Cheating the Evening,” can have is up to you. I have admitted it’s a bit rough and somewhat rushed at times. What I won’t admit and don’t believe is that it doesn’t belong to be here. It is as much a part of my past as the more concentrated, albeit more inexperienced, “Wish I Knew.” And, as a final pun, I did indeed record this album in a day, thus I cheating the evening. (wow, that was simply in poor taste following a thoughtful review…)
You can't find a better deal for only $1.00! Click the "Click to Buy " button below to purchase the CD at the Fusco-Moore Productions Online Store!
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"Cheating the Evening" by Chris Moore Only $1.00! |
"Cheating the Evening" is Copyright 2005 Chris Moore. U.S. copyrights pending.
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