1. Guitar Etude 1: I thought it'd be nice to open this compilation with some new music and so I composed a short introduction. The main melody comes from the very first song I ever wrote and it seemed appropriate to find it a home on this collection.
(music by Tim Morse)
Tim Morse: nylon string guitar
2. Apocalyptic Visions: AV is a big piece of music, my longest song (to date, but stay tuned). It is primarily composed of three separate sections: A. The opening, harmonic minor melody, B. the verse chorus and C. the 'trance' middle section. I wrote the A section in college, inspired by reading books about Native Americans - I called that piece of music 'The Wind on the Plains.' My producer Mark Dean balked at the first pass on the verse/chorus I proposed, calling it 'Too Hall and Oates' which I think is pretty funny. So I retooled it to his liking. The music for the 'C' section was originally supposed to be a bed for a poet Mark was working with, but they parted ways and so it became the contrasting music of the piece. It should be noted that Mark had a great deal to do with the arrangement of the last third of this song.
(music by Tim Morse/Mark Dean, words by Tim Morse)
Tim Morse: lead vocal, keyboards
Mark Dean: guitars, drums, bass, backing vocals
Rich Zeller: lead vocal on the bridge - Ami Romness: female choir
3. Adrift: This was a guitar instrumental for a long time, until I finally got around to writing the lyrics for it. The words were very important to me and I worked harder on that lyric than probably any other on Transformation. When we were finished recording Adrift, I saw how the song really resonated with others, a visitor to the studio cried when hearing it for the first time.
(words and music by Tim Morse)
Tim Morse: lead vocal, guitars, keyboard
Mark Dean: backing vocal, percussion, 12 string guitar, keyboard bass
4. Rome: This song was born out of my concern that we are poor stewards of the world. It's a song that's been through a million changes. The lyrical approach was inspired by or at least is a small homage to Kevin Gilbert. I was very pleased that David Ragsdale agreed to do the violin part on the outro, as it's such an incredible performance!
(music by Tim Morse, words by Tim Morse and Bret Bingham)
Tim Morse: lead vocal, keyboards, guitars
David Ragsdale: violin
Jerry Jennings: electric guitar (and guitar solo)
Jim Diaz: bass - Sean McMillin: fretless bass - Gordon Stizzo: drums
5. Voyager: This song was inspired by the Berg book on Lindbergh and his historic flight. It took quite awhile to piece together the various sections, but I have to say I've very proud of the way it works as an overall piece of music.
(words and music by Tim Morse and Bret Bingham)
Tim Morse: lead vocal, keyboards, guitars
Jerry Jennings: electric guitar (and guitar solo)
Jim Diaz: bass - Gordon Stizzo: drums
Helen Nelson, Bret Bingham, Casey Wells: backing vocals
6. Window: A instrumental born out of noodling on the guitar close to bedtime. It seemed to be a good segue to 'Numb' on Faithscience and here it does the same job for 'Afterword.'
(music by Tim Morse)
Tim Morse: guitar
7. Afterword: I thought there should be a goodbye song, not for the typical reasons (end of a relationship, etc.) but for the more regular life occurrences like leaving a job or graduating from school. My friend Bret Bingham was a great collaborator on this song providing perspective, lyrics and melodies.
(words and music by Tim Morse and Bret Bingham)
Tim Morse: lead vocal, guitars, keyboards, bass
Nic Caciappo: bodhran
Jerry Jennings: electric guitar - Gordon Stizzo: drums
8. 200 Yards: This was the first collaboration between Bret and I for the first Mangoes CD. I sent him the musical idea and the next day he'd sent back the song with a new chorus and the finished lyrics. This song (as all of the others on the CD) is completely tongue-in-cheek and the main character is harmless and hapless!
(words by Bret Bingham, music by Tim Morse and Bret Bingham)
Tim Morse: lead vocals, keyboards, bass
Bret Bingham: guitars
Bruce Spencer: drums
9. My Ally: A true story, about meeting my best friend in fifth grade. The strident chords of the song somehow made me think about the magic of early friendships.
(words and music by Tim Morse)
Tim Morse: lead vocal, keyboards, guitar, bass, drums
Bret Bingham: electric guitar (including solo)
Hope Rogers: harmony vocal
10. Inertia: An improvisation that nearly made onto my III album, but I ran out of room due to vinyl limitations. I really had fun recording it, just adding layers to create a mood.
(music by Tim Morse)
Tim Morse: keyboards
11. The Mary Celeste: A song about loss and how sudden loss can be the most difficult to process. I'm proud of this song, I think it's a nice progression in my composing from 'Apocalyptic Visions' to 'Voyager' and then 'The Mary Celeste.'
(words and music by Tim Morse)
Tim Morse: lead vocal, keyboards, guitars, bass
Jerry Jennings: electric guitar (including solo)
Andrew Glasmacher: drums
Jay Leek: Fretless bass
Oisin Mcauley: violin
12. The Marquis: A song dedicated to all of our inner critics. Once I'd decided to approach it tongue-in-cheek the song seemed to write itself. One of my personal favorites-
(words and music by Tim Morse)
Tim Morse: lead vocals, all instrumentation
Hope Rogers: backing vocals
13. Dogs: I've always been a fan of this song by Pink Floyd. It was great fun to do a cover of 'Dogs' and put my own stamp on it (including some of my favorite collaborators in the process).
Tim Morse: lead vocals (ending section), keyboards, bass
Bret Bingham: lead vocals, guitars
Charley Langer: saxophone
Andrew Glasmacher: drums
Hope Rogers: backing vocals
14. The Corners: Inspired by the ending of the play 'Our Town' and dedicated to Farah Mirza, this song seemed a nice way to close out the compilation. Until next time...
Tim Morse: voice, all instrumentation
Ruby Sketchley: voice