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Songs of Praise & Devotion Track ListingLove God Hate Sin (Dave Clemo):A few years ago a friend gave me a T-shirt with the slogan “Love God hate Sin” emblazoned on it. The shirt was too garish and a bit too small, but I thought that the slogan would make a good title for a song. As you know I’ve recorded a lot of country style songs over the years and I know how popular line dancing is in the UK. Many of my Christian friends enjoy it, and I’ve felt for a long time that an album of line dancing songs would go down well. This song is great for line dancing. It’s got a good simple chorus, loads of hooks and is a great feel good song. But listen carefully to the words. We Christians can be over the top sometimes, we’ve been saved and we think we’ve got it made, forgetting that God is doing a work of transformation on us, and some of us have a long way to go. It’s all about God’s grace, and let’s never forget it. Let me lean on You today (Dave Clemo and Jerry Arhelger):This is one of two songs that I wrote with Jerry Arhelger during his visit here in 1997. He’s made many trips to the UK from his Nashville base but this was the first time that we’d met. By a strange coincidence (?) my prayer partner during 1994/5 Pat Wallace suggested that I meet him as we’d work together well. At that time I’d never heard of him but a short time later we sat in my kitchen and wrote this song. I recorded it in a church around the corner from Andy’s studio and added the mandolin, keyboards and Sue’s voice a little later. That all will be saved (Dave Clemo):Another song that had to wait before I could record it. I had the most trouble getting this song right. I’ve worked with African musicians and I was hoping to get some of that feel into the song but it wouldn’t work so it was back to the drawing board. Luckily we use digital recording equipment so I was able to salvage some of the drum part and with a bit of cutting and pasting I was able to create a new drum part that grooved. I then rewrote the lead guitar parts and rerecorded all the guitars again. I can’t play slap bass so I had to improvise a part that had the necessary groove. Once again Pat & Pam helped with the backing vocals and I think it’s turned out well. Running on Empty (Dave Clemo):This is the title track of my second album from 1994 and a good recording, with Dave Anderson’s pedal steel sounding just wonderful. This was one of my first recordings to get regular airplay on UCB and I’m thankful for that. There’s an almost random quality about the way the verses are sung. I’m reminded of Bob Dylan’s version of his “Mr Tambourine man” where the verses seem to get longer as the song progresses and it also reminds me of some of Johnny Cash’s arrangements that seem almost arbitrary where the chords go. The truth is, I hadn’t learned the song when I came to record it and was reading the words as I was singing the basic guide vocal. I missed my cue a couple of times but rather than stop the tape I just carried on and came in next time around. Andy built the track around my mistakes and that’s how it turned out folks! Jesus is my Rock (Dave Clemo):This was a fairly new song when we recorded it in 2005. It was written to be sung in church. At that time I was leading a very motley bunch of musicians of various abilities from rank beginner upwards. They were also from very different backgrounds and at different stages in their faith. Some were struggling with former addictions and one had left his pregnant wife behind in Eastern Europe to seek work in the UK. We needed a song that would speak into every situation, one that everyone in the group could play, and one that was doctrinally strong. It’s based on John12:32. When it came to the recording I was influenced by a track by Sting where the band switches from a rock beat to black gospel style and I thought we’d have a go. My backing singers Pat and Pam both worship in black churches and Pat agreed to work out the backing vocals. Pete Bultitude is a great musician and his drum track is excellent. There are some other musical influences in there, and I’ll leave you to figure them out! The end result is a song that still works with a single voice and guitar, but can be played in a whole variety of styles (making it a good song according to my definition). Trust in the Lord (Dave Clemo):This is another old song from the late nineties. I’d had it for some time when we recorded it with The Broken and it was quite popular whenever Sue and I played it. At the Cross Rhythms Festival in 1998 (the muddy one) Chris had brought along a T shirt that he got all the artistes to sign. Bob Gass from UCB (author of Word for Today) was the main speaker and he signed Chris’s shirt and added a scripture reference. We’d also been given the same scripture by another person at around the same time and so the song was born. I was a little concerned that it might sound out of place on the Broken album, but it works for me. Such a Mystery (Dave Clemo):I wrote this song for The Broken. It’s got huge depth with about five different guitar parts going on in some places, all interweaving just as I imagined it. This was Jamie Jones' first proper recording session and what a great job he made. I though the Broken were a great band, especially considering that Chris was only just sixteen and Jamie seventeen. The words are from scripture, based on Psalm 8 and I’m really proud of it. I have a simple test of what makes a good song- can it be played and sung with one guitar/piano and one voice? Well, this one can! God is still good (Dave Clemo):One of my more successful songs in terms of airplay. This song was selected by UCB Inspiration as one of their records of the week back in 2003 and it made number 2 in their chart. I played the main theme on a hi-strung guitar (Nashville tuning in other words) which gave it a distinctive sound. I'd written the words when I was working in a plastics factory some years before. I was making big black dustbins and I had plenty of time to think while the machine did its business. The main lyric is straight from Scripture and it was just a matter of getting the words to scan the tune that I had in my head. When I recorded “Another Crazy Day” in 1998 I thought about using it but it wasn’t quite ready and so I held it back for another album. I’m glad I did, because it wouldn’t have turned out like this. I wanna thank you Lord (Dave Clemo):This was recorded in one morning in my studio. I’d had the bones of the song for a little while and on the day in question got all inspired and went into the studio and recorded the basic track, that is, me singing and playing into the mike with the metronome sounding in my headphones. Once I did that I then selected a different track to record on and hit the record button and walked into the recording area in time to start playing. Unfortunately I hadn’t realised how loud my headphones were and consequently I played the guitar part by instinct as I couldn’t hear a thing! No matter what I did the headphones were too loud and I continued recording the different guitar tracks- five or six in total, and all of them with a deafening row in my ears! I bit like playing live in a rock band- I should know. Anyway when I’d finished I listened back and I liked what I heard. It reminds me of half a dozen old boys sitting on a porch and playing their hearts out, something that no doubt I’ll be doing in due course (as soon as the back porch is built!) You_Are_Mine_(Dave_Clemo):This is one of my all time favourite tracks. I worked the guitar part out sitting watching TV and the combination of notes is a haunting air moving between D major and C 2 ending on C major7. I wrote the words with the tune in mind. I’d often preached on Elijah and the Prophets of Baal (and I’ve heard some rubbish spouted as well- so where did the water come from?) What struck me was that Elijah was struck with a deep depression within days of that amazing victory, and if it can happen to him then we shouldn’t be surprised if it happened to us. I had to wait for three years or more before I could record the song. It was technically quite difficult to record. Pete played his drums to my basic guitar track and I added the bass. I asked Teresa Brown if she’d play violin and viola and she agreed. In the studio she worked the parts out phrase by phrase and very prayerfully recorded what is in effect three-quarters of a string quartet (my bass being the fourth part). This song has a powerful effect on everyone who hears it and I hope that you will be ministered by it as well. Coming back to You (Al Duncan & Jamie Jones):This song was written by Jamie Jones, using lyrics by Alistair Duncan. They were in a youth band in Northampton in 1999 and Chris was their drummer. They played it a couple of times and I could see that it had potential, but needed a little shaping. We supplied this by adding loads of percussion, by adding extra vocals and by turning up the intensity. This is one intense song, and I’m proud of it!! The Unity Song (Dave Clemo):I write a lot of my tunes by doodling on my guitar while watching TV and this is one of them. Once I had the tune it was a case of waiting for the inspiration for the lyrics. Sue and I were members of a church in Corby and the idea for the lyric came from a sermon I heard there. The words came quite quickly and I played the song a couple of weeks later. Sadly and ironically, the church split a few months later and it was strange to sing this song, a song about the unity of the church, written when there was unity in our church, but recorded having lived through a painful church split. I believe that there’s a perfect church out there somewhere, but every time I join it, it’s no longer perfect. Amazing Grace (Trad arr Dave Clemo):I used to help out at the Lighthouse Drop-in in Corby a couple of years ago. We’d get quite a few guys call in who’d played guitar at some point in their life and we’d talk and sometimes we’d get a couple of guitars out and play and sing, and even teach a few chords and songs. One day I made the bold statement that the test of a good song is whether it can be sung in a variety of styles (Look at The Beatles catalogue and how so many of them have been covered by all sorts of artistes. And what about Nirvana’s “Smells like teen spirit”? Have you heard Paul Anka's big band version of that? What about The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s version?) Anyway, to make my point I said that “Amazing Grace” is such a song, because it can be sung in so many styles. I began to play the song in the Key of E, in a kind of Chicago blues style, and half way through the second line I realised that I was on to something. The next Sunday we sang the song in church in this new style, and the rest is history! It took ages to finish recording the song but finally we got it finished and I’m proud of it. My thanks go to everyone who had a hand in it. This song has been played on radio stations across Europe and also in Australia and New Zealand. For Such a Time as This (Dave Clemo):Two things influenced the writing of this song. Firstly, it was the name of the 1999 Cross Rhythms Festival and I wanted to offer them a theme song, just as I had back in 1997 with “Walk the Talk”. The second was a song by Steve Earle that someone played me, namely “Copperhead Road”. Anyway that’s out in the open. I didn’t pinch the lick, but I did pinch the stabs. When the time came to choose songs for the Broken album this one was good to go. The main lick is played on my Washburn Monterey thinline electro-acoustic guitar d.i.’d into the desk, the secondary is on a hi-strung. Just so you know, I didn't pinch the lick from Steve Earle (he plays his on a mandolin anyway). I adapted a guitar lick I first heard on a Ray Fisher album back in the early 70s. The same lick is also part of a Fairport Convention set of jigs and reels that I enjoy listening to. So, sometimes the influences aren’t the obvious ones are they? In my darkest hour (Dave Clemo):This is another song that had to wait its turn. This is one of the first songs I wrote soon after becoming a Christian. It started out as a minor blues type song, but didn’t quite have what it took. In the intervening years my guitar playing has developed and I had the confidence to tackle it in a different style. Seeing Joe Brown in concert convinced me that there was some mileage in playing songs in older styles, and I’d played a bit of guitar jazz when I first started out, so I enlisted Pete on drums and I played rhythm guitar and bass. I recorded the guitar and vocal at Mark One. Andy then added the piano to good effect. I’ve had some interesting comments from people who thought that I’d only played country music. Servant Heart (Dave Clemo):This was one of our most requested songs. It started life back in 1997 or so. I had the tune worked out before a word was written. At that time I was driving a van for a clothing charity and each day I’d drive a couple of hundred miles, park up and walk the streets of a city or town pushing envelopes through letterboxes. I had plenty of time alone to try different phrases and verses and I’d walk along singing to myself. The song was re-written scores of times and each word has been carefully selected. I was listening to an ”Iona” album at the time and I liked one of the arrangements that had an ascending chord structure that never resolved until the end. I tried to do the same on this recording. Andy added some simple piano to knit it all together and it works for me. Stand up stand up for Jesus (Arr by Dave Clemo):I think we first played this at the Hearts on Fire festival in 1998. These old Salvation Army type songs really do lend themselves to this treatment. After all, bands like Status Quo copied their music style from black r&b bands who in turn had copied from what they’d heard in church in the deep south of the USA, so it all comes around again. The key change is influenced by 10cc’s “Rubber Bullets” . Andy added the brass and organ and it sounds great and is very popular in concert. To God be the Glory (Arr by Dave Clemo):I’d wanted to do a version of this song for years. When we were involved in youth ministry I wanted to play it as a punk rock song, something like the Buzzcocks “Ever fallen in love with someone”, but neither the time nor the opportunity arose. Then, a few years later The Mavericks “Dance the night away” was on the radio and something clicked. I’ve been a fan of the Mavericks for years. I love Raul’s voice and the way their songs sound like something from the late fifties/early sixties and yet are bang up to date. At around the time of my “Going Back” album my group The Misfits played a couple of their songs in our set and so I relished the challenge of turning a Victorian hymn normally played in waltz time into something that you could line dance to. We’d had our own studio for a couple of years and I decided that I would record my new album there. I enlisted Pete Bultitude to play drums and sing backing vocals (with his wife Vicky) and we organised some sessions. First of all I recorded a rough take of the song, just guitar and vocal into a mike and sung to a click track (to help with the editing). Then Pete played his drums whilst listening to my basic track in his headphones. I then re-recorded all my guitars and vocals, plus bass guitar, tambourine, cow bell, rattles and sorts of stuff. When that was complete I then took all the data to Mark One Studio in Rushden where Andy added the keyboard and brass and mixed the track. I think it sounds great and it's an all-time favourite at our shows.
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Track ListingLove God Hate SinLet me lean on You todayThat All Will Be SavedRunning on EmptyJesus is my RockTrust in the LordSuch a mysteryGod is still goodI wanna thank you LordYou are mineComing back to YouFeet Of ClayAmazing GraceFor such a time as thisIn My Darkest HourServant HeartStand Up Stand Up For JesusTo God be the GloryFeedbackComments receivedBroadcastsMP3 Interview |
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