Year One. An Enigma Song. Recorded in the little home studio here. A.K.A. The Den, and now revisited and remixed for a brighter tone.

Back in the early 1980s, The XCerts wrote a song called Year One at the end of their tenure in the local musical world of decent Coventry, UK bands. It was never recorded and only played live about once… or maybe twice. The song is now an enigma. I remember the simple two word ‘Year One’ melody. It was heavier than this bouncy version. And very open and ethereal in structure. The Year One two note tune remains to this day, but now I sing it with a little ‘lilt’. But the rest of the song has long gone in my memory. Both the music and words. I never sung the song, so it doesn’t even exist in my deeper neural synapses. Because I remember it being a haunting kind of a song, I tried to recapture what once was lovely. So I kept the base of a two chord song in E and A and wrote a new rendition. I hoped to capture the spirit of what once was. And here it is.

My songwriting lately has taken on a new vibe. About six new songs are ready and waiting to be recorded. There are also three more songs I wrote whilst in the XCerts. They are Audience, Natural Lady and Mistaken Identity, and all three have now taken on a new, updated vibe. There are a couple more old songs with fairly decent melodies that I can enhance. But need a more in depth rethink.

The new vibe is very much similar to my recent experiment with the song Faded Walls. It would be nice to get an echoing instrumental sound with a harder edge. Faded Walls will be re-recorded properly next year too. And so nine or ten new songs will be ready in the first few months of the new year. Currently aiming for a new cohesive Frail Autumn sound which is not quite elusive, and very close. Frail Autumn songs will then hit Bandcamp and other music platforms.

The older songs written need to have a current new sound. It will be difficult to play all the instrumental parts. But, with motivation and purpose, they will get a new lease of life. Hearing my late brother Kev, a.k.a. Zero Summers, play on the drums in the song below, Mistaken Identity, gives me thoughts of what could have been for the new recordings now. Never ceases to hit hard emotionally.

Mistaken Identity, below, is played by The XCerts in a quickly recorded practice rehearsal for upcoming gigs. Written by myself, Gray Summers, in the late 1970s. Recorded on an AKAI four track reel to reel tape machine. The original tapes? All long gone now I should imagine.

Also, the YouTube ambition is very near the ‘ready to go’ stage. The equipment need for filming has been slowly gathered over a few months now. Also, a guy who flys drones very well (he once had his own YouTube channel re: drone flight) has agreed to get some local circular captures of seaside, riverside, lakeside, etc. and fly down to where the video is being filmed. So the VeeDub Bus will be present in each different location. At the end of the video the drone will fly off again. I should be able to get at least five regular filming location spots, so can reuse each appropriate drone footage as and when.

Got to have an aim in retirement and old age haven’t you.

All instruments and vocals on Year One played and sung by Gray Summers.

Year One. Recorded on GarageBand. The drums, as ever, are from the GarageBand library. Edited to suit the song’s rhythm.

All black and white motion blur photos in the Year One video taken by Gray Summers.

As always….Headphones are always best for listening. 🎧

Thank you all for your support in this. It is so much appreciated.