Abubilla Music

2011 In Review: A Personal ‘Greatest Hits’ Album

Written by Jimmy

I was asked over the break to put together an Abubilla Music  ‘greatest hits’ album for a new fan.    This has inspired me to put together a very personal collection of my favourite Abubilla Music moments. If this was the only CD we produced, I’d be very happy.    The band has put together it’s various lists and I apologise in advance for leaving their favourites off.

Side one:  First, note, my favourite CD has sides.  And it has a case  and liner notes.  And you open it up.  And you listen to each song while reading our notes about the song and the lyrics.  And you listen through twice because you really like it and even the songs your think are rubbish you figure deserve a second chance.    On my side one, I put all the songs that I particularly like lyrically — they include all my favourite songs about love and family.

1. 1. Sandy in the Sleeping Bag:   I have to open with this one as it is the first song of Abubilla Music.   The verses were written when I was 17 and the chorus’s were written together with Andy when I was 48.  That’s a long time to write a song.  I love it because it is everything Abubilla Music is about.   First, this was the song we used to learn about a studio, about pro tools, about song writing.  Second, there’s Andy – one of the most talented songwriters I know that can take a stupid initial idea from Jimmy and turn it into something with tempo, with a bit of fun.   Third, then there’s the DIY production, a tin whistle, my daughter and her friends singing a chorus and Louise’s little sister Annie there at a comedy outro.  I like the puns of the lyrics.    Because I dated a Robin in high school, my mom decided it was autobiographical and complained that I hadn’t included a verse on Kathy.   Beyond the obvious fact that the song includes 4 verses about different girls which would be double the total of women I dated, I need to confess again that I was worried far more about puns of girls names than actual people. Sandy in the Sleeping Bag by AbubillaMusic
   2. No Poetry:  I love this because I love everything about Louise’s song writing and because this was the first song I recorded solo.   Louise called to say she had a new song and came to the studio – Andy was gone.   We recorded the guitar first, then her vocals and then some backing vocals.  All in about 20 minutes.   You have to fall in love with a song if only for the courage to rhyme foggy and soggy and have it work perfectly.  We made this the first song of the first album and love the intro, ‘Is this recording now?’ No Poetry by AbubillaMusic
   3. Big Old Bird:  Hate the vocals, but it didn’t feel right for someone good to sing it.  A 25th Anniversary Present for Kathy off the second album.   I love the song structure of a verse a decade, love that it starts with Kathy and Jimmy as skinny pelicans and ends with a bunch of smelly teeangers as skinny pelicans.  I like the lines ‘ATM with feathers’ and ‘sperm and egg on call.’  And I love what the band did with it from Andy’s guitar, to Sophie’s cello, to Rob’s bass line, to Ed’s chorus’s on the outro.   It was born of a Spanish Jam with me singing it to Andy on arrival and the band taking it up on day 1. Big Old Bird by AbubillaMusic
   4. Immovable Thing:     Part of a trilogy in my head – going from Immovable Thing to Chamberlain in Munich to One in a Trillion.   All acoustic guitar and cello, all about some dramatic moment of love (good and bad) and all the best of Louise and Andy vocals. The starting point is Immovable Thing – a simple song about a poor soul not able to get over the loss of a break-up and making it clear that she thinks all that advice about ‘time will mend’ is worthless.    This was a case of lyrics with no melody in mind at all – handed over to Louise, Andy, Ed, Sophie and Rob who turned it into a beautiful song, with simple guitar and lovely cello. Immovable Thing by AbubillaMusic
   5. Chamberlain in Munich:  The book end to Immovable Thing (if a trilogy can have two bookends!).   She breaks up and now she makes up – not certain if this is a good thing, or just completing a treaty with the enemy.   Love the band’s take on this and the country feel.  Love the middle 8 and think ‘Let’s not over think it.  Let’s not over talk it.  Let’s take today and put it in our pocket’ is probably our most catchy chorus. Chamberlain in Munich by AbubillaMusic
   6. One in a Trillion:  I’m not sure if this is end or beginning of the triology – let’s say it is the end, which makes the whole thing end nicely.  Just a nice romantic song – I like the idea of someone talking about the ridiculous odds that he would ever get together with his lover, but when they are together, he thinks it was all inevitable.  Andy took this one away a long time and came back with most of the tune, which I love.  And I love the strings – so much that we put the end at the beginning. One in a Trillion by AbubillaMusic
   7. Box of Yellow Roses:   A simply song about my father’s death – I like it because I wrote it as a I prepared for the funeral, verse by verse, with the chorus coming directly from his eulogy.  I like that it is a celebration, a pretty good tune and it both reflected how I came to terms with it… and frankly contributed to coming to terms with it.   One of my sister’s hated the phrase, ‘that’s alright. that’s okay’ and kept writing me, ‘it’s not alright. It’s not okay.’  Love Andy’s vocal and Hannah’s backing vocal.  Love’s Mike’s drums in the outro… Box of Yellow Roses by AbubillaMusic
   8. 500 Letters from New York:  This complete’s the very personal and very family songs.  This is about my grandfather and grandmother – he left her, promising a reunion in a long set of letters from New York.  Each filled with promises. Each with the latest ‘diamond deal’.  Each with a little more pathos.  I love my brother’s blues guitar… and Rob’s bass and Louise’s singing for all it’s worth.  A nice little song born in a Spanish Jam. 500 Letters from New York by AbubillaMusic

Side two:   These are less personal but great Abubilla Moments;  each has something special about it I just love, either in the recording or the final result.

1. Breathe:   Very simply little song with very nice chorus, ‘This ain’t no love song.  This ain’t no “Lady, woe is me.”‘    Andy turned it into something very special with his performance – a haunting song that builds and builds along with Rob’s bass.   Interestingly, it is the favourite of our friends at Ketebul Music.  Breathe by AbubillaMusic
2. Whisper:  A stunning song by Gus.  But we also helped.  It started as a soft acoustic number.  Andy and Sophie helped turn it into a gothic masterpiece.   Recording in Spain.    A song as big as Gus’s voice. Whisper by AbubillaMusic
3. Roadside Comedy:   I set out to write a war song from the perspective of a young fighter recently blown apart by an IED – the image of horror most of the boys will take with them from these wars.   Again, love where the band took it – from Andy’s slide guitar to Louise as the angel, to Rob’s magical bass.  I never quite got the chorus right – it always sounded better in my head, but I think it came out close to what we were after. Roadside Comedy by AbubillaMusic
4. King Henry’s Tears:  My favourite abubilla moment.  In Spain in the sunshine in November.  A challenge by e mail to write a song.  I drafted some lyrics and Ed drafted it tune.  Too nice to do inside so we stayed at pool side.   Needed drums so Mike used the moroccan lamp.  Needed a bass, so drafted Sophie into acoustic cello bass.  Gus did a brilliant vocal despite having to read the lyrics off a computer in the sunshine.    We then re-did it on next spanish trip so we could put on album with Andy on lead vocals. King Henry’s Tears by AbubillaMusic
5. Wodwo:  A taster of Tati’s Discovery Album.    Officially, a greatest hits album must have hits.  We don’t.  And the song must already have been released.  Which this wasn’t.  So I’m not allowed to put more than one Tati song on.  This is my favourite: 03 Wodwo by AbubillaMusic
6. No Bells:   A classic Abubilla Moment in Spain.  My brother introduces us to a Ella Fitzerald-Joe Pease song.  We like the vibe.  I write some lyrics, Lew provides a set of chords to Ed – Louise sings until she finds a melody that works.    Martyn writes a little guitar solo.  Andy finds a filter on line to sound like a 78 rpm record.   And we have this … No Bells by AbubillaMusic
7. Angel of the Dark.  All Gus.  Love the vibes and lyris. Angel of the Dark by AbubillaMusic .
8. 71 Hours to Monday, Global Remix.  You know this.  We’ve written about it alot.   Drums in Sao Paolo.  Opera Singer and Strings in London.  Louise in Richmond.  And a lot of African singers and dancers. 71 Hours to Monday Global Remix by AbubillaMusic