The Smiley Smile Message Board

I recently put together a very large (43 songs, about 114MB) zip of songs I recorded from 2006-2009. Since it exists, what the foder. If you want them, here they are. Hope you find something to enjoy.

EDIT: Killed old, dead link. See bottom of thread for new info. It is now 69 songs, 180 or so MB.

Oh, and I obviously didn't title this thread with "friggin'"!

I can vouch for the enjoyable-ness of these songs!

Thanks for sharing this with us.  I don't think I've ever gotten this much legitimately good music for free.

Thanks a lot.

I think My Old Girlfriend is a really fun and great song! It's my favourite  ;D

Thanks, and I'm glad you like it! When I was writing it, I was thinking of it as a slower, nylon-string guitar based tune more along the lines of Queen's "Who Needs You," but it obviously mutated. And it is a literal, true song. But nobody believes me!  :lol

Luther you got serious chops, thanks for sharing.

Hmm, I don't know if "chops" are what I have, since I'm kind of a lazy slacker from every technical perspective! But thanks very much and I hope you enjoy the tunes. (The drummer on most of the tunes definitely has chops, though. Bill the Drummer. He's amazing.)

Luther, it occurs to me that you would do a great cover of "Alone Again Or" by Love.

Thanks, but unfortunately I don't like Love at all, so I am not going to!

I often cover songs I don't like, but I guess I'm just weird.

By the way, "Growing a Mustache" is such a great song. I especially like the acapella part.

I love these! Any chance of sectioning them into proper albums, or all these left-overs?

Thanks very much. I have to give credit on that one: it was written by the very Josiah who has a song written about him, also in that set, and another old friend and bandmate of mine in a different song (called "Spiderman's Opus"). For some reason, I really needed it in "Growin' a Mustache." I can't explain it. It's just so.

As for me, I LOVE the drumming/percussion and bass that at the end of that bit, after it's a capella but before the true song comes back. They were done by my friends Bill the Drummer and J.D., respectively.

I don't really make albums. The basic tracks of "...and even now (Smile!)" (although VERY different other than drums) and "Go Back to the House" were part of an old band's EP. I redid a lot of parts for these versions, including all vocals and guitars, and most keyboards. And some bass. Basic tracks for several others were either used on a little benefit show giveaway CD or in the works for what was to be a proper album at one time, before I killed that band.

The bulk were just done after that by me (sometimes with friends) for amusement. The Beau Mondes was going to be a true band, but once the keyboardist moved and I admitted to myself once and for all that I don't like being in a band, it became a purely for-the-f***-of-it recording project.

But I could sequence them into albums. Hell, they've all been parts of mind-albums at some point. Or you can if you want. There are a few specific periods (mostly defined by girls) that link and batch quite a few of them, but I'll never tell! (Cue evil laugh)

rab2591 -- reviving an old thread to get you those songs you asked about. I'm currently uploading about 70 or so of the from the past five years. It's maybe 10-15 covers and the rest mine. Anyone who downloaded the original package from this thread, sorry...lots of duplications. Probably 8-10 new originals and the aforementioned covers are the only changes. Anyway, uploading now. Won't be long.

Thanks! Can't wait to hear em!

Here it is. I'd love to hear what you (or others who download and listen) think. Enjoy. http://www.sendspace.com/file/gcteb3

Hey Luther!

Great set of songs you got here. I've been listening to them on and off since I downloaded them the other day. Some songs I really like and others I don't - but they are mostly consistent in their variety of instruments and/or arrangement.

Favorites thus far: your cover of 'I'll Bet He's Nice' blew me away - great singing and arrangement. And I can't believe you don't like 'Love' (the band)! Your song 'A Matter Of Fact' really reminded me of them....but maybe that's just me being crazy. Since you uploaded it the other day I've been listening to 'Dream Morning' constantly. Miserable Grey, Marianne are you listening, To Spite My Face - I liked a lot.

I'll keep listening as the days go on. Most of the songs I mentioned above I added to my favorites playlist in itunes (which is tough to get on!).

So, obviously you play the guitar - do you also play piano, drums, as well? what program do you use to record with (I'm assuming it's digital due to the synth instruments)?

EDIT: also love your song 'Falling Down'. Another thing I forgot to mention was your awesome ability to keep songs to an average of 2 minutes or less....whether by accident or design it is the perfect time for a pop song.

Thanks for the kind words, rab2591. In terms of my instruments, I'd say I play (in descending order of proficiency) vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. Anything you hear with really good drums (i.e. "Red Shoes" or "My Old Girlfriend"), the drums are done by friends of mine. I only did the shittiest of drum parts. There are assorted other friends doing some keyboards, bass or background vocals in some of the tunes, too. As for my recording software: Digital Performer on a Mac with a Motu 8pre interface. Glad you're enjoying some of the songs! As for their durations ... yeah, I'm not a drawn-out kind of guy. Two or three minutes, that's enough for pop music.

At hypehat's request, a new upload of the big ol' batch of songs. I don't quite know the differences between what I posted last year and this year, other than obviously the tunes I recorded this year weren't on that last version. Yet since the song totals are similar, I assume I had posted some incomplete or covers or something. This time around it's just my own songs, and the ones that I more or less consider done (not that I'm above revisiting and tinkering on occasion).

This is a zip file of I think 59 or 60 songs, about 150MB. Enjoy.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/uuudbk

Cheers Luther!

Everyone else, check this stuff out!