Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (cover); The Lego Lads 😎

[brianlarsen]

Another Family & Friends production!

I’m not a great Reginald Dwight fan, but he has a couple of absolute bangers and this is one of them. For some reason, this Ohrwurm has resisted all extraction attempts over the summer, so I took the ‘ol If you can’t beat ‘em… approach
I used the ‘Moises’ shortcut again for the template instead of the usual Trio+, separating the separate components and replacing them, as the band’s individual contributions trickled in. (I suppose that’s my AI declaration )
Interestingly, it was much harder to edit/mix, as it’s over half a century old and I don’t think it was made to a click-track, and although the first and second halves of the song are identical in structure, the timing is different, meaning you can’t cut/paste corrections.
To make it more personal, I took the liberty of tagging another verse/chorus at the end for an instrumental. I was hoping Tor could be persuaded to do a Baker-Street-style-sax-solo, but alas, no, so Cousin Lars stepped into the breach.
I know I said I’d be sticking largely to my Learning Log, but I reckon the collaborations corner could do with a boost, and Gordon might not complain he’s missing out again, @Sairfingers

Edit 1
Edit 2:
(My original video was one of my favourite short films, Ten Meter Tower- A clear window into the soul of humans facing absolute fear. Check it out! but unfortunately, copyright blocked it worldwide )

My brother Hans convinced me this morning to make an alternative video, so I did an @oldhead49 and found a live version of Sir Elton Hercules John, himself, manipulating the film speed to synch as well as possible, with minor cut-shifting-shenanigans. I just added pics for the guitar solo at the end.
Enjoy!

I’ll leave the SoundCloud link up, just in case this clip gets blacklisted as well…

Credits

Chris Goldring, Guitar & Violin
Hans Larsen, Drums
Niels Larsen, Piano
Lars Jännes Larsen, Lead Guitar
Tor Larsen, Bass
Brian Larsen, Vocals, Mixing & Production

[roger_holland]

Nice Brian,
I love the sound of your voice in this nice song in this way (I never really liked the song itself and then I express myself very politely )

That video

I grew up in Italy with a 5 and an attached 3 meter tower and that was often combined (jumping via the 5 on the 3 meter board ) and I jumped and dived from it so so so many times … but later in life I also saw Hermine make such vague movements there …

Also in my early childhood there was a 10 meter tower in my hometown, I loved it …

Nowadays I think about it a little differently

maybe should I try this ,is saver from the ground

Greetings

[mathsjunky]

It’s a 9.9 from me Brian. Losing 1/10 because, well there’s always room for improvement with everything

[brianlarsen]

@roger_holland

I love the sound of your voice

Aw, thanks Rogier-
I sang the lead twice (L & R) and then kept on adding an extra layer of backing harmonies while waiting for my lazy bandmates to get their backsides in gear…

@roger_holland

I never really liked the song itself

I really had no idea when setting out whether I liked the song itself, or whether it was pure ‘nostalgia’ Still not 100% sure…

Cheers, Paul

@mathsjunky

there’s always room for improvement

Vast open spaces…

[Eddie_09]

That was a top notch production Brian. I agree with @roger_holland on your vocals on this one. I have listened to most of your posts over these past few years and your vocals have really improved during that time. Well done to all on this production/ performance.

[brianlarsen]

Cheers, Eddie
Although I’m pretty sure what you’re both hearing is an improvement in my use of a DAW than my singing I’ve started using a bit of equalising in my mixing now. I’m also really drawn to backing vocals instead of lead. I know nothing about harmonies (apart from the fact that the 1,3 & 5 sound good with each other ), but they are good fun!
How’s that porch of yours doing?
Sounds like it needs a song…

[Eddie_09]

Well whatever you are doing it’s certainly working. The porch is still there but I am not frequenting it much lately. Have barely had time to pick up the guitar these past few months apart from 10 minutes here and there. Maybe I’ll get a chance to get back into it this winter. Much more enjoyable sitting on the porch in subzero temperatures anyway

[Socio]

Good solid production, Brian, with some really good vocals to go with it.

“Edited from the excellent short film… (without permission)”

[sairfingers]

Thanks for the tag Brian, I wouldn’t have liked to miss this LegoLads production!
A lot of work has gone into this clearly. Must be a real juggling act to get all the contributions knitted together and you’ve obviously become a bit of a tech wizard now with all this. Great job!
Interesting that something that’s 50 years old is more difficult to mix with modern tech due to slightly variable timing. Cut and paste? Cheating? Does this make the old stuff better as it’s more ‘natural’ and less computer generated? That’s open to debate I suppose.
50 years old! I’ve got the original double vinyl album somewhere in the attic.
I agree with the others that your vocal is really good on this one. Super contributions too from the rest of the gang.

[DavidP]

Fabulous, Brian. The Lego Lads are positively stellar.

I think I listened to that album recently. I’d say a mixed bag for me.

In true, lack of sophisticated taste, my faourite Elton John would be I’m Still Standing, which was sometimes astonishing back in those days

[Boris1565]

We can’t see video any more Brian, it is blocked.

[CATMAN62]

This is what I’m seeing:

Tod

P.S. @brianlarsen , I saw something in another thread about “The Map”… what’s that about?

[brianlarsen]

Cheers, James

@Socio

“Edited from the excellent short film… (without permission)”

Well, that was short-lived, eh?

@sairfingers Ta for the thumbs up, my friend. Much appreciated

@sairfingers

Cut and paste? Cheating?

Haha, what do you think goes on behind the big glass window in the recording studio?
Mixing is probably the most important instrument if you’re recording/broadcasting music Most of us just play through the whole song, but if there’s an error, rather than go back and do a whole other take, it’s much easier to just lift a note or two (or indeed whole section) and plonk it in over the offending bit
Herding cats is hard enough without being perfectionist about it!

@DavidP Thanks for the vote of confidence. My head will grow even bigger!
As I said, I’m not a great fan, but there are some good tunes on that album

@Boris1565 Sorry for the trouble, mate. And thanks for the heads-up
YouTube took it down for unauthorised use of the film. I replaced it with a Google Drive link, which seems to be working as I type, but if that goes too, you’ll just have to make do with the SoundCloud link I shared above or wait until I do another video

@CATMAN62 Ditto!

@CATMAN62

I saw something in another thread about “The Map”… what’s that about?

Just a small project I started
I know where you live, but you have to send me your permission/location if you’d like to be included

[sairfingers]

@brianlarsen

……or wait until I do another video

I don’t think the Community is ready for the sight of you in your budgie smugglers Brian.

[brianlarsen]

Definitely not ready for me au naturel!

[batwoman]

Keep 'em coming lads!

[Boris1565]

Sounds brilliant Brian, I love this song.

[brianlarsen]

Thank you @batwoman & @Boris1565, Much appreciated!

Some of you may have seen there was a copyright claim for the film I used yesterday , so I asked Elton himself if he’d do the honours, and he kindly agreed…
Replacement video now available if you scroll up to the original post

[Socio]

@brianlarsen

Replacement video now available

That looks like Wee Jimmy Krankie

[brianlarsen]

Fandabidozi!