martin stirrup

A homage to Sarwan Kumar and his trusty White Ambassador (in the styl INVALID of a fifties American road song...)

Started off with the finger-picked twiddling but then developed the atmospheric intro with cymbol rolls. The break slips the riff into the major and the organ comes to the fore.

A nice chord sequence with simple chorus suddenly developed a pop viola hook... and the strange synthesised sound behind the bridge is an aural rendering of a picture of my face... the wonders of technology, eh?

An acoustic ballad with a nice piano break

A feeble attempt to mimic the early Kinks sound- done for matrimonial brownie points...(and love, of course)

This started of with a simple ska rhythm but developed with the harmonica and mandolinny guitar part; a simple vocal line which then wobbles a bit in the refrain... Mr Kumar liked it - he said it was like a Bollywood song!

A throwback to gentler days - gone fishing, home on the range... I really envisaged this being sung by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters...

A gentle ditty with simple guitar accompaniment - OK with a bit of a funny fairgound organ in the background... and you can take the lyric however you want...

Mmm... this started of with a nice fingerpicked pattern but then it got all moody with repetitive cellos and rolling timps.... The flute makes it slightly more ethereal, with the depressive lyrics tucked away beneath it all in the mix.

a guitar song with a slightly Latin feel

A song in two parts faster pop-rock section followed by a slower sales pitch with slide guitar...

A nonsense chant but I like it... the feel is Indian but the drone in the background is a Vietnamese Monocot (which I really must get around to playing properly one day...); sampled tablas and a detuned guitar instead of a sitar