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UPDATE:
May 17
At this time, with the exception of one instrument overdub on
the track "California", the next album is completely mixed. All that remains are
the ambient segue's (this is afterall, a concept album). Not to be outdone by
records like Pink Floyd's "The Wall", Donovan will be completing these at a
California studio in the very near future. In the meantime, completed tracks are
being prepared for industry consumption. At this time, this page is considered
an archive. Any album updates will be presented on a new page. The studio
portion of this ongoing project is just about over. Thanks for your interest.
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April 21 It's been awhile since the last update. After Donovans 2nd 2004 orlando trip, the goal has been to finish mixing and mastering enough songs for a demo to shop. With the help of David Holt, 4 tracks are in the can.. Mary Model, Ghost in the Machine, Pleasance and Beautiful Thing. The others aren't far behind, but at this point the aim is to generate label and publishing interest. The complete album will be done before too long and we promise it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, feel free to email Raggedstarwest@aol.com for a couple free MP3s
February 27 Donovan returns to Orlando, FL March 12 to finish mixing the new album, Reunite with the East Coast Meridian for a St Pattys show at Central Station & Attend Paul Cohen & Summer Messers wedding. The 8th couple married or getting married that met at a Blue Meridian Concert. Now back to the new album... Sound samples from some of the better rough mixes can be heard on the "Audio Page" at www.donovanlyman.com Be sure to visit the new site!
January 29
Album Producer Donovan's back in Hollywood from a week at Gridlocked studios with
Producer/Engineer
Justin Thomas. The project unfortunately is not completed, but an enormous
amount of headway was made. The first 12 tracks of the 20 track album are mixed
and laid out along with their accompanying segues and such. Final mixes will be
dialed up on the remaining tracks over the next couple months and the album will
be completed by April 1st (the end of another weeklong stretch that will see
Donovan back in Orlando. This time for a show as well! Consult the gigs page for
more information).
January 20
Donovan returns to Orlando to spend another week mixing the album with Justin
Thomas. Still too early to tell if the album will actually be done by the 28th,
or if more time will be necessary. Keep your eye on this page for details...
December 22
Well, we're done. The album is recorded. Donovan's off to LA... but he'll be
back in January to finish mixing it. Details are up in the air about when it
will be released. The finished music will be shopped to radio, movies, records
and Hugh Heffner. If they buy... we sell. We'll keep you in the loop about the
album and progress. Coming soon... free downloads.. Standby.
Over December 6th and 7th
The new album project started wrapping up. The recording/tracking portion
anyhow. One more weekend at this speed and it will be in the can. Kev dropped
congas on the latin flavored "There's a Girl". Dean said goodbye after
laying down his last bass track on the amazingly powerful "Ghost In the
Machine". Monsters of the Midday cast member Jeff Howell visited the studio
and played some haunting harmonica on a reprise of the albums first track,
"The Sun". Donovan did the last lead vocals "There's a Girl"
& "Crystal Clear". Of course Rick Death, guitarist for Shine
stopped in for some color commentary ("It's just games, jokes &
mocks") Next week... the return of Manny, Mandolin, Fiddle and Steinberg!
The Weekend of November 22nd Brought with it a very positive and nearly inevitable event. Co-studio owner Brett Hesla spent Saturday in the studio, lending his talents to a couple tracks. "The River" now features an amazing slide guitar performance that really sets the mood of the song and gives it a very unique feel among the other tracks. The outro is reminiscent of Clapton in "My Guitar Gently Weeps" or something Joe Walsh would have done in a 70's Eagles song. Donovan finger picks a 12-string guitar and makes a powerful statement with his voice. Improvements were also made to "Tinsel Town". Brett sang in the chorus, Emily Stine Sang in the verses and 6 more cheerleaders were brought in to thicken the chanting/cheering. Violinist Jessy Daumen returned to finish the string section on the lovely, haunting "Victoria". The Thanksgiving weekend will see basic tracks laid down for "Crystal Clear" and "There's a Girl". The new album is already at 67 minutes. We're doing all we can to keep it under 80 and avoid a double album. Without sacrificing the content. Have a great T-Day and we'll speak again next week.
With November 15th and 16th Came some great leaps toward the end zone of this album project. Kevin returned to the studio to lay some awesome drum takes down on "Ghost in the Machine" and "The River". A great deal of focus was placed on "Tinsel Town" and a number of "Cheerleaders" came in to do some chanting (remember "Be True To Your School" by the Beach Boys?). Tinsel Town is a leftover track from the Minerva sessions. Written prior to Donovan's first ever trip to the west coast it eventually became a realized prophecy and fits superbly amongst the flavor, vibe and meaning that this record has agreed to demonstrate. Kenny Beaumont, of "Cider" visited and dropped some background vocals for the epic "Dakota". Next week Jeff Howell, the man who got Donovan his start in Orlando, Funny guy from the Monsters of the Midday, visits the studio and lays down some harmonica.
The Week of November 3rd Yielded a number of fantastic developments on the new album project. To name a few; Dean returned and laid electric bass on Tinsel Town, electric guitars and lead vocals were also recorded. This is lyrically a shout-out to the southern California of the early 60's. Standby for background vocals from a squad of sexy cheerleaders. Bassist Dean Pichette also tried his hand at playing a half bass with a bow. Nice low-end embellishments were made to "Victoria", "Crystal Wrecking Ball" & "The Sun". Violinist Jessy Daumen dropped in the high end of the string section. Her performance on CWB was phenominal. The acoustic guitar tracks mentioned in the Oct 11 update became a lovely music bed for the French Horn stylings of ex Blue Meridian guitarist Greig David. It's very exciting that this album will have a soothing instrumental interlude on it, harkening back to to mid 60's work of Brian Wilson and the early 70's work of Burt Bacharach.
Between October 18 & 26 Flute, violin, wurlitzer and vocals were tracked. Thanks to J-sun, the song "Everything", as envisioned is turning into something that could have been an outtake from the Wallflowers "Bringing Down The Horse" album. Long time BM friend Deanna dusted off her flute (she used to be first chair in the Lyman High School Band... ooh, the irony) helped in the continuing beautification of "Beautiful Thing". Kevin added even more texture to the very colorful "Saturday Girl" with his African Udu drum (used in the past on "Sugarless" from Brave Angel). Ben Badger who sang many a harmony on the Minerva album, paid another visit to the studio and did some great work on Dakota & The Sun. Speaking of "The Sun"... during the last big rain storm of the Summer, we were doing some vocal tracking and had to take a break. The thunder was so loud it was bleeding in all the mics. Producer/Engineer Justin Thomas and Donovan opened the front door of the studio and recorded the storm. As of now, the recording is scheduled to open with this ambience and shortly after, give way to the lead track, "The Sun". Minerva outtake "Tinsel Town" and another tune called "Ultimatum" are just getting started. More progress on those and other tracks Halloween Weekend.
The Weekend of October 11 saw even
more progress made. Longtime friend of Donovan's, Glenn Davis came down from
Atlanta to lend talents to Dakota (mandolin) and some acoustic 6 string and
arrangement help on a very pretty tune, that will actually be an instrumental
track on the album. We're going to keep the track a mystery for now, but rest
assured, if you're the proud owner of the entire, recorded Blue Meridian
catalog, you know this song. Donovan claims it's his favorite melody... ever.
It's being done this way to showcase the melody without distracting you slightly
from it with a vocal and message. We're looking for a flugal or french horn
player for this. Anyone? On that note, Dean's been laying down some of his
most melodic and captivating bass parts lately. "Beautiful Thing" is
certainly turning out to be just that.
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It's Sunday, Sept 28. The past two weekends
have been loaded with fantastic progress. Dakota, Crystal Wrecking Ball &
Beautiful Thing are all being dealt with. "Dakota" is a jangly
southern rocker reminiscent of Reckoning era R.E.M. Highlights so far include
some nice 12-string Rickenbacker by Donovan. "Crystal Wrecking Ball"
is a deadly dark, cynical piano tune. Violin and Cello soon to be added.
"Beautiful Thing" was first unveiled at the Cherry Street Performance
in July. Not a dry eye in the joint. Dean laid down bass on Raven &
Everything. Local songstress and BM family member, Emily Stine TAP DANCED on
Mary Model. How's that for interesting instrumentation. Thanks for Ben Badger
for lending his soaring vocal to the back up tracks of California and Crystal
Wrecking Ball.
More next week. Keep an eye out.
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On Saturday, Sept 14 another 13 hours were
logged in the studio. Basic tracks for "Mary Model" &
"California" were laid down. Donovan did some really cool piano
tracking on "Mary" and Chris Dickerson joined in to help layer some of
the 6 part harmony for the very "Phil Spector/Brian Wilson" influenced
"California". Lead vocals are mostly being sung very "live"
for a more honest and vintage approach. Jeff Nolan of "Double First
Cousins" has agreed to guest on lead guitar and Hammond for a track or two.
Nolan is a seasoned player with album credits including "Scott Weiland's -
12 Bar Blues" solo album.
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As of Wed Sept 10, "Pleasance" & "Saturday Girl" are nearly in the can.
Rough mixes have been sent to a few people for previewing. Anyone interested in
hearing a preview MP3 and writing a short review for the forum should email Raggedstar@aol.com
This week drums & bass were completed for "California" &
"Mary Model". Chris Dickerson of Virgos Merlot and Downstem has been
guesting on backup vocals. Jessy Daumen on Violin. More to come.
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As of Sunday August 30th as many as 4 new tracks
were nearing completion. The Raven, Saturday Girl, Pleasance and a new song,
just written in the past week: "The Sun". By this time next week
they should be completed
along with a favorite oldie that has somehow escaped previous albums playlists;
"Everything". Talks are also in the works to release a Blue Meridian
"Rarities" album before years end. Check back here for weekly updates
on the progress of these projects.
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On Friday August 8, 2003, Donovan, Dean and Kevin
spent the day in the recording studio to begin laying down new songs.
Since returning from the California tour in March, Donovan has written more than
10 new compositions. With Minerva being so new, nearly all of these songs have
been kept under raps these past months. They are just starting to show their
faces now at impromptu open mics & guest appearances.
Donovan, Kevin, Dean and Manny and a horde of special guest musicians will be
putting in some time over the next few months to record, document and
immortalize these new gems. It's far too soon to predict the outcome or the date
of their availability/release.
What we do know is that it's a sizeable undertaking. As many as 16 songs have
been selected. Recording has already begun.
Some of the track titles include:
The Raven
Crystal Clear
Saturday Girl
Pleasance
California
Beautiful Thing
Victoria
Ghost in the Machine
Stay tuned for more details on the progress of the project.
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