In 1996, when I was moving my things out of storage and back into our new rental in Boulder, I came across a large box with the words “Old Reel to Reel Tapes” written on it. These weren’t part of the much larger collection of my professional studio recordings but, rather, were an assortment of miscellaneous “practice tapes” and home recordings I had made from decades before.
I have been playing the piano and writing songs since I was 15—and I used to sit at the piano with the reel-to-reel tape machine running as a way of getting my ideas down. There are hundreds of songs or bits of songs on these tapes and these were the ONLY documentation of the music. And, there are even older tapes in this box that go back to my earlier childhood. After my parents split, my Mom carted my older brother and me off to the other side of the country. In those days long distance telephone calls were still considered extravagant and reserved only for those “special occasions” like birthdays and holidays. Well, my Dad bought us this mini reel-to-reel tape machine with 3-inch reels and we stayed in contact by making audio letters that we regularly sent to each other. …So I decided to hold on to the box of old tapes…
Last year, a close family member was diagnosed with breast cancer. The experience was a traumatic one and became the major impetus for returning to the recording studio after 16 years. Recording the album became an important part of the overall process of confronting my own fear of mortality and loss. In developing a theme for the CD, I remembered the old box of tapes and began to rework these old songs in a new light. In making this album I sought to express optimism and hope, and to offer words of support and comfort to those I most dearly care for. The songs I chose to include, and the newly written sections, all reflect this aspiration.
There are several central subjects to the overall concept of the album, all related: dreams, imagination, time, fate, and hope. And, as an extension of dreams and imagination, the exploration of reality versus fantasy. Throughout the album the songs are linked with these ideas, literally and metaphorically, through the content of the lyrics, and musically through thematic and rhythmic transformation.
The album contains two main sections that reflect, in a more universal way, on life in its various stages: youth (tracks 1-5), that explores innocence and wonder but also questions life and seeks meaning; and adulthood (tracks 6-10), that is more reflective, contemplating the loss of youth, but also having a deeper understanding of one’s own place in the circle of life. A repeated thematic and rhythmic motive, what I refer to as the “piano/time motive” (usually presented in arpeggios played on the piano), acts as a time machine, slowing and speeding the hands of time and moving the listener between past and present, and from song to song… on the carousel of time.
(Continue reading the album notes and the story behind each track by clicking on the title of each track.)