Ｒｉｃｈａｒｄ Ｐａｇｅ “Ｓｏｎｇｓ Ｆｒｏｍ Ｔｈｅ Ｓｋｅｔｃｈｂｏｏｋ”

ＨＭＶオンライン→http://www.hmv.co.jp/artist_Richard-Page_000000000082833/

リチャード・ペイジのオフィシャル→http://www.richardpagemusic.com/music/
　価格設定で言えば断然こちらがお得ですが（そのときのレートにもよりますが）輸入だから１週間強かかる、、かな？そんなに待った記憶はないので、ふつうに届いたと思います。

	SONGS FROM THE SKETCHBOOK
	Richard Page "Songs From The Sketchbook" • 2012 Remixed/remastered compilation of past, unreleased songs. Produced by: Richard Page Artists: Various Tracks: Falling Into Place, I Think It's Gonna Rain, Every Day's a New Day, I wouldn't Change a Thing, Don't Let Me Down, Just Keep Lovin', Long, Long Road, I'm With You, Love Rescue Me, What Is A Friend
	LITTLE DUME RECORDOINGS

画像はアマゾンから。日本のアマゾンだとこんなに高いんだね！びっくり！
ＵＳＡアマゾンだと１９ドルくらい。


歌詞カードはついていません。
前のアルバムのように、オフィシャルに掲載してくれるといいんですが、
歌詞がない分、わたしはよけいに一生懸命聴きました。


分厚い紙ジャケ両開きタイプです。ＣＤ１枚で、全１０曲。
ジャケットの若い頃のリチャードも素敵ですが、中身を開くとプライベートショットのコラージュ満載。
セス・ペイジによるこのアルバムのためのショットがＣＤをはずすと見られます。
家族との写真は奥さんとの中むつまじいショット、４人のお子さんとのほほえましい写真、そして古い古いリチャードの写真がいっぱい載っています。ペイジズのときのものやＭｒ．Ｍｉｓｔｅｒの写真もちょっとあり、ファンの心をくすぐります。わたしはお子さんと一緒にドラムセットに座ってる写真と、たぶんいちばん下のお嬢さんかな？彼女をぎゅーっとハグしてる写真、それからやっぱりギター弾いている写真が好きです。


声の状態は、もしかしたら、いちばんいい時期かもしれないです。
ペイジズの頃のような美声とか、Ｍｒ．Ｍｉｓｔｅｒのようなパワフルなロック・ヴォーカルとも、
現在の渋い声とも違います。
そして、一部を除きほかのアーティストのために書かれた作品のデモテープなので、
『自分がこのように表現したい』という歌い方（ペイジズ時代、Ｍｒ．Ｍｉｓｔｅｒ、ソロ時代）とは全然異なり、歌そのものを素直に味わえるものになっています。
ですので、リチャードのファンではない人が聴いても楽しめる内容です。
そして彼は、音域はかなりのハイトーンまで出せますが、本来は「ハイテノール」というよりも、「ロウテノール」の人だと思うんですよね。
だからより自然に「シンガー・リチャード」を楽しめます。
思わず口ずさんでしまうような曲が多かったり、素敵なバラードがあったりで、
「楽しい」というのがなんか逆に新鮮・笑

何も知らないで聴いたら、どこのポップシンガーさんのシングルコレクションアルバムですか？と感じるかもしれません。

例外もありますが、ほとんどの演奏も自分でやってます。

リチャード・ペイジが書いたライナー・ノーツ

There was a time when the thought of releasing a demo recording of one of my songs to the public made me shudder.
Allowing people to hear an experiment, a sketch, ideas to be pitched to other artists or ‘cut properly’ later on an upcoming album of my own, was just unacceptable.
Then, a few years ago, some of my demos began to appear on the internet without my approval by well meaning fans that wanted to share them.
This made me cringe. People were hearing my first attempts at presenting songs that were never intended for anyone outside the producer or artist I was pitching them to. Arrgghh! At least when a recordings is meticulously fussed over for an appropriate amount of time (and believe me I've done my share of fussing), you can make the case that every musical angle has been looked at, every lyrical idea pore over, then the final product can be proudly revealed, even if you're not really sure it's the best you can do. Which is almost always the case.
So you might ask, “Then why the hell are you releasing an album of demos?” It's not a simple answer. Over the years, I've written a lot of songs. Many are songs that no one will ever hear because they are so incredibly lame. There are quite a few of those. You will never hear them. I've gone to great lengths to destroy all the evidence. Others I'm quite proud of, and although they weren't right for my albums, they never found a home. These are the ones I'm sharing here.
Writing for other artists can be a daunting challenge. In many cases, I've written something I thought was just perfect for a number of recording artists, yet they couldn't hear themselves singing them at all. How can this be? It was perfect. Are they stupid? Tone deaf? Of course not, as I can easily put myself in their shoes and say that there are songs other writers thought I would sing perfectly that I couldn't imagine myself singing. So I get it.
Then the idea came up that maybe I should re-cut these songs, really finish them properly and them out as a new album. But, as I began to examine each one closely, I realized that what I initially liked about them was their honesty and simplicity, even though they weren't 'polished' masters. Trying to make something more out of them would've been 'gilding the lily' so to speak, although I haven't ruled out doing this with some of them someday. My wife has said a number of time; “You'll never be able to sing that again the way you sang it on the demo.” I scoffed at this of course, yet looking back it is difficult to admit that she was probably right. Damn, I hate that! She was right again.
They say, with age comes wisdom. This may be true, but this has nothing to do with my decision to release these demos. This is a case of a wisdom-less, aging singer realizing that these are many wonderful fans of my music who are very forgiving, that just like hearing what I love to do, and I am so moved and appreciative of that. So, in the spirit of sharing my most vulnerable creative moments, I give you Song From The Sketchbook. There is quite a disparate and sometimes eclectic mix of musical styles here. It's not a seamless “concept album” by any stretch, so you will hear something fairly well conceived and produced right next to something that just popped out one day with a simple guitar and vocal which I happened to get on tape (or on digital around the mid-nineties). What they all have in common is that I like them a lot, even if they didn't make it onto an album. Each has something I find special and worth sharing. Whether it's a lylic that hits home, a chord progression that's unique or simply a background vocal part that just works. I have taken some steps to make the audio quality better since many of these were done haphazardly, without the benefit of high-end studio equipment. In many case, I just threw ideas out not thinking about technical subtleties.
To give some background on why, when and where these were written and recorded, I've jotted down some recollection (what little I remember) for each song. Hopefully this will make it more interesting. You will notice that most are from the year 2000 on(although there are a few from the 90's)as my recording skill and equipment have improved and many of demos from before that time are either too sonically challenged or simply missing to include. Except for a couple of hired musicians on a few these songs, I played, sang and recorded everything myself. Hope you enjoy it.

そのアーティストにぴったりだと、完璧だと思って作ったものが、とうとうそのアーティストによる歌として聴けなかったショック。
歌にＨｏｍｅ=アルバムを与えてあげたいという思い気持ち。
できるだけ良い音質で作品を届けたい気持ち。
そんなことが綴られています。


リチャード・ペイジによるブログから抜粋↓

Recently, I've been going through old songs, some of which I haven't heard for years. Some gave me that "oh wow...that's pretty good" moment and I started to think how I could create an album of these older songs? It occurred to me, and this is something my wife has always maintained, that many of the demos I've done would be difficult to improve on, especially vocally. When I'm writing and recording at the same time, the first burst of energy and excitement tends to create an indelible vibe. How can you reproduce something that just spontaneously happened? Oh sure, you can go back and try to duplicate it, but many times it falls short.

So I thought, why not just pick an albums worth of these demos, polish them up a bit with some mastering and put them out? That's what I'm working on now and I'm really excited about it. As you may know, I've written songs for many other artists, and most of these were intended for that purpose. Also, as with the Mr. Mister album PULL, some of these songs are already being bootlegged around on the Internet, but the audio quality is awful. So that's what I've been doing. I'm hoping to get this finished in the next month or so, before the summer Ringo tour. I think you'll enjoy many of these songs as I do. I've decided to add some written anecdotes along with each song about where, when and why they were written. Might make it a bit more interesting. Hope everyone is well and happy. Talk soon.
RP

わたしはリチャードの大ファンなので、ストーカーのごとく、彼が参加した他人のレコードを聴いています。
いろんな歌い方の彼を知りつつ、それでもより心惹かれるのはＭｒ．Ｍｉｓｔｅｒとしての彼と、その後のソロアーティストとしての歌い方です。
トッド・ラングレン大ファンの友人に言わせると「こういうふうに、ふつうにメランコリックだったりポップに歌えばいいのに」そうで、「解散した後、なんでこの路線とらなかったのかねー」と大いに不思議がっていました。
たぶん売れるためにはそういう路線にいってたほうがよかったんでしょうが、おそらく自分ではポップな表現方法はやりたくなかったんでしょう。
彼女は高校時代にわたしが「wellcome to the real　world」貸したら、テープがもったいないという理由で後半５曲しかダビングしなかった人。
テープが勿体無いのもありますが、最近聞いたら「なんちゅーか、素直に歌っていないＡ面が憎たらしい・笑。歌が上手いくせになんでふつうに歌わないのか、むかつくー」という、、、
彼女なりのこだわりで。
Ａ面は「あんたが好きなコードだらけ」でいやなんだそうです・苦笑
彼女には思いっきり「変態」と言われています。
だって、いいじゃない～。Ａ面のあの音！！！！最高っすよ！
もちろん、素直に美しく歌ってくれればそりゃーそれでいいんですがね。
そういうのは、バックヴォーカルのときやペイジズで聴けているから。




リマスターしたとはいえ、声はデモのまま。
奥さんや本人が言うように「このデモのようには二度と歌えない」素晴らしいＶｏｃａｌです。
それはもちろん今の年齢での歌声のこともありますし、「いちばん最初のスペシャルな瞬間を再現することは不可能」
the first burst of energy and excitement tends to create an indelible vibe. How can you reproduce something that just spontaneously happened? Oh sure, you can go back and try to duplicate it, but many times it falls short.
だから。。。。


長くなるので収録曲とリチャードによるメモはこちらから


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