And we have plenty to say.
Firstly, me and Sammy (ordinaryday6) took a little adventure to San Fran this week. We got there on Sunday afternoon and left this (Friday) morning.
On Sunday afternoon, I called my buddy who works in Third Eye Blind's management office, and he invited us down to SF Soundworks studio in Soma to spend the afternoon/evening with Vanessa and Stephan while she did some tracking.
Soooooooooo he picked us up and brought us down to the studio (in a rather shady neighborhood) and left to run errands while Sammy and I just chilled with Nessa and SJ. When we got there she was in the middle of doing The One. Which sounds AMAZING if I do say so myself. I am a sucker for violins and HOT DAMN are there some sweet strings in that song. I loooooved it. It was really awesome to hear her with a band again, hopefully (I hope, anyways) there will be no more p/v's on this album, I don't care for them much.
Nextly was Best Behaviour (which WILL be called Best Behaviour, we were told). It could go either way. On the one hand, there was this horn section in the chorus that Stephan thought was "soulful" but V (and the two of us) thought were HORRIBLY cheesy. Luckily, though, by the time they finished the song they weren't playing the horn track anymore so maybe it won't make the album. If it does I will personally strangle Stephan with my bare hands. What we thought was the best part was the bridge and the instrumental and the following chorus. The little breakdown instrumental after the bridge got a bit more complicated (I think, I haven't listened to the bootleg in awhile) and that chorus has the piano and guitar and everything but the drums (and maybe bass) drop out and she sings, and then everything drops for "ended too soon." GOOD STUFF.
Last was PYHOM, which they've been calling Hands On Me (maybe to please her mom? lol), and she only did vocals and a little bit of midi piano for. It also sounds really good. My friend (who I'm not naming on purpose in case it wasn't obvious) says that it has some really killer strings in it but they didn't use them in the sound booth playback. She added a cute little vocal sort of [arpeggio?] I don't know the techincal term. Anyways she added it in the bridge after "old." She was really excited about it... We laughed. Anyways yeah, so that also sounds awesomeeeeeee EXCEPT for one little thing we caught when we listened to a mixed version of it (which I'll get into in a minute), which is some really whacked-out off-the-wall backing vox at the end when she's repeating "hands ooooon meeee" or whatever. Some opera business (exaggerated, but that's what it reminded me of).
Oh and there's sweet harmonies in the choruses of PYHOM and The One.
So on Tuesday we went over to my friend's house and listened to some stuff, mostly Third Eye Blind, but also mixed/mastered versions of Nessa's new stuff, including ALL IS WELL and WOW. All I have to say about that is <333333333333333333333333333333
We also heard BB (without the horns!), The One, Put Your Hands On Me and This Time. Honestly (and I'm not being biased, I swear), I do not care much for Linda Perry's production. We also listened to two other Perry songs, Spring Street and Wave Goodbye. Spring Street is alright but sort of lacking in the lyrics department. Example: the chorus is variations of "he said, na na na na na na naaaaaaaaa." Okie dokie then. It reminded me a lot of Who's to Say in the sense that she's telling her mom that she has to let her go. Or something like that. Forgive me for lacking details about this stuff we were sort of stoned.
The other song, Wave Goodbye, all I remember is NOT liking it and getting this really weird California Dreamin' vibe off of it. Obviously this is just our opinion though, everyone is allowed to form their own. We may all be surprised later.
But anyways back to the studio. For anyone who has EVER said that Vanessa is even KIND OF a bitch, kindly bend over so I can insert my foot up your ass. She welcomed us in, introduced herself, chatted with us, offered wine and cookies, let us play with LORD VICTOR (OMFG SO CUTE) and was totally apologetic when he pooped on our walk. HAHA. She was just soooo sweet. And anyone who thinks that Stephan has complete control of what goes on in the studio, IMO she has got him SO whipped. Basically she is doing exactly what she wants with the songs and I think she's taking them in a really good direction. And she loves pita chips. And that's an understatement.
Some pics...
us at Soundworks
Victor (aka MY SWEEETIEEEEEEEEEEE in really loud high voice courtesy of Nessa EVERY FIVE SECONDS)
Sammy and the man
Random shot of the studio
Here is my disclaimer:
I had mixed feelings posting all this cause I know some people like to be surprised about everything. Keep in mind no one forced you to read all this.
Second, I have video I recorded of her playing to The One and Best Behaviour. They are short clips, less than a minute each. If anyone wants them, let me know and I'll post. If there are any strong objections, let me know and I won't post. If there are any mild objections, no one's forcing you to listen. But trust me they are savory.
Hope you enjoyed this 23432708309830948032302943 paragraph long post.
