As with the timing of a digital recording software programme installed on my computer before starting work on Incredible Shrinking Violets, an Apple Mac arrived (and with it Garageband), so the desire to make another concept album seemed to necessitate itself.
I pressed the 'generate random' button on a webpage which claimed to manufacture LP/CD titles and ran with the first suggestion offered; Lamp of the Cosmic Excess.
Garageband 101 produced a composition I called T-Rexchester, as it sounded to me like something that was a cross between the pen of Marc Bolan and the 1990's Madchester thing.
It was always intended that most compositions on LOTCE would be instrumental, following the examples set by the title track and the CD opener, Wandering the Estate (dedicated to George Harrison).
My Imagination was dedicated to the many, many friends whom I had built up some awesome relationships with during the filming of the Laketown scenes during The Hobbit; Desolation of Smaug and Battle of the Five Armies.
These 'salt of the earth' types and I spent many hours together, over several years, working on a succession of Peter Jackson films and a plethora of TVNZ productions, student films, commercials.
They are like a special family and as with all families, you don't have to get on with all of them, but they are family and you love them and respect them.
Jimmy James Nielson is the sort of unofficial leader of the rascal pack, which includes such wonderful and colourful characters as Trevor Cooper, Dianne Cosgrove-Smith, Jamie Harrison, Paul Craze, Steve O'Neill and Jeff Slaven, amongst many others.
In 2013, I auditioned for a role in a film Jeff was intending to make called Johnny & the Rent Spenders. I didn't get the part, but ended up penning (with Ian Parr) a proposed TV show theme song for the film, Theme from the Denny Craven Show.
There was a :55 second version (show opener) and this longer (end credits) take featuring Tineke again on flute and John Broadbent on saxophone.
YouTube clip for My Imagination, an ode to becoming an established part of the rich fabric of movie making history forevermore, features scenes from behind the scenes during the making of The Hobbit and some from some of my own favourite films and shows; Planet of the Apes, Horror of Dracula, Clockwork Orange, Jaws, Captain Scarlet, Pink Panther, UFO, Psycho, Doctor Who and Westerns in general.
Auditioning for Johnny & the Rent Spenders in 2013. Jeff Slaven (holding paper) sits at the desk. Tim Simpson enjoys an early morning coffee fix. I got given the role, then told I hadn't got it as someone better had come forward...Ewan McGregor. I didn't complain...lol.
Laketowners wrap party at the Rain Bar in Courtenay Place, Wellington. From left; Sarah Morgan, Wayne Phillips, Nicole Chesterman-Kircher, Richie Whiteside, Jacqui Bouchard, myself, Billy Moose. The legend, Kirin Shah in front.
THE MAY STORM
Over the edge of the new purple down,
I lost a minute of two.
Sheltered from may storm, half penny and crown,
she fanned the fire anew.
They say good fortune, she's never a lady,
I'll neither follow nor flee.
A night of reflection and scared of rejection,
what more changeful than the sea.
(c) Carlton McRae, 2015
THE VAMPIRE IN PAISLEY
The vampire in paisley lives
in the mirror where he can't be seen.
Safe from the howling
evermore of the wolverine.
Suburban and respectable,
captive to the bourgeois mind.
An artist, an aristocrat,
for eternity resigned.
One touch, the velvet glove
and oh, how one kills for love.
The vampire in paisley moves
through the eerie London underground.
You may catch a glimpse of him,
but it pays to ask around.
Generally he is confined
to the house by day, by rain.
He likes to lounge around and drink
the very finest French champagne.
One touch, the velvet glove
and oh, how one kills for love.
(c) Carlton McRae, 2015
LAUREL CANYON
See them, hear them, from the country store,
a few miles from Sunset and Troubadour.
Bohemian, chameleon, colours rearranged,
time passed, yet it's as if nothings changed.
But I won't try to mix my dreams.
In this special place, nothings what it seems.
Floor creaks, roof leaks in the winter rain,
worn shoes, top hat, pickups down the lane.
there was a cold wind blowing yesterday,
your time to turn and then fly away.
But I won't try to mix my dreams.
In this special place, nothings what it seems.
Mecca, trekker with a will to roam,
or to those who choose to call her home,
Time and place as if by fate decreed,
better music you'll just never need.
But I won't try to mix my dreams.
In this special place, nothings what it seems.
(c) Carlton McRae, 2015
MY IMAGINATION
I saw a film with big Paul Craze,
'bout a farmer trying to raise some maze
sixty days of dragon blaze…
yeah, that’s Jimmy’s record.
But Jimmy man, you’re looking thin,
it’s the leather and the clothes you’re in,
someone get Dorothy-Anne a gin…
man she’s earned it.
It’s just my imagination slipping away & letting me down!
I was on set with Steve O’Neill,
I said “Cecil, this snow looks totally real,
but I feel winter has no appeal…
in the middle of summer.”
Come now Jeff, lets play some blues,
Dianne & Chipster made the news
and Wayne’s blue bus is still in cruise…
with Gabriela & Pedro.
It’s just my imagination slipping away & letting me down!
It’s just my imagination.
I was at a rap with Kirin Shah,
E3 and Nikki at the bar,
when the two Tim’s pulled up in a car…
with a load of equipment.
And out came Ange and the southern crew
Billy Moose and the Harrison two
and someone we all barely knew,
‘cept Jimmy Baltaxe.
It’s just my imagination slipping away & letting me down!
It’s my imagination.
(c) Carlton McRae, 2015
MT. MISERY ROAD
A mile along the highway, as you're heading out of town,
you'll find yourself posted by a stump left in the ground.
Turn left at Factory Corner and head down Pudding Lane,
past the Old Mill House known for its seed and grain.
Now you've found Mount Misery Road.
When the Buller is in flood you'll find Darkie's fishing hole.
I'm not exactly sure where, Darkie never told a soul.
"But when the fish aren't biting," said the good witch of North End,
"I'll smile and cast a spell so that the fish would bite again.
From a bridge by The Grange, Mount Misery Road."
Although the fish were rather strange, Mount Misery Road.
It was at the Grange one summer in a batch on Forest Hill,
the golden nectar flowed and time for all of us stood still.
We didn't want to go back, not down the road we came,
the tide was riding fast, the Buller swollen from the rain.
Running for shelter, down Mount Misery Road.
Everything was helter skelter, down Mount Misery Road.
Now, I don't want to hear the autumn winds that made her cry.
We drank the last of summer, yes, we drank that summer dry.
And all this talk of things unsaid is not wisdom for the age,
in the hour of the quill they are just words left on a page,
floating on the breeze, down Mount Misery Road.
Floating in a breeze through the trees...
down Mount Misery Road.
(c) Carlton McRae, 2015
Lamp of the Cosmic Excess cover. Art work by Katie Ross. Model; Verity McRae, circa; 2015.
Two of the songs that did contain lyrics, The Vampire in Paisley and The May Storm, featured cameo's from musician friends.
On Vampire, son Rupert (aged just 15) provided the 'perfect for the part' lead guitar track, while my California Dreamers buddy, Tineke Snow, played some hauntingly beautiful flute pieces and provided backing vocals.
On May Storm, my Laketown/Hobbit friend, Liz Merton, provided the viola track. Her partner, Tim Barrie, also added an Oud part, but unfortunately it just didn't seem to fit the song. Or more, I couldn't seem to make it fit the song.
Liz Merton and Tim Barrie.
While in LA with the California Dreamers in February of 2015, I found myself in the celebrated Laurel Canyon, home to many rock and film stars during the 1960's (and 70's) including Jim Morrison, Mama Cass Elliott, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell and Graham Nash, Stephen Stills and David Crosby, Peter Tork...
While sitting in the valley sunshine at the legendary Canyon Country Store (mentioned in the Doors song Love Street), I penned some lyrics on the back of a napkin. It was strangely the only place in LA where we could find a decent expresso coffee!
The attraction of the mystical canyon was instantly comprehensible. At one point, one is driving along Hollywood Boulevard in the usual traffic chaos of LA, a quick right turn and you are amongst tall sycamore's and other woodland species, steep winding streets and it is recognisable in an instant, as a place of special significance.
To sit at the country store, look across the street and literally stare at the house that Jim and his partner, Pamela, used to live in late in the 1960's was fascinating, given I'd often read so much about it and their antics.
The most unfortunate circumstance during our trip was in the end, NOT meeting up with Doors drummer, John Densmore, as had been planned. That would certainly have capped all.
Ouside the Canyon Country Store, Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. February, 2015.