Скачать или смотреть The Soundtrack to my long walk from Blandford to Liverpool

This is a complete instrumental album that I recorded (acoustic guitar first, on location) along the route of my 280-mile, 12-day walk from Blandford to Liverpool. All tracks were conceived along the way, partly influenced by what I was listening to on my iPod. There are eleven tracks in all, as I arrived in the late morning on my twelfth day, and I recorded two of the tracks at the Hunter’s Moon pub in Llangatock Lingoed, as it rained on one of the other days so my little acoustic guitar would have not liked that very much.

I recorded all the other parts when I got home, and some of the acoustic guitar parts were recorded using a click in my headphones to make things easier when I put other parts on.

I’m playing all instruments.

Here are the timings for the tracks along the way - I decided on a complete video rather than separate ones:

0:00 Track 1:

“Hunter’s Moon” - on the fifth night out, I did a gig at the Hunter’s Moon pub at Llangatock Lingoed, in return for a bed for the night. The next morning, I recorded this (along with the tenth tune on the album) outside the pub.

5:00 Track 2:

“At the Premier Inn” - on my ninth night, I stayed at the Premier Inn in Wrexham, and the luxury of a deep bath awaited me. I’d been listening to quite a lot of alternative reggae and dub that day, so you’ll get the gist from this…

9:24 Track 3:

“Asterley Rocks” - my final recording of the walk, and I’d had a hard few days, nearing the end, and my relaxation at lunchtime made for a solo piece, with no real direction. It felt like the pace of life had slowed down, a very welcome thing in this world of timetables, schedules, frenetic driving, phoning, and all the other things that we could all do with putting to one side on occasion.

13:41 Track 4:

“Neck the Beans” - the first day’s tune, and after consuming my lunch, chicken sandwiches and then a full can of cold baked beans. That brought back great memories of my student days, where none of us in the flat had 50p to put in the electricity box, so cold baked beans it was. The jury is still out on which of the supermarket brands are the best eaten cold.

17:27 Track 5:

“Barrow Common” - my third day and getting towards Bristol. I sat on a hill overlooking Bristol and decided on this tune. I’d been listening to some deep Herbie Hancock stuff, mostly the album ‘Secrets’, a less known but mega seventies album from arguably the best keyboard player ever.

21:51 Track 6:

“Kington Edge” - a relatively short day’s walking, I had time to write out a chord sequence and vaguely muse over what I might do with it when I got home. I’d spent the morning with a soul-jazz compilation of alternative and rare disco records. Also named “Johnny’s Theme”, this one is for my girlfriend’s father, whose seventies wardrobe and Kojak quotes were an influence…

27:20 Track 7:

“The Hiding Oak” - while this wasn’t the tree that King Charles II of England hid in during his long-winding escape to exile, I walked much of the Monarch’s Way, which snakes from Worcester (where he lost a battle in 1651) all the way across Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset. He made it to France eventually, returning to the crown in 1660.

32:04 Track 8:

“The Shepherd’s Hut” - I had to change my dates of the walk to later in July for various reasons, meaning I also lost my accommodation on two of the nights. My girlfriend Jacqueline booked us a Shepherd’s Hut for three nights near Abergavenny, and she ferried me to and from start and end points of my fifth, sixth and seventh days walking. I felt some gypsy jazz coming on when I saw the hut, imagining Django Reinhardt sitting there improvising on guitar. A major influence on me growing up, the Hot Club of France is something I do a lot of.

35:06 Track 9:

“Blues for Mr. Offa” - arguably one of the greatest Kings of pre-conquest England, his was the kingdom of Mercia - much of central England. His wall, Offa’s Dyke, was a major engineering undertaking, and much of it still exists, and walking along it made me think of all the people who tried to cross it. Goodness knows how many people were attacked trying. Still, it formed the border of England and Wales, and I crossed the border more than a dozen times along my walk. I grew up listening to blues, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King and loads of others. This one has a more involved chord sequence, Aldo influenced by the soundtrack of the adult cartoon film “Fritz the Cat”.

40:05 Track 10:

“Far Away Waltz” - this was the second tune I recorded at the Hunter’s Moon pub, and this is more of an improvised chord sequence, with a solo violin. At the time, I was half way between my home and destination.

43:55 Track 11:

“Buckley Down” - recorded on my second to last day, and yet another set of breathtaking views across the countryside, I’d also just crossed the highest navigable aqueduct in the world. A marvel of engineering, it still carries longboats, as it has done since 1805.

Enjoy the album!