This is Missing Link LIVE in Nineteen Eighty-Five. <br /> <br />1. End of the show <br />3:18 2. My heart, your hip <br />7:22 3. Whiskey, fun, & gum <br />12:38 4. Surfer U. rock <br />14:52 5. Irish girl <br />18:37 6. On that day <br />22:14 7. Say hello <br />25:57 8. Only you <br />28:40 9. Christmas in Hawaii <br />31:38 10. So hard <br />35:56 11. Guarded eyes <br /> <br />My songwriting is comprised from figurative brushstrokes, so to speak. I learned once, that it's the music in this day that hold's people's attention, not "message." <br /> <br />So, to me, the music, in songwriting, is similar to a meal. And lyrics become as salt, pepper, & spice we add to a meal to make it just right. <br /> <br />The chords I utilized when I began songwriting were a bit complicated for me to actually perform in my early years. So my writing ability was ahead of my performing ability. I could hear all the music in my head though, or had it transcribed onto the page, and I knew how it would sound. <br /> <br />Through much effort I formed a band in my early twenties & some of the rehearsals were recorded on portable cassette device. <br /> <br />Electric guitar and symbol crashes were very forgiving when I'd miss chords on my guitar or fail to rehearse as often as I'd have liked. "Keep your day job." - Penny wise, dollar foolish advisement of the generation then. <br /> <br />A few years after that, & being unable to keep these musician's together, I went back to the city, & clubs that I had used to frequent in the late seventies. They were being replaced by open mic nights, mainly then at sandwich/coffee shops or bars here & there? <br /> <br />I adapted my electric guitar songs to my Ovation acoustic guitar, & it was a bit frustrating for some there to listen to. As before though, I had it all in my head or on the page. I also knew, what, the rehearsal's, I had just came from with my band sounded like. My band then did not return though, so I stayed performing in various coffee shop venues around Los Angeles on my acoustic guitar in late eighties. I had started writing songs for one guitar & vocal, instead of the multiple instruments I had written for previous. Turns out that act's like Tracey Chapman & Jewel, would emerge from such venues. <br /> <br />Some thought I was just learning on acoustic guitar, & that band tapes of The Missing Link that later emerged were recorded after I supposedly learned to perform at coffee shops? None such. <br /> <br />So the recording's leftover, not being invested in then or funded via record companies are a bit distant, technically speaking, but very appealing. <br /> <br />Brent <br />The Missing Link
