PRESS RELEASE
‘Make Five’
Written by: Carl Dixon
Published by: Carl Dixon/CHD Publishing (PRS/MCPS) © 2009
℗ BANDTRAXS/Carl Dixon (PPL) 2013
Performed by
BANDTRAXS
The official release date 1st March 2013 and can be purchased from Amazon, iTunes and all leading digital streaming services.
A rhythmic collection of danceable instrumentals with soulful overtones from the 1970’s. Whether you like Disco, Hustle, Philly, Salsoul, Crossover, Modern, Motown or Beach Music, this could be of interest.
If you enjoy retro sounding mid 1970’s soul, this Bandtraxs release features five new instrumental songs that capture the spirit of disco music prevalent around that time. These productions have been carefully crafted with respect to a period that gave us the likes of The Love Unlimited Orchestra, Gene Page, The Sound of Philadelphia, The Salsoul Orchestra and MFSB. The instrumentation remains faithful to a more traditional style of arrangement from the days when sequencing and midi did not exist. Although using modern techniques to record these tracks, the essence of the music here still sounds organic and collaborative.
The main influences for this music are the 1970’s and particularly the Philly Sound. Nobody will ever recreate that music successfully without the musicians who made it and arrangers that so eloquently added their parts to the songs in the first place. The likes of Bobby Eli, Earl Young, Vince Montana, Ronnie Baker, Norman Harris, Thom Bell, Richard Rome and Bobby Martin are a few names that come to mind, but there are so many other individuals responsible for that sound too numerous to mention. The writers, producers, musicians, arrangers and artists are greatly appreciated and celebrated here with my efforts to write and produce this material.
And for those familiar with Manchester rock bands of the 1980’s, thanks to Simon Moss on drums of ‘The Clouds’ fame on these sessions. Thanks also to Gavin Morris for his excellent work on the bass guitar.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Label: Bandtraxs
Artist: Bandtraxs
UPC: 887516264030
Sleeve art: Michelle Dixon
Drums: Simon Moss
Tambourine/percussion elements: Carl Dixon
Bass guitar: Gavin Morris
Guitar/wah wah: Carl Dixon
Keyboards (organ/electric piano): Carl Dixon
Orchestral sounds: Carl Dixon
Some elements of ‘The Drummers of Motown’ sample CD included
Some instrument sounds by The Garittan Orchestra and IK Multimedia Sample Tank
Make five/Make five (alternate version) Written by: Carl Dixon
ISRC: GBXNE1300001/GBXNE1300002 Duration: 3’ 51”/3’ 50”
Side tracked/Side tracked (alternate version) Written by: Carl Dixon, Simon Moss, Gavin Morris ISRC: GBXNE1300003/GBXNE1300004 Duration: 5’ 06”/4’ 51”
Double up/Double up (alternate version) Written by: Carl Dixon, Simon Moss, Gavin Morris ISRC: GBXNE1300005/GBXNE1300006 Duration: 3’ 52”/3’ 46”
A little of the big stuff/A little of the big stuff (alternate version) Written by: Carl Dixon
ISRC: GBXNE1300007/GBXNE1300008
Duration: 5’ 15”/5’ 16”
Walk away the winner/Walk away the winner (alternate version) Written by: Carl Dixon
ISRC: GBXNE1300009/GBXNE1300010
Duration: 5’ 55”/5’ 53”
**LISTEN TO 'A LITTLE OF THE BIG STUFF' BY THE FORMELLAS FOR THE VOCAL VERSION**
Recorded in London, England between 2009/2012
Mastered at Metropolis, Chiswick, London, 2nd January 2013, by Tim Young
Written, arranged and produced by: Carl Dixon
This compilation © Carl Dixon 2013
The sound recording copyright is owned by Carl Dixon/Bandtraxs
For more information about these recordings please visit www.bandtraxs.com or contact carl@bandtraxs.com
The story of 'Walk Away The Winner'/Bandtraxs ℗ 2013
It seems a segment of this recording has been included on a 1975 mix by DJMiki which implies that's when it was written, recorded and released. It is not true and I have no idea why it is included on this mix. I am flattered and have had so many communications asking me for the original song and vinyl details and even suggestions that I am not responsible for ‘Walk Away The Winner’ which does concern me. Whilst there was no specific song, melody, chords, arrangement or production, I used all my enthusiasm to create something worthy reflecting the producers & musicians on mid seventies TSOP, PhillyGroove and Salsoul material the best I could. Even influences from Bobby Eli, Vince Montana, VanMcCoy, Earl Young, Thom Bell, Bobby Martin, Phil Hurtt etc. Please beware that I believe that the mix shows a slight increase in speed and a different bass line, where mine has either electronically been removed or lowered in level which is also concerning.
++UPDATED 26/4/2023++
This is an earlier demo version of 'Walk Away The Winner' from October 2011 with midi bass guitar PRIOR to the contractor supplying a live bass.
https://soundcloud.com/55motown/walk-away-the-winnerbandtraxs-early-demo-oct-2011
The story of 'Walk Away The Winner'/Bandtraxs ℗ 2013.
Demo version ©2011
This is an original song I wrote and registered with the PRS in London on the 20th July 2011. Its legal song writing works registration number is EJNW-200711-0228-00. The recording, mixing and mastering process ensured its first official release on the 1st March 2013. The album it was released on was called ‘Make Five’ mastered by Tim Young in Chiswick, West London at Metropolis Studios on the 2nd January 2013.
My original intent for the album was to sound similar to The Sound of Philadelphia circa 1973/76, sort of MFSB/Salsoul Orchestra. I had recently been to Philly and worked with Bobby Eli in his studio, wrote and released a couple of the tracks we recorded with Double Exposure (Soul Recession) and Chiquita Green (There I go falling in love again). Once they were released I started my ‘Make Five’ project as Philly was fresh in my head and ‘Walk Away The Winner’ was one of the songs I wrote and produced.
It seems a segment of this recording (or part of an earlier demo from around 2011) has been included on a '1975' mix by DJMiki which implies that's when it was written, recorded and released. It is not true. Whilst there was no specific song, melody, chords, arrangement or production, I used all my enthusiasm to create something worthy reflecting the producers & musicians on mid seventies TSOP, PhillyGroove and Salsoul material. I had tried to master the song(s)myself around October 2012 but felt I needed a professional so went to Metropolis in Chiswick/London on the 2/1/2013. I have all those versions and many many more different notions of the production. I may post a 'part 2' to this story on Soundcloud with some of that audio.
I have since found my original music folders which include many early incarnations of the song, including this 2011 version. I am starting to wonder whether a demo I posted on potentially Soundcloud in 2011 was used in the 1975 mix. That would have been deleted when I released the song in 2013. Even I can't find everything connected to this productions as:
1) Logic Audio stopped been available on Windows, so I migrated to MAC around this time and found it did not support the Windows files!
2) My MAC stopped working in 2021 so had to buy a new one. I had most of the files backed up, but...the new MAC was 64bit and some previous instrumentation on this song was 32bit. I have yet to establish those parts into 64bit so I can render them as WAV files. I could try and remove the hard drive and boot up from the new MAC which is a possibility.
3)And....I believe I may have started 'Walk Away The Winner' with another 'working title' on the Windows machine. That hard drive is in bubble wrap in a cupboard somewhere. I must find it and try and load it up on a Windows machine to see if I can find maybe find an original Logic Audio file that will load up. And of course the working title back then if there is one.
Trivia about the recording:
There are good stories about the title of the song and how it came about and the drums that Simon Moss played. That for another day.
I played some real guitar, real wah wah, real tambourine. I also played the following midi/plug in instruments - percussion, organ, electric piano, vibes, flute, strings and horns.
Reference tracks I used on my master (which I didn't release) were:
T.L.C/MFSB
Smarty Pants/First Choice
Everyman/Double Exposure
TSOP/MFSB
I wanted to see and hear the different Philly mastering files and compare levels etc.
It's good to read the analysists trying to fathom out the technology used and coming up with assumptions. This will be great for the book! There's an individual who believes there are no human drummers on 'Walk Away The Winner'. The main Earl Young style drums is Simon Moss from the 90s Manchester group 'The Clouds' here in England. The hi hat work that sounds like 'Shaft' comes from 'The Drummers of Motown' sample cd bought in New York 1999. That CD was not available in 1975! There are other drumming elements from that CD too and NO Salsoul samples on any song on the 'Make Five' album, so thank you for the compliment. I will reveal all about the drums and sequencing in time. This is NOT a conventional studio recording. It is done with technology, some live elements, some midi elements, copy and pasting and to sound like the mid 70s best I could do. The bass on this is the original sent to me by Gavin Morris in Manchester after he learnt the song. He is also known as 'Jamerson Hook' on YouTube.
There is something crucial about the drums that only I can expand on. All I can say it's a defining element of the song because it was a challenge to do and complete. Somewhere on one of the mixes there is a badly quantised piano glissando which sounds shocking. How I missed it, I do not know. My guitar is out of tune and there are errors all over the place. Back then I did not have much experience mixing. As for mastering this album I paid £1000 to get all 5 (x2 each) songs mastered at Metropolis in London on the 2/1/2013. It was a real education.
The song was conceived, recorded, mixed and mastered in London, NOT the USA. There are many versions as it progressed through its writing and development. The earliest file I found has a much more basic effort with many sweetening/arrangement elements that hadn't happened. An individual on YouTube accused me of not being around in 1975. I'll be old enough to be his father I guess :-)
I must reiterate that this is an original song composed by myself and it is not from 1975. The mix tape by definition is a fake by using my copyrighted and intellectual property whether the (2009 see below) 2011 demos or the 2013 release(s).
I think it is time for me to move on. I have been extremely proactive and whilst I am surprised one of my songs/productions has ended up being under scrutiny and the target of some hostilities, it's bitter sweet. There are two copyrights in a song/recorded work and I own both to 'Walk Away The Winner'.
I have included details of the released 2013 version in the metadata.
