I started recording this in February when my fibromyalgia was uncontrollable. Also, because of intense pain and stiffness I couldn’t play the guitar at all while my concentration and focus was absent. I knew what I wanted it to sound like, but it wasn’t coming together. I tried MIDI guitars, based on acoustic guitar samples, but they didn’t work out. I recorded ten or 12 lead vocal tracks. Some in a lower register, some in a higher one, but all were off by a fifth or a seventh. I attempted to finish it for my friend’s birthday in April, recording new vocals and guitar because I had my dexterity back to a degree. I still wasn’t satisfied and sent a rough mix to a few friends. It was of very poor quality. My voice was gritty from pitch shifts. A mix of MIDI and analog guitars. It just didn’t jibe.
I started on “Black Peter” because they seem to related songs, maybe first cousins. I went back and forth between the two songs. I finished “Black Peter” last week and posted it on Substack. Then I had a brain storm. I tried to put a cello on “Black Peter”. It didn’t work with the distorted guitars, but it worked really well with “High Time” and no guitars! Voila! I present to you my version of “High Times” from Workingman’s Dead released in 1970.
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