UNCOVER

The Trope Troupe

The Vocaloid Male Voice Choir

Covert Covid Covers

2021



Work in progress!


More songs! May 2021

Covers of loved songs. Thanks to Bruce, Trevor and Pat, ooh and HMRC, for helping fund the midi conversions from classic audio performances, and five new voices, and thanks to the impressive custom production transcribers at "Supreme Midi" (supreme-network.com). My "Uncovering" and "Recovering" projects have flimsy 'rules'. The idea is that I should create a work from the midi files - trying not to listen to the original - but not adding 'notes', not changing 'notes' (as in older projects) and either orchestrating or converting to 16 part Vocaloid a cappella. Honouring the original - sometimes 'queering' it, sometimes just enjoying strange accidents and 'glitch' discoveries. The problem with the Magma piece is that the words are really difficult - to get them right (they are far from being right) I DO have to listen and re-listen, but I want the 'choir' to change the piece, I'm not copying the original, though I have to maintain the musical structure as I am given it - by the found or transcribed file.

While diverse in origin, there could be some common denominator, let's leave that to the musicologists or crossword puzzle experts - but it'd be good to know ...

THESE FILES WILL KEEP CHANGING OVER TIME - EVENTUALLY BECOMING VIDEOS WITH LYRICS


"Know How" after Trefor Goronwy - Camberwell Now



"Who Know Where the Time Goes?" after Sandy Denny - Fairport Convention


Date: 23/08/2021



"Thirty Year Man" after Pete Atkin & Clive James


Date: 23/08/2021



"Quiet Talks" after Neil Innes - the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band


Date: 23/08/2021



"A Certain Kind" after the Soft Machine


Date: 25/08/2021


"India Song"


Date: 23/08/2021


"Be Men"


Great Ethiopian recording from sometime between 1975-1978, Mahmoud Ahmed's 'Bèmen Sèbèb Letlash'. Very silly sexual lyrics - if only I could subvert that ...

Date: 23/05/2021


"Bothering Gay"


From Suzanne and the Magic Circus's version of Sandy Denny's 'Fotheringay'. I'm thinking of moving the time a couple of hundred years and making it about Edward, the Poker, his unfortunate friends, lovers and his hetero-normative enemies ...

Date: 23/05/2021


"Giddy and Gay"


The Hi Llamas. Groupies in Whitby - surely not? ...

Date: 23/05/2021


"Mon Oncle"


Jaques Tati. A great film and - he wrote the music. I saw it as a boy (7? 8?). Resonances of my own relationship with my uncle - who left me for a wife ... what a thing.

Date: 23/05/2021


"Morning Thoughts"


Gill Scott-Heron. I love this - but I have yet to find his speaking thoughts - or my speaking thoughts - I expect I'll use transport text to speech software - but the issue is finding the right voice (see Barry White - Otters & Twinks)...

Date: 23/05/2021


"The H Bombs Thunder"


Aldermaston Marches with the CND, my Dad painting the stolen Duke of Wellington Goya and auctioning it of to raise funds. Those were the days ...

Date: 23/05/2021


"Videos of Hollywood"


Pretty, mid-to-late Caravan ditty. Originally sung by Richard Sinclair with Pye Hastings' harmonies, with impressive sax solo by Jimmy Hastings, bass solo by Richard Sinclair and guitar solo by Pye Hastings ...

Date: 24/01/2021


"Nanfoulen"


Brilliant number on the excellent Mory Kante's album "Akwaba Beach", better than "Yeke Yeke", I reckon. Lots of playful rhythmic games, Kora v. Brass. I doubt the original lyrics will ever be part of the "cover" - none can be found on the Internet, shame. Can anyone help with that? What language is it, have the words been published somewhere? There are many versions by different artists on-line. From Guinea, apparently, it is a song about being unfairly and unjustly imprisoned during WW2 ...

Can you help? All lyrics, if you know of any published somewhere? Or the language?

Phoneme Chart
Vocal Score
Vocal Midi Track
Mory Kante's Version

Date: 25/01/2021


"Lihns"


Original by Magma, ("the band"). What to say? Tune and rhythm ... again, quite a difficulty with lyrics! The Internet-found version seems phonetically to have very little to do with what we hear - particularly in the fast, difficult to emulate, Christian Vander's scat(ish?) singing towards the end. Good though. Yes, yes, it IS absurd having YOHIOloid try to sing this - he's doing quite well, everything considered. Again can anyone help with the phonetics? What sounds should be sung? It all falls apart at 3m 15s onwards! But it would wouldn't it. I've tried to avoid the word "saveloy" (much sung by sniggering friends - and me - in the 70's), though it doesn't sound like it - it DOES sound like it. My Phoneme Chart - shows the only sounds YOHIOloid can sing! He does so with a Swedish lilt, and with Japanese technical confusions. These sung instrumental solos make me think of the sleeve notes for Soft Machine's first album, and the story about Robert Wyatt singing, note-for-note, Charlie Parker's bop solo on 'Donna Lee' ...

Can you help? Particularly 3m 15s onwards

Phoneme Chart
Vocal Score
Vocal Midi Track
Live Magma Version

Date: 21/01/2021


"Of All The ..."


A great song by an unknown singer-songwriter - John (?) Jordan (?) Orlando (?), 'The Story'. It was never published or released, shame, the audio comes from a demo CD - where has he gone? 'Acroloxus' might know, where ever he is ...

Date: 25/01/2021


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