Beyond The Rocks and Fog

Sherz · September 21, 2014, 3:08am

In days gone by online collaborations were bountiful here and I have been steadily revisiting much of the work I was involved in here between 2003 and 2010, remixing and remastering. Unfortunately I also have discovered that i am missing quite a few backups… some of my favourite tracks from that time included.

Anyway, I wanted to share this particular 13-minute tribute to a fallen comrade, Tammo Trueper who was an active and valued member of a much earlier incarnation of this forum. 20-odd forum members were involved in this project at the time… around 8 years ago,

Beyond The Rocks And Fog

It’s a big listen! But so many artists wanted to jump onboard in honour of Tammo (credits on the Bandcamp page) - it ended up being a 125-track Cubase project for me!

Here’s a bit of background

Tony 'Hackenslash' Murphy:

I never met or encountered Tammo Trouper, but he touched me.
We shared many of the same interests, not least music and physics (he was a professional in the latter field, I in the former). I have often wondered at the discussions we might have had, had he not been taken from us so cruelly.
Most of what I know of him, I know from friends, many of whom were very close to him. I do know that he had an exceptional mind and was an exceptional musical talent. I regret not only his loss, but the discourse we missed on the nature of space, time and the fundamental ingredients of existence.
A superb guitarist, with highly original ideas, his music reflected his physics, something I have always tried and failed to encapsulate.

I had very little to do with this project, only adding some vocals as an afterthought, yet it was still a very great honour to be asked to contribute. You’re still greatly missed, even by those who never knew you.
Sorry for the effusive, possibly hyperbolic language, but I know only too well that I, like the football fan who’s missed the best match in the history of the beautiful game, missed engaging with a true kindred spirit. And such a spirit.
Tammo died of cancer in May 2006.

Footsteps in the Snow is an album compiled by his good friends, many of whom contributed to the track listed here. It’s one of those albums that leaves you wondering what might have been achieved had Tammo not a) chosen physics as a profession and b) been taken from us far too soon.
http://www.footstepsinthesnow.com/index.php
It is a testament to the man that so many gathered to make his last musics an album. The credit goes to the fabulous community at Cubase.net, the former forum for Steinberg, many of whose members (not including myself, for all kinds of reasons) can still be found there…

…Check out the album and other projects at the link above.

As for Ian, who has always written far more songs than is good for anyone, you can find his work at bandcamp, among other places. Follow the link to the listed song. It’s a cracking bit of work, involving many of my friends. My own involvement is so incidental that I suggested that I not be listed, but you know what people are like.
Thanks for sharing Ian, and giving me the opportunity to give voice to some deeply-held feelings.
Vale Tammo. Your music lives beyond you.

shadowfax · September 21, 2014, 7:34am

An epic piece Ian, much respect for the quality of arrangement and VERY high production values…great change around the 5.50 mark…which was needed!! arrived just right!!
fab guitar work…is that you?
Wim is awesome on the sax, would’ve liked to hear more of that such a beautiful sound he is clearly a very accomplished player …
no catchy chorus and lots of parts but I think the song is better for it…it’s got class if other listeners can’t get through it then it’s their loss in my opinion.
it is a shame about the lack of collaboration as was in the time you mention, i would be keen to be part of that but I think at the mo on this forum most people (but not all) just use it to but something up and then scarper…the next time you hear from them is when they put another track up, they then presumably start wondering why nobody is commenting on their track, maybe they’ll figure out one day that being part of this community means putting in as well as taking out…
at the mo I think you can count on one hand the people that bother to comment…without them this forum is dead

anyway, I thank you for being a part of this forum and all the help you have given me in the past and let there be more of this amazing music from you

If I wanted a sax solo from Wim d’ya think he would do one? I’m scared to ask him

I’m currently working on a “mini epic” inspired by your recent 17 minute “epic” 'cept my “epic” lasts for around 6 minutes, just waiting for some guitar parts from RWzblues…hopefully next month, so some collabs are goin on

enough from me…best to you Ian…Kevin

polgara · September 21, 2014, 12:25pm

wow didt seem like 13 mins ,although i did have a coffee break ,excellent stuff,when wim came in near the back end i thought yeh this is very pink floyd .is that you doing the lead vocals .excellent guitar work are there a couple of different players in there who was doing all the eddie van halen type licks ,great stuff.only nit pick was the kit or snare sounded a little boomey ,and i would have dropped the kit when the sax came in .excellent song ,have you ever heard of an english band called terrorvision ,the vocals reminded me of their singer a bit. epic stuff and i never even noticed a keyboard ,im sure there was one in there somewhere filling out or creating a back drop, soundscape or something.

Sherz · September 22, 2014, 12:18am

Cheers guys.

The singer is a very talented German gentleman by the name of Wolfgang Menzel - not only a singer but knows his way around a guitar, keyboard and was pretty good with orchestral stuff too. Wolf features on a lot of my early work and actually inspired me in many ways.

Quite a number of guys played guitar parts on this, I’m in there somewhere but my parts were lower tempo quite sedate compared to the up-tempo shredders!

…at the mo I think you can count on one hand the people that bother to comment…without them this forum is dead

This forum is now a mere shadow of it’s former self in days gone by.

Yes… you may well be right. The drums were live, but I did play around with snare substitutions. Went round in circles a bit and settled on this one… but maybe the one I had last week was better! Choosing snares drives me nuts!

Sherz · September 22, 2014, 12:28am

Yeah, I have a few mini-epics around that length. It’s a good middle ground length for epic works.

polgara · September 23, 2014, 1:12pm

dosen`t Doug normally chime in at this point

Early21 · September 26, 2014, 10:33pm

Well I don’t recall this so I suppose it was before my time, even though I recognize a lot of the names. I’ll admit I like your newer epic a lot better, but it must have been quite a challenge to coordinate all the parts you received. Mighty effort! Thanks for sharing this bit of history.

NTR · October 26, 2014, 5:39am

A fitting tribute. Tammo’s passing aside, those were the good ol days.