For the next couple of months, I worked on projects that intended to deal with a specific mood or subject, that had a pre-defined purpose. I was also forced to cut back on my composing when I rejoined the workforce. Starting with "GRAND PRIX" and ending - so far as anyone knew - with "ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT" (22/4/00). Except that it didn't. To the world outside, I took a sabbatical from composing, distracted by other projects. In reality, part of what I was doing was composing a soundtrack to accompany one of those projects. This work is so significant in my composing career that it has it's own section in this website - look for "The Fumanor Soundtrack" in the links to the left. Of course, from time to time I would complete a new piece outside of that major project. The real end of this period is 23/8/00, "HUNTING RITES OF THE NEW URBAN WARRIOR" - not my most memorable piece. # Name (Length) Size Download Links Comments       48 Grand Prix (13:09) 12K Zipped (353K Unzipped!) I've been a follower of Formula 1 for a long time, so when I discovered a patch/mix combo that (to me) was suggestive of a formula 1 engine screaming past (complete with doppler shift), I couldn't resist composing a piece of music built around it. There are parts that are suggestive of the start, parts that are suggestive of modern racing, and parts that recollect the old cars of people like Fangio and Moss. At the time, Channel 9 (the broadcaster who was showing the Grand Prix) were airing for the nth time a compiled clip of lots of race footage - both old and new - set against Steve Steven's "Atomic Playboys" - and I can report that this tune works a treat used as a backdrop for that type of footage! It doesn't work quite as well on the SB-Live, but the potential is there to be equally good - and in the meantime, it still sounds pretty reasonable. 49 Bridges (17:14) 16K Zipped (220K Unzipped) This is a frankensteins monster of rejected bridges from other songs. There is a truism in composing, as with many artistic endeavours - never throw anything away, you can never tell just what you'll be able to make of it tomorrow. This piece proves the point. Sadly, it only stayed in my top-40 (then top-20) favorites for a few months before giving way to a new wave of productivity in 2001. The length is just as surprising now as it was then - the piece just seemed to grow on it's own. I like the chorus better than the verses these days. This piece just doesn't sound right on the SB-Live - some instruments are too dominant and others too restrained. 50 Virtual Melodies (7:02) 112K This is as pure an Awe-32 piece as you can get. There is in fact no melody there beyond the basic 4-note repeated loop - but it sounds like there is, because of the different pitches of instruments playing the same note. Despite that, it doesn't sound half-bad on the SB-Live - or wouldn't, if the fanfare was fixed (the French Horns just don't cut it)! Virtual Melodies outlasted "Bridges" on the favorites list by almost a week. 51 Living In Innocence (9:44) 112K The intro makes it clear that this is built around a rejected snippet from "Virtual Melodies" - and yet, this has remained in the favorites for 3 years, while the parent lasted less than 6 months. The title comes from the drumbeat, which always suggested the innocence of child skipping down the street without a care in the world. Alas and woe, it sounds apalling on the SB-Live, where the French Horns sound more or less like French Horns instead of a Bass Synth variation and the Bass Piano keys sound very plastic. 52 On The Edge Of Your Seat (2:33) 77K Like "An Air Of Menace" (on the previoius Page), this is an attempt to "paint with sound". I wanted a piece that conveyed that edge-of-your-seat tension that you get when the Bad Guy is sneaking up on Our Hero from behind. This works very poorly on the SB-Live. 53 Irish Jazz(1:52) 22K Inspired by the Piano sequence by "Bill Murray" in "Groundhog Day" (one of my favorite films), I discovered when I added some fiddle-like synth ovedubs to the playout chorus that this was simulatniously a Jazz piece and an Irish Jig on acid. A couple of tweaks emphasised the "Jig" element and the title became inevitable. Aside from a complete failure of the "fiddle" to sound even half-reasonable on the SB-Live, this otherwise sounds just as good as it did on the Awe-32. 54 Groovin' (4:32) 43K No, not the 60s hit! This sounded a lot better on the Awe-32, where the sounds blended better. The title comes from the dominant groove which just keeps on pumping. This might be salvaged for the SB-Live with a remix. 55 Enthusiasm And Wisdom (6:05) 58K This sounded like a good idea at the time. It still sounds pretty good once you get past the weak opening, but is a little monotonous in tone for me - a problem made worse by the SB-Live. The chorus was always the best part of the tune. The aim was to try and contrast the energy and enthusiasm of youth with the wisdom of age, with a central period where the two overlap - but when you truly have neither, just the echoes of what was and the potential of what will be. It misses the target, I'm afraid. 56 Hunting Rites Of The New Urban Warrior (6:19) 110K This was inspired by an episode of Hunter which equated the youth gangs of LA with a primitive tribal culture, suggesting that each was developing it's own subculture and rituals. It's the story of one such tribe stalking a member of another, a knife duel between them, and then a return to the stalking of a staked-out turf. And of course, a reprisal is inevitable.