Canvas Three & Samurai
Almost all the compositions of this album where realized for some Samurai of Prog - related projects. Here are the details for each song.
Scratches
It was a bonus track for Omnibus 2 The Middle Years, with the title "Take me Down". With Marco Bernard on bass, Kimmo Pörsti on drums, Rafael Pacha on acoustic guitar, Marcel Singor on electric guitar and John Wilkinson on lead vocals.
I wrote lyrics and music and played all the keaybords, some backing vocals and percussions.
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In Canvas Three I play drums, sample bass and Carmine Capasso takes care of the guitars.
The Island of Despair
This one was composed for Bernard and Pörsti "Robinson Crusoe". Their formation for the song was outstanding:
Marco Bernard on bass and Kimmo Pörsti on drums, Steve Hackett on guitar solos, Rafael Pacha on guitars and a bunch of other instruments, Bart Schwertmann on vocals and Steve Bingham on violin.
I played all keyboards and piano.
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For my Canvas Three version I added a verse and some synth parts in the first half of the song. Rafael did a great job with his guitar solos, and all the other instrument for the second part of the song. He replaced the Steve Hackett's solo with a beautiful solo that enriches the entire song.
For the intro orchestral section I used the intro of my Ocean Suite, from the same album released in 2016. This section is longer and more elaborated, though. On this intro chords is built the structure for the verses, in a staccato arrangment with bass-drums and hammond.
A Wordless Fable
Marco wanted a song for his second part of The Grimm Tales, so I composed the instrumental "Searching for the Fear". The title was inspired by a Grimms tale, and for Canvas Three I wanted to change it in "A Wordless Fable", due to the fact that it's an instrumental song.
For the Samurai version the line up is with Marco and Kimmo on bass and drums, Steve Unruh on electric violin and flute, me on keyboards and piano, Marcel Singor on electric guitar and Paula Pörsti on vocals.
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In Canvas version Rafael Pacha plays a bunch of instruments, from fretless bass to electric guitars, from viola da gamba to mandolin and soprano recorder and more. He composed the beautiful intro section on classical guitar.
The Showdown
This is the english version of the suite I composed for Spaghetti Epic 4, by Samurai of Prog. In that album the title and the lyrics where in italian: "La Resa dei Conti". The Samurai's line up was Marco and Kimmo as usual, Marcel Singor on electric guitars, Sara Traficante on flute and Stefano Galifi on vocals. I played all keabords and piano.
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In Canvas Three there is my Mad Crayon friend and guitarist Federico Tetti on guitars. He performs a great and long solo in the central part of the suite. I found it so beautiful that when I workede on the bonus track, the italian version of the suite for Bandcamp, I cleaned the arrangment on the guitar solo, leaving only bass and drums (re arranged and recorded), and it's even more strong and powerful than before. I love that section in the bonus track, he did a truly amazing job.
Young Me, Old You
Rafael Pacha and Kimmo Pörsti where working on the second album of The Guidmaster and asked me if I could take care of the keyboards for almost all the songs. And they asked me to compose a song for the album as I did with their first release. So this is that song, for wich they asked Daniel Faldt the vocals, Rubén Alvarez the guitars and Sara Traficante the flute parts.
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Rafael took care of guitars and other instruments for the Canvas Three version too, changing the arrangment to differentiate the two versions. I often change my parts and keyboards arrangment once I listen what he does on guitars, he's so creative and inspirative!