FROM THE DESK
Craig Lowery

©1996 James Craig Lowery
All tracks composed and sequenced by Craig Lowery, except #9, composed by Clayton Coulter, sequenced by Lowery and Coulter. All tracks sequenced on the Roland SC-88 SoundCanvas using Cakewalk, except as noted.
  1. Pep Parade - Originally a :60 commercial bed produced specifically for a Pepsi-Cola local event, this grew into a full-length instrumental. Note that an older version which was originally released on "From the Desk" is retained and differs from the current version in a few horn licks and bass lines during the "second verse."
  2. There's No Denying This Love - This song has lyrics and is essentially a heavy rock ballad. Lyrics convey that although we may do things that disappoint God, His love for us cannot be denied.
  3. Out There - An ethereal 12-string guitar piece featuring French horns, strings, and even a harp! No lyrics. Note the homage to the Alan Parsons Project in the stacked French horns coming out of the "second verse."
  4. The Great Escape - The theme song to an uncompleted children's musical based around a game show format. The name of the game show is "The Great Escape" and contestants learn about various things (TV, for example) in life that vie for our attention, and my keep us from the real escape God gives. This is the game show's theme song and is short because it is essentially an introduction. Has lyrics.
  5. Bump - No lyrics. Not "grown" out of anything else, "Bump" began with a rhythm track and a detuned electric piano patch. Pay special attention to the loud EP (electric piano) note that sounds like the Taco Bell bell at the end of each chorus.
  6. Big River - This is a condensed version of a much longer instrumental piece developed specifically to be the sound track for the Vicksburg, Mississippi Chamber of Commerce video (hence the title). No lyrics. The 5/4 passage occurs on the piece of the video highlighting casinos in Vicksburg and has a "night life" sound.
  7. The Nature of Your Love - This piece was written specifically for church performance, and it was performed at Parkway Baptist Church in 1996. Lyrics focus on how God, having created the huge universe, is not impressed by size and can love even we who are so tiny and seemingly insignificant.
  8. After Work - This is a reworking of one of the first instrumentals created on the Peavey DPM3 in 1992. Although there are no lyrics, the music tells the story of a person busily working at a desk on a typewriter, daydreaming periodically of the wonderful evening that waits in store. At the end, 5 O'clock arrives and he leaves work to finally live what he's been dreaming all day.
  9. You're My Refuge - This is a Clayton Coulter piece which was originally sequenced by him on the Peavey DPM3. This rework features his original electric piano sequence with all new drum, guitar, and horn tracks. Lyrics discuss how God is a refuge we should seek daily.
  10. You're a SCUZ - This song was originally written in high school and has gone through many, many iterations, including early recordings of bounced cassette tape tracks of a piano and layered vocals, and other slightly more refined attempts created in various radio station production studios. This is the most recent, and probably last, version of the track. Also in this directory is the same track with solo and background vocals.
  11. Why - Purely instrumental, this piece has a questioning tone and features an ode to Herb Alpert in the form of a Tijuana Brass-style xylophone.

    BONUS TRACKS
  12. Fwing Thing - Not originally released on "From the Desk," this track is a rework of an earlier DPM3 track which the DPM3 could not keep up with. However, some sounds only available on the DPM3 (such as the pitch bending "fwing" effect) were sampled and added to the mix through digital audio editing. This piece is still not complete as the mix just isn't quite right, and it still misses some instrumental solos of the original DPM3 version in the vamp section.
  13. Yo - Another reworked DPM3 track not originally on "From the Desk" that is purely instrumental in nature. This version uses both the DPM3 for un-reproducible sounds, and the Roland SC88. The straight plodding nature of the piece, with the incessant single-pitch repeating quarter note on the chiffer lead is the most interesting, if not annoying, aspect. The saxophones are a little disappointing.