vignettes of outlaws
wranglers, wild west people
arid desert dust
1. Two Worlds
Roswell aliens metallic spun landing explore vast wild west
Starting off with a FAT outer space synth pad in A minor that quickly modulates to A major once the guitar comes in. Guitar opens with riff of G# to A, so for a brief moment there’s an overlap of G# note over the A minor triad and we get an ominous snippet of A harmonic minor!
Guitar continues unfolding a melody, playing G#, A, B, C#, stepwise up the scale.
There are moments of melody E, D# and C#, D, which signals the D major modulation. Then back to A major.
Following is an F#- chord, D major chord, G major chord, A major, G major, D major, A major.
Ending with guitar low key chugging Welcome to the Jungle intro! (A powerchord).
2. Sketches
Deteriorating pages tumble across dusty street
Illustrations unknown
Caught in small garden
Main chord is voiced : 045452 (EADGBE)
So this is cool, Lanois hovers around this chord the entire time. He mainly outlines the E- triad and hits that 4th fret, C#, towards the end of the riff, which implies C#-7b5. He’s doodling around with ideas in this chord shape, teasing it around. Sometimes he’ll throw in that 2nd fret on the high E string to make F#. F# acts at the 9th when the chord is E-, or the 11th when the chord is C#-7b5. The beauty of this song is the melding between the two.
Small guitar bends on F# up to G.
Glass rose piano arpeggios flower us with A major and B- chords, usually descending the first arpeggio and ascending the second. The two opening arpeggios are voiced on guitar like a 1st inversion A major triad and a root position B- triad. Beyond that, Glass Rose outlines other arpeggios in the key of D major.
3. Oaxaca
A tale of lost unsung heroes
of aged fairy tales
Odin Sphere vocals in the mode of E mixolydian b13. The melody is E, G#, A, B, D, C, B.
A later guitar melody plays D#, E, G#, F#, E, C, B.
Chord progression is like implied E major to C major.
4. Agave
Downtrodden wobbly hombre
Walks through swinging doors
Gruffly, “Whiskey”
|| E- C#-7b5 | C maj7 D maj w/open G string ||
|| C maj add9 | G maj | C maj | D maj ||
Playing on that E minor with sometimes C# note sometimes C note theme. Uses a lot of open strings , like Fuel’s Shimmer or Incubus' Drive. Late 90’s alt rock stuff style 8).
5. Telco
E minor hombre briefing his accomplice of the severity of the next mission. Rugged and scruffy, sweaty and gritty. “This is the last stop, cowboy”. Telephone static.
|| E- | C major 7 | D maj | D maj ||
6. Desert Rose
simple hearted dance
between elderly couple
barn aglow, amber
Open D major triad, thumbing the open A string. Then A major V chord, back to D.
Slide geetar, simple ballad of ol’ Bessie. Hints of G# in lead guitar background, spicing it Lydian style. At fade out, G note harmonic rings out seemingly on purpose.
7. Carla
Ooooh Carlaaa Darlin’! Wailing miseries of a simple fool sunken by the bottle.
|| A- | E- | A- | E- |
| D- E- | A- | D- E- | A- |
|D - | D- ||
8. The Deadly Nightshade
Fun weird stuff here. Maybe the only song not in a cowboy key. First section in key of C# major. Chords bounce between C# major and G# major.
Next section plays off F-13, and later does a chromatic descending bass thingerm: F, E, Eb, and teases a D note but shrugs it away. “You can’t fool me, poisonous plant!”
F- section played like F Dorian mode even though in the key of C# major, the F would be Phrygian. During the descending bass line part it’s played like F Aeolian, which implies Ab major. Cool modal interchange !
9. Dusty
The returning theme of E-, C major7 and D major. Lots of open strings. Switches between notes C# and C.
10. Panorama
Camera pun! The harmony is so out of focus, so distant, nearly inaudible. In headphones there’s a background track there with the harmony so so low in the mix.
Opens up in A Phrygian briefly!
Main section sounds like I, IV, V stuff in Bb major.
Weird second part is:
||Bb maj | D maj | F#maj | B- G maj |
| D maj | C maj Bb maj | D- | Bb maj ||
11. Flametop Green
valiant young cowboy
with a guitar on his back
reflecting the sun
|| G- D- | Eb maj7 | G- D- | Eb maj7 ||
||Eb maj7 |F maj | D- | F maj |
| D-7 D-7/C in bass | C maj ||
Cool vibe, these are the main two parts.
Main riff is C, Bb, G, Bb, then strums into D- followed by Ebmaj7.
12. Todos Santos
E major/mixolydian wavering of the colored festive flags dancing sunwise and windswept. Synth pad is E major with phaser and yummy oscillations...might actually be multiple synths recorded separately and mixed together. Grainy aged texture. Brief moment of F dim7 in there somewhere.
Conclusions
-Cowboy keys are open E minor and G minor.
-Extra desert vibes = minor 6 chords (all that E- with C# happening)
-Simple but focused, concise, clear.
-Similar tonal centers throughout = cohesion
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