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Friends (Mark-Almond) — a 2012 home rendering
MUSICAL DEPICTIONS

Friends (Mark-Almond) — a 2012 home rendering

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Richard Buckner
Jun 05, 2024
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EXTRACTIONS
EXTRACTIONS
Friends (Mark-Almond) — a 2012 home rendering
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	I found Mark-Almond while in one of those veg-meditative states flipping through a used vinyl bin somewhere. I’d never heard of them, just the later other: Marc Almond of Soft Cell. Then, as happens, a temporary mania of curiosity took over for a while, looking for more. I found a better copy of my initial find—different packaging—at Other Music NYC. Later I picked up a few more at The Exclusive Co. in Appleton WI, where I’d done an acoustic show.
Note the cool embossed envelope-like flaps!
	The song Friends is one of just a few of more traditional songwriter-y pieces on their albums. Most are instrumentals or fragmented kinda jazzy jams. Though English, they sound like early 70’s Marin Co Calif, a place they dedicate one of their albums to. I can almost smell the breezy bay.
	For my 2012 air of Friends, the vocal & acoustic guitar were recorded together into my Roland 2480, performed while visually counting the original's slightly crooked arrangement — which is probably what drew me to the song.
	At the bridge, I tried to MacGyver a pedal steel smear using a Casio CZ101 on the trumpet setting through my Leslie, played with portamento to get the bends over my Bronson squareneck, mic’d for some actual stringy slide. 
Friends (Mark-Almond) — a 2012 home rendering:

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