Night Train
Listen (6.05 Mb)
Background:
Night Train is a standard twelve-bar blues, recorded in hundreds of different versions, from Jimmy Forrest's suggestive tape echo blues, via Lionel Hampton's big band boogie to James Brown's uptempo twist and the ska reggae of the Toasters. We chose a kind of straight "eight beat rhythm boogie", partly to make it as train-like as possible and partly because the Boss DR-110 has no swing or shuffle function...
Our original vision was a train traveling through the night across the American continent, filled with transistor jazz musicians playing and drinking cheap whisky from dented pocket flasks... the result is at least somewhat like the original idea.
SHotQ's Night Train is different from most of our other creations, in that it's made with very few takes and additions, almost as if it were live! For this reason, it became one of the songs we did on our first live gig, playing for Dr. Moog.
Sound Sources:
Train Engine: Boss DR-110, Roland SH-101, Korg Trident mk II, Nord Lead, Boss Digital Delay, Zoom Phaser, ddrum padstation trig converter, Claes Ohlsson Patchmaster 2000
Lead & Solos: Nord Lead, Roland SH-101, Casio MT-31, Korg Trident mk II, Korg MS-10
Bas and wah-chords: Korg Trident mk II/Ibanez Wah
Organ, whistle: Kawai K1-II
Station Caller: Korg Trident mk II /Zoom Vocoder
Other Equipment:
Interesting Facts:
The five synthesizer solos are played by each Quintet member according to the Station Caller's presentations, each on a separate synth in the order listed above.
For a detailed description of the absurdly complicated Train Engine connections,
see our book Bizarre Solutions to Trivial
Problems.