WHEN YOU SMILE
Recorded and Mixed at: ROUGH CUT STUDIO in Eastford Conn. Recording Enginneered by: Mark Easton.
Remixed by: Michael Foster at Terry Martin's StormSurge Studio...Spring Hill, Florida...and at Golden Sun Studio...North Palm Beach, Florida.
NOTE FROM MICHAEL: I would like to thank Mark Easton at Rough Cut...and Terry Martin, and Kephas at StormSurge...for their Production Assistance on this tune. Thanks, guys.
Michael Foster: Electric Guitar, Lead Guitars, Vocals.
Mark Easton: Electric Guitar, Background Vocals.
Barry Easton: Drums.
Michael Corsini: Bass.
Photograph by: Mark Brett/ Positive Negatives...Hampton, Conn.
mark@markbrett.com/
(Mark Brett is the former Avalanche "Road Crew Chief"...and one of my closest friends...and is a "Rock Photographer Extraordinaire". He has done "photo shoots" with everyone from ZZ TOP, KISS, TINA TURNER, CS&N, DON HENLEY and STEVIE NICKS, ROBERT PLANT, ...and just about everyone else who has played...or plays...at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut...where he is currently the staff "House" photographer). To see more of Mark's great photos...visit the Avalanche Website...and click on the "PHOTO" link there...on the Avalanche Artist page.
http://songplanet.net/Avalanche
"When You Smile" is a song I wrote in 1981...while I was in Negril, Jamaica. For a number of consecutive years...I would spend a month at a villa there...as an annual "retreat"..."recharging my batteries"...and nearly always...writing new music. Some of Avalanche's best music was written there. It is a very positive, and magical place...and at this particular time... I was in the euphoria that comes with infatuation...and "new love". For anyone who has ever experienced that...no further explanation is necessary. For anyone who hasn't...no explanation is adequate. (And my condolences). This is just a happy, upbeat, love song...plain and simple...but with an Avalanche flavor to it ...of course.
It took over twenty four years for the song I wrote then...to be played by the band...and "realized" in recorded form. I always "heard it" the way it turned out in this recording...except for the section in the middle...with just guitars and vocals...which I have always envisioned as "extended"..for a live show...and in which the audience is asked to "join in"...by clapping in time...and singing along. It is a perfect spot for "audience participation"...so I am still hopeful that sometime soon...I will also be able to see that become a reality...in the meantime ...I hope you enjoy it (and feel free to sing along!)....I need all the help I can get!
Mike (NAV)
1981...
Where was I then?...
Ah that would have been the Gunslinger era.
Some nice memories and a lot of blurred ones
It was a different time,different land.
Man were we ever disciplies of rock n roll.
Music played from the moment you woke till you slept.
Every new song was something to be taken inside.
Every lyric understood and memorized.
Every lead break made the hair on the back of your neck stand up.
That guitar,well,it just seemed to be the centre of the universe,and the language it spoke was different to anything that the establishment wanted tor am down our throats.
It is such a joy to find that here.
Placing it in context of time and mind.
You don't get to write it till yu lived it.
As Lemmy once said:
"You'll never understand if you weren't there".
I can picture me,and most probably you LOL
The demim brigade.
Man we lived that music.
But thsi isn't a sad old git's nostalgic trip music.
This is the music of those who never chanegd,never "Grew up",never stopped beliving,never swapped horses for an easier ride.
If that's you,you get it,you feel it.
If it isn't,well I guess you'll talk about the wonderful panning.
We didn't,we don't.
We just love rock muisc,and it surely does make you smile.
Nigel
I really enjoyed this very upbeat, positive, happy love song.. And what an undescribable feeling that is.. Loved the instrumental & very strong vocals..
All The Best, LP
There's something about this track that feels very...Rainbow. And that's never a bad thing. Happy and cheery, with all the attitude packed into the riff. Love the old-school sensibilities. Wonderful.
now this has that great 80's rock sound on it. Guitars are just driving this tune. Kind of reminds me of The Michael Stanley Band if you are familiar with them.
Like the tune guys!