There 2 subjects I want to go over in this post. There's a song on another persons Youtube channel, and the other important one is the release of my first album "Sight Or Sound".

I'll discuss the new album first.

As of yesterday, it was officially on sale. It's only available through CDBaby at the moment. It takes varying amounts of times to be active on the other selling points. That's ITunes, Amazon, Napster and a load of other places. The album is a digital release only, so CD's are not currently available, but they may be in the future. Depending on how well it is received.

The final track order for the album is as follows.

01) Soaked to the bone. *

02) So blue.

03) Convey. +

04) Take me home.

05) Don't wish it away.

06) Broadcast fantasy.

07) Keep on waiting (The stood up song). *

08) Escape.

09) Twist of fate.

10) Blow away.

11) Unknown. *

12) Counting down the days. *

13) Sight Or Sound. #

14) When I grow.

15) You think it's all over. *

I've put some marks at the end of some of those to give you a bit of extra information below. So where these symbols appear, this is what they mean.

* = These tracks are not currently on Youtube.

# = Features the talented "Steve Morgan" on guitar.

+ = This is the albums promo track that will be offered royalty free for promotional purposes only.

The final track on the album has an interesting story, and is probably a first. I think it's the first sports song to be turned into a normal song. It's normally the other way around. In it's original form, it was aired several times on a number of radio stations during the 2006 world cup campaign. It was then called "They think it's all over", after the famous Kenneth wolstenholme quote.

You can preview clips from all songs on the "Sight Or Sound" album by visiting the purchase page, at the following link:

Jeff Edwards - Sight Or Sound album

Now to the Youtube video. This was uploaded by a Youtube user called "KarenEng". It's a duet with me. It's that wonderful old classic "You don't bring me flowers" by Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand. This is a song I wanted to upload for ages, but couldn't find the right female vocalist. That was until I came across Karen. She has a wonderful voice. Take a listen and see what you think :)

Last but by no means least. The Youtube statistics digest.

My subscribers have breezed over the 900 mark to 912. That magic 1,000 doesn't seem so far away now.

My channel viewings are picking up and are now up to 21,373.

All of my videos have been watched a total of 356,896.

I think I got the potential video order mixed up in the last post. my next video upload will be "Afternoons and Coffee spoons" originally by the "Crash test dummies", because I've already got that one prepared :)

More on my father's story in the next post.

Now I'm going to do something acoustic. This is the final song of my Dad's favourites selection. There are lots of songs he adored, but I thought I'd do only a series of three. There's a possibility that I'll run out some more in time. This particular song is called "Baby can I hold you tonight". Boyzone did a well known cover version of this song, but I still prefer the original which was by "Tracy Chapman". It sits on an album of wonderful tracks.

I had a comment recently from someone telling me that I should stop relying on backing tracks. So I sat in front of my camera and played this on guitar. I have to tell you my opinions about backing tracks. I think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with using them. We can't all play musical instruments, and they can be very useful. How many lead singers are there that don't play a musical instrument? I can think of many. Some people forget that the voice is probably one of the most versatile instruments you can play. So my advice to those using backing tracks. Keep on. If people criticise you for it, then just ignore it. The most important thing above anything else, is that you enjoy what you are doing. Not everybody will like it. Could you think of any singer that is adored by 100% of the earth's population? Some people love what you do, and some people hate it. An e-book I was reading recently said that if 1% of the populationof the world like you, then you can count yourself as a success, because 1% of the worlds population is over 60 million people! :)

Now for the song. I hope you like my gentle take on this wonderful tune.

My Dad. Part 2

My father was a bit of a ladies man, and had many, many associations in his lifetime. Sometimes having just one was not enough. There was one story I was told about two girlfriends he had. They were bi-sexual and were very much into each other, if you know what I mean. Anyway the sleeping arrangement were three people, one bed. This lasted for a while. I'm curious to know what the neighbours were thinking.

It's baffling how he became to be my father. Even more so when you know my mother's background. If fate turned a different corner, then I would have been the son of a certain "Mungo Jerry". Does the name ring a bell? How about the number one hit "In the summertime"? Mungo was very taken by my mother. After refusal, he asked her why she had refused. The answer could well have put him off for good. Perhaps his pride was dented. When asked, my mother replied "It's because you are too ugly". Now I know where I got that compulsion to be honest. Looking at old pictures of him, I have to say I'm inclined to agree. Good call mum :) I have no doubt that there were many women out there who found his chiselled features attractive. Just not my mother.

So at some point in the past, my father came across my mother. Looking at the pedigree of both of them, you would struggle to find a logical reason why they got together. My father had a below par hereditary C.V., whilst my mother's side of the family stemmed from 19th century aristocracy. Well as far back as I can trace. I'll be doing the family tree bit at some point in the future to see how far I can take it back. My mothers family will be quite easy, but I'm not sure it will be as easy to trace my father's roots.

To be continued...

Now for the nitty gritty stuff. The Youtube figures. The subs have been up and down over the last few days, but are still slightly on the increase. The total currently stands at 893. My channel viewing now stand at 20,958 and the total viewing figures for all my videos is now at 349,427.

So what's coming next?

I've prepared some covers to upload whilst I've been working on my album. I'll give a track listing in the next post. My next few vids are a crash test dummies request, and a rather special Youtube duet with a lady who has a wonderful voice.

This is the 2nd of 3 tunes in memory of my father who died recently. It's my version of Through the barricades, originally performed by the group Spandau ballet. For those that don't know, it's about Northern Ireland.

Check it out.

I said I was going to start telling a few tales about my father's life, and so I will. Though I only know a fraction of what went on in his life. Still it's enough to raise many eyebrows.

My Dad. Part 1

I'll begin with the basic stuff. His birthplace was a place called Hammersmith, in West London. His mum Lily was a loving and kind person, but his father sadly did not live up to that reputation. An Irish waiter by trade. If you can call it a trade. The father used to beat his mother whilst John was looking on. It's no surprise that he had deep seated dislike for him. He didn't stick around for long. His brothers and sisters all share a different surname to him. Fortunately they had a better father. As a youngster he used to get into lots of trouble. This was just a sign of what was to come in the future. Just a sign though. Some of the individuals he met in life ended up quite successful, and some of those achieved fame.

John enlisted into the Navy as a teenager. Although his service lasted less than four years, due to his dismissal. He got a reputation for fighting, and as a gambling man, he used to set up fighting fixtures with side betting. During his service, and many fights, he managed to get away with only one loss. During his service, he opted to take it upon himself to depart from the Navy, before his compulsory term had finished. concealing himself within the ranks of travelling gypsies, and eventually hiding out at his mothers house. This is where the Military police finally caught up with him. Picture the scene. The M.P.s talking to his mother on the doorstep, whilst John was escaping out of the back window. He didn't get very far before they captured him and returned him to Portsmouth.

To be continued...

Some exciting news for me. I've finally produced my first album. It's called "Sight Or Sound". As I'm working on a shoestring budget, the album is going out on digital release only. It has been a struggle doing all the jobs myself. The performing, mixing mastering and artwork etc. It's certainly kept the costs down though. It will be on sale in over 40 places apparently. Some of those include Itunes, Amazon and Napster. I don't want to come across as an anorak, but I was really extremely proud to have got the barcode for the album. Hooray! It now has a global product identity, and that's official :)

It's looking like it's going to be available to buy in about a month from now. Then it will spread to other online stores in the next few months. I will be updating my blog about it when it happens, and writing about any reviews etc.

Finally, it's those Youtube stats again.

The subs have climbed up to 890. Only 10 away from 900 now.

The viewings on my channel have passed the 20k milestone, pushing forward to 20,672.

The total viewings for all my videos is now up to 343,712.

My next video is an acoustic cover. The third and final of my dad's favourite songs.

I haven't done any posts in a while, due to the fact that my father died recently. He reached the age of 70 years, which was an achievement in itself, considering he was an alcoholic. It was this addiction that finally took its toll on him.

I failed to see him before he passed away. He did his usual disappearing act, before booking himself into hospital. He died only a day later.

He had a very colourful existence, and there are many tales of his adventures, and happenings that surrounded him. He has met a lot of people in his life. Some of those people were and still are pretty well known to many. There's some tales to tell about them as well.

I'm will be going over some of those in my future posts.

I don't have any good reason to call my father a saint, because that is something that he wasn't. He stepped on the wrong side of morality many times, but he nearly always seemed to get away with it. A lot of that had to do with his persuasive personality.

I Thought I'd cover a few of his favourite tunes on Youtube. He had a real passion for music, and a broad range of musical tastes. Covering a number of decades. I suppose that's where I inherited my love for music. The first of his favourites I've uploaded to Youtube is one of his all time top songs, "Kingston town" by "UB40". This one always got him dancing, and dancing is something he liked to do often. Not only on the dance floor, but just about anywhere. This was the song that I used at the end of his funeral. The original version that is.

This is my version:

Have I got some stories to tell. Where to start. I think I'll just be random about it. A bit like he was. I think I've got to be a bit careful about some of the stories because they cause a bit of fuss. I might use the term allegedly a lot. Lol.

So back to the Youtube story. The figures have still advanced at a good rate, even though I haven't been attending to it much.

I've now got 851 subscribers. A healthy increase.

The channel viewings are also doing well at 19,745.

The total viewing figures for all my videos is 320,952. Amazing. Still going strong.

I'm looking at getting a few more of my father's favourites up next. Then I'll do a few of the cover versions that some people have requested, and two of my own songs.

It's been a while since I last posted, and uploaded a video to Youtube. It's been a very busy month, and very little of that has been music related. I attended the wedding of a friend, and I have to say that that it was one of the best I've been to. The whole wedding party was looked after. Coaches were provided between all destinations, so that we could concentrate on the important things, like raising our alcohol levels :)

It took place on the Isle of Man. A highlight of the day was a tram that was hired out exclusively to transport us all to the peak of snaefell mountain. A bagpiper joined us. Together with plenty to eat and a sufficient supply of champagne.

I very much enjoyed the whole thing, and was extremely pleased for them both, that the event went so well, and the weather took a break from raining.

I finally got back to doing a couple of cover songs. This one is another Coldplay tune called "Amsterdam". It was from their album "A rush of blood to the head". This one is in my top 5 Coldplay songs. The video is just a slideshow of images. I admit I didn't spend much time on the vid, but the song was far more important to me :)

Check it out :)

There are a number other things I've been getting up to in the past month, though I'm not going to bother writing about it. It would fill several pages. I'm just update the Youtube stats.

Well. I may not have been doing much on Youtube, but the figures have been increasing very well on their own.

I now have 806 subs. I was hoping to get to the 1,000 by the end of the year, but at this rate, it looks like it's going to pass that sooner.

Channel viewings are now up to 18,423. They are rolling along well.

Last, but by no means least. The total video views have inreased to 291,498. The 300k landmark is less than 2 weeks away now.

I have prepared another cover version, and I am hoping that i can spend some time making the video amusing. It is another song from the "Crash test dummies". I would like to get that one up pretty soon. Rather than disappear for another month :)

I made a decision to seek out some local musicians to help me out with my album project.

The biggest issue I have with my songwriting is on the music side. I think that I pen good songs, and that has been confirmed by many musicians and industry pro's.

I am satisfied with my lyrics, and the general melodies, and hooks etc. The problem comes when I try to get the song out of my head into musical form. Because I only play basic guitar, I cannot seem to add the expression I want from the musical instruments. Like I can with the vocals. I'm quite sure that I will be more capable of that in time, but I would really like to release the album before the end of this year.

I was chatting to a friend of mine who goes to the odd karaoke, and I discovered that he was in a band. He has requested my company a number of times at an open mic night. So I finally went on wednesday.

I ended up getting up and doing 2 numbers, with the help of a guitarist.

I must admit that I really enjoyed the night. The venue sort of reminded me a bit of the cavern club (of beatles fame). It was all underground, and mainly arches. The acoustics were great because the long arches created a funnel effect for the sound. Nice and loud.

At the end of the night, I was approached by a few of the musicians. Who asked me to come down and perform again. So I agreed that I would gen up on one of the songs they perform, if they would learn one of the songs I like. There were no objections . So it seems I'll be up under the arches again soon.

All of this gave me an excellent idea. I could go to various open mic nights and get to know a number of local musicians. Then see if any of them are interested in helping me out with developing my album. I'll make a CD of a few songs for them to listen to. If they like it then we will take it from there :)

I'll keep my blog updated about this. I came across 2 potentials on wednesday, though nothing is for certain until they are recording with me.

What's been going on with the Youtube figures. Youtoube are constantly overhauling their interface, and I've just discovered that they have taken away the total video views. So I had to add up all the individual video viewing figures myself. Here's the lowdown:

My subscribers are up to 746.

The channel viewings have climbed to 17,049.

The total video viewings are now at 262,877.

You can visit my Youtube channel at the following link:

Jeffstunes Youtube channel

Right. I've got to go and learn "Afternoons and coffee spoons" for the next open mic night :)

I decided to change my choice of song, but stay with the same group. Coldplay. After I'd uploaded "Violet hill", I got quite a few requests to sing "Viva la vida". Too many requests to ignore really. So I set about recording that one. It's the second song of theirs that I've done from their latest album, which goes by the same name.

some consider that it's not very professional to cover songs with backing tracks, but I always find a use in everything I attempt in music. I really want to improve my production skills. It's ok to record all the right bits for your song, but if the mix isn't produced properly, then all that work means very little.

I've recently been trying to match the vocal production in the last few songs, to the original songs. I think it's made a big difference in the result, and it's teaching me how to produce my own voice in relation to the different types of music.

I've implemented vocal boosting on this song. Plus low to moderate plate reverb in the verses. Chorus and a heavier plate reverb in the chorus.

Here it is. Viva la vida.

Now for some up to date figures from my Youtube account.

Subs have come and gone, but yesterday I awoke to the pleasant sight of 6 new subscribers. That puts the figure at 727.

The channel views are now up at 16,529.

My total video views have done it! They've broken the quarter of a million views. All of this within a year of posting my first video. At the last check, the number stood at 254,512.

Hopefully I can now go back and do that old Coldplay album track :)

Now for some cover versions. This one is a relatively new song, and it's called "Violet hill". It's taken from the latest Coldplay album entitled "Viva la vida".

I had several Coldplay songs lined up to cover, and I chose this as the first of the batch. I really struggled with the falsetto in this one, so I had to take the music down a key. I still struggled to reach the highest note, but did get there in the end.

It's been quite noisy in the skies above my village over the past weekend. I live a few miles away from a place called Goodwood. They hold a number of annual events and one of them is called "The festival of speed". So whilst it was in progress, I took a few pictures of the aircraft from my rear garden. I've put those in the video. All I'm going to say is that one in particular got very close, and it wasn't a small aircraft!!!

Have a listen to my rendition of this great tune, and check out my photos:

The Youtube numbers are still rolling along like a steamroller.

I've now got 721 subscribers.

Channel views are up to 16,254.

The total viewings of all my videos are a shave away from that milestone. 249,532. If nothing drastic happens, it should pass the quarter of a million tomorrow morning :)

My next one will probably be another Coldplay song. I've got my eyes on an album track from a few years ago :)

This is the 3rd of my old original songs choices. This is a song called "Winner". The lyrics can be interpreted in many different ways, but I wrote it for mistaken friends who need support.

This song was also co-written with Mick Paul. I finish off with details about what mick is up to now in his music career.

If you saw the video in my last post, you will no doubt have discovered that Mick played bass on a hit single for David Hasselhoff in the UK. There aren't many people who don't know who he is. He's been in smash hit shows such as "Knight rider", "Baywatch" and "America's got talent".

Here is "Winner":

Mick is quite busy doing the touring thing at the moment, with an outfit named "The David Cross band". David Cross was once part of a band called "King Crimson". They were very well known. If you come from Italy, There's a good chance that you've heard of David Cross. He's pretty popular there, and it's one of the reasons why most of Mick's touring takes place in Italy.

Now for some youtube statistics news.

My subscribers have seen a really good jump in the last few days. Racing past the 700 barrier to 717.

Channel viewings cruised to 16,017. That's the 16k barrier broken.

Finally the overall video views are still racing forward. They are now at 246,003. I was hoping that they might reach the quarter million by the 17th July. Which is the first year anniversary of my first video upload to Youtube. At this rate, it looks like it's going to get there on the 15th!!

I'm probably going to do a few coldplay covers in my next few videos, and I'm hoping to bring some more news about my forthcoming album release.

I've created a mailing list for album news. The email addresses will only be used for that purpose. It's so I can inform interested parties about events regarding the album, before I post the info anywhere else.

If anyone is interested in signing up for it then you can do just that if you go to the homepage on my website. Here's the URL:

Jeffs music

Until the next post :)

This is the second of three songs written by Mick Paul and I several years ago, that I have selected to upload. Ths one shows off Mick's Bass skills a bit. I wanted acoustic guitar and Bass only in this, and I think it turned out very well. The vocals are a little off key in places. This song, and most of the others were only written hours before they were recorded, so I'm not really surprised at the mistakes.

The song is about a very dark subject, though I'm not going to tell you here. You'll have to watch the video to discover it. I reveal the meaning near the end of the video. It gives a completely new angle on the words.

Getting back to Mick. Here's some information on this very talented guy:

Played on 2 singles in 1970.

Joined "The Hotshots" in 1973. They had a number 4 hit.

Joined "Union express" in 1974 and toured Europe for 2 years.

From 1978, he did some session work for the B.B.C. and for a various number of publishers.

He was also an in-house bass player at Abbeydale studios in West London.

Co-wrote the Labour Party campaign song in 1987.

Joined "More tea vicar in 1990.

He wrote and performed on a single called "Aquarius" for Yello records, produced by Tyrrell.

He played bass on the "David Hasselhoff" single "If we could only say goodbye" (Yes. It's The Hoff).

and more..

I'll give a web link to his recording studio in West Worthing, southern England:

Froosound Recording Studio

Mick is the person doing all the music in this song. He also did the music for the song in the previous post, and the next post I do.

The title of this song is "Losing my mind". I hope you like it, and the Bass playing :)

Now here is the latest youtube account stats.

A rise in my subs to 692.

Channel views are now at 15,540.

The overall vid views are 237,970. Still on target to hit a quarter of a million by the 17th of July. climbing at about a thousand views a day.

Coming next is the third of the old original songs, featuring Mick Paul.

I'm still working hard on the album. I had a song in my head, as I was waking up yesterday. A strange way to discover a song, but I thought it was very good. So I'm going to put it together to see what it sounds like, and if it's good enough, it can go on the album.