Frank,
I have downloaded your songs and I think that, like Dirk Baert wrote, the idea of using a Bolero style in Over the Rainbow is really original; I don't know why there is an evident change in the sound quality when you switch style, at about 3 minutes from the beginning.
Frank, you are asking for opinions; well, I am by no means qualified to give opinions to anyone, but our common friend Scott Yee maybe is; about one year ago he gave me this advice: "When you play a song, try at the same time to SING it in your head". I have found this advice extremely helpful. My personal experience (and my mistakes) had me learn a few other things:
- I always try to keep a song short (ideally around 2 minutes) because I think that after 2-2:30 minutes the listener's attention tends to fade away;
- Since I am not particularly gifted from a technical point of view, I try to make up for that deficiency giving a lot of attention to other details; so, before recording a new song I make every effort to have a kind of "script" ready in my mind: style to use, instruments most suited for the song and, most important, where the focal point of the song will be.
I know that you have worked in the movie industry, so I am sure that this concept is familiar to you; every movie has one "climax" (sometimes even more) and is built around those focal points; the same goes for a song.
So I guess that there are really a lot of things to consider, but the end result will repay one for all the efforts.
Frank, thank you for your songs and also for giving me the opportunity to at least start to discuss these points; I hope that other people will contribute to this discussion with their opinions too.
Andrea