2025-Jan-11 - Speed Of Night
This week's randomly selected song Speed Of Night is track #7 from disc #2 of my triple CD album It Was All Just a Dream.
Speed Of Night first appeared on my 2017 album Juxtaposition, and again on my 2022 album Juxtaposition Reimagined. This song started as a simple jazz-influenced chord progression. I was playing around with some "expensive" chords and I found that I really loved the way that these rich, thick chords sounded, especially when I added in some open string notes. The progression, which would end up being the basis for the chorus of the song was: Em9 -> Am9 -> F♯m7♭5 -> Cmaj7 -> B7. I would play this progression into a looper pedal and just noodle around over it for 20-30 minutes at a time.
A good chord progression has the ability to pull melodies out of thin air, and this progression was definitely doing that for me. I would eventually develop this progression into a complete song structure, with complementary verses and guitar solo sections. Once I started recording the song and laying down the drums and bass, I started envisioning the song as a backdrop to a dimly lit night club and an intimate moment on the dance floor between two lovers. This vision led me to the title "Speed Of Night", as a play on "speed of light", but more or less the inverse: slow, dark, secret, intimate.
The original 2017 version of Speed Of Night featured a slightly slower tempo and like all of the other songs on the album, a sampled synthesizer bass guitar part. Replacing the synthesizer bass parts was a major motivation behind my 2022 Juxtaposition Reimagined album. While the decision to use the "fake" bass meant that I could get my 2017 album Juxtaposition out the door faster, the decision would ultimately be one that I regretted. As meticulous as I was about programming realistic bass lines, the parts just never sounded quite right to me. So for the 2022 Juxtaposition Reimagined album and the subsequent 2024 It Was All Just a Dream collection, I completely re-recorded the song at a slightly faster tempo and with a real 4-string fretless bass guitar.
I used three guitars for Speed Of Night. For the dreamy clean chords in the background, I played two different guitars. The first was my Sully US Custom 622 through the green channel of my 50-watt EVH 5150 III 6L6 amp. And the second was my Sapphire Blue Charvel Pro-Mod DK24 through the green channel of my Joyo Zombie amp. I played all of the lead melody on my Zinc Silver Ibanez RG250LTD through the Fat channel of my Mesa Boogie Mark V:25 amp.
If you love what you hear and want to support the music I make, please consider purchasing It Was All Just a Dream on CD or digital download. I will gladly personalize and autograph your copy.
https://chrisstark.com/it-was-all-just-a-dream
Keep an eye out for next Saturday's song spotlight, and as always, thank you sincerely for all of your support!
Love, Aloha, and Rock!
❤️😎🎸