Kit Watkins

[BobNagy]

Greetings folks ! I'm a new member, and this is my first post on this board. I suspect that what I will say here will be of great interest to many of you, as much as it was for me. First though, a brief introduction.

I am a composer, musician, audio engineer, and software engineer. And music lover.
Like all of you, I am a fan of interesting music (any style of music that is good and has something to say musically), and much of the progressive rock from the good old days (70s/80s) has been a favorite of mine for a long time.
I have been a fan of Kit Watkins since the late 70s. A good friend of mine and fellow musician had way back when purchased one of the HTM albums, and had bought it only because it said on the cover that somebody played minimoog on it. My friend of course is a keyboardist. He loved the music and recommended it to me, telling me in particular that the guy who plays minimoog is great. Well, great is an understatement. It is my opinion that Kit is the best person to ever lay a finger on a minimoog, especially its pitch wheel.

It was therefore my incredible great fortune to recently come across a piece of music written by Kit, from about 1984 or so, but until now unknown to me. Actually, it's likely unknown to almost everybody, as it was (in my opinion) an unfinished, unreleased, and untitled work. It had keyboards on it, played by Kit of course, but was vert short at only 1:18. It was imbued with Kit's trademark compositional beauty, but wasn't quite a complete piece of music, since it didn't have enough repetition and development.

I was entranced by this song and its beauty, and deeply motivated to see what I could do with it. I pulled an all nighter, working through the night until 6 AM, performing copy and paste of various sections of the tune, to extend it to a full 3:00. I repeated sections, created an intro, etc. Throughout all of this, my only intention was to attempt to imagine what Kit himself would have done, had he actually extended this "brief idea" into a song of full length. I did not record any new material, I only reused the material from the original song via copy and paste. I didn't pitch shift or time shift anything, I only used repetition. I specifically did not want to impose any of my composer's esthetics on it.

I then invited a local drummer to play on it, I asked my daughter to play flute and sing on it, and I played guitar and bass. I then sent the mix of this tune to Kit, hoping of course that he would like it. His response was better than I could have imagined. He really liked it, a lot. That completely made my day. I asked kit if he would allow me to release this tune publicly, and he agreed to allow it. And so folks, you can have a listen to a "new" track composed and played by Kit in about 1984, along with my modern day arrangements and additions, on my You Tube channel here :

https://youtu.be/90cuw4rKyqQ

While you're over there, you may also be interested to hear some of my music, on my YT channel :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJh...D16Xo3YdzClfAw

In particular, I recommend my song Hope (written at the beginning of the covid saga in March 2020, and intended as positive uplift) :

https://youtu.be/mviBs6sKsdk

and my song Good Advice (dedicated to our friend and brilliant Brasilian bass maestro Arthur Maia, who died 12/15/2018 of a heart attack at age 56) :

https://youtu.be/ri9JH6dkWZE

If you like what you hear, you may also like to know that my first two CDs are for sale on discogs.com here :

https://www.discogs.com/release/2312...Nagy-Handiwork
https://www.discogs.com/release/2315...Nagy-Nota-Bene

I am currently working on 3 or maybe 4 other CD projects of material (my songs, and those of other composers too).

I truly hope you enjoy this Kit Watkins tune as much as I do.

My email address is available in my profile for anyone who wishes to contact me directly.

Cheers

Bob

[happytheman]

You can have a listen to a "new" track composed and played by Kit in about 1984, along with my modern day arrangements and additions, on my You Tube channel here :

https://youtu.be/90cuw4rKyqQ

I thought that was rather nice.. thanks for sharing

[BobNagy]

I thought that was rather nice.. thanks for sharing

I'm glad you liked it !

[Dok]

Thanks Bob! Really enjoyed that.

[zeprogmeister]

Very nice. Must be from the period where he was working on "In Time". Curious how you came across it..

[BobNagy]

Very nice. Must be from the period where he was working on "In Time". Curious how you came across it..

Yes, it was approximately at the same time as In Time.
It was on a cassette tape of material he sold to a friend way back then.

[AdventAlan]

Hi Bob,

I'm a bit Kit Watkins fan as well (as was my mom, who passed away a few years ago) and it was a nice surprise to hear your adapted/lengthened interpretation of one of his pieces that I don't think I'd ever known about. The results sound very nice and thanks for sharing the tune.

Best wishes,


Alan

[SourceCodeX]

Greetings folks ! I'm a new member, and this is my first post on this board. I suspect that what I will say here will be of great interest to many of you, as much as it was for me. First though, a brief introduction.

I am a composer, musician, audio engineer, and software engineer. And music lover.
Like all of you, I am a fan of interesting music (any style of music that is good and has something to say musically), and much of the progressive rock from the good old days (70s/80s) has been a favorite of mine for a long time.
I have been a fan of Kit Watkins since the late 70s. A good friend of mine and fellow musician had way back when purchased one of the HTM albums, and had bought it only because it said on the cover that somebody played minimoog on it. My friend of course is a keyboardist. He loved the music and recommended it to me, telling me in particular that the guy who plays minimoog is great. Well, great is an understatement. It is my opinion that Kit is the best person to ever lay a finger on a minimoog, especially its pitch wheel.

It was therefore my incredible great fortune to recently come across a piece of music written by Kit, from about 1984 or so, but until now unknown to me. Actually, it's likely unknown to almost everybody, as it was (in my opinion) an unfinished, unreleased, and untitled work. It had keyboards on it, played by Kit of course, but was vert short at only 1:18. It was imbued with Kit's trademark compositional beauty, but wasn't quite a complete piece of music, since it didn't have enough repetition and development.

I was entranced by this song and its beauty, and deeply motivated to see what I could do with it. I pulled an all nighter, working through the night until 6 AM, performing copy and paste of various sections of the tune, to extend it to a full 3:00. I repeated sections, created an intro, etc. Throughout all of this, my only intention was to attempt to imagine what Kit himself would have done, had he actually extended this "brief idea" into a song of full length. I did not record any new material, I only reused the material from the original song via copy and paste. I didn't pitch shift or time shift anything, I only used repetition. I specifically did not want to impose any of my composer's esthetics on it.

I then invited a local drummer to play on it, I asked my daughter to play flute and sing on it, and I played guitar and bass. I then sent the mix of this tune to Kit, hoping of course that he would like it. His response was better than I could have imagined. He really liked it, a lot. That completely made my day. I asked kit if he would allow me to release this tune publicly, and he agreed to allow it. And so folks, you can have a listen to a "new" track composed and played by Kit in about 1984, along with my modern day arrangements and additions, on my You Tube channel here :

https://youtu.be/90cuw4rKyqQ

While you're over there, you may also be interested to hear some of my music, on my YT channel :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJh...D16Xo3YdzClfAw

In particular, I recommend my song Hope (written at the beginning of the covid saga in March 2020, and intended as positive uplift) :

https://youtu.be/mviBs6sKsdk

and my song Good Advice (dedicated to our friend and brilliant Brasilian bass maestro Arthur Maia, who died 12/15/2018 of a heart attack at age 56) :

https://youtu.be/ri9JH6dkWZE

...snip...

Cheers

Bob

Wow. This sounds wonderful. Listening now on "Loop". FYI: Kit has pulled his music from all digital vendors. But you can download his entire discography as 256 kbps mp3 files. http://kitwatkins.com/recordings/index.htm

If anyone is interested, I am selling a rare Kit Watkins release (Azure) here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125150826313 Mint condition.

Thanks again for sharing this Watkins rarity embellished so nicely.

[dropforge]

I have been a fan of Kit Watkins since the late 70s. A good friend of mine and fellow musician had way back when purchased one of the HTM albums, and had bought it only because it said on the cover that somebody played minimoog on it. My friend of course is a keyboardist. He loved the music and recommended it to me, telling me in particular that the guy who plays minimoog is great. Well, great is an understatement. It is my opinion that Kit is the best person to ever lay a finger on a minimoog, especially its pitch wheel.

Kit is easily one of the best Minimoog "stylists" out there. My personal fave Minimoog riffer is Jan Hammer, and I do believe Kit was influenced by him. Kit's instrumental albums are superb and they appear to be OOP, so I'm glad I have 'em.

It was therefore my incredible great fortune to recently come across a piece of music written by Kit, from about 1984 or so, but until now unknown to me. Actually, it's likely unknown to almost everybody, as it was (in my opinion) an unfinished, unreleased, and untitled work. It had keyboards on it, played by Kit of course, but was vert short at only 1:18. It was imbued with Kit's trademark compositional beauty, but wasn't quite a complete piece of music, since it didn't have enough repetition and development.

I was entranced by this song and its beauty, and deeply motivated to see what I could do with it. I pulled an all nighter, working through the night until 6 AM, performing copy and paste of various sections of the tune, to extend it to a full 3:00. I repeated sections, created an intro, etc. Throughout all of this, my only intention was to attempt to imagine what Kit himself would have done, had he actually extended this "brief idea" into a song of full length. I did not record any new material, I only reused the material from the original song via copy and paste. I didn't pitch shift or time shift anything, I only used repetition. I specifically did not want to impose any of my composer's esthetics on it.

I then invited a local drummer to play on it, I asked my daughter to play flute and sing on it, and I played guitar and bass. I then sent the mix of this tune to Kit, hoping of course that he would like it. His response was better than I could have imagined. He really liked it, a lot. That completely made my day. I asked kit if he would allow me to release this tune publicly, and he agreed to allow it. And so folks, you can have a listen to a "new" track composed and played by Kit in about 1984, along with my modern day arrangements and additions, on my You Tube channel here :

https://youtu.be/90cuw4rKyqQ

Wow! I think that is just lovely. You nailed that "came out back in the '80s" production — clean but by no means sterile. Full of life. Well done.

This must be you: https://www.discogs.com/artist/3717027-Bob-Nagy

[BobNagy]

This must be you: https://www.discogs.com/artist/3717027-Bob-Nagy

Yes it is.

[Mark Newman]

No offense, but I don't think Azure is rare. There are several copies available on Discogs for $7-8.

Wow. This sounds wonderful. Listening now on "Loop". FYI: Kit has pulled his music from all digital vendors. But you can download his entire discography as 256 kbps mp3 files. http://kitwatkins.com/recordings/index.htm

If anyone is interested, I am selling a rare Kit Watkins release (Azure) here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/125150826313 Mint condition.

Thanks again for sharing this Watkins rarity embellished so nicely.

[Gizmotron]

Greetings folks ! I'm a new member, and this is my first post on this board. I suspect that what I will say here will be of great interest to many of you, as much as it was for me. First though, a brief introduction.

I am a composer, musician, audio engineer, and software engineer. And music lover.
Like all of you, I am a fan of interesting music (any style of music that is good and has something to say musically), and much of the progressive rock from the good old days (70s/80s) has been a favorite of mine for a long time.
I have been a fan of Kit Watkins since the late 70s. A good friend of mine and fellow musician had way back when purchased one of the HTM albums, and had bought it only because it said on the cover that somebody played minimoog on it. My friend of course is a keyboardist. He loved the music and recommended it to me, telling me in particular that the guy who plays minimoog is great. Well, great is an understatement. It is my opinion that Kit is the best person to ever lay a finger on a minimoog, especially its pitch wheel.

It was therefore my incredible great fortune to recently come across a piece of music written by Kit, from about 1984 or so, but until now unknown to me. Actually, it's likely unknown to almost everybody, as it was (in my opinion) an unfinished, unreleased, and untitled work. It had keyboards on it, played by Kit of course, but was vert short at only 1:18. It was imbued with Kit's trademark compositional beauty, but wasn't quite a complete piece of music, since it didn't have enough repetition and development.

I was entranced by this song and its beauty, and deeply motivated to see what I could do with it. I pulled an all nighter, working through the night until 6 AM, performing copy and paste of various sections of the tune, to extend it to a full 3:00. I repeated sections, created an intro, etc. Throughout all of this, my only intention was to attempt to imagine what Kit himself would have done, had he actually extended this "brief idea" into a song of full length. I did not record any new material, I only reused the material from the original song via copy and paste. I didn't pitch shift or time shift anything, I only used repetition. I specifically did not want to impose any of my composer's esthetics on it.

I then invited a local drummer to play on it, I asked my daughter to play flute and sing on it, and I played guitar and bass. I then sent the mix of this tune to Kit, hoping of course that he would like it. His response was better than I could have imagined. He really liked it, a lot. That completely made my day. I asked kit if he would allow me to release this tune publicly, and he agreed to allow it. And so folks, you can have a listen to a "new" track composed and played by Kit in about 1984, along with my modern day arrangements and additions, on my You Tube channel here :

https://youtu.be/90cuw4rKyqQ

While you're over there, you may also be interested to hear some of my music, on my YT channel :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJh...D16Xo3YdzClfAw

In particular, I recommend my song Hope (written at the beginning of the covid saga in March 2020, and intended as positive uplift) :

https://youtu.be/mviBs6sKsdk

and my song Good Advice (dedicated to our friend and brilliant Brasilian bass maestro Arthur Maia, who died 12/15/2018 of a heart attack at age 56) :

https://youtu.be/ri9JH6dkWZE

If you like what you hear, you may also like to know that my first two CDs are for sale on discogs.com here :

https://www.discogs.com/release/2312...Nagy-Handiwork
https://www.discogs.com/release/2315...Nagy-Nota-Bene

I am currently working on 3 or maybe 4 other CD projects of material (my songs, and those of other composers too).

I truly hope you enjoy this Kit Watkins tune as much as I do.

My email address is available in my profile for anyone who wishes to contact me directly.

Cheers

Bob

What a great first post! And what a great tune! Kit’s work from that period is wonderful. The piece as presented by you is excellent. From your description I agree that you respected Kit’s original material in a non-invasive way when you extended it. The drum and guitar and flute additions are perfect.

Perhaps most of all I am amazed that you were not only to obtain an email address, but were able to get a reply that also gave you permission. Kit has been very under the radar for quite some time. He has separated himself from his earlier work in quite a few ways. Clearly, getting his permission is a testament to the quality of your work.

Well done!

I will listen to some of your other stuff.

Thank you!

[BobNagy]

What a great first post! And what a great tune! Kit’s work from that period is wonderful. The piece as presented by you is excellent. From your description I agree that you respected Kit’s original material in a non-invasive way when you extended it. The drum and guitar and flute additions are perfect.

Perhaps most of all I am amazed that you were not only to obtain an email address, but were able to get a reply that also gave you permission. Kit has been very under the radar for quite some time. He has separated himself from his earlier work in quite a few ways. Clearly, getting his permission is a testament to the quality of your work.

Well done!

I will listen to some of your other stuff.

Thank you!

Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad you enjoyed the tune.
I agree that Kit's 80s works were wonderful.
His compositional style is unique, and has an emotional energy about it that I find very moving.

[Gizmotron]

Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad you enjoyed the tune.
I agree that Kit's 80s works were wonderful.
His compositional style is unique, and has an emotional energy about it that I find very moving.

Good points. His compositional skills are off the chart. He has a voice (on ‘boards) that is unique. Simply put, Kit is perhaps the most original keyboardist to come along. And yes, hs mastery of the pitch bend wheel is amazing.

[BobNagy]

Hello again folks !

For anybody who enjoyed the "new/old" Kit Watkins tune I presented in my previous post on this thread, you will likely find it interesting to know about a new album project in progress, featuring Kit on keyboards of course, myself on guitar and bass, and Anthony Taddeo on drums, plus other guest artists as the mood strikes. Please head on over to KitWatkins.com for more info !

Cheers !

Bob

[Gizmotron]

WOWSERS! This is huge!

[moecurlythanu]

Definitely of interest.

[BobNagy]

I should also mention that there are two songs of this album already completed. Both are available for streaming and download, for free, on Kit's website. He also has a link there to a bandcamp page for this project, where these two songs are also available for free. More songs will be posted in both places as they are completed. Stay tuned (pun intended) !

http://www.kitwatkins.com

Also, the first song completed, called Four Mary (Ott), is also available with accompanying slide show video, on my You Tube channel, here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90cuw4rKyqQ

Cheers !

Bob

[Jimmy Giant]

Thanks Bob. And Kit. I like!
Jeez, Kit has more albums than I realized. I have 4 or 5 of them. In Time is an old favorite I got when it came out.

[interbellum]

Cool. Being a fan of Kit's work for a long time I hope this new album will also get a physical release some day.

[rickawakeman]

I know I've told this tale here before but way back before the interweb I found kit's physical addy enclosed in a used vinyl LP of Kit's at a local (long defunct) record store in Amherst MA. Fanboy that I am, I wrote to Kit, asking among other things if he had any of the shows he did with Camel available...Kit was kind enough to write back, described his time with Camel as being treated as a sideman..amnd happily some of Kit's time with Camel is available via Camel's Official boots series. Kit also enclosed a Wayside catalog, which got me on Laser;s Edge mailing list iirc...which got me into prog mail order...and the rest is history. Thanks Kit! Still have the letter...

[mozo-pg]

Welcome to progressive ears .

[interbellum]

I should also mention that there are two songs of this album already completed. Both are available for streaming and download, for free, on Kit's website. He also has a link there to a bandcamp page for this project, where these two songs are also available for free. More songs will be posted in both places as they are completed. Stay tuned (pun intended) !

http://www.kitwatkins.com

Also, the first song completed, called Four Mary (Ott), is also available with accompanying slide show video, on my You Tube channel, here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90cuw4rKyqQ

Cheers !

Bob

I wonder if the track Eye Of The Storm, mentioned on Kit's site, is a new version of the song he did for Camel's I Can See Your House From Here:

MORE TRACKS IN PROGRESS:

Cascades Clearout
Underwater Cathedrals
Eye of the Storm

[calyx]

I wonder if the track Eye Of The Storm, mentioned on Kit's site, is a new version of the song he did for Camel's I Can See Your House From Here:

I assume you know this, but "Eye of the Storm" was a Happy The Man tune, demoed for their 3rd album, which remained a demo album as Kit left for Camel shortly after recording it, resulting in the band breaking up. When asked for input for the new Camel album, Kit presented a number of ideas, and "Eye of the Storm" was chosen (I understand Kit was understandably disappointed that only one was, as he rightly thought his compositions compared more than favourably with Andy Latimer's at the time), although once recorded it was never performed live by Camel (nor was, thankfully, "Remote Romance", his other contribution to the album).

Anyway, yes, we can safely assume this is the same 1979 tune they will be re-working for this project.

[calyx]

I wonder if the track Eye Of The Storm, mentioned on Kit's site, is a new version of the song he did for Camel's I Can See Your House From Here:

I assume you know this, but "Eye of the Storm" was a Happy The Man tune, demoed for their 3rd album, which remained a demo album as Kit left for Camel shortly after recording it, resulting in the band breaking up. When asked for input for the new Camel album, Kit presented a number of ideas, and "Eye of the Storm" was chosen (I understand Kit was understandably disappointed that only one was, as he rightly thought his compositions compared more than favourably with Andy Latimer's at the time), although once recorded it was never performed live by Camel (nor was, thankfully, "Remote Romance", his other contribution to the album).

Anyway, yes, we can safely assume this is the same 1979 tune they will be re-working for this project. It's one of his most 'famous' tunes, so why would he use the title another time ? (The only example I can think of a band giving the same title to two completely different songs is "Selene" by Gong.)