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This is a re-arrangement of the very first song I ever co-wrote, performed and recorded ... way back in January 2002. At the time, the original version was Mike's deeper lead voice, me on high harmony, and our two acoustic guitars. I tackled this one first to test whether I could bring anything new to the table. If it failed, or if Mike felt the result did the song a disservice, the whole redux project would have been shelved.

EIGHT MONTHS LATER ...
Once the album and the videos were done, lacking a new project, and wondering whether my creative phase was running dry in my 70th year, and age may be a limiting factor on future opportunities, I decided on a final throw of the dice. I'd often wondered how professionals might approach any of my songs, and how much of a difference they could make in terms of performance and production. Considering the likely cost, this was only ever likely to be a one-off. In which case, what track would I want to do? On reflection, the only candidate was "Fields and Sunny Skies" ... the first song written and recorded, and an on-going favourite I'd never tired of.

Part of the 2002 album had been recorded at Big Note Productions as well as that project's remastering following problems with the Brisbane studio. Although we only ever dealt with the engineer, I subsequently got to know the Studio's owners, a local Gold Coast couple who were also writers, performers and producers. I sent them a raw acoustic version (guitar and vocal) and a songsheet. I gave them 100% freedom to do with it as they wished as they had proved to have similar musical tastes to me. Without any direction from me, they re-arranged and performed it from scratch in their own commercial studio. Both Mike and I were blown away by how good it sounded, and this professional re-imagining confirmed our long-held belief that it was a solid song. It can be found on Spotify (and all platforms) under artist name 'Jennifer Matthews'.

I re-jigged my REDUX video to incorporate their recording, and it is shown at bottom of this page.

I subsequently submitted this cover in 2024 to The SongDoor International Songwriting Competition. This too makes for neat 20-year circularity as we had submitted all 12 songs off the early Not All It Seem album to the International Song Contest in 2003. I was interested to see whether 20 years of change in the industry, and a more modern production, would affect a professional critique. Their 2024 scored assessment of individual elements, together with an overall comment, is in this 1-page PDF ...
FIELDS AND SUNNY SKIES REVIEW (January 2024)

[The 2003 feedback is here ... FIELDS AND SUNNY SKIES REVIEW (October 2003)