CREDITS: A SLIGHT DEPARTURE

Alan Williams: Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Khim, Charango, Marimba, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel , Chimes, and other sundry Percussion
Greg Porter: Bass, Backing Vocals
Darleen Wilson: Electric Guitars, Backing Vocals
Ben Wittman: Drums, Percussion
Thomas Juliano: Electric Guitars
Robert Holmes: Electric Guitar
David Moore: Musical Saw
Helen Sherrah-Davies: Violin Solo
The Mehr Aufgaben Orchestra (Marissa Licata, Helen Sherrah-Davies, Rebecca Strauss, Julia McKenzie, Javier Cabellero): Strings

Produced by Alan Williams
Basic Tracks recorded by Sir David James Minehan at Woolly Mammoth Sound, Waltham, MA
Strings recorded by Antonio Oliart at Fraser Performance Studio, WGBH, Boston, MA
Additional percussion recorded by Ben Wittman at Wittman Productions, Brooklyn, NY
Remaining recorded by Alan Williams at The Aviary (mach 2)
Mixed by Alan Williams at The Aviary (mach 3)
Mastered by Adam Ayan, Gateway Mastering, Portland, ME

Photography by Coleman Rogers

THE GREAT ESCAPE
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

Awake my love, the time has come at last
Awake my love, before the break of day
So grab your coat and leave the rest behind
Grab your coat, and we'll be on our way

Have mercy, all you watchers in the night
Have mercy, look the other way
Over the wall, two shadows in the dark
Over the wall, we make our great escape
Close your eyes, and we'll soon be free
Side by side, my refugee
And we'll ride for our destiny
Like the river runs to the sea

In seven hours we'll reach the borderlands
Seven hours, nothing more to say
So hear the sound of the future rushing by
Hear the sound, and let the music play
Close your eyes, and we'll soon be free
Side by side, my refugee
And we'll ride for our destiny
Like the river runs to the sea

NEVER TO PART
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

Just ‘cause I’m by myself tonight, that don’t mean anything
My hands have tasted light so bright, beyond your wildest dreams
Maybe it’s madness, maybe it’s the way it could be

There’re so many worlds left to discover
There’re so many wonders in the dark
There’re so many ways to be my lover
Never to part

That burning need you try to hide could lead to anything
Why not give in, enjoy the ride, see what tomorrow brings
Maybe it’s madness, maybe it’s the way it should be

Maybe it’s madness, maybe it’s the way of all things
There’re so many worlds left to discover
There’re so many wonders in the dark
There’re so many ways to be your lover
Never to part, never to part
Never to part

MURDEROUS FRIEND
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

This is how the story ends. It’s kind of useless to pretend
That in this whole wide world of sin you were my friend

Heard you come from out of town, shivering with eyes cast down
Well, lift your head and look around, none heaven bound

That’s the company I keep and as you sow, so shall you reap
Pile the embers six feet deep, and no one weeps

Fire, like a murderous friend

In my heart I hold a gun aiming straight at everyone
Seeking out a friend to shun just for fun

You have stolen all I earned and all I offered, you have spurned
So, when it comes I’ll take my turn to watch it burn

There’s an angel on the stairs, with her long, flowing hair
Rosalinda, she’s my prayer, but she’s not there

There are habits you can’t break, evil urges you can’t shake
An opportunity to take for heaven’s sake

So strike a match and light the fuse, and try to lose these frozen blues
There comes a time you’ve got to choose, and can’t refuse

DEVIL'S STOMPING GROUND
By Alan Williams and Rick Harris © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

Somewhere in the heart of darkness, stirring in enchanted forests
Out beyond the edge of town, the devil's stomping ground
Murmured chants of ancient spirits, shadows dance but you won't fear it
Where desires come unbound, the devil's stomping ground

Speak to me with silent kisses, let your hair fall down
Meet me where the stars go dark and no one is around
The devil's stomping ground

Shallow breathing, pulses quicken, eyes aglow and lips a glisten
With a hunger most profound, the devil’s stomping ground
Tensions mount with every minute, passions beg you to begin it
It's too late to turn back now, the devil's stomping ground 

MIDNIGHT VESPERS
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

Late at night, the sounding of the clock
Calling to the solitary flock
Silently, they gather to receive
With a burning hunger to believe

Reverently, we enter sacred space
Surrender to its comforting embrace
Candlelight will dance across your face
While your eyes reveal your human grace

Midnight vespers, whispers to God
Moonlight promises, vanish with the dawn

Fragrant essence fills the holy room
Safe and warm, returning to the womb
Where the wondrous dance of life begins
Feel the universe caress your skin
For a time, two separate souls are one
Burning bright, then suddenly it’s gone

DIMESTORE DREAMERS
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI))

For a time, I was fine
I could believe in every dream that found me
For a while, I could smile
At everything so brilliantly astounding
Then the days turned to gray
And nothing seemed to satisfy my hunger
Shattered nights, neon lights
The sad deceit of manufactured wonder

A dimestore dreamer, waiting by the door
A dimestore dreamer will dream forevermore

Magazines, movie screens
Imagining a world in technicolor
Strangers meet on the street
A burning need in the eyes of one another

Dimestore dreamers gather by the score
We’re dimestore dreamers, we’ll dream forevermore

Daydream believers lost in the faceless crowd
The daydream deceivers,stealing someone else’s now

Dimestore dreamers, holding out for more
Dimestore dreamers, will dream forevermore

MOUNTAINSIDE
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

Mountain girl, in her old mountain world
Violin at her side
The horsehair bow, and a smooth curling scroll
Made with care, played with pride

A girl’s hidden dreams, secrets to tell
In the sweet singing strings, ringing like bells
Across the mountainside

Modern boy, with his sharp, modern toys
Takes the gift from her hold
And weathered hands, wave farewell to the boy
Chasing dreams, down the road

Packed up my bags, swallowed my fears
And turning my back, running like tears
Down the mountainside

Days to years, sits an old, silent case
Lift the latch, and look inside
A work of heart, from a far, distant place
Made with care, and with pride

A voice on the phone, time to come home
We’re readying the grave, I boarded the plane
With the Fourth of July wounding the sky
But in the blues, reds, and grays
I saw her face in the mountainside

PAGES
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

You and me together
Beneath the rain that's ever falling
In every kind of weather
Your warmest kiss, a breath becalming
So we go on forever
A memory beyond recalling

A page from an old love letter
Floating on the breeze
And falling at your feet

If fate had come between us
If I had never even known you

Then we might still be searching
To find the person to come home to
The wondrous revelation
To know salvation is to hold you

Like pages of old love letters
Stolen by the breeze
I’m falling at your feet
Falling at your feet

NOT FOR SALE
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

Walking down the aisle, I turned to see you smile, and
Doubting all the while, I vowed I would not fail
Don’t know where we’re heading, housewares, feather bedding
But mark it down in red ink, that I am not for sale

No, I wouldn’t lie to you, try to deny you
I want to sigh with you, here in the dark

Was it worth the cost, dear, all the things we’ve got, we’re
Going to get lost here, out beyond the pale

Wonder what’s the price of one night’s paradise, 
I wanted to remind you that I am not for sale

No, I wouldn’t lie to you, try to deny you
I want to buy you the keys to my heart

All the time I’ve spent here, wallowing in good cheer
Trying to remember that I am not for sale

DOWN IN THE HOLE
By Alan Williams © 2015 Under a Metal Sky Music (BMI)

It's not enough to sympathize, you've got to bleed
To call the bluff while hypnotized you must believe
Out on the air tonight, some voice was singing soft and low
(and slow)
I’m on the brink tonight, so, just one more drink and then I'll go
Down in the hole, down in the hole, again
My friend

To face myself after the fall, I had to leave
So turn my picture to the wall and learn to grieve
Out on the road tonight, the big beds will bear the heavy loads
(through the snow)
Out on the thinning ice, who knows what darkness lies below
Down in the hole, down in the hole, again
My friend

Out on the road tonight some voice is crying soft and low
(let it flow)
I'm on the brink tonight, feels like I'm sinking down below
Down in the hole, down in the hole, again

LEAD ME ON
By Don Robey, published by Songs of Universal, Inc. (BMI)

Sorry the lyrics are not ours to offer.