"...We can never get lost, when we’re lost together..."

CREDITS

All The Songs on PARTING WAYS were written by Ric Neale

These songs are about grief and friendship

Produced by Ric Neale, mastered by Ed Heaton. Ric would like to thank Chris Milnes and Adam Martin for their production wisdom and Lottie Hartnack for help on the track ‘Right Now’

All instruments played by Ric Neale, apart from backing vocals on ‘We Don’t Care About The Rain’ by Tom Hammond and dobro on ‘You Would’ve Loved This Song’ and ‘First Day In A New Town’ by Matt Sim. Thanks to Steve Jackson for the harmonica I play on ‘Los Angeles’

Photography by Barnaby Aldrich with design by Ric Neale. Ric would like to thank Paddy Garrigan for his assistance with design and Chris and Jane for letting us use their pub for the shoot.

Thanks also to the Bailey family and Craig Golding for giving me access to some awesome pianos.

Ric would also like to thank Mel, Adam, Hattie and Muppet for putting up with me, Danny Cope and Sam Carter for sharing their wealth of knowledge with me, Rob Reed for the ‘Echoes of the sun’ line and Daffy for recording some authentic L.A. waves.

…and Lee for carrying me as far as he could

As streaming has largely put pay to the joy of reading liner notes I thought I’d do some thankyous to some amazing people who helped me make Parting Ways. It is available on CD, and these are all the people that get a thankyou…

“Mastered by Ed Heaton” does not cover the level of effort, love and support Ed’s given me on so many projects. He co-produced Lullabies for parents, recorded and mixed the live album I put out last year and did some amazing work on a couple of the tracks on Connected/Disconnected as well. Crucially though, he’s a real cheerleader for my music and a great friend. Yay Ed!

“Ric would like to thank Chris Milnes and Adam Martin for their production wisdom and Lottie Hartnack for help on the track Right Now”. I met both Chris and Adam through the work we do at Leeds Conservatoire, and they are simply brilliant in their respective fields. The music both of them make is quite different to mine so I’m privileged that they share all their knowledge with me. Check out Chris’ work under the name Winemaker music and Adams music under his own name (links at the end of the paragraph), each one creates nuanced and perfectly manicured soundscapes that are as emotive as they are technically brilliant. On Parting Ways, I wanted to produce it myself, and each of them acted as crucial sounding boards every time I hit a sonic roadblock (which was very often). Lottie was a student of ours (she’s just graduated) and she was there when we were discussing the song Right Now and offered some great ideas (notably about filling some dead space before the middle section) which really helped me get the track over the line. She’s also a great songwriter in her own right and you can check out the links on her bio as well.

Winemaker - https://open.spotify.com/artist/3eNJj6RBtXDPkAaXxBH3Hy...

Adam Martin - https://open.spotify.com/artist/5oZsChDUETMax2lApnosaj...

Lottie Hartnack - https://open.spotify.com/artist/26WGn7QYhepZjwqpStVwyw...

I, at times begrudgingly, played most of the instruments on Parting Ways, but I was very lucky to be joined by some very talented players on a couple of tracks. Tom Hammond is an amazing songwriter and I’m lucky to be playing piano on a couple of songs on his new solo album which should be out later this year. I really wanted a younger voice to do the backing vocals on We Don’t Care About the Rain, to reflect how much younger Lee and I were when we started our adventures - Tom was the first name that came to me. He’s done a great job on these vocals, and they sound really hopeful. You can hear some of Tom’s work by checking out his band Heir https://open.spotify.com/artist/2qFolZ0t9iDaOtgwvtMl2f... . On You Would’ve Loved This Song and First Day in A New Town I’m joined by Matt Sim on the dobro. I’d only worked with him once before when he played in the band that backed me at the Hootenanny (a night in Leeds where me and a band jam out some tunes with zero rehearsal), he was really complimentary about my tunes, and I just loved his playing, so I asked if he’d play on the album, and he did an amazing job. Steve Jackson gets a mention in the album credits, he bought me a harmonica for my birthday last year and I play it (badly) on the track Los Angeles. It was a lovely moment in my little studio when I wanted to fill out the middle section and remembered that, not only did I have a harmonica, but that it happened to be in the right key. This moment was made more melancholy by the fact that Steve had died only a couple of months earlier – he’d have loved the fact I used his gift on this tune.

Barnaby Aldrick took all the photos for the album, and even did some filming of some live performances for me. I’ve known Barnaby for a few years now and always enjoy his company, he came to see my set at Greenbelt Festival last year and afterwards we were chatting about photography (he is a brilliant wedding photographer) and he (perhaps foolishly) offered to help me with the pictures for this record. He did an amazing job and I’m blown away by how great they look. He’s for sure worth a follow so you can see some of his amazing work. My long-time pal Paddy Garrigan helped me out with the design; we’ve done loads of stuff together (notably I wrote the theme tune to him and his mates daft online pub quiz during lockdown). I absolutely trust his eye and send him endless ideas which he patiently sifts through. Chris and Jane used to run the Polka Hop where I’d been running my monthly MONOCHROME residency, they very kindly let me, and Barnaby use the pub for a day when they were closed, and we managed to get all the snaps as well as a few videos. It’s a gorgeous room and the piano is super characterful.

I also thank the Bailey family; they have a beautiful grand piano in their home and every time I’m there I can’t stop playing it. They offered it up if ever I wanted to record so when I was ready to capture some ivory tickling, they were my first port of call. They invited me into their house when they were all out (apart from the cat who was fortunately very respectful of the recording process). Bob returned from work at one point and patiently put up with me swearing at myself whenever I made mistakes. The piano sounds so bold and warm on these recordings – I’m delighted with how it sounds. Similarly, Craig Golding helped me out by getting me in to use the gorgeous grand piano at the studio where he works (I even snook an hour on the harpsicord for the song Dust). Craig has been a long-time collaborator and produced All That Counts, as well as a couple of the tracks from Connected /Disconnected.

My family obviously get some thoroughly deserved gratitude and my wife Mel, kids Adam and Hattie and loyal family pooch Muppet have learned to put up with the weird sounds emanating from our office at home, not to mention the endless mood swings that come with most creative endeavours – they make me want to be better. Mel is always a really great sounding board, and I fondly remember her patiently talking through the middle eight lyrics to First Day in A New Town while we sat watching the kids play.

Danny Cope is an amazing songwriter and gets my gets my undying thanks for being my first line of defence against writing bad songs – I play him everything and he makes sure it makes sense, and always gives me great feedback and ideas on how to improve things. Also, I borrowed his ludicrously luscious bass guitar to play on this album – a notable sacrifice considering how much better he is at playing it than I am. Another amazing songwriter who is always just a whats app message away is Sam Carter; Sam had loads of great ideas for these songs and these recordings; notably the lyrics to We Don’t Care About the Rain, which I completely reworked at his suggestion and they’re all the better for it. You can hear his music here https://open.spotify.com/artist/5LsAb9dJR1xVbUdHSLUwaH...

Rob Reed is thanked for the ‘echoes of the sun’ line which I entirely stole from him. Robs currently writing one poem per week for the entire year and the one he wrote when I was writing Too Much and Not Enough contained that line; as soon as I read it, I realised that he had perfectly encapsulated the end of a summer day as the shadows start to elongate – so I totally stole it. My old school friend Andrew Daffy lives in L.A. so when I realised that I wanted some waves for the end of the song Los Angeles he was an obvious choice to contact. He knew Lee from our school days so was happy to help out and the waves sound absolutely perfect and end the track with real authenticity.

And lastly of course, I thank Lee – my mate, who I hope is enjoying these songs wherever he is.

LYRICS 

You Would’ve Loved This Song

You would've loved this song

I'd put the track in our WhatsApp chat

And you'd've made the time to listen

You'd have messaged me bout the harmony and the way it makes you feel

You'd talk about the chords and how this kind of harmony

Only floats the boats of old-fashioned souls like you and me

But it's worth singing because

You would've loved this song

You would've loved this song

You would've loved the way it makes your favourite mix of sad and lazy

And how it's perfect for a Sunday morning stroll to get a coffee

You'd focus on the lyrics and you'd take in everything

You'd recognise the nuances that most folks just don't dig

But it's worth singing because

You would've loved this song

You would've even sung along...

A song like this can do with all the help that it can find

And just cos you won't hear it

Doesn't mean that I should give up trying

So I'lI keep singing because

You, you would've loved this song

You would've loved this song

Los Angeles

We never got to Los Angeles

Do you remember when

We took the train

To buy ourselves records to listen to?

And I still do

And when we flew to Spain

Then home again

With nothing to show for it but hangovers

We went for it

We never got to Los Angeles

We got quite close

On the other coast

Twins on twin towers in parallel

Before they fell

The city of angels was calling our name

And we always thought we had time

To drift through an airport and take to the sky

But we never got to Los Angeles

Los Angeles

It was all planned out

But It's not panned out

Cos life did its thing and got in the way

Of holidays

We said we'd wait for rainy days

But they never cams

So we never got to LA

We never got to Los Angeles

We Don’t Care About The Rain

Adventure is starting to call

Down the pathways and over the walls

All our fair-weather friends need the sunshine to shine

But for us two the good times can fall from the sky

We're just going as far as we can

Sharing jokes no one else understands

Making all the wrong moves but we're on the right track

We'll go where the wind blows and we'll never look back

Cos we don't care about the rain

We don't care about the rain

Cause together we are waterproof

We are waterproof

We can wait for a train or bus

One’s just gone but we're not in a rush

Killing time singing songs from an ocean away

God only knows where we'll end up today

Step by step, by right by left

By magnetic north to the wild of the west

Gonna blow away cobwebs and shake off the dust

We are breaking new ground but the ground won't break us

It won’t break us

Cos we don't care about the rain

We don't care about the rain

Cause together we are waterproof

We are waterproof

When the journeys done

We can hold all these miles in our hearts til it's time for another one

And we can take what the world as in store in our stride because

We don’t care about the rain

No idea where we are but we don't care because

We can never get lost

When we're lost together

Cos we don't care about the rain

We don't care about the rain

Cause together we are waterproof

We are waterproof

We are waterproof

Been Too Long (Let’s Make A Plan)

It's been too long let's make a plan

It's been too long let's make a plan

I've been busy we've lost touch

Of whose turn it is to phone who

Maybe we could catch up soon?

Last time we had such a good time

And this time won't be anything new

Maybe we could catch up?

When are you free?

I could come to you or you could come to me

It's been too long let's make a plan

It's been too long let's make a plan

I listened to that record you sent me last week but I haven't got around to that film

Maybe we could watch it together?

Let me know when, is a good time for a catch up and l'll call you then

I'm gonna call you then

It's been too long let's make a plan

It's been too long let's make a plan

It's been too long let's make a plan

It's been too long let's make a plan

Disappearing

Like in that photo from back to the future I'm disappearing

Cos you anchored the man that I was so who am I now

Torn limb from limb, the hand you held, the shoulder you cried on

The neck where you rested your chin when we said our goodbyes

It's all disappearing

Like when Marty Mcfly plays guitar but his hands disappearing

Cos the him that he is in that moment has never been born

Bone by bone, the double thumbs, the scissors and paper

The limbs that we let loose to dance like there was no tomorrow

It's all disappearing

But imagine if I could turn time and go back where I wanted

And I'd see the flowers turn to buds turn to seeds in the dirt

And I would care in case me being there changed the past

And I want to nip back

To watch from afar, two friends killing time in a cinema queue

While the lines disappearing

Like when Doc finds that gravestone and sees that his name is appearing

And he knows that his days are all numbered and how much times left

But at least he can call his best friend, and jump in the car

And step on the gas til the hands of time turn things around

But I can't

So I'm disappearing

I'm disappearing

Right Now

I can't help, thinking bout the old days specially when the leaves start to fall to the ground

WOAH

And I get tangled up in time lines

Things that might have been, when I should just look around

WOAH

But l've got Right Now

And it won't last forever

I've got Right Now

But it's so easy to worry ‘bout the future

The world is gonna burn, it's just a matter of when

WOAH

I start fixating on tomorrow, will I ever learn, that I should wait until then

WOAH

We've got Right Now

And it won't last forever

We've got Right Now

Let's make it count together

We've got Right Now

lt's gone before you know it, so we better make the most of Right Now

Lately things conspired to shake me

Really hammer home that I haven't got long

OH NO

But to be honest it's kind of helped me focus on living in the moment before it's gone

WOAH WOAH WOAH

We've got Right Now

And it won't last forever

We've got Right Now

Let's make it count together

We've got Right Now

lt's gone before you know it, so we better make the most of Right Now

WOAH

We've got Right Now... we got Right Now

We've got Right Now

And it won't last forever

We've got Right Now

Let's make it count together

We've got Right Now

lt's gone before you know it, so we better make the most of Right Here

Right Now

And it won't last forever

We've got Right Now

Let's mess it up together

We've got Right Now

lt's gone before you know it, so we better make the most of Right Now

Right Now

Dust

The other voices

They feel like strangers

When I've got drama that I can't lift off my chest

I make some noise

I make some changes

I have to make excuses now l've lost my

Best place to hide

To see my life from distance

To see what's inside

To find my place in this

Now that all the dust has blown away

I'm left standing on a crowded station platform going nowhere

Now that all the dust has blown away

I'm left waiting to get served

perched at the bar still well aware of the weight that I'm still carrying

They think they know me

But they don't know me

It isn't their fault we met halfway down the road

And all this company

Just makes me lonely

It just reminds me I've got

No steady ground

And I can't find the silence

To drown out the sound

So I can make my mind

Now that all the dust has blown away

I'm left standing on a crowded station platform going nowhere

Now that all the dust has blown away

I'm left waiting to get served

perched at the bar still well aware of the weight that I'm still carrying

I can’t hear a word they say

Shining through the pouring rain

Skipping stones while sinking through the blue

The ocean breeze is in my bed

Where the weather suits my head

Hiding from the world is no excuse

What can I do now?

What can I do now?

Now that all the dust has blown away

I'm left standing on a crowded station platform going nowhere

Now that all the dust has blown away

I'm left waiting to get served

perched at the bar still well aware of all the weight I'm still carrying

First Day in a New Town

He feels the sunrise as the day begins

But he can't see me waving back to him

But that's Ok cos yesterday is over and the futures where it's always been

There's no telling what he's gonna find

Now he's left the world we shared behind

There's an autumn breeze and evergreens and mountains sketch the line between the earth and the sky

Found a new track, got your groove back

Got a stash of second chances in your backpack

This is your place and you made it

Out of memories you can't remember now

It's the first day in a new town

There are half familiar corners here

He sees horizons beckon crystal clear

He can't recall the stuff before, the aches and pains and small details have disappeared

On your good foot, found a shortcut

To a world of open windows as the door shuts

This is your place and you made it

Out of memories you can't remember now

It's the first day in a new town

A cafe framed by street lamp light

From the cover of a book

A bench inspired by our old bench

And your safe there, in a place where

The days are all the same but you don't care

This is your place and you made it

Out of memories you can't remember now

May it always fell, like it’s

the first day in a new town

Remember Me Like This 

There's a picture that appears when a name comes to your mind

Be it a photo or a film a random image caught in time

It's the same from friends to family to acquaintances

So If I could choose what you hold on to when I'm gone

Remember me like this

Running hard to find my way

Trying hard to choose the kindest words for the perfect thing to say

Remember me like this

Keeping my faculties from going south

Balancing between my fire burning up and blowing out

Remember me like this

Laughing til I can't stand straight

Looking at the whole world gratefully

If you remember me

There are tapestries and statues left to canonise the greats

But for us on smaller journeys that's a grade that we’ll never make

But we'll be filed away inside each other's memories

And If I could choose the hook you hang my efforts from

Remember me like this

Just before a new spark fades

Or trying to face another broken-hearted beat down with some grace

Remember me like this

Trying to get the washing dry

Making out the glowing embers of the twinkles in my eye

Remember me like this

Buzzing from a job done well

Chasing down a brand-new melody

If you remember me

At all, Remember me

Remember me like this

On the Saturday we put up the tree

In the breath of realisation that it's only you and me

Remember me like this

While this version of me still exists

With the strength of mind to make this pointless wish

Remember me like this

Too Much and Not Enough

You are in all these things too much and not enough

You are in all these things too much and not enough

Whenever the day slows down and my shadows getting long

Whenever I need foundations to build my next move on

Whenever the world fades into a hum in the echoes of the sun

Wherever a willow weeps with its fingertips to the ground

Whenever I reach to call and forget you're not around

Whenever I need the focus to see the kind of man I used to be before the world tore into me

You are in all these things too much and not enough

You are in all these things too much but not enough

You are in everything, just not enough

Whenever I hear your voice in the buzz behind my words

Wherever a memory hides and the details start to blur

Whenever there's footprints left in the snow as my breath goes up in smoke defeated by the cold

You are in all these things too much and not enough

You are in all these things too much but not enough

You are in everything

But what if everything is just your way, opf trying to say “Hello, I hope you’re OK”?

Well, I guess that I’m Ok

Life isn’t easy but were gonna be fine

We’re gonna be fine

Gonna be fine