TO COOL TO BE CRUEL

[freddy j]

It has been a while since I have been on the forum.  Things such as hurricanes, hurricane  cleanup and repairs (for both my family and sisters abodes), replacement purchasing of a new car for my sister's drowned car.  Further delays to non-participating in the forum  included a brief flare-up of my reactive arthritis and my sister took a bad fall which required several weeks of hospitalization, rehabilitation, and home care. 

A lot has been posted since I was last on and I look forward to listening and commenting on as much of the new stuff as I can.

I did get a bit of time to get together with Cakewalk and my guitars to come up with this song.  It is a bit rough -- so I hope that you will provide  crit.'s,, comments and suggestions

Thanks as always.

 

TOO  COOL TO  BE CRUEL

https://www.soundclick.com/freddyj

[Wookiee]

Sorry to hear life has been biting you on the ***** @freddy j , been a bit like that here.

Classic Freddy here nice to hear you back here, sending you and yours a little of the force to aid you in anyway you need.

[freddy j]

To use a hackneyed metaphor, life is a bit like the stock market there are highs and lows and then the rest of the time.

Thanks for sharing the force.  I need a bit of a jump start.

Thanks very much for commenting -- I appreciate it.  BTW - l love the recent songs that you have posted (eg. 6 and four, etc.)

[Amberwolf]

I sympathize; I went thru a housefire, cleanup, and rebuild over a decade ago, and it took years to get "back on track", and I am still not really where I was before that (though I did find out who my friends were and weren't, and how very very few of them I actually had). 

 

Regarding the song itself, I would like to hear it with the timing tightened up; it's hard for me to focus on anything else technical about it ATM. 😊 

 

I doubt any of my stuff is of a style you'd like, but you're welcome to poke around at my threads and comment; I can always use feedback as I have very very few listeners, and almost none of them has anything to say.  

[Bajan Blue]

Hi Freddy

Good to see you back - keep on doing what you do - I love that swampy old style blues you do - Love it!!

Cool

Nigel

 

[Bapu]

Classic freddy j track. Swampy AF. 

[treesha]

Sorry for all the difficulties you and your loved ones have been through. Music gets put on the back burner for a time, but then when we are ready and it is still there. I enjoyed the song very much, and even if you dont want to be mean, you play a mean guitar!  Take care 

[DeeringAmps]

Always a pleasure to start the day with a little Freddy J!

Taking the chorus to the 4, yeah man!

👍's 👏👏

Take care Freddy,

t

[daryl1968]

Hey Freddy! Unmistakably and unapologetically your style - great stuff mate.

[freddy j]

Hi Amberwolf. Thanks for your comments.  It does take a while to recover from events such as you described and hurricanes.  It has been a year since we experienced the two hurricanes in a row and my sister's condo complex is still working on some repairs.

I appreciate your insight on the timing.  I do have a problem with timing that seems incurable.  Whenever I do Bluesy or Bluesabilly stuff I try and inject that loose style of  the early electric blues guys (e.g., Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Willimson II, Lazy Lester, etc.).  They can pull it off but unfortunately I can't seem to do it.  Oh well, maybe if I keep trying I'll finally get it?

Thanks again.

[freddy j]

Hey Nigel.  Thanks for listening and your kind comments.  I have been trying to catch up with listening to your posts on this forum and as always they are most impressive!

[freddy j]

Hi  Bapu.  Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and for your kind comments.  I just got done listening to your recent post.  Most impressive indeed!

 

[freddy j]

Hi Treesha.  It does take a bit of time to clean up from one hurricane and even more time from two.  Thanks for your kind comments and I'm glad that you liked the song.  I would never be mean to my guitars -- after all they do most of the work 😀.

[thegaltieribrothers]

Good Job!

[PhonoBrainer]

Shwaaaaaaaaaa-mp groove!! Give it up for Freddie, with 188 songs on his SoundCloud page! That's inspirational right there.

I liked the greasy groove and tasty licks a lot. Well done sir. So sorry for your recent tribulations.

Please keep those excellent guitars above the waterline!

cheers,

-Tom

[bjornpdx]

Hi Freddy
I remember when you got hit with the hurricanes, living as you do in hurricane central. Wow it takes a while to recover from those disasters. Glad to hear you've found time to create music. Take care. 
-Bjorn

[Makke]

Good bluesrock song. Nice performance and sounds.

[Amberwolf]

On 10/29/2025 at 8:28 AM, freddy j said:

I appreciate your insight on the timing.  I do have a problem with timing that seems incurable.  Whenever I do Bluesy or Bluesabilly stuff I try and inject that loose style of  the early electric blues guys (e.g., Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Willimson II, Lazy Lester, etc.).  They can pull it off but unfortunately I can't seem to do it.  Oh well, maybe if I keep trying I'll finally get it?

Myself, I cannot really play, so I mess with the timing of things I record until they sound like I want them to (or until I give up in frustration).   

If there is an audio clip of something I already have (or can find) with the timing I want, I'll use the audiosnap to extract it's timing to a midi file, or use an existing midi fiel if I have one, and apply that timing to the clip I want to fix. That sometimes does the job, or gets me close enough to finish it.   

 

 

[freddy j]

DeeringAmps --- Hi tom!

Thanks always for taking the time to listen, respond, and for your suggestions.  One of my favourite Blues guys (Jimmy Reed) used to do that trick (Starting the chorus on the 4th).  I always kinda liked that.     Thanks again!

Hi daryl1968.  Thanks for listening and taking the time to comment.  I very much appreciate it!

Hi thegaltieribrothers.  Thanks for listening and for commenting.  Much appreciated!Hey

Hey PhonoBrainer  Thanks much for listening, commenting and for the advice on keeping the guitars dry.  Every time we get warning of an impending hurricane we get our supplies of non-perishable food, water and batteries, then I make sure our power stations are fully charged and last but not least, I move my guitars to a place where I'm pretty sure that they won't get wet or damaged.  I don't consider myself a competent musician but music sure is terrific therapy.  If I am feeling down or more likely grouchy --  I get my guitars out and fool around for an hour or so  and that leads to a calm and collected Freddy J.

Thanks again!!

[freddy j]

Hi Bjorn.  Thanks for listening and commenting.  In answer - ya, it does take a while to recover.There is not only dealing with clean up but one must deal with insurance companies and try and find some outfit that is available to assist in damages.  They usually are smothered by demands for help after the two that hit the Tampa Bay area.  We love it here -- so, it is just something else to put up with.

Hi Makke.  Thanks very much for the kind comments and for listening!