A New "Sunrise" and More

A New "Sunrise"...and More!

Things are starting to really heat up in music production land. Mike's song "Sunrise" has just been re-mixed from the GarageBand demo, and...it is absolutely gorgeous! Mike says he actually wrote this one way back in those days when we were young. Now we in the band are all closer to that final sunrise, the one that will last and last and last...when we will meet Our Risen Savior, Deo volentes. This song sounds like a movie score; come to think of it, Josh has done those, hasn't he! Yes he actually has done that for pay! CLICK!

Sunrise!

Danny Gagnon

Dave Bourque, Mike & John

Thematically, it matches well the other song that Josh has now re-mixed, "When He Came Into My Life". This was written by Danny Gagnon and Dave Bourque back in the late 70's. I (Mark Lajoie) re-imagined it with a Dave-type bass line and recently worked it up on GarageBand. This also has been re-mixed to great advantage.

Here are the lyrics, all about a personal Pentecost and the desire to give everything. The spiritual life actually is a constant battle with vice, evil and anything that gets in the way of loving God and our neighbor with all that we are.

“When He Came Into My Life”

by Daniel Gagnon & Dave Bourque, adapted by Mark Lajoie

copyright 2010

When He came in-to my life He set my heart on fi-re

Loos-ened the bonds and set me free with His love

Yes, He came in-to my life with tongues of burn-ing fi-re

Lord Je-sus, my sa-vior I know that I'm read-y to give

He asked me if I was will-ing to give com-plete-ly

For the road is hard and filled with mi-se-ry

"Don't wor-ry, my son, for I will al-ways be with you"

Lord Je-sus, my sa-vior I know that I'm read-y to give

The dark-ness is gone and now I see the light

The blind-ness in my eyes is read-y for sight

With fi-re inside my heart I know I can fight

Lord Je-sus, my sa-vior I know that I'm read-y to give

Well, He can come in-to your life and set your heart on fi-re

Loos-en the bonds and set you free with His love

Well, He can come into your life if that's what you de-si-re

Lord Je-sus, my sa-vior I know that I'm read-y to give

Lord Je-sus, my sa-vior I know that I'm read-y to give

Lord Je-sus, my sa-vior I know that I'm read-y to give

CLICK this!

When He Came Into My Life

There is MUCH MORE in the works this summer, so be ready for more information. I'm so sorry to keep writing like this, but...I can't help it! It's so exciting! 

Rejoice with us, friends....

Mark LaJOIE!!

"When Sunday Comes"

"When Sunday Comes"

Brand new song from Mike! One great feature of this is that Denise is singing, making that chorus sound o! so nice. All of this guitar is Greg Loell at his best, and some expert effects and mixing from Josh. It's got a certain jazzy edge....

Thematically, this is very akin to Mike's song, "Let It Reign" AND it should fit beautifully into the album we are working on. It evokes everyday life for most of us with discordant sounds, and how we cope living our family life and expressing our faith together on Sunday. 

Very soon, you will see an improved version of "When He Came Into My Life", and more summer work in the studio is coming.

Enjoy this as the latest installment in over 40 years Living Waters music. CLICK & let it FLOW:

"When Sunday Comes"

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

A Living Waters PREVIEW!

A Living Waters PREVIEW!

 

In our previous article, we said we are working on a possible album this summer, perhaps aiming for a Christmas release. We have created a 'preview' of this album, tentatively named, "Overflow". Please, be advised, this is probably NOT exactly how things are going to end up! BUT, it doesn't hurt to give you all an idea of some of the new songs, reworks of old songs and demos that we are working on. There is a theme that seems to be developing which is summed up in the title, "Overflow". {As of June 26th, I have added Mike's new song, "When Sunday Comes" as part of this playlist!} Stay tuned & listen to this until then:

"Overflow" Preview Playlist

Happy listening!

Peace & Love & JOY!

Mark LaJOIE!

Living Waters' Historical Playlists! (& A Preview)

Living Waters' Historical Playlists!

(and A Preview!)

We are here re-publishing our article entitled, "When Did You Record That Song?" and providing with it playlists that match the references in it.

 

Here are some links to Playlists mentioned below. There is a playlist of our first multi-track recording session for our Christmas album (1984) and a Christmas live playlist, the songs we recorded in the basement of 505 Pleasant, and those we did in the Sons of Mary hall, "The Sons Sessions" (early 90's). I also include the "Still Flowing" Collection with 2010's productions, and what our prospective album might look like. Voila!:

The Basement Christmas Recordings

Christmas Live!

The Basement Tapes

"The Sons Sessions"

Alive Again & Still Flowing

"Overflow" Preview!

The question keeps coming up: when and where did you record that song? Well! I don’t really have time to give a totally complete answer for everything we have. BUT I can give you some good and interesting information. For one thing, we are STILL recording as of this past summer. It’s the most professional sounding stuff we’ve ever done, and with brand new songwriting from Mike and me.  Go, sample “Do….” & “Alive Again”. This is the era of Josh Loell coming into his own as a producer. So put the date of 2010’s on those two, “Save Me From Myself”, “Booze Blues Cruise”, “Take Me” and “Good Samaritan” for one thing. We also did newer versions of “Let Me In” and “Jesus” in this time.  I produced a lot other tunes on GarageBand myself, including re-makes of “Forever”, “Streetwalker”, “Tell the Whole World”, “Song of Love”, a Reprise of “City of Joy” and “Time to Grow”. I also recorded some non-band tunes like “Stand of Courage”, “We All Did It”, a “Credo” and “Ring the Judas Bell”.

Our official scrapbook has well over a hundred songs. For many of the early ones, we simply have no recorded versions of them at all. Some notable examples from the earliest days: “The Introduction Song” written by four of us, my “Do You Have a Song in Your Heart”, Danny’s “The Lord Will Come”, my very early meditative songs like “This is My Body” or “The Redeemer”. We did record some of those earliest shows, but who knows where they are now? Jim Babish did have some of the early live stuff – a lot of those are on our ‘Living Waters Classic Tracks’ site, but the quality isn’t always the best.

Our first real attempt at multi-track recording was our Christmas cassette in 1984, down in the cellar of the 505 Pleasant across from the Marists. (Sadly, we learned that house was torn down recently.L) This included the title track by Mike “Love’s Beginning”, “Glory”, “God is With Us”, "Merry Christmas" and “The Joy”. We recently put out a Christmas album called "The Joy", including those with some later live tracks.

After Mike left in 1984 or so, I remember we had a rough transition at first; it just wasn’t the same. But we soon hit our stride as a guitar band in our own right. Circa 1985 or so, we were at the height of our powers, I think, when we did our second major multi-track session in that same cellar. We produced three wonderful tunes: “Nobody Else”, “It’s Not the Same” and “There’s a Woman”. Our constant live shows had honed us to a fine edge and these recordings, in turn, informed our live presentation. I included these three on our digital release, “Refresh”. The feeling of making those songs was incredible – we knew it was special.

Another major source of what we have on line now was another multi-track session in the early 90’s in the hall at Sons of Mary, Framingham. Probably the best track we did there was “Love’s in a Name” – now THAT was special. Also, there was “Let’s Stay”, “We’re Gonna Stay”, “Fight For Me” and a live take of “I Will Go”. The multi-track version of “City of Joy” that we did pales in comparison to the later live version. "Peter the Rock" was done shortly after this at Jim's house with me, Greg and Denise. That was sent to John Paul II and blessed by him in 1994.

Other songs you hear on our main site were taken from later live shows, notably several Sheepgate Coffehouse shows in Marlborough. We have Joe Prunera to thank for salvaging some of those. Notable sources were shows in 1987, 1995 & 2004. Some gems captured there were “Carry On”, “You Were There”, “Step Down”, “Don’t Run Away” & “Home is Where the Heart Is”.

Another very notable live source was a Christmas show at the Sons of Mary in the early 90’s. I believe Jim recorded straight off the system that time. We’ve done scores of Christmas shows, but that one stands out as being amazingly special. I remember how it felt like a one in a million night – it was one of the best concerts we ever did in many ways. From that show we got that stellar live version of “City of Joy” you hear on our site, plus “Greatest Story”, “O Little Town…” and “O Holy Night”.

In the early 2010's, I salvaged the cassette tapes from all these sessions, and put them on digital as you hear them now, alongside all the newer stuff we are making now. I think it’s fair to say, we have, and do, have something special, known as “Living Waters”….
Peace & Love & JOY,
Mark LaJOIE!

New L. W. DEMO: "Sing to Jesus"

New L. W. DEMO: "Sing to Jesus"

Click THIS to listen: 

"Sing to Jesus DEMO"

This summer, we will be doing more recording. One thing we will probably work on is this song. We have worked up a demo that's a little rough around the edges, and hope to add more to it. This is one of the very first original concert songs we wrote. Dave came up with the opening lick and Mark helped, and the rest is history! Below, is an excerpt from a previous post about this treasure:

"Sing to Jesus" was one of the first group songs we wrote as Living Waters in 1977. Dave Bourque had come up with that riff in the beginning and we all spent hours playing it. At some point, I added words to the riff and made it an intro and then wrote the body of the song.  We then had the idea of making this a medley by using Mike's song "I Need Someone" as an introduction.  That was awesome!  We have now posted a 'classic live' version of this medley with a shortened ending for "Sing to Jesus". {You can find this on our "Living Waters Classic Tracks" site on ReverbNation.} In this version, I flubbed the words (a very common occurrence)!  I did part of the second verse for the first so I made up part of the second.  That sort of thing happened a LOT!)

My memory is telling me that a bunch of us from Oblates went up to Chuck Rossignol's house in Waterville and we were jamming on that riff there. I can't remember if we had already come up with the song or what. Chuck’s mother patiently waited on all of us and listened to us play and absorbed our excitement as kids. We all loved her so much; she looks and acts so much like my own mother and I found out that my mother used to take the train to go visit the Rossignols in Waterville back in the 30’s or so! Small world, isn’t it?

 

Introducing this song was a real eye-opener for us. We realized we didn’t have to be another Lighthouse or another anything. We could be – LIVING WATERS! That was liberating and exciting. We soon added “Light of the World” and “He That is in Us” and other group songs. Listen to these, and you get a sense of what it was like to go to a Living Waters concert back then. These were the times when Omer Bourque (father to Dave, Joline, Jim and Anne-Marie in the group) was our ‘manager’ booking us to show after show. We didn’t ask questions, as Kathy Bourque commented the other day, we just piled on the bus and went! Thanks to Jim Babish and Tom Doran from the prayer meeting, we began to organize lighting, stack speakers, dance, and drama into a full production.

I decided to preserve for posterity here that famous counting gimmick we used to use in concert to know when to end the song (you mIXed yourself in my weakness, SEVEN times a day I will praise you and wAIT for your coming in glory). Ha! Ha! It was the only way we could figure out how to end together!

This song was great because it got people into praise and praise is powerful. I remember we played a Charismatic conference in New York and they told us, "You are one of the most 'anointed' ministries we've heard" meaning that we were authentically spiritual, that our music was integrated into who we were and what we were doing. This song was an example of the power of praying songs together and finding your own identity in the Lord.

Thank you so much for reading! We plan to change what Mark sings at the end to mirror the "overflow" lyrics of "City of Joy" to bring an overall theme to the new album. Stay tuned!

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

Click THIS to listen: 

"Sing to Jesus DEMO"

LW Songs Featured on ReverbNation

LW Songs Featured on ReverbNation

In the last couple of weeks, several different songs by Living Waters have been accepted and are or will be featured on ReverbNation. One of them is "Love's in a Name" video. Just CLICK on the picture:

Another video is Mike's breakthrough song, "Take Me" under the Christian Rock category; CLICK on the picture again!:

We have also received word that "Light of the World DEMO" will be put on one of RN's "Chart-Topping Artist Playlist"s soon. Click on this to hear it!

ReverbNation recently communicated with me on a personal level about things on RN, and they have "curated" several of our songs. Things have not always been smooth, but, I must say, I am very glad Living Waters joined Reverb back in 2011! Please, enJOY!

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

Living Waters Social Media Milestones

Living Waters Social Media Milestones

ReverbNation Fan Stats as of 5/5/2018

We've been on these internets since 2011. It was a thrill finding and posting our old music, & to start creating new recordings. I have to say, though, I (Mark) made a lot of mistakes of many kinds at first, trying to 'promote' our music. Apologies to any who were adversely affected at that time; we pray that love may cover over such sins!

In the end, I decided to try and take a more organic approach, making each direct encounter as real as possible, refraining from 'techniques' or gimmicks as much as possible. And, slowly and steadily, we have made a lot of good friends and have reached a lot of people in many places.

The current look of our Twitter site....

So, now, we can announce that we have reached the 9000 level on Twitter AND the 4000 level for our band site on Facebook.

A glimpse of our FB, which features a rolling video of our album covers....

SO! Overall, we now have over 21,000 fans on our many sites.

Such numbers don't mean a whole lot in the eternal picture, but we will rejoice in any sign that our seeds are indeed being planted and WATERed! ;)

We are by no means done, though we are getting older, no doubt. Recording is still going on and our faith and unity are "still FLOWing", to turn a phrase. Please, come check it out, and REFRESH!!

Peace & Love & JOY!

Mark LaJOIE!