Music & Me (Lastly updated on April 4th)

Introducing the album I made with the tape recorder,
dreaming about my own album when I was 6.

Me ,with the singer-songwriter set for children. The happiness
of me when I find it in my bed was ineffable. Although my
parents didn't want me to study music in Turkey, they were
always supportive about me being a musician. And since it is
Berklee where I am applying to, they couldn't be more excited...

Since I was 10 months old, I have been responding to music distinctively. When I was 14 month old, every time the orchestral them of the TV show Young and Restless, “Nadia's Theme”, starts to play I would close my eyes, raise my arms and clench my fists and release them repeatedly. Since I was 2, I've been singing for hours walking around the room. 

I wanted to play guitar when I was 6, but people said: “You're too young for that” and I started playing keyboards instead. Influenced by the success stories of engineers and scientists that my father used to tell me and successful at science courses, I was oriented to study science at high school. But I have always composed music, played classic guitar (since 12) and later electric guitar to improve my solo guitar skills. 

I was studying science and maths in the best ranked high school in my home town. It had never felt right, but I was not aware that I was in the wrong path. And in 2009 when Michael Jackson died I realized nothing is right. I realized I don't want to keep studying for the regular college entrance exams. 

I could never convince my parents to let me take the exams to study in conservatory. They told that I could take music lessons outside school and make my music in my spare time with my bands. My father's researches showed that music schools in Istanbul are unqualified to train students and that students are not happy with their teachers in general. Moreover, all those schools teach classical music; there is no music school that teaches Contemporary music. And it is a sadly accepted fact that art is never treated with respect and care in Turkey. Not allowed or willing to take the conservatory entrance exams, I chose to major in Industrial Design in a university partly because of it's discipline's similarity with composing and arranging, and the relation between consumer and listener. Something else was interestingly similar between industrial design and composing: the designer has to design the products that are producible and the composer has to create music that is possible to be performed exactly how the composer desires. I got into Bahcesehir University's Industrial Design department with half scholarship (Paying around $7,000 a year). My passion for music and the pieces I composed have kept me hopeful about the future.  I am currently a senior in university. I have successfully passed all the lessons so far. 

My university classes are demanding and stressful. Still I always find a way to make time to immerse myself into my music. In my sophomore year of college I accepted to be the composer for the theatre productions of my school -Official Link- (The Good Person of Szechwan by Brecht and All My Sons by Arthur Miller). The time I spend on composing the scores and the product gave me pride and peace. 

In 2011 I started singing lessons as my teacher is still Timur Selçuk; well known pianist, composer, conductor and singer in Turkey, and France, of 60s and 70s.

I hope music, my profound passion and biggest devotion, will be my main responsibility, as this responsibility will bring me joy, happiness and peace, no matter how tiresome it will be. I love being on stage, composing and collaborating with different musicians. Last summer in Berklee's 5 Week program, every moment and every single thing I had to do in Berklee felt so right and motivating, making me understand that Berklee, where I must develop my skills and add more perspective to my vision every moment, is where I am meant to be.

I absorb every observed or felt creation that influence me. I develop my artistic senses with every life experience besides the music I listen to. My style is versatile and I never want my music to sound like that of a famous artist. I want to be unique, and be remembered and praised the way I truly am.

My Berklee College Of Music 5 Week Program Grade Report

(Pieces with * symbol shows my Film scorer side in a more focused way) 

After 5 Week: 
1-Path To 1140 Boylston -Instrumental Jazz/Pop, Waltz-: 

The intro portrays the first time I was on my way to Berklee. I performed the vocals at the last part of the song, played the piano parts —on my Midi keyboard— and the guitar parts.
I recorded everything at my home studio. The equipments/devices used are an electric guitar, a condenser microphone, a Midi keyboard, a sound card and a computer. I notated and edited the other instruments (including upright bass and drums), which are MIDI­-generated modelings.
This piece showcases the vision I attained in the 5 week program, fuels my passion and intensifies my hope for the compositions I dream to write in my time at Berklee.
https://soundcloud.com/can17/path-to-1140-boylston-street/   
2-Mozart's Piano Sonata No.11 III. Rondo Alla Turca Jazz Cover -Jazz-: 

I made a 12/8 cover of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's masterpiece. The vocal and classic guitar performances are mine. (It's a single take from the beginning to 1:23, so it is in real time) The piano, bass, drum arrangements are made by myself too...
https://soundcloud.com/can17/turkish-march 
3-Alone Tonight -Pop / Soul -:
This is my most recent original song. I am happy and proud to have created its chord progression and all instrumentations. For the first time I used question-answer phrases of vocals and guitars (in verses), which I wrote and performed.
https://soundcloud.com/can17/alone-tonight
4-İstanbul  -Middle Eastern Fusion / Turkish Music-: 

Classical guitar, electric guitar, darbuka (A middle eastern percussion) and vocals are performed/recorded by me. I only played one darbuka but recorded 4 different channels. In one channel, I made the darbuka sound like maracas by rubbing a napkin on it after hitting.

I recorded everything at my home studio. The instruments/devices used are a classical guitar, an electric guitar, a condenser microphone, a sound card and a computer. I notated and edited the other instruments (including fretless bass and piano), which are MIDI­-generated modelings.
I believe in the merit, warmth and uniqueness of my song.
https://soundcloud.com/can17/istanbul 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STlh_2-o9Eg
5- Tomorrow Starts Tonight -Funk/Jazz-:
I played the classic guitar in the tender prelude as well as all the electric guitar parts including the solo melodies, chords at the final part and the rhythm guitars. I wrote the lead and backing vocal lines, and made all the instrumental arrangements. The piano solo composition is also my work. The only other person who has credit in this piece is the lyricist: Lance W Toohey — a published poet.
I recorded everything at my home studio. The instruments/devices used are a classical guitar, an electric guitar, a condenser microphone, a sound card and a computer. I notated and edited the other instruments, which are MIDI­-generated modelings.
I believe my song doesn't belong to any time period or one particular style. It is a comprehensive and absolute reflection of my musical knowledge, taste and skills to the profoundest.
https://soundcloud.com/can17/tomorrow-starts-tonight
6- Believe -PopJazz Ballad-
I imagine that this song's music video would be taken in Boston. Intro, where I say hi to some friends in the way of 150 Mass. Ave Berklee... 
This song has the most sincere, kindly fictional lyrics I wrote recently. The keyboard solo is input to a guitar amp, that gives an unusual yet friendly tone.
I am glad with the backing vocals, traffic, ambience sound of this song.
https://soundcloud.com/can17/believe 
7- Artistic Talent As Consolation Prize -Jazz/Swing-
I lack luck... Since forever! But god gave me the best consolation price, and being aware of that prevents me to be weary of life. 
https://soundcloud.com/can17/artistic-talent-as-consolation

During 5 Week:
1- (LIVE) Little By Little -Live Performance Of Junior Wells' Piece-In Berklee College Of Music 5 Week program, one of my ensemble's full performance. I am the lead singer in Junior Wells' Little By Little in the second half of the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHYNGxd1hxs 
2- A Future Without You -Glam Rock/Rock Ballad-
The newest recording of the first Rock Ballad song I composed and arranged. I dream and believe that this song will make me win a Grammy in the future. Even it's very first version was watched more than 5000 times on Youtube in 4 months and I made the song unlisted because of the nightmares I had seen, like the one in which the song was stolen by famous rockstars. This is the newest version of the song, uploaded to my Soundcloud account (Bass line and Guitar solo are collaborations, with my roommates in Berklee Five Week Program, scholarship students Marcelo Maccagnan and Ricardo Barbosa de Almeida) [June 2011], (I'm also adding the first version's link for you to evaluate my development):
https://soundcloud.com/can17/a-future-without-you 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLb-bXQmSmQ  
*3- Lazy Enough To Believe -Progressive(Boogie/Blues/New Age)-
I started composing song in July 23 2013. Although I composed and recorded the New age part in İstanbul after I returned from Boston, I still wanted to categorize this piece in here. This song is a progressive song that includes tree main parts; Boogie-Woogie, Blues, New Age. I had no knowledge about Blues scale before 5 week, but I love it since then. The saxophone part is written solely in the blues scale. Imagine this song's boogie-woogie part as the music of a video game, like Crash Bandicoot![August 2013]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeXDxPcGa3c 
4- Exist To Fuse -Experimental-
This one is so important because it's another collaboration with some friends in Five Week Program 2013: Paul Meland played Tenor Saxophone, my roommates Marcelo and Ricardo played Bass and electric guitar. Classical Guitar line is composed and performed by myself. I arranged the song and mixed it. We finished recording in less than an hour. But the song is unfinished; I hope Paul, Ricardo, Marcelo and I will complete this in Berklee full time program, hopefully If I can get a good scholarship [July 2013]::
https://soundcloud.com/can17/fuse  

Live Performances and Cover Videos: (None of my cover videos are playbacks)

1-The Commodores' "Easy" Vocal cover I shot the video myself with the internal camera of my computer. This is a song I love which is originally sang by Lionel Richie. The improvisation in the last parts of the video tells so much about my musical senses.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZLpRZfUe04
2- "My Funny Valentine"  Vocal and Piano Cover I perform live vocal and piano. The piano arrangements are totally my own cover... 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRsxjQx8x3k
3-Elvis Presley's "C'mon Everybody" Vocal cover. My brother shot the video, recorded during the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r2Yx_C49hA  

4-Me playing Mozart's "Turkish March" on electric guitar: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QFGByTCjb0  

5- In Bahcesehir University Spring Festival 2013, we play one of my songs, this was not a happy day because of external issues: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RqnXphQbuQ 

6-Me playing the bassline of Bob Marley's "Pimper's Paradise":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5iZtMFAjPk 

7-Me playing the bassline of Jackson 5's "ABC":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsGF7B_vZ58

8-Me playing the bassline of Police's "Roxanne":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOh72F1j1QU

Extracurricular: 
1-I have a desire to become a music professor also. I strive to make a change in the world, and teaching is a strong way to achieve that dream. In this video, you are going to watch the method I developed for memorizing 12 major keys and finding out the notes of a key fast: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KaFZzvFAr0 
*2-Istanbul's hidden places is a group research of four students from the Design Academy Eindhoven about the interaction between people and public space. And they interviewed me about my instrumental piece "Nice To Nature" and how I started composing it related to the place I started composing it. My song's different parts are used in various parts of the documentary: 
http://vimeo.com/64236942
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK182IcwGGs  
3-I have a neurological condition called Synesthesia, which makes senses mix up and work together like allowing to see the shapes and colors of smells, tastes and most importantly the color and visual texture of the sounds.  I see every song's color  instantaneously when I hear them. Especially in old songs released by Sony Music, after I listen to a song, I realize that the main colors of the music video is the color of the song. I had been thinking that everyone can see the color of music, but I realized it's a special thing after I learned about synesthesia from the pianist of my band in 2012. This made me think Sony was hiring synesthetic people to decide the main color of the music video, which will make the video and the music harmonize successfully, as I was finding the prevalent color in the song accurate all the time. The most obvious one for me was Michael Jackson's song One More Chance. The video was never finished and released because of the trials of Jackson in 2003. And until then, I kept telling the color of the song was dark blue. When the video was released in 2010, I proved myself, -but I still was thinking everyone had this condition in then-. This condition always allows me to make choices about instruments and arrangements with their colors, while I evaluate how they sound. My second major choice is Film Scoring, which I can study if I get a good scholarship, and I know I can compose good music considering I can also evaluate the scene's composition. Here's the test I took online; in the second page there is the test result of sound-music condition type. And famous people with Synesthesia:  
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_NF9GNWVKMEZCQTA/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_synesthesia  
4-This video shows my arranger skills, and my good collaborator side. Here are some of my songs' guitar solos played by various guitarists, arrangements by myself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGR0g3d8uGg  
5-This is the video clip of my song "İstanbul". I am the cameraman (also director of photography), director of editing in this video. The song's lyrics are about the beauty of İstanbul but also the sad nature of the people living in it... This was really a special thing for me... In the video, I made my decisions also with my synesthetic perception:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STlh_2-o9Eg 
6-One of my closest friends I met in 5 Week got an important audition and it was really a late notice. She picked the song last day and unfortunately the version she chose was a version which doesn't have a karaoke version anywhere, when she told me this, I said I can help and made this backing track of "Feeling Good" in the style of Melanie Amaro which was performed in X Factor. Guitar performances, transcriptions and mix by myself: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViSxPRTYOJE  
7-I am also an illustrator who enjoys, respects the art of painting: 
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_MXhULWdXbzdaVkU   
8-This is the research report for my Industrial Design graduation project. The product I decided to design is for composers or songwriters to save their ideas in the best way possible, wherever they are, whenever inspiration-motivation comes...: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_OUJLcHpUWXozOHM/  
9-This one is the backing track I arranged, performed (Guitars and bass) and recorded Michael Jackson's The Way You Make Me Feel, for my Berklee Scholarship Audition in Paris:  
https://soundcloud.com/can17/michael-jackson-the-way-you

Before 5 Week -List 1-:

1- Maskelerin Ardında (Behind The Masks) -New Wave- 
A Turkish song that has a Turkish sincerity especially in its chorus. A song written for a never met before special one. I believe it's uniqueness and various feelings it gives to the listener [January 2013]:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/maske   
2-Kırmızı Ruj (Red Lipstick) -Pop Jazz- 
Two great guitar solos in electric guitar and classical guitar both composed, performed and arranged by myself, a Turkish song [March 2013]: 
https://soundcloud.com/can17/red 
3-Kalabalıktaki Sıradanlar (Ordinary Ones In The Crowd) -Progressive Pop-Jazz- This is the first song of me which I tried to create jazz riffs for the piano, and I believe I did an interesting job in some parts. But the unique thing about this song is its unique traffic, its instrumental bridges, chorus and the outro solo which includes an electric guitar, classical guitar, and a brass part respectively. [October 2012]:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/kalabal-ktaki-s-radanlar
4-Lively -Experimental-
I composed this piece for my cousin Seçil Mutlubaş. A happy minor melody :) This is one of my very first compositions, but this is the second mix of the arrangement. If I arranged the chord structure in today's theory knowledge of mine, it would totally be different but I don't want to disrupt the sincerity of the time [January 2012]:
 https://soundcloud.com/can17/lively 
*5-Child Of Innocence -Orchestral/Pop/Rock/Jazz-
A song I composed and arranged on Michael Jackson's poem "Child Of Innocence". All the orchestrations, guitar performances, vocal performances are by myself. This is a really a deep and meaningful poem for me. [November 2012]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTY7VLaPng
6-Nirvana Point In The Dark Room -Country/Soft Rock/New Age-
This song is a collaboration. I arranged all the instruments, played the classical guitars and composed-played the bridge guitars. My guitarist friend improvised on the song with electric guitar [October 2012]:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/n 
*7-Sunset Of Kusadasi -New Age/Orchestral-
I wrote for Kusadasi in Turkey. I absolutely love the sunset of Kusadasi [July 2012]:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLrxrDS8EbM 
*8-Evolved Emotions -Progressive-Instrumental Rock-

This piece show's my guitarist and guitar arranger skills mainly. The intro is actually the initial version of my song "Lazy Enough To Believe".

https://soundcloud.com/can17/evolved-emotions

Before 5 Week -List 2-:
1-Mavi Sokaklar -Soft Rock/Easy Listening-

A Turkish song with a really special intro for me. A relaxing soft rock song:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/mavi-sokaklar
2-Brothers -Turkish Pop With English Lyrics-
My brother wrote a poem about brotherhood and I composed, arranged and performed it. Especially the song's ending has my Turkish sincerity and my devotion to my only brother. The very ending instrumental outro could only be arranged by a Turkish musician, I am pretty sure about that [June 2012]: 
https://soundcloud.com/can17/brother
3-Just Smoke It -Rock-
This song was written to make everybody jump in big concert halls in the future. A tough rock song, it's a collaboration with my friend Erensu Ekmekciler:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/jsi
*4-Nirvana Point  -Orchestral Instrumental-
This is rearrangement of one of my songs for the theatre play "The Good Person Of Szechwan":
https://soundcloud.com/can17/nirvana-point-in-green-planets
*5-Magical Child, Another Michael Jackson poem I composed, which was shared by several Michael Jackson Fan pages from Turkey, in June 25 2012:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIt4R0hfDUI
6-Unborn Love -Power Ballad-
This was my other 5 Week Ensemble's performance song that I composed much before, I am not uploading the video because of the ensemble's drummer's less than perfect performance. But this made me one of the few songwriter's arrangers whose songs are performed in the final week. Tom Stein was the director, and I am so glad about it. This song reveals the bass tones of my voice. The song has a unique traffic: Verse-Pre Chorus-Solo-Verse-Pre Chorus-Chorus-Solo. Chorus only comes one time in the whole song! I am proud of my arrangement especially in guitar solos' backings. Also chorus is really worth waiting:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/future-love 
7-Alışma (Don't Get Used To...) -Pop/Fusion- 
This song really has a special intro and arrangement. "Don't get used to reality which is wrong for you, fight to change it." [April 2013]:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/alisma 
*8- Ease Of Nature II - Contemporary Instrumental -  
This is an instrumental piece I composed and orchestrated. It has a refreshing atmosphere:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/eon2 
*9- When They Leave You (Part II) -  Progressive - 
Fresh melodies, emotional harmonies. A progressive orchestral instrumental piece that tells a story about supernal powers of that beautiful one.
https://soundcloud.com/can17/when
10-  Failure Production - Metal-
METAL ALERT! This song is a whole midi track (But instruments doesn't sound that artificial). It's style is metal! I composed every line:
https://soundcloud.com/can17/failure

Some Of My Oldest Compositions Which I Arranged On Computer:

*1-Honour -Instrumental- 
I dedicated this piece to my cousin Onur Ozan who has been in USA since 2001. The lead line is really so greatly special for me. (June 2011) 
https://soundcloud.com/can17/3-honour 
*2-Ease Of Nature -Easy Listening-
Backing guitar melody is by my friend; the keyboard player of my band. He played the backing guitar in this and mixed the song because back then I had no equipment. I improvised vocals and I'm really proud I improvised the overdrive electric guitar line at the second half of the song. (February 2011):https://soundcloud.com/can17/nature
*3-Angel Eyes -Pop/New Age-
A love song that is composed purely with feelings I had no theory education back then but the sincerity made the music, orchestration alive and joyful: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l5Khk1sNYo 
*4-Superhero -Game Music- 
One of my first productions in Cubase, It may become a successful game score in the future if rearranged properly (June 2011):
https://soundcloud.com/can17/7-superhero

  

These are not all, and believe me you definetely find something interesting besides these in these links: My Soundcloud page where you can find most of my songs:
https://soundcloud.com/can17
Here's my Youtube channel's playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/entertocans*And this is my Facebook page for following/liking:
https://www.facebook.com/cankucuk17

My Notated Compositions

You can listen to the song and see notations in below links:

Tomorrow Starts Tonight
https://soundcloud.com/can17/tomorrow-starts-tonight
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_dXRvNHJVRERWbHM

Path To 1140 Boylston
https://soundcloud.com/can17/path-to-1140-boylston-street/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_Y2tTMUQ0d0U4eVE

Lazy Enough To Believe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeXDxPcGa3c
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_bmFibTZQaXQ1UW8/

Child Of Innocence (This is almost a year old recording and some vocals are flat because I hadn't have the option to hear myself while recording back then, after I record again I will upload the new version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTY7VLaPng
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_ek9lMG52bzlPdTg

Nice To Nature
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK182IcwGGs
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_MUJMSGhnUElDR3M

Istanbul
https://soundcloud.com/can17/istanbul
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1wk60V2pwc_WW1hV1ZEa2dyak0

Best Popular Music Ever Made

List by Mahir Can Küçük


Eric Johnson- Lonely In The Night*
Eric Johnson- Gem
Eric Johnson- Forever Yours
Eric Johnson- A Song For Life*
Eric Johnson- Cliffs Of Dover
Eric Johnson- Battle We Have Won
Tony Macalpine- Time Table*
Tony Macalpine- The Taker
Tony Macalpine- Take Me Back
Kansas- Dust In The Wind
Kenny Loggins- Rainbow Connection
Kenny Loggins- Return To Pooh Corner*
Yanni- Reflections Of Passion *
Yanni- Until The Last Moment*
Yanni- One Man's Dream
Yanni- If I Could Tell You
Yanni- Felitsa
Mark Cole- Vaughandrix *
Leonard Berstein- Somewhere
Steve Vai- Building The Church
Steve Vai- For The Love Of God
Steve Vai- All About Eve
Steve Vai- In My Dreams With You
Steve Vai feat Holland Metropole Orchestra- Gentle Ways*
Steve Vai- Lotus Feet*
Michael Jackson- We've Had Enough
Michael Jackson- Liberian Girl
Michael Jackson- Earth Song*
Michael Jackson- Heal The World
Michael Jackson- Little Susie
Michael Jackson- Speechless*
Stevie Wonder- Overjoyed
Stevie Wonder- Ribbon In The Sky*
Stevie Wonder- With Each Beat Of My Heart
Stevie Wonder- For Your Love
The Tea Party-Psychopomp
The Tea Party-These Living Arms

Scorpions- Send Me An Angel
Scorpions- Wind Of Change
Bruce Hornsby- The Way It Is
Michel Fugain- Une Belle Histoire
Nirvana- Come As You Are
Celine Dion- Dreaming Of You
Celine Dion- My Heart Will Go On*
Celine Dion- Colour Of My Love*
Celine Dion- Next Plane Out
Steelheart- She's Gone*
Chris Rea- Sweet Summer Day
Chris Rea- Fool If You Think It's Over
Chris Rea- Steel River
Belinda Carlisle- California
Belinda Carlisle- Remember September*
Toni Braxton- Unbreak My Heart
Toni Braxton- Spanish Guitar
Bond- Shine
Sting- Shape Of My Heart
Sting feat Cheb Mami- Desert Rose
Juice Newton - Angel Of The Morning
Mustafa  Sandal- Mesela
Mustafa Sandal- Akışına Bırak
Mustafa Sandal- Alkışlarla
Kenny G- Forever In Love
Kenny G- Morning*
Kenny G- Sentimental
Neil Armstrong- What A Wonderful World
Gotye- Somebody That I Used To
Muse- Starlight
Muse- Time Is Running Out
Joe Jackson- Steppin' Out
Yngwie Malmsteen- Like An Angel
Yngwie Malmsteen- Forever One*
Yngwie Malmsteen- Black Star
Yngwie Malmsteen- Seventh Sign
Yngwie Malmsteen- Child In Time
George Michael- Careless Whisper*
George Michael- Last Christmas
Whitesnake- Is This Love
Gwen Stefani- 4 In The Morning
Prince- Adore
Joe Satriani- The Extremist*
Joe Satriani- Andalusia
Joe Satriani- Belly Dancer
Go West- Call Me
Bryan Adams- Run To You
Diana Ross- Do You Know Where You're Going To
Lionel Richie- Hello
The Outfield- I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love
Jermaine Jackson- Do What You Do
Jermaine Jackson- Daddy's Home
Don Ross- No Goodbyes
Alan Parsons- Old And Wise*
Supertramp- The Logical Song
Oscar Lopez- Classical Soul
Total Touch- Somebody Elses Lover
Laura Branigan- Never In A Million Years
Laura Branigan- All Night With Me*
Laura Branigan- Self Control
Michael Bolton- How Am I Supposed To Live Without You
Michael Bolton- Missing You
Jennifer Rush- The Power Of Love*
Cat Stevens- Wild World
Jay Jay Johanson- Whispering Words
Gary Moore- Still Got The Blues*
Gary Moore- One Day
Gary Moore- Seperate Ways
Anthony and The Johnsons- Man Is The Baby*
Anthony and The Johnsons- Bird Guhl
Anthony and The Johnsons- Kiss My Name
R.E.M- Losing My Religion
David Bryne- Like Humans Do
Phil Collins- Another Day In Paradise
Pet Shop Boys- King's Cross*
Pet Shop Boys- It Couldn't Happen Here
Pet Shop Boys- Liberation
Pet Shop Boys- Dreaming Of The Queen
Nightwish- While Your Lips Are Still Red*
Nightwish- Last Of The Wilds
Nightwish- For The Heart I Once Had
The Beatles- Here Comes The Sun
The Beatles-  Paperback Writer
The Beatles- Octopus Garden
The Beatles- Take Me Back
The Beatles- While My Guitar Gently Wheeps*
Deep Purple- Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming
Deep Purple- Loosen My Strings*
Deep Purple- Clearly Quite Absurd
Barry Manilow- Could This Be Magic
Barry Manilow-Weekend In New England
Barry Manilow-Some Kind Of Friend
Barry Manilow-Looks Like We Made It*
Beach Boys- Forever
Beach Boys- Get Around
Aerosmith- Dream On
Aerosmith- Crazy
Elvis Presley- Devil In Disguise
Elvis Presley- Jailhouse Rock
Elvis Presley- C'mon Everybody
Elvis Presley- Can't Help Falling In Love
Frank Sinatra- New York, New York
Barbra Streisand- Woman Of Love*
Barbra Streisand- Greensleeves
Stevie B- Because I Love You
Natalie Cole- Miss You Like Crazy
Nat King Cole- Too Young
Orianthi- He's Gone
Orianthi- Out Of Reach*
Blessid Union Of Souls- I Believe
Blessid Union Of Souls- Nora
Eric Clapton- Old Love
Eric Clapton- Layla*
Eric Clapton - Change The World
Pink Floyd- Time
Pink Floyd- Hey You
Rory Gallagher- Easy Come Easy Go
Ozzy Ozbourne- Dreamer
Madonna- Spanish Eyes
Madonna- Secret
Madonna- Oh Father
Rockwell- Knife
Berlin- Take My Breath Away*
Mariah Carey- My All
Metallica- Fade To Black
Metallica- One
Santana- Europa
Santana- I'll Be Waiting*
Jimi Hendrix- Little Wing
Joe Bonamassa- Blues Deluxe
Stevie Ray Vaughan- Crossfire
John Petrucci- Glasgow Kiss
Pat Metheny- Dream Of Return
Pat Metheny- In Her Family
Paul Gilbert- Technical Difficulties
Jason Becker- Primal
Hiromi- Reverse
Joe Hisaishi- A Summer's Day

Albüm Eleştirisi: Steve Vai - Seventh Song

Ülkemizde de adını yeterince olmasa da belli oranda duyurmuş gitar virtüözü Steve Vai. Alive In Ultra World albümünde Türkiye için kaydettiği şarkıyı (Incantation), Türkiye'de kaydedip, Türkiye halkına adamayı planlamasına rağmen, İstanbul'da kaydı yaptığı konserden sonraki günlerden birinde halkın milli maç sonrası sevinçlerini çektiği fotoğraflarla ölümsüzleştirdikten sonra bir vatandaşın bir anda Vai'nin dalgın anında fotoğraf makinasını alıp götürmesi sonucunda şarkıyı Bulgaristan halkına adamıştır. 11 kez Grammy'e aday olmuş ve 3'ünü kazanmış, dünya tarihinin en önemli gitar virtüözlerinden ve kompozitörlerinden birisi. Türkiye'ye 2000 ve 2005 yılları olmak üzere 2 kez gelmiş, 2005 yılında İstanbul ve Ankara olmak üzere 2 konser vermiştir. Perdesiz gitarın telif hakkının sahibi Erkan Oğur'a yabancı yayınlarda defalarca saygılarını iletmiştir.
Seventh Song (2000) , bilindik toplama albümlerinden farklı bir özelliğe sahip: Sanatçı, bütün stüdyo albümlerindeki 7. şarkıları bu albümde derlemiş ve ortaya çok uyumlu bir enstrümental albüm çıkmış. Albüm, Vai'nin en ünlü şarkısı Grammy adayı "For The Love Of God"la başlıyor. Giriş şarkısı olmasından dolayı şarkı, albümün kişiliğinin belirlenmesinde önemli bir etken. Hakkında yorum yapmam gerekirse ilham sonucu üretilmiş ve büyük bir başarıyla işlenmiş, fonu arp'le oluşturulmuş lezzetli bir parça. Touching Tounges, enstrümental olmasına karşın içinde harika bir senaryo barındıran ve Devin Townsend'in çok yerinde ve tadında olan doğaçlama vokanin olduğu bölümüyle "tadından yenmez" hale gelmiş. Windows To The Soul, "In your eyes, I found comfort and peace." ve "The treasure of and endless ocean of love lies in your soul, behind the windows that are your eyes." sözlerini barındıran ve sololarda duyguların notalarla anlatıldığı hissi bir parça. Burning Down The Mountain, albümde es geçtiğim ve kaseti dinlerken bandı sonraki şarkı için ileri sardığım tek parça, Vai'nin yeterince tecrübeli olmadığı dönemlerden. Tender Surrender şarkısı hakkında başımdan geçen bir olayı anlatayım; Birkaç yıl önce gitar öğretmenim, içinde Tender Surrender'ı da barındıran Alien Love Secrets albümünü bana verdikten birkaç gün sonra telefonla bana birşey sormak için arıyor, açtığım anda, "Hocam, Tender Surrender keyfimi yarıda kestiniz" dememle birlikte sevinip: "Oo aferin aferin, Tender Surrender haa..."... Benzer bir olay 2. defa daha yaşanıyor, ancak 3. yaşanışında hocam bana benzer bir cevap vermiyor: "Başlarım senin Tender Surrender keyfine!" 
Hand on heart da albümün hissi (Bu gitar soloları mı hissi? diye sorabilirsiniz, evet, hissi...) bütünlüğünde önemli rol oynayan başarılı bir duygusal bir parça, ince çıkışlarıyla ve başarılı çeşitlemelere uğramış tekrarlarıyla dikkat çekiyor. Melissa's Garden 7. şarkıların derlendiği albümün 7. şarkısı ve ilk defa Seventh Song'da yayınlanmış olma özelliğine sahip. Steve Vai için farklı bir eser, farklı bir ruh hali var ve bir Romantik Dönem eseri havası taşımakta, oldukça etkileyici. Call It Sleep, albüm içinde çok ilgi çekici olmamasına karşın sırıtmıyor ve bütünlüğü sağlamada önemli rol oynuyor. Christmas Time is Here, elektrik gitar yerine yaylı bir çalgıyla çalınsa daha etkileyici olabilir, kompozisyonun kalitesi ve doyuruculuğu yerinde. The Wall Of Light'ı bir geçiş şarkısı olarak düşünebiliriz, kendisinden önceki ve sonraki şarkıları bağlamakta işinin ehli. Boston Rain Melody, "Bu şarkıyı Boston sokaklarında yağmur altında dinlemek bir başka!" diyebilmek isterdim, Boston'ı da bilmem ama bu şarkı albümü sonlandırıyor ve beyninizin sağ lobunun karnını doyuran son lokmayı afiyetle yediriyor ve abur cuburla değil, dengeli beslenmiş oluyorsunuz.

Albüm Eleştirisi: Santana - Amigos

Geçen kış Denizli'de bir kitabevi-müzik markette kasetlerde çok hoş bir indirim vardı, bende bu kasetin 1990 yeniden-basım'ı ve Stevie Wonder'ın Ballad Collection kasetini aldım. Kasetleri evde ve evden dersaneye yollarda dinledim, haliyle içindeki şarkıları ne zaman duysam aklıma Denizli gelmekte. Santana'nın 3 Disklik "Gold" toplamasında Amigos'tan 2 şarkı bulunmakta. Bunlar Europa (Earth`s Cry, Heaven`s Smile) ve Dance Sister Dance (Baila Mi Hermana).
Amigos'un giriş şarkısı olan "Dance Sister Dance" çok geniş içerikli bir şarkı olmamasına karşın içerik ön vokal ve gitarla özenle ve başarıyla doldurulmuş. Gerek ritm gerekse Meksika havalarını size getiren bölgesel unsurlar şarkının kişiliğine uymakta, ancak şarkı biraz fazla uzatılmış. "Take Me With You" sanki iki şarkının bir olmasıyla meydana gelmiş bir enstrümental şarkı. Duygu yüklü olan ikinci bölüm ezgisel anlamda daha yoğun bir içeriğe sahip, ilk bölüm bir yerden sonra sanki bir doğaçlama kompozisyon havası veriyor. "Let Me", çok daha kısa bir süreye sığdırılıp özetlenmesi gereken bir şarkı. Tekrarların fazlalığı, müziği erken sindirmemize sebep oluyor ve sonradan giren sololar da zayıf, lakin şarkının kapanış bölümü başarılı. "Gitano", içinde geçen amigo sözleri muhtemelen albüme adını vermiş. Bayağı bir solo ile başlayan şarkı tekrarlarla devam ediyor, geçişler başarılı olmasına karşın tekrarlanan Amigo'lu-Endugru'lu bölümler kulağımızın pasını silmemize hiçbir katkı sağlamıyor, hatta tekrarlar bir süre sonra sıkıcı hal alıyor.
"Tell Me You Are Tired" güzel bir şarkı olmasına rağmen daha fazla enstrümanla süslenmesi gereken bir şarkı, mevcut enstrümanlar biraz sayıca az olmamasına rağmen biraz yetersiz kalıyor, şarkının bir solo gitara ihtiyacı var gibi görünüyor, ve bu şarkı da diğer birçok şarkı gibi oldukça uzun, tekrarlı. "Europa" (Earth`s Cry, Heaven`s Smile), kasetimde parantez içinde Europa yazıyor :-). Santana'nın belki de en ünlü şarkısı. Bu şarkıyı eleştirmek kimseye düşmez çünkü Santana bu şarkıyı gerçekten içinden geldiği için bestelemiş, gerek başından ortalarına kadarını, gerekse temponun yükseldiği son bölümleri... "Let It Shine", kesinlikle sıradışı bir şarkı ve başarılı demekten kendimi alamayacağım ama yine de tekrarları çok.
Amigos albümü gerçekten bir bütün oluşturmakta ve şarkılar birbirini desteklemekte. Kasetten, sonraki şarkıya atlama şansım olmadığı için böyle zannediyor olabilir miyim bilmiyorum. Ama hiç zannetmiyorum. Santana, bir bütün olarak gayet başarılı bir albüm çıkarmış.