Machine Dream was my second attempt at writing a multi-part suite. I started jotting down ideas in 1996 (I think), and the different pieces began to coalesce in early 1997, but it wasn’t completely written until more than a year later. “It’s turning into my life story, or at least a part of that story: How I lost my spirituality to a belief in total science and order, and have slowly gained it back.”
When I originally recorded the song on 4-track cassette for the original version of the eponymous album, I had to count all the many 7/8 and 4/4 measures to come in on the bass at the right place for “Open My Eyes,” which was not easy for me. I usually don’t count measures when I’m playing. There were lots of technical hurdles like that to overcome with a limited amount of tracks to play with.
There are many influences in the music for this one: Pink Floyd, Kiss, and the Beatles among them. “Free” I envisioned as a cheesy 70s TV soundtrack song. When it came time to record for the 25th anniversary edition of Machine Dream, it seemed like a Herculean task. This is a rather complex piece of music. I used most of the original vocals and keyboard (MIDI) parts. I changed the lyrics slightly on “The Question,” which forced me to sing that one from scratch. I also changed “Free” to make it a little more musically interesting–the original version was basically a lot of noodling that became tiresome after a while.
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