Adam-Michael James On-Line: Music

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Growing up, AMJ was a little out of step with his contemporaries. He listened to classical music when those around him listened to rock, disco when everyone fell out of favour with it, and country when the world was caught up in New Wave. But when he discovered pop in 1984, its influence on him was unmistakable. He wrote his first song that year at the age of 14, and has written over 200 since. In 1988 he started recording his material and so far has 60 tracks committed to cassette, CD, or computer. AMJ On-Line now makes some of them available, starting with the two he's made videos for!

AMJ's book Extra Extra!: Memoirs from a Piece of Human Furniture was released in 2005. To help promote it, he wrote a pop tie-in with Leo Marchildon. But, having wanted to make a video since the '80s, AMJ couldn't resist the opportunity to recreate the world of extra work on camera. The resulting video for Extra Extra! brings the text of his book to life with fun, colour, and a myriad of AMJ reinventions!

Extra Extra! was also released as a CD maxi-single, complete with remixes. It's sold as a package with a DVD of the video that features the "making of"! It can be found in the Store!

Having spent more than a dozen years in a big city (in this case, Los Angeles), AMJ had grown tired of the noise and smog. Out of this weariness came Fall Down to Earth, an expression of the desire to get back to something simpler and quieter. In 2007, as preparations were being made to relocate to Prince Edward Island to develop the musical The Nine Lives of L.M. Montgomery (see Theatre), AMJ decided to shoot a crude video for Fall Down to Earth using only a digital camera, contrasting the grittiness of North Hollywood and surrounding areas with the greenness of his favourite campground north of Pasadena. It was both a way of showing what he wanted to get away from and an homage to the L.A. he wanted to capture on film before he left it.

The following tracks can be listened to with the Yahoo! Media Player.

I Wanna Be Tied Down (Alternate Version)	With lyrics written in 1989, AMJ recorded this exploration of the different facets of commitment in 2001.
Prisoner of Time	Domestic discord was the subject of AMJ's first song, written at the age of 14. In 1996 he worked his lyrics into an instrumental by guitarist Bruce Clark. Vocals were added in 2006.
Take It Out On the Dance Floor (1991)	This second version of a 1990 song that darkly prescribes dancing as therapy again features guitar by Bruce Clark.
The In Love With Love Song	AMJ's throwback to the '30s with a modern lyrical twist was also conceived in 1990, but not fully realized until 2000 in this first collaboration with Leo Marchildon.
Into It	Going full-on dance in this joyous 2000 track, AMJ sings about the rewards of following your heart - and the consequences if you don't.
Fall Down to Earth (AMJ's Dirty Gritty Mix)	AMJ has also done numerous remixes for his own songs and those of other artists for the past decade. Here he transforms the electronic sound of his original video track into pounding grunge for this 2007 mix.
An Orphan No More (AMJ's Move to PEI Mix)	Continuing to radically reinvent songs in unexpected ways, AMJ took a snippet of Leo Marchildon's orchestral composition for The Nine Lives of L.M. Montgomery and built an electronic wonderland around it in 2007.
I Am A Newspaper Woman! (Excerpt)	As part of The Nine Lives of L.M. Montgomery's original cast in 2008, AMJ had the privilege of appearing on the cast album later that year. In this excerpt, a quartet of newspaper men ponder the whereabouts of the title character. Look for the CD in the Store!

AMJ plans on recording new material for 2010, including The Power of Imagination, which is based on the throughline of The Nine Lives of L.M. Montgomery. Check back throughout the year for more information!