Originally Released in 2005 this album was very well received. That version called “That’s How Dreams Go” was released under the band name Acquisotic. This name was a fictitious band I had created years ago.
The album was completely remastered and some songs were re-recorded. 2 new songs unreleased songs were added and two songs removed for this release. The quality is a solid notch up from the original release and it was digitally mastered.
Listen to the music, stream it or buy it from this page
The Name: “Miles of Smiles”
“Miles Of Smiles”, released in Feb 2021. It is a remastered and partially remixed version of the original release of “That’s How Dreams Go”. It originally used the name Acquisotic, which is a great name, but it doesn’t exist in the dictionary causing a lot of Search Engine confusion! So it was quite hard to find. Google wants it to be Acquisition, and people searching for Bruce Gombrelli couldn’t find it. So Bruce decided to reissue it, but there were songs that he wanted to update with new vocals parts, new instrumentation and new drum work so in 2020 he took on the task of completely redoing the original release and Miles Of Smiles was born.
Final Mixing and Mastering
In his Hernando Florida studio he spent a solid 2 months of recording, remixing and mastering the new release. The name selection of the title came on a Saturday morning “name brain storming” session in the Florida, between Bruce and Stephanie in the Lanai on the back of the Hernando Recording studio home. The Graphic was designed by Bruce very late in the process and was made to reflect the retro feel of his music.
Song List Changes
There was a song line up and content change on this new release. It included 2 new songs “Blues Bonez”. Which was originally written for the West Coast Swing dance community and has been also released under the name “Whole Lotta Wrong” featuring John Keenan on vocals. It was the same basic track but the Blues Bonez version was a later edition. “Trip To Mars” was also included which is an instrumental originally called HandWriter. It was re-mastered. This release lost a few tunes, “Untouchable” and “Smooth Landing” were removed because the didn’t survive well in the mixing process so they were removed for now. Also, the other reason behind this was that the 2 new songs were in a very completed state and fit in with the album in terms of time and style. The 2 removed songs were taken off the release because during the final processing the quality of the recordings just didn’t meet the bar of the rest of the songs on the release.
Lyrics
The lyrics are the exact same as the original in all cases. You can find the lyrics here.
Song Changes
There was many changes to the material on the release yet some arrive almost untouched but all were remastered. Here’s a few of the changes.
- STUCK – This used to be called “It’s Not Learning”. This song was moved to digital from the original recorder. Drum tracks added and a little bit of new instrumentation. This song was to be a flag ship song when it was written and Bruce put in a lot of effort to refine this one.
- SLIDE – This is a remastered version of the original track. Slide had a lot of different parts in it and included quite a bit of keyboard and guitar work. It’s actually a very complicated track and the theme was based on someone who was too big for their pants, mentally. The flute part was keyboarded by Bruce.
- THATS HOW DREAMS GO – This is a remaster of the original track with nothing added. The original was written on the Guitar first, which was literally a jam. Then the Vocals added and finally musical additions theming done with synths. The build up at the end was a challenge because the timing is very organic so it took a while to figure out how to do it and that was why there is a “Rise Up” in pitch toward the end then it settles out.
- SMILE BABY SMILE – Original recording remastered. This has Bruce on a real midi drum kit mix with a groove. One of his generic favorites. It uses a nice acoustic part.
- YOUR STAR SHINES – This song was moved to digital and had extensive editing done with new tracks. It almost didn’t make the cut but because Bruce felt it was a very unusual song it was left on the release. Overproduced? Maybe. Better original recording wanted? Definitely. Happy with the results. As good as it could be for what it is. It’s foundation was a groove track originally. Likely created on his RS 2000 he was messing around with at the time.
- TRIP TO MARS – This is actually an edited, remastered version of “Handwriter” which is an instrumental. This was released as a single but later removed due to a digital flaw. The original backing “tracks” were created on a Yamaha RS 2000 Groove Station over a period of a year in 2012. Because Smooth Landing was removed Bruce put this track on instead. It’s fitting for the era this music was created and the album needed an instrumental.
- EDGE OF YOUR WORLD – Remastered from the original recording. This song took over a year to create and has an unusual rhythmic gallop feel to it. There is also more than one version of it out there. Another version exists on the Stir Fry with Brent Bennett on vocals.
- ONE IN A BILLION – A redone version of Sadie Oh. Mostly remastered from the original recording. The song sports a strong familiarity with AJA because some of the chord ideas came from that song. Bruce is a big fan of Steely Dan’s later material. There’s also a bar in the middle that is likely 7/8 to pull a new verse for guitar work into the song that didn’t originally exist. It has an interesting “CARS” sounds toward end of the song when it getting very Rock oriented, the very ending has a female vocalist doing a vamp and was a directly influenced by the song AJA by Steely Dan.
- BLUES BONEZ – All new never released version of the song. A unique blues cut with Bruce on all instruments as usual, even a harmonica! It was written with West Coast Swing dancing in mind and released to the dance community with a different vocalist. In time this song was created about 2007/08
- WHO AM I – Original recording remastered. This song was, essentially, the first chapter in Bruce’s Sci Fi Book – The Overlord. It Features Bruce on Drums, Live Bass, a very live track. It also sports a female vocalist background singing parts that Bruce directed.
The Original Recordings
The original recordings were done from about 2001 to 2005 (the release date of the first CD). It was a very prolific time and some of the material that was written right at the end of this were held over and released on “ACQUISOTIC II” by Bruce Gombrelli.
The recordings were all done on a VS 2480 – 24 Track hard disk recorder, through either an Analog Mackie 32 track board or a 24 track digital Yamaha mixer, most through the Mackie.
Some tracks contain live midi drums, some had a Yamaha RS 7000 Groove Box, Often tracks were live (keyboard, harp, vocals, flute, guitars, bass) and some of it was Scored into MIDI and played back into outboard gear like Rolands XV 5080, Yamaha FS1R and more.
Rhode NT1 Microphone was a the MAIN microphone used in the original takes.