Catching Glimpses by Richard Salzman

7th album in the Promised Land Project (PLP). A compilation of songs excerpted from the first six albums exploring the inner struggle to stand in genuine relationship...a work in progress...intended to deepen understanding of the choices we make on our journey towards greater self-awareness.

Many of these songs are confessional, introspective and contemplative in nature, exploring the role of humor, patience, playfulness, acceptance, appreciation, forgiveness and gratitude on the path towards being in genuine relationship.

I wrote most of the lyrical songs in my 20s and 30s. I took a stab at recording them once every decade or so, but never found sufficient time. Life kept me busy. Now, I'm mostly retired and it's easier and less expensive to record using modern technology in a home studio. Over the last 2 years, I've found time to bring the project to this point. A few of the songs with lyrics are from the last 20 years, as are many of the instrumental pieces.

I'm a novice at recording, which might be apparent to audiophiles.
Sometimes these songs sound balanced and interesting to my ear, and sometimes they sound a bit noisy, depending on how much sleep I had the night before and how my brain is functioning. Most of them have a raw quality that seems to go hand in hand with the subject matter. It's difficult to know when a song is finished. How many tracks do you need? How many effects do you need? How about more percussion? What about this instrument, or that instrument? How to pan the different tracks? Where to set the volumes? I've decided that a mix of simple and unadorned songs with some that are "adorned," is OK.

Many thanks to my musician friends who accompanied me on this journey. I thank them for their dedication, focus and originality! While I wrote most of the lyrics, my freshman year college roommate and good friend, Jim Shapiro (JNS) poet/lyricist, contributed 8 of the lyrics sprinkled like gems throughout the 6 albums (5 of them are in this 7th compilation album!), and while I composed the tunes (except for Joanne's lovely "River Walk"), and determined the fundamental shape of the songs (tempo, rhythm...), the interesting nature of the music lies largely with all of the contributing artists' creative input.

Many thanks, as well, to my many muses along the way!

And thank you, Elizabeth, for inviting me to share in the beauty of Glacier National Park. All of the album page photos in the Promised Land Project (PLP) and many of the photos on the individual song pages were taken there.

I'm planning to publish 70+ songs over the next few months.
Taken as a whole, they slowly tell a story, oftentimes quite dramatically, other times, rather prosaically. I believe their appeal may well be with 20 or 30 year olds who feel adrift in this world, who struggle to feel at home...at one. I hope some of them speak to you. They still speak to me, and serve as reminders of insights I had along the way, insights that helped me to heal.

Thank you for listening! Thank you for your support!

In Peace, RNS