Time After Time

Though I suspect Time After Time is often regarded as one of the weaker songs on Reckoning I have always had a soft spot for this song from the moment I first heard it. I always liked it when R.E.M. slowed things down in their early days and, while this is nowhere near as strong as Perfect Circle, I do think it's a lovely song and a nice sonic departure from the rest of the songs on side 1 of Reckoning.

This was always going to be quite a complex song to put together and yet I was determined to get it right. From the way the tribal drums are panned right to the way the ringing guitars fluctuate in volume sporadically throughout the song I wanted to pay attention to these little details. I learnt early on that the song is played with a capo on the first fret which explains why I could never play along with the CD previously (incidentally Harborcoat is also performed in a different key on the album version).

The only thing I'm still not happy about is the loud acoustic strum that introduces the song and then repeats throughout the verses. I did this on a 12 string acoustic but on the album it sounds far more eastern-sounding.