Pok: Don’t Let It Pass You By

Don’t Let It Pass You By by Pok the Bard is a brand new release from Wud Records! It has been added to Pok‘s awesome Anthology album both on Bandcamp and SoundCloud. There is also a new page for Don’t Let It Pass You By at the Explicit Music website.

Don’t Let It Pass You By was composed in 1985. A very early version can be heard on Laughing Sun‘s Live in Session Autumn 1985 recording.

The song was also performed live by the Spacegoats, during their brief ‘Electric Elves’ incarnation, which lasted from late 1999 to early 2000.

Don’t Let It Pass You By is an uptempo feel good song with a very positive message. Pok’s vocal has a wonderfully warm inflection throughout and the positive energy oozes like a tide of joy from the speakers.

The song starts with a little instrumental in the key of A major, then changes to E major for the song proper. The tempo is 144 BPM. The vibe is classic rock, perhaps even hard rock, with a touch of blues rock and psychedelic rock, and even a tickle of country rock. Plenty of rocka!

All of Pok‘s guitar parts are performed on Marsha, a beautiful pale gold Ibanez Roadstar II from 1985. Sadly this guitar was stolen shortly after the parts were recorded and will probably never be seen again. What a shame.

Pok‘s rhythm guitar part is panned well over to the right and is both definitive and dependable.

Pok also plays a clean and heavily compressed lead guitar part which is almost country rock in style. It beautifully compliments the vocal. There is a typically delightful guitar solo from Pok‘s magical fingers, the sound of which is dripping with dirt and filth.

The other guitar part, panned far to the left, is performed by Pok‘s old friend and companion of many years, Fedax. Fedax also plays a 1985 Ibanez Roadstar using the neck pickup in humbucker configuration. Fedax performed all of the backing vocals, finding harmonies in the most unlikely places.

Josh adds a touch of psychedlia to the song with his B3x organ, some whooshy pads and a bubbly sound like the old EDP Wasp. Josh is quite ambient in the mix, but you can find him if you tune in.

Maxx’s thunderous bass underpins and energises the whole song. The big flange on the bass at the start of the guitar solo was a thought that came quite late in the day during the engineering stage.

Sven’s expert whackings give the whole song cohesion and power, yet his parts are often subtle and sly, and musically very clever.

Several more of Pok’s songs are coming along very well and we hope to release more of them soon. We also hope to remix and remaster more of the Anthology songs that were already released before the studio upgrade of 2023.

To listen to Don’t Let It Pass You By on SoundCloud, please click here.

To download it or listen to it at Bandcamp, please click here.

If you would like to listen to the entire Anthology album by Pok as it stands right now, please click here.