It's not going to be easy to find pieces to illustrate what is meant by 'over the top', as listening to music is a very personal thing and what might sound 'over busy' to one person might sound just perfect to another. And we don't want to upset anybody who thinks they have done a fantastic job on a recording and all we can hear is a 'cacophony of noise' (to coin a phrase from Den).
But I am grateful to John Traves (JPT) who has sent me this to get me going, and has made this comment:
I believe the phrase 'less is more' often obtains. This is an arrangement where I definitely over-did it. Just too much going on even though it seemed a good idea at the time. (Tyros)
Night and Day
Do a right-click to open this up in a New Tab
https://app.box.com/s/j4ra871fqfgjknkpjl6b95z112gkgjth
Get the picture?
If you have a piece you reckon has too much going on in it, please let me know so I can include it in here.
Hugh (hugh@ar-group.org)