I'm not certain if these are really demos or not, as Mr. Duke and his band sound pretty tight, but they certainly don't sound like the album they're referenced to, 1975's The Aura Will Prevail. As I understand it, then boss Frank Zappa may have produced these "demos" and it's likely he contributed the guitar solos, but when these recordings occurred are another mystery that likely only Mr. Duke himself could clarify. To be specific, an instrumental of Uncle Remus, the Duke/Zappa penned track from Zappa's 1973 album Apostrophe(') appears here, and it sounds as if it's from the same sessions that the Zappa version is taken from, whereas on the finished Aura album, the track is a complete re-recording with Duke on vocals in a very slowed-down and soulful performance. The other two tracks are also completely different from later-released versions, so who really knows when these were recorded or what they're purpose was, but to my ears they resemble the Mothers as a jazz crew rather than a solo excursion from George. Nonetheless, beautiful stuff and the performance of Psychosomatic Dung is smokin'!
I'll be back Monday, as this weekend is a celebratory road trip for myself. Enjoy!
George Duke - Aura Demos
01 For Love (I Come Your Friend)
02 Psychosomatic Dung
03 Uncle Remus (Instrumental)
PS - Once again, big thanks to the fine folks at Zappateers where I got the original files for this post. Keep up the great work guys!
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