George Duke - Aura Demos

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!

Talking Heads - 1975 CBS Records Demos

The original Talking Heads lineup consisted of David Byrne, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. Jerry Harrison didn't join until 1976, partly due to his experience in the original Modern Lovers with Jonathan Richman. They secured the opportunity to record some demos for CBS Records in 1975 but it didn't get them a contract. Just growing pains, because Seymour Stein signed them up to Sire Records shortly thereafter and the band released their first album, '77, in 1977 (what an inventive title for an album!).

These demos started circulating a few years ago, probably after having been dug out of the vaults while the TH catalog was being remastered. There are a few other interesting finds available, but most everything circulating has been released. Thirteen of these tracks are exceptions, never having been released officially in any form and showing a young but very developed band. There are some differences between these and the final versions, like the tempos of Psycho Killer and I Wish You Wouldn't Say That, but these are minor. The most notable differences are the less hearty arrangements which would come when the band's lineup was finalized and they went into the studio. It's also interesting to hear songs like Love --> Building On Fire without Toni Bongiovi's production excesses like horns or Psycho Killer without strings.

This isn't my favorite period of Talking Heads' work, but I still love these songs and it's great to study their early work closer. If you dig the Heads, give this a listen, I'm sure you'll find it interesting.


Talking Heads - 1975 CBS Records Demos

01 Psycho Killer
02 Sugar On My Tongue
03 Thank You For Sending Me An Angel
04 I Want To Live
05 I Wish You Wouldn't Say That
06 The Girls Want To Be With The Girls
07 Who Is It
08 With Our Love
09 Stay Hungry
10 Tentative Decisions
11 Warning Sign
12 I'm Not In Love
13 The Book I Read
14 Love --> Building On Fire
15 No Compassion


PS - The two tracks from these sessions which were released are Sugar On My Tongue and I Want To Live, both initially available on the two disc Sand In The Vaseline retrospective compilation. Also, for those wondering, yeah, Tony Bongiovi is Jon Bon Jovi's cousin. And yeah, while I said he brought some unnecessary elements to the '77 album, he's still a great producer and is also responsible for several of the Ramones early records. He's also responsible for getting Jon his first professional singing gig on R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas from the Star Wars Christmas album, Christmas In The Stars. There is also a Meco connection there for anyone so enamored with that man's weird-ass productions. Okay, none of that has anything to do with Talking Heads but I thought you'd find it interesting nonetheless.

Artful Dodger - Self Titled 1975

I'm not going to spend a lot of time explaining the history of this band, especially since there are a lot of sites that do it much better, including their very own site, just DO NOT confuse them for the similarly named British group that produce dance music. That said, this probably won't stay up for too long anyway because the band is pretty vocal about not having their stuff shared online, but that's a problem since all but one of their albums are unavailable, and when I get asked if I have any of their stuff, it's always this album that no one has but everyone wants. The band has said several times that this album, as well as their third and fourth albums, are awaiting reissue via American Beat records, but that's been said since 2007 and nothing has come of it, so I honestly don't think I'm doing anyone a disservice by posting this, but if anyone from the band or representing them would like this removed from my blog, please leave me a message either in the comments or by e-mail and I will gladly comply.


Artful Dodger - Artful Dodger (1975)

01 Wayside
02 You Know It's Alright
03 It's Over
04 Follow Me
05 Long Time Away
06 Think Think
07 Silver and Gold
08 Things I'd Like To Do Again
09 Waiting Place
10 New York City


UPDATE: Sorry guys, but as requested by the band, I am removing the album from download. I feel it's only right that if the artist in question takes the time to request their work is not shared, even if it's not available anywhere else via legal channels, that it is only right to respect their wishes. Let's do like they asked and support the band by requesting the label that owns the distribution rights, American Beat Records, get more reissues on the shelves as soon as possible.