Nine Inch Nails - Purest Feeling+

This is the last NIN post for a while, simply because, like Prince or any other topic that has a lot of posts, I don't want overkill. That said, if you haven't heard this before, you should definitely check it out now.

Before signing an awful contract with TVT Records, Trent Reznor, while doing janitorial work at the Right Track Studios in Cleveland, was using spare studio time to record demos for Nine Inch Nails. Adrian Sherwood was so impressed by the demo he heard that he couldn't say no to working with Trent, noting that it sounded like an almost finished album. That demo, most likely, was the bootleg album that circulates under the name, Purest Feeling.

Purest Feeling is pretty incredible stuff to listen to as it's amazingly complete sounding despite clearly being different, earlier recordings. That said, while tracks like Down In It, Sanctified, That's What I Get and The Only Time are rather close to their finished versions, Kinda I Want To is a synth-pop ode to misery, Ringfinger contains an alternate chorus with extra lyrics, and there are two completely unreleased songs, another synth-pop misery inducer named Maybe Just Once and Purest Feeling, the song itself, which is somewhat Police-esque with Trent providing sax squawks and a brass back-up. The unreleased songs aren't bad, but they certainly don't fit with the harder edge to come on Pretty Hate Machine.

On top of the Purest Feeling demo album, there are five other demos in circulation that are included here. Additional demos of Sanctified, Ringfinger (labeled Twist), Kinda I Want To and two versions of Down In It are circulating, although they aren't too different from the versions on Purest Feeling. The main difference is that they're lacking the grout that kept the Purest Feeling versions linked to each other, though Twist contains yet more lyrics left off the Pretty Hate Machine version, and the Big Whole Mix of Down In It is completely different from any other demo version circulating with a more subdued vocal.

It's worth noting that as interesting as these demos are, apparently there is another demo floating around, as a tape, apparently in the possession Martin Atkins, was recently sold on eBay for a thousand dollars with versions of Terrible Lie and Sin, both of which have previously not circulated. That demo, of which two samples can be listened to here, sounds a lot more completed than the Purest Feeling ones, which makes for an interesting difference. Regardless of which demos were passed around though, Purest Feeling and the rest of the demos are a fascinating look at NIN before they were the juggernaut they are now.


Nine Inch Nails - Purest Feeling+

01 Intro
02 Sanctified
03 Maybe Just Once
04 The Only Time
05 Kinda I Want To
06 That's What I Get
07 Purest Feeling
08 Ringfinger
09 Down In It

10 Down In It (Demo)
11 Sanctified (Demo)
12 Kinda I Want To (Demo)
13 Twist (Demo)
14 Down In It (Big Whole Mix)

Head Automatica - Popaganda! Roughs & Demos

Please forgive me, but my delay in posting these was because I wanted to compare the tracks in detail because some of them repeat, but I never really got to do the whole thing and I promised I'd post it by Wednesday or Thursday so I'm just going to follow through on my promise. These are three collections of roughs and demos for Head Automatica's second album, Popaganda!, which was more of an eighties pop/punk album in the vein of Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson. The tracks in !!! Remixed and 2nd LP Session I all seem to be in The Vipen Sessions collection but I included them for posterity. Initially the band didn't want these tracks traded because they leaked a long time before the album was released, but with several years between then and now I think we can get away with sharing these here. Again, if you want the quick and dirty, grab The Vipen Sessions for over an hour and a half of alt mixes, demos and rough tracks. There will be redundancy if you grab all three but it's still nice to have them all and I've included the original .nfo file included with the !!! Remixed tracks. Enjoy!


Head Automatica - The Vipen Sessions

01 You Do
02 Surely
03 Chip A Tooth On Love
04 Loaded Gun
05 Scandalous
06 Shot In The Back
07 Cigarettes In Purple Reign
08 Secret Warz
09 She's Not It
10 Breakdown
11 Egyptian Musk
12 Boy Crazy
13 Farmer's Daughter
14 Granada
15 Covered In Your Best Friend
16 Oxycotton
17 Shot In The Back 2
18 There Is A Pill
19 Vanishing Man
20 Graduation Day
21 The Million Dollar Decision
22 Continental Divide
23 Hard As Mud
24 Chantel
25 Adore
26 Sweet 16
27 Chip A Tooth On Love (Alternate Mix)
28 Sweet 16
29 A Wasp On The Tip Of My Tongue


Head Automatica - !!! Remixed

01 Egyptian Musk
02 Boy Crazy
03 Farmer's Daughter
04 Granada
05 Covered In Your Best Friend
06 Oxycotton
07 Shot In The Back 2
08 There Is A Pill
09 Vanishing Man


Head Automatica - 2nd LP Session I

01 You Do
02 Loaded Gun
03 Surely
04 Shot In The Back
05 Scandalous
06 Chip A Tooth
07 Heart In Hand
08 National Velvet
09 The Things I Do For You
10 She's Not It

Television - Demos 74-75

I've been on a Television kick lately, playing Marquee Moon a lot. If you've never heard it, I'd suggest PBthal's incredible rip of an original vinyl pressing, although the 2003 reissue, which comes with some very nice bonus tracks, is worth grabbing as well. That said, PBthal's rule is not to share his web address so you'll have to google him yourself. Hell, I'd put him in my blog list to the right but again, he likes to remain as invisible as possible.

Anyway, wanting to learn more about the earlier line-up of Television, which Richard Hell was a member of, I went looking for goodies and found the Richard Williams and Brian Eno produced demos from 1974 for Island Records. Interestingly, six songs were recorded during these sessions, one of which was Blank Generation, but Hell left the band, by his own statement about a month after making these recordings, so I guess it makes sense as to why that track wouldn't have appeared on copies of the demo that were passed around. Really unfortunate as, in retrospect, who wouldn't want to hear that version of the song?

I also found some demos from 1975 which may have been self-produced by the band and recorded at Patti Smith's place. The wonderful Hard On Love is a standout of immense proportions, making everyone wonder why the hell it didn't get re-recorded. As for Little Johnny Jewel, it's the same version released as a single and probably taken from a vinyl rip as it's a lot cleaner sounding than the rest of the demos, but it is from these sessions so it deserves inclusion.

I've gotta give credit to some fellas known as the Wacko Brothers who compiled these tracks from various bootlegs and assembled a torrent with the eleven tracks presented here and another rip of the Eno demos from a vinyl source. I decided to leave the vinyl rips off because they're the same tracks but sound quite bad due to their lo-fi bootleg nature. The vinyl tracks were also playing at the wrong speed and I pitch corrected them, but what's the point in listening to them when you've got the superior versions? The only potential reason is a slightly longer version of Marquee Moon, but it's the same take so I have no idea where the roughly twenty additional seconds come from. So again, thanks Wacko Bros, I don't take credit from those who did the work before me and you fellas, assuming you are more than one person, did a great job!


Television - Demos 74-75

01 Prove It (12/74 Eno Demo)
02 Friction (12/74 Eno Demo)
03 Venus (12/74 Eno Demo)
04 Double Exposure (12/74 Eno Demo)
05 Marquee Moon (12/74 Eno Demo)
06 Hard On Love (8/75 Demo)
07 Friction (8/75 Demo)
08 Careful (8/75 Demo)
09 Prove It (8/75 Demo)
10 Fire Engine (8/75 Demo)
11 Little Johnny Jewel (8/75 Demo)

Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic Roughs

Someone was asking about Doughty's song, I'm Still Drinking In My Dreams. Apparently it was a free download on his myspace or something at one point or another, as may have been his solo version of Tremendous Brunettes. I wanted to share these but not if it were only those two tracks. I thought about doing a post with Doughty guest spots on other artists' tracks but then I remembered where I got those Haughty Melodic leftovers from in the first place.

While still an independent artist, our man Doughty had managed two releases, Skittish and Rockity Roll, as well as a limited live CD. He had bigger plans though and was working on an album with his band. He had compiled a demo tape of eleven songs and by chance found himself in front of his old pal, Dave Matthews. He gave Dave a copy, Dave loved it and Doughty was signed to Dave's ATO Records shortly thereafter. The songs on that demo would make up Haughty Melodic and we'd all hear Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well on Grey's Anatomy whether we admitted it or not. Good for Mike!

The demo tape, while cool, sounds a lot like the finished album. A LOT LIKE THE FINISHED ALBUM. It's rather amazing how good it sounds for a demo, to which I've often wondered if some of the multitracks from the demo sessions were used on the finished album. I suppose it's possible. What really matters though is how clear Doughty's vision was and remained as evidenced by a comparison between the demo and finished product, and that is why I'm posting it here tonight for your listening pleasure. Now you can do your own compare and contrast experiments with these very high quality demos or roughs as I prefer to call them. If you hear anything really fascinating please drop a note in comments for this post and share those details. Enjoy!


Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic Roughs

01 Unsingable Name
02 Madeline and Nine
03 Looking At The World From The Bottom Of A Well
04 I'm Still Drinking In My Dreams
05 American Car
06 I Hear The Bells
07 Tremendous Brunettes
08 Grey Ghost
09 Sunkeneyed Girl
10 Busting Up A Starbucks
11 White Lexus


PS - In case anyone is wondering, I found these on slsk a good while before Haughty Melodic was released. And if you haven't heard the finished album, Tremendous Brunettes here is a solo version because Dave Matthews shared the vocals with Mike on the album version.

Shudder To Think - Hit Liquor EP

Prior to the release of Pony Express Record, Epic Records decided to unleash a little nugget of joy to grab the attention of the alt-rock consumers of the world. That nugget, the Hit Liquor EP, contained the same version of it's title cut that appeared on Pony Express Record as well as four exclusive recordings. Those tracks weren't new songs, but rather demos and re-recordings, giving an unpolished perspective on the soon to be released album. Fortunately, as is the case with Pony Express Record, no one will hold it against you if you missed the Hit Liquor EP. Luckily, Sony was in the habit of sending out oodles of promos back in 1994 and now you're more likely to find one of those than an actual retail copy of the EP.

For the sake of details, the demo of Kissi Penny was produced by Ted Nicely and recorded by Steve Palmieri at Oz Studios in Baltimore, MD. The Full Body Anchor demo was recorded at Craig's apartment with Nathan. As for the re-recordings, they were both produced by Nick Pellicciotto and recorded live to 2-track at Sorcerer Sound in New York on January 10th and 11th, 1994. Red House, which was re-recorded again for Shudder's next album, 50,000 BC, originally appeared on 1991's Funeral At The Movies while Heaven Here was originally featured on 1990's Ten Spot. Hit Liquor's credits are the same as the Kissi Penny demo although it was mixed by Andy Wallace.

Regarding the demos that were later shared on PonyExpressRecord.com, I've been trying to find them but all I've been able to get my hands on so far was an instrumental for an unreleased tune named Circus Metal. Pretty sweet stuff so I've included it as a separate file for download. When I find the rest of those demos I'll make sure to share them too. Enjoy!


Shudder To Think - Hit Liquor EP

01 Hit Liquor
02 Kissi Penny (Demo)
03 Red House (1994 Re-Recording)
04 Heaven Here (1994 Re-Recording)
05 Full Body Anchor (Demo)

Shudder To Think - Circus Metal (Instrumental Demo)

Guns N' Roses - 1999 Demos

This is a post I imagine very few people will be interested in, but it fits the guidelines of the site so I'm including it.

If you're familiar with Guns N' Roses and Chinese Democracy, you know the album was in the process of creation for near fifteen years. Slash and Duff were still members of the band when the process of creating a new album began, although they left the very early on and made no contributions to the album that would be released. From there, Axl took the reigns of the band, minus any prior band members other than Dizzy Reed, and hired an incredible cast of producers and musicians to help him flesh out his ideas. Roy Thomas Baker, Moby, Sean Beaven, Andy Wallace and many more were tapped for assistance, although just because they were contacted doesn't mean their influence was necessarily felt throughout the finished product.

In the end, it's been rumored by fans of GNR that four or five finished versions of the album may exist, if not more. Some of this was proven when Kevin "Skwerl" Cogill leaked nine songs from a version of the album that was supposedly finished for potential release in 2006. At the time, he stated that the tracks from the leak were finished and mastered, although who knows if that is completely accurate. Some have speculated that the leak of so much material may have forced Geffen to give the album a release date, as some rumors state that the album may have been finished by mid-2008, but regardless, by the time the finished Chinese Democracy saw release near the end of 2008 it featured changes from the Skwerl leak that brought up questions regarding how finished any version of the album is in Axl's eyes.

The earliest reported songs from Chinese Democracy are supposedly from 1999. Oh My God, the song featured on the End Of Days soundtrack, was rumored to be on the "then forthcoming" album, meaning it was probably recorded around the same time as the other 1999 tracks that are out there. I've heard stories of an all night mixing session with Jimmy Iovine to have that song completed for the soundtrack, so who knows how long the tracks that leaked were worked on. Versions of There Was A Time and I.R.S. both leaked, with Time sounding quite similar to the version officially released almost a decade later whereas I.R.S. sounds rather rough with minimal bass. A version of Catcher In The Rye also leaked with a confirmed guitar solo by Brian May, and while it sounds VERY finished, Axl has always referred to it as a demo. An excerpt from another track, one that has not been officially released, leaked under unclear circumstances and has been included here with the weird kiss-off that whomever posted it attached to it's end. That track has been referred to as Jackie Chan by Axl, but there has been speculation that it was either named Check Mate or The General.

The download in this post contains all five of the tracks mentioned in the above paragraph as well as the version of Sweet Child O' Mine recorded during this era that appeared in the end credits of the movie Big Daddy. The first half of the track is taken from a live performance of the original line-up whereas the second is performed by what is assumed to be the 1999 version of the band. Since the GNR community is still leary of leaks after the June 2008 incident I'm only posting these six tracks for download, but if anyone is interested in getting the other leaks please drop me a line and I'll be happy to give you some links. Enjoy!


Guns N' Roses - 1999

01 I.R.S.
02 There Was A Time
03 Catcher In The Rye
04 Oh My God
05 Sweet Child O' Mine (Big Daddy Version)
06 Jackie Chan excerpt


PS - I'm not going to be doing many posts this month as I'm busy with other things, but I'll still be around and reading my e-mail so if you write me I'll respond.

New Order - 1988 Demos, Rehearsals and Other Ephemera

This is a really great collection of New Order rarities from the Technique era, but rather than go into details about the contents, I'm going to share the original text file included with the FLAC files I've converted these MP3s from. Credit goes out to Tom Hulme for leaking the tape and sharing his thoughts and The Happy One for further elaborating on the details and getting the files out there. Details follow below:

A unique collection of Technique-era demos/monitor mix playbacks/Hooky live playing, as well as several unreleased mixes of 'Blue Monday 1988'.

Digitized from Tom's Hulme's tape, which he received from an engineer at the recording sessions.

He writes:


"In 1988, I was a simple bricklayer working in Box, Wiltshire, UK. Just around the corner from the executive houses I was building was Peter Gabriel's Real World studios.

Incredibly, I just wandered in there one lunchtime to find an empty studio full of instruments, where New Order were recording. The engineer from that recording session gave me a cassette.

The cassette is labeled A&M Studios and has "*New Order* (Various Takes)" typed on both sides. On Side 1 is hand-written "Ideas from Recording etc Jun/Jul etc". On Side 2 is hand-written "Rehersal [sic] - 25/4/88".

Side 1 starts off with some rather tinny jamming, samples, etc. However, the sound quality soon improves and there are lengthy jams, short snippets of conversation (presumably from Peter Hook and Barney Sumner) and various samples of instrumentation, including a couple of rough takes of complete songs. Most of the music has no vocals, but there are a couple of tracks with vocals. Not being a huge New Order fan, I'm afraid that I can't say whether these are early rehearsals of known songs or unreleased rarities!

Side 2 consists of numerous remixes of Blue Monday (I know that song!). They all differ in as far as they have odd samples, loops and synthesizer parts incorporated. It is also interspersed with some rough jams by the boys (and girl!), some bass lines by Hooky and a bit of noodling from Barney.

This tape is totally original and a one-off. I have not made any copies, so it is a totally unique piece of New Order memorabilia."


Tom did a surprisingly good job of summarizing on what was on this tape, and as the following will illustrate, the contents are anything but straightforward for anybody wishing to understand how the group works. Like the best of any sort of art, it raises more questions than it answers!

Incredibly, we have not one but *three* sets of rarities on this tape.

First: unreleased mixes of Blue Monday 1988, different variations made for the band, likely composed for their approval. I believe the version without the 'ah boy this is too much' samples was eventually edited down to become the 7" version, while a version with the samples became the 12" version, though in these mixes the samples are sequenced and are different than the released version. I believe that this is what the "03/03/1988" date refers to.

The entire tape (on both sides) most likely originally consisted of these mixes. Somewhere along the line (likely starting on April 25th) this was taped over with monitor mixes and rehearsals taken from the Technique sessions. You can tell because there is forward bleed-through throughout the first side of Blue Monday 1988, including through a long segment of ambient room recording while the band work on the bass synth line of what I would guess was then known as 'Much Too Old', soon to be reworked into what was released as 'Fine Time'.

Over that, we have a tiny bit of guitar and bass noodling (the latter nothing less than a brief attempt at something akin to 'New Horizon' by Section 25!), and then, for me the highlight of the whole tape, a full demo of Dream Attack, with STUNNING basswork by Hooky at the start. Then we have Hooky playing along live to the backing track and monitor playbacks of the same, similar bass playback along to a work-in-progress Mr. Disco, and various riffs, including a nascent 'The Happy One' and 'All The Way'. This continues on side two, with more Hooky riffing. Then we have rehearsal-type samples of 'Guilty Partner', 'Don't Do It', and what we've termed 'Unknown #2', which didn't survive the cut, though some of the ideas on that number were likely carried into "All The Way"

I believe these all came out of the 4/25 session, as it's clear that the songs were still being composed at that time.

And over that, we have the start of the tape, which totals about 9 minutes, and features more work-in-progress samples of the songs that so far have been composed. Alas, the quality on these is lower than the rest of the tape, I reckon that they're probably at least a couple of generations off. I think these tracks are later than that follows, since we have nearly-complete backings for 'Mr Disco', 'Don't Do It', 'Best and Marsh', and 'MTO' with 'Loveless' being mostly-recognizable. Only 'Run' on here is still in early (slower tempo) form. We also have, for the first time, two samples of songs that never made it to completion. The second in particular features a gorgeous Sumner riff that I swear is naggingly familiar, but I can't place it! I think these were composed over the June/July 1988 timeframe and are what 'Ideas from Recording etc Jun/Jul etc' refers to.

And there you have it!

This version has been mastered by drewc, who also handled some of the live soundboard material that appeared on the first box of tapes which was sold on eBay several years ago.

Where warranted, fades has been inserted, as well as silences, etc being removed, so that the contents could, at 79 minutes exactly, fit onto a single CD. There were multiple playbacks of the Blue Monday 1988 remix material on the tape, all have been included here, although it appears that there's only two different remixes, which were repeated over and over it seems, as can be evidenced by the bleed-through during the long ambient room recording.

Enjoy. I know you've all been waiting to hear this, and I hope it doesn't disappoint!

THO

This is split into two archives for downloading, one for each side of the tape, so make sure you get both. Enjoy!


New Order - 1988 Demos, Rehearsals and Other Ephemera

Side One: "Ideas from Recording etc Jun/Jul etc"

01 Loveless
02 Mr. Disco
03 Don't Do It
04 Run (Early Version)
05 Unknown #1
06 Best and Marsh
07 MTO
08 Unknown #2
09 guitar and bass checks
10 Dream Attack (Demo)
11 Dream Attack (Hooky bass over playback)
12 Dream Attack (monitor playback)
13 Dream Attack (Hooky bass over playback with piano)
14 Mr. Disco (Hooky bass over playback)
15 Low-Fi Hooky Riffing
16 Hi-Fi Hooky Riffing
17 More Hi-Fi Hooky Riffing
18 All The Way (Hooky Bass)
19 low-volume ambient recording (Blue Monday playback plus bass synth to MTO)

Side Two: "Rehersal - 25/4/88"

01 All The Way (Hooky Bass)
02 'The Him' style riff (Hooky Bass)
03 Blue Monday 1988 (No Samples Version, cuts off)
04 Guilty Partner (Rehearsal Takes)
05 Don't Do It (Rehearsal Takes)
06 Unknown #2 (Rehearsal Takes)
07 Blue Monday 1988 (No Samples Version, start is missing)
08 Blue Monday 1988 (No Samples Version)
09 Blue Monday 1988 (Alternate Version 1)
10 Blue Monday 1988 (Alternate Version 2)


PS - If you're craving more New Order gems, you should visit Recycle and The Power Of Independent Trucking. I'm sure you'll find both sites utterly essential, although Recycle is dedicated specifically to the Joy Division and New Order legacies.

Talking Heads - True Creatures Demos

I've been on a real Talking Heads kick lately, listening to their albums and side-projects with a passion. I've also been reading This Must Be The Place by David Bowman which is an excellent history of the band through the 1999 reissue of Stop Making Sense on DVD. I'd love to read an updated version and catch up on details I've missed since, although the basic vibe the book left with me is that David Byrne IS the heart and soul of Talking Heads, Jerry Harrison is a great musician whose presence opened up new possibilities for the band, Chris Frantz is a great drummer who really enjoyed the ride, and Tina Weymouth is jealous and spiteful because she's not the leader. Maybe that sounds a little hard on Tina but in most of the interviews with her featured in the book she bashes David, complains about the labels, says their audience wasn't sharp enough for her other projects, tries to take credit for things she really had nothing to do with and attempts to re-write history. I don't know Tina, haven't spoken to her and don't know much about her outside of her works with Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club, and while one could argue the book could be biased, I would assume that the writer, if he has any credibility, wouldn't alter things for his own gain, so I will take the text as is and my assumption is Tina is bitter. She seems to be the main reason that the group has not reunited, and while David may be the center of the group, he is not Talking Heads. And while I'm on it, Tom Tom Club wasn't that great and most of their best moments on the first album go uncredited to Adrian Belew, SO THERE!

It hurts to see something that was so inspiring get left behind because someone holds a grudge that no one else may understand. Talking Heads really impressed me as a child since they seemed to do whatever they wanted without worrying what others thought. Hire wonderful musicians for an African funk fest? CHECK! Make videos that people are still trying to emulate today? CHECK! Make incredible records that still hold up? CHECK! The Big Suit? CHECK! Etcetera, etcetera, and on and on, the point is they earned a permanent place in my consciousness and I know I'm not the only one that can attest to that.

In digging through my stuff and scouring the internet for interesting goodies, I found an interesting set of demos labeled True Creatures. True Stories and Little Creatures, while great albums, aren't my favorite periods of the Heads' works, but I was interested and grabbed them, and I'm really glad I did because these are great tracks! These appear to be David Byrne on his own with a drum machine, his guitar and more than half of the songs for the True Stories and Little Creatures albums, multi-tracking his vocals and guitar over basic beats that could have all been recorded at home.

Most of the songs on the True Creatures Demos are pretty much fully written, although there are differences in some of the lyrics from the finished versions. Road To Nowhere sounds rather rough lyrically, with Byrne's vocals garbled by his multi-tracking, making one assume the lyrics were waiting to be finished. Wild Wild Life is mostly the same but has a few slight changes in it's lyrics. It is also missing it's speed and attitude from the finished version, as is Love For Sale, making them mid-tempo songs rather than full-blown rockers. Things get really interesting though with the instrumental Hey, not to be confused with Hey Now. This appears to be Byrne experimenting with his synthesizers and samplers as several pitch adjusted samples of his voice make multiple appearances saying only Hey throughout. Overall a great experimental instrumental which is otherwise unreleased, but the shining point of this collection, for myself at least, is Byrne's stripped-down take on People Like Us, making it more ballad-like and reaffirming it's stance of personal strength.

At the moment, I don't have this in better quality than 128kbps MP3, so if anyone has a better copy and wants to share, drop me a line, I'd love to talk to you. As for where I got this from, credit goes to nic1233 at the guitars101 forums. Thanks for sharing man!


Talking Heads - True Creatures Demos

01 Wild Wild Life
02 Puzzlin' Evidence
03 Love For Sale
04 The Lady Don't Mind
05 Hey Now
06 Road To Nowhere
07 Hey (Instrumental)
08 Papa Legba
09 People Like Us
10 City Of Dreams
11 Radio Head
12 Give Me Back My Name


PS - No offense to Tina, I simply call 'em as I see 'em. I'd love to hear you prove the sources wrong.

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!

Beck - 1992 Demo

Sorry I've been gone most of this week. Lots has been happening and I've done a little digging in my archives to which I've found some interesting stuff you'll be seeing here soon enough, but before that, this has been sitting on my server for a few days waiting to be posted. An extremely detailed and informative text file is included with these files so I'm just gonna give you the quick and dirty of it.

If you've downloaded a Beck boot named Buck Fuck Iowa you have side one of this tape, which consists mostly of wonderful acoustic demos, including a cover of GG Allin's Tough Fuckin' Shit! How weird is that? On top of that, an early version of Loser closes the first side of the tape. That early version is still very similar to the released version, although it seems to be missing some of the polish and a final mix.

The second side features demos from a metal band Beck was in with members of Sexy Death Soda named, wait for it, Loser! Pretty snappy name, eh? These demos are VERY loud and mean, similar to the noisier tracks on some of his early albums. They're a little hard to listen to but still worth checking out.

All thanks to the Beck fans who have been collecting and sharing these rare releases for the rest of us. Hope you find this one as enjoyable and interesting as I do.


Beck - 1992 Demo
Side One
Side Two

Liz Phair - The Girly-Sound Demos

I spent my teenage years in a podunk little town in Lorain County, Ohio named Wellington. Calling Wellington podunk is not really fair, as I've seen much smaller towns with far less to do for young people, but after spending my life thus far in a significantly larger town (some would call it a city), it was a terrible shock. I was never very popular and the kids I went to school with never did anything interesting, unless you consider tractor pulls interesting. The joke, and it's only funny because it's true, is the only thing to do in Wellington was to drink. I never drank, never enjoyed it much and still don't touch alcohol very often to this day, although in retrospect it might have gotten me laid a lot earlier if I had given it a shot, especially after finding good tasting wines and a lot of the girls I liked got loose when they got sloshed! Regardless though, I killed time talking with people online, trading cassette tapes through the mail, taking short trips to Cleveland to shop at once-legendary indie record shops and pestering people in Oberlin. In case you've never heard of Oberlin, it's home to a very large liberal arts college and is about ten minutes away from Wellington. I think it sucks worse than Wellington, because most people there are extremely pretentious and everyone takes everything far too seriously. They used to have courses on Eno's ambient recordings, and while that might sound cool at first, how much you wanna bet the class was filled with self-indulgent douches who thought they were better than Eno and could be the "next big thing"?

Anyway, I digress. Oberlin wasn't a complete wash, as there were a few cool things about it like the Apollo Theatre where they played current films for about two bucks on their single screen (too bad Danny Devito is involved with it now), The Feve where you could get a bad-ass swiss-shroom burger, and the best being the record shop on the second floor of the Co-Op Book Store. I learned more about music there than just about anywhere else I can think of. The main guy who ran the store (whose name I unfortunately can't remember. Maybe it was Keith? Sorry man!) dj'd all kinds of electronic music and knew about stuff I don't think I would have ever heard of otherwise. He told me about punk, funk, metal, hip-hop, noise, pop, the avant garde and anything else you can think of, always with a spot-on recommendation to check out and always prepared to play me a few tracks. With his help, I heard The Pharcyde, Aimee Mann, DJ Shadow, Frank Zappa, Squarepusher and more because he listened to what I said and answered my questions, and that's the best type of record shop employee, the one who is always willing to listen and advise but never shove their own tastes down someone's throat.

Another artist I learned about because of the Co-Op's record shop was an Oberlin legend in her own right, the fabulous Liz Phair, although I became familiar with her as I do with many artists I love, totally backwards. I had borrowed Liz's Whip-Smart from the Elyria Public Library and fell completely in love with it's simple beauty. I didn't know what she was talking about but I felt like it was my soundtrack. When the Juvenalia EP was released, I hot-footed it to the shop and picked up the only copy they had which was open for in-store play. The new songs, Animal Girl and Liz's cover of Turning Japanese, were great, but I found myself entranced with the EP's last five tracks, previously unreleased four-track demos Liz had recorded by herself while a student at Oberlin under the name Girly-Sound. It was just Liz and a guitar, sometimes multi-tracked vocals or layered guitar, but never more than Liz and the guitar. They had a seriously dirty sense of humor (California still doesn't make much sense but is funny as hell!) and sounded like the musings of someone I wish I would have known in high school. I had heard stories that she recorded these songs in her closet, afraid for anyone else to hear what she had written, which while that doesn't seem to be true was enough to grab my youthful interest.

No one I knew seemed to know where to find more of these recordings so they faded from memory, until years later when I heard Exile In Guyville, the album I should have heard first. If you haven't heard Guyville, finish reading this and go buy it immediately, there is still time for you to be saved! (You don't have to be a girl to relate to Fuck and Run, hell, you can still have your virginity! And everything else on the album is just as powerful if not just a hint more subtle, although there isn't much about Guyville that's subtle.) Like hearing Aimee Mann's I'm With Stupid for the first time, I felt the world open up a little and everything seemed a little better. Totally life-affirming.

Let's fast forward a few years to when Napster was starting to fall apart and people were moving to alternatives like Kazaa (GAWD, what an awful service! Anyone else remember those shitty ads they had that would talk to you constantly?), Bear Share (Could they have given that service a more ridiculous name? Sounds like a toy for lonely children!) and Soulseek. Soulseek is still around and doesn't suck in the least, although it's certainly not the easiest way to find what you're looking for these days, but in those days (late nineties, early 2000s?), if you were looking for something kinda rare, Soulseek was, and still is to an extent, the place to look. It's there I finally found more of Liz's Girly-Sound demos in the form of a two-disc compilation that claimed to be complete. The quality of the recordings sucked, but hearing Liz performing these songs that touched me so deeply, as well as tons of equally powerful songs she never re-recorded, in such a spare fashion was like being given the holy grail and then told to drink from it, it just got better and better!

After years of listening to those awful sounding recordings, I started looking again for more information on the origins of these recordings. For awhile there wasn't much to find, but eventually I stumbled upon a page dedicated to the Girly-Sound recordings alone, and it even contained extreme upgrades to the previously circulating versions I had, as well as information on their origins and a forum where people could discuss the tapes. I can't say it's more than I could ask for, because I'd sure love to have the rest of the non-circulating songs, but it's pretty damn close!

So, if you've got a taste for some kinda-folkie, extremely honest songwriting that will touch your inner 16-year-old (and not necessarily just in a friendly way!) you've got to check out these recordings. As the Girly-Sound site contains the two available demo tapes and all other available recordings, I'm not going to share the files here. Instead, just hit the site and grab to your heart's content. It's beautiful stuff! And thanks to the folks running girlysound.com, as you've made me truly happy as I'm sure you have many others as well!


GO TO GIRLYSOUND.COM NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


PS - Hope the slightly NSFW image doesn't offend anyone, but since she had naked pictures of herself in the Guyville packaging and she's never been afraid to show a little skin, I couldn't think of a better image to show of Liz.

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.

Dr. Dre - 2 Pre-Chronic Demos

Life has been really messy lately, so my apologies for delays or a lack of posts. There has been sickness, family illness, and missing episodes of South Park and FlashForward. I'm sure you understand just how troublesome my life has been recently. Oh yeah, there is also my post of the Beastie's show vinyl for Paul's Boutique disappearing. Not the whole post, just the download, and since they never removed the Companion posts, I'm assuming it's the offending Def Jam related content or Busy Bee's Sugar Hill single, but who really knows. Anyway, later this week I'll be posting a further improved instrumental collection of Paul's Boutique tracks that will not feature the Def Jam or Busy Bee tracks from the show vinyl. This will be as close to an instrumental Paul's Boutique as we can get, at least from the Beasties themselves. Anyway, on with the show...

Dr. Dre is one of those truly special anomalies in the music industry. Loved and respected as an artist, he doesn't write his own raps, he very rarely releases material, he focuses his attention primarily on a label that it seems like he ignores, and there have also been questions regarding his productions. Yeah, Mel-Man co-produced The Chronic 2001, but isn't that a little odd considering Dre's supposed studio expertise? Over the years I've heard stories about much of the original Chronic owing more to it's engineers' studio skills than Dre's, but my general rule is that I will ignore such stories and stand by Dre's credit for his first album, at least until someone reveals some hard evidence.

Prior to Dre finding a home for The Chronic with Interscope, he had several other tracks recorded which never saw the light of day officially. Today I offer unto you The Ho Hopper and a demo of Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat. These may not even be mixed, judging by the lack of fidelity in these recordings, but they certainly are entertaining. I prefer the final version of Rat... over this completely different demo, but The Ho Hopper is a pretty catchy track and good for a laugh. Something tells me Snoop was responsible for it's lyrics, and his chorus definitely hints at that.

As a bonus, I'm including the original, unreleased version of Dre's Zoom for your downloading enjoyment. The released version of the track appeared on the Bulworth soundtrack as a duet between Dre and LL Cool J, but the original plan was for Zoom to be a reunion track for Dre and Snoop. Sadly, Death Row had it's way with it's non-release, as Snoop was still signed with them at the time, but the track did eventually show up bootleg-style online. Most of the time I see this track edited and included in mixtapes, and I HATE that. Why bother featuring an unreleased track if you're not going to play it in it's entirety? So, I found the full track and I'm posting it here.

Anyone else hoping Detox, or whatever it's called, shows up before Dre dies or something? I imagine myself at 70 or 80, Dre dying and someone releasing the album as a long-lost artifact. Something tells me it would suck by those standards. Something makes me fear it will suck by today's standards. I'd rather Dre just put it out and let it happen one way or another. Judging by the reference tapes that have leaked, it doesn't sound too bad, but I've also heard rumors that because those tracks leaked they may not end up on the album. Anyway, put it out already Dre, or leak it, or just give up and let everyone hear it already. People are sick of waiting, and it's not like it's going to be on the level of the original Chronic.


The Ho Hopper (feat. Snoop Dogg)

Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat (Demo)

Zoom (Original feat. Snoop Dogg)


PS - Who wants to place bets that this post gets removed because I pissed off Dre or someone at Interscope? Jimmy Iovine still believes will.i.am is the best thing to happen to modern music (modern music=bank account), so you better hurry up and prove his ignorant, Nicole Scherzinger loving, current-ability-to-judge-talent-in-question ass wrong Dre!

PS2 - Thanks to whomever I got these tracks from a long time ago. I can't remember who you are or what site you run, but I don't want to be accused of jacking. So, an anonymous credit is going out to you and yours.

Beck - Fresh Meat and Old Slabs

Sorry this post was delayed. I had a service outage yesterday and could not get online. Nonetheless, as promised, here is some more Beck. This one is a cassette of various demos that he compiled for his mother around 1993. She had opened a cafe and he gave this to her to play there. Personally, I hope she didn't play it, I'm not sure customers would have stuck around. As for fans of Beck, this pseudo greatest hits collections of early tracks should please with ease. Here you'll find early versions of later re-recordings like Cut 1/2 Blues, Tasergun and Steve Threw Up in significantly different states. The version of Tasergun is pretty awesome compared to the released recording in my humble opinion. There are also quite a few awesome but otherwise unreleased tracks like Beck's spin on the folk standard Ballad Of Mexico, the bizarre Big Stompin' Mama and the hilarious (at least in my opinion) Heartland Feeling, a parody of all things Springsteen or Mellencamp.

There will be a few more Beck posts in November, as there is quite a bit left to share, so keep your eyes open. Enjoy!


Beck - Fresh Meat and Old Slabs
NOTE: This post is separated into two sides like the original cassette, although side two is hella short compared to side one so I can't vouch for it's timing accuracy. That said, you can always run the sides together and just play it like a full album. That works better for me anyway.

Side One:

01 Let's Go Moon Some Cars
02 Goin' Nowhere Fast
03 Cut In Half Blues
04 Sucker Without A Brain
05 Tasergun
06 Grease
07 Ballad Of Mexico
08 Fume
09 Leave Me On The Moon
10 I Feel Low Down
11 Satan Gave Me A Taco
12 Heartland Feeling
13 Big Stompin' Mama
14 Steve Threw Up

Side Two:

01 Say Can You See
02 Piece Of Shit
03 Death Is Coming To Get Me (aka the Hip-Hop version of Death Is Coming To Get You)
04 Captain Brain
05 Go Where U Want (aka Hollow Log)
06 Totally Confused
07 Trouble All My Days


PS - Before anyone says it, I know some of the titles aren't 100% correct. I left them as I received them. There is an info sheet included with the files that gives some details about the origin of the cassette and the people who ripped it. The version posted here was created from a FLAC version of the album.

Beck - Feel The Bunny

If I'm gonna feel a bunny, that's the kind I wanna feel! Okay, I feel dirty now...

Consider this a preamble to tuesday's post which will feature a full length, unreleased tape that Beck created from his demos. I've been really busy working on something for some very KIND individuals, so I'm running a bit behind, but I said there would be a Beck post this month, and with tuesday's there will be two. So, in the meantime, enjoy this rather short, very weird, certifiably "BECKian" tape called Feel The Bunny. The title is taken from what sounds like an impromptu folk song named after an odd bit of dialogue sampled from Sigmund and The Sea Monsters. If you know what I'm talking about, you know the kind of weirdness to expect. For those unaware, a hunt for cheetoes, Blondie's Rapture, some disco pomp, more weird samples and additional impromptu folk freakiness. All in all, good early Beck!


Beck - Feel The Bunny


PS - Visit Whiskeyclone for a little more info on this weird-ass tape, which may have been used as the soundtrack to a video Steve Hanft made.

Danny Elfman - The Nightmare Before Christmas Demos

I was originally going to post BOMB's Hate Fed Love today, but I found that it is available digitally, despite having looked for it thoroughly. I may still do a post about it eventually, but for now it's on to plan b.

If you don't know about The Nightmare Before Christmas, it's really worth your time to check it out. The stop-motion animation is fantastic, the songs are great and the characters very memorable. That said, credit must be given to Tim Burton for crafting the story and not allowing Disney to exploit the hell out of it with straight to video sequels, although they tried by doing two special edition versions of the soundtrack. The first version, which is a deluxe reissue, is pretty great as it features the original soundtrack, four of Danny Elfman's original demos (six if you bought it at Best Buy) and some covers by an oddball cast of characters featuring Fiona Apple (great cover of Sally's Song!) and Marilyn Manson. Yeah, seriously, Manson on a Disney sponsored release.

The second release was named Nightmare Revisited and, as far as I'm concerned, can be ignored. It features the entire album covered by today's hottest artists! (Insert announcer voice over those three words) Not all the bands are awful but I find tribute albums ridiculous, especially if the artists are there for their popularity and not their love of the source material. So let's just act like it didn't happen.

The only thing that would have made the deluxe reissue of the soundtrack better would have been if Danny Elfman's complete demo tape had been included with it. I don't believe the complete recording is circulating, at least not widely, but I came upon a copy MANY years ago (1994? 1995?) when a friend who worked for Disney provided me with a tape. At the time I wasn't so interested in the demos as they aren't terribly different from the finished versions, but time has taught me how wrong I was, especially after finding that almost everything on the demo tape is Danny Elfman all by himself! That's including vocals, of which I believe Sally's Song is the only piece he doesn't sing on! Elfman is a brilliant guy and these songs are great, so it really bothers me that they wouldn't release these wonderful recordings in a complete fashion, so I'm posting them for your enjoyment!

Before giving you the link and track listing, I want to take a moment and talk about the quality of the files included here. These are transferred from a consumer grade TDK cassette, of which the left channel is almost not present. This isn't due to deterioration, the tape has always been like that, and it is a major frustration. I tried boosting the volume of the left channel but got TONS of hiss from doing so, which is why I decided to post these as mono recordings using the right channel only. The tracks being mono is why the file size is so small, so if you're thinking this is a low quality encode, I want you to know these are V0 encoded MP3s, but only one channel. If it were in stereo it would be around sixty megs. It's worth noting that I kept the original, raw stereo files and if anyone thinks they might be able to make it sound better, I am more than happy to send you a copy of the raw tracks, but that left channel is awful. In fact, during Making Christmas, it's practically not there! So, if anyone wants to take on the challenge of remastering the tape, drop me a line!


Danny Elfman - The Nightmare Before Christmas Demos

01 This Is Halloween
02 Jack's Lament
03 What's This?
04 Town Meeting Song
05 Jack's Obsession
06 Kidnap The Sandy Claws
07 Making Christmas
08 Sally's Song
09 Oogie Boogie's Song
10 Poor Jack

George Clinton - Smell My Finger Demos

Back in the early nineties my family got a Prodigy account. If you don't remember Prodigy, it was the direct competitor of America Online and was marketed as an online community of sorts prior to the world wide web changing everything and the internet becoming a popular topic. The big draw were the forums for just about every topic under the sun. With these forums I started looking into tape trading with fans of Depeche Mode and Prince. The DM trading circle dried up pretty quick since there wasn't much available in the way of live or unreleased recordings, but the Prince circles were huge! I wasn't very interested in live recordings since most of them were crap, but there were so many studio recordings to get and I got just about everything that was available at the time. Most of Prince's studio works that get traded today were leaked and shared via cassettes from the very late eighties to late nineties. It was a fun group to participate in, although I was apparently one of the few that didn't try to fit into skin-tight outfits or sing in a falsetto. Seriously, I'm not knocking anyone here, just being honest. You guys should have seen the Prince conventions!

I had so many great tapes but most of them are worthless now, replaced by better quality MP3s than any generation tape I have or could have gotten. I know enough to get by when it comes to sonic spectrals, and those tapes generally look gawd-awful, but there are a few things out there which never seemed to make their way to the digital age at large, or at least large enough that I see them widely. I used to have demos and rough mixes of songs from Beauty and The Beast and The Lion King, which were intensely fascinating although they seem to have sadly disappeared. I still have a complete tape of Danny Elfman's Nightmare Before Christmas demos, of which several tracks are still unreleased and deserve an eventual posting, as well as a 90 minute cassette of truly rare Lucky Pierre recordings, many of which also remain unreleased, but some of the weirder stuff rests on a cassette I received, I believe, in 1991.

The 1991 cassette is a collection of tracks intended for George Clinton's Hey Man... Smell My Finger, his second album for Prince's Paisley Park label and then heralded by many as a major return to form for the soulful funkateer. I had received a different cassette of tracks from these sessions a month or two earlier that I had neglected to examine in depth because the tape speed was seriously flawed making the recording difficult to focus on, but this one was spot on. Despite being referred to as demos, these recordings sounded rather complete in parts, making me wonder what else could be added to these songs. Well, a lot actually as several of the tracks were removed and others were dramatically reinvented, making the album sound a lot less like a Prince-related production and more like a genuine P-Funk document.

When the album came out, GC got some good press but, like most Paisley Park releases, it was under-promoted as hell, sold miserably and went out of print quick. It was actually a pretty damn nice album, which makes it's non-availability a real shame, but it did get a lot of hype within the Prince community and made me want to hear anything else I could that was P-Funk related. It's also worth noting that it sparked tons of questions about Prince's involvement in the album, as there is definitely a Princely vibe stirring beneath the surface and there were strong rumors that Prince was heavily involved in the album's production. GC publicly stated at one point that Prince was "all over that album", but his name only appeared directly on the album's weakest track, The Big Pump.

These "demos", which I'm not sure is an appropriate label (listen to the horn sections! don't sound like demos to me!), are pretty damn awesome, yet despite the Prince involvement, I haven't seen them traded in the Prince community for a long time nor have I seen many mentions of them online otherwise. Alternate versions of some of the tracks do appear in some Prince collections, but this tape seems pretty much ignored.

All of these tracks were transferred by me earlier today and, apart from removing excessive silence at the end of certain cuts, you're getting the unedited Smell My Finger portion of the cassette. So please take a listen and enjoy this fine funky find!


George Clinton - Smell My Finger Demos

01 The Flag Was Still There
This isn't all that terribly different from the released version of this track, although I do prefer the sparser production over the bombastic tones of the finished version. Oooh, I sounded kinda poetic there!
02 Rhythm & Rhyme
This is completely different from the finished version. Bootsy and Shock-G/Humpty Hump are nowhere in sight. George is rapping off the beat all over this track, and it sounds pretty lame. The finished one is far superior, but this is still interesting to hear.
03 Dis Beat Disrupts
The Prince-involvement argument really heats up here. Housequake is both sampled and mentioned here over a simple drum machine and backwards beep loop with a little sitar thrown in for good measure. TC Ellis, whom I'm sure almost no one has ever heard of, does a little rapping here. The finished version is a little more energetic but this version is funky!
04 Kickback
A less convoluted version of the track that made the final album. Simpler and better for it.
05 Oil Spill
Damn glad this track did not make the album. Rather dated commentary on the first Iraq war. Never really cared for this track anyway.
06 Way Up
This is a slightly different version of the instrumental of the same name featured on the finished album, although George shows up here to recite part of his rap from Martial Law in a more relaxed voice.
07 We Can Funk
This track puts things in perspective, dating some of these recordings to 1989 or 1990. The backing track on this version is identical to the version on Graffiti Bridge, although Prince is almost invisible here, at least vocally, as he only shows up towards the end. All other vocals are handled by GC and friends.
08 Your Mother
I guess GC's son, Trey Lewd, has done part of this rap somewhere or other, but this track otherwise remains unreleased. Pretty funky stuff, although George's vocals appear nowhere on the track.
09 High In My Hello
This is another track that never grew on me here or when it was finished, although this somewhat simpler version, not featuring George's ranting, is far more acceptable. This track cuts off at the end as the tape ran out, but from hearing another copy I can safely attest that you're not missing anything. The ending loops and voices merely continue to repeat over and over and over and over.....
10 Pony
Once again, it's clear Prince is here, all the way from the percussion track to his background vocals on the chorus. Catchy track which, while it wouldn't have fit on the finished album as is, could have been really great with some additional polish. To be honest, this could have been released as is because it's just a fun dance track. As simple as it is, don't tell me you couldn't hear some DJ playing it and people dancing like crazy to it. A keeper!
11 Booty
This was retooled and issued as the B-Side to Paint The White House Black. I prefer this version. More nasty sex-funk from GC.
12 Get Satisfied
This is an easy winner, and it wasn't changed too drastically upon release. I think there might have been some more synths on the finished version and the pitch may have been adjusted, but clearly they knew not to mess with something that worked. Great track!
13 This Groove (Is Gonna Make You Move)
Funky track that should have seen release in one form or another. I wonder if Prince being involved may have kept this from being resurrected in one form or another, although I do know Prince owns the rights to EVERYTHING that was released on Paisley Park. The guy who complained about majors hoarding his masters is doing just the same as an indie-guy. grumble grumble grumble