Songs that you wish were properly recorded but only exist as demos/live recordings

“Gunshot Glitter” by Jeff Buckley and “Do Re Mi” by Nirvana come to mind….

hey I'm gonna post 50 Andy Partridge/XTC songs here

oh man I could go on and on but Alex Chilton's "She Might Look My Way" comes immediately to mind.

A bunch of '70s Pete Townshend demos that were either never recorded by the Who, or if they were, the tapes were lost ("Mary," "Riot in the Female Jail," "Can't You See I'm Easy," "Greyhound Girl").

there's a lot of pre-1978 Devo material that would fit here

the malgaard fucking suite

national health - zabaglione

there's a tune on the P-Model boxset that I'm fascinated with - it's sort of a half-live remix of a song from their 4th album, but it's very different, clearly this was supposed to be *something* but idk what

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev0BbsSGlx0

This'll only mean something to Twin Citians, and even then probably not, but everything The Wallets played live in the early 80s. The records they finally managed to make sounded totally different.

the tracks brainiac wrote for their fourth album before timmy taylor died (some only played live, some only as demos)
carole king - dear marm
the dils - most of their catalogue
large chunks of television's '74-'78 catalogue - for that matter, fucking PERSIA

btw this is stretching the boundaries of the thread but I sure do wish some of James Ferraro's pre-Far Side Virtual stuff had been recorded in proper fidelity. particularly "Happy HD Bengal" and all of Marble Surf.

Suede's 91-92 pre-Nude demos/live tracks that never got finished include Diesel and Maid In London neither of which were finished but in Diesel you can hear traces of what would become The Wild Ones.

what's the famous Banshees one? there is one i'm sure.

xxp yeah good call on all those early Poor Circulation-era Television tracks, they are great

lotta early Weirdos tracks as well, found on the Ranting In A Rubber Room boot, Live At The Masque, etc.

The Screamers, of course

otm about those two

Pink Floyd's "Vegetable Man"

thought that was a proper studio recording, but ugh fucking seabirds just kills me!

maybe it is but every version I've heard of it sure is shitty

every version of "apples and oranges" sounds shitty too but that's a real song

oh wait I guess a proper version came out on that box last year? never mind

xp

yeah comparing the boots to the box set version is like comparing... no wait

I wish Radiohead recorded a version of "Nude" closer to the early version you see on their documentary Meeting People Is Easy.

lol rush

xp

brian eno - the songs known as "dignified by the door" and "love slips away" (probably not their real titles), extant only on a very poor fidelity live tape with the winkies in 1974

Would be nice if Slowdive were able to successfully do some of their aborted I Saw The Sun/Souvlaki songs.

Loads of Springsteen.

Elvis, "Dark Moon"

The versions of 'She's Your Lover Now' and 'I'll Keep it With Mine' on the first Dylan bootleg set are so close to being finished that you feel that just one more take would've utterly nailed both songs.

bogshed_ "hardly manky"

"The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner" by Belle & Sebastian

you feel that just one more take would've utterly nailed both songs.

Maybe, but after the take that became the master of "Like a Rolling Stone" (take 4), Dylan thought it necessary to give it eleven more tries. He never struck me as a "we're so close, just one more take!" kinda guy...more, "let's try it this other way for seven takes...hm, that didn't work...let's try it another way for four more takes..."

Black Walls by Pavement

good call on those live Eno/Winkies tracks

Velvet Underground's "Guess I'm Falling In Love" and a bunch of others like "Sweet Sister Ray"

Some enterprising individual made this, which is damn near perfect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb8GfC2o9Eo

Just got a track from the Action lp Brain on my walkman. Officially released version clears it up massively on previous bootleg but major shame there wasn't a finished product instead of demoes.
Did 1st lp also sit unreleased until Edsel compi?

i know "Circles" was re-recorded in the 70s but it lost a lot of the charm compared to this demo. it's a shame there wasn't a Beatles-era attempt for George to capture this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpkUX-JWc0g

there are plenty of great Neil Young tunes that he played live but never released -- "give me strength," "try," "homefires," "love art blues" ... etc. Fortunately, I think studio versions exist, they just have never been bootlegged.

This'll only mean something to Twin Citians, and even then probably not, but everything The Wallets played live in the early 80s. The records they finally managed to make sounded totally different.

― Fake posts from a failing poster (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, February 14, 2017 3:06 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OMG I love you for mentioning The Wallets on ILX. I saw them live so many times when I was in high school. For one thing, they played a lot of all-ages shows. We used to dance like maniacs to them. Actually, I wish they had left us a recording of their awesome version of Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat" which they performed on an episode of prairie home companion.

I was v sad to learn a couple of years after the fact that Steve Kramer had died.

The versions of 'She's Your Lover Now' .. on the first Dylan bootleg set .. so close to being finished that you feel that just one more take would've utterly nailed (it).

― Bongo Herbert (Ward Fowler), Wednesday, 15 February 2017 13:15 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ah, you need to hear the "complete" sessions thing: Bob was totally worn out, as were the band, by the time they got to the last-but-one take. He did one on his own as the final take just to have it done.

the she's your lover now sessions are really interesting and worth hearing! some weird variations in approach — makes the almost-complete version from the Bootleg Series seem all the more miraculous.

I was thinking the other day of just applying a fade on the last x seconds of the bootleg series 1-3 version so I can pretend it ends there intentionally.

why have we not mentioned sour milk sea? Jackie Lomax notwithstanding.

there's a great outfake of sour milk sea as well - george's esher vocals combined with the lomax backing track.

I actually love Lomax' version/vocal; I'd rather hear him sing it than George. Still, no reason it -- with Lomax' vocal -- couldn't have gone on the white album.

Apart from that it's too much like "Get Back" in some of the lyrics, I know that one came after yeah..

How about songs you only wish existed as live versions? I vote 'True Love Waits' ...

Sartorius by Goldfrapp. It's one of my favourite songs they've done and their best attempt at a Bond theme. I'm still waiting for a studio version.

https://youtu.be/s5fA081ACvw

Neil Young - "The Bridge"

actually my vote goes to the original Al Bouchard version of the Imaginos album (later revamped very differently as a Blue Oyster Cult record)

chrysanthemum - zwan
i'm doing ok, pretty good/my new freedom - elliott smith
bonfire of the vanities - panda bear
abandoned love - dylan (biograph version sucks)
covered in frogs - animal collective
most of the pastichio medley - smashing pumpkins
the second arrangement - steely dan
do yourself a favor - prince
do re mi - nirvana
usa suite (original all electronic version) - dan deacon
there's too much love (original band arrangement) - sufjan stevens

The Joy Division version of "Ceremony" comes to mind; the live version on Still is one of my favorite JD songs, but it's frustrating that Ian's vocals are inaudible through the first verse. The New Order version is wonderful but inevitably has a very different feel, however similar their arrangement is.

^ Jesse Johnson recorded a nice version of "Do Yourself a Favor" on his debut album...

I thought the ^ meant that Jesse had recorded a Stooges cover!

speaking of detroit, how about sonic's rendezvous band

The Screamers, of course

― a Radiohead album stamping on a human face, forever (sleeve), Tuesday, February 14, 2017 1:28 PM (yesterday)

a friend of mine mastered/re-mixed them. I have those tracks somewhere.

6 Strings that Drew blood which were apparently finished mixed, then somebody left the tapes on a train and the versions on the 83 eps cd are far lesser quality.

didn't this end up on a "proper" Bad Seeds album at some point?

plz look for those Screamers tracks when you get a chance! I will contact u offboard.

6 Strings that Drew blood which were apparently finished mixed, then somebody left the tapes on a train and the versions on the 83 eps cd are far lesser quality.

didn't this end up on a "proper" Bad Seeds album at some point?

― sarahell, Wednesday, February 15, 2017 8:47 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's a slower Bad Seeds version that was an early b-side so is probably on that 3cd box set thing.
the eps cd is the main legit way to get the Bad Seed/Mutiny material these days I guess but those are the non-final mix versions.

Yeah, the slow version is one of the highlights of the b-sides box; I didn't know about the lost tapes.

> "The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner" by Belle & Sebastian

https://www.discogs.com/Belle-Sebastian-Sing-Jonathan-David/master/35575

there was a session version of Seeing Other People that was slowed down a lot and lovely. did that get a release outside of the BBC lp? (oh. it's not even on that)

the version of 'Take Good Care Of It' on Spiritualized's 'Fucked Up Inside' (live) is a lot better than the Pure Phase version.

Beach Boys/Brian/Dennis stuff:

SMiLE of course
Big Sur
It's Over Now
Still I Dream Of It
Sherry She Needs Me
HELP Is On The Way
(Wouldn't It be Nice To) Live Again
Ecology

Curious if you guys still come across this stuff because I only knew about these things when I was younger and didn't have a bazillion bands to check out and was more willing to dig deeper for articles and discussion of my very favourite bands.

Is it still common for bands to have these hidden gems floating around?

i think they are more accessible now because of deluxe editions/youtube/prince dying

Beach Boys/Brian/Dennis stuff:

SMiLE of course
Big Sur
It's Over Now
Still I Dream Of It
Sherry She Needs Me
HELP Is On The Way
(Wouldn't It be Nice To) Live Again
Ecology

― kurt schwitterz

"guess i'm dumb" with brian vox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7btG7ySJYU

^no vox for Corgaphobes

i think they are more accessible now because of deluxe editions/youtube/prince dying

― kurt schwitterz

yeah i mean it took me like ten years to track down those plant/page sessions in india after i heard about it. today it seems like every day "unreleased tracks" from bands are popping up, frequently from the bands themselves. the long tail is _really_ fucking long these days, and that applies to unreleased recordings as much as it does to anything else.

I meant more modern and young bands. Maybe because they know the internet, they'll be more protective of demos?

Mac DeMarco has put out the demos for all his albums shortly after their release. lots of young bands post demos to soundcloud, youtube, etc

i know this isn't "rock music" per se, but lin-manuel miranda put a bunch of his "hamilton" demos up on soundcloud. for today's bands... i don't know, i feel like they tend to use "demo tapes" for their original purpose - to get people to listen to them! who are the big young-ish artists today? kendrick lamar? his last release was basically demo recordings. frank ocean? he put out "memrise".

Prince's version of his "Love...Thy Will Be Done"

the incomparable tim smith, and his incomparable dream dress

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBdJDG0abUY

bonus track: i really, really, really wish lapsus linguae would release their great lost album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF30125KJTU

Black Walls by Pavement

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, February 15, 2017 7:18 AM (eleven hours ago)

"Black Walls" is just "Spizzle Trunk" slowed down.

The five unreleased Nick Drake originals on the Family Tree album: They're Leaving Me Behind, Blossom, Bird Flew By, Rain, Come Into the Garden. Although the tape hiss and limited range does give them a particular distanced mystery.

https://youtu.be/jVokN8kq8dQ

That's the demo of "Peking Spring" by Mission of Burma.

Also, "Mayfair" by Nick Drake - the version by Millie (of "My Boy Lollipop" fame) is interesting - arranged by Robert Kirby!

Cary Grant's Wedding by the Fall, though the live one is just fine

Ferdinand the Imposter - The Band

and more Dylan - Minstrel Boy - exists only as a particularly ropey basement tape recording which hints at great possibilities for the song that the dull Isle of Wight live performance doesn't fulfil.

"Guess I'm Falling In Love" gets all the press, but I really love the Velvets song "Ride Into the Sun". That acetate with Lou's vox on the Australian box set is heaven, but even then I miss the modulation into the long "It's hard to live in the city" outro from the live versions. (That section is also present on Lou's solo version, but God that version is shit.)

Yeah, was gonna say that one. The acetate is clearly a studio version, clearly the original tape is long lost.

Search out MoeJadKateBarry for a version of "Guess I'm falling in love", as near as dammit what a VU studio version would have sounded like. Apart from its Jad Fair singing, but hey..

"Ariel" (Home Demo) from the Robert Smith solo album that never happened.

I Know (We Could Be So Happy Baby) (If We Wanted To be) (or however the brackets go) by Jeff Buckley.

Radiohead's True Love Waits per the 1998 live version with Johnny playing the swirling keyboards. Just heartbreaking.

The Live Recordings 2001 version is just ok and the Moon Shaped Pool version is way too slow and moribund.

^ Yup. I think they ruined it.

"Guess I'm Falling In Love" gets all the press, but I really love the Velvets song "Ride Into the Sun". That acetate with Lou's vox on the Australian box set is heaven, but even then I miss the modulation into the long "It's hard to live in the city" outro from the live versions. (That section is also present on Lou's solo version, but God that version is shit.)

The version with Doug Yule singing is nice, has the same structure as the Lou solo version, but drumless and keyboard based.

yeah that is a good version, though i miss the chiming guitars from the acetate version. and as much as i hate "hey jude" endings, the live version where they just jam on "it's hard to live in the city" for like ten minutes is tops!

The whole "From Pink They Fell Into Blue" EP by Melody's Echo Chamber (all demos).

i love threads like this!

Feminine Complex - Hold Me

r.e.m.'s "bad day" was a good answer until they finally released it which they probably shouldn't have

Look Blue Go Purple - Ralta

Joni Mitchell - Hunter

Stina Nordenstam - 'And the Winner Is...' Give Me More of Everything, and Common Miracle (she recorded the first two during the sessions for The World Is Saved sessions, but they didn't make it onto that album, though they were included in a documentary prior to its release)

Jackie DeShannon - Jackie DeShannon - Something in your Blood (she recorded several albums' worth of publisher demos, some of which were successfully peddled to other artists and some of which were left to rot)

Aztec Camera - Green Jacket Grey

Marshall Crenshaw - My Favourite Waste of Time

Nina Nastasia - the four Run to Ruin outtakes that make up her May 3, 2002 Peel Session

Paul Westerburg - Men Without Ties

This

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPEhIoKeTg0

Jon Brion - "Citgo Sign"

His acoustic live versions promise power-pop rapture, but the demo did not deliver those particular goods.

A lot of Spiritalized songs were amazing in early live versions but we're completely rearranged on the albums (and not for the better). "Take Good Care of It" and "Goodnight Goodnight / Funeral Home" are the first two that come to mind.

Did "Solicitor in Studio" ever get a studio version?

Its not a lost Fall classic as such, but hey.

Canned Heat - "Pulling Hair Blues"

The live version was at least released on an album and a best-of, but oh, for a studio version of Polyrock - Warm & Dry

Pavement -- For Sale, The Preston School of Industry