Essential demos, alternative takes, original versions, and peel sessions of CLASSIC songs...

I hope this hasn't been definitively done before but I want a thread where we talk about great "other" versions of terrific songs.

I want to people to post their favorite early demos (The VU's "Heroin" demo, for instance)

Their favorite original version of a song before the label or licensing issues got in the way (this thread is inspired by my finally hearing the "Elvis version" of "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space")

And, finally, their favorite Peel session cuts of songs (The Wedding Present's "Dalliance" and Gang of Four's "Natural's Not It In," for me, among many others).

Hell, if there's a really great version of a song done in concert that you want to share, you can post that as well. If you find yourself listening to some alternative version of a worthy song, please, post it.

Pete Townshend's "Scoop"

Always liked the psychedelic Peels Session version of "New Face in Hell" a whole lot.

The Fall - New Puritan Peel version
absolutely mindfucking when compared to the original version

I guess there's the potential for a lot of Fall answers

Their favorite original version of a song before the label or licensing issues got in the way (this thread is inspired by my finally hearing the "Elvis version" of "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space")

Spiritualized's "These Blues" was originally a Spacemen 3 demo track from Recurring and quieter/slower and much preferable.

My favorite Peel Session track ever is probably "Wonderwall" covered by Cat Power.

the Hot Monkey has some good early versions of Grifters songs. I've heard at least two versions of 'Return to Cinder' and I wonder if I can find the early version again

Elvis Costello's "No Action" demo, included as a bonus track on the My Aim is True reissue. Apparently they recorded it right after doing "Watching the Detectives", and left the drum sound the same.

Costello's "Green Shirt" demo that has been on several versions of This Year's Model.

yeah, I'm seconding "Green Shirt" (not least because it makes me think of a certain girl long ago...). I think of this one along with the demo of "Big Boys" on those reissues, as one of the times where Costello's spite rivals Dylan's in its specificity.

The Peel Session version of Soft Machine's Moon In June pisses all over the version on Third.

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9789/theslitsdoublepeelsessi.jpg

I've always preferred the Peel session of Boys Don't Cry.

The Peel Session version of This Charming Man is a killer.
I'm almost inclined to say its the superior version but Mr. Drummond loved Willis & Arnold differently, but equally iykwim.

X: 4th Of July
Demo version on the double CD Beyond and Back anthology is far better. Much less polished.

Paul Simon: Slip Sliding Away
There's an acoustic demo version released as a bonus track, absolutely brilliant.

Bruce Springsteen: It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
Acoustic demo from Tracks Box set, taken from his CBS records audition. If you haven't heard this before, you are in for a huge treat.

Bob Dylan: Every Grain Of Sand
Demo version from the original Bootleg Series Box set. So good.

Pavement: And Then... (The Hexx)
There's a version of this floating around the Internet that's even better than what they put on the Brighten The Corners reissue. The best late-period Pavement song.

I've listened to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot maybe twice seven years ago, but have listened to the demos with all the unreleased songs throughout this whole decade.

I'm the weirdo who replaced "Black Diamond" on my ipod version of Let It Be with "Temptation Eyes".

Most of my exposure to the White Stripes has come from all those Peel sessions they did.

And don't get me started on the Beatles. My favorite record when I was 11-years-old was Rarities.

yeah speaking of the beatles, i've been listening to the George Harrison All Things Must Pass demos a bunch in the past couple weeks (posted on my blog: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/) -- great stuff! I like ATMP quite a bit, but it's nice to hear the songs without the Spectorian bombast.

Sweet blog, tyler.

Thanks! And yeah, I might agree with you about the YHF demos -- those early versions are a little more straightforward, but they sound great. If they'd released those, they might not have gotten as much of the omg, Wilco are geniuses hype, but it might have been a slightly stronger album overall.

Joni Mitchell's acoustic demos for The Hissing Of Summer Lawns (which has some stuff that made it onto Hejira and Don Juan's IIRC) are lovely, worth tracking down.

agh, tons, I love this kind of stuff. some favorites would be:

black sabbath - born again demos, spacey mostly-instrumental version of "zero the hero"

tom waits - alice demos

throwing muses - doghouse demo

kate bush - the cathy demos

PJ harvey - 4 track demos, acoustic version of "dress" on radio program from '91, first 2 peel sessions are u&k but particularly unreleased "claudine the inflatable one" and "primed & ticking"

cat power - acoustic "to be a good woman" on VPRO and aforementioned "wonderwall" peel session

neil young - tonight's the night acetate

negative approach - lost cause demo

bob dylan - blood on the track acetate

monster magnet - "tab" from forget about life I'm high on dope demo

I like the fully loaded demo version of 'I found a reason' 100x more than I like the actual song.

talking heads - the cbs demos (1975)

the only ones - peel sessions
i think they thrived in that setting

yeah, a lot of the VU demo stuff is great. "I'm sticking with you" on etc, the demo version of "rock & roll" with the trippy interlude.

David Bowie - Quicksand demo on the old Hunky Dory CDs

Ramones - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (75 demo)

television - eno demos

Black Flag - My War (1982 demo)

Agree about the Only Ones Peel Sessions -- for the most part, much better than the albums. Though the albums are good! Speaking of which, just saw that those albums have been reissued w/ bonus alternate tracks ... Anyone heard them?

Black Flag - My War (1982 demo)

^ duh, can't believe I forgot this one

also:

misfits - 12 hits from hell

I guess there's the potential for a lot of Fall answers

somebody should poll the Fall Peel Sessions

The Fall - Complete POLL Sessions, 1978–2004

Paul Simon "Gone At Last" demo version is infinitely superior to the Steve Gadd-ified version that made it on the album

Dylan's still-unreleased solo piano version of "She's Your Lover Now" is incredible ...

Any Straitjacket Fits fans might like their Peel session which has versions of 4 songs from 'Melt' that are so vastly superior to their horribly produced album counterparts it's hilarious.

belle and sebastian, those first two sessions they did for radcliffe, better than the versions they properly (and lots more playful. that said, the recent release of these missed off the best two)

boo radleys acoustic session they did for radcliffe also great, acoustic Wake Up Boo saved it from years of abuse by the likes of chris evans. catweasle too.

spiritulized 'angel sigh' and 'feel so sad' peel session versions that ended up as the b sides to medication

I prefer the original versions of OMD's "Electricity" to the one that ended up on the debut, but that's largely because I'm biased toward electronic beats that seem to slightly waver in and out of time.

I liked the acoustic version of "Idiot Wind" of the Dylan Bootleg box much better than the BOTT version.

"Sweet Jane" - any given version w/ the "heavenly wine and roses" refrain.

I also love the slowed-down version of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" on Anthology 3

quick question: which demos, alternative takes, original versions, and peel sessions of The Zombies songs are essential?

One of the best things about Peel Sessions is when a band has screwed up their production on a record and the Peel basic setup actually suits the band more.

And the best example I can think of for that is Band of Susans "Hope Against Hope" which picks up huge energy in the Peel version by losing a bad drum sound. Wish they'd recorded like their first 3 albums for Peel Sessions!

"Sweet Jane" - any given version w/ the "heavenly wine and roses" refrain.

^^^ this - full studio version on the "Peel Slowly & See" box set is the best

Yeah? I dunno, I like that part a lot, but was sort of disappointed by the full Loaded version -- the drumming is atrocious!

I liked the acoustic version of "Idiot Wind" of the Dylan Bootleg box much better than the BOTT version.

wow whoa at this (ps I love spotify)

but was sort of disappointed by the full Loaded version -- the drumming is atrocious!

sad but true

not to be a Dylan nerd, but there's an even better version of Idiot Wind (unreleased as yet) with a ghostly hammond organ part ... Very nice.

quick question: which demos, alternative takes, original versions, and peel sessions of The Zombies songs are essential?

The BBC versions of "Tell Her No" and their other hits are worth a listen. I distinctly remember being especially pleased with their cover of the Isley Bros. "This Old Heart of Mine" and "Going Out of My Head" on the BBC but, alas, the biggest problem I have with the Zombies BBC, though I like it on the whole, is that the 60s production didn't capture the sound very well.

The Chameleon's "Nostalgia" was better on Peel, I remember. Galaxie 500's "Blue Thunder" is also well captured on their Peel Session CD (now there's a band whose sound changed dramatically when you put them on Peel).

I'll go through periods when I chase this stuff, get really excited about hearing the best version of x or the craziest live performance (I definitely remember a pretty good bootleg thread on ilm before, with Matos recommending the Prince Small Club show), but inevitably I quickly get to a point where I realize that there's so much essential *released* stuff I don't have that I should check out before I start diving into ephemera. Like why do I only own 4 or 5 Dylan albums? etc etc.

(xxxpost) I actually like that bit, first the drumming goes to pieces, then on the fade out everything else flies apart, but it still sounds so great

xp the recent exception is actually Neil Young's Chrome Dreams, which I see Tyler you just posted on yr blog (I downloaded it from somewhere else maybe 3-4 months ago?)--so far, and I'm getting more and more into Neil, it's my favorite Neil album, especially in terms of start-to-finish consistent awesomeness.

snoball, yeah, i like it fine (it's the Velvet Underground!), but I sort of wish it was a little better executed. I think they nail it on the Max's Kansas City version. G00blar, Chrome Dreams is pretty sweet! It is probably stronger overall than American Stars n Bars. At that point, Neil was coming up with so much good stuff. Appropos of this thread -- the solo version of "Powderfinger"! Wow.

yeah jesus fuck that version--fwiw I'll take CD version of "Hold Back the Tears" over AS&B's any day of the week.

My favorite version of "Sweet Jane" is from the 1969 Live albums, you know, the ones with the butt on the cover.

the vocal track on the "wine and roses" passage kinda dulls the excitement for me. it's very flat and lo-fi and murky compared to the clarity of Lou's voice on the rest of the song, and as a result the whole thing strikes me as a crude patch-up job rather than a fully-realized piece. I'm sure the guys behind it had nothing but badly-degraded 20-year-old tape to work with, & they probably did the best they could given the circumstances, etc., but it annoys the hell out of me just the same.

(I'm talking about the Peel Slowly & See version if I didn't make that clear)

Thanks bunches for the Harrison bootlegs. Beautiful guitar work and the best singing I've ever heard from George.

that "hold back the tears" is weeeeeeird. in a good way. and yeah, butt-cover "Sweet Jane" is a stunner.

Certainly the demo of "God Only Knows" w Brian on lead and the a cappella coda has to be considered here, much like the Stephen Desper instrumental mix of "Til I Die."

Where can I get the Desper mix of Til I Die? Is it on that Endless Harmony thing?

I think that's the version that's on the Landlocked bootleg. (I don't think its all that great personally, its basically just an extended paste-up of the released version)

ah, OK, I've got Landlocked. since we're talking Beach Boys, the solo demo of "Surf's Up" oughtta be mentioned here.

oh, yo la tengo's acoustic Tom Courtenay is definitely essential.

Modern Lovers' early version of "She Cracked" on that Original Modern Lovers album seriously stomps the regular version.

yes, the "God Only Knows" with the a capella coda is SO good, it makes my crazy impulsive purchase of that behemoth box worth it.

peel session of "pinky blue" by altered images trumps the original.. the "where areeee yooooou where areeee youuuusss" are so much more spine-tinglingly breathtaking

beatles: "tomorrow never knows take 1" is not as godhead as the album version, but majorly creepy and awesome
the "got to get you into my life" on anthology trumps the album version; wonderful minimal arrangement and the hooks come through clearer without the horns (though that may be due to overexposure to the album version)

will definitely have to seek out those "hissing of summer lawns" demos

dylan's tell-tale signs is like a 10/10 in terms of this..

Solo demo of "Surf's Up" is the definitive version, IMO.

solo version is without the coda right? that pretty much defeats the point of listening to it for me

4 people haven't heard the dream factory bootlegs I guess

err I totally wrote that in the wrong ilm window

solo version is without the coda right? that pretty much defeats the point of listening to it for me

Even without the coda, it's perhaps the single greatest post-war pop song.

I really like the "Prize" demo on the KOD's The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule ep.

The Peel session version of Lora Logic's "Martian Man" is sublime - funkier and funnier than the "Pedigree Charm" version.
The Peel session of the Mekons doing the Three Johns song "Pink-Headed Bug" (though it was obviously a Mekons song at that point) is fab-u-lous.
The unreleased (officially) version of the Beach Boys' "Big Sur" is 1000 times better than the released one.
The Blue Orchids' demo version of "Thirst" on a Pleasantly Surprised cassette compilation is much better than the "released" one.
Ditto Dislocation Dance's earlier version of "Mr Zak" on the same cassette comp.

I loveeee that version of big sur, would be on my beach boys pox

another beach boys demo that would be on that pox: 70s version of 'santa ana winds'

I misunderstood the question when I answered earlier..

"Motion Picture Soundtrack" acoustic version.. I always liked it better than the version on Kid A.. and it includes that bonus verse at the end.

Alt version of Can's 'Thief' from a 1970 compilation with an extra verse that's about a minute longer than the version on Delay. One of the Mooney era's best:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAiYRCpvC2c

whoa, good find!

The Cure 80s peel sessions are super essential. Some cool alternate versions of early album tracks w new lyrics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbtOAa7taMs

A Session With The Remains is one of my gold standards as far as 60's stuff goes. the band letting loose in a studio late one night after a gig. i love their one and only album but this is the album you need if you want to know what they were capable of live. when i first heard this version of "I'm A Man" i just laughed hysterically and played it as loud as i possibly could over and over again. YOW!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-bD82R_stY

I much prefer the Spiritualized "Shine A Light (Unreleased mix) to the album version. Play this at my funeral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCJd90kOEug

I guess there's the potential for a lot of Fall answers

gone through a few periods of my life in which all i listened to (cd listen to, wanted to listen to) was the fall peel sessions box set consecutively over & over

I much prefer the version of "Racing in the Street" on The Promise to the one that made it onto Darkness on the Edge of Town.

The BBC versions of "No Thugs in Our House" and "Life Begins at the Hop" on XTC's Transistor Blast box set kill the studio versions.

Moose - The live version of "This River Never Will Run Dry" tacked onto the end of the CD version of ...XYZ. Heavier, dreamier, and (I'd argue) better than the studio cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtjW9biBSEU

you know, that Peel sessions "Natural's Not In It" is amazing, the guitar sound!! "Entertainment", which I only heard after the Peel Sessions, has always disappointed me......

I'll add the live 3-minute acoustic "Down by The River" that emerged at whatever stage of Neil Young's endless 21st century stream of retrospection.....not sure I like it BETTER, but it seems just as fundamental as the Crazy Horse recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKIC_Kza4Ek

that is a fantastic demo!

somebody once tried to convince me that Stevie was only good bcz of Lindsey, so rong...

Always loved this...Michael's home demo of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2IzJihXPEM

On the Stevie Nicks tip, kind of a demo or alternate take but amazing nonetheless:

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

This thread is the best!

Shades Of Scarlett Conquering by Joni Mitchell, in it's demo form is a warmer prospect than the album version.

Some chords seem different without the additional instrumentation, and a few lyric changes too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqOYcSpxj3g