Saturday 18 July 2020

The Smiths: The Earliest Demos 1982


TREON260
The Smiths earliest demos. Recorded in Johnny Marr's attic bedroom on his TEAC three-track cassette recorder and at Decibel Studios, Manchester during August 1982.

Background:
On 31 August 1978, a 19-year-old Morrissey was briefly introduced to the 14-year-old Johnny Marr by mutual acquaintances Billy Duffy and Howard Bates at a Patti Smith gig held at Manchester's Apollo Theatre.

In May 1982 Marr decided that he wanted to establish a new band, and subsequently turned up on the doorstep of Morrissey's house accompanied by mutual friend Steve Pomfret, to ask Morrissey if he was interested in founding a band with himself and Pomfret. Morrissey and Marr bonded with their love of poetry and literature. A fan of the New York Dolls, Marr had been impressed that Morrissey had authored a book on the band, and was inspired to turn up on his doorstep following the example of Jerry Leiber, who had formed his working partnership with Mike Stoller after turning up at the latter's door. According to Morrissey: "We got on absolutely famously. We were very similar in drive." Conversing, the two found that they were fans of many of the same bands. The next day, Morrissey phoned Marr to confirm that he would be interested in forming a band with him.

A few days later, Morrissey and Marr held their first rehearsal in Marr's rented attic room in Bowdon. Morrissey provided the lyrics for "Don't Blow Your Own Horn", the first song that they worked on; however, they decided against retaining the song, with Marr commenting that "neither of us liked it very much". The next song that they worked on was "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle", which again was based on lyrics produced by Morrissey. Marr included a tempo which was based on the Patti Smith song "Kimberly", and they recorded it on Marr's TEAC three-track cassette recorder. The third track that the duo worked on was "Suffer Little Children". Alongside these original compositions, Morrissey suggested that the band produce a cover of "I Want a Boy for My Birthday", a song by the 1960s American girl band the Cookies; although he had never heard of the song before, Marr agreed, enjoying the subversive element of having a male vocalist sing it, and the song was recorded on his TEAC machine.

After remaining with the band for several rehearsals, Pomfret departed acrimoniously. He was replaced by the bass player Dale Hibbert, who worked at Manchester's Decibel Studios, where Marr had met him while recording Freak Party's demo. It was through Hibbert that the Smiths were able to record their first demo at Decibel, doing so one night in August 1982. Aided by drummer Simon Wolstencroft, whom Marr had worked with in Freak Party, the band recorded both "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "Suffer Little Children". Wolstencroft was not interested in joining the band, so auditions were held to find a permanent drummer, which resulted in Mike Joyce joining them; he later revealed that he was under the influence of magic mushrooms during his audition performance. Meanwhile, Morrissey took the demo recording to Factory Records, but Factory's Tony Wilson wasn't interested. source

Notes:
The version of "Suffer Little Children" was very clipped, so I've fixed that. "I Want A Boy For My Birthday" had about eight seconds of silence at the end which I removed. For more early Smiths recordings check out this Troy Tate sessions collection.

Tracklist:
01 - I Want A Boy For My Birthday (The Cookies Cover)
02 - Hand That Rocks The Cradle (Decibel Studios)
03 - Suffer Little Children (Decibel Studios)

Password: TREON260

Friday 10 July 2020

The La's: The Crescent Tape

TREON258
The Crescent Tape was the product of a surreptitiously-hidden tape recorder placed strategically during a jamming session involving Lee Mavers (The La's) and members of the Liverpool band The Crescent.

Background:
In 1991 The La's promotional tour dates were fulfilled in the UK and Europe including a few festivals, and a US tour. Bassist John Power left the group on 13 December 1991, frustrated with having played essentially the same set of songs since 1986, and resurfaced a year later with his band Cast. The remainder of the 1991 concerts were performed with James Joyce on bass as well as a handful of 1992 dates. The band stopped touring and rehearsing in 1992 until further short-lived reunions, with various line-ups, throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

The La's reunited sporadically for a series of live performances throughout 1994 and 1995. The comeback was brought about due to a merchandising debt from the 1991 U.S. tour and the band played support slots to artists such as Oasis, Paul Weller and Dodgy. The reformed band consisted of differing line-ups for each concert and as well as Lee Mavers other performers included several former members such as Barry Sutton, Lee Garnett, John "Boo" Byrne, James Joyce, Peter "Cammy" Cammell and Neil Mavers.

In 1996, Mavers began recording at The Arch studio in Kew, London owned by ex-The Damned drummer Rat Scabies. Initially working alone, he was later joined in the studio by ex-The Stairs frontman Edgar Jones, Lee Garnett and Neil Mavers. The sessions ended because of damp in the studio, however Mavers and Summertyme continued to rehearse and record in Liverpool for a year. After the collapse of Go! Discs, Mavers recording contract with the label was acquired by PolyGram  and eventually expired in 1998. In 1998, Mavers began rehearsing with the then unsigned Liverpool band The Crescent. A bootleg recording of one of these rehearsals known as The Crescent Tape would later leak on to the Internet. source

Notes:
I haven't edited this one at all, it is as I downloaded it back in the day. Special thanks to ToneGarvey for sharing the original mp3 files.

Tracklist:
01 - Tears In The Rain
02 - When Will I See You Again #1
03 - When Will I See You Again #2
04 - Let's Go For A Ride
05 - Ladies And Gentlemen
06 - She Came Down #1
07 - She Came Down #2
08 - She Came Down #3
09 - Rebound
10 - Fishing Net
11 - Mindfield #1
12 - Mindfield #2
13 - Raindance
14 - Open Your Mind
15 - Open Your Mind - Bass
16 - Doledrum
17 - Feelin' Riff
18 - Jam #1
19 - Jam #2
20 - Jam #3
21 - Jam #4
22 - The Human Race
23 - Pitch Theory
24 - The Human Race (Reprise)
25 - "A Gang of Outlaws"
26 - Crescent Talk
27 - The Human Race - Guitar
28 - The Human Race - Vocals And Drums
29 - The Human Race - Drums
30 - The Human Race - More Guitar
31 - The Human Race - Band Jam
32 - The Human Race - Bass And Guitar
33 - Open Your Mind #1
34 - Open Your Mind #2
35 - Open Your Mind #3
36 - Open Your Mind #4
37 - Open Your Mind #5
38 - Open Your Mind #6
39 - The Human Race - Reprise #1
40 - The Human Race - Reprise #2
41 - The Human Race - Reprise #3
42 - "It's Too Much!"

Password: TREON258




Thursday 2 July 2020

Late!: Pocketwatch (Dave Grohl Demo Tape)

TREON257
Pocketwatch is a cassette album by Dave Grohl, under the pseudonym Late!, released in 1992 on the now defunct indie label Simple Machines as part of their Tool Cassette Series.

Background:
In the summer of 1991, Dave Grohl went into WGNS Studios and recorded four songs, playing all the instruments himself. The recording was combined with six songs from a previous Upland Studios session recorded in late 1990. Although both sessions occurred after joining Nirvana, Grohl unobtrusively acknowledged their existence. A tape of the songs, given to Simple Machines co-founder Jenny Toomey by Grohl, immediately became a candidate for the labels Tool Cassette Series. The 1990 sessions emerged as Grohl, then the drummer of Scream, requested his producer friend Barrett Jones to record songs in his home 8-track tape recorder. Upon accepting Simple Machines' request for a demo tape, Grohl decided to hide his identity under the pseudonym Late!, "because I’m an idiot and I thought it would be funny to say to everybody, 'Sorry, we’re Late!’".

Notes:
I'm not sure of the source for this one as there are a number of bootlegs that feature these tracks. I downloaded them as 320kbps mp3 and dispite the cassette tape heritage the sound is actually very good. I did do a little bit of level adjustment and removed a couple of clicks/imperfections on tracks 01-10. I've also added four alternative versions taken from various official releases. The download also includes the unedited mp3 files of tracks 01-10.

Tracklist:
01 - Pokey The Little Puppy
02 - Petrol CB
03 - Friend Of A Friend
04 - Throwing Needles
05 - Just Another Story About Skeeter Thompson
06 - Color Pictures of A Marigold
07 - Hell's Garden
08 - Winnebago
09 - Bruce
10 - Milk

Bonus Tracks:
11 - Marigold (Demo Version)
12 - Marigold (B-side Version)
13 - Winnebago (B-side Version)
14 - Friend Of A Friend (Album Version)

Password: TREON257