Suffolk Office, early April 1988

It's strange, I haven't  digitized one 1987 rehearsal, and yet I've done many 1988 ones.  This one says it's from early April 1988. I am pretty sure I estimated the dates for many of these rehearsal tapes in the early 90s when I was going through them all and taking notes.  It definitely pre-dates the April 13 "live demo", and since many of the songs on this tape crop up on that recording, in an improved state, that is probably why it's been dated as early April.  There are many tapes labeled between the dates of February and early April of 1988.....but we weren't getting together that often, so the dating system may be wrong.  What sounds like an "earlier" version could, in fact, be us trying to remember a song months later.  Who knows, who cares!

This rehearsal is one that didn't look that appealing, and it shows us kind've sloppy.  Also arguing alot, which I edited out!  It's so funny, we start the rehearsal all happy and buddies, but as soon as the work starts....the knives come out!!!!  On the other hand, at the end of the tape, we sound buddy-buddies again, so....I suppose no harm done.....for that moment, anyways!

The rehearsal tape starts out with a messy version of "This Isn't Like Me", a Ted song that was later put to better use as the break in "Dog Days".  Then a messy version of "In The Desert", a good song of Hubie's that wasn't received that well at the time; most recordings of "In The Desert" feature an enthusiastic Hubie and an almost begrudging Ted, and sometimes Mike.  Not sure what the problem was, as the verse has a killer melody, and the guitar part is great!  I seem to remember us complaining about singing "the sun will make me red"....again, I can't imagine why that would be such an issue!

"On The Cover" has always been one of my favorite LOOB tunes....and yet, we could never get through it without a mistake!  Years later, we'd have no problem, we had all kinds of elaborate arrangements.  But back then, with this song? Always has a breakdown in the middle!  I'm not sure there is a single complete version! The two run-throughs on this tape aren't the greatest, though they do have some funny moments when Hubie sings "You call my name" and we respond by saying "Hubie!".  Eventually we just broke down into the centerpiece "argument" for the rehearsal (edited out, and between primarily Ted and myself) - we never even got to the end of the song.

"Rise" is a Ted song that was sung better years later when it was attached to a song of Hubie's ("Inside The Rain").  It went through different incarnations, including a couple of beautiful demos Ted recorded on his own.  I think Hubie is singing the "into life" part on this version, for some reason.

Some songs seem like they've been around forever, you can't really imagine a time when they were "new".  "What You Say" is one of those songs, and yet here's an early version that's really fun, probably the best song of the rehearsal.

For a better time - at least if you happen to be interested in this particular era of Life Out Of Balance - you'd be better off listening to our repertoire run-through for the 4-track on April 13.....and our demo that was done in July.  After those two recordings, LOOB committed to cassette a single song during a rehearsal in May of 1989, and did not resume documenting themselves until 1990.  Maybe it was because of rehearsal tapes like these!

Suffolk Office, 4/88
This Isn't Like Me
In The Desert
On The Cover
On The Cover
Rise
I'm So Tired
What You Say

Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal
Ted Schreiber - bass, harmonica, vocal
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal

recorded on a 2-track cassette deck

mp3
https://www.mediafire.com/?tcf1j35m8qrwi5g