After Frank left, and we had played an abysmal couple of shows at the Arrowhead Ranch, we put our tails between our legs and, with what was left of the band, went up to Connecticut to record an 8-track demo at a friend of Dave Engelhardt's, John Georgette.
Ted and I (and Lawrence) had been at the studio more than a year earlier. Dave - who had never seen Life Out Of Balance -had asked me to play drums on some songs he had written. I introduced him to Ted, who agreed to take the trip up with me and engineer the session. The studio was way up in what seemed like the wildnerness, totally secluded, totally beautiful, in a wonderful old house. In the attic, an old, run-down, half-abandoned 8-track studio was installed. I remember we literally had to clear the studio of debris like old rolled up carpet and the like, and do a lot of work to get the studio up to snuff.
Now it was a year later and this session was organized with Dave engineering (he'd seen the band by this point, many times!)
As far as I'm concerned, the opening moments of "I Owe" is the official beginning of the next era of LOOB. It almost gives me goosebumps! We ended up retaining this intro for the demo we made the following year. Vocally, this is the definitive "It's All Right", Ted sounds great. "It's All Right" was the first song Ted had recorded when he got his 4-track in 1988 and when Frank joined the band, I remembered it and suggested we do it (it being so easy to play was a big plus). Somewhere along the way, it got (usually, but not always) attached to "I Owe".
So great to hear a proper recording of "Bambaleda" (here, we're still saying "Bambalena"), complete with overdubs! This song would get more muscular in the following year, when we were playing tons of shows, but this sounds really nice!
Ditto "Thundersong"! This is an early and fascinating version! In fact, I believe this demo captures the moment of conception for Hubie's beautiful meandering lead that he would do before my verse. As you can hear, it's not exactly what it ended up being, but nonetheless really nice!
The demo is just...charming, that's the word that comes to mind..... but we aborted the whole thing for many issues. We had alot of technical hiccups, I remember. I think one of the big problems was playing with headphones, there was no headphone amps, we couldn't hear ourselves very well at all. The studio was far away, so coming back for further overdubs probably not feasible. And, honestly, we were at a loss as to what our band even sounded like. A month earlier we were a full blown rock band - now we were... something else, albeit something we were digging!
I prefer this to the overblown 24-track demo we made the following year, I'll tell you that much!
I have always called it the "John Georgette demo"....but that's a misnomer. John didn't record us - he hosted us while we recorded in the attic, Dave Engelhardt (and Ted) handling the engineering. As I recall, our girlfriends all came with us and kept us very well-fed when they weren't exploring and hiking. It was a GORGEOUS, secluded property, and I seem to remember us all having a campfire underneath the stars and singing through the night. Or maybe that was another occasion, when I recorded there with Dave.......
Either way, enjoy what was lost....but now has been found!
The Aborted John Georgette demo, Bethlehem, Connecticut 12/91
I Owe
It's All Right
Bambaleda
Thundersong
(there is also a portion of an earlier mix of "I Owe -> It's All Right" as a "bonus").
Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion
Lawrence Krauser - electric piano, trumpet
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, percussion
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal, percussion
engineered by Dave Engelhardt
download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/fiqpq959btzmz11/1991-12+Aborted+John+Georgette+demo.zip
