1988 demo - raw tracks, no echo

 

Whoah!  We've got some surprises on this one!

A year later, and we're still in the Suffolk Office and recording our second 4-track demo.  To hear the finished product, click to this post.  That's the way this demo is meant to be heard.

But listening to these raw tracks is very entertaining!  For some reason, we sing along to some of the earlier takes, so there are actually complete alternate versions.  One song that we didn't do alternate vocals on was the first take of "New Voice".  Other than the very last note, this is an absolute perfect take of "New Voice" and it's a tragedy we didn't use this one!  Something I had no memory of: we attempted two versions of "I Know Your Name" - a song that we often found difficult to record because of all the stops.  It's pretty funny listening to us give up mid-way on this one......after the instrumental break, the vocals do not return!

Summer of '88, Hubie with 12-string.

Possibly the biggest surprise is the very last thing on the cassette.  With not much tape left, Hubie laid down a solo demo of a song that I only have brief snatches of, played while setting up on various rehearsal tapes.  I don't think this song has a title, I always wrote "Flowers" to label it, from the lyric "I never bring flowers for you", but I'm sure that is not the title.  Why we never did this song, I know not.  I know that we all liked it, it had this great chord progression between the verses......what I think might have happened is a very familiar phenomena: we would get together....then we wouldn't get together.....when we would reconvene after a hiatus, there would always be songs that Hubie couldn't remember the chords to.  Hubie really had his own style of voicing chords, and he was always writing down chords in tab, he kept a little notebook.   But sometimes he couldn't remember how something was supposed to go, or he hadn't written it down.  I know  "The Bushman" was such a song.  I'll bet that's what happened with the song I call "Flowers".


I have since lost the tape we did our soundchecks on.   But I did dub a part of it, the three of us jamming on Dave Brubeck's "Take 5".  So I tagged that on to the beginning, even though it's incomplete.  This session was filmed on video, and shows us playing "Take 5" (and some of the other songs).  It also includes two great "videos" of us doing "I'm So Tired" and "What You Say" in the warehouse.  I have this video!  I know it's taking forever, but the video from this session (showing off the amazing Suffolk Office) will be seen again, here, soon!!!

In the meantime, enjoy this great weekend (I seem to remember us recording the vocals the next day, in our "lounge") from long ago!

Suffolk Office 4-track demo, raw tracks, 7/88
Take 5 (excerpt)
Return Britain (take 1)
Return Britain (take 2)
New Voice (take 1)
New Voice (take 2)
Inside Outside (take 1)
Inside Outside (take 2)
I Know Your Name (take 1)
I Know Your Name (take 2)
I'm So Tired (take 1)
I'm So Tired (take 2)
What You Say
I'm So Tired (take 3)
I'm So Tired (take 4 - aborted)
Untitled Hubie song ("Flowers")

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

recorded at the Suffolk Office on a Tascam Porta-two cassette 4-track


Download here:

https://www.mediafire.com/?nqa26y6ik8r4ma5
or if you prefer Dropbox, this link will expire in a week or so:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/07425p60znrrf4c/1988-07%20demo%20raw%20tracks.zip?dl=0