I understand that when recording a song, the first stage is a very rough “demo” which might be put together to be listened to by everyone else before committing to it properly. People might get excited by them and think to themselves “I can’t wait to get my hands on this” or something along those lines.
The attached is a demo of the song “Waiting for a Star to Fall” which became a hit song after being rejected by Whitney Houston.
Hearing a demo as awful as this Belinda Carlisle effort makes me wonder what the purpose was here. It may be that she didn’t want to sing the song; so she did an awful job on purpose. Or – is the vocal on a demo just a “marker” so that producers can get their faders (?) in the right places. It dioesnt matter whether it’s in tune.
Either way, this is an awful, awful version of the song. B’lindz can definitely hold a tune better than this – but maybe this is her reading the lyrics and mumbling through version 1 before the producer talks her through it. Perhaps all songs start like this – when the singer sings a song handed to them for the first time? If it wasn’t for the producer’s magic dust, is this what music would sound like?
Skirky says
There’s a version of ‘High Hopes’ on the new Pink Floyd later years compilation which is arguably better than the version they eventually put out. I think though, that demos are exactly that. They’re not for us to listen to. Completists and copyright holders aside.
Mike_H says
Demos and Versions are not necessarily the same thing. I imagine yer Floyd, for instance, might have sometimes tried a few ways of doing certain songs before committing to one particular one. Other songs probably would have arrived more or less fully-formed.
In it’s truest sense, a demo is as described above. A recorded run through of a new song for the purpose of evaluation/approval in the first instance and then as an aid to learning it.
I bet not many of the demos that are now ubiquitous on modern box sets are first or very early takes and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were other, better takes made of B’linda singing that song.
Miles Davis’s producer Teo Macero expressed his displeasure at all the alternate recordings, rejected tracks and new edits that were stuck on the series of CD box sets of his late ’60s – early ’70s albums. He said they should have just stuck with the originally chosen versions, because they were chosen for good reasons. Of course the fact he was not invited to participate might have been a factor too.
Gary says
I can think of a couple of demos that I far prefer to the official versh. Roy Ayers’ Everybody Loves The Sunshine demo doesn’t sound as squelchy* as the proper versh, and Paul Simon’s Take Me To The Mardi Gras is slower, more acoustic and less poppy – wouldn’t sound out of place on Dylan’s Pat Garrett soundtrack, I think.
*Technical term
deramdaze says
I’ve been listening to Dylan’s Witmark Demos (Bootleg Series 9) all weekend, and I’ve come to the conclusion it’s the most enjoyable release in the guy’s whole career.
Arthur Cowslip says
The acoustic demos for the white album highlight the stark difference between John and Paul’s approach.
John has stuff like Happiness is a Warm Gun and Everybody’s Got Something To Hide, which sound rambling and with no real discernable hook or sense of arrangement. There’s a very strong sense of his approach being “I don’t need to try too hard as the boys will help me knock it into shape in the studio later “.
Paul, meanwhile, has a load of crafted songs that are “oven ready” as it were. Blackbird, Mother Nature’s Son, all polished and ready to go.
deramdaze says
Paul’s “Come and Get It” is simply, and I really like Badfinger, Badfinger’s “Come and Get It.”
garyt says
I seem to recall Macca telling Badfinger to copy his demo exactly, and it would be a hit (he was right). I also seem to recall it took him about an hour to do the whole thing himself.
Rigid Digit says
Depends what stage of development they’re at.
Early “sketch” demoes are fairly uninteresting an pointless – do have a certain novelty value / minor interest of development.
Later stage demoes – where the song has a recognisable shape – can be more interesting with different lyrics or a different middle eight that was later re-used on another track.
Acoustic demoes that later became full-on electric with a full band can sometimes be a better or preferred version
Bargepole says
I liked what Peter Gabriel did with the So demos, seguing them together to show the song as it progressed in its development.