41707ddc
From: dwildstr@erdos.math.louisville.edu
In article ,
The Space Boss wrote:
>On May 31, 4:22 pm, PGE wrote:
>> I guess you're referring to yet another repackaging of those
>> pre-SteelyDandemos that Walter wrote about a few years back:
>Thank you for the info. Is this the same thing?
Yup (also known as the "Catalyst demos", for whatever reason). And
they even got some of the titles wrong (admittedly, there's a certain
subjectivity in what the "right" title is for an unreleased song, but
these aren't them).
> 1. Brain Shuffle 3:11 $0.99
Should be "Brain Tap Shuffle".
> 6. Brooklyn 6:12 $0.99
This is a demo version of the song appearing on "Countdown to Ecstasy".
> 7. Any World That I'm Welcome To 3:50 $0.99
Likewise, a demo version of the song appearing on "Katy Lied".
> 8. Caves of Altamura 3:25 $0.99
Misspelled: this is a demo version of "The Caves of Altamira",
appearing on "The Royal Scam".
> 10. Mina From China 4:02 $0.99
I'm assuming this is the song usually identified as "Yellow Peril".
> 13. Barry Town 2:14 $0.99
Again, a demo of a released song. Usually written as one word.
> 20. Sun Mountain / In a Horse Town 3:47 $0.99
Hrm. "Sun Mountain", and "A Horse in Town" (note word order) are both
Catalyst songs, but I've never seen them given as a single track, and
all the creative editing in the world doesn't get their combined time
down to 3:47 unless there's been some cutting.
> 22. Parker's Band 1:25 $0.99
Demo of the released song, again.
Comparing the times to my versions of the Catalyst demos (mine are
from the "Android Warehouse" double CD), there seem to be some odd
discrepancies. Most of the songs are longer by about 6-10 seconds,
which is within reason. "Brooklyn", though, is a good 40 seconds
longer on this tracklist, "Mock Turtle Song" longer by 20, and
"Barrytown" by 25, while "More to Come", "A Little With Sugar",
"Android Warehouse", "The Roaring of the Lamb", "Charlie Freak",
"Parker's Band", and "Oh, Wow, It's You" are _way_ too short in this
listing.
Also, a few of the standard Catalyst tracks, like "Don't Let Me In",
"Soul Ram", and "Undecided" aren't here.
Bottom line, in answer to the most relevant questions:
* Are these never before released? Nope.
* Are they worth owning? If you're interested in them, sure. I like
them, and definitely any Steely Dan completist should have a copy of
these. They're lo-fi, but the demo versions of released songs are
interesting, and the ones which were never turned into released
songs, while of varying quality, are worth at least having heard.
* Is this particular means of getting them worthwhile? I'd balk at
that, mostly because the track lengths trouble me and the
collection's incomplete. You can definitely get a sampler of these
for well under $9 from the shady shovel-collections filed under
'Steely Dan' at your local record store, although a complete set may
run you more ("Android Warehouse", I seem to recall, ran me about
$12). Also, far be it from me to suggest such a course of action,
but I'm given to understand you can download all this stuff for free
if you're into that and know where to look. (Legalities aside, the
_moral_ atmosphere around these demos is pretty hazy -- the
particular possession of this property has been so mishandled that
you can be fairly confident that whoever's getting a cut of your
record purchase, none of them actually deserve it).
-Jake
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
