Around and around

Another grueling week closes in the daily life, but it's been a busy and satisfying musical weekend to this point. The transfer of all the old demos, etc. has been completed and I'm able to now carefully evaluate a fair portion of the songs I might want to use for "...Arlington Line". Listening to these demos brought back a near tidal wave of memories as to the circumstances surrounding the writing and recording of these songs. Truthfully, some of these songs (and the rough demos) are great and some are just God-awful in the sense of being both funny (unintentionally) and "what was I thinking?", but there you go. The plan for late(r) today is to start recording the track I'd like to contribute to "Have You Seen My Hero", if time allows. Once that's completed, the formal/focused sessions for the album will commence. This is not going to be an easy task, and I'm not fooling anyone (least of all myself), but I think once the choices for tracks are solidified, I can make some serious in-roads.

A friend of mine asked if I was planning on transferring the demos that made up "...to get to the other side"; I'm sure I will later on. These songs are interesting in their demo form; there are a few versions of the tracks and the great thing about demos is that they're a pure road map of a song's genesis. Admittedly, some of the first versions of these songs are absolute shit, but that's the point of a demo. Have an idea; get a structure together and commit it to tape (or whatever) so you have a point of reference and you don't forget it later on. There are at least 3 and 4 versions of two of the album's cuts; the very first demo of "Inside" made me crack up (in no uncertain terms) with hysterics and horror at how terrible it was. Or the 3rd demo of "Second Time Around", which is actually better than the album version and the 2nd demo of "Bitter Sweet", which also has a better feel than the band's (albeit still needing horns). I think the most poignant demo found was the original May, 1987 recording of "Train Of Thought", which was recorded at the Treboschi house by bouncing between two tape decks (hence the obvious pitch shifts) and singing the vocals in the bathroom. Regardless, I'll get around to committing these to mp.3 when time allows, but yes, I wouldn't abandon the demos simply because the album is done.

Now with the morning moving forward, it's time to get things going. A few errands, visit Dad (and thank you to everyone who has been e-mailing and calling to check on his progress--you have no idea how much it means to us) and then meeting old friends for coffee this afternoon. Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!