I assume some (if not everyone) browsing these forums has listened to this collection. Shows up online as Rare Tracks of Whack or Tracks of Whack-Demos and Outtakes. In case however there are some who hadn't heard it, it was an expansion of an earlier collection of outtakes and demo's called Just Another Story that added an earlier demo of 3 Sisters and a demo of Hat too flat and book of liars.
The whole Album encompasses 10 tracks total:
1. Junkie Girl (Demo) Almost the same as the album version minus the guitar solo.
2. Girlfriend (Demo) Walter's vocals for the rabbit shouting portion song are significantly livelier.
3.Cringemaker (Demo) has a completely different sound with the guitar rifts.
4.Medical Science (Demo) Also very different from the Japanese bonus track, sort of unpolished in comparison.
5.Sampaiku- Has a reggae sound to the melody.
6.Ghost of Hypno's Past (Outtake) Pretty haunting sound in both the melody and Becker's vocals.
7.Lies I can believe (Outtake)- Possibly one of my favorite Walter Becker Songs of all time even now. Easily one of the most polished songs in this collection.
8.Three Sisters Shaking (Alternate Take) Very different sound then the one posted here, uses more electronic organ, no real guitar.
9.Book of Liar (Demo) slightly different pitch
10.Hat too Flat (Demo) Missing some background instrumentation from the Album version.
Just was wondering what others thoughts were on the sound of this set. I find it fascinating look at how the final album evolved.
I was occasionally surprised when I cracked open some of W's lyrics notebooks and notes. Hipness vs Hypnos being one example (althoug I suspected). There is another tune we are queing up that everyone involved said was one title...which is how I copyrighted it...then found a lyric notebook where W obviously mean another title. Oops.
This other song we hope to post soon is a real rarity in that 1) it's pretty early and 2) it was written in part as response to the question: "could you write a song that sounds like _(other artist name)___?" You will all be the judge of 2).
Cringemaker -- Matt is right, and has been struggling with me to find the best way to preset literally half-a-dozen versions that differ enough from one another (tempo, feel, instrumentation) to be of interest to freak fans who like to hear studio experimentation (maybe only freak fans; everyone else will wonder "what's with the repeats?"). Also having trouble with what YouTube does to volume and distortion. Set it aside one week in frustration ...maybe return to it soon.
Sax on "Ghost..."? Mystery to me too, will see if I can find out more.
I always thought it was Ghost of Hipness Past rather than Hypnos... What say you D-Mod?
id love to hear a clean version of Lies I Can Believe. that chorus guts me.
That's a very good point about the sax solo, didn't put much thought into it until you mentioned that, Dean would be a pretty good guess.... maybe our moderator will chime in at some point.
Most of these seem to be just demos or early takes, but there are a couple of gems in there.
Cringemaker seems to have gone through a number of iterations before it was released. Our wonderful Moderator knows more than I do, of course, but I always assumed that Cringemaker came from jam sessions between WB and Dean Parks, hence the cowriting credit. I know that Walter tried a couple of different approaches before settling on the final album version.
Sanpaku, Ghost of Hipness Past, and Lies I Can Believe (Love in the Forth) have only ever been heard in demo form. I am hopeful that we might see alternate, or even just clean, versions of them in the future. One thing that surprised me then, and now upon a relisten, is that there is a sax solo in the Ghost of Hipness Past demo. Most demos that I've heard, especially the ones shared on this site, have either synth solo or Walter scatting, humming, or even whistling what might later be replaced by a sax solo. If most demos are done with only WB involved (that's just an assumption) then who played sax? I wonder if Ghost, like Love in the Forth (Lies I Can Believe) and Cringemaker is a Parks/Becker composition and Dean is playing sax? I remember seeing him play the sax solo on some Steely Dan tune at an awards banquet, and was pretty impressed. Just a thought. Again, I'm sure our Moderator knows much more than I.