Full back catalogue REISSUES + demos (THSDP 22/03/11)

[TheNightingale]

I had just one semi-distracted listen but it's so interesting how different these demos are from the finished versions. And I'm not talking only about arrangements - some different lyrics, different melodies even! The heavy reverb effect on all vocals gets kind of tiring after a while, I must say, I wonder why she chose to use it.

[revenire]

The Hope Six Demolition Project demos have been published on youtube.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5 ... L_jQ8WCRsg

I'm amazed, in my opinion some of these demos are even better the album version! Some have a complete different vibe, it's astounding. I like to take it as a sign her musical creativity is far from over, hopefully.

Agree. I love them so much. This, Let England Shake, and White Chalk, have been my favorites out of all the demos.

[bruise]

[BobSimms]

It’s crazy how, after decades as a high-profile and very successful rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, she still doesn’t know how to spell ‘acoustic’. Not that it’s hindered her in any way, just a funny quirk. I love seeing all the guitar pedal notations on that sheet, too. Thanks for posting!

[TheNightingale]

Yes, thanks for posting! I love seeing her little references on these sheets (like the Aladdin Sane tracks here, or Stina Nordenstam on the "When Under Ether" one), very interesting.

[bruise]

Agree, the "sing with an English accent" note cracked me up!

[revenire]

Cracked Actor, Jean Genie...

[Sebastiano Boina]

The Hope Six Demolition Project demos have been published on youtube.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5 ... L_jQ8WCRsg

I'm amazed, in my opinion some of these demos are even better the album version! Some have a complete different vibe, it's astounding. I like to take it as a sign her musical creativity is far from over, hopefully.

The Orange Monkey demo sounds like 1980s synthpop, wich is a fascinating finding.
Also i love the demo version of A Line In The Sand.

[lepetitlord]

Got that 80's vibe on the Orange monkey demo too.

Still missing the Stories lyrics sheet, if anyone would accept to send a scan, i can share the 8 lyrics sheets from the recording sessions of THSDP, or maybe some BBC live in studio tracks from 98 (transcription CD sourced) contact me

[Black Hearted Love]

I found someone's photo on Twitter of the signed lyric print featuring the lyrics to "We Float" - are there any pictures floating around of the lyric prints for previous demo albums?

Spoiler! :

BTW, interesting that she changed

I'm your 'mothers' little helper'
Yeah, you take me and black-out

to

I was in need of help
Heading to black out


in the studio version.

Found it here in some previous reply

[lepetitlord]

i meant an actual scan of it, it's the only missing one

[TheNightingale]

Some really excellent reviews of the demos by Matthew Barton:

https://beatsperminute.com/please-dont- ... its-demos/
https://beatsperminute.com/tape-the-bro ... its-demos/
https://beatsperminute.com/this-is-love ... its-demos/
https://beatsperminute.com/trouble-taki ... and-demos/
https://beatsperminute.com/voodoo-worki ... -reissues/

One more deep dive into the reissues by Matthew Barton, covering Let England Shake and The Hope Six Demoliton Project:
https://beatsperminute.com/the-wests-as ... eir-demos/

It's quite lengthy so I won't paste the whole thing here but this fragment about the recent news of the upcoming album stood out - I think he really sums up how many of us have felt in the recent years (Matthew, are you perhaps lurking here?):

I had half-convinced myself that that was it for PJ Harvey’s recording career as it was, a feeling reinforced by this reissue campaign that, while certainly welcome and beautifully done, felt like more of a looking back than one is used to with PJ Harvey.

But maybe one has to look back to look forward. Much time has now elapsed since Harvey’s most recent two LPs. Indeed, the gap between Let England Shake and the present day is longer than that between her debut album Dry (1992) and the Mercury-winning Stories. The six years since Hope Six are the longest we’ve gone without new recorded Harvey material.

Everything is pointing towards something bold and new in the future and, having followed Harvey through mercurial twists and turns over three decades, we must not second-guess what she might have come up with. We’d probably be wrong.

[bruise]

Do you guys still believe there will be an album of unreleased material, as we discussed all along, to wrap up the reissue campaign?
It just dawned on me that with the publishing of Orlam, the book tour, the book reissue on October and the unofficial announcement of the new album next year, the idea seems unlikely.
I obviously hope otherwise and that she proves me wrong.

[TheNightingale]

Do you guys still believe there will be an album of unreleased material, as we discussed all along, to wrap up the reissue campaign?
It just dawned on me that with the publishing of Orlam, the book tour, the book reissue on October and the unofficial announcement of the new album next year, the idea seems unlikely.
I obviously hope otherwise and that she proves me wrong.

Well, to be honest, my understanding wasn't that it was supposed to be an album of previously unreleased material, but more of a compilation of already-released B-sides and non-album tracks – just bundled together as PJ Harvey's Archives or whatever – but yeah, it seems pretty unlikely now. I mean, it could still be released sometime in autumn/winter 2022, just to keep the book-to-album momentum going, but I'm not getting my hopes up – I think we would have heard something about it by now?

[Cuauhtemoc]

I'm not holding my breath for a B-side/non-album song compilation, but I remember most fans had given up on the idea that Please Leave Quitely was ever going to be released, and then we got a release date for it seemingly out of the blue. So if it happens, awesome, but if it doesn't then we still have all the songs on old singles, soundtracks, and now digitally.