Alternate versions?

[ubertar]

Since Daniel used to re-record the same album sometimes as a way to make "copies" back when he was doing the cassette thing, there must be some alternate versions floating around, right? I've never heard anything about them though.

[Disfranchise]

yeah sure, I'd like to know too.
The only one that really comes to mind is songs of pain, the version of Grievances that's on the reissue of songs of pain with more songs of pain is not at all as good in my opinion.

[ubertar]

There should be alternate versions of whole albums though, not just individual songs. I'm hoping the stress records guy will chime in here...

[lonelyloner]

That's a good question! I laughed when they talked about this on the movie. The man was so determined! Bless him.

[Jackand George]

I have a number of alternative version tapes that Dan made for me "back in the day" I know I am not alone- he would make individual tapes for a lot of people. I don't know if I have been around a harder working person. I don't know about this 'genius' label--but he was a man obsessed with his art.

Jackand George

[Stress Records]

There should be alternate versions of whole albums though, not just individual songs. I'm hoping the stress records guy will chime in here...

There are alternate versions of just about everything up through Yip/Jump Music. Beginning with Hi, How Are You he started dubbing so as far as I know there are no alternate versions of Hi, How Are You, Respect, Retired Boxer, Continued Story, etc...

Sincerely,
The Stress Records guy

[haint]

Hey Jeff,

Just to clarify for me...

What *exactly* do you mean by an "alternate version of an album"?

[Stress Records]

Hey Jeff,

Just to clarify for me...

What *exactly* do you mean by an "alternate version of an album"?

I mean completely different cassette recordings that Daniel used to give away to friends. Songs of Pain exists in several variations and no two are quite the same. The version you're familiar with through Stress was originally borrowed from Kathy McCarty. Some of the other versions include several additional songs you might not associate with Songs of Pain:

Cold Hard World
Evening Stars
Funeral
I Had a Dream
Man Obsessed
Mother Mom Said
Natalie Queen of Wierton
Peek-a-Boo

Those songs appear on tapes titled "Poems of Pain" and "Songs of Pain (to Al Pomplas) among others but these tapes omit a few of the songs that do appear on the Songs of Pain that everyone is familiar with:

Premarital Sex
Since I Lost My Tooth
Tuna Ketchup
Idiot's End
Hate Song
Living Life

The other songs (Grievances, A Little Story, Brainwash, Wicked Will, Wicked World, I Save Cigarette Butts, etc. typically appear on all variations of Songs of Pain.

Another recording of More Songs of Pain exists called Someday You're Going to Make It Joe. Other versions of Don't Be Scared and The What of Whom might not exist as complete recordings but many of the songs appear on one or more of the above mentioned tapes.

As for Yip/Jump Music there is one alternate recording all the way through from Chord Organ Blues through I Remember Painfully. On most songs the differences are practically non-existent. I don't own a copy of this recording but have listened carefully and on some songs I had to listen more than once before I could even be convinced they were different recordings. There was also one minor difference in the sequencing but I don't remember what it was off the top of my head.

Jeff

[Disfranchise]

ooh, I WANT to hear these!! someone make them availible...

[zack26]

I have the "Early Recordings Vol. 1" CD version of Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain.  Are the Stress cassesttes the same versions as the CD?

I'm dying to hear these alternate versions!

[haint]

Thanks Jeff! 

So did Dan regard the Stress releases to be the definitive versions of his songs/albums?

[notdaniel]

Here's a few annotations to Jeff's lecture (here's hoping my cut & paste job on the quotes isn't a debacle):

Songs of Pain exists in several variations and no two are quite the same. The version you're familiar with through Stress was originally borrowed from Kathy McCarty.

Mine is titled "Some Songs of Pain" but I believe it is musically identical to the Stress issue. (Jeff, you currently have it in your possession - correct me if I'm wrong.)

Another recording of More Songs of Pain exists called Someday You're Going to Make It Joe.

"Someday..." is actually subtitled "More Songs, More Pain" and is an extra-long cassette. Side one is more or less identical to the Stress "MSoP" in its entirety, while side two is a mishmash of unfinidhed snippets, unreleased songs, "early versions" of songs from other tapes, and just plain old copies of songs off other tapes. It is the only original tape Daniel gave me which does not have a custon-drawn cover. Instead, it has a photocopied "j-card" of the contents, indicating that other copies of it were probably made as well.

Other versions of Don't Be Scared and The What of Whom might not exist as complete recordings but many of the songs appear on one or more of the above mentioned tapes.

Jeff

Both myself and Jeff own personal copies of the former entitled "Don't Be SCARRED" (note the extra "r") which I assume to be musically identical to the Stress version (Jeff, how DID you decide to go with "Scared" over "Scarred" since you apparently have both? )

The Stress release of "The What of Whom" comes from my personal copy, and Jeff recently confirmed to me that to this day, no other copy of this tape has ever been found.

Last and probably least, I own a "Two In One" special edition cassette of "Hi How Are You" and "Yip..." with the songs from both crammed onto a 90 min. tape. Again, I assume the contents to be the same recordings are are commonly available.

Oh, wait -- Jeff forgot to mention (and I almost did as well) that the first "pressing" of "Continued Stories" was a bad mix, which wasn't corrected until a couple hundred (?) copies were made and distributed in Austin. So technically there's two versions of that one as well, though due to different circumstances!

  - Not Daniel

[Stress Records]

Thanks Jeff! 

So did Dan regard the Stress releases to be the definitive versions of his songs/albums?

We both would like to have redone Songs of Pain. At the time we used the best tape available but within 2 or 3 years of the initial release better tapes were located.

[Disfranchise]

so why not release the better ones when it's time for a rerelease whenever it might be? Everyone would benefit from that!