McCartney and Costello demos

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Matt Wilson
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McCartney and Costello demos

Postby Matt Wilson » 20 Sep 2018, 02:18

Anyone care about this stuff? Recorded in the late '80s, before the Flowers in the Dirt album, they did a number of demos which they never fleshed out with a band at the time, put on the shelf and left them there. Paul returned to the tapes about a year later, if memory serves, and recorded them with his band - but the magic wasn't there. He and Elvis should've cut these songs at the time with a band (the Attractions? One can dream.) and released them. I love what Paul later did with "My Brave Face" and what Elvis did with "Allison," but listen to this stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNJl2Id ... gs=pl%2Cwn
"The Lovers That Never Were"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFuNt5j ... gs=pl%2Cwn
"Tommy's Coming Home"

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The Slider
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Re: McCartney and Costello demos

Postby The Slider » 20 Sep 2018, 12:11

Veronica, surely
Complete Ramones Mp3 set on its way

Bent Fabric
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Re: McCartney and Costello demos

Postby Bent Fabric » 20 Sep 2018, 12:43

Costello acknowledges in his book that they captured a certain spirit in the demos that was never approached in subsequent workings of the material.

Such is the way of the world (and, I mean, we're not talking about a golden age in record production in this case).

It would have been a ballsy and much beloved record in that form, but...probably not what either artist felt they needed at that point (the fact that Paul was aggressively mounting a "comeback" a mere three years after "Say Say Say" and "No More Lonely Nights" seems amazing when you consider that many major acts often operate at 5 year intervals now).

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Matt Wilson
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Re: McCartney and Costello demos

Postby Matt Wilson » 20 Sep 2018, 14:39

The Slider wrote:Veronica, surely


Oops, I meant to say "Veronica" in my opening post. Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever actually heard their demo for "Veronica" now that I think about it. The demos have a certain quality though that is more than merely interesting. Actually, my dream McCartney album for 1989 would've consisted of about half of the released tracks from Flowers in the Dirt, and the other half fleshed out recordings of some of the demos he did with Elvis. Ideally with Elvis singing with Paul.

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Re: McCartney and Costello demos

Postby ChrisChopping » 22 Sep 2018, 12:12

I love the demos and would like to hear the fleshed out versions for better or worse. For the most part these are far and away the best songs on Flowers...


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