Wednesday 8 October 2014

"Bay City" (abandoned "Million Seller" track)














 
(Trudi’s in the other room, playing with the cats, so you get me.)

Thanks for the support for “Think Bubble”! People have been nice about it, and enough copies have been sold: the album is now deleted, and this blog will end. I hope you’ve enjoyed following the Top-50 Countdown even a fraction as much as I’ve enjoyed seeing all these great singles ‘in one place’. I couldn’t have made The Pooh Sticks records without them.

To finish, here's another abandoned “Million Seller” out-take, “Bay City”. I’d imagined this as the album-closer, like “Jungleland” on “Born To Run”… as you’ll be able to tell from the piano at the end…

Steve

Monday 6 October 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 1. Carpenters - "Superstar"































Done pondering? The motherlode! "Superstar" is pretty much the most important of all Pooh Sticks touchstones, despite the song itself appearing to be wildly underwritten. Yes, sometime between the shriek’n’squeal excitement of “Orgasm” and the first-falterings of would-be West Coast FM-ness and rock’n’roll heaven romanticism of (bits of) “Formula One Generation”, this sad, sad tale of an everyday lovelorn groupie flashed before the eyes of our Great Creator (I called him that once; he didn’t miss a beat…) and apparently seemed to sum up everything about The Pooh Sticks relationship with pop: its DNA double-helix’d around the velvet rims (I get paid by the word here... can you tell?) of loads of our stuff. It’s also clearly the be-all-and-end-all of that International Language “Where The Bands Are” album that Steve and guitar-slinger Michel put out after “Optimistic Fool”, if you know that one. Basically: moth/flame, right? Anyway, it’s a set-up that’s doomed but immaculate, like Karen herself. I could’ve been her friend. We could’ve hung out.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Sunday 5 October 2014

1993 Japan shows: the last ever Pooh Sticks gigs









































The final gigs that The Pooh Sticks ever did were in Japan, in 1993. The line-up on stage for those shows was Hue (obviously), plus Dick (guitar), Chris (guitar), Ray (bass) and Simon (drums): here’s what it sounded like in rehearsal, and here's a moody photo of them taken by Andrew Pothecary





















At the end of the second Tokyo show, Simon stagedived; I was at the back of the hall next to the mixing disk, and from where I was standing he didn’t half seem to be spending a long time submerged in the crowd. Basically, it hadn’t gone well: he’d disclocated his shoulder and then had to go to hospital. He played the third Tokyo show, and the one a couple of days later in Osaka, with one arm. It was a triumph, to be fair. Anyway, so a show in Osaka with a one-armed drummer was the last ever Pooh Sticks performance: it seemed like a fitting way to end it all, and there’s never been any reason since to have another go! So, November 3rd 1993, Osaka, Japan: the last ever Pooh Sticks gig. Were you there?

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.





Saturday 4 October 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 2. Ozark Mountain Daredevils - "Jackie Blue"































Ah, "Jackie Blue". Even during our most Black Crowes phase (read: Four Horsemen phase) it’s not like we really got into much of that ‘southern rock’ thing (or even post-modern ‘southern rock’, before anyone from Stillwater writes in to complain) and, realistically, there’s not a lot for us in their “It’ll Shine When It Shines” album. I mean, a couple of nice extra verses on the LP version of this one, yes, but it was even a good idea to edit them out for the single. And, gotta say, I don’t ever remember anything else by the Ozarks being played in polite Pooh Sticks-style company, which just makes it even more magical that this one is just so perfect, you know? It was always there, whenever we made a record, doing that thing it does of blending day and night until you don’t know if you’re awake or dreaming and, although I can only think of one actual direct “Jackie Blue” quote in our stuff (“… she’s going again”, in “Pandora’s Box”, is separated-at-birth), it just has this beautiful melancholy to it that, even when we were having fun (and we did have fun!), was always keeping us on the right track. (Well, it kept us on some track or other: opinions vary about if it was the right one!)

“You say it's easy, just a natural thing
Like playing music but you never sing”


A doomed girl and music: a great combination. Look, I’ve checked, so I know, but here’s a question for you to ponder: could there possibly be a record that has ever done it better? Find out in the final Top-50 instalment…


"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Friday 3 October 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 3. Helen Reddy - "Angie Baby"































So, "Angie Baby", answers on a postcard: did she imagine the entire thing? Doesn’t matter, it was real to her… and how she experienced it is what’s real to the record, and so what’s real to us. People come up to me all the time and say “Troods, Helen Reddy, what’s that all about?”, and I slap them around the face. Really, if you don’t see Angie (a “little touched” to start with but “insane” by the end, you’ll notice) and her radio in crystal-clear pop-o-vision in at least 50% of what we did then you haven’t been getting it at all. Look, that’s OK, each to his own, and I’m sure I’ve also been missing some layers of subtlety here and there (all ‘the onion’ layers-stuff… no?), but, well, I don’t know. “Pandora’s Box” on “The Great White Wonder” is the song of ours which is most obviously down to this one but, really, it’s everywhere.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Thursday 2 October 2014

track 1, side 2 - "Call Me Carnival"






























It's the last few days of this "Think Bubble" blog thing, so here's a quick track-1/side-2 before it all disappears! Look, it has a key-change before the first verse, like "Surrender": "I don't just throw these things together", he said.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.







Wednesday 1 October 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 4. Pete Wingfield - "Eighteen With A Bullet"































I was always surprised that we didn’t have more songs like this, using pop-speak as metaphors for real-life. I brought it up with Steve once. After a pause I think he’d learned from Keith Reid in the taxi, there was an answer: “The layers of the onion”. Obviously, I left it at that cos, you know, life’s too short, right? But this one was never far from the Pooh Sticks sandbox: there’s plenty of it going on in “That Was The Greatest Song” on “Million Seller”, of course, but all its radio and chart references are pretty much all over our everything, I suppose.


























































"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Tuesday 30 September 2014

track 1, side 1 - "Stereo Love"






























It's all gone pretty well: some people have bought the record, no-one's said anything really horrible about it so there have been zero strops in the house and all the crockery has survived, and it's been fun to do the blog. Now we're getting to the last few days, for anybody who might've missed it before, here again is a reminder of what this “Think Bubble” thing sounds like. (Apparently, this one is supposed to be The Troggs doing Pilot’s “Magic” as “Tobacco Road”. No, really.)

There's possibly going to be a "Think Bubble Volume 2" next year, which I'm told would be a kinda 'proposed singles and B-sides' thing. Unlike this 'white' record, it'd be 'rust-coloured with primary-splodges', apparently! I don't know, I really don't... he has his own little reality, pretty much. Anyway, we'll see.


Back to the top 50 countdown tomorrow.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Monday 29 September 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 5. Boston - "More Than A Feeling"






























I don’t know: is it me, or is "More Than A Feeling" actually the only good Boston song? Could it be that Tom Scholz’s deal with the devil was for just one single, and then Satan declined to pick up the option? Cos, I don’t know, this one has it all – like, it literally seems to have it all, at least in Boston terms. It’s got the wistful “Walk Away Renee” verse with loss and the radio, and then it’s got the big power-chorus with, er, the loss and the radio. Apart from a guitar sound which I’m sure is really good, I don’t know, that’s sorta it, isn’t it? Which, to be fair, in Pooh Sticks land, is more or less all we really cared about, loss and the radio. (Sound like fun?? Look, I’m over-egging it a bit, don’t listen to me.) Anyway, I don’t think I could point to any one particular Pooh Sticks song which has extra amounts of “More Than A Feeling” going on: it was more like oxygen – always there and necessary but invisible, I suppose.

Here's some thinkings about the actual recording, and that.


"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Saturday 27 September 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 6. Pilot - "Magic"






























There aren’t that many out-and-out feelgood songs in this list, so it says something, you know, a lot, about "Magic" that’s in the top ten. I mean, really, there can’t be many songs more uplifting than this one, what with the “ho ho ho” and the handclaps and everything. Cut from the same cloth (a Beatle jacket, obviously) as The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe In Magic?”, it’s basically pretty much what we thought about pop music: at its best, it’s more than the sum of its parts and, yes, it’s magic. Not that fake kinda ‘magic’ where you can see the ropes and the pulleys and it’s all smoke and mirrors, but real magic, something that’s handed down from the gods and skips around with no gravity, something that’s impossible to plan for and impossible to bottle when it happens. Pilot had a couple of other great hits, sure, but this one captured the lightning.

There’s a review somewhere which describes “The Great White Wonder” as our ‘valentine to rock’n’roll’, and it is, of course… but then all our records were. Thing is, not sure any of them hit that sweet spot quite as well as “Magic”. This one was in our hearts and in our heads from opening night to close.








































"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.







Friday 26 September 2014

"Rainbow Rider" - 1992 'rock version' idea demo









































There was a brief moment during the recording of “Million Seller” when we nearly upped-Sticks and moved our main recording from Utrecht to Los Angeles. Well, it was considered, and there were phone-calls, but it was a think-phase that didn’t last long and the idea was quickly forgotten. I wasn’t really party to much of it (other room, cats, etc) but it was likely to have involved musicians from The Four Horsemen, apparently. Anyway, with this in mind, over at Esther’s house where we staying at the time, Steve recorded this ‘rock version’ demo of “Rainbow Rider”: this is how it would’ve been done in LA, so he says. As far as I know, it’s the only one of the “Million Seller” tracks which would’ve been ‘different’ in the LA version. Why this one? Don’t know. Do you want me to ask?

The photo above of Apollo, who co-wrote "Rainbow Rider" and is pictured here modelling the "Back In The USA" T-shirt, was taken in Rick Rubin's apartment in New York where we stayed for a few days March 1988.

This one:






























... is Apollo's bottom, from the inside of the "Million Seller" sleeve.




"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 7. Hot Chocolate - "Emma"






























Unlike Cud (there, I mentioned Cud!) we never really liked “You Sexy Thing” or, to be honest, a lot of the 'Chocolate: the record company, who always thought it was amusing that so many Pooh Sticks songs used secondhand titles, once challenged us to come up with a song called “Heaven Is In The Back Seat Of My Cadillac”, but I’m happy to say it didn’t happen (at least, it was never presented to the group; maybe it exists in a notebook somewhere, but you’ve got to hope not, right?). But some of their early (‘not funny’) ones were great, and for two years,  1973/4, they came up with “Brother Louie”, “Rumours” and “Emma”, which have a fantastically dark and broodingly melodramatic thing going on. (At the same time, across town, there was David Essex with his holy trinity of “Rock On”, “Stardust” and “America”, doing the same kinda thing.) “Emma” was our favourite, not surprisingly, with its level of doom cranked up to the size of an imagined Sunset Boulevard billboard. This one was front-and-centre for our “Desperado”.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Thursday 25 September 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 8. Looking Glass - "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)"




























Looking Glass were a one-hit wonder (well, two, if you’re in America, which we aren’t) and this “Brandy” was something-out-of-nothing for them. Apparently, they were pretty popular but their regular fans didn’t like this one, thinking it was too ‘pop’: well, them’s the breaks, your loss is our gain. It has that mysteriousness about it, and maybe part of that is because it really wasn’t what the band ‘did’, so they weren’t following a tried-and-tested. And it’s just the kinda mysteriousness we liked: everything about this one is slightly off-kilter, a bit sea-legs’y, a bit like the record made itself with no human involvement. We especially tried to get some “Brandy” going on in our “The Rhythm Of Love” on “The Great White Wonder”… can you tell? (Well, the bits which weren’t written by The Strangeloves anyway: the verses are theirs, but the chorus and middle eight are homegown. They insisted on 100% of the publishing, though, same as happened with “Who Loves You”.) Anyway, big plus, it’s got a good amount of romantic doom to it which, you know, is always going to be a good thing around here.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 9. mystery track

















Remember when some charts refused to acknowledge "God Save The Queen"? Here's the 'Top 50 Countdown!!!' tribute. When we've done number one, if you think you know what's missing here, let me know: there'll be a prize for whoever gets it right (possibly).

Wednesday 24 September 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 10. Linda Lewis - "Rock A Doodle Doo"






























If I could change things in rock’s rich tapestry, one of the things I’d change is I’d move "Rock A Doodle Doo" from her “Lark” album to her “Not A Little Girl Anymore” album. (Look, that’s what I’d do, right? I mean, what… stop Janis dying? Pull Brian out of the pool? Save Jimi? Tell Jim he didn’t need a bath? Convince the three men Don McLean admires the most that the gig’s off and they can stay another night in the hotel? Maybe later. This Linda Lewis thing first.) “Lark” has a horrible cover. “Not A Little Girl Anymore” has a great cover – she looks fabulous – and it’s already got “Remember The Days Of The Old Schoolyard” on it. This one didn’t really kick in until quite late in the day in Pooh Sticks terms, but the single was propped up on the mixing desk all through “Optimistic Fool” and if any of this “Think Bubble” stuff had actually got as far as Todd then, apparently, it was going to be suggested that he make much of it sound like this. Yeah, I know, I’d like to have heard that conversation too.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Tuesday 23 September 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 50. to 11. recap

















The top-fifty countdown (or ‘Top 50 Countdown!!!’, to give it its full name) of the 'most important' singles in Pooh Sticks world only has the Top 10 to go, so let’s recap on the ones 50-11. Me, I’d be taking issue with at least a couple of these but, what with me being in the other room playing with the cats and everything much of the time, I suppose I’m not best-placed. In the end, though, I think we can rely on it, cos when Steve just looked over this list again I’m sure I saw him go all misty (blue) and he quickly left the room claiming to have something in his eye.

50. Keith West - “Excerpt From A Teenage Opera”
49. Carole King - “It's Too Late”
48. Tin Tin – “Toast And Marmalade For Tea”
47. The Cowsills – “The Rain, The Park & Other Things”
46. Spanky & Our Gang – “Sunday Will Never Be The Same”
45. 10cc – “I'm Mandy Fly Me”
44. Don Henley - “The Boys Of Summer”
43. MC5 – “Tonight”
42. Lesley Gore – “Immortality”
41. Seals & Crofts – “Summer Breeze”
40. Christopher Rainbow – “Give Me What I Cry For”
39. Todd Rundgren – “I Saw The Light”
38. Love Affair - “Rainbow Valley”
37. Blue Swede – “Hooked On A Feeling”
36. Bon Jovi – “Wanted Dead Or Alive”
35. Bread - “Guitar Man”
34. Don McLean – “American Pie”
33. The Archies – “Sugar Sugar”
32. Ohio Express – “Yummy Yummy Yummy”
31. The Tams – “Hey Girl, Don't Bother Me”
30. The Fantastics – “Something Old, Something New”
29. The Flying Machine – “Smile A Little Smile For Me”
28. Elton John – “Someone Saved My Life Tonight”
27. The Tams – “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy”
26. 1910 Fruitgum Company - “123 Red Light”
25. The Runaways – “Cherry Bomb”
24. Brian Protheroe – “Pinball”
23. King Harvest – “Dancing In The Moonlight”
22. Lenny Williams – “Shoo Doo Fu Fu Ooh”
      and
      William DeVaughn – “Be Thankful For What You Got”
21. Tommy James & The Shondells – “Crystal Blue Persuasion”
20. Harry Chapin – “W.O.L.D.”
19. Michael Murphey - “Wildfire”
18. Bruce Springsteen - “She's The One”
17. Reunion – “Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)”
16. Alice Cooper – “Hello, Hooray”
15. Wings – “Jet”
14. The Raspberries - “Overnight Sensation”
13. The Hollies - “Gasoline Alley Bred”
12. Four Seasons – “Who Loves You”
11. Procol Harum – “Pandora's Box”

What’s going to be in the top 10? There’s exciting! Now, I already know – I’ve been given the piece of paper – but even then I still think it’s pretty exciting…

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.







Monday 22 September 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 11. Procol Harum - "Pandora's Box"


 




























Procol Harum were incapable of writing anything normal. Somehow, even being produced by the old-school trad.’ness of Leiber & Stoller, re-newly hot from doing that Stealers Wheel “Stuck In The Middle With You” thing, didn’t stop "Pandora's Box" being a record which seems to exist in the same semi-world as the Rochdale fairies (which are real, by the way). There’s an uncomfortable spookiness about it: even trad Jerry & Mike were onboard with making things sound shivvery. But more than anything, of course, it’s the words in Procol Harum songs which are always super-mysterious, and we could hire a country cottage for a weekend retreat, drink absinthe (never tried it, sounds good) and discuss them into the night (shall we do that?). 

We shared a taxi with their words-man Keith Reid once, and I tried to ask him what “And though I know the lifeguard’s brave / There is no-one for him to save” meant. He paused for a week, then shrugged. I cornered him later (this was at a Matthew Sweet gig, by the way…) and asked him again: no joy. We tried to give our “Pandora’s Box” that same kinda uneasy queasiness… don’t know if it worked (did it?). There’s a bit of “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” going on in “Five O’Clock Shadow” on the “Think Bubble” record but, really, one way or another, there’s quite a bit of Procol-quoting all through Pooh Sticks stuff, especially from "A Salty Dog" and this one.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.




Sunday 21 September 2014

1991 'Great White Wonder' T-shirts








































I found five ‘spares’ of these original 1991 “Great White Wonder” mail-order/promo T-shirts. I thought they’d all long-gone, John, but apparently not. It’s a pity I didn’t find them before the summer, but anyway… who wants to buy one?

The good news:
- they’re 100% cotton (me, I like a bit of rayon, but anyway…)
- they’re totally ‘new’/unworn

The bad news:
- they’re from 1991 and so they’re ‘Large’ (not as large as some Inspiral Carpets shirts you frankly could’ve worn as a dress, but not small and skinny like what the kids are all wearing these days)

So anyway, here’s an idea:
“Think Bubble”: 25 Euros
GWW T-shirt: 30 Euros
Total = 55 Euros (plus post)

If you do want to order this delightful package-deal, please have your Paypal payment mention “GWW T-shirt deal” or something, otherwise I won’t know!


"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.







Saturday 20 September 2014

(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 12. Four Seasons - "Who Loves You"






























Obviously. I have no idea how "Who Loves You", and their “Silver Star” from around the same time, both of which just kinda came out of nowhere, really, considering how long it’d been since their 60s heyday, struck such a chord with us. Whatever it was, especially this one, there’s a real strangeness about it… is it some kinda early disco? Or not? I mean, what is it, exactly? Still, anyway, it was a solid touchstone for us and, when someone noticed you could sing the Four Seasons chorus over bits of instrumental in our own “Who Loves You” song, it just seemed kinda churlish not to. As it turned out, this was good for the song… but Bob Gaudio insisted on having 100% of the publishing credit, and we weren’t even allowed to call our song “Who Loves You” anymore (that's why it's “Sweet Baby James” on the Zoo copies). Apparently, “I’m In You” also on “Great White Wonder”, was also based on this one. Hmmm, I don’t know… yeah, I suppose I can see that. Just.

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Friday 19 September 2014

"Great White Wonder" promo stickers









































I found some of those "Great White Wonder" stickers I think I mentioned a few days ago. Here's a picture of the front and back. So here's an idea:

“Think Bubble”: 25 Euros
“The Great White Wonder” (original 1991 UK gatefold-sleeve edition LP): 10 Euros
including one of these promo sticker things
Total = 35 Euros (plus post)

If you do want to order this delightful package-deal, please have your Paypal payment mention “GWW sticker deal” or something, otherwise I won’t know!

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 13. The Hollies - "Gasoline Alley Bred"






























It’s that boy Macauley again wot wrote "Gasoline Alley Bred". I mean it’s not like The Hollies couldn’t write a passable tune of their own, sure, but they also knew the value in using a song off someone else’s shelf. (Look, we had to write our own stuff cos Phil Coulter wasn’t returning our calls, obviously; still, at least I was given space on the sleeves to mention all the ‘good’ records, right?) So anyway, “Gasoline Alley Bred”: more doomed rock’n’roll romantic. For us, it was especially central to “Desperado” on “The Great White Wonder”. On the bright side, the idea of somewhere called ‘Gasoline Alley’ has always reminded me of ‘Railway Sidings’ in Hancock’s Half-Hour.

Oh, and if this one had survived and made it onto “Million Seller”, it looks like my sleeve-scrawlings would’ve had a “Gasoline Alley Bred” reference:









"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.






Thursday 18 September 2014

... final two weeks sale of the album




























“Think Bubble” is available (from here, anyway) only for the next two weeks – until the end of September.

Someone asked me how best to describe the demo-ness of it. How about this: if it was a car, it’s just the doings under the bonnet, without all the plush leather interior, chrome wheels and fins. It’s the switch for the sun-roof without the actual sun-roof. It’s the back without the diamond.

Look, what am I talking about? I don’t even drive.




"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album. See 'About Me' for details.


(Top 50 Countdown!!!) 14. The Raspberries - "Overnight Sensation"






























I wish I could write in increasingly small letters, until it’s almost, almost, not there at all… and then … WRITE IN REALLY BIG LETTERS ALL OF A SUDDEN, WITH EXCLAMATION MARKS! EVERYWHERE!! “Overnight Sensation” was one of the ‘radio’ records we had starting our “Formula One Generation” album cos, really, it says it all, doesn’t it? Well, maybe not all, but it definitely says a lot of it. The Raspberries were great, of course, but I still have the nagging feeling that they would’ve been better if they’d joined up with Alessi in a kinda Sutherland Brothers & Quiver kinda way. It seems to me they had the haircuts, and, really, that’s half the battle right there. I don’t know which of our songs might’ve been most directly influenced by this one, but probably all of them, one way or another. I suppose it’s a bit like “Shoo Doo Fu Fu Ooh” but with an added hopelessness. What do you think about the bit where it drops down to the AM radio sound? I bet youngsters these days don’t even know what that’s supposed to be about. Don’t know what they’re missing. Radio Luxembourg, under the blankets, til the batteries run out... Ah, swoon!

"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.









Wednesday 17 September 2014

"Goodbye Don't Mean I'm Gone" (demo)






























Here's the original demo for “Goodbye Don’t Mean I’m Gone” on “Million Seller”. This was done just at that time when Steve started to see himself in some kinda James Taylor mould (er, OK…) and bought himself one of those pluggy-in acoustics (that’s the technical term, right?) to replace an old Eko 12-string which had only (the same) six strings on it since 1984 and which we eventually used as firewood. Apparently this song is supposed to be “Sunny Skies” from “Sweet Baby James”: look, we just nodded and did what we were told.

The picture is a proposal for the cover of “Million Seller” which he actually – no, really! – sent to the record company. I remember the resulting conversation in every fingernails-pressed-into-palm detail. It was only a brief aberration, and the flying-records design was soon back on the table, but it still makes me chuckle.


"Think Bubble" is an album (LP only) of 1995 demos for an unreleased Pooh Sticks album.
See 'About Me' for details.