I have several songs where I think they could have done better on the album version.

This includes a lot of Mink Car:

  • Bangs - Snapping Turtles had the more John-y lyrics in my opinion.
  • Man, It’s So Loud in Here - The first demo just had more soul, in my opinion. I get they were going for Pet Shop Boys pastiche/parody, but I really liked the general 80s vibes of the original demo.
  • My Man - There’s a demo that has some better compositional choices in my opinion.
  • Another First Kiss - I prefer the one from Severe Tire Damage by leaps and bounds.

Another addition is I like the Severe Tire Damage version of They Got Lost more than the Long Tall Weekend version.

  • galmuth
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    Fingertips live, eg the one on the Gigantic DVD.

    And most live versions of Istanbul - recent versions with Curt Ramm were fantastic.

    • data1701d (He/Him)@startrek.websiteOPM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      I’ve never listened to a live version of Istanbul, and I am now questioning my life choices.

      After hearing it some many times and it being the song most associate with the band, I’d always skipped over it. I always felt it just needed a smidge more compositional complexity, and the live versions deliver it.

      • galmuth
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        I think because it is such a simple song that they’ve played so much, they can easily play around with it. They usually have Dan Miller play a semi-improvised acoustic guitar intro (Miller Time), and they add an extended outro.