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Post Info TOPIC: New 'It' information
Stephen


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Thought this might be interesting to those who get interested by the minutae.

Emerging from the archives of the (even then) pretty much former Pulp drummer, Wayne Furniss is the tracklist on his demo/acetate/whatever you want to call it cassette of the 'It' sessions that was given to him, presumably in December 1982. I give that date as it includes nothing from the January '83 sessions down in London which Wayne wasn't a part of. Indeed, he only features on track 3 here, anyway. Of interest is the fact the tape leads off with Please Don't Worry, which wasn't issued at the time, and also that it includes the 'alternate' Blue Girls, which only emerged in 2012. It has always been assumed that the 2012 version came from the Jan '83 sessions, but its appearance here (without the other Jan '83 track - Joking Aside) seems to belie that assumption.

Does the following seven tracks suggest an original version of what 'It' might have looked like without that second session? Adding 'Joking Aside' and removing 'Looking For Life' for a B Side, and removing Please Don't Worry for the earlier Boats and Trains? I've not sequenced the tracks this way yet, but it would be quite an odd listen. A much punchier openner than we're used to, and then the long, album-closing (for those of us brought up on the 8-track version) Looking for Life second. Original album closer 'In Many Ways' is still in its original place.

Maybe it's just the order the songs were recorded in?

Anyway, here's the list from the tape. Feel free to add it to the wiki anyone who wishes!

1. Please Don't Worry

2. Looking for Life

3. My Lighthouse

4. Wishful Thinking

5. Blue Girls (the 'alternate' version from the 2012 reissue)

6. Love Love

7. In Many Ways



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Stephen


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Oh yes, the lack of appearance of the 'It' version of Sink or Swim here really does suggest that it never was mixed at all.


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Sturdy


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Yes, I remember this tape from when I visited Wayne in '97. Don't recall if there was a particular story behind it - just that it was the tracks they had done at Victoria, as they stood before Jarvis and Simon went down to London to finish it off.

Please Don't Worry had previously been planned as a single (in the Dolly years) so maybe that's why they recorded it, before realizing that it had missed its time - sort of the Live On of the whole scenario. Looking for Life was always planned as a B side for whatever single they were going to release.

So maybe the structure of the tape is:

Proposed single A-side (Please Don't Worry)
Proposed single B-side (Looking for Life)
Followed by the mini album as it was at that point (ie, a very mini album indeed without Boats and Trains or Joking Aside).

Blue Girls is covered in my book - the version on this tape / the 2012 bonus track came first, then they polished it up at Southern for the final album version.

Presumably this is the same tape (or copy thereof) that Tony Perrin took to Tony K to try and get a deal with Red Rhino. The rest of it, as I recall, sounds just the same as the album, except for a count-in on In Many Ways!

And you're right, there is only one version of Boats and Trains - it is identical on the Spice tape and album version.



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Stephen


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Mark, I wondered if it not having the London tracks on was an indication that the London sessions hadn't always been planned? We're they initially satisfied with the seven tracks recorded before changing their mind and having another session? Good info on Please Don't Worry. Thanks! The 'It' version does sound like it's trying to hard. It's almost as incessantly OTT cheerful as Everybody's Problem. To its detriment. The other versions are far superior. PDW stands out like a sore thumb amongst these other tracks, too. If PDW had been set to be 'the single' from this session, it might explain why, when they changed their minds about jt, they then tried to make My Lighthouse more commercial a month later in London? Hadn't realised the 2012 Blue Girls was from 1982. I thought both that and the It versions were from the second session. Shows how wrong I am! BTW given the 'album' length, maybe the plan had been to cut a single and an EP? Or does your research suggest that these sessions were always meant to yield an album?

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Sturdy


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Yeah, the initial plan was to do the whole thing at Victoria, but the rubbishy studio meant things didn't entirely go to plan, and there evidently wasn't the time and/or budget to completely finish the thing - hence Sink or Swim being recorded but not mixed (and, according to Peter Boam, another song called Mr Morality), and Blue Girls not quite being sorted out to everyone's satisfaction.

Then once they'd attracted the backing of Red Rhino, Tony K financed a day in Southern to finish it off. Logically you'd think this would have consisted of polishing off Sink or Swim (and maybe Mr Morality) but evidently they'd had a rethink.

I hear there's a very good book if you're interested in this sort of thing...

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Stephen


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The Book presently shares living space with an (occasionally) sleeping baby. It does not warrant disturbing. Thanks for reiterating the facts. Some of this rings a bell. I first read the book when I found it by chance in late 2003. Think I've read the whole thing again since then, but not sure when! I assume that Sink or Swim is long gone nowadays. It's clear that 2012 It was remastered from the released version, with the bonus tracks pulled in from a tape similar to Wayne's.

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Sturdy


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Who knows - the multitracks might still survive somewhere...

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Sturdy


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That's genuine speculation by the way, not me being annoyingly enigmatic. If they do exist, I'd expect them to be in the hands of the band rather than any label archive. I used to harbour fantasies of getting hold of them so I could remix the whole thing after I'd interviewed David Hinkler and Peter Boam and they'd both moaned about the drums and bass being too quiet...

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hawalius1


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I don't have any other factual titbits to add to this thread, but I just wanted to say that I think everything above is fascinating! Thank you Mark and Stephen!

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Jason


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Please don't worry could have been a great little single. Not so fond of this version though.

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Stephen


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I imagine if the multi-tracks did still exist, then Jarvis would have dug them out for the 2012 reissue.

And yeah, Please Don't Worry (Peel session version) would have been a good single. I'm not sure the original demo was quite so good, though - or else surely it would have been chosen for 'Your Secret's Safe With Us' instead of 'What'd You Say?'

Or maybe that tune just fitted the comp better...

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Sturdy


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Jarvis not digging out the original multitracks for that reissue doesn't necessarily preclude them existing. Finding them, possibly having them baked, then transferred, then the studio time needed for any mixing, all represents a lot more effort (and expense) than just handing an old cassette over.

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Stephen


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I suppose so, but would they really have survived all his moves over the years? If they did exist, I imagine they'd be in the hands of Mark Webber, who would likely have transferred them himself by now. Or does he genuinely just hoard over hundreds of tapes rather than digital files?

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Sturdy


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I don't think we can really assume anything in terms of what does or doesn't survive in the archives. Unless Mr Webber himself happens to be reading and would like to step in at this point...

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Eamonn


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Probably not entirely relevant to It master tapes but here's a quote from Jarvis in a book about song-writing where he mentions his tape-hoarding of Pulp writing sessions:

"We used to record everything on cassette. I've got about 500 cassettes in my loft in London. I keep thinking one day I'm going to listen to those and I'm going to find these lost gems. I did actually try and do it once. I got onto side two of the first cassette and it got chewed up in the cassette player so I chucked the cassette at the wall and it broke. So that was the end of that process but what I'd heard up to the point wasn't amazing. It was probably alright to do at the time and maybe there is something on there and I will get round to listening to those 500 cassettes one day. I can't bring myself to throw them away. That's a lot of work".

Also, isn't there an article where he recounts coming back to his home one day (late 80's/early 90's?) to find that a lot of his old Pulp recordings had been thrown out?
And I think it was mentioned on one of TheBeatIsTheLaw podcasts when that film came out that he had footage of The Day That Never Happened - maybe this was where that bit in the Pulp film came from.
Basically, the point is that, for all his nonchalant attitude toward his craft/career, he likes to keep a record of as much of it as he can!

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Panther


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I'd happily volunteer to catalogue it all for him, Eamonn. biggrin



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Sturdy


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Yes, after he moved to London he went back to their practice room in Sheffield to find the bloke who owned it had chucked all the tapes and stuff they'd left there. Sickener!

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Panther


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That's appalling. So all that early music is in landfill somewhere near Sheffield. What an awful thought.

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Stephen


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Panther, I don't think we'd ever have got our hands on it anyway!

When did they first start at that particular practice room though, Sturdy? Presumably they were at Nick's parents' one in Catcliffe from around the time he joined? So from '86 onwards they were there, 'til they headed to London...? But where were the tapes thrown out of? The one at the old factory/squat?

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Sturdy


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I don't know which practice room he meant. Can't be Catcliffe. Maybe the Wicker factory? Or they could have had another one at some point?

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Stephen


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I'll presume Wicker.

All the stuff still existed at Catcliffe as of the time of that Common People documentary, didn't it? I doubt Nick's chucked it.

I bet Mark W's got it :)

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Sturdy


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Come to think of it, I'm not sure they were at Catcliffe right from the point when Nick joined. I'm sure I've got a cutting from the Sheffield Star pop page from maybe 1988? saying they're looking for a practice room. I'm not sure they were ever even based at the Wicker, come to that. Might have gone Jarvis' garage -> somewhere else -> Catcliffe.

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Eamonn


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Stephen, how do you know archival stuff still existed when they did the Common People doc? And you mentioned on Twitter that they were looking into material to include with reissues after the reunion, where did you hear that?

I think all the 80s stuff that got chucked from Jarvis's possession would likely have never seen the light of day anyway, ditto these five hundred odd cassettes he says he has with him in London now (which possibly cover all of the 90's but little from before then).

Most if not all of this material would presumably be rehearsals and writing sessions (they were still recording with a tape recorder when starting on what became We Love Life).

It's all the unreleased demos that have the best chance of a release from the obscure file and hopefully they will be in the safe hands of both band and label/studio. For example we know that Jarvis at least has a demo cassette of the Lipgloss session in summer '93 as that's where You're Not Blind was purged for the HnH deluxe.

Of the rare gigs not bootlegged but recorded for posterity by the band, The Day That Never Happened and the one in Venice in 1999, would be, I think, the ones coveted most by the likes of us. I think, early 80's apart, most gigs of interest have been recorded in some way and shared by now. (Better recording quality from the band's own sources would, of course, be gratefully received.)

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Stephen


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We know archival stuff still existed at the time of CP doc because they turned up to their old rehearsal room above Nick's pottery which clearly hadn't been touched for years. If I remember right, Jarvis came across the lyrics to "Seconds" just lying around.

I thought I remembered hearing or seeing something about them looking for 90s live recordings for a re-remastered DC.

If Pulp are/were unwilling to release good quality archival stuff, then there's no chance we'd have got to hear those cassettes, regardless!

The Day That Never Happened would be fantastic to get. I believe a video of it still exists. In the possession of Mark W?

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Jason


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What is the common people documentary? I don't know it. Would love to see it, can i get a copy from anyone? Will happily pay for discs, postage etc... Cheers.

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