Yeah, I was looking through Truth And Beauty and Pulpwiki for info on Sink Or Swim... It was originally demoed in August 1982 under the title Taking The Plunge. Boats And Trains is the only song from this session that appeared on 'It'. Sickly Grin appeared a decade later on the Caff records limited release of My Legendary Girlfriend. The remaining song, The Heat Of The Day is unreleased (described by Sturdy as vaguely Velvet Underground like - indicating the demos from this session still exist - or did in the early 00's...though he could be going off a 20 odd year recollection from David Hinkler).  As you say though Mark, Sink or Swim is likely to come from the main album sessions.

Your book mentions the original Blue Girls being quite differen - guitar, faster and louder (subsequently wiped apparently) - it's arrangement on piano courtesy of Peter Boam, came later. Presumably the alternate version will be quite similar to the definitive one.

The one demo session of unreleased songs from the early days that looks likely to remain out of reach is the recording made in Rotherham in spring '82 http://www.pulpwiki.net/Pulp/RotherhamDemo 
Again Truth and Beauty gives good descriptions of the fours songs, quoting some lyrics so they presumably exist somewhere and maybe will see the light of day at some stage.

A different group with a different sound wrote and recorded this session to that which was involved in the 'It' sessions barely six months later so in fairness to Fire, we can't expect much more on the 'It' reissue.

So does Fire's digging for 'It' give any hope for further treasures on the 'Freaks' and 'Separations' reissues?

Well, there were plenty of the nascent Pulp #3 sessions made during 1984 with many songs that have never seen official release though have been kindly circulated thanks to John Nicholls and possibly Mark and others over the years. Maureen alone fully deserves a proper remix/master. Going by 'It', Fire may just be releasing whatever was recorded during official album sessions, (to avoid ownership claims if these releases are without Pulp's involvement as is likely) and they do have all the b-sides from Little Girl/Dogs Are Everywhere/They Suffocate At Night/Master Of The Universe to bulk-up the Freaks reissue so unfortunately it looks likely that the unreleased Sudan Gerri songs among others will remain so (officially).

The reissue of Separations would be improved no end with the inclusion of the aborted Death Come To Town single. That song and Rattlesnake should of course have been a crucial part of the Pulp story. These of course, were recorded at FON with no input from Fire with whom things had soured and so will have no claim on these recordings. A real shame that neither song are ever likely to get a proper release. Yeah Death Goes To The Disco is included but it's a bit shit really, isn't it? That aside, there was a demo session for much of the songs on Separations prior to the album sessions proper http://www.pulpwiki.net/Pulp/TheDemo - it would be good if they threw these on for curiousity sake and to make the release more enticing. The only possible unreleased song from the Separations session is Going Back To Find Her. Possibly sans vocal but again, in any form, intriguing for curio value (which is what these reissues are partly about, after the remastering) alone.

Who knows if there are other undocumented sessions from these years - crucially Fire-financed sessions, as they I imagine, are the only ones that can be culled for the reissues.
Maybe there'll be a couple of more surprises - who knew a couple of months ago that footage from a mid-80's gig existed with a hitherto undocumented song, The Day That Never Happened?!

Sturdy wrote:

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I'm pretty sure Pulp are involved with these reissues - I don't think Fire would have access to the It outtakes otherwise. So in terms of other stuff that could be included, the sky's the limit potentially.

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 If that's the case, I'm hoping that some nice new liner-notes from Jarvis might be included then.

Sturdy wrote:

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I heard the Spice and Rotherham demos courtesy of Wayne Furniss, who kept a lot of tapes from his time in the band. He was happy for me to listen to them at his house (and scribble copious notes), but wouldn't let me have copies!.

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 I hope he's got a fire proof safe in his house, assuming there's no other copies it could be a disaster if the worst were to happen!

"I hope he's got a fire proof safe"

real fire or fire the record label? 

superchob wrote:

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Wouldn't it be rather neat if Fire released a single or two to promote these albums?

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 Singles?!!!??! What century are you living in grandad?