One of the times I seemed to spark Russell's interest in the interview at the weekend was referring to the work that some of us have done in tracking down old live recordings.
"Doesn't it lessen the impact of the songs?" was essentially his riposte but I assured him that in cases of stuff like Manon and a lot of the more acoustic Freaks tracks, the live versions far excede the studio versions (which he himself has denigrated at various points).
He then seemed to express an interest in a "Best of Pulp in Small Clubs" idea.
I was considering maybe pulling together a "Live Freaks" CD (remembering that he's stated if he could ever have watched Pulp live, it would have been that lineup) and also another with some definitive live versions of tracks from gigs up to, I suppose, mid 1994 or so.
I'm aware that there's a live recording available of every Freaks track, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for the latter? High(ish) quality tracks that eviscerate their recorded counterparts.
I'll have to have a little think about this but I do very much like the idea. I think we can start by saying that any live version of Mark Of The Devil would be better than the studio one.
Well, we've a few to choose from with that one. Rockwells or the poor quality Leadmill gig from '84, Hallamshire '85 or the Beat Is The Law '85 Gotham City OR September '85 Dolebusters one. Is that latter one a full clip?
I think any 'Freaks' CD could conceivably include its three B Sides and the four 'Little Girl' tracks (and three of the Dogs Are Everywhere tracks - no recordings of Aborigine or Goodnight have surfaced).
For the Separations material, a lot of those 1991 shows that surfaced a year or two back have some storming versions. I'd have to go back and check but the Powerhaus one springs to mind. Limit '87 is interesting too - shame there isn't more out there from the '87-'89 period.
You've probably spent more time going over the Freaks stuff than I have lately Stephen, but I actually think that Leadmill '84 has some very powerful versions, despite being a fairly bad gig! Anorexic Beauty is merciless. TSAN from Rockwells, MOTU from Leadmill '86?
__________________
"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
I shall have to refresh my memory somewhat, it would seem. Haven't really thought about the Portfolios since Child #1 arrived, so my once very precise knowledge has faded somewhat (as will become toe-curlingly obvious to anyone transcribing that part of the Russell interview).
Will also have to have a look at stuff that's surfaced "a year or two back". Not sure I would have picked that up at the time.
Now I have a semi-decent laptop (rather than everything stored on a hoary old desktop in a cluttered spare room) I think I'll be able to restart this project.
