Demo Questions
 

I know it's been talked about that demos are a sticky subject given than many of them were stolen from Stevie's collection. But with all this talk of fans getting to meet and talk with her it's got me wondering about what I would say if I had a chance to meet her. And I know I would be thinking about asking her if she has any plans to rework some other of her classic demos. Or telling her how much I loved Juila or Castaway. But the last thing I'd want to do would be to upset her or make her angry.

And considering she thinks that someone got a copy of Secret Love and kept it hidden all these years until they put it on YouTube, is she blissfully unaware that many of her fans have vast collections of her unreleased work?

I don't know, but it sure would be fun to make her a mix CD of her own obscure unreleased tracks. :nod:

I think she must know a little bit because on the Jim Ladd interview when she was talking about "Moonlight" she said it was from an old demo called 'Lady From the Mountains" and she said that it went out on a bunch of bootlegs and that her fans have heard it. So I think she knows that they are out there. As far as her being mad I don't think she would be since you weren't the one who stole them out of her vault. I think she knows how dedicated her fans are to hearing new stuff. I hope that semi - helps :wavey:

my question concerning demos is, does anyone know anything about Christian (Spinning Wheels) who is it written for?? any other good version of the song rather than stevie playing at her piano? It would have been such a welcome song on In Your Dreams

I would be alittle scary if I gave her the demos on a cd.or anythink lile that.Or I think I would not talk to her in person about these demos.I dont want her to be upset that I got them and she will have a negitive feeling about me.I'll be very embarrassed and upset .when Stevie throws me out.I cant blame her for being upset about the internet and her demos getting out of her hands.

That's the only version known to be in fans' hands of "Christian".

However, when we were transferring the Master Reels in 2001-2005, one of the Reels done with the Heartbreakers was labeled "Christian" with a few takes supposedly on it, but it was really a mislabeled "Gypsy" Reel with the Heartbreakers. So, full band versions of this song do exist, but just not in our hands unfortunately.

:laugh: It's all her own fault, really. She gave demo tapes out like they were baggies of cocaine. Then there are the master reels - I mean really, who leaves even copies of master reels in a closet. Those things need climate controlled environs to be properly preserved - the way they were left implies carelessness..

And as for stolen tapes? I don't buy it and never have. I can make you a mix CD, and if you copy it for a friend I can hardly accuse that friend (or you) of stealing the songs when I am the one who copied them and gave them away.

Anyway, I'd never really give her a CD of her own demos without a little conversation to feel out the situation. But come on - you know it would be interesting. She freely admitted to forgetting about Secret Love until she heard a portion of it in a dream. I'm sure there are dozens of songs she has completely lost track of.

I'd simply give her The Dealer and All The Beautiful Worlds and say please record them now lol

I couldn't agree with you more about the demo's 'issue' . Was it wrong of that person or persons to have taken them? Probably, but Stevie has said in many interviews that she would give 'tapes' out to all of her friends when they asked so who's to say it wasn't one of 'those' friends?? How would anyone know. Its not like the person or persons will say there the one that did it. So I agree that Stevie does need to take some responsibility here in regards to this but probably won't. I never knew the master reels were in some closet?? That really doesn't seem right. How did you find that out?? Very interesting really. I do agree about the carelessness of that as well. You'd think something that important it would've been keep in a much better place really. How sad. I just agree about everything. Great post!!:thumbsup: PS: plus if all these other songs weren't out there to hear I don't think I'd be as interested as a fan either. I think it makes it more exciting really. Thats why I wish more would surface. The hoarders are keeping them though how sad.

Thanks Mike...Is the version of Christian that same demo I have (only piano accompaning) the only one out there? Have you ever heard who it could be written about? thx

Only, same, and no idea who. :)

Hearsay, really. If I recall, the story goes that there was a building owned by Modern Records that was sold, and in one of the storage closets were piles of reels - at least that's how it was told to me. They went from there to eBay and then to some very kind individuals who spent their own time and money to get them out to fans.

It may have been an actual storage unit as well...but...I'd say that's just a big closet. :laugh:

Is this true? I don't know with any certainty, but I have no reason to doubt it.

The way Stevie talks, it sounds like some totally trusted individual snuck into her 'vault' and just took what they wanted. I imagine that could have happened as well (and who would have had access?), but I doubt it's the source of the majority of demos in circulation. (My opinion. :) )

Yea I agree. .The ones given out to friend.kiss them goodbye..She mind as will say good bye to the tapes.I dont know how she will feel if I won an ebay auction of tapes that were hers an I probably deliver them to her at one of these signings.And say to Stevie .These are or were yours.She Will say"Wow.How did you get them".I will say on Ebay.She will say "I do remember these".And She probably will say "you keep them".And sign the tapes.

Why didn't she put out more solo albums and share those songs with everyone on her terms? She has released 7 albums in 30 years. 5 year, 7 year, and 10 year gaps in there. That will keep your fans hungry and they'll turn to demos if they can get 'em when for long stretches of time there's nothing!

Great point! Granted, she does maintain a parallel career in Fleetwood Mac, but even they aren't very prolific either. The thing is, during the years when she was distributing all those demos tapes to friends and associates, no one had any notion of future technolgy. No one then could possibly have conceived of a digital age, where the internet would emerge, allowing all those demos to proliferate among rabid fans!

It's so silly seeing her trying to reconcile how these demos got into the hands of her fans. "Someone stole a cassette, copied it, and then returned it." Does she truly believe this is what happened? If so, she's dillusional. Even in later years still, things have continued to trickle out. Does she ever consider that production assistants, or other related insiders have access to her studio work?

At least she's comes to some terms with the situation. Let's hope that it motivates her to produce and release more of it. She must know we are willing to pay for it!

Watch The Other Side Of The Mirror documentary on BBC. Stevie herself says, "Oh, my friends would ask,'Give me the tape with 'Dreams' before it went on the album. ,Give me the tape with 'Gypsy' before it went on the album..."

I don't know...even though Stevie is finally admitting that she and her generosity are likely the reasons for all of her precious demos entering widespread circulation, I still think it would be a touchy subject to bring up with her. As much as I would love, if given the opportunity, to gush about how much I love songs like Julia and China Doll, I would still feel like I was hugely invading her privacy. Even though she knows the songs are out there, she still doesn't like it.

I remember someone from The Ledge actually did something similar to this a good 10-12 years ago? A tape cassette was made, and tossed it up to Sheryl Crowe. Not long after that a couple of the songs appeared on TISL. Perhaps it's just a coincidence.

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Don't forget that way before any of those reels were transferred to cd, Stevie's camp was contacted (when the warehouse was sold) and was asked first if Stevie wanted the reels. Her peoples' response was that Stevie already has her own copies. If it were critical to her to keep demos, outtakes, etc. under wraps, wouldn't she have grabbed up those reels while she could?

While I wish she would do albums more often too, I have to say that recording and releasing an album is a bigger undertaking than just flipping a switch. There's time and money that goes into that, plus all the support for it like touring etc. I've seen so many "they're screwing up the promotion of this record!" complaints on here that I know for a fact that Stevie couldn't just record an album, release it, then go right back to recording again. Many people would be aghast they there weren't singles released, there wasn't a tour, etc etc. In other words, each record is a serious - probably 2 year - commitment. Of course you're exactly right that fans will turn to demos when there's nothing new coming out.

That being said, we actually would have had a record in 2005 if her management hadn't talked her out of it, and I'm hoping that the experience of In Your Dreams will inspire her to do another solo album with Dave in a couple of years.

The reality of it all is that Stevie could just as easily find a lot of these demos, just like we have. I'm unsure why she hasn't had Karen go online and copy all of them for her!!

Absolutely, as a matter of respect, and class, why would anyone want to bring that up? You get a minute or so to see Stevie and pay your respect. So you think "Hey...instead of mentioning my fandom or something about her new album...I'll drop a bomb, put her on the spot and subject her to a question about something completely inappropriate...something that will make her uncomfortable!" So classy!

This is sort of what I was thinking. I mean, after all the songs she worked so hard for to put on an album why bring up a song that she spent time on that didn't seem to work out. I just thought she'd like to know that even though it's a sore subject these demos have brought a lot of happiness to her die hard fans. That would have to make someone feel good, I would think. But I don't know if there would be an appropriate way of saying. And I remember on the Storytellers episode (or maybe it was the liner notes for Enchanted) she talked about Rhiannon and said something about the piano version having been passed around on bootleg so much already so she wanted to do a new one.