Sleeping Angel (alternate version)
 

I was listening to the BD Deluxe remaster and is anyone else kind of confused by the inclusion of this version of Sleeping Angel? Not to sound harsh, but it's just not very good lol. Her voice sounds so strange and like she's singing with some weird accent or food in her mouth or something and it all sounds somewhat muffled. I don't know how to word it but imo this is quite a rough version and I don't understand why out of all the options they had, they chose to throw this in.

Well I'm not really agreeing with that description of her voice. Her voice is very trebly on this, if that is even a word. I think the production is not very good. What is shocking to me is that Stevie allowed Fleetwood Mac to use that version of Ooh my love. I mean her voice was terrible on that but yet I'm strangely drawn to it none the less. Even though her voice was not good she did hit all the notes. I really liked the music and the background vocals on it.

YES! And why on EARTH would they include this but not the KILLER alternate version of Blue Lamp???

I think part of it has to do with the fact that the best demos and outtakes from BD are already available (YouTube, master reels, etc.). With the reissue, I think they wanted to release demos that weren't already widely circulating.

As for "Ooh My Love" on TITN, I don't mind Stevie's vocals. I mean, she was going through some hard times. Plus, it was a nice surprise for most fans to hear the minor-key interpretation of that song. But I get your point, why not release the outtake for "What Has Rock and Roll Ever Done for You," which is far superior vocally.

I don't think this version is her worst vocal ever or anything, but it does sound a bit muffled. Kind of like she wasn't using her full voice or something. Makes sense since I feel like she has done this before with some other outtakes. Just sort of a run through of the song in preparation for the final recording maybe.

When a singer is trying to work out the melody of lyrics to music it can take a while for them to really take hold and work well. When you have a lot of time you can take a recording with a little tape player, or with these days an ipod or phone, and play the song over and over on your own and work out all the kinks. Most likely, during the time of the Tango recording process Stevie didn't have a lot of time to do this, and this demo was just her working out how the melody of the lyrics should go over the music that Lindsey had written. They didn't seem to fit as well as what we know as the finished product from TOSOTM, so they scrapped it. But when you are working on a melody you're vocal doesn't always have a lot of strength because you're not really sure where you're going, you're just trying stuff out. I get the feeling this wasn't a full on recording session it was just trying it on for size. I was fascinated by it as a work in progress.