early version of Gypsy released

[UndoingTheLaces]

I'm so in love with this. This is actually the missing link of Gypsy. There are two Mirage era early versions that have been floating around for years. One sounds a lot like this one except that there's no xylophone and she doesn't do the ad lib at the end.

The other version doesn't have any guitar and is driven by the organ. Stevie's vocals are sung a little differently but when it gets to the ad lib at the end it's exactly like the final version. They obviously made the final mix using two different vocal takes. The one thing about this mix is that the bootleg fades just as she's singing the last "still see your bright eyes" which only appears in the video mix of the final version. I'm thrilled this will be featured in the new box set.

I just noticed something about this new version. In the early mixes Lindsey's guitar work throughout the song is reminiscent of the way he played it live during that time. But when you get to the final album mix he replaced that with this feather light finger picking, giving it an almost ethereal feel. So if you listen to the final version, especially the video or extended mix, you'll hear that the xylophone is only used sporadically and low in the mix. I always thought it was odd that just before the final guitar solo the xylophone sounds like the player is stoned out of their minds and starting to play whatever, but now I'm realizing that the melody of the original guitar was different than the finger plucking so what's happening is that the xylophone is following a guitar line that's no longer there and is off time with the finger picking that is now there. I'm sorry, I'm such a nerd. This kind of thing fascinates me.

This also happened in Seven Wonders. I always thought that little piano flourish during the keyboard parts where Stevie sings "the rainbow's end..." and "Aaron" (or Sara, depending on who you talk to) sounded kind of random and out of place. I was happy they took it out of the mix in the extended remix. Then I heard this demo, and sadly only part of it is out there, where Lindsey is doing this double time guitar work, almost sounding like Spanish Flamenco music. The piano follows this lead and fits together with it nicely like two pieces of a puzzle, but when his guitar part was taken out of the mix the piano flourish was sort of left hanging there.

Okay, I'm done geeking out. LOL.