Tag: Sixpence None The Richer

Various – Never Say Dinosaur – 1996

I had no idea this one existed until I stumble on it a week ago. It’s a Petra tribute album released in 1996 by Star Song with some of biggest artists of the mid 90’s. I am just guessing here but I think the producers asked the artists to “really make your cover your own.” The result? Some of these songs aren’t even recognizable. I don’t know if it’s just me but I find most of these covers to be horrible. I did like the Audio Adrenaline and Caprill And My Sister’s Garden tracks but I really struggled with the rest. But hey I’m just a critic that doesn’t always “get it.” How about you, what do you think of this project?

Tracklist
1 – Audio Adrenaline – Taste And See – 3:36
2 – The Walter Eugenes – Judas’ Kiss – 4:34
3 – Galactic Cowboys – Not Of This World – 5:30
4 – Sarah Jahn – Yahweh Love – 5:13
5 – MxPx – I Can Be Friends With You – 2:43
6 – Jars Of Clay – Rose Colored Stained Glass Window – 4:18
7 – Kevin Smith & Passafist – Louie’s Solo – 5:33
8 – Sixpence None The Richer – Road To Zion – 5:43
9 – The Stand – Pied Piper – 3:28
10 – Grammatrain – Wake Up – 3:45
11 – Caprill And My Sister’s Garden – The Coloring Song – 4:02
12 – Plankeye – All The King’s Horses – 5:47

Credits
Executive producer – Darrell A. Harris
Co-executive producers – Lynn Nichols, Dave Perkins
Mastered by Steve Marcussen at Precision Mastering, Hollywood, California
Project coordinator – Debby Austin

Steve Taylor – The Lost Demos Bootleg – 1988

Today’s offering is The Lost Demos, a bootleg of twelve classic Steve Taylor tunes. No-one’s sure where it came from, but I’m glad it surfaced.

I suggest listening to the demos back to-back with the officially-released versions. Listen for slight (or drastic) lyric variations, changes in instrumentation and tempo, and even differences in vocal delivery. Beyond the expected demo-to-pressing upticks in performance and production quality, some songs have a noticeably different feel.

Of particular note:

Hero – Compared to the Meltdown version, this is almost lullaby-like. The bell-like 80’s synth would become a harsher 80’s synth; the driving bass riffs aren’t here; and in the bridge, the ascending chord progression maintains the lighter, ‘major’ mood.

Bouquet – Starting out almost folks-y, it slides into 80’s elevator music territory – far more mellow than the officially released track (which ST has said he doesn’t much like, preferring Sixpence None The Richer’s acoustic version on the I Predict A Clone tribute album). Numerous lyric changes for this emotional story.

Whatever Happened To Sin – A faster tempo, and more lyric changes. The official version was controversial, but here we see that Steve had actually toned it down a bit.

Jenny – As with Hero, this has a different mood from the Meltdown version; slightly faster, more acoustic guitar – a lighter backing for a heavy lyric.

Lead Me – Written for the musical “Dreamer: What Really Happened To Joseph”. As far as I can tell, this version seems to have been released only on the album Jeremiah People: The Reunion.
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Track Listing:
1 – I Want To Be A Clone – 2:40
2 – Written Guarantee – 2:44
3 – Steeplechase – 1:44
4 – Hero – 3:30
5 – Sin For A Season – 3:41
6 – Bad Rap (Who You Tryin’ To Kid, Kid?) – 2:57
7 – Whatcha Gonna Do When Your Number’s Up? – 4:07
8 – Guilty By Association – 3:27
9 – Bouquet – 3:04
10 – Whatever Happened To Sin? – 3:00
11 – Jenny – 3:48
12 – Lead Me – 2:45