The first stuff
This Heat recorded in their Cold Storage studios,in a disused meat
factory, was their Demo tape, “Reference”. In late 1976 and early
1977, the first versions of those familiar classics came into
fruition. Some parts of these tunes can even be identified as parts
of the finished tracks on the first album,notably the opening section
of 'Horizontal Hold'; but after that it takes some very different
routes to the tune we know and love.
There's the only
studio version of 'Aerial Photography', a very raw 'Rimp ramp Romp',
and a tune that appears nowhere else in This Heat recorded history;
“The Rough and the Smooth”,which is pretty horrible! Even This
Heat weren't perfect,but wise enough to bin this song off, yet unwise
enough to send 'Rimp Ramp Romp' with it, which I think is one of
their best tunes!?
Only “The Fall
of Saigon” seems to be fully formed,well maybe 'A Diet of Worms'
too I suppose?
This is the demo
tape that got them a slot on the John Peel show in'77.
Not the best
quality,but an interesting insight into the early Heat.
Track Listing:
| 1 | - |
Test Card | |
| 2 | – | Horizontal Hold | |
| 3 | – | Not Waving | |
| 4 | – | A Diet Of Worms | |
| 5 | – | Aerial Photography | |
| 6 | – | The Rough And The Smooth | |
| 7 | – | Rimp Ramp Romp | |
| 8 | – | The Fall Of Saigon |
9 comments:
Nice! I'm downloading to see if the quality's any better than the version I already have (taken from that split-LP of dubious origin they shared with Elliott Sharp, etc).
I have to disagree with you (naturally!), re: "The Rough With The Smooth" though. It's certainly a bit of an oddity in the T.H. canon, & I quess I can understand why they dropped it fairly quickly, but it sounds fine to me, a throwback to their proggier origins perhaps? Interestingly, it DOES appear on a couple of early live recordings I've heard, perhaps because they had so little material to play with? :)
p.s. Delete! Delete!!
Hi,
I deleted your other mirrored comment for you.This happens on slow computers when the user clicks the post comment button twice with impatience!
i suppose you have a point on The Rough and the Smooth,it just has such high standards to live up to,and can't fail to pale in comparison.
There's nowt wrong with prog,thats all i listened to before i was 13(no ELP or Yes i hasten to add!),so i should appreciate it.
The quality if fair to middling shite....but that’s what i like according to my legend?....if you have a better version we could be swappsies (dunno how to spell playground talk?)
JZ ... cheers for all of the TH boots! A truly brilliant outfit. You could have played it to me down a plastic drainpipe and that would have been great!
I've got three Charles Hayward Live In Japan things q'd on the blog for your delectation. They were ready to go before the This Heat marathon ... which is a weird bit of synchronicity.
Synchronicity indeed. I look forward to hearing Hayward in Japan,it often happens this way.we are all connected. Its not finished here yet....we got Camberwell Now, and some solo tings coming up.
Cheers,
I was lucky enough to see Charles H live a couple of months ago - just him & his drums & some tapes in a slightly sterile gallery situation. Fortunately his bloodyminded brilliance + a few glasses of cheap red meant the evening went off with a satisfying "whomp" (i.e. he was pretty good).
I think "The Rough With the Smooth" is the one they used to mime to live later on.
The piano in "The rough and the smooth" reminds me of Strangler's "Golden Brown". I wonder if the latter heard the first...
I should imagine that their paths crossed a few times in the 70's/80's,as they were gigging contemporaries; but i doubt the Stranglers were on the cusp enough by 82 to be aware of This heat recordings,especially the bootlegs. Also Cornwell was a heroin addict by then.Didn't Greenfield write the melody to Golden Brown?
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