Our good friend Kristofer has recently acquired some previously-unknown Beck demos! Yeah! These are four-track tapes that are possibly – and this is Kristofer’s belief – the original tapes Beck recorded onto. They feature a number of songs that we’ve come to associate with the 1992 Demo and Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape, which appear to be compilations of this and other material (kind of like Fresh Meat & Old Slabs).
The first tape is labeled Are ??? U Positive. There’s a pic below – can anybody figure out what the mystery word is? Kristofer suggests “feeling”, as in “are you feeling positive”. What do you guys think?
Tracklist:
- Are You Postive
- I’ve Just Seen a Facelift
- Trash Can
- Mmmmmmmmmm
- Fuck You Up & Get High
- Tough Fuckin Shit
The second tape is labeled R-Marcel or R-Maxcel or B-Marcel or B-Maxcel or something like that. Any suggestions on this one?
Tracklist:
- Satan Was Way Cool
- Don’t Believe the Joke They Put on You
- In This World
- A Man Named Will
- Whiskey Be Your Lover
- Don’t Get Bent Out of Shape
Some other notes about the tapes:
- They seem to be from 1992, though R-Marcel or whatever might be from eariler.
- Both sleeves feature pictures of a young Beck. Are You Positive‘s sleeve is regular paper, R-Marcel‘s is regular paper covered in tape.
- It’s unclear at this point whether these songs are the exact same versions that we already have from other tapes. Kristofer will confirm shortly after the holidays.
- Kristofer will eventually share these on the hub, once he’s able to digitize them.
Post your questions, comments and suggestions and we’ll try to get everything answered!