Re: The Lillywhite Sessions - 20 Years Later
I was still in highschool. Junior year. I can't remember how i got my hands on a copy at all.. Either a B&P or Napster... I still have the original CD from that first edition in a big CD wallet full of DMB stuff..
My first introduction to the LWS songs was my very first DMB show was Mile High Stadium 2000. I had been a fan just around a year or so and knew they were working on new material. I had heard the D&T early version of Bartender but that's really it. That night we got 4 of those songs. Bartender, Sweet Up and Down, Grey Street and Grace is Gone.
I think they were my favorite songs of the night. Sweet up and Down was my favorite of the bunch. I got a B&P of the show specifically to listen to that over and over..
Once I got a copy of the LWS that fall? I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were... I had expected a rougher demo or something and for me it was my first go round with any artists getting unofficial bootleg material so I didn't know what to expect.
I really felt like the band was on to making their greatest album yet... Other than the unfinished lyrics, I didn't even know why it wasn't officially released as is. I was just so excited. I listened to it 1000 times that fall/winter... Busted Stuff, JTR, Big Eyed Fish, Bartender, SUAD, Grace is Gone, Grey Street and Raven were my favorites.
I thought BEF was the most haunting cool sounding song ever recorded... I knew it was very dark and likely about suicide/death.. freedom from life's pain... At 16 it helped me realize I was a bit depressed and was very therapeutic for me...
LWS as dark as they were helped me understand that I liked music with a lot of depth, philosophy, and not afraid to be honest about the darker things we go through...
I loved the use of the 12 string guitar on a bunch of the tunes and have always wanted Dave to go back to it.
It was so disappointing to get the other side of that with Everyday at the time. I was ready to get darker even.. and we get I Did it instead... which was a meaningless song with a theme of spreading love like a terrorist? Still such weird lyrics...
The next summer I got to go the Folsom Field show and hear 12 newish songs in that set. 8 from Everyday and 4 from LWS.. Again the LWS songs were my favorite from that night... The epic version of BEF>Bartender as the sun was setting in Boulder after the rain... Just unreal... I will say the Everyday songs were a blast and kept the mood of the audience upbeat.. At the Mile High show a year earlier, it was a bit moody and dark... A lot of the set felt like we were slowly trudging through mud. Now knowing where Dave's head was at the time, it makes sense... Folsom Field was a party. Mile High was a dirge.
I think Busted Stuff was really recorded and released to appease the fans. It's such a watered down version of LWS still.. If LWS are demos, I don't know what you call Busted Stuff.. It's very flat and devoid of the raw emotion of LWS. It's really not a terrible record by any means, but I almost wish I could have heard it BEFORE LWS... There was just little to no interesting production on the entire thing. I hate the Where Are You Going ended up on it instead of JTR or Sweet Up and Down. But we did get You Never Know which might be the best thing on it. Busted Stuff the song fell a bit flat and it's obvious the band thought so too as it was rarely played after that 2002 year... I wish they would have brought it out during 2 sets.. It would have been perfect in that setting...
As a musician myself, if you're not into something, you're not going to release it no matter what. Even if people tell you it's really great. I think it was a mix of Dave's perfectionism, the label pushing to get something done, and the label again not being able to hear a radio friendly single on LWS.. that ultimately led to it's demise...
I wonder if they would have just taken a break for that winter, not done Everyday and gone on to finish it with Lillywhite as intended what would have come...
I hope we see some vault releases of it someday.. Maybe the band can go back to it and remix/ dub parts etc... I know Rolling Stones have been doing that with Exile on Main Street and some other rough sounding stuff...
but I doubt they'd want to revisit that darkness...
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