Heartland

Just a question... I have looked on the other forums, can't find it.

Is there a list of all songs the sisters made with accurate dates of creation/ release, including songs like Driver, Red Skies, Wide Receiver? Something Like "Body and Soul: Created May 12 1982 Released November 6 1984" (not that I have any idea about the actual date of this)
Because I'm interested in the "sound" the sisters had through the years, and a simple list of releases does not only miss rarer songs like Driver etc., but also does not tell in what period the song was made, so in what "sound" era it belongs and what band members helped with the creation of the song.

TBH I think the reason that you can't find stuff like that is that people don't know.

The release dates are out there, but AFAIK the recording dates are lost to the mists of time.

As I understand it the early recordings were largely made on borrowed equipment, so that each session may have had it´s own "sound"..
By the way, Tiddles, this topic fits best into sisters chat.. sorry..
But I bet there are a number of trainspotters around that can give you place, time and date of every f*rt the sissies did.

there was an attempt to put the recordings into a vague order, but to be honest when it comes to demo versions of "proper" songs and tracks like driver or wide receiver that never actually made it to any proper recording. its very hard to say exactly "when" they were done...

furthermore, if (for example) marx had a rough idea for a song on a sunday and put it down into 4-track on monday, played the 4-track to the rest of the guys on tuesday, refined the song a bit on wednesday, the whole band rehearsed it together on thursday, gigged the song on friday, & then recorded it properly in a studio on saturday, what date would you put to it?

now expand that 7 day process over a few weeks or even months, as is what typically happens when a song is developed...



its very difficult to date stuff in that way as the whole song writing/recording process is too organic and played out over too long a period.

for example, was heartland ever demod? or do you call driver a demo version? or was driver a song in its own right that was scrapped?



the best you will be able to say (if you're lucky) is the date the band went into a studio to lay down the parts for a song. and even that might have taken place over a whole week or more... (see the VT recording process!!) not including production, post-production & remixing.

good luck

one thought: it doesnt really give you dates as such, but you could probably conceptually group songs via either band members involved (eg: pre- or post-gunn's departure) or via what the dok sounded like at the time (eg: dr rhythm, tr-808, oberheim dmx etc)

[edit]however, the version of the dok probably changes anyway depending on who has put down the initial demo backing track... i'm pretty sure the guys had their own basic drum machines to help when putting down backing tracks) [/edit]

I'd say the creation date was the date on which the last adjustment to the song was made ( to become the version released). But it's indeed much better to name the timespan during which it was realised.

I did find a very small bit of info on Driver(1982-1983), and Burn it Down (1981-1983), but that's not nearly accurate enough.

In the end I think the best way would just be asking Andrew himself...

And I also think that a very, very experienced Sisters fan (heavy fan from the beginning, has been to virtually all gigs) could just name the exact era and band members just by listening to the vocals and instruments used. But I'm not sure whether we have such a fan on Heartland.

There are a few we do know of for certain though, based on reasonable enough evidence and working things out.

Lights, for example, definitely dates to 1981, as does Floorshow and Adrenochrome. The mighty Good Things is another 81 track (possibly a Marx solo composition?)

There are live versions of certain Reptile House tracks going back to mid/late 82, but Burn was introduced as a "new song" in early 83, and it's likely that Fix was put together in the studio (admittedly this last isn't based on any evidence whatsoever, just a personal hunch based on the sound).

Primitive live arrangements of Gimme Shelter existed in mid 83, but the final "classic" arrangement seems to have come together in the studio.

Heartland, I think, made it's first live appearances in early 83. Temple certainly existed in mid 83, but I know of no evidence to say whether the live versions came before the final recorded version (or vice versa).

Later songs... we know that TC dates to the Sisterhood project, and that Torch actually dates back to when the band was Von/Wayne/Craig. Parts of I Was Wrong might date back to the Floodland demos, depending on how you hear the Untitled demo.

I think that's about it!

Never quite saw the Untitled demo as I Was Wrong.. and I certainly never knew about Torch dating back to that era, where'd you hear that?

Dark wrote:Never quite saw the Untitled demo as I Was Wrong.. and I certainly never knew about Torch dating back to that era, where'd you hear that?

various interviews and biogs cite tensions within the band as being brought to a head when eldritch came back from a sojurn in hamburg with a demo of "torch", prompting craig to walk out - thus triggering "the great split".

(i'm paraphrasing here) legend says that wayne and craig wanted to sound more like led zepp and motorhead, but thought eldritch had been too busy listening to fleetwood mac...

Tidal wrote: In the end I think the best way would just be asking Andrew himself...

as if he would know.

actually if he would know such things he would be a much better bookkeeper than a rock musician.

Quiff Boy wrote:

Dark wrote:Never quite saw the Untitled demo as I Was Wrong.. and I certainly never knew about Torch dating back to that era, where'd you hear that?

various interviews and biogs cite tensions within the band as being brought to a head when eldritch came back from a sojurn in hamburg with a demo of "torch", prompting craig to walk out - thus triggering "the great split".

(i'm paraphrasing here) legend says that wayne and craig wanted to sound more like led zepp and motorhead, but thought eldritch had been too busy listening to fleetwood mac...

Ah, that second part rings a bell. I didn't know it was a demo of Torch that caused it. I knew there was a song, and Craig left, sick of the band.

Dark wrote:Never quite saw the Untitled demo as I Was Wrong.

Maybe a few tunes of this demo were partially transposed on "I Was Wrong", but, to me, the greater part of it sounded more or less like a guitar version of what, after many changes, became 1959.

until the great and amiable founder-sister MARX enlightened all through the medium of this very place in which we wander, it was generally assumed by the faithful (excluding those infidels who believed it a hoax -pah! with that voice???) that "wide receiver" was an early unreleased masterpiece. it sure doesn't come across in any way whatsoever as FALAA (songwriting and demoing) era.

once again, it is a different process for a song to develop and evolve in realtime -ie in rehearsal/live/session/whatever than it is for an artist or songwriting team to bring anidea to the studio and realise it. exhibit one (again,again) the floodland demos.