“Here where the songs are all of longing,
Here where the skies are always haunting…”
Managed to treat myself to a lunchtime of walking about and listening to all of CD2, more or less from beginning to end, though I omitted the 'original' Endlessly, track 1, well there’s only so many versions of it you can listen to before the title starts to become a reality!
It was pouring with rain outside and I had to go inside the Royal Museum, whether this added to the experience or not, I’m not sure, but I started at track 2, and went on enjoying it right up to track 10, one word came to mind about it all… Wow! And after that it was downhill for me with ‘Shine On Me’, one word there: Urgh! and then I lost interest in the remaining tracks, with the exception of ‘Dance With Me’ coming back to my rescue.
The tracks do all fit well together, and the CD2 album flows easily, but It’s really a fascinating insight into what might have been, like having a little telescope looking back through time. Okay it’s fair to say that ‘alternative’ TGS is even more Beatlesque in it’s raw state here, and for me on that subject well I’m very firmly in the Lennon camp, so the moments when McCartney pops up I have to ignore, and if none of that is at all your kind of thing then it’s still worthwhile mentally tuning out some of these retro clichés, as there’s something very refreshing here about experiencing John in this alternative loved-up universe.
It must have been a bit of an experimentally unpredictable time for him as to where his musical arrow would ultimately land, and we've probably all guessed over the years that TGS might have ended up going more in the esoteric and haunting direction of tracks like A Woman On A Staircase or Dance With Me, (if only), but now we can hear with these early versions on CD2 that an even more obviously retro 'Beatles lite’ sound could have instead become the final album selection.
I really did enjoy listening through from tracks 2 to 10, even, ‘Gasp!’, the early ‘My Wild Love’, and also the alternative RATIWT, (though for me it's still just a tad too long and ‘growling’).
Twilights Last Gleaming, track 7 is the standout track for me, much as I’m blown away by the musical power of the version we all know and love, this earlier version just sounds so interesting, with it’s warping, shifting effect, I’m just completely intrigued by it, wish John had explored this more, but hey, he and Louis still can!
