TLOS Demos

[Shane]

I just heard the TLOS demos for the first time yesterday.  Out of curiosity, I was trying to figure what purpose these demos actually served.  They sound way too embellished and extensively worked-on to serve as just a rough reference demo.  These aren't "Brian alone at the piano in 1977" type of demos.  They seem almost like a version of the album that was rejected, and then started over from scratch, ala Sweet Insanity.  Any thoughts?

[Wirestone]

They were home recordings made by Brian and Scott. The two thought they were working on a new album of unrelated songs, then Brian was commissioned to do a long piece. They built it on the Brian-Scott sessions.

In doing so, they added narratives, orchestrations and an extra song (Southern California). Any album version needed to have that extra stuff, so the band re- recorded it as a unit. That being said, many parts of those original sessions (a large quantity of Brian's leads, for example, as well as possibly some bass work by Lizik) were used in th e releaed album.

This happened with the Paley sessions, too. They started as demos in some cases, then had more parts added, and some became full-on productions. But they were mainly two guys fooling around in the studio. Recording music.

[TdHabib]

An important distinction is that after Brian asked Scott if they could use some of the 2006 material for TLOS, Scott said they could but the piece could really use some artier, ballady stuff. From that collaboration "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl," "Midnight's Another Day" and "Southern California" came.

[?]

I've never thought the demos sounded like an attempt at the proper album.  It was just a happy accident that Midnight's Another Day was perfect.

[the captain]

I just heard the TLOS demos for the first time yesterday.  Out of curiosity, I was trying to figure what purpose these demos actually served.  They sound way too embellished and extensively worked-on to serve as just a rough reference demo.  These aren't "Brian alone at the piano in 1977" type of demos.  They seem almost like a version of the album that was rejected, and then started over from scratch, ala Sweet Insanity.  Any thoughts?

They are definitely demos, just (as you properly say) not the "singer-at-piano" sort. People frequently do fleshed-out demos in order to save time and money in the studio. It allows you a (free or cheap) opportunity to consider how more parts will work. That way when you get to the studio that costs money, you have everything mapped out and just do it, as opposed to fiddling. While Mr. Wilson had his day when such studio time wasn't an issue for him, I'm sure he and his team would rather not pay for experimenting anymore.