4-Track Demos
Encyclopedia
4-Track Demos is an album of demos
by British
singer-songwriter
PJ Harvey
. It was released in October 1993 by Island Records
. It consists of 8 demos of songs from her previous album, Rid of Me
, along with 6 demos of some unreleased tracks which never made it to being recorded with the three-piece PJ Harvey line-up. According to interviews with Harvey, all fourteen of these songs were written and demoed at her home between mid 1991 and autumn 1992. 4-Track Demos was Harvey's first self-produced album, a job she would not take on again until 2004's Uh Huh Her.
were released with the studio album in a limited edition double album format called Dry (Demonstration). She briefly contemplated releasing Rid of Me as a double album, consisting of the studio album on one disc and the demo versions on another. But, considering Rid of Me was to be her major label debut, a double album ended up being a move that neither Harvey nor Island wanted to make.
Harvey explained the reason for releasing this record to Filter
magazine in a 2004 interview: "4-Track Demos... was partly encouraged by Steve Albini
[producer of Rid of Me
]. He loved the demos for that album so much he thought they should be out there and I tended to agree with him. It seemed like showing another side of what I do and introducing new songs that I hadn't recorded on a record. It was a lovely thing to do and it felt like the right time because my three-piece band had fallen apart and I was kind of in limbo before deciding where I was gonna be going again. So, it was just like a small interjection piece of me before I knew where I was going to be next."
called it "a chillingly intimate peek into the fierce musical ethic of an independent and compelling voice", Melody Maker
hailed it as "viciously aggressive music with no numbing narcotic qualities", while Rolling Stone
said in its four-star review that "its depth, range and conceptual completeness make you wonder why Harvey even bothered with such conventions as a band or a producer in the first place". Robert Christgau
, however, still preferred Rid of Me over 4-Track Demos.
In 1994, Island Records gave away the original Yamaha MT 2X 4-track recorder Harvey used to record 4-Track Demos as a promotion in issue 67 of Alternative Press magazine. The winner was announced the weekend of March 19, 1994 on JBTV as seen on FOX NET and CHANNEL AMERICA. The winner, Thomas Wells of Vinton, Virginia, was picked out of over 500 entries. In conjunction with being announced on TV, Thomas' name and photo were published in the April 1994 extra edition (number 71) issue of AP Wiretapping Newsletter.
"Hardly Wait" is one of two PJ Harvey songs used in Kathryn Bigelow's
1995 film Strange Days
(the other song used is "Rid of Me"). In the film it is sung by Juliette Lewis
.
in Washington, D.C.
The black-and-white photo that appears on the back of the album (also by Mochnacz) depicts Harvey naked and wrapped in plastic sheeting. When speaking about the picture, Mochnacz remarked "I suggested Polly was now a product so we wrapped her up like one".
tour. "M-Bike", in particular, was included in many of those concerts and a live version can be found in the long-form video Reeling with PJ Harvey, released in 1994. When Harvey toured in 1995 to promote To Bring You My Love
she also included songs from 4-Track Demos. "Goodnight", for example, was used as the closing song for many of the shows on that tour. Additionally, "Goodnight" was performed on the music program The White Room, which aired on the BBC
’s Channel 4
in 1995. This performance highlighted Harvey’s use of stage props during that tour (she beat out the rhythm with a broomstick) as well as the unique instrumentation of guitarist Joe Gore, who played the song’s sliding guitar riff with a knife.
As of 2005, 4-Track Demos had sold 119,000 copies in the U.S.
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
PJ Harvey
PJ Harvey
Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
. It was released in October 1993 by Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
. It consists of 8 demos of songs from her previous album, Rid of Me
Rid of Me
Rid of Me is the second studio album by British musician PJ Harvey. It was released by Island Records in May 1993, approximately one year after the release of her critically acclaimed debut album Dry...
, along with 6 demos of some unreleased tracks which never made it to being recorded with the three-piece PJ Harvey line-up. According to interviews with Harvey, all fourteen of these songs were written and demoed at her home between mid 1991 and autumn 1992. 4-Track Demos was Harvey's first self-produced album, a job she would not take on again until 2004's Uh Huh Her.
Background
Prior to the release of 4-Track Demos, Harvey had a history of releasing early versions of her songs. The demo versions for the songs on her debut DryDry (album)
Dry is the debut album by PJ Harvey. It was recorded at the Icehouse, Yeovil, UK, and released in the UK on Too Pure , and subsequently on Indigo Records in the US...
were released with the studio album in a limited edition double album format called Dry (Demonstration). She briefly contemplated releasing Rid of Me as a double album, consisting of the studio album on one disc and the demo versions on another. But, considering Rid of Me was to be her major label debut, a double album ended up being a move that neither Harvey nor Island wanted to make.
Harvey explained the reason for releasing this record to Filter
Filter (magazine)
FILTER, the publication that promises us that "Good music will prevail," is a seasonal American music and off-beat entertainment magazine. It features commentary and photos of up-and-coming musicians and filmmakers ranging from actors to writer-directors...
magazine in a 2004 interview: "4-Track Demos... was partly encouraged by Steve Albini
Steve Albini
Steven Frank Albini is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, and Flour, and is currently a member of Shellac...
[producer of Rid of Me
Rid of Me
Rid of Me is the second studio album by British musician PJ Harvey. It was released by Island Records in May 1993, approximately one year after the release of her critically acclaimed debut album Dry...
]. He loved the demos for that album so much he thought they should be out there and I tended to agree with him. It seemed like showing another side of what I do and introducing new songs that I hadn't recorded on a record. It was a lovely thing to do and it felt like the right time because my three-piece band had fallen apart and I was kind of in limbo before deciding where I was gonna be going again. So, it was just like a small interjection piece of me before I knew where I was going to be next."
Release and Reception
Some reviewers preferred this version to Rid of Me, which they contended buried some of her vocal range and sonic experimentations under its noisy, in-your-face dynamics. For a side project, 4-Track Demos received remarkably high praise: Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
called it "a chillingly intimate peek into the fierce musical ethic of an independent and compelling voice", Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
hailed it as "viciously aggressive music with no numbing narcotic qualities", while Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
said in its four-star review that "its depth, range and conceptual completeness make you wonder why Harvey even bothered with such conventions as a band or a producer in the first place". Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
, however, still preferred Rid of Me over 4-Track Demos.
In 1994, Island Records gave away the original Yamaha MT 2X 4-track recorder Harvey used to record 4-Track Demos as a promotion in issue 67 of Alternative Press magazine. The winner was announced the weekend of March 19, 1994 on JBTV as seen on FOX NET and CHANNEL AMERICA. The winner, Thomas Wells of Vinton, Virginia, was picked out of over 500 entries. In conjunction with being announced on TV, Thomas' name and photo were published in the April 1994 extra edition (number 71) issue of AP Wiretapping Newsletter.
"Hardly Wait" is one of two PJ Harvey songs used in Kathryn Bigelow's
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Ann Bigelow is an American film director. Her best-known films are the cult horror film Near Dark , the surfer/bank robbery action picture Point Break , the science fiction/film noir Strange Days , the historical/mystery film The Weight of Water and the war drama The Hurt Locker...
1995 film Strange Days
Strange Days (film)
Strange Days is a 1995 cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and produced and co-written by James Cameron and Jay Cocks, starring Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott and Vincent D'Onofrio. Despite positive reviews, the film was a...
(the other song used is "Rid of Me"). In the film it is sung by Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
.
Artwork
The photo on the album's cover was shot by Maria Mochnacz in June 1993 while Harvey was touring to support the album Rid of Me. It shows Harvey in lingerie and sunglasses, raising her arm and exposing her unshaven underarm. The picture was taken at the WatergateWatergate complex
The Watergate complex is a group of five buildings next to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C. in the United States. The site contains an office building, three apartment buildings, and a hotel-office building...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The black-and-white photo that appears on the back of the album (also by Mochnacz) depicts Harvey naked and wrapped in plastic sheeting. When speaking about the picture, Mochnacz remarked "I suggested Polly was now a product so we wrapped her up like one".
Tour
PJ Harvey did not tour to promote 4-Track Demos. She had recently endured the break-up of the PJ Harvey trio and was contemplating the direction her next studio album would take. Some of the unreleased tracks, however, had been played live during the Rid of MeRid of Me
Rid of Me is the second studio album by British musician PJ Harvey. It was released by Island Records in May 1993, approximately one year after the release of her critically acclaimed debut album Dry...
tour. "M-Bike", in particular, was included in many of those concerts and a live version can be found in the long-form video Reeling with PJ Harvey, released in 1994. When Harvey toured in 1995 to promote To Bring You My Love
To Bring You My Love
To Bring You My Love is the third studio album by British musician and singer-songwriter PJ Harvey. It was released by Island Records in February 1995. Recorded after the break-up of the PJ Harvey trio it stands as her first proper solo album...
she also included songs from 4-Track Demos. "Goodnight", for example, was used as the closing song for many of the shows on that tour. Additionally, "Goodnight" was performed on the music program The White Room, which aired on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
’s Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in 1995. This performance highlighted Harvey’s use of stage props during that tour (she beat out the rhythm with a broomstick) as well as the unique instrumentation of guitarist Joe Gore, who played the song’s sliding guitar riff with a knife.
Track listing
Album
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | UK Albums Chart | 19 |
| 1993 | Heatseekers | 10 |
As of 2005, 4-Track Demos had sold 119,000 copies in the U.S.