where were the 1982 portastudio demos recorded?

[Elon]

It is widely stated online that the demos initially released on the HARD REIGN bootleg LP come from a recording session that took place in September 1982 with John Ashton at Strawberry Studios, Stockport. I wonder if there is any evidence to support this claim.

First of all, the tracks seem to originate from different recording sessions (Lights is likely the same demo from Gary Marx' 1981 demo tape, while Anaconda, Good Things, Phantom and possible also Driver likely pre-date the Reptile House demos who fit naturally together).

Another point that, in my view, undermines the Strawberry/Ashton origin for the demos (at least the Reptile House demos) is the established fact that, despite the success of Alice, Eldritch decided to produce Anaconda (and Phantom) on his own, without Ashton's help, so why would he bring Ashton back to record demos of Reptile House? Also knowing the Reptile House EP was recorded at KG and produced by AE alone, does it make sense for the EP to be demoed at Strawberry with Ashton, but not recorded there? The Sisters recorded Temple Of Love at Strawberry, and from interviews at the time, this was presented as a step-up from KG, so it sounds as if TOL was the first time the Sisters record at Strawberry.

Finally, these RH demos are known as "portastudio" demos, which seem counter-intuitive for demos recorded in an actual studio such as Strawberry. AE had bought a portastudio at the time of recording Anaconda, so it seems more logical that the RH demos were recorded at home.

To recap, of all the demos included on HARD REIGN, I would guess only Good Things was recorded with John Ashton, and more likely at home or KG. Lights, Driver and all the Reptile House demos are probably home recordings, while both Anaconda and Phantom sound quite polished and were probably recorded by AE at KG.

Would love to hear what you guys think/know about this.

[Being645]

I think you're perfectly right and those Portastudio Demos were recorded at Eldritch's home.

I knew there was something I wanted to correct in this page but I didn't remember what.N ow it returned to my memory ... it is of course
only Good Things from that track list that was recorded with John Ashton at Stockport during the Alice Demos
https://sisterswiki.org/Kenny_Giles_Stu ... mos_-_1982

There is an irritating lot of recording sessions which I somehow tried to sort out here:
https://sisterswiki.org/Recording_Sessions

But the pages created so far, are not all complete (or completely corrected) and not interlinked well enough ...
and information might still be wrong or missing ... sorry for that ... ...
it was just too much for me to sort that out properly so far ... it takes more than a chief mate and a herd of distributors
at various harbours to steer a large vessel safely through all sorts of seas ... gotta see to those linkings anyway, though.

And as to those "Strawberry Sessions 1982" the Ultimatesistersguide is no great help either.
I think now, the error is already there, and there have never been any "Strawberry" sessions in 1982 ... ...

[robertzombie]

These tracks have also appeared on the bootlegs "Kenny Giles Walks on Water" and "Before The Flood" (amongst others).

Useful thread here: viewtopic.php?t=4109
See Dan's post Mon Feb 23, 2004 4:46 pm

[Elon]

thanks Robert
i am aware of the very informative thread about the KG CD bootleg

however there is only partial overlap between the KG boot and the Portastudio demos, namely four tracks:

1. Lights (1981 demo from the Gary Marx tape)
2. Anaconda (home demo from 1982)
3. Phantom (home demo 1982)
4. Good Things (demo entitled "1st demo" on the KG boot)

actually Good Things 1st demo sounds to me like a studio outtake, much more polished than the slower "basement demo" version also on KG. So i doubt this is the 1st demo of the track. In fact, isn't this version the final studio version recorded by Ashton at KG?

After some interactions outside of HL and combining the info on the KG bootleg, this is my guess as the timeline and source for the recording of the early demos:

May 1981 - G Marx tape sessions
Lights - demo (as featured on G Marx tape)
Floorshow - demo (as featured on G Marx tape)
Teachers/Adrenochrome - demo (as featured on G Marx tape)

Later in 1981?
Body Electric - untitled basement demo (w/ different lyrics)

Feb 1982 - Body Electric sessions with Jon Langford at KG studio
Adrenochrome - CNT demo (7" version)
Body Electric - CNT demo (7" version)
Adrenochrome - CNT reverb demo (studio outtake)
Body Electric - CNT instrumental demo (studio outtake)
Adrenochrome - CNT instrumental demo (studio outtake)

Early Summer 1982 - Alice sessions with John Ashton at home and KG studio
Alice - psychedelic intro basement demo (home demo w/ JA)
1969 - basement demo (home demo w/ JA)
Good Things - unreleased basement demo (slower mix, home demo w/ JA)
Good Things - '1st demo' / portastudio demo (studio outtake, rec at KG)

Late Summer 1982 - Anaconda sessions at home
Anaconda - rough mix / portastudio demo (home demo)
Phantom - edit (home demo, rough guitar)
Driver - portastudio demo (home demo)*

*this is a wild guess that this version of Driver originated from the Anaconda sessions. My reasoning: the track didn't surface until 1990 with a tape containing the later 1982 demos from Reptile House. No mention is made by Langford or Ashton about this track. And it sounds quite polished (the benefit of having a portastudio at home)...

Fall 1982 - Reptile House sessions at home
Valentine #1 - portastudio demo
Body Politic (aka Fix) - portastudio demo
Burn It Down - portastudio demo
Kiss The Carpet = Burn (instrumental) - portastudio demo
Valentine #2 - portastudio demo