That underrated lo-fi hero Stephen Jones has been spoiling us recently. Two Black Reindeer albums and an EP, some new Death Of The Neighbourhood material (reviewed HERE), and now a mammoth 33 track out-takes compilation of unreleased Babybird tracks. For a top value £7.99, you can download this whole album from Bandcamp via the media player below…
‘Outtakes’ covers a range of unheard tracks and demos of songs that would be destined for inclusion on 2006’s ‘Between My Ears There’s Nothing But Music’, 2010’s ‘Ex Maniac’ and the final album 2012’s ‘The Pleasures Of Self Destruction’. This collection of songs is a fascinating glimpse into the creative process of this prolific musician, who has so far released over 18 albums of material since 1995. Before forming the band Babybird, Jones released a number of self-recorded ‘lo-fi’ albums of songs, some of which would end up becoming fully fleshed-out tracks on the Babybird albums. So there is much similarity between the ‘lo-fi’ albums and ‘Outtakes’ in that it offers a treat for those who prefer to listen to the music of Stephen Jones in its rawest form. Some tracks (such as the original version of ‘Unloveable’) are radically different to the incarnations that were present on the Babybird albums, while others simply provide stripped down alternatives to the professional production of the actual albums.
The Stephen Jones BandCamp page describes this release as “Songs as they intended to be first heard. Recorded by Stephen Jones on computer and various studios in London. As you’ll see Stephen’s lyrics move from song to song and the music continually changes and develops through many stages”.
