To commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Spoon’s release of their breakout album Gimme Fiction the band and Merge Records are releasing (on December 11th in time for your Spoon-fanatic friend’s holiday needs) a deluxe, re-mastered version of the album together with the song’s home demos.  We are oft-fascinated by demo releases since they provide a great vantage into songs’ beginnings and subsequent evolution to recorded versions.  Go over to NPR HERE to hear side-by-side studio/demo versions, coupled with Britt Daniel’s descriptions of the songs’ evolutions.  If you can’t be bothered or need more immediate satisfaction, check out the driving demo version of Was It You? below.

About Was It You?, Daniel told NPR:

“[This one] came fast, too. When something lucky happened, it was usually after long bouts of nothing good coming. And this one was one that I’d had this little idea with just an acoustic guitar and the two main verses and it was maybe 60 seconds long and I’d never tried anything with it. Then at the end of a long day where I’d been trying to write a song and nothing good was coming, I thought I’d just start drinking. I don’t mean I got plastered. Just something to change the mood. I just had a couple of beers. And then all of a sudden I was feeling a little lighter. And it became a lot more fun. So, last ditch effort I figured I’d throw out an idea I had lying around. And instead of making it an acoustic song I thought I’d turn it into a drawn-out dance thing. And somehow it just happened. There was the thing I’d been hoping for all day.

I like the demo a little more. I think it’s just grittier and more direct and urgent. The album version is way more laid back and sort of spacey. And the demo version is a little more funky and on top and aggressive. You might like the version on the album more because it’s what you heard first. But the version I got hooked on was the one on the demo. And we never even tried to record it that way.”

We agree with Daniel that the demo version is preferable! Talking Heads meets Prince with Daniel’s quintessential rock vocals.  Perfect!

Go HERE to pre-order the deluxe Gimme Fiction.