I love demo versions of songs. I love hearing songs in a state of being completely unpolished. They just feel so much better in their raw state. Of course some songs definitely benefit from mastering; I’m sure there are a lot of pop artists that would be horrible without someone great in the studio mixing their music.

I’m a huge fan of Fred Thomas (Saturday Looks Good to Me, City Center, Flashpapr, Lovesick, solo, other stuff), and pretty much pick up anything he puts out. I also follow the blog for his band City Center where he and Ryan Howard post songs all the time. Most of the songs are one-off songs that go nowhere, or early demos of songs that end up on a 7” or 12” record. One in particular, “Obvious” ended up on the most recent album, Redeemer. It also ended up on a solo album of Fred’s. Listen below. And then go buy some music.

City Center – Obvious [from blog]
Here is the demo version of Obvious from the blog. I think this is probably my favorite version. This was posted to the blog sometime in 2009, so it’s the oldest version of the song available.

City Center – Obvious [from album Redeemer]
And the song from the album. A little more cleaned up, and still really great. The entire album is really great, and I think this is my favorite song from it.

Fred Thomas – Obvious [from album Night Times]
Fred also put this song on a solo album, which is available for download free from the City Center blog, so go download it and have a listen. This is quite a bit more cleaned up, and just Fred so it’s a little more restrained.