The long awaited follow up to Volume 1... This New Release, Volume 2, is a Sprawling Double Album (27 Songs) of Out-Takes, Alternate versions, Demos and Rarities from 1987 to 2003. (Including Poi Dog Pondering's 1st Demo recording session for Texas Hotel Records in 1987, Out takes from Wishing like a mountain, Volo Volo, In Seed Comes Fruit & and early recording sessions from the Pomegranate album - Plus more. It's a big bang.
Artist: Poi Dog Pondering

Album: Sweeping up the cutting room floor: Volume 2

Released 2018 / Platetectonic Music

Exclusive EXPANDED release, only available on Platetectonic Music. (This version will not be available on iTunes, Google, Amazon or Spotify etc., -> only Here).

TRACK LIST & CREDITS:

1 - SHAKE OF BIG HANDS
All instruments by Frank Orrall. Drums Recorded & Dubbed out in Davis By Dave Gill, Guitars/ Bass & vocals recorded by Frank in Johnny's warehouse in Oakland California in 1987

2 - PULLING TOUCH  (Davis, Ca., Demo session Version)
Matt Miller: Bass Abra Moore: Vocals Frank: Drums, Guitars, Marimba & vocals Recorded in Davis, California 1987, By Dave Gill, as a demo for our Texas Hotel Records debut e.p.

3 - COMPANY OF ANGELS All instruments by Frank Orrall. Recorded in Austin TX., 1987

4 - CIRCLE AROUND THE SUN (Frank's original demo)
All instruments by Frank Orrall "Recorded this in my Baylor street bedroom in Austin Tx., in 1987, on a 4 track cassette machine"

5- LIVING TREE SPIRE
Recorded at Arlyn studios in Austin 1989/90, Kit Ebersbach came our from Hawaii to help produce the Palm Fabric Orchestra album, We tracked this song with him one afternoon.

6 - BUILDING (original Sleng Tang, long version)
A Spontaneous recording session at Rendezvous Studio in Honolulu. Big Chief Okino on the Bass, and Chris Planas from the band the Pagan Babies, joined us, as well as Kit and Arnie Saiki. Jamaican sleng tang rhythm.

7 - I'VE GOT MY BODY (original 4 track demo)
All instruments by Frank Orrall. I had a little 8' x 8' fort in my back yard, it was my make shift studio, tracked this there one afternoon, inspired by 2nd line music and some Jamaican dub mixes.

8 - COLLARBONE
Recorded at Arlyn studio in Austin, 1990. Bruce Hughes on Bass, Susan Voelz on Violin, Max Crawford on B-3 Organ, Ted Cho and Adam Sultan on guitars, Frank Orrall on Drums and Vocals

9 - TRIP THE LIGHT FANTASTIC Produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley in Austin 1991. Outtake from the Volo Volo album. That's the mighty Clive Langer on the piano solo at the end!
Volo Volo Era Line up: Frank, Bruce, Susan, Max, Ted, Adam, Daren, El John

10 - TAKE CARE OF YOUR THING (Casanova’s Original demo)
Bruce on Bass and Vocals. Frank on Drums and Vocals, Ashton "DJ Casanova" Irons on Turntables and Sampling. A collaborative demo between the 3 of us, out take from the Volo Volo album. Recorded in Austin, 1991. I met Casanova one night while he was DJing at the Texas Union…. he was blowing the room up with great music, I waited till he was done, and asked him to produce some music with us... we had fun adventures together transforming the PDP sound with the band, while mixing Volo Volo, we've been close friends ever since.

11 - DIAMONDS AND BUTTERMILK (Demo)
All instruments by Frank Orrall. Recorded at Warzone studios in Chicago, 1994 Martin Stebbing set me up with a little recording station in a back room so I could Demo songs while the band tracked in the big room. I did this around 4 in the morning.

12 - BIG CONSTELLATION (Original Demo)
All instruments by Frank Orrall. Recorded very late night, in my little apartment in Pilsen in 1993 / 94, on an 8 track tape machine.

13 - SHU ZULU ZA (1st Battery Studio Demo)
Nick Kitsos: Congas and Percussion, Rob Amster: Bass, Max Crawford: Organ, Dag Juhlin: Guitar & Vocals, Frank Orrall: Drums, Percussion and Samples & Vocals, Robert Cornelius: Vocals Brigid Murphy: Vocals Recorded by Martin Stebbing at Battery Studios in Chicago, 1993/94. (Martin invited us to record, and told us "just  bring some wine, we'll light some candles and make some recordings" - that's how we met. We've never recorded with anyone else since then. He's our man. The best).

14 - COMPLICATED (1st Battery Studio Demo)
Rob Amster: Bass, Max Crawford: Organ & Trumpet, Dag Juhlin: Guitar, Frank Orrall Drum Sequencing & Vocals, Robert Cornelius: Vocals, Paul Mertens & Brigid Murphy: Sax, Nick Kitsos: Congas. Recorded by Martin Stebbing at Battery Studios in Chicago, 1993/94

15 - SADLY CHEERFUL
All instruments by Frank Orrall.  Recorded very late night, in my little apartment in Pilsen in 1993, on an old 8 track tape machine. "These young teenagers sent me these lyrics, and asked me to write music for them. I loved the tender earnestness of the lyrics, and the boy's exuberance in their letter; so I recorded this for them. That was back in the pre internet days, and I've lost track of those guys, can't even remember their names. Nice kids tho. They wrote me a few months after I sent them the song, they told me they started a band, and played the song in their set :)))

16 - THE GARDEN (Big Chief Okino Mix)
Recorded in Honolulu at Pacific Music Productions, by Kit Ebersbach. Featuring 3 members form the Pagan Babies: Craig Okino (Bass), Chris Planas (Guitar), Nelson Hiu (Flute) & friends; Ling Lee (Vocalization), Kit Ebersbach (Synth), Frank Orrall: Drums and percussion, Lloyd Kandell (Hand Claps and finger Snaps)

17 - YOU MOVE ME (Original Demo)
All instruments by Frank Orrall. Vocals & Lyrics by Carla Prather Recorded in the old PDP Studio space at 1136 N. Milwaukee ave in Chicago, 2001.

18 - LET YOU GO (unfinished out take)
All instruments by Frank Orrall. Recorded in the old PDP Studio space at 1136 N. Milwaukee ave in Chicago, 2001

19 - HAD I KNOW (Frank's Original Demo)
All instruments by Frank Orrall. Recorded in the old PDP Studio space at 1136 N. Milwaukee ave in Chicago, 2001 D'Angelo had just released "Voodoo", and is blew my mind, this is inspired by "Africa"

20 - BETTER THAN THIS (live in the studio)
Recorded by Martin Stebbing at the Sun Shine Youth league basket ball gym/ make shift Studio in Chicago, 1994 Once thought lost, & now Recently discovered version… Magic. Steve Goulding: Drum Kit, Paul Mertens (flute), Max Crawford (accordion), Susan Voelz (Violin), Tom Ray (up-right bass), Dag Juhlin (guitar), Frank Orrall (Guitar & Voice)

21 - GOD'S GALLIPOLI (Slow / Ukulele Version)
All instruments by Frank Orrall. Recorded at the PDP Studio, 2008

22 - PRELUDE TO TWILIGHT  (Davis Version)
Abra Moore: Accordion. Recorded in Davis, California 1987, By Dave Gill, as a demo session for our Texas Hotel Records debut e.p.

23 - BED OF BRIGHT LIGHTS  (Davis Version)
Abra Moore: Accordion & Vocals Frank: Drums, Guitars, Percussion & vocals Matt Miller: Bass Recorded in Davis, California 1987, By Dave Gill, as a demo session for our Texas Hotel Records debut e.p.

24 - WOOD GUITAR  (Davis Version)
Matt Miller: Bass Frank: Drums, Guitars, Percussion & vocals. Recorded in Davis, California 1987, By Dave Gill, as a demo session for our Texas Hotel Records debut e.p.

25 - STEP WITH OUT LOOKING  (Davis Version)
Abra Moore: Accordion & Vocals Frank: Drums, Guitars, Percussion & vocals Matt Miller: Bass Recorded in Davis, California 1987, By Dave Gill, as a demo session for our Texas Hotel Records debut e.p.

26 - THICK AND THIN (live in the studio)
Recorded in Austin, 1989 (Dick Ross, on Drums, Bruce Hughes on Bass, Adam Sultan and Ted Cho and Frank on Guitars, Susan on Violin, Abra on Vocals, Max on Organ or accordion. There is an Irish uilleann pipe player in there, but I forget his name.

27 - EVERYBODY’S TRYING (slow, Memphis version) Recorded by Mike Stewart in Austin, & Jim Dickinson in Memphis,1989 With the Memphis Horns and the full Austin “Wishing…” era PDP line-up: Frank, Bruce, Susan, Max, Ted, Adam, Dick Ross, El John.
“This song was originally inspired by Al Green’s “Let’s stay together”, so it has that gallop beat to it… we wanted to get more Memphis on the recording, so we went there. Jim Dickinson had done the horns on the Replacements song “can’t hardly wait”, I loved that sound, so we asked him him to do this track with us. I had a cold when I went to do my vocals, so I drank hot sake, it got my throat through the session pretty well”.  
Publishing: 2018 Guava juice Music / c&p Platetectonic music 2018

______________ Notes:
Demos, Sketches, 1st Drafts, Alternate versions, Outtakes, & Rarities. Showing the Compositions in Motion towards their trajectory to final album version or Out-take / Alternate version.

DEMOS: (working version version of a song idea) Like Gesture Sketch drawing helps a painter to develop composition, and balance the proportions, or; the way a Rough Draft of a story helps a writer understand how to unfold the story, and shape it’s arc. Or, the way a Floor Plan drawing, or a Model of a building helps an architect or carpenter, layout & visualize the building… A spontaneous demo version of a song helps the musician articulate the shape and thrust of the song idea; gives the song form and direction. And, helps the other musicians who will play on it’s final version, to get a physical idea of the intention of the composition. It’s like a 3 dimensional sonic model. A composer once said to me; “I like to quickly frame the house first, careful not to get caught up in the details, and thus get bogged down…but, rather move quickly & intuitively, and realize the idea in a basic form. Afterwards, if I see that the song idea has substance, and a good foundation; I can go back in and build it from the inside out. It’s then I allow myself to be particular about the details”. This struck me as true for myself as well, when I’m making demos.

EARLY VERSIONS AND ALTERNATE TAKES: Often times, it takes a few attempts to record a song to comprehend and conceive it. It can be played slow or fast / Have different arrangement phases along the way / Different approaches in style. Occationally, abandoned song ideas get cannibalized and show up in other songs. Sometimes there are good ideas in alternate versions that never wind up on the final version because the songs evolve, or there is just no space in the mix… or, they get over looked.

OUT-TAKES: Some song ideas make it all the way to the studio, and finally get left off the final cut list, just because the album is taking shape all its own, and some particular songs, tho loved, don’t quite seem to fit the vibe of the album concept, as a whole. Sometimes they show up on later albums, once we understand them better, or find the right album home for them. We might go into the studio with twenty solid songs demos, or song start ideas. Then, once we get up to speed in the studio, new songs often start to write them selves along the way (as we have sort of woken the ghost) and we wind up with too many songs to choose from.

SONG DEVELOPMENT: Many song ideas are experimented with in rehearsal, or directly in the studio while recording. Lot’s of ideas are tried. We like to try every idea that comes up. Once all ideas are considered and tested, It’s usually obvious to the majority which idea works the best. Different band members and sections bring ideas for layers of sound towards the making of the final version: Horn and String arrangements. Rhythm section augmentation, Vocal harmonies. Sonic textures and production elements; They all bring atmosphere & intricacy to the recording.