A fairly incomplete and mostly inaccurate account of the history of Sound System.
Demos for current projects
Here you'll find rough, unfinished "sketches" of songs intended for A Safe Place, or for other projects the members of Sound System may play with from time to time. If you pay close attention, you might hear lyrics, chords, tempos and arrangements change from demo to completed project.
Studio albums
Sound System's first recording, the single "For Sherry," was recorded live on a Sony 2-track open reel deck. Other early projects were recorded live on a stereo boom box, or by layering tracks on the Sony 2-track. In 1988, for their album Home Turf, they began recording on a Fostex 4-track cassette deck. All early albums and singles were released exclusively on cassette.
The recordings for A Safe Place have been done on the Fostex, on a Yamaha 4-track cassette deck, on a Tascam 16-track open reel deck, and most recently on a Macintosh-based digital audio workstation. A Safe Place, when it is completed, will be released exclusively on CD.
All recordings from 1989 and earlier are now out of print, but are collected on the CD Complete Works: 1986-1989.
1987 Busted
1988 Home Turf
1989 Variety Pack EP
1999 Complete Works 1986-1989
2006 A Safe Place (this album is in progress)
In Rehearsal
The In Rehearsal tapes were just that: live recordings of Sound System rehearsals (and one live concert), recorded for the band to listen back to and make notes, changes, and groans. For the most part, they were never intended to be sold to the public. In a few instances, they were given away to family and friends, or packaged as "freebies" with purchase of a Sound System cassette.
In 2000, CW digitized and cleaned up the In Rehearsal tapes, and collected them in the 4-CD set In Rehearsal: 1987-1989. This marked the first time most of these live recordings were available to the general public -- and the first time some recordings were ever heard even by some members of the band!
1987 In Rehearsal I: Hall Memorial Auditorium
1988 In Rehearsal II: Rehearsal and Recital
1989 In Rehearsal III: Folk Songs of Siberia
1989 In Rehearsal IV: Who's On Top?
1989 In Rehearsal V: No Band's Land
1989 In Rehearsal VI: G Street (A Safe Place, live)
1989 In Rehearsal VII: Let It End
2001 In Rehearsal: 1987-1989 (4-CD set)
Demos From Hell
The Demos From Hell were never intended be heard by anyone outside the band. They were that rough. They were that loose. In some cases, they were that scary -- that's what made them the Demos From Hell.
They were only handed out to members of the band -- as potential new songs to study, to make a depressed member laugh, to make a new member cringe. Many were recorded late at night in dorm rooms, basements, garages or bedrooms, usually augmented by the mind-altering effects of caffeine and sleep deprivation.
CW plans to digitize and clean up the Demos From Hell, and release them in a multi-CD set in 2006: Box of Demos From Hell. It remains to be seen whether anyone outside of Sound System will ever yet witness the horrors of the Demos From Hell. But you can't say you haven't been warned.
1988 Demos From Hell
1988 More Demos From Hell
1989 Still More Demos From Hell
1989 Return of Demos From Hell
1989 Best of Demos From Hell
2006 Box of Demos From Hell (multi-CD set; this album is still in progress)
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