Well the title of this thread really says it all.

I've never been convinced that "I Pray Ole" is really an out-take from the Lodger sessions at all.

Even allowing for the fact that the song was obviously mixed around 1989, there is nothing I can hear about this song that fits with the Lodger sound. To be honest virtually everything makes it sound far more like a Tin Machine out-take. Unless it's been so massively remixed that all evidence of the Lodger sessions has been suppressed then I reckon the song as it stands is not really from those sessions at all.

The guitar doesn't sound like Belew (though it is quite like Reeves...) the vocal doesn't sound like DB's usual 1978/79 voice (but DOES sound like DB circa 1989), the drums don't sound like Dennis Davis - in fact I can't hear any evidence of the 1978 band at all.

So... does anyone know the true story here? Where / when does "I Pray Ole" really fit in? I don't think it's from the Zaine Griff sessions from late 1979 as it doesn't sound like "Panic In Detroit" either.

My theory - based on nothing but my feelings - is that perhaps it is a Lodger era song, but one that was only very partially completed. When Reeves and DB reworked "Look Back In Anger", perhaps they reconstructed this contemporaneous song as well?

What do you think?

Cheers,

Richard

It's certainly one that I've had my doubts about.

I'd agree that it's a very TM sounding vocal, the way they are stacked up sounds more like Baby Universal. The flanged rhythm guitar in the intro sounds more late 80s too. Musically it's quite anonymous.

Not sure if it dates from the 1988 LBIA session as that uses a drum machine, and these definitely sound like real drums.

Other than that, there are few clues as to the origins of this recording.

a wider question would be why is there so much confusion over Ryko's bonus tracks? as welcomed as they were at the time, they really did make a mess of it. wrong dates, wrong credits, wrong mixes... not to mention a couple of quite pointless remixes. either the archive was in disarray and it was down to guesswork, or they had some poor researchers working on the project.

sound detective work chaps, looks like we have another in the IHTBASITC line of hybrid works.

Yes Ryko really did mess up with the info regarding the bonus tracks. The songs themselves were very welcome, but so many were attached to the wrong albums, or were backed up with wildly inaccurate information.

Good point re the drum machine on the 1988 "Look Back In Anger" Simon. "I Pray Ole" doesn't have a drum machine - could still have been around then, but clearly not at the same sessions... So when was it recorded?
Cheers,
Richard

it was mixed in 1991, so definitely a TMII "vibe" in the studio. pegg points out that "its melodic similarity to the vastly superior Look Back in Anger accounts for its original omission from Lodger."

What version of "Look Back in Anger" has a drum machine? Was it re-recorded in 88?

This one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM5GrAl9nd8

Extra track on the Ryko Lodger.

And as seen on this performance, there's no drummer;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y__caH4kdGU

Thank you! I guess I could have just looked at my CD, but for some reason I had in my head that the bonus track of "Look Back in Anger" was a remix, not a re-recording.

Thank you for the video, I had not seen that before.

I skipped a family holiday to stay at home and record the TV show that was on! There was another performance too in the USA, and also a rehearsal performance that was on a UK TV show that I'm sure was called Wired (Channel 4, Sunday mornings).

(sorry to go off topic) I was having this discussion recently about how if you wanted to see something on the television or on radio YOU had to make it happen. Today, you could go on your holiday and the video would be on youtube by the time you were home. I too remember many a time my plans were cancelled so I could be around my VCR. Thanks for sharing!

Rehearsal footage and main performance at the Intruders at the palace show.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfy88_ ... nger_music

Back to I Pray Ole. I was skimming through Tony Visconti's autobiography yesterday (contemplating a re-read) and read a few passages about the Lodger sessions.

Seven months after the sessions in Switzerland, Bowie, Visconti and Belew regrouped in New York for overdubs. Part of the sessions involved Belew on drums, Visconti on bass and Bowie on guitar and vocals.

Maybe I Pray Ole dates from these New York sessions?

Interesting stuff Simon.

The young Robert Steven Belew was a drummer (playing as Stevie Belew) for many years before switching to guitar (and changing his first name too). In more recent years he's added lots of extra percussion at King Crimson gigs, and with the Crimson R&D ProjeKcts he was the only drummer in ProjeKcts Two and Six.

Sounds like I Pray Ole could indeed have come from this sort of stripped down session (and it would explain why the guitarwork doesn't sound like Belew and the drumming is clearly not Dennis Davis). Mixed in the early 1990s, with perhaps some fixing up done around the same time (with maybe Reeves helping out) and you could end up with I Pray Ole.

Nice one!

Cheers,

Richard

By it's release in 1991 I noticed the similarity to the 1985 Live Aid "Heroes" version with musicians Kevin Armstrong [Tin Machine] and Thomas Dolby... hear the resembles in the synthesiser sound.
Did they "record" while rehearsing?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfqvcfmwv_A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQj7Ek2kqxs

Anyone have the conclusion about the real date?