28 Demos

愛、日曜日、地震、涙、そしてティモシーという名の少年についてつづった時代を超えた楽曲は、数多くの映画やバイラル動画で使用され時代を超えた「ビフォー・タイムズ」の名作として人々に愛されてきました。この25周年記念2枚組アルバムには彼女が1960年代から1970年代にかけて作ったソングライティングデモ28曲が収録されています。

Songwriter, vocalist, and composer Margo Guryans sole 1968 album Take a Picture lives somewhere between cult classic and canon, its subtly complex, jazz-underscored sunshine pop perfection being discovered by new audiences perennially with each new generation. In addition to Take a Picture, Guryan penned songs for other artists throughout the 60s and 70s, occasionally landing a hit for acts like Jackie DeShannon or Spanky and Our Gang. 28 Demos is exactly what the title says: two-dozen-plus Guryan tunes made either as sketches or demo recordings to shop her songs to other artists. Many of these made it onto Take a Picture, and the differences between the 28 Demos versions and the official studio takes are interesting. Here, the stony funk-pop of "Sunday Mornin" has a thicker groove and a more solid performance than the album version, with an emphasis on tight group playing and an expressive electric piano filling the space that now seems cluttered by unnecessary strings on Take a Picture. “Think of Rain” is sleepier and mellower, and “Love Songs” has an entirely different character, straying from the dreamy Baroque arrangement of the album version in favor of a performance that almost hints at workingmans country. There are other nuggets of romantic sunshine pop on 28 Demos that should have been hits for Guryan, among them the peppy groover “Something’s Wrong with the Morning,” the melodic, bite-sized gem “Timothy Gone,” with an electric piano-heavy instrumental that could contend with the Zombies at their best, and more by-the-numbers ‘60s saccharine pop like “Under My Umbrella.” Some of the more interesting inclusions here are those that find Guryan trying on a different songwriting style than her usual post-Pet Sounds chamber pop. “I’d Like to See the Bad Guys Win” is a jaunty, compact tune that feels miles away from the lovelorn sound Guryan tends to embrace most often, and elsewhere there’s a soul-pop holiday tune in “I Don’t Intend to Spend Christmas Without You” and ominous, edgy rock on “California Shake,” a song about peace being disturbed by an earthquake. Guryan’s demos are less focused than the near-perfect time capsule that was Take a Picture, but they’re no less powerful. 28 Demos can be enjoyed as behind-the-scenes footage for that amazing album, and also as a deeper insight into the breadth of Guryan’s talent, and her ability to shape various styles around her particular songwriting voice. ~ Fred Thomas