Codeine - Dessau (2022) [Hi-Res]

Numero digs up a full suite of demos from proto slowcore heroes Codeine's 1992 "Barely Real" sessions. One for the heads.

If you peeped Numero Group's bumped-up 2012 reissue of "Barely Real", you might already be familiar with the Dessau mythology. When Codeine were attempting to record their influential 1990 debut album "Frigid Stars" they embarked on a series of sessions that failed to generate enough coherent material for a complete album - tracks that would end up making up the "Barely Real" EP. And after a Sub Pop-funded jaunt in Manhattan and a cheaper session in Allston near Boston, they began recording in New York City again at Harold Dessau Recording Studio. Vocalist Stephen Immerwahr was unhappy with the tracks: he wasn't content with his vocals, wanted to dub the songs at even slower tempos and heard high pitched noises in the recordings.

Listening now, it's tough to hear exactly what Immerwahr was concerned with - the tracks sound as good as the versions that eventually ended up on "Barely Real" and at times are barely discernible from the finished article. Fans will no-doubt be interested in hearing the complete session (only four of these tracks made it to the "Barely Real" re-release and the "When I See The Sun (Demos & Live Cuts)" compilation), but this probably isn't essential for casual listeners.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Codeine - Sea (6:46)
1.02 - Codeine - Jr (3:26)
1.03 - Codeine - Tom (4:14)
1.04 - Codeine - I Wonder (4:39)
1.05 - Codeine - Realize (5:19)
1.06 - Codeine - Something New (5:21)
1.07 - Codeine - Wird (5:24)
1.08 - Codeine - Smoking Room (3:07)