Customer Reviews

Demos Federico

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gems and gold buried for 20 years! None of this material has ever been previously released, it's off demo tapes and you will be hearing in many cases pristine, brand-new Holly songs you've never heard before! Many are obviously, not sugar-coated by commercial production... and you'll love them that way--raw power and the clean edge of newborn songs. Highlights: the gorgeous epics "Hey Christine" and "Here Comes Another Day"; sweet surfy, irresistible "Love Letter"; "Lonely"; the two versions of "Mercy"; awesome demo versions of "Honalu" and "One More Dance"; hard-rockers "Weekend" and "Iguana"... and the never-before-heard original version of "You Can Love Her", which Shirley Manson covered as a devastating goth prophecy with Angelfish. There is the lovely second version of "The Lonely Ones", written for a movie soundtrack... and on and on.

Once you fall under the spell of Holly's unique, passionate, commanding, and unforgettable voice you'll trip on every one of these 29 songs! Echoes of goth, of surf beckon in the depths of these new wave war dances. They cover a whole spectrum and show all of Holly's vibrant styles... much like the facets of a diamond. Here and there, it is still a diamond in the rough, and you may wish you could dial down a slightly harsh track in an otherwise mind-blowing demo, but these are minor flaws utterly eclipsed by the steady professional power and inspiration flowing like high voltage through all of this music.
Thank God they released these!

Bottom line: ain't no "filler", ain't no "mellow" on these discs. In this case, "demo" stands for "demolition"!
29 rounds of live ammunition for your CD player.

As the previous reviewer said there is no filler here. Even though I've heard some of these songs before in different incarnations this still feels like a proper Holly album. These songs represent Holly during the time she kind of fell off the music map up to her resurfacing as the Oblivious. Everything here is a winner. The songs are so catchy and Holly is quite an underrated guitar player. Still I think it's her voice with its breathy romantic melancholy that sucks me in. It makes me glad to know that without a record contract Holly still moved onward and continued to make music of merit with little or no audience. The fact that these tracks have only recently seen the light really angers me in that so many monumentally untalented people crank out so much dreck when someone like Holly is ignored. I hope I'm not alone in eagerly awaiting to see if Holly decides to release anything anytime soon (it took almost a decade last time she went away). So how about it Holly? If you actually read this somewhat gushy review please know that you are missed respected and loved.

I go back a long way with H.B.V. Saw her twice, fell over myself to meet her backstage, telling her 'You have done such great things'!
Well, I got my copy about 6 months ago. I must say I've been listening to it pretty regularly since. As far as I am concerned, 'Lonely', with its cellos and crunchy rock chords is probably the most rocking song I have heard in a long damn time. And 'Mysteries of a Doll's House' is almost painfully plaintive; these are the best two songs from ANY artist in any pop/rock/folk/C&W idiom that I have heard in years. You know, if it weren't that Ms. Vincent is probably starving in LA, or at least not drowning in her success, I would be GLAD that there are so few of us to share this treasure. I am greedy.

It's hard to know how to write a review of what might unflatteringly be called a hodge-podge -- because that's what this is -- but I can't think of the last time I got a double CD set and listened to it all the way through for days in a row -- the first time when planning on going to sleep after one song!
I bought this thanks to the reviewer (name's not in front of me, sorry) who singled out "Lonely" and "Mysteries In A Doll's House". I could not grasp what he meant about the former, as it's hard to grasp the magnificence of an eight minute epic from 29 seconds! But the moment I heard the sample of "Lonely", I played it over and over before I knew I HAD to buy this set.
The Right To Be Italian, her first album and ONLY real one with the band The Italians (her second album was released as a solo LP; the promo 12"s for her version of "For What It's Worth" were credited to her, and re: the LP, her myspace does too! It was probably titled Holly and The Italians to capitalize on their (cough! cough!) success (which they SHOULD have had, The Right To Be Italian is a total classic, and NEEDS to be reissued).
Jump forward to The Oblivious, another band of Holly's, their CD "America" is a must too.

As is this.

First we start with four demos of Holly and The Italians, great early punk stuff from them, but better is to come immediately following. And some confusion starts, with demos for her solo album --ah, who cares, if solo or not, (though these seem to be the band), these versions of Honalu and Unoriginal Sin are fantastic, easily blowing away the over-produced deal of her second album, her first solo one. Guitars nice and up front.
Jump ahead 5 years to three demos from '82, Mercy, Love Letter and That Was are utterly fantastic. The last would be recorded again for the Oblivious album.
Then we go even further into greatness with the six demos from '88. These melancholy tunes are amongst the highlights of this for me. (and once again, one song, Does Anyone --see: The Oblivious). Holly Beth Vincent has one of the greatest voices in the world, in rock history. Incomparable to anyone, in a class of her own.

Disc two starts off on an odd note, for you may find the sound of a drum machine as discomforting as myself. But by the second of the four tracks here with one, you won't care anymore: the songs are too beautiful, with Witness being the last of three The Oblivous would re-record.

Then it's right straight to utter magnificence, the biggest set of highlights overall of the discs, with Holly doing five EPIC songs, just herself and her guitar, and her BEAUTIFUL voice, never sounding better than here, posiitively soaring (man could she hold NOTES!) --incredible sustain; and the songs, yes Mysteries In A Doll's House is indeed the best of these, and The Longest Breath will leave you breathless (I had to say that!) --no, these will leave you simply transfixed, in awe, their beauty and mangificence astonishing, and you may even pause for a moment and wonder "what would these have been like with a band?"
They're from 1992, so why they weren't tried with The Oblivious (maybe they were and we don't know it?) --is beyond comprehension.

I wish the lyrics were included here; just a great black and white photo by the great Roberta Bayley (as in Ramones, etc.)

Try Me is a fine cover of James Brown's most seductive, romantic song, and I love Holly, so it works for me.

Then out of nowhere comes a song, "Weekend", sure to please me to no end, sounding just like of my favorite bands, Social Distortion! (sans the vocals of course!)
That's right, feedback with roaring guitars out of nowhere, double-tracked, maybe triple or more, the most fantastic rocking song on here,
and where the title for this review is from; dig this lyric: "I'm better/ than anyone/ more aware than some, dumb, movie star!"
AMEN to THAT!
Fabulous solo follows a dream-like line for me "I think that we should go to BED!"

After a couple more great tunes, suddenly The Lonely Ones sounds good, despite that drum machine.

Despite the odd opening to disc two, this is sequenced really well.

Holly Beth Vincent, whose latest CD I admittedly only found out about a couple days ago (and the samples didn't sound very promising; I've yet to find out properly with a CD), had released one of the very best rock and roll/ "punk" albums ever with The Right To be Italian, then the sublime, beautiful, America a dozen years later;
well here she does sometimes equal those in my mind; I'm positively in love with this album and would recommend it to anyone who wants to hear what a woman with one of the greatest voices in rock, who writes her own songs (two covers here is all), SUPERB songs, and plays one hell of a mean guitar --sounds like.
Or if you've got The Right To be Italian, or any other of her CDs or albums, I can't recommend this enough.

Her voice alone will carry you to the stars -- yet that wouldn't mean much if the songs weren't there too. Bravo Holly!!!!!

Now would Wounded Bird (or SOMEONE?) PLEASE reissue her two out-of-print CDs? The first one is especially needed! (and this time, with BOTH mixes of I Wanna Go Home, PLEASE!)
If they think no-one's interested, look at the prices they command. Come on! The Right To Be Italian anyway, is such a total classic.

All true fans or rock and roll should buy this set.
If you've heard Holly before and liked her, and you've got some money for spending, whether to get this or not shouldn't even be a question. Don't let the "demos" tag throw you off.

A collection of song demos spanning Holly Beth Vincent's career from early Holly and the Italians [band] in the late 70's to tracks from the late 90's with producer Dave Jerden. Includes demos that landed her an offer from Island Records to record and sadly was not followed through on. An assortment of music/songs including homemade acoustic tracks. More pieces to the puzzle that is Holly Beth Vincent's work. A must for real fans.

If the world was fair, and it most certainly is not, when one mentioned music in the 80's, Madonna would be a footnote and Holly Beth Vincent would rate a chapter. But that would be to assume that people really want honesty and integrity in their music, which is sadly not the case, at least not for the masses. (See Britney Spears.) And that would be to assume also that that the music biz actually cared about promoting music of real worth. (The evidence is quite scanty on that front as well. There are no more John Hammonds in the music industry.)

How else does one explain the languishing career of someone as gifted as Holly? Yes I'm sure there a few personal reasons here, but as Demos Federico proves beyond all doubt is that great music can lie dormant for years recorded on sometimes oxidizing tapes buried in someone's drawers or closet and have more real value than most of the "hits" of the last 15 years. There are moments on these two very full discs that simply take my breath away in half a dozen directions at once. I would go as far as to say that this album is Holly's true achievement: To have committed this music to tape when hardly anyone seemed to care.

I'm absolutely mesmerized by "Love Letter", a seemingly innocuous title that wrestles with religious questions and personal doubts and hopes, all the while employing the most incredible use for surf guitar I've ever heard for non-surf music. The song takes a whole minute to get to the first verse, but what a glorious introduction. There hasn't been this much joy of musical invention for years. And then it becomes a seven-minute three chord garage epic.

There are also several slow mournful songs on the second disc, which are quite unique. "My Town" and "Mysteries of the Dollhouse" stand out. Both hit this slow droning effect. Like stripped down garage rock played at 16 RPM and Holly's voice is like slowly melting plastic, weirdly haunting.

Or try "You Can Love Her". Yes Shirley Manson covered this song on her Angelfish album. It's not a bad version. But when you hear Holly do her own song it's the difference between hearing Bob Dylan sing "Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and Joan Baez. Holly's version of "You Can Love Her" is sung in a voice that just gets into your heart. The guitar playing is simple like the real blues and just as stinging. And yet in this weirdly unfair scenario Shirley Manson goes on to be a huge star and Holly is left in the dust.

But Holly will be remembered far longer. Sometimes that which is buried is more precious than that which is spread too thin. Holly's music will endure. In my 80's Madonna is a manufactured commercial industry, but really when you look back on that sad hollow decade, which female voice was deeper than Holly Beth Vincent's. None that I can see,