Max Webster
Toronto, ON, Canada
The Sound Kitchen
November 20-23, 1978


This is a demo tape of Max Webster in the midst of refining their arrangements for the A Million Vacations album with producer John deNottbeck. Some of them are close to the final versions while others have a very long way to go, many of which would be cut down to considerably shorter lengths. Paradise Skies barely resembles the final studio version until the vocal kicks in a minute into the piece, which sets the tone for the kind of trip this is going to be.

I'll Remember is a ballad that nearly ended up on the album, as they continued to work on it into January 1979 (the album was released in March). Producer deNottbeck says he intended to compose a string section for the piece, but something didn't translate over from the demo version to the tracking stage, so the song was abandoned.

Moon Voices has an entire other section that would later be scrapped. It's ballsy and aggressive.

A track written by Dave Myles called Fate was tried out for Mutiny Up My Sleeve, and it gets another shot at prime time here - this time with a vocal. Anyone know who the singer is ? I asked Dave and he said it's not him, but he composed the piece so it may well be (not everyone's memory is as solid as Jimmy Page's).

Charmonium is also in its primitive stages here, with a whole other ending instead of returning to the chorus. The eventual ending was composed for live versions of Astonish Me played around this time, and the two would soon be paired together for perpetuity.

Lady Let Me In goes back to 1975, and some of its lyrics would soon end up in Let Go The Line, the latter of which has an entirely different fusion-oriented middle section here. Watkinson recalls the rest of the band weren't yet sold on the track by this point, and within a couple months he would re-write the verses, resulting in the first Max Webster song to be spun on AM radio.

Good news - I had actually forgotten about this tape, so there will still be one more Max Webster post next weekend. Rejoice !


Cassette (TDK D-C60) > WAV > FLAC level 8

(transfer: Yamaha KX-670 tape deck > Scarlett Focusrite interface > Pro Tools)


Lineup:

Kim Mitchell - guitar & lead vocals
Terry Watkinson - keyboards & lead vocals
Gary McCracken - drums @ lead vocals
Dave Myles - bass


1) Paradise Skies
2) Sun Voices
3) I'll Remember
4) Look Out
5) Rascal Houdi
6) Moon Voices
7) Fate
8) A Million Vacations
9) Night Flights
10) Charmonium
11) Lady Let Me In
12) Let Go The Line


Enjoy, and please keep it lossless (and don't bootleg this - particularly rockinconcerts.com; if you are the person who runs that website, you are pure scum).