Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:31 am
Like a lot of other posters have already said, I just want to reiterate that the version of "NW3" included in the box set is amazing. I've always especially loved the song; it seems to have a sort of teeming dynamism to it, like it is constantly on the verge of eruption but is so delicately restrained and focused. Plus, it strikes me as a dreary, wintery, London song--which, of course, it is--and those ones are always my favorites.
Anyway, has anyone else noticed the different drum patterns used by Andrew Rankin on this song on the Falconer demos as opposed to the version included in the box set, or any of the numerous live bootlegs of it? On the box set version, the sound is a rolling beat with a lot of work on the toms. (I'm not a drummer, so please excuse my technical ignorance.) But on the Falconer demos, the beat is straight and the snare seems to hit at twice the previous rate. Also on the Falconer demos version, the drums seem to play a larger role in the building intensity of the verses from the first four bars through to the third set each time around--you know, moving from clicks on the rim of the snare to straight hits on the head.
I don't have any critical comments to offer on this incidence, but I just think it's an interesting difference to bring to light. Production issues aside, I think the version of "NW3" in the box set works better with the rolling pattern, but as a person who listens typically to punk and its various offshoots, I continually want to hear the straight, faster beat of the Falconer demos version, especially on this song.
I am a nerd.