DINOSAUR JR 'recognition' demo w/ Dale Crover

[black stallion]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZf9FegzqsU

nice story behind this as written by Lou Barlow on his fb page:

i'm not gonna lie (like i usually do?), recording my 2 songs for Dinosaur Jr's 'Farm' LP was really difficult..it was our second reunion-era record and though contributing to the 'Beyond' went surprisingly well, 'Farm' was another story.. afterwards I vowed, to myself, that when and if we did another record i would figure out an better way to present my songs (specifically drum-parts) to J and Murph..
a few years later when we began work on the songs that became 'I Bet On Sky' I was still searching for a plan to get my tunes across.. i was freaking out about it until I had a vivid dream in which I asked Dale Crover to play drums on some song-ideas..
the answer was right in front of me!..I knew Dale well, he lived close-by, our families hung out together, we lived parallel touring/fathering lives.. he had even helped me out with my 'Goodnight Unknown' solo LP..
you may ask: why didn't you go to him in the first place? why did you have to have a dream about it? well, i never assume that anyone -wants- to play music with me (yes, even people i have played with before) , in fact i think the opposite.. I know lots of people that have no trouble calling fellow musicians to collaborate, to be on their records etc...I'm not one of those people..I have a really difficult time asking for favors and i doesn't even occur to me to ask for help when i need it.. it's just the way it is (do -not- tell me how i shouldn't feel like that etc., it's just a thing with me, ok? i don't understand it either, it's annoying)
anyway..i woke up from the dream and then mustered up the courage to call Dale.. anyone who knows Dale knows this is ridiculous because he's easier than easy to talk to and always down to play music ..but, i'm a reject so i had to psych myself up to it..
he came down to my space and laid down f-in perfect drum ideas and i finished writing the music for 3 tunes in about an hour and a half with him behind the kit.. it was great. I had 3 reasonably clear-sounding, quick sketch demos to take to the sessions at J's house..
needless to say having demos with Dale Crover piqued J and Murph's interest and I was able to hold their focus and give them real details to chew on.. the sessions went smoothly and i was satisfied with the results.. though, honestly, Dale's original takes on the tunes give me melancholy pangs, they're so good..
for the latest Dinosaur Jr LP 'Give A Glimpse..' I made sure to -not- record the demos as well and leave more to Murph's discretion... I also moved back east from LA so Dale wasn't a resource anymore (swear to god that in itself made the move bittersweet)..
anyway, I yacked up a you-tube video to accompany the Dale version of Recognition so you can check it out...it had the working title 'get addicted'..the vocals were improv'd live when we he did the drums.. i like to keep early vocal attempts as sketches and let the words form out of the gibberish..i zero in on the final lyrics when the studio version is taking shape, i like the idea of the music influencing the words..
my final anecdote about this song, the LP version in particular: i took an incidental recording of a verbal melt-down i had during the Farm sessions and placed it in the instrumental section of the song backwards (hopefully indistinguishable!) to symbolize a victory over the confusion and anger of the time.. Dale really saved my ass on that record and put my head in the right place for everything that followed

[Dumpster D]

Woah! 

[meezer]

Dale plays drums on the half of the album that has drums.

https://youtu.be/l41mqgOfqDA