The Kitchen Tape
| The Kitchen Tape | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demo by Weezer | |||||
| Released | 1992 | ||||
| Recorded | August 1992 | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||
| Weezer chronology | |||||
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The Kitchen Tape is the name of Weezer's second demo tape. It was recorded in an attempt to create a "serious" demo to hand around local clubs in attempts to generate "a buzz." During the recording process, the project was dubbed Weezer's First Album.
Overview
The demo was mostly recorded beginning August 1, 1992 at the band's rehearsal space in the garage at 2226 Amherst Avenue. Initially labeled Weezer's First Album during the recording process, the title The Kitchen Tape was later adopted as the drums were recorded in the house's kitchen.[1] The band recorded using Rivers Cuomo's 8-track tape recorder. It was long thought that the songs "Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me", "Let's Sew Our Pants Together" and "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" originated from the band's first demo and were simply added to the tape,[2] but Karl Koch confirmed in 2024 that the first demo and Kitchen Tape demo are both separate recordings entirely.[3] About 12 copies of the demo were produced in total.[1][4]
If they suceeded in getting a full albums worth of good material, then they would look into making an indie record out of it. But they were aware it was unlikely they'd get a full albums worth of good stuff out of it. the project was ambitiously titled "weezer's first ablum". Later, the name "the kitchen tape" was adopted because the drums were recorded in the kitchen, adjacent to the garage. [...] When the dust settled they had 8 decent tracks, and conceeded that this was to be "demo #2", not "album #1".
Three songs from the tape ("Undone - The Sweater Song," "Paperface," and "Only in Dreams") were released officially on the bonus disc Dusty Gems and Raw Nuggets, from the Deluxe Edition of The Blue Album. The rest of the tracks were excluded as they were considered too "sloppy" by Todd Sullivan,[5] Weezer's former A&R manager at Geffen who also produced the deluxe release of The Blue Album.[6] The Kitchen Tape recording of "Undone" also appeared on the promotional CD Deluxe Edition Sampler - Volume 3. The Kitchen Tape recording of "My Name Is Jonas" was uploaded to Weezer's YouTube channel on May 10, 2024 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Blue Album.
Digital rips of The Kitchen Tape have circulated online since the early 2000s. An unofficial bootleg CD mentioned in an issue of Beatleg Magazine features some of the recordings, indicating that they have been in circulation since before June 2002 (the magazine's publication date). However, before 2016, only 6 of the demo's total 8 songs had been distributed online or released in an official capacity. The Kitchen Tape's versions of "Say It Ain't So" and "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" remained unheard until 2016 (see: Opposite Sides of the Same Good Ol' Fence).
Track list
Two versions of the tape were distributed, one with 8 tracks and another with only 5. The latter excludes "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here", "Undone" and "Say It Ain't So."[1][4]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me" | Rivers Cuomo, Pat Wilson | 3:40 |
| 2. | "My Name Is Jonas" | Cuomo, Wilson, Jason Cropper | 3:18 |
| 3. | "Let's Sew Our Pants Together" | Cuomo | 4:32 |
| 4. | "Undone (The Sweater Song)" | Cuomo | 5:39 |
| 5. | "Paperface" | Cuomo | 3:06 |
| 6. | "Say It Ain't So" | Cuomo | 4:22 |
| 7. | "Only in Dreams" | Cuomo | 5:59 |
| 8. | "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" | Cuomo, Wilson | 5:09 |
| Total length: | 35:45 | ||
Opposite Sides of the Same Good Ol' Fence
| Opposite Sides of the Same Good Ol' Fence | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Official cover
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| Demo by Weezer | |||||
| Released | September 4, 1992 | ||||
| Recorded | August 1992 | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock | ||||
| Weezer chronology | |||||
|
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Opposite Sides of the Same Good Ol' Fence is the title of a copy of The Kitchen Tape given by Cuomo to engineer Paul du Gré (who would eventually produce the Blue Album b-sides "Mykel & Carli", "Susanne", and "My Evaline") in September 1992. The tape contains the same recordings as The Kitchen Tape, with all 8 tracks included in a new sequence. The tape was purchased in an eBay auction in June of 2016 by an All Things Weezer forum user, Geewiz, for $4,350, partially crowd-sourcing the purchase via donations from other forum members.[7]. The tape would be re-released on CD and Vinyl with the upcoming 30th Super Deluxe Box Set.
Track list
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Say It Ain't So" | Rivers Cuomo | 4:22 |
| 2. | "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" | Cuomo/Pat Wilson | 5:09 |
| 3. | "Paperface" | Cuomo | 3:06 |
| 4. | "Undone (The Sweater Song)" | Cuomo | 5:39 |
| 5. | "Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me" | Cuomo/Wilson | 3:40 |
| 6. | "My Name Is Jonas" | Cuomo/Wilson/Jason Cropper | 3:18 |
| 7. | "Let's Sew Our Pants Together" | Cuomo | 4:32 |
| 8. | "Only In Dreams" | Cuomo | 5:59 |
| Total length: | 35:45 | ||
Gallery
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Kitchen Tapes 8-track "reels"
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Opposite Sides J-card with track list
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Opposite Sides cassette
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Fan Cover used prior to Blue's 30th deluxe
See Also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Recording History - Page 3
- ↑ Weezine Issue #3, 1995.
- ↑ Koch, Karl (as Karlophone). (August 9, 2024). Weezerpedia Discord server. Archived from the original on Weezerpedia at File:Karl_confirms_different_takes.jpg.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 weezer.com "Historic event: 08/01/1992" Archived by Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20050125134334/http://www.weezer.com/karlscorner/chrono.asp?NEWSID=9331
- ↑ File:Atw-karl-bde-toddsullivan.png
- ↑ Weezer (The Blue Album): Deluxe Edition liner notes. Screenshot: File:Bluedeluxejapbooklet24.jpg
- ↑ Geewiz. "KITCHEN TAPE MEGATHREAD -- scans on p. 10" All Things Weezer. 19 June 2016. https://allthingsweezer.com/index.php?threads/kitchen-tape-megathread-scans-on-p-10.37913/ Screenshot: File:Atw-geewiz-kitchentapethread.png
