Dance Lessons, Dance Into The Light Demo CD with unreleased tracks.

So.. browsing the movement site.. this bootleg has shown up,

Phil Collins "Dance Lessons"-The Dance Into The Light Demos

Track1 The Same Moon 4:43
Track2 It's In Your Eyes 3:00
Track3 Times Are A Changing 5:42
Track4 Head Held High 5:09
Track5 Take Me Down 3:23
Track6 Another Time 5:23
Track7 Lorenzo 4:42
Track8 I don't Wanna go 2:50
Track9 It's Over 4:21
Track10 Let It Run Free 4:38
Track11 River So Wide 5:36
Track12 It's In Your Eyes 2:59

Having heard the tracks its clear they are demos, even songs like Another Time which were only released on the Toyota CD, though they are more fully formed than some demos previously heard.  It's kind of exciting that Phil has things like this in his archive.. these things exist. The only song that sounds like one that has been released is It's Over, which was released as an "early demo" on the Dance Into The Light single CD, so it seems these songs are from the same "snapshot" of the DITL album.

Of the tracks here, the "new" ones Head Held High is like most of the album has african influences, is sparse, and appears to be a song about two opposing sides, one rich/one poor, from some of the lyrics. But it is an incomplete song (lyrically), with only a first verse really... there is a For A Friend feel about the start of the song.

Let It Run Free, feels similar to DITL but doesnt.. in fact listening again I think it sounds like Son Of Man from Tarzan, which appeared after DITL. This song doesnt have any lyrics either except "let it run free" in the chorus's..

Of the tracks here, The Same Moon, is quiet nice, some different words, but sounds similar to the album version, It's In Your Eyes, sounds pretty much like it does on the album, in fact its probably hard to consider it a demo, though it perhaps lacks the final polish given to songs. (Both Versions sound pretty much alike..so i'm not sure why they are on here twice)

The Times They Are A Changin' again sounds like the album version, I would expect that the majority of the vocals on the track made the album, it does have more of a demo feel to it though, with things like guitar not really part of the track, with this backing track Phil's vocals seem noticably stronger. It maybe that on the album version its more crowded musically and Phil's voice doesnt make it through as strongly, the main thing here being the absence of real drums. (or real sounding ones..)

Take Me Down is stripped back as you'd expect, no synthetic horns, or they arent as prominent in the mix, i'm not actually sure if i prefer this to the final version!

Another Time, this is one of my fav Phil tracks of all time, and this version has Phil singing it a little slower, it actually seems as though Phil is singing about the madness back in 1995, through the whole "fax" era, with the different line "they cant tear this love apart, though they try, do they mean the things they say, cant they see how much it hurts, oh but how would they know, in another time in another place it might have been so different" Compare this to the released "should we believe the things they say, oh but how would they know" it says something very different. I think the extra lyrics change the song slightly, make it more personal.

Lorenzo, this song doesnt have the drums of the album version, the more i listen the more i think these are home demos, but its a demo album of course they are home demos.. but some of them sound very much like finished tracks, so its hard to imagine they are done at home away from a full studio etc, so thats why I say that. I know... sound stupid right?

I Dont Want To Go, this song is a lot slower, and you can hear the vocals more, they are a lot clearer because the tempo isnt as quick as the b-side version, there is definately a feel of Phil trying to capture some of the 60's sound, there are slightly different lyrics, and this one does sound like a home demo..!

River So Wide, this does have drums at the start, this song is almost fully formed as well, with pretty much the same lyrics as the album, but as i've been saying all the way through, drums/guitar arent there yet, so its makes for an interesting listen.

This is a nice collection of demos, and ultimately for me, more interesting than Phil's current release Going Back! Which disppeared from my CD changer fairly rapidly, and although I like the songs it hasnt stood up to repeated listens, but then, I dont listen to as much Phil now as I once used to anyway.