LOVE
(released on Capitol in December 2004)
The story of LOVE, one of Plaastik's most unusual projects to date, begins in 1998, when Nick Parker and Janet Kieran were married. Kieran bought Parker a four-track home recorder as a wedding gift, and eventually they began to play together regularly in their living room. Besides some sessions of noodling, this produced two lengthy demo tapes in 2000 and 2002, the latter augmented by a forty-minute jam in 2003. When the tapes were presented to the rest of the band shortly after the departure of Christina Singleton, the new song demos -- which made up a majority of the recordings -- were received with great enthusiasm by the others. Various plans were to use them to expand CHILD and make it a double-album, to scrap CHILD altogether and record Nick and Janet's new songs, to release an album immediately after CHILD using Nick and Janet's songs as source material, or simply to release the demo tape verbatim. Both the band and Capitol Records went back and forth on the subject for months, at one point postponing an entire promotional tour (never rescheduled) to give the band time to record the songs in full performance mode. Alas, in December 2004, only two months after CHILD hit stores, LOVE was released, the set of demos unaugmented with no immediate plans to record them properly, a decision heavily criticized by many fans, who lamented the amateurish nature of the LOVE recordings and the fact that many of the songs were not even fully composed at the time of the demos. Furthering this sentiment was the glut of excellent songs that were poorly presented on the album, given that it was revealed that several songs (including "All Over You" and "So Wet," among others) had been left off because they were potentially usable for a future LP.
The songs on the LOVE tape all feature simple instrumentation of acoustic guitars and Janet and Nick's voices. Occasionally there is piano or a drum machine. No one else is on any of the recordings except "Cut," which also features Tina, who sings the track having just written the song while visiting Nick. Several of the songs were demos of tracks that had already been released by 2002, having been rerecorded for SCIENCE or CHILD. A few others were older Plaastik songs played "just for fun."
Complete tracklist of the LOVE tapes, per Jeff Jooce:
2000
? Love Jam [see entry for "You and Me"]
This I Promise You [released as b-side to Scarlett]
LowRYDE [unreleased to date]
My One and Only [released on LOVE]
The Big Country [released as b-side to Ex]
Nightroad [unreleased to date]
Suite/Cut [released as b-side to Rose listed as "Cut"]
How Can You Be Sure? [unreleased to date]
Crazy/Crazy/Crazy/Crazy [unreleased to date]
Wait Until Darkness [released on LOVE]
You Can See [released on LOVE]
Imagine/No. 9 Dream/Stand by Me [released as b-side to "My One and Only"]
World = Round [released on LOVE]
Hearts [released on LOVE]
Gave It All to You [released on LOVE]
No [released on LOVE]
2002
I Thought [released on LOVE]
Someday [released on LOVE]
Rose [released on LOVE]
Fuck Me Forever [unreleased to date]
All Over You [unreleased to date]
Ex [released on LOVE]
For You [released on LOVE]
Rape of Loss [unreleased to date]
Golden [released on LOVE]
So Wet (You Make Me) [unreleased to date]
Walking Distance [released as b-side to "My One and Only"]
My Field [released as b-side to "Ex"]
Window to the World [unreleased to date]
Hamlet [released as b-side to "Rose"]
LOVE was considered a "side project" album, as FUN, OLIVES & SUCH, and SODAS IN HELL had been, though the band seemed to have more enthusiasm for it than they did for any of those earlier records. They were confident enough in it to be insistent that no singles would be released, but they buckled under pressure from Capitol and released three maxi-singles that became huge hits and were better received by many fans than the album itself, with their expansive selections of new studio versions of songs from LOVE (this time, the band claimed that songs not presented in "band" versions on the singles would be released in that guise later, to the relief of fans) as well as extra material from the demo tape and several overdubbed demos, leading some to believe that simple overdubbing could have LOVE a more interesting record. The singles were no small time-filler project; they were approached by the band in 2005 as if they were recording another album.
Thanks to the hits it produced and to the intimacy it reveals, LOVE does have a following and will be remembered as one of Plaastik's most adventurous stunts.
tracklist:
1. It's Stupid
2. My One and Only (single 2)
3. Wait Until Darkness
4. I Thought
5. Someday
6. You Can See
7. World = Round
8. Hearts
9. Gave It All to You
10. Rose (single 1)
11. Ex (single 3)
12. For You
13. Golden
14. No
15. You and Me (Is It Childish to Have These Thoughts?)
Rose b-sides
Rose [full band (single) version]
Rose [alternate demo #1]
Wait Until Darkness [full band version]
I Thought [alternate demo w/ overdubs]
Hamlet [from LOVE tape]
Hearts [alternate demo #1]
Cut [from demo tape]
No [full band version]
Rose [alternate demo #2]
My One and Only b-sides
My One and Only [full band verison]
My One and Only [alternate demo]
Golden [remix with vocals]
Imagine / No. 9 Dream / Stand by Me
For You [alternate demo]
Walking Distance [demo]
You Can See [full band version]
My One and Only [full band, acoustic]
Ex b-sides
Ex [full band (single) version]
Ex [alternate demo]
For You [full band version]
My Field [demo]
Someday [alternate demo w/ overdubs]
The Big Country
Wait Until Darkness [alternate demo]
It's Stupid [full band version]
Hearts [alternate demo #2 w/ band overdubs]