I know that I'm technically jumping ahead in time with this post, as I'm dealing with all the material from 2010 at the moment, but this was just too good pass up for however long that will take. It's the band's 2011 SOS Festival appearance in Spain during May of that year and it's worth your time for a couple of reasons.
This is a chance to hear a lost classic being played in a professional recording; Two Hearted Spider. If you're new to the band, or you arrived around the time of The Weight of Your Love then you'll know the song, but you might not be aware of it's alter ego from before that album was complete. Two Hearted Spider was a song that was intended for Editors' 4th studio album, something that the band were preparing for right up until it became apparent that the four original members could no longer work together (Chris would be gone less than a year after this gig). It was then reworked post-Urbanowicz and became a very different song in terms of its style. The take you hear during this show has Chris all over it, and is a natural progression from Papillon in terms of its dancefloor friendly credibility. It would later be slowed down slightly and made into a tune that is lyrically identical, but which grows and becomes something bigger as it progresses.
When you put the two versions that exist of it side by side, the live performances vs the finished studio take, then it's clear what changes have been made. Some of these were undoubtedly necessitated by Chris no longer being an Editor and thus, similarly to The Sting, his creative input was either lessened or removed completely from the subsequent recorded product on TWOYL. Ultimately it's unclear because only the four people involved in the original construction of that song know who did what.
Listening to this is both exciting and sad at the same time. We'll probably never know how the studio recording of the original Two Hearted Spider sounded. I do remember vividly Ed posting a photo on his Instagram account of a hard drive featuring the label "Album 4 Flood Sessions", and the caption underneath was a single word;
"Failure"
It's always stuck with me, because it's just such a sad sentiment and particularly from a band that I have an enormous amount of fondness and respect for. It's tough to say which Two Hearted Spider I appreciate more, because they are both great songs. My own personal favourite variant featuring Mr Urbanowicz is this one from Coke Festival, purely because of the power it possesses and the slightly manic performance by Mr Smith. However, the form it took during Werchter 2012 when the band were on the verge of collapse is by far the winner in terms of the raw, unfiltered emotion that was conveyed.
The other song of note is the full band, electric version of No Sound But The Wind. Another song with a history that newer fans might not have knowledge of, there were always 2 competing versions of it. One is the Werchter-flattening juggernaut of Tom and his piano, the other is this one, with each Editor playing a part in making it whole. I always had a soft spot for the electric rendition, purely because of the energy it gives off. I do, however, love the idea of a bunch of Twilight fans being turned onto a different kind of music by hearing the other take on the soundtrack to that movie. I suspect, given the band's love of devious pop subversion, that this was a motivating factor in their decision to include it.
Finally, those Spanish DJs sure do love to talk over the beginning of songs, don't they? It's incessant, virtually every song that Editors play has a rambling intro from them which cuts into the performance. I know it's all about stopping bootleggers, although as a tactic it may have actually been less than successful.
Cough.
I've left it all intact because I know there are Spanish fans out there who might be looking in, and who would appreciate hearing the broadcast in its original language. Plus, the overall beautiful sound quality of this show means that it shouldn't be too much of a deterrence to those of you who don't speak it. Enjoy the music everyone ;)
stream it here
MP3s
Camera - download here
Bones - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Two Hearted Spider - download here
You Don't Know Love - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
No Sound but the Wind - download here
Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool - download here
Munich - download here
Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors - download here
In This Light and on This Evening - download here
Bricks and Mortar - download here
Papillon - download here
Fingers in the Factories - download here
Everything in a zip
download here or download here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
