Opinions on demo version of Somebody Get Me a Doctor

[SilvioDante]

I was recently listening to some of the old demos. When I got to SGMAD, I realized how much I like the demo opening better than the version on VHII. Am I crazy or does anyone else agree?

[chefcraig]

If you are a fan of Toto, then maybe. Otherwise, yes, you are crazy, or at least have been bonked upon your head with a baseball bat a dozen times.

[SilvioDante]

If you are a fan of Toto, then maybe. Otherwise, yes, you are crazy, or at least have been bonked upon your head with a baseball bat a dozen times.

Point taken. Never noticed that before. Ouch.

[cadaverdog]

Gotta agree Craig. I like the rest of it though. You can understand every word. I don't miss the woo woo part from the album version either. Dave really puts emotion into the lyrics on the demo. Overall I give it

[Satan]

Actually, I always thought that Toto song borrowed from.....

[Guitar Shark]

That Toto song came out later, didn't it? Either way, I'm with you, Silvio. I like the beginning of the demo version better.

[VAiN]

I've always preferred the way they went into the 2nd half of the solo in the club days.. I really wish they didn't cut out for the studio, it's just fucking bad-ass!

[DLR Bridge]

I always thought the last three chords of Big Me by the Foo Fighters sounded like the opening to SGMAD. Dave likes VH. Maybe it was a tip of the hat.

[DLR Bridge]

I've always preferred the way they went into the 2nd half of the solo in the club days.. I really wish they didn't cut out for the studio, it's just fucking bad-ass!

Same here. I have a few versions with the extended jam. That odd time signature stuff is gold. Alex was as fierce in drums as Ed was on guitar.

[cadaverdog]

If this song had come out on an album after Ozzy put out his first solo album with Randy Rhoads they might have done it differently and kept some of the extra guitar work. I've never heard that before or I would have noticed Randy was probably influenced by Eddie during the Van Halen club years. Doesn't seem right that Quiet Riot got a record deal before Van Halen when they both played the L A club scene around the same time. I found a story about a review from a Rolling Stone critic that called Randy a "junior League Eddie Van Halen". Meaning he had lots of talent but lacked imagination. It's hard to figure out if that's a compliment about Ed or a put down. It might be both.

[Seshmeister]

I've always preferred the way they went into the 2nd half of the solo in the club days.. I really wish they didn't cut out for the studio, it's just fucking bad-ass!

I was just about to post the same thing.

[VHscraps]

Well, the alternative intro ... that reminds me ...

I don't know how many on here will know who Julian Cope is? An English singer who was moderately successful in the 80s and 90s over here in the UK. Anyway, he later became a writer of books on music (Krautrocksampler, Japrocksampler, etc), and has a lot of other writings on his website, Head Heritage. He's a bit in the Gonzo journalism / Hunter S. Thompson style, for those of you who like that kind of thing ...



He's a huge CVH fan.

So, one of the reviews on his site is of the Van Halen 'Atomic Punks' bootleg - the last show at the Pasadena Civic before VH1 came out - and there's a version of 'Somebody Get Me a Doctor' that Cope has a good description of, and when I read it, I thought of that old intro and its reprise after the solo:

"Side two opens by sucking us into the Sir Lord Baltimorean* “Somebody Get Me A Doctor”. Freed from its album two bondage and fixed with a six-inch syringe full of the good John Garner Juice, what a heathen racket this be! I mean this song is just a festival of utter confusion – I wish I didn’t know it and I’m jealous of those who might be being introduced to this song for the first time via this particular version."

*Note: Sir Lord Baltimore was seemingly an early 70s US hard rock band that Cope thinks were quite like VH.

[cadaverdog]

"Side two opens by sucking us into the Sir Lord Baltimorean* “Somebody Get Me A Doctor”. Freed from its album two bondage and fixed with a six-inch syringe full of the good John Garner Juice, what a heathen racket this be! I mean this song is just a festival of utter confusion – I wish I didn’t know it and I’m jealous of those who might be being introduced to this song for the first time via this particular version."

Sometimes it's hard to believe we speak the same language. That sounds like somebody addressing Parliament. I'm surprised he didn't end that with "pip pip cheerio" . I've heard Robert Plant describing music like that before. Doesn't sound anything like he does when he's singing. How come Brits sound like Americans when they sing but not when they talk?

[VHscraps]

Sometimes it's hard to believe we speak the same language. That sounds like somebody addressing Parliament. I'm surprised he didn't end that with "pip pip cheerio" . I've heard Robert Plant describing music like that before. Doesn't sound anything like he does when he's singing. How come Brits sound like Americans when they sing but not when they talk?

I heard it once said that the English language as it is spoken today in certain parts of the USA (particularly the parts that were early colonies) is probably closer to English as it was spoken in England in 1775, or whatever, than English as it is spoken today in England.

But, this is not what you mean.

Of course, he talks what a pal of mine terms 'intellectual bollocks'. But I don't mind that now and again ...

[cadaverdog]

Of course, he talks what a pal of mine terms 'intellectual bollocks'. But I don't mind that now and again ...

Sometimes it sounds like snobbery. Other times it makes a simple statement sound more important.