LDR Album Process Discussion

[Yes To Heaven 2,937]

Was Lana recording something during that shoot? 

[shadesofloveduthenandnow 20,588]

31 minutes ago, BlackoutZone said:

Yes! Zach Dawes, it was made at the same time as original Thunder and as far as I remember Lana considered it for BB as well

I KNEW I remembered hearing/reading it was a Dawes/TLSP scrap 

[West Coast 44,812]

This makes me appreciate Ultraviolence even more than I already did. 

[lanaismamom 11,181]

pretty when you cry by dan auerbach.... this song already holds the ultraviolence heaviness and darkness but i cant imagine how heavier and darker dan auerbach's version's supposed to be.... i definitely wasnt ready to know that

[prettywhenimhigh 48,493]

16 hours ago, lanaismamom said:

well im done!
 

  Reveal hidden contents

1) INTRO
BOZ: Before I answer anything, I just wanted to say that at the end of the day I am not Lana, I am not in her head, I was not in the room when these songs were made and there is always a tiny bit of chance that I am wrong. Everything I'm revealing is based on (sometimes years of researching) things I listened to, read about or heard from people who worked with her directly. I do find timeliness, demos, drafts etc very fascinating as it gives you some additional cool insight of what was happening behind the scenes so I'll happily join the discussions here

2)TRNS-AM
BOZ: Starting with the name, I personally never heard of "Trans-Am" being referenced, whether as a song title, album title or some project. Maybe it was a code name Lana used, maybe something insignificant. I did however see Tropico being used interchangeably as LP2/Second studio album form late 2012. I suspect that Lana had a visual idea for it from the start and already was in talks to make a movie for it in early stages. Maybe it went as far as her signing some agreements or label scheduling some timelines that had to be met in order to make the visual happen, but when it approached Lana might have decided she is not ready with the record at all and needs more time to finish it so they made ultimate decision to use the visual for Paradise edition instead. Since the name Tropico was more attached to the visual theme than the album she was making, she changed the album name and kept Tropico for the movie

3) PHOTO OF TRACKLIST 27 JANUARY 2013

BOZ: What I see here and what seems to make sense by what existed in January 2013 already:
1. Old Money?
2. Black Beauty?
3. ??
4. Lake Placid
5. Summertime
6. Melancholia
7. Jesus (ITTJ)
8. Pink Champagne - this is the original name of Let Me Love You Like A Woman demo
9. Elvis
10. Earthquakes
and further I can't read, but it Guns n Roses, Money Power Glory and maybe Cherry Blossom I'd expect to be on such draft from that time as well

4) WHY PARADISE TRACKS WERENT INCLUDED IN 27 JANUARY 2013 TRACKLIST
BOZ: Because it was not planned. She wanted the visual to be made for songs only from the new record. I guess she wanted to launch the album alongside, but when she realized the album was not ready they just decided to use it for Paradise era and create different visuals for LP2 when it's all done.

5) ELVIS
"is elvis a rework of the 2008 laptop demo, or a new song?"
BOZ: Never heard about Elvis being actually reworked, but it's a song Lana remembered if that makes sense. Also wasn't it used for some movie a few years ago, that Lana acknowledged as well? They surely used the "final" existing version there
"yeah, there's no knowledge of elvis being re-recorded or any studio version of it existing, but it's interesting that it's there, i was just wondering if you knew if it was a new song or if it was the "elvis" we already had, if this is the already-leaked elvis, it could've been a different, more complete version, the version that was used in that documentary is the laptop demo"
BOZ: I think this is something she could have planned, but never executed. Even though the picture was from 2013 the notepad writing, could have been a bit older, but either way at that time some of the other songs only existed as voice memos/laptop demos as well. So she just put together what she liked and planned to finish and that's something she kept changing a lot further on

6) TALKING LIKE AN ANSWERING MACHINE
BOZ: Talking like an Answering Machine is a bit of a mystery to me as well, but there seems to be a higher chance that it's real rather than that it's not

7) MELANCHOLIA
BOZ: Melancholia uses seemingly the same instrumentation as UV and some parts of the melody, but outside of that it's pretty much a very different song, very rough though.

8) AVE MARIA
BOZ: Lana did record Ave Maria, it was considered for UV even "after Tropico"

9) PINK CHAMPAGNE (LET ME LOVE YOU LIKE A WOMAN ULTRAVIOLENCE VERSION)
BOZ: -bridge originally was pre-chorus
-completely reworked and stripped from its original cinematic psychedelic production

10) FINE CHINA, YES TO HEAVEN, YOUR GIRL, I TALK TO JESUS
- I'm gonna do a whole post on Yes To Heaven, Fine China and Your Girl, but it's gonna be an essay, cause there is a lot to say, especially in relation to the Eclipse leaked files... I need some time to put it together
- ITTJ is another essay-type post I don't have energy for right now

11) DAN AUERBACH SESSIONS
-Dan Auerbach never produced SYTH or Fine China
-Dan did demos of Pretty When You Cry and Guns & Roses

12) YES TO HEAVEN, FINE CHINA, YOUR GIRL FINALS?
BOZ: I'm not sure about YTH, but Fine China went as far as being mixed by Rob Orton and it's a Rick Nowels version. Same with Your Girl
But as soon as she came back to work on Honeymoon the first person to touch SYTH again was Rick so you could say the last version of YTH for UV was Rick's (per leaked files though - James Ford version is the latest, from April 2014 I think)

13) I DONT WANNA GO/LAKE PLACID
BOZ: I Don't Wanna Go / Tonight / Black Leather Moonlight (as annoying as it sounds, all 3 titles are equally correct, you can use whichever one you want) that leaked is from mid 2012, then it was rewritten and re-produced as Lake Placid for Tropico/UV

14) WEST COAST (ROB ORTON MIX)
"why Lana released this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3SqUUoJjW8) version of West Coast first, but ended up putting this other mix (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNiInqEFdQk) on the album and also used it for the music video?"
BOZ: The simple answer to this is that Rob Orton, UV's mixing engineer, was still mixing the tracks at the time of WC release and they just attached earlier mix to it. Pretty sure it was even released on streaming later as Rob Orton mix or something

15) PINK FLAMINGOS, GET HIGH, ICE CREAM
"are "Pink Flamingos", "Ice Cream" and "Get High" demos of the released songs off the Honeymoon songs or just title ideas?"
BOZ: I don't recall Get High, but yes the other 2 are definitely real OG titles of the songs so Get High might as well be

16) WEST COAST (RICK NOWELS/RADIO MIX VERSION)
BOZ: Yes and it's not only that, it's kinda a pattern throughout her career!
Each time Lana wrote a song with Rick, but it was released with/alongside someone else's production, but she still liked the demo, she would finish it with Rick and release as radio mix.

17) IN JUNE 2014 INTERVIEW LANA SAID "RECORD" - WAS SHE REFERRED TO A SONG OR AN ALBUM/EP?
BOZ: Pretty sure that what she said was "I have an idea for this record called Music to Watch Boys to", but I don't know in what context she meant that, I would say it was about the song, but please note that first actual recording sessions for HM with Rick started in September 2014, so everything prior was just ideas

18) DARK PARADISE/SUMMERTIME SADNESS RADIO MIXES a.k.a. RICK NOWELS FINALS
BOZ: Radio mixes of Dark Paradise and Summertime Sadness are both finished Rick demos (alos demo versions for these versions exist)

19) IF YOU LIE DOWN WITH ME
BOZ: It was properly reworked for Blue Banisters

20) 2013 and 2015 SOUNDCHECKS
BOZ: I know nothing about this, same with that St. Petersburg soundcheck song. I tried to find out what this was all about, but never reached anything.
What I did learn however is that Lana happens to improvise random things during soundchecks as a form of warm up and I think these might be those cases. But I really don't know

21) AXL ROSE HUSBAND
"apart from Elvis and the ones we already knew of, does Lana ‘remember’ (as you put it) any of her unreleased songs pre-2012?"
BOZ: hmm Axl Rose Husband!
And as you know Methamphetamines turned into Old Money

22) LFL OUTTAKES
"would you be able to spill about witchy lfl outtakes?"
BOZ: What I'll say tho... if you are to manifest some amazing outtakes. Manifest LFL outtakes.

23) WEST COAST LYRICS
""He's crazy y Cubano como yo my love" or "como yo la la""
BOZ: He's crazy y Cubano como yo my love

24) JAMIE XX
BOZ: Jamie xx did a demo of Old Money as well as Black Beauty in 2013. Sadly it doesn't seem like they worked on original material together

25) +100 SONGS
BOZ: any claims that Lana made 100+ songs for any album are just wrong

26) NEON SHADOWS
BOZ: Yeah this surely (edited)

must be wrong (registered), never heard about it

27) REWORKED SONGS
"Do we have "already leaked" songs that we don't know were considered for any albums?
Like I know we already have a shit ton of btd outtakes but I'm guessing there are LOTS of btd outtakes that we already have but we don't even know they're btd outtakes"
BOZ: there are a few, but some would literally collapse on the thought that she reworked that so I'd rather you just be surprised if something leaks one day

28) NEW TITLE
Earthquakes (supposedly late 2012-early 2013)

 

29) "129 TRACKS FOR LUST FOR LIFE" MYSTERY

BOZ: -129 tracks refers to amount of audio tracks in the song's session as someone explained. But while we are on the topic - LFL, the song, has 323 mixes which i think is the most for any Lana song ever

-that song went through a LOT and we have like.. close to none of it

30) MIXES FOR RICK NOWELS' SONGS
BOZ: Y&B, Dark Paradise, even SYTH among some that got beyond 100. But as you noted, some of those are nearly identical, Rick and his engineers are just very strict and every single slightest change gets noted as new mix. Not all of them even have to be exported

31) RECORDING DATES
BOZ: California and Crazy for You are from the very first sessions for HM in 2014, IIDY is however from 2015 already I believe

32) OFF TO THE RACES DEMO
BOZ: This is low key my most wanted Lana thing of all time and it might be lost

33) ON UFB, LANA AND BARRIE
BOZ: -There was a period of time when Lana and Barrie would just... travel, everywhere. I think they would visit random studios writing/recording songs there with whoever was available. It's hard to pinpoint what was made by who beyond them 2. I think they would sometimes just leave the songs in the studio even. UFB was never planned to be included on UV, they just made it for fun, they were in love. Whoever was the working engineer in the NightBird studios the day they recorded it is probably the song's only co-producer.
-Lana and Barrie definitely recorded more songs together

34) WAS WANDERLUST FROM NFR! SESSIONS REWOKED FOR CHEMTRAILS OVER THE COUNTRY CLUB? 
BOZ: No and I'm pretty sure none of those NFR/COCC era "demos" that leaked in a past few days are real at all

35) SOMETHING REAL?
BOZ (commenting Say Yes to Heaven's theory Something Real might be not real thing): You are almost right, but please wait for tomorrow I will explain it more as well
 

 

what we found out a bit earlier
 

  Reveal hidden contents

1) MORRICONE AND PIANO THEME
BOZ: Both are just concept instrumentals for Lana that she never recorded vocals for

2) BORN TO DIE RE-ISSUE
BOZ said that there were supposed re-issue of BTD with some outtakes with Damn You and Hollywood's Dead Finals Versions and probably some more

3) PARADISE
BOZ: -Paradise initially started as album, not EP
-Paradise EP was finished circa late September, I think that's when mixing and mastering happened

4) JFK 
BOZ: JFK has newer unleaked version (said to have "just 1 change") made after Paradise sessions (late 2012 or early 2013), but she decided to stick with JFK earlier (leaked) version 

5) SHADES OF COOL FIRST VERSION
BOZ: Shades of Cool has "scratchy" november 2013 version (not the rick nowels final) (the first made)

6) MIKE 

BOZ: Mike (Wild One) was on first UV drafts

7) WILD ONE HONEYMOON VERSION
BOZ said on ATRL that there's no really Wild One Honeymoon Version, "he said something along the lines of, for some reason, Lana/her team reached out to Justin Parker regarding the song that year and that’s when Parker decide to slightly update the mix, hence the two very similar mixes we have, and the change in title to “Wild One”" 

8)SAY YES TO HEAVEN JAMES FORD VERSION
James Ford's Version of Say Yes to Heaven, previously believed to be unleaked and made in 2017, made in early 2014; it's unknown if song was ever meant for Chemtrails Over the Country Club and TLSP Collaboration Album

9) from other reliable members 

-leaked versions of JFK, Hollywood, Tonight are all done by July 2012 and made together with Young and Beautiful, Body Electric and American Demos by july 2012
-Say Yes to Heaven was continually worked on since its creation in 2013 by Rick and other producers, so there are plenty more versions that were considered for basically every album (there are other mixes from UV, Honeymoon and LFL eras) but I haven't seen or heard anything about another STINT one
-Hollywood was worked on in 2013 and one of the "heavier" tracks, considered for Ultraviolence after Tropico(by @Unknown)

-Fake Diamond and Dreamgirl were produced in the same session, Fake Diamond's instrumental was done by a relatively unknown producer.. Dreamgirl used a pitched instrumental by someone i forgot the name 

There was also a full folder of other beats
Fake Diamond was done on February 28th, 2011. Dreamgirl was done March 1st (same producer, for Dreamgirl only vocals.)
Playing Dangerous and Bad Boy were done sometime in August 2010 alongside another song I don't know much abt and a rerecording of Bad Boy.. these last two I never got access to unfortunately D: Mads Louis Hauge and Phil Thornalley did Playing Dangerous and Bad Boy in the same session, which featured a very early version of the latter. The unknown song and rerecorded Bad Boy were done in the same session maybe a few days after
the song was intended to have a string section. (by @Say Yes to Heaven)

-A duplicate session was labeled 'Send to Dan Heath.' or something along those lines, but we dont know if he did anything on it in the end(by @misslonaxo)

-There are 392 mixes of Groupie Love, 42 mixes of Heroin and 7 mixes of Change (by @bunoner)

9.1) NEW SONGS
Unknown song from Playing Dangerous/Bad Boy Session
Later version 2 of Bad Boy

 

 

is there a way to pin this on the first page? 

[BartenderDeco 19,402]

@BlackoutZone if you’re okay with answering these can i ask you if lana ever began re-recording AKA like she planned? or was it just scrapped

 

and is there anything you could tell us about the original lfl/tnbar concept

 

thanks!

[Super Movie 50,282]

I know the use of unreleased songs on Blue Banisters is controversial, but I just find it so interesting how many songs were being considered. It’s like Lana went on a bit of her own deep dive with her unreleased work during the process

[TrashMagiq 55,346]

Are there any more unreleased BTD era songs that Emile Haynie worked on?

[Ocean Boulevard 39,080]

When it turns out there is a reworked version of Noir and it's even more iconic

[lemonadetan 5,049]

1 hour ago, BlackoutZone said:

There is something that's been bugging me that I'm surprised nobody picked up before, but the French Restaurant song that leaked might not be an original version of it, but a piano rework Chris Braide did in 2021 alongside new version of Damn You that leaked as "alternate final". So I'm pretty confident a real 2011 version of French Restaurant with original production exists as well.

why did he rework a 10 year old unreleased song tho? just curious

[Elle 114,463]

2 hours ago, BlackoutZone said:

There is something that's been bugging me that I'm surprised nobody picked up before, but the French Restaurant song that leaked might not be an original version of it, but a piano rework Chris Braide did in 2021 alongside new version of Damn You that leaked as "alternate final". So I'm pretty confident a real 2011 version of French Restaurant with original production exists as well.

This would make sense since it seemingly leaked out of nowhere without us having any information on it. Usually for super old songs like that, we’ve known about them for awhile. With that one it was being randomly teased for a few days until it leaked. Super odd, so this doesn’t surprise me. Still though even with an older version possibly existing, I’m surprised we never heard anything about the song at all until the days surrounding the leak of the version we have. I always wonder what other decade+ old songs are just hidden deep in the safes without even a hint of information ever surfacing x

[BlackoutZone 4,687]

33 minutes ago, BartenderDeco said:

@BlackoutZone if you’re okay with answering these can i ask you if lana ever began re-recording AKA like she planned? or was it just scrapped

Not that I know of

 

9 minutes ago, lemonadetan said:

why did he rework a 10 year old unreleased song tho? just curious

Could be just for fun. Maybe he did plan to publish them as Damn You is still getting traction to this day, kinda like what Peter Ibsen tried to do earlier this year. Maybe he wanted to pitch the demos to some other artists/producers. I don't know, but most probably just for fun.

 

[Glitter Boy 16,220]

12 minutes ago, lemonadetan said:

why did he rework a 10 year old unreleased song tho? just curious

No, he leaked several songs he worked on for other people like Beyoncé, Sia, Paloma Faith and Lana. I collected all of his leaks iirc. It's not like he reworked them just before leaking them lol, I'm pretty sure he just uploaded the files because they wouldn't be used anyways.

Probably the most recent of those were a couple Sia demos/alt versions from like 2015-6?

Lana's was definitely from back in the day (the Damn You alt/piano version). I don't remember however how French Restaurant appeared, but iirc it was around that time too.

EDIT: corrected by BoZ.

[BlackoutZone 4,687]

Just now, Glitter Boy said:

 

Lana's were definitely from back in the day (the Damn You alt/piano version). I don't remember however how French Restaurant appeared, but iirc it was around that time too.

No, the Damn You piano version was definitely from 2021

[Glitter Boy 16,220]

4 minutes ago, BlackoutZone said:

Could be just for fun. Maybe he did plan to publish them as Damn You is still getting traction to this day, kinda like what Peter Ibsen tried to do earlier this year. Maybe he wanted to pitch the demos to some other artists/producers. I don't know, but most probably just for fun.

Interesting! Then I bet the other songs he was uploading from other artists would've been reworked for fun as well  (considering some of those tracks were released beforehand like Sia's)

[The Grants 13,009]

@BlackoutZoneis hollywood dead final much more different than the demo?

[NikoGo 52,311]

Just wanted to say a big thank you to @BlackoutZone for all the news and interaction! It’s really awesome that you’re taking the time to come here and discuss things with us 

[PatentLeatherDoOver 25,803]

Has anyone mentioned Lana (relatively recently—can’t remember exactly when) posting a newer Pawn Shop Blues video to her Instagram with little context? 
 

I’m curious if she had any intentions of rereleasing it for a record!

[Crazy Husband Thief 3,791]

1 hour ago, Unknown said:

You and Me was produced by Dan Heath 

Omg thank you!!! Finally some closure!

 

@BlackoutZone on the topic of Chris Braide: The version of Roses that leaked might also be a remix of a song they did in 2011, right? The production and feature were always kinda odd for a song that was produced alongside Damn You and Hollywood's Dead imo.

[shadesofloveduthenandnow 20,588]

@BlackoutZone were any of the TLSP songs considered for inclusion on LFL or other albums that you know of? California was registered alongside a batch of LFL songs, for example: