4 Track Demo by TOOL

4 Track Demo, by TOOL, 2024 album

This is TOOL's first demo cassette, originally released in a limited run of 1,500 copies. This vinyl reissue includes additional bonus tracks, giving us the opportunity to hear recordings that would later influence the band's style.

As demos, these recordings are rough and unrefined, a stark contrast to the much more elaborate and complex subsequent albums, which I've already discussed extensively on this blog.

As I've said on other occasions, "I like demos. You can see how the band was giving direction to a piece that didn't yet have a name or lyrics. I'm thrilled to listen as the song takes shape, as the solos are defined in their fundamental parts, as the artists themselves in the dusty studios, over a beer and a coffee and a discussion, create as they rehearse and invent something that, once refined and defined, will last forever. I've played a lot in the past, and the rehearsal room was life; the studio sessions or concerts were the technical part. The two things combined, music."

The songs are well-known, but the demo versions are something different.

Cold & Ugly, later released on the Opiate EP
Hush, later released on the Opiate EP
Part of Me, later released on the Opiate EP
Crawl Away, later released on Undertow
Sober, later released on Undertow

Bonus tracks include:

Jerkoff, later released on Undertow
Know Your Enemy, a song by Rage Against the Machine, featuring Maynard James Keenan on the studio performance of the song in the middle section. Released on the 1992 album Rage Against the Machine, this memorable yet simple track has a huge and immediate impact. Despite never being released as a single, it was a huge hit.
Passenger, a song by Deftones, featuring vocals and co-writing by Maynard James Keenan. The song appears on the Deftones' 2000 album, White Pony.

Spasm, a live cover of the song Spasm by the metal band Peach

This  is a must-have for any TOOL collection. It features the band's raw, primordial sound and complex, dark compositions, even before their debut EP, Opiate, in 1992, and their first LP, Undertown, in 1994.

Tracks
A1. Cold & Ugly
A2. Hush
A3. Part Of Me
A4. Crawl Away
A5. Sober
B1. Jerkoff
B2. Know Your Enemy (*)
B3. Passenger (**)
B4. Spasm (***).
(*) Maynard with Rage Against The Machine
(**) Maynard with The Deftones
(***) Live (Peach cover)