Rocket House – Advance CD

Thanks to Hiroshi Suda for providing audio files of an advance, somewhat different Rocket House CD.  Note that “Solid Iron Heart” is listed as “Mechanical Ballet” here.  Also, full titles of “From a Photograph” and “Something Shines” aren’t listed, but “Chain” is shown as “The Chain” here.  Not clear is whether the titles shown were changed before the CD was manufactured, but all these changes from the advance to the final yield – imho – more evocative titles.

I’m particularly struck by the early name for “Solid Iron Heart” – “Mechanical Ballet” – which evokes my memory of this passage from the early edit of the Dust Radio documentary [Warning:  This clip shows Chris in his apartment August 2005, which some people have found disturbing]:

Odd that, in the clip, Chris asks what the heck is a mechanical ballet, given that was the original name given to the track on Rocket House.  Furthermore, although Chris changed the song’s title, “mechanical ballet” appears in its lyrics:

Down at the mechanical ballet
Where the parted thighs belong
Now you are farther away
You're farther away than anyone

Hmmm, one of those quandaries we’ll never solve ….  Nonetheless, you can listen to several live performances of Solid Iron Heart/Mechanical Ballet here.