Okay, I have gone down the rabbit hole the last couple of months and are trying to figure out more exactly what Cardinal recordings were made 2006–2007 – that is all the sessions that resulted in ET and, eventually, III/IV – and a boatload of unreleased tracks.
Anyone got some qualified info on this, beyond the usual facts, for example, what has already been posted on mega-superior gold?
Among the known facts is that ET and III/IV were preceded by sessions that produced the Sad Dracula demos, albums called (among other things) “War and Peace” and “Star Wars”, “Blackhole”. There were also supposedly recordings with Phil Lesh. Some of Lost Highway’s reference discs is detailed on Discogs, including “War and Peace”, “RAT Classics Vol II” (yes, I remember the JackStark incident concerning that one) and “February Mixes” (if I remember correctly). Future and other YouTubers have also posted some REALLY interesting stuff in HQ that has since been taken down (cough, cough, “Party Clown”, “People Make Mistakes”, “Lighthouses”, re-recorded version, etc.)
Anyhow, in the second half of 2006 LH rejected the proposed albums Ryan turned in and some of the stuff later appeared on ET and III/IV (mostly remixed or re-recorded).
What I am more specifically trying to figure out is stuff like: are “RAT Classics Vol I&II” (there is obviously a number one) really “Star Wars” and what songs were then on that album and RAT Classics Vol I? Did the original tracklisting for “Blackhole” contain songs that appeared on “III/IV” (that could be the reason that Ryan re-recorded it in the 2010s)? Did they record “Arkham Asylum” and “Trouble on Wheels” (the holy grails of unreleased studio versions of Cardinals songs, at least in my book)? What are all the reference discs and what are the track listings? Etc., etc.
Consider these questions as an attempt to begin a discussion (I have A LOT more things that puzzles me and in-put on the subject) …
P.S. On a side not, during my pondering I figured out the reason that many of the leaked Ryan albums are in low quality (except 48 HRS which is a reference disc cd rip): the leaked versions are simply cassette tape rips. Perhaps this is common wisdom – but I had not realized this before (consider me somewhat dim-witted).