1. The Replacements, "Can't Hardly Wait (Tim Version)"
A watered-down, horn-heavy version of this song appears on Pleased to Meet Me, but the demo is THE version. It's a perfectly messy, essential recording.
2. The-Dream, "1+1"
Bey's version is pretty great too, but The-Dream's original demo is a little less melodramatic. There's a rough-sounding percussiveness that makes this version hit harder. Oh, and the vocal harmonies on the chorus — so good!
3. The Beatles, "Sexy Sadie (Anthology 3 Version)"
This version is less jaunty than the White Album version and more, well, sexy.
4. Prince, "Manic Monday"
We've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: This is so, so good.
5. Drake, "Fall for Your Type (Original Version)"
One-hundred percent less Jamie Foxx Auto-Tune warble.
6. Tom Waits, "There's Only Alice (Demo)"
The official Alice version is nice too, but it's really refreshing to hear Tom Waits be a little less campy and more unadorned.
7. Kanye West, "Home"
This turned into Graduation's "Homecoming." The demo is more successful at being celebratory without seeming pompous or faux uplifting.
8. Feist, "Mushaboom (Red Demos Version)"
Recorded on an eight-track in a bedroom, this version is achingly intimate where the studio version is cloyingly cutesy.
9. Fleetwood Mac, "Sara (Cleaning Lady Version)"
Charmingly off-the-cuff and breezy. Stevie sounds so wonderfully natural.
10. The Jesus & Mary Chain, "On the Wall (Demo)"
Strips away some of the dark nihilism JAMC sometimes indulged in and replaces it with a beautiful, chiming pop song.
11. Ghostface Killah, "Flowers (Original Mix)"
The original version of Bulletproof Wallets was notoriously ravaged by sampling payment issues. No remake was hit harder than "Flowers" — the final album version feels chintzy and dated in comparison.
12. Neil Young, "Too Far Gone"
"Too Far Gone" is a gem from Chrome Dreams, an unreleased batch of demos that Young recorded in the '70s. It didn't appear again until it was re-recorded — slicker, more canned-sounding — for 1989's Freedom.
13. Guided by Voices, "Teenage FBI (Demo)"
The demo version of this song is one of GBV's best songs — raw, rollicking, impossibly catchy. The Do the Collapse version, produced by Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, is an almost embarrassing wobbly new-wave mess.