Evanescence - Solitude (1999)

Evanescence was founded by singer, pianist and songwriter Amy Lee and former lead guitarist and songwriter Ben Moody after they met at a youth camp in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1994. Their first songs were 'Solitude' and 'Give Unto Me', written by Lee, and 'Understanding' and 'My Immortal', written by Moody, although the songs were edited by both artists, and they shared equal writing credit. Two of Lee and Moody's songs found playtime on local radio stations, raising local awareness of the group and creating demand for a show, and when the band eventually appeared live they became one of the most popular acts in the area. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, they decided on Evanescence, which means 'disappearance' or 'fading away', and under that name they released two EP's in 1998 and 1999. The first was the self-titled 'Evanescence EP', of which about 100 copies were made, and which was sold at Vino's Bar, and also handed out to family members of the band for $15 a copy. The second was the 'Sound Asleep EP', also known as the 'Whisper EP', which was limited to just 50 copies, which Moody burned onto CD-Rs on his computer. This EP was released in collaboration with Sound Asleep Records and the label Bigwig Enterprises, and although it had been named 'Whisper' by Lee and Moody, it was then forcibly named 'Sound Asleep' by Sound Asleep Records, which is why it is known by both names. This EP also includes the hidden track 'Ascension Of The Spirit', which was the first recorded instrumental made by the band, and in it's full version runs for over 11 minutes, although this is mostly silence, before a clip from the movie 'My Boyfriend's Back' that starts at 3:00, and then the actual music commences at around 8:19. For this post I've edited out all the silence to leave just the clip and the music. 

These EPs were followed in 2000 by a demo album, which was released on the Bigwig Enterprises label, and both 'Origin' and the EP's all contain demo versions of some of the songs which would later appear on their 2002 debut album 'Fallen'. As only 2,500 copies of 'Origin' were produced, Lee and Moody encouraged fans to download the band's older songs from the Internet, building up a loyal fanbase along the way. Possibly because a number of the songs from these early recordings later turned up on official releases, the EP's have not been compiled, and these versions of the songs are getting harder to find, so I've gathered them all together on one album, and also added a few out-takes from the recording sessions. From the first EP we have 'Give Unto Me', which is a dark piano ballad that Lee composed for her music class at age 14, and which was omitted from the EP due to its heavy religious influence, although an instrumental version of the song was included on their 'Sound Asleep' EP. Added to that are an early version of 'My Immortal' with different lyrics, an acoustic take of 'Understanding', and the otherwise unreleased 'October'. From the 'Sound Asleep' sessions we have 'Goodnight', which was written and performed for a local charity in Little Rock, and which was briefly considered for inclusion on their 'Sound Asleep' EP, but was omitted due to its more light-hearted feel. It was later released on a compilation CD in favor of the KABF 88.3 FM radio program Blitzkrieg in May 2000. And we end with 'You', which was a very personal song of Lee's that was conceived during the recording of 'Sound Asleep', but was omitted as Lee originally intended it to be heard by a select few people. Although the band originally asked fans not to download it, there are many posts of it on Youtube, so I'm including it on this album so you can hear it and make up their own mind about whether to keep it or not. 

Track listing

01 Where Will You Go

02 Solitude

03 Imaginary

04 Exodus

05 So Close

06 Understanding

07 The End

08 My Immortal

09 Give Unto Me

10 Understanding (acoustic version)

11 October

12 Give Unto Me (instrumental)

13 Whisper 

14 Understanding (Sound Asleep version)

15 Forgive Me

16 Ascension Of The Spirit 

17 Goodnight

18 You