Origin (Evanescence album)

Last updated
Origin
Origin (Evanescence album cover).jpg
Demo album by
Evanescence
ReleasedNovember 4, 2000
RecordedVarious
Length45:33
Label Bigwig Enterprises
Evanescence chronology
Sound Asleep
(1999)		Origin
(2000)		 Fallen
(2003)
Singles from Origin
  1. "Whisper"
    Released: 2000

Origin is the first demo album by American rock band Evanescence, self-released in 2000. A total of 2,000 copies were made and sold on the Bigwig Enterprises website. Origin contains demos of songs originally written and recorded by co-founders Amy Lee and Ben Moody for their earlier independent EPs, including "Whisper", "Imaginary", and "My Immortal", which appear on their debut album Fallen (2003).

Contents

Background

As Evanescence, Amy Lee and Ben Moody had composed and home-recorded two EPs, Evanescence (1998) and Sound Asleep (1999), which they sold at their live shows. [4] Their early demos got them airplay on the local modern rock station in Little Rock, which helped them develop a local fanbase, allowing them to play a couple of bigger production shows a year and hire other musicians to perform other instruments live. [3] Although they played with guest musicians, Evanescence remained a duo. "It was more because that's what we did and how we worked rather than not wanting any other input", Lee recalled; [5] "The idea of a full band playing these songs was something that only came along later." [6] Moody said that at the time Lee and him were focused on writing music over playing live shows, and they did not want to have a band join their writing process; "we just wanted it to be the two of us and so we'd play once or twice a year." [1]

For the home-made demo CD Origin, they drove to Memphis, Tennessee to get it mastered at Ardent Studios, [7] [8] [3] and then packaged the CD, wanting to shop it to record labels. [1] [9] They self-released it in 2000, [10] [8] with 500 copies initially pressed. [9] A total of 2000 copies were made, [9] [11] and sold by the Bigwig Enterprises website, which marketed it as Evanescence's "debut CD". [12] [note 1] According to the Bigwig website, "Whisper" was the lead single from Origin, receiving airplay on local radio in Little Rock. [13] Bigwig stated that the CD was out of print by early February 2003, [14] before Evanescence's debut single "Bring Me to Life" was released on the Daredevil soundtrack album. Immediately after the release of their debut album Fallen (2003), the demo CD was sold for US$400 on eBay. [15] [note 1] In 2003, Lee and Moody encouraged fans who were interested in their demos to download it rather than purchase it for such high prices online. [16] [17]

Origin contains tracks from Lee and Moody's earlier EPs, including "Whisper", "Imaginary", "My Immortal", and "Where Will You Go", the first three later appearing on Fallen (2003). [7] "Imaginary" and "Where Will You Go" first appeared on the duo's 1998 Evanescence EP, and "My Immortal" was an outtake from that EP. [21] "Whisper" is originally from their 1999 EP Sound Asleep. [22] The track "Even in Death" is from 1996, and is one of the songs Lee wanted on Fallen. [23] [24] They re-recorded "Whisper" and "Imaginary" for Fallen, while "My Immortal"'s demo recording from Origin was used by their label Wind-up Records on Fallen. [28]

Although initially considered their debut album, Origin is a collection of demos, [11] with Lee confirming it was a "dressed up" demo CD. [1] [8] Lee stated in 2003:

"It's not our first CD, it's demos we recorded ... We weren't there yet, we weren't finished, and a lot of the songs are demos of songs that ended up on Fallen. ... We packaged it together and it looks like an album because we were wanting to look professional for record labels." [1]

Moody added: "That wasn't really an album but our demos. We made it into an album to make it more appealing to the record companies, but it was never an official release ... We also did a lot of songs and demos after that. It was just a stepping stone for us." [9] He expressed dissatisfaction with their pre-Fallen material, stating, "we didn't have the technology, so a lot of our early recordings were just shit." [1]

Lee said in 2007 that they were still finding themselves back then, and "it's hard to listen to the really old stuff without laughing at myself a little. But of course those songs will always be special to me, and remind me of a time in my life that was both wonderful and terrible." She stated that she's "always liked the idea of one day putting out a b-sides and rarities CD." [29]

Release

Origin was released commercially for the first time in February 2017 as a part of Evanescence's The Ultimate Collection vinyl box set. [30] [31] Deeming it to be "like an embarrassing old diary" for herself, [32] [33] Lee explained why she included it in the box set:

It's something I've always cringed about because ever since we made a real studio album and honed in our sound and became Evanescence and made Fallen, I'm like, 'OK, everything before this we were just practicing.' But many fans love Origin and talk about Origin and wish Origin would be released. I've been against it for 13 years, but for the first time I guess I have enough separation from it to look at it and feel like, 'Y'know what? I see why that's cool. As a fan, I want to listen to that too.' So having that whole change of heart was really huge. [34]

Lee re-recorded the track "Even in Death" for the 2016 compilation album Lost Whispers , which was included in the box set. [35] She stated that re-recording it felt "like that song was truly redeemed because the early recording we have is not an enjoyable recording, but I really love that song." [34]

Critical reception

Sam Law of Kerrang! said that "there's limited reason for anyone other than die-hards to seek it out", deeming "Lies" the stand out track for Lee's "towering classical soprano delivery – the peak nu-metal synth/guitar interplay and additional death growls courtesy of Living Sacrifice vocalist Bruce Fitzhugh". [11]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Amy Lee, Ben Moody and David Hodges.

Demo CD version (Indie release)
No.TitleLength
1."Origin" (intro)0:35
2."Whisper"3:56
3."Imaginary"3:29
4."My Immortal"4:26
5."Where Will You Go"3:46
6."Field of Innocence"5:13
7."Even in Death"4:09
8."Anywhere"5:18
9."Lies" (featuring Bruce Fitzhugh)3:49
10."Away from Me"3:30
11."Eternal" (Instrumental)7:22
Total length:45:33

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Origin. [36]

Evanescence

Production

Additional musicians

Additional personnel

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References

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  2. ↑ "Evanescence lands someplace special". USA Today . May 8, 2003. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 "Evanescence: Rock's New Dynamic Duo". The Washington Post . September 12, 2003. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
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  7. 1 2 3 Gargano, Paul (August 2003). "Evanescence Brought to Life". Metal Edge . Vol. 49, no. 4. pp. 15–18. [Moody:] Some of the songs on [Fallen] are six years old. They've been reworked over the years, but Whisper, Imaginary, My Immortal, those are songs that have been around since Amy and I first started writing music together.
  8. 1 2 3 Lee, Amy (March 13, 2013). "Scuzz Meets Evanescence". Scuzz TV (Interview). Interviewed by Terry Bezer. Archived from the original on March 19, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2013– via YouTube.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Stojanovic, Sasha (August 10, 2003). "Dark Splendour". deo2.com (Interview). UK. Archived from the original on September 24, 2005. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  10. ↑ Sanneh, Kelefa (August 3, 2006). "Evanescence And The Killers Get Ready For Their Encores". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "The 20 greatest Evanescence songs – ranked". Kerrang! . August 21, 2020. Archived from the original on October 10, 2022. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
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  13. ↑ "Evanescence Announces Major Label Recording Deal". Bigwig Enterprises. February 7, 2003. Archived from the original on 2003-02-07. Retrieved May 24, 2007.
  14. ↑ "Evanescence". Bigwig Enterprises. 2003. Archived from the original on February 6, 2003. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
  15. ↑ Maerz, Melissa (October 2006). "She sold more than 15 million albums with Evanescence, only to find herself in abusive relationships". Spin. Vol. 22, no. 10. p. 70. Retrieved April 6, 2012.
  16. ↑ DeBarros, Anthony (May 8, 2003). "Evanescence lands someplace special". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  17. 1 2 Lee, Amy; Moody, Ben (February 24, 2003). "Interview with DC101 radio on February 24, 2003". Elliot in the Morning (Interview). Interviewed by Elliot Segal. Archived from the original (MP3 audio) on February 26, 2007 – via EvanescenceReference.info.
  18. ↑ Evanescence (EP). Evanescence. 1998.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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  20. ↑ "Get Free: Amy Lee on Artistic Independence, the Future of Evanescence". Rolling Stone. August 11, 2014. Archived from the original on October 16, 2021.
  21. ↑ [7] [18] [17] [19] [20]
  22. ↑ Sound Asleep (EP). Evanescence. 1999.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  23. ↑ "Evanescence's Amy Lee Explains Decision To Release Pre-'Fallen' Material". Blabbermouth.net . October 19, 2016. Archived from the original on July 21, 2021.
  24. ↑ Campagna, Cathy (2003). "Evanescence: New Royalty". Metal Edge . pp. 21–24.
  25. ↑ Wiederhorn, Jon (November 5, 2003). "Are There Clues To Evanescence's Problems In Their New Video?". MTV. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022.
  26. ↑ Law, Sam (October 2017). "Symphonic Possession". Kerrang! . No. 1694. pp. 24–27.
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  33. ↑ "Evanescence's Amy Lee reveals stories behind the songs". Entertainment Weekly . December 5, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  34. 1 2 "Evanescence's Amy Lee Talks 6-LP Vinyl Collection & Possibility of a New Album". Billboard. November 18, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  35. ↑ "New Song Premiere: Evanescence's 'Even In Death (2016)'". Blabbermouth.net . February 16, 2017. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  36. ↑ Origin (demo album). Evanescence. Big Wig Enterprises. 2000.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

Notes

  1. 1 2 Amy Lee: "It has happened. There is a very dodgy company - that would be the perfect way to put it. There's a guy that's ripping people off all over the Internet selling our demos; and he's selling it like it's Evanescence's first CD. It's not our first CD. [...] It's on the Internet. If you want to hear our old stuff, if you must, download it please. Don't try to spend your dollars and buy that CD; it has gone for that much before. They sold it on Ebay." [1]
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