There's a difference between criticizing a band and asking for unreleased demo material. I can't believe that's such a difficult concept for people to grasp. Critique all you want.

In fact, I'll start. I find the drum machine in People You Meet so distracting I find it hard to focus on anything else while listening to it. I've heard other versions of the song that I like parts of better. However, if that's the version they released then I've got to respect that. When I introduce people to the band's music I'll be playing them the newest released version of the song from the EP and not the numerous demo copies I might have. Even though I've had access to Clementines for ages, I've made a point of only playing Charm School or live bootlegs of them and not the unreleased studio recordings for people. The band released or performed the music that they wanted heard and that's their choice to make, not mine. I drew that line in the sand a long time ago out of respect for them.

I think Rain is the single best song they've ever recorded. I love everything about it. I've let one person from the boards listen to it because I simply couldn't stand not sharing it with someone. Yet, I still wouldn't present it to someone unfamiliar with Bishop Allen as representative of the band's work because they haven't made that distinction for themselves. I swear they're still holding it against me that I unleashed "You Ain't No Picasso" into the world. They've said it before, they recorded that song, but they didn't release it and they still don't feel that it's what they want to be known for.

Now, along those same lines, perhaps they feel the same way about these earlier versions of Clementines. Perhaps they rejected those versions with cause and they don't want the songs in circulation for whatever reason. That's not to say they won't release all the rough cuts. They might. It just seems tactless to ask a band to give up that material directly after they released the songs they've worked so hard on. Whether or not you think the songs suck is irrelevant to this argument. Whether the songs suck or not is a completely different argument.