New Pop Sunday (found demos from Sponge album; 1999)

An image of the final album.

Status: Partially Found

New Pop Sunday is an album that was released by the American band, Sponge, in 1999. It was the band's first album after being dropped from Columbia's label. However, in the years of 1998-1999, there were demos recorded of the album including different versions of the first two songs (My Lackluster Love & Pollyanna) and different songs created (Anyone Feeling Down & Today Tomorrow). Various question still remain, however, about the demos in question and their availability.

History

It started back in 1997, when Columbia was dissatisfied with the sales and dropped Sponge from their lineup. Sponge signed a new deal with Beyond Records and released their third album, New Pop Sunday, in 1999. The album was a departure from the grittier sound of their first two albums, featuring songs that were more pop rock in nature. The band also performed again at Edgefest and X-Fest that year. The new album attracted little commercial attention; however, "Live Here Without You" was nominated for the Outstanding National Single award by the Detroit Music Awards Foundation in 2000.

During that time period between the dropping and the next album, Sponge began recording various songs for use on the new album. Out of the known songs from the demos, two songs (Pollyanna and My Lackluster Love) ended up making the cut. The rest of the songs were never heard of again. Those songs include Today Tomorrow, Anyone Feeling Down, and Imaginary Marriage (which was also dropped from the album before, Wac Ecstatic).

There are big differences in the songs demos than in the final release. The guitars on Pollyanna and My Lackluster Love has a semi-different riff than on the final version. In addition, the lead singer, Vinnie Dombrowski, songs more high-pitched than the final cut. Imaginary Marriage also sounds more poppy than the one on Wax Ecstatic.

Availability

All of the currently known songs, six of them have been uploaded to YouTube by a channel named Michael Provenano. However, where he got the album and where the album is now is completely unknown. It also keeps the mystery going on to how many songs are available on the demos themself.

Videos

Come In From The Rain.

Today Tomorrow.

Anyone Feeling Down.

My Lackluster Love.