the original demos for alice where probably recorded in 91 when waits was working on getting the play "alice" started. thought the play didnt get off the ground until late '92. so somewhere between 91 and 92 the alice demos were recorded. from what i understand the demos were stolen from tom's car at some point and then bootlegged. i guess that tom had forgotten all about them until (a year or so ago) when a fan gave him a copy of the bootleg and this led the the re-recording and recent release of the album "alice" my two cents: i personally prefer most of the demo versions to the new album. hope that helps. take care - mike