A1 and D:REAM sum up 2020

Happy New Year

Cliff Richard - Reflections (1970) What The L?

This post has been up for about a week now and downloaded over 100 times, and I've been waiting for a comment on it, but so far nothing has appeared, so I'm adding this extra post. I based the cover on the Yugoslavian picture sleeve of his 1968 single 'Marianne', and I had to do quite a bit of tidying up, removing the name of the two songs on it and replacing them with the title of the album, and then trying to clean up the creases and faded parts of the cover. This took a while, and I was really pleased with the result, as I liked the concept and the picture that was used. About a week later I readied the post, uploaded the cover, gave it one last check over, and only then thought to myself, why are there two 'L's in Cliff!!!! This wasn't me, as here is the cover on Discogs, so it was sold like this, and now I know it I just can't un-see it, but did anyone else spot it?

Luckily I noticed it in time to add a corrected version to the folder, but how did I work so closely on this for about an hour and not see such a massive typo?

Fleetwood Mac - Kiln House (1970)

By the time that Fleetwood Mac came to record their fourth studio album, major upheavals had occurred which would affect the group for the rest of their career. The main one was that Peter Green left the band in May 1970, following an LSD experience in March during a tour of Germany, which changed his outlook on life so much that he left the band that he'd formed. The rest of the group decided to carry on as a four-piece, and started recording sessions for their next album, titled 'Kiln House', after the name of a converted Oast house in Hampshire where the band and their families lived for a six-month period in 1970. Although Jeremy Spencer sat out for the previous album 'Then Play On', he played a much more active role during these sessions, with his retro 1950's homages and parodies dominating the album, and because these have always been my least favourite songs from their live concerts and BBC sessions, it makes 'Kiln House' the album that I return to less than any other. To help out with the recordings, Christine Perfect contributed backing vocals, keyboards and painted the cover art, although she was not a full member of the band until shortly after the album's completion. A comment by swboy prompted me to do something about this (although not exactly as their suggestion, but hopefully along the right lines), and make 'Kiln House' a more palatable album to my ears, so we have to make a few assumptions first. As Jeremy Spencer had contributed very little to 'Then Play On', and left immediately after 'Kiln House', let's assume that he'd already left by the time the sessions started, and as Christine Perfect joined the band immediately after 'Kiln House', her official joining can be brought forward to before recording started rather than after. Peter Green left in May 1970, but in April he'd recorded two songs which were issued as a single the following month, and as happened quite often at that time, both sides of 'The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)' and the Green/Kirwan instrumental 'World In Harmony' could have been added to the next album. Also in May the band taped an otherwise un-recorded Green song 'Sandy Mary' for the BBC, with Danny Kirwan taking lead vocals, as well as recording one of his originals 'Only You'. As Christine Perfect was now a full member of the group, it's possible that she would have been granted a lead vocal to welcome her, and 'Down At The Crown' and 'Crazy About You (Can't Hold Out Much Longer)' were both recorded for the BBC in late 1970, with Kirwan and Perfect sharing the vocals on the former, so as they were never subsequently recorded in the studio they could be added to the tracklisting. If we then remove all of Jeremy Spencer's 50's pastiche songs and replace them with the BBC sessions and both sides of the May single we end up with a much more consistent album, which I think I will end up playing more than the original.   

Track listing

01 The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)
02 Station Man
03 Crazy About You (Can't Hold Out Much Longer)
04 World In Harmony
05 Sandy Mary
06 Jewel Eyed Judy
07 Earl Gray
08 Down At The Crown
09 Tell Me All The Things You Do
10 Only You

Welcome back

As the previous blog has been deleted for providing links to the albums I compiled, I'm reinstating it, but this time without the links, and instead I'm storing the music on Soulseek. This may take some time so bear with me. In many cases these albums can be made up by searching out the songs on Youtube while you are waiting. Alternately your can access the cached site by searching 'albumsiwishexisted november 2020' (or whatever month you want) and dropping down the tab on the right for 'cached', and hopefully you can search from there, and links are still live

Posts have now been reinstated in roughly the same order as they were originally posted, and I'll start storing the music on Soulseek from the most recent post backwards. With over 700 posts this is going to take quite a while, but new posts will be available at the time of the post. 

Peter Frampton - ...and on guitar (1975)

Peter Kenneth Frampton was born on 22 April 1950, and first became interested in music when he was seven years old, having discovered his grandmother's banjolele in the attic, and teaching himself to play it, going on to later teach himself guitar and piano as well. His early influences were Cliff Richard & the Shadows, especially guitarist Hank Marvin, and American rockers Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. By the age of 12 he was playing in The Little Ravens, while both he and David Bowie, who was three years older, were pupils at Bromley Technical School, where his father Owen Frampton was Bowie's art instructor. By the age of 14 he was playing with The Trubeats, followed by The Preachers, who were produced and managed by Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones. In 1966 he became a member of the Herd, where he was the lead guitarist and singer, and the band scored several British hit singles, at the same time as Frampton was named 'The Face of 1968' by teen magazine Rave. In 1969, while still only 18 years old, he joined with recently departed Small Faces guitarist Steve Marriott to form Humble Pie, going on to record one live and four studio albums with them, and while playing with Humble Pie he also did session recordings with other artists, including Harry Nilsson (and his alter ego Buck Earl for the 'I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City' single), John Entwistle, Andy Bown, Lon & Derrek Van Eaton and Suzi Quatro. Frampton left Humble Pie in 1971 and embarked on a solo career, with his debut album 'Wind Of Change' coming out in 1972, and featuring guest artists Ringo Starr and Billy Preston. This was followed by 'Frampton's Camel' in 1973, which featured Frampton working within a group project, then 'Something's Happening' in 1974, and 'Frampton' in 1975.

He had little commercial success with his early albums, but this all changed when he released his live album 'Frampton Comes Alive' in 1976, from which the hit singles 'Baby, I Love Your Way' and 'Show Me The Way' were extracted, and the album was on the Billboard 200 for 97 weeks, of which 55 were in the top 40, and 10 were at the top, becoming the best selling album of 1976. His following-up 'I'm In You' contained the hit title single and went platinum, but fell well short of expectations compared to its predecessor, with all subsequent releases being unfavourably compared to that high-point. Frampton suffered a near-fatal car accident in the Bahamas in 1978 which marked the end of this prolific period of his career, returning to the studio in 1979 to record the album 'Where I Should Be', and releasing records fairly regularly since then. Although his albums generally met with little commercial success, he achieved a brief, moderate comeback of sorts in 1986 with the release of his 'Premonition' album, and the single 'Lying' was a big hit on the mainstream rock charts. His heyday, though, was undoubtedly the early to mid 70's, not only with his own albums, but also with guest appearances on records by fellow artists. The Johnny Halliday track has an interesting story, as by the end of 1968 the original Small Faces were in the middle of breaking up, with Steve Marriott going on to form Humble Pie, and the rest of the band morphing into The Faces. In late December the group were asked to collaborate with French pop legend Johnny Halliday on an album that was to showcase his attempt at hard-rock, and Marriott dragged his chum Frampton along to the recording sessions. Marriott and Lane donated three songs to the project, two of which were later recorded by Humble Pie under different titles, so this track is something of a curiosity to start this showcase of Peter Frampton's guest appearances in the first half of the 1970's.

  

Track listing

01 Regarde Pour Moi (from 'Riviere Ouvre Ton Lit' by Johnny Halliday 1969)
02 Girl From Denver (from 'Don't Freak Me Out' by Jimmy Stevens 1972)
03 The Blues In England (from 'Feel Your Groove' by Ben Sidran 1971)
04 Open Your Eyes (from' Gone To My Head' by Andy Bown 1972)
05 Sweet Music (single by Lon & Derrek Van Eaton 1972)
06 Rolling Stone (single by Suzi Quatro 1972)
07 I Guess The Lord Must Be Tn New York City (single by Buck Earl 1972)
08 Perfection (from 'Painted Head' by Tim Hardin 1973)
09 Ten Little Friends (from 'Whistle Rymes' by John Entwistle 1972)
10 Life Goes On (from 'Essence To Essence' by Donovan 1973)
11 Celebration (from 'First Of The Big Bands' by Tony Ashton & Jon Lord 1974)
12 The Serf (from 'Everything Changes' by Leslie Duncan 1974)
13 Daybreak (from 'Son Of Dracula' by Harry Nilsson 1974)
14 Slow Down (from 'Get Off Of My Cloud' by Alexis Korner 1975)

Kaleidoscope - A Dream For Julie (1971)

Having performed since 1963 under the name The Sidekicks, the band changed their name to The Key in November 1965, before settling on the name Kaleidoscope when they signed a deal with Fontana Records in January 1967. The group originally consisted of Eddy Pumer on guitar, Steve Clark on bass and flute, and Danny Bridgman on drums, and vocalist Peter Daltrey, who also played organ, and joined the band in March 1964. Most of their songs were Pumer/Daltrey originals, with their first single 'Flight From Ashiya'/'Holidaymaker' being released in September 1967, quickly followed by the band's debut album 'Tangerine Dream' four months later. The single got quite a bit of radio airplay but failed to reach the charts, and so a new single was released in 1968, with neither side of 'Jenny Artichoke'/'Just How Much You Are' being taken from the album, but despite being a particularly catchy number, it also failed to chart. Their second album 'Faintly Blowing' was released  in 1969, and this time the band’s sound was heavier, although the tracks still included psychedelic elements with notably fairy-tale lyrics, but once again it failed to reach the charts. After the failure of 'Faintly Blowing', they released two more singles which were songs by other writers and, after a radio session in BBC Maida Vale Studios, the band never again appeared as Kaleidoscope. By the end of the decade, with the failure of their last single 'Balloon' still hanging over them, the band moved on with their new manager, DJ David Symonds, and re-emerged with the same lime-up as Fairfield Parlour. Despite the fact that they were now being called a progressive rock band, their music didn’t change much and still included fairy-tale lyrics with psychedelic harmony vocal. The band’s first single as Fairfield Parlour was 'Bordeaux Rose', which was released in April 1970 on the legendary Vertigo label, and despite the fact that it got a considerable amount of radio airplay, it fared no better chart-wise than their previous incarnation. After releasing a couple more singles, the band issued the 'From Home To Home' album in August 1970, and at the same time as they were heavily involved in this, they were asked to record the theme tune for the Isle of Wight Festival, 'Let the World Wash In', and so as not to detract from the album release they recorded and released two songs under the name of I Luv Wight, although they did open the festival as Fairfield Parlour. 

The band’s second album was 'White Faced Lady', which they financed independently and recorded in Morgan Studios in London, but attempts at finding a record company to issue it failed and the album was shelved until 1991, when it was released under the name Kaleidoscope on their own label. Despite their lack of commercial success at the time, Kaleidoscope's reputation has grown enormously over the intervening years, and they are now acknowledged as one of the finest UK psychedelic bands of all time, with original copies of their poorly-selling albums changing hands for huge sums. As both bands had the same line-up, I'm combining them for this post, and as they released so many non-album songs under both band names, there is easily enough rare material to put together a stunning album, which both celebrates and enhances the reputation of a group that it took half a lifetime to be appreciated for the ground-breaking band that they were. Some of these songs were only ever played on Top Of The Pops, and therefore suffered that bane of music-lovers everywhere, the DJ talking over the intro, so I've painstakingly patched them so that we now have complete versions of the songs, and hopefully you can't spot the joins.    

Track listing
                  
01 A Dream For Julie (single 1968) 
02 Jenny Artichoke (single 1968)
03 Just How Much You Are (b-side of 'Jenny Artichoke')
04 Balloon (single 1969)
05 Do It Again For Jeffrey (single 1969)
06 Jump In My Boat (from Top Of The Pops 1969)
07 Let The World Wash In (single as I Luv Wight 1970) 
08 Mediaeval Masquerade (b-side of 'Let The World Wash In')
09 Just Another Day (single as Fairfield Parlour 1970)
10 Caraminda (b-side of 'Just Another Day' single as Fairfield Parlour 1970)
11 Song For You (b-side of 'Just Another Day' single as Fairfield Parlour 1970)
12 I Am All The Animals (b-side of 'Just Another Day' single as Fairfield Parlour 1970)
13 Baby, Stay For Tonight (as Fairfield Parlour, previously unreleased)
14 Eye Witness (as Fairfield Parlour, from the soundtrack of the film 'Eyewitness' 1970) 
15 Long Way Down (as Fairfield Parlour, from Top Of The Pops 1971)
16 Diary Song (as Fairfield Parlour, from Top Of The Pops 1971)
17 The Matchseller (as Fairfield Parlour, from Top Of The Pops 1971)

Cliff Richard - Reflections (1970)

For the next collection of singles and b-sides we're looking at the years 1968 to 1970, and once again there are enough non-album tracks to put together a superb album. There were a few of the singles that I wasn't that familiar with, which was even better for me as it made it sound like an actual album rather than just a collection of random recordings. Nearly all of the songs made it this time, as there were only a couple that didn't really fit with the reflective mood of the album, hence the title.   

Track listing

01 Good Times (Better Times) (single 1969)
02 Occasional Rain (b-side of 'Good Times (Better Times)')
03 What's More (I Don't Need Her) (b-side of 'Don't Forget To Catch Me' 1968)
04 Mr. Nice (b-side of 'Marianne')
05 Marianne (single 1968)
06 Big Ship (single 1969)
07 She's Leaving You (b-side of 'Big Ship')
08 Throw Down A Line (single with Hank Marvin 1969) 
09 Reflections (b-side of 'Throw Down A Line')
10 With The Eyes Of A Child  (single 1969)
11 So Long (b-side of 'With The Eyes Of A Child')
12 The Joy Of Living (single with Hank Marvin 1970) 
13 I Ain't Got Time Anymore (single 1970) 
14 Monday Comes Too Soon (b-side of 'I Ain't Got Time Anymore')
15 Goodbye Sam, Hello Samantha (single 1970)

Have A Swinging Christmas 2020

We need some cheering up after one of the worst years we've ever lived through, so as an alternative to the usual Christmas songs that we're inundated with, here's a selection of Christmas tunes from my favourite jazz artists. I've tried to go for the less obvious song choices, so no 'Jingle Bells' or 'Silent Night', although I have topped and tailed it with two different approaches to 'White Christmas'. Even if you're not that much into jazz then do give it a try as you'll probably find a few tracks that will appeal, and you never know, it might turn you on to a new genre of music that you hadn't appreciated before. The artists that I've chosen are among my all-time favourite jazz musicians, and although I'd loved to have included something by Thelonious Monk, he never recorded a Christmas tune, although he did write a couple, so Benny Green's version of his 'Christmas Wonderland' is a fine replacement.

Merry Christmas  

Track listing

01 White Christmas - Charlie Parker Quintet 
02 Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Duke Pearson
03 The Christmas Song - Dexter Gordon Quartet
04 Winter Wonderland - Bobby Timmons
05 We Free Kings - Roland Kirk
06 Snowfall - Ahmad Jamal
07 Blue Christmas - Miles Davis
08 Christmas Blues - Ramsey Lewis Trio
09 Christmas Wonderland (Monk) - Benny Green
10 Winter Wonderland - Chet Baker
11 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bill Evans
12 Greensleeves - John Coltrane
13 Skating - Vince Guaraldi
14 God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Jimmy Smith
15 White Christmas - Kenny Burrell

Curved Air - Thinking On The Floor (1976)

In 1969 violinist Darryl Way and keyboardists Francis Monkman formed Sisyphus, along with pianist Nick Simon, bassist Rob Martin and drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa, and one early gig was to provide accompaniment for Galt McDermott's new play, 'Who The Murderer Was', at the Mercury Theatre in Notting Hill Gate. Mark Hanau, an aspiring band manager at the time, saw the show and decided he wanted to manage the group, installing aspiring folk singer Sonja Kristina as the vocalist, and changing their name to Curved Air, in a tribute to Terry Riley's classic album 'A Rainbow In Curved Air'. After a series of intensive rehearsals in Martin's family home in Gloucestershire, the band supported Black Sabbath on a well-received U.K. tour, and in 1970 they signed with Warner Bros., becoming the first British band on the company's roster. Their debut album 'Air Conditioning' was released in November, and was notable for being issued as the first commercially available picture disc LP in the UK, reaching number 8 in the UK Albums Chart. In 1971 the band released 'Back Street Luv' as a single, reaching number 4 in the UK Singles Chart, and becoming their most successful single. The imaginatively title 'The Second Album' peaked at number 11, but the non-album single 'Sarah's Concern' slipped by unnoticed. By the time of their third album 'Phantasmagoria' serious musical differences within the band had emerged, particularly between Way and Monkman, to the extent that the music on 'The Second Album' and 'Phantasmagoria' was split between Way on side A and Monkman on side B. Following the release of 'Phantasmagoria' the band split up, with Way forming Darryl Way's Wolf, Pilkington-Miksa joining Kiki Dee's band, and Monkman moving into session work, and later joining the supergroup Sky. Having retained a good working relationship, Sonja Kristina and Mike Wedgwood formed a new band with Kirby Gregory on electric guitar, Eddie Jobson on keyboards and violin, and Jim Russell on drums, and the second incarnation of Curved Air was born. While the band had much less friction than before, their sole album, 1973's 'Air Cut', failed to chart, and not long after its release Jobson was asked to replace Brian Eno in Roxy Music, and both Gregory and Russell also left to form Stretch, while Sonja Kristina recorded a demo tape for Warner Brothers, who ungratefully decided to terminate her contract. 

In 1974 Chrysalis sued the band, accusing them of breaking their contact, and that same year they had a huge unpaid VAT bill to pay, and so Kristina, Way, Monkman, and Pilkington-Miksa reunited for a three-week tour of the UK, adding Phil Kohn to provide bass duties, and the tour raised enough money to pay off the tax bill.  With their debts paid, Monkman and Pilkington-Miksa had no more reason to remain in the band, and so Curved Air broke up for the third time in as many years. However, Darryl Way wanted to continue Curved Air with Sonja Kristina, and so brought in two members of his previous band, guitarist Mick Jacques and drummer Stewart Copeland, and the new band employed the same classical and folk influences as the original incarnation, playing now classic Curved Air songs at their shows. Their studio efforts were another story, however, with the recording sessions for 1975's 'Midnight Wire' and 1976's 'Airborne' being expensive and highly stressful for everyone involved, and neither album had any chart success. Citing dissatisfaction with BTM Records' ability to support the band financially, Way left the group, and following one last single, a cover of 'Baby Please Don't Go', they broke up for the last time. Copeland went on to drum for The Police, and after maintaining the close personal relationship with Kristina that they'd formed while bandmates, they were married in 1982. Despite their tumultuous career, Curved Air produced some fantastic music, and 'Vivaldi' will always be one of my favourite progressive rock pieces, so this collection takes in non-album singles and b-sides, a couple of foreign language singles, and some BBC sessions, including an extremely rare John Peel session from 1970.   

Track listing

01 What Happens When You Blow Yourself Up (b-side of 'It Happened Today')
02 It Happened Today (single version 1970)
03 Thinking On The Floor (previously unreleased 1970)
04 Hide And Seek (John Peel session 1970)
05 Vivaldi (John Peel session 1970)
06 Screw (John Peel session 1970)
07 Maria Antoinette (French version 1972)
08 Sarah's Concern (single 1972)
09 Young Mother In Style (BBC session 1971)
10 Melinda (More Or Less) (Italian version 1972)
11 Baby Please Don't Go (single 1976)

Misty In Roots - Salvation (1981)

Misty In Roots began life as a Southall-based British roots reggae band in the early 1970's, with their first album 'Live At The Counter Eurovision' appearing in 1979 and being a record full of Biblical Rastafarian songs. It was championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, helping to bring roots reggae to a white audience, and is regarded as one of the best live reggae albums of all time. At this early stage, the band was a collective with five lead singers and various musicians, though by the time of the second album the band had slimmed down to just three members, and along with Steel Pulse and Aswad, Misty in Roots were one of the most popular English reggae bands of the late 70's. They started out as the backing band for the late Nicky Thomas, who was one of Jamaica's most famous artists, and who had UK chart success with his 'Living In The Love Of The Common People'. By 1978 the band began to develop their own orthodox roots reggae sound, and their powerful lyrics were inspired by spiraling economic decline, a growing awareness of their African culture, and a spiritual awakening, at a time where the political situation in the U.K. was at a breaking point. Unemployment was affecting both black and white youths, and through this depression a new musical alliance was born, with young white youths turning to playing punk music, whilst at the same time identifying strongly with British reggae acts such as Misty In Roots, Steel Pulse and Aswad. Following the critical success of the live album, the band released a string of limited edition singles on their own People Unite label, such as 'Oh Wicked Man', 'See Them Ah Come', and 'Rich Man', often featuring extended takes on the 12" versions. The band’s second album 'Wise And Foolish' was released in 1982 and took on a more mellow, soulful tone, and in their determination to remain independent the band spent the next nine months in Zimbabwe and Zambia, re-discovering their roots. This resulted in their next two albums, 1983's 'Earth' and 1985's 'Musi-O-Tunya', being directly inspired by their experiences in Africa. In 1989 they signed to Kaz Records, and released the 'Forward' album to some success, but despite continuing to tour to appreciative crowds, this was to be their last record. As mentioned earlier, many of the singles they released were limited edition, non-album tracks, but as they were always the equal of anything from their long-players they cannot be ignored, and so I've collected them here, sometimes in extended form, or segued with the dub version, to highlight just why Misty In Roots are considered one of the best UK reggae bands of all time. 

Track listing

01 Six One Penny (single 1978)
02 Oh Wicked Man (single 1978)
03 See Them Ah Come (single 1979)
04 How Long Jah (b-side of 'See Them Ah Come')
05 Rich Man (single 1979, plus dub)
06 Salvation (b-side of 'Rich Man')
07 Zapatta, Viva Zapatta (single 1980, plus b-side)
08 Wandering Wanderer (single 1981)
09 Cry Out For Peace (b-side of 'Wandering Wanderer')

As this post has proved to be quite popular, here's a little bonus

The Police - Shadows In The Rain (1985)

After releasing a string of hugely successful singles and albums throughout the 80's, cracks began to show in The Police during the group's 1983 Shea Stadium concert, where Sting felt performing at the venue was his 'Everest', and he decided to leave the band and pursue a solo career. After the 'Synchronicity' tour ended in March 1984 the band went on hiatus while Sting recorded and toured his 1985 solo debut album, the jazz-influenced 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles'. Stewart Copeland also had a project that he could turn to, and recorded and filmed 'The Rhythmatist', an album and film which was the result of his pilgrimage to Africa, where he recorded local drums and percussion, with more drums, percussion, other musical instruments and occasional lead vocals added later by Copeland. The previous year Andy Summers had rekindled his partnership with Robert Fripp, and released the second of their collaborative albums 'Bewitched', five of whose tracks were composed by Summers. He also recorded a couple of instrumentals for the 1984 film '2010: The Year We Made Contact', releasing them as a single, with 'To Hal And Back' as the b-side. In June 1986 the Police reconvened to play three concerts for the Amnesty International, and in July of that year they reunited in the studio to record a new album. However, Copeland broke his collarbone in a fall from a horse and was unable to play the drums, so the sessions were abandoned, and with a re-recording of 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' being released in October 1986 as their final single, the band finally called it a day later that year. As all three members of the band were actively recording during 1984 and 1985, we can take a stab at putting together their sixth album by taking tracks from their three solo projects of the time. Obviously Sting's album would sound most like The Police purely due to his vocals on the songs, and while Summers' and Copeland's contributions are mostly instrumentals, that wasn't unheard of on their previous records, and they slot in quite nicely between Sting's songs. I've just made a slight edit to Copeland's 'Serengeti Long Walk' to remove a spoken vocal part which didn't really fit with the rest of the tracks, and the cover is based on a superb painting by Aged Pixel.   

Track listing

01 Shadows In The Rain (Sting)
02 Franco (Copeland)
03 We Work The Black Seam (Sting)
04 Parade (Summers)
05 Another Day (Sting)
06 Gong Rock (Copeland)
07 To Hal And Back (Summers)
08 If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (Sting)
09 Bewitched (Summers)
10 Serengeti Long Walk (Copeland)
11 Fortress Around Your Heart (Sting)

Steve Hackett - ...and on guitar (2020)

Stephen Richard Hackett was born on 12 February 1950 in Pimlico, London, just one day before his future Genesis band-mate Peter Gabriel. He grew up having access to various musical instruments, such as the harmonica and recorder, but he didn't develop an interest in the guitar until the age of 12 when he started playing single notes. By 14, he was learning chords and experimenting with chord progressions, although he never received any formal training. His first professional playing experience came as a member of Canterbury Glass, where he played on 'Prologue' on their album 'Sacred Scenes And Characters', which was recorded in 1968 but didn't receive a release until 2007. He also played with Heel Pier and Sarabande, and all three bands performed rock with progressive elements. He joined Quiet World in 1970, which featured his brother John on flute, and he used his time with the group to gain experience in a recording studio, playing on their only studio album 'The Road'. In December 1970 Hackett placed an advertisement in Melody Maker in his search for a new band, and he received a response from the lead singer of Genesis, Peter Gabriel, as the band had just lost founding guitarist Anthony Phillips and so were seeking a new, permanent replacement. Hackett got the job, and played his first gig with them on 24 January 1971, and it wasn't long before the band were recording their new album 'Nursery Cryme', which was Hackett's first taste of recording with Genesis. He helped shape the group's sound by strongly encouraging them to incorporate a Mellotron into the songs, and his guitar work is prominently featured through solos on 'The Musical Box', 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed', and 'The Fountain Of Salmacis'. For the next four years Hackett was an integral part of Genesis, but by 1975 he wanted to show what he could do on his own, and recorded his first solo album 'Voyage Of The Acolyte', before resuming work with Genesis and recording his final albums with them, 1976's 'A Trick Of The Tail' and 'Wind And Wuthering'. He had grown increasingly constricted by his lack of freedom and level of input and was insistent that more of his material be included on the albums, but was rebuffed, and so he left the group. His solo career proper commenced with 1978's 'Please Don't Touch!', and he's released over two dozen albums since then. With such a workload, as well as being part of bands Box Of Frogs and GTR, his guest appearances on other artist's records have been quite sparse, perhaps one every couple of years, but when they happened they gave the track that extra bit of magic, and so it's certainly worth seeking them out and collecting the best of them for this double disc set.

Track listing

Disc One
01 Prologue (from 'Sacred Scenes And Characters' by Canterbury Glass 1968)
02 Knights (Reprise) (from 'Two Sides Of Peter Banks' by Peter Banks 1973)
03 The Wind In The Willows (from 'Wind In The Willows' by Eddie Hardin & Zak Starkey 1985)
04 Voo De Coracao (from 'Voo De Coracao' by Ritchie 1983)
05 A Life In Movies (from 'Guitar Speak III' 1991) 
06 Face In The Mirror (from 'Gallery Of Dreams' by Gandalf 1993)
07 All Grown Up (from 'Arkangel' by John Wetton 1998)
08 Singing Deep Mountain (from 'Emergent' by Gordian Knot 2002)
09 Remainder The Black Dog (from 'Grace For Drowning' by Steven Wilson 2011)

Disc Two
01 12 (from '?' by Neal Morse 2006)  
02 Living From The Inside Out (from 'Sitting On The Top Of Time' by Jim McCarty 2009)
03 Moon Song (from 'Dirty & Beautiful Vol. 1' by Gary Husband 2010)   
04 The Parting (from 'The Theory Of Everything' by Ayreon 2013)
05 Old Man Of The Sea (from 'The Ghosts Of Propyat' by Steve Rothery 2014)
06 Man And The Machine (from 'Citizen' by Billy Sherwood 2015) 
07 Covid Nights (from 'Isolation' by The Backstage 2020)
08 What Have You Done (from 'The Bride Said No' by Nad Sylvan 2017)  

Thanks to Stenn for helping put this one together.

Norman Cook - The Finest Ingredients (1997)

It's always amazed me that the seemingly quiet and inoffensive bassist with The Housemartins could reinvent himself to become the 90's dance phenomenon that was Fatboy Slim, but this is exactly what Norman Cook did after he left the Hull popsters and looked for a new direction to pursue in his musical career. It wasn't a sudden change, as he'd been DJing for quite a time while he was still a member of the band, generally taking his record box to parties and taking charge of the decks, but it was when he started to make his own mixes that he began to be taken seriously by the dance scene. His first effort was released in 1986 under the name of DJ Mega-Mix Vol. 1, and I loved it before I even know he was involved, including it on my own compilation of dance tracks taped from the John Peel show, which I called 'House Breaking', and which I've already posted. This was followed by a remix of Eric B & Rakim's 'I Know You Got Soul' with Danny D under the name of Double Trouble, which was the start a long career of releasing records under a bewildering array of pseudonyms. After the success of the Double Trouble remix, Cook released another remix, this time of Frankie Z's 'It Began In Africa', and by 1990 he was part of the loose collective which operated under the name of Beats International, including friends M.C. Wildski and vocalist Lindy Layton, and they hit the charts with their 'Dub Be Good To Me' single. After a couple of albums with the band, he formed Freak Power with horn player Ashley Slater, and charted again with their 'Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out' single, and this was followed by a number of records which were released under a variety of names, such as Pizzaman, The Mighty Dub Katz, Sunny Side Up, Yum Yum Head Food, and The Cheeky Boy. For the Sunny Side up release, Cook took his production of the b-side of 'Passion' by The Pleased Wimmin and retitled it 'Manna' for inclusion on the compilation album from his Southern Fried Records label, which is also where you can find the Yum Yum Head Food track. The one-off Cheeky Boy single samples 'Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)' by the Jacksons with an acapella refrain of 'Hope...cause I've learned to cope', and which I first heard as 'Hope...cause I'm wearing a coat'. (you'll never un-hear that now!). This track was also released as 'Hope Part 3' under yet another pseudonym of Chemistry, as the b-side of the single 'Let Love Rule'. The Fonk Train single contains samples of 'Get On The Funktrain' by Giorgio Moroder, 'Save Me' by Aretha Franklin, and 'Instant Groove' by King Curtis, and was produced by Pizzaman, but by now I think we all know that both artist and producer are in fact Cook. Rather than just upload these tracks as an album, I couldn't resist making my own mega-mix of them, so here is one 77-minute dance spectacular from the erstwhile bass-player of The Housemartins. 

 

Track listing

01 The Finest Ingredients 

includes The Finest Ingredients (as Norman Cook 1986) / I Know You Got Soul (as Double Trouble 1988) / Blame It On The Bassline (with M. C. Wildski 1990) / It Began In Africa (as The Urban Allstars 1988) / Dub Be Good To Me (with Beats International 1990) / Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out (with Freak Power 1993) / Trippin' On Sunshine (as Pizzaman 1993) / Manna (as Sunny Side Up 1995) / It's Just A Groove (as The Mighty Dub Katz 1995) / Bird Of Prey (as Yum Yum Head Food 1995) / Hope Your Body (as Cheeky Boy 1995) / The Fonk Train (as The Feelgood Factor 1996) / Comma (as Son Of Cheeky Boy 1997)

Cliff Richard - Brand New Songs (1973)

After posting my first Cliff Richard b-sides compilation, Man From Mordor commented that Cliff often put high quality songs on the b-sides of singles throughout the 60's and 70', and after a bit on investigation I discovered that between 1960 and 1975 he'd released nearly ONE HUNDRED songs that were not taken from his many albums. I was astounded that many of these were hit singles, and not just obscure b-sides, and while the quality might have dropped on a few of them, most would have been perfectly acceptable additions to his albums of the period. So, working backwards from the first post, I'm picking the best of these tracks to pull together the songs that I think would have made a nice album at the time. Not every song is going to make it, as some were a bit too bubblegum-pop for my liking, and some didn't really sound right on an album, but there are plenty of other songs to choose from, so I'm going for quality over quantity. This post is a perfect example of the quality of the songs that he released in the early 70's, with all the tracks coming from a three year period from 1971 to 1973. 

Track listing

01 Power To All Our Friends (single 1973)
02 Help It Along (single 1973)
03 Silvery Rain (single 1971)
04 Time Flies (b-side of 'Silver Rain')
05 Sing A Song Of Freedom (single 1971)
06 A Thousand Conversations (b-side of 'Sing A Song Of Freedom')
07 Living In Harmony (single 1972)
08 Empty Chairs (b-side of 'Living In Harmony')
09 A Brand New Song (single 1972)                       
11 Tomorrow Rising (b-side of 'Help It Along')
12 Flying Machine (single 1971)
13 I Was Only Fooling Myself (b-side of 'Sunny Honey Girl')
14 Sunny Honey Girl (single 1971)

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter - ...and on guitar (1978)

Jeffrey Allen "Skunk" Baxter was born on December 13, 1948, and joined his first band at age 11. While still a high school student, he worked at Manny's Music Shop in Manhattan in 1966, and it was there that he met Jimi Hendrix, who was just beginning his career as a frontman. For a short period during that year, Baxter was the bassist in a Hendrix-led band called Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, along with fellow Manny's employee Randy California. He first reached a wide rock audience in 1968 as a member of the psychedelic rock band Ultimate Spinach, joining them for the third and final album 'Ultimate Spinach III'. After leaving the band, he played with the Holy Modal Rounders, and also backed singer Buzzy Linhart, and it was around this time that he started to use the nickname "Skunk," although its origins are shrouded in mystery to this day. Relocating to Los Angeles, he found work as a session guitarist, playing on Carly Simon's first album among many others, and in 1972 he became a founding member of Steely Dan, along with guitarist Denny Dias, guitarist-bassist Walter Becker, keyboardist-vocalist Donald Fagen, drummer Jim Hodder and vocalist David Palmer. Baxter appeared with Steely Dan on their first three albums, 'Can't Buy a Thrill' in 1972, 'Countdown To Ecstasy' in 1973, and 'Pretzel Logic' in 1974, and contributed the classic guitar solo on their highest charting hit 'Rikki Don’t Lose That Number'. While finishing work on 'Pretzel Logic', he became aware of Becker and Fagen's intentions to retire Steely Dan from touring, and to work almost exclusively with session players, and so with that in mind he left the band in 1974 to join The Doobie Brothers. As a session man, he had contributed pedal steel guitar on the band's fourth album 'What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits', so he fitted in straight away, and is much in evidence on 1975's 'Stampede'. While preparing to tour in support of 'Stampede', Tom Johnston was hospitalized with a stomach ailment, and so to fill in for him on vocals, Baxter suggested bringing in singer-keyboardist Michael McDonald, with whom Baxter had worked in Steely Dan. With Johnston still convalescing, McDonald was invited to join the band full-time, and his songwriting contributions, as well as Baxter's jazzier guitar style, marked a new direction for the band, but after three more albums Baxter left the band. He continued to work as a session guitarist for a diverse group of artists, including Willy DeVille, Bryan Adams, Hoyt Axton, Eric Clapton, Gene Clark, Sheryl Crow, Freddie Hubbard, Ricky Nelson, Dolly Parton, Ringo Starr, Gene Simmons, Rod Stewart, Burton Cummings, Barbra Streisand, and Donna Summer. 
He continues to do studio work, most recently on tribute albums to Pink Floyd and Aerosmith, and occasionally plays in The Coalition Of The Willing, a band comprising Andras Simonyi, Hungarian Ambassador to the United States; Alexander Vershbow, US Ambassador to South Korea; Daniel Poneman, formerly of the United States National Security Council and later the Obama Administration's Deputy Secretary of Energy; and Lincoln Bloomfield, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. This is linked to a second profession that he fell into almost by accident when, in the mid-80s, his interest in music recording technology led him to wonder about hardware and software originally developed for military use, specifically data compression algorithms and large-capacity storage devices, and after extensive research he wrote a paper on missile defence systems, which he gave to California Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and his career as a defense consultant began. However, we're more interested in the music here, so this double disc set collects some of those pre-Dan sessions from Carly Simon, Cashman & West, Buzzy Linhart, and Paul Pena, and a few post-Dan recordings from Bob Neuwirth, Wayne Berry, and Tom Rush. The second disc all takes place while he was a member of The Doobie Brothers, and features Cher, Richie Havens, Little Feat, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and John Sebastian. Outside of the timeframe of these two discs he also played on records by Leo Sayer, Judy Collins, Cerrone, Roger Miller, and Nazareth, but the decade from 1970 to 1978 contains arguably his best work, so that's what we have here. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Once In The Morning (from 'P. J. Colt' by P. J. Colt 1970)
02 The Best Thing (from 'Carly Simon' by Carly Simon 1971)
03 We Let Love Slip Away (from 'A Song Or Two' by Cashman & West 1972)
04 One For The Lonely (from 'Paul Pena' by Paul Pena 1972)
05 Danny's Song (from 'Reunion' by John Henry Kurtz 1972)
06 Tell Me True (from 'Buzzy' by Buzzy Linhart 1972)
07 Come Home Woman (from 'Out Of The Nest' by Swallow 1972)
08 Ole Slew-Foot (from 'Rootin'' by Navasota 1972)
09 Thanks For Nothing (from 'Thomas Jefferson Kaye' by Thomas Jefferson Kaye 1973)
10 We Had It All (from 'Bob Neuwirth' by Bob Neuwirth 1974)
11 Claim On Me (from 'Ladies Love Outlaws' by Tom Rush 1974)
12 All I Needed (from 'Home At Last' by Wayne Berry 1974)

Disc Two
01 Down The Backstairs Of My Life (from 'Eric Mercury' by Eric Mercury 1975)
02 These Days (from 'Stars' by Cher 1975)
03 Hot (from 'Moving Targets' by Flo & Eddie 1976)
04 Dreaming As One (from 'The End Of The Beginning' by Richie Havens 1976)
05 In France They Kiss On Main Street (from 'The Hissing Of Summer Lawns' by 

                                                                                                                      Joni Mitchell 1975)

06 A Song A Day In Nashville (from 'Welcome Back' by John Sebastian 1976)
07 Highly Prized Possession (from 'Word Called Love' by Brian & Brenda Russell 1976)
08 Missin' You (from 'Time Loves A Hero' by Little Feat 1977)
09 A Heartfelt Line Or Two (from 'Blowin' Away' by Joan Baez 1977)
10 Guns Guns Guns (from 'Dream Of A Child' by Burton Cummings 1978)
11 Cry Baby Cry (from 'Flying Dreams' by Commander Cody 1978)
12 He Lives On (Story About The Last Journey Of A Warrior) (from 'Modern Man' by 

                                                                                                                  Stanley Clarke 1978)

Andy Summers - ...and on guitar (1983)

Andrew James Somers was born on 31 December 1942, and is best known for his work with The Police under the name of Andy Summers. During his childhood he took piano lessons, but later took up the guitar, and inspired by seeing concerts by Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillepsie he started to play jazz guitar. By sixteen he was playing in local clubs and by nineteen he'd moved to London with his friend Zoot Money to form Zoot Money's Big Roll Band. This group eventually came under the influence of the psychedelic scene and evolved into the acid rock group Dantalion's Chariot, who released the classic psyche single 'The Madman Running Through The Fields' in 1967. After the demise of Dantalion's Chariot, Summers joined Soft Machine for three months and toured the United States, and for a brief time in 1968 he was a member of the Animals, then known as Eric Burdon and the Animals, with whom he recorded the album 'Love Is', featuring a recording of Traffic's 'Coloured Rain' which includes a 4 minute and 15 second guitar solo by Summers. After five years in Los Angeles, mostly spent studying classical guitar and composition in the music programme at California State University, he returned to London, where he recorded and toured with acts including Kevin Coyne, Jon Lord, Joan Armatrading, David Essex, Neil Sedaka and Kevin Ayers. In October 1975 he participated in an orchestral rendition of Mike Oldfield's seminal 'Tubular Bells', and in 1977, he was invited by ex-Gong bassist Mike Howlett to join his band Strontium 90, but was soon coaxed away by future Police bandmates Sting and Stewart Copeland. His session work wound down while he concentrated on helping to promote The Police to the stadium-filling band that they became in their heyday, and although he had a sideline in the early 80's with his recordings with Robert Fripp, there was only one guest appearance while a member of The Police, when he appeared on Carly Simon's 'Hello Big Man' album in 1983. Still, there's enough great material from before The Police to make a really interesting album of his guest appearances.

Track listing

01 Coloured Rain (from 'Love Is' by Eric Burdon and the Animals 1968)
02 Sunday Morning Sunrise (from 'Matching Head And Feet' by Kevin Coyne 1975)
03 Steppin' Out (from 'Back To The Night' by Joan Armatrading 1975)
04 Sarabande (from 'Sarabande' by Jon Lord 1976)
05 Room Service (from 'Sailing Down The Years' by Kevin Lamb 1978)
07 You Know What To Do (from 'Hello Big Man' by Carly Simon 1983)
06 Octogon (from 'Video-Magic' by Eberhard Schoener 1978)

Last Exit - Savage Beast (1976)

Following their triumphant return to the UK from Spain, Last Exit were considering a move south to help secure that all important record deal, but during the autumn of 1975, John Hedley's enthusiasm was waning and he left the band. The seeds of punk were being sown, and he - correctly, as it turned out - suspected that even with a move to London, the band would still struggle to build a following. November 1975 saw them release their only piece of vinyl, a 7" single of two Gerry Richardson tracks featuring Sting vocals, 'Whispering Voices' and 'Evensong', on the Wudwink label, and the disc was once again recorded by Dave Wood back at Impulse Studios. In late 1975 the band were hired again for a follow-up to their previous rock opera 'Rock Nativity', with 'Hellfire' consisting of the Bible set to rock music. Further sessions at Impulse in 1976 were completed which resulted in new recordings of Sting's 'Carrion Prince', Richardson's 'Whispering Voices', a cover of Neil Young's 'Don't Let It Bring You Down', and another Sting track, 'Everyday's Just The Same'. On May 1st 1976 Sting and Frances married at Our Lady and St Oswin's Chapel, Tynemouth, and in July Sting handed in his notice to the school where he taught. That summer Frances made appointments in London to showcase the band's demo tape around various A&R men, whilst leaving Sting to fend for himself back in Newcastle. Eventually Virgin showed interest and promised to watch the band, and that Autumn they kept their promise and came to check out the band when they supported fellow Geordie Alan Price at Newcastle City Hall. Virgin were not impressed but music publisher Carol Wilson was persistent, and although the band didn't get a recording contract, a publishing deal was offered to Sting - one he accepted and later came to regret, and which resulted in a court battle to win back the rights to all his early material. Carol remained enthusiastic, and she arranged for the band to come to London for an A&R gig at Dingwalls supporting Isaac Guillory, and to spend three days at Pathways studio with Virgin picking up the tab. The time wasn't right, though, with every bunch of snot-nosed kids with ripped jeans being signed up, so the band returned to Newcastle, and they slipped back into their usual routine of regular gigs at local venues. 

Just before Christmas 1976, Curved Air played Newcastle City Hall, and afterwards Stewart Copeland asked local journalist Phil Sutcliffe to take him to see a local band. A long time champion of Last Exit, Sutcliffe took Copeland to see them at St. Mary's Teacher Training College, and although Copeland took an instant dislike to the group, he saw enough in the singer to be impressed, and the first seeds of what would become The Police were sown. In January 1977, Last Exit played their farewell to Newcastle gig at the University Theatre, and considered heading for London once again. Sting went there to meet his publisher and to sort out the move of Last Exit from Newcastle to the capital, and as he didn't know that many people in London he met up with Copeland, who had his heart set on Sting joining him in a new band, and within a few days the two of them started rehearsing with Henri Padovani. Last Exit followed Sting down to London and in January and February secured a few dates, and for a short period, Sting was rehearsing with both Copeland and Padovani, getting ready to record the 'Fall Out' single, and also playing gigs with Last Exit. Sadly, Last Exit failed to get the reviews and attention they needed to retain their enthusiasm, and at the end of February 1977 they decided to disband. On 1st March 1977 the Police played their first paying gig in Monmouth, Wales, and the rest as they say, is history. This second cassette from the band contains the b-side of their 1975 single, plus most of their 1976 demo sessions from Impulse Studios, which include reworkings of some of the songs from the first tape, alongside some newly-written material. 

Track listing

01 Evensong (b-side of 'Whispering Voices' 1975)
Impulse Studio Demos I (1976)
02 Every Day's Just The Same   
03 Don't Let It Bring You Down 
Impulse Studio Demos II (1976)
04 I Burn For You 
05 Untitled (Instrumental I) 
06 Fool In Love 
07 I'm On This Train (Alternate Version)  
08 Don't You Look At Me 
09 Savage Beast (Alternate Version) 
10 Untitled (Instrumental II) 
11 Soul Music 
12 Night In The Grand Hotel 

The complete history of Last Exit by Dave & Wendy can be found on https://www.sting.com/discography/album/319/Albums

Sandy Denny - Water Mother (1977)

Alexandra Elene MacLean (Sandy) Denny was born on 6 January 1947 (just two days before David Bowie), and studied classical piano as a child. At an early age she showed an interest in singing, although her strict parents were reluctant to believe there was a living to be made from it, so after leaving school she started training as a nurse at the Royal Brompton Hospital. This turned out to be short-lived, as she was accepted on a foundation course at Kingston College of Art, becoming involved with the folk club on campus. She started working the folk club circuit in the evenings with an American-influenced repertoire, including songs by Tom Paxton, and her earliest professional recordings were made a few months later in mid-1967 for the Saga label, featuring traditional songs and covers of folk contemporaries, including her boyfriend Jackson C. Frank, and they were released on the albums 'Alex Campbell And His Friends' and 'Sandy And Johnny' with Johnny Silvo. While she was performing at The Troubadour folk club, a member of the Strawbs heard her, and in 1967 she was invited to join the band. She recorded one album with them in Denmark, which was released belatedly in 1973 as 'All Our Own Work' under the name of Sandy Denny And The Strawbs, and it includes an early solo version of her best-known composition 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes?'. After making the Saga albums with Alex Campbell and Johnny Silvo, Denny looked for a band that would allow her to stretch herself as a vocalist and to display her songwriting talents, and so when Fairport Convention conducted auditions in May 1968 for a replacement singer following the departure of Judy Dyble, Denny became the obvious choice. Beginning with 'What We Did On Our Holidays, she is credited with encouraging Fairport Convention to explore the traditional British folk repertoire, and is thus regarded as a key figure in the development of British folk rock. Denny left Fairport Convention in December 1969 to develop her own songwriting more fully, and to this end she formed her own band, Fotheringay, which included her future husband, Trevor Lucas. After one eponymous record, the band started to record a second album in late 1970, but it remained unfinished after Denny announced that she was leaving the group, although it was belatedly released in 2008. 

Her next project was to record her first solo album 'The North Star Grassman And The Ravens', which was released in 1971, and it was distinguished by its elusive lyrics and unconventional harmonies. 'Sandy' followed in 1972 and was the first of her albums to be produced by Trevor Lucas, and was almost completely self-composed, with only one traditional song 'The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood'. In 1971, Denny duetted with Robert Plant on 'The Battle of Evermore' from Led Zeppelin's 1971 album 'Led Zeppelin IV', and she was the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin album. In 1973, after marrying long-term boyfriend Trevor Lucas, she recorded her third solo album 'Like An Old Fashioned Waltz', which continued to detail many of her personal preoccupations, such as loss, loneliness, fear of the dark, the passing of time and the changing seasons. In 1974 she and Lucas returned to Fairport Convention for a world tour, and the studio album 'Rising For The Moon' the following year, and although her development as a songwriter had taken her further away from the folk roots that the band had pursued since 'Liege & Lief', she had a hand in writing seven of the eleven tracks on the album. Denny and Lucas left Fairport Convention at the end of 1975 and embarked on what was to become her final album 'Rendezvous', which was released in 1977, but the album sold poorly and Denny was subsequently dropped by Island Records. From 1976 onwards Denny demonstrated increasing levels of both manic and depressive behaviour, abusing drugs and alcohol, and often purposely throwing herself off bar stools and down flights of stairs in order to get a reaction. Her increasing level of alcohol abuse in the last years of her life led to a rise in the number of falls (both accidental and on purpose), which in turn resulted in a growing number of injuries. 

In late March 1978, while on holiday with her parents and baby Georgia in Cornwall, Denny was injured when she fell down a staircase and hit her head on concrete. Following the incident, she suffered from intense headaches, for which her doctor prescribed the painkiller dextropropoxyphene, a drug known to have fatal side effects when mixed with alcohol. At some point during the first half of April 1978, Denny suffered yet another major fall at her home, and concerned about his wife's erratic behaviour and fearing for his daughter's safety, Lucas left the UK and returned to his native Australia with their child, leaving Denny without telling her, and selling their car in order to raise funds for the journey. On discovering Lucas' departure, Denny went to stay at the home of her friend Miranda Ward, but on 17 April, Denny fell into a coma, and on 19 April she was transferred to Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon. After receiving news that Denny was in a coma, Lucas returned from Australia, but on his arrival at the hospital, doctors informed him that Denny was effectively brain-dead and her condition would not improve. He granted their recommendation to turn off life-support machines, and Sandy Denny died on 21 April 1978. It was a sad and tragic end to the life of one of the most talented singer/songwriters of the 60's and 70's, and I wouldn't normally go into this much depth about her death, but I always thought she died as a result of that first fall, and so as others might think the same it's worth detailing the actual events. In the years since her death, her reputation has grown, with numerous anthologies and box-sets being released, many of which included previously unreleased tracks, early demos, and alternate takes, and so I've compiled a representative collection of these songs which span her whole career. This includes an early 1967 recording with Johnny Silvo, one from her album with the Strawbs, some songs used for a 1971 Danish film, a foreign language single, a rare b-side, some demos, and some out-takes from her last recording sessions in 1977. Sandy Denny was a unique talent, so enjoy this album, and if you like it then do check out her other work, on her solo albums, with her various bands, and on the many anthologies out there.

Track listing

01 Been On The Road So Long (Sandy and Johnny Silvo 1967)
02 Sail Away To The Sea (Sandy and The Strawbs 1968)
03 Water Mother (from the film 'Swedish Fly Girls' 1971) 
04 What Will I Do Tomorrow (from the film 'Swedish Fly Girls' 1971) 
05 Are The Judges Sane (from the film 'Swedish Fly Girls' 1971) 
06 Late November ('El Pea' sampler version 1971)
07 Losing Game (previously unreleased 1971)
08 Ecoute, Ecoute (French version of 'Listen' 1972)
09 Here Is Silence (single from the short film 'Pass Of Arms' 1972)
10 Man Of Iron (single from the short film 'Pass Of Arms' 1972)
11 Full Moon (previously unreleased) 

12 Still Waters Run Deep (b-side of 'Candle In The Wind' 1977) 
13 Sandy's Song (Take Away The Load) (demo 1976)
14 Easy To Slip (Little Feat cover out-take 1977)
15 Moments (out-take 1977)

Mick Ronson - Seven Days (1975)

After touring his first solo album 'Slaughter On 10th Avenue', Mick Ronson returned to the studio to craft his second set of songs for the follow-up 'Play Don’t Worry'. Adding guest musicians including Jeff Daly on saxophone, Neil Kernon on ARP, John Mealing on piano, and Ritchie Dharma, Paul Francis, and Tony Newman on drums, he recorded a version of Pure Prairie League’s swaggering 'Angel No. 9', on which he'd guested on guitar on the original recording, as well as an amped-up version of Bobby Troup’s oldie 'The Girl Can't Help It', featuring his Mott The Hoople pal Ian Hunter on background vocals. Another Pure Prairie League song 'Woman' was also selected, and a couple of different takes were taped, before the faster, full-on rock version was selected for the album, and he also contributed some original material, including the title track. Also taped were a couple of versions of Annette Peacock's 'Seven Days', from which the more mellow, stripped-back take was chosen to be the flip of the 'Billy Porter' single, and at the same time demos were recorded of other songs which were considered for the album, including a great country-ish version of Bowie's 'Soul Love', re-titled 'Stone Love', and '(Is There) Life On Mars', which strangely enough is not the Bowie song, but one of an identical title by Bob Barnes (aka Roscoe West). There are also a couple more Ronson originals in 'I'd Rather Be Me' and 'Pain In The City', and a lengthy jam based around Peacock's 'Seven Days'. Collecting all these together makes for a great companion album to 'Play Don't Worry', and to round it off there's a superb live rendition of the previous record's title track, so enjoy this collection of rarities from a much-missed musician. 

Track listing

01 Seven Days (b-side of 'Billy Porter' 1974)
02 Pain In The City (demo 1975) 
03 I'd Rather Be Me (demo 1975)
04 Stone Love (Soul Love) (demo 1975)
05 Dogs (French Girl) (demo 1975)
06 (Is There) Life On Mars? (demo 1975)
07 Seven Days II (alternate take 1975) >
08 28 Days Jam (out-take 1975)
09 Woman (alternate take 1975)
10 Slaughter On Tenth Avenue (live) 

The Baroques - Tangerine Sunset (1968)

The Complete Unknowns formed in 1966, with Rick Bieniewski on bass guitar, Jacques Hutchinson on lead guitar and vocals, and Dean Nimmer and Wayne Will both playing the drums. They began as a garage rock band playing the popular songs associated with the genre during the period, but following their first tour in Wisconsin, Will was drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, so the band replaced him with multi-instrumentalist Jay Borkenhagen. With the new member, the band shifted their musical identity to encompass psychedelic rock, and changed the group name to The Baroques. The band's live performances drew the attention of Chess Records, and although they were primarily known for releasing R&B material, they signed the band in an effort to incorporate a new marketing opportunity. They went to record their debut single in Ter Mer Studios, located in Chicago, and 'Mary Jane'/'Iowa, A Girl's Name' was released in June 1967 to a universal ban by local radio stations for perceived pro-drug references. In reality, there were no pro-drug references in the song, and it was actually intended as an anti-drug statement. The controversy brought regional acclaim for the band, and soon they became known for their eccentric live performances. They recorded their sole album shortly after the single release, with 'The Baroques' emerging later that year. The album's twelve tracks, mostly written by 18-year-old baritone Jay Borkenhagen, include the nightmarish 'The Song Needs No Introduction', with a boy screaming for his mother, and a demented take of 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat', as well as the cartoonish, groovy instrumental 'Boop'. The Nimmer-penned 'In Silver Light' is about a monk freezing to death. The album became a regional hit, but the band were unable to consolidate on this success nationally, as Chess were not known for rock albums, let alone psychedelic ones. Following the lack of success of the record, they were dropped by Chess, but because they were still at the peak of their popularity and were performing in an increased amount of gigs, they decided to self-finance one last locally-acclaimed single, after which the band broke up in 1968. In 1995 the 'Purple Day' compilation album was released, which is when I first heard them, and straight away songs like 'A Musical Tribute To The Oscar Meyer Weiner Wagon' and 'Iowa, A Girl's Name' stood them apart from other psychedelic bands of the era. All of their songs were great acid-tinged rockers, and there were enough out-takes and unreleased songs to put together another complete album from the band, which is what we have here. As it stood it was a bit short, although probably not for the time that it came from, so I've added a couple of alternate takes of those two afore-mentioned songs, which are still my favourites from this criminally neglected psychedelic rock band.  

Track listing

01 Baroques Theme  
02 At The Garden Gate
03 Sunflowers 
04 Death Of An Onion  
05 Flying Machine  
06 Beckwith  
07 Hand
08 I Will Not Touch You (single A-side, 1968) 
09 Remember (single B-side, 1968)  

10 Tangerine Sunset
11 A Musical Tribute To The Oscar Meyer Weiner Wagon (alternate take)
12 Iowa, A Girl's Name (alternate take)

Ekseption - Another History (1974)

Ekseption were a Dutch progressive rock band, who grew out of the high-school band The Jokers, which Rein van den Broek formed in 1958, first changing their name to The Incrowd (after the Ramsey Lewis song) before discovering that this name was already taken, and so finally settling on Ekseption in 1967. The group played jazz, pop and R&B covers, but in 1969, shortly after keyboardist Rick van der Linden joined, they were impressed by a gig by The Nice, and van der Linden decided to concentrate on producing classical rock, modern re-interpretations of classical works for rock band. This was a very lucrative decision, resulting in Dutch top ten hit singles with their adaptations of Beethoven's 'Fifth' and Bach's 'Air', and their second album, 1969's 'Beggar Julia's Time Trip', won the Dutch Edison Award for album of the year. Most of their subsequent albums contained re-interpreted classical pieces, alongside a few original compositions, and their first five records all attained gold status. By 1972, it was becoming evident that van der Linden had assumed leadership of the group, and in a press release interview that year, accompanying advance copies of the album 'Ekseption 5', he openly said so. This obviously rankled with the rest of the band, and after 1973's 'Trinity' album he was asked to leave by his bandmates, forming a new group Trace, and he was replaced by Dutch keyboardist Hans Jansen. Jansen took Ekseption in a jazzier direction, with two albums of original compositions, but lackluster sales caused the band to break up in 1976. An offshoot band, named Spin, formed later that year and released two more albums, but success also eluded them, and in 1978 Trace and Spin merged to become Ekseption once again, releasing four more albums before van der Linden's death in 2006. While Ekseption were mainly known for their classical re-interpretations, they did often put an original composition on the b-sides of their singles, and sometimes on the A-side as well, and so as a compilation of their self-penned material has never been issued I thought it would be good to hear their original music all in one place. I've used their numerous singles as the basis for the album, so many of these songs did appear on their albums, and alternately there are other original songs on the albums which aren't here, but if I included all of them then the post would be too unwieldy. I'm using the criteria that they'd choose their best material for their singles, and so enjoy this unusual collection of music, in fact 'Another History' of the renowned Dutch classical rockers. 

Track listing

   
01 Talk About Tomorrow (single 1967)
02 Mojo Ann (b-side of 'Talk About Tomorrow')
03 Laura (single 1968)
04 From Africa With Love (b-side of 'Laura')
05 Feelings (b-side of 'Italian Concerto' 1970)
06 Julia (b-side of 'Adagio' 1970)
07 Another History (single 1970)
08 Body Party (b-side of 'Ave Maria' 1971)
09 My Son (single 1971)
10 Virginal (b-side of 'A La Turka' 1972)
11 Bingo-Bingo (b-side of 'Persian Market' 1973)
12 De Fietser (single 1974)
13 Sunny Revival (b-side of 'De Fiester')

Pentangle - The Casbah (1970)

Pentangle were formed in 1967, and the original line-up was unchanged throughout the band's first incarnation from 1967-1973, consisting of Jacqui McShee on vocals, John Renbourn on vocals and guitar, Bert Jansch on vocals and guitar, Danny Thompson on double bass, and Terry Cox on drums, and the name Pentangle was chosen to represent the five members of the band. Pentangle are often characterised as a folk-rock band, although Danny Thompson preferred to describe the group as a folk-jazz band, which is certainly evident when they cover Charlie Mingus's 'Goodbye Pork-Pie Hat' or 'Haitian Fight Song'. John Renbourn also rejected the 'folk-rock' categorisation, saying, "One of the worst things you can do to a folk song is inflict a rock beat on it", and many of their songs used unusual time signatures, such as 'Light Flight' from 'Basket Of Light', whihc includes sections in 5/8, 7/8 and 6/4. Prior to the band's formation, Renbourn and Jansch were already popular musicians on the British folk scene, with several solo albums each and a duet LP, while Jacqui McShee had begun as an unpaid "floor singer" in several of the London folk clubs, and by 1965 was running her own folk club at the Red Lion in Sutton, Surrey, where she met Jansch and Renbourn. Thompson and Cox were well known as jazz musicians and had played together in Alexis Korner's band, and by 1966 they were both part of Duffy Power's Nucleus, alongside John McLaughlin on electric guitar. Although nominally a 'folk' group, the members shared catholic tastes and influences. McShee had a grounding in traditional music, Cox and Thompson a love of jazz, Renbourn a growing interest in early music, and Jansch a taste for blues and contemporaries such as Bob Dylan. Throughout 1967 and 1968 the band undertook tours of Denmark and the UK tour, gradually moving from clubs to concert halls, and their growing reputation led them to be signed to Transatlantic Records, with their eponymous debut LP being released in May 1968. This was an all-acoustic affair, produced by Shel Talmy, and the following month they performed at London's Royal Festival Hall, with recordings from the concert forming part of their second album 'Sweet Child', a double album which was half live and half studio recordings. 'Basket Of Light' followed in 1969, and included their most famous song 'Light Flight', which was a surprise hit single after it was used as the theme music for the BBC television series 'Take Three Girls'. 

By 1970, they were at the peak of their popularity, recording a soundtrack for the film 'Tam Lin', making at least 12 television appearances, and undertaking tours of the UK and America. However, their fourth album 'Cruel Sister' was a commercial disaster, consisting of just four songs, all traditional, and including an 18 and a half minute-long version of 'Jack Orion'. For 1971's 'Reflection' the band returned to a mix of traditional and original material, and this was received with much more enthusiasm by the press and public, but the strains of touring and of working together as a band were readily apparent, and the band withdrew from Transatlantic in a bitter dispute with regarding royalties. The final album of the original lineup was 'Solomon's Seal', released by Warner Brothers/Reprise in 1972, with its release being accompanied by a UK tour, the last few dates of which had to be cancelled owing to Thompson becoming ill. On New Year's Day 1973, Jansch decided to leave the band, and Pentangle were no more. Reunions have been planned for sometimes happened over the next 40 or so years, and incarnations of the band continue to tour today. Their heyday, though was definitely the late 60's/early 70's, and this collection brings together some rare singles, b-sides, soundtrack recordings, and previously unreleased tracks from 1967 to 1970. The band recorded a number of different takes of 'Tam Lin' for the film of the same name, which were scattered throughout the movie, and here they are segued together into two separate tracks. There are also snatches of 'The Name Of The Game' heard in a party scene in the film, and although this was never recorded in the studio, luckily a live take of it has subsequently been discovered, while 'The Best Part Of Me' plays in full over the opening credits. There is also a studio recording of 'Haitian Fight Song' which was only previously available as a live recording on the 'Sweet Child' album, and a much shorter, instrumental version of the notorious 'Jack Orion'. 

Track listing

01 Travellin' Song (single 1968)
02 Poison (previously unreleased 1967)
03 Koan (previously unreleased 1967)
04 The Wheel (previously unreleased 1968)
05 The Casbah (previously unreleased 1968)
06 Haitian Fight Song (previously unreleased 1968)
07 I Saw An Angel (b-side of 'Once I had A Sweetheart' 1969)
08 Cold Mountain (b-side of 'Light Flight' 1969)
09 Jack Orion (previously unreleased instrumental 1970) 
10 Tam Lin - Part I (from the film 'Tam Lin' 1970)
11 Name Of The Game (live version of song from the film 'Tam Lin' 1970)
12 The Best Part Of You (from the film 'Tam Lin' 1970)
13 Tam Lin - Part II (from the film 'Tam Lin' 1970)