Bonnie McKee - Love Spell (2008)

Bonnie Leigh McKee was born in Vacaville, California, and raised in Seattle, Washington, studying classical piano and becoming a member of the Seattle Girls Choir Prime Voci at age 12. She recorded two albums with the choir, titled 'Jackson Berkey Meets The Seattle Girls' Choir' and 'Cantate', and with that as a background, McKee's mother gave a demo CD featuring her singing her songs, plus covers of Bette Midler and Fiona Apple, to a friend of hers Jonathan Poneman, who was the co-founder of the Sub Pop label. He was intrigued by her songwriting talents, and according to McKee, this was the moment when she realized she had to be "more than just a singer," but a songwriter, as well. By the age of 15, McKee was writing songs and performing in the Seattle area, and one of her demos reached Colin Filkow, an ex-Priority Records label executive, who recognized that she was a rare talent and signed her to his management company, Platinum Partners Artist Management. Although she was only 17 at the time, he flew her to Los Angeles and welcomed her into his family, inspiring her to sing and write songs and to trust her instincts. Filkow took her demos to dozens of labels, publishers, agents, and entertainment lawyers, and after more than a year, he managed to get her signed to Warner Bros. Records in one of the most lucrative signings ever for a new artist. Her debut album 'Trouble' was recorded across a period of two years by producers Bob Power and Rob Cavallo, and was commercially released in September 2004, but Reprise was unsure on how to sell her, so the label settled on a partnership with internet radio website LAUNCHcast, which would promote the lead single 'Somebody'. This soon became one of the most played tracks on the website, and its popularity with young females led to a strategy where McKee would be a subversive alternative to the teen pop demographic. 

The album received positive reviews in Blender, Nylon, The Los Angeles Times, and Teen People, but was commercially unsuccessful, and she was devastated when the album didn't happen, saying later "I realized there are so many steps from getting a deal to having a hit...and I didn't get there. It was a huge let-down." Despite this she started work on a second studio album, but her life started on a downward-spiral, and she began to abuse crystal meth, an addiction with which she struggled for several years. She was dropped from the label after defacing the CEO's car with lipstick during the middle of the night, and her cancelled second album became the stuff of legend. Following her release from Reprise Records, McKee managed to get a job at Pulse Recordings' publishing arm, Check Your Pulse, through her boyfriend and longtime collaborator, Oliver "Oligee" Goldstein, and while living in poverty, without hot water, a cell phone, or a car, she spent many hours in the recording studio, learning how to use Pro Tools and crafting new songs alongside Elliott Yamin and Leighton Meester. In 2009, she was introduced to music producer Dr. Luke by her manager Josh Abraham, and as Dr. Luke had collaborated with McKee's longtime friend Katy Perry on her second album 'One Of The Boys', he was able to put her name forward when Perry expressed interest in having a co-writer. Together, along with Max Martin and Benny Blanco, they began writing songs, ultimately producing the hits that would appear on Perry's third album 'Teenage Dream', including the three singles from the album, 'California Gurls', 'Teenage Dream', and 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)', the last of which was inspired by McKee and Perry's misadventures in their teenaged years. 

Each of the singles topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and they earned McKee several BMI Pop Awards in 2011 and 2012 for her role as a songwriter. She also co-wrote two more chart-toppers for Perry, 'Part Of Me' and 'Roar', and four other songs that hit number one on either the Hot 100 or the UK Singles Chart, being Britney Spears' 'Hold It Against Me', Taio Cruz's 'Dynamite', Rita Ora's 'How We Do (Party)' and Cheryl's 'I Don't Care'. On June 22, 2017, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that 'Roar' had received an RIAA Diamond certification award for 10 million copies sold. With her new career as a songwriter now firmly established, she didn't feel the need to release her own music, but her fans felt differently, and the forums have been filled with chat for years about the albums that they would love to hear from her. A possible 2014 album for Epic Records is top of the list, but her abandoned second album is often mentioned, and with her backlog of hundreds of unreleased songs she could easily release half a dozen albums full of the sort of songs that were hits for other artists. I've managed to get hold of a huge number of these unreleased recordings, and so am able to piece together some of these sought-after records, and I'm starting with that shelved second album from 2008, now titled 'Love Spell'. 

Track listing

01 Love Spell
02 Thunder Of My Heartbeat
03 Deja Vu
04 Make It Through Another Day
05 Head On
06 Friends
07 Mine
08 Worst In Me
09 Stars In Your Heart
10 To Find You
11 Infatuation
12 Teenage Heart

Swing Out Sister - Filth And Dreams (1999)

Swing Out Sister started as a trio of Andy Connell (keyboards), Martin Jackson (drums) and later Corinne Drewery (vocals). Connell and Jackson, outside of their usual roles as Manchester musicians in A Certain Ratio and Magazine, were producing electro tracks for Morgan Khan's Streetwise label with a degree of underground success, and this activity triggered interest from a few major labels, including Phonogram/Mercury Records. Vocalised songs were asked for, so Connell, who knew Diane Charlemagne through Factory Records, approached her to sing on the Phonogram demos. These demos helped secure Connell and Jackson's major label contract, but Charlemange's band 52nd Street moved from Factory Records to Virgin, and as a result her involvement with Swing Out Sister ended, and Drewery was recruited as a replacement.  Together with their producer, Paul Staveley O'Duffy, they signed with Mercury Records, and released the 'Blue Moon' single, but it failed to chart. In late 1986 they released their second single 'Breakout', and this time it reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. When they released their debut album 'It's Better To Travel' in May 1987, it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, with the record blending real horns, synths (arranged subtly, to sound like strings), drums, and xylophones, all scored by producer/ arranger Richard Niles. The follow-up single 'Surrender' rose to number seven on the UK charts, while the more serious and jazzy 'Twilight World' was subject to many remixes and was a dance club favourite worldwide. Building on this early success the band released four further albums over the next 10 years, all to critical acclaim and commercial success, and by the time that 'Shapes And Patterns' came out in 1997 the band had become extremely popular in Japan, with the album being released in that country a full year before anywhere else in the world. Their song 'Now You're Not Here' was used as the theme to the Japanese TV programme 'Mahiru No Tsuki', and was ranked at No.1 in the Japanese chart, receiving a Japanese 'Grand Prix' (the equivalent of a Grammy Award) for best international single in 1997. It also marked the beginning of the band's use of Japanese musicians in their studio sessions. 'Filth And Dreams', their sixth album, proved yet again that Swing Out Sister were eager to reinvent themselves, and it was released in Japan in March 1999, and it remains the only album not released in any other country. This album featured stronger jazz leanings than some of their early pop-oriented albums, and is restrained in mood. The track 'Who's Been Sleeping' was promoted as a single and released with several remixes, and some of the songs adapted to the growing popularity of hip-hop in the late 90's, while other used background noises, from telephone conversations to child's play, to enrich the record. As the album could only be obtained from Japan, there could be fans out there who didn't even know it existed, or have been unable to get their hands on a copy, and so for all fans here it is for you to enjoy. 

Track listing

01 Who's Been Sleeping
02 Closer Than The Sun
03 Sugar Free
04 Filth And Dreams
05 Happy When You're High
06 If I Had The Heart
07 When Morning Comes
08 Invisible
09 World Out Of Control
10 Make You Stay

Foeniks - Sentimental Journey (2019)

Foeniks, also known as ELectroBin, is a French electronic music producer who has released a couple of albums on Bandcamp over the last few years. He's been described as not being defined by a genre but by his creativity. His affinity with music began when learning how to play guitar that he patiently taught himself via an insatiable amount of practice and dedication. Blending different styles of music ranging from classical, soul, funk, jazz, trip-hop, metal and others, Foeniks first discovered music production way back in 2001. Throughout the intervening years, fellow producers, sound engineers, and DJs, have accompanied him and helped tremendously in nurturing his sound and making him grow as an artist. Despite the fact that he has never pursued a specific genre of music, he dabbles in trance, techno, electro-rock, drum 'n' bass, breakcore, and cinematic music. He recently posted an album's worth of unreleased music, and it's a fascinating mixture of all the above-mentioned genres, from the idiosyncratic opening cover of 'Sentimental Journey' to the cinematic soundscape of 'Troubles And Melodies' . I'd never heard of him before discovering this album, but I really like it, in particular his inventive use of samples, film dialogue and old jazz records of the 40's, and it's returned to the playlist more than a few times since I found it. 

Track listing

01 Sentimental Journey
02 No Sympathy
03 Deleste (feat. Favo)
04 From Me To You
05 Holiday's Interlude
06 Ils S'en Vont
07 Dark Days
08 Honey
09 We Think Too Much
10 Childish Interlude
11 I Can Dream
12 Troubles And Melodies

The Rolling Stones - Gathered Up Moss Vol. II (2020)

The second volume of Auran's comprehensive collection of The Rolling Stones' non-album singles and b-sides picks with a legendary out-take from 1970 and goes right through to a non-album single from 2020. Mixed in are a number of previously unreleased songs which were added to various compilation albums in 1981, 2002 and 2012, plus a couple of tracks from their 1991 live album which never made it into the studio. As mentioned in the first post, she's omitted tracks from super deluxe editions of albums that have been coming out lately, but that's mostly due to personal preferences, and the fact that this was meant to be a collection of songs which were released at the time, but just not on a studio album. So we now have every non-album song from the band's whole career to enjoy, and once again many thanks to Auran for putting it together.   

Track listing

Gathered Up Moss Vol. II: Disc I 1970-1991
01 Cocksucker Blues (unreleased, from the 1984 German boxset 'The Rest Of The Best')
02 Through the Lonely Nights (b-side of 'It's Only Rock 'n' Roll' 1974)
03 Everything Is Turning To Gold (b-side of 'Shattered' 1978)
04 If I Was A Dancer (Dance Pt. 2) (from 'Sucking In The Seventies' compilation 1981)
05 I Think I'm Going Mad (b-side of 'She Was Hot' 1984)
06 Fancyman Blues (b-side of 'Mixed Emotions' 1989)
07 Cook Cook Blues (b-side of 'Rock And A Hard Place' 1989)
08 Wish I'd Never Met You (b-side of 'Terrifying' 1990)
09 Highwire (from 'Flashpoint' live album 1991)
10 Sex Drive (from 'Flashpoint' live album 1991)

Gathered Up Moss Vol. II: Disc II 1994-2020
01 The Storm (b-side of 'Love Is Strong' 1994)
02 So Young (b-side of 'Love Is Strong' 1994)
03 Jump On Top Of Me (b-side of 'You Got Me Rocking' 1994)
04 I'm Gonna Drive (b-side of 'Out Of Tears' 1994)
05 Anyway You Look At It (b-side of 'Saint Of Me' 1998)
06 Don't Stop (from 'Forty Licks' compilation 2002)
07 Keys To Your Love (from 'Forty Licks' compilation 2002)
08 Stealing My Heart (from 'Forty Licks' compilation 2002)
09 Losing My Touch (from 'Forty Licks' compilation 2002)
10 Hurricane (single 2002)
11 Watching The River Flow (with Ben Waters, from 'Boogie 4 Stu: A Tribute To Ian Stewart' 2011)

12 Doom And Gloom (from 'GRRR!' compilation 2012)
13 One More Shot (from 'GRRR!' compilation 2012)
14 Living In A Ghost Town (single 2020)

And as a bonus for those who want it, 'Vol. 1: Disc III' in now on Soulseek, and has been added to the first post on Mega. 

Mega update

It didn't take me as long as I thought it would to move all the files to Mega, so everything from June 2021 is now on Mega, and the Archive is on Yandex, although I've a horrible feeling that my subscription runs out tomorrow, so if it does then I'll start moving the Archive to Mega after Christmas.

 
pj

Ke$ha - Lost Weekend (2010)

Kesha Rose Sebert was born in Los Angeles, California on 01 March 1987 to Rosemary Patricia "Pebe" Sebert, who is a singer-songwriter who co-wrote the 1978 single 'Old Flames Can't Hold A Candle To You', as featured on Dolly Parton's 1980 album 'Dolly, Dolly, Dolly'. Pebe, a single mother, struggled financially while supporting herself and her two children, sometimes having to look after them onstage while performing. In 1991 Pebe moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee after securing a new publishing deal for her songwriting, and she frequently brought her children along to recording studios and encouraged Kesha to sing when she noticed her vocal talent. Kesha attended Franklin High School and Brentwood High School, playing the trumpet and later the saxophone in the school marching band, and after attaining a near-perfect score on her SATs, she attended Barnard College, dropping out after three months to pursue her music career. In addition to taking songwriting classes, Kesha was also taught how to write songs by her mother, and they would often write together when she returned home from high school. Eventually she began recording demos, which her mother would give to people she knew in the music business. Around this time, Pebe answered an advertisement from the American reality TV series 'The Simple Life', looking for an "eccentric" family to host Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, and the episode featuring the Sebert family aired in 2005. Kesha's demos were gaining interest in the music business, and in 2005, at age 18, she was signed to Kemosabe Records, and later to David Sonenberg's management company, DAS Communications Inc. Working with several writers and producers while at Kemosabe she co-wrote Australian pop group The Veronicas' single 'This Love' with producer Toby Gad, while at the same time earning a living as a waitress, and it was around this time that she added the 'ironic' $ to her name. In 2008 she appeared in the video for her friend Katy Perry's single 'I Kissed A Girl', and also sang background vocals for the song 'Lace And Leather' by Britney Spears. A deal with Warner Bros. Records fell through due to her existing contract with Kemosabe, and after failing to negotiate deals with Lava Records and Atlantic in 2009, she finally signed a multi-album deal with RCA. 

Having spent the previous 6 years working on material for her debut album, she chose the best of the 200 songs that she'd written in the preceding years, and the resulting 'Animal' sold two million copies and was certified Platinum in the United States. The lead single, 'Tik Tok', broke the record in the United States with 610,000 digital downloads sold in a single week, the highest ever by a female artist since digital download tracking began in 2003. Subsequent singles from the album - 'Blah Blah Blah', 'Your Love Is My Drug' and 'Take It Off' - achieved similar commercial success, each reaching the top ten in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Kesha's deliberately unpolished aesthetic and juvenile stage persona quickly made her a deeply polarizing figure, with some of her critics finding her output to be unsophisticated, while others felt that she was manufactured and lacked credibility. In November 2010, 'Animal' was re-released with a companion EP 'Cannibal'. The lead single taken from Cannibal, 'We R Who We R', debuted at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, and with two number ones and four top ten hits Kesha was named Hot 100 Artist of 2010 by Billboard magazine, with 'Tik Tok' ranked as the best-performing song of the year in the US. With a backlog of 200 songs, it's not surprising that they started to leak onto the internet after the huge success of her first few releases, and so here is just a small selection of the ones that didn't make 'Animal'/'Cannibal'.

Track listing

01 TV To Talk About  
02 Who Do You Love?   
03 This Is Me Breaking Up With You  
04 True Love (feat. Katy Perry) 
05 Booty Call  
06 Butterscotch   
07 Boy Like You (feat. Ashley Tisdale)   
09 Mouth  
09 Red Lipstick   
10 Lovers In the Deep End 
11 Paper Airplane 
12 Bad Dream  
13 Heart Fall Out  
14 Boys Just Suck  
15 Shots On the Hood Of My Car 
16 Lost Weekend 
17 Run Devil Run 

Diamond Head - Play It Loud (1983)

Diamond Head are a well-respected heavy metal band, who were at the forefront of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement of the late-70's, and are acknowledged by thrash metal bands such as Megadeth and Metallica as an important early influence, with the latter including the band's 'Helpless' on their classic EP 'The $5.98 E.P. - Garage Days Re-Revisited' in 1987. Diamond Head was formed by Brian Tatler and Duncan Scott while they were both still at school in June 1976, and although they soon found singer Sean Harris, they had to go through three bass players before settling on Collin Kimberley in 1978. The band recorded two self-financed demo tapes on a four-track recorder in 1979, and they sent the demo to Geoff Barton at Sounds magazine, which was perfect timing with the emergence of a new genre coined by Barton as The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. In 1979/80, Diamond Head were managed by budding local managers Dave Morris and Ian Frazier, with Morris putting some money into the band and trying to get them a record deal, and Frazier driving the band around the UK when on tour. The band's demos and live reputation gained enough attention for them to get two support dates with AC/DC, and also one with Iron Maiden at The Lyceum, London. Although several record companies expressed interest in signing the band, none were deemed worthy by Harris's mother Linda Harris, who was by now taking an interest in her son's band, and advising him on important decisions, along with her boyfriend Reg Fellows. Following a difference of opinions about how to manage the band, Morris and Frazier quit their roles, leaving the job solely to Linda Harris and Reg Fellows, and so while other young heavy metal bands were signed to major labels and headlining their own tours, Diamond Head remained independent. Guitarist Brian Tatler thinks that their joint managers had unrealistic expectations about the kind of record deal the band should sign, and so when no deal lived up to this, Fellows decided that the band should record an album quickly and cheaply at a local 24 track studio, where they had recorded their first single 'Shoot Out the Lights', in a deal which gave studio owner Muff Murfin 50 percent of the bands publishing for fifteen years in exchange for use of his studio. 

Tapes were passed around various labels, but when the album, now titled 'Lightning To The Nations', failed to secure a record deal, the band's management decided that they would release 1000 copies of the record on Muff Murfin's independent Happy Face Records label. The album was packaged in a plain white sleeve with no title or track listings, and 250 copies were signed by each band member. The management thought that it should be perceived as a 'demo' album, so no fancy sleeve was required, making it very cheap to produce. The first 1000 copies were pressed and made available at concerts and via mail-order for £3.50, with a mail-order advertisement appearing in Sounds for six weeks, but which the band's management neglected to pay for, and which resulted in them being sued. The original stereo master tapes were lost after they were sent to the German record company Woolfe Records, for them to release a vinyl version of the album with a new sleeve, and they were eventually tracked down by Lars Ulrich and Phonogram Germany for inclusion on the 1990 compilation album 'New Wave Of British Heavy Metal '79 Revisited'. In 1980, Pete Winkelman from Wolverhampton got involved and tried to sign Diamond Head to his new label, Media Records, along the way advising the band to change management,  but this advice was not heeded, and in the end Diamond Head agreed to make just one single for Winkelman, which was a re-recorded version of 'Sweet & Innocent' b/w 'Streets Of Gold', appearing around October 1980. In January 1981, Diamond Head successfully opened for April Wine on their UK tour, and the 'Diamond Lights' EP was quickly recorded to help pay towards the expenses of an ambitious UK tour which was planned for the summer. However, their management tried to save money by bypassing promoters and booking the venues with local agents, and so with little promotion for the tour, it lost money. The only A&R man who was determined to sign the band was Charlie Eyre, who quit his job at A&M and joined MCA in order to sign Diamond Head and Musical Youth. Discussions went on for around six months until the band finally inked a five-album deal on 1 January 1982. 

First on the agenda was to record and release the 'Four Cuts' EP, which contained two early era songs, 'Shoot Out The Lights' and 'Dead Reckoning', alongside new songs 'Call Me' and 'Trick Or Treat'. Their first MCA album 'Borrowed Time', housed in a lavish Rodney Matthews-illustrated gatefold sleeve based on the album's Elric theme, was commercially successful, climbing to No 24 in the UK Albums Chart, and it enabled the band to perform a full-scale UK tour at premier venues such as London's Hammersmith Odeon. Once the two-week UK tour was over, they were told to start writing the next album, and they tried a more experimental sounding follow-up, tentatively titled 'Making Music', and which was later re-named 'Canterbury' in 1983. Using top engineer Mike Shipley at an expensive London studio put immense pressure on the band, and Scott struggled to adapt to this new level of scrutiny and was fired, after completing just six drum tracks in three weeks. Then once all the bass parts had been recorded, Kimberley also quit, leaving just Harris and Tatler to complete the recording, and resulting in Tatler almost having a nervous breakdown. The initial success of the album was stalled as the first 20,000 copies suffered vinyl pressing problems, causing the LP to jump, but it still made number 32 in the UK Albums Chart, although it sold less than their debut, possibly because the sound was so different to 'Borrowed Time', and fan were somewhat confused by it. The band were invited to open that year's Monsters of Rock Festival, and toured Europe as special guests of Black Sabbath, but in early 1984 they were dropped by MCA records, and after an 18-date UK tour which lost money they put the band on hold. Harris and Tatler still continued to write together, and in October/November, they re-convened in a purpose-built studio in Stambermill, West Midlands, to record their next album, but it was never finished, and the band fell apart in early 1985. Diamond Head were one of the better exponents of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, but just didn't seem to have the luck of Judas Priest or Iron Maiden, although 'Borrowed Time' is rightly considered a classic of the genre. This post brings together their singles and EP's which led up to that record, excluding the songs which were later re-recorded for it, and including a handful of demos for their second album. It's a great collection of heavy metal from one of the best bands of the period. 

Track listing

01 Shoot Out The Lights (single 1980)
02 Streets Of Gold (b-side of 'Sweet & Innocent' 1980)
03 Waited Too Long (single 1981)
04 Play It Loud (b-side of 'Waited Too Long')
05 Diamond Lights (from the 'Diamond Lights' EP 1981)
06 We Won't Be Back (from the 'Diamond Lights' EP 1981)
07 I Don't Got (from the 'Diamond Lights' EP 1981)
08 Dead Reckoning (from the 'Four Cuts' EP 1982)
09 Trick Or Treat (from the 'Four Cuts' EP 1982)
10 Can't Take No More (demo 1983)
11 Time's On My Side (demo 1983)
12 Come To Hear You Play (demo 1983)

Even As We Speak - Falling Down (1993)

Even As We Speak were formed in Sydney, Australia in the mid-1980's by founding members Matthew Love (guitar, banjo, vocals) and Mary Wyer (vocals, guitar), who were later joined by Rob Irwin (bass) Anita Rayner (drums, banjo, mandolin), Paul Clarke (guitar, vocals) and Julian Knowles (keyboards, guitar, production). After a series of vinyl releases on Australian independent labels including Phantom Records, and success on the Australian indie scene, they came to the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel who started to play the band's Phantom Records single 'Goes So Slow' on his show. This brought them to the attention of UK audiences and began a relationship with UK indie label Sarah Records, releasing several singles and the superb 'Feral Pop Frenzy' album on the label. Between 1992 and 1993 the group recorded three sessions for John Peel and one session for Mark Goodier for BBC Radio 1, and were one of the few Australian bands to record Peel Sessions, alongside The Birthday Party, The Triffids, The Go-Betweens and Laughing Clowns, and all of the recordings were released as the album 'Yellow Food: The Peel Sessions' in June 2014. After the release of their sole album the band broke up, and Wyer formed a pop rock band, Her Name in Lights, which issued their debut album 'Into The Light Again' in October 2004. In 2016, the band reformed (minus Paul Clarke) to play NYC Popfest and added some further shows to mark the release of 'Yellow Food: The Peel Sessions'. This led to the band recording and releasing a 5 track EP of new material, 'The Black Forest', on 10" vinyl and CD through Emotional Response Records in the US in September 2017, and they followed this three years later with their second album 'Adelphi', which was released 24 July 2020 on Shelflife Records. Before they signed to Sarah Records, the band had released a significant amount of material on Australian indie labels, and few of these songs appeared on that debut album, so this post collects them together so that every non-album track is now all in one place.   

Track listing

01 Looking Over Your Shoulder (from the 'Small Fish In A Big Machine' EP 1986)
02 By The Side Of The Road (from the 'Small Fish In A Big Machine' EP 1986)
03 I Can Do Without (from the 'Small Fish In A Big Machine' EP 1986)
04 Falling Down (from the 'Small Fish In A Big Machine' EP 1986)
05 Blue Suburban Skies (single 1987)
06 Bizarre Love Triangle (b-side of 'Blue Suburban Skies')
07 I Won't Have To Think About You (single 1987)
08 Single To Central (b-side of 'I Won't Have To Think About You')
09 Galveston (b-side of 'I Won't Have To Think About You')
10 Goes So Slow (single 1989)
11 Nothing Ever Happens (b-side of 'Goes So Slow')
12 A Stranger Calls (b-side of 'Goes So Slow')
13 100 (from 'Outgrown This Town' 12" 1990)
14 Pleasure Circles (from 'Outgrown This Town' 12" 1990)
15 Brain (from 'Outgrown This Town' 12" 1990)
16 Outgrown This Town (from 'Outgrown This Town' 12" 1990)
17 Must Be Something Else (from the 'One Step Forward' EP 1991)
18 Best Kept Secret (from the 'One Step Forward' EP 1991)
19 Nothing Much At All (b-side of 'Beautiful Day' 1991)
20 Blue Eyes Deceiving Me (from the 'Blue Eyes Deceiving Me' EP 1993)
21 (All You Find Is) Air (from the 'Blue Eyes Deceiving Me' EP 1993)
22 Getting Faster (from the 'Blue Eyes Deceiving Me' EP 1993)

Mega update

It looks like most people get on pretty well with Mega, so I've uploaded all the files from April this year to date, and just about used up the 20GB of free space. It does seem that despite Yandex saying that my files will remain active until 27th January, it's not letting people download them, so this should tide you over. I'll purchase some extra storage and carry on uploading to Mega, and the plan was that when I've stored 50GB with them, I'll then delete 43GB of files from Yandex and that will take me below my limit, and the archived files will become downloadable again. However, as the Yandex files cannot currently be downloaded then there's no point in putting that off so I've deleted the files and so the Archive is now available again on Yandex. There might be a few files missing, as the dates seemed a bit odd in December 2021, but let me know if it's not there and I can add it back in. I don't know how long that subscription lasts for, so I will eventually have to move them all to Mega, but that's going to take a very long time, so I hope it lasts until I've finished. 

Soulseekers can carry on as if nothing has happened. 

For now, it seems like we have a solution, so let me know how it all goes. 

For anyone new to the site, there is a downloadable file under the disclaimer on the right that says NO MUSIC IS STORED ON THIS SITE, and links to all the albums are in there.

The achive is back with it's own Yandex file. 

pj

The Rolling Stones - Gathered Up Moss Vol. 1 (1969)

As a special Christmas treat we have a guest post from fellow blogger Auran, who decided that she wanted to put together a series of albums which collected up every non-UK album track that The Rolling Stones released between 1963 and 2020, and this near-comprehensive compilation of every studio recording the band released outside of their core UK album catalogue is sourced from singles, US albums, bonus tracks on live albums and compilations, and some bootlegs. The band have had many, many compilations released over the years, but because of things like label issues, or the fact that they wanted to concentrate on just the hits, a comprehensive overview of their non-album songs has never been done, and The Rolling Stones are in a not dissimilar situation to The Beatles in regards to the sheer amount of non-album singles and alternate cuts they released throughout their career. However, unlike The Beatles, there isn't any compilation that compiles them all together, so Auran took it upon herself to aggregate something and come up with a title and cover for it, and what she came up with was a two volume series that she called 'Gathered Up Moss'. The first volume covers the 60's, and the second volume the 70s' onwards (which is much less voluminous than the 60's on the front of non-album cuts, but there's still enough to fill up two discs). For that one she did omit tracks from super deluxe editions of albums that have been coming out lately, but that's mostly due to personal preferences, and it still left plenty to be going on with. 
One thing to note is that tracks from the 1964 self-titled EP and the 'Five By Five' EP have not been included, as they stand just fine on their own, and are worth being a part of any hardcore Stones fan's collection as more than just part of a compilation like this. The files that Auran sent included a third volume of 60's tracks, which repeated those of the second volume but in stereo or with alternate takes. Unless you're listening intently on headphones I don't think the casual listener will notice much difference, and so to avoid duplication I'm just including the mono versions, as to be honest, the Stones in the 60's will always be mono to me. If anyone is interested in hearing the third volume then I can always post it later, after Vol. 2.
On a personal note, there are tracks on here that even I had never heard before, especially early b-sides, and so I think even the most avid Stones fan will appreciate the work that Auran has put into these collections. 

Track listing

Gathered Up Moss Vol. I: Disc I 1963 - 1965

01 Come On (single 1963)
02 I Want To Be Loved (b-side of 'Come On')
03 I Wanna Be Your Man (single 1963)
04 Stoned (b-side of 'I Wanna Be Your Man')
05 Fortune Teller (from Decca Records "Saturday Club" compilation)
06 Poison Ivy (from Decca Records "Saturday Club" compilation)
07 Not Fade Away (single 1964)
08 It's All Over Now (single 1964)
09 Good Times, Bad Times (b-side of 'It's All Over Now')
10 Time Is On My Side (US single 1964)
11 Congratulations (b-side of 'Time Is on My Side')
12 Little Red Rooster (single 1964)
13 Everybody Needs Somebody to Love (from US album 'The Rolling Stones, Now!' 1965)
14 Surprise, Surprise (from US album 'The Rolling Stones, Now!' 1965)
15 The Last Time (single 1965)
16 Play With Fire (b-side of 'The Last Time')
17 I've Been Loving You Too Long (from 'Got Live If You Want It!' with crowd overdubs 1966)

18 The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man (extended version from early copies 

                                                                               of the UK 'Out Of Our Heads' album 1965)
19 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (single 1965)
20. The Spider And The Fly (b-side of '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction')
21 One More Try (from US album 'Out of Our Heads' 1965)
22 Get Off Of My Cloud (single 1965)
23 The Singer Not the Song (b-side of 'Get Off Of My Cloud')
24 Look What You've Done (from US album 'December's Children (and Everybody's)' 1965)
25 As Tears Go By (from US album 'December's Children (and Everybody's)' 1965)
26 Blue Turns To Grey (from US album "December's Children (and Everybody's)' 1965)

Gathered Up Moss Vol. I: Disc II 1966 - 1969
01 19th Nervous Breakdown (single 1966)
02 Sad Day (b-side of '19th Nervous Breakdown')
03 Con le Mie Lacrime (Italian version of 'As Tears Go By' 1966)
04 Paint It Black (single 1966)
05 Long, Long While (b-side of 'Paint It Black')
06 Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? (single 1966)
07 Who's Driving Your Plane? (b-side of 'Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby....')

08 Let's Spend The Night Together (single 1967)
09 Ruby Tuesday (b-side of 'Let's Spend The Night Together')
10 Out Of Time (from US compilation 'Flowers' 1967)
11 My Girl (from US compilation 'Flowers' 1967)
12 Ride On, Baby (from US compilation 'Flowers' 1967)
13 Sittin' On A Fence (from US compilation 'Flowers' 1967)
14 We Love You (single 1967)
15 Dandelion (b-side of 'We Love You')
16 Jumpin' Jack Flash (single 1968)
17 Child Of The Moon (b-side of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash')
18 Street Fighting Man (single 1968)
19 Honky Tonk Women (single 1969)
20 You Can't Always Get What You Want (b-side of 'Honky Tonk Women')

If you're a fan of the Canterbury scene of the 70's then check out Auran's blog The Soft Machine Rigmarole

Yandex update 2

So Turbobit doesn't seem to be very popular, but then I haven't used the free version for years so don't know how bad it is. I've had a look through the other file-hosting services, and despite the fact that they banned me from their site a few years ago, I think Mega is worth a shot. I use the free version a lot and never have any issues, so I've uploaded the last two dozen posts as a test so see how you all get on with it. I'll give it a week or so to see what comments I get, and if it seems to be working then I'll upload some more posts over the next few weeks, and I might even try to upload everything in time, as their annual subscription seems fairly reasonable. Yandex have told me that my files will stay available for another month, although people seem to be having issues downloading already, so not exactly sure what's happening there. Let me know what you think of Mega, and I hope they don't look too closely at the files and try to ban me again. 

pj

 

Dr. Dre & Ice Cube - Helter Skelter (1995)

After his acrimonious and very public departure from NWA, the possibility of Ice Cube ever re-entering the same circles as other members of 'The World’s Most Dangerous Group' felt like a pipe dream. Slighted by the "Benedict Arnold" moniker that they’d given him after he left the group, the release of his infamous 'No Vaseline' diss drove a wedge that seemed as though it could never be healed. However, Dr. Dre's decision to follow his former friend's lead and depart from Jerry Heller's Ruthless Records would help repair the rift between the two, and as he was now at the forefront of his own G-funk-tinged musical revolution at Suge Knight's Death Row Records, he then reached out to Ice Cube to make a hilarious cameo in the iconic video for The Chronic's 'Let Me Ride', and this led to speculation over the status of both Dre and Cube's personal and professional relationship. When Snoop Doggy Dogg's 'Doggystyle' album was released it seemed that a collaboration was on the cards, as when listeners flipped over to the back of the album they found a list of records 'soon to be released on Death Row', including one titled 'Dr Dre/Ice Cube "Helter Skelter"'. 

In 1994 Dre and Cube started to tease fans about their collaboration, even selling T-Shirts hyping the album up. One track did appear, with 'Natural Born KIllaz' featuring on the soundtrack to Snoop Dogg's short film 'Murder Was The Case', but the deadline of summer 1995 came and went without another hint of new music from the duo. On account of Dre's well-publicized perfectionism, this didn't necessarily dash hopes that the record would ever see the light of day, but this delay did open up the door for someone else to take over the concept. While he was with Death Row Records, the The D.O.C. would often ghost-write lyrics for Dr. Dre, but he always felt that his contributions were treated dismissively, and so when he left Death Row he decided to release his own album using the title 'Helter Skelter', and featuring a lot of the lyrics that he'd written for the Dre/Cube collaboration. Although his vocals had been irrevocably damaged in a car accident in the years since his landmark debut album 'No One Can Do It Better', he still decided to go ahead with the album, as for him it was never about bringing his own vision to life, but it was more important to take Dre's idea from under him, admitting to longtime collaborator Erotic D that he simply wanted to name the record before Dre could release his own version of it. 

This could have been the final straw for the Dre/Cube version, which has never seen the light of day, and is seldom, if ever, mentioned any more by either party. Some scattered fragments of it do remain out there, with 'My Life' first surfacing online in the early 2000's, and while Cube doesn't appear on the track in its present form, fans believe that it was earmarked for their joint effort. It's also been said that the instrumental used on 'Can't C Me' from Tupac's seminal 'All Eyez On Me' was initially allocated for 'Helter Skelter', while the sinister tones used in Scarface's 'Game Over', (featuring Dre, Cube, and Too $hort), were first laid down during the sessions for the shelved album. Ice Cube has his own theory of why 'Helter Skelter' stalled, and he lays the blame at the door of Eminem and 50 Cent, who he felt took up too much of Dre's time when they joined Interscope, and by the time those artists had become established on the label, they'd missed the boat on their collaboration. However, fans who really wanted to hear the album have gone to great lengths to piece it together, and one of the very best efforts is by Nas The Judge on Youtube, who has taken the tracks where we know they collaborated, plus some where they are both present, and remixed others, to produce perhaps the closest that we'll ever get to hearing the original 'Helter Skelter'. There's only one poor quality scan of the cover online, so I've done my best to improve it, and we can now all hear an album that we really do wish existed.    

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Die Mutha Fucka Die (Dr. Dre)
03 Chin Check (NWA)
04 Started This (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube)
05 Natural Born Killaz (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube)
06 Game Over (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube/Scarface)
07 My Life (Smoke Weed 4 Hours) (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube - NTJ remix)
08 California Love (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube - NTJ remix)
09 Can't C Me (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube feat. G Clinton - NTJ remix)
10 Better Recognize (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube - NTJ remix)

Five Thirty - Air Conditioned Nightmare (1991)

Tara Milton and Nick Baker formed Five Thirty whilst still at school near Oxford in 1983, and after recruiting drummer Steve Beatty they played their first official gig in May 1984. Baker decided to leave the band in March 1985, and 21 year-old American replacement Shawn Gwin (formerly of the bands East Cambodia and The Numbers in New Orleans) was spotted advertising his services in the then popular weekly Phoenix List. They quickly recorded demos of Gwin's songs 'Weight Of The World', 'Catcher In The Rye', 'Mood Suite' and 'Suburban Town' before Gwin left to return to New Orleans, and the band released their demos as a 12" vinyl single titled 'Catcher In The Rye' in 1985. Paul Bassett took over on guitar and vocals after Gwin left,and then the original drummer Steve Beatty was replaced by Keith McCubbin and finally Phil Hopper. This line-up (Milton/Bassett/Hopper) then signed to Atco/East West Records in 1990 and released four singles and their only album 'Bed' in 1991. The group disbanded in 1992, but left behind a considerable body of work which was released in 1990 and 1991, including a cover version of 'My Sweet Lord' for the anti-poll tax album 'Alvin Lives (in Leeds)'. I've always had a soft spot for their decision to go down the indie/psyche/rock route at the height of BritPop, and the fact that they recorded so much material which was given away as b-sides to their singles. I'll be the first to admit that the first four tracks are not really representative of the band's sound, and so even though they are not as well-known as some other bands of the period, do give them a try, and if you like what you hear then do get the 'Bed' album, as it's even better.  

Track listing

01 Weight Of The World (b-side of 'Catcher In The Rye' 12" single 1985)
02 Catcher In The Rye (12" single 1985)
03 Mood Suite (b-side of 'Catcher In The Rye' 12" single 1985)
04 Suburban Town (b-side of 'Catcher In The Rye' 12" single 1985)
05 Air Conditioned Nightmare (single 1990)
06 Judy Jones (b-side of 'Air Conditioned Nightmare' 12" single)
07 The Things That Turn You On (b-side of 'Air Conditioned Nightmare' 12" single)
08 Mistress Daydream (b-side of 'Air Conditioned Nightmare' 12" single)
09 Coming Up For Air (b-side of 'Abstain!' 12" single 1990)
10 My Sweet Lord (from the 'Alvin Lives (In Leeds)' anti-poll tax album 1990)
11 Hate Male (b-side of '13th Disciple' 12" single 1991)
12 Out To Get In (b-side of '13th Disciple' 12" single 1991)
13 Come Together (b-side of '13th Disciple' 12" single 1991)
14 Something's Got To Give (b-side of 'Supernova' 12" single 1991)
15 Still Life (b-side of 'Supernova' 12" single 1991)  
16 Cuddly Drug (b-side of 'You' EP 1991)
17 Slow Train Into The Ocean (b-side of 'You' EP 1991)     

Brandy - Honey (2006)

Returning from her foray into reality television, Brandy's fourth album 'Afrodisiac' was released in June 2004, amid the well-publicized termination of her short-lived business relationship with entertainment manager Benny Medina. She ended her contract with his Los Angeles-based Handprint Entertainment after less than a year of representation, following controversies surrounding Medina's handling of the lead single 'Talk About Our Love', and failed negotiations of a purported co-headlining tour with R&B singer Usher. Despite the negative publicity, 'Afrodisiac' became her most critically acclaimed album, with some reviews highlighting the more consistently mature and challenging effect of Timbaland on her music, and favourably comparing her to Janet Jackson. A moderate seller, the album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and 'Talk About Our Love' reached number six in the United Kingdom single chart, although subsequent singles failed to score as successfully. After eleven years with the company, Brandy asked for and received an unconditional release from Atlantic Records at the end of 2004, citing her wish "to move on" as the main reason for her decision. Completing her contract with the label, a compilation album titled 'The Best Of Brandy' was released in March 2005, and despite little promotion, it reached the top 30 in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, where the collection was appreciated by contemporary critics, who noted the creativity of her back catalogue. Recording sessions commenced for what would be the follow-up to 'Afrodisiac' while negotiations went on for a new recording contract under the auspices of her brother's Knockout Entertainment company. In 2006 she began appearing in a recurring role in the UPN sitcom 'One On One', and in June she was picked as one of the three judges on the first series of 'America's Got Talent', and so her singing career was once again put on hold. It was not until 2008 that she would sign to Epic Records and release the 'Human' album, meaning that the 2006 recordings remained unreleased, so here they are, along with the odd 'Afrodisiac' out-take, for an album that could have appeared in 2006 had her TV career not taken priority.     

Track listing

01 La La Land
02 Nodding Off
03 Honey
04 Ryde Or Die (feat. Posta Boy)
05 Follow Me
06 Maximum Risk
07 Fall Back (feat. DJ Whoo, Lloyd Banks & Fabolous)
08 Lately (What Have You Done For Me?) 
09 So Good
10 Sweet Nothing
11 Doesn't Really Matter

Yandex update

We knew it was coming, but my subscription has finally run out with Yandex, as I can't get any money over to Russia to extend it due to the sanctions in place here. I'm now unable to upload any more files, but I have a back-up, as I have a Turbobit account which runs until April next year, so new files will be uploaded to that. Files can still be downloaded from Yandex until 27 January 2023, but after that all files will be locked. I could delete some of the older uploads to free up some space, and then if anyone wants them they can request in the comments and I can re-upload to Turbobit, so that's a possibility that I'll have to consider in the new year. Hopefully Turbobit will be user-friendly, but let me know it there are any problems with it. 

pj

Have A Blues Christmas 2022

Christmas is looming, so here are some fine bluesy Christmas songs to get you in the mood.

Track listing

01 Christmas Time, Part 1 (Jimmy McCracklin 1966)
02 Merry Christmas, Baby (Charles Brown 1950)
03 Blues For Christmas (John Lee Hooker 1961)
04 I Wanna Spend Christmas With You (Part 2) (Lowell Fulson 1967)
05 Love For Christmas (Felix Gross 1950)
06 Santa (Lightnin' Hopkins 1966)
07 Christmas Tears (Freddy KIng 1961)
08 Christmas Eve Baby (Johnny Moore's Blazers with Johnny Ervin 1955)
09 Christmas Blues (Ralph Willis 1971)
10 Christmas (Chuck Berry 1970)
11 Merry Christmas Darling (Hop Wilson 1961)
12 Hello Santa Claus (Cecil Grant 1950)
13 Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues (Sonny Boy Williamson 1951)
14 Empty Stocking Blues (Floyd Dixon with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers 1950) 
15 Happy New Year (Lightnin' Hopkins 1953)

Soulseek hint   blues 2022

Lynn Cornell - The Sweet Life (1963)

Lyn Cornell, sometimes billed as Lynn Cornell, was born in Liverpool, and as she worked for the Vernons Pools company in her hometown, she was recruited to become a member of The Vernons Girls, who appeared on the ITV show 'Oh Boy!' with the house band between 1958 and 1959, as well as making a series of relatively successful singles for Parlophone between 1958 and 1961. In April 1960 Cornell launched her solo career with the release of her first single 'Demon Lover' for Decca, and she is perhaps best known for her recording of the title theme for the film 'Never On Sunday', which reached No. 30 in the UK Singles Chart. At the end of a very productive year for her, she released a Christmas single, 'The Angel And The Stranger', and in the summer of the following year she performed at the North Pier Pavilion in Blackpool, on a bill including Matt Monro and Bert Weedon. In April 1962 she married the session musician Andy White, who had been drafted in by George Martin to drum on versions of The Beatles' 'Love Me Do' and 'P.S. I Love You', which temporarily relegated Ringo Starr to maracas. The same year, Decca released Cornell's version of 'African Waltz', which failed to make inroads compared to John Dankworth's instrumental chart hit, but the flip was an arrangement of the Jon Hendricks penned jazz standard 'Moanin'', which showed her expanding well beyond traditional pop music boundaries. This was followed by Jack Good's eccentric production work on her 1962 cover of The Blue Belles' US hit 'I Sold My Heart To The Junkman', but despite gaining airplay on the BBC Light Programme, it failed to match the chart appearance of 'Never On Sunday'. In 1963 Decca released her working of the folk standard 'Sally Go 'Round The Roses', but when that too failed to hit the charts she joined The Carefrees in 1964, who became best known for their song 'We Love You Beatles', being their first and only charting single, reaching No. 39 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and staying on the Billboard chart for five weeks. After a lengthy break from a solo career in the music industry, she joined up with former Vernons Girls member Ann Simmons, and with assistance from the record producer, Phil Swern, they formed the vocal duo The Pearls, going on to release 12 singles, the most successful of which was 'Guilty', which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1974. To see how she finally achieved the chart success that she deserved, here are all the singles that she recorded for Decca in the early 60's, showing her vocal versatility in attempting to have hits in a variety of different styles, including pop, rock, jazz and folk. 

Track listing

01 Demon Lover (single 1960)
02 Like Love (b-side of 'Demon Lover')
03 What A Feeling (b-side of 'Teaser' 1960)
04 Never On A Sunday (single 1960)
05 Swain Kelly (b-side of 'Never On A Sunday')
06 The Angel And The Stranger (single 1960)
07 Xmas Stocking (b-side of 'The Angel And The Stranger')
08 The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita) (single 1961) 
09 When Is Someday (b-side of 'The Sweet Life')
10 Adios My Love (single 1961)
11 African Waltz (single 1962)
12 Moanin' (b-side of 'African Waltz')
13 I Sold My Heart To The Junk Man (single 1962)
14 Step Up And Rescue Me (b-side of 'I Sold My Heart To The Junk Man')
15 Sally Go Round The Roses (single 1963)
16 You Can Kiss Me If You Like (b-side of 'Sally Go Round The Roses')
17 Kisses Can Lie (from the film 'Just For Fun' 1963)

Supergrass - Kiss Of Life (2008)

After three years out of the limelight, with just their appearance on the 'Mike Bassett: England Manager' soundtrack to keep their name in the public eye, Supergrass returned in 2002 with their fourth album 'Life On Other Planets', which was released in September. It was recorded at Heliocentric, Rockfield and Mayfair Studios and produced by Beck collaborator Tony Hoffer, and appeared on the Parlophone labrel in the UK and on the Island Def Jam imprint in the U.S. It was not as commercially successful as the band's first three albums, failing to make the Top Three in the UK albums chart, but the critical response to the album was generally very positive, and it has since gone gold in the UK. 'Life On Other Planets' was also notable as it was the first Supergrass album to recognise Gaz's brother Rob Coombes as an official member, even though he had been playing with the band on and off since 1983, and some of their records were often credited to 'Supergrass and Rob Coombes'. Once the album had been released the band took another extended three-year break, devoting their time to touring and personal engagements, and in 2004 the band's record company suggested that they release a singles compilation, and so 'Supergrass Is 10' appeared later that year, spawning two new self-produced tracks: 'Kiss Of Life' and 'Bullet'. Recording of their fifth studio album, 'Road To Rouen', began in France in a studio built by the band in Normandy and it represented a significant change in direction for them, being perceived as a more mature body of work. The album was preceded by the single 'St. Petersburg' in August 2005, and the album followed a week later. Opinion at the time was divided, but the album garnered the band many new fans, and cracked the Top 10 of the UK album chart. 

The second single 'Low C' featured a video by acclaimed 'Pumping On Your Stereo' video director Garth Jennings, and third single 'Fin', which was interpreted as a missive to the Coombes brothers' recently deceased mother, received much critical praise. The follow-up album, 'Diamond Hoo Ha', was recorded in Berlin and mixed in Los Angeles in 2007, and before its release the band did a summer tour. On 27 September 2007, bassist Mick Quinn sustained a broken heel bone and two spinal fractures in a sleepwalking accident, when he sleepwalked out of a first floor window of the villa he was staying at in the South of France. During his recuperation, Coombes and Goffey promoted first single 'Diamond Hoo Ha Man' as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men, with a run of small club shows in December and January. In 2008, Parlophone was taken over by venture capitalist group, Terra Firma, and Supergrass ended their contract with the label, with the final single from the album, 'Rebel In You', being released under licence from Parlophone on the band's own imprint Supergrass Records. This final post features exclusive b-sides to the singles lifted from 'Life On Other Planets', which appeared in 2002 and 2003, plus the new songs from the 2004 compilation album, and we end with a live outing from the DVD edition of their 'Low C' single, plus the flip of that final single on their own label from 2008. As mentioned in some of the comments, I hope that this short series highlights what an under-rated band Supergrass were, with most casual listeners only knowing them for the 'Alright' single, but they had so much more to offer than just that song. 

Track listing

01 Velvetine (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
02 Electric Cowboy (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
03 Tishing In Windows (Kicking Down Doors) (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
04 That Old Song (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
05 The Loner (b-side of 'Seen The Light' 2003)
06 I Told The Truth (b-side of 'Seen The Light' 2003)
07 Everytime (b-side of 'Rush Hour Soul' 2003)
08 Kiss Of Life (single 2004)
09 We Dream Of This (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 2004)
10 Bullet (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 2004)
11 Lady Jane And John Coltrane (from 'Low C' DVD 2005)
12 Car Crash (b-side of 'Rebel In You' 2008)

Alanis Morissette - Alanis (1991)

Alanis Nadine Morissette was born on 1 June 1974 in Ottawa, Canada, 12 minutes after her twin brother Wade, who is also a musician, and they both have an older brother Chad. Her parents were teachers in a military school, and due to their work often had to move, so between the ages of three and six she lived with her parents in Lahr in Germany, moving back to Canada when she was six. She started to play the piano at a young age, by seven she was taking dance lessons, and she composed her first song at the age of 10. She recorded her first demo called 'Fate Stay With Me' at Marigold Studios in Toronto, and a second demo tape was recorded on cassette in August 1989 and sent to Geffen Records, but the tape has never been heard as it was stolen in a burglary of the label's headquarters in October 1989. In 1991 she released her eponymous debut album through MCA Records Canada, but it only appeared in that country. She co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe, and the dance-pop album went platinum, with its first single 'Too Hot' reaching the top 20 on the RPM singles chart. Subsequent singles 'Walk Away' and 'Feel Your Love' didn't fare as well, but still made the top 40, and her popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the 'Debbie Gibson of Canada'. In 1992 she released her second album 'Now Is The Time', which was more of a ballad-driven record, with thoughtful lyrics and a less glitzy production that her previous release. 

Once again, the record only appeared in Canada, but it did produce three top 40 singles in 'An Emotion Away', 'No Apologies', and '(Change Is) Never A Waste Of Time'. The industry considered it a commercial failure, however, since it sold only a little more than half the copies of her first album, and with her two-album deal with MCA Records Canada complete, Morissette was left without a major label contract. In 1993 her publisher Leeds Levy at MCA Music Publishing introduced her to manager Scott Welch, who suggested that she move to Toronto and start writing with other people, and so after graduating from high school she left Ottawa and moved. While in Toronto she met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, and he believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio, where they co-wrote and recorded her first internationally released album, 'Jagged Little Pill'. By the spring of 1995 she'd signed a deal with Maverick Records, who released 'Jagged Little Pill' internationally in 1995, expecting it to just sell enough to warrant a follow-up record, but the situation improved quickly when influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM began playing the first single 'You Oughta Know', and after that success, further singles 'All I Really Want', 'Hand In My Pocket', and particularly 'Ironic' helped propel the album to the top of the charts. For most people, and I was one of them, this was their introduction to the singer, who seemed to emerge fully-formed from nowhere with a Juno and Grammy Award winning album, but it was in fact her third release, and while it's certainly not a case of her 1991 debut paving the way for her international success four years later, fans might still be interested in hearing 'Alanis', as like me, they might not have known that it even existed. 

 
Track listing

01 Feel Your Love
02 Too Hot
03 Plastic
04 Walk Away
05 On My Own
06 Superman
07 Jealous
08 Human Touch
09 Oh Yeah!
10 Party Boy

Donna Summer - I'm A Rainbow (1981)

After making her name as the biggest selling and most important female artist of the disco era in the 1970's, Donna Summer signed to Geffen Records in 1980 and released the new wave-influenced album 'The Wanderer'. The album was generally well-received by the critics, and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Album Chart, with the title track hitting number 3 on the US singles chart. Two follow-up singles, however, barely reached the Top 40, and both the album and its singles attained limited success on the UK charts. It was decided that the follow-up to 'The Wanderer' was to be a double album, as Summer had gained much success during the 1970's with this format, and although she had just recently given birth to her second child, work soon started on the project. Keyboardist Harold Faltermeyer recalled later that he noticed that Summer seemed to be going through some issues that they were unable to help her with, and this resulted in some scheduled recording sessions being cancelled. When label-owner Geffen stopped by the studio to check on progress, he was unhappy with what he heard, as there were only a few songs that were finished, and most were just in demo form. Geffen cancelled the project and insisted that Summer part company with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, who had produced and co-written with her on ten critically acclaimed album in the 70's, and she was instead paired up with producer Quincy Jones, to begin work on her 1982 self-titled album. 

Over the years songs from 'I'm A Rainbow' were released on other compilations, with 'Highway Runner' appearing on the soundtrack to the 1982 film 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High', and the following year 'Romeo' appeared on the 'Flashdance' soundtrack. While dance-oriented music was a theme throughout the album, this was combined with several different musical styles, making it one of Summer's more diverse albums. Styles explored included 80's Brit synthpop like The Human League and Duran Duran, pop/rock, and ballads, and it included a duet with Joe "Bean" Esposito, writing credits from Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Sylvester Levay, and Summer's husband Bruce Sudano, as well as the usual Summer/Moroder/Bellotte team. Bootleg copies of the album circulated among fans for years before the full album was finally released by Mercury Records in 1996, but the original album artwork could not be located, although there are rumours that the concept was re-used for the 1982 'Donna Summer' album. The tracks heard on the released album are mostly demo's, since the project was shelved, and although critical reception for the album was largely positive, it was not a big seller, and even her fans were of the opinion that a double album was just too long. 25 years later it seemed that the fans were being listened to, as in 2021 Summer's estate released a re-edited version of the album, subtitled 'Recovered & Recoloured', with this new edition reduced to 10 tracks (15 on vinyl and streaming releases), but as usual they just couldn't stop themselves interfering with the music, and they had each song remixed by contemporary producers and remixers. Not only that but their song selection was questionable, omitting some of the better tracks and including a few of the more mediocre ones, including an ill-judged version of 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina'. Fans have their own ideas of what should have been included on a shortened album, and SoulAlive posted a track listing on the Prince.org fansite, which gained some positive comments, and so after re-editing my copy and finding it an improved listening experience, I've given it a new cover, and you can now listen to this running order and decide if you agree.

Track listing

01 I Believe (In You)
02 True Love Survives
03 People Talk
04 Back Where You Belong
05 Sweet Emotion
06 Walk On (Keep Movin')
07 Runner With The Pack
08 I'm A Rainbow
09 End Of The Week
10 To Turn To Stone

Supergrass - Believer (2001)

Following the success of their second album and the singles released from it, Supergrass took a short break before returning in May 1999 with the single 'Pumping On Your Stereo', and its memorable promo video, produced in conjunction with Jim Henson's Creature Shop, featuring the band with comical "muppet" bodies. The single generated welcome publicity following their time out of the limelight, as did a small sold-out tour scheduled around the release of the single, the final night of which was at Shepherd's Bush Empire as part of MTV's "Five Night Stand" festival. The band's third self-titled album soon followed, with a US release appearing later in the spring of 1999, and once more the album was recorded at Sawmills Studio with longtime associate John Cornfield producing. Although 'Supergrass' was well received critically and commercially, and has since gone platinum in the UK, it didn't attain the same level of success as its predecessors, with critics claiming that the album was somewhat hit and miss, and contained some of their lesser work surrounded by songs that are as great as anything that they had ever recorded. Despite this criticism their next single 'Moving' proved popular and reached the Top Ten in the UK, although third single 'Mary' could only scrape into the Top 40. There then followed a long hiatus where the band kept a low profile, finally emerging two years later to provide a track for inclusion on the soundtrack of the 2001 film 'Mike Bassett: England Manager'. Although it might not have seemed like it, 1999 was a very prolific year for Supergrass, as the b-sides of their singles plus out-takes from the 'Supergrass' album provide enough material for a second volume of non-album tracks, headed by the flips of one last single from 1997's 'In It For The Money'. 

Track listing

01 Nothing More's Gonna Get In My Way (b-side of 'Richard III' 1997)
02 20ft Halo (b-side of 'Richard III' 1997)
03 Out Of The Blue (studio out-take 1999)
04 You'll Never Walk Again (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
05 Sick (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
06 What A Shame (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
07 Lucky (No Fear) (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
08 Blockades (studio out-take 1999)
09 Stinkfinger (studio out-take)
10 Believer (b-side of 'Moving' 1999)
11 Country Number (studio out-take 1999)
12 Oracle (from the soundtrack to the film 'Mike Bassett: England Manager' 2001) 

Charli XCX - Songs For Sale (2018)

Most fans of modern pop music are familiar with Icona Pop's massive hit 'I Love It' and, by association, the fact that the Charli XCX-penned track became a breakout hit for both artists. But alongside building a name for herself through her own tracks, Charli has built a huge career as a songwriter in her own right. She's lent her skills as a songwriter for hire on songs for Camila Cabello ('OMG'), Selena Gomez ('Same Old Love'), will.i.am ('Boys & Girls'), MØ ('Drum'), Danny Brown ('Float On') and 'father of disco' Giorgio Moroder ('Diamonds'), as well as being recruited to write for Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Ryn Weaver, Julia Michaels, and Sky Ferreira, and she's even penned songs for James Blunt and Blondie. On her career as a songwriter, Charli has been vocal about how it's both a creative outlet for her as well as a money-making exercise to fund her wider creative projects. "When it comes to songwriting for other people, I've become quite ruthless. I see it as a creative outlet whilst I'm creating it, but after the song has been made, I wanna make money. I want the biggest artists to cut these songs, and I want them to be No.1" she told Fader shamelessly in 2014, adding "When it comes to my own record, that shit doesn't happen, so that's where I think about what I believe to be artistic, what I believe to be beautiful". The oldest song on here is 'Gravity', written when she was 14, and in 2017 she submitted it to Blondie after they'd expressed an interest in working with her, with the band including it on their 'Pollinator' album. She's continued to write for other artists right up to penning 'Someone New' for Astrid S in 2018, and many of these artists have snapped up these songs and subsequently taken them to the top of the charts, so you can now hear her original demos for two dozen of her songs that she offered for sale. 

Track listing

01 Girls Like Us (demo for TWICE 2011)
02 Hate You (demo for Britney Spears 2013)
03 Hell Yeah Baby (demo for Gwen Stefani 2013)
04 Heart In My Pocket (demo for Britney Spears/Iggy Azalea 2013)
05 Baby Boy (demo for Liz 2014)
06 Hard 2 Love (demo for Gwen Stefani/Britney Spears 2014)
07 Good Things Come (So Wait) (demo for Gwen Stefani 2014)
08 Burnin' Up (demo for Liz 2014)
09 Reflecting (demo for Selena Gomez 2014)
10 NYC (No Way Out) (demo for Sky Ferreira 2014)
11 Hold On Tight (demo for Jacob Sartorius 2014)
12 OctaHate (demo for Ryn Weaver 2014)
13 Same Old Love (demo for Rihanna/Selena Gomez 2014)
14 So Alive (demo for Neon Jungle 2014) 
15 Swords (demo for Julia Michaels 2015)
16 Hurts Like Hell (demo for Madison Beer 2015)
17 Kingdom Come (demo for Rita Ora 2015)
18 Pop The Balloons (demo for Little Mix 2015)
19 Issues (demo for Julia Michaels 2016)
20 Tear & Tantrums (feat. RAYE) (demo for XYLØ 2016)
21 Gravity (demo for Blondie 2017, written in 2010)
22 The Middle (demo for Zedd 2017)
23 Someone New (demo for Astrid S 2018)

Third Eye Blind - Ursa Minor (2011)

The origins of Third Eye Blind can be traced back to the early 1990's, when Stephan Jenkins was writing music, but struggling to put and hold together a consistent musical lineup. Originally he was one half of the interracial rap duo Puck and Natty with musician Herman Anthony "Zen" Chunn, but because of legal issues from the musical group Tuck & Patti, the duo later changed their name to "Puck and Zen". They managed to attract some attention from record labels, and actually had one of their few recorded songs 'Just Wanna Be Your Friend' included on a soundtrack for the television drama 'Beverly Hills, 90210'. A record deal with Capitol Records fell through when Jenkins did not see eye to eye on the label's views on their musical direction, and the group broke up shortly afterwards. Jenkins' next move was to start up a rock band instead, recruiting and then losing numerous members, while writing and workshopping early material with musician Jason Slater. Demos were recorded in 1993 at a professional studio, including early songs such as 'Hold Me Down', which would be scrapped and shelved entirely, as well as future classics 'Semi-Charmed Life and 'Alright Caroline'.  Around this time Slater left the band, and guitarist Kevin Cadogan and bassist Arion Salazar joined, alongside a litany of drummers. The band seemed to make significant progress with the arrival of Cadogan, and the songs really started to develop when Cadogan's big guitar sound was added to Jenkin's more stripped down demos. The two became songwriting partners, with Jenkins writing the lyrics and Cadogan helping him brainstorm musical ideas, and they worked on a second set of demos. Following a disastrous "Battle of the Bands" contest, where Jenkins was sick and unable to perform well, and Cadogan blew out his guitar amp two songs into the show, the band were on the verge of breaking up, but instead they regrouped and recruited two new key people - drummer Brad Hargreaves, and manager Eric Gotland, a long-time personal friend and confidant of Jenkins. In April 1996 the band landed an opening gig for Oasis at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, and before long they found themselves in a bidding war among record labels, signing to Elektra Records in June 1996, in what was later reported as the largest publishing deal ever for an unsigned artist at the time. Recording for their debut album was fraught, with fall-outs between nearly all the members, but despite the issues 'Third Eye Blind' was finished and released in April 1997. Sales were propelled by the success of their first single, the long-worked-upon and finalized version of 'Semi-Charmed Life', and the album stayed on the charts for over a year, and it would eventually go on to be certified platinum six times by the RIAA, indicating over six million copies sold in the US. The band began work on a second album in January 1999, but the sessions were even more difficult that before, as Cadogan and Jenkins were already not getting along while touring in support of their self-titled album, with Jenkins wanting to fire Cadogan, but they agreed to put aside their differences and work together on further music. However, after the music was recorded, the animosity flared up again with Jenkins and Cadogan both fighting for more of their own written songs to make the final track list. one last track list was finally voted on by other members of the band, and 'Blue' appeared in November 1999, with four singles being released from it to promote the record. 

In January 2000, two months after the album came out, it was announced that Cadogan had been fired after playing a show at the Sundance Film Festival, with no reason being given for the termination. He was immediately replaced by Tony Fredianelli, who had briefly jammed with the band in 1993, and the new lineup toured heavily in support of the album. After four straight years of recording music and touring in support of it, the next couple years were quieter for the band, with the planned recording of an EP to follow the album delayed from late 2000 to early 2001. However, by 2001 Jenkins had fallen into a deep depression, isolating himself for almost a year, and turning his attention to writing material for a third studio album, amassing over 40 songs in this time. Progress on the album was slow, and when it was finished it was originally scheduled to be released in early 2002, but was delayed several times before it finally appeared in May 2003. 'Out Of The Vein' debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 12, although sales were actually down compared to those of 'Blue', and neither of the two singles released from it performed to the level of their previous ones. At this time Elektra Records was being absorbed into Atlantic Records, and because of the merger in 2004  Warner Music cut Third Eye Blind, along with over 80 other acts, from its roster. With no label to hassle them, Jenkins started writing a solo album of his own, while at the same time, Fredianelli, Salazar, and Hargreaves had also been working on music together, and upon hearing it, Jenkins scrapped his solo plan in favour of working on a fourth studio album with the band, beginning in early 2005, but progressing slowly as Jenkins suffered from writers block, and struggled to write lyrics for the songs that had been created for him by the rest of the band. In 2007, Jenkins announced that the fourth studio album had a tentative title of 'The Hideous Strength', and that there were around 35 songs written for it, with some of the lyrics being quite political in nature. As the process dragged on, internal strife would flare up again across 2008, with Jenkins beginning to lose interest in the band, culminating in him firing his long-time friend and band manager Eric Godtland, and then suing him for not paying him enough, with Godtland in turn counter-suing Jenkins, responding that the lower pay was due to lessened productivity by the band, which was Jenkins' fault. Despite the discourse, the band persevered and by late 2008 the material they had been working on for the last five years would finally begin to be released, starting with a teaser of sorts through the three song 'Red Star EP', followed by two album's worth of material that they'd written. Opting against a formal double album release, the plan was to release 'Ursa Major' with the material that was closest to completion, and then a second album 'Ursa Minor' later on. 

Plans continued to change though, and the 15 track 'Ursa Major', which was due to be released in June 2009, ending up as an 12 track record released in the August on the band's own label Mega Collider Records. Sales were encouraging for a self-released album, although not hitting the heights of their first three records, but following a tour supporting the album in 2009, Fredianelli was fired from the band, and was replaced by Irish musician Kryz Reid. Both Jenkins and Hargreaves would continue to mention an 'Ursa Minor' release, but the focus remained on touring, and the release would eventually be cancelled by Jenkins because of the involvement and subsequent departure of Fredianelli. Work on a fifth album commenced, with early reports showing plans for a 2011 release, but writer's block continued to hamper Jenkins ability to complete lyrics for songs, and the album's release continued to be delayed from 2013 to 2014, then to 2015. In May 2015 the band announced that their fifth studio album was finally completed, and on June 16, almost six years after their last one, 'Dopamine' was released. Over the next few years the band released two more studio albums, but 'Ursa Minor' remained lost, so it's good to find that tracks recorded for it between 2004 and 2011 have leaked online, and we can now hear approximation of what it might have sounded like. As two tracks from the album - 'Captains Of Emo' and 'Swimming' - have never leaked online, and two others were ragged live recordings, we're left with a fairly short disc, and so to boost it to full-album status I've added a couple of tracks from a stand-alone single that came out just before 'Ursa Major', and a brace of songs from another unreleased EP, which was recorded around the same time - in fact, 'Carnival Barker' appears on both 'Ursa Minor' and the 'Symphony Of Decay' EP, while a short instrumental version of it closed 'Ursa Major'. It's all housed in a companion sleeve to its sister album, so enjoy.   

Track listing

01 Now I Don't Know 
02 We Can't Say We / Stevie Ray Vaughn  
03 Carnival Barker    
04 Second Born  
05 Away (Twilight)
06 Standing Up For You  
07 There's No Hurry To Eternity

08 Red Star
09 Knife In The Water

10 Non-Dairy Creamer

11 Animal