Cyndi Lauper - Shine (2001)

By the year 2000, Cyndi Lauper had cultivated an extremely successful music career spanning nearly two decades, but that doesn't mean that she is exempt from the machinations of record labels, and 'Shine' is the perfect example, showing that no-one is safe, no matter how big they are. 'Shine' was to have been the eighth studio album by the American singer, and was all set for release in 2001 on Edel Records, but before it came out the label folded, and all future releases were cancelled. When this was announced, leaked tracks from promo discs quickly started to circulate on the internet, and by 2002 Lauper realized there was no point in trying to release the record in a widespread fashion. Two EPs were released instead, one of which was also called 'Shine', while the other was called 'Shine Remixes', and although the 'Shine EP' sold over 41,000 copies in the United States, that was well below her normal sales. The album would have expanded on the sound Lauper developed with her 1997 release 'Sisters Of Avalon', which was mostly pop songs, although it flirted with electronica and new wave, while incorporating traditional instruments like sitars and fiddles. The songs are not lyrically linked, and explore themes ranging from the Madonna/Whore Complex to celebrity life, and the track 'It's Hard To Be Me' was penned about Anna Nicole Smith, who unsuccessfully attempted to buy it as the theme song to her TV reality show. The album did make a belated appearance when it was released exclusively in Japan in 2004, so unless you are prepared to hunt out a Japanese copy then you are unlikely to be able to hear it, and to save you the trouble of having to do that, here it is.  

Track listing 

01 Shine
02 It's Hard To Be Me
03 Madonna Whore
04 Wide Open
05 Rather Be With You
06 Who Let In The Rain?
07 Comfort You
08 Eventually
09 Valentino
10 This Kind Of Love
11 Higher Plane
12 Water's Edge
13 I Miss My Baby

Lana Del Rey - The Lizzie Grant Album (2010)

With a new album just released, now is the perfect time to look back at the career of Lana Del Rey. Elizabeth Woolridge Grant was born on 21 June 1985, in Manhattan, New York City, and was the eldest of three children. When she was one year old, the family moved to Lake Placid, New York, and while attending St. Agnes School she began singing in her church choir, where she was the cantor. She had trouble making fiends during her teenage years, and this, combined with her obsession with death, caused her to drink to excess, and by the age of 14 she was an alcoholic. Her parents sent her to Kent School to get sober, and after graduating from Kent School, she spent a year living on Long Island with her aunt and uncle and working as a waitress. During this time her uncle taught her to play guitar, and she was soon writing songs and performing in nightclubs under various names such as Sparkle Jump Rope Queen and Lizzy Grant And The Phenomena. In 2004 she enrolled at Fordham University in The Bronx where she majored in philosophy, with an emphasis on metaphysics, and at the same time she was still writing, and even recorded an album called 'Sirens' under her stage name of May Jailer, which leaked onto the internet in mid-2012. At her first public performance in 2006, she met Van Wilson, an A&R representative for 5 Points Records, and the following year she submitted a demo tape of acoustic tracks to 5 Points, which offered her a recording contract for $10,000. She used the money to relocate to Manhattan Mobile Home Park, a trailer park in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she began working with producer David Kahne, with the plan of having a record ready to go right after she graduated from college. She graduated from Fordham with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy in 2008, and immediately released the three-track EP 'Kill Kill' under the name Lizzy Grant as planned. It was at this time that she was thinking of changing her stage name, and as she was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, and speaking a lot of Spanish with her friends, she wanted an exotic Latin-sounding name. She therefore combined Lana from the actress Lana Turner with the Brazilian-produced Ford Del Rey sedan, and became Lana Del Rey, although initially she used the alternate spelling Lana Del Ray for her self-titled debut album, which was released in January 2010. However, after being available on iTunes for just four months it was withdrawn from sale, with Del Rey reported to have bought the rights back from 5 Points, as she wanted it out of circulation to "stifle future opportunities to distribute it". It has therefore become something of a rarity in her discography, and so as I've already posted the May Jailer record, the logical place to start these posts is with the 'Lana Del Ray' album, also subtitled 'a.k.a. Lizzy Grant', but which I've simply called 'The Lizzy Grant Album'.

Track listing

1 Kill Kill  
2 Queen Of The Gas Station  
3 Oh Say Can You See  
4 Gramma (Blue Ribbon Sparkler Trailer Heaven) 
5 For K Part 2  
6 Jump  
7 Mermaid Motel  
8 Raise Me Up (Mississippi South)  
9 Pawn Shop Blues  
10 Brite Lites  
11 Put Me In A Movie  
12 Smarty  
13 Yayo

Kenickie - Waste You (1998)

Schoolmates Lauren Laverne (vocals, guitar), Marie Du Stantiago (guitar) and Emmy-Kate Montroe (bass) formed Kenickie in August 1994, while they were studying in secondary school. All three were 16 years old, and they recruited Laverne's older brother Johnny X as the drummer, naming themselves Kenickie after John Travolta's sidekick from Grease. Over the next few months, they wrote a batch of songs, made a demo, and by late 1994 they had begun playing indie clubs. Creation Records' Alan McGee approached the band in February of 1995, but they rejected his offer, preferring to release a series of indie singles, and DJ John Peel played their demo 'Catsuit City' well before its April 1995 release by the Newcastle-based indie label Slampt. The seven-inch 'Catsuit City' EP created a buzz around Kenickie, but because of their studies and "A" level exams, they didn't release their second single, 'Come Out 2 Nite', until nearly a year later. The song was the lead track on their second EP, 'Skillex', which appeared on the hip Fierce Panda label in spring 1996. A few months later, the band had signed to Emidisc, a subsidiary of EMI headed by St. Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, and in the latter half of 1996 they released two singles, with 'Punka' and 'Millionaire Sweeper' both making the lower reaches of the UK singles chart. Early in 1997 they had their first Top 40 hit with 'In Your Car', which reached number 24, and this was followed in April by the band's full-length debut, 'At The Club', which peaked at number 9 in the UK album chart. The follow-up record, 'Get In', appeared in 1998, and was once again well received in the music press, but it sold less well than their first. Johnny X, who now referred to himself as Pete X, moved to guitar, with the live band augmented by Graham Christie on drums and Dot Allen on keyboards, but in October 1998 Kenickie broke up at the close of their London Astoria gig. Laverne released one solo EP in 2000, but is more well-known today for presenting various radio and television shows, such as being a guest on early episodes of music quiz 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks', and hosting BBC 2's 'The Culture Show', as well as presenting BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Although they were only together for four years, they released a lot of music, and collections of their non-album songs alone would equal the number of albums than they released in their lifetime. So here they are in a two-volume set of abrasive punk/pop from a band that are credited as having inspired a wave of mainstream female guitar bands that emerged in the wake of their split. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1995-1996
01 Rama Lama Lama (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
02 Private Buchowski (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
03 Come In (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
04 Snakebite (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
05 My Nites Out (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
06 SK8BDN Song (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
07 Perfect Plan (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
08 Jellybean (from the 'Catsuit City' EP 1995)
09 Scared Of Spiders from the 'Skillex' EP 1996)
10 Drag Race (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
11 Walrus (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
12 Cowboy (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
13 Lights Out In A Provincial Town (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
14 Waste You (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
15 We Can Dream (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
16 Brighter Shade Of Blue (b-side of 'Punka' 1996) 
17 Kamikaze Annelids (b-side of 'Millionaire Sweeper' 1996)
18 Girl's Best Friend (b-side of 'Millionaire Sweeper' 1996)

Disc II - 1996-1998
01 Can I Take U 2 The Cinema (b-side of 'In Your Car' 1996)
02 I'm An Agent (b-side of 'In Your Car' 1996)
03 Killing Fantasy (b-side of 'In Your Car' 1996)
04 "J.P." (b-side of 'Nightlife' 1997)
05 Eat The Angel (b-side of 'Nightlife' 1997)
06 Kenix (b-side of 'Nightlife' 1997)
07 Skateboard Song (b-side of 'Nightlife' 1997)
08 Packed In (b-side of 'I Would Fix You' 1998)
09 Rough Boys & Modern Girls (b-side of 'I Would Fix You' 1998)
10 Xmas Disco On The Dole (hidden track on 'Get In' album 1998)
11 Hooray For Everything (b-side of 'Stay In The Sun' 1998)
12 Save Your Kisses For Me (b-side of 'Stay In The Sun' 1998)

Genesis - Silver Songs (1977)

While the band were at their peak in the early 70's, current and former members of Genesis were often active with solo projects, and they would sometimes call on their band-mates to help out. Founder member Anthony Phillips has released a number of solo albums over the years, and Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins were always happy to lend a hand, while Phillips joined Collins in recording a couple of demos with Peter Gabriel, and Hackett's own superlative 'Voyage Of The Acolyte' featured Collins and Rutherford on one track. Youtuber The Beatles Archeology & Other Subjects realised this and has complied a collection of these recordings, spanning the years from 1974 to 1977, and because a majority of the core group was present in the studio, it really does sound like a lost Genesis album from the mid-70's. I've added artwork by the same artist that designed the 'Selling England By The Pound' cover, and titled it after one of the tracks, so enjoy this mix of familiar and not so familiar recordings by the core members of the band. As the album was a little short, I have cheated a little and included a 1973 track by Peter Banks, as it does feature a rare guest appearance by Hackett, as well as Collins, but it actually slots in quite nicely, so I hope you'll forgive the slight artifice. 

   

Track listing

01 You Never Know [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1974)
02 Only Your Love [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1974)
03 Star Of Sirius [Steve Hackett, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1975)
04 Knights (Reprise) [Peter Banks, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett] (1973)
05 Firebirds [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1975) 
06 Silver Song [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1974)
07 God If I Saw Her Now [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1977)
08 You Get What You Want [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1974)
09 Which Way The Wind Blows [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1977)

Thanks to The Beatles Archeology & Other Subjects for putting this together.

Inspiral Carpets - We Can Do Everything (2015)

Graham Lambert and Stephen Holt were friends from their school days, and formed Inspiral Carpets in 1983, originally as a garage-rock and punk-inspired band. Manchester drummer Chris Goodwin and bassist Tony Welsh helped the band record a demo and play live in and around the Oldham area, but due to Goodwin's commitments the band recruited 14-year-old drummer Craig Gill in 1986. Welsh also had other music commitments and departed later that year, leaving the group to muddle through with a succession of bass players (Rick Garage, Mark Hughes, Scott Carey) before Dave Swift joined on bass, and organist Clint Boon was recruited, with this new line-up releasing two albums of demos in the 1980s, 'Waiting For Ours' and 'Songs Of Shallow Intensity', which including songs that would later be re-recorded for their official albums. Inspiral Carpets were a major part of the Madchaetser scene of the late 90's, alongside The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, and their first released recording was their song 'Garage Full Of Flowers', which was on a flexi-disc that was given away free with Manchester's Debris magazine in 1987. Their first proper release, the 'Cow' cassette, followed later that year, and in 1988 the 'Planecrash' EP on the Playtime label was their first vinyl release, receiving much airplay from DJ John Peel, who asked the band to record a session for his show. As the band's popularity grew, Playtime's distributor Red Rhino Records went bankrupt, leading Inspiral Carpets to form their own label, Cow Records, in March 1989. The label's first release was the 'Trainsurfing' EP, including the 16-minute 'Plane Crash', but with half of the first album written, Holt and Swift departed and formed the Rainkings. The band recruited Too Much Texas singer Tom Hingley and Martyn "Bungle" Walsh of The Next Step to replace them, with Walsh being the band's 13th bass player. 

After a handful of singles and EPs on their own label, with 'Move' nearly reaching the UK top 40, the band signed a deal with Mute Records, and soon gained their first top-40 chart success in the UK with 'This Is How It Feels'. Their debut album 'Life' was released in 1990, to critical and commercial approval, and reached number 2 in the UK albums chart. The following year's 'The Beast Inside', however, was less well received by critics, but still achieved a top-5 album chart ranking. The 'Caravan' and 'Please Be Cruel' singles only reached No. 30 and No. 50 respectively, and an attempt to crack the American market largely failed, although the band did gain a strong following in Portugal, Germany and Argentina. Their third album 'Revenge Of The Goldfish' became their most successful record, only peaking at number 17 in the UK, but spawning four UK hit singles. The next album, 1994's 'Devil Hopping', performed better, reaching number 10 in the album chart, and 'Saturn 5' and 'I Want You' were both top-20 hits. However, the next single 'Uniform' stalled at No. 51 and in 1995, after the release of a singles collection, the band were dropped by Mute and split up soon afterwards. Hingley formed a new band, the Lovers, along with Jerry Kelly of the Lotus Eaters, while Boon formed the Clint Boon Experience, releasing a string of singles on the Artful label. Gill also formed a new band, Hustler, who eventually changed their name to Proud Mary and signed to Noel Gallagher's Big Brother label some years later, while Walsh moved into production. Inspiral Carpets reunited in 2003, playing to sell-out crowds on tour and releasing 'Come Back Tomorrow', a song recorded in 1995, as a single. 

They gigged sporadically after that, with tours in 2007 and 2008, but in February 2011 it was revealed that Tom Hingley was no longer part of the group, with the circumstances of his departure being shrouded in mystery, and original singer Stephen Holt was brought back into the band. They recorded 'You're So Good For Me'/'Head For The Sun' as a 7" single for Record Store Day 2012, with the disc being sold and deleted on the same day, and for Record Store Day 2014 they re-released 'Dung 4' on vinyl and CD, which was previously a cassette-only collection of demos from 1987, and the tape of which remains a prized addition to my collection. In October 2014, they released an eponymous record on Cherry Red Records, being their first album in 20 years, and including a track featuring punk poet John Cooper Clarke. Inspiral Carpets are an important band in the whole Madchester scene, and released many non-album tracks over their career, which is pretty much split into two halves, with their first decade being the much more prolific, but with their re-union years also providing some excellent hidden gems. There are so many rarities from the group that this post is a four-disc set, but it's all well worth hearing, so dive in and enjoy some great music. And one piece of pub trivia that is often mentioned regarding the band is that two of their roadies enjoyed musical success themselves, with van driver Mark Collins joining the Charlatans in 1991, and drum technician Noel Gallagher later joining his brother's band Rain, and turning it into Oasis.

 
Track listing

Disc I - 1987-1989
01 Garage Full Of Flowers (split single with Metro-Trinity 1987)
02 Keep The Circle Around (from the 'Plane Crash' EP 1988)
03 Theme From Cow (from the 'Plane Crash' EP 1988)
04 Seeds Of Doubt (from the 'Plane Crash' EP 1988)
05 96 Tears (from the 'Plane Crash' EP 1988)
06 Joe (single 1989)
07 Commercial Mix (b-side of 'Joe')
08 Commercial Rain (b-side of 'Joe')
09 Butterfly (from the 'Trainsurfing' EP 1988)
10 Causeway (from the 'Trainsurfing' EP 1988)
11 You Can't Take The Truth (from the 'Trainsurfing' EP 1988)
12 Greek Wedding Song (from the 'Trainsurfing' EP 1988)
13 Find Out Why (single 1989)
14 So Far (b-side of 'Find Out Why')
15 Plane Crash (b-side of 'Find Out Why')

Disc II - 1989-1991
01 Out Of Time (b-side of 'Move' 1989)
02 Move In (b-side of 'Move' 1989)
03 Tune For A Family (b-side of 'This Is How It Feels' 1990)
04 Biggest Mountain (from the 'Island Head' EP 1990)
05 Gold Top (from the 'Island Head' EP 1990)
06 Weakness (from the 'Island Head' EP 1990)
07 I'll Keep It In Mind (from the 'Island Head' EP 1990)
08 Gimme Shelter (from the 'Peel Sessions' EP 1991)
09 Skidoo (b-side of 'Caravan' 1991)
10 St. Kilda (b-side of 'Please Be Cruel' 1991)
11 The Wind Is Calling Your Name (b-side of 'Please Be Cruel' 1991)

Disc III - 1992-1994
01 I Know I'm Losing You (b-side of 'Dragging Me Down' 1992)
02 Boomerang (b-side of 'Two Worlds Collide' 1992)
03 Generations (single 1992)
04 Lost In Space Again (b-side of 'Generations')
05 Tainted Love (b-side of 'Bitches Brew' 1992)
06 How It Should Be (single 1993)
07 It's Only A Paper Moon (b-side of 'How It Should Be')
08 I'm Alive (b-side of 'How It Should Be')
09 We Can Do Everything (b-side of 'I Want You' 1994)
10 Inside Of You (b-side of 'I Want You' 1994)

Disc IV - 1995-2015
01 Paranoid (b-side of 'Uniform' 1994)
02 Well Of Seven Heads (b-side of 'Saturn 5' 1994)
03 Two Cows (b-side of 'Saturn 5' 1994)
04 Going Down (b-side of 'Saturn 5' 1994)
05 Whiskey (b-side of 'Joe (acoustic)' 1995)
06 Come Back Tomorrow (single 2003)
07 Misbeliever (b-side of 'Come Back Tomorrow')
08 Breath To Sorrow (b-side of 'Come Back Tomorrow')
09 Head For The Sun (b-side of 'You're So Good For Me' 2012)
10 Fix Your Smile (single 2013)
11 Save Me (b-side of 'Fix Your Smile')
12 Controller (b-side of 'Spirfire' 2014)
13 It's A Good Job Baby (b-side of 'Let You Down' 2015)

Bronski Beat - Something Special (1986)

Bronski Beat formed in 1983 when Glasgow emigrees Jimmy Somerville and Steve Bronski moved to London and shared a three-bedroom flat with Larry Steinbachek from Southend, Essex. Steinbachek had heard Somerville singing during the making of the 1983 documentary film 'Framed Youth: The Revenge Of The Teenage Perverts', and he suggested they make some music, which was to be outspoken and political, as the trio were unhappy with the inoffensive nature of contemporary gay performers. After performing live only nine times, the band signed a recording contract with London Records in 1984, and released their debut single 'Smalltown Boy', about a gay teenager leaving his family and fleeing his home town. The song was a hit, peaking at No 3 in the UK Singles Chart, and topping charts in Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as peaking at number 48 in the U.S. charts. The follow-up single 'Why?' adopted a hi-NRG sound, and was more lyrically focused on anti-gay prejudice, reaching number 6 in the UK chart, and it was another Top 10 hit for the band in Australia, Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. At the end of 1984, the trio released their debut album 'The Age Of Consent', with the inner sleeve listing the varying ages of consent for consensual gay sex in different nations around the world. The album peaked at 4 in the UK Albums Chart, number 36 in the U.S., and number 12 in Australia. 

Their third single was a revival of 'It Ain't Necessarily So', the George and Ira Gershwin classic, which questions the accuracy of biblical tales, and it was released in time for Christmas 1984, when it broke into the UK Top 20. In 1985, the trio joined up with Marc Almond to record a version of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love', with the full-length version also incorporating snippets of Summer's 'Love To Love You Baby' and John Leyton's 'Johnny Remember Me'. It was a big success, reaching 3 in the UK and equalling the chart achievement of 'Smalltown Boy'. In early 1985 the band and their producer Mike Thorne went back into the studio to record a new single 'Run From Love', but after PolyGram had pressed a number of promo singles and sent them to radio and record stores in the UK, the single was shelved as tensions in the band, both personal and political, resulted in Somerville leaving Bronski Beat in the summer of that year. Somerville went on to form the Communards with Richard Coles, while the remaining members of Bronski Beat searched for a new vocalist, with John Foster winning out, and featuring on their next single 'Hit That Perfect Beat', which was released in November 1985, once again reaching 3 in the UK. 

A second single, 'C'mon C'mon', also charted in the UK Top 20, and these were followed by the album 'Truthdare Doubledare', which appearwed in May 1986, and peaked at 18. The 1986 film 'Parting Glances' included Bronski Beat songs 'Love And Money', 'Smalltown Boy' and 'Why?', and during this period the band teamed up with producer Mark Cunningham on the first-ever BBC Children In Need single, a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes", released in 1986 under the name of The County Line. Foster left the band in 1987, and following his departure, Bronski and Steinbachek began work on their next album, 'Out And About', and toured the new material extensively to positive reviews, but the project was abandoned when the group was dropped by London Records. In 1989, Jonathan Hellyer was recruited as lead singer, and the band released a number iof singles, including a collaboration with Eartha Kitt on 'Cha Cha Heels', and three further singles on the Zomba record label. Larry Steinbachek died in December 2016, aged 56, after a short battle with cancer, while Steve Bronski died on 7 December 2021, at the age of 61, in a Central London flat fire. Bronski Beat were that rare thing, a highly political band who still managed to have hit singles, and in doing so they were able to get their message out to a much wider audience. The Somerville years were undoubtedly their most successful, but this collection of rare b-sides also covers the John Foster period, up to when they lost their record deal in 1987.   

Track listing 
   
01 Memories (b-side of 'Smalltown Boy' 1984)
02 Cadillac Car (b-side of 'Why' 1984)
03 Close To The Edge (b-side of 'It Ain't Necessarily So' 1984)
04 Red Dance (b-side of 'It Ain't Necessarily So' 1984)
05 Love To Love You Baby/I Feel Love/Johnnie Remember Me (single with Marc Almond 1985)
06 Puit D'Amour (b-side of 'I Feel Love' 1985)
07 The Potato Fields (b-side of 'I Feel Love' 1985)
08 Signs (And Wonders) (b-side of 'I Feel Love' 1985)
09 I Gave You Everything (b-side of 'Hit That Perfect Beat' 1985) 
10 Something Special (b-side of 'C'mon! C'mon!' 1986)
11 Drum Major (b-side of 'C'mon! C'mon!' 1986)
12 What Are You Going To Do About It (b-side of 'This Heart' promo 1986)

The cover is a painting entitled 'Bronski Beat' by Polish artist Romauld Mulk Musiolik, and although I'm not exactly sure why that's the title, I just liked it. 

Bananarama - I'm Waiting (1999)

Following the departure of Jacquie O'Sullivan from the group in 1991, Bananarama continued as a duo of Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward, and scored another hit single, with 'Movin' On' hitting the UK Top 30 as the first single from their 1993 album 'Please Yourself'. More singles were extracted from the record, with a cover of the 1976 Andrea True Connection song 'More, More, More' reaching number 24, after which they left London Records for a deal with Form Records. Their next offering was 1995's 'Ultra Violet', which was only released in some European countries, North America, Japan, and Australia, but not in Britain. In 1998, Dallin and Woodward asked Fahey to join them to record the ABBA track 'Waterloo' for the Eurovision celebration 'A Song For Eurotrash' on Channel 4, although Fahey made it clear that it was a one-off, and that she was not formally re-joining the group. In 2001, Dallin and Woodward recorded the album 'Exotica' for the French label M6 Interactions, which included a cover of George Michael's 'Careless Whisper', alongside reinterpreted versions of four of their earlier hits, and some Latin- and R&B-influenced dance songs. It was produced by Pascal Caubet and was only issued in France in 2001, with two promo-only singles being released from the album, although 'If' was abandoned shortly before release. The album was not a commercial or critical success, and the few copies of 'If' which made it to the French market have become one of the rarest items ever by the band, heavily sought after by fans and collectors. While recording with Caubet, the group taped a number of additional songs which were left off the final track-listing, some of which have circulated on the internet since they leaked, so I've gathered them all up (including a drastically reworked version of 'Boom!') and compiled a companion record to 'Exotica', which could have followed that album in 2002 or 2003, to tide the fans over until 'Drama' emerged in 2005. 

Track listing

01 I'm Waiting
02 You And I
03 Your Love Tastes So Sweet
04 Middle Of Nowhere
05 Blue Skies
06 Be My Lover Tonight
07 Boom!
08 Breathe
09 You Are Not Me (Above The Clouds)
10 I Like It
11 U R My Baby

The Reaction - Souled Out (1979)

The Talk Talk story begins in the late 1970's. when bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris did some studio work with producer Ed Hollis, who later went on to manage punk band Eddie & the Hot Rods, and who suggested the two should meet his younger brother Mark. Mark had originally planned to become a child psychologist, but in 1975 he left university to relocate to London, eventually forming a mod/punk band called The Reaction. His brother called in a few favours, and in 1977 the band recorded a demo tape for Island Records, including one Hollis original titled 'Talk Talk', which later surfaced on the 1977 Beggars Banquet punk compilation 'Streets'. Island were impressed enough with the demo to offer The Reaction a single deal, with 'I Can't Resist'/'I Am A Case' coming out in 1978, and following the release of the single the band recorded another set of demos in 1979, although shortly after this The Reaction disbanded, and Hollis's brother introduced him to Webb and Harris. The trio immediately clicked and began arranging Hollis's tunes and even writing their own together, and after recruiting keyboardist Simon Brenner, the group coalesced as Talk Talk, after mining their growing roster of new song titles for a name. They had no guitarist, which was a purposeful omission, and after EMI expressed an interest in them, they signed for the label. After recording a number of demos with producer Jimmy Miller, they were assigned Duran Duran producer Colin Thurston to helm their first two singles, one of which was the old Reaction song 'Mirror Man', but now recorded in the spirit of the current new romantic movement, which seemed to be the direction that EMI wanted to push them into. Their debut LP, 'The Party's Over', was indeed a product of its time, defined by contemporary synth pop sensibilities but with an honesty and lyrical depth absent from most other records of the moment, and from that point on the band never looked back. But we are now able to, however, and to hear those 1979 demos, plus their lone single, and their compilation contribution, on this collection of all the existing recordings by The Reaction, some of which later turned up on Talk Talk records in drastically different forms. 

Track listing

01 Caro Lyn
02 Mirror Man
03 Renée
04 I Can't Resist
05 Candy
06 Have You Heard The News
07 Crying In The Rain
08 I Keep On Telling You
09 I Am A Case
10 It's A Question Of Time
11 Talk Talk
12 Souled Out

Thanks to Geof McM for the suggestion

Franz Ferdinand - Our Diary (2014)

Alex Kapranos (lead vocals, guitar), Nick McCarthy (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Bob Hardy (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion, backing vocals) had played in various bands during the 1990's, including The Karelia, Yummy Fur, 10p Invaders, and Embryo. Kapranos and Thomson met at a party, beginning a close friendship and playing together in Yummy Fur, subsequently teaming up to write songs. Around the same time, Kapranos taught his friend Bob Hardy how to play bass after being given a bass guitar by Mick Cooke of Belle & Sebastian, and he also met co-guitarist Nick McCarthy, who had returned to Scotland after studying jazz bass in Germany in 2001. Once the members came together, they settled on the name Franz Ferdinand for their band, originally after a racehorse called Archduke Ferdinand, which then inspired a discussion about Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his involvement in the start of World War One, and they adopted the name as they liked the alliteration. In May 2003 the band signed to Laurence Bell's independent record label, Domino Recording Company, moving to Gula Studios in Malmö, Sweden, to record their debut album with Cardigans producer Tore Johansson. In the latter part of 2003, the band released their debut single, 'Darts Of Pleasure', followed in January 2004 by 'Take Me Out', which reached No. 3 in the UK charts. Their eponymous album was released shortly afterwards, debuting at No. 3 in the UK Albums Chart in February 2004, and at No. 12 in the Australian album charts in April, although it only reached the lowest levels of the Billboard 200 album chart in the US. The album received a generally strong positive response from critics, and the band were compared to a long line of art school rock bands, such as The Beatles, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire, Travis, and Blur. 

On 7 September 2004, the album was awarded the 2004 Mercury Music Prize, and the band won an Ivor Novello Award in 2004 and two BRIT Awards in 2005. They spent much of 2005 in the studio in Glasgow working on their follow-up album, 'You Could Have It So Much Better', which was released in October 2005. They initially intended to leave the album self-titled like their debut, but they changed it to 'You Could Have It So Much Better...With Franz Ferdinand' before settling on the final title. It was again generally well received in the press, and seen as an album equal to, or better than, their first by most critics. This time the record entered the UK Album Charts at Number 1, and the US charts at Number 8. To support the album, four singles were released, with a couple of them including video-clip-only tracks on the flips. In January 2009 the band released their third studio album, 'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand', which they had been recording in Glasgow since mid-2007, in a disused building in Glasgow that had been a town hall in the past. The song 'Ulysses' was chosen to be the first single and was released on 19 January 2009, but it didn't see that much success in the UK Top 40, although it fared better in Spain and Japan. Once again, four singles were extracted from the album, and the band performed 'No You Girls' on the Comic Relief 2009 Top of The Pops special. On 1 June 2009, the band released 'Blood: Franz Ferdinand', a compilation album that includes dub music versions of songs from 'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand', and which was issued to coincide with Record Store Day. 

Writing for a fourth studio album began in 2010, with a break in May 2012 to return to touring, playing several festivals during the summer, including a headlining slot at Field Day festival in London's Victoria Park. During their 2012 tour, the band gradually introduced new songs to their repertoire, and in May 2013 they officially announced that their fourth album would be titled 'Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action', and would be released on 26 August 2013. It found them re-establishing themselves as a workmanlike, crowd-pleasing dance-rock group by going heavy on the midtempo disco thump, and was a welcome return after a four year hiatus. On 9 March 2015, it was announced that the band had formed a supergroup with Sparks under the name FFS, with plans to release a studio album and tour Europe during that summer. 'The Domino Effect' was released on the group's YouTube channel as a teaser, with the John Congleton–produced album, 'FFS', appearing in June, and as a fan of both bands I was wary of the collaboration, but the album turned put to be a triumph. In July 2016, they announced that guitarist Nick McCarthy would not be involved in the recording and touring of their next album, in order to concentrate on his family and other musical interests, but it wasn't until May 2017, two days prior to the start of their North American tour, that they announced former Yummy Fur guitarist Dino Bardot as his replacement, joined by Julian Corrie on keyboards, synth and guitar. On 25 October, the band released the title track from their fifth studio album, 'Always Ascending', and six months later the album appeared. Paul Thomson left the band in October 2021, to be replaced by Audrey Tait, and this new line-up released their new single 'Billy Goodbye' on 2 November 2021, a new song taken from their greatest hits compilation 'Hits To The Head'. 

Over their career the band have not only added non-album tracks to the b-sides of their singles, but have also contributed to a number of charity and tribute albums, as well as offering their services to the 'Alice In Wonderland' soundtrack, gifting their version of 'The Lobster Quadrille'. They've also teamed up with other bands to record each others songs, covering The Fire Engines' 'Get Up And Use Me', while The Fire Engines recorded a cover of 'Jacqueline', and they took a similar approach with Dutch band De Kift, covering their 'Heisa-Ho', whilst De Kift recorded a cover of 'Love and Destroy' with Dutch lyrics. As evidenced by those two records, the band love their covers, and have recorded versions of 'Sexy Boy' by Air, 'It Won't Be Long' by The Beatles, Pulp's 'Mis-Shapes', Gwen Stefani's top 5 hit 'What You Waiting For?', Blondie's 'Call Me', Britney Spears' 'Womanizer' and David Bowie's 'Sound and Vision', featuring Girls Aloud on backing vocals. The band also recorded with Jane Birkin, covering the Serge Gainsbourg song 'A Song For Sorry Angel' for the 2005 album 'Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited', as well as re-recording the track 'Brown Onions' for David Shrigley's compilation album 'Worried Noodles', and collaborating with Marion Cotillard for the 2010 Lady Dior campaign, with the band playing and the actress singing on 'The Eyes Of Mars'. So here is a collection singles, b-sides and some of those afore-mentioned oddities, showing another side to a group that might be seen as having a reputation for being just a little bit pretentious.    

Track listing

Disc I - 2003-2006
01 Shopping For Blood (b-side of 'Darts Of Pleasure' 2003)
02 Van Tango (b-side of 'Darts Of Pleasure' 2003)
03 Truck Stop (b-side of 'Take Me Out' 2004)
04 All For You, Sophia (b-side of 'Take Me Out' 2004)
05 Words So Leisured (b-side of 'Take Me Out' 2004)
06 Better In Hoboken (b-side of 'Matinée' 2004)
07 Love And Destroy (b-side of 'Michael' 2004)
08 Don't Start (b-side of 'Michael' 2004)
09 Missing You (b-side of 'Michael' 2004)
10 Get Away (b-side of 'Do You Want To' 2005)
11 Your Diary (single 2005)
12 Fabulously Lazy b-side of 'Your Diary')
13 Sexy Boy (b-side of 'Walk Away' 2005)
14 A Song For Sorry Angel (single by Franz Ferdinand/Jane Birkin from 7" double-pack 2006)

Disc II - 2006-2014
01 L. Wells (b-side of 'The Fallen' 2006)
02 Jeremy Fraser (b-side of 'The Fallen' 2006)
03 Brown Onions (b-side of 'The Fallen' 2006)
04 Swallow, Smile (limited 7" from the Franz Ferdinand Fan Club membership pack 2006)  
05 Wine In The Afternoon (b-side of 'Eleanor Put Your Boots On' 2006)
06 Ghost In A Ditch (b-side of 'Eleanor Put Your Boots On' 2006)
07 Anyone In Love (b-side of 'Ulysses' 2009)
08 New Kind Of Thrill (b-side of 'Ulysses' 2009)
09 You Never Go Out Anymore (b-side of 'Ulysses' 2009)
11 All My Friends (b-side of 'Can't Stop Feeling' 2009)
12 The Eyes Of Mars (promotional single for Lady Dior, with Marion Cotillard 2010)
13 Erdbeer Mund (b-side of 'Fresh Strawberries' 2014)

Grace Jones - Black Marilyn (1994)

In 1993 Grace Jones released her #1 Billboard Club Hit 'Sex Drive', which was a cover of Industrial duo Sheep on Drugs' 'Track X'. It was produced by Mark Pistel and Philip Steir, two-thirds of activist rap/industrial group Consolidated, and was a blistering, snarling return to form, especially after her largely disappointing major label liaison in the late 80's with Capitol Records. A return to Island Records seemed to re-invigorate her, and the b-side to the single was equally as good, with 'Typical Male' being a cover of a track which Consolidated originally did themselves, and which was a searing feminist indictment of patriarchy, and who better to deliver such a statement than one of the most feared women in pop culture. Despite the positive reception to the 'Sex Drive' single, the 1994 album project that was to supposed to follow, which was to have been called 'Black Marilyn', with cover art drawn from the title, encountered problems which preventing it ever seeing the light of day. The album had been completed, with Consolidated coming in to produce the whole record, but Jones found that she couldn't stand listening to it, and she then started taking drugs, mixing downers and uppers just to kill the pain of the process. After the aborted 'Black Marilyn' project, she seemed set to return once again with her much touted collaboration with Tricky and his Durban Poison label, reported in 1996 and plugged further a couple of years later by Brian Chin, yet by the end of the 90's that collaboration seems to have effectively collapsed amid rumours of creative differences and irreconcilable demands. Of the tracks recorded for the 'Black Marilyn' sessions, only one survives alongside the two single sides, and although we have titles for others, such as 'Freak Show', 'On Your Knees', 'The Key To Funky', and 'The Flight Of The Doves', they all seem to be lost. However, despite only releasing two singles in 1993, Jones still kept very busy, recording songs for film soundtracks and collaborations, and so an enterprising fan has collected together all the songs that were recorded around the same time as the 'Black Marilyn' sessions, to make up for us being unable to hear the actual record.  

Track listing

01 Sex Drive (from the 'Sex Drive' maxi single)
02 Evilmainya (from the 'Freddie as F.R.O.7.' soundtrack)
03 7 Day Weekend (from the 'Boomerang' soundtrack)
04 Typical Male (from the 'Sex Drive' maxi single)
05 Still Life (from 1991's Sanremo Music Festival)
06 Volunteer (leaked track from the 'Black Marilyn' sessions)
07 Let Joy And Innocence Prevail (from the 'Toys' soundtrack)
08 Victim (from the disco sessions recorded with Tom Moulton)

Gwen Stefani - Shine (2015)

In 2015, Gwen Stefani was in the midst of launching her long-awaited third solo album, working with numerous big-name songwriters and producers on the follow-up to her 2007 record 'The Sweet Escape'. She released two official singles with 'Baby Don’t Lie' and 'Spark The Fire' in late 2014, but after a live performance of 'Start A War' early in 2015, she scrapped the album, saying it felt unauthentic. In addition to known song titles 'Ziplock', 'Overdose', and 'Confection', we also know of two songs that Charli XCX wrote for her, which were 'Hard 2 Love' and 'Hell Yeah Baby', and now we finally get to hear Stefani's studio recordings of these elusive tracks. 'Hell Yeah Baby' is full of attitude and a percussive drive, and is the kind of song that follows in the vein of 'Hollaback Girl' and 'Spark The Fire', while 'Hard 2 Love' sounds more like an 80's-inspired romantic ballad. Stefani has said that she enjoyed working with Charli XCX, and out of all the writers out there she likes her style the most, as she comes up with really good melodies. Of the other songs which were shelved, we know that she worked with Pharrell Williams on songs called 'Woah', 'Heart Shape', and 'Carousel' in addition to 'Spark The Fire'. Shakira may have been involved on a track called 'Confection', and although we have a live recording of 'Start A War', we don't know if there is a studio version out there. Although she scrapped her 2014 album, she did return to the studio in 2015, inspired by a personal tragedy when she and husband Gavin Rossdale of the band Bush divorced, and the breakup led to a full album of new songs. 'This Is What The Truth Feels Like' was released in 2016 and included none of the songs from her 2014 sessions, instead featuring songs clearly inspired by her personal life, such as the singles  'Used To Love You', 'Make Me Like You', and 'Misery'. While a number of the songs mentioned above cannot be located, there were three singles released from the sessions, and we have the two Charli XCX tracks, so by adding collaborations with Snoop Dogg and Calvin Harris from the same time-frame, out-takes from 'The Sweet Escape' and 'This Is What The Truth Feels Like', and finally her duet with Jeffery Austin from 'The Voice' TV show, we have an album of songs recorded in 2014/2015 which could have been released as her third album 'Shine' in 2015. 

Track listing

01 Hell Yeah Baby
02 Baby Don't Lie
03 Run Away (feat. Snoop Dogg)
04 Show Me
05 Candyland
06 Shine (feat. Pharrell Williams)
07 Hard 2 Love
08 Overdose
09 Together (feat. Calvin Harris)
10 Used To Love You
11 Spark The Fire
12 Leather And Lace (feat. Jeffery Austin)

Eminem - Relapse 2 (2009)

One of the most persistent myths in the Eminem fandom is the lost Holy Grail of 'Relapse 2', and despite its existence being heavily implied by the management, the project has never materialised. Everybody knows that he had plenty of songs recorded, and even after the 'Relapse: Refill' deluxe issue and numerous leaks, there must be something left, and Eminem doesn't deny it, but it's just that he considers the songs to be below his usual standard. The revelation was made all the more shocking given that he had all but promised two albums in the 'Relapse' project, and given that the horrorcore-themed project quickly amassed a loyal fanbase, the news of its sequel's cancellation was particularly frustrating, yet given the circumstances — namely Eminem's sobriety and self-reinvention as an emcee — the decision to go another direction was ultimately understandable. Though 'Relapse 2' was no more, 'Recovery' served as an important chapter of the Slim Shady story — one that found him rediscovering his humanity, and building on the foundation laid by 'Beautiful' and 'Deja Vu'. At the time, 'Relapse' had revealed itself to be something of a niche album, as although the Eminem name ensured commercial success, the macabre subject matter proved divisive, which was to be expected, as not everybody is eager to engage in murderous and rape-laden fantasies, inspired in part by the minds of serial killers like Ed Gein, Ted Bundy, and John Waye Gacy. Yet those who were found much to enjoy on 'Relapse' and its subsequent expansion, from Dr. Dre's haunting production to Eminem engaging in the most technically proficient rapping of his career. 

Much has been made of the infamous accents, with even Eminem decrying them as recently as 2018, but they’re ultimately part of the concept. It’s no secret that the initial response was divided, with some critics coming down on the negative side, and it got so bad that Eminem ultimately cancelled his plans to deliver a sequel, despite having allegedly plotted music with Dr. Dre, D12, Lloyd Banks, and 50 Cent. It was 50 Cent who was actually the reason he decided to do two albums in the first place, as apparently they'd recorded so much material during the 'Relapse' sessions that he recommended splitting it up, describing the project as thematically linked to its predecessor. It's therefore understandable to believe that one version of 'Relapse 2' existed before the first was even released, being the product of leftover songs from his highly productive sessions with Dr. Dre. The gameplan changed when Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Denaun Porter went to Hawaii in the summer of 2009, after 'Relapse' had dropped and the reception had begun settling in. Holing up in the Honolulu Studio, they started work on a new batch of music, and it didn’t take long for the songs created during the Hawaii sessions to spark his creativity, to the point where he felt that the new tracks were far superior to what he had originally lined up. These could have included 'On Fire', 'So Bad', 'Ridaz', and possibly even 'The Warning', and although some of those songs ultimately ended up on 'Recovery', if he was still intending to drop 'Relapse 2' as planned, then it's likely those recordings would form the basis of a new version of the anticipated sequel. 

After Dre left Hawaii to commence work on his own lost album 'Detox', Eminem was at a crossroads, as he clearly had no interest in revisiting his older material, especially after a promising batch of new songs, and this proved correct when he delayed 'Relapse 2' to 2010, and instead concluded the year with 'Relapse: Refill', which added an additional seven songs, including the Dr. Dre assisted 'Hell Breaks Loose', 'Buffalo Bill', 'Elevator', 'Taking My Ball', 'Drop The Bomb On Em', and 'Music Box'. This could imply that he had already moved on from the original 'Relapse 2', shifting focus to a completely new project, and instead had repackaged the highlights from it on 'Refill', bearing in mind the subject matter of tracks like 'Buffalo Bill' and 'Music Box'. This was confirmed mere months later, when he announced "there is no 'Relapse 2'.", and before long he'd delivered 'Recovery', the album which grew into being from another, decidedly more deranged version of 'Relapse 2'. Although he might throw fans a bone once in a while, donning the bloody apron for old time's sake on a track like 'Framed', for all intents and purposes, 'Relapse 2' has become another chapter of hip-hop’s ever-growing tome of lost lore and mythology. There have been a number of re-imaginings of this album, which mostly use the six best tracks from 'Relapse: Refill' as a basis, and then add in various out-takes, but I couldn't find a definitive version and so I've taken the best from each of them to come up with an album which I feel flows well, and includes all the best tracks, while omitting ones that didn't work in the context of the album. 

Track listing

01 Breaking News (Skit)
02 Things Get Worse (feat. Bob)
03 I'm Having A Relapse
04 Oh No
05 Hell Breaks Loose (feat. Dr. Dre)
06 The Warning
07 Cocaine (feat. Jazmine Sullivan)
08 Drop The Bomb On 'Em
09 Music Box
10 Psycho (feat. 50 Cent)
11 Buffalo Bill
12 Hit Me With Your Best Shot (feat. D12)
13 Taking My Ball
14 Ridaz
15 On Fire (feat. D12)
16 So Bad
17 Elevator
18 Forever (feat. Drake, Kanye West & Lil Wayne) 

The Woodentops - Plenty (1988)

Rolo McGinty was pretty ubiquitous on the Liverpool music scene of the early 80's, playing bass with The Wild Swans, who released the classic single 'Revolutionary Spirit' on Zoo Records, and then joining his old friend Pat Fish in the Jazz Butcher, once again on bass. Alice Thompson was also in the group playing keyboards, and in 1983, with the Jazz Butcher on a temporary break, McGinty and Thompson moved to south London and started to practice, building up some material and establishing themselves as The Woodentops. Initially the group was Rolo McGinty on guitar and vocals, Alice Thompson on keyboards, Simon Mawby on guitar, James Rawlings on bass and Paul Hookham on drums, and their early influences were Can, Kraftwerk, the Feelies and Suicide, mixed with rockabilly and strummed acoustic guitars, producing a kind of rhythmic beat music. The group played local gigs and rehearsed in a warehouse at Clapham Junction, which was owned by the artist Panni Bharti, who would become an important visual part of the group, designing much of their artwork. In 1984 they released their first single, 'Plenty', on Dave Balfe’s Food Records, and it was awarded single of the week by Morrisey in Melody Maker, with Morrisey later inviting the band to support The Smiths on tour. In September 1984 they recorded their first Peel session, and with their one record deal with Food Records now over, the group began to think about changing labels. Their manager worked at Rough Trade and they liked the set up, so in 1985 they signed a deal with the label, and at the same time they recruited Frank de Freitas (brother of Pete of Echo And The Bunnymen) as their bass guitarist. Their first single for Rough Trade was the Andy Partridge-produced 'Move Me', which was noticeable for its five note melodica opening and its forceful drumming, and this, coupled with rhythmic guitars and light keyboard, heralded the start of their 'hypno beat' style, and a string of great singles. In 1985 Paul Hookham left to drum with the Redskins and was replaced by Benny Staples, who made his debut on their August single 'Well Well Well'. 'It Will Come' came out a few months later, and with its subtle key changes and harmonies giving the song a gospel feel, it could have been the band's attempt at a Christmas hit single. 

1986 continued to be hectic for the group, recording their third and final Peel session in March, followed by the 'Good Thing' single in May and the 'Giant' album in June. Despite positive reviews, it was said that 'Giant' could have sold better if there had been more product in the shops, and Rough Trade were later accused of concentrating a lot of their promotion effort on the Smiths' 'The Queen Is Dead' over their other artists. 'Giant' is an accomplished debut album by anyone's standards, with all the tracks sounding polished, and it only including one previously released song, until 'Everyday Living' was lifted as a single in 1986. Adrian Sherwood remixed both the single and it's flip 'Why', after McGinty approached him with the intention of asking him to do some remixing. Sherwood agreed to work on some Woodentops' tunes, and this spurred McGinty's interest in the newly emerging dance music scene. The 'Live Hypnobeat Live' album was released in early 1987 as a stop-gap while the band toured and worked on new material, but at some point in 1987 Alice Thompson left the group, to return to Scotland to follow a literary career. Anne Stephenson, who had played with the Communards, took over on keyboards, and in January 1988 the band recorded a Radio 1 session for the Simon Mayo show, while later in the year the new album 'Wooden Foot Cops On The Highway' was released. The album encompasses a wide range of musical styles all given the familiar Woodentops treatment, with 'You Make Me Feel' being extracted as a single, being one of their better ballads, and second single 'Wheels Turning' proved popular on the west coast of America. 'Why Why Why' became a club hit in the summer of 1988, with a remix by Paul Oakenfold becoming an early indie-dance favourite. In 1989 the band stopped working together, although they didn't actually split up, but the collapse of Rough Trade in 1991 probably didn't help matters. The group had allegedly been working on a double album in the early 1990's, which never saw the light of day, and there were some white label techno crossover 12" records released around this time, with 'Conehead' becoming a hit on the northern techno scene, and 'Tainted World' was popular on NYC radio. It seemed that McGinty had possibly become more interested in dance music than The Woodentops, and so the other members of the group started to do different things. In the mid-1990's he was releasing dance music under the name Pluto and also as Dogs Deluxe with Rob Miller, and The Woodentops did occasionally get back together to promote various compilation albums and to play some festivals. The band finally recorded some new material in 2014, releasing the 'Granular Tales' album under The Woodentop's name, but their biggest successes were now in the past, and so as a reminder of their exuberant indie sound of the early 80's here is a collection of their rare singles, b-sides and out-takes up to their hiatus in 1989.   

Track listing

01 Plenty (single 1984)
02 Have You Seen The Lights (b-side of 'Plenty')
03 Everybody (b-side of 'Plenty')
04 Move Me (single 1985)
05 Do It Anyway (b-side of 'Move Me')
06 Steady Steady (b-side of 'Move Me')
07 Well, Well, Well (single 1985)
08 Cold Inside (b-side of 'Well Well Well')
09 It Will Come (single 1985)
10 Special Friend (b-side of 'It Will Come')
11 Plutonium Rock (b-side of 'It Will Come')
12 Why (b-side of 'Everyday Living' 1986)
13 I Want Your Love (out-take 1986)
14 Keep A Knockin' (out-take 1986)
15 Hallelujah (b-side of 'Wheels Turning' 1988)

Samantha Mumba - Woman (2002)

Samantha Tamania Anne Cecilia Mumba was born on 18 January 1983 in Dublin, Ireland, to a Zambian father and an Irish mother. When she was 15 she was discovered on the RTÉ–Radio Television Ireland talent show 'Let Me Entertain You' by Irish music executive Louis Walsh (manager of Boyzone and Westlife), who was impressed enough by her talent to arrange for her to be signed to Polydor Records. She subsequently spent several months moving between Denmark, Sweden, UK, and Ireland, where she co-wrote and recorded her debut album, 'Gotta Tell You', eventually dropping out of school to focus on her music career. Her first single, 'Gotta Tell You', was released in 2000 and peaked at number one in Ireland and New Zealand, number two in the UK, number three in Australia, and number four in the US, as well as reaching the top twenty in several countries across Europe. Her debut album of the same name followed later that year when she was just 17, reaching the top ten in both Ireland and the UK, and number 67 on the Billboard 200. Following the success of 'Gotta Tell You', she was chosen to play Mara in the film 'The Time Machine', alongside co-star Guy Pearce, and her real-life brother, Omero. In 2001 she contributed to the track 'You Raise Me Up' by the Celtic Tenors, and an EP titled 'Samantha Sings Christmas' was released at Christmas 2001, which included covers of 'White Christmas' and 'All I Want for Christmas Is You'. In 2002 she released a new single 'I'm Right Here', becoming her fifth UK and Irish top five single, but as rumours began to circulate that she was getting ready to release her second album 'Woman', she was dropped by her label, citing poor sales of the lead single 'I'm Right Here' in the US, and its short-lived time on the UK chart. Mumba has since confirmed that she was unable to release any new material due to contract restrictions following the restructure of Polydor Records, but whatever the reason, the proposed second album was shelved. Her second venture into films was in 2003, where she appeared in the film 'Spin The Bottle', and a compilation album was released in 2006, but it was to be seven years before we heard anything more from her, when in June 2013 she confirmed her musical comeback on Twitter, appearing on the RTÉ television show 'The Hit' to compete for a spot in the show's final. The song selected for chart battle was 'Somebody Like Me' which was released on iTunes immediately afterwards and competed against 'Thinking Of You' by Irish band Republic Of Loose, peaking at number five on the Irish Singles Chart, and marking her first hit single in 11 years. Since then she's appeared on Irish and UK television, most notably on 'Loose Women' in the UK, and she released a couple of singles in 2020, but for now here if that abandoned second album, 'Woman', shorn of the covers and remixes that tend to be added to it online, as they don't really add anything to the record. 

Track listing 

01 I'm Right Here
02 You're My Boo
03 Put Your Money On Me
04 Branded With A Kiss
05 Wet 'N Wild
06 Home Alone (feat. Beenie Man)
07 Wow
08 Shuttin' You Down
09 Nobody Knows
10 Relationships
11 Untouchable
12 Read My Mind
13 Can You Deliver
14 Point Of View
15 Sensuality
16 Wish Upon A Star

The Bolshoi - Country Li(f)e (1988)

The Bolshoi were formed in 1984 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, by singer/guitarist Trevor Tanner, drummer Jan Kalicki, and bassist Graham Cox. Tanner and Kalicki had previously played together in the short-lived punk band Moskow, where Trevor performed as Trevor Flynn (his mother's maiden name), and early gigs supported the likes of the Cult, the March Violets and the Lords of the New Church. After eight gigs bass player Graham Cox was replaced by Nick Chown, and this line-up released released their debut single 'Sob Story' in 1985, followed by the mini-album 'Giants'. The band moved to London in 1985, where their line-up expanded to include Paul Clark on keyboards, and in 1986 they released their first full-length album 'Friends'. The 'Lindy's Party' album followed in 1987, which was a more pop-oriented record, and which garnered favourable reviews in the music press. After the release of 'Lindy's Party', the band recorded a fourth album, but problems with their record label management impeded its release, and they disbanded as the 1980's drew to a close, leaving the record in limbo. The songs have recently surfaced on a 5CD archive set from the band, and so we are now able to piece it together, but rather than just use all the songs that have surfaced, one of their fans decided to use just what he considered the best tracks from the sessions, augmented by a couple of songs from the mostly dismal set of 1988 demos that were also included in the archive set, which he considered better than the finished studio recordings. So here is an exclusive version of The Bolshoi's fourth album 'Country Li(f)e', put together by the Steve Hoffman site contributor Pangolino, for which many thanks. Stylistically, the band have always been difficult to categorize, as although they started out supporting giants of the goth scene, and had label-mates like Bauhaus, Tanner was recognized for his dark, pensive lyrics that belied a social responsibility and awareness, giving their music a bit more depth than other proto-goth bands. If you have any fond memories of the band then do give this album a try, as it's far too good to have been locked away for all this time. 

Track listing

01 World In Action
02 Yee Hee 
03 Under The Shed
04 Rockin' Bird 
05 What's Your Favourite Colour?
06 Singing The Blues 
07 Madame Hecate
08 Castaway
09 Country Life

David McAlmont - Be (2000)

David Irving McAlmont was born 2 May 1967, growing up in Gorleston on Sea, Norfolk until 1978, when the family departed the United Kingdom for Guyana, residing with his grandparents in Lovely Lass Village Berbice, and then with his aunt in Wismar, Demerara. Moving back to the UK in 1989 to continue his education at Middlesex Polytechnic reading Performing Arts on the BAPA programme, he signed a publishing contract with Chrysalis Music in 1992, followed by a record deal with Virgin's Hut Records two years later. McAlmont first became noticed in the London band Thieves, who attracted early attention with the 1992 single 'Through The Door', but despite the release of a third single 'Either', Thieves split acrimoniously in 1994 shortly before the release of their first album. Following legal wrangling, the album was eventually released as the debut David McAlmont album under the title of 'McAlmont'. Despite some positive press attention, in particular regarding his startling voice, the album was not a commercial success. He continued his solo career until he was approached by ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, and in 1995 this collaboration produced 'The Sound Of McAlmont And Butler', an album of songs including 'Yes', which reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart. Another single, 'You Do', was released later that year, and peaked at number 17, but shortly after this McAlmont and Butler went their separate ways. The producer David Arnold then worked with McAlmont on a version of 'Diamonds Are Forever', which led to them working together on his second album 'A Little Communication', which came out in 1998. In the years that followed he worked occasionally with Ultramarine and Craig Armstrong, and prepared his third album 'Be', but although it was hailed by The Guardian as "Britain's first Zen Pop album", it was shelved by his record label, Hut Records, who had lost interest in the project, leading to McAlmont's departure from the label. Promo copies were released to the press, however, hence the Guardian review, and so we are able to hear what 'Be' would have sounded like had it been released before McAlmont reunited with Butler in 2001 to produce their second joint album in 2002's 'Bring It Back'. 

Track listing

01 Ice Man
02 Easy
03 Inspiration
04 I Want You
05 Be
06 Timeless
07 Working
09 Foot Of The Hill
10 Remember Yourself
11 In The Beginning
12 Outro

Pulp - The EPs (1994)

When I posted the recent b-sides collection by Pulp, I deliberately didn't include any tracks from the EPs that they released in 1985, 1986, 1993 and 1994, as I was planning to post them separately. After signing with Fire Records in 1984, the band's first release on the label was the 'Little Girl (With Blue Eyes) And Other Pieces...' EP, followed the next year by the five-track 'Dogs Are Everywhere' EP. After these two extended-plays, they band went back to releasing normal singles, and albums from which they were taken, and it was another decade before they returned to the format. By this time they'd left Fire and signed with Warp imprint Gift Records, but despite issuing singles and albums in the intervening 10 years, they were still only a minor attraction, and so after releasing 'O.U. (Gone Gone)' and 'Babies' as singles, they issued the four-track 'Razzmatazz' EP. It was around this time that they started to break through into the mainstream, as the next single after 'Razzmatazz' was 'Do You Remember The First Time', which was a minor hit. To take advantage of that, another EP was issued, with 'Sister's appearing in May 1994, and it included the song 'His 'n' Hers', which had been omitted from the album of the same name. 1995 was the breakthrough year for Pulp, with their next single being  'Common People', followed by 'Sorted For E's And Wizz', and from that point on the band never looked back. The 'Different Class' album came out in 1995, and topped the UK album chart, and so this collection of their EPs was just part of their long haul into becoming a defining band of the Britpop era. 

Track listing

01 Little Girl (With Blue Eyes) (single 1985)
02 Simultaneous (b-side of 'Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)')
03 Blue Glow (b-side of 'Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)')
04 The Will To Power (b-side of 'Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)')
05 Dogs Are Everywhere (single 1986)
06 Mark Of The Devil (b-side of 'Dogs Are Everywhere')
07 97 Lovers (b-side of 'Dogs Are Everywhere')
08 Aborigine (b-side of 'Dogs Are Everywhere')
09 Goodnight (b-side of 'Dogs Are Everywhere')
10 Razzmatazz (single 1993)
11 Stacks (b-side of 'Razzmatazz')
12 Inside Susan (b-side of 'Razzmatazz')
13 59 Lyndhurst Grove (b-side of 'Razzmatazz')
14 Your Sister's Clothes (from 'The Sisters' EP 1994)
15 Seconds (from 'The Sisters' EP 1994)
16 His 'N' Hers (from 'The Sisters' EP 1994)

Bermuda Triangle - Come Sail Away (1979)

Bermuda Triangle started out as a group called Roger And Wendy, who got together in the late '60s in Greenwich Village, typically playing in pass-the-basket-for-tips coffeehouses and folk clubs, such as Gerde's Folk City, (where they headlined for 33 weeks in 1970, setting a club record), the Cafe Wha?, the Bitter End, the Cafe Au Go Go, The Gaslight Cafe, The Freudian Slip, The Basement Cafe, and Kenny's Castaways. Performing at first without microphones, they developed an energized psychedelic folk style with just an electrified autoharp and fast-pulse bass guitar, and their music quickly evolved from traditional ballads to electric folk, including psych folk, acid freak folk and rock. Roger and Wendy took the stage names Roger Becket and Wendy Becket when they had become involved with the Theater Company of Boston, and then in several off-Broadway plays. They kept these pseudonyms through much of their musical career, including while in Bermuda Triangle, before returning to their original surname of Penney. They released two albums, 'Bermuda Triangle' in 1977 and 'Bermudas II' in 1984, but some unreleased recordings have recently come to light, and so I've taken the best of them to compile their third album, now called 'Come Sail Away'. 

Track listing

01 Rainy Monday
02 Come Sail Away
03 Lost Worlds
04 My Brother
05 You'll Be A Star
06 Sometimes We Find It
07 High Flyin' Bird
08 Goin' Down To New Orleans
09 Did You Love Me
10 Minnesota Strip
11 Paper Say

Bonnie McKee - Bombastic (2015)

Following the disastrous liaison with Epic Records, which ended in Bonnie McKee and the label parting company because Epic refused to give her the artistic freedom that she needed, she decided to release her music on her own independent record label, and set about putting together an EP of some of her songs. The first single from the EP was 'Bombastic', which was released on 26 May 2015,and which was written by McKee, Charlie Puth, Sean Walsh and Axident, and is an 80s-influenced dance-pop and pop rock song. The official music video for the song was directed by David Richardson, and because the song had an 80's work-out feel, the video reflected that, and featured McKee working out to the track. Videos were made for two more songs from the EP, with 'Wasted Youth' being released in January 2016, and another 80s-themed video was made for the third single 'I Want It All', which came out in June 2016 on McKee's Vevo account. The psychedelic, pastel-coloured video for the fourth and final single, 'Easy', was released in November 2016, meaning that all four songs from the EP had now been released as singles. Considering McKee's work ethic, it's no surprise that she wrote way more than just four songs for the EP, and picked her favourites for the record, with the rest being consigned to that ever-increasing vault of unused material, so I've picked fourteen of the songs recorded in the 'Bombastic' sessions to make an accompanying album, also titled 'Bombastic', and featuring just the title track from the EP. The artwork reflects the look of the 'Bombastic' video, and had an album been on the cards then it would probably have been released in 2015, just after that first single. 

Track listing

01 I Can Still Dance
02 Dirty Laundry
03 Restless
04 Always On My Mind
05 In The Wild
06 Bombastic
07 Speed Of Light
08 Wings
09 Good Day 4 Love
10 Undefeated
11 Diamonds
12 I Can (Totally) Do This
13 Wicked
14 Hallelujah