Nas - Death Of Escobar (2001)

As fans of rapper Nas are probably aware, rumours have surrounded his enigmatic album 'Death Of Escobar' for many years, with no-one quite seeming to know exactly what it is... A concept album? The original title for 'Stillmatic'? A fan made-up fake title? There's been a lot of bogus tracklists and downloadable bootlegs floating around the internet for years now - none of them giving a proper representation of what the project really was, including opinions that it was just a working title that Nas and Columbia used when working on and building up hype for 'Stillmatic', or that Nas had intended to release two albums together, one as an introduction to the other. In 2014 information came to light implying that 'D.O.E.' was in fact a proper album that was completed and scrapped close to its original release date. It was actually reviewed in VIBE magazine in their February 2001 issue, where it was awarded a glowing 4* review. In this review the album is titled as 'D.O.E. Limited Edition - Volume 1 (Death Of Escobar)', and it speaks of it as a project made up from new tracks, bootlegs and remixes while completely lacking skits. Specific tracks mentioned there are 'The Foulness', 'The Rise & Fall', 'Tales From Da Hood', 'Your Mouth Got You In It', and 'Poppa Was A Playa'. This was followed by a news update sent out by Sony Music Street Team UK to those signed up to their mailing list back in early 2001, providing an early tracklist for the project (including producers and publishing credits) along with the following message: 

"THE FORTHCOMING NAS ALBUM IS ON HOLD AT THE MOMENT, HERE'S THE LATEST PLAN - Nas wants to release 'Death of Escobar' first with 'Stillmatic' to follow. 'Death of Escobar' is the bootleg/sessions project. The project will feature the tracklisting below plus three new tracks. This tracklisting could and probably will change. The three new tracks will explain Escobar's death." 

From this, we can conclude that 'Death Of Escobar' was likely a kind of introduction album, explaining the death of Nas's alter-ego, while 'Stillmatic' was intended to be a re-birth album, with contrasting styles respectively. The tracklist from the Sony update has been used for the basis of this reconstruction, although it was noticed that although 'Poppa Was A Playa" wasn't included in the Sony update, it was mentioned in the VIBE review, so that's on here as well. The three new tracks that were not yet completed when the announcement was made might never have been completed for all we know. On listening to the album it's evident that the majority of the tracks find Nas in an introspective mood, reflecting on his life and career over moody, midtempo beats, often favouring piano and/or string samples. This actually works well in the context of the record, as the depressive mood pieces like 'Rise & Fall', 'Drunk By Myself' and 'My Own Worst Enemy' are intercut with straight up boom bangers like the underrated 'The Foulness', 'Tales From Da Hood' and the 'Hard 2 Tell' remix. Thanks go to The Lost Tapes blog for all the info, and for putting this together.  

Track listing

01 My Way  
02 You Don't Know Me (Hardest Thing 2 Do) 
03 Your Mouth Got You In It 
04 Rise & Fall  
05 U Gotta Love It 
06 Make It Last Forever
07 Worst Enemy Is Me 
08 The Foulness (Interlude) (feat. Nature) 
09 Sinful Living 
10 Never Gonna Give It Up (feat. The Product G&B) 
11 Tales From Da Hood 
12 Drunk By Myself 
13 Hard 2 Tell 
14 Projects 2 Hot (feat. 50 Cent & Nature) 
15 Poppa Was A Playa 
16 Seeds Of Heaven 

Download Update 2

The new system seems to be working OK, as I've had a few requests for the links which have then received an instant auto-response, so hopefully this is a good alternative to leaving the link in the comments. Just a reminder for those who haven't tried yet, if you want to listen to the music then just email me at the address on the right and I'll forward the link to you. You don't even have to add a message if you don't want to, just a subject header will do as it's all automatic, and the good thing is that I don't even have to be here for it to work.
For those who have tried it, how are you finding it working?

pj 

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Bruce Springsteen (2020)

From 1969 through early 1971, Bruce Springsteen performed with the band Child, which later changed its name to Steel Mill, and included Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin, and later Steven Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. They quickly gathered a cult following, and in an attempt to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style, he also performed with the bands Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom from early-to-mid-1971, and the Sundance Blues Band in mid-1971. After this he formed The Bruce Springsteen Band, which stayed together for about a year, but in October 1972 he formed a new group for the recording of his debut album, 'Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.', and they eventually became known as the E Street Band, although the name was not used until September 1974. In 1972 he signed to Columbia Records, and despite the expectations of Columbia executives that he would record an acoustic album, he brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him for the recording sessions for his first album, taping a mixture of acoustic and rock-based songs. The gestation of the record was not without it trials, as when it was completed, his manager Mike Appel and Columbia's John Hammond preferred the solo tracks, while Springsteen preferred the band songs, and so a compromise was reached that the record would feature five songs with the band ('For You', 'Growin' Up', 'Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?', 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City', and 'Lost in the Flood') and five solo songs ('Mary Queen Of Arkansas', 'The Angel', 'Jazz Musician', 'Arabian Nights' and 'Visitation At Fort Horn'). However, when Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard this early version he felt that it lacked a potential hit single, and rejected it. Springsteen quickly wrote and recorded 'Blinded By The Light' and 'Spirit In The Night', and Columbia accepted the revised album, with Davis eventually being proved correct when Manfred Mann's Earthband had massive hit singles with these two "commercial" songs. David Bowie was also an early fan, recording a version of 'Growing Up' during the sessions for his 'Pin-Ups' album in 1973, and tackling 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City' in 1989, and so here is a selection of covers of all the tracks from Springsteen's debut album, which for once includes two from the same band, as I think most people would agree that the Manfred Mann's Earthband versions are the definitive recordings of their two contributions, other than Springsteen's own, of course.  

Track listing

01 Blinded By The Light (Manfred Mann's Earthband 1976) 
02 Growin' Up (Any Trouble 1980)  
03 Mary Queen Of Arkansas (Dusty Wright 1997) 
04 Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (Purple Ivy Shadows 1999) 
05 Lost In The Flood (Yirzov Schuynis 2013)
06 The Angel (Zachary Scott Johnson 2020)
07 For You (Greg Kihn 1977)  
08 Spirit In The Night (Manfred Mann's Earthband 1975)
09 It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City (David Bowie 1989)

Britney Spears - Whiteout (2007)

In November 2003, while promoting her fourth studio album 'In the Zone', Britney Spears told Entertainment Weekly that she was already writing songs with Henrik Jonback for her fifth studio album, and was also hoping to start her own record label in 2004. When asked about her next album, she said she had been experimenting in her home studio with live musicians, stripping down her sound and playing the piano, and that she wanted the album to represent her Louisiana roots. However, her personal life was very turbulent at this time, giving birth to her second son Jayden James in September 2006, and then filing for divorce from Kevin Federline in November, citing irreconcilable differences. This was finalized in July 2007, but during her divorce her partying and public behavior drew attention from the worldwide media, ending with her suffering a nervous breakdown and shaving her head, which caused intense media scrutiny. Once she'd recovered she returned to her music, and while recording of the album had begun in 2006, she met J.R. Rotem in Las Vegas and enlisted him to work with her after hearing Rihanna's 'SOS'. She also worked with Keri Hilson, Jim Beanz, Corté Ellis, and Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, known as Bloodshy & Avant, and they recorded about two dozen tracks for possible inclusion on the album. 'Blackout' was set to be released on 13 November 2007, but Jive Records announced on 10 October that the release date would be moved up two weeks, to 30 October, due to unauthorized leaks. The following day, Zomba Label Group filed a lawsuit against Perez Hilton, claiming he illegally obtained and posted on his gossip blog at least ten songs and unfinished demos of the album. The following month, The District Court judge dismissed the case with prejudice, and the album was released on 25 October 2007. On its release, 'Blackout' received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, with one calling it a seamlessly entertaining collection of bright, brash electropop, although there was no getting away from the fact that her off-disc life was both a distraction from, and enabler for, this album. As we know from the court case, there were a number of unused songs and demos floating around, and most of them have now appeared online, so here are fourteen of the best, which can make up a companion album to 'Blackout', which I've called 'Whiteout'.

Track listing

01 State Of Grace
02 Love 2 Love U 
03 All That She Wants
04 Let Go
06 When U Gon' Pull It
06 Rebellion (interlude)
07 Sugerfall
08 This Kiss
09 911
10 Kiss You All Over
11 Little Me (Just Yesterday) 
12 (What You) Sippin' On
13 Pull Out

Susan Wells - Nightmare (1979)

A couple of years ago I posted a disco album by Moonstone, recorded by the respected record producer and DJ Ian Levine in 1979, but which was never released. As I mentioned then, he actually produced four of these records in 1979, none of which ever saw the light of day, as the cost of producing them left him indebted and unable to record for four long years, until he bounced back with Miquel Brown's million-selling single 'So Many Men, So Little Time' in 1983. One of these albums was by Chicago-based Susan Wells, sister of James Wells, which had been supposed to be released on United Artists in 1979 before the deal fell through. To commemorate Levine's 70th birthday, and as a follow-up to an effusive celebration in this month's Record Collector, I'm posting the other three of those four albums, starting with 'Nightmare' by Susan Wells. 

Track listing

01 Nightmare
02 It Must Be An Ambush 
03 Turn the Key In the Lock

04 Keep On Heading In My Direction 

05 Victim Of Jealousy 

Download update

You may have noticed that the download link is not currently working, and that's because it's been reported and removed by Mega. It's that French company again, and so it seems that they've now discovered where the links were hidden. I'm wary about posting them in the comments again, as if the take-down happens again then Mega might close my account completely. The new plan is that if you want to listen to the music and can't use Soulseek then drop me an email at the email address at the top right of the blog. 

pj 

Kanye West & Dr. Dre - Jesus Is King II (2022)

'Jesus Is King II' is a cancelled studio album collaboration between Kanye West and Dr. Dre, and as the name implies, it bears some relation to West's ninth studio album from 2019, 'Jesus Is King', primarily by having reworked versions of songs from that project. Unlike most other unreleased albums from West's catalogue, 'Jesus Is Lord II' has no direct successor, but as the album was being worked on concurrently with 'God's Country', then it can be assumed that it was scrapped in favour of that record, and/or 'Donda: With Child'. On 18 November 2019, less than one month after the release of 'Jesus Is King', West shared a tweet that read, "Ye and Dre Jesus is King Part II coming soon". On 16  January of the following year a Dr. Dre-produced version of 'Up From The Ashes' allegedly leaked, and although the song was released as part of 'Donda' in 2021, it was not the Dr. Dre version, while 'LA Monster' leaked two months later, leading to some speculation that it was part of the '...Part II' album. The last mention of the project by West was him thanking Eminem for hopping on the remix for 'Use This Gospel' later that same year, and this remix was actually released in 2022 as part of DJ Khaled's thirteenth album 'God Did'. After this, the album was never brought up again by either West or Dre, and so it was assumed to be completely cancelled. On 25 September 2023, a blind groupbuy occurred priced at $1,000, and on completion the contents were revealed to be a full copy of 'Thank God For Drugs', as well as a full copy of 'Jesus Is King: The Dr. Dre Version'. This leak would receive significant media attention in contrast to past leaks, given that it was a full copy of an album of which very few tracks had leaked in the past. So despite the mystery surrounding this album, it does actually exist and can now be heard by fans, who can judge if it's an improvement on the original version or not. It closes with the non-album 'This Is The Glory', an unreleased song by Kanye West and Dr. Dre, featuring Snoop Dogg, which may have been worked on for 'Jesus Is King II', although it wasn't included on the groupbuy disc, but it's just too good to ignore. 

 
Track listing

01 Every Hour/Selah (feat. Martha Ambrosius, Dr. Dre & Sunday Service Choir)
02 LA Monster (feat. A$AP Ferg)
03 Water (feat. Victory & Ant Clemons)
04 Closed On Sunday (feat. Anderson Paak)
05 On God (feat. THURZ)
06 Hands On (feat. Travis Scott & Fred Hammond)
07 Everything We Need (feat. Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons & Martha Ambrosius)
08 Ashes (feat. Sunday Service Choir & Nikki Grier)

09 Follow God
10 God Is (feat. Sunday Service Choir)
11 Use This Gospel (feat. Eminem)

12 This Is The Glory (feat. Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg)

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Kris Kristofferson (2021)

Kristoffer Kristofferson was born on 22 June 1936 in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann and Lars Henry Kristofferson, a U.S. Army Air Corps officer. Because of his father's military service the family moved around frequently, but they eventually settled in San Mateo, California. An aspiring writer, he immediately enrolled in Pomona College, and his early writing included prize-winning essays, with 'The Rock' and 'Gone Are The Days' being published in The Atlantic Monthly. In 1958 he won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, studying at Merton College, and while there he was awarded a Blue for boxing, played rugby for his college, and began writing songs, and with the help of his manager, Larry Parnes, he recorded for Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson. Parnes was working to sell Kristofferson as "a Yank at Oxford" to the British public, and Kristofferson was willing to accept that promotional approach if it helped his singing career, which he hoped would enable him to progress toward his goal of becoming a novelist. In the early 1960's, under pressure from his family, he joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, later attaining the rank of captain. He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama, but while stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division he resumed his music career and formed a band. After leaving the army in 1965 he decided to pursue a career in songwriting, resulting in his family disowning him. He got a job sweeping floors at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, where he met June Carter, and he asked her to give Johnny Cash a tape of his. She did, but Cash put it on a large pile with others and didn't listen to it, but as Kristofferson was also working as a commercial helicopter pilot for south Louisiana firm Petroleum Helicopters International (PHI) at the same time, he landed a helicopter in Cash's front yard, and gained his full attention. 

Although he now considers it an invasion of Cash's privacy, it did work, and Cash recorded his 'Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down', winning Kristofferson Songwriter of the Year for the song at the Country Music Association Awards. In 1967 he signed to Epic Records and released a single, 'Golden Idol'/'Killing Time', and although this was not successful, his songs were hitting the charts by other artists, such as Roy Drusky with 'Jody And The Kid', Ray Stevens with a cover of 'Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down', Faron Young with 'Your Time's Comin'', and Roger Miller with 'Me And Bobby McGee', 'Best Of All Possible Worlds', and 'Darby's Castle'. Kristofferson signed with Monument Records as a recording artist, and his debut album for the label was 1970's 'Kristofferson', which included a few new songs as well as many of his previous hits. Sales were poor, although they would improve when it was re-released under the title 'Me & Bobby McGee' the following year. Kristofferson's compositions were still in demand, with Ray Price recording 'For The Good Times', both Gladys Knight & The Pips and Sammi Smith taking 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' into the charts, and Waylon Jennings and Bobby Bare recording successful versions of his songs in the early 1970's. In 1971, Janis Joplin, who had dated Kristofferson, had a number one hit with 'Me And Bobby McGee' from her posthumous album 'Pearl', which was probably the biggest success the he had with one of his songs, staying at the number-one spot on the charts for weeks. As so many of his songs were recorded by other artists both before and after his debut album release, it's a perfect contender for inclusion in this series, and so here are some of the best versions of the songs that made up Kris Kristofferson's first record.  

Track listing
 

01 Blame It On The Stones (Fred Foster 2021)                       
02 To Beat The Devil (Waylon Jennings 1972)
03 Me And Bobby McGee (Janis Joplin 1971)  
04 The Best Of All Possible Worlds (Roger Miller 1969)
05 Help Me Make It Through The Night (Jeannie C. Riley 1971)
06 The Law Is For Protection Of The People (Bobby Bare 1969)
07 Casey's Last Ride (John Denver 1971)
08 Just The Other Side Of Nowhere (George Hamilton IV 1970)
09 Darby's Castle (The Country Gentlemen 1980)
10 For The Good Times (Kenny Rogers And The First Edition 1971)

11 Duvalier's Dream (Hank Beukema 2014)
12 Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (R. Dean Taylor 1970)  

Ellie Goulding - You Changed Everything (2010)

Elena Jane Goulding was born on 30 December 1986 in Hereford, and was brought up in the small village of Lyonshall, in Herefordshire. She began playing the clarinet at age nine and learning guitar at age 14, and a year later she was writing songs. After enrolling on a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Kent and remaining until her final year, she met Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager, and introduced her to the producer Starsmith, who would become her chief collaborator. She signed to Polydor Records in July 2009, although her debut single, 'Under The Sheets', was released through the independent label Neon Gold Records, appearing digitally in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2009. Before the release of her debut album, she won the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, which showcases the music industry's top choices for rising stars, and she also won the Critics' Choice Award at the 2010 Brit Awards, making her only the second artist to win both in the same year. Her songs from this time were recorded by artists such as Gabriella Cilmi, Diana Vickers, and German singer Lena, and she was featured on rapper Tinie Tempah's single 'Wonderman' in 2010. Her debut album 'Lights' was released in March 2010, reaching No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, spawning three Top 30 singles, and in November 2010, it was re-released as 'Bright Lights', with six new tracks added. It was originally announced that the lead single from 'Bright Lights' would be a new edit of the title track, with a release scheduled for 1 November 2010, but this plan was ultimately scrapped when her cover of Elton John's 'Your Song' was released in conjunction with the John Lewis Christmas advert in the UK in 2010, reaching No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. As she had been writing songs for some years before recording her first album, it's no surprise that there were a number of demo's and out-takes from the sessions, and so here is another album's worth of music from 2010, showing just how prolific she was even in the early days of her career. 

Track listing

01 You Changed Everything 
02 Four Love Songs
03 Slow Down
04 Who'd Want To Find Love
05 We Were Friends
06 Are You Happy Now  
07 Too Much Love
08 Fly
09 It Must Be Me
10 Emergency 
11 Not Following You
12 You & Me
13 Nobody's Crying 

Fifth Harmony - High Five (2014)

Following up the success of their debut EP 'Better Together', Fifth Harmony headlined the MTV Artists To Watch concert in January 2014, an annual concert which showcases breakout artists that will be promoted by MTV during the year, and not long afterwards they announced that recording had begun for their full-length debut album with record producers Julian Bunetta, Daylight, Joe London and multi-instrumentalist songwriter Ricky Reed. It was intended to have a more mature sound than 'Better Together', and the lead single 'Boss' appeared in July 7, 2014, peaking at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with first-week sales of 75,000. A second single, the Meghan Trainor-penned 'Sledgehammer', was released in October, and became their first top 40 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, but their record company seemed unable to capitalise on this success, and moved the release date of their album back from 16 December 2014 to 27 January 2015. 'Reflection' was ultimately released on 03 February 2015, and entered the Billboard 200 at number five, eventually being certified Gold by the RIAA in February 2016, and several critics did note the group's experimentation with grungy hip-hop and retro R&B that was previously not heard on their extended play. The third single from the album, 'Worth It', featuring American rapper Kid Ink, and was the group's most successful single at the time, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and earning them a triple platinum certification. The album was supported by the group's first major headlining tour, visiting 63 cities in North America and 6 cities in Europe in 2015, and later that year they released 'I'm In Love With A Monster', which was featured in both the trailer for, and subsequent movie of, 'Hotel Transylvania 2'. They ended the year by winning the Group of the Year award at Billboard Women in Music 2015 ceremony, honouring the industry's most influential women. Much like their sessions for the 'Better Together' EP, the group recorded much more material than was needed for 'Reflection', and so we are able to compile a companion album from the left-overs, now cryptically titled 'H5' by 5H. One final addition is a commercial that the group recorded in 2014 for the women's clothing line Candies, which was a specially written song for the ad, and it was so good that I've extended it by repeating the first verse to make it a more acceptable length of two and a half minutes. 

Track listing

01 No Catching Feelings
02 Tellin' Me
03 No Filter
04 High Five
05 Goodbye
06 Change The Bad Boy
07 The Way You Look At Her
08 Sensitive
09 You Gave Me Love

10 Rock Your Candies
11 Too Much
12 Over

Bonnie McKee - Femme Fatale (2010)

In 2010 Britney Spears management approached Bonnie McKee to write some songs for Spears' new album, to be called 'Femme Fatale'. One of the first songs that she wrote was 'Hold It Against Me', and originally longtime collaborator Max Martin and executive producer Dr. Luke originally wanted to give the track to Katy Perry, but they later decided that it wasn't the right fit for her. They continued to work on the song, and Luke commented that before giving the song to Spears he wanted to make sure it sounded different from his previous recordings, and when it was eventually released as a single in 2010 it make the Billboard Top Ten. McKee carried on writing songs for the project, coming up with about twenty tracks, for which she recorded demos and then pitched them to Luke and Martin. In the end five of her compositions were chosen to be included on the record, being the afore-mentioned 'Hold It Against Me', 'Inside Out', 'How I Roll', 'Seal It With A Kiss', and 'Gasoline', and the rest of them were consigned to the vaults. All of the songs were written with Spears in mind, and so they all have a Britney vibe running through them, and it's a shame that they haven't been heard since they were demoed, so here is Bonnie McKee's very own 'Femme Fatale' album, made up of the tracks that Spears' producers rejected.

Track listing

01 Terminate 'Em
02 Catch Me If You Can
03 Battle Royale
04 Earthquake
05 License To Love
06 Risky Business
07 Lie Detector
08 Femme Fatale
09 I Dare You (feat. Ina Wroldsen)
10 U Won
11 Psycho
12 Kiss Kiss
13 RIP
14 The Rules Of Attraction

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Bill Withers (2020)

William Harrison Withers Jr. was born on 4 July 1938 in the small coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, and following his parent's divorce when he was three, he was raised by his mother's family in nearby Beckley, West Virginia. At 17 he enlisted in the United States Navy and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs. He left the Navy in 1965, relocating to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a music career, releasing his first single 'Three Nights And A Morning' later that year, and although the song went unnoticed at the time, he later reworked it as the track 'Harlem'. He worked as a mechanical assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, IBM and Ford during the day, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around, and performing in clubs at night. When he hit with the song 'Ain't No Sunshine' in 1971, he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry. In early 1970, Withers' demo tape was auditioned favourably by Clarence Avant, owner of Sussex Records, who signed him to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce his first album. 'Just As I Am' was released in 1971 with the tracks 'Ain't No Sunshine' and 'Grandma's Hands' as singles, and with the album being a success he began touring with a band assembled from members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. 'Ain't No Sunshine' won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards in 1972, with the track selling over one million copies, and being awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in September 1971. During a hiatus from touring, Withers recorded his second album, 'Still Bill', and the lead single 'Lean On Me' went to number one the week of 8 July 1972, being his second gold single, with confirmed sales in excess of three million. His follow-up record, 'Use Me' was released in August 1972, and it became his third million-seller, with the R.I.A.A. gold disc award taking place on 12 October 1972. With three million-sellers under his belt, other artists began coming to him to write for them, and he contributed two songs to Gladys Knight & the Pips' 1974 album 'I Feel A Song', but other artists were happy just to cover tracks from his first two records, with most of the songs from 'Still Bill' receiving this treatment by 1973. The final two tracks were covered in 2019 and 2020 and so we can now enjoy this alternate look at Bill Withers' second studio album in full. 

Track listing

01 Lonely Town, Lonely Street (Denny Greene 1973)
02 Let Me In Your Life (Barbara Mason 1972) 
03 Who Is He (And What Is He To You)? (Gladys Knight & The Pips 1973)
04 Use Me (Scott Walker 1973)
05 Lean On Me (Tom Jones 1973) 
06 Kissing My Love (Cold Blood 1973)  
07 I Don't Know (Caitlin Krisko And The Broadcast 2020)
08 Another Day To Run (Carla Hassett 2011)
09 I Don't Want You On My Mind (Carol Grimes 1974)
10 Take It All In And Check It All Out (Joseph Malik 2019)

Emy Jackson - Crying In A Storm (1966)

Emy Eaton (later Jackson) was born to Japanese parents in Langsford in Essex in July 1946, moving to Japan as a teenager to study at St Morris Convent School in Yokohama. A few years later in 1964, she started working as an assistant/disc jockey for the Good Hit Parade programme on Radio Kanto, now known as Radio Japan, as they were looking for a bi-lingual assistant who could speak both English and Japanese. Her talent as a singer was discovered by a female music critic called Reiko Yukawa, who had been writing about jazz since the late 50's, and who was a regular on the station. She heard Jackson singing while strumming her guitar and was so impressed that she immediately advised an A&R man from Columbia Records to give her a chance as a recording artist. Yukawa insisted that she should sing songs by Japanese songwriters, but in her native language of English, and she even wrote the lyrics to her first single 'Crying In A Storm'. Due to a process in place at the time in Japan called the exclusive writers system, artists could only record songs written by songwriter under exclusive contract to the same record label, and as Yukuma was not a Columbia staff writer, Columbia Japan had to release the single as a foreign recording by a British artist, even though Jackson could speak Japanese and it was recorded in japan. Despite being sold at a higher price than a Japanese single because of being a "foreign" release, it still went on to sell close to one million copies when it was released in April 1965. Many Japanese music historians consider this excellent track to be the first Japanese pop song, with it's raucous backing which was very much influenced by the biggest band in Japan at the time, The Ventures. From her second single onwards she was backed by The Smashmen, who were in fact the well-regarded Japanese band The Blue Comets under an alias, and their superb instrumental backing is a huge part of the appeal of these songs. Jackson went on to release another six singles and one EP during 1965 and 1966, and it has been said that she revolutionized the music industry in Japan. Once outside writers began to have their songs accepted by record companies that they were not under contract to, and released as "foreign" records, this eventually led to the collapse of the exclusive writers system in Japan. Her last single in 1966, the oddly-titled 'Love Is A Crazy Sports Car', was the only song that she sang in Japanese, and although she did not release any more records, she carried on singing until 1973, when she left the music business to open a restaurant in Yokohama. Although she returned to singing again in the 90's, her finest hour was undoubtedly those two years in the mid-60s, when she led the Japanese pop market into a new age.  

Track listing

01 Crying In A Storm (single 1965)
02 Suddenly I'm Alone (b-side of 'Crying In A Storm')
03 Say Yes, My Boy (single 1965)
04 Don't Break My Heart (b-side of 'Say Yes, My Boy')
05 Blue Christmas (single 1965)
06 I Saw Mammy Kissing Santa Claus (b-side of 'Blue Christmas')
07 You Don't Know Baby (single 1966)
08 Heart Full Of Tears (b-side of 'You Don't Know Baby')
09 Pretend (single 1966)
10 If I Give My Heart To You (b-side of 'Pretend')
11 Angel Fish (single 1966)
12 Don't Say Good-bye (b-side of 'Angel Fish')
13 Love Is Crazy Sports Car (single 1966)
14 One Way Kiss (b-side of 'Love Is A Crazy Sports Car')

Thanks to Paul for the suggestion

Dina Carroll - Dina Carroll (1999)

Geraldine Carroll was born on 21 August 1968 in Newmarket, England to a Scottish mother and an American father, and started singing at age of five, where, despite the lack of formal vocal coaching, she won a local talent competition in 1981, at the age of thirteen. By sixteen she was signed to Morgan Khan's London-based StreetSounds record label, which was primarily a compilations company known for its electro music albums. She moved to West London and recorded two singles in 1985 for the company's StreetWave dance music singles label, with 'Set It Off' and 'One Nation' being credited to a non-existent group called Masquerade. After six unproductive months, she left StreetSounds/StreetWave, with Khan going on to use the Masquerade name again for further singles, while Carroll secured a recording contract with Jive Records/Zomba and released a number of singles in 1989 and 1990. After a short time at Jive, Carroll was spotted by Dennis Ingoldsby, one half of newly-founded First Avenue Management, who were already managing a dance production duo called Quartz. Quartz were made up of Ronnie Herel and Dave Rawlings, and so Carroll was brought in to provide vocals for the duo on their cover of Carole King's 'It's Too Late', which topped the dance charts and reached No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1991, and which was followed by the number 39 hit 'Naked Love (Just Say You Want Me)'. 

After these two singles with Quartz, First Avenue decided to relaunch Carroll as a solo artist, and she was signed to A&M Records by managing director Howard Berman. Her first solo single was 'Ain't No Man', released in June 1992, and which reached number 16 in the UK chart, and to capitalise on its success Carroll and her co-writer Nigel Lowis worked on future singles together, as well as recording songs for her debut album. The album 'So Close' was released in March 1993 and entered the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart, generating further hit singles with 'This Time' and 'Express'. One of the tracks on the album, 'Don't Be a Stranger', was a cover version of a song originally recorded by Chyna, and a new version was recorded for the single release, with the London Session Orchestra providing strings for a new backing track. This completely transformed the song, and when it was released, it became Carroll's biggest chart hit, reaching No. 3 and spending many weeks inside the top 10. She was named Best Female Artist at the BRIT Awards in February 1994, but then took a break from her recording and touring obligations, stating that she felt "burned out", although 'So Close' kept her name in the public eye by remaining in the UK Top Ten for most of 1994, and by being short-listed for the Mercury Music Prize. 

Rumours of new songs started to surface in the summer of 1995, but instead of releasing them, she found herself in the midst of contractual problems. Howard Berman, who had originally signed her to A&M, had moved to Mercury Records, but there were problems in convincing them to move Carroll with him. Eventually, Mercury agreed but it was not until May 1996 that the release of a new single was confirmed, with 'Escaping', a song written by Barry Blue, finally appearing in September, almost three years after her last record. The song entered the chart at No. 3, and a new album, 'Only Human', followed in October, debuting at No. 2 on the album charts. During the recording of 'Only Human', Carroll discovered that she had developed otosclerosis, a hereditary bone disease which affected her ears, but she postponed treatment until after all her recording duties had been fulfilled, and then had an operation to replace a whole eardrum, from which she made a reasonable recovery, despite some inevitable permanent hearing loss. She was nominated for "Best British Female Artist" in the 1997 BRIT Awards, but then went into artistic hibernation for a year, returning to the drawing board in 1998 for her third album. For this, she went to Los Angeles to work with producer Rhett Lawrence, and although the original collaboration was intended only for three tracks, they ended up recording a full album in Rhett's home studio, and the lead single 'One, Two, Three' was released in October 1998. 

The new album, 'Dina Carroll', was originally planned for release at the end of 1998, but it was postponed as Carroll was not totally happy with some of the mixes on the album. Instead, her record company decided to relaunch her as a dance diva, and a new up-tempo track 'Without Love' was chosen to be the next single, with a host of remixes to suit all sections of the club scene. A follow-up single, 'Say You Love Me', was scheduled for release in November 1999, and the remixed version of the album was planned to follow two weeks later, but Mercury suspended the release of the single, and both the single and the album were shelved. In 2000, First Avenue Management entered into a crisis phase when most of their artists were dropped by their labels, and along with Eternal, Louise, Dana Dawson, Kele Le Roc, Honeyz, Kéllé Bryan, and Michelle Gayle, Carroll left First Avenue at the end of 2000. Due to these issues with the record label and her management company, the 'Dina Carroll' album remains unreleased, and although Carroll issued a new single in 2001, followed by a greatest hits compilation, this was effectively the end of her recording career. It was an ignominious end for the double BRIT-nominated singer, and so to try and make up for it, here is that shelved third album for you to enjoy.

Track listing

01 Without Love 
02 Say You Love Me  
03 One, Two, Three  
04 Straight To My Soul 
05 Son Of A Preacher Man  
06 Good To Me  
07 Let It Go  
08 On And On  
09 I'll Be There for You  
10 Livin' For The Weekend  
11 Love Of My Life

12 Almaz

Fifth Harmony - Better Together (2013)

In 2012, Ally Brooke, Camila Cabello, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane and Lauren Jauregui auditioned as solo contestants on the second season of the American TV series The X Factor, and although the latter four failed to progress in the "Teens" category, and Brooke didn't make the "Young Adults" category, they were later brought back and put together to form a five-piece girl group, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category. Initially, the group's name was Lylas (an acronym for Love You Like a Sister), but another group called The Lylas claimed that the show stole their name, so the girls changed their name to 1432 (a colloquial term for I Love You Too). Lead judge Simon Cowell was critical of the new name, and he suggested that the group be renamed again, so after winning a place in the top 12 contestants, a new name was chosen by a public vote, with Fifth Harmony winning out. In the semi-finals stage of the show, the group performed Ellie Goulding's 'Anything Could Happen', and the following night's public vote results advanced the group to the final three, along with Tate Stevens and Carly Rose Sonenclar, but after the first round of the finals they did not receive enough votes from the public to reach the Top Two. About a month after The X Factor season finale in January 2013, Fifth Harmony was officially signed by their mentor Simon Cowell to his record label, Syco Music, and they started recording covers of songs which were uploaded to YouTube, with three of them receiving public praise from the original artists, including Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Mikky Ekko. Their debut single 'Miss Movin' On' was released in July 2013, as the lead from their debut EP 'Better Together', and it peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 76, with the EP following in October and reaching Number 6 on the Billboard 200. An acoustic version and two Spanish versions of the EP, 'Juntos' and 'Juntos Acoustic', were released in November, and the latter two records peaked at number 2 and 12 respectively on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. After recording a dozen or so songs for the EP, a number of them were discarded when the final five were chosen to be released, but luckily they have since surfaced online, and if they are slotted back into the running order of the EP you end up with an excellent album, which could have preceded their official debut 'Reflection' the following year. So that's what I've done, and with a revamped version of the EP cover, here is what could have been Fifth Harmony's first full length introduction to the general public who had voted for them on the X Factor. 

Track listing

01 Me & My Girls

02 Better Together
03 No Boys Allowed
04 Try Everything
05 Young & Beautiful
06 Leave My Heart Out Of This
07 Don't Wanna Dance Alone
08 Better Days
09 Miss Movin' On
10 Who Are You
11 Drown On Solid Ground
12 Anything Could Happen
13 One Wish

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing James Taylor (2020)

James Taylor's interest in music started at an early age, taking cello lessons as a child, before learning the guitar at the age of 12. Spending summer holidays with his family on Martha's Vineyard, he met Danny Kortchmar, an aspiring teenage guitarist from Larchmont, New York, and the two of them began listening to and playing blues and folk music together. Taylor wrote his first song on guitar at 14, and he continued to learn the instrument effortlessly, so that by the summer of 1963, he and Kortchmar were playing coffeehouses around the Vineyard, billed as "Jamie & Kootch". In 1965 they moved to New York City to form a band, recruiting Joel O'Brien, formerly of Kortchmar's old band King Bees, to play drums, and Taylor's childhood friend Zachary Wiesner to play bass, calling themselves The Flying Machine. They played songs that Taylor had written, and by the summer of 1966 they were performing regularly at the high-visibility Night Owl Cafe in Greenwich Village, alongside acts such as the Turtles and Lothar And The Hand People. At this time Taylor associated with a motley group of people and began using heroin, much to Kortchmar's dismay, but in late 1966 they did record a single for Jay Gee Records, comprising two Taylor compositions, 'Night Owl' and 'Brighten Your Night With My Day', and it did receive some radio airplay in the Northeast, but only charted at No. 102 nationally. During the final throes of The Flying Machine, Taylor's drug use had developed into full-blown heroin addiction, and after being taken back to North Carolina by his father, he spent six months getting treatment and making a tentative recovery. He then decided to try being a solo act with a change of scenery, and so in late 1967, funded by a small family inheritance, he moved to London. 

His friend Kortchmar gave him his next big break, introducing him to Peter Asher, who was A&R head for the Beatles' newly formed label Apple Records, and later became his manager. After Paul McCartney and George Harrison heard his demo tape they signed him to Apple, and he recorded what would become his first album from July to October 1968 at Trident Studios. During the recording sessions, Taylor fell back into his drug habit by using heroin and methedrine, and returned to New York for treatment at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, while back in the UK Apple released his debut album, 'James Taylor', in December 1968. Critical reception was generally positive, including a complimentary review in Rolling Stone, but it suffered commercially due to Taylor's inability to promote it because of his hospitalization, and so it sold poorly. In late 1969 Taylor broke both hands and both feet in a motorcycle accident on Martha's Vineyard and was forced to stop playing for several months, although he continued to write songs while recovering, and in October 1969 he signed a new deal with Warner Bros. Records. Once he'd recovered from his accident he moved to California, keeping Asher as his manager and record producer, and in December 1969 he held recording sessions for his second album, 'Sweet Baby James', which was released in February 1970. This record was Taylor's critical and popular breakthrough, buoyed by the single 'Fire And Rain', with both the album and the single reaching No. 3 on the Billboard charts. 'Sweet Baby James' went on to be listed at No. 103 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, with 'Fire And Rain' listed as No. 227 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. This song is one of Taylor's most covered tracks, but other songs from the record soon began attracting other artists to give their take on them, from Merry Clayton's bluesy version of 'Steamroller', to 'Country Road' by UK folk-rockers Unicorn and 'Lo And Behold' by blues-rockers Mother Earth, featuring Tracy Nelson. Every track from the album has now been covered (omitting 'Oh, Susannah', which he didn't write, and to make up for that I've added another song from the same period), and so enjoy this alternate look at the album which added James Taylor to the list of classic US singer/songwriters of the 70's.     

Track listing

01 Sweet Baby James (The Seldom Scene 1972)               
02 Lo And Behold (Mother Earth 1971)
03 Sunny Skies (Tico de Moraes 2019)
04 Steamroller (Merry Clayton 1971)
05 Country Road (Unicorn 1971)
06 Fire And Rain (McKendree Spring 1970)
07 Blossom (Christine Smith 1971)
08 Anywhere Like Heaven (Warren Marley 1971)
09 Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip On Me (Gregg Cagno 2020)
10 Suite For 20G (The Meters 1976)

11 Riding On A Railroad (Tom Rush 1970)

Avril Lavigne - Never Let Go (2001)

This collection, also known as 'Let Go: B-Sides', is a promotional album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, which was intended to be distributed before her debut studio album 'Let Go' was issued by Arista Records in 2002. The compilation contains demos and original tracks that were written and produced in 2001, under the management of Nettwerk in Los Angeles, along with her post manager Clifford Fabri, the production team the Matrix, and songwriter Cliff Magness. It was Arista's idea to send her to Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk, in an attempt to fit her image and attitude with her voice, and although she would release 'Let Go' through Arista, she continued with Nettwerk for her management. Some songs were eventually released by Arista, but they differ from these versions, with the demo of 'I Don't Give' being an explicit version in which Lavigne sings "I don't give a damn/I don't give a shit", whereas the clean version, in which she sings "I don't give it up/I don't give a damn", appeared as a b-side on some formats of Lavigne's debut single 'Complicated', as well as on the 'American Wedding' soundtrack. 'Why' also appears as a b-side on some formats of 'Complicated', along with 'I Don't Give', and is also included as the only studio track on a live album that comes with the DVD 'Avril Lavigne: My World'. 'Get Over It' is included as a b-side for some releases of Lavigne's second single 'Sk8er Boi', where she sings 'Don't turn around, I'm sick and I'm tired of your face', whereas here she sings 'Don't turn around, or you will get punched in the face' in the this version. Lavigne recorded two songs called 'Take Me Away', and the one on this album is completely different to the one on her 2004 album 'Under My Skin'. 'Falling Into History' was covered by Brie Larson in 2005, while 'Falling Down' is featured on the soundtrack for the 2002 film 'Sweet Home Alabama'. A different version of 'Things I'll Never Say' made the tracklist of the final 'Let Go' album, although despite the record being named after the song, 'Let Go' itself was not included on the album. It doesn't seem that this CD was ever intended to be released to the public, but was a way for Arista to gauge their reaction to her music before committing to an album. It seems to have worked, with 'Let Go', and particularly the 'Sk8er Boi' single, being the start of a significant career for the singer, so here are those early demos now retitled and housed in new artwork.  

Track listing

01 I Don't Give (demo version)
02 Why
03 Get Over It (demo version)
04 Take Me Away
05 Headset
06 Falling Into History
07 Falling Down
08 Tomorrow You Didn't
09 Things I'll Never Say (demo version)
10 All You Will Never Know
11 Once And For Real
12 Make Up
13 Not The Only One
14 Stay (Be The One)
15 Move Your Little Self On
16 You Never Satisfy Me
17 Let Go

Dave & Ansel Collins - Doing Their Own Thing (1974)

David John Crooks, aka Dave Barker (born on 10 October 1947 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a session vocalist, and Ansell (sometimes Ansel or Ansil) Collins (born 1949, also in Kingston) is a keyboard player, and both worked for producer Lee "Scratch" Perry in Kingston in the late 1960's, joining forces in 1970 to release a single 'Double Barrel'. It was released in late summer by Techniques Records, which was part of the Trojan Records label, and it topped the Jamaican and UK charts in May of the following year. It was the first record that 18 year old drummer Sly Dunbar played on, and an album of the same name soon followed in the US on Big Tree Records. A second single was released from the record, and 'Monkey Spanner' also enjoyed international success. After cutting the album, Collins and Barker parted company, with Collins becoming a session player and Barker, now resident in the United Kingdom, singing with several soul groups. In 1986 Collins appeared as one of Ernest Reed's (played by Jimmy Cliff) back-up musicians in the reggae-themed comedy film 'Club Paradise', while Collins has played and worked with The Upsetters, Black Uhuru, The Mighty Diamonds, Barrington Levy, Gregory Isaacs, U-Roy, Pama International and Jimmy Cliff. Madness sampled two of Barker's introductory exclamations, adding "Don't watch that, watch this!" from 'Funky Funky Reggae' and "This is the heavy, heavy monster sound!" from 'Monkey Spanner' into the introduction to their single 'One Step Beyond'. A second album appeared in 1974, credited to Dave & Ansil Collins on the cover and to Dave Barker & Ansil Collins Group on the labels, and in 1976 they issued 'In The Ghetto' under their original name, but they will mostly be remembered for those two classic singles from 1971. Luckily they recorded a number of extra tracks at the sessions, some of which were later used as b-sides, and they actually laid down two versions of those singles, with version one of 'Double Barrel' and version two of 'Monkey Spanner' becoming the hits. By adding the out-takes to the unused versions of the singles, plus a couple of 7"s from 1973 and 1974, we can enjoy one more album from the original classic line-up of the band.   

Track listing

01 You Ain't Got A Heart At All (previously unreleased)
02 I Feel Alive (previously unreleased)
03 Doing Your Own Thing (b-side of 'Karate' 1971)
04 Point Blank (previously unreleased)
05 Double Barrel (Version 2) (b-side of 'Double Barrel' 1970)
06 Lonely Man (I Can Count The Days) (previously unreleased)
07 Iron Joe (Elfrego Bacca Version) (single 1970)
08 The Heart Of A Man (previously unreleased)
09 Your Love Is A Game (previously unreleased)
10 Monkey Spanner (Version 2) (single 1971)
11 Lonely Lonely Man Am I (previously unreleased)
12 Nuclear Weapon (previously unreleased)
13 Ton Up Kids (single 1973)
14 Bandwagon (b-side of 'Ton Up Kids')

15 It's Summer (single 1974)

Florence + The Machine - Tantalus (2016)

In 2011, Florence + the Machine released their second studio album, 'Ceremonials', which was their second consecutive release to peak at number one on the UK Albums Chart, as well as the first to reach the top 10 of the US Billboard 200, peaking at number six. In late August 2012 Welch announced that she would be taking a year-long break from music, although it wasn't as relaxing as it sounds, as she apparently had "a bit of a nervous breakdown", and that time off was fairly chaotic. The break was new for her, having been almost constantly at work during the making of the band's first two albums, but the break did allow her to reassess her musical approach to reflect her own life experiences. Welch began composing the material for the next album after concluding the band's touring in support of 'Ceremonials' in 2014, and at one point it was to be a concept album about a witch that goes on trial. The song 'Which Witch' was actually the beginning of this idea of a young witch who is utterly in love with someone, and then an accident occurs and he dies, and people think that she was responsible for his death, and she is put on trial for his murder.  

After this idea was ditched, she wrote some songs which referenced characters from Greek mythology, and at one point the album was going to be titled 'Tantalus', after the figure who was cursed by the gods to stand in a pool of water under a fruit tree, so that he could see the fruit but he was never able to get it, and he could see the water but was never be able to drink it. Welch felt that this concept was very present in the record, in that she could see the result that she wanted, but she just couldn't reach it. This idea was also abandoned, and work carried on in earnest on new songs, with the retitled 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful' being released on 29 May 2015 by Island Records. In comparison to the band's two previous studio albums, it was much more refined and stripped-down instrumentally, and incorporates a mixture of musical influences such as folk, blues and gospel, and it was met with positive reviews from music critics, who commended the album for its cohesion, production and Welch's vocal delivery. It's come to light that a title track for the 'Tantalus' concept was recorded, along with some other songs which didn't make the revised track-listing, while the following year the band released a number of non-album tracks for use on film, TV, and video games. By collecting these stray recordings we can compile a follow-up to 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful', which could have been released around 2016. It's a surprisingly cohesive album, and even includes a rewrite of Dua Lipa's 'Electricity', after composers Mark Ronson and Diplo struggled to complete the song, and Welch added new lyrics to their backing track. 

Track listing

01 As Far As I Could Get (bonus track from 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful')
02 Honey (out-take)
03 Baptize (re-write of 'Electricity' by Dua Lipa) 
04 I Will Be (from the video game 'Songs From 'Final Fantasy XV' EP')
05 Tantalus (out-take)
06 Pure Feeling (bonus track from 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful')
07 Throwing Bricks (out-take)
08 Too Much Is Never Enough (from the video game 'Songs From 'Final Fantasy XV' EP')
09 Wish That You Were Here (from the film 'Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children')
10 Jenny Of Oldstones (from the TV series 'Game Of Thrones')
11 Covered In Blood (WTF) (out-take)