Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Gordon Lightfoot (1977)

Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. was born on 17 November 1938 in Orillia, Ontario, and after his mother recognized his musical talent early on she schooled him to become a successful child performer. He first performed publicly in grade four, singing the Irish-American lullaby 'Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral', which was broadcast over his school's public address system during a parents' day event, and as a youth he sang in the choir of Orillia's St. Paul's United Church under the direction of choirmaster Ray Williams. As a teenager he learned piano and taught himself to play drums and percussion, holding concerts in Muskoka, a resort area north of Orillia, and performing extensively throughout high school, teaching himself to play folk guitar along the way. In 1958 he moved to Los Angeles to study jazz composition and orchestration for two years at Westlake College of Music, and to support himself while in California he sang on demonstration records and wrote, arranged, and produced commercial jingles. After his return to Canada he performed with the Singin' Swingin' Eight, a group featured on CBC TV's Country Hoedown, and also with the Gino Silvi Singers, and in 1961 he released two singles, both recorded at RCA in Nashville and produced by Chet Atkins, that were local hits in Toronto. In 1963 he travelled in Europe, and for a year in the UK he hosted BBC TV's Country and Western Show, returning to Canada in 1964. 

Around this time he began to develop a reputation as a songwriter, with Ian and Sylvia Tyson recording his 'Early Mornin' Rain' and 'For Lovin' Me', and a year later both songs were recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. With this validation of his song-writing skill, artists such as Marty Robbins ('Ribbon Of Darkness'), Judy Collins ('Early Morning Rain'), Richie Havens and Spyder Turner ('I Can't Make It Anymore'), and the Kingston Trio ('Early Morning Rain') all achieved some chart success with Lightfoot's material. In 1965 he signed a management contract with Albert Grossman, and a recording contract with United Artists, who released his version of 'I'm Not Sayin'' as a single. 1966 marked the release of his debut album 'Lightfoot!', which brought him greater exposure as both a singer and a songwriter, and the record featured many now-famous songs, including 'For Lovin' Me', 'Early Mornin' Rain', 'Steel Rail Blues', and 'Ribbon Of Darkness'. On the strength of the 'Lightfoot!' album, he became one of the first Canadian singers to achieve definitive home-grown stardom without having moved permanently to the United States to develop it. The variety of artists featured on this collection just proves what a versatile songwriter Lightfoot was, with pop groups, folk bands, and R&B singers all covering his songs, and folk-rock legends Fotheringay rated him highly enough to include one of his songs on their debut album, despite having a number of renowned songwriters in the band. 'Lightfoot!' did include three covers, and so in a slight departure from the usual format of these albums I've included the original versions of those, so that all of the songs from the album are featured in versions other than Lightfoot's. 

Track listing

01 Rich Man's Spiritual (Ronnie Hawkins 1968)

02 Long River (Knoxville Grass 1977)

03 The Way I Feel (Fotheringay 1970)

04 For Lovin' Me (Chad & Jeremy 1965)

05 The First Time (Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger 1970)

06 Changes (Phil Ochs 1966)

07 Early Morning Rain (Peter, Paul And Mary 1965)

08 Steel Rail Blues (George Hamilton IV 1966)

09 Sixteen Miles (Bonnie Dobson 1972)

10 I'm Not Sayin' (The Ian Campbell Folk Group 1968)

11 Pride Of Man (Hamilton Camp 1964)

12 Ribbon Of Darkness (The Pozo Seco Singers 1967)

13 Oh' Linda (The Pacers featuring Bobby Crawford 1967)

14 Peaceful Waters (Ed Ames 1969)

Shut Up Stella - Shut Up Stella (2007)

In 2006 Jessica Eden Malakouti moved to Los Angeles following her graduation, and started an all-female punk band, Shut Up Stella, with Kristen Wagner, and Allison Jayne Lurie, otherwise known as Fan 3. Fan 3 had been recording and releasing music since she was 13, with one of her songs being featured on the 'Lizzie McGuire' soundtrack, and there were even plans to release her debut album in 2005. However, after a sampler disc was sent out for the tentatively titled 'Let Me Clear My Throat', she was dropped by her label and her album was shelved. In 2006 Fan 3 met up with Malakouti and Wagner and formed Shut Up Stella, and they were signed by Epic Records shortly after their formation. One of their first recordings was 'Watch Me Rain', which was produced by Greg Kurstin, and it featured in a few movies, including the 2008 film 'Baby Mama', starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. After a very short tenure with the label, during which time they did manage to record around a dozen songs for a proposed 2007 album, they were dropped by Epic, and their album was cancelled. Malakouti quit the band and decided to focus instead on her career as an actress, songwriter and solo artist, while Fan 3 helped out Kay Hanley with backing vocals on her second album 'Weaponize', before recording and releasing covers and original music on Youtube and Myspace under her given name of Allison Jayne. The 'Shut Up Stella' album has floated around Youtube for a while now, and so to start a short overview of Malakouti's career, which later continued with Jessie And The Toy Boys, and then as Eden xo, here is her first effort.  

Track listing

01 Welcome To My Party
02 On My Bed
03 Twister
04 Waiting For You
05 Cheap Champagne
06 Watch Me Rain
07 Postcards (Forgot To Remember)
08 These Are The Days
09 Light It Up
10 Country Lemonade (Sip It Up)
11 Pound Star
12 Oprah For President

Jesus Loves You - Popularity Breeds Contempt (1992)

After Culture Club broke up in 1986, Boy George started a solo career, releasing his debut album 'Sold' in 1987, and issuing a number of singles from it. For his next two albums, 'Tense Nervous Headache' in 1988 and 'Boyfriend' in 1989, he wanted to break out in a new direction by dabbling in electronic dance music, but the singles taken from these albums did not gain much commercial success, even though they were often played at clubs. In order to pursue this new direction, he founded the band Jesus Loves You, as a collective project with other musicians, and they were signed to his own label More Protein, which aimed to be an underground label and was not meant to release music for the charts. He adopted the pseudonym "Angela Dust", and the first single by the new band was 'After The Love', which was about the separation from his ex-bandmate Jon Moss, drummer of Culture Club. Two more singles followed, but 'Generations Of Love' and 'One On One' had only modest success in the UK Singles Chart. On a journey across India, George became interested in the Hare Krishna movement, being particularly impressed with their philosophy, and as a result he wrote the song 'Bow Down Mister'. This was a crucial turning point for the band, because it was their first religious song, and when it was released as a single in 1991 it became a hit in the UK, peaking at number 27 in the singles chart. Because of this success, the band's debut album, 'The Martyr Mantras', was rush-released the same year, and in 1991 remixes of 'Generations Of Love' and 'After The Love' were issued as singles. In July 1992, the band played a Hare Krishna festival in Moscow, in front of an audience of 35,000, and December was to see the release of their second album, 'Popularity Breeds Contempt'. The single 'Sweet Toxic Love' was pre-released, but Virgin Records was so disappointed in its chart position that they cancelled the album and refused to release it, with the band dissolving shortly afterwards. Some of the songs from the record eventually appeared in re-mixed form on 'The Devil In Sister George' EP in 1994. and in 2005 a white label 12" of a track from the 1992 sessions called 'Love Your Brother' appeared online, but that second album has stubbornly remained lost. Recently a six track bootleg appeared on Youtube, containing recordings from the 1992 sessions, and so by adding a couple of tracks from the same time period we can approximate what the second album from Jesus Loves You could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 Am I Losing Control
02 Sweet Toxic Love
03 If I Could Fly
04 Love Your Brother (Supalaska Mix)
05 It Doesn't Happen Every Day
06 In Maya
07 Miss Me Blind (Return To Gender Mix)
08 You Are The Deal

Porcelain Black - Mannequin Factory (2015)

Alaina Marie Beaton was born on 1 October 1985 in Detroit, Michigan, and is known professionally as Porcelain Black. She had a troubled childhood, being expelled from two different schools, and feeling like an outcast as she didn't fit in with her classmates. At the age of sixteen, as soon as she was legally able to, she dropped out of school, and while on a road trip in New York she was approached by her first manager, who told her to move to Los Angeles. Three months later she did so, found her manager, and was signed to Virgin Records two weeks later. Recording under the pseudonym Porcelain And The Tramps, she worked with Tommy Henriksen and John Lowery in London, but she and the label could not agree on the music she made. Virgin wanted her to record pop music in the vein of Avril Lavigne, but she wanted to mix industrial rock sounds with dance pop, so she began posting the songs she recorded on Myspace, gaining upwards of 10 million views in a matter of months. This led to her being approached by Courtney Love on MySpace to provide backing vocals for a solo album she was working on, while a song she co-wrote with Billy Steinberg and Josh Alexander around the time Black left Virgin, 'How Do You Love Someone?', was recorded by Ashley Tisdale for her second album, 'Guilty Pleasure'. 

Through a mutual A&R friend, producer RedOne heard about Black and was interested in meeting her, and after that meeting in his studio in November 2009, they wrote her debut single 'This Is What Rock n' Roll Looks Like' the next day. RedOne helped her break away from her contract with Virgin Records and signed her to his Universal Republic imprint, 2101 Records. A name change to Porcelain Black followed, as it was causing confusion to people who thought Porcelain And The Tramps was a band. After appearing in a few music videos, she gained a cameo role in the 2012 film 'Rock Of Ages', playing the lead singer of a 1980's glam metal band. In 2011 she announced that the working title of her debut album was to be 'Mannequin Factory', and RedOne was said to have produced and co-written all but one of the tracks with her. A second single was released from the album, and 'Naughty Naughty' peaked at number 6 on the chart, but when 2102 Records became an imprint of Capitol Records when Universal Republic went under, this delayed the release of any new material by the industrial singer. During the summer of 2013, Black performed a private gig in West Hollywood, featuring all-new material, and several months later 2101 Records released five songs in five weeks, with her long-anticipated debut album expecting to be released after this five-week promotional period, with two brand new singles preceding it. 

After 'Mama Forgive Me' was released, she then confirmed that the album had no confirmed title, revealing she had considered the names 'Black Rainbow' and 'Mannequin Factory', but that those titles might not work as she had recorded more songs. After many internal conflicts between Black and her long-time collaborator, RedOne, she announced in 2015 that plans to release her long-anticipated album were cancelled, and that she wanted to record a new record in the vein of her previous project, Porcelain And The Tramps. This could be expected to appear in late 2017, and music from this new project would feature the same attitude as her previous work, with slower, mid-tempo songs and rapping. In February 2020 she posted on Twitter that she was almost done with her first album, which just needed mixing and mastering, and she tweeted every song title, ending with the claim that the untitled project was expected to be released in 2020. However, despite releasing three self-produced demos of new songs directly on her YouTube channel in December 2020, there is still no sign of Black's debut long-player, and so in its place here is a reconstruction of the abandoned 'Mannequin Factory', which could have appear way back in 2015. 

Track listing

01 One Woman Army  
02 This Is What Rock 'n' Roll Looks Like (feat. Lil' Wayne)  
03 La Dee Da Dee (Naughty Naughty)  
04 Mannequin Factory  
05 Swallow My Bullet  
06 Mama Forgive Me  
07 Pretty Little Psycho 
08 Rich Boi  
09 How Do You Love Someone?  
10 Too Much Of Not Enough  
11 Stealing Candy From A Baby  
12 Kisses Lose Their Charm  
13 King Of The World  
14 Fuck Like A Star  
15 I'm Your Favourite Drug  
16 Gasoline  
17 Curiosity  
18 Teeny Bopper Crack Whore  

Shed Seven - Better Late Than Never (2003)

Shed Seven formed in 1990 from the remnants of Brockley Haven, a band featuring frontman Rick Witter, guitarist and songwriter Paul Banks, bassist Tom Gladwin, drummer Magnus Thompson and keyboardist John Leach. The band twice entered the local Fibbers/Evening Press Battle of the Bands competition, and twice failed to win, but their live reputation attracted initial press attention, and eventually garnered complimentary comparisons to The Smiths. After signing to Polydor Records, they released their debut single, the double A-side 'Mark'/'Casino Girl' in March 1994 to considerable acclaim from some sections of the music press, although it failed to make the UK Top 40, peaking at number 80. The follow-up single, 'Dolphin', was released on 13 June 1994 and peaked at number 28, with first week sales reaching 15,000, leading to the band's first Top Of The Pops appearance on 23 June 1994. Despite their third single release, 'Speakeasy', entering the UK charts at number 24 and giving them their biggest hit to date, the first negative press reviews began to emerge, with NME opining that it sounded like "four clumsy blokes trying to come over all sensuous, fragile and complex". In September 1994 the band released their debut album, 'Change Giver', entering the UK album chart at number 16, and giving the group their first Gold disc. Despite it spending just two weeks in the chart, it enjoyed popularity in both the UK and Australia, and also found them an audience in Thailand, where they managed to beat Take That to the Christmas number 1 spot with their fourth single release, 'Ocean Pie'. 

The following April, 'Where Have You Been Tonight?', the first result of their collaboration with new producer Chris Sheldon, was their fifth single, peaking at number 23, and continuing the band's chart-placing run. This was their only release of 1995, and it was not until 1996 that their seventh single, 'Going For Gold', appeared, and entered the UK chart at number 8, remaining their biggest chart hit to date. Their second album. 'A Maximum High', was released in April 1996, and garnered a generally positive response from critics, entering the UK album chart at number 8, and remaining there for 26 weeks. After a two year gap they released their third album, 'Let It Ride', featuring Clint Boon of the Inspiral Carpets on keyboards, and Heather "Lady Galadril" Findlay, of Mostly Autumn, on vocals, but this record received a more mixed reception that their previous albums. It seemed they were taking on a new, punchier sound, following first hearings of their comeback single, 'She Left Me On Friday', with various reviewers drawing comparisons to both Black Grape and Blur. Due to the relatively poor reception to 'Let It Ride', the band's label insisted that their next release had to be a greatest hits collection, resulting in their fourth album being the compilation 'Going For Gold' in 1999. Despite the band's reservations about issuing a compilation so early in their career, it went on to sell 130,000 copies, and did feature two new songs in 'Disco Down' and 'High Hopes', both of which were intended to be issued as singles. 

In the end only 'Disco Down' made it, as while the band wanted 'High Hopes' to follow 'Disco Down', the record was side-lined by Polydor in favour of a proposed re-release of the previous single, 'Going For Gold', and because the band refused to comply, this led to Shed Seven and Polydor Records parting company in late 1999. In December 1999, guitarist Paul Banks left the band by mutual consent, with Rick Witter citing "musical differences" for the split, and he was replaced by original guitarist Joe Johnson in early 2000, while temporary keyboardist Fraser Smith became a permanent member of the band around the same time. Now officially a five piece ,and with a new song-writing team consisting of Witter, Johnson and Smith, the band signed a new contract with Artful Records, and in May 2001 went on to release their fourth studio album, 'Truth Be Told', which was preceded by the lead single 'Cry For Help'. Despite their new deal, the band remained dissatisfied with the lack of promotional support from their label, and also frustrated by delayed releases, which was highlighted by Artful's decision to change the planned July release of the second single from 'Truth Be Told, the chart-eligible 'Step Inside Your Love', to a non chart-eligible 4-track EP released in October 2001. The band were further hindered by BBC Radio 1's decision not to playlist them in their post-Polydor days, despite DJ Chris Moyles being a long-time supporter, and so by 2002 they had parted company with Artful Records. 

In 2003 Shed Seven found a new home at Taste Media, and soon returned to the charts with the single, 'Why Can't I Be You?', released on 5 May and peaking at number 23, but this proved to be their first and last single release for the label, as the band lost patience with Taste's refusal to release their fully recorded would-be fifth studio album, slated for release in September 2003. With Taste demanding another big hit before they were willing to release a new Shed Seven album, the ready and completed record was held back indefinitely, and as a consequence the band announced their imminent split, announcing that their then-current UK tour would become their "farewell tour". This tour was a sell-out success, and Taste did manage to squeeze one album out of the band, by releasing the live 'Where Have You Been Tonight? Live' album. Despite gaining a loyal and ever-growing following of fans —sometimes referred to as "Shed Heads"— the band never received much positive press attention in the UK, with NME never once featuring Shed Seven on its cover, and constantly sniping at their image. In 2005, after many requests from fans, the band eventually released an official post-split album, 'One Hand Clapping', which featured 'new' material, which actually comprised unreleased demos of songs which were submitted to, and refused by, Taste Records for what would have been their fifth studio album. 

Following the split, lead singer Rick Witter began a solo career with Rick Witter & The Dukes in 2005, releasing their debut album, 'The Year Of The Rat', in April 2007. Alan Leach opened a commercial recording studio in York, taught drums and began hosting pub quizzes, and during this time he co-founded SpeedQuizzing Ltd with his brother, and they now produce and sell smartphone pub quiz software globally. Tom Gladwin went on to join the Leeds-based pop/dance outfit The Clients with former members of The Dandys, and Paul Banks formed The Rising, a York-based band composed of Banks, David McKellar (formerly of The 88's), Rob "Maxi" Maxfield (formerly of Audioweb) and Stuart Fletcher (formerly of The Seahorses and who later joined Rick Witter & The Dukes). Joe Johnson taught guitar in his hometown, and joined a Canadian band named the Black Sours, while Fraser Smith is now a London-based record producer and songwriter, currently signed to Notting Hill Music, and has produced and mixed records for acts such as Ian Brown, Hayley Hutchinson and The Yards. 

In July 2007 the band announced a greatest hits reunion tour of 14 UK venues for November and December 2007, featuring all of the band's original members, including both Joe Johnson and Paul Banks, but with the exception of Fraser Smith. The band continued to tour throughout 2009 to 2011, and an EP was released in November 2011, featuring four re-worked tracks from their 'A Maximum High' album, re-recorded with an orchestral feel over the course of a weekend in September. In February 2017 they announced they would be releasing their first studio album for 16 years later in the year, with 'Instant Pleasures' receiving some of their best reviews of their career. Despite this, Shed Heads would have to agree that their best music came from that decade between 1994 and 2003, when they were so prolific that they could afford to add two or three brand new tracks to every single, which is why this purely non-album singles/b-sides collection runs to four volumes.  

Track listing

Disc I - 1994-1996 
01 Immobilise (b-side of 'Dolphin' 1994)
02 Dolphin (Forward) (b-side of 'Dolphin' 1994)
03 Mobile 10 (b-side of 'Dolphin' 1994)
04 Around Your House (b-side of 'Speakeasy' 1994)
05 Your Guess Is As Good As Mine (b-side of 'Speakeasy' 1994)
06 Never Again (b-side of 'Ocean Pie' 1994)
07 Sleep Easy (b-side of 'Ocean Pie' 1994)
08 Sensitive (b-side of 'Ocean Pie' 1994)
09 Swing My Wave (b-side of 'Where Have You Been Tonight?' 1995)
10 This Is My House (b-side of 'Where Have You Been Tonight?' 1995)
11 Only Dreaming (b-side of 'Getting Better' 1996)
12 Song Seven (b-side of 'Getting Better' 1996)

Disc II - 1996-1998
01 Making Waves (b-side of 'Going For Gold' 1996)
02 Barracuda (b-side of 'Going For Gold' 1996)
03 Jumping Jack Flash (b-side of 'On Standby' 1996)
04 Killing Time (b-side of 'On Standby' 1996)
05 Long Time Dead (b-side of 'On Standby' 1996)
06 Stepping On Hearts (b-side of 'On Standby' 1996)
07 In Command (b-side of 'Chasing Rainbows' 1996)
08 The Skin I'm In (b-side of 'Chasing Rainbows' 1996)
09 Happy Now (b-side of 'Devil In Your Shoes' 1998)
10 This Is A New Day (b-side of 'Devil In Your Shoes' 1998)
11 Dumb Scene (b-side of 'Devil In Your Shoes' 1998)
12 Better Late Than Never (b-side of 'Devil In Your Shoes' 1998)

Disc III - 1998-1999
01 Bottom Upwards (b-side of 'She Left Me On Friday' 1998)
02 Melpomene (b-side of 'She Left Me On Friday' 1998)
03 Forever (Isn't Such A Long Time) (b-side of 'She Left Me On Friday' 1998)
04 My Misspent Youth (b-side of 'She Left Me On Friday' 1998)
05 You (b-side of 'She Left Me On Friday' 1998)
06 Slinky Love Theme (b-side of 'The Heroes' 1998)
07 Disco Down (single 1999)
08 Hands Up (b-side of 'Disco Down')
09 Another Hole (b-side of 'Disco Down')
10 Catapult (b-side of 'Disco Down')
11 High Hopes (unreleased single 1999)

Disc IV - 2001-2003
01 Jean Genie (b-side of 'Step Inside Your Love' 2001)
02 (Don't) PUsh Me Away (b-side of 'Step Inside Your Love' 2001)
03 No Way (b-side of 'Step Inside Your Love' 2001)
04 Patches (b-side of 'Cry For Help' 2001)
05 Working Miracle (b-side of 'Cry For Help' 2001)
06 The Seeker (b-side of 'Cry For Help' 2001)
07 Sittin' Pretty (b-side of 'Cry For Help' 2001)
08 Hark! I Hear The Foe Is Advancing (from the limited edition of 'Truth Be Told' 2001)
09 Why Can't I Be You? (single 2003)
10 Hanging On The Outside (b-side of 'Why Can't I Be You?)
11 Let Me In (b-side of 'Why Can't I Be You?)

Del Amitri - Tall People (1986)

Del Amitri grew out of Justin Currie's Jordanhill College School band, which was formed in Glasgow in 1980, and consisted of Currie (bass and vocals), James Scobbie (guitars), Donald Bentley (guitars) and Paul Tyagi (drums). The newly christened Del Amitri (chosen deliberately because it didn't mean anything but sounded a bit like someone's name) rehearsed in Currie's parents house, before securing official rehearsal space at the Art Centre in a proper room, with Postcard Records signing and future megastars Aztec Camera rehearsing in the room next door. The band's first recorded track was 'What She Calls It', which was the B-side of a flexi-disc given away free with 'Stand And Deliver' fanzine, with the A-side given over to another future Glasgow megaband The Bluebells. Scobbie and Bentley left the band in 1982 to study at university, and a new line-up came together after Currie placed an advertisement in the window of a music store, with Scobbie and Bentley being replaced by Iain Harvie on guitar and Bryan Tolland on second guitar. The band signed to Chrysalis and released their self-titled debut album in 1985 to mixed reviews, and as recording started for what would become their second album, the line-up changed, with Currie and Harvie inviting keyboard player Andy Alston to join the band, and then firing both Tolland and Tyagi, with Tolland being replaced in the studio by Mick Slaven, and Tyagi by The Commotions' Stephen Irvine. However, Slaven and Irvine chose not to join the band full-time and so they were later replaced by David Cummings and Brian McDermott, respectively. 

The gestation for their sophomore release gradually got longer and longer, and 'Waking Hours' finally appeared in 1989 on a new label, A&M Records. It was only when unheard songs leaking onto the internet that it was realised that the band had in fact recorded their second album some years earlier, but had decided not to release it, possibly due to being dropped by Chrysalis and therefore having no home for it. The ten tracks were scrapped and a completely new set of songs was written for 'Waking Hours', which went on to reach No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and it gave the band their most successful UK single, 'Nothing Ever Happens', which peaked at No. 11. They also gained some mainstream exposure abroad for the first time, as 'Waking Hours' was a success in several territories, and the single 'Kiss This Thing Goodbye' flirted with the lower reaches of the US Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. I guess we'll never know if they would have achieved that success if they'd released the first set of songs as the follow-up to their debut, but I'm sure fans will still be interested to hear them, and so here is what could have been Del Amitri's second album from 1986, named after the track 'Tall People' just so that I could make this cover! There are three tracks which were intended for the track-listing which have so far refused to appear, so I've replaced 'The Way I Live Now', 'Unfinished', and 'Seven Days' with three other contemporary recordings, and I will warn you that the sound quality is not the best, with a fair bit of background hum.     

Track listing

01 Tears And Trickery
02 Tall People
03 Keep The Kettle Boiling
04 I Am Here
05 The Wind In The Wheels
06 Love Gone Too Far
07 Life Going Backwards
08 Nothing Goes According To Plan
09 She Showed Me The World
10 Out In The Wind

Cassie - Electro Love (2009)

Casandra Elizabeth Ventura, known professionally as Cassie, was born on 26 August 1986 in New London, Connecticut, and after attending The Williams School on the Connecticut College campus, she began modelling at the age of 14, and by 16 she was modelling for local department stores, Delia's fashion catalogue and Seventeen. After appearing in R&B singer Mario's 'Just A Friend 2002' music video, she was encouraged by producer Rockwilder to take vocal lessons. After finishing high school in 2004 she moved to New York City, where she returned to modelling, and started taking classes at the Broadway Dance Center. After Ryan Leslie spotted her at a club in 2004, the two wrote a duet together called 'Kiss Me', and after recording the track, Leslie played the song for music executive Tommy Mottola, who offered Cassie a management deal, while Leslie signed her to NextSelection Lifestyle Group. Leslie wrote and produced her first single, 'Me & U', in 2005, and the song became a club hit in Germany before it was heard by P. Diddy, and Leslie convinced him to partner his Bad Boy Records with Leslie's NextSelection imprint for the release of Cassie's debut album. The self-titled record was released in August 2006, and sold 321,000 copies in the United States, while the lead single 'Me & U' peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, selling more than 1 million digital downloads. In 2007 it had to be denied that she'd been dropped from Bad Boy Records, and Diddy confirmed that she was in the studio working with producers Kanye West and Pharrell Williams on her second album, having split from Ryan Leslie, who had produced the majority of her debut album. 

The idea was that working with a mix of writers and producers, as well as her own co-write input, would make it a more personal record. In 2008 she made her film debut as Sophie Donovan in the dance film 'Step Up 2: The Streets', and she also sang the lead single 'Is It You' from the soundtrack album. In July 2009 it was announced that her second studio album's title would be 'Electro Love', and that it would demonstrate more independence and have a bit more personality. Three singles were released as tasters for the record, but neither 2008's 'Official Girl', nor 2009's 'Must Be Love' and 'Let's Get Crazy' charted in the US, and so the album was pushed back a couple of times, before she left Bad Boy Records in December and signed with Interscope Records. She was still talking about the album coming out in October 2010, saying that she'd already recorded around fifty songs for it, but still no release date was offered. Her next release was another single, with 'King Of Hearts' appearing in February 2012, but that was now three years after her second record was supposed to have appeared, and so I think we'll we have to admit that by now it was never going to happen. Luckily there have been a number of leaks of her music over the years, and they include all the tracks from 'Electro Love', and so here is that long-awaited second album from Cassie, which should have come out in 2009. 

Track listing

01 Let's Get Crazy (feat. Akon)
02 Official Girl (feat. Lil Wayne)
03 Activate (feat. Newz)
04 2 The Morning
05 My House
06 Must Be Love (feat. P. Diddy)
07 Thirsty
08 Make You A Believer (feat. Jadakiss)
09 Keep On Lovin' Me (feat. The-Dream)
10 Nobody But You (feat. The-Dream)
11 Stamina
12 Up In Here
13 In Love With The DJ
14 Turn The Lights Off
15 Is It You
16 Summer Charm
17 Not What Love Is (feat. P. Diddy)
18 Talkin' Like This

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Syd Barrett (2022)

In the second half of 1967 and through to early 1968, while still part of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett's behaviour became increasingly erratic and unpredictable, with reports of him on stage with the group during this period strumming on one chord through an entire concert or not playing at all. Following an increasingly difficult US tour with him in 1967, and with David Gilmour drafted in to help out with live dates, the rest of the band decided that they couldn't work with Barrett any more, and on 6 April 1968 they officially announced that he was no longer a member of Pink Floyd. After Barrett left Pink Floyd, Peter Jenner and Andrew King, from the band's management, followed suit, feeling that as Barrett was the creative centre of the band, they would rather represent him than Pink Floyd. In May Jenner led Barrett into EMI Studios to record some solo material, but this was only partially successful, with most tracks having no vocals. Recording resumed in June and July, with better progress being made this time, but shortly after the July dates, Barrett abruptly stopped recording, breaking up with girlfriend Lindsay Corner, and then going off on a drive around Britain in his Mini, at the end of which he ended up in psychiatric care in Cambridge. 

By the start of 1969, a somewhat recovered Barrett decided to return to his musical career and revisit the Jenner-produced recordings, and so in April 1969 he began working on newer material, while reworking the 1968 recordings. After some months of work on the songs, Barrett told his flatmate that he was going off "for an afternoon drive", but instead followed Pink Floyd out to Ibiza, and during the trip, he asked David Gilmour for his help on the album, and so at the end of May, Malcolm Jones abandoned his production responsibilities and Gilmour and Waters took over. Although they were in the process of completing Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma' album, they took time out and helped Barrett finish his album, managing to record a number of his songs during a June session, and then coming back to complete the project after taking a temporary break to mix 'Ummagumma' and undertake a tour of the Netherlands. After several months of intermittent recording, the album was finally deemed complete, and once the final recording sessions for the album had been completed, Gilmour and Waters mixed not just the tracks they had produced, but also the previously recorded songs with Malcolm Jones, in a matter of two days. 

'Octopus' was released as a single in November 1969, and 'The Madcap Laughs' followed on 2 January 1970, with both records appearing on the Harvest Records label. The album was fairly well-reviewed by music critics, and has since become something of a classic of the psychedelic music genre, and so the songs are ripe for interpretation by other bands with the same midset. Marc And The Mambas deliver a great take on 'Terrapin', and Slowdive's version of 'Golden Hair' is pretty much exactly as you would expect it to sound. REM have covered 'Dark Globe', and The Shamen and The Mock Turtles have both provided superb takes of a couple of songs from the record for official tribute albums to Barrett, while two of my personal favourite bands finally appear together, with The Green Pajamas and The Cleaners From Venus both giving it their best. I'll have to admit that this is one of the most idiosyncratic collections in this series, but every artist on here shows an obvious love for the source material, and so in the end it makes for an intriguing and enjoyable listen. 

Track listing

01 Terrapin (Marc And The Mambas 1982) 
02 No Good Trying (The Mock Turtles 1987)
03 Love You (The Besnard Lakes 2010)
04 No Man's Land (Race Horses 2010)
05 Dark Globe (REM 1989)  
06 Here I Go (The Balters 2022)
07 Octopus (Carnival Art 1990)
08 Golden Hair (Slowdive 1991)
09 Long Gone (The Shamen 1987)
10 She Took A Long Cold Look (The Green Pajamas 2000)
11 Feel (Marinus Pee 2015)
12 If It's In You (Jennifer Gentle 2010)
13 Late Night (The Cleaners From Venus 1985)

Darth Crooks - In The Life Of Christopher Gainesworth III (1999)

Michael Solof back again and this time I have a tale of sex drugs and rock and roll full of incredible intrigue, mystery and utter failure (kinda). Let me start off by saying, as a joke, and to protect me and the site from the Garth police, the names have been changed throughout this post, and they aren't just stupid typos. I did leave the essay at the end of the pdf unchanged as its not written by me, and out of respect to the original writer. 

So firstly, let me tell you that I've been a huge Darth Crooks fan for years! I won't bother mentioning all the awards and sales numbers the guy has generated since he started in 1989…but they are big!! The Beatles and Elvis BIG! But something very strange happened in 1999 that no-one saw coming, and it affected his musical career forever. In 1999 he was looking to change things up, as he'd already become the #1 Country star in the world, and now he wanted to expand his repertoire and try his hand at something different - rock and roll and R&B. But beyond that he also wanted to become a movie star, so he came up with the bold idea of creating a fictional Australian rock star named...let's say Christopher Gainesworth III. He developed a whole back story for him that in many ways was similar to his own, in terms of his incredible rise to stardom, but more prophetically it foretold his downfall in music and his later attempts to resurrect himself. Besides commissioning a screenplay on Chris's life (by the writer of 'Die Hard'), he even went so far as to bring Chris to life in other ways, firstly by producing a VH1 Behind The Scenes special covering his whole life, and then releasing a 'Greatest Hits' record, which was issued as if by Chris, and highlighting the best moments from his four previous fictitious albums. 

This was all topped off on September 29th, 1999 with a music special on NBC TV, and all this activity was intended to build up a buzz, leading to the shooting of the movie in the year 2000, and resulting in Darth becoming a major movie star. However, things quickly went off the rails, as when the #1 Country artist and entertainer in the world suddenly changes formats and records a completely different type of album it pisses off the country radio stations, not to mention all his fans, thus leading to no airplay or support. Think Bob Dylan suddenly going electric, or Dolly Parton releasing a rock album at that time (perhaps not so much now!). The new record just totally confused and bewildered rock station's music directors, and they refused to play it, so in terms of airplay this album had literally no support from anyone anywhere at anytime. The way everyone chose to look at it was that, compared to all his previous album sales, this was a complete and utter failure, and it forced Darth to go into hiding for almost two years, and yet looked at simply as a record released by just about any other singer, it was actually a massive success, being produced by six-time Grammy winner Don Was, and selling enough copies to go double platinum. Not only that but it produced his first, and to date only, appearance in the US Billboard Hot 100, with 'Lost In You' peaking at No. 5. But in Darth's world all this was an abject failure. 

However, if we take an unbiased look at the album, which in my opinion, and that of his wife Tricia Yearwood, is the best that he ever made, he was really trying to stretch out and try something different. He completely retrained his voice to sing at a higher register, and gathered solid writers to craft his new rock and R&B sound, resulting in an album that is stunning in its breadth, and is a masterpiece of music, with not a country lick or yodel in sight. Despite this, he was shunned by his fans old and new, and such was their revulsion of this new music that Rolling Stone Magazine recently listed this attempted reinvention as #13 of the 50 Worst Decisions In Music History. Darth was so stunned by this negative response that he spent more than 20 years removing every last trace of the movie, album, VH1 special and NBC TV show from history. Not many people have the clout or money to be able to wipe all record of a release from the internet, but for years you wouldn't find any mention of the project anywhere, let alone videos of any of the TV shows, and it was like it never existed. If you tried to find copies of the TV specials, you couldn’t. If you mentioned it to him in during interviews he'd get upset and shut it down. I even went to one of his concerts where someone shouted out a request for a song from the album and his response was "I don’t know that guy!", and this from a three-times winner of the Country Entertainer of the Year, and who was renown for having a phenomenal rapport with his fans. 

Which finally gets us back to this very special and unique post. I recently got hold of videos of not only his VH1 special, plus his one and only appearance on the 13 November 1999 airing of Saturday Night Live, where Darth hosted and Chris was the musical guest, but also his NBC Music special...and it is very special indeed! As he has never played any of the songs from the album live in all the years since its release then I just had to share this live concert from Christopher Gainesworth III, and as a bonus I've also included his only other recorded live appearance, from that afore-mentioned SNL show. So in a nutshell this post contains every live performance he every did of any of the tracks on the album. But does that mean we will never hear from Mr. Gainesworth III again? Who knows, as Darth does seem to have mellowed on the subject over the past two years, even going as far as saying that "We may not have seen the last of him yet!". That may have been over two years ago, and the silence continues, but fans like me will never give up hope!

Track listing

01 Way Of the Girl (SNL version)
02 Snow In July
03 White Flag
04 Main Street
05 It Don’t Matter To The Sun
06 Unsigned Letter
07 Right Now
08 Way Of The Girl
 

Track 1: Saturday Night Live 13 November 1999
Tracks 2-8: NBC TV Special 29 September 1999

Soulseek hint  gaines aiwe

Christina Milian - Dream In Color (2009)

As I mentioned in the previous post from her, Christina Milian recorded about thirty songs for her 'Dream In Color' album in 2008 and 2009, before it was cancelled by MySpace Records. Following a title change to 'Elope', a slimmed down version was planned for release in 2009 by Radio Killa Records, but this was also cancelled, and so following the recent post of the 'Elope' album, here is 'Dream In Color', made up from all the tracks which weren't appropriated for use on 'Elope'. 

Track listing

01 Virginity 

02 One Kiss  

03 Us Against The World

04 Nervous

05 Cold Feet 

06 Invisible Man

07 Sexy People

08 Undercover Lover

09 Built To Last

10 Paint Me Pink 

11 Trapped 

12 Lock Him Down

13 Closure

14 Weak

15 Ring Me Up 

Nicole Scherzinger - Part Of Me (2010)

The Pussycat Dolls' second and final album, 'Doll Domination', was released in the United States on 23 September 2008, peaking at number four on the Billboard 200, and it included singles 'When I Grow Up' and 'I Hate This Part', both of which were originally recorded for Scherzinger's debut solo effort, but which were recorded by the Dolls when that was put on hold. The following year, the group embarked on the worldwide Doll Domination Tour, during which Scherzinger was asked to re-write the pop version of 'Jai Ho' from the film 'Slumdog Millionaire', and although the reworked 'Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)' was credited to A. R. Rahman and the Pussycat Dolls, the fact that Scherzinger was credited as a featured artist caused dissatisfaction within the group. The song reached number one in 17 countries, and was undoubtedly part of the reason that as the tour concluded in August 2009, the group announced a hiatus to further pursue solo careers. In December 2009, Scherzinger was announced as the third judge on the first season of 'The Sing-Off', joining Ben Folds and Boyz II Men band member Shawn Stockman, returning for the second season before being replaced by Sara Bareilles. In May 2010, she and her dance partner Derek Hough won the tenth season of 'Dancing With The Stars', and in July 2010 she served as a guest judge on The X Factor UK, where she formed One Direction from rejected solo singers. 

By October it was time to return to music, and she released 'Poison' as the lead single from her debut album, which peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, and she officially announced her departure from the Pussycat Dolls to focus on her solo career. 'Killer Love' was released in March 2011 in the UK, and peaked at number eight in its first week, while the album's second single, 'Don't Hold Your Breath', became her first number-one single as a solo artist in the UK. 'Right There' was released as the third singe in the UK, while a remixed version featuring 50 Cent was issued in the US, and its number 39 placing made it her highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead artist. During the sessions for 'Killer Love', Scherzinger had recorded about thirty songs, and after fourteen of them had been chosen for the album, the rest were put to one side, but over the years a number have leaked, and so using these offcuts we can make up a companion record to 'Killer Love', which could have tided fans over until her next official release some three years later. A collectors edition of 'Killer Love' was released in the UK and Europe, which included four bonus tracks, including the remixed 'Right There' single with 50 Cent, and so as these tracks are not generally available I've added three of them to the end of this album to complete the post. 

Track listing

01 Part Of Me
02 Peep Show (feat. R. Kelly)
03 Pretty
04 American Girl
05 Metamorphosis
06 How Do You Let Go Of The One You Love
07 The Beautiful People
08 Cold
09 Funky Town
10 Wild Child
11 Try With Me
12 Trust Me I Lie
13 Tomorrow Never Dies

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 88 (2019)

For the next episode of Mike's radio show I've chosen something a bit different, as this one takes a deep dive into the 'Paul Is Dead' conspiracy theory of the late 60's. As a Beatles nut I knew all about the apparent clues on the 'Abbey Road' sleeve, from the order that the guys are walking across the zebra crossing and what they are wearing, down to the number plate on the Volkswagon in the distance, but this show uncovers things that had never occurred to me, and delves back even further than 1969, right back to the time that McCartney was supposed to have been killed in a road accident in 1966. It turns out that Mike made this show as a joke to irk his manager Pat, who hates everything Paul Is Dead!, but like me, Mike was always fascinated by the whole story, and after collecting so many books, magazines and archival recordings on the subject he knew that eventually he’d have to do at least one program on it. It’s easy to say it’s BS… but there are just SO MANY clues that are not just in the music, but also in the album packaging itself. And it’s all backed up by facts that seem to prove that Paul was in a car accident in 1966, and that the accident may have lead to his death. If all this was pre-planned (and as Lennon says during the episode “We planned EVERYTHING!”), then this was the most brilliant ad campaign ever devised, and all those strange clues were out there for all to see… but went completely in noticed for almost 5 years …and then the craziness started! There isn't as much music on this episode compared to others, but the hour will still fly by as you take in all the hidden clues that the boys had apparently dropped into their songs in the latter half of the 1960's. As I mentioned, I had already researched this subject in the past, and if you enjoy this episode as much as I did, and want to learn more about it, then I can recommend the book 'The Walrus Was Paul' by R. Gary Patterson, and the quite superb graphic novel 'Paul Is Dead' by Paolo Baron and Ernesto Carbonetti. 

Track listing

01 Episode 88 - Paul Is Something

Recommended reading

    

Dwight Twilley - Blueprint (1979)

Dwight Twilley was born on 6 June 1951 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and he attended Edison High School in the late 60's In 1967 he met Phil Seymour at a theatre where they had gone to see The Beatles' 'A Hard Day's Night', and they soon began writing songs and recording together. They continued their partnership over the next several years under the band name Oister, with Twilley writing all the songs and playing guitar and piano, while Seymour played drums and bass, and both sang leads and harmonies. Twilley and Seymour eventually decided to leave Tulsa and try to be discovered in Memphis, Tennessee, and by sheer chance, the first recording studio that they wandered into was Sun Studio, where they met Jerry Phillips, son of Sun founder Sam Phillips, who referred them to the Tupelo, Mississippi studio of former Sun artist Ray Harris, and which was credited with introducing them to rockabilly, and adding a harder edge to their sound. The duo ultimately moved on to Los Angeles in 1974 to find a label, where they signed with Shelter Records, the label set up and owned by Denny Cordell Leon Russell, with Cordell promptly changing the group's name from Oister to the Dwight Twilley Band. They recorded 'I'm on Fire' in one night at Tulsa's The Church Studio, and it became their debut single, reaching #16 on the Billboard charts in 1975 with relatively little promotion. The unexpected success of the self-produced single put a halt to recordings that they were making in England, as Russell now permitted the band to record new tracks at his 40-track home studio, where one of the engineers was Roger Linn, who also contributed lead guitars and bass to some of their recordings. 

After rejecting 'Shark (In The Dark)' as their second single, in order to keep the group from being perceived as a cash-in novelty act following the success of the 1975 film 'Jaws', they released 'You Were So Warm' as the follow-up 7", backed with 'Sincerely', However, this failed due to distribution problems, as just after the single was released, Shelter Records collapsed in the midst of a lawsuit between Russell and Cordell. When the album 'Sincerely' was finally released in 1976, it failed as well, peaking at #138, and when Shelter switched distribution again to Arista Records, ABC elected to keep Tom Petty and J. J. Cale, leaving Twilley alone on the Shelter/Arista label. Bill Pitcock IV became a credited member of the Dwight Twilley Band, after playing lead guitar on most of their recordings, but their second album, 'Twilley Don't Mind', proved to be another commercial disappointment in 1977, and Seymour left the band the following year, pursuing a solo career with some success. After the demise of the Dwight Twilley Band, Twilley continued as a solo act, keeping Pitcock on lead guitar and adding Susan Cowsill on harmony vocals. 

This line-up released the album 'Twilley' for Shelter/Arista in 1979, and his next album, 'Blueprint', was co-produced by Jack Nitzsche, and was due to be released in May 1980 by Arista, but it was rejected by the label after the failure of the 1979 single 'Somebody to Love', and it was never released, keeping him out of circulation until his Shelter contract expired at the end of 1981. He then moved to EMI America for 1982's 'Scuba Divers', which was a combination of three rejected Blueprint tracks plus some new material. 'Blueprint' has long been considered a great lost Twilley album, and fans have attempted to piece it together from tracks which have appeared on various rarities albums from him, but generally only four of the tracks included were actually from the original 'Blueprint'. This post uses the confirmed track listing of 'Blueprint' (tracks 1-10), but as this is less than half an hour of music, I've added in six of the bonus tracks from the audiophile CD re-issues of 'Sincerely', some of which were included on the fake 'Blueprint' which is currently doing the rounds, as they are from roughly the same time period and so they fit in quite nicely. 

Track listing

01 Somebody To Love
02 I Love You So Much
03 She's All My Light
04 Just Like You Did It Before
05 Dancer
06 Money
07 Then We Go Up
08 Leave Me Alone With My Baby
09 I Found The Magic
10 Cryin' Over Me
11 Livin' In The City

12 Baby's Got The Blues Again
13 It's So Amazing
14 You Never Listen To My Music

15 Didn't You Say
16 Tiger Eyes

Azealia Banks - Inexpensive Taste (2015)

Azealia Amanda Banks was born on 31 May 31 1991 in New York City's Manhattan borough, and her single mother raised her and her two siblings in Harlem, after their father died of pancreatic cancer when she was two years old. At a young age she became interested in musical theater, dancing, acting, and singing, and at aged 16 she starred in a production of the comedy-noir musical City of Angels, where she was found by an agent who sent her to auditions for TBS, Nickelodeon, and Law & Order, all without success. At this point she decided to end her pursuit of an acting career, citing the stiff competition and overall sense of nonfulfillment, and she began writing rap and R&B songs as a creative outlet. Under the moniker Miss Bank$ she released her debut recording, 'Gimme A Chance', online in November 2008, accompanied by the self-produced track 'Seventeen', which sampled the Ladytron song of the same name. Banks sent both tracks to American DJ Diplo, and later that year she signed a development deal with record label XL Recordings and began working with producer Richard Russell in London, leaving the label later that year due to conflicting ideas. After leaving XL Recordings, Banks dropped the 'Miss Bank$' moniker and formally became Azealia Banks, which preceded a move to Montreal, returning to New York when her visa exired. In September 2011 she released her debut single '212' as a free digital download from her website, and it was officially released on 6 December 2011 as the lead single from her EP '1991'. In May 2012 she announced plans to release a mixtape titled 'Fantasea', teasing it by releasing the tracks 'Jumanji', 'Aquababe' and 'Nathan' online. 'Esta Noche' was chosen as a single from 'Fantasea', but it was pulled the day of its release due to sampling disputes between Banks and its producer, Munchi, and the next month it was confirmed that she'd worked with Lady Gaga on two tracks for her 'Artpop' album, although neither made the final album cut, and she also collaborated with Kanye West on G.O.O.D. Music's compilation 'Cruel Summer', but once again her contributions did not make the album. 

In early 2012 Banks revealed that her debut album would be called 'Broke With Expensive Taste', and that it would include contributions from musicians including Toko Yasuda, Theophilus London, Kevin Hussein, and Ariel Pink. The album's lead single was intended to be 'Miss Amor'/'Miss Camaraderie', but these plans changed and this was replaced by to 'Yung Rapunxel', which was released in March 2013 on SoundCloud. In May 2013, Banks announced that the second single from 'Broke with Expensive Taste' would be 'ATM Jam', featuring Pharrell Williams, and the full studio version of the song was released on BBC Radio 1, but it was later confirmed that 'ATM Jam' would not appear on 'Broke With Expensive Taste' due to negative fan feedback. Following heated disagreements between Banks and her record label concerning her album's material not being "hit-worthy" enough, she parted ways with Universal Music Group in mid-July, and at the end of that month she released the official second single from the album, 'Heavy Metal And Reflective', on her own Azealia Banks Records label. In November 2014 she finally released 'Broke With Expensive Taste' on iTunes with little publicity, following this with a physical album release on 3 March 2015 on Prospect Park Records. In late 2015 she revealed that she was unable to release new music until March 2016 due to the separation from her label, Prospect Park, but as of February 2016 she was officially cleared of her contract and able to record again. As it turns out, she actually had a backlog of tracks which were left over from the sessions for the album, and over time a number of them have leaked, including songs cut from the track-listing, plus demos, including the afore-mentioned 'ATM Jam', so there was almost enough material laying around to tide her over until the dispute with her label was resolved. I've therefore gathered them all together for a companion work, under a slightly cheaper title.   

Track listing

01 ATM Jam (feat. Pharrell Williams)
02 Harlem Shake
03 Be My Guest

04 Wut U Do
05 Hood Bitch
06 Grand Scam (A "Lyrical Exercise" Session)
07 Ima Read
08 Liquorice
09 Luxury
10 Bambi
11 Succubi (Jim Jones Diss)
12 P-U-S-S-Y (feat. Machinedrum)
13 Seventeen
14 NeedSumLuv (feat. Aaliyah)
 
Tracks 01, 08 and 09 are demos.
Track 07 is an alternate version.

Tracks 02 -06 and 10 - 14 are previously unreleased

Tori Holub - Something To Believe In (2024)

I don't usually post at the weekend as that's normally taken up with getting things ready for posting during the week, but on Friday I stumbled on a Youtube video titled 'Is THIS Karen Carpenter's voice reincarnated', and I couldn't possibly turn that down, could I? I watched the video, expecting it to be about some X Factor contestant with a passing resemblance to that flawless vocal, but it turned out that Tori Holub really does have the most perfect voice, and her effortless vocal style could easily be mistaken for Karen Carpenter, and so I spent the rest of the weekend checking out her Youtube posts, and just felt that I had to post this now and get her name out there. Obviously she puts this vocal resemblance to good use, and has covered quite a number of Carpenter's songs, but she's also picked other classic tracks from the 70's and covered those as well, and so this proves that she isn't just a Karen Carpenter tribute act. The only downside is that she's very much into her Tok Tok, and so most of the videos that are posted on Youtube are only one minute long, although luckily she has collaborated with Jim MIDI Doctor, who has gathered some of his friends to help out, and with the assistance of Gary Badger on trumpets and flugelhorns, Ynping Mak on violins, Yoann Palacio on drums and Clayton Whisenant on bass, they've recorded a complete band version of 'We've Only Just Begun'. She has actually released a single as well, which is the title track of this album, plus three Christmas songs, and one more full length Carpenter's track, with her version of 'Superstar', but the piece de resistance is her take on a Bacharach/David medley. This is done live in the studio to a pre-recorded backing tape in one take, and you can see her accept the challenge and complete this in the Youtube video here. As well as being a superb singer and musician, she is also an aspiring audio engineer, and so all the vocals that you hear are hers, multi-tracked to provide the harmonies that she then sings along to. As well as the afore-mentioned songs, I've also found a recording of 'Georgia On My Mind', and to give an idea of the Tik Tok videos that she's posting, I've taken a bunch of them and compiled a Beatles medley and a 70's medley of the one minute snippets. Once you've listened to this album then do check out Youtube and Tik Tok here to listen to more of her music, and when she's a global star then remember where you heard her first.

Track listing
 
01 We've Only Just Begun
02 Merry Christmas. Darling
03 Georgia On My Mind
04 My Christmas Dreams
05 Something To Believe In
06 Beatles Medley
07 Superstar
08 Bacharach/David Medley
09 Christmas Again
10 70's Medley

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Carole Bayer Sager (1980)

Carole Bayer was born on 8 March 1944 in Manhattan, New York City, and while still a student at New York City High School she wrote her first pop hit, 'A Groovy Kind Of Love', with Toni Wine, which was recorded by UK group The Mindbenders, whose version was a worldwide hit and reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. She wrote many hits during the 1970's, often collaborating with Melissa Manchester on songs that would appear on Manchester's solo albums of the period. Her songs from this time include 'Come In From The Rain' and 'Midnight Blue', which would go on to be covered by many other artists, and she also scored major hits collaborating with Albert Hammond on 'When I Need You' and Bruce Roberts with 'You're The Only One'. She married record producer Andrew Sager in 1970, and from then on worked under the name Carole Bayer Sager, under which name she released her first recording as a singer with her 1977 self-titled album 'Carole Bayer Sager', produced by Brooks Arthur. It included the hit single 'You're Moving Out Today', a song which she co-wrote with Bette Midler and Bruce Roberts, and it topped the charts in Australia, and also reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart. The album also included her own versions of two songs previously recorded by Melissa Manchester – 'Home To Myself' and the oft-covered 'Come In From The Rain', but it wasn't long before other artists picked up on the rest of the songs on it, and by 1980 all bar one track had received a cover version, so here are the best of them in a reinterpretation of Carole Bayer Sager's debut release, with a lovely Gladys Knight cover added to the end to make up for the missing 'Aces'.   

Track listing

01 Come In From The Rain (Diana Ross 1977)  
02 Until The Next Time (Torill 1978)  
03 Don't Wish Too Hard (Jack Jones 1980)
04 Sweet Alibis (Carmen McRae 1980) 
05 I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love (Dusty Springfield 1978)
06 Steal Away Again (Joey Travolta 1978)
07 You're Moving Out Today (Bette Midler 1976)
08 Shy As A Violet (Peter Allen 1975)
09 Home To Myself (Brenda And The Tabulations 1976)
10 I'm Coming Home Again (Gladys Knight 1978)

Christina Milian - Elope (2009)

Christina Milian Flores was born on 26 September 1981 in Jersey City, New Jersey, and was four years old when she showed an interest in show business, and when her family realized that she was a talented actress, she became determined to pursue an entertainment career. By the time she was nine years old, she was auditioning with local talent agencies, shooting commercials for Wendy's and Honeycomb, and landing the lead role in the musical 'Annie'. When her mother noticed her daughter's potential, she left her husband and moved to Los Angeles with her three daughters, and once there the 13-year old Christina was determined to become an actress, as well as wanting to get into the record business, although she didn't know how to obtain a recording contract. After living in Los Angeles for six months, she moved into the same apartment complex as songwriter and producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, and when he heard about her from a boy band he was involved with, they began working together. For a year and a half, Milian went into a studio every day and worked with Jerkins, which is where she started meeting people in the record business, and by the age of 17 she was writing songs as she needed a demo to help her obtain a recording contract. 

Her first professional musical appearance was on rapper Ja Rule's second studio album 'Rule 3:36' in 2000, performing vocals on the song 'Between Me And You', and this led to to a record deal with Def Soul Records, who sent her to Sweden to record her self-titled debut album. This was released on 9 October 2001 in the UK, and peaked at number 23 in the album chart, although its domestic release in the US was cancelled, primarily because of the September 11 attacks. The critical response to the album was mixed to generally positive, but she was not happy with it, as she felt that it was not what the public expected, and she told her company executives that they were not listening to her when she told them the sort of music she wanted to record. However, after a couple more singles, Def Soul was shut down in 2003 and absorbed by its parent Def Jam, although Milian was instead moved over to Island Records. After the international release of her debut album, she went back into the recording studio, but felt that music trends had changed into rock music, hardcore hip hop and tribute songs, and as her music did not fall into those categories she decided to stop recording and toured overseas for a year and a half. When she returned to the US, she decided not to release her previous album domestically, and started working on a new album, and 'It's About Time' was released in the US on 13 July 2004. 

Once again, the critical response to the album was mixed, but Milian insisted that it was more R&B when compared to her "bubble-gum" pop debut album, and it did debut at number 14 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Whereas her previous albums had pop and then R&B stylings, she was encouraged by Island Def Jam to target a new audience, and release an urban record. Although she was originally supposed to work with several different music producers, she felt that the chemistry she had with Cool & Dre in the first week was so instant that she couldn't get a better vibe, and so ended up working with them on the majority of the production of the album. When 'So Amazin'' was released in May 2006 it debuted at number eleven on the Billboard 200 albums chart, although for the third time, critical reviews were mixed, saying that while she claimed that she was displaying the various sides of her personality, the album could only scratch the surface of who she really was. A week after the album was released it was confirmed that she had been dropped by Island Def Jam, and for two years she was without a record label, until she signed to MySpace Records in 2008. When she was featured on the cover of Rap-Up's 2008 Winter issue, she announced that her new album's title was 'Dream in Color', and a single was released in October 2008, with the ballad 'Us Against The World' being written by Milian and produced by Madd Scientist. 

In early 2009 she began working with The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, and she later revealed that aside from 'Us Against The World', they would be producing all the songs on her album. It was originally set for an early 2009 release date, however, for reasons unknown, it was was never released, and Milian left MySpace Records later that same year, signing a new record deal with The-Dream’s record label, Radio Killa Records. She later retitled the album 'Elope', explaining that "the definition of elope is to run away secretly with one's beloved. This next album is about taking responsibility for yourself and making your own decisions". In June 2009, The-Dream confirmed that the album was finished, but for similar unknown reasons as 'Dream In Color', it was shelved, possibly because she broke up with The-Dream, and left Radio Killa Records. In August 2009, she confirmed that she had signed a deal to release 'Elope' through Interscope Records, with a 2010 release date, but despite announcing that she was going back into the studio in the summer to record more material, the record has never appeared, either as 'Dream In Color' or 'Elope'. So that her work on the thirty or so songs that she laid down is not wasted, here is an approximation of the 'Elope' album, with about two thirds made up of confirmed tracks, and the rest taken from the scrapped 'Dream In Color' sessions.  

Track listing

01 Elope 
02 Sock It 2 Me  
03 I'm Not Perfect 
04 Super Villain  
05 Take A Piece of My Heart 
06 I Gotta Get To You 
07 Diamonds (feat. Kanye West)
08 Too New (feat. The-Dream) 
09 My Bloody Valentine 
10 Supersonic (feat. The-Dream) 
11 Sugar Rush
12 Stay
13 Zipper
14 Chameleon 

Flint - Device #1 (2003)

Flint was a punk rock band created by Keith Flint of The Prodigy, consisting of Flint on lead vocals, Jim Davies (formerly of Pitchshifter) on guitar, Rob Holliday on bass, and Kieron Pepper & Tony Howlett on drums. The band performed several gigs, their first being a brief set at the inaugural Download Festival in June 2003, and they released their debut single 'Asteroids' on 19 May 2003, as a pink, limited edition 10" vinyl single. The second single ,'Aim 4', was released on 14 July 2003, with a video directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who also directed the promo for The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up'. Following the release of 'Aim 4', the band planned to release their debut album 'Device #1' on 28 July 2003, but the release was pulled by the label, and shortly after its cancellation the band decided to split up. Flint then went on to form a project titled Clever Brains Fryin', while Davies put together Victory Pill. The album was originally planned to contain 13 punk-rock tracks, and a promo disc did slip out in a limited edition in the UK, but is now nigh on impossible to find, so here is that promo, with the b-side of the 'Aim 4' single tagged onto the end. The track 'NNNN (No Name No Number)' was later revisited and remixed by Flint's The Prodigy band-mate Liam Howlett into the Prodigy track 'Baby's Got A Temper', released in 2002, and 'Razor' appeared on 'The Prodigy - Their Law - The Singles 1990-2005' under the same name, although slightly re-edited.

Track listing

01 Asteroids
02 Piggy
03 Laughs
04 Aim 4
05 Hell Yeah
06 Kamikaze
07 Prescription
08 Ju Ju
09 Femme Fatale
10 Inflow
11 Vacation
12 Razor
13 NNNN (No Name No Number)
14 Danny

Camila Cabello - Eyes On You (2020)

In June 2019 Camila Cabello released the single 'Señorita' with Canadian singer Shawn Mendes, and it debuted at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, earning a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Following the release of four singles from her forthcoming album in September and October, her second record, 'Romance', appeared in December 2019, peaking at Number 3 on the US Billboard 200. On 23 July 2021 she released 'Don't Go Yet' as the lead single from her third studio album 'Familia', which was announced alongside the release of the single, and in October she released 'Oh Na Na' with Myke Towers and Tainy, which was not to be included on the album. 'Familia' was named by Forbes as one of the most anticipated pop albums of 2022, but before that appeared, her film adaptation of Cinderella was released in September to select theatres, and also digitally on Amazon Prime Video, and it became the most-watched streaming movie over the Labour Day weekend, as well as the most-watched movie musical in 2021. Although it received mixed reviews from critics, Cabello's performance was praised, with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times saying "she has a real knack for comedy". 

In November 2021 she released a cover of Bing Crosby's 'I'll Be Home For Christmas' exclusively on Amazon Music, reaching number two on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100, and in December it was announced that she would open for Coldplay during the Latin American leg of their Music of the Spheres World Tour, later appearing with them in Colombia, Peru and Chile. With still no sign of 'Familia', a collaboration with Ed Sheeran titled 'Bam Bam' was released in March 2022, and then in April the long-awaited 'Familia' was released, accompanied by a virtual TikTok concert 'immersive performance' titled "Familia: Welcome to the Family". The record was met with positive reviews from critics, being praised for being "an imperfect yet revealing mosaic of Cabello's Cuban and Mexican heritage". 'Familia' debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200, marking Cabello's third Top ten album, and after performing at the UEFA Champions League Final on 28 May, she announced that she would be a coach on the US version of The Voice for its twenty-second season, replacing Kelly Clarkson. Once 'Romance' and 'Familia' had been released, there were more demos and out-takes left over which didn't make the final cuts, and so for a second collection from the singer, I've gather up the best of them from around 2019/2020, plus a few demos from her Fifth Harmony days, for another album which fans could well have done with being released during the long wait for 'Familia' to appear in 2022.

Track listing

01 Anyone 

02 Terrified

03 U Shaped Space

04 Taxi

05 The Exchange

06 Eyes On You 

07 Cozy Dolla Bill$

08 Cinderella

09 Leave For Good

10 Only Told The Moon

11 Despacitpo (Llama Llama Red Pyjama) 

12 Not Killin' It Today 

13 Knows Me

14 Thief Looks Like An Angel