Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Gordon Lightfoot's 'Summer Side Of Life' (2021)

In May 1971 Gordon Lightfoot released his sixth studio album 'Summer Side Of Life' on the Reprise Records label. The album marked a departure from the sound Lightfoot had established on 'Sit Down Young Stranger' in its use of drums and electric instrumentation, to which he would later return in the second half of the decade, and a song like 'Redwood Hill' even contains elements of bluegrass music. The title track was released as a single and peaked at number 98 on the pop singles chart while 'Talking In Your Sleep' reached number 64, while in his homeland of Canada they were both top 30 hits. Anne Murray took her cover of 'Cotton Jenny' into the top 20 on the U.S. country singles chart, while 'Love And Maple Syrup' was covered by Taylor Mitchell in 2009. Nanci Griffith tackled '10 Degrees And Getting Colder' on her 1993 album, 'Other Voices, Other Rooms', after the song had previously been recorded by J. D. Crowe & The New South on their eponymous album in 1975. As with other albums by Lightfoot in this series, the quality of the song-writing was immediately apparent to other artists, and the majority of the songs from this record had been covered by the following year, and so here is another fine collection of Lightfoot's songs as interpreted by other artists.

Track listing

01 10 Degrees & Getting Colder (Jeffrey Shurtleff 1972)
02 Miguel (Jim Donaldson 2011)
03 Go My Way (Val Doonican 1971) 
04 Summer Side Of Life (Blackie And The Rodeo Kings 2003)
05 Cotton Jenny (Anne Murray 1971)
06 Talking In Your Sleep (Caroline Wiles 2021) 
07 Nous Vivons Ensemble (Martin Peltier 1972)
08 Same Old Loverman (Percy Sledge 1971)  
09 Redwood Hill (The Country Gentlemen 1972) 
10 Love & Maple Syrup (Jack Hudson 1972)  
11 Cabaret (John McLachlan 2021) 

Dua Lipa - Wrong Number (2020)

Here is another great collection of off-cuts from the writing and recording sessions for Dua Lipa's second album from 2020.

Track listing

01 Wrong Number
02 Rich
03 Worst Enemy
04 Tijuana (feat. Pharrell)
05 Lion
06 Who Do You Love
07 Run Together
08 Cry (feat. Pharrell)
09 Complicated
10 Sweet Tooth
11 Shine On Sad World
12 Crocodile Tears

Buckingham Nicks - Without You (1974)

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks met while they were both attending Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, California, south of San Francisco. At the time, Nicks was a senior in high school and Buckingham, one year younger, was a junior, and they first met at a casual, after-school Young Life gathering in 1966, where they found themselves harmonizing on songs, although it would be another two years before they collaborated again. In 1968 Buckingham invited Nicks to sing in Fritz, a band for which he was playing bass guitar, and which included some of his high school friends, although they never performed their own original music. The pair continued to perform with the band for three years until they finally dissolved in 1971, and having developed a romantic relationship in addition to their working partnership, Nicks and Buckingham decided soon afterwards to move from San Francisco to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams of being signed. In 1972, the two continued to write songs, recording demo tapes at night in Daly City on a half-inch four-track Ampex tape machine Buckingham kept at the coffee roasting plant belonging to his father. It was not long before the duo met engineer and producer Keith Olsen, as well as casual entrepreneurs Ted Feigin and Lee Lasseff, and when the three heard some of their music they offered to help them secure a distribution deal with Polydor. Recording sessions took place at Sound City Studios, and the resulting album included c couple of guitar instrumentals, 'Django' and 'Stephanie', which was written for Nicks, who was born Stephanie Lynn Nicks. 

The self-titled album was virtually ignored by the promotional staff at Polydor Records when it was released in 1973, but thanks to airplay by several Birmingham, Alabama disc jockeys, the duo managed to cultivate a relatively small and concentrated fan base in that area. Elsewhere in the country, the album did not prove to be commercially successful and was soon deleted from the label's catalogue, and so the disheartened pair spent much of the rest of 1973 continuing to work outside of the music industry to pay their rent. However, shortly after the album's release, Mick Fleetwood, while evaluating recording studios, heard 'Frozen Love' played back through studio monitors at Sound City by Keith Olsen, and he would go on to invite the duo to join Fleetwood Mac in 1974. Before this, Buckingham and Nicks had toured their album, and bootleg recordings have shown that their set list included songs such as 'Rhiannon', 'Sorcerer', and 'Monday Morning', confirming some of the tracks that they would bring with them to the new band. Buckingham has mentioned in interviews that he would have liked to have made a second Buckingham Nicks album, and they had enough songs from their demos to make a start on it, some of which have since leaked on what has become known as 'The Coffee Plant Demos', which include the otherwise unreleased gem 'Without You', the aptly named 'Cathouse Blues', and the quaint 'Goldfish And The Ladybug'. By adding a couple of tracks written after they moved to LA, plus early versions of Nicks and Buckingham compositions recorded by Fleetwood Mac for their 1977 album, we have enough similar sounding material for a creditable follow-up to 'Buckingham Nicks', which could have appeared around 1974, a year or so after their first record.  

Track listing

01 Monday Morning
02 Cathouse Blues
03 Candlebright
04 Landslide
05 Without You
06 Rhiannon
07 Sorcerer
08 Goldfish And The Ladybug
09 World Turning

10 Garbo
11 That's Alright

12 I'm So Afraid

Paris Hilton - Platinum Blonde (2013)

Paris Whitney Hilton is a polarizing and ubiquitous public figure, and is said to have influenced the revival of the "famous for being famous" phenomenon throughout the 2000's, with critics suggesting that she exemplifies the celebutante — a household name not through talent or work, but through inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. During her life she's turned her hand to modelling, signing with Donald Trump's agency Trump Model Management; writing, publishing her debut book, 'Confessions Of An Heiress' in 2004; acting, with a major film role in the horror remake 'House Of Wax' in 2005; and music, releasing her eponymous debut studio album, 'Paris', in 2006. The record number six on the Billboard 200, and also produced the successful single 'Stars Are Blind', which attained global success, reaching the top ten in 17 countries. Critical reception of her music was mixed, but she found a new fanbase who supported what she was producing, and over the next few years she recorded more songs for a proposed second album, which should have been released around 2013. 'Good Time' was released as the first single from the album in October 2013, to generally negative reviews from the critics, although it still reached number 18 on the Billboard Hot Dance chart. 'Come Alive' followed in July 2014, this time to a much more positive reception, with mention being made of her growth as a vocalist, but there was no sign of the album which was supposed to follow it. Another single was released in 2015, but this time 'High Off My Love' was not promoted as being taken from her second album, and so that seemed to confirm that it was not going to appear any time soon. Further singles were issued in the following years, and in 2024 it was finally announced that Hilton's second studio album would appear this year. For fans who have waited almost a decade to hear more from her, here is a reconstruction of what that second album might have sounded like had it appeared as intended in 2013. 

Track listing

01 Platinum Blonde 
02 Child Of The 80's
03 Good Time (feat. Lil' Wayne)
04 Jailhouse Baby 
05 Boy, Oh Boys
06 I Wanna Know
07 Globetrottin'
08 Crave 
09 I Need You
10 Last Night (feat. Lil' Wayne & Afrojack)
11 Come Alive
12 My BFF 

The Rolling Stones - Strictly Memphis (1993)

This third album from the superb 'Fully Finished Studio Outtakes' bootleg is a transitional set, using tracks following on from the last post's1982 leftovers, starting with an edited take of a 1983 outtake (I thought the outro just went on too long), followed by half a dozen songs from 1985, one from 1989, and then closing with a couple from 1993, which will lead us nicely into the final post, which will cover 1997. As before, here are notes from Zen Archer's Aural Surfing Odyssey blog, with the correct years of recording, and as well as editing 'Dog Shit', I've also fixed the intro to 'Strictly Memphis'. 

01 Dog Shit (1983)
I guess you'd rather putty in your hands rather than the alternative but this track, which made it's inaugural appearance on 'Foxes In The Boxes' as a thrilling instrumental now features vocals. A storming horn lead thruster with an insatiable appetite for longevity (sounds about right, eh?) is far too good to have been left by the side of the road but here we are. Correct year.
02 Deep Love (1985)
A deep and funky, loose guitar driven track from the 'Dirty Work' sessions. Jagger veers between roar and growl with his vocals. Correct year.
03 Nobody's Perfect (1975)
Apparently from the 'Black And Blue' sessions, I would argue that this track has much more of an 80's feel, as the production is a give away – that and the drive of Charlie’s drumming. Both Ronnie and Keith's licks playfully lap against each other. More likely to be 1985.
04 Putty In Your Hands (1982)
Soul styled romp with Keith starring just as closely as Mick's bellowed vocals. This track has as much sass as the girl who's leading Mick around and up and down. It’s a cover-version of a Shirelles track from 1962 and makes a good fist of attempting to sound like it might. Probably 1985.
05 I Can't See No One Else (1985)
A perfectly packaged double-entendre of a song. Mainly piano led but featuring a stinging Shadows styled guitar with a chugging rubbery bass-line and fabulous call and response harmonies. Correct year. 
06 Don't Lie To Me (1972)
No, not that one but an 80's version instead. Very interesting lyrics referencing a "Monkey Man", this is in the very same style as 'Troubles A-Coming' This re-work sounds like 1985.
07 Strictly Memphis (1985)
This track appears almost fully formed, a soul funk stomp that cuts in on a take that's already in full flow (now fixed). This version adds a little extra brass. Take your pick of ‘Dirty Work' outtake compilations previous – It's probably already featured on there already. Correct year
08 What Am I Gonna Do With Your Love (feat. Kirsty MacColl, Tom Waits & Bobby Womack 1985)
On this 1985 gospel track recorded in New York, the band are joined by guest artists who perform a credible vocal-orientated song. Jagger takes the lead vocals and Richards the backing vocals, while Kirsty MacColl, Patti Scialfa, Don Covay and Bobby Womack do the gospel invocation of "your love". Tom Waits possibly plays the piano, as he was recoding his next album 'Rain Dogs' in New York at the same time, and Keith took time out to play on a couple of tracks. 
09 Giving It Up (1989)
Taken from sessions for the 'Steel Wheels' album, this version features an extra piano line that was later stripped out. Correct year. 
10 Hands Off (1986)
A tough, thundering rocker with a quick, choppy tempo. Really very Stones-of-the-time, and that time is most likely 1993.
11 Ivy League (1994)
A more complete version of the track without some of the overdubs of other versions. Probably one year earlier, at 1993.

Track listing 

01 Dog Shit
02 Deep Love 
03 Nobody's Perfect
04 Putty In Your Hands
05 I Can't See No One Else 
06 Don't Lie To Me
07 Strictly Memphis
08 What Am I Gonna Do With Your Love (feat. Kirsty MacColl, Tom Waits & Bobby Womack) 
09 Giving It Up
10 Hands Off
11 Ivy League 

Viva Saturn - Ships Of Heaven (1998)

Some time ago I downloaded an unreleased album by Viva Saturn from the False Memory Foam blog, as I'm a great fan of the band, and so obviously wanted to hear anything that I didn't already have. Viva Saturn was put together by Steven Roback when his main band Rain Parade decided to take a break in 1988, and along with fellow Rain Paraders John Thoman and Will Glenn, the band recorded a self-titled mini-LP, which was released on Pat Thomas' San Francisco-based Heyday Records and World Service/Rough Trade UK in 1989. The following year, after Glenn left to join David Roback's Mazzy Star, the band relocated to San Francisco, where Rain Parade co-founder Matt Piucci joined to play guitar and assist with studio production. Over the next few years they used various musicians, including bassist Ross Inden and drummer Carlo Nuccio, to record a series of acclaimed neo-psychedelic albums, including 'Soundmind' in 1992, and the more pop, but still electro-acoustic psychedelia-rooted 'Brightside' in 1995. The band recorded a final album, 'Ships Of Heaven', in 1997, but when it was delivered to Reckless Records in 1998 they decided to pass on it, which led to the eventual break-up of the band, after which Roback embarked on a solo career. There was minimal information about the album, which had come from one of the site's regular visitors, and it contained eight songs from the up-coming release on Reckless Records, but there were no track titles, and it was also noticeable that the title track was missing, so by adding that back in we could hear almost the whole 'Ships Of Heaven' album. It's always frustrated me that I didn't know what the songs were called, but recently I found a podcast where Viva Saturn mainman Steven Roback talked at length about this shelved album, and as well as giving the titles for the songs, they also played a taster of each one, so at last I could finally put title to track. It seems that when the album was rejected, Roback pressed up around 100 copies himself, and distributed them to deserving recipients, and the track listing for this CD was:    

01 Angel Sister
02 Ships Of Heaven 
03 Bury The Axe
04 Change Everything
05 Thursday's Bright   
06 Out Of Reach
07 Whirlwind   
08 Quality Time 
09 Valentine's Day 
10 Dream Came True  
11 Needle And The Damage Done

'Out Of Reach' and 'Valentine's Day' were both acoustic demos by Roback, but neither of them were on the album that I downloaded, although there was another track on there which seemed to be called 'So I'm Gone', so it looks like this eight track sampler was not the same as the one pressed up by Roback in 1998, but was possibly a promo issued by the record company themselves before they cancelled it. I noticed that on the Roback version he'd added his cover of Neil Young's 'The Needle And The Damage Done' to close it, which he'd recorded for a Neil Young tribute album, 'This Note's For You Too!' in 1999. If it was able to be added to the CD then it must have been recorded in 1998, so I've added that to the end of this disc, stretching the record to a perfectly acceptable 35 minutes. The podcast was a fascinating insight into the making of the album, so if any fans want to listen to it, you can find it here.     

Track listing

01 Angel Sister
02 Ships Of Heaven 
03 Bury The Axe
04 Change Everything
05 Thursday's Bright   
06 So I'm Gone
07 Whirlwind   
08 Quality Time 
09 Dream Came True  
10 The Needle And The Damage Done

Thank to the False Memory Foam blog for providing this in the first place. 

The Beach Boys - SMiLE (1967) **UPGRADE**

I've listened to this album quite a bit since I posted it, more than any other version that I've ever downloaded, and it certainly has something about it which keeps drawing you back to it. In fact, it was the very reason that the False Memory Foam blog made a comeback after a six month hiatus, just to post the album, with a few judicious edits that they'd made. I though that they improved the flow, as most reviews had agreed that 'You're Welcome' should not have been included, whereas everyone has always thought that 'Good Vibrations' was intended to open side two, so I've updated my version to make those two changes, using the 2021 stereo remaster of 'Good Vibrations', which is generally agreed to be the best version. I've also made another slight edit which I entirely agreed with, and that is the removal of the 'You're Under Arrest' section from 'Heroes And Villains', which neither of us liked. Finally, they though that the exclusion of the track 'Cool, Cool Water' was a mistake, and so they grafted that on to the beginning of 'I Love To Say Dada', and I liked that, although not the slow build up, so I've edited it to start with the vocals on my updated track. One thing I didn't agree with was the change to the running order, as I'm now used to how this plays and I think it really works, so I've left that pretty much intact. With these slight edits I now have a version that I'm completely happy with, so if you want to try it was well then it's updated on Soulseek and Mega, with the original version also left up in case you want to try both. 

Track listing

01 Our Prayer
02 Heroes And Villains
03 I'm In Great Shape
04 Barnyard
05 Do You Like Worms
06 Cabinessence
07 The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
08 Wonderful

09 Good Vibrations
10 Fire/I Wanna Be Around 
11 Vega-Tables
12 Wind Chimes
13 Child Is Father Of The Man
14 Cool, Cool Water/I Love To Say Dada/In Blue Hawaii
15 Surf's Up

Cherish - The Moment (2003)

Cherish was an American R&B music group consisting of four sisters, Farrah King (born February 17, 1984), Neosha King (born January 26, 1986) and twins Fallon and Felisha King (born June 5, 1988). They first rose to fame when they teamed up with female hip hop artist Da Brat to record a duet with her, and the finished track, titled 'In Love Wit Chu', was released on 3 March 2003. It was a commercial success in the US, and charted on a number of different charts in the country, such as the Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 chart, and just missed out on breaking the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 44. Their first single on their own was 'Miss P.', which was produced by Jermaine Dupri and featured Da Brat, and which was released on Reprise Records in 2003. After the success of their collaboration with Da Brat, the single was expected to be a hit, but it failed to chart on any major charts in the U.S., or countries other than the girl's own, and it's failure could be attributed to the fact that it had very little exposure other than one performance on Soul Train in May 2003. Due to the commercial failure of its lead single, the group's debut album, 'The Moment', was shelved a few months later, and remains unreleased. After their album was dropped, the group recorded three songs for 'The Powerpuff Girls: Power Pop' soundtrack, with 'Chemical X', 'Power Of A Female', and 'Me And My Girls' all appearing on the record. 

In 2005 the girls began work on another album, which they wrote entirely themselves, and which they considered much more mature than their unreleased previous work. On 21 March 2006, Cherish released their first single in three years, titled 'Do It To It', which was met with a positive critical reception, and it also charted on several Billboard charts. It became their first to reach the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 12, and it was also a major hit in New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, Australia, Germany and France. After the success of 'Do It To It', their debut album, 'Unappreciated' (a barbed dig at their record company?), was released on 15 August 2006 on Capitol Records, and it debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. It was also a hit in Japan and the UK, and in January 2009 the title track was released as the second single, but while it was received warmly by critics, it failed to achieve the commercial success of its predecessor. With their career now established, the girls went on to release their second album, 'The Truth', in 2008, as well as a couple more singles, but in Spring 2008 Fallon and Felisha confirmed that they were working on a side project that didn't involve the other two members of the group, and under the name F+F they began recording an album separate from Cherish. 

In early 2009 a track by F+F called 'Infected' was leaked online by an unknown source, and this fuelled rumours that the band was breaking up, and in fact both Farrah and Neosha did exit the group, leaving just the duo of Fallon and Felisha. Despite announcements over the years that the band are getting back together and recording new music, nothing was heard from them until December 2016, when Fallon and Felisha announced during a Facebook live video that they were reuniting as Cherish once again, but would be working on new music as a duo, and that Farrah and Noesha would feature on a number of the songs. However, apart from a trio of singles on the Free The Lyrics label in 2017, nothing more has been heard from them. At their peak they were a tight little band, and their first album didn't really deserve to be canned just because their first single as a group didn't perform as well as their earlier collaboration, and so here is that shelved album from 2003. 

Track listing

01 Intro (feat. Jermaine "J.D." Dupri) 
02 Miss P. (feat. Da Brat)
03 Stay With You  
04 I Won't Leave You  
05 Loving You  
06 Voices Beyond  
07 Better Be Me  
08 Gimmie Some Space  
09 I Thought I Told Ya  
10 I Wanna Be Your Girl  
11 Poisonous  
12 Boyfriend  
13 Power Of The Female  

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' (2001)

Whereas Bob Dylan's previous albums, 'Bob Dylan' and 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan', combined original material and cover songs, 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' was the first to feature only original compositions. It consists mostly of stark, sparsely arranged ballads concerning issues such as racism, poverty, and social change, and the title track is one of Dylan's most famous, with many feeling that it captures the spirit of social and political upheaval that characterized the 1960's. Some critics and fans were not quite as taken with the album as a whole, citing its lack of humour or musical diversity, but it still peaked at No. 20 on the US chart, eventually going gold, and belatedly reaching No. 4 in the UK in 1965. Work had begun on 6 August 1963, at Columbia's Studio A, with Tom Wilson once again as producer for the entire album, and the session yielded a usable take of 'North Country Blues'. Another session at Studio A was held the following day, this time providing master takes of four songs: 'Ballad Of Hollis Brown', 'With God On Our Side', 'Only A Pawn In Their Game', and 'Boots Of Spanish Leather', after which sessions did not resume for more than two months. During the interim, Dylan toured briefly with Joan Baez, performing a number of key concerts that raised his profile in the media, and when he returned to Studio A on 23 October he had six more original compositions ready for recording. Master takes for 'The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll' and 'When The Ship Comes In' came from this date, and on 24 October final takes of 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' and 'One Too Many Mornings' were recorded. The final session took place on 31 October, and the entire session focused on one song — 'Restless Farewell'— whose melody is taken from an Irish-Scots folk song, 'The Parting Glass', and it produced a master take that ultimately closed the album. Almost as soon as the album appeared in February 1964, Peter, Paul and Mary covered 'When The Ship Comes In', and by the following year Manfred Mann had charted with their version of 'With God On Our Side', while The Seekers had recorded the title track and Nina Simone covered 'Ballad Of Hollis Brown'. Most of these versions are from the couple of years following the release of the album, but it took until 1988 before someone tackled 'Only A Pawn In Their Game', and 2001 for a cover of 'Restless Farewell' to follow Joan Baez's version in 1968, so here they all are on this tribute to a classic Dylan album.  

Track listing

01 The Times They Are A-Changin' (The Seekers 1965)
02 Ballad Of Hollis Brown (Nazareth 1973)
03 With God On Our Side (Manfred Mann 1965)
04 One Too Many Mornings (The Beau Brummels 1966)
05 North Country Blues (Joan Baez 1968)
06 Only A Pawn In Their Game (The Lenny Nelson Project 1988)
07 Boots Of Spanish Leather (The Silkie 1965)
08 When The Ship Comes In (Peter, Paul And Mary 1964)
09 The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll (Phranc 1985)
10 Restless Farewell (Norman Blake & Peter Ostroushko 2001)

Dua Lipa - All To Myself (2020)

Following the release of her self-titled debut album in 2017, Dua Lipa started working on new material for her second album in January 2018, and in April she issued a collaboration with Calvin Harris on the 'One Kiss' single, which topped the UK Singles Chart for eight weeks, and which went to become the biggest selling song of 2018 in the UK. It was later reported that she would be releasing collaborations with other artists, with the first one being 'Electricity' with Mark Ronson, which came out in September. In January 2019 she released the single 'Swan Song' as part of the soundtrack to the 2019 film 'Alita: Battle Angel', and later announced that she'd spent the preceding year in the writing process for her second studio album, which would be a "nostalgic" pop record that "feels like a dancercise class". Following the release of its lead single 'Don't Start Now', her second album, 'Future Nostalgia', and its accompanying tour were announced in December 2019. The single peaked at number two on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, where it earned the longest top 10 stay for a British female artist. The second single leading up to the release of the album was 'Physical', which came out in January 2020, and following one more single, 'Break My Heart', 'Future Nostalgia' was issued in March to widespread critical acclaim. It peaked at number one on the Official UK Albums Chart the following week in April 2020, while four of the album's singles entered the top ten of the Official Singles Chart, making her the first British female artist since Vera Lynn to have three top-ten singles in a single calendar year. As with her previous album, Lipa had amassed a vast stock of music that she could pick and choose for inclusion on her second album, and once again they are too good to just be thrown away, and so here is the first of three collections of rejected songs from 2020.

Track listing

01 Ball & Chain
02 Firestarter
03 Better This Way
04 Guilty
05 25-8
06 Talk About It
07 Naked
08 All To Myself
09 Act Of God (feat. Ant Clemons)
10 Delicious
11 Whay I Like
12 If It Ain't Me (feat. Normani)
13 Secrets
14 Love Is Religion

Jason Crest - The Senile Mysteries Of Black Mass (1969)

Formed in Tonbridge, Kent from the ashes of The Good Thing Brigade, Jason Crest were signed to Philips in the latter part of 1967 after being discovered by former Four Pennies bassist Fritz Fryer, who got them a recording contract. The label thought that their name was a little inappropriate so this was duly changed with a slight amendment from one of the group's tracks, 'The Collected Works of Justin Crest'. Within weeks of being spotted, the newly named Jason Crest were in the studio recording their first single, 'Turquoise Tandem Cycle', a debut dubbed by Philips on advertisements as "the first new group of 1968". Over the years this song has often linked them to such bands as Procol Harum and Tomorrow, especially with the former for it's distinctive organ sound, but despite a fair measure of airplay the single failed to click. The same thing happened with their second single 'Juliano The Bull' , nice enough but banned by Radio One after some bright spark suggested it was "promoting blood sports", although they could have just flipped the single, as on this release the b-side, 'Two By The Sea', was actually the stronger of the two songs. After two flopped singles, Philips pulled the plug on the groups original songs and opted for a cover version, the song in question being The Move's '(Here We Go Round) The Lemon Tree', but the record company's choice of single ended up with the same fate, despite considerable radio play. Bassist Ron Fowler quit around this time, as working in a band and a full time job time didn't mix, especially when the band toured Germany, and so he was replaced by John Selley. After three flops, Philips were desperate for a hit, so Fryer got the band to record one of his own numbers, and a fourth single, the more commercial 'Waterloo Road', was recorded and promptly bombed, which was probably just as well as it's one of their weakest tracks. 

With one single left on the contract, 'A Place In The Sun' was released in 1969, but despite being one of their best recordings, the public were still not convinced, and once again it flopped, although rather surprisingly the strange 'Black Mass' found it's way onto the flip, as Philips had earlier decided that the song was unfit for public consumption. With no success after five singles, the proposed Philips album was cancelled, even though it had already been given a title of 'The Senile Mysteries of Black Mass', and gradually the band drifted apart. Fryer already had a new interest in the emerging The Open Mind, and Philips were in no mood to renew their contract after a series of flops, so Terry Clarke was the first to leave, joining up with London-based outfit Orang Utan, whilst the remaining members continued with new vocalist Brian Prebble and ex-Mike Stuart Span/Leviathan guitarist Brian Bennett under the name of High Broom. In 1971 Clark, Smallcombe and Siggery all sorted out their differences and formed Holy Mackerel, releasing their self-titled album in 1972. There have been two compilations of the band's work released over the years, plus a collection of their radio sessions on the Tenth Planet label, but no-one has ever tried to piece together their cancelled album, so that's what I decided to do, as that way we could just use the best recordings and ditch the lesser singles like 'Waterloo Road' and 'Juliano The Bull'. I've also added in one of their radio sessions which fitted nicely into the running order, and it's all housed in the original artwork, which had already been commissioned before the album was cancelled.   

Track listing

01 Turquoise Tandem Cycle
02 My House Is Burning
03 Two By The Sea
04 Patricia's Dream
05 Black Mass
06 A Place In The Sun
07 Charge Of The Light Brigade 
08 What's It Like?
09 Good Life
10 Teagarden Lane
11 King Of The Castle
12 The Collected Works of Justin Crest

Sam Smith - To Die For (2020)

Samuel Frederick Smith was born on 19 May 1992 Cambridgeshire, and both parents encouraged his singing at a young age, after the budding vocalist impressed them with a rendition of Whitney Houston's 'My Love Is Your Love'. Smith pursued vocal training and soon appeared in local theatre productions and with Youth Music Theatre UK, going through six managers before ultimately moving to London at age 18 to pursue opportunities there. Smith's breakthrough came as a vocalist on Disclosure's 'Latch', which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, and the following year they performed on Naughty Boy's 2013 single 'La La La', which became a UK number one single. Smith's debut studio album, 'In The Lonely Hour', was released in May 2014 through Capitol Records UK, and the second single from the record, 'Money On My Mind', became their second number one single in the UK, as did its follow-up 'Stay With Me'. The album won four awards at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year, while the song 'Writing's On The Wall' served as the theme for the 2015 James Bond film 'Spectre', and it won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Smith's second studio album, 'The Thrill Of It All', was released in November 2017 and debuted at number 1 on the UK and US album charts, and its lead single, 'Too Good At Goodbyes' also topped the UK charts. 

On 13 February 2020, they revealed that a third studio album, then titled 'To Die For', was scheduled to be released on 1 May, but a few weeks later it was announced that due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the release of the third album would be delayed, and there would also be a number of changes to the album track list and title, although it would still be released sometime within 2020. 'I'm Ready', a collaboration with American singer Demi Lovato, was released on 16 April and charted well in the top 40 of several countries, and on 6 July, Smith released a cover of Coldplay's 'Fix You', followed in September by another single, 'Diamonds', following which the new title for the third album was announced as 'Love Goes', and it was released on 30 October. With the release of 'Love Goes', thoughts of 'To Die For' faded away, but tracks meant for it but which were removed were kept, and some appeared as bonus tracks on special editions of 'Love Goes'. There is a tentative track listing for the album out there, which includes some songs which appeared on 'Love Goes', along with a cover of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love', and a few otherwise unreleased tracks, and so here is an approximation of what could have been Sam Smith's third album 'To Die For' from 2020. 

Track listing

01 To Die For
02 Dancing With A Stranger (feat. Normani)
03 How Do You Sleep
04 You Will Be Found
05 I Feel Love
06 Love Goes (feat. Labrinth)
07 I'm Ready (feat. Demi Lovato)
08 Sober
09 Promises (feat. Calvin Harris & Fessie Reyez)
10 Heart On My Sleeve
11 Laurel Canyon
12 Fire On Fire
13 Diamonds

The Rolling Stones - Keep It Cool (1982)

The second album extracted from the 'Fully Finished Studio Outtakes' set is dedicated to 1982, as all the tracks come from early sessions in November and December 1982, for what was to be the 1983 'Undercover' album. Once again, notes are from Zen Archer's Aural Surfing Odyssey blog, with corrected years of recording, and when he mentioned that the vocals on 'Keep It Cool' were a little low, I quickly fixed them to sound more audible.  
01 Dreams To Remember (1983)
A classic Stones take on country tonk, Jagger's vocals are variously spoken and screamed while the band bar-room it up in the background. The guitar licks flicker and squeak while the whole track has a cataclysmic tone of collapse. A certain 1970's sound in the vein of John Lennon's 'Walls And Bridges' album. Should be 1982.
02 Still In Love With You (1982)
While we discuss tracks that share DNA with a certain era, this track fits straight in to it's date line. Ponderous, warm, reflective piano and sleepy pedal-steel are enveloped in this delicately produced ballad. Correct year. 
03 I Tried To Talk Her Into It (1982)
A sweet country influenced piece with a great slice of steel guitar. It skips along merrily and wouldn’t sound out of place of any nu-country album released this side of the year 2000. This is longer than the 'Dirty Work Sessions' version too. Correct year. 
04 Part Of The Night (1976)
Also known as 'Golden Caddy' from the Pathé Marconi sessions (as heard on 'Foxes In The Boxes'), this track might as well be 'Never Make You Cry' part two but one where the piano takes the place of the guitar instead. Much later than 1976, at 1982.
05 Keep It Cool (1982)
A clean little number, light piano lines with barely there guitars which drifts at an almost glacial pace. Jagger whispers his vocals at a volume that just barely breaks over the backing. Originally released on 'Foxes In The Boxes', this is the shortest version at just over 5 minutes. Correct year. 
06 Eliza Upchink (1983)
Regards a certain lady of no scruples, this dash of blues runs slightly longer than previously bootlegged at 4:38. Just one year out, as 1982.
07 (You Better) Stop That (1983) 
Short but sweet, very much of it's time and sounding like 'Neighbours', the type of angsty, punky ripple with stabs of electric piano in the background. As above, one year out at 1982. 
08 Can't Find Love (1983)
I think this sounds like George Harrison's/Bob Dylan's 'If Not For You' in the smallest way. At nearly 7 minutes, it's one of the longest tracks on this collection. The mixture also features a Buddy Holly-esque chiming guitar line over a strolling beat. Should be 1982.
09 Cooking Up (1983)
One of the speedier efforts to this set, short speedy guitar riffs as Ronnie and Keith dance around each other and Nicky Hopkins peddles away along side. A curious title to the track, however, it's almost impossible to make out what Mick is singing about. As with all the other tracks, should be 1982.

Track listing 

01 Dreams To Remember 
02 Still In Love With You 
03 I Tried To Talk Her Into It 
04 Part Of The Night 
05 Keep It Cool 
06 Eliza Upchink 
07 (You Better) Stop That 
08 Can't Find Love
09 Cooking Up

The Green Pajamas - The Perfect Chill (2021)

The Green Pajamas have been one of my favourite bands since I first discovered them in the mid-1980's, and since then I've bought every single, EP and album that they've released in their 40 year career. They are still going strong today, issuing their most recent long-player 'This Floating World Is A Dream' just last year, and I've been wanting to post something from them for years, to introduce them to people who have never heard of them, and also to offer some rare and hard to find music to the fans. But in fact they have looked after their fans extremely well over the years, as every so often they would gather up all the freebies given away to magazines and tribute albums, as well as rare one-off singles and b-sides, and anything else they felt worthy of hearing, and release them on a mopping-up compilation album, so if you own 'Indian Winter', 'Narcotic Kisses', 'Through Glass Colored Roses', 'Hidden Minutes', or 'Edge Of The Night' then you probably own nearly every track that they've ever recorded. However, leader Jeff Kelly has recently raided his archives and dug out some of his old cassette recordings, radio shows, live outings, demos and alternate takes and remixes, and issued them in a three volume bootleg series, two of which were rarities collections, and the third comprising various live recordings. By cherry-picking the best recordings from the two studio sets, at last I have something to post from them. 
The Green Pajamas were founded in Seattle in 1984 by Joe Ross and Jeff Kelly, who had begun composing his first songs at the age of 11, and forming a group called the Electric Garbage Cans. His parents bought him a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and he spent his teenage years compiling literally hundreds of cassettes of original material. After graduating from college, Kelly briefly joined a new wave band dubbed the Larch, but when he met Ross at a party the two formed the Green Pajamas, informed by their mutual love of the Beatles, and inspired by the Los Angeles "paisley underground" community. The group debuted in 1984 with the cassette 'Summer Of Lust' on the Green Monkey label, and issued a flurry of tapes before recording their proper full-length debut, 'Book Of Hours', in 1987. After 1990's 'Ghosts Of Love', the Green Pajamas went on hiatus, during which time Kelly issued the solo LP 'Coffee In Nepal' in 1991, but in 1997 the band resurfaced with the single 'Doctor Dragonfly' as well as 'Indian Winter', a collection of singles and compilation tracks. 'All Clues Lead To Meagan's Bed' followed in 1999 and 'Seven Fathoms Down And Falling' arrived in 2000, being a couple of their very best records, and the following year they released the 'In A Glass Darkly' EP, which was inspired by J.S. Le Fanu's writing, as well as the full-length 'This Is Where We Disappear', another simply superb record. 

A mishmash of discarded singles and outtakes, 'Narcotic Kisses', was released in 2002 along with a full-length album, 'Northern Gothic', and they celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2004 with a 14-track retrospective disc, 'Through Glass Colored Roses', and a live in-studio album, 'Ten White Stones', which featured some great Neil Young-style guitar playing. Another full-length studio effort, the unabashedly psychedelic '21st Century Séance', was released the following year, and in 2006, the band released yet another compilation disc, 'Night Races Into Anna', followed by a companion piece to 'Northern Gothic', 2007's 'Box Of Secrets: Northern Gothic Season Two', while the all-new conceptual piece 'Poison In The Russian Room' dropped in 2009, and it's still one of my favourite albums from the band. For their next project, they penned a set of songs about drinking and heartache with a slight rootsy feel, released in 2011 as 'Green Pajamas Country!', but they were back in dark but more musically familiar territory with 2012's 'Death By Misadventure', while nautical themes dominated 2012's 'To the End Of The Sea', and the off-cuts collection 'Supernatural Afternoon', which brought together rare single sides and unreleased material, followed in 2017. 

A third instalment in the Northern Gothic series, 'Phantom Lake: Northern Gothic 3', appeared in 2018, followed by 2021's 'Sunlight Might Weigh Even More', and then 2022's 'Forever For A Little While', which was re-issued as a vinyl release the next year as 'This Floating World Is A Dream'. The recent bootlegs start right at the beginning of the group, with a live recording from 1984, but I wanted to post just the songs that I'd never heard before, so I've picked out the demos and out-takes, and added in a number of contributions to tribute albums and magazine freebies that have never appeared on their own compilations, and so this collection should complete the most die-hard fan's discography of the group, so that they now own every song that they've ever recorded. The only track which has appeared before on CD is 'Missing Miss MacColl', which was Kelly's humble and sincere tribute to the singer Kirsty MacColl, who had recently died in an accident. When he recorded it for inclusion on the 'More Tell-Tale Signs Of Earworm' compilation album he had a cold, and had to keep his voice low in the mix, and so on this first mix the lyrics are much easier to hear. If you already know the band then you'll love this mopping-up collection, and if this is the first thing you hear from them then I hope that it will encourage you to investigate their huge back catalogue, and to discover the best kept secret that is The Green Pajamas.  

Track listing

01 You're Losing Me (Out-take 1988)

02 Such A Lovely Daughter (from Unhinged magazine flexi-disc 1990)

03 Dr. Dacey (Demo 1987)

04 Love Song (Demo 1990)

05 Woman, Woman (Demo 1996)

06 Cathy (Demo 1997)

07 Agent 99 (Out-take 1997)

08 The Perfect Chill (Demo 1999)

09 A Rose For Emily (from 'Wake Up Your Windows, Let's Do The Zombies' 7" 2000)

10 She Took A Long Cold Look (from 'Asyd Vinyl (A Tribute To Syd Barrett)' 2000)

11 Missing Miss MacColl (re-recording of track from 'More Tell-Tale Signs Of Earworm' 2001)

12 Got To Get You Into My Life (from the Mojo magazine CD 'Revolver Reloaded' 2006)

13 La Folie (out-take 2006)

14 A Long Way From Home (from the Mojo CD 'The Modern Genius Of Ray Davies' 2006)

15 XXXI (from 'Chamber Music: James Joyce (1907)' tribute album 2008)

16 Ring Around The Sun Medley (Out-take 2012)

17 William (Demo 2021)

18 Copper Eyed Girl (2021 remix of contribution to 'A Spoonful Of Sugarbush' 2017)

19 Such A Lovely Daughter (Reprise) 

The cover is a painting by Jeff Kelly's wife Susanne Kelly, who has provided the artwork for a number of the band's albums. 

La Toya Jackson - Startin' Over (2002)

Following her escape from an abusive marriage and her subsequent divorce, La Toya Jackson was reduced to performing in Europe and South America to start making money to pay off the huge debts which her ex-husband had accumulated in her name while they were married. In the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001, Jackson was moved to write 'Free The World', and the song's positive reception spurred her on to write more songs, ending up with a full album. The album's title, 'Startin' Over' was a reference to the six years that she'd spent out of the public's view in order to rebuild her life after divorcing husband/manager Jack Gordon. The original album was completed in September 2002 and issued as a promotional CD the following year in order to secure a distribution deal, but in 2006 the promo was leaked to the internet, and the official release was beset with years of delays, while in the interim Jackson recorded entirely new material that might be released in the future. 'Startin' Over' includes autobiographical tracks about her relationship with her abusive ex-husband and former manager, and several of them hint towards brutal beatings and plans to have her family killed, and one of the tracks, 'Mafia Style', is a reference to Gordon's meetings with mobsters on New York's Mulberry Street. In 2006 Jackson recorded a new song titled 'Starting Over', but plans to release it as a single that year were scrapped, and instead it was reconstituted as a jingle for Australian beverage maker Star Ice. In June 2011 she released the 'Starting Over' EP, which included the 2006 song of the same name, plus six tracks from the aborted album, and it's issue was timed to coincide with her book of the same name, with the EP being subtitled 'Songs That Inspired The Book'. This confirmed that the 'Startin' Over' album was finally consigned to the vaults, and so for fans who want to hear the rest of the scrapped record, here is the full 'Startin' Over' album, including a bonus dance remix of 'Free The World'. 

Track listing

01 No More Drama  
02 Just Wanna Dance  
03 C'est La Vie 
04 Anger Management (Skit)  
05 Don't Want You No More  
06 Home 
07 Call Me  
08 That's Why I Love You  
09 Something About You 
10 Mafia Style (Skit)  
11 Should've Left You 
12 Free The World  
13 Player  
14 You're So Nasty  
15 Sorry Lies  
16 Tropical Breeze  
17 Free The World (Dance Remix) 

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Gordon Lightfoot's 'Did She Mention My Name?' (2023)

Gordon Lightfoot's second album 'The Way I Feel' was released in 1967, and to kick off Canada's Centennial year, the CBC commissioned Lightfoot to write the 'Canadian Railroad Trilogy' for a special broadcast on January 1, 1967. This was the centre-piece of his new album, which was generally well-received, if perceived as slightly inferior to its predecessor, and 'Did She Mention My Name?' followed in 1968, being his first to feature orchestration, and it included 'Black Day In July', about the 1967 Detroit riot. Weeks later, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, radio stations in 30 states pulled the song for "fanning the flames", even though it was actually a plea for racial harmony. Lightfoot's reputation as a songwriter of note was still in evidence, confirmed by the fact that nearly every track on the album had been attempted by other artists by 1970, and so here are some of the best versions of the songs from Gordon Lightfoot's third studio album from 1968, with two songs from the same era added to the end to make up for 'May I' and 'Boss Man' not having available cover versions.    

Track listing

01 The Wherefore And The Why (The Johnstons 1968)
02 The Last Time I Saw Her (Glen Campbell 1971)
03 Black Day In July (The Tragically Hip 2003)
04 Magnificent Outpouring (The Triban 1969)  
05 Does Your Mother Know (The Sandalwood Candle 1970)
06 The Mountain And Maryann (Kenny Rankin 1969)
07 Pussywillows, Cat-tails (Pat Hervey 1970) 
08 I Want To Hear It From You (Lou Rawls 1968)
09 Something Very Special (Dylan Bell 2023)
10 Did She Mention My Name (George Hamilton IV 1968) 
11 Bitter Green (The Idle Race 1971)
12 The Gypsy (Petula Clark 1974)

Justin Bieber - JB6 (2021)

After releasing his fifth studio album, 'Changes' in 2020, Justin Bieber was interviewed by Apple Music DJ Zane Lowe, and said that he wanted his next record to reflect the things that he had learned about commitment and building trust. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Bieber was in quarantine at his house in Toronto, he was sent a plethora of demos submitted to his management team by songwriters, managers, publishers and producers. He recorded the songs he liked in his home studio and sent them back to his inner circle, and work on what was to become the 'Justice' album intensified once he got back to Los Angeles a couple of months later. While his last album was R&B oriented, for this record nothing was off limits, and by December 2020 he had amassed at least an albums worth of material, and so by January 2021 he was able to announce on Twitter that he was going over the track listing for the album. He finally announced the release of the album on 26 February 2021, and along with that announcement, an EP titled 'JB6' was released for digital download and streaming. The EP includes the original versions of three of the already-released singles -  'Holy' (featuring Chance The Rapper), 'Lonely' (with Benny Blanco) and 'Anyone', as well as acoustic versions of the former two. 'Justice' dropped on 19 March 2021, and was a decent addition to Bieber's catalogue, seeing a return to his pop roots, and being distinguished by a variety of modes that includes vaporous synth-rock and strumming acoustic ballads, hip hop gospel and bedroom EDM, and sun-dazed R&B and contemporary Afrobeat. Since the release of the album, a number of unreleased songs have surfaced, with some of them carrying on the R&B sound of 'Changes', while others sound more like out-takes from 'Justice', so I've gathered up the best of them, and added in a couple of out-takes/rarities from a few years earlier if it felt like they fitted, to make up a companion album to 'Justice', named after, and featuring two acoustic tracks from, the 'JB6' EP.    

Track listing

01 Hit The Ground
02 Double Negative
03 Holy (Acoustic) (feat. Chance The Rapper)
04 No Pain
05 Long Way Home
06 Over & Over
07 Swag Mean
08 You And Me (feat. will.i.am)
09 Lonely (Acoustic)
10 Change The Weather
11 No One

12 Unconditional
13 I Wanna Be (feat. Nasri)
14 We Were Born For This

I'm no Bieber expert, but I did later discover that a few Youtube posts were not actually him, such as 'Raise The Bar' (actually 'My Reasons' by 3in) and 'Letter To A Broken Heart' by Zion Foster, so if any of these are not really Bieber then can you let me know.  

Catch - Victim Support (1997)

Catch were an English indie pop band consisting of singer and keyboardist Toby Slater, bassist Wayne Murray and guitarist Ben Etchells, and evolved from Slater's first band Brattish, who were active in 1994–95. That band featured bass guitarist and backing vocalist Matthew Harding, who was briefly a member of Catch, but reputedly left when Slater refused to give him a writing credit. Brattish rehearsed the Catch material extensively, paid for by interested A&R men, but never gigged, and after the name change they released their debut single 'Bingo' in 1997, which saw them appearing on Top of the Pops, Light Lunch, The Paul Ross Show (performing three songs live), The Jack Docherty Show and various Saturday morning UK TV shows. The band's debut album was rush released in Indonesia due to their sudden popularity there, and they visited Jakarta for a promotional tour and performed acoustically for fans, but the UK release was delayed due to Slater being unhappy with it at the time. Before any remedial work could be done on the record, Catch split up, and Slater moved to Los Angeles to pursue a solo career. This led to the album being denied a release in any form in the UK, and the tentatively titled 'Victim Support' was cancelled by Virgin. When Slater returned to the UK he formed a group featuring former members of the UK band Salamanda, and began recording and gigging under his own name. The Toby Slater Band released one single, 'Consumption', and some other songs were made available online via Slater's own website, but fans of the 'Bingo' single really want to hear the record that should have followed it, and so here is that shelved album by indie-poppers Catch from 1997. 

Track listing

01 Dive In 
02 Bingo 
03 Half The World Away 
04 Don't Wait Up 
05 Pity The Man 
06 Expensive Kiss 
07 Start Of Something 
08 Over Again 
09 Maybe Tonight 
10 My Burst Balloon 
11 A New Soul 
12 Goodbye

Azealia Banks - Fantasea II: The Second Wave (2018)

Following the release of her debut studio album 'Broke With Expensive Taste' in 2014, Azealia Banks' next project was a follow-up to her first mixtape 'Fantasea'. 'Fantasea II: The Second Wave' had been worked on alongside the recording of 'Broke With Expensive Taste', and had been intended to be released in July 2014, following the 2013 single 'Count Contessa', but it was eventually put on hold so that Banks could concentrate on her studio album. In 2017 she released the second promotional single 'Escapades' in support of the upcoming album, and in 2018 she signed to eOne Music and released the singles 'Anna Wintour' and 'Treasure Island', as well as the promotional single 'Movin' On Up (Coco's Song, Love Beats Rhymes)' in anticipation for the album. In mid-2018 she cancelled the project, although she carried on working on it, and in August it was announced that it would still be released someday. In June 2019 she took to her Instagram to say she would never release a full body of work as she felt the world was not deserving of her music, but a few days later she posted pictures working in a studio with Russian producers. In the same month, she shared a snippet of 'Icy Pisces', and said that she was looking for a singer to feature on it, thus proving the album was still in development, and in April 2021 she told fans that it would be released in the summer. However, to date it has still not appeared, and so I've collected up all the tracks that are available to put something together to tide us over until it does eventually appear. 

Track listing

01 Along The Coast
02 Taste's State (feat. Busta Rhymes)
03 Treasure Island
04 Anna Wintour
05 Count Contessa
06 Pyrex Princess
07 Escapades
08 Venus
09 Movin' On Up (Coco's Song, Love Beats Rhymes)
10 Playhouse
11 Blossom
12 In Excelsis
13 Chi Chi

The Beach Boys - SMiLE (1967)

For visitors to blogs like this one, Albums That Never Were, Albums That Should Exist, or Albums Reconstructed etc, the holy grail of unreleased albums has to be The Beach Boys' 'SMiLE'. Originally planned as a follow-up to 'Pet Sounds', the 1967 recording sessions collapsed under the weight of Brian Wilson's perfectionism, mental instability and drug use. The Beach Boys shelved the project and released the simplified 'Smiley Smile' in 1967, and since then there have been many, many fan reconstructions of the record posted on blogs the world over. In fact, the very first CD that I ever bought was a 'SMiLE' bootleg - yes, I bought a bootleg CD before I'd even tested out my new CD player on an actual album. Since then audio editing has become much more accessible for the amateur enthusiast, and so, for instance, soniclovenoise over at Albums That Never Were has posted four versions of the album, and there are many, many reconstructions of varying quality available on Youtube. Not only that, but the sessions have been officially released, and Brian Wilson has even played it live, so what more can possibly be said about it. Well, how about a remix where AI has been trained to sing like Brian, using a recent singing voice conversion model, and then to add his 1967 vocals to the tracks where Brian himself never sang. It took over 100 hours of work, and he was prepared for a backlash from fervent purists who would class this as sacrilege, but Dae Lims has now posted his completely remixed version of 'SMiLE' on Youtube, and as the download link keeps being deleted then I'm posting it here so that BB fans can at least hear it once to make up their own mind. I'm not yet convinced about whether AI is a saviour or a menace to the arts, but when you hear what it can do in the right hands then I start to think that it could be a part of the future of music if used ethically. Give this a listen and decide for yourself if it's the best ever version of 'SMiLE', or if it's a complete and utter abomination. 

Track listing

01 Our Prayer
02 You're Welcome
03 Heroes And Villains
04 I'm In Great Shape
05 Barnyard
06 Do You Like Worms
07 Cabinessence
08 The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
09 Wonderful
10 Fire/I Wanna Be Around 
11 Vega-Tables
12 Wind Chimes
13 Child Is Father Of The Man
14 I Love To Say Dada/In Blue Hawaii
15 Surf's Up

All songs remixed using AI de-mixing technology.
Tracks 3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,13,14,15 contain new AI vocals.
Tracks 3,4,7,9,10,12 contain AI enhanced vocals.
'Do You Like Worms' contains new melodies, partially based on 'Little Pad' by The Beach Boys.
'Child Is Father Of The Man' contains new lyrics and melodies, inspired by the original and 2004 versions of the song.

The Rolling Stones - Trouble's A-Coming (1979)

There is currently a quite superb Rolling Stones bootleg doing the rounds, with the self-explanatory title of 'Fully Finished Studio Outtakes', and it does exactly what it says on the tin. Over the course of three CDs it collects some of the best quality Stones left-overs that I've ever heard, spanning most of their career from 1967 through to 1998, with a couple of 2002 jams added on at the end of CD3. If there's just one criticism, it's that some of the recording dates seem to be the result of guesswork rather than research, and so I've used the expertise of the Zen Archer's Aural Surfing Odyssey blog to work out the correct chronology, so that I can re-order them into a set of four themed posts. As the three earliest takes are one-offs from 1967, 1968 (which is included on my earlier 'Hillside Blues' post), and 1969, I've skipped them and gone straight for the first track from 1970 to begin one whole album of outstanding outtakes from the 70's, starting with 'Walk With Me Wendy' from 1970 and ending with 1979's 'Trouble's A-Coming'. As this timeframe includes the 'Some Girls' period, a couple of the tracks have already appeared on my 'Some More Girls' post, and so I've omitted 'You Win Again', and 'Fiji Jim' to avoid duplication, but that still leaves a great 55-minute album to start the series. With each post I'm going to add Zen Archer's notes as to why they changed the recording date (following the title), and also because they are quite informative. For instance, they mention that a couple of tracks have the vocals low in the mix, and although 'Fast Talking Slow Walking' from this set wasn't one of them, I thought that they were and so I've boosted them to sound clearer, along with those on 'Trouble's A-Coming'. 
01 Walk With Me Wendy (1974)
A 'Dog Shit' style track but replacing the horns with electric piano. Jagger bellows over the head of it all. Most likely 1970.
02 Tell Her Now It Is (1971)
OK, you'll hit the first few notes of this very well known bootleg placement (otherwise known as 'Potted Shrimp'), it's upgraded – not by a million miles, accepted, but it’ll be an upgrade, that’s good enough, surely? No! 0.17 in – vocals! Much like the 'Exile' tracks that got us stoked on the deluxe treatment of a few years earlier, this track is now replete with an extra pinch of Jagger salt and he sounds crazed! The vocals are of the fact that they sound vintage enough to be of the time – the beauty of looking after your voice for the past 60 years, I guess – we could ponder the fact that they could also have been recorded for the reissue but this stuff is better than we could have imagined. Sounds more 1970 than 1971.
03 Living In The Heart Of Love (1974)
Very easily a mid-70’s production, it’s a close brother to 'Silver Train' and 'Brown Sugar', a repeated refrain starts the track before blossoming in to a broader chorus. Correct year.
04 Fast Talking Slow Walking (1972)
A woozy, swooning bar-room lament with a joyous piano undercurrent underneath the spacey guitar lines and pattering, jazzy drum beats. An exceptional piece of work. Generally agreed to be a 'Goat's Head Soup' outtake from 1974.
05 Scarlet (1975)
So we remember the debacle of this piece on the GHS reissue – none of the Stones or Jimmy Page (apparently) remember sneaking in to the studio in the prime of their careers and putting this to tape – over two nights, granted, but maybe that's how you measure time when you're a rock star. The suns up or it's not. Some of the overdubs present on the CV seem to be missing here from half way, so this may be one of the tracks that was laid down the first night, maybe? It's far too good to be forgotten, far too good to be erased. Maybe if it had lingered for much longer the full session tape might have made it out .. it'd be nice to think. Probably 1974, as GHS is mentioned. 
06 Built That Way (1984)
Something rather different here – A 'Heatwave' style swing with a Queenish guitar line occasionally popping up through the background. I wouldn't have been at all surprised if this was a Style Council cover in all honesty. It's really very different but cruisingly good. However, 1975 rather than 1984.
07 Every Time I Break Her Heart (1977)
A space-effect country lilt, the kind that the Stones seem to have perfected through the years.  Remains unreleased and hasn't appeared on any other bootleg before. Correct year. 
08 Not The Way To Go (1977)
A punky, ramshackle, 50's surf romp with a lean line in lyrics (Jagger seems to give up part way through and riffs on the title instead). This version fades out quicker than previous versions in 'The Harder They Come' (Idol Mind) or Yellow Cat's 'From Paris To LA'. Probably one year later at 1978.
09 Never Make You Cry (1977)
Another of those late, rain soaked Saturday ballads, spiked with a little rock . Blissfully dreamy, warm and regretful, it's perfect. It's also cleaner sounding that previously booted versions. Correct year. 
10 Covered In Bruises (vocal Ronnie Wood / Mick Jagger 1981)
A split combination of force between the Glimmer Twins recorded at the Pathé Marconi sessions – Barrel big and chunky with a fat bass line that drives. It’s an odd amalgam of a track but it really, really works. The Pathé Marconi sessions were in 1977.
11 It's A Lie (1978)
Another left over from the Paris Match sessions and also recently released on the 'Foxes In The Boxes' collection. Part Stones template, slide guitar and muted piano line. Should be 1979.
12 Trouble's A-Coming (1972)
Not 1972, surely but from much later in the decade - 1979? An incredible, insistent groove with a solid march – the chorus is fantastic in and of it's own! Jagger's vocals are mixed much lower in the mix than they should be so assume this to be an earlier rehearsal/working take that never came to fruition. 

Track listing

01 Walk With Me Wendy 
02 Tell Her Now It Is 
03 Living In The Heart Of Love
04 Fast Talking Slow Walking
05 Scarlet
06 Built That Way
07 Every Time I Break Her Heart
08 Not The Way To Go
09 Never Make You Cry
10 Covered In Bruises 
11 It's A Lie
12 Trouble's A Coming 

Daryl Hall, Robert Fripp & Guests - Sacred Songs Live From Daryl's House (2023)

Time for another guest spot from Mike Solof, featuring music from one of his favourite albums.

Welcome back to a sequel of sorts. A while back in August of 2022, I posted a set called Robert Fripp - 'Triple Exposure' which took the trifecta of all the solo albums that he produced in (roughly) 1979 for himself, Daryl Hall, and Peter Gabriel and gave you the highlights along with many bonus and alternate cuts. Over the past seventeen years, since way back in 2007, Daryl Hall has presented an online music series called 'Live From Daryl's House', (simply known as 'Daryl's House' and often abbreviated as 'LFDH'), which sees the singer-songwriter performing with his band and various guest artists at his home in Millerton, New York. It provides a performance space that is an alternative to live concerts and studio sessions for popular artists, and allows the artists to "have fun and be creatively spontaneous". The majority of shows include a segment in which Hall and the guest artist prepare food from different cuisines for everyone to eat, and then they play songs of their choosing, which are often covers of Hall's own songs from his long career. I'm pleased to report that for Episode 87, recorded in November 2023, Robert Fripp got back together with Hall after 44 years, and they played together for the first time since making those original albums (fun nit-pick fact: Hall was just the vocalist on Fripp's 'Exposure' album, so they never actually "played together" before this "reunion"!) The results were stunning! Fripp himself said it was the best day of his life except for the day he married his wife! I'm pleased to present tracks from those sessions plus some cool bonus recordings, as I could have just left it at the Hall/Fripp cuts, but I love Hall's original Fripp-produced solo album so much, and he so rarely (if ever!) plays cuts from it, that I had to fill the album up with bonus cuts. These are taken from performances that Hall recorded with other artists on his radio show, and feature non-Fripp versions of more songs from Hall's 'Sacred Songs' album. Each guest added their own spin to the original version and I dig that!
Here's a track by track breakdown of what is included:
01 Sacred Songs - Daryl Hall with Kitty, Daisy & Lewis Durham.
02 Babs And Babs - Daryl Hall with Robert Fripp. A song Hall wrote for his first solo album. Fun Fact #2: Babs and Babs are what Hall calls the right and left side of his brain!
03 NYCNY - Daryl Hall with Robert Fripp. Another song written by Hall and Fripp, this one was done on both Fripp's solo and Hall's first solo albums which, by the way, was recorded in 1977 but not released until 1980.
04 The Further Away I Am - Daryl Hall with Robert Fripp. Another cut from Hall's first album.
05 Why Was It So Easy - Daryl Hall with Butch Walker.
06 Don't Leave Me Alone With Her - Daryl Hall with Ben Folds.
07 Survive - Daryl Hall with Charlie Starr.
08 You Burn Me Up I'm A Cigarette - Daryl Hall with Robert Fripp. This was originally presented on Fripp's 1979 debut solo album 'Exposure'. A song written by Hall and Fripp.
09 Heroes - Daryl Hall with Robert Fripp. A song Fripp originally recorded with David Bowie for his 1977 release of the same name. Fripp asked Hall if they could play it during these sessions.
10 North Star - Daryl Hall with Monte Mongomery, on a track from Fripp's 'Exposure'
11 Red - Daryl Hall with Robert Fripp. A song Fripp wrote and recorded in 1974, from the King Crimson album of the same name. Hall's house band did not rehearse this (or anything they recorded that day for the sessions). Fripp was amazed because it took three days of rehearsals for King Crimson to learn all the intricate chord changes for the song every time they played it. IT'S A BEAST!!
I hope you enjoy this selection of great musicians playing mostly unrehearsed (so the pressure was on to impress Hall with their playing) songs, that never, if ever, see the light of day!
Until next time...
Michael

Track listing

01 Sacred Songs
02 Babs And Babs
03 NYCNY
04 The Further Away I Am
05 Why Was It So Easy
06 Don't Leave Me Alone With Her
07 Survive
08 You Burn Me Up I'm A Cigarette
09 Heroes
10 North Star
11 Red

Tracks 1-7 from 'Sacred Songs' by Daryl Hall

Tracks 8 and 10 from 'Exposure' by Robert Fripp

Track 9 from 'Heroes' by David Bowie

Track 11 from 'Red' by King Crimson