...and on guitar - The Book (2023) **UPDATE**

Thanks to the recent visitor who pointed out to me that I'd spelled Steve Lukather's name wrong throughout his '...and on guitar' post, and I was surprised that it hadn't been spotted before. The post was easy enough to fix, but then I realised that I should really update the book that I put together from the posts, and that was a bit more tricky. When I opened up my original Word file I found that the cover for the Robbie Blunt post was corrupt, and all the covers after that entry were blank. I though that someone would have mentioned that when I first posted it, so I can only assume that somehow the picture became corrupt after I'd made the post, but it had also affected the pdf, which I don't understand. Anyway, I've managed to re-do the whole thing, and I've double-checked and all the pictures are now there. If you got a dodgy copy when you first downloaded it, or just want the updated version, then try it now. 

pj  

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Barry Mann (1975)

Barry Imberman (aka Barry Mann) was born on 9 February 1939, and is best know for his song-writing partnership with his wife Cynthia Weil. His first successful song as a writer was 'She Say (Oom Dooby Doom)', a Top 20 chart-scoring song composed for the band The Diamonds in 1959, which was co-written with Mike Anthony. In 1961, Mann had his greatest success to that point with 'I Love How You Love Me', written with Larry Kolber, and scoring a number 5 hit for the band The Paris Sisters , and the same year Mann himself reached the Top 40 as a performer with a novelty song co-written with Gerry Goffin, 'Who Put The Bomp', which parodied the nonsense words of the then-popular doo-wop genre. Despite his success as a singer, Mann chose to channel his creativity into song-writing, forming a prolific partnership with Cynthia Weil, a lyricist he met while both were staff songwriters at Aldon Music, whose offices were located in Manhattan, near the composing-and-publishing factory the Brill Building. In the late 1960s, Mann and Weil left Aldon Music to head for Hollywood, where they continued to rack up the hits, working with Larry Kolber on Bobby Vinton's version of his earlier hit 'I Love How You Love Me' in 1968, and following up with Jay and the Americans' 'Walking in The Rain' in 1969, and B. J. Thomas's 'I Just Can't Help Believing' in 1970. Meanwhile, in addition to his role behind the scenes, Mann occasionally sought the limelight, and in 1971 he released his own album 'Lay It All Out', featuring himself as a singer, but it did not enjoy the success of his and Weil's works for others. As well as new songs it also included his own versions of some of his biggest hits, 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling', 'On Broadway', and 'Something Better'. Unsurprisingly, considering his standing as a songwriter, it wasn't long before all of the songs on the album had received cover versions, even those three afore-mentioned hits. Rather than use the original hit recordings of them, by The Righteous Brothers, The Drifters and Marianne Faithfull, I've chosen contemporary takes of the songs from around the same time as the album, although Bill Medley still gets to sing '...Lovin' Feeling', taken from his 1971 solo album 'A Song For You'. Three extra tracks from the following year round off this collection of songs from Mann's 1971 solo album.    

Track Listing

01 Too Many Mondays (Mary Travers 1973)
02 When You Get Right Down To It (Ronnie Dyson 1971)
03 I Heard You Singing Your Song (The Partridge Family 1973)
04 Holy Rolling (The New Seekers 1972) 
05 You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (Bill Medley 1971)
06 On Broadway (Eric Carmen 1975)
07 Something Better (Harper's Bizarre 1969)
08 Sweet Ophelia (Wicked Lester 1971) 
09 Don't Give Up On Me (Suzanne 1973)
10 Ain't No Way To Go Home (The Grass Roots 1973)  
11 Rock And Roll Lullaby (B.J. Thomas 1972)
12 So Long Dixie (Blood, Sweat And Tears 1972)
13 The Last Blues Song (Helen Reddy 1972)

The Departure - Inventions (2008)

The Departure was an English rock band from Northampton and were formed in January 2004, after starting as a collaboration between a former Christian commune member David Jones (vocals/guitar) and his friend Sam Harvey. After recruiting old school associates Ben Winton (bass) and Lee Irons (guitar), the line-up was completed with the addition of Andy Hobson (drums) via a musician's ad website. They were signed to Parlophone after playing only three gigs, and being together for just four months, a fact that attracted a considerable level of derision and scepticism. Touring slots with The Killers, Feeder, Duran Duran, Placebo, The Tears and a reformed Gang Of Four soon followed, as the band sought to build a support base ahead of their first slew of releases. Debut single 'All Mapped Out' was released on 2 August 2004, debuting at number 30 on the UK singles chart, and it was included on the soundtrack to the 2006 video game 'Driver: Parallel Lines', while follow-up single 'Be My Enemy' emerged on 18 October 2004, and was included on the soundtrack to 'FIFA 06'. They released their debut album 'Dirty Words', later that year, and it was trailed the week before its release by the reissue of the 'All Mapped Out' single, but disappointingly it charted lower than the original. The album drew a middling response from critics, who varied between praising it for its bleak, futuristic atmosphere, and slating it for its perceived superficiality and over-reliance on the music of the 1980's for inspiration. By early 2006, Irons had left the band citing artistic differences, and Hobson followed later that year, being replaced by the original drummer, Simon Alexander. The four-piece began work on the follow-up to 'Dirty Words' in Grouse Lodge Studios, Ireland, and it was given an expected release date of 2007. However, 2007 came and went, and in January 2008 the band announced that they had split up after being dropped by Parlophone. In 2010 Jones formed a new band called NewIslands, who released the single 'Out Of Time', while later in the decade he formed a duo called Born Stranger, but The Departure's second studio album has yet to see the light of day, and so for any fans who fondly remember 'Dirty Words', here is their 'Inventions' album, which should have appeared in 2008. 

Track listing

01 We Will Be The Only Ones
02 7 Years
03 Love Forever
04 Young And Clever
05 Pieces
06 Chemicals
07 Not Alone
08 Lights Go Out
09 Falling
10 Whose Side Are You On

Bo Hansson - Sagan Om Ringen (Lord Of The Rings) (1970)

Bo Hansson is a Swedish musician, most known for his 1972 concept album. 'Music Inspired By Lord Of The Rings, but before that album he had worked as one half of the duo Hansson & Karlsson. The duo were relatively well known in their native Sweden and between 1967 and 1969 they released a series of well received albums, all of which are worth checking out , but by early 1969 Janne Karlsson had embarked upon a successful career as a television presenter and comedian, resulting in the breakup of the duo. At around the same time, Hansson became fascinated with the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and in particular 'The Lord Of The Rings', after being introduced to the book by a girlfriend. Hansson moved into a friend's apartment and began working on a musical interpretation of the book, and then approached sound engineer and founder of Silence Records, Anders Lind, with the idea of recording an album based on the book. Lind was encouraged by Hansson's demos and agreed to release the album on Silence. However, the fledgling record company could not afford the expensive recording studio time needed to realise the production of the album, and so a small summer house on the remote island of Älgö was converted into a makeshift recording studio, and throughout late 1969, Hansson and Lind worked on the album with the help of a handful of session musicians and friends. They then relocated to Studio Decibel in Stockholm to complete the album in early 1970, with Hansson's original ideas of including a string section and other exotic instruments having to be replaced by primitive electronic keyboards and Moog synthesizers due to lack of finances. 

The album was released in Sweden by Silence Records in December 1970 under the title 'Sagan Om Tingen', and it enjoyed modest commercial success in its native country, leading Hansson to compose additional material based on Tolkien's book. News of the album's success and popularity in Sweden travelled to England and as a result, it was licensed to Tony Stratton Smith's Charisma Records in 1972, although Hansson and Charisma were forced to give the album the augmented title of 'Music Inspired By Lord Of The Rings', at the insistence of Tolkien and his publishers Allen & Unwin. Tolkien's publishers also had a hand in determining the musical content of the album, insisting that it remain completely instrumental, and so the retitled album was released in September 1972, housed in a new cover, and including two extra tracks. It was a huge success in the UK, with the strange other-worldly music and Tolkienesque subject matter proving popular during the early 1970's, a time when interest in Tolkien's writings among college students was at an all-time high. The album peaked at number 34 on the UK Album Chart in November 1972, and is still considered a classic of the progressive rock genre. My only criticism of it is that it was quite a short album, at just over 35 minutes, and so when it was re-issued an extra track was added, which consisted of early demos of the first three tracks, titled 'Early Sketches From Middle Earth'. These were significantly different from the finished versions, and so I thought it would be interesting to use a couple of these slower-paced, alternate takes, (I felt that 'The Old Forest' needed to be the faster version), and also try to extend the three shorter tracks, which resulted in an album just shy of 40 minutes. As I imagine that most people who own this already would probably have the 1972 UK re-issue, I've used the original 1970 album cover, with Hansson's name added for this post, and although it's not massively different from the original, there are enough changes to make it worth at least one listen.  

Track listing

01 Leaving Shire (Första vandringen) 
02 The Old Forest (Tom Bombadil) (Den gamla skogen/Tom Bombadil) 
03 Fog On The Barrow-Downs (I Skuggornas rike)
04 The Black Riders (Flight To The Ford) (De svarta ryttarna/Flykten till vadstället)
05 At the House Of Elrond (The Ring Goes South) (I Elronds hus/Ringen vandrar söderut)
06 A Journey In The Dark (En vandring i mörker)
07 Lothlórien
08 Shadowfax (Skuggfaxe)
09 The Horns Of Rohan (Battle Of The Pelennor Fields) (Rohans horn/Slaget på Pelennors slätter)

10 Dreams In The House Of Healing (Drömmar i Läkandets hus)
11 Homeward Bound (The Scouring Of The Shire) (Hemfärden/Fylke rensas)
12 The Grey Havens (De grå hamnarna)

Ciara - Go Girl (2009)

Ciara Princess Harris was born in Fort Hood, Texas, on 25 October 1985, and attended North Clayton High School before graduating from Riverdale. In her mid-teens she formed the all-girl group Hearsay with two of her friends and recorded some demos, but as time went on they began to have differences and eventually parted ways. She later signed a publishing deal as a songwriter, and her first writing credit was on Blu Cantrell's debut album, 'So Blu', for the song '10,000 Times'. It was when she was writing songs that she met music producer Jazze Pha, whom she called her "music soulmate", and they worked together on writing for her debut album. In early 2004 she recorded a demo with record producer Sean Garrett, which came to the attention of Lil Jon and became her debut single 'Goodies', followed by her debut album of the same name in September 2004. The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200, staying there for 71 weeks, and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA in 2006. '1, 2 Step' featuring Missy Elliott was released as the album's second single, reaching the top 10 in many countries, and topping the charts in Canada, and this was followed by 'Oh' featuring Ludacris, as the third single in March 2005. She was an opening act for Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour 2005 and went on tour with Chris Brown and Bow Wow on the Holiday Jam Tour in December 2005, and at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards she received four nominations, including Best New Artist, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for '1, 2 Step', and Best Rap Song for Missy Elliott's single 'Lose Control'. 

In December 2006 Ciara released her second studio album, 'Ciara: The Evolution', becoming her first and only number one album on the U.S. Billboard 200, going on to be certified platinum. Four top ten singles were released from the album, with 'Get Up' also being used in the 2006 film 'Step Up'. In addition to her music, Ciara made her acting debut in the MTV Films production 'All You've Got' in May 2006, playing Becca Whiley, a teenager who is competing in a volleyball tournament. In October 2008 she was honoured as Billboard's "Woman of the Year", because of her success as a recording artist and leadership in embracing the changing the music business. Her third album was originally scheduled for a September 2008 release, but 'Fantasy Ride' was eventually released after several delays in May 2009, combining her R&B and hip hop sound from her previous albums along with a new pop and dance sound. 'Go Girl' was the lead single released from the album, but after it achieved minimal success it was later deemed a promo single, and  'Never Ever' became the official lead single, while 'Love Sex Magic', featuring Justin Timberlake, became a worldwide hit, peaking within the top 10 in 20 countries. During the 'Fantasy Ride' sessions, over thirty songs were considered for the album, as when the concept was originally conceived in 2008 it was considered for a three-disc collection idea, to be led by the T-Pain-produced gem 'Go Girl' as the lead single, but her label decided against the 3-CD idea, as well as further complicating matters by shelving a teaser mixtape/sampler that was intended to hype up anticipation for the album. In the end thirteen tracks were chosen for the final running order of 'Fantasy Ride', but that involved ditching over twenty songs, including the title track and the proposed 'Go Girl' single. Rather than leave them in the vaults, here is a companion album to the original 'Fantasy Ride', and as that title is now taken I've renamed it after that proposed lead single.   

Track listing

01 Fantasy Ride (feat. Claude Kelly) 
02 Click, Flash
03 Blauw (feat. Rodney 'Darkchild' Jerkins)
04 Up & Down 
05 Switch
06 Fit Of Love
07 Tick-Tock (Mr. Mechanic)
08 Go Girl (feat. T-Pain)
09 Cool On You 
10 Secret 
11 Swim 
12 Echo
13 One More Dance 

Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Early Version) (1974)

Time for another guest post from Mike Solof, and this time it's an alternative look at one of both his and my favourite albums of all time.

I've always loved Genesis and all their various group versions (except for the last album without Collins… who the heck is Ray Wilson??) But 'Lamb...' always held a special place in my heart. I recently got a hold of Highland's great compilation of all the different outtakes available from the album, and although it was a cool listen it was repetitive at times, and still missing some cuts. So I decided to go through all the different versions included in their set and try to edit together a complete alternate version made of the best cuts and segments of cuts from all the demo's available. To do this I had to mix together early takes, demo’s, alternate mixes, and the occasional live track here and there to fill in the missing gaps, as I figured the live tracks were the closest I could come to including an "alternate version".  I really liked the way this turned out and made three different versions. The first was just a pretty seamless entire album version. The second was a 5 part segmented version where each "suite" was separated at the parts that didn’t really mix well into the next, usually because the early takes sound very different from the alternate demo mixes of the finished takes. As much as possible I tried to use the early takes over everything else because they are so unique and different. The third and final version I made up was each track presented as an individual track. This was my least favourite version as some tracks had rough beginnings and ending and worked much better when gently mixed into the next track using fade ins and fade outs. Once I had the whole thing edited to my liking… I turned to my friend CaptainAcid for help with remastering this to sound as best it could. It is my first team-up on remastering and I really appreciate all his help. He helped me touch up about 80% of the whole album and those bits and pieces sound magnificent! THANKS CAPTAIN!! Then, after much discussion with pj we decided to go with posting the full, unedited, one track, complete version for... THE FLOW! (It’s all about The Flow baby!). On most cuts the vocals were very low in the mix so I used modern tech to raise them so you can now here all of Peter's imperceptible, incoherent and unintelligible mumblings in gorgeous clarity, lol, you can thank me later!!) If anyone would like the other versions just drop a note in the comment section and I will gladly provide them, Attention Hound that I am!) 

PS If you'd like to hear and see another fun version of this album, check out this YouTube video by another favourite artist of mine Kevin Gilbert! Kevin was a huge Genesis fan and was actually being considered to take over for Collins. It's really rather a tragic story, as when Kevin’s manager found out that Kevin was on the short list as Collin’s replacement he rushed over to Kevin’s house to tell him, only to find Kevin had accidentally killed himself at his home. But here is a link to Kevin (and Giraffe, his incredible back-up band!) performing 'The Lamb; almost in it's entirety, and it’s just FREAKING BRILLIANT! Ahhh…what might have been, but that's a story I'll save for a possible Kevin Gilbert post I'm considering doing here! (Let me know if you’d like that in the comments!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-RtfxuX3Co.

It's always my pleasure to present the various incarnations of Genesis in new and different ways, like this one posted on Paul's site recently   https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2021/05/genesis-acoustic-evening-with-genesis.html

So here is the track listing of what I ended up using from the 2 LP Highland set.

Track listing

01 The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (take 1)
02 Fly On A Windshield (take 1)
03 Broadway Melody Of 1974 (live)
04 Cuckoo Cocoon (different mix demo 1)
05 In The Cage (take 3 and demo mix)
06 The Grand Parade Of Lifeless Packaging (different mix demo 3)
07 Back In N.Y.C. (take 1 and demo mix 3) 
08 Hairless Heart (unnumbered early take)
09 Counting Out Time (take 1)
10 The Carpet Crawlers (live)
11 The Chamber Of 32 Doors (take 1)
12 Lilywhite Lilith
13 Drum Solo - Waiting Room (different mix demo)
14 Anyway (different mix demo)
15 Here Comes The Supernatural Anesthetist (take 1 -demo with Phil on vocals)
16 The Lamia (take 2)
17 Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats (live)
18 The Colony Of Slipperman (Arrival / A Visit To The Doktor / Raven) (take 5)
19 Ravine (live)
20 The Light Dies Down On Broadway (unnumbered early take)
21 Unused Instrumental Intro - Riding The Scree (different mix demo)
22 In The Rapids / It (take 2)

I hope you enjoy this rare peek behind the curtain at Genesis recording their most brilliant album in their catalogue.

Michael

PPS… as always, there is a lot more background info around - here are three great articles on the making of this stunning prog rock masterpiece!

https://classicrockreview.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/genesis-the-demo-mix-down-on-broadway/

https://en.apoplife.nl/in-1974-genesis-releases-the-masterful-the-lamb-lies-down-on-broadway/

https://www.loudersound.com/features/genesis-i-was-aware-there-was-something-going-on-with-peter

For my part I just made the cover, which I wanted to keep as close to the iconic original as possible, so I decided just to colourize the original artwork. pj

Jessica Andrews - Ain't That Life (2005)

Jessica Danielle Andrews Chagnon was born on 29 December 1983 in Huntingdon, Tennessee, and discovered her passion for singing in the fourth grade. She planned on dancing in her school's talent show, but her sister convinced her to sing Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' instead, and a tape found its way to producer Byron Gallimore, who signed her to DreamWorks Records Nashville. At the age of 15, she released her debut album, 'Heart Shaped World', using 12 of the 50-plus songs that Gallimore had her record, and its debut single was 'I Will Be There For You', reaching No. 28 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1999. In April 2000 she made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry, and by the end of the year she'd had two more Top 40 country singles in 'You Go First (Do You Wanna Kiss)' and 'Unbreakable Heart', although the fourth single, 'I Do Now', didn't fare as well. The album itself peaked at No. 24 on the Top Country Albums charts, and at the 2000 Academy of Country Music awards she won the award for Top New Female Vocalist. Her second album 'Who Am I' came out in 2001, and was described by a then 17-year old Andrews as a more mature effort than 'Heart Shaped World', because it focused more on the emotions that come with growing up. The lead single was the title track, and it became her only Number One (and only Top Ten) hit on the country music charts. The success of 'Who I Am' also earned her a nomination for the Horizon award at the 2001 Country Music Association awards, while the album itself received RIAA gold certification for sales of 500,000 copies only four weeks after its release. Her third studio album was released in 2003, and 'Now' featured more of an emphasis on ballads than her first two records. In late 2004 Andrews charted with a duet with Bret Michaels of the rock band Poison, entitled 'All I Ever Needed', for his solo album 'Freedom Of Sound', with the song being Michaels' only country hit. Shortly afterwards Andrews began work on her fourth studio album, tentatively titled 'Ain't That Life', and two taster singles were released, although 'The Marrying Kind' failed to chart, while 'Summer Girl' peaked at No. 46 in mid-2005. The album was all set to go when DreamWorks' recording division was dissolved, and all the albums in their pipeline were cancelled. In October 2008 she signed with Lyric Street Records' subsidiary imprint, Carolwood Records, and released the single 'Everything', which went to No. 45 in early 2009, but once again her album was pushed back and then cancelled when Carolwood Records closed, and she was the only artist not to be transferred to its parent label, Lyric Street. In November 2010 Geffen Records released a greatest hits album titled 'Icon', but that's the last that we've heard from Jessica Andrews, and so as it's bad enough having one album cancelled, let alone two, here is what would have been her fourth studio album 'Ain't That Life'.

Track listing

01 Ain't That Life
02 Ain't That Something
03 Bad Girl Blues
04 Didn't You Know How Much I Loved You
05 Forever To Go
06 I Need A Man
07 I'm Going Back
08 The Marrying Kind
09 Me
10 Poison's In The Sugar
11 Sing This City Home
12 Straight To The Bone
13 Summer Girl
14 Walking Out The Door
15 When We Get There
16 That's Who I Was

The Neptunes - My Drive Thru (2011)

In 2005 Star Trak signed rapper Slim Thug and released his debut album, 'Already Platinum', with singles from it giving Star Trak Entertainment yet more hits with 'Like A Boss' and 'I Ain't Heard Of That'. After the release of Slim Thug's album, Geffen Records was partially absorbed into Interscope, which moved Star Trak into an exclusive distribution deal with Interscope, which ended all business with Geffen, although they did still manage to add Kenna and Robin Thicke to their roster. In 2006 Pharrell Williams released his debut solo album, 'In My Mind', which provided another two hits for the label, 'Can I Have It Like That' with Gwen Stefani, and 'Number One' with Kanye West, and it capitalized on what had become 'the Neptunes sound'. Other releases in 2006 were Robin Thicke's second album, 'The Evolution Of Robin Thicke', and Clipse's second album, 'Hell Hath No Fury', featuring the hit single 'Mr. Me Too'.  This was their first release through their Re-Up Gang Records imprint, but because of constant delays on the album's release date, then low record sales, Clipse asked for a release from the Jive Records label, which in turn released them from Star Trak Entertainment, moving their Re-Up Gang Records imprint to Columbia Records. Further signings to Star Trak included Teyana Taylor, Chester French, Natasha Ramos, Epoch When and Sergio Veneno, and in 2007, Kenna released his album, 'Make Sure They See My Face', on Interscope, with production from the Neptunes. In this final compilation of rare and unreleased productions from the duo, we have a dozen tracks from 2007 to 2011, following the signing of that group of artists, some of whom then recorded music which was never destined for commercial release. I was quite pleased with the cover when I found that there really was a drive thru called Neptune Submarine Sandwiches. 

Track listing

01 Heart Beat (Pharrell Williams feat. Nicole Scherzinger)
02 My Drive Thru (N.E.R.D. feat. Julian Casablancas & Santigold)
03 Gone Away (Joe & Pharrell Williams)
04 Get Down (Rick Ross feat. Pharrell Williams)
05 Let Loose (N.E.R.D.)
06 Not My Fault (Chris Brown)
07 Devastation (Omarion)
08 BabyGirl (R. Kelly) 
09 My Ex Girlfriend (Bobby Valentino feat. Pharrell)
10 Soldier (N.E.R.D. feat. Santigold, Fam-Lay & Lil' Wayne)
11 Bridges (Cee Lo Green) 
12 Lazer-Gun Carryin' (N.E.R.D.)

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Burt Bacharach (1971)

In 1956 Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were both working in the Brill Building in New York City for Famous Music, which is where they published their first songs as co-writers. The songs published in 1956 included 'I Cry More' (featured in the motion picture 'Don't Knock The Rock'), 'The Morning Mail', and 'Peggy's In The Pantry', but their career breakthrough came when their song 'The Story Of My Life' was recorded by Marty Robbins, becoming a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Country Chart in 1957. Soon afterward, 'Magic Moments' was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and reached No. 4 on the Most Played by Disc Jockeys chart, and these two songs were the beginning of a career in which they composed over 230 songs together for the pop market, motion pictures, television, and Broadway. In 1961 Bacharach discovered singer Dionne Warwick, who was working as a session backup singer at the time, and that year the two, along with Dionne's sister Dee Dee Warwick, released the single 'Move It On The Backbeat' under the name Burt and the Backbeats - the first time a record appeared under his name. Bacharach and David were both excited by Warwick's singing and decided to form a production company, Blue JAC Productions, so they could write for her and produce her recordings, and she signed with the new company, and the team subsequently secured a recording contract with Scepter Records for Warwick's recordings. Warwick made her solo recording debut in 1962 with 'Don't Make Me Over', which also became her first hit, and their partnership with Warwick became one of the most successful teams in popular music history. Bacharach released his first solo album in 1965 on the Kapp Records label, but 'Hit Maker!: Burt Bacharach Plays the Burt Bacharach Hits' was largely ignored in the U.S., although it rose to No. 3 on the UK album charts, where his version of 'Trains And Boats And Planes' had become a top five single. In 1967, he signed with A&M Records both as an artist and a producer, recording several solo albums, consisting of a mix of new material plus rearrangements of his best-known songs. In 1969 Bacharach released his second A&M album, 'Make It Easy On Yourself', which like its predecessor, featured outstanding song-writing. One of the highlights of the record was the great production between Bacharach and Phil Ramone, as well as the instrumental performances, and even songs that weren't immediately pleasing to the ear grew on the listener. 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again', 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose?' and the title track were all reclaimed and reworked for the record, and by the end of the year of it's release nearly all of the rest of the tracks had been picked up and recorded by other artists for their own records. So here are their takes on the songs from Bacharach's 'Make It Easy On Yourself' album, together with a few tracks from his 1971 eponymous release to make up the running time, and I've gone for less well-known versions of the biggest hits to give it a bit of variety.     

Track listing

01 Promises, Promises (Connie Francis 1968)  
02 I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Bobbie Gentry 1969)  
03 Knowing When To Leave (Kathy Kirby 1969)  
04 Any Day Now (Elvis Presley 1969)
05 Wanting Things (Dionne Warwick 1968)
06 Whoever You Are I Love You (Johnny Mathis 1969)
07 Make It Easy On Yourself (Long John Baldry 1966)
08 Do You Know The Way To San Jose (Rita Reys 1971)

09 Pacific Coast Highway (Jim Wilkas 2023)
10 This Guy's In Love With You (Georgie Fame 1969)
11 All Kinds Of People (The 5th Dimension 1971)
12 One Less Bell To Answer (Gladys Knight And The Pips 1971)

Allie X - CollXtion VI (2016)

The fourth collection of superb unreleased tracks from Allie X also comes from 2016, and they form the final volume in my addition to her CollXtion series.  

Track listing

01 Make Me Go (Da Da Da)

02 Savior

03 All I Want Is To Be With You

04 High Horse

05 Offering

06 Purge

07 Blindspot

08 Let It Die

09 Portal

10 Ugly

11 Happy Tears

12 Lifeline

13 Petals

14 Work Us Out

15 A Night Like This

16 For Real

17 Permanent Marker

18 Better

19 I Don't Wanna Fall In Love

Billy Joel - All My Life (2014) **UPDATE**

It was mentioned in a comment from Michael P. that there was another track that I could have included here, which was the extended single version of 'Sometimes A Fantasy' from 1980, which not only included a 'Helter Skelter' reference for those in the know, but also has different panning on the guitars, so I've decided to update the post. 

For a man who has only released twelve studio albums spanning 1971-1993, Billy Joel has a large number of rare and alternate tracks out there, from edited promo singles to extended 12"s, duets to rare cover versions. This set gathers together fourteen of the best of them, starting with the edited promo 7" of his 'Piano Man' single from 1973, which might sound odd to fans of the longer version, but the label obviously didn't feel that radio stations wouldn't play a four and a half minute song back then. We then jump forward to 1982 for a rare non-album b-side, followed by extended versions of a couple of his singles, and an alternate take of a collaboration with Steve Winwood. 1993 sees another rare b-side and the original extended version of the title track from his 'River Of Dreams' album, and from the mid 2000's he was duetting with a number of other artists, such as Tony Bennett, Barbara Streisand, Jimmy Webb, Rosie O'Donnell, and Johnny Mathis. In 2007 he released the 'All My Life' single only in Australia, and we end with a couple of covers of Paul McCartney songs, recorded for the 'Art Of McCartney' tribute album in 2014. Hopefully even the most ardent Joel fan should find something of interest here that they might not have heard before. 

Track listing

01 Piano Man (edited promo single 1973) 

02 Sometimes A Fantasy (single edit 1980)
03 Elvis Presley Blvd. (b-side of 'Allentown' 1982)
04 Tell Her About It (extended version 1983) 
05 Keeping The Faith (special extended mix 1983) 
06 Getting Closer (alternate version with Steve Winwood 1986)
07 You Picked A Real Bad Time (b-side of 'All About Soul' 1993) 
08 The River Of Dreams (original extended version 1993) 
09 The Good Life (duet with Tony Bennett 2006)
10 All My Life (single 2007)
11 Wichita Lineman (duet with Jimmy Webb 2010)
12 New York State Of Mind (duet with Barbara Streisand 2014)
13 Maybe I'm Amazed (from 'The Art Of McCartney' tribute album 2014) 
14 Live And Let Die (from 'The Art Of McCartney' tribute album 2014)

Vinnie Vincent - Guitars From Hell (1991)

Vincent John Cusano, better known by his stage name Vinnie Vincent, was born on 6 August 1952, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he picked up the guitar at an early age, being inspired by bluegrass and rock and roll. In 1980 he moved to Los Angeles, California where he became a staff songwriter for the television series 'Happy Days' and 'Joanie Loves Chachi', with many of the series songs being written on his acoustic guitar while sitting at the Cunninghams' kitchen table on the 'Happy Days' set. After being introduced to the band KISS by songwriter Adam Mitchell, Vincent was brought in as the replacement for guitarist Ace Frehley when he left the group, as his personality meshed well with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, thus enabling him to play lead guitar on six of the nine tracks on the 'Creatures Of The Night' album, as well as co-writing three. After a commercially disappointing Tenth Anniversary tour, that finished on a high at what ended up being the last "makeup" show in Brasil, Vincent returned to the studio with KISS to record the 'Lick It Up' album. His work was productive, yielding eight co-writes out of the ten songs on the album, but although he performed well live with KISS, he refused to sign an employment contract, which strained the relationship with Simmons/Stanley. This arose because of disputes over his role in the band and pay, and so consequently Vincent never formally became a member of the band. This ultimately led to him leaving after the North American leg of the 'Lick It Up' tour, where he was replaced by Mark St. John. Despite parting on bad terms, Vincent was later used by KISS as a songwriter on the 1992 album 'Revenge', but he soon fell out of favour with Simmons and Stanley, as they claimed that he again began pulling the same kind of crazy stuff that led to him leaving the band in the first place. After he left KISS, Vincent formed the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, and released a self-titled solo album in 1986 with Robert Fleischman on vocals, then followed it up in 1988 with 'All Systems Go', featuring Mark Slaughter on vocals and Dana Strum on bass. Demos for a third album were recorded, but this was never released due to the Enigma record label going bankrupt, but the eleven tracks saw Robert Fleischman return to the band in place of Mark Slaughter, who had gone on to form his own band Slaughter, taking bassist Dana Strum with him, and they were joined by Chris Lee on bass and Andre Labelle on drums. The album was originally to be titled 'Revenge', but Gene Simmons like the title and convinced Vincent to let him have it for the next KISS album, so it was renamed as 'Guitars From Hell', and with nine of the tracks having since surfaced, that's just enough for a storming 43-minute glam-metal shred-fest.  

Track listing

01 Rocks On Fire 
02 Nuke It
03 Shocker 
04 Invincible
05 Truth
06 Full Shredd 
07 Wild Child
08 Youngblood
09 Genesis

Mars Argo - 2012 (2012)

Brittany Alexandria Sheets was born on 20 April 1988 in Saginaw, Michigan, and is an American singer, songwriter and internet personality, best known by her stage name Mars Argo. After meeting Corey Michael Mixter (a.k.a. Titanic Sinclair) on Myspace, they worked together on the YouTube channels digitalfuntown and grocerybagdottv, and later formed the alternative pop band Mars Argo. The band released their debut album, 'Technology Is A Dead Bird', on 6 November 2009, and this was followed by an acoustic EP, 'Internet Sessions', in 2010, and a second EP, 'Linden Place', in 2011. They began working on a second album with Chicago-based producer, Johnny K, soon after 'Technology Is A Dead Bird' was released, but once a number of tracks had been laid down, the duo put their album on hold and moved to Los Angeles in 2012, where they filmed and released the remainder of the YouTube channel's uploads. More songs were later recorded for the album, but the release was pushed back from 2012 to 2013, and then in 2014 the couple separated, although they continued to work together as a band, performing during the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. After a brief hiatus, and revival in December of the same year, they split up permanently in March 2015 without ever finalising their second album. On 17 April 2018 Sheets filed a 44-page lawsuit against Mixter and his new collaborator Poppy (real name Moriah Rose Pereira), alleging copyright infringement, stalking, and emotional and physical abuse being inflicted upon her by the two, in particular accusing Poppy of stealing her look. The lawsuit was dismissed on 14 September, having been settled out of court with agreements that Mixter and Pereira would not be in contact with Sheets, and with Sheets gaining all rights, title and interest to the Mars Argo music and brand. Despite now owning the rights to the music of Mars Argo, the second studio album has never appeared, and so from the many tracks that they laid down between 2009 and 2014, we can pick the ones most likely to have been intended for the record and piece together what could have been the album tentatively titled '2012', and which would have appeared in that very year. 

Track listing

01 Runaway Runaway
02 Using You
03 Be Easy
04 Doctor (Instrumental)

05 Wet Cigarette
06 Open Up The Door In Your Head 
07 Beauty Is Empty 

08 Stuck on You 
09 Wasting Away 
10 Hear Me Out 
11 Me Today
12 Formal Girl
13 Suicide Birds
14 Love In Black And White

Supersister - Wow (1975)

Supersister was a Dutch progressive rock band formed in The Hague, Netherlands in 1968, from the ashes of The Bulbs, who consisted of Robert Jan Stips on keyboards and vocals, Sacha van Geest on flute, Marco Vrolijk on drums, Ron van Eck on bass, along with Rib Douw and Daniel Denis. The Bulbs were together for about three years from 1965, but when Douw and Denis both left in 1968, the remaining members renamed themselves Supersister and carried on as a quartet. They released their debut single 'She Was Naked' in 1970, and it became their biggest hit, reaching the Netherlands Top 40, and gaining them a record deal with Polydor Records that same year. Their debut album, 'Present From Nancy' appeared later in 1970, and the next two years saw the release of 'To The Highest Bidder' in 1971, and 'Pudding En Gisteren' in 1972. Following the release of that third album, van Geest and Vrolijik both left the group, replaced by Charly Mariano and Herman van Boeyen, respectively, and by 1973 they had started to incorporate more jazz fusion elements into their music, as evidenced by their fourth album 'Iskander'. After its release in 1973, Mariano was replaced by Elton Dean, while Stips left to play keyboard in another Dutch group, Golden Earring. The band decided to split up after the release of their fifth album, 'Spiral Staircase', in 1974, citing diminishing interest in the band's jazz fusion direction, and lacklustre commercial reception. A 2000 reunion included the classic line-up of Stips, van Geest, Vrolijik, and van Eck, and they played Progfest in Los Angeles, later releasing their first official studio album in 26 years, with 'Memories Are New'. One thing that is particularly noticeable about Supersister is that they have never taken themselves too seriously, and this can be heard by listening to the b-sides of some of their singles, such as the spoken word 'Spiral Staircase' and 'The Groupies Of The Band', or their Bonzo's-inspired Elvis take-off single 'Fancy Nancy'. However, they also produced some outstanding progressive rock, and it is for this that they will be most remembered, so enjoy this collection of hard to find singles and b-sides from their classic period of 1970-1975. 

Track listing

01 She Was Naked (single 1970)
02 Spiral Staircase (b-side of 'She Was Naked')
03 Fancy Nancy (single 1970)
04 Gonna Take Easy (b-side of 'Fancy Nancy')
05 Girl Named You (single edit 1971)    
06 Missing Link (b-side of 'Girl Named You')
07 No Tree Will Grow (On Too High A Mountain) (single edit 1971)  
08 The Groupies Of The Band (b-side of 'No Tree Will Grow (On Too High A Mountain)')
09 Dead Dog (b-side of 'Radio' 1972)
10 Wow (single 1973)
11 Drs. D. (b-side of 'Wow')
12 Memories Are New (b-side of 'Bagoas' 1973)
13 Coconut Woman (single as Sweet Okay Supersister 1975)
14 Here Comes The Doctor (b-side of 'Coconut Woman')

Lil' Kim - Notorious 2 (2000)

Kimberly Denise Jones was born on 11 July 1974, and is better known by her stage name Lil' Kim. In her teens, she would freestyle rap, influenced by fellow female hip-hop artists like MC Lyte and the Lady of Rage, and in 1994 she was discovered by fellow rapper The Notorious B.I.G., who invited her to join his group Junior M.A.F.I.A. Their debut album, 'Conspiracy', generated two top 20 singles in the United States and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After a year with Junior M.A.F.I.A., Lil' Kim began her solo career by making guest performances on R&B albums and recording her debut album, 'Hard Core', which was released in November 1996. The album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, the highest debut for a female rap album at that time, and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. In 2001, Lil' Kim reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with the single 'Lady Marmalade' (a remake of LaBelle's 1974 single), alongside Mýa, Pink, and Christina Aguilera, and the song also won her the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. From 1998 to 2000, Lil' Kim continued working under the management of B.I.G.'s best friend, Damion "D-Roc" Butler's Roc Management, touring and modelling for various fashion and pop culture companies including Candie's, Versace, Iceberg, and Baby Phat. On 27 June 2000, she released her second album, 'The Notorious K.I.M.', and this marked a new image and revamped look for the rapper. Despite the limited success of its singles, the album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and was certified platinum four weeks after its release. In 2001 Lil' Kim reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with the single 'Lady Marmalade' (a remake of LaBelle's 1974 single), alongside Mýa, Pink, and Christina Aguilera, and the song also won her the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. While recording tracks for her second album, with production assistance from Timbaland & Stretch Armstrong, various issues caused it to be delayed from its original release date of August 1999, not least the leaking of eight of their tracks. Kim took the opportunity to scrap the pair's contributions and to retool the project by recording 11 fresh songs and dumping nearly all of the leaked content. With pretty much a full album of unreleased and alternate recordings out there, it's no surprise that they have been floating around for a while, and so here they all are collected together to form a sister album to 'The Notorious K.I.M.', from the same time period as the original release of early to mid-2000. 

Track listing

01 K.I.M. (Intro)  
02 Resurrection (All Hail the Queen) (feat. Diddy)
03 Nobody Do It Better than Us (feat. Diddy)
04 Diamonds (feat. Kelly Price)
05 Bad Girl (feat. RuPaul)
06 Revolution (demo feat. Grace Jones & Diddy)
07 Good Time (feat. Lil' Cease) 
08 Makes No Sense (feat. Tanya Stephens)
09 Rockin' It
10 Queen Bitch (Part 2) (feat. Jay Z & The Notorious B.I.G.)
11 Chinatown (feat. DJ Clue, Lil' Cease & Junior M.A.F.I.A.)

12 How Many Licks? (feat. Kelis, Pharrell Williams, Snoop Dogg & Lil' Cease)

Thunderbugs - Delicious (2000)

Thunderbugs were a British girl-pop band comprising Jane Vaughan on lead vocals, Stef Maillard on bass and backing vocals, Nicky Shaw on drums and backing vocals, and Brigitta Jansen on guitar, and in 1999 they were the latest project of Sony Music (through Epic), who were in the process of funnelling a shedload of cash into the band. This was the second all girl group who played their own instruments that they'd launched that year, and as Hepburn had had two top twenty hits under their belt, Sony were hoping for even greater success with Thunderbugs. Whilst Hepburn's slightly whiny and grungy music fitted well with the Buffy soundtrack it appeared on, in contrast Thunderbugs seemed to be a more traditional pop act, with the first single 'Friends Forever' being a happy, breezy affair. They were a multi-national collective, with a British lead singer and drummer, and a continental element in their French bass player and German guitarist, and after 18 months of pre-chart grooming by First Avenue Management they should have been a huge success. In August 1999 it was 'Thunderbugs Are Go!', as the costly TV advert said, to launch 'Friends Forever' and to preview the upcoming debut album 'Delicious'. It seemed to work, as 'Friends Forever' crashed into the UK top 5, but the follow-up was the slower, but still jaunty 'It's About Time You Were Mine', and while not as instant and powerful a tune as 'Friends Forever', it was a reasonable choice for the next single. In 1999 there had been a pop explosion, and by November Sony was pushing to release albums by A1, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Destiny’s Child, so Thunderbugs had to wait their turn, but before long it was Christmas with still no release date for their record. Normally this is a good time to release an album which could pick up sales as a present, which was what Sonly hoped would happen with 'It's About Time You Were Mine', but in 1999 there were so many singles on the schedules that Sony had to concentrate on new releases by acts like the Vengaboys, B*Witched, Queen & David Bowie, Tom Jones, Leann Rimes, TLC, The Beastie Boys, and The Charlatans, as well as big club hits by William Orbit and Progress, and so when the new Top 40 was announced, many singles that were expected to chart highly had disappointing sales, while the lesser known acts didn't show at all. Thunderbugs were one of these casualties, and despite having had all that money spent on them, Sony decided there was no point splashing out any more and they were consigned to the vaults. No further singles were released from the album, and 'Delicious' was only issued in the UK on the flop format of the decade, minidisc. As so often happens with these shelved or restricted release albums, the record itself is a perfectly fine collection of late 90's pop, and deserves to be heard even today, where I think it stands up pretty well.  

Track listing

01 It's About Time You Were Mine
02 Friends Forever
03 Walking On Air
04 You Got Something On Me
05 You And Me
06 Does Your Heart Still Break
07 Angel Of The Morning
08 Miracle Baby
09 Jealous
10 Delicious
11 Alright Now

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Neil Sedaka (1978)

When Neil Sedaka was 13, a neighbour heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist, and before long they were part of the Brill Building's legendary composing stable, writing songs together throughout much of their young lives. Before rock and roll became popular, Sedaka and Greenfield found inspiration from show tunes, and when Sedaka became a major teen pop star, the pair continued writing hits for him and numerous other artists. Unlike most of the other Brill Building songwriters, Sedaka was also releasing his own singles at the same time as writing for others, and finally hit the big time in 1959 when 'Oh, Carol' reached number 9 in the Hot Hundred in 1959, followed by his first number one with 'Breaking Up Is Hard To Do' in 1962. In 1964 Sedaka's career began a sharp decline, hastened by The Beatles' arrival on the radio and TV, along with the rest of the so-called British Invasion, and following the release of his 'My Yiddishe Momme' album in 1966 he didn't release another long-player for four years, although he was still writing through-out that period. Sedaka worked to revive his solo career in the early 1970's, and in 1971 he reunited with RCA and released the 'Emergence' album, which included the single 'I'm A Song (Sing Me)'. In 1972, he embarked on a successful British tour and was introduced by Harvey Lisberg to the four future members of 10cc, and he recorded his 'Solitaire' album with them as his backing band at their Strawberry Studios in Stockport, with the album being issued later that year by RCA. The title track was successfully covered by both Andy Williams and the Carpenters, while his own single 'Beautiful You' also charted briefly in America, and was his first US chart appearance in ten years. 'Solitaire' was the first collaboration between Sedaka and new song-writing partner Phil Cody, whom Sedaka felt was an ideal lyricist for his music in a singer-songwriter style, and this was proved to be true when by 1978 nearly every song on 'Solitaire' had been picked up and covered by other artists, the best of which are collected here, along with a few from 'Emergence' to make up the album to a satisfactory 42 minutes. 

Track listing

01 That's When The Music Takes Me (Helen McBennett 1978) 
02 Beautiful You (Colin Blunstone 1976)
03 Express Yourself (Adrienne Posta 1973)
04 Home (Vince Hill 1974)
05 Adventures Of A Boy Child Wonder (Ted Neeley 1973)
06 Dimbo Man (Blablus 1976)
07 Trying To Say Goodbye (Dana 1975)
08 Solitaire (The Carpenters 1975)
09 Don't Let It Mess Your Mind (Helen Reddy 1975)
10 Gone With The Morning (Suzanne 1973)
11 God Bless Joanna (Tony Christie 1972)
12 One More Mountain To Climb (David Soul 1976)
13 (I'm A Song) Sing Me, Sing Me (Lou Christie 1971)

Velvet Starlings - Sold Down The River (2020)

Velvet Starlings are an indie rock quartet from Los Angeles, California, who are deeply rooted in 1960's psych, beat and fuzz. They were formed by the then 18-year old Christian Gisborne, and the band has been praised for its ability to fuse 60's garage rock into a sound that is all their own, best described as beach-fuzz-psych with a big cheeky nod to the British Invasion. Their debut self-titled EP on Sound x 3 Records/Rock N Rolla Records was released in late 2018, in collaboration with producer/songwriter Roger Gisborne (leader of 90's Brit Rock band Plastiscene, and Christian's brother). It included the single 'Borrowed Time', which was a clear tribute to the sixties era, while second single, 'Sold Down The River', showcased Dylan-esque lyrics, soulful Hammond B3 organ, gritty guitars and raw blues inspired vocals. They followed this with another EP in 2019, with 'Love Everything, Love Everyone...' containing seven more superb 60's influenced tracks, which were this time produced by Christian Gisborne alongside his brother, and now bandmate, Roger in Los Angeles, with engineer/mixer Josiah Mazzaschi (Smashing Pumpkins, The Kills, Jesus & Mary Chain and Deap Valley). The music adopted a slightly heavier sound, mirroring the band's dynamic live performance, and 'Kids In Droves' was chosen as the lead single from the EP. In late 2020 they released a Christmas single, and the following year they finally issued their debut album, 'Technicolour Shake Down', to positive reviews. I've been a massive fan of the band since the first time I heard 'Sold Down The River', and remember being amazed that someone so young could produce a song so firmly rooted in an era that was over more than twenty year before he was even born. As an introduction to the band, here are their first two EP's, plus their Christmas single, compiled into an album that really deserves a hearing, and if you are as impressed by them as I was then check out their debut album proper on Bandcamp. 

Track listing

01 If Life Ain't Getting You High
02 Borrowed Time
03 Sold Down The River
04 I'll Be There
05 Coming Home
06 No Hard Feelings
07 It's Christmas Time Again
08 Bitter Pills
09 Kids In Droves
10 Rabbit In A Gun
11 Emerald Isle
12 Karmic Lemonade
13 No Soul To Save
14 Broken Soul (Reprise)

Allie X - CollXtion V (2016)

For the third collection of unreleased tracks from Allie X we move on to what I think is an outstanding collection of songs that were recorded in 2016, and which make up volume 5 in this extension of her CollXtion series.  

Track listing

01 Sculpture
02 Why You Wanna (O Chad)
03 Elijah
04 Aurora
05 Glam (Love Me Forever)
06 I Take Ut Back

07 MASTERpeace
08 I'm Not Gonna Tell My Boyfriend
09 Paradise
10 One Day And One Night
11 Tongue Tied
12 Could This Be Destiny
13 Chad Redux

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 69 (2019)

Time for another episode of Mike Solof's investigations into all things Beatles and Beatles-related, and for this episode he is concentrating on one of the things that the band are best known for - their exquisite harmonies. A lot of the Beatles’ songs followed standard triadic three-part harmony, with John taking the main melody, Paul the higher (a third above John) and George below John, or sometimes in between John and Paul. Paul, being the group’s most natural tenor, took the highest line almost without exception. Some songs, and parts of songs, can include strikingly non-standard harmonies, purposeful clashing or with more complex tonality, including 'Yes It Is', 'I Want To Tell You', and Paul and George’s backing in 'You Can't Do That', and in this episode Mike takes an overview of the band's harmonic highlights, from 1963's 'Ask Me Why', to the sumptuous 'Because' from 1969.

Track listing

01 Episode 69 - The Beatles In Harmony

Soundgarden - Cold Bitch (1994)

Bassist Hiro Yamamoto and drummer/singer Chris Cornell played together in The Shemps in the early 80's, and when the band split up they stayed in touch, teaming up again in 1984 and adding Kim Thayil on guitar to form Soundgarden. Cornell originally played drums while singing, but in 1985 the band enlisted Scott Sundquist on drums to allow Cornell to concentrate on vocals. The band travelled around playing various concerts with this line-up for about a year, and their first recordings were three songs that appeared on the 1986 compilation album for C/Z Records called 'Deep Six', featuring 'Heretic', 'Tears To Forget' and 'All Your Lies'. In 1986, Cornell's then-girlfriend and future wife, Susan Silver started managing Soundgarden, and in the same year Sundquist left the band to spend time with his family and was replaced by Skin Yard's drummer, Matt Cameron. Signing to the newly-formed Sub Pop label, they released their first single, 'Hunted Down' in 1987, with the b-side, 'Nothing To Say', also appearing on the KCMU compilation tape 'Bands That Will Make Money', which was distributed to record companies, many of whom showed interest in Soundgarden. The 'Screaming Life' EP followed on Sub Pop in 1987, and the 'Fopp EP' appeared in 1988, and they were combined in 1990 into 'Screaming Life/Fopp'. Though major labels were courting the band, in 1988 they signed to the independent label SST Records for their debut album, 'Ultramega OK', which was released on 31 October 1988. Although Cornell accused SST's appointed producer of not knowing what was happening in Seattle, the album earned the band a Grammy Award nomination for Best Metal Performance in 1990. 

After touring to promote 'Ultramega OK', the band signed with A&M Records, which caused a rift between Soundgarden and its traditional audience, accusing them of selling out, and losing them some of their early fans. The band later began work on its first album for a major label, but personnel difficulties caused a shift in the band's songwriting process, and Cornell ended up writing a lot of the material, and 'Louder Than Love' was released in September 1989. A month before touring for 'Louder Than Love' was to begin, bassist Hiro Yamamoto, who was becoming frustrated that he was not making much of a contribution, left the band to return to college. After playing a few unsuccessful rehearsals with Jim Tillman from the U-Men, Jason Everman, formerly of Nirvana, officially replaced Hiro Yamamoto on bass, although he only lasted until the tour was finished before he was fired. Bassist Ben Shepherd replaced Everman and the new lineup recorded Soundgarden's third album in 1991, with 'Badmotorfinger' being released on 8 October. Although eclipsed at the time of its release by the sudden popularity of Nirvana's 'Nevermind', the focus of attention brought to the Seattle scene helped Soundgarden gain wider attention. The singles 'Outshined' and 'Rusty Cage' were able to find an audience on alternative rock radio and MTV, and the album received some positive reviews, being nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1992. The band played the 1992 Lollapalooza tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, and Ministry, and in anticipation of their appearance, they released a limited edition of 'Badmotorfinger' with a second disc containing the EP 'Satanoscillatemymetallicsonatas', featuring their cover of Black Sabbath's 'Into The Void', titled 'Into The Void (Stealth)'. 

In 1993, they contributed the track 'Show Me' to the AIDS-Benefit album 'No Alternative', and then began work on their fourth album, 'Superunknown', which was released on 8 March 1994. This was the band's breakthrough album, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart and being driven by the singles 'Spoonman', 'The Day I Tried To Live', 'Black Hole Sun', 'My Wave', and 'Fell On Black Days'. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in 1995, and remains their most successful album. Recording for their next album was fraught with tensions, with Thayil and Cornell allegedly clashing over Cornell's desire to shift away from the heavy guitar riffing that had become the band's trademark, and when 'Down On The Upside' was released on 21 May 1996 it was notably less heavy than the group's earlier albums, and marked a further departure from the band's grunge roots. After completing a tour in support of the record, the band split in April 1997, saying that they had been "eaten up by the business". Soundgarden were undoubtedly one of the best grunge outfits of the 80's/90's, and so here is a collection of rare and hard to find non-album songs from their career from 1986 to 1992, including some choice cover versions hidden away on b-sides and EP's. 

Track listing

01 Toy Box (b-side of 'Flower' 1989)
02 Heretic (from 'Deep Six' compilation album 1986)
03 Come Together (b-side of 'Hands All Over' 1990) 
04 Fresh Deadly Roses (from the 'Loudest Love' EP 1990)
05 Into The Void (Stealth) (from the 'Jesus Christ Pose' EP 1992) 
06 Girl You Want (from the bonus CD with limited 'Badmotorfinger' album 1992)  
07 Stray Cat Blues (from the 'Jesus Christ Pose' EP 1992)  
08 She's A Politician (from 6" flexi-disc with Relfex Magazine 1991)
09 Cold Bitch ('Badmotorfinger' outtake 1992)
10 Show Me (from the 'No Alternative' compilation album 1993, with Ben Sheppard on vocals)
11 Touch Me (b-side of 'Rusty Cage' 1992, with co-vocals by Stephanie Barber)  
12 I Don't Care About You (from the 'Outshined' EP 1992) 
13 Can You See Me (from the 'Outshined' EP 1992) 
14 I Can Give You Anything (from the 'Outshined' EP 1992) 
15 Homicidal Suicidal (from the 'Outshined' EP 1992) 
16 She Likes Surprises (bonus track on Japanese edition of 'Superunknown' 1994)
17 Like Suicide (acoustic) (b-side of 'Black Hole Sun' 1994)

Track 3: Beatles cover
Track 5: Black Sabbath cover
Track 6: Devo cover
Track 7: Rolling Stones cover
Track 11: Fancy cover
Track 13: Jimi Hendrix cover
Track 14: Ramones cover
Track 15: Buzzcocks cover

Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr - Driving Lessons (1976)

Before forming the Cars, members of the band performed together in several different groups. Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr met in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960's after Ocasek saw Orr performing with his band The Grasshoppers on the Big 5 Show, a local musical variety program. The two were members of various groups in Columbus, Ohio and Ann Arbor, Michigan before moving to Boston in the early 1970's, and once there Ocasek and Orr, along with lead guitarist Jas Goodkind, formed a Crosby, Stills and Nash-style folk rock band called Milkwood. In 1972, they released an album titled 'How's The Weather' through Paramount Records, but it failed to chart, and so Milkwood fell apart and Ocasek and Orr formed a new group called Richard And The Rabbits, a name suggested to them by Jonathan Richman. This band included Greg Hawkes, who had studied at the Berklee School of Music and had played saxophone on Milkwood's album, but when Hawkes left to tour with musical comedy act Martin Mull and His Fabulous Furniture, the duo then performed as an acoustic duo called Ocasek and Orr at the Idler Coffeehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1974 they recorded demos of a few of their songs using the Richard And The Rabbits line-up, which included Hawkes and Fuzzbee Morse, with the addition of Tom Yates on guitar and Glenn Evans on drums for a cover of Buddy Holly's 'Everyday'. 

Ocasek and Orr later teamed with guitarist Elliot Easton (who had also studied at Berklee) in the band Cap'n Swing, which featured the afore-mentioned Glenn Evans on drums, later followed by Kevin Robichaud, and a jazzy bass player, which clashed with Ocasek's preference for a rock-and-roll sound. Orr was the lead vocalist and did not play an instrument, and they soon came to the attention of WBCN disc jockey Maxanne Sartori, who began playing songs from their demo tape on her show. After being rejected by several record labels, Ocasek fired the bass player, keyboardist and drummer and resolved to form a band that better fitted his style of writing. Orr took over bass guitar duties, and Robichaud was replaced by David Robinson, formerly of The Modern Lovers and DMZ. Robinson's sense of fashion exerted a strong influence on the band's image, and he also suggested the band's new name, and so The Cars was formed in 1976, going on to become one of the best late 70's pop bands. These 1974 demos show a more laid-back style than would later emerge in the power-pop of The Cars, and as the tape is only 29 minutes long I've picked a couple of Cap'n Swing songs that blended in nicely with the other tracks to flesh it out to album length. The title alludes to the fact that this was their learning period before they were allowed out in their own Cars. 

Track listing

01 Harlequin
02 Sam's Decision
03 I Need Spring
04 You're Always Brighter
05 Goes On Sleeping
06 Never Gonna Get Over You
07 Twilight Superman
08 Everyday  
09 Dream Trader
10 Start It All Again

The Neptunes - Big White Spaceship (2006)

In 2001 the Neptunes formed the Star Trak label, which was partially funded by Arista Records (from Bertelsmann Music Group) in a joint-venture. Pharrell Williams would sign longtime friends, Clipse, and release their debut album, 'Lord Willin'', on the label in 2002, led by the hits 'Grindin'', 'When The Last Time', and 'Ma, I Don't Love Her'. After the success of the album, the label would sign Kelis, Vanessa Marquez, Fam-Lay, N.E.R.D and pop rock band Spymob, who had provided backing instruments for N.E.R.D's debut album 'In Search Of....'. The label released a compilation album during the summer of 2003, entitled 'The Neptunes Present... Clones', featuring songs and remixes from various Star Trak artists. In late 2003, Star Trak Entertainment released the highly successful album, Tasty, by Kelis led by the hit single 'Milkshake', and in early 2004, Star Trak linked with EMI's Virgin Records for a new distribution deal. In the second of three compilations of rare and unreleased productions from the Neptunes, here are some of their lesser-known productions from 2002 to 2006.

Track listing

01 SOS Baby (Robin Thicke) 
02 Operator (Ol' Dirty Bastard feat. Clipse & Pharrell Williams)
03 Big White Spaceship (Pharrell Williams feat. Timbaland & Magoo) 
04 Wifey (Usher feat. Pharrell) 
05 My First Time (Beyonce) 
06 Want You To Know (Vanessa Marquez feat. Justin Timberlake) 
07 Another Life (Robin Thicke)
08 If You Keep On Askin' (Vanessa Marquez) 
09 Only One (Usher feat. Pharrell) 
10 Friends Are (Vanessa Marquez) 
11 Locked Away (N.E.R.D.)
12 What's A Guy Gotta Do (Usher)
13 Til the Morning [MJB Demo] (Natasha Ramos)

Holiday Time...

Time to jet off for some much-needed sun in Morocco, so the blog will be taking a short break until I get back. I've posted a few more albums than usual this week to tide you over, and I'll be back in two weeks. Soulseek will be offline while I'm away, so email aiwe2@yahoo.com for the download links if you can't wait for my return.