Loudest Whisper - The Wheel Of Life (1976)

Loudest Whisper grew out of an earlier band called The Wizards, who were formed during the 60's in Fermoy, County Cork in Ireland by singer/guitarist Brian O'Reilly. Around 1970 they changed their name to Loudest Whisper, to reflect their wish to mix their earlier folk-rock with the heavier music of the time. After a few years on the circuit they performed a folk-rock musical that they had written, entitled 'The Children Of Lir', and from it's first performance in January 1973 it was a huge success, leading to more performances and a feature on 'Tangents', an RTE Television current affairs programme. Spurred on by this success, O'Reilly wrote a second musical entitled 'Perseus', which featured a new member of the band, Gerladine Dorgan, who was still at school at the time, and it premiered at the Fermoy Youth Centre at Christmas 1973. Following the success of these performances, Loudest Whisper were signed to Polydor Records, and set about recording 'The Children Of Lir' album, and they also recorded their first single at the same time, with 'William B' being a tribute to W. B. Yeats. Both the single and the album were released in 1974, and 'The Children Of Lir' has since become one of folk-rock's most highly-regarded and sought-after albums, despite Polydor's lack of faith in it at the time. The following year was taken up with a third musical, 'Maiden Of Sorrow', although this was never recorded as a studio album, and so the only way to hear it is on a bootleg recording which was issued by Kissing Spell Records.

1977 saw some line-up changes, with bassist John Aherne leaving as he was unable to balance the live work with the band with his day job, but it also saw the release of the 'Rock 'n Roll Child' single, which was a hit in Ireland. In 1978 work began on building a recording studio, which was a joint venture between O'Reilly and a local music shop, and Fiona Studios opened it's doors in 1979, where the band recorded their next Irish hit single 'Magic Carpet'. In 1980 Polydor agreed that they could record a second album, as long as it included their hit singles, and so in 1982 they released 'Hard Times', featuring new co-lead-singer Bernadette Bowes, although they seemed to have got one over on the label, as it included all new material. However, between 'The Children Of Lir' and 'Hard Times' the band had been recording demos which they stored away, and since these have appeared on a recent box set we now find that they had more than enough material to release their second album a good six years before they actually did. By including a couple of b-sides, a track from the 'Perseus' musical, and some 1974/1975 demos we end up with a great folk-rock album, mixing some lovely folky moments with lashings of heavy guitar, just as they set out to do following their change of name. I think it hangs together really well, and it certainly proves that 'The Children Of Lir' was not a one-off, and that they had much more to offer if only their record label had shown a bit more faith in them.    

Track listing

01 Wrong And Right
02 Danae's Song
03 Lord Have Mercy
04 The Wheel Of Life
05 You Said You Loved Me
06 Come Back Paddy Reilly To Ballyjamesduff
07 Children Of The Wild Wind 
08 Wouldn't It Be Fine?
09 William B
10 Silent O'Moyle

Burt Bacharach - Burt Bacharach's Greatest Misses (1962)

While Burt Bacharach did score some early hits in the 1950's, and wrote songs recorded by some of the biggest stars of the day, as well as some of the more obscure ones, it wasn’t until Dionne Warwick's slew of hits with his and Hal David's tunes that he became a ubiquitous name in pop music. His early attempts at song-writing were recorded by a variety of artists, including Connie Stevens, Jack Jones, The Wanderers, The Exotics, Jane Morgan, and Vic Dana, but simply put, these are songs that didn’t make it; none of them charted at all. The vast majority of these tracks were written by the Bacharach/David team, but there are some exceptions, with 'Dreamin' All the Time', for example, being written by Bacharach and Bob Hilliard. Although these are early examples of Bacharach's work, they are still lushly orchestrated, dreamy pop songs with traces of his melodic trademark, as well as his sweeping harmonies. One interesting cut is the Shepherd Sisters' 'Deeply', written with Norman Gimble, which was an early girl group rock tune that featured the marimba sound from 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose'. There were a few duds along the way, of course, proving that Bacharach is human after all, but they tended to be songs from the late 50's and very early 60's, and by 1962 he and David had started to produce music that would point the way to their biggest hits, such as 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' and 'Walk On By', just a year later.

Track listing

01 Manpower (The Exotics 1962)

02 And This Is Mine (Connie Francis 1961)
03 Don't Envy Me (Joey Powers 1962)
04 Dreamin' All The Time (Jack Jones 1962)
05 Forever My Love (Jane Morgan 1962)
06 Sinner's Devotion (Tina Robin 1961)
07 The Answer To Everything (Sam Fletcher 1962)
08 Joanie's Forever (Buddy Clinton 1960)
09 Waitin' For Charlie To Come Home (Jane Morgan 1962)
10 You're Following Me (Jimmy Breedlove 1962)
11 I Could Make You Mine (The Wanderers 1960)
12 Call Off The Wedding (Babs Tino 1962)
13 Deeply (The Shepherd Sisters 1961)
14 For All Time (The Russells 1962)
15 The Story Behind My Tears (Vic Dana 1961)
16 Somebody Else's Sweetheart (The Wanderers 1961)
17 Come Completely To Me (Steve Rossi 1960)

Jamie Hawkins - JH (2001)

Jamie Hawkins comes from a musical family, and at the age of 16 he was already working with such gospel legends as his parents, Walter Hawkins and Tramaine Hawkins, and his uncle, Edwin Hawkins, leader of the Edwin Hawkins Singers. At the age of 19 he was was the assistant musical director for MC Hammer's 1992 Too Legit to Quit Tour, and from there he became the musical director for Jodeci's Forever My Lady Tour. in addition to all this, he was the musical director for the extremely successful MTV Unplugged TV show, featuring Uptown recording artists Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Father MC, Christopher Williams, and Heavy D & the Boyz. In 1998 Hawkins served as musical director for Lauryn Hill's Miseducation Tour, and for 18 months preceding this, he was musical director for Boyz II Men. He has consistently set his sights high, and started a career as a recording artist with Monami/Elektra Records, with his first single being the catchy 'Lost My Mind' in 2000, taken from the album that he recorded for Elektra Records in 1999. Despite his eye-catching live performances attracting rave reviews, the album was cancelled in 2001, and so his hoped-for singing career came to nothing, which is a shame as he definitely had something, being compared favourably to Stevie Wonder. Luckily some promo copies of the album were pressed, and so we can now enjoy yet another album where the record company had no idea of just what they were giving up. 

Track listing

01 Lost My Mind 
02 Next To You  
03 More And More  
04 Tell Me  
05 Spend My Life With You  
06 I Saw You (Interlude)
07 It's Over Now  
08 Thought You Should Know  
09 Just Friends 
10 Just Jamie (Interlude)  
11 Do You Remember  
12 You're The One For Me  
13 Prelude  
14 By My Side  
15 The Story  
16 Just Jamie - Outro

Rick & The Ravens - Rampage (1965)

Rick & The Ravens was an American surf rock band founded in 1961 by Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on organ and harmonica, Patrick Stonier on saxophone, Roland Biscaluz on bass, and Vince Thomas on drums. The drummer and bass player were initially not permanent members, but asked to join whenever a gig was upcoming, and the name stemmed from leader Rick Manczarek. In 1962, Ricks' brother Ray moved to Los Angeles from Chicago, and joined the band on vocals and occasional piano. The band performed on weekends for college crowds, mostly from UCLA Film School, at a bar called the Turkey Joint West on Santa Monica Boulevard, and they played their own original songs, padded with covered versions of blues standards such as 'I'm Your Doctor, I Know What You Need' by Muddy Waters, 'Louie Louie' by Richard Berry, Barrett Strong's 'Money', and Willie Dixon's 'Hoochie Coochie Man'. Jim Morrison did perform with Rick & the Ravens, when Ray Manzarek (now using a different spelling) invited his former college colleague on stage, much to everyone's surprise. Morrison was reportedly not prepared for this, and sang himself hoarse. Rick & The Ravens released three singles in 1965, two on the Aura label and one on Posae Records, with the 'Soul Train' single being released under the name of Ray Daniels featuring Rick & The Ravens. This was an attempt by the record label to promote Ray Manzarek (under the name Ray Daniels) as the lead artist in the group, but these plans were discarded when Morrison joined the band. 

On 2 September 1965 the band entered World Pacific Studios in Los Angeles and recorded six songs that would eventually be re-recorded for Doors albums, with two as late as 1968 when Morrison suffered writer's block: 'Moonlight Drive', 'My Eyes Have Seen You', 'Hello, I Love You', 'Go Insane' (known simply as 'Insane' on the acetate), 'End Of The Night', and 'Summer's Almost Gone', The recording session was a relatively quick affair, only lasting three hours in total, and five acetate were made, one of which is still owned by Ray Manzarek. The 1965 demo features Jim Morrison on vocals, Ray Manzarek on piano and background vocals, John Densmore on drums, Rick Manczarek on guitar, Jim Manczarek on harmonica, and Patricia "Pat" Hansen on bass guitar. Both Morrison and Rick Manczarek were disappointed by the response the demo received after attempting to promote it, and Manczarek and Sullivan were additionally not impressed with Morrison's songs, leading to both Rick and Jim Manczarek later quitting the band. At Morrison's suggestion, they changed the name of the group to The Doors, and in October 1965 Robby Krieger joined on guitar, having earlier performed with Densmore in the Psychedelic Rangers. The Doors were initially a quintet, but when Manzarek decided to handle the bass duties with the newly introduced Fender Rhodes Piano Bass, Sullivan was dropped from the line-up in December 1965, ultimately ending up with the classic Doors line-up of Morrison, Manzarek, Krieger, and Densmore. To hear how they reached that stage in their career, here are the three singles recorded by Rick & The Ravens, plus the 1965 demos, including two previously unreleased recordings.

Track listing

01 Just For You
02 Hello I Love You
03 Rampage
04 Moonlight Drive
05 Summer's Almost Gone
06 Big Bucket 'T'
07 My Eyes Have Seen You
08 Circle Twist
09 End Of The Night
10 Henrietta
11 Insane
12 Geraldine
13 Blow Top
14 Soul Train

GUNK - Bloomdido (2024)

On 25 November 2024 the BBC hosted the Young Jazz Musician 2024, celebrating the competition’s tenth anniversary, and which featured four talented young performers competing for the title BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024. Hoping to take the coveted title were 19 year-old saxophonist George Johnson, 22 year-old bassist Ursula Harrison, 22 year-old pianist Nils Kavanagh, and 18 year-old trumpeter Klara Devlin. They each performed a set in front of a live audience and a formidable judging panel, consisting of pianist, bandleader and educator Nikki Yeoh, saxophonist, producer and MC Soweto Kinch, award-winning trumpeter Laura Jurd, bassist, composer and band leader Jasper Høiby, and vocalist and composer Zara McFarlane. They were backed by three of the UK's leading jazz musicians, Zoe Rahman on piano, Alec Dankworth on bass, and drummer Sophie Alloway, and while Thompson performed one single self-composed piece, the other three musicians offered a mix of their own compositions and their takes on some of their favourite classics, from artists like Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver and Chick Corea. Because the finalists were a pianist, bassist, saxophonist and trumpeter, they were able to form a quintet with drummer Alloway for an ensemble rendition of Charlie Parker's 'Bloomdido' to close the show, naming the group GUNK after the initials of their first names. Ursula Harrison eventually won the competition, but even as I was watching it I heard a couple of pieces that I really wanted to hear again, in particular Kavanagh's lovely 'Hazelwood Home', and so when it was over I recorded the whole thing and compiled an album of my favourite performances. If you are into jazz in any way then give this a listen, as these four musicians could be at the forefront of British jazz in a few years, and you can then say that you heard them here first. 

Track listing

01 For Sean (Nils Kavanagh)
02 Peace (Klara Devlin)
03 Golden (Ursula Harrison)
04 Hazelwood Home (Nils Kavanagh)
05 Who Shall Guide Me (George Johnson)
06 Speak No Evil (Ursula Harrison)

07 Bloomdido (GUNK)

08 Litha (Klara Devlin)

The Mojo Men - Dance With Us (1966)

The Mojo Men formed in 1964, when singer/bassist Jim Alaimo,  guitarist Paul Curcio, drummer Dennis DeCarr, and keyboardist Don Metchick moved from Florida to San Francisco to form a new band. There they met Sylvester Stewart, later known as Sly Stone, who was at the time a record producer at Autumn Records for acts such as The Beau Brummels and The Vejtables. Stewart and the band recorded a few songs under the name Sly And The Mojo Men, but he was unsatisfied with the results and chose not to release them, and he later produced a number of recordings from the band where they performed their own material, as well as a few covers. Once again, these were held in the vaults of Autumn Records as they were not deemed worthy of release. In 1966 DeCarr left the group and was replaced by drummer/vocalist Jan Errico, formerly of the Vejtables, and following a move from Autumn to Reprise Records, the band's earlier British Invasion-influenced garage rock style evolved into a more successful pop/folk rock. The 1966 recordings have since been released on a compilation, but you can hear why some of them didn't find favour with the label, and so by trimming the track listing down to just the best songs, and removing demos and duplicates, we can approximate what an album of British Invasion-style rockers from the group might have sounded like in 1966.  

Track listing

01 Why
02 My Woman's Head
03 As I Get Older
04 Girl Won't You Go On Home
05 Free As A Bird
06 Lost Love
07 Dance With Me
08 Loneliest Boy In Town
09 Everything I Need
10 Fire In My Heart
11 Something Bad
12 The New Breed
13 She's My Baby
14 Why Can't You Stay

Les Fleur De Lys - I Can See A Light (1968)

The Fleur De Lys (or Les Fleur De Lys as they were originally known) were formed in Southampton in 1964, and were the brain-child of Dave Jay, Southampton's answer to Brian Epstein. The original line up consisted of Frank Smith on vocals and guitar, Danny Churchill on bass and vocals, Alex Chamberlain on organ, and Keith Guster on drums. After a little over a year of continuous hard slog they came to the attention of Tony Calder, Andrew Loog Oldham's partner in the newly formed Immediate records, and he offered them the chance to make a record, with the Jimmy Page-produced 'Moondreams' being released in November 1965. The band never liked the A-Side, but agreed to record it as they had written a song to be included on the flip entitled 'Wait For Me', which they felt better represented their live sound, but when the record was issued their version was replaced by an instrumental with the same name performed by session musicians. Possibly partly as a result of this, Churchill became disillusioned with the music business and quit the band, being replaced by Gordon Haskell, who had previously been playing with The Dowlands. This new line up set off for a month long residency in Germany at the start of 1966, and it was there they met Phil Sawyer, who was an amazing young guitarist from London, who had previously been with legendary Mod/R&B band The Cheynes, alongside Peter Bardens and Mick Fleetwood. He was then playing with a band called Johnny Deen and The Deacons, but wasn't happy, and so jumped at the chance of joining Les Fleur De Lys. 

On their return to the UK, Chamberlain decided to leave the band, but Immediate Records offered them the chance to record their second record, which was a cover of The Who's 'Circles', and their version has since become the definitive version of the song. Shortly afterwards, Smith left the group, leaving Guster as the only original member of the group, and so he had to recruit new members, settling on Chris Andrews, an old friend of Phil Sawyer's, on vocals and Pete Sears on keyboards. Throughout 1966 the band were constantly gigging, and they were approached by Nicky Wright and Kenny Barker, two young movers and shakers on the London scene, who asked if they could manage them. They introduced the band to Frank Fenter, who was at that time head of Atlantic records in the UK, and was married to South African singer Sharon Tandy. She had been recording for Pye Records, but through Fenter had managed to get a record deal with Atlantic, and he wanted the group to become her backing band for live shows, and so in late 1966 he signed them to Polydor records and became their manager. They began recording on Polydor almost immediately, and one of the first sessions they did featured overdubs by Jimi Hendrix, who had recently arrived in the UK, and was living with Guster and Haskell. 

The band's first release for Polydor was 'Mud In Your Eye', which was a superb slice of freakbeat, but shortly after its release in December 1966, Sawyer left to join Shotgun Express, and he was replaced almost immediately by Bryn Howarth. The early part of 1967 was spent gigging, mostly on their own, but sometimes backing Tandy. In May, Sears left to join Sam Gopal's Dream, and the rest of the group started working at Polydor studios as session musicians for other artists. In June, Andrews was approached by Howard Condor, who wanted the band to record a track for him which was written by his protégé Rod Lynton, and the group agreed. The result was a one off single which was released under the name Rupert's People, and 'Reflections Of Charles Brown' / 'Hold On' has become another well-respected piece of psychedelia. It was soon after this recording that Andrews left the band to pursue a solo career under the name Tim Andrews, and the remaining trio spent an increasing amount of time playing with Tandy, and doing session work at Polydor Records. Towards the end of 1967 they issued another record under their own name, with 'I Can See A Light' being a departure from their usual style, but which was still a beautiful piece of orchestrated 60's pop, and the same day that it was issued Frank Fenter took the unusual step of releasing another Fleur de Lys recording, 'Tick Tock', under the pseudonym Shyster. 

As 1968 dawned, the band were wanting to stretch out, and felt the need to get a full time vocalist on board, so Tony Head, a friend of Haskell's from his early days in Bournemouth, was soon given the job. Things were looking good for the band when, shortly after Head joined, Haskell decided he'd had enough and left to join The Flowerpot Men. Auditions were held for a new bass player and in came Tago Byers, ex member of Reading's top R&B band The Moquettes. The first single after this change was 'Gong With The Luminous Nose', which was issued in March 1968, but it was actually recorded a few months earlier and featured Haskell on lead vocals. The first job of the new line-up was to finish sessions with John Bromley for his album 'Sing', and they then began work on some new material. Ahmet Ertegun, legendary boss of Atlantic Records in America, watched the band play whilst in the UK and was so impressed that he signed them to Atlantic Records, with their first release for the label being 'Stop Crossing The Bridge', a powerhouse of a track that is now considered a high water mark of British Blue Eyed soul. Fenter tried to cash in once again by issuing another of their old recordings, 'Butchers And Bakers', this time as Chocolate Frog. 

In 1969 the band set about recording new material, and by February they had finished their next single 'Liar', and also the next Sharon Tandy record, 'Gotta Get Enough Time'. and in March they began work on what was to be their last record, 'Two Can Make It Together, which was issued under the name Tony and Tandy with The Fleur De Lys. Just as the record was making an impression on radio and TV, and was selling well, Guster was involved in a serious car accident that left him with a broken neck, and he was unable to perform for three months. By the time he had recovered enough to return to London, Howarth had announced that he was leaving the UK and going to America to join Leigh Stephens of Blue Cheer in his new band, and Tandy had become very ill, and was no longer able to sing. Head then went to work for Sparta Music as a session singer, and Byers and Guster joined The Amboy Dukes, leaving The Fleur De Lys as a footnote in the history of UK freakbeat and psychedelic rock. Most of their singles were superb examples of 60's freakbeat, and by 1968 they had enough material under their belt to release what would have been an excellent album, and so as they never got around to it in their lifetime, here is what it could have sounded like had it appeared some time in 1968. It includes that early b-side that was taken away from them by Immediate, plus 'Tick Tock' and 'Butchers And Bakers', as although they weren't singles by the band, they did record the tracks.   

Track listing

01 Mud In Your Eye
02 So, Come On
03 Stop Crossing The Bridge
04 I Can See A Light
05 Gong With The Luminous Nose
06 Prodigal Son
07 Circles
08 Nothing To Say
09 Tick Tock
10 Brick By Brick
11 I Walk The Sands
12 You've Got To Earn It
13 I've Been Trying
14 Hammerhead

15 Butchers And Bakers
16 Wait For Me

Smoke 2 Seven - Fighting Fire (2003)

At the age of 16 Vicky Fallon O'Neill was signed by president and owner of Curb Records, Mike Curb as part of a three-part girl-band called Holy Smoke, along with Beverley Clarke and Jo Perry, who were both 20 years old. They signed a 7-album deal with Curb, and the group enlisted ex London Records MD Laurie Cokell as their manager, and after changing their name to Smoke 2 Seven when they found out another band already had the name Holy Smoke, they toured with Daniel Bedingfield, and released two UK singles. 'Been There Done That' was released in March 2002, and reached number 26 in the UK singles chart, followed exactly a year later by 'Envy', which only managed number 79. The girls recorded enough music for their debut album, and two versions were pressed up on promo CDr's, under the names of 'Crazy Tale' and 'Fighting Fire', but after Fallon left in 2002, the band drifted apart and the album was never released. After being released from her contract with Curb Records, O'Neill returned to London and began working as a session singer and songwriter under the name Vicky Fallon, working for Disney, Pixar, Alesha Dixon, Alsou and various other pop acts. Clarke and Perry faded from the music scene, but while together they were a tight little band, and as proof of that here is their unreleased 'Fighting Fire' album from 2003. 

Track listing

01 Envy
02 I Will, I Won't
03 The Lizzies
04 Been There Done That
05 Time To Be The B.I.T.C.H.
06 Body Like Butter
07 Crazy Tale
08 Out Of Sight (Stuck In A Predicament)
09 I Hate You
10 Kinda Unstuck
11 No Excuses (Too Late For Sorry)
12 Payback

Linda Scott - Patch It Up (1967)

Linda Joy Sampson was born on 1 June 1945 in Queens, New York, moving with her family to Teaneck, New Jersey when she was 11 years old. In 1959 she auditioned to appear on Arthur Godfrey's popular CBS Radio show while she was still attending junior high school, and after having won a place on the show, Sampson and other young performers became regular guests. During the show's run, she came to the attention of Epic Records, and she made her recording debut as Linda Sampson with the single 'In-Between Teen'. Though still attending Teaneck High School, in 1961 she signed with Canadian-American Records, which had struck gold with Santo & Johnny's 'Sleep Walk', and label changed her performing name to Linda Scott and released the hit 'I've Told Every Little Star' in 1961, a standard written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern for their 1932 production 'Music In The Air'. The track sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc, and it was the first of three of her biggest hits, which all came in that first year. 'I've Told Every Little Star' was followed by 'I Don't Know Why', which reached number 12 in the US chart, and then 'Don't Bet Money Honey' topped that by getting to number 9, with this last song being an original composition by Scott. 

She also charted with 'Starlight, Starbright' in August 1961, which peaked at number 44 on the Billboard charts, and when her first album was released that year, it played on those early singles with every track mentioning 'star' in the title. When Canadian-American started a subsidiary label, Congress Records, in 1962, Scott was the showcase artist, with both labels releasing new material of hers simultaneously, and her self-composed 'Yessirree' was featured in the Chubby Checker film 'Don't Knock The Twist' that year. Her final US chart appearance was 'Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed?', which was released in January 1964, the same month that The Beatles made their first chart appearance. In 1965 she became a cast member of the variety show 'Where the Action Is', which she co-hosted with singer Steve Alaimo, and her last recording, 'They Don't Know You', was released in 1967 on RCA Records. She continued to record as a backing vocalist, most notably on Lou Christie's 1969 hit 'I'm Gonna Make You Mine', before finally quitting show business in the early 1970's. In 2022 her hit 'I've Told Every Little Star' was featured in an advert for the H&M store, alerting a whole new generation of fans to her music, and so for anyone who wants to hear more from her, here are all her non-album tracks from 1963 to that final single in 1967.  

Track listing

01 Let's Fall In Love (single 1963)
02 I Know It, You Know It (b-side of 'Let's Fall In Love')
03 Ain't That Fun (single 1963)
04 Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed? (single 1964)
05 My Heart (b-side of 'Who's Been Sleeping In My Bed?')
06 Everybody Stopped Laughing At Janie (single 1964) 
07 I Envy You (b-side of 'Everybody Stopped Laughing At Janie')
08 Patch It Up (single 1965) 
09 You Baby (single 1965)
10 Don't Lose Your Head (single 1965) 
11 I'll See You In My Dreams (b-side of 'Don't Lose Your Head')
12 Toys (single 1966)
13 Take A Walk, Bobby (b-side of 'Toys')
14 They Don't Know You (single 1967)
15 Three Miles High (b-side of 'They Don't Know You')

J. Cole & Kendrick Lamar - The Millennials Folklore (2023)

Around 2010 a rumour began to circulate that rappers Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole were collaborating on an album together, and speculation was rife about when it would be released. The pair had first met at a No I.D. gig, where Cole played some beats that he had to Lamar, and one of them would eventually become 'HiiiPoWer', which Cole produced for Lamar on his acclaimed 2011 debut album 'Section.80'. In 2010, speculation started that there was a rumoured J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar collaboration album, although as the years went on, fans were left disappointed. In 2012, during an interview with BootlegKev, Cole confirmed that when it did come out it would be an official album, and not the mixtape that had been suggested, but still nothing emerged. The two did eventually get together in the studio when Lamar guested on Cole's 2013 track 'Forbidden Fruit', but this appeared to be a one-off, as nothing else from the pair has appeared since that. On Black Friday of 2015 both artists dropped a surprise release, when each of them remixed a track by the other, and uploaded them to Soundcloud. Cole rapped over Lamar's 'Alright' instrumental, while Lamar went off on Cole's 'Tale Of Two Cities' beat, and there was a hint at the end of Cole's rap that the joint album might appear in February of 2016. This seemed to be confirmed, when Lamar's sister, Kayla Duckworth, tweeted "Collab drop #Feb 16 so be on the look out as well", although February came and went with no sign of the record. One of the major stumbling blocks was always going to be the fact that Lamar was signed to TDE, Aftermath and Interscope Records, while Cole was with Rocnation, distributed by Columbia through his Dreamville label, so there would have to be some major negotiations to get through before a record would be able to appear. Recently the two rappers fell out, after Cole appeared to diss Lamar on his track '7 Minute Drill', where he starts the song off by mentioning that Lamar's verse on 'Like That' was simply a hustle for attention, with him stating "I got a phone call, they say that somebody dissing / You want some attention, it comes with extensions", and then immediately after, Cole takes straight shots at Lamar, as he talks about his discography, and the inconsistency that Lamar has within the music industry. Following that, it's now extremely unlikely that this legendary album will ever appear, and so to draw a line under the whole episode, Youtuber Will On The Soul had painstakingly put together a mash-up from the two rappers which can serve as the closest that we'll ever get to an actual joint album from them. 

Track listing

01 Intro
02 The King’s Gambit (feat. Bas)
03 Reign Supreme
04 Phone Calls
05 Delta Blues
06 The Journey Of The Lamb (feat. Joey Badass)
07 Sampha Freestyle (feat. Sampha)
08 Love Language / Am I Wrong  (feat. Andre 3000, Drake & Mild Orange)
09 Javari (feat. Boubacar Traoré)
10 Perspectives
11 The Promised Land Interlude (feat. Bobby Bland)
12 The Promised Land (feat. Andre 3000)
13 Jam Psychadelic / Outro

Marilyn Manson - The Manson Family Album (1993)

Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids were formed in December 1989 after vocalist Marilyn Manson met guitarist Daisy Berkowitz at the Reunion Room nightclub, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The pair, along with various other musicians, recorded several EPs of original demos over the next three years, with Berkowitz composing the majority of the music and Manson writing lyrics. The band's highly visualized live shows, which routinely featured naked women nailed to a crucifix, young children locked in cages, and an assortment of butchered animal remains, quickly earned them a loyal fanbase among the South Florida punk and hardcore music scene, and within six months of forming, the band was playing sold-out shows in 300-capacity nightclubs throughout Florida. While working as a journalist for 25th Parallel in February 1990, Manson interviewed Nine Inch Nails vocalist Trent Reznor, and the two remained friends, with Manson eventually presenting Reznor with a compilation of demos. Impressed by the material, Reznor offered the group a spot opening for Nine Inch Nails and Meat Beat Manifesto at Club Nu in Miami in July 1990. The band, which now included Gidget Gein on bass guitar, Madonna Wayne Gacy on keyboards, and Sara Lee Lucas on drums, continued touring and recording independently for two years, using the proceeds from a record deal signed with Sony in early 1991 to fund the recording of more demo tapes. In November 1992, Manson was invited by Reznor to attend unspecified "strategic talks" in Los Angeles, and by the end of the year, Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids became the first act to be signed to Reznor's Nothing Records vanity label, shortening their name to Marilyn Manson by the beginning of 1993. 

Recording sessions for their first album, 'The Mason Family Album', began in July 1993 at Criteria Studios in Miami with producer Roli Mosimann, and concluded several months later in the autumn. Mosimann's production aimed for a "sleazy, groove-laden" sound", and the band made heavy use of tape loops, sound effects, and samples during recording, but in the end the band was unhappy with the results, believing it to be poorly representative of their live performances, with Manson complaining that Mosimann's production made the songs sound too smoothed and polished, and they lost their  bite and edge. At the beginning of 1994, the band relocated to the Record Plant in Los Angeles, but without bassist Gidget Gein, who had been fired from the band a few days before Christmas 1993, due to his ongoing addiction to heroin. The whole album was re-recorded over seven weeks at the Record Plant, and despite Berkowitz's initial reluctance to re-record the album, worrying that it would make them look like a Nine Inch Nails/Reznor spin-off, the final result was a very high-quality piece of work. After re-recording, the the record was renamed 'Portrait Of An American Family', and was released in 1994 to limited commercial success, but mostly positive reviews, and by 2017 Rolling Stone had deemed it to be one of the greatest albums in the history of heavy metal music. Although 'The Manson Family Album' was never released, Manson said in his 1998 autobiography 'The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell' that he intended to use a painting by serial killer John Wayne Gacy as the album cover, and so that's what I've done for this post. 

Track listing

01 Snakes Eyes And Sissies
02 Lunchbox
03 Get Your Gunn
04 Cyclops
05 Citronella
06 Cake And Sodomy
07 Filth
08 Sweet Tooth
09 Organ Grinder
10 My Monkey
11 Misery Machine
12 Dope Hat

Many of these tracks were re-recorded for the band's official debut album, but these versions differ in the following ways:
'Filth' is exclusive to this album, and has never been commercially released.
'Snake Eyes and Sissies' features an extra verse, resulting in it being 62 seconds longer than the version which appeared on 'Portrait...'
'Lunchbox' lacks the opening sample of Robert Pierce saying "Next motherfucker's gonna get my metal", and the opening guitar line contributed by Reznor.
'Get Your Gunn' repeats the chorus and bridge more than the released version, and is 50 seconds longer.
'Citronella' was later renamed 'Dogma' for its official release, though the two versions are almost identical.
'Sweet Tooth' lacks the 59 seconds of introductory ambient noise found on 'Portrait...'
This version of 'My Monkey' lacks a conventional chorus, and contains significantly more audio samples taken from television interviews by Charles Manson than the 'Portrait...' version, which appear where the chorus was later inserted. Robert Pierce's vocals are also much clearer and placed higher in the mix.

Two Of Each - Every Single Day (1971)

Two Of Each were a UK vocal quartet who formed in 1966 with a line-up of Mandy More on vocals, John Conran on bass and vocals, Michael Castro on lead guitar and vocals and Tina Ambrose on drums. In 1967 More left the group and was replaced by Mally Page, and around this time they secured a record deal with Decca Records. Their first single for the label was 'Every Single Day', which was released in 1967, but that was a short-lived union, and in 1968 they signed to Pye Records, where they would stay for the rest of their recording career. Their first single for Pye was the Tony Hatch/Jackie Trent-composed 'The Summer Of Our Love', backed with the excellent 'Saturday Morning', but with no chart action, they had to wait a year for their next record on the label. In 1969 they released a fine version of Paul William's 'Trust', and this had another Hatch/Trent composition on the flip, with their 'Trinity Street' sounding like it should have been released a couple of years earlier. Their final single for Pye comprised two covers, with 'Here Comes The Sun' on the A-side, backed with a psyche-tinged take on 'Colour My World', and after this 1970 release the band went through some line-up changes, and re-emerged as a new group called Sweetcorn. Under this name they released three singles on Pye Records, sticking with Hatch/Trent songs for a couple of them, and backing singer Jamie on 'I'm Gonna Love You', which was released as Jamie And The Sweetcorn. For the b-side of their final single in 1971, John Conran wrote 'Carpet Ride', and it is one of their best recordings, so I wonder if they might have had more success if they'd been allowed to write more of their own material. Putting that to one side, here is the almost complete musical output of Two Of Each and Sweetcorn from 1967 to 1971, and they are an example of yet another pop group who tried for five years to get a hit single, and are now just a forgotten footnote in the history of UK pop music.   

Track listing

01 Every Single Day (single 1967)
02 I'm Glad I Got You (b-side of 'Every Single Day')
03 The Summer Of Our Love (single 1968)
04 Saturday Morning (b-side of 'The Summer Of Our Love')
05 Trust (single 1969)
06 Trinity Street (b-side of 'Trust')
07 Here Comes The Sun (single 1970)
08 Colour My World (b-side of 'Here Comes The Sun')
09 Catch Me, Catch Me (single as Sweetcorn 1970)
10 Sunshine Follows The Rain (b-side of 'Catch Me, Catch Me')
11 I'm Gonna Love You (single as Jamie & The Sweetcorn 1970)
12 No, No, You Don't Know (b-side of 'I'm Gonna Love You')
13 Carpet Ride (b-side of '(We Can) Work Together' as Sweetcorn 1971)

The Avengers - Sing (1972)

I've been wanting to post a collection of music by Linda Thorson for quite some time, but as she only recorded seven songs then it would have been a somewhat short album, from the star of The Avengers TV series from 1968-1969. However, this week I had a brainwave, and I looked around to see if any other members of the cast of the series had released singles during it's timeframe, and the obvious answer was yes, they have, as Patrick MacNee and Honor Blackman actually had a hit with their 'Kinky Boots' record in 1964. That same year Blackman released an album under her own name, with 'Everything I've Got', and she followed that four years later with a stand-alone single 'Before Today'. Diana Rigg went into the recording studio in 1972 and released her own single, 'Forget Yesterday', and so with Thorson's seven songs, I suddenly had more than enough music for an album. Massive thanks are due to Gaz Williams for composing the picture of MacNee with all his sidekicks in one place for the cover, and so here we have just what it says on that cover - the stars of The Avengers sing. As a special treat, this is the only place that you will be able to hear Honor Blackman's 'Before Today', as after a fruitless search on Soulseek, Youtube, and the internet in general, I actually bought a copy of the original 7" single so that I could complete this post.  

Track listing

01 Theme From The Avengers (Laurie Johnson 1961)
02 Kinky Boots (single by Patrick MacNee & Honor Blackman 1964)
03 Let's Keep It Friendly (b-side of 'Kinky Boots by Patrick MacNee & Honor Blackman)
04 Men Will Deceive You (from 'Everything I've Got' by Honor Blackman 1964)
05 Before Today (single by Honor Blackman 1968)
06 I'll Always Be Loving You (b-side of 'Before Today' by Honor Blackman)
07 Here I Am (single by Linda Thorson 1968)
08 Better Than Losing You (b-side of 'Here I Am' by Linda Thorson)
09 Bad Time To Stop Loving Me (single by Linda Thorson 1968)
10 I'll Just Pick Up My Heart (b-side of 'Bad Time To Stop Loving Me' by Linda Thorson)
11 Wishful Thinking (single by Linda Thorson 1970)
12 You Will Want Me (single by Linda Thorson 1971)
13 Open Up Your Heart (b-side of 'You Will Want Me' EP by Linda Thorson 1971)
14 Forget Yesterday (single by Diana Rigg 1972)
15 Sentimental Journey (b-side of 'Forget Yesterday' by Diana Rigg')

The Montanas - A Step In The Right Direction (1968)

The Montanas formed in Birmingham in 1964, and consisted of Bill Hayward on lead guitar, Graham Crewe on drums, and Ralph Oakley on bass, with John Jones as lead singer, and they were primarily known for their live shows, which had a very theatrical presentation, and included bits of comedy between the songs. The group were managed by Roger Allen, who was able to get them a contract with Pye Records, bringing them under the wing of songwriters Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent, who had written hits for Petula Clark. In 1966 they were joined by Terry Rowley, who was the lead guitarist with the Mountain Kings, although when he teamed up with The Montanas he switched to keyboards. They released two singles in 1966, the second of which, 'That's When Happiness Began' b/w 'Goodbye Little Girl', became a steady seller in the autumn, when it received extensive radio play. The band's breakthrough came later in the year when they were the opening act for the Walker Brothers tour across the UK, concluding in November 1966. More singles followed, and the band appeared on radio programmes like Easy Beat and Saturday Club, and touring expanded to other countries including France, the Netherlands, and Germany. One single in particular, 'Ciao Baby' b/w 'Anyone There', was released in March 1967, and sold over 10,000 copies in Britain alone, but although they were favourites among reviewers, and got very heavy radio play, none of their singles scored any major chart action in England. 

Somehow, however, the Trent/Hatch penned 'You've Got To Be Loved' from 1967 managed to make the American Top 50, but as they lacked the resources to go to the United States to promote the record, they had to watch as it rose and fell from the charts. That same year Jake Elcock joined on bass and Graham Hollis took over on drums, and their live reputation continued to grow. The recording side of the group, however, was showing some strain, as they felt that their reliance on outside songwriters, which had been a mere detail in 1965, had become a liability by 1967, and their records, for all of their excellence, didn't reflect the group's actual sound, which was a lot less pop-oriented than their singles would have led one to believe. In 1968, Rowley and Jones left the group to join a band called Finders Keepers, which soon after became Trapeze. Ian "Sludge" Lees and George Davies came into the lineup in time for the 'Let's Get A Little Sentimental' single in 1970, although Lees was best known for providing the comedy between their songs, and later became a well-respected comedian. Rowley and Jones only lasted as members of Trapeze for the group's first album, and returned to the Montanas in 1970, and the band carried on until they finally disbanded in 1978. Even if the group felt that their recordings didn't represent their live sound, some of the singles were creditable 60's pop, and by 1968 they had amassed enough material to put together an album, and so if they'd wanted to do that, this is what it could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 Take My Hand
02 A Step In The Right Direction
03 Run To Me
04 Top Hat
05 Miss Mackenzie
06 Difference Of Opinion
07 Goodbye Little Girl   
08 Ciao Baby
09 You've Got To Be Loved
10 Hold On
11 Anyone There
12 Someday (You'll Be Breaking My Heart Again)
13 That's When Happiness Began
14 You're Making A Big Mistake

Betty Jayne And The Teenettes - Time Will Tell (1962)

Betty Jayne (BJ) Shawd was born on 12  ovemner 1946 in Kingston, New York, moving to Florida with her parents in 1948, where she grew up. She learned to sight-read music at the age of five, and graduated from Mainland High School in 1963, after which she chose a career in music. Her first recording was under the name Betty Jane, and was a split single with Charles Vickers And Trio, with her 'Dial "L" For Love' appearing on the flip of his 'Now More Than Ever' on the Crusader label in 1960. She was joined by The Teenettes for this record, and they would appear with her on many of her subsequent recordings. Later in 1960 she signed to Carellen Records, who released her debut single, 'The Sun Will Rise', under the name of Betty Jayne And The Teenettes in January 1961, and this was followed in April that year by 'Tag Along'. Later in 1961 she got a deal with Mona-Lee Records, who released 'Lonely Teenager' by Betty Jayne And The Teenettes in 1961, while the following year she released 'Loneliness In My Heart' as a solo single on the same label, although she was back with Carellen later in 1062 with another solo single in 'What's She Got (That I Ain't Got)'. 'Dreamy' was her next solo single, this time backed by 'Dudley', which was a duet as Betty Jayne And Dudley, while 'My Billie Boy' was her last single for Carellen Records in 1962, before she moved to Tropical Records to re-acquaint herself with Charles Vickers for another split single. This time she got the A-side with her 'In The Darkness', while his 'Come On, Baby' graced the b-side. For her final single of 1962 she was back with Mona-Lee for 'Now There's You', and that would be the last that we'd hear from her for a decade, when she suddenly re-appered with 'I'm Remembering Love' on West Spec Music in 1973. In her later years she devoted much of her life towards helping others and speaking out against injustices of all kinds, and was a Political Rights Activist, a Human Rights Activist, and an Animal Rights Activist, and she passed away in July 2020. For the first few years of the 60's Betty Jayne produced some great pop music, and this post collects some of the best of those songs together, along with an early single by The Teenettes from 1958, who were a group in their own right before they teamed up with her in 1961.

Track listing

01 Dial "L" For Love (single 1961, as Betty Jane)
02 The Sun Will Rise (single as Betty Jayne And The Teenettes 1961)
03 Show Your Love (b-side of 'The Sun Will Rise')
04 Tag Along (single as Betty Jayne And The Teenettes 1961)
05 I'm No Longer Jimmy's Girl (b-side of 'Tag Along')
06 No One To Love (unreleased single 1961, as Betty Jayne)
07 Putting On A Show (b-side of 'No One To Love')
08 Lonely Teenager (single as Betty Jayne And The Teenettes 1962)
09 Time Will Tell (b-side of 'Lonely Teenager')
10 What's She Got (That I Ain't Got) (single 1962) 
11 Cry Baby Heart (b-side of 'What's She Got (That I Ain't Got)')
12 Dreamy (single 1962)
13 Dudley (b-side of 'Dreamy', with Dudley)
14 In The Darkness (split single with Charles Vickers 1962) 
15 Too Young To Fall In Love (single by The Teenettes 1958)
16 My Lucky Star (b-side of 'Too Young To Fall In Love')

Jay-Z - Road To Perdition (2016)

On 27 October 27 2005 Jay-Z headlined New York's Power 105.1 annual concert, Powerhouse, calling the concert "I Declare War", and the theme was Jay-Z's position as president and CEO of Def Jam, complete with an on-stage mock-up of the Oval Office. In November 2006 he released his come-back album, 'Kingdom Come', and the single 'Show Me What You Got' was leaked on the Internet in early October 2006, scheduled to be released later on that month, and first week sales of the album were 680,000, enough to be his "biggest sales week ever" as Billboard reported. He followed this in November 2007 with his tenth album entitled 'American Gangster', reportedly inspired after he viewed the Ridley Scott film of the same name, where he wanted to create a new concept album that depicted his experiences as a street-hustler. On 1 January 2008, Jay-Z resigned as president of Def Jam. In winter 2008 it was announced that he would become the first major hip hop artist to headline Britain's Glastonbury Festival, and despite negative comments from Noel Gallagher, tickets sold out quickly, and he also headlined many other summer festivals in 2008, including Roskilde Festival in Denmark, Hove Festival in Norway, and O2 Wireless Festival in London. In May  2009 he announced he would be parting ways with Def Jam, and had struck a multi-million-dollar deal to sign with Live Nation, with whom he would start his Roc Nation imprint which would serve as a record label, talent/management agency, and music publishing company. He released his eleventh album 'The Blueprint 3' in September 2009, and it was his eleventh album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In 2011 he collaborated with Kanye West to record their joint album 'Watch The Throne', following this two years later with his own 'Magna Carta... Holy Grail' in 2013. This final collection of out-takes and rarities covers the years 2005 to 2016, and so might not be as cohesive an album as some of the previous posts, but all of the tracks are worth hearing if you are fan of his work. 

Track listing

01 Dead Presidents 3 
02 Ignorant Shit 
03 You're Welcome (feat. Mary J Blige & Swizz Beatz)
04 Off That (feat. Drake) 
05 Ain't I (feat. Timbaland) 
06 When The Money Goes 
07 All About The Benjamins Freestyle (feat. Shyne & Sauce Money)
08 Higher (Hai Hai) 
09 The Game Iz Mine 
10 Blue Ivy
11 Bounce (demo) (feat. Timbaland) 
12 We Made It (feat. Jay Electronica) 
13 Road To Perdition (feat. Jay Electronica)
14 Bedstuy To Marcy (feat. Sauce Money)  
15 Tower Heist

Toby Twirl - Toffee Apple Sunday (1968)

Toby Twirl grew out of an earlier band that started around 1963, formed by Stu Somerville on bass, Jim Routledge on drums, and Barry Redman on keyboards, who were in the same class at Rutherford College in Newcastle. The trio were later joined by Norman Errington on guitar and vocalist Graham Bell, and they played predominantly Rhythm & Blues material under the name of Shades Of Blue. Bell's time with the band was relatively short-lived, being replaced by Dave "Holly" Holland, although he did go on to some success later with stints in Skip Bifferty and Bell & Arc. Next to leave the original line-up was guitarist Errington, who was replaced by Nick Thorburn, while Richie McConnell took over from  Routledge on drums. These line-up changes also signalled a change in the musical direction of the group, moving away from its original Rhythm & Blues roots and playing more pop type songs. Before long Shades Of Blue had found its niche playing in Working Mens Clubs, which were abundant in the northeast at that time, building up a good reputation, and never being short of well paid work. At some stage one of the band members attempted to promote Shades Of Blue by touting demo acetate discs recorded by an early version of the band at Morton Sound Studios in Newcastle, and one of the acetates ended up at Decca Records, putting the band on the company's radar. Subsequently two original songs, 'Utopia Daydream' and 'Quarter Past Lovely Day', penned by guitarist Nick Thorburn, impressed producer-cum-songwriter Wayne Bickerton, who arranged a recording contract with Decca, and took the band under his wing.

There was already an existing American band recording as Shades Of Blue so a change of name was necessary, and so at the end of 1967 the name Toby Twirl was chosen, after a cartoon character in children’s books published in the 1940's and 1950's. At the same time as things seemed to be looking up for the band, McConnell decided to leave, as he was planning to get married and was uncertain about how a life on the road away from his new bride would affect his life. Bickerton also thought that the band would benefit from a more experienced drummer, and so McConnell was replaced by an established drummer from Sunderland called John Reed. The band's big break came around Christmas 1967, when following a gig in Gateshead they were approached by the directors of the Bailey Organisation, who owned a string of night clubs throughout the country. The band were offered a management contact, which they accepted, and the company gave then a red Transit van, and numerous gigs over the Christmas and New Year period. In January 1968 Decca released two track recorded before Reed had joined as a single, with Bickerton's 'Back In Time' backed with '(The Fantasy World Of) Harry Faversham', penned by American songwriters. 

This latter song featured the exploits of a knight fighting off dragons to save a damsel from a castle, and a promotional video filmed at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland was one of the earliest videos of that type, featuring the band members in Regency style costumes and a paid actress cast as the damsel. The 'Harry Faversham' video was aired on TV several times, but in spite of this and the nationwide publicity through Baileys and Fabulous Magazine, the single failed to chart. In 1968 the band's future looked promising, with almost daily gigs in northeast social clubs, and for the next two years they toured throughout the UK. Amid the busy touring schedule in 1968, the band managed a further recording session at Decca's studios in London, and while on the previous occasion session musician were used to provide the instrumental backing, this time the band were allowed  to record everything apart from string and brass parts. The recording session resulted in the release of the band's second single, 'Toffee Apple Sunday', written by band members Nick Thorburn and John Reed, backed with 'Romeo And Juliet 1968', another Wayne Bickerton composition. However, as with the first single, 'Toffee Apple Sunday' failed to make an impression in the charts, probably due to a lack of air play. The band's final single for Decca was released in January 1969, with 'Movin' In' being backed by a reworking of the Thorburn composition 'Utopia Daydream', but despite good media coverage, air play of the single was not forthcoming, and consequently it also flopped, resulting in the end of the band's recording career with Decca.

They continued with a gruelling schedule of club gigs throughout 1969 and 1970, including a couple of foreign trips to Germany and Denmark, but morale within the band was low, and Holland was the first of the five core members to leave the band, being replaced with a vocalist from the Rochdale area called Stuart Pickering, who had previously worked in the Manchester area under the name of Reg James. In May 1970 tragedy struck when bass player Somerville went missing whilst canoeing in the North Sea near Whitley Bay, and after an extensive search, a canoe and lifejacket were recovered, although Somerville was not found. His apparent death was a great shock to the rest of the band, and although new bassist Dave Robson was recruited, and the band continued to tour for a further six months, at the end of 1970 they decided to disband the group. And that would have been the last that we heard from Toby Twirl if it wasn't for the fact that their three singles were so different to the music that they played at their gigs, that when 1960's psychedelic pop made a come-back in the 1980's, Toby Twirl's output was re-examined and achieved a new-found appreciation. While they were probably not that bothered about releasing an album, as they were primarily a live band, they could have issued one in 1968 just by using the tracks from their Decca session to date, and so here is what that album could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 Toffee Apple Sunday
02 Baby What Good Is Love
03 Movin' In
04 Back In Time
05 Marjorine
06 Dark Time Of The Year
07 Harry Faversham
08 Something In Your Eyes
09 Baby You're A Rich Man
10 Romeo And Juliet 1968
11 Love Is Love
12 Gonna Have A Good Time (Good Times)
13 Utopia Daydream

Wild Honey - Sow The Seed Of Love (1974)

After her 1971 Bulgarian single 'Love Me Like A Lover' went the same way as her previous releases, Tina Charles teamed up with Kim Keene and Mally Page and formed the female trio Wild Honey. As Charles was already signed to MAM Records as a solo artist, they took on Wild Honey, and their first attempt at a single was to pair Charles' last single for them, 'Baby Don't You Know Anymore', with a new Wild Honey track, 'He's My Sugar', just so that any fans out there would know that the two were connected. The first real Wild Honey single was 1972's Motown-esque 'There's No Stopping Us Now', and this was followed the next year by a re-release of 'He's My Sugar', but this time as an actual Wild Honey record, with 'People Of The Universe' on the flip. However, for the b-side of their 1974 single, 'Everybody Knows', and also for 1976's 'Baby I'm Your Man', the girls were relegated to backing vocalists on their own records, with an uncredited male singer taking the lead on both songs. The music was fairly typical of the period, being a sort of cross between early-'70s contemporaries Pickettywitch and Charles' own future within 5000 Volts, but the group's need for acceptance saw them try out a variety of musical styles as they searched for one that might break them out of obscurity. None did, of course, but they did produce some enjoyable music, with some pursuing a sub-glam rock direction, while others could be seen to hint at the disco-danceable sound that was starting to break through in the nid-70's. They only produced five singles in their very short career, and so to round off this album I've added Charles' collaboration with Martin Jay as Airbus, with their 1974 single 'Fly Away'.

Track listing

01 There's No Stopping Us Now (single 1972)
02 Sow The Seed Of Love (b-side of 'There's No Stopping Us Now')
03 He's My Sugar (single 1973)
04 People Of The Universe (b-side of 'He's My Sugar')
05 Gotta Find A Way (single 1974)
06 Everybody Knows (b-side of 'Gotta Find A Way')
07 A Mother For My Children (single 1975)
08 Have A Little Mercy (b-side of 'A Mother For My Children')
09 Why Didn't I Think Of That (single 1976)
10 Baby I'm Your Man (b-side of' Why Didn't I Think Of That')
11 Fly Away (single as Airbus 1974)
12 Susanna In The Summer (b-side of 'Fly Away')

Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson - BB (1973)

Björn Ulvaeus began his musical career at the age of 18 as a singer and guitarist, when he fronted the Hootenanny Singers, a popular Swedish folk–skiffle group. He started writing English-language songs for his group and even had a brief solo career alongside. Meanwhile, Benny Andersson was also 18, and was a member of a popular Swedish pop-rock group, the Hep Stars, that performed, among other things, covers of international hits. The Hep Stars were known as "the Swedish Beatles", and they even set up Hep House, their equivalent of Apple Corps. Andersson played the keyboard and eventually started writing original songs for his band, many of which became major hits, including 'No Response', which hit number three in 1965, and 'Sunny Girl', 'Wedding', and 'Consolation', all of which hit number one in 1966. The Hootenanny Singers and the Hep Stars sometimes crossed paths while touring, and in June 1966 Ulvaeus and Andersson decided to write a song together, with their first attempt being 'Isn't It Easy To Say', a song that was later recorded by the Hep Stars. Stig Anderson was the manager of the Hootenanny Singers and founder of the Polar Music label, and he saw potential in the collaboration, encouraging them to write more. The two also began playing occasionally with the other's bands, although it was not until 1969 that the pair wrote and produced some of their first real hits together. 

Andersson wrote and submitted the song 'Hej, Clown' for Melodifestivalen 1969, the national festival to select the Swedish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, and the song tied for first place, but re-voting relegated Andersson's song to runner-up. As their respective bands began to break up during 1969, Andersson and Ulvaeus teamed up and recorded their first album together, 'Lycka', in 1970, which included original songs sung by both men. Frida Lyngstad also participated in the Melodifestival in 1969, and this was where she first met Andersson, and before long they were a couple, with Andersson producing her single 'Peter Pan', which was her first collaboration with Benny & Björn, as they had written the song. During filming of a Swedish TV special in May 1969, Agnetha Fältskog met Ulvaeus and they married in 1971, and both girls started adding backing vocals to Benny & Björn's recordings. An attempt at combining their talents occurred in April 1970 when the two couples went on holiday together to Cyprus, and what started as singing for fun on the beach ended up as an improvised live performance in front of the UN soldiers stationed on the island. 

They then formed a stage act called Festfolket (which translates from Swedish as "Party People" and in pronunciation also "engaged couples"), but the cabaret show attracted generally negative reviews, except for the performance of the Andersson and Ulvaeus hit 'Hej, gamle man', which was their first recording to feature all four singers. They also performed solo numbers from their respective albums, but the lukewarm reception convinced the foursome to shelve plans for working together for the time being, and each soon concentrated on individual projects again. After the 1970 release of 'Lycka', two more singles credited to Björn & Benny were released in Sweden, 'Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa' and 'Tänk om jorden vore ung', with more prominent vocals by Fältskog and Lyngstad. The first signs of foreign success came as a surprise, as the Andersson and Ulvaeus single 'She's My Kind Of Girl' was released through Epic Records in Japan in March 1972, giving the duo a Top 10 hit. Two more singles were released in Japan, 'En Carousel' (an early version of 'Merry-Go-Round') and 'Love Has Its Ways'. Ulvaeus and Andersson persevered with their song-writing and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements, and 'People Need Love' was released in June 1972, with the women given much greater prominence, and so the single was released as by Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. 

The song peaked at number 17 in the Swedish single charts, and convinced them that they were on to something. In 1973, the band and their manager Stig Anderson decided to have another try at Melodifestivalen, this time with the song 'Ring Ring', and he commissioned Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody to provide an English translation of the Swedish lyrics, but it only came third in Melodifestivalen, and so never reached the Eurovision Song Contest itself. Nevertheless, the group released their debut studio album, also called 'Ring Ring', and the title track was a hit single in many parts of Europe and also in South Africa. In 1973, Stig Anderson, tired of unwieldy names, started to refer to the group privately and publicly as ABBA, and after a competition to find a suitable name for the group was held in a Gothenburg newspaper, it was officially announced in the summer that the group were to be known as 'ABBA'. But that's a whole other story, and this post charts the four member's journey to that point, with all the non-album singles and b-sides that they released in the early 70's, right up to that original version of 'Ring Ring', which could be classed as their first pre-ABBA recording. 

Track listing

01 She's My Kind Of Girl (single 1970) 
02 Inga Theme (b-side of 'She's My Kind Of Girl')
03 Det Kan Ingen Doktor Hjälpa (single 1971) 
04 På Bröllop (b-side of 'Det Kan Ingen Doktor Hjälpa'
05 Tänk Om Jorden Vore Ung (single 1971) 
06 Träskofolket (b-side of 'Tänk Om Jorden Vore Ung'
07 Hey, Musikant (single 1971) 
08 Was Die Liebe Sagt (b-side of 'Hey, Musikant')
09 En Karusell (single 1972)
10 Att Finnas Till (b-side of 'En Karusell')
11 Love Has Its Ways (single 1972)
12 Rock'n Roll Band (b-side of 'Love Has Its Ways')

13 People Need Love (single as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid 1972) 
14 He Is Your Brother (single as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid 1972)
15 Santa Rosa (b-side of 'He Is Your Brother')
16 Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal) (single as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid 1973)
17 Ah, Vilka Tider (b-side of 'Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)')

Toni Wine - A Girl Is Not A Girl (1975)

Toni Wine was born on 4 June 1947 in Washington Heights, New York, and attended the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied piano. While she was still at high school she met school-teacher Carole Bayer Sager, and the two started writing songs together. Before long they were working as songwriters for Screen Gems Publishing, and Wine even had a hit single herself, when the holiday tune 'My Boyfriend’s Coming Home For Christmas' entered the Billboard special holiday charts at number 23 in 1963. In 1964 she co-composed a girl-group hit with Art Kornfield,  with The Shirelles taking 'Tonight You're Gonna Fall In Love With Me' to number 57 in the US charts. Also in 1964 she provided back-up vocal support for Gene Pitney on his hit 'It Hurts To Be In Love', but it was to 1966 before she got her biggest hit, when Wine and Sager wrote the song 'A Groovy Kind Of Love', which was recorded by The Mindbenders, and which reached the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1968 she entered the recording studio to take on back-up vocal duties, alongside Andy Kim, Bobby Bloom and lead voice Ron Dante, on The Archies' first hit 'Bang-Shang-A-Lang', which resulted in a number 22 chart position. The follow-up, 'Feelin' So Good (S.K.O.O.B.Y.-D.O.O.)' charted at number 53, and on the third single Wine stepped up to the microphone to share lead vocal duties with Ron Dante on yet another Jeff Barry/Andy Kim composition 'Sugar, Sugar', which became a massive hit, and the number one song of 1969. Going into 1970, a new group on the scene featuring a lead singer with a long-time recording career already under his belt, was Tony Orlando And Dawn, and they released a Toni Wine/Irwin Levine composition 'Candida', which resulted in a number 3 smash hit. Despite the song being credited to Tony Orlando And Dawn, there was no 'Dawn', and so Wine and Linda November were the singers on the track. She also recorded and released many singles on her own for various labels, right up to the mid-1980's, but other than her one holiday hit in 1963 she hasn't managed to reach the charts again. In the early 1970's she married famed producer Chips Moman and relocated to Memphis, where she released material for Atco and Monument, in addition to a busy career as a writer and session vocalist, performing on many commercials, and touring with Tony Orlando. Despite not being hits, some of her singles were really good, and so here is a selection of them, starting with her only hit from 1963, and ending in the mid-70's.

Track listing

01 My Boyfriend's Coming Home For Christmas (single 1963)
02 What A Pity (b-side of 'My Boyfriend's Coming Home For Christmas')
03 A Boy Like You (single 1964) 
04 Funny Little Heart (b-side of 'A Boy Like You')
05 A Girl Is Not A Girl (single 1964)
06 Only Fools (b-side of 'A Girl Is Not A Girl')

07 A Toy Is Only Made For Play (unknown year)
08 River Deep Mountain High (single 1967)
09 Toni's Tune (b-side of ''River Deep Mountain High')
10 Take A Little Time Out For Love (single 1970)
11 Sisters in Sorrow (b-side of 'Take A Little Time Out For Love')
12 Let's Make Love Tonight (single 1970)
13 Groovy Kind Of Love (single 1971)
14 I Want To See The Morning With Him (b-side of 'Groovy Kind Of Love')
15 Sugar Is Sweeter (single 1974) 
16 Forever's Only Been A Day (b-side of 'Sugar Is Sweeter')
17 Maybe My Baby Will (promo single 1975)

The Consortium - Whatever Became Of Emily Jane? (1969)

In 1964 guitarist Geoff Simpson joined Group 66, whose members included Robbie Fair on lead vocals, Brian Bronson on rhythm guitar and vocals, John Barker on bass and vocals, and John Podbury on drums, and who covered current songs from the charts. In 1965, the group named changed to Xit, and when Simpson began writing songs, the group put a demo tape together in early 1967, and sent iy off to various record companies. Tony Macaulay from Pye Records met up with the band in Denmark Street, and they were soon signed to the Pye label. However, Macaulay didn't like the name, and thought that a West Coast sounding name would suit them more, so they were renamed West Coast Consortium. Their first single was 'Some Other Someday', and it received favourable reviews, and charted on Radio London's Top Forty, but the song that the band had recorded as the follow-up was issued by Macaulay as a solo single by Robbie Fair, under the name Robbie. He tried to pass this off by saying that it was a rush release and the credits couldn't be changed, but this could have somewhat soured their relationship, as when they booked sessions to record Macaulay's 'Rainbow' the group began bickering and decided the session wasn't working. Instead, 'Rainbow' was recorded by David Garrick, and West Coast Consortium were handed over to another in-house Pye producer, Jack Dorsey, a former bandleader, who presented them with the song 'Colour Sergeant Lillywhite', which they recorded. 

A number of demos, recorded in the bedroom of bassist John Barker's home above his father's undertaker shop in Shoreditch, were cut to acetate, but then the group lost interest, as they felt that an LP wasn't important, and they returned to playing more gigs instead. During a gig at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, their fortunes took a turn for the better as Cyril Stapleton, head of Pye, came to see them play and expressed an interest in recording them. 'All The Love In The World' had been recorded with Jack Dorsey, but the group were not impressed with the result, so Stapleton produced another version, and it was released under a shortened group name Consortium. This 1969 single became a sizable hit after being championed by Radio One, reaching Number 22 in the UK, and spending nine weeks in the charts. Due to the single's success, Pye put pressure on Simpson to go back to the demos that had been recorded for the proposed album for a follow-up release, but he felt that the music scene had changed since that time, and the only song used was 'One Day The Train Never Came', which was slightly amended to 'The Day The Train Never Came' for the b-side of their next single 'When The Day Breaks'. This was a new song, recorded at the same session as 'All The Love In The World', but neither that nor their next two singles had any chart success, and so Consortium moved from Pye to Trend, a short-lived label owned by Barry Class, in 1969. They released 'Melanie Cries Alone' in 1970, and then booked a six month tour of Italy, but as Simpson had recently married and had new-born twins to look after, he left the group, with the rest of The Consortium fulfilling their obligations by touring Italy. Once the tour was finished they recorded a final single for Trend, 'Annabella', before calling it quits. They reformed in 1975 with a much heavier, almost psychedelic, style, and they recorded an album, 'Rebirth', which was then shelved until it sneaked out in 2006 on the Angel Air Label. None of the songs recorded in 1968 and 1969 were included on 'Rebirth', so there is an album waiting to be heard from the original incarnation of The Consortium, and this is it. 

Track listing

01 The Day The Train Never Came

02 Take A Round Trip

03 All The Love In The World

04 Fairground Playboy 

05 I Don't Want Her Anymore

06 Cynthia Serenity

07 The House Upon The Hill

08 Beggar Man

09 Whatever Became Of Emily Jane?

10 Windmill Hill

11 When The Day Breaks

12 Money Matters

13 Come On Into The Warm

14 Spending My Life Saying Goodbye