Holiday Time...

Time for a break, so I'm off on holiday for two weeks, and there will be no posts until I get back. Take the time to look through the old posts and perhaps try something new that you wouldn't normally think that you'd like. Soulseek will be off while I'm away as I'll be closing the laptop, but Soulseekers can email aiwe2@yahoo.com for the Mega links. See you when I get back. 

Eleventh Dream Day - Vanishing Point - The Best Of Eleventh Dream Day (2021)

When I recently asked for suggestions about what people would like to see on the blog, two visitors came up with the same idea, and that was to present 'Best Of...' albums for bands who don't have an official one. I thought this was a great idea, as most of the artists that I now love were introduced to me by a 'Best Of...' album, and so I started to trawl through my record collection to find bands and artists who deserve more recognition, but who you might be wary of investing in without some idea of what they sound like. So here is the first of what could be a long-running series, and the only restrictions I've imposed are that they must have released at least three albums, they have no official 'Best Of...', and most importantly, I like them. 

Eleventh Dream Day's origins dated to 1981, when singer/guitarist Rick Rizzo met vocalist/drummer Janet Beveridge Bean at the University of Kentucky. Inspired by punk, Rizzo taught himself to play guitar with the aid of Neil Young's Zuma songbook, and Young remained the group's major inspiration throughout its career, with his incendiary aesthetic informing much of Rizzo's own raw, rootsy style. The couple soon relocated to Chicago, where they teamed up with bassist Douglas McCombs and guitarist Baird Figi, and after several years of honing their explosive live set, Eleventh Dream Day finally recorded their eponymous debut EP for the Amoeba label in 1987. Their full-length debut ,'Prairie School Freakout', was recorded in one six-hour span with a buzzing, dilapidated amplifier, and following its release in 1988, it brought the band to the attention of Atlantic Records, which signed them for 1989's assured 'Beet'. Despite critical acclaim, the record failed to find an audience, and the follow-up, 1991's 'Lived To Tell', suffered the same fate. In the middle of a tour to promote the album, Figi abruptly quit, and was replaced by Bodeco's Matthew "Wink" O'Bannon prior to 1993's superb 'El Moodio', which also failed to set the charts alight, and after three commercial strikes, Atlantic unceremoniously dropped the group. 

Following a hiatus that allowed Rizzo and Bean to concentrate on raising their newborn child, Eleventh Dream Day enlisted co-producers Brad Wood and John McEntire (McCombs' partner in the post-rock supergroup Tortoise) for 1994's 'Ursa Major', released on City Slang. After another break, during which time Rizzo returned to college, Bean focused on her country side project Freakwater, and O'Bannon exited to return to Bodeco. Eleventh Dream Day then signed to the Chicago-based indie Thrill Jockey to record 1997's 'Eighth', followed by 'Stalled Parade' in 2000, but at this point they were a part-time venture at best, as Rizzo was teaching and Bean and McCombs both had other musical ventures. They continued to play live in Chicago occasionally, ably assisted by Mark Greenberg on keyboards, and in 2003 Thrill Jockey reissued the long out of print 'Prairie School Freakout', paired with the 'Wayne' EP, and Baird Figi joined the band for a one-off reunion show in November of that year. 'Zeroes And Ones', the band's first new material in six years, and the first album recorded with Greenberg, was released in 2006, but five more years would pass before they returned with 2011's 'Riot Now!', an album inspired by the apathy of American youth. 

In 2013, it was revealed that Eleventh Dream Day's major-label tenure had been an even more tragic tale, as following 'Lived To Tell', the "alternative" branch of Atlantic who had signed the band moved to another label, and communication with the band basically ended, with the label in turmoil. As a result, Atlantic missed the deadline that continued the contract, and band's management informed the label that they were out of their contract, to which Atlantic agreed. So the band got together with Brad Wood and recorded their next album on their own, with the idea of shopping it around for release. The new head of Atlantic heard about this and went to Chicago in an effort to re-sign the band, and thinking that Atlantic wouldn't go to all this trouble if they didn't actually care, the group ended up re-signing with them. It was a near fatal move, as at the label's insistence, the album was re-recorded in New York, and when sales weren't what was expected the band was unceremoniously dumped, and 'El Moodio' was destined for immediate cut-out status. 

Fast forward 20-plus years when a Facebook comment brought back memories of the original album sessions with Brad Wood, and the search was on for the "missing" album, and when the tapes were tracked down, the 1991 recording of 'New Moodio' was finally released on vinyl in May of 2013. In 2014, the band prepared for recording again with a series of shows at Chicago's The Hideout, adding James Elkington on second guitar to the existing four-piece band, and the resulting 'Works For Tomorrow' was released in July 2015. In 2021 they reconvened to record 'Since Grazed' at Wilco's Chicago sound studio/rehearsal space the Loft, where keyboard player Mark Greenberg worked as a studio manager. This set features some great tunes, including 'Watching the Candles Burn', which showcases the band's youthful energy, 'Sonic Reactor', featuring an extended guitar solo by Rizzo that has been praised for its intensity and craftsmanship, and 'The Lure', led by Janet Beveridge Bean's vocals, and which offers a captivating melody. Eleventh Dream Day have long been a favourite band of mine, and if you are a fan of Neil Young's guitar workouts then do yourself a favour and give 'Prairie School Freakout' a listen.  

Track listing

01 Watching the Candles Burn (from 'Prairie School Freakout' 1988)

02 Bagdad's Last Ride (from 'Beet' 1989)

03 Makin' Like A Rug (from 'El Moodio' 1993)
04 Among the Pines (from 'Prairie School Freakout' 1988)
05 The Arsonist (from 'Eleventh Dream Day' EP 1987)
06 Since Grazed (from 'Since Grazed' 2021)
07 Vanishing Point (from 'Works For Tomorrow' 2015)
08 Rose of Jericho (from 'Lived To Tell' 1991)
09 History of Brokeback (from 'Ursa Major' 1994)
10 For A King (from 'Eighth' 1997)
11 Sonic Reactor (from 'Riot Now!' 2011)
12 Bomb The Mars Hotel (from 'Beet' 1989)
13 The Lure (from 'Zeroes And Ones' 2006)
14 Awake I Lie (from 'Beet' 1989)
15 Go Tell It (from 'Works For Tomorrow' 2015)

Sylvia McNeill - Be My Friend (1974)

Sylvia McNeill was born on 5 August 1947 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and began her career singing and playing bass guitar with various groups and bands. As well as being a bass player for Leapy Lee, she recorded as a solo vocalist from 1969 to 1975, on the RCA, Bell, and United Artists labels, with her first single, 'The Recipe', appearing on the RCA Victor label in 1969. That was followed by the Richard Kerr composition 'That's Alright By Me' later that year, and Jim Ford's 'Ugly Man' in 1970, backed with a nice version of Joni Mitchell's 'Chelsea Morning'.  A cover of Free's 'Be My Friend' was her last single on RCA Victor, moving to Bell Records in June 1971 for 'A Step In The Right Direction' and 'My Love Won't Fade Away With Time'. In 1972 she recorded 'I Don't Know How To Love Him' from the 'Jesus Christ Superstar' musical, which was released as by Sylvie McNeill on the United Artist label, and which she performed on The Benny Hill Show on 23 February 1972. As well as her recording career, she was a sought-after act to appear on TV variety shows, and in one 18-month period, she made over 30 appearances on television, including The Benny Hill Show, The Dave Allen Show, The Morecambe & Wise Show, The Simon Dee Show, The Dick Emery Show, Roger Whittaker's World Of Music, The Golden Shot, Anglia Television's Glamour '70 series, and her own eight-week series for Grampian Television. In addition to her own recordings, she sang on the track 'Anne Boleyn'/'The Day Thou Gavest Lord Hath Ended' for Rick Wakeman's 1973 album, 'The Six Wives of Henry VIII', and was session backing singer for Rod Stewart on his 1972 recording of 'What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)'. In 1971, she acted in Emil Dean Zoghby and Ray Pohlman's musical, 'Catch My Soul', at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, and has also appeared as a soloist in cabaret throughout the UK, and as a band with husband/guitarist Mike McNeill and son, drummer Mark McNeill. This post collects together the best of her recordings from the early 70's, and shows why she was so in demand for TV appearance during that period of her career. 

Track listing

01 The Recipe (single 1969)
02 Save Me, Save Me (b-side of 'The Recipe')
03 That's Alright By Me (single 1969)
04 Catch A Robber By The Toe (b-side of 'That's Alright By Me')
05 Ugly Man (single 1970)
06 Chelsea Morning (b-side of 'Ugly Man')
07 It's Too Good, Good (single 1970)
08 It's Gettin' Harder (b-side of 'It's Too Good, Good')
09 Be My Friend (single 1971)
10 Step In The Right Direction (single 1971)
11 Running Out Of Bridges To Cross (b-side of 'Step In The Right Direction')
12 My Love Won't Fade Away With Time (single 1971)
13 I've Still Got My Heart Joe (b-side of 'My Love Won't Fade Away With Time')
14 If I Try For Sure (single 1973)
15 Good Thing (b-side of 'If I Try For Sure')
16 Brown Eyes (single 1974)
17 Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues (b-side of 'Brown Eyes')

A gift from PowerPopTom - Part 7

PowerPop Tom has made CD covers for some of my recent posts, and they include some of my favourite collections, like 'Songs Of Ascent' by U2 and 'Chalk Pie' by Frank Zappa. I actually had to do quite a bit of work on that cover, as the only two people who posted it online left the free CD attached, which completely blocked out the bottom left of the sleeve, so I basically had to reconstruct it from that quarter-sized free CD cover, and in the end it came out pretty well, and you won't find a better copy on the net.  

Kendrick Lamar - Prelude (2021)

Here we have another Youtube mix from Will On The Soul, who put together the Kanye West/Andre 3000 and Kendrick Lamar/J. Cole albums that I posted recently, and for this one I wouldn't have the first idea how he's managed to compile this mix. For this fantasy EP, he's taken individual verses from a huge number of tracks from the rapper, and then sewn them all together, and added his own beats to make what are, in effect, completely new pieces of music from Kendrick Lamar. I don't even want to think about how long this took him, or what magical effects he used to put this together, but it has to be heard if you're a fan of Lamar, and if you want to try to identify the individual verses then they are all listed at the end of the post. 

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Brother‘s Keeper (feat. A$AP Rocky & Future)
03 Do For Love (feat. J. Cole & Andre 3000)
04 Pain Interlude 
05 Free (feat. Lauryn Hill & Anderson Paak)
06 Conflicted Interlude 
07 No Complaints (feat. J. Cole) 
08 Dopeman (feat. Kanye West)
09 Wings (feat. Isaiah Rashad)
10 Trust
11 The River (feat. J. Cole)

Verses from:
'I Am' by Kendrick Lamar (The Kendrick Lamar EP, 2009)
'That Part' by ScHoolboy Q feat. Black Hippy (2016)
'Covered N Money' by Future (Honest, 2014)
'Who Dat Boy' by Tyler, The Creator feat. A$AP Rocky (Flower Boy, 2017)
'Doves In The Wind' by SZA feat. Kendrick Lamar (Ctrl, 2017)
'Work Out' by J. Cole (Cole World: The Sideline Story, 2011)
'Hello' by Erykah Badu feat. André 3000 (But You Caint Use My Phone, 2015)
'His Pain II' by BJ the Chicago Kid feat. Kendrick Lamar (Pineapple Now-Laters, 2012)
'Nobody' by Nas feat. Ms. Lauryn Hill (King's Disease II, 2021)
'Lockdown' by Anderson .Paak (2020)
'Pray For Me' by The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar (Black Panther, 2018)
'Alright' by Kendrick Lamar (To Pimp A Butterfly, 2015)
'BRACKETS' by J. Cole (KOD, 2018)
'Want U 2 Want' by Q-Tip feat. Kendrick Lamar (2018)
'FEAR' by Kendrick Lamar (DAMN., 2017)
'Nosetalgia' by Pusha T feat. Kendrick Lamar (My Name Is My Name, 2013)
'Mercy' by Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz (Cruel Summer, 2012)
'Family Ties' by Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar (The Melodic Blue, 2021)
'Pretty Little Birds' by SZA feat. Isaiah Rashad (Ctrl, 2017)
'Ignorance Is Bliss' by Kendrick Lamar feat. ScHoolboy Q (Overly Dedicated, 2010)
'HiIiPoWeR' by Kendrick Lamar feat. Alori Joh (Section.80, 2011)
'Look Out For Detox' by Kendrick Lamar (2010)
'NILE' by Beyoncé & Kendrick Lamar (Lion King: The Gift, 2019)
'Snow On Tha Bluff' by J. Cole (2020)

Sade - Wired (1994)

Helen Folasade Adu was born on 16 January 1959 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, and after her parents separated when she was four years old, she moved to Colchester, Essex with her mother. After completing her education at Clacton County High School and Colchester Institute at the age of 18, she moved to London and completed a three year fashion design course at Saint Martin's School of Art, after which she began backup singing with British band Pride. During this time, she formed a songwriting partnership with Pride's guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman, and they began doing their own sets at Pride gigs. Her solo performances of the song 'Smooth Operator', co-written with Ray St. John, attracted record companies' attention, and in 1983 Sade and Matthewman split from Pride, along with keyboardist Andrew Hale, bassist Paul Denman, and drummer Paul Cook, to form the band Sade. In October 1983 she signed with Epic Records, and the group began recording their debut album, 'Diamond Life', which took six weeks to record, and was recorded entirely at The Power Plant in London. The record was released on 16 July 1984, and reached number two in the UK Album Chart, selling over 1.2 million copies in the UK, and it won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 1985. 'Your Love Is King' was released as the album's lead single on 25 February 1984, charting at number seven in Ireland and number six on the UK, while third single, 'Smooth Operator', was her most successful song in the US, peaking at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100.  In late 1985, the band released their second album, 'Promise', which peaked at number one in both the UK and the US, spawning two singles in 'Never As Good As The First Time' and 'The Sweetest Taboo', the latter of which was released as the album's lead single and stayed on the US Hot 100 for six months. 

In 1986, Sade made her acting debut in 'Absolute Beginners', a film adapted from the Colin MacInnes book of the same name, playing the role of Athene Duncannon, and she lent her vocals to the film's accompanying soundtrack. Sade's third album, 'Stronger Than Pride', was released on 3 May 1988, and like her previous albums it was a commercial success, providing four hit singles, most notably 'Paradise', which peaked at number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100. 'Love Deluxe' was released as the band's fourth studio album on 26 October 1992, peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200, and in November 1994, the group released their first compilation album, 'The Best of Sade', which was another top ten hit in both the UK and the US. After this the band took a hiatus for the next eight years, reappearing with their fifth studio album, 'Lovers Rock', in 2000, and despite her time away, it received positive reviews from music critics, and earned Sade the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2002. In the first part of her musical career, Sade often added previously unreleased songs or instrumentals to the b-sides of her singles, and so we are able to gather up those non-album tracks from 1983 to 1992 for a very nice smooth jazz album from the singer. 

            
Track listing

01 Love Affair With Life (b-side of 'Your Love Is King' 1983)

02 Should I Love You (b-side of 'Hang On To Your Love' 1984)

03 Red Eye (b-side of 'Smooth Operator' 1984) 

04 Spirit (b-side of 'Smooth Operator' 1984)

05 Wired (b-side of 'Is It A Crime' 1985)

06 Killer Blow (from the film 'Absolute Beginners' 1986)

07 Be Thankful For What You've Got (live in Tokyo 1986)

07 Make Some Room (b-side of 'Nothing Can Come Between Us' 1988)

08 Super Bien Total (b-side of Paradise' 1988)

09 Room 55 (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 1992)

11 Please Send Me Someone To Love (from the soundtrack of the film 'Philadelphia' 1994)

Thanks to Paul for bumping this album up to 49 minutes.

The Passions - Hunted (1982)

The Passions formed in early 1978 as the Youngsters, with a line-up of Barbara Gogan (guitar, vocals), Claire Bidwell (bass guitar), Richard Williams (drums), Dack Dyde (guitar) and Mitch Barker (vocals), with Williams and Gogan coming from the punk rock outfit the Derelicts. After a name change to Rivers Of Passion, soon shortened to The Passions, Dyde was replaced by Clive Timperley on guitar. The band's first single was the double A-side 'Needles And Pins' / 'Body And Soul', which was issued in March 1979 on the Soho label, and the positive reaction to it helped them in gaining a recording contract with Fiction Records. They soon became a favourite group of Radio One DJ John Peel, and recorded their first of three Peel sessions in November 1979, by which time Barker had departed and Gogan took over as lead vocalist. 'Michael & Miranda', the band's debut album, was produced by Fiction head Chris Parry, and released on 18 April 1980, following which the band embarked on a UK and European tour supporting label-mates The Cure, and promoting their second single, 'Hunted'. Bidwell left after the tour to join The Wall, and was replaced in July 1980 by David Agar, but the band were later dropped by Fiction and so had to hunt around for another label, and a meeting with Peter Wilson, the in-house producer for Polydor Records, led to the band signing to that label. The first release on the new label was their third single, 'The Swimmer', which appeared on 1 October 1980, and this was followed in January 1981 by what is probably their most famous song, 'I'm In Love With A German Film Star', with lyrics written by Gogan about Steve Connelly, a one-time roadie for The Clash and Sex Pistols who had minor roles in several German films. The music weeklies declared the song "Single of the Week", and it was named "Peoples Choice" on Capital Radio, leading to a Top Of The Pops appearance on 5 February 1981, which was repeated on 26 February 1981. 

The next single, 'Skin Deep', was produced by Nigel Gray, and was issued on 2 July 1981, as a taster for the band's second album, 'Thirty Thousand Feet Over China', which was released on 18 September 1981. Timperley left the band in Verona, Italy, in December 1981, during the Italian leg of their prophetically named "Tour Till We Crack" tour, and the next single, 'Africa Mine', was recorded by the remaining members prior to a line-up change, and released on 8 January 1982, with the guitar part being played by their producer, Peter Wilson. Kevin Armstrong, previously with Local Heroes SW9 and a contributor to Thomas Dolby's debut album, joined The Passions in 1982, and they also added a keyboard player, Jeff Smith, best known for his past work with Lene Lovich. Armstrong and Smith took part in the recording of the band's third album, 'Sanctuary', which produced by Mick Glossop, and the first single from the record was 'Jump For Joy', which was released on 5 May 1982, followed by the album and the 'Sanctuary' single on 18 September 1982. Stephen Wright then replaced Armstrong, and this line-up toured Europe and the US, as well as appearing on The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC 2 and on Whatever You Want on Channel 4. Despite this new-found exposure, the group had reached the end of their life, and they dissolved for good in the middle of 1983, after playing their last show at London's Marquee Club that August. Despite their fairly short career, The Passions produced some great music, and at least one song that will be their lasting legacy, but they also hid away some fine tracks on the b-sides of their singles , and this collection rounds them all up into one extremely enjoyable album. 

Track listing

01 Needles And Pills (single 1979)
02 Body And Soul (b-side of 'Needles And Pills')
03 Hunted (single 1979)
04 War Song (b-side of 'The Swimmer' 1980)
05 (Don't Talk To Me) I'm Shy (b-side of 'I'm In Love With A German Film Star' 1981)
06 I Radiate (b-side of 'Skin Deep' 1981)
07 Some Fun (b-side of 'The Swimmer' re-issue 1981)
08 Africa Mine (single 1982)
09 I Feel Cheap (b-side of 'Africa Mine')
10 The Square (from the double 7" pack of 'Africa Mine')
11 Why Me (from the double 7" pack of 'Africa Mine')
12 Snow (from the double 7" pack of 'Africa Mine')
13 I'm In Love With A German Film Star (from the double 7" pack of 'Africa Mine')
14 The Story (b-side of 'Jump For Joy' 1982)
15 Tempting Fate (b-side of 'Sanctuary' 1982)
16 Stop That Man (b-side of 'Sanctuary' 1982)

Adina Howard - Welcome To Fantasy Island (1997)

Adina Marie Howard-Walker was born on 14 November 1973 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and raised by her mother, with the family later moving to Phoenix, Arizona. In the mid-1990's she gained the attention of manager-producer Livio Harris, who helped her record some demos and later land a deal with Max Gousse through Mecca Don/EastWest Records. Her debut album 'Do You Wanna Ride?' was released in 1995, and included the Platinum-certified hit single, 'Freak Like Me', alongside her follow-up singles 'My Up And Down' and 'It's All About You'. She spent 1996 recording a number of songs which appeared on film soundtracks, including 'What's Love Got To Do With It' from 'Police Story 3: Super Cop', 'Damned If I Do' from 'A Thin Line Between Love And Hate', and 'For The Funk' from 'Sunset Park'. In 1997 she recorded her second album 'Welcome To Fantasy Island' (originally titled 'Portrait Of A Lady'), and advance copies garnered rave reviews and a moderate hit with the lead single '(Freak) And U Know It', but Elektra Records were not convinced and cancelled its release. The album was leaked to the internet a few years later, with promotional copies selling for hundreds of dollars, and one of the unreleased tracks, 'T-Shirt & Panties' (a collaboration with Jamie Foxx) ended up on a film soundtrack the following year, with it originally being slated for the soundtrack to the film 'Booty Call', but eventually ending up on the soundtrack to the 1998 comedy 'Woo'. Another soundtrack appearance occurred the same year, with a collaboration with Cydal on a 'Chocolate (Cuties & Condoms)' being released as a single for the 'Bulletproof' soundtrack. In 2004 Howard released her official second album 'The Second Coming' on Rufftown Records, but it sold poorly due to lack of promotion and only 40,000 copies made it to store shelves, and she was later sued by the label. 

A second single '(Outside) The Club' was slated to be released, along with a remix album 'The Second Coming: Remixed & UnCut', but they suffered the same fate as 'Welcome To Fantasy Island', with both releases being cancelled following her departure from the label. Her third album 'Private Show' fared no better, being delayed many times by Arsenal Records, almost to the point of it being shelved, but it was eventually released in June 2007, along with a promotional single 'Picture This'. The album only sold 4,000+ copies though, and a third single, following a remixes EP for 'My Hips', was to have been 'Tease', but Howard parted ways with the label shortly after the album's release, and the single was cancelled. Howard's career has been bedevilled by a lack of support from her record companies, and she had more potential releases cancelled than any other artist that I know of. To date, Howard remains proud of the album and its cover, and in June 2018 a promo single surfaced for 'Crank Me Up', which was revealed to have been in consideration as a single by Elektra Records. In 2013 it received an unofficial release (excluding 'T-Shirt & Panties' and 'Crank Me Up', which were included on her 'The Second Coming' release) through the mixtape site DatPiff.com, and in 2021 it was announced that Rhino Records had acquired the rights to the album, with it finally being released onto digital audio platforms on 19 February 2021, although physical formats remain unavailable. Although the record is now out there, it took 24 years to finally appear, and as you can't buy a vinyl or CD copy of it I'm posting it anyway, as an album that we'd wished existed for nearly a quarter of a century. 

Track listing

01 Welcome To My Queendom (Intro)
02 (Freak) And U Know It
03 Personal Freak
04 All About U
05 Crank Me Up
06 Sexual Needs
07 Could've Got Away
08 Another Level (Interlude)
09 T-Shirt & Panties
10 I'll Be Damn If I Apologize
11 Don't Come Too Fast
12 Take Me Home
13 Lay Him Down
14 Ain't No Need
15 Satisfied (Outro)

Gene - Where Are They Now? (2001)

Gene's origins lie in a previous band which was first called The Go Hole, named after a fictional "Beat" club in John Clellon Holmes' novel 'Go', and formed in 1987 by by Lee Clark (vocals/guitar) and Darryl James Walton (bass). However, their collaboration was short-lived as Walton was soon replaced by John Mason on bass, with Matt James (Wrigley) joining soon afterwards on drums. Walton then took on the role of band manager, and their first single, 'Flight Of Angels', appeared on Walton's Big Pop Record label in 1987. A John Peel session fuelled their early success, where they mixed with Camberwell music and artistic community, mingling with members of The House of Love, My White Bedroom, and Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. After 18 months, Clark, Mason and James invited John's brother Steve Mason to play lead/rhythm guitar, thereby freeing Clark to focus on vocals, and at this point they changed their name to Sp!n. The band released two singles, 'Scratches (In the Sand)' in 1990 and 'Let's Pretend' in 1991, both on The Foundations Label, and an album was recorded with Stephen Street as producer, titled 'In Motion'. However, their career was suddenly put in doubt then the band were involved in a car accident, with John Mason suffering a head injury which put him into an 11-day coma, while Walton was also hurt. The day prior to the accident, Clark had offered his resignation in a letter to the rest of the band, due to his dissatisfaction with the way that Walton and their record label were guiding its course. 

A final EP, titled 'Hot Blood', was released in late 1991, but the music press had ceased to portray the band as new and vibrant, instead concentrating on the car crash and their injuries, necessitating an overhaul of the band. John Mason left the band and became a writer, while Clark briefly recorded demos with Andrew "Snake" Newton, who had been the live sound engineer for Sp!n, but then gave up music to become a primary school teacher. Wanting to continue together in a band, Steve Mason and James recruited bass player Kevin Miles, who had a long association with the band, and after seeing Watford based Welshman Martin Rossiter cross the floor of a club, Mason approached him, and their meeting ended with Mason asking Rossiter if he would like to audition with the band. Rossiter appeared on Sp!n's last demos as "Martin T. Falls" (a nod to the Mancunian band The Fall) shortly before the band decided to adopt the name Gene. By the time NME journalists Keith Cameron and Roy Wilkinson encountered Gene, the band had already gained some live experience and had written several songs, and Cameron and Wilkinson were impressed enough to form an independent record label called Costermonger, with the sole purpose of promoting Gene to a wider audience. Their double A-sided debut single 'For The Dead'/'Child's Body' was released on Costermonger in May 1994, and it received a great deal of attention from the music press, with Select naming it "Single Of The Month". 

With Gene already developing a devoted fan following, a new single was planned to consolidate their popularity, and the triple A-side 'Be My Light Be My Guide'/'This Is Not My Crime'/'I Can't Help Myself' was released on 1 August 1994 via Costermonger. After achieving the top spot in the UK indie chart and number 54 in the UK Singles Chart, the band played their first UK headlining tour, including a sold out show at London's Paradise Club. The plaudits had not gone unnoticed by the big record companies, and Gene eventually signed a deal with Polydor Records, who released their third single 'Sleep Well Tonight' in late 1994. Featuring strongly in both critics and readers end of year polls, Gene were the recipients of the inaugural NME Brat Award for 'Best New Act', and as such played at the sold-out Brat Award ceremony at the London Astoria. Their fourth single, 'Haunted By You', became the band's second Top 40 hit, reaching number 32, whilst their 1995 debut LP 'Olympian' reached number 8 in the UK Albums Chart, and received a plethora of excellent reviews. Following a world tour and a well-received performance at Glastonbury Festival, the band entered the studio again at the end of the year for pre-production on their new album, scheduled for release the following year. 1996 began with a remixed 'For The Dead' which subsequently became their biggest hit, peaking at number 14 in the Top 40, and leading to their debut appearance on Top of the Pops. In anticipation of their second studio LP, October 1996 saw the release of 'Fighting Fit', an up-tempo rock song which reached number 22 in the UK singles chart, and the start of 1997 heralded the release of 'We Could Be Kings', another epic rock song which again proved to be popular, reaching number 18. 

The 'Drawn To The Deep End' album appeared in 1997, taking its name from a 'Fighting Fit' b-side, and it revealed a lavish production replete with strings, far more prominent guitar solos from Mason, and a rather warbling vocal affectation from Rossiter, while the the dominating themes of the album were loneliness and deep yearning. Indeed, Rossiter was in the depths of depression during the making of the album and the songs resulting from this period remain some of the band's most powerful work. 'Drawn To The Deep End' was another critical success, entering the top 10 of the album charts, and subsequent singles, 'Where Are They Now?' and 'Speak To Me Someone' both made the top 40. 1998 was used by the band to write new material, and no new music was released during that hear, meaning that on their return from relative wilderness, it appeared that they had lost a lot of their prestige, and were no longer the golden boys of the indie scene. Their next album, 'Revelations', was released in March 1999, along with a Jam-like political single called 'As Good As It Gets', which entered the charts at number 23 to lukewarm reviews.

'Revelations'  received very mixed reviews, charting disappointingly at number 23, although the second single from the album, 'Fill Her Up', still managed to crack the Top 40. Despite a successful and comprehensive tour around the country, again selling out many venues, as well as making a successful appearance at the Reading Festival of that year, Gene and Polydor parted ways. The band felt somewhat undermined by their label's lack of support and failure to market the album adequately, and they also felt that given more time by their label they could have made a better record. After signing with Contra Records, they released the 'Libertine' album in 2001, but despite further successful live shows in subsequent years, including a set at the Morrissey curated Royal Festival Hall Meltdown Festival in June 2004, Gene opted for an amicable split later that year, and their final live performance was on 16 December 2004 at the London Astoria. In their decade-long career Gene produced some great music, with a lot of it being hidden away on the b-sides of their singles, and so here are all the non-album tracks that the band released between 1994 and 2001. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1994-1995
01 For The Dead (single 1994)
02 Child's Body (b-side of 'For The Dead')
03 Be My Light, Be My Guide (single 1994)
04 This Is Not My Crime (b-side of 'Be My Light, Be My Guide')
05 I Can't Help Myself (b-side of 'Be My Light, Be My Guide')
06 Sleep Well Tonight (single 1994)
07 Sick, Sober And Sorry (b-side of 'Sleep Well Tonight')
08 Her Fifteen Years (b-side of 'Sleep Well Tonight')
09 Do You Want To Hear It From Me (b-side of 'Haunted By You' 1995)
10 How Much For Love? (b-side of 'Haunted By You' 1995)
11 I Can't Decide If She Really Loves Me (b-side of 'Olympian' 1995)
12 To See The Lights (b-side of 'Olympian' 1995)
13 Don't Let Me Down (b-side of 'Olympian' 1995)

Disc II - 1996-1999
01 Drawn To The Deep End (b-side of 'Fighting Fit' 1996)
02 Autumn Stone (b-side of 'Fighting Fit' 1996)
03 Dolce And Gabbana Or Nowt (b-side of 'We Could Be Kings' 1997)
04 Wasteland (b-side of 'We Could Be Kings' 1997)
05 Cast Out In The Seventies (b-side of 'Where Are They Now?' 1997)
06 Nightswimming (b-side of 'Where Are They Now?' 1997)
07 As The Bruises Fade (b-side of 'Speak To Me Someone' 1997)
08 The Ship Song (b-side of 'Speak To Me Someone' 1997)
09 To All Who Sail On Her (b-side of 'As Good As It Gets' 1999)
10 Toasting The Union (b-side of 'As Good As It Gets' 1999)
11 Man On Earth (b-side of 'As Good As It Gets' 1999)
12 Pass On To Me (b-side of 'Fill Her Up' 1999)
13 Touched By The Hand Of Havoc (b-side of 'Fill Her Up' 1999)

Disc III - 2001
01 Is It Over? (single 2001)
02 Supermarket Bombscare (b-side of 'Is It Over?')
03 Little Diamond (b-side of 'Is It Over?')
04 Who Said This Was The End? (b-side of 'Is It Over?')
05 Let Me Move On (single 2001)
06 If I'm A Friend (b-side of 'Let Me Move On')
07 Left For Dust (b-side of 'Let Me Move On')
08 From Georgia To Osaka (b-side of 'Does He Have A Name?' 2001)
09 Welcome To Dover (b-side of 'Does He Have A Name?' 2001)
10 With Love In Mind (b-side of 'Does He Have A Name?' 2001)
11 Love Lives Here (b-side of 'Spy In The Clubs' 2001)

Mike Stuart Span - Concerto Of Thoughts (1968)

Mike Stuart Span evolved out of the Brighton-based group The Mighty Atoms, which included vocalist Stuart Hobday and bassist Roger McCabe. By 1965, Hobday's early attempts at song-writing had secured a publishing contract with Lorna Music, and the Mike Stuart Span - a name created by reversing the singer's Christian names - was formed, with the addition of Nigel Langham on guitar, Ashley Potter on organ  and a teenage drummer Gary 'Roscoe' Murphy. A liaison with local promoter Mike Clayton resulted in the replacement of Potter with Jon Poulter, and the addition of a four piece horn section. For economy this was soon reduced to two (Gary Parsley on trumpet and Dave Plumb on saxophone) as the band concentrated their efforts on American-derived soul music. The band secured a recording contract with EMI, after recording the Hobday penned 'Work-Out', coupled with a cover of The Drifters' 'Follow Me', but it was another Drifters number, 'Come On Over To Our Place' that was selected as the A-side for the band's debut Columbia single in November 1966. A second single followed in June 1967, with their cover of Cat Stevens 'Dear' being backed by Mike d'Abo's 'Invitation', but it was as unsuccessful as their debut, and EMI dropped the band. 

This forced the band to dismiss the horn section, with keyboardist Poulter also departing shortly afterwards, and after recruiting guitarist Brian Bennett through an ad in Melody Maker, the revitalised band paid more attention to the importance of studio work, starting with an October 1967 session at Decca Records with Dave Paramor, who had produced their EMI singles. Three tracks were recorded, including the instrumental 'As Close As We Can Get It', which titled after Paramor's insistence that the track should last two and a half minutes, but it actually only ran for 2 minutes 28 seconds. However, Decca decided that the recordings were insufficiently commercial, declining to sign the band, and so without record company support, the group took matters into their own hands, and privately funded a single that appeared in February 1968 on the Jewel label – a new Melodisc subsidiary run by Emil Shallit. The two tracks were recorded at R.G. Jones studio in Morden, and 500 copies of 'Children Of Tomorrow'/'Concerto Of Thoughts' were pressed, making it one of the most sought-after psychedelic 45's. Publicity both at home and abroad brought a cameo appearance in the film, 'Better A Widow', as well as successful tours of Germany and Belgium, and a support appearance with Cream in the UK. Following a session for the John Peel's Top Gear programme in May 1968, the band was chosen to feature in documentary film-maker Paul Watson's BBC TV series 'A Year In The Life'. 

The episode charted the band's progress over twelve months, and along the way they dismissed their manager and, thanks to a series of demo recordings reaching Clive Selwood, who was head of the UK branch of Elektra Records, the group was signed to the label early in 1969. In the United States, label boss Jac Holzman immediately commissioned an album, but insisted on a change of name for the group, and so they re-christened themselves Leviathan, and Elektra launched their recording career in April 1969, with the simultaneous issue of two singles. Three of the chosen tracks, 'Remember The Times', 'Second Production' and 'Time', had initially been conceived as Mike Stuart Span recordings, with the newly composed 'The War Machine' completing the quartet, and despite the commercial failure of both singles, work continued on the band's album at Trident Studios. One further old Mike Stuart Span track, 'Flames', was recorded as a single in the summer of 1969, although by the time that it surfaced in October Leviathan had split up. Although Mike Stuart Span recycled much of their unreleased material for the Leviathan project, the original recordings by the group have since surfaced, and if Elektra had allowed them to release an album under their original name then it could have sounded very much like this.   

Track listing

01 World In My Head
02 Flames
03 Concerto Of Thoughts
04 Baubles And Bangles
05 Children Of Tomorrow
06 Second Production
07 Time
08 Blue Day
09 Can You Understand Me
10 Remember The Times

Blue Aeroplanes - Staring At The Future (2024)

For anyone who enjoyed the recent post from The Blue Aeroplanes, here is a treat for you. In 2023 the band released the follow-up to 2017's 'Welcome Stranger!', with 'Culture Gun' making a belated appearance. It was written, and in part recorded, over three years, and was much delayed, mainly due to vocalist Gerard Langley being hospitalized with cancer. It was finally released on 28 April 2023 on the Art Star label, to almost universally positive reviews, and the following year the band surprised fans at a gig at Lafayette, London on 27th July 2024, by selling a specially pressed CDr of unreleased tracks from the 'Culture Gun' sessions. It included the track 'Tyger! Tyger!', which is poetry by William Blake and William Butler Yeats set to an arrangement of Mud's 'Tiger Feet', and was limited to just 100 copies. It came housed in a gatefold sleeve and a plain, white paper inner, with a resealable, clear, outer protective cover, and obviously has since become one of the band's most collectible items. In case you didn't manage to get your hands on a copy, here it is for your enjoyment.  

Track listing

01 Tyger! Tyger!
02 Inherit
03 Bad Angel
04 Loyalty Cards / Unreliable Narrator
05 Cops
06 Album Of The Year
07 Underground Rocketship
08 Better

Stacie Orrico - Say It Again (2002)

Stacie Joy Orrico was born on 3 March 1986 in Seattle, Washington, and grew up influenced by a wide range of musical styles, becoming a member in the church choir where she often accompanied on the piano as the family sang Christian hymns. She got her start in music at the age of 12, by attending a Christian music festival, Praise in the Rockies, held in her then-home state of Colorado. Orrico inadvertently entered a high-stakes talent competition, where she won, and a ForeFront Records executive was on hand and approached her for a record deal. She later signed with them, and in 2001 she toured with Destiny's Child as their opening act on select dates of their Survivor tour in the United States. She recorded her first album when she was just 14 years old, and 'Genuine' was released in 2000, selling over 13,000 copies in the first week, the highest debut week sales ever for a female Christian artist. The album produced the hit single 'Don't Look At Me', which topped Christian charts for ten consecutive weeks, and all five singles from it went top ten in the charts. In 2001 she released a Christmas EP, consisting of six tracks made up of a mix of Christmas songs and carols. In 2002 she started recording her next album, which was intended to be a more mainstream record, titled 'Say It Again'. A track listing was put together and promo CD's distributed, before it was decided to scrap the album and start again. The songs 'Truth', 'Until I Find You', the cover of Billy Preston's 'That's The Way (God Planned It)', and 'Star Of My Story' were dropped and replaced with new recordings, and the ones which were kept were significantly different. The spoken intro to 'Bounce Back' was removed from the single version, 'Maybe I Won't Look Back' has a slightly different track from what would eventually be released, including the bridge being performed as a rap verse by Orrico, and 'Security' contained a rap verse from an uncredited Mat Kearney that was omitted from the released version. A couple of the scrapped tracks were later included on some Japanese editions of her album, while others have remained unreleased. The revamped 'Stacie Orrico' album was released in 2003, and charted in the US, the UK, and Australia, and the first mainstream single from this album was 'Stuck', which became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 5 on the majority of the world's charts, followed by '(There's Gotta Be) More To Life', which reached number 12 in the UK. For any fans who are interested in hearing the album as it was originally intended, then here is 2002's 'Say It Again', the precursor to 2003's 'Stacie Orrico'. 

Track listing

01 Tight
02 Hesitation
03 Bounce Back
04 That's What Love's About
05 Truth
06 Intil I Find You
07 Maybe I Won't Look Back
08 That's The Way (God Planned It)
09 Star Of My Story
10 Security (feat. Mat Kearney)

The Dodos - Music From The Funhouse (1967)

If 'Sgt. Pepper...' cracked the egg of psychedelic pop earlier this year, 'Music From The Funhouse' by The Dodos smashes it on the floor, paints a moustache on the yolk, and invites you to dance to its surreal ride through the acid-drenched annals of time. The album opens with 'The Big Parade', a brassy, clattering number that marches out of the gate like a ragtag circus. It’s a dizzying overture, complete with luscious strings, marching band drums, and cryptic lyrics. It's as much a declaration of artistic intent as it is a giddy sonic prank. 'Funhouse Mirrors' slows things down but doesn’t let up on the weird, with the layered vocals and psychedelic sounds giving it an otherworldly feel. 'Crystalline Ballroom' is a shimmering ballad with fairy-tale lyrics, which ends wit a cacophony of sound effects, while 'Cotton Candy Tears' is actually quite a jaunty number, with some nice guitar-work. 'Up In The Air' is a buoyant track that filters early Kinks through a trapeze act, with a playful tempo and rich harmonies, giving it a sense of wonder that's impossible to resist. 'Did I Forget' harks back to their earlier work, and is a welcome break from the rampant psychedelia on offer so far, but we're soon back to the strangeness with 'The Clowns Scare Me', which is a deceptively catchy piece with paranoid lyrics and a great backwards guitar solo. The album closes with 'Hypercolour Kaleidoscope Cavalcade', which is six and half minutes of layered drones, backwards guitar loops, and heavily flanged vocals dripping with echo. 'Music From The Funhouse' has the makings of a cult classic, and with half of the twelve tracks hovering around the six-minute mark, it also gives the boys the chance to experiment, and play around with new sounds. It’s unafraid to be bizarre, and yet it’s filled with real melodic beauty and emotional depth. The Dodo's may be extinct in the mainstream, but in the funhouse of rock history, their music echoes on.

Track listing

01 The Big Parade 

02 Funhouse Mirrors

03 I Bumped My Head 

04 Time Flows So Slow

05 Why Wake Me? 

06 Crystalline Ballroom

07 Walk Through The Midway

08 Cotton Candy Tears 

09 Up In The Air

10 Did I Forget?

11 The Clowns Scare Me

12 Hypercolour Kaleidoscope Cavalcade

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 73 (2019)

I think its about time for another episode of Mike Solof's excellent Beatles-O-Rama radio show, and this one is a bit of a departure from the usual in depth exploration of the Fab Four, as it looks at the political history of the 60's, with choice musical interludes which help explain what was happening during this period, and what the musicians of the time though of it.

 

Track listing

01 Episode 73 - Off Track With Just 4 Guys

U2 - Songs Of Ascent (2010) **UPDATE **

Listening to this album once more, I noticed that the guitar intro to 'Mercy' seemed extremely loud compared to the rest of the song, so I've toned it down a bit to blend in with the rest of the track. Soulseek and Mega updated, and link to the track on its own is in the comments. 

pj

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (2023) **UPDATE**

Since discovering this epic track on Youtube, I've probably played it about once a week, and while I'm in awe at the seamless edits, one little thing that niggled was the slight change in the fullness of the sound on a couple of the solos. I've therefore extracted them and boosted the bass on them a touch so that they blend in more with the music on either side. Hopefully it fractionally improves your enjoyment of this superb piece of music. Soulseek/Mega updated.

Track listing

01 Comfortably Numb

Frank Zappa - Chalk Pie (1982)

'Chalk Pie' was a live album planned for release in 1982, featuring music recorded on Frank Zappa's  1981 tour. When it was delivered to the folks at his label it was not greeted enthusiastically, as the previous year Zappa had released two double albums and one triple, and so not wanting to overload his fans with product they asked for a single album instead. Zappa capitulated, and presented them with 'Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch', which they released in 1982. Almost all of the material that makes up 'Chalk Pie' ended up being released on various Zappa albums throughout the 1980's, although there are quite a few things which you will only find on this version. Some fans have found it a much better album than '...Drowning Witch', as it contains some of Zappa's more enjoyable difficult compositions of the time, as opposed to the 'silly songs' that make up side one of that album. The first side of 'Chalk Pie' is the same as side two of '...Drowning Witch', but with a different mix of the title track, incorporating the group vocal section from a Santa Monica gig, Zappa's vocal section from the Chicago late show, the first guitar solo from The Ritz, and the second solo from the Chicago late show. As well as that, it all contains studio overdubs, some of which render the basic tracks almost unrecognizable. 

'Envelopes' and 'Teenage Prostitute' are also live with studio overdubs, while 'The Dangerous Kitchen' is the same recording as on 'The Man From Utopia' but mixed differently, giving more prominence to Steve Vai's guitar. 'Chalk Pie' is a different mix to that on the 'Guitar' album, and 'We're Turning Again' is a combination of recordings from Santa Monica and Salt Lake City. 'Alien Orifice' is an unreleased version from Salt Lake City, and 'The Jazz Discharge Party Hats' is the same mix as on 'The Man From Utopia'. 'The Torture Never Stops' guitar solo is a previously unreleased take, and 'What's New In Baltimore?' is a different mix to that on 'Frank Zappa Meets The Mothers Of Prevention', as the guitar solo is longer, and it has fewer studio overdubs. 'Moggio' is the same recording as used on 'The Man From Utopia', but a different mix, and it's followed by a previously unreleased take of the guitar solo from 'The Black Page #2'. 'Clownz on Velvet' is an unreleased recording from The Ritz in November 1981, with Al Di Meola guesting on lead guitar, and 'Frogs with Dirty Little Lips' features Zappa's son Ahmet. It's a shame that 'Chalk Pie' went unreleased, as the continuity is excellent, as is the track selection, and while this may not be for newcomers to Zappa's music, it's certainly an essential listen for fans of the great man. 

Track listing

01 Drowning Witch
02 Envelopes
03 Teen-Age Prostitute
04 The Dangerous Kitchen
05 Chalk Pie
06 We're Turning Again
07 Alien Orifice
08 The Jazz Discharge Party Hats
09 The Torture Never Stops - guitar solo 
10 What's New In Baltimore?
11 Moggio
12 The Black Page #2 - guitar solo 
13 Clownz On Velvet
14 Frogs With Dirty Little Lips

Sonny & Cher - This Good Earth (1970)

As 1967 became 1968, with two hit records and one flop movie, 'Good Times', representing Sonny & Cher's accomplishments for the year, Sonny Bono decided that movie stardom was the obvious future for Cher, with himself as auteur. As he threw himself into the film 'Chastity', recording output dwindled, with the duo cutting just two tracks in 1968. The first, 'Circus' was Bono's dump on psychedelic culture, with an atomic explosion for the record's finale, while the brassy 'You Gotta Have A Thing Of Your Own' was an improvement, but did no better in the charts than 'Circus'. As a business plan, there's some wisdom in diversifying into movies and general entertainment, and Bono was correct about Cher's potential as a superstar, but he bowdlerized the script of 'Chastity' to suit his opinions about modern girls, and despite some praise for Cher's acting, the resulting film was a flop. 1969 began tenuously, with Cher migrating to Atco as a solo artist with hopes of a musical revival, and she was taken to Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, with an album green-lighted for an April release. Sonny & Cher's next single, the passably commercial duet 'You're A Friend Of Mine', failed to chart, and featured a solo Bono song on the flip, and to finalize their contract with Atco, Sonny & Cher once again reunited at Gold Star studios in early 1970 for 'Get It Together', which followed their last few singles in failing to bother the charts. Rumour has it that around this time Bono wanted to create an album which would repeat the success of 1965's 'Look At Us', and they decided to call it 'This Good Earth'. It was planned to be released after 1967's 'In Case You're In Love' album, maybe in 1970 or 1971, but their new record label Kapp Records issued 'Sonny & Cher Live' in 1971 instead, followed by 'All I Ever Need Is You' later the same year, and 'This Good Earth' was quietly forgotten. We know the names of six of the possible tracks, most of which were released as singles, and by adding a couple of stand-alone single releases from 1967, and some contemporary b-sides we have enough material to put together an approximation of what this album could have sounded like.   

Track listing

01 Circus  
02 You're A Friend Of Mine  
03 You Gotta Have A Thing Of Your Own  
04 Get It Together 
05 Hold You Tighter  
06 You And Me
07 Good Combination
08 I Would Marry You Today
09 She's No Better Than Me 
10 Just A Little
11 Gentle Foe
12 Plastic Man

Bruce Springsteen - Electric Nebraska (1982) **FINAL UPGRADE **

I can't seem to leave this post alone, and although I was 95% happy with what I'd done, I still felt that 'My Father's House' could be better, and so I listened to every version that I could find on Youtube until I found one from East Rutherford in 1984 which not only had an introduction, but was also superb sound quality. So in what I hope is the final upgrade to this post, here is the definitive version of 'My Father's House' to slot into your album. As before, both Soulseek and the main download have been updated, and the link for the single track is in the comments.    

I was quite pleased with how the two live recordings from the recent U2 post turned out after I removed the crowd noise to make them sound more like studio recordings, and it occurred to me that Bruce Springsteen's 'Electric Nebraska' could do with the same attention. The original post was a perfectly valid idea, in making it sound like a complete live concert using the same running order as the original acoustic album, but what we really wanted to hear was a studio quality version of this legendary album. Once I'd updated the first track I was astounded at the difference that it made, as when the song fades at the end and there is no cheering it really does sound like a studio recording, and so the rest of the tracks soon followed, and we now have as close to a true electric 'Nebraska' as I think we'll ever get. I've used the same live recordings as the original post, apart from a cleaner version of 'My Father's House', as they are generally regarded as the best electric versions of the songs, and I've just tweaked a couple of them to improve introductions, or to EQ them to match the other tracks, so give this a try and see what a real electric version of 'Nebraska' could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 Nebraska

02 Atlantic City

03 Mansion On The Hill

04 Johnny 99

05 Highway Patrolman

06 State Trooper

07 Used Cars

08 Open All Night

09 My Father's House

10 Reason To Believe

I've left the original post in the links and on Soulseek, but renamed it 'Electric Nebraska Live', so that you can still download that if you don't already have it. 

The Blue Aeroplanes - Kings Of The Soap Box (2010)

The genesis of The Blue Aeroplanes started with the band The Art Objects, who consisted of Gerard Langley, his brother John Langley, and dancer Wojtek Dmochowski, and who were active from 1978 to 1981. The Blue Aeroplanes first performed under that name at the King Street Art Gallery in Bristol in 1981, with the trio augmented by Nick Jacobs, former guitarist and vocalist of Southampton band the Exploding Seagulls. The same line-up played three or four concerts over the next couple of years, either at the gallery or for benefits, including a Karl Marx centenary performance at the Victoria Rooms, with the addition of trumpet and didgeridoo. The band released their first album 'Bop Art' on their own Party Records in 1984, and it was rapidly picked up by Abstract Records in the US and Fire Records in the UK. It contained material that had been considered as a follow-up to Art Objects' only album, 'Bagpipe Music', but which was abandoned when that group split up. Gerard Langley's largely spoken poetic lyrics were combined with a heavily guitar-centric sound, and the band went on to release 'Tolerance' in 1985 and 'Spitting Out Miracles' in 1987, alongside several singles and EPs. In 1990 they released their most critically acclaimed album, 'Swagger', this time on a major label Chrysalis/Ensign, and this was followed by 'Beatsongs' in 1991, which was recorded in the United States and produced by Larry Hirsch. 

This second album on the major label was their highest charting, reaching no. 33 in the UK Albums Chart. The follow-up to 'Beatsongs' was delayed until 1994 after a change of label, and 'Life Model' was eventually released on the Beggars Banquet label, followed the next year by 'Rough Music'. A long break and another label change to Art Star preceded the release of 'Cavaliers' in 2000, and following negotiations with EMI, who now owned the rights to 'Swagger' and 'Beatsongs', The Blue Aeroplanes then made a surprise return to the major label, with EMI re-releasing 'Swagger Deluxe' as a 2-CD version in January 2006. This was followed by an album of new material called 'Altitude' later that year, released on EMI's Harvest imprint, and this prompted the band to record the 'Harvester' album, which consisted of covers of classic tracks that were originally recorded by artists on the Harvest label. The Blue Aeroplanes are still active, releasing their 'Culture Gun' album in 2022, and in their long career they released numerous non-album tracks as b-sides to their singles and on their EPs. Despite releasing two collections of these tracks, titled 'FriendLoverPlane' and FriendLoverPlane2', there are still recordings that remain uncompiled, and so this post aims to correct that by including every non-album track that the band have released between 1985 and 2010.    

Track listing

 
Disc I - 1985-1987
01 Action Painting (from the 'Action Painting And Other Original Works Of...' EP 1985)
02 Le Petit Cadeau De Don Juan (from the 'Action Painting And Other Original Works Of...' EP 1985)
03 Ashtrays From Mt. Etna (from the 'Action Painting And Other Original Works Of...' EP 1985)
04 Police (38 Divinity) (from the 'Action Painting And Other Original Works Of...' EP 1985)
05 I Wanna Be Your Lover (from the 'C85' compilation album 2022, recorded 1985)
06 Who Built This Situation In The Midwest (from the 'Lover & Confidante' EP 1986)
07 Weird Heart (from the 'Lover & Confidante' EP 1986)
08 Breaking In My Heart (from the 'Lover & Confidante' EP 1986)
09 The Couple In The Next Room (from the 'Tolerance' EP 1986)
10 Complete Blessing (from the 'Tolerance' EP 1986)
11 King Of The Soapbox (b-side of 'Bury Your Love Like Treasure' 1987)
12 Vice King's Son (b-side of 'Bury Your Love Like Treasure' 1987)
13 Continually Torn Apart (b-side of 'Bury Your Love Like Treasure' 1987)
14 Days Of 49 (free flexi-disc with 'Spitting Out Miracles' 1987, sung by Rodney Allen)

Disc II - 1988-1991
01 Veils Of Colour (single 1988)
02 Shame (from the 'Janice Long Sessions' EP 1988)
03 You (Are Loved) (from the 'Loved' EP 1990)
04 You're Going To Need Somebody (from the 'Loved' EP 1990)
05 Sweet Jane (from the 'Loved' EP 1990)
06 ...And Stones (The Gangley Bootleg Mix - Part I) (12" single only 1990)
07 Razor Walk (b-side of 'Jacket Hangs' 1990)
08 Different Now (b-side of 'Jacket Hangs' 1990)
09 Big Sky (b-side of 'Jacket Hangs' 1990)
10 Pony Boy (b-side of 'Yr Own World' 1991)
11 Mis-Firing (b-side of 'Yr Own World' 1991)
12 Autumn Journal XXIV (b-side of 'Yr Own World' 1991)

Disc III - 1991-2010
01 Talkin' On The Otherphone (b-side of 'Boy In The Bubble' 1991)
02 Disney Head (b-side of 'Boy In The Bubble' 1991)
03 Stranger (from a flexi-disc given away at a Bristol gig 1992)
04 Trouble, Tell Me I'm Alive (from a flexi-disc given away at a Bristol gig 1992)
05 Bad Moon Rising (from the 'Ruby Trax' compilation album 1992) 
06 Love Is (b-side of 'Broken & Mended' 1993)
07 Jack Of All Hearts (b-side of 'Detective Song' 1994)
08 Jealous Town (b-side of 'Detective Song' 1994)
09 It's Alright (b-side of 'Detective Song' 1994)
10 Stars In Your Crown (from the 'Beautiful Is' EP 2007)
11 China Brilliance Automotive (single 2010)
12 My Good Self (b-side of 'China Brilliance Automotive')

Morrissey - Bonfire Of Teenagers (2023) **UPGRADE**

Following my upgrade of Bruce Springsteen's 'Electric Nebraska', another post that consisted of mostly live recordings was my reconstruction of Morrissey's abandoned 2023 album 'Bonfire Of Teenagers'. Since first posting this in August 2024, Morrissey has now performed another of the missing tracks from it in concert, so we now have eight of the proposed songs in some form or another, and as before, I've replace two of the missing songs with ones from his other unreleased album 'Without Music The World Dies'. The main difference between this upgrade and 'Electric Nebraska' is that I've been able to source much cleaner versions of the live performances, and so as this a real upgrade on the version I posted last year, I've replaced that version with this one, as no-one should need the old one when they can have this.   

Track listing

01 I Am Veronica  
02 Rebels Without Applause
03 Kerouac's Crack  
04 Without Music The World Dies  
05 I Live In Oblivion  
06 Bonfire Of Teenagers  
07 Notre Dame  
08 I Ex-Love You    
09 Sure Enough, The Telephone Rings  
10 Saint In A Stained Glass Window

Bruce Springsteen - Electric Nebraska (1982) **UPGRADE**

I was quite pleased with how the two live recordings from the recent U2 post turned out after I removed the crowd noise to make them sound more like studio recordings, and it occurred to me that Bruce Springsteen's 'Electric Nebraska' could do with the same attention. The original post was a perfectly valid idea, in making it sound like a complete live concert using the same running order as the original acoustic album, but what we really wanted to hear was a studio quality version of this legendary album. Once I'd updated the first track I was astounded at the difference that it made, as when the song fades at the end and there is no cheering it really does sound like a studio recording, and so the rest of the tracks soon followed, and we now have as close to a true electric 'Nebraska' as I think we'll ever get. I've used the same live recordings as the original post, apart from a cleaner version of 'My Father's House', as they are generally regarded as the best electric versions of the songs, and I've just tweaked a couple of them to improve introductions, or to EQ them to match the other tracks, so give this a try and see what a real electric version of 'Nebraska' could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 Nebraska

02 Atlantic City

03 Mansion On The Hill

04 Johnny 99

05 Highway Patrolman

06 State Trooper

07 Used Cars

08 Open All Night

09 My Father's House

10 Reason To Believe

I've left the original post in the links and on Soulseek, but renamed it 'Electric Nebraska Live', so that you can still download that if you don't already have it. 

U2 - Songs Of Ascent (2010)

In 2006 U2 began work on a new album with record producer Rick Rubin, but shelved most of the material from those sessions before beginning work with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois in May 2007 in Fez, Morocco. The exotic musical influences that the group were exposed to in Fez inspired them to pursue a more experimental sound, but as the sessions unfolded, the band decided to scale back the extent of those pursuits. Having grown tired of writing in the first-person, Bono wrote his lyrics from the perspective of different characters, and recording continued at several studios in the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland throughout December 2008. 'No Line On The Horizon' had been intended to be released in November, but after composing 50 to 60 songs, they delayed it to continue writing. Prior to the album's release, U2 claimed that their time in Fez, as well as Eno's and Lanois' involvement, had resulted in a more experimental record than their previous two albums, and when it appeared in February 2009 it received generally favourable reviews, although many critics noted that it was not as experimental as previously suggested. The album debuted at number one in 30 countries, but did not sell as well as anticipated, and after expressing disappointment over the relatively low sales of five million copies (!), the band discussed plans to release a meditative follow-up album, 'Songs Of Ascent', which would be a sister release to 'No Line On The Horizon', similar to 'Zooropa''s relationship to 'Achtung Baby'. 

In June 2009, Bono said that although nine tracks had been completed, the album would only be released if its quality surpassed that of 'No Line On The Horizon', with 'Every Breaking Wave' being mooted as the first single. Over time, the album continued to be delayed, and in April 2010 U2's manager confirmed that the album would not be finished by June, but indicated that a release "before the end of the year was increasingly likely". In October 2010, Bono stated that their new album would be produced by Danger Mouse, and that twelve songs had been completed, with the album having a tentative release date of May 2011, although he noted that 'Songs Of Ascent' was no longer the likely title. In the end the 'Songs Of Ascent' project was ultimately abandoned, and after numerous delays, U2 digitally released their thirteenth album, 'Songs Of Innocence', on 9 September 2014 in a surprise release. The band appeared the same day at an Apple Inc. product launch event to announce the album, and reveal it was being released to all iTunes Store customers at no cost, for which they were universally ridiculed. There are several tracks on 'Songs Of Innocence' that were originally slated to be part of 'Songs Of Ascent', such as the original version of 'Every Breaking Wave', which they also performed as a piano ballad. 'Mercy' was originally played live as 'Luckiest Man In The World', while 'Glastonbury' was a punchy rocker that was relatively stripped down, but later became reduced to just a bridge section on 'Volcano', and we also had the instrumental song 'Return Of The Stingray Guitar', which later morphed into the b-side 'Lucifer's Hands'. With these tracks as a starting point, and adding in some rare b-sides, film soundtracks and live recordings of songs that never made it into the studio, we can piece together a credible track-listing for what the album might have sounded like, and so here is U2's follow-up to 'No Line On The Horizon', which should have appeared in 2010.   

Track listing

01 Soon

02 North Star

03 Boy Falls From The Sky

04 Mercy

05 Return Of The Stingray Guitar

06 Are You Gonna Wait Forever

07 Glastonbury

08 Smile

09 Levitate

10 Every Breaking Wave

11 Winter