Nas vs. Jay-Z - God's Black (2005)

The Nas vs. Jay-Z beef is widely considered one of the greatest rivalries in hip-hop history, remembered not just for the lyrical fireworks but also for how it captured the competitive spirit of rap in the late 1990's and early 2000's. The roots of the conflict go back to the mid-1990's, when both rappers were rising stars representing different New York boroughs, with Nas from Queensbridge and Jay-Z from Brooklyn. Early tensions began when Jay-Z sampled Nas's voice on his 1996 single 'Dead Presidents' without Nas contributing a full verse. Although Nas was already hailed for his 1994 album 'Illmatic', regarded as one of the greatest rap albums ever, Jay-Z was building momentum with 'Reasonable Doubt' and later projects. For years, the two exchanged subliminal disses, never addressing each other directly but making it clear there was rivalry over the crown of "King Of New York". By 2001, the tension boiled over when Jay-Z released 'The Blueprint', which included 'Takeover', on which Jay-Z directly targeted Nas, criticizing his discography after 'Illmatic', mocking his sales, and accusing him of irrelevance. He also pointed to Nas's personal life, sharpening the attack beyond music, and 'Takeover' was seen by many as a bold move that positioned Jay-Z as New York’s top rapper. Nas struck back with 'Ether', a blistering response on his 2001 album 'Stillmatic', but whereas Jay's was a calculated critique, Nas's diss was emotional and venomous, filled with personal insults. He mocked Jay-Z's looks, accused him of being a follower, and suggested his success relied on other's creativity. 

The intensity of 'Ether' shifted public opinion, and while some critics argued that Jay-Z's 'Takeover' was more factual, many fans celebrated Nas for the raw, unapologetic energy of his response. For months, the beef dominated hip-hop discourse, with fans, DJs, and magazines debated which song was superior, and the rivalry became symbolic of larger cultural shifts, with Nas representing a gritty, introspective lyricism, and Jay-Z symbolizing commercial success blended with street credibility. Their clash revitalized interest in lyrical battles at a time when mainstream rap was leaning heavily into polished production and club anthems. Over time, however, the intensity cooled, and by 2005 the two had officially ended their feud, with Jay-Z, as president of Def Jam Records, signing Nas to the label, which was seen as a symbolic act of reconciliation. The two went on to perform together and collaborate on songs like 'Black Republican' in 2006 and 'Success' in 2007, cementing mutual respect after years of hostility, but in 2004, when this reconciliation was still was regarded as a pipedream, youtuber Milio crafted an album which imagined what a collaboration between the two rappers could have sounded like. Taking verses from each of them and working his magic, he made a record that sounds like they were actually in the studio together, and although it is now 20 years since it first appeared, it's still worth hearing as a precursor to what was to become a reality just twelve or so months later. 

Track listing

01 Winner's Circle
02 Wussup?
03 Ain't Goin Nowhere (feat. Macy Gray)
04 The Mossberg Anthem(feat. Big Kap, Fatman Scoop)
05 Spread Love
06 Living Proof (feat. AZ)
07 Quiet Storm 2 (feat. Havoc)
08 Contra (feat. DJ Clue)
09 Damn
10 Still Ain't Goin Nowhere (feat. Lil' Kim)
11 Hearts Go On (feat. Celine Dion)
12 Save Me
13 Who's The Best (feat. Biggie Smalls)

Bilbo Baggins - Dance To The Band (1978)

Bilbo Baggins were formed in Edinburgh in 1972, and included Colin Chisholm on lead vocals, Jimmy Devlin on bass, Gordon Liddle on drums, and Brian Spence and Gordon McIntosh on guitars. They were mostly known by many through their connection to the Bay City Rollers, and they shared the controversial Tam Paton as their manager, but they were in fact a completely different style of band, with their music leaning a lot more towards rock, with a more funky and fuller sound. The Roller connection did initially give them some good openings, but it really was a double-edged sword, as the serious music press did not warm to them, and they were often not included on radio playlists, although local radio stations and Radio Luxembourg were a lot more supportive. Their first few singles stayed frustratingly outside of the Top 50, probably due to lack of national radio play, which meant they did not get to appear on Top Of The Pops and gain the exposure of the then most important music show on TV. After their final split from Tam Paton management they were left with contractual disputes, and 1977 became a very difficult year for them as they tried to get back on track. By 1978 they were signed to Lightning records, but the tide of musical taste had turned away from pop and was embracing punk and New Wave, and so despite a change of image it was now too late for the band to achieve the commercial success they really deserved, although their 1978 single, 'She's Gonna Win', did peak at No. 42 on the UK Singles Chart. In total they released five singles on Polydor between 1974 and 1976, before shortening their name to Bilbo in 1978, and issuing a further four singles for Lightning Records. The band eventually split in 1979, and a 2014 re-union was thwarted by the UK's Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and the Saul Zaentz Company in the United States, which owns the rights to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and who objected to their name, saying that it "did not differentiate it clearly enough from the famous hobbit Bilbo"! Hopefully this collection of all their recorded music, bar a forgettable disco version of their last single, will reignite interest in the career of one of the forgotten glam-pop bands of the early 70's.  

Track listing

01 Saturday Night (single 1974)
02 Monday Morning Blues (b-side of 'Saturday Night')
03 The Sha-Na-Na-Na Song (single 1974)
04 Run With The Devil (b-side of 'The Sha-Na-Na-Na Song')
05 Hold Me (single 1975)
06 Dance To The Band (b-side of 'Hold Me')
07 Back Home (single 1976)
08 What's Goin' On (b-side of 'Back Home')
09 It's A Shame (single 1976)
10 Please Sir (b-side of 'It's A Shame')
11 I Can Feel Mad (single 1978)
12 Dole Q Blues (b-side of 'I Can Feel Mad')
13 She's Gonna Win (single as Bilbo 1978)
14 You Wanna Be Your Lover (b-side of 'She's Gonna Win')
15 America (single as Bilbo 1978)
16 He Mustn't Know (b-side of 'America')
17 Don't Blame It On Me (single as Bilbo 1978)

Peter Tosh - Brand New Second Hand (1971)

Winston Hubert McIntosh, professionally known as Peter Tosh, was born on 19 October 1944 in Westmoreland, the westernmost parish of Jamaica. He was abandoned by his parents and shuffled among relatives, and when he was fifteen, his aunt died and he moved to Trenchtown in Kingston, Jamaica. During the early 1960's, as an aspiring musician, he went to vocal teacher Joe Higgs, who gave free music lessons to young people, and through his contact with Higgs, Tosh met Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley) and Neville O'Reilly Livingston (Bunny Wailer). He then changed his name to Peter Tosh and the trio started singing together in 1962, with Higgs teaching the trio to harmonise and develop their music. By 1964, Tosh, Marley, and Bunny had formed the Wailing Wailers, with falsetto singer Junior Braithwaite, and backup singers Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith. Initially, Tosh was the only one in the group who could play musical instruments, and according to Bunny Wailer, Tosh was critical to the band because he was a self-taught guitarist and keyboardist, and thus became an inspiration for the other band members to learn to play. The Wailing Wailers had a major ska hit with their first single, 'Simmer Down', and recorded several more successful singles before Braithwaite, Kelso and Smith left the band in late 1965. Marley spent much of 1966 in Delaware in the United States with his mother, and for a brief time was working at a nearby Chrysler factory. He returned to Jamaica in early 1967 with a renewed interest in music and a new spirituality, and as Tosh and Bunny were already Rastafarians when Marley returned from the US, the three became very involved with the Rastafari faith. Soon afterwards, they renamed their group the Wailers, and rejecting the up-tempo dance of ska, the band slowed their music to a rocksteady pace, and infused their lyrics with political and social messages inspired by their new-found faith. The Wailers composed several songs for the American-born singer Johnny Nash before teaming up with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry to record some of the earliest well-known reggae songs, including 'Soul Rebel', 'Duppy Conqueror', and 'Small Axe'. Although Tosh didn't record his debut solo album, 'Legalize It', until 1975/76, he'd been releasing solo singles in Jamaica since 1964, often with the Wailers as his backing band. For most of his records he was only allowed one song, with two different artists sharing each 7" disc, and so his solo discography is somewhat disjointed, but this album collects together all the songs that were either issued under his own name, or as b-sides of Wailers' singles, between 1964 and 1971, and includes a number of promo singles which were never officially released.  

Track listing

01 Hoot Nanny Hoot (single 1964)
02 Shame And Scandal (single 1965)
03 Amen (b-side of 'Habits' by The Wailers 1965)
04 Maga Dog (b-side of 'Hoolighans' by The Wailers 1965)
05 The Toughest (single 1966)
06 Rasta Put It On (Promo single 1966)
07 Lemon Tree (Promo single 1966)
08 Treat Me Good (b-side of 'Dancing Time' by The Wailers 1967)
09 Funeral (b-side of 'Thank You Lord' by The Wailers 1967)
10 Pound Get A Blow (b-side of 'Fire Fire' by The Wailers' 1967) 
11 Steppin' Razor (Promo single 1968)
12 Dem A Fi Get A Beaten (Promo single 1968)
13 Give Me A Ticket (Promo single 1969)
14 Once Bitten (single 1971)
15 Brand New Second Hand (single 1971)
16 Here Comes The Sun (Promo single 1971)
17 No Sympathy (single 1971)

The Weeknd - King Of The Fall (2014)

In July 2014 Canadian singer Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, released a promotional single titled 'King Of The Fall' to streaming services, to promote his King Of The Fall Tour. The song was later officially re-released by XO and Republic Records in September 2020, accompanying the release of his remixed track 'Rambo (Last Blood)' on the deluxe edition of Bryson Tiller's first studio album 'Trapsoul'. The initial release of 'King Of The Fall' followed that of his 2014 single 'Often', which was released a month prior, and the song is considered by critics and fans alike as being a staple song in his discography. The release of the two singles hinted to fans that a new album was on the horizon, and although Tesfaye had already began writing new songs, and had enough material for a new record, Republic Records offered him more opportunities to gain mainstream attention, and it was ultimately shelved. Instead, he released 'Earned It' on the soundtrack to James Foley's film '50 Shades Of Grey', and a collaboration with Ariana Grande on 'Love Me Harder'. His next official album was 2015's 'Beauty Behind The Madness', which included 'Often', but none of the songs that he'd recorded for the abandoned record, and so here they are in the form of an album that could have slotted in between 'Kiss Land' and 'Beauty Behind The Madness' in his discography. 

Track listing

01 Be God 
02 Potion  
03 Ebony 
04 In The 90's 
05 Devil May Cry 
06 Intrinsic Worth 
07 DBS OCT  
08 King Of The Fall
09 Lust Spell 
10 Quatre Neuf 
11 Pullin' Up 
12 In The Mood 
13 Marilyn / Witches And Panthers 

The Unthanks - Gan To The Kye - The Best Of The Unthanks (2024)

Originally an all-female band, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset made their debut performance at Holmfirth Folk Festival on 7 May 2004, and launched their debut album 'Cruel Sister' at the same festival venue the following year, being awarded Folk Album of the Year by Mojo magazine. The follow-up, 'The Bairns', was released in August 2007, and was runner-up for the 2008 Mercury Prize. In 2009, the band became the Unthanks, led by sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank, who were born seven and a half years apart, and who grew up in Ryton, Tyne and Wear. Their manager Adrian McNally and his childhood friend Chris Price joined the group, releasing their first album under the new name in September 2009, with the "beautiful", "haunting", and "beguiling" 'Here's The Tender Coming' being awarded Folk Album of the Year by The Guardian and also by Mojo magazine. Their next album, 'Last', was released in March 2011, and with their popularity growing over the intervening years, it reached number 40 in the UK albums chart, and received a five-star review in the Sunday Express and four-star reviews in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. As well as traditional material, the album included McNally's 'Last', alongside a cover of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan's 'No One Knows I'm Gone', and a stunning version of King Crimson's 'Starless'. 

In a departure from their usual practice of showcasing material from their studio albums, the Unthanks performed two concerts at London's Union Chapel on 8 and 9 December 2010 consisting entirely of material written by Robert Wyatt and by Anohni of Anohni and the Johnsons, with the live album 'The Songs Of Robert Wyatt And Antony & The Johnsons' being released in November 2011. This was to be the first of a series of side-projects issued over the next few years under the title of 'Diversions', with the second in the series being a live recording with the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, performing new brass arrangements of songs from all four of their albums, as well as new material. 'Songs From The Shipyards', volume 3 in the 'Diversions' series, was released in November 2012, and was a studio-recorded album of songs from a soundtrack to the documentary film by Richard Fenwick about the history of shipbuilding on the Tyne, Wear and Tees. Their next band album was 'Mount The Air', which was released in February 2015, and received five-star reviews in The Daily Telegraph and The Irish Times, describing it as "their most ambitious work, which places them in the same league as the likes of The Gloaming and the Punch Brothers". The dominant figure on this record was Rachel's husband Adrian McNally, who not only played keyboards and percussion, but also produced the record and wrote much of the music, with 'Mount The Air' winning Best Album in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. 

In December 2015 the band released 'Memory Box', a package containing a new CD, a Christmas 7" single (the first Unthanks single to be issued in this format) and other items to commemorate the band's 10th anniversary. In May 2017 they released two albums in the 'Diversions' series, 'The Songs And Poems Of Molly Drake' and 'The Songs And Poems Of Molly Drake: Extras', featuring songs written by the mother of Nick Drake. 'Lines', a trilogy of albums about the 1968 Hull triple trawler tragedy, poetry of the First World War and the poems of Emily Brontë, was pre-released on the band's website in November 2018 and officially released on 22 February 2019. Their next album, 'Sorrows Away', was released in October 2022 and received a five-star review in the Financial Times. Their most recent record, the double album 'In Winter', was a collection of Winter/Christmas themed music, and was released at the end of 2024, eliciting further four and five-star reviews in the UK national press. In 2014 the song 'Magpie' was featured in the BBC Four TV series 'Detectorists', and in 2019 the band composed and performed the soundtrack for the 2019 BBC production of the television drama series 'Worzel Gummidge'. The Unthanks are without doubt the best UK folk band currently in operation, and if you have the slightest interest in British folk and you haven't heard them then this collection of their best work in the perfect introduction. 

Track listing

01 Because He Was A Bonny Lad (from 'Here's The Tender Coming' 2009)
02 Gan To The Kye (from 'Last' 2011)
03 Last Lullaby (from 'Mount The Air' 2015)
04 The Sandgate Sandling Song (from 'Sorrows Away' 2022) 
05 Flutter (from 'Mount The Air' 2015)
06 Dark December (from 'In Winter' 2024)
07 Lucky Gilchrist (from 'Here's The Tender Coming' 2009)
08 Sorrows Away (Love Is Kind) (from 'Sorrows Away' 2022)
09 Starless (from 'Last' 2011)
10 The Bay Of Fundy (from 'Sorrows Away' 2022)
11 Where've Yer Bin Dick (from 'Here's The Tender Coming' 2009)
12 Magpie (from 'Mount The Air' 2015)
13 The Snow It Melts The Soonest (from 'In Winter' 2024)
14 The Gallowgate Lad (from 'Last' 2011)

Chick - Someone's Ugly Daughter (1995)

While working on her 1995 album 'Daydream', Mariah Carey's long-time writing partner and producer Walter Afanasieff mentioned that they explored the notion of making punk music just for fun, inspired by bands like Hole, Garbage, and Sleater-Kinney. In her memoir, Carey stated that she was "playing with the style of the breezy-grunge, punk-light white female singers who were popular at the time," allowing herself to express her misery and be carefree with her feelings throughout the creation of the album, which was to be titled 'Eel Tree'. The band was to be named Chick, and guitarist Gary Cirimelli noted how impromptu the whole project was, bringing hem back to just playing for fun. After working on 'Daydream' during the day, everyone would switch to recording the grunge album around midnight, even going as late as six in the morning, pulling in studio staff, interns, friends hanging around, and people with Mariah, to contribute background vocals and ad-libs, even if they couldn't sing. The album was released in September 1995, and 'Malibu' was released as the first single, being serviced to alternative rock radio stations, where it fared poorly. It has been suggested that Sony just wanted the project to go away, as they felt like it was a threat to the pop sales, and so did little to promote the album. They had already refused to release the record with Carey's vocals as the lead, meaning that as a compromise, she enlisted friend Clarissa Dane to provide lead vocals, while leaving her own background vocals.

They renamed the album from 'Eel Tree' to 'Someone's Ugly Daughter' Chick, and the label made Carey sanitize many of the more explicit lyrics on her songs. As she later said, "back then, everything was super-controlled by the powers that be. I never really was like, 'Oh, we’re going to release it' but then I was like, I should release it. I should do it under an alias. Let people discover it and whatever, but that got squashed". She felt that it was a sign of what they could do without the interference of record label executives, and her then-husband and CEO of Sony Music, Tommy Mottola. Due to the Sony's dissatisfaction with the album and the single's poor performance on radio, critical reaction in the US was muted. although 'Malibu', garnered a positive review in Billboard magazine. In 2020, after Carey revealed her involvement in the album, Pitchfork reported that copies soon started to appear on Amazon and eBay, with prices of up to $800.00. Aside from Clarissa Dane and technical staff, those involved in the project used pseudonyms, meaning the identities of those credited are not known, apart from W. Vlad, who is Walter Afanasieff, who was Carey's main collaborator at the time of the project's recording, and W. Chester, who is Gary Cirimelli. D. Sue is believed to be Carey, due to the name being credited as both a backing vocalist and as a writer on every original track, consistent with Carey's comments on the creation of the project, and she is also believed to be credited on the project as Chick, the name listed as being responsible for the album's production and art direction. Outside of physical copies made at the time, the album is not available on streaming services, so it's quite hard to track down a copy, and even though lead vocals are not by Carey, the fact that she wrote all the songs bar a cover of Cheap Trick's 'Surrender' will make this a must-hear for her fans. 

Track listing

01 Joe
02 Love Is A Scam
03 Violent
04 Malibu
05 Demented
06 Freak
07 Agony
08 Surrender
09 Hermit
10 Prom Queen
11 Stork: Orphan In My Room

King Crimson - Uncertain Times (2018)

Tonight we have a guest post from geofmcm, with his entry in the ever-popular "create your own 'new' RadKrim album" game. This involves making up an album from all the new music written, improvised by, or edited from improvisations by, the RadKrim lineup of King Crimson. Having three drummers in the band means that there are a number of tracks which are basically drum solos, and if they are given a title then they are a contender for the album, so we start with one of them, and 'Devil Dogs Of Tessellation Row' leads neatly into a demo of one of their new compositions, 'The Errors'. Following the interlude 'Interlude', we have the second drum piece, 'CatalytKc No 9', cross-fading into the live 'Hoodoo', which has some editing to shorten it and echo added to make it easier on the ears. That's followed by one of their more experimental pieces in 'Ahriman's Ceaseless Corruptions', and then we're back with a live take of 'Suitable Grounds For The Blues'. 'Cadenzas' is a unique addition to this album, as often in concert the band would follow 'Moodchild' with  Tony Levin, Robert Fripp and Jeremy Stacey all playing a 1:30 'Cadenza', each in turn, and Geof has taken three of these performances and blended them together into one piece, panning left, right and centre, and I then cross-faded that into the beginning of the highlight of the whole album, 'Radical Action Suite'. Finally I found a painting that seemed to fit the concept from Francesca Sundsten, who was the partner of band member Bill Reiflin, and who provided the artwork for a number of King Crimson albums, in particular the striking 'one-eyed man' on the cover of their 2016 release 'Radical Action (To Unseat The Hold Of Monkey Mind)'. Sundsten died in 2019, just a year before her partner Reiflin, and so this album is a tribute to both of them, as well as a reminder that King Crimson are still alive and well, and producing challenging music well into the 21st Century (Schizoid Man).   

Track listing

01 Devil Dogs Of Tessellation Row
02 The Errors
03 Interlude
04 CatalytiKc No. 9
05 Hoodoo
06 Ahriman's Ceaseless Corruptions
07 Suitable Grounds For The Blues
08 Cadenzas
09 Radical Action Suite

Eve - Here I Am (2008)

Eve Jihan Jeffers was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and her first musical interest was always singing, being a member of many choirs, and she even formed an all-female singing group called Dope Girl Posse, who covered songs from En Vogue and Color Me Badd. The group's manager suggested that they should start rapping, and Eve stuck with it, and after the group split up, she began working on a solo career under the name "Eve of Destruction". In 1998, Eve appeared on the Bulworth soundtrack as Eve of Destruction while signed to Dr. Dre's record label Aftermath Entertainment, and her first single, 'What Y'all Want', featuring Nokio the N-Tity of Dru Hill, was released in June 1999. Her debut album, 'Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady' followed in September on Ruff Ryders Entertainment and sold 213,000 copies in the first week, with Eve becoming the third female hip-hop artist to have her album peak at number one on the Billboard 200. Her second studio album 'Scorpion', was released in March 2001, and featured the single 'Let Me Blow Ya Mind' with Gwen Stefani of No Doubt, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Her third album, 'Eve-Olution', was released by Ruff Ryders Entertainment in August 2002, and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, with the first single, 'Gangsta Lovin'', featuring Alicia Keys, and it became her second consecutive number-two hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2002, Eve appeared on the remixed version of Michael Jackson's 'Butterflies', and also made her film debit in the action film 'XXX', and the following year she starred as a fashion designer called Shelly Williams in the television sitcom 'Eve', staying for three series. 

The next few years found her collaborating with Gwen Stefani on her 'Rich Girl' single, a remix of Amerie's number one U.S. R&B single, '1 Thing', Keyshia Cole's 'Never', Teairra Mari's official remix for 'No Daddy', and Kelly Rowland's 'Like This'. In 2007, Eve began working on a new album titled 'Here I Am', with five of the album's songs being produced by Swizz Beatz, including the singles 'Tambourine' and 'Give It To You', featuring Sean Paul. 'Tambourine' debuted at number 73 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but the album ran into a series of delays due to corporate change at the record label, and discontent with the lacklustre success of the singles. The album was renamed twice from 'Here I Am' to 'Flirt' to 'Lip Lock', and after she left Interscope Records and signed with EMI, 'Lip Lock' was expected to be released in 2011, but it was delayed yet again. In 2012, she decided to release the album as an independent artist, and stated that there will be several buzz singles before the official single release. The album's first official single, 'Make It Out This Town', featuring Gabe Saporta of Cobra Starship, was released in February 2013, and 'Lip Lock' was finally released under her own label From The Rib Music in May, but it included no songs from the delayed 'Here I Am' album, and so that record remains unreleased. 'Lip Lock' was Eve's final album, and so 'Here I Am' now seems even more important as an example of some of her last recordings, and so here it is for you to enjoy. 

Track listing

01 Hot Steppa (feat. Swizz Beatz)
02 Hot Tonight (feat. Jon B)
03 Cash Flow (feat. T.I.) 
04 Fantasy (feat. Robin Thicke)
05 Nothing To Say (feat. Timbaland) 
06 Guess Who's Single (feat. Lady Gaga & Pharrell Williams)
07 Set It On Fire
08 Give It To You (feat. Sean Paul)
09 The Beat Is So Crazy (feat. Madonna & Pharrell Williams) 
10 Tambourine 
11 Ain't Nothing Changed 
12 Make Up Sex (feat. will.i.am)
13 One Way (Me N My... Up In The Club) 

Lanterns On The Lake - Realist Victories (2020)

In the notes to my recent post of the 'Best Of Lanterns On The Lake' album, I mentioned that the band recorded their first self-released EP on a borrowed 8-track recorder, and issued that in 2008 as 'The Starlight EP'. In 2009 they followed that with another EP, recorded in their homes, and in an abandoned house in Northumberland, and like their debut it was housed in a handmade sleeve. After these two releases the band signed to Bella Union Records, and their career began in earnest, with singles and albums released on the label, but in 2020 they returned to the EP format, releasing the five-track 'The Realist'. This album collects together all the songs from the three EPs, alongside a couple of b-sides and some rare bonus tracks from 2011. If you tried the 'Best Of...' album and were impressed by the group then this is the logical next step in your appreciation of the band.  

Track listing

01 My Shield (from 'The Starlight EP' 2008)
02 In Starlight (from 'The Starlight EP' 2008)
03 Giants (from the 'Misfortunes & Minor Victories' EP 2009)
04 There's A Light On In Your Home (from the 'Misfortunes & Minor Victories' EP 2009)
05 You Need Better (from the 'Misfortunes & Minor Victories' EP 2009)
06 Sapsorrow (b-side of 'Lungs Quicken' 2010)
07 Cello Song (b-side of 'Lungs Quicken' 2010)
08 The Watch House And The Daughter (from free CD with 'Gracious Tide, Take Me Home' 2011)
09 Father's Song (from free CD with 'Gracious Tide, Take Me Home' 2011)
10 The Realist (from 'The Realist' EP 2020)
11 Understudy (from 'The Realist' EP 2020)
12 Baddies (Model City Version) (from 'The Realist' EP 2020)
13 Romans (from 'The Realist' EP 2020)
14 Model City (from 'The Realist' EP 2020)

Monica & Missy - M&M (2015)

Monica Denise Arnold was born and raised outside Atlanta in College Park, and started singing in church as a toddler, diversifying quickly by competing in talent shows. When she was 11 years old, a winning performance of 'The Greatest Love Of All', patterned after Whitney Houston's version, impressed a talent scout and led to connections with Dallas Austin and Queen Latifah. Signed to the former's Arista-affiliated Rowdy label, Monica debuted at the age of 14 with 'Don't Take It Personal (Just One Of Dem Days)', with the Austin-produced single entering the Billboard charts in April 1995, and only missed the top of the Hot 100 by one spot. Recorded over a period of three years, parent album 'Miss Thang' arrived that July and was further boosted by two highly successful double A-side singles. She also showed uncommon maturity on the Usher duet 'Let's Straighten It Out', a vintage ballad that preceded the neo-soul movement by a couple years, and in a few collaborations with Tim & Bob, such as a cover of the S.O.S. Band hit 'Tell Me If You Still Care'. In 1998 she duetted with Brandy on the 'The Boy Is Mine' single, which topped the R&B and pop charts for three-months, and Monica' like-titled album was issued on Arista Records. For her third album, she co-wrote much of 'All Eyez On Me', but it was delayed repeatedly, even after the feel-good title song was issued as a single, and ultimately it was released only in Japan in October 2002.

She quickly rebounded in the studio with Missy Elliott heavily involved as a producer and writing partner, and the first result of their work together was 'So Gone', released in April 2003. It topped Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles, went Top Ten pop, and became the lead single of the 'After The Storm' album, a collection of mostly new material that went straight to number one upon its June release. Throughout each successive album that arrived every few years, Monica continued to mix and match contemporary trends while drawing from traditional R&B, with Jermaine Dupri and Dem Franchize Boyz helping her tap into the Atlanta snap sound with 'Everytime The Beat Drop', while the 'Still Standing' album was another Elliott collaboration, and 'Everything To Me' was based on Deniece Williams' 'Silly', with Jazmine Sullivan on-board as a co-writer. 'Still Standing' capped Monica's run with J Records, and she moved to RCA, which essentially absorbed the label. Her 'New Life' album was led by 'Until It's Gone', another ballad aided by Missy Elliott and Jazmine Sullivan, and in 2015 'Code Red' followed, with the title song released as a single, and featuring Elliott, and introduced by Monica's daughter Laiyah. She parted ways with RCA after 'Code Red', and by the end of the decade she'd established her independent phase with the singles 'BeHUMAN', 'Commitment' and 'Me + You'. During her career she has kept up her friendship with Missy Elliott, and has worked with her as co-writer, producer, and guest artist on her records, and this collection features rare unreleased works over the years recorded by Monica, featuring guest vocals and/or production by her good friend Missy Elliott. 

Track listing

01 I Love Him (Intro)
02 U Turn Me On
03 No Stoppin'
04 Don't Be Cruel (feat. Beenie Man)
05 Let Me Know
06 Remember When 
07 Girl, Please 
08 If You Were My Man (feat. Jazmine Sullivan)
09 Everything to Me (Remix) (feat. Notorious B.I.G.)
10 Blackberry
11 (Anything) To Find You (feat. Lil' Kim)
12 No Stoppin' (feat. Fantasia)

John McLaughlin & Carlos Santana - A Live Supreme (1973)

In 1971, John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana were both recent disciples of the guru Sri Chinmoy, and musically Santana was moving from rock toward jazz and fusion, experiencing a "spiritual awakening", while McLaughlin had left Miles Davis' band and was forming his new group, The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Santana had been a fan of McLaughlin, and the two had started playing and recording together in 1972. According to his biographer Marc Shapiro, Santana had much to learn from McLaughlin: "He would sit for hours, enthralled at the new ways to play that McLaughlin was teaching him," and his new spirituality had its effect on the music: "the feeling was that Carlos's newfound faith was present in every groove." In 1973 they recorded an album together, inspired by the teachings of Sri Chinmoy and intended as a tribute to John Coltrane. It contains two Coltrane compositions, two McLaughlin songs, and a traditional gospel song arranged by Santana and McLaughlin. Fans of Santana were, apparently, disappointed, as they were still reeling from the radical direction shift toward jazz on 'Caravanserai', and praying that it was an aberration, whereas it was lauded by critics, who could hear this recording in the context of not only Santana's development as a guitarist, but as the logical extension of the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis influencing rock musicians; and of course, McLaughlin was a former Davis sideman. 

A ten city tour was undertaken to promote the album during late summer of 1973, just after the summer Mahavishnu Orchestra tour. Each of the ten concerts lasted nearly three hours, with the band line-up consisting of McLaughlin and Santana on guitars, Larry Young on keys, Doug Rauch on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, and Armando Peraza on percussion, and in contrast to the mixed reviews given the studio album, the reception of the live shows was almost universally ecstatic. Despite knowing that these two world-class guitarists would almost certainly play extended versions of the album tracks, their record company never considered recording any of the shows for later release as a live album, and so it was down to the bootleggers to provide a permanent record of these once in a lifetime concerts. This recording is from Saratoga Springs on 26 August 1973, and while it is only an hour and twenty minutes long, it does include the only live performance of the title track of the album, although the final track had to be faded, as presumably the tape ran out. The sound quality is excellent, but the cheering at the end did sound a bit distant, and so I decided to remove the audience completely so that we could more clearly hear every note of this stunning music.  

Track listing

01 Meditation
02 Flame-Sky
03 A Love Supreme
04 I'm Aware Of You
05 Love, Devotion And Surrender
06 Taurian Matador
07 Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord

Donovan - To Whom It May Concern (1971)

Scottish folkie Donovan recently took possession of 700 Master Analog Tapes, dating from 1970 onwards, which had been in storage for over 35 years. They were songs that he had recorded and then forgotten about, and mixed in amongst them we also other Master Tapes, such as Marianne Faithful’s original masters of her Sixties debut work, and the many bands that Andrew Oldham had recorded for his Sixties Immediate label, which Donovan duly passed on to their owners. In return, Oldham then sent him some other masters from the 'Essence To Essence' sessions that they had recorded back in 1972. The tapes were then digitally transferred and remastered, and made available on Donovan's website as two collections of recordings from Morgan Studios, one from 1970 and the other from 1971. This enormous project will span 150-250 songs total (depending on source), but these early sessions are the most eagerly anticipated, as by 1969 he had been a leading figure of a generation, a pioneer of a music genre, and sold millions of records throughout the world, so at just 24 he decided to throw all tried and tested formulas overboard and began a few chaotic years with endless amounts of recordings. The loose recording atmosphere makes for a consistently strong collection, as although all the songs are nothing but acoustic guitar and vocals, they may very well have been intended to be finished products, as the resulting recordings sound crystal clear and very well rounded individually. Add some occasional fingerpicking guitar overdubs and hazy vocals, and you've got an album worthy of being compared to the likes of 'HMS Donovan' and 'A Gift From A Flower To A Garden'. A few songs had already been released on other albums, albeit in different versions, but most of these songs are entirely new, with 'Dream' and 'Willy O' Windsboro' being particular standouts, and so I've decided to remove the previously released tracks and just leave one album's worth of unheard new recordings. 

Track listing

01 Trail Of Success
02 Days in Silence
03 To Whom It May Concern
04 Dream
05 And Clett Makes Three
06 Epistle To Scouse

07 The Crunch
08 Willy 'O Winsboro
09 Train Whistle

10 Honey Mouth
11 John Riley

12 Don't Look Now
13 If

Delta Goodrem - How A Dream Looks (2014)

Delta Lea Goodrem was born in Sydney on 9 November 1984, and by age seven she had appeared in an American advertisement for the former toy company Galoob, alongside fellow Australian Bec Hewitt. Around the same age she began playing piano, and also took up singing, dancing and acting lessons, appearing in adverts for companies such as Optus and Nesquik, and she also had several minor roles in episodes of Australian television shows, including 'Hey Dad..!', 'A Country Practice', and 'Police Rescue'. At the age of thirteen, she recorded a five-song demo CD, financed through her television work, which was sent to her favourite Australian rules football club Sydney Swans, and they passed it onto talent manager Glenn Wheatley. Wheatley signed Goodrem to an artist development deal with independent record label, Empire Records, and between June 1999 and September 2000 she worked with producers Paul Higgins and Trevor Carter on thirteen tracks for an album, to be called 'Delta'. During the sessions she was described as "an ambitious 15-year-old keen to emulate the pop sound of the Spice Girls, Britney Spears and Mandy Moore." Although most of the tracks were written by Carter, Goodrem co-wrote two and self-wrote the song 'Love'. Higgins took the album to Village Roadshow, which offered to market and distribute it, but the deal was blocked by Goodrem's parents, and the album has yet to surface.

After signing a recording contract with Sony Music, she began work on an album of pop–dance songs, but the first single from it, 'I Don't Care', only peaked at number sixty four on the ARIA Singles Chart in November 2001, and so the album and proposed second single, 'A Year Ago Today', were pushed aside as a result, allowing Goodrem and Sony to re-evaluate her future musical direction. In 2002, she took up the role as shy schoolgirl and aspiring singer Nina Tucker in the popular television soap opera 'Neighbours', which helped re-launch her music career, when the piano-based ballad 'Born to Try' premiered on the show, and reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and the New Zealand singles chart, and number three in the UK. Her largely self-penned debut studio album, 'Innocent Eyes', was released on 24 March 2003 in Australia and debuted at number one on the ARIA Album Charts, breaking Australian records previously held by John Farnham's 'Whispering Jack' in 1986, by staying at number one for 29 consecutive weeks. In July, Goodrem was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer, and this forced her to take a break from her career to undergo treatment, although singles from 'Innocent Eyes' kept her name in the public domain. In August 1999 she won seven ARIA Music Awards, including "Best Female Artist", surpassing Natalie Imbruglia's previous record of six awards in 1999. 

After announcing in late December 2003 that she was in remission from her cancer, Goodrem began work on her second studio album. In March 2004, while she was still undergoing cancer treatment, Higgins and Carter announced plans to release the album they had recorded with the then 15-year-old singer in 2000, igniting a bidding war amongst record companies. However, Goodrem and her family disapproved of the album's release, and a lawsuit was filed, claiming that the album was made up of unfinished demo recordings which were not fit for commercial release. After much coverage in the media, the case was settled in mediation, and in exchange for not releasing the album, Higgins and Carter received an unspecified payout. Her second studio album, 'Mistaken Identity', was released in Australia on 8 November 2004 and debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums chart. The third single from the album was 'Almost Here', a duet with Irish singer and then boyfriend Brian McFadden of Westlife, and it reached number three in the UK and became her seventh ARIA number one. On 15 March 2006, Goodrem performed a new song at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in front of 80,000 spectators, and up to 1.5 billion television viewers worldwide, with 'Together We Are One' being written specifically for the event. 

In October 2006, she promoted in Japan with the release of an updated version of 'Innocent Eyes', and the Japan-only single 'Flawed', which reached number one on the Japanese download chart. Goodrem's third studio album, the eponymous 'Delta', was released in Australia on 20 October 2007, and the material was a lot lighter compared to her previous album, which contained a number of songs written about her illness. On 24 November 2011, Goodrem was confirmed to be a part of the judging panel of the Australian version of 'The Voice' which aired in early 2012, coaching alongside Keith Urban, Joel Madden, and Seal. Some of her decisions on the show sparked criticism, with comments she was "all style" and "little substance", but despite that she returned for season two in 2013, again with Madden and Seal, with Ricky Martin replacing Urban. Her fourth studio album, 'Child Of The Universe', was released on 26 October 2012, and debuted at number two on the ARIA Charts, spending ten weeks in the top 50.  In November, she recorded a Christmas EP titled 'Christmas', and one of the tracks, 'Blue Christmas', was also featured on the album 'The Spirit of Christmas'. In November 2013 it was announced that Goodrem would not be returning to 'The Voice Australia' for the third season in 2014, but instead chose to be a part of the new Australian version of 'The Voice Kids', saying that this would give her more time on her music career and more time to work on her new studio album, although in 2015 she did return as a judge on 'The Voice Australia', and stayed there for the next six seasons. 

On 24 July 2015, Goodrem released 'Wings' as the lead single from her fifth studio album 'Wings Of The Wild', which peaked at number one on the ARIA Charts, and was certified double platinum, and the album followed on 1 July 2016. In 2017 she returned to television in the comedy drama series 'House Husbands', and she also became the V8 Supercars Australia ambassador, promoting the sport and being the official performer at the racing events throughout the year. In early 2021, Goodrem announced the release of her seventh studio album 'Bridge Over Troubled Dreams' for May of that year, alongside an autobiographical and photographic book bearing the same name, but the singles released from this record, and her albums over the previous seven years, no longer featured non-album tracks on the flips, and so this collection of rare singles, b-sides and bonus tracks ends in 2014. Goodrem's repertoire falls under the pop and adult contemporary styles, and heavily features the piano, which she usually plays barefoot while performing live. It has given her a long-lasting and well-respected career, particularly in Australia, but also in the rest of the world, selling over nine million albums globally. In June 2020, she launched the Delta Goodrem Foundation in partnership with St. Vincent's Hospital and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, with the aim of raising funds for the acceleration of innovative blood cancer research, and if only for that reason, she deserves this three disc collection of her hard to find recordings.  

Track listing

Disc I - 2001-2005
01 I Don't Care (single 2001)
02 Hear Me Calling (b-side of 'Lost Without You' 2003) 
03 Right There Waiting (b-side of 'Not Me, Not I' 2003) 
04 Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (b-side of 'Not Me, Not I' 2003) 
05 Lost For Words (b-side of Innocent Eyes' 2003)  
06 Here I Am (b-side of 'Predictable' 2003)  
07 Love (outtake 2003)
08 Right Here In My Heart (bonus track on the digital edition of 'Delta' 2003)
09 Beautiful Madness (b-side of 'Out Of The Blue' 2004) 
10 Visualise (b-side of 'Out Of The Blue' 2004)  
11 Nobody Listened (bonus track on the Australian edition of 'Mistaken Identity' 2004)
12 Hollow No More (feat. Brian McFadden) (b-sidem of 'Almost Here' 2005) 

Disc II - 2005-2007
01 How A Dream Looks (b-side of 'Mistaken Identity' 2005)  
02 Silence Be Heard (b-side of 'Mistaken Identity' 2005) 
03 Turn You Away (b-sidem of 'Almost Here' 2005) 
04 If I Forget (b-side of 'A Little Too Late' 2005) 
05 The Riddle (b-side of 'A Little Too Late' 2005)  
06 Flawed (single 2006) 
07 Never Fades Away (b-side of 'Flawed' 2006)
08 Together We Are One (single 2006)
09 Take Me Home (b-side of 'In This Life' 2007)   
10 Fortune And Love (b-side of 'Believe Again' 2007) 
11 Unsure (b-side of 'Believe Again' 2007)  
12 Fever (b-side of 'Believe Again' 2007) 
13 Breathe In, Breathe Out (bonus track on Japanese edition of 'Delta' 2007)

Disc III - 2008-2014
01 Black Velvet (b-side of 'You Will Only Break My Heart' 2008)  
02 Burn For You (b-side of 'I Can't Break It To My Heart' 2008) 
03 Edge Of Seventeen (b-side of 'I Can't Break It To My Heart' 2008) 
04 I'm Not Ready (solo version of the Michael Bolton duet single 2011) 
05 Uncovered (b-side of 'Sitting On Top Of The World' 2012)  
06 Waiting Forever (b-side of 'Dancing With A Broken Heart' 2012)  
07 Rise (b-side of 'Wish You Were Here' 2012)  
08 Daughter (b-side of 'Wish You Were Here' 2012)  
09 Alcohol (bonus track on the iTunes edition of 'Child Of The Universe' 2012)
10 No Communication (bonus track on the iTunes edition of 'Child Of The Universe' 2012)
11 Heart Hypnotic (single 2013)
12 Stay (b-side of 'Love...Thy Will Be Done' 2014)

Airbag - Sounds That I Hear - The Best Of Airbag (2024)

I've already posted a rarities album from Norwegian progressive rockers Airbag, but as that was more for people who were already fans of the band, I'm posting this 'Best Of...' to introduce them to anyone who has yet to experience their brand of superb neo-prog rock. Formed in Oslo, Norway in 2004, Airbag's consist of guitarist/vocalist Asle Tostrup, guitarist Bjørn Riis, keyboardist Jørgen Hagen, drummer Joachim Slikker, and bassist Anders Hovdan, and they recorded their first EP in their first year together. Entitled 'Come On', it was followed by 2006's 'Sounds That I Hear' and 'Safetree' in 2008, and all three EPs were initially offered for free on the band's website, going on to register over 230,000 downloads, paving the way for incoming interest from Karisma Records, with whom the band signed a deal in 2008. Their debut full-length album arrived in 2009, with 'Identity' featuring remixed versions of songs from their second and third EPs, and the album was very well received, with its lead single, 'Colours', managednotching up a top three hit on Polish radio. Their follow-up, 2011's 'All Rights Removed', saw the band adopt a more conceptual approach, favoring longer pieces and a more dramatic instrumentation. For its release, Slikker left the band and was replaced by Henrik Bergan Fossum, and it went on to receive numerous plaudits from the world of prog rock, and featured on many end-of-year lists. After opening for rock giants Marillion during their Scandinavian tour in 2012, Airbag's third release, 'The Greatest Show On Earth', landed the following year, with the band adopting a heavier, more guitar-driven approach to their music, a feeling echoed in the darker and more destructive content of their lyrics. Their fourth effort, 'Disconnected', was released in June 2016, after which Hagen and Hovdan left the band, with the remaining members deciding to press on as a trio, releasing their fifth album, 'A Day At The Beach', in 2020. Their most recent release was last year's 'The Century Of The Self', which was yet another neo-prog masterpiece, and if you don't already know of Airbag then do yourself a favour and sample some of their best work on this album.  

Track listing

01 White Walls (from 'All Rights Removed' 2011) 
02 Killer (from 'Disconnected' 2016) 
03 Redemption (from 'The Greatest Show On Earth' 2013) 
04 Dysphoria (from 'The Century Of The Self' 2024)
05 Machines And Men (from 'A Day At The Beach' 2020)
06 Colours (from 'Identity' 2009)
07 All Rights Removed (from 'All Rights Removed' 2011) 
08 Call Me Back (from 'The Greatest Show On Earth' 2013) 
09 Sounds That I Hear (from 'Identity' 2009) 
10 Broken (from 'Disconnected' 2016)