The Firm - Full Circle (1985)

I was a bit surprised to see people asking for this album as I wasn't going to post it until next week, but I must have pressed publish my mistake. My only excuse is that I'm currently suffering from the flu and so don't know what I'm doing. I've added this to the Mega list, so for anyone who requested it and it wasn't there then just request the updated list.  

In the early 1980's, Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers were both dealing with the demise of their respective bands, Led Zeppelin and Bad Company. While Page was at a loose end he'd go round to Rodger's home studio and they ended up writing songs, but without any definite plans of what to do with them. Page was keen to get on the road, so they put a band together, with the original plan being to recruit drummer Bill Bruford and bassist Pino Palladino, but both were under contract with other acts, so they invited bassist Tony Franklin and drummer Chris Slade to join them. Their new songs were heavily infused with a soulful and commercially accessible sound, courtesy of Franklin's fretless bass guitar underpinning an understated song structure. Signing to Atlantic Records, they set about recording their first album, using songs written by Page and Rodgers, but despite refusing to play old material, the last track on their 1985 debut album 'The Firm', 'Midnight Moonlight', was originally an unreleased Led Zeppelin song entitled 'Swan Song', which caused some critics to claim that Page had begun to run out of ideas. Despite that criticism, it cracked the Top 20 on the strength of the hit single 'Radioactive', but overall its impact was relatively minimal given the pedigrees of Page and Rodgers, and even the reaction to the group's lone tour proved surprisingly lukewarm. Both refused to play material by their former bands on tour, and instead opted for a selection of Firm songs plus tracks from their solo albums, although at least one performance of 'Midnight Moonlight' did feature sections of 'White Summer' and 'Kashmir'. In later interviews, Page and Rodgers both indicated that the band was never meant to last more than two albums, and so they split after the release of their second record, 'Mean Business', in 1986. Rehearsal tapes that have surfaced show that they were originally working on a more bluesy sound, with recordings of 'I Just Wanna Make Love To You' and 'Statesboro Blues' having run-throughs, but the quality of the tapes left something to be desired, and so my original plan of posting them was put on hold until I stumbled upon a live recording from 1985 which included a lot of those rehearsal songs. With better quality material available, I was able to piece together a full album of unreleased songs, so here is a record that could have appeared either just before or just after their official debut album in 1985. 

Track listing 

01 City Sirens 
02 Prelude>
03 The Morning After
04 The Chase 
05 I Just Wanna Make Love To You
06 Full Circle
07 Rollin' Down The Road
08 Boogie Mama
09 Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Carlton Melton - Chincoteague (2024)

Carlton Melton formed along the Mendocino County coastline in Northern California on the weekend of 17 July 2008, with the idea to play live, loud, improvised, experimental, instrumental, psychedelic music in a geodesic dome. Andy Duvall (guitar and drums), Brian McDougall (drums), Rich Milguitar and synthesizer) and John Steuernagel (bass) had been discussed this for many years prior to their formation, and the opportunity came to fruition after the Dome was completely rebuilt and the acoustic sounds inside were fully realized. The music is recorded live inside the Dome to analogue and digital sources using carefully placed omni-directional microphones, and all music is improvised in the sense that no one really knows who or what is going to be played at any given time. The result of the 2008 session was a self-released CD-R entitled 'Live In Point Arena', which could be purchased through their website www.carltonmusic.con. After this session the band decided that it would be great to try and make this gathering a seasonal event, but time got away from them and it was the following Spring before another session was arranged for March 2009. This allowed the band to record enough material to release the album 'Pass It On...' on their own label Mid-To-Late Records in November 2009. Surprisingly enough, before the album  was released, they were able to get together in the last weekend of June 2009, and this provided enough new material for future releases, and also some bonus tracks for a CD release of the 'Pass It On...' album, which had been picked up for re-issue by Agitated Records in the UK. 

In 2010 the band recorded two tracks which were issued om Mid-To-Late as a split single with Empty Shapes, who contributed three tracks to the release, and this became their preferred method of getting their music out to their fans, releasing split singles with Bardo Pond, Mugstar, Qumran Orphics, Kandodo 3, Mind Mountain, and the Black Elk Medicine Band between 2011 and 2016, as well as releasing their own albums when they had enough material that hadn't been ear-marked for one of their collaborations. As well as recording in their Dome, they are also a touring band, and one of their live shows was released as a 100-copy limited edition cassette in 2014, while their most recent release is a recording from their 2023 European tour, which was issued just this year. They first came to my attention with 2020's 'Where This Leads', and so I was quite late to the party and had a lot of catching up to do, but although I collected most of their albums I missed their split singles, plus their own non-album tracks from singles and EPs, and so this post collects all of those rare and hard to find recordings, both with other artists and on their own. My original plan was to add the band to my 'Best Of...' series, but with over a dozen albums released, and with an average running time per track of around 10 minutes, that turned out to be a non-starter, and so the post became a rarities collection, with over five hours of music spread over a 5-CD set. They might be something of an acquired taste for people who like their music tightly structured, but fans of out-there, experimental psychedelic space-rock are in for a treat.      

Track listing

Disc I - 2010-2011
01 Call And Response (split single with Empty Shapes 2010)
02 Purer (split single with Empty Shapes 2010)
03 Handling Snakes (single 2011)
04 The One That Got Away (b-side of 'Handling Snakes')
05 Bottle Of Heat (from the 'I'm So Convoluted!' compilation 2011)

Disc II - 2011
01 March Of The Cicadas (split single with Qumran Orphics 2011)
02 Murder Ridge (split single with Qumran Orphics 2011)
03 Slow Growth (split single with Bardo Pond 2011)
04 Company (extended version) (split single with Mugstar 2011)
05 Death Whisper (split single with Mugstar 2011)

Disc III - 2012-2013
01 Adrift (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
02 Smoke Drip (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
03 Against The Wall (from the 'Smoke Drip' EP 2012)
04 Personal Space (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
05 Road Swagger (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
06 Glass Home (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)
07 Mist (from the 'Four Eyes' EP 2013)

Disc IV - 2015-2016
01 Footprints (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
02 Flags (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
03 Chincoteague (split single with Kandodo 3 2015)
04 Harbinger (split single with Mind Mountain 2015)
05 Observatory (split single with Black Elk Medicine Band 2015)
06 Upon Your Return (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
07 Simulacra (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
08 Phildelayphian (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
09 Simmer (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)
10 Holiday Hours (from 'Aground' limited edition Record Day release 2016)

Disc V - 2017-2022
01 Rememory (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
02 The Warbler (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
03 Hidden Lights (from the 'Hidden Lights' EP 2017)
04 Resemblance (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
05 Morning Warmth (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
06 High Noon Thirty (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
07 Safe Place (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
08 Straitum (from the 'Night Pillers' EP 2021)
09 Chop Shop (from the 'We Love You Junzo' compilation album 2022)

Sophia Fresh - Sophia Fresh (2008)

In 2005, singers Chelle, Skye, Cole Rose and Jade Johnson formed the group Gyrlfriend, and signed a major deal with J Records, but before they could record anything the group disbanded, with Skye and Cole Rose joining with Crystal Tamar to form Sophia Fresh. In 2008 the group's manager took them to Atlantic Records and introduced them to singer/producer T-Pain, who signed the trio as one of the first acts to his Atlantic imprint, Nappy Boy Entertainment. They began recording their debut album with T-Pain, and were allowed the creative freedom to record their "very high energy, very edgy and funky" music. T-Pain described Sophia Fresh as "a contemporary TLC", and despite the fact that Nappy Boy Entertainment was a digital label, it was confirmed that there would still be release physical albums. The girls first released song was when 'Lives In Da Club' appeared on the soundtrack to the film 'Step Up 2: The Streets', which was released in 2008. In November 2008, Sophia Fresh released their debut single, 'What It Is', featuring Kanye West, which was highly prasied by singer Rihanna, who said she almost wished the song was hers. In 2010 they appeared in T-Pain's animated TV show 'Freaknik: The Musical', but little was heard of their album, apart from a second single 'Do The Dance' in 2009, and in 2011 the group disbanded without ever getting the chance top release their debut long-player. After the group slpit, former member Crystal Tamar continued her solo career, releasing her debut album in September 2019, but if you want to hear the album recorded by Sophia Fresh then here it is. 

Track listing

01 Do The Dance
02 Loser
03 What It Is
04 Unda Cuva
05 Something
06 Wipe Me Down
07 Drop It
08 Change My Number
09 Just Go
10 Something Ain't Right
11 Incense & Chocolate
12 Shame On Love
13 Stage
14 Woke Up

Happy New Year 2026

 Looking forward to another year of great music.

Klaus Schulze - Janson (1977)

Klaus Schulze was born in Berlin in 1947, and started his career in music drumming in a band called Psy Free. In 1969 He met Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream in the Zodiac Club, in what was then West Berlin, and was invited to join them for the recording of their 1970 debut album 'Electronic Meditation'. In 1970 he left TD to form Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching and Hartmut Enke, with whom he was also in the band Eruption. In 1971, he again chose to leave a newly formed group after only one album, this time to mount a solo career. In 1972, Schulze released his debut album 'Irrlicht', with organ and a recording of an orchestra filtered almost beyond recognition. Despite the lack of synthesizers, this proto-ambient work is regarded as a milestone in electronic music, and his follow-up album in 1973, 'Cyborg', was in a similar style, but added the EMS VCS 3 synthesizer. From this point on Schulze has released some 40 albums, highlights of which are 1975's 'Timewind', 1976's 'Moondawn' (his first album to feature the Moog synthesizer), 1979's 'Dune', and 1995's double-album 'In Blue', which featured one long track called 'Return To The Tempel', with electric guitar contributions from his friend Manuel Göttsching of Ash Ra Tempel. 

In 1976, he was drafted by Japanese percussionist and composer Stomu Yamashta to join his short-lived "supergroup" Go, which also featuring Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, and Al Di Meola, releasing two studio albums, 1976's 'Go', and 1977's 'Go Too', and the live album 'Go Live From Paris' in 1976. Throughout the 1970's he followed closely in the footsteps of Tangerine Dream, albeit with far lighter sequencer lines and a more reflective, dreamy sheen, not unlike the ambient music of his contemporary Brian Eno. On occasions he would also compose film scores, including horror and thriller movies such as 'Barracuda' in 1977, and 'Next Of Kin' in 1982. In 1977 he released the 'Mirage' album, which has been acclaimed by aficionado's of electronic music as one of his finest works. To promote the album he embarked on a short European tour, and his concert at The Janson University in Brussels, Belgium on 16 April 1977 was captured for posterity. The gig consisted of four long improvised pieces, and lasted a total of an hour and three-quarters. The sound quality is excellent, as is the music, and the only down-side is that there was an audience member with a persistent cough, who constantly interrupted the performance. However, with the aid of MVSEP I've managed to remove most of these annoyances, and while I was at it I removed the minimal applause at the end of each track, so we now have a studio quality recording of previously unreleased music from the much-missed Klaus Schulze. 

Track listing

01 Janson 1
02 Janson 2
03 Janson 3
04 Janson 4

LCD Soundsystem - A Bunch Of Stuff (2007)

James Murphy founded LCD Soundsystem in 2002 in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, with the "LCD" part of the band's name stands for "Liquid Christmas Display", a play on "liquid-crystal display", and originated from the earliest iteration of the band during a live performance at a Brooklyn Christmas party where bassist Murphy and drummer Pat Mahoney were covering songs by Liquid Liquid. They began by releasing a string of singles under DFA Records, which was co-founded by Murphy, and they gained attention with their first single, 'Losing My Edge', which peaked at number 115 in the UK chart. Subsequent singles improved on that, with 'Yeah' reaching number 77 and 'Movement' peaking at number 52. The band released their eponymous debut studio album in January 2005 to critical acclaim, with the the CD version including a second disc of non-album singles. The following month, they released the single 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House', which became their first UK top 40 hit, peaking at number 29, and their most commercially successful single. In October 2006 they released a composition titled '45:33', as part of Nike's Original Run series, which was made available for download from iTunes. Despite its name, the track is actually 45 minutes and 58 seconds long, with the title being an apparent reference to vinyl speeds of 45rpm and 33rpm, although this was later denied by Murphy, who merely wanted the opportunity to create a long piece of music, akin to E2-E4 by Manuel Göttsching. 

The group's second studio album, 'Sound Of Silver', was released in March 2007 to critical acclaim, with Mixmag awarding it the title Album of the Month. The group subsequently released an EP titled 'A Bunch Of Stuff', which consisted entirely of covers, alternative versions, and remixes of tracks from the album, and which was only available as an iTunes download. The best track on there is a cover of 'All My Friends' performed by Franz Ferdinand, and recast in a full-on dance-rock arrangement that keeps racheting into higher and higher gears. The 'Sound Of Silver' version hews closely to its sources (especially New Order's 'Ceremony'), while Franz Ferdinand's radically different arrangement gets around the question of quotation and paraphrase, leaving only a grand evocation of the post-punk chill. The other highlight is at the close of the EP: a galloping live-on-the-radio reprise of 'Us v Them', played by LCD's spectacularly tight and forceful onstage incarnation. Between them, there's a quartet of remixes, none of which are quite as good as their sources, but a couple of which are noteworthy anyway, with Soulwax's 10-minute remix of 'Get Innocuous' being a jittery, slow-building jam that spotlights the analogue sequencers and drum machines of Murphy's favourite era. As it was a download only release it might have been missed by fans of the band, and so here it is to fill that gap in their discography. 

Track listing

01 All My Friends (Franz Ferdinand Version)
02 Get Innocuous! (Soulwax Remix)
03 Sound Of Silver (C2 Rmx Rev.3)
04 Us V Them (Any Color U Like Remix By Windsurf)
05 Time To Get Away (Gucci Soundsystem Remix)
06 Us V Them (Live On KRCW's 'Morning Becomes Eclectic')

Fairport Convention - Nineteen Sixty-Eight (1968)

Bassist Ashley Hutchings met guitarist Simon Nicol in North London in 1966 when they both played in the Ethnic Shuffle Orchestra, and the rehearsed on the floor above Nicol's father's medical practice in a house called "Fairport" in Muswell Hill – on the same street where Ray and Dave Davies of the Kinks grew up. The house lent its name to the group that they formed together in 1967 with Richard Thompson on guitar and Shaun Frater on drums, and which they named Fairport Convention.  After their initial performance at St Michael's Church Hall in Golders Green on 27 May 1967, they had their first of many line-up changes as one member of the audience, drummer Martin Lamble, convinced the band that he could do a better job than Frater and replaced him. They soon added a female singer, Judy Dyble, which gave them a distinctive sound among the many London groups of the period. The band were soon playing regularly at underground venues such as UFO and The Electric Garden, and after only a few months they caught the attention of manager Joe Boyd, who secured them a contract with Polydor Records. Boyd suggested they augment the line-up with another male vocalist, and so Iain Matthews (then known as Ian MacDonald) joined the band, and their first album, 'Fairport Convention', was recorded in late 1967 and released in June 1968. 

At this early stage Fairport looked to North American folk and folk rock acts such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and The Byrds for material and inspiration, and the name Fairport Convention, plus the use of two lead vocalists. led many new listeners to believe that they were an American act, earning them the nickname 'the British Jefferson Airplane'. After disappointing album sales they signed a new contract with Island Records, but before their next recording sessions Judy Dyble left, and was replaced with Sandy Denny, a folk singer who had previously recorded as a soloist and with Strawbs. Denny's arrival encouraged the band to consider integrating British folk music into what had previously been an American-influenced sound, and her distinctive voice characterised their later sound. During 1968 the band toured extensively, including jaunts to Europe, where they appeared on French and Dutch TV. As well as playing tracks from their album, they also included a number of songs in their set-list which never made it to a recording studio, and so this collection brings together a number of them, recorded for European TV or UK radio stations, plus a rare studio out-take, and it includes a stunning take on 'Mr Lacey', later to appear on their next studio album. The sound quality varies considerably between the recordings, but I've done my best to clean them up so that the album has a reasonably consistent sound quality,  

Track listing

01 I Still Miss Someone (Dutch TV September 1968)
02 Marcie (David Symonds Show 18/06/1968)
03 The Quiet Land Of Erin (My Kind Of Folk, BBC 26/06/1968)
04 Morning Glory (Bouton Rouge, French TV Show 27/04/1968)
05 Mr Lacey (Dutch TV September 1968)
06 Been On The Road So Long (My Kind Of Folk, BBC 26/06/1968)
07 Violets Of Dawn (BBC Top Gear 06/02/1968)

08 Makes Me Think Of You (unknown recording venue 1968)
09 Reno, Nevada (Bouton Rouge, French TV Show 27/04/1968) 
10 Dear Landlord (Studio out-take mid-1968)

11 At The End Of The Day (unknown recording venue 1968)
12 If It Feels Good (Dutch TV September 1968)

Jessica Betts - Jessie Pearl (2008)

Jessica Betts was born on 19 July 1982 in Chicago, and grew up hoping to be a professional basketball player. After singing the National Anthem at a high school championship game, she decided to start her singing career, and shortly afterwards she signed to Warren G's G-Funk Music and Restless Records, appearing on such soundtracks as 'Big Momma's House' and 'Simply Irresistible'. She released her first single 'Get Up' in 2000, but the follow-up album, You Can't Resist', released under her first name only, was unsuccessful and she was dropped from the label and went back to the drawing board. She was fortunate enough to become a contestant on Missy Elliott's reality show 'Road To Stardom' in 2005, and eventually ended up winning the competition. Since winning the hearts and admiration of judges such as Teena Marie, Dallas Austin, Madonna & Jermain Dupri, she has grown artistically, teaching herself to play the guitar, and now incorporating her guitar skills to her dynamic image and brand. However, winning 'Road To Stardom' did not lead to the success that she was hoping for, and the 'Jessie Pearl' solo album that she'd recorded in 2008 was released only in Japan. She has been recording independently ever since, releasing her #LLcoolJess mix EP in June 2014, but to hear what she was doing after winning the reality show, here is that rare 2008 album, featuring Missy Elliott on several of the recordings. 

Track listing

01 Dealeo 
02 Jump On It  
03 Block (feat. Missy Elliott)
04 Crush
05 Whisper (feat. Missy Elliott)
06 Superhero
07 What's Your Name  
08 Moon (feat. Missy Elliott) 
09 Don't Make Me Wait 
10 Why Me  
11 I Miss You 
12 Corrupted
13 Smooth 
14 Come To Me  
15 Unique Girl 

The Outskirts Of Infinity - Song To The Goddess - The Best Of The Outskirts Of Infinity (1993)

The Outskirts Of Infinity are a hard/psychedelic rock trio from the UK, and were one of the earliest bands to release an album on Nick Saloman's Woronzow label. Saloman himself played bass with the band on the first two albums, and their debut record 'Lord Of The Dark Skies' is rated as one of the best on the label, with epic slabs of progressive rock and soaring guitar. The second album 'Scenes From The Dreams Of Angels' is a combination of extremely hallucinogenic space rock, Hendrix-like power trio stuff and psychedelic pop. Their third album 'Stoned Crazy' was recorded live in the studio, featuring a combination of the Outskirts' own songs plus a few cover versions of Hendrix and Cream numbers. This was the first album to feature ex Ozzy Osbourne/Dirty Tricks bassist Terry Horbury, and his Jack Bruce style playing in combination with Ric Gunther's Bonham/Baker-style drumming pushed the trio up a gear in power and creativity in a live setting. The next release was 'The Altar Of The Elements', which showed a distinct improvement over its predecessor, featuring the hard rocking 'Man Of Words' and the strange 'Broken Wings', which is an epic Floyd style track. The title track is a superb heavy prog workout with spectacular guitar playing. Following on from this release came 'Incident At Pilatus', recorded in the middle of a European tour, and three of the tracks were recorded in a studio in Switzerland, while the rest were recorded live at various venues during the tour. If you like classic heavy rock with gritty vocals and screaming guitar solos, all held together by a rock-steady rhythm section, then give this 'Best Of...' a listen, and before long you'll be checking out the rest of their discography.  

Track listing

01 Gates To Infinity (from 'Scenes From The Dreams Of Angels' 1989)
02 Gemini Machine (from 'Lord Of The Dark Skies' 1987)
03 Jupiter Jam (from 'Stoned Crazy' 1989)
04 The Altar Of The Elements (from 'The Altar Of The Elements' 1993)
05 Eastern Spell (from 'Lord Of The Dark Skies' 1987)
06 Burning Down (from 'Scenes From The Dreams Of Angels' 1989)
07 Stoned Crazy (from 'Stoned Crazy' 1989)
08 Song To The Goddess (from 'The Altar Of The Elements' 1993)
09 Lord Of The Dark Skies (from 'Lord Of The Dark Skies' 1987)
10 Infinity...Beyond...Beyond (from 'Scenes From The Dreams Of Angels' 1989)

Björk - The Jazz Singer (1993)

During August and September 1990, Björk recorded a number of songs with backing from a jazz trio, consisting of Guðmundur Ingólfsson on piano, Guðmundur Steingrímsson on drums, and Þórður Högnason on bass. The 'Gling-gló' album was released in October 1990 by Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar, and included several covers of jazz standards, translated and sung in Icelandic. The project started when Guðmundar Ingólfssonar was commissioned by the Icelandic State Radio to record a set of popular instrumental standards, and the trio felt it would be infinitely better with a vocalist performing in the native Icelandic language, and who else could have filled the bill better than Björk, who had already put the country on the map musically with her success with The Sugarcubes. The album is mostly sung in Icelandic, as it was meant to be for an Icelandic audience, where it actually did quite well. The majority of the tracks are short but sweet jazz standards, focusing on the virtues of vocal jazz but also incorporating a bit of hard bop, Mexican salsa and even Icelandic folk into the mix. To promote the record, the trio plus Björk played some gigs around Iceland, and the one at the Hotel Borg in August 1990 was recorded, providing the two bonus tracks for the CD edition of 'Gling-gló'. As well as tracks from the album, they also played a number of jazz classics, this time sung in English, and so by extracting these and teaming them up with two other jazz standards that Björk recorded later in her career, we have an excellent companion-piece to her Icelandic-language jazz album. 

Track listing

01 Misty
02 My Funny Valentine
03 I Fall in Love Too Easily
04 You Don't Know What Love Is
05 Cry Me a River 
06 Like Someone In Love
07 Can't Help Loving That Man
08 I Remember You
09 Ruby Baby

Suzanne Vega - The Boulevardiers (1984) **UPDATE**

geofmcm and I have been having a bit of a discussion about this album ever since I posted it, in particular about the inclusion of the track 'Tom's Diner'. Although it was recorded in 1984, over two years before it made its appearance on the 1987 album 'Solitude Standing', the arrangement for the studio version was pretty much the same as the 1984 recording, and so it didn't really sit well among the other tracks, which were either completely unreleased, or in a different version to their studio counterparts. I had originally only included it to make up the running time to around 40 minutes, so I was never that worried about whether it stayed or went. As luck would have it, visitor Lukas messaged to say that he had another live recording from Vega from 1982, and when I failed to find any mention of it online he kindly sent me a copy of it. It needed some work to make it listenable, and to fit in with the other tracks, but it now sounds much better, and so I've slotted it in as track 6, in place of 'Tom's Diner'. This now makes the album a collection of songs unheard in this form, either completely unreleased or acoustic versions of later band recordings, and although 'Left On Centre' stretches the timeline a fraction for it inclusion, it never made it to one of Vega's studio albums so I'm standing by my decision to include it. Soukseek and Mega updated.   

Track listing

01 The Boulevardiers
02 Gypsy
03 Calypso
04 The Rent Song
05 Silver Lady
06 Don't Tell Me
07 Black Widow Station
08 The Marching Dream
09 Just Friends
10 Daniella
11 Left Of Centre
12 Playing

Thanks to Lukas for supplying 'Don't Tell Me'. 

M Ross Perkins - The New American Laureate - The Best Of M Ross Perkins (2025)

Michael Ross Perkins grew up in Fairborn, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton, and during his early years his family lived on Titus Avenue in Dayton's Northridge neighbourhood, a few houses away from Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard. Perkins has stated that his proximity and early exposure to Guided By Voices was influential, noting that Pollard's lo-fi production technique and uninhibited vocal approach gave him the confidence to "make weird sounds" with his voice. In 2002, he began experimenting with a Tascam Portastudio 4-track cassette recorder and amassed a catalogue of original songs, and in 2007 his early psychedelic material was discovered by MGMT, who offered him a touring support slot at the time of their debut release, 'Oracular Spectacular'. However, Perkins declined due to anxiety, but he did work as a roadie for Buffalo Killers, on multiple tours in support of The Black Crowes, and this was repaid later when all three members of Buffalo Killers acted as his live backing band for a brief period. Sofaburn Records approached Perkins with a recording contract in 2015, after Zachary Gabbard of Buffalo Killers presented the company with a collection of Perkins' home recordings, and in January 2016 Perkins recorded the drum tracks for his debut release at Gabbard's analog studio, Howler Hills Farm, before completing the remainder of the album's instrumentation alone at his own home studio. 

The album 'M Ross Perkins' was released by Sofaburn in October 2016, and critical reception was enthusiastic, with Record Collector calling it "a truly great album", and others drawing notable stylistic comparisons to solo artists such as Harry Nilsson and Emitt Rhodes. After touring in support of the debut, Perkins produced a follow-up EP entitled 'What Did You Do For Summer Break', which Sofaburn released in streaming format in August 2018, and critics noted a shift to a more sophisticated and precise, pop-oriented writing style throughout the EP. While promoting the EP, Perkins performed the song 'Amazing Grace (Grandma's Dead)' on the Jerry Springer Podcast, with Springer and producer Jene Galvin calling it the best song ever performed on the show. In 2020, Ohio-based soul label Colemine Records signed Perkins to their Karma Chief imprint and released the song 'Wrong Wrong Wrong', both as a 7" single and on their 2021 'Brighter Days Ahead' compilation. Colemine/Karma Chief went on to release Perkins' second full-length album, 'E Pluribus M Ross', in March 2022, which had been recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, with Perkins again performing all of the instrumentation in his home studio. 

The album again received critical acclaim, with Shindig! giving it 5 out of 5 stars and Uncut calling it "a record full of harmonic joy". After the release of 'E Pluribus M Ross', Perkins made guest appearances on a number of Colemine/Karma Chief releases by Andrew Gabbard, playing bass alongside Karma Chief labelmate Neal Francis on 2022's 'Live in Loveland' and performing keyboard on 2023's 'Cedar City Sweetheart'. In May 2025, Perkins released his third full-length album, 'What's The Matter, M Ross?', which mixed his reverent nostalgia, self-deprecating humour, and a heavenly gift for melody, with vox pops trying to answer the title question. If you have yet to discover this intriguing singer/songwriter then here is a selection of some of his best songs for you to sample.   

Track listing

01 Humboldt County Green (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
02 Wrong Wrong Wrong (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)
03 Restless Amy (from 'What Did You Do For Summer Break' EP 2018)
04 Let A Little Lazy (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
05 Tired Of Me (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)
06 Hey Man/Hey Self (from 'What's The Matter, M Ross?' 2025)
07 Industrial Good Day Mantra (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)
08 Bed Sheet Wing (from 'What Did You Do For Summer Break' EP 2018)
09 Local Showcase (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
10 Gone (In The Morning) (from 'What's The Matter, M Ross?' 2025)
11 The New American Laureate (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)
12 Someone Else (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
13 When You’re Near Me (from 'What Did You Do For Summer Break' EP 2018)
14 Amazing Grace (Grandma’s Dead) (from 'M Ross Perkins' 2016)
15 Funeral For A Satellite (from 'E Pluribus M Ross' 2022)

Monty The Moron - Dr. Swastika Pumpenicle's Analysis (1986)

Monty Oxymoron (born Laurence Burrow on 27 September 1961 in Cambridge), joined The Damned as their keyboardist in 1996, and continues to tour and record with them. His previous bands include Punk Floyd and Dr. Spacetoad Experience with Captain Sensible, and he also works as keyboardist and percussionist with the Sumerian Kyngs, and as keyboardist with Tim Burness. In the 1980's he made his own recordings with his uncle Damien under the name Monty The Moron, and he released a number of albums on the Acid Tapes label. He has spoken of his love of psychedelic music, whose influence he claims to have heard in pre-Oxymoron Damned albums, beginning with 1979's 'Machine Gun Etiquette', and this shines through on these cassettes, with sitar and Gong-like guitar solos abounding. While the songs themselves often echo the lyrical absurdities of The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band crossed with Syd Barrett, the music is good enough to make them an enjoyable listen, even 40 years later. I'm posting 'Dr. Swastika Pumpenicle's Analysis' first, as this one appears to be currently unavailable on the net, although he is currently digitalizing his early tapes himself and posting them on Bandcamp. He continues to release his own music to this day, and only this year has recorded an album of piano versions of songs by The Damned, titled 'The Piano Plays 'Til Midnight', which was released on Damaged Goods Records.

Track listing

01 Paradoxical Intention
02 Out Of The Frying Pan
03 Sewage Song
04 British Rail
05 Institutional Blues
06 Archetypal Fish Symbolism
07 Slimy Green Frog Of The Moon
08 A Golden Tree
09 Pamela Lemon
10 Song For A Solitary Lady
11 Love Is...Emphatically Insane

The Mothers Of Invention - Live At The Ark, Boston 1969 (1969)

And now for another live album which I believe is of historical significance, as it's a newly remastered version of one of the best early Mothers Of Invention bootlegs. The performance, choice of repertoire, and overall sound quality are exceptional, and make this a no-brainer for anyone even slightly interested in live Mothers Of Invention. Circulating copies of this show were off by 40 samples, causing the stereo image to smear and lean to the right, and fixing this did a world of good, and centred and stabilized the stereo image. Fixing the muddy EQ has also really brought the recording to life, but nothing else was done to enhance the sound. This version of the show is unedited, and has several more minutes of material, as well as the correct sequencing compared to the original bootleg LP, and the 'Beat The Boots' versions. The show was recorded at The Ark, in Boston in July 1969, and includes both sides of the single that they recorded in an attempt to get the group played on the radio, as well as a superb Uncle Meat/King Kong medley, and plenty of banter from Zappa between the songs. This is certainly the best quality show that I've heard from the late 60's Mothers, and I agree with the original poster that fans of the band need to hear this.  

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Big Leg Emma 
03 Some Ballet Music
04 Status Back Baby 
05 Valarie
06 My Guitar
07 Uncle Meat> 
08 Drum Duet>
09 King Kong

Suzanne Vega - The Boulevardiers (1984)

Suzanne Nadine Vega was born on 11 July 1959 in Santa Monica, California, and was the step-daughter of Ed Vega, a novelist and professor from Puerto Rico. When she was two and a half, her family moved to New York City, and she grew up in Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side. While majoring in English literature at Barnard College, she performed in small venues in Greenwich Village, where she was a regular contributor to Jack Hardy's Monday night songwriters' group at the Cornelia Street Cafe, and she had some of her first songs published on Fast Folk anthology albums. In 1984, she received a major label recording contract with A&M Records, making her one of the first Fast Folk artists to break out on a major label. Her eponymous debut studio album was released on 1 May 1985, and was well received by critics in the U.S., and it also reached platinum status in the UK. It was produced by Lenny Kaye and Steve Addabbo, and the songs feature Vega's acoustic guitar in straightforward arrangements which deviated from the prevailing trends of the time. A music video was released for the single 'Marlene On The Wall', which went into MTV and VH1's rotations, and during this period she also wrote lyrics and sang vocals for the songs 'Lightning' and 'Freezing' on the 1986 studio album 'Songs From Liquid Days' by composer and pianist Philip Glass. Vega's song 'Left Of Center' was co-written with Steve Addabbo, and was released as part of the soundtrack to the John Hughes film 'Pretty in Pink' in 1986. It featured British musician Joe Jackson on piano, and was also released as a single in May 1986, reaching No. 32 on the UK singles chart. In the years leading up to the success of her debut album, she performed solo acoustic shows around the US, and a couple of them were captured on tape, revealing that she had a stash of songs which never made it to her first record, either being saved for the follow-up, or abandoned altogether. This collections features all the songs that did not appear on her 1985 album, plus acoustic versions of ones that later appeared on her 1987 album, 'Solitude Standing', and a nice acoustic take on 'Left Of Centre'. 

Track listing

01 The Boulevardiers
02 Gypsy
03 Calypso
04 The Rent Song
05 Silver Lady
06 Tom's Diner
07 Black Widow Station
08 The Marching Dream
09 Just Friends
10 Daniella
11 Left Of Centre
12 Playing

Thanks to geofmcm for the music and the inspiration. 

Have A Doo-Wop Christmas 2025

It's almost that time of year again, and so as an alternative to the usual Christmas songs that are played to death on the radio, here's a nice collection of festive Doo-Wop songs to enjoy over the next few weeks.

Track listing

01 The Christmas Tree (The Episodes 1960)

02 You're My Christmas Present (The Skyliners 1959)

03 It's Christmas Time (The Five Keys 1951)

04 Rockin' Santa Claus (The Martels 1959)

05 Don't Cry For Me This Christmas (The Marcels 1961)

06 Christmas Bell Rock (Barry & The Highlights 1960)

07 Christmas Lullaby (Tony & The Daydreams 1961)

08 Happy Holiday (The Jaguars 1959) 

09 Christmas Plea (The Dynamics 1962)

10 I'll Be Home For Christmas (Larry Chance & The Earls 2001)

11 What A Christmas (The Justinas 2000)

12 Christmas Time (The Debonairs 1957)

13 Just A Lonely Christmas (The Moonglows 1953)

14 Like A Kid At Christmas (The Five Boroughs 1992)

15 Christmas Letter (Kitty & The La-Fetts 1957)

16 Merry Christmas (The Cameos 1957)

17 At Christmas Time (The Castelles 1957)

18 Every Heart Is A Home At Christmas (The Five Keys 1957)

19 I Remember (Christmas) (Gerry & The Gems 1963)

20 Whispering Bells (The Del Vikings 1957)

21 C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S (The Rhythm Aces 1962)

22 It's Christmas Time (The Qualities 1956)

23 Can This Be Christmas (The Falcons 1956)

24 Jingle Jangle (The Penguins 1955)

Pink Floyd - If You Don't Eat Yer Meat (1970)

Time for another guest post from geofmcm, with his take on a "lost" Pink Floyd album that could have been. 
This came about because I always felt 'Embryo' deserved to be on an album rather than on a sampler and other collections. Timewise 'Atom Heart Mother' seemed to be about right, but I was wanting a good version of 'Atom Heart Mother' without the choir and orchestra (although I love the versions of AHM Ron Geesin has done live with various orchestras that are on YouTube.) The one on the box set lacked energy and seemed to be one overdub short so seemed to just plod along. Obviously, there was the studio version of 'Embryo', but the one I used was from the 1970 BBC in concert from Paris Theatre. Unfortunately the BBC recorded this concert in mono, and although they artificially created a 'stereo' version for later releases it was still pretty flat. I therefore decided to create my own version by splitting out the stem versions of 'Embryo', 'Fat Old Sun' and 'If' for my side one, and set about creating stereo versions. Dave to the left, Rick to the right, Roger and Nick in the centre (giving the drums some width). I tidied up the sounds of the stems, added some extra sounds, and created my new versions. Unfortunately the concert version of 'Atom Heart Mother' was with orchestra/choir so I looked for another version, and chose Santa Monica 1970, where it was called 'The Amazing Pudding', and was in a more bluesy development phase. It also had longer band parts, and was structurally similar to 'Echoes', but it too was in mono, and of a lesser quality, so again I used RipX to break it into stems and cleaned them up, remastering a new stereo version. This fills side two and now fits the feel of side one.  The title of the album is from 'The Wall', because "If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any [amazing] pudding".

Track listing

01 Fat Old Sun
02 Embryo
03 If
04 The Amazing Pudding

John Cale & Liam Young - Loop>>60Hz - Transmissions From The Drone Orchestra (2014)

You may have noticed that I don't tend to post live albums unless they are of historical significance, and I think this one certainly qualifies for that. 

On 13 September 2014 the music of John Cale converged with the speculative architecture visions of Liam Young at the Barbican’s Digital Revolution exhibition, for the first-ever drone orchestra performance. It was a whirlpool of collective, creative energy, coming from a swarm of unmanned flying objects programmed to entertain, instead of kill. 'Loop>>60Hz: Transmissions From The Drone Orchestra' was a collaboration between airborne architecture and music, which came about after Young received a phone call from Cale who had seen an earlier work of his called Electronic Counter Measures, in which wi-fi routers on a flock of drones broadcast a pirated Internet signal, like an "aerial Napster". Young had also begun testing speakers on drones, launching ones at Burning Man that played Wagner’s 'Flight Of The Valkyries', while Cale was an innovator in the music world, intrigued by the opportunity to embed his signature audio style onto a flying multichannel orchestra. As Young and Cale talked, they imagined what a drone could become once it was stripped of its traditional narrative of war and terror, and their vision was to have drones shed their hard technological shells and take on more human-like characteristics, by blending live audio with the mechanical bots. It took two years to find the right venue, as putting these technologies above people’s heads could be really violent, but The Barbican Theatre bravely stepped up to the plate. Cale remixed and reengineered his music for the performance, changing the arrangements to make them much harder, and more urban and colder. This made the voices stand out more, and the singing that much more emotional. 

A few drones from a flock of 15 would carry his voice to different areas in the room during the performance, while additional flying bots were augmented with speakers to amplify the mechanical humming of their motors, generating noise that was then incorporated into the live composition. Software lead Andreas Müller developed an ultrasonic beacon tracking system that could allow the team to manipulate light, create a smoky haze effect, and use the whole of the theatre for their choreography. Like dancers or actors, the drones had their own couture costumes, such as bright green and blue plumage, a coat made from 500 phone charms sourced from Chinese markets, a box-like structure decorated with hazard tape, and even a shiny disco suit made from 4,000 fake nails. Producer Keri Elmsly stood in the orchestra pit during the performance, coordinating take-offs and landings. The original plan for the performance was to have the drones be autonomous, but when the automated system failed, the team had to adjust the show for manual overrides, and a team of pilots took over. With the weights on the bodies of the drones, the batteries drained quickly, within five-to-ten minutes, and so a team of battery changers had to resuscitate the drones periodically during the 80-minute-long performance. Cale's music was a mix of new and old material, including radical reworkings of classic old tracks, such as distorted 'Mercenaries' and 'Sanities' set to a lurching heigh-ho Tom Waits beat, and then towards the end of the concert there was an extended 'Sister Ray', as if rewritten for a disco in hell. There is a bit of wind noise in this recording, as because it was an inside performance, when the drones flew overhead, the down draught was picked up on the recorder, but I've tried to remove as much of it as I can, and it only affected about four of the tracks. 

Track listing

01 Instrumental
02 Mercenaries (Ready For War)
03 If You Were Still Around
04 December Rains
05 Caravan
06 Half Past France
07 Mothra
08 Sandman (Flying Dutchman)
09 Gravel Drive
10 Letter From Abroad
11 Sanities
12 Wasteland
13 Sister Ray
14 Strange Times In Casablanca
15 [Standing Ovation]

Maxïmo Park - My Life In Reverse (2009)

Maxïmo Park was created by guitarist Duncan Lloyd, bassist Archis Tiku, Lukas Wooler on keyboads and drummer Tom English, and is named after Máximo Gómez Park (also known as Domino Park), located in Little Havana, Miami. Initially, the four founding members played several small shows, including Manchester's In the City, which showcases unsigned bands in the UK, but by 2003 they decided they wanted a frontman, as the original singers, Archis and Duncan, wanted to focus on writing the songs. The then-girlfriend of English noticed his friend Paul Smith singing along to Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition', and offered him the job even though they didn't know if he could sing, as they were impressed by his stage presence. Around March 2004, a friend funded 300 copies of a 7" red vinyl single 'Graffiti', which was recorded by Lloyd in his and English's flat in Fenham, Newcastle. The band's second release was a 7" single of their songs 'The Coast Is Always Changing' and 'The Night I Lost My Head', recorded by Paul Epworth. 

After some time of doing gigs around their home town, Steve Beckett of the dance-electronic label Warp Records acquired one of these records and decided to sign the band to his label. In 2005, Maxïmo Park released their debut album, 'A Certain Trigger', which sold over 300,000 copies and was nominated for the Mercury Prize in July. In December 2006, the band were brought to Shanghai by Split Works and were one of the earlier big-name acts from abroad to play in China. In August 2006, the band announced that work had started on their next album, which was produced by Gil Norton and recorded at Rak Studios in London. In March 2007 they released the dingle 'Our Velocity' as a taster for the 'Our Earthly Pleasures' album, which followed in April. In October 2008, the band announced that they had started recording their third album in Los Angeles with the producer Nick Launay, known for his recent work with Nick Cave and Grinderman. 'Quicken The Heart' was released on 11 May 2009, with the first single, 'The Kids Are Sick Again' being released a week earlier. 

That same year the also contributed a cover version of Vincent Gallo's 'When' to the 'Warp20 (Recreated)' compilation, as well as having their own song 'Acrobat' covered by Seefeel. On 28 March 2012, Maxïmo Park announced the fourth album title as 'The National Health', with Smith explaining "We're in a global recession and everyone is being bombarded with bouncy, happy music. The nation is out of control and the record is about taking back control, and being a force for change in your own life". It was released in June 2012, and two month later it was announced that bassist Tiku would be taking time away from touring, to be covered by Paul Rafferty of Hot Club de Paris. The band's fifth album, 'Too Much Information', was released on 3 February 2014, being recorded by Lloyd and produced by the group, with additional production by The Invisible's Dave Okumu on the track 'Brain Cells'. 

Recording originally started as a 5-track EP in Sunderland, with help from Field Music's David and Peter Brewis, before turning into a fully formed album with the extra tracks recorded in the band's studio in Newcastle. 

In January 2017, the band released the title track of their next album as a single, with 'Risk To Exist' debuting on BBC 6 Music's Steve Lamacq Show. They later confirmed via Twitter that Tiku had officially retired, and his live replecement, Paul Rafferty, would play on 'Risk To Exist', although he would not be an official member of the band. In November 2018, keyboardist Wooller announced his imminent departure from the band in order to emigrate to Australia, and he was replaced by touring keyboardist Jemma Freese, converting the official line-up of the band into a trio. In September 2020, the band shared a new single, 'Child Of The Flatlands', followed a month later by 'Baby, Sleep', and then in November a third single 'I Don't Know What I'm Doing', and the 'Nature Always Wins' album was released worldwide on 26 February 2021. It was expected to become their first number one album in the UK, after debuting in that position in the midweek chart, but when the chart was announced on 5 March 2021, it debuted at number two, losing out to Architects' 'For Those That Wish to Exist'. The band released their eighth studio album, 'Stream Of Life', in September 2024, with four singles being taken from it in the run-up to its release. Maxïmo Park are currently promoting the 20th anniversary re-issue of 'A Certain Trigger', and so it's the perfect time to round up all their non-album b-sides for this collection of hard to find music from the band.   

Track listing

Disc I - 2004-2007
01 My Life In Reverse (b-side of 'Apply Some Pressure' 2004)
02 I Want You To Leave (b-side of 'Apply Some Pressure' 2004)
03 Fear Of Falling (b-side of 'Apply Some Pressure' 2004)
04 Isolation (b-side of 'Apply Some Pressure' 2004)
05 Trial And Error (b-side of 'Graffiti' 2005)
06 Hammer Horror (b-side of 'Graffiti' 2005)
07 Stray Talk (b-side of 'Graffiti' 2005)
08 A19 (b-side of 'Going Missing' 2005)
09 A Year Of Doubt (b-side of 'Going Missing' 2005)
10 La Quinta (b-side of 'I Want You To Stay' 2005)
11 I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (Radio 1 Live Version) (b-side of 'Books From Boxes' 2007)
12 Obstinate Ideas (b-side of 'Books From Boxes' 2007)
13 Don McPhee (b-side of 'Books From Boxes' 2007)
14 Distance Makes (b-side of 'Our Velocity' 2007)
15 Mary O'Brien (b-side of 'Our Velocity' 2007)
16 Pride Before A Fall (b-side of 'Our Velocity' 2007)
17 Robert Altman (b-side of 'Our Velocity' 2007)

Disc II - 2007-2009
01 An Unknown (b-side of 'Girls Who Play Guitars' 2007) 
02 Sandblasted And Set Free (Instrumental Demo) (b-side of 'Girls Who Play Guitars' 2007)
03 Warehouse (b-side of 'Girls Who Play Guitars' 2007)
04 (I Remember) Joe Brainard (b-side of 'Girls Who Play Guitars' 2007)
05 Jean Baudrillard (b-side of 'Karaoke Plays' 2007)
06 Jonathan Cole (Take 1) (b-side of 'Karaoke Plays' 2007)
07 George Brown (b-side of 'Karaoke Plays' 2007)
08 Like I Love You (b-side of 'Karaoke Plays' 2007)
09 Russian Dolls (b-side of 'The Kids Are Sick Again' 2009)
10 Tales Of The Semi-Detached (b-side of 'The Kids Are Sick Again' 2009)
11 History Books (b-side of 'The Kids Are Sick Again' 2009)
12 When (from the 'Warp20 (Recreated)' compilation 2009)
13 That Beating Heart (b-side of 'Questing Not Coasting' 2009)
14 Too Many Letters (b-side of 'Questing Not Coasting' 2009)
15 (Join A Society For) The Destruction Of The Twentieth Century (b-side of 'Questing Not

                                                                                                                           Coasting' 2009)

Eric Burdon & Tovarich - The Man (1971)

On 5 February 1971 Eric Burdon left his band in the middle of their European tour, allegedly due to exhaustion, and after returning home and taking time off, he started working on his next album, to be titled 'Guilty!'. This was a collaboration with blues legend Jimmy Witherspoon, and after Burdon and Witherspoon played seven consecutive Mondays at the Whiskey A Go Go club in July 1971, they decamped to the studio to record the album between July and September. 'Guilty!' was released in late 1971, with Burdon sharing vocal duties 50/50 with Witherspoon, and it was a concept album about getting released from prison, dealing with the survivor’s guilt of being out, and the very real fear of getting hauled in front of an unmerciful judge for something as minor as a traffic violation. Burdon and Witherspoon share the vulnerabilities of victimhood, and every track is intense, honest, and gripping, but despite this meeting of two great bluesmen, it suffered poor sales and received some scathing reviews. Following the release of the album, Burdon decided to take his band from the sessions out on tour, and he named them Tovarich, which is Russian for "comrades". The line-up was John Sterling on guitar, Terry Ryan on organ, George Suranovich on drums, and Kim Kesterson on bass, and they played some gigs around Los Angeles towards the end of 1971. Their show from 10 December was recorded, and shows great chemistry between Burdon and the band, and as only one track from 'Guilty!' was played during their set, mainly because 'Soledad' was a Burdon/Sterling co-write, there was a real possibility that this line-up could go into the studio and record an album of their own. Alas, it was not to be, and Tovarich went their separate ways, with Sterling re-appearing some years later to provide the soundtrack to the 1976 movie 'Revenge Of The Cheerleaders'. The recording quality of the 1971 gig was pretty good, and it got me wondering what a studio album would have sounded like with them playing this material, so I played around with the tracks, removed the audience noise and extraneous chatter from Burdon, added some top end and fades where needed, and ended up with a 47-minute 'studio' album from a band that never really existed. So here is what could have been Eric Burdon & Tovarich's debut album from 1971, 'The Man'. 

Track listing

01 City Boy
02 All I Do Is Wait For You
03 The Man
04 Stop
05 Gotta Get It On Today
06 Funky Fever

07 Soledad
08 Be Mine