Here is something a bit special from Mike Solof - a trawl through his huge collection of rare music, with something to satisfy all tastes, from heavy rock to jazz, progressive rock to powerpop, and bubblegum pop to classic singer/songwriter. They are mostly tracks that you will have heard before, but not in these versions, and so over to Mike to introduce it.
I’m starting up a new series called Rarity Row and this is volume 1! Recently I was
on the hunt for a rare song in my massive collection of fourteen 14 TB hard drives
and as I was searching I thought what a shame it is that I have all this cool stuff and
only share bits and pieces here and there when needed. So I thought I would start
a new series here that doesn’t just focus on one
artist at a time, but various artists from my entire collection. Thus was the birth of 'Rarity Row'.
Each Volume will contain about an hours worth of cool tunes culled from bootlegs,
rare B-sides, box sets, rare singles, live cuts and just plain old out of print very
hard to find albums.
I already have two more volumes lined up but I thought I would see the reaction to
this first before posting more.
I also am doing a slightly different type of track list, as I’m going to post the name of
the song, the source of the song with a picture of the source I used and maybe a
tiny bit more about it if I think it’s necessary.
But mostly I’m going to let the music speak for itself.
I hope you dig Volume One. It was a blast putting it together!
Michael
Track listing and brief info:
01 Crying In The Night (Single Mix)
Buckingham Nicks (1973) Beginnings
'Buckingham Nicks' is the only studio album by the duo of American rock guitarist
Lindsey Buckingham and singer
Stevie Nicks, both of whom later joined Fleetwood Mac. Produced by Keith Olsen, the album was released in September 1973 by
Polydor Records. The album was a commercial failure on its original release, and despite the
duo's subsequent success, it has yet to be commercially remastered or re-released digitally.
Recording sessions for 'Buckingham Nicks' took place at Sound City Studios, and Olsen
took the opportunity to purchase a large
Neve console for the facility, as he owned
part of the studio at the time, and 'Crying in the Night', the opening song on 'Buckingham Nicks', was the first song recorded on the device. Various session
musicians, including drummer
Jim Keltner and guitarist
Waddy Wachtel, assisted
in recording the album, and Buckingham performed two guitar instrumentals on the album: 'Django' and 'Stephanie'. 'Django' was written by pianist
guitarist
John Lewis in the 1950s to honour jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, while 'Stephanie' was written by Buckingham as a love song
for Nicks, as she was born as Stephanie Lynn Nicks. Buckingham wrote the song in
late 1971 or early 1972 while recovering from a bout of
mononucleosis that forced
him to play while lying flat on his back.
It was revealed on 22 July 2025 that the album had been remastered and would
be released on CD, vinyl, and streaming on 19 September 2025
02 REO Speedwagon - Don't Let Him Go (Demo)
REO Speedwagon The Classic Years 1978-1990
'Don't Let Him Go' is a song written by Kevin Cronin, and it was originally released as the opening song for REO Speedwagon's #1 album 'Hi Fidelity', and it was also released as a single, reaching #24 on the
Billboard Hot 100 Chart. 'Don't Let
Him Go' has appeared on several REO Speedwagon greatest hits albums, and Cronin recalls that it was the first song he wrote for 'Hi Infidelity'.
Like the #1 single from the album, 'Keep On Loving You', the lyrics of 'Don't Let
Him Go' are about breaking up with a longtime girlfriend.
03 Name Of The Game - 1971 unreleased Al Kooper single mix
1971 unreleased Al Kooper single
Badfinger's 1971 'Name Of The Game' is the sixth track from the power pop band's album, 'Straight Up', and was written by Pete Ham. After the release of their album 'No Dice', Badfinger began work on an untitled
follow-up, with Geoff Emerick producing sessions for the songs that were to be on
the album, among them being 'Name Of The Game'. It was
also intended to be released as the lead single from this album, backed with 'Suitcase', a track written by
Joey Molland, but despite efforts from
George
Harrison (who was impressed greatly by the track) to remix the song, the single,
as well as the rest of the album, were cancelled due to input from
Phil Spector.
This single edit appeared on some reissues of 'Straight Up'. When George Harrison returned to produce a new album for Badfinger, one of the
songs that he worked on was 'Name Of The Game', but upon his departure to oversee The Concert for Bangladesh,
Todd Rundgren came in to finish the album, and on its completion, the album, now titled 'Straight Up', featured 'Name Of The
Game' at the end of side one.
04 Stairway To Heaven #6 (with vocals)
Led Zeppelin Studio Magik - Sessions 1968-1980
'Stairway To Heaven' is a song by the English rock band
Led Zeppelin, released
on 8 November 1971 on the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known
as 'Led Zeppelin IV'), by
Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist
Page with lyrics written by lead singer
Jimmy
Robert Plant, it is widely regarded as one of
the greatest rock songs of all time.
The initial idea was to have this quite fragile guitar that would open up this piece
of music and for something that would accelerate as it went through from
beginning to end, but to actually pull this idea off properly was a different
story. According to Page "It's all accelerating, it's all moving, but it's not necessarily
orchestrating, although it's overdubbing, increasing the texture as it goes through".
05 Sister Golden Hair [Demo]
America 50th Anniversary The Collection
'Sister Golden Hair' is a song by the band America, written by Gerry Beckley, from their fifth album 'Hearts' in 1975. It was their second single to reach number one
on the U.S.
Billboard
Hot 100, remaining in the top position for one week.
Beckley says "There was no actual Sister Gold Hair." The lyrics were largely inspired by the works of Jackson Browne. Beckley commented, "Jackson Browne has a knack, an ability to put words to music, that is much more like the L.A.
approach to just genuine observation as opposed to simplifying it down to its bare
essentials... I find Jackson can depress me a little bit, but only through his
honesty; and it was that style of his which led to a song of mine, 'Sister Golden
Hair', which is probably the more L.A. of my lyrics." Beckley adds that 'Sister Golden Hair' "was one of the first times I used 'ain't' in a song, but I wasn't making
an effort to. I was just putting myself in that frame of mind and I got those kind of
lyrics out of it."
06 French Song #04 (Alternate Mix, Stereo)
The Monkees Present US Rhino Box set [2013 Present US Rhino RHM2 535908]
Musicians
Davy Jones: Lead Vocal
Louie Shelton: Acoustic Guitar
Frank Bugbee: Acoustic Guitar
Michel Rubini: Organ
Max Bennett: Bass
Hal Blaine: Drums
Tim Weisberg: Flute
Emil Richards: Percussion
Producers
Davy Jones, Bill Chadwick
Writers: Bill Chadwick
07 Jack Frost And The Hooded Crow (UK Single)
20 Years of Jethro Tull box Set
'The Jethro Tull Christmas Album' was much praised on first release, with Rolling
Stone noting admiringly: “The originals simmer with eccentric, eclectic, folky
energy, rocking ditties threaded through with Celtic stylings, jazzy undercurrents,
Ian Anderson’s distinctive flute and wry humour.” Allmusic called it “perhaps the
most satisfying Tull releases in 25 years.”
08 Magic Man (Demo)
Heart - 1975 Strange Euphoria Box Set
'Magic Man' is a song by the American rock band Heart, released as a single from their debut album 'Dreamboat Annie'. Written and composed by
Ann and
Nancy
Wilson, the song is sung from the viewpoint of a young girl who is being seduced
by an older man (referred to as a Magic Man), much to the chagrin of her mother,
who calls and begs the girl to come home. In an interview, Ann Wilson revealed
that 'Magic Man' was about her then boyfriend, band manager Michael Fisher,
and that part of the song was an autobiographical tale of the beginnings of their
relationship.
In the United States, 'Magic Man' received its first release in summer 1976, after
the first US single 'Crazy On You' introduced Americans to the group's sound. It
became Heart's first top 10 hit, peaking at No. 9 on the
Billboard
Hot 100 on
November 6, 1976.
09 Runnin' With the Devil
Van Halen - Complete Zero
Gene Simmons produced Demos (May 1976)
In 1976, Gene Simmons of KISS was encouraged to see Van Halen as a possible act
for his new label. He produced a demo that included many songs the band would
eventually record for their early studio albums, including a version of 'Runnin’ With The Devil'. The demo went nowhere, but Van Halen’s momentum finally became
impossible to deny. Producer Ted Templeman got them a deal at Warner Bros.
after seeing one of their live performances.
The first sound that you hear on the band’s debut album is a rising, ominous blare.
It was Gene Simmons’ idea to open 'Runnin’ With The Devil', which is credited to
all four members of the band, with a car horn. Eddie Van Halen took the idea and
ran with it, improvising a device with the horns of the band members’ cars that he
could manipulate for the recording. The horn rises, Michael Anthony cranks out a
single repeated bass note, a mysterious piano plinks, and then the crunching main
groove kicks into gear.
It’s interesting upon listening to 'Runnin With The Devil', which is considered a
hard rock classic, just how quiet it is in sections, especially in the verses when the
music murmurs behind Roth’s pronouncements. Of course, that makes the
refrains, when the undeniable rhythm locks back into place, that much more
impactful.
The track also limits Eddie’s soloing, just a few quick but impressive bursts. But his
ability as a rhythm guitarist is on full display, as he gives the song an unforced
funkiness in conjunction with the bottom end of Anthony and Alex Van Halen.
There is also plenty of room for Roth’s vocal scatting and general wackiness,
another key aspect of the band’s engaging nature that was on display right off the
bat. These guys were going to rock out and have a blast doing it, which was in
contrast to some of their more stone-faced contemporaries of the era.
As for the lyrics? No, there’s nothing satanic about them. The devil is just a
metaphor for the high-intensity, high-risk life chosen by the narrator. Roth doesn’t
pretend there are no consequences for that choice: Yes, I’m livin‘ at a pace that
kills, he boasts. That’s the price you pay when you act like there’s no tomorrow.
10 Any World That I’m Welcome To
Steely Dan - Steely Dan Four Outtakes 1972
early version from demo reel, different from circulating demo
'Katy Lied' was the first album the group made after they stopped touring, as well as
their first to feature backing vocals by
Michael McDonald. The album was the
first one recorded by Steely Dan after guitarist
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and
drummer
Jim Hodder left the group as a result of
Walter Becker and
Donald
Fagen's decision to stop touring and focus solely on recording with various
studio musicians. Guitarist
Denny Dias, a founding member of Steely Dan,
contributed to the album as a session musician, as did vocalist
McDonald and drummer
Michael
Jeff Porcaro, who were both members of Steely
Dan's final touring band. Then only 20 years old, Porcaro played drums on
every track on the album except 'Any World (That I'm Welcome To)', which
features session drummer
Hal Blaine.
11 Copacabana (Demo)
Barry Manilow - The Complete Collection and Then some… 1992.
'Copacabana', also known as 'Copacabana (At the Copa)', is a song recorded
by
Barry Manilow. Written by Manilow,
Jack Feldman, and
Bruce Sussman, it was
released in 1978 as the third single from Manilow's fifth studio album, 'Even Now ' in1978. The same year, "Copacabana" appeared in the soundtrack album of the
film 'Foul Play'. The song was inspired by a conversation between Manilow and
Sussman at the
Copacabana Hotel in
Rio de Janeiro, when they discussed whether
there had ever been a song called "Copacabana". After returning to the U.S.,
Manilow - who, in the 1960s, had been a regular visitor to the
Copacabana
nightclub in
New York City - suggested that Sussman and Feldman write the lyrics
to a story song for him. They did so, and Manilow supplied the music. The song
earned Manilow his first and only
Grammy Award for
Performance in February 1979.
12 On A Clear Day - Private Concert
Best Male Pop Vocal
Exclusively for My Friends Box Set 1964
'Exclusively For My Friends' is a series of originally six albums for the
label MPS by
Canadian
jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. The album tracks were
recorded live by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer for MPS on the occasion of
private concerts with a small audience in his home studio.
13 All kinds Of People (Unreleased)
Sheryl Crow - Lost First Album 1992
After signing a contract with
A&M Records and not wanting to release her own first
attempt at a debut record thinking it was unmemorable, Sheryl Crow finally released 'Tuesday Night Music Club' in 1993. It remains her most successful effort to date
and one of the best-selling albums of the 1990s, having sold more than ten million
copies internationally by the end of the decade.
14 Avalon (Demo)
The Semantics Demos 1990?
The Semantics was an American pop rock band from Nashville, Tennessee formed by
Jody Spence (drums), Millard Powers (bass), and Will Owsley (guitars and vocals),
Zak Starkey later replaced Spence on drums. The band recorded one
album, 'Powerbill', which was released in Japan. After being dropped by their
record label shortly after recording the album, the band members at the time
(Powers, Owsley, and Starkey) all went on to successful careers in the music
industry. Powers has performed as a bassist with
Ben Folds and
and has worked as a
Counting Crows
record engineer and producer. Owsley had a successful solo
career before his death in 2010. Starkey has served as the drummer for the bands
Oasis and
The Who.
Jody Spence and Owsley began writing songs after a couple of years of touring
with
Judson Spence, Jody's brother. Jody and Owsley soon got publishing
contracts with
Sony Music Publishing which were facilitated by Scott Siman 1990. In 1991, Siman attended a show in North Carolina, where a band called Majosha performed, which featured Ben Folds and Millard Powers. Not long after
that, Siman brought Folds to Nashville and Powers later followed. Siman furnished
a small demo studio that the Spence brothers, Owsley and Folds would often
share. Folds would eventually introduce Millard Powers to Jody Spence and
Owsley.
Within a month of meeting each other, Spence, Powers and Owsley had written
and recorded entire albums worth of songs at the Sony Tree studio, seven of which
would later end up on the
Geffen Records album 'Powerbill'.
15 Blow Away (Demo)
George Harrison - 1979 iTunes Exclusive Bonus Track to 'George Harrison' album
'Blow Away' is a song by English musician George Harrison that was released in February 1979 on his album 'George Harrison'. It was also the lead single from the
album. The end of 'Blow Away', written on a rainy day (that's why first verses are
about clouds), was included in 'Nuns On The Run' – a comedy film with Eric Idle and
Robbie Coltrane. In his autobiography, 'I, Me, Mine', Harrison says that the song
arose from feelings of frustration and inadequacy resulting from a leaking roof at
his
Friar Park home. While viewing the downpour from an outbuilding on the
property, he realised that, in surrendering to the problem, he was merely
exacerbating it. With this realisation, the episode served as a reminder that he, in
fact, "loved everybody" and should seek to be more optimistic. Additionally, he
notes that, while he initially felt self-conscious about the song, thinking it "so
obvious", the track grew on him when he recorded it.
His demo of the song was released as an
Harrison
iTunes-exclusive bonus track on 'George Harrison'.
16 Moving - Studio Outtake
Kate Bush - Demos
'Moving' is a song written and recorded in 1978 by English singer-songwriter
Kate Bush
for her debut album, 'The Kick Inside'. Written by Bush and produced by Andrew Powell, the song is a tribute to Lindsay Kemp, her mime teacher. The finished version of 'Moving' opens
with
whale song (missing from the demo) sampled from 'Songs Of The Humpback Whale', an LP including recordings of whale vocalisations made by Dr. Roger S. Payne. In an interview with a magazine, Bush commented, "Whales say everything about 'moving'. It's huge and beautiful, intelligent, soft inside a tough body. It weighs a ton and yet it's so light it floats. It's the whole thing about human communication —'moving liquid, yet you are just as water'— what the Chinese say about being the cup the water moves in to. The whales are pure movement and pure sound, calling for something, so lonely and sad …”. Bush signed a contract with EMI Records in her late teens, but between
recording demos with Dave Gilmour as producer and releasing her first album, she
pursued her studies and gained maturity in her writing. After seeing an
advertisement for
Lindsay Kemp's Flowers spectacle, she decided to take mime
classes with him, and six months later she took
modern dance classes with Anthony Van Laast. Bush began recording her debut album, 'The Kick Inside', in 1977, and she wrote 'Moving' the same year as a tribute to Kemp. "He needed a song
written to him," she said in an interview. "He opened up my eyes to the meanings
of movement. He makes you feel so good. If you've got two left feet it's 'you dance
like an angel, darling.' He fills people up, you're an empty glass and glug, glug,
glug, he's filled you with champagne." 'Moving' was released on 6 February 1978 as a single solely in
Japan, with 'Wuthering Heights' as b-side, in order to promote 'The Kick Inside'.
17 Supper's Ready - Peter Gabriel on vocals
recorded by the sound engineer from the soundboard.
Genesis Live - Live at Leicester/Manchester Feb 1973 - Dutch Test Pressing
'Genesis Live' is the first live album from the English rock band
Genesis, released on 20 July 1973 on Charisma Records. Initially recorded for radio broadcast on the
American rock program
King Biscuit Flower Hour, but never broadcast, the album was recorded at Montfort Hall, De Leicester, on 25 February 1973, except for 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed', which was recorded at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, on the previous day. 'Genesis Live' was the band's first album to enter the top 10 in the UK, reaching No. 9, although following its US release in 1974, it only peaked at No. 105. 'Genesis Live' was issued in
the US several months after the release of 'Selling England By The Pound', which upset Gabriel as
the album included songs from their old live sets, and was quickly recorded with
little care given to the quality of the recordings. When Gabriel reluctantly agreed
to have the album released, part of the deal was that it would not be issued in the
US. The album was recorded by the
Pye Mobile Recording Unit, with engineer Alan Perkins, on the tour promoting their recent album 'Foxtrot'. A handful of early radio promotional double-LP test pressings were created which included a 23-minute version of 'Supper's Ready' from the Leicester show. This
album's running order was 'Watcher Of The Skies', 'The Musical Box', 'Get 'Em
Out By Friday', 'Supper's Ready', 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed', and 'The Knife',
and included between-song patter by Gabriel. 'Supper's Ready' was not
included in the officially released version, even though the front cover photograph was taken during a live performance of the song, with Gabriel donning the "Magog" mask.
Do let Mike know what you think of this selection. Is the mix of genres too wide? Are demos and alternate takes OK, or would you prefer new, unreleased songs? I'm sure all suggestions will be welcomed for future volumes.
Soulseek hint - solof aiwe
