David Bowie - The Leon Suites (1994)

David Bowie and Brian Eno were two of music’s most avant-garde figures, and throughout their lifelong friendship they often collaborated, most notably on Bowie's Berlin records. After reuniting at Bowie's 1992 wedding, they started emailing each other about what they felt was missing from music, and in a bid to reignite some artistic bravery that they clearly felt was lacking, they decided to embark on an album together without so much as "a gnat of an idea". They put together a band consisting of Bowie/Eno, Reeves Gabrels, Mike Garson, Erdal Kizilçay & Sterling Campbell, and began recording at Mountain Studios, in Switzerland, and the resulting album was far more fleshed out than its initial beginnings, being a narrative-focused cyberpunk curiosity built largely of interviews the pair conducted with patients at a wing of a Vienna psychiatric hospital, who were well-known for their outsider art. 'The Leon Suites' was a bold attempt to bring more conceptual artistry to the modern album, a bizarre offering that was influenced by murder, Twin Peaks, and hospital interviews. The two musicians put together a three-hour recording consisting of mainly spoken word passages and strange jams, employing the cut-up technique employed by William Burroughs and Brian Gysin, relying on an app Bowie had co-developed, called the Verbasizer. It allowed him to auto-generate random sentences to bulk out tracks or use its words to trigger an idea that formed the shape of a song. Eno was said to hand out cards to backing musicians each morning with their unique backstory, which contained instructions like: "You are the disgruntled member of a South African rock band. Play the notes that were suppressed". 

He also used the Oblique Strategies cards that he and artist Peter Schmidt had pioneered in 1975, which involved using a series of prompts on cards drawn only when faced with a creative blockage. Everything was highly improvised and written by Bowie in the studio, and he described what emerged as an almost obsessive interest in ritualistic, outsider artists. He told Vox magazine: "It's like a replacement for a spiritual starvation that's going on, like a tribe with dim memories of what their rituals used to be. They're sort of being dragged back again in this new, mutated, deviant way, with so-called gratuitous sex and violence in popular culture and people cutting bits off themselves. For me, it seems like a natural kind of thing". There were five suites recorded for 'Leon...', but two were deleted, with three receiving a final mix and then being presented to the record company for release, but they were not as forward-thinking as Bowie, and rejected the project as being too uncommercial. He therefore scrapped the whole thing and started work on something that the record company would accept, with snippets from 'The Leon Suites', including some of its narrative arcs and characters, ending up appearing on his 1995 album '1. Outside'. Although these tracks are often touted as 'Outside' outtakes, its more true to say that 'Outside' was based on outtakes from 'The Leon Suites', which was an album in its own right, and if the record company had accepted this as Bowie's next album, then '1. Outside' would never have happened. It's great that we can now get to hear these tracks, in the best quality so far, as these come from a CDR provided by Adam Bedstroke, and so thanks to him for letting these demos be shared amongst fans.

Track listing

01 Suite 1: I Am With Name  
02 Suite 2: Leon Takes Us Outside 
03 Suite 3: Enemy Is Fragile 

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Bruce Springsteen (2020)

From 1969 through early 1971, Bruce Springsteen performed with the band Child, which later changed its name to Steel Mill, and included Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin, and later Steven Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. They quickly gathered a cult following, and in an attempt to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style, he also performed with the bands Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom from early-to-mid-1971, and the Sundance Blues Band in mid-1971. After this he formed The Bruce Springsteen Band, which stayed together for about a year, but in October 1972 he formed a new group for the recording of his debut album, 'Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.', and they eventually became known as the E Street Band, although the name was not used until September 1974. In 1972 he signed to Columbia Records, and despite the expectations of Columbia executives that he would record an acoustic album, he brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him for the recording sessions for his first album, taping a mixture of acoustic and rock-based songs. The gestation of the record was not without it trials, as when it was completed, his manager Mike Appel and Columbia's John Hammond preferred the solo tracks, while Springsteen preferred the band songs, and so a compromise was reached that the record would feature five songs with the band ('For You', 'Growin' Up', 'Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?', 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City', and 'Lost in the Flood') and five solo songs ('Mary Queen Of Arkansas', 'The Angel', 'Jazz Musician', 'Arabian Nights' and 'Visitation At Fort Horn'). However, when Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard this early version he felt that it lacked a potential hit single, and rejected it. Springsteen quickly wrote and recorded 'Blinded By The Light' and 'Spirit In The Night', and Columbia accepted the revised album, with Davis eventually being proved correct when Manfred Mann's Earthband had massive hit singles with these two "commercial" songs. David Bowie was also an early fan, recording a version of 'Growing Up' during the sessions for his 'Pin-Ups' album in 1973, and tackling 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City' in 1989, and so here is a selection of covers of all the tracks from Springsteen's debut album, which for once includes two from the same band, as I think most people would agree that the Manfred Mann's Earthband versions are the definitive recordings of their two contributions, other than Springsteen's own, of course.  

Track listing

01 Blinded By The Light (Manfred Mann's Earthband 1976) 
02 Growin' Up (Any Trouble 1980)  
03 Mary Queen Of Arkansas (Dusty Wright 1997) 
04 Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (Purple Ivy Shadows 1999) 
05 Lost In The Flood (Yirzov Schuynis 2013)
06 The Angel (Zachary Scott Johnson 2020)
07 For You (Greg Kihn 1977)  
08 Spirit In The Night (Manfred Mann's Earthband 1975)
09 It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City (David Bowie 1989)

David Bowie - Omikron: The Nomad Soul (1999)

In late 1998 David Bowie was offered the the chance to compose the soundtrack for the upcoming video game 'Omikron: The Nomad Soul', developed by Quantic Dream and published by Eidos Interactive. Writer and director David Cage chose Bowie over a list of other applicants including Björk, Massive Attack and Archive, and it's been suggested that Bowie was drawn to the game due to its Buddhist overtones, noting that when a character died, he or she was reincarnated. As well as composing the music, Bowie also appeared in the game as a character named Boz and, along with guitarist Reeves Gabrels and bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, as the un-named singer of an in-game band called The Dreamers, who performed gigs in the bars of Omikron City. The 'Omikron' project provided the springboard for Bowie's next album, and between late 1998 and early 1999 Bowie and Reeves Gabrels amassed a large number of songs, some of which were written for Omikron and others for a Gabrels solo album, including 'Survive', 'The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell', and 'We All Go Through'. Unlike the experimental cut-up nature of Bowie's other 1990's recordings, these tracks were written in a more conventional style reminiscent of his mid-1980's works, with demos primarily written on guitar, while 'Thursday's Child' and 'The Dreamers' were written on keyboards. At an E3 press conference in 1999, Bowie said that his main priority was to imbue the game with "emotional subtext" and regarded this as a success. In the end, 'Omikron' featured variants of every track from the 'Hours' album except 'If I'm Dreaming My Life, 'Brilliant Adventure' and 'What's Really Happening?', and including the new song 'We All Go Through'. Various instrumentals which also appeared in the game were later developed further for release as b-sides, for instance 'Awakened 2' is an instrumental version of 'No One Calls' and 'Thrust' (as heard during a rooftop fight with a demon) would become '1917'. The futuristic electronic ambient score and rock songs helmed by Bowie and Gabrels, along with electronic soundscapes from Xavier Despas, was met with near-universal acclaim, and players could hear the full vocal versions of the eight original songs at The Dreamers' secret concerts in the game. Characters in the game could buy a virtual album by The Dreamers that they could listen to in their apartments, or they could simply walk into an apartment that already has some of the music laid out in plain view or in hidden compartments. The 'hours...' album was released about five weeks earlier than the game, with 'We All Go Through' being omitted from the general issue, although it was released as a Japanese bonus track, and also as a single b-side. Some of the recordings in the game are different versions to the ones on 'hours...', and there's also a considerable amount of unique instrumental music on the soundtrack, so even if you are a fan of 'hours...' already then this will still be worth a listen.   

Track listing

01 The Journey Pt. I
02 The Journey Pt. II
03 New Angels Of Promise (Omikron)
04 The Journey Pt. III
05 Something In The Air
06 The Journey Pt. IV
07 The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell
08 The Journey Pt. V
09 Save Your Soul
10 Thursday's Child
11 A Pretty Reprise
12 Survive
13 The Journey Pt. VI
14 We All Go Through
15 The Journey Pt. VII
16 The Journey Pt. VIII
17 The Dreamers
18 The Journey Pt. IX
19 The Journey Pt. X
20 Seven

For anyone interested, here's a synopsis of the game:
The Nomad Soul is set in a futuristic city known as Omikron, which is a densely 
populated metropolis on the world of Phaenon, the second planet of the star Rad'an. At the 
start of the game, players are asked by an Omikronian police officer named Kay'l 669 to 
leave their dimension and enter Omikron within his body (therefore breaking the fourth 
wall). After doing so, players continue with the investigation of serial killings that Kay'l 
and his partner Den were originally working on, attempting to pick up where Kay'l was 
apparently stopped from investigating. The city of Omikron exists beneath an enormous 
crystal dome which was constructed to protect against the ice age that Phaenon entered after 
its sun's extinction. The city is split into four different sectors: Anekbah, Qualisar, Jaunpur and Lahoreh. Because it is forbidden for the inhabitants to leave their respective sectors, each area has developed uniquely, which is reflected by the diverging lifestyles and architecture. Common to all Omikronians, however, is the heavily oppressive and controlling government which is run by a supercomputer called "Ix". Soon after the beginning of the game's introduction, the player begins the investigation in the Anekbah sector. He uncovers information that suggests the serial killer he is looking for is in fact not human but actually a demon. When members of an apparent underground, anti-government movement contact the player and confirm his suspicions, the investigation deepens and uncovers information; one of Omikron's chief police commanders (Commandant Gandhar) is a demon pretending to be human and lures human souls into Omikron  from other dimensions by way of the Omikron video game. Kay'l 669 asking the player to help him was a trap: supposedly, if the in-game character dies, the real human playing the video  game will lose their soul forever. Despite many assassination attempts on the protagonist's life by other demons working behind the scenes, the player destroys Ganhar with supernatural weaponry. After this brief victory, the player is invited to join the mysterious anti-government movement named "The Awakened" (referring to the fact the characters have "awakened" from the lies and drugs of the government). The Awakened work in tandem with an ancient religious order who are led by Boz (played by Bowie), a mystical being that exists in purely electronic form on the computer networks of Omikron. The Awakened refer to the protagonist as the "Nomad Soul" since he has the ability to change bodies at will. The Nomad Soul learns afterwards that what is going on in Omikron is merely an extension of a thousands-of-years-old battle between mankind and demons led by the powerful Astaroth. Astaroth, who was banished to the depths of Omikron long ago, is slowly regenerating power while using demons to both collect souls and impersonate high members of the government; he believes he can eventually take complete control and move across Phaenon and the Universe beyond. Only by harnessing ancient, magical technology and by re-discovering several hidden tombs underneath Omikron's 
surface, can the Nomad Soul hope to discover how to destroy Astaroth, return to his own 
dimension, and prevent his soul from being captured by demons.

Ron Wood - ...and on guitar (1987)

Ronald David Wood was born on 1 June 1947 in Hillingdon, London, and made his first appearances on record during the mid-'60s, firstly as guitarist for the Birds, who were an R&B band based in Yiewsley, Middlesex. They were a popular live act with a considerable fan base, releasing several singles in the mid-1960's, and Wood wrote or co-wrote nearly half the songs that the group recorded. By 1967 the Birds had disbanded, and Wood briefly took part in a project called Santa Barbara Machine Head, which included later Deep Purple co-founder Jon Lord (did he file that name away for later use?), before becoming a member of the oft-overlooked mod outfit The Creation, remaining with them for a short while, and appearing on a handful of their singles. After he left The Creation in 1967 he joined the Jeff Beck Group, but as Beck was one of the leading guitarists of the time, Wood switched to bass while with the band, and they recorded two highly respected albums, with 'Truth' appearing in 1968, and 'Beck-Ola' following the next year. Following the release of 'Beck-Ola', the Jeff Beck Group disbanded, with vocalist Rod Stewart embarking on a solo career, and after Steve Marriott left the Small Faces, Wood began working with the remaining members of that group, returning to his instrument of choice, the guitar. This line-up, plus Rod Stewart and former Bird Kim Gardner, teamed up with Wood's brother Art Wood in a group that they called Quiet Melon, and they made a handful of recordings in May 1969. When Quiet Melon folded, Wood and Stewart joined the former Small Faces full-time, changing the band's name to The Faces, and it was most of this band, with the addition of Keith Emerson on keyboards, and Steamhammer's Martin Pugh and Martin Quittenton, that backed Stewart on his first solo album 'An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down' in 1969. 

In the first half of the 1970's, The Faces released four studio albums and were among the top-grossing live acts of the period, and as well as his distinctive guitar work, Wood contributed harmonica, vocals and bass to the band's recordings, and co-wrote many of their songs. In 1972, Wood and Faces bassist Ronnie Lane composed the soundtrack to the film 'Mahoney's Last Stand' with help from Pete Townshend, Ric Grech and Kenney Jones, but the soundtrack album didn't appear until four years later in 1976. In 1973 Wood asked his old friend Mick Taylor to help out with his first solo album, and later that year he collaborated with Mick Jagger on the song 'It's Only Rock'n Roll (But I Like It)', as well as joining David Bowie to record a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Growing Up' during sessions for his 'Diamond Dogs' album. When Taylor departed from the Rolling Stones in December 1974, Wood helped out with the band's March 1975 recording sessions for their forthcoming album 'Black And Blue', and although still a member of Faces, he toured North America with The Rolling Stones in 1975. When The Faces announced their break-up in December of that year, Wood was officially declared a member of The Rolling Stones in 1976, playing slide guitar, as Taylor and Brian Jones had done before him, and adding both lap steel and pedal steel guitar to his repertoire. In addition, he often exchanged roles on the guitar with Keith Richards, blurring the boundaries between rhythm and lead, even within a particular song. In 1975, Wood released his second solo album 'Now Look', followed four years later by 'Gimme Some Neck', and to promote it he formed and toured with The New Barbarians, playing 20 concerts in Canada and the US. Throughout the 1980's Wood kept very busy, playing as an official member of The Rolling Stones, continuing his solo career, painting, and collaborating with a number of other artists, including Prince, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Ringo Starr and Aretha Franklin. Wood's first guest appearance was actually on Donovan's 'Barabajagal' single, where The Jeff Beck Group acted as his backing band, but as Wood was playing bass and not guitar I'm starting this collection with his appearance on Rod Stewart's 1970 album, and working through his contributions to other artists efforts through to the late 80's, and for the cover I've used a rare self-portrait painted by Wood himself. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Only A Hobo (from 'Gasoline Alley' by Rod Stewart 1970) 
02 I'm Ready (from 'It Ain't Easy' by John Baldry 1971) 
03 Stop On The Red (from 'Wun' by Gerry Lockran 1972)

04 Just For A Moment (from the soundtrack of the film 'Mahoney's Last Stand' 1972)
05 Brahms (from 'The Academy In Peril' by John Cale 1972) 
06 Fallen Angel (from 'On The Road To Freedom' by Alvin Lee & Mylon LeFevre 1973)
07 Growin' Up (out-take from 'Pin Ups' by David Bowie 1973)
08 Kew (from 'Love Songs' by Billy Nicholls 1974)
09 Shut Up (from 'First Of The Big Bands' by Tony Ashton & John Lord 1974)
10 Ding Dong, Ding Dong (from 'Dark Horse' by George Harrison 1974) 
11 Feet (from 'Stone Alone' by Bill Wyman 1976)
12 Kinky (from 'Lasso From El Paso' by Kinky Friedman 1976)

Disc Two
01 All Our Past Times (from 'No Reason To Cry' by Eric Clapton 1976)
02 What A Town (from 'Rick Danko' by Rick Danko 1977)
03 Slow Screw Against The Wall/A♭ Fry (from 'Ask Rufus' by Rufus feat. Chaka Khan 1977) 
04 Nobody's Child (from 'Puttin' On The Style' by Lonnie Donegan 1978) 
05 Jumpin' Jack Flash (from 'Aretha' by Aretha Franklin 1980)
06 Little Girl (from 'Bump In The Night' Ian McLagan 1981) 
07 Dead Giveaway (from 'Stop And Smell The Roses' by Ringo Starr 1981) 
08 Clean Cut Kid (from 'Empire Burlesque' by Bob Dylan 1985)
09 Go 'Way Little Boy (b-side of 'Sweet Sweet Baby' single by Lone Justice 1985)
10 Love Roulette (from 'Heartbeat' by Don Johnson 1986) 
11 Baby (from 'Dirty Strangers' by Dirty Strangers 1987)
12 The Usual (from the soundtrack of the film 'Hearts Of Fire' 1987)

Thanks to Gil for the suggestion

Stevie Ray Vaughan - ...and on guitar (1990)

Stephen Ray Vaughan was born on 3 October 1954 in Dallas, Texas, and began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by his elder brother, Jimmie Vaughan. Learning by ear, he diligently committed himself, following along to songs by the Nightcaps, and he listened to blues artists such as Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters, and rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack. In 1963, he acquired his first electric guitar as a hand-me-down from Jimmie, and soon after he joined his first band, the Chantones, in 1965. Following a falling out with the other members he left the band and joined the Brooklyn Underground, playing professionally at local bars and clubs. In May 1969, after leaving the Brooklyn Underground, he joined a band called the Southern Distributor playing pop rock covers, but he tried to add blues songs to the group's repertoire, even though he was told that he wouldn't earn a living playing blues music, and so he and the band parted ways. In February 1970, Vaughan joined a band called Liberation, which was a nine-piece group with a horn section, and at a gig at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas he was asked onstage by ZZ Top to jam with the band. In September 1970 Vaughan made his first studio recordings with the band Cast Of Thousands, which included future actor Stephen Tobolowsky, recording two songs for the compilation album 'A New Hi', which featured various teenage bands from Dallas. In late January 1971 he left Liberation and formed his own band Blackbird, moving from Dallas to Austin, Texas, as he felt they had more liberal and tolerant audiences. After a couple of years Vaughan left Blackbird and joined Krackerjack, staying with them for less than three months, and then joined Marc Benno's band, the Nightcrawlers, reuniting with Benno after meeting him at a jam session some years before. 

The next month, the Nightcrawlers recorded an album at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood for A&M Records, and although the record was rejected by A&M, it did include Vaughan's first songwriting efforts, 'Dirty Pool' and 'Crawlin''. In 1975 Vaughan joined a six-piece band called Paul Ray And The Cobras, which included guitarist Val Swierczewski and saxophonist Joe Sublett, and for the next two-and-a-half years he earned a living performing weekly at the Soap Creek Saloon and at Antone's, which was widely known as Austin's 'home of the blues'. In late 1976 the band recorded a single, with Vaughan playing guitar on both tracks, which was released in February 1977, and the band carried on touring for most of the rest of that year. Near the end of September he left the band and formed Triple Threat Revue, recording some tracks in an Austin studio in January 1978, but in mid-May the bassist left to form his own group and Vaughan renamed the band Double Trouble, recruiting new bass-palyer Jackie Newhouse, and by October that band had a residency at one of Austin's most popular nightspots, the Rome Inn. Following some line-up changes, the group settled on bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton, and in 1982 they performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where David Bowie saw Vaughan play and contacted him for a studio gig, resulting in him playing his blues guitar on six of the eight songs on Bowie's 1983 album 'Let's Dance', including the iconic solo at the end of the title track. 

With the success of 'Let's Dance', Bowie requested Vaughan as the featured instrumentalist for the upcoming Serious Moonlight Tour, and in late April he began rehearsals for the tour in Las Colinas, Texas, but when contract renegotiations for his performance fee failed, he abandoned the tour days before its opening date, and he was replaced by Earl Slick. Double Trouble had recorded some tracks at Jackson Browne's studio after Browne had jammed with them in Montreux and offered free use of his studio, and after acquiring the recordings Double Trouble began assembling the material for a full-length album, to be called 'Texas Flood'. After knocking the album into shape, it was released on 13 June 1983, and peaked at number 38 on the US charts, ultimately selling half a million copies. In January 1984, Double Trouble began recording their second studio album 'Couldn't Stand The Weather', with John Hammond as executive producer and engineer Richard Mullen, and during recording sessions Vaughan began experimenting with other combinations of musicians, including Fran Christina, Stan Harrison, and Jimmie Vaughan. 'Couldn't Stand The Weather' was released on 15 May 1984, and two weeks later it had rapidly outpaced the sales of 'Texas Flood', peaking at number 31 on the US album chart. 

The success of the band's two albums, added to his recognition at playing with Bowie on 'Let's Dance', meant that he was often asked to guest on other artist's work, adding his guitar to records by Lonnie Mack, James Brown, and Jennifer Warnes among others. The recording with James Brown was for the soundtrack to the 1985 film 'Rocky IV', but it wasn't without it's troubles, as apparently Vaughan was so upset by how low his guitar parts had been mixed that he left in a helicopter never to return. The songs were edited for release as a single, and about four minutes had to be cut, which included most of Vaughan's solos, so for this post I've used the longer version which later appeared on Brown's 'Gravity' album, on which you can hear Vaughan's playing in full. During the majority of his life, Vaughan struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, but he successfully completed rehabilitation and began touring again with Double Trouble in November 1986. His fourth and final studio album 'In Step' reached number 33 in the United States in 1989, and was one of his most critically and commercially successful releases, including his only number-one hit 'Crossfire'. It cemented his reputation as one of the world's most highly in demand blues performers, and he headlined Madison Square Garden in 1989, and the Beale Street Music Festival in 1990. On 27 August 1990, Vaughan and four others were killed in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin, following a performance with Double Trouble at Alpine Valley Music Theatre. An investigation concluded that the cause was pilot error and Vaughan's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Omniflight Helicopters that was settled out of court. It was a terrible waste of a supremely gifted musician who was at the peak of his powers, and I hope that this collection of early recordings and guest appearances is a fitting tribute to his talent. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Red, White And Blue (from the 'A New Hi' compilation album 1970)
02 I Heard A Voice Last Night (from the 'A New Hi' compilation album 1970)
03 Dirty Pool (from the unreleased album by The Nightcrawlers 1973)
04 Crawlin' ((from the unreleased album by The Nightcrawlers 1973)
05 Other Days (single by The Cobras 1977)
06 Texas Clover (b-side of 'Other Days)
07 Love Struck Baby (Triple Threat Revue demo 1978)
08 I Wonder Why (Triple Threat Revue demo 1978)
09 Let's Dance (from 'Let's Dance' by David Bowie 1983)

Disc Two
01 Don't Stop By The Creek, Son  (from 'Texas Twister' by Johnny Copeland 1983)
02 Oreo Cookie Blues (from 'Strike Like Lightning' by Lonnie Mack 1985)
03 Living In America (by James Brown from the film 'Rocky IV' 1985)
04 First We Take Manhattan (from 'Famous Blue Raincoat' by Jennifer Warnes 1986)
05 You So Heavy (from 'Emerald City' by Teena Marie 1986)
06 Love Roulette  (from 'Heartbeat' by Don Johnson 1986)
07 Bumble Bee Blues (from 'Distant Drums' by Brian Slawson 1988)
08 Pipeline (from 'King Of The Surf Guitar' by Dick Dale 1989)
09 Cat's In The Well (from 'Under The Red Sky' by Bob Dylan 1990)
10 Just How You Play The Game (from 'The Peacemaker' by Jerry Lynn Williams - 

                                                                                               recorded 1990, released 1996)

 

Earl Slick - ...and on guitar (1998)

Frank Madeloni, aka Earl Slick, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 1, 1952, and first began to be noticed on the New York music scene in the early 70's while playing guitar in a band called Mack Truck, featuring both singer-songwriter Jimmie Mack and his brother, drummer Jack Mack. It was in 1974, however, that his name was plastered all over the press when the 22 year-old Slick was chosen by David Bowie to serve as his first proper replacement for Mick Ronson, after Bowie had split up The Spiders From Mars. Although Bowie supplied most of the guitar work for his hit 1974 release 'Diamond Dogs', he sought the then-unknown Slick to replicate his and Ronson's previous guitar parts on tour, and not only did Slick duplicate them, but the incredibly versatile guitarist managed to expand on them and inject his own style into the tunes, resulting in one of the greatest rock guitar live albums of all time 'David Live', recorded at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. Slick remained with Bowie for his next two studio albums, which saw the singer transform into his "Thin White Duke" persona and take on the funk genre, resulting in the classic records 'Young Americans' in  1975 and the more experimental 'Station To Station' the following year. Almost immediately he started to be asked to guest on studio sessions, with Leo Sayer being the first to spot his ability, followed quickly by Ian Hunter, and in 1977 he added guitar to his wife's collaboration with her sister on June and Jean Millington's 'Ladies On The Stage'. Leaving Bowie's band just as the singer decided to pack his bags and relocate to Germany, Slick continued on as a 'gun for hire', and appeared on records by other more obscure hard rock artists such as Bad Boy and Tonio K. Also during this time, he attempted briefly to launch a solo career, resulting in the albums 'Razor Sharp' and 'Earl Slick Band', but it was his next job that would be one of the high points of his entire career, when in 1980 he was asked to play on what would become John Lennon's final all-new studio recording, the chart-topping 'Double Fantasy'. After Lennon's death the same year, Slick returned to the studio with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and appeared on what would become her highest-charting solo release, 1981's harrowing 'Season Of Glass', and his work can also be heard on the posthumous releases 'Milk And Honey' in 1984, as well as the CD box sets for both Ono, with 1992's 'Onobox', and on Lennon's 1998 'Anthology', including his own choice as some of his best work on 'I Don't Wanna Face It'. 

The early to mid-'80s saw Slick return briefly to Bowie's band for the Serious Moonlight world tour in support of 1983's 'Let's Dance', as although Stevie Ray Vaughan had played guitar on the album, he'd left the band right before the tour due to a dispute between his and Bowie's management, so Slick was asked to step in as a last-minute replacement, due to his prior working relationship with Bowie. When the Bowie tour was over he teamed up with ex-Stray Cats musicians Lee Rocker (bass) and Slim Jim Phantom (drums), replacing Bran Seltzer in the re-named trio Phantom, Rocker & Slick, with the short-lived outfit issuing a pair of moderately successful albums, in 1985's 'Phantom, Rocker & Slick' and 1986's 'Cover Girl', before disbanding. This allowed Slick to carry on his session work throughout the late '80s/early '90's, and after a break from the music biz to sort out his personal life (allegedly to kick a serious drug problem), he returned stronger than ever, and founded his own record label, Slick Music Inc., which specializes in his own solo releases, as well as archival sets by other artists, like Fanny and Kasim Sulton. In 1990, he collaborated with David Glen Eisley in the band Dirty White Boy, which released their only album 'Bad Reputation' in 1990, and he then played in Little Caesar during 1991/1992. Working with mentor Michael Kamen, he contributed to several film soundtracks in the 1990's, including 'Hudson Hawk' and 'Nothing But Trouble', as well as releasing another solo album in 1991. Although it might seem like Slick has had extraordinary luck in being catapulted into the spotlight after only paying his dues for a few years, you can hear from these tracks that he crammed a lot into that short time, and by the time he was nabbed by Bowie he was already a guitarist of some talent.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Reflections (from 'Endless Flight' by Leo Sayer 1976)
02 Stay (from 'Station To Station' by David Bowie 1976)
03 Wild 'n' Free (from 'Overnight Angels' by Ian Hunter 1977)
04 You Need This Woman (from 'Ladies On The Stage' by Millington 1977)
05 Keep It Up (from 'Back To Back' by Bad Boy 1978)
06 Life In The Foodchain (from 'Life In The Foodchain' by Tonio K. 1978)
07 Is It Right (from 'Van Dunson' by Van Dunson 1979)
08 I Put A Spell On You (from 'Simplicity' by Tim Currie 1981)
09 Goin' For Broke (from 'Silver Condor' by Silver Condor 1981)
10 Walking On Thin Ice (single by Yoko Ono 1981)

11 My Little World (from 'Heart On A Wall' by Jimmy Destri  1982)

Disc Two
01 East Of Eden's Gate (from 'East Of Eden's Gate' by Billy Thorpe 1982)
02 Running (from 'Running' By June Millington 1983)
03 Shark Pretty (from 'Dead Center' by Game Theory 1984)
04 Nobody Told Me (from 'Milk And Honey' by John Lennon & Yoko Ono 1984)
05 Imagination (from 'Some People' by Belouis Some 1985)
06 Dancing In The Street (single by David Bowie & Mick Jagger 1985)
07 Running Away (from '2wo' by Strange Advance 1985) 
08 Simple Man (from 'Junkyard' by Junkyard 1989)
09 Cry Little Sister (from 'Slamdunk' by Henry Lee Summer' 1993)
10 I Don't Wanna Face It (out-take from 'Anthology' by John Lennon 1998)

David Bowie - Karma Man (1968)

While a lot of people were under the impression that David Bowie emerged fully-formed onto the music scene in 1969 with the 'Space Oddity' single, the real fans knew that he been slogging away in the music industry for the best part of a decade, playing in bands, writing songs, and trying to make a name for himself, quite literally as it turns out, and that name was Bowie, which he chose to replace his actual name of Jones. I've covered his early career playing with groups such as The Konrads, The Mannish Boys, The Lower Third, and The King Bees, in my 'David Bowie And...' post, and following the chart failure of his debut solo single 'I Dig Everything', he released the 'David Bowie' album on Deram Records in 1967, but once again this didn't achieve any commercial success. At this time he was going through what has become known as his 'Anthony Newley phase', where his vocals were a strange mixture of old-fashioned vaudeville and upper-class singers like Anthony Newley, but if you'd heard the album at the time you would have realised that the songs themselves were far from ordinary, with 'Rubber Band' being a marching tune that employed tuba as the lead instrument, while 'Little Bombardier' and 'Maid Of Bond Street' were in waltz time, and also made extensive use of brass and strings. 'Love You Till Tuesday' and 'Come And Buy My Toys' were among the few songs on the album with an acoustic guitar as the lead instrument, and lyrically he was choosing subjects that were not usually seen in the pop charts, with 'Join The Gang' being an excursion into contemporary youth culture, and 'She's Got Medals' was a gender-bending tale with gay and lesbian connotations. 

After the album was released, Bowie recorded  several more tracks for Deram in September 1967, all of which were refused release as singles, including 'Let Me Sleep Beside You' and 'Karma Man'. Both these tracks had a radically different sound to the material on 'David Bowie', harking back to his mod period, but despite this Deram refused to release them, even after Bowie offered to replace the 'sexually explicit' 'Let Me Sleep Beside You'  with a new version of the album track 'When I Live My Dream', but Deram wouldn't budge, and they were just as intransigent when he presented them with 'In The Heat Of The Morning' and 'London Bye Ta–Ta' in early 1968. The failure of the album and its singles, as well as not being able to produce anything that the label felt worthy of release, cost Bowie his record contract with Deram Records, and they dropped him in April 1968. Bowie immediately went on to form a folk rock trio with Hermione Farthingale and Tony Hill called Turquoise, and the band quickly recorded the single 'Ching-A-Ling', with all three taking vocal lead on different verses. However, before they could look for a record company to release it, Hill left the band, and was replaced by John Hutchinson, with the band changing their name to Feathers. Almost immediately Farthingale left Feathers, and soon after, so did Hutchinson, and so 'Ching-A-Ling' thus became Bowie's fourth abandoned single in a row. He continued to write songs and record demos throughout 1968, and following his death in 2016, many of these previously unheard recordings have surfaced, adding another chapter to his career that was previously just a murky sidebar. He also recorded some music for a proposed film called 'The Looking Glass Murders', as well as making a promotional film of music videos called 'Love You Till Tuesday', to sell himself to a new label, and it also included a narrated mime called 'The Mask', from another of his side projects where he worked with mime artist Lindsay Kemp. 

With so much unheard material appearing in recent years, it's tempting to gather it all together to try to see what a follow-up album to 'David Bowie' might sound like if Deram had kept faith and allowed him to release it in 1968. Obviously the sound quality is going to be variable, although the solo demos are surprisingly good for their age, while the acetates are studio quality as would be expected. One track was even professionally recorded by two bands and released as a single, with 'Silver Tree Top School For Boys'  being issued by The Slender Plenty in September 1967 and later by Scottish group The Beatstalkers in December of the same year, and Bowie's own demo exists in two versions, of which the stripped-back one is the best quality. Of the most recently unearthed songs, 'April's Tooth Of Gold' is an interesting bridge between the 60's Deram records and his darker music around the time of 'The Man Who Sold The World', with the lyrics at odds with the more light weight material that he was writing in 1968, while 'C'est La Vie' was unsuccessfully offered to singer Chris Montez for him to record. The other demos vary between solo acoustic offerings and band demos, alongside a BBC session recording of an otherwise unrecorded song, and the shelved single by Feathers. Because nearly every song has come from a different source the album doesn't run as smoothly as I'd liked, but I think it's great to have all these rare tracks in one place in the form of an album that could have been released in 1968, and it just shows what a prolific period 1967-1968 was for the fledgling pop star. Paul over at albumsthatshouldexist has posted collections of rare Bowie tracks over the years, and a lot of these songs have appeared on them, but these versions will sound a bit different as I've not always used the demo where a finished take was available, and I've done a lot of work on the demos themselves to try to make them sound as good as possible, as well as including those newly discovered pieces from the film soundtrack that he was involved with in 1968.    

 
Track listing

01 Karma Man (unreleased Deram single 1967)
02 April's Tooth Of Gold (demo 1968)
03 Let Me Sleep Beside You (unreleased Deram single 1967)
04 Columbine (demo for the film 'The Looking Glass Murders' 1968)
05 Angel Angel Grubby Face (demo 1968)
06 C'Est La Vie (demo 1967)

07 Silver Tree Top School For Boys (demo 1967)
08 Goodbye Threepenny Joe (demo 1968)
09 The Mirror (demo for the film 'The Looking Glass Murders' 1968)
10 In The Heat Of The Morning (unreleased Deram single 1968)
11 When I'm Five (BBC session 1968)
12 Mother Grey (demo 1967)
13 Life Is A Circus (demo by Feathers)
14 Love All Around (demo 1968)
15 London Bye Ta Ta (unreleased Deram single 1968)

Adrian Belew - ...and on guitar (1993)

Robert Steven (Adrian) Belew was born on 23 December 1949 in Covington, Kentucky, and in his early teens he played drums with the Ludlow High School marching band, and later with the high-school covers band The Denems. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, he took up guitar when he was bedridden for several months with mononucleosis, and at age 17 he was further inspired by a club performance of blues-rock musician Lonnie Mack, who became a lifelong personal friend. He wasn't inclined to study music formally, but taught himself by listening to records, and rapidly became a high-school guitar hero. While maturing as a player and mastering various playing styles, he became increasingly preoccupied with ways to avoid sounding like everybody else, and eventually found his own sound and style by learning how to make his guitar mimic sound effects such as car horns, animal noises, or industrial sounds and then applying those sounds to relatively standard songs. In the mid-1970's, having formally changed his first name to his preferred choice of Adrian, Belew moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a full-time career as a professional musician, and by 1977 he was playing with the regionally-popular cover band Sweetheart. While playing at a Sweetheart gig at Fanny's Bar in Nashville, he was discovered by Frank Zappa, who had been tipped off regarding the band's talents by his chauffeur. Zappa approached Belew and discussed auditioning him for an upcoming tour, although Belew did not receive an official invitation to audition for nearly a year. During this time Sweetheart split up, and so once the formal invitation came, he flew out to Los Angeles and found himself auditioning alongside more formally trained musicians, and following a more intimate second audition Zappa was impressed enough to hire Belew on a handshake deal for a year. 

He toured with the Zappa band and appeared on Zappa's 1979 album 'Sheik Yerbouti', most notably performing a Bob Dylan impersonation on the song 'Flakes', and he also appeared in Zappa's 1979 concert film 'Baby Snakes'. Although he was mostly credited as rhythm guitarist, he also played lead, melody, or noise lines, as well as singing lead on two songs. After seeing Belew at a Zappa concert in Cologne, Brian Eno recommended that David Bowie offer to hire him once the Zappa tour was finished. Belew accepted the offer, and he played on Bowie's Isolar II Tour in 1978, as well as contributing to his next studio album, 'Lodger'. In 1980 Belew formed a new band, GaGa, for which he served as the singer, guitarist, drummer, and primary songwriter, and on one of his frequent visits to New York City, he became friends with the up-and-coming band Talking Heads, who invited him to join them onstage for performances of their signature song 'Psycho Killer', where he impressed them with his wild and unorthodox guitar soloing. It was also around this time that he met Robert Fripp at a Steve Reich concert, and in July of that year GaGa was invited to open several New York-area concerts for Fripp's band the League Of Gentlemen. Following his working with Brian Eno on Bowie's 'Lodger' album, he was invited to add guitar solos to several tracks on Eno's next production job, Talking Heads' 'Remain In Light' album, and his involvement with them extended to playing on the band's spin-off projects, such as Tom Tom Club, and David Byrne's and Jerry Harrison's solo albums. Unfortunately, Belew's experience with Tom Tom Club was less harmonious than his previous work with Talking Heads, and their recording engineer, Steven Stanley, was vocal about his dislike of distorted guitar, and erased the majority of Belew's solos during the mixing sessions. By now Belew's rising profile had gained him a solo record contract with Island Records, and in the down time at the Tom Tom Club sessions, members of GaGa joined him at Compass Point and backed him on a set of parallel recordings which would result in Belew's first solo album, 1982's 'Lone Rhino'. The album provided a home for various GaGa songs and blended various elements of Belew's work over the past decade, including snappy and noisy Zappa/Byrne-influenced songs, dabblings in world music, opportunities for animal/mechanical sounds on guitar, and sonic experiments reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix. 

In 1981 Belew was invited to join Robert Fripp's new band Discipline, with Bill Bruford and Tony Levin, and during initial touring the members discussed the possibility of renaming themselves King Crimson. This had not been the original intention for the band, but all members generally agreed that this would be both appropriate and useful, and so his time with King Crimson began in 1981 and he stayed with them until 2009, one of the longest tenures in the band by anyone other than founder Robert Fripp. As part of the agreement to his joining, he insisted that he would be allowed time to continue and develop his new solo career, to which Fripp agreed. The renamed band released the well-received 'Discipline' album in 1981, followed by the equally fine 'Beat' in 1982, and 'Three Of A Perfect Pair' in 1984. Following King Crimson's breakup and hiatus in 1984, Belew formed the pop band The Bears with fellow guitarist and singer Rob Fetters, drummer Chris Arduser, and bass guitarist Bob Nyswonger, releasing two albums on I.R.S. Records subsidiary Primitive Man Recording Company, with 1987's 'The Bears' and 1988's 'Rise And Shine'. After three years of constant recording, promotion, and touring, the band broke up in 1989 following the collapse of PMRC, although Belew has continued to tour and record, either solo or with new bands that he had formed. He was at his most busy as a session player during the 80's, and during this period he contributed to Ryuichi Sakamoto's 'Left-handed Dream', Joan Armatrading's 'The Key', Peter Wolf's 'Lights Out' and Jean Michel Jarre's 'Zoolook', as well as playing on Cyndi Lauper's 'True Colors' and Paul Simon's 'Graceland'. This collection of his session work includes songs from all those albums, plus many more tracks, and on every one you can hear his inimitable guitar tones, adding something a little bit special to the songs. 

Track listing

Disc One

01 Red Money (from 'Lodger' by David Bowie 1979)
02 Jones Crusher (from 'Sheik Yerbouti' by Frank Zappa 1979)
03 The Great Curve (from 'Remain In Light' by Talking Heads 1980)
04 Eggs In A Briar Patch (from 'The Catherine Wheel' by David Byrne 1981)
05 Things Fall Apart (from 'The Red And The Black' by Jerry Harrison 1981)  
06 The Twilight Clone (from 'Magic Windows' by Herbie Hancock 1981)  
07 L'Elphant (from 'Tom Tom Club' by Tom Tom Club 1981)
08 Relache (from 'Left-Handed Dream' by Ryuichi Sakamoto 1981) 

Disc Two

01 Sweet Little Woman (from 'Sheffield Steel' by Joe Cocker 1982)
02 (I Love It When You) Call Me Names (from 'The Key' by Joan Armatrading 1983)
03 Blah Blah Cafe (from 'Zoolook' by Jean Michel Jarre 1984)
04 Billy Bigtime (from 'Lights Out' by Peter Wolf 1984)
05 Sharkey's Day (from 'Mister Heartbreak' by Laurie Anderson 1984)
06 What's Going On (from 'True Colors' by Cyndi Lauper 1986)
07 Boy In The Bubble (from 'Graceland' by Paul Simon 1986)
08 God Shuffled His Feet (from 'God Shuffled His Feet' by Crash Test Dummies 1993)

David Bowie - Silhouettes And Shadows (1980)

'Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)' was released on 12 September 1980 by RCA Records, and was Bowie's final studio album on the label, and his first following the Berlin Trilogy, which, although considered significant in artistic terms,  had proven less successful commercially. With 'Scary Monsters...', Bowie achieved what has been said was a perfect balance of creativity and mainstream success. The album garnered critical acclaim and peaked at No. 1, attaining Platinum status in the UK, and restoring Bowie's commercial standing in the US.

During the recordings sessions, the songs gradually evolved from the sketches of melodies and lyrics that Bowie brought to the studio, and some started out with different titles until they evolved into the finished recording. 'Fashion' began as 'Jamaica', but unable to think of anything to write, Bowie discarded the song until late in the recording cycle, when it was transformed into the piece that appears on the album. 'Ashes To Ashes' started out as 'People Are Turning To Gold', 'Teenage Wildlife' as 'It Happens Everyday' and 'Scream Like A Baby' as 'Laser'. This song was actually written in 1973, and recorded by Ava Cherry and the Astronettes as 'I Am A Laser', and it was demoed by Bowie during the sessions for 'Young Americans' in 1975. 'Is There Life After Marriage?' was fully written and recorded for the album, but for unknown reasons it was never included. 'Scary Monsters...' has always been a favourite of mine, and so I was intrigued to find a bootleg of alternate versions of nearly all the songs, with only 'Fashion' not appearing on it. With a little re-jigging of the running order to match the parent album, and a new title and artwork, we have an alternate look at 'Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)', with the only track sounding out of place being the supposed 'disco mix' of 'Ashes To Ashes', which just seems to me to have the intros extended, but I've left it on as, if it is legitimate, then it has never been officially issued. 

Track listing

01 It's No Game (No. 1) (Alternate version)
02 Cameras In Brooklyn (aka 'Up The Hill Backwards')
03 Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) (Alternate version)
04 Ashes To Ashes (12" disco remix)
05 Is There Life After Marriage? (previously unreleased)
06 It Happens Everyday (aka 'Teenage Wildlife')
07 Laser (aka 'Scream Like A Baby')
08 Kingdom Come (Alternate version)
09 Because I'm Young (Alternate version) 
10 Tired Of My Life (It's No Game No. 2) (demo 1970)

David Bowie - David Bowie And... (1967)

It's pretty well-known that before he hit the big-time with 'Space Oddity', David Bowie had paid his dues throughout the 60's with a number of bands, both simply as a member and also as leader. There have been a few compilations over the years which have collected the singles that these bands issued, but with the emergence in 2003 of a rehearsal tape of his very first band The Konrads, I thought that it was time for an update. Not long after the tape appeared on the collector's market, the bootleg 'Ziggy Final Farewell 1973' was issued, containing seven songs supposedly recorded in 1963. According to the liner notes, these tracks were 'The Konrads rehearsals, Bromley Scout Hut, South London, July-August 1963', and as Bowie was a member of the band from early 1962 until January 1964 then in theory he should be on these recordings, although you can't really hear his saxophone, and although he is credited as singing lead vocals, these recordings appear to be just George Underwood singing. The Kon-rads were formed in West Kent in early 1962 by drummer Dave Crook and guitarist Neville Wills, and were joined a few months later by singer George Underwood, who then introduced his best friend and sax player David Jones to the band. Apparently the name The Kon-rads came about whilst they were appearing with popular early 60’s singer Jess Conrad, who introduced them as 'My Conrads', but the hyphen was later removed at Jones’ insistence. In 1964 Jones left The Konrads and joined The King Bees, and he wrote to the newly successful washing-machine entrepreneur John Bloom inviting him to 'do for us what Brian Epstein has done for the Beatles, and make another million'. Bloom did not respond to the offer, but his referral to Dick James's partner Leslie Conn led to Jones' first personal management contract. Conn quickly began to promote him, but the band's first single 'Liza Jane', credited to Davie Jones and the King Bees, had no commercial success. 

Dissatisfied with the King Bees and their repertoire of Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon blues numbers, Jones quit the band less than a month later to join the Manish Boys, another blues outfit. Their single 'I Pity The Fool', backed with Jones' first original composition 'Take My Tip', was no more successful than 'Liza Jane', and he soon moved on again to join The Lower Third, a blues trio strongly influenced by The Who. 'You've Got A Habit Of Leaving'/'Baby Loves That Way' were two more Jones originals, but still failed to break the band, signalling the end of Conn’s contract. Despite announcing that he would exit the pop world to study mime at Sadler’s Wells, Jones nevertheless remained with the Lower Third for one more unsuccessful single and a few demo recordings. In 1966 he signed with a new manager, Ralph Horton, and also left The Lower Third to join The Buzz, who released his fifth unsuccessful single 'Do Anything You Say'. Horton introduced Jones to Ken Pitt, who took over as his manager, and as he was finding that he was increasingly becoming confused with Davy Jones of the newly formed The Monkees, he decided to rename himself after the 19th-century American frontiersman Jim Bowie and the knife he had popularised. His first solo single under his new name, 'I Dig Everything', also failed the break the charts, and in 1967, while still with the Buzz, he also joined The Riot Squad and recorded some demos with them, including early versions of his songs 'Little Toy Soldier' and 'Silly Boy Blue', as well as Velvet Underground covers. In April 1967, in one last desperate attempt to get a hit, he released perhaps his most notorious single, 'The Laughing Gnome', using speeded-up, high-pitched vocals, but even this novelty song failed to chart. Six weeks later his eponymous album debut was released, consisting of an amalgam of pop, psychedelia, and music hall, and also sank without trace. It was his last release for two years. 

Track listing

01 The Better I Know - The Konrads With David Jones 1963

02 Now I'm On My Way - The Konrads With David Jones 1963
03 It's Too Late - The Konrads With David Jones 1963
04 I'm Over You - The Konrads With David Jones 1963
05 Judgement Day - The Konrads With David Jones 1963
06 I Didn't Know How Much - The Konrads With David Jones 1963
07 I Thought Of You Last Night - The Konrads With David Jones 1963
08 Liza Jane - Davie Jones With The King Bees 1964
09 Louie, Louie Go Home - Davie Jones With The King Bees 1964
10 I Pity The Fool - The Manish Boys With Davy Jones 1965
11 Take My Tip - The Manish Boys With Davy Jones 1965
12 You've Got A Habit Of Leaving - Davy Jones & The Lower Third 1965
13 Baby Loves That Way - Davy Jones & The Lower Third 1965
14 I'll Follow You - Davy Jones & The Lower Third 1965
15 Glad I've Got Nobody - Davy Jones & The Lower Third 1965
16 Can't Help Thinking About Me - Davy Jones & The Lower Third 1966
17 And I Say To Myself - Davy Jones & The Lower Third 1966
18 Do Anything You Say - David Bowie With The Buzz  1966
19 Good Morning Girl - David Bowie With The Buzz  1966
20 I Dig Everything - David Bowie 1966

21 I'm Not Losing Sleep - David Bowie 1966

22 I'm Waiting For My Man - The Riot Squad 1967

23 Toy Soldier - The Riot Squad 1967

Robert Fripp - ...and on guitar (1980)

Robert Fripp was born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, the second child of a working class family, and at age ten he received a guitar for Christmas from his parents. After taking guitar lessons, by age 11 he was playing rock, moving on to traditional jazz at 13 and modern jazz at 15. In 1961, the fifteen-year-old Fripp joined his first band, The Ravens, which also included Gordon Haskell on bass. After they split the following year, Fripp considered a job at his father's estate agency, but at seventeen, he decided to become a professional musician. He became the guitarist in the jazz outfit The Douglas Ward Trio, followed by a stint in the rock and roll band The League of Gentlemen, which included two former Ravens members. In 1965, Fripp left the group to attend Bournemouth College, which was where he met future musical collaborators John Wetton, Richard Palmer-James, and Greg Lake. In 1967, Fripp responded to an advertisement placed by Bournemouth-born brothers Peter and Michael Giles, who wanted to work with a singing organist. Though Fripp was not what they wanted, his audition with them was a success and the trio relocated to London and became Giles, Giles And Fripp, with their sole studio album 'The Cheerful Insanity Of Giles, Giles And Fripp' being released in 1968. Despite the recruitment of two further members, singer Judy Dyble (formerly with Fairport Convention and later of Trader Horne) and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, Fripp felt that he was outgrowing the eccentric pop approach favoured by Peter Giles, preferring the more ambitious compositions being written by McDonald, and so the band broke up in 1968. Almost immediately, Fripp, McDonald and Michael Giles formed the first lineup of King Crimson in mid-1968, recruiting Fripp's old Bournemouth College friend Greg Lake as lead singer and bass player, and McDonald's writing partner Peter Sinfield as lyricist, light show designer and general creative consultant. King Crimson's debut album 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' was released in late 1969 to great success, and Fripp's long and illustrious career was off to a great start. 
During King Crimson's less active periods Fripp collaborated with other artists, such as Keith Tippett, on projects far from rock music, playing with and producing jazz-progressive rock big band Centipede's 'Septober Energy' album in 1971 and 'Ovary Lodge' in 1973. During this period he also worked with Van der Graaf Generator, playing on the 1970 album 'H To He, Who Am The Only One', and in 1971 on 'Pawn Hearts'. In 1972 he produced Matching Mole's 'Matching Mole's Little Red Record', and then later that year teamed up with Brian Eno to record the classic electronic album 'No Pussyfooting', reconvening two years later for 1974's 'Evening Star'. In 1973 Fripp performed the guitar solo on Brian Eno's 'Baby's On Fire', from his first solo album 'Here Come The Warm Jets', and later contributed to his 'Another Green World' album in 1975. After a one year sabbatical he returned to musical work as a studio guitarist in 1976, working on Peter Gabriel's first self-titled album, which was released the following year, and he also toured with Gabriel to support the album, but remained out of sight (either in the wings or behind a curtain) and used the pseudonym 'Dusty Rhodes'. He assisted Gabriel again in 1978 on his second album, producing and playing on it, adding solos to 'On The Air' and 'White Shadow', and musically enhancing 'Exposure'. In 1977 Fripp reconnected with Daryl Hall, who he'd first met in 1974, when Hall asked him to produce his debut solo album, on which he also provided guitar and co-wrote two of the songs. The recording was completed in 1977, but the record company didn't feel that it would be a commercial success and so refused to release it for three years, with it finally seeing the light of day in 1980. Also in 1977 he added his distinctive guitar sound to the b-side of Bryan Ferry's 'This Is Tomorrow' single, and while living in New York in 1978 Fripp contributed to albums and live performances by Blondie, most noticeably to 'Fade Away And Radiate' from their 'Parallel Lines' album. The same year he worked with Talking Heads on their 'Fear of Music' record, and he also produced The Roches' first and third albums, which featured several of his characteristic guitar solos. A second set of creative sessions with David Bowie in 1980 produced distinctive guitar parts on songs from 'Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)', and he also appeared on Peter Gabriel's third solo album the same year. To be honest I'd never really thought of Robert Fripp as the sort of artist to guest on other people's records, although obviously I knew that he was on Bowie's 'Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)', but I was amazed to find that he played on a Blondie record, or collaborated with Daryl Hall. Unfortunately the Van Der Graaf Generator tracks that he played on were too long to include here, and you couldn't really hear him on them anyway, but I have included a track from Peter Hamill's solo album 'Fool's Mate' as an example of his work a member of VDGG. We all know that Fripp is an outstanding guitarist from his work with King Crimson, but I hope that this album shows another side to him that people might not have known about.  

Track listing

01 Sunshine (from 'Fool's Mate' by Peter Hammill 1971) 
02 St Elmo's Fire (from 'Another Green World' by Brian Eno 1975)
03 As The World Turns (b-side of 'This Is Tomorrow' single by Bryan Ferry 1977)
04 Fade Away And Radiate (from 'Parallel Lines' by Blondie 1978)
05 Babs And Babs (from 'Sacred Songs' by Daryl Hall recorded 1977)
06 Exposure (from 'Peter Gabriel II' by Peter Gabriel 1978)
07 I Zimbra (from 'Fear Of Music' by Talking Heads 1979)
08 Teenage Wildlife (from 'Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)' by David Bowie 1980)
09 Hammond Song (from 'The Roches' by The Roches 1979)
10 No Self Control (from 'Peter Gabriel III' by Peter Gabriel 1980)

David Bowie - An Alternate Hunky Dory (1972)

Over the years 'Hunky Dory' has been re-appraised and re-evaluated, and is now considered to be of David Bowie's very best albums, but when it came out back in 1971 he was pretty much an unknown quantity, and so had to do the rounds of the radio stations to promote it. On his visits to shows hosted by Johnnie Walker, Bob Harris and John Peel he played tracks from the album for sessions to be broadcast on the shows, and over time he recorded versions of nearly all the songs from it. As well as the sessions recordings, there's also a demo of 'Quicksand' out there, and an alternate mix of 'The Bewlay Brothers', and although he never recorded 'Life On Mars' for a radio session, he did tape a rehearsal of it at Earl's Court for a film by Mick Rock in 1973, and so if we add them all together we end up with an alternate look at an iconic album from the 70's. On the rehearsal for 'Song For Bob Dylan' for the John Peel show, Bowie let George Underwood take the vocals, but apart from that most of these are contemporary versions of the songs recorded at the time the album came out. None of these recordings are drastically different from those on the album, but there are subtle differences here and there, so it's worth a listen.  

UPDATE - I have a confession to make, which is that I seem to have completely mis-read the notes which accompanied the 'Life On Mars' video that I found, which I though was part of a film made by Mick Rock at Earls Court in 1973. It actually turns out that it was the promo video for the single release, which was filmed by Mick Rock backstage at Earls Court in 1973. The recording is therefore the studio version, and I did think that it was extremely close to the original, and now I know why. In order to keep the spirit of the album, I've substituted it with a live version from the Boston Music Hall in 1972, which is a superb quality recording. If you've already downloaded it then here is the track to replace in your folder, and links are updated.   

Track listing 

01 Changes (Johnnie Walker Lunchtime Show session 22/05/1972)
02 Oh! You Pretty Things (Bob Harris Sounds Of The Seventies session 21/09/1971)
03 Eight Line Poem (Bob Harris Sounds Of The Seventies session 21/09/1971)
04 Life On Mars (live at Boston Music Hall 01/10/1972)
05 Kooks (Bob Harris Sounds Of The Seventies session 21/09/1971)
06 Quicksand (Demo London 1971)
07 Fill Your Heart (Bob Harris Sounds Of The Seventies session 21/09/1971)
08 Andy Warhol (Bob Harris Sounds Of The Seventies session 21/09/1971)
09 Song For Bob Dylan (rehearsal for John Peel session 1971)
10 Queen Bitch (Bob Harris Sounds Of The Seventies session 18/01/1972)
11 The Bewlay Brothers (alternative mix 30/07/1971)

David Bowie - Nineteen Eighty-four (1974)

In 1974 David Bowie was looking towards his next project, and in a Rolling Stone interview with William Burroughs that February he casually mentioned that he would be doing George Orwell's '1984' on television. This then expanded to become a planned adaptation as a West End musical, with an accompanying album and film. He had written some new songs, and plans were progressing, but disaster struck when Orwell’s widow and executor of his estate, Sonia Orwell, didn’t like Bowie’s ideas for bringing the book to life, so she denied him the rights. One of apparently 20 new songs written for the project, '1984/Dodo', was premiered on the TV special 'The 1980 Floor Show', but attempts to write an actual script with the American playwright Tony Ingrassia had come to nothing. Bowie was reportedly furious when Sonia Orwell refused permission for his rock musical, saying "For a person who married a socialist with communist leanings, she was the biggest upper-class snob I’ve ever met in my life." Doubtless, Sonia did hate the idea, but then she had approved almost no adaptations in any medium since the fiasco of the 1956 movie, and she certainly didn’t meet Bowie, refusing permission with no discussions. His eighth studio album, initially titled 'We Are The Dead', was therefore a salvage operation, although he did say at the time "To be quite honest with you… the whole thing was originally 19-bloody-84. She put the clappers on the musical by saying no, so I, at the last minute, quickly changed it into a new concept album called 'Diamond Dogs'. I didn’t ever want to do 'Diamond Dogs' as a stage musical; what I wanted was '1984'." 
We can therefore only surmise, via its few surviving songs, what Bowie’s adaptation would have been like. He seems most intrigued by the concept of absolute authority, the quisling culture over which it rules and how the mind seems eager to condone and accept it. For Bowie, this situation only meant that the endgame he had imagined as far back as 'The Supermen' or 'Cygnet Committee' was coming to pass soon, and in songs like '1984' he seemed to welcome it. We know from various sources that the obvious songs from 'Diamond Dogs' - '1984', 'We Are The Dead', and 'Big Brother' - were originally destined for the stage show, but in a 2008 interview, Bowie told the Mail On Sunday that the 'Sweet Thing' medley was also written for the '1984' musical. 'Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing', which was written using William Burrough's cut-up method, would have been a centre-piece to the stage production, as Bowie thought it would be evocative to wander between the melodramatic 'Sweet Thing' croon into the dirty sound of 'Candidate' and back again. As well as '1984' itself, he also recorded the '1984/Dodo' medley from the 'The 1980 Floor Show', plus 'Dodo' on its own, and a longer, more stripped-back version of 'Candidate' than the one that ended up on 'Diamond Dogs'. While we really have no idea of what the musical would have sounded like, we have almost enough songs to try to piece it together, and so by adding in the afore-mentioned 'Cygnet Committee' (which does have some themes which fit nicely on here), and replacing the 'Diamond Dogs' version of 'Candidate' in the 'Sweet Thing' medley, we end up with a 40 minute album of what could possibly be the starting point for the '1984' musical project. This is all pure conjecture, of course, but has been a lot of fun for me and correspondent Norman Crowther to put together after some intensive online research, so enjoy the fruits of our labours on an album that all Bowie fans really do wish existed. 

Track listing
  
01 1984
02 Cygnet Committee
03 Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing
04 Dodo
05 We Are The Dead
06 Big Brother
07 1984/Dodo (Reprise)

Tin Machine - Tin Machine III (1991)

I've always been a massive Bowie fan, and so I fully embraced his decision to form Tin Machine with the Sales brothers and Reeve Gabrels in 1988, even though a lot of fans weren't so keen to see him become just a quarter of a band rather than the solo star he already was. I thought the eponymous debut album had a lot of great songs on it, and I think the playing was more focused than on some of his solo albums from just before the band formed, so for me it was a welcome change. They stayed together long enough to produce a second album, which inevitably was not quite a good as the first, and then, following the release of a live record, they broke up and Bowie went back to releasing solo albums. During the sessions for the second album the band did try out a few ideas for what could have been a third release, as well as jamming on some improvised blues songs, and there is actually enough reasonable quality material available to put together a possible third Tin Machine album. 'It's Tough But It's OK' seemed to be a serious contender as Bowie recorded numerous takes of it, and I've included two of the best on here. 'Hammerhead' is a great hard rocker, and there are also a couple of nice instrumentals scattered throughout the record, one of which was untitled, but which I've called 'Genesis' to complement the already titled 'Exodus'. Hunt and Tony Sales jammed with Gabrels while Bowie was absent, and produced a number of on-the-spot blues-based pieces, with Gabrels on vocals, and on the bootlegs which feature them they are usually entitled 'Blues Tunes' and run in one fourteen minute track, but I've split them out so that I could sequence them between the songs that feature Bowie. To close we have the Indonesian version of the 'Amalpura' single, ending a not unacceptable third Tin Machine album.

Track listing

01 It's Tough But It's OK
02 Needles On The Beach
03 Hammerhead
04 Exodus
05 It's A Hit
06 You Better Stop
07 It's Tough But It's OK II
08 Blues Tune I
09 Blues Tune II
10 Genesis
11 If You Want It - Parts I & II
12 Amalpura (Indonesian version)

David Bowie - Toy (2001)

I've been a fan of David Bowie since the mid-70's, and have all the early solo singles and band efforts with the King Bees and The Lower Third, either on vinyl or on compilations, and so this album was aimed squarely at fans like me. In 2001 David Bowie decided to go into the studio and re-record some of his very earliest songs, with new arrangements and a modern backing band. He chose songs that he'd originally written between 1964 and 1970, and the album was also to include three new songs. However, scheduling issues with EMI/Virgin meant that it didn't appear in 2002 as planned, and recording continued and eventually became the 'Heathen' album, with 'Uncle Floyd' and 'Afraid' being remixed for inclusion. In 2011 the album leaked onto the internet, but it's still never been officially released, which is a great shame as I think some of these remakes are brilliant versions of the songs. 

Track listing

01 Uncle Floyd
02 Afraid
03 Baby Loves That Way
04 I Dig Everything
05 Conversation Piece
06 Let Me Sleep Beside You
07 Toy (Your Turn To Drive)
08 Hole In The Ground
09 Shadow Man
10 In The Heat Of The Morning
11 You've Got A Habit Of Leaving Me
12 Silly Blue Blue
13 Liza Jane
14 The London Boys