Katy Perry - Fingerprints (2007)

As mentioned in the previous post for Katy Perry's '(A) Katy Perry' album, Glen Ballard's Java Records label severed ties with The Island Def Jam Music Group in 2006, and Perry was signed to Columbia Records, where she spent two years writing and recording new material for her first album for the label, to be called 'Fingerprints'. A few songs were left over from the '(A) Katy Perry' sessions, and so these were a starting point for the 'Fingerprints' recordings, and tracks which were confirmed as being on the album included 'Box', 'Fingerprints', 'Thinking Of You', 'Self Inflicted', 'Waking Up In Vegas', 'A Cup Of Coffee', plus 'Hook Up' and 'Wish You The Worst', both from the '(A) Katy Perry' sessions. Four of these songs would eventually end up on her official debut album 'One Of The Boys', while 'A Cup Of Coffee' was included as a bonus track on the re-issue that record. She collaborated with singer Ferras on a couple of songs around this time, but they were only ever performed at the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas in 2007, but as they were from the right period I've included 'Rush' in the track listing. 'Box' was intended to be the first single from the '(A) Katy Perry' album, but when that was cancelled by Columbia as they couldn't figure out how to promote her, it was salvaged to form part of 'Fingerprints', and so now opens the album. 'Sex Sells' is a song that was written with David A Stewart in an effort to experiment with her image after she was dumped by Columbia and 'Fingerprints' was shelved, so I've included it on here are it's from the right time-frame, and remains unreleased. The title track is the un-mastered demo version, and that completes the second album from Katy Perry that her record company didn't feel worthy of release, and I bet they're kicking themselves now at their short-sightedness.

Track listing

01 Box
02 I Can 
03 Fingerprints
04 Psycho Love
05 Spend The Night
06 Rush (feat. Ferras)
07 The Driveway
08 A Cup Of Coffee
09 Sex Sells
10 Look But Don't Touch 
11 I Think I'm Ready 
12 Rock God

Katy Perry - (A) Katy Perry (2005)

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, a.k.a. Katy Perry, started her career in music at a very early age, briefly having music lessons in facilities rented from the Music Academy of the West, where her singing caught the attention of rock artists Steve Thomas and Jennifer Knapp from Nashville, Tennessee. They took her to Nashville to improve her writing skills, and it was there that she started recording demos, while learning how to write songs and play guitar. She signed with Red Hill Records and recorded her debut album, a contemporary Christian record titled 'Katy Hudson', which was released on 6 March 2001. The album received mixed reviews from critics and was commercially unsuccessful, selling an estimated 200 copies before the label ceased operations in December, so Perry transitioned from gospel to secular music, and started working with producer Glen Ballard, moving to Los Angeles at age 17. In 2003 she briefly performed as Katheryn Perry, to avoid confusion with actress Kate Hudson, and later adopted the stage name 'Katy Perry', using her mother's maiden name. In 2004, she signed to Ballard's label, Java Records, which was then affiliated with The Island Def Jam Music Group, and she began work on a solo record due for release in March 2005, under the working title of '(A) Katy Perry'. The music was to have been much more "rock" than her first album, but the record was shelved after Ballard severed ties with the parent company. He then introduced Perry to Tim Devine, an A&R executive at Columbia Records, and she was signed as a solo artist writing and recording material over the next two years for her Columbia debut. She worked with songwriters including Desmond Child, Greg Wells, Butch Walker, Scott Cutler/Anne Previn, The Matrix, Kara DioGuardi, and Max Martin and Dr. Luke, and the song 'Simple' was used on the official soundtrack for the 2005 film 'Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants', but was not included on her debut album 'One Of The Boys' when it eventually appeared in 2008, even though it had the publicity of being used in a film. This means that none of these recordings from 2005 have officially seen the light of day since they were recorded, and so this can be viewed as a brand new, real debut 'rock' album from the singer, from a time before she 'kissed a girl'.  

Track listing

01 Agree To Disagree
02 Diamonds 
03 Hook Up 
04 Nothing Like The 1st Time 
05 Speed Diallin'
06 Long Shot
07 It's OK To Believe 
08 In Between 
09 Simple 
10 Takes One To Know One 
11 Wish You The Worst
12 The Better Half Of Me 
13 Weigh Me Down