Michelle Branch - West Coast Time (2011)

Following the truncated release of the 'Everything Comes And Goes' album as a six-track EP in 2010, Michelle Branch commenced work on her follow-up album to 2003's 'Hotel Paper'. It was to be a return to her pop/rock roots, and by April 2011 the album was complete, with only the mixing and mastering remaining. In May she previewed her new single 'Loud Music' on a live webchat, which was released to the iTunes store on 14 June 2011, with the song being co-written and produced by British writers Jim Irvin and Julian Emery, who collaborated with Branch on several songs on the album. In the webcast, she also mentioned songs on the record called 'Mastermind' and 'The Story Of Us', and added that 'Through The Radio' would be a hidden track on the CD. In a previous webcast, she premiered a song from the album called 'Spark', and so it all seemed to be coming along nicely and was being readied for release. Other new songs were either premiered or announced during the rest of 2011, until 'If You Happen To Call' was made available for free download on her official website in December. By April 2012, it had been a year since Branch had announced that her album was complete, but 'West Coast Time' continued to be delayed for, as yet, unknown reasons, with release dates of September 2012 stretching to December, and then finally to Spring 2013, but to date the album has never made an appearance. For much of 2013, Branch wrote new songs, and moved on from the unreleased 'West Coast Time', re-locating to London to start recording with Martin Terefe, and then to Nashville to complete those recordings. With 'West Coast Time' consigned to the vaults, Branch's music career seemed to be put on hold, releasing just one more single with Rihwa in 2013, before making a comeback in 2017. As the cancellation of 'West Coast Time' could be seen as being responsible for this hiatus, let's give it a listen to see if we can work out why it was never released. Only one track has remained elusive, with just a live recording of 'The Story Of Us' being available, but as the quality is less than perfect, with much audience chatter throughout, I've left it off as it's still a perfectly acceptable 45-minute album without it. 

Track listing

01 Loud Music
02 Mastermind
03 Spark
04 If You Happen To Call
05 For Dear Life
06 Another Sun
07 Don't Feel Like Dancing
08 Here We Go Again
09 Jack And Jim
10 Smoke And Feathers
11 What Don't Kill You
12 Sunset Cigarette
13 Through The Radio

Michelle Branch - Everything Comes And Goes (2010)

Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch was born on 2 July 1983, in Sedona, Arizona, and began singing at the age of three, enrolling in voice lessons at Northern Arizona University when she was eight. She received her first guitar for her 14th birthday, and after teaching herself chords, she composed her first song 'Fallen' within a week of receiving her guitar. She initially attended Sedona Red Rock High School, but finished the last two years of her high school education through home schooling so that she could focus on her music career, and to support her interests, her parents helped her book local gigs in Sedona, and later financed her independent album 'Broken Bracelet'. In December 1999, she posted two of her songs on the Rolling Stone website, which caught the attention of both pop rock band Hanson, and former Rolling Stone writer and Los Angeles record producer Jeff Rabhan, eventually leading to two gigs opening for Hanson in 2000. In June 2000, her 'Broken Bracelet' album was released on the independent record label Twin Dragon Records, and by 2001 she had signed to Maverick Records, where she began working with John Shanks to produce her major-label debut. 'The Spirit Room' was released in August 2001, and produced the hit single 'Everywhere', which was a commercial success, winning the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards Viewer's Choice Award. The mainstream success of 'Everywhere' and her other singles helped propel 'The Spirit Room' to double platinum status, selling over two million copies in the United States. In 2002, Branch teamed up with Santana, alongside songwriters Gregg Alexander and Rick Nowels, to produce the song 'The Game Of Love', which went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Her second major label album, 'Hotel Paper', was released in 2003, and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, although it was met with mixed reviews, despite the lead single 'Are You Happy Now?' being a chart success. The following singles, however, 'Breathe' and ''Til I Get over You', did not match the first single's success, and it was at this time that she branched out into television, appearing in several shows, including 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' and 'American Dreams', and as herself in 'Charmed'. In July 2005, Branch began collaborating with her backup singer and long-time friend Jessica Harp, calling themselves The Wreckers, and released an album in 2006 that attempted to combine their respective genres or pop/rock and country. The Wreckers split in 2007, and in October Branch announced that she was working on a new solo album, to be titled 'Everything Comes And Goes', but when it eventually appeared in July 2010 it had shrunk to a six-track EP. In December 2010, she announced her return to her pop/rock roots for her album 'West Coast Time', and in early 2011 she released three previously unheard songs from the 'Everything Comes And Goes' sessions,  being 'Texas In The Mirror', 'Take A Chance On Me', and 'Long Goodbye'. This meant that we now had nine of the proposed thirteen songs from the album, and so by tracking down the remaining few recordings we can piece together the full album version of 'Everything Comes And Goes' that should have appeared in 2010.

Track listing 

01 This Way
02 Sooner Or Later
03 I Want Tears
04 Crazy Ride
05 Ready To Let You Go
06 Show Me A Sign
07 Long Goodbye
08 Summertime
09 Texas In The Mirror
10 I'm Not That Strong
11 Pretty Little Lyin' Eyes
12 Everything Comes And Goes
13 Take A Chance On Me