Mike Solof - Riding With The Kings At Christmas (2019)

As a special Christmas treat Mike has sent me a show that he put together to celebrate the festive season when he was working in a little bar in Medellin, Colombia. He used to do a weekly show from the bar that was built around his love of the blues, and at the end of 2019 he produced this show with a Christmas blues theme. The title of the show was inspired by the B. B. King & Eric Clapton album of the same name, hence the cover. 

Track listing

01 Blue Christmas Without You - Bruce Springsteen

02 It's Christmas Baby - Ms. Jody

03 Lonesome Christmas - Joe Bonamassa

04 Christmas Blues - Jimmy Witherspoon

05 Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday - William Bell

06 Christmas Tears - Eric Clapton

07 Christmas Time Pretty Baby - Robert Plant and The Honeydrippers

08 Back Door Santa - Clarence Carter

0. Run Run Rudolph - Chuck Berry

10 Christmas Love - B. B. King

11 Christmas In Jail - Ain't That A Pain? - Leroy Carr

12 Christmas Day Blues - Phil Wiggins and John Cephas

13 Please Come Home For Christmas - The Eagles

14 Christmas Train - Carey Bell

15 Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes and Phil Spector

16 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - James Taylor

17 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bruce Springsteen 

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 26 (2018)

As a companion piece to Mike's post on the soundtrack to the film 'The Shining', here is a Beatles-O-Rama Christmas special from 2018, where he chooses tracks from the Fab Four which complement the film. This file is included in the folder for Mike's soundtrack post, but if you just want to hear this show then here it is on its own.

Track listing 

01 Episode 26 - A Shining Christmas

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 67 (2019)

For this episode of Mike look at all thing Beatles, he investigates the song-writing process of the individual members of the band, and this show includes in-depth interviews with John, Paul, George and even Ringo, and also John and Paul together, talking about how they come up with their ideas, and what they think about covers of their songs from artists like Matt Monroe, Peggy Lee and Frankie Vaughan. As usual, it's a fascinating insight into the band that most people in this day and age will not have heard before. 

Track listing

01 Episode 67 - The Song-Writing Process

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 55 (2019)

Time for another episode of Mike's radio showing exploring all things Beatles, and on this one he looks at how the blues influenced the band. 
The Beatles were not primarily known for their blues music, as they were more famous for their pop and rock songs, however, they did incorporate elements of blues into some of their tracks. 'Yer Blues' is one of the most blues-influenced tracks by the band, featuring raw vocals and a heavy blues-rock sound. While 'Why Don't We Do It in the Road?' is not a traditional blues song, it has a bluesy vibe with its simple structure and raw vocals, whereas 'For You Blue' is a more traditional blues track with a slide guitar and a 12-bar blues structure. These are all later tracks from the band's catalogue, but they weren't averse to covering old blues songs on their early records, such as 'Kansas City' or 'Honey Don't', and so on this episode Mike shows how what the guys learned in the band carried on when they embarked on their solo careers, with examples of how the blues broke through every so often in their later work. 

Track listing

01 Episode 55 - Beatles Blues

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 69 (2019)

Time for another episode of Mike Solof's investigations into all things Beatles and Beatles-related, and for this episode he is concentrating on one of the things that the band are best known for - their exquisite harmonies. A lot of the Beatles’ songs followed standard triadic three-part harmony, with John taking the main melody, Paul the higher (a third above John) and George below John, or sometimes in between John and Paul. Paul, being the group’s most natural tenor, took the highest line almost without exception. Some songs, and parts of songs, can include strikingly non-standard harmonies, purposeful clashing or with more complex tonality, including 'Yes It Is', 'I Want To Tell You', and Paul and George’s backing in 'You Can't Do That', and in this episode Mike takes an overview of the band's harmonic highlights, from 1963's 'Ask Me Why', to the sumptuous 'Because' from 1969.

Track listing

01 Episode 69 - The Beatles In Harmony

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 88 (2019)

For the next episode of Mike's radio show I've chosen something a bit different, as this one takes a deep dive into the 'Paul Is Dead' conspiracy theory of the late 60's. As a Beatles nut I knew all about the apparent clues on the 'Abbey Road' sleeve, from the order that the guys are walking across the zebra crossing and what they are wearing, down to the number plate on the Volkswagon in the distance, but this show uncovers things that had never occurred to me, and delves back even further than 1969, right back to the time that McCartney was supposed to have been killed in a road accident in 1966. It turns out that Mike made this show as a joke to irk his manager Pat, who hates everything Paul Is Dead!, but like me, Mike was always fascinated by the whole story, and after collecting so many books, magazines and archival recordings on the subject he knew that eventually he’d have to do at least one program on it. It’s easy to say it’s BS… but there are just SO MANY clues that are not just in the music, but also in the album packaging itself. And it’s all backed up by facts that seem to prove that Paul was in a car accident in 1966, and that the accident may have lead to his death. If all this was pre-planned (and as Lennon says during the episode “We planned EVERYTHING!”), then this was the most brilliant ad campaign ever devised, and all those strange clues were out there for all to see… but went completely in noticed for almost 5 years …and then the craziness started! There isn't as much music on this episode compared to others, but the hour will still fly by as you take in all the hidden clues that the boys had apparently dropped into their songs in the latter half of the 1960's. As I mentioned, I had already researched this subject in the past, and if you enjoy this episode as much as I did, and want to learn more about it, then I can recommend the book 'The Walrus Was Paul' by R. Gary Patterson, and the quite superb graphic novel 'Paul Is Dead' by Paolo Baron and Ernesto Carbonetti. 

Track listing

01 Episode 88 - Paul Is Something

Recommended reading

    

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 45 (2019)

The next episode of Mike Solof's 90's radio show is a favourite of mine, as it features various covers of one Beatles' song. While was digging through the internet one day. Mike thought that although it’s kind of true that 'Yesterday' was the most covered song that the Beatles ever did, to his surprise he also found hundreds of covers of the song 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. This seems like such an odd choice, not only being an Indian bass tune, but also that it's based on just one chord, that you'd think it would be too monotonous to tackle. However, he soon discovered that there were many, many, many different covers that he was able to find, very few of which sounded the same, and so he soon had an entire hour's worth for an episode of his show. It's a testament to Mike's deep diving skills that despite the fact that this whole show plays just one song, your attention doesn't wander, and you don't lose interest until The Beatles/The Chemical Brothers have closed the show with their own rendition of the track.

Track listing

01 Episode 45 - Tomorrow Never Knows

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episodes 48/49 (2019)

You may have seen that Mike has mentioned in the notes to his Beatles Remix albums that he started doing them after hosting a Beatles-themed radio show in the US, and a while ago he sent me a load of these shows to listen to, and after hearing a few I thought they would be a great addition to the blog. The only thing stopping me posting them was the fact that I didn't know much about the background of the shows, but out of the blue I've just received a complete history of how they came about from Mike himself, so I'm now able to start posting them. Here's how it all started...........  
When Mike was around 13, in 1976, he used to listen to NPR, which was a classical station, at the same time as he was just getting into the Beatles, and he realized that 'Yesterday' was basically a classical song but just with Paul singing. He got thinking about all the rock groups that took that idea and ran with it, like, to name just a few, The Moody Blues with 'Nights In White Satin', Elton John's 'Indian Sunset', ELP's 'Pirates' and Peter Gabriel's 'Down The Dolce Vita'. That would make a cool show on the classical station and push its bounds, and so he wrote to them with the idea and they wholeheartedly umm...didn’t agree! Jump to 1988, and Mike's interest in the Beatles had greatly intensified in college, when someone played him the Red and Blue albums, and he suddenly realized that all these songs that he didn’t know were the Beatles, were in fact the Beatles! He wasn't the first person to realise that this exceptional group had gone from 'Love Me Do' to 'I Am The Walrus' in the span of just six years. Around that time he was in his local college Record Store, when suddenly he noticed a back room with a black curtain that said you must be over 18 to enter. One day he jokingly said to the owner "what's back there, porn?", and the owner said no, it's bootlegs. The naive Mike said "what are bootlegs?", and he was led behind the black curtain to a locked case that contained about 40 CDs ranging in price from about $30 each up to about $120. Two of them caught his eye - they were Beatles bootlegs entitled Ultra Rare Trax Volume One and Two and they were $90 apiece (for a single CD), and he decided to take a chance and splurged on them. At the time he had a really phenomenal stereo system set up in his college room, and when he slipped these CD's on and heard 'I Saw Her Standing There (Take Two)' in a quality beyond anything that I had heard before, it was so clear and so stunning that he stood there in shock. It was like the band was right there in the room, and that moment cemented his love for the Beatles and all things bootlegs! 
Soon after that his research into the Beatles led him to a website called Beatles-A-Rama. It was 24 hours a day of beautifully produced Beatles stuff, and it often played many things that he had never heard before. After listening to that station for a couple of years he finally got up the nerve to write to the owner, Pat Matthews. He was a super nice guy and they got along great, so Mike told him about his idea to do a single two hour show based around classic rock and it's influences from classical music, using all sorts of different bands, but grounding it in Beatles songs like 'Yesterday', 'I Am The Walrus' and 'Strawberry Fields', plus a few others where they used classical instruments in the song ('Penny Lane' and 'For No One' come to mind). He said great, send me a show, so Mike bought himself a microphone and learned how to record things on Audacity, and proceeded to create a two hour show, the one that he'd been planning in his mind since he was 13. Once Pat had played the tape his reply was unexpectedly... "Love it. You're on every Saturday at 10.00am". And that was the start of 11 years of his own show called 'Off The Beatle Track' on Beatles-A-Rama, running to over 300 episodes in its 11 year run. 
As I said, Mike has sent me a load of these shows, and of course the first one I listened to was the 'classical music' one which started the whole thing off, so in the first of a sporadic series, here are Episodes 48 and 49 of Mike's 'Off The Beatle Track' radio broadcast. 

Track listing

01 Episode 48 - Classical Classics Part 1

02 Episode 49 - Classical Classics Part 2

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Mike's Mix) (1967)

Time for another of Mike's remixes of a classic Beatles' album, and for this one he's gone straight to arguably the best of them all.

I’m hoping that this week’s in-depth look at 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' will allow you to appreciate the greatest band in the world… in a whole new way. 

Here’s my track by track analysis of what’s Included: 
01 Strawberry Fields Forever - I thought that instead of just remixing the album I’d include the prequel to it. Here is take one of SFF. To start us off I thought I would re-edit the beginning of the song as a tribute to another great band and one of my favorite songs by them. It’s subtle but I tried to edit the beginning to (vaguely lol…) sound like the beginning few seconds of 'And You And I' by Yes. I always loved the way that song starts as just tuning and noodling around on the guitar…but suddenly turned into this amazing song. Here I let the keyboards do the same thing. True, I didn’t use the original single version of the song… but I always liked the gentleness of the first take, so I chose that one to start us off. A lovely ballad version focusing on John’s vocals and soon to be discarded backing vocals. I took a small liberty by fading out and echoing the last repeats of the word “forever”.
02 Penny Lane - The other side of the single. I brought up the backing orchestra and lost most of the band for this one. Except of course for Paul’s vocals, bass and the fun often buried harmony vocals. Since we aren’t into the actual album yet…I took the liberty to add some interesting vocal attempts that went on during the recording sessions but later went unused. 
03 Sgt. Pepper - The official beginning of possibly one of the greatest musical and cultural touchstones ever created. So many unique, unusual sounds were invented during the recording of this album. Experimentation and Innovation were at play during every moment of the recording, which makes this one of the most fun albums I’ve ever had the pleasure to rip apart and put back together. So much to discover and so much to uncover…just for you! Let’s begin with the stabbing, hard rocking guitar parts followed immediately by classical french horns. What an astounding and unexpected way to begin the album. This followed by the lads trademark three-part harmonies and then Paul’s super gritty lead vocals… and we’re off to a great start! 
04 With A Little Help From My Friends - RINGOOOOO! The focus is on three things here. Ringo’s stellar lead vocals, the incredible backup help from his “friends” and Paul’s catchy bass work. I stripped off everybody else at the very end to just focus on the note that had Ringo scared SHITLESS! He was so worried he wouldn’t be able to hit and hold the note. John, Paul and George had to all stand around the microphone with him and silently encouraged him during the recording of his lead parts. Wish I had a picture of that!! 
05 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - I bring in isolated instruments and vocals throughout on this one so you can really focus on all the cool stuff going on during this one. 
06 Getting Better - Paul’s fun bass work is core here, as it is throughout the entire album. I also tried to bring out some of the hidden harmonies from the guys at various parts during the entire song. I love the little bongo part at the end. 
07 Fixing A Hole - Paul’s vocals and bass are once again brought forward. The cool guitar solo is followed by some more awesome three-part harmonies. 
08 She’s Leaving Home - Such a gorgeous arrangement by Mike Leander who Paul brought in when George Martin, their main producer for many years, had a conflicting recording event scheduled. Paul was very impatient and decided not to wait for George to do the arrangement, and brought in Mike to do the orchestral charts. It’s the ONLY time Paul ever went outside of the band to get another person to arrange and produce one of his sessions. It took years for Martin to forgive him…if he ever did. I included some lovely harmonies that float in among the single tracked vocals that you hear. I also included some stray parts of the orchestra bits that were trimmed out of the final version. 
09 Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! - I really focused on the carnival aspects of this song… and of course Paul’s incredible bass playing… again. 
10 Within You, Without You - George’s showcase on the album. I included a humorous snippet of John commenting on the proceedings that went on during the recording session of this classic cut. Originally the band thought people would have a hard time dealing with a solo Indian piece in the middle of the album…which is why they added laughter between the ending of this track and the beginning of the next. George, to say the least, was not thrilled by this. I’ve moved the laughter to where it rightly belongs… after John’s opening comments! 
11 When I’m 64 - I’ve always called this version “The Bar Mitzvah Version.” I think you’ll see why. 
12 Lovely Rita - An acoustic take on the song with great backing harmonies and lots of hidden treasures at the end usually buried under the other instrumental tracks, and now set free! 
13 Good Morning, Good Morning - Wonderful guitar work similar to the opening track of the album. What an awesome solo!! And those hidden harmonies are brought back up to the front again. Gooooood Morning everybody!! That’ll do. 
14 Sgt. Pepper (Reprise) - Paul’s blistering bass line and the whole groups fun, vocal banterings are finally uncovered. For those wondering what they are saying: (Intro: Paul McCartney & John Lennon) One, two, three, four! (Bye!) Twist it! (What?) Twist it! (Shake it) (Outro: George Harrison & John Lennon) Woo! Bang (Oh my god, it kills me)Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang 
15 A Day In The Life / Inner Groove - My favorite mix on the album! So many cool things going on during this one. McCartney’s bass, John’s haunting vocals, the eerie backing vocals… that orchestra set free to go from their lowest note to their highest…any way they want to do it. A masterpiece! To add to this I threw in some things from the original recording sessions, a wonderful flub by McCartney and some stunningly chaotic piano playing during the second orchestra build-up. I used the original ending… often called the HUMM’s ending as well as an unused synth note in place of the original extended piano note…… And I also couldn’t ignore the infamous Inner Groove. I hope you like my take on it, made from various sections I found when I tried to rip it apart and break it down using about 18 different modern tech devices! So that’s it kids… my version of the Beatles masterpiece: 'Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band'!

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed making it! 

See ya again soon! 

Michael

Track listing

01 Strawberry Fields Forever
02 Penny Lane
03 Sgt. Pepper
04 With A Little Help From My Friends
05 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
06 Getting Better
07 Fixing A Hole
08 She’s Leaving Home
09 Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
10 Within You, Without You
11 When I’m 64
12 Lovely Rita
13 Good Morning, Good Morning
14 Sgt. Pepper (Reprise)
15 A Day In The Life

search hint   lonely aiwe

The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Mike's Mix) (1965)

Mike's next post is his unique take on the Beatles' classic 1965 album 'Rubber Soul' 

Hi! I'm back with more of my coolest remixes of Beatle tracks culled from over 300 shows I produced for a now defunct internet station called Beatles-a-rama. I’m hoping that this new take on the music will allow you to appreciate the greatest band in the world in a whole new way. Here's a brief track by track summary of what I’ve included in this batch. 

Enjoy!! 

Michael 

By the way, did you notice John’s frayed coat (just below Georges ear, in the photo in the pdf)… before it was retouched and stretched for the final cover version? Cool huh! 

01 Drive My Car - All sorts of fun buried treasure here including a solid bass line from Paul, great keyboards and a neat guitar solo! 

02 Norwegian Wood - A revealing look at Paul’s unexpected presence on this classic song. 

03 You Won’t See Me - Cool bass, along with awesome usually hidden backing vocals from George, John and Paul. OHH LAA LAA indeed!

04 Nowhere Man - More hidden harmonies brought to the fore. 

05 Think For Yourself - These guys obviously loved each other and were having so much fun during the sessions for this track. I included some classic Beatles interplay from those sessions as they tried to work out the very intricate harmonies that I then highlight in the main cut.

06 The Word - More hidden harmonies here including some unbelievably high stuff from George. Some sweet bass runs from Paul too! 

07 Michelle - When these guys did three-part harmony nobody could touch them ( see 'Yes It Is' or 'This Boy' for even more proof). I left this almost totally acappella because sometimes…who needs music anyway! 

08 What Goes On - A great tribute to Carl Perkins… a personal hero of the Beatles and a gentleman they performed with many times during their career. Harrison provided the classic lead guitar. Unfortunately this was the last time the Beatles wrote anything in this rockabilly style.

09 Girl - My favorite Greek song by the Beatles, and one of the first songs to include a subliminal message in the background. We can easily guess what John’s favorite part of the female anatomy was from those backing vocals. 

10 I’m Looking Through You - More hidden harmonies and a lovely bass line revealed. 

11 In My Life - Starts with a new piano intro played at the original recorded speed, followed by a mostly instrumental version of the song including the original organ solo , that was later replaced by that piano (sped up) in the intro. 

12 Wait - I wanted to focus on all those hidden Paul harmony parts that are buried in the released version of the song. 

13 If I Needed Someone - The Byrds influenced the Beatles… nope! It’s the other way around. This was released before the Byrds started using this lovely 12 string that George uses throughout this song. More harmonies… YAY! 

14 Run For Your Life - Paul’s bass work and George’s lead guitar work are the key here. 

15 Day Tripper - Recorded during the 'Rubber Soul' sessions as part of a double A-side 1965 single. A pure acappella version here… with slight editing to limit the silent sections. 

16 We Can Work It Out - The other side to the above mentioned single. 'We Can Work It Out' is a comparatively rare example of a Lennon-McCartney collaboration from this period in the Beatles' career, in that it harkens back to the level of collaboration the two songwriters had shared when writing the group's hit singles of 1963. Said Lennon, "In 'We Can Work It Out', Paul did the first half, I did the middle eight. But you've got Paul writing, 'We can work it out / we can work it out' – real optimistic, y'know, and me, impatient: 'Life is very short, and there's no time / for fussing and fighting, my friend." Great harmonies, bass work and acoustic guitar on this one. 

More fun remixed albums coming soon but in the meantime… please comment on this one if you dig it… or hate it! I love feedback either way!!

Track listing

01 Drive My Car

02 Norwegian Wood

03 You Won’t See Me

04 Nowhere Man

05 Think For Yourself

06 The Word

07 Michelle

08 What Goes On

09 Girl

10 I’m Looking Through You

11 In My Life

12 Wait

13 If I Needed Someone

14 Run For Your Life

15 Day Tripper

16 We Can Work It Out 

Soulseek hint  rubber aiwe

John Lennon - Ambrosia (Mike's Mix) (1980)

OK. you asked for it, and so here is the next in Mike's series.

Hey Kids, It’s Mike here, back with more of my coolest remixes of Beatles and reletated tracks culled from over 300 shows I produced for a now defunct internet station called Beatles-arama. This time it’s John Lennon’s 'Double Fantasy' and 'Milk And Honey' albums (plus bonuses of course!). The thing I always found most fun (and still do) in working with Beatles tracks, is using the most modern equipment out there to rip the commercially released tracks apart… and then finding out what is hiding in the cracks and crevices of the music. The stuff buried beneath. The stuff you never usually get a chance to hear. Until now! That’s what this collection is all about. Here's a brief track by track summary of what I’ve included in this remix of just the Lennon songs from each album. Enjoy!! Michael 

01 (Just Like) Starting Over (12' Promo): My remix of the 12” promo single that took the original 'Double Fantasy' album ending, and changed it to a much more fun and unusual one. You’ll hear the massive influence Elvis had on this fantastic tune. A much more acoustic based version here than the original and promo versions.

02 Cleanup Time: John having fun on this very rocking tune! Great guitar work is brought to the fore! 

03 I’m Losing You: Possibly my favorite mix on the whole album. I really reduced this one down and dig how simple it is but how BADASS it sounds. I love the unexpected quiet part in the middle! A great John song! 

04 Beautiful Boy: I upped the harmonies, lost some of the main vocals to give it an even mellower Caribbean feel than on the album…and made it acoustic. 

05 Watching The Wheels: I actually did this two ways, but picked the solo piano version for here for an intimate finished demo kinda feel. (the other was the Bass version…also very cool!) I love the jazzy ending! 

06 I Don't Wanna Face It: Rockin tune. I dropped most of the vocals to focus on the great backing on this one. Love that guitar! 

07 Woman: Ok… here’s a bass version, with extra harmonies from a later remix added back in. 

08 Dear Yoko: Just a fun tune here for the folks back home. I bumped up all the buried harmonies, left the wonderful harmonica track and basically made it a much more acoustic deal. 

09 Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him: The original version was a solo Yoko track but I found a lovely dreamy mix with Lennon’s demo vocals buried in the background… so I brought those up and intertwined them with Yoko’s to continue the half awake, half not semi conscious theme. I dig this version a lot. 

10 I’m Stepping Out: Love the driving guitar and bass in this one. This was a fun one to mix…lots going one while still retaining an overall mellow feel. 

11 Nobody Told Me: Why are there Nazi’s in the bathroom just below the stairs? Most similar to the released version but I made this a bit more acoustic by leaving out most of the drums except for fills. 

12 Borrowed Time: Upped the guitars, bass and congo’s at times for that wonderful Caribbean feel again. 

13 Forgive Me My Little Flower Princess: Love the beat of this one… so tried to leave in parts to focus on this aspect of the song. Pretty guitar at the end. 

14 Grow Old With Me: I remember the first time I heard this… I’m not crying… you’re crying. This one took a lot of work and not only from me. My friend and fellow mixer extraordinaire Lord Reith did amazing things to the demo version of John’s song to bring it up to the beautiful sound quality you hear here. I isolated that and moved it onto right channel, the more piano focused channel, of the orchestral mix. This is the way it should be on the album… they just didn’t have the tech to pull it off back then. 

15 Help Me To Help Myself: Another interesting creation. John’s demo, recorded during the 'Double Fantasy' sessions, mixed with a backing by the Beatles tribute band Apple Jam, which features drummer Alan White (Yes, John Lennon, George Harrison). The original demo version was released on the 2000 re-release of 'Double Fantasy' as a bonus track. I took the vocals and removed the heavy reverb from the original…and reinserted them back in. Hope you enjoyed these!

Track listing

01 (Just Like) Starting Over

02 Cleanup Time

03 I’m Losing You

04 Beautiful Boy

05 Watching The Wheels

06 I Don't Wanna Face It

07 Woman

08 Dear Yoko

09 Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him

10 I’m Stepping Out

11 Nobody Told Me

12 Borrowed Time

13 Forgive Me My Little Flower Princess

14 Grow Old With Me

15 Help Me To Help Myself

George Harrison - Cloud Nine (Mike's Mix) (1987)

Time for another guest appearance from Mike Solof, with his own remix of a classic album.

It’s been a while since my last post…but I’m back with a vengeance! This time I got a hold of some combined multi-tracks from George’s brilliant comeback album from 1987 'Cloud Nine'. So using wonderful current technology with such funky names as Demucs V4, UVR and who could forget that fan favorite MDX KIM Vocs 2… I was able to reduce them down even more. So what started as something labelled backing tracks and lead vocals, became one track each of: vocals, backing vocals, bass, drums, synths, keyboards and saxophones. 

And then I went to work!

I wanted my remix of this album to accomplish a couple of things. I wanted to turn it into something leaning much more toward a rockin’ yet mellow acoustic set of songs. I wanted it to highlight George’s guitar playing and his incredible vocals and harmony vocals much more than on the original album. I also wanted it to be very different from the original album. And finally…I wanted it to be a beautiful listen…not heavy at all, just fun! I think I succeeded on all counts. PJ asked me what changes I made…but made that unfortunate request AFTER I 
was done remixing the whole thing…so I went back and re-listened to it again and I will now explain track by track the many differences between the released version and my remix:
01 Cloud Nine: I cut out a lot of tracks from this song. You’ll notice no drums and bass. I did that on most of my remixes. To me, it really clears out the sound and allows you to focus on so many details that were covering up. I reduced the sax’s to just a hint here and there and really tried to focus on George’s and Eric’s echoing guitars throughout. 
02 That’s What It Takes: I dug the vocal harmonies on this one so I really brought those to the fore. I removed all the drums again and left a muted bass line. And now you can really hear Clapton’s awesome guitar solo with crystal clarity. This was the only time in the entire album that I kinda added something that wasn’t originally there. During the fadeout I doubled up on the vocals because although George only did that one time, I loved it, so I copied this section and had him do it a couple of times at the very end. 
03 Fish On The Sand: I lowered the drums and bass a lot on this one but left them in because this one just sounded strange with them completely gone, and I left in and upped the driving guitars. I once again played up the backing and harmony vocals, and occasionally left out some of the main vocals so you could hear much better what was going on underneath. Ohh, and and I left in the descending synths that appear occasionally because they're fun. 
04 Just For Today: I left out a ton of things from this one and when I did, it just became this lovely harmony-laden track filled with George’s beautiful weeping guitars. Stunningly beautiful, and one of my favorite mixes on the album.
05 This Is Love: Drums are gone again which allows the focus to be totally on George’s vocals and Jeff Lynne’s soulful funky bass and synths.
06 When We Was Fab: I left in the strings and Gary Wright’s keyboards on this. No drums again. A mini Beatles reunion on this one with Ringo on backing vocals and George on sitar. Fun, Beatlesque vocals and feel throughout!
07 Devil’s Radio: Great Clapton guitar throughout on this along with some great vocals. And you guessed it… almost no drums and a very reduced bass presence on this one as well.
08 Someplace Else: A beautiful ballad showcasing Harrison’s stunning slide guitar work,

something he never got enough credit for. 
09 Wreck Of The Hesperus: Focused on Clapton’s guitar again. So good! Little bass and no drums… again.
10 Breathe Away. Removed a lot but not all…(see the break) of the foreign sounding atmospheric instruments which left mostly just the vocals, Strings and drums (yes, I left them in this time! LOL!) Some of George’s most beautifully dreamy lyrics of any album on this song: “as the morning light was painting whispers of a sigh… like an opalescent moon all alone in the sky of a foreign land.”
11 Got My Mind Set On You: The classic single…redone! No drums and very little sax completely changes the feel of the entire track. I made this a much more almost acoustic track. It still rocks…but in a very different way! The funky bass by Jeff Lynne is stellar!

12 Cheer Down: A bonus cut! My other favorite song written and (parts) recorded during the 'Cloud Nine' sessions… but left off the album. With no drums and reduced bass, this lets Harrison’s slide and lead guitars, and Lynne’s backing vocals, shine! 
Here’s the rest of the story from Wiki: The title of the song is attributed to Harrison's wife Olivia, who would tell her husband, "Okay, cheer down, big fellow" when he became too enthusiastic. Harrison first recorded a rhythm track for the song during the sessions for his 1987 album 'Cloud Nine' He subsequently finished the lyrics with assistance from Tom Petty. The following year, along with 'Run So Far' and 'That Kind of Woman', 'Cheer Down' was among the four compositions that Harrison offered to Eric Clapton for inclusion on the latter's album 'Journeyman'. Clapton instead decided to use it for the soundtrack to the film 'Lethal Weapon 2', which he had been commissioned to supply, but he persuaded Harrison to contribute his own recording for inclusion in the film. This one was also produced by Jeff Lynne..so it’s kind of a Wilbury track too! And it's all housed in an alternative cover featuring a more laid-back George, in keeping with the new feel of the album. 

Track listing 

01 Cloud Nine
02 That’s What It Takes
03 Fish On The Sand
04 Just For Today
05 This Is Love
06 When We Was Fab
07 Devil’s Radio
08 Someplace Else

09 Wreck Of The Hesperus
10 Breathe Away From Heaven
11 Got My Mind Set On You
12 Cheer Down

Mike has some more of his remixes all ready to go, so leave a comment and we can choose between 'Rubber Soul', 'All Things Must Pass', 'Ram', or 'Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey'.

Various Artists - Shaken, Not Stirred (2015)

In the next of Mike Solof’s guest posts on the blog, we have his exhaustive investigation into songs which were submitted to the producers of the James Bond films, but which were rejected in favour of those which went on to be forever associated with the franchise. Mike’s main work contains 59 tracks, and, as always, contains a detailed PDF with the background on each song, but to ease you in here is a sampler of that massive work, with notes extracted from his PDF. So over to Mike....

I love James Bond themes. Absolutely adore them, they're some of my favorite songs. So it should go without saying that I find their history and backstory even more interesting. But I think the most intriguing thing about James Bond themes, however, is not the ones that actually made it into the movie, but the themes that don't make it into a film. So over the past few months (since a little while before SPECTRE) I've been collecting as many rejected themes as possible, and I'm going to lay them out here, because who wouldn't want to know about these gems? I'll go through the films in release order, and I've included songs here that I can definitely confirm were rejected, and I'll cite my sources for that.
Thunderball 1965
‘Thunderball' was the fourth Bond film released, and as Shirley Bassey's rendition of 'Goldfinger' really solidified what a Bond theme should be, it should not be a surprise, then, that she was asked to return for 'Thunderball'. John Barry wrote this piece after seriously considering that he could not write a theme with the phrase 'Thunderball' in the title. It was simply too vague for him. So he teamed up with Leslie Bricusse and wrote this 'Goldfinger'-esque piece that focused on Bond rather than the film. The name of the song comes from an Italian journalist, who apparently dubbed James Bond 'Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang'. However, there were some issues with Bassey's singing, and so Barry turned to Dionne Warwick to re-record the same theme, and expanded on the instrumental opening to time the lyrics with Binder's opening sequence. Saltzmann and Broccoli heard the song and decided, with very little evidence, that a Bond theme that didn't use the title of the movie would not succeed, and the song was briefly relegated to the closing titles, until Bassey sued and the song was removed. Instrumental versions of 'Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' can still be found on the 'Thunderball' soundtrack.
You Only Live Twice 1967
'You Only Live Twice' actually had a rather rapid theme selection process. As with 'Thunderball' the theme was written pretty early, and the only rejected song comes from a different singer than the final version, except for this one. No one really knows where it came from, apparently Lorraine Chandler recorded it in the 70's, and then in mid-80's RCA was digging through its archives and turned up this recording, and when they released it on vinyl it became a cult hit.
The Man With the Golden Gun 1974
This is one of the more famous rejected themes, for varying reasons, not the least of which was that it was performed by Alice Cooper. But the story behind this song is interesting. John Barry did not return to score 'Live And Let Die', and from what I can gather it was a combination of him being busy, and a disagreement with Saltzman over 'Diamonds Are Forever', and he returned to the series with 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. He set forth immediately writing the title theme, later filled in with lyrics by Don Black and performed by Lulu. It's not a favorite of the franchise, and Barry had consistently stated that it was his least favorite Bond soundtrack. While the producers were courting people to create the title theme, Alice Cooper decided to give it a shot. He would claim for a while that his theme was supposed to be the actual title theme, until it was snatched away at the last minute by Lulu., but this claim seems to be unsubstantiated, and since then Cooper has gone on to say that his song wasn't actually finished by the time the producers signed their contract with Lulu.
For Your Eyes Only 1981
This is one of the strangest rejected themes, as when it came time to write the score for 'For Your Eyes Only', John Barry was unfortunately unable to participate, as he was  dealing with some tax issues, and suggested Bill Conti instead. Produces wanted Debbie Harry to sing a Conti-penned theme, but she refused and wrote her own theme with her bandmates. When it was pitched to Conti, he was less than impressed, turning it down and going on to write his own, originally intended for Donna Summer, but United Artists suggested Sheena Easton, and so a theme was born.
Never Say Never Again 1983
Prior to the release of 'Never Say Never Again' in 1983, Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan wrote what was intended to be the film's theme song, but their tune was axed when Michel Legrand, who created the film's score, threatened to sue. Originally Warner Brothers had informed Forsyth and Ryan's attorney that the song was to be used as the title song in the picture, but shortly before its release they were informed that the song could not be used because Michel Legrand, who wrote the score, threatened to sue them, claiming that contractually he had the right to the title song. Phyllis Hyman was their first choice to sing the song, and after hearing it sung to her while she was having breakfast in her manager’s office, she agreed to sing it, and without any rehearsal, and only having heard the song sung once at the breakfast audition, delivered it in one perfect take.
The Living Daylights 1987
The title song of the film was recorded by Norwegian pop group A-ha, but originally British pop duo Pet Shop Boys was asked to compose the soundtrack, but backed out when they learned that they should not provide a complete soundtrack but merely the opening theme song. In a departure from conventions of previous Bond films, the film used different songs over the opening and end credits, and the song heard over the end credits, 'If There Was A Man' by the Pretenders, had originally been considered as film's title song. However, the producers had been pleased with the commercial success of Duran Duran's 'A View to a Kill', and felt that a-ha would be more likely to make an impact in the charts, so 'If There Was A Man' was relegated to the closing theme. 
GoldenEye 1995
'GoldenEye' was sort of a pseudo-reboot of the series. They weren't calling it a reboot, but it was the first film made after the fall of longtime Bond enemy, the Soviet Union. Hence Bond needed to be brought into the modern era, and while looking for a theme for the movie, Ace of Base submitted a demo. Ace of Base were a pretty well known band now, but when 'GoldenEye' was in production it had only been a year since their debut album. It appears that they were really banking on this film being a success to kind of kickstart their career, but their label had other plans, and forced the band to withdraw the submission, since they strongly believed the film would flop and ruin Ace of Base. How wrong they were.
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997
This was the first Bond film to be scored by David Arnold, probably the second most prolific Bond soundtrack composer, after John Barry, and he intended to write a full, brassy, Bassey-eque Bond theme. The producers wanted a more well known name for the theme, and in the end we got Sheryl Crow, but for this movie the producers opened the door for anyone to submit a theme to the movie, receiving offers from, among others, Pulp, Saint Etienne, Swan Lee, The Fixx, Duran Duran, and the one featured here by k.d. lang, which is everything a classic Bond theme should be. It's bold, brassy and sultry, and after the producers chose the new theme, they moved this one to the end credits. Chris Rea was also in contention with his song, 'Shadows Of The Big Man', as the producers were keen to hear from anyone who thought they might have a song worthy of inclusion.
The World is Not Enough 1999
Let's be honest, whatever you think of 'The World is Not Enough', Garbage was a pretty leftfield choice to begin with, but Straw were an indie rock band who only ever released one album, and who submitted this piece for consideration. It was rejected in the end, probably because composer David Arnold and resident Bond lyricist Don Black finally had their chance to write their own Bond theme after the 'Surrender'/'Tomorrow Never Dies' experiment.
Die Another Day 2002
While the opportunity to provide the theme song for 'Die Another Die' eventually went to Madonna, there was a submission by synth-pop duo Red Flag, and although I should mention that I can't confirm this was actually rejected for 'Die Another Day', the evidence certainly points that way, as the production title of 'Die Another Day' was 'Beyond The Ice', and there is also the  blatant Bond references in the lyrics, such as "You only live twice" and "licence to thrill". 
Casino Royale 2006
This song was submitted by Sandra, a German singer who covered the song 'Sleep With Me', originally recorded by Edyta Górniak, and re-titled it 'Casino Royale'. It was apparently up against two other offerings by different artists, but it was one of the ones to be rejected, with Chris Connell eventually getting the gig with 'You Know My Name', which is a shame as it definitely has that 'Bond' feel to it. 
Quantum of Solace 2008
For 'Quantum Of Solace' the producers had three great songs to choose from, with this one from Jo Harrop, as well as Eva Almer's 'Forever' and Shirley Bassey's 'No Good About Goodbye', but they decided to go for 'Another Way To Die' by Alicia Keys and Jack White. However, this is a great song with very much of a 'Bond' feel to it, and it even managed to feature the unusual title in the lyrics.
Skyfall 2012
When Muse recorded 'Supremacy' for their 'The 2nd Law' album, drummer Dominic Howard told The Sun that their track should lead the way for a new Bond flick, as it had a little bit of a Bond vibe – with a crazy 'Live And Let Die' part in the middle. In his view it should be used for the next James Bond film, even hinting that it had been submitted to the filmmakers. However, according to the producers, Adele had always been their first choice, and they've denied that Muse’s 'Supremacy' was ever in contention for the coveted spot.
SPECTRE 2015
Radiohead have said that they were asked to record a Bond theme for SPECTRE and it just didn't work out, as it's likely that it didn't quite capture the theme the studio wanted for the film. Sam Mendes attempted to use the song elsewhere in the film, but decided it would be too distracting, saying it was "an utter nightmare ... we had this beautiful song and we weren't able to use it. But it's somehow cooler for Radiohead to have written a song that wasn't used." 

 
Track listing
 
01 Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Dionne Warwick (Thunderball 1965)
02 You Only Live Twice - Lorraine Chandler (You Only Live Twice 1967)
03 The Man With The Golden Gun - Alice Cooper (The Man With The Golden Gun 1974)
04 For Your Eyes Only - Blondie (For Your Eyes Only 1981)
05 Never Say Never Again - Phyllis Hyman (Never Say Never Again 1983)
06 Where Has Everybody Gone - The Pretenders (The Living Daylights 1987)
07 The Golden Eye - Ace Of Bass (GoldenEye 1995)
08 Surrender - k.d. lang (Tomorrow Never Dies 1997)
09 Shadows Of The Big Man - Chris Rea (Tomorrow Never Dies 1997)
10 The World Is Not Enough - Straw (The World Is Not Enough 1999)
11 Beyond The Ice - Red Flag (Die Another Day 2002)
12 Casino Royale - Sandra (Casino Royale 2006)
13 Quantum Of Solace - Jo Harrop (Quantum Of Solace 2008)
14 Supremacy - Muse (Skyfall 2012)
15 SPECTRE - Radiohead (SPECTRE 2015)
 
This post is really just a sampler of Mike's full collection, which runs to 59 tracks, and covers many more songs from these and other films, as well as some from the related video games. His full album is also in the folder, under his title of 'James Band's Greatest Misses, Rarities...And Moore', so after the taster, dive in for the main course.

Soulseek hint   shaken aiwe

Robert Fripp - Triple Exposure (1979)

In the first of what is intended to be a regular spot on the blog, here is Mike Solof's personal take on a trio of classic albums from the late 70's. All his albums include a pdf of his notes.  
According to Robert Fripp, his 1979 album 'Exposure' was originally conceived as the third part of an MOR trilogy with Daryl Hallʼs solo album 'Sacred Songs' and Peter Gabriel's 'Peter Gabriel II', both of which he produced and to which he contributed. With the proposed release of 'Sacred Songs' postponed, and the delay in the release of 'Exposure', it made it impossible to convey the sense of what he'd intended, which was to try to investigate the 'pop song' as a means of expression. He considered it a supreme discipline to know that you have three to four minutes to get together all your lost emotions, and find words of one syllable or less to put forward all your ideas, and it's a discipline of form that he didn't consider to be cheap or shoddy. Although Daryl Hall's 'Sacred Songs' was recorded in 1977, record company indecision meant that it didn't appear until 1980, which was a year after the appearance of 'Exposure', and thus ruining Fripp's concept of a trilogy of records that would have started with 'Sacred Songs' and ended with his own 'Exposure', all being released very close to each other as a way to feature and promote Fripp's production techniques. 'Sacred Songs' was originally to be titled 'The Last Great New York Heartthrob', and would have featured a different track listing to that of the final release, but Hall's management and label resisted the project, fearing the music would damage Hall's commercial appeal, and insisting as well that 'Exposure' be equally credited to Hall, who was initially Fripp's main vocalist. To counter what the record company was demanding, Fripp instead used only two Hall vocals on his album, substituting Peter Hammill and Terre Roche as vocalists on other recordings. All the songs from the sessions were eventually released in various forms on each artist's individual albums, with 'Urban Landscape' appearing on Hall's album, as does 'NYCNY' (actually 'I May Not Have Had Enough of Me but I've Had Enough of You' with different lyrics written by Hall), while the Gabriel record also featured a version of 'Exposure'. Fripp's album was remixed in 1983, and a second "definitive edition" was released in 1985 featuring some alternate takes, but in 2006, a 24-bit two-disc remaster appeared on Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label, with one disc containing the original 1979 album, and the second disc featuring a version of 'Exposure' containing all the original Daryl Hall vocals. For this re-imagining of the trilogy as one album, Mike has one rule, and that is that every song had to feature Fripp playing on it as opposed to just producing the cut, and although many of the songs appeared in different forms on different albums, he's only picked one version of each for the project. Unfortunately, all three musicians never appeared together on the same recording, but through the magic of clever editing he's included a remix of a great version of 'Exposure' (which he found on Youtube by Mr. J. Wilson…), enhancing and bringing forward all the vocal parts from the different versions, and that’s the perfect opener to his take on Fripp's vision.

Track listing
 
01 Exposure (Custom Mix featuring Fripp/Gabriel/Hall & Roche)
02 Preface / You Burn Me Up
03 Disengage II
04 Chicago
05 New York, New York, New York
06 Perspective
07 Exposure
08 Mother Of Violence
09 Why Was It So Easy
10 North Star
11 Water Music 1 / Here Comes The Flood
12 White Shadow
13 Something In 4-4 Time
14 Babs And Babs
15 Survive
16 On The Air
17 Mary
18 The Farther Away I Am
19 Without Tears
 
A Mike Solof Production