Various Artists - Rarities Row Vol. 4 (2026)

It's time for another dip into the vaults of Mike Solof, for volume 4 of his 'Rarities Row'.

 Track listing and info:

01 Underground (Demo)
Ben Folds - Fifty Five Vault

Fifty-Five Vault is a Ben Folds compilation album featuring 56 tracks, mostly 
unreleased live recordings and demos. It was released jointly with 'The Best 
Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective' as a digital-only album available via Folds' 
website. 

02 Wild West End (Demo)
Dire Straits - Originally published as The Honky Tonk Demos 2x7" Single 

Demos for Dire Straits' first album. Taken from the original silver pressed bootleg 
'Early demos' of demos for Dire Straits first album. On the 24 July 1977, Dire Straits recorded the now famous demo tapes of five songs: 'Wild West End', 'Sultans Of Swing', 'Down To The Waterline', 'Sacred Loving' (written by David Knopfler, never released afterwards) and 'Water Of Love'. In what was probably October 1977, they recorded 'Southbound Again', 'In The Gallery' and 'Six Blade Knife' for BBC Radio London. Finally, on the 9th of November 1977, demo tapes were made of 'Setting Me Up', 'Eastbound Train' and 'Real Girl'. Many of these songs reflected Mark's experiences in Newcastle, Leeds and London, and were to be 
featured on the first Dire Straits album the following year. The recordings on the
CD feature most of these demo songs, and a version of 'Setting Me Up' that is really different from the version that was later released on the first album. 

03 Girls just want to have fun (Demo)
Cyndi Lauper 1983

Robert Hazard never became a household name in the United States, but for a 
period there in the early 1980s, he was one of the biggest singers in all of 
Philadelphia. He sold 50,000 copies of his 1981 EP, 'Escalator Of Love', JUST IN 
PENNSYLVANIA ALONE. However, he never really broke out nationwide, although some 
guys that he was friends with did, with the band The Hooters having a moment there in the mid-1980s with their hit song 'And We Danced', and with a spot at Live Aid in the U.S. side concert of Live Aid (which was held, of course, in Philadelphia). The Hooters were formed by Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian, who met at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1970s. One of their classmates, who was in an early band with them, Baby Grand, was Rick Chertoff. Chertoff later became a record executive at Columbia Records where he signed The Hooters, but he also brought Hyman and Bazilian on board to work on the debut album of a young pop 
singer named Cyndi Lauper in 1983. Hyman co-wrote “Time After Time,” but Chertoff looked to Hazard for the main track off of the album. Hazard had recorded a tune called 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' in 1979, but never released it as a single, see here. Chertoff was a fan of the song at the time and when he was putting together songs for Lauper, he remembered the song and approached Hazard about it. 

Hazard recalled in 1986, “He knew about ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ for years. He always told me what a great song he thought it was. When he met Cyndi, it was a match made in heaven.” However, there was an early conflict when Lauper wanted a song-writing credit (and thus a cut of the publishing rights). Hazard recalled how he quickly shut that down, “I said, ‘Don’t do the song.’ It didn’t matter to me. She was an unknown.” Once that was settled, Hazard worked out the lyrics with Lauper, “I changed all the lyrics over the phone with her. Originally, it was from the guy’s point of view. We had to make a lot of gender changes. She took the first verse and second verse and switched them. Why, I have no idea. Melodically, it’s exactly the same.” He then complimented how Chertoff reworked the song, “It was straight rock ‘n’ roll. Rick Chertoff produced it and made it an ’80s kind of song, put in a lot of electronics. I love what he did with it.” 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun', of course, was a smash and became Lauper’s defining song for years.

04 The Way (Demo 2)
Ariana Grande - Yours Truly Sessions

'The Way' is a song by American singer Ariana Grande featuring American rapper Mac Miller. It was released on March 26, 2013 by Republic Records as the lead single from Grande's 2013 debut studio album, 'Yours Truly'. In January 2013, she met with producer Harmony Samuels, at which point he presented her with a demo of the song that featured the vocals of co-writer 
Jordin Sparks, whom the song was originally intended. The beat he had created for the single, samples Brenda Russell's 'A Little Bit of Love' either directly or indirectly, via Big Pun's 'Still Not A Player'. Grande immediately connected with the sound and asked Mac Miller to feature on the song with her, to which he responded, "Sounds like a hit to me". The song was recorded that same month, and caught the attention of Republic Records VP Charlie Walk when he heard it being played from Republic co-founder Monte Lipman's office. "It was 8:00 one night, and I heard a song coming from Monte's office through my wall. He called me down and I played a video, a DIY of Ariana Grande. We heard the song and I immediately made the 
decision to set it up and put the song out. 'The Way' received positive reviews from music critics for its 2000's R&B sound and Grande's vocals, which drew comparisons to those of 
Mariah Carey. The song became Grande's breakthrough hit and peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, earning both Grande and Miller their first top-ten song on the chart. 

05 Schock Den Affen (German version of 'Shock The Monkey')

Peter Gabriel - from the 'deutsches album' 1982

'deutsches album' is the German language version of Peter Gabriel’s fourth self-titled album, which was released shortly after the English language version, in November 1982. He worked again with Horst Königstein, who had provided translations for the 'ein deutsches album’ (the German language version of his third album), to make sure the German language lyrics were more than simple translations from the originals. The language not only conveys the meaning and intended imagery of each song but also allows the words to contribute to the musicality of the record. As with 'ein deutsches album', Gabriel used the opportunity presented by this record to re-work the music as well as change the language of delivery. As a result there are noticeable musical differences compared to the English language edition. The album also boasts a slightly different running order from the international edition, with 'San Jacinto' and 'The Family And The Fishing Net (Das Fischernetz)' swapping positions on side 1. To publicise the album, 'Schock Den Affen' was released as a 7" single in 1982, with an instrumental version of 'Soft Dog' on the b-side.

06 One (Demo Newly Remastered)
Metallica - 1987 And Justice For All… Super Deluxe Box Set and Limited gatefold 

 
'One' is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica, and released as the third and final single from the band's fourth studio album, '...And Justice For All' from 1988. Written by band members James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, the song portrays a World War I soldier who is severely wounded - arms, legs and jaw blown off by a landmine, blind, deaf, and unable to speak or move - begging God to take his life. In the music video, attempting to communicate with the hospital staff he jolts in his bed, spelling SOS in Morse code. 'One' was written in November 1987 by Metallica's principal composers Hetfield and Ulrich, who recalled “I had been fiddling around with that B-G modulation for a long time. The idea for the opening 
came from a Venom song called 'Buried Alive'. The kick drum machine-gun part near the end wasn't written with the war lyrics in mind, it just came out that way. We started that album with 
Mike Clink as producer. He didn't work out so well, so we got Flemming to come over and save our asses.”

07 River (with French Horn ending) Blue Sessions
Joni Mitchell - 1971 Joni Archives Volume 4 and Joni at 50 Demos and Outtakes

'River' is a song by Canadian singer songwriter Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album 'Blue'. Written on piano, it has become a standard for artists in many music styles, and has become popular as Christmas music. Although never released as a single, 'River' holds second place among Mitchell's songs most recorded by other artists. In 2021, it was ranked at No. 247 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time". James Taylor, who knows the song better than just about anybody aside from Mitchell, said in a 2006 interview with The Post that “I don’t know why it’s suddenly getting picked up as a Christmas song. But some things just become identified as seasonal songs, and this is now one of them.” At the time, Taylor had just released 'James Taylor At Christmas', which included “River” — a song he’d first heard decades earlier, when Mitchell played it at her home in Los Angeles in 1970, shortly after it was written. “Most Christmas songs are light and shallow, but ‘River’ is a sad song,” Taylor told The Post. “It starts with a description of a commercially produced version of Christmas in Los Angeles, then juxtaposes it with this frozen river, which says, ‘Christmas here is bringing me down.’ It only mentions Christmas in the first verse. Then it’s, ‘Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on’ - wanting to fall into this landscape that she remembers. It’s such a beautiful thing, to turn away from the commercial mayhem that Christmas becomes and just breathe in some pine needles. It’s a really blue song.” 

For her part, Mitchell told NPR in 2014 that the song is about “taking personal responsibility for the failure of a relationship. And my generation - you know, the ‘Me Generation’ - is known to be a Peter Pan, narcissistic generation, right?” she said. “So it’s really that aspect of our inability - you know, ‘I’m selfish and I’m sad.’ Right? “People think that’s confessional, but I’d say, in my generation, you think that that’s a unique personal statement? You know what I mean? It’s like, no wonder there’s so many covers of it!” Taylor, who performed “River” in front of Mitchell last month at a tribute concert to celebrate her 75th birthday, said the song is most likely autobiographical, given that “it starts with a girl from Canada watching them try to make Christmas on La Brea in Los Angeles.” But he told The Post in 2006 that he’d never actually discussed the meaning with Mitchell, with whom he was romantically involved in the early 1970s. “Do I want to know who she made cry, who she made say goodbye? Well, I haven’t asked her that question,” Taylor said. “That’s the only mystery in it: Who was it whose heart she broke?” With a laugh, he added: “There were a lot of us.”

Watch Behind The Song Episode 32: Joni Mitchell "River" here

08 Beth (Acoustic)
Kiss - Destroyer 1980 Super Deluxe Box Set

With the 45th anniversary super deluxe edition box set of KISS' historic 'Destroyer' album coming in November, the band has served up one of the many rarities that are included with the set by way of an acoustic mix of their hit ballad, 'Beth'. The track features lead vocals by drummer Peter Criss, who worked with producer Bob Ezrin on the song-writing component and, for the first time ever, fans can hear a different version of 'Beth', led by an acoustic guitar amid a host of familiar elements. The biggest difference here is that the sweeping, cinematic 
orchestration has been removed, letting the piano melodies occupy most of the space with some gentle acoustic strumming throughout. "For the new acoustic mix of 'Beth,' the original recorded acoustic guitar track was taken from the analog multitracks and has now been fully restored and mixed with the original piano, vocal and synthesizer tracks, adding a fresh yet familiar feel to this iconic recording". 'Beth' was originally released as the B-side to 'Detroit Rock City' in July 1976, but after radio DJs began flipping over the single to play the 
Peter Criss-sung ballad, the track was released on its own and became a Top 10 hit. None of the Kiss members, besides Criss, perform on the original version of the song, which features Criss backed by producer Bob Ezrin on piano, Dick Wagner on acoustic guitar and the New York Philharmonic orchestra.

09 Soldier In The Rain (live)
England Dan & John Ford Coley - Live In The Studio 1979

'Dowdy Ferry Road' is the fifth studio album by the pop rock duo England Dan & John Ford Coley. The album's single 'It's Sad To Belong' was a moderate pop hit and a #1 smash on the 
Adult Contemporary chart. A second hit from the LP, 'Gone Too Far', reached #23 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

10 The Friends Of Mr. Cairo (live)
Jon Anderson - (WNEW FM Broadcast The Convention Hall Asbury Park NJ 6th August 1982)

Jon and Vangelis made (more or less) four complete albums together, and this is arguably the standout. The title track is a marvellous love-letter to old Hollywood movies (most specifically, The Maltese Falcon) which nobody else could have written. Besides the wonderful voice-overs, Vangelis winds the music from mysterious thriller to out-and-out nostalgia, and Jon's vocals go right along with him. From the dramatic to the personal, and yet not so personal that the listener cannot go along. A mini-movie for the ears, and then the quiet reflection that follows.

11 Leather (Demo)
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes Demos

Tori Amos approached Atlantic Records in December 1990 with a 10-track demo tape. She recalled "Many of these songs are different from the released versions. Some are longer, some are mixed differently, many have different lyrics. Little did I know that ladies that work in the other entertainment industry would listen and dance to 'Leather' it around their poles. And people stop me all the time. Even very recently I was getting wine not far from here, and somebody said, “I teach pole dancing classes to your music, and 'Leather' was one of those songs". So I think there was a side to me that was trying to - in the shedding - to also really 
collect my shadow portions. And I would go visit them and take these sides that I had judged. And one side that had been very crucified was the sexual side that did not yet understand erotic spirituality, did not know how to bring this into being. Very far away - years away from this. Little did she know when she was writing 'Leather' that we would be years and years away from knowing how to integrate that.

12 Everybody’s World (live)
The Grays - 1993 Live Radio gig pre first (and only album)

The Grays were a short-lived rock band comprising singer/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists 
Jon Brion, Jason Falkner, Buddy Judge, and Dan McCarroll. They released only one album, the out-of-print but highly regarded 'Ro Sham Bo' in 1994 on Sony/Epic Records. The intention of the band was to be a democratic collective of musicians, rather than a hierarchical group with a leader and backing musicians. This was due in part to the group's dissatisfaction with being in a band - particularly Falkner who had just come out of a tumultuous period with the band Jellyfish. The band members would often swap instruments depending on the need of the individual song and would contribute to each other's songs. Despite glowing reviews from critics, 'Ro Sham Bo' was a commercial disappointment and was the only album released by the band. The album would later go out of print. In retrospect, Falkner reflects that the band was not truly a democratic collective as he felt he was the true leader of the group. This was due in part to the fact that the album's producer, Jack Joseph Puig, admitted to enjoying 
Falkner's tracks the most, giving him one more song than the others on the album. This created animosity amongst the members, specifically Brion, who was the first to leave the group. This coupled with the band's lack of commercial success led to their breakup shortly thereafter.

13 Tubular Bells Part One - Demo
Mike Oldfield - (Rough First Mix) (Original Demo Part One)

Tubular Bells is the debut studio album by the British musician Mike Oldfield, released on 25 May 1973 as the first album on Virgin Records. It comprises two mostly instrumental tracks. Oldfield, who was 19 years old when it was recorded, played almost all the instruments. In his 
flat in Tottenham in north London, Oldfield recorded demos of four tracks he had been composing in his head for some years, using the tape recorder, his guitar and bass, some toy percussion instruments, and a  Farfisa organ borrowed from  the Whole World keyboardist 

David Bedford. The demos had a longer piece he had provisionally titled 'Opus One'. Oldfield was inspired to write a long instrumental after hearing 'Septober Energy', the 1971 album by Centipede, He was also influenced by classical music, and by 'A Rainbow In Curved Air', the 1969 album by the experimental composer Terry Riley, on which Riley played all the instruments himself and used tape loops and overdubs to build up a long, repetitive piece of 
music. Late in 1971, Oldfield joined the band of Arthur Louis, who were recording demos at the Manor Studio. The studio was being constructed in the former squash court of an old manor house in Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxfordshire, which had recently been bought by the young entrepreneur Richard Branson and which was being turned into a residential recording facility run by his music production team of Tom Newman and Simon Heyworth. 

Oldfield was shy and socially awkward, but struck up a friendship with the producers after they heard his guitar playing. Oldfield asked Newman to listen to his demos, but they were in his Tottenham flat, so one of Louis' roadies drove Oldfield to London and back to retrieve them. Newman and Heyworth made a copy of the demos onto 4-track tape, and promised Oldfield that they would speak to Branson and his business partner Simon Draper about them. After the album was released, Newman said he preferred the demo versions: "They were complete melodies in themselves – with intros and fade-outs or ends. I liked them very much and was a little nonplussed when Mike strung them all together." Oldfield spent much of 1972 working with his old bandmates from the Whole World on their solo projects while trying to find a record label interested in his demos. Oldfield approached labels including EMI and CBS, but each rejected him, believing the piece was unmarketable without vocals. Increasingly frustrated and short of money, Oldfield heard that the Soviet Union paid musicians to give  public performances, and was at the point of looking through the telephone directory for the phone number of the Soviet embassy when Draper called him with an invitation to dinner with Branson on Branson's houseboat moored in London. 

Branson told Oldfield that he liked the demos, and wanted Oldfield to spend a week at the Manor recording 'Opus One'. 'Tubular Bells' was recorded on an Ampex 2-inch 16-track tape recorder with the Dolby noise-reduction system, which was the Manor's main recording equipment at the time. Oldfield had Virgin hire instruments including guitars, keyboards and percussion instruments, and has recounted differing stories over the years regarding the inclusion of the tubular bells; in 2001 he suggested that they were among the instruments he asked Branson to hire, but in 2013, he said that he saw them among the instruments being removed from the studios after John Cale had finished recording there, and asked for them to be left behind. Oldfield, Newman, and Heyworth spent their evenings drinking in a pub, after which they returned to the Manor and recorded through the night. Heyworth recalled several disasters, including one instance where half a day's work was accidentally erased. Final mixing was an involved process, with the faders operated by Oldfield, Newman, Heyworth, and two others simultaneously. 

They followed detailed tracking charts and the process was restarted if one person made even a slight mistake. Heyworth recalled difficulty in cutting the album due to vinyl's limited dynamic range, and insisted on heavy vinyl normally used for classical records. Oldfield played the majority of the instruments as a series of overdubs, which was an uncommon recording technique at the time. In total, 274 overdubs were made and an estimated two thousand "punch-ins", although Newman said "it was really only 70 or 80" in total. Despite various guitars being listed on the album sleeve, such as "speed guitars", "fuzz guitars" and "guitars sounding like bagpipes", the only electric guitar used on the album was a 1966 blonde Fender Telecaster which used to belong to Marc Bolan and to which Oldfield had added an extra Bill Lawrence pickup. The guitars were recorded via direct injection to the mixing desk. To create the "speed guitar" and "mandolin-like guitar" named in the sleeve notes, the tape was recorded at half speed. An actual mandolin was used only for the ending of 'Part Two'. Oldfield also used a custom effects unit, the Glorfindel box, to create the "fuzz guitars" and "bagpipe guitars" distortion. In 2011, Oldfield's Telecaster was sold for £6,500, and the money was donated to the mental health charity  SANE. 

According to the engineer Phil Newell, the bass guitar used on the album was one of his Fender Telecaster Basses. Oldfield recorded side one, known as 'Opus One' at the time, during his one allotted week at the Manor in November 1972. He was particularly interested in 

starting the piece with a repeating riff, and devised the opening piano sequence after experimenting with an idea for several minutes on Bedford's Farfisa organ. He wanted a slight variation on its 16/8 time signature by dropping the sixteenth beat, and chose the key of A minor as it was easy to play. Oldfield recorded the opening riff on a Steinway grand piano, but struggled to perform in time. Heyworth solved the problem by placing a microphone next to a 
metronome in another room and feeding it into Oldfield's headphones. The short honky-tonk piano section was included as a tribute to Oldfield's grandmother, who had played the  instrument in pubs before World War II. The staff and workers at the Manor made up the "nasal choir" that accompanies it. Oldfield had difficulty in producing a sound from the tubular bells, as he wanted a loud note from them but both the standard leather-covered and bare metal hammers did not produce the volume that he wanted. 

In the end, Newman obtained a heavier claw hammer and Oldfield used it to produce the desired sound intensity but cracked the bells in the process. The track closes with a segment featuring comedic rocker Vivian Stanshall, formerly of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, introducing each instrument being  played one by one. The idea originated when the band were due to use the Manor after Oldfield, and had arrived while he was still recording. Oldfield had liked the way Stanshall introduced the instruments one at a time on the Bonzos' song 'The Intro And The Outro' on 1967's Gorilla', and told Newman that he would like Stanshall to do the same. Newman agreed, but had to persuade the shy Oldfield to ask him if he would carry out the request. Stanshall readily agreed to the idea and is credited on the liner notes as "Master of Ceremonies", but Newman recalled that the job proved to be more difficult than anticipated, as Stanshall forgot the names of the instruments and introduced them at the wrong points. Oldfield wrote a list of the instruments in order, indicating where he should introduce them. The way in which he said "plus... tubular bells" inspired Oldfield to use it as the album's title.

Genesis - Silver Songs (1977)

While the band were at their peak in the early 70's, current and former members of Genesis were often active with solo projects, and they would sometimes call on their band-mates to help out. Founder member Anthony Phillips has released a number of solo albums over the years, and Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins were always happy to lend a hand, while Phillips joined Collins in recording a couple of demos with Peter Gabriel, and Hackett's own superlative 'Voyage Of The Acolyte' featured Collins and Rutherford on one track. Youtuber The Beatles Archeology & Other Subjects realised this and has complied a collection of these recordings, spanning the years from 1974 to 1977, and because a majority of the core group was present in the studio, it really does sound like a lost Genesis album from the mid-70's. I've added artwork by the same artist that designed the 'Selling England By The Pound' cover, and titled it after one of the tracks, so enjoy this mix of familiar and not so familiar recordings by the core members of the band. As the album was a little short, I have cheated a little and included a 1973 track by Peter Banks, as it does feature a rare guest appearance by Hackett, as well as Collins, but it actually slots in quite nicely, so I hope you'll forgive the slight artifice. 

   

Track listing

01 You Never Know [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1974)
02 Only Your Love [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1974)
03 Star Of Sirius [Steve Hackett, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1975)
04 Knights (Reprise) [Peter Banks, Phil Collins, Steve Hackett] (1973)
05 Firebirds [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1975) 
06 Silver Song [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1974)
07 God If I Saw Her Now [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1977)
08 You Get What You Want [Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Anthony Phillips] (1974)
09 Which Way The Wind Blows [Anthony Phillips, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford] (1977)

Thanks to The Beatles Archeology & Other Subjects for putting this together.

Robert Fripp - Triple Exposure (1979) **UPDATE**

Mike emailed me today with some great news about his recent Robert Fripp 'Triple Exposure' post, so over to Mike...
Since I originally released this album a few months ago, Robert Fripp has released a 32 Disc set called ‘Exposures’ of the years covering his ‘Exposure’ sessions. I have basically replaced every legit originally released cut on my original version with an alternate from the box set. Now you really do have a totally new alternate version of his ‘Exposure’ album, filled out with the various solo works he produced for Daryl Dall and Peter Gabriel. Don’t forget that Daryl Dall was supposed to be the main vocalist on the ‘Exposure’ album, but his record company wouldn’t allow it, as they were afraid it would destroy his image. Therefore my version restores many of these “lost versions” that originally had Hall’s vocals on them, which is why he’s featured so much on my “album I wish existed!”. Hope you enjoy this completely new version! 
By the way, besides updating the sources in the notes below, I’ve also updated the pdf and added (at the bottom) more than 80 new pages of in-depth notes on the recording of the album, as well as some excellent reviews and overviews of what’s in the newly released ‘Exposures’ box set! Have fun reading!!

Michael 8/22

Track listing, with the lead vocalist noted as well as the source CD for each cut:
 
*01 Preface / You Burn Me Up I’m A Cigarette (Alt. Take - Rough Mix) (Gabriel/Hall/Fripp)

                                                                                                             Exposures Box Set 2022
*02 Disengage (Alt. Take - Rough Mix) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022
*03 Chicago (Alt. Take - Rough Mix Aug 8th) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022 
*04 15 NY3 (Alt. Take - Rough Mix) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022
*05 Perspective (Gabriel/Fripp) - single version 
06 Exposure - Combined Custom Mix Robert Fripp ft. Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall 

                                                     & Terre Roche (Mikes Vocals UP Mix) - Exposure 1979/2006 

*07 Mother Of Violence (Gabriel/Fripp) - single mix 
08 Why Was It So Easy (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
*09 North Star (Old Riff - Take 6) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022 
*10 Here Comes The Flood [Early Mix] (Gabriel/Frip) - Exposures Box Set 2022
11 White Shadow  (Gabriel/Fripp) - Peter Gabriel II 
12 Something In 4-4 Time (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
13 Babs And Babs (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
14 Survive (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
15 On The Air (Gabriel/Fripp) - Peter Gabriel II 
*16 Mary (Sax Version) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022
17 The Farther Away I Am (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs

18 Without Tears (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
 
* denotes new version used

Steve Hunter - ...and on guitar (2001)

Stephen John Hunter was born on 14 June 1948, and his first introduction to music was as a young child listening to country and western music on a Zenith console radio. When he was eight years old, he began taking guitar lessons on a Lap steel guitar after seeing Jerry Byrd play lap steel and hearing what could be done on the instrument, but inspired by the music of Chet Atkins, The Ventures and Duane Eddy, he eventually switched to standard guitar. He continued playing guitar throughout high school as a member of a group called The Weejuns, which took their name from G.H. Bass & Co.'s perennially-popular penny loafers, and he later joined The Light Brigade, a rock and soul group that played in the Decatur area. In 1967 Hunter was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Vietnam War, and there he trained as an x-ray technician, ultimately serving at an air evacuation hospital in Okinawa, Japan where Vietnam combat casualties were being treated. He considered becoming a doctor but he enjoyed music so much he knew he would follow a career in music, which he did when he returned to Decatur after leaving the Army, building up a reputation as an outstanding guitar player. In 1971 his friend John Sauter called to tell him that he was playing with Mitch Ryder in Detroit and that Ryder was auditioning for guitar players, so he suggested that Hunter come to Detroit and try out. He packed up his guitar and made the eight-hour drive to Detroit, and after passing the audition he became part of Mitch Ryder's new band Detroit, where he met and formed a long-time professional association with producer Bob Ezrin. Detroit released one self-titled album on Paramount Records, but did have a hit single with Hunter's arrangement of Lou Reed's 'Rock & Roll', and Reed was so impressed that he recruited Hunter to join his band, playing on 1973's 'Berlin'. In the 1970's he appeared on five Alice Cooper albums, all of which were produced by Ezrin, starting with the band's most successful album 'Billion Dollar Babies'. When Alice Cooper became a solo artist, Hunter followed and appeared on 1975's 'Welcome To My Nightmare', and can be seen in the film 'Welcome To My Nightmare', enacting the celebrated guitar face-off between him and Dick Wagner that formed part of Cooper's 1975 live show. In 1974 he played the uncredited opening-half solo on Aerosmith's 'Train Kept A Rollin' from 'Get Your Wings', after producer Jack Douglas popped his head out of Studio C and asked if Hunter felt like playing on the recording. Later that year Hunter played guitar on former Cream bassist Jack Bruce's solo album 'Out Of The Storm', and in 1977 he worked with Peter Gabriel on his first solo album, playing the intro to the classic single 'Solsbury Hill'. Other artists Hunter has worked with include David Lee Roth, Julian Lennon, Dr. John, Tracy Chapman and more recently Glen Campbell and 2Cellos. It was while recording Roth's 'A Little Ain't Enough' that Hunter met Jason Becker, and they've remained close friends ever since. He auditioned for and got the job of playing guitar on the soundtrack of the 1979 Bette Midler film 'The Rose', composing the instrumental 'Camelia', which is featured in the film. Hunter's first solo album, 1977's critically acclaimed 'Swept Away', reunited him with producer Bob Ezrin, and he's released a number of further solo albums since, but this collection showcases his guitar-work on other artist's albums, from the famous - Reed, Gabriel, Aerosmith - to the not so well-known but equally as interesting, like The H Factor, Jesse Camp, Angelo, and The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Rock 'n' Roll (from 'Detroit' by Detroit With Mitch Ryder 1972)
02 Sad Song (from 'Berlin' by Lou Reed 1973)
03 If We Only Had The Time (from 'Flo & Eddie' by Flo & Eddie 1973)
04 Timeslip (from 'Out Of The Storm' by Jack Bruce 1974)
05 Train Kept A Rollin' (from 'Get Your Wings' by Aerosmith 1974)
06 Some Folks (from 'Welcome To My Nightmare' by Alice Cooper 1975)
07 Back By The River (from 'Hollywood Be Thy Name' by Dr. John 1975)
08 Solsbury Hill (from 'Peter Gabriel' by Peter Gabriel 1977)      
09 Spaceman (from 'Randy Richards' by Randy Richards 1978)

Disc Two
01 Have You Ever Seen The Rain (from 'Midnight Prowl' by Angelo 1978) 
02 Small Town Boy (from 'Richard Wagner' by Richard Wagner 1978)
03 Danger Up Ahead (from 'Don't Look Back' by Natalie Cole 1980)
04 Whatever Will Be (from 'Wake 'Em Up In Tokyo' by Karla DeVito 1986)
05 Urban Strut (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
06 The Hurt Stays Home (from 'The H Factor' by The H Factor 1989) 
07 Saltwater (from 'Help Yourself' by Julian Lennon' 1991)
08 A Little Luck (from 'Your Filthy Little Mouth' by David Lee Roth 1994)
09 Meet Me In The Morning (from 'Perspective' by Jason Becker 1995)
10 Break It (from 'Jesse & The 8th Street Kidz' by Jesse Camp 1999)
11 Blade (from 'Walk Alone' by Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash 2001)

Thanks to Duane for the suggestion. 

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

Peter Gabriel - Before The Flood (1979) UPDATE

If you're a regular visitor to Paul's albumsthatshouldexist blog, you'll know that he's just discovered an amazing new programme called Spleeter, that can isolate individual tracks from a recording, so that you can remove or manipulate the vocals, guitar, drums or bass from a song. I wanted to try it, but it turns out that it is incompatible with the CPU on my laptop, and there was one particular song from a recent post that I was going to try it out on, and that was 'You Get What You Want' from the Peter Gabriel post from a few weeks ago. About a third of the way in someone starts clapping along, and considering that we can be pretty sure that it's Phil Collins, as the other musicians would have their hands occupied, it is very unco-ordinated and distracting from someone who is supposed to be a drummer! I therefore asked Paul if he could run the song through Spleeter and see if he could remove it, and you'll amazed at the result. If there is a slight loss of quality in the rest of the track then that's a small price to pay for being able to listen to the song without the annoying clapping, so open the album folder in Soulseek and you'll find the edited track 03 which you can download separately, but I'll leave the original 'clapping' version in the folder so that you can hear exactly what this programme can do.      

Peter Gabriel - Before The Flood (1979)

Peter Gabriel had been working on new music with lyricist/poet Martin Hall, whom he’d known since they both contributed to the 'Colin Scott' album back in 1974, even before he left Genesis the following year, and had recorded demos of some of these new songs during 1974 and 1975. The first three tracks on this album were recorded at Send Barns in the summer of 1974, with Anthony Phillips and Phil Collins, and includes Gabriel's demo of 'You Never Know', which was released as a single by the comedian Charlie Drake. More songs were taped in 1975 after he'd left Genesis, and these recordings are a fascinating glimpse at several raw versions of songs which would later become established Gabriel classics, including an early version of 'Excuse Me' without the barbershop harmonies, and a drastically different take of 'Here Comes The Flood'. 'Get The Guns' was recorded by Alan Ross before Gabriel himself disemboweled it for the backbone of 'Down The Dolce Vita', 'No More Mickey' is a wry tribute to Genesis' long standing friend and early sound engineer Richard MacPhail, which was unsuccessfully offered to Charisma as a single in 1975, and 'Funny Man' is an insightful look at the price of being in the public spotlight. None of these latter songs ever made it to Gabriel's studio albums, but that's not due to a lack of quality, as any one of these would have enhanced the record on which it appeared. They were found in a waterlogged tape box in a closet, which says much about the lack of care with which the musicians, and indeed the record company, sometimes treated this material, but it's been cleaned up to remove as much background noise, clunks and clicks as possible, and now sounds pretty good for its age. To make it up to 40 minutes I've added a couple of demos from 1979, with an instrumental version of 'Walk Through Fire', which, with added lyrics, later appeared on the soundtrack of the 1984 film 'Against All Odds', and the otherwise unheard 'We Don't Need No Aggravation'. 

Track listing

01 You Never Know

02 Firebirds
03 You Get What You Want
04 Howling At The Moon
05 Excuse Me
06 Funny Man
07 No More Mickey

08 Here Comes The Flood
09 Get The Guns
10 God Knows
11 Walk Through Fire
12 We Don't Need No Aggravation

Tracks 1 - 3 performed by: Peter Gabriel (vocals/flute), Martin Hall (guitar), Anthony Phillips (piano), Phil Collins (backing vocals) 

Peter Gabriel - And.... (1995)

I wasn't going to bother colourising this cover as I thought the black and white was quite stylish, but it came out much better than I thought it would so here's the upgrade for it.

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)

Peter Gabriel - At The Movies (2016)

This is the second of the three albums that I compiled from the 4CD bootleg 'Rare', and this one features songs that Gabriel wrote for films, and which remained exclusive to the subsequent soundtrack album. For about a decade from the mid-90's on, he contributed to a number of film soundtracks, and then took an extended break before he returned in 2016 to write 'The Veil' for the Edward Snowden biopic 'Snowden'. As would be expected from Gabriel, none of these tracks are filler, and they all stand up as great songs in their own right, so this collection doesn't sound like a mish-mash of oddments and throwaways, but flows pretty well as a listening experience.  

Track listing 

01 Walk Through The Fire ('Against All Odds' 1984)
02 Out Out ('Gremilns' 1984)
03 Lovetown ('Philadelphia' 1993)
04 Taboo ('Natural Born Killers' 1994)
05 While The Earth Sleeps ('Strange Days' 1995)
06 Party Man ('Virtuosity' 1995)
07 That'll Do ('Babe 2: Pigs In The City' 1998)
08 Animal Nation ('The Wild Thornberries Movie' 2002)
09 Down To Earth ('Wall-E' 2008)
10 The Veil ('Snowden' 2016)

Peter Gabriel - I/O (2004)

My next post by Peter Gabriel was going to be the final album in the trio that I derived from the 'Rare' collection, but I happened to come across mention of a proposed release made up of songs recorded during the sessions for 'Up', and so decided to see what this album could have sounded like. One of the songs has already turned up on my 'At The Movies' collection, so all I had to do was track down the rest to piece together the unreleased 'I/O' album. It was originally planned for a 2004 release, but his two tours of 2003 and 2004 pushed this date back further and further, until eventually it was abandoned altogether. Some of the songs were used for other projects, with 'Animal Nation' turning up on 'The Wild Thornberries Movie' soundtrack, and 'I'm Amazing', which was inspired by the life of Muhammad Ali, being released as a single in 2016, even though it had been written around 2002/2003. 'Courage' also came out as a digital download in 2013, and with these as a starting point I discovered that 'Feed The Flame' was also known as 'Downside Up', and a demo of that had leaked online, along with a number of the other songs that I was looking for. Of the 18 suggestions for tracks that might have made it to 'I/O', I've managed to find nine, which make up a perfectly acceptable 44 minutes album, and on listening to the result it sounded so good that I just had to share it ahead of my planned Gabriel post. 

Track listing

01 I'm Amazing

02 Nocturnals

03 Feed The Flame

04 Animal Nation

05 Quiet Steam

06 Courage

07 Baby Man

08 Wild

09 This Is The Road

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel And.... (1995)

The final post of the trilogy of tracks compiled from the 'Rare' box set is made up of collaborations with other artists, mostly live recordings where he joined the artist on stage to perform a particular song with them. The sheer variety of the people that he has collaborated with over the years just goes to emphasise his wide-ranging tastes in music, and how he can turn his hand to many different styles, flitting between Laurie Anderson, Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson or Feargal Sharkey, to lesser known artists like Manu Katche and Milton Nascimento. Although these are all live recordings I've edited them to sound as clean as possible, and the resulting album is a testament to the high regard in which he is held by his fellow musicians.

Track listing

01 This Is The Picture (.... Laurie Anderson)
02 Another Day In 1977 (.... Kate Bush) 
03 Gravity's Angel (.... Laurie Anderson) 
04 Qualquer Coisa A Haver Com O Paraiso (.... Milton Nascimento)
05 Fallen Angel (.... Robbie Robertson)
06 My Secret Place (.... Joni Mitchell)
07 Be Still (.... Sinead O'Connor & Feargal Sharkey)
08 Dog 1 Dog 2 Dog 3 (.... L. Shankar & Stewart Copeland) 
09 Warm Doorway (.... Manu Katche) 

Peter Gabriel - The Non Album (1997)

I've had a Peter Gabriel bootleg called 'The Non Album' for a number of years, containing rare b-sides and songs offered to film soundtracks, and so I thought it would be a good post for the site. However, I wanted to upgrade my low-bitrate copy, and on searching the net I discovered that it was no longer anywhere to be found, so as an alternative I grabbed the four CD rarities bootleg 'Rare', with the intention of re-compiling it for the site. When I had a good look at what was available on this collection I found that I was actually able to make three albums - one solely of rare b-sides, one just of songs from film soundtracks, and a third compilation of live collaborations, and so this is now the first of a trilogy of posts. Gabriel's first half dozen singles took their b-sides from his then current albums, and so these tracks date from 1980's 'Biko' to 1992's 'Digging The Dirt', and I've also included 'In The Sun' from the 'Diana, Princess Of Wales: Tribute' album of 1997 - a song written by Gabriel's Real World label-mate Joseph Arthur, and which he allowed Gabriel to record before he'd even taped his own version for his 'Come To Where I'm From' album. 'Gaga', the b-side to 'Red Rain', is an instrumental version of an old song called 'I Go Swimming', and I've included the demo for that song as a bonus track.   

Track listing

01 Shosholoza (b-side to 'Biko')
02 Across The River (b-side to 'I Have The Touch')
03 Soft Dog (b-side to 'Shock The Monkey')
04 Don't Break This Rhythm (b-side to 'Sledgehammer')
05 Gaga (I Go Swimming' instrumental) (b-side to 'Red Rain')
06 Curtains (b-side to 'Big Time')
07 In The Sun (from 'Diana: A Tribute')
08 Bashi Bazouk (b-side to 'Digging In The Dirt')
09 I Go Swimming (Previously unreleased)