Dave Mason - ...and on guitar (1984)

David Thomas Mason was born on 10 May 1946 in Worcester, and was a professional musician by his teens, making his recording debut with 'Opus To Spring' in 1963 with the instrumental group the Jaguars. It was with this band that he first encountered drummer Jim Capaldi, and the two became members of the Hellions, who played around the U.K. and in Hamburg, West Germany, as well as cutting a few singles in 1964 and 1965. Mason quit the Hellions in the spring of 1965 to study music formally, while also sitting in occasionally with another band featuring Capaldi, Deep Feeling. In early 1966 he took a job as road manager for the Spencer Davis Group, where he met Steve Winwood, and when Winwood left The Spencer Davis Group in March 1967, he took Mason with him to form Traffic with Capaldi and flautist Chris Wood. After their first single 'Paper Sun' was a UK hit, they followed it with Mason's 'Hole in My Shoe', which hit number two in the U.K. Mason stayed in the band long enough to record Traffic's debut album 'Mr. Fantasy', but left just as it was being released, recording a solo single 'Little Woman' in early 1968. He then rejoined Traffic, staying with them until the band broke up in late 1968. After that he moved to Los Angeles and joined Delaney & Bonnie & Friends in 1969, and then in 1970 he signed a solo contract with Blue Thumb Records and released his debut solo album 'Alone Together', which reached number 22 and went gold in the U.S. Despite this success, he continued to work in group contexts, serving temporarily as second guitarist in Eric Clapton's band Derek And The Dominos, recording with George Harrison on 'All Things Must Pass', and forming a duo with Cass Elliot, releasing their album 'Dave Mason & Cass Elliot' in February 1971. During this time he was a busy session guitarist, starting almost as soon as Traffic ceased to exist, and as he was a friend of Jimi Hendrix he was invited to play 12-string acoustic guitar on his recording of 'All Along The Watchtower', as well as singing and playing on 'Crosstown Traffic'. In 1969/1970 he toured with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and contributed a searing solo to their 'Comin' Home' single, as well as playing with Eric Clapton on Derek And The Dominos' single 'Tell The Truth'/'Roll It Over'. In the early 70's he was very much a part of the US West Coast singer/songwriter collective, not only with his own albums, but also featuring on records by Graham Nash, David Crosby, David Blue, Bobby Keys, and his old friend Jim Capaldi. In 1973 he was the guest guitarist on jazz pianist Dave Brubeck's 'Two Generations Of Brubeck' album, showing that he was as much at home with jazz as he was with rock. He also added his guitar to Wings' hit single 'Listen To What The Man Said', and helped out Stephen Stills, Ron Wood, and Donovan in the late 70's/early 80's. Although Mason is pretty much a household name for his work with Traffic and his solo career, I was surprised at just how much he'd spread himself around in the 70's, and so this is a fine celebration of his work from that period.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Crosstown Traffic (from 'Electric Ladyland' by Jimi Hendrix Experience 1968)
02 Sing To Me, Woman (from 'Thinking Back' by Gordon Jackson 1969)
03 Hello Little Girl (from 'Word Of Mouth' by Merryweather 1969)
04 Comin' Home (single by Delaney & Bonnie & Friends 1969)
05 Freedom (from 'Bobby Lester' by Bobby Lester 1970) 
06 Plug Me In (from 'All Things Must Pass' by George Harrison 1970)
07 Roll It Over (b-side of 'Tell The Truth' by Derek And The Dominos 1970)
08 All Life Is One (from 'Warm Waters' by Charles Lloyd 1971)
09 Military Madness (from 'Songs For Beginners' by Graham Nash 1971)
10 Don't Be A Hero (from 'Oh How We Danced' by Jim Capaldi 1972)
11 Steal From A King (from 'Bobby Keys' by Bobby Keys 1972)

Disc Two
01 Immigration Man (from 'Graham Nash - David Crosby' by Crosby & Nash 1972)
02 Outlaw Man (from 'Nice Baby And The Angel' by David Blue 1973)
03 Blue Rondo A La Turk (from 'Two Generations Of Brubeck' by Dave Brubeck 1973)
04 No Show Tonight (from 'Phoebe Snow' by Phoebe Snow 1974)
05 Ain't That Loving You (out-take from '461 Ocean Boulevard' by Eric Clapton 1974) 
06 Listen To What The Man Said (from 'Venus And Mars' by Wings 1975)
07 Hideaway From Love (from 'Black And White' by Mike Finnigan 1978)
08 You Can't Dance Alone (from 'Thoroughfare Gap' by Stephen Stills 1978)
09 F.U.C. Her (from 'Gimme Some Neck' by Ron Wood 1979)
19 Boy For Every Girl (from 'Lady Of The Stars' by Donovan 1984)

Hank Marvin - ...and on guitar (2007)

Brian Robson Rankin, known professionally as Hank B Harvin, was born on 28 October 1941 in Newcastle upon Tyne, and as a child he played banjo and piano, but after hearing Buddy Holly he decided to learn the guitar, and also adopted Holly style dark-rimmed glasses. He chose his stage name while launching his career, being an amalgamation of his childhood nickname Hank, which he used to differentiate himself from friends also named Brian, and the first name of Marvin Rainwater, the country and rockabilly singer. When he was 16 Marvin and his Rutherford Grammar School friend, Bruce Welch, met Johnny Foster, who was Cliff Richard's manager, and who was looking for a guitarist for Richard's UK tour. He was considering Tony Sheridan, but instead he offered Marvin the position, which he accepted on condition that Welch could join as well, and so both became members of The Drifters, as Richard's group was then known. To avoid confusion with the American vocal group of the same name, The Drifters changed theirs to The Shadows, and both with and without Richard they ruled the UK charts throughout the 60's. In 1970, Marvin and Welch formed Marvin, Welch & Farrar with John Farrar, being a vocal-harmony trio which failed to appeal to either Shadows or contemporary music fans. After Welch left they then became 'Marvin & Farrar' for a vocal album in 1973 and they then reverted to the Shadows in late 1973 for the superlative instrumental 'Rockin' With Curly Leads' album. During the 60's Marvin wrote a number of songs, including 'Driftin'', 'Geronimo', and 'Spider Juice' for the Shadows, and 'The Day I Met Marie' for Richard, and this carried on after he left the band, writing and playing on 'Work's Nice – If You Can Get It' by Spaghetti Junction in 1972. In 1976 he was asked by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to add his distinctive guitar to their 'Evita' album, and that seems to have given him a taste for guest spots, appearing on albums by Tracey Ullman, Roger Daltry, Wings, Dennis Waterman and Leo Sayer over the next few years. He co-wrote Olivia Newton-John's 1977 hit 'Sam' with John Farrar and Don Black, and produced albums for the British showman Des O'Connor, while in 1988 he collaborated with French keyboardist and composer Jean Michel Jarre on the track 'London Kid', and he is the only artist to appear on two volumes of the 'Guitar Speak' series. In 2005 he was immortalised on Richard Hawley's 'I'm Absolutely Hank Marvin', on which he also played, as his name has become the rhyming slang for "starving" (Marvin-starvin'), but obviously it will be as one of the best UK guitarist of all time, and a major influence on a host of young musicians of the 60's and 70's, that he will primarily be remembered. 

Track listing

01 Work's Nice – If You Can Get It (single by Spaghetti Junction 1972)
02 Buenos Aires (from 'Evita' 1976)
03 Another Whiskey Sour (from 'Waterman' by Dennis Waterman 1977) 
04 Parade (from 'One Of One Boys' by Roger Daltry 1977)
05 So Glad to See You Here (from 'Back To The Egg' by Wings 1979)
06 You Broke My Heart in 17 Places (from 'You Broke My Heart In 17 Places' by 

                                                                                                                Tracey Ullman 1983)
07 Don't Wait Until Tomorrow (from 'Have You Ever Been In Love' by Leo Sayer 1983)
08 Teardrops (single by Shakin' Stevens 1984)
09 London Kid (from 'Revolutions' by Jean Michel Jarre 1988) 
10 Captain Zlogg (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
11 All Alone With Friends (from 'Guitar Speak II' by Various Artists 1990)
12 You're My World (single by Jane McDonald 1998)
13 I'm Absolutely Hank Marvin (b-side of 'Coles Corner' by Richard Hawley 2005)
14 My Cup Of Tea (from 'Fingerprints' by Peter Frampton 2007)

Dave Gilmour - ...and on guitar (1985)

Dave Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1967, and has been an integral part of the band ever since, appearing on all of their classic albums throughout their long and spectacularly successful career. In between recording and touring with Floyd, he has found time to add his distinctive guitar-work to songs by a number of friends and acquaintances, some that you expect, and some which are something of a surprise. 
In 1973 Unicorn were playing at the wedding reception of Ricky Hopper, who was a friend from Transatlantic days, and Gilmour was also a guest at the wedding. At the end of the evening he got up to Jam with Unicorn, and afterwards expressed an affection for country rock, which came as a considerable surprise to the band. A week later Gilmour invited them to try out his new home studio, and they recorded three songs there, with Gilmour adding guitar to them. He then offered to put up the money to record an album with them, which was recorded at Olympic Studios in London with Gilmour producing and playing electric and slide guitar. This was the beginning of a friendship with the band, which bore fruit later that year when he was given a demo tape of a very young Kathy Bush by Ricky Hopper (from the wedding), and he offered to let her record some of her songs at his studio. He called in Unicorn to act as the backing band, and one of the songs later turned up on the b-side to her 1980 single 'Army Dreamers'. In 1975 he added his guitar to Leo Sayer's friend and collaborator David Courtney's only record 'David Courtney's First Day', and also played pedal steel guitar on Scottish folkies The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver's 'Ain't Too Proud' single. 1976 was a quiet year for Gilmour, but when he offered his services in 1977 it was to the extremely obscure French artist Rachid Bahri, playing on one song on his 'Il Sirvivra' album, alongside Nick Mason on drums. Considering that I had never heard of Bahri before, and the album is impossible to track down, it was astounding to find that it also featured Tim Renwick, Rick Wills, Kenney Jones, Gaspar Lawal, and Stevie Winwood. 
Another two years passed and he was invited to contribute to Paul McCartney's new record, adding guitar to songs destined for the 'Back To The Egg' album, and the following year he appeared on Roy Harper's 'The Unknown Soldier'. Gilmour had known Harper since 1968, and Harper famously sang 'Have A Cigar' on Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' in 1975, and in return Gilmour played on three of Harper's 1970's album, co-writing five songs on 1975's 'HQ'. In 1983 Atomic Rooster were on their third line-up, and for their 'Headline News' album they managed to persuade Gilmour to play on four of the songs, and while it's not really that great an album, 'Hold Your Fire' is an excellent track. Paul McCartney called on Gilmour again in 1984 to add his guitar to a re-recording of the hit single 'No More Lonely Nights', done in a ballad style, which was eventually added to the expanded re-issue of 'Give My Regards To Broad Street', and the following year he appeared on Bryan Ferry's 'Boys And Girls' album, alongside other guests Mark Knopfler and Nile Rodgers. To close the album we have a track from the Duran Duran spin-off band Arcadia, with Gilmour and Sting both featuring on one song, 'The Promise', from their sole album 'So Red The Rose'. Like many of his contemporaries who have guested on others artist's album, Gilmour has never stuck to one style of music, covering country rock, pop, heavy rock, folk, and ballads, and it's a testament to his skill as a guitarist that he can pull them all off effortlessly.       

Track listing

01 The Farmer (from 'Blue Pine Trees' by Unicorn 1974)
02 When Your Life Is Your Own (from 'David Courtney's First Day' by David Courtney 1975)
03 Ain't Too Proud (from 'Reach For The Sky' by The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver 1975)
04 Il Survivra (from 'Il Sirvivra' by Rachid Bahri 1977)
05 So Glad To See You Here (from 'Back To The Egg' by Wings 1979)
06 True Story (from 'The Unknown Soldier' by Roy Harper 1980)
07 Passing Through Air (b-side of 'Army Dreamers' single by Kate Bush 1980)
08 Hold Your Fire (from 'Headline News' by Atomic Rooster 1983)
09 No More Lonely Nights (Ballad) (from 'Give My Regards To Broad Street' by Paul
                                                                                                                      McCartney 1984)
10 Boys And Girls (from 'Boys And Girls' by Bryan Ferry 1985)
11 The Promise (from 'So Red The Rose' by  Arcadia 1985)

Paul McCartney & Wings - C Moon (1973)

As I mentioned in the 'Red Rose Speedway' post, once we'd worked which songs were going to be included on that proposed double album, we could then take all the other out-takes, non-albums singles and b-sides, and compile them into a couple of nice little collections. 'Hi Hi Hi' / 'C Moon' was released as a 7" single in 1972, but radio stations became a bit uneasy about playing a song with 'high' in the lyrics, so they flipped it over and started playing the b-side, resulting in 'C Moon' becoming a surprise number 2 hit single for the band. 'Walking In The Park With Eloise' / 'Bridge Over The River Suite' was released as a 7" single in 1974 by The Country Hams, who were in fact Wings, plus a couple of guest musicians on the b-side. Both tracks were instrumentals, and not really in the normal style of Wings' other material, so McCartney issued them under a pseudonym, just as he did with the 'Percy 'Thrills' Thrillington' album some  years later. 'Live And Let Die' is a classic Bond theme, and one of the best ever attached to the films, but the version I've used for this album is by just the band, with no orchestral overdubs, and I think it fits in so perfectly with the rest of the album that you hardly notice the lack of strings. 
'Jazz Street' and '1882' were originally intended for 'Red Rose Speedway', but there were just too many songs under consideration for the final track listing, and so these two had to be left off the proposed double album version of that release. '1882' was going to be a live version of a song that had been hanging around since 1970 but never properly recorded, but as I can hear no audience noise on this version it sounds to me like it might be the rumoured studio recording from January 1972. 'The Great Cock And Seagull Race' was another old song, recorded during the 'Ram' sessions, and was originally planned to be the b-side of the 'Hi Hi Hi' single, but it was replaced at the last minute by 'C Moon', and 'Little Woman Love' was another song recorded during the 'Ram' sessions, and released two years later as the b-side to 'Mary Had A Little Lamb'. 'Give Ireland Back To The Irish' was the band's debut single in 1972, and you might be hearing it for the first time here, as although it breached the top 20 in the UK, US audiences felt alienated by the overtly political stance, and airplay was so marginal that it was in effect banned from US radio. 'Helen Wheels', named after Paul and Linda's Land Rover, was much more successful, hitting number 12 in the UK, and although it was included on the US edition of their 1973 album 'Band On The Run', in the UK it remained a stand-alone single.

Track listing

01 C Moon (single 1972)
02 Jazz Street (previously unreleased 1972)
03 1882 (previously unreleased 1972)
04 Walking In The Park With Eloise (single 1974)
05 Hi Hi Hi (single 1972)
06 Bridge On The River Suite (b-side of 'Walking In The Park With Eloise')
07 Helen Wheels (single 1973)
08 Mary Had A Little Lamb (single 1972)
09 Live And Let Die (single 1973)
10 Little Woman Love (b-side of 'Mary Had A Little Lamb')
11 The Great Cock And Seagull Race (previously unreleased 1970)
12 Give Ireland Back To The Irish (single 1972)

Paul McCartney & Wings - Junior's Farm (1975)

During late 1973 and through to 1975 Paul McCartney and the band recorded a number of songs destined for one-off singles, b-sides, or projects that were later shelved, and the best of them are gather here. 'Proud Mum' was recorded during the 'Venus And Mars' sessions, and was originally intended to be used in a Mother's Pride bread advert, but I think it nicely book-ends this album. 'Junior's Farm' was one of their best singles, and yet it's never appeared on any album other than Greatest Hits collections, while the b-side 'Sally G' was McCartney's attempt at a credible country song. This led to a challenge for Denny Laine to write a country song as well, and with a little help from McCartney he came up with 'Send Me The Heart'. In late 1973 the band recorded a number of songs which were to be the basis of a Linda McCartney solo album, under the name of Suzy And The Red Stripes. 'Seaside Woman' was completed and released as a single, and was also intended for inclusion on the double album version of 'Red Rose Speedway', before if was removed when that album was slimmed down to a single record. Also recorded at those sessions were 'Luxy' (a tribute to Radio Luxembourg?), 'Oriental Nightfish', 'I Got Up', and an eleven minute take of 'Wide Prairie'. All of these songs eventually appeared on the posthumous Linda McCartney album 'Wide Prairie' in 1998, while 'Oriental Nightfish' was also used as the soundtrack to an animated film of the same name in 1978. 'Soily' was often performed during their concerts, usually as an encore, but the version here is a rare studio take, and 'Zoo Gang' was written as the theme tune to a UK crime drama TV series, and also turned up as the b-side of the 'Band On The Run' single. All in all this is a great collection of rare and hard to find songs from the peak period of the band's popularity. 

Track listing

01 Proud Mum (previously unrleased 1975)

02 Junior's Farm (single 1974)

03 Oriental Nightfish (Suzy & The Red Stripes sessions 1973)

04 Luxy (Suzy & The Red Stripes sessions 1973)

05 Wide Prairie (Suzy & The Red Stripes sessions 1973)

06 Sally G (b-side of 'Junior's Farm')

07 One Hand Clapping (previously unrleased 1974)

08 I Got Up (Suzy & The Red Stripes sessions 1973)

09 Soily (previously unrleased 1974)

10 Zoo Gang (b-side of 'Band On The Run' 1973)

11 Send Me The Heart (previously unreleased 1974)

12 Going To New Orleans (My Carnival) (previously unreleased 1975)

13 Proud Mum (Reprise) (previously unreleased 1975)

Paul McCartney & Wings - Red Rose Speedway (Double album) 1973

Back in 2013 the godfather of these sites, soniclovenoize of Albums That Never Were, posted a reconstruction of the legendary double album edition of Wings' second album 'Red Rose Speedway'. For many years I enjoyed this expanded edition of one of Paul McCartney's most under-rated albums, and was impressed at the number of rare songs that he'd unearthed to make up the album. Move forward five years and 'Red Rose Speedway' is treated to a Deluxe re-issue, and as part of the promotion, Paul himself was asked by the excellent The Paul McCartney Project website if a recently unearthed 1973 track-listing was what he would have liked to have used, and he obliged with the answer, saying “You know, this is actually how I recollect that double album. I don’t remember exactly why we changed it. Possibly because of the label? But, to be honest, it’s more likely that I would have just said it’s so much easier to deal with a single album. They’re so much easier to deal with! But it’s great the double album will finally get a release!” So this post is basically an update of sonic's post, but with the tracks in the order that McCartney had intended that they should have been, and housed in anew cover. Now that we know which of the many out-takes that have surfaced over the years were actually meant for 'Red Rose Speedway', we can take the rest of them, add a few singles and b-sides, and compile a couple of interesting early albums that could have been issued in 1973 and 1974, which I'll be posting later. But to start this short series here is the expanded edition of 'Red Rose Speedway'.

Track listing

01 Night Out
02 Get On The Right Thing
03 Country Dreamer
04 Big Barn Bed
05 My Love
06 Single Pigeon
07 When The Night
08 Seaside Woman
09 I Lie Around
10 The Mess
11 Best Friend
12 Loup (1st Indian On The Moon)
13 Medley
     a) Hold Me Tight
     b) Lazy Dynamite
     c) Hands Of Love
     d) Power Cut
14 Mama’s Little Girl
15 I Would Only Smile
16 One More Kiss
17 Tragedy
18 Little Lamb Dragonfly

Paul McCartney & Wings - Hot Hitz & Cold Cutz (1978)

Rumours circulated throughout the 80's and 90's that Paul McCartney was going to release an album called 'Hot Hits And Cold Cuts', which would have been a collection of hit singles and some rarer tracks. For whatever reason, this never happened, and so it was up to us to put together our own compilations. My own personal one collected early non-album singles and b-sides, together with a few later hits which which I didn't have in my collection, so this was really just for me. However, I think there's enough rare stuff on here for the average fan to enjoy.

Track Listing

01 Another Day
02 Maybe I'm Amazed
03 Mary Had A Little Lamb
04 Give Ireland Back To The Irish
05 Hi Hi Hi
06 C Moon
07 My Love
08 Rockestra Theme
09 Live And Let Die
10 Helen Wheels
11 Sally G
12 Junior's Farm
13 The Zoo Gang
14 With A Little Luck
15 London Town
16 Goodnight Tonight
17 Comin' Up
18 Old Siam, Sir
19 Waterfalls