Cliff Richard - Our Story Book (1968)

We move back another few years for the next collection of non-album singles and b-sides from Cliff, and this time the quality was so good that I didn't have to omit any out of place tracks. Once again the timespan is pretty much three years, with just the final tracks creeping into 1968, so enjoy Cliff at his very best in the mid 60's. 

Track listing

01 The Time In-Between (single 1965)
02 Look Before You Love (b-side of 'The Time In-Between')
03 Wind Me Up (Let Me Go) (single 1965)
04 The Night (b-side of 'Wind Me Up (Let Me Go)')
05 Blue Turns to Grey (single 1966)
06 Somebody Loses (b-side of 'Blue Turns To Grey')
07 Visions (single 1966)
08 What Would I Do (For The Love Of A Girl) (b-side of 'Visions') 
09 It's All Over (single 1967)                               
10 I'll Come Runnin' (single 1967) 
11 I Get The Feelin' (b-side of 'I'll Come Runnin'')
12 The Day I Met Marie (single 1967) 
13 Our Story Book (b-side of 'The Day I Met Marie')
14 All My Love (Solo Tu) (single 1967)
15 High 'n' Dry (b-side of 'Congratulations')
16 Sweet Little Jesus Boy (b-side of 'All My Love (Solo Tu)')
17 Congratulations (single 1968)

Love - Black Beauty (1973)

In July 1968, eight months after Love's third album 'Forever Changes' was released, frontman Arthur Lee disbanded the original line-up, before regrouping with a completely new troupe of musicians, recording three albums with this new line-up, 'Four Sail' and 'Out Here' in 1969, and 'False Start' in 1970. Lee found limited success and was on the verge of obscurity, but following recording sessions with Jimi Hendrix in April 1970, he forsook his folk rock roots in favour of a hard rock approach. In 1972, he released his first solo effort 'Vindicator', featuring the first songs composed in the newly adapted style, but again it did not fare well with music critics or the public. Despite Lee's self-doubt and unwillingness to tour, he decided to persevere with another new line-up, recruiting drummer Joe Blocker, Melvan Whittington on lead guitar, and Robert Rozelle on bass. With record producer Paul Rothchild at the helm, Love recorded throughout mid-1973, with the resultant album intended to be released on Buffalo Records, a small indie label founded by Hair producer Michael Butler. However, before 'Black Beauty' could be distributed the company went bankrupt, and although some songs from the recording sessions did appear on 'Reel to Real' in 1974, 'Black Beauty' itself was consigned to the vaults. Over the years poor-quality releases of the 'Black Beauty' sessions have appeared, motivating Lee to push for an official release right up until his death in 2006. With his widow Diana overseeing the project, High Moon Records remastered the original acetates of the sessions, and released it on a limited edition of 5,000 vinyl copies in 2012, which are now long gone. One critic has proclaimed 'Black Beauty' to be the great lost Love album, praising the cohesive effort of the group, and the quality of the production, and while it will never reach the heights of their trilogy of classic albums of the late 60's, it's a welcome addition to the discography of a much-loved band.

Track listing

01 Young And Able (Good And Evil)

02 Midnight Sun

03 Can't Find It

04 Walk Right In

05 Skid

06 Beep Beep

07 Stay Away

08 Lonely Pigs

09 See Myself In You

10 Product Of The Times

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Herman's Hermits - The London Look (1968)

Herman's Hermits undoubtedly had their biggest success in the early to mid 60's, and with the onset of psychedelia towards to end of the decade they started to sound a bit out of step with the emergent psyche bands of the time. They did their best to try to keep up, and released their 'psychedelic' album 'Blaze' in the US in 1967, but while it was critically acclaimed in America, it didn't even warrant a UK release at the time. Although it did contain a couple of proto-psyche songs like 'Moonshine Man', most of it wasn't really that different from some of their previous work, and so wasn't a threat to the genuine psyche bands. I think the release of the soundtrack album to the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' confirmed to many that their heart wasn't really into competing with this new style of music, although there were a few random songs scattered around on singles, b-sides, and their albums which could have held their own in a psychedelic battle of the bands. I've picked what I think are the best examples of the band trying to keep up with their peers, after The Beatles kick-started the whole thing with 'Revolver' in 1966. While some of them still have that bubblegum pop feel that they couldn't seem to shed completely, they were trying their best, and even covered Nirvana's 'Wings Of Love' in 1968, so overall this shows the band maturing and looking forward to a new direction. Unfortunately they weren't able to consolidate on this new-found maturity, as Peter Noone left the band in 1970, going on to some solo success covering David Bowie's 'Oh! You Pretty Things', while the rest of the group gamely carried on, but struggled to find success without their lead singer.       

Track listing

01 Sunshine Girl (single 1968)

02 What Is Wrong - What Is Right (b-side of 'East West' 1966)

03 A Year Ago Today (previously unreleased)

04 Daisy Chain Part I (from the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' 1968)

05 Daisy Chain Part II (from the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' 1968)

06 Don't Try To Hurt Me (b-side of 'Bidin' My Time' 1966)

07 Wild Love (from the soundtrack of the film 'Hold On!' 1966)

08 Rattler (from 'There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World' 1967)

09 Little Miss Sorrow, Child Of Tomorrow (from 'There's A Kind Of Hush....' 1967)

10 Big Ship (previously unreleased)

11 Wings Of Love (b-side of 'Big Man' 1968)

12 London Look (b-side of 'Sleepy Joe' 1968)

13 The Colder It Gets (previously unreleased)

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Soulseek update

I've now completed uploading all the albums from the site onto Soulseek, but if there are any missing then let me know as I could easily have missed some. How are people finding it as a way of accessing the music? I know a couple of people seem to be having trouble finding the albums, and Paul has mentioned that some artists have their name blocked in the searches, so a search for The Beatles, for instance, will bring no results, but 'abbey road' will. I've added 'aiwe' to all of the folders so that it only brings up my albums and you don't have to look through hundreds of others to find them, so if 'eric clapton aiwe' doesn't work, then try 'eric aiwe' or 'clapton aiwe', and if you still have no success then try an unusual word from a song title. The 101ers, for instance, gives no results, but searching 'motor aiwe' finds them. If anyone has trouble finding the album they want then leave a comment on the post, and I'll add the album to a special folder I've added called 'help aiwe', which should be easier to find as it won't be restricted. At the moment it has a Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac album in it for the two visitors who are having issues. 
Hopefully you will soon get used to getting the music this way, and if it stops the blog being deleted again then it will all be worth it.

For anyone who is new to Soulseek, as I was a couple of weeks ago, here is a little tutorial which hopefully will help you find the albums. 

For anyone still having problems, Gummo couldn't access the files at first, and so downloaded what looks like an earlier version called SoulseekNS from here https://soulseek.en.softonic.com/download , and I've just tested it and it seems to work OK, even though it looks a bit clunky. If you can't get anything with QT then try this NS version.  

pj    

Kate Bush - Something Like A Song (1973)

Paul at Albums That Should Exist has now got his new PC up and running, and has used his Photoshop to touch up the Kate Bush cover that I coloured, giving her hat a bit more punch, so if you prefer this one then grab it now.

Steven Wilson - Eyewitness (2020)

As you may have noticed from the Porcupine Tree albums that I've posted, I'm a huge fan of Steven Wilson, and we must be thankful to him for bringing progressive rock back into the mainstream in the 21st Century. As well as being the go-to engineer for remixing classic albums into 5.1, he's also had a successful solo career for over a decade, with five studio albums and a sixth on the way, as well as many remix albums, compilations and experimental outings. There have also been a number of EPs and singles released throughout this period, with some of them including exclusive b-sides, and the deluxe editions of the albums often have out-takes, demos and early renditions of the songs as bonus tracks. In fact, Wilson is so prolific that in his ten years of solo recordings there are over one and a half hours of non-album tracks that can be collected together for a superb progressive rock album in its own right. I've only omitted one track, which was a live cover of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' on the flip of 'Happiness III', but while it was a perfectly acceptable version, it wasn't progressive rock so I decided to leave it off. During 2003–2010 Wilson released a series of six two-track CD singles, each one featuring a cover version and a Wilson original, and they featured songs by Alanis Morissette, ABBA, The Cure, Momus, Prince, and Donovan. The complete collection was released as an album in 2014, and that would be the perfect place for his version of 'Space Oddity' to reside. If you're a fan of Porcupine Tree but are yet to sample Wilson's solo work, then this album will introduce you to the wealth of superlative progressive rock that he's produced in the last decade under his own name.   

Track listing

01 The 78 (b-side of 'Harmony Korine' 2009)
02 Vapour Trail Lullaby (given away with pre-orders of the 'Insurgentes' music DVD 2010)
03 Desperation ('Insurgentes' 2008 out-take completed 2010)
04 Stoneage Dinosaur (cover of a Cardiacs song, released as a single 2011)
05 Fluid Tap (bonus on 'Grace For Drowning' Blu-Ray edition 2011)
06 Home In Negative (bonus on 'Grace For Drowning' Blu-Ray edition 2011)
07 Map (from the 'Grace For Drowning' bonus disc 2011)
08 Raider Acceleration (from the 'Grace For Drowning' bonus disc 2011)
09 Black Dog Throwbacks (from the 'Grace For Drowning' bonus disc 2011)
10 The Old Peace (single with Mariurz Duda 2014)
11 Happiness III (single 2016)
12 Northern Cyclonic ('To The Bone' out-take 2017)
13 A Door Marked Summer ('To The Bone' out-take 2017)
14 Ask Me Nicely ('To The Bone' out-take 2017)
15 How Big The Space (single 2018)
16 Eyewitness (b-side of 'Eminent Sleaze' 12" single 2020)
17 In Floral Green (b-side of 'Eminent Sleaze' 12" single 2020)
18 Move Like A Fever (b-side of '12 Things I Forgot' 12" single 2020)
19 King Ghost (single 2020)

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.

Kate Bush - Something Like A Song (1973)

While uploading the albums to Soulseek I found another black & white photo that I'd used which would be nice to colourise, and although the original one didn't come out that great, this one from the same photo-shoot was even better, so as before, here's an upgrade to the cover, with more to follow.

The Beatles - Everyday Chemistry (2009)

Updated cover to replace the old one in your folder.I didn't think this one would work as it wasn't black and white to start with, but I'm amazed at just how good this now looks.

Come In Tokio - Nature Call (1983)

  Updated cover to replace the old one in your folder.

Band Of Gypsys - Stepping Stone (1969)

 Updated cover to replace the old one in your folder.

John Mayall - Double Trouble (1968)

 While I was helping Paul over at Albums That Should Exist with some of his album covers I found a great little programme that can colourise old black and white photos, and you'll see an astounding result in one of his future posts. The only B&W photo that I can remember having to use was for this album, so here is a revamped version of it if you want to replace the old one in your download. 

Leslie West - ...and on guitar (1993) R.I.P.

Leslie Weinstein was born on 22 October 1945 in New York City to Jewish parents, and after his parents divorced, he changed his surname to West. His musical career began in 1966 with The Vagrants, an R&B/blue-eyed soul-rock band influenced by the likes of the Rascals, who had two minor hits in the Eastern United States with 'I Can't Make A Friend' in 1966 and a cover of Otis Redding's 'Respect' the following year. Some of The Vagrants' recordings were co-written and produced by Felix Pappalardi, who was also working with Cream on their album 'Disraeli Gears'. In 1969, West and Pappalardi formed the pioneering hard rock act Mountain, which was also the title of West's debut solo album of that year, and which Rolling Stone described as a band who were a "louder version of Cream". With Steve Knight on keyboards and original drummer N. D. Smart, the band's original incarnation saw West and Pappalardi sharing vocal duties and playing guitar and bass, respectively. New drummer Corky Laing joined the band shortly after their appearance on the second day of the Woodstock festival, and they had success with their single 'Mississippi Queen' in 1970, which reached No. 21 on the Billboard charts and No. 4 in Canada, and later with 'Theme For An Imaginary Western' in 1973, which was written by Cream bassist Jack Bruce. After Pappalardi left Mountain to concentrate on various production projects, West and Laing produced two studio albums and a live release with Jack Bruce under the name West, Bruce and Laing. West and keyboard player Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat & Tears recorded with The Who during the March 1971 'Who's Next' sessions laying down a cover of Marvin Gaye's 'Baby Don't You Do It', as well as early versions of 'Love Ain't For Keepin'' and 'Won't Get Fooled Again', as well as adding guitar to albums by Mylon, Bobby Keys and Felix Cavaliere during the early 70's. Mountain reformed in 1973 only to break up again in late 1974, after which West played guitar on 'Bo Diddley Jam' on Bo Diddley's 1976 '20th Anniversary Of Rock 'n' Roll' all-star album. Since 1981, Mountain has continued to reform, tour and record on a regular basis, while in 1991 West teamed up with Deep Purple's Ian Gillan to co-write and play guitar on 'Hang Me Out To Dry' on Gillan's 'ToolBox' album, and in 1993 he played guitar on three tracks from Billy Joel's last studio album 'River Of Dreams'. West suffered a heart attack in his home near Daytona, Florida, on December 20, 2020 and was rushed to hospital in nearby Palm Coast where he never regained consciousness, and died shortly afterwards. He was 75. 

Track listing

01 A Sunny Summer Rain (single by The Vagrants 1967)
02 Hellhound On My Trail (from 'Maverick Child' by David Rea 1969)
03 Gray Afternoon (from 'Home' by Jolliver Arkansaw 1969)
04 Blue Suede Shoes (from 'Over The Influence' by Mylon 1972)
05 Key West (from 'Bobby Keys' by Bobby Keys 1972)
06 Love Ain't For Keeping (recorded 1971, from 'Odds And Sods' reissue by The Who 1999)
07 Hit And Run (from 'Destiny' by Felix Cavaliere 1975)
08 Masquerade (from 'Our Pleasure To Serve You' by Stanky Brown Group 1976)
09 Hey Bo Diddley (from 'The 20th Anniversary Of Rock & Roll' by Bo Diddley 1976)
10 Let Me Out'a Here (from 'Guitar Speak' 1988)
11 Hang Me Out To Dry (from 'ToolBox' by Ian Gillan 1991)
12 No Man's Land (from 'River Of Dreams' by Billy Joel 1993)

Thanks to Fredrick for the suggestion.

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