Heart - Magazine (1977)

After the release of their debut album in 1975, Heart began recording new songs in Vancouver that were intended for their next studio album for Mushroom Records. However, the group had a falling out with Mushroom over an advertisement celebrating the sales of 'Dreamboat Annie', which was run as a full-page ad in the 30 December 1976 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. It was designed to resemble the cover of a salacious tabloid-style magazine (a satire of the National Enquirer), and showed the sisters bare-shouldered, with the suggestive caption "It Was Only Our First Time!". As well as that, as Heart had now proven themselves to be hit-makers, they expected Mushroom to raise their royalty rate, but to the surprise of the group and their producer Mike Flicker, the label refused to pay more. Recording sessions for the new album ceased after the band failed to re-negotiate their contract with the label, and so only five incomplete recordings were made during these 1976 sessions. Although the label kept the group under contract, they were apparently not interested in releasing a second album from them, and so Flicker then ended his relationship with the label. As their contract stipulated that Flicker would be the producer of all Heart recordings, the band took this to mean that since Mushroom was unable to provide the services of Flicker, they would be free to sign with another label, so they hired a lawyer to resolve the dispute, and they signed with Portrait Records. The change in labels resulted in a prolonged legal battle with Mushroom's creative director Shelly Siegel, with the label claiming they had the legal right to release a second Heart album, under their two-year contract. As the label were still in possession of the five unfinished studio recordings, as well as some unreleased live tracks recorded in 1975, Mushroom had them remixed by the band's recording engineer, adding another studio track, 'Here Song' (the b-side to the band's 1975 Canadian single 'How Deep It Goes'), and filled the rest of the album with two live songs recorded in 1975 at The Aquarius Tavern in Seattle. Mushroom released the collection as 'Magazine' in the spring of 1977, at the same time that the group was preparing their first album for Portrait titled 'Little Queen'. According to Flicker, about 50,000 copies of the original 'Magazine' album were pressed, with some of these copies being sold in stores in Los Angeles and Hollywood, where the records were manufactured, and  it was also briefly released in Europe through Arista Records, before copies were ordered off shelves by a second court action. 

Though the album was not officially released to radio stations in 1977, some stations such as KISW, a Seattle-based rock station, played songs from the unauthorized version, against the wishes of the group. The 1977 release carried a disclaimer on the back cover that read: "Mushroom Records regrets that a contractual dispute has made it necessary to complete this record without the cooperation or endorsement of the group Heart, who have expressly disclaimed artistic involvement in completing this record. We did not feel that a contractual dispute should prevent the public from hearing and enjoying these incredible tunes and recordings". Unhappy with the somewhat unpolished studio performances and the inclusion of the live recordings, the group took Mushroom to court with the aim of having the 1977 release of 'Magazine' withdrawn from the market, and the Seattle court ruled that Mushroom had to recall the album, but the terms of the settlement required that Heart provide a second album for Mushroom. Heart chose to fulfill this obligation by finishing the previously released songs to a quality of their satisfaction, and the whole record was re-recorded, remixed, edited and resequenced, with Ann Wilson adding new lead vocals to most of the existing studio tracks. One of the most obvious differences is that on the original recording of 'Heartless', Ann sings "The doc said come back again next week...", whereas on the re-recorded version she sings "doctor" instead. The new lead vocal on 'Heartless' is less controlled than the original, while the synthesizer solo on 'Just The Wine' was replaced by a flute solo, and the song is slightly edited. The ending of 'Magazine' fades about 30 seconds earlier, and the live 'Blues Medley' was edited to remove some of Roger Fisher's guitar solo sections and Ann's solo vocal parts, while there are also many other subtle differences between the two versions. The revised album was released by Mushroom Records in April 1978, with the disclaimer on the back removed. Although the band would profess to be much happier with the new recordings of these songs, it's still interesting to hear these early takes before they were polished in the studio, and so for fans of the band who might be unaware of the story behind this album, here they are for your enjoyment. 

Track listing

01 Heartless
02 Without You
03 Just The Wine
04 Magazine
05 Here Song
06 Devil Delight
07 Blues Medley: Mother Earth/You Shook Me Babe
08 I've Got The Music In Me

The Bluetones - Are You Blue Or Are You Blind? (1996)

The Bluetones formed in Hounslow in 1990 with an original line-up of Scott Morriss on bass, Eds Chesters on drums, Adam Devlin on guitar, and Scott's bother Mark James Morriss on vocals, and they spent the next four years practicing in garages and playing gigs, quickly establishing a strong fanbase - no less than three fanzines were dedicated to the band before they had released their third single. In 1994 they contributed 'No. 11' to the Fierce Panda compilation EP 'Return To Splendour', and that led to an appearance on Channel 4's The White Room TV series . The band then signed to Superior Quality Records, and their debut single 'Are You Blue Or Are You Blind? entered the UK Top 40 in June 1995. It was followed in October by 'Bluetonic', which was a re-recording of 'No' 11' from the Fierce Panda EP, and they ended the year by releasing the third single, and their biggest hit, 'Slight Return'. Their first album 'Expecting To Fly' (named after a classic Buffalo Springfield song) reached number 1 in the UK album charts in February 1996. Between their first single for Fierce Panda and the debut album in 1996 the band had already shown how prolific they were by including a dozen otherwise unreleased songs on the b-sides of their five singles, and this was to continue for the rest of their career, so the first of four posts collects all those songs that were issued between 1995 and 1996, plus their contribution to the 1994 Fierce Panda EP. 

Track listing

01 No. 11 (from the Fierce Panda EP 'Return To Splendour' 1994)
02 Colorado Beetle (b-side of 'Bluetonic' 1995)
03 Glad To See Y'Back Again (b-side of 'Bluetonic' 1995)
04 Are You Blue Or Are You Blind? (single 1995)
05 String Along (b-side of 'Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?' 1995)
06 Driftwood (b-side of 'Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?' 1995)
07 Marblehead Johnson (single 1996)
08 The Simple Things (b-side of 'Marblehead Johnson' 1996)
09 Nifkin's Bridge (b-side of 'Marblehead Johnson' 1996)
10 Castle Rock (b-side of 'Cut Some Rug' 1996) 
11 The Devil Behind My Smile (b-side of 'Cut Some Rug' 1996)
12 Nae Hair On't (b-side of 'Slight Return' 1996)
13 Don't Stand Me Down (b-side of 'Slight Return' 1996)

Trees - Tom Of Bedlam (1973)

Trees was a British folk rock band who formed in 1969, with the original line-up comprising Bias Boshell on bass and keyboards, Barry Clarke on guitar, David Costa on acoustic guitar, Unwin Brown on drums and singer Celia Humphris. David Costa was the son of British singer and radio presenter Sam Costa, and while reading Fine Arts at the University of East Anglia he met Barry Clarke through a mutual girlfriend, who had suggested that as they were both guitar players, that they should connect. Bias Boshell and Unwin Brown had both attended Bedales School in Petersfield, Hampshire, and within a short time all four were sharing their diverse musical experiences, exploring their different tastes and bringing together what they each enjoyed in common with each other. Lacking a singer, Costa suggested they audition the sister of an acquaintance of his, and introduced Celia Humphris into the mix, who had just left Arts Educational where she had studied dance, drama and singing. The five of them began rehearsing in the early spring of 1969, and played their first gigs and recorded early demo tracks throughout June and July of the same year. In 1969 the band signed to CBS, and released two studio albums in relatively quick succession, with 'The Garden Of Jane Delawney' coming out in 1970, and 'On The Shore' in 1971. Like their folk contemporaries, Trees was often compared with Fairport Convention, but they were regarded as delivering folk with a more psychedelic edge, and the group's material was divided between adaptations of traditional songs and original compositions. The original band disbanded in 1971 after recording the two albums, and a second incarnation formed in 1972, featuring Celia Humphris, Barry Clarke, Barry Lyons, Alun Eden, and violinist Chuck Fleming, but this line-up never released an official studio album, although recordings can be found on bootleg releases. Following the demise of the original lineup, Bias Boshell went on to work as a keyboard player and songwriter with The Kiki Dee Band, writing her hit song 'I've Got the Music In Me', before joining Barclay James Harvest and subsequently The Moody Blues, while Barry Clarke went on to join the Vigrass and Osborne band. David Costa became art director and designer for many notable artists such as Elton John, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, and Celia Humphris continued with Trees' second lineup, and subsequently went on to become a sought-after voice-over artist, providing the pre-recorded announcements for the Northern Line on the London Underground.

In 1973 the band had a couple of concerts recorded, possibly for the BBC, and an album was released in 1989 containing all the songs they played. The sound quality was fairly poor, but none of the songs had featured on their two albums, apart from the closer 'Polly On The Shore', and so it was definitely worth hearing. Some years later, an enterprising bootlegger took a tape of this live album and removed all the applause between the songs, releasing this edited version as purported demos for an unreleased third album by the band. Having heard both versions, the 'demos' one is much better quality, but the beginnings of some of the songs have been cut to remove the audience, and they are faded sharply at the end for the same reason. I've done quite a bit of work to this album, replacing the cut intros and smoothing the fades, fixing volume drop-outs, as well as boosting the bass on a couple of songs, so it now sounds more like the third album demos that it was pretending to be. In a way it was, as all the songs were previously unheard material, and if the band had been offered a new recording contract then these would probably have been the songs they would have recorded, possibly even under the title that I've given it. I've added one song from a BBC radio session from 1970 which they had not previously recorded, making a fine epitaph for a fondly remembered band, who were at the fore-front of the folk-rock movement, but who seem to have been unfairly over-looked when the history was written. 

Track listing

01 Prince Of Heathens 
02 Tom Of Bedlam
03 Cry Of Morning 
04 Burgen Polka
05 Friar Tuck Gets His
06 The Innocent Hare
07 Forest Fire
08 Van Dieman's Land

Fat Mattress - Hall Of Kings (1970)

Fat Mattress was formed in late 1968 by Noel Redding with vocalist Neil Landon, bass guitarist Jim Leverton and drummer Eric Dillon, and came together while Redding was a still member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with a view to enabling Redding to both play guitar and sing lead, as well as to record original material. While he had done all three things with the Experience, they were restricted to rare occasions, and having his own band would give him the freedom to build on this more fully. The first major public exposure of the band was as the opening act to the Jimi Hendrix Experience on a tour of the United States, during which Redding would perform with both bands, with Landon, Redding, and Leverton all singing lead, allowing the group to employ a great deal of vocal harmonies. They signed to Polydor Records and released the eponymous 'Fat Mattress' album in 1969, with the single 'Magic Forest' becoming a hit in the Netherlands, and the album itself achieving some success. It was a distinct departure from the sound of the Experience, with a late 60's psychedelic feel to some of the songs, and with an overall gentler feel to the music. In August 1969 the band made an appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival in front of a crowd of an estimated 120,000 people, and the following month they appeared on the popular German TV show Beat-Club, performing 'Naturally', 'Mr. Moonshine' and 'Magic Forest'. In February 1970 the band headlined over David Bowie's new band Hype at the Roundhouse, before moving on to tour the US, although this was cancelled after completing only five dates of an initially anticipated thirty appearances. In the midst of recording 'Fat Mattress II', Redding and Leverton had a falling out, resulting in Redding's departure from the band. He was replaced by Steve Hammond at roughly the same time as Mick Weaver was added to relieve Leverton on keyboard duties, allowing Leverton to focus on bass and vocals. 'Fat Mattress II' was released to slightly less acclaim than their debut, and although there were plans for a third album, the band split in the middle of recording sessions, with only a handful of songs being completed. Although they remain primarily known as Noel Redding's band, he was only a member for about 18 months, and had a hand in writing just three of the tracks on their second album, but they were still an under-rated outfit, and nothing like I expected them to sound bearing in mind Redding's previous 'experience'. They left behind a couple of out-takes from their second album, plus some non-album b-sides, and if we combine them with those abandoned sessions then we end up with an idea of what that third album could have sounded like.    

Track listing

01 Little Girl In White (out-take 1969)
02 Eric The Red (out-take 1969)
03 Iridescent Butterfly (b-side of 'Naturally')
04 Black Sheep Of The Family (b-side of 'Highway' 1970)
05 Hall Of Kings (out-take 1970)
06 Margarita (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
07 Cold Wall Of Stone (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
08 Long Red (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
09 Words (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
10 The River (previously unreleased 3rd album track)
11 Future Days (previously unreleased 3rd album track)

I had to severely edit 'The River', as it seemed to be a perfectly good rocker up the three minute mark, where an entirely unrelated 14-minute instrumental was crudely grafted onto the end, so I've removed that completely, which also makes for a nice 43-minute album. 

The Boo Radleys - Lazarus (Remixes) (1994)

As a bonus post to end the short series of Boo Radleys rarities, here is a collection of recordings of their song 'Lazarus', from the 'Giant Steps' album. The band released the track as a single in 1993, and also issued a two-CD set of remixes by artists such as Ultramarine, St. Etienne and Augustus Pablo, as well as an extended 12" version. As so often with remixes, some of these are hardly recognisable as the original song, which means that nine versions of the same piece isn't as repetitious as you might first think. I've added the album version as well, so that we have all the different takes of the song, and it holds up pretty well as an album in its own right, so to round off the series, enjoy a bit of experimentation from a band who were always up for trying something a little different.

Track listing

01 Lazarus (7" Version)  
02 Lazarus (Ultramarine Remix)  
03 Lazarus (Acoustic Version)
04 Lazarus (St. Etienne Remix)
05 Lazarus (12" Version) 
06 Lazarus (Secret Knowledge Remix)
07 Lazarus (Flood Remix)
08 Lazarus (Augustus Pablo Remix)
09 Lazarus (Album Version)

Sauce - Shards Of Sunshine (2019)

Sauce began when George’s old band split and he began writing with Henry, who then introduced Lewis on bass, and a year later Dean Molyneux arrived after original guitarist Sean left, and with this line-up they started rehearsing and recording, with songs starting to appear on Souncloud around 2017. They got their name from a poster outside Kraak Gallery in Manchester, as it had a 70's psychedelic ring to it, like Cream for instance, and it also had the potential for bad gags and puns. Their influences encompass Tame Impala, Stone Roses, Mac DeMarco, Arctic Monkeys and The Vryll Society, and they released two singles in 2017, 'Love Shocks' and 'What Feels Better (Than You and I)?', followed by 'The Liquid Love EP' in 2018, and two further singles in the last two years. They are still going strong, although gigs have dried up due to the pandemic, so they've spent their time writing, and promise some great new songs when they return to live performing. In the meantime, here are all the songs that they've posted to Soundcloud, which makes for a perfect album-length introduction to the band. 

 
Track listing

01 Forgiveness Is Underrated
02 Gas Pipes Blown
03 Love Shocks
04 What Feels Better (Than You And I)?
05 There's A Fool
06 Give Up Everything
07 Shards Of Sunshine
08 Magick Trick
09 All Of Us
10 Sister Brother

Clodagh Rodgers - Mister Heartache (1968)

Clodagh Rodgers was born on 5 March 1947 in Warrenpoint, County Down, in Northern Ireland, and was raised in a musical household, where her father Louis was a dancehall tour promoter. At age 12 she was appearing as warm-up for acts such as Jim Reeves and Michael Holliday, and at 14, thanks to her father’s connections, she toured Europe with Johnny Cash. By the time the tour was over, she'd been offered a recording contract with Decca Records, and so her family moved to Willesden, in north London, to allow her to seize this opportunity – only to find that Decca would leave her languishing for 18 months. The Shel Talmy-produced 'Believe Me I'm No Fool' became her first single, issued in November 1962 and credited to Cloda Rodgers, but it was ignoed by the British record-buying public. For the follow-up she was billed as Cloda Rogers, but 'Sometime Kind of Love' seemed a little dated by the time of its release in March 1963, and a third single 'To Give My Love To You' fared no better on its release three months later, although fans now tend to flip the disk for its b-side, the catchy Country 'n' Western-style 'I Only Live To Love You'. She impressed audiences as part of the UK team at Belgium's Knokke Cup that year, and also gained exposure through an appearance in the comic caper 'Just For Fun', alongside the likes of Dusty Springfield, The Breakaways and Louise Cordet, in which she sang 'Sweet Sweet Boy'. 1964's 'Mister Heartache' was her final single for Decca, and she signed a new management deal with Keith Prowse, who secured her a deal with Columbia Records, but the release of the sophisticated 'Every Day Is Just The Same', did little to engage the record-buying pubic. A third Columbia release, an updating of Ethel Waters' 1930's track 'Stormy Weather', fared no better in 1966, although on a happier note she did meet John Morris on a two-month package tour of the UK with The Walker Brothers, and they later married, with him becoming her manager. Under his professional guidance she joined RCA in 1968, issuing a couple of great singles, 'Play The Drama To The End' and 'Rhythm Of Love', both ignored by the public. On a TV appearance to promote the singles, she was spotted by US songwriter Kenny Young, a former Brill Building writer who was best known for penning 'Under The Boardwalk' for The Drifters, and he contacted RCA to offer her his latest composition 'Come Back And Shake Me', and this classic piece of late-60's pop swept up the UK charts, reaching number three in the spring of 1969. The success of the single saw Rodgers whisked into the studio to cut her first album, and as well as including the hit, Young also gave her a clutch of new songs to record for the album. From this point on she became a regular on TV variety shows, and released over half a dozen albums in the new decade, but is now probably best remembered for representing the UK in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest with the bouncy 'Jack In The Box'. To get to that point, though, she had to pay her dues with a handful of commercially unsuccessful but artistically worthwhile singles, which are gathered here for you to judge for yourself.

Track listing

01 Believe Me I'm No Fool (single 1962)
02 End Of The Line (b-side of 'Believe Me I'm No Fool)
03 Sometime Kind Of Love (single 1963)
04 I See More Of Him (b-side of 'Sometime Kind Of Love')
05 Sweet Sweet Boy (from the film 'Just For Fun' 1964)
06 Mister Heartache (single 1964)
07 Time (b-side of 'Mister Heartache')
08 My Love Will Still Be There (from the film 'It's All Over Town' 1964) 
09 Every Day Is Just The Same (single 1966)
10 You'll Come A'Running (b-side of 'Every Day Is Just The Same')
11 Stormy Weather (single 1966)
12 Lonely Room (b-side of 'Stormy Weather')
13 Play The Drama To The End (single 1968)
14 Room Full Of Roses (b-side of 'Play The Drama to The End')
15 Rhythm Of Love (single 1968)
16 River Of Tears (b-side of Rhythm Of Love')

The Creation - Ostrich Man (1968)

The Creation were formed from the ashes of the beat group The Mark Four, who operated in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire between 1963 and 1966. By late 1963 The Mark Four was a quintet consisting of Kenny Pickett (vocals), Eddie Phillips (guitars), Mick "Spud" Thompson (rhythm guitars), John Dalton (bass), and Jack Jones (drums), and this line-up played regularly in the UK and in Germany, before issuing two non-charting singles on Mercury Records in 1964, 'Rock Around The Clock' and 'Try It Baby'. Dalton then left the band, later joining The Kinks as a replacement for Pete Quaife, and was replaced by new bassist Tony Cooke. Around the same time, Thompson left and was not replaced, and this new four-piece line-up issued two further non-charting singles in 'Hurt Me If You Will' and 'Work All Day (Sleep All Night)'. In April 1966 the group signed a management deal with Tony Stratton-Smith, who promptly suggested replacing Cooke with new bassist Bob Garner, and also asked they change their name. The band took him up on both suggestions, and Pickett came up with the name The Creation, based on a reference he found in a book of Russian poetry. The band's style at this point was loud art pop, similar to early records by The Who, and their first single under the new name was the Pickett/Phillips original 'Making Time', which was the first recording to feature an electric guitar being played with a violin bow, predating the more famous solos by Jimmy Page by some years. The single reached No. 49 on the UK chart, but almost immediately the band suffered another line-up change when Jack Jones was fired and replaced by new drummer Dave Preston, although he was quickly reinstated after the band decided they were unsatisfied with Preston's live work. 

Their next single was released in October 1966, and the more pop-orientated 'Painter Man' became their biggest hit, reaching No. 36 on the UK chart, and breaking the top 10 in Germany. The band took their pop art experimentation even further, with Pickett spray-painting a canvas during their concerts, before a member of the road crew would set fire to the artwork on stage. 'Painter Man' was the last single issued by the original line-up, with Kim Gardner being brought in as their new bassist, and former bassist Bob Garner taking over the lead vocal slot, leaving Kenny Pickett out of the group. This line-up issued its first single in June 1967, but 'If I Stay Too Long'/'Nightmares' was not a success in the UK, although it did well in Germany, and so the band released 'Tom Tom' as a follow-up just in Germany, with their commercial momentum in that country being so strong that an album called 'We Are Paintermen' was released in mid 1967 for the German and continental European market, compiled from previously issued singles and several newly recorded songs. The band tried to break the US market by releasing four singles during late 1966 and 1967, but none of them met with any success, although they continued to remain popular in Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. At the end of 1967 they released 'Life Is Just Beginning' in the UK, but almost immediately afterwards guitarist Eddie Phillips announced his departure, and although he was replaced for several European tour dates by guitarist Tony Ollard, within a matter of weeks vocalist Bob Garner also quit the group, and by February 1968 The Creation had officially ceased to exist. 

However, demand was still strong in continental Europe for Creation records and live shows, and almost immediately after the band disbanded, drummer Jack Jones formed a new Creation line-up, bringing back Kenny Pickett as singer and Kim Gardner as bass player, and bringing in his old bandmate from The Birds, Ronnie Wood on guitar. This line-up debuted with the single 'Midway Down', which was released in the UK and Germany in April 1968, but shortly afterwards the band splintered again, and this time it was for good. 'Bonney Moroney' (sic) and 'For All That I Am' were issued as posthumous singles in Germany in 1968, and that was the end of the band. Despite their early demise and lack of hits, The Creation posthumously became highly influential, acknowledged as an inspiration by Paul Weller, Ride, Pete Townshend, and The Sex Pistols, while Alan McGee named his massively successful record label Creation after them, and took 'Biff Bang Pow!' as the name for his own band. For this album I've gathered together all the singles and b-sides that didn't appear on the 'We Are Paintermen' album, as that record is well worth seeking out in its own right, and I've added in a few previously unreleased recordings that have since surfaced on the many retrospectives, plus a couple of live takes, in particular the full length version of 'That's How Strong My Love Is'. If you have this album plus 'We Are Paintermen', then you have everything that the band recorded in their short career, and yet they influenced so many bands that it's hard to believe that this is their entire recorded output. 

Track listing

01 Instrumental #1 (previously unreleased 1966)
02 Life Is Just Beginning (single 1967)
03 Ostrich Man (previously unreleased)
04 I'm A Man (previously unreleased live recording 1966)
05 Midway Down (single 1968)
06 The Girls Are Naked (b-side of 'Midway Down')
07 Sweet Helen (previously unreleased 1968)
08 Bonney Moroney (German single 1968)
09 Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (b-side of 'Boney Moronie')
10 Sylvette (previously unreleased full take 1966)
11 Life Is Just Beginning (longer un-orchestrated version 1967)
12 For All That I Am (German single 1968)
13 Uncle Bert (b-side of 'For All That I Am')
14 That's How Strong My Love Is (previously unreleased live recording) 
15 I Am The Walker (previously unreleased)

The Boo Radleys - Almost Nearly There (1995)

In 1996 the Boo Radleys released their fifth album 'C'mon Kids', and while the group themselves have said that their aim was to try something new in order to keep themselves fresh and interested, critics accused them of deliberately attempting to scare away the fans they'd picked up with 'Wake Up!'. Early in 1997, the band finalized an American contract with Mercury, and 'C'mon Kids' was released in March, a half a year after its initial British release. Their final album 'Kingsize' came out in 1998, with 'Free Huey!' being released as the first single. Plans were under way to issue the title track as the next single, but while these were being finalised the band decided to call it a day, and broke up in 1999, resulting in the release of 'Kingsize' being cancelled. As we've already seen from posts from Elbow, Wah!, Dodgy and (spoiler alert) The Bluetones, indie bands of the 90's treated their fans really well, with exclusive songs on the flips of nearly all of their singles, although the Boos did reign this in a bit during their later years, and the songs on their EPs seldom found their way onto their albums either. They may have only been around for eight years, but they recorded so much music that it was relatively easy to find three dozen songs that never appeared on their albums to make up this trilogy of posts from a much-missed indie band.  

   
Track listing

01 Friendship Song (b-side of 'Wake Up Boo!' 1995)
02 ...And Tomorrow The World (b-side of 'Wake Up Boo!' 1995)
03 Janus (b-side of 'Wake Up Boo!' 1995)
04 Blues For George Michael (b-side of 'Wake Up Boo!' 1995)
05 This Is Not About Me (b-side of 'It's Lulu' 1995)
06 Tambo (b-side of 'It's Lulu' 1995)
07 Donkey (b-side of 'It's Lulu' 1995)
08 From The Bench At Belvidere (single 1995)
09 Hi Falutin' (b-side of 'From The Bench At Belvidere' 1995)
10 Crushed (b-side of 'From The Bench At Belvidere')
11 Almost Nearly There (b-side of 'From The Bench At Belvidere')
12 The History Of Creation Parts 17 And 36 (b-side of 'Wake Up Boo!' 1995)

I've put 'The History Of Creation Parts 17 And 36' at the end as you'll probably only want to listen to it once. 

The cover uses a photo by Elena Jo Melanson

Audience - Indian Summer (1972)

Audience were a cult British art rock band which was formed in 1969 by Howard Werth on nylon-strung electric acoustic guitar and vocals, Keith Gemmell on alto and tenor saxophone, flute and clarinet, Trevor Williams on bass guitar and vocals, and Tony Connor on drums and vocals. They rose from the ashes of a semi-professional soul band called Lloyd Alexander Real Estate, which had included all the Audience members except Connor, and they released one single under that name in 1967, but when Werth, Williams, and Gemmell decided to form their new band, they thought of Connor. Within weeks of starting rehearsals, Audience had acquired management, a publishing contract, a residency at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, and a recording contract with Polydor, with whom they recorded their first album 'Audience', an acoustic guitar-driven album featuring Gemmell's saxophone often electrically altered to resemble an electric lead guitar and with string and horn arrangements by Andrew Pryce Jackman. The band was dissatisfied with the record company's promotional approach and temporarily moved to Switzerland to avoid involvement in proposed publicity stunts, but by the end of the year they were drawing public and journalistic acclaim for their songs, arrangements, and stage act. After the debut album came out on Polydor, Tony Stratton-Smith of Charisma Records spotted the band supporting Led Zeppelin and signed them up to his label immediately, for which they recorded three albums. Their first two records were not issued in the U.S. until Elektra signed them, when their final two albums were issued in America, and although their 1971 single 'Indian Summer' took them into the lower reaches of the U.S. charts, by this time they were exhausted and fractious, having worked virtually non-stop for three years, and Gemmell left the band in January 1972. The unfinished 'Lunch' album was completed with the help of The Rolling Stones and Mad Dogs and Englishmen brass section, Jim Price and Bobby Keys, following which they went straight back on the road with new members Nick Judd on keyboards and Pat Charles Neuberg on alto and soprano saxophone. The band never recovered from Gemmell's departure, with Williams resigning eight months later, and when Judd received an offer to join Juicy Lucy shortly afterwards, the band folded. 'House On The Hill' has long been a favourite album of mine, including a superb remake of the title track from that unsatisfactory first album, and they were one of the great unsung British progressive rock bands, so if you like the sound of this collection then do check out their albums, and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Track listing

01 Watcha Gonna Do (When Your Baby Leaves You) (single by Lloyd Alexander Real Estate 1967)
02 Gonna Live Again (b-side of 'Watcha Gonna Do (When Your Baby Leaves You)')
03 Paper Round (previously unreleased 1969)
04 The Going Song (previously unreleased 1969)
05 Troubles (previously unreleased 1969)
06 House On The Hill (original version 1969)
07 The Big Spell (b-side of Belladonna Moonshine' 1971)
08 Indian Summer (single 1971) 
09 Grief And Disbelief (previously unreleased 1972)
10 Hard Cruel World (previously unreleased 1972)
11 Elixir Of Youth (previously unreleased 1972)
12 Buy Me An Island (John Peel session 1972)
13 Trombone Gulch (John Peel session 1972)
14 Barracuda Dan (John Peel session 1972)

Little Quirks - Covers (2020)

I posted a proposed album from Australian folk trio Little Quirks at the beginning of the year as part of this series promoting new bands,and I mentioned in the notes that when they started out they used to busk at food markets, playing covers from The Cranberries, Of Monsters And Men, and Vance Joy. After they'd started to write their own songs they still liked to play covers for fun, often filming themselves and uploading the results to Youtube, and as their repertoire increased they included songs by Coldplay, Green Day, First Aid Kit, and Fleet Foxes, with the latter inspiring them to perform a stunning version of their 'White Winter Hymnal'. Loving the band as I do, I've been collecting these for some time now, and so I think it's about time that I shared some of them, so I've chosen my favourites from the twenty or so that they've uploaded and made this album. It's the perfect way to understand which bands have influenced the girls over the years, and they stamp their own mark on every one of these tracks. It's called simply 'Covers', so that I could adapt the artwork for their 'Cover My Eyes' EP in which to house it, and if you enjoyed their 'Devil's Ivy' album then you must hear this. If you haven't yet experienced this superb band then there's no better place to start, as this could be an easier introduction than just diving in to their self-penned material. 

Track listing 

01 Learn Me Right (Not With Haste) (Mumford & Sons)
02 In The End (Green Day)
03 King And Lionheart (Of Monsters And Men)
04 Hey Ya! (Outkast)
05 White Winter Hymnal (Fleet Foxes)
06 Best Day Of My Life (The American Authors)
07 Flowers In Your Hair (The Lumineers)
08 Zombie (The Cranberries)
09 Hopeless Wanderer (Mumford & Sons)
10 Stay Gold (First Aid Kit)
11 Fix You (Coldplay)
12 Accidentally In Love (Counting Crows)
13 From Afar (Vance Joy)

The Breakaways - That Boy Of Mine (1970)

The Vernons Girls were an English musical ensemble of female vocalists, put together by the Vernons football pools company, eventually settling down to a sixteen strong choir, and recording an album of standards in 1958, and issuing a string of singles throughout the early 60's. In 1962 three of the group decided to break away and form their own trio, and so Betty Prescott, Margo Quantrell and Vicki Haseman left the Vernons and called themselves The Breakaways, because that's what they had done. Heading for London, they found themselves a manager and landed a recording contract with Pye Records, but before they had a chance to record their first single they were roped in to provide backing vocals on Joe Brown and the Bruvvers' 'A Picture of You', which became a top three hit in the spring of 1962. The group’s vocal competence and adaptability soon meant that they were performing back ups for many of the top artists of the day – not just for Pye, but for a host of labels, and it is perhaps as session singers that the girls are best remembered. Their first release under their own name was a somewhat prim version of US girl group the Crystals' 'He's A Rebel', following which Prescott left the group, to be replaced by Jean Ryder. They joined Joe Brown again in the film 'Just For Fun', released in February 1963, and Haseman and Brown hit it off, later marrying and having children, including the 1980's singer Sam Brown. In November 1963 the girls were relaunched with a sexy all-in-black look to promote their new Tony Hatch-penned single 'That Boy of Mine', although for many it's the flip, a version of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich’s 'Here She Comes' which is the better recording. Quantrell followed in the wake of Wendy Richard and Billie Davis by putting in an appearance on a novelty record by Mike Sarne, 'Hello Lover Boy', but the whole group had already backed 'That Was The Week That Was' comedian Kenneth Cope on his 'Hands Off, Stop Muckin' About' 45 earlier in the year. After backing Joe Brown on a Christmas-themed EP they released their third single 'That's How It Goes' in March 1964, while in France the Vogue label issued a four-track EP consisting of all the songs from the group's second and third singles. 

In 1965 they provided backing vocals for Burt Bacharach, achieving a credit as 'and chorus' on the huge hit 'Trains And Boats And Planes', and they also sang on another of his songs 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' that same year. Displaying a somewhat curious choice of material, they issued a version of 'Danny Boy' in November 1965, but again it's the b-side that has gone on to be more highly regarded, with the Marty Wilde-penned 'Your kind Of Love' being a fan favourite. 1967 saw the release of the sumptuous 'Sacred Love' on CBS, while session work included providing the vocals for the Tony Hatch Sound’s version of Francis Lai's 'Live For Life', and the following year the group donned pink baby doll dresses to back Cliff Richard on the Royal Albert Hall stage in his bid for Eurovision glory with 'Congratulations'. Another label switch in 1968 failed to get them back in the charts, but the session work continued into the 70's, and the girls provided vocals on the Mark Wirtz Orchestra And Chorus album 'Come Back And Shake Me', with Quantrell giving a fine solo performance on 'I Can Hear Music'. They continued to work as session singers over the following years, both together and individually, and Vicki joined her husband's group 'Brown's Home Brew' in the early 70's, and also recorded as part of the Tree People and the New London Chorale, with The Breakaways formally splitting in the mid-70's. Their catalogue is quite a varied mix of Northern soul stompers, novelty records, well-chosen covers, and credited backing to singers like Russ Loader, but it's their perfect vocal harmonies for which they will always be remembered. 

Track listing

01 He's A Rebel (single 1962)
02 Hands Off, Stop Muckin' About (single by Ken Cope And The Breakaways 1963)
03 Why Am I So Shy (b-side of 'Hands Off, Stop Muckin' About')
04 That Boy Of Mine (single 1963)
05 Here She Comes (b-side of 'That Boy Of Mine')
06 All Things Bright And Beautiful (by Joe Brown & The Bruvvers with The Breakaways 1963)
07 The Holly And The Ivy (b-side of 'All Things Bright And Beautiful')
08 That's How It Goes (single 1964)
09 He Doesn't Love Me (b-side of 'That's How It Goes')
10 Danny Boy (single 1965)
11 Your Kind Of Love (b-side of 'Danny Boy')
12 Don't Go Breaking My Heart (single by Burt Bacharach with The Breakaways 1965)
13 Someone To Talk To (from the film 'Darling' 1965)
14 When Your Heart Is Broken (single by Russ Loader with The Breakaways 1965)
15 Live For Life (single by The Tony Hatch Sound with The Breakaways 1966)
16 Sacred Love (single 1967)
17 I Can Hear Music (from 'Come Back & Shake Me' by Mark Wirtz 1970)

Neu! - Neu! 4 (1986)

In 1985 Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger entered a studio together for the first time in ten years, and started recording tracks for a proposed fourth album by Neu!. The music was recorded and mixed between October 1985 and April 1986 at Grundfunk Studio and Dingerland-Lilienthal Studio in Düsseldorf, and at the Michael Rother Studio in Forst, Germany, but the sessions were not completed and the planned album was abandoned. During the 90's, the first three Neu! albums were made available on CD by Germanofon Records, a dubious label allegedly based in Luxembourg who specialized in unauthorized and illegal reissues of otherwise unavailable krautrock albums, who somehow managed to get the Neu! albums into mainstream distribution. As a response to these bootlegs, Dinger released 'Neu! 4' "in an act of despair", and railed against them in the liner notes. 'Neu! 4' was issued by the Japanese label Captain Trip Records, without Rother's input, knowledge or consent, and he only learned what had happened in a telegram congratulating him on the release of the album. This action by Dinger exacerbated the disagreements between Rother and Dinger, preventing an official CD release of the first three Neu! albums until 2001, of which part of the agreement was that all copies of 'Neu! 4' on Astralwerks in the U.S. and Grönland Records in the UK were to be recalled, and it has been out of print ever since. Despite Rother's continued objection to Dinger's original decision to release 'Neu! 4' and his oft-stated opinion that it isn't a real Neu! album, Rother had no objection to fans buying the CD secondhand, and would always leave open the possibility that it could be reissued legally with his consent in the future. Rother and Dinger did attempt to negotiate such a release after the official reissue of the first three albums, but they failed to reach an agreement, and with Dinger's death in 2008, such an agreement seemed unlikely. In early 2010, Rother announced that he had arrived at an agreement arranged with Dinger's heir, Miki Yui, and had completely remastered the album from original multi-track and master tapes to produce 'Neu! '86', which he termed 'our fourth studio album'. The new album shared several tracks in common with the original release, some of which had been edited or remixed, while others had been removed and replaced with some new pieces which were not on the original release. Both versions have their moments, but the general opinion seems to be that Rother removed a couple of tracks which really should have stayed, and edited some which didn't need it, and so by taking the best tracks from each release and sequencing them following a guide from the HeadHeritage website, here is what I hope is the definitive version of Neu!'s fourth album. The only track I've edited myself is the first one, as Rother's edit cut it down so much that it hardly seemed worth including, while the original could afford to have a couple of minutes shaved off it, and it then makes a nice intro to the album. I've created new artwork based on the original cover, which was so close to what I've come up with that I can't believe that no-one saw it at the time. 

Track listing

01 Intro (Nazionale)
02 Bush Drum
03 Crazy
04 Good Life
05 Schöne Welle (Nice Wave)
06 Wave Naturelle
07 La Bomba (Stop Aparthjid World-Wide)
08 Paradise Walk
09 Flying Dutchman
10 Danzing
11 Drive (Grundfunken)

Thanks to martinf for the suggestion