Well, the experiment is over. Guitars101 have closed my account again and so none of the links will work.

OK, here's the plan. People who can use Soulseek then carry on doing that, as it's quick and easy for the people that it works for. The blog now has it's own email address, which is in the About Me section at top right, and for anyone who can't get Soulseek to work, and didn't like leaving their email in the comments, then you can now contact me directly. I'll save the posts in batches under the date of the post, and hopefully that will make them quick and easy to forward. Let's give it a try and see how it works. 

4 Non Blondes - New America (1994)

4 Non Blondes howled their way onto the charts in 1993 with 'What's Up?' and then vanished without a whisper. Formed in 1989 with Linda Perry (vocals), Shaunna Hall (guitar), Christa Hillhouse (bass), and Wanda Day (drums), 4 Non Blondes had no problems attracting major labels based on live shows and local radio support from KUSF, but the labels didn't know how to market them. After Day was replaced by Dawn Richardson, the group was eventually signed to Interscope Records and released 'Bigger, Better, Faster, More?' in 1992, but although Hall contributed guitar tracks and some songs, she left before the album was released. Dominated by Perry's high-pitched singing, 'What's Up?' was slowly added to modern rock stations and then crossed over into the mainstream, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Top 200. The video for the song became a smash on MTV, propelling sales of the album to over six million copies worldwide. 'What's Up?' was selected as Best Song by the Bay Area Music Awards, and Perry was chosen as Best Female Vocalist, and 'Bigger, Better, Faster, More?' won for Best Album. The group toured with Neil Young, Pearl Jam, and Bob Dylan, and recorded tunes for the soundtracks to 'Wayne's World 2' and 'Airheads', however, Perry felt that the group had become too 'pop', and so she left the band, but not before they'd recorded almost enough songs for a second album, which was then shelved. Luckily the songs have leaked online, and so by adding in their soundtrack work and their contribution to a Led Zeppelin tribute album we can approximate what their second album could have sounded like if they hadn't broken up when Perry left.  

Track listing

01 Jesus
02 I'm The One
03 Knocking On My Head
04 Love Love Love / Whole Lotta Love
05 Mighty Lady
06 Mary's House
07 New America
08 Misty Mountain Hop

09 The Ladder
10 Sister Feelgood

Thanks to the stevehoffman site for the suggestion.

The Bluetones - Groovy Roussos (2003)

In 2002 the band released their fourth album 'Luxembourg', and it carried on in the style of their previous record 'Science & Nature'. 'After Hours' was released as a single, with a multitude of exclusive tracks on it's many formats, and they also recorded a number of songs for 'Luxembourg' which didn't make the final cut, and which have since surfaced on one of their singles collections. This penultimate volume includes the b-sides from the 'Mudslide' EP, the 'Luxembourg' singles, and those out-takes from the 2002 sessions. 

Track listing

01 Zero Tolerance (from the 'Mudslide EP' 2000)
02 Fock Da Brain-Hole (from the 'Mudslide EP' 2000)
03 After Hours (single 2002)
04 Reverse Cow Girl (b-side of 'After Hours' 2002)
05 Woman In Love (b-side of 'After Hours' 2002)
06 Groovy Roussos (b-side of 'After Hours' 2002)
07 Sail On Sailor (b-side of 'After Hours' 2002)
08 Ingimarsson (b-side of 'After Hours' 7" single 2002)
09 The Bluetones Big Score (previously unreleased 2002)
10 That's Life (previously unreleased 2002)
11 Freeze Dried Pop (Dumb It Up) (previously unreleased 2002)
12 Persuasion (previously unreleased 2002)
13 Move Closer (b-side of 'Fast Boy' 2003)
14 Beat On The Brat (b-side of 'Fast Boy' 2003)

Hey Bulldog - Al Lupo (2019)

Hey Bulldog are a three-piece garage rock band from Manchester, comprisong Rob Manton (guitar/vocals), Matt Parry (bass) and Ben Howarth-Lees (drums). Early single 'Al Lupo' was a garage-psych whirlwind of a song, with driving, interesting rhythms, and great guitars, and first alerted me to the band in 2018. More singles followed, all in the same garage-y vein, until the 7-minute 'No Future (Part II)' appeared in 2019, being a fabulous extended psychedelic (mostly) instrumental piece, introducing psych, blues, and rock to the mix. It is this genre blending that makes the band stand out against a sea of often repetitive bland indie that has saturated the Manchester scene in recent years, and their last single 'Death & Greed' from a year ago is their heaviest song to date. The band now have enough material for an album, and there were plans for one to be recorded last year, so while we wait for that, here's the album they could have released a year ago. 

Track listing

01 Al Lupo
02 Divide And Conquer
03 Under My Spell
04 Makin' Friends Not Millionaires
05 Numb
06 Stranger
07 No Future (Part II)
08 California
09 Death & Greed

Rick Price - The Price Is Right (1971)

Richard Price was born 10 June 1944 in Birmingham, and his first band were the Cimarrons, who were inspired by the Shadows, before moving on to the Sombreros, who later changed their name to Sight & Sound and moved in a more psychedelic direction. He began collaborating with Mike Sheridan as a songwriting partnership, and when Sheridan's Nightriders lost Roy Wood when he left them in 1966 to form The Move, Price followed him to provide bass, and stayed with the group for two years, including an unsuccessful tour of the United States. When Wood left The Move to Form Electric Light Orchestra with Jeff Lynne, Price contributed bass tracks to the early sessions for their debut album, but for reasons that are unclear none of his bass parts ended up in the final mix of the album when it was released in 1971. After leaving the Move he signed a contract with Gemini Records, and re-connecting with Mike Sheridan they recorded some songs together, which were compiled onto an album called 'This Is To Certify That', which was released in 1970. Price also recorded a solo album, 'Talking To The Flowers', in 1971, before joining former Move colleague Carl Wayne in Light Fantastic, and then forming Mongrel with future Wizzard drummers Charlie Grima and Keith Smart, leading to him re-uniting with Roy Wood when he followed Grima and Smart when they joined Wizzard. The sessions for Price's solo album produced a number of songs that weren't used, and so this collection consists of tracks that weren't considered good enough to make the final cut, and if you like these then you should check out both of the albums mentioned above, as they contain some fine late 60's pop. 

Track listing

01 Dream
02 Hey Little One
03 Take My Hand For A While
04 I Can Get Found
05 Mr Bojangles
06 Caroline
07 Turn Around
08 Love Is A Lonesome River
09 Give Me Peace
10 My Crying Time
11 Galveston
12 We Believe In Jesus
13 Top Ten Record

Well, that didn't last long. Posts still on Soulseek while I find out what's happened.

It seems that possibly I was posting so much material that the site thought it was spam, and so banned me from it. I now have my account back but they seems to have deleted all my posts, so I'm going to have to start all over again, unless they can reinstate them. Talk Talk is back for now, until I hear what they are going to do. Eventually the plan will be for all of the posts on here to be mirrored on Guitars101 with links, for the people who just can't get Soulseek to work. We'll have to see how it goes, as it will be an extremely long job transferring them all over, and it could be that I can take requests about which ones to do first.   

LATEST UPDATE

My account with Guitars101 had been approved (again) and I've managed to upload four recent posts, as that was the maximum allowed until approved. I'll get stuck in over the weekend and re-post all the ones they deleted, as it's unlikely that they will re-instate them.   

Talk Talk - A Chameleon Hour (1984)

Talk Talk began as a quartet consisting of Mark Hollis (vocals/guitar/piano), Lee Harris (drums), Paul Webb (bass guitar), and Simon Brenner (keyboards), and in their early years they were often linked to the New Romantic movement, more specifically with Duran Duran, as both bands sported a name which was a single word repeated, a Roxy Music-inspired musical direction, and shared the same record label (EMI) and producer (Colin Thurston). The band released their first single 'Mirror Man' in February 1982 to little public recognition, and this was followed by a re-recording of an old song by Hollis's previous band The Reaction, entitled 'Talk Talk', and this actally reached No.52 in the UK Charts. The band's first album 'The Party's Over' was released in July 1982, and they had their first UK Top 40 hits with the singles 'Today', and a re-release of 'Talk Talk'. Brenner left before the 1983 non-album single 'My Foolish Friend' was released in 1983, which was produced by frequent Roxy Music collaborator Rhett Davies, and this song was intended to be the first single from their second record, a concept album entitled 'A Chameleon Hour'. This would have been based on the book 'The Dice Man', but the record in its original conception was never released, although several songs, like 'Such A Shame' and 'Call In The Night Boy', did appear on their second album, and others ended up as b-sides. Hollis explained the concept of the album as being "inspired by the book 'The Dice Man', which is about decision making through dice throwing. Although they didn’t actually refer to it in the book, there's a scene when he's in a party for an hour undergoing about ten different personality changes and that idea seemed quite appropriate in terms of what we’re doing. It's a fabulous book, the idea is so appealing. I’ve just written ten times as many lyrics as I needed and thrown the dice on which ones go in. It’s ultimately wrong though, definitely immoral!". 

At this point Talk Talk was officially a trio, as Brenner was not replaced, although keyboard player Phil Ramocon, who had already played piano on the band's live shows beside Brenner, basically took up his role. However, Tim Friese-Greene was brought in to assist with the recording of 'It's My Life', and he soon became the band's producer and occasional keyboard player, as well as Hollis' frequent songwriting partner. After 'A Chameleon Hour' was abandoned, more songs were recorded and in 1984 'It's My Life' became their official second album, and with Fries-Greene on board their music became much more esoteric,with both 1986's 'The Colour Of Spring' and 1988's 'Spirit Of Eden' being rightly regarded as classic albums of the period. The band have even been credited with inventing "post-rock" in their last two albums, 'Spirit Of Eden' and 'Laughing Stock', and artists who've praised the band or cited them as an influence include Tears For Fears, Radiohead, Doves, Elbow, Shearwater, Cedric Bixler-Zavala of the Mars Volta, and Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree. Mark Hollis died on 25 February 2019, aged 64, and the obituaries from friends and fellow musicians showed the high regard in which he was held by everyone who knew or worked with him. Hopefully you'll enjoy this reconstruction of the 'A Chameleon Hour' album, as there's only a couple of songs from 'In My Life', so a lot of the material might be unfamiliar to all but the most avid fans. 

Track listing

01 Again A Game...Again

02 Call In The Night Boy

03 My Foolish Friend

04 Renée

05 Desire

06 Why Is It So Hard?

07 For What It's Worth

08 Without You

09 Such A Shame 

Thanks to the stevehoffman site for the suggestion, and to Jules for the revised opening trio of songs.  

You may notice that 'track listing' has changed colour. I'm saying no more........

Michael Jackson - Smile (1997)

In 1997 Michael Jackson recorded the Charlie Chaplin-penned classic 'Smile', for inclusion on the 'HIStory' compilation, with the intention of releasing it as a single to promote the album. The release was cancelled at the last minute, and all of the pressings of 'Smile' (both CD maxi-singles and 12" records) were withdrawn and destroyed just days before the release date, save a few that managed to escape, making this one of the rarest Jackson collectors items of all time. The Dutch 12" single (EPC 665130 6) is probably the most sought after record by Michael Jackson collectors, as a very limited number of these records briefly reached Dutch retail stores and were sold before the rest were withdrawn and destroyed by Sony. Original copies have been known to fetch up to £1,000.00 when they appear on eBay, although that is quite rarely these days. There was also a CD maxi-single, which included remixes of 'Is It Scary' which were not on the vinyl 12", and so in total there were nine tracks spread over the two releases, including a full length and short version of 'Smile', and a radio edit of 'Is It Scary', as well as five other mixes of that song. Seeking to capitalize on the rarity and incredible demand for this record, bootleggers began to reproduce counterfeit versions, flooding the marketplace with worthless (and cheap to manufacture) copies. In fact, the Smile 12" is easily the most bootlegged Michael Jackson record in the world, and the vast majority of the listings that have appeared on eBay are worthless fakes. To save you a bit of money, here are all the tracks from the two releases, with the exception of the short version of 'Smile', which just edits out the piano at the end, and with an added bonus of yet another mix of 'Is It Scary' by Deep Dish. Tracks 1 - 5 are from the 12" single and tracks 6 and 7 were exclusive to the CD maxi-single. Track 8 is the bonus remix.   

Track listing

01 Smile  
02 Is It Scary (Deep Dish Dark And Scary Remix)  
03 Is It Scary (Eddie Arroyo's Rub-A-Dub Mix) 
04 Is It Scary (Eddie Arroyo's Love Mix) 
05 Off The Wall (Junior Vasquez Remix)  
06 Is It Scary (Radio Edit)  
07 Is It Scary (Eddie Arroyo's Downtempo Groove Mix) 
08 Is It Scary (Deep Dish Double-O-Jazz Dub)  

The Bluetones - Vostok Of Love (2000)

Following the release of 'Expecting To Fly', many pundits predicted great things for the band, but their critics cited their lack of originality as a potential stumbling block, and so with the addition of Richard Payne on keyboards/guitar they attempted to make a clean break from the style of their debut. However, 'Return To The Last Chance Saloon' met with a limited success, and even more worryingly it received an indifferent commercial response. It did give the band two hit singles in 'If...' and 'Solomon Bites The Worm', and as usual the fans were treated to some new songs on the flips. Their next album 'Science & Nature' was released in 2000 and marked a more successful attempt to retool their sound, but by this point the band was playing for a small but devoted fanbase. Those fans, however, continued to be treated to previously unheard songs on the band's singles, and so this second volume collects those tracks that appeared from  1998 to 2000.  

Track listing

01 The Ballad Of Muldoon (b-side of 'Sleazy Bed Track' 1998)
02 Blue (b-side of 'Sleazy Bed Track' 1998)
03 Mr Soul (b-side of '4-Day Weekend' 1998)
04 Pretty Ballerina (b-side of '4-Day Weekend' 1998)
05 Blue Shadows (b-side of 'If...' 1998)
06 The Watchman (b-side of 'If...' 1998)
07 I Was A Teenage Jesus (b-side of 'Solomon Bites The Worm' 1998)
08 I Walked All Night (b-side of 'Solomon Bites The Worm' 1998)
09 Thought You'd Be Taller (b-side of 'Autophilia' 2000)
10 Soup Du Jour (b-side of 'Autophilia' 2000)
11 Vostok Of Love (b-side of 'Autophilia' 2000)
12 It's A Boy (b-side of 'Autophilia)
13 Armageddon (Outta Here) ft. Matt Lucas (b-side of 'Keep The Home Fires Burning' 2000)
14 Be Careful What You Dream (b-side of 'Keep The Home Fires Burning' 2000)
15 Please Stop Talking (b-side of 'Keep The Home Fires Burning' 2000)

16 The Favourite Son (b-side of 'Keep The Home Fires Burning' 2000)

Friday Brown - The Problem (1970)

For the final post in this series of forgotten girl singers of the 60's we go right back to one of the very first posts, from Friday Brown, in which I mentioned that Brown had written and recorded an unreleased concept albumin the early 70's. Although all of the songs and poems for it were written by Brown, with 'Gossip Song' having been originally created for two female voices, it was never completed or released. The album was put together by Ray at whitefiles.org, having been compiled from rough tracks and some studio quarter-inch tape masters, as well as other copies which had to be used because of damage to some of the master recordings. The concept documents the trials and tribulations that women faced in the late 60's in their personal lives and relationships, and is written completely from a female perspective, which in itself was pretty ground-breaking in 1970, so enjoy this lost album from an unjustly overlooked talent. 

Track listing

01 I Do Love You I
02 Today
03 Housework
04 Gossip Song
05 The Bathroom
06 Early Morning
07 Together
08 The Problem
09 Put Me Together
10 Simple Song - You And I
11 His Friends
12 Love Songs
13 Oh Woman
14 I Female
15 I'm Bored
16 The Anniversary
17 I Do Love You II

The Feltro Media - The Wonderful World Of The Feltro Media (1999)

I've mentioned before in both my blogs that I'm a great fan of Electric Soft Parade, and think that their 2001 album 'Holes In The Wall' is an indie classic. While researching my post of their 80's b-sides, I discovered something that I didn't know, which was that before ESP came into existence, Alex and Thomas White had formed the band The Feltro Media, and even released an album on the tiny Skye Wrecords label. Obviously I was desperate to hear it, so hunted around for a copy, and after 12 months I finally got my hands on this elusive CD. As it's so hard to find I'm posting it here so that other fans of ESP can hear what the brothers were up to before they morphed into ESP. You'll recognise early versions of some tracks from 'Holes In The Wall', but there's also a lot of otherwise great unheard material on here, so give it a try even if you're not that familiar with their later band.  

Track listing

01 There's A Silence
02 Fill The Space 

03 There's Nothing I Would Rather Do  

04 Three Sparkly Drumkits  

05 Echo In The Airport  

06 Drop The Pilot  

07 Zero Return  

08 5199  

09 Crushed  

10 It's Good To Belong  

11 Holes In The Wall  

12 The State We're In  

13 Music Box  

14 Biting The Soles Of My Feet

Levon And The Hawks - Flying High (1965)

The Hawks started out with Ronnie Hawkins as Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks, but also recorded in the studio on several occasions on their own, with Levon Helm taking the vocal duties. One of the earliest sessions took place during September 1961 with Rick Danko on bass, Levon Helm on drums and vocals, Robbie Robertson on guitar, Ronnie Hawkins on vocals and Jerry Penfound on saxophone. The sessions were produced by Henry Glover at Bell Sound Studio in New York City, and resulted in tracks like Jimmy Reed’s 'You Know I Love You', 'Further On Up the Road' and Muddy Waters' 'Nineteen Years Old', which featured Roy Buchanan on rhythm guitar. After leaving Hawkins in 1964, the group was briefly known as the Levon Helm Sextet, with sixth member sax player Jerry Penfound, and then as Levon and the Hawks after Penfound's departure. The band toured extensively, with personnel changing periodically, but by the time they next went into the studio all the members of the group that would go on to become the Band were in place. Hawkins' producer at Roulette, the legendary Henry Glover, brought them into Bell Studios in New York to record two fine Robbie Robertson originals, 'Leave Me Alone' and 'Uh Uh Uh', in the spring of 1965, and Glover released these on the Ware label in the U.S., and on Apex in Canada under the name of The Canadian Squires. In 1964 some members of the band (Robertson, Hudson and Helm) joined bassist Jimmy Lewis, a young Michael Bloomfield on piano and Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica to record an electric blues session with John Hammond Jr., which would become his Vanguard album 'So Many Roads', released at the beginning of 1965. In late 1964 to early 1965, the band recorded in the studio on a few occasions with producers Duff Roman and Henry Glover respectively, with The Roman sessions, as they became known, resulting in fine examples of early Robertson compositions such as 'Bacon Fat' and 'Robbie’s Blues'. 

In September they recorded two further Robertson originals, the soulful 'He Don’t Love You' and 'The Stones I Throw', and these were released as the first single under the Levon And The Hawks banner on the Atco label, but all this was overshadowed by their meeting Dylan in late summer of 1965. The band were recommended to him by John Hammond Jnr., who remembered them helping him out on his album, and after hearing the band play and meeting with Robertson, Dylan invited Helm and Robertson to join his backing band. After two concerts backing Dylan, Helm and Robertson told Dylan of their loyalty to their bandmates and told him that they would continue with him only if he hired all of the Hawks. Dylan accepted and invited Levon and the Hawks to tour with him. With Dylan, the Hawks played a series of concerts from September 1965 through May 1966, billed as Bob Dylan and the Band. From this point on their lives became inextricably linked with Dylan's, and Levon And The Hawks essentially ceased to exist, although in late 1968, Atco dug up another song that was recorded at the September 1965 sessions, and released 'Go Go Liza Jane' in 1968 as a Levon And The Hawks single, recycling 'He Don’t Love You' for the flip. This album collects all of the studio recordings by the band, plus a couple of live tracks, one featuring Dylan, to show just why they were considered one of the hottest bar bands in North America and Canada in the early 60's. 

Track listing

01 What A Party (recorded at Bell Sound Studio 1961)
02 Farther Up The Road (recorded at Bell Sound Studio 1961)
03 She's Nineteen (recorded at Bell Sound Studio 1961)
04 You Don't Know Me (Texas 1964)
05 Leave Me Alone (single by The Canadian Squires 1964)
06 Uh Uh Uh (b-side of 'Leave Me Alone')
07 Bacon Fat (studio recording 1965)
08 The Stones I Throw (single 1965)
09 He Don't Love You (And He'll Break Your Heart) (b-side of 'The Stones I Throw')
10 Robbie's Blues (studio recording 1965)
11 Number One (studio out-take 1965, with Bob Dylan)
12 Honky Tonk (studio recording 1965)
13 Go Go Liza Jane (single, recorded 1965, released 1968)