Albert Lee - ...and on guitar (1974)

Albert William Lee was born on 21 December 1943 Lingen, near Leominster, Herefordshire, but grew up in Blackheath, London, as a member of a Romani family. He inheritied his father's interest in music, and studied piano from the age of seven, during which time he became a fan Jerry Lee Lewis and rockabilly in general. When he was 15 he took up guitar, leaving school the following year to play music full-time, and from 1959 onwards he was with a variety of bands, playing mostly R&B, country music and rock and roll. In the early 60's he joined the stable of musicians working for manager Larry Parnes, playing behind Dickie Pride, among other stars on Parnes' roster, and his first experience of the recording studio was backing Jackie Lynton. A couple of the bands that Lee played in during this time were groups led by Mike Hurst and Neil Christian, and in both cases he replaced a departing Jimmy Page, with Ritchie Blackmore taking over from him when he left Christian to join Chris Farlowe And The Thunderbirds. He spent four years with the Thunderbirds, who became known in British musical circles as one of the best R&B bands in England, finally leaving in 1968 as he was feeling bored playing R&B, and over the next two years he passed through several bands playing behind various visiting American country stars, such as George Hamilton IV, Skeeter Davis, and Bobby Bare, and this cemented his love of country music. He passed through several groups in the late 60's, including Country Fever and Poet & The One Man Band, and after the latter's sole album was released in 1969 Lee left with Tony Colton, Ray Smith, and Pete Gavin and they formed Heads, Hands & Feet, a progressive country outfit who were England's answer to the Flying Burrito Brothers. 

It was with Heads, Hands & Feet that Lee achieved his most positive critical praise, although this didn't translate into commercial success for the band. They split up after two years, and Lee made his living as a session guitarist for the next couple of years, playing on albums by Joe Cocker, Mike d'Abo, Steve Gibbons, and David Elliott. In 1971, Lee performed with Deep Purple's keyboard player Jon Lord on the studio recording of Lord's 'Gemini Suite', as although Ritchie Blackmore had played the guitar at the first live performance of the suite in September 1970, he declined the invitation to appear on the studio version. In 1975 he was offered the chance to record a solo album with A&M Records, but a gig playing and recording with Emmylou Harris (supplying mandolin and backing vocals to her 'Luxury Liner' album, delayed the completion of his own record for a couple of years, and 'Hiding' eventually appeared in 1979. He then signed to Polydor as a solo artist, but by that time the session work was coming in fast and furious, and Lee was seemingly everywhere, playing with everyone from Jackson Browne to Bo Diddley to Herbie Mann. Lee's own solo career continued into the late 80's with 1987's 'Speechless' and 1988's 'Gagged But Not Bound' both achieving critical successes. He was also later a member of Gerry Hogan's bluegrass group Hogan's Heroes, and toured and recorded with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, but the busiest period of his career was undoubtably the early 70's, adding his distinctive country licks to a myriad of recordings, a selection of which are here for your enjoyment. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Two-Timing Baby (single by Carter-Lewis And The Southerners 1961)
02 Stormy Monday Blues (Part 2) (from 'Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds' by 

                                                                               Chris Farlowe And The Thunderbirds 1966)
03 One Long Kiss (from 'Burn Up!' by Gerry Temple 1969)
04 Ride Out On The Morning (from 'Poet And The One Man Band' by 

                                                                                           Poet And The One Man Band 1969)
05 In Our Own Sweet Time (single by The Derek Lawrence Statement 1969)
06 Marjorine (from 'With A Little Help From My Friends' by Joe Cocker 1969)
07 Woman In My Life (from 'd'Abo' by Mike D'Abo 1970)
08 Guitar (from 'Gemini Suite' by Jon Lord/London Symphony Orchestra 1971)

Disc Two
01 Alright Now (from 'Short Stories' by Steve Gibbons 1971)
02 Down To My Last Dime (from 'David Elliott' by David Elliott 1972)
03 I'm A Free Man (from 'Green Bullfrog' by Green Bullfrog 1972)
04 Falling Sky (from 'Jackson Browne (Saturate Before Using)' by Jackson Browne 1972)
05 Mellow Man (from 'Balloon' by Marc Wirtz 1973)
06 Make It With You (from 'B.J. Arnau' by B.J. Arnau 1973)
07 I Waited For You (from 'E.H. In The U.K.' by Eddie Harris 1974)
08 Jack Daniels Old No. 7 (from 'Sunset Towers' by Don Everly 1974)
09 Memphis Spoon Bread And Dover Sole (from 'London Underground' by Herbie Mann 1974)
10 Whatever Mood You're In (from 'Whatever Mood You're In' by Les Walker 1974)

If anyone has a better quality copy of 'Make It With You' that they could let me have then that would help improve this album considerably. 

DoomStarks - Swift & Changeable: The Prequel (2012)

DoomStarks is a collaboration between legendary hip-hop icons Ghostface Killah and MF DOOM, and although the all-star duo have worked together numerous times, they are yet to officially release any of their announced collaborative albums. 'Swift & Changeable' was first announced to come out around 2012, and then again in 2015, but this highly anticipated album has yet to appear. Ghostface Killah is most well-known as a prominent member of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan, and after the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of 'Enter The Wu-tang (36 Chambers)', the members went on to pursue solo careers, with Killah releasing his debut solo album 'Ironman' in 1996, and he's continued his success over the following years with critically acclaimed albums such as 'Supreme Clientele' in 2000 and 'Fishscale' in 2006. MF DOOM aka Madvillain aka Viktor Vaughn aka Metal Face, and a host of other aliases, is a rapper and producer best known for his "super villain" artist persona, complex rhyme schemes, and unique beats/obscure samples. He wears a mask similar to that of Marvel super-villain Doctor Doom (actually based on a prop mask obtained from the film 'Gladiator'), and he's released many classic hip-hop records such as 'Operation Doomsday', 'Madvillainy', and 'Mm..Food'. The two met when Ghostface Killah was on tour with Linkin Park, Korn and Snoop Doggy Dogg, and someone gave him a CD with 'Metal Fingers' written on it, but with no contact number. After enjoying what he heard, he implored his manager to find Metal Fingers, and after some searching it was discovered that Metal Fingers was yet another pseudonym for MF DOOM. Before long they were in the studio together, with DOOM laying down some beats for Killah's 'Fishscale' album, and then one thing led to another and they decided to record an album together, but although they taped a lot of songs, nothing ever came of it. Bearing in mind that Killah's first album was titled 'Ironman' and DOOM likes to dress as Doctor Doom, it's no surprise that this album sounds like a Marvel comic set to music, with Doctor Doom intent on world domination, and only Tony Stark's Iron Man able to stop him. It's housed in a stunning cover, and considering that I wouldn't say that rap/hip hop is my favourite genre, there's just something about this that I love, so here is the long-awaited full length (one hour and twelve minutes!) collaboration between these two rap giants. 

Track listing

01 Moment Of Triumph (Intro) 
02 It Ain't Nuttin'
03 Slept On Tony
04 Gazzillion Ear 
05 Clipse Of Doom (featuring Trife Da God)
06 Hold On To
07 Apollo Kids (featuring Raekwon)
08 A Personal Score (Skit) 
09 Lickupon 
10 Alex (Stolen Script)
11 Underwater 
12 Monday Night At Fluid 
13 Return Of The Iron Man 
14 Guns N' Razors
15 Vaudeville Villain
16 Belt Holders (featuring Raekwon)
17 All Outta Ale
18 9 Milli Bros. (featuring Wu-Tang Clan)
19 Dead Bent
20 I Can't Go To Sleep (featuring Isaac Hayes)
21 Marvel (featuring The RZA)

22 Celiz (featuring Mr. Chop)
23 Helpless Fools (Hurricane Mix)
24 The Mic (featuring Raekwon)
25 Beef Rapp 
26 Sniper Elite
27 Murder Goons
28 Victory Lap 
29 The Mask
30 A Word Of Advice

31 Angels (featuring Ghostface Killah) 
32 Excelsior! (Outro) (featuring Stan Lee) 

Santana - Ecuador (1978)

Some time ago a 2CD set appeared which purported to be sessions for a proposed late 70's album from Santana titled 'Ecuador', which would have been released around the same time as 'Amigos', 'Festival', 'Inner Secrets' and 'Marathon'. There is very little information available about this music, but the tracks ran the gamut from R&B to Latin to jazz, and two of the more jazz-influenced tracks, 'Oneness' and 'La Llave', later turned up in re-recorded form, with 'Oneness' becoming the title track of a 1979 Devadip album, while 'La Llave' appeared on the 'Swing Of Delight' album in 1980. The sound quality is excellent throughout, and Santana's playing is stellar, particularly on 'Love Is Here To Stay', while Greg Walker's vocals on 'I've Waited All My Life' are mesmerising. One of the best instrumentals on the disc was untitled, so I've named that 'Ecuador', as I felt that the album needed a title track, and I've removed a couple of tracks which had very little input from Santana. As 'Oneness', 'La Llave' and 'Angel Negro' were later included on official albums I've left them off as well, and that leaves a superb 46-minute album which would have fitted perfectly into the late 70's output of the band, all housed in a cover celebrating an example of Tigua art from Ecuador. 

Track listing

01 Together
02 I've Waited All My Life   
03 Cry Of The Wilderness   
04 Love Is Here To Stay   
05 Ecuador
06 God Made You (For Me)   
07 Hear My Song   
08 Life Is Just A Passing Parade   
09 I'll Be Waiting   

The Velvet Underground - Psychedelic Sounds From The Gymnasium (1967)

I thought that I had all the Velvets albums that I'd ever need, having vinyl copies of all their official releases, and numerous bootlegs, including a couple of different reconstructions of the legendary lost fourth album, but when I saw this online I just had to have it, not only for the astonishingly superb sound quality for a 1967 recording, but mainly for the fact that it included two songs that have very rarely made an appearance of the numerous bootlegs out there, namely 'I'm Not A Young Man Anymore' and 'I Guess I'm Falling In Love'. Add in an incendiary take of 'Run Run Run' and an eighteen-minute 'Sister Ray', and this album captures a moment in time of the band in their very earliest incarnation, when they were still Andy Warhol's plaything. The first track to surface from the Gymnasium tape was 'Guess I’m Falling In Love' (supposedly listed as 'Fever In My Pocket' on the original tape box), which was broadcast on WPIX FM by John Cale on June 3, 1979. After playing this version he clearly states that it is from a tape he stumbled across, saying it's from 'Gymnasium, April 1967', and you can hear that this version is different from the one that appeared on the 'And So On' album. 'Booker T.' originally appeared on John Cale's 'Paris 'S’Eveille' CDEP in 1991 and was reissued (unfortunately with 8 seconds amputated at the beginning) on the 'Peel Slowly And See' box set, but the version here is complete. This show also apparently contains the first live performance of 'Sister Ray', at the time still unreleased, and of course the highlight is the never before released 'I’m Not A Young Man Anymore'. Although this was a live concert there is a distinct lack of audience noise between the songs, so I thought that I'd edit out the tuning up between the tracks, as it's almost like a 'live in the studio' recording anyway. If Nico was at this concert, we didn’t hear a peep from her (but I left her on the cover), and if anyone wants to hear the unedited version then let me know, but you're really not missing anything.

Track listing

01 I'm Not A Young Man Anymore 
02 Guess I'm Falling In Love 
03 I'm Waiting For The Man 
04 Run Run Run 
05 Sister Ray 
06 Booker T. 

Marc Bolan - The Children Of Rarn (1970)

Ever since Marc Bolan included two snippets of 'The Children Of Rarn' on T. Rex's eponymous 1970 album, speculation has been rife about the suite that these two excerpts came from. In late 1970 there was talk that he would finally release his long-awaited concept album, and it was announced in Disc magazine that it might be broadcast on the Sounds Of The 70's radio show in early January 1971. Mickey Finn confirmed Bolan was busy writing the story, about a battle for the survival of the Earth, when it was still called Beltane, and as well as the two short pieces being used on the 'T. Rex' album, characters from the story featured in some of Bolan's other songs, such as Puretongue, The Swan King and The Lithons in 'Suneye', and Agadinmar in 'Dragon's Ear'. However, in December 1970 Bolan admitted to journalist Nick Logan that he'd put the album on hold, and he'd moved on to other projects, although nine months later, in October 1971, he did perform an impromptu acoustic version of the suite at producer Tony Visconti's flat, featuring nine songs, and linked by some spoken passages. Some years later Visconti overdubbed extra instruments and orchestration onto the 15-minute demo, fleshing out the music to sound like actual studio recordings, and this was released on the 1978 album 'Words & Music'. The raw demo recording was finally included on the deluxe re-issue of the 'T. Rex' album in 2014, and so we now have access to both versions of the suite. I've always wanted to hear this piece of music, and so I took the overdubbed version and split it into the individual tracks, giving them titles at the same time, and then selected some of his other songs which might have been included had the project ever come to fruition to add to them. As characters from '...Rarn' were included in 'Suneye' and 'Dragon's Ear' then they are obvious contenders, and the general consensus among fans is that 'The King Of The Mountain Cometh' and 'Beltane Walk' might have appeared as well. There is a demo online titled 'The Book Of Agadinmar', which includes demos of 'Evenings Of Damask' and 'Diamond Meadows', and they sounded like they belonged so I've included them as well. 

The story would therefore centre around the mystical Children of Rarn, who lived on Beltane and enjoyed a utopian life, playing in the diamond meadows in the warm damask evenings. These Peaceling's lives were looked after by the Priests and the Elders, and everything was idyllic, until one day the The Elders warned that enemies were gathering. The people prayed to the god Rarn for guidance, while the Priests summoned the Tree Wizard, The Swan King, Pure Tongue and The Ancient One to help them. The Dworn invaded, and despite a valiant effort to defend themselves the battle did not go well, and so Agadinmar prayed to the god Rarn for victory over their foe, and with help from the King Of The Mountain and his army of Trolls and Lithons, they defeated their enemy. Following their triumph, the Priests changed the name of their home from "Beltane" to "Earth", and the Children Of Rarn were no longer Peacelings but had become "men". While the trolls feasted on the remains of the Dworn, the animals and the Children of Rarn left through a mystical gate, and once all the beasts had departed, the age of the dinosaurs began. For this album I've equalised the bass and treble so that the demo recordings and the other songs are a better match soncially, and I've used the raw demo versions of the spoken passages as they are much clearer. I've also segued some tracks into others so that the suite runs as one long piece of music, and while I may not have understood the story perfectly, I think I've got the gist of it from the lyrics and the spoken passages. Some fans also think that 'Ride A White Swan' would have been part of the suite, but I couldn't really see where it would have fitted in, other than slotted in after a fleeting mention of the Swan King, so I've just added the BBC session take of it to close the album, as even with 16 tracks it's still quite short. If anyone has any other insights to add then I'd love to hear them, as this legendary album has always been shrouded in mystery, so it would be great to find out more about it.   

Track listing

01 The Children Of Rarn: Intro
02 Evenings Of Damask
03 Diamond Meadows
04 The Enemy Gathers
05 The Priests Of Rarn
06 The Elders Of Rarn
07 A Paeon To Rarn
08 Suneye
09 The Enemy Cometh
10 A Prayer For Victory
11 The King Of The Mountain Cometh
12 Dragon's Ear
13 Beltane Walk
14 Agadinmar's Triumph
15 The Children Of Rarn (Reprise)
16 Ride A White Swan

The folder also includes a complete transcript of the lyrics of the original 15-minute suite, and the cover is adapted from Catherine Lambert's 'Beltane' album, as it fitted the concept perfectly.

Lowell George - ...and on guitar (1977)

Lowell Thomas George was born in Hollywood, California, on 13 April 1945, and his first instrument was the harmonica, appearing at the age of six on Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour performing a duet with his older brother, Hampton. As a student at Hollywood High School he took up the flute in the school marching band and orchestra, and had already started to play Hampton's acoustic guitar at age 11, progressing to the electric guitar by his high school years, and later learning to play the saxophone, shakuhachi and sitar. During this period he viewed the teen idol-oriented rock and roll of the era with contempt, instead favoring West Coast jazz and the soul jazz of Les McCann and Mose Allison. Initially funded by the sale of his grandfather's stock, George's first band The Factory formed in 1965 and released at least one single on the Uni Records label, the George co-write 'Smile, Let Your Life Begin'. Members included future Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward (who replaced Dallas Taylor in September 1966), Martin Kibbee (a.k.a. Fred Martin) who would later co-write several Little Feat songs with George, including 'Dixie Chicken' and 'Rock And Roll Doctor', and Warren Klein on guitar, with Frank Zappa producing two tracks for the band which were left unreleased at the time. When The Factory broke up George briefly played in The Standells, before joining Zappa's Mothers Of Invention as rhythm guitarist and nominal lead vocalist, playing on 'Weasels Ripped My Flesh' and 'Burnt Weeny Sandwich', and during this period he absorbed Zappa's autocratic leadership style and avant garde-influenced compositional methods. In 1969 he earned his first co-production credit on The GTO's 'Permanent Damage' album, and later that year he left The Mothers Of Invention under nebulous circumstances, enticing fellow musicians Roy Estrada (bass), Bill Payne (keyboards), and Richie Hayward (drums) to jump ship with him and form a new band that he named Little Feat. George mostly played lead guitar, but focused on slide guitar, although he had to get Ry Cooder to play the slide on 'Willin'' on their debut album after George badly injured his hand while working on a powered model airplane. Neither 'Little Feat' nor it's follow-up 'Sailin' Shoes' were commercially successful, leading to Estrada leaving the band in 1972 to join Captain Beefheart's Magic Band, and he was replaced on bass by Kenny Gradney. 

In addition, the band expanded to a sextet by adding Paul Barrere as second guitarist, thus cementing the classic line-up that took on a New Orleans funk direction with their next album, 1973's 'Dixie Chicken'. While recording and releasing this now-classic trio of albums, George was in demand as a session slide guitar player, adding his distinctive licks to albums from artists such as Nilsson, Carly Simon, Barbara Keith, Van Dyke Parks, and John Cale. Further Little Feat albums followed in the mid 70's including 'Feats Don't Fail Me Now' in 1974 and 'The Last Record Album' in 1975, and 1976 was a particularly busy year for George's session work, appearing on albums by John David Souther, Jackson Browne, and Kate and Anna McGarrigle, among others. In 1978 the band recorded their best-selling album, the live 'Waiting For Columbus', but tensions within the group, especially between George, Payne, and Barrere led to the latter pair's departure in 1979, leading to the break-up of Little Feat after the release of their 'Down On The Farm' album. George released his only solo album 'Thanks, I'll Eat It Here' in 1979, and carried on with his session work, but the early 70's were busiest for him, with enough guest appearances between 1970 and 1977 alone to fill three discs in this series. George led an overindulgent lifestyle of binge eating, alcoholism and drug-taking, becoming morbidly obese in the last years of his life, and on 29 June 1979 he collapsed and died of a heart attack, brought on by an accidental cocaine overdose, in his Arlington, Virginia, hotel room. He was just 34, but in his unjustly short life he produced some of the best US rock music ever made, with Little Feat gaining more appreciation after his death than they ever did before it, and his many contributions to records by his fellow musicians stand as a testament to his skill on his beloved slide guitar.   

Track listing

Disc One
01 Do Me In Once And I'll Be Sad, Do Me In Twice And I'll Know Better (Circular Circulation)

                                                                        (from 'Permanent Damage' by The GTO's 1969)
02 Dream Goin' By (from 'Moments' by Judy Mayhan 1970)
03 Memo From Turner (from the soundtrack from the film 'Performance' 1970)
04 Grand Illusion (from 'The Ice Cream Man' by Ivan Ulz 1970)
05 Sylvie (unreleased track from Country 1970)
06 Somebody's Gone (from 'No Apologies' by Nolan Porter 1971)
07 Detroit Or Buffalo (from 'Barbara Keith' by Barbara Keith 1972)
08 FDR In Trinidad (from 'Discover America' by Van Dyke Parks 1972)
09 Take 54 (from 'Son Of Schmilsson' by Nilsson 1972)
10 Waited So Long (from 'No Secrets' by Carly Simon 1972)
11 San Francisco Song (from 'Tret Fure' by Tret Fure 1973)
12 Macbeth (from 'Paris 1919' by John Cale 1973)

Disc Two
01 Gengis (from 'The Master' by Chico Hamilton' 1973)
02 I Feel The Same (from 'Takin' My Time' by Bonnie Raitt 1973)
03 Sayonara America Sayonara Nippon (from 'Happy End' by Happy End 1973)
04 Cannibal Forest (from 'Amazing' by Kathy Dalton 1973)
05 Everybody Slides (from 'Blues & Bluegrass' by Mike Auldridge 1974)
06 Let's Burn Down The Cornfield (from 'Come A Little Closer' by Etta James 1974)
07 Face Of Appalachia (from 'Tarzana Kid' by John Sebastian 1974)
08 Gringo En Mixico (from 'Waitress In A Donut Shop' by Maria Muldaur 1974)
09 Monkey Grip Glue (from 'Monkey Grip' by Bill Wyman 1974)
10 Just Kissed My Baby (from 'Rejuvenation' by The Meters 1974)

Disc Three
01 How Much Fun (from 'Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley' by Robert Palmer 1974)
02 Angry Blues (from 'Gorilla' by James Taylor 1975)
03 Roll Um Easy (from 'Prisoner In Disguise' by Linda Ronstadt 1975)
04 May You Never (from 'Not A Little Girl Anymore' by Linda Lewis 1975)
05 Midnight Prowl (from 'Black Rose' by John David Souther 1976)
06 Travelling On For Jesus (from 'Kate & Anna McGarrigle' by Kate & Anna McGarrigle 1976)
07 Denwasen (from 'Japanese Girl' by Akiko Yano 1976)
08 Your Bright Baby Blues (from 'The Pretender' by Jackson Browne 1976)
09 Catfish (from 'Lasso From El Paso' by Kinky Friedman 1976)
10 If I Lose (from 'Sandman' by Herb Pedersen 1977)
11 Dance To The Radio (from 'El Mirage' by Jimmy Webb 1977)

Many thanks to Bonita for suggesting George as a candidate for the series, as I wouldn't have thought that he'd played on many songs from other artists, but this has turned out to be a superb three disc set of his extra-curricular work.  

Various Artists - Sound Chaser (2020)

A passing comment by Leo has inspired this post, as he mentioned that he likes some of the modern neo-prog bands such as The Flower Kings, Mostly Autumn and Spock's Beard, and they are also some of my own favourites, to which I would add Transatlantic and Dream Theater. A lot of these bands love to cover classic progressive rock songs of the 70's, either live or as bonus tracks on their albums, with Transatlantic in particular loving their prog covers, having played songs by Procol Harum (including the full 17 minutes of 'In Held ('Twas) In I'), Santana, Focus and Genesis as bonuses on their albums. Neal Morse's previous band Spock's Beard were also partial to the odd cover, and one band that they both loved was Yes. Spock's Beard covered 'South Side Of The Sky' on the bonus disc of their 'Snow' box set, and if you haven't heard their 'Snow' album then you really don't know what you're missing. When Morse left Spock's Beard and formed Transatlantic with Swedish guitarist Roine Stolt (ex Flower Kings), bassist Pete Trewavas (ex Marillion), and drummer Mike Portnoy (ex Dream Theater), he took his love of Yes with him, with Transatlantic covering 'And You And I' for the bonus disc of their 'Kaleidoscope' album. Dream Theater are famous for covering whole albums for official bootlegs for their fans, like 'Dark Side Of The Moon'. 'Number Of The Beast', 'Master Of Puppets', and 'Made In Japan', and so a Yes cover was always on the cards, and they delivered a stunning take on 'Heart Of The Sunrise' on their 'Uncovered' official bootleg. Stanley Snail are another fine neo-prog band, featuring drummer Nick D'Virgillo from Spock's Beard/Big Big Train, and they covered 'Siberian Khatru' for a Yes tribute album from 1995, and it's such a good version that it really deserves a bigger audience. Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess has released a number of solo albums, and on 2007's 'The Road Home' he included an extended cover of 'Sound Chaser', which is well worth hearing, and while The Luck Of Eden Hall might not be as well-known as some of these bands, they are an excellent modern prog band, and gifted an 18-minute version of 'Starship Trooper' for the truly outstanding 'Side Effects' box-set, which was issued by the Fruits De Mer label in 2018. It was a four disc coloured vinyl box-set, with artists like The Bevis Frond, Sendelica, The Soft Bombs and Julie's Haircut each covering a song that takes up one whole side of the vinyl. I pre-ordered my copy to ensure that I didn't miss out, and it sold out on the day of release, so hard luck if you want a copy. I really wanted to include something by The Flower Kings, but they only ever covered 'Soon' from 'Relayer' in concert, and it wasn't that great a recording, but in searching for that I stumbled on a Yes tribute band called Awaken, who have covered one of my favourite Yes songs 'The Gates Of Delirium', and as it takes real guts to tackle that and record the whole 22-minute song live in one take then they deserve to close the album with it. If you are impressed by their recording then you can watch them tape it on their Youtube video, and so what we have here are seven of my favourite Yes songs covered by some of my favourite neo-prog bands, on a 90-minute album of some of the best progressive rock ever made. 

Track listing

01 Heart Of The Sunrise
02 Siberian Khatru
03 South Side Of The Sky
04 And You And I
05 Sound Chaser
06 Starship Trooper
07 The Gates Of Delirium

Madonna - Background Music (2000)

After the critical and commercial success of her 1998 album 'Ray Of Light', Madonna intended to embark on a new concert tour the following year, but due to the delay of her film 'The Next Best Thing', which she started filming in April 1999, the tour was cancelled. By 2000, she was pregnant with her son Rocco, from her relationship with director Guy Ritchie, and wanting to distract herself from the media frenzy surrounding this news, she concentrated on the development of her eighth studio album, to be called 'Music'. Buoyed by the commercial success of her previous album, she was keen on getting back to the studio to record new music, and although she was keen to continue to work with William Orbit, his production style had become somewhat ubiquitous, and so she needed to find a distinctive sound within a market dominated by Britney Spears and Christine Aguilera. She was then introduced to French DJ and producer Mirwais Ahmadzaï, and she instantly liked his pitch-shifting, pulverizing rhythms and his utilization of acid bass in his songs. Madonna approached British house DJ Sasha to work on writing new material together for the album, and recording sessions began in January 2000 at Sarm West and East Studios in London. The sessions went well, and about twenty tracks were taped, with ten of them being selected for the standard issue of the album. On 22 August 2000, a month before the album's official release, all tracks from 'Music' were leaked online through Napster, and it was finally officially released on 18 September 2000 by Maverick Records in the United Kingdom, and worldwide the next day. 'Music' received critical acclaim from music critics, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praising the album's layered music and described Madonna's collaboration with Mirwais as the reason why the album "comes alive with spark and style". The songs which didn't make the cut for the album were put to one side, and eventually they found their way onto bootleg albums, including a cover of ABBA's  'Like An Angel Passing Through My Room', and two versions of 'Little Girl', one under that title, and a later recording as 'La Petite Jeune Fille' with similar lyrics, but as an up-tempo dance song. 'Liquid Love', 'Mysore Smile' and 'Run' were written and produced with William Orbit, as was 'Arioso', which in classical music is a type of solo vocal piece, and it was based on a Johann Sebastian Bach cantata. Around the same time as the 'Music' sessions, Madonna recorded 'Time Stood Still' for the film soundtrack of her film 'The Next Big Thing', and it was also released as a single, so I've added the extended version to this post, alongside a demo instrumental entitled 'Baby Blue Jay', which I thought sounded pretty good as it was without lyrics, to make a great 41-minute album of rarities, any one of which could easily have been included on the 'Music' album. 

Track listing 

01 Liquid Love
02 Like An Angel Passing Through My Room  
03 Baby Blue Jay
04 Little Girl
05 Run
06 Arioso
07 Mysore Smile
08 Time Stood Still
09 Le Petite Leune Fille

The Orchids - Love Hit Me (1965)

While the female singers and girl groups on the British recording scene of the 1960's were typically in their late teens or early twenties, The Orchids were 14 year-old schoolgirls when they made their first record. Georgina Oliver, Pamela Jarman and Valerie Jones were in the same class at Stoke Park Grammar School For Girls in Coventry, where they used to get together in break times to sing the hits of the day together, and they often went dancing together on Saturday afternoons at the Locarno Ballroom in the central precinct, and later at the Orchid Ballroom in Primrose Hill Street. One day, having gone alone for once, Pam horrified the others by announcing she had entered them all into a talent contest at the Orchid, and they won the competition, singing Motown and Spector songs, and they shared the prize money of one pound sterling. Larry Page, then manager of the Orchid Ballroom, gave them the name The Orchids after the name of his ballroom, and this former pop singer would go on to achieve greater fame later, most notably as manager of the Kinks. Contracted to Decca and assigned in the studio to producer Shel Talmy, their first appearance on vinyl was as backing vocalists for 'School Is In' by Johnny B. Great and the Goodmen, with their own debut quickly following, and 'Gonna Make Him Mine' was an exuberant and upbeat offering with a sound that was a blend of UK beat and US girl group, with the Shel Talmy original 'Stay At Home' on the flip. The trio's schoolgirl status was relentlessly exploited, and their first publicity pics required them to wear school uniforms, much to their mortification. 

The follow-up single 'Love Hit Me' went for the full Spector treatment, leading to a "Britain's answer to the Crystals" tag, and they appeared on 'Ready Steady Go!' to promote its release, as well as making an appearance on the children's show 'Five O'clock Club'. Mike D'Abo's first group A Band Of Angels (coincidentally, see last week's post) was also on the bill and there was a running gag between them and The Orchids that they couldn't stand each other, with D'Abo loudly complaining to hostess Muriel Young, "They're nothing but a bunch of schoolgirls!" as the girls brushed past him to the mikes. Their next single was a cover of Ray Davies' 'I've Got That Feeling', with 'Larry' on the b-side, and this wasn't a tribute to Larry Page but a cover of an American song written by the 'Bobby's Girl' duo of Hoffman and Klein. One last single was recorded, but 'Oo-Chang-A-Lang' was only issued in the US, and it had to be under the name of The Blue Orchids to avoid confusion with sundry other Orchids in the USA. As well as their TV appearances, the group appeared in the 1964 pop movie 'Just For You', singing 'Mr. Scrooge', and they also appeared in a comic-strip story in an issue of Judy, the popular girls' weekly. In 1965 they were finally allowed a change of image and the group was relaunched as The Exceptions, releasing just one single with 'What More Do You Want' on the A-side, and a Georgina Oliver original on the flip with 'Soldier Boy'. The girls have mentioned that they recorded a number of other songs, including some with Bert Berns, but none have ever come to light, and so the total output from the group was just these four singles, but they are remembered due to a combination of factors: their image, their sound, their association with Talmy, Page, Berns, and Oldham , and their standing as a rare example of a true British teenage girl group. An article on the girls in this month's Record Collector ended with a plea for a retrospective album, and so here it is, although obviously it's a short one at just 23 minutes, but it's full of great 60's pop and soul. 

Track listing

01 Gonna Make Him Mine (single 1963)
02 Stay At Home (b-side of 'Gonna Make Him Mine')
03 Love Hit Me (single 1963)
04 Don't Make Me Mad (b-side of 'Love Hit Me')
05 Mr. Scrooge (from the soundtrack of the film 'Just For You' 1964)
06 I've Got That Feeling (single 1964)
07 Larry (b-side of 'I've Got That Feeling')
08 Oo-Chang-A-Lang (single 1964)
09 What More Do You Want (single as The Exceptions 1965)
10 Soldier Boy (b-side of 'What More Do You Want')

Jimi Hendrix - Mosaic (1970)

Just when I thought that I had every Hendrix out-take out there on the many, many bootlegs that I have, a couple of new multi-CD sets turn up, which include stuff that I hadn't heard before. The 'Black Gold' 5CD set includes a number of out-takes and alternate versions of tracks recorded around 1970, with quite a few of them being different takes of 'Electric Ladyland' songs, but it also features a jam with Stevie Wonder on 'I Was Made To Love Her', a new song to me called 'Honey Bed', and two takes of a title that I didn't recognise called 'Pride Of Man'. The other box set was the 6CD 'Astro Man' collection, which consists of 3 CDs of studio recordings and three live discs, with the studio discs including alternate takes and mixes of songs as old as 'Purple Haze' and '51st Anniversary', and quite a few from the 'Cry Of Love' period. This set also included some tracks with titles new to me, such as 'Highway Of Broken Dreams', 'La Pouppee Qui Fait Non', 'World Traveller', and 'Too Bad', the last two with organist Larry Young. It could be that these were just already released tracks with new titles, and that actually proved to be the case with 'Pride Of Man', as you can see from the notes that accompanied the 'Black Gold' set, and as they had some interesting insights, I'm repeating them here. 'I Was Made To Love Her' was recorded on 06 October 1967 at the Playhouse Theatre, London, with Stevie Wonder playing the drums and Noel Redding on bass. There are no vocals, but faintly you can hear someone, possibly Wonder, singing verses from 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg', which I split off to make a new track, and Hendrix lays down some nice licks on both of them. 'South Saturn Delta' is just Hendrix solo on guitar, with no other accompaniment, unfettered by the horns and everything else you hear on the 'Lifelines' albums, and utilising some very effective stereo separation. 'Midnight, Valleys Of Neptune Arising' was recorded on 03 April 1969 with Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox, and a couple of the takes sound just like the 'Pride Of Man' out-takes, and so that is why I didn't recognise that title, as it turns out that it's just one segment of the afore-mentioned 'Neptune...'. 'Sending My Love To Linda' comes from 21 April 1969, and is an instrumental take of the song which has appeared on other bootlegs with vocals. It's unlike the version on 'Lifelines', which besides having vocals, has a much more restrained guitar sound, with this version sounding much heavier at times, and I extracted the best version from the three takes on the CD. 'Blues Suede Shoes' was taped on 23 January 1970, and is a great studio version of the live track from 'In The West' album, while 'Honey Bed' hails from 10 September 1969, or possibly 23 December 1969, depending on who you believe, and I've taken the best parts from the five incomplete takes to make one good version of the song. Not much information about 'The Things I Used To Do', other than it was recorded some time in 1969, and is an edited version of the fourth vocal take of an unreleased track. So from these two multi-CD box sets I've managed to extract nine songs which I didn't already have, and with some judicious editing here and there it gives me a 51-minute album, which was perfect. I've wanted to use the mosaic of Hendrix's face that was created with guitar picks for some time, and I thought that this was the ideal album for it, and as this is a random collection of different recordings, I've also titled it 'Mosaic', as that seemed to fit. 

    
Track listing

01 The Things I Used To Do
02 Honey Bed
03 Blue Suede Shoes
04 Midnight, Valleys Of Neptune Arising
05 World Traveller
06 South Saturn Delta
07 Too Bad
08 Ain't Too Proud To Beg
09 Sending My Love To Linda

Bill Bailey - Parodies Lost (2021) UPDATE

Just playing this again and I noticed that the split between 'Leg Of Time' and 'Duelling Sitars' was in the wrong place, so have now fixed that. If you play the album in one go you wouldn't even notice, but if you prefer the tracks split correctly then just download those two again and replace the ones in your folder.

Bernie Marsden - ...and on guitar (2003)

Bernard John Marsden was born on 7 May 1951 in Buckingham, England, and was inspired to play the guitar as a teenager by such authentic blues players as Howling Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. He later picked up on such 60's white blues players as Peter Green, Eric Clapton, and Jeff Beck, and after playing with local Buckingham based groups, he formed Skinny Cat at the age of 17. After playing with them for a while, he got his first professional gig with UFO in 1972, but he left after recording some demos with Dave Edmunds at Rockfield Studios, as the rest of the group wanted German guitarist Michael Schenker in the band, who had actually been recommended by Marsden to the other members of UFO. He then joined Juicy Lucy, but once again was ejected before he could record an album with them, following which he played with Glenn Cornick's Wild Turkey in 1973, before he joined drummer Cozy Powell's band Cozy Powell's Hammer, playing on the band's hit single 'Na Na Na' in 1974. Babe Ruth were next in 1975, and he finally managed to record an album with one of his bands, playing on two releases for Capitol Records with 'Stealin' Home' in 1975, and 'Kid's Stuff' in 1976. During his time with Babe Ruth, Cozy Powell recommended him to Jon Lord who was forming a post Deep Purple outfit with Ian Paice and Tony Ashton called Paice Ashton Lord, and Marsden joined the band, along with bassist Paul Martinez, in time to record their 'Malice In Wonderland' album in 1976. While with Paice Ashton Lord he worked alongside saxophonist Howie Casey, who recommended him to Paul McCartney as a replacement for Henry McCulloch in Wings, but the offer never materialised, as after Paice Ashton Lord folded following the release of their sole album, Marsden formed a new band with former Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale and guitarist Micky Moody. They started as David Coverdale's Whitesnake, which then became Whitesnake, and Marsden played on their debut EP, their first five studio albums and a live record between 1978 and 1980, co-writing many of the songs with Coverdale, and sometimes Moody. Following his departure from Whitesnake, he formed a short-lived band called Bernie Marsden's SOS, and then not long afterwards he put together Alaska, with Robert Hawthorne on vocals and Richard Bailey on keyboards, releasing two melodic rock albums, 'Heart Of The Storm' in 1984 and 'The Pack' in 1985, before splitting up. In 1986 he formed MGM with former Whitesnake members Neil Murray and his replacement guitarist in Whitesnake Mel Galley, with the band also briefly including former Toto vocalist Bobby Kimball, and while recordings were made they remain unreleased. In 1988 he wrote the song 'South Africa', which was recorded by Ian Gillan and released as a single, and in 1989 he reunited with Whitesnake guitarist Moody to form The Moody Marsden band, recording the acoustic live album 'Live In Hell' in Norway, and an electric live album in England titled 'Never Turn Our Back On The Blues', before releasing their one studio album 'Real Faith' in 1994. Marsden released two solo albums during his time in Whitesnake, and has continued to record and release albums right up to date, with his 'Kings' album coming out a few months ago, and with this post you can hear how he filled his spare time by appearing on a wide variety of albums from other artists throughout his early years.  

Track listing

01 Reality In Arrears (from 'You & Me' by Chick Churchill 1973)
02 Suzanne (from 'Journey's End' by Matthew Fisher 1973)
03 Oh My (Rockfield Studios demo for UFO 1973)
04 Na Na Na (single by Cozy Powell's Hammer 1974)
05 Some Kind Of Beautiful (from 'Jumble Queen' by Bridget St John 1974)
06 The City (from 'Why' by K2 1980)
07 Chance On A Feeling (from 'Before I Forget' by Jon Lord 1982)
08 Head The Ball (from 'Guitar Speak II' 1988)
09 South Africa (single by Gillan 1988)
10 In A Perfect World (from 'Forcefield IV: Let the Wild Run Free' by Forcefield 1991)
11 Check Me Out (from the soundtrack of the TV series 'Frankie' 1995)
12 A Woman Like That (from the soundtrack of the film 'Still Crazy' 1998)
13 Als God Geen Vrouw Is Mam (from 'Pop Model' by Mama's Jasje 2000)
14 On Common Ground (from 'I Eat Them For Breakfast' by Micky Moody 2002)
15 Lady Starlight (from 'Freak Out!' by Chris Catena 2003)

Bill Bailey - Parodies Lost (2021)

I've mentioned before on the blog that, as well as being passionate about music, I also love comedy, and have posted the odd thing here and there from Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, Ricky Gervais, and Monty Python. One of my favourite stand-ups of the last 15 years has been Bill Bailey, and not only because he's a great comic, but also because he's a brilliant musician, able to play a multitude of instruments, and to knock off a pin-sharp musical parody at the drop of a hat. I decided to collect some of my favourite pieces from his various DVD's and to segue them together into a 35-minute 'live concert', and so that's what we have here. The songs vary from unnervingly accurate take-offs of particular artists like Tom Waits, Kraftwerk, and Portishead, to usurping whole genres, such as country music (and the evils thereof), emo, prog rock, and Adele-style confessionals. He then rounds it all off with such flights of fancy as a dub reggae version of the 'Downton Abbey' theme, an instrumental based on a mobile ringtone, the BBC News theme as an acid-house rave tune, and the wisdom of George W Bush set to a drum 'n' bass backing. If you like these, and you certainly should, then the videos for most of them are on Youtube, along with excerpts from his stand-up routines, so do check them out after you've enjoyed this 'live concert' from the always inventive Bill Bailey.   

Track listing

01 Insect Nation
02 I'm Going to Kill You So I Can Ignore You In Heaven (The Evils Of Country Music)
03 Theme from Downton Abbey (Dub Reggae Version)
04 BBC News Rave
05 Leg Of Time
06 Duelling Sitars
07 Zippedee Do Dah by Portishead
08 Oblivion (The Emo Song)
09 Ring Tone Symphony
10 Old MacDonald by Tom Waits
11 Das Hokey Cokey by Kraftwerk
12 You Left Me, But I'm Not Gonna Go On About It (Song for Adele)
13 Drum 'n' Bush
14 Love Song