Various Artists - The Cinema Show (2013)

The recent neo-prog tribute album to Yes seemed to go down pretty well, so the obvious follow-up is a similar tribute to Genesis. As with Yes, my favourite albums are the Charisma ones from the early 70's, and this album concentrates on those, picking some of the classic songs from 1970 to 1973, and letting some modern neo-prog bands loose on them. The Flower Kings make an appearance this time, which is great as they are one of the best of the bunch, and they tackle the title track with some relish. In 2010 Genesis were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, and as part of the celebrations Phish performed a live version of 'Watcher Of The Skies', which went down a storm. Chaneton are an Argentinian prog-rock band formed by Alex Chaneton, who are heavily influenced by Genesis, and who have covered some of their songs on their albums, so I've picked 'Eleventh Earl Of Mar' as one of their best. Ex-Gong supremo Daevid Allen joined space-rock band Solid Space and contributed their version of 'Visions Of Angels' for a 1998 tribute album, as did Evolution for a similar record in 1996, and Over The Garden Wall in 1995, and these are the best examples from their respective albums. Neil Morse and Roine Stolt's Transatlantic love their progressive rock, and have covered many classic tracks on bonus discs of their albums, and they included a great cover of 'The Return Of The Giant Hogweed' on the extras disc that came with the special edition of 'The Whirlwind', while The Samurai Of Prog included a great cover of 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight' on his 2013 album 'Secrets Of Disguise'. Like the Yes post, we close the album with a live recording by a band who aren't afraid to tackle a 24-minute track and record it live in one take, with Nursery Cryme's cover of the classic 'Supper's Ready'. You can hear the love and respect that these bands have for Genesis, and so enjoy an hour and a half of classic prog-rock by some of their biggest fans.   

Track listing

01 Firth Of Fifth (Over The Garden Wall)
02 Watcher Of The Skies (Phish)
03 Eleventh Earl Of Mar (Chaneton)
04 Visions Of Angels (Daevid Allen & Solid Space)
05 The Return Of The Giant Hogweed (Transatlantic)
06 White Mountain (Evolution)
07 Dancing With The Moonlit Knight (The Samurai Of Prog)
08 The Cinema Show (The Flower Kings)
09 Supper's Ready (Nursery Cryme)
 

The cover is from a brilliant collage by Paul Whitehead, which includes figures from just the four albums that these songs come from, and so was perfect for the post.

Savoy Brown - Taste And Try (1981)

Savoy Brown Blues Band were formed by guitarist Kim Simmonds and harmonica player John O'Leary, following a chance meeting at Transat Imports record shop in Lisle Street, Soho, in 1965. Their name was a combination of the American blues label, Savoy Records, as they thought the word 'Savoy' sounded elegant, and to contrast this they chose the extremely plain Brown as the other half, adding Blues Band to tell listeners what they played. The original line-up included singer Brice Portius, keyboardist Trevor Jeavons, bassist Ray Chappell, drummer Leo Manning and harmonica player John O'Leary, but Jeavons was replaced by Bob Hall shortly after the band's formation, and Martin Stone was added on guitar. Not long after Stone's arrival, O'Leary left the band as a consequence of a dispute with manager Harry Simmonds, and it was this line-up which recorded the band's 1967 debut album 'Shake Down'. It was a superb collection of blues covers, and established the group at the forefront of the blues/r'n'b scene. Further line-up changes ensued, with founding members Portius, Chappell and Manning departing along with recently recruited guitarist Stone over a short period of time, and they were replaced by vocalist Chris Youlden and "Lonesome" Dave Peverett on second guitar. With the addition of drummer Roger Earl, this line-up recorded two albums in 1968, 'Getting To The Point' which came out that year, and 'Blue Matter' which was released in 1969. Both of these included much more original material, and further albums in that vein followed, with 1969's 'A Step Further' and 1970's 'Raw Sienna'. cementing their place in the late 60's blues boom, and breaking them in the States at the same time. 

Following the release of 'Raw Sienna' Youlden left the band, and they recorded their next album 'Looking In' as a four-piece, after which Peverett, Stevens, and Earl left to form Foghat with guitarist Rod Price. Simmonds recruited Dave Walker on vocals, Paul Raymond on keyboards and guitars, Andy Silvester on bass, and Dave Bidwell on drums, most of whom had just left Chicken Shack, and released 'Street Corner Talking' in 1971. Despite their continued success at home, superstardom perpetually evaded them, perhaps in part because of their frequent line-up changes, but despite this their 1972 album 'Hellbound Train' was a Top 40 album for them in the US. In the late 1970's there were more line-up changes, but for most people the glory days of the band were behind them, and despite releasing many more albums for their loyal followers, the group never had the same success. In 1981 they had a surprise hit single with a cover of 70's popsters Smokie's 'Run To Me', and it became the band's highest-charting single in the United States, peaking at number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it certainly wasn't the blues. They did record some outstanding music in their heyday, and their early albums are all blues classics, so it's good to find that there are a number of singles and their b-sides from that period which did not appear on their albums, which I've collected here, along with a couple of BBC sessions, a fine live take of an otherwise unrecorded song, and that 1981 single, if you really want to hear it. 

Track listing

01 Taste And Try, Before You Buy (single 1967)
02 Someday People (b-side of 'Taste And Try, Before You Buy')
03 Walking By Myself (b-side of 'Vicksburg Blues' 1968)
04 Gnome Sweet Gnome (Top Gear session 1968)
05 I Want You To Love Me (Live 1969)
06 Grits And Groceries (All Around The World) (single 1969)
07 Louisiana Blues (Top Gear session 1968)
08 Coming Down Your Way (single 1973)
09 Tell Mama (single edit 1971)

10 You'd Better Pray For The Lord To Guide You (Top Gear session 1970)
11 Blues On The Ceiling (BBC session 1971)
12 Run To Me (single 1981)

David Bowie - Karma Man (1968)

While a lot of people were under the impression that David Bowie emerged fully-formed onto the music scene in 1969 with the 'Space Oddity' single, the real fans knew that he been slogging away in the music industry for the best part of a decade, playing in bands, writing songs, and trying to make a name for himself, quite literally as it turns out, and that name was Bowie, which he chose to replace his actual name of Jones. I've covered his early career playing with groups such as The Konrads, The Mannish Boys, The Lower Third, and The King Bees, in my 'David Bowie And...' post, and following the chart failure of his debut solo single 'I Dig Everything', he released the 'David Bowie' album on Deram Records in 1967, but once again this didn't achieve any commercial success. At this time he was going through what has become known as his 'Anthony Newley phase', where his vocals were a strange mixture of old-fashioned vaudeville and upper-class singers like Anthony Newley, but if you'd heard the album at the time you would have realised that the songs themselves were far from ordinary, with 'Rubber Band' being a marching tune that employed tuba as the lead instrument, while 'Little Bombardier' and 'Maid Of Bond Street' were in waltz time, and also made extensive use of brass and strings. 'Love You Till Tuesday' and 'Come And Buy My Toys' were among the few songs on the album with an acoustic guitar as the lead instrument, and lyrically he was choosing subjects that were not usually seen in the pop charts, with 'Join The Gang' being an excursion into contemporary youth culture, and 'She's Got Medals' was a gender-bending tale with gay and lesbian connotations. 

After the album was released, Bowie recorded  several more tracks for Deram in September 1967, all of which were refused release as singles, including 'Let Me Sleep Beside You' and 'Karma Man'. Both these tracks had a radically different sound to the material on 'David Bowie', harking back to his mod period, but despite this Deram refused to release them, even after Bowie offered to replace the 'sexually explicit' 'Let Me Sleep Beside You'  with a new version of the album track 'When I Live My Dream', but Deram wouldn't budge, and they were just as intransigent when he presented them with 'In The Heat Of The Morning' and 'London Bye Ta–Ta' in early 1968. The failure of the album and its singles, as well as not being able to produce anything that the label felt worthy of release, cost Bowie his record contract with Deram Records, and they dropped him in April 1968. Bowie immediately went on to form a folk rock trio with Hermione Farthingale and Tony Hill called Turquoise, and the band quickly recorded the single 'Ching-A-Ling', with all three taking vocal lead on different verses. However, before they could look for a record company to release it, Hill left the band, and was replaced by John Hutchinson, with the band changing their name to Feathers. Almost immediately Farthingale left Feathers, and soon after, so did Hutchinson, and so 'Ching-A-Ling' thus became Bowie's fourth abandoned single in a row. He continued to write songs and record demos throughout 1968, and following his death in 2016, many of these previously unheard recordings have surfaced, adding another chapter to his career that was previously just a murky sidebar. He also recorded some music for a proposed film called 'The Looking Glass Murders', as well as making a promotional film of music videos called 'Love You Till Tuesday', to sell himself to a new label, and it also included a narrated mime called 'The Mask', from another of his side projects where he worked with mime artist Lindsay Kemp. 

With so much unheard material appearing in recent years, it's tempting to gather it all together to try to see what a follow-up album to 'David Bowie' might sound like if Deram had kept faith and allowed him to release it in 1968. Obviously the sound quality is going to be variable, although the solo demos are surprisingly good for their age, while the acetates are studio quality as would be expected. One track was even professionally recorded by two bands and released as a single, with 'Silver Tree Top School For Boys'  being issued by The Slender Plenty in September 1967 and later by Scottish group The Beatstalkers in December of the same year, and Bowie's own demo exists in two versions, of which the stripped-back one is the best quality. Of the most recently unearthed songs, 'April's Tooth Of Gold' is an interesting bridge between the 60's Deram records and his darker music around the time of 'The Man Who Sold The World', with the lyrics at odds with the more light weight material that he was writing in 1968, while 'C'est La Vie' was unsuccessfully offered to singer Chris Montez for him to record. The other demos vary between solo acoustic offerings and band demos, alongside a BBC session recording of an otherwise unrecorded song, and the shelved single by Feathers. Because nearly every song has come from a different source the album doesn't run as smoothly as I'd liked, but I think it's great to have all these rare tracks in one place in the form of an album that could have been released in 1968, and it just shows what a prolific period 1967-1968 was for the fledgling pop star. Paul over at albumsthatshouldexist has posted collections of rare Bowie tracks over the years, and a lot of these songs have appeared on them, but these versions will sound a bit different as I've not always used the demo where a finished take was available, and I've done a lot of work on the demos themselves to try to make them sound as good as possible, as well as including those newly discovered pieces from the film soundtrack that he was involved with in 1968.    

 
Track listing

01 Karma Man (unreleased Deram single 1967)
02 April's Tooth Of Gold (demo 1968)
03 Let Me Sleep Beside You (unreleased Deram single 1967)
04 Columbine (demo for the film 'The Looking Glass Murders' 1968)
05 Angel Angel Grubby Face (demo 1968)
06 C'Est La Vie (demo 1967)

07 Silver Tree Top School For Boys (demo 1967)
08 Goodbye Threepenny Joe (demo 1968)
09 The Mirror (demo for the film 'The Looking Glass Murders' 1968)
10 In The Heat Of The Morning (unreleased Deram single 1968)
11 When I'm Five (BBC session 1968)
12 Mother Grey (demo 1967)
13 Life Is A Circus (demo by Feathers)
14 Love All Around (demo 1968)
15 London Bye Ta Ta (unreleased Deram single 1968)

DoomStarks - Swift & Changeable: The Prequel (2012) UPDATE

Thanks to punx5570 for letting me know that the version of this album that I'd posted was missing two tracks, presumably because alternate versions of them had appeared on MF Doom's 2009 album 'Born This Way', even though 'Gazillion Ear' was on there as well and that wasn't removed. Anyway, I've updated the post to include 'Celiz' and 'Angels', so you can now download it again, or just grab those two tracks and slot them in. 'Angels' does have a couple of gaps at the end, which I first thought was a glitch in the file, but there is actually some bass in there so they seem to be deliberate. 

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')