Have A Reggae Christmas 2021

Here's a great selection of reggae Christmas songs, with not a reggae-fied carol in sight. 

Track listing

01 All I Want For Ismas (Jacob Miller & Ray I 1978)
02 Christmas Stylee (Johnny Osborne 1984)
03 Christmas Jambree (Sugar Minott 1978)
04 Santa Claus Dub (The Aggrovators 1975)
05 Holy Christmas (The Cimarons 1971)
06 Santa Claus Never Comes To The Ghetto (Yellowman 1998)

07 Christmas Is Here (The Wailers 1964)
08 Happy Christmas (Toots & The Maytals 1972)
09 Christmas A Come (Eek A Mouse 1981)
10 Irie Christmas (Freddie McGregor 1980)
11 Ding Dong Bell (The Ethiopians 1969)
12 Christmas Time (Michael Powell 1983)
13 Merry Christmas, Happy New Year (Lee Perry 1986)

Trying a little experiment.....

Following my post celebrating my 1,000th post, I did get a few suggestions about how to restore links to the blog, and one jumped out at me straight away, so we're going to experiment with that and see if it works. There is a Yandex link on the right, under the disclaimer, which will be a permanent link from now on. I'll just update it twice a week, but the link won't change. That will take you to a pdf with all the albums on it, with the last six months in reverse order of posting, and then after that there is an A-Z archive, which is now complete. I'll carry on posting to Soulseek for those who prefer that, but by avoiding hyperlinks I'm hoping to keep the blog alive for the foreseeable future.   

Eric Johnson - ...and on guitar (1994)

Eric Johnson was born on 17 August 1954 into a musical family, studying piano with his three sisters at an early age, while his father was a whistling enthusiast. He started learning the guitar at age 11 and rapidly progressed while listening to the musicians that would heavily influence his future style, including Mike Bloomfield, Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Django Reinhardt, among others. At the age of 15, he joined his first professional band, the psychedelic rock band Mariani, and in 1970 they recorded a demo, which saw an extremely limited release, and which became a prized collector's item some years later. I've had a copy of this since around the late 80's, but never knew Johnson appeared on it, so I must dig that out again. After graduating from high school, he briefly attended the University of Texas at Austin, and later traveled with his family to Africa, returning to Austin in 1974, and joining a local fusion group called Electromagnets. They toured and recorded regionally but didn't attract attention from major record labels, and so disbanded in 1977, but the strength of Johnson's playing had attracted a small cult following to the group's early recordings and, decades later, their two albums were given wide release on CD. Following the Electromagnets' demise, Johnson formed a touring trio, the Eric Johnson Group, with drummer Bill Maddox and bassist Kyle Brock, and between 1976 and 1978 they recorded the 'Seven Worlds' album, but due to contract disputes it was not released until 1998. Unable to secure a new management contract, Johnson began working as a session guitarist for some well-known acts, including Cat Stevens, Carole King, and Christopher Cross, and it was Cross's producer David Tickle who recommended Johnson to Warner Bros. Records, who signed him to their label. In 1986 he released his actual debut album 'Tones', with a cover story in Guitar Player helping to promote the release, but although 'Zap' was nominated for the 1987 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, the album did not sell well, and Warner Bros. let Johnson's contract expire. 

Signing with indie label Cinema Records, distributed by Capitol Records, he released 'Ah Via Musicom' in 1990, and not only was he winning awards for his musicianship in the guitar press, but 'Cliffs Of Dover' won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The session work took a back seat while Johnson recorded his next album, but being an admitted perfectionist, he recorded, mastered and then scrapped several completed tracks for the new album, which delayed its release for three years, on top of the three years he had spent touring, and 'Venus Isle' eventually appeared in 1996. Despite demonstrating Johnson's growth as a guitarist, songwriter, producer, musical arranger, and vocalist, it received mixed reviews and did not match the success of its predecessor, and as a result he was dropped from Capitol Records. While recording 'Venus Isle' Johnson formed a side project called Alien Love Child with vocalist Malford Milligan, and played sporadic shows around Austin, and positive fan feedback from the shows made Alien Love Child a permanent gig. Johnson eventually returned to the recording studio, releasing 'Souvenir' in January 2002 on his own Vortexan Records label, followed by 'Bloom' in 2005, on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label, and then releasing a new record every few years since then. This collection starts with one of his earliest gigs with jazz organist Jack McDuff, then takes in those late 70's guest spots with Cat Stevens and Christopher Cross, and quite a bit of work from the mid 80's to the mid 90's. I have to admit that I wasn't that familiar with Johnson's work, so this has been as much as a revelation to me as it might be to you. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Rolling Stone (from 'The Fourth Dimension' by Jack McDuff 1974)
02 Circle Song (from 'Once Upon A Rock' by American Peddlers 1977)
03 Dancin' With Tears In My Eyes (from 'Pearls' by Carole King 1980)
04 Bad Brakes (from 'Back To Earth' by Cat Stevens 1978)
05 Minstrel Gigolo (from 'Christopher Cross' by Christopher Cross 1979)
06 Rise Up (from 'Long Time Friends' by Alessi 1982)
07 SA Stroll (from 'Tomás Ramírez' by Tomas Ramirez 1983)
08 Save A Little Time (from 'Pressure' by Pressure 1983)

Disc Two
01 Recover Gracefully (from 'Marc Anthony Thompson' by Marc Anthony Thompson 1984)
02 Distant Star (from 'Stand Up' by Steve Morse Band 1985)
03 Ballad Of Fast Eddie (from 'Street Language' by Rodney Crowell 1986)
04 Western Flyer (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
05 Ronda (from 'Inside Out' by Jay Aaron 1990)
06 Our Dreams (from 'The Urge' by Stuart Hamm 1991)
07 Keep Coming Back (from 'Rush Street' by Richard Marx 1992)
08 Lights Of Louisiana (from 'The Hunter' by Jennifer Warnes 1992)
09 Somebody Loves Me Now (from 'Read My Licks' by Chet Atkins 1994)

Thank to Don for the suggestion.

Personal Column - Strictly Confidential (1984)

Personal Column formed in Liverpool in 1980, with a line-up of Marc Vormawah on vocals and guitar, Colin Brown on keyboards, Mike Carroll on drums (later replaced by Terry Sterling), Mike Hayes on bass, and Rob Boardman on guitar, and they were later joined by Phil Hargreaves on sax. They released two singles on their own Contrast Records label, before signing to Stiff Records in 1984 and releasing one single for them. They were a big favourite of John Peel, and recorded three sessions for his radio show, as well as ones for Kid Jensen and Simon Bates. These radio sessions often included otherwise unrecorded material, and so this is  now the only way that these songs can be heard, so I've collected them altogether in one place so that you can hear what an album by the band could have sounded like in 1984. If they recorded one of their singles on the session I've tended to use the single version for this album, and it's all topped off with a track that didn't make it as a single or a session track. The band broke up in 1986, with Vormawah signing a deal with MCA, and he continues to record and release his music, with 'Goodbye To Yesterday' coming out in 2018.  

Track listing

01 Red (John Peel session 1982)
02 Friction (John Peel session 1982)
03 Dangerous Places (John Peel session 1982)
04 The Same Old Situation (single 1983)
05 Ignorance Is Bliss (John Peel session 1983)
06 Crusade (John Peel session 1983)
07 Sleight Of Hand (John Peel session 1983)
08 Strictly Confidential (single 1984)
09 Cosmetic Surgery (John Peel session 1984)
10 World In Action (John Peel session 1984)
11 The Price You Pay (John Peel session 1984)
12 British Style (John Peel session 1984)
13 Institutions (previously unreleased 1984)

The Wannadies - Want More (1996)

The Wannadies formed in 1988 in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, and the initial line-up was Pär Wiksten on vocals and guitar, Christina Bergmark on keyboards and vocals, Stefan Schönfeldt on guitar, and his younger brother Fredrik on bass, with Gunnar Karlsson on drums and Björn Malmquist on violin. They played their first concert at a festival in support of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas in October 1988, and only weeks later entered local studio KN to record the three tracks that would become their debut release, in the form of the 'Smile EP'. It was released in February 1989 and managed to pick up several 'single of the week' accolades from national newspapers, as well as airplay on indie radio shows, despite little or no marketing. Following the band's appearance at the Hultsfred Festival in August 1989, they signed a recording contract with MNW Records, releasing their debut single 'My Hometown' in May the following year. The band's eponymous debut album was released in August 1990, supported by tours of Sweden, Finland and Norway, and their second album 'Aquanautic' was released in October 1992 on Snap Records, the indie subsidiary of MNW. In the summer of 1993 Björn Malmquist moved to Stockholm and left the band, and initial recording sessions for their third album 'Be A Girl' were beset by problems. First choice producer Dagge Lunquist took paternity leave late in 1993, and a second attempt with producer Micke Herrström had to be abandoned after just a week and a half when both he and engineer Adam Kviman Herrström were taken sick with hearing injuries. 'Love In June' was the only song to be completed with Herrström, and was released as a single while the band had another go at recording 'Be A Girl', this time with producer Nille Perned. 
The album was finally finished by late 1994, and was released along with the second single 'You And Me Song', to critical acclaim in their native country. Shortly afterwards the band came to the attention of Indolent Records in the UK, who signed them in the summer of 1995, and they toured extensively with labelmates Sleeper and The 60 ft Dolls, while regularly commuting to studios in Gothenburg, Skellefteå and Stockholm to record tracks for their next album. Further singles 'Might Be Stars' and 'How Does It Feel?' were taken from 'Be A Girl', but it was not until the re-release of 'You And Me Song' in April 1996 that the band really made an impact in the UK, where the song peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. Problems with Swedish record company MNW led to delays with the release of the group's fourth album 'Bagsy Me', which was eventually released in January 1997 on Sony/BMG Records, and it included the hit singles 'Someone Somewhere', 'Friends', 'Hit', and 'Shorty'. All of the singles mentioned so far had exclusive recordings on the flips, and so this post collects all of them from that first EP in 1989 to the 1996 release of 'Someone Somewhere'. It's a great collection of some of the best indie/pop of the early 90's, which had remained a well-kept secret until they exploded onto the scene with that re-issue of 'You And Me Song' in 1996, helped massively by it also being included on the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmnan's film of 'Romeo And Juliet'. The cover is a homage to the band's fondness for putting pictures of sleeping girls on their albums and singles from 'Be A Girl' onwards.   

Track listing 

01 The Beast Cures The Lover (from the 'Smile' EP 1989)

02 This Time (from the 'Smile' EP 1989)

03 I Want More (from the 'Smile' EP 1989)

04 Children Of The Revolution (b-side of 'Heaven' 1990)

05 In The Altogether (b-side of 'So Happy Now' 1992)

06 Birds (b-side of 'So Happy Now' 1992)

07 Lee Remick (b-side of 'Cherry Man' EP 1993)

08 I'm A Man (b-side of 'Cherry Man' EP 1993)

09 Blister In The Sun (b-side of 'Cherry Man' EP 1993)

10 I Got A Right (b-side of 'Love In June' 1994)

11 Let Go Oh Oh (b-side of 'You And Me Song' 1994)

12 No Disco (b-side of 'You And Me Song' 1994)

13 Lift Me Up (Don't Let Me Down) (b-side of 'You And Me Song' 1994)

14 New Life (b-side of 'You And Me Song' 1994)

15 Why (b-side of 'Someone Somewhere' 1996)

16 Goodbye (b-side of 'Someone Somewhere' 1996)

17 Disappointed (b-side of 'Someone Somewhere' 1996)

Thanks to jman for the suggestion.

The La's - The Key (1989)

The La's were formed in 1983 by Mike Badger, existing briefly as an arthouse/skiffle-type outfit with a few tracks released on local compilations. Lee Mavers joined in 1984 as rhythm guitarist, eventually gaining songwriting prominence and emerging as the band's enduring figurehead. Bernie Nolan, accomplished musician formerly of The Falcons, The Russian Rockabillys and The Swampmen, was the original bassist, and John Power joined the group in 1986, but not long after that Badger left to form The Onset, and the group carried on as a trio. They attracted the attention of several record labels after a series of performances in their hometown in 1986, and demo tapes copied from a session at the Flying Picket rehearsal studio in Liverpool began circulating. One of these demo tapes found its way to Andy McDonald at Go Discs, and after a short bidding war they chose to sign with Go! Discs. The band's first single 'Way Out' was released in October 1987, and although it broke into the top 100 and was praised by The Smiths' frontman Morrissey in the music magazine Melody Maker, it attracted little notice from the public. The band continued to perform around the UK and gained success as a live act, drawing comparisons to The Beatles due to their origins, their vaguely Merseybeat sound, and Mavers' expressive lyrics. 'There She Goes' was released in 1988 and garnered moderate attention and airplay, but performed poorly in the charts, and a follow-up single 'Timeless Melody' was scrapped after review copies had already been sent out, as Mavers was unhappy with the production. This turned out to be an indicator of things to come, as the band then spent the next two years fruitlessly recording and re-recording their intended debut album, with a constantly changing band line-up, where only the core of Mavers and Power remained the same, and discarding producers at an alarming rate. 

The previously volatile band line-up settled in 1989 with Lee's brother, Neil Mavers on drums, and Peter "Cammy" Cammell as lead guitarist, and the band then entered London's Eden Studios in December 1989 to again record their debut album with Simple Minds and U2 producer Steve Lillywhite, but even using arguably their most stable line-up, Mavers was still not satisfied with the end results. The Eden sessions with Lillywhite would become the band's final attempt at recording the album, as the frustration of not achieving the right sound and mood in their songs, as well as increasing friction with Go! Discs, who had spent a considerable sum of money on recording sessions for the album, led to them simply giving up on the sessions. Lillywhite pieced together the recordings he had made with the group into what became the eventually released album 'The La's', and Mavers has since tried to disown it at every opportunity. However, the public had a different opinion, and when the album was eventually released in 1990 it reached No. 30 in the UK charts and received a Silver certification. It included, among new material, re-recorded versions of all the previous singles, including a remixed version of 'There She Goes', which  was then re-released as a single, and this time it reached number 13 in the UK singles chart, and remains the most visible and enduring of all the band's songs. Despite the trials and tribulations of recording their first album, the band stayed together, and in 1989 Mavers had a bunch of new songs, which he took round to Go! Discs boss Andy MacDonald's home and performed for him in his kitchen. The performance was apparently videoed, with the audio from this appearing online as a CD entitled 'The Kitchen Tapes', and although most of the songs are just Mavers and his guitar, with the occasional addition of some percussion, you can hear that these songs do have something about them, and we can only speculate on what they would have sounded like if Mavers had taken them into the studio with the rest of the band. 

Track listing

01 Robberman
02 Our Time
03 When Will I See You Again? 
04 She Came Down In The Morning  
05 Was It Something I Said?  
06 It's Impossible  
07 Tears In The Rain  
08 Over (BBC radio session 1989)
09 Go Go Daddy  
10 I Am The Key
11 Son Of A Gun (Key 103 Radio session 1989)
12 Way Out
13 I Can't Sleep

Alan Hull - Carousel (1975)

Having just watched 'Lindisfarne's Geordie Genius: The Alan Hull Story' on BBC4, I was keen to hear more him, other than the 'Pipedream' and 'Squire' solo albums and the complete Lindisfarne discography that I already have, and the documentary gave me some ideas about where to start. James Alan Hull was born on 20 February 1945 in Newcastle upon Tyne, and his musical education began with piano lessons at the age of nine, and guitar lessons two years later. He was given his first guitar at the age of twelve, writing his first song soon afterwards, and in 1962 he joined The Chosen Few, alongside Bumper Brown on bass, Rod Hudd on vocals, Tommy Jackman on drums, and Mickey Gallagher on keyboards. Their repertoire consisted of Tamla Motown covers, plus Hull's own compositions, and the band eventually moved to London, where they recorded four Hull-penned songs for release as two singles for the Pye label, which Hull has admitted were very Beatle-esque, and featured heavy Kinks overtones. He left The Chosen Few in 1965, and supported himself by working as a window cleaner, a nurse at a mental hospital, and as a driver for Newcastle Co-op TV Department, while appearing as a folk singer and guitarist in local clubs. In the meantime, The Chosen Few added Colin Gibson and John Turnbull (who were both later to play on Hull's 'Pipedream' album) and carried on for a short while. A year later, The Chosen Few morphed into Skip Bifferty, having lost Hudd and Brown, and during this transition period Hull recorded a couple of tracks with the new band. Following the release of his first solo single in 1969, which was later to be re-recorded by Lindisfarne, Hull joined Rod Clements, Ray Laidlaw, Simon Cowe, and Ray Jackson's band The Brethren in May 1970, performing variously as Alan Hull And Brethren, or Brethren With Alan Hull, before deciding on a complete change of name and becoming Lindisfarne in the summer of 1970. 

As the group's most prolific songwriter and joint lead vocalist, Hull came to be regarded as its leader, and the band had some success with hit singles and albums in the early 70's, before Hull considered leaving after he became dissatisfied with the sound and critical reception of their third album 'Dingly Dell'. Instead, he and joint lead vocalist Ray Jackson formed a new six-piece Lindisfarne the following year, leaving the three other original members to form Jack The Lad. He also released his first solo album 'Pipedream' in 1973, and published a book of poems 'Mocking Horse' the same year, after which the new Lindisfarne disbanded. In 1974 he was offered the chance to act in an episode of the BBC's Second City Firsts drama series, entitled 'Squire', in which he pretty much played himself, and he felt that he should write a song for it, coming up with 'Squire', which then became the title of his second solo album in 1975. He formed the short-lived Radiator in 1977, which also included old band-mate Ray Laidlaw, and they released one album and one single, before breaking up. In 1979 he signed to Elton John's Rocket Records label and released the 'Phantoms' album, which consisted of re-recordings of a number of tracks from Radiator's 'Isn't It Strange' record, after which he took a break from recording for a few years, returning in 1983 with 'On The Other Side'. On the night of 17 November 1995, Hull suddenly collapsed at his home in North Shields and was pronounced dead on arrival at North Tyneside General Hospital. A post-mortem later revealed his death to be the result of a coronary thrombosis. He was just 50 years old. Hull was so loved in his hometown that in July 2012, following a public campaign led by Barry McKay, Lindisfarne's manager during the 1970's, an Alan Hull memorial plaque was unveiled on the front of Newcastle City Hall, at a ceremony attended by hundreds of fans, and broadcast by Sky and ITV Tyne Tees. This collection of early recordings and hard-to-find b-sides and demos, housed in a cover by Rene Magritte to complement his 'Pipedream' and 'Phantoms' albums, should go some way to show exactly why that was. 

Track listing

01 I Won't Be Around You Any More (single by The Chosen Few 1965)
02 Big City (b-side of 'I Won't Be Around You Any More')
03 So Much To Look Forward To (single by The Chosen Few 1965)
04 Today, Tonight & Tomorrow (b-side of 'So Much To Look Forward To')
05 This We Shall Explore (with Skip Bifferty 1966)
06 Schizoid Revolution (with Skip Bifferty 1966)
07 Where Is My Sixpence? (demo  1969)
08 We Can Swing Together (single 1969)
09 Obidiah's Grave (b-side of 'We Can Swing Together')
10 Drinking Song (b-side of 'Numbers (Travelling Band)' 1973) 
11 One Off Pat (b-side of 'Numbers (Travelling Band)' 1973)
12 Down On The Underground (BBC session for Bob Harris 1973) 
13 Crazy Woman (single 1975)
14 Carousel (out-take 1975)
15 Angels At Eleven (session for Radio Clyde 1976)
16 Raw Bacon (demo 1975)
17 Evening (demo 1975)

The Big One

I've mentioned before that when I originally started this blog it was with the intention of posting the 30 or so rare albums that I had collected over the years and then to perhaps add one or two every few months, but scale it down. The recent Earl Slick post was actually my one thousandth post, so something's gone a bit wrong somewhere. The first couple of years were fun, learning how blogs worked and posting the albums, hitting one million visitors, starting the '...and on guitar' series, and getting to know like-minded music fans along the way. Then, a year ago I started to receive take-down notices from Warners, and before long they were coming in too fast for me to keep up with, and then on Boxing Day 2020 the blog was deleted. I wasn't sure if I wanted to carry on with it, as if I did then I couldn't post links or the same thing would just happen again, and I remembered that Paul at albumsthatshouldexist had recommended an app called Soulseek, where you could store your music and it was fairly safe from prying eyes, so I decided to give that a try. Little did I know the trouble that would cause, as despite coming up with a way that only my albums would show in a search, some people just couldn't get it to work, and despite offering to send direct links, visitors started to drop off alarmingly. That was also because instead of having to visit every page and click the link, you only had to visit the site once, make a note of the albums you wanted, and then get them from Soulseek later. In fact, one user has just set the new record for downloads in one go, with over 250 albums being requested at the same time. Hopefully he'll let me know what he thinks of them once he's listened to them. Despite the continuation of the disappointing lack of feedback I'm going to soldier on, as despite the setbacks over the past year, I do still enjoy finding or constructing these rare albums. I'd love to find a way to post links again, and I could try leaving them in the comments, but I'd want to know how the records companies find them first, and would that hide them? It must start with bots, but once you're on their radar does someone then just go through the whole blog and send hundreds of emails to Blogger? If anyone has had the same experience, or knows how they work I'd love to hear. 

UPDATE

It was worth posting this request for ideas about takedowns, as Mike S mentioned something that lit a bulb in my head, and it occurred to me that Paul has only ever had a couple of takedowns, and they didn't then target him later, so I reckon it is the fact that he posts the whole link as text rather then as a hyperlink, and I think that hides it from the bots, so I'll give that a go over December and we'll see how it goes. I'll still post to Soulseek as a backup. 

            

Earl Slick - ...and on guitar (1998)

Frank Madeloni, aka Earl Slick, was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 1, 1952, and first began to be noticed on the New York music scene in the early 70's while playing guitar in a band called Mack Truck, featuring both singer-songwriter Jimmie Mack and his brother, drummer Jack Mack. It was in 1974, however, that his name was plastered all over the press when the 22 year-old Slick was chosen by David Bowie to serve as his first proper replacement for Mick Ronson, after Bowie had split up The Spiders From Mars. Although Bowie supplied most of the guitar work for his hit 1974 release 'Diamond Dogs', he sought the then-unknown Slick to replicate his and Ronson's previous guitar parts on tour, and not only did Slick duplicate them, but the incredibly versatile guitarist managed to expand on them and inject his own style into the tunes, resulting in one of the greatest rock guitar live albums of all time 'David Live', recorded at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. Slick remained with Bowie for his next two studio albums, which saw the singer transform into his "Thin White Duke" persona and take on the funk genre, resulting in the classic records 'Young Americans' in  1975 and the more experimental 'Station To Station' the following year. Almost immediately he started to be asked to guest on studio sessions, with Leo Sayer being the first to spot his ability, followed quickly by Ian Hunter, and in 1977 he added guitar to his wife's collaboration with her sister on June and Jean Millington's 'Ladies On The Stage'. Leaving Bowie's band just as the singer decided to pack his bags and relocate to Germany, Slick continued on as a 'gun for hire', and appeared on records by other more obscure hard rock artists such as Bad Boy and Tonio K. Also during this time, he attempted briefly to launch a solo career, resulting in the albums 'Razor Sharp' and 'Earl Slick Band', but it was his next job that would be one of the high points of his entire career, when in 1980 he was asked to play on what would become John Lennon's final all-new studio recording, the chart-topping 'Double Fantasy'. After Lennon's death the same year, Slick returned to the studio with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and appeared on what would become her highest-charting solo release, 1981's harrowing 'Season Of Glass', and his work can also be heard on the posthumous releases 'Milk And Honey' in 1984, as well as the CD box sets for both Ono, with 1992's 'Onobox', and on Lennon's 1998 'Anthology', including his own choice as some of his best work on 'I Don't Wanna Face It'. 

The early to mid-'80s saw Slick return briefly to Bowie's band for the Serious Moonlight world tour in support of 1983's 'Let's Dance', as although Stevie Ray Vaughan had played guitar on the album, he'd left the band right before the tour due to a dispute between his and Bowie's management, so Slick was asked to step in as a last-minute replacement, due to his prior working relationship with Bowie. When the Bowie tour was over he teamed up with ex-Stray Cats musicians Lee Rocker (bass) and Slim Jim Phantom (drums), replacing Bran Seltzer in the re-named trio Phantom, Rocker & Slick, with the short-lived outfit issuing a pair of moderately successful albums, in 1985's 'Phantom, Rocker & Slick' and 1986's 'Cover Girl', before disbanding. This allowed Slick to carry on his session work throughout the late '80s/early '90's, and after a break from the music biz to sort out his personal life (allegedly to kick a serious drug problem), he returned stronger than ever, and founded his own record label, Slick Music Inc., which specializes in his own solo releases, as well as archival sets by other artists, like Fanny and Kasim Sulton. In 1990, he collaborated with David Glen Eisley in the band Dirty White Boy, which released their only album 'Bad Reputation' in 1990, and he then played in Little Caesar during 1991/1992. Working with mentor Michael Kamen, he contributed to several film soundtracks in the 1990's, including 'Hudson Hawk' and 'Nothing But Trouble', as well as releasing another solo album in 1991. Although it might seem like Slick has had extraordinary luck in being catapulted into the spotlight after only paying his dues for a few years, you can hear from these tracks that he crammed a lot into that short time, and by the time he was nabbed by Bowie he was already a guitarist of some talent.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Reflections (from 'Endless Flight' by Leo Sayer 1976)
02 Stay (from 'Station To Station' by David Bowie 1976)
03 Wild 'n' Free (from 'Overnight Angels' by Ian Hunter 1977)
04 You Need This Woman (from 'Ladies On The Stage' by Millington 1977)
05 Keep It Up (from 'Back To Back' by Bad Boy 1978)
06 Life In The Foodchain (from 'Life In The Foodchain' by Tonio K. 1978)
07 Is It Right (from 'Van Dunson' by Van Dunson 1979)
08 I Put A Spell On You (from 'Simplicity' by Tim Currie 1981)
09 Goin' For Broke (from 'Silver Condor' by Silver Condor 1981)
10 Walking On Thin Ice (single by Yoko Ono 1981)

11 My Little World (from 'Heart On A Wall' by Jimmy Destri  1982)

Disc Two
01 East Of Eden's Gate (from 'East Of Eden's Gate' by Billy Thorpe 1982)
02 Running (from 'Running' By June Millington 1983)
03 Shark Pretty (from 'Dead Center' by Game Theory 1984)
04 Nobody Told Me (from 'Milk And Honey' by John Lennon & Yoko Ono 1984)
05 Imagination (from 'Some People' by Belouis Some 1985)
06 Dancing In The Street (single by David Bowie & Mick Jagger 1985)
07 Running Away (from '2wo' by Strange Advance 1985) 
08 Simple Man (from 'Junkyard' by Junkyard 1989)
09 Cry Little Sister (from 'Slamdunk' by Henry Lee Summer' 1993)
10 I Don't Wanna Face It (out-take from 'Anthology' by John Lennon 1998)

Al Stewart - Dark Side (1991)

To complete this short series of Al Stewart rarities we have an actual fan-produced album that was put together in 2004, and even though it is composed completely of songs recorded between 1989 and 1991, only one of them has so far appeared on my mopping-up collections. 'Dark Side' and 'Fantasy' are lost demos which were intended for a follow-up to 'Last Days Of The Century', but the Enigma label went bust before it could be completed, while 'Call Of The Wild', 'Waking Years', 'Kirabati', ' I Swam', 'Told You So', 'Long Way Home' and 'Rest In Peace' were all recorded at Peter White's 4 Track Garage Studio in 1990 or 1991, so they could well have been on the cards to be added to 'Dark Side' and 'Fantasy' for a new album. 'Sailing Into The Future' was written by Stewart, Peter Wood and Jim Cregan, and recorded in 1989, while 'Four Of A Kind' was a Peter White tune that Stewart re-worked and recorded the same year. The original disc also included the unreleased 'The World According To Garp', but as we know that this was a '24 Carrots' leftover from 1980, and it's also been included on a previous post, I've removed it so that all these songs were recorded between 1989 and 1991, and could therefore have been intended for that second Enigma album. That concludes this series of Al Stewart posts, which I hope goes some way to introducing him to a listnership that might have written him off as an old hippie folk-singer, when he is actually much, much more than that. 

Track listing

01 Dark Side
02 Sailing Into The Future
03 Call Of The Wild
04 Waking Years
05 Kirabati
06 Fantasy
07 I Swam
08 Told You So
09 Long Way Home
10 Four Of A Kind
11 Rest In Peace

KISS - Nine Lives (1987)

In 1983, after nearly a decade of performing in their trademark make-up, KISS decided that it was time for a change,and they made the decision to abandon their make-up and costumes. The band officially appeared in public without make-up for the first time since its very early days on 18 September 1983, on an appearance on MTV, which coincided with the release of their 'Lick It Up' album. The tour to promote the new album and the unmasked band members began in Portugal, and it paid off as 'Lick It Up' became their first Gold record in three years, even though the tour was actually more sparsely attended than the previous one. Guitarist Vinnie Vincent had not got on with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley for a while, and so he left the band at the conclusion of the tour in March 1984, and was replaced by Mark St. John, a session player and guitar tutor. With St. John on board, KISS released the album 'Animalize' in 1984, resulting in their best-selling record in America during the decade, with over two million copies sold. However, St. John came down with reactive arthritis during rehearsals for the 'Animalize' tour, and only performed at a handful of shows before being dismissed from the band in December 1984, and being replaced by Bruce Kulick, the band's fourth lead guitarist in less than three years. With their most stable line-up for a while, the band released a series of Platinum albums, including 1985's 'Asylum', and 1987's 'Crazy Nights', with the latter being one of the band's most successful albums overseas. The single 'Crazy Crazy Nights' reached No. 4 on the UK singles chart, and was the band's highest-charting single in that country. While preparing songs for 'Crazy Nights', Simmons, Stanley and the band recorded demos of a number of songs which were eventually turned down for inclusion on the finished album, but these have subsequently leaked online, with there being enough of them from around 1987 to compile a companion album to 'Crazy Nights', which could have been issued the same year.  

Track listing

01 Sword And Stone ('Crazy Nights' out-take 1987)
02 Suspicious (demo 1987)
03 Time Traveler (demo 1987)
04 Dial L For Love (demo 1987)
05 Best Man For You (Paul Stanley demo 1987)
06 Promise The Moon (demo 1986)
07 Hunger For Love (Gene Simmons demo 1987)
08 Don't Let Go (Paul Stanley demo 1987)
09 Have Mercy  (demo 1987)
10 When Two Hearts Collide (Paul Stanley demo 1987)
11 Nine Lives (demo 1987)
12 Are You Always This Hot ('Crazy Nights' out-take 1987)

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - The Sun Goes Down (1968)

Five friends from Wiltshire, David John Harman (Dave Dee), Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies (Dozy), John Dymond (Beaky), Michael Wilson (Mick) and Ian Frederick Stephen Amey (Tich), formed a group in 1961, originally called Dave Dee and the Bostons, quickly giving up their day jobs to make their living from music. As well as performing in the UK, they occasionally played in Hamburg and Cologne, and after a couple of years on the circuit they came to the attention of British songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, who were interested in recording them. In the summer of 1964 the band was set up in the studio to make recordings with Joe Meek, but these sessions failed to get off the ground as they couldn't work with Meek's unusual recording techniques. Despite this setback they were signed to Fontana Records, and it was at this point that they changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, as they were their actual nicknames and because they wanted to stress their very distinct personalities in a climate which regarded bands as collectives. The distinctive name, coupled with well produced and catchy songs by Howard and Blaikley, quickly caught the UK public's imagination and their records started to sell in abundance, with 'The Legend Of Xanadu' topping the UK singles chart in 1968. 'Bend It!' was a big hit in Europe, including number one in Germany, and was inspired by music from the soundtrack of the film 'Zorba The Greek', with the catchy bouzouki sound being produced by using an electrified mandolin. In October 1966 the British music magazine NME commented that dozens of US radio stations had banned the record, because the lyrics were considered too suggestive, and so the group responded by recording a new version in London with a different set of words, which was rush-released in the US, as the original single was withdrawn from sale. Despite huge success in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, the band never really broke through in the US, and 'Zabadak' was the band's only single to chart in the national Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 52. In September 1969 Dave Dee left the group for a short-lived solo career, and the rest of the band, re-billed as (D,B,M and T), continued releasing records until they broke up in 1973. Although most of their hits were written by Howard and Blaikley, as often happened in the 60's the band were allowed to record their own compositions for the b-sides, and the Harman/Dymond/Davies 'The Sun Goes Down' on the flip of 'Zabadak' is one of the great lost psychedelic gems of the era. With the title of their 1968 single currently being used for Edgar Wright's film 'Last Night In Soho', there might be a resurgence of interest in the band, and so you can start here and listen to these great songs that never made it to their albums. 

Track listing

01 Is It Love? (b-side of 'No Time' 1965)
02 It Seems A Pity (b-side of 'All I Want' 1965
03 I Can't Stop (b-side of 'You Make It Move' 1965)
04 You Know What I Want (b-side of 'Hold Tight!' 1966)
05 She's So Good (b-side of 'Bend It!' 1966)
06 Save Me (single 1966)
07 Over And Over Again (from the 'Loos Of England' EP 1967)
08 Touch Me, Touch Me (single 1967)
09 Marina (b-side of 'Touch Me, Touch Me')
10 Okay! (single 1967)
11 He's A Raver (b-side of 'Okay!')
12 The Sun Goes Down (b-side of 'Zabadak!' 1967)
13 Please (b-side of 'The Legend Of Xanadu' 1968)
14 Charlie Farns Barns Has Won The Pools (previously unreleased 1968)
15 I'll Love You (from a Coca Cola promotional single 1968)
16 Last Night In Soho (single 1968)
17 Castle Far (previously unreleased 1968)
18 The Wreck Of The 'Antoinette' (single 1968)
19 Still Life (b-side of 'The Wreck Of The 'Antoinette'')

Kanye West - So Help Me God (2015)

In 2015 Kanye West spent a week in Europe promoting an '80-percent done' new album that didn’t have a title or a release date. He later revealed on Twitter that his upcoming 'Yeezus' follow-up would be titled 'So Help Me God', and it was accompanied by an image that could be the album's cover: a diamond shape connected at the points by four lower-case m's, that Reddit users discovered is a 13th century monastic symbol for the Virgin Mary. At the 2015 Brit Awards he debuted a fiery new track called 'All Day', then followed that up with a performances of 'Only One' on U.K. chat show 'The Jonathan Ross Show' and on Sweden's 'Skavlan'. Along the way he chatted with BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe about the new album, saying "It's fun to work hard. We’re being inventive, and the College Dropout came out of a fight to rap. This new album is coming out of a fight to design". Despite West finally offering up his new album title, a release date was nowhere to be seen, and when pressed he said that release dates are '100 percent played out', and that his new LP would arrive in a surprise fashion, like Beyoncé’s 'Beyoncé' or Drake’s 'If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late'. Some months later another tweet announced that the album would no longer be called 'So Help Me God' and would instead be titled 'Swish', but as we now know, that didn't happen either. Eventually, West's new album did appear, and surprise, surprise, it wasn't called 'So Help Me God' or 'Swish', but 'The Life Of Pablo', and it included none of the tracks that had been rumoured to be on the record, apart from a shortened take of 'FML'. Luckily for us, a lot of the tracks were either released as singles or leaked online, and so enterprising fans have attempted to put together an approximation of SHMG, and this is just one of them, with a fan-created cover that I think is the best of the ones out there, especially the 'official' one that West tweeted, which was, to be honest, pretty boring. I have to admit that I'm not the biggest Kanye West fan, so I'll have to leave it to the rap fans out there to tell me if this really is as good as everyone seems to think that it is.    

Track listing

01 Ultralight Prayer (feat. Kirk Franklin & Choir)
02 All Day (feat. Allan Kingdom, Kendrick Lamar, Paul McCartney & Theophilus London)
03 I Feel Like That
04 Fall Out Of Heaven (feat. Bon Iver & The-Dream)
05 New Angels
06 When I See It
07 God Level
08 Can't Look In My Eyes / Can U Be (feat. Kid Cudi)
09 Awesome
10 FML (feat. Travis Scott, The Weeknd & Bon Iver)
11 FourFiveSeconds (feat. Paul McCartney & Rihanna)
12 Only One (feat. Caroline Shaw & Ty Dolla)