The Balcony - Portrait (1983)

Here's another rarity from the early 80's Liverpool music scene, with a self-produced cassette tape from The Balcony. The band were formed by Dave 'Yorkie' Palmer (ex Dance Party, Egypt For Now, later Space) on vocals, Mark Cowley, Steve Powell on guitar, Mark Davies on bass, and they were a radical pot pourri of styles, with a tougher, leaner funk base, but with a psychedelic edge was still evident. In fact, Yorkie even managed to get 60's guru Mayo Thompson, of Red Crayola fame, to produce the band's first single 'Surprise After Surprise'/'The Lizard Hunt' in 1982. Later lineups included the addition of a brass section, consisting of Phil Lucking, Mike Kidson, and Martin Green, and at one gig they had three drummers. One of their songs, 'Too Late', was featured in the Chris Bernard / Frank Clarke film 'Letter To Brezhnev', and after a long gap they released their second single 'Redder Than Burning Coals' in 1986. Their third single 'A Cover Version' was effectively banned due to it's lyrical content, and so was never commercially released, and as a result of this the band split up. In their few years together they recorded two sessions for Radio One, for John Peel and Saturday Live, and their Peel session has long been a favourite of mine, having kept the tape that I recorded off the radio for nearly 40 years. All three songs from the Peel session are on this tape, albeit in different versions, but the rest of the songs are just as good, and so it's worth checking them out to hear a band that really should have made it bigger then they did. I've had to replace the final track 'Those Dangerous Dark Nowheres' with another rare track 'Windmills', as it's been impossible to track down, but 'Windmills' is a worthy replacement.   

Track listing

01 Things Worth Giving
02 Someone
03 Too Late
04 Ecstasy Can Take The Blame
05 Am I Really To Die By Your Knife
06 The Lizard Hunt
07 She Keeps Her Secret
08 Surprise After Surprise
09 Don't Take Photos
10 Windmills

Jackie De Shannon - Trust In Me (1969)

Singer and songwriter Jackie DeShannon has quite a musical legacy. Her early singles crafted doo wop to intelligent lyrics, and she toured with the Beatles in 1964 and more than held her own. She wrote songs with Randy Newman and Jimmy Page, sang with Van Morrison, and was among the first artists to realize that folk and pop could work together, and was a behind-the-scenes innovator in the creation of folk-rock. She started out singing country songs on a local radio show by the time she was six years old, and by the age of 11 she was hosting her own show on the station. She was already single-minded about a career in music, and after the family moved to Illinois, she continued to work at singing and songwriting, and recorded regional singles under various names as a teenager, including sides as Jackie Dee and Jackie Shannon. Her versions of a pair of country songs, 'Buddy' and 'Trouble', caught the ear of rocker Eddie Cochran, who sought her out and introduced her to his girlfriend, singer and songwriter Sharon Sheeley, and they began collaborating on songs such as 'I Love Anastasia', which was a hit for the Fleetwoods, and 'Dum Dum' for Brenda Lee. Sharon Lee Myers, as she then was, signed a recording contract with Liberty Records in 1960, and by this point she had grafted the names Jackie Dee and Jackie Shannon together to become known as Jackie DeShannon, and it was under that name that her debut single 'Lonely Girl' appeared later that year. Although she continued to release fine singles, including the Sonny Bono/Jack Nitzsche classic 'Needles And Pins' and her own 'When You Walk In The Room' (both songs were later big hits for the Searchers), she only had moderate success in the charts. Her biggest break came when she opened for the Beatles on the group’s first U.S. tour in 1964 with a band that included a young Ry Cooder, and that same year the Byrds covered her song 'Don’t Doubt Yourself Babe' on their debut album for Columbia Records, which only added to her visibility. She moved briefly to England in 1965, where she began writing songs with a pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page, including 'Don’t Turn Your Back on Me' and 'Dream Boy', as well as penning 'Come And Stay With Me' for Marianne Faithfull, and when she moved back to New York she teamed up with a pre-fame Randy Newman to write 'Did He Call Today Mama?' and 'Hold Your Head High', among others. In 1965 she finally conquered the pop charts with her version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's 'What The World Needs Now Is Love', and two years later in 1967 she played a folksinger in the movie 'C'mon Let's Live A Little', where she starred alongside 60's hearth-throb Bobby Vee. 

Despite the eventual success of the single, she was a tough act to market, as she was obviously young and beautiful, but her natural intelligence made her seem out of place as a teen idol, and the singer/songwriter era was still a couple of years down the road. In 1967 she released the 'New Image' album, but the title was a misnomer, as it just consisted of pale cover versions, and her name only appeared on the credits of two of the tracks. 'For You' came out the same year, and was a bold experiment comprising 'standards' with orchestral arrangements, which was an idea borrowed more successfully by Linda Ronstadt some fifteen years later. 'Me About You' was released in early 1968, and was an excursion into soft rock, with songs by Tim Hardin and John Sebastian, alongside four of her own songs, but it was with 1968's 'Laurel Canyon' that she finally found her voice. Out went the well-groomed young female entertainer, to be replaced by the blonde hippie chick pictured sumptuously in a series of Sue Cameron photos on the album cover. The music was a revelation as well, with De Shannon contributing five songs, but picking others by Barry White, Paul Williams, Clapton/Bruce/Brown, and Robbie Robertson to accompany them, and employing a band that included Mac 'Dr. John' Rebennack, Barry White, Russ Titleman and Harold R. Battiste Jr., producing a loose, flowing sound, supporting her soulful voice in top form. Many of the songs celebrated Los Angeles, and particularly the Laurel Canyon area, as well as including her hit version of The Band's 'The Weight', and her own belated recording of the Marianne Faithful hit 'Come And Stay With Me'. Possibly because this was a new career path for her, she recorded way more tracks than were needed for the album, so that she could pick the best of them fr the final tracklisting, and a lot of them have since turned up on expanded re-issues. This companion album to 'Laurel Canyon' is made up of these out-takes, as well as a few in the same style from her follow-up album from the following year, and a non-album Christmas single that she released in 1969, and when you hear a great track like 'The Greener Side' you wonder how that could ever have been rejected. 

Track listing

01 Brighton Hill
02 Trust In Me
03 What Is This
04 Happy Go Lucky Girl
05 Ooh, You Did It Again!
06 What Was Your Day Like
07 Medley - Keep Me Hangin' On' / Hurt So Bad
08 Effervescent Blue
09 Mediterranean Sky
10 The Greener Side
11 Reason To Believe
12 Try A Little Harder
13 Children And Flowers
14 Christmas

Dave Matthews Band - The Lillywhite Sessions (2000)

In September 1994, Dave Matthews Band released their debut studio album 'Under The Table And Dreaming', and with the singles released from it - 'What Would You Say', 'Satellite', and 'Ants Marching' - being commercial hits, the group started a long and successful career. The album brought the band worldwide fame and it was eventually certified six times platinum, and paved the way for its follow-up 'Crash', which brought the band a Grammy Award and four additional Grammy nominations, plus three more hit singles. By 1997, the band had reached unparalleled levels of popularity across the United States and, to some degree, the world, and so in October they released their first full-length live album, 'Live At Red Rocks 8.15.95', which was recorded at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, and featured songs from the band's first three albums. In late 1997, the band returned to the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite and an array of guest collaborators, including Tim Reynolds, banjoist Béla Fleck, vocalist Alanis Morissette, future touring band member Butch Taylor, Chapman Stick player Greg Howard, and the Kronos Quartet. They composed and recorded their third album for RCA, and 'Before These Crowded Streets' was released on 28 April 1998, with the record representing a great change in direction for the band, as they no longer relied on upbeat hit singles to carry the album. 'Stay (Wasting Time)' was an uplifting gospel number, and 'Crush' was a love ballad, and together with lead single 'Don't Drink The Water' they proved extremely popular with band's fanbase, generating two Grammy nominations. 

The band took part in the Woodstock '99 concert during the summer, and later that year they released their third live album 'Listener Supported', which was also issued as their first live DVD. In 2000, he band set up their own recording studio at a large countryside home outside Charlottesville, and with longtime producer Lillywhite at the helm, they began work on their fourth studio album. The songs were heavily influenced by personal conflicts, notably the death of Matthews's uncle from alcoholism, but the album was scrapped by the band themselves after falling out with Lillywhite. In October 2000 Matthews began writing with Glen Ballard, and with the rest of the band joining them in the Los Angeles, they recorded the replacement album 'Everyday' in ten days. While this album gave the band a fresh start, Ballard's production, which featured a pop-rock music sound and no songs over 4:43, was very different from the acoustic sound and long jams that the albums produced by Steve Lillywhite featured, and although 'Everyday' was a huge commercial success, hardcore fans were unhappy with this change of style, and the scrapped album was leaked by a fan in March 2001. Once the fans heard the abandoned album they were much happier with the usual DMB sound appearing on the album, and it was also praised by critics, leading to the band actually including some of the songs in their live sets. After critical comparison of the two simultaneous albums, fans who were less than pleased with 'Everyday' were even more frustrated with the band's decision to scrap the earlier work in exchange for 'Everyday'. Many of the songs from The Lillywhite Sessions would, however, eventually be officially released. In response to overwhelming fan support, coupled with a popular and widely publicized online campaign known as the Release Lillywhite Recordings Campaign, the band returned to the studio in 2002 to record 'Busted Stuff', which was produced by Lillywhite's recording engineer Stephen Harris, and which included new treatments of much of the 'Lillywhite Sessions' material, along with newly written songs 'You Never Know' and the single 'Where Are You Going'. However, if you're a fan of the band then you're going to want to hear these legendary recordings, and so here is the full album as recorded by Steve Lillywhite and subsequently scrapped by the band. 

Track listing

01 Busted Stuff
02 Grey Street
03 Digging A Ditch
04 Sweet Up And Down
05 JTR
06 Big Eyed Fish
07 Grace Is Gone
08 Captain
09 Bartender
10 Monkey Man
11 Kit Kat Jam
12 Raven

Tubeway Army - Do You Need The Service? (1979)

Gary Anthony James Webb had fronted London band Mean Street in 1976 when he was just 18, and they saw their song 'Bunch Of Stiffs' appear on the 'Live At The Vortex' compilation album, after which he left the band and auditioned as lead guitarist for The Lasers, where he met bass-player Paul Gardiner. The Lasers soon became Tubeway Army when Webb's uncle Jess Lidyard joined on drums, and the band gave them selves suitably sci-fi names, with Webb rechristening himself 'Valerian', Gardiner was 'Scarlett', and Lidyard became 'Rael'. Webb was a prolific songwriter, and through playing gigs on the punk scene, and also recording some demos (later released on CD as 'The Plan') they managed to secure a record deal with the independent Beggars Banquet label, releasing two guitar-heavy, punk-style singles in the first half of 1978. During this time the band went through some line-up changes, changing drummers, and briefly adding a second guitarist, but due to musical differences Webb (now renamed Gary Numan) and Gardiner split with them as they wanted to move away from punk rock. As Numan was unhappy with playing on the often violent London punk scene, they became a studio-only band, quickly recording the 'Tubeway Army' album, and while it was still largely guitar/bass/drums-based, the album saw Numan's first tentative use of the Minimoog synthesizer, which he had come across by accident in the recording studio during the album sessions. Lyrically the record touched on dystopian and sci-fi themes similar to those employed by authors J. G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick, of whom Numan was a fan, and keen to distance his music from punk rock he wanted to drop the Tubeway Army name and release the album under his own stage name, but this idea was rejected by Beggars Banquet, and so 'Tubeway Army' was released in November 1978. 

Despite selling out the initial pressing of 5000 copies it didn't enter the album charts, and no singles were lifted from it, but undeterred, Numan took Tubeway Army back into the studio to record their follow-up album 'Replicas'. The result was more synth and science fiction oriented than the last album, and although the first single from the album, 'Down In The Park', failed to chart, it would prove an enduring cult track in the years to come. In early 1979 they were invited to record a session for the John Peel show, and this exposure might well have helped their next single 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' to reach the No. 1 spot on the UK singles chart. By this time the band included Chris Payne, Paul Gardiner, drummer Cedric Sharpley, and Ultravox keyboardist Billy Currie, and they gave memorable performances on both Top Of The Pops and The Old Grey Whistle Test, appearing dressed all in black and playing in a near-motionless manner, earning them comparisons to a band of androids. While all this was happening for the band, Numan was already busy recording his next album with a new backing band, and at the peak of their success, he opted to premiere four new songs in a John Peel session in June 1979 rather than promoting the current album, and so the Tubeway Army group name was dropped. While they will forever be remembered for that huge hit single (and deservedly so, as it is a classic), they were an innovative band for the period, integrating new wave synths into their punk-rock sound, and by listening to this collection of singles, b-sides, radio sessions and out-takes you can actually hear the transition from all-out punk rock to what would become Numan's signature electronic direction when he started his solo career.   

Track listing

01 That's Too Bad (single 1978)
02 Oh! Didn't I Say (b-side of 'That's Too Bad')
03 Bombers (single 1978)
04 Blue Eyes (b-side of 'Bombers')
05 O.D. Receiver (b-side of 'Bombers')
06 Do You Need The Service? (b-side of 'Down In The Park' 1979)
07 We Are So Fragile (b-side of 'Are 'Friends' Electric?' 1979)
08 Films (John Peel Session 1979)
09 Airlane (John Peel Session 1979)
10 Conversation (John Peel Session 1979)
11 Only A Downstat (out-take 1979)
12 We Have A Technical (out-take 1979)
13 The Crazies (out-take 1979)

A little Christmas gift for you...

Mike S contacted me at the weekend and asked if I'd considered adding files inside the folders with the biogs and track listings, and while I know that Sonic does that on Albums That Never Were, it wasn't something that I'd thought about. However, when playing one of my '...and on guitar' albums I do sometimes have to refer to the site to see who the main artist was, as the tag only credits the guitarist, so it might be a good idea for that series. Mike suggested adding them as a pdf, and that would solve any issues for MAC users trying to open a Word doc, but it would be quite a task adding an extra file to each folder and then re-uploading them all to Yandex, and also re-sharing them on Soulseek, so the solution is that all the pdfs will be stored in one folder on Yandex. If you want them all then just download the folder, and if you don't then don't bother. I'll add the new pdf to the folder each time I post a new addition to the series, and then you can just slot it into the music folder. They're all there from Phil Manznaera onwards, and I'll add the rest later.

James Burton - ...and on guitar (1978)

James Burton was born 21 August 1939 in Dubberly, Louisiana and began playing guitar at a young age, influenced by Chet Atkins, Elmore James and several others, using fingerpicks with a flatpick instead of the more conventional thumbpick. At the age of only 14 he became a professional musician, working club gigs and private parties, and in 1954 he became the youngest staff musician on the weekly radio show Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, where he grew up. The first record that he played on was 'Just For A While'/'You Never Mention My Name' by Carol Williams in 1956, and in addition to his work on the Hayride, he played in Dale Hawkins' band, with whom he recorded and co-wrote 'Susie-Q' in February 1957. While working with Bob Luman, he came to the attention of Ricky Nelson, who invited him and Luman's bassist, James Kirkland, to meet his parents, and Nelson's father Ozzie Nelson offered Burton and Kirkland a regular spot on his son's television show 'The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet'. Before long James was living with the Nelson family in Hollywood, and playing on Ricky Nelson's 1957 single 'Stood Up'/'Waitin' In School', and then on every Ricky Nelson record after that for the next seven years. By 1965, Nelson was only on the road one month a year and Burton got bored, so he accepted an invitation from TV producer Jack Good to become a regular on the weekly 'Shindig' show, and to recruit a group, which he called the Shindogs. While working with Nelson, he had hardly done any session work for others, but after his exposure following a year on Shindig, he was soon doing five or six sessions a day, sometimes seven days a week, recording with such varied acts as Merle Haggard, Frank Sinatra, the Monkees, Judy Collins, the Everly Brothers and Johnny Mathis. In November 1967 he released his first album 'Corn Pickin' And Slick Slidin'', which was a collaboration with steel guitarist Ralph Mooney, and in 1969 he recorded the high point of his work with the dobro guitar, which he'd taken up in 1963, on Merle Haggard's tribute album to Jimmie Rodgers, 'Same Train, A Different Time'. In 1969, Elvis Presley asked Burton to be his lead guitarist and manage his band, to which he agreed, and so he moved to Las Vegas, remaining with Presley's touring band until the singer's death in August 1977. Through the last five years with Elvis, Burton also worked with Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, and then after Presley's death he went on the road with John Denver and stayed with him for fifteen years, continuing to do session work, and playing with Jerry Lee Lewis's touring band in the early 1980's. There is an excellent anthology of his work out on CD titled 'James Burton: The Early Years 1957-1969', and so this collection seamlessly carries on from that, mainly concentrating on his work from the late 60's to the early 70's, and because he played on so many, many records during that period I narrowed it down even further by only selecting records on which he played his dobro guitar. As well as a slew of superb country tracks, this also includes the outro on The Beach Boys' 'Cabinessence', and some superlative work on Buffalo Springfield's 'A Child's Claim To Fame'. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 A Child's Claim To Fame (from 'Buffalo Springfield Again' by Buffalo Springfield 1967)
02 Mama Tried (from 'Roots' by The Everly Brothers 1968)
03 Poor Immigrant (from 'Who Knows Where The Time Goes' by Judy Collins 1968)
04 Midnight Wind (from 'Closing the Gap' by Michael Parks 1969)
05 Little Piece In D (from 'John Hartford' by John Hartford 1969)
06 Song Of Sad Bottles (from 'Mark Spoelstra' by Mark Spoelstra 1969)
07 On The Natural (from 'My Griffin Is Gone' by Hoyt Axton 1969)
08 Living On The Corner (from 'Who Knocked The Brains Out Of The Sky' by 

                                                                                                           Eric Von Schmidt 1969) 
09 Cabinessence (from '20/20' by The Beach Boys 1969)
10 Snake Mountain Blues (from 'Our Mother The Mountain' by Townes Van Zandt 1969)
11 Hoboin' (from 'Rock Salt And Nails' by Steve Young 1969)

Disc Two
01 Makes You Beautiful (from 'Sings About People' by John Hurley 1970)
02 Apple Tree (from 'Slim Slo Slider' by Johnny Rivers 1970)
03 Topanga Canyon (from 'John Phillips (John The Wolfking Of L.A.)' by John Phillips 1970)
04 Big T Water (from 'James Hendricks' by James Hendricks 1971)
05 Train Of Life (from 'Someday We'll Look Back' by Merle Haggard and The Strangers 1971)
06 Sunstorm (from 'Sunstorm' by John Stewart 1972)
07 The Moon Is Stone (from 'Raised On Records' by P.F. Sloan 1972)
08 Streets Of Baltimore (from 'GP' by Gram Parsons 1973)
09 Boulder To Brimingham (from 'Pieces Of The Sky' by Emmylou Harris 1975)
10 Bet On The Blues (from 'I Want To Live' by John Denver 1977)
11 Song For The Life (from 'Ain't Living Long Like This' by Rodney Crowell 1978)
12 Come Early Mornin' (from 'Nicolette' by Nicolette Larson 1978)

Thanks to Martin for the suggestion.

The Wannadies - As If We Care (2002)

The next few years after 1997 were a turbulent time for The Wannadies, as in Spring 1997 drummer and founding member Gunnar Karlsson left, to be replaced by long-time friend of the band Erik Dahlgren, and after sorting out problems with their Swedish record label, the band now felt they were suffering from a lack of support from BMG in the UK, and so went on strike. To compensate for the lack of new material, a compilation album of the best of their first three records entitled 'Skellefteå' was released in Scandinavia in the spring of 1998, with the band touring the region in support of it while their problems with BMG were being resolved. Relations with the label had sufficiently improved for the band to begin recording their next album in the autumn of 1998, with a ten-day session at the Chateau De La Rouge Motte studio in Normandy, France with producer Mike Hedges. Only the track 'String Song' was completed, however, and it was not until the winter of 1998/99 that the band recorded the bulk of the tracks for fifth album 'Yeah', with former Cars frontman Ric Ocasek at the helm. 'Yeah' was released in the autumn of 1999 in Scandinavia and early spring 2000 in the UK, but BMG decided not to release the record in America, and also refused permission for the band to release it on another label, eventually dropping the band altogether. Despite not having a record company, the band toured extensively throughout the summer of 2000, and in the latter half of 2000 and much of 2001 the band constructed their own recording studio in which they would record much of their sixth album, with Nille Perned again producing. In 2002 they released 'Before & After' in Scandinavia through the National record label, and on 8 September 2003 in the UK on Cooking Vinyl records. After a long hiatus, the band were thought to be writing and recording songs for their seventh album in 2009, but in April they announced they had split, with Pär Wiksten going solo. Although the band reunited and played their hits 'Friends' and 'Hit' at a festival in 2016, it would be another four years before new music was released by the band, and a song originally started at the 'Before & After' sessions and completed in 2020 was issued as a single, with 'Can't Kill The Musikk' featuring a live version 'My Home Town' as the b-side. This second collection from the band includes all the non-album tracks from the re-issue of 'You And Me Song' in 1996 to the break-up in 2003, once again housed in a contemporary sleeve. 

Track listing

01 Everybody Loves Me (b-side of 'You And Me Song' re-issue 1996)
02 We Were Sitting In A Car On Our Way From Mold To Bath As A Thunderstorm 

                                                            With Hail Stones Passed (b-side of 'Friends' 1996)
03 Just Can't Get Enough (b-side of 'Hit' 1997)
04 (Yeah Yeah Yeah) In Your Face (b-side of 'Hit' 1997)
05 As If You Care (b-side of 'Hit' 1997)
06 I Like You A Lalalala Lot (b-side of 'You And Me Song' EP 1997)
07 What's The Fuss (bonus 7" with 'Bagsy Me' album 1997)
08 Are You Exclusive? (b-side of 'Shorty' 1997)
09 Taking The Easy Way Out (b-side of 'Shorty' 1997)
10 Princess Spoon (b-side of 'Yeah' 1999)
11 After All (b-side of 'Yeah' 1999)
12 Trick Me (b-side of 'Yeah' 1999)
13 Love And Hate (b-side of 'Big Fan' 2000)
14 Fabian's Space Disco (b-side of 'Skin' 2002)

Thanks to jman for the suggestion.

Kylie Minogue - Music Will Always Love You (2007)

2007 was an extremely prolific year for Kyle Minogue, for as well as releasing the 'X' album, and writing and recording over three dozen extra tracks for use as demos or b-sides, some further tracks have surfaced since the demos were leaked. In fact, demos and out-takes have been appearing for a number of years, since around the time of her 'Fever' album in 2001, and so this collection gather up those tracks which didn't make her 'Fever', 'Body Language', 'Ultimate Kylie', and 'X' albums, to produce another great dance album from the Aussie popster, which still has fans asking "why on earth didn't she release that?!". This post includes the song that was mentioned in a previous Madonna post, where she'd given 'Alone Again' to Kyle and never recorded it herself, as well 'I'm Ready (Survivor)', which was gifted to her by Boy George, and two co-writes with Jake Shears and Babydaddy from Scissor Sisters. One of these is the original fast version of 'White Diamond', which featured on the 'Xtra' album in ballad form, while '(Everything) I Know' is another 'X' reject. As these songs span a period of seven years, it might not sound as cohesive as the last two Kylie posts, but her sound gravitated towards dance from the 'Fever' album onwards, and once in that zone she didn't deviate that much from it, so overall I think this is a pretty good collection.     

Track List

01 Music Will Always Love You (Intro) ('Fever' demo 2001)

02 White Diamond ('X' out-take 2007)
03 I'm Ready (Survivor) ('X' out-take 2007)

04 My Image Unlimited ('Body Language' out-take 2003)
05 (Everything) I Know ('X' out-take 2007)
06 Loving You ('Ultimate Kylie' out-take 2004)
07 Alone Again ('Fever' out-take 2001)
08 Fall For You ('X' out-take 2007)
09 My Love Is Real ('X' out-take 2007)

10 I'm Just Here For The Music ('Body Language' demo 2003)
11 So High ('Fever' out-take 2001)
12 Trippin' Me Up ('Body Language' out-take 2003)

Silmarillion - Herne The Hunter (1980)

In December 1977 bass player Doug Irvine formed the band that was to become Marillion, recruiting local drummer Mick Pointer, and calling themselves Electric Gypsy, before changing that to Silmarillion. They were later joined by keyboardist Brian Jelliman and guitarist Steve Rothery, at which point they shortened their name to Marillion, due to copyright concerns. They recorded multiple demo tapes with the original line-up throughout 1979 and 1980 including a sole recording of an apparently lost song called 'The Tower', which would be exhumed and reworked into 'Grendel' for the b-side of their 'Market Square Heroes' single. In its original form, 'The Tower' was an instrumental track that lasted around 21 minutes, and it's assumed that it was the origin of many of the melodies and solos eventually featured on 'Grendel', especially Steve Rothery's guitar parts, since he was in the band when 'The Tower' was written. It is assumed to be dark in tone, like 'Grendel', and perhaps have echoes of dark, long-form instrumentals by earlier progressive rock acts like King Crimson's 'Larks' Tongues in Aspic', but the changes to many of the original songs during the Fish-era are significant, and since 'The Tower' is at least five minutes longer than 'Grendel', then it's reckoned to be very much a lost piece of music. In November 1980 original vocalist and lyricist Doug Irvine left the band, falling out of contact with them and never being heard from again, and new singer Fish joined in January 1981. This resulted in a complete re-assessment of the group, bringing in new keyboardist Mark Kelly and soon afterwards bass player Pete Trewavas, and scrapping all of Irvine's old lyrics and reworking some of the old songs with new words from Fish. Some of the old demo tapes have survived, including the original versions of the songs with Irvine's lyrics and vocals, and you can hear that a number of them were the genesis of Marillion classics, such as 'Alice' which was rewritten as 'Forgotten Sons' and 'Close' which morphed into 'The Web'. This album features just the Irvine period of the group, and despite the less than perfect sound quality, it shows that even in those early days they had something about them which promised great things. 

Track listing

01 Lady Fantasy
02 The Haunting Of Gill House
03 Alice
04 Scott's Porridge
05 Close
06 Herne The Hunter

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)