The Black Crowes - Band (1997)

Personnel changes and label interference frustrated The Black Crowes' attempts to follow up their 1996 album 'Three Snakes And One Charm', as after recording an album during May and June 1997, which was to be called either 'Band', 'The Band' or 'Meet The Band', it was rejected by their label, American Recordings. Lead singer Chris Robinson said American "couldn't go with the vibe" and wanted something more "safe", and so after guitarist Marc Ford was fired due to a heroin habit that impaired his performances, and Johnny Colt left to become a yoga instructor, the band regrouped and began writing and recording an album that would be acceptable to their record company, eventually presenting them with 'By Your Side' in 1998. When 'Band' leaked online in 2002, the comments by fans were almost universal in saying that it should have been released and that it would have been a great addition to the band's discography, and it seems that the record company took note of this and so in 2006 they released 'The Lost Crowes', which consisted of sessions for a proposed album called 'Tall', where many of the songs were later re-recorded for the 'Amorica' record, and the aborted sessions for 'Band'. However, they couldn't help themselves from interfering, remixing the tracks and changing the running order, as well as removing two of the songs completely, and bizarrely renaming 'OK By Me' as 'Grinnin''. What fans were therefore left with was nothing like the rejected record, and even the addition of a previously unheard rehearsal take of 'Peace Anyway' (which I've added here) couldn't make up for their disappointment. The only track that eventually made it to 'By Your Side' was the horn-laden 'Only A Fool', although 'If It Ever Stops Raining' was re-recorded with different lyrics to become the title track of 'By Your Side', so 'Band' remains pretty much a completely new, unheard album, and it's therefore no surprise that it's been heavily bootlegged over the years. However, it's now getting much harder to find online, and so here it is so that fans of the band who haven't heard it can make up their own minds about whether the record company was right to reject it.   

Track listing

01 If It Ever Stops Raining
02 Predictable
03 My Heart's Killing Me
04 Only A Fool
05 Smile
06 Never Forget This Song
07 Wyoming And Me
08 Life Vest
09 Paint An 8
10 Another Roadside Tragedy
11 OK By Me
12 Peace Anyway

Kim Wilde - Wilde At Heart (1983)

By 1986 Kim Wilde was writing more of her own material, with her fifth album 'Another Step' featuring mostly songs that she wrote herself or co-wrote, and although the album's lead single 'Schoolgirl' flopped in Europe and Australia, her Hi-NRG remake of The Supremes' classic 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' was a huge success, topping the charts in Australia and Canada, and peaking at number two in the UK. It also belatedly hit number one on the US Billboard chart in 1987, and with that hit she became the fifth UK female solo artist ever to top the US Hot 100, following Petula Clark, Lulu, Sheena Easton, and Bonnie Tyler. Her popularity, especially in her native UK, was revitalised and she scored further Top 10 hits in 1987 with 'Another Step (Closer to You)' and the Comic Relief charity single 'Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, recorded with comedian Mel Smith as Mel & Kim. In 1988 she released her biggest selling album to date, with 'Close' returning her to the UK top 10, spending almost eight months on the UK album chart. It produced four major European hits in 'Hey Mister Heartache', 'You Came', 'Never Trust A Stranger' and 'Four Letter Word', and she toured the album throughout Europe as the opening act for Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour. In 1990 she released her next album 'Love Moves', but she found that the public can be very fickle, with the record barely making the UK Top 40, and only spawning two minor hit single. A collaboration with Rick Nowels, who had produced hits for Stevie Nicks and Belinda Carlisle, resulted in the guitar-driven pop of the single 'Love Is Holy', and the 1992 album 'Love Is', but once again the album's success was limited to a small number of countries, though the single was another Top 20 hit in the UK. In 1994 Wilde embarked on a huge "Greatest Hits" concert tour throughout Europe, Australia and Japan, but her next album 'Now & Forever' was a commercial failure worldwide, and after a couple more relatively unsuccessful singles she took a year off from February 1986 to February 1987 to appear in the West End production of the musical 'Tommy'. Since 2001, Wilde has resumed her singing career, releasing records and touring, while at the same time reviving an old interest in gardening and appearing on TV gardening programmes 'Better Gardens' and 'Garden Invaders', as well as writing two books on the subject. This second collection of non-album singles and b-sides takes us up to that Greatest Hits tour in 1994, and includes a number of fine self-penned songs from the most-charted British female solo act of the 1980's.  

Track listing

01 Loving You (b-side of 'You Keep Me Hangin' On' 1986)
02 Songs About Love (b-side of 'Schoolgirl' 1986)
03 Hold Back (b-side of 'Another Step (Closer To You)' 1987)
04 Tell Me Where You Are (b-side of 'Hey Mr. Heartache' 1988)
05 Wotcha Gonna Do (b-side of 'Never Trust A Stranger' 1988)
06 Virtual World (b-side of 'It's Here' 1990)
07 Birthday Song (b-side of 'Love Is Holy' 1992)
08 I've Found A Reason (b-side of 'Heart Over Mind' 1992)
09 If I Can't Have You (single 1993)
10 Never Felt So Alive (b-side of 'If I Can't Have You' 1993) 
11 In My Life (single 1993)

Triple Threat Revue - Empty Arms (1978)

I mentioned in the recent Stevie Ray Vaughan post that the band that he played in immediately before Double Trouble was called Triple Threat Revue, alongside vocalist Lou Ann Barton, Mike Kindred on organ, W.C. Clark on bass, Johnny Reno on saxophone, and Freddie Pharaoh on drums. Due to his multiple talents, the locals began calling Vaughan Triple Threat, so when it came time to pick a name for his new band, it seemed obvious, and it was named The Triple Threat Revue. The band stayed together in this form until the middle of 1978, and even recorded some sessions at Belmont Studio in Nashville, following the departure of Johnny Reno, and the replacement of Clark and Pharaoh with Jack Newhouse on bass and Chris Layton on drums . It was after this that Vaughan decided the band had too many leaders, so he and Lou Ann Barton left to form their next band, and Double Trouble was born. As a coda to the Vaughan post, here is that unreleased album by Triple Threat Revue. 

Track listing

01 You Can Have My Husband 
02 Rude Mood
03 Pride And Joy
04 Oh, Yeah
05 Love Struck Baby
06 Ti-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu 
07 Empty Arms 
08 I Wonder Why
09 I'm Crying
10 Sugar Coated Loving
11 Natural Born Lover
12 Scratch My Back 
13 I'll Change
14 Shake A Hand, Shake A Hand
15 Oh Baby

Peter Cook - Dr. Jekyll & Mrs Hyde (1977)

I've just watched a fascinating programme on BBC4 which collected all the interviews that comedian Peter Cook did with chat-show host Michael Parkinson in the 70's, and in passing Cook mentioned that he'd written a script for a film that was to be made the following year called 'Dr. Jekyll & Mrs Hyde'. It was to be produced by Michael Medwin, who had met Cook after seeing him in 'Good Evening' on Broadway circa 1975, going backstage afterwards to meet the show’s writers and cast, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. During this encounter Cook told Medwin of an idea which was to have a Dr Jekyll who mutated not into Mr Hyde, but into a beautiful woman who was really the first Woman’s Libber. Medwin and Cook had several follow-up meetings to discuss the idea, and Medwin commissioned Cook to write the screenplay, announcing in an interview with Sheridan Morley in 1975 that the film was in preparation and “we hope to make it in the next year”. Cook actually finished his script not in 1975, or even 1976, but on Wednesday the 19th of January 1977, presumably after struggling through many structural problems regarding the film’s story. It was described by Cook in the script’s foreword, “though predominantly a comedy, is also a love story, a study in narcissism and an exposé, in funny terms, of the hypocritical Victorian attitude towards women. Dr Jekyll, though outwardly respectable, is an adventurer. His alter-ego, Mrs Hyde, the only woman he can really love, represents everything a Victorian lady should not be”. The foreword concludes: “Mrs Hyde’s outrageous modes of dress and behaviour cause understandable shock to her contemporaries. To many of them she seems as horrifying as the Mr Hyde in the original Stevenson story”. As for the actual story of the film, that was summarised by Dudley Moore in the November/December 1979 issue of Film Comment: “Dr Jekyll turns into a woman and falls in love with the woman, but can never meet her because he either changes into her or Dr Jekyll. It’s a wonderful premise”. I don't recall ever seeing the film, and some investigation online confirmed that it was in fact never made, but amazingly the script is available to read online, and so as a bit of a departure from the music, and because I'm such a huge Peter Cook fan, here is the script for his never-made film 'Dr. Jekyll & Mrs Hyde'.

Ron Wood - ...and on guitar (1987)

Ronald David Wood was born on 1 June 1947 in Hillingdon, London, and made his first appearances on record during the mid-'60s, firstly as guitarist for the Birds, who were an R&B band based in Yiewsley, Middlesex. They were a popular live act with a considerable fan base, releasing several singles in the mid-1960's, and Wood wrote or co-wrote nearly half the songs that the group recorded. By 1967 the Birds had disbanded, and Wood briefly took part in a project called Santa Barbara Machine Head, which included later Deep Purple co-founder Jon Lord (did he file that name away for later use?), before becoming a member of the oft-overlooked mod outfit The Creation, remaining with them for a short while, and appearing on a handful of their singles. After he left The Creation in 1967 he joined the Jeff Beck Group, but as Beck was one of the leading guitarists of the time, Wood switched to bass while with the band, and they recorded two highly respected albums, with 'Truth' appearing in 1968, and 'Beck-Ola' following the next year. Following the release of 'Beck-Ola', the Jeff Beck Group disbanded, with vocalist Rod Stewart embarking on a solo career, and after Steve Marriott left the Small Faces, Wood began working with the remaining members of that group, returning to his instrument of choice, the guitar. This line-up, plus Rod Stewart and former Bird Kim Gardner, teamed up with Wood's brother Art Wood in a group that they called Quiet Melon, and they made a handful of recordings in May 1969. When Quiet Melon folded, Wood and Stewart joined the former Small Faces full-time, changing the band's name to The Faces, and it was most of this band, with the addition of Keith Emerson on keyboards, and Steamhammer's Martin Pugh and Martin Quittenton, that backed Stewart on his first solo album 'An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down' in 1969. 

In the first half of the 1970's, The Faces released four studio albums and were among the top-grossing live acts of the period, and as well as his distinctive guitar work, Wood contributed harmonica, vocals and bass to the band's recordings, and co-wrote many of their songs. In 1972, Wood and Faces bassist Ronnie Lane composed the soundtrack to the film 'Mahoney's Last Stand' with help from Pete Townshend, Ric Grech and Kenney Jones, but the soundtrack album didn't appear until four years later in 1976. In 1973 Wood asked his old friend Mick Taylor to help out with his first solo album, and later that year he collaborated with Mick Jagger on the song 'It's Only Rock'n Roll (But I Like It)', as well as joining David Bowie to record a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Growing Up' during sessions for his 'Diamond Dogs' album. When Taylor departed from the Rolling Stones in December 1974, Wood helped out with the band's March 1975 recording sessions for their forthcoming album 'Black And Blue', and although still a member of Faces, he toured North America with The Rolling Stones in 1975. When The Faces announced their break-up in December of that year, Wood was officially declared a member of The Rolling Stones in 1976, playing slide guitar, as Taylor and Brian Jones had done before him, and adding both lap steel and pedal steel guitar to his repertoire. In addition, he often exchanged roles on the guitar with Keith Richards, blurring the boundaries between rhythm and lead, even within a particular song. In 1975, Wood released his second solo album 'Now Look', followed four years later by 'Gimme Some Neck', and to promote it he formed and toured with The New Barbarians, playing 20 concerts in Canada and the US. Throughout the 1980's Wood kept very busy, playing as an official member of The Rolling Stones, continuing his solo career, painting, and collaborating with a number of other artists, including Prince, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Ringo Starr and Aretha Franklin. Wood's first guest appearance was actually on Donovan's 'Barabajagal' single, where The Jeff Beck Group acted as his backing band, but as Wood was playing bass and not guitar I'm starting this collection with his appearance on Rod Stewart's 1970 album, and working through his contributions to other artists efforts through to the late 80's, and for the cover I've used a rare self-portrait painted by Wood himself. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Only A Hobo (from 'Gasoline Alley' by Rod Stewart 1970) 
02 I'm Ready (from 'It Ain't Easy' by John Baldry 1971) 
03 Stop On The Red (from 'Wun' by Gerry Lockran 1972)

04 Just For A Moment (from the soundtrack of the film 'Mahoney's Last Stand' 1972)
05 Brahms (from 'The Academy In Peril' by John Cale 1972) 
06 Fallen Angel (from 'On The Road To Freedom' by Alvin Lee & Mylon LeFevre 1973)
07 Growin' Up (out-take from 'Pin Ups' by David Bowie 1973)
08 Kew (from 'Love Songs' by Billy Nicholls 1974)
09 Shut Up (from 'First Of The Big Bands' by Tony Ashton & John Lord 1974)
10 Ding Dong, Ding Dong (from 'Dark Horse' by George Harrison 1974) 
11 Feet (from 'Stone Alone' by Bill Wyman 1976)
12 Kinky (from 'Lasso From El Paso' by Kinky Friedman 1976)

Disc Two
01 All Our Past Times (from 'No Reason To Cry' by Eric Clapton 1976)
02 What A Town (from 'Rick Danko' by Rick Danko 1977)
03 Slow Screw Against The Wall/A♭ Fry (from 'Ask Rufus' by Rufus feat. Chaka Khan 1977) 
04 Nobody's Child (from 'Puttin' On The Style' by Lonnie Donegan 1978) 
05 Jumpin' Jack Flash (from 'Aretha' by Aretha Franklin 1980)
06 Little Girl (from 'Bump In The Night' Ian McLagan 1981) 
07 Dead Giveaway (from 'Stop And Smell The Roses' by Ringo Starr 1981) 
08 Clean Cut Kid (from 'Empire Burlesque' by Bob Dylan 1985)
09 Go 'Way Little Boy (b-side of 'Sweet Sweet Baby' single by Lone Justice 1985)
10 Love Roulette (from 'Heartbeat' by Don Johnson 1986) 
11 Baby (from 'Dirty Strangers' by Dirty Strangers 1987)
12 The Usual (from the soundtrack of the film 'Hearts Of Fire' 1987)

Thanks to Gil for the suggestion

Gary Numan - Noise Noise (1983)

With his former backing band of Chris Payne (keyboards, viola), Russell Bell (guitar), and Ced Sharpley (drums) now reformed as Dramatis, Gary Numan contributed vocals to their 1981 hit 'Love Needs No Disguise' from the album 'For Future Reference', and he also lent his vocals to the first single released by his long-term bassist Paul Gardiner, with 'Stormtrooper In Drag' making the UK charts the same year. Numan's own career, however, had begun to experience a gradual decline, and he was eclipsed commercially by former support act Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, as well as by the Human League, Duran Duran, and Depeche Mode, and although each album also saw a new image, none of these captured the public's imagination to nearly the same extent as the lonely android of 1979. The follow-up to 'Dance' appeared in 1982, but 'I, Assassin' fared less well, and despite producing the top 10 hit 'We Take Mystery (To Bed)', plus two other top 20 singles, the album peaked at No. 8 and left the charts after a six-week run. The heavily percussive funk style of the album did make several tracks from the album, such as the 12" version of 'Music For Chameleons' and a special remix of 'White Boys And Heroes', unexpected successes in the American club scene, and so 18 months after Numan's farewell concerts in April 1981 he embarked on a US tour. 1983's 'Warriors' further developed Numan's jazz-influenced style, and featured contributions from Bill Nelson, but the musicians fell out during recording, and so Nelson chose to be uncredited as co-producer. The album performed less well than 'I, Assassin', peaking at No. 12, but it did produce two hit singles, including the top 20 title-track. This second collection of b-sides and out-takes covers the flips of the singles released from 'I, Assassin' and 'Warriors', including an exclusive mix of both parts of 'My Car Slides', as well as a couple of interesting out-takes.  

Track Listing

01 Dance (out-take 1981)
02 Noise Noise (b-side of 'Music For Chameleons' 1982)
03 Bridge? What Bridge? (b-side of 'Music For Chameleons' 1982)
04 The Image Is (b-side of 'We Take Mystery (To Bed)')
05 War Games (b-side of 'White Boys And Heroes' 1982)
06 Glitter And Ash (b-side of 'White Boys And Heroes' 1982)
07 This House Is Cold (out-take 1982)
08 My Car Slides (Parts 1 & 2) (b-side of 'Warriors' 1983)
09 Poetry And Power (b-side of 'Sister Surprise' 1983)
10 Face To Face (Letters) (b-side of 'Sister Surprise' 1983)

Elvis Costello - The Imposter (2017)

In the 80's Elvis Costello's songwriting was so prolific that as well as releasing albums under his own name and with The Attractions, he also issued a number of singles under pseudonyms like The Imposter, The Emotional Toothpaste, and The Coward Brothers with T-Bone Burnette. 'Pills And Soap' was one of his better songs, and it did appear on the 'Punch The Clock' album, so I've used the extended b-side for this post, and that was followed by another excellent 7" in 'Peace In Our Time'. Costello teamed up with his producer T-Bone Burnette to form The Coward Brothers for 'The People's Limosine' single in 1985, and a couple of years later The McManus Gang recorded 'A Town Called Big Nothing', featuring Costello's dad Ross McManus on trumpet, and included here is an exclusive mix of both sides of the single. Sometimes Costello used his alter egos for b-sides to singles from his main band, and so songs by Elvis Costello And His Confederates, Napoeleon Dynamite & The Royal Guard and The Emotional Toothpaste appeared on the flips of Elvis Costello & The Attractions singles. After a gap of 30 years The Imposter made a come-back in 2017, with a cover of Paul Simon's 'American Tune', followed by a song used in the 1998 film 'Soft Sand, Blue Sea', which was pressed in a run of 500 copies and sold on the 'Imperial Bedroom And Other Chambers' tour. This is now an extremely hard-to-find rarity and cannot be located anywhere on the net, so I've extracted the music from the film itself just so we can hear a brief idea of the song. One of the highlights of this collection is being able to hear the title track to the 'Imperial Bedroom' album, which never appeared on the original release, and so enjoy these mysterious Costello recordings, some of which have remained hidden away for some time, and with the resurrection of the name for Elvis Costello And The Imposters new album 'The Boy Named If' then it's time they were brought out again and enjoyed. 

Track listing

01 The Stamping Ground (b-side by The Emotional Toothpaste of 'You Little Fool' 1982)
02 Imperial Bedroom (out-take by Napoleon Dynamite & The Royal Guard 1982)
03 Pills And Soap (extended b-side by The Imposter 1983)
04 Peace In Our Time (single by The Imposter 1984)
05 Withered And Died (b-side of 'Peace In Our Time')
06 The People's Limousine (single by The Coward Brothers 1985)
07 They'll Never Take Her Love From Me (b-side of 'The People's Limosine')
08 Baby's Got A Brand New Hairdo (b-side by The Costello Show of 'Don't Let Me Be

                                                                                                                 Misunderstood' 1986)
09 A Town Called Big Nothing (The Big Return) (single by The McManus Gang 1987)
10 Shoes Without Heels (b-side by Elvis Costello And The Confederates of 'Blue Chair' 1987)
11 True Love Ways (b-side by Elvis Costello And His Confederates of 'Brilliant Mistake' 2005)
12 I Can't Turn It Off (by D. P. Costello from 'Unfaithfull Music & Soundtrack Album' 2015)
13 American Tune (single by The Imposter 2017)
14 Lucky Dog (b-side by Sgt. Larry Singer of 'American Tune')
15 Bright Blue Times (10" single by The Imposter 2017)

Kim Wilde - Call Of The Wilde (1985)

Kim Wilde was born Kim Smith on 18 November 1960, and is the eldest child of 50's rock 'n' roller Marty Wilde and Joyce Baker, who had been a member of the singing and dancing group the Vernons Girls. When Kim was nine, the family moved to Hertfordshire, and after leaving Presdales School, she took a foundation course at St Albans College of Art & Design, completing it when she was 20. After leaving college she wanted so become a session backing singer, but RAK Records owner Mickey Most had other ideas, and signed her to his label as a solo artist under the name of Kim Wilde. Virtually all of her material in the early to mid-80's was written by her father Marty and her brother Ricky, and key influences included Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, Skids, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Kraftwerk and the Stranglers, blending punk, new wave and synth-pop from the late 70's. Her debut single was released in January 1981, and 'Kids In America' was an instant success, reaching number two in the UK Singles Chart and scaling the Top 5 in other countries such as Germany, France and Australia. Although it achieved only moderate success in the US, peaking at number 25 when released in 1982, it is often regarded today as her signature song, and her debut album 'Kim Wilde' repeated the success of the single, spawning two further hits in 'Chequered Love' and the UK-only single 'Water On Glass'. 'Select' followed in 1982, led by the hit singles 'View From A Bridge' and 'Cambodia', with the latter sparking some controversy over the lyrics referencing the Operation Menu bombing during the Vietnam war, but despite that it sold a million copies in France alone. Unusually for someone with two hit albums under their belt, Wilde was reluctant to do a live tour, and so her first concerts took place in September 1982 in Denmark, before embarking on a UK-wide tour in October. Wilde's third album 'Catch As Catch Can' appeared in 1983, but failed to equal the success of the previous two, although the first single from the album 'Love Blonde' was another success in France and Scandinavia, although it didn't really perform well in other countries. The relative failure of the album led to her leaving RAK and signing with MCA Records in the summer of 1984, and her first album for the label was 'Teases & Dares', which was once again overlooked in her home country, faring much better in Germany, France and Scandinavia. As well as scoring another German Top 10 single with 'The Second Time', the third single from the album, the rockabilly 'Rage To Love', finally returned her to the UK top 20 in 1985. It was on 'Teases & Dares' that Wilde made her first songwriting contributions, penning 'Fit In' and 'Shangri-La', and 1983 saw the start of four years of constant touring, completing three European concert tours in 1983, 1985 and 1986. On nearly all of her early singles, the b-sides were not taken from the current album, and Japanese fans were even treated to a bonus track on their edition of the 'Select' album, so this collection includes all those songs, alongside a couple of out-takes, plus her contribution to the soundtrack of the hit 1985 film 'Weird Science'.  

Track listing

01 Shane (b-side of 'Chequered Love' 1981)
02 Boys (b-side of 'Water On Glass' 1981)
03 Watching For Shapes (b-side of 'Cambodia' 1981)
04 Child Come Away (single 1982)
05 Just Another Guy (b-side of 'Child Come Away')
06 He Will Be There (out-take 1982)
07 Bitter Is Better (bonus track on Japanese edition of 'Select' 1982)
08 Back Street Driver (b-side of 'Dancing In The Dark' 1983)             
09 Rain On (out-take 1983)
10 Lovers On A Beach (b-side of 'The Second Time' 1984)
11 Putty In Your Hands (b-side of 'Rage To Love' 1985)
12 Turn It On (from the soundtrack of the film 'Weird Science' 1985)

Dr. Dre - The Chronicle (1992)

Dr. Dre's debut studio album 'The Chronic' was released in 1992 on Death Row Records, and made him one of the best-selling American music artists of 1993. It earned him a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for the single 'Let Me Ride', as well as several accolades for the single 'Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang'. Not only that, but also that year he produced Death Row label-mate Snoop Doggy Dogg's debut album 'Doggystyle', as well as mentoring producers such as his stepbrother Warren G, Snoop Dogg's cousin Daz Dillinger, Sam Sneed and Mel-Man. The album is named after a slang term for high-grade cannabis, and its cover is an homage to Zig-Zag rolling papers, and although it was a Dre solo album, it featured many appearances by then-emerging American rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, who used the album as a launch pad for his own solo career, making him a superstar before he'd even released a recording of his own. The album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and has been certified 3x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, which led to Dr. Dre becoming one of the top ten best-selling American performing artists of 1993. It established Dre's patented G-funk sound, consisting of fat, blunted Parliament-Funkadelic beats, soulful backing vocals, and live instruments for the rolling basslines and whiny synths, and for the next four years it was virtually impossible to hear mainstream hip-hop that wasn't affected in some way by Dre and his patented G-funk. The album launched the careers of many West Coast hip hop artists, including Snoop Doggy Dogg, Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Nate Dogg, and Warren G, all of whom subsequently pursued successful commercial careers, and 'The Chronic' is widely regarded as the album that re-defined West Coast hip hop, demonstrating gangsta rap's commercial potential as a multi-platinum commodity, while establishing G-funk as the most popular sound in hip hop music, and Death Row Records as a dominant force in 1990's hip hop. The album was re-released in 2009 as 'The Chronic Re-Lit', which included seven previously unreleased tracks, but these weren't the only out-takes to surface over the years, and so when a number of them appeared on the net they were eagerly pounced on by fans, with the the most frequent comment being 'why don't they make music this good today?'. I've added those seven tracks from the 'Re-Lit' re-issue to another half a dozen that later surfaced online, including the original longer version of 'Rat Tat Tat Tat', to make a companion album to that classic record, which I've wittily titled 'The Chronicle', as taken together they provide a complete history of the album that jump-started hip-hop in the 90's. A few of these out-takes have also appeared on lost collections from Snoop Doggy Dogg, as both artists featured heavily on the tracks and so they could have appeared under the name of either artist, and so to avoid duplication I've removed them from this album as they can be heard on the recent Snoop Doggy Dogg post.     

Track listing

01 Die Muthafucka Die (feat. Top Dogg)
02 Poor Young Dave (feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg)
03 Foo Nay Mic (feat. CPO)
04 Rat Tat Tat Tat (original recording feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg)
05 O.G. to B.G. (feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg)
06 Slippin' In The West (feat. CPO & Kurupt)
07 Niggaz Don't Give A Fuck (feat. Tha Dogg Pound, The Lady Of Rage & Snoop Doggy Dogg)
08 Dogg Collar (feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg)
09 Mr. Officer (feat. RBX & Prince Ital Joe)
10 Touchdown (feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg)
11 Smoke Enough Bud (feat. Jewell & Snoop Doggy Dogg)
12 187um (Deep Cover Remix feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg)
13 Would You Ride (feat. Kurupt, Tyrone, Daz, Snoop Doggy Dogg & Amber)

Mike Nesmith - Elephant Parts (1981) **UPDATE**

While reading the obituaries for the late, great Mike Nesmith I saw mention of a film that he produced in 1981 called 'Elephant Parts', which was apparently a precursor of what was to become MTV in the future, combining as it did music videos of some of his songs with comedy sketches and parodies of adverts. The most notable sketches are 'Elvis Drugs', 'Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority', 'Mariachi Translations', and some bits with a lounge singer, as well as a game show called 'Name That Drug'. The musical videos include 'Magic', 'Cruisin'', 'Light', 'Tonight'. and 'Rio', and director Bill Dear and Nesmith were doing music videos before people even knew what they were, approaching them as mini-movies. 'Elephant Parts' won the first Grammy in the Music Video category, with Billboard's review saying it was "the cleverest exercise in original video programming to date." I tried to find a copy online with no success, but most of the individual parts had been uploaded to Youtube, so I've pieced it all back together so that we can see that Nesmith had lost none of his comic timing or musical genius even later in his career. The final video was a little bit shorter than the advertised running time, as there seemed to be sketch or two missing, so I owe eternal thanks to Mike Solof for providing me with a VHS rip of the complete video, so you can now enjoy the whole thing. 

The title 'Elephant Parts' refers to the parable of the blind men and an elephant where each man comes to a different conclusion about what an elephant is due to them touching only one part. 

Stevie Ray Vaughan - ...and on guitar (1990)

Stephen Ray Vaughan was born on 3 October 1954 in Dallas, Texas, and began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by his elder brother, Jimmie Vaughan. Learning by ear, he diligently committed himself, following along to songs by the Nightcaps, and he listened to blues artists such as Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters, and rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack. In 1963, he acquired his first electric guitar as a hand-me-down from Jimmie, and soon after he joined his first band, the Chantones, in 1965. Following a falling out with the other members he left the band and joined the Brooklyn Underground, playing professionally at local bars and clubs. In May 1969, after leaving the Brooklyn Underground, he joined a band called the Southern Distributor playing pop rock covers, but he tried to add blues songs to the group's repertoire, even though he was told that he wouldn't earn a living playing blues music, and so he and the band parted ways. In February 1970, Vaughan joined a band called Liberation, which was a nine-piece group with a horn section, and at a gig at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas he was asked onstage by ZZ Top to jam with the band. In September 1970 Vaughan made his first studio recordings with the band Cast Of Thousands, which included future actor Stephen Tobolowsky, recording two songs for the compilation album 'A New Hi', which featured various teenage bands from Dallas. In late January 1971 he left Liberation and formed his own band Blackbird, moving from Dallas to Austin, Texas, as he felt they had more liberal and tolerant audiences. After a couple of years Vaughan left Blackbird and joined Krackerjack, staying with them for less than three months, and then joined Marc Benno's band, the Nightcrawlers, reuniting with Benno after meeting him at a jam session some years before. 

The next month, the Nightcrawlers recorded an album at Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood for A&M Records, and although the record was rejected by A&M, it did include Vaughan's first songwriting efforts, 'Dirty Pool' and 'Crawlin''. In 1975 Vaughan joined a six-piece band called Paul Ray And The Cobras, which included guitarist Val Swierczewski and saxophonist Joe Sublett, and for the next two-and-a-half years he earned a living performing weekly at the Soap Creek Saloon and at Antone's, which was widely known as Austin's 'home of the blues'. In late 1976 the band recorded a single, with Vaughan playing guitar on both tracks, which was released in February 1977, and the band carried on touring for most of the rest of that year. Near the end of September he left the band and formed Triple Threat Revue, recording some tracks in an Austin studio in January 1978, but in mid-May the bassist left to form his own group and Vaughan renamed the band Double Trouble, recruiting new bass-palyer Jackie Newhouse, and by October that band had a residency at one of Austin's most popular nightspots, the Rome Inn. Following some line-up changes, the group settled on bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton, and in 1982 they performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where David Bowie saw Vaughan play and contacted him for a studio gig, resulting in him playing his blues guitar on six of the eight songs on Bowie's 1983 album 'Let's Dance', including the iconic solo at the end of the title track. 

With the success of 'Let's Dance', Bowie requested Vaughan as the featured instrumentalist for the upcoming Serious Moonlight Tour, and in late April he began rehearsals for the tour in Las Colinas, Texas, but when contract renegotiations for his performance fee failed, he abandoned the tour days before its opening date, and he was replaced by Earl Slick. Double Trouble had recorded some tracks at Jackson Browne's studio after Browne had jammed with them in Montreux and offered free use of his studio, and after acquiring the recordings Double Trouble began assembling the material for a full-length album, to be called 'Texas Flood'. After knocking the album into shape, it was released on 13 June 1983, and peaked at number 38 on the US charts, ultimately selling half a million copies. In January 1984, Double Trouble began recording their second studio album 'Couldn't Stand The Weather', with John Hammond as executive producer and engineer Richard Mullen, and during recording sessions Vaughan began experimenting with other combinations of musicians, including Fran Christina, Stan Harrison, and Jimmie Vaughan. 'Couldn't Stand The Weather' was released on 15 May 1984, and two weeks later it had rapidly outpaced the sales of 'Texas Flood', peaking at number 31 on the US album chart. 

The success of the band's two albums, added to his recognition at playing with Bowie on 'Let's Dance', meant that he was often asked to guest on other artist's work, adding his guitar to records by Lonnie Mack, James Brown, and Jennifer Warnes among others. The recording with James Brown was for the soundtrack to the 1985 film 'Rocky IV', but it wasn't without it's troubles, as apparently Vaughan was so upset by how low his guitar parts had been mixed that he left in a helicopter never to return. The songs were edited for release as a single, and about four minutes had to be cut, which included most of Vaughan's solos, so for this post I've used the longer version which later appeared on Brown's 'Gravity' album, on which you can hear Vaughan's playing in full. During the majority of his life, Vaughan struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, but he successfully completed rehabilitation and began touring again with Double Trouble in November 1986. His fourth and final studio album 'In Step' reached number 33 in the United States in 1989, and was one of his most critically and commercially successful releases, including his only number-one hit 'Crossfire'. It cemented his reputation as one of the world's most highly in demand blues performers, and he headlined Madison Square Garden in 1989, and the Beale Street Music Festival in 1990. On 27 August 1990, Vaughan and four others were killed in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin, following a performance with Double Trouble at Alpine Valley Music Theatre. An investigation concluded that the cause was pilot error and Vaughan's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Omniflight Helicopters that was settled out of court. It was a terrible waste of a supremely gifted musician who was at the peak of his powers, and I hope that this collection of early recordings and guest appearances is a fitting tribute to his talent. 

Track listing

Disc One
01 Red, White And Blue (from the 'A New Hi' compilation album 1970)
02 I Heard A Voice Last Night (from the 'A New Hi' compilation album 1970)
03 Dirty Pool (from the unreleased album by The Nightcrawlers 1973)
04 Crawlin' ((from the unreleased album by The Nightcrawlers 1973)
05 Other Days (single by The Cobras 1977)
06 Texas Clover (b-side of 'Other Days)
07 Love Struck Baby (Triple Threat Revue demo 1978)
08 I Wonder Why (Triple Threat Revue demo 1978)
09 Let's Dance (from 'Let's Dance' by David Bowie 1983)

Disc Two
01 Don't Stop By The Creek, Son  (from 'Texas Twister' by Johnny Copeland 1983)
02 Oreo Cookie Blues (from 'Strike Like Lightning' by Lonnie Mack 1985)
03 Living In America (by James Brown from the film 'Rocky IV' 1985)
04 First We Take Manhattan (from 'Famous Blue Raincoat' by Jennifer Warnes 1986)
05 You So Heavy (from 'Emerald City' by Teena Marie 1986)
06 Love Roulette  (from 'Heartbeat' by Don Johnson 1986)
07 Bumble Bee Blues (from 'Distant Drums' by Brian Slawson 1988)
08 Pipeline (from 'King Of The Surf Guitar' by Dick Dale 1989)
09 Cat's In The Well (from 'Under The Red Sky' by Bob Dylan 1990)
10 Just How You Play The Game (from 'The Peacemaker' by Jerry Lynn Williams - 

                                                                                               recorded 1990, released 1996)

 

Gary Numan - Exhibition (1981)

Following the release of Tubeway Army's second album 'Replicas' in 1979, Gary Numan was already busy recording his next album with a new backing band, and when he was invited to record a John Peel session he opted to premiere four new songs instead of promoting the Tubeway Army release. The first fruits of his labours was the single 'Cars', and this first solo effort reached No. 1 in the UK charts, as well as finding success in North American, spending two weeks at No. 1 on the Canadian RPM charts, and reaching No. 9 in the U.S. charts. His debut solo album was also released in 1979, and 'The Pleasure Principle' equaled the success of 'Cars', reaching No. 1 in the UK, and a sell-out tour quickly followed. In contrast to Tubeway Army's music, 'The Pleasure Principle' was a rock album with no guitars, instead using synthesisers fed through guitar effects pedals to achieve a distorted, phased, metallic tone. The second single from the album was 'Complex', which didn't quite match the success of 'Cars', but achieved a respectable No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1980 Numan released the singles 'We Are Glass' and 'I Die: You Die', reaching No. 5 and No. 6. in the UK singles chart, and he then topped the album charts for a third time with 'Telekon', but when 'This Wreckage' was lifted from the album in December, it only scraped into the top 20. 'Telekon' was his final studio album that he retrospectively termed the "machine" section of his career, reintroducing guitars to his music and featuring a wider range of synthesisers. The same year he embarked on his second major tour with an even more elaborate stage show than the previous year, but then unexpectedly announced his retirement from touring with a series of sell-out concerts at Wembley Arena in April 1981. A live two album set from the 1979 and 1980 tours released at this time reached No. 2 in the UK charts, and they were also released individually as 'Living Ornaments '79' and 'Living Ornaments '80', charting separately in their own right. Departing from the pure electro-pop that he had been associated with, Numan began experimenting with jazz, funk, and ethereal and rhythmic pop, and his first album showcasing this change in style was 'Dance', which came out in 1981, and which charted at No. 3 on the UK charts. The album produced one hit single in 'She's Got Claws', and featured several distinguished guest players, such as Japan's Mick Karn on bass guitar and saxophone and Rob Dean on guitar, Roger Mason of Models on keyboards, and Queen's Roger Taylor on drums. For this first of three collections of b-sides and out-takes we look at the non-album tracks which appeared on those first seven solo singles, emphasising the difference between his solo work and the Tubeway Army period, most notably on the b-side of 'We Are Glass', 'Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement)', and the piano version of 'Down In The Park'. 

Track listing

01 Asylum (b-side of 'Cars' 1979)

02 Random (out-take 1979)

03 Bombers (Live) (b-side of 'Complex' 1979) 

04 Oceans (out-take 1979)

05 We Are Glass (single 1980)

06 Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement) (b-side of 'We Are Glass')

07 I Die: You Die (single 1980)

08 Down In The Park (Piano Version) (b-side of 'I Die: You Die')

09 On Broadway (b-side of 'Remember I Was Vapour' 1980)

10 A Game Called Echo (out-take 1980)

11 Photograph (b-side of 'This Wreckage' 1980)

12 I Sing Rain (b-side of 'She's Got Claws' 1981)

13 Exhibition (b-side of 'She's Got Claws' 1981)

The Stone Roses - Groove Harder (1995)

When The Stone Roses released the single 'Fools Gold'/'What the World Is Waiting For' in 1989, 'Fools Gold' was orignally intended as the b-side, but the song quickly became one of the band's most famous songs, and merited an extended version on the 12" single, becoming their first top ten UK hit. This success led to their biggest headline gigs in 1989, to 4,000 people at Blackpool's Empress Ballroom and to 7,000 people at London's Alexandra Palace, and the group won four NME Readers poll awards that year - Band of the Year, Best New Band, Single of the Year for 'Fools Gold', and Album of the Year for 'The Stone Roses'. Their gig at Spike Island on 7 May 1990 was attended by some 27,000 people, and although it was considered a failure at the time due to sound problems and bad organisation, it's since become legendary over the years as a "Woodstock for the baggy generation". Their final single for Silvertone was 'One Love', which reached number four in the UK singles chart, and which proved to be the band's last original release for four years, entering a protracted legal battle to terminate their five-year contract with the label. Silvertone owners Zomba Records took out an injunction in September 1990 to prevent the band from recording with any other label, but in May 1991 the court sided with the group, and they were released from their contract. The band subsequently signed with Geffen Records for a million-pound advance, and began work on their second album, but an appeal against the ruling delayed the record for another year, and the band finally started work on the record in mid-1993.

Progress was slow, with producer John Leckie ultimately leaving the project as the band would not sign a production contract, and the band assuming production duties with engineer Simon Dawson at Rockfield Studios in Wales, spending 347 ten-hour days working on the album. 'Second Coming' finally arrived on 5 December 1994, and their sound had changed to a shady, heavy blues rock sound, mostly due to Squire writing most of the material. 'Love Spreads' was the first single from the album, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart, but 'Second Coming' received a mixed reception from the British press, with poor reviews and much being made of the length of time it took to record. In March 1995, just two weeks before a tour in support of 'Second Coming' was due to begin, Reni exited the band following a disagreement with Ian Brown, and a replacement drummer had to be found, with Robbie Maddix filling the drum-stool. After a couple of aborted attempts at setting up a tour, the band finally organised a full UK tour for November and December 1995 and all dates sold out in a day. John Squire announced his departure on 1 April 1996, blaming the gradual social and musical separation that the band had undergone in the past few years, and guitarist Aziz Ibrahim was recruited as a replacement. The band continued for another six months, but there was a noticeable deterioration in the quality of its public performances after Squire's loss, and the music press was united in its criticism, leading to Brown and Mani dissolving the group in October 1996. Their singles from 1989 onwards often added extended versions to the 12" versions, so we start with the full length version of the song that ended the last post, and which heralded the start of the band's attempts to 'groove harder'. While this post only has seven tracks it's still a full 48-minute album, so enjoy the final days of this iconic UK indie band.  

Track listing

01 Fools Gold (extended single 1989)
02 One Love (extended single 1990)
03 Something's Burning (extended b-side of 'One Love')
04 Breakout (b-side of 'Love Spreads' 1994)
05 Groove Harder (b-side of 'Love Spreads' 1994)
06 Moses (b-side of 'Ten Storey Love Song' 1995)
07 Ride On (b-side of 'Ten Storey Love Song' 1995)