Rihanna - Angel (2019)

By March 2019 fans of Rihanna had been waiting for a new album for quite some time, and the thirst for a new project from her was tangible. In February it was reported that her new full-length release was already done, and so when a record surfaced in iTunes fans bought it in their droves, sending it to No. 67 on the Worldwide iTunes Albums Chart. It soon transpired, however, that it wasn't an official release, but an unauthorized album full of unreleased Rihanna music which was posted under the name of Fenty Fantasia, Fenty being Rihanna's real name. As expected, the release was deleted from the service shortly afterwards, and it emerged that a lot of the songs on the release, which was titled 'Angel', had previously surfaced online in some way or another, with some of them dating as far back as 2009, but the quality of the music and packaging fooled fans into thinking it was a legitinate release. When word of the album started to make it to social media, a fan asked Rihanna directly what's going on with 'Angel', to which she replied simply "Shit's crazy". Nearly three years later we're still waiting for the follow-up to 2016's 'Anti', so for now this will have to tide us over until it finally makes an appearance.  

Track listing

01 Answer
02 Sexuality
03 Bitch I'm Special
04 Bubble Pop
05 Winning Women
06 Just Be Happy
07 Don't Even Try
08 Here We Go
09 Goodbye
10 Whipping My Hair
11 Hating  On The Club
12 Angel

Hint for Soulseek - try whipping aiwe

Twiggy - Beautiful Dreams (1978)

Lesley Hornby was born on 19 September 1949 and raised in Neasden, and her mother taught her to sew from an early age, being able to use this skill to make her own clothes, and sparking her interest in fashion. In January 1966, aged 16, she had her hair coloured and cut short in London at Leonard of Mayfair, owned by celebrity hairdresser Leonard, and as the hair stylist was looking for models on whom to try out his new crop haircut, a professional photographer Barry Lategan took several photos of Hornby, which the hairdresser hung in his salon. Deirdre McSharry, a fashion journalist from the Daily Express, saw the images and asked to meet the young girl, and after arranging to have more photos taken, the publication featured an article and images of Hornby, declaring her "The Face of '66". Hornby's career quickly took off, and with her streamlined, androgynous sex appeal, and change of name to Twiggy (from "Twigs", her childhood nickname), she was soon seen in all the leading fashion magazines, commanding fees of £80 an hour, bringing out her own line of clothes called "Twiggy Dresses" in 1967, and taking the fashion world by storm. She began modeling extensively, quickly gaining international recognition, and her appearance on the cover of the U.S. edition of the leading fashion magazine Vogue (April 1967) heralded her rise to fame. She extended her celebrity into a singing career, releasing an award-winning debut single 'Beautiful Dreams' in 1967, and following this with 'When I Think Of You' later the same year. In 1970, Twiggy retired from modeling, and Ken Russell cast her in the starring role of his campy homage to musicals of the 20's and 30's, 'The Boy Friend'. 

Released in 1971, the film found Twiggy not just acting but singing and dancing as well, and while the film was a disappointment at the box office, for the most part critics were kind to Twiggy's work in the film. Three of her songs from the soundtrack album were later released as singles, and in 1971 she cut a one-off single for Bell Records, 'Zoo Dee Zoo Zong'/'Little Pleasure Acre'. In 1974 she was given her own musical variety series on BBC television, and after the show was renewed for a second season, she signed an international recording contract with Phonogram, with her 1976 self-titled debut album being a commercial success in the U.K., and spawning the hit single 'Here I Go Again'. A follow-up album titled 'Please Get My Name Right' was released in 1977, with the backing being supplied by the American group Clover, who would also back Elvis Costello on his debut album 'My Aim Is True' later the same year. A third album for Mercury was recorded but not released, though a single from the sessions, 'Tomorrow Is Another Day', was issued in late 1977. After cutting a single with longtime friend David Essex in 1978,  she recorded a disco album with production help from Donna Summer and Juergen Koppers, but with disco losing ground in the marketplace, the album went unreleased until 2007, when it was eventually issued as 'Heaven in My Eyes'. Through much of the 1980's she concentrated on her acting, and the singing career took a backseat, so this collection encapsulates her time in the music business, with her singles and b-sides from that first 1967 offering up to her retirement following the release of the David Essex song 'Falling Angel' in 1978. As the singles from 'The Boy Friend' were very theatrical, I've edited out a lot of the dancing in 'A Room In Bloomsbury' and faded 'I Could Be Happy With You' so that we just have the music.  

Track listing

01 Beautiful Dreams (single 1967)
02 I Need Your Hand In Mine (b-side of 'Beautiful Dreams')
03 When I Think Of You (single 1967)
04 Over And Over (b-side of 'When I Think Of You')
05 Zoo De Zoo Zong (single 1971)
06 Little Pleasure Acre (b-side of 'Zoo De Zoo Zong')
07 A Room In Bloomsbury (single by Twiggy & Christopher Gable 1972)
08 You Are My Lucky Star (single 1972)
09 All I Do Is Dream (b-side of 'You Are My Lucky Star')
10 I Could Be Happy With You (b-side of 'Overture "The Boyfriend" 1972)
11 It's De-Lovely (from the soundtrack to the 'Cole Porter In Paris' TV special 1973)
12 In Love Together (b-side of 'Here I Go Again' 1976)
13 A Woman In Love (single 1977)
16 Falling Angel (single 1978)
17 Virginia (And The Circus Side Show) (b-side of 'Falling Angel')

Uriah Heep - Fives Miles (1979)

In 1979 Uriah Heep were riding high following the release of three successful albums with vocalist John Lawton, and 'Firefly', 'Innocent Victim' and 'Fallen Angel' were all fine examples of the more 'pop' orientated, stylish sound that Ken Hensley was striving for in the latter part of the 70's. A fourth album was recorded in 1979, provisionally titled 'Five Miles', but for reasons which remain unclear it was shelved, although that decision could well be to do with the major line-up changes which occurred in 1980, when Lawton was replaced as vocalist by John Sloman, and both Lee Kerslake and Ken Hensley quit the band, with the subsequent release 'Conquest' being generally perceived as the band's worst album. Had this one appeared it could have completed a quartet of great records from the group, with things kicking off if fine fashion with 'Let It Ride', which sounds a bit like Lawton's prior band Lucifer's Friend in it's use of group back up vocals. 'Life Is A Dream' has what sounds like a nice duel between Mick Box and Ken Hensley on guitars threading through a very upbeat and infectious melody, and 'That's How I Am' features Hammond organ in the background, an incredibly beautiful and well constructed acoustic Mick Box solo, and a powerful vocal performance from Lawton, at the top of his game. The following 'You And I' is another lovely song, with orchestration in the background, and Box and Hensley adding some nice countryish duelling on guitar. 'Your Love' is a nice driving piece, with another good Lawton performance, and 'I'll Never Forget' is one of those Heep tunes where the back up vocal hamonizing takes it to another level. 'Fools' and 'Feelings' were both later re-worked for the 'Conquest' album, and so you can compare both vocalists to see who delivers the better versions. 'I Won't Change' closes the album with a lead vocal from Hensley, and features a confessional lyric, with him admitting "I'm just an honest guy trying to stay true to who I am". The album has been bootlegged over the years, often under the name of 'Ten Miles High', and with 'Fallen Angel' out-takes tagged onto the end, but in 2005 another 'Five Miles' recording was included on the 'Chapter And Verse' box-set, so this version also includes 'LA Woman', which is missing from all the other boots, and I've also restored the original title. It might be leveled at the band that they'd produced a more lightweight affair, but that was the direction they were going for at the time, and it certainly didn't deserve to be locked away as there is plenty on here for fans to enjoy. 

Track listing

01 Let It Ride 
02 Life Is A Dream 
03 Feelings 
04 You And I 

05 LA Woman
06 That's How I Am  
07 I'll Never Forget  
08 Your Love  
09 Tonight 
10 Fools  
11 Been Hurt  
12 I Won't Change 

Diana Ross & The Supremes - Sing Disney Classics (1967)

'Supremes Sing Disney' was not the idea of Berry Gordy, Jr., as you might think, but of Diana Ross, who yearned to do a music album for children. The special project was then started with Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard in early 1967, along the same lines as 'The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart', which displayed the worldliness of Motown Records and the true musical diversity of the group. The recording was put on hold for the 'Reflections' personnel change of summer 1967, when Ballard was fired and replaced by Cindy Birdsong, and recording resumed in late 1967 with the new line-up, with the title amended to 'Diana Ross & The Supremes Sing Disney Classics'. Ross sings lead on all the songs except 'Davy Crockett', which was a Wilson lead vocal, and the album was completed and ready to go when Motown Records decided not to release it. Had the album been released in Autumn 1968 as later planned, the cover photograph would have had to reflect that Ballard had been replaced by Birdsong, but the recordings stayed locked in the vaults for 20 years, until some of the songs finally turned up on 'Diana Ross & The Supremes - The Never Before Released Masters' in 1987, following years of pleading from fans. Despite this act of generosity by Motown, three of the songs remained unreleased for many years, but I've managed to track down 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah' and 'A Spoonful Of Sugar', (admittedly not as high quality as the other tracks, although I have improved them from their original thin sound), which just leaves 'Chim Chim Cher-ee' still missing. A video of this appeared on Youtube for two days in 2017 before it was taken down by Disney, so if anyone has a copy of it that I could have then it would complete this extremely rare collection.  

Track listing

01 Heigh-Ho (from 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs')
02 I've Got No Strings (from 'Pinocchio') 
03 Chim Chim Cher-ee (from 'Mary Poppins') MISSING
04 A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (from 'Cinderella') 
05 Someday My Prince Will Come (from 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs')
06 The Ballad Of Davy Crockett (from 'Davy Crockett, King Of The Wild Frontier') 
07 Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (from 'Song Of The South') 
08 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (from 'Mary Poppins')
09 Toyland (from 'Babes In Toyland')
10 When You Wish Upon A Star (from 'Pinocchio')  
11 A Spoonful Of Sugar (from 'Mary Poppins') 
12 The Land Of Make Believe (from 'Peter Pan') 
13 Whistle While You Work (from 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs')
14 It Won't Be Long 'Til Christmas (from 'The Happiest Millionaire')

The Rolling Stones - Very Ancient, Thank You Kindly (The Decca Live Album) (1972)

Even though The Rolling Stones had only just released the live 'Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!' two years earlier, their label Decca were keen for them to issue another one, and so arrangements were made to record some shows from their 1972 American tour, with the intention of releasing the album shortly afterwards. A number of concerts were recorded, and the best performances were selected, with most of the first half coming from the 21 July Philadelphia show and the second half favouring Fort Worth from 24 June. Other concerts were also taped, such as Boston Gardens on 19 July and Tarrant County Convention Centre on 21 June and so this has resulted in a lot of confusion, with numerous bootlegs appearing which all claim to the 'The Unreleased Decca Live Album', but featuring recordings from these other venues. The band had left Decca in 1970 to form their own Rolling Stones Records label, which would be free from corporate interference and meddling, and what happened next was a perfect example of what they were trying to get away from, as although Alan Klein and Decca Records have always denied it, they've been accused of being the cause of the late-stage abandonment of the planned double live album of the Stones' 1972 American tour. As they then held the exclusive UK rights to the Stones' re-recordings of songs originally released while signed to the label, the album would have had to be issued by Decca, even though they were no longer part of Decca's roster, and some sources have stated that they or Klein objected to the inclusion of tracks by the tour's support act, Stevie Wonder, whereas others blame Motown for insisting that the album was a joint release by Stevie Wonder with The Rolling Stones. In the end the Stones just abandoned the whole thing and it became the stuff of legend. Fans have tried to replicate it with alternate recordings, but these are often poorer quality, and so when I found this recording I wanted to make sure it was the real thing. The track 'Sweet Virginia' had been removed as it has been 'officially released', and so I tracked down that recording from the 24 June Fort Worth concert and when I slotted it back in it fitted perfectly, even down to the banter being the same, so I'm happy that what we have here is the real deal. I found a great cover online, even if the title is a bit strange, but actually I like it (because that's what they are!), and so that's what it's now called. 

Track listing 

01 All Down The Line (Philadelphia 21 Jul 1972)
02 Brown Sugar (Philadelphia 21 Jul 1972)
03 Bitch (Philadelphia 21 Jul 1972)
04 Rocks Off (Philadelphia 21 Jul 1972)
05 Gimme Shelter (Philadelphia 21 Jul 1972)
06 Happy (Philadelphia 21 Jul 1972)
07 Tumbling Dice (Philadelphia 21 Jul 1972)
08 Love In Vain (Fort Worth 24 Jun 1972)
09 Sweet Virginia (Fort Worth 24 Jun 1972)
10 You Can't Always Get What You Want (Fort Worth 24 Jun 1972)
11 Midnight Rambler (Fort Worth 24 Jun 1972)
12 Rip This Joint (Fort Worth 24 Jun 1972)
13 Jumping Jack Flash (Fort Worth 24 Jun 1972)
14 Street Fighting Man (Fort Worth 24 Jun 1972)

Marianne Faithfull - The Most Of What Is Least (1969)

Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull was born 29 December 1946 in Hampstead, London, and spent some of her early life at the commune at Braziers Park, Oxfordshire, formed by John Norman Glaister and her father Robert Faithfull. Her parents divorced when she was six years old, after which she moved with her mother to Milman Road in Reading, but her girlhood was marred by bouts of tuberculosis. In 1964 she attended a Rolling Stones party, where she was discovered by Andrew Loog Oldham, and her first major release was the single 'As Tears Go By', which was written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Oldham, and which became a chart success. Considerably more successful in her native land than the States, she had a series of hits in the mid-'60s that set her high, fragile voice against delicate orchestral pop arrangements, with 'Summer Night', 'This Little Bird', and Jackie DeShannon's 'Come And Stay with Me' all charting in the UK. This string of successful singles displayed her gentle voice and talent as an interpretive vocalist, and 1966's folky 'North Country Maid' showed that her gifts stretched beyond polished pop. In 1965 she married John Dunbar, giving birth to her son Nicholas later that year, and in 1966 she took Nicholas to stay with Brian Jones and Anita Pallenberg in London, during which time she started smoking marijuana and became best friends with Pallenberg, as well as beginning a much-publicised relationship with Mick Jagger. Much of her notoriety at the outset of her career was due to her status as a 60's icon because of her long-running romance with Jagger, although she offered a taste of things to come with her compelling 1969 b-side 'Sister Morphine', which she co-wrote, and which the Stones later released themselves on 'Sticky Fingers', following a protracted legal battle over the writing credits that was ultimately resolved with Faithfull listed as co-author. Faithfull's involvement in Jagger's life would be reflected in some of the Rolling Stones's best known songs, with 'You Can't Always Get What You Want', 'Wild Horses' and 'I Got the Blues' all allegedly being influenced by her, but to remind us of her fragile vocal style which was so popular in the 60's, here is a collection of rare early singles, b-sides and out-takes, including an unusual collaboration with Ornette Coleman for a song from the soundtrack of the film 'Who's Crazy', as well as her interpretations of staples such as 'House Of The Rising Sun', 'Blowing In The Wind',  and 'Monday Monday'. 

Track listing

01 Blowin' In The Wind (single 1964)
02 Greensleeves (b-side of 'As Tears Go By' 1964)
03 House Of The Rising Sun (b-side of 'Blowin' In The Wind' - long version) 
04 Morning Sun (b-side of 'Little Bird' 1965) 
05 The Sha La La Song (b-side of 'Summer Nights' 1965)
06 Oh Look Around You (b-side of 'Go Away From My World' 1965)
07 The Most Of What Is Least (from 'Go Away From My World' EP 1965)
08 Sadness (with Ornette Coleman, from the soundtrack of the film 'Who's Crazy?' 1966)
09 That's Right Baby (b-side of Tomorrow's Calling' 1966)
10 I'd Like To Dial Your Number (b-side of 'Counting' 1966)
11 Is This What I Get For Loving You? (single 1967)
12 Tomorrow's Calling (b-side of 'Is This What I Get For Loving You?')
13 Rosie, Rosie (previously unreleased 1967)
14 Hang On To A Dream (previously unreleased 1967)
15 Monday, Monday (previously unreleased 1967)
16 Something Better (single 1969)
17 Sister Morphine (b-side of 'Something Better')

Thanks to Paul for he suggestion, and for her European singles go here https://albumsiwishexisted2.blogspot.com/search/label/Marianne%20Faithfull

Sheryl Crow - Borrowed Time (1992)

Paul over at albumsthatshouldexist is a huge Sheryl Crow fan, and has posted a number of stray tracks albums from her, alongside some cracking live stuff, but one record that he hasn't posted is her unreleased debut album from 1982. The reason for this is that he doesn't really rate it as being very good, or indicative of what was to follow with her official debut album 'Tuesday Night Music Club' the following year. The record was due to be released on 22 September 1992, but as the release date drew nearer it emerged that both she and her record company felt that she could do better. She was unhappy that the record company had stifled her vision by over-producing the songs, and the label agreed she was capable of better, so it was mutually agreed to shelve the album and try again. She was given more freedom to record her songs the way she wanted and 'Tuesday Night Music Club' was the result. Listening to the album I guess you can hear why she was unhappy with it, and consented to it being shelved, but if you overlook the cheesy production then it's a record of great hooks and solid songs, indicative of a quality singer/songwriter, and while the reasons behind shelving it are totally understandable, it's certainly not unlistenable. I approached it as the fledgling efforts of a previously unknown artist, and on that basis I found a lot to enjoy, so perhaps because I wasn't listening to it as a portent of things to come, I could just enjoy the songs without constantly reminding myself that 'this is Sheryl Crow'. I'm sure there are fans out these who would like to hear this, if only for curiosity's sake, and so as Paul won't be posting it, here it is with a new title and revamped cover, so that you can make up your own minds. If you want to read Paul's opinion then pop over here

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2019/05/sheryl-crow-happy-various-songs-1992.html

Track listing

01 Near Me
02 When Love Is Over
03 You Want It All
04 Hundreds Of Tears
05 The Last Time
06 Borrowed Time
07 All Kinds Of People
08 Father's Sons
09 What Does It Matter
10 Indian Summer
11 I Will Walk With You
12 Love You Blind

Hybrid Theory - HT (2000)

As mentioned in the Xero post, three high school friends from California - Mike Shinoda, Rob Bourdon, and Brad Delson - teamed up with Joe Hahn, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, and Mark Wakefield to perform in their band, then called Xero. A four-track demo tape was recorded, which you can hear from their own post, but tensions and frustration within the band grew after they failed to land a record deal, so Wakefield and Farrell left, and after spending a considerable time searching for Wakefield's replacement, Xero recruited Arizona vocalist Chester Bennington, who was recommended by Jeff Blue, the vice president of Zomba Music in March 1999. The band then agreed to change their name from Xero to Hybrid Theory, and with the newborn vocal chemistry between Shinoda and Bennington helping to revive the band, the started work on new material. In 1999, the band released a self-titled EP, which they circulated across internet chat-rooms and forums with the help of an online 'street team', but still they struggled to sign a record deal, and so they recorded a number of demo tapes to be hawked around the record companies,and some of the songs from these demos did appear on records, with the extremely rare 'Raw Power Sampler' containing 'By Myself', and 'Now I See' being included on the 'Ozzfest 2000 Sampler' CD. The demo tapes have been circulating for a while, with at least four different tapes doing the rounds, with different versions of some of the songs, and including from six to nine tracks, and so for this post I'm finally including all thirteen known songs plus the two sampler appearances in one place, including demos of songs that later appeared on Linkin Park's debut album, and others that have yet to appear officially.  

Track listing

01 Crawling (demo 2000)
02 She Couldn't (demo 2000)
03 Carousel (demo 2000)
04 Untitled ('In The End' demo' 2000)
05 Points & Authority (demo 2000)
06 SuperXero ('By Myself' demo)
07 Part Of Me (demo 2000)

08 Dust Brothers ('With You' demo 2000)
09 And One (demo 2000)
10 Papercut (demo 2000)

11 Rhinestone ('Forgotten' demo 2000)
12 Esaul ('A Place In My Head' demo 2000)
13 Plaster ('One Step Closer' demo 2000)

14 By Myself ('Raw Power' version 1988)

15 Now I See ('With You' demo from the 'Ozzfest Sampler' 2000)

Kanye West - Yandhi (2018)

'Yandhi' was to be Kanye West's ninth album, with an original release date of 29 September 2018, but it was never released, eventually morphing into 'Jesus Is King', which came out in October 2019. Three tracks from 'Yandhi' appeared on 'Jesus Is King', and one later turned up on 'Donda', but the rest remain unreleased, and the album is probably the one that fans most want to hear after 'So Help Me God'. He enjoyed success with his "Wyoming albums", a streak of releases from 2018 where he served as producer, including 'Daytona' by Pusha T, 'Kids See Ghosts' with Kid Cudi as the title duo 'Kids See Ghosts', 'Nasir' by Nas, 'K.T.S.E.' by Teyana Taylor, and of course his own 'Ye' album. Later in 2018, he released the singles 'XTCY' and 'I Love It', the latter of which featured Lil Pump, and he also announced 'Watch The Throne 2' would come soon, as well as 'Good Ass Job' with Chance The Rapper. On 27 September 2018 he posted a tweet which announced 'Yandhi' would come out two days later, to coincide with him being a musical guest on 'Saturday Night Live', but it didn't appear as promised, and Kim Kardashian later tweeted that it would come out on 23 November instead. West eventually went to Uganda to work on the album there, only to return in November and announce that the release was delayed indefinitely. In October 2019 he released 'Jesus Is King', which contained three tracks from 'Yandhi' ('Chakras', 'The Storm' and 'Law Of Attraction') that were reworked into the tracks 'Selah', 'Everything We Need', and 'Use This Gospel', and so 'Yahndhi' joined the long list of West's unreleased albums. 

Although an official tracklist from West himself was never released, multiple potential listings have been spotted in the background of pictures, with one on a whiteboard at the Saturday Night Live studio which has been taken as one of the most accurate. In 2018 the album had seven tracks, but this changed every time a new picture emerged, with some listings having up to ten tracks. One of the songs did make an appearance, with 'We Got Love' showing up on the Teyana Taylor album, and a couple of them were released as singles, but there are rumours that up to 30 tracks were recorded. Luckily at least 20 of them have leaked online, and so we are able to reconstruct the album from these, and although it's possible that not all of them would have made the cut, as they make for a record that's over an hour long, having listened to them a few times now, there aren't really any that I want to leave off so that's how long it's going to be. The title 'Yandhi' is a portmanteau of Ye and Mahatma Gandhi, similar to Yeezus, and the album's artwork was officially released, being a continuation of the minimalistic sleeve design of the 'Yeezus' album, this time featuring a picture of a Sony Mini-disc, but I thought that was so boring that I've used (I think) a much better fan-made cover that I found online. As with the 'So Help Me God' album, it's given me a new appreciation for West's later work, and 'Yandhi' is swiftly becoming another favourite.      

 

Track listing

01 Chakras (ft. The-Dream, Ant Clemons)
02 Calm Interlude (ft. Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons)
03 XXX (The Storm) (ft. Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons, Kid Cudi, XXXTentacion)
04 New Body (ft. Nicki Minaj, Ty Dolla $ign)
05 Hurricane (ft. Ant Clemons)
06 Alien Interlude
07 Alien (ft. Kid Cudi, Young Thug, Quavo, Ant Clemons)
08 Home (ft. Ant Clemons)
09 City In The Sky (ft. Desiigner, 070 Shake, Ty Dolla $ign, Kid Cudi, Jeremih, The-Dream)
10 No Problem (ft. Smokepurpp)
11 Spread Your Wings
12 Cash To Burn (ft. Kenny G, Ant Clemons)
13 We Got Love (ft. Teyana Taylor, Ms Lauryn Hill)
14 The Garden (ft. Teyana Taylor, Ty Dolla $ign, Ant Clemons)
15 Don't Get 2 Excited
16 House Party (ft. Ant Clemons)
17 All Dreams Real
18 Last Name (ft. Ant Clemons)
19 Law Of Attraction (ft. Dua Lipa, Clipse, Kenny G, Ant Clemons)
20 End Of It

Steve Hunter - ...and on guitar (2001)

Stephen John Hunter was born on 14 June 1948, and his first introduction to music was as a young child listening to country and western music on a Zenith console radio. When he was eight years old, he began taking guitar lessons on a Lap steel guitar after seeing Jerry Byrd play lap steel and hearing what could be done on the instrument, but inspired by the music of Chet Atkins, The Ventures and Duane Eddy, he eventually switched to standard guitar. He continued playing guitar throughout high school as a member of a group called The Weejuns, which took their name from G.H. Bass & Co.'s perennially-popular penny loafers, and he later joined The Light Brigade, a rock and soul group that played in the Decatur area. In 1967 Hunter was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Vietnam War, and there he trained as an x-ray technician, ultimately serving at an air evacuation hospital in Okinawa, Japan where Vietnam combat casualties were being treated. He considered becoming a doctor but he enjoyed music so much he knew he would follow a career in music, which he did when he returned to Decatur after leaving the Army, building up a reputation as an outstanding guitar player. In 1971 his friend John Sauter called to tell him that he was playing with Mitch Ryder in Detroit and that Ryder was auditioning for guitar players, so he suggested that Hunter come to Detroit and try out. He packed up his guitar and made the eight-hour drive to Detroit, and after passing the audition he became part of Mitch Ryder's new band Detroit, where he met and formed a long-time professional association with producer Bob Ezrin. Detroit released one self-titled album on Paramount Records, but did have a hit single with Hunter's arrangement of Lou Reed's 'Rock & Roll', and Reed was so impressed that he recruited Hunter to join his band, playing on 1973's 'Berlin'. In the 1970's he appeared on five Alice Cooper albums, all of which were produced by Ezrin, starting with the band's most successful album 'Billion Dollar Babies'. When Alice Cooper became a solo artist, Hunter followed and appeared on 1975's 'Welcome To My Nightmare', and can be seen in the film 'Welcome To My Nightmare', enacting the celebrated guitar face-off between him and Dick Wagner that formed part of Cooper's 1975 live show. In 1974 he played the uncredited opening-half solo on Aerosmith's 'Train Kept A Rollin' from 'Get Your Wings', after producer Jack Douglas popped his head out of Studio C and asked if Hunter felt like playing on the recording. Later that year Hunter played guitar on former Cream bassist Jack Bruce's solo album 'Out Of The Storm', and in 1977 he worked with Peter Gabriel on his first solo album, playing the intro to the classic single 'Solsbury Hill'. Other artists Hunter has worked with include David Lee Roth, Julian Lennon, Dr. John, Tracy Chapman and more recently Glen Campbell and 2Cellos. It was while recording Roth's 'A Little Ain't Enough' that Hunter met Jason Becker, and they've remained close friends ever since. He auditioned for and got the job of playing guitar on the soundtrack of the 1979 Bette Midler film 'The Rose', composing the instrumental 'Camelia', which is featured in the film. Hunter's first solo album, 1977's critically acclaimed 'Swept Away', reunited him with producer Bob Ezrin, and he's released a number of further solo albums since, but this collection showcases his guitar-work on other artist's albums, from the famous - Reed, Gabriel, Aerosmith - to the not so well-known but equally as interesting, like The H Factor, Jesse Camp, Angelo, and The Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Rock 'n' Roll (from 'Detroit' by Detroit With Mitch Ryder 1972)
02 Sad Song (from 'Berlin' by Lou Reed 1973)
03 If We Only Had The Time (from 'Flo & Eddie' by Flo & Eddie 1973)
04 Timeslip (from 'Out Of The Storm' by Jack Bruce 1974)
05 Train Kept A Rollin' (from 'Get Your Wings' by Aerosmith 1974)
06 Some Folks (from 'Welcome To My Nightmare' by Alice Cooper 1975)
07 Back By The River (from 'Hollywood Be Thy Name' by Dr. John 1975)
08 Solsbury Hill (from 'Peter Gabriel' by Peter Gabriel 1977)      
09 Spaceman (from 'Randy Richards' by Randy Richards 1978)

Disc Two
01 Have You Ever Seen The Rain (from 'Midnight Prowl' by Angelo 1978) 
02 Small Town Boy (from 'Richard Wagner' by Richard Wagner 1978)
03 Danger Up Ahead (from 'Don't Look Back' by Natalie Cole 1980)
04 Whatever Will Be (from 'Wake 'Em Up In Tokyo' by Karla DeVito 1986)
05 Urban Strut (from 'Guitar Speak' by Various Artists 1988)
06 The Hurt Stays Home (from 'The H Factor' by The H Factor 1989) 
07 Saltwater (from 'Help Yourself' by Julian Lennon' 1991)
08 A Little Luck (from 'Your Filthy Little Mouth' by David Lee Roth 1994)
09 Meet Me In The Morning (from 'Perspective' by Jason Becker 1995)
10 Break It (from 'Jesse & The 8th Street Kidz' by Jesse Camp 1999)
11 Blade (from 'Walk Alone' by Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash 2001)

Thanks to Duane for the suggestion. 

The Stone Roses - Garage Flower (1985)

As I mentioned in the first post by The Stone Roses, in mid 1985 they made their first attempt at recording an album, and employed the services of legendary producer Martin Hannett to record their songs. Despite Hannett being at the controls, when the album was finished the band were unhappy with the production and the songs, and so it remained unreleased for many years. Once the band released their official debut album in 1989 to huge acclaim, it's no surprise that bootlegs of their earlier attempt started to appear, and fans were thrilled to hear early versions of future classics like 'I Wanna Be Adored' and 'This Is The One', along-side embryonic takes of the first three singles, and many songs that have never since seen the light of day. In 1985 the band would just have changed their name from 'English Rose', and decided to give the mod sound a miss, and so the playing is harsh, primitive post-punk, closer to Killing Joke and their earliest days as the Clash-inspired The Patrol than anything that came after, but the attitude and the songwriting are already well in place. Bassist Andy Couzens was co-writer of nine of these 14 songs, and so when he left and was replaced by Mani that changed the dynamic of the band, with John Squire and Ian Brown taking over the songwriting. Even at this early stage you can hear Squire's stabbing, ripping chords on tracks like 'Heart on The Staves', while 'Getting Plenty' is almost as dramatic, 'Trust A Fox' hammers toward the shouted, sneered "hello" chorus, and Reni goes wild on 'Tradjic Roundabout'. The album was finally officially released in 1996, very much against the wishes of the band, who refused to have anything to so with it, resulting in there being minimal information about the recordings in the sleevenotes, but even after all this time I'm sure there are still fans out there who've missed this who would jump at the chance of hearing these early recordings by their favourite band.  

Track listing

01 Getting Plenty 
02 Here It Comes 
03 Trust A Fox 
04 Tradjic Roundabout 
05 All I Want 
06 Heart On The Staves 
07 I Wanna Be Adored 
08 This Is The One 
09 Fall 
10 So Young 
11 Tell Me 
12 Haddock 
13 Just A Little Bit 
14 Mission Impossible 

The Simon Sisters - Rise Up (1969)

The Simon Sisters were a folk music sister duo consisting of Carly Simon and Lucy Simon, and they released three albums in the 1960's before Lucy left to get married. The duo would hitchhike up to Provincetown, Massachusetts in the summer of 1964, and sing at a local bar called The Moors, with their repertoire consisting of folk music, peppered with a few original compositions. They were signed to Kapp Records that same year, and their first two albums were released on the label, with 'Meet The Simon Sisters' coming out in 1964. It was a fine collection of folk standards, all arranged by the sisters, and it included their first composition, with Lucy's co-write of 'Winkin', Blinkin' And Nod' not only becoming a minor hit single, but also foreshadowing their third album of songs for children. Their second release 'Cuddlebug (The Happiness Blanket)' quickly followed the same year, and once again was a nice collection of folk standards arranged by the girls, including a French Canadian version of 'Blowin' In The Wind' and a lovely arrangement of Pete Seeger's 'Turn, Turn, Turn'. The duo made one more album together, and 1969's 'The Simon Sisters Sing The Lobster Quadrille and Other Songs For Children' did exactly what it said in the title, with Lucy putting music to a number of children's poems by Edward Lear, Robert Louis Stevenson, William Blake and Eugene Field among others. In 1970 Lucy left to get married and start a family, and Carly later collaborated with eclectic New York rockers Elephant's Memory for about six months, and also appeared in the 1971 Miloš Forman film 'Taking Off', playing an auditioning singer, and singing 'Long Term Physical Effects', which was included in the 1971 soundtrack album. Lucy had a minor solo career and released two albums in the 70's before having more recent success writing music for Broadway plays. From 1971, Carly embarked on a very successful solo career, releasing over 24 studio albums that produced multiple Top 40 hits across the Billboard charts. To understand how they both got to that point in their careers I've selected songs from their albums that they either wrote themselves, co-wrote with others, or where the arrangements are particularly effective, and I've included 'Maryanne', which was a song that they exhumed for inclusion on the 1982 album 'In Harmony 2'. 

Track listing

01 Rise Up (C Simon/L Simon)
02 A Red, Red Rose (Robert Burns/L Simon)
03 The Lamplighter (Robert Louis Stevenson/L Simon)
04 Dink's Blues (arranged by C Simon/Scharf)
05 If You Go Down To The Water (C Simon/Delbanco)
06 Delia (arranged by C Simon/L Simon)
07 Motherless Child (adapted by Hamilton/Gilbert)
08 Hold Back The Branches (C Simon/De Vega)
09 Who Has Seen The Wind (Christina Rossetti/L Simon)
10 Once I Had A True Love (arranged by C Simon/L Simon)
11 Maryanne (arranged by C Simon/L Simon)
12 So Glad I'm Here (Krause, Cooper, Smith, Scharf)
13 A Pavane For The Nursery (William Jay Smith/L Simon)
14 Pale Horse And Rider (C Simon)

Gary Numan - Time To Die (1986)

'Warriors' was the last album that Gary Numan recorded for Beggars Banquet Records, leaving the label to form his own, which he named Numa. The first album released on Numa was 1984's 'Berserker', which was notable for being his first foray into music computers and samplers, such as the PPG Wave, and the album was accompanied by a new blue-and-white visual image, including Numan himself with blue hair. When the title track was released as a single it reached the UK top 40, but despite this the album divided critics and fans, and commercially it was his least successful release to that point. A collaboration with Bill Sharpe of Shakatak as Sharpe & Numan was more successful, and in March 1985 their single 'Change Your Mind' reached No. 17 on the UK chart, although further singles were very sporadic throughout the late 80's, with an album finally appearing in 1989. Late in 1985 Numan released the live album 'White Noise', recorded during the Berserker Tour, and both the album and an accompanying live EP reached the UK Top 30. Numan's next album was released the same year, and 'The Fury' charted slightly higher than 'Berserker', breaking into the top 30, and once again heralded a change of image, this time featuring Numan in a white suit and red bow tie. Three singles were released from it, with 'Your Fascination', 'Call Out The Dogs' and 'Miracles' all reaching the top 50 on the UK charts. In 1986 he scored two further top 30 hits with 'This Is Love' in April and 'I Can't Stop' in June, but the accompanying album 'Strange Charm' only spent two weeks on the album chart, peaking at No. 59. In November 1986 a version of the song 'I Still Remember' from the previous album was released as a charity single and stalled at No. 74. In 1991 he ventured into film-scoring by co-composing the music for 'The Unborn' with Michael R. Smith, and he continued to released albums, but by 1994 he'd decided to stop attempting to crack the pop market and concentrate instead on exploring more personal themes, including his vocal atheism, resulting in a harsher, more industrial direction with his songwriting on the album 'Sacrifice', on which, for the first time, he played almost all the instruments himself. The move was critically well-received, as his harder and darker sound emerged just as Numan-influenced bands like Nine Inch Nails were enjoying their first rush of fame. He continues to write and record to this day, and in 2016 he was one of several collaborators on Jean-Michel Jarre's album 'Electronica 2: The Heart Of Noise', with the track 'Here For You' being co-written by Jarre and Numan. For this final collection of rare b-sides and out-takes we cover the years from the release of the 'Berserker' album and singles in 1984, through to the last album where he was still aiming for the charts, with 'Strange Charm' in 1986. As an indication of just how influential Numan was in the evolution of electronic music in the 70's and 80's, in 2017 he received an Ivor Novello Inspiration Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors, and so I hope that this series of posts shows exactly why that was awarded to him. 

Track listing

01 Nameless And Forgotten (out-take 1983)
02 Empty Bed, Empty Heart (b-side of 'Berserker' 1984)
03 Here Am I (b-side of 'My Dying Machine' 1984)
04 She Cries (b-side of 'My Dying Machine' 1984)
05 Rumour (out-take 1984)
06 The Fear (b-side of 'Miracles' 1985)
07 This Ship Comes Apart (b-side of 'Call Out The Dogs' 1985)
08 No Shelter (b-side of 'Call Out The Dogs' 1985)
09 We Need It (b-side of 'Your Fascination' 1985)
10 Anthem (b-side of 'Your Fascination' 1985)
11 Time To Die (bonus track on cassette version of 'Strange Charm' 1986)