Bloc Party - Storm And Stress (2005)

Russell Lissack and Kele Okereke first met in 1998 in London, but when they bumped into each other again in 1999 at Reading Festival they decided to form a band. Bassist Gordon Moakes joined after answering an advert in NME, and drummer Matt Tong joined after an audition, and after going through a variety of names, such as Union, The Angel Range, and Diet, the band settled on Bloc Party in September 2003, a play on block party. In November 2003 they had their track 'The Marshals Are Dead' featured on a compilation CD called 'The New Cross' released by Angular Recording Corporation, and it then appeared as a b-side to their debut single 'She's Hearing Voices' on the then fledgling record label Trash Aesthetics. The band got their break after Okereke went to a Franz Ferdinand concert in 2003, and gave a copy of 'She's Hearing Voices' to both lead singer Alex Kapranos and BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq, who subsequently played the song on his radio show, labeling the track "genius", and invited them to record a live session for his show. The buzz generated off the back of the single led to another release, 'Banquet'/'Staying Fat', this time through Moshi Moshi Records, and to the eventual signing with independent label Wichita Recordings in April 2004. Bloc Party's debut album 'Silent Alarm' was released in February 2005 and was met with universal critical acclaim, being voted 'Album of the Year' for 2005 by NME, and reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, before being certified platinum. Singles from the album regularly made the top 20 on the UK Top 40 chart, and the band received positive reviews from critics in the United States after they toured there heavily in the 18 months that followed the release of 'Silent Alarm'. During July 2005, the band recorded two new tracks with 'Silent Alarm' producer Paul Epworth, which were released as the single 'Two More Years' / 'Hero', and both 'Two More Years' and former single 'Little Thoughts' were added to the re-issue of 'Silent Alarm as bonus tracks. Right from the start of their career, Bloc Party have been generous to their fans by including exclusive recordings on the flips to their singles, and this first of three posts collects them from their first release in 2004, up to their contribution to the 'Help' charity album the following year. 

Track listing

01 The Marshals Are Dead (b-side of 'She's Hearing Voices' 2004)
02 The Answer (b-side of 'She's Hearing Voices' 2004)
03 Staying Fat (b-side of 'Banquet' 2004)
04 Little Thoughts (single 2004)
05 Storm And Stress (b-side of 'Little Thoughts' 2004)
06 Skeleton (b-side of 'Helicopter' 2004)
07 Always New Depths (b-side of 'Helicopter' 2004)
08 Tulips (US single 2004)
09 This Is Not A Competition (previously unreleased 2004)
10 Two More Years (single 2005)
11 Hero (b-side of 'Two More Years')
12 The Present (from 'Help!: A Day In The Life' charity album 2005)

Captain - Distraction (2008)

Captain were an alternative rock band from London, who formed in 2004, and were Influenced by groups such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Beach Boys, My Bloody Valentine and The Cure, with their music also being compared by critics to Prefab Sprout, The Beautiful South and Deacon Blue. The band initially signed a recording contract with At Large Records and released their debut single 'Frontline' on the label in December 2005, before signing to EMI Records and achieving minor success in 2006 with their singles 'Broke' and 'Glorious', which reached numbers 34 and 30 on the UK Singles Chart respectively, as well as their Trevor Horn-produced debut album 'This Is Hazelville', which reached number 23 on the UK Albums Chart. On 5 May 2008 the band released 'Keep An Open Mind' as the lead single from their forthcoming second album 'Distraction', which was planned for release the following July, but before that happened the band were dropped by EMI (along with many other acts on its roster) as a part of a restructuring plan when the private equity firm Terrafirma purchased the company. Captain never split up, but chose to work on other projects to keep their enthusiasm for music, with singer/guitarist Rik Flynn and drummer Reuben Humphries forming a new band called More Diamonds, while bassist Alex Yeoman and keyboardist/singer Clare Szembek went on to form Misdirectors. Captain were a fine little indie band, and didn't deserve to be caught up in the corporate crap that Terrafirma forced onto EMI, and so as some sort of recompense here is their abandoned second album, boosted by four bonus tracks. 

Track listing

01 Spoils
02 Loose Lips Sink Ships
03 Echoes Of Fashion
04 Safe Harbour
05 Keep An Open Mind
06 Animal
07 The Gamble
08 Lost The Bottle
09 The Last Page
10 Motto
11 No Greener Grass
12 Satellites  
13 Patience  
14 Bakersfield  
15 Back In The Knife Drawer  

Nate Dogg - Keep It Real (2003)

Nathaniel Dwayne Hale was born on 19 August 1969 in Long Beach, California, and is the cousin of Calvin Broadus, a.k.a. Snoop Dogg. He met Warren G at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, but by the age of 17 he'd dropped out of high school, left home, and 30 days later enlisted in the Marines. He was stationed at Camp Schwab in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and after three years as an ammunition specialist, he was discharged in 1989. In 1990, the newly christened Nate Dogg formed a rap trio called 213 with Snoop Dogg and Warren G, and they recorded their first demo tape in the back of record store V.I.P. in Long Beach, bringing them to the attention of Dr. Dre when he heard it at a bachelor party. Dre invited Dogg to guest on his debut album 'The Chronic' in 1992, with Dogg's trademark singing complementing the new gangsta rap sound G-funk, and it was well received by critics. He signed to Dre's label, Death Row Records, in 1993, and then featured on Snoop Dogg's debut solo album 'Doggystyle', most notably on 'Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)'. In 1994 he co-wrote the duet 'Regulate' with Warren G, and also featured on albums by 2Pac, including his group's 'Thug Life: Volume 1' in 1994. In July 1998, amid his departure from Death Row Records, the label finally released his double album 'G-Funk Classics Vol. 1 & 2', after delaying it for two years. In 2001, his Elektra Records follow-up, 'Music & Me', peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and in 2003 he recorded a third album, which never saw the light of day. Dogg was often brought in to sing on other artists' tracks, and as a featured artist he collaborated with 2Pac on 'All Bout U', as well as appearing on Dr. Dre's 'The Next Episode', Westside Connection's 'Gangsta Nation', Mos Def's 'Oh No', Fabolous' 'Can't Deny It', Ludacris's 'Area Codes', Kurupt's 'Behind the Walls', Mark Ronson's 'Ooh Wee', Houston's 'I Like That', and Eminem's ''Till I Collapse', 'Never Enough' and 'Shake That'. He's considered to be the inventor of "gangsta singing", a style that consisted of a blend of R&B/soul vocals with gangsta rap lyrics, and which was heavily influential to urban culture, with major R&B artists like R. Kelly and Chris Brown later using it. Dogg was no stranger to entanglements with the law, and between 2000 and 2008 he was charged with kidnapping, domestic violence, terrorist threats, arson, (for which Dr. Dre posted a $1 million bond), misdemeanor aggravated trespassing, telephone harassment, battery assault, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, breaking a restraining order, criminal threats, and one count of stalking. Some charges were dismissed, and others resulted in probation, community service, drugs counselling, and various fines. On 19 December 2007 he suffered a stroke, but after a week in Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, he entered a rehabilitation facility, and although his body's left side was weakened, neither his cognition nor voice were affected, and he was expected to make a full recovery. However, on 12 September 2008 he sustained another stroke, and three years later, on 15 March 2011, he died of complications of multiple strokes, at the age of just 41. The unreleased 2003 album has since surfaced on the internet, and it's worth hearing, as it shows that despite the troubled times towards the end of his life, the go-to singer for collaborations with a multitude of rappers was also capable of producing an excellent album of his own.   

 
Track listing

01 I Need A Bitch (feat. Armed Robbery)
02 Bad Girls (feat. Redman)
03 Get Up (feat. Eve)
04 Keep It Real (feat. Fabolous, Lil' Mo & Icarus)
05 Leave Her Alone (feat. Memphis Bleek, Freeway & Young Chris)
06 Hide It (feat. Armed Robbery)
07 Round and Round 
08 Gott Damn Shame (feat. Timbaland & Ms. Jade)
09 There She Goes (feat. Warren G & DJ Quik)
10 Somebody Like Me  
11 Interlude #1 
12 I Got Game (feat. Snoop Dogg & Armed Robbery)
11 All Night Long
14 Next Boyfriend (feat. Knoc-Turn'al)
15 The Hard Way (feat. Xzibit & Armed Robbery)
16 Interlude #2
17 Right Back Where You Are
18 What Would U Do (feat. Mariah Carey, Butch Cassidy & Shade Sheist)
19 Walk A Mile (feat. Shade Sheist)
20 Dead Wrong (feat. Ms. Jade) 

Various Artists - The Name's Bond..... (2015)

Mike has been disappearing down the rabbit holes again, and has stumbled upon some more rejected James Bond themes to go with his recent post.....as if there weren't enough there already. So over to Mike...

Since I posted my original Bond Rarities Collection album here a few months ago…I found a brand new album (Legitimacy Unknown!) that suspiciously follows my exact track listing throughout a large portion of it… but it was nice enough to veer off in spots and find a few more songs I may have missed. So since turnabout is Fair Play… I thought I would steal their additions.
Now some of these were up for consideration in my original post (and passed over due to little or no info about them…but since these folks were nice enough to put out a 6! CD compilation of obviously legit tracks (at least volumes 1-2 of the six seem that way as well as at other points throughout the rest of the volumes) I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they found legit reasons to include some of the following tracks on their album. (I've included the details on their set in my pdf, as well as a link to it at the very end of the post, because it really is a beautiful collection every Bond fan should have!). Iʼm not going to include all the songs from their compilation, because I debunked some of them in my original go round, but I've researched the cuts they added and found that a bunch were truly outtakes or used in the now very rare video games. Hereʼs my updated notes on these new cuts and why I feel they are worthy (well…almost worthy) of inclusion.

As i stated in my original notes….let the arguments over them begin… (but enjoy the music while you are arguing!!).
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969
John Barry and Hal David wrote two other songs for the film, both performed by Danish singer Nina. One, entitled 'Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?', was featured in the film in several scenes. The other, 'The More Things Change', was recorded by Nina at the same session, but did not end up in the finished film. Instead, it appeared as the b-side of the UK single of 'Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?'. Now the first is obviously a
Christmas song…so Iʼm not including it… but the second fits in nicely with the melancholy feel of the film… so in it goes.
The Living Daylights 1987
In 1987, Tor Endresen's single 'Black Rain' was almost chosen as the theme song for 'The Living Daylights', and 'Lovemagic' by Elisabeth Andreasson is also included on this collection. 
Flimsy I know…but that is definitely the Bond theme in there!
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997
The most convoluted of any Bond theme, 'Tomorrow Never Dies' was completely up for grabs. Thanks to some indecision from the studio, a contest of sorts was launched in which a handful of selected artists submitted their version of the title track. The list was an impressive one too: Pulp, Saint Etienne, The Cardigans, Swan Lee, Duran Duran, Marc Almond, The Fixx, and this one by Dot Allison all entered the sweepstakes. Canadian crooner k.d. lang came in a close second with her contribution 'Surrender', which won the consolation prize of rolling through the end credits, but in the end Sheryl Crow was the surprise winner, proving she could pull off a seductive vocal backed by a debonair arrangement from David Arnold and his orchestra.

Quantum Of Solace 2008
Composer Huck Whitney wrote 'Quantum Of Solace' as a demo for the film..to be sung by whichever star they choose - it's not official, and some say itʼs a spoof. For the same film we have ʼWeapons' by The Neon Empire, which is another one thatʼs hard to say…not much on this one.

Skyfall 2012
'Cold War' was self-submitted by the band Red Is For Fire, but it was doubtful that it would be chosen.

SPECTRE 2015
The band TREN has made an original James Bond song of their own title 'Ghost'. Once again self submitted… so also doubtful.

No Time To Die 2021
English singer, songwriter, DJ, and fashion designer Boy George has released a track named after the new James Bond film 'No Time To Die'. Boy George confirmed via his official Twitter account that the song is in no way official or connected to the production, and joked that he "only did it to annoy Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa." Cool Song tho!
Everything Or Nothing video game 2003

'Everything Or Nothing' is a song by American recording artist Mýa. It was written by Ron Fair, Randy Bugnitz, and Mýa and recorded for the 2003 James Bond third-person shooter video game 'James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing', released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube consoles. Published by Electronic Arts, the game features the likeness and voice of Mýa, who portrays the character Mýa Starling, an NSA double agent who aids Bond in dealing with the use of nanotechnology as terrorism. 'Everything Or Nothing' was released as a promotional single in support of the game's official release, and a jazz version, also produced by Fair, was performed by Mýa on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' in late 2004.
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent video game 2004

Paul Oakenfold remixed Natacha Bedingfield's 'If You're Gonna Jump' for the 'GoldenEye: Rogue Agent' video game in 2004, and here's an interesting fact - Natasha Bedingfield also portrayed one of the two new Bond girls in the 'From Russia With Love' video game which was released a year later. The song only plays when you beat the game, so howʼs that for a rarity!!
OK kids… That wraps up my update…let me know what you think! And if you want to try the whole 6CD set (full track listing included in the pdf included in the folder) then it's here hXXps://download-soundtracks.com/movie_soundtracks/the-best-of-bond-jamesbond-collection-soundtrack/ , on a site that's possibly the best I've ever found for rare soundtracks.

Track listing

01 The More You Change - Nina

02 Black Rain - Pal Thowsen & Tor Endresen

03 Lovemagic - Elisabeth Andreasson

04 Tomorrow Never Comes - Dot Allison

05 Quantum Of Solace - Huck Whitney

06 Weapons - The Neon Empire

07 Cold War - Red Is For Fire

08 Ghost - TREN

09 No Time To Die - Boy George

10 Everything Or Nothing - Mya

11 If You're Gonna Jump - Natasha Bedingfield

Moonstone - Moonstone (1979)

British record producer Ian Levine had burst onto the scene in 1975, producing the hit single 'Reaching For The Best' with The Exciters, and several more productions followed over the following years with the likes of Evelyn Thomas, Barbara Pennington, L. J. Johnson, Tyrone Ashley, Doris Jones, James Wells, Eastbound Expressway and Seventh Avenue. 1979 saw him produce four disco albums, none of which would be released at the time, and the cost of producing them left him indebted and unable to record for four long years, until he bounced back with Miquel Brown's million-selling single 'So Many Men, So Little Time' in 1983. One of those 1979 albums was by Moonstone, which was a studio project for Salsoul Records which fell through at the last minute, and although Levine's business partner Rick Gianatos wanted to shop the tapes around for other record labels, Levine wasn't keen, as he disliked session singer Liza Strike's original vocals, and recut the tracks, two of them with Karen Pree and three of them with Evelyn Thomas. In the end the tracks would sit in the can until they leaked in the early 90's, although some recordings, such as the mix of Karen Pree's 'Stop When The Light Is On Red' remain lost. I wouldn't say that disco is one of my favourite genres, and it has certainly dated since its heyday in the 70's and 80's, but it's worth resurrecting the album for fans who still have a soft spot for it, and I'm posting a mix of the Strike/Pree/Thomas versions, so that we can get an idea of each singer's take on the tracks that they recorded. 

Track listing

01 Out Of The Ball Game (feat. Liza Strike)
02 You're Sending Me Delirious (feat. Karen Pree)
03 Stop When The Light Is On Red (feat. Liza Strike)
04 Love In The First Degree (feat. Evelyn Thomas)
05 Summer On The Beach (feat. Evelyn Thomas)
06 Sleaze (feat. Evelyn Thomas)

Paul Nicholas - Club Of Lights (1971)

Paul Nicholas was born Paul Oscar Beuselinck on 3 December 1944 in Peterborough into a showbiz family, as his father, Oscar Beuselinck, a former MI6 agent, became a highly esteemed entertainment and show business solicitor in the 60's. He began his pop career as early as 1960, adopting the stage name Paul Dean and forming Paul Dean & The Dreamers, who were booked to support The Savages, the backing band for the British rocker Screaming Lord Sutch. It was here that Sutch first noticed the young Nicholas, who was soon to become vocalist and pianist with his band, but before that he released two singles, one as Paul Dean And The Thoughts and the other as just Paul Dean. After taking a new stage name, Oscar, he began a long association with the Australian-born entrepreneur Robert Stigwood, signing to Stigwood's Reaction Records and releasing four singles for the label, the first of which 'Club Of Lights', scraped into the lower reaches of the Radio London Fab Forty chart. His second single as Oscar was a version of a Pete Townshend song 'Join My Gang', which The Who never recorded, and his third was a novelty song called 'Over The Wall We Go', which was written by a young David Bowie. After settling on the stage name Paul Nicholas he found success in the UK in musicals, beginning with the leading role of Claude in 'Hair', before winning the title role in the original London production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. In 1970 he released a single under his own name, with 'Freedom City' being a self-penned protest song about apartheid, and this was followed by one last single for Polydor in 1971 before he took a break from the pop scene, returning five years later for a short-lived but high-profile pop career, earning three top 20 hits with 'Reggae Like It Used To Be', 'Dancing With The Captain', and 'Grandma's Party'. Following these singles he released two albums in 1977 and 1978, before landing the role of Vince Pinner in the hugely successful sitcom 'Just Good Friends', which was the part for which he will be most fondly remembered. He later returned to the stage, playing numerous roles on screen in both movie and television projects, and most recently could be seen playing Gavin Sullivan in 'Eastenders'. If Nicholas is remembered at all as a singer these days, it is usually for those three hits singles from 1976, but like many artists before him he paid his dues in his early years, and in this case some of those early songs are as notable for their writers as for being fine pop songs in their own right, with Nicholas writing many of his singles and b-sides himself under his real name of Beuselinck.

Track listing

01 You Don't Own Me (single by Paul Dean And The Thoughts 1965)
02 Hole In The Head (b-side of 'You Don't Own Me')
03 She Can Build A Mountain (single by Paul Dean And The Savages 1966)
04 Club Of Lights (single by Oscar 1966)
05 Waking Up (b-side of 'Club Of Lights')
06 Join My Gang (single by Oscar 1966)
07 A Day Gone By (b-side of 'Join My Gang')
08 Holiday (single by Oscar 1967) 
09 Over The Wall We Go ‎(single by Oscar 1967)
10 Every Day Of My Life (b-side of 'Over The Wall We Go')
11 Open Up The Skies (single by Oscar 1968)
12 Wild Ones (b-side of 'Open Up The Skies')
13 Where Do I Go (single 1968)
14 Freedom City (single 1970)
15 Run Shaker Life (b-side of 'Freedom City')
16 Lamp Lighter (b-side of 'The Word Is Beautiful' 1971)

The Phantom Chords - Born To Be Wicked (1991)

Following the 1989 breakup of The Damned, singer Dave Vanian, guitarist Roman Jugg and bassist Bryn Merrick formed the Phantom Chords with Brendan Mooney (guitar) and Clyde Dempsey (drums), releasing a cover of the Geoff Goddard song 'Johnny Remember Me' as their debut single in 1990. An 11-track album (including 'Johnny Remember Me') was written and recorded, and Polydor had planned to release it, but they changed their minds and only two one-sided acetates of it now exist. A promotional cassette was later made available for purchase at some of the venues when the band toured the United States later in 1993. The band released another single in 1992, with 'Town Without Pity' appearing on Camden Town Records, and by 1995 Donagh O'Leary had replaced Bryn Merrick on bass, following a tour of Britain and the US. In 1995 they eventually released their actual debut album 'David Vanian And The Phantom Chords' on Big Beat Records, promoting it by performing 'This House Is Haunted' on VH1 UK, and 'Born To Be Wicked' on ITV's "It's Bizarre". Oddly, this last song was not on the album, as the official debut contained all new material, and 'Born To Be Wicked' was recorded for the shelved 1991 album. The band's lineup was always very variable, and a 1993 Damned reunion meant that The Phantom Chords became a side project for Vanian, and they've released nothing since 1995, but both their albums, official and unofficial, contain some fine rockabilly/goth rock songs.   

Track listing

01 Someone Up There
02 Born To Be Wicked
03 Gunning For Love
04 Pretty Girl
05 Haunted Garage
06 Johnny Remember Me
07 After The Lights Go Out
08 Piece Of My Heart
09 King Of Fools
10 Time After Time
11 The Loveless And The Damned
12 Ghost Train
13 Relentless

John Lennon - The Sleepy Blind Lennon Album (1980)

I stumbled on this bootleg when I was preparing the recent Julian/John duet for Mike, and had almost forgotten that I had it. I'd always meant to clean it up and give it a new cover before posting it, but somehow it slipped through the net. It's an actual bootleg CD which appeared in 1990, after 'The Lost Lennon Tapes' were aired on the radio, as all the songs are taken from those broadcasts, and they mostly come from the 'Dakota Demos' that were recorded around 1980. When 'Serve Yourself' was first aired I remember that it caused quite a commotion, as it was a pretty much complete song from Lennon that hadn't been heard before, and this version is an even rarer piano version. You'll recognise 'The Worst Is Over Now' as an early version of '(Just Like) Starting Over' from 'Double Fantasy', and we also get the original Lennon demo of 'Free As A Bird', but the rest of the tracks are all new to me, so I hope you find something you are not familiar with as well. I've given the album a new cover in keeping with the title, which I guess is taken from the introduction to 'John Henry', which I've edited slightly from the original Sleepy Blind Lemon Lennon, as that didn't really scan. I've removed one track, which was a short cover of 'Only The Lonely' which didn't really go anywhere, and just so you know, 'Howling At The Moon' and 'Memories' are the same song done in different styles. 

Track listing

01 John Henry (The Steel Driving Man)/I Ain't Got Time
02 Serve Yourself  (piano version)

03 You Saved My Soul (With Your True Love)
04 The Worst Is Over 
05 When A Boy Meets A Girl
06 She's A Friend Of Dorothy's 
07 One Of The Boys
08 He Got The Blues
09 Cookin' (In The Kitchen Of Love) 
10 Free As A Bird
11 People (Angela)
12 On The Caribbean
13 Well (Baby Please Don't Go)
14 Gone From This Place
15 Howling At The Moon (electric)
16 Memories (Howling At The Moon) (piano)
17 Mucho Mungo

Latrelle - Dirty Girl, Wrong Girl, Bad Girl (2001)

Andrea Latrelle Simmons (known simply as Latrelle) gained her early singing experience in church as a young child, and determined to pursue a career in music she began recording her own music at the age of sixteen. She showcased at Montana studios in New York City, which led to several labels, including Sony Columbia, Motown, Def Jam, Warner Bros, LaFace, Island and Yab Yum, courting the young star, but she then met Tracey and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds who signed her and her mother to a publishing deal at Edmonds Music Publishing. They were impressed enough to introduced her to L.A. Reid, and push for Arista to sign the young talent, and in her teen years she wrote songs for artists such as Destiny's Child, Mary Mary, Next, and Monica. By the age of 19 she had recorded her first album, but 'Dirty Girl, Wrong Girl, Bad Girl', which was scheduled for release in October 2001, was never released, and has remained hidden away ever since. According to an interview with Latrelle, the label blamed the events of September 11th 2001 for the failure of the album to appear, even though promotional copies had been sent out. She did release 'Dirty Girl' as a single, which was issued along with a remix with then label mate T.I., and an alternate version also appeared featuring Lisa 'Lefteye' Lopes. While the single had little impact on radio, it received heavy airplay in clubs and appeared on several mixtapes, and so in December 2001 'House Party' was released as the follow-up single, this time being produced by The Neptunes, who also produced six tracks on her Arista album. Since leaving Arista Latrelle has recorded a new album for the label that she co-owns, AMI Music Group, as well as recording with P. Diddy, and more recently she has performed and recorded under the stage name MzMunchie. Luckily those promotional copies of the album have found their way onto the internet, and so we are able to hear this album from the precocious teenager, and judge for ourselves if it deserved to be shelved. The answer is no, by the way.  

Track listing

01 More Than You Know 
02 You Don't Even Know (Da Da Da)
03 House Party  
04 Dirty Girl (feat. Lisa 'Lefteye' Lopes) 
05 Mama Was Daddy Too  
06 Don't Leave (Bad Girl)
07 My Life (Featuring Kelis)
08 Wrong Girl (Interlude) 
09 Deal With The Pain
10 Maze Of Love
11 Infatuated
12 Long Time 
13 The Wrong Girl 
14 Mystery Of Love 
15 International Dirty Girl

Bourgie Bourgie - Dinky Honey (1984)

Paul Quinn was a classmate of Edwyn Collins between the ages of 11 and 15, and sang backing vocals on 'Rip It Up' by Collins' band Orange Juice in 1983. After his band The Jazzatters (contemporaries of Josef K, The French Impressionists and Aztec Camera) signed with Postcard Records, they changed their name to Bourgie Bourgie and were then signed by MCA Records, releasing two singles in 1984, 'Breaking Point' and 'Careless', both of which charted in the UK, at numbers 48 and 96 respectively. After taping a session for the John Peel show, the group began recording an album with producer Mike Hedges, but before it could be released the band split up, with Quinn then collaborating with Edwyn Collins on a version of The Velvet Underground's 'Pale Blue Eyes', released on Postcard Records boss Alan Horne's new Swamplands label in 1984. In early 1985, Quinn released his first solo single, 'Ain't That Always The Way', which again featured Collins but was credited solely to Quinn for contractual reasons, and which was also a minor hit. Since then he's collaborated with Vince Clarke on the 'One Day' single, and formed The Independent Group, a supergroup containing former members of Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, and The Bluebells. However, there are fans of Bourgie Bourgie who fondly remember those two singles and would love to have heard an album by the band, and so here is 'Dinky Honey', which was shelved after the band ceased to exist, and which proves that even in his early days, Quinn had something that hinted that he was on the cusp of making it big in the music industry. 

Track listing

01 Breaking Point
02 Change Of Attitude
03 Careless
04 Show Me The Door
05 Something To Prove
06 Apres Ski
07 I Give You Love
08 Quel Dommage
09 Here Comes That Feeling
10 Breaking Point (demo)

Isaiah - Playing The Circle Game (1977)

Isaiah were a progressive rock band from Austria, who formed in 1971 and released just the one album in 1975, which features a mix of jazz, blues and progressive rock elements. Led by the charismatic voice of flautist and guitarist Gert Raabe, the band counts as one of Austria's most versatile groups of the 1970's, often likened to Jethro Tull, Rare Bird, Yes and ELP, and original copies of their album very rarely come up for sale these days, but when they do they command a price of several hundred Euros. Although Isaiah's sound is more typical of what was coming from Germany circa 1971/72, with flute, guitar, and excellent vocals in the lead, it's a bit more commercialized, and so the Krautrock epithet which is often applied to them is not really accurate. Following the release of 'Isaiah' the band recorded a second album, taking some songs from prior to 1975 alongside newly written material, and this version of the band was far more bluesy than before, which could be why their record label rejected it as being too weird. It's not actually that bad, although there are fewer sax solos and background organ passages than before, but the musicianship is solid, if a bit too cliched and typical for the time. There are some interesting pieces on here, with traces of Isaiah's later more developed style like the long 'Playing The Circle Game', with its strong Birth Control influences, based on light flutes, great vocal parts, measured guitar playing and atmospheric keyboards and sax parts. The ten-minute 'Long Way' is a great example of their take on a slow blues piece, while the instrumental 'Sunset' has a dreamy, hypnotic approach, and the short but fiery 'Nightmare' has an intense Krautrock vibe despite the English lyrics. While the music is very much of its time, the mid-70's happens to be a particular favourite time of mine, and I'll lap up almost anything from that period, and so this sounds just fine to me as an example of that very rare thing - an Austrian progressive rock band who can hold their own against contemporary German and British bands of the same era. 

Track listing

01 The Fighter

02 Nightmare

03 Long Way

04 Same To You

05 Zu Leise

06 Hero

07 No Reason

08 Sunset

09 Playing The Circle Game 

World Renown - Definition Of A MC (1995)

World Renown are a duo consisting of Seven Shawn (cousin of K-Def) and John Doe (cousin of Marley Marl), who released a couple of well-received singles, with 1994's 'How Nice I Am', and the 12" follow-up 'Come Take A Ride' both appearing on Warner Brothers Records. Due to the buzz surrounding the singles, the duo were given a one-album deal with the label, and they recorded their self-titled project, included interludes, and it was even given a Warner Bros. catalouge number (WB.4/2-45715). Unfortunately, as with so many lost mid-'90's albums, it was shelved by Warner Brothers, after a promo copy received a less than favorable review from The Source in a 1995 issue, praising the first half of the album, but feeling that the second half was lacking, with the final words of the review saying "The B-side didn't measure up to the album's first half, yes there are some strong songs like 'Real MC's' and 'Easy On The Tweeter' but the level of quality declines." It's not known if this was the reason that Warner Brothers shelved the album in mid 1995, but as of today it's still unreleased, although bootlegs soon started to appear online. As well as the tracks recorded for the album, there are also a few others that were taped at the same time, and these have been added to extended versions of the album, but as a couple of them were only short interludes I thought that I'd use the original track listing of eleven songs, as this is not currently available on the net, and if you like what you hear and want to listen to the other songs then you can find them on YouTube. 

Track listing

01 Roll Wit' It
02 Shoowa
03 Definition Of A MC
04 Long Gev
05 How Nice I Am
06 Don't Trust Ur Man
07 Butta Love
08 EZ On The Tweeter
09 Come Take A Ride
10 Easy Connect
11 Long Gev (Instrumental)

Slowdive - I Saw The Sun (1992)

Slowdive was formed in October 1989 in Reading, England, by Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell, who had been friends since they were six years old, and who both sang and played guitar. Their first band together was the indie-pop group The Pumpkin Fairies, where they were joined by bassist Mike Cottle and drummer Adrian Sell, but when The Pumpkin Fairies disbanded the group evolved into Slowdive, named after the single by one of their favourite bands Siouxsie And The Banshees, where they were assisted by drummer Adrian Sell and Sell's friend, bassist Nick Chaplin. A third guitarist named Christian Savill, previously of the band Eternal, joined when he became the only person to answer an advert from the band, and although the ad called for a female guitarist, Savill wanted the gig so badly that he offered to wear a dress, and was subsequently recruited. The band quickly recorded a demo, and several months later played a show with the band Five Thirty, where head of A&R at EMI Steve Walters saw them, and requested one of their demos. The band signed to Creation Records shortly after, but Sell felt things were progressing too fast and left for university after being in the band for about six months. Their self-titled EP was released in November 1990 and received praise from music critics, even thought the songs on it were from their original demo, as the band preferred the older recordings after feeling disillusioned with their studio craft. Drummer Neil Carter joined from fellow Reading band the Colour Mary in time to play on the 'Morningrise EP', but left prior to its release in February 1991, and Simon Scott took over on drums after his previous group The Charlottes broke up. The 'Holding Our Breath EP' followed in June 1991, reaching No. 52 in the UK Albums Chart, while the single 'Catch the Breeze' topped the UK Indie Chart, and by mid-1991 Slowdive were at the forefront of the newest indie sub-genre, "shoegazing", led by bands such as My Bloody Valentine, with their abrasive guitars and ethereal vocals, and penchant for playing with their gaze firmly fixed on the floor. Production on their debut album commenced shortly after Halstead convinced Creation's head honcho Alan McGee that they had enough songs written for a full-length album, which was not actually true. They hurriedly started writing songs in the studio, experimenting with drug-inspired sounds, while Halstead drew lyrical inspiration from the abstract nature of the music. 'Just For A Day' was released in September 1991 and hit the top 10 of the UK Indie Chart, gaining a positive review along the way from the NME, although most of the other music press were engaged in a backlash against shoegazers, following the release of My Bloody Valentine's disappointing 'Loveless', and so were less complimentary.

A tour of the UK followed in autumn 1991, and after that the band made their first visit to the United States, touring with Blur. In 1992 they began writing songs for a follow-up album, but the negative coverage they'd received in the press affected their songwriting, and although approximately 40 songs were recorded and re-recorded, the group were very self-conscious of their writing and how it might be received. McGee listened to the new material, and subsequently dismissed it, so they band discarded it all and started over. During this time they wrote to ambient visionary Brian Eno and requested he produce their second album, but when he responded he told them he liked their music, but wanted to collaborate rather than produce, and the two songs that they recorded together later appeared on their second album. Creation Records wanted Slowdive to produce a commercial sounding album, and Halstead agreed that he wanted to make a 'pop' record, but it took a while to record, and at one point he left for a break in a Welsh cottage, leaving Savill, Chaplin and Scott in the recording studio, where they recorded some "joke songs". To their misfortune, McGee acquired them and became despondent at the new direction of the band, but Halstead soon returned with new music, including 'Dagger' and '40 Days', and 'Souvlaki' was released in May 1993, alongside the 'Outside Your Room EP'. Although critical reaction was once again generally negative, it's been re-evaluated over the years, and is now considered their defining moment. But would that have been the case if they hadn't scrapped those earlier 1992 recordings and had released them as their second album? Well we can now decide for ourselves, as this post collects together the best of them for what could have been the follow-up to 'Just For A Day', and while there's no doubt that 'Souvlaki' is now considered a classic shoegaze album, these songs aren't that bad, and I'm sure fans of the band will enjoy hearing what might have been. 

 
Track listing

01 Summer Day
02 Bleed
03 Sleep
04 Silver Screen
05 Dagger
06 I Saw The Sun
07 Hide Yer Eyes
08 Joy
09 I Believe
10 Richard
11 Ending