Fat Pablo - Percolator (2020)

Fat Pablo are a six piece neo-psychedelic space band from Dublin, who take their influences from 60’s psych rock, modern hip-hop, and post-punk, and have been compared to Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Grizzly Bear and King Krule. Rooted in an underbelly of hip hop inspired bass and drums, the psych guitars, synths and cinematic visuals create a compelling space for Dave Barrett's lamenting soulful vocals. The band take great care to create an audio-visual experience for the listener, with dedicated artist Ross Ryder working closely with them during the writing process to build bespoke aesthetic narratives for each song. They posted a number of songs on Soundcloud throughout 2019 and 2020, of which 'Ganki' is perhaps the band's most polished track, with a notably shining and more confident structure, and juxtaposing woozy lyricism with moments of heavier riffs as a backdrop that's embellished by twinkling keys. 'Shambala' is an extra-sensory delight, in which sound, production, songwriting, and visuals are all connected, opening in gentle, sparse territory before building into something supreme, while 'Darts' has some excellent, though subtle, synth work throughout the track and some clever use of a guitar's feedback sound. There's been nothing posted for over a year, so not sure if they're still going, but three months ago some songs from their former incarnation as Beach appeared on their Soundcloud page, so that might be an epitaph for Fat Pablo. They've left behind enough music for an album, though, and so as a tribute to a fine band, here it is.  

Track listing

01 Percolator
02 Ganki
03 Darts
04 Shambala
05 Moon's My Friend
06 Suddenly
07 Cocoon
08 Fat Dog
09 Woke Up Late
10 Smashed

So Plush - Time Is Up (2001)

So Plush was a female R&B group from Los Angeles, California that consisted of Rhonda Roussel, Raquel Campbell, Donielle Carter and T.J. Lottie, and who formed while they were still in high school. In 1998, their manager John Atterberry introduced them to music producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins who signed them to his record label, but before releasing any music for him they moved to Epic Records in 1999 and released their debut single 'Damn (Should've Treated U Right)' featuring rapper Ja Rule. The single peaked at #41 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles & Tracks chart, staying on the chart for 19 weeks, and it was later included on the soundtrack to the 1999 Martin Lawrence film 'Blue Streak'. The band was also featured on the soundtrack to the 1998 film 'Pokémon: The First Movie', performing on 'It Was You' with Ashley Ballard, but a year later, their follow-up single 'Things I've Heard Before' failed to make any impact on the charts, and so their debut album was cancelled by Epic, even though advanced and promotional copies of it had already been circulated, and following this rejection, the band broke up. As so often happens in cases like this, where the intransigence of a record company can destroy a band, the album sounds perfectly fine to me, and given the right breaks it could have been a success, but I guess we'll never know. Instead we can listen to it now, 20 years later, and imagine what could have been had it come out in 2001.    

Track listing

01 What You Do To Me  
02 Things I Heard Before  
03 It Ain't My Fault  
04 Yes  
05 He Loves Me 
06 The Fact That You Lied
07 You Don't Know Me
08 Broke The Rules (feat. Da Brat)
09 Fire Burns (feat. Keith Sweat)
10 More Than Life  
11 Time Is Up  
12 No One Else  
13 Skit
14 Hatin' On Me  
15 Damn (Shoulda Treated You Right) (feat. Ja Rule)
16 It Was You (feat. Ashley Ballard)

Twink - Glad To See You (1971)

John Charles Edward Alder was born on 29 November 1944 into a family of musicians, including his grandmother, who was a concert pianist and soloist. He was interested in music from a young age, and his professional career began in 1963 when he played the drums for Dane Stephens and the Deep Beats, a rhythm and blues band from Colchester. In 1964, after performing for a year, the band changed their name to The Fairies, and their first recording experience was backing Johnny Shadow on 'Talented Man', the flip of his 1963 single 'Atom Bomb Song Part 3', which was issued in two years later in 1965. Due to the band's growing popularity, its members began receiving regular gifts from their music fans, and as Alder had long curly hair at the time, he regularly received bottles of Twink brand home perm lotion, eventually adopted 'Twink' as his stage name. The band signed to Decca in 1964, and their first single was a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Don’t Think Twice It's Alright', with the band making newspaper headlines when members of the group were arrested for climbing up a statue. In 1965 they moved to HMV and recorded 'Get Yourself Home', written by their road manager Johnnie Dee, after rejecting another of his songs 'Don't Bring Me Down', which later became a hit instead for The Pretty Things. Original vocalist Doug Ord was replaced in 1965 by Nick Wymer while Ord spent time in jail for manslaughter following a road accident in which he'd driving the group's van without any licence or insurance when he hit a car and killed a number of people. n 1965, Twink moved to London, living in the Chelsea area. When the Fairies broke up in August 1966, he replaced the departing drummer in a rhythm and blues/soul music band called The In-Crowd, playing alongside guitarist Steve Howe, bassist John 'Junior' Wood and singer Keith West. A few months later the band decided to change their name to Tomorrow, releasing a a njmber of singles and the classic self-titled album in 1967. When West scored a massive hit with his solo single 'Excerpt from A Teenage Opera' it resulted in the band's breakup, which in turn led to a one-off single by the short-lived band Aquarian Age, which was basically just Twink & Wood. A third track was reputedly recorded by Aquarian Age, but Twink has confirmed that 'We' was actually recorded by Zion De Gallier, aka Dougie Ord, aka Dane Stevens – the original vocalist with The Fairies. Also in 1967, Twink completed a recording session with a group called Santa Barbara Machine Head, which was an ad-hoc band consisitng of two former members of the beat group the Birds, Ron Wood and Kim Gardner who both later joined The Creation, plus keyboardist Jon Lord. They recorded three songs which later turned up on the 'Blues Anytime' compilation series. 

In 1968 Twink replaced Skip Alan in The Pretty Things, joining Phil May, Dick Taylor, Wally Allen, and Jon Povey as they were half-way through recording the classic 'S. F. Sorrow' album, and he was still with them when they they appeared in the Norman Wisdom film 'What's Good For The Goose.' Following the release of 'S. F. Sorrow' in 1968 Twink started recording songs for a solo album, enlisting the help of members of underground band The Deviants, including Mick Farren (who produced the album), guitarist Paul Rudolph, Duncan 'Sandy' Sanderson, and Steve Peregrin Took (of Tyrannosaurus Rex, who contributed two of the songs). 'Think Pink' was belatedly relased in 1970, and it also included May, Povey, Waller, and Victor Unitt from Pretty Things, Viv Prince (ex-Pretty Things), John 'The Honk' Lodge (Junior's Eyes, Quiver), 'Junior' Wood, and the enigmatic 'Pink Fairies Motorcycle Club and All-Star Rock and Roll Band'. This provided the name for Twink's next band, when he formed The Pink Fairies with Took and Farren, both of whom had left their respective bands, and they played in Ladbroke Grove, home of the UK underground, as well as helping record Farren's solo album 'Mona – The Carnivorous Circus' in late 1969, before they fell apart. Took, Farren, former Entire Sioux Nation guitarist and bassist Larry Wallis, and Tim Taylor then assembled the band that became Shagrat, with Farren departing before any recordings were made. Farren then reunited with Rudolph, Sanderson and drummer Russell Hunter for a North American our, and when they returned to the UK in 1970 they invited Twink to form a two-drummer second incarnation of The Pink Fairies. This version of the band recorded the stunning 'The Snake', which they released as a single in 1971, followed by the 'Never Never Land' album, after which Twink left the band, although he would periodically return to play with them. As you can see from his convoluted biography, Twink has had an amazing journey from his first group in 1964 to playing with one of the biggest underground bands of the 70's, and it didn't stop there, as he's continued to record and release new and archive material right up to 2019, including an excellent collaboration with The Bevis Frond on 1990's 'Magic Eye', and three more volumes of 'Think Pink' in 2015, 2018, and 2019. So enjoy this collection of recordings from the many bands that have been graced with his drumming and composing skills. 

Track listing

01 Don't Think Twice It's Alright (single by The Fairies 1964)
02 Anytime at All (b-side of 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright')
03 Get Yourself Home (single by The Fairies 1964) 
04 I'll Dance (b-side of 'Get Yourself Home')
05 Don't Mind (single by The Fairies 1965)
06 Baby Don't (b-side of 'Don't Mind')
07 Am I Glad To See You (by The In Crowd 1966)
08 Blow Up (by The In Crowd 1966)
09 Caught In A Web (unreleased demo by Tomorrow 1967)
10 Why (unreleased demo by Tomorrow 1967)
11 Porcupine Juice (by Santa Barbara Machine Head 1967)
12 Rubber Monkey (by Santa Barbara Machine Head 1967)
13 Albert (by Santa Barbara Machine Head 1967)
14 Private Sorrow (single by The Pretty Things 1968) 
15 Balloon Burning (single by The Pretty Things 1968) 
16 10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box (single by The Aquarian Age 1968)
17 Good Wizard Meets Naughty Wizard (b-side of '10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box')
18 Fluid (Slow Version) (alternate demo for 'Think Pink' by Twink 1969)
19 The Snake (single by The Pink Fairies 1971)

Public Service Broadcasting - View From Above (2021)

Mike has recently discovered the joys of Public Service Broadcasting, and so has put together an overview of their work, from their first EP right through to their most recent release. So over to Mike....  

Iʼm back and this time with an unusual album that I wish existed by a group called Public Service Broadcasting. It turns out pj loves them, and even did an old post on them here, but they are a relatively new find to me! pj did a great write up on them in the link above… but here is my brief skinny on them: Public Service Broadcasting are a London based musical group originally consisting of: J. Willgoose, Esq. on guitar, banjo, other stringed instruments and samplings; and Mr. Wrigglesworth, who played drums, piano, and other various electronic musical Instruments. In recent years, the group has added to that core and now also includes J. F. Abraham on Flugelhorn, bass guitar, Vibraslap and drums and their newest member, the mysteriously named Mr. B.  They are famous for sampling old public information films, archive material, and British public-service films from roughly the 1940's through the 1960's, and setting them to music. Their songs tackle topics as broad as the space race, the sinking of The Titanic, and World War II, and as small and personal as the plight of coal miners, the mail train, driver safety, and your television set. When they play live they never speak or sing a word, but each song sends a clear message, and as they play they project carefully crafted films from those public-service messages that sync to the music, liberally using footage and voices from the past as a way of looking at the present, but teaching lessons of the past through the music of the future. Itʼs entertainment as education for the head and feet alike and Public Service Broadcasting puts it all together in powerful ways.
For this collection, I took another deep dive on the internet, and at first I envisioned it as a sampler full of their remixes, but found that they had released a whole bunch of those already…so I decided to go on a different approach and present a really cool selection of alternate versions of songs from their first EP (EP ONE), produced in 2010, all the way up to their newest album 'Bright Magic', which they released last year in 2021. Along the way I was able to find live versions of almost all their singles plus a few wonderful deep cuts which Iʼm presenting to you in chronological order based on their release dates (but not by the date they were recorded in concert). Iʼve remixed every single song, as the thing I love most about the band is their amazing use of audio clips mixed in with their incredible music, but in a live setting these 'vocals' ae smetimes not as loud as on their albums, so I've taken the liberty to use the app X-Minus Pro to separate the 'vocals' from the music and then bump them back up in the mix to make them much clearer and easier to understand.  All in all, awesome stuff that Iʼm sure youʼll enjoy.

Track listing, with venue source and topics covered (where applicable):

01 New Dimension in Sound (Live Sheffield Doc Fest 6-15-13) Stereo Sound Recordings
02 London Can Take It (Live on KEXP 2-23-14) WWII
03 Spitfire (Live on KEXP 2-23-14) WWII
04 Waltz For George (Museums At Night @ RAF Museum 5-14) WWII
05 Theme From PSB (D R U G S Remix 8-11 13)
06 ROYGBIV (Live on 2 Meter Sessions 4-22-14)
07 Everest (Live on KEXP 2-23-14) Mt. Everest Climbing Expeditions
08 Race for Space (Moon Landing 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 7-19 The Proms)

                                                                                            President Kennedyʼs 1962 Speech
09 The Other Side (British Underground Sessions 2015) The First Flight Behind The Moon
10 Go! (British Underground Sessions 2015) The First Lunar Landing
11 Progress (Live at WFUV 9-13-17) Coal Mining In Wales
12 The Pit (Live on Soundcheck 4-10-15) Coal Mining In Wales
13 People Will Always Need Coal (6 Music Live Room 2018) Coal Mining In Wales 
14 White Star Liner Suite (Titanic Slipways - Belfast May 2018) RMS Titanic
15 People, Let's Dance (Audioglider Remix, Bright Magic 2021)*

*For their latest project, 2021ʼs 'Bright Magic', they seem to have put away the idea of using vintage public service films as the basis for their songs. I dig it…thatʼs why I included one song from it here… but letʼs hope this is a temporary fling with another style instead of a complete change of direction! 
PS I chose the name for this album as a play on words: View From Above is an “Overview”, which is what this project is… and the pic was taken of J. Wilgoose floating weightless “above us” in space. Well… I get out kick out of the wordplay

Mike and I had a slight disagreement about whether to leave in audience noise in the live 'White Star Liner Suite', as he though it was interesting to hear that the band do sometimes speak, and I preferred just the music, so as it's his post, his mix is included in the main album, but I've included my mix as a bonus so that you can decide for yourselves which you prefer. pj

Brandy - One Thing (2008)

Brandy Rayana Norwood was born on 11 February 1979, in McComb, Mississippi, the daughter of Willie Norwood, a gospel singer and choir director, and she started singing through her father's work as part of the local church choir. In 1983 her parents relocated to Carson, California, and her interest in music and performing increased after becoming a fan of singer Whitney Houston at the age of seven, entering talent shows by the time she was eleven, and performing at several public functions as part of a youth singing group. In 1990 she signed with Teaspoon Productions, and in 1993 her parents organized a recording contract with the Atlantic Recording Corporation after auditioning for Darryl Williams, after which her mother resigned from her job to become her manager , while Norwood herself dropped out of Hollywood High School, and was tutored privately from tenth grade on. During the early production stages of her debut album, she landed the role of the daughter of comedian Thea Vidale in the short-lived ABC sitcom 'Thea', later commenting that she was not sorry the show only lasted one season as the taping caused scheduling conflicts with the recording of her album. The self-titled debut album was released in September 1994 and peaked at number twenty on the U.S. Billboard 200, receiving positive critical reaction comparing her to Janet Jackson and Mary J. Blige. 'Brandy' went on to sell over six million copies worldwide, producing three top ten hit singles and earning her two Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance the following year. In 1996 she was offered her own sitcom 'Moesha', appearing alongside William Allen Young and Sheryl Lee Ralph, playing the title role of Moesha Mitchell, a Los Angeles girl coping with a stepmother as well as the pressures and demands of becoming an adult. 

Originally bought by CBS, the program debuted on UPN in January 1996, and soon became their most-watched show, lasting six seasons on air, and gaining Norwood an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress for her performance. In 1997 she was hand-picked by producer Whitney Houston to play the title character in Rodgers and Hammerstein's television version of Cinderella, with the two-hour 'Wonderful World of Disney' special garnered an estimated 60 million viewers. For her second album 'Never Say Never' she co-wrote and produced six songs, including her first number-one song on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with 'The Boy Is Mine', a duet with singer Monica that has become the most successful song by a female duo in the music industry, and when it was released in June 1998 it became her biggest-selling album, selling over 16 million copies worldwide and reaching number two on the Billboard 200, and spawning seven singles, including her second number-one song 'Have You Ever?'. In 1996 she made her big screen debut in the slasher film 'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer', and in 1999 she co-starred with Diana Ross in the telefilm drama 'Double Platinum', as well as headlining VH-1's 'Divas Live '99', alongside Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, and Cher. After a lengthy hiatus following the end of 'Moesha', she returned to music in 2001, when she and brother Ray-J were asked to record a cover version of Phil Collins' 1990 hit 'Another Day In Paradise' for the tribute album 'Urban Renewal: A Tribute to Phil Collins', and when it was released as the album's first single it became an instant international success overseas, scoring top-ten entries on the majority of the charts it appeared on. 

Her third album 'Full Moon' was released in February 2002, being composed of R&B and pop-oriented songs, and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, but media reception was generally lukewarm, and so she joined up with Robert "Big Bert" Smith and began writing and producing for other artists such as Toni Braxton, Kelly Rowland, and Kiley Dean, and she also began her foray into reality television with the MTV series 'Diary Presents Brandy: Special Delivery', which documented the final months of her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter Sy'rai. Returning from yet another hiatus, her fourth album 'Afrodisiac' was released in June 2004 to some critical acclaim, but was only a moderate seller, and so after eleven years with the company, Norwood asked for and received an unconditional release from Atlantic Records at the end of 2004, with the label releasing a compilation entitled 'The Best of Brandy' as their final album from her. In June 2006 she was cast as one of three talent judges on the first season of 'America's Got Talent', and the show was one of the most-watched programs of the summer, and concluded on 17 August 2006. She was originally slated to return for a second season in summer 2007, but eventually decided not to, and she was replaced by reality TV star Sharon Osbourne. Her fifth studio album 'Human' was released in December 2008, and marked her debut on Epic Records, and although well received by critics, it failed to match the success of its predecessors. While lead-off single 'Right Here (Departed)' was her biggest chart success since 2002's 'Full Moon', the album failed to impact elsewhere, resulting in lackluster sales in general and the end of her contract with the label. That brings us to this album, which is made up of out-takes from the 'Human' album, and despite the parent album not living up to the reputation of her earlier work, even off-cuts from one of her less successful records make a very listenable album. 

Track listing

01 After the Flood
02 Drumlife
03 Freedom
04 Bring it Back
05 One Thing
06 List
07 Back & Forth
08 Keyed
09 Gonna Find My Love
10 Locket (Locked In Love)
11 Right Here

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