Linda Ronstadt - Sings Jimmy Webb (2010)

Although Linda Ronstadt was a late-comer to the songs of Jimmy Webb, not recording her first one until 1982, and therefore not giving us her interpretation of the classics 'Galveston', 'Wichita Lineman' or 'MacArthur Park', she has been cited by Webb himself as producing some of the best versions of his songs. Linda Maria Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona, on 15 July 1946, and was raised on the family's 10-acre ranch with her siblings Peter, Michael, and Gretchen. Establishing her professional career in the mid-1960's at the forefront of California's emerging folk rock and country rock movements, she joined forces with Bobby Kimmel and Kenny Edwards and became the lead singer of a folk-rock trio, the Stone Poneys. Later, as a solo artist, she released 'Hand Sown ... Home Grown' in 1969, which has been described as the first alternative country record by a female recording artist. Her second solo album 'Silk Purse' was released in March 1970, and was recorded entirely in Nashville, and produced her first solo hit single, with 'Long, Long Time' earning her first Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance/Female. Further albums followed in the 70's, and with the release of 1976's 'Heart Like A Wheel', she gained her first of four number 1 Country albums, and the record's first single 'You're No Good' climbed to number 1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box Pop singles charts. By the end of the decade Ronstadt was lauded as the most successful female rock star in the world, and by 1979 she'd collected eight gold, six platinum, and four multi-platinum certifications for her albums, an unprecedented feat at the time. In 1982 she released the album 'Get Closer', which was primarily a rock album with some country and pop music as well, and it featured her first cover of a Jimmy Webb song, including 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress' and 'Easy For You To Say', with the latter becoming a surprise Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in the spring of 1983. Later that year she enlisted the help of 62-year-old conductor Nelson Riddle, and recorded the first of three albums celebrating the Great American Songbook, with 'What's New' giving her another hit record, and showing that she wasn't just a country or rock singer. In 1989, she released a mainstream pop album and several popular singles, with 'Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind' becoming one of her most successful albums, helped no doubt by the inclusion of four Jimmy Webb songs. In 1993 she released the highly acclaimed 'Winter Light' album, which included New Age arrangements such as the lead single 'Heartbeats Accelerating', as well as two songs by Webb. As a mark of how much Webb respected Ronstadt, he invited her to join him in a duet version of 'All I Know' for his 2010 album 'Just Across the River'. It was a poignant moment for Ronstadt, who had just announced her retirement from singing when Webb sent her an email describing his new CD of duets, and asking if she would sing 'All I Know' with him. Ronstadt called him and said, "Damn it, you've gotten me interested in that song", and  Webb later recalled, "There was a poignancy to that moment ... because I didn’t know if she'd ever sing again, but her voice sounds elegantly beautiful". To close the album I've added a live version of 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress', with Webb on piano, from a 1989 VH1 'Salute To The American Songwriter'. 

Track listing

01 The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
02 Do What You Gotta Do
03 Still Within The Sound Of My Voice
04 Easy For You To Say
05 Adios
06 I Keep It Hid
07 All I Know (with Jimmy Webb)
08 You Can't Treat The Wrong Man Right
09 Shattered
10 The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (live)

Brats - Combat Zone (1981)

Brats was a Danish band from Copenhagen formed in 1977 as a punk band, and after recording the songs 'Dreams', 'I Do What I Wanna Do' and 'Magazine' for the 'Danish Pære Punk' compilation, the band split up in 1979, reforming as a heavy metal band, playing a hybrid of punk and metal, with new members Michael Denner and Hank Sherman joining Carsten Van Der Volsing on guitar, Yenz on bass and Lars Monroe on drums. This line-up signed a contract with CBS in 1980 and released the promotional debut single 'B-Brains' and one self-titled full length album. After some line-up changes, including the addition of King Diamond on vocals and the departure of Denner, Diamond and Shermann began writing new material that was much heavier than any of Brats' previous work. In January 1981 the band invited a representative for CBS to come down to their rehearsal room in Copenhagen to listen to the material that was written for the upcoming second album for CBS. They had 9 songs ready, including titles such as 'Death Kiss' , 'Combat Zone' and 'Love Criminals', but these were definitely not what CBS had expected, and so the next day Diamond and Sherman were asked to come to the label's office, where they were solemnly informed that the new material was far too heavy for CBS, and if they wanted to cut another album it would have to consist of far softer material, and King would have to sing the lyrics in Danish. Diamond and Sherman immediately refused this on behalf of the band, and were offered a ridiculously low budget to make a new album, and so that was the end of Brats' relationship with CBS. As a result, Diamond and Shermann quit the group and went on to form Mercyful Fate with former Rock Nalle bassist Ole Beich (later of L.A. Guns and Guns N' Roses). After several line-up changes and semi-professional demo tapes, the new band released their self-titled EP in 1982, and the final line-up of King Diamond, Hank Shermann, bassist Timi Hansen, drummer Kim Ruzz and guitarist Michael Denner, would go on to record the group's first two studio albums. Of the nine songs recorded at the rehearsal room, two were chosen to be released as a single, and demos of 'Some Day'/'You Asked For it' were pressed up as Brats' final release, but luckily the whole showcase set was recorded and has survived, so that we can hear the last efforts of Brats, before they morphed in to hugely successful Mercyful Fate.  

Track listing

01 Death Kiss  
02 Fighting For The Knighthood  
03 Love Criminals  
04 Some Day
05 Combat Zone  
06 Nightriders  
07 Sometimes You're Deadly  
08 Powers Of Darkness  
09 You Asked For It

Various Artists - Remembering 1968 - A Tribute To Pink Floyd

1968 was a pivotal year for Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett had become increasingly unpredictable during the band's 1967 tour, and by the end of the year the band had added guitarist David Gilmour as the fifth member. Gilmour already knew Barrett, having studied with him at Cambridge Tech in the early 1960's, and the two had performed at lunchtimes together with guitars and harmonicas, and later hitch-hiked and busked their way around the south of France. In January 1968, Blackhill Enterprises announced Gilmour as the band's newest member, intending to continue with Barrett as a non-performing songwriter. The plan was that Barrett would write additional hit singles to follow up 'Arnold Layne' and 'See Emily Play', but in a pique of frustration at the situation he instead introduced 'Have You Got It Yet?' to the band, intentionally changing the structure on each performance so as to make the song impossible to follow and learn. Working with Barrett eventually proved too difficult, and matters came to a conclusion in January, while en route to a performance in Southampton, when a band member asked if they should collect Barrett, and according to Gilmour, the answer was "Nah, let's not bother", signalling the end of Barrett's tenure with Pink Floyd. After Barrett's departure, the burden of lyrical composition and creative direction fell mostly on Roger Waters, and while playing on the university circuit, they avoided Barrett songs in favour of Waters' and Richard Wright's material such as 'It Would Be So Nice' and 'Careful with That Axe, Eugene'. In 1968, Pink Floyd returned to Abbey Road Studios to record their second album, 'A Saucerful Of Secrets', which included Barrett's final contribution to their discography with his 'Jugband Blues' closing the record. Waters began to develop his own songwriting, contributing 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun', 'Let There Be More Light' and 'Corporal Clegg', while Wright composed 'See-Saw' and 'Remember A Day'. Released in June 1968, the album featured a psychedelic cover designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis, and it peaked at number 9, spending 11 weeks on the UK album chart. In December of that year, they released 'Point Me At The Sky' as a single, but it was no more successful than the two singles they had released since 'See Emily Play', with neither 1967's 'Apples And Oranges' or 1968's 'It Would Be So Nice' making any impression on the charts, while Barrett's 'Scream Thy Last Scream' was abandoned completely as a single after recording finished in January 1968. Despite the moderate success of the album, it paved the way for a change in direction, from the psychedelic pop of 'See Emily Play', 'Arnold Layne', and the 'Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' album into a much darker, more cosmic entity, with spacey tracks like 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun' foreshadowing what was to come from them in the next few years. Because this was a transitional time for the band, the music that they produced in 1968 has been picked apart by numerous bands over the years, and covered on albums, single b-sides and tribute albums, and so I've collected the best of them as an alternate overview of a significant year in the life of Pink Floyd. 

Track listing

01 Remember A Day - Crystal Jacqueline And The Honey Pot
02 It Would Be So Nice - Captain Sensible
03 Let There Be More Light - Flying Circus
04 Careful With That Axe, Eugene - Vespero
05 Point Me At The Sky - Mandra Gora Lightshow Society
06 Julia Dream - Us And Them
07 Corporal Clegg - Samarin, Morgan And Hull Llp
08 Scream Thy Last Scream - The Green Telescopes
09 Jugband Blues (If The Sun Don't Shine) - Opal
10 Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun - Psychic TV

Bloc Party - Letter To My Son (2012)

In October 2007 it was announced that Bloc Party would release a new single 'Flux' on 13 November, just ahead of their end of year gigs. 'Flux' was also produced by Jacknife Lee, and was very different from previous singles released by the band, being more electronic-based, and to promore it a four-track remix CD was given away as a cover-mounted freebie with the 14 November 2007 issue of the NME. 'Mercury' was released as the first single from their third album 'Intimacy' in August 2008, with the Jacknife Lee and Paul Epworth-produced album being rush-released later that month. It was made available to download just 3 days after the release was announced, and when they later issued 'Talons' as a single, it had to be made freely available to people who had already downloaded the album as it only appeared on the CD version. An album of remixes of all tracks on 'Intimacy', imaginatively titled 'Intimacy Remixed', was released in May 2009, and the band undertook their first UK tour for nearly two years in October 2009, dubbing it "Bloctober". In July 2009, Okereke stated that the band did not have a current recording contract and had no obligation or pressure to release a new album in the foreseeable future, commenting that the release of a fourth album was on an indefinite timescale. 'One More Chance' was released as a stand-alone single in August 2009, following which the group went on a hiatus, with the members unsure as to whether they would carry on. During this period Lissack revived his project Pin Me Down, and also joined the live line-up of Irish rock-band Ash as guitarist and synthesiser player on their touring for the A–Z Series. Moakes formed the group Young Legionnaire with Paul Mullen, vocalist & guitarist of The Automatic, and William Bowerman, drummer for La Roux, releasing a single, 'Colossus' in August 2010, and Okereke released a solo album, 'The Boxer', in June 2010. Rumours throughout 2011 suggested Okereke had left the group to focus on solo work, but these were proved to be unfounded when they band reunited to start writing material for a fourth album, although they decided not to play live. They stated that they intended to release a new album in 2012, and in August of that year they released 'Four' on Frenchkiss Records, after it was made available to stream in its entirety for over a week preceding release. The album was recorded in New York City with Alex Newport, who had previously worked with At The Drive In and The Mars Volta, and peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart and number 36 on the Billboard 200. They have since released two more albums, 'Hymns' in 2016 and the brand new 'Alpha Games' this year, but the extra tracks on the singles dried up around 2012, so that's a good place to end this short series by one of the best indie bands of the early 2000's.    

Track listing 

01 Flux (single 2007)
02 The Once And Future King (b-side of 'Flux' 2007)
03 Emma Kate's Accident (b-side of 'Flux' CD2 2007)
04 Flux (JFK Remix) (free CD single given away with NME 2007)
05 Idea For A Story (b-side of 'Mercury' 2008)
06 Letter To My Son (bonus track on 'Intimacy' 2008)
07 Your Visits Are Getting Shorter (bonus track on 'Intimacy' 2008)
08 One More Chance (Original Version) (single 2009)
09 Straight Thru Cru (b-side of 'Octopus' 2012)
10 Mean (bonus track from 'Four' 2012)
11 Leaf Skeleton (bonus track from 'Four' 2012

The Psylons - Psylons Is Golden (1988)

The Psylons were a UK post-punk band formed in Portsmouth 1984 by Keith Wyatt, Carl Edwards, Jack Packer and Warren Grech. They released four singles, an EP and two albums, and recorded two radio sessions, for John Peel and Andy Kershaw. Peel was particularly taken with their 'Mockery Of Decline' single, and commented on air that if they ever recorded an album they should call it 'Psylons Is Golden'. They did in fact release a cassette album on Bite Back Records in 1988, and followed his suggestion for the title, even including a recording of the incident itself on the tape. Over the years the band gigged extensively, and supported many acts including The Fall, My Bloody Valentine, Cranes, Spiritualized and Moonshake, but after a number of personnel changes they finally split in 1995. If you have fond memories of any of the afore-mentioned bands then give this a try. 

Track listing

01 What Do They Care (from the cassette mini-album 'Psylons Is Golden' 1988)

02 Run To The Stranger (single 1986)

03 Tumbling Clown (b-side of 'Run To The Stranger')

04 Push Him Away (from the cassette mini-album 'Psylons Is Golden' 1988)

05 Mockery Of Decline (single 1986)

06 Clearer Sky (b-side of 'Mockery Of Decline')

07 Stephen Drowning (from the cassette mini-album 'Psylons Is Golden' 1988)

08 All The Things We Need! (single 1987)

09 Turning Worm (b-side of 'All The Things We Need!')

10 The Midnight Sun? (b-side of 'All The Things We Need!')

11 No Time Like Now (from the cassette mini-album 'Psylons Is Golden' 1988)

12 Separate Ways (Andy Kershaw session 1986)

13 The Cut (from the cassette mini-album 'Psylons Is Golden' 1988)

14 Remembrance (John Peel session 1986)

15 Waiting Nation (from the cassette mini-album 'Psylons Is Golden' 1988)

16 Clearer Skies (John Peel session 1986) 

Vangelis - The Ultimate 'Blade Runner' Collection (1982)

As a tribute to Vangelis, who passed away last week, Mike has delved into his collection to give us something unique, and which vividly shows just how much this talented musician meant to him. Over to Mike....

Last Week Vangelis passed away. That was a tremendous blow to me. I own thousands of albums, and 'Blade Runner' is my favorite. Nuff' said. But not enough said really. I love this album, and I personally think it is the greatest soundtrack album ever recorded. And just like the movie it has gone through many, many changes since it was first recorded in 1982, and even with the many changes and editions that have been released over the years, no real, complete and pure version has still seen the light of day.
Until now.
I have been collecting Blade Runner Soundtrackʼs for over 40 years. I have about 60 right now. This collection is the most musically pure version I could create by combining bits and pieces from all of them. Before I tell you about whatʼs included in my version, first let me give you a little background on itʼs history (and my history with it). I was 19 years old when the original film was released. And Iʼll freely admit that this was the second movie I had ever seen high. (TRON was the first). When life changing events happen to you, you tend to remember them vividly. Trust me, sitting in the darkened theater and hearing the super deep and thunderous bass notes and soaring synth notes as the film began its approach over the flaming endless cityscape of Hades, it had an effect on me… a hugely vivid one, one I still feel to this day. That was the day that science fiction books and movies became my passion. Sitting in that theater and hearing that incredible music just made me want to buy the soundtrack album....like that very second. But I waited...and waited, and when, after way too long, they announced that the soundtrack was being finally released, I waited again,,,but this time in the record store on the day of release. And when it finally did arrive... it was NOT the original soundtrack but one by The New American Symphony performing the Music of Vangelis. This “original” version was universally hated, so much so that both Vangelis and

the movie's director Ridley Scott have disowned it. I had to wait until 1994 (12 freakin' years more!!) before another “official” soundtrack came out...and although it was Vangelis' music, it was still incomplete. The 1994 release omitted much of the film's score and included compositions NOT used in the film. Cut now to 2007, 13 years later, when the record company decided to release a 25th-anniversary edition. This version included further unreleased material not in the movie, special effect sounds and dialog on top of the music, and a disc of new music "inspired" by the film.

I remained heart broken.

Still, to this day, they have not released a pure music soundtrack for the film, only these mish-mashed, edited, sound effect-laden, incomplete and horrible versions. So over the years, I have made it my mission to do what Vangelis and the record companies refuse to do. I created a complete, unedited, and musically pure version of the soundtrack… and so much more! This Ultimate Blade Runner Album I Wish Existed is a project I have been working

on (and have continued to add too) for 40 years. Many songs used in the film were edited down to match the scene's lengths. My version includes the longest versions of each song in the film that are currently available, as well as alternate versions used in many of the different released cuts of the film (seven, I think so far!), music written for the film but cut from the final project, and music used during production but never used in the film. Here is a little illumination of what I've included (changed and improved) in this special AIWE version:

Discs 1 & 2: The Score

There are many improvements over all other Blade Runner releases. There has always been an argument as to whether the music of Blade Runner sounds better with or without sound effects. This is the pure score. The score has been completely remixed and created from scratch . When the ‘Blade Runner Trilogyʼ set was released the original 1994 album was remastered and it is these remastered recordings that are used on this edition. Also many
other unreleased tracks have been remastered. One of the most notable additions to this release is the inclusion of a very rare and previously unreleased early demo of 'Tales Of The Future', which is different to the version released on the 1994 Warner/2007 Blade Runner Trilogy releases, and was used for the Animoid Row scene in the movie. Another piece of music that is on this edition and cannot be found on any other previous Blade Runner score is a track entitled 'J.F. Sebastianʼs Apartment' (tagged onto the end of 'Morning At The Bradbury'). All fans of the 'End Titles' will be happy to see that this edition contains the best available version as far as completeness and sound quality goes.
Here is a list of all the other improvements:
● It contains the best available version of the 'Prologue And Main Titles'. Whereas earlier releases contain either poor sound quality, inferior mixing or hiss in the background , this edition uses the full original studio recording, not previously available anywhere else.
● 'Leonʼs Voight Kampff Test' is the original un-modified version (it does not contain the ‘gatedʼ synth that was added to previous releases for effect – this synth was not Vangelis and you can now hear all of Vangelis' sounds instead).
● 'Blade Runner Blues' no longer has a pitch change at around 8.30 mins and  also has improved sound quality.
● 'I Am The Business' has been extended and contains better sound quality.
● 'I Dreamt Music' has been extended. It is longer than the version on the Blade Runner Trilogy (entitled 'Desolation Path').
● 'Dangerous Days' and “Wounded Animals” have much improved sound quality than any previous release. It should be noted that these tracks can be found on the Blade Runner Trilogy as one track entitled 'Deckard and Royʼs Duel', but 'Dangerous Days' and 'Wounded Animals' on this edition are 12 minutes long compared to 'Deckard and Royʼs Duel' which is only 6 minutes.
● The following tracks have been remastered to improve the sound quality: 'Deckard Meets Rachel', 'Deckardʼs Dream', 'Thinking Of Rachel', 'Salomeʼs Dance', 'Morning At The Bradbury'.
● The following tracks no longer contain sound effects, when compared to previous releases: 'Rachelʼs Voight Kampff Test', 'Chewʼs Eye Lab', 'Esper Analysis', 'Rachel Sleeps'.
● 'One More Kiss, Dear' now is the original unaltered version.

● “The Ink Spotsʼ 'If I Didn't Care' was used in the original trailer but was replaced by 'One More Kiss Dear'. It can still be heard briefly in the background at the beginning of the move as the camera closes in on Deckard reading the newspaper in the rain.

I found many other little tidbits of music spread out over many of the 60 different versions of the soundtracks that I have collected over the years. When the sound quality met my standards, I placed them at the appropriate spots in soundtrack. But my overall attempt was to keep the music as naturally flowing and segued into the next song as possible. I have also included as a bonus, three additional Vangelis Blade Runner related volumes from my complete collection:
Volume 8- Vangelis' music mixed in WITH the movies sound effects to help you create a perfect “Movie In Your Mind”.
Volume 17 (edited) - Other Vangelis cuts from his complete discography that have a similar feel and sound to the cuts on The Original Blade Runner Soundtrack.
Volume 26 - Vangelis Documentaries and The Making Of The Blade Runner Soundtrack
Hereʼs the link to the bonus folders:
https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/XnKN5yqcgS

R.I.P. Vangelis...and thank you for the soundtrack to so many high points in my life.
You'll live on through your music …forever!

Track listing

Disc One

01 Ladd Company Fanfare (John Williams)
02 Prologue & Main Titles
03 Leon's Test
04 Rain... Peals Of Thunder... And Sounds Of A November Night
05 Los Angeles 2019
06 The Blue Room
07 Flight To Tyrell Corporation
08 Deckard Meets Rachael
09 Deckard Meets Rachael [Reprise Version]
10 Rachael's Voight-Kampff Test (Dr. Tyrell's Owl)
11 Harps Of The Ancient Temples
12 At Mr. Chews
13 Memories Of Green
14 Blade Runner Blues
15 I'm Hungry J.F.
16 Prelude To Deckard's Dream
17 Deckards Dream
18 Thinking Of Rachael
19 Esper Analysis (Longing & Empty Streets)
20 Esper Machine Noises
21 Animoid Row Part 1 (Tales of the Future - On The Trail Of Nexus 6)
22 Animoid Row Part 2
23 Leon's Room

24 Qu'ran (Byrne/Eno)

Disc Two

01 Taffey Lewis' Club
02 Miss Salome And The Snake

03 Waiting For Zhora
03 Zhora's Retirement
04 One More Kiss, Dear (Vangelis/Skellern)
05 I Am The Business
06 I Dreamt Music [Alternate Love Theme Version]
07 I Dreamt Music [Alternate Prelude To Love Theme Version]
08 Love Theme
09 The Blimp
10 Morning At The Bradbury (including  'J.F. Sebastianʼs Apartment')
11 The Prodigal Son Brings Death (Prelude): Will You Help Us

12 The Prodigal Son Brings Death (Interlude): Elevator To Tyrell's Bedroom
13 The Prodigal Son Brings Death (Postlude): Queen To Bishop 6
14 The Prodigal Son Brings Death (Outro): I Want More Life... Father
15 The Prodigal Son Brings Death [Demo Version]
16 Bradbury Apartments [Demo Version]
17 Dangerous Days
18 Roy Enters The Bradbury
19 Wounded Animals
20 Tears In Rain
21 Rachael Sleeps (Unveiled Twinkling Space)
22 End Titles

As well as this ultimate edition of the music soundtrack, Mike has also included links to his complete 32-volume set of discs, which has been over 40 years in the making, and it includes everything a fan of the film could possible want. Do check it out.

The cover is based on a poster by CandykillerArt, adapted by WesterosiAssassin, and updated by pj.

Bloc Party - Atonement (2007)

Bloc Party's second album 'A Weekend In The City' was produced by Garret "Jacknife" Lee, and was released in February 2007, reaching the number 2 spot on the UK Albums Chart, despite the fact that it had been leaked on the internet the previous November. This album also marked the start of their chart success in America, with their single 'I Still Remember' being their highest charting American release, peaking at number 24 on the Modern Rock Chart. The band's first gig following the release of 'A Weekend In The City' was in Reading on 5 February 2007, being broadcast live on BBC 6 Music, and this was the first of many high-profile gigs that they played during 2007, including headlining on the In New Music We Trust stage at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend in Preston, performing on the UK leg of Live Earth on 7 July 2007 at Wembley Stadium, and appearing at T In The Park, Oxegen 07, Glastonbury, and the Reading and Leeds Festivals. A short tour of Australia and New Zealand followed in August, and they rounded off their year by performing a set on 27 October at London's The Roundhouse with the Exmoor Singers, a London-based choir, as part of the BBC Electric Proms. Despite this busy live schedule, they managed to record enough new material to provide exclusive b-sides for all of the singles taken from 'A Weekend In The City', which were collected together on a fan-made CD called 'Another Weekend In The City', but for this second volume of Bloc Party rarities, all taken from 2007, I've also added in a cover of Nelly Furtado's 'Say It Right' that they recorded for Jo Whiley's radio show in the April. 

Track listing

01 England (b-side of 'The Prayer' 2007)
02 Version 2.0 (b-side of 'The Prayer' 2007)
03 We Were Lovers (b-side of 'The Prayer' 2007)
04 Atonement (b-side of 'I Still Remember' 2007)
05 Cain Said To Abel (b-side of 'I Still Remember' 2007)
06 Selfish Son (b-side of 'I Still Remember' 2007)
07 Say It Right (radio session for Jo Whiley 2007)
08 Rhodedendrons (b-side of 'Hunting For Witches' 2007)
09 Secrets (b-side of 'Hunting For Witches (Live)' 2007)
10 Cavaliers And Roundheads (b-side of 'Hunting For Witches (Live)' 2007)
11 Vision Of Heaven (promotional track for 'A Weekend In The City' on PureVolume 2007)

Brandy - Supreme (2009)

Immediately after the release of 'Human', Brandy began recording songs for a proposed sixth album, to be titled 'Supreme'. It would have been her second album to be released on the Epic Records label, with a release date of sometime in 2010 if she had finished the project, but due to the poor promotion and lackluster performance of 'Human', as well as it seeming as if no one shared her vision musically, she ended her management with Roc Nation in mid-2009 and went on to leave Epic Records. Despite the fact that a number of songs had been recorded with Tricky Stewart, Ne-Yo and StarGate, the album remained unfinished and consequently unreleased. In April 2010 she returned to the small screen in the VH1 reality series 'Brandy and Ray J: A Family Business', along with their parents, in a show which chronicled the backstage lives of both siblings, while taking on larger roles in their family's management and production company, R&B Productions. The season concluded after eleven episodes, and was renewed for a second season, which began broadcasting in late 2010, and a compilation album called 'A Family Business', which included previously unreleased content from the entire cast, was released on Saguaro Road Records in June 2011. While the second season of her TV show was airing, she also appeared as a contestant on season 11 of the ABC reality show 'Dancing With The Stars', partnered with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. She ultimately placed fourth in the competition, which was a shock to the judges, viewers, studio audience, and other contestants that considered her one of the show's front-runners throughout the entire competition. In August 2011, it was confirmed that she had signed a joint record deal with RCA Records and producer Breyon Prescott's Chameleon Records, and she resumed her music career with the release of two albums, while carrying on her TV and film career, joining the comedy series 'The Game' in 2011, and starring in the sitcom 'Zoe Ever After' in 2016, as well as appearing in Tyler Perry's 2013 movie 'Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor'. After finishing the filming of the final season of 'The Game' in 2015 she made her Broadway debut in the musical 'Chicago', in which she played the lead role of Roxie Hart. Despite regaining a recording contract in 2011, she didn't re-visit the songs that she'd recorded for 'Supreme', instead recording new material for her 2012 album 'Two Eleven', so here is what could have been the follow-up to 'Human', had that album performed a little better, and she hadn't left Epic Records as a result of its poor sales.

Track listing

01 Good Night Good Morning 
02 Slow Love 
03 I Don't Really Care
04 Stupid In Love
05 Louboutins
06 Betcha Didn’t Know
07 Supreme 
08 I'm Right Here
09 This Song (I Can't Wait)
10 Decisions (feat. Ne-Yo)
11 Between Me And You
12 Romeo And Juliet
13 Too Little Too Late
14 Fear Of Flying

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