Tangerine Dream - Orange 75 (1975)

1975 saw the release of one of my favourite TD albums, 'Richocet', and although it wasn't really marketed as a live album, it consisted of two side-long compositions mixed from studio recordings, and the UK portion of their August–October 1975 European Tour. Not surprisingly, recordings from this tour make up a large number of my bootlegs, and they were so popular at this time that film director Tony Palmer filmed their concert at Coventry Cathedral, and it was released on DVD in 2013. There is also an excellent recording from the tour when they visited Fairfield Halls In Croydon, plus some of slightly lesser quality at Glasgow and Manchester, and at Liverpool Cathedral and York Minster. For this post I've gone with  'Orange 75', which is a recording of their appearance at the Orange Festival (also known as Orange 75), which was a three-day music festival held on 15-17 August 1975 at the Roman Theatre in Orange, France. At the time it was promoted as the 'French Woodstock', and included a stellar line-up, including Bad Company, Fairport Convention, Procol Harum, Dr Feelgood, Wishbone Ash, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Soft Machine, Caravan and Climax Blues Band. Tangerine Dream played on the second day as special guests, and the music is what you would expect if you'd just bought 'Richocet'. I've made my own cover art for this one based on the actual programme which could be purchased at the festival, as it makes it just a bit more unique than using the generic Tangerine Tree cover. 

Track listing

01 Part I
02 Part II

Tangerine Dream - Kelvin Hall, Glasgow (1974)

1974 was an extremely successful year for Tangerine Dream, and they played some outstanding shows. They embarked on their first tour of the United Kingdom, performing twenty concerts across the country in less than seven weeks. Just how popular they were was revealed with the release of the 'In Search Of Hades' box set a few years ago, which included complete recordings of their concerts at The Rainbow Theatre and Victoria Palace, both in London, while their performance at Reims Cathedral in France was a highlight of their career, even if it did earn them a lifetime ban from ever performing in a Catholic church again. It was such an iconic performance that it was included in 'The Official Bootleg Series Volume One' in 2015, and Cherry Red officially released the tapes as recently as 2021 as a 2xLP set, although true fans had owned Tangerine Tree Volume 30 for many years already. Another fine recording from this year was the one on 29 October at Sheffield City Hall, and this was in fact included on 'The Bootleg Box Set Vol. 1' in 2003. The band found themselves in Glasgow on the 20th November for a concert at the Kelvin Hall, a venue which had previously played host to everything from musicians to boxers to a circus, and the concert was captured by local station Radio Clyde for later broadcast. Only a single 1/4" tape reel from this recording is known to have survived, being the last of three which are alleged to have contained the entire performance. Despite being nearly half a century old, this reel had been kept in excellent condition and was professionally transferred to digital and then remastered. While the full concert is available as a Tangerine Leaves release, their own notes admit that while the disc might feature the complete recording, the sound quality is mediocre only, or maybe worse, especially on the first disc. For this post I've therefore used the partial recording from Radio Clyde, which might only contain two thirds of the full gig, but the sound quality is pristine. 

Track listing

01 Septrional Remnant
02 Analog Ascent

Tangerine Dream - Saint Ouen, France (1973)

1973 was a transitional period for Tangerine Dream, as they'd moved to the UK after signing a deal with Virgin Records, and were recording their first album for the label at Virgin's famous Manor Studios in November and December of 1973. The result was to be 'Phaedra', and it was a distinct progression from their previous two albums for the German Ohr Label, 'Zeit' and 'Atem'. Their concerts from early 1973 were still featuring the cosmic space-rock of those records, and one gig from Berlin was included on the Esoteric re-release of 'Atem'. There don't seem to have been many recordings made of their concerts during 1973, with Tangerine Tree only having three, of which one is the afore-mentioned Berlin show, which has now been officially released. The best officially unreleased recording from this period is the one from 20 November 1973 at The Alhambra Theatre, in Saint Ouen, France, so that's the one I'm using for this post. It's not perfect quality, and so is part of the Tangerine Leaves arm of the project, but it sounds pretty good to me as a time-capsule of what the band sounded like on stage at exactly the same time that they were recording 'Phaedra' at the Manor Studios.

Track listing

01 Part One
02 Part Two 

Tangerine Dream - Klangwald (1972)

Sky Arts has just broadcast a fascinating documentary about Tangerine Dream entitled 'Revolution Of Sound', and it prompted me to dig out some of the many live bootlegs that I have from the band and to give them another listen. Tangerine Dream are a godsend to bootleggers, as the long pieces that that play means that all they have to do is point the mike and press play, and then do nothing until the first piece ends 40 minutes later! The other great thing about their concerts is that because they employ so much improvisation, no two are ever the same, and Wednesday's gig can be totally different to Tuesday's. There are literally hundreds of live bootlegs available on the internet, and the fan project Tangerine Tree has done a superlative job in collecting the very best of them and making them available to a wider audience. The creators of the project received permission from Tangerine Dream to release the collection on a strict non-profit basis, and several volumes have been used as the basis for official releases later on. Material was collected from audience recordings, soundboards, radio and TV transmissions, and in some cases the purchase of studio masters. Only recordings of a high quality and a unique nature were considered for the core volumes, and these were professionally re-mastered and released on CD-R, accompanied by high quality artwork. Tangerine Leaves releases were based on material that did not meet the high quality standards of a Tangerine Tree release, or from concerts that were not considered notable enough, but if a better source was found, a Tangerine Leaves volume might be upgraded to a Tangerine Tree one. My favourite period of the band's history is the period leading up to 'Phaedra' in 1973 through to 'Stratosfear' in 1976, although I do have recordings from a number of later incarnations of the band, as well as some from as early as 1968, but really I love everything that they've done.  
As the actual recordings can sometimes be hard to track down I thought I'd post one recording from each year from 1972 - which foreshadows what would appear on 'Phaedra' a year or so later - to 1976, which is the year before they released the official live double album 'Encore'. For the 1972 concert I've chosen a recording from Cologne, which is a major highlight of the Tangerine Tree fan project, as it presents a totally unknown recording from that year. Originally a mono recording, the music has nothing to do with the already known Cologne gig on 25 November 1972, which exists as an FM radio recording with an announcer, although it is certainly from the same period considering the instruments used. It contains two long tracks, but no-one knows if it was really recorded during that show. In 2011, the main Tangerine Tree organizer reminisced about the recording: "I received this a few years ago from a Belgian collector. I can't even recall his name, or if he was/is part of the tadream list. I got an email in which he offered me a tape from the 'Klangwald' show, and of course, I said 'great!', hoping that he had a superior copy of the show than what was in circulation at that time. As some of you may know I even contacted radio and TV stations and bought pricey master copies for the Tangerine Tree series, but the 'Klangwald' show was unobtainable. You can imagine my surprise when I first heard the cassette (an old one which had 'Klangwald' written on it). Despite an awful amount of tape hiss, it was clear that this was a different recording. I then passed it on to be remastered, and they did the usual excellent job. How the Belgian fan got hold of it I guess we'll never know. Musically it fits right into the late '72/early '73 kind of music that TD was playing, and although I wasn't quite convinced, I labeled the disc as 'Klangwald', knowing that it must have been a pretty long show if you combine it with what we already knew before!" It is quite likely that the origin of this recording is one of those 1972 shows for which no recording is known to exist, but the music is excellent, an improvised cosmic classic that perfectly fits into the 'Zeit' and 'Atem' period. The sound quality is very good, given the age of the recording, and seems to be taken directly from a live soundboard.

Track listing

01 Klangwald 1
02 Klangwald 2

Robert Fripp - Triple Exposure (1979) **UPDATE**

Mike emailed me today with some great news about his recent Robert Fripp 'Triple Exposure' post, so over to Mike...
Since I originally released this album a few months ago, Robert Fripp has released a 32 Disc set called ‘Exposures’ of the years covering his ‘Exposure’ sessions. I have basically replaced every legit originally released cut on my original version with an alternate from the box set. Now you really do have a totally new alternate version of his ‘Exposure’ album, filled out with the various solo works he produced for Daryl Dall and Peter Gabriel. Don’t forget that Daryl Dall was supposed to be the main vocalist on the ‘Exposure’ album, but his record company wouldn’t allow it, as they were afraid it would destroy his image. Therefore my version restores many of these “lost versions” that originally had Hall’s vocals on them, which is why he’s featured so much on my “album I wish existed!”. Hope you enjoy this completely new version! 
By the way, besides updating the sources in the notes below, I’ve also updated the pdf and added (at the bottom) more than 80 new pages of in-depth notes on the recording of the album, as well as some excellent reviews and overviews of what’s in the newly released ‘Exposures’ box set! Have fun reading!!

Michael 8/22

Track listing, with the lead vocalist noted as well as the source CD for each cut:
 
*01 Preface / You Burn Me Up I’m A Cigarette (Alt. Take - Rough Mix) (Gabriel/Hall/Fripp)

                                                                                                             Exposures Box Set 2022
*02 Disengage (Alt. Take - Rough Mix) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022
*03 Chicago (Alt. Take - Rough Mix Aug 8th) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022 
*04 15 NY3 (Alt. Take - Rough Mix) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022
*05 Perspective (Gabriel/Fripp) - single version 
06 Exposure - Combined Custom Mix Robert Fripp ft. Peter Gabriel, Daryl Hall 

                                                     & Terre Roche (Mikes Vocals UP Mix) - Exposure 1979/2006 

*07 Mother Of Violence (Gabriel/Fripp) - single mix 
08 Why Was It So Easy (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
*09 North Star (Old Riff - Take 6) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022 
*10 Here Comes The Flood [Early Mix] (Gabriel/Frip) - Exposures Box Set 2022
11 White Shadow  (Gabriel/Fripp) - Peter Gabriel II 
12 Something In 4-4 Time (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
13 Babs And Babs (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
14 Survive (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
15 On The Air (Gabriel/Fripp) - Peter Gabriel II 
*16 Mary (Sax Version) (Hall/Fripp) - Exposures Box Set 2022
17 The Farther Away I Am (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs

18 Without Tears (Hall/Fripp) - Sacred Songs
 
* denotes new version used

Big Star - Thank You Friends (1975)

The story of Big Star is pretty well known as a perfect example of a great band who slogged away to little or no commercial recognition until they gave up and disbanded, and then suddenly everyone wanted to know them. They were formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, and Andy Hummel, and initially the band's musical style drew on the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Byrds, but they also produced a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980's and 1990's. Before they broke up, Big Star created a "seminal body of work that never stopped inspiring succeeding generations", in the words of Rolling Stone. They were one of the quintessential American power pop bands, becoming one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll, and yet they couldn't catch a break while they were producing this seminal music. Their first album, 1972's '#1 Record', was met by enthusiastic reviews, but ineffective marketing by Stax Records and limited distribution stunted its commercial success. Frustration took its toll on band relations, and Bell left not long after the first record's commercial progress stalled, and Hummel left to finish his college education after their second album 'Radio City' was completed in December 1973. Like '#1 Record', it received excellent reviews, but label issues again thwarted sales, as Columbia Records, which had assumed control of the Stax catalog, effectively vetoed its distribution. After a third album, recorded in the fall of 1974, was deemed commercially unviable and shelved before receiving a title, the band broke up late in 1974. Four years later, the first two Big Star LPs were released together in the UK as a double album, and their third album was given the title of 'Third/Sister Lovers' and finally issued soon afterward, and although it found limited commercial success at the time, it has since become a cult classic. Chris Bell never got to experience the acclaim that the band achieved after their break-up, however, as he was killed in a car accident at the age of 27. During the group's hiatus in the 1980's, the Big Star discography drew renewed attention when R.E.M. and the Replacements, as well as other popular bands, cited the group as an influence. In 1992, interest was further stimulated by Rykodisc's reissues of the band's albums, complemented by a collection of Bell's solo work, and this led to Chilton and Stephens reforming Big Star in 1993, with recruits Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the Posies, and they gave a concert at the University of Missouri. The band remained active, performing tours in Europe and Japan, and they released a new studio album, 'In Space', in 2005. Chilton died in March 2010 after suffering from heart problems, and Hummel died of cancer four months later, but at least they lived long enough to see Big Star achieve the critical acclaim that they so richly deserved, although it all too late for Bell. The recent 4-CD retrospective unearthed a number of demos and unreleased recordings, and almost anything by Bell or Chilton is worth hearing, so I've extracted the best of them for this post, as the final 'fourth' album by the band.

Track listing 

01 There Was A light (Bell) (demo)
02 Jesus Christ (Chilton) (demo)
03 Holocaust (Chilton) (demo)
04 Big Black Car (Chilton, Gage) (demo)
05 Manana (Chilton) (previously unreleased)
06 What's Going Ahn (Chilton, Hummel) (demo)
07 Blue Moon (Chilton) (demo)
08 I Got Kinda Lost (Bell) (demo)
09 Thank You Friends (Chilton) (demo)
10 Femme Fatale (Lou Reed) (demo)
11 Lovely Day (Chilton) (previously unreleased)
12 Nightime (Chilton) (demo)
13 Back Of A Car (Chilton, Hummel) (demo)
14 Take Care (Chilton) (demo)
15 You Get What You Deserve (Chilton) (demo)
16 Motel Blues (Loudon Wainright III) (demo)

Phajja - Meeting In The Ladies Room (1999)

Phajja were an all-female contemporary R&B trio that released one album on Warner Bros. Records, as well as several moderately successful singles. The band comprised sisters Kena and Nakia Epps, who hailed from Chicago, and Karen Johnson, of Boston. They began singing together in 1987 under the name of Not Your Average Girls, with the original group consisting of five members, and they traveled and performed original music for several years before landing their first record deal with Capitol Records in 1991, although they never released an album for that label. In 1993 the group disbanded and Kena, Karen, and Nakia carried on, changed their name to Phajja and left Capitol Records for Arista. That didn't last long, and in 1995 they signed with Warner Brothers Records, and it was this label that finally released their debut album 'Seize The Moment'. Two singles were lifted from the record, 'What Are You Waiting For' and 'So Long (Well, Well, Well)', and they also achieved some airplay for their cover of the Christopher Cross song 'Sailing'. They appeared on Soul Train in May 1997, and after a brief break they returned in 1999 with a new single 'Checkin' For Me', which was produced by Mario Winans and written by themselves and Shari "Truth Hurts" Watson. This was meant to be a taster for their second album 'Meeting In The Ladies' Room', but before it could be released it was cancelled by Warners and consigned to the vaults. As I've said so often before, there is generally nothing wrong with these cancelled albums, and I'm sure the decision was entirely financial, so it's worth giving this one a listen as it's a fine r'n'b album of the period, and didn't deserve to be canned. 

Track listing 

01 Say It Ain't So  
02 Checkin' For Me  
03 Better Days  
04 Don't Come Back 
05 Shade  
06 Slept  
07 Don't Want To Be A Hater 
08 What's Goin' On  
09 Anything You Wanna Do  
10 Why  
11 It Must Be Love  
12 My One & Only  

Lynne Randell - The Right To Cry (1969)

Lynne Randall (she later changed the spelling) was born on 14 December 1949 in Liverpool, and her family migrated to Australia when she was five, settling in the Melbourne suburb of Murrumbeena. In her teens she attended Mordialloc High School, and was discovered  whilst working as a 14-year-old apprentice hairdresser for Lilian and Antonio Frank, when the manager of Australian mod group The Flies organised a publicity shoot for TV and press to display his band having their long hair done at a women's hair salon. During the shoot, The Flies lead singer Ronnie Burns sang with his guitar, and Frank suggested her young apprentice should sing along. Spry was so impressed by her voice he offered her a job at his discothèque, Pinocchios, and at her 15th birthday on 14 December 1964, thrown by her manager Carol West and which was attended by local radio DJs including Stan Rofe, she sang 'House Of The Rising Sun' and John Lee Hooker's 'Boom Boom', later cutting a demo in a dining room, which Rofe played on his radio show. Randell left school and was signed to EMI in 1965, and her first single was a cover of Lulu's 'I'll Come Running Over', which was released in February on the HMV label and became a No. 11 hit in Melbourne. She appeared on television on 'Bandstand', 'Saturday Date' and 'Sing Sing Sing' to promote the record, and it was quickly followed by 'A Love Like You', which hit No. 27 in Melbourne, and then in July by a cover of the Marvelettes' 'Forever'. She had regular appearances on TV's 'The Go!! Show' alongside contemporaries The Easybeats and Olivia Newton-John, as well appearing on 'Kommotion' with fellow pop artists including Burns, who was now a solo artist. Randell signed a new contract with CBS Records to release two further singles, with 'Heart' and 'Goin' Out Of My Head' both becoming Top 20 hits in Melbourne. 

Her trendy clothes and hairstyle, good looks and innocent image, backed up by a string of solid pop hits, earned her the title of Australia's 'Little Miss Mod', and she became the most popular female performer in the mid-1960's. On the back of her Australian success, Randell went to the United Kingdom and performed at Liverpool's Cavern Club, and by 1967 she was in the United States, where she toured with The Monkees as part of a bill which also featured Jimi Hendrix and Ike & Tina Turner. Her next single, 'Ciao Baby', was written by Larry Weiss and Scott English, and was recorded in New York and released on CBS Records in Australia, reaching No. 6 on Go-Set's Top 40 in June 1967, while Epic Records also released it in the US, making it her biggest hit. While touring the US, Randell became addicted to methamphetamine tablets which were sold legally as slimming pills, developing a long term addiction which later seriously affected her health. Her next single 'That's A Hoe Down'/'I Need You Boy' appeared in 1967 and she won another 'Most Popular Female Vocal' from Go-Set pop poll in October. She moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and released 'An Open Letter', but by then her health problems were getting worse, and her last single 'I Love My Dog' was released in 1969 on Capitol Records. She returned to Australia in 1980, working as a personal assistant to old friend Ian Meldrum, who was by then compère of 'Countdown', until 1986, and she then moved back to the US where she worked for Seymour Stein of Sire Records as his personal assistant in New York during the late 1980's. In the 1990's she moved back to Melbourne and made occasional appearances at oldies concerts, then in 2004 she went public about her methamphetamine addiction in an interview with Peter Wilmoth of The Age, admitting that her adrenal glands were atrophied to about 30% function, and she passed away at her home in June 2007. Her legacy is this great collection of recordings that she made while she was the toast of the Australian pop scene, and somewhat unusually for this type of album, listen out for some stunning guitar solos on 'Hold Me', 'Summertime', and 'Won't Be Long'   

Track listing

01 I'll Come Running Over ‎(single 1965)
02 Hold Me (b-side of 'I'll Come Running Over')
03 A Love Like You (single 1965)
04 Summertime ‎(b-side of 'A Love Like You')
05 Be Sure ‎(single 1965)
06 Forever (b-side of 'Be Sure')
07 I Got A Notion (unreleased test pressing 1965)
08 Heart ‎(single 1966)
09 That's What Love Is Made Of (b-side of 'Heart')
10 Going Out Of My Head ‎(single 1966)
11 Take The Bitter With The Sweet (b-side of 'Going Out Of My Head')
12 What'cha Gonna Do (from 'Lynne Randell Presents' EP 1966)
13 Won't Be Long (from 'Lynne Randell Presents' EP 1966)
14 Ciao Baby ‎(single 1967)
15 Stranger In My Arms (b-side of 'Ciao Baby')
16 That's A Hoe Down ‎(single 1967)
17 I Need You Boy (b-side of 'That's A Hoe Down')
18 The Right To Cry ‎(single 1968) 
19 An Open Letter (b-side of 'The Right To Cry')
20 Wasn't It You ‎(single 1968)
21 Grey Day ‎‎(b-side of 'Wasn't It You')
22 I Love My Dog (single 1969)
23 Mind Excursion (b-side of 'I Love My Dog')

Young Marble Giants - This Way (1980)

Young Marble Giants were a Welsh post-punk band from in Cardiff, Wales, who formed from the ashes of the band True Wheel in 1978. Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham, with Stuart writing the majority of the band's songs, and providing the scratchy guitar lines and Galenti electric organ, while Philip was in charge of the prominent basslines. Statton's vocals were an integral part of their sound, and when it was all put together they were a distinct contrast to the aggressive punk sound that was prevalent at the time. Very early in their existence, there was a fourth member of the band, Peter Joyce, who was a cousin of the Moxham brothers. Joyce was a telephone engineer and skilled at electronics, and had made his own synthesiser from a kit, sounding very much like Eno's synths in the early Roxy Music, and Kraftwerk, both of which employed similar 'low-tech/high-tech' electronics. Young Marble Giants used tape recordings of Joyce's home-made drum machine, since they did not wish to have a drummer at that time, and he piqued their interest in effects devices such as ring modulators and reverb units, with the emphasis always on simplicity. Their first vinyl release was on the compilation LP 'Is The War Over?' on Cardiff's Z Block Records label, contributing 'Ode To Booker T' and 'Searching For Mr. Right', and they were quickly signed to UK independent record label Rough Trade Records, releasing two EPs, 'Final Day' and 'Testcard'. Following the success of the EPs the band released their only album 'Colossal Youth', which soon became a touchstone for UK indie bands, showing that you could start a band which sounded like no-one else and still be a success. Their musical influences were wide and varied, including Eno, Kraftwerk, Neil Young, Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Can and others, and they have themselves had a lasting influence on many other groups and artists. It was revealed in the 2003 book 'Journals' that the group were, along with The Vaselines, Kurt Cobain's favourite band, and 'Final Day' has been covered by both Belle and Sebastian and Galaxie 500. After the band split up in 1980, Stuart Moxham formed The Gist, whose song 'Love at First Sight' became a hit in continental Europe when covered by French pop singer Étienne Daho. Alison Statton, Spike and Simon Emmerson formed Weekend (with Phil Moxham on bass), and released two albums and a few singles, and Philip Moxham later played bass for The Communards and Everything but the Girl. In early 2003, Statton and the Moxham brothers reunited for a BBC Radio Wales special, and performed one new song, 'Alright'. For this celebration of the band I've taken both of their Rough Trade EPs and added in some rare demos, plus their full 1980 Peel session, to show why they are so fondly remembered by fans of their unique minimalist music.  

Track listing

01 Final Day (from the 'Final Day' EP 1980)
02 Radio Silents (from the 'Final Day' EP 1980)
03 Cakewalking (from the 'Final Day' EP 1980)
04 Ode To Booker T. (from the 'Final Day' EP 1980)
05 Clicktalk (from the 'Testcard E.P.' 1981)
06 Zebra Trucks (from the 'Testcard E.P.' 1981)
07 Sporting Life (from the 'Testcard E.P.' 1981)
08 This Way (from the 'Testcard E.P.' 1981)
09 Posed By Models (from the 'Testcard E.P.' 1981)
10 The Clock (from the 'Testcard E.P.' 1981)
11 Have Your Toupee Ready (demo 1979)
12 The Man Shares His Meal With His Beast (demo 1979)
13 Hayman (demo 1979)
14 Loop The Loop (demo 1979)
15 Searching For Mr Right (John Peel session 1980)
16 Brand - New - Life (John Peel session 1980)
17 Final Day (John Peel session 1980)
18 N.I.T.A. (John Peel session 1980)
19 Posed By Models (John Peel session 1980)

Limp Bizkit - Stampede Of The Disco Elephants (2014)

'Stampede Of The Disco Elephants' was to be the sixth studio album by American rap rock band Limp Bizkit, produced by Ross Robinson. After the original line-up reunited in 2009, the band’s fifth album 'Gold Cobra' was released in 2011, after which they left Interscope and signed up with Cash Money Records in February 2012. The band started recording their first album for the label, and the first fruits of their labours was the official single for the album, 'Ready To Go', featuring Lil Wayne, which was released in March 2013 on limpbizkit.com as a free download. In November 2013 the band released a new single 'Thieves', which was a cover of a song by the industrial metal band Ministry, and this was followed in August 2014 by 'Endless Slaughter', which was released through their website for free download. After numerous delays, the new album was expected in early 2014, but the band left Cash Money Records in October 2014, stating that the label wanted them to go down a different creative route than they wanted, and so they had to part company. The album that they'd recorded for the label remains unreleased, although it was believed to have been available online at some sites for around 18 months, but it currently remains elusive. The band didn't make any more records until they issued 'Still Sucks' in 2021, but it included none of the tracks from their proposed sixth release, and so those six songs remain officially unreleased on an album.

Track listing

01 Lightz
02 Ready To Go
03 Thieves
04 Endless Slaughter
05 Don't Remember
06 Hybrid Worlds

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Tony Hazzard (1969)

Anthony Hazzard was born on 31 October 1943 in Liverpool, and is best known as a successful songwriter of the late 60's. He learned the guitar and ukulele when young, but didn't start his music career until he finished his education at Durham University, and with the encouragement of Tony Garnett of the BBC, he moved to London where he signed a contract with publisher Gerry Bron. Bron could see potential in Hazzard's songs, and wanted him as a solo artist, releasing his first single 'You'll Never Put Shackles On Me' in 1966. Although it didn't chart, another of his songs was submitted to Herman's Hermits, who had a Top 20 hit with 'You Won't Be Leaving' in 1966. Following a dry spell where he struggled to write anything that he considered worthy, he gave 'Ha! Ha! Said The Clown' to Manfred Mann, who took it to the upper reaches of the UK charts. In 1968 his psyche-tinged 'The Sound Of The Candyman's Trumpet' was recorded by Cliff Richard and entered into the 1968 'Songs For Europe' preamble for the Eurovision Song Contest, although it lost out to 'Congratulations' in the final vote. Simon Dupree and the Big Sound, The Casuals, The Family Dogg, and The Swinging Blue Jeans all turned to Hazzard's pop tunes in the late 1960's, and many of them scored hit singles with their recordings. In the midst of all this success as a writer, Hazzard released his first solo album 'Tony Hazzard Sings Tony Hazzard' in 1969, and despite the fact that every single track had been successfully released as a single by another artist, it was commercially unsuccessful, although his second album, 'Loudwater House', fared much better. It could have been the fact that he was a relatively unknown singer which caused that first album to flop, as it certainly wasn't the quality of the songs, and so to make it appeal to a wider audience I've replaced Hazzard's own versions of his songs with the hit single versions from a wide variety of 60's artists, and we end up with a great tribute album by some of the biggest names of the era, and a fitting celebration of Hazzard's songwriting. 

Track listing

01 Listen To Me (The Hollies)
02 Brown Eyed Girl (The Family Dogg)
03 Me, The Peaceful Heart (Lulu)
04 The Sound Of The Candyman's Trumpet (Cliff Richard)
05 Hello It's Me (The Casuals)
06 Fox On The Run (Manfred Mann)
07 Hello World (The Tremeloes)
08 Goodnight Sweet Josephine (The Yardbirds)
09 Ha! Ha! Said The Clown (Manfred Mann)
10 Hey Mrs. Housewife (The Swinging Bluejeans)
11 You Won't Be Leaving (Herman's Hermits)
12 Fade Away Maureen (Cherry Smash)

Steve Noonan - Songs (1967)

Steve Noonan was an early contemporary of Jackson Browne, and like Browne he recorded some publishing demos for Nina Records, so that when Nina decided to press up a double album of Browne's demos, they added ten of Noonan's songs on side 4 of the record. Noonan actually managed to beat Browne to the record racks with his 1968 self-titled album for Elektra, which included four Browne songs and one Noonan/Browne co-write, but unfortunately he never made another album, while Browne, although he had to wait until the 1970's to make his LP debut, became a big star. Noonan's sole album contained pleasant, arty folk-rock-pop tunes that were somewhat reminiscent of those by fellow Elektra artist and Southern Californian Tim Buckley, but not nearly as outstanding. One downside of the record was that Noonan's vocals were pretty thin and expressionless, making one wonder if he might have been better suited to remain a songwriter whose work was interpreted by others, which was a criticism aimed at Browne about his Nina demos. In the mid-'60s, Noonan had been hailed by the Los Angeles magazine Cheetah as one of the "Orange County Three," a trio of singer/songwriters from the area to watch out for. While Jackson Browne became a superstar, and Tim Buckley became one of the most esteemed cult rock singers of all time, Noonan is barely remembered at all. He did co-write a small hit single for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, 'Buy For Me The Rain', with Greg Copeland in 1967, prior to his solo recording debut. In fact Copeland figured strongly on the 'Steve Noonan' album, co-writing five of its songs, and he's also well-represented on these demos, co-writing eight of the ten tracks with Noonan, and one with Browne. Noonan's album must have sold few copies, judging by how hard it is to locate a copy today, and like several low-selling 1960's folk-rock albums on the Elektra label, it has escaped reissue in the CD age. These demos are almost as hard to track down, with only one very scratchy rip of the original vinyl available online, and after listening to the clicks and clunks I felt I had to do something, so I managed to find a de-clicking programme which has worked wonders on the songs, making them much easier to enjoy.   

Track listing

01 Street Singer (Noonan/Copeland)
02 Santana (Browne/Copeland)
03 High Journey (Noonan/Copeland)
04 Maid Of Cantontown (Noonan/Copeland)
05 The Tide Of Love (Noonan/Copeland)
06 Buy For Me The Rain (Noonan/Copeland)
07 Trusting Is A Harder Thing (Noonan/Browne)
08 Leaning Back And Laughing (Noonan/Copeland)
09 Back Alley Dream Street Song (Noonan/Copeland)
10 Another Kind Of Present Song (Noonan/Copeland)

If you want to hear just what the de-clicking programme can do, then compare this from Youtube to the version on here. 

The Chemistry Set - Don't Turn Away (2017)

As a follow-up to the recent post making The Chemistry Set's 1989 album 'Sounds Like Painting' available to a wider audience, here is a nice little collection of hard to find rarities, singles and b-sides from the band. It covers their whole career, from their first appearance on disc, with a free flexi-disc with Freakbeat Magazine in 1987, right through to their 2017 cover of the Moody Blues' classic 'Legend Of A Mind', which was spread over two sides of a 7" single, and released by the fantastic Fruits De Mer label. Along the way we get the Spanish top 20 hit single 'Don't Turn Way', along with the b-sides from the 12" version, their offering to the 1987 Syd Barrett compilation 'Beyond The Wildwood' (and see if you recognise the snippet of another song that they insert towards the end!), and the b-sides from the 12" and CD versions of their 'The Candle Burns' single. Following their break from the music biz, they returned in 2008 as a duo of Ashley Wood and Dave McLean, and began the most creative part of their career, releasing four albums and a number of singles, all of which included exclusive b-sides. They also went to their beloved Spain in 2011, where they co-wrote and recorded a song in Catalan with their Barcelona-based producer. 'La Logica Del Canvi' was released as the b-side to a Spanish single, and the record company sent a copy to the Catalan Ministry of Culture, receiving a reply from the minister congratulating them for being the first English band to sing in Catalan. The band love their covers as well, and most of the flips of recent singles have been their takes on classic psyche songs of the late 60's, so for the b-side of their 'Impossible Love' single they gave us a wigged-out version of the Rolling Stones 'We Love You', and on the flip of 2012's 'Time To Breathe' is a great take on Tomorrow's 'Hallucinations'. On their 'Elapsed Memories' EP we get an acid/folk take on the Hendrix classic 'Love Or Confusion', as well as a fine cover of Love's 'Live And Let Live', and we close with the afore-mentioned Moodies track. If you've been impressed by what you've heard here then do check out their albums, as they are all superb stuff.    

Track listing

01 Gibraltan Rock (from the free flexi-disc with Freakbeat magazine 1987)
02 Don't Turn Away (single 1991)
03 Pure Land (b-side of 'Don't Turn Away' 12" 1990)
04 I Don't Need You (b-side of 'Don't Turn Away' 12" 1990)
05 See Emily Play (from 'Beyond The Wildwood' tribute to Syd Barrett 1987)
06 Long Arm Of The Liar (b-side of 'The Candle Burns' 1991)
07 Improved Sensitivity (b-side of 'The Candle Burns' 1991)
08 La Lògica Del Canvi (b-side of 'She's Taking Me Down' 2009)
09 Impossible Love (single 2011)
10 We Luv You (Put That In Your Pipe And Smoke It Mix) (b-side of 'Impossible Love')
11 Hallucinations (b-side of 'Time To Breath' 2012)
12 Love Or Confusion (b-side of 'Elapsed Memories' 2014)
13 Live And Let Live (bonus track on 'Elapsed Memories' EP 2014)
14 Legend Of A Mind (single 2017)