Donna Summer - I'm A Rainbow (1981)

After making her name as the biggest selling and most important female artist of the disco era in the 1970's, Donna Summer signed to Geffen Records in 1980 and released the new wave-influenced album 'The Wanderer'. The album was generally well-received by the critics, and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Album Chart, with the title track hitting number 3 on the US singles chart. Two follow-up singles, however, barely reached the Top 40, and both the album and its singles attained limited success on the UK charts. It was decided that the follow-up to 'The Wanderer' was to be a double album, as Summer had gained much success during the 1970's with this format, and although she had just recently given birth to her second child, work soon started on the project. Keyboardist Harold Faltermeyer recalled later that he noticed that Summer seemed to be going through some issues that they were unable to help her with, and this resulted in some scheduled recording sessions being cancelled. When label-owner Geffen stopped by the studio to check on progress, he was unhappy with what he heard, as there were only a few songs that were finished, and most were just in demo form. Geffen cancelled the project and insisted that Summer part company with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, who had produced and co-written with her on ten critically acclaimed album in the 70's, and she was instead paired up with producer Quincy Jones, to begin work on her 1982 self-titled album. 

Over the years songs from 'I'm A Rainbow' were released on other compilations, with 'Highway Runner' appearing on the soundtrack to the 1982 film 'Fast Times At Ridgemont High', and the following year 'Romeo' appeared on the 'Flashdance' soundtrack. While dance-oriented music was a theme throughout the album, this was combined with several different musical styles, making it one of Summer's more diverse albums. Styles explored included 80's Brit synthpop like The Human League and Duran Duran, pop/rock, and ballads, and it included a duet with Joe "Bean" Esposito, writing credits from Harold Faltermeyer, Keith Forsey, Sylvester Levay, and Summer's husband Bruce Sudano, as well as the usual Summer/Moroder/Bellotte team. Bootleg copies of the album circulated among fans for years before the full album was finally released by Mercury Records in 1996, but the original album artwork could not be located, although there are rumours that the concept was re-used for the 1982 'Donna Summer' album. The tracks heard on the released album are mostly demo's, since the project was shelved, and although critical reception for the album was largely positive, it was not a big seller, and even her fans were of the opinion that a double album was just too long. 25 years later it seemed that the fans were being listened to, as in 2021 Summer's estate released a re-edited version of the album, subtitled 'Recovered & Recoloured', with this new edition reduced to 10 tracks (15 on vinyl and streaming releases), but as usual they just couldn't stop themselves interfering with the music, and they had each song remixed by contemporary producers and remixers. Not only that but their song selection was questionable, omitting some of the better tracks and including a few of the more mediocre ones, including an ill-judged version of 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina'. Fans have their own ideas of what should have been included on a shortened album, and SoulAlive posted a track listing on the Prince.org fansite, which gained some positive comments, and so after re-editing my copy and finding it an improved listening experience, I've given it a new cover, and you can now listen to this running order and decide if you agree.

Track listing

01 I Believe (In You)
02 True Love Survives
03 People Talk
04 Back Where You Belong
05 Sweet Emotion
06 Walk On (Keep Movin')
07 Runner With The Pack
08 I'm A Rainbow
09 End Of The Week
10 To Turn To Stone

Supergrass - Believer (2001)

Following the success of their second album and the singles released from it, Supergrass took a short break before returning in May 1999 with the single 'Pumping On Your Stereo', and its memorable promo video, produced in conjunction with Jim Henson's Creature Shop, featuring the band with comical "muppet" bodies. The single generated welcome publicity following their time out of the limelight, as did a small sold-out tour scheduled around the release of the single, the final night of which was at Shepherd's Bush Empire as part of MTV's "Five Night Stand" festival. The band's third self-titled album soon followed, with a US release appearing later in the spring of 1999, and once more the album was recorded at Sawmills Studio with longtime associate John Cornfield producing. Although 'Supergrass' was well received critically and commercially, and has since gone platinum in the UK, it didn't attain the same level of success as its predecessors, with critics claiming that the album was somewhat hit and miss, and contained some of their lesser work surrounded by songs that are as great as anything that they had ever recorded. Despite this criticism their next single 'Moving' proved popular and reached the Top Ten in the UK, although third single 'Mary' could only scrape into the Top 40. There then followed a long hiatus where the band kept a low profile, finally emerging two years later to provide a track for inclusion on the soundtrack of the 2001 film 'Mike Bassett: England Manager'. Although it might not have seemed like it, 1999 was a very prolific year for Supergrass, as the b-sides of their singles plus out-takes from the 'Supergrass' album provide enough material for a second volume of non-album tracks, headed by the flips of one last single from 1997's 'In It For The Money'. 

Track listing

01 Nothing More's Gonna Get In My Way (b-side of 'Richard III' 1997)
02 20ft Halo (b-side of 'Richard III' 1997)
03 Out Of The Blue (studio out-take 1999)
04 You'll Never Walk Again (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
05 Sick (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
06 What A Shame (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
07 Lucky (No Fear) (b-side of 'Pumping On Your Stereo' 1999)
08 Blockades (studio out-take 1999)
09 Stinkfinger (studio out-take)
10 Believer (b-side of 'Moving' 1999)
11 Country Number (studio out-take 1999)
12 Oracle (from the soundtrack to the film 'Mike Bassett: England Manager' 2001) 

Charli XCX - Songs For Sale (2018)

Most fans of modern pop music are familiar with Icona Pop's massive hit 'I Love It' and, by association, the fact that the Charli XCX-penned track became a breakout hit for both artists. But alongside building a name for herself through her own tracks, Charli has built a huge career as a songwriter in her own right. She's lent her skills as a songwriter for hire on songs for Camila Cabello ('OMG'), Selena Gomez ('Same Old Love'), will.i.am ('Boys & Girls'), MØ ('Drum'), Danny Brown ('Float On') and 'father of disco' Giorgio Moroder ('Diamonds'), as well as being recruited to write for Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Ryn Weaver, Julia Michaels, and Sky Ferreira, and she's even penned songs for James Blunt and Blondie. On her career as a songwriter, Charli has been vocal about how it's both a creative outlet for her as well as a money-making exercise to fund her wider creative projects. "When it comes to songwriting for other people, I've become quite ruthless. I see it as a creative outlet whilst I'm creating it, but after the song has been made, I wanna make money. I want the biggest artists to cut these songs, and I want them to be No.1" she told Fader shamelessly in 2014, adding "When it comes to my own record, that shit doesn't happen, so that's where I think about what I believe to be artistic, what I believe to be beautiful". The oldest song on here is 'Gravity', written when she was 14, and in 2017 she submitted it to Blondie after they'd expressed an interest in working with her, with the band including it on their 'Pollinator' album. She's continued to write for other artists right up to penning 'Someone New' for Astrid S in 2018, and many of these artists have snapped up these songs and subsequently taken them to the top of the charts, so you can now hear her original demos for two dozen of her songs that she offered for sale. 

Track listing

01 Girls Like Us (demo for TWICE 2011)
02 Hate You (demo for Britney Spears 2013)
03 Hell Yeah Baby (demo for Gwen Stefani 2013)
04 Heart In My Pocket (demo for Britney Spears/Iggy Azalea 2013)
05 Baby Boy (demo for Liz 2014)
06 Hard 2 Love (demo for Gwen Stefani/Britney Spears 2014)
07 Good Things Come (So Wait) (demo for Gwen Stefani 2014)
08 Burnin' Up (demo for Liz 2014)
09 Reflecting (demo for Selena Gomez 2014)
10 NYC (No Way Out) (demo for Sky Ferreira 2014)
11 Hold On Tight (demo for Jacob Sartorius 2014)
12 OctaHate (demo for Ryn Weaver 2014)
13 Same Old Love (demo for Rihanna/Selena Gomez 2014)
14 So Alive (demo for Neon Jungle 2014) 
15 Swords (demo for Julia Michaels 2015)
16 Hurts Like Hell (demo for Madison Beer 2015)
17 Kingdom Come (demo for Rita Ora 2015)
18 Pop The Balloons (demo for Little Mix 2015)
19 Issues (demo for Julia Michaels 2016)
20 Tear & Tantrums (feat. RAYE) (demo for XYLØ 2016)
21 Gravity (demo for Blondie 2017, written in 2010)
22 The Middle (demo for Zedd 2017)
23 Someone New (demo for Astrid S 2018)

Third Eye Blind - Ursa Minor (2011)

The origins of Third Eye Blind can be traced back to the early 1990's, when Stephan Jenkins was writing music, but struggling to put and hold together a consistent musical lineup. Originally he was one half of the interracial rap duo Puck and Natty with musician Herman Anthony "Zen" Chunn, but because of legal issues from the musical group Tuck & Patti, the duo later changed their name to "Puck and Zen". They managed to attract some attention from record labels, and actually had one of their few recorded songs 'Just Wanna Be Your Friend' included on a soundtrack for the television drama 'Beverly Hills, 90210'. A record deal with Capitol Records fell through when Jenkins did not see eye to eye on the label's views on their musical direction, and the group broke up shortly afterwards. Jenkins' next move was to start up a rock band instead, recruiting and then losing numerous members, while writing and workshopping early material with musician Jason Slater. Demos were recorded in 1993 at a professional studio, including early songs such as 'Hold Me Down', which would be scrapped and shelved entirely, as well as future classics 'Semi-Charmed Life and 'Alright Caroline'.  Around this time Slater left the band, and guitarist Kevin Cadogan and bassist Arion Salazar joined, alongside a litany of drummers. The band seemed to make significant progress with the arrival of Cadogan, and the songs really started to develop when Cadogan's big guitar sound was added to Jenkin's more stripped down demos. The two became songwriting partners, with Jenkins writing the lyrics and Cadogan helping him brainstorm musical ideas, and they worked on a second set of demos. Following a disastrous "Battle of the Bands" contest, where Jenkins was sick and unable to perform well, and Cadogan blew out his guitar amp two songs into the show, the band were on the verge of breaking up, but instead they regrouped and recruited two new key people - drummer Brad Hargreaves, and manager Eric Gotland, a long-time personal friend and confidant of Jenkins. In April 1996 the band landed an opening gig for Oasis at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, and before long they found themselves in a bidding war among record labels, signing to Elektra Records in June 1996, in what was later reported as the largest publishing deal ever for an unsigned artist at the time. Recording for their debut album was fraught, with fall-outs between nearly all the members, but despite the issues 'Third Eye Blind' was finished and released in April 1997. Sales were propelled by the success of their first single, the long-worked-upon and finalized version of 'Semi-Charmed Life', and the album stayed on the charts for over a year, and it would eventually go on to be certified platinum six times by the RIAA, indicating over six million copies sold in the US. The band began work on a second album in January 1999, but the sessions were even more difficult that before, as Cadogan and Jenkins were already not getting along while touring in support of their self-titled album, with Jenkins wanting to fire Cadogan, but they agreed to put aside their differences and work together on further music. However, after the music was recorded, the animosity flared up again with Jenkins and Cadogan both fighting for more of their own written songs to make the final track list. one last track list was finally voted on by other members of the band, and 'Blue' appeared in November 1999, with four singles being released from it to promote the record. 

In January 2000, two months after the album came out, it was announced that Cadogan had been fired after playing a show at the Sundance Film Festival, with no reason being given for the termination. He was immediately replaced by Tony Fredianelli, who had briefly jammed with the band in 1993, and the new lineup toured heavily in support of the album. After four straight years of recording music and touring in support of it, the next couple years were quieter for the band, with the planned recording of an EP to follow the album delayed from late 2000 to early 2001. However, by 2001 Jenkins had fallen into a deep depression, isolating himself for almost a year, and turning his attention to writing material for a third studio album, amassing over 40 songs in this time. Progress on the album was slow, and when it was finished it was originally scheduled to be released in early 2002, but was delayed several times before it finally appeared in May 2003. 'Out Of The Vein' debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 12, although sales were actually down compared to those of 'Blue', and neither of the two singles released from it performed to the level of their previous ones. At this time Elektra Records was being absorbed into Atlantic Records, and because of the merger in 2004  Warner Music cut Third Eye Blind, along with over 80 other acts, from its roster. With no label to hassle them, Jenkins started writing a solo album of his own, while at the same time, Fredianelli, Salazar, and Hargreaves had also been working on music together, and upon hearing it, Jenkins scrapped his solo plan in favour of working on a fourth studio album with the band, beginning in early 2005, but progressing slowly as Jenkins suffered from writers block, and struggled to write lyrics for the songs that had been created for him by the rest of the band. In 2007, Jenkins announced that the fourth studio album had a tentative title of 'The Hideous Strength', and that there were around 35 songs written for it, with some of the lyrics being quite political in nature. As the process dragged on, internal strife would flare up again across 2008, with Jenkins beginning to lose interest in the band, culminating in him firing his long-time friend and band manager Eric Godtland, and then suing him for not paying him enough, with Godtland in turn counter-suing Jenkins, responding that the lower pay was due to lessened productivity by the band, which was Jenkins' fault. Despite the discourse, the band persevered and by late 2008 the material they had been working on for the last five years would finally begin to be released, starting with a teaser of sorts through the three song 'Red Star EP', followed by two album's worth of material that they'd written. Opting against a formal double album release, the plan was to release 'Ursa Major' with the material that was closest to completion, and then a second album 'Ursa Minor' later on. 

Plans continued to change though, and the 15 track 'Ursa Major', which was due to be released in June 2009, ending up as an 12 track record released in the August on the band's own label Mega Collider Records. Sales were encouraging for a self-released album, although not hitting the heights of their first three records, but following a tour supporting the album in 2009, Fredianelli was fired from the band, and was replaced by Irish musician Kryz Reid. Both Jenkins and Hargreaves would continue to mention an 'Ursa Minor' release, but the focus remained on touring, and the release would eventually be cancelled by Jenkins because of the involvement and subsequent departure of Fredianelli. Work on a fifth album commenced, with early reports showing plans for a 2011 release, but writer's block continued to hamper Jenkins ability to complete lyrics for songs, and the album's release continued to be delayed from 2013 to 2014, then to 2015. In May 2015 the band announced that their fifth studio album was finally completed, and on June 16, almost six years after their last one, 'Dopamine' was released. Over the next few years the band released two more studio albums, but 'Ursa Minor' remained lost, so it's good to find that tracks recorded for it between 2004 and 2011 have leaked online, and we can now hear approximation of what it might have sounded like. As two tracks from the album - 'Captains Of Emo' and 'Swimming' - have never leaked online, and two others were ragged live recordings, we're left with a fairly short disc, and so to boost it to full-album status I've added a couple of tracks from a stand-alone single that came out just before 'Ursa Major', and a brace of songs from another unreleased EP, which was recorded around the same time - in fact, 'Carnival Barker' appears on both 'Ursa Minor' and the 'Symphony Of Decay' EP, while a short instrumental version of it closed 'Ursa Major'. It's all housed in a companion sleeve to its sister album, so enjoy.   

Track listing

01 Now I Don't Know 
02 We Can't Say We / Stevie Ray Vaughn  
03 Carnival Barker    
04 Second Born  
05 Away (Twilight)
06 Standing Up For You  
07 There's No Hurry To Eternity

08 Red Star
09 Knife In The Water

10 Non-Dairy Creamer

11 Animal

Courtney Love - Nobody's Daughter (2006)

'Nobody's Daughter' was the fourth and final studio album by the American alternative rock band Hole, and was released on 23 April 2010 by Mercury Records, but it was initially conceived as a Courtney Love solo project to follow-up her 2004 debut solo album 'America's Sweetheart'. In September 2005, after violating a legal drug probation, Love was sentenced to a six-month program in the Beau Monde lock-down rehabilitation center, from which she was released after serving half the sentenced time, and she completed the other three months under house arrest. While she was in rehab, her friend and producer Linda Perry visited and supported her by encouraging her to write new songs, giving her a Martin acoustic guitar. Shortly after her release from rehab in November 2005, Love revealed the working titles of several of the tracks she'd composed, which included 'My Bedroom Walls', 'The Depths Of My Despair', 'Sad But True', and 'How Dirty Girls Get Clean', and she entered the studio with Perry and Billy Corgan to record a series of demos. In January 2006 Love began recording the album at the Village Studios in Los Angeles, with Perry producing and Corgan arranging, and further titles planned for the record would include 'Wildfire', 'Never Go Hungry Again', and an anti-cocaine track entitled 'Loser Dust', alongside another song 'Letter To God', which was an old Perry solo composition. Several guest musicians contributed to the recording sessions, including Anthony Rossomando of Dirty Pretty Things and Ben Gordon of The Dead 60s. On 29 April 2006 Love made a surprise appearance at a Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center benefit with Corgan and Perry, where she performed acoustic versions of the new songs 'Sunset Marquis' and 'Pacific Coast Highway'. In early 2007, Love announced she planned to mix the tentatively titled 'How Dirty Girls Get Clean' album in London with Danton Supple, best known for his work with Coldplay, but in May 2008, after several attempts at recording the album with Corgan and Perry failed to reach fruition, Love announced she was planning to scrap the record and begin reshaping it with guitarist Micko Larkin, who had joined her backing band. Later that year she hired Michael Beinhorn, with whom she had worked on Hole's 1998 album 'Celebrity Skin', to produce the record, and he put together a new backing band, consisting of guitarist Larkin, bassist Shawn Dailey, and drummer Stu Fisher. Recording sessions began in Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California in January 2009, and continued there for a number of months, and in June it was reported by the NME that Love intended to release the re-titled 'Nobody's Daughter' album as a Hole record, and the solo album was scrapped. Luckily the tapes survived, and eventually leaked online, giving fans a chance to hear what many of them have since lauded as some of her best ever work. 

Track listing

01 Pacific Coast Highway 
02 For Once In Your Life 
03 Letter To God
04 Stand Up Motherfucker 
05 Loser Dust 
06 Dirty Girls 
07 Never Go Hungry Again 
08 Nobody's Daughter
09 Happy Ending Story 
10 Car Crash 
11 Sunset Marquis 
12 Samantha

The cover photograph is by David LaChapelle and logo design by Jorden Haley.

Supergrass - Wait For The Sun (1997)

While attending Wheatley Park School just outside Oxford, 16 year-old Gaz Coombes and 18 year-old Danny Goffey were playing in the Jennifers along with Nick Goffey and Andy Davies. The band began building a reputation in the Oxford indie music scene, influenced by Ride, the Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets, the Kinks, and the Who, and also including traits of the shoegaze era, and they played gigs at various venues around Oxfordshire, often public houses and clubs. They sold a demo tape recorded and produced by Nick Langston at Stargoat Studios near Banbury, which included three songs, the fast-paced 'Flying', the funky 'Inside Of Me', and the guitar-based ballad '(Slow Song)'. The band enjoyed enough success to release the single 'Just Got Back Today' in 1992 on Nude Records, and this is now a highly sought after rarity. A second single 'Tightrope' was never released due to disagreements with Nude Records, although you can hear it on the compilation CD 'Days Spent Dreaming', and following this disappointment the band split up soon afterwards. Andy Davies went off to university and Nic Goffey went on to form a directing partnership with friend Dom Hawley, later directing many videos for Supergrass, while Coombes began working at the local Harvester, where he befriended co-worker Mick Quinn. The two realised they had common music interests and Coombes invited Quinn to come and jam with himself and Goffey. In February 1993 they formed Theodore Supergrass, but soon dropped the Theodore, as "it was a bit rubbish". Coombes brother Rob played flute for the band's début gig at the Co-Op Hall, Oxford in 1993, later moving to keyboards in January 1995 for a live Radio 1 John Peel session. Although his role in the band progressed over the years, he wasn't introduced as a band member until almost a decade later. 

In mid-1994 Supergrass issued their debut single 'Caught By The Fuzz' on the small independent local label Backbeat Records, with the song being a true story of Coombes's experience of being arrested by the police for possession of cannabis. The limited release of vinyl copies sold out quickly, thanks in part to support from John Peel on his Radio One show, and the Parlophone label soon signed the band so that they could re-release the single in the autumn of the same year. 'Mansize Rooster' followed in February 1995, peaking at number 20 in the UK Singles Chart, and third single 'Lenny' was the band's first top 10 single. The band's debut album 'I Should Coco' appeared in May 1995, entering the UK Albums Chart at number one, and achieving half a million sales in the UK and over a million worldwide. The album's fourth single, the double A-side release 'Alright'/'Time', stayed in the UK Top Three for a month, peaking at number two. Supergrass followed 'I Should Coco' with 18 months of heavy touring, appearing at festivals such as Scotland's T in the Park and the Glastonbury Festival. After performing at Rio's Hollywood Rock Festival in April 1996, Supergrass met the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, and he apparently said to them, "I was frightened for my life when I heard there was a supergrass in the area". A photograph of Biggs and Coombes together was subsequently included in the music video for their 1996 single 'Going Out', after which the band returned to Sawmills Studio to record their follow up album 'In It For The Money'. This was released in April 1997 and was a huge success, going platinum in the UK, but confusing some fans who were expecting something similar to 'I Should Coco'. Three more singles were released from the album, with 'Richard III', 'Sun Hits The Sky' and 'Late In The Day' all reaching the UK Top 20. This first in a short series collecting the band's non-album tracks includes the b-sides from their singles between 1995 and 1997, including the free 7" which came with vinyl copies of 'I Should Coco', plus the flip of a rare Japanese single.  

Track listing

01 Wait For The Sun (b-side of 'Lenny' 1995)
02 Sex! (b-side of 'Lenny' 1995)
03 Stonefree (from free 7" single with vinyl edition of 'I Should Coco' 1995)
04 Odd? (from free 7" single with vinyl edition of 'I Should Coco' 1995)
05 Condition (b-side of 'Alright' 1995)
06 Je Suis Votre Papa Sucre (b-side of 'Alright' 1995)
07 Where Have All The Good Times Gone (b-side of Japanese edition of 'Alright' 1995)
08 Melanie Davis (b-side of 'Going Out' 1996)
09 We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give) (b-side of 'Late In The Day' 1997)  
10 Don't Be Cruel (b-side of 'Late In The Day' 1997)
11 The Animal (b-side of 'Late In The Day' 1997)
12 Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others (b-side of 'Sun Hits The Sky' 1997)

Charli XCX - The Punk Album (2014)

2013 was the breakthrough year for Charli XCX, releasing 'You (Ha Ha Ha)' and announcing her debut album, followed by the 'What I Like' single in March. 'True Romance' was released in April 2013 and peaked at number 85 on the UK Albums Chart, at number five on the US Billboard Top Heatseekers, and at number 11 on the Australian Hitseekers Albums Chart. It was received well by music critics and the public alike, and in May she released 'Just Deserts' with Welsh band Marina And The Diamonds, followed by the video for 'Take My Hand' later that month. She began writing her second album in mid-2013, saying she initially wanted to go to India to record, and later deciding she wanted to record it in France, but in the end neither of these plans came to fruition. Frustrated with the music industry, she ended up going to Sweden, isolating herself from her record label, and made a punk-inspired album over a month. Working on the album with Patrik Berger, they made it at a fast pace, not over-thinking it and making everything really spontaneous. It was no surprise, however, that the record company were less than supportive of this new direction, and insisted on a more commercial collection of songs, so the punk album was scrapped and new songs were written with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, with 'Boom Clap' being the first result of this collaboration. It was the first single released from the soundtrack of the 2014 film 'The Fault In Our Stars', and also served as the lead single for what would become her second album 'Sucker'. The album gained universally positive reviews from the music press, and it was named the best pop album of the year by Rolling Stone magazine. However, despite the successful release of 'Sucker', fans still clamour to hear that legendary scrapped punk album, and so I've collected together all the known recordings that were made in Sweden, including a cover of 'Allergic To Love' by Swedish punk-rockers Snuffed By The Yakazu, and I've given it a suitably 'punk' cover for you to enjoy. 

Track listing 

01 Mow That Lawn
02 Can U Please Shut Up
03 One Two Bamboo
04 Light It Up
05 Japan
06 Problematic Song
07 Allergic To Love
08 Like This
09 Let's Make Love
10 What You Do To Me
11 Blow Me Away
12 Not In Love (feat. Noonie Bao)
13 I Wanna Be Like You

Linda Laurie - Stay With Me (1973)

Linda Gertz was born on 26 May 1941, and made her first record 'Sun Glasses' with her friend Susan Yellin when she was just 17 years old and still attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Bokklyn. It was released as by The Shades Featuring The Knott Sisters in 1958, with the b-side 'Undivided Attention' being simply credited to The Knott Sisters. Her ability to create trick voices caught the attention of indie label Glory Records, which rightfully saw in her the potential for a hit novelty record, and her next release was the one for which she is most famous, and which propelled her into the US charts in 1958. 'Ambrose (Part 5)' was personally shopped around by Glory Records to radio various stations, and it got a lot of airplay on the East Coast, particularly in the New York City and Philadelphia areas. To say this disc was strange would be an understatement, as it's a spoken-word piece with heavy Brooklyn accents, and features Linda Laurie (as she was by then known) as a girl walking through a dark subway tunnel with her boyfriend, Ambrose, who was an almost perverted-sounding older guy whose deep voice was also done by Laurie using primitive vocal effects. Although it was called 'Ambrose (Part Five)' there were never any earlier versions, making the title as weird as the actual record. The song's success helped to land her a spot on rock and roll package shows, including Alan Freed's stage shows at the Brooklyn Paramount, and Lee Gordon's 'Big Show' tours in Australia, as well as some television show appearances. She found the travel strenuous and eventually settled back in New York, and in the 60's she co-owned a boutique dress shop in Manhattan, while continuing to perform music on her own terms. She made several more teen and novelty records for various labels, such as her answer record to Dion's 'Runaround Sue', 'Stay-At-Home Sue', plus two follow-ups to her hit, with 'Forever Ambrose' and 'Return Of Ambrose', and although she never hit the charts again with her own material, her records have become very popular with collectors. She also recorded a number of regular pop songs which showed that she wasn't just a novelty act, and after relocating to the West Coast she started writing for other artists such as Bobby Vinton, Sonny And Cher, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, and Love Unlimited. Her biggest claim to fame came when a song she wrote and recorded herself was covered by Helen Reddy, and 'Leave Me Alone' (Ruby Red Dress)' became a No.3 chart hit in 1973. She also wrote the theme music for the Saturday morning show 'Land Of The Lost', which was later used in the 2009 movie version starring Will Farrell, and the disco song that she wrote for Love Unlimited in 1977, 'I Did It For Love', was sampled on several hip hop songs in the 1990's, including 'It's All About The Benjamins' by Puff Daddy, 'Money In The Bank' by Swizz Beats, 'Miss You' by Mariah Carey, and 'The Gang' by Shyne. She was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 68 on 20 November 2009 in Santa Barbara, California, but leaves behind some of the oddest music to come out of the late 50's and early 60's, alongside some great tracks that she wrote for other singers, including 'I'm Comin' Home Girl' for Bobby Vinton, 'Crystal Clear, Muddy Waters' and 'I Love What You Did With The Love I Gave You' for Sonny And Cher, and 'When You Find Out Where You're Going, Let Me Know' for Cher on her own. This album collects together most of her solo work, and shows a singer with a quirky sense of humour who could also deliver a belter of a pop song if she wanted to.    

Track listing

01 Sun Glasses (single by The Shades Featuring The Knott Sisters 1958)
02 Undivided Attention (b-side of 'Sun Glasses', as by The Knott Sisters)
03 Ambrose (Part Five) (single 1958)
04 Ooh, What A Lover! (b-side of 'Ambrose (Part Five)')
05 Forever Ambrose (single 1959)

06 Wherever He Goes, I Go (b-side of 'Forever Ambrose')
07 All Winter Long (single 1959)
08 Stay With Me (b-side of 'All Winter Long')
09 Prince Charming (single 1960)
10 Soupin' Up Your Motor (b-side of 'Prince Charming')
11 Stay-At-Home Sue (single 1961)
12 Lazy Love (b-side of 'Stay-At-Home Sue', by The Glen Stuart Orchestra)
13 Return Of Ambrose (single 1963)
14 Chicken Little (b-side of 'Return Of Ambrose')
15 Where Do You Go (single 1963) 
16 Lucky (b-side of 'Where Do You Go')

17 Chico (single 1964)
18 Jose He Say (b-side of 'Chico')
19 One Day (b-side of 'Baby Hold On To Me (I Can't Help Being Yours)' 1968)
20 Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress) (single 1973)

Lynsey de Paul - songwriter (1975)

Lyndsey Monckton Rubin was born on 11 June 1948, and attended South Hampstead High School followed by Hornsey College of Art, now part of Middlesex University, and she also studied classical music with a tutor from the Royal Academy of Music. She began writing songs at an early age, and two of her earliest efforts were co-written with Don Gould (formerly a member of 60's pop group The Applejacks) and recorded by Oliver! performer Jack Wild, with 'Takin' It Easy' and 'Bring Yourself Back To Me' being included on his 1971 album 'Everything's Coming Up Roses'. Another song co-penned by her was 'E.O.I.O.', this time with Edward Adamberry, and htis was also recorded by Wild as a track on his 1972 album 'A Beautiful World', and it was also released as a single by The Beads. After these initial successes, she was contracted to ATV-Kirshner music publishing by Eddie Levy, where she joined a group of professional songwriters that included Barry Blue (at that time known as Barry Green) and Ron Roker (later to become Barry's brother-in-law). One of their earliest songs (and the only song where all three collaborated) was 'Sugarloaf Hill', recorded by the reggae artist Del Davis as a single in 1972. Her first major breakthrough came early in that year as the co-writer (with Ron Roker) of the Fortunes' Top 10 UK hit 'Storm In A Teacup', and she performed the song herself the same year on the BBC's The Two Ronnies TV show, under her new name of Lynsey de Paul. Around this time she also had chart success in Malaysia and the Netherlands as the writer of 'On The Ride (You Do It Once, You Do It Twice)', which was a Top 30 hit by the Continental Uptight Band, as well as with her song 'When You've Gotta Go', which was an Australian chart hit recorded by Solomon King. All three songs still credited her as 'L. Rubin', which she would continue to use while writing until 1973. Other notable songs from this period included 'Papa Do', which was released by Barry Green as a single, as well as 'Crossword Puzzle', which was another co-write with Green, and which became a hit single for the Irish singer Dana. 

The b-side of 'Papa Do' was another Rubin/Green collaboration, and 'Boomerang' was released as a single in the UK by The Young Generation, a group of dancers and singers recruited by Dougie Squires, who had a number of hits in the 70's, while Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band also recorded their own version of the song. Although she had recorded demo versions of her songs, De Paul was initially a reluctant performer, and although she wrote the song 'Sugar Me' for Peter Noone, her boyfriend at the time, Dudley Moore, suggested that she take a demo version to Gordon Mills, who urged her to record it herself and release it on his MAM record label. Released as a single, 'Sugar Me' rapidly reached the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, as well as the top of the singles charts in the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium, and this was the start of her becoming a regular British chart and TV fixture over the next five years. She followed 'Sugar Me' with 'Getting A Drag', and her debut album appeared a few months later, leading to her being listed as the best female artist of 1972 by Record Mirror, female performer of the year by Radio Luxembourg, and third best female singer in the 1973 New Musical Express music poll. Her first album 'Surprise' was released in March 1973 on the MAM label, and as well as writing or co-writing all of the songs, she was also the producer for all of the tracks. Following the unsuccessful 'All Night', her next single was 'Won't Somebody Dance With Me', and the b-side 'So Good To You' was covered by Lenny Zakatek on the b-side of his single 'I Gotcha Now', which was also a de Paul co-write. Another song co-written by de Paul, 'Today Gluggo, Tomorrow The World', was the b-side of 'Don't You Let It Bring You Down' by the Spencer Davis Group, as well as appearing on their 1973 album 'Gluggo'. She recorded the spoken passage on Mott the Hoople's album track version of 'Roll Away The Stone', although the female trio Thunderthighs appeared on the hit single version of the song. 

In May 1974 she released 'Ooh I Do', which hit the charts in the UK, Belgium, Japan, Netherlands, and Brazil , and she also wrote her first TV theme tune 'Pilger Theme', for 'Pilger' where journalist John Pilger examined various political issues at the time in a series of 25 minute documentaries between 1974 and 1977. Another theme song, this time co-written with Barry Blue, was a song which was recorded and released in 1974 as a single by the UK group Rain, featuring Stephanie de Sykes as the vocalist, and 'Golden Day' was later used as the theme for the TV game show 'The Golden Shot'. A second Ivor Novello Award followed a year later for 'No Honestly', which was also the theme tune to the hit ITV comedy 'No, Honestly', and provided her with another UK Top 10 hit. The b-side to this single was her version of 'Central Park Arrest', which she'd written for Thunderthighs, and which had provided them with a Top 30 UK hit single a few months earlier. 'No Honestly' was the first release on the newly formed Jet Records, established by Don Arden, and she also wrote the second single that was released on the label, a song called 'My One And Only', which was recorded by UK female singing trio Bones. Her second album 'Taste Me... Don't Waste Me' was the first album release on Jet Records and was her favourite of all her albums, and is mine as well. De Paul continued to release singles through the mid-1970's, including the UK hit 'My Man And Me', along with 'Rhythm And Blue Jean Baby', 'Love Bomb' and 'If I Don't Get You The Next One Will', but this post concentrates on her writing for other artists in her formative years, and it shows how she progressed from those early efforts, including that surprise hit by the Fortunes, to the successful songs that she provided for other people in the 70's once she'd hooked up with Barry Green as her collaborator.  

Track listing

01 Takin' It Easy (Rubin/Gould) by Jack Wild 1971
02 Bring Yourself Back To Me (Rubin/Gould) by Jack Wild 1971
03 E.O.I.O. (Rubin/Adamberry) by Jack Wild 1972
04 Sugarloaf Hill (Rubin/Green/Roker) by Del Davis 1972
05 Storm In A Teacup (Rubin/Roker) by The Fortunes 1972
06 On The Ride (You Do It Once, You Do It Twice) (Rubin/Adamberry) by 

                                                                                              Continental Uptight Band 1972
07 When You've Gotta Go (Rubin/Roker) by Solomon King 1972
08 Papa Do (Rubin/Green) by Barry Green 1972
09 Crossword Puzzle (Rubin/Green) by Dana 1972
10 Boomerang (Rubin/Green) by Geno Washington And The Ram Jam Band 1972
11 I Gotcha Now (de Paul) by Lenny Zakatek 1973
12 So Good To You (de Paul) by Lenny Zakatek 1973
13 Today Gluggo, Tomorrow The World (de Paul/York) by The Spencer Davis Group 1973
14 Pilger Theme (de Paul) from the TV series 'Pilger' 1974
15 Golden Day (de Paul/Blue) by Rain featuring Stephanie De-Sykes 1974
16 Central Park Arrest (de Paul) by Thunderthighs 1974
17 My One And Only (de Paul) by Bones 1975

Charli XCX - Spoons (2012)

In addition to Ariel Rechtshaid, in 2012 Charli XCX also began working with Swedish producer Patrik Berger, and after he sent her two beats, she quickly wrote songs for each, with one of them becoming 'I Love It' and the other 'You're The One'. She didn't end up releasing 'I Love It' herself as she could not reconcile it with her sound, but later that year, Swedish duo Icona Pop re-recorded the song and released it as a single featuring her vocals. The song became an international hit, hitting number 1 in the UK and climbing to number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013. In June, she released 'You're The One' as a single from her EP of the same name, followed by her debut mixtape 'Heartbreaks And Earthquakes', a one-track file consisting of eight songs segued together and interspersed with film snippets, and including a cover of the Blood Orange song 'Champagne Coast' and Odd Future's remix of 'You're The One'. She followed that with a Halloween release of the single 'Cloud Aura' featuring Brooke Candy, followed by her second mixtape 'Super Ultra', which was released exclusively through her website in November. Despite 2012 being her most prolific year for official releases, there were a number of unreleased songs left over, enough in fact to have released a full-length album that year if she'd wanted to. 

Track listing 

01 Spoons
02 Heart Beats Hard
03 Dance 4 U
04 Losing My Cool
05 Rhinestone Hearts
06 Duke
07 Heatwave
08 Strobe Light
09 Diamonds
10 I'm Not Sorry
11 I'll Never Know
12 Valentine
13 Midnight

Prince featuring Margie Cox - Flash (1989)

Flash is an unreleased studio album by Flash / MC Flash (both names were considered for use), recorded between late 1987 and early 1989, and initially tentatively planned for release in 1990. The project began when Prince, during a day off from the Lovesexy Tour in November 1988, attended a concert by Dr. Mambo's Combo at Fine Line, Minneapolis, and after the gig he asked the group's singer, Margie Cox, if she would be interested in recording with him. They went to nearby Paisley Park Studios that night and recorded 'We Can Hang', with additional work being carried out on the track in late December 1988, when 'Warden In The Prison Of Love' and 'Curious Blue' were also recorded. 'Brand New Boy' was laid down soon after in early January 1989, while 'R U There?' was recorded in mid-January. 'Girls Will Be Girls' was also recorded at some point in January, with vocal overdubs added later that month, and there then followed a six month break before the reconvened in July to record 'Good Man', written by Levi Seacer Jr. and Rosie Gaines. 'Bed Of Roses' and 'Whistlin' Kenny' were recorded later that month, with 'Good Body Every Evening' being the final track recorded for the project, in late 1989. Nine of the album's ten tracks contained lead vocals by Margie Cox, with Billy Franze singing on 'Good Man', and Prince played the majority of instruments on each track, with some contributions by other musicians, including drums on some tracks played by Sheila E. Several record label representatives were brought to Paisley Park Studios in early 1990 to listen to the album, but none were very enthusiastic about the music, and no record deal was signed. Flash was the opening act for two Prince shows in Spring 1990, possibly to generate interest in the group, but he opted to use Mavis Staples as the opening act on the Nude Tour which followed soon after. The project was then put on hold, but Prince and Margie Cox did work together again in 1991, although this time it was on a Margie Cox solo project, rather than an album to be released by Flash. Most of these tracks remain unreleased, although 'Whistlin' Kenny' was included as the b-side of Margie Cox's single 'Standing At The Altar' in 1995. As with many of these unreleased albums turned down by cloth-eared record company executives, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I'm sure fans of Prince will find much to enjoy here.   

Track listing

01 R U There?
02 Brand New Boy
03 Warden In The Prison Of Love
04 Bed Of Roses
05 Good Man
06 Whistlin' Kenny
07 We Can Hang
08 Curious Blue
09 Girls Will Be Girls
10 Good Body Every Evening

Taylor Swift - Taylor's Songs (2003)

As mentioned in the last Taylor Swift post, after striking up a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose, the two girls began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school, and the fruits of these sessions were recorded as demos and burned to CD's to give out to talent agents. This was the point when Swift really started to blossom as a song-writer, as although her first song 'Lucky You' was written at the age of 12 with the help of Ronnie Cremer, she'd only completed about seven songs since then, but after teaming up with Rose they wrote over two dozen in 2003 alone. Two volumes of her acoustic demos were recorded in 2003, and while the first one is near impossible to find, songs from the second disc have surfaced over the years, and so it's possible to piece that one together, and I've used the title of the first demo as it sums up the content perfectly. It's housed in a cover featuring the 14-year old Swift, and despite the limited instrumentation on the songs, they shine out as a precursor of what was to come, especially when she got a band together and went into a studio just two years later for her next set of demos.    

Track listing 

 
01 My Turn To Be Me
02 I Used To Fly
03 Same Girl 
94 Never Fade
05 Point Of View
06 Honey Baby 
07 Spinning Around 
08 Sugar
09 This Here Guitar 
10 Live For The Little Things 
11 That's Life 
12 American Boy
13 Mandolin 
14 4 U
15 In the Pouring Rain
16 Tennessee 

Curve - Learning (1993)

Curve were an English alternative rock and electronic music duo from London, formed by Toni Halliday on vocals and occasional guitar, and Dean Garcia, who looked after the bass, guitar, drums, and programming. Garcia, half Hawaiian and half Irish, had already played in some small bands when he auditioned for Eurythmics, and he was introduced to Halliday by Dave Stewart after he had read a rock magazine interview with her in which she praised his pre-Eurythmics band, The Tourists. Garcia had played bass guitar as part of Eurythmics' live band in 1983/84, and also on two of their studio albums, while Halliday was signed to Stewart's Anxious Records label as a solo artist. The pair formed an ill-fated group named State Of Play in the mid-1980's before parting ways, with Halliday embarking on an unsuccessful solo career and Garcia took on further stints as a backing musician, before reuniting for a more long-term partnership in Curve. This new band released three acclaimed and increasingly successful EP's on Anxious Records throughout 1991, and also made an impact on the UK album charts in 1992 with their debut studio album 'Doppelgänger'. 

The group toured extensively during this period, with Halliday and Garcia being supported on stage by two additional guitarists (Debbie Smith, later of Echobelly, and Alex Mitchell) and a drummer (Steve Monti, formerly of Ian Dury and the Blockheads). The band were invited to record two sessions for the John Peel show, and these were later issued as the 'Radio Sessions' album in 1993, while their second album 'Cuckoo' from the same year was a harder-edged affair, but didn't repeat the UK Top 20 success of the band's debut. That, coupled with the stress of the tour in support of the record, may have contributed to Halliday and Garcia's decision to disband the group in 1994. During their hiatus, Halliday formed the band Scylla, having their track 'Helen's Face' featured on the 'Showgirls' soundtrack, while Garcia began a solo project under the name Headcase. Halliday also collaborated with The Future Sound Of London, Freaky Chakra, and Leftfield on tracks from their various albums. In 1996 Curve reformed and released the 'Pink Girl With the Blues' EP, and they also collaborated with Paul Van Dyk by reworking the mostly instrumental song 'Words' from his album 'Seven Ways' and adding Halliday's vocals. 

In 1997, they released 'Chinese Burn' as the first single from their third studio album 'Come Clean', and this displayed a more pronounced influence of electronic music than earlier releases. The follow-up to 'Come Clean' was an internet-only compilation titled 'Open Day At The Hate Fest' which was released in 2001, and this was followed by their fourth studio album 'Gift', featuring guitar from My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields. In 2002 the band released the internet-only fifth studio album 'The New Adventures Of Curve', plus various download-only tracks via their official site, but in in early 2005 Halliday announced that she had left Curve for good. None of the tracks from the first three EP's appeared on any of their albums, so the first disc of 'Learning Curve' (I love a good pun) collects all the tracks from those records, and although they have actually been officially compiled on the 'Pubic Fruit' album from 1992, it's the perfect introduction to the second disc of rare b-sides and compilation appearances from the first incarnation of this innovative and much-missed outfit. 

Track listing

Disc One - Learning The EPs
01 Ten Little Girls (from the 'Blindfold' EP 1991)
02 I Speak Your Every Word (from the 'Blindfold' EP 1991)
03 Blindfold (from the 'Blindfold' EP 1991)
04 No Escape From Heaven (from the 'Blindfold' EP 1991)
05 Coast Is Clear (from the 'Frozen' EP 1991)
06 The Colour Hurts (from the 'Frozen' EP 1991)
07 Frozen (from the 'Frozen' EP 1991)
08 Zoo (from the 'Frozen' EP 1991)
09 Clipped (from the 'Cherry' EP 1991)
10 Die Like A Dog (from the 'Cherry' EP 1991)
11 Galaxy (from the 'Cherry' EP 1991)
12 Cherry (from the 'Cherry' EP 1991)

Disc Two - Learning The Rest
01 Falling Free (b-side of 'Horror Head' 1992)
02 Mission From God (b-side of 'Horror Head' 1992)
03 Today Is Not The Day (b-side of 'Horror Head' 1992)
04 Arms Out (b-side of 'Fait Accompli' 1992)
05 Sigh (b-side of 'Fait Accompli' 1992)
06 I Feel Love (from the NME compilation album 'Ruby Trax' 1992)
07 On The Wheel (b-side of 'Missing Link' 1993)
08 What A Waste (with Ian Dury, from the 'Peace Together' charity album 1993)
09 Low And Behold (b-side of 'Superblaster' 1993)
10 Nothing Without Me (b-side of 'Superblaster' 1993)