Yandex update

We knew it was coming, but my subscription has finally run out with Yandex, as I can't get any money over to Russia to extend it due to the sanctions in place here. I'm now unable to upload any more files, but I have a back-up, as I have a Turbobit account which runs until April next year, so new files will be uploaded to that. Files can still be downloaded from Yandex until 27 January 2023, but after that all files will be locked. I could delete some of the older uploads to free up some space, and then if anyone wants them they can request in the comments and I can re-upload to Turbobit, so that's a possibility that I'll have to consider in the new year. Hopefully Turbobit will be user-friendly, but let me know it there are any problems with it. 

pj

Have A Blues Christmas 2022

Christmas is looming, so here are some fine bluesy Christmas songs to get you in the mood.

Track listing

01 Christmas Time, Part 1 (Jimmy McCracklin 1966)
02 Merry Christmas, Baby (Charles Brown 1950)
03 Blues For Christmas (John Lee Hooker 1961)
04 I Wanna Spend Christmas With You (Part 2) (Lowell Fulson 1967)
05 Love For Christmas (Felix Gross 1950)
06 Santa (Lightnin' Hopkins 1966)
07 Christmas Tears (Freddy KIng 1961)
08 Christmas Eve Baby (Johnny Moore's Blazers with Johnny Ervin 1955)
09 Christmas Blues (Ralph Willis 1971)
10 Christmas (Chuck Berry 1970)
11 Merry Christmas Darling (Hop Wilson 1961)
12 Hello Santa Claus (Cecil Grant 1950)
13 Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues (Sonny Boy Williamson 1951)
14 Empty Stocking Blues (Floyd Dixon with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers 1950) 
15 Happy New Year (Lightnin' Hopkins 1953)

Soulseek hint   blues 2022

Lynn Cornell - The Sweet Life (1963)

Lyn Cornell, sometimes billed as Lynn Cornell, was born in Liverpool, and as she worked for the Vernons Pools company in her hometown, she was recruited to become a member of The Vernons Girls, who appeared on the ITV show 'Oh Boy!' with the house band between 1958 and 1959, as well as making a series of relatively successful singles for Parlophone between 1958 and 1961. In April 1960 Cornell launched her solo career with the release of her first single 'Demon Lover' for Decca, and she is perhaps best known for her recording of the title theme for the film 'Never On Sunday', which reached No. 30 in the UK Singles Chart. At the end of a very productive year for her, she released a Christmas single, 'The Angel And The Stranger', and in the summer of the following year she performed at the North Pier Pavilion in Blackpool, on a bill including Matt Monro and Bert Weedon. In April 1962 she married the session musician Andy White, who had been drafted in by George Martin to drum on versions of The Beatles' 'Love Me Do' and 'P.S. I Love You', which temporarily relegated Ringo Starr to maracas. The same year, Decca released Cornell's version of 'African Waltz', which failed to make inroads compared to John Dankworth's instrumental chart hit, but the flip was an arrangement of the Jon Hendricks penned jazz standard 'Moanin'', which showed her expanding well beyond traditional pop music boundaries. This was followed by Jack Good's eccentric production work on her 1962 cover of The Blue Belles' US hit 'I Sold My Heart To The Junkman', but despite gaining airplay on the BBC Light Programme, it failed to match the chart appearance of 'Never On Sunday'. In 1963 Decca released her working of the folk standard 'Sally Go 'Round The Roses', but when that too failed to hit the charts she joined The Carefrees in 1964, who became best known for their song 'We Love You Beatles', being their first and only charting single, reaching No. 39 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and staying on the Billboard chart for five weeks. After a lengthy break from a solo career in the music industry, she joined up with former Vernons Girls member Ann Simmons, and with assistance from the record producer, Phil Swern, they formed the vocal duo The Pearls, going on to release 12 singles, the most successful of which was 'Guilty', which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1974. To see how she finally achieved the chart success that she deserved, here are all the singles that she recorded for Decca in the early 60's, showing her vocal versatility in attempting to have hits in a variety of different styles, including pop, rock, jazz and folk. 

Track listing

01 Demon Lover (single 1960)
02 Like Love (b-side of 'Demon Lover')
03 What A Feeling (b-side of 'Teaser' 1960)
04 Never On A Sunday (single 1960)
05 Swain Kelly (b-side of 'Never On A Sunday')
06 The Angel And The Stranger (single 1960)
07 Xmas Stocking (b-side of 'The Angel And The Stranger')
08 The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita) (single 1961) 
09 When Is Someday (b-side of 'The Sweet Life')
10 Adios My Love (single 1961)
11 African Waltz (single 1962)
12 Moanin' (b-side of 'African Waltz')
13 I Sold My Heart To The Junk Man (single 1962)
14 Step Up And Rescue Me (b-side of 'I Sold My Heart To The Junk Man')
15 Sally Go Round The Roses (single 1963)
16 You Can Kiss Me If You Like (b-side of 'Sally Go Round The Roses')
17 Kisses Can Lie (from the film 'Just For Fun' 1963)

Supergrass - Kiss Of Life (2008)

After three years out of the limelight, with just their appearance on the 'Mike Bassett: England Manager' soundtrack to keep their name in the public eye, Supergrass returned in 2002 with their fourth album 'Life On Other Planets', which was released in September. It was recorded at Heliocentric, Rockfield and Mayfair Studios and produced by Beck collaborator Tony Hoffer, and appeared on the Parlophone labrel in the UK and on the Island Def Jam imprint in the U.S. It was not as commercially successful as the band's first three albums, failing to make the Top Three in the UK albums chart, but the critical response to the album was generally very positive, and it has since gone gold in the UK. 'Life On Other Planets' was also notable as it was the first Supergrass album to recognise Gaz's brother Rob Coombes as an official member, even though he had been playing with the band on and off since 1983, and some of their records were often credited to 'Supergrass and Rob Coombes'. Once the album had been released the band took another extended three-year break, devoting their time to touring and personal engagements, and in 2004 the band's record company suggested that they release a singles compilation, and so 'Supergrass Is 10' appeared later that year, spawning two new self-produced tracks: 'Kiss Of Life' and 'Bullet'. Recording of their fifth studio album, 'Road To Rouen', began in France in a studio built by the band in Normandy and it represented a significant change in direction for them, being perceived as a more mature body of work. The album was preceded by the single 'St. Petersburg' in August 2005, and the album followed a week later. Opinion at the time was divided, but the album garnered the band many new fans, and cracked the Top 10 of the UK album chart. 

The second single 'Low C' featured a video by acclaimed 'Pumping On Your Stereo' video director Garth Jennings, and third single 'Fin', which was interpreted as a missive to the Coombes brothers' recently deceased mother, received much critical praise. The follow-up album, 'Diamond Hoo Ha', was recorded in Berlin and mixed in Los Angeles in 2007, and before its release the band did a summer tour. On 27 September 2007, bassist Mick Quinn sustained a broken heel bone and two spinal fractures in a sleepwalking accident, when he sleepwalked out of a first floor window of the villa he was staying at in the South of France. During his recuperation, Coombes and Goffey promoted first single 'Diamond Hoo Ha Man' as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men, with a run of small club shows in December and January. In 2008, Parlophone was taken over by venture capitalist group, Terra Firma, and Supergrass ended their contract with the label, with the final single from the album, 'Rebel In You', being released under licence from Parlophone on the band's own imprint Supergrass Records. This final post features exclusive b-sides to the singles lifted from 'Life On Other Planets', which appeared in 2002 and 2003, plus the new songs from the 2004 compilation album, and we end with a live outing from the DVD edition of their 'Low C' single, plus the flip of that final single on their own label from 2008. As mentioned in some of the comments, I hope that this short series highlights what an under-rated band Supergrass were, with most casual listeners only knowing them for the 'Alright' single, but they had so much more to offer than just that song. 

Track listing

01 Velvetine (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
02 Electric Cowboy (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
03 Tishing In Windows (Kicking Down Doors) (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
04 That Old Song (b-side of 'Grace' 2002)
05 The Loner (b-side of 'Seen The Light' 2003)
06 I Told The Truth (b-side of 'Seen The Light' 2003)
07 Everytime (b-side of 'Rush Hour Soul' 2003)
08 Kiss Of Life (single 2004)
09 We Dream Of This (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 2004)
10 Bullet (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 2004)
11 Lady Jane And John Coltrane (from 'Low C' DVD 2005)
12 Car Crash (b-side of 'Rebel In You' 2008)

Alanis Morissette - Alanis (1991)

Alanis Nadine Morissette was born on 1 June 1974 in Ottawa, Canada, 12 minutes after her twin brother Wade, who is also a musician, and they both have an older brother Chad. Her parents were teachers in a military school, and due to their work often had to move, so between the ages of three and six she lived with her parents in Lahr in Germany, moving back to Canada when she was six. She started to play the piano at a young age, by seven she was taking dance lessons, and she composed her first song at the age of 10. She recorded her first demo called 'Fate Stay With Me' at Marigold Studios in Toronto, and a second demo tape was recorded on cassette in August 1989 and sent to Geffen Records, but the tape has never been heard as it was stolen in a burglary of the label's headquarters in October 1989. In 1991 she released her eponymous debut album through MCA Records Canada, but it only appeared in that country. She co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe, and the dance-pop album went platinum, with its first single 'Too Hot' reaching the top 20 on the RPM singles chart. Subsequent singles 'Walk Away' and 'Feel Your Love' didn't fare as well, but still made the top 40, and her popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the 'Debbie Gibson of Canada'. In 1992 she released her second album 'Now Is The Time', which was more of a ballad-driven record, with thoughtful lyrics and a less glitzy production that her previous release. 

Once again, the record only appeared in Canada, but it did produce three top 40 singles in 'An Emotion Away', 'No Apologies', and '(Change Is) Never A Waste Of Time'. The industry considered it a commercial failure, however, since it sold only a little more than half the copies of her first album, and with her two-album deal with MCA Records Canada complete, Morissette was left without a major label contract. In 1993 her publisher Leeds Levy at MCA Music Publishing introduced her to manager Scott Welch, who suggested that she move to Toronto and start writing with other people, and so after graduating from high school she left Ottawa and moved. While in Toronto she met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, and he believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio, where they co-wrote and recorded her first internationally released album, 'Jagged Little Pill'. By the spring of 1995 she'd signed a deal with Maverick Records, who released 'Jagged Little Pill' internationally in 1995, expecting it to just sell enough to warrant a follow-up record, but the situation improved quickly when influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM began playing the first single 'You Oughta Know', and after that success, further singles 'All I Really Want', 'Hand In My Pocket', and particularly 'Ironic' helped propel the album to the top of the charts. For most people, and I was one of them, this was their introduction to the singer, who seemed to emerge fully-formed from nowhere with a Juno and Grammy Award winning album, but it was in fact her third release, and while it's certainly not a case of her 1991 debut paving the way for her international success four years later, fans might still be interested in hearing 'Alanis', as like me, they might not have known that it even existed. 

 
Track listing

01 Feel Your Love
02 Too Hot
03 Plastic
04 Walk Away
05 On My Own
06 Superman
07 Jealous
08 Human Touch
09 Oh Yeah!
10 Party Boy

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)