Mega update

It looks like most people get on pretty well with Mega, so I've uploaded all the files from April this year to date, and just about used up the 20GB of free space. It does seem that despite Yandex saying that my files will remain active until 27th January, it's not letting people download them, so this should tide you over. I'll purchase some extra storage and carry on uploading to Mega, and the plan was that when I've stored 50GB with them, I'll then delete 43GB of files from Yandex and that will take me below my limit, and the archived files will become downloadable again. However, as the Yandex files cannot currently be downloaded then there's no point in putting that off so I've deleted the files and so the Archive is now available again on Yandex. There might be a few files missing, as the dates seemed a bit odd in December 2021, but let me know if it's not there and I can add it back in. I don't know how long that subscription lasts for, so I will eventually have to move them all to Mega, but that's going to take a very long time, so I hope it lasts until I've finished. 

Soulseekers can carry on as if nothing has happened. 

For now, it seems like we have a solution, so let me know how it all goes. 

For anyone new to the site, there is a downloadable file under the disclaimer on the right that says NO MUSIC IS STORED ON THIS SITE, and links to all the albums are in there.

The achive is back with it's own Yandex file. 

pj

The Rolling Stones - Gathered Up Moss Vol. 1 (1969)

As a special Christmas treat we have a guest post from fellow blogger Auran, who decided that she wanted to put together a series of albums which collected up every non-UK album track that The Rolling Stones released between 1963 and 2020, and this near-comprehensive compilation of every studio recording the band released outside of their core UK album catalogue is sourced from singles, US albums, bonus tracks on live albums and compilations, and some bootlegs. The band have had many, many compilations released over the years, but because of things like label issues, or the fact that they wanted to concentrate on just the hits, a comprehensive overview of their non-album songs has never been done, and The Rolling Stones are in a not dissimilar situation to The Beatles in regards to the sheer amount of non-album singles and alternate cuts they released throughout their career. However, unlike The Beatles, there isn't any compilation that compiles them all together, so Auran took it upon herself to aggregate something and come up with a title and cover for it, and what she came up with was a two volume series that she called 'Gathered Up Moss'. The first volume covers the 60's, and the second volume the 70s' onwards (which is much less voluminous than the 60's on the front of non-album cuts, but there's still enough to fill up two discs). For that one she did omit tracks from super deluxe editions of albums that have been coming out lately, but that's mostly due to personal preferences, and it still left plenty to be going on with. 
One thing to note is that tracks from the 1964 self-titled EP and the 'Five By Five' EP have not been included, as they stand just fine on their own, and are worth being a part of any hardcore Stones fan's collection as more than just part of a compilation like this. The files that Auran sent included a third volume of 60's tracks, which repeated those of the second volume but in stereo or with alternate takes. Unless you're listening intently on headphones I don't think the casual listener will notice much difference, and so to avoid duplication I'm just including the mono versions, as to be honest, the Stones in the 60's will always be mono to me. If anyone is interested in hearing the third volume then I can always post it later, after Vol. 2.
On a personal note, there are tracks on here that even I had never heard before, especially early b-sides, and so I think even the most avid Stones fan will appreciate the work that Auran has put into these collections. 

Track listing

Gathered Up Moss Vol. I: Disc I 1963 - 1965

01 Come On (single 1963)
02 I Want To Be Loved (b-side of 'Come On')
03 I Wanna Be Your Man (single 1963)
04 Stoned (b-side of 'I Wanna Be Your Man')
05 Fortune Teller (from Decca Records "Saturday Club" compilation)
06 Poison Ivy (from Decca Records "Saturday Club" compilation)
07 Not Fade Away (single 1964)
08 It's All Over Now (single 1964)
09 Good Times, Bad Times (b-side of 'It's All Over Now')
10 Time Is On My Side (US single 1964)
11 Congratulations (b-side of 'Time Is on My Side')
12 Little Red Rooster (single 1964)
13 Everybody Needs Somebody to Love (from US album 'The Rolling Stones, Now!' 1965)
14 Surprise, Surprise (from US album 'The Rolling Stones, Now!' 1965)
15 The Last Time (single 1965)
16 Play With Fire (b-side of 'The Last Time')
17 I've Been Loving You Too Long (from 'Got Live If You Want It!' with crowd overdubs 1966)

18 The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man (extended version from early copies 

                                                                               of the UK 'Out Of Our Heads' album 1965)
19 (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (single 1965)
20. The Spider And The Fly (b-side of '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction')
21 One More Try (from US album 'Out of Our Heads' 1965)
22 Get Off Of My Cloud (single 1965)
23 The Singer Not the Song (b-side of 'Get Off Of My Cloud')
24 Look What You've Done (from US album 'December's Children (and Everybody's)' 1965)
25 As Tears Go By (from US album 'December's Children (and Everybody's)' 1965)
26 Blue Turns To Grey (from US album "December's Children (and Everybody's)' 1965)

Gathered Up Moss Vol. I: Disc II 1966 - 1969
01 19th Nervous Breakdown (single 1966)
02 Sad Day (b-side of '19th Nervous Breakdown')
03 Con le Mie Lacrime (Italian version of 'As Tears Go By' 1966)
04 Paint It Black (single 1966)
05 Long, Long While (b-side of 'Paint It Black')
06 Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? (single 1966)
07 Who's Driving Your Plane? (b-side of 'Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby....')

08 Let's Spend The Night Together (single 1967)
09 Ruby Tuesday (b-side of 'Let's Spend The Night Together')
10 Out Of Time (from US compilation 'Flowers' 1967)
11 My Girl (from US compilation 'Flowers' 1967)
12 Ride On, Baby (from US compilation 'Flowers' 1967)
13 Sittin' On A Fence (from US compilation 'Flowers' 1967)
14 We Love You (single 1967)
15 Dandelion (b-side of 'We Love You')
16 Jumpin' Jack Flash (single 1968)
17 Child Of The Moon (b-side of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash')
18 Street Fighting Man (single 1968)
19 Honky Tonk Women (single 1969)
20 You Can't Always Get What You Want (b-side of 'Honky Tonk Women')

If you're a fan of the Canterbury scene of the 70's then check out Auran's blog The Soft Machine Rigmarole

Yandex update 2

So Turbobit doesn't seem to be very popular, but then I haven't used the free version for years so don't know how bad it is. I've had a look through the other file-hosting services, and despite the fact that they banned me from their site a few years ago, I think Mega is worth a shot. I use the free version a lot and never have any issues, so I've uploaded the last two dozen posts as a test so see how you all get on with it. I'll give it a week or so to see what comments I get, and if it seems to be working then I'll upload some more posts over the next few weeks, and I might even try to upload everything in time, as their annual subscription seems fairly reasonable. Yandex have told me that my files will stay available for another month, although people seem to be having issues downloading already, so not exactly sure what's happening there. Let me know what you think of Mega, and I hope they don't look too closely at the files and try to ban me again. 

pj

 

Dr. Dre & Ice Cube - Helter Skelter (1995)

After his acrimonious and very public departure from NWA, the possibility of Ice Cube ever re-entering the same circles as other members of 'The World’s Most Dangerous Group' felt like a pipe dream. Slighted by the "Benedict Arnold" moniker that they’d given him after he left the group, the release of his infamous 'No Vaseline' diss drove a wedge that seemed as though it could never be healed. However, Dr. Dre's decision to follow his former friend's lead and depart from Jerry Heller's Ruthless Records would help repair the rift between the two, and as he was now at the forefront of his own G-funk-tinged musical revolution at Suge Knight's Death Row Records, he then reached out to Ice Cube to make a hilarious cameo in the iconic video for The Chronic's 'Let Me Ride', and this led to speculation over the status of both Dre and Cube's personal and professional relationship. When Snoop Doggy Dogg's 'Doggystyle' album was released it seemed that a collaboration was on the cards, as when listeners flipped over to the back of the album they found a list of records 'soon to be released on Death Row', including one titled 'Dr Dre/Ice Cube "Helter Skelter"'. 

In 1994 Dre and Cube started to tease fans about their collaboration, even selling T-Shirts hyping the album up. One track did appear, with 'Natural Born KIllaz' featuring on the soundtrack to Snoop Dogg's short film 'Murder Was The Case', but the deadline of summer 1995 came and went without another hint of new music from the duo. On account of Dre's well-publicized perfectionism, this didn't necessarily dash hopes that the record would ever see the light of day, but this delay did open up the door for someone else to take over the concept. While he was with Death Row Records, the The D.O.C. would often ghost-write lyrics for Dr. Dre, but he always felt that his contributions were treated dismissively, and so when he left Death Row he decided to release his own album using the title 'Helter Skelter', and featuring a lot of the lyrics that he'd written for the Dre/Cube collaboration. Although his vocals had been irrevocably damaged in a car accident in the years since his landmark debut album 'No One Can Do It Better', he still decided to go ahead with the album, as for him it was never about bringing his own vision to life, but it was more important to take Dre's idea from under him, admitting to longtime collaborator Erotic D that he simply wanted to name the record before Dre could release his own version of it. 

This could have been the final straw for the Dre/Cube version, which has never seen the light of day, and is seldom, if ever, mentioned any more by either party. Some scattered fragments of it do remain out there, with 'My Life' first surfacing online in the early 2000's, and while Cube doesn't appear on the track in its present form, fans believe that it was earmarked for their joint effort. It's also been said that the instrumental used on 'Can't C Me' from Tupac's seminal 'All Eyez On Me' was initially allocated for 'Helter Skelter', while the sinister tones used in Scarface's 'Game Over', (featuring Dre, Cube, and Too $hort), were first laid down during the sessions for the shelved album. Ice Cube has his own theory of why 'Helter Skelter' stalled, and he lays the blame at the door of Eminem and 50 Cent, who he felt took up too much of Dre's time when they joined Interscope, and by the time those artists had become established on the label, they'd missed the boat on their collaboration. However, fans who really wanted to hear the album have gone to great lengths to piece it together, and one of the very best efforts is by Nas The Judge on Youtube, who has taken the tracks where we know they collaborated, plus some where they are both present, and remixed others, to produce perhaps the closest that we'll ever get to hearing the original 'Helter Skelter'. There's only one poor quality scan of the cover online, so I've done my best to improve it, and we can now all hear an album that we really do wish existed.    

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Die Mutha Fucka Die (Dr. Dre)
03 Chin Check (NWA)
04 Started This (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube)
05 Natural Born Killaz (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube)
06 Game Over (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube/Scarface)
07 My Life (Smoke Weed 4 Hours) (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube - NTJ remix)
08 California Love (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube - NTJ remix)
09 Can't C Me (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube feat. G Clinton - NTJ remix)
10 Better Recognize (Dr. Dre/Ice Cube - NTJ remix)

Five Thirty - Air Conditioned Nightmare (1991)

Tara Milton and Nick Baker formed Five Thirty whilst still at school near Oxford in 1983, and after recruiting drummer Steve Beatty they played their first official gig in May 1984. Baker decided to leave the band in March 1985, and 21 year-old American replacement Shawn Gwin (formerly of the bands East Cambodia and The Numbers in New Orleans) was spotted advertising his services in the then popular weekly Phoenix List. They quickly recorded demos of Gwin's songs 'Weight Of The World', 'Catcher In The Rye', 'Mood Suite' and 'Suburban Town' before Gwin left to return to New Orleans, and the band released their demos as a 12" vinyl single titled 'Catcher In The Rye' in 1985. Paul Bassett took over on guitar and vocals after Gwin left,and then the original drummer Steve Beatty was replaced by Keith McCubbin and finally Phil Hopper. This line-up (Milton/Bassett/Hopper) then signed to Atco/East West Records in 1990 and released four singles and their only album 'Bed' in 1991. The group disbanded in 1992, but left behind a considerable body of work which was released in 1990 and 1991, including a cover version of 'My Sweet Lord' for the anti-poll tax album 'Alvin Lives (in Leeds)'. I've always had a soft spot for their decision to go down the indie/psyche/rock route at the height of BritPop, and the fact that they recorded so much material which was given away as b-sides to their singles. I'll be the first to admit that the first four tracks are not really representative of the band's sound, and so even though they are not as well-known as some other bands of the period, do give them a try, and if you like what you hear then do get the 'Bed' album, as it's even better.  

Track listing

01 Weight Of The World (b-side of 'Catcher In The Rye' 12" single 1985)
02 Catcher In The Rye (12" single 1985)
03 Mood Suite (b-side of 'Catcher In The Rye' 12" single 1985)
04 Suburban Town (b-side of 'Catcher In The Rye' 12" single 1985)
05 Air Conditioned Nightmare (single 1990)
06 Judy Jones (b-side of 'Air Conditioned Nightmare' 12" single)
07 The Things That Turn You On (b-side of 'Air Conditioned Nightmare' 12" single)
08 Mistress Daydream (b-side of 'Air Conditioned Nightmare' 12" single)
09 Coming Up For Air (b-side of 'Abstain!' 12" single 1990)
10 My Sweet Lord (from the 'Alvin Lives (In Leeds)' anti-poll tax album 1990)
11 Hate Male (b-side of '13th Disciple' 12" single 1991)
12 Out To Get In (b-side of '13th Disciple' 12" single 1991)
13 Come Together (b-side of '13th Disciple' 12" single 1991)
14 Something's Got To Give (b-side of 'Supernova' 12" single 1991)
15 Still Life (b-side of 'Supernova' 12" single 1991)  
16 Cuddly Drug (b-side of 'You' EP 1991)
17 Slow Train Into The Ocean (b-side of 'You' EP 1991)     

Brandy - Honey (2006)

Returning from her foray into reality television, Brandy's fourth album 'Afrodisiac' was released in June 2004, amid the well-publicized termination of her short-lived business relationship with entertainment manager Benny Medina. She ended her contract with his Los Angeles-based Handprint Entertainment after less than a year of representation, following controversies surrounding Medina's handling of the lead single 'Talk About Our Love', and failed negotiations of a purported co-headlining tour with R&B singer Usher. Despite the negative publicity, 'Afrodisiac' became her most critically acclaimed album, with some reviews highlighting the more consistently mature and challenging effect of Timbaland on her music, and favourably comparing her to Janet Jackson. A moderate seller, the album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and 'Talk About Our Love' reached number six in the United Kingdom single chart, although subsequent singles failed to score as successfully. After eleven years with the company, Brandy asked for and received an unconditional release from Atlantic Records at the end of 2004, citing her wish "to move on" as the main reason for her decision. Completing her contract with the label, a compilation album titled 'The Best Of Brandy' was released in March 2005, and despite little promotion, it reached the top 30 in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, where the collection was appreciated by contemporary critics, who noted the creativity of her back catalogue. Recording sessions commenced for what would be the follow-up to 'Afrodisiac' while negotiations went on for a new recording contract under the auspices of her brother's Knockout Entertainment company. In 2006 she began appearing in a recurring role in the UPN sitcom 'One On One', and in June she was picked as one of the three judges on the first series of 'America's Got Talent', and so her singing career was once again put on hold. It was not until 2008 that she would sign to Epic Records and release the 'Human' album, meaning that the 2006 recordings remained unreleased, so here they are, along with the odd 'Afrodisiac' out-take, for an album that could have appeared in 2006 had her TV career not taken priority.     

Track listing

01 La La Land
02 Nodding Off
03 Honey
04 Ryde Or Die (feat. Posta Boy)
05 Follow Me
06 Maximum Risk
07 Fall Back (feat. DJ Whoo, Lloyd Banks & Fabolous)
08 Lately (What Have You Done For Me?) 
09 So Good
10 Sweet Nothing
11 Doesn't Really Matter

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)