Hilary Duff - This Heart (2014)

Hilary Erhard Duff was born 0n 28 September 1987 in Houston, Texas, and encouraged by their mother, both Hilary and her sister Haylie enrolled in acting, singing and ballet classes. The siblings earned roles in local theatre productions, and later participated in a touring BalletMet production of The Nutcracker in San Antonio. Increasingly interested in the pursuit of show business, the Duff sisters and their mother moved to California in 1993, while their father stayed in Houston to take care of his business. The sisters auditioned for several years, being cast in many television commercials, and during her initial acting years Hialry primarily played minor roles, with her first major role being Wendy in the 1998 film 'Casper Meets Wendy', based on the Harvey Comics characters. In March 2000 she appeared as a sick child in the CBS medical drama series 'Chicago Hope', and was next cast as one of the children in the pilot episode of the NBC comedy series 'Daddio', but was dropped from the cast prior to the airing of the show. A week after being dropped from 'Daddio,' Duff landed the title role in a newly developed Disney Channel series, 'Lizzie McGuire', quickly becoming labelled as a teen idol and household name, particularly within the show's pre-teen adolescent target demographic. She began making appearances on various soundtracks for the Disney channel, recording covers of the Brooke McClymont song 'I Can't Wait' for the soundtrack to 'Lizzie McGuire', and 'The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room' for DisneyMania. 

Upon expressing interest in a music career, production on Duff's debut Christmas themed album began, and 'Santa Claus Lane' was released in October 2002, peaking in the lower portion of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, and she later signed a recording contract with Andre Recke of Hollywood Records to release future recordings. Following the release of her Australian top twenty hit 'Why Not', she released her second studio album, 'Metamorphosis', in August 2003, receiving mixed reviews from contemporary music critics, but still topping the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. 'Metamorphosis' earned multiple awards and nominations following its release, including Best New Female Artist at the 2004 World Music Awards. Her self-titled third studio album was released in September of that year, with Duff being more involved in the production of this album than she had been in her previous record, and it featured prominent rock elements, and drew comparison to works from Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson. In 2007 she began working on material for her fourth studio album, co-writing thirteen of the album's fourteen songs, along with writers such as Kara DioGuardi, and 'Dignity' was released in 2007, featuring a more dance and electropop sound. The album was praised for its lyrical content and new musical direction, and was promoted with a television special 'Hilary Duff: This Is Now', chronicling her return to music. Despite positive critical reception, however, 'Dignity' failed to match the commercial success of her previous releases, and so she concentrated of acting for the next couple of years, appearing in 'War, Inc.' in 2008 and starring in 'According To Greta' and 'What Goes Up', both in 2009, before landing the role of Olivia Burke in the TV show 'Gossip Girl' in 2010. 

Following this appearance, she guested in an episode of the NBC sitcom 'Community', and then co-starred as Raven Halfacre in the drama 'Bloodworth'. By 2012 she was ready to return to her music career, and throughout 2012 she worked with songwriter Ali Tamposi, and musicians Matt Squire and Jason Evigan, but nothing was ever released from these sessions. In July 2014 it was revealed that Duff had signed with RCA Records, and 'Chasing The Sun' was immediately released as her first single for the label, followed by 'All About You' a month later, which failed to enter the Hot 100 chart, but became a top-twenty hit in Australia. In April 2015 she released the single 'Sparks' from her fifth studio album 'Breathe In. Breathe Out.', which was issued in June 2015, but what became of the record which was supposed to follow the 'Chasing The Sun' and 'All About You' singles in 2014? 'This Heart' was the album that Duff wanted as her music comeback in 2014, but it was cancelled by RCA, possibly because of the direction that Duff wanted to go, having been inspired by the folkier-type music of Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers. She has said that "It's definitely a straightforward pop album but with a bit of that influence in there. When I came to the label I just kept saying 'I want it to feel a little earthy and authentic' because I'm from Texas, and they were like 'earthy? What does that mean?'. But that’s the best way I can describe it. It's definitely pop — I wanted to have those melodies that get stuck in your head — but also have some foot-stomping and claps that bring me back to my roots". The record company were not impressed and refused to release it, but it did leak online some years later, so we can now hear what her new direction would have sounded like in 2014 had she got her way, and produced that music that she really wanted to. 

Track listing

01 It All Starts Tonight
02 Neighborhood
03 All About You
04 Wild Night Out
05 Chasing The Sun
06 Feel Alive
07 Carry On
08 Wherever We Go
09 Outlaw
10 Hurts
11 If I Fall
12 This Heart
13 Better Days
14 Belong
15 Rebel Hearts

John Lennon - Ambrosia (Mike's Mix) (1980)

OK. you asked for it, and so here is the next in Mike's series.

Hey Kids, It’s Mike here, back with more of my coolest remixes of Beatles and reletated tracks culled from over 300 shows I produced for a now defunct internet station called Beatles-arama. This time it’s John Lennon’s 'Double Fantasy' and 'Milk And Honey' albums (plus bonuses of course!). The thing I always found most fun (and still do) in working with Beatles tracks, is using the most modern equipment out there to rip the commercially released tracks apart… and then finding out what is hiding in the cracks and crevices of the music. The stuff buried beneath. The stuff you never usually get a chance to hear. Until now! That’s what this collection is all about. Here's a brief track by track summary of what I’ve included in this remix of just the Lennon songs from each album. Enjoy!! Michael 

01 (Just Like) Starting Over (12' Promo): My remix of the 12” promo single that took the original 'Double Fantasy' album ending, and changed it to a much more fun and unusual one. You’ll hear the massive influence Elvis had on this fantastic tune. A much more acoustic based version here than the original and promo versions.

02 Cleanup Time: John having fun on this very rocking tune! Great guitar work is brought to the fore! 

03 I’m Losing You: Possibly my favorite mix on the whole album. I really reduced this one down and dig how simple it is but how BADASS it sounds. I love the unexpected quiet part in the middle! A great John song! 

04 Beautiful Boy: I upped the harmonies, lost some of the main vocals to give it an even mellower Caribbean feel than on the album…and made it acoustic. 

05 Watching The Wheels: I actually did this two ways, but picked the solo piano version for here for an intimate finished demo kinda feel. (the other was the Bass version…also very cool!) I love the jazzy ending! 

06 I Don't Wanna Face It: Rockin tune. I dropped most of the vocals to focus on the great backing on this one. Love that guitar! 

07 Woman: Ok… here’s a bass version, with extra harmonies from a later remix added back in. 

08 Dear Yoko: Just a fun tune here for the folks back home. I bumped up all the buried harmonies, left the wonderful harmonica track and basically made it a much more acoustic deal. 

09 Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him: The original version was a solo Yoko track but I found a lovely dreamy mix with Lennon’s demo vocals buried in the background… so I brought those up and intertwined them with Yoko’s to continue the half awake, half not semi conscious theme. I dig this version a lot. 

10 I’m Stepping Out: Love the driving guitar and bass in this one. This was a fun one to mix…lots going one while still retaining an overall mellow feel. 

11 Nobody Told Me: Why are there Nazi’s in the bathroom just below the stairs? Most similar to the released version but I made this a bit more acoustic by leaving out most of the drums except for fills. 

12 Borrowed Time: Upped the guitars, bass and congo’s at times for that wonderful Caribbean feel again. 

13 Forgive Me My Little Flower Princess: Love the beat of this one… so tried to leave in parts to focus on this aspect of the song. Pretty guitar at the end. 

14 Grow Old With Me: I remember the first time I heard this… I’m not crying… you’re crying. This one took a lot of work and not only from me. My friend and fellow mixer extraordinaire Lord Reith did amazing things to the demo version of John’s song to bring it up to the beautiful sound quality you hear here. I isolated that and moved it onto right channel, the more piano focused channel, of the orchestral mix. This is the way it should be on the album… they just didn’t have the tech to pull it off back then. 

15 Help Me To Help Myself: Another interesting creation. John’s demo, recorded during the 'Double Fantasy' sessions, mixed with a backing by the Beatles tribute band Apple Jam, which features drummer Alan White (Yes, John Lennon, George Harrison). The original demo version was released on the 2000 re-release of 'Double Fantasy' as a bonus track. I took the vocals and removed the heavy reverb from the original…and reinserted them back in. Hope you enjoyed these!

Track listing

01 (Just Like) Starting Over

02 Cleanup Time

03 I’m Losing You

04 Beautiful Boy

05 Watching The Wheels

06 I Don't Wanna Face It

07 Woman

08 Dear Yoko

09 Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him

10 I’m Stepping Out

11 Nobody Told Me

12 Borrowed Time

13 Forgive Me My Little Flower Princess

14 Grow Old With Me

15 Help Me To Help Myself

Jennifer Lopez - Louboutins (2011)

Following the release of her least commercially successful album 'Brave' in 2007, which just missed the top ten of the US Billboard 200, Jennifer Lopez started work on her next album while pregnant with twins Emme and Max. In February 2009 a new song from those recording sessions titled 'Hooked On You' leaked online, followed shortly afterwards by the leak of another track called 'What Is Love', which songwriter Wynter Gordon was particularly annoyed about, but which Lopez passed off as her fans being impatient to hear her new music. In February 2010, Lopez left Sony Music Entertainment and Epic Records by mutual consent, with her departure from the label temporarily halting production on the album, but after signing a new contract with Island Def Jam Music Group, recording resumed, and Lopez entered the studio with Kuk Harrell to record brand new material for the record. In February 2011, Lopez told the BBC that the album was nearly complete, and that she had around twenty songs recorded from 2009–2011 which were being considered for the album, but she was finding it hard to edit the final track listing. The lead single from the album was 'Louboutins', which was produced and written by Christopher "Tricky  Stewart" and The-Dream for Brandy Norwood, but following Norwood's departure from Epic Records it was subsequently given to Lopez. It topped the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart but did not garner any airplay, and critics gave the song mixed reviews, calling the lyrical content "boring" and "dated", although some did appreciate that the song was "catchy" and had some club appeal to it, and in the end it was excluded from the final track listing of the album. The record was to be called 'Love?', as she felt that "it's an endlessly fascinating topic that all my albums have been about. It's still very confusing to me and so I explore that on this album, probably more than my other albums", with a release date set for March 2011. 

Just a few weeks after the first announcement, Rap-Up announced that the album had been pushed back to 19 April 2011, with no reason given for the new date, and then it was pushed back again to 03 May 2011, when it finally appeared. It received mixed reviews from critics, with Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine saying that "Love? isn't the all-out dance album it could—and should—have been.", while Hermione Hoby from The Observer commented that she felt that the  lyrics let the album down. 'Love?' debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 83,000 copies in its first week, and performed decently elsewhere, in particular in Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Over half of the 'Love?' album had already leaked in demo form from 2008-2009 before the release of the final album in 2011, and the only new tracks were the ones Lopez had recorded with producer RedOne, which were all placed on the album after the massive success of the lead single 'On The Floor'. The final track listing for the album contained 12 songs, with a further three added to the deluxe edition, but her original comment of there being 20 tracks from the sessions to choose from turned out to be an under-estimate, as a further fifteen songs have since surfaced - in fact there are enough unreleased songs to make up a sister album to 'Love?', including that lost single 'Louboutins', which also gives the album its title.   

Track listing

01 Hooked on You
02 Greatest Part of Me
03 Venus
04 Faint
05 On The Radio
06 Mouth 2 Mouth
07 Story Of My Life
08 What I Call Love
09 Stronger
10 What Is Love? (Part II)
11 One Step At A Time
12 Countdown
13 Whipping My Hair
14 Fresh Out The Oven (feat. Pitbull)
15 Louboutins

dalek i (love you) - Masks & Licenses (1990)

By the mid-1970's, David Balfe, Alan Gill and Keith Hartley, three residents of Thingwall on the Wirral Peninsula, had formed a band called Mr. McKenzie. In November 1976, as punk was emerging and influencing them, the group changed their name to Radio Blank, composed of Balfe (bass and keyboards), Gill (guitar and vocals) and Hartley (lead vocals and guitar), as well as Stephen Brick (drums). They played their own material and also some covers, such as 'You Really Got Me' and 'Peaches', and they performed regularly at Eric's Club in Liverpool. Balfe and Gill lost interest in punk during 1977, and dissolved the band in October to form a more experimental project, and by December 1977, Balfe and Gill, influenced by Kraftwerk, had formed Dalek I Love You with Dave Hughes on keyboards and Chris Teepee operating a rhythm unit and tapes. The name was a compromise, as Balfe wanted to call the band The Daleks, while Gill wanted to call the band Darling, I Love You, so they agreed on Dalek I Love You. In 1978, Balfe left the group to manage other bands, and eventually joined Big in Japan and later the Teardrop Explodes, and by August 1978 the band were joined by Martin Cooper (saxophone), Andy McCluskey (lead vocals and bass, who was previously in the Id) and Kenny Peers (drums), along with poets Gordon Hon (aka "The Worm") and Max the Actor. In September, McCluskey quit to rejoin former Id bandmate Paul Humphreys, to form Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, and by October only Gill and Hughes remained in the band. As a duo, they signed to Inevitable Records, but before long a demo of 'Freedom Fighters' attracted the interest of Phonogram Records, who then signed them before they'd had a chance to release anything on Inevitable. However, Phonogram decided to shorten the name of the band to Dalek i, and also wanted to change the chords of 'Freedom Fighters', but the band prevailed and eventually 'Freedom Fighters' was released as their first single on Phonogram subsidiary Vertigo in July 1979, backed with 'Two Chameleons'. 

It was followed by 'The World' in October 1979, and after a label change to Back Door Records, the almost self-titled 'Dalek I Love You (Destiny)' in May 1980. Dalek i's debut album, 'Compass kum'pas' was released on 24 May 1980 on Back Door to critical acclaim but poor sales, and by the time of the album's release, Dave Hughes had left to join OMD, leaving Gill as the only remaining member of the band. Shortly afterwards the project went on hiatus when Gill joined The Teardrop Explodes in July 1980, replacing Mick Finkler, and although his stay with the Teardrops was short-lived, while he was with them he did co-write their most successful single, 'Reward', as well as introducing frontman Julian Cope to LSD. By 1981, Gill had reformed Dalek I Love You, with himself as the sole member, although he recruited Hugh Jones and Chuca Russo on vocal harmonies, and Chris Hughes on drums for the recording of the single 'Heartbeat', which was released on 28 February 1981 by Back Door. By 1983, the band consisted of Gill and returning members Hartley, Hon and Peers, with backing vocalists Chuca Russo, Heather Balshaw and Amanda Hon, and this line-up released their eponymously titled album in November 1983 on the Korova label. After this, Gill continued making and recording music with local artists, and started his own cassette-only label, Bop a Dub, which released the cassette-only album 'Naive' in 1985, after which Dalek I Love You effectively disbanded. I've only recently come to this group, having somehow passed them by at the time, but I found that 'Compass kum'pas' has really stood the test of time, and stands up as a great little record, and that inspired me to investigate their back-catalogue, which has resulted in this collection of their non-album b-sides from their short career. In 1990 they contributed an otherwise unreleased song to an album celebrating the music of Liverpool, but as I can find out nothing about it this could be a Gill solo effort from the late 80's rather than a rare recording by the original band -  but it's still a nice little song to close the album.  

Track listing

01 Happy (b-side of 'Dalek I Love You (Destiny)' 1980)
02 This Is My Uniform (b-side of 'Dalek I Love You (Destiny)' 1980)
03 Astronauts (Have Landed On The Moon) (b-side of 'Heartbeat' 1981)
04 Masks & Licenses (b-side of 'Holiday In Disneyland' 1982)
05 Heaven Was Bought For Me (b-side of 'Holiday In Disneyland' 1982)
06 The Legend Of Wild Jim (from audio magazine SFX No. 15 1982) 
07 (I Am) Hot Person (Extended version) (b-side of 'Ambition' 1983)
08 Would You Still Love Me (b-side of 'Ambition' 1983)
09 12 Hours Of Blues (Dub) (out-take 1983)
10 These Walls We Build (b-side of 'Horrorscope' 1983)
11 Heap Big Pow Wow (b-side of 'Horrorscope' 1983)
12 Horrorscope (Instrumental) (b-side of 'Horrorscope' 1983)
13 The Angel And The Clown (b-side of 'Horrorscope' 1983)
14 Everything I Do (from the 'Liverpool...All Of This & Heaven Too' compilation album 1990)

Willa Ford - Sexysexobsessive (2004)

Amanda Lee Williford was born on 22 January 1981 in Ruskin, Florida, and is known by her stage name Willa Ford. She began singing with the Tampa Bay Children's Choir at age eight. moving on to the Tampa-based children's performing arts troupe when she was 11, and by the age of 18 she was performing under the stage name Mandah, and was signed to MCA Records. This didn't last long, and after she was dropped from MCA she signed to Atlantic Records, who placed one of Ford's songs, 'Lullaby', on the soundtrack of the 1998 film 'Pokémon: The First Movie'. Ford changed her stage name from Mandah to Willa Ford to avoid confusion with Mandy Moore, and in 2001 she was signed to a new label, Lava Atlantic Records, while on a mall tour for Nautica Kids. She wrote most of her own lyrics, and served as executive producer for most of her first album, with 'Willa Was Here' being released in July 2001. It included the single 'I Wanna Be Bad' which featured rapper Royce da 5'9", and the album reached 56 on the Billboard 200. A second single from the album, 'Did Ya' Understand That', failed to attract as much attention, which was blamed on it being released on September 11 2001, and being overlooked in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. Ford went on to guest-host MTV's TRL and Say What Karaoke, which led to a hosting contract with Viacom, fronting the MTV reality shows The Morning After and I Bet You Will. In 2003, she released the single 'A Toast To Men', which was the lead track from what was have been her second album 'Sexysexobsessive', after the title was changed from her original suggestion of 'Porn Poetry'. However, the album was cancelled following issues within the record company, even though 'A Toast To Men' had received positive reviews, with some critics praising its feminist message. The title track, 'Sexysexobsessive', was to be the second single, but after the album was cancelled it was only released through Ford's official website. Tracks from the album have leaked, and so as it's fairly easy to piece it together, here is Willa Ford's second album, which should have appeared in 2004. 

Track listing

01 Sexysexobsessive
02 F*ck The Men (A Toast To Men)
03 All The Right Moves
04 Who I Am
05 Not Such An Innocent Girl
06 Did Ya Understand That
07 Rock Tonight
08 Back Back Back
09 Nastified (feat. Park Ji Yoon)
10 All The Right Moves

George Harrison - Cloud Nine (Mike's Mix) (1987)

Time for another guest appearance from Mike Solof, with his own remix of a classic album.

It’s been a while since my last post…but I’m back with a vengeance! This time I got a hold of some combined multi-tracks from George’s brilliant comeback album from 1987 'Cloud Nine'. So using wonderful current technology with such funky names as Demucs V4, UVR and who could forget that fan favorite MDX KIM Vocs 2… I was able to reduce them down even more. So what started as something labelled backing tracks and lead vocals, became one track each of: vocals, backing vocals, bass, drums, synths, keyboards and saxophones. 

And then I went to work!

I wanted my remix of this album to accomplish a couple of things. I wanted to turn it into something leaning much more toward a rockin’ yet mellow acoustic set of songs. I wanted it to highlight George’s guitar playing and his incredible vocals and harmony vocals much more than on the original album. I also wanted it to be very different from the original album. And finally…I wanted it to be a beautiful listen…not heavy at all, just fun! I think I succeeded on all counts. PJ asked me what changes I made…but made that unfortunate request AFTER I 
was done remixing the whole thing…so I went back and re-listened to it again and I will now explain track by track the many differences between the released version and my remix:
01 Cloud Nine: I cut out a lot of tracks from this song. You’ll notice no drums and bass. I did that on most of my remixes. To me, it really clears out the sound and allows you to focus on so many details that were covering up. I reduced the sax’s to just a hint here and there and really tried to focus on George’s and Eric’s echoing guitars throughout. 
02 That’s What It Takes: I dug the vocal harmonies on this one so I really brought those to the fore. I removed all the drums again and left a muted bass line. And now you can really hear Clapton’s awesome guitar solo with crystal clarity. This was the only time in the entire album that I kinda added something that wasn’t originally there. During the fadeout I doubled up on the vocals because although George only did that one time, I loved it, so I copied this section and had him do it a couple of times at the very end. 
03 Fish On The Sand: I lowered the drums and bass a lot on this one but left them in because this one just sounded strange with them completely gone, and I left in and upped the driving guitars. I once again played up the backing and harmony vocals, and occasionally left out some of the main vocals so you could hear much better what was going on underneath. Ohh, and and I left in the descending synths that appear occasionally because they're fun. 
04 Just For Today: I left out a ton of things from this one and when I did, it just became this lovely harmony-laden track filled with George’s beautiful weeping guitars. Stunningly beautiful, and one of my favorite mixes on the album.
05 This Is Love: Drums are gone again which allows the focus to be totally on George’s vocals and Jeff Lynne’s soulful funky bass and synths.
06 When We Was Fab: I left in the strings and Gary Wright’s keyboards on this. No drums again. A mini Beatles reunion on this one with Ringo on backing vocals and George on sitar. Fun, Beatlesque vocals and feel throughout!
07 Devil’s Radio: Great Clapton guitar throughout on this along with some great vocals. And you guessed it… almost no drums and a very reduced bass presence on this one as well.
08 Someplace Else: A beautiful ballad showcasing Harrison’s stunning slide guitar work,

something he never got enough credit for. 
09 Wreck Of The Hesperus: Focused on Clapton’s guitar again. So good! Little bass and no drums… again.
10 Breathe Away. Removed a lot but not all…(see the break) of the foreign sounding atmospheric instruments which left mostly just the vocals, Strings and drums (yes, I left them in this time! LOL!) Some of George’s most beautifully dreamy lyrics of any album on this song: “as the morning light was painting whispers of a sigh… like an opalescent moon all alone in the sky of a foreign land.”
11 Got My Mind Set On You: The classic single…redone! No drums and very little sax completely changes the feel of the entire track. I made this a much more almost acoustic track. It still rocks…but in a very different way! The funky bass by Jeff Lynne is stellar!

12 Cheer Down: A bonus cut! My other favorite song written and (parts) recorded during the 'Cloud Nine' sessions… but left off the album. With no drums and reduced bass, this lets Harrison’s slide and lead guitars, and Lynne’s backing vocals, shine! 
Here’s the rest of the story from Wiki: The title of the song is attributed to Harrison's wife Olivia, who would tell her husband, "Okay, cheer down, big fellow" when he became too enthusiastic. Harrison first recorded a rhythm track for the song during the sessions for his 1987 album 'Cloud Nine' He subsequently finished the lyrics with assistance from Tom Petty. The following year, along with 'Run So Far' and 'That Kind of Woman', 'Cheer Down' was among the four compositions that Harrison offered to Eric Clapton for inclusion on the latter's album 'Journeyman'. Clapton instead decided to use it for the soundtrack to the film 'Lethal Weapon 2', which he had been commissioned to supply, but he persuaded Harrison to contribute his own recording for inclusion in the film. This one was also produced by Jeff Lynne..so it’s kind of a Wilbury track too! And it's all housed in an alternative cover featuring a more laid-back George, in keeping with the new feel of the album. 

Track listing 

01 Cloud Nine
02 That’s What It Takes
03 Fish On The Sand
04 Just For Today
05 This Is Love
06 When We Was Fab
07 Devil’s Radio
08 Someplace Else

09 Wreck Of The Hesperus
10 Breathe Away From Heaven
11 Got My Mind Set On You
12 Cheer Down

Mike has some more of his remixes all ready to go, so leave a comment and we can choose between 'Rubber Soul', 'All Things Must Pass', 'Ram', or 'Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey'.

Adele - Morning Becomes Eclectic (2008)

On 21 March 2008, when Adele was just a fledgling singer-songwriter, she appeared on the US radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic at the KCRW studios in Santa Monica, California, to promote her recently released debut album '19'. As well as talking to Nic Harcourt, she performed a lot of the songs from the album in a stripped-down format, with just piano or guitar backing, which allowed her vocals to shine through. On 17 November 2008 she was back, chatting again with Nic Harcourt and playing more songs from '19'. Three years later she was a household name, but agreed to return to KCRW studios on 25 February 2011 to talk about her sophomore effort '21' with Jason Bentley, and as well as playing songs from that record in the same way that she had the previous times, she returned to '19' for a couple of songs that she'd missed the first time. This meant that she had performed ten of the twelve tracks from that debut in an acoustic setting, and so when I tracked down a similar version of 'Best For Last' I though it would be good to hear what the whole album would sound like acoustically. The only track that she didn't perform that way was 'Tired', but she did add a couple of covers in those first two sets, and so I've replaced 'Tired' with her take on Etta James' 'Fool That I Am', and added Sam Cooke's 'That's It, I Quit, I'm Moving On' as a bonus at the end. I know that Paul over at Albums That Should Exist posted these tracks a few years ago, but he included all of the songs from all three sessions, plus the chat in between, whereas I just wanted to hear '19' in all it's stripped-down glory.  

Track listing

01 Daydreamer
02 Best For Last
03 Chasing Pavements
04 Cold Shoulder
05 Crazy For You
06 Melt My Heart To Stone
07 First Love
08 Right As Rain
09 Make You Feel My Love
10 My Same
11 Fool That I Am
12 Hometown Glory
13 That's It, I Quit, I'm Moving On

Iggy Azalea - Digital Distortion (2017)

Amethyst Amelia Kelly was born 7 June 1990, and is known professionally as Iggy Azalea. At the age of 16, she moved from Australia to the United States in order to pursue a career in music. When she first arrived in the United States in 2006, she stayed in Miami, Florida, and afterward lived briefly in Houston, Texas. She then settled for a few years in Atlanta, Georgia, working with a member of the rap collective Dungeon Family named Backbone, and during that period she met future collaborators FKi and Natalie Sims. On 27 September 2011, Azalea released her first full-length project, a mixtape titled 'Ignorant Art', including her songs 'Pussy' and 'My World', for which she released a video featuring a cameo appearance from character actor and former wrestler Tiny Lister, which earned her more attention due to its rising popularity online. In December 2011, Azalea revealed she would release her debut studio album, 'The New Classic', as soon as she signed a major record label deal, with Interscope Records being her preferred choice, but Interscope were not happy with her insistence that T.I. was to be an ongoing part of her deal, and so she opted not to sign with the major label and stay independently signed to Grand Hustle Records, and the release of her first album was postponed. An EP, 'Glory', was released on 30 July 2012, as a stop-gap before the album, and a second mixtape 'Trapgold', produced entirely by Diplo and FKi, emerged in October 2012. In January and February 2013, Azalea worked on tour while still working on her upcoming singles, and a proposed summer release of 'The New Classic'. On 13 February 2013, it was announced that she had signed a record deal with Mercury Records,  and he debut album was slated for an October 2013 release, but in an interview with Australia's Herald Sun she revealed that due to other commitments, such as supporting Beyoncé on her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, her record label would not allow her to release it until March 2014. In February 2014, it was announced that she would be releasing a new single titled 'Fancy', featuring English singer-songwriter Charli XCX, going on to become Azalea's most successful single to date, and her first to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100. After much delay and speculation, 'The New Classic' was finally released on 21 April 2014, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 chart, and in May 'Fancy' reached number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In January 2015 she announced that she had started to work on her second studio album, and in May she released a duet with Britney Spears titled 'Pretty Girls', although later that month she cancelled her up-coming The Great Escape Tour, as she wanted a new tour to be planned around her new album, which was to released in 2016. 

In June, when asked details on her new music, she explained she had scrapped six months of work to start from scratch, and in October she revealed the initial title of her second album was to be 'Digital Distortion'. It marked her reunion with D.R.U.G.S., the production team behind her 2011 breakthrough mixtape 'Ignorant Art', and it included collaborations with artists such as rappers YG, Jeremih, DJ/producer Zedd, Brazilian singer Anitta and others. The project's lead single 'Team' was released on 18 March 2016, along with a dance video, and after replacing Chris Isaak as a judge on eighth season of The X Factor Australia, she explained that she was delaying the release of her album to 2017, after ending the relationship with her fiancé Nick Young. In November 2017, Azalea stated that she was not allowed to release any music until January 2018, as she had signed with a new label, Island Records, and she also revealed that the title of her second album had changed to 'Surviving The Summer'. By June 2018 the album had become an EP, and it was released on 3 August 2018, debuting at number 144 on the Billboard 200. In November 2018 she left Island Records to form her own label 'New Classic Records', and in February 2019 she announced that she had completed work on her second studio album 'In My Defense', finally confirming that 'Digital Distortion' had been scrapped. Reasons for the cancellation of the record include the numerous delays since recording started in 2015, the three underwhelming singles in 'Team', 'Switch' and 'Mo Bounce', and the change in her record label from Def Jam to Island. Some of the intended songs were posted for free download, including 'Middle Man', '7Teen', 'Elephant' and 'Azillion', while the three singles were officially released, and other songs hinted at inclusion included 'Savior', 'Sexy' and 'Higher'. Many old tracks were incorrectly labelled as leaks from the album, such as 'Down South', 'Slo.' and 'Demons', while others like 'Miami' were thought to be lost but have since surfaced. For this reconstruction I've used the three singles, which we know were intended for the album, plus the best of the remaining leaked recordings, to piece together an approximation of what 'Digital Distortion' might have sounded like had it appeared as intended in 2017.  

Track listing

01 Team
02 Saviour
03 Sexy (feat. French Montana)
04 Elephant (feat. YG)
05 Mo Bounce
06 I'm Nasty

07 Azillion
08 Middle Man
09 Switch
10 Miami
11 Three Day Weekend
12 7Teen
13 Boom Boom

Adam And The Ants - Beat My Guest (1978)

In my previous post for Adam And The Ants' 'Madam Stan' album I mentioned that the band had recorded quite a few demos around 1977 and 1978, before they eventually signed to Do It Records and released their 'Dirk Wears White Sox' debut album. 'Madam Stan' included a number of these demos, but there were others that were omitted, and so this second album from the group pulls them all together. In 1977 the line-up of  Mark Ryan (guitar), Andy Warren (bass guitar), Paul Flannagan (drums) and Ant himself on vocals recorded 'Plastic Surgery' (along with seven other unreleased demos later dubbed the 'Jubilee Demos' by bootleggers), and after Ryan was replaced by Johnny Bivouac in October 1977 the band finally adopted the name of Adam And The Ants, under which they re-recorded 'Deutscher Girls', and overdubbed a guitar solo onto the above-mentioned version of 'Plastic Surgery' for inclusion on the 'Jubilee' film soundtrack album. After signing to Decca Records and releasing the 'Young Parisians' single, more line-up changes resulted in the band now consisting of  Adam Ant (vocals and guitar), Matthew Ashman (guitar), Andy Warren (bass guitar) and Dave Barbe (drums), and they recorded a total of 19 demo recordings at Decca's studio in West Hampstead. This post collects together the 'Jubilee Demos' which were not included on the 'Madam Stan' album, plus the rest of the Decca demos from 1978, for a nostalgic look back at the nascent punk scene of the late 70's. 

Track listing 

01 Plastic Surgery
02 Beat My Guest
03 Deutscher Girls
04 Dirk Wears White Socks
05 Fat Fun
06 Hampstead
07 It Doesn't Matter
08 Puerto Rican

09 Fall In
10 Juanito The Bandito
11 Never Trust A Man (With Egg On HIs Face)

12 Young Parisians
13 Lady/Catch A Falling Star/Lady (Outro)
14 Whip In My Valise

Miller Anderson - ...and on guitar (1994)

Miller Anderson was born on 12 April 1945 in Houston, Renfrewshire in Scotland, and started his career in the group The Royal Crests in Scotland around 1964, and after moving down to London in March 1965 they renamed themselves Karl Stuart And The Profiles. Under this name they released two singles in 1965, 'Love Of My Eyes'/'Not A Girl In A Million' and  and 'Haven't They Got Better Things'/'Touch Of Your Hand', before dropping the Karl Stuart part and becoming The Profiles. Two more singles followed in the same year, before Anderson left the band and joined The Voice. This time the group only managed one single, 'Train To Disaster'/'Truth', before he departed, although he was there long enough to play with Mick Ronson when they were both members at the same time. Anderson then formed a duo with Dave Dufort in the mid-60's, but with the addition of future Mott The Hoople leader Ian Hunter on bass and Dante Smith on keyboards they became The Scenery, and after Dofort left the band and was replaced by John Vernon Smith, yet another single emerged in 'To Make A Man Cry'/'Thread Of Time'. In March 1968 he joined the strangely-named At Last the 1958 Rock And Roll Show, bumping into Hunter again, and with Freddie Fingers Lee on keyboards and Pete Phillips on drums, they released one single, with the Jimmi Duncan-produced 'I Can't Drive'/'Working On The Railroad' appearing on the CBS label in 1968. 

In October 1968 the band changed their name to Charlie Woolfe, with the same line-up, and they were soon back in the studio to record another single, this time for NEMS in UK (also released by CBS in Holland), with 'Dance Dance Dance'/'Home', with the b-side being a Freddie Fingers Lee, Miller Anderson and Ian Hunter co-write. Soon afterwards, Anderson and Hunter decided to abandon Charlie Woolfe, so they resurrected The Scenery, and although this edition of the band did not record, they did back singer David McWilliams for a British tour. In November 1968 Anderson finally got the call that he'd been waiting for, with an offer to join the Keef Hartley Band as vocalist and lead guitarist, and he ended up composing most of their original material. They released the excellent 'Halfbreed' album, recorded in just three days, and which opened with 'Sacked', a recording of an answerphone message from John Mayall telling Hartley that he was out of The Bluesbreakers. On this album Miller only contributed vocals, with guitar courtesy of Spit James, but once James left the band, Anderson took over the guitar role completely, and this line-up played in Woodstock Festival on its second day, although unfortunately they don't appear on the movie or soundtrack. With the addition of Mick Weaver, the Keef Hartley Band released their second album, 'The Battle Of North West Six', with guitar by Spit James, who was still in the band when it was recorded, and with one track featuring Mick Taylor guesting on guitar. 

'Overdog' followed in 1971 , and the group converted into a big band, in order to record a live album in the legendary Marquee in London, called 'Little Big Band', and they toured with a line-up of up to 20 members. After the live recording, the band returned to their usual quintet, and after recording some tracks for BBC in March 1971, Anderson started to think of pursuing a solo career. leaving the band in 1971. His first solo album 'Bright City', was released on Dream later that year, and he assembled a band to play some concerts, although he didn't actually tour. Around January 1973 he  formed a new band with keyboardist Mick Weaver, with Hemlock having more of a folk feel than the blues that he was associated with. They released a self-titled album, 'Hemlock', which was originally conceived as Anderson's second solo album, with help from Pete Willsher on steel guitar and Chris Mercer on sax. They toured supporting Procol Harum in England in March 1973, followed by another tour supporting Savoy Brown and Uriah Heep. On that tour, the chemistry between Savoy Brown's Kim Simmonds and Anderson finished with the offer of them forming a band together, so with the addition of Hemlock's rhythm section the formed The Boogie Brothers, which eventually led to him joining Savoy Brown themselves in January 1974, giving a three-guitar line-up of Simmonds, Anderson, and ex-Chicken Shack leader Stan Webb. 

They released the 'Boogie Brothers' album in 1974, but with too many leaders in the band, they only stayed together until December. In 1975, Anderson teamed up with his old boss Keef Hartley, and formed the short-lived Dog Soldier. After releasing their self-titled album, 'Dog Soldier', Hartley and bassist Paul Bliss left the band, and although they carried on with replacements Jim Leverton and Eric Dillon, they soon parted ways after touring with Back Street Crawler. Around August 1976, Marc Bolan refreshed the line-up of T Rex completely, keeping only Dino Dines, who recruited his old mate Anderson to play on Bolan's next album 'Dandy In The Underworld', and after that he joined Donovan for a tour, but before he could re-join T Rex, Bolan was killed in a car accident in 1977. The following year Anderson put together another band with keyboardist Ronnie Leahy, and after adding Colin Allen on drums, and recruiting guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, The Dukes recorded their only album in 1979, and then toured with Wishbone Ash. They had a minor success with the single 'Hearts In Trouble', but soon after that, tragedy struck again and Jimmy McCulloch sadly died. They replaced him with Mick Grabham, but the band folder shortly afterwards. In 1982 Anderson was asked to join Stan Webb in his new band Stan Webb´s Speedway, but he was only in the group for a short while, and didn't record with them. 

His next gig evolved from a collaboration between Ian Hunter and Corky Laing, who was the drummer in Mountain, who wrote several songs together, and then Hunter called Anderson to come over and sing and play guitar on the recordings. After Leslie West was invited to contribute to the project, it was suddenly a full-blown Mountain reunion, and in 1982 they started recording an album, 'Go For Your life', but Anderson has been forced to switch to bass after West joined, and so when he realized his part was to be too small, he left the band, although he can be heard on 'Makin' It In Your Car' from the record. In 1988 he joined The Spencer Davis Group, alongside vocalist Chris Farlowe, bassist Colin Hodgkinson, Zoot Money on keyboards, Pete York on drums, and Davis himself on vocals and guitar. They released a live album, 'Extremely Live At Birmingham Town Hall' in 1988, with Anderson in great form on 'Feet's Too Big' and 'Stormy Monday'. In November and December 1988 the toured Germany under the name of Pete York's R&B Revue, and in 1991 they recorded a live album under their alternative name of Pete York & Superblues, released in 1994, and featuring renditions of the Billie Holliday classic 'Lover Man', Chris Farlowe's early hit 'Out Of Time', and Anderson's showcases on 'Dimples' and 'Resurrection Shuffle'. Anderson is still working, and in the spring of 2016, he returned to the studio, releasing his new album 'Through The Mill' in the July, and this collection of tracks from throughout his long and varied career will go some way to show how he got to that point.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Love Of My Eyes (single by Karl Stuart And The Profiles 1965)
02 Got To Find A Way (single by The Profile 1966)
03 The Train To Disaster (single by The Voice 1966)
04 Thread Of Time (b-side of 'To Make A Man Cry' by The Scenery 1967)
05 I Can't Drive (single by At Last The 1958 Rock And Roll Show 1968)
06 Dance Dance Dance (single by Charlie Woolfe 1968)
07 You Can Choose (from 'Overdog' by The Keef Hartley Band 1971)
08 The Actor (from 'Two Weeks Last Summer' by Dave Cousins 1972)
09 Ship To Nowhere (from 'Hemlock' by Hemlock 1973)
10 You Don't Love Me (from 'Boogie Brothers' by Savoy Brown 1974)

Disc Two
01 Broken Glass (from 'Broken Glass' by Broken Glass' 1975)
02 You Are My Spark (from 'Dog Soldier' by Dog Soldier 1975)
03 Jason B. Sad (from 'Dandy In The Underworld' by T. Rex 1977)
04 We Can Make It Together (from 'Heartbreak Hill' by The Strawbs 1978)
05 Time On Your Side (from 'The Dukes' by The Dukes 1979)
06 We Are One (from 'Neutronica' by Donovan 1980)
07 Makin' It In Your Car (from 'Go For Your Life' by Mountain 1985)
08 The Thrill Is Gone (from 'Extremely Live At Birmingham Town Hall' by The Spencer Davis Group 1988)
09 Dimples (from 'Superblues' by Pete York 1994)

Jessie And The Toy Boys - This Is How Rumors Start (2011)

Jessica Eden Malakouti was born on 30 March 1989 in Anaheim, California, and at age 16 she emancipated herself from her parents, graduated high school two years early, and moved to Hollywood to pursue her show business dreams. Soon after arriving in Hollywood, she started an all girl punk rock band called Shut Up Stella, which signed with Epic Records in 2006, and their songs started to appear in films such as MTV's 'Sweet 16 The Movie', which featured 'Watch Me Rain', while 'Welcome To My Party' appeared in the both 'Girl Positive' and 'Baby Mama' in 2008. Later that year the band were dropped by Epic, and the forthcoming album was cancelled, prompting Malakouti to go solo. In 2008 her songs 'Trash Me' and 'Outsider' appeared in episodes of MTV's 'The Hills', as well as being independently self-released as music videos and digital downloads, and in December she signed a publishing deal with EMI. The next two years were spent in London working on dance music with Fred Falke, as well as writing for UK production house Xenomania. The result of this time was a single called 'Standing Up For The Lonely', which was released on British dance label Ministry of Sound. In 2010 she formed Jessie And The Toy Boys, launching them with the  single 'Push It' in February 2011, which peaked at 7 on the Billboard dance chart, following this in June with the EP 'Show Me Your Tan Lines', and Malakouti made her network television debut on the Conan O’Brien Show. During this time, Jessie And The Toy Boys was one of the opening acts during Britney Spears' sixth concert tour, the Femme Fatale Tour, and they also released their next single 'Let's Get Naughty' in October. The band's debut album, 'This Is How Rumours Start', should have followed the single in October, but it was pushed back to summer 2012, and despite some of the songs appearing as videos on Youtube, the album itself has failed to materialise. In May 2013 Malakouti released a music video for what was originally a Toy Boys song called 'White Girl Wasted' under her own name, and this sparked rumours that she would no longer be releasing music under the name Jessie And The Toy Boys. In September 2013 she uploaded a picture via her Facebook page confirming that she had signed a new recording contract with Virgin Records, and that confirmed that the band was no more. As well as the songs posted on Youtube, others tracks have also leaked online, and track listings have even appeared, and so it is fairly easy to piece the album together to hear what it would have sounded like had it appeared as intended. 

Track listing 

01 This Is How Rumors Start 
02 Flashback 
03 Perfect Shade Of Red 
04 Marilyn 
05 Petty Theft 
06 Let's Get Naughty 
07 Boxers 
08 Push It (feat. Yelawolf) 
09 Money Makes The Girl Go Round 
10 Valentine
11 We Own The Night 
12 Key To The City 
13 Hitman 

14 Summer Boy
15 Can't Go Back To London 
16 Runaway 
17 Angels Get To Sing 

Blaque - Blaque Out! (2001)

Natina Reed and Shamari Fears both moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and met while in high school, with Reed forming Blaque while Fears formed another group called Intrigue, who won a recording contract with Elektra Records. Fears met up with Brandi Williams at a talent show while a member of Intrigue, but left the band shortly afterwards to join up with Reed in Blaque, and Williams joined the group a little later. Reed met Ronald Lopes while singing jingles to earn extra cash, and he introduced her to his sister Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC, who signed the group to her production company, Left Eye Productions. Outside the US the band are known as Blaque Ivory, and their self-titled debut album ('Blaque' in the US and 'Blaque Ivory' elsewhere) broke the top 30 of Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart on its release, reaching number 23, and was later certified platinum by RIAA. The album's lead single '808' was a success in the U.S. reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and earning Gold certification, but the follow-up single 'I Do' was not a success like previous records, only reaching number 73 on the R&B/Hip-Hop single chart. The last single from the album, 'Bring It All To Me', which featured JC Chasez, was a hit song that made the number 5 position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and topped the Rhythmic charts in late 1999 to early 2000 for six weeks. In 2000, the group starred as cheerleaders in the film 'Bring It On', and they recorded the Shelly Peiken and Guy Roche song 'As If' for the soundtrack that same year. While their self-titled debut album went platinum, a second album called 'Blaque Out', which was set for release in 2001, was shelved when the group was dropped from Columbia Records for unknown reasons, and the video for the first single 'Can't Get It Back' was never released. The album was soon leaked on the internet, and it turned out to be a really good R&B record, which certainly didn't deserve to be so unceremoniously dumped. After Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' death in a car crash in Honduras in 2002, Blaque signed with Elektra Records, and began work on their third album, while an alternate version of the shelved album 'Blaque Out!' was released to iTunes in May 2007, but was later taken down. 'Torch' was completed in 2003, but it too was shelved, although it did finally get an official release in 2019, serving as a belated tribute to Natina Reed, who was killed in a car accident in Atlanta in 2012.  

Track listing

01 Blaque Out
02 Know What's Up
03 Can't Get It Back
04 Thinkin' About It
05 Should I
06 Temperature
07 I Love My Group But ... (Interlude)
08 Bliss
09 I Wanna Be the One
10 Questions
11 Girls Like That
12 This Ain't Us
13 As If
14 Outro

Hunger - Strictly From Hunger (1969)

Hunger arrived in L.A. from Portland in late 1967 as the Outcasts, a teenage cover band, but within six months they'd signed with a connected manager, played all over Los Angeles, embraced psychedelia and signed up to record an album of original music for the label their manager founded for them: Public! Records. They showed tremendous promise – and their producers invested heavily into a band that was going to be the next marquee act at the Whiskey A Go-Go, bringing in members of Strawberry Alarm Clock, including future Lynyrd Skynyrd star Ed King, to produce an album. However, the band broke up before the record could be released, and so as the label had little interest in them any more, they butchered the tapes before releasing it on the Public! Records label. Most of the tracks had been recorded as lengthy guitar-led psychedelic rock, but many of them were cut down, often with hilariously fast fade-outs. Other tracks had the superb fuzz guitar parts unceremoniously buried in the mix, while the version of 'Trying To Make The Best', which in its unedited version was seven and a half minutes long, was split into two new songs, a heavily edited version of the original, losing two minutes from the recording, and then a second version, which was mostly the unedited version of the original but with the vocals removed, and tagged onto the end of side two. If the label were doing that to make up the playing time to 40 minutes then why didn't they just leave the longer takes of all the tracks? When I first heard this album some 40-odd years ago, it was on a cassette tape from a friend in Germany, and he sent me the original un-edited version of the album, which I didn't know existed, and so I just thought that it was a brilliant late-60's psyche album, and enjoyed it as such. When I later heard the story of this album, and listened to the Public! version of the record, I could see exactly why the band were so incensed at the butchery of their work, and I never listed to that version again. If you already know the band but not the back-story, then you are in for a treat, and if this is your first introduction to them, then prepare to be blown away by one of the best hard-psyche albums of the late 60's, now exactly as the group themselves wanted it to be heard.

Track listing

01 Colors 
02 Workshop 
03 Portland 69 
04 No Shame 
05 Trying To Make The Best 
06 Open Your Eyes 
07 The Truth 
08 Mind Machine 
09 She Let Him Continue