Teenage Fanclub - Primary Education (1995)

Teenage Fanclub emerged from the Glasgow C86 scene, emerging from the ashes of The Boy Hairdressers, a band featuring Raymond McGinley, Norman Blake and Francis Macdonald. Following a brief period in which Blake was a member of BMX Bandits, the three former bandmates reunited and joined up with Gerard Love to form Teenage Fanclub. Initially lauded for the sonically dense, guitar-driven anthems that heralded them as unexpected stars of the alternative rock era, the perception of the band transformed over time, eventually earning the group a reputation as pop craftsmen famous for a distinctive brand of classicist '60s- and '70s-style power pop and folk-rock. The group was fortunate to have three talented singer/songwriters in Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and Raymond McGinley, and the band was albe to mix sludgy guitar riffs and memorably hooky choruses that drew inspiration from iconic guitar rock bands like Big Star, Badfinger, and the Byrds.  Their first album 'A Catholic Education', released in 1990 on Paperhouse, is not really typical of their later sound, with the possible exception of 'Everything Flows', as it was mostly written by Blake and McGinley, and record included several songs originally intended for The Boy Hairdressers. After recording his drum parts, Macdonald left the band to resume his university studies, but some of them were later re-recorded with Macdonald's replacement, Brendan O'Hare, because they weren't satisfied with the results of the original recording sessions,[5] and because they wanted to involve O'Hare in the album. 

They followed the album with the EP 'God Knows It's True' before being signed by Creation Records, and their first album for the label, 'The King', was a semi-improvised collection recorded in a single day. It was originally intended to be a very limited release, but it was not that well-received, garnering some critical reviews for its self-confessed shambolic guitar thrashes and cover of Madonna's 'Like a Virgin'. The band really broke through with 1991's 'Bandwagonesque', which was also released in America on the Geffen label, and which hit number one on Billboard's Heatseekers chart, spawning three Top 20 modern rock hits with 'Star Sign', 'What You Do to Me', and 'The Concept'. 'Bandwagonesque' was more deliberately constructed, the hooks became stronger, the guitar riffs were brought under control, and the harmony vocals took shape, and it topped Spin magazine's 1991 end-of-year poll for best album,[7] beating Nirvana's 'Nevermind,' their Creation stablemates My Bloody Valentine's album 'Loveless', and R.E.M.'s 'Out Of Time'. 'Bandwagonesque' was always going to be a hard act to follow, and so it was no surprise that their next album 'Thirteen', received mixed reviews on release, as it had perhaps too much to live up to. 

Brendan O'Hare left the band during this period because of musical differences, and he was replaced by ex-Soup Dragons drummer Paul Quinn, and his first recordings with the group on their fifth album 'Grand Prix' helped it become both a critical and commercial success in the UK, breaking the top ten for the first time. In the U.S., however, they failed to regain the ground that 'Thirteen' had lost them, and it didn't fare anywhere near as well there as it had done in the UK. With three song-writers in the band it's no surprise that they were able to add new songs to the b-sides of all their singles, and even release the odd non-album EP as well. In the first of two posts, here are all those b-sides, as well as a few compilation appearances, from the first six years of their existence, and just how prolific they were is proved by the fact that the third disc is made up almost solely of b-sides from the two singles extracted from 'Grand Prix' in 1995. And if, like me, you are thinking of rushing over to Youtube to hear their version of 'Between Clarke And Hilldale' at the right speed, then be warned that what you are hearing is exactly as the band recorded it, and as the record company decided to release it, resulting in the most hated and derided piece of work in their entire career.   

Track listing

Disc I - 1990-1992
01 Primary Education (b-side of 'Everything Flows' 1990)
02 Speeder b-side of 'Everything Flows' 1990)
03 Don't Cry No Tears b-side of 'Everything Flows' 1990)
04 The Ballad Of John And Yoko (single 1990)
05 God Knows It's True (single 1990)
06 So Far Gone (b-side of 'God Knows It's True')
07 Weedbreak (b-side of 'God Knows It's True')
08 Ghetto Blaster (b-side of 'God Knows It's True')
09 Long Hair (b-side of 'The Concept' 1991)        
10 I Saw The Light (recorded 1991, from the 'Scotland On Sunday EP 2005)
11 Kylie's Got A Crush On Us (from the free cassette with Select magazine 1992)
12 Free Again (single for 'International Pop Underground - Vol XXVI' 1992)
13 Bad Seeds (b-side of 'Free Again')
14 Mr Tambourine Man (from 'Ruby Trax - The NME's Roaring Forty' album 1992)
15 B-Side (aka 'Maharishi Dug The Scene') (b-side of 'What You Do To Me' 1992)
16 Life's A Gas (b-side of 'What You Do To Me' 1992)
17 Filler (b-side of 'What You Do To Me' 1992)

Disc II - 1993-1994
01 Mine Exclusively (single by Big Star with Teenage Fanclub 1993)
02 Patti Girl (b-side of 'Mine Exclusively' by Teenage Fanclub with Big Star)
03 Belt (from 'Volume Seven' compilation CD 1993)
04 Don's Gone Columbia (b-side of 'Radio' 1993)
05 Weird Horses (b-side of 'Radio' 1993)
06 Chords Of Fame (b-side of 'Radio' 1993)
07 Four Strong Winds (b-side of 'Hang On' 1993)
08 Genius Envy (b-side of 'Norman 3' 1993)
09 Older Guys (b-side of 'Norman 3' 1993)
10 Golden Glades (b-side of 'Norman 3' 1993)
11 Goody Goody Gum Drops (from the 'Thirteen EP' 1993
12 It's Hard To Fall In Love (from the 'Thirteen EP' 1993
13 Between Clarke And Hilldale (from the 'We're All Normal And We Want Our Freedom'

                                                                                       Arthur Lee & Love tribute album 1994)
14 Mad Dog 20/20 (from 'DGC Rarities' album 1994) 

Disc III - 1995
01 Burned (b-side of 'Sparky's Dream' 1995)     
02 For You (b-side of 'Sparky's Dream' 1995)
03 Headstand (b-side of 'Sparky's Dream' 1995)
04 Try And Stop Me (b-side of 'Sparky's Dream' 1995)
05 That's All I Need To Know (b-side of 'Sparky's Dream' 1995)
06 Who Loves The Sun (b-side of 'Sparky's Dream' 1995)
07 My Life (b-side of 'Neil Jung' 1995)                     
08 Every Step Is A Way Through (b-side of 'Neil Jung' 1995)
09 The Shadows (b-side of 'Neil Jung' 1995)
10 Traffic Jam (b-side of 'Neil Jung' 1995)
11 Hi-Fi (b-side of 'Neil Jung' 1995)
12 I Heard You Looking (b-side of 'Neil Jung' 1995)
13 Total Weirdness (from the 'Jabberjaw' benefit album 1995)    

Thanks to Ken for the suggestion

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Elton John's 'Tumbleweed Connection' (2002)

As a result of the reasonable success of the 'Elton John' album, John recruited former Spencer Davis Group drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray, and flew to America for his first US concert at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on 25 August 1970. It was a such a success that the next day he received a telegram from Bill Graham, America’s most important promoter, offering him $5,000 to play at the Fillmore East in New York. Two months later, in October 1970, the concept album 'Tumbleweed Connection' was released, reaching number two in the UK and number five in the US. Co-writer Bernie Taupin has confirmed that despite people thinking that he was influenced in his lyrics by Americana and by seeing America first hand, the album had been written and recorded before they'd even been to the United States, and it was more influenced by The Band's album, 'Music From Big Pink', and Robbie Robertson's songs. Basic tracks for three of the album's titles, 'Come Down In Time', 'Country Comfort' and 'Burn Down The Mission', had been recorded at Trident during the sessions for the previous LP, 'Elton John', and Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson appeared for the first time together on this album as the rhythm section on 'Amoreena'. No singles were released from the record in the US, but 'Country Comfort'/'Love Song' (the latter a Lesley Duncan composition) was released as a single in Australia, New Zealand and Brazil. Once again, other artists clamoured to record these songs, and this time the big names included Al Kooper, Rod Stewart, Spooky Tooth and Sergio Mendes and Brasil '77, and new artists were still looking to 'Tumbleweed Connection' for inspiration in the 1980's and 2000's, with this album closing with a rousing version of 'Burn Down The Mission' by Toto from 2002. 

Track listing

01 Ballad Of A Well Known Gun (Kate Taylor 1971)
02 Come Down In Time (Al Kooper 1971)
03 Country Comfort (Rod Stewart 1970)
04 Son Of Your Father (Spooky Tooth 1969)
05 My Father's Gun (Miranda Lambert 2018)
06 Where To Now St. Peter (Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77 1976)
07 Amoreena (Panhandle 1972)
08 Talking Old Soldiers (Michael Callen 1988)
09 Burn Down The Mission (Toto 2002)

Girls Can't Catch - Unconditional (2010)

Girls Can't Catch were put together by their label, Polydor, who scouted for members to be in a new girl band. One founding member of the group, Phoebe Brown, was previously in a girl group called Hope, which rose to fame on The X Factor, making it into the live shows, but they were the seventh act to be eliminated. Jess Stickley was scouted from the Motorokr competition, in which she travelled to New York with a group of other finalists to record with huge names in the industry. The final member was Daizy Agnew of MTV's Urban Base, who was voted winner of the original Hugo Urban Rules in 2006, hosted by Trevor Nelson.  Agnew went on to write and release music with AudioFreaks and Dave Doyle, the musical directors behind the hit TV show 'The Big Reunion', and she wrote a top 5 dance hit 'Pennys Falling' with Silverland. In 2018, Agnew became a judge on the hit BBC one Saturday night entertainment show 'All Together Now', hosted by funny man Rob Beckett alongside Geri Halliwell and a panel of industry experts. The band's Soft Cell inspired debut single, 'Keep Your Head Up', was released in August 2009 and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 26, and they performed at the iTunes Festival, previewing their second single, 'Echo'. In November 2009, they were the opening act in the UK for the Jonas Brothers on the European leg of their sold-out world tour. The girls recorded their debut album in 2009 and 2010, and in March 2010, they headlined National Student Pride in Brighton, but before their album could be released it was reported in July 2010 that the band had been dropped by their record label. The following day, they announced on their website that they had disbanded. Their unreleased album was leaked at the time of the split, and it included 'Turn Me Up', a song co-written by Shaznay Lewis, and 'Alone', co-written by Pixie Lott, as well as covers of Sarah Connor's 'You're The Kinda Man' and Santigold's 'L.E.S. Artistes'. In June 2014, to mark the fifth anniversary of the 'Keep Your Head Up' video release, the girls reunited for a final interview with Adam Iqbal, in which they revealed that there were no plans for a Girls Can't Catch reunion and that it was very unlikely that there ever would be. That would seem to be the final word on their album ever seeing the light of day, and so if you are curious as to what this Girls Aloud-lite band could have produced then give it a listen here.

Track listing

01 Happy Alone
02 Echo
03 Turn Me Up
04 L.E.S. Artistes
05 Keep Your Head Up
06 Unconditional
07 Mind It
08 You're The Kinda Man
09 Alone
10 Discover Me
11 Live My Way
12 Another Day
13 Hearts & Flowers

Lorne Lesley - Someone Like You (1967)

Irene Spetti (aka Lorne Lesley) was born on 30 October 1938 in Tiger Bay, Cardiff in South Wales, and is an actress and singer, who featured in the 1962 film 'Marriage Bureau Aurora'. She also made appearances on the live Danish studio entertainment shows 'Sommer-weekend' in 1963/1964, and 'Vinterhaven' in 1963, made while she living in Copenhagen and making her name as a cabaret singer on the continent. Like other black female singers from the area, she hoped to follow in Shirley Bassey’s glittering footsteps, but she was keen to distance herself from the whole Tiger Bay mythology, so rather than adopting a 'sex kitten' persona she instead promoted her strong sense of humour, to such an extent that during the early part of her career she was promoted as a comedienne/singer. She started her recording career in 1958 with the 'My Yiddishe Mama' single on Ronnex Records, but this style wasn't really her forte, and her 1959 Parlophone record 'Some Of These Days' was a huge improvement, establishing the style that she'd keep for the rest of her career. Three more singles followed in the same year, one on the Polydor label, before returning to Ronnex Records for the cabaret-styled 'Bloodshot Eyes' in 1960. In an attempt to cash in on the rise of the Beatles, she joined up with Norwegian rockers The Beatniks for a rewrite of 'Ma He's Makin' Eyes At Me' as 'Ma, Let's Twist', before taking a break from the studio for a couple of years, returning in 1965 with a new label and new single in 'Where My Heart Has Never Wandered' on the Phillips label. She stayed with Phillips for a couple of years, releasing two more singles, before recording the Christmas single 'Little Snowflakes' on Parlophone in late 1966, which turned out to be her last record. She carried on with the live performances, and was an in-demand cabaret artist, as well as appearing on TV entertainment shows in the UK. It was at one of her appearances at a club in the late 60's that she met TV presenter and antiques dealer David Dickinson, although at the time he was working in the Manchester rag trade, and they married in 1968. They are still together and have two grown-up children. With the exception of that first, rather strident single, most of Lesley's records are fairly typical of the girl singers of the era, and this post collects together all the available records from her catalogue, showing her versatility with songs in a number of different styles. There was only a 37-second clip of 'So High, So Low' online, so with some careful editing I've managed to extend it to a one and half minute song (lucky that the lyrics were fairly repetitive), and I've rounded off the album with two TV performances which are still available to view on Youtube.   

Track listing

01 My Yiddishe Mama (single 1958)
02 Some Of These Days (single 1959)
03 So High So Low (single 1959)
04 I Don't Know (b-side of 'So High So Low')
05 Till The End Of Time (from Spanish EP 1960)
06 We're Gonna Dance (single 1960)
07 Bloodshot Eyes (b-side of 'We're Gonna Dance')
08 Ma, Let's Twist (single with The Beatniks 1962)
09 He's Got The Whole World In His Hands (b-side of 'We're Gonna Dance' re-issue 1964)
10 Someone Like You (b-side of 'Where My Heart Has Never Wandered')
11 Fire Down Below (b-side of 'Rainy Days Were Made For Lonely People')
12 Somebody's Gonna Be Sorry (single 1966)
13 Little Snowflakes (single 1966)
14 It's Alright With Me (TV appearance 1967)
15 Give Me A Man (TV appearance 1967)

Thrice Mice - Prost! (1970)

Thrice Mice were a sextet from Hamburg, who got an earlier start than a lot of their contemporaries as the members had paid their dues in various local Hamburg based bands in the 1960's before congregating into the sextet of Wolfgang Buhre (tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, clarinet, percussion), Karl-Heinz Blumenberg (vocals, alto saxophone, percussion, flute, guitar), Werner von Gosen (guitar), Wolfram Minnemann (organ, piano, guitar), Arno Bredehöft (drums) and Rainer von Gosen (bass). By the time the band went into the studio in 1970 to record their only self-titled album they were a tight-knit band that had already figured out how to craft their own sound and stand out amongst the early Krautrock initiates, with their unique mix of blues, jazz and classical music completed with a touch of 60's psychedelia. The album comprised just four lengthy tracks, with even the shortest, 'Fancy Desire', clocking in at eight minutes. On listening to the music you can hear that they were clearly inspired more by the British scene than the escapist trends of their contemporary German compatriots, and 'Vivaldi' was a huge hit for them, with the classical themes redirected into fuzzy wah-wah guitars and the rather soulful brass sounds. The band folded in 1972 after Rainer von Gosen departed, but both he and Blumenberg would collaborate together in Altona, who released two albums in 1974 and 1975. While Thrice Mice aren't your typical 70's Krautrock band, a la Tangerine Dream, Amon Duul or Can, they made one superb jazz-rock album which has remained a favourite of mine for many years, and so I was thrilled to find that when it was re-released in 2003, it included bonus tracks of previously unreleased material, and there was enough on there to make another stand-alone album of new music. Although 'Vivaldi's Revival' is basically a live take of 'Vivaldi' it's still worth hearing, and as with the other live recordings on here I've edited out the applause as much as I can. 'An Invitation' was the first thing they recorded, after they won a Battle Of The Bands contest in Hamburg in 1967, with the prize being to record a song for a four-track EP. Unconventional as ever, they chose to write an original piece for the project, and this collection also shows their love of UK bands of the period with an excellent cover of the 1970 Blodwyn Pig b-side 'Drive Me', so raise a glass and say "prost!" to Thrice Mice. 

Track listing

01 An Invitation
02 Trying
03 Pig II
04 New Life
05 Drive Me
06 Vivaldi's Revival
07 Dawn

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Fred Neil (2020)

Fred Neil was born Frederick Ralph Morlock Jr. on 16 March 1936, and he started singing when he was in first grade, coached by his mother. Around 1947, when in sixth grade, he started playing guitar, and by the late 1950's he was one of the singer-songwriters who worked out of New York City's Brill Building, a center for music industry offices and professional songwriters. While composing at the Brill Building for other artists, he also recorded six mostly rockabilly-pop singles for different labels as a solo artist, and early rock and roll songs of his were recorded by such artists as Buddy Holly, with 'Come Back Baby' in 1958, and Roy Orbison, with 'Candy Man' in 1961. He later moved on to a more folk-influenced sound, and with his 12-string guitar and spectacularly deep baritone voice, he was considered the King of the MacDougal Street/Greenwich Village folksingers. Neil met Vince Martin in 1962, and they formed a singing partnership, with their first album 'Tear Down The Walls' being released in 1964, and during 1965 and 1966 Neil was joined on many live sets by the Seventh Sons, a trio led by Buzzy Linhart on guitar and vibes. In 1965 he released is second album 'Bleecker & MacDougal' on Elektra Records, and his eponymous release in 1967 was relaunched in 1969 as 'Everybody's Talkin'', following the huge success of Harry Nilsson's version of his song. It was 'Everybody's Talkin'' which brought him to the attention of the public and other musicians, and it wasn't long before they started to explore his back catalogue. 'Bleecker & McDougal' was plundered by bands and singers in 1969 and 1970, although groups such as The Animals and H.P. Lovecraft were ahead of the game and had already covered songs from the album when it was first released. Since then nearly every song on it has been covered, and so here are a choice selection of the many versions of Neil's songs which are out there, with two of his most famous ones added at the end to bulk up the record to a satisfactory 43 minutes. Something that I didn't know until researching this post was that Jefferson Airplane considered Neil a major influence, and he was a frequent visitor to their Haight-Ashbury house in San Francisco. Neil reminded Grace Slick of Winnie the Pooh, with her nickname for him being 'Poohneil', and their song 'The Ballad Of You And Me And Pooneil' was written for him. 

Track listing

01 Bleecker & MacDougal (H.P. Lovecraft 1967) 
02 Blues On The Ceiling (The Bintangs 1969) 
03 Sweet Mama (Charlie Brown 2020)
04 Little Bit Of Rain (Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys 1967)
05 Country Boy (Tim Krekel 2018) 
06 Other Side To This Life (The Animals 1966)
07 Mississippi Train (Roger Bartlett 2018)
08 Travelin' Shoes (Tea And Symphony 1969)
09 Yonder Comes The Blues (Michael Parks 1970)
10 Candy Man (Dale Hawkins 1969)
11 Handful Of Gimme (Vince Martin 2018) 
12 The Dolphins (It's A Beautiful Day 1970)
13 That's The Bag I'm In (Buzzy Linhart 1970)

Brooke Hogan - This Voice (2004)

Brooke Ellen Bollea was born on 5 May 1988, and is better known by her stage name Brooke Hogan, being the daughter of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. She took an early interest in music, beginning work on her first studio album in 2002, and in an attempt to promote her music career, Hogan and her father appeared in a one-hour special on VH1. The special proved to be a ratings success, leading to her and her family starring in the reality television series 'Hogan Knows Best' from 2005 to 2007. She was signed to Trans Continental Records in 2002, and some music was produced with LFO member Rich Cronin's assistance, with the album's lead single, 'Everything To Me', getting a released in July 2004. The song appeared at number one on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart in the United States, and number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100, and to promote the album, Hogan toured throughout 2004 and 2005, first with Hilary Duff on her Most Wanted Tour of the US, and then with the Backstreet Boys on their Up Close & Personal Tour. 'This Voice' was slated for a September 2004 release date, but for unknown reasons it was cancelled, although it did later leak onto the internet. Hogan did eventually release an album in 2006, with the recording of 'Undiscovered' being chronicled in 'Hogan Knows Best', with a then teenage Brooke struggling with her overprotective father while recording her debut record. 'This Voice' is a perfectly fine pop album of the period, and once again it's a mystery why it was cancelled, so give it a listen and see what you think.  

Track listing 

01 Everything To Me 
02 I Believe
03 Extraordinary Day 
04 Why 
05 The Only One 
06 Casualty
07 Never Let You Down 
08 Caught
09 Don't Stop This Now 
10 I Want You
11 Uh Oh (Lately)
12 You
13 Love You Both

Geneva - Echo Chamber (2000)

Geneva were formed in 1992 by vocalist Andrew Montgomery and guitarist Steven Dora, who recruited second guitarist Stuart Evans, bass player Keith Graham and finally drummer Craig Brown, under their original name of Sunfish. One of their demos found their way to Suede's record label, Nude, who signed the band in 1996, changing their name in the process, first to Garland, then later to Geneva. Their first single 'No One Speaks' was released the same year, and the band garnered enough press to headline NME's annual Bratbus tour of up and coming bands in early 1997, releasing their second single 'Into The Blue' to coincide with the tour. They fitted well with the current musical scene and were well promoted by the UK music press of the time, who saw them as a reaction to the fading Britpop scene, with many bands rejecting the laddish ideals of bands like Oasis. They wrote darker, more intelligent songs, in the vein of contemporaries such as Gene and Strangelove, while Montgomery's relatively high-pitched vocals were often compared to those of Suede's Brett Anderson. Their debut album, 'Further', appeared in June 1997, and it mixed power pop with darker brooding songs, and reached No. 20 in the UK Albums Chart, while all four singles from the album reached the UK Top 40. The second album, 'Weather Underground', was released in March 2000, after more than a year of wrangling with the band's record label, but following the release of 'If You Have To Go' as a single from the album, the band split up later that year. Geneva were ultimately consigned to the also-rans of the late 90's indie scene, releasing just two albums in their short career, but surprisingly including two more album's worth of songs on the b-sides of their singles, and here they all are as a reminder of this idiosyncratic and under-rated group. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1996-1997
01 What Your Shrink Says (b-side of 'No One Speaks' 1996)
02 Closer To The Stars (b-side of 'No One Speaks' 1996)
03 Keep The Light On (b-side of 'No One Speaks' 1996)
04 Driftwood (b-side of 'Tranquilizer' 1997)
05 Dead Giveaway (b-side of 'Tranquilizer' 1997)
06 Strung Out On You (b-side of 'Tranquilizer' 1997)
07 Michaelmas (b-side of 'Tranquilizer' 1997)
08 Compulsive Love Disorder (b-side of 'Tranquilizer' 1997)
09 Selfbelief (b-side of 'Best Regrets' 1997)
10 Feel The Joy (b-side of 'Best Regrets' 1997)
11 Raymond Chandler (b-side of 'Best Regrets' 1997)
12 Last Orders (b-side of 'Best Regrets' 1997)

Disc II - 1997-2000
01 At The Core (b-side of 'Into The Blue' 1997)
02 Riverwatching (b-side of 'Into The Blue' 1997)
03 Land's End (b-side of 'Into The Blue' 1997)
04 Echo Chamber (b-side of 'Dollars In The Heavens' 1999)
05 Faintest Tremor In The Weakest Heart (b-side of 'Dollars In The Heavens' 1999)
06 She's So Familiar (b-side of 'Dollars In The Heavens' 1999)
07 When You Close Your Eyes (b-side of 'Dollars In The Heavens' 1999)
08 Promised Land ('Weather Underground' out-take 1999)
09 Bring Down The Sun (b-side of 'If You Have To Go' 2000)
10 Vostok (b-side of 'If You Have To Go' 2000)
11 Mindreading (b-side of 'If You Have To Go' 2000)
12 Hale Bopp (Proto Mix) (previously unreleased)

McKinlay Sisters - That Lonely Feeling (1972)

Sheila and Jeanette McKinlay were born and brought up in the Little France district of Edinburgh, and first began performing in their early teens, touring the clubs around the city and the Lothians. In 1963, they embarked on a Scottish tour with Glasgow band The Fabulous Falcons, and they were signed to Iver Music in London as a duo called The McKinleys (note the change in spelling of their name) in 1964, which led to a contract with EMI Columbia. Although they toured with the Beatles, appeared on Ready Steady Go!, and had a number one hit in Germany, none of their four single releases were a hit in the UK. Listening to them now you do wonder why, and their first single, 'Someone Cares For Me', has a Phil Spector-ish wall of sound, but with hard-to-disguise Scots inflection, and was written by the hit machine of John Carter and Ken Lewis. The follow-up was 'When He Comes Along', written by another prolific songwriter – and founder of the New Vaudeville Band – Geoff Stephens, with Carter/Lewis making another appearance on the b-side with their 'Then I'll Know It's Love'. The first two singles were released on the Swan label in the US where they performed better in some regional charts than they did in the UK, possibly because the label's name was known in North America from the fact that Brian Epstein had leased The Beatles' 'She Loves You' to them in 1964. Their third single was yet another Carter/Lewis song, but this time their band Carter-Lewis And the Southerners had released their own version of it in 1963, so The KcKinlays was a cover of 'Sweet And Tender Romance', and was released a year later. It was a fine record, with its deep murky sound and the vocals soaring over the fast backbeat, and it includes a lacerating guitar solo from Jimmy Page. 

'That Lonely Feeling' on the flip is Carter/Lewis again, but this time it's a slower track, with gentle, sometimes harsh, harmonies, and it was later covered by Dean Ford and The Gaylords in 1965, before they morphed into The Marmalade. Their final single is possibly their best, with 'Give Him My Love' being a Donovan co-write, and the sisters move into folk-rock territory for this record, which has a more mature sound. With success in the UK continuing to elude them they left Columbia and finally found some success in Europe, particularly in Germany, as the McKinlay Sisters. They released a number of singles in Europe in 1967 and 1968, some in English and some in German, and continued to be successful there until 1968, when they went their separate ways. Sheila joined The Les Humphries Singers, and Jeanette paired up with Peter Petrel to form the duo Windows, who were put together by Golden 12 Records in Germany purely to release a version of 'How Do You Do' in 1972 before the Dutch group Mouth & MacNeal could release their own version of it. They did record an album 'Meet The Windows' in 1972, but Jeanette left in 1974, and was replaced by Tina Wulff. Sheila, on the other hand, embarked on a solo career in 1971 with a couple of Les Humphries-penned singles, followed by a German-language version of 'If Not For You', before recording her final single 'Ringel Rangel Rosen' in 1972, backed with a German-language cover of Middle Of The Road's 'Sacramento'. Sheila, who was married to Howie Casey, saxophonist and band leader of Howie Casey and the Seniors, died from cancer on 16 December 2012, aged 71, and is survived by Jeanette. I hope that this collection of the sister's work is a fitting tribute to both girls, who really should have had more success than they did with those first four singles. 

Track listing

The McKinleys
01 Someone Cares For Me (single 1964)
02 A Million Miles Away (b-side of 'Someone Cares For Me')
03 When He Comes Along (single 1964)
04 Then I'll Know It's Love (b-side of 'When He Comes Along')
05 Sweet And Tender Romance (single 1964)
06 That Lonely Feeling (b-side of 'Sweet And Tender Romance')
07 Give Him My Love (single 1965)
08 Once More (b-side of 'Give Him My Love')
The McKinlay Sisters
09 I Want You (German single 1966)
10 Was Kann Ich Dafür (How Can I Explain) (b-side of 'Bye Bye Bye' German single 1967)
11 Wer Nicht Hören Will Muß Fühlen (German single 1967)
12 All Night Girl (b-side of 'Wer Nicht Hören Will Muß Fühlen')

Windows, featuring Jeanette McKinlay

13 How Do You Do (single 1972 - English version)

14 Nobody's Baby (b-side of 'How Do You Do')

15 Jeder Tag (b-side of the German issue of 'How Do You Do')
Sheila McKinlay
16 And When The War Is Over (Australian single 1971)
17 Listen To Little Children (b-side of 'And When The War Is Over')
18 I Remember (German single 1971)
19 Sunday Night School Girl (b-side of 'I Remember')
20 Ich Geh Mit Dir (If Not For You) (German single 1971)
21 Ringel Rangel Rosen (Ring A Ring Of Roses) (Dutch single 1972)
22 Sacramento (b-side of 'Ringel Rangel Rosen')  

Kate Bush - Something Like A Song (1973) **UPGRADE**

Fresh from providing us with the excellent Pink Floyd album 'Bedlam And Breakfast', Geof has sent me some more of his work, which is a complete upgrade of the demos that Kate Bush recorded in 1973. He's remixed them to give the vocals some reverb and presence, as well as trying to make the piano sound better, and with the vocals more upfront they do sound much improved. I've replaced the folder in Soulseek, but have kept the old version in the download pdf just in case anyone wants to get both copies and compare them. 

Track listing

01 It Hurts Me   

02 Come Closer To Me Babe

03 Frightened Eyes 

04 Something Like A Song

05 Rinfy The Gypsy  

06 Where Are The Lionhearts 

07 Oh To Be In Love

08 Camilla   

09 The Gay Farewell  

10 Organic Acid

11 Pick The Rare Flower  

12 On Fire Inside A Snowball 

13 Dali   

14 While Davy Dozed 

15 Stranded At The Moonbase 

16 So Soft  

17 The Disbelieving Angel 

18 Nevertheless You'll Do

19 The Craft Of Life 

The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour (Mike's Mix) (1967)

Time for another Beatles album pulled apart and put back together by Mike. This time he's stayed in 1967 and performed his magic on their 'Magical Mystery Tour' EP, later expanded to a full album. 

Here’s my track by track detailed look at each cut (the order by the way is based of the original EP… not the album). Note - 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' were included on 'Sgt. Pepper...' as they started the whole psychedelic era of The Beatles. 

01 Magical Mystery Tour - I’m cheating already LOL. I didn’t pick the album version but the rarer soundtrack version because I loved all the extra different sound effects. Like 'Sgt. Pepper...', this whole album has so much fun hidden away that I really enjoyed making every one of these cuts, except to be honest 'Baby You’re A Rich Man' which took freakin’ forever to mix! 

02 Your Mother Should Know -  Great backing vocals brought to the forefront on this one. I reduced the drums to almost nil… they were hiding too much fun stuff! 

03 I Am The Walrus -  This took a while to mix but is so much fun. Possibly my favorite mix on the album! There's so much going on in this song that it was hard to pick what to focus on at any given time. But that just made it extra fun to mix. I changed up the beginning and the end a bit to make it more fun! Everybody smoke pot, Everybody smoke pot!!

04 The Fool On The Hill -  Another fudge here. This is an earlier take with many different vocals and a very cool completely different arrangement. 

05 Flying -  The only song in all their albums to have all four lads singing LEAD vocal! And one of only 2 songs whose writing was credited to all four. (Can you name the other??) I added a bit of fun at the end! 

06 Blue Jay Way -  My strangest mix. A tribute to George, mysticism, psychedelia and of course the backwards message! 

07 Hello Goodbye -  Get rid of the drums and wow…the song just opens up. Fun bass line! I added one extra note at the end. Ha! Sue Me! 

08 Baby You're A Rich Man -  I don’t know why this one was so hard to mix…just a lot of parts to juggle (I mangled about 3 different versions to Frankenstein this one together) and I got sick in the middle of doing it… so it took 2 weeks to mix. Ack! But it turned out pretty cool. 

09 All You Need Is Love -  Lovely orchestra and horn tracks. Make sure you check out my bonus track of George trying to overdub a violin onto this one. He had never played a violin before…and it shows! “A” for Effort even though it’s an “F” for actual playing. I never knew John sang a lyric from 'Yesterday' at the end… I thought there was only Paul singing 'She Loves You'! The things you find when you start digging around in these songs always amazes me!! That ends the official EP…but here are some cool bonus cuts from roughly the same time period. I just couldn’t stop mixing LOL 

10 Lady Madonna -  The piano is so prominent in the released version of this song… so it had to go! LOL. Great bass and sax solo! 

11 The Inner Light -  Setting the drums free did amazing things for this track. Such a different feel. Tribal almost!! One of my favorite George tracks…so beautiful. 

12 Hey Bulldog -  They had such a fun time recording this…just check out the video on YouTube! Great bass line from Paul and since I love the ending… I brought up the vocals during that part! 

13  All You Need Is Love (excerpt) - George's Violin Attempt (aka -This Tape will (and SHOULD) self destruct in 5 seconds!) Nuff said! 

14 It’s All Too Much -  A tough song to mix as almost every instrument is on the same track as the dirge like single tone drone that runs through the whole darn thing… and it’s the extended version to boot…this was a challenge to make interesting. 

15 Across The Universe -  My other favorite track in this collection to close us out. I once again used about 3 different versions to cobble this together… but the focus remains on the beautiful melody and stunning guitar work from John. I decided to make this mostly an instrumental take…to let the lovely tune shine forth! Created my own ending while I was at it, …and I love the deep breath at the very end! 

That’s it for this one…hope you enjoyed it and as always… please tell me what you think of it …I LIVE FOR FEEDBACK.

Michael 'Rubber' Solof

Track listing

01 Magical Mystery Tour 

02 Your Mother Should Know

03 I Am The Walrus

04 The Fool On The Hill

05 Flying

06 Blue Jay Way

07 Hello Goodbye

08 Baby You're A Rich Man

09 All You Need Is Love

10 Lady Madonna

11 The Inner Light

12 Hey Bulldog

13  All You Need Is Love (excerpt) - George's Violin Attempt (aka -This Tape will 

                                                                            (and SHOULD) self destruct in 5 seconds!)

14 It’s All Too Much

15 Across The Universe

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Laura Nyro (2007)

In the mid-60's, Laura Nyro's mother Louis Nigro's work brought her into contact with record company executive Artie Mogull and his partner Paul Barry, who auditioned Nyro in 1966 and became her first managers, with Mogull negotiating a recording and management contract for her. On 13 July 1966, Nyro recorded 'Stoney End' and 'Wedding Bell Blues', as well as an early version of 'Time And Love', at Bell Sounds Studios in Manhattan, for possible inclusion on her debut album. About a month later, she sold 'And When I Die' to Peter, Paul And Mary for $5,000, and on 17 September 1966, Verve Folkways released 'Wedding Bell Blues'/'Stoney End' as a single under her own name. 'Wedding Bell Blues' became a minor hit, especially on the West Coast, and she completed her debut album in New York on 29 November 1966. In February 1967, Verve Folkways released 'More Than A New Discovery', with songs from the record later becoming hits for The 5th Dimension, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Barbra Streisand. On 17 June 1967, Nyro appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival, and although some accounts described her performance as a fiasco that culminated in her being booed off the stage, recordings later made publicly available contradict this version of events. Over the next few years more songs from 'More Than A New Discovery' were noticed by other artists and covered on their records, particularly The 5th Dimension, who had a couple of hit singles with her songs. Peter, Paul And Mary turned their investment in 'And When I Die' into a hit, and Barbara Streisand followed them with 'Stoney End'. By 1971 nearly every song on the album had been covered, and so here are some of the best of them, reinterpreting Laura Nyro's first steps into the music business.  

Track listing

01 Goodbye Joe (Carmen McRae 1970)  
02 Billy's Blues (B. J. Ward 1970)  
03 And When I Die (Blood Sweat And Tears 1968)
04 Stoney End (Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys 1968)
05 Lazy Susan (Amy London 2007)   
06 Hands Off The Man (The Sunshower 1970)
07 Wedding Bell Blues (Bobbie Gentry 1970)
08 Buy And Sell (Chris Connor 1971)
09 He's A Runner (Mama Cass 1969)
10 Blowin' Away (The 5th Dimension 1969)
11 I Never Meant To Hurt You (Barbara Streisand 1971)
12 California Shoe-Shine Boys (Karen Wyman 1970)

Thanks to Ergon3 for supplying the Amy London track.

Jesse McCartney - Have It All (2010)

Jesse McCartney was born on 9 April 1987 in Ardsley, Westchester, New York, and started acting at a very young age, performing in local community musicals at the age of seven, and then debuting his role in 'Oliver!', before joining the national tour of 'The King And I' at the age of ten. In 1999 he joined the American pop boy band Dream Street, and was a member until 2002, describing the experience as a good stepping stone for his solo career. Following the release of his first solo three-track EP in July 2003, he issued his debut album 'Beautiful Soul' in September 2004 in the United States, and over a year later in Europe. It reached number number 15 on the Billboard 200, and he toured the US, Australia and Europe promoting it throughout 2005. His second album featured all self-penned songs bar one, and 'Right Where You Want Me' was more mature than his debut, reflecting his musical and personal growth since he recorded his debut album at age 15. It was released by Hollywood Records in September 2006, and reached number 14 on the Billboard 200. In the fall of 2007, McCartney co-wrote the hit song 'Bleeding Love' with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, but gave it away to British singer Leona Lewis for her debut album 'Spirit', and when it was released as a single it topped both the UK and US charts. He released his third album, 'Departure', in May 2008 in the United States and Canada, and musically it was a departure from his early works, showcasing more mature themes, and once again it reached number 14 on the Billboard 200. 'Departure' was re-released in April 2009 as 'Departure: Recharged', with four new songs, and a remix of 'How Do You Sleep?' with rapper-actor Ludacris. 

On 16 August 2010, McCartney announced the release of 'Shake', the first single from his upcoming fourth studio album, would be released after Labor Day. 'Shake' was sent out to radio stations on 8 September 2010 and was released digitally on 21 September 2010, and it peaked at number 54 on the Hot 100. On 18 October 2010, it was announced that 'Have It All' would be released in January 2011, but then in November it was revealed that the album launch would be brought forward to 28 December 2010, the Tuesday following Christmas. However, on 3 December he announced through his Facebook page that he had pushed the release date for the album back to early 2011. In April 2011 McCartney responded to a question on his Twitter page about the delay, saying "the release of 'Have It All' has been put on hold until we hear about the outcome of Locke & Key", the television series in which he had a lead role. At the end of the year he said via his WhoSay page that 2012 was still the magic year for the record to finally come out, although his mother posted on Twitter that the replacement of the President of his label, Hollywood Records in January 2012 was delaying its release. In an exclusive interview in the March 2013 issue of Glamouholic magazine, he confirmed that the release of his anticipated fourth studio album would happen within this year, but 'Have It All' would never receive an official release, with only a limited number of promo albums as evidence that it ever existed. He did eventually release his official fourth studio album 'In Technicolor' in 2014, but if you want to hear 'Have It All' then just grab it from here. 

Track listing

01 Shake
02 One Night
03 The Writer
04 Club Hop
05 I Think She Likes Me (feat. Aimeé Proal)
06 Tonight Is Your Night
07 I Don't Normally Do This (feat. Tyga and Jazmine "Jazzy" Bailey)
08 Undo
09 Have It All
10 Mrs. Mistake
11 Seasons (My Love Will Never Change)