Jack White - No Name (2024)

On 19 July 2024, visitors to Jack White's Third Man Record Store found a mysterious vinyl album bundled in with their purchase. No stranger to the guerilla record drop – he once hid a bunch of seven inches inside re-upholstered sofas - White has come up with a unique release strategy for his surprise sixth album, which is his first new music since 2022’s 'Fear Of The Dawn' and 'Entering Heaven Alive'. The anonymous white label, 'No Name',  was given away free with any purchase at White’s Third Man stores on Friday, while a very limited number of copies were also sent to customers at random in the mail. Its mysterious grooves contained 13 tracks of raw, fresh, fierce garage blues, and although there were no official song titles, and no hint at the artist, there was no doubt that this was the work of Jack White himself. Bashing out the bluesiest rock riffs that he’s released since the White Stripes, every song is crunchy as hell, filled with ragged yelps and preacher-on-the-pulpit declarations, with not an acoustic guitar in sight. He's accompanied by nothing more than a rhythm section and the occasional organ, and judging by posts he’s shared on Instagram, the line-up consists of longtime bassist Dominic John Davis, recent keyboard addition Bobby Emmett, and Raconteurs drummer Patrick Keeler, although there’s no word on the whereabouts of White’s usual solo drummer Daru Jones. Third Man has seemingly encouraged fans to rip the album and, as White declares in the A-side’s rap-rocking fifth track, “You must tell seven friends.” It seems likely that the so-called 'No Name' will get more traditional distribution soon, but it’s also entirely possible that last weekend’s guerrilla release is all that the album will ever receive. Such is the benefit of White owning his own label, he’s free to do whatever he wants. Shortly after the album's release, White played a show at American Legion Post 82 in Nashville where new copies of 'No Name' on blue vinyl, with cover art, track titles, and liner notes, were made available for attendees to purchase, but if that's the only release 'No Name' ever receives, then I'm posting it here for any fans who missed it, and might not get to hear it if it doesn't appear officially in the future. Most copies out there have some serious surface noise at the end of track 13, but this rip comes from the cleanest copy that I found. 

Track listing

01 Old Scratch Blues

02 Bless Yourself

03 That's How I'm Feeling

04 It's Rough On Rats (If You're Asking)

05 Archbishop Harold Holmes

06 Bombing Out

07 What's The Rumpus?

08 Tonight (Was A Long Time Ago)

09 Underground

10 Number One With A Bullet

11 Morning At Midnight

12 Missionary

13 Terminal Archenemy Endling

Track titles taken from the blue vinyl edition.

Thanks to Reddit user lookanew for the inspiration for the alternate cover. 

Marion - The Collector (1998)

Marion were formed in Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1993 by Jaime Harding and Anthony Grantham, along with Phil Cunningham, who had all previously been in various bands together including Cloud, Chief, Push The King and The Shags. After recruiting bassist Damian Lawrence and drummer Murad Mousa, they recorded a demo that was sent to former Smiths manager Joe Moss, who agreed to manage the band. After replacing bassist Damian Lawrence with Julian Phillips, they rehearsed six days a week for nine months, commuting each day from Macclesfield, before playing in London to try and gain record company attention. After releasing debut single 'Violent Men' on Rough Trade Records, a bidding war began between the major record labels, with Marion eventually signing to London Records, and gaining a publishing deal with Island Music Publishing in October 1994. In March 1995, bassist Phillips left the band to join Electrafixion and work with Ian McCulloch, and was replaced by Nick Gilbert, formerly of the Hot Bananas. They released their debut 'This World And Body' in February 1996, which entered the UK Top 10 Album Chart, and constant gigging saw them supporting the likes of Morrissey, Radiohead, Ian McCulloch, and Manic Street Preachers. After a gruelling 18 month international touring campaign for their debut, the band found it difficult to write a second album, and so Moss brought in Johnny Marr to co-write and produce 'The Program'. It was released in September 1998, however Harding's heroin habit saw him become increasingly unreliable, which led to a lack of promotion. 

Following a mammoth tour of the US in 1999, the band split up, with the rest of the group blaming frustration and bitterness at not being able to get through to the drug-addicted Harding. Guitarist Cunningham toured with Bernard Sumner's and Johnny Marr's band Electronic, and subsequently went on to become a full-time member of Bad Lieutenant and New Order, while second guitarist Tony Grantham, who left the band in 1998, formed Chalk and Ryna, but bassist Nick Gilbert was deeply affected by the break up, selling his equipment and starting working in graphic design. In December 1999, it was revealed the frontman 

Harding was working with longtime friend Wayne Ward on new material, and although all the band's music had been written by Cunningham and Grantham, the new songs were was to be released under the Marion name, with Harding stating that "the name Marion belongs to me and only I use it". In June 2000, Harding pleaded guilty to theft charges and possession of heroin, after stealing garden ornaments and selling them to an antiques dealer to fund his heroin habit, and he was put on probation. Nothing from the sessions was ever released. Marion attempted further reunions in 2006, playing gigs in Bath, Manchester and London, and also in 2011, which produced a live album, but they fell apart again when a planned studio album was abandoned. It's an ignominious end to a band who had so much potential, and could have been a bigger part of the Britpop scene than they were, so as a tribute to their early work, here are all the non-album singles and b-sides from their short career.  

Track listing

01 Violent Men (original single 1994)
02 Today And Tonight (b-side of 'Violent Man')
03 Father's Day (b-side of 'Sleep' 1995)
04 Moving Fast (b-side of 'Sleep' 1995)
05 Waiting For No-One (from the 'Sleep' EP 1995)
06 The Collector (from the 'Sleep' EP 1995)
07 Down The Middle With You (b-side of 'Toys For Boys' 1995)
08 Changed For The Same (b-side of 'Toys For Boys' 1995)
09 The Late Gate Show (b-side of 'Let's All Go Together' 1995)
10 Chance (b-side of 'Time' 1996)
11 Speechless (b-side of 'Miyako Hideaway' 1998)
12 We Love Everything (b-side of 'Miyako Hideaway' 1998)
13 Minus You (b-side of 'Miyako Hideaway' 1998)
14 Promise Q (b-side of 'Miyako Hideaway' 1998)
15 The Present (b-side of 'Sparkle' 1998)
16 Journey To The Centre (b-side of 'Sparkle' 1998)
17 Psycho Killer (b-side of 'Sparkle' 1998)
18 Our Place (b-side of 'Sparkle' 1998)

Neon Hitch - Eleutheromaniac (2015)

In May 2014 Neon Hitch announced via a live chat that after almost four years she had parted ways with Warner Bros. Records, and that her 'Beg, Borrow & Steal' album had been scrapped. She also announced that she would be releasing a new album titled 'Eleutheromaniac', and that her mixtapes, 'Happy Neon' and '301 To Paradise' would be released to digital retailers on 20 May 2014. On 4 August 2015 she issued a new single, 'Yard Sale', which she said represented her moving forward and letting go of her past, with the yard sale being symbolic of her selling all her past belongings. In January 2015 she released 'Sparks' as the first single from 'Eleutheromaniac', and in March she released her EP '24:00' for free, as a surprise release, and which she'd recorded in 24 hours. The EP was followed in April by the digital release of 'Eleutheromaniac', the title track of her debut album, and in August by a new song titled 'Pussy PowR', which was made available on YouTube and for free download. In May 2016 she announced the official name of her debut album would be 'Anarchy', which was a different project than the previously mentioned 'Eleutheromaniac', and that this would be released on 22 July 2016. It was preceded by the lead single 'Please', and when the album appeared it did not include any of her previously released material, although it did include a remixed version of 'Freedom' from the 'Eleutheromaniac' sessions. With the scrapping of a second set of songs, Hitch finally released her debut album six years after first signing a record deal, and so to rescue all the work that she'd done up to that point, here is the scrapped 'Eleutheromaniac' album from 2015.   

Track listing

01 Yard Sale 
02 Freedom
03 Sparks 

04 Wall St. 

05 Fresh Out The Box

06 Warner Blvd.

07 London (feat. Jon Bellion) 

08 Eleutheromaniac 
06 Like Fruit
10 Salt & Honey
11 No Angels

12 Colors

13 I'm Doing Me

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing J. J. Cale (2021)

John Weldon (J.J.) Cale was born on 5 December 1938 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, graduating from Tulsa Central High School in 1956. As well as learning to play the guitar, he began studying the principles of sound engineering while still living with his parents in Tulsa, where he built himself a recording studio. After graduation he was drafted into military service, studying at the Air Force Air Training Command in Rantoul, Illinois, where he learned a little bit about electronics, which he later used to create the distinctive sound of his studio albums. Along with a number of other young Tulsa musicians, Cale moved to Los Angeles in late 1964, where he found employment as a studio engineer, as well as playing in bars and clubs. He first tasted success that year when singer Mel McDaniel scored a regional hit with his song 'Lazy Me', and the following year he managed to land a regular gig at the increasingly popular Whisky a Go Go. It was the club's co-owner Elmer Valentine who rechristened Cale as J.J. Cale, to avoid confusion with the John Cale of the Velvet Underground, who had started to gain a reputation on the scene. 

In 1966 he cut a demo single with Liberty Records of his songs 'After Midnight' and 'Slow Motion', which they released as a single, and Cale distributed copies of it to his Tulsa musician friends living in Los Angeles, many of whom were successfully finding work as session musicians. In 1967 he returned to Tulsa, as he'd found little success as a recording artist in Los Angeles, and he couldn't make enough money as a studio engineer, so had to sell his guitar. In 1970 it came to his attention that Eric Clapton had recorded 'After Midnight' on his debut album after hearing it being played on his radio, and he finally started to make some money from his music. It was suggested to Cale that he should take advantage of this publicity and cut a record of his own, and his first album, 'Naturally', was released in October 1971, and it immediately established his style, described by Los Angeles Times writer Richard Cromelin as a "unique hybrid of blues, folk and jazz, marked by relaxed grooves and Cale's fluid guitar and iconic vocals". His biggest U.S. hit single was 'Crazy Mama', which peaked at No. 22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1972, and this was later covered by Johnny Rivers, who had appeared at the Whiskey A Go Go at the same time as Cale. Over the next few years other tracks were covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Poco and Kansas, with the rest following over the years, until by 2021 every song from the album had a cover version, and here is a collection of the best of them.

Track listing

01 Call Me The Breeze (Lynyrd Skynyrd 1974)
02 Call The Doctor (John Faulk 2021) 
03 Don't Go To Strangers (Ali Claudi & Friends 1975) 
04 Woman I Love (Janos Huba Group 2014) 
05 Magnolia (Poco 1974)
06 Clyde (Dr. Hook 1978)
07 Crazy Mama (Johnny Rivers 1972)  
08 Nowhere To Run (Bo Fortin 2021) 
09 After Midnight (Eric Clapton 1970)
10 River Runs Deep (Romuald Slawinski 2016)
11 Bringing It Back (Kansas 1974)
12 Crying Eyes (Steve Gunn 2009)

And so ends this series, as I've exhausted the supply of suitable singer/songwriter's albums where every track has received a cover version. I really enjoyed putting them together, so if anyone has a suggestion for someone that I've missed then just let me know. The criteria is one album with all, or most, of the songs written by the artist, and with a large majority of them being covered by other artists. 

James Freud - China Crimes (1980)

James Randall Freud was born as Colin Joseph McGlinchey on 29 June 1959 in Melbourne, Australia, and his interest in music began before he even started school. This passion for music continued through to his teens, but despite his musical talent, his mother, Hannah, was against the idea. He later changed his name to James Randall Freud, and at the age of 17 he left home to pursue his career, and didn't contact her for over two years. Freud formed his first band, Sabre, at the age of 16, with high school friend and guitarist Sean Kelly and drummer Ian McFarlane, but after hearing the Sex Pistols' 'God Save The Queen' in 1977, Freud formed The Spred with Kelly, and three other members, followed by the glam-punk Teenage Radio Stars in late 1977. By early 1979, with ex-members of Colt, he formed James Freud & the Radio Stars with Murray Doherty on bass guitar, Roger Mason on keyboards, Glenn McGrath on drums and Bryan Thomas on guitar, and later Tony Harvey playing guitar and Mick Prague on bass. This line up plus various guest artists recorded the album 'Breaking Silence' between July and November 1979, with Tony Lugton and Peter Cook contributing before the completion and release in 1980. Many line-up changes later, they signed with Mushroom Records and their debut single, 'Modern Girl', was released in May 1980, peaking at No. 12 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. They supported Gary Numan on his Australian tour, and he was so impressed by 'Breaking Silence' that he offered to produce an album for Freud in the UK. Because there was already a British band known as the Radio Stars, a name change occurred for Freud's backing band, who became known as James Freud & Berlin. In October, they released 'Enemy Lines' from 'Breaking Silence' as a single, followed by 'Automatic Crazy', produced by Numan, in March 1981. The promised album was recorded in London, and produced by Numan, but neither Freud nor Numan were happy with the final result, and so it was put on hold. A month later Freud disbanded the group, and the album was permanently shelved. In 1982, he joined Models as bass guitarist after the departure of Mark Ferrie, reuniting with old collaborator Kelly, remaining with the band until they split in 1988, and they are now the band with whom he is most associated. It's still nice to hear the music that he was making with Numan in 1980, before he progressed to the alt-rock of the Models, and so here is the unreleased 'China Crimes' album, with a subtly coloured and updated cover.   

Track listing

01 China Crimes
02 Imagination
03 Pretenses
04 Receiving Me
05 Shy Boys
06 Central
07 Over My Head
08 Rescue
09 Lies
10 Automatic Crazy

Salad - Palm Trees On The Moon (1997)

Salad was formed in London in 1992 by Dutch vocalist/keyboardist Marijne van der Vlugt, who had previously worked as a model, but rose to prominence as a video jockey for MTV Europe. Initially performing as The Merry Babes with her then-boyfriend and guitarist Paul Kennedy, the addition of Pete Brown on bass and Rob Wakeman on drums resulted in the creation of Salad. Songwriting duties were mainly borne by Kennedy and van der Vlugt, with significant contributions from Wakeman who was also responsible for sampling, and a distinctive part of Salad's sound was the inclusion of the Kawai K1 synthesizer, which was always present on stage next to van der Vlugt during live performances. The band's first two releases, the 'Kent' EP and 'Diminished Clothes', were released on their own Waldorf label, and gained them significant coverage in the music press, as well as the main support slot on Blur's Sugary Tea tour in late 1993. This led to a deal with Island Records, initially on the 'indie' sub-label Island Red, which released the 'On A Leash' EP in 1994, and their debut album, 'Drink Me', the following year, reaching No. 16 of the UK Albums Chart. Four of its tracks were released as singles, with 'Motorbike To Heaven' just missing out on a top 40 placing in the UK Singles Chart, and their next release was the non-album single 'I Want You' in 1996. Their second album, 'Ice Cream' came out in 1997, but failed to match the success of the first, and the band were subsequently dropped by Island and disbanded in 1998. Van der Vlugt later formed Cowboy Racer, whose song 'Yellow Horse' featured on the US television show, 'Grey's Anatomy', while Pete Brown and Rob Wakeman established the popular entertainment site, BoreMe, which Pete Brown now runs on his own, and Wakeman also released a few Tech House and Techno singles between 1999 and 2002. In 2016, Van der Vlugt and Kennedy began performing Salad songs acoustically as Salad Undressed, and by 2017 the original band had reformed and released a new Salad single in 2018 called 'The Selfishness Of Love', as well as a new album, 'The Salad Way', the following year. Considering that the band were only together long enough in their first incarnation to release two albums, it's astonishing that they managed to include three dozen non-album tracks on singles, EP's and b-sides in their short career, and so we need this 3-Disc set to collect them all together in one place. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1993-1994
01 Kent (from the 'Kent' EP 1993)
02 The King Of Love (from the 'Kent' EP 1993)
03 Heaven Can Wait (from the 'Kent' EP 1993)
04 Mistress (from the 'Kent' EP 1993)
05 Diminished Clothes (single 1993)
06 Clear My Name (b-side of 'Diminished Clothes')
07 Come Back Tomorrow (b-side of 'Diminished Clothes')
08 On A Leash (from the 'On A Leash' EP 1994)
09 What Do You Say About That? (from the 'On A Leash' EP 1994)
10 Planet In The Ocean (from the 'On A Leash' EP 1994)
11 Problematique (from the 'On A Leash' EP 1994)

Disc II - 1994-1995
01 Plank (b-side of 'Your Ma' 1994)
02 Open (b-side of 'Your Ma' 1994)
03 Kiss My Love (b-side of 'Drink The Elixir' 1995)
04 Julius (b-side of 'Drink The Elixir' 1995)
05 Diary Hell (b-side of 'Motorbike To Heaven' 1995)
06 I Am December (b-side of 'Motorbike To Heaven' 1995)
07 It's For You (b-side of 'Granite Statues' 1995)
08 Ici Les Amigos (b-side of 'Granite Statues' 1995)
09 Rip Goes Love And Lust (b-side of 'Granite Statues' 1995)
10 Roadsex (b-side of 'Granite Statues' 1995)
11 Dream A Little Dream (Salad & Terry Hall, from the 'HELP' charity album 1995)

Disc III - 1996-1997
01 I Want You (single 1996)
02 Fly In A Sheet Of Winter (b-side of 'I Want You')
03 Decade Of The Brain (b-side of 'I Want You')
04 Ugly Fashion Town (b-side of 'I Want You')
05 One In The Bag (b-side of 'I Want You')
06 A Size More Woman Than Her (b-side of 'I Want You')
07 Bridesmaid's Gimmicks (b-side of 'Cardboy King' 1997)
08 Down At Monty's (b-side of 'Cardboy King' 1997)
09 One Imitation Smile (b-side of 'Cardboy King' 1997)
10 Moon Above My Shoulder (b-side of 'Cardboy King' 1997)
11 Palm Trees On The Moon (b-side of 'Yeah Yeah' 1997)
12 Sleepwalking (b-side of 'Yeah Yeah' 1997)
13 Love Song (b-side of 'Yeah Yeah' 1997)
14 Party (b-side of 'Yeah Yeah' 1997)

Cassie - Dope 'n Diamonds (2012)

The second collection of unreleased tracks from Cassie is entitled 'Dope 'n Diamonds', and it's a collection of dark electro songs, with her icy-cool, detached vocals being immersed in stabbing synths, ice cream beats, heavy bass & tribal-jungle inspired production.

Track listing

01 Warning Shot (feat. M.G.K.) (Intro)
02 Leave You A Message
03 Fuck U Silly (feat. Nicki Minaj)
04 I'm A Lover

05 I Got One 2Night (Interlude #1)
06 I.V.
07 Can You Feel Me
08 I Need Love (feat. K-Young)
09 H.D.
10 Trying To Be Cool (feat. Chester French) (Interlude #2)
11 The Boys (feat. Nicki Minaj)
12 King Of Hearts
13 Gimme That
14 Swagga Like Puff (Interlude #3)
15 She Can't Love You
16 Look What U Done
17 Roc Boys (feat. Jay-Z) (Outro)

Aerosmith - Right Key, Wrong Hole (1987)

While on tour in 1979, Steve Tyler and Joe Perry had a heated exchange backstage at Cleveland Stadium, resulting in Perry quitting (or being fired from) Aerosmith, and in 1981 Brad Whitford also left the band during the recording of the 'Rock In A Hard Place' album. The band soldiered on with replacements Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay, and although 'Rock In A Hard Place' wasn't a bad album, it's often considered one of the band's lesser releases as it didn't feature all five members of the original group. In 1984 Perry and Whitford saw Aerosmith perform at Boston's Orpheum Theater, leading to discussions to reintegrate the two into the band, and several months later the original members of Aerosmith officially reunited. In 1985 the reconstituted band released the album 'Done With Mirrors', and while it did receive some positive reviews, it didn't match the sales of their previous records, and it failed to produce a hit single or generate any widespread interest. With the much-anticipated reunion of the original Aerosmith line-up pretty much falling flat on its face, A&R guru John Kalodner capitalized on the runaway success of Run-D.M.C.'s cover of 'Walk This Way' and decided to draft in the day's top hired hands, including knob-twiddler extraordinaire Bruce Fairbairn and career-revitalizing song doctors Desmond Child and Jim Vallance. Together, they would help craft 1987's 'Permanent Vacation', the album which would reinvent Aerosmith as 80's and 90's superstars. Despite the mostly stellar songwriting, which makes it a strong effort overall, some of the album's nooks and crannies haven't aged all that well because of Fairbairn's overwrought production, featuring an exaggerated sleekness typical of most mid-80's pop-metal albums. However, radio gems like 'Rag Doll' and 'Dude (Looks Like A Lady)' remain largely unassailable from a "delivering the goods" perspective, and other tracks like the earthy voodoo blues of 'St. John' and the excellent hobo-harmonica fable of 'Hangman Jury' are Aerosmith at their best. With the inclusion of the additional songwriters, there was an abundance of material that was available to be considered for inclusion on the finished album, and when the final twelve songs were chosen, there were a number of recordings left over - enough in fact to compile a companion album to 'Permanent Vacation', so here are the best of those out-takes from the 1987 sessions. 

Track listing

01 Got To Find A Way
02 Feel The Pain
03 Right Key, Wrong Hole
04 Hollywood
05 Funky Thing
06 Once Is Never Enough
07 Sleepy Sickness
08 Samurai
09 Walking On Danger Street

Can - Finished? (1975)

After the recording of 'Future Days' in 1973, Damo Suzuki left Can in order to marry his German girlfriend, and become a Jehovah's Witness. Vocal duties were taken over by Michael Karoli and Irmin Schmidt, but after Suzuki's departure, fewer of Can's tracks featured vocals, as the band experimented with the ambient music it had begun with 'Future Days'. 'Soon Over Babaluma' from 1974 continued in the ambient style of 'Future Days', but with some of the abrasive edge of 'Tago Mago' and 'Ege Bamyasi', and in 1975 the band signed with Virgin Records in the UK and EMI/Harvest in West Germany, appearing the same year on BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test in a memorable performance of 'Vernal Equinox', in which Schmidt played one keyboard section with a series of rapid karate chops. Their next album, 'Landed', was released in 1975, and this time vocals were performed by all four members of the band, but following its release Can started looking around for a new vocalist. Brian Eno's girlfriend at the time, Japanese photographer Michiko Nakao, was suggested, and so she went into the studio with Holger Czukay and overdubbed vocals of some previously recorded tracks, two from the band's gig at Edinburgh in 1973, and also on a 44-minute version of 'Unfinished' from the 'Landed' album, which now that it had a vocal track, we can re-name 'Finished?'. In the end they decided not to employ a new vocalist, and 1976's 'Flow Motion' saw them  moving towards a somewhat more conventional style, as their recording technology improved. The disco single 'I Want More', co-written by the band's live sound engineer Peter Gilmour, became Can's only hit record outside West Germany, reaching No 26 on the UK charts in October 1976. In 1977 Can was joined by former Traffic bassist Rosko Gee and percussionist Rebop Kwaku Baah, both of whom provided vocals, and so a featured vocalist was no longer required. The two over-dubbed tracks from the Edinburgh gig have already been posted on my 'Soup' post by the band, so here is a one-track album from them, featuring Can with possible future vocalist Michiko Nakao. 

Track listing

01 Finished?

The cover uses a photo by Elena Jo Melanson.

Neon Hitch - Beg, Borrow & Steal (2011)

Neon Hitch was born on 25 May 1986 in Kingston upon Thames, before moving at a young age to the countryside of Nottingham, and she resented her parents for her birth name of Neon, and wanted to change it to something more conventional, but eventually decided to keep it. When their house burned down, her mother bought a caravan to live in, and they grew up in a Romani community travelling around Europe, and consequently she never attended school. By the age of four she was travelling and performing with the Archaos circus, and by the time she was in her teens she was trained as a trapeze artist, fire swinger and stilt walker, and had performed across Europe. She'd begun writing poetry when she was 10, which led to her writing lyrics, and a boyfriend noticed that she could sing and encouraged her to carry on with her singing. In 2010 she was signed to Warner Bros. Records by Kara DioGuardi, and she began recording her debut album, 'Beg, Borrow & Steal', in March with Benny Blanco. In January 2011 she released the promotional single 'Get Over U', co-written by singer Sia, for free, and then to digital retailers in February. This was followed by 'Silly Girl', 'Bad Dog' and 'Poisoned With Love', and she also released a series of covers and mash-up covers of songs by other artists, including Wiz Khalifa's 'On My Level', Waka Flocka Flame's 'No Hands' and Kreayshawn's 'Gucci Gucci'. 

During 2012 she released the official lead single of 'Beg, Borrow & Steal, 'Fuck U Betta', followed by 'Gold', co-written by singer Bruno Mars, and both songs peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. In January 2013 she announced her next release would be the EP 'Happy Neon', which was released for free through Billboard.com on 14 January. On 12 November 2013 she was featured on campus.ie, where she revealed that she and her team had completely scrapped the 'Beg, Borrow & Steal' album because she said she "felt there was not enough of my soul in it", and she discussed the release of a mixtape called '301 To Paradise' in early 2014, saying that the mixtape was a very good preview of what was going to come out on her brand new debut album to be released later that year. The six-tracker was released on 3 January 2014, and it was produced and co-written by NYC-based hip-hop group and songwriting duo Kinetics & One Love, and features two verses from rapper Kinetics. With the demise of 'Beg, Borrow & Steal', Hitch started work on new material for her debut album, but enough tracks had either been released as singles or leaked online to piece it back together, and so here is Neon Hitch's abandoned first album 'Beg, Borrow & Steal' from 2011. 

Track listing

01 Intro (Beg, Borrow & Steal)
02 Hello 
03 Bad Dog 
04 Silly Girl 
05 Fuck U Betta 
06 Poisoned With Love 
07 Picasso
08 Gold (feat. Tyga) 
09 Get Over U 
10 My Hand
11 I'm Doing Me

12 U + Me
13 Zombie (I Just Wanna Dance)
14 Dare U 2 Love Me

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Jackson Browne (2012)

Clyde Jackson Browne was born on 9 October 1948, in Heidelberg, Germany, where his father Clyde Jack Browne, an American serviceman, was stationed for his job assignment with the Stars and Stripes newspaper. At the age of three, Browne and his family moved to his grandfather's house, Abbey San Encino, Los Angeles, and in his teens he began singing folk songs in local venues, including Ash Grove and The Troubadour Club. After graduating from high school he joined the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, performing at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California, where they opened for the Lovin' Spoonful. He left the Dirt Band after a few months and moved to Greenwich Village, New York, where he became a staff writer for Elektra's publishing company, Nina Music, before he was eighteen. For the remainder of 1967 and into 1968 he played in Greenwich Village, where he replaced Tim Buckley as backing musician for singer Nico of the Velvet Underground, later forming a romantic relationship with her, and he was a significant contributor to her debut album, 'Chelsea Girl', writing and playing guitar on several of the songs. In 1968, following his breakup with Nico, Browne returned to Los Angeles, where he formed a folk band with Ned Doheny and Jack Wilce, and carried on writing songs, some of which were recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tom Rush, Nico, Steve Noonan, Gregg Allman, Joan Baez, the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, the Byrds, Iain Matthews, and others. In 1971, Browne signed with his manager David Geffen's Asylum Records and released his eponymous debut album in 1972 (often mistakenly referred to as 'Saturate Before Using' as this was typed at the top of the sleeve), and it included the piano-driven 'Doctor My Eyes', which entered the Top Ten in the US singles chart. 'Rock Me On The Water' also gained considerable radio airplay, while 'Jamaica Say You Will' and 'Song For Adam' helped establish his reputation as an up and coming songwriter. 'Doctor My Eyes' was picked up by The Jackson Five and garnered them a UK Top Ten hit single in 1972, and with the Byrds covering 'Jamaica Say You Will' in 1971, other songs from the album began to be recorded by a variety of artists, and by 1973 most of them had been covered. So here are the best of those covers, illustrating what a talented songwriter Browne was right from the start of his long career. 

Track listing

01 Jamaica Say You Will (The Byrds 1971) 
02 A Child In These Hills (Penny Nichols 2012)  
03 Song For Adam (Kiki Dee 1973) 
04 Doctor My Eyes (The Jackson 5 1972) 
05 From Silver Lake (Hedge & Donna 1968)  
06 Something Fine (Leo Sayer 1978)
07 Under The Falling Sky (Bonnie Raitt 1972)  
08 Looking Into You (The Mick Fleetwood Band 2004)  
09 Rock Me On The Water (Brewer & Shipley 1971)
10 My Opening Farewell (Michael Johnson 1973)

Cassie - Velvet Night (2012)

With the single 'King Of Hearts' appearing in February 2012, it seemed that Cassie's sophomore album had been consigned to the vaults, and following a highly praised performance of the song at BET's 106 & Park music video show, her next single, 'Balcony, was sent out to U.S. urban radio stations in September.  Also in September she featured on Nicki Minaj's single from her re-released album 'Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up', titled 'The Boys', which was also sent out to urban radio stations. In July 2012 she'd announced that she had been working simultaneously on her album and a new mixtape titled 'RockaByeBaby', and this was released on 11 April 2013, being named the best mixtape of the year by Dazed & Confused. In March 2015 her boyfriend, rapper-producer Sean Combs, (a.k.a. P. Diddy), announced that he would be returning to producing, and this would include writing and recording songs for Cassie's second studio album. However, in 2016 she announced that she would be returning to acting, playing the lead role in the romantic comedy 'The Perfect Match', which was released in March 2016, although the following year she did release two singles, 'Love A Loser' and 'Don't Play It Safe'. 

In January 2019, after ending her relationship with Combs and leaving Bad Boy Records, she worked with producers Chris' n' Teeb and singer-songwriter Ro James, and released several singles via her own Ventura Music label, including 'Moments',  'Excuses', 'Hungover', 'Don't Let Go', 'Speaking Of', 'Rollercoaster', 'Teach Me' and 'Simple Things'. The series of releases was dubbed "Free Fridays", and was to serve as a teaser ahead of the release of her second album, but as we by now know, this was not to be, and here in 2024 there is still no sign of that elusive second record. The good news is that the songs have not gone to waste, and a huge number of them have leaked over the years, and enterprising fans have been compiking them into themed albums for some time, and so following the recent post of her proposed 'Electro Love' from 2009, I'll be posting the remainder of the songs in revised versions of the three themed fan-made albums, having first extracted the 'Electro Love' tracks from them. We start with 'Velvet Night', which is a collection of dark, seductive songs, and the minimalist R&B showcases Cassie's sultry, sexy vocals gliding over the music, creating a spellbinding effect.

Track listing

01 I'm Not Drunk (Intro)
02 Don't Go Too Slow
03 When Your Body Is Talking
05 All The Way Down
05 Addiction (Interlude #1)
06 Whatcha Gonna Do
07 What She Don't Know
08 Stray (feat. Brandon Hines)
09 Can't Do It Without You
10 Shades (feat. Diddy) (Interlude #2)
11 Right Time 
12 Skydiver
13 Not Love (Interlude #3)
14 Balcony (feat. Young Jeezy)
15 Let Me Go
16 Venus vs. Mars (feat. Jay-Z) (Outro)

Kula Shaker - Another Life (1999)

The origin of Kula Shaker can be traced back to 1988, when Crispian Mills (grandson of Sir John Mills and son of actress Hayley Mills and film director Roy Boulting) met Alonza Bevan at Richmond upon Thames College in South-West London. The two went on to play together in a band named Objects Of Desire, with an initial line-up of Mills on lead guitar, Bevan on bass, Richard Cave on drums, Leigh Morris on rhythm guitar, and Marcus Maclaine (then Hayley Mills' boyfriend) on lead vocals. In 1991, Paul Winterhart joined the band as replacement drummer, and during this period, MIlls and Bevan were also responsible for running the Mantra Shack, a psychedelic nightclub at the back of Richmond ice rink. The Objects Of Desire disbanded acrimoniously in early 1993, after which Mills went on a spiritual pilgrimage, backpacking around India, with the trip having a profound effect on him, fostering a deep interest in Indian culture and Hinduism. Upon returning to the UK he formed a new band named The Kays, with Bevan, Winterhart, and Mills' cousin Saul Dismont on vocals, and the band's debut live performance was at the 1993 Glastonbury Festival. Within a year, Dismont had left the band, to be replaced by organist Jay Darlington, who had previously been a member of several mod revival bands. 

After two years of touring and recording, The Kays elected to change their name and musical direction, and so in 1995 Mills suggested that the band take the name Kula Shaker, in honour of one of the twelve Alvars (saints of south India), the ninth-century Indian emperor and holy man, King Kulashekhara. He also said that Kula Shaker's music should follow a more spiritual and mystical direction in future, in line with his own growing interest in the philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. This new emphasis on Indian mysticism and instrumentation, dovetailed with the Beatlesque, 1960's derived influences already present in the band's music, created a sound heavily indebted to 1960's psychedelia. In September 1995 Kula Shaker were joint winners of the In The City contest (along with Placebo), which quickly resulted in a record contract with Columbia Records, who were eager to sign another band that had the multi-platinum, crossover appeal of Oasis. A debut single, 'Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix)' was released on CD and limited 7" vinyl in January 1996, but it just missed the UK Top 75, peaking at number 86. This was followed quickly in April by the band's second single, 'Grateful When You're Dead', a slice of Jimi Hendrix-esque rock which was to become their debut UK Top 40 single, entering the chart at No. 35. Music press and public alike finally began to take notice of the band, and this sudden exposure propelled the re-released (and re-recorded) 'Tattva' to No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart. 

The band's upward climb continued with their third single 'Hey Dude', a more traditional rock song which was only kept off the top spot by the Spice Girls when it was released in August 1996. September saw the release of the band's debut album 'K', which became the fastest selling debut album in Britain since Elastica's debut the previous year. The fourth and final single from 'K' was 'Govinda', which reached No. 7 in the UK charts in December of that year, with the song being sung totally in Sanskrit, and mixing swirling guitars with traditional Indian music. In 1997 they carried off the BRIT Award for "British Breakthrough Act" at the ceremony in February, and to celebrate they released what would turn out to be their biggest hit, a cover of the Joe South/Deep Purple classic 'Hush'. After playing T in the Park, Glastonbury and the V Festival, the band shifted their focus to the US, where both 'Tattva' and 'Hey Dude' were receiving some radio exposure. After initial disagreements with management, Kula Shaker resurfaced with the UK-only single 'Sound Of Drums' in April 1998, peaking at number 3, but the promised album in the summer of that year failed to materialise, and the momentum generated by the single was lost as a result. 

'Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts' finally appeared in March 1999, and was preceded by the single 'Mystical Machine Gun' which failed to make as strong an impact on the charts as their previous singles, peaking at Number 14 and only remaining in the top 40 for two weeks. The album itself received mixed reviews, and only sold a mere 25,000 copies in its first week, as it crawled in at Number 9 on the album chart. In June they played the Glastonbury Festival, and headlined the Lizard Festival in Cornwall in August, to coincide with the total eclipse, but in September the band announced their split. They reformed in 2004, with their first gig back together as a 3-piece, consisting of Mills, Bevan and Winterhart, taking place at the Wheatsheaf, Leighton Buzzard, England, on 21 December 2005, and in January 2006 Kula Shaker announced that they had reformed permanently. The new incarnation has released four albums and a few singles, but it's generally accepted that their most productive and innovative period was the five years between 1995 and 1999. During this time they added many non-album tracks to the flips of their singles, and this post collects them all together, to remember a truly unique band, with a sound that was all their own.  

Track listing

Disc I - 1995-1997
01 Tattva (Lucky 13 Mix) (single 1995)
02 Another Life (b-side of 'Grateful When You're Dead/Jerry Was There' 1996)
03 Under The Hammer (b-side of 'Grateful When You're Dead/Jerry Was There' 1996)
04 Tattva On St. George's Day (b-side of 'Tattva' 1996)
05 Dance In Your Shadow (b-side of 'Tattva' 1996)
06 Moonshine (b-side of 'Tattva' 1996)
07 Troubled Mind (b-side of 'Hey Dude' 1996)
08 Drop In The Sea (b-side of 'Hey Dude' 1996)
09 Gokula (b-side of 'Govinda' 1996)
10 The Leek (b-side of 'Govinda' 1996)
11 Govinda '97, Hari & St. George (from the 'Summer Sun' EP 1997)
12 Raagy One (Waiting For Tomorrow) (from the 'Summer Sun' EP 1997)

Disc II - 1997-1999
01 Hush (single 1997)
02 Hurry On Sundown (Hari On Sundown) (b-side of 'Sound Of Drums' 1998)
03 Reflections Of Love (b-side of 'Sound Of Drums' 1998)
04 Fairyland (b-side of 'Sound Of Drums' 1998)
05 The One That Got Away (b-side of 'Sound Of Drums' 1998)
06 Smile (b-side of 'Sound Of Drums' 1998)
07 Avalonia (b-side of 'Mystical Machine Gun' 1999)
08 Prancing Bride (b-side of 'Mystical Machine Gun' 1999)
09 Holy River (b-side of 'Mystical Machine Gun' 1999)
10 Guitar Man (b-side of 'Mystical Machine Gun' 1999)
11 Goodbye Tin Terriers (b-side of 'Shower Your Love' 1999)
12 The Dancing Flea (b-side of 'Shower Your Love' 1999)
13 Light Of The Day (b-side of 'Shower Your Love' 1999)
14 Ballad Of A Thin Man (from abandoned Bob Dylan tribute album 1999)

Tracks 3 and 6 on Disc II are from the short film 'Reflections Of Love'.