Michael Jackson - Shout! (2001)

When Michael Jackson recorded his last studio album he employed 10 producers and over 100 musicians, including Carlos Santana, The Notorious B.I.G., and Slash, and it was reported to have cost $30 million to record, making it the most expensive album ever made. Prior to the release of 'Invincible', Jackson had not released any new material since the remix album 'Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix' in 1997, and his last full studio album was 'HIStory' in 1995. 'Invincible' was therefore viewed as his "career comeback", and recording began in October 1997, and finished with 'You Are My Life' being recorded only eight weeks before the album's release in October 2001. The music encompasses R&B, pop and soul, and even included a couple of tracks that featured (deliberately) unknown rapper Fats, and it was reported that the album had a budget of twenty five million dollars set aside for promotion, but despite this, due to conflicts between Jackson and his record label, little was done to promote the album, and there was no world tour to promote it. The album received mixed reviews from professional critics, although fans loved it, and it has sold between 8 and 10 million copies. However, in retrospective reviews, 'Invincible' has gained more positive acclaim, and the track 'Heartbreaker' has even been cited as an early development of dubstep. Producer Rodney Jerkins has commented that there was stuff they didn't put on the album that he wishes was on there, and since the out-takes have started to surface from the sessions we can now hear some of these tracks. Whether their inclusion over some of the songs that made it would have improved it's critical reception is open to debate, but when you listen to these tracks on their own stand-alone record you realise that there is some great stuff on here, including guest appearances from Lenny Kravitz and Ice Cube which didn't really deserve to be cut.  

Track listing

01 Another Day (feat. Lenny Kravitz)
02 Fall Again       
03 Beautiful Girl  
04 Shout
05 What More Can I Give
06 Save Our Galaxy?
07 In The Back
08 People Of The World
09 We Be Ballin' (feat. Ice Cube & Shaquille O'Neal)
10 Get Your Weight Off Me
11 We've Had Enough

Alexandra Slate - Edge Of The Girl (2003)

Alexandra Seightholm is a Canadian singer, who self-released her LP 'Half Full', when she was just 16. As a teenager she wrote songs and worked in coffeehouses in her hometown Toronto, and in 1999 she performed at the Canadian Music Week, which led to a deal with Management Trust, Ltd. She had a side-stage performance at the Lilith Fair in Toronto in August 1999, and performed again at the Canadian Music Week in 2000, later signing with Hollywood Records. She began working on her album 'Edge Of A Girl' with Rob Cavallo, under the name Alexandra Slate. The result could be compared to confessional female songwriters like Liz Phair, Tracy Bonham and Alanis Morissette, and lead single, 'Bad Girl', appeared on the ;Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life' soundtrack. Advance copies were sent out in 2003, and received mixed reviews from critics, with some praising her rich, sultry vocals, while others criticised the album for its similarities to Lucy Woodward's music released at the same time. For reasons unknown, the album was never granted a commercial release, although some of the promo copies soon appeared on ebay, so here it is for you to try to work out why Hollywood Records had so little faith in it. 

Track listing

01 Bad Girl
02 No Vacancy
03 Edge Of The Girl
04 Guilty
05 Die Awake
06 At 2
07 Can't Hold The World
08 Blinding The Universe
09 Get Used To It
10 I Apologize
11 Clumsy On The Wall

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 67 (2019)

For this episode of Mike look at all thing Beatles, he investigates the song-writing process of the individual members of the band, and this show includes in-depth interviews with John, Paul, George and even Ringo, and also John and Paul together, talking about how they come up with their ideas, and what they think about covers of their songs from artists like Matt Monroe, Peggy Lee and Frankie Vaughan. As usual, it's a fascinating insight into the band that most people in this day and age will not have heard before. 

Track listing

01 Episode 67 - The Song-Writing Process

The Divine Comedy - Anthems For Bored Youth (2006)

The Divine Comedy were founded in 1989 by Neil Hannon, who was the only member of the band until he was joined by John McCullagh and Kevin Traynor. They soon signed to Setanta Records, and they released their first album, 'Fanfare For The Comic Muse', in 1990. The record enjoyed some minor success, but was later deleted, after which the band released a couple of equally unsuccessful EPs, with 'Timewatch' appearing in 1991 and 'Europop' the following year. For these records newly recruited member John Allen handled lead vocals on some tracks, but after the commercial failure of the 'Europop' EP, this line-up soon fell apart. Hannon, however, was not deterred in his efforts and entered the studio again in March 1993, teaming up with co-producer/drummer Darren Allison, for the recording of 'Liberation'. This album is characterised by a plethora of literary references: 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair' recalls a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald; 'Three Sisters' draws upon the play by Anton Chekhov; and 'Lucy' is essentially three William Wordsworth poems abridged to music. It had some minor success in France, and this enabled Hannon to proceed with his second effort with the new line-up, and 'Promenade' was released in 1994. It was heavily driven by classical influences, with Michael Nyman's stylings clearly an inspiration, and Hannon himself acknowledged this when he reportedly sent a copy of his new album to the composer, jokingly asking him not to sue. This album was essentially a concept album about a day spent by two lovers, and although it also received similar positive feedback to 'Liberation', it still failed to ignite the general public, and it was not a major commercial success. 

Soon after the release of the album, the band went on tour with Tori Amos, supporting her during her European dates, and it was during this time that Hannon wrote and performed (with drummer Allison) the theme music for the sitcom 'Father Ted', as well as composing the music for the mock-Eurovision song 'My Lovely Horse' that featured in one episode. Despite widespread requests from fans to release the track as a single for the Christmas market, it eventually appeared as the third track on the CD-single 'Gin Soaked Boy'. This was not be the only time he would be responsible for a TV theme: 'In Pursuit Of Happiness' was used by the BBC science and technology show 'Tomorrow's World', and he also composed the music for 'Father Ted' co-writer Graham Linehan's Channel 4 comedy series 'The IT Crowd'. The band's next album, 1996's 'Casanova', and in particular the single 'Something For The Weekend', led to their first major success, having been championed by BBC Radio One's Chris Evans on his Breakfast Show, and further singles from 'Casanova', including 'Becoming More Like Alfie' and 'The Frog Princess', helped cemented the band's reputation. 

At the height of this commercial success, they released 'A Short Album About Love' (a reference to the Krzysztof Kieślowski film 'A Short Film About Love'), recorded live at a soundcheck with the Brunel Ensemble in preparation for a concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. It was aptly released on Valentine's Day in 1997, and shortly afterwards the band contributed a reworking of Noël Coward's 'I've Been To A Marvellous Party' to 'Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward', a compilation of covers of the writer's songs. 1999 brought the band's biggest commercial success to date, with the release of the infectious 'National Express' single, and it's parent album 'Fin De Siècle' did well enough for Setanta to issue 'Secret History – The Best Of The Divine Comedy', which included two new songs, 'Gin-Soaked Boy' and 'Too Young to Die'. The band performed at the V2001 Festival, and their 2001 album 'Regeneration' attempted to remove the band still further from its association with humour, with Hannon ditched his sharp suits and donning a Britpop band image. The album was a greater critical than commercial success, and soon after its release it was announced that the Divine Comedy were splitting up. 

However, within a year Hannon was touring again with a revised band line-up, playing a series of joint-headline gigs in the US, UK and Ireland. A new album surfaced in the form of 2004's 'Absent Friends', and it attempted to strike a balance between the occasionally earnest sound of the band's later material and the lighter tone of the more popular releases. Hannon's ninth album with the Divine Comedy, 'Victory For The Comic Muse', was released in June 2006, with the bulk of the material being recorded over two weeks, and much of it was live rather than multi-tracked, giving it a more spontaneous sound. Around this time Hannon took part in various projects, including an album of cricket-themed songs with the The Duckworth Lewis Method, a band put together by Hannon and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. In May 2010 The Divine Comedy released their tenth album entitled 'Bang Goes The Knighthood' on DC Records, followed by 'Foreverland' in September 2016 and the double album 'Office Politics', in June 2019, and in 2020 they celebrated their 30th anniversary by re-releasing all of their albums, along with b-sides, demos, alternate versions, rarities and unreleased material, in a 24-disc box set. As my own tribute to a unique and much-loved band here is a four-disc set of all the band's non-album singles and b-sides, from those early unsuccessful EP's to their re-emergence after their 2004 split.   

Track listing

Disc I - 1991-1996
01 Timewatch (single 1991)   
02 Jerusalem (b-side of 'Timewatch)
03 New Wave (b-side of 'Europop' 1991)
04 Intifada (b-side of 'Europop' 1991)
05 Monitor (b-side of 'Europop' 1991)
06 Hate My Way (from the 'Indulgence No. 1' EP 1993)
07 Untitled Melody (from the 'Indulgence No. 1' EP 1993)
08 Birds Of Paradise Farm (b-side of 'Something For The Weekend' 1996)
09 Love Is Lighter Than Air (b-side of 'Something For The Weekend' 1996)
10 Comme Beaucoup De Messieurs  (French single 1996)
11 Untitled Melody (b-side of 'Comme Beaucoup De Messieurs')
12 Motorway To Damascus (b-side of 'The Frog Princess' 1996)
13 Something Before The Weekend (b-side of 'The Frog Princess' 1996)
14 Neptune's Daughter (b-side of 'The Frog Princess' 1996)

Disc II - 1997-1999
01 Make It Easy On Yourself (b-side of 'Everybody Knows (Except You)' 1997)
02 I've Been To A Marvellous Party (promo split single with Shola Ama 1998)
03 Postcard To Rosie (b-side of 'Generation Sex' 1998)
04 London Irish (b-side of 'Generation Sex' 1998)
05 Time Lapse (b-side of 'Generation Sex' 1998)
06 Chasing Sheep Is Best Left To Shepherds (b-side of 'Generation Sex' 1998)
07 Little Acts Of Kindness (b-side of 'Generation Sex' 1998)
08 Last Stand In Metroland (b-side of 'The Certainty Of Chance' 1998)
09 Miranda (b-side of 'The Certainty Of Chance' 1998)
10 The Dead Only Quickly (b-side of 'The Certainty Of Chance' 1998)
11 Knowing The Ropes (b-side of 'The Certainty Of Chance' 1998)
12 With Whom To Dance (b-side of 'The Pop Singer's Fear Of The Pollen Count' 1999) 
13 This Side Of Paradise (b-side of 'The Pop Singer's Fear Of The Pollen Count' 1999) 
14 Vapour Trail (b-side of 'The Pop Singer's Fear Of The Pollen Count' 1999) 

Disc III - 1999-2001
01 Gin Soaked Boy (single 1999)
02 I Am (b-side of 'Gin Soaked Boy')
03 My Lovely Horse (b-side of 'Gin Soaked Boy')
04 Going Downhill Fast (b-side of 'National Express' 1999)
05 Radioactivity (b-side of 'National Express' 1999)
06 Famous (b-side of 'National Express' 1999)
07 Overstrand (b-side of 'National Express' 1999)
08 Edward The Confessor (b-side of 'Bad Ambassador' 2001)
09 U.S.E. (b-side of 'Bad Ambassador' 2001)
10 Pictures Of Matchstick Men (b-side of 'Bad Ambassador' 2001)
11 Soul Trader (b-side of 'Love What You Do' 2001)
12 You (b-side of 'Love What You Do' 2001)
13 Get Me To A Monastry (b-side of 'Love What You Do' 2001)

Disc IV - 2001-2006
01 No Excuses (b-side of 'Perfect Lovesong' 2001)
02 Les Jours Tristes (b-side of 'Perfect Lovesong' 2001)
03 Thinking The Unthinkable (b-side of 'Perfect Lovesong' 2001)
04 Oh Yeah (b-side of 'Perfect Lovesong' 2001)
05 The Power Of Love (single 2001)
06 All Things (b-side of 'Come Home Billy Bird' 2004)
07 Idaho (b-side of 'Come Home Billy Bird' 2004)
08 Girl Least Likely (b-side of 'Come Home Billy Bird' 2004)
09 Anthem For Bored Youth (b-side of 'Absent Friends' 2004)
10 Mr. Right (b-side of 'Absent Friends' 2004)
11 Elaine (b-side of 'Diva Lady' 2006)
12 Premonition Of Love (b-side of 'Diva Lady' 2006)
13 Births, Deaths And Marriages (b-side of 'Diva Lady' 2006)
14 Lili Marlene (b-side of 'Lady Of A Certain Age' 2006)
15 Long Slow Suicide (b-side of 'To Die A Virgin' 2006)

Ligeia - Beyond The Sky (2002)

Ligeia are a female-fronted heavy metal band from Germany, founded in 1999 in the city of Ulm, south Germany, and who released their debut album, 'Made In Stone', in 2000 as a private pressing. In 2002 they recorded a two-song-maxi-single, followed by their second album 'Beyond The Sky', but because of problems with their old record company SHS Musics, after they lost their distributor, the band were unable to release the record. As they were also unhappy with the label for the lack of promotion arranged for the record, as well as having issues with them regarding their debut album, they decided to leave the label, although it took Ligeia about two years to eventually sort it all out. In the meantime two new members had joined, with Michael Sommer coming in on bass and Roland Klein joining on drums, and together with Daniela Unglert on vocals and Jörg Mayer on guitars, it was almost a completely different band to the one that recorded 'Beyond The Sky'. They therefore decided to re-record the whole thing using the new line-up, and the re-titled 'Gloria' was released through Iron Glory Records/Massacre Records in 2004. The band are happier with the new label, and feel that the new recordings sound more to their liking, but fans of the old line-up might prefer to hear the group that recorded 'Made In Stone' perform the songs, and so if that's the case then here is the original 'Beyond The Sky' album as it was recorded in 2002, including a couple of songs that weren't included on the re-worked version.  

Track listing

01 Mistress Of The Night 
02 Wings Of Fire  
03 Beyond The Sky  
04 Gloria 
05 Here We Are 
06 Angelwitch  
07 Noise Of Silence 
08 Walpurgisnight  
09 Last Desire 
10 Night Of The Cross

Athena Cage - The Art Of A Woman (2001)

Athena Denise Cage was born on 6 May 1970 in Russellville, Kentucky, and was educated at Western Kentucky University. Her career began as a background singer, working with a wide variety of musical artists including Country star Amy Grant and R&B giants, the Isley Brothers. Moving from Kentucky to Atlanta to pursue a music career, she auditioned for Keith Sweat's Elektra distributed label, and was immediately signed as lead singer of girl group Kut Klose, cutting the chart topping R&B classic 'I Like' with the group. After leaving Kut Klose she recorded her debut solo album, 'The Art Of A Woman', which was due to be released in July 2001 by Priority Records, but it was eventually cancelled along with many other projects when the label merged into Capital Records. Two singles were released prior to it's proposed release, but even 'All Or Nothing' becoming a hit was not enough to save the record from being shelved. Later in her career, Cage's passion for education took her to Capitol Hill a number of times, advocating keeping, restoring or establishing music and arts programs in America's schools, pointing out the correlation between excelling in music and excelling academically. In this quest, she had meetings at the White House and the U.S. Department of Education to share her views, and she met with the late U.S. Senate Education Committee Chair Ted Kennedy. In 2003, she established "The Athena Cage Scholarship Fund" at Western Kentucky University, her alma mater, and in 2004 the street where she grew up, Second Street in Russellville, was renamed to "Athena Cage Way" to honour her community work, youth service and efforts to restore the Old Logan Theater. As a tribute to these achievements from later in her career, here is her shelved album from 2001 for us to enjoy. 

Track listing

01 All I Need Is Me 
02 Hey Hey 
03 Until You Come Back To Me  
04 Turn You Out 
05 Let Me Know  
06 In The Mood 
07 Respect (The Way It Goes) 
08 Take It Out On Me  
09 Make U Wanna 
10 He Changed His Mind  
11 You  
12 All Or Nothing 
13 Dream Lover 

The Wonder Stuff - Curious, Weird And Ugly Songs (2004)

The Wonder Stuff were formed in 1986 by Miles Hunt (whose uncle Bill Hunt was keyboard player with ELO and Wizzard) on vocals and guitar, Malcolm Treece on guitar and vocals, bassist Rob "The Bass Thing" Jones, and Martin Gilks on drums, and grew from Hunt and Treece's collaboration with future members of Pop Will Eat Itself in a band called From Eden, that featured Hunt on drums. They reportedly took their name from a remark made about a very young Hunt by John Lennon, and six months after forming they recorded a self-financed debut EP, 'A Wonderful Day'. After finding management with Birmingham promoter Les Johnson, and signing with Polydor Records for £80,000 in 1987, the group released a series of singles including 'Unbearable', 'Give Give Give, Me More More More', 'A Wish Away' and 'It's Yer Money I'm After Baby', which was their first Top 40 entry. All of these songs featured on their debut album 'The Eight Legged Groove Machine', which was released in August 1988, and it broke into the UK Top Twenty. A non-album single, 'Who Wants To Be The Disco King?' was released in March 1989 and was followed by UK, European, and United States tours and appearances at the Reading and Glastonbury festivals. Melody Maker hailed 'The Eight Legged Groove Machine' as one of their albums of the year for 1988, judging it, "A rollicking debut from the only band with enough wit, energy, charisma and acumen to cross over from loutish grebo into raffish pop". In September 1989 'Don't Let Me Down, Gently' became the group's first Top-20 hit, heralding the release of second album, 'Hup', in October, which reached No. 5 in the UK albums chart. 

This record saw the introduction of new band member, Martin Bell, a multi-instrumentalist who contributed violin and banjo, most notably on 'Golden Green' and its b-side 'Get Together', 'Unfaithful' and 'Cartoon Boyfriend'. Another non-album single was released shortly afterwards, with 'Circlesquare' appearing just before Paul Clifford replaced Jones on bass in the Spring of 1990. The rest of the year was very quiet, with no new music appearing until 'The Size Of A Cow' was issued as a taster for new album 'Never Loved Elvis' in March 1991, becoming the band's first UK top ten single, and the album duly followed in May. Just after the third single from the album, 'Sleep Alone', was released in September, the group scored a commercial success when they covered Tommy Roe's 'Dizzy' with comedian Vic Reeves, and this stayed at the top of the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in November 1991. The band carried on touring into 1992, releasing the 'Welcome To The Cheap Seats' EP in February, as a 'soundtrack; to their video rockumentary of the same name which was released that Spring after eighteen months of filming on the road with the band. After previewing new material at a few European summer festivals, 'On The Ropes' was released as a single in September 1993, followed by the album, 'Construction For The Modern Idiot', and they closed the year with another single 'Full Of Life (Happy Now)' just before Christmas. 

The band toured Europe before going to the United States in February 1994, and then returned for the UK leg in March, but a planned tour of the Far East and Australia in May was cancelled with no explanation, although by June a split was announced in a fanclub newsletter. The Wonder Stuff performed the final contracted show on 15 July 1994 as headliners at the Phoenix Festival near Stratford-on-Avon in front of an audience of 30,000, and to commemorate the group an 18-song compilation 'If The Beatles Had Read Hunter...The Singles' was released, and reached No. 8 in the UK album chart. Hunt went on to be involved in several projects, hosting MTV Europe's '120 Minutes' show, ansd then putting together another band, Vent 414, with ex-Senseless Things bassist Morgan Nicholls and drummer Peter Howard. They released a self-titled debut album in October 1996, but were soon dropped by Polydor prior to the release of a second record. Hunt also to toured as a solo artist, and released four albums, but in December 2000 Hunt, Treece, Gilks, Bell and Whittaker, together with new bassist Stuart Quinell, reformed for a one-off concert at London's Forum, with this soon becoming five sold-out nights, preceded by two nights of shows at JB's in Dudley. More live performances continued into 2001 with the release of a live album 'Cursed With Insincerity' in June, but in early 2004, Hunt was informed that Gilks and Bell would no longer work with him, and thus The Wonder Stuff (in the eyes of Gilks and Bell) were defunct. As a result, Quinell and Whittaker were informed the band had split, and Hunt began work on a new record with Mark McCarthy (ex-Radical Dance Faction) and Luke Johnson, who was the son of one-time Wonder Stuff manager, Les Johnson. 

Sessions for this new solo record were later joined by Malc Treece, and the result was The Wonder Stuff's first new album for over a decade, with 'Escape From Rubbish Island' coming out in September 2004, with 'Better Get Ready For A Fist Fight' and the title track becoming singles. This line-up continued into 2006 for the release of their new album 'Suspended By Stars' in March, and for the single 'Blah Blah La Di Dah' to be made available as a download. In April 2006, original Wonder Stuff drummer Martin Gilks was killed in a motorcycle accident in London, and an album of 'We Know Where You Live's demo recordings and live tracks was released in December, with all profits being donated to a charitable concern at the request of Gilk's parents. After playing a few UK outdoor shows the band went on hiatus due to Treece starting a family. They got back together in 2008, and have continuted to tour and release new records, as well as complete re-recordings of their first three albums, and despite a number of line-up changes they are still going strong. As a reminder of how good they were during the first fifteen years of their classic line-up, here is a collection of all their non-album tracks, from that early self-financed EP through to the first reformation in 2004. 

  
Track listing

Disc I - 1987-1988
01 It's Not True... (from the 'A Wonderful Day' EP 1987)
02 A Wonderful Day (from the 'A Wonderful Day' EP 1987)
03 Down Here (from the 'A Wonderful Day' EP 1987)
04 Ten Trenches Deep (b-side of 'Unbearable' 1987)
05 Inside You (b-side of 'Unbearable' 1987)
06 Hit By A Car (b-side of 'Unbearable' 1987)
07 I Am A Monster (b-side of 'Unbearable' 1987)
08 Frank (b-side of 'Unbearable' 1987)
09 A Song Without An End (b-side of 'Give Give Give Me More More More' 1988)
10 Meaner Than Mean (b-side of 'Give Give Give Me More More More' 1988)
11 Sell The World Free (b-side of 'Give Give Give Me More More More' 1988)
12 Astley In The Noose (b-side of 'It's Yer Money I'm After Baby' 1988)
13 Ooh, She Said (b-side of 'It's Yer Money I'm After Baby' 1988)
14 Rave From The Grave (b-side of 'It's Yer Money I'm After Baby' 1988)

Disc II - 1988-1992
01 Jealousy (b-side of 'A Wish Away' 1988)
02 Happy Sad (b-side of 'A Wish Away' 1988)
03 Goodbye Fatman (b-side of 'A Wish Away' 1988)
04 Who Wants To Be The Disco King? (single 1989)
05 It Was Me (b-side of 'Don't Let Me Down, Gently' 1989)
06 Get Together (b-side of 'Golden Green' 1989)
07 Gimme Some Truth (b-side of 'Golden Green' 1989)
08 Our New Song (b-side of 'Piece Of Sky' 1990)
09 Can't Shape Up, Again (b-side of 'Piece Of Sky' 1990)
10 Circlesquare (single 1990)
11 El Hermano De Frank (b-side of 'Sleep Alone' 1991)
12 The Takin' Is Easy (b-side of 'Sleep Alone' 1991)
13 Dizzy (single with Vic Reeves 1991)
14 Me, My Mom, My Dad And My Brother (from the 'Welcome To The Cheap Seats' EP 1992)
15 Will The Circle Be Unbroken (from the 'Welcome To The Cheap Seats' EP 1992)
16 That's Entertainment (from the 'Welcome To The Cheap Seats' EP 1992)

Disc III - 1992-2004
01 Coz I Luv You (from the 'Ruby Trax' compilation 1992)

02 Professional Disturber Of The Peace (from the 'On The Ropes' EP 1993)
03 Hank And John (from the 'On The Ropes' EP 1993)
04 Whites (from the 'On The Ropes' EP 1993)
05 Burger Standing (from the 'Full Of Life (Happy Now) EP 1993)
06 A Curious, Weird And Ugly Scene (from the 'Full Of Life (Happy Now) EP 1993)
07 Closer To Fine (from the 'Full Of Life (Happy Now) EP 1993)
08 Just Helicopters (from the 'Hot Love Now!' EP 1994)
09 I Think I Must've Had Something Really Useful To Say (from the 'Hot Love Now!' EP 1994)
10 Room 512, All The News That's Fit To Print (from the 'Hot Love Now!' EP 1994)
11 Sing The Song (from the 'Limited Edition 5 Track EP' 2001)
12 Ooh, Ooh, Aah, Aah (from the 'Limited Edition 5 Track EP' 2001)
13 Apple Of My Eye (b-side of 'Better Get Ready For A Fist Fight' 2004)
14 Safety Pin Stuck In My Heart (b-side of 'Better Get Ready For A Fist Fight' 2004)

Rick Astley - My Red Book (2013)

After releasing three albums for RCA records between 1988 and 1993, Rick Astley retired from the music industry at the age of 27, deciding that family life was more important to him. During his time out of the music business, his daughter Emilie grew up, and for much of the 1990's and early-2000's, Astley remained out of the public eye, although he carried on writing, co-composing 'Mission Statement' for former Marillion singer Fish's 1999 solo album 'Raingods With Zippos' After seven years out of the limelight he returned to the music industry, signing a co-publishing deal with Polydor, and recording a new album, 'Keep It Turned On', which was released in Continental Europe in late 2001. The album featured the single 'Sleeping', which became a minor club hit, thanks to a set of remixes from the US house producer Todd Terry. When his 2002 'Greatest Hits' compilation sold over 100,000 copies with minimal promotion, he decided to tour again, and went out on the road in 2004, which led to him signing a record contract with Sony BMG. In March 2005 he released the album 'Portrait', in which he covered many classic standards such as 'Vincent', 'Nature Boy' and 'Close To You', but both Astley and Sony BMG were unhappy with the result, so the album was poorly promoted, yet it still managed to reach No. 26 on the UK Albums Chart. In September 2008, Astley was nominated for the "Best Act Ever" award at the MTV Europe Music Awards, and his fans started a campign to push to make him the winner of the award, and to get MTV to invite him to the awards ceremony. On 7 November, following a massive internet campaign by fans, Astley won the award in Liverpool, but was not there in person to receive it. On the back of this, 'Never Gonna Give You Up' (which had recently become an Internet meme via Rickrolling) returned to the UK charts, peaking at No. 73 during the Christmas period. He was also a special guest throughout Peter Kay's 2010 Spring tour, and to mark the occasion he released a new single, 'Lights Out', on his own label in June 2010, but it only managed to scrape into the top 100 of the UK singles chart. An album was due to follow in January 2013, titled 'My Red Book', including the 'Lights Out' and 'Superman' singles, but it was ultimately canceled for unknown reasons. A couple of the songs later turned up on his 2016 album '50', but here is that original cancelled record from 2013. 

Track listing

01 Superman 
02 I Like The Sun 
03 Let It Rain 
04 Sailing 
05 Saddest Day 
06 Lights Out 
07 Goodbye But Not The End 
08 The Bitch 
09 A Letter 
10 Josie 

Kerli - Weapons Of Mass Creation (2011)

After releasing her debut studio album 'Love Is Dead' in 2008, Estonian singer Kerli started work on another album to launch the following year, and during a performance at Ollesummer she performed some new tracks that would have eventually been included on 'Army Of Angels', her second studio album, to be released in 2009. 'Army Of Love' was made available as a download on her official website, before being given a physical release in April 2011, but this was two years after 'Army Of Angels' was supposed to appear, and so the whole concept was re-thought, and a new set of songs was written, with the new record being given a projected release date of 2011. As Kerli said in an interview with PopEater, it was intended to be "a concept album about the future of society", with a strong army-themed imaginary, and so some songs from the previous sessions, such as 'Army Of Love', would still fit the concept, and so were included in the new track listing. Despite all the music being completed, this new project was also abandoned in favour of another new recording, to be called 'Utopia', but we already know what happened to that, and so it seems that Kerli doesn't have much luck in finishing projects that she starts. So that her efforts are not completely lost, here is her second attempt at a second studio album, which should have come out around 2011.  

Track listing

01 Weapons Of Mass Creation
02 Army Of Love
03 Bullet
04 Music Is Dead
05 Heart Line
06 Happy Pill
07 Dollface
08 Love Bomb
09 Blow The Speakers Up
10 Bubble Gum
11 Immortal
12 Get Away With Murder

Morrissey - Bonfire Of Teenagers (2023)

In March 2020, Morrissey released his thirteenth studio album 'I Am Not A Dog On A Chain' through BMG Rights Management, but eight months later he was dropped by BMG following the appointment of a new executive at the label. Morrissey then announced his intention to sell his next completed album to "the highest (or the lowest) bidder", although on 29 October 2022 he signed with Capitol Records in the United States. He didn't sign with a UK label, but as part of his deal with the US label, Capitol also acquired the rights to reissue his previous solo albums 'Southpaw Grammar', 'You Are The Quarry', 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors', 'Years Of Refusal' and' World Peace Is None Of Your Business'. During 2020 and 2021 Morrisey recorded an album's worth of songs with producer Andrew Watt, featuring a number of guest appearances from various musicians, such as Iggy Pop, Jesse Tobias, Chad Smith, Flea and Josh Klinghoffer. In 2020, American singer Miley Cyrus recorded backing vocals for the song 'I Am Veronica', after admitting to being a long-time admirer of him and The Smiths. She volunteered to provide her vocals for the song, and later offered to appear in a music video for the song, but after Morrissey's departure from Capitol Records in December 2022, he reported that Cyrus had requested to have her backing vocals removed from the song. The reason for this remains a mystery, although there are rumours that Cyrus disagreed with Morrissey's political views, or that there was a clash with Cyrus's inner circle.  

'Bonfire Of Teenagers' was originally announced in May 2021, and given a tentative release date of February 2023 in the United States by Capitol Records, but was postponed and later shelved following Morrissey's departure from Capitol in December of that year. In February 2023, Morrissey confirmed that Capitol would not release 'Bonfire Of Teenagers' but would still hold onto the rights to it, and although he later said that he'd regained the rights to the record, it currently remains unreleased. Morrissey debuted several new songs from the album live during his tours in 2022, such as 'I Am Veronica' in May 2022, and the songs 'Rebels Without Applause', 'Sure Enough, The Telephone Rings', 'I Live In Oblivion', and the title track, which were first performed at his Las Vegas concert residency on 1 July 2022. On 25 November 2022, 'Rebels Without Applause' was released as the first single from the album, and he performed 'Sure Enough, The Telephone Rings' on Fox5NY, so with those other live tracks we have access to two thirds of the songs from the record. By adding three live recordings of songs from the similarly unreleased 2023 album 'Without Music The World Dies' to replace the missing tracks from 'Bonfire Of Teenagers', we end up with an excellent collection of new music from the ex-Smiths singer.   

Track listing

01 I Am Veronica  
02 Rebels Without Applause
03 Kerouac's Crack  
04 Without Music The World Dies  
05 I Live In Oblivion  
06 Bonfire Of Teenagers  
07 Notre Dame  
08 The Night Pop Dropped    
09 Sure Enough, The Telephone Rings  
10 Saint In A Stained Glass Window  

The Supremes - Promises Kept (1971)

In the latter half of 1971 The Supremes went into the studio with a number of different producers, to record what would have been their fourth album as a trio without former lead singer Diana Ross. Despite recording around eighteen tracks, the album was ultimately shelved by Motown in favour of a different set, 'Floy Joy', produced entirely by Smokey Robinson, and which came out the following year. 'Promises Kept' was assigned the catalogue number M-746 and originally scheduled for a December 1971 release, but after its cancellation the tracks were kept in the vaults until some appeared on a 2002 anthology CD, while another thirteen showed up on a 2006 boxset. Although a definitive track listing is not supposed to exist, I found a front and back cover with the catalogue number M-746, and so I'm using that for this post. Whether its legitimate or not, it's a running order that seems to work for this fine collection of originals and covers, from a trio who were making their name as a group in their own right, after losing their iconic lead singer. 

Track listing

01 I Ain't Got The Love Of The One I Love
02 I'll Let Him Know That I Love Him
03 All I Need
04 Take Your Dreams Back
05 Make It With You
06 If I Were Your Woman
07 Tears Left Over
08 It's Too Late
09 Walk With Me, Talk With Me Darling
10 Still Water (Love)
11 Chained To Yesterday
12 Never Can Say Goodbye

If you want to hear the other songs from the sessions then Albums Back From The Dead has made up two separate albums from the various recordings from the period.

Frijid Pink - Inner Heat (2002)

Frijid Pink formed when local Detroit-area cover band the Detroit Vibrations, which featured Richard Stevers and Tom Harris, were joined by guitarist Gary Ray Thompson and singer Tom Beaudry, who later took the stage name Kelly Green. The group spent their first two years touring throughout the Southeast Michigan/Detroit area and eventually signed with Parrot Records, although their first two 1969 singles, 'Tell Me Why' and 'Drivin' Blues', both failed to attract much attention, but their third 1969 effort, a distorted guitar-driven rendition of 'House Of The Rising Sun', reached the Top Ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1970. This disc sold over one million copies, and peaked at No. 4 in the UK Singles Chart, although the band later admitted that the song was just using up time at the end of a recording session. Their self-titled debut record followed in 1970, as did their second release 'Defrosted', with virtually all of the album's writing being provided by the duo of Beaudry and Thompson. Subsequent singles included 'Sing A Song For Freedom' and a cover of 'Heartbreak Hotel', but they failed to match earlier successes, and when Beaudry and Thompson couldn't reform the group after a brief break-up, a new line-up was created featuring David Alexander (later Jon Wearing) on vocals, Craig Webb on guitar, and Larry Zelanka on keyboards. This version of the group recorded 1972's 'Earth Omen', but these new members would also be replaced by the time that the group re-entered the studio to record 1975's 'All Pink Inside' with Jo Baker now on vocals and Larry Popolizio playing the bass. 

In 1981 Stevers and Harris joined forces with Arlen Viecelli, lead singer/guitarist of Salem Witchcraft, and Ray Gunn, guitarist of Virgin Dawn, to record an album at Sound Suite studio in Detroit. The music was written by Viecelli and Gunn and was set to be released in the summer of 1982. However, after failed negotiation attempts with various record companies by the group's manager, the group disbanded and the material was never released. Another line-up of the band formed in 2001, but it included no previous members of the group, and they recorded one album, 'Inner Heat', which was set for release in 2002, but after a single show the album was pulled by the record label, Dynasty Records. In 2005 yet another lineup formed featuring most of the original members, with drummer Stevers succeeding in getting bassist Tom Harris and vocalist Tom Beaudry together, along with guitarist Steve Dansby (from a late 1970's line-up of Cactus) and unknown keyboardist Larin Michaels. In late 2006, after another failed attempt to reunite the original members, Stevers put together yet another line-up, and over the course of the next five years they played a dozen or so gigs, and then recorded a self-titled album of re-recorded renditions of songs from the group's previous records, alongside some new original music. One final album was released in 2018, with 'On The Edge' including a re-recorded version of 'House Of The Rising Sun', but for this post we're going back to that unreleased 2002 record, so here is 'Inner Heat', from a version of Frijid Pink made up of Randy Mac on lead guitars, Fate Dotson on lead vocals, Terry Stafford on bass, Tim Adkins on keyboards, and Bill Gordon on drums, none of whom had ever played in the band before.  

Track listing

01 God Gave Me You
02 Dangerous Words
03 Brother
04 For You
05 Fade Away
06 Can You See Me
07 Cold City
08 Inside Out
09 Lonely Amy
10 Change
11 It's Up to You
12 Layne
13 My Sanity
14 When I'm Needed

Tiffany Villarreal - Tiffany Villarreal (2004)

In the final post from the three members of Pharrell Williams' Latina girl group Affair, we have Tiffany Villarreal. Tiffany Villarreal was born into a musical family, and as a teenager her family moved to California, and later Las Vegas, Nevada where she attended a performing arts school. There she met and joined the R&B girl group 702, who introduced her to Missy Elliott. In 1996 she was signed to MCA Records and was preparing to release her debut album, with Missy Elliott as the executive producer, but due to RCA Records folding, the album was never released. In 2003 she was signed to Universal Records, and was featured on rapper Raekwon’s song 'The Hood', and during that same year she released her own debut single 'You, Yourself & You', which was well-received by critics, but had no impact on the charts. Her follow-up singles 'Rewind The Time' (featuring Raekwon) and 'Holla At Me' didn't fare any better, and so when Universal released her self-titled debut album, they only released it in Japan. After her stint with Universal Records, she signed with Pharrell Williams' Star Trak Entertainment record label as a member of Latina girl group Affair, alongside Vanessa Marquez and Natasha Ramos. When Affair didn't take off, she signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment label, and later with Motown Records. After that, nothing solo was released, although she did make appearances on albums by artists such as Flo Rida & Baby Bash, and also co-wrote Fantasia's song 'Trust Him' for her 2010 album 'Back To Me'. Despite Universal's lack of confidence in her album, it's a perfectly acceptable collection of early 2000's R&B, and so if that's your thing, then here it is for you to enjoy.  

Track listing

01 The Real Intro
02 Fire
03 Rewind The Time
04 You, Yourself & You 
05 Erotic Interlude
06 Erotic
07 Go To Work
08 Holla At Me
09 For My Girls
10 Better Woman
11 Us
12 Set U Free
13 Silent Gun
14 Nine Months