Kanye West - Donda: With Child (2021)

A month after 'Jesus Is King' was released in 2019, Kanye West began working on his tenth studio album, and after calling on producer BoogzDaBeast to join him, in March 2020 they began recording new music in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, before he returned to Wyoming with his family due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial version of 'Donda' was set for release on 24 July 2020, under the title of 'God's Country', but it experienced multiple delays and continuous alterations to its songs and track-list prior to its final release. The album's style has been described as an amalgamation of hip hop, gospel, progressive rap, and pop, and incorporates elements of trap and drill. It is both minimalist and maximalist, with darker lyrical content and production in comparison to West's prior efforts, in addition to a reduced use of drums and complete absence of profanity. Themes explored include the convergence of West's Christian faith, righteousness, his estrangement from his then-wife Kim Kardashian, and his late mother Donda West, after whom the album is named. After missing the first release date, West held further recording sessions at Bighorn Mountain Ranch in Greybull, Wyoming in July 2020, with Lil Baby recording a verse for 'Hurricane', and in September he recorded music with Buju Banton and Saint Jhn in Jamaica. Work on the record was then postponed until March 2021, when he resumed recording amid his divorce from his wife Kim Kardashian, and in July he held a listening event for the re-named 'Donda' at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, after which he took up temporary residence in one of the locker rooms, converting it into a studio for finishing the recording and mixing with producer Mike Dean. 

After failing to meet the album's scheduled release date of 23 July 2021, West continued to record and live in Mercedes-Benz Stadium up until the second listening party held there on 5 August 2021. 'Donda' was released on 29 August 2021 by GOOD Music, after experiencing several delays to it's release date, and it was West's last release with the label, following the expiry of his contract. The album was met with polarizing reviews from music critics, with some criticizing it mercilessly, while others hailed it as the rapper's best album since 'Yeezus'. The 'Donda: With Child' era has a lot of unreleased content, the majority of which would leak around September 2023, and fans have been compiling alternative running orders for an expanded album ever since. Some are happy just to use the original leaks, while others have remixed them, or added extra instruments, but for this post I've listened to a number of different versions, and tried to use just the music that West recorded. I haven't used any tracks that appeared on the official release under the same title, even if the music was drastically different, and that means that this album is a completely stand-alone piece, possibly more in line with the original 'God's Country', as it includes a number of songs from those sessions. The cover is the original iconic green-red-blue artwork that ended up being replaced with an all-black image on the album's official release. 

Track listing

01 Donda / Blood Of The Lamb 
02 With Child / Precious 
03 Run (Cops Flash Put 'Em Up) 
04 Life Of The Party 
05 In God's Country 
06 God's Country 
07 Alien 
08 Welcome To My Life 
08 New Body 
10 12,000 Acres  
11 Our King 
12 Eternal Life 
13 This Is The Glory
14 Wake The Dead 
15 Spread My Wings/Off The Meds

Denim - Denim Take Over (1997)

Denim were formed in the early 90's following the disbanding of Lawrence Hayward's first band, the highly-regarded Felt. Known for the frequent disputes with his bandmates during the decade-long run of his first band, it came as little surprise that for his next project, he was not merely the uncontested leader, but the sole constant member. Denim was not a band in the traditional sense, but instead, Hayward worked with a revolving cast of musicians for Denim's various studio projects and live appearances. The band also found Hayward setting aside the lush but wiry guitar-based pop that was Felt's calling card, and instead founded a new sound inspired by glam rock, 70's pop, and distaff offshoots of early new wave, with the eclectic music tied together by Hayward's dryly witty, often bitterly satiric lyrics. Denim made its debut in 1992 with the album 'Back In Denim', in which Hayward celebrated the '70s with the song 'The Osmonds', and revealed his contempt for what followed on 'I'm Against the 1980's'. Recorded over the space of two years and released by Boys Own Records, the album fared well with critics but didn't sell especially well, and it wasn't until 1996 that Denim released their second record, the sprawling and eclectic 'Denim On Ice', which was issued by Echo Records, a UK imprint affiliated with Japan's Pony Canyon Records, but once again, record buyers proved less enthusiastic than critics. In early 1997, Denim shifted labels once again, this time to EMI, and their label debut was the collection of b-sides and unreleased tracks, 'Novelty Rock', but by late summer of 1997 Denim were gearing up for the release of their third album, 'Denim Take Over', and in advance of its release they planned to release 'Summer Smash' as the lead single. Copies were sent to radio and press in anticipation of an early September release date, but while initial reaction suggested Denim might have had a hit on their hands, the single was derailed by the death of Princess Diana in a car crash on 31 August 1997. Following Diana's death, EMI decided that releasing a song called 'Summer Smash' would be in poor taste, and they not only cancelled the release of the single and destroyed all copies still in their hands, but they shelved 'Denim Take Over' permanently. Following this frustrating turn of events, Hayward retired Denim, though he did re-record a few songs from the unissued album with his subsequent project, Go-Kart Mozart, but if you have fond memories of Denim and want to hear that third album, then here it is. 

Track listing

01 Denim Take Over
02 Island In The Sun
03 Delta Echo Echo Beta Alpha Neon Kettle
04 Lorra Laughs, Cilla
05 Summer Smash
06 West Brom Blues
07 Olly Olly
08 Transgressions
09 Sun's Out
10 City Centre
11 Synth Wizard
12 Robot Voice
13 City Of The Dead
14 Men Look At Women

Tuesday's Children - Bright Eyed Apples (1969)

Tuesday's Children were formed in 1966 by Phil Cordell, Mick Ware and Derrick Gough, who had been in a North London band called Steve Douglas And The Challengers, who later changed their name to The Prophets. The Prophets did some recording with producer Joe Meek, but nothing was ever issued, and when Steve Douglas and Freddie Fields left, the remaining members reformed the band as Tuesday's Children, adding Paul Kendrick on bass guitar and Derrick Gough on drums. The band signed to E.M.I. in 1966, and their debut single, 'When You Walk In The Sand', was written by Phil Cordell and was recorded at Maximum Sound studio in The Old Kent Road, London. It was released on the Columbia label in August 1966, and the flip was another Phil Cordell-penned track, 'High And Drifting'. 'When You Walk In The Sand' was in the Radio London Fab Forty for 2 weeks, but despite this moderate success, Cordell quit the band in summer of 1967 and subsequently had solo hits as Springwater. In August 1967 Tuesday's Children re-formed, drafting in Bob Hodges on Hammond organ, Phil McKenzie on tenor sax, and Roger Davies on baritone sax. Trumpet player Hilary Roy also joined and did four gigs with the group in September 1967, and 'Baby's Gone' was recorded at Abbey Road studios in September/October 1967, with the whole band playing on the session, alongside some brass players from producer Jack Dorsey's band. The song was written by Peter Callander and Mitch Murray and was released on the Pye label in November 1967, backed by Mick Ware's 'Guess I'm Losing You'. By December 1967, Tuesday's Children had become a four-piece again with the departure of Roger Davies and Phil McKenzie, and this line-up recorded two songs at the Chappel studio in New Bond Street in July 1968. By then the band were signed to Philips Records, who released their final single 'Bright Eyed Apples', but this song was relegated to the b-side after the other track 'She' had featured in the short film '29', which starred Alexis Kanner of the TV series 'Softly Softly' and 'The Prisoner'. By 1969, Tuesday's Children were changing direction, adapting to the new sounds and trends of the music scene, and they eventually renamed themselves Czar, and purveyed a much heavier sound, releasing a classic self-titled album in 1970. Had Tuesday's Children had a bit more luck after the, albeit, limited success of that first single then they might have stuck around long enough at Philips/Mercury to release this album.  

Track listing

01 In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Love
02 She
03 Doubtful Nellie
04 Ritual Fire Dance  
05 Mr. Kipling
06 When You Walk In The Sand
07 Bright Eyed Apples
08 High And Drifting
09 Baby's Gone
10 Guess I'm Losing You
11 Strange Light From The East
12 Ain't You Got A Heart

Vanessa Amorosi - Change (2002)

Vanessa Joy Amorosi was born on 8 August 1981 in Melbourne, Australia, and by the age of four she and her younger sisters, Mellissa and Natasha, were taking tap, jazz and classical ballet classes run by her uncle. At the age of 12 she started to perform in shopping centres and local council concerts under the supervision of her family, and in 1997 she signed a management contract with MarJac Productions and recorded a promo CD titled 'Get Here', which secured her a deal with Transistor Music Australia. In 1999 she released her debut single 'Have A Look', which became a Top 20 hit and went gold in Australia, and she followed that with 'Absolutely Everybody', an anthemic dance song, which reached the Top 10. When it was released internationally it also reached the Top 10 in many European countries, including the UK and Germany, where it received a gold certification. Two more singles followed, with 'Shine' and the double A-sided single 'The Power'/'Every Time I Close My Eyes' becoming major Australian hits, and a remixed version of 'Shine' was used by the airline Ansett Australia in a commercial. In 2000 she released her official debut album 'The Power', which went to number one on the Australian album charts, and she received six ARIA nominations at that year's awards. Her largest audience came in September 2000, with performances at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and at the Paralympic Games, and later that year she also made a special appearance at the Goodwill Games Opening and Closing ceremonies in Brisbane. 

In October 2001 she released an Australian only compilation album, with 'Turn To Me' featuring some new songs, and tracks from 'The Power', which were previously unreleased in Australia. In 2002 she recorded her second studio album, 'The Change', but it was only ever released in Germany, and contains the previous released singles 'One Thing Leads 2 Another', which debuted at No. 67 on the German Singles Chart, and the Australian exclusive single-release 'Spin (Everybody's Doin' It)', which became a top 50 hit on the ARIA Charts, and peaked at number 64 on the German Top 100. In February 2003 she travelled to Germany to perform her third single 'True To Yourself' on the hugely successful long-running show 'Wetten, dass..?', which screens throughout Europe. 'Change' was set to be released in Australia later in 2003, but for reasons unknown it remains unreleased there, and it never seems to have been considered for a UK or US release. In January 2006 she revealed that she had signed with manager Ralph Carr, having completed seven years with MarJac Productions, and in November she signed to Universal Music Australia, who released her second studio album 'Somewhere In The Real World' in May 2008. Despite her long absence from the music scene, after singing 'Kiss Your Mama!' on Australian Idol she returned to the charts, with the single release peaking at number 15. 'Change', however, was now long forgotten, and it's a shame that it received such a limited release, as it's a great album, and to show you just how good, here it is for you to enjoy.  

Track listing

01 One Thing Leads 2 Another  
02 Turning Up The Heat  
03 Spin (Everybody's Doin' It)
04 Dream  
05 Change  
06 Lifted Up  
07 Back In Love  
08 Who's Lovin' You  
09 True To Yourself  
10 Follow Me  
11 Bitter Twist 
12 Sometimes Happiness

Frumious Bandersnatch - Can-A-Bliss (1968)

Originally from Lafayette, California, Frumious Bandersnatch named themselves after a character from Lewis Carroll's short poem 'Jabberwocky', having previously been known as All Night Flight. Lead guitarist David Denny was joined by local guitarists Jimmy Warner and Bob Winkelman to create a trio of raging fuzz guitars which blew the minds of any heads lucky enough to experience their winding compositions, and after they were joined by bassist Ross Valory and the group's lynchpin drummer Jack King, the ensemble recorded their sole EP in early 1968, and paid for 1000 copies to be pressed up. These flew off the shelves of Bay-area record shops and completely sold out after only a few weeks, but despite all the positive feedback, including gigs at many of the Bay's biggest venues, the group's manager, Jim Nixon, hampered the group's chances for a major-label record contract, despite several attractive offers. The band lingered for awhile before folding in late 1969, with some members going on to play in Faun, the arena-rocking legends Journey, and the Bay-area acid-rockers The Steve Miller Band. While a nice collection of their outtakes and live performances have been released as 'Golden Songs Of Libra' and 'A Young Man's Song', nothing on either of these compilations compares to the group's sole vintage vinyl offering. 

The EP opens with Jack King's 'Hearts To Cry', which was one of their finest moments, and this is followed by the short, swinging 'Misty Cloudy', before filling side two with the seven minute tour-de-force which is 'Cheshire', once again inspired by Lewis Carroll's famous cat. Luckily for us the band also laid down some other tracks while recording the EP, and these were spread over the two compilations, but by taking just the studio recordings, starting with an alternate take of 'Hearts To Cry', and including two lengthy pieces in the style of 'Cheshire', we can make up an album-length collection of the band's studio work from 1968, which they never managed to release during their lifetime. Frumious Bandersnatch have always been one of my very favourite Bay Area bands, and so I was thrilled to find that The Ultimate Psychedelic Vinyl HQ site has ripped an original copy of the band's EP in its original stereo incarnation, as the versions on Big Beat's 'Nuggets From The Golden State: The Berkeley EPs', were transferred from analogue tapes, with post-production done by David Young, and were in fact stereo remixes completely different from the original vinyl. So as a special treat, I'm including this rip of the original vinyl EP with the album, so we now have just about everything that the band recorded in the studio. The sole exception is a song, which if I recall correctly, they wrote as an advertisement for a local paper company, and while it's actually pretty good, it doesn't really belong here, and you can soon find it online if you really want to hear it. So if you have the slightest interest in late 60's West Coast psyche and you haven't heard this band, then prepare to have your mind blown. 

Track listing

01 Hearts To Cry
02 Chain Reaction
03 Woodrose Syrup
04 Pulpit Huff
05 Now That You've Gone
06 45 Cents
07 Black Box
08 Can-A-Bliss

plus Original 1968 EP

01 Hearts To Cry (Take 2)
02 Misty Cloudy
03 Cheshire

Jay-Z - Addicted To The Game (2001)

Jay-Z spent much of 2001 involved in disputes with other rappers, starting with a clash with Prodigy, after he took an issue with a Jay-Z line from 'Money, Cash, Hoes' that he felt alluded disparagingly to Mobb Deep and Prodigy's dispute with Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Death Row Records. Jay-Z later performed the song 'Takeover' at Summer Jam 2001, which initially attacked Prodigy, and had a line which referred to Nas, who criticized him on 'We Will Survive', to which Nas responded with a diss of his own, and Jay-Z straightaway added a verse to 'Takeover' that dissed Nas, and which would start a feud between the two rappers which lasted for four years. In September 2001 Jay-Z released his sixth studio album, 'The Blueprint', which he'd written in just two days, and which sold more than 427,000 copies, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Eminem guest performed and produced the track 'Renegade', while four others were produced by Kanye West, and it included future favourites 'Izzo (H.O.V.A.)', 'Girls, Girls, Girls', and 'Song Cry'. In October 2001, Jay-Z pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for stabbing record producer Lance Rivera at the Kit Kat Klub in New York City in 1999, but despite his sentence of three years probation for the crime, Rivera later recanted the allegations in 2023. By the end of this eventful year there were a dozen or so unreleased tracks from the 'Blueprint' sessions floating around the internet, so here is the fourth collection of out-takes from the rapper, this one covering the year 2001.    

Track listing

01 20 Bag Shorty (feat. Boo Gotti) 
02 People's Court 
03 Murda Marcyville (feat. Memphis Bleek & Geda K)
04 Show You How
05 Rock Steady (feat. Mary J Blige)
06 It's Obvious (feat. Rell) 
07 Mi Amor (feat. Angie Martinez) 
08 Addicted To The Game 
09 I Get High (feat. Memphis Bleek, Freeway & Young Gunz)
10 Supa Ugly 
11 Murda Marcyville (Remix) 

Diana Dors - I Feel So Mmm... (1981)

Diana Dors was born Diana Mary Fluck on 23 October 1931, and was an English actress who cast very much in the role of the British blonde bombshell to rival Americans stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van Doren. From the age of eight, Hollywood actresses Veronica Lake, Lana Turner, and Jean Harlow became her heroines, and she enjoyed going to the cinema to watch them. Towards the end of the war she entered a beauty contest to find a pin-up girl for Soldier Magazine and she came in third place, which led her to work as a model in art classes, and she began to appear in such local theatre productions as 'A Weekend In Paris' and 'Death Takes A Holiday'. Her screen debut was in the noir film 'The Shop at Sly Corner' in 1947, and it was while signing the contract with the studio that she changed her name to Dors, after her maternal grandmother. She later joked that it was because "the studio were afraid that if her real name of Diana Fluck was in lights and one of the lights blew ...". At the age of 15, Dors signed a contract with the Rank Organisation, and joined J. Arthur Rank's "Charm School" for young actors, subsequently appearing in many of their films. Rank promoted her to leading roles in 1949's 'Diamond City', the story of a boom town in South Africa in 1870. In April 1952 she appeared in a stage revue with Wally Chrisham, 'Rendezvous', which eventually made it to London, and a review in Variety said that she made the "only noteworthy contribution" to the play, which ultimately only had a short run. In March 1953, Dors did a cabaret act in Glasgow, and she began touring a variety act, and performed variations of this act throughout her career. 

This also led to a 78rpm single being released in 1953, with the suggestive 'I Feel So Mmm...' as the A-side, but despite the record showing that she had a fine singing voice, it was to be seven years before she signed a record deal with Pye Records, and recorded the now much praised 'Swingin' Dors' album. A couple of singles were released from it, and then another three year gap ensued, while she continued her film career, and branched out into acting on TV shows, such as 'Burke's Law' and 'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'. Her recording career continued sporadically, with new records coming out in 1964 and 1966, but by 1968 she was appearing in the stage musicals 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' and 'Doctor Doolittle'. From 1970 to 1972  Dors starred in three series of the UK TV sitcom 'Queenie's Castle' as the titular Queenie, and during this period she also appeared in episodes of UK dramas 'Z Cars', 'Dixon Of Dock Green', 'Just William', 'The Sweeney', 'Hammer House Of Horror', and 'Shoestring'. She released another single in 1977, followed four years later by her last recording 'Where Did They Go' in 1981. Unusually for a recording artist of her fame, her musical career spanned 30 years and yet only consisted of seven singles, but as there were cast recordings issued of the two musicals that she starred in, we also have examples of her theatre work to add to those 45's. So here is a summary of the musical career of one of the most glamourous British film stars of the 40's, 50's and 60's, and I don't think I'll be the only person to remark on what a surprise it is to find out what a fine voice she had. 

Track listing

01 I Feel So Mmm... (single 1953)
02 A Kiss And A Cuddle (And A Few Kind Words From You) (b-side of 'I Feel So Mmm...')
03 So Little Time (single 1964)
04 It's Too Late (b-side of 'So Little Time')
05 Security (single 1966)
06 Garry (b-side of 'Security')
07 Do It Again (from the cast recording of 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' 1968)
08 Jazz Baby (from the cast recording of 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' 1968)
09 At The Crossroads (from the cast recording of 'Doctor Dolittle' 1968)
10 Fabulous Places (from the cast recording of 'Doctor Dolittle' 1968)
11 I Think I Like You (from the cast recording of 'Doctor Dolittle' 1968)
12 Passing By (single 1977)
13 It's A Small World (b-side of 'Passing By')
14 Where Did They Go (single 1981)
15 It's You Again (b-side of 'Where Did They Go' as Diana & Gary Dors)

Jesus Jones - Starting From Scratch (2004)

Jesus Jones were one of the leading purveyors of the early 1990's alternative dance scene, and were formed in late 1988, when while on holiday in Spain, Mike Edwards, Gen, and Al Doughty decided to leave the band they were in at the time, and form their own. The name of the band came about when they realised that they were three "Joneses" sitting on a beach in Spain surrounded by people called Jesus, and once they were back in London they advertised in the music press for a guitarist, and Jerry De Borg joined the band. Edwards had recently met Iain Baker in a pub in North London, and they had got talking as fellow skateboarders, and Edwards asked Baker to join as the keyboardist. This line-up recorded their first album 'Liquidizer', which was released on Food Records in 1989, and it was greeted with critical acclaim, in particular the single 'Info Freako', which featured buzzing rock guitars with samples and a hip-hop sensibility, which was relatively new at the time. In the spring of 1990, Jesus Jones recorded their second album, 'Doubt', but their record label was forced to delay its release until the beginning of 1991, but it sold well, helped by the success of the 'Right Here, Right Now' single, which reached No. 2 in the US and No. 31 in the UK. Other singles from Doubt included 'Real, Real, Real' and 'International Bright Young Thing', which became two of their biggest hit singles in the UK, reaching No. 19 and No. 7 respectively. The follow-up to 'Doubt' was 1993's 'Perverse', a darker and more industrial based album, which, though a big seller, did not reach the worldwide hit status of 'Doubt', although it was one of the first rock albums recorded entirely digitally. 

Possibly due to the poorer sales of the 'Perverse' album, the band took an extended hiatus and did not return to the recording studio until December 1996. After the recording of their fourth album, drummer Gen left the band before the album was released, and when 'Already' did appear in 1997, it signalled the end of their record deal with Food/EMI, and they parted company. The band broke up shortly afterwards, although the members remained in contact, and they came back with new drummer Tony Arthy in 2001, releasing the low-selling 'London' album on indie label Mi5 Recordings, while EMI issued the greatest hits compilation 'Never Enough: the Best of Jesus Jones' as a spoiler to their re-formation. Following the release of the 'Culture Vulture EP' in 2004, no new studio material from the band would appear until 2016, when they released 'How's This Even Going Down?' and 'Suck |It Up' from new album 'Passages', which eventually came out in 2018, followed shortly by a collection of demos titled 'Voyages' the same year. The single 'Right Here, Right Now' was resurrected in 2006 as an advertising jingle for the American retailer Kmart, in an image campaign for CBS News, in promotional advertisements for the now defunct television channel, TechTV, and by the Ford Motor Company in their 2010 televisual advertising campaign, all of which helped keep the band's name alive. During their 15 year career they released quite a few singles, nearly all of which had exclusive non-album tracks or significantly differing remixes on the b-sides, and so as a reminder of one of the founders of the indie/dance scene, they are all collected together here, along with a couple of their idiosyncratic covers gifted to compilation albums. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1989-1990
01 Broken Bones (b-side of 'Info Freako' 1989)
02 Info Sicko (b-side of 'Info Freako' 1989)
03 Enough - Never Enough (b-side of 'Never Enough' 1989)
04 It's The Winning That Counts (b-side of 'Never Enough' 1989)
05 Cut And Dried (b-side of 'Bring It On Down' 1989)
06 None Of The Answers (b-side of 'Bring It On Down' 1989)
07 Beat It Down (b-side of 'Bring It On Down' 1989)

08 I Don't Want That Kind Of Love (from 'The Food Christmas EP' 1989)
09 Dead People's Lives (b-side of 'Real Real Real' 1990)
10 Barry D Next To Cleanliness (b-side of 'Real Real Real' 1990)
11 Move Me (b-side of 'Right Here Right Now' 1990) 
12 Damn Good At This (b-side of 'Right Here Right Now' 1990) 

Disc II - 1990-1993
01 Maryland (b-side of 'International Bright Young Thing' 1990)
02 Need To Know (b-side of 'International Bright Young Thing' 1990)
03 IBYT 12 (b-side of 'International Bright Young Thing' 1990)
04 Who? Where? Why? (The 7" Crisis Mix) (single 1991)
05 Caricature (b-side of 'Who? Where? Why?')
06 Kill Today (b-side of 'Who? Where? Why?')
07 Phoenix (b-side of 'The Devil You Know' 1992)
08 Want To Know (Knowledge Mix) (b-side of 'The Devil You Know' 1992)
09 Voodoo Chile (from the 'Ruby Trax' compilation 1992)
10 Starting From Scratch (b-side of 'The Right Decision' 1993)

Disc III - 1997-2004
01 Natural State Of Grey (b-side of 'Chemical #1' 1997)
02 Change Of Season (b-side of 'Chemical #1' 1997)
03 We Are So Fragile (from the Gary Numan tribute album 'Random' 1997)
04 Man On The Moon (b-side of 'The Next Big Thing' 1997)
05 Far Out In Nowhere (b-side of 'The Next Big Thing' 1997)
06 Together (b-side of 'The Next Big Thing' 1997)
07 Wired And Windburned (b-side of 'In The Face Of All This' 2002)
08 Come On Home (single 2002)
09 Culture Vulture (single 2004)
10 Find The Dial (b-side of 'Culture Vulture')
11 Head In The Sand (b-side of 'Culture Vulture')
12 Halfway House (b-side of 'Culture Vulture')

Azie Mortimer - Put Yourself In My Place (1973)

Azie Mortimer was a nightclub singer who performed jazz when appearing live, but recorded primarily as a soul or R&B singer out of Chicago. She recorded for a variety of record labels at the start of her career, issuing one-off singles on the Bigtop, Regatta, Troy, Palette and Swan labels between 1960 and 1963, before being given a chance by some of the bigger labels like Epic and RCA Victor. In the end she went back to Troy Records in 1968 for a couple more records, before moving on to Number One Records for three singles in 1969. In 1971 she released her sole album, 'Feeling Of Jazz', which as the title suggests was a jazz vocal record, despite the fact that nearly all of her singles were in the soul and R&B genre. In 1967 she married renowned academic Mort Kaplan, and she predeceased him by a few months, with them both passing away in 2017. Mortimer left behind a largely ignored body of work, possible because she didn't have a steady label behind her who could promote her records, but this hour long collection showcases some of the fine music that she produced in her decade long career in the 60s'. And in case you're wondering, the intro to 'The Best Years (Of Our Lives)' is supposed to sound like that.   

Track listing 

01 Lips (single 1960)
02 Wrapped Up In A Dream (b-side of 'Lips')
03 Treat Me Like You Love Me (single 1961) 
04 Little Playboy (single 1962)
05 A Forever Kind Of Love (b-side of 'Little Playboy')
06 Mama, What Should I Do (single 1962)
07 When You're Talking Love (b-side of 'Mama, What Should I Do')
08 Put Yourself In My Place (single 1963)
09 Bring Back Your Love (b-side of 'Put Yourself In My Place')
10 (I Get The Feeling) You're Ashamed Of Me (single 1965)
11 The Other Half Of Me (b-side of '(I Get The Feeling) You're Ashamed Of Me')
12 Little Miss Everything (single 1966) 
13 The Best Years (Of Our Lives) (b-side of 'Little MIss Everything')
14 Untouched By Human Love (single 1968) 
15 That's That (Get Off My Back) (single 1969)
16 Eternally (b-side of 'That's That (Get Off My Back)')
17 I Don't Care (single 1970)
18 Prove It (b-side of 'I Don't Care')
19 You Can't Take It Away (single 1970)
20 A One Way Love (Is A Wrong Way Love) (b-side of 'You Can't Take It Away')
21 Haunted (single 1973)
22 Cool It (b-side of 'Haunted')
23 Telling A Lie (single 1973)
24 Set This Happiness Inside Me Free (single 1973) 
25 Moments (b-side of 'Set This Happiness Inside Me Free')

The Myddle Class - Gates Of Eden (1967)

In the early 60's The King Bees got together, consisting of Dave Palmer on lead vocals, Rick Philp on guitar, Chris Irby on bass guitar (soon replaced by Charles Larkey), Danny Mansolino on organ, and Mike Rosa on drums. They soon became known for their exciting live shows, which included songs such as 'Shout', 'She's Not There' and the original, 'It's The Season', and after a show at the Berkeley Heights CYO in December 1964, the band met the New York Post columnist Al Aronowitz, who, despite his lack of experience in the business side of music, became the group's manager. He introduced the band to Carole King and Gerry Goffin, the well-known husband-and-wife song writing team, and they agreed to write songs and produce the group. In late 1965, the King Bees changed their name to the Myddle Class to distinguish themselves from Danny Kortchmar's King Bees, who just had just released a record on RCA Victor, and in October, Goffin and King signed the Myddle Class to their new label, Tomorrow Records. Their first single, 'Free As The Wind', backed with a full-band rendition of Bob Dylan's 'Gates Of Eden', was released on Tomorrow in December 1965, and the Goffin/King penned A-side was a well-produced piece of garage-informed folk rock. The song became a hit in Albany, New York, but despite a glowing Billboard review, it failed to catch on outside the region, and so the band played at many of New York's leading clubs, such as the Night Owl and Cafe Au Go Go, to enhance their live reputation. 

In 1966, the Myddle Class released a follow-up single, 'Don't Let Me Sleep Too Long', which the band took from a demo by the Blues Project that later became their hit 'Wake Me Shake Me', and this hard-rocking single more accurately reflected the band's live sound, and reached #2 on the Albany charts, but like their first single did not reach a wider market. After Goffin and King's distribution deal with Atco fell apart, they were able to sign a deal with Cameo-Parkway to distribute the Tomorrow label, but the band encountered a number of discouraging setbacks around this time. They had a successful audition with producer Tom Wilson for MGM Records, but apparently Al Aronowitz did not allow the deal to go through, while in February 1967 they opened for the Animals, but their set was marred by technical problems in the microphones and public address system, resulting in poor reviews for the band's performance. In April 1967, the Myddle Class released one last single, with a cover of The Temptations 'Don't Look Back' as the A-side, backed by their own 'Wind Chime Laughter'. 

By late 1967, with some of the band's members either away at college or pursuing other musical ventures, the Myddle Class was rarely performing live, and what little active time they had was used to record demos for Goffin and King songs intended for other artists. Palmer and Philp signed a publishing with Screen Gems-Columbia, the same publishers representing Goffin and King at this time, but a promise from Don Kirshner to sign the group to Colgems never materialized. Danny Kortchmar replicated Philp's guitar parts for the Myddle Class' last recordings in 1969, and an album was planned for the summer, but any future chances of the band re-activating were dashed when guitarist Philp was murdered by his former roommate in Boston in May. By this point, the band's enthusiasm was had long receded, and they broke up shortly afterwards, with Dave Palmer going on to join Steely Dan as the vocalist on their early records. The band had already recorded enough material for an album-length release by 1967, but most of these recordings were released as singles, leaving little over for a long-player, but as most of us won't have heard those singles then this album hangs together extremely well as a summary of their work up to the end of 1967.   

Track listing

01 Gates Of Eden
02 I Happen To Love You
03 Lovin' Season
04 Don't Look Back
05 Wind Chime Laughter
06 Man On The Bridge
07 You Better Know
08 Free As The Wind
09 Don't Let Me Sleep Too Long
10 An Angel Walks Beside Me
11 Who Does He Love
12 Fun & Games

Denim - Denim (2005)

'Denim' was the stage name used by Rhashida Stafford from 2003 to 2010, while she was signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. In late late 2003 she started working on her debut album, and a taster single was released in the form of 'Friends (You Ain't Right)', but before it was completed it was shelved by the record label, with some of the songs later appearing on mixtapes and promo CD's over the next couple of years, while others have remained unreleased. At the same time as laying down tracks for her album, she also collaborated with her labelmates Memphis Bleek, Young Gunz and Kanye West, appearing on their songs, but her biggest exposure came with her contribution to the soundtrack of the 2011 film 'Footloose', where she was the featured singer on her co-composition 'Dance The Night Away'. Since then not much has been heard from her, but most of the songs from that abandoned debut album have since surfaced, and so here is an approximation of what Denim's first full length record could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 Friends (You Ain't Right) 

02 Keep It Movin' (feat. Nicole Wray)

03 Microphone

04 Brooklyn's Finest (interlude)

05 Your Lady

06 I Should Have Listened 

07 Many Men 

08 Who I Am 

09 Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh (Freestyle) 

10 Love Games (feat. Freeway)

11 Hell's Angel

12 Thru Da Wire (Freestyle) 

13 Time To Shine 

14 Giving U All (I Am) 

The Onyx - Kaleidoscope Of Colours (1967)

I was quite pleased at how my recent post from Jason Crest turned out, where I extracted the songs recorded for their unreleased album from the various compilation albums that are doing the rounds, and made a record that was more rooted in one particular period of their career. It does seem to me that when a record company decides to release a retrospective of an obscure group from the 60's they tend to chuck everything that they can find into the mix, and so we end up with singles, b-sides, demos, acetetes, alternate versions and mixes, multiple versions of the same songs, and sometimes even what the lead singer got up to when the band broke up! I have a number of these compilations, and it is a chore having to skip the inferior tracks or the multiple takes, and so I've decided to take the raw material and use it to compile an album that the group could have recorded at a certain point in their career, using just the best songs and recordings. Sometimes this does mean that the result is very much in the spirit of an actual 60's album, and might only be 35-40 minutes long, but that just adds to the authenticity of the album. I'm starting with a band who are mostly known for their classic 1969 single 'Tamaris Khan', but this music is from earlier in their career.   
The Onyx were a psychedelic rock band formed in Wadebridge, Cornwall, England in 1965. They were descended from a band called The Jaguars, which consisted of Tony Priest on vocals, Fritz Philips on drums, Cliff Webb on lead guitar, Rob Hancock on bass, and Anthony Jewel on rhythm guitar, with the addition of 13 year old guitarist Alan Hodge. After winning a battle of the band contest in Cronwall, they went through a number of line-up changes, and they eventually settled on Priest on vocals, with Steve Cotton on lead guitar, Mike Black-Borow on bass, Pete England on rhythm guitar, and Chris Cotterell on drums, with the new band beinf christened The Onyx Set, named after an Onyx ring owned by band member Black-Borow. After more changes in the line-up they shortened their name to The Onyx and the classic line-up was formed, with Preist and Cotton being joined by bassist Dick Bland and drummer Roger Dell (after a pre-Queen Roger Taylor turned them down), plus a returning Alan Hodge. The band evolved from doing cover versions of popular contemporary beat bands in their early days to psychedelia, and in 1967 they used Bob Potter's studio to record demos of some of the songs that they had been working on, including the live favourite 'Kaleidoscope Of Colours', which was a great piece of pop-psych, and included their only foray into phasing. Another track recorded during these sessions was the quirky progressive pop number 'Climb That Tree', which would be covered the following year by She Trinity on the b-side of their 'Hair' single, with the girls using the Onyx backing track for their recording.

Through Potter's contacts the band hooked up with songwriter Guy Fletcher and lyricist Doug Flett, who were fresh from working with Wishful Thinking, and they agreed to work with the band on what would become their first single. The Flett/Fletcher penned and produced 'You've Gotta Be With Me'/'It's All Put On' was released by Pye Records in 1968, but despite healthy local sales and an airing by Alan Freeman on the Top Of The Pops radio show, the record failed to fully take off. 'My Son John' followed later that year, to much the same reception, and so Fletcher and Flett decided to try something different, and moved in a more psychedelic direction with their next song 'Tamaris Khan', which gave guitarist Alan Hodge's Stratocaster and fuzz box their first opportunity to be let loose on record. It was released in 1969, and was the first single to include a band composition on the b-side, with their own 'So Sad Inside'. The single received some very positive press, with its excellent production, tight harmonies, searing guitar and a title hinting at something slightly lysergic without being too suggestive, but perhaps it was a bit too psychedelic for daytime radio, and not psychedelic enough for the underground. 'Tamaris Khan' has since become regarded as the band's high-point, and so that is a good place to take a break and re-evaluate their earlier work, most of which was recorded in 1967 in Bob Potter's studio, and so here is an album made up from the demos they laid down in that year, all housed in a suitable psychedelic cover. 

Track listing

01 Kaleidoscope Of Colours  
02 In Harmony
03 Travellin' Along
04 Billy
05 Life's Anticipation
06 I Put A Spell On You
07 On Our Way
08 Loneliness Cuts Like A Knife 
09 These Are The Things  
10 He's A Salesman
11 I Just Die
12 Porcelain Monuments
13 Louisa La Belle
14 I Used To Know Her
15 I Just Had To Laugh
16 Climb That Tree

Cud - Donkey With A Fez On (1995)

As mentoned in the recent Cud post, in 1995 bassist William Potter left the band and was replaced by Mick Dale, and this new line-up began working on material for their sixth studio album. Around 80 songs were written and demoed, but A&M repeatedly rejected the demos, urging the band to write "mid-paced, lyrically simple pop". None of the songs were commercially released, and neither did they feature in any live performances at that time, and as the band broke up later that year then that sixth album was never going to materialise. On 21 November 2001, Carl Puttnam returned to the music scene, selling a mail order only CD titled 'Donkey With A Fez On', being made up of the previously unreleased demo material which was intended for release after the 'Showbiz' album. Being mail order only, this CD is now extremely hard to find, and so for fans of the band who have always craved a sixth studio album, this will give you some idea of what it could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 Stay
02 Living Changing
03 In My Confidence
04 Two Speed
05 L.O.V.E.
06 Apollo
07 Lighthouse Of Love
08 Only One For Me
09 Everything's Alright
10 How Far
11 Let You Down
12 In My Confidence (Acoustic)
13 Up In The Light (For The First Time)
14 High And Dry
15 Eyesore
16 Why Does It Feel So Cold