Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson - BB (1973)

Björn Ulvaeus began his musical career at the age of 18 as a singer and guitarist, when he fronted the Hootenanny Singers, a popular Swedish folk–skiffle group. He started writing English-language songs for his group and even had a brief solo career alongside. Meanwhile, Benny Andersson was also 18, and was a member of a popular Swedish pop-rock group, the Hep Stars, that performed, among other things, covers of international hits. The Hep Stars were known as "the Swedish Beatles", and they even set up Hep House, their equivalent of Apple Corps. Andersson played the keyboard and eventually started writing original songs for his band, many of which became major hits, including 'No Response', which hit number three in 1965, and 'Sunny Girl', 'Wedding', and 'Consolation', all of which hit number one in 1966. The Hootenanny Singers and the Hep Stars sometimes crossed paths while touring, and in June 1966 Ulvaeus and Andersson decided to write a song together, with their first attempt being 'Isn't It Easy To Say', a song that was later recorded by the Hep Stars. Stig Anderson was the manager of the Hootenanny Singers and founder of the Polar Music label, and he saw potential in the collaboration, encouraging them to write more. The two also began playing occasionally with the other's bands, although it was not until 1969 that the pair wrote and produced some of their first real hits together. 

Andersson wrote and submitted the song 'Hej, Clown' for Melodifestivalen 1969, the national festival to select the Swedish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, and the song tied for first place, but re-voting relegated Andersson's song to runner-up. As their respective bands began to break up during 1969, Andersson and Ulvaeus teamed up and recorded their first album together, 'Lycka', in 1970, which included original songs sung by both men. Frida Lyngstad also participated in the Melodifestival in 1969, and this was where she first met Andersson, and before long they were a couple, with Andersson producing her single 'Peter Pan', which was her first collaboration with Benny & Björn, as they had written the song. During filming of a Swedish TV special in May 1969, Agnetha Fältskog met Ulvaeus and they married in 1971, and both girls started adding backing vocals to Benny & Björn's recordings. An attempt at combining their talents occurred in April 1970 when the two couples went on holiday together to Cyprus, and what started as singing for fun on the beach ended up as an improvised live performance in front of the UN soldiers stationed on the island. 

They then formed a stage act called Festfolket (which translates from Swedish as "Party People" and in pronunciation also "engaged couples"), but the cabaret show attracted generally negative reviews, except for the performance of the Andersson and Ulvaeus hit 'Hej, gamle man', which was their first recording to feature all four singers. They also performed solo numbers from their respective albums, but the lukewarm reception convinced the foursome to shelve plans for working together for the time being, and each soon concentrated on individual projects again. After the 1970 release of 'Lycka', two more singles credited to Björn & Benny were released in Sweden, 'Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa' and 'Tänk om jorden vore ung', with more prominent vocals by Fältskog and Lyngstad. The first signs of foreign success came as a surprise, as the Andersson and Ulvaeus single 'She's My Kind Of Girl' was released through Epic Records in Japan in March 1972, giving the duo a Top 10 hit. Two more singles were released in Japan, 'En Carousel' (an early version of 'Merry-Go-Round') and 'Love Has Its Ways'. Ulvaeus and Andersson persevered with their song-writing and experimented with new sounds and vocal arrangements, and 'People Need Love' was released in June 1972, with the women given much greater prominence, and so the single was released as by Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid. 

The song peaked at number 17 in the Swedish single charts, and convinced them that they were on to something. In 1973, the band and their manager Stig Anderson decided to have another try at Melodifestivalen, this time with the song 'Ring Ring', and he commissioned Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody to provide an English translation of the Swedish lyrics, but it only came third in Melodifestivalen, and so never reached the Eurovision Song Contest itself. Nevertheless, the group released their debut studio album, also called 'Ring Ring', and the title track was a hit single in many parts of Europe and also in South Africa. In 1973, Stig Anderson, tired of unwieldy names, started to refer to the group privately and publicly as ABBA, and after a competition to find a suitable name for the group was held in a Gothenburg newspaper, it was officially announced in the summer that the group were to be known as 'ABBA'. But that's a whole other story, and this post charts the four member's journey to that point, with all the non-album singles and b-sides that they released in the early 70's, right up to that original version of 'Ring Ring', which could be classed as their first pre-ABBA recording. 

Track listing

01 She's My Kind Of Girl (single 1970) 
02 Inga Theme (b-side of 'She's My Kind Of Girl')
03 Det Kan Ingen Doktor Hjälpa (single 1971) 
04 På Bröllop (b-side of 'Det Kan Ingen Doktor Hjälpa'
05 Tänk Om Jorden Vore Ung (single 1971) 
06 Träskofolket (b-side of 'Tänk Om Jorden Vore Ung'
07 Hey, Musikant (single 1971) 
08 Was Die Liebe Sagt (b-side of 'Hey, Musikant')
09 En Karusell (single 1972)
10 Att Finnas Till (b-side of 'En Karusell')
11 Love Has Its Ways (single 1972)
12 Rock'n Roll Band (b-side of 'Love Has Its Ways')

13 People Need Love (single as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid 1972) 
14 He Is Your Brother (single as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid 1972)
15 Santa Rosa (b-side of 'He Is Your Brother')
16 Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal) (single as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid 1973)
17 Ah, Vilka Tider (b-side of 'Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)')

Toni Wine - A Girl Is Not A Girl (1975)

Toni Wine was born on 4 June 1947 in Washington Heights, New York, and attended the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied piano. While she was still at high school she met school-teacher Carole Bayer Sager, and the two started writing songs together. Before long they were working as songwriters for Screen Gems Publishing, and Wine even had a hit single herself, when the holiday tune 'My Boyfriend’s Coming Home For Christmas' entered the Billboard special holiday charts at number 23 in 1963. In 1964 she co-composed a girl-group hit with Art Kornfield,  with The Shirelles taking 'Tonight You're Gonna Fall In Love With Me' to number 57 in the US charts. Also in 1964 she provided back-up vocal support for Gene Pitney on his hit 'It Hurts To Be In Love', but it was to 1966 before she got her biggest hit, when Wine and Sager wrote the song 'A Groovy Kind Of Love', which was recorded by The Mindbenders, and which reached the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1968 she entered the recording studio to take on back-up vocal duties, alongside Andy Kim, Bobby Bloom and lead voice Ron Dante, on The Archies' first hit 'Bang-Shang-A-Lang', which resulted in a number 22 chart position. The follow-up, 'Feelin' So Good (S.K.O.O.B.Y.-D.O.O.)' charted at number 53, and on the third single Wine stepped up to the microphone to share lead vocal duties with Ron Dante on yet another Jeff Barry/Andy Kim composition 'Sugar, Sugar', which became a massive hit, and the number one song of 1969. Going into 1970, a new group on the scene featuring a lead singer with a long-time recording career already under his belt, was Tony Orlando And Dawn, and they released a Toni Wine/Irwin Levine composition 'Candida', which resulted in a number 3 smash hit. Despite the song being credited to Tony Orlando And Dawn, there was no 'Dawn', and so Wine and Linda November were the singers on the track. She also recorded and released many singles on her own for various labels, right up to the mid-1980's, but other than her one holiday hit in 1963 she hasn't managed to reach the charts again. In the early 1970's she married famed producer Chips Moman and relocated to Memphis, where she released material for Atco and Monument, in addition to a busy career as a writer and session vocalist, performing on many commercials, and touring with Tony Orlando. Despite not being hits, some of her singles were really good, and so here is a selection of them, starting with her only hit from 1963, and ending in the mid-70's.

Track listing

01 My Boyfriend's Coming Home For Christmas (single 1963)
02 What A Pity (b-side of 'My Boyfriend's Coming Home For Christmas')
03 A Boy Like You (single 1964) 
04 Funny Little Heart (b-side of 'A Boy Like You')
05 A Girl Is Not A Girl (single 1964)
06 Only Fools (b-side of 'A Girl Is Not A Girl')

07 A Toy Is Only Made For Play (unknown year)
08 River Deep Mountain High (single 1967)
09 Toni's Tune (b-side of ''River Deep Mountain High')
10 Take A Little Time Out For Love (single 1970)
11 Sisters in Sorrow (b-side of 'Take A Little Time Out For Love')
12 Let's Make Love Tonight (single 1970)
13 Groovy Kind Of Love (single 1971)
14 I Want To See The Morning With Him (b-side of 'Groovy Kind Of Love')
15 Sugar Is Sweeter (single 1974) 
16 Forever's Only Been A Day (b-side of 'Sugar Is Sweeter')
17 Maybe My Baby Will (promo single 1975)

The Consortium - Whatever Became Of Emily Jane? (1969)

In 1964 guitarist Geoff Simpson joined Group 66, whose members included Robbie Fair on lead vocals, Brian Bronson on rhythm guitar and vocals, John Barker on bass and vocals, and John Podbury on drums, and who covered current songs from the charts. In 1965, the group named changed to Xit, and when Simpson began writing songs, the group put a demo tape together in early 1967, and sent iy off to various record companies. Tony Macaulay from Pye Records met up with the band in Denmark Street, and they were soon signed to the Pye label. However, Macaulay didn't like the name, and thought that a West Coast sounding name would suit them more, so they were renamed West Coast Consortium. Their first single was 'Some Other Someday', and it received favourable reviews, and charted on Radio London's Top Forty, but the song that the band had recorded as the follow-up was issued by Macaulay as a solo single by Robbie Fair, under the name Robbie. He tried to pass this off by saying that it was a rush release and the credits couldn't be changed, but this could have somewhat soured their relationship, as when they booked sessions to record Macaulay's 'Rainbow' the group began bickering and decided the session wasn't working. Instead, 'Rainbow' was recorded by David Garrick, and West Coast Consortium were handed over to another in-house Pye producer, Jack Dorsey, a former bandleader, who presented them with the song 'Colour Sergeant Lillywhite', which they recorded. 

A number of demos, recorded in the bedroom of bassist John Barker's home above his father's undertaker shop in Shoreditch, were cut to acetate, but then the group lost interest, as they felt that an LP wasn't important, and they returned to playing more gigs instead. During a gig at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, their fortunes took a turn for the better as Cyril Stapleton, head of Pye, came to see them play and expressed an interest in recording them. 'All The Love In The World' had been recorded with Jack Dorsey, but the group were not impressed with the result, so Stapleton produced another version, and it was released under a shortened group name Consortium. This 1969 single became a sizable hit after being championed by Radio One, reaching Number 22 in the UK, and spending nine weeks in the charts. Due to the single's success, Pye put pressure on Simpson to go back to the demos that had been recorded for the proposed album for a follow-up release, but he felt that the music scene had changed since that time, and the only song used was 'One Day The Train Never Came', which was slightly amended to 'The Day The Train Never Came' for the b-side of their next single 'When The Day Breaks'. This was a new song, recorded at the same session as 'All The Love In The World', but neither that nor their next two singles had any chart success, and so Consortium moved from Pye to Trend, a short-lived label owned by Barry Class, in 1969. They released 'Melanie Cries Alone' in 1970, and then booked a six month tour of Italy, but as Simpson had recently married and had new-born twins to look after, he left the group, with the rest of The Consortium fulfilling their obligations by touring Italy. Once the tour was finished they recorded a final single for Trend, 'Annabella', before calling it quits. They reformed in 1975 with a much heavier, almost psychedelic, style, and they recorded an album, 'Rebirth', which was then shelved until it sneaked out in 2006 on the Angel Air Label. None of the songs recorded in 1968 and 1969 were included on 'Rebirth', so there is an album waiting to be heard from the original incarnation of The Consortium, and this is it. 

Track listing

01 The Day The Train Never Came

02 Take A Round Trip

03 All The Love In The World

04 Fairground Playboy 

05 I Don't Want Her Anymore

06 Cynthia Serenity

07 The House Upon The Hill

08 Beggar Man

09 Whatever Became Of Emily Jane?

10 Windmill Hill

11 When The Day Breaks

12 Money Matters

13 Come On Into The Warm

14 Spending My Life Saying Goodbye

RichGirl - Fall In Love With RichGirl (2009)

RichGirl was an American R&B four-piece vocal girl group, consisting of Audra Simmons, Christina "Brave" Williams, Lyndriette Smith (now known as Kristal, and later a member of June's Diary) and Amber Streeter (now known as Sevyn Streeter, and formerly of TG4). They were formed with the help of record producer Rich Harrison, and signed to his label Richcraft Entertainment, through Jive Records, drawing inspiration from the musical talents of Destiny's Child, Spice Girls, SWV, En Vogue, TLC, and Beyoncé. They began work on their self-titled debut album in 2009, due for release early 2010, and Streeter described the album as "motivational, empowering, fun, and honest". The girls wrote several songs for the record and did their own vocal arrangements, although they would liked to have written more, but for the label pushing them to get it done. Alongside working on their album, they performed at the annual Teen Takeover event in May 2009, alongside Keri Hilson and Yung L.A., and were an opening act for Beyoncé on the North American leg of her I Am ... Tour in June 2009. Their first official release was the promotional single, '24's', featuring Bun B, on 5 February 2009, which only managed to peak at number eighty-three on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2009. Their official debut single, 'He Ain't wit Me Now (Tho)', was released on 2 June 2009, and peaked thirteen lower than '24's', although the follow-up, 'Swagger Right', fared slightly better at number 72. 

On 9 September 2009, RichGirl released a free EP through their official website, which included their lead single 'He Ain't Wit Me Now (Tho)' and promotional single '24's', along with snippets of tracks from their then upcoming album, including 'Back 2 Tha Club', 'Millionaire', and the demo of the second single 'Swagger Right', tentatively titled 'Get Ya Swagga Right'. Possibly because of the poor performance of their singles, release of their debut album was delayed again and again, until in 2011 RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records, resulting in the girls (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) being told that future material would be released on the RCA Records brand. With no sign of their album being released, the band posted a mixtape on their website, with 'Fall In Love With RichGirl' being made available for free download. Following poor commercial success from their official singles, speculation arose as the members of the group began to release music individually, and in October 2011 it was confirmed that RichGirl member Lyndriette Smith had been enrolled in Robin Antin's revised edition of the Pussycat Dolls, although this was later retracted. She did release a solo EP entitled 'Proclamation' in December 2011, and in March 2012 Streeter released a song titled 'Red Handed' under the name Se7en, and that pretty much sounded the death knell for the band. Although their debut album never appeared, most of the songs which were intended to be on it did surface on their mixtape, so that's a pretty good substitute for the album which was shelved, and it's a fitting summary of their short career. 

Track listing

01 No Hands  
02.Smile & Wave (feat. Chris Brown) 
03 RichGirl Rock 
04.Circles 
05 Lay It Down 
06 Grenade 
07 You Are My Rock
08 All Of The Lights  
09 Decisions  
10 DJ Got Us Falling In Love  
11 Ready For Love  
12 Got Away 
13 Hello (So Damn Right) / Can't Shake
14 Can't Shake 
15 Lucky You Are 

The Underground Garden - The Underground Garden (1978)

Following on from the mysterious Monk album that I posted recently, I thought I'd set a little puzzle, and so I'm posting a pop album that could have come out in 1978, and I want to know if anyone can work out who it's by. There are some clues in the titles, and some of the songs themselves, and as an extra hint I can tell you that the backing band is made up of Chris Spedding on guitar, Les Hurdle on bass, Clem Cattini on drums, and Alan Parker on keyboards. I've called the band The Underground Garden, after one of the tracks from the album, and all of the songs have been released officially, but not under the singers name. So before you head off to Google, give it a listen and see if you can work out who is this mysterious singer/songwriter/producer. I will admit that it will probably be aimed more at UK-based visitors who were around in 1978, but everyone can give it a listen, as the songs are all pretty good pop of the period, and were actually quite successful here in the UK.    

Track listing

01 The Underground Garden>
02 Rainmaker
03 Dreaming In The Sun
04 Edinburgh Rock
05 Look Out For The Giant
06 From Wimbledon With Love
07 Miss Adelaide
08 The Return Of Cousin Yellowstone
09 The March Of The Machines
10 Exercise Is Good For You (Laziness Is Not)
11 The Jungle Is Jumping
12 Wimbledon Sunset
13 The Empty Bag Blues

The Troyes - Morning Of The Rain (1967)

The Troyes were formed in Battle Creek in 1965 by Fred Dummer on lead guitar, Jerry Younglove on rhythm guitar, Brad Keagle on bass, Lee Koteles on organ and lead vocals, and Bill Hirakis on drums, and as the members couldn't agree on a name they picked one that didn't mean anything at all. Before they reached the recording studio, Keagle left and was replaced by Gary Linke on rhythm guitar, with Younglove moving to bass, and this line-up cut two songs for release as a single on Phalanx Records. 'Why'/'Rainbow Chaser' came out on Phalanx in 1966, and climbed to number 3 in the local top 40 of September, but by the time that single was released the band had signed to a new label started by a friend of Koteles' mother, who wanted to start a record label, and so he formed Space Records. The label owner, Ray Anthony, believed in the band, and paid for studio sessions so that they could record their own material, with the aim of releasing an album by the group. Eight songs were recorded at United Sound Studios in December 1966, with a further six tracks laid down in June 1967. Two of these later recordings were released as the band's second single 'Love Comes, Love Dies'/'Help Me Find Myself' on Space Records, but it didn't match the success of their first single. At their peak The Troyes were producing a mix of far-out psychedelic rock, unhinged fuzz and garage, and moody haunting sounds, but by 1968 the were moving towards a heavier sound with their final recording 'Corn Flake', which was so named because they hailed from the home of the Kelloggs empire. They were certainly one of the Cereal City's finest exports, who should have been bigger, as for an obscure band they were a really excellent garage/beat group, and as we know exactly which songs were recorded for their proposed album, it's fairly easy to reconstruct what it would have sounded like had Space Records been able to release it in 1967 as they'd planned.  

Track listing

01 Help Me Find Myself
02 Why
03 I Don't Need You
04 Rainbow Chaser
05 Mari
06 Tomorrow
07 Someday You'll See My Side
08 Love Comes Love Dies
09 I Know Different
10 The Good Night
11 Morning Of The Rain
12 I'm Gone
13 Blanket Of My Love
14 Turn Around
15 Jezebel

Tina Charles - Hot Hits (1973)

As I mentioned in the last post from Tina Charles, in the early 70's she got a job recording vocals on the 'Top Of The Pops' and 'Hot Hits' series of albums, where anonymous artists covered contemporary hits. In his early days Elton John had also earned extra money by doing this (see his own post here), and Charles found herself not only covering songs by female vocalists, but she was the go-to singer to tackle the teenyboppers of the period, such as Donny Osmond and Michael Jackson, who were only around 13 or 14 at the time, and whose voices had not yet broken. Over a few years she covered scores of songs, which were spread over a variety of the these records, such as 'Parade Of Pops', 'Best Of '72', 'Smash Hits', 'Pick Of The Hits', and the two most popular of these cash-in records, Hallmark's 'Top Of The Pops' and mfp's 'Hot Hits'. As an example of her work in this field, here are fourteen of her covers of hits from the early 70's, all housed in a suitably retro cover

Track listing 

01 Song Of My Life (Petula Clark) 
02 Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (Middle Of The Road)  
03 Let Me Be There (Olivia Newton John)
04 The Witch (The Rattles)
05 Paper Roses (Marie Osmond)
06 Lookin' Through The Windows (The Jackson 5)
07 Banner Man (Blue Mink)
08 Puppy Love (Donny Osmond)
09 Won't Somebody Dance With Me (Lynsey De Paul) 
10 Doctor My Eyes (The Jackson 5)
11 Come Back And Shake Me (Clodagh Rodgers)
12 Ben (Michael Jackson)
13 Why (Donnie Osmond)
14 You Can Do Magic (Limmie And Family Cooking)

Monk - Monk (1971) **UPGRADE TO THE UPGRADE**

I've recently discovered that the de-clicker I use to try to improve old crackly 45's has a Super-scan facility, and so the first album I wanted to try it out on was this old acetate by the mysterious band Monk. I thought the best thing would be to start right from the beginning, so I downloaded a fresh copy of it, and when splitting out the tracks I found that I'd split the third track in half, as it had a fade in the middle which made it sound like it had finished, and so from then on all the track titles were incorrect for side one. As well as correcting that, I've also tried to remove some of the louder clunks, in particular on 'Fantasy 2: The Beast', and so this upgrade is not only for the sound quality, but also to correct the track listing. When I tracked this down again there had been a recent comment added that a record label was looking to remaster this album and release it officially, but we've all heard that before, so if it doesn't happen then at least we have this copy to listen to. 

Speaking of an official release, Soulseeker Johntest has informed me that this did in fact happen in 2023, when Bright Carvings released a limited edition pressing of 227 copies of the fully remastered album, but as they are now long gone, I'm replacing my improved copy with a vinyl rip of one of the 227 copies from Youtube, and all I've had to do this time is split out the tracks and tidy up some fades. And I must admit that the more I listen to this, especially in this new, cleaned-up version, the more I think that this really is a lost classic of progressive rock.   

Track listing

01 Fantasy 1: The Journey
02 Sit Back, Relax
03 House In The Country
04 Lazy Day
05 A Light In The Window
06 Fantasy 2: The Beast
07 Jesu 
08 Lover
09 And So To Bed
10 Intermezzo
11 Don't Talk About Me
12 Through An Electric Glass Darkly

The Coral - Music From The Other Side (2010)

In 1996, school-friends Ian Skelly and Paul Duffy began jamming together in the basement of Flat Foot Sams pub in Hoylake, and over the following months they were joined by Bill Ryder-Jones on lead guitar, Ian's older brother James Skelly on vocals and main song-writing duties, and then Lee Southall on rhythm guitar. The band were known briefly as Hive before choosing the name The Coral, and the line-up was completed with the addition of Nick Power, who joined as keyboard player in 1998. After seeing the band live, Alan Wills was impressed enough to put his dream of starting a record label into action, so that he could release music from the band, and as he couldn't find anyone else to take on the job, he reluctantly offered to manage them as well. After founding his Deltasonic label, Willis released the band's first single, 'Shadows Fall' in 2001, which was followed by two extended players, 'The Oldest Path EP' later that year, and the 'Skeleton Key EP' in 2002. Their eponymous debut album 'The Coral', came out in 2002, reaching number five on the UK Albums Chart, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize the day after its release. A successful UK tour and festival slots followed, along with the singles 'Goodbye', which just failed to crack the UK Top Twenty, a feat which 'Dreaming Of You' managed by reaching number thirteen. After a hectic year they recorded their second album 'Magic And Medicine' in 2003, and when it was released it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, and garnered much critical praise. It was largely made up of dreamlike acoustic ballads rather than the aggressive psychedelia of their debut, and the band were praised for their new-found maturity. 

They followed the release of the record with UK, European, American and Japanese tours, and a one-off festival Midsummer Nights Scream, held in a big top on the New Brighton promenade, and all four singles from the album reached the UK Top Thirty. Later in 2003 the band quickly recorded the mini-album 'Nightfreak And The Sons Of Becker', which was released in early 2004 with little promotion and no accompanying singles, and it marked another change in direction for the band, showcasing a darker, funkier and more lo-fi sound. In 2004 they began recording 'The Invisible Invasion', with Portishead's Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow as producers, and when it came out the following year it entered the UK Album Chart at number 3. A second CD containing live versions of songs from this and previous albums was included as a bonus with early copies of the album. In June 2005 guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones took a break from the band and it was announced that he would not tour again, but might continue to help with future recordings, and he was replaced by David McDonnell for the tour supporting 'The Invisible Invasion'. 

In late 2005 the band had written an album without Ryder-Jones entitled 'The Curse Of Love', but before it could be released Ryder-Jones was persuaded to rejoin at the start of 2006 as a full-time band member, and so the group shelved those songs in order to begin work on another album, 'Roots & Echoes'. During the summer of 2007 they toured with Arctic Monkeys, and in July they released the single 'Who's Gonna Find Me' as a taster for the album, which came out the following month. In contrast to their frenetic early material, this album was a much more laid-back affair, and emphasised the maturity to the band's song-writing. Tracks such as 'Rebecca You' and 'Music At Night' were embellished with string arrangements written by Ryder-Jones, and they even opened the BBC Electric Proms on 24 October 2007 with 'Who's Gonna Find Me' and 'In The Rain', where they were joined on stage by celebrity friend Noel Gallagher. In January 2008 Ryder-Jones left the band again, apparently due to experiencing panic attacks before playing live, and finding that his desire to be part of a commercially successful band had disappeared. Drawing a line under the first chapter of their career, the Coral released a three-LP and two-CD compilation album 'Singles Collection' on 15 September 2008, featuring all but two of their singles to date, and a second CD entitled 'Mysteries & Rarities' contained 19 previously unreleased songs, demos, outtakes and live recordings of earlier songs. 

In July 2010 The Coral released their sixth album 'Butterfly House', which was produced by John Leckie, of The Stone Roses and Radiohead fame, and for this record the songs had been crafted over a two-year period, during which the band fine-honed and road-tested the material. The deluxe version of this album came with a bonus CD of five additional songs, and critical reception was largely positive, with Record Collector Magazine stating that it was a contender for "2010 album of the year". Six months after the release of 'Butterfly House', they released 'Butterfly House Acoustic', which was a limited edition acoustic re-recording of the entire album, which they completed in a single day, after positive reviews of their acoustic live performances. As predicted by Record Collector, 'Butterfly House' was named UK Album Of The Year 2010 at the Music Producers Guild Awards in February 2011. In a March 2012 interview, bassist Paul Duffy reported that a new album was in progress at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Bristol, but in the Spring the band announced an indefinite hiatus in order to concentrate on individual projects, and their half-finished seventh album was shelved.

On 24 August 2014, Geoff Barrow announced, when standing in for Stuart Maconie on the BBC Radio 6 Music Freak Zone show, that The Coral were to release 'The Curse Of Love', which was the abandoned album recorded after Ryder-Jones left the group. This had been produced by Barrow, and after some remastering, it appeared later in 2014 on James Skelly's own record label, Skeleton Key Records. 

On 23 November 2015, the band announced their return after a five-year hiatus, and a new studio album, 'Distance Inbetween' would be released in March 2016, accompanied by UK and European tours in the Spring. Guitarist Paul Molloy joined the band during the recording of the album, replacing Lee Southall who had chosen to take a break from the group in order to focus on his personal life and solo project. In April 2018, the band announced their ninth studio album, 'Move Through The Dawn', which was then released on 10 August 2018, and they followed this in January 2021 with a new single, 'Faceless Angel', which heralded the release of their fairground-inspired double album 'Coral Island', which was released on 30 April. Despite being hailed as part of the "guitar group revival" of the early 2000's, they had little in common with their peers, and their music was a hybrid of psychedelia, dub reggae, Merseybeat and country, and their lyrics betrayed an obsession with the sea. This is particularly evident when listening to this collection of non-album b-sides from their career up to their temporary split in 2010, and to me these songs are so good that these three discs actually sound like proper albums in their own right.  

Track listing

Disc I - 2000-2003   

01 The Ballad Of Simon Diamond (b-side of 'Shadows Fall' 2000)

02 A Sparrow's Song (b-side of 'Shadows Fall' 2000)

03 The Oldest Path (from 'The Oldest Path' EP 2001)

04 God Knows (from 'The Oldest Path' EP 2001)

05 Short Ballad (from 'The Oldest Path' EP 2001)

06 Flies (from 'The Oldest Path' EP 2001)

07 Good Fortune (b-side of 'Goodbye' 2002)

08 Travelling Circus (b-side of 'Goodbye' 2002)

09 Answer Me (b-side of 'Dreaming Of You' 2002)

10 Follow The Sun (b-side of 'Dreaming Of You' 2002)

11 Dressed Like A Cow (from the 'Skeleton Key' EP 2002)

12 Darkness (from the 'Skeleton Key' EP 2002)

13 Sheriff John Brown (from the 'Skeleton Key' EP 2002)

14 Simian Technology (bonus track from Japanese edition of 'The Coral' 2002)

15 See-Through Bergerac (b-side of 'Don't Think You're The First' 2003)

16 Run Run (b-side of 'Pass It On' 2003)

17 Heartaches And Pancakes (b-side of 'Pass It On' 2003)

Disc II - 2003-2005

01 Witchcraft (b-side of 'Don't Think You're The First' 2003)

02 Teenage Machine Age (b-side of 'Don't Think You're The First' 2003)

03 Tiger Lily (b-side of 'Don't Think You're The First' 2003)

04 Who's That Knockin' (b-side of 'Secret Kiss' 2003)

05 See My Love (b-side of 'Secret Kiss' 2003)

06 Not The Girl (b-side of 'Secret Kiss' 2003)

07 Boy At The Window (b-side of 'Bill McCai' 2003)

08 Nosferatu (b-side of 'Bill McCai' 2003)

09 When The Good Times Go Bad (b-side of 'Bill McCai' 2003)

10 From A Leaf To A Tree (b-side of 'Bill McCai' 2003)

11 The Case Of Arthur Tannen (b-side of 'Something Inside Of Me' 2005)

12 The Box (b-side of 'Something Inside Of Me' 2005)

13 The Conjurer (b-side of 'Something Inside Of Me' 2005)

Disc III - 2005-2010

01 Gina Jones (b-side 'In The Morning' 2005)

02 The Image Of Richard Burton As Crom (b-side 'In The Morning' 2005)

03 Leeslunchboxbyblueleadandthevelcrounderpants (b-side 'In The Morning' 2005)

04 Who's Gonna Find Me (single 2007)

05 Ghostriders In The Sky (b-side of 'Who's Gonna Find Me')

06 Laughing Eyes (b-side of 'Who's Gonna Find Me')

07 The Voice (b-side of 'Who's Gonna Find Me')

08 Far From The Crowd (Acoustic) (b-side 'Jacqueline' 2007)

09 Pictures From The Other Side (b-side 'Jacqueline' 2007)

10 The Visitor (b-side 'Jacqueline' 2007)

11 The Dance Lingers On (b-side of 'Put The Sun Back' 2008)

12 One Winter's Day (b-side of 'Put The Sun Back' 2008)

13 Being Somebody Else (single 2008)

14 Depth Of Her Smile (b-side of 'Being Somebody Else' 2008)

15 The King Has Died (b-side of '1000 Years' 2010)

16 Feel A Whole Lot Better (b-side of 'Walking In The Winter' 2010)

Angel Haze - Roses Will Rise Again (2015)

Raykeea Raeen-Roes Wilson, known professionally as Angel Haze, was born on 10 July 1991 in Detroit, Michigan, and the family moved around frequently, mainly due to their mother running away from the church. Haze began writing as a form of therapy and expressed an interest in creative writing, poetry and journalism, and their first poem was published at the age of 13 after winning a school competition. By 18 they were freestyle rapping and uploading videos to Youtube, and then distributing music on the internet through sites such as Tumblr, where a fan base began to form. From 2009 to 2012 they put out a number of mixtapes for free download on the internet, including 'New Moon', 'Altered Ego', 'King', and 'Voice', and in July 2012 they released the free mixtape 'Reservation' to critical acclaim, while in August 2013 'Echelon (It's My Way)' was released as the lead single from the debut album 'Dirty Gold'. The entire album was leaked in December 2013, prior to a scheduled March 2014 release, and so the release date was advanced, and it appeared through Island Records and Republic Records on 30 December 2013 to positive reviews, although it only sold just over 500 copies in the first week. On 14 September 2015 a mixtape titled 'Back To The Woods' appeared online, and it was announced that the project was just "something to share before a sophomore", and indeed the title of their second album had already been announced as 'Roses Will Rise Again'. In March 2017. Haze then released the 'Resurrection' single, which was taken from the second album, but nothing much has appeared since then, apart from a lone single in 2021, so it seems like the 'Roses...' album has been shelved. We know about half of the proposed track listing, so by adding in some other unreleased recordings from the same period, here is an approximation of Angel Haze's sophomore effort from 2015. 

Track listing

01 Head Chef 
02 Weight 

03 War Inside (feat. Troy Nōka) 
04 Brooklyn
05 Resurrection
06 Power
07 Candlxs
08 Practice
09 Trust Issues
10 New Slaves
11 Gxmes
12 Unthinkable

Turquoise - Tales Of Flossie Fillett (1969)

Turquoise was a British pop-psych group who only officially released two singles in their short existence as a band, but the four songs on those two releases became beloved by collectorsu of the genre. The group were initially called The Brood, and was formed in North London's Muswell Hill area in 1966 by Jeff Peters, Ewan Stephens, and Vic Jansen, with fourth member Barry Hart joining later. They were all friends and neighbours of the Kinks' Ray and Dave Davies, and Dave actually produced a batch of demos for The Brood in 1966, with a second lot being produced by the Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle a year later in 1967. Eventually The Brood was signed to Decca Records, and after a name change to Turquoise, released two double-sided singles, '53 Summer Street'/'Tales Of Flossie Fillett' and 'Woodstock'/'Saynia', but neither release really took off, and the band called it quits in 1969. Peters and Hart went on to form Slowbone, releasing an album, 'Tales Of A Crooked Man', in 1974, but those two singles refused to fade away, and collectors of 1960's British psyche/pop re-discovered them, making Turquoise a sort of long-lost cult band. They had recorded other tracks while laying down those other four songs, and so there is enough material out there to imagine what an album from the band could have sounded like if the record-buying public who love the singles so much now had been around in 1968 to buy them.  

Track listing

01 Tales Of Flossie Fillett
02 53 Summer Street
03 Sunday Best
04 Stand Up And Be Judged
05 The Sea Shines
06 Sister Saxophone
07 Flying Machine
08 Village Green
09 Woodstock
10 Saynia
11 What's Your Name
12 Mindless Child Of Motherhood

Peanut - I'm Not Sad (1971)

Katherine Farthing was born on 11 March 1951 in Port Of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, and her family emigrated to the UK in 1962. She began recording in 1965, signing to Pye Records, and released her first single 'Thank Goodness For The Rain' in July 1965. She followed this with 'Home Of The Brave' in October, before moving to Columbia Records in 1966 for 'I'm Waiting For The Day'. Her final single under the name Peanut was 'I Didn't Love Him Anyway' in January 1967, after which she joined The Rag Dolls, who had a couple of singles released in 1967 and 1968. In 1971 she teamed up with her brother Mac, and recorded a version of the Middle Of The Road chart-topper 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep' as Mac & Katy Kissoon, and although it wasn't a hit in the UK, it did reach number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their next single together, 'Freedom', failed to chart in either country, although it was a hit in Europe, and they finally achieved major success with their 1975 smash hit 'Sugar Candy Kisses', after which they went on to have a successful career as a duo, releasing many more hit singles and albums. This collection tracks her rise to stardom, from those early singles as Peanut, through to her work with The Rag Dolls, a 1969 single under her new name of Kathy Kissoon, and finally some early attempts at fame with her brother Mac.  

Track listing 

01 Thank Goodness For The Rain (single 1965) 
02 I'm Not Sad (b-side of 'Thank Goodness For The Rain')
03 Home Of The Brave (single 1965)
04 I Wanna Hear It Again (b-side of 'Home Of The Range')
05 I'm Waiting For The Day (single 1966)
06 Someone's Gonna Be Sorry (b-side of 'I'm Waiting For The Day')
07 Two Four Six Eight (unreleased 1966)
08 I Didn't Love Him Anyway (single 1967)
09 Come Tomorrow (b-side of 'I Didn't Love Him Anyway')
10 Never Had So Much Loving (single by The Rag Dolls 1967)
11 Don't Let It Rain (single as Kathy Kissoon 1969)
12 Will I Never See The Sun (b-side of 'Don't Let It Rain')
13 Keep On Laughing Baby (single as Mac & Katie Kissoon 1970)
14 Acts Of Violence (b-side of 'Keep On Laughing')
15 Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (single as Mac & Katie Kissoon 1971)

16 Walking Around (b-side of 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep')
17 I've Found My Freedom (single as Mac & Katie Kissoon 1971 

18 Love Came Today (b-side of 'I've Found My Freedom')

Jay-Z - Can't Stop Won't Stop (2004)

After the release of 'The Blueprint' in 2001, Jay-Z collaborated with Chicago singer R. Kelly to release a joint studio album, 'The Best Of Both Worlds', in March 2002, and he followed that with his seventh studio release, the double album 'The Blueprint2: The Gift & The Curse' in the November. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number one, selling over 3 million units solely in the U.S., and surpassing 'The Blueprint'. After visiting the south of France, he announced work on his eighth studio album, 'The Black Album', at the opening of the 40/40 Club, on which he worked with several producers including Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Kanye West, Timbaland, Eminem, DJ Quik, 9th Wonder, The Buchanans, and Rick Rubin. Notable songs on the album included 'What More Can I Say', 'Dirt Off Your Shoulder', 'Change Clothes', and the classic '99 Problems'. 'The Black Album' was released in November 2003, and is one of the rapper's best-loved works, and was in fact my first exposure to him when Dangermouse use the beats from it for his Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up 'The Grey Album'. At the same time as the album came out, he held a concert, billed as a "retirement party", at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which was later the focus of his 2004 documentary, 'Fade To Black'. All proceeds went to charity, and it featured a host of the best rappers and R&B artists of the time, but while it had been intended to allow him to retire from making new studio albums, various side projects and appearances soon followed. These included a greatest hits record, a second collaborative album between Jay-Z and R. Kelly, and an EP recorded with rock group Linkin Park, with the remix EP 'Collision Course', which featured mashups of both artists' songs, and which sold over one million copies in the U.S. Later in 2004, Jay-Z was named president of Def Jam Records, which led to him, Dash and Biggs selling their remaining interests in Roc-A-Fella Records and Jay-Z taking control of both of the companies. Despite 2004 being fairly light on the release of new material, there were the usual slew of out-takes by the end of the year, with some going back to 2002, so here is the fifth in this series of rarities from the career of Jay-Z.

Track listing

01 Early This Morning 
02 Hold Up (feat. R Kelly)
03 Roc Army (feat. The Roc)
04 Alone In This World (Remix) (feat. Faith Evans)
05 Hovi Baby (Remix)  
06 Get My Shit Off (feat. Timbaland)
07 You Rock My World (Remix) (feat. Michael Jackson) 
08 Can't Stop Won't Stop (Remix) (feat. Young Gunz 
09 Get Your Money Right (feat. Dr. Dre & The Game) 
10 I Can't Get Wid That (feat. Sauce Money & Jaz-O) 

11 Stop
12 PSA II 
13 Hell Yeah (Remix) (feat. Dead Prez)