Idlewild - Great Times Wasted (1997)

Idlewild formed in December 1995 in Edinburgh, Scotland when a 19-year-old Roddy Woomble met drummer Colin Newton at a party. The two discovered that they had much in common, including similar musical interests and record collections, and by the end of the night they had discussed forming a band together. On the same night, the two were introduced to guitarist Rod Jones and the three kept in contact afterwards, meeting up to listen to music. The trio were soon writing songs together, and as they needed a bassist, they brought in Phil Scanlon into the fold as he owned ones. They named themselves Idlewild, after the quiet meeting place in 'Anne Of Green Gables', and after playing their first show in early 1996, they srated gigging around Edinburgh throughout the course of the year. By May the band had over twenty songs written, and so they entered Split Level Studios to record some of them, with the resulting tape earning the band many bookings at various venues around Scotland, including Glasgow. Scanlon decided to leave the band in February 1997 to concentrate on his studies, so Woomble asked Bob Fairfoull to replace the departing bassist, and this new line-up recorded the band's debut single 'Queen Of The Troubled Teens, which was released on 17 March 1997, and built upon the chaotic reputation of their shows. It was supported by BBC Radio Scotland DJ Peter Easton, and influential Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq, who was so impressed with the track 'Self Healer' that he asked on air if anyone knew anything about the band, and that they should contact him. 

In the summer of 1997, Idlewild played their first London shows which were attended by the likes of Lamacq, and representatives from Deceptive Records, and they were later asked to record a single for Fierce Panda, and to record an EP/mini-album with Deceptive Records. In October 1997, the band spent six days with producer Paul Tipler in South London, and the result was 'Captain', which the band describes as "an innocent, frank nugget of noise pop magic". After the release of the 'Chandelier' single, the band signed a deal with Food Records/EMI in December 1887, and the following year was when the public became actively aware of Idlewild, who kicked off the year with their first UK tour, supporting the band Midget. The release of 'Captain', on 18 January, received positive reviews in the NME, Melody Maker and Kerrang!, and in February the band re-entered the studio, again with Paul Tipler, to record their first full-length album for Food Records. Two singles were released before the album's release, 'A Film For The Future' and 'Everyone Says You're So Fragile', and alongside notable appearances at summer festivals the helped expand the group's fanbase. October marked the arrival of their debut album 'Hope Is Important', which was followed by tours supporting Ash, Placebo and Manic Street Preachers. 

Idlewild eventually returned to Edinburgh in 1999 to begin writing new songs, and contacted engineer Bob Weston, who recorded six songs with them in London. These songs held a more aggressive, emptier sound than those previously, and the band were pleased with the results, although they remained unsure of their direction. During the summer they were invited to play at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, which was a momentous day for Scottish history. They soon returned to the studio with producer Dave Eringa and recorded 'Little Discourage' and 'Roseability', and being happy with the results they continued to record what would become their second full-length album, '100 Broken Windows'. In March the following year the band released 'Actually It's Darkness', and embarked on their biggest UK tour to date, where it was noticeable that their sound had evolved from simplistic punk-rock to a more mature sound resembling R.E.M., Echo & the Bunnymen, and The Smiths. When it was released in 1999, '100 Broken Windows' reached silver status in the UK and the band went on tour in Europe and North America. As 2001 began, they re-entered the studio, this time with producer Stephen Street, to record songs written in the last half of 2000. In the meantime '100 Broken Windows' was released in America in April, and received other rave reviews in the American press. 

Eventually moving up to the highlands of Scotland, they began writing and demoing songs for the follow-up to '100 Broken Windows', and the remainder of the year was spent recording and mixing the new album in various locations with producer Dave Eringa. The first single from the album, 'You Held The World In Your Arms', entered the UK Singles Chart at number nine, and marked the band's biggest hit to date. On its release in 2002, 'The Remote Part' entered the album charts at number three, and was considered a record of considerable depth, as well as one of the most melodic records of the year. The album went gold in the UK and a third single, 'Live In A Hiding Place', was released as the band embarked upon a four-month European tour in September. In October 2002, Idlewild officially announced the departure of Fairfoull due to "personal problems", with him having become increasingly distant from the band, and his drinking habits were having a negative impact on his bass playing. On 20 November, Idlewild unveiled Gavin Fox of the Irish band Turn as their new bassist, with touring guitarist Allan Stewart also becoming a permanent member of the group. 2002 was Idlewild's most successful year, with 'The Remote Part' entering many 'Best Of The Year' lists, and after its US release in March 2003, the band embarked upon a cross-continent, nine-week headline tour, playing their biggest US shows in New York City and Los Angeles. 

As 2004 began, Idlewild spent the first four months of the year writing and demoing new songs up in the Scottish Highlands, and in Roddy's flat in London, and they then flew out to Los Angeles and spent the next three months recording and mixing the new songs. They finished the record in October 2004 in New York, and after living with the album for a few months, they titled it 'Warnings/Promises' at the end of the year. The first single appeared in February, and 'Love Steals Us From Loneliness' became Idlewild's fourth Top 20 hit, with the album following two weeks later, and debuting in the UK Top Ten. In November, the band announced that they had parted ways with their record company Parlophone after being with them for eight years, leaving them without a record deal, but at the same time denying rumours that they were breaking up. The year ended with a Christmas show at Barrowlands, a famed Glasgow venue and the band's "spiritual home", after which Fox left the band, with Woomble citing his reluctance to be in a touring rock band. The band then spent many months writing new material, which was recorded with producer Dave Eringa in their rehearsal room, and the resultant album 'Make Another World' was released on 5 March 2007 by 1960s label Sequel, which was reactivated by music group Sanctuary. The band continued to play more gigs while working on their next album, and after a new song, 'City Hall', appeared in a setlist, the band entered the studio in January 2009 for more recording. 

On 21 November the band sent an email to fans on the mailing list offering them a chance to pre-order the new album, and those who did would have their name appear in the CD booklet and on a roll call on the band's official website. 'Post Electric Blues' was eventually mailed out on 10 June 2009, two months later than fans had expected, and it was officially released in October, preceded by the single 'Readers & Writers'. In April 2010, Woomble announced that the band would enter a hiatus following the band's tour in support of 'Post Electric Blues', and would not be writing and recording any new material. This lasted until September 2013, by which point Gareth Russell and Allan Stewart had left to be replaced by multi-instrumentalist Luciano Rossi, and they started recording a new album in January 2014, with 'Everything Ever Written' being released in February 2015. Idlewild continue to tour and record new music, with their last album 'Interview Music' appearing in 2019, but their most productive period was the decade between 1997 and 2007, during which time they released over 40 non-album tracks on the b-sides of their singles. This post collects them all together in one place, showing their progression from the edgy and angular sound of their early material, to the sweeping, melodic rock that was displayed on 'The Remote Part' and 'Warnings/Promises'.   

Track listing

Disc I - 1997-1999
01 Queen Of The Troubled Teens (single 1997)
02 Faster (b-side of 'Queen Of The Troubled Teens')
03 Chandelier (single 1997)
04 I Want To Be A Writer b-side of 'Chandelier')
05 House Alone b-side of 'Satan Polaroid' 1998)
06 Mince Showercap (Part 1) (b-side of 'A Film For The Future' 1998)
07 What Am I Going To Do? (b-side of 'A Film For The Future' 1998)
08 Mince Showercap (Part 2) (b-side of 'Everyone Saya You're So Fragile' 1998)
09 Theory Of Achievement (b-side of 'Everyone Saya You're So Fragile' 1998)
10 Mince Showercap (Part 3) (b-side of 'I'm A Message' 1998)
11 This Is Worse (b-side of 'I'm A Message' 1998)
12 (1903-70) (b-side of 'When I Argue I See Shapes' 1999)
13 Palace Flophouse (b-side of 'When I Argue I See Shapes' 1999)
14 Chandelier (10.15 Version) (b-side of 'When I Argue I See Shapes' 1999)
15 A Tone (b-side of 'Little Discourage' 1999)
16 Broken Windows (b-side of 'Little Discourage' 1999)
17 You Don't Have The Heart (b-side of 'Little Discourage' 1999)
18 1990 Nightime (b-side of 'Little Discourage' 1999)

Disc II - 2000-2002
01 Meet Me At The Harbour (b-side of 'Actually It's Darkness' 2000)
02 West Haven (b-side of 'Actually It's Darkness' 2000)
03 Forgot To Follow (b-side of 'Actually It's Darkness' 2000)
04 It'll Take A Long Time (b-side of 'Actually It's Darkness' 2000)
05 There's Glory In Your Story (b-side of 'These Wooden Ideas' 2000)
06 When The Ship Comes In (b-side of 'These Wooden Ideas' 2000)
07 Rescue (b-side of 'These Wooden Ideas' 2000)
08 Thousand (b-side of 'Roseability' 2000)
09 I've Only Just Begun (b-side of 'Roseability' 2000)
10 A Distant History (b-side of 'You Held The World In Your Arms' 2002)
11 I Was Made To Think It (b-side of 'You Held The World In Your Arms' 2002)
12 All This Information (b-side of 'You Held The World In Your Arms' 2002)
13 No Generation (b-side of 'You Held The World In Your Arms' 2002)

Disc III - 2002-2007
01 Poor Thing (b-side of 'American English' 2002)
02 These Are Just Years (b-side of 'American English' 2002)
03 The Nothing I Know (b-side of 'American English' 2002)
04 We Always Have To Impress (b-side of 'American English' 2002)
05 Great Times Wasted (b-side of 'Live In A Hiding Place' 2002)
06 Everything Flows (b-side of 'Live In A Hiding Place' 2002)
07 I Found That Essence Rare (b-side of 'Live In A Hiding Place' 2002)
08 Hold On To Your Breath (b-side of 'Love Steals Us From Loneliness' 2005)
09 Pleasure And Pain (b-side of 'I Understand It' 2005)
10 The Work We Never Do (b-side of 'I Understand It' 2005)
11 The Bronze Medal (b-side of 'El Capitan' 2005)
12 Winter Is Blue (b-side of 'El Capitan' 2005)
13 Lookin' For A Love (b-side of 'No Emotion' 2007)
14 Hidden Ways (b-side of 'No Emotion' 2007)

The Blue Things - One Hour Cleaners (1967)

The Blue Things formed as The Blue Boys at Fort Hays State College, from the remnants of a Hays R&B band, the Barons, who provided Mike Chapman (lead guitar and vocals), Richard Scott (bassist and vocalist) and Rick "Laz" Larzalere (drums and vocals). With a summer tour booked, the trio decided they needed a fourth member, and soon found a lead singer and rhythm guitarist in Chapman's roommate, Val Stöecklein, who had previously released an album with a college folk group, the Impromptwos, and he had also cut a demo of two original compositions, 'Desert Wind' and 'Nancy Whiskey', with another group, the Hi-Plains Singers. On their ensuing summer tour, the band hired Jim Reardon as manager, who in turn got the band signed with John Brown's Mid-Continent Co. booking agency. Reardon used what was left of his old sweatshirt business to manufacture Blue Boys sweatshirts, in addition to starting a fan club, complete with membership cards, and keeping true to their name, the Blue Boys wore matching blue suits and played blue guitars. Although their live set was mostly Top 40 and British Invasion covers, Stöecklein, Scott and Chapman began composing songs for the band to record, which they did in late 1964 at Damon Recording Studios in Kansas City. The five Stöecklein originals and two covers attracted the attention Texas' Ruff Records, who subsequently signed the group to their label. 

In December 1964, the Blue Boys cut their first single for Ruff at Gene Sullivan's studio in Oklahoma City, but before their cover of Ronnie Hawkins 'Mary Lou' could be released in February 1965, they had become The Blue Things, in order to avoid confusion (and possible legal wrangles) with the late Jim Reeves' backing group. The single charted in the Top 40 in Oklahoma City, thanks to local radio station KOMA, and their next single, 'Pretty Things-Oh', was once again a hit in the Midwest. After recording another six-song demo in Texas (this time with only two Stöecklein and one Scott originals), the band left Ruff Records over a royalty dispute. At this point, John Brown managed to get the Blue Things a deal with RCA Records, but before they could record for the label, drummer Rick Larzalere left the band to focus on school, and after several unsuccessful replacements, Bobby Day from Salina, Kansas, was chosen. The Blue Things' first RCA single, 'I Must Be Doing Something Wrong', was written by the three remaining band members, and was released in October 1965. A session drummer was used for the single sessions, as Day had yet to join, but once again, the single charted locally, but failed to chart outside of the Midwest. 

The following single, while repeating the chart action of the band's previous RCA single, at least gained the band some notoriety, as 'Doll House' sympathetically told the story of a prostitute, and criticized the role of brothels in society. Although it was a bold statement at the time, the single struggled after TIME magazine did a feature on supposedly obscene lyrics in rock music, citing 'Doll House' as an example. The album 'Listen And See' was released shortly after the 'Doll House' single from June 1966, and while it was popular with Blue Things fans, by the time it came out the band had moved past the folk rock/Merseybeat sound that RCA favoured, to a more psychedelic sound. Their January 1967 Nashville session, which was to be last with Stöecklein, produced the psychedelic single 'Orange Rooftop Of Your Mind' b/w 'One Hour Cleaners', after which Stöecklein left for a solo career, signed with Dot Records and released the album 'Grey Life' in 1968. The remaining Blue Things moved to California and continued to perform concerts, also signing with Dot Records and touring for 14 months before disbanding entirely. Although they are fondly remembered by fans of 60's folk-rock, and also in their later incarnation by psyche aficionados, their sole album is not really representative of their sound, as 1966 was a transitional time for them, moving from the folk-rock of their early singles to a more mature sound, which was never really evidenced on record. This album is therefore the unreleased follow-up to 'Listen And See', featuring the band's more psychedelic leanings, and could have come out some time in 1967.   

Track listing

01 The Orange Rooftop Of Your Mind

02 Since You Broke My Heart

03 Twist And Shout

04 One Hour Cleaners

05 Can't Explain

06 You Took The Flight

07 Pennies

08 I Can't Have Yesterday

09 Hey Joe

10 Alright

11 Caroline

12 Baby, My Heart

13 Yes My Friend

14 High LIfe

15 You Can Live In Our Tree

Amari - Sunshine (1998)

Amari was an R&B group who were signed to Tommy Boy/Elektra Records in the 1990's, featuring members Sneezy, Sheri and Pooh. They released their debut single in 1998, with 'Callin' (Will You Players Ever Learn?)' featuring on the soundtrack to the US comedy film 'Ride', and attracting some praise from Billboard magazine. They band recorded an album for Tommy Boy in 1998, and a second single was extracted from it, with 'Get Down With Me' also featuring on a film soundtrack, this time for the 1997 thriller 'Nothing To Lose'. Their 'Sunshine' album was due to be released in July 1998, but it seems that the limited success of the singles meant that the record company lost faith in the group, and the album was shelved, but we can still enjoy it for the fun R&B/rap album that it is.  

Track listing

01 Callin' (Will You Players Ever Learn?)
02 You're All I Need (feat. Lost Boyz)
03 Would You Mind
04 What You Gonna Do 
05 Sunshine
06 Funk You Up
07 I Don't Mind
08 Loddi Doddi
09 I Like It
10 I've Heard That Shit Before
11 Get Down With Me (feat. Buckshot)
12 My Own Thing
13 Be Out
14 I See No Reason (feat. Mtume)
15 I Got Love On My Mind

The truth about Cirdan

Hopefully anyone into classic progressive rock has listened to the recent post from Cirdan, so it's now time to come clean about this band. The idea for this album came to me a few months ago, while I was trawling Youtube and I found that a number of people were posting songs created entirely by AI. I searched for progressive rock songs made by AI and found a number of tracks which were quite impressive - apart from some unconvincing lyrics, some of them could have passed for an actual 70's prog rock band. I downloaded my favourites, and visited Youtube regularly for new posts, and before long I had 40 minutes worth of music, so putting it together as an album was a no-brainer. With a bit of editing and tweaking of the running order, I had quite a nice-sounding album, and I named it after the best of the tracks that I'd found online. All I needed now was a name for the band, and so where do a lot of prog rock bands look for their names, but 'Lord Of The Rings'. A quick search of names mentioned in the books found that Cirdan the Shipbuilder had never been picked for a rock band, and so all my album needed now was some cover art. I searched online for AI-generated prog rock album covers, and one Reddit post had a dozen to choose from, so I picked one I liked the look of, and my album was now complete. After playing it for a few weeks, I sent a copy to a mate in the US, longtime fan of the blog Fredrick Beondo, and between us we knocked it into shape, until we had a really convincing prog rock album. Eventually, I thought that it was too good to keep to myself, so I decided to post it on the site, possibly on 1st of April, as that seemed the perfect date for it, but for that I would need a biography of the band. Logging onto ChatGPT, I asked for a biography of the fictitious prog rock band Cirdan, and in less than 10 seconds it had produced a history of a band that never existed. With just the slightest of editing, I was able to post my album of progressive rock, where no human was involved in either the making of the music, the artwork, or the history of the group, other than a few prompts to the AI that made them, and my choosing of the band name. As an example of just what AI can do, this is an extremely interesting experiment, and while I am still in two minds about whether AI is going to be a boon for mankind, or eventually rise up and take us over, the musical side of it is progressing in leaps and bounds, as it stores more and more information from the entire history of music. The worrying thing is, will there soon be a time when a song is released with no human involvement, and no-one will actually be able to tell the difference?

Track listing

01 Nautilus
02 Eternal Wanderings
03 Age Of Wonders
04 For The World Outside
05 Eclipse Of The Mind
06 Where Dreams And Hope Once Danced
07 Just Hold On

Music posted by:
01 NeonCube's Song Factory
02 AI Generated Mega Hits
03 Quadrivo
04 VFOLD
05 Satoritei
06 A-Eye Musix
07 NeonCube's Song Factory

Album cover from Reddit

Biography by ChatGPT

Band name from J. R. R. Tolkien

The Modern Lovers - Dignified And Old (1973)

Jonathan Richman was born in Boston on 16 May 1951, and after he dropped out of school, he whiled away some time in Andy Warhol's formative Factory as a messenger, before returning to his beloved Boston. After seeing The Velvet Underground more times than any of its members, he decided that his future lay in rock 'n' roll, and in 1970 he formed The Modern Lovers. In early 1971, the band's membership was settled as Richman, Jerry Harrison (keyboards), Ernie Brooks (bass) and David Robinson (drums), with Richman's next-door-neighbour and original band member John Felice joining them occasionally as his school commitments allowed. By the autumn of 1971, through their live performances in Boston and New York, they had begun to attract the attention of several record company A&R men, including Stuart Love at Warner Brothers and Alan Mason and Matthew Kaufman at A&M. The band made their first recordings for Warner Brothers at the Intermedia studios in Boston in late 1971. and the following April they travelled to Los Angeles where they held two demo sessions. The first was produced by The Velvet Underground's John Cale for Warner Brothers, while the second was produced by Alan Mason and Robert Appere for A&M. The band were initially undecided over which record company to sign with, so returned to Boston and did some recordings organised by Kim Fowley and produced by Stuart "Dinky" Dawson. Eventually, in early 1973, they signed with Warner Brothers and agreed that John Cale should produce their debut album. 

Returning to California in the summer to work with Cale, it became apparent that there were personality clashes between some of the band members, and that Richman now wanted to take a different approach to his songs, making them much more mellow and easy-paced rather than the earlier aggressive hard rock. The sessions with Cale were terminated before any new recordings were completed, and Warner Brothers then engaged Kim Fowley to work with the band, but by this time Richman refused to perform some of his most popular earlier songs live, and the sessions with Fowley were aborted. Warner Brothers withdrew support from the band, and in early 1974 the original Modern Lovers split up, with Jerry Harrison moving on to Talking Heads. After the split, Richman continued recording on his own, eventually moving to California in 1975 to work with Beserkley Records, but he never returned to the Velvets-inspired sound of the original Modern Lovers. In 1976 Beserkley Records compiled a posthumous LP from the first two demo two sessions, and issued it on their Home Of The Hits subsidiary. The album was simply titled 'The Modern Lovers' and included celebrated tracks such as 'Roadrunner', 'She Cracked' and 'Pablo Picasso'. Richman did not recognise this compilation as his "first album", preferring to consider 1976's 'Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers' as his debut, as it pursued the lighter, softer direction he had in mind with a completely different band. The Modern Lovers have always been considered as an integral part of the start of the US punk scene, alongside Talking Heads, Ramones, Blondie and Television, and so I was astounded to find out that The Modern Lovers pre-dated that scene by a good half decade, and even more amazed that many of those early demos had survived, and so here are the best of them that didn't make that 1976 album, along with a couple of 1971 live recordings, and alternative versions of two that did. 

Track listing

01 Ride Down On The Highway
02 Such Loneliness
03 Womanhood
04 A Plea For Tenderness
05 A Song Of Remembrance For Old Girlfriends
06 Modern World
07 Fly Into The Mystery
08 Hospital

09 Dignified and Old
10 Cambridge Clown
11 I'm Straight
12 Government Centre

Merrell And The Exiles - Let The Time Go By (1964)

Merrell Wayne Fankhauser was born on 23 December 1943 in Louisville, Kentucky, and after his family moved to San Luis Obispo, California while he was in his teens, he began playing guitar, and got his first break playing in movie theaters and talent shows. In 1960, after one of these shows, he joined local band The Impacts as lead guitarist, and their Ventures-influenced sound developed a strong following at the start of the surfing scene. In 1962 he met Norman Knowles, who was the saxophone player from The Revels, and he convinced The Impacts to record a session with Tony Hilder at a backyard studio in the Hollywood area. As much as this seemed like a notable event for the band, it was more of a lure than a lucky break, as after recording twelve tracks, including Fankhauser's own 'Wipe Out', as well as 'Blue Surf', 'Impact', and 'Sea Horse', Knowles and Hilder took the tapes to to Del-Fi Records, where owner Bob Keene signed the album for immediate release as the 'Wipe Out!' album. Knowles and Hilder never revealed to the band how much money they made by doing this, and they also tricked the young band into signing a contract for one dollar, meaning that the band was unable to collect royalties on this music for 36 years, as Hilder and Knowles claimed both artist and publishing royalties with Del-Fi Records. In late 1963 Fankhauser left the band and moved to Lancaster, California, where he met Jeff Cotton (later of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band), and in 1964 they formed The Exiles. 

With the addition of Greg Hampton on drums and Jim Ferguson on bass, they started paying local gigs, and record label owner Glen MacArthur heard them and offered to record them in his Palmdale studio. Their first single under their new name was 'Too Many Heartbreaks', a song that Fankhauser had written in 1961, backed by a new song called 'Please Be Mine', and it was released on Glenn Records in March 1964, reaching number 9 on the local KUTY radio chart. This coincided with The Beatles' invasion of America, and Merrell And The Exiles were the Antelope Valley's answer to them, going on to record five singles for Glenn Records. Later in 1967 Fankhauser moved back to the California central coast, and formed another band with his old guitar playing friend Bill Dodd, who had taken over from him in The Impacts when he left. After playing with several drummers and bass players as Merrell And The Boys, they decided one night that they needed a new name for the band, and as this was the beginning of the psychedelic era, they felt they needed a more far out moniker, so he took the two letters from each band members last name and put them together FA (for Fankhauser), PAR (for Parrish, bass player at the time), DO (for Dodd)  and KLY (for Dick Lee, the drummer), and Fapardokly was the result. He was contacted again by Glen MacArthur who wanted to release an album with some singles and unreleased Merrell And The Exiles songs that he had on the shelf, and so the band drove the two hundred miles from the coast over to the desert and recorded enough songs to complete the album. 

The 'Fapardokly' album was released on UIP Records in 1968, and has since gone on to become one of the most highly sought after and valuable albums from the late 1960's, with a sealed copy going for over $1,000. At the time, however, it was not a success, and so Fankhauser and Dodd then formed another, more overtly psychedelic, band with Jack Jordan on bass and Larry Meyers on drums, naming it HMS Bounty. They won a recording contract with Uni Records, and their self-titled album was released in 1968, followed by the single 'Tampa Run', a remake of another old Exiles song. However, success was again thwarted by personal and record company problems, and the band split up. Reuniting with Jeff Cotton in 1970, Fankhauser then formed Mu, and in 1971 their first album was released and became a radio hit. Increasingly fascinated by legends of the lost continent of Mu, Fankhauser then relocated to the Hawaiian island of Maui in February 1973, where he has continued to record, releasing over two dozen albums as Mu and under his own name. This post collects together some of the recordings that they had made for Glen MacArthur which were not then released as singles on the Glenn Records label, showing that Fankhauser was a prolific writer from the start of his musical career, and they had enough material to be able to release an album as early as 1964 had they wanted.  

Track listing

01 Ready To Roll
02 Run Baby Run
03 She's Gone
04 Long Time Gone
05 Exiles Blues
06 Don't Let Go
07 Remember Me
08 The War
09 Yes I Love You
10 Be A Good Neighbour Week
11 Pain In My Heart
12 Let The Time Go By
13 Let Me Go
14 Shake my Hand
15 Please Be Mine
16 Don't Call On Me
17 Send Me Your Love

Jazmine Sullivan - Break My Little Heart (2004)

Jazmine Marie Sullivan was born on 9 April 1987 in Philadelphia, and her mother was a former backup singer for Philadelphia International Records. She began singing as a contralto in the children's choir, and later in the adult choir, and so her exposure to secular music was initially limited, but despite this she signed a record deal with Jive Records at aged 15, and while there she provided vocals for Kindred The Family Soul's song, 'I Am', as well as background vocals on the song 'Party's Over', and the title track to their 2003 debut 'Surrender To Love'. During these sessions she first met rapper Missy Elliott, who went on to produce the majority of the songs on Sullivan's debut album, which was recorded for Jive, although she did work with producers Cool & Dre on a song titled 'Say I', which was later given to Dre's then-girlfriend Christina Milian for her third album, 'So Amazin''. As well as being produced by Missy Elliott, Sullivan's debut album, 'Break My Little Heart', was to have included vocal arrangements and beat-making credits from the likes of Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Kev Brown, Cool & Dre, Tweet and Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry, and would be heralded by the Missy Elliott-produced title track serving as the lead single. However, due to lack of promotion and the single falling silent via radio, the album was ultimately shelved, with some of the content intended to be retooled and considered for her official first album 'Fearless', which was released on J Records in 2008. However, in the end only one track survived, with just 'In Love With Another Man' appearing on 'Fearless', meaning that there was a full album of recordings which were scrapped, and have since remained unheard. Sullivan's breakthrough song was 'Need U Bad', which was released in May 2008, and which topped the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs for 34 weeks, leading to the release of the 'Fearless' album in September 2008, and the start of a relatively successful career over the following 15 years. However, the music from that shelved album has remained unheard for many years, and so now is the time to bring it out and to hear what could have been Jazmine Sullivan's debut album in 2004.

Track listing

01 Music, Part 1 (feat. Floetry) 
02 Say I (feat. Dre of Cool & Dre) 
03 Break My Little Heart (feat. Missy Elliott) 
04 Season 2 Love 
05 Where Did He Go? (feat. Missy Elliott & Tweet) 
06 Feel Nice (feat. Missy Elliott)
07 Lovin' You 
08 Backstabbers (Brush Ur Shoulders Off) (feat. Missy Elliott) 
09 Don’t Let Me Get Started (feat. Missy Elliott) 
10 Braid Your Hair
11 The Club
12 Who Said (feat. Cassidy) 
13 Always Have Jazmine 
14 Music, Part 2 (My First Love Mix) 

Cirdan - Age Of Wonders (2018)

Cirdan is a progressive rock band formed in 2013 in the vibrant city of Amsterdam, Netherlands, which draws influences from classic prog acts like Yes, Genesis, and King Crimson, while infusing modern, experimental elements. The band was formed by guitarist Lucas van der Meulen, keyboardist Emma van Dijk, bassist Rico Janssen, drummer Timo Nissen, and vocalist Sanne de Vries. The band name, inspired by a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium (Cirdan the Shipwright), reflected the band’s love for fantastical and philosophical themes. Initially, Cirdan started playing in local clubs, refining their sound by blending traditional symphonic prog with elements of jazz fusion and post-rock. The band’s first release, 'Beyond The Horizon', was a self-produced demo in 2015, which gained them a dedicated underground following due to their high-energy live shows and sophisticated musical arrangements. In 2018, Cirdan recorded their debut full-length album, 'Age Of Wonders', which was met with critical acclaim. The album’s centrepiece was the 15-minute title track, which took listeners on a journey through the depths of space, both metaphorically and musically. The album's success led them to tour across Europe, performing at major progressive rock festivals like the ProgPower Europe Festival and the Meltdown Festival in the UK. The band continues to tour internationally, keeping their fans engaged with both new material and old classics, and plans are in force for a follow-up album to' Age Of Wonders'. The line-up remains largely unchanged, with Lucas van der Meulen and Emma van Dijk still the core songwriters, while Sanne de Vries's haunting vocals continue to be a central aspect of the band's identity.

Track listing

01 Nautilus
02 Eternal Wanderings
03 Age Of Wonders

04 For The World Outside
05 Eclipse Of The Mind
06 Where Dreams And Hope Once Danced
07 Just Hold On

Carol Connors - Big, Big Love (1967)

Carol Connors was born Annette Kleinbard on 13 November 1941 in New Brunswick, and after leaving Fairfax High School, Los Angeles in 1958 she formed a pop vocal trio with her friend Phil Spector, who wrote a song specifically to showcase Kleinbard's singing voice. 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' became The Teddy Bears' best-known and most successful recording, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1958, and granting Kleinbard the honour of being the first woman to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. After their initial hit, the trio disbanded because of the failure of their follow-up singles 'Don't Go Away' and Oh Why', a car accident that injured Kleinbard, and the fact that Spector preferred working behind the scenes to performing. In January 1960 she released the 'Alibi' single on Imperial Records, before legally changed her name to Carol Connors, apparently because she did not want her first name to be associated with Mousketeer Annette Funicello, and she signed to Columbia Records. 'My Diary' was released in March 1961, followed by 'Listen To The Beat' in September, but after one more single she left the label and signed to Era Records. 1962 saw two singles released on the label, with 'Big, Big Love' appearing in July and 'Tommy Go Away' following in November, before another label change to Capitol. Around this time she began writing songs, and in 1964 she wrote 'Hey Little Cobra' about the Shelby Cobra car, which was recorded by The Rip Chords, who were made up of Terry Melcher and Bruce Johnston. 

Buoyed by the success of a car song, in 1964 she released a single promoting the Yamaha motorcycle, with 'Yum Yum Yamaha' being credited to Carol Connors And The Cycles, before returning to her solo career with her only Capitol single 'Angel, My Angel'. In February 1965 she was picked up by Colpix Records for the 'Go Go G.T.O.' single with her sister Cheryl, before releasing her final 7" in 1966, with 'My Baby Looks, But He Don't Touch' appearing on Mira Records. Connors wrote many of her later singles, and so when she stopped recording as a solo artist she wrote and performed songs for several films, including the 1967 beach-party film 'Catalina Caper', performing her 'The Book Of Love' in the movie backed by the Cascades. Later song-writing successes include her co-write with Ayn Robbins and Bill Conti on 'Gonna Fly Now', the theme song from the film 'Rocky', which earned her an Academy Award nomination. She also sang the theme to the film 'Orca', 'We Are One', and co-composed three songs with Ayn Robbins for the soundtrack of the 1977 Disney film, 'The Rescuers'. In 1983 she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for the 'Worst Original Song' for 'It's Wrong For Me To Love You', from 'Butterfly', which she co-composed with Ennio Morricone, but for this post let's concentrate on her best work, which is this great collection of 60's pop. 

Track listing

01 Alibi (single as Annette Bard 1960)
02 My Diary (single 1961)
03 You Are My Answer (b-side of 'My Diary')
04 Listen To The Beat (single 1961)
05 My Special Boy (b-side of 'Listen To The Beat')
06 What Do You See In Him (single with Hank Levine & His Orchestra 1962)
07 That's All It Takes (b-side of 'What Do You See In Him')
08 Big, Big Love (single 1962)
09 Two Rivers (b-side of 'Big, Big Love')
10 Tommy Go Away (single 1962)
11 I Wanna Know (b-side of 'Tommy Go Away')
12 Yum Yum Yamaha (single as Carol Connors And The Cycles 1964)
13 Angel, My Angel (single 1964)
14 Never (b-side of 'Angel, My Angel')
15 Go Go G. T. O. (single as Carol And Cheryl 1965)
16 Sunny Winter (b-side of 'Go Go G.T.O.')
17 My Baby Looks, But He Don't Touch (single 1966)
18 Lonely Little Beach Girl (b-side of 'My Baby Looks, But He Don't Touch')

19 The Book Of Love (from the film 'The Catalina Caper' 1967)

Chicane - Easy To Assemble (2003)

On 27 March 2000, Nocholas Bracegirdle, a.k.a. Chicane, released his second studio album 'Behind The Sun', which was a commercial success, reaching the Top 10 in the UK Albums Chart, and would go on to be certified Gold by BPI, selling over 100,000 copies. This would be the final studio released through his record label Xtravaganza, as over the next two years Bracegirdle became engaged in a lawsuit with Xtravaganza, which resulted in his departure from the label and his signing with WEA for the release of a third album, 'Easy To Assemble'. As a result of the lawsuit, Chicane lost the rights to the sound recordings from the 'Behind The Sun' album, including its singles. Originally scheduled for 2003, the 'Easy To Assemble' album's release was preceded by the lead single 'Love On The Run', followed by a promotional single, 'Locking Down'. However, after promotional copies of the album were distributed, the release was cancelled. In 2002, Bracegirdle had signed to WEA and had finished his third album, but as review copies were being sent out, the record label WEA was bought out by Edgar Bronfman Jr of Warner Music Group, resulting in the A&R manager and music director who signed Bracegirdle leaving the company, and its release was put on hold while he negotiated an exit from his contract. As soon as he extracted himself from his contract, he prepared to release the record independently, but the entire album had been leaked online from the promo copies, and it was pirated to such an extent that it was felt that it was not worth releasing it officially, which resulted in the commercial release of the album being cancelled. Eventually, under the new management of John Cavanagh, April 2006 saw the release of a new single on Globe Records, 'Stoned In Love', featuring singer Tom Jones on vocals. His next album, 'Somersault', was released on 23 July 2007, with two of the tracks from the unreleased album, 'Arizona' and 'Spirit', being re-recorded for inclusion, but here is the full 'Easy To Assemble' album, with the original recordings of those two tracks. 

 
Track listing

01 Love On The Run (feat. Peter Cunnah) 

02 Daylight (feat. Tracy Ackerman) 
03 East Side Story (feat. Bryan Adams) 
04 In Praise Of The Sun (feat. Vanessa St James) 
05 Locking Down (feat. Melissa Baten) 
06 Spirit (feat. Jewel) 
07 Arizona (Part 2) 
08 Some Might Say (feat. Joel Edwards) 
09 Kilometre 
10 Something Wrong (feat. Nadia Jordan)  
11 Empires

Various Artists - Where Have All The Horns Gone?! (1981)

After performing major surgery on a number of albums to remove the excess flab, and cosmetic surgery on a few others to give them a nip and tuck here and there, my attention turned to some of my favourite horn-led songs, and I wondered what they would sound like without their brass sections. Pretty good, as it turns out, as most of them remain great tracks even without the horns, and with some you don't even miss them despite hearing them hundreds of times already in their familiar versions. So purely as a bit of fun, and as an experiment to see what these programmes can do, here is a collection of songs which are famous for their inclusion of a horn section, presented in all their naked glory.  

Track listing

01 25 Or 6 To 4 - Chicago
02 Bitch - The Rolling Stones
03 And When I Die - Blood Sweat & Tears
04 Keep The Customer Satisfied - Simon & Garfunkel
05 No Reply At All - Genesis
06 Spinning Wheel - Blood Sweat & Tears
07 Reward - The Teardrop Explodes
08 Wake Up Boo - The Boo Radleys

09 Questions 67 & 68 - Chicago

10 You've Made Me So Very Happy - Blood Sweat & Tears
11 5:15 - The Who
12 Deacon Blues - Steely Dan

After some back and forth discussions and a bit of re-thinking, I've decided to remove the Moody Blues track, as despite a Reddit post citing it as one of the best rock songs with horns, I now realise that it doesn't actually have any on there, so it shouldn't really be here. 

Neil Christian And The Crusaders - Get A Load Of This (1967)

Neil Christian And The Crusaders might be a relatively obscure UK pop group of the early 60's, but they were as good a breeding ground for guitarists as John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, including in their ranks at various times such luminaries as Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Albert Lee, Mick Abrahams and Paul Brett, as well as pianist Micky Hopkins, and bassist Alex Dmchowski, who later went on to join Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation. Christopher Tidmarsh started his career in music by managing a North London-based outfit called The Red-E-Lewis And The Red Cats, who underwent a line-up shift when the original members joined Johnny Kidd as The Pirates from July 1961 to early 1962. Recruiting guitarist Bobby Oats and drummer Jim Evans, they played a few gigs at the Ebisham Hall in Epsom, and Tidmarsh first spotted Jimmy Page paying there. In early 1959, John Spicer joined the band on rhythm guitar, and when Oates announced that he was leaving the band, Tidmarsh contacted Page and invited him down to Shoreditch to audition for the vacancy. He became their new lead guitarist and Spicer switched to bass, and in Spring 1960 Tidmarsh replaced Lewis on vocals, and they reinvented themselves as Neil Christian And The Crusaders. Tidmarsh changed the names of his musicians, with Page being known as 'Nelson Storm', John Spicer was 'Jumbo' and drummer Evans was nicknamed 'Tornado'. 

Page toured with them for two years until he was forced to quit due to illness, suffering from glandular fever, although he would later still record with the band in the studio until 1964. Page's replacement was Paul Brett from the Impacs, who was himself briefly replaced by Albert Lee, while bassist Jumbo Spicer left to be replaced by Arvid Andersen. The Crusaders were augmented by pianist Tony Marsh, who had previously been in a Wembley-based combo called the Escort alongside drummer Keith Moon, and is was Marsh who introduced guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to Neil Christian, who teamed up with Andersen and Evans for a brief spell in early 1965. In March 1965, Blackmore and the rest of the group defected Screaming Lord Sutch to become The Savages, and so Christian pulled in an entirely new line-up, taking over a Luton group called The Hustlers, who featured Mick Abrahams on guitar. By June 1965 the new line-up was cemented by the addition of drummer Carlo Little, keyboardist Graham Waller and bassist Alex Dmchowski. While he was guitarist with the Crusaders, Abrahams stood in for Screaming Lord Sutch, who did exactly the same set as The Crusaders, before eventually leaving in late 1965. 

Christian disbanded the Crusaders soon after and decided to pursue a solo career, and his fortunes went on the upswing after he hooked up with songwriter and producer Miki Dallon, and landed a number 14 hit single with Dallon's 'That's Nice. To promote 'That’s Nice', Christian reassembled The Crusaders with Richie Blackmore, Tornado Evans, Avid Andersen and Tony Mash, and they toured the UK and Europe, particularly Germany, where they had a residency in Munich. While there he also recorded some tracks for the Metronome label, with 'Two At A Time' being a big hit for him in Germany in 1966. Christian went back to England and recruited new musicians who formed the final incarnation of the Crusaders, with pianist Matt Smith joining three members of Lord Caesar Sutch & The Roman Empire, Richie Blackmore, Carlo Little and bassist Tony Dangerfield. After The Crusaders split up following an argument in a restaurant, Christian released his final UK 45 'You're All Things Bright And Beautiful' for Pye in 1967, although when he moved to the Vogue label he recorded 'My Baby's Left Me' with his old Crusaders mates Blackmore and Little, with Nicky Hopkins on piano and Rick Brown on bass. Christian continued to release singles under his own name and as Neil Christian And The Crusaders well into the mid 70's, but he is best remembered for employing a string of guitarists who later went on to greater things, and an album around 1967 could have included tracks featuring most of them. As that never came about, then here is the best of the band's output, leaving aside some of the more 'pop' moments, and concentrating on the R&B that let those guitarists shine. 

Track listing

01 She's Got The Action
02 Get A Load Of This
03 One For The Money
04 Yakity Yak
05 That's Nice
06 Honey Hush
07 Bad Girl
08 Crusading
09 Oops
10 Countdown
11 My Baby's Left Me
12 Let Me In
13 I Like It

Featuring on guitar:
01, 02, 08, 12, 13 Jimmy Page
04, 07, 09, 10, 11 Richie Blackmore
01, 05 Mick Abrahams 
03, 06 Phil McPill 

Sunday - Whitney Houston Presents Sunday (2000)

Sunday were a R&B quintet from New Jersey, comprised of five girls aged between 18 and 22. Three sisters, Tawanda, Notasha, and Tiffany, were joined by their two cousins, Shakira and Stacey to form a group very much in the style of Destiny's or En Vogue, but with their gospel roots setting them apart. The quintet started singing together at the New Life Deliverance Church in Newark where their maternal grandmother was a pastor for 23 years, and they caught the eye of Robyn Crawford, a long-time associate of Whitney Houston, who signed them to a record deal. They recorded their self-titled debut album in 2000, which was executive-produced by Houston and Crawford, and it was led by the single 'I Know', which underperformed on the Billboard Hot 100, barely cracking at #98, but managed to fare better on the R&B/Hip-Hop aspect, peaking at number 32. However, this was not enough to prevent the album from getting canned by Capitol Records and Houston's label Better Place Records, and so it remains unreleased to this day. Like so many of these shelved albums, there is much to enjoy on here, and so here is what could have been the start of a promising career for these Whitney Houston protégées. 

Track listing

01 I'm Takin' Your Man 
02 Me For Me
03 Somebody Else
04 Fed Up 
05 Make It Hot
06 All Of A Sudden
07 I Know 
08 What Am I Gonna Do?
09 Alone
10 Everything's Alright
11 Believe In Love (feat. Whitney Houston)