A gift from PowerPopTom - Part 7

PowerPop Tom has made CD covers for some of my recent posts, and they include some of my favourite collections, like 'Songs Of Ascent' by U2 and 'Chalk Pie' by Frank Zappa. I actually had to do quite a bit of work on that cover, as the only two people who posted it online left the free CD attached, which completely blocked out the bottom left of the sleeve, so I basically had to reconstruct it from that quarter-sized free CD cover, and in the end it came out pretty well, and you won't find a better copy on the net.  

Kendrick Lamar - Prelude (2021)

Here we have another Youtube mix from Will On The Soul, who put together the Kanye West/Andre 3000 and Kendrick Lamar/J. Cole albums that I posted recently, and for this one I wouldn't have the first idea how he's managed to compile this mix. For this fantasy EP, he's taken individual verses from a huge number of tracks from the rapper, and then sewn them all together, and added his own beats to make what are, in effect, completely new pieces of music from Kendrick Lamar. I don't even want to think about how long this took him, or what magical effects he used to put this together, but it has to be heard if you're a fan of Lamar, and if you want to try to identify the individual verses then they are all listed at the end of the post. 

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Brother‘s Keeper (feat. A$AP Rocky & Future)
03 Do For Love (feat. J. Cole & Andre 3000)
04 Pain Interlude 
05 Free (feat. Lauryn Hill & Anderson Paak)
06 Conflicted Interlude 
07 No Complaints (feat. J. Cole) 
08 Dopeman (feat. Kanye West)
09 Wings (feat. Isaiah Rashad)
10 Trust
11 The River (feat. J. Cole)

Verses from:
'I Am' by Kendrick Lamar (The Kendrick Lamar EP, 2009)
'That Part' by ScHoolboy Q feat. Black Hippy (2016)
'Covered N Money' by Future (Honest, 2014)
'Who Dat Boy' by Tyler, The Creator feat. A$AP Rocky (Flower Boy, 2017)
'Doves In The Wind' by SZA feat. Kendrick Lamar (Ctrl, 2017)
'Work Out' by J. Cole (Cole World: The Sideline Story, 2011)
'Hello' by Erykah Badu feat. André 3000 (But You Caint Use My Phone, 2015)
'His Pain II' by BJ the Chicago Kid feat. Kendrick Lamar (Pineapple Now-Laters, 2012)
'Nobody' by Nas feat. Ms. Lauryn Hill (King's Disease II, 2021)
'Lockdown' by Anderson .Paak (2020)
'Pray For Me' by The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar (Black Panther, 2018)
'Alright' by Kendrick Lamar (To Pimp A Butterfly, 2015)
'BRACKETS' by J. Cole (KOD, 2018)
'Want U 2 Want' by Q-Tip feat. Kendrick Lamar (2018)
'FEAR' by Kendrick Lamar (DAMN., 2017)
'Nosetalgia' by Pusha T feat. Kendrick Lamar (My Name Is My Name, 2013)
'Mercy' by Kanye West, Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz (Cruel Summer, 2012)
'Family Ties' by Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar (The Melodic Blue, 2021)
'Pretty Little Birds' by SZA feat. Isaiah Rashad (Ctrl, 2017)
'Ignorance Is Bliss' by Kendrick Lamar feat. ScHoolboy Q (Overly Dedicated, 2010)
'HiIiPoWeR' by Kendrick Lamar feat. Alori Joh (Section.80, 2011)
'Look Out For Detox' by Kendrick Lamar (2010)
'NILE' by Beyoncé & Kendrick Lamar (Lion King: The Gift, 2019)
'Snow On Tha Bluff' by J. Cole (2020)

Sade - Wired (1994)

Helen Folasade Adu was born on 16 January 1959 in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, and after her parents separated when she was four years old, she moved to Colchester, Essex with her mother. After completing her education at Clacton County High School and Colchester Institute at the age of 18, she moved to London and completed a three year fashion design course at Saint Martin's School of Art, after which she began backup singing with British band Pride. During this time, she formed a songwriting partnership with Pride's guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman, and they began doing their own sets at Pride gigs. Her solo performances of the song 'Smooth Operator', co-written with Ray St. John, attracted record companies' attention, and in 1983 Sade and Matthewman split from Pride, along with keyboardist Andrew Hale, bassist Paul Denman, and drummer Paul Cook, to form the band Sade. In October 1983 she signed with Epic Records, and the group began recording their debut album, 'Diamond Life', which took six weeks to record, and was recorded entirely at The Power Plant in London. The record was released on 16 July 1984, and reached number two in the UK Album Chart, selling over 1.2 million copies in the UK, and it won the Brit Award for Best British Album in 1985. 'Your Love Is King' was released as the album's lead single on 25 February 1984, charting at number seven in Ireland and number six on the UK, while third single, 'Smooth Operator', was her most successful song in the US, peaking at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100.  In late 1985, the band released their second album, 'Promise', which peaked at number one in both the UK and the US, spawning two singles in 'Never As Good As The First Time' and 'The Sweetest Taboo', the latter of which was released as the album's lead single and stayed on the US Hot 100 for six months. 

In 1986, Sade made her acting debut in 'Absolute Beginners', a film adapted from the Colin MacInnes book of the same name, playing the role of Athene Duncannon, and she lent her vocals to the film's accompanying soundtrack. Sade's third album, 'Stronger Than Pride', was released on 3 May 1988, and like her previous albums it was a commercial success, providing four hit singles, most notably 'Paradise', which peaked at number 16 on the US Billboard Hot 100. 'Love Deluxe' was released as the band's fourth studio album on 26 October 1992, peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200, and in November 1994, the group released their first compilation album, 'The Best of Sade', which was another top ten hit in both the UK and the US. After this the band took a hiatus for the next eight years, reappearing with their fifth studio album, 'Lovers Rock', in 2000, and despite her time away, it received positive reviews from music critics, and earned Sade the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2002. In the first part of her musical career, Sade often added previously unreleased songs or instrumentals to the b-sides of her singles, and so we are able to gather up those non-album tracks from 1983 to 1992 for a very nice smooth jazz album from the singer. 

            
Track listing

01 Love Affair With Life (b-side of 'Your Love Is King' 1983)

02 Should I Love You (b-side of 'Hang On To Your Love' 1984)

03 Red Eye (b-side of 'Smooth Operator' 1984) 

04 Spirit (b-side of 'Smooth Operator' 1984)

05 Wired (b-side of 'Is It A Crime' 1985)

06 Killer Blow (from the film 'Absolute Beginners' 1986)

07 Be Thankful For What You've Got (live in Tokyo 1986)

07 Make Some Room (b-side of 'Nothing Can Come Between Us' 1988)

08 Super Bien Total (b-side of Paradise' 1988)

09 Room 55 (b-side of 'Kiss Of Life' 1992)

11 Please Send Me Someone To Love (from the soundtrack of the film 'Philadelphia' 1994)

Thanks to Paul for bumping this album up to 49 minutes.

The Passions - Hunted (1982)

The Passions formed in early 1978 as the Youngsters, with a line-up of Barbara Gogan (guitar, vocals), Claire Bidwell (bass guitar), Richard Williams (drums), Dack Dyde (guitar) and Mitch Barker (vocals), with Williams and Gogan coming from the punk rock outfit the Derelicts. After a name change to Rivers Of Passion, soon shortened to The Passions, Dyde was replaced by Clive Timperley on guitar. The band's first single was the double A-side 'Needles And Pins' / 'Body And Soul', which was issued in March 1979 on the Soho label, and the positive reaction to it helped them in gaining a recording contract with Fiction Records. They soon became a favourite group of Radio One DJ John Peel, and recorded their first of three Peel sessions in November 1979, by which time Barker had departed and Gogan took over as lead vocalist. 'Michael & Miranda', the band's debut album, was produced by Fiction head Chris Parry, and released on 18 April 1980, following which the band embarked on a UK and European tour supporting label-mates The Cure, and promoting their second single, 'Hunted'. Bidwell left after the tour to join The Wall, and was replaced in July 1980 by David Agar, but the band were later dropped by Fiction and so had to hunt around for another label, and a meeting with Peter Wilson, the in-house producer for Polydor Records, led to the band signing to that label. The first release on the new label was their third single, 'The Swimmer', which appeared on 1 October 1980, and this was followed in January 1981 by what is probably their most famous song, 'I'm In Love With A German Film Star', with lyrics written by Gogan about Steve Connelly, a one-time roadie for The Clash and Sex Pistols who had minor roles in several German films. The music weeklies declared the song "Single of the Week", and it was named "Peoples Choice" on Capital Radio, leading to a Top Of The Pops appearance on 5 February 1981, which was repeated on 26 February 1981. 

The next single, 'Skin Deep', was produced by Nigel Gray, and was issued on 2 July 1981, as a taster for the band's second album, 'Thirty Thousand Feet Over China', which was released on 18 September 1981. Timperley left the band in Verona, Italy, in December 1981, during the Italian leg of their prophetically named "Tour Till We Crack" tour, and the next single, 'Africa Mine', was recorded by the remaining members prior to a line-up change, and released on 8 January 1982, with the guitar part being played by their producer, Peter Wilson. Kevin Armstrong, previously with Local Heroes SW9 and a contributor to Thomas Dolby's debut album, joined The Passions in 1982, and they also added a keyboard player, Jeff Smith, best known for his past work with Lene Lovich. Armstrong and Smith took part in the recording of the band's third album, 'Sanctuary', which produced by Mick Glossop, and the first single from the record was 'Jump For Joy', which was released on 5 May 1982, followed by the album and the 'Sanctuary' single on 18 September 1982. Stephen Wright then replaced Armstrong, and this line-up toured Europe and the US, as well as appearing on The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC 2 and on Whatever You Want on Channel 4. Despite this new-found exposure, the group had reached the end of their life, and they dissolved for good in the middle of 1983, after playing their last show at London's Marquee Club that August. Despite their fairly short career, The Passions produced some great music, and at least one song that will be their lasting legacy, but they also hid away some fine tracks on the b-sides of their singles , and this collection rounds them all up into one extremely enjoyable album. 

Track listing

01 Needles And Pills (single 1979)
02 Body And Soul (b-side of 'Needles And Pills')
03 Hunted (single 1979)
04 War Song (b-side of 'The Swimmer' 1980)
05 (Don't Talk To Me) I'm Shy (b-side of 'I'm In Love With A German Film Star' 1981)
06 I Radiate (b-side of 'Skin Deep' 1981)
07 Some Fun (b-side of 'The Swimmer' re-issue 1981)
08 Africa Mine (single 1982)
09 I Feel Cheap (b-side of 'Africa Mine')
10 The Square (from the double 7" pack of 'Africa Mine')
11 Why Me (from the double 7" pack of 'Africa Mine')
12 Snow (from the double 7" pack of 'Africa Mine')
13 I'm In Love With A German Film Star (from the double 7" pack of 'Africa Mine')
14 The Story (b-side of 'Jump For Joy' 1982)
15 Tempting Fate (b-side of 'Sanctuary' 1982)
16 Stop That Man (b-side of 'Sanctuary' 1982)

Adina Howard - Welcome To Fantasy Island (1997)

Adina Marie Howard-Walker was born on 14 November 1973 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and raised by her mother, with the family later moving to Phoenix, Arizona. In the mid-1990's she gained the attention of manager-producer Livio Harris, who helped her record some demos and later land a deal with Max Gousse through Mecca Don/EastWest Records. Her debut album 'Do You Wanna Ride?' was released in 1995, and included the Platinum-certified hit single, 'Freak Like Me', alongside her follow-up singles 'My Up And Down' and 'It's All About You'. She spent 1996 recording a number of songs which appeared on film soundtracks, including 'What's Love Got To Do With It' from 'Police Story 3: Super Cop', 'Damned If I Do' from 'A Thin Line Between Love And Hate', and 'For The Funk' from 'Sunset Park'. In 1997 she recorded her second album 'Welcome To Fantasy Island' (originally titled 'Portrait Of A Lady'), and advance copies garnered rave reviews and a moderate hit with the lead single '(Freak) And U Know It', but Elektra Records were not convinced and cancelled its release. The album was leaked to the internet a few years later, with promotional copies selling for hundreds of dollars, and one of the unreleased tracks, 'T-Shirt & Panties' (a collaboration with Jamie Foxx) ended up on a film soundtrack the following year, with it originally being slated for the soundtrack to the film 'Booty Call', but eventually ending up on the soundtrack to the 1998 comedy 'Woo'. Another soundtrack appearance occurred the same year, with a collaboration with Cydal on a 'Chocolate (Cuties & Condoms)' being released as a single for the 'Bulletproof' soundtrack. In 2004 Howard released her official second album 'The Second Coming' on Rufftown Records, but it sold poorly due to lack of promotion and only 40,000 copies made it to store shelves, and she was later sued by the label. 

A second single '(Outside) The Club' was slated to be released, along with a remix album 'The Second Coming: Remixed & UnCut', but they suffered the same fate as 'Welcome To Fantasy Island', with both releases being cancelled following her departure from the label. Her third album 'Private Show' fared no better, being delayed many times by Arsenal Records, almost to the point of it being shelved, but it was eventually released in June 2007, along with a promotional single 'Picture This'. The album only sold 4,000+ copies though, and a third single, following a remixes EP for 'My Hips', was to have been 'Tease', but Howard parted ways with the label shortly after the album's release, and the single was cancelled. Howard's career has been bedevilled by a lack of support from her record companies, and she had more potential releases cancelled than any other artist that I know of. To date, Howard remains proud of the album and its cover, and in June 2018 a promo single surfaced for 'Crank Me Up', which was revealed to have been in consideration as a single by Elektra Records. In 2013 it received an unofficial release (excluding 'T-Shirt & Panties' and 'Crank Me Up', which were included on her 'The Second Coming' release) through the mixtape site DatPiff.com, and in 2021 it was announced that Rhino Records had acquired the rights to the album, with it finally being released onto digital audio platforms on 19 February 2021, although physical formats remain unavailable. Although the record is now out there, it took 24 years to finally appear, and as you can't buy a vinyl or CD copy of it I'm posting it anyway, as an album that we'd wished existed for nearly a quarter of a century. 

Track listing

01 Welcome To My Queendom (Intro)
02 (Freak) And U Know It
03 Personal Freak
04 All About U
05 Crank Me Up
06 Sexual Needs
07 Could've Got Away
08 Another Level (Interlude)
09 T-Shirt & Panties
10 I'll Be Damn If I Apologize
11 Don't Come Too Fast
12 Take Me Home
13 Lay Him Down
14 Ain't No Need
15 Satisfied (Outro)

Gene - Where Are They Now? (2001)

Gene's origins lie in a previous band which was first called The Go Hole, named after a fictional "Beat" club in John Clellon Holmes' novel 'Go', and formed in 1987 by by Lee Clark (vocals/guitar) and Darryl James Walton (bass). However, their collaboration was short-lived as Walton was soon replaced by John Mason on bass, with Matt James (Wrigley) joining soon afterwards on drums. Walton then took on the role of band manager, and their first single, 'Flight Of Angels', appeared on Walton's Big Pop Record label in 1987. A John Peel session fuelled their early success, where they mixed with Camberwell music and artistic community, mingling with members of The House of Love, My White Bedroom, and Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. After 18 months, Clark, Mason and James invited John's brother Steve Mason to play lead/rhythm guitar, thereby freeing Clark to focus on vocals, and at this point they changed their name to Sp!n. The band released two singles, 'Scratches (In the Sand)' in 1990 and 'Let's Pretend' in 1991, both on The Foundations Label, and an album was recorded with Stephen Street as producer, titled 'In Motion'. However, their career was suddenly put in doubt then the band were involved in a car accident, with John Mason suffering a head injury which put him into an 11-day coma, while Walton was also hurt. The day prior to the accident, Clark had offered his resignation in a letter to the rest of the band, due to his dissatisfaction with the way that Walton and their record label were guiding its course. 

A final EP, titled 'Hot Blood', was released in late 1991, but the music press had ceased to portray the band as new and vibrant, instead concentrating on the car crash and their injuries, necessitating an overhaul of the band. John Mason left the band and became a writer, while Clark briefly recorded demos with Andrew "Snake" Newton, who had been the live sound engineer for Sp!n, but then gave up music to become a primary school teacher. Wanting to continue together in a band, Steve Mason and James recruited bass player Kevin Miles, who had a long association with the band, and after seeing Watford based Welshman Martin Rossiter cross the floor of a club, Mason approached him, and their meeting ended with Mason asking Rossiter if he would like to audition with the band. Rossiter appeared on Sp!n's last demos as "Martin T. Falls" (a nod to the Mancunian band The Fall) shortly before the band decided to adopt the name Gene. By the time NME journalists Keith Cameron and Roy Wilkinson encountered Gene, the band had already gained some live experience and had written several songs, and Cameron and Wilkinson were impressed enough to form an independent record label called Costermonger, with the sole purpose of promoting Gene to a wider audience. Their double A-sided debut single 'For The Dead'/'Child's Body' was released on Costermonger in May 1994, and it received a great deal of attention from the music press, with Select naming it "Single Of The Month". 

With Gene already developing a devoted fan following, a new single was planned to consolidate their popularity, and the triple A-side 'Be My Light Be My Guide'/'This Is Not My Crime'/'I Can't Help Myself' was released on 1 August 1994 via Costermonger. After achieving the top spot in the UK indie chart and number 54 in the UK Singles Chart, the band played their first UK headlining tour, including a sold out show at London's Paradise Club. The plaudits had not gone unnoticed by the big record companies, and Gene eventually signed a deal with Polydor Records, who released their third single 'Sleep Well Tonight' in late 1994. Featuring strongly in both critics and readers end of year polls, Gene were the recipients of the inaugural NME Brat Award for 'Best New Act', and as such played at the sold-out Brat Award ceremony at the London Astoria. Their fourth single, 'Haunted By You', became the band's second Top 40 hit, reaching number 32, whilst their 1995 debut LP 'Olympian' reached number 8 in the UK Albums Chart, and received a plethora of excellent reviews. Following a world tour and a well-received performance at Glastonbury Festival, the band entered the studio again at the end of the year for pre-production on their new album, scheduled for release the following year. 1996 began with a remixed 'For The Dead' which subsequently became their biggest hit, peaking at number 14 in the Top 40, and leading to their debut appearance on Top of the Pops. In anticipation of their second studio LP, October 1996 saw the release of 'Fighting Fit', an up-tempo rock song which reached number 22 in the UK singles chart, and the start of 1997 heralded the release of 'We Could Be Kings', another epic rock song which again proved to be popular, reaching number 18. 

The 'Drawn To The Deep End' album appeared in 1997, taking its name from a 'Fighting Fit' b-side, and it revealed a lavish production replete with strings, far more prominent guitar solos from Mason, and a rather warbling vocal affectation from Rossiter, while the the dominating themes of the album were loneliness and deep yearning. Indeed, Rossiter was in the depths of depression during the making of the album and the songs resulting from this period remain some of the band's most powerful work. 'Drawn To The Deep End' was another critical success, entering the top 10 of the album charts, and subsequent singles, 'Where Are They Now?' and 'Speak To Me Someone' both made the top 40. 1998 was used by the band to write new material, and no new music was released during that hear, meaning that on their return from relative wilderness, it appeared that they had lost a lot of their prestige, and were no longer the golden boys of the indie scene. Their next album, 'Revelations', was released in March 1999, along with a Jam-like political single called 'As Good As It Gets', which entered the charts at number 23 to lukewarm reviews.

'Revelations'  received very mixed reviews, charting disappointingly at number 23, although the second single from the album, 'Fill Her Up', still managed to crack the Top 40. Despite a successful and comprehensive tour around the country, again selling out many venues, as well as making a successful appearance at the Reading Festival of that year, Gene and Polydor parted ways. The band felt somewhat undermined by their label's lack of support and failure to market the album adequately, and they also felt that given more time by their label they could have made a better record. After signing with Contra Records, they released the 'Libertine' album in 2001, but despite further successful live shows in subsequent years, including a set at the Morrissey curated Royal Festival Hall Meltdown Festival in June 2004, Gene opted for an amicable split later that year, and their final live performance was on 16 December 2004 at the London Astoria. In their decade-long career Gene produced some great music, with a lot of it being hidden away on the b-sides of their singles, and so here are all the non-album tracks that the band released between 1994 and 2001. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1994-1995
01 For The Dead (single 1994)
02 Child's Body (b-side of 'For The Dead')
03 Be My Light, Be My Guide (single 1994)
04 This Is Not My Crime (b-side of 'Be My Light, Be My Guide')
05 I Can't Help Myself (b-side of 'Be My Light, Be My Guide')
06 Sleep Well Tonight (single 1994)
07 Sick, Sober And Sorry (b-side of 'Sleep Well Tonight')
08 Her Fifteen Years (b-side of 'Sleep Well Tonight')
09 Do You Want To Hear It From Me (b-side of 'Haunted By You' 1995)
10 How Much For Love? (b-side of 'Haunted By You' 1995)
11 I Can't Decide If She Really Loves Me (b-side of 'Olympian' 1995)
12 To See The Lights (b-side of 'Olympian' 1995)
13 Don't Let Me Down (b-side of 'Olympian' 1995)

Disc II - 1996-1999
01 Drawn To The Deep End (b-side of 'Fighting Fit' 1996)
02 Autumn Stone (b-side of 'Fighting Fit' 1996)
03 Dolce And Gabbana Or Nowt (b-side of 'We Could Be Kings' 1997)
04 Wasteland (b-side of 'We Could Be Kings' 1997)
05 Cast Out In The Seventies (b-side of 'Where Are They Now?' 1997)
06 Nightswimming (b-side of 'Where Are They Now?' 1997)
07 As The Bruises Fade (b-side of 'Speak To Me Someone' 1997)
08 The Ship Song (b-side of 'Speak To Me Someone' 1997)
09 To All Who Sail On Her (b-side of 'As Good As It Gets' 1999)
10 Toasting The Union (b-side of 'As Good As It Gets' 1999)
11 Man On Earth (b-side of 'As Good As It Gets' 1999)
12 Pass On To Me (b-side of 'Fill Her Up' 1999)
13 Touched By The Hand Of Havoc (b-side of 'Fill Her Up' 1999)

Disc III - 2001
01 Is It Over? (single 2001)
02 Supermarket Bombscare (b-side of 'Is It Over?')
03 Little Diamond (b-side of 'Is It Over?')
04 Who Said This Was The End? (b-side of 'Is It Over?')
05 Let Me Move On (single 2001)
06 If I'm A Friend (b-side of 'Let Me Move On')
07 Left For Dust (b-side of 'Let Me Move On')
08 From Georgia To Osaka (b-side of 'Does He Have A Name?' 2001)
09 Welcome To Dover (b-side of 'Does He Have A Name?' 2001)
10 With Love In Mind (b-side of 'Does He Have A Name?' 2001)
11 Love Lives Here (b-side of 'Spy In The Clubs' 2001)

Mike Stuart Span - Concerto Of Thoughts (1968)

Mike Stuart Span evolved out of the Brighton-based group The Mighty Atoms, which included vocalist Stuart Hobday and bassist Roger McCabe. By 1965, Hobday's early attempts at song-writing had secured a publishing contract with Lorna Music, and the Mike Stuart Span - a name created by reversing the singer's Christian names - was formed, with the addition of Nigel Langham on guitar, Ashley Potter on organ  and a teenage drummer Gary 'Roscoe' Murphy. A liaison with local promoter Mike Clayton resulted in the replacement of Potter with Jon Poulter, and the addition of a four piece horn section. For economy this was soon reduced to two (Gary Parsley on trumpet and Dave Plumb on saxophone) as the band concentrated their efforts on American-derived soul music. The band secured a recording contract with EMI, after recording the Hobday penned 'Work-Out', coupled with a cover of The Drifters' 'Follow Me', but it was another Drifters number, 'Come On Over To Our Place' that was selected as the A-side for the band's debut Columbia single in November 1966. A second single followed in June 1967, with their cover of Cat Stevens 'Dear' being backed by Mike d'Abo's 'Invitation', but it was as unsuccessful as their debut, and EMI dropped the band. 

This forced the band to dismiss the horn section, with keyboardist Poulter also departing shortly afterwards, and after recruiting guitarist Brian Bennett through an ad in Melody Maker, the revitalised band paid more attention to the importance of studio work, starting with an October 1967 session at Decca Records with Dave Paramor, who had produced their EMI singles. Three tracks were recorded, including the instrumental 'As Close As We Can Get It', which titled after Paramor's insistence that the track should last two and a half minutes, but it actually only ran for 2 minutes 28 seconds. However, Decca decided that the recordings were insufficiently commercial, declining to sign the band, and so without record company support, the group took matters into their own hands, and privately funded a single that appeared in February 1968 on the Jewel label – a new Melodisc subsidiary run by Emil Shallit. The two tracks were recorded at R.G. Jones studio in Morden, and 500 copies of 'Children Of Tomorrow'/'Concerto Of Thoughts' were pressed, making it one of the most sought-after psychedelic 45's. Publicity both at home and abroad brought a cameo appearance in the film, 'Better A Widow', as well as successful tours of Germany and Belgium, and a support appearance with Cream in the UK. Following a session for the John Peel's Top Gear programme in May 1968, the band was chosen to feature in documentary film-maker Paul Watson's BBC TV series 'A Year In The Life'. 

The episode charted the band's progress over twelve months, and along the way they dismissed their manager and, thanks to a series of demo recordings reaching Clive Selwood, who was head of the UK branch of Elektra Records, the group was signed to the label early in 1969. In the United States, label boss Jac Holzman immediately commissioned an album, but insisted on a change of name for the group, and so they re-christened themselves Leviathan, and Elektra launched their recording career in April 1969, with the simultaneous issue of two singles. Three of the chosen tracks, 'Remember The Times', 'Second Production' and 'Time', had initially been conceived as Mike Stuart Span recordings, with the newly composed 'The War Machine' completing the quartet, and despite the commercial failure of both singles, work continued on the band's album at Trident Studios. One further old Mike Stuart Span track, 'Flames', was recorded as a single in the summer of 1969, although by the time that it surfaced in October Leviathan had split up. Although Mike Stuart Span recycled much of their unreleased material for the Leviathan project, the original recordings by the group have since surfaced, and if Elektra had allowed them to release an album under their original name then it could have sounded very much like this.   

Track listing

01 World In My Head
02 Flames
03 Concerto Of Thoughts
04 Baubles And Bangles
05 Children Of Tomorrow
06 Second Production
07 Time
08 Blue Day
09 Can You Understand Me
10 Remember The Times

Blue Aeroplanes - Staring At The Future (2024)

For anyone who enjoyed the recent post from The Blue Aeroplanes, here is a treat for you. In 2023 the band released the follow-up to 2017's 'Welcome Stranger!', with 'Culture Gun' making a belated appearance. It was written, and in part recorded, over three years, and was much delayed, mainly due to vocalist Gerard Langley being hospitalized with cancer. It was finally released on 28 April 2023 on the Art Star label, to almost universally positive reviews, and the following year the band surprised fans at a gig at Lafayette, London on 27th July 2024, by selling a specially pressed CDr of unreleased tracks from the 'Culture Gun' sessions. It included the track 'Tyger! Tyger!', which is poetry by William Blake and William Butler Yeats set to an arrangement of Mud's 'Tiger Feet', and was limited to just 100 copies. It came housed in a gatefold sleeve and a plain, white paper inner, with a resealable, clear, outer protective cover, and obviously has since become one of the band's most collectible items. In case you didn't manage to get your hands on a copy, here it is for your enjoyment.  

Track listing

01 Tyger! Tyger!
02 Inherit
03 Bad Angel
04 Loyalty Cards / Unreliable Narrator
05 Cops
06 Album Of The Year
07 Underground Rocketship
08 Better

Stacie Orrico - Say It Again (2002)

Stacie Joy Orrico was born on 3 March 1986 in Seattle, Washington, and grew up influenced by a wide range of musical styles, becoming a member in the church choir where she often accompanied on the piano as the family sang Christian hymns. She got her start in music at the age of 12, by attending a Christian music festival, Praise in the Rockies, held in her then-home state of Colorado. Orrico inadvertently entered a high-stakes talent competition, where she won, and a ForeFront Records executive was on hand and approached her for a record deal. She later signed with them, and in 2001 she toured with Destiny's Child as their opening act on select dates of their Survivor tour in the United States. She recorded her first album when she was just 14 years old, and 'Genuine' was released in 2000, selling over 13,000 copies in the first week, the highest debut week sales ever for a female Christian artist. The album produced the hit single 'Don't Look At Me', which topped Christian charts for ten consecutive weeks, and all five singles from it went top ten in the charts. In 2001 she released a Christmas EP, consisting of six tracks made up of a mix of Christmas songs and carols. In 2002 she started recording her next album, which was intended to be a more mainstream record, titled 'Say It Again'. A track listing was put together and promo CD's distributed, before it was decided to scrap the album and start again. The songs 'Truth', 'Until I Find You', the cover of Billy Preston's 'That's The Way (God Planned It)', and 'Star Of My Story' were dropped and replaced with new recordings, and the ones which were kept were significantly different. The spoken intro to 'Bounce Back' was removed from the single version, 'Maybe I Won't Look Back' has a slightly different track from what would eventually be released, including the bridge being performed as a rap verse by Orrico, and 'Security' contained a rap verse from an uncredited Mat Kearney that was omitted from the released version. A couple of the scrapped tracks were later included on some Japanese editions of her album, while others have remained unreleased. The revamped 'Stacie Orrico' album was released in 2003, and charted in the US, the UK, and Australia, and the first mainstream single from this album was 'Stuck', which became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 5 on the majority of the world's charts, followed by '(There's Gotta Be) More To Life', which reached number 12 in the UK. For any fans who are interested in hearing the album as it was originally intended, then here is 2002's 'Say It Again', the precursor to 2003's 'Stacie Orrico'. 

Track listing

01 Tight
02 Hesitation
03 Bounce Back
04 That's What Love's About
05 Truth
06 Intil I Find You
07 Maybe I Won't Look Back
08 That's The Way (God Planned It)
09 Star Of My Story
10 Security (feat. Mat Kearney)

The Dodos - Music From The Funhouse (1967)

If 'Sgt. Pepper...' cracked the egg of psychedelic pop earlier this year, 'Music From The Funhouse' by The Dodos smashes it on the floor, paints a moustache on the yolk, and invites you to dance to its surreal ride through the acid-drenched annals of time. The album opens with 'The Big Parade', a brassy, clattering number that marches out of the gate like a ragtag circus. It’s a dizzying overture, complete with luscious strings, marching band drums, and cryptic lyrics. It's as much a declaration of artistic intent as it is a giddy sonic prank. 'Funhouse Mirrors' slows things down but doesn’t let up on the weird, with the layered vocals and psychedelic sounds giving it an otherworldly feel. 'Crystalline Ballroom' is a shimmering ballad with fairy-tale lyrics, which ends wit a cacophony of sound effects, while 'Cotton Candy Tears' is actually quite a jaunty number, with some nice guitar-work. 'Up In The Air' is a buoyant track that filters early Kinks through a trapeze act, with a playful tempo and rich harmonies, giving it a sense of wonder that's impossible to resist. 'Did I Forget' harks back to their earlier work, and is a welcome break from the rampant psychedelia on offer so far, but we're soon back to the strangeness with 'The Clowns Scare Me', which is a deceptively catchy piece with paranoid lyrics and a great backwards guitar solo. The album closes with 'Hypercolour Kaleidoscope Cavalcade', which is six and half minutes of layered drones, backwards guitar loops, and heavily flanged vocals dripping with echo. 'Music From The Funhouse' has the makings of a cult classic, and with half of the twelve tracks hovering around the six-minute mark, it also gives the boys the chance to experiment, and play around with new sounds. It’s unafraid to be bizarre, and yet it’s filled with real melodic beauty and emotional depth. The Dodo's may be extinct in the mainstream, but in the funhouse of rock history, their music echoes on.

Track listing

01 The Big Parade 

02 Funhouse Mirrors

03 I Bumped My Head 

04 Time Flows So Slow

05 Why Wake Me? 

06 Crystalline Ballroom

07 Walk Through The Midway

08 Cotton Candy Tears 

09 Up In The Air

10 Did I Forget?

11 The Clowns Scare Me

12 Hypercolour Kaleidoscope Cavalcade

Mike Solof - Off The Beatle Track - Episode 73 (2019)

I think its about time for another episode of Mike Solof's excellent Beatles-O-Rama radio show, and this one is a bit of a departure from the usual in depth exploration of the Fab Four, as it looks at the political history of the 60's, with choice musical interludes which help explain what was happening during this period, and what the musicians of the time though of it.

 

Track listing

01 Episode 73 - Off Track With Just 4 Guys

U2 - Songs Of Ascent (2010) **UPDATE **

Listening to this album once more, I noticed that the guitar intro to 'Mercy' seemed extremely loud compared to the rest of the song, so I've toned it down a bit to blend in with the rest of the track. Soulseek and Mega updated, and link to the track on its own is in the comments. 

pj

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (2023) **UPDATE**

Since discovering this epic track on Youtube, I've probably played it about once a week, and while I'm in awe at the seamless edits, one little thing that niggled was the slight change in the fullness of the sound on a couple of the solos. I've therefore extracted them and boosted the bass on them a touch so that they blend in more with the music on either side. Hopefully it fractionally improves your enjoyment of this superb piece of music. Soulseek/Mega updated.

Track listing

01 Comfortably Numb