Linda Laine And The Sinners - Low Grades And High Fever (1966)

The Sinners were an English beat group consisting of Del Hidden on lead guitar, Len Crawley on drums, Pete Bellotte on rhythm guitar and Russ Maxwell on bass, who signed to Columbia Records in the early 60's, and released a couple of singles in 1963 and 1964. They were joined on these records by Veronica Lind, under the name of Linda Laine, and by their third release, 'Low Grades And High Fevers', they'd become Linda Laine And The Sinners. The newly-named band made a few records without overly troubling the charts, but would regularly travel to Germany for month-long residencies, and in Hamburg they encountered another English band, Bluesology, and Bellotte became friends with their keyboard player, Reg Dwight, later to be known as Elton John. Linda Laine and the Sinners released several singles in the UK on the International Polydor label, all recorded at Abbey Road Studios in the early and mid-1960's, including 'I Can't Stand It', and its b-side, 'If You Leave Me Now', which was written by Bellotte. While in Germany, Bellotte had become fluent in German, and wanted to become involved in record production, so he moved to Munich and became an assistant to Italian musician Giorgio Moroder, who was also performing in Germany as a pop singer. In 1971, Bellotte wrote the lyrics for Moroder's song, 'Son Of My Father', which became a number 1 hit in the UK for Chicory Tip, and Moroder and Bellotte later began to work with American singer Donna Summer, writing and producing several hits for her, including her 1975 international breakthrough song, 'Love To Love You Baby'. This post includes all of the singles released by Linda Laine And The Sinners, plus those two early discs under the name of The Sinners, and to end is a rare acetate of an unreleased track titled 'Yesterday'. The acetate is only 54 seconds long, so I've edited it to a more satisfactory 1'38", and it was well worth doing, as it's a really great song which could have been the hit they were trying for. 

Track listing

01 I Can't Stand It (single by The Sinners with Linda Laine 1963)
02 If You Leave Me Now (b-side of 'I Can't Stand It')
03 It's So Exciting (single by The Sinners with Linda Laine 1964)
04 Leave Him (b-side of 'I'm So Excited')
05 Low Grades And High Fever (single 1964)
06 After Today (b-side of 'Low Grades And High Fever')
07 Doncha Know, Doncha Know, Doncha Know (single 1964)
08 Ain't That Fun (b-side of 'Doncha Know, Doncha Know, Doncha Know')
09 Don't Do It Baby (single 1965)
10 All I Want To Do Is Run (b-side of 'Don't Say It Baby')
11 Get A Job (single 1965)
12 Reasons (b-side of 'Get A Job')
13 There He Goes (single 1966)
14 VW (b-side of 'There He Goes')
15 Jinx On You (single 1966)
16 Gone (b-side of 'Jinx On You')
17 Baby Don't Hurt Me (single 1966)
18 Running Around (b-side of 'Baby Don't Hurt Me')
19 Yesterday (unreleased acetate 1966)

Charlotte Church - Death And Mathematics (2013)

As promised in the last post from Charlotte Church, here is a second album made up from songs from her 2012 and 2013 EP's on her own Alligator Wine Records label. This one has a more mellow vibe, but still contains some excellent music, which is completely different from anything that you might have heard from her during her classical music career. 

Track listing

01 The Rise  
02 Say It's True  
03 How Not To Be Surprised When You're A Ghost  
04 Beautiful Wreck   
05 Glitterbombed
06 Nerve  
07 Breach Of The Peace  
08 The Mistress
09 Lasts, Or Eschaton    
10 Sparrow  
11 Death And Mathematics

Hohokam - Seven Deadly Sins (1986)

Hohokam were formed around 1983 by Dave Earl on guitar, Steve Devier on vocals, Tony Alum on drums, and George Kamm on synths and bass, and were an electro-pop band very much in the style Depeche Mode, named after an ancient archaeological culture. Rumour has it that the four lads trespassed onto Gary Numan's property with a demo tape that inspired him to create his record label, Numa Records, and their 1984 single 'King' became the third record to be released on the label. Numan would generally preside over the recordings, acting as producer and occasional contributor, and their most successful single was 1985's 'Harlequin Tears', also on Numa, and which you can still hear in some more well-informed clubs to date. Hohokam were probably the label's main hopes, and were one of the reasons Numan apparently started the label, and 'Harlequin Tears' is certainly a supremely energetic and menacing slice of synth-pop, sounding part Depeche Mode in their leather-and-whips pomp, and part Dead or Alive at the height of their 'Spin Me Round' world domination. It was the closest the label came to a non-Numan chart hit, though given that it failed to even touch the Top 75, it clearly still fell a long way short of the target. Perhaps Hohokam lacked a strongly identifiable sound of their own, or a style that made them instantly recognisable as soon as they came on the radio, and being heavily associated with Numan as his career declined may not have been to the band's advantage at the time. After George Kamm left the group, Numan's in house studio sound engineer Andy Reilly joined the band as drummer, and Tony Alum took over keyboard duties. Soon after that Steve Devier departed and Skip Collins took over vocal duties, and this line up went on to record their sole album, 'Seven Deadly Sins'. However, the failure of the two singles, plus the third from the label, 'Don't You Know', presumably left Numan with his back against the wall, and no viable way of releasing it, and it remains consigned to the vaults to this day. If you're into 80's electro-pop then you could do worse than to give this a spin, as they were a promising band who just didn't get the breaks. 

Track listing 

01 Don't You Know
02 Catch A Tear
03 Seven Sins
04 Envy Your Innocence
05 In Your Eyes
06 Harlequin Tears
07 Gypsy
08 To Sleep
09 Broken Days
10 Point Of View

Even if you already own this album then it's worth grabbing this copy, as I've done a lot of work on it in order to beef up the sound, fix the many drop-outs, and completely replace the extremely low-quality first track with the 7" single edit of the song. 

Mocha - One Day At A Time (2007)

Aleesha Richards was a female hip-hop rapper who performed under the name Mocha in the late 90's/early 2000's. She featured on Nicole Wray's top ten Billboard hit 'Make It Hot' in 1998, and following that she guested on other singers and rapper's singles, including Missy Elliott’s 'Hit Em Wit Da Hee', DJ Clue's 'I Like Control', and Sporty Thievez's 'Even Cheaper'. In 2001 she recorded an album titled 'Hot Chocolate', later renamed 'Bella Mafia', and which was to feature Missy Elliott as a chief producer for the project. Following the renaming of her album came the first two buzz singles, one being the cartoonish ambulance-driven audio piece 'Runnin' Shit', assembled by Timbaland, and the other was 'Mardi Gras', which was an up-tempo Spanish-flavoured tune, again produced by Timbaland, and featuring guest appearances by Missy Elliott and Lil' Mo. By this point, no single had charted and 'Bella Mafia' was still underway for release in late 2000, until the signing of her former Goldmind Inc. labelmate Torrey "T.C." Carter, which resulted in not only the postponement of Mocha's album, but virtually every other signee to the label, after they put their full weight behind their new star. When T.C.'s single flopped, Mocha then prepped another single to get the anticipation flowing again for her debut, and 'I Know Whutcha U Like' was released to DJ's and radio, but like her previous efforts, it didn't impact any Billboard chart, after which she asked to be released from her contract, The end result of all this was that not only was 'Bella Mafia' shelved, but it was never actually finished, and consequently it's hard to reconstruct as so few tracks exist. In 2005, she released her two books "Cash Money" and "Concrete Jungle", both under the author alias AJ Rivers, and in 2007 she recorded a second album of new material entitled 'One Day At A Time', which was released as a limited edition through her website, with no cover art. Shortly after its release, she retired from music, and is now the owner of Mo's Sweet Minis, a bakery located in Richmond, Virginia, but for anyone who wants to hear that second album, featuring Virginia-based acts Mumeet Daddy & DJ Lonnie B, alongside sampled vocals by Kanye West, here it is, complete with new cover art to complete it.

Track listing

01 Guys 
02 Life's A B. (feat. DJ Lonnie B.)
03 Makin' Moves 
04 Million Words
05 Haterz 
06 Heart Of Mind
07 What A Life
08 I Remember (feat. DJ Lonnie B.) 
09 Pimptress
10 On My Grind
11 What's Up (feat. Mumeet Daddy)
12 Sugar (feat. Mumeet Daddy)
13 Mail Call
14 Tanita
15 Ghetto Senorita (feat. Kanye West)

Cover upgrades 2

I've gone through the covers that I thought could do with an upgrade, and so if you want these new versions then just download them from this page. 

I've now gone through all my covers and I'm generally happy with most of them, but if you think of any that you think could do with an upgrade then let me know

pj

Cover upgrades

Both me and Paul over at albumsthatshouldexist have been experimenting with AI that can enhance, and remove the blurriness, from photographs. I have a number of album covers that use rare, low resolution photos of obscure bands and artists, and the one that Paul is raving about, Krea AI, can do some amazing reconstructions by using guesswork to fill in the missing details, but some of the results were so extreme that they ended up looking a bit cartoonish. I therefore looked around for another programme that was a bit more subtle, and came upon Picwish. So now with two different programmes to choose between, I can add the finishing touches to my covers, and to give you an idea of what it can do, here is one that I always wished that I could have improved. This one used Krea AI, as the original picture was very blurry, and all I had to do was replace the enhanced neck, which came out like she had a rash. You can download it from this page if you want to replace the old copy in your folder, and I'll also replace it on Soulseek.

Old version

Enhanced version  

I'll try to think of any more that need improvement, and if you have any suggestions then let me know. 

pj

Cud - Songs Called That (2022)

Cud was formed in Leeds, England in 1987 by Carl Puttnam on vocals, Mike Dunphy on guitar, William Potter on bass and Steve ‘The Infamous Drummer From Cud’ Goodwin on drums, after the four of them discovered the remains of a drum kit in a rubbish skip. Before they'd even released a single they were invited to record a session for Radio 1 DJ John Peel, after sending him a demo tape, and this led to them being signed to The Wedding Present's Reception Records, who released their first single 'Mind The Gap' in 1987. Their second release was the 12" 'Peel Sessions EP' in February 1988, including a cover of Hot Chocolate's 'You Sexy Thing', which had already featured in John Peel's Festive 50 at number 20. Two further 12" EP's followed in 1988, with 'Under My Hat' appearing on Ediesta Records and 'Slack Time' on Dug Records, before they signed to Imaginary Records in 1989. They released two albums for the label, 'When In Rome, Kill Me' in 1989, and 'Leggy Mambo' in 1990, plus the singles compilation 'Elvis Belt' after they left the label. The band had spent the two years since 'Mind The Gap' building up a small but fanatical following in the north of England, with a comical hybrid of funk and the uglier elements of independent music, helped by their desire to perform absurd versions of Hot Chocolate and Jethro Tull songs. 

However, 1990 brought a new sense of sanity and professionalism to the band, and so they signed to A&M Records in 1991, and their greater spending power enabled Cud to reach the UK top 30 in 1992, with 'Rich And Strange' entering at number 24 and 'Purple Love Balloon' at number 27. Their fourth album 'Asquarius' also hit the top 30 on the UK Albums Chart, and the band were labelled with the proto-Britpop genre label "Lion Pop", though at the time the NME did not further construct a scene around that term, meaning that Cud would miss out on the Britpop fame of the mid-'90s. Nevertheless, a further top 40 single followed in 1994 with 'Neurotica', whilst their last album 'Showbiz' would chart at number 46 on the UK Albums Chart in April 1994. Potter was replaced by Mick Dale in early 1995, and they recorded a number of tracks with him, but the band broke up before they could be commercially released. in 2006 Cud reformed to support the release of a double album of their greatest hits entitled 'Rich And Strange - The Anthology', and they performed a small tour to promote it, while the same line-up again reformed for a short tour early in 2008 to support the expanded re-releases of 'Leggy Mambo', 'Showbiz', and the retitled 'Elvis Belt/Elvis Handbag'. 

At their gig at the Barfly in Liverpool on 6 March 2008, Puttnam suggested, contrary to suggestions on the band's homepage, that the latest tour would be their last, and on 27 April 2008, Cud announced that their final ever gig (entitled "No more Cud!") would take place in Rio's Leeds on 3 May 2008, but two years later they were back again for two gigs during March 2010, held at the Hootananny Club in London, and then in 2012 the band did their "Jubilee tour" in support of their album 'The Complete BBC Sessions' released by 3Loop Music. In 2013, Steve Lamacq premiered Cud's first new single in 17 years, which was a double-A side titled 'Louise' / 'Mexico', and they followed that in 2014 with 'Victoria'. The band have continued to tour since then, and in September 2021 they released a new single entitled 'Switched On', followed in October 2022 by 'Sorry (I Let You Down)'. As so often happened with these 90's indie-pop bands, they treated their fans extremely well, by adding otherwise unavailable tracks to the flips of their singles, and so we are able to compile a four-disc set of non-album recordings, with the first three discs covering their classic period from 1987 to 1994, and the fourth one concentrating on their reunions between 2013 and 2022. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1987-1990
01 You Sexy Thing (promo split single with Electro Hippies 1987) 
02 Mind The Gap (single 1987)
03 You're The Boss (b-side of 'Mind The Gap')
04 Under My Hat (single 1988)
05 Punishment-Reward Relationship (b-side of 'Under My Hat')
06 Art! (b-side of 'Under My Hat')
07 Slack Time (single 1988)
08 Make No Bones (b-side of 'Slack Time')
09 Lola (single 1989)
10 Living In The Past (b-side of 'Only (A Prawn In Whitby Bay)' 1989)
11 Everybody Works So Hard (b-side of 'Only (A Prawn In Whitby Bay)' 1989)
12 Hey!Wire (single 1990)
13 Purple Love Balloon (b-side of 'Hey!Wire')
14 Remember What It Is That You Love (split single with Family Cat 1990)

Disc II - 1990-1992
01 L.O.P.H.E. (from the 'Robinson Crusoe' EP 1990)
02 Plantation Island (from the 'Robinson Crusoe' EP 1990)
03 Backdoor Santa (flexi single 1990)
04 Marjorie (b-side of 'Magic' 1991)
05 Oh No Won't Do (single 1991)
06 Profession (b-side of 'Oh No Won't Do' 1991)
07 Ariel (b-side of 'Oh No Won't Do' 1991)
08 Price Of Love (b-side of 'Oh No Won't Do' 1991)
09 Undoubtedly Thomas (b-side of 'Through The Roof' 1992)
10 Prime Cut (b-side of 'Through The Roof' 1992)
11 Do It Again (b-side of 'Rich And Strange' 1992)
12 A Song Called That (b-side of 'Rich And Strange' 1992)

Disc III - 1992-1994
01 Down Down (from the 'Ruby Trax' compilation 1992)
02 Day By Day (b-side of 'Once Again' 1992)
03 Cud's Ode To Christmas Joy (single 1992)
04 1.W.G.S. (b-side of 'Neurotica' 1994)
05 Juicy Eureka (b-side of 'Neurotica' 1994)
06 Brand Name Skin (b-side of 'Neurotica' 1994)
07 My Need To Hurry (b-side of 'Sticks And Stones' 1994)
08 Ski Bum (b-side of 'Sticks And Stones' 1994)
09 Down The Plug (b-side of 'Sticks And Stones' 1994)
10 My Keyhole Don't Keep Secrets Anymore (b-side of 'Sticks And Stones' 1994)
11 Look On Up At The Bottom (b-side of 'One Giant Love' 1994)
12 Find It (b-side of 'One Giant Love' 1994)

Disc IV - 2013-2022
01 Louise (single 2013)
02 Mexico (b-side of 'Louise')
03 Victoria (single 2014)
04 Superstar (b-side of 'Victoria')
05 Justin O'Shea Situation (b-side of 'Victoria')
06 Switched On (single 2021)
07 I Like It Better (When You're Not Around) (b-side of 'Switched On')
08 Sorry I Let You Down (single 2022)
09 ABCD (Loving Is The Glue) (b-side of 'Sorry I Let You Down')
10 (I Can't Take Back) What I Said To You (b-side of 'Sorry I Let You Down')

A-ha - Rendezvous (1984)

A-ha (often stylised as a-ha) were formed in Oslo in 1982, and consisted of lead vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Paul Waaktaar (then known as Pål Waaktaar), and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen. Shortly after getting together, they left Norway for London in order to make a career in music, and they named themselves A-ha after Harket spotted a song called 'A-ha' in Waaktaar's songbook, and although he thought it was a terrible song, it was a great name. In April 1983, with funds running low, they booked themselves into a small Sydenham studio, Rendezvous, run by a man called John Ratcliff. The band ended up at Rendezvous almost by accident, allegedly booking it because it had a Space Invaders machine, but Ratcliff proved a generous patron when the band were at a low ebb, paying for them to make additional demos of the songs he thought were strongest, and renting them a flat at 221 Dartmouth Road, about 200 metres from the studio. Ratcliff introduced them to his manager, Terry Slater, and A-ha enlisted Ratcliff as a manager as well, with Slater and Ratcliff forming TJ Management, in which Ratcliff dealt with technical and musical aspects and Slater acted as the group's international business manager. One of the demo tracks recorded at Rendezvouz was called 'Lesson One', but before long it had been reworked into their breakthrough hit 'Take On Me', and with Ratcliffe's help in getting them a record deal with Warner Bros Records, it became their first single in 1984. 

After it failed to chart, the song was re-recorded again with production by Alan Tarney, and when this also failed to chart it was finally re-released in 1985 with a new, ground-breaking video, and this time the song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number two on the UK Singles Chart. The video used a pencil-sketch animation/live-action combination called rotoscoping, in which individual frames of film are drawn over or coloured, and it became one of the most instantly recognizable and most enduringly popular music videos in the US. It was nominated for eight awards at the third annual MTV Video Awards in 1986, winning six, including Best New Artist in a Video, Best Concept Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Viewer's Choice and Best Video of the Year. A couple of other tracks demoed at Rendezvous were later re-worked for the band's debut album, 'Hunting High And Low', but many of the songs remained unheard until they were included on a free CD with the audiobook edition of the band's book 'The Swing Of Things' in 2004. Even then, not all of the Rendezvous demos were included, and so I've tracked down the missing songs, and we now have all of the tracks that the band recorded at the studio in 1983 and 1984. 'Days On End' features guitarist Waaktaar on piano and Harket on trombone, with the original title being 'If You Do', while 'Presenting Lily Mars' was inspired by the 1943 film of the same name, and was intended as a possible b-side or album track, and a couple of lines from these demos were later used in the songs 'And You Tell Me' and 'Dream Myself Alive'. So here are all these rarities now collected together on one album, titled after the studio where they were recorded. 

Track listing

01 Take On Me
02 Days On End
03 Never Never
04 Monday Mourning
05 The Love Goodbye
06 Go To Sleep
07 Umbrella
08 Hunting High And Low
09 And You Tell Me
10 I've Been Losing You
11 Love Is Reason
12 The Swing Of Things

Soulseek hint - a-ha aiwe (all lower case)

Jay-Z - Black Gangster (2000)

Following the release of 'Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life' in 1998, and it's general critical acclaim, Jay-Z collaborated with Mariah Carey on 'Heartbreaker', a song from her seventh album, 'Rainbow', which was released in 1999. The song became Jay-Z's first chart-topper in the U.S., spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and in that same year, he released his fourth album, 'Vol. 3... Life And Times of S. Carter'. This was another hit record, selling over three million copies, and the most successful single from it was 'Big Pimpin', featuring UGK, which peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2000 he released 'The Dynasty: Roc La Familia', which was originally intended to be a compilation album for Roc-A-Fella artists, but Def Jam decided that it was to be a Jay-Z album. It did, however, help to introduce newcomer producers The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West, and Bink, all of whom have gone on to achieve notable success. This is also the first album where Jay-Z utilizes a more soulful sound than on his previous albums, and while not quite as successful as '..'Life And Times...', it's still sold over two million units in the U.S. alone. This third post from Jay-Z features mostly unreleased tracks recorded between 1998 and 2000, and includes the 'Heartbreaker' single, which never appeared on one of his own albums, plus collaborations with Lil Kim and Mya. 

Track listing

01 So Right (remix) (feat. The Lox) 
02 Love Is Love 
03 What The Game Made Me (feat. Memphis Bleek & Sauce Money) 
04 From Marcy To Hollywood (feat. Memphis Bleek & Sauce Money)
05 Heartbreaker

06 4 Alarm Blaze (feat. Mop)
07 Love For Free (feat. Rell) 
08 Black Gangster
09 Queen Bitch (remix) (feat. Lil Kim)
10 Is That Your Chick (The Lost Verses) (remix) (feat. Memphis Bleek & Twista) 
11 Best Of Me (remix) (feat. Mya)

Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion III (1991)

The 'Use Your Illusion' albums represent a turning point in the sound of Guns N' Roses, as although the band did not abandon the aggressive hard-rock sound it had become known for with 1987's 'Appetite For Destruction', 'Use Your Illusion I' demonstrated a more diverse sound, incorporating elements of blues, classical music, heavy metal, punk rock, and classic rock and roll. This is exemplified by the use of piano on several tracks by singer Axl Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed. Another factor in the different sound compared to the band's earlier work is the addition of former The Cult drummer Matt Sorum, who replaced Steven Adler, after he was fired from the group due to his heroin addiction. Besides the stylistic differences, another new aspect in 'Use Your Illusion I' was longer songs, with the epic ballad 'November Rain' clocking in at nearly nine minutes, and 'Coma' being more than 10 minutes long. A few songs were even sung by other members of the band, with Izzy Stradlin taking lead vocals on 'Dust N' Bones', 'You Ain't The First', 'Double Talkin' Jive', and '14 Years', while 'So Fine' was sung by Duff McKagan. The band had some difficulty achieving the final sound they wanted, and after mixing 21 tracks with engineer/producer Bob Clearmountain, the band decided to scrap the mixes and start from scratch with engineer Bill Price of Sex Pistols fame. Released at midnight on 17 September 1991, the albums were among the most anticipated in rock history, although despite expectations of sales reaching the likes of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' or Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The U.S.A.', they ultimately underperformed domestically, but were still commercially successful enough to become the first albums by one band or artist to enter the US charts at the number one and two spots.

Reception to 'Use Your Illusion I' was mainly positive, and it is regarded as the heavier-sounding album of the two, due in part to the influence of Izzy Stradlin, although some critics bemoaned the amount of filler on the record, while 'Use Your Illusion II' was the slightly more popular of the two, selling a record 770,000 copies in its first week, against 'Use Your Illusion I's first-week sales of 685,000. Both albums have covers courtesy of Estonian-American artist Mark Kostabi, which consists of a detail from Raphael's painting 'The School of Athens', with each using a different colour scheme for the same picture. Because they were recording songs for two albums at the same time, they over-estimated how much material would be needed, and so after the final track-listings were finalised there were a number of tracks left over, which have leaked inline over the years. There are currently enough reasonable recordings out there to compile a third album in the series, and so here is 'Use Your Illusion III' to complete the trilogy. 'Sentimental Movie' features a Slash vocal, 'Cornshucker' was written and demoed by Steve Adler, while 'The Plague' was originally just a 54 second snippet, but it's been remixed by Youtuber 5agge into a full length song by adding in segments of other tracks, and as it sounded pretty good I've included it here. 

Track listing

01 Ain't Goin' Down
02 Just Another Sunday
03 Bring It Back Home
04 Crash Diet
05 Too Fast To Live
06 Shallow
07 The Plague
08 Sentimental Movie
09 Cornshucker

10 Too Much Too Soon
11 It Tastes Good, Don't It

'The Plague' audio sources:
'The Plague' (1986)
'Welcome To The Jungle' (1987)
'Ain't Going Down' (1990-1991)
'Back Off Bitch' (1991)
'Down On The Farm' (1993)

Charlotte Church - I Can Dream (2014)

If you know the name Charlotte Church at all, it's almost certainly as the pre-teen singing sensation who won 'The Big, Big Talent Show' in 1997, and then went on to sign a contract with Sony Music, and to release her first album, 'Voice Of An Angel' in 1998, when she was just 12 years old. The collection of arias, sacred songs, and traditional pieces sold millions worldwide, and made her the youngest artist to have a No. 1 album on the British classical crossover charts. In 2000 she released 'Dream A Dream', an album of Christmas carols, and in 2001 she added pop, swing, and Broadway into her repertoire with her album 'Enchantment', which in turn led to her first all-pop album in 2005, with 'Tissues And Issues'. Four singles were released from it, with the most successful being 'Crazy Chick', which reached number two in the UK charts. In November 2006, it was announced that she and Sony had parted ways, which according to her publicist was a mutual decision reached after a series of meetings throughout the year, although there was speculation that her pop releases' chart performance contributed to the decision. Although she announced that she would be working on new music in 2008, it was to be another two years before we heard from her again, when she appeared on 'Friday Night With Jonathan Ross' on 13 March 2010, and confirmed that she had already begun writing and recording her sixth studio album. 'Back To Scratch' was duly released on Dobby Records in the UK on 25 October 2010, together with the title track preceding it as the lead single. However, in March 2011 it was announced that she had ended her US$3 million deal with Power Amp Music over promotional disputes, and consequently 'Back To Scratch' never received a US release. 

The main reason for this post is that I have just listened to a podcast interview with Church, speaking with comedian Richard Herring, and she discussed the real reason for leaving her US contract, which was that they refused to let her record an album of the music that she loved, which was nu-soul and R&B, and in particular the music of Jill Scott. She therefore left the label and set up her own studio in her garage, where she was able to record the music that she wanted, and to release them independently on her own label, Alligator Wine Records. The result was four CD-EPs, with 'One' coming out in 2012, followed by 'Two' and 'Three' in 2013, and 'Four' in 2014, and the music contained on them is very different to anything that had been heard from her in the past, with scything electric guitars evident on songs from 'Three' and 'Four', and burbling keyboards throughout, while her vocals range from the ethereal to the dynamic. All four EPs are extremely rare, and were almost impossible to locate, but I really wanted to hear them after listening to the interview, and so when I did finally track them down it was a no-brainer to post some of the music on the blog. To my mind, 'Three' and 'Four' contain her most impressive songs, and so this album is made up of most of the tracks from those two EP's, with the rest of them following later on a more ballad-orientated disc. The cover might seem a bit edgy for an album from a former child star, but it is the actual cover for the 'Two' EP, with just her name and the title added, which seemed to fit the image perfectly.   

Track listing

01 House Upon The Sea
02 Love Alone
03 Magician's Assistant   
04 Remains
05 Like A Fool
06 I Can Dream
07 Little Movements
08 Hood Shade
09 Entanglement
10 Water Tower  
11 Love

If you'd like to listen to the whole interview then you can find it here.

Bridgit Mendler - Skeleton (2015)

Bridgit Claire Mendler was born on 18 December 1992 in Washington, D.C., moving with her family to Mill Valley, California, at the age of eight. It was there where she first expressed an interest in acting, and when she was eight years old she began taking part in local roles in both dramatic and musical theatre, becoming the youngest performer in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. In 2004 she got her first voice acting role in the animated Indian film 'The Legend Of Buddha', in which she portrayed young Buddha, and the next year she got her first acting role as a guest star on the soap opera 'General Hospital'. In 2007 she made her film debut in the film adaption of the Alice series, titled 'Alice Upside Down', starring alongside Disney Channel actress Alyson Stoner and Lucas Grabeel. In 2009 she became a recurring character in the Disney Channel series 'Wizards Of Waverly Place', appearing in a total of eleven episodes, spanning from 2009 to 2012, when the series ended. In 2011 she starred as Olivia White, the lead role in the Disney Channel Original Movie 'Lemonade Mouth', for which she performed numerous songs for the film's soundtrack, which was released on 12 April 2011 by Walt Disney Records. Two singles were released from the soundtrack, with 'Somebody' peaking at number 89 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and 'Determinate' managing to reach number 51. On 31 March 2011 it was confirmed that Mendler had signed with Hollywood Records, and had begun working on her debut album, while at the same time starring in the Disney Channel Original Movie 'Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas!', featuring the song 'I'm Gonna Run To You', which was released as a promotional single on 12 November 2011. In Summer 2012, she confirmed that the title of her official debut single was her own co-write 'Ready Or Not', which peaked at number 49 in the United States, but which reached the top twenty of a number of European countries. 

Mendler's debut album, 'Hello My Name Is...', was released on 22 October by Hollywood Records and all the songs were written by Mendler with collaborators, as well as her being involved in its production. The album charted in several countries including Poland, Australia, United Kingdom, France and Spain, and her vocals have been compared to Lily Allen, Cher Lloyd, and Jessie J. A second single was extracted from the album, with 'Hurricane' hitting the number 1 spot on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100. On 25 November 2014, Mendler was announced as a member of the main cast of the NBC comedy series 'Undateable' in season two, and she stayed with the show until its cancellation after the third series. Having left Hollywood Records in 2015 and signed to Black Box Records, she began working on new music the following year, and her 'Atlantis' single was released in August 2016, followed by the EP 'Nemesis' in November. In October she was was cast as Ashley Willerman on the fifth season of the CMT television series 'Nashville', and then the next year she landed the lead role in the Fox comedy television pilot 'Thin Ice', although the network ultimately passed on the pilot in May. Her acting work during this period didn't leave much time to work on her music, and so after one last single 'Diving' in August 2017, her second album was shelved, and her music career was put on hold. So for any fans who would like to hear more from her, here is her unusually titled shelved second album from 2016, with artwork that she says she wanted to represent some of the more soul-bearing songs on the album. 

Track listing

01 How To Do
02 I Fought The Love
03 Deeper Shade Of Us
04 Catalyst
05 Dedication
06 Coins In The Air
07 Timeless
08 Flowers
09 Cold
10 Snap My Fingers
11 Library
12 While You Were Sleeping

Trevor Rabin - 90124 (1981)

Trevor Charles Rabin was born on 13 January 1954 in Johannesburg, South Africa, into a family of musicians. His mother, Joy, was a painter, ballet dancer, actress, and classical pianist, and his father, Godfrey, was a lawyer, musician, conductor, and the lead violinist in the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. With this background it's no wonder he took up the piano at the age of 6, and at twelve he started to teach himself the guitar using piano exercise books, never having had a formal lesson in the instrument. A year later he played in The Other, before forming Conglomeration, and later joining Freedom's Children for a one-year stint until 1973. At sixteen, he was discovered by a local record producer and became a session musician, playing a variety of styles including jazz, fusion, country, classical, conga, and kwela. In 1972, Rabin reunited with his bandmates in Conglomeration to form the rock band Rabbitt, with drummer Neil Cloud, bassist Ronnie Robot, and singer, keyboardist, and guitarist Duncan Faure, releasing their debut album 'Boys Will Be Boys' in 1975. This included a re-recording of the band's 1972 single, a cover of Jethro Tull's 'Locomotive Breath', and Rabin won an award for his orchestral arrangements. Rabbitt's second album, 'A Croak And A Grunt In The Night', was released in 1977, while Rabin was still pursuing a career as a session musician, and he released two albums under the pseudonym Trevor Terblanche. 

In 1977, Rabin recorded and released his first solo album, 'Beginnings', for RPM Records, playing all the instruments except the drums, for which he used session player Kevin Kruger. Also in 1977 Rabbitt agreed to a distribution deal with the US label Capricorn Records, but they were unable to tour abroad due to the international disapproval of South Africa's apartheid policies, and restrictions on South Africans obtaining visas. The situation became a catalyst for Rabin to leave the country, and in 1978 he arrived in London to continue his solo career. By July he'd struck a recording deal with Chrysalis Records, and in September 1978 they reissued a remixed and re-ordered version of his debut solo album under the name 'Trevor Rabin'. In 1979, he released his second solo album, 'Face To Face', promoting the album with a UK tour as an opening act for guitarist Steve Hillage. Rabin's third solo album for Chrysalis was 'Wolf', released in 1980 and co-produced with Ray Davies at his Konk Studios in London, with Rabin providing lead vocals, guitars, and keyboards, and using other musicians for the parts he didn't play, including drummer Simon Phillips, bassists Jack Bruce and Mo Foster, keyboardists Manfred Mann and John Bundrick, and Chris Thompson and Noel McCalla on additional vocals. Following its release, Rabin severed ties with Chrysalis as he felt the label did little to promote the album, and he moved to Los Angeles in 1981 to begin to develop material for a fourth solo album for his new label Geffen. 

During this time David Geffen also put him in contact with musicians that went on to form the supergroup Asia, but at an early rehearsal he felt his songs were not suitable for the group, which led to the label dropping him. Rabin then sent a tape of his new songs to various labels, including Clive Davis at Arista Records, who praised his vocals but deemed his songs unsuitable for the Top 40 format. RCA Records executive Ron Fair was impressed enough to offer Rabin a solo deal, which was declined after Rabin decided to work with bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White, formerly of the progressive rock band Yes, after his demos were discovered by producer Mutt Lange and Phil Carson of Atlantic Records. In late 1982, Rabin, Squire and White formed Cinema, which included original Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye, and they recorded '90125' with former Yes singer Trevor Horn as producer. Based mostly on Rabin's demos, the album displayed a more commercial and pop-oriented direction, much different than their progressive rock-themed albums in the 1970's, but during the mixing stages in mid-1983, former Yes singer Jon Anderson returned to sing on the album, which led to the group becoming a reformed line-up of Yes. 

Rabin was uncomfortable with the decision, feeling the new music did not represent what the band had become popular for, and wished for the album to be judged on its own merits as by the band Cinema. '90125' was released in 1983, and remains the band's highest selling album, with three million copies sold in the US alone, helped by its Rabin-penned lead single 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart', which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Before Anderson returned to the fold and Cinema became a Yes reunion, Rabin was very much in charge of the recording, with half the songs being his own, augmented by other members of the band. In fact, the demos that Lange and Carson heard could easily have been polished into an extremely good rock album under his own name, and as one of his demos has since appeared on a re-issue of '90125', and others on his own 2003 compilation, then we can now hear what a Rabin-helmed version of '90125' could have sounded like. This album includes his demos of four songs that Yes took on, as well as 'Fools' which was a precursor to 'Hearts', while 'I'm With You' was developed by Yes, but along with 'Would You Feel My Love' were both left off the final track-listing. Other tracks were demos for Cinema that remained unreleased, and so I've salvaged them from the vaults to make up Rabin's own version of '90125', which as it's essentially a preview of that album, is titled '90124'. 

Track listing

01 Owner Of A Lonely Heart  
02 Hold On  
03 It Can Happen           
04 Changes  
05 It's Over  
06 Would You Feel My Love   

07 Fools             
08 I'm With You
09 Don't Give In