The Majority - Tears Won't Help (1969)

Formed in Hull, England, as the Mustangs in the early '60s, the band changed their name to The Majority around the time they moved to London in 1965. With more of an American pop/rock vocal harmony style than most British Invasion groups, they tried their hand at a variety of material over the next few years, most of it coming from outside songwriters. After securing a deal with Decca Records that same year they released their first single, 'Pretty Little Girl', in July 1965, and as a minor coup of sorts, for their second single of that year, 'A Little Bit Of Sunlight', they managed to gain access to a Ray Davies composition that never found a place on a 1960's Kinks record. January 1966 saw the release of their third single 'We Kiss In A Shadow', and once again they managed to get hold of a Davies song, adding 'Ring The Bells' to the b-side. In their search for chart material, the Majority also tried compositions written or co-written by such luminaries as John Carter, Twice As Much, and Chip Taylor, but they never hit a commercial or artistic gold mine, with the production varying from the lush to straightforward mod-ish rock. The best they ever managed was the inclusion of their 'One Third' on the 'Nuggets, Vol. 2' box set, which was a collection of overlooked '60's British Invasion/early psychedelic-like rock from non-U.S. countries. 

The Majority's eighth and final single, 'All Our Christmases', would generate another collectible for future British '60s rock aficionados to hunt down in subsequent decades, as it was written but not recorded by the Bee Gees, but after some major line-up shuffles and work backing singer Barry Ryan in concert and in the studio, the Majority relocated to France, where they renamed themselves Majority One in 1969, and continued their recording career with a similar but more sophisticated musical approach. After a few singles released on the Dutch Pink Elephant label in 1970, they released their sole eponymous album in 1971, and although it didn't fare that well at the time, it is now highly regarded by collectors of early 70's prog. While their music is fairly enjoyable stuff, it's easy to hear why they became a sort of "in-between" group, with too much going for them to get dropped from their label, but not enough going for them to score hit records. One reason is that they didn't establish much of an identity, with their arrangements veering from mild British Invasion sounds to quasi-Walker Brothers productions and late-'60s British orchestrated pop with the slightest of psychedelic touches. This could be the reason that Decca never offered them the opportunity to record an album, but if they had then the band could have included a few of their better singles in the track listing and it might have ended up sounding something like this. 

Track listing

01 One Third
02 Tears Won't Help
03 Let The Joybells Ring
04 We Kiss In The Shadow
05 Simplified
06 Pretty Little Girl
07 Charlotte Rose
08 A Little Bit Of Sunlight
09 Wait By The Fire
10 Time Is On Your Side
11 To Make Me A Man
12 Ring The Bells
13 People
14 I Don't Wanna Be Hurt No More
15 All Our Christmases
16 Running Away With My Baby

Yo Yo - Ebony (1998)

Yo Yo (born Yolanda Whitaker on August 4, 1971 in Los Angeles, California) is a female hip-hop artist and actress who is a protege of rapper Ice Cube, making her first appearance on record in 1990, when she guested on Ice Cube's album 'AmeriKKA’s Most Wanted'. on the track 'It’s A Man’s World'. A year later in 1991, Yo Yo released her debut single 'You Can’t Play With My Yo-Yo' (featuring Ice Cube) which peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and in March she released her debut album 'Make Way For The Motherlode' on EastWest Records, which peaked at number 74 on the Billboard 200 and which was a critical success. The follow-up single, 'Ain't Nobody Better', spent eleven weeks on the charts, and the final single from the album, 'Stompin' In the '90s' peaked at number 2 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles chart. During that same year she made her acting debut in the film 'Boyz In The Hood', and in June 1992 she dropped her second album 'Black Pearl', which peaked at number 145 on the Billboard 200. 1993 was a busy one for her acting career as she starred in films such as 'Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit', 'Menace II Society', 'Strapped' and 'Who’s The Man?', as well as releasing her third album 'You Better Ask Somebody'. The lead single 'The Bonnie And Clyde Theme' topped Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles chart, and was followed by 'Westside Story' and 'IBwin’ Wit My CREWin'', although neither reached the same heights as the first single. After that Yo Yo’s music career took a backseat as she focused on her acting career, securing a recurring role on the '90's comedy series 'Martin', as well as appearing on the FOX Network television drama 'New York Undercover', and in the 1995 film 'Panther'. 

In 1994 she signed a deal with Warner Bros. television to produce a sitcom called 'Shifting Gears', but the series was never picked up, and so she returned to music and two years later she released her fourth studio album 'Total Control', which didn't generate as much success as her previous records, and the two singles from it didn’t make the charts at all. After a lawsuit for an uncleared sample on the album, it was pulled from the shelves. Her acting career continued with appearances in the 1997 films 'Sprung' and 'Trials Of Life', while at the same time recording tracks for her fifth studio album 'Ebony', which was due to be released in September 1998, but it ended up being shelved because the guest appearances on it weren't properly contracted to work with an artist on EastWest Records. She was later released from her record contract, and so concentrated on her acting career, although after 2000 not much was heard from her until 2004, when she did voice work on the video game 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'. In 2005 she returned to the music business with a mix-tape remix of R&B singer Ciara's single 'Goodies' and rapper The Game's single 'How We Do', but 'Ebony' has stubbornly refused to appear, and so here it is so that we can hear what would have been the rapper's final album. 

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Countin' Money (feat. Lil Shawn)
03 Do You Wanna Ride? (feat. Kelly Price)
04 Iz It Still All Good? (feat. Gerald Levert)
05 Get Up And Do Your Thing
06 Never Gonna Fall Again
07 Fantasy (feat. Lil Shawn)
08 Let Me Be The One
09 Good Girl
10 I Would If I Could (feat. Missy Elliott)
11 Pass It On (Part 2) (feat. Lady T, Big Chan, Nic-Nak, And Shorty G)

Gee Bros - One Word Songs (1969)

Gee Bros (also spelled as Geebros and G Bros) was a short-lived Dutch band from Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, active in the 1960's. They formed in 1964 as The Goldstar Brothers, and were made up of siblings André Groote, Ben Groote, Henk Groote, with Willem Antonius and Lol Nijhuis. Their first single was on an EP with three other artists on Lion Tops Records, featuring Yvonne Toelnaar, The Jets, and Rudi Seedorf, and this prompted Omega Records to offer them a deal, releasing two singles in 1964, before they moved to Phillips in 1966 for 'You Can't', which was their final release under the name of The Goldstar Brothers. In 1967 they rebranded themselves as Gee Bros, replacing Antonius with Cor Mestebeld, and rekindling their relationship with Omega Records, releasing the 'Let Me Find The Sun' single in January 1968. This was followed by 'Ev'ry Day' in May, after which they left Omega and signed to Pink Elephant Records for November 1968's 'Henry The Horse' single, which was a number 24 hit in their native country. In 1969 Hennie Backer replaced Nijhuis, and their final two singles appeared that year, after which the band broke up. The brothers stayed in the music business, performing under different names, including Crying Wood and Air Bubble, and in 1972 they released one final single as Gee Bros, with 'Canta Canta Libre' appearing on the Negram label. Despite being almost completely unknown outside of The Netherlands, they produced some great pop music, and so here are all their recordings collected together, to give us an idea of what was going on in Holland in the mid-to-late 60's.

 
Track listing

01 Nothing's Changed (single as The Goldstar Brothers 1964)
02 If I Were You (b-side of 'Nothing's Changed')
03 Zeg Mij Eens Even (single as The Goldstar Brothers 1964)
04 De Vakantie Is Voorbij (b-side of 'Zeg Mij Eens Even')

05 You Can't (single as The Goldstar Brothers 1966)
06 May Be (b-side of 'You Can't')
07 Let Me Find The Sun (single 1968)
08 She (b-side of 'Let Me Find The Sun')
09 Ev'ry Day (single 1968)
10 The Shadow Of Stone (b-side of 'Ev'ry Day')
11 Henry The Horse (single 1968)
12 Lively Liquors (b-side of 'Henry The Horse')
13 One Word Song (single 1969)
14 Made In Hong Kong (b-side of 'One Word Song')
15 It's In The Air (single 1969)
16 Shapes Of Blue (b-side of 'It's In The Air')

Skip Bifferty - On Love (1968)

Skip Bifferty were formed when Newcastle upon Tyne band The Chosen Few parted company with their singer Rod Hood and guitarist Alan Hull, later of Lindisfarne, and recruited Graham Bell to replace him. A name change quickly folllowed, and the newly christened Skip Bifferty soon signed a contract with RCA Records. The group released a number of psychedelic singles, including the flower-power 'Happy Land', and 'Man In Black', which was produced by Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane of The Small Faces, and in 1967 they released their self-titled album 'Skip Bifferty'. Some of their songs were covered by established artists such as Cilla Black, The Tremeloes and The Kingsmen, and they built a following on the live circuit, including touring with The Who in October 1968. However, a management dispute with their manager Don Arden caused the band to walk out en masse, eventually leading to the group's demise under that name in November 1968, re-appearing the following year under the pseudonym Heavy Jelly, and with Paul Nichols replacing Jackman on drums. They released one single on Island Records, 'I Keep Singing That Same Old Song', but when their true identity was uncovered they were let go by Island and they split up soon after. Together with Turnbull and Gallagher, Bell formed Bell & Arc in July 1971, and later Turnbull and Gallagher reappeared as Loving Awareness, who later morphed into Ian Dury's backing band The Blockheads. Skip Bifferty were one of the lucky few late-60's psychedelic bands who were allowed to make an album, and quite rightly it's become regarded as something of a classic of the genre. However, they were not around long enough to released a follow-up to that record, even though they had recorded enough material to make it. A couple of these tracks are taken from their many radio sessions, but they fit quite nicely with the rest of the songs, so here is what Skip Bifferty's second release from 1968 could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 On Love
02 Happy Land
03 Disappointing Day
04 Higher Than The Clouds
05 Cover Girl
06 Aged Aged Man
07 Man In Black
08 The Hobbit
09 Reason To Live
10 In The Morning
11 Once
12 I Don't Understand It
13 The Lion & The Unicorn
14 Round And Round

Paul at albumsthatshouldexist has also posted a couple of albums by this band, but he split them into BBC Sessions and a stray tracks compilation, including the Heavy Jelly recordings, so if you want to hear more then pop over there. 

Canela Cox - Canela (2001)

Canela Cox was born in 1984 in Los Angeles, California, moving to Amsterdam at the age of 12, where her mother, Rocq-E Harrell, a former Diana Ross' background vocalist, performed as an R&B singer and recording artist. Upon moving back to the United States at age 18, Cox continued to pursue her musical endeavours, performing with numerous musical groups throughout Los Angeles. In 2000 she was featured on Jennifer Lopez's multi-platinum selling single, 'Love Don't Cost A Thing', and although she was uncredited for her work on the song, she performed as Lopez's background vocalist for numerous tours and new songs. While performing with Lopez at a Los Angeles concert, her talent was recognized by Rodney Jerkins, who brought her to DreamWorks Records' attention, and was immediately signed to the label in 2001. She began to record her self-titled debut album, which featured production by Darkchild, Tim & Bob, Lil' Mo, Fred Jerkins III, Brycyn Evans, & DJ Clue, and DreamWorks announced at the time that it would be released sometime in December 2001. Her buzz single, 'Sponsor', was released to radio in March 2001, and a DJ Clue remix, featuring Fabolous, was also released to mixtape circuits, and it received heavy underground play. Despite this media onslaught, both versions of the single failed to chart, and so a new Darkchild-produced single, 'Everything', was released to radio as the official lead single from the album. However, 'Everything' suffered the same fate as 'Sponsor', and because of these two perceived failures, DreamWorks Records put a halt on the release of her album. Before the release date could be revisited, DreamWorks Records was bought by Universal Music Group, which caused the label to fold, and so her debut was permanently shelved. Some months after Cox left DreamWorks she co-wrote Anastacia's 2002 single 'Why'd You Lie To Me', and she was also the female vocalist on rapper Won G's 2004 single 'Caught Up In The Rapture', and then in 2004 she signed to Genuine Entertainment and began recording another album. Its buzz singles, 'Blazed' and 'Bedrock', were released through Monopoly Records in 2004, but neither single managed to chart, and because of a lack of promotion, and failed attempts to put out a single properly, she left Monopoly Records, and began singing and song-writing for other artists. In 2006 she joined pop band Anything But Monday, who featured in the reality show '30 Days 'til I'm Famous', but they too have yet to release a debut album, as this has also been  delayed several times. As she doesn't seem to have had much luck in getting a record of her own actually released, here is a chance for us to hear that abandoned debut. 

Track listing

01 Everything 
02 Sponsor (I Need I Need I Need)
03 Love, Lust, Crime
04 Friend Of Mine
05 I Can't Let Go 
06 Outta Here
07 Play Your Games
08 It Feels Just Right
09 1 Day
10 Trust Me

Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station (1977)

'Terrapin Station' is the ninth studio album by The Grateful Dead, and was released on 27 July 1977 on the band's new label, Arista Records. When their own record label folded, combined with a change in their management, The Grateful Dead signed with recently founded Arista Records, as label head Clive Davis had been interested in working with them since his time at Columbia Records. A proviso of signing to the label was that they had to agree to work under an outside producer, which was something they had not tried on a studio album since 1968's 'Anthem Of The Sun'. Keith Olsen was chosen to produce, and the band temporarily moved to Los Angeles, as Olsen preferred to work at Sound City, where he had recently achieved success producing Fleetwood Mac's 1975 comeback album. Rhythm guitarist Bob Weir's 'Estimated Prophet' examines a character's delusions of grandeur and California's propensity for false prophets, while 'Dancin' In The Streets' is a cover of Martha & The Vandellas' 'Dancing In The Street' from the early days of the band, given a new arrangement that prominently features singer Donna Godchaux. 'Sunrise' was Donna's first singing-songwriting effort for the Grateful Dead, and has been acknowledged as a tribute to the band's recently deceased road manager, Rex Jackson. Bassist Phil Lesh's 'Passenger' was inspired by Fleetwood Mac's 'Station Man', and Weir's 'Samson & Delilah' was a new arrangement of Reverend Gary Davis's traditional song, retelling the story from the Tanakh. 

Lyricist Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics for the first part of the 'Terrapin' suite in a single sitting, during a rare Bay Area lightning storm, and on the same day, driving across the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge, Jerry Garcia was struck by the idea for a singular melodic line, turning his car around and hurrying home to set it down before it escaped him. When they met the next day, Hunter showed him the words and he said, "I've got the music". They dovetailed perfectly. Once recording was complete, Olsen then added strings, horns and choirs to the tracks at studios in London, unrequested by the band. For 'Estimated Prophet', Donna's vocals were multi-tracked and he had Tom Scott add lyricon and saxophone. In a further quest for commercial potential, he ignored other contributions, secretly erasing Mickey Hart's timbale part entirely, and then hired a string section to fill out that passage instead. Weir also felt that all the orchestration and choral stuff was given too much prominence, and tried to negotiate with Olsen, but he stuck to his guns. Though the heavy sound production was of its time, it was unusual for a Grateful Dead album and a departure from their earlier, edgier psychedelic albums or their more recent Americana or jazz-blues efforts. Garcia said Olsen had "put the Grateful Dead in a dress", and was unhappy with the string sections and choirs on the title suite, complaining "It made me mad. He and Paul Buckmaster had an erroneous rhythmic sense; they changed it from a dotted shuffle to a marching 4/4 time." Reaction to the production from both fans and critics was similar, although the songs themselves received  a more positive response. This version of the album is more what the band actually wanted it to sound like, with the songs stripped of their strings, horns and choir. 

Track listing

01 Estimated Prophet
02 Dancin' In The Streets
03 Passenger
04 Samson & Delilah
05 Sunrise
06 Terrapin Part 1

The Merseys - Some Other Day (1968)

Guitarist and singer Tony Crane was fifteen years old and bassist and singer Billy Kinsley was just fourteen when they were introduced by a mutual friend and discovered they could do Everly Brothers-style harmonies with ease. The two formed a band in 1961, initially called the Mavericks and briefly known as the Pacifics, before the booker at Liverpool's Cavern Club gave them the name the Merseybeats. They were soon gigging regularly in Liverpool and the surrounding area alongside fellow Merseyside acts like the Fourmost, the Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry & the Pacemakers, and they often shared bills with the Beatles. In 1963, they signed with Fontana Records, and their debut single, 'It's Love That Really Counts' was a success, peaking at Number 24 on the British Pop chart, while their second disc, 'I Think Of You', was plugged by their pals The Beatles on the pop music show Juke Box Jury, and their endorsement helped it make the Top Five in February 1964. While the band was selling records and playing good-paying engagements, little of the money was making its way to the musicians, which Kinsley believed was due to their manager shortchanging them, so he responded by leaving The Merseybeats, and Johnny Gustafson, a veteran of the band the Big Three, took over on bass and vocals. By the end of 1965 Gustafson had been fired by the group's management, supposedly for asking too many questions about their finances, and so Crane responded by breaking up The Merseybeats. 

In the immediate wake of the breakup, Crane reunited with Kinsley and launched a vocal duo they called the Merseys, and with Fontana opting to maintain their relationship with Crane and Kinsley, their first single as the Merseys, 'Sorrow', was a major hit, topping out at Number 4 on the U.K. singles charts. The duo headed out on tour with a band called the Fruit Eating Bears serving as their backing band, including guitarist, Joey Molland, would go on to become an international star with Badfinger. By this time, Kit Lambert, who was managing the Who, also took on the Merseys as clients, and he spirited away Pete Townshend's 'So Sad About Us' for the group to record as their second single, after which The Merseys toured as the Who's opening act, and in early 1967 they were added to the bill of a package tour headlined by American soul stars the Four Tops. Increasingly disappointed with Lambert, who they felt was spending too much time on the Who while The Merseys' records were failing to chart, Crane and Kinsley fired him and finally signed on as part of Brian Epstein's stable of talent. Less than a month later, Epstein died, which did little to help the group's prospects or morale. After a pair of 1968 singles came and went with little notice, Crane and Kinsley brought out one final single, with 'Honey Do' appearing under the group name Crackers, before retiring the banner the Merseys. Kinsley would later formed the band Liverpool Express, who had some success in the 70's, and in 1973 they were suddenyl all over the music press when David Bowie recorded a cover of 'Sorrow' for his 'Pin Ups' album, and the song became a hit for the second time. The Merseys were more than a one-hit wonder, though, as most of their other songs were fine examples of mid-60's pop, and it's a shame that they never got around to recording an album, and it could have sounded something like this. 

Track listing

01 Rhythm Of Love
02 Change Of Heart
03 I Hope You're Happy
04 Nothing Can Change This Love
05 Sorrow
06 Some Other Day
07 Is It Love
08 Honey Do
09 Penny In My Pocket
10 Lovely Loretta
11 The Cat
12 So Sad About Us
13 It Happens All The Time
14 Dreaming
15 Love Will Continue

Talent - Bulls Eye (2000)

Talent was an R&B group from Kansas City, Missouri, consisting of Earnest "Bishop" Dixon, Keith "Castor Troy" Murrell, and Marlon "Casino" Hatcher, and they were signed to Rockland Records by R. Kelly after hearing them sing a rendition of Boyz II Men's 'End Of The Road'. When they left their native Kansas City to work with R. Kelly in Chicago, they expected to stay only two weeks, but that eventually became two years. The end result was their debut album 'Bull's Eye', which was slated for release 13 March 2000, and which was mostly written and produced by Kelly. 'Celebrity' was released as a single, but could only reach number 90 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart. The album features a generous helping of melodic ballads, and a mix of upbeat, hip-hop-inflected songs such as 'Breakin’ Up', 'Everywhere I Go' and the Trackmasters/Kelly collaboration 'All Up In His Ride' add an edge to an otherwise silky-smooth debut. At the time the trio signed with Kelly, none of them were established songwriters, but since then Dixon has written Profyle’s No. 1 R&B Motown single 'Liar' and Joe's forthcoming single 'Stutter', both produced by Teddy Riley. Promo discs of the album were sent out, but the final release was eventually cancelled and it remains unreleased, so here it is for us to judge if that cancellation was the right decision. 

Track listing

01 All Up In This Ride                        

02 Breakin' Up                                  

03 Celebrity                                  

04 Every Which Way                            

05 Everywhere I Go                            

06 I Belong                                   

07 My Heart Will Go On                        

08 Description Of Love                          

09 Til The Angels Sing                        

10 Together We Stand                          

11 Turn To Lies

The Chyknhawks - Mister Organ Grinder (1965)

The Chyknhawks set the tone for the California music scene in 1965, consisting of four young men who had previously come from folk music, and who's shared love of the Dodos from the UK had prompted them to try and merge folk music with beat music, forming something new and original. The four original members are Gary Cline, James McGunn, Daniel Bing & Mike Claire, and the debut album from the Los Angeles quartet was released on June 3rd, 1965. Entitled 'Mister Organ Grinder', the title was taken from their first single of which an alternate take is featured here, and the twelve tracks on the album were written between 1964 and 1965, and include song-writing from three of the four members of the group. Gary Cline dominates the album as far as song-writing credits go (having written or co-written nine of the twelve tracks), with James McGunn getting co-writing credits on four tracks and Daniel Bing getting three solo writing credits. Seen as a very solid start to a short but fruitful career as a band, The Chyknhawks would soar higher on later albums, but as all bands do eventually, they would get too close to the sun and by the end of 1969 the band would split for good. Between this album and 1969 though they would innovate and inspire, and would have multiple line up changes, and this debut album is a great appetizer for what would come.

Track listing

01 Far Out  
02 The Chimes Of Athena 
03 Mister Organ Grinder 
04 No One Should Cry 
05 Jack Of All Shame 
06 Falling Again 

07 King Of The Lost 
08 Is It Me, Man 
09 Here Within You 
10 All I Wanted To Do 
11 Believe In Yourself  
12 I Knew You'd Want Me 

Check out their bandcamp page here

Morning Reign - Just A Friend (1970)

In 1966 Ric Seaberg was attending an orientation event at Salem's Willamette University, where he met Gene Heliker, a fellow freshman who had a guitar. Seaberg and Heliker were soon bonding over music, and they made plans to form a band with Seaberg on lead vocals and guitar, and Heliker on lead guitar. They recruited two fellow students, rhythm guitarist Craig Chastain and bassist Doug Heatherington, and later added Bob Baker on keyboards and Bill Thomas on drums, and Morning Reign made their public debut playing a dance at the Willamette University gymnasium. A few months later, they were playing regularly in and around Salem, branching out throughout the Pacific Northwest. Drummer Thomas left the band, and a second drummer, Tom Hallman, worked with them for a while before Howard Holland took his place behind the drum kit. As this line-up established itself as one of the most popular rock bands in the Northwest, they released their first single , with the Heliker/Seaberg original 'Please Stop' appearing on the 3S Record label in 1968. Later that year the band appeared on the TV series Happening '68, in a battle of the bands segment, and although they didn't win, it did put them in touch with music industry figures who saw promise in the group. In the meantime, they struck a deal with Garland Records, an Oregon-based label who in 1969 issued two singles, with the band tackling covers, 'Everybody' b/w 'But It's Alright' and 'Any Way You Want Me' b/w 'Reach Out I'll Be There'. 

As their popularity rose, the group shared stages with some of the best known acts of the day, including the Doors, Three Dog Night, Vanilla Fudge, and The Guess Who. In 1970 they had a brush with the major labels with T-A Records, distributed by Bell Records, who issued their single 'Can I Believe In You', but by this time Baker and Holland had dropped out of the act, and two members of another Salem band, Tyme, stepped in to replace them, with Larry Sieber taking over the keyboards and Jay Steven Tate the drums. They continued to play regularly and wrote and recorded many demo tapes of original material, but the cost of putting out an album on their own was too expensive, and they couldn't find a label interested in producing an LP of their music. In time, the band had run their course, and they split up in 1972. Two archival releases have appeared since the split, with 'Can't Get Enough Of It' being a collection of seventeen previously unreleased performances from the group's archives, while 'Taking Cover' was drawn from recordings they made during their association with Garland Records. Neither of these records purports to be the album that they wanted to release in 1969, and as the Garland disc can't include the 3S and T-A singles then it's up to me to piece together an album from the available material that they'd recorded by 1970, which includes the best of their single sides, some of their demos, and a recording of the 10-minute tour-de-force 'I Love', that they often used to close their shows.   

Track listing

01 I Can Believe In You
02 Belinda
03 Everybody
04 Just A Friend
05 Tambourine Lady
06 Tomorrow Morning's Love
07 Please Stop
08 Any Way That You Want Me
09 But It's Alright
10 Say It Once Again
11 Even Is It Me
12 I Love

Donell Rush - Comin' & Goin' (1993)

Donell Rush was an American R&B singer, who was signed to RCA Records in the 1990's, and scored a Top 10 hit in the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart with the song 'Symphony', from his proposed debut album, 'Comin' & Goin'. 'Symphony' peaked at No. 66 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1992. He scored another minor hit with 'Let's Get Intimate' featuring Chantay Savage in 1992, and one final single from the album was 'If Only You Knew', but the scheduled release date of June 1993 came and went, and ultimately the release was cancelled. With the album's cancellation, Rush who was in poor health at the time, parted ways with RCA declaring himself 'semi-retired', but sadly three years later Rush passed away in March 1996 from a pulmonary embolism at only 36 years old. His final single 'Shout-N-Out' was recorded with Lood just six days before his death. As a tribute to a fine singer, here is Rush's cancelled album from 1993.

Track listing

01 If Only You Knew
02 Comin' And Goin'
03 Take Me Back
04 Love Has No Color
05 Symphony
06 I Never Knew
07 Runnin' In And Out
08 Just Can't Say Goodbye
09 Ordinary Man
10 Symphony In E Smoove

Genesis - From Genesis To Revelation (1969)

The founding line-up of Genesis consisted of guitarist Anthony Phillips, bassist Mike Rutherford, lead vocalist Peter Gabriel, keyboardist Tony Banks, and drummer Chris Stewart, all pupils of Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey. The five had played in the school's two active bands; Rutherford and Phillips were in Anon while Gabriel, Banks, and Stewart made up Garden Wall. During the Christmas holidays of 1966, after both groups had split, Phillips and Rutherford wrote some songs together at Rutherford's grandmother's house and asked Banks to play piano on a demo they were planning to record, and Banks agreed under the condition that they also record a song he and Gabriel had written, 'She Is Beautiful'. During the Easter school holiday they entered a primitive recording studio run by Brian Roberts in Chiswick to record the material, and they assembled a tape of six songs originally intended for someone else to perform, as the group saw themselves foremost as a collection of songwriters. Banks described the material as "straight pop music" as it was the direction the band wanted to explore, and at this point they had renamed themselves The New Anon. The group sent the demo tape to two people, one being BBC radio presenter David Jacobs, and the other was sent to former Charterhouse pupil Jonathan King, who had scored commercial success as a singer-songwriter and producer with his UK top five single 'Everyone's Gone To The Moon' in 1965, and therefore seemed a natural choice. Following a visit to the school during Old Boys Day, where the group had a friend give the tape to him, he listened to it in his car on his drive home and, despite its roughness, was immediately enthusiastic, particularly about Gabriel's vocals. 

King offered his support to the band and paid them £40 to record four songs, but he pressed for more simple arrangements, and suggested that the group avoid playing electric instruments, as acoustic instruments were cheaper, rather than his personal taste. These early sessions took place between August and December 1967 at Regent Sound Studios on Denmark Street, London, with the intent on releasing them as singles, and King was happy with the results enough to sign them, offering a ten-year deal with his publishing company JonJo Music, and a five-year recording deal with Decca Records. However, the group's parents expressed concern as they were aged between 15 and 17 at the time and preferred their children to pursue careers away from music. Upon their intervention, family solicitors took charge and arranged for a new, one-year deal with an optional second. King noticed the band's tendency to expand and complicate their arrangements, which he disliked and suggested they stick to straightforward pop songs, and so he either trimmed Banks's solo spots or removed them entirely, much to his annoyance. Gabriel and Banks wrote 'The Silent Sun' as a pastiche of the Bee Gees, one of King's favourite bands, and it was recorded at Regent Sound studio A in December 1967, with a section arranged and conducted by Arthur Greenslade added later in production. It was released on 2 February 1968 with 'That's Me' on the b-side as the first Genesis single, after King came up with the group's name, thinking it marked the beginning of a "new sound and a new feeling". 

In May 1968, the second single, 'A Winter's Tale' backed with 'One-Eyed Hound', was released and, like their first, it flopped. Stewart then left the group to continue with his studies, but despite their lack of success King continued to support the group and, by mid-1968, suggested that a studio album might reverse their fortunes. They were a little overwhelmed with the longer available time of an LP, so King suggested the idea of a loose concept album that told a story about the Book of Genesis at the start and the Book of Revelation at the end, with linked instrumental tracks. The idea worked, and the group began to write at a faster pace, composing more than enough material to return to Regent Sound studio 2 in August 1968 to record 'From Genesis To Revelation'. With he addition of new drummer John Silver, the music was recorded in three days, and the album was put together in ten. King was the producer, and once the songs were recorded, Greenslade and Lou Warburton then added more string and horn arrangements to one stereo channel, while mixing the band's performance on the other. This was done without the band's knowledge, which they thought compromised the strength of the songs, and Phillips was particularly angered at the decision, expressing his feelings towards it by stomping out of the studio on the last day. His main issue was that due to the limitations of recording technology of the time, adding orchestration meant that everything else on the recording had to be reduced to mono. 

The album was released in March 1969 and failed to chart, and even the release of 'Where The Sour Turns To Sweet' as a single failed to stimulate new interest. Prior to its release, Decca discovered that an American act had also called themselves Genesis and asked the band to change its name to avoid confusion, but King reached a compromise so the band's name would be omitted from the sleeve, leaving the album's title written in gold text in a Gothic style, in order to evoke mystery when presented in music shops. However, this reputedly back-fired when some shops filed the album in their religious music sections, since the title 'From Genesis To Revelation' was the only descriptive text on the album. The album only sold 649 copies, and so original copies are now extremely rare, and when it failed to become a success, the group decided to split and resume education. This marked the end of their association with King, who had grown increasingly dissatisfied with the band directing their material away from mainstream pop, and in September 1969, Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, and Phillips decided to make Genesis a full-time band and write on their own musical terms. As this is yet another case of additional instrumentation being added to an album against the band's wishes, then fans have often wondered what it would have sounded like had they been left to their own devices, and so here is 'From Genesis To Revelation' as played just by Genesis, with piano and organ boosted to replace the orchestration. To distinguish this version from the original I've used the cover from the vinyl edition that was issued in New Zealand in 1969. 

 
Track listing

01 Where The Sour Turns To Sweet
02 In The Beginning
03 Fireside Song
04 The Serpent
05 Am I Very Wrong
06 In The Wilderness
07 The Conqueror
08 In Hiding
09 One Day
10 Window
11 In Limbo
12 Silent Sun
13 A Place To Call My Own

The Orange Bicycle - Lavender Girl (1969)

The Orange Bicycle evolved from the beat group, Robb Storme & the Whispers, also known as the Robb Storme Group, who had recorded a handful of harmony pop singles for Pye, Piccadilly, Decca, and Columbia Records during the early '60s, but with little success. In 1966, the Robb Storme Group covered the Beach Boys' 'Here Today', which was arranged by the band's own multi-talented keyboardist/producer Wilson Malone and produced by Morgan Music's co-owner Monty Babson at Morgan Studios in the Willesdon area of London. With psychedelic music at its zenith, the group decided to change its name, and in 1967 they re-emerged as The Orange Bicycle. After signing a deal with Columbia Records, their fist single was 'Hyacinth Threads' in August 1967, which remains their best-known recording. 'Laura's Garden' followed in November 1967, and they continued to release singles sporadically over the next three years, including a cover of The Beatles' 'Carry That Weight' in 1969. In late August/early September 1968 they performed at the Isle of Wight music festival wearing matching black and orange suits, reportedly covering songs by Love and the Rolling Stones. In 1970, already somewhat past their prime, they recorded their only album, 'The Orange Bicycle', but it was made up largely of covers, including Elton John's 'Take Me To The Pilot', Bob Dylan's 'Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You', and Denny Laine's 'Say You Don't Mind', which was a wasted opportunity considering they had the writing talent of Wil Malone on board. By 1970 psychedelic pop music was on the wane, or transmogrifying into heavier prog or hard rock, so the group decided to call it a day, breaking up in 1971. As a sidenote, Malone went on to form the heavy psych-prog trio Bobak Jons Malone with celebrated engineer/producer Andy Jons and guitarist producer Mike Bobak, and their sole album 'Motherlight' is a classic which needs to be heard. During their career the band released many fine recordings as singles, and they also laid down some great unheard demos, and instead of waiting until 1970 to release a disappointing album they should have issued this one in 1969, which is a much better representation of their sound.

Track listing

01 Hyacinth Threads
02 Nicely
03 Lavender Girl
04 Competition
05 Laura's Garden
06 Go With Goldie
07 Trip On A Orange Bicycle
08 Jenskadajka
09 Soft Winds
10 Amy Peate
11 Carpet Man
12 Message For Mary
13 Early Pearly Morning
14 Dropping Out