Bruce Springsteen - Murder Incorporated (1983)

The recording sessions for Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The U.S.A.' album spanned a two year period, and produced the largest quantity of completed song recordings of any session of his career. The sessions took place in four phases, with the January thru May 1982 sessions featuring The E Street Band with Steve Van Zandt, the January thru late April 1983 sessions featuring Springsteen alone on multiple instruments, and the rest being with The E Street Band, but no Van Zandt. Between seventy and eighty songs were recorded over the entire period, and thanks to information from Sony's studio logs, we now have a far better understanding of the sheer scale of Springsteen's output at this time. Songs were recorded at the Power Station and the nearby Hit Factory over the course of the first half of 1982, but as we know, he was not happy with the way that some band versions of his acoustic demos turned out with E Street backing, and so by early April he began actively exploring the possibility of releasing some of these solo demos as an acoustic album. 'Nebraska' duly appeared in September 1982, and the band versions of those songs were then locked away until they surfaced this year on the 'Nebraska 82' box set. The May-July 1982 period saw the effective departure of Steve Van Zandt as a member of The E Street Band, and following his decision to release 'Nebraska' and stop recording with the band, Springsteen spent the summer of 1982 in New Jersey making numerous guest appearances, that became affectionately known as his '1982 Jersey Shore Bar Tour'. 

However, that came to an end in early October, soon after the release of 'Nebraska', and during November-December 1982 he had Mike Batlan install a home recording studio at his house in Los Angeles, where he recorded more than an album's worth of songs over the early months of 1983, playing all the instruments himself, except for a drum machine. Although none of these Los Angeles recordings ultimately ended up on the album, two of them - 'Shut Out The Light' and 'Johnny Bye Bye' - were issued as b-sides in 1984/85, while tracks such as 'The Klansman', 'Unsatisfied Heart' and 'Richfield Whistle' remain unreleased. At this point, brief consideration was given to releasing an album, tentatively entitled 'Murder Incorporated', and a document exists from around March 1983 revealing his then-selections for the record, as well as his choices for b-sides of the singles to be released from it. However, instead of settling on that song line-up, he opted for more sessions, and began a new round of recording with The E Street Band at The Hit Factory in New York in May 1983. Of the proposed track-listing for 'Murder Incorporated', only six songs eventually appeared on the 'Born In The U.S.A.' album, with ten of them being rejected, and so by replacing those six released tracks with the songs that he'd earmarked as b-sides, we can hear all of the otherwise unreleased recordings from his sessions up to May 1983, other than 'Johnny Bye Bye' and 'Shut Out The Light' which slipped out as a b-sides, but which I'm still including anyway. 

Track listing

01 Murder Incorporated
02 Sugarland
04 One Love
04 This Hard Land
05 My Love Will Not Let You Down
06 Johnny Bye Bye

07 Shut Out The Light
08 Don't Back Down
09 Frankie
10 Little Girl
11 Follow That Dream

Hard-Fi - Sick Of It All (2010)

Hard-Fi formed in 2003 in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, and consisted of Richard Archer (lead vocals and guitar), Ross Phillips (guitar and backing vocals), Kai Stephens (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Steve Kemp (drums and backing vocals). Archer had returned to his hometown of Staines, crushed by the lack of success of his former band Contempo, and by the death of his father from cancer. While Archer was making demos to produce an album, he went into the Staines hi-fi shop where Ross Phillips worked, simply so he could listen to his latest demos on the shop's better equipment. Philips apparently asked Archer who had played guitar on his demos and Archer said that it was himself. Phillips said it was "shit", and was therefore recruited to play guitar for the new group. Steve Kemp was already an old friend of Archer, while it took Kai Stephens little persuasion to leave his job as at Rentokil. The band were signed to newly formed independent label Necessary Records, and most of the album was recorded in a disused mini cab office, which cost them about £300, and is known to this day as the "Cherry Lips" Studio. 1,000 copies of this record were pressed, with only 500 going on public sale, and the initial plan was to sell 1000 each time. 

However, it quickly sold out, receiving critical acclaim and radio play, proving a lot more successful than the band had imagined. In 2004 the band were licensed to the major label Atlantic Records, and they were given the chance to re-record the album in the renowned Abbey Road Studios, but they went back to the cab office to maintain their sound. The band were one of the acts opening for Green Day on their two-day residency of the Milton Keynes Bowl in June 2005, having been booked as a last minute replacement for Simple Plan, who had cancelled only a few weeks before the show. The re-issue of the 'Stars Of CCTV' album re-entered the official UK album chart at No. 4 on 1 January 2006. two places higher than it originally went in on the week of its release, and it finally got to No. 1 on 22 January. The band's re-release of 'Cash Machine' entered the official Top 40 singles chart at No. 14 on 1 January, and 'Stars Of CCTV' was nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. The band expanded the Cherry Lips "studio", making more room for equipment after having searched fruitlessly for a space, and the first single from the new album was 'Suburban Knights', released on 20 August 2007. 

'Once Upon A Time In The West' was released two weeks later, and the album cover was an orange background with the album title at the top, and "NO COVER ART." written in large, white letters below, being described by art designer Peter Saville as "a 'White Album' for the digital culture". It went straight in at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, and received positive reviews, including five stars from The Observer Monthly, and four stars from Q Magazine. During the 2008 Christmas period, Hard-Fi  announced that they would be back in the new year with "a wicked new album", but by February 2011 only six of the eleven album tracks had been mixed. On 28 April, their latest single, 'Good For Nothing', was premiered on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show, and this was followed by 'Fire In The House' on 7 August, preceding the 'Killer Sounds' album by a couple of weeks. In March 2012, Archer told Gigwise that Hard-Fi were hoping to release their next album in a shorter interval than the four years between 'Once Upon A Time In The West' and 'Killer Sounds', although no estimated release date was set, and the next release from them was a greatest hits compilation album called 'Hard-Fi: Best of 2004–2014', which appeared on 27 January 2014. 

Although they had released no new music since 2011, Archer insisted that the band had not broken up, but were on a hiatus, and in April 2022, posters appeared in various London underground stations featuring the band's trademark yellow and black camera logo, with the text "London 01.10.22", suggesting the band will be playing their first live show since 2014, and following that gig at London's O2 Forum on 1 October, the band announced their first tour in eleven years, playing at venues across England and Scotland during October 2023. They've released their first new single since 2011, with 'Don’t Go Making Plans' coming out in November 2024, and they are still touring, even though they have little new music to promote, so with the recent 20th anniversary re-issue of 'Stars Of CCTV', it seems the perfect time to tidy up their discography with a collection of their rare b-sides and oddities. 

Track listing

01 Sick Of It All (b-side of 'Cash Machine' 2005)
02 Seven Nation Army (b-side of 'Cash Machine' 2005)
03 Peaches (Radio 1 Live Version) (b-side of 'Living For The Weekend' 2005)
04 Stronger (b-side of 'Hard To Beat' 2005)
05 Polish Love Song (b-side of 'Better Do Better' 2006)
06 The Money Song (Hard-Fi vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers vs. Flying Lizards vs. Abba vs. Jay-Z 2006)
07 You And Me (b-side of 'Suburban Knights' 2007)
08 These Four Walls And I (b-side of 'Can't Get Along (Without You) 2007)
09 Pain In My Heart (b-side of 'I Shall Ovecome' 2008)
10 Empty Streets (b-side of 'I Shall Ovecome' 2008)
11 1969 (from the '1969 Key To Change' charity album 2010)

Soulseek update

I've tried port forwarding again but am getting nowhere, so I've bitten the bullet and completely uninstalled Soulseek and then downloaded the latest version. Luckily it didn't delete all my files, so anyone who hasn't managed to get it to work in the past few weeks can try again now and see what happens. 

pj

The Cleaners From Venus - A Picture Of Emmiline (2021)

If there's one band that I've wanted to post on the blog since ever I started it, it's The Cleaners From Venus, but they don't release singles and so I couldn't do a b-sides collection, and they release regular best of's and rarities collections themselves. Recently, after a few years away, they are back, and they've been issuing EP's and albums through Bandcamp since 2014, so I can finally post something from them. The Cleaners From Venus started in Wivenhoe, Essex,  in November 1980, recording their music on minimal equipment, using cheap or sometimes home-made instruments. Lol Elliott and Martin Newell, both in their 20s at that time, didn't expect much to come of their chaotic endeavours and weren't particularly concerned about the matter, but a year or so later, equipped with a new 4-track Portastudio, their second cassette album received minor attention in the music press of the time. In 1983 Elliott moved to Bath in the west of England, leaving Newell to continue on his own, with guest members dropping in occasionally to play on recordings. Despite primitive production methods, The Cleaners from Venus gradually became known for high-quality song-writing, which leaned towards mid-1960's pop influences, driven by punk energy. 

Newell realised at this time that even when given access to better studio facilities, he actually preferred recording on 4-track machinery, and this discovery became an important factor in the Cleaners musical style. In 1985, a German record label, Modell, persuaded Newell to let them release the Cleaners fifth cassette album, 'Under Wartime Conditions' as a vinyl record, and it became something of an indie hit in Germany, even receiving a couple of good reviews in the UK. The band, now joined by a young keyboard player, Giles Smith,  made a promotional video and began recording their sixth cassette album, 'Living With Victoria Grey'. In spring of 1986, because of an earlier association, Newell became lyricist for Captain Sensible, ex-guitarist for The Damned, who at that time was enjoying a solo pop career. This collaboration led to a deal with a London record company, Ammunition, for whom The Cleaners From Venus made two albums. In 1988, The Cleaners From Venus Mk 2 broke up, with Smith becoming a newspaper journalist, and Newell returning to work as a gardener in his home town. Within a few months, however, he'd formed an acoustic rock duo, The Brotherhood Of Lizards,  with another former Cleaner From Venus, Nelson 'Surfquake' Nice. 

The pair soon secured a record deal with a new indie label, Deltic, releasing an album, 'Lizardland', and famously, in autumn of 1989, they toured England by bicycle to promote the record, gaining much media attention in the process. In early 1990, after Nelson accepted an offer to join the band New Model Army, Newell left music for a while to become a performance poet and writer, and he was soon regularly contributing his work to national newspapers, as well as appearing on TV and radio shows. For the next few years, with several books of his poetry published, he toured as a spoken-word artist, performing at theatres, arts centres and literary festivals, and during one of these tours he visited my hometown of Norwich, and because Martin knew me from our correspondence when I was buying his tapes, he crashed at my flat after the gig. He hadn't abandoned music entirely, however, and between 1993 and 2007, Newell also made six solo albums: two for Humbug Records and four for Cherry Red. The best known of these, 1993's 'The Greatest Living Englishman', was produced by XTC's Andy Partridge, and was well-reviewed, especially in the USA, and is now regarded as something of a rock classic. In 2010, he was about to settle down to writing another book, when once again, the unexpected happened. 

Somewhat to his surprise, Newell learned that the old Cleaners From Venus cassette albums he'd made almost thirty years earlier had become cult items. Over many years, fans of his music had copied and then circulated the imperfect recordings among themselves, sometimes posting them on the internet, in order to keep the band's name alive. I was one of those who have championed the band for the last 40 years, and still have every cassette tape that they recorded, mentioning Newell's name as an undiscovered genius whenever I could. By now,  small record labels on both sides of the Atlantic were taking an interest in these recordings, and with the bemused Newell's permission, began reissuing the records in small runs; sometimes in their original cassette format. Within a couple of years, nearly the whole Cleaners From Venus 1980's catalogue had been re-released on vinyl and CD by a New York label, Captured Tracks, whom Newell had appointed as licensees. In 2012, he acquired a small 4-track digital recorder and returned to making Lo-fi recordings, with these new offerings being released by a UK micro-label, Soft Bodies. 

Eight years and eight albums later, The Cleaners From Venus are better-known globally than they've ever been. In August 2019, 'Upstairs Planet', a film made by Graham Bendel about Newell's life, enjoyed its premiere in London's West End at the Regent Street Cinema. It was well-received, and a new documentary, 'The Jangling Man', was planned for a later release. Newell has been releasing albums and EP's through Bandcamp since 2014, and currently has 58 records for sale on the site. Some of these are EP's, featuring one or two tracks from an album, with a couple of unreleased songs filling them out, so this post collects the non-album songs from six of these EP's, spanning 2019 to 2021. A few of them are Christmas-themed, so it's perfect timing, and if you enjoy this music then I urge you to check out their back-catalogue, and discover one of the indie music scene's best-kept secrets of the past 40 years.   

Track listing

01 Clarendon Lane
02 Rudy Moon
03 A Picture Of Emmiline
04 Springtown
05 Could Be Christmas Eve
06 She's Mad About You
07 Queen Of The Green

08 Autumn's Doorstep
09 Flowers Of December (Down River Mix)
10 A Kitchen Porter's Tale
11 King Inglorious
12 Christabel's Party
13 Symphony In Cellophane
14 Love Shine A Light

Rell - The Remedy (2002)

Wilbur Gerrell Gaddis, better known by his stage name Rell, was born on 22 July 1976 in Bowman, South Carolina. He signed to Roc-A-Fella Records in 1997, being the first male R&B singer to sign to New York City-based label, and he began work on his debut album which was tentatively titled, 'Medicine'. Rell got his break in 1998, appearing in Jay-Z's rap cult flick 'Streets Is Watching', and contributing the club banger 'Love For Free' to the movie's soundtrack. Within the latter part of 1998, he renamed his debut 'The Remedy', and re-released 'Love For Free' as the lead single. In 1999, two other singles, 'When Will U See' and 'Darlin'', were released as radio buzz singles for the album, but within the first quarter of that year 'The Remedy' was shelved due to the failed charting of the singles. Still signed to the Roc-A-Fella, he went on to sing hooks for nearly every one of the label's MC;s since, including Freeway's 'Victim Of The Ghetto' and appearing on 'The Message' featuring Mary J. Blige, from Dr. Dre's '2001'. In 2001, he met agreeable terms with Jay-Z, and began retooling his cancelled debut, and the project spawned a new and official lead single titled, 'If That's My Baby'. While the album was scheduled for a September release, after a second single, 'It's Obvious' was released, the album was re-scheduled to be released in spring 2002, but in early 2002 the reworked version of 'The Remedy' was shelved again. 

In 2004, Rell began work on yet another project, titled 'Long Time Coming', and for a promotion of the album, he released several leftover tracks from the cancelled 'The Remedy' project on numerous mixtapes and limited Roc-a-Fella EP samplers. In 2005 Rell released 'Real Love' as the lead single for 'Long Time Coming', but in the midst of the release, he was moved from the Roc-A-Fella label to Dame Dash Music Group, and under the new label, 'Long Time Coming' was scheduled to be released in May 2006. Unfortunately disagreements and lack of promotion from the new label ended up with Rell's second album being shelved, and he initially split from the label. In 2007, he appeared on collaborations with Latin reggaeton artists Don Omar and Zion, and he also wrote the title track for Usher's 2008 album 'Here I Stand'. In 2009, he teamed with Tre Williams to form 'The Revelations', who released their debut album, 'The Bleeding Edge', in October 2009, but Rell has yet to release an album under his own name, so to "remedy" that, here is the first of his shelved albums.

Track listing

01 If That's My Baby

02 Bring It On Home

03 Cloud 9

04 Get Up

05 Ghetto Stash

06 Never Knew A Love

07 Never Stop

08 Serious

09 Say It Ain't So

10 It's Obvious

11 The Reason

12 U And Me

13 When Will You See

14 Next Train

The Kingsbury Manx - Pelz Komet - The Best Of The Kingsbury Manx (2013)

The Kingsbury Manx emerged in 1999 from the same North Carolina indie rock scene that spawned the Archers Of Loaf and Superchunk before them. Band members Ken Stephenson (guitar/vocals), Bill Taylor (guitar/vocals), Ryan Richardson (drums/vocals), and Scott Myers (bass/keyboards) attended middle school together in Greensboro before going separate ways during their college years. Stephenson and Myers enrolled in creative writing studies at Wilmington while Taylor and Richardson both landed at UNC, Chapel Hill, but during visits back home, the quartet began writing and recording music for a demo. Their break came when Overcoat Recordings owner (and former Thrill Jockey employee) Howard Greynolds heard the tape and agreed to fund their debut. 'The Kingsbury Manx' was released by the label in 1999 to so little fanfare that it ended up creating a small amount of mystery. Managing to stay independent from any particular scene, the band cultivated a sound simultaneously derivative and original, with influences from such timeless artists as early Pink Floyd, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, and The Byrds, but they were handled with such loving care and attention to detail that they were rendered largely insignificant. The album became one of the underground indie successes of 2000, landing in the year-end polls of NME (Top 50) and Magnet ("Ten Great Albums Buried in 2000"), and a short tour of the U.S. followed in support of Elliott Smith. 'Let You Down' followed in 2001, with it's Japanese issue including two bonus tracks in 'Dirt And Grime' and 'My Shaky Hand'. Their next release was an EP entitled 'Afternoon Owls', which arrived in late 2003, and the band toured in support of it with The Sea And Cake. Additional shows with Gorky's Zygotic Mynci coincided with the release of the band's third album, 'Aztec Discipline', later that year, and this was the first to include new band members Paul Finn on keyboards and bassist/drummer Clarque Blomquist, who took over from the departing Stephenson and Myers. In 2004, The Kingsbury Manx started working on tunes for their next album at their practice space (Pine Manor) in Chapel Hill, travelling up to Michigan to record the songs at the Key Club studios, and in early 2005 they left longtime label Overcoat Recordings to sign with local North Carolina label Yep Roc Records. The band took the Key Club tapes to Chicago, where Wilco member Mikael Jorgensen mixed the album, and the result was their 2005 release, 'The Fast Rise And Fall Of The South'. After taking a long break, the band returned in 2009 with the simpler, folkier 'Ascenseur Ouvert!', which was released on Finn's Odessa label, and working at a leisurely pace again, their sixth record, 'Bronze Age', came out in 2013. The band never officially broke up, but just drifted apart as they grew older, and so as an introduction to one of my favourite band's of the early-to-mid 00's, here is a collection of some of their best work. 

Track listing

01 And What Fallout! (from 'The Fast Rise And Fall Of The South' 2005)
02 Pageant Square (from 'The Kingsbury Manx' 1999)
03 Pelz Komet (from 'Aztec Discipline' 2003)
04 Glass Eye (from 'Bronze Age' 2013)
05 Grape To Grain (from 'Aztec Discipline' 2003)
06 Walk On Water (from 'Ascenseur Ouvert!' 2009)
07 Piss Diary (from 'The Kingsbury Manx' 1999)
08 Custer's Last (from 'Bronze Age' 2013)
09 Well, Whatever (from 'Ascenseur Ouvert!' 2009)
10 Whether Or Not It Matters (from 'The Kingsbury Manx' 1999)
11 Greenland (from 'The Fast Rise And Fall Of The South' 2005)
12 Courtyard Waltz (from 'Let You Down' 2001)
13 Harness And Wheel (from 'The Fast Rise And Fall Of The South' 2005)
14 Rustic Stairs (from 'Let You Down' 2001)
15 Half Man (from the 'Afternoon Owls' EP 2003)
16 How Cruel (from 'The Kingsbury Manx' 1999)

Blondie Chaplin - The Fragile Thread (2001)

Terrence William "Blondie" Chaplin was born on 7 July 1951, in Durban, South Africa, and both Chaplin and drummer Ricky Fataar were members of Durban-based rock band the Flames, which they joined at ages 13 and 9, respectively. Their 1968 album 'Soulfire' produced a hit in South Africa, with the band's cover of 'For Your Precious Love' being No. 1 on white South African radio for thirteen weeks. Beach Boy Carl Wilson heard the Flames while the band was performing in London, and he signed them to the Beach Boys' Brother Records label, and produced their album 'The Flame' (changed from Flames, to avoid confusion with the Famous Flames who were backup singers with James Brown), which featured soulful rock-pop songs in the vein of the Beach Boys and Badfinger. Chaplin, along with Fataar, joined the Beach Boys when original drummer Dennis Wilson suffered a hand injury that left him unable to play the drums for almost two years. For the Beach Boys, it was a period in which long-time member Bruce Johnston had departed the band, and one-time leader Brian Wilson's participation in the group was very limited. As a result, Chaplin and Fataar joined as full-fledged members and not merely as backing musicians. Chaplin sang lead on various Beach Boys songs from two studio albums, 'Carl And The Passions – "So Tough"' and 'Holland', and plays on the live album 'The Beach Boys In Concert', and 'Sail On, Sailor' from 'Holland' is considered his signature song. 

Chaplin left the group in 1973 after a dispute with the Beach Boys' management, and Fataar left the following year. Following his time with the Beach Boys, Chaplin recorded a self-titled album, released on Asylum Records in 1977, and he also performed on Rick Danko's self-titled début album, as well as producing David Johansen's third solo album 'Here Comes The Night', on which he played guitar and sang backing vocals, and co-authored seven tracks. During the 1980's, he toured as guitarist and vocalist with a band featuring Rick Danko and Paul Butterfield, as well as contributing a tune as songwriter on Butterfield's last studio album in 1986, 'The Legendary Paul Butterfield Rides Again'. His own solo discography has been fairly sparse, with only three albums appearing between 1977 and 2023, but in 2001 it was announced that his new solo album was nearing completion, with the title being 'The Fragile Thread'. The performing credits included Anton Fig on drums and Keith Lentin on bass, as well as guest appearances from Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Chuck Leavell, and Morris Goldberg. Two songs were mentioned in particular, with 'Don't Ask Me' featuring a haunting pipe melody, and 'Stop The Rain' being a medium tempo driving song with great drumming, but in end the album was shelved, and it was to be a further five years before he released the 'Between Us' album in 2006, with 'The Fragile Thread' remaining unreleased.  

Track listing

01 Don't Ask 
02 Where I Should Always Be
03 Buteh Hey! 
04 When I'm Walking 
05 We Hurt 
06 Fish Out Of Water
07 52 Letters 
08 Cry For Help 
09 You Got The Magic 
10 Stop The Rain 
11 Semolina 
12 When We Break 
13 Love You 'Til I Die 
14 Follow Your Heart 

The cover is based on the painting 'A Fragile Thread' by Catherine Sperling Dreyer.

The Final Solution - Misty Mind (1966)

Earth Mother And The Final Solution, later shortened to The Final Solution, were formed in 1965, and featured Ernie Fosselius on lead guitar, John Yager on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, John Chance on drums, and Bob Knickerbocker on bass guitar. Regarding the group's potentially offensive name, which have been taken as a reference to Nazo Germany's genocide of the Jews in World War Two, the band insisted it referred to the phrase "There is no final solution", a cryptic but otherwise meaningless statement, and music historian Alec Palao later explained "With their solidly middle-class backgrounds, none of the group had any idea of the slogan's implications". Stylistically, the band bore the closest similarity to the Great Society, with raga rock influences and minor-keyed melodies, although in other aspects they made a concerted effort to remain apart from their San Franciscan contemporaries, performing downbeat material penned by Fosselius and Knickerbocker, and dressing in a way that did not exhibit the hippie vibe of the city. They opened for several bands in San Francisco, in venues such as the Matrix and the Fillmore Auditorium ,throughout 1965 and 1966, completing approximately 50 live performances during their existence, and they were also the house band at the Red Dog Saloon for a month in 1966. 

Despite never recording during their existence, The Final Solution have gained the attention of fans of psychedelic rock after a bootleg circulated of a 1966 gig at The Matrix, which was later officially released by High Moon Records. This performance was almost not recorded as the group was a last-minute replacement for The Great Society, who had been forced to cancel the gig, and Peter Abram was running his tape deck that night and so captured a dynamic set that shows the band's diversity and musical chops. Rehearsal tapes have also surfaced of some of their songs, but despite recording demos for Mainstream Records in San Francisco, the band never managed to secure a recording contract, despite their live set showing that they were the equal of many other SF bands of the time. Had they managed to get a label interested, and laid down some of their songs in 1966, then their debut album could have sounded very much like this mix of live and rehearsal takes of some of their songs. As the guitar was buried so far in the mix at the rehearsals (and on 'Blacklist') that you could hardly hear it, I've brought it to the front so that we can clearly hear the acid-fried guitar solos.  

Track listing

01 If You Want
02 Tell Me Again
03 Just Like Gold
04 So Long Goodbye
05 The Time Is Here And Now
06 Bleeding Roses
07 You Say That You Love Me
08 Misty Mind
09 Nothing To Fear
10 Backlash

The Delines - The Drowning Life (2023)

Now that my recent post of 'The Best Of The Delines' has been up for a few weeks, I'm hoping that I've introduced the band to a raft of new fans, and so for them, as well as people who already knew of this superb group, here is a collection of their rare singles, b-sides and bonus tracks from throughout their career. 

Track listing

01 Walking Alone (b-side of 'The Oil Rigs At Night' 2014)
02 Slim And Margy (b-side of 'The Oil Rigs At Night' 2014)
03 What One Bottle Can Do (from the 'Colfax Bonus Tracks' EP 2014)
04 Eight Floors Up (single 2019)
05 Wait For Me (b-side of 'Eight Floors Up')
06 A Room On The 10th Floor (single 2019)
07 The Drowning Life (b-side of 'A Room On The 10th Floor')
08 Myrna And McCaughey (b-side of 'Little Earl' 2021)
09 The Movies (from 'The Imperial Sessions' EP 2019)
10 I Missed You So Bad I Thought My Heart Would Stop (from 'The Imperial Sessions' EP 2019)
11 Roll Back My Life (Version No. 2) (from 'The Imperial Sessions' EP 2019)
12 Pretty Perdita (flexi-disc included with Southwest Review magazine 2022)
13 The Golden State (from 'The Lost Duets' 2022)
14 My Blood Bleeds The Darkest Blue (from 'The Lost Duets' 2022)
15 Christmas In Atlantis (single 2023)
16 Waiting On A Bus Out Of Dallas (b-side of 'Christmas In Atlantis')
17 San Leandro Lament (b-side of 'Christmas In Atlantis')

Barry White - White Gold (1970)

Barry White was born Barry Eugene Carter on 12 September 1944, in Galveston, Texas, and grew up listening to his mother's classical music collection, first taking up the piano to emulate what he heard on the records. He attended Jacob A. Riis High School, an all-boys academy in southeast Los Angeles, and when he was 13 or 14 his his voice suddenly deepened almost overnight, which was something of a shock for his mother. At aged 16 he was jailed for four months for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tires (equivalent to about $320,000 now), and while in jail he listened to Elvis Presley singing 'It's Now or Never' on the radio, an experience he later credited with changing the course of his life. After his release from jail, White left gang life and began a musical career at the beginning of the 1960's in singing groups. His first release was 'Too Far to Turn Around' in 1960 as part of the Upfronts, before working for various small independent labels in Los Angeles. He also recorded several singles with The Atlantics (for the Rampart and Faro labels) and The Majestics (for the Linda and Jordan labels). In 1965 he released one side of a split single with The Essence, under his birth name of Gene Carter, and he also produced 'Feel Aw Right' by the Bel Cantos, released on Downey Records, and the label also released his debut solo single, 'Man Ain't Nothin''/'I Don't Need It', under the name Lee Barry in 1966. 

In the mid-'60s, Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records hired him as an A&R man for his new Bronco Records imprint, and White started working with the label's artists, including Viola Wills and The Bobby Fuller Four, as a songwriter, session musician, and arranger. He discovered singer Felice Taylor and arranged her song 'I Feel Love Comin' On', and Bronco also issued one of White's first singles under his new name, 1967's 'All In The Run Of A Day'. In 1969, he was signed by Forward Records of Los Angeles, a division of Transcontinental Entertainment Corporation, as a producer, and as one final parting shot he released a cover of 'In The Ghetto' under the name Gene West in 1970. Two years later, White got his big break producing a girl group he had discovered called Love Unlimited, and after honing their talents for two years, they were signed to  Uni Records, and music industry businessman Larry Nunes helped to finance their album. After it was recorded, Nunes took the recording to Russ Regan, who was the head of the Uni label owned by MCA, and the resulting record, 1972's 'From A Girl's Point of View We Give to You... Love Unlimited', became the first of White's string of long-titled albums and singles. From this point his career took off, with a strings of hit singles and albums under his own name, as well as with Love Unlimited, and the Love Unlimited Orchestra, but everyone has to start somewhere, and this post charts Barry White's early years in the music industry up until that big break.  

Track listing

01 Too Far To Turn Around (The Upfronts 1960)
02 Married Jive (The Upfronts 1960)
03 Boo-Hoo-Hoo (The Atlantics 1961)
04 Remember The Night (The Atlantics 1962)
05 Flame Of Love (The Atlantics 1962)
06 Home On The Range (The Atlantics 1963)
07 Let Me Call You Sweetheart (The Atlantics 1963)
08 Strange World (The Majestics 1963) 
09 Everything Is Gonna Be Alright (The Majestics 1963)
10 It Took Time (It Took You) (The Upfronts 1963)
11 Baby, For Your Love (The Upfronts 1963)
12 Tracy (All I Have Is You) (Barry White And The Atlantics 1964)
13 Ring Around My Rosie (as Gene Carter 1965)
14 Man Ain't Nothin' (as Lee Barry 1966)
15 I Don't Need It (as Lee Barry 1966)
16 All In The Run Of A Day (as Barry White 1967)
17 Don't Take Your Love From Me (as Barry White 1967)
18 In The Ghetto (as Gene West 1970)
19 Little Girl (as Gene West 1970)

The Cooper Temple Clause - Not Quite Enough (2007)

The Cooper Temple Clause were an English alternative rock band, formed in Wokingham, Berkshire in 1998 by Ben Gautrey (vocals), Tom Bellamy (guitar, synthesizer, bass), Daniel Fisher (guitar, bass), Jon Harper (drums), and Didz Hammond (bass). Naming themselves after the Cowper-Temple clause, which was inserted into the Elementary Education Act 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 75), and which was a compromise on the nature of religious education in the state elementary schools set up in England and Wales by the Act. During many of their early interviews, the band would make up various stories related to the origin of their name to wind up the journalists. After signing to Morning Records in 2001, and releasing two EPs, the band's debut album, 'See This Through And Leave', was released on 11 February 2002, spawning three singles in 'Let's Kill Music', the double-A side 'Film-Maker // Been Training Dogs', and 'Who Needs Enemies?'. The album was  well received by critics and reached number 27 in the UK Albums Chart. Nineteen months after 'See This Through And Leave', the band released their second album, 'Kick Up The Fire, And Let The Flames Break Loose', in 2003, which saw the band record for the first time at their own studios Bleak House, and which had a different style, increasingly incorporating electronic sounds into tracks. 

Its two singles, 'Promises, Promises' and 'Blind Pilots', gave the band international recognition, with 'Promises, Promises' reaching number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. The album was hailed by fans and critics alike, and reached number 5 in the UK Albums Chart, the highest position the band would ever achieve. In September 2005, bassist Didz Hammond left the band to join ex-Libertine Carl Barât in the band Dirty Pretty Things, although he did play on a couple of tracks for the band's next album before he left. After many setbacks, including a change in record label, and the loss of Hammond, the band's third album was significantly delayed, and was finally released on 22 January 2007. 'Make This Your Own' included the singles 'Damage', 'Homo Sapiens', 'Waiting Game' and 'Head', and it saw Fisher and Bellamy having a greater role in vocals, as well as featuring fewer electronic influences than the previous album. In late April 2007 the band announced they had split up, following Fisher's decision to leave, and this led to the cancellation of proposed appearances at Underworld and Dingwalls as part of the Camden Crawl. During their decade together they released many exclusive tracks as the b-sides to their singles, and this album collects them all in one place for you remember and re-assess an under-rated, but none-the-less innovative, indie rock band.  

Track listing

Disc I - 2001
01 Devil Walks In The Sand (Acoustic) (promo 7" single 2001)
02 Girl Ink Age (b-side of 'Let's Kill MUsic' 2001)
03 My Darling (Nasty Angel) (b-side of 'Let's Kill MUsic' 2001)
04 Safe Enough Distance Away (b-side of 'Film-Maker' 2001)
05 Screwdriver Song (b-side of 'Film-Maker' 2001)
06 The Devil Walks In The Sand (from 'The Hardware' EP 2001)
07 Solitude (from 'The Hardware' EP 2001)
08 Way Out West (from 'The Hardware' EP 2001)
09 Sister Soul (from 'The Hardware' EP 2001)
10 I'll Still Write (from 'The Warfare' EP 2001)
11 Mansell (from 'The Warfare' EP 2001)

Disc II - 2002-2003
01 Before The Moor (from 'Who Needs Enemies' 2002)
02 One Quick Fix (from 'Who Needs Enemies' 2002)
03 Lapitu (Bedtime Story) (from 'Who Needs Enemies' 2002)
04 Not Quite Enough (from 'Who Needs Enemies' 2002)
05 Jesus, You Smoke Too (from 'Who Needs Enemies' 2002)
06 Our Eyes Are Bright (b-side of 'Promises Promises' 2002)
07 On.Off.On (b-side of 'Promises Promises' 2003)
08 I Know (b-side of 'Promises Promises' 2003)
09 Resident Writer (b-side of 'Promises Promises' 2003)
10 Habit Of A Lifetime (b-side of 'Blind Pilots' 2003)
11 Derelict (b-side of 'Blind Pilots' 2003)
12 I Want You To Think I Could Be (b-side of 'Blind Pilots' 2003)

Disc III - 2006-2007
01 Haunted By You (b-side of 'Homo Sapiens' 2006)
02 Pins And Needles (b-side of 'Homo Sapiens' 2006)
03 The Clan (b-side of 'Homo Sapiens' 2006)
04 Talking To Pylons (b-side of 'Homo Sapiens' 2006)
05 Last Line Of Defence (b-side of 'Waiting Game' 2007)
06 Pulling Shapes (b-side of 'Waiting Game' 2007)
07 For The Last Time (b-side of 'Waiting Game' 2007)
08 Sleeping In A Different Room (from the 'Head' EP 2007)
09 Zoology (from the 'Head' EP 2007)
10 Theme From Mayhem (from the 'Head' EP 2007)

The Popguns - A Way To Convince You (2023)

The Popguns were formed in 1986 in Brighton, East Sussex, by vocalist Wendy Morgan, guitarists Simon Pickles and Greg Dixon plus bassist Pat Walkington, and were joined by Shaun Charman, the former drummer for The Wedding Present in 1988. Their first release, 'Where Do You Go?', came in the form of a split flexi disc with How Many Beans Make Five?, given away free with an issue of a local fanzine in 1988. After signing to Medium Cool Records, they released the single 'Landslide' in 1989, which reached number 20 on the UK Indie Chart, and made it to No. 46 on DJ John Peel's Festive Fifty list for that year. Midnight Music picked up the band from Medium Cool in 1989, and the singles 'Waiting For The Winter' that same year, and 1990's 'Someone You Love' both featured on their debut album for the label, 'Eugenie', with every track on the album being included on those three singles. In 1991, the single 'Still A World Away' preceded second album 'Snog', which was followed by the EPs 'XXX' and 'Crazy', finishing off a busy year for the band. Charman then left the group, leaving them on a brief hiatus which saw them lose a significant amount of their media coverage, and it was three years before they reappeared with the 'Star' single on new label, 3rd Stone, who followed that with their third album, 'Love Junky' in 1995. 

The final release of their early years was the 1996 compilation 'A Plus de Cent' on Tall Poppy Records, including the French language version of their last single, 'Harley Davidson'. After another lengthy break, 2012 saw the band resume live performances with six gigs in that year and a further two in 2013, and at least four new songs were included in these performances, three of which later turned up on a three-track 7" single, 'Lovejunky', released in late 2014. A new album, 'Pop Fiction', followed on yet another label, Matinée Recordings, with the 'Still Waiting For The Winter' single being taken from it. The band have continued to tour and record new material, and in 2017 they released 'So Long' as a taster for their new album 'Sugar Kisses', and they've continued to record singles and EPs since then, with the 'Carrying The Fire' EP appearing in 2019, and the 'Popism' single being released as recently as 2023. This post collects together all the non-album singles and b-sides recorded by this under-rated 1990's indie-pop group, right through to their re-emergence in the 2000's and beyond.   

Track listing

Disc I - 1988-1994
01 Where Do You Go (split flexi disc with How Many Beans Make Five 1988)
02 I'm Spoiling Everything (b-side of 'Still A World Away' 1991)
03 A Way To Convince You (b-side of 'Still A World Away' 1991)
04 Living In Sin (from the 'XXX' EP 1991)
05 Can't Ignore The Rain (from the 'XXX' EP 1991)
06 Really Gone (from the 'XXX' EP 1991)
07 Crazy (single 1991)
08 Gesture (b-side of 'Crazy')
09 Stay Alive (b-side of 'Star' 1994)
10 Daybreak (b-side of 'Get Out' 1994)
11 What Are You Waiting For (b-side of 'Get Out' 1994)
12 Can I Kick It? (b-side of 'Get Out' 1994)

Disc II - 1996-2023
01 Harley Davidson (single 1996)
02 Crushed (previously unreleased 1996)
03 So Amazing (previously unreleased 1996)
04 Long Way To Fall (b-side of 'Lovejunky' 2014)
05 Home Late (b-side of 'Lovejunky' 2014)
06 Red White And Blue (single 2014)
07 BN3 (from the 'Still Waiting For The Winter' EP 2015)
08 Why You Fell In Love With Me (from the 'Still Waiting For The Winter' EP 2015)
09 Diane's Song (from the 'Still Waiting For The Winter' EP 2015)
10 Beat Me Up (from the 'C88 Demos' EP 2017)
11 12 Days Of Christmas (from the WIAIWYA Christmas advent calendar album '24' 2021)
12 Caesar (from the 'Popism' EP 2023)
13 Dirty London (from the 'Popism' EP 2023)
14 Red Cocoon (from the 'Popism' EP 2023)
15 Indie Rock Goddess (from the 'Popism' EP 2023)

Thanks to jman for the suggestion.

LovHer - To Know Her Is To LovHer (2002)

LovHer was an American R&B girl group, and was the first female group on the Def Soul label. The group was formed in 1999 by Sisqó, lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, who wanted to put together a girl group that would present a raw, "street" appeal. Like Dru Hill, LovHer's members are known by hip hop nicknames: Talia "Chinky" Burgess, Marthea "Buttah" Jackson, Samerrah "Serenade" Terrell, and Kienji Hakeem. In 1999, LovHer made their first appearance in Sisqó's 'Got to Get It' music video, and performed vocals on his 1999 album 'Unleash The Dragon', and its follow-up, 2001's 'Return Of Dragon'. In 2002, their song 'How It's Gonna Be' was released as a single from the 2001 'Rush Hour 2' soundtrack, peaking at number 60 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and the group was nominated for the Soul Train Lady of Soul award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist. After a second single, 'Girlfriend', failed to repeat the success of the first one, the group was dropped by Def Soul, and the album that they'd recorded was eventually shelved. In 2007, Kienji left the group, and after a brief attempt at continuing as a trio, the remaining members of the group split up. As so often happened in the late 90's and early 2000's, labels only had an eye on the dollar, and if a group wasn't instantly successful then they were unceremoniously dumped, and fine albums like this one were destined never to be heard...until now.   

Track listing

01 Intro 
02 How It's Gonna Be
03 Your Man 
04 Girls Gonna Do
05 Girlfriend (Interlude) 
06 Girlfriend 
07 Love 
08 Do You Know Me 
09 Don't Leave
10 I Don't Want Your Man 
11 What Could've Been 
12 Commitment
13 Club (Interlude)
14 You Don't Know Me (feat. Sisqo)
15 Happy Days
16 Black Butterfly

Television - Double Exposure (1975)

Television's roots can be traced to the teenage friendship between Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, who met at Sanford School in Hockessin, Delaware, from which they ran away. Both moved to New York, separately, in the early 1970s, aspiring to be poets, and when they re-connected they formed their first group together, The Neon Boys. Consisting of Verlaine on guitar and vocals, Hell on bass and vocals and Billy Ficca on drums, the group lasted from late 1972 to 11 March 1973, during which time they did some recording, with a 7-inch record featuring 'That's All I Know (Right Now)' and 'Love Comes In Spurts' being released in 1980, following the success of their next band. Renaming themselves Television, the group reformed on 12 March 1973, recruiting Richard Lloyd as a second guitarist, and after a year of rehearsals they played their first gig at the Townhouse Theater on 2 March 1974. Their new name was devised by Hell, and was a pun on 'tell a vision', as well as a reference to reclaiming the dominant media of the era. Their manager, Terry Ork, persuaded CBGB owner Hilly Kristal to give the band a regular gig at his club, and after playing several times at CBGBs in early 1974, they performed at Max's Kansas City and other clubs, returning to CBGBs in January 1975, where they established a significant cult following. 

Richard Williams, Island Records' A&R rep in London at the time, and keen to find something new, spotted Television, and demo sessions were arranged for December at Good Vibrations studios. The idea was to produce rough demos that he could take back to London in order to convince the company that they were worth signing, and to strengthen his case he took along Brian Eno, as he was also intrigued by the scene evolving in New York. They all spent two days recording and one day mixing five of Verlaine's songs, but none of Hell's, which in retrospect  could have been a sign that he would soon be out of the band. Back in London, however, very few people at the company showed a positive response to the demos, and so they were put to one side, although they were later bootlegged. Initially, song-writing was split almost equally between Hell and Verlaine, with Lloyd being an infrequent contributor as well, but friction began to develop as Verlaine, Lloyd, and Ficca became increasingly confident and adept with both instruments and composition, while Hell remained defiantly untrained in his approach. Verlaine, feeling that Hell's frenzied onstage demeanour was upstaging his songs, reportedly told him to "stop jumping around" during their gigs, and occasionally refused to play Hell's songs, such as 'Blank Generation', in concert. 

This conflict, as well as one of Hell's songs being picked up by Island Records, led him to leave the group and take some of his songs with him. He co-founded the Heartbreakers in 1975 with former New York Dolls Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan, and then later formed his own group, Richard Hell And The Voidoids. Fred Smith, briefly of Blondie, replaced Hell as bassist, and in two hours on 19 August 1975, Television cut a handful of demos on an infirm TEAC 4-track owned by Jay Dee Daugherty, drummer for Patti Smith's group, including two tracks that never made it to their debut album. 'Little Johnny Jewel' from the sessions was pressed up as a single, split over two sides of a 7", and was released on Ork Records in September 1975, and less than a year later they'd signed a deal with Elektra Records, and were recording their debut long-player, the classic 'Marquee Moon'. To hear how they got there, listen to these early demos, and see that the band was pretty much fully formed up to two years before that first album was released. 

Track listing

01 Prove It
02 Friction
03 Venus De Milo
04 Double Exposure
05 Marquee Moon
06 Hard On Love
07 Friction 
08 Careful
09 Prove It
10 Fire Engine
11 Little Johnny Jewel

Wobbler - Leprechaun Behind The Door (2012)

Like Airbag, who I've already championed in the blog, Wobbler are a neo-progressive rock band from Norway, comprising Kristian Karl Hultgren on bass, bass clarinet, and bass recorder, Lars Fredrik Frøislie on keyboards, Martin Nordrum Kneppen on drums, percussion, and recorder, Morten Andreas Eriksen on lead guitar, mandolin, and tambourine, and Tony Johannessen on lead vocals. They formed near Hønefoss, Norway, in early 1999, with a desire to recreate some of the musical expressions of the early 1970's, especially in the use of the instruments of that time and the compositions of the progressive rock scene from 1969 to 1974. Bands like PFM, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, Yes, Museo Rosenbach, ELP and so on were highly influential on the group, and in a few months the basic ideas were in place for what they wanted their music to sound like. There was then a pause from 2001 to around 2003, when a demo of two of those 1999 songs was recorded at Frøislie's studio, and put out on the internet. Wobbler ended up signing a record deal with the American record label The Laser's Edge, and by now, Frøislie's vintage keyboard collection had grown, and the recording of their debut album 'Hinterland' began in June 2004. 

They did not use any MIDI, and only pre-1975 instruments were applied, including Mellotron, Hammond organ, Minimoog, Rhodes piano, clavinet, ARP, piano and harpsichord, and after eight months of studio work the album was ready, and 'Hinterland' was revealed at NEARfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, during one of their rare live performances in July 2005. 'Afterglow' followed in February 2009, released by their new label Termo Records, and it was this record that introduced me to this superb band, although there were internal changes going on, with original vocalist Johannessen leaving and being replaced by Andreas Wettergreen Strømman Prestmo, who still sings with them today. Their third album 'Rites At Dawn' was released by Termo Records in May 2011, and this prompted another change in personnel, with Geir Marius Bergom Halleland replacing Eriksen on lead guitar. After a long hiatus, their fourth album, 'From Silence To Somewhere', appeared in 2017, and it met with overwhelming acclaim. As of April 2021, it was the top rated album of the entire twenty-first century on the progressive rock database Prog Archives, with an average user rating of 4.35 from over 700 ratings, and the website's thirty-second-highest rated album of all time. 

Although the album's niche genre resulted in limited exposure in some parts of the music press, it received reviews ranging from favourable to rapturous on Angry Metal Guy, The Prog Space, Prog Report, Prog Radar, and Team Rock, while the Norwegian website Evig lyttar ranked it as the best Norwegian album of the year. The band's fifth and most recent album, 'Dwellers Of The Deep', was released in October 2020, and quickly jumped to the top of the Prog Archives 2020 albums chart within two days of its release. Band members Prestmo, Kneppen, and Frøislie have also collaborated with other Norwegian prog artists on the long-running project 'The Chronicles Of Father Robin', which has released three volumes of 'The Songs & Tales Of Airoea' in 2023 and 2024, initially as a crowdfunded box set, and later via individual releases on Karisma Records. As an introduction to the band for anyone who doesn't know them, here are the two 1999 songs that they recorded as demos in 2003, one of which has yet to appear on a studio album, and to flesh out an otherwise rather short record, I've included a track from one of their very infrequent live concerts from 2012.

Track listing

01 Imperial Winter White Dwarf
02 Leprechaun Behind The Door
03 In Taberna

Soulseek update 2

Following my last Soulseek update I've had many people ask for Mega links, and mentioning that they can no longer access my files on Soulseek. Having spent some time on my other laptop, I've found that I can no longer access them either, so I would normally say that there must be something wrong with my uploading, except for the fact I am seeing many downloads every day, including recent posts, and so the issue must be with some people's downloading access. I still have no idea what has happened, but as it is affecting so many people then it must be that something has gone wrong at Soulseek itself, and we can only hope that it fixes itself as quickly as it broke. In the meantime, email me at aiwe2@yahoo.com for the Mega links until it gets itself sorted out.  

pj

Essex Green - Fabulous Day - The Best Of Essex Green (2018)

Essex Green was formed in mid-1997 after four members of the Burlington, Vermont-based indie pop band Guppyboy relocated to Brooklyn, New York to start a project that incorporated psychedelia and cosmic music into its sound Singer/guitarist Chris Ziter, singer/keyboardist Sasha Bell, guitarist Jeff Baron, and bassist Mike Barrett were joined by drummer Tim Barnes, and the group appeared at various New York City clubs before touring the East Coast with Aden and Saturnine. Their first release was an early-1999 split single on Sudden Shame Records with its alt-country alter ego, the Sixth Great Lake. Also in 1999, they were asked by Robert Schneider to be a part of the Elephant Six Collective and recorded a self-titled EP for the label, and then shortly afterwards their debut full-length for Kindercore, 'Everything Is Green'. Bell and Baron also joined the like-minded Brooklyn group The Ladybug Transistor, but their time spent with that band meant less time for Essex Green activities, as did Bell's work on her solo project the Finishing School, whose debut album, 'Destination Girl', came out in 2003. By this time Bell had left The Ladybug Transistor and Baron had downgraded to contributor, which meant more time for the Essex Green. 

The band, now a trio following Barrett and Barnes' exit, signed to Merge Records and began work on their second album, toning down the eclectic psych-pop of their debut recordings in favor of a more relaxed folk-rock approach. 'The Long Goodbye' was released in 2003, and after some time spent touring the world, the band members headed to the Manhattan studio of producer Britt Myers, where they began sessions for their third album. 'Cannibal Sea' cut out any remaining traces of country-rock from their approach, and was released by Merge in early 2006. The band spent a solid year touring behind the record, then hit a snag when Ziter moved to Cincinnati, after which Bell moved to San Francisco and Baron to Pittsburgh. With the three members in different cities and their real lives getting in the way, it took nearly a decade before they worked on music together again. Bell had even stopped playing music entirely for a few years until she moved to Montana and, with the help of some friendly record-store clerks, started playing shows as the Sasha Bell Band. Meanwhile, Ziter and Baron had both moved back to Burlington, and the trio decided the time was right to reunite. They played some shows in 2016 and began seriously working on another album, with the three members trading song ideas across the country. Bell then went to Vermont for some sessions, and a couple of years' work led to their third album, 'Hardly Electronic', a richly arranged slice of chamber pop that was issued by Merge in mid-2018. Nothing more has been heard of them since then, but they've left behind a catalogue of excellent baroque-pop songs, and this album collects some of the best of them for your consideration.  

Track listing

01 Sloane Ranger (from 'Hardly Electronic' 2018)
02 Don't Know Why (You Stay) (from 'Cannibal Sea' 2006)
03 The Late Great Cassiopia (from 'The Long Goodbye' 2003)
04 The Pride (from 'Cannibal Sea' 2006)
05 Janaury Says (from 'Hardly Electronic' 2018)
06 Penny & Jack (from 'Cannibal Sea' 2006)
07 Southern States (from 'The Long Goodbye' 2003)
08 Rabbit (from 'Cannibal Sea' 2006)
09 Our Lady In Havana (from 'The Long Goodbye' 2003)
10 Mrs. Bean (from 'Everything Is Green' 1999)
11 Catatonic (from 'Hardly Electronic' 2018)
12 Primrose (from 'Everything Is Green' 1999)
13 Fabulous Day (from 'The Essex Green' EP 1999)
14 Waikiki (from 'Hardly Electronic' 2018)
15 Rue De Lis (from 'Cannibal Sea' 2006)

Rhona Bennett - Rhona (2001)

Rhona Lynn Bennett-Simon was born on 10 May 1976 in Chicago, and was raised with her elder sister, former Chicago Force right guard Roz Bennett. She began her musical journey as a child, singing in church choirs in her hometown, most notably with the renowned Soul Children, and at the age of 11 she became background singer at the ETA Creative Arts Theater, where she performed her first major part in a stage production of 'A Christmas Carol'. In 1990, Bennett auditioned to became a Mouseketeer on Disney Channel's revival of 'The Mickey Mouse Club', a variety show presented by 19 dancing and singing teenagers, who acted in skits, appeared in videos, and interviewed celebrities. Following a successful casting, she joined the Mouseketeer roster during the show's fourth season in 1991, with the ensemble at the time featuring several emerging talents, including Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez. Encouraged by friends, she decided to try her luck in California as an actress, and was soon appearing in sitcoms such as 'Living Single', 'The Single Guy', and 'Martin'. In late 2000 she signed with Sony Music under producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins' newly founded boutique imprint Darkchild Records, where she was given the title "First Lady Of Darkchild". Jerkins recruited most of his regular collaborators to work alongside Bennett and him on her self-titled debut album, including Robert "Big Bert" Smith, LaShawn Daniels, and his brother Fred Jerkins III. 

The album's first single, 'Satisfied', released in March 2001, became a top five hit on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart the following month, but failed to chart or sell noticeably elsewhere. Following a promotional world trip, further plans to release 'Rhona' were put on hold after a fallout between Sony Music and Darkchild Records, and consequently, the album received a limited Japan-only release, and Bennett was soon dropped from the label. In 2004 she was asked to join R&B girl group En Vogue as a performing member to replace Amanda Cole, after being recommended to the band's mentor Denzel Foster. During her five-year tenure with the band, En Vogue released the album 'Soul Flower' in 2004, and following several years of touring, Bennett left the band amid their 20th Anniversary World Tour in 2008, due to the return of original member Dawn Robinson. Following her departure from En Vogue, Bennett began work on her second solo album, 'The Anticipation Of R&B', under her own label, Tone'n'Rhone Productions. She worked with a variety of musicians on the project, including producers J.Y. Park, Cool Ruckus, Peter Zora, as well as guest vocalists such as Brandy, 40 Glocc and her former En Vogue colleagues Terry Ellis and Cindy Herron. Preceded by the singles 'Range' and 'Letting You Go'. the album was shelved in 2010 due to internal conflicts and insufficient promotion, with a third single, 'Don't Call Me' also eventually being cancelled. 'Rhona' was a perfectly fine album, and didn't deserve to be consigned to a limited one-month release in Japan, so here it is for fans of En Vogue and similar girl groups to enjoy.

Track Listing

01 Satisfied
02 The Best Of Me 
03 Take What Comes To You 
04 The First Time
05 Last Goodbye
06 Time Will Tell 
07 Miss The Way
08 I Will 
09 I Want To Know What Love Is
10 I Look To The Sky
11 The Meaning Of Love 

The Sons Of Adam - Feathered Fish (1966)

The Sons Of Adam formed in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1962 as The Iridescents, and featured bassist Mike Port, and guitarist Randy Holden, who had previously played in other local rock and roll bands. By 1963 they had enlisted Sonny Lombardo on drums, then added Joe Kooken (later known as Jac Ttanna) on guitar to complete the original line-up. They started out as a surf rock and instrumental group, as Holden was a fan of Duane Eddy, and by the end of 1963 the band's repertoire had become completely dominated by surf influences. They changed their name to The Fendermen, and made arrangements to relocate to Southern California, in hopes of riding the crest of the then-current surf rock craze, and to find success in Los Angeles, which was becoming a centre of the recording industry. As drummer Sonny Lombardo was unable to accompany them to California, the band recruited a new drummer, Bruce Miller, and in order to play gigs at nightclubs and bars, where the drinking age was 21, the band members went to Tijuana, Mexico and had fake IDs made. They were eventually able to get steady work playing gigs at the popular night-spot, Gazzarri's, and in 1964 they changed their name to The Fender-Menn IV, and later The Fender IV, a move partially motivated by a deal they made with Fender to provide the group with free equipment. They signed with managers Bill Doane and Ozzie Schmidt who were familiar with surf and the West Coast scene, and in the summer of 1964 they recorded two singles as The Fender IV for the Imperial Records label. 

Several months before they recorded this first single, The Beatles had appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and the British Invasion had swept the music industry, so the flip side of the record, 'You Better Tell Me Now', was a Mersey-inspired vocal track, but despite the other band members beginning to feel the pull of The Beatles, Holden was reluctant to make the full switch away from instrumental music. However, after having a chance to meet and jam with Brian Jones and Bill Wyman before The Rolling Stones' performance on the Hollywood Palace TV show, his reluctance to embrace vocal rock subsided. In 1964 drummer Bruce Miller was drafted into the Army, so they found Keith Kester to take his place, and they became a frequent attraction at clubs on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. By 1965, the band's musical direction had shifted dramatically to a beat group orientation, and after being seen by Dewey Martin, who had been performing as the leader of Sir Raleigh & The Coupons, they recorded a single, 'Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day', on the Jerden label. Back in Los Angeles, they resisted Martin's attempts to replace Holden with Neil Young, and continued to perform as The Fender IV with Kester, whose personality and image differed from that of other group members, and so was replaced by drummer Michael Stuart. 

It was during this time that they changed their name to The Sons Of Adam, which was suggested by record producer and impresario Kim Fowley, and they replaced The Walker Brothers as resident band at Gazzarri's. After auditioning for producer Gary Usher, they secured a recording contract with Decca Records, and they made a brief appearance playing in a nightclub scene in the 1965 movie 'The Slender Thread', starring Anne Bancroft, although the music was later overdubbed by session musicians. In 1965 they recorded their first single with Usher producing, and 'Take My Hand' was released in mid-October, although it failed to gain any traction on the charts. By the end of the year, disappointed in lack of record sales, the band broke off connections with Bill Doane and Ozzie Schmidt, and they entered into an unwritten agreement with Dick St John (of Dick & Dee Dee) and Mike Post. In 1966 they returned to the studio with Usher to record 'Saturday's Son', an anthem of alienation featuring Randy Holden on lead guitar and vocals, and it was released in July with their version of 'You're A Better Man Than I' as the flipside. 

The band believed that they had a strong record that had a chance to break them in the charts, but the single failed to catch on, and as the year progressed, Holden's behaviour, and emphasis on volume, became increasingly erratic, and his relationship with the other band members became strained. They eventually pushed him out, a decision they later regretted, and replaced him with Craig Tarwater on lead guitar, with Holden going off to join The Other Half. The Sons Of Adam continued to play and record, releasing another single on Alamo records, featuring 'Feathered Fish', written by Arthur Lee of Love, who was attempting to convince drummer Michael Stuart to join his band. However, without Randy Holden the band lost much of its former musical chemistry, and following Lee's constant requests, Stuart finally decided to join Love as their drummer, just in time for the recording of the seminal 'Forever Changes' album. He was replaced by Randy Carlisle from The Yellow Payges, but Tarwater soon left to join The Daily Flash, and by June 1967 The Sons Of Adam had disbanded. By this time they'd recorded three singles and some demos, and were a well-respected live act, so they had enough material to release their debut album in 1966, and if they had then it could have sounded very much like this. 

Track listing

01 Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day
02 Without Love
03 Mr Sun
04 Saturday's Son
05 It Won't Be Long
06 Baby Show The World
07 You're A Better Man Than I
08 Take My Hand
09 Gloria
10 The Long Road
11 Feathered Fish
12 Go Away
13 You Make Me Feel Good
14 I Told You Once Before

Various Artists - Those Darned Horns Have Gone Again! (1982)

I know that the original collection of de-horned music was just an experiment, and something of a humourous post on my part, but it attracted some positive (and admittedly negative) comments, and even some suggestions for a second volume, so here it is. If nothing else, it once again shows that some tracks which are really well-known for their horn section are just as good without it, although one exception is the suggestion of 'Pick Up The Pieces' by The Average White Band, as without the brass there is literally nothing there!

Track Listing

01 Alone Again Or - Love
02 Beat Surrender - The Jam
03 Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? - Chicago
04 Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out - Bruce Springsteen
05 Lucretia MacEvil - Blood Sweat & Tears
06 Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
07 Geno - Dexy's Midnight Runners
08 Feelin' Stronger Every Day - Chicago
09 Vehicle - The Ides Of March
10 Dance To The Music - Sly And The Family Stone
11 Go Down Gamblin' - Blood Sweat & Tears
12 One Fine Morning - Lighthouse