The Waterboys - Blues For A Fisherman (1988)

The Waterboys are a British/Irish folk rock band formed in Edinburgh in 1983 by Scottish musician Mike Scott, who has remained as the only constant member throughout the band's career. They have explored a number of different styles, but their music is mainly a mix of folk music and rock and roll. The early Waterboys sound became known as 'The Big Music' after a song on their second album 'A Pagan Place', being defined as an anthemic sound which was 'a metaphor for seeing God's signature in the world'. Before forming The Waterboys, Scott made a number of solo recordings in late 1981 and early 1982 while a member of Another Pretty Face, and during the same period he also formed the short-lived band The Red And The Black, with saxophone player Anthony Thistlethwaite. In 1983, Scott was expected to deliver a solo album to his record label Ensign Records, but he decided to start a new band, naming them The Waterboys after a line in the Lou Reed song 'The Kids', and their first released recording under that name was the single 'A Girl Called Johnny', which was a tribute to Patti Smith. The eponymous debut album followed shortly afterwards, and was compared by critics to Van Morrison and U2 in its cinematic sweep. A second album 'A Pagan Place' came out in June 1984, and 'This Is The Sea' followed in 1985, including the hit single, and their best-known song, 'The Whole Of The Moon'. 

In 1986, at the invitation of new member Steve Wickham, Scott moved to Dublin and quickly became influenced by the traditional Irish music there as well as by country and gospel, and the band's line-up changed to include Scott, Wickham and Thistlethwaite, plus Trevor Hutchinson on bass and Peter McKinney on drums. This new band spent 1986 and 1987 recording in Dublin and touring the UK, Ireland, Europe and Israel, and in 1988 Scott took the band to Spiddal in the west of Ireland where they set up a recording studio in Spiddal House to finish recording their new album. 'Fisherman's Blues' was released in October 1988, and showcased many guest musicians that had played with the band in Dublin and Spiddal. Critics and fans were split between those embracing the new influence of Irish and Scottish folk music, with others being disappointed that it wasn't a continuation of the style of 'This Is the Sea', although over the years it has been re-evaluated and become one of the band's best-loved albums. Owing to the large number of tracks that were recorded in the three years between 'This Is the Sea' and 'Fisherman's Blues', the band released a second album of songs from those sessions, with 'Too Close To Heaven' coming out in 2001, and yet even after releasing two records made up of songs from those extensive sessions, there are still enough unreleased tracks for a third album, and so here it is. I've loved the band through all their incarnations, so to me this is a perfect companion to 'Fisherman's Blues', carrying on their 'Raggle Taggle' sound for a little bit longer, but rest assured that there will be more to come from earlier periods of the band in the future. 

Track listing

01 Carolan's Welcome
02 Killing My Heart
03 You In The Sky
04 When Will I Be Married
05 Nobody 'Cept You
06 Girl Of The North Country
07 Lonesome And A Long Way From Home
08 If I Can't Have You
09 Rattle My Bones And Shiver My Soul
10 Let Me Feel Holy Again
11 Meet Me At The Station
12 The Good Ship Sirius
13 Soon As I Get Home

Jerry Garcia - ...and on guitar (1974)

Jerry Garcia's musical career is inevitably closely intertwined with The Grateful Dead, but he also spent a lot of time in the recording studio helping out fellow musician friends in session work, often adding guitar, vocals, pedal steel, sometimes banjo and piano and even producing. Artists who sought his help included the likes of Jefferson Airplane (most notably 'Surrealistic Pillow', where he was listed as their 'spiritual advisor'), and where he also played uncredited guitar on 'Today', 'Plastic Fantastic Lover' and 'Comin' Back to Me'. He also added guitar to 'The Farm' from their 'Volunteers' album, as well as helping out Tom Fogerty, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter, Paul Pena, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Pete Sears, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Dylan, It's a Beautiful Day, and many more. He played pedal steel guitar for fellow-San Francisco musicians New Riders Of The Purple Sage from their initial dates in 1969 through to October 1971, when increased commitments with the Dead forced him to opt out of the group, but he does appear as a band member on their debut album 'New Riders Of The Purple Sage', and produced 'Home, Home On The Road'. He contributed pedal steel guitar to the enduring hit 'Teach Your Children' by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, and also played it on Brewer & Shipley's 1970 album 'Tarkio', and despite considering himself a novice on the pedal steel, he routinely ranked high in player polls. This album is just a snapshot of the many artists that he's appeared with, covering just the years 1969 to 1974, and yet it still had to be a double album. 

Track listing 

Disc One
01 The Farm (from 'Volunteers' by Jefferson Airplane 1969)
02 Oh Mommy (from 'Tarkio' by Brewer & Shipley 1970)
03 Teach Your Children (from 'Déjà vu' by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 1970)
04 Starship (from 'Blows Against The Empire' by Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship 1970)
05 Soul Fever (from 'Papa John Creach' by Papa John Creach 1971)
06 What Are Their Names (from 'If I Could Only Remember My Name' by David Crosby 1971)
07 Man In The Mirror (from 'Songs For Beginners' by Graham Nash 1971)
08 Change Partners (from 'Stephen Stills 2' by Stephen Stills 1971)
09 When I Was A Boy I Watched The Wolves (from 'Sunfighter' by Kantner/Slick 1971)

10 Hickory Day (from 'Rowan Brothers' by Rowan Brothers 1972)

11 Sick And Tired (from 'Excalibur' by Tom Fogerty 1972)

12 Southbound Train (from 'Graham Nash - David Crosby' by Crosby & Nash 1972)

Disc Two
01 Looks Like Rain (from 'Ace' by Bob Weir 1972)
02 Deep, Wide And Frequent (from 'Rolling Thunder' by Mickey Hart 1972)
03 Venutian Lady (from 'New Train' by Paul Pena 1973)

04 Expressway (To Your Heart) (from 'Fire Up' by Merl Saunders 1973)
05 Walkin' (from 'Baron von Tollbooth & The Chrome Nun' by Kantner/Slick/Freiberg 1973)
06 Down In The Willow Garden (from 'Angel Clare' by Art Garfunkel 1973)
07 Tuscon, Arizona (from 'Be What You Want To' by Link Wray 1973)
08 Someone Else's Blues (from 'Wanted Dead Or Alive' by David Bromberg 1974)
09 Standing At Your Door (from 'Tales Of The Great Rum Runners' by Robert Hunter 1974)

Cliff Richard - Our Story Book (1968)

We move back another few years for the next collection of non-album singles and b-sides from Cliff, and this time the quality was so good that I didn't have to omit any out of place tracks. Once again the timespan is pretty much three years, with just the final tracks creeping into 1968, so enjoy Cliff at his very best in the mid 60's. 

Track listing

01 The Time In-Between (single 1965)
02 Look Before You Love (b-side of 'The Time In-Between')
03 Wind Me Up (Let Me Go) (single 1965)
04 The Night (b-side of 'Wind Me Up (Let Me Go)')
05 Blue Turns to Grey (single 1966)
06 Somebody Loses (b-side of 'Blue Turns To Grey')
07 Visions (single 1966)
08 What Would I Do (For The Love Of A Girl) (b-side of 'Visions') 
09 It's All Over (single 1967)                               
10 I'll Come Runnin' (single 1967) 
11 I Get The Feelin' (b-side of 'I'll Come Runnin'')
12 The Day I Met Marie (single 1967) 
13 Our Story Book (b-side of 'The Day I Met Marie')
14 All My Love (Solo Tu) (single 1967)
15 High 'n' Dry (b-side of 'Congratulations')
16 Sweet Little Jesus Boy (b-side of 'All My Love (Solo Tu)')
17 Congratulations (single 1968)

Love - Black Beauty (1973)

In July 1968, eight months after Love's third album 'Forever Changes' was released, frontman Arthur Lee disbanded the original line-up, before regrouping with a completely new troupe of musicians, recording three albums with this new line-up, 'Four Sail' and 'Out Here' in 1969, and 'False Start' in 1970. Lee found limited success and was on the verge of obscurity, but following recording sessions with Jimi Hendrix in April 1970, he forsook his folk rock roots in favour of a hard rock approach. In 1972, he released his first solo effort 'Vindicator', featuring the first songs composed in the newly adapted style, but again it did not fare well with music critics or the public. Despite Lee's self-doubt and unwillingness to tour, he decided to persevere with another new line-up, recruiting drummer Joe Blocker, Melvan Whittington on lead guitar, and Robert Rozelle on bass. With record producer Paul Rothchild at the helm, Love recorded throughout mid-1973, with the resultant album intended to be released on Buffalo Records, a small indie label founded by Hair producer Michael Butler. However, before 'Black Beauty' could be distributed the company went bankrupt, and although some songs from the recording sessions did appear on 'Reel to Real' in 1974, 'Black Beauty' itself was consigned to the vaults. Over the years poor-quality releases of the 'Black Beauty' sessions have appeared, motivating Lee to push for an official release right up until his death in 2006. With his widow Diana overseeing the project, High Moon Records remastered the original acetates of the sessions, and released it on a limited edition of 5,000 vinyl copies in 2012, which are now long gone. One critic has proclaimed 'Black Beauty' to be the great lost Love album, praising the cohesive effort of the group, and the quality of the production, and while it will never reach the heights of their trilogy of classic albums of the late 60's, it's a welcome addition to the discography of a much-loved band.

Track listing

01 Young And Able (Good And Evil)

02 Midnight Sun

03 Can't Find It

04 Walk Right In

05 Skid

06 Beep Beep

07 Stay Away

08 Lonely Pigs

09 See Myself In You

10 Product Of The Times

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Herman's Hermits - The London Look (1968)

Herman's Hermits undoubtedly had their biggest success in the early to mid 60's, and with the onset of psychedelia towards to end of the decade they started to sound a bit out of step with the emergent psyche bands of the time. They did their best to try to keep up, and released their 'psychedelic' album 'Blaze' in the US in 1967, but while it was critically acclaimed in America, it didn't even warrant a UK release at the time. Although it did contain a couple of proto-psyche songs like 'Moonshine Man', most of it wasn't really that different from some of their previous work, and so wasn't a threat to the genuine psyche bands. I think the release of the soundtrack album to the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' confirmed to many that their heart wasn't really into competing with this new style of music, although there were a few random songs scattered around on singles, b-sides, and their albums which could have held their own in a psychedelic battle of the bands. I've picked what I think are the best examples of the band trying to keep up with their peers, after The Beatles kick-started the whole thing with 'Revolver' in 1966. While some of them still have that bubblegum pop feel that they couldn't seem to shed completely, they were trying their best, and even covered Nirvana's 'Wings Of Love' in 1968, so overall this shows the band maturing and looking forward to a new direction. Unfortunately they weren't able to consolidate on this new-found maturity, as Peter Noone left the band in 1970, going on to some solo success covering David Bowie's 'Oh! You Pretty Things', while the rest of the group gamely carried on, but struggled to find success without their lead singer.       

Track listing

01 Sunshine Girl (single 1968)

02 What Is Wrong - What Is Right (b-side of 'East West' 1966)

03 A Year Ago Today (previously unreleased)

04 Daisy Chain Part I (from the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' 1968)

05 Daisy Chain Part II (from the film 'Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter' 1968)

06 Don't Try To Hurt Me (b-side of 'Bidin' My Time' 1966)

07 Wild Love (from the soundtrack of the film 'Hold On!' 1966)

08 Rattler (from 'There's A Kind Of Hush All Over The World' 1967)

09 Little Miss Sorrow, Child Of Tomorrow (from 'There's A Kind Of Hush....' 1967)

10 Big Ship (previously unreleased)

11 Wings Of Love (b-side of 'Big Man' 1968)

12 London Look (b-side of 'Sleepy Joe' 1968)

13 The Colder It Gets (previously unreleased)

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Soulseek update

I've now completed uploading all the albums from the site onto Soulseek, but if there are any missing then let me know as I could easily have missed some. How are people finding it as a way of accessing the music? I know a couple of people seem to be having trouble finding the albums, and Paul has mentioned that some artists have their name blocked in the searches, so a search for The Beatles, for instance, will bring no results, but 'abbey road' will. I've added 'aiwe' to all of the folders so that it only brings up my albums and you don't have to look through hundreds of others to find them, so if 'eric clapton aiwe' doesn't work, then try 'eric aiwe' or 'clapton aiwe', and if you still have no success then try an unusual word from a song title. The 101ers, for instance, gives no results, but searching 'motor aiwe' finds them. If anyone has trouble finding the album they want then leave a comment on the post, and I'll add the album to a special folder I've added called 'help aiwe', which should be easier to find as it won't be restricted. At the moment it has a Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac album in it for the two visitors who are having issues. 
Hopefully you will soon get used to getting the music this way, and if it stops the blog being deleted again then it will all be worth it.

For anyone who is new to Soulseek, as I was a couple of weeks ago, here is a little tutorial which hopefully will help you find the albums. 

For anyone still having problems, Gummo couldn't access the files at first, and so downloaded what looks like an earlier version called SoulseekNS from here https://soulseek.en.softonic.com/download , and I've just tested it and it seems to work OK, even though it looks a bit clunky. If you can't get anything with QT then try this NS version.  

pj    

Kate Bush - Something Like A Song (1973)

Paul at Albums That Should Exist has now got his new PC up and running, and has used his Photoshop to touch up the Kate Bush cover that I coloured, giving her hat a bit more punch, so if you prefer this one then grab it now.

Steven Wilson - Eyewitness (2020)

As you may have noticed from the Porcupine Tree albums that I've posted, I'm a huge fan of Steven Wilson, and we must be thankful to him for bringing progressive rock back into the mainstream in the 21st Century. As well as being the go-to engineer for remixing classic albums into 5.1, he's also had a successful solo career for over a decade, with five studio albums and a sixth on the way, as well as many remix albums, compilations and experimental outings. There have also been a number of EPs and singles released throughout this period, with some of them including exclusive b-sides, and the deluxe editions of the albums often have out-takes, demos and early renditions of the songs as bonus tracks. In fact, Wilson is so prolific that in his ten years of solo recordings there are over one and a half hours of non-album tracks that can be collected together for a superb progressive rock album in its own right. I've only omitted one track, which was a live cover of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' on the flip of 'Happiness III', but while it was a perfectly acceptable version, it wasn't progressive rock so I decided to leave it off. During 2003–2010 Wilson released a series of six two-track CD singles, each one featuring a cover version and a Wilson original, and they featured songs by Alanis Morissette, ABBA, The Cure, Momus, Prince, and Donovan. The complete collection was released as an album in 2014, and that would be the perfect place for his version of 'Space Oddity' to reside. If you're a fan of Porcupine Tree but are yet to sample Wilson's solo work, then this album will introduce you to the wealth of superlative progressive rock that he's produced in the last decade under his own name.   

Track listing

01 The 78 (b-side of 'Harmony Korine' 2009)
02 Vapour Trail Lullaby (given away with pre-orders of the 'Insurgentes' music DVD 2010)
03 Desperation ('Insurgentes' 2008 out-take completed 2010)
04 Stoneage Dinosaur (cover of a Cardiacs song, released as a single 2011)
05 Fluid Tap (bonus on 'Grace For Drowning' Blu-Ray edition 2011)
06 Home In Negative (bonus on 'Grace For Drowning' Blu-Ray edition 2011)
07 Map (from the 'Grace For Drowning' bonus disc 2011)
08 Raider Acceleration (from the 'Grace For Drowning' bonus disc 2011)
09 Black Dog Throwbacks (from the 'Grace For Drowning' bonus disc 2011)
10 The Old Peace (single with Mariurz Duda 2014)
11 Happiness III (single 2016)
12 Northern Cyclonic ('To The Bone' out-take 2017)
13 A Door Marked Summer ('To The Bone' out-take 2017)
14 Ask Me Nicely ('To The Bone' out-take 2017)
15 How Big The Space (single 2018)
16 Eyewitness (b-side of 'Eminent Sleaze' 12" single 2020)
17 In Floral Green (b-side of 'Eminent Sleaze' 12" single 2020)
18 Move Like A Fever (b-side of '12 Things I Forgot' 12" single 2020)
19 King Ghost (single 2020)

Peter Gabriel - And.... (1995)

I wasn't going to bother colourising this cover as I thought the black and white was quite stylish, but it came out much better than I thought it would so here's the upgrade for it.

Kate Bush - Something Like A Song (1973)

While uploading the albums to Soulseek I found another black & white photo that I'd used which would be nice to colourise, and although the original one didn't come out that great, this one from the same photo-shoot was even better, so as before, here's an upgrade to the cover, with more to follow.

The Beatles - Everyday Chemistry (2009)

Updated cover to replace the old one in your folder.I didn't think this one would work as it wasn't black and white to start with, but I'm amazed at just how good this now looks.

Come In Tokio - Nature Call (1983)

  Updated cover to replace the old one in your folder.

Band Of Gypsys - Stepping Stone (1969)

 Updated cover to replace the old one in your folder.