Phish - Sci-Fi Soldier (2021)

Phish have just released their new album, entitled 'Get More Down', performed by their alter-egos Sci-Fi Soldier. Sci-Fi Soldier come from the distant future in an attempt to save the home planet of a group of ancient prophets (Kasvot Växt of Earth) from a self-inflicted apocalyptic event called The Howling, set to take place in 2071. Using the prophets' teachings about the "nine cubes", which allow you to freeze time and view nine possible realities, the Sci-Fi Soldiers embark on a quest to find the great oracle, Holy Blankenstein, and learn how to stop The Howling (put a blank space where Earthlings’ minds should be on 10/31/21). They travel back to 2021 to find human vessels to use for the task, riding the time stream to Earth, and set out as the members of Phish (Clueless Wallob as Trey Anastasio, Pat Malone as Page McConnell, Paulie Roots as Jon Fishman, and Half-Nelson as Mike Gordon) to save the planet by helping it "get more down". 

Phish had actually previewed this set of songs a year ago, in their Halloween "musical costume", which was performed as the invented band Sci-Fi Soldier on 31 October 2021. Fans who attended the gig in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, were given a 14-page comic book on entry, which detailed the group's adventure to save the planet. The booklet is packed with fun sci-fi and comic tropes, veiled environmental allegories, and attempts at universe-building within the Phish canon a la Marvel or D.C. In true Phish fashion, the narrative is strange, silly, and packed with in-jokes. For the set itself the band performed in elaborate costumes (helmets and all), with alternate instruments (Trey on a BCR Mockingbird), each playing within a flashing/glowing shape (two circles and two squares), after descending (in the form of holograms) from the ceiling in cylinders of coloured light. 

'Knuckle Bone Broth Avenue' included extended choreography by Trey and Mike, while during 'Get More Down' matching upright geometric shapes danced around behind the band, reducing to the two circles overlapped by 'Egg In A Hole', which featured pyrotechnics. Before 'Clear Your Mind', Trey introduced the band as from the year 4680, and during 'The 9th Cube' there were projections of donuts and turtles on a cube above the band. Fireworks rained down on the stage during 'The Inner Reaches Of Outer', and for the closer 'I Am In Miami', Trey switched to an acoustic guitar and the band stood together at stage front with the four-mic a cappella setup. After the set, the band departed as holograms back up the coloured tubes. The album versions of these songs are quite concise, but the live takes stretch them out considerably, extending the three tracks which last less than a minute on the album to over five minutes in a live setting, while others top the ten-minute mark. If you like what you hear then do check out the studio version and support the band. 

Track listing

01 Knuckle Bone Broth Avenue
02 Get More Down
03 Egg In A Hole
04 Thanksgiving
05 Clear Your Mind
06 The 9th Cube
07 The Inner Reaches Of Outer
08 Don’t Doubt Me
09 The Unwinding 
10 Something Living Here
11 The Howling
12 I Am In Miami

The Mighty Lemon Drops - Going Under (1991)

In December of 1985, The Mighty Lemon Drops released their debut single 'Like An Angel' on regional indie Dreamworld Records, owned and run by Television Personalities' Dan Treacy, and it rose to number one on the U.K. indie chart. After appearing on NME's influential C-86 compilation, the band signed with Geoff Travis' new Chrysalis subsidiary Blue Guitar in the U.K., and with Sire in North America, and they set about recording their debut album 'Happy Head'. When it was released in 1986 it was well-received and was reported by a Sounds magazine critics poll to be one of the 50 best albums of the year. They followed it up with 1987's 'Out Of Hand', and then again in 1988 with their third album 'World Without End', which yielded the hit 'Inside Out'. 'World Without End' rose to number 33 on the U.K. charts and to number one on the U.S. College chart in 1988, but later that year the band parted ways with Chrysalis, although they kept their contract with Sire in the U.S. During sessions for their fourth album, 'Laughter', Linehan left the band and was replaced on bass by Marcus Williams, and as the band remained popular in the American modern rock scene, 'Laughter' debuted at number one on the College charts, even managing to crack the Billboard Top 200 pop chart. The band continued writing and recording their brand of well-made, melodic alt-pop, and released two more albums before disbanding, with 'Sound...' coming out in late 1991, and their final studio album, 'Ricochet' appearing just before their split in 1992. Alongside their album they also released a number of fine singles, and most of them had exclusive tracks on the flip, including some interesting covers of classic 60's psyche, such as The 13th Floor Elevators' 'Splash #1' and The Rolling Stones' 'We Love' You', as well as contemporary songs like The Teardrop Explodes' 'When I Dream' and The Only Ones' 'Another Girl, Another Planet'. So here they all are in one place, so that you can enjoy some rare recordings from one of the founder members of the once much-maligned, but now much-loved, C86 movement.   

Track listing

Disc One 1985-1988
01 Now She's Gone (b-side of 'Like An Angel' 1985)
02 Sympathise With Us (b-side of 'Like An Amgel' 1985)
03 Uptight (b-side of 'The Other Side Of You' 1986)
04 Open Mind (b-side of 'My Biggest Thrill' 1986)
05 Rollercoaster (b-side of 'My Biggest Thrill' EP 1986)
06 Wait And See (b-side of 'My Biggest Thrill' EP 1986)
07 Waiting For The Rain (Radio 1 Janice Long session 1986)
08 When I Dream (Radio 1 Janice Long session 1986)
09 Out Of Hand (single 1987)
10 Going Under (b-side of 'Out Of Hand')
11 Splash #1 (Now I'm Home) (b-side of 'Out Of Hand' EP 1987)
12 Count Me Out (b-side of 'Out Of Hand' EP 1987)
13 World Without End (previously unreleased 1988)

Disc Two 1988-1991
01 Shine (b-side of 'Inside Out' 1988)
02 Head On The Block (b-side of 'Inside Out' 1988)
03 Paint It Black (b-side of 'Fall Down (Like The Rain)' 1988)
04 Laughter (b-side of 'Fall Down (Like The Rain)' 1988)
05 Rumbletrain (b-side of 'Into The Heart Of Love' 1989)
06 Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White (b-side of 'Into The Heart Of Love' 1989)
07 Forever Home At Heart (b-side of 'Beautiful Shame' 1989)
08 Discontent (b-side of 'Too High' 1991)
09 We Love You (b-side of 'Too High' 1991)
10 You Don't Fast (b-side of 'Too High' 1991)            
11 In Vain (previously unreleased 1991)
12 Another Girl, Another Planet (b-side of 'Unkind' 1991)

Cypress Hill - Ghost Rider (1995)

Senen Reyes (also known as Sen Dog) and Ulpiano Sergio Reyes (also known as Mellow Man Ace) are brothers born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, who immigrated to the United States with their family in 1971, and settled in South Gate, California. In 1988, the brothers teamed up with New York City native Lawrence Muggerud (also known as DJ Muggs) and Louis Freese (also known as B-Real) to form a hip-hop group named DVX (Devastating Vocal Excellence). The band soon lost Mellow Man Ace to a solo career, and changed their name to Cypress Hill, named after a street in South Gate. After recording a demo in 1989, the band signed a record deal with Ruffhouse Records, and their self-titled first album was released in August 1991, with the lead single 'The Phuncky Feel One'/'How I Could Just Kill A Man' receiving heavy airplay on urban and college radio, most notably peaking at #1 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks chart. The success of this and their other singles led 'Cypress Hill' to sell two million copies in the U.S. alone, and it peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200. 'Black Sunday', the group's second album, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 in 1993, recording the highest Soundscan for a rap group up until that time. 'Insane In The Brain' became a crossover hit, and garnered the group their first Grammy nomination, while 'Black Sunday' went triple platinum in the U.S. and sold over 3.million copies. The group played at Woodstock 94, officially making percussionist Eric Bobo a member of the group during the performance, and followed that by playing at Lollapalooza for two successive years, topping the bill in 1995. Cypress Hill's third album 'III: Temples Of Boom' was released in 1995, and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200, with 'Throw Your Set In The Air' being the most successful single from the album, earning the band their third Grammy nomination. Shortly after the release of the album Sen Dog became frustrated with the rigorous touring schedule, and just prior to an overseas tour he unexpectedly left the group. Cypress Hill continued their tours throughout 1995 and 1996 with Eric Bobo, and also various guest vocalists covering Sen Dog's verses, but in 1997 the group took a break while the various members pursued solo careers. Their record label issued a nine track EP titled 'Unreleased And Revamped' in 1996, while a bootleg titled 'Unreleased And Unknown' also appeared around the same time, containing much rarer material than the official EP. This included both sides of the unofficial 12" single 'Freak To Tha Funk'/'Ghost Rider (Crossfire)', which was pressed up from tapes apparently stolen from the band's studio, and while it is not the best sound quality, it is one of the rarest Cypress Hill records. It also included 'Roll It Up, Light It Up, Smoke It Up', which was the band's contribution to the 1995 stoner film 'Friday', plus a couple of 'III: Temple Of Boom' out-takes in 'Whatta You Know' and 'Smugglers Blues'. It was completed by the Ice Cube and Macc10 Disstrack 'Fuck Westside Connection', and one of the better unreleased tracks from the 1996 EP, 'Intellectual Dons', making for a great collection of rare Cypress Hill tracks. Unfortunately it was only 27 minutes long, so I've added a few more rarities from the same period, which are the 'Throw Your Hands In The Air' single, which was nothing to do with 'Throw Your Set In The Air', the b-side of the 'Lick A Shot' single, 'Scooby Doo', and an instrumental version of 'Killa Hill Niggas' from the flip of 'Throw Your Set In The Air'. That all makes a great near-40 minute album all from 1995, from the band that Rolling Stone magazine had named Best Rap Group in their music awards of a few years earlier.  

Track listing

01 Roll It Up, Light It Up, Smoke It Up
02 Freak To The Funk
03 Killa Hill (Instrumental)
04 Throw Your Hands In The Air
05 Ghost Rider
06 Intellectual Dons (feat. Call O Da Wild)
07 Whatta You Know
08 Scooby Doo
09 Smugglers Blues
10 Fuck Westside Connection

Charli XCX - Candyfloss (2010)

After signing to Asylum Records in 2010, Charli XCX took a break from music which she's described as a lost period in her life, and she eventually attended the Slade School of Fine Art at UCL before dropping out after her first year. In an interview with The Guardian, she said: "I was still in school, I'd just come out of this weird rave scene, and I wasn't really sure what to make of that. And when I got signed I hated pop music; I wanted to make bad rap music. I didn't know who I was. I didn't know what I liked. Even though I was signed, I was still figuring it out". She eventually flew out to Los Angeles to meet producers, and found it "wasn't working out for me" until she met with American producer Ariel Rechtshaid. Before that happened she was still recording her songs, and this third post features tracks recorded in 2010 and never released, and you can hear her music maturing, with the songs sounding more professional than those from 2008 and 2009. 

Track listing

01 A Princess Song
02 Dynamite
03 Interior
04 Boyfriend Material
05 Camdyfloss
06 Get Dirty
07 Supernova
08 X-Ray Spex
09 Angry All The Time
10 Atomic
11 Nothing Too Serious
12 Tulips In The Fields
13 Violins & Violence
14 Jungle
15 You, Me, And The Radio

Taylor Swift - Who I've Always Been (2005)

Taylor Alison Swift was born on 13 December 1989 in West Reading, Pennsylvania, and was named after singer-songwriter James Taylor. She spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm that her father had purchased from one of his clients in his former job as a stockbroker, eventually moving to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. At the age of nine, she became interested in musical theater and performed in four Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions, travelling regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. She later shifted her focus toward country music, inspired by Shania Twain's songs, and spent weekends performing at local festivals and events. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, she felt sure that she needed to move to Nashville to pursue a career in music, so when she was eleven she traveled with her mother to visit Nashville record labels and submitted demo tapes of Dolly Parton and The Chicks karaoke covers, but these were rejected as the market was already flooded with singers with the same idea. When she was around 12 years old, computer repairman and local musician Ronnie Cremer taught her to play guitar, and also helped with her first efforts as a songwriter, leading her to write 'Lucky You', and in 2003 Swift and her parents started working with New York-based talent manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, she modelled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign, and she had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD. After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, the 13 year old singer was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother. 

When in Nashville she worked with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally, and the Warren Brothers, and formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose. They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school, and the fruits of these sessions were recorded as demos and burned to CD to give out to talent agents. Two volumes of her acoustic demos were recorded in 2003, and the following year, when she was 14, she became the youngest artist to be signed by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house, although she soon left the Sony-owned RCA Records due to the label's lack of care. At an industry showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form an independent record label, Big Machine Records, and she became one of the label's first signings, while her father purchased a three-percent stake in the company for an estimated $120,000. She had been writing and recording tracks for a couple of years before starting work on her debut album with Producer Nathan Chapman, and 13 of these recordings were burned to a CD in 2005, with four of the songs later being re-recorded for the 'Taylor Swift' album. All the songs on this disc are full band recordings, and the music is universally excellent, so much so that she could easily have released this disc as a country/pop album in 2005. For this post I've removed three of the songs which did eventually appear on her first album, to make room for some others from the same year which were not included on the disc. One that I did leave on was 'Teardrops On My Guitar', which she'd written with Liz Rose about her unrequited love for high school classmate Drew Hardwick, name-checking him in the lyrics, but she also recorded a version with a more general appeal by replacing 'Drew' with 'you', and I've included that version here. This album give us a taste of Swift's musical direction in this early part of her career, and it shows what a precocious talent she was, considering that these recordings were made when she was just 15 or 16 years old.  

Track listing

01 I'm Only Me When I'm With You
02 Teardrops On My Guitar
03 I'd Lie
04 Sweet Tea and God's Graces
05 Better Off 
06 What Do You Say
07 Brought Up That Way
08 Welcome Distraction
09 Dark Blue Tennessee
10 R-E-V-E-N-G-E
11 Nevermind
12 Thirteen Blocks
13 Making Up For Lost Love 
14 Need You Now
15 We Were Happy
16 This is Really Happening
17 Who I've Always Been

Charli XCX - Pop Princess (2009)

Following the cancellation of her album in 2008, Charli XCX continued to write and record her songs, publishing the odd one on her MySpace page, but mostly just for herself. In April 2009 she supported Peaches on her Ether 09 show at the Royal Festival Hall, alongside London drag-scene queen Jonny Woo, wearing the outfit on the cover of this album. She also released her second single, the double A-side 'Emelline'/'Art Bitch', on her own Orgy Music label, and she spent the rest of the year amassing a collection of songs which you can now hear on this post, which she could easily have released as an album in 2009. Obviously these are early examples of her songwriting, and so titles such as 'I Wanna Be Darth Vader' and 'Dinosaur Sex!' are in evidence, but some of these songs pave the way for how she her sound would change over the next couple of years.    

Track listing

01 Art Bitch
02 Emeline
03 I Wanna Be Darth Vader
04 Pop Princess
05 Too Cool
06 Another Romantic Situation (feat. Daisy Geggus) 
07 Beach Hut In Hawaii
08 Dinosaur Sex!
09 Do It Well
10 Falling In Love Again
11 Fearless
12 I Like You
13 Jungle Time
14 Photography
15 Pirates

Brian Eno - Music For The Great Gallery (2012)

In 2012, Brian Eno decided to compose some music which could be played in The Great Gallery Of Venaria Reale, in Italy, so that visitors could be bathed in an ambient soundscape while visiting this architectural masterpiece. Eno's own notes give an insight into his workings:
I started writing '12 Seasons: Music For The Great Gallery' in my studio in London. I had seen pictures and plans of the Reggia di Venaria and I was confident I had found the right approach: I worked for a few weeks on a track that I brought to the Reggia for testing in May 2012. However, when I listened to it in the extraordinary context of the Great Gallery, I realized that it was not right. What I had composed - in my studio in London, wrapped up in England's grey climate - was introspective and somewhat dark. There was not doubt in my mind that it was an "interior" track. What is most striking about the Great Gallery - and you realise as much only when you step into it - is that it is soaked in light and space: nothing further from an "interior" feeling. Juvarra had designed it to invite the world to get in, so it seemed appropriate that music should exist inside as well as outside of space, almost like a cloud or an atmosphere that would envelop the construction from the outside. Conceptually, this music is similar to other works I did around forty years ago (e.g., Discreet Music, 1975). I am still deeply fascinated by the range of transformations that are possible starting with a limited stock of original notes, and this piece is a perfect example in this sense. Nevertheless, there is also a new starting point. Building on the Reggia’s classical imprint, I wanted to make sure that the track was made up of several movements rather than a single block. Thus only 4 or 5 or 6 of the original 7 sounds I had decided to work with will eventually be used in each section. This means that the emotional quality of each section is slightly different, and as it progresses, the piece evolves and takes on different overtones. I love the Great Gallery of La Venaria, it is a sort of secular cathedral, and I hope that my music will encourage more people to spend time in the Gallery than it is normally the case.
In its final version the piece is made up of two one-hour tracks consisting of 12 sections each. 
Only four speakers are in place, two at the entrance and two at the end of the Gallery, all facing the center of the hall. Visitors walking down the Gallery are wrapped into two distinct sound flows: as they approach the center of the hall, echoes of the sounds behind turn into a memory that blend in the soft reverberations of the sounds that lay ahead. The two movements are complete when they meet at the heart of the Gallery. The sound tracks are made of melodic cores that are sketched and whispered, with the warmer sound of real violins in place of samplings. This recording was taped by Renzo on Saturday 29 September 2012, with the first half being recorded walking in the Gallery, while the second half is taped in the dead center of the Gallery. It's an excellent quality recording, probably due the superb acoustics in the Gallery, and although you can hear voices and noise from people visiting the installation, it's almost as if they are meant to be there, and they seldom distract from the music. Eno's 2012 album 'Lux' was based on these pieces that he composed for the Gallery, but this recording features the original compositions. 

 
Track listing 

01 Music For The Great Gallery

The Mighty Lemon Drops - Some Of My Best Friends Are Songs (1986)

The Mighty Lemon Drops formed in Wolverhampton in 1985, and featured Paul Marsh (vocals/guitar), David Newton (guitar), Tony Linehan (bass) and Keith Rowley (drums), who had all enjoyed chequered careers in numerous Wolverhampton outfits. Newton had previously played with Active Restraint in 1982, which also included Marsh and Linehan. They in turn played regularly alongside Another Dream, and both bands featured on single releases by local label Watchdog Video And Records. Newton and Neal Cook of Another Dream put together the Wild Flowers, alongside Dave Atherton, and after a further single and a support to Simple Minds, Newton moved on once more, forming the Sherbert Monsters with Marsh and Linehan, later changing their name to The Mighty Lemon Drops. The temporary drummer was Martin Gilks (later with the Wonder Stuff), before Keith Rowley stepped in full-time. Their first recordings were issued as a cassette under the title of 'Some Of My Best Friends Are Songs', which included a number of songs that would later be re-recorded for their debut album, although a couple of other tracks remain exclusive to the tape. Only 150 copies were run off, and they were originally sold at gigs, with the leftovers being sold by mail order. In June and July of 1986 the band recorded some demos in Birmingham, and you can hear how much they'd progressed in that year from those early recordings. They'd already released their first single, 1985's 'Like An Angel', on Dan Treacy's Dreamworld Records label, and had recorded three tracks for the NME's 'C86' cassette album, of which 'Happy Head' was selected for inclusion, putting them at the forefront of the nascent jangle-pop genre that the cassette was trying to promote. By adding the 1986 Birmingham demos to the eight songs from the 'Best Friends' cassette we have an album from the very earliest days of the band, showing that even at the start of their career they knew where they wanted to go. 

Track listing

01 Pass You By
02 Take My Heart
03 My Biggest Thrill
04 Like An Angel
05 My Feelings
06 Sympathize With Us
07 Behind Your Back
08 On My Mind
09 Now She's Gone
10 There She Goes Again
11 Uptight
12 Take Me Up
13 Hypnotized

Bob Marley & The Wailers - Walk The Proud Land (1976)

Just about every song that eventually appeared on Bob Marley & The Wailers' studio albums had a demo recording, and often also a rehearsal take, and they are all great recordings that showcase the 'bare-bones' versions of songs that we would eventually know and love when the finished versions became available on the band's albums. From 1972's 'Catch A Fire' right up to the band's final studio albums 'Uprising', and the posthumous release 'Confrontation' of 1981, the Wailers were meticulous in rehearsing their material, frequenting studios such as Harry J's, Dynamic, Joe Gibbs, The Black Ark and Bob's own Tuff Gong studios, all in Kingston Jamaica, plus Island's Basing Street Studios in London. As well as the demos and rehearsals of tracks that eventually ended up on the band's albums, there were also songs that never made the final cut, and that's what I'm concentrating on here. I've already posted a horns mix of 'Exodus', the un-dubbed version of 'Catch A Fire', and the 'Confrontation' demos, but there is so much more tucked away that I can make up another 54 minute album from just the unreleased songs from 1973 to 1976. Three of these tracks did eventually officially surface, but not in this form, as 'Punky Reggae Party' was released as a stand-alone single in 1977, and the posthumous 'Iron Lion Zion' came out in 1992, while 'Slogans' was added to yet another collection of the band's singles in 2005. However, these are the original versions taped in the early 70's, with 'Punky Reggae Party' stretching out to nearly nine minutes, and the original studio demo of what would become 'Slogans' is a very basic version, using a drum machine with live instruments, and including Marley's original third verse which was cut from the released version. There are still more gems hidden away, such as the Black Ark demos with Lee 'Scratch' Perry, and some unreleased songs from Marley's final sessions, but for now enjoy this collection of rarely heard songs from their classic mid-70's period. 

Track listing

01 You Can't Blame The Youth
02 Walk The Proud Land
03 No Sympathy
04 The Oppressed Song
05 Reincarnated Souls
06 Iron Lion Zion
07 Am A Do
08 Keep The Faith
09 Rainbow Country
10 Jungle Fever
11 Soul Shake Up Party
12 Can't Take Your Slogans No More
13 Punky Reggae Party
14 Roots

Charli XCX - 14 (2008)

Charlotte Emma Aitchison was born on 2 August 1992 in Cambridge, and raised in Start Hill, Essex. While her parents were not very musical, she demonstrated an affinity for music from an early age, being interested in pop acts such as the Spice Girls and Britney Spears, and she began writing songs at the age of 14, writing a song called 'Fish and Chips Shop'. She managed to convince her parents to apply for a loan for her to record her first album '14', and in early 2008, she began posting songs from the album, as well as numerous other demos, on her official Myspace page. This caught the attention of a promoter running numerous illegal warehouse raves and parties in east London, who invited her to perform. She was billed on flyers under the stage name Charli XCX, which was her MSN Messenger display name when she was younger, and despite the illicit nature of the gigs, her parents were supportive of her career and attended several raves with her. In late 2008 promo copies of her album were released, along with two singles, '!Franchesckaar!' and the double A-side 'Emelline'/'Art Bitch', all on her own Orgy Music label. At the time it came out she included a short bio about herself, saying that the songs she writes were about her mates and experiences, and that she played all the instruments and did all the singing, including the backing vocals, but her drumming was a bit shit so she got her producer Darren to drum on 'Lucy'. Her influences at that time were Kate Nash, Hadoucken!, Justice, Crystal Castles, Calvin Harris and things like afro-beatz and other jamz, and the CD came with a 16 page colour booklet, with photos and lyrics to all the songs. Little is known about this album, other than it was distributed to friends, and possibly press, before a full commercial release was cancelled. In the first post of what will be a number of unreleased albums by the young singer, here are the very first songs that anyone would hear from her, and although they are pretty different from what was to come, they show Charli XCX blending together pop and nu-rave in a brash style that embodies her DIY beginnings. 

Track listing

01 !Franchesckaar!
02 Lucy
03 Chas's Song
04 Leave Me
05 I'll Teach You A Lesson
06 Machines
07 Supermodels And Holiday Stunners
08 Watch The Rain
09 Live Life
10 Neon Fashion And Glowstix
11 Mauritius
12 Alcoholic
13 Yet Again
14 14

Marva Josie - Birthday Fella (1967)

Marva Josie was born in Clairton, Pittsburgh, and has an impressive 5 and a half octave range to her voice. It's no surprise then that she was picked up by Time Records in the early 60's, and the label issued her first single 'Later For You Baby'/'You Lied' in 1962. Moving to Sahara Records, she released 'I Don't Care' in 1963, and after that two more singles followed for United Artists in 1964 and 1965. Signing to Julmar Records in 1967, she released her final two solo singles, 'Oohbiskubido' and 'I'm Satisfied', after which she met the great jazz band leader Earl 'Fatha' Hines in 1968. Impressed by her range, style and appearance she became the latest in a long line of important vocalists who had worked with the master pianist, following in the footsteps of Herb Jeffries, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Hartman and Etta Jones, all of whom owed some part of their career to Hines. Her first album as vocalist with Hines was her own 'This Is Marva Josie' in 1973, where she traded the soul sound of her 60's singles for the jazz that Hines was known for, and in 1977 they issued 'Jazz Is His Old Lady...And My Old Man', credited to Earl 'Fatha' Hines with Marva Josie. In 1976 they both played at the White House for President Gerald Ford, and later for President Jimmy Carter, and Josie is still currently performing jazz in New York. However, this album collects together her fine soul recordings from the 60's for a variety of labels, and hearing the power of her voice you can understand why Hines was impressed when he met her.   

Track listing

01 Later For You Baby (single 1962)
02 You Lied (b-side of 'Later For You Baby')
03 I Don't Care (single 1963)
04 Heartbreak City (b-side of 'I Don't Care')
05 Birthday Fella (single 1964)
06 Did You Ever Love Someone (b-side of 'Birthday Fella')
07 How Do You Say Goodbye (unreleased acetate 1964)
08 Joey's Kisses (b-side of 'How Do You Say Goodbye')
09 I Love New York (single 1965)
10 Don't (b-side of 'I Love New York')
11 Crazy Stockings (single 1966)
12 I'll Get By (b-side of 'Crazy Stockings')
13 Oohbiskubido (single 1967)
14 Now Is The Time (To Love Me) (b-side of 'Oohbiskubido')
15 I'm Satisfied (single 1967)
16 Love's Burning Fire (b-side of 'I'm Satisfied')

Embrace - Soulmates (2006)

Embrace released their fifth studio album 'This New Day' on 27 March 2006, preceded by the single 'Nature's Law' the week before. This album saw the whole band contributing to the writing, whereas before this the McNamara brothers had written virtually all of the band's material themselves, and they recorded twenty four songs in nine days. In March 2006 they were chosen to record England's official football World Cup 2006 song, 'World At Your Feet', which received its first radio airplay on 21 April 2006 on BBC Radio 1 to a generally poor reception among football fans, but an overall positive reception from music critics. It was released on 5 June 2006, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 3, while 'Natures Law' entered the charts at number 2, providing them with their biggest hit to date. 'This New Day' went straight into the charts at number 1 and became their third chart topping album in the UK. The band played a new song 'Heart And Soul' live, which was expected to appear on their sixth album, but although a live version of the song appeared on the b-side of the 'I Can't Come Down' single, a studio recording is yet to appear. After the success of the singles and album in 2006, the band withdrew to write material for their sixth album, but it was to be seven years before Richard McNamara finally announced on the band's Facebook page that they were going back into the studio, so that seems the perfect place to draw this series to a close, with this collection of all the b-sides that appeared in 2006. I've titled these five albums in both alphabetical and date order, starting with 'Blind' in 1998 and ending with this post from 2006, and to keep a sense of continuity they're all housed in sleeves which feature an 'embrace'. 

Track listing 

01 Deliver Me (b-side of 'Natures Law' 2006)
02 Collide (b-side of 'Natures Law' 2006)
03 Soulmates (b-side of 'Natures Law' 2006)
04 World At Your Feet (single 2006)
05 What Lies Behind Us (b-side of 'World At Your Feet')
06 Love Orders (b-side of 'World At Your Feet')
07 Whatever It Takes (b-side of 'World At Your Feet')
08 Just Admit It (b-side of 'Target' 2006)
09 Run Away (b-side of 'Target' 2006)
10 One Luck (b-side of 'Target' 2006)
11 Thank God You Were Mean To Me (b-side of 'Target' 2006)
12 Heart And Soul (b-side of 'I Can't Come Down' 2006)

Beyoncé - Control (2013)

Beyoncé's first solo recording was a feature on Jay-Z's song ''03 Bonnie & Clyde' that was released in October 2002, peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, but her own debut solo album was released in June 2003, after her Destiny's Child compatriots Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland had released their solo efforts. The album sold 317,000 copies in its first week, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and has since sold 11 million copies worldwide, with the album's lead single, 'Crazy in Love', becoming the first of many number-one singles for her as a solo artist in the US. Following the 2006 disbanding of Destiny's Child, Beyoncé released her second solo album, 'B'Day', which contained singles 'Irreplaceable' and 'Beautiful Liar', as well as starting a film career, with appearances in 2006's  'The Pink Panther' and 'Dreamgirls', followed by 'Obsessed' in 2009 and 'The Lion King' in 2019. Her marriage to Jay-Z and her portrayal of Etta James in 2008' film 'Cadillac Records' influenced her third album, 'I Am... Sasha Fierce', earning her a record-setting six Grammy Awards in 2010, and spawning the hit singles 'If I Were a Boy', 'Single Ladies', and 'Halo'. After professionally splitting from her manager and father Mathew Knowles in 2010, Beyoncé released her musically diverse fourth album '4' in 2011, and later achieved universal acclaim for her sonically experimental albums, 'Beyoncé' (2013) and 'Lemonade' (2016), the latter of which was the world's best-selling album of 2016, and the most acclaimed album of her career, exploring themes of infidelity and womanism. Throughout her solo career she's recorded many more songs than could fit on her albums, taping up to 40 of them for her debut album alone. After its massive success, she planned to release her second album in 2004 featuring tracks that were cut from it, such as 'Settle For You', 'What's Good With You' and 'Ice Cream Truck', but that never happened. Her third album in 2008 was to be called 'Virtuoso Intellect', and was to be a dance-oriented record produced by Freemasons, but once again this idea was put on the back-burner. When coming up with her fourth album, Beyoncé started writing and producing songs inspired by Afrobeat star Fela Kuti, although the only surviving song from this session is 'End Of Time', and in 2013 her fifth album was to feature songs produced by Major Lazer, and also include some inspired by '60s doo-wop, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. Before collaborating with Boots and reworking some of the songs for her 'Beyoncé' album, she planned to release a much more diverse record, and although we still got some of the results of those sessions, like 'Partition', 'Grown Woman', and 'Rocket', those Aretha/'60s doo wop/Major Lazer/Diana Ross songs never made it. As none of these albums are ever likely to see the light of day, here's a selection of tracks that could have appeared on them, spanning the decade from 2003 to 2013. 

Track listing

01 Settle 4 U ('Dangerously In Love' out-take 2003)
02 Waiting ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
03 Roc ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
04 Slow Love ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
05 Postcard (New Shoes) ('B'Day' out-take 2006)
06 I'm Alone Now ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
07 Baby You're The Only Man ('Dangerously In Love' out-take 2003)
08 Kick Him Put (Next Ex) ('B'Day' out-take 2006)
09 Stop Sign ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
10 Forever To Bleed ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
11 Control ('I Am... Sasha Fierce' out-take 2008)
12 Ice Cream Truck ('Dangerously In Love' out-take 2003)
13 Wake Up ('Beyoncé' out-take 2013)
14 Standing On The Sun ('Beyoncé' demo 2013)
15 God Made You Beautiful ('Beyoncé' out-take 2013)