Dinosaur Jr. - The Little Baby (2018)

J Mascis (drums) and Lou Barlow (guitar) played together in the hardcore punk band Deep Wound, formed in 1982 while the pair were attending high school in western Massachusetts. After high school, they began exploring slower yet still aggressive music such as Black Sabbath, the Replacements, and Neil Young, while Mascis's college friend Gerard Cosloy introduced him to psychedelic-influenced pop bands like Dream Syndicate, which Mascis in turn played to Barlow. Cosloy had dropped out of University to focus on running his independent record label, Homestead Records, and he promised Mascis that if he were ever to make a record, Homestead would release it. After Deep Wound broke up in mid-1984, Mascis wrote a number of songs by himself and showed them to Barlow, to whom he offered the bassist position, and he then enlisted vocalist Charlie Nakajima, also formerly of Deep Wound, and drummer Emmett Patrick Murphy (otherwise known as Murph) to complete the band. They were initially named Mogo, and they played their first show on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus in the first week of September 1984, but Nakajima used the performance to launch an extended anti-police tirade, and Mascis was so appalled by Nakajima's behaviour that he disbanded the group the next day. A few days later, Mascis invited Barlow and Murph to form a new band without telling Nakajima, and the trio named themselves Dinosaur, with Mascis and Barlow taking over lead vocal duties. Mascis took Cosloy up on his offer to release an album on Homestead, and Dinosaur recorded their debut record for $500 at a home studio in the woods outside Northampton, Massachusetts. 'Dinosaur' was released in 1985, with all the songs written by Mascis and sung in his trademark nasal drawl, which was often compared to Neil Young. 
The album didn't make much of an impact commercially or critically, only selling about 1,500 copies in its first year, and being largely ignored by the majority of the music press. Dinosaur often played shows in New York City, where they were spotted by the New York-based alternative rock band Sonic Youth, who invited them to join them on tour in the American Northeast and northern Midwest in September 1986. The band recorded much of their second album, 'You're Living All Over Me', with Sonic Youth engineer Wharton Tiers in New York, but tensions emerged between Mascis and Murph because Mascis had very specific ideas for Murph's parts. Cosloy was excited by the completed album, but was devastated when Mascis told him the band was going to release it on California-based SST Records, as Mascis was reluctant to sign a two-album deal with Homestead. 'You're Living All Over Me' was released in 1987, and early copies of the record in the Boston area were packaged with the 'Weed Forestin'' tape, the first release by Barlow's side project Sebadoh. The album received much more attention in the indie-rock community than the debut, and for this record  Barlow also composed two songs: the hardcore-influenced 'Lose' and an acoustic sonic collage entitled 'Poledo', that anticipated his work with Sebadoh. Immediately following the release of 'You're Living All Over Me', a supergroup called Dinosaurs (featuring ex-members of Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Hot Tuna, Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane) sued Dinosaur over the use of the name, prompting the addition of the "Jr.". 

Dinosaur Jr. had a major breakthrough in the United Kingdom in 1988 with their debut single for Blast First, 'Freak Scene', with a version with censored lyrics being issued for radio consumption. It reached number 4 in the UK independent chart, staying there for 12 weeks, and the band's third album, 'Bug', followed shortly afterwards, reaching number 1 on the UK independent chart and spending 38 weeks there, while their first UK singles chart placing came in 1989, with their cover of The Cure's 'Just Like Heaven'. 'Bug' was similar in musical style to 'You're Living All Over Me', with the contrast between the extremely distorted instruments and the melodic vocal parts intact, but this time there was even more melody, and the song structures were more conventional. Barlow only had one lead vocal, on the album's final track, featuring an overdriven, noise-rock backing track and Barlow screaming "Why don't you like me?". Despite the album's success, tensions between Mascis and Barlow began interfering with the band's productivity, and in 1989 Barlow was kicked out of the band, allowing him to focus all of his attention on his former side-project Sebadoh. Dinosaur Jr. embarked on an Australian tour with Donna Dresch filling in for Barlow, and in 1990 they released a new single, 'The Wagon' on Sub Pop, their first release since Barlow's departure. Despite the ongoing line-up turmoil, Dinosaur Jr. signed with Sire Records in 1990, and made their major-label debut with 'Green Mind' in 1991. In fact, the new record was virtually a J Mascis solo album, with Murph playing drums on only a few songs, as well as minimal contributions from temporary members Don Fleming and Jay Spiegel, who were out of the band by the time the album was released. 

Following some well-received live shows, the group decided to record some new material with a revised line-up, with Murph still on drums, but being joined by Mike Johnson on bass. This material represented the peak of the band's commercial success, with the single 'Start Choppin'' reaching the top 20 in the UK, and the album that followed, 'Where You Been', reached the UK top 10 and the US top 50. Murph left the band after touring for 'Where You Been' and was replaced for live shows by George Berz, leaving Mascis as the sole remaining original member. In the studio, he was, in effect, the band, playing everything except for the bass and some of the harmony vocals, which continued to be handled by Mike Johnson. Commercial success continued with 1994's 'Without A Sound', which placed well in both the US and UK album charts, and after 1997's 'Hand It Over', Mascis finally retired the Dinosaur Jr. name, with the group's final live performance being an appearance on the American talk show The Jenny Jones Show. Mascis and Barlow has begun to meet up in the mid-90's, with Mascis attending shows by Sebadoh, and by 2002 this had led to the two of them sharing a stage for two shows in London. Mascis regained the master rights to the band's first three albums from SST in 2004 and arranged for their reissue on Merge in early 2005, and later that year, he and Barlow shared the stage at a benefit show for autism at Smith College, resurrecting Deep Wound to play a set at the end of the gig. Following the reissues in 2005, Mascis, Barlow, and Murph finally reunited to play on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 15 April 2005, and in June they kicked off a tour of Europe. 

In 2007, the original members of Dinosaur Jr. released 'Beyond' on Fat Possum Records, their first album of new material as a trio since 'Bug' in 1988, and it was met with critical acclaim from the music press as a whole. In February 2009, the band signed with indie label Jagjaguwar, with their first release on the new label being 'Farm', which appeared in June, and which marked a return to the heavier 'Where You Been' era. A second album for the label followed, with 'I Bet On Sky' appearing in 2012, once again to favourable reviews, and in 2015 it was announced that the band had entered the studio to begin working on their follow-up, with 'Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not' being released in 2016. They are still around, and in February 2021 they announced their 12th album 'Sweep It Into Space', which was released in April, and singles 'I Ran Away' and 'Garden' were extracted from the record. Dinosaur Jr. was one of the first, biggest, and best bands among the second generation of indie kids, influencing many other musicians such as Kurt Cobain, Billy Corgan, Black Francis, Graham Coxon, and Henry Rollins, and bands like Tad, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, Slowdive, Swervedriver, and Teenage Fanclub. I'll be the first to admit that they are an acquired taste, and if you aren't into heavy rock then you won't find much to enjoy, but hearing them at the time was a breath of fresh air after living through the turgid heavy metal of the late 70's and early 80's, and so for fans of the band here is a feast of rare singles, b-sides, out-takes and soundtrack contributions, in a massive four-volume collection from this unique group.   

Track listing 

Disc I - 1985-1991

01 Bulbs Of Passion (b-side of 'Repulsion' 1985)

02 Keep The Glove (b-side of 'Freak Scene' 1988)

03 Show Me The Way (b-side of 'Little Furry Things' 1987)

04 Just Like Heaven (single 1989)

05 Throw Down (b-side of 'Just Like Heaven')

06 Chunks (A Last Rights Tune) (b-side of 'Just Like Heaven')

07 The Little Baby (b-side of 'The Wagon' 1990)

08 Pebbles + Weeds (b-side of 'The Wagon' 1990)

09 Not You Again (b-side of 'The Wagon' 1990) 

10 Quicksand (Wagon Reprise) (b-side of 'The Wagon' 1990)

11 Better Than Gone (b-side of 'The Wagon' re-issue 1991)

12 Whatever's Cool With Me (single 1991)

13 Sideways (b-side of 'Whatever's Cool With Me')

Disc II - 1992-1995

01 Hot Burrito #2 (b-side of 'Get Me' 1992) 

02 Quest (acoustic) (b-side of 'Get Me' 1992) 

03 Turnip Farm (b-side of 'Start Choppin'' 1993)

04 Forget It (b-side of 'Start Choppin'' 1993)

05 Keebin' (b-side of 'Out There' 1993)

06 Missing Link (from the soundtrack of the film 'Judgement Night' 1993)

07 Get Out Of This (No Words Just Solo) (b-side of 'Feel The Pain' 1994)

08 Blah (from the soundtrack of the TV series 'Melrose Place' 1994)

09 What Else Is New (b-side of 'I Don't Think So' 1995)

10 Sludge (b-side of 'I Don't Think So' 1995)

Disc III - 1997-2009

01 I Misunderstood (b-side of 'I'm Insane' 1997)

02 Take A Run At The Sun (single 1997)

03 Don't You Think It's Time (b-side of 'Take A Run At The Sun')

04 The Pickle Song (b-side of 'Take A Run At The Sun')

05 What We Do In Secret (previously unreleased 1997)

06 Never Bought It (from 'Recovery' TV show, ABC Australia 1997)

07 Sure Not Over You (from 'Recovery' TV show, ABC Australia 1997)

08 Yer Son (b-side of 'Crumble' 2007)

09 Whenever You're Ready (bonus track on Japanese edition of 'Farm' 2009)

10 Creepies (bonus track on Japanese edition of 'Farm' 2009)

11 Show (bonus track on Japanese edition of 'Farm' 2009)

12 Houses (b-side of 'Pieces' 2009)

13 The Backyard (from 'Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy' tribute album 2009)

Disc IV - 2012-2018

01 Now The Fall (single 2012)

02 Richocet (b-side of 'Now The Fall')

03 The Only Other Way (single 2013)

04 Don't Pretend You Didn't Know (single 2013)

05 Entertainment (single 2013)

06 Two Things (single 2016)

07 Center Of The Universe (b-side of 'Two Things')

08 Black Betty (b-side of 'Two Things')

09 Solo Extractions (b-side of 'Two Things')

10 Hold Unknown (single 2018)

Janelle Monáe - The Audition (2003)

Janelle Monáe Robinson was born on 01 December 1985 in Kansas City, and was raised in Quindaro, a working-class community of Kansas City. She was raised Baptist and learned to sing at a local church, and she dreamed of being a singer and a performer from a very young age, citing the fictional character of Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz as a musical influence. As a teenager she was enrolled in the Coterie Theater's Young Playwrights' Round Table, which began writing musicals, one of which was inspired by the 1979 Stevie Wonder album 'Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants"', and which was completed when Monáe was only around the age of 12. After high school she moved to New York City to study musical theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, but after a year and a half she dropped out and relocated to Atlanta, enrolling in Perimeter College at Georgia State University. She began writing her own music and performing around the campus, and in 2003 she self-released a demo album titled 'The Audition', which she sold out of the trunk of a Mitsubishi Galant. During this period she worked at an Office Depot, but was fired for answering a fan's e-mail using a company computer, an incident that inspired the song 'Lettin' Go', which in turn attracted the attention of Big Boi of OutKast. In 2006 she appeared on the tracks 'Call The Law' and 'In Your Dreams' from OutKast's 2006 album 'Idlewild', and when Big Boi told his friend Sean "Puffy" Combs about her, Combs visited her MySpace page, and was so impressed that he signed her to his Bad Boy Records label. The label's chief role was to facilitate her exposure on a broader scale rather than developing the artist and music, taking its time to build her profile organically and allowing the music to grow. 

In 2007, Monáe released her first solo work, 'Metropolis', which was originally conceived as a concept album in four parts, or "suites", which were to be released through her website and mp3 download sites. After the release of the first part of the series, 'Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase)' in mid-2007, these plans were altered, and Bad Boy Records gave an official and physical release to the first suite in August 2008, which was retitled 'Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Special Edition)' and included two new tracks. The EP was critically acclaimed, garnering her a Grammy nomination for Best Urban/Alternative Performance for the single 'Many Moons', which then led to festival appearances, and touring as opening act for band No Doubt on their summer 2009 tour. In 2010 she released her first full-length studio album, 'The ArchAndroid', a concept album and sequel to her first EP, following this in 2013 with her second concept album 'The Electric Lady', which debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, and served as the fourth and fifth instalments of the seven-part 'Metropolis' series. Her third studio concept album, 'Dirty Computer', was released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim, and it was chosen as the best album of the year by several publications. She has also branched out into acting, featuring in both 'Moonlight' and 'Hidden Figures' in 2016, and in April 2022, Harper Voyager published her first book, 'The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer', which explores how different threads of liberation — queerness, race, gender plurality, and love — become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in a totalitarian landscape. Monáe has always been very focussed on her career, and this was evident from the very beginning, when she pressed up 500 copies of her demo album and hawked them from the back of her car, and so for anyone who wants to hear what the fledgling singer sounded like back in 2003 on those thirteen mostly self-penned songs and one instrumental, then here is 'The Audition' - a perfectly named album if ever there was one. 

Track listing

01 Thoughts (Intro)
02 Lettin' Go
03 Party Girl
04 Metropolis
05 Cindi
06 It's Not Fair
07 Time Will Reveal
08 My Favorite Nothing
09 Warm Up (Cloud 9 interlude)
10 Cloud 9
11 Star
12 I Won't Let Go
13 You
14 You Are My Everything

Marina & The Diamonds - die Life (2011)

Following the buzz which was created by her self-released EP 'Mermaids vs. Sailors' in 2007, Marina Diamandis met with fourteen music labels, only being offered one deal, which she also believed was the only one which would not dictate her image. She came to the attention of Neon Gold Records' Derek Davies in 2008, with her debut single 'Obsessions' being released on the label in February 2009, and her first extended play 'The Crown Jewels' EP followed on 1 June. In December 2009, Diamandis was ranked in second place on the Sound Of 2010 poll organized by BBC, behind Ellie Goulding, and by the following year she'd signed a recording contract with 679 Recordings. Her debut studio album, 'The Family Jewels', was released in 2010, and it incorporated indie pop and new wave musical styles, entering the UK Albums Chart at number five, and being certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. Her second studio album was to be called 'die Life', which was a play on words, as 'die' is the German article for feminine nouns, meaning the album is actually called 'The Life', and it focused on feminism and sex. Marina initially wanted a release to echo Lady Gaga's 'The Fame Monster', where a second album is an extension of the first, which was in keeping with her description of 'Scab And Plaster' being a "'Family Jewels' throw-back". However, by August 2010 she'd decided to completely move on from 'The Family Jewels', with her original idea being for a "dark electronic pop record", jokingly saying it was something "Britney Spears would have made if she were goth". 

She also wanted to work with one particular producer, Greg Kurstin, and she didn't care if there were no singles on it. 'Jealousy' was an out-take from 'The Family Jewels', while two versions of 'Miss Y' have leaked, both produced by Kurstin - the "to be great" demo with more finalised vocals, but no bridge, and the "to become great" demo which includes an instrumental bridge, but unmixed additional backing vocals and harmonies. In an interview she expressed she was enjoying writing the songs for the new album, and had lots of ideas, and that she wanted to release it in July 2011, but her label had told her she wasn't going to manage to fit it all in around her touring schedule, and so the release date would likely be September 2011. When that date passed with no sign of the record, she admitted that  it was not going to be out that year, and that as she "didn't know when she would finish it, it could be one or five years". By 2012 it seemed that 'die Life' was dead in the water, and in April she released the single 'Primadonna' as the lead track from her second studio album 'Electra Heart', which followed a couple of weeks later. Once 'Electra Heart' appeared then that confirmed that 'die Life' had been scrapped, and it has since become part of Marina's mysterious back-story. In order that we can hear the progression from 2010's 'The Family Jewels' to 2012's 'Electra Heart', here is the shelved 'die Life', which would have bridged those two releases in 2011.

 

Track listing

01 Scab And Plaster
02 Starring Role
03 Power/Control
04 Living Dead
05 Free Sex
06 Miss Y
07 Jealousy
08 Radioactive
09 Dirty Sheets
10 Like The Other Girls
11 die Life

The Crosswalk - Venus Loves A Melody (1999)

The Crosswalk were an L.A.-based quartet, formed in 1997 and comprising Cody Chestnutt on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, Jay Gordon on guitar and keyboards, John Maggio on bass and glockenspiel, and Jaime O'Connell on drums, percussion, vibes and guitar. In late 1996 Chessnutt had been working as a writer and producer for various Death Row Records recording artists, and mentioned to one of the engineers in the studio that he wanted to start a band of his own, and so the engineer set up a meeting with O'Connell and Maggio. They hit it off and formed a trio which they named The Crosswalk, with the name being an allusion to the Abbey Road album cover image. After about a year and a half of writing together and performing in LA, they released the independent '1535' EP in 1997, and then signed with Hollywood Records in 1998, after being rejected by many other record labels. In late 1998 to early 1999 the band, now a four piece with the addition of guitarist Jay Gordon, recorded their album 'Venus Loves A Melody', with the record being mixed by famed rock producer and engineer Bob Clearmountain. After delivering the album to Hollywood Records, they and their manager were given the cold shoulder by the label, who would not commit to a release date, and who spent little time with the band discussing art direction or marketing plans. After forcing their hand to make a decision, Hollywood informed them that they were dropping the project, as it appeared that they had signed a boy band that they wanted to concentrate their efforts on instead. Cody being a black front man of a classic Brit style rock group didn’t help either, and the label was finding a hard time knowing how to market the band, so they just cut their losses. Chessnutt and the band were devastated, and couldn't believe how cold Hollywood Records was towards the album that they just spent so much money on producing, and it caused the band to split up. Chessnutt went on to make a self produced, low budget, independent project called 'The Headphone Masterpiece', that eventually took him around the world. In the end a contract loophole allowed Chessnutt, the band, and their manager to take ownership of the masters of 'Venus Loves A Melody', with the aim of issuing it independently, but to date it remains frustratingly unreleased. To make up your own mind if Hollywood Records were being stupidly short-sighted in rejecting the band, here is 'Venus Loves A Melody', now housed in new artwork which I hope the band will appreciate. 

Track listing

01 All Is All
02 Vile
03 Give In
04 Brand New
05 16
06 Distant Man
07 Lipstick In Red
08 The Show
09 So What
10 Candy Kids
11 Before The Day Breaks
12 Jaded Judy
13 Everything Beautiful
14 Find My Way Back Home

Nicole Scherzinger - Her Name Is Nicole (2008)

In February 2006, while still a founding member of The Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger signed a global publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group, which would cover her future song-writing. Her work as lead singer of The Dolls furthered her popularity as she continued to work on her own music, and her first solo recording was to feature on Avant's 'Lie About Us', which was released in July 2006. She later collaborated with Diddy on 'Come To Me', which became her first solo top-ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100, and in March 2007 she announced that her debut studio album would be titled 'Her Name is Nicole', and it was scheduled for a release in late summer. Four singles were released from the project, but 'Whatever U Like', 'Baby Love', 'Supervillain', and 'Puakenikeni' all failed to make any significant impact on the Billboard charts, although 'Baby Love' was a moderate success in international territories. After a number of push-backs, Scherzinger decided not to release any further singles from the album, and at her request 'Her Name Is Nicole' was eventually shelved, and she shifted her focus to working on the Doll's second album. She had actually recorded more songs between 2006 and 2008 than were needed for the album, and she could easily have released a double album had she wanted, but she threw herself back into her work with The Pussycat Dolls, and their second album 'Doll Domination' was released in 2008. Scherzinger carried on recording solo tracks over the next few years, and her official debut album 'Killer Love' eventually appeared in 2011, but even that omitted at least ten songs that had been recorded in 2010 and were apparently deemed not good enough for inclusion. So that we can decide for ourselves if 2008 was too early to launch a solo career, here is 'Her Name Is Nicole', and we can now hear what could have been her debut solo release had it come out in 2008 as was intended. 

 
Track listing

01 Supervillain 
02 Puakenikeni (feat. Brick & Lace) 
03 Happily Never After 
04 Baby Love (feat. ​will.i.am) 
05 Save Me From Myself 
06 Physical (feat. Timbaland) 
07 Power's Out (feat. Sting) 
08 Just Say Yes 
09 Who's Gonna Love You 
10 Whatever U Like (feat. T.I.) 
11 I M.I.S.S. U (feat. Pharrell Williams) 
12 March 
13 On My Side (feat. Akon) 
14 Feels So Good 

Lewis Taylor - A Little Bit Tasty (2013)

Andrew Lewis Taylor was born on 20 January 1966 in Barnet, North London, and started in the music business as a guitarist touring with the psychedelic rock band Edgar Broughton Band, following a recommendation from his brother to Steve Broughton, who had reformed the band and was looking for a guitarist. In 1986 he began performing as Sheriff Jack, releasing two EPs and two albums of psychedelia music, with 'Laugh Yourself Awake' coming out in 1986, followed by 'What Lovely Melodies!' the following year. As Lewis Taylor he released his self-titled album in 1996 through Island Records, with tracks including 'Bittersweet' and 'Lucky' being released as singles, and this record showcased a significant departure from the psychedelia of the Sheriff Jack era, moving towards neo soul, and it was highly acclaimed by the critics. They were amazed that he sung a bit like Marvin, played guitar like Ernie Isley, bass like James Jamerson and keyboards like Billy Preston, and created his extraordinary angst-ridden compositions in a North London flat on two digital reel-to-reel tape machines, but despite this praise it did become one of those albums that everybody talked about but few bought. His follow-up record was less of a soul record, and included more elements of psychedelia and Brian Wilson-style arrangements, but it was rejected by Island Records, and so Taylor scrapped the whole thing and started from scratch, recording 'Lewis II' in the more commercial style that the record company wanted. Though they released the album in 2000, it too failed to connect, and Taylor was dropped by the label, although the scrapped album was not lost forever, as it eventually appeared as 'The Lost Album' in 2004. His next release was 'Stoned, Part I' in 2002, on his own label named Slow Reality (an anagram of his name), and he followed it up in 2004 with 'Stoned, Part II'. 

In June 2006, Taylor retired from music, although he has since returned as Andrew Taylor, and has been the musical director and bass player for Gnarls Barkley, and guitarist/backing vocalist for the Edgar Broughton Band and The Drivers. In 2016, Caroline Records re-issued his debut album on CD with a bonus disc comprising the b-sides, 'Lucky' remixes and extended version of 'Bittersweet', but these are not the only rarities that lurk in Taylor's vaults, as besides the Sherrif Jack and solo records, he has also collaborated with a number of artists, including Deborah Bond, and The Vicar, contributed his cover of Pete Wingfield's classic '18 With A Bullet' to the soundtrack of 'Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels', and even attempted to cover every track on Captain Beefheart's 'Trout Mask Replica', playing everything himself, but giving up after completing fifteen tracks. There was also a rare 1996 single which included tracks that never made it onto his debut solo album, and his version of 'New York, New York' which he recorded for the 2004 'Strictly Sinatra' film, and so if we collect all these together, plus his great cover of 'Electric Ladyland' and a couple of rare bonus tracks from foreign releases, then we have a superb hour and a quarter of rare and hard to find music from this maverick performer, which more than lives up to its title of 'A Little Bit Tasty'. Now is the perfect time to post this, as some of his early albums are finally being re-released, and eighteen years after his last record, he has just issued a brand new album, titled 'NUMB'. If you like what you hear on this post, then do invest in his new one, so that it isn't another eighteen years before he goes back into the studio. And do check out the Sheriff Jack material if you can find it, as I still have the 'Let's Be Nonchalent' 12" EP and 'Laugh Yourself Awake' album from 1986, and they are  excellent neo-psychedelic music which still get regular plays on the stereo. 

Track listing

01 Pie In Electric Sky / If I Lay Down With You (b-side of 'Whoever' 1996)
02 Waves (b-side of 'Whoever' 1996)
03 Trip So Heavy (b-side of 'Whoever' 1996)
04 Asleep When You Come (b-side of 'Lucky' 1996)
05 You Got Me Thinking (b-side of 'Lucky' 1996)
06 I Dream A Better Dream (b-side of 'Lucky' 1996)
07 A Little Bit Tasty (b-side of 'Bittersweet' 1997)
08 Lewis III (b-side of 'Bittersweet' 1997)
09 Eighteen With A Bullet (from the soundtrack of 'Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels' 1998)
10 Electric Ladyland (bonus track from 'Lewis II' 2000)
11 New York New York (from the 2001 film 'Strictly Sinatra')
12 Carried Away 2 (from the US version of 'Limited Edition 2004')
13 Shame (Live on World Cafe WXPN 2006)
14 If I Didn't Need You (from 'Madame Palindrome' by Deborah Bond 2011)
15 The Girl With The Sunshine (from 'Songbook #1' by The Vicar 2013)
16 Ella Guru (from 'Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica Reborn' 2014)    

Amiel - These Ties (2005)

Amiel Muki Daemion (also known as just Amiel) was born on 13 August 1979, in New York City, and was introduced to the world of entertainment at the age of eleven, performing the leading role alongside Russell Crowe in the feature film 'The Silver Brumby'. Her music career began in 1995 when she was hired to do some backing vocals on a song that the Australian producer Josh Abrahams was producing, but instead of just singing the song, she included her harmonies, melodies and lyrics and sang only two takes for Abrahams before he offered her a career in music. They released their first single together called 'Addicted To Bass' in 1998, which peaked in the top twenty on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, and was nominated for two ARIA Awards in 1999. With the success of 'Addicted To Bass', she was then given a solo recording contract with Festival Records in 1998, and decided that Abrahams would be the best producer for her debut album. She was confronted by delays while making the record, but refused to be bothered by the record's slow progress, using this time to write new songs both in Australia and in the United States, and 'Meet Me In The Red Room' was used on the second 'Moulin Rouge!' soundtrack with Marius De Vries, under the direction of Baz Luhrmann. The new songs Amiel worked on changed the direction of the record, and while a couple of the very early recordings remained, demos of her new material replaced much of the rest, and her album became a major priority for her record company, which had merged to become Festival Mushroom Records since she had signed with them. Due to the success of 'Addicted To Bass' in Australia and New Zealand, Abrahams and Daemion collaborated to form the band Puretone to release the song worldwide, with it becoming a number two hit in the UK, with the help of a remix by Apollo 440. Puretone's second single, 'Stuck In A Groove', was a minor hit around the world, and they also wrote the music for a Vodafone television commercial. Amiel released her next solo single in March 2003, with 'Lovesong' becoming one of the most played songs on Australian radio, and it was her first solo top ten single in Australia. Her debut album, 'Audio Out', was released in Australia on 18 August 2003, debuting in the top twenty on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart, and she was nominated for five ARIA Awards in 2003. 

During the promotion of 'Audio Out' in 2004 in London, she went in search of a new producer, and came across Stephen Lironi, an ex-member of the UK band Altered Images. After a few short months of working with Lironi, she felt that her second solo album, 'These Ties', was ready, but just as the album's first single, 'Round And Round', was released, it was announced that the recording assets of the Festival Mushroom group had been acquired by Warner Music, and while staff and artists at Festival Mushroom Records started being dropped all around her, she made the agreement to postpone the release of 'These Ties' until the dust had settled. In the end the album was only released in Japan in 2005, and it failed to equal the top twenty success that 'Audio Out' had received. She passed the time in 2005 by performing the lead vocals on The Blips song 'Green Eyed World', which was featured on the soundtrack of the 2005 film 'Hating Alison Ashley', and releasing an electroclash cover of the Split Enz song 'One Step Ahead' on the Finn Brothers tribute album, until eventually the dust did settle on the Warners takeover. However, the Australian release date for 'These Ties' had to be pushed back many times, and eventually Amiel and Warner Music both agreed that it was no longer her new album, and to try to come back where they had left off halfway through the project would be impossible, so the album was put on hold while she worked on an "in between" project, which was to take the 'These Ties' track 'Be Your Girl', and form it into an EP of remixed songs from the album. She collaborated with some of Australia and New Zealand's best hip hop and dance producers, and the 'Bass Kleph' version of the song was released to Australian radio to promote the EP. This was the final nail in the coffin for 'These Ties', and with only a couple of thousand copies being sold in Japan, it is now extremely hard to locate, and so to save you the trouble, here it is for you to hear.  

Track listing

01 Expectations
02 Be Your Girl
03 Moving On
04 Round And Round
05 On The Outside
06 Under Your Spell
07 These Ties
08 Trouble
09 Storm Blew Over
10 Stars
11 Following The Sun
12 Easier To Lie

Marina & The Diamonds - Give Me The Money! (2007)

Marina Lambrini Diamandis was born 10 October 1985 in Brynmawr in Wales, and is known mononymously as Marina (often stylised as MARINA), and previously by the stage name Marina and the Diamonds. Despite not having a musical background, she had a childhood love of writing, and she first began writing music when she was 18 years old. She moved to London to attend dance school, but quit after two months, and then she studied music at the University of East London, and transferred to a classic composition course in Middlesex University the following year, but dropped out after two months. Knowing that the Spice Girls were formed by an advertisement in The Stage, Diamandis applied for auditions listed in that newspaper, travelling to several unsuccessful auditions, including opportunities with the musical for The Lion King and a boy band organized by Virgin Records. It was during this time that she managed to leave her CV with an A&R representative, but was unable to audition at the time of the appointment as she felt sick. In 2005, she created the stage name "Marina And The Diamonds", even though she was a solo artists, and after she came to prominence she considered "The Diamonds" as a reference to her fans instead of her backing band. Inspired by the example of self-produced outsider musician Daniel Johnston, Diamandis decided to compose her own music and stop going to auditions. She taught herself how to play the piano, and self-composed and produced her earlier demos with GarageBand, independently releasing her debut extended play 'Mermaid vs Sailor' through Myspace in 2007. As well as publishing the 'Mermaid vs. Sailor' EP she also posted demos to her MySpace page, and a further twelve tracks which appear to have been recorded at the same time as the tracks for the EP have since surfaced, and have been compiled into a fan-made album entitled 'Give Me The Money!'. As these are very early recordings then don't expect anything that sounds like her later releases, but I'm sure that fans of her work will be pleased to hear these early works from the idiosyncratic singer.

Track listing

01 Starlight
02 The Common Cold
03 Silver Walls
04 Supermodel's Legs
05 Lonely Bones
06 Perfect-Oh
07 Hubba
08 Hot, Cross Bun
09 Katyb
10 Happy Meal
11 Pancake Karma
12 Where Diamonds Grow

Ian Bairnson - ...and on guitar (1993) R.I.P.

John Bairnson was born on 3 August 1953 in Lerwick in Shetland, and was named John as were all the men in his family, but when he joined Pilot he used the opportunity to change his name to Ian. He grew up in Levenwick, also in Shetland, before his family moved to Edinburgh, Midlothian, when he was nine years old, following the death of his father. He learned how to play the guitar when he was six, but was also proficient on keyboards and saxophone, and following stints with a few bands in his youth, such as East West and Ears, by the early 70's he was earning his living as a session musician. In 1974 he joined former Bay City Rollers musicians David Paton and Billy Lyall to record some tracks for their band Pilot's debut album 'From The Album Of The Same Name', contributing the harmony guitar parts to their hit single 'Magic', and adding his guitar to 'High Into The Sky'. By the time they came to record their follow-up album 'Second Flight', Bairnson was a full-time member of the band, and their hit single 'January' was taken from the album, topping the UK singles charts in 1975. During this time with Pilot, he first collaborated with record producer Alan Parsons on his debut album 'Tales Of Mystery And Imagination - Edgar Allen Poe', and it was this relationship that helped incorporate most of Pilot's members (bassist/lead singer Paton and drummer Stuart Tosh) into the Alan Parsons Project. As a guitarist, he was featured on every Alan Parsons Project album, including the 1984 side project Keats and Eric Woolfson's rock opera 'Freudiana', contributing the distinctive guitar solo on the track 'I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You' on their 'I Robot' album in 1977. 

In 1978 Bairnson played the guitar solo on Kate Bush's hit single 'Wuthering Heights', going on to play on her first four albums, and in 1981 he started a collaboration with Eurovision winners Bucks Fizz, playing guitar on their 1981 eponymous record, and co-writing two of their Top 20 hits, 'If You Can't Stand The Heat' in 1982, and 'Run For Your Life' in 1983. His session work continued after Pilot took a break in 1977, and during this part of his career he played on more than a hundred albums in different styles, for artists such as Yvonne Keeley, Joe Cocker, Jon Anderson, Chris DeBurgh, Mick Fleetwood, and Neil Diamond, as well as playing live with Sting, Eric Clapton, Beverley Craven, and even appearing on Paul McCartney's 'Mull Of Kintyre' single. When anyone from The Project needed a hand, you could be sure that he would help out, and so Andrew Powell called him up for both the 'Ladyhawke' film soundtrack, and also his own 'Best Of The APP' album. When The Alan Parsons Project came to an end and Parsons was looking to start over, Bairnson was instrumental in helping write the next chapter of Parsons' sound, and on the 1993 'Try Anything Once' album, he not only played, but contributed four songs including 'Siren Song', and the live concert favourite 'Turn It Up'. He lived in Spain from 2003 to 2013, where he had a recording studio, and continued working as a session guitarist, but in 2018 his wife Leila announced that he had been diagnosed with a progressive neurological condition that affected his communication skills, so he would no longer play in public. On 7 April 2023 Bairnson passed away at the age of 69, following a long battle with dementia. I've always thought that Pilot were a very under-rated band, and am particularly fond of Bairnson's guitar-work on their 1976 album 'Morin Heights', and so I hope that this collection of his work for other artists throughout his musical career will serve as a fitting tribute to a guitarist who was well known amongst his peers for his fluid guitar style, but who never seemed destined to reach the heights of some of his contemporaries.

Track listing

Disc One
01 High In The Sky (from 'From The Album Of The Same Name' by Pilot 1974)
02 The Raven (from 'Tales Of Mystery And Imagination' by The Alan Parsons Project 1976)
03 Solo Casting (from 'Solo Casting' by William Lyall 1976)
04 95 In The Shade / Daylight (from 'Daylight' by Hudson-Ford 1977)
05 Kite (b-side of 'Wuthering Heights' by Kate Bush 1978)
06 I Wish It Would Rain (from 'Hobo With A Grin' by Steve Harley 1978)
07 Carry On (from 'Crusader' by Chris De Burgh 1979)
08 White Trails (from 'White Trails' by Chris Rainbow 1979)
09 Hear It (from 'Song Of Seven' by Jon Anderson 1980)
10 Maximum Penetration (single by Maximum Penetration 1980)

11 Far Side Of The Bay (from 'Elaine Paige' by Elaine Paige 1981)

Disc Two
01 Cassiopeia Surrender (from 'The Visitor' by Mick Fleetwood 1981)
02 Getting Kinda Lonely (from 'Bucks Fizz' by Bucks Fizz 1981)
03 Dry Ice (from 'Can This Be Paradise' by Panarama 1982)
04 One Way Out (from 'No Mystery' by Rick Cua 1983)
05 Fight To Win (from 'Keats' by Keats 1984)
06 End Titles (from the soundtrack to the film 'Ladyhawke' 1985)
07 Grand Prix (from 'Computer Energy' by Uwe Buschkötter 1986)
08 The Pages Of Your History (from 'Trouble In Paradise' by Anri 1986)
09 Upper Me (from 'Freudiana' by Freudiana 1990)
10 Lost Without You (from 'Love Scenes' by Beverley Craven 1993)

Nelly Furtado - Lifestyle (2011)

Nelly Kim Furtado was born on 2 December 1978, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, of Portuguese parents, António José Furtado and Maria Manuela Furtado. At age four she began performing and singing in Portuguese, and her first public performance was when she sang a duet with her mother at a church on Portugal Day. She began playing musical instruments at the age of nine, learning the trombone, ukulele and in later years, the guitar and keyboards. At the age of 12 she began writing songs, and after graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto to reside with her sister. There she met Tallis Newkirk, a member of the hip hop group Plains of Fascination, and she contributed vocals to their 1996 album 'Join The Ranks', on the track 'Waitin' 4 The Streets', and the following year she formed Nelstar, a trip hop duo with Newkirk. Ultimately, Furtado felt the trip hop style of the duo did not represent her personality or allow her to showcase her vocal ability, so she left the group and planned to move back home. In 1997 a performance at the Honey Jam talent show attracted the attention of The Philosopher Kings singer Gerald Eaton, who then approached her to write with him. He and fellow Kings member Brian West helped Furtado produce a demo, which was shopped around, and this led to her signing to DreamWorks Records in 1999, with her first single, 'Party's Just Begun (Again)', being released that year from the soundtrack album for the 1999 film 'Brokedown Palace'. Furtado continued her collaboration with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album, 'Whoa, Nelly!', which was released in October 2000. The album was an international success, supported by three international singles: 'I'm Like A Bird', 'Turn Off the Light', and '...On the Radio (Remember the Days)', and it received four Grammy nominations in 2002. Furtado's work was critically acclaimed for her innovative mixture of various genres and sounds, and the sound of the album was strongly influenced by musicians who had traversed cultures. 

Following appearances with Jurassic 5, Paul Oakenfield, and Colombian artist Juanes, she released her second album 'Folklore' in November 2003, which included the single 'Força', which was the official anthem of the UEFA Euro 2004. The album was not as successful as her debut, partly due to the album's less "poppy" sound, but also due to underpromotion from her label, as DreamWorks Records had just been sold to Universal Music Group. Her third album 'Loose' came out in June 2006, and for this record she experimented with sounds from R&B, hip hop, and 1980's music, with the record receiving generally positive reviews from critics. 'Loose' has become her most successful album so far, producing her first number-one hit in the United States with 'Promiscuous', as well as her first number-one hit in the United Kingdom with 'Maneater'. Her fourth album was a Spanish language record, with 'Mi Plan' being released on her own record label Nelstar, in conjunction with Canadian independent label group Last Gang Labels, winning her the Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. Her fifth studio album 'Lifestyle' was to be a collaboation with producers Timbaland and Ryan Tedder, and was scheduled for release in May 2010, but for unknown reasons it was shelved. It was first replaced with the greatest hits compilation 'The Best Of Nelly Furtado', and then later with a revamped version of the record, re-titled 'The Spirit Indestructible', and with some of the tracks intended for 'Lifestyle', such as 'Skylight', 'Soak It Up', 'Cry', and 'Play', appearing in different countries on their issues of 'The Spirit Indestructible'. Other tracks have since leaked, and so we can now hear Furtado's original vision for the album, including a possible lead single in 'Girlfriend In The City', which was produced by Saalam Remi.

Track listing

01 Night Is Young  
02 No Regrets  
03 Time Stand Still  
04 Soak It Up  
05 Play  
06 Stars  
07 Girlfriend In This City  
08 Cry   
09 Skylight  
10 Red Balloons  
11 Morning After Dark by Timbaland (feat. Nelly Furtado & SoShy)  
12 Hot 'n' Fun by N.E.R.D. (feat. Nelly Furtado) 
13 Who Wants to Be Alone by Tiësto (feat. Nelly Furtado)  

The Railway Children - A Gentle Sound (1990)

The Railway Children formed in Wigan in the summer of 1984, being fronted by singer and guitarist Gary Newby, alongside Brian Bateman on rhythm guitar, Guy Keegan on drums, and Stephen Hull on bass. They started playing the then buoyant music circuits of Wigan and Manchester, and the buzz created by the band was immediate, resulting in them signing to the enigmatic Factory Records, home of Joy Division and New Order. A mini album 'Reunion Wilderness' was recorded in 1987, and featured their first single 'A Gentle Sound', and the follow up 'Brighter'. Both singles were an instant hit with the thriving indie scene and the critically acclaimed album went straight to number one in the independent charts. A string of tours and radio sessions quickly followed and as the band saw their fan base grow dramatically, inevitably major label interest grew. Virgin America was one such label who saw the chart potential of The Railway Children and signed them, and the the resultant album 'Recurrence' showed the band at their peak. The singles lifted from it, 'Over And Over', 'Somewhere South' and 'In the Meantime', all managed to skirt around the edges of the top forty, but a hit in the UK national charts remained elusive. During the following years the band spread the word, particularly in the U.S, where tours of college towns with The Sugarcubes and The Hearthrobs saw them achieve considerable success, as well as plays on college radio. A support slot with REM across Europe and a UK tour with Lloyd Cole also followed - now all that was missing was that elusive chart hit. 1990 saw the band take a more pop-orientated direction with the release of the 'Native Place' album, which had keyboard textures coming more to the fore than previously. 

The strategy worked, and 'Every Beat Of The Heart' became a top 40 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 24. However at this point the relationship between band and record company deteriorated, as the group became increasingly unhappy with the overly commercial direction the label were pushing them in. Inevitably the next recording session proved to be much more of a band affair, a kind of reaction to the polished pop sound of 'Native Place', and so it was no surprise that the result of the new sessions, the single 'So Right', a raw edgy track and completely different to anything on 'Native Place', failed to repeat the chart success of 'Every Beat Of The Heart'. Around the same time EMI took over Virgin and a number of bands including The Railway Children found themselves without a record label, and following their departure from Virgin, they decided to call it a day. Keegan later had a spell in the Wigan-based folk rock band The Tansads, The Crash Band, and The Ultras, while Hull and Bateman left music for good. After a lengthy hiatus Newby released his next album under the Railway Children name, with 'Dream Arcade' coming out on his own Ether Records label in 1997. It was far more melodic than the 'So Right' sessions, but not as produced as earlier albums, although it does boast many fine moments, and is a must-hear for fans of the band. The Railway Children deserve to be more well-known than they are, but the lack of chart success has resulted in them being consigned to the huge list of also-rans who made some good, but little-known, music at the height of the indie revolution of the 80's. Hopefully this collection of singles and b-sides from their six-year lifespan will bring them to the attention of the wider public. 

Track listing 

Disc I - 1986-1990
01 A Gentle Sound (single 1986)
02 Content (b-side of 'Gentle Sound')
03 Darkness And Colour (b-side of 'Gentle Sound')
04 History Burns (b-side of 'Brighter' 1987)
05 Careful (b-side of 'Brighter' 1987)
06 Second Nature (b-side of 'In The Meantime' 1988)
07 I Caught You (b-side of 'In The Meantime' 1988)
08 You Can't Follow The World (b-side of 'Somewhere South' 1988)
09 Waterfall (b-side of 'Somewhere South' 1988)
10 Union City Blue (live) (b-side of 'Over And Over' 1988)
11 So Right (single 1990)
12 Kinds Of Fuel (b-side of 'So Right')

Disc II - 1990-1991

01 Everybody (b-side of 'Every Beat Of The Heart' 1990)
02 Give It Away (b-side of 'Every Beat Of The Heart' 1990)
03 Strange Attractor (b-side of 'Every Beat Of The Heart' 1990)
04 What She Wants (b-side of 'Music Stop' 1990)
05 Tell Me (b-side of 'Music Stop' 1990)
06 I Feel (b-side of 'Music Stop' 1990)
07 Flight (b-side of 'Music Stop' 1990)
08 Incarnation (b-side of 'Music Stop' 1990)
09 Hours Go By (b-side of 'Something So Good' 1991)
10 After The Rain (b-side of 'Something So Good' 1991)
11 Step Aside (b-side of 'Something So Good' 1991)
12 Go Ahead (b-side of 'Something So Good' 1991)
13 Standing Too Still (b-side of 'Something So Good' 1991)

Nicole Wray - Lovechild (2005)

Following the scrapping of Nicole Wray's 2001 album 'Elektric Blue', she left Goldmind Inc and Elektra Records. Over the next couple of years she kept a low profile, and her only exposure was when gospel duo Pam & Dodi released 'Don't Have To', a gospel and pop song written by Wray, in 2002. In June 2003, she released a single 'Welcome Home' with rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard, and later that year she secured a recording contract with Roc-A-Fella Records, although it wasn't until November 2004 that she issued a record for them, with 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' intended to be the lead single of her forthcoming album 'Lovechild'. The single spent twenty weeks on the R&B chart, but could never rise higher than number fifty-seven, and later that year she experienced a brief roster move from Roc-A Fella to Def Jam Records, and ultimately to the Dame Dash Music Group. 'Lovechild' was scheduled to be released in April 2005, but was shelved after the Dame Dash Music Group became defunct. Fans who have heard it reckon that it is one of Wray’s best works to date, and that you can tell she was very much hands-on with the song-writing, showing her mature side on songs such as 'If I Was Your Girlfriend', 'So Sexy', 'Can't Get Out The Game', and 'Where I'm From'. She also chose some classic soul ballads and classy pop songs to cover, with 'Saturday Love' and 'Destination' among the best of them. The album was mostly produced by 7 Aurelius at his Dream Factory studio, and the sessions were a very creative time of her life, recording at least 70 songs for the 'Lovechild' album. In 2011, Wray and 7 Aurelius released a compilation album called 'Dream Factory Sessions', which featured unreleased songs recorded in 2004, although only one track from this version of 'Lovechild' appeared on it. Other producers on the album included Toby Gad, Damon Dash, Peedi Crakk, Max B, and Boola, who each produced a portion of the album, and it was intended to be her spectacular third album, but sadly it suffered an array of setbacks as time progressed, as was the case with her 'Elektric Blue' album, with industry politics, lack of proper promotion, and lack of charting singles all being blamed for its cancellation. Once again, fans were denied the chance to hear some great music which Wray had spent a considerable amount of time working on, and so to make up for that here is the 'Lovechild' album in full. 

Track listing

01 Walk Right Up
02 If I Was Your Girlfriend
03 Destination
04 Fighting (feat. Boogie)
05 Thug Style (feat. Peedi Crakk)
06 Saturday Love (feat. Rell)
07 I Wanna Kiss You
08 So Sexy
09 Cloud Nine
10 Act A Fool
11 Where I'm From
12 Kiss Of Death
13 Gunz & Roses (feat. Maino)
14 Can’t Get Out The Game (feat. Beanie Sigel)
15 Regrets (feat. Jay Z)

Carly Rae Jepsen - Disco Sweat (2016)

'Disco Sweat' was originally conceived by Carly Rae Jepsen as early as October 2015, during a really prolific writing phase she was going through after the release of that year's 'E•MO•TION' album. The project was envisioned as an understated, dreamy, sexy disco type of sound, inspired by the likes of ABBA, the Bee Gees, Feist, and Donna Summer. In June 2016 Jepsen worked with musician Dev Hynes to record and produce the original demos that she'd written on tour, and later in the year she took a trip to Sweden to work on new material for the project, as she was eager to meet Swedish songwriter and producer Patrik Berger, being a fan of his work on Robyn's 2010 song 'Dancing On My Own'. Whilst in Sweden, she also worked with 'E•MO•TION' collaborators Mattman and Robin, Shellback, and Rami Yacoub, developing seven or eight new song ideas. While working on the project, Berger felt that the disco influence was too constraining, and he advised her to 'open the doors to everything', and after their discussion, Jepsen and Berger wrote 'For Sure' together, alongside fellow Swedish songwriters Pontus Winnberg and Noonie Bao, foreshadowing the new direction that her next album 'Dedicated' would take. In August 2016, she attended a writers camp in Maderas Village, Nicaragua, and this led to her reworking the original 'Disco Sweat' demo of 'Julien' into the version that was included on 'Dedicated', along the way inspiring the new direction that the album would take. From this point on, 'Disco Sweat' was scrapped and work commenced in earnest on what would later become the 'Dedicated' album. Some songs from the initial 'Disco Sweat' sessions would later be reworked for 'Dedicated' and its companion 'Dedicated Side B' albums between 2016 and 2019, such as 'Julien' and 'This Is What They Say', but ultimately 'Disco Sweat' was no more. According to reputable insiders, the album was in a rough state, not making it past initial production, and there are only about three tracks could actually be considered disco in genre, but we know that 'Disco Sweat', 'Disco Darling' (a reworking of 'Hungry Heart'), 'Tenderly', 'Ricochet', and 'No You' were all recorded during the sessions, and there are also leaks of tracks from the albums before and after those 2016 recordings, so by adding in some of those which fit the feel of the other songs we can hear what the album could have sounded like before it was re-worked into 'Dedicated'. 

Track listing

01 Disco Sweat  
02 Very Best Friend (I Woke Up With My Bestfriend) 
03 I Believe You 
04 Still In The Game 
05 Tenderly
06 Bullseye
07 Disco Darling
08 No You

09 Addict
10 Ricochet
11 Black Light
12 Favourite Night
13 Feel Fine