Sam Salter - The Little Black Book (2000)

Samuel Salter was born on 16 February 1975 in Los Angeles, and at a young age he won several local talent shows, with a vocal style that was influenced by Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. In 1997, after his demo tape found its way into the hands of L.A. Reid of LaFace Records, he was quickly signed to the label and he began to work on his debut album with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. He ended up working with Tricky Stewart and Laney Stewart who produced the majority of the album, as well as Tony Rich, Robin Thicke and Gordon Chambers, and the first single from the sessions was released in early 1997, with 'After 12, Before 6' becoming a Top 20 R&B hit. His debut album, 'It's On Tonight', was released on 23 September 1997 and garnered positive reviews, while a second single from the album, the ballad 'There You Are', was released and hit the Top 40 on the R&B charts. Around this time, he continued to work on his songwriting, providing songs for 98 Degrees, Aaron Skyy, and Kandi Burruss' solo debut. In 1999 Salter began preparing for his sophomore album with LaFace Records, and the lead single 'Once My Sh.. (Always My Sh..)' was released and featured a steamy music video, but the song only received moderate airplay. He completed work on the album, titled 'The Little Black Book', and it was set for release in 2000, but due to a re-shuffle at the label, along with some other issues, it was shelved. Despite this outcome, a few of the songs ended up being recorded by other artists such as Boyz II Men, who recorded 'Color Of Love', and Sisqó, who recorded the non-album song 'Incomplete'. With this validation that it was not the quality of the songs which was the problem, here is what would have been Salter's frankly superb second album for LaFace in 2000. 

Track listing

01 Intro  
02 Make Me Stay  
03 Once My Sh.. (Always My Sh..) 
04 Dime Piece 
05 Go Down 
06 Another Man's Got You 
07 Best Friend 
08 Did I Die 
09 Your Side Of The Bed  
10 Money Can't Buy You  
11 Color Of Love 
12 You Don't Have To Be Lonely 
13 Love Again

Pearly Gates - Fading Into The Night (1979)

The final post in this short celebration of the productions of Ian Levine is 'Fading Into The Night' by Pearly Gates. Viola Billups (aka Pearly Gates) was born on 4 July 1946 in Alabama, and she joined The Flirtations with sisters Earnestine Pearce and Betty Pearce in 1964, moving to London in 1968, where their music was popular. She left the group in 1973 and released her first single 'Sad Old Shadow', written by Lynsey De Paul and Don Gould, on Polydor Records under the name Vie, taking up the Pearly Gates name for her second record 'Johnny And The Jukebox' in 1974. Several more singles followed in the late 70's on RCA Records and Bronze Records, and she was a popular artist on TV, being a regular performer on the Cliff Richard show, until in 1979 she completed her first disco album 'Fading Into The Night' with producer Ian Levine. The album was supposed to have been released by American singer Cobie Jones, who didn't make it to the sessions so Gates took over, but as with the other albums that Levine recorded in 1979, it became a victim of the disco backlash, and was shelved. In 1985 she enjoyed a Hi-NRG hit with the song 'Action', and she toured with Madeline Bell and Katie Kissoon, performing with the James Last Orchestra. Two of her unreleased disco tracks were eventually released on 12" singles in Levine's Nightmare Gold series in 1987, and other tracks appeared on a 'best of' CD in 1995, but here is the original full album as recorded in 1979, to close this celebration of the productions of Ian Levine. 

Track listing

01 No Two Ways About It
02 Caught In A Love Trap
03 Fading Into The Night
04 The Race Is On
05 Home Is In The Streets

Various Artists - Criminal Records (2023)

2023 was a great year for TV drama, with second series being granted to 'Only Murders In The Building', 'Good Omens', 'From', 'Vigil', 'The Afterparty', and 'The Lazarus Project', while intriguing new dramas included 'The Big Door Prize', 'Severance', 'Bodies', and 'Deadloch'. I enjoyed 'Squid Game: The Challenge' almost as much as the original series, and both 'Succession' and 'Better Call Saul' ended on a high after gripping finales. Once again, some of the best things about these shows are the theme tunes, and so here is a second collection of my favourites, including two from sci-fi shows that I've enjoyed over the past few years - 'The Orville' and 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' (OK, I know it's an animated show but it's really well done and doesn't just play it for laughs), plus the superb comedy/drama 'What We Do In The Shadows'. Where the piece is only about a minute or so long I've extended them so that most are now around the two-minute mark, with the seventeen tracks making up a reasonable 40-minute album of mostly crime-related TV shows, and if there are any here that you don't know then do check them out as they are all well worth seeing. 

   

Track listing

01 Fuel To Fire (Agnes Obel) [from 'Vigil']

02 Good Omens (David Arnold)

03 Severance (Theodore Shapiro)

04 Pink Soldiers (Paddy Fletcher) [from 'Squid Game: The Challenge']

05 Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) (Pixies) [from 'From']

06 Criminal (Robin Foster)

07 The Orville (Bruce Broughton)

08 Deadloch (Amanda Brown)

09 Succession (Nicholas Britell)

10 Walking My Cat Name Dog (Norma Tanega) [from 'What We Do In The Shadows']

11 The Lazarus Project (Ben Lukas Boysen)

12 Only Murders In The Building (Siddhartha Khosla)

13 Better Call Saul Theme (Little Barrie) [from 'Better Call Saul']

14 Bodies (Jon Opstad)

15 Dusty's Lecture (Zachary Dawes & Nick Sena) [from 'The Big Door Prize']

16 The Afterparty (Daniel Pemberton)

17 Star Trek: Lower Decks (Chris Westlake) 

Soukseek hint   criminal aiwe

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Neil Young (2016)

Neil Young had been recording music since 1963, when he had his first local hit single with 'The Sultan' by his band The Squires, through the late 60's with Buffalo Springfield', and then when he started his solo career in 1969. However, it could arguably be said that it wasn't until 1970's 'After The Goldrush' that he came up with a set of songs which could be said to stand the test of time as classics. The songs on that album have become some of his best-known works, and because of that have attracted numerous other artists attempts to give us their own take on them. Most of these artists recognised the quality of the songs straight away, and so the majority of the better covers come from 1970 and 1971, although it was worth the wait to hear Died Pretty's take on 'When You Dance'. Prelude even garnered a hit single with their a cappella version of the title track, and Francois Hardy's Gallic rendering of 'When The Morning Comes' just makes you wish that Young had written some verses to go with it, while Danish garage rockers The Teenmakers decided to add their take on 'Southern Man' to the flip a 1970 single. There's not much more that I can say about these songs, so I'll let the music do the talking, and as 'Oh Lonesome Me' from the album was itself a cover, I've added a couple of extra songs from his CSN&Y phase from the same period to make up the time.    

 

  
Track listing

01 Tell Me Why (Matthews Southern Comfort 1970)  
02 After The Goldrush (Prelude 1973)  
03 Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Jackie DeShannon 1972)  
04 Southern Man (The Teenmakers 1970)  
05 Till The Morning Comes (Francois Hardy 1972)  
06 Don't Let It Bring You Down (Hookfoot 1971)
07 Birds (Linda Ronstadt 1972) 
08 When You Dance I Can Really Love (Died Pretty 1988)
09 I Believe In You (Rita Coolidge 1971) 
10 Cripple Creek Ferry (Anonymous Choir 2016)
11 Helpless (Buffy Sainte-Marie 1971)
12 Everybody I Love You (Morningstar 1979)
13 Ohio (The Isley Brothers 1971)

Ellie Goulding - Tainted Memories (2016)

In 2012, Ellie Goulding appeared on 'Fall Into The Sky' from Zedd's debut album 'Clarity', and on Calvin Harris's song 'I Need Your Love', as well as releasing a cover of Active Child's song 'Hanging On' as a free download on her SoundCloud page. In late July 2012, it was announced that her second album was to be titled 'Halcyon', and it would be released on 8 October 2012, preceded by the lead single 'Anything Could Happen' on 21 August. The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complimented Goulding's more aggressive showcase of her voice and the album's bold production, and it debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart. In November she contributed a track titled 'Bittersweet' (produced by Skrillex) to the soundtrack of 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2', and in May 2013 she released a cover of Alt-J's song 'Tessellate' via her SoundCloud page. In July she premiered a song called 'You My Everything' in the first episode of the TV series 'Skins', and that same day she confirmed that 'Halcyon' would be re-released later that year as 'Halcyon Days', appearing on 23 August. The re-release featured ten additional tracks, and was preceded by the single 'Burn', which had been uploaded to her SoundCloud page the previous day. 

She also appeared on the soundtrack to the film 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' with the track 'Mirror', and on 15 October 2013, she confirmed on Fearne Cotton's radio show that 'How Long Will I Love You' would be the next single for BBC's Children in Need. On 22 January 2014, Goulding confirmed through her Facebook page that she had contributed the song 'Beating Heart' to the soundtrack for the film 'Divergent', and on 3 February she released a cover of the James Blake song 'Life Round Here' through her SoundCloud page. In November 2014 she announced that she was focusing on a third studio album, and in early 2015 she released the song 'Love Me Like You Do', which was featured on the soundtrack to the film 'Fifty Shades Of Grey'. Having finished recording new material on 27 July 2015, Goulding tweeted a link to an Instagram post of her leaving Abbey Road Studios captioned, "That's a wrap!", and 'Delerium' was released on 6 November 2015 by Polydor Records. Music critics were generally impressed by the overall production of the record, although they were ambivalent in regards to its originality, but it still debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Three singles were taken from the record, with 'On My Mind' as the lead single, followed by 'Army' and 'Something In The Way You Move', and on 19 August 2016 she released the song 'Still Falling For You' for the soundtrack to the film 'Bridget Jones's Baby'. As you can see by the number of songs that she gifted to movie soundtracks, Goulding was writing and recording way more than was needed for 'Delerium', and so once again there were demos and out-takes left over after the album was released, which are collected here for another companion album, this one from 2016. 

Track listing

01 Closed For Love
02 Kingdom
03 Mosaic
04 I've Done Chamber
05 President
06 You Don't Know
07 Tasting Colour
08 Over Me
09 Beautifully Numb
10 Electricity
11 Hush
12 Real Love
13 Tainted Memories

Aimee Allen - I'd Start A Revolution (If I Could Get Up In The Morning) (2003)

Aimee Allen was born in Montana 2 February 1982, and began singing in bands in her hometown, before moving to Los Angeles at the age of 18 to pursue a career in music. In Los Angeles, she was lead singer of a punk band with members of No Motiv called Forum. After the band's record deal with MCA fell through in 2002, Allen signed a solo deal with Elektra Records, after she was spotted by producer Randy Jackson. Her debut album 'I'd Start A Revolution (If I Could Get Up In The Morning)' was recorded in 2003, and featured tracks produced by Mark Ronson and Don Gilmore, but it was never released due to the label being absorbed by Atlantic Records in 2004. The label did, however, release her first single 'Revolution', which was the theme for the WB television series 'Birds Of Prey'. She co-wrote 'Save Me (Wake Up Call)' with Linda Perry for Unwritten Law's 2005 album 'Here's To The Mourning', and in 2007, her song 'Stripper Friends' was re-worked and recorded by Kevin Michael featuring Lupe Fiasco as 'We All Want The Same Thing', while Allen herself sang the song 'Cooties' on the soundtrack to the 2007 film 'Hairspray'. In 2011, Allen formed the ska/punk band the Interrupters with brothers Kevin, Justin, and Jesse Bivona, singing as Aimee Interrupter. The Interrupters' debut self-titled record was released on 5 August 2014 on Hellcat/Epitaph Records, and the band are still working today, with their 'In The Wild' album coming a couple of years ago. For anyone who wants to hear Allen at the start of her career, here is that cancelled album that should have come out on Elektra  in 2003. 

Track listing

01 Revolution
02 I'm Not Your Girlfriend
03 In The Sun
04 If It Feels Right (Do It)
05 Oblivion
06 Silence Is Violence
07 Good Times
08 Stripper Friends
09 Too Fucked Up For Love
10 Wasting My Youth
11 A Little Happiness

Loretta Stokes - Kidnap Me (1979)

The next abandoned disco album produced by Ian Levine in 1979 is by Loretta Stokes. Stokes was working as an air stewardess when she was discovered by DJ Rick Gianatos in Chicago in 1979, who presented her to his partner, British producer Levine, who already had a number of hits on his hands with James Wells, Barbara Pennington, Seventh Avenue and others. Levine signed Stokes to United Artists and recorded the 'Kidnap Me' album, only to find executive Artie Mogul of United Artists backing out of the contract, and with the erupting disco backlash of late 1979, Levine soon found himself with an album he couldn't sell, and Stokes' album remained in the can. By 1987, Levine was a successful Hi-NRG producer with his own label, Nightmare Records, when he decided to create the sub-label Nightmare Gold to release a series of 34 12"s with all his lost disco material from the late 70's. All 5 tracks from Stokes' album had been scheduled for individual 12" releases, and although four of them were actually pressed, only 'You'll Never Escape My Love' eventually came out, to minimal attention. The album did make a limited appearance on VCD in 1996, but it too passed most people by, and so here it is in full in this short celebration of Levine's productions. 

Track listing 

01 Kidnap Me
02 You'll Never Escape My Love
03 Restless For You
04 My Conscience Won't Let Me
05 Falling Off The Edge Of The World

Nas - Death Of Escobar (2001)

As fans of rapper Nas are probably aware, rumours have surrounded his enigmatic album 'Death Of Escobar' for many years, with no-one quite seeming to know exactly what it is... A concept album? The original title for 'Stillmatic'? A fan made-up fake title? There's been a lot of bogus tracklists and downloadable bootlegs floating around the internet for years now - none of them giving a proper representation of what the project really was, including opinions that it was just a working title that Nas and Columbia used when working on and building up hype for 'Stillmatic', or that Nas had intended to release two albums together, one as an introduction to the other. In 2014 information came to light implying that 'D.O.E.' was in fact a proper album that was completed and scrapped close to its original release date. It was actually reviewed in VIBE magazine in their February 2001 issue, where it was awarded a glowing 4* review. In this review the album is titled as 'D.O.E. Limited Edition - Volume 1 (Death Of Escobar)', and it speaks of it as a project made up from new tracks, bootlegs and remixes while completely lacking skits. Specific tracks mentioned there are 'The Foulness', 'The Rise & Fall', 'Tales From Da Hood', 'Your Mouth Got You In It', and 'Poppa Was A Playa'. This was followed by a news update sent out by Sony Music Street Team UK to those signed up to their mailing list back in early 2001, providing an early tracklist for the project (including producers and publishing credits) along with the following message: 

"THE FORTHCOMING NAS ALBUM IS ON HOLD AT THE MOMENT, HERE'S THE LATEST PLAN - Nas wants to release 'Death of Escobar' first with 'Stillmatic' to follow. 'Death of Escobar' is the bootleg/sessions project. The project will feature the tracklisting below plus three new tracks. This tracklisting could and probably will change. The three new tracks will explain Escobar's death." 

From this, we can conclude that 'Death Of Escobar' was likely a kind of introduction album, explaining the death of Nas's alter-ego, while 'Stillmatic' was intended to be a re-birth album, with contrasting styles respectively. The tracklist from the Sony update has been used for the basis of this reconstruction, although it was noticed that although 'Poppa Was A Playa" wasn't included in the Sony update, it was mentioned in the VIBE review, so that's on here as well. The three new tracks that were not yet completed when the announcement was made might never have been completed for all we know. On listening to the album it's evident that the majority of the tracks find Nas in an introspective mood, reflecting on his life and career over moody, midtempo beats, often favouring piano and/or string samples. This actually works well in the context of the record, as the depressive mood pieces like 'Rise & Fall', 'Drunk By Myself' and 'My Own Worst Enemy' are intercut with straight up boom bangers like the underrated 'The Foulness', 'Tales From Da Hood' and the 'Hard 2 Tell' remix. Thanks go to The Lost Tapes blog for all the info, and for putting this together.  

Track listing

01 My Way  
02 You Don't Know Me (Hardest Thing 2 Do) 
03 Your Mouth Got You In It 
04 Rise & Fall  
05 U Gotta Love It 
06 Make It Last Forever
07 Worst Enemy Is Me 
08 The Foulness (Interlude) (feat. Nature) 
09 Sinful Living 
10 Never Gonna Give It Up (feat. The Product G&B) 
11 Tales From Da Hood 
12 Drunk By Myself 
13 Hard 2 Tell 
14 Projects 2 Hot (feat. 50 Cent & Nature) 
15 Poppa Was A Playa 
16 Seeds Of Heaven 

Download Update 2

The new system seems to be working OK, as I've had a few requests for the links which have then received an instant auto-response, so hopefully this is a good alternative to leaving the link in the comments. Just a reminder for those who haven't tried yet, if you want to listen to the music then just email me at the address on the right and I'll forward the link to you. You don't even have to add a message if you don't want to, just a subject header will do as it's all automatic, and the good thing is that I don't even have to be here for it to work.
For those who have tried it, how are you finding it working?

pj 

Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Bruce Springsteen (2020)

From 1969 through early 1971, Bruce Springsteen performed with the band Child, which later changed its name to Steel Mill, and included Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin, and later Steven Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. They quickly gathered a cult following, and in an attempt to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style, he also performed with the bands Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom from early-to-mid-1971, and the Sundance Blues Band in mid-1971. After this he formed The Bruce Springsteen Band, which stayed together for about a year, but in October 1972 he formed a new group for the recording of his debut album, 'Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.', and they eventually became known as the E Street Band, although the name was not used until September 1974. In 1972 he signed to Columbia Records, and despite the expectations of Columbia executives that he would record an acoustic album, he brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him for the recording sessions for his first album, taping a mixture of acoustic and rock-based songs. The gestation of the record was not without it trials, as when it was completed, his manager Mike Appel and Columbia's John Hammond preferred the solo tracks, while Springsteen preferred the band songs, and so a compromise was reached that the record would feature five songs with the band ('For You', 'Growin' Up', 'Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?', 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City', and 'Lost in the Flood') and five solo songs ('Mary Queen Of Arkansas', 'The Angel', 'Jazz Musician', 'Arabian Nights' and 'Visitation At Fort Horn'). However, when Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard this early version he felt that it lacked a potential hit single, and rejected it. Springsteen quickly wrote and recorded 'Blinded By The Light' and 'Spirit In The Night', and Columbia accepted the revised album, with Davis eventually being proved correct when Manfred Mann's Earthband had massive hit singles with these two "commercial" songs. David Bowie was also an early fan, recording a version of 'Growing Up' during the sessions for his 'Pin-Ups' album in 1973, and tackling 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City' in 1989, and so here is a selection of covers of all the tracks from Springsteen's debut album, which for once includes two from the same band, as I think most people would agree that the Manfred Mann's Earthband versions are the definitive recordings of their two contributions, other than Springsteen's own, of course.  

Track listing

01 Blinded By The Light (Manfred Mann's Earthband 1976) 
02 Growin' Up (Any Trouble 1980)  
03 Mary Queen Of Arkansas (Dusty Wright 1997) 
04 Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (Purple Ivy Shadows 1999) 
05 Lost In The Flood (Yirzov Schuynis 2013)
06 The Angel (Zachary Scott Johnson 2020)
07 For You (Greg Kihn 1977)  
08 Spirit In The Night (Manfred Mann's Earthband 1975)
09 It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City (David Bowie 1989)

Britney Spears - Whiteout (2007)

In November 2003, while promoting her fourth studio album 'In the Zone', Britney Spears told Entertainment Weekly that she was already writing songs with Henrik Jonback for her fifth studio album, and was also hoping to start her own record label in 2004. When asked about her next album, she said she had been experimenting in her home studio with live musicians, stripping down her sound and playing the piano, and that she wanted the album to represent her Louisiana roots. However, her personal life was very turbulent at this time, giving birth to her second son Jayden James in September 2006, and then filing for divorce from Kevin Federline in November, citing irreconcilable differences. This was finalized in July 2007, but during her divorce her partying and public behavior drew attention from the worldwide media, ending with her suffering a nervous breakdown and shaving her head, which caused intense media scrutiny. Once she'd recovered she returned to her music, and while recording of the album had begun in 2006, she met J.R. Rotem in Las Vegas and enlisted him to work with her after hearing Rihanna's 'SOS'. She also worked with Keri Hilson, Jim Beanz, Corté Ellis, and Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg, known as Bloodshy & Avant, and they recorded about two dozen tracks for possible inclusion on the album. 'Blackout' was set to be released on 13 November 2007, but Jive Records announced on 10 October that the release date would be moved up two weeks, to 30 October, due to unauthorized leaks. The following day, Zomba Label Group filed a lawsuit against Perez Hilton, claiming he illegally obtained and posted on his gossip blog at least ten songs and unfinished demos of the album. The following month, The District Court judge dismissed the case with prejudice, and the album was released on 25 October 2007. On its release, 'Blackout' received mixed to positive reviews from music critics, with one calling it a seamlessly entertaining collection of bright, brash electropop, although there was no getting away from the fact that her off-disc life was both a distraction from, and enabler for, this album. As we know from the court case, there were a number of unused songs and demos floating around, and most of them have now appeared online, so here are fourteen of the best, which can make up a companion album to 'Blackout', which I've called 'Whiteout'.

Track listing

01 State Of Grace
02 Love 2 Love U 
03 All That She Wants
04 Let Go
06 When U Gon' Pull It
06 Rebellion (interlude)
07 Sugerfall
08 This Kiss
09 911
10 Kiss You All Over
11 Little Me (Just Yesterday) 
12 (What You) Sippin' On
13 Pull Out

Susan Wells - Nightmare (1979)

A couple of years ago I posted a disco album by Moonstone, recorded by the respected record producer and DJ Ian Levine in 1979, but which was never released. As I mentioned then, he actually produced four of these records in 1979, none of which ever saw the light of day, as the cost of producing them left him indebted and unable to record for four long years, until he bounced back with Miquel Brown's million-selling single 'So Many Men, So Little Time' in 1983. One of these albums was by Chicago-based Susan Wells, sister of James Wells, which had been supposed to be released on United Artists in 1979 before the deal fell through. To commemorate Levine's 70th birthday, and as a follow-up to an effusive celebration in this month's Record Collector, I'm posting the other three of those four albums, starting with 'Nightmare' by Susan Wells. 

Track listing

01 Nightmare
02 It Must Be An Ambush 
03 Turn the Key In the Lock

04 Keep On Heading In My Direction 

05 Victim Of Jealousy 

Download update

You may have noticed that the download link is not currently working, and that's because it's been reported and removed by Mega. It's that French company again, and so it seems that they've now discovered where the links were hidden. I'm wary about posting them in the comments again, as if the take-down happens again then Mega might close my account completely. The new plan is that if you want to listen to the music and can't use Soulseek then drop me an email at the email address at the top right of the blog. 

pj