The Beatles -- "Plastic Blues"

I’ve toyed around for years with the well-worn concept of what a late 1970/early 1971 Beatles album would have been like had the band stayed together. It took a while before I came up with a track list I liked.

SIDE A

1. What Is Life 

2. Well Well Well 

3. Oo You 

4. Remember 

5. Junk

6. Working Class Hero 

7. It Don't Come Easy 

SIDE B

1. I Found Out 

2. Every Night 

3. All Things Must Pass 

4. Teddy Boy 

5. Look at Me 

6. Let It Down 

7. Maybe I'm Amazed 

Other than a couple of exceptions, I decided to focus on songs that the Beatles had practiced during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions but had not made it onto a Beatles release. Also, given that the Beatles usually did not include songs they recorded for singles on their albums, I didn’t consider solo non-album singles either (except for one song from Ringo).

I led off the album with George’s “What is Life.” Of the tracks I’d selected, this one just seemed to me to be the best one to start the record with its catchy guitar riff. Plus, with the success of George’s songs on Abbey Road, I think he would take a more prominent role. Thus, we have four of his songs rather than the usual two.

I know of three versions of “All Things Must Pass”: the original released version, George’s demo from The Beatles' Anthology 3, and a workout by the Beatles that’s available via bootleg. I went with this version, and it’s therefore the only actual Beatles track on this album.

Note that each of the four Beatles has a song either opening or closing a side. Democratic, no? The democracy is throughout with three John songs to Paul’s two on the first side, and the opposite on the second. Add in the obligatory Ringo song, and you’ve got yourself a new Beatles album.

For an album title, I thought that several of the tunes had a bluesy feel, not to mention the line in “It Don’t Come Easy”: “Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues.” Taking a cue from the Beatles’ Rubber Soul album, I came up with Plastic Blues.

For a cover, I went dumpster diving into the web and found a photo of blue balloons with hearts attached to them. I thought that worked well.

John’s songs are from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Paul’s are from McCartney. George’s are from All Things Must Pass (except, somewhat ironically, "All Things Must Pass"). Ringo’s song did not make it onto an album until the compilation Blast from Your Past. I don't usually create a back cover, but made an exception here. And here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

Los Lobos - Tributos

It seems that if you want to put together a tribute album, you should have Los Lobos on speed dial. 

This is a collection of songs the band Los Lobos has recorded for 15 different tribute albums over the years, ranging from a Disney movie tribute in 1988 to a Latin-flavored Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute in 2016. And truth be told, there may be other tribute albums out there that the band has contributed to that I haven't yet come across.

Below is a track list of songs, including the tribute album they come from:

1. Bootleg - Quiero Creedence (2016)
2. And It Didn't Even Bring Me Down - Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm (2009).
3. A Man of Somebody's Dreams - A Man of Somebody's Dreams: A Tribute to Chris Caffney (2010)
4. The Fat Man - Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (2007)
5. Pawn Shop - Look at All The Love We Found: Tribute to Sublime (2005)
6. Sleeping on the Sidewalk – Killer Queen – A Tribute to Queen (2005)
7. Never Take the Place of You - The Q People: A Tribute to NRBQ (2004)
8. Johnny 99 - Badlands - A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska (2000)
9. Are You Experienced? – Searching for Jimi Hendrix (1999)
10. Midnight Shift - Not Fade Away (Remembering Buddy Holly) (1996)
11. Lonely Avenue - Till the Night Is Gone - A Tribute to Doc Pomus (1995)
12. Down Where the Drunkards Roll - Beat the Retreat: Songs by Richard Thompson (1994)
13. Alone in the Crowd - I Only Wrote This Song for You - A Tribute to Johnny Thunders (1994)
14. Bertha - Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead (1991)
15. I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song) - Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films (1988)

What might strike you off the bat is the variety -- Fats Domino to Sublime, Queen to Grateful Dead. But after each song is put through the Los Lobos blender, they come out sounding as if the band itself wrote these. Each track manages to be respectful of the original recording, and true to the band's own unique sound.

In the end, this is a great collection of interpretations—and it really doesn't even scratch the surface. Los Lobos has also contributed cover songs to several soundtrack albums and even put out Ride This—The Covers EP, a CD of seven cover tunes. If you like this collection, there's plenty more where this came from.

For a cover, I took the artwork that was used for a Los Lobos tribute beer from Garage Project Brewery and altered it a bit.

Led Zeppelin -- "Four by Four" EP

Led Zeppelin’s last true studio album was In Through the Out Door, released in August 1979. Nearly a year later, the band launched a short promotional tour of Europe. The initial leg of a U.S. tour was scheduled for October and November to cover several cities on the East Coast.

Guitarist Jimmy Page realized that by the time the band initiated the tour’s second leg on the West Coast, it would be a year and a half since In Through the Out Door had been released. While there would be no time to write, record and release a new album, the band did have three outtakes from In Through the Out Door. Singer Robert Plant was so happy with the song “Wearing and Tearing” that he wanted to release it as a single in time for the band's 1979 performance at Knebworth. Reportedly, there wasn't time as In Through the Out Door had been delayed.

Page wanted to include the three tracks on an EP that could provide new material for radio stations to play and fans to buy in 1981. EPs had reemerged as a popular medium with punk and new wave groups in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and Page looked to capitalize on that. I don’t know how far the idea got before drummer John Bonham died on Sept. 25, 1980.

All three songs were eventually released in 1982 on the album Coda, along with other outtakes. The EPs released in 1980-81 range from three to nine songs, but four tracks are the average number. So it seems likely to me that if the EP had been released as planned, there would have been one other track – but what? Something else that ended up on Coda? An all-new song? A live track recorded on the European tour? One of the tracks from In Through the Out Door?

There’s no way of knowing, so we speculate.

SIDE A

1.       Ozone Baby

2.       Darlene

SIDE B

1.       Wearing and Tearing

2.       Fire (Say You’re Gonna Leave Me)

In the end, I went with an all-new song for the fourth track as the emphasis here would have been new songs for a new decade. "Fire (Say You're Gonna Leave Me)" was rehearsed by Zeppelin, but the only known recording is a rather poor-sounding version from a rehearsal (you can find it on YouTube). I don't know when the West Coast leg of the tour was to begin, but I suspect it would have been in spring 1981. That would have given the group plenty of time to go into a studio and bang out a new tune.

I designed the cover as a joke. Punks were calling groups like Led Zeppelin dinosaurs, so why not feature the greatest dinosaur of them all? OK, maybe he's not an actual dinosaur, but let's not split hairs. I took a black-and-white photo, tinted it, and added the words. I called it "Four by Four"—four songs, four members.

"Viva Las Vegas" soundtrack

The film "Viva Las Vegas" starring Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret was released in 1964. With two singers as the stars, the movie is filled with songs. However, for whatever reason a soundtrack album was not released. Instead, there was an EP issued that included four songs Elvis sang.

When a soundtrack was finally released in 1993, it excluded two songs Ann-Margret sang solo in the film, as well as a song by The Forte Four (which was apparently a pseudonym for Georgie McFadden, backed up by Elvis and The Jordanaires). The '93 release did include, however, some songs that were recorded for the film but didn't make the final cut. Ten years later, the Elvis specialty record label FTD released an extended version of the soundtrack, but that too excluded Ann-Margret's songs.

This re-imagined soundtrack includes everything, Elvis songs, Ann-Margret songs, the Forte Four track, and the songs that didn't make the final cut. I placed the tracks in order as they appear in the movie (with the last four tunes being the ones that weren't included in the film).

SIDE A
1. Viva Las Vegas -- Elvis Presley
2. The Yellow Rose of Texas/The Eyes of Texas -- Elvis Presley
3. The Lady Loves Me -- Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret
4. Come On, Everybody -- Elvis Presley
5. Today, Tomorrow and Forever -- Elvis Presley
6. The Climb -- The Forte Four
7. What'd I Say -- Elvis Presley
8. Santa Lucia -- Elvis Presley

SIDE B
1. If You Think I Don't Need You -- Elvis Presley
2. Appreciation -- Ann-Margret
3. I Need Someone to Lean On -- Elvis Presley
4. My Rival -- Ann-Margret
5. You're the Boss -- Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret
6. Do the Vega -- Elvis Presley
7. Night Life -- Elvis Presley
8. Today, Tomorrow and Forever (duet version) -- Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret

The Elvis songs (including the duets with Ann-Margret) are easy enough to find. The two Ann-Margret songs can be found on the Ann-Margret: 1961-1966 Complete box set. As far as the Forte Four song -- good luck. The only album I know of that has it is the FTD version of the soundtrack, and that isn't the version used in the film apparently. I ended up ripping it from a video clip on YouTube.

For the new cover, I edited a cover for the movie's DVD.