The Honeydrippers -- "Volume Two"

In early 1981, Robert Plant made his first public return to the stage after the breakup of Led Zeppelin. Fronting a band called The Honeydrippers, Plant performed several R&B and early rock and roll numbers in front of small audiences at unbilled shows. Some may have wondered at the time whether this was going to be his new direction. But during the following two years he released all-new music with two albums and a tour.

Then in 1984, Plant surprised a lot of people when he released a Honeydrippers EP. The band lineup was completely different than the one that had performed at unpublicized gigs in 1981 and included Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Nile Rodgers among others. And perhaps to Plant's surprise, The Honeydrippers, Volume One was a hit – bigger, in fact, than his previous two solo albums had been. The "group" made one TV appearance, as the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" with Brian Setzer on guitar.

Soon after the EP's success, Plant said in interviews that he planned to record a full Honeydrippers album. But so far, it hasn't materialized, and I'm guessing at this point it never will. 

However, I wondered if there might be some stray tracks that could, if not create a whole album, at least be a second EP.

SIDE A

1. Philadelphia Baby – (Porky's Revenge soundtrack, Crawling King Snakes, 1985)
2. Let’s Have a Party – (The Last Temptation of Elvis soundtrack, 1990)
3. Louie Louie – (Wayne's World 2 soundtrack, 1993)

SIDE B

1. Gonna Shoot You Right Down (Boom Boom) – (Blues Blues Blues, Jimmy Rogers All-Stars, 1998)
2. Let the Boogie Woogie Roll – (More Friends: Small World, Big Band, Vol. 2, Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, 2002)
3. My Bucket's Got a Hole in It -- (Good Rockin' Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, 2003)
* BONUS: Santa Claus is Back in Town [live] – (Saturday Night Live, The Honeydrippers, 1984)

Since the 1981 band lineup wasn't the same as the one in 1984, and since not even all the same musicians performed on all the tracks of the original EP, it seems logical to think of The Honeydrippers as simply Robert Plant covering old songs with a rotating cast of band members.

Since it took three years from the original Honeydrippers conception until Volume One was released, I didn't mind a gap of a few years between songs for Volume Two. But I ended up having to really expand beyond a few years to find enough tracks for a simple five-song EP -- 17 years to be exact. Admittedly, it seems a bit far-fetched. Still, it's a nice companion to the original. 

"Philadelphia Baby" on the Porky's Revenge soundtrack was credited to The Crawling King Snakes. But considering that it came out in 1985, I wonder if it wasn't originally conceived as another Honeydrippers song. The song was written and originally recorded by Charlie Rich in 1958.

"Let's Have a Party" was written by Jessie Mae Robinson and first recorded by Elvis Presley in 1957 as simply "Party" for the film "Loving You." Wanda Jackson recorded her version the following year with the extended title (although it apparently wasn't released until 1960). Led Zeppelin actually performed this song often as part of a medley during shows.

"Louie Louie" was written and recorded by Richard Berry in 1955, although it's probably best known for the 1963 version by The Kingsman. "Gonna Shoot You Right Down (Boom Boom)" was written and recorded by John Lee Hooker in 1961. "Let the Boogie Woogie Roll" was written by Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, and first recorded by Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters in 1960.

The most popular version of "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" was recorded by Hank Williams in 1949.

I included the holiday song "Santa Claus is Back in Town" from the Honeydrippers' appearance on "SNL" as a bonus track. It was written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller and originally recorded by Elvis Presley in 1957.
For the cover, I took a 1950s photo of a couple slow dancing, did some cosmetic work, and added the group name and logo.

Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys

After the success of 1976 when the Beach Boys had their highest charting album of the decade (15 Big Ones), 1977 proved to be a difficult year. What started out as a solo album for Brian Wilson was redone as a band album titled The Beach Boys Love You and released in April. It met only moderate success and led to a fallout between the band and their record company Reprise. The next project, Adult/Child, was rejected by Reprise.

The Beach Boys, now with Warner Bros. Records, then began work on a holiday album, which would seem like a win-win for everyone. Holiday albums are perennial sellers, and the band’s previous Christmas album, which was released in 1964, is considered a classic.

The band collected some previously recorded holiday tunes and recorded new tracks at the Maharishi International University in Iowa in late 1977. But Warner Bros. rejected Merry Christmas from The Beach Boys. I’m not really clear as to why it was rejected. But here’s an attempt to recreate it.

SIDE A

1. Christmas Time Is Here Again

2. Child of Winter (Christmas Song)

3. Winter Symphony

4. (I Saw Santa) Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

5. Santa's Got an Airplane

6. Morning Christmas

SIDE B

1. Alone on Christmas Day

2. Melekalikimaka (Kona Christmas)

3. Santa's On His Way

4. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

5. Bells of Christmas

6. Xmas Carol Medley: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Some songs were remakes with different lyrics. “Christmas Time is Here Again” is a reworking of Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue.” “Santa’s Got an Airplane” and “Santa’s on His Way” are remakes of earlier Beach Boys' songs “Loop de Loop” and “H.E.L.P. is on Way” respectively. 

“Melekalikimaka (Kona Christmas)” and “Bells of Christmas” would be rerecorded later by the Beach Boys as “Kona Coast” and “Belles of Paris” with different lyrics. And Mike Love would rerecord “Alone on Christmas Day” as a solo holiday tune.

“Christmas Time is Here Again,” “Child of Winter (Christmas Song),” “Winter Symphony,” “(I Saw Santa) Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Santa's Got an Airplane,” “Morning Christmas,” “Melekalikimaka (Kona Christmas)” and “Bells of Christmas” can all be found on the Beach Boys 1998 album Ultimate Christmas (which sadly appears to be now out of print).

The other tracks are apparently not officially released yet so you'll have to search for bootlegs, which means that Ultimate Christmas really isn't that "ultimate."

Three other songs, "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," "Seasons in the Sun," and "Go and Get That Girl," were reportedly originally planned for this album. But none of these have anything to do with the holidays, so I've excluded them.

For a cover, I used artwork created by artist Ruth Perry titled "Sailing Away with Santa: A Tropical Christmas" and added titles.

"Two-Lane Blacktop" soundtrack

Some of these projects are fairly easy to compile. And then there are ones like this one. At some point in the not-too-distant past, I read that the cult 1971 film “Two-Lane Blacktop” never had a soundtrack album. This was likely due to the fact that there were licensing issues involved. The rights to use one of the songs in the film, The Doors’ “Moonlight Drive,” prevented the movie from coming out on video for a while.

To determine which songs appeared in the film, I went to the Independent Movie Database (IMDB). While that website is usually a good source for such things, this time around, it was less so. Some information turned out to be incorrect or incomplete.

As a result, I decided to sit down and watch the film and pick out the songs. I hadn’t seen the movie in years, so seeing it again was at first kind of fun. However, sometimes, only tiny snippets of songs are used. And despite a couple of easily recognizable tunes, several were unfamiliar to my ears. Using SoundHound and Shazam music apps was only helpful some of the time.

One odd thing about this film is that it stars two musicians -- James Taylor and Dennis Wilson -- yet neither one sings or plays a lick in the entire movie.

SIDE A

1. Hit the Road Jack – Jerry Lee Lewis (from The Locust Years…)

2. Moonlight Drive – The Doors (from Strange Days)

3. Gee – Eliza Gilkyson (from Eliza [out of print, good luck!])

4. John Henry – Kentucky Colonels (from Kentucky Colonels featuring Roland and Clarence White)

5. Truckload of Art – Terry Allen (from Lubbock (on everything))

6. Cattle Call – Eddy Arnold (from Cattle Call)

SIDE B

1. Me and Bobby McGee – Kris Kristofferson (from Kristofferson)

2. Maybelline – John Hammond (from John Hammond)

3. Peace in the Valley – Red Foley (from Old Shep)

4. Stealin' – Arlo Guthrie (from Running Down the Road)

5. No Money Down – John Hammond (from Big City Blues)

6. Girl of My Dreams – James Clarke (from KPM 1000 Series: Gentle Sounds, Volume 3)

A short snippet of "Cattle Call" is played at one point, but I couldn't identify which version it was, even after listening to about a dozen versions. It may be the Eddy Arnold version, but it's definitely not Tex Owens or Slim Whitman or a gaggle of other yodelers that I listened to on YouTube. It could be just some friend of the director singing and strumming a guitar. I went ahead and included the Eddy Arnold version, but note that it may not be correct.

There's some mariachi music played early in the film that I couldn't figure out either. Plus, IMDB lists songs "Early Cocktail" and "Taylor Made" as being in the film, but I never noticed them, even though I went through the film twice.

But even the identified songs aren’t all easy to find. This is especially true for the song “Gee” by Eliza Gikyson. Her album has been out of print for years. If you can track down all the songs, you'll end up with an interesting and rather unique collection that flows together nicely, I think.

For a cover for this soundtrack, I used existing poster artwork and made some alterations.

The Supremes -- "Promises Kept" and "Dreams"

When I decided to put together The Supremes' unreleased Promises Kept album, I didn't quite understand what I was getting myself into. It didn't take long for me to realize that Motown continues to sit on a crazy amount of unreleased songs. I'm not sure what the lack of motivation is, but it seems ridiculous. A true embarrassment of riches.

There were reportedly 19 songs recorded for the Promises Kept sessions. But there were also leftover tracks from a previous album, Right On, and stray tracks from a couple of compilations. In all, I came up with 24 songs, enough for two albums. (Actually, there are quite a few other tracks from 1970-71 that are either lost or collecting dust somewhere). 

Although Motown created a catalog number for Promises Kept, it apparently never produced a tracklist. So to create Promises Kept, I compiled my own, and I made a second album with the rest that I've titled Dreams.

Promises Kept
SIDE A

1. Oh My Poor Baby

2. I'll Let Him Know I Love Him

3. Chained to Yesterday

4. If I were Your Woman

5. I Ain’t Easy to Lose

6. The Day Will Come Between Sunday and Monday

SIDE B

1. Life Beats

2. It’s Too Late

3. Take a Look Inside

4. Eleanor Rigby

5. Can't Get You Out of My Mind

6. May His Love Shine Forever

In selecting the songs for Promises Kept, I think I took a unique approach: I chose only songs that had been co-written by women. The one exception is Lennon/McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby,” which of course is about a woman. The first side is dominated by the writing team of Gloria Jones and Pam Sawyer. “If I Were Your Woman” had already been recorded by Gladys Knight and The Pips. "The Day Will Come Between Sunday and Monday" had been originally scheduled for The Supremes’ Right On album, and ended up being the debut Motown single for Kiki Dee.

The second side kicks off with “Life Beats,” which had been scheduled to be an A-side of a Supremes single in 1970 but was pulled and removed from the Right On album as well. Besides “Eleanor Rigby,” this side includes another cover in Carole King’s “It’s Too Late.” The album ends on a spiritual note with “May His Love Shine Forever,” which was included on a 1971 Motown compilation Rock Gospel, The Key to the Kingdom.

For the Promises Kept album cover, I found the group photo online and added titles. 

Dreams

SIDE A

1. Walk with Me, Talk with Me, Darling

2. I Ain't Got the Love of the One I Love

3. Still Water (Love)

4. Take Your Dreams Back

5. Never Can Say Goodbye

6. Tears Left Over

SIDE B

1. Steppin’ on a Dream

2. All I Need

3. And I Thought You Loved Me

4. I Don't Want to Own You (I Just Want to Love You)

5. Make It with You

6. You've Got To Pay The Price

This Dreams album contains more cover tunes, including “Still Water (Love)” [Four Tops], “Never Can Say Goodbye” [Jackson 5], “Steppin’ on a Dream” [Jimmy and David Ruffin], “All I Need” [Temptations], “Make It with You” [Bread] and “You’ve Got to Pay the Price” [Gloria Taylor].

“Steppin’ on a Dream” was originally meant for The Supremes’ Right On album. “Still Water (Love)” is the only track on either of these albums to feature Mary Wilson on lead vocals rather than Jean Terrell. With two of the song titles including the word “dream” or “dreams” I decided to use that for the title.

For the Dreams album cover, I found this on the Soulful Detroit message board and just made some alterations.

Double Albums Made Single

This was a project I did after reading a lot about other people complaining that some double albums would have been better off as single albums, thus tightening up the album and leaving out the filler. Of course, there are those who will complain about favorite songs left off or songs they think are less worthy than I've included. Hey, start your own blog! :)

Fleetwood Mac – Tusk

SIDE A

1. Think About Me                   

2. The Ledge                          

3. Sisters of the Moon        

4. I Know I'm Not Wrong   

5. Brown Eyes                     

6. Sara                                    

SIDE B

1. Angel                                   

2. Not That Funny                 

3. Honey Hi                            

4. Storms                                 

5. Never Forget                   

6. Tusk   

NOTE: Each songwriter gets four songs. 

The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St.

SIDE A

1. Rocks Off                       

2. Rip This Joint                                

3. Tumbling Dice                              

4. Torn and Frayed         

5. Sweet Black Angel     

6. Loving Cup                    

SIDE B

1. Happy                                             

2. Ventilator Blues                          

3. All Down the Line       

4. Stop Breaking Down 

5. Shine the Light                            

6. Soul Survivor 
NOTE: A lot of people consider this album to be the Stones' best. I rank it second behind Sticky Fingers because I think Exile contains a lot of filler.    

Guns ‘N Roses – Use Your Illusion

1. Right Next Door to Hell

2. Dust N Bones

3. Don’t Cry

4. You Ain’t the First

5. Bad Obsession

6. November Rain

7. Garden of Eden

8. Don’t Damn Me

9. Civil War

10. 14 Years

11. Yesterdays

12. Pretty Tied Up

13. Locomotive

14. So Fine

15. You Could Be Mine   

NOTE: CD era so in this case we're combining two discs.

Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

SIDE A

1. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

2. Candle in the Wind

3. Bennie and the Jets

SIDE B

1. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

2. Grey Seal

3. All the Young Girls Love Alice

4. Saturday Night’s Alright (for Fighting)

5. Harmony 
NOTE: I've read posts by several people in the past who stated "It can't be done!" Well....      

Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland

SIDE A

1. …And the Gods Made Love

2. Have You Ever Been to Electric Ladyland

3. Crosstown Traffic

4. Long Hot Summer Night

5. Come On, Pt. 1

6. Gypsy Eyes

7. My Friend

SIDE B

1. Rainy Day, Dream Away

2. Still Raining, Still Dreaming

3. House Burning Down

4. All Along the Watchtower

5. Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)     

NOTE: I recreated the cover that Jimi wanted.

Pink Floyd – The Wall

SIDE A

1. In the Flesh?

2. The Thin Ice

3. Another Brick in the Wall

4. Mother           

5. Goodbye Blue Sky

6. Young Lust

7. One of My Turns

SIDE B

1. Hey You

2. Comfortably Numb

3. The Show Must Go On

4. In the Flesh

5. Run Like Hell

6. The Trial

7. Outside the Wall

NOTE: To make these all fit, I used the shorter single versions of “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2,” “Comfortably Numb” and “Run Like Hell.”

The Who – Tommy

SIDE A

1. It's a Boy                                        

2. Amazing Journey                        

3. Christmas                                      

4. Cousin Kevin                                                

5. The Acid Queen                          

6. Do You Think It's Alright           

7. Fiddle About                                                

SIDE B

1. Pinball Wizard                                              

2. Go to the Mirror                         

3. Tommy Can You Hear Me       

4. Sensation                                      

5. I'm Free                                          

6. Tommy's Holiday Camp           

7. We're Not Gonna Take It 
NOTE: I thought this was surprisingly easy, and I don't think it really loses much for the storyline.

The Who – Quadrophenia

SIDE A

1. The Real Me

2. The Punk and the Godfather

3. I’m One (At Least)

4. Helpless Dancer (Roger's Theme)

5. I’ve Had Enough

SIDE B

1. 5:15

2. Bell Boy (Keith's Theme)

3. Doctor Jimmy (John's Theme)

4. Love Reign O’er Me (Pete's Theme)
NOTE: I took my cue from the movie soundtrack version to determine what to cut. Also, I used the shorter single versions of "5:15" and "Love Reign O'er Me"  so all these tracks could fit on a single album.

That's all. How'd I do?