Cheap Trick - "Cheap Flicks"

For this entry, I put together a compilation of Cheap Trick tracks that have appeared as part of various movie soundtracks over the years.

1. Everything Works If You Let It ["Roadie"]
2. Reach Out ["Heavy Metal"]
3. I Must be Dreamin' ["Heavy Metal"]
4. Spring Break ["Spring Break']
5. Born to Raise Hell ["Rock & Rule"]
6. I'm the Man ["Rock & Rule"]
7. Ohm Sweet Ohm ["Rock & Rule"]
8. Up the Creek ["Up the Creek"]
9. Mighty Wings ["Top Gun"]
10. Money (That's What I Want) ["Caddyshack II"]
11. You Want It ["Say Anything"]
12. I will Survive ["Gladiator"]
13. Wild Thing ["Encino Man"]
14. Surrender '99 ["Detroit Rock City"]
15. Transformers (The Fallen Remix) ["Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"]

What I've included are Cheap Trick songs that were exclusive to the films, i.e. songs that didn't appear on the band's regular albums. So, although "Surrender" and "I Want You to Want Me" were used (along with a few other band tracks) in many films over the years, they are not included here (except for the rerecorded version in 1999).

I arranged the tracks chronologically, beginning with "Everything Works If You Let It" from 1980 and ending with "Transformers (The Fallen Remix)" from 2009. Since this would be a post-2009 release, I didn't divide the album into two sides like I usually do for a theoretical vinyl album. 

Most of the tracks can be found on the official soundtrack albums, and some can also be found on band compilation albums. There was never a soundtrack album released for the animated film "Rock & Rule" (aka "Ring of Power"), and Cheap Trick's three songs from the film were eventually released on the compilation Sex, America and Cheap Trick.

"Transformers (The Fallen Remix)" appears on the soundtrack for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," but is not actually used in the movie for some reason. I decided to only include songs from movie soundtracks, but you could also include "Out in the Streets" (aka "That '70s Song") from the TV show "That '70s Show."

For a cover, I used a movie marquee generator and then made some simple modifications.

The Who -- "Who's for Tennis?"

Between the release of The Who Sell Out in December 1967 and the release of Tommy in March 1969 were 17 long months. The Who's management and record company wanted something to fill the gap. Although three singles were released during this time, there were also a couple of ideas thrown around about releasing a live album or a compilation album of various tracks that hadn’t made it onto albums yet. A working title for this compilation was Who’s for Tennis? Eventually, two best-of compilations were released: Direct Hits in Britain and the oddly named Magic Bus: The Who on Tour in the U.S.

For this exercise, I put together a Who’s for Tennis? compilation using what few songs we still have that we didn’t include on our previous re-imagined Who albums. The result was a tidy, 10-track album.

SIDE A

1. Glow Girl

2. Fortune Teller

3. Dogs

4. Call Me Lightning

5. Melancholia

SIDE B

1. Faith is Something Bigger

2. Little Billy

3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

4. Shakin' All Over

5. Magic Bus

"Glow Girl" was originally envisioned as an A-side of a single, and later to be the lead-off track to Who's for Tennis? Then it was considered for Tommy. Eventually, it ended up on 1974's Odds and Sods. While I'm not sure it's really worthy of being a single, it's a nice way to start Who's for Tennis? "Fortune Teller" was considered for an EP that was never released. "Dogs" was released as a single in June 1968, and didn't do very well. A song about domestic bliss probably wasn't something most Who fans were clamoring for in 1968. "Call Me Lightning" was the B-side to "Dogs." "Melancholia" is also a song originally planned for Who's for Tennis? but it didn't get released until the 1995 version of The Who Sell Out as a bonus track.

Side B begins with "Faith is Something Bigger," an attempt by Pete for The Who to preach to the fans. "Little Billy" is an anti-smoking song supposedly written for the American Cancer Society and considered as a possible single. But it too ended up in the vault until Odds and Sods. "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" is a John Entwistle tune written about Keith Moon and his alcohol-fueled mood swings. It was released as the B-Side to "Magic Bus." "Shakin' All Over" is a cover song originally recorded by Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, a rival band of The Who in the early days. The album concludes with the biggest hit here, "Magic Bus."

All these songs are easy to find on various Who compilations. The album cover comes from the great I Design Album Covers website: https://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com/

So if you're keeping track, we have the following for a revised 1960s discography for The Who:

• Introducing The Who - http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-who-introducing-who.html (soniclovenoize)
• My Generation - https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-who-my-generation.html 
• Jigsaw - http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-who-jigsaw-puzzle.html (soniclovenoize)
• Happy Jack - https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-who-happy-jack.html
• The Who Sell Out - https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-who-who-sell-out-double-album.html
• Who's for Tennis - This page, obviously.

To close out the '60s, you can also include my single disc version of Tommy if you'd like: https://albumsbackfromthedead.blogspot.com/2018/12/double-albums-made-single.html

The Who - "Happy Jack"

This is a follow-up to my previous blog entry about a revised version of The Who's My Generation album. Soniclovenoize recreated Jigsaw Puzzle (see http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-who-jigsaw-puzzle.html) a few years ago, an album that had been planned but eventually scrapped in favor of A Quick One.

Continuing in the vein of assuming Introducing the Who, my revised version of My Generation, as well as Jigsaw Puzzle, were released, here I give you a brand new disc: Happy Jack -- but a very different version from the Happy Jack album that was released in the U.S.

SIDE A
1. Disguises
2. Doctor, Doctor
3. Bucket T
4. My Generation/Land of Hope and Glory
5. (Love is Like a) Heat Wave
6. Happy Jack

SIDE B
1. So Sad About Us
2. Batman
3. I've Been Away
4. A Quick One, While He's Away

The release of The Who's A Quick One album was confusing. It started out as an album to be called Jigsaw Puzzle. In the U.S., the tracklist was reshuffled and released as Happy Jack due to the title track becoming a hit on the American singles charts.

Only three tracks from the original Happy Jack are included here: "Heat Wave," "Happy Jack" and "A Quick One...." It should be noted that although "Heat Wave" appears on soniclovenoize's Introducing The Who, this is a different version. It kind of goes along with the different version of "My Generation" that appears here and segues into "Land of Hope and Glory." "Happy Jack" was the only track on this version that was released as a single so I kept the album name.

This is a fairly short album, but so many albums in the 1960s were short that I don't think that's a problem. And if you're going to have the other three revised versions of Who albums, all these tracks become strays.

"Disguises," "Bucket T" and "Batman" were originally released on the EP Ready Steady Who in 1966, and both "Disguises" and "Bucket T" as well as "Doctor, Doctor" were on the 1968 LP Magic Bus: The Who on Tour. "So Sad About Us" and "A Quick One, While He's Away" were released on A Quick One in 1966 and Happy Jack in 1967. 

"Heat Wave" was also released on A Quick One. "My Generation/Land of Hope and Glory" was originally intended for the Ready Steady Who EP, but was not released until the 1995 remastered version of A Quick One. "Happy Jack" appeared, of course, on Happy Jack. And although "I've Been Away" was released as the B-side to "Happy Jack," I don't think it appeared on an album until the 1995 remastered version of A Quick One.

For cover art, I used the terrific single cover artwork for "Happy Jack" created by Ralph Steadman (probably best known for his association with Hunter S. Thompson).

The Who -- "My Generation"

This is the first in a series of three Who albums.

Over at soniclovenoize's "Albums That Never Were" blog site, he created what could have been The Who's debut album, Introducing The Who (http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-who-introducing-who.html).

For this blog entry, I tackled a revised version of the album My Generation, assuming that soniclovenoize's Introducing The Who had been released.

SIDE A

1. Substitute

2. Bald Headed Woman

3. The Good's Gone (full version)

4. La La La Lies

5. Much Too Much

6. My Generation

SIDE B

1. The Kids are Alright

2. Instant Party Mixture

3. It's Not True

4. The Ox

5. Legal Matter

6. Circles (Instant Party)

Two versions of My Generation were officially released, one in Britain and another in the U.S. (the American version is titled The Who Sings My Generation). Four of the songs from those versions were used on soniclovenoize's Introducing The Who, which required me to find replacements. 

Of those replacements, I kick off this version of My Generation with "Substitute," a classic Who song that the band has performed in nearly all of their concerts since it debuted. This is followed by "Bald Headed Woman," a blues song that was featured as the B-side of the "I Can't Explain" single. Then, I used the full-length version of "The Good's Gone." The rest of Side A is the same as the released versions of the album.

Side B begins the same as the released version with "The Kids are Alright." But then the second track is "Instant Party Mixture," which is a bit of filler originally intended as a B-side of a single. The rest of Side B is the same as the U.S. version of the album.

"Substitute" was originally a non-album single and I don't think it appeared on an album until Direct Hits was released in 1968. It can now be found on numerous compilations. "Bald Headed Woman," "The Good's Gone" and "Instant Party Mixture" can all be found on the 2014 deluxe version of My Generation.

I used the same cover as the British version of the album.