Elvis Presley - "Command Performances: The Essential '60s Masters II" box set

 

A could-have-been box set of his 1960s soundtrack tunes. An asterisk (*) indicates a song that was recorded for a film, but not used in it.

DISC 1

1. G.I. Blues

2. Wooden Heart

3. Pocketful of Rainbows

4. Shoppin' Around

5. Doin' the Best I Can

6. Flaming Star

7. Summer Kisses, Winter Tears *

8. Wild in the Country

9. I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell

10. Lonely Man *

11. Blue Hawaii

12. Rock-a-Hula Baby

13. Can't Help Falling in Love

14. Beach Boy Blues

15. Hawaiian Wedding Song

16. Follow That Dream

17. Angel

18. What a Wonderful Life

19. King of the Whole Wide World

20. I Got Lucky

21. Girls! Girls! Girls!

22. Because of Love

23. Return to Sender

24. We're Comin' in Loaded

25. One Broken Heart for Sale

26. I'm Falling in Love Tonight

27. They Remind Me Too Much of You

DISC 2

1. Fun in Acapulco

2. Bossa Nova Baby

3. Marguerita

4. Mexico

5. Kissin' Cousins

6. One Boy, Two Little Girls

7. Once is Enough

8. Anyone (Could Fall in Love with You)

9. Catchin' on Fast

10. Tender Feeling

11. Viva Las Vegas

12. What'd I Say

13. I Need Someone to Lean On

14. C'mon Everybody

15. Today, Tomorrow and Forever [duet version] *

16. You're the Boss *

17. Roustabout

18. Poison Ivy League

19. Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)

20. Hard Knocks

21. There's a Brand New Day on the Horizon

22. I'm a Roustabout *

23. Girl Happy

24. Wolf Call

25. Do Not Disturb

26. The Meanest Girl in Town

27. Do the Clam

28. Puppet on a String

29. I've Got to Find My Baby

DISC 3

1. Harem Holiday

2. Hey Little Girl

3. Golden Coins

4. So Close, Yet So Far (from Paradise)

5. Animal Instinct

6. Wisdom of the Ages

7. Frankie and Johnny

8. What Every Woman Lives For

9. Down by the Riverside / When the Saints Come Marchin' In

10. Shout It Out

11. Hard Luck

12. Please Don't Stop Loving Me

13. Paradise, Hawaiian Style

14. This is My Heaven

15. Spinout

16. Stop, Look and Listen

17. All That I Am

18. Never Say Yes

19. Am I Ready

20. I'll Be Back

21. Easy Come, Easy Go

22. You Gotta Stop

23. I'll Take Love

24. She's a Machine

25. Double Trouble

26. Baby, If You Give Me All Your Love

27. Could I Fall in Love

DISC 4

1. Long Legged Girl (with the Short Dress On)

2. City by Night

3. There's So Much World to See

4. Clambake

5. A House That Has Everything

6. Hey, Hey, Hey

7. You Don't Know Me

8. The Girl I Never Loved

9. Speedway

10. There Ain't Nothing Like a Song

11. Your Time Hasn't Come Yet, Baby

12. Who are You (Who am I)?

13. Let Yourself Go

14. Stay Away, Joe

15. All I Needed was the Rain

16. Stay Away *

17. Wonderful World

18. A Little Less Conversation

19. Almost in Love

20. Edge of Reality

21. Charro!

22. Let's Forget About the Stars *

23. Clean Up Your Own Backyard

24. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

25. Change of Habit

26. Let Us Pray

27. Let's be Friends *

Bee Gees - "Alone Together"

In March 1969, Robin Gibb quit the Bee Gees, leaving his brothers to carry on and record the album Cucumber Castle. Robin in turn recorded his debut solo LP Robin's Reign. Both acts had hit singles, but their respective albums didn't sell particularly well. Soon after Cucumber Castle's release, Barry Gibb announced he was going solo, leaving Maurice Gibb no other choice than to go solo as well.

All three brothers recorded solo albums in early 1970, and singles were chosen and album cover art created for all three. But it seems that all three Brothers Gibb had second thoughts about venturing out on their own, and all three solo albums were put on hold.

Initially, Robin and Maurice reunited and planned to record a new Bee Gees album, but soon Barry also rejoined the group. They recorded and released 2 Years On in November 1970, and the Bee Gees remained together until Maurice died in 2003.

What's intriguing to me is that the Gibb brothers not only abandoned their 1970 solo albums, but they didn't even re-record any of the songs for Bee Gees albums. Robin's solo album, Sing Slowly Sisters, remained unreleased until 2015 when it was included as part of the compilation Saved by the Bell: The Collected Works of Robin Gibb, 1968-1970. Maurice's and Barry's solo albums, The Loner and The Kid's No Good, respectively, have still not been released to this day.

I wondered what could have been if the group had, instead of starting from scratch, simply taken the best tracks of their solo albums to create a new Bee Gees album. With Barry's and Maurice's albums unreleased, this would have been difficult, except that singles from the albums were released.

SIDE A
1. Sing Slowly Sisters
2. Great Caesar's Ghost
3. I've Come Back
4. This Time
5. One Bad Thing

SIDE B
1. I'll Kiss Your Memory
2. Railroad
3. Engines, Aeroplanes
4. The Days Your Eyes Meet Mine
5. C'est La Vie, Au Revoir

While Barry's album has not been released, a single was: "I'll Kiss Your Memory" b/w "This Time." Other tracks have trickled out on bootlegs. Of those, both "One Bad Thing" and "The Day Your Eyes Met Mine" were co-written with Maurice, so I thought they were good ones to include.

Maurice didn't usually have many lead vocals on Bee Gees albums, which is good because we only have two songs to use. Like Barry, while Maurice's album wasn't released, one single was: "Railroad" b/w "I'll Come Back."

For Robin's contributions, we have the whole solo album to choose from. I decided I wanted to equal the number of Barry's tracks. Two of Robin's songs were originally considered for singles, the title track and "Great Caesar's Ghost," so we include both. I also included "Engines, Aeroplanes" and placed it after Maurice's "Railroad" simply because I thought that was a humorous connection. And "C'est La Vie, Au Revoir" was slated to be the closing song of the album, and seemed appropriate for this as well.

I thought Alone Together was a fitting title for this album. For a cover, I wanted to do something artistic, like creating one face from all three of their faces. However, I was quickly reminded of my limitations as an artist and eventually scrapped the idea. Instead, I used a portrait from about that time period and added titles and the record company logo. It's not great, but it's OK.

Other Albums - Fripp/Gabriel/Hall, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Beatles

Well, I don't plan to really restart this blog, but the end of the blog hasn't ended my continued interest in creating interesting ideas for albums that could have been. So, here's what I've worked on lately, without the previous long explanations of past blog entries.

Fripp * Gabriel * Hall - "Exposure"

SIDE A

1. Preface

2. You Burn Me Up Like a Cigarette

3. Perspective

4. Disengage II

5. North Star

6. Chicago

7. New York, New York, New York

8. Urban Landscape

SIDE B

1. Exposure

2. White Shadow

3. NYCNY

4. Here Comes the Flood

5. Postscript

David Bowie - "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" [double album]

SIDE A

1. Five Years

2. Soul Love

3. Moonage Daydream

4. Round and Round

5. Amsterdam

SIDE B

1. Starman

2. It Ain't Easy

3. It's Gonna Rain Again

4. Star

5. Lady Stardust

SIDE C

1. Hang Onto Yourself

2. Looking for a Friend

3. Velvet Goldmine

4. Holy Holy

5. Sweet Head

SIDE D

1. Suffragette City

2. Shadow Men

3. The Supermen

4. Ziggy Stardust

5. Rock 'n' Roll Suicide

The Rolling Stones - "Ghost Town"

1. Living in a Ghost Town

2. One More Shot

3. Doom and Gloom

4. Keys to Your Love

5. Losing My Touch

6. Stealing My Heart

7. Don't Stop

8. Any Way You Look at It

The Rolling Stones - "Senseless Crimes"

1. I'm Gonna Drive

2. Jump on Top of Me

3. So Young

4. The Storm

5. Highwire

6. Fancy Man Blues

7. Sex Drive

8. I Wish I'd Never Met You

9. Cook Cook Blues

The Beatles - "Rainbows"

SIDE A

1. All I Want is You

2. A Pillow for Your Head

3. Window Window

4. Gimme Some Truth

5. Suicide

6. Madman

SIDE B

1. Sour Milk Sea

2. Heather

3. Brian Epstein Blues

4. Circles

5. Watching Rainbows

6. The Last [aka Paul's Piano Piece]

The Beatles - Band version of White Album

Well, all good things must eventually come to an end. Back when I started, I had ideas for about a dozen albums, and I never dreamed that it would continue for seven years with more than 150 albums! For the final entry, I decided to end this blog with the way it started: a take on The Beatles' "White Album." 

Way back in the good ol' days of 2017, I reimagined the White Album as three separate albums that I felt better organized the songs:

• A Doll's House
• The Beatles
• Back in Your Safely Beds

There are many ways you can slice and dice the album. But I find it both surprising and enlightening that of the 30 tracks that make up the White Album, only 16 (slightly more than half) actually feature all four band members performing.

And there doesn't seem to be any consistency of one member missing from a track. John Lennon is the only no-show on Ringo Starr's "Don't Pass Me By" and George Harrison's "Long Long Long." Paul McCartney and Starr collaborated as a duo on "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" while Lennon and Harrison were the only Beatles on "Revolution 9." Songs such as "Julia" and "Blackbird" are basically solo efforts for Lennon and McCartney respectively, and so on.

So, I put together the tracklist below if you want an actual, true "Beatles" White Album, with the full band contributing. The only problem is that one track had to go if you want to keep within the time constraints of a vinyl album.

SIDE A
1. Glass Onion
2. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
3. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
4. Birthday 

5. Happiness is a Warm Gun
6. Piggies

7. Rocky Raccoon
8. Cry Baby Cry

SIDE B
1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
2. Yer Blues
3. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey
4. Honey Pie

5. Sexy Sadie

6. I'm So Tired

7. Helter Skelter

Interestingly, Lennon's songs dominate this version of the album. So much so that when it came time for me to determine which track to leave out, I chose one of his: "Revolution 1." I figured that "Revolution" was released as a single, so jettison the slow version. Maybe it could have been the B-side of a single.

No band member performs on all 30 tracks of the White Album. McCartney leads with 24, followed by Starr with 22, and both Harrison and Lennon with 20 each.

The familiar album opening with a jet plane sound on "Back in the U.S.S.R" is not included because Starr walked out in a huff during the recording sessions, and McCartney handled drums instead. The same goes for "Dear Prudence." So, I ended up starting this album with tracks three and four.

I mixed up the order a bit, using "Cry Baby Cry" with its "Can You Take Me Back" closing tag as a nice way to end the first side. "My Guitar Gently Weeps" is given more of a spotlight as the opening track of the second side. And I closed the album with the metal "Helter Skelter"—the "I got blisters on my fingers!" line is a great way to end the album as a whole.

Overall, it's an interesting twist and mix.

And so we end the blog. Thanks to all of those who've taken the time to read the entries and post comments. I'll leave the blog as is for the foreseeable future so that newcomers can find it and maybe be inspired.

Moody Blues - "Sands of Times"

 

In 1974, several members of the Moody Blues were burnt out from constant recording and touring, and the band decided to take a hiatus that lasted nearly three years. But the band members didn't just sit around and relax. Instead, they all put out solo albums, and some members toured to promote the albums. I wanted to look at the solo albums of the group members to see if I could take tracks from each to create what could have been a new Moody Blues album for 1975 or 1976. 

SIDE A

1. This Morning

2. Free as a Dove

3. I Wish We Could Fly

4. Island

5. Saved by the Music

SIDE B

1. Remember Me (My Friend)

2. The Promise

3. High Above My Head

4. I Dreamed Last Night

5. When You Wake Up

Actually, we have one real Moody Blues song to include: "Island." The band recorded it in 1973 for what was to be their next album. However, since they went on hiatus, the song remained unreleased until 2007, when it was added to the album Seventh Sojourn as a bonus track. 

Of the five members, the only solo work I felt I couldn't use was that of drummer Graeme Edge's Kick Off Your Muddy Boots, credited to the Graeme Edge Band featuring Adam Gurvitz. That's because Gurvitz sings lead vocals on all the tracks, and since he wasn't a member of the Moody Blues, none of the songs seemed appropriate. Moodies Justin Hayward and John Lodge collaborated on an album titled Blue Jays. I ended up using five tracks from this album. Ray Thomas issued the album From Mighty Oaks, and I used two tracks from this. I also used two tracks from Mike Pinder's The Promise album.

Not surprisingly, Hayward-penned tracks dominated as they usually did on Moody Blues albums. 

I started the album with "This Morning" from the Blue Jays album, as I think it's the only track here with that classic Moody Blues sound. And because of this, I'm a little surprised it wasn't the single taken from the album. Making up the rest of Side 1 are "Free as a Dove" from Pinder, "I Wish We Could Fly" from Thomas, the sole actual Moody Blues song, "Island," and finally, another Blue Jays track, "Saved by the Music."

"Remember Me (My Friend)," "I Dreamed Last Night" and "When You Wake Up" are all Blue Jays tracks on Side 2. Also included are Pinder's "The Promise" and "High Above My Head" from Thomas' From Mighty Oaks.

Overall, I think these tracks fit together fairly well. I still find it odd that group members would declare burn out as a reason for a hiatus, only to turn around and work just as much as they would normally.

For an album cover, I would have liked to use some otherwise unused artwork by Phil Travers, who usually created the band's cover art. But I couldn't find any searching the web. However, I found this artwork of sand dunes that I thought was sorta, kinda similar to Travers' style -- but I couldn't find info on who created it. With the cover art chosen, I came up with Sands of Time for the title.

Here is a YouTube playlist of the album.

The Doobie Brothers - "What It Takes"

 

Not long ago, I was flipping TV channels when I came upon a recent live concert by the Doobie Brothers on PBS, which inspired me to create this imagined album. I always like creating “what if” albums for groups that have more than one vocalist, as it is fairly easy to do by combining tracks from the vocalists’ solo albums. And that’s what I did here.

After the Doobie Brothers released One Step Closer in 1980 and completed a farewell tour, the group officially broke up in 1982. At that point, the group had two primary vocalists, original member Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald, who’d joined in 1976.

So, I wanted to see if I could compile an album for the group as if they had released an album in 1982-83 rather than breaking up. The songs of this imagined album are sourced from three solo albums: Michael McDonald’s If That’s What It Takes, Patrick Simmons’ Arcade, and the Cornelius Bumpus Quartet’s Beacon.

SIDE A

1. Out On The Streets

2. I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)

3. I Gotta Try

4. Why You Givin’ Up

5. If That's What It Takes

SIDE B

1. Playin' By The Rules

2. So Wrong

3. Have You Seen Her

4. Waltz For Little Buddy

5. Believe in It

Simmons used several former bandmates on his album, making it somewhat easy to pick which tracks should be included here. “Out on the Streets” includes guitar by John McFee as well as backup vocals by Tom Johnston and McDonald; “Why You Givin’ Up” (which was co-written by McDonald) has Jeff “Skunk” Baxter on guitar, Bumpus on sax and McDonald on backup vocals; and “Have You Seen Her” also includes McDonald on backup vocals. In addition, I also included the track “So Wrong,” which apparently surprised Simmons and record executives when it became a U.S. dance/disco hit, peaking at #8.

From McDonald’s album, I chose five tracks: “I Keep Forgettin’” was the big hit from the album; “I Gotta Try” was co-written by Kenny Loggins as was a previous Doobie Brothers hit “What a Fool Believes”; the title track “If That’s What It Takes”; as well as “Playin’ by the Rules” and “Believe In It.”

On One Step Closer, Bumpus wrote and sang on one track, so I wanted to include a song of his on this album also. Despite the group bearing his name, the only track on Beacon written by Bumpus is “Waltz for Little Buddy” – an unassuming jazzy instrumental. One Step Closer also included an instrumental as the second to last track of the album, so that’s where I included this Bumpus song.

I struggled with ideas for an album cover. Eventually, I chose the cover of the Doobie Brothers’ album Farewell Tour, cropped the image and added new text. For a title, I took part of McDonald’s solo album title and named it What It Takes.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

The Beach Boys - "20/20" (double album)

 

It’s no secret that the Beach Boys and the Beatles saw themselves as friendly rivals and influences. Vocal parts of the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” were influenced by the Beach Boys’ “I Get Around.” And the race was on: Rubber Soul begat Pet Sounds which begat Revolver. The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” single certainly upped the ante and expectations were high for the next album Smile.

But then the Beach Boys basically went off the rails with Brian Wilson’s drug use and resulting mental issues. Plus, I would argue that while interesting, the songs recorded for Smile just weren't strong enough. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band came out in May 1967, and when Smile was kind of salvaged with Smiley Smile issued four months later, there really wasn’t much of a competition anymore.

However, the Beach Boys' influence on the Beatles continued at least for a little while. It’s been suggested that the Beach Boys’ Wild Honey may have helped convince the Beatles to use a more of a back-to-basics approach for The Beatles, and certainly the opening track “Back in the U.S.S.R” is a Beach Boys homage.

I wondered if the competition was still in effect, whether the Beach Boys might have followed the Beatles with their own double album (and this is, of course, assuming Capitol Records execs would have agreed to this for a band whose market value was by now greatly diminished).

I wanted to take all the tracks the Beach Boys recorded in 1968 following the release of their Friends LP and expand the 1969 album 20/20 to two discs.

SIDE A

1. Intro 

2. Do It Again 

3. We're Together Again 

4. Well, You Know I Knew 

5. Peaches 

6. Be with Me 

SIDE B

1. All I Want to Do 

2. Walkin'

3. Away 

4. Cabinessence 

5. Sail Plane Song 

6. Been Way Too Long (Can't Wait Too Long) 

SIDE C

1. I Can Hear Music 

2. Old Folks Home / Old Man River 

3. Is It True What They Said About Dixie? 

4. Cotton Fields 

5. Bluebirds over the Mountain 

6. Mona Kana 

SIDE D

1. Oh Yeah 

2. Never Learn Not to Love 

3. Walk on By 

4. Time to Get Alone 

5. I Went to Sleep 

6. The Nearest Faraway Place 

7. A Time to Live in Dreams 

8. Rendezvous (Do It Again) 

Twenty-four tracks are taken from two sessions: May – July 1968 and September – November 1968. The two concessions are “Cabinessence,” originally recorded in 1966 for Smile but which received new overdubs in 1968 before being included on 20/20, and “Away,” an outtake from the Friends sessions.

In arranging the tracks for the four sides of this theoretical album, I considered humor (which was very important to Brian Wilson) and pseudo themes. My version of this album opens with a snippet from “The Gong,” taken from the I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions. I only use the 27 seconds of the Dennis Wilson's (3:16-3:44) "new day" speech as a lead-in for “Do It Again.” I use the alternate version of this song from I Can Hear Music that's about 25 seconds longer than the single version. I thought it was kind of humorous to have "Do It Again" followed by "We're Together Again." The rest of the first side is dominated by Dennis Wilson songs. One of these, "Peaches," was a demo and I've used a fan-created mix that helps smooth out the rough edges.

After opening with the rockin' "All I Want to Do," the second side has a vague travel theme with “Walkin’” followed humorously by “Away,” and then “Cabinessence” (“Who ran the iron horse? Have you seen the grand coolie workin' on the railroad?”) and “Sail Plane Song.” I ended the side with “Been Way Too Long” (aka “Can't Wait Too Long”) and used a fan-created, six-minute “ultimate mix” version.

The third side opens with “I Can Hear Music” and then focuses on covers of older music, including “Old Man River / Old Folks Home” (1920s), “Is It True What They Said About Dixie?” -- with the Wilson brothers' mother on lead vocal -- (1930s),  “Cotton Fields” (1940s) and “Bluebirds over the Mountain” (1950s), before ending with the instrumental “Mona Kana.”

The final side opens with the oddity “Oh Yeah,” and the last five tracks share a vague theme of “time” and “dreams.” To close the final side, I used an edit of only the last 42 seconds of “Rendevous,” an early version of “Do It Again,” to bookend the album.

Overall, I think this gives a much bigger picture of the Beach Boys at this time than the actual 20/20 album. But even if this version of the album had been released at the time, I can’t say if it would have been successful. Given that the actual 20/20 managed to make to only #68 on the Billboard charts indicates that the Beach Boys' career was for the times in the dumper. However, 20/20 surprisingly rose to #3 in Britain, so who knows?

For the album cover, I used a photo from the same photo shoot as the actual 20/20 cover, which I think is far superior.

Here is a YouTube playlist of the album, but it doesn't include the first and last tracks that I used personal edits for.

Sources:

• I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions - A1 [edit], A2, A4, A6, B1, B2, B5, C3, C5, C6, D1, D3, D7, D8 [edit]
• 20/20 - B4, C1, C4, D2, D5, D6
• Made in California - A3
• Mr. J Wilson - A5
• Wake the World: The Friends Sessions - B3
• Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace of a Musical Legacy - C2
• Summer Love Songs - D4
• forjustsomemusicstuff - B6