The Yardbirds' "Dazed and Confused"

Reduced to a quartet, The Yardbirds were a shell of their former selves by 1968. The hits had disappeared, their record company and producer were pushing them to do trite pop songs when the band was more of a blues-rock outfit, and the band's future just didn't appear to have a road to success.

After recording several new songs, half the band (singer Keth Relf and drummer Jim McCarty) quit, leaving only bassist Chris Dreja and guitarist Jimmy Page. Once Dreja decided to hang up his bass and pursue photography, Page would form the New Yardbirds, soon to be rechristened Led Zeppelin.

Using songs from The Yardbirds' last recording session and a recent single, I added a couple of tracks from the band's live set and a long experimental track leftover from the sessions of the group's previous album. The result is what could have been The Yardbirds' swan song.

SIDE A
1. Think About It
2. Taking a Hold of Me
3. Avron Knows
4. Spanish Blood
5. Dazed and Confused

SIDE B
1. Goodnight Sweet Josephine
2. Most Likely You'll Go Your Way, and I'll Go Mine
3. Knowing That I'm Losing You
4. My Baby
5. De Lane Lea Lee

I start the album with "Think About It" and its proto-Zeppelin guitar riff, and close out the first side with "Dazed and Confused." I used the phased version of "Goodnight Sweet Josephine" as it makes a lame song slightly more interesting, and chose it to open the second side since it was the most recent single. I think of "De Lane Lea Lee" as The Yardbirds' version of "Revolution 9." Most of these tracks are available on the compilation "Cumular Limit" and/or the recently released "Yardbirds '68." The Bob Dylan cover "Most Likely..." is from the band's BBC sessions.

It's interesting to think about what Zeppelin albums would have been like had this come out. "Dazed and Confused" probably wouldn't have been on the first album, and "Tangerine" (the remake of "Knowing That I'm Losing You") likely wouldn't have been on Led Zeppelin III.

I created the simple cover using a photo I found on the web and added the band logo and album title.

The Who's "Lifehouse" - Triple Album Version

The Who's Lifehouse is considered one of the great "lost albums" along with The Beach Boys' SMiLE. A ton of ink has been dedicated to it, including blogs, websites, chapters of books, etc. I won't go into the story concept of the Lifehouse rock opera—it's all rather convoluted if you ask me.

The general consensus is that Lifehouse was originally supposed to be a double album that was eventually whittled down to a single, Who's Next. The debate over what songs were cut has gone on for years, and Pete Townsend hasn't helped much as he's contradicted himself in several interviews.

I myself have constructed a double album version that I like. But one day I was considering what to do with the many leftovers that were still lying about and it dawned on me: What if the group decided, Fuck it! Let's put everything we've recorded on the album. "Tommy" was a double album. How do you top that? Put out a triple album! It was the '70s, a decade of excess, self-indulgence and overblown productions. Besides, if George Harrison could release a triple album the previous year, and both The Clash and Frank Sinatra could release one in 1980, why couldn't The Who in 1971?

SIDE A
1. Baba O'Riley
2. When I was a Boy
3. Now I'm a Farmer
4. Goin' Mobile
5. Time is Passing

SIDE B
1. Love Ain't for Keeping
2. My Wife
3. Water
4. Bargain
5. Greyhound Girl

SIDE C
1. Baba M1
2. Teenage Wasteland
3. Too Much of Anything
4. Young Man Blues

SIDE D
1. Mary
2. Baby Don't You Do It
3. Behind Blue Eyes
4. I Don't Even Know Myself

SIDE E
1. Baba M2
2. Pure and Easy
3. Naked Eye
4. Getting in Tune

SIDE F
1. Let's See Action
2. Won't Get Fooled Again
3. The Song is Over

Sides A, C and E each begin with the synthesizer pieces that originally all made up a 30-minute version of "Baba O'Riley." I think beginning every other side with this unifies the album. Likewise, "Teenage Wasteland" reprises "Baba O'Riley," and of course, "The Song is Over" reprises "Pure and Easy." These selections weave this album together, and they kind of go along with "The Grid" idea of the Lifehouse storyline.

Can you imagine the impact of this magnum opus on the rock music scene if it had been released in 1971? Would it be hailed as a masterwork, or derided as too much of a good thing?

Most of these tracks are available on the expanded version of Who's Next. Other tracks can be had on Townsend's Lifehouse Chronicles box set. The Who's expanded Odds and Sods compilation is another source.

The album cover is from www.idesignalbumcovers.com -- a great website to wander through.

The Doors' "Whiskey, Mystics and Men"

Here's a what-if -- Electra Records is freaked out about Jim Morrison leaving The Doors and demands the group follow up L.A. Woman with a new album featuring Morrison. But Morrison has no interest in returning to the studio. He's already left for Paris to focus on his poetry.

Digging in the archives and tape vaults the three remaining band members piece together one more album with Morrison before releasing two new Doors albums as a trio. The result is Whiskey, Mystics and Men:

SIDE A

1. Whiskey, Mystics and Men

2. Who Scared You

3. Gloria

4. (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further

5. Rock Me

6. Talking Blues

SIDE B

1. Woman is a Devil

2. Push Push

3. Money Beats Soul

4. She Smells So Nice

5. Orange County Suite

The result isn't great; it's mixed at best. But it serves as an outlet for leftover music, and with two tracks with Ray Manzarek on vocals, it's a bit of a transition to the next two albums. The two non-album B-sides of "Who Scared You" and "(You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further" were obvious choices. The rest are outtakes or live recordings that have surfaced. 

All these tracks are available as bonus tracks on various Doors albums. The cover I threw together using the band's logo and a desert shot I found on the web that I thought worked. I admit it looks a bit amateurish, but I'm not a graphics artist. :)

The Zombies -- "Return of the Zombies"

In my opinion, The Zombies were one of the most talented of the British Invasion bands. They had great pop tunes and excellent recordings but were almost completely ignored while they were together. “She’s Not There” was a big hit, and “Tell Her No” did OK. But after that, there was little to no interest until the band broke up and “Time of the Season” was issued posthumously.

In between the band’s first album, Begin Here, and its second (and last), Odessey and Oracle, the group issued a lot of singles. There was a compilation album issued in 1966 called I Love You (with a silly cover) that included many of the singles, but also included songs that had been on Begin Here. It was issued in The Netherlands and Japan only.

I’ve taken the track list for the I Love You album, removed the songs that had already been included on Begin Here, and then added the missing tracks to complete what could have been The Zombies’ second album, which I’m titling Return of the Zombies. All but two of the songs had been issued on singles in the U.K., U.S. or both.

SIDE A

1. Tell Her No

2. How We Were Before

3. Is This the Dream

4. Whenever You're Ready

5. She’s Coming Home

6. I Want You Back Again

7. I Must Move

8. You Make Me Feel Good

SIDE B

1. Gotta Get A Hold of Myself

2. Indication

3. Don't Go Away

4. I Love You

5. Leave Me Be

6. Goin’ Out of My Head

7. She Does Everything for Me

Songs removed: "The Way I Feel Inside," "Woman" and "She's Not There."

The following songs were added: "Tell Her No," "She's Coming Home," "I Want You Back Again," "I Must Move," "Goin' Out of My Head," and "She Does Everything for Me."

The result is what could have been a great followup to Begin Here, and shows the band's progress before Odessey and Oracle. All tracks are available on the box set Zombie Heaven. The cover is another simple whip-up by me, taking the band's existing art and adding a title and record company logo.

Here's a YouTube Playlist of the album.