The Move -- "Omnibus"

The Move was never big on producing albums. It seems the group was very much a singles band. Consider the fact that The Move's first single, "Night of Fear," came out in late 1966, and two more singles were released the following year. But it wasn't until early 1968 that the band's debut album, Move, was released.

The band's second album, Shazam, didn't materialize until two years later! In the 1960s, that was an eternity.

Looking at singles that weren't on either album and tracks that were recorded, but not released at the time, I took a stab at an album that could have been released between Move and Shazam.

SIDE A
1. Move Intro
2. Move
3. You're the One I Need
4. The Fugitive
5. Night of Fear
6. Disturbance
7. I Can Hear the Grass Grow
8. Wave the Flag and Stop the Train
9. Vote for Me

SIDE B
1. Winter Song
2. Wild Tiger Woman
3. Omnibus
4. Blackberry Way
5. Something
6. Curly
7. This Time Tomorrow

Move songs tended to be pretty short, so you could fill the sides of an LP with a lot of tracks and still not surpass the time limitation.

All of these songs feature singer Carl Wayne before he left the group. He clashed frequently with Roy Wood, who wrote most of the songs, over the band's direction. Wayne left before Shazam.

All of these tracks can be found on either the 2016 expanded version of the band's debut album or the 2007 version of Shazam, which included bonus cuts.

For a title, I chose Omnibus from one of the tracks. One definition of the word is "a volume containing several novels or other items previously published separately." Considering that several of these tracks were released as singles, I thought that it was an appropriate title for the album.

For a cover, I chose a sketch of an old London bus as a play on the album title and added the group logo.

The Supremes - "Sing Ballads and Blues"

The album The Supremes Sing Ballads and Blues was scheduled for release in September 1963. However, it was canceled and has never seen the light of day as it was originally intended. It would have been the group's second album if it had been released.

SIDE A
1. Come On, Boy
2. Mr. Blues
3. My Heart Can't Take It No More
4. Sunset
5. You Need Me
6. Tears in Vain

SIDE B
1. Tumbling Tumbleweeds
2. You Didn't Care
3. The Tears
4. Hey Baby
5. Heavenly Father
6. It Makes No Difference Now

There is debate on what tracks were supposed to be on this album, and in fact, there may not have been a finalized track list before it was canceled. The track list I offer here is conjecture based on what I've read on some fan sites.

While the album may not have been released, all the tracks are now available:

• The expanded version of the group's debut album, Meet the Supremes, includes "The Tears," "Hey Baby" and "Heavenly Father." 
• The expanded version of the album Where Did Our Love Go that was released in 2004 includes "Mr. Blues" and "Come On Boy."  
• On The Supremes Sing Country, Western and Pop, which was released in 1965, the tracks "My Heart Can't Take No More," "It Makes No Difference Now," "Sunset," "You Need Me," "You Didn't Care," "Tears in Vain" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" are included.

Believe it or not, over the years, at least eight Supremes albums were canceled for one reason or another. The "Motown Machine" could be an odd system with projects coming and going, artists signed and disappearing, and what seemed surefire hits collecting dust.

As for a cover, I found this on the Soulful Detroit message board and thought it looked perfect.

Bruce Springsteen -- "Lion's Den"

Bruce Springsteen writes a lot of songs, which results in a lot of outtakes from his regular albums. I've read that as many as 80 songs may have been recorded during the Born in the U.S.A. sessions.

In addition to the dozen that made the final cut, 15 more tunes from the sessions were included on the Tracks compilation box set (some songs had first seen the light of day as B-sides to singles). An additional outtake, "Murder Incorporated," was included on 1995's Greatest Hits.

I used Born in the U.S.A. as a guide in not only determining how long this album should be but also in deciding what tracks should be placed where. I was surprised at the quality of all the leftover songs. It seemed to me that any one of them could have made the album.

SIDE A
1. My Love Will Not Let You Down

2. Rockaway the Days

3. TV Movie

4. Car Wash

5. Brothers Under the Bridges

6. This Hard Land

SIDE B

1. Lion's Den

2. Cynthia
3. Murder Incorporated

4. Man at the Top
5. Johnny Bye-Bye

6. Frankie

In my first attempt, I excluded the five songs that appeared as B-sides to Born in the U.S.A. singles. But I ended up a few minutes too short. So I went back and included "Johnny Bye-Bye."

Of the resulting 12 tracks, "My Love Will Not Let You Down" seemed to be the most obvious album opener. And I closed the album with the seven-minute-plus "Frankie." I like how the shortest song on the album precedes the longest.

I should note that I am not a huge Springsteen fan. As a Southern Californian, I've never quite understood the New Jersey-New York-Philadelphia Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce fan obsession. But I like a lot of his music, I just don't think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Listening to these outtakes I was impressed that there were certainly no clunkers.

If this album had been released, it could have seen daylight in 1986 and been issued instead of the Live 1975-85 compilation album. Would it have been popular? In the mid-'80s Springsteen was so popular that he could probably have got a platinum album with a bunch of children's nursery rhymes. But like I stated above, these are all quality songs and this collection would have been a worthy follow-up to Born in the U.S.A.

I chose the title Lion's Den from the track I used to open the second side, and it kind of reflected Springsteen's sudden surge in worldwide fame after Born in the U.S.A. was released.

As stated above, all of these songs can be found on the Tracks compilation that came out in 1998, except for "Murder Incorporated," which is available on Greatest Hits from 1995.

I'm not thrilled with this cover. Found the photo online and simply added titles and some claw marks to go with the title. Looks a bit amateurish, but I got tired of working on it so this is what it is. :P

"The Big Empty" soundtrack

One night, about a year ago, I was flipping through channels on TV and came across this goofy movie from 2003 called "The Big Empty." I'd never seen it or even heard of it before.

"The Big Empty" stars Jon Favreau who agrees to deliver a package for money to pay off his debts, and ends up with a whacked-out cast of characters in a desert town. Along the way, there's an oddball neighbor, a jealous boyfriend, a mysterious cowboy, space aliens and a conspiracy theorist. It's a crazy dark comedy, sort of in the same realm as "Repo Man" and "Roadside Prophets." And the fact that Favreau plays a struggling actor in L.A. almost makes it seem like a bizarre sequel to "Swingers."

Honestly, it's kind of surprising that not only did a movie with such a quirky story get made, but that the filmmakers managed to enlist such actors as Favreau, Daryl Hannah, Sean Bean, Bud Cort, etc.

Anyway, besides enjoying the movie, I also liked the soundtrack, which included mostly country-rock tunes. When I looked it up, I discovered that while the movie score by Brian Tyler was released, an actual soundtrack that included the songs had not. That led me to gather them all into one place.

1. 18 Wheels & A Crowbar – BR549
2. Silver Pieces – Carnival Dogs
3. Go Cat Go – Carl Perkins
4. Last Go Round – Ron Levy
5. Lucky’s Lullaby – The Country Cabin Boys
6. Truck Driver Man No. 1 – Sonny George
7.  Walk Way – Smokestack Lightnin’
8. I’m Your Breadwinner, Baby – Lazy Lester
9. Rolling Stone from Texas – Don Wasler
10. Duckwalk – Roy Rogers
11. Strange Things Happen – Lazy Lester
12. All I Know – Dead Rock West
13. The Longest Goodbye – Tim Gales
14. Almost Out of Gas – Greg Brown
15. That’s Alright – John Lee Hooker, featuring Charlie Musslewhite and Roy Rogers
16. We Who Are Not as Others – Sepultura
17. This – Sheila Chandra
18. Honkytonk Maniac from Mars – Jason Ringenberg

This is a fun collection of tunes and kind of benefits from the inclusion of fairly obscure artists to most people (Carl Perkins and John Lee Hooker notwithstanding). The only song that doesn't fit with this otherwise bunch of blues and honky tonkers is the Sepultura death metal song. You may want to skip that one.

For a cover, I simply took an image of the movie poster (or maybe it's the DVD cover) I found on the web and manipulated it a bit.

Barrett Strong - "Money and Other Big Hits"

The Tamla discography on the Both Sides Now website shows an unissued album, catalog number TM-226, titled Money and Other Big Hits by Barrett Strong. Strong's song "Money (That's What I Want)" was the first big hit on any of Motown's labels.

But Strong's subsequent singles on Tamla didn't come close to the success of "Money." In 1962, Strong left Motown/Tamla. In an apparent attempt to make one last cash-in on Strong's songs, Tamla scheduled the release of an album in either late 1961 or in 1962 that would compile all of his singles (a dozen songs in all) for the label. But for whatever reason, Tamla apparently had second thoughts and the album was never released.

SIDE A
1. Money (That's What I Want)
2. Let's Rock

3. You Got What It Takes

4. Do the Very Best You Can

5. Oh I Apologize

6. You Knows What To Do

SIDE B
1. Misery

2. Whirlwind

3. I'm Gonna Cry (If You Quit Me
4. Money and Me

5. Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

6. Yes, No, Maybe So

Since this is a compilation of all the A and B sides of his singles, there isn't much work involved. I tried to mix up the newer and older singles, and led off with "Money (That's What I Want)."

All these songs can be found on the compilation album Barrett Strong - The Complete Motown Collection.

After I arranged this track list, I discovered that there's a CD available as an import that recreates the Money and Other Big Hits album as well. I'm not sure if it's a bootleg or if it's licensed. It has the same songs, just in a different order.

For a cover, I took a photo of Strong I found on the web and fooled around in Photoshop until I came up with something I liked that I thought looked appropriate for an album in 1962. That's the original Tamla logo in the bottom right corner (in case you were wondering).

Strong would later return to Motown in the mid-1960s and co-wrote several big hits with Norman Whitfield.