Just wait until next year!

The break has allowed me to think of a few new ideas. I'm working on about six and plan to post one each month beginning in January 2020. See you next year!

End of the Road?

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. And I'm actually surprised it took this long. But I am officially out of ideas. Actually, I've had a couple of other ideas, but I eventually decided they weren't worth the trouble.

I must say that when I started this blog I thought that maybe I could come up with 15 to 20 ideas, and I ended up creating 135 albums (or occasional EP). So I went way past what I expected.

Maybe I'll eventually have a brain storm and add more, but for now....

Thanks for reading, commenting, etc!

Paul McCartney and Wings - "Ship to Shore"

Having recorded two successful studio albums and a triple live album, Paul McCartney's latest lineup of Wings seemed poised to continue that success in 1977-78. However, while recording a new album, it was discovered that Linda McCartney was pregnant. That put the kibosh on a tour any time in the near future. After recording several songs aboard a yacht in the Virgin Islands, lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English quit the band. That left the trio of Paul, Linda and Denny Laine to continue, record more songs and eventually release the album London Town.

I wanted to re-imagine what the album might have been if only the tracks that included McCulloch and English had been used. That led me to a new version of the album I've titled Ship to Shore.


SIDE A

1. Mull of Kintyre

2. London Town

3. Cafe on the Left Bank

4. Don't Let It Bring You Down

5. Name and Address

6. Children Children
7. I've Had Enough

SIDE B

1. With a Little Luck

2. Famous Groupies

3. Deliver Your Children

4. Girls’ School

5. Morse Moose and the Grey Goose

First of all, London Town seems strangely out of balance, with side two being more than five minutes longer than side one. I don't know what kind of decision-making goes on when a person, band or producer determines which songs go on which side, but I don't see any particular reason for the discrepancy in this case.

The four additional songs recorded after McCulloch and English left were all on London Town's first side, which leaves a gaping hole if we want to keep the running order similar. We do have two songs recorded before McCulloch and English left that were issued as singles: "Mull of Kintyre" and "Girls' School." But that isn't enough to fill the four missing slots (especially since the first side was already short), so some rearranging was needed.

Looking at the three previous Wings studio albums, they all start with rather slow songs. But even by that criteria, I think "London Town" is just not a good opener. So I put "Mull of Kintyre" at A1. It was a major hit in the U.K., and gives the album a slow-building opening. I moved "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and "Name and Address" to Side A and kept the rocking "I've Had Enough" to close it out.

Side B begins with the same three tracks as London Town, but I included "Girls' School" before concluding the album with "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose," just like London Town.

I can't say that the result is a better album than London Town, but I do think that "Mull of Kintyre" is a better opener, and "Girls' School" gives the collection a bit of extra oomph that I think was otherwise lacking. Also, both sides are about the same length now -- the first side is less than a minute longer than the second.

Attempts by others to recreate this album are often titled Water Wings, as apparently that was a working title at some point. I chose the title Ship to Shore because most of the album was recorded on a boat although some tracks were also recorded in Britain. For the cover, I wanted to use a band photo to emphasize the group overall. When I found a cover for a Water Wings bootleg, I reused the photo from it for my cover and thought the title worked well. Although it might be confused for a "yacht rock" album. 😋

UK - "Third World"

The band UK started off as a prog rock supergroup, whose members had been in King Crimson and Roxy Music.

But after one album and tour, the group split into two camps: drummer Bill Bruford and guitarist Allan Holdsworth formed Bruford, and bassist John Wetton and keyboardist Eddie Jobson soldiered on with new drummer Terry Bozzio.

However, after yet one more album and tour, UK fractured again. Reportedly, Wetton wanted to take the band in a more pop direction and Jobson wanted to record longer songs. These irreconcilable differences led to the breakup of the band and Wetton and Jobson to record solo albums.

I wanted to create what could have been UK's third studio album had the band stayed together.

SIDE A

1.      Turn It Over

2.      Get What You Want

3.       Night After Night

4.       Nostalgia

5.       Caught in the Crossfire

SIDE B

1.      Turn On the Radio

2.       As Long As You Want Me Here

3.       Walking from Pastel

4.       When Will You Realize?

5.      Listen to Reason

After the band broke up, a live album was released that featured two songs that hadn't been on the studio LPs: "As Long as You Want Me Here" and "Night After Night," both co-written by Jobson and Wetton. Also, "Night After Night" was released as a single with a previously unreleased studio track, Wetton's "When Will You Realize?" on the b-side. So we have three actual UK tracks to include. For the rest of the music, I looked to Wetton's and Jobson's solo albums for material.

Somewhat surprising is that although the reports were that Jobson wanted UK to record longer songs, when it came time to release his first solo album, The Green Album, the longest tracks were around six minutes -- not exactly epics. And the lead single (for which a video was produced for MTV) was the poppy, Prog Rock meets New Wave song "Turn It Over," which clocks in at 4:15. I felt that this was a good song to kick off the album.

The second track is "Get What You Want" from Wetton's Caught in the Crossfire album, which was co-written by Wetton and co-written by onetime King Crimson lyricist Pete Sinfield. The title track from Wetton's album ends the first side. In between we've the aforementioned "Night After Night" followed by "Nostalgia." From what I've read, both Jobson's "Nostalgia" and "Walking from Pastel" had been performed by UK on their last tour, and that makes them prime candidates for this album.

The second side starts with Wetton's un-ironic radio-friendly "Turn on the Radio," followed by the second live UK track, "As Long as You Want Me Here," and another Jobson tune, "Walking from Pastel."

Wetton's "When Will You Realize?" has been labeled as the song that broke up UK -- apparently Jobson didn't like it. Wetton re-recorded it for his own solo album, but we use the UK version here. Finally, the album concludes with Jobson's "Listen to Reason."

For cover art, I chose a satellite image of Britain I found online and added the words. I picked Third World for the title as a play on this being the band's third studio album and the shot of the planet from space.

Pink Floyd - "Animals" (reimagined)

Last month I posted about a double album version of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. I included two live tracks, "You've Got to be Crazy" and "Raving and Drooling," that Floyd would later rewrite as "Dogs" and "Sheep" for the band's album Animals. A comment was posted by danielmartin273 asking what then would Animals have been without those two tracks. Until his comment, I hadn't really considered it. My response was "Maybe the remaining tracks from Animals along with selections from Gilmour's solo album?"

But afterward, I started thinking about it a bit more. Removing "Dogs" and "Sheep" from Animals takes away more than half the album because both tracks are so long. Besides Gilmour's first solo album being released in 1978 (a year after Animals), Richard Wright also released his first solo album that year. So I looked to both to see if I could cannibalize and recreate Animals (don't ask me what would then happen to the solo albums -- this could go on forever).


SIDE A
1. Pigs on the Wing (Part 1) 
2. I Can't Breathe Anymore
3. Pigs (Three Different Ones) 
4. Cat Cruise 
5. Message from the Sheep (Field Recording) 

SIDE B
1. Deafinitely 
2. No Way 
3. Pink's Song 
4. So Far Away 
5. Pigs on the Wing (Part 2) 

First, I wondered if I should even call the album Animals, as the remaining tracks all have "Pigs" in the title. But two tracks I included led me to keep the album title. Also, the lyrics to "Pigs on the Wing (Part 2)" include the line, "And any fool knows a dog needs a home," so there's at least one other animal reference.

Since "Dogs" and "Sheep" were essentially written back in 1974, only the "Pigs" tracks were new. I wonder if Waters' strong Type A-personality pushed other band members' potential contributions aside in order to create his concept for an album loosely based on "Animal Farm." It seems possible given that both Gilmour and Wright picked the time right after Animals and its supporting tour to release their first solo albums.

I looked for outtakes from Animals hoping to find something that hadn't been included initially, but there appears to be nothing other than one very short track of sound effects (which I used -- more on that later).

When it came to choosing which tracks to use from the solo albums, I decided against any that weren't completely written by a band member. I didn't think the band would go for that at this point in their career. That left us with six tracks from Gilmour's self-titled album and nine from Wright's Wet Dream album.

Like the actual Animals, this version of the album begins and ends with the two parts of "Pigs on the Wing." I used Gilmour's "I Can't Breathe Anymore," "Deafinitely," "No Way" and "So Far Away." I couldn't resist Wright's "Cat Cruise" to add an additional animal-titled song. And "Pink's Song" sounded like something that should be on a Pink Floyd album, both musically and title-wise.

I found "Message from the Sheep (Field Recording)" on a bootleg. It's supposedly an outtake from Animals. It's basically just a bunch of sheep yelling, "Baa!" I found it amusing, and at 37 seconds, it seemed like a good way to end the first side. It ends up being sort of a reprise of the end of "Pigs (Three Different Ones)."

The two sides are fairly even, being 21:47 and 20:41 respectively.

Interestingly, I think this sounds more like a Pink Floyd album than the actual released Animals because of more input from Gilmour and Wright. To my ears, after Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd releases became increasingly more like Roger Waters albums with the rest of the band backing him.

Since we're keeping the album title, at first I didn't see a reason to change the album cover (especially since the only animal shown is the floating, inflatable pig). But then I thought in keeping with using earlier concept art for my double disc version of Wish You Were Here, I'd do the same with this entry. This was a concept sketch by the design group Hipgnosis for Animals that the band rejected. I assume if it had been chosen, Hipgnosis would have created a more finished artwork, but this rough sketch is as good as we're going to get.

Jimmy Liggins Specialty Albums That Never Existed

Jimmy Liggins is one of those nearly-forgotten pioneers of R&B. Born in Oklahoma, his family moved to San Diego when he was a teenager. His older brother Joe Liggins would hit the big time with the hit "The Honeydripper," which topped the R&B charts for 18 weeks in 1945.

Jimmy followed his brother a couple of years later, signing with Specialty Records in L.A. His first single was released in 1947. At this time, Specialty only issued 78s and 45s. As far as I can tell, the label didn't issue an actual 33 1/3 album until Little Richard's debut in 1957, three years after Jimmy left Specialty. I wanted to see what it would have been like if Jimmy's songs had been packaged as LPs. In all, he recorded enough music to fill four standard LPs.

CADILLAC BOOGIE

SIDE A
1. I Can't Stop It    

2. Troubles Goodbye          

3. Teardrop Blues 

4. Cadillac Boogie 

5. Rough Weather Blues

6. Move Out Baby

SIDE B
1. Homecoming Blues

2. Careful Love      

3. Lookin' For My Baby      

4. Baby I Can't Forget You 

5. Nite Life Boogie

6. Don't Put Me Down       

The interesting thing about the title song (at least to me) is how it so obviously influenced the song "Rocket 88," which many people consider the first rock and roll song. One could argue that "Cadillac Boogie" should actually hold that title. Lots of other good R&B and blues can be found here as well. For cover art, I used a concept sketch GM did for the 1948 Cadillac. Looks similar to the Batmobile.

LONELY NIGHTS

SIDE A
1. Mississippi Boogie          

2. Misery Blues     

3. Answer to Teardrop Blues

4. That Song Is Gone

5. Sincere Lover's Blues     

6. Saturday Night Boogie Woogie Man

SIDE B
1. Down and Out Blues

2. Lonely Nights Blues

3. The Washboard Special

4. Lover's Prayer   

5. Goin' Down with the Sun

6. That's What's Knockin' Me Out  

This album contains more great music and you can hear confidence building in Liggins' and his band's performances. I titled this LP Lonely Nights after the song "Lonely Nights Blues." For cover art, I thought this picture captured the concept well.

NOW’S THE TIME

SIDE A
1. Stolen Love

2. Low Down Blues

3. Brown Skin Baby

4. Dark Hour Blues

5. Drunk

6. I'll Never Let You Go

SIDE B
1. Come Back Home

2. Going Away       

3. Shuffle Shuck

4. I'll Always Love You

5. Hep Cat Boogie

6. Now's the Time

"Drunk" may be my favorite Liggins song, and it was one of his biggest hits, reaching the top 10 in late 1953 and early 1954. It contains the great line, "Came home one night with a swimmin' in the head, reached for the pillow, missed the whole durn bed." But "Drunk" would probably not be the best title for an album, so I went with Now's the Time. For cover art, I found this one of a couple embracing in front of a big clock and thought it worked well.

JUMPIN’ AND STOMPIN’

SIDE A
1. Come Back Baby

2. Train Blues

3. Baby's Boogie

4. Bye Bye Baby Good-Bye

5. Give Up Little Girl            

6. Unidentified Instrumental 
SIDE B         

1. Blues for Love   

2. Jumpin' and Stompin'

3. Cloudy Day Blues             

4. Pleading My Cause                         

5. Railroad Blues  

These are the last recordings by Liggins on Specialty Records. Lots of blues here -- "Train Blues," "Blues for Love," "Cloudy Day Blues" and "Railroad Blues." I can't find that Specialty released any of these songs at the time. Liggins himself released "Blues for Love" on his own Duplex Records label in 1959, but I'm not sure if it was the same recording or a remake. "Jumpin' and Stompin," which I used for the album title, is a rockin' instrumental with a piano up front. For cover art, I found this artwork that was used for a Liggins compilation CD and altered it a bit with a new title and the Specialty logo.

Notwithstanding his success at Specialty, or perhaps because of it, Liggins left the label and never had a big hit again despite recording on Aladdin and his own Duplex Records. He eventually faded from the scene -- his big band style no longer popular. From what I've read, after returning to San Diego for a few years he eventually ended up in North Carolina as a music teacher. He died in 1983.

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.

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (double album)

With Pink Floyd's massive fame following the release and success of Dark Side of the Moon, the band wasn't sure how to follow it up. One idea was to use everyday items around the home as instruments. The working title of the album was Household Objects. After a few weeks of banging on pots and pans and strumming rubber bands, the group gave up on the idea. 

In addition, Pink Floyd had been working on and performing two songs while on tour in 1974: "You've Got to Be Crazy" and "Raving and Drooling." Interestingly, neither one ended up on the subsequent album Wish You Were Here. Instead, both songs were reworked as "Dogs" and "Sheep" respectively for the band's 1977 album Animals.

I thought it might be interesting to combine what was released in 1975 along with other music the band was working on to expand Wish You Were Here into a double album. For this project, I've combined tracks of the actual Wish You Were Here with music the band had produced for this and other projects.

SIDE A
1. Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts I-V - 13:32 
2. Welcome to the Machine - 7:32

SIDE B
1. The Hard Way - 2:46
2. You've Got to be Crazy [live] - 18:13

SIDE C

1. Have a Cigar [alt] - 7:12

2. Raving and Drooling [live] - 14:30

SIDE D

1. The Travel Sequence - 2:21

2. Wish You Were Here [alt] - 6:14

3. Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Parts VI-IX - 12:30

I was a little leery at first of mixing studio and live tracks, but it's certainly something Pink Floyd has done before. But with the inclusion of new tracks, some rearranging was necessary to make the length of each album side relatively the same.

We open and close the album the same way: with "Shine on You Crazy Diamond." In fact, the first side remains exactly the same, with the inclusion of the track "Welcome to the Machine." 

For Side B, it opens with the instrumental "The Hard Way," a leftover from Household Objects. The only other known music from that aborted album is "Wine Glasses," which the band incorporated into "Shine on You Crazy Diamond." So there was no need to add it as well. The side closes with "You've Got to be Crazy," recorded live at Wembley Stadium.

Side C opens with a longer, alternate version of "Have a Cigar" that features vocals from Roger Waters and David Gilmour instead of Roy Harper. The next track is the live "Raving and Drooling," also recorded at Wembley Stadium. 

Side D starts with the instrumental "The Travel Sequence," which is actually an outtake from Dark Side of the Moon. That is followed by the album's title track. I used an alternate version, which is longer and features the prominent playing of Stephane Grappelli on violin. And as stated earlier, the album closes with the rest of "Shine on You Crazy Diamond."

All of these tracks, including the live ones, can be found on the box set Why Pink Floyd...? The cover art was actually originally designed by Hipgnosis for Wish You Were Here but was rejected by the band.

--------
NOTE: Since publishing this post, I've discovered that studio demos recorded for "You've Got to be Crazy" and "Raving and Drooling" are available on a bootleg called The Extraction Tapes. So, if you don't want live tracks mixed with studio ones, you could sub those.

John, Paul, George and Ringo - "Soap Opera"

Rock bands ending in acrimony are fairly common. But no band exploded quite so publicly as the biggest band in the world. John, Paul, George and even Ringo expressed their frustrations through song, providing us an album's worth of material that I've collected together under the title Soap Opera.

SIDE A

1. Wah Wah

2. Run of the Mill

3. God

4. Too Many People

5. 3 Legs

6. Early 1970

SIDE B

1. How Do You Sleep?

2. Dear Friend

3. Back Off Boogaloo

4. Sue Me, Sue You Blues

5. Let Me Roll It

6. Beef Jerky

George was first out of the gate with this All Things Must Pass album that included two songs, "Wah Wah" and "Run of the Mill," regarding his overall disillusionment with John, Paul and The Beatles in general. On his John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album, John declared "the dream is over" with "God" where he disposed of idols, religion, politics and his former band. Paul responded with two songs of his own: one regarding what he saw as John's preachiness in "Too Many People" and his feeling of betrayal by the other three Beatles in "3 Legs." Ringo, often the arbitrator, released a can't-we-all-get-along song in "Early 1970."

The second side kicks off with John's blistering attack on Paul with "How Do You Sleep?" Paul comes back with an olive branch in the form of "Dear Friend." Then Ringo steps in with his own attack on Paul with "Back Off Boogaloo." George expresses weariness regarding all the lawsuits flying about with "Sue Me, Sue You Blues." Paul then returns with possibly the cleverest of the "attack songs," doing a very good John imitation while requesting "Let Me Roll It." And it all comes to an end with a very subtle tip of his hat to Paul by John who incorporates the guitar riff of "Let Me Roll It" in his song "Beef Jerky."

• "Wah Wah" and "Run of the Mill" are from George's All Things Must Pass. 
• "God" is from John's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. 
• "Too Many People" and "3 Legs" are from Paul's and Linda's Ram. 
• "Early 1970" and "Back Off Boogaloo" can be found on Ringo's Blast from Your Past. 
• "How Do You Sleep" is on John's Imagine. 
• "Dear Friend" is from Wings' Wild Life. 
• "Sue Me, Sue You Blues" is from George's Living in the Material World. 
• "Let Me Roll It" is from Wings' Band on the Run. 
• And "Beef Jerky" is on John's Walls and Bridges.

For the cover, I took photos I found online of the former Beatles as solo artists circa '74, cropped them, and mimicked the Let It Be album cover, using a soap bubble background.

Little Richard -- 1955-57 Discography

As I've done with previous posts of redone 1950s discographies for Elvis, Johnny Cash and Chuck Berry, I decided to put together one for Little Richard as well.

Specialty Records released three albums by Little Richard between 1957 and 1959. But the albums didn't match the sessions, with various tracks mixed together. What I've done is rearrange the album track lists to better conform with the timeline.

HERE'S LITTLE RICHARD

SIDE A

1. Tutti Frutti

2. True, Fine Mama

3. Directly from My Heart

4. Maybe I’m Right

5. Blue and Lonesome

6. Baby

SIDE B

1. Kansas City

2. I’m Just a Lonely Guy (All Alone)

3. Wonderin’

4. All Night Long

5. Chicken Little Baby

First off, what a great album cover! But our revised version only includes three of the tracks of the released Here's Little Richard. As you can see, it includes two big Little Richard hits, "Tutti Frutti" and "Kansas City." The rest of the tracks often show a less manic side of him.

LITTLE RICHARD

SIDE A

1. Lucille

2. The Most I Can Offer

3. Can't Believe You Wanna Leave

4. Ready Teddy

5. Slippin' and Slidin'

6. Heeby-Jeebies

SIDE B

1. Long Tall Sally

2. Miss Ann

3. Oh Why?

4. Rip It Up

5. I Got It

6. Shake a Hand

7. Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! (Goin’ Back to Birmingham)

The album cover is kind of a letdown after the debut. Like the previous entry, our version of this album only contains three tracks from the original. Each side begins with a big hit named after a lady. And the hits keep coming -- "Ready Teddy," "Slippin' and Slidin'," "Rip It Up." Overall, this version of the album has a more frenetic pace than the version of the debut and shows Little Richard at the peak of his powers.

THE FABULOUS LITTLE RICHARD

SIDE A

1. Keep a Knockin’

2. By the Light of the Silvery Moon

3. Send Me Some Lovin’

4. Boo Hoo Hoo Hoo (I’ll Never Let You Go)

5. Whole Lotta Shaking Going On

6. Early One Morning

7. Jenny, Jenny

SIDE B

1. Good Golly, Miss Molly

2. Baby Face

3. She Knows How to Rock

4. Ooh! My Soul

5. The Girl Can’t Help It

6. She's Got It

Guess what? Like the previous two albums, this version includes just three of the tracks that appeared on the actual The Fabulous Little Richard. That tells you just how mixed up the original albums are. With "Keep a Knockin'," "Jenny, Jenny," "Good Golly Miss Molly," "Ooh! My Soul" and "The Girl Can't Help It," this album frantically rocks from beginning to end.

Marvin Gaye - "Marvin Gaye Sings Romantic Standards"

Between 1963 and 1973, Marvin Gaye released a solo studio album every year except 1967. Yes, there was a best-of collection and a duet album with Tammi Terrell released that year, but the lack of a solo studio album seems like an oddity given the Motown Machine's constant pumping out of material, especially for its biggest acts.

In fact, Gaye appears to have planned a 1967 album, even though one doesn't appear on the Tamla Records schedule for that year.

In 1965, Marvin Gaye released an album titled A Tribute to the Great Nat "King" Cole. The album didn't sell very well, and the following year Gaye's next album, In the Groove, was a return to tunes by Motown songwriters. Yet not only were there leftover tracks from the Nat "King" Cole tribute album, but Gaye had recorded a number of other standards and songs from musicals at that time that weren't released.

In early 1967, Gaye went into the studio and re-recorded his vocals on a dozen of the 1965 outtakes. It seems to me that there can only be one reason for doing so -- this was to be a new album. Why else go to the trouble?

SIDE A

1. She Needs Me 

2. Emily 

3. The Shadow of Your Smile 

4. Fly Me to the Moon (in Other Words) 

5. Maria

6. All the Way 

SIDE B

1. Funny (Not Much) 

2. More (Theme from “Mondo Cane”) 

3. This will Make You Laugh

4. Fanny

5. What’s New 

6. Where are You?

At least four of these songs had previously been recorded by Cole, and others had been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams and Bobby Darin.

Why work was done on these old songs when the Nat "King" Cole tribute album wasn't a big seller is a bit of a mystery. And it may have been the reason an album was never realized. Although 1967 did see the release of The Four Tops doing an album of Broadway musical tunes (Four Tops on Broadway) and there was a plan for The Supremes to release an album titled From Broadway to Hollywood (the plan was eventually scrapped). So in this light, a Gaye album of standards isn't surprising.

Without a track list, I just assembled the songs with six tunes on each side. All tracks can be found on Motown Unreleased 1967. For a cover, I used a photo of Gaye I found online and added titles and the Tamla logo.

"Another Age of Atlantic" compilation

Beginning in 1969, Atlantic Records released a trio of rock music compilation albums to promote its roster of artists. The first record, Atco Blockbusters, featured then-up-and-coming acts such as Iron Butterfly, Dr. John and Buffalo Springfield. The next compilation, The Age of Atlantic, continued the format in 1970 and featured Led Zeppelin, Yes and MC5. The final album, released in 1972, was New Age of Atlantic. It again featured Led Zeppelin and Yes, as well as Cactus and John Prine.

These compilations were sold at a bargain price -- less than it would have cost to buy all the singles.

I don't know why other compilations in the same vein didn't follow, but it's possible that they didn't sell well or many of Atlantic's acts by this time didn't need additional promotion. But I wondered what a fourth compilation might have included, and this is what I came up with.

SIDE A
1. D'yer Mak'er - Led Zeppelin
2. Give It to Me - J. Geils Band
3. In the Midnight Hour - Cross Country
4. Jerusalem - Emerson, Lake and Palmer
5. Easy Money - King Crimson
6. Right Place, Wrong Time - Dr. John

SIDE B
1. Angie - The Rolling Stones
2. Isn't It About Time - Stephen Stills and Manassas
3. Jack of All Trades - Heads, Hands and Feet
4. Everything that Touches You - Michael Kamen
5. Prison Song - Graham Nash
6. Jim Dandy - Black Oak Arkansas

To determine the track list, I decided to look at the albums and singles released and distributed by Atlantic and its subsidiaries in 1973. The record company's roster was really varied. But the three compilations released focused on rock acts. So, keeping with that concept, I didn't include pop, R&B, soul or country music.

The resulting tracklist is a really mixed bag of hard rock, country rock and prog rock, with a ballad thrown in here and there. Some groups (Stones and Zep) have stood the test of time, while others (Cross Country and Heads, Hands and Feet) seem more like curiosities now. If you don't already have all the albums these songs came from (and I can't imagine anyone would), you can download most of them individually. The exceptions appear to be "Jack of All Trades" by Head, Hands and Feet and "Everything That Touches You" by Michael Kamen. For those two, you'll have to do a deep dive.

For a cover, I wanted to get inspiration from the covers of the compilation series. But none of those covers showed any relation to the others, so I figured I had free rein. In the end, I decided on a rather simple design that, quite frankly, is nicer than the covers of the actual series.

I'm on vacation!

Out of town, out of the country and out of mind.

See you in a few weeks....

Cat Stevens - "Harold and Maude" soundtrack

I suppose it made sense at the time not to release a soundtrack album to the film "Harold and Maude." There were only two original songs, and they were released as a single. Plus the rest of the songs could be easily found on Cat Stevens' albums Mona Bone Jakon and Tea for the Tillerman.

But as the years have gone by and "Harold and Maude" has become such a cult favorite, the film's lack of a soundtrack seems to be an unfortunate circumstance. 

In actuality, a sort of soundtrack was released in 1972 in Japan titled Harold and Maude. However, it did not include the two new songs; instead, it included five Cat Stevens songs that weren't used in the film. 

Then, in 2007, a vinyl-only release of 2,500 copies of an "official" soundtrack was released. But the fact that it was produced in such a limited quantity obviously didn't exactly satisfy fans. Besides the nine Cat Stevens songs, it included two instrumental versions of "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out." Plus it was released with a 7-inch single that featured an alternate version of that song and a demo of the other original tune, "Don't Be Shy." 

But unless you were one of the lucky 2,500 people who bought the album, you're basically on your own.

SIDE A

1. Don't Be Shy

2. On the Road to Find Out

3. I Wish, I Wish

4. Miles from Nowhere

5. Tea for the Tillerman

6. I Think I See the Light

SIDE B

1. Where Do the Children Play?

2. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out

3. Trouble

4. Don't Be Shy (demo version)

5. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out (alternative version)

For this album, I included all the Cat Stevens songs that were used in the film and added the demo version of "Don't Be Shy" and an alternative version of "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" that were released on the 2007 single.

The cover is from the 2007 release.

Herman's Hermits - "Sleepy Joe"

I should note right off that I'm not a big Herman's Hermits fan. Before I started working on this project, I think I could only name maybe three of the band's songs. I don't hate the band, but when it comes to '60s pop, I'd rank them far down the list of my favorites.

That said, my curiosity was piqued when I noted that MGM Records had scheduled a Herman's Hermits album titled Sleepy Joe but never issued it.

In 1968, the band released the album Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter, which was the soundtrack to a fairly lame movie (or so I've read—I have no interest in seeing it). One wonders if Herman's Hermits was really so keen on making a film with the title of a song they released three years earlier.

But like many pop bands of the British Invasion, they were seeing a decline in popularity in the late '60s. Many of the groups had been seen as gimmicky and were finding it difficult to compete with more "serious" groups.

Even though the band would continue recording into 1971, Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter was the last "new" album by the group.

I don't know why the Sleepy Joe album never saw the light of day, but the title song was the beginning of a decline in single sales for the group in the U.S. (although they continued to do well on the U.K. charts).

SIDE A

1. Sleepy Joe

2. Just One Girl

3. London Look

4. Something's Happening

5. Nobody Needs to Know

SIDE B
1. Sunshine Girl

2. Ooh! She's Done It Again

3. My Sentimental Friend

4. My Lady

5. Here Comes the Star

6. It's Alright Now

Other than the title track, I wasn't sure what should be included on this album. I've seen no tracklist for it. But the band's Blaze album was re-released in 2001 with a dozen bonus tracks, including "Sleepy Joe." And I thought, aha!

I kicked off the album with that song and began the second side with "Sunshine Girl," which was the follow-up single. The only bonus cut I didn't include was the song "The Most Beautiful Thing in My Life" because it already appears on Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter.

Overall, this album is a good example of lightweight Brit pop from the mid-to-late-'60s, and I don't mean that in a derogatory way.

As stated, all the songs can be found on the 2001 version of Blaze. For a cover, I found this photo on the web, cropped it and added titles.

"Wam Bam: Glam Rock, 1971-75" compilation

A couple of years ago I was reading about old glam rock hits, and I realized there were a lot that many people considered important to the genre, but that I'd never heard. That led me to search for a good, comprehensive compilation, but I was surprised that there really isn't one.

This may be due to key tracks being on different record labels. Or it could be that glam rock is more closely defined by what it looks like than it sounds like. Indeed, the fashion of its stars was often far more outrageous than the music.

And what songs are considered "glam rock" by one person are often categorized as "bubble gum," "power pop," or any number of other sub-genres by another. So this imagined five-CD box set includes tracks that I gathered from a number of "top glam rock songs" lists I found online. Some you'll undoubtedly agree with, others you may not.

DISC 1 - SHINING
1. Hot Love - T. Rex
2. Co-Co - The Sweet
3. Bang a Gong (Get It On) - T. Rex
4. Coz I Luv You - Slade
5. Funny, Funny - The Sweet
6. Jeepster - T. Rex
7. Alexander Graham Bell - The Sweet
8. John, I'm Only Dancing - David Bowie
9. All the Young Dudes - Mott the Hoople
10. Stay With Me - The Faces
11. Clap Your Hands and Stamp Your Feet - Bonnie St. Claire & Unit Gloria
12. Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to be a Long, Long Time) - Elton John
13. Standing in the Road - Blackfoot Sue
14. School's Out - Alice Cooper
15. Changes - David Bowie
16. Telegram Sam - T. Rex
17. Little Willy - The Sweet
18. Rock and Roll (Parts 1 & 2) - Gary Glitter
19. Virginia Plain - Roxy Music
20. Mama Weer All Crazee Now - Slade
21. Starman - David Bowie
22. Children of the Revolution - T. Rex
23. Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed
24. Elected - Alice Cooper
25. Son of My Father - Chicory Tip
26. Wig-Wam Bam - The Sweet
27. 10538 Overature - Electric Light Orchestra

DISC 2 - SPARKLING
1. The Jean Genie - David Bowie
2. Metal Guru - T. Rex
3. Poppa Joe - The Sweet
4. Crocodile Rock - Elton John
5. Gudbuy T'Jane - Slade
6. Suffragette City - David Bowie
7. Solid Gold, Easy Action - T. Rex
8. Ballroom Blitz - The Sweet
9. Cum on Feel the Noize - Slade
10. I'm the Leader of the Gang (I am) - Gary Glitter
11. See My Baby Jive - Wizzard
12. 20th Century Boy - T. Rex
13. Do You Wanna Dance - Barry Blue
14. Saturday Night - Bay City Rollers
15. Tiger Feet - Mud
16. Dancin' (On a Saturday Night) - Barry Blue
17. 48 Crash - Suzi Quatro
18. Block Buster! - The Sweet
19. Rock On - David Essex
20. Street Life - Roxy Music
21. Dynamite - Mud
22. The Groover - T. Rex
23. Angel Fingers (A Teenage Ballad) - Wizzard
24. Can the Can - Suzi Quatro
25. Hellraiser - The Sweet
26. Life on Mars? - David Bowie
27. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) - Elton John
28. Do You Wanna Touch Me There (Oh Yeah) - Gary Glitter

DISC 3 - GLITTERING
1. My Coo Ca Choo - Alvin Stardust
2. Skweeze Me Pleeze Me - Slade
3. Looking for a Kiss - New York Dolls
4. Truck On (Tyke) - T. Rex
5. Wired Up - Hector
6. All the Way from Memphis - Mott the Hoople
7. No More Mr. Nice Guy - Alice Cooper
8. All Because of You - Geordie
9. Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
10. This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us - Sparks
11. Do the Strand - Roxy Music
12. Teenage Rampage - The Sweet
13. Killer Queen - Queen
14. Jealous Mind - Alvin Stardust
15. Angel Face - The Glitter Band
16. Devil Gate Drive - Suzi Quatro
17. The "In" Crowd - Bryan Ferry
18. Bennie and the Jets - Elton John
19. Seven Deadly Finns - Brian Eno
20. Teenage Dream - Marc Bolan & T. Rex
21. Horror Movie - Skyhooks
22. Summerlove Sensation - Bay City Rollers
23. Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth - Sparks
24. Sugar Baby Love - The Rubettes
25. Magic - Pilot
26. Needle in the Camel's Eye - Brian Eno
27. Light of Love - T. Rex

DISC 4 - FADING
1. Diamond Dogs - David Bowie
2. Dance with the Devil - Cozy Powell
3. Seven Seas of Rhye - Queen
4. The Six Teens - Sweet
5. The Bitch is Back - Elton John
6. You You You - Alvin Stardust
7. Rebels Rule - Iron Virgin
8. Va Va Va Voom - Brett Smiley
9. Action - Sweet
10. Once Bitten, Twice Shy - Ian Hunter
11. Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
12. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
13. January - Pilot
14. Give Me a Little Love - Bay City Rollers
15. Nothing to Do with Us - Jet
16. All My Friends Are Getting Married - Skyhooks
17. New York Groove - Hello
18. Get Down and Get With It - Slade
19. Love is the Drug - Roxy Music
20. New York City - T. Rex
21. Glass of Champagne - Sailor
22. Bye Bye Baby - Bay City Roller
23. Fox on the Run - Sweet
24. Sky High - Jigsaw
25. The Tears I Cried - The Glitter Band
26. Roxy Roller - Sweeney Todd
27. I Love Rock n Roll - The Arrows
28. Rock and Roll All Nite - Kiss

The general consensus seems to be that glam rock began when Marc Bolan appeared on "Top of the Pops" in 1971 in glitter makeup. And the genre seems to have pretty much run its course by 1976 and the punk explosion. So I included only songs from 1971 through 1975. The songs are presented here in mostly chronological order. And what a collection it is -- it's really all over the place musically.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to me is that it remained a British phenomenon that never seemed to catch on elsewhere in the world—although the styles would greatly influence later musicians, most notably the L.A. metal scene in the 1980s.

I found the glitter background and a sparkly guitar online and used them for this box set cover and added titles.