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]