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.

Steely Dan - "The Bear"

 

In 1980, Steely Dan released Gaucho, the band's first album in three years, and last before Donald Fagen and Walter Becker regrouped for a new album in 2000.

Several outtakes from Gaucho remain officially unreleased, although they’ve appeared on bootlegs and the Internet over the years.

I wanted to see if I could use outtakes to create a new Steely Dan album that theoretically could have been produced around 1981-82.

SIDE A

1. Kulee Baba

2. I Can't Write Home About You

3. Kind Spirit

4. Stand by the Seaside

SIDE B

1. The Bear

2. Talkin' About My Home

3. The Second Arrangement

Five known outtakes from the Gaucho album are "Kind Spirit," "Kulee Baba," "The Bear," "Talkin' About My Home," and "The Second Arrangement." I think the demo for "I Can't Write Home About You" also dates from the sessions.

“The Second Arrangement” was supposed to have been included on Gaucho, but an assistant engineer accidentally erased the track. Becker and Fagen reportedly didn’t want to start recording the song again from scratch. However, a version on a cassette was later discovered, and cleaned up and posted online by fans.

In fact, the amazing results of new software and fans’ creativity have resulted in what I think are good-sounding versions of all these leftovers.

"Stand by the Seawall" is an instrumental outtake from the Aja album. If it had been completed, it would likely have had lyrics, but I use it here as an instrumental ending for the album's first side.

Granted, seven songs make for a fairly short album, even if all the tracks range in the 4 to 5-plus-minute territory. As arranged, the album clocks in at 32:19, more than five minutes shorter than Gaucho.

And many purists will roll their eyes at the idea of using these revamped tracks to create a “new” Steely Dan album, especially given the well-documented perfectionism of Becker and Fagen. But after I arranged these songs and hit “play,” it sounded like a long-lost Steely Dan album to these ears.

I decided to use “The Bear” as the title track and then searched the Web for artwork. I found this rustic-looking image, and since it kind of looked like the California flag, I used a font similar to that used on the flag.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

Stevie Wonder - "Front Line"

 

In 1982, Stevie Wonder released a two-disc album of greatest hits titled Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I. (To date, there hasn't been an Original Musiquarium II, but I digress). On this album, he included four new tracks, all of which were also released as singles and became sizable hits.

I don't know if the four songs were specifically recorded for this compilation, they were leftover tracks from previous albums or if Wonder had originally penned them for a new album. Whatever the case, I wanted to take the four songs and see if I could find other stray tracks from the same period to create what could have been a new studio album for 1982 instead of a greatest hits package.

SIDE A

1. Front Line

2. Ribbon in the Sky

3. Stay Gold

4. What's That You're Doing?

SIDE B

1. That Girl

2. Front Line Revisited (instrumental)

3. Do I Do

Besides the four new tracks -- "Front Line," "Ribbon in the Sky," "That Girl" and "Do I Do," I also included "Stay Gold" from the soundtrack of the film "The Outsiders." Interestingly, when "The Outsiders" was rereleased several years later, director Francis Ford Coppola decided the score by his father Carmine (who co-wrote "Stay Gold") wasn't right for the film, and he changed the music. So moving the song to this album kind of saves it.

In addition, I included Wonder's collaboration with Paul McCartney, "What's That You're Doing?" It's actually not that uncommon for two singers to do a duet and then have the song appear on both of their respective solo albums (see "My Little Town" by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel). Plus, "What's That You're Doing?" always seems out of place on McCartney's Tug of War album, and I think it fits better here.

Finally, to fill out the album, I added the instrumental version of "Front Line" (found on the B-side of the single) to act as a coda before launching into the epic 10 1/2-minute "Do I Do" that concludes the album. Both sides end up clocking in at a little over 21 minutes.

I think overall this is a pretty good album with a nice musical variety and would have fit in well as a followup to Wonder's 1980 album Hotter Than July. Plus, the four tracks from Original Musiquarium I are allowed to better shine here.

I titled the album Front Line since I use two different versions of the song, and I repurposed the single's cover for the album cover after I did a little Photoshopping.

Listen to the YouTube playlist.

Triple Albums Made Single

Way back in the olden days of December 2018, I posted an entry on this blog where I took eight double studio albums and slimmed them down to a single disc.

This time around, I’m tackling four triple studio albums and slimming them down, not to a double, but also to a single disc. That’s a lot of whittling. You can be the judge of the outcomes.

 

Green Day – “¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!”

Besides listening to all the tracks, I went in search of consensus among others as to what are the best songs from the three discs. And believe me, the more you search the topic online the more you realize that no one agrees on everything. But it did appear that a few songs showed up on most lists I found and helped me narrow it down. Two of the original discs have 12 tracks and one has 13, so I decided to keep it at no more than 13.

1.       Nuclear Family

2.       Brutal Love

3.       Stay the Night

4.       Stop When the Red Lights Flash

5.       Let Yourself Go

6.       X-Kid

7.       Stray Heart

8.       Troublemaker

9.       Dirty Rotten Bastards

10.   99 Revolutions

11.   The Forgotten

12.   Oh Love

13.   Amy

 

Smashing Pumpkins – “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”

Most people probably think of this as a two-CD, 28-track album, but it was also released as a three-disc, 30-track vinyl album. With 30 tracks to choose from, it’s a lot to wade through. And consider the fact that another 30 or so songs didn’t make the final cut of the actual album (they were included later in a box set). So, to get this down to a single vinyl album, I decided to only use 10 tracks in total. And if you check various “best of” lists on the interwebs you’ll find that four tracks make nearly everyone’s list, and then it's kind of a free-for-all.

SIDE A

1.       Tonight Tonight

2.       Jellybelly

3.       Zero

4.       Bullet with Butterfly Wings

5.       Galapogos

SIDE B

1.       Muzzle

2.       Thirty-Three

3.       1979

4.       Thru the Eyes of Ruby

5.       Stumbleine

 

The Clash – “Sandanista!”

Some songs from Sandanista were obvious keepers, and some tracks seemed to me like just filler. When it came to determining the final cuts, I again went to the interwebs for various opinions on the best/worst tracks. Finally, I settled on what’s below. It was only after I completed this that I discovered a 12-track promo album called Sandanista Now! had been released (I assume to radio stations), and it only differs from my tracklist by two songs: I included "Something About England" and "Charlie Don't Surf" while Sandanista Now! excludes those songs but includes instead "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" and "Sound of Sinners." 

SIDE A

1.       The Magnificent Seven

2.       Hitsville UK

3.       Junco Partner

4.       The Leader

5.       Something About England

6.       Somebody Got Murdered

SIDE B

1.       One More Time

2.       Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)

3.       Police on My Back

4.       The Call Up

5.       Washington Bullets

6.       Charlie Don’t Surf

 

George Harrison – “All Things Must Pass”

For this album, the obvious choice for me was to first remove the third disc of jams. And then I assembled what I thought were the best nine tracks. The first side ended up being exactly the same as the released album, and the second side was a mix of the rest. The leftovers would have been a great start on a 1971 or 1972 follow-up album.

SIDE A

1.       I’d Have You Anytime

2.       My Sweet Lord

3.       Wah-Wah

4.       Isn’t It a Pity (v. 1)

SIDE B

1.       What is Life

2.       Run of the Mill

3.       Beware of Darkness

4.       The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)

5.       All Things Must Pass

 

David Bowie - "Magic"

There were three years between the release of David Bowie's Tonight album in 1984 and his follow-up Never Let Me Down album in 1987. In fact, Bowie released songs on three soundtracks in 1986. I thought that if those tunes were collected together, we could have a Bowie album for that year.

In all, there are 10 Bowie tracks that appeared on the Labyrinth, Absolute Beginners and When the Wind Blows soundtracks.

1. Opening Titles – Underground
2. Absolute Beginners
3. Magic Dance
4. Chilly Down
5. As the World Falls Down
6. When the Wind Blows
7. Within You
8. Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)
9. That’s Motivation
10. Underground

Of the three soundtracks, Labyrinth has the most Bowie songs with six, Absolute Beginners has three and When the Wind Blows has just the title track. I decided to mix the sequence of the songs and I think the result is generally satisfying, although the '80s production can be annoying. Then again, it's that shared mid-'80s production that allows all the tracks to gel as an album.

The album's length is 39:42, longer than Tonight (35:47) but much shorter than Never Let Me Down (53:07—although this album would later be shortened to 48:06 when one of the songs was jettisoned from re-releases). So, although short by today's standards, this imagined album actually measures up lengthwise with the times.

For a cover, I chose the slip sleeve for the "Magic Dance" single and altered it a bit, including spelling out the title in the Flood font. I decided to call the album Magic as I thought calling it Magic Dance was too much like the Let's Dance album title. Plus I liked the simplicity of the title. All tracks can be found on the aforementioned soundtracks. They're also all on the Loving the Alien (1983-1988) box set.

To hear how this album would sound, check out the YouTube playlist.

Boston - "Third Stage" [reimagined]

Following the end of Boston's tour in 1979, lead guitarist, producer and principal songwriter Tom Scholz announced to the band that he was going to take a break for about a year, according to rhythm guitarist Barry Goudreau. Goudreau got together with bandmembers singer Brad Delp and drummer Sib Hashian and recorded a few tracks. According to Goudreau, they brought them to Scholz hoping he'd be interested in using them for a new Boston album. However, Scholz said he'd simply like to produce the record, and Goudreau felt that the record company wasn't going to allow Scholz to do anything other than a Boston album. So more music was recorded and eventually released as Goudreau's self-titled solo album.

To promote the album, the record company inferred in advertisements that Goudreau's guitar was the sound behind Boston, which infuriated Scholz. Reportedly, Scholz contacted the record company (CBS) and told them to either stop promoting the album or they'd never see another Boston album. Not only was the promotion of Goudreau's album discontinued, but soon after, Scholz fired Goudreau from the band. 

Sometime in 1980, the remaining members of Boston recorded four tracks. But it wouldn't be long before other members, including Hashian and bassist Fran Sheehan, were kicked out of the band. This basically left only Scholz and Delp along with hired sidemen. Then Scholz broke a finger, there were various lawsuits, Boston signed with a different record company, etc. etc. Finally, Third Stage was released in 1986, more than eight years after the band's previous album Don't Look Back. By that time, music trends had changed dramatically and it was a case of too little, too late. 

I wanted to see what could have been had Goudreau's tracks and Scholz's 1980 tracks been used on a new Boston album circa 1980/1981.

SIDE A

1. We're Ready

2. Dreams

3. Mean Woman Blues

4. Life is What We Make It

5. Amanda

SIDE B

1. The Launch

• Countdown
• Ignition
• Third Stage Separation

2. Cool The Engines

3. Hard Luck

4. What's a Fella to Do?

5. Shattered Images (Help Me) [live]

I used five tracks from Goudreau's album, all but one of which were co-written with Delp and all feature Delp on lead vocals and Hashian on drums. From Third Stage, I used the four tracks that were recorded in 1980, which all feature Delp and Hashian. And then I went about determining a track order.

First of all, I've always found "Amanda" to be an odd choice to lead off the album. It's a ballad and just doesn't seem to be the right way to kick off a Boston album. The second song, "We're Ready," seems tailor-made as the album opener and so that's what I went with here. Next, I used a song that was the single from Goudreau's solo album, "Dreams." Another track from Goudreau's album, "Mean Woman Blues," adds a bit of boogie to the mix and allows for some musical variety. One more Goudreau track, "Life is What We Make It," follows. Then we close out the first side of the album with the ballad "Amanda."

The second side opens with the three-part instrumental "The Launch," which then leads into "Cool the Engines." Two Goudreau tracks follow with "Hard Luck" and "What's a Fella to Do?"

I chose something not on either Third Stage or Barry Goudreau for the final track. Instead, I picked a track Boston played in concert often between 1976 and 1979, but never (as far as I know) recorded in the studio: "Shattered Images (Help Me)." There are quite a few recordings available from different shows, but I liked the one recorded at a show in Long Beach, Calif., in 1977. This track provides a big, enthusiastic ending for the album. You can find this version on a bootleg called Permission to Land, and it can also be found on YouTube.

Interestingly, at least for me, Hashian is the only person who performs on all the tracks.

I take no credit for the cover art. I found it being used for Boston songs on YouTube uploaded by ColdFrixion, and I thought it would make a nice alternative to the original cover and show that this is a different version.

Here's a YouTube Playlist of what the album could sound like.

Led Zeppelin - Post Breakup Albums

For the first five albums, the tracks were left in the vault whenever Led Zeppelin had additional songs that didn’t fit. But with the recording of Physical Graffiti, instead of cutting songs that didn’t fit they decided to instead expand to a double album and include unused songs from the past to fill it out.

However, I wondered how things might have turned out if the band had gone its usual route and, after the band's end, continued issuing albums of leftover tracks into the 1980s.

So first, I had to cut Physical Graffiti down to a single disc:

SIDE A

1. Custard Pie
2. Trampled Underfoot
3. In My Time of Dying

SIDE B

1. Kashmir
2. Ten Years Gone
3. Sick Again

To keep both sides around 20 minutes, I was forced to cut “In the Light” and “The Wanton Song.” I like both songs, so it wasn't easy—and that's essentially why Zeppelin chose not to cut them and turned the album into a double.

Then, knowing what we know now from compilations and the remastered albums with bonus tracks, I worked backward and created three new albums that could have been released following Led Zeppelin’s breakup.

TRIANGULUM

SIDE A

1. Ozone Baby
2. Darlene
3. Bonzo’s Montreux
4. Wearing and Tearing

SIDE B

1. In the Light
2. 10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod)
3. The Wanton Song

If the first side looks familiar, that's probably because it's the same track list and order as the second side of Coda, including three outtakes from In Through the Out Door and John Bonham's drum track from 1976. The second side here has my two Physical Graffiti outtakes as well as a long instrumental outtake from Presence. I chose Triangulum as the title because the Triangulum Galaxy apparently has a lot of hydrogen, which is the gas that filled the Hindenburg. How's that for random? For a cover, I used a chart by German astronomer Johannes Hevelius from 1687 of the constellations of Pavo, Ara and Triangulm Australe and surrounding constellations, and added titles. 

CLOUD SERENADE

SIDE A

1. Walter’s Walk
2. The Rover
3. Down by the Seaside
4. Friends (Bombay version)

SIDE B

1. Black Country Woman
2. Houses of the Holy
3. Four Hands (Bombay version)
4. Boogie with Stu
5. Night Flight

Here we have an all-“new” album featuring outtakes from the fourth album and Houses of the Holy, as well as Page and Plant's experiment with the Bombay Orchestra where they re-recorded two Zeppelin tracks. For a cover, I used this image of a bunch of zeppelins from Dissolve, cropped it and decided to leave off any titles as the band often did with album covers. Assume that the band name and album title would have been a sticker on the plastic wrap. I chose the title because I thought the zeppelins looked a bit like clouds.

ALBION REVISITED

SIDE A

1. Sugar Mama
2. Jennings Farm Blues
3. Poor Tom
4. St. Tristan’s Sword
5. Key to the Highway/Trouble in Mind

SIDE B

1. Baby Come Home
2. Bron-Yr-Aur
3. Hey, Hey, What Can I Do?
4. La La
5. Medley: I Feel So Bad/Travelling Riverside Blues/32-20 Blues/Diving Duck Blues/Fixin' to Die/That's All Right (Mama)

These tracks include outtakes from the first three albums, but primarily from III, including also "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" which was originally released as a b-side to "The Immigrant Song." The last track has not actually been officially released but is available on various bootlegs and on the web, sometimes titled “Blues Medley.” For cover art, I used a stock photo of the abandoned English village of Tyneham and added titles. Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain and is sometimes used poetically to refer to the island. So I titled the album Albion Revisited yet showing a ruined, abandoned town, which I thought was sort of symbolic.

And there you have it: three albums of outtakes arranged close to reverse chronologically. I think the release of these would have been better than the somewhat haphazard way the tracks popped up over the years. I also think it would have been interesting if these had been released each year beginning in 1982 as it would have continued the band's album releases into the mid-'80s.

 

 

Led Zeppelin - "Archives"

I was thinking about the remastered Led Zeppelin albums and wondering whether there was enough material out there to create something similar to the Beatles’ Anthology series. Anthology 1, 2 and 3 included alternate takes, demos, live tracks and other odds and ends. While Jimmy Page was likely uninterested in duplicating the product of another band, there’s nothing stopping us from putting something together. Like Anthology, I divided up the songs into track lists for three theoretical CD sets. 

The Beatles’ Anthology 1 included tracks by the Quarrymen and pre-Ringo Beatles. In a similar vein, I decided to use non-Zeppelin songs that featured members of the band prior to its forming. Most of the material I ended up using came from the bonus materials on the deluxe versions of Zeppelin's remastered albums. However, I did snag a few tracks from bootlegs, DVDs and other sources to give a more complete picture. When it came to including non-Zeppelin material, I almost always used songs that included at least two members of the band, the exception being a couple of Yardbirds tracks.

I decided to call the theoretical box set Archives.

I kept the track lists in mostly chronological order. But I decided to kick off the first set with a live version of “Train Kept a Rollin’” from 1969 for the simple reason that it acts as a good introduction, literally and figuratively ("Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the [sic] Led Zeppelin!"). "Train Kept a Rollin'" is supposedly the first song Led Zeppelin rehearsed, and the band then used it to open most of their shows for the first tour. So it seems appropriate to use it to open our set as well. I included Donovan's "Sunshine Superman," and while I'm not positive, it may be the earliest session that both Page and John Paul Jones participated in together.

We then have “Beck’s Bolero,” a Jeff Beck song “written” by Page, and featuring both Page and Jones. It’s been said that during this session the name Led Zeppelin was conjured up by Keith Moon (he said the group would go over like a lead balloon) who also played on the session. I also included the Yardbirds' tracks "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" and “No Excess Baggage” because besides Page, they also feature Jones on bass. And both Page and Jones also played on the track "Burn Up" from an album that was supposed to be the debut of singer Keith DeGroot, but ended up showcasing the more famous session players instead. 

“Hey Joe” is a demo by the Band of Joy that included both Robert Plant and John Bonham. I also added “Dazed and Confused” by the Yardbirds since it would become such a major song for Zeppelin. The eighth track is "Jim's Blues" by P.J. Proby, featuring all four members of Zeppelin backing him, and the first released recording with all four members together. After that, I included various outtakes, backing tracks and alternate mixes that were bonus tracks on the remastered Zeppelin albums, as well as a selection of early live tracks. Also included is the Screaming Lord Sutch song “‘Cause I Love You,” which features Bonham and Page.

Archives 1

1.       Train Kept a Rollin’ [live at Texas International Pop Festival, 31 Aug. 1969] - bootleg

2.       Sunshine Superman [Donovan with Jones and Page, December 1965] - Donovan's Sunshine Superman

3.    Beck’s Bolero [Jeff Beck with Jones and Page, 16 May 1966] - Beck's Truth

4.    Happenings Ten Years Time Ago [The Yardbirds including Page with Jones, October 1966] - Yardbirds' single

5.       No Excess Baggage [The Yardbirds including Page with Jones, Spring 1967] - Yardbirds' Little Games

6.    Burn Up [Keith DeGroot with Jones and Page, late 1967] - No Introductions Necessary

7.       Hey Joe [demo, Band of Joy including Bonham and Plant, early 1968] - Plant's Sixty Six to Timbuktu

8.       Dazed and Confused [The Yardbirds including Page, live on French TV "Boutan Rouge" show, 9 March 1968] - Yardbirds' Cumular Limit

9.      Jim's Blues [P.J. Proby with Bonham, Jones, Page and Plant, September 1968] - Proby's Three Week Hero

10.     You Shook Me [alternate version, Fall 1968] - bootleg

11.   Baby, Come on Home [outtake, Fall 1968] - Coda bonus

12.   Sugar Mama [outtake, Fall 1968] - Coda bonus

13.   Killing Floor [live at Whiskey a Go Go, Los Angeles, 5 Jan. 1969] - bootleg

14.   For Your Love [live at Whiskey a Go Go, Los Angeles, 5 Jan. 1969] - bootleg

15.   What Is and What Should Never Be [rough mix with vocal, January 1969] - Led Zeppelin II bonus

16.   Moby Dick [intro/outro rough mix, January 1969] - Led Zeppelin II bonus

17.   How Many More Times [live at Gadsaxe Teen Club (TV BYEN – Danmarks Radio), Gladsaxe, Denmark, 17 March 1969] - Led Zeppelin DVD

18.   Sunshine Woman [live at Maida Vale Studios, London, 19 March 1969] - BBC Sessions

19.   Dazed and Confused [live on Supershow, Staines Studio, London, 25 March 1969] - BBC Sessions

20.   As Long As I Have You (edit) [live at Fillmore West, San Francisco, 27 April 1969] - bootleg

21.   Whole Lotta Love [rough mix with vocal, May 1969] - Led Zeppelin II bonus

22.   Thank You [backing track, Spring 1969] - Led Zeppelin II bonus

23.   Heartbreaker [rough mix with vocal, Spring 1969] - Led Zeppelin II bonus

24.   Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) [backing track, Spring 1969] - Led Zeppelin II bonus

25.   Ramble On [rough mix with vocal, Spring 1969] - Led Zeppelin II bonus

26.   Bring It On Home [rough mix, Spring 1969] - Coda bonus

27.   La La [outtake (backing track), Spring 1969] - Led Zeppelin II bonus

28.   The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair [live at Aeolian Hall (BBC), London, 16 June 1969] - BBC Sessions

29.   Somethin’ Else [live at Aeolian Hall (BBC), London, 16 June 1969] - BBC Sessions

30.   Travelling Riverside Blues [live at Maida Vale Studios (BBC), London, 24 June 1969] - BBC Sessions

31.   White Summer/Black Mountain Side [live at Playhouse Theatre (BBC), London, 27 June 1969] - BBC Sessions

32.   ‘Cause I Love You [Screaming Lord Sutch with Bonham and Page, Summer 1969] - Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends

33.   Good Times, Bad Times (intro) / Communication Breakdown [live at L'Olympia Bruno Coquatrix, Paris, 10 Oct. 1969] - Led Zeppelin bonus

34.   Whole Lotta Love [single edit, November 1969] - single

35.   I Can't Quit You Baby [live rehearsal (edit) at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England, 9 Jan. 1970] - BBC Sessions

36.   We’re Gonna Groove [live (edit) at Royal Albert Hall, London, 9 Jan. 1970 (audience removed)] - Coda

 

For the second set, I included various alternate mixes, outtakes and a b-side from the sessions for Led Zeppelin III, the fourth album and Houses of the Holy, plus a couple of live recordings from 1971. 

Archives 2

1.       The Immigrant Song [alternative mix, Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

2.       Friends [backing track – no vocal, Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

3.       Celebration Day [alternative mix, Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

4.       Since I've Been Loving You [rough mix of first recording, Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

5.       Bathroom Sound (Out on the Tiles) [backing track – no vocal, Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

6.       Gallows Pole [rough mix, Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

7.       That's the Way [rough mix with dulcimer and backwards echo, Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

8.       Jennings Farm Blues (Bron-Y-Aur Stomp) [rough mix, Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

9.       Hey, Hey What Can I Do? [b-side of “Immigrant Song” single, Spring 1970]  - Coda

10.   Poor Tom [outtake, Spring 1970]  - Coda

11.   St. Tristan's Sword [outtake, Spring 1970] - Coda bonus

12.   Key to the Highway / Trouble in Mind [outtake (rough mix), Spring 1970] - Led Zeppelin III bonus

13.   Black Dog [basic track with guitar overdubs, early 1971] - Led Zeppelin IV bonus

14.   Rock and Roll [alternate mix, early 1971]- Led Zeppelin IV bonus

15.   The Battle of Evermore [mandolin/guitar mix, early 1971] - Led Zeppelin IV bonus

16.   Stairway to Heaven [Sunset Sound mix, early 1971] - Led Zeppelin IV bonus

17.   Misty Mountain Hop [alternate mix, early 1971] - Led Zeppelin IV bonus

18.   Four Sticks [alternate mix, early 1971] - Led Zeppelin IV bonus

19.   Going to California [mandolin/guitar mix, early 1971] - Led Zeppelin IV bonus

20.   If It Keeps On Raining (When the Levee Breaks) [rough mix, early 1971]  - Coda bonus

21.   Boogie with Stu [Sunset Sound mix, early 1971] - Physical Graffiti bonus

22.   Whole Lotta Love / Boogie Chillun' / Fixin' to Die / That's Alright Mama / A Mess of Blues [live at Paris Theatre, London, 1 April 1971] - BBC Sessions

23.   Rock and Roll [live at Festival Hall, Osaka, 29 Sept. 1971] - bootleg

24.   The Song Remains the Same [guitar overdub reference mix, Spring 1972] - Houses of the Holy bonus

25.   The Rain Song [mix minus piano, Spring 1972] - Houses of the Holy bonus

26.   Over the Hills and Far Away [guitar mix backing track, Spring 1972] - Houses of the Holy bonus

27.   The Crunge [rough mix – keys up, Spring 1972] - Houses of the Holy bonus

28.   Dancing Days [rough mix with vocal, Spring 1972] - Houses of the Holy bonus

29.   No Quarter [rough mix with keyboard overdubs – no vocal, Spring 1972] - Houses of the Holy bonus

30.   The Ocean [working mix, Spring 1972] - Houses of the Holy bonus

31.   Houses of the Holy [rough mix with overdubs, Spring 1972] - Physical Graffiti bonus

32.   Walter’s Walk [outtake, Spring 1972] - Coda

 

The third set includes the remakes of “Four Sticks” and “Friends” that Page and Plant recorded with the Bombay Orchestra, plus more selected live cuts, and rarities from the sessions of Physical Graffiti, Presence and In Through the Out Door. I also included “Rockestra Theme,” which was recorded live for the Concert for Kampuchea by an all-star group of musicians that featured Bonham, Jones, and Plant. A live version of “Train Kept a Rollin’” from the band’s last tour brings the set full circle.

Archives 3

1.       L.A. Drone / Immigrant Song [live at Long Beach Arena and Los Angeles Forum, June 1972] - How the West was Won

2.       Four Hands (Four Sticks) [Page and Plant remake with Bombay Orchestra, October 1972] - Coda bonus

3.       Friends [Page and Plant remake with Bombay Orchestra, October 1972] - Coda bonus

4.       Bring It On Home (intro) / Black Dog [live at Madison Square Garden, New York, July 1973] - The Song Remains the Same

5.       The Ocean [live at Madison Square Garden, New York, July 1973] - The Song Remains the Same

6.       In My Time of Dying [initial/rough mix, early 1974] - Physical Graffiti bonus

7.       Brandy & Coke (Trampled Under Foot) [initial/rough mix, early 1974] - Physical Graffiti bonus

8.       Kashmir [rough orchestra mix, early 1974] - Physical Graffiti bonus

9.       Everybody Makes It Through (In the Light) [early version/in transit, early 1974] - Coda bonus

10.   Desire (The Wanton Song) [rough mix, early 1974] - Coda bonus

11.   Sick Again [early version, early 1974] - Physical Graffiti bonus

12.   Swan Song [demo, 1974] - bootleg

13.   In My Time of Dying [live at Earl’s Court, London, 25 May 1975] - Led Zeppelin DVD

14.   Two Ones Are Won (Achilles Last Stand) [reference mix, Fall 1975] - Presence bonus

15.   For Your Life [reference mix, Fall 1975] - Presence bonus

16.   Royal Orleans [reference mix, Fall 1975] - Presence bonus

17.   Hots On for Nowhere [reference mix, Fall 1975] - Presence bonus

18.   10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod) [reference mix, Fall 1975] - Presence bonus

19.   Bonzo’s Montreax [demo, September 1976] - Coda

20. Black Country Woman [live at Seattle Kingdome, 17 July 1977] - bootleg

21.   Fire (Say You’re Gonna Leave Me) [rehearsal, Fall 1978] - bootleg

22.   In the Evening [rough mix, Fall 1978] - In Through the Out Door bonus

23.   Southbound Piano (South Bound Saurez) [rough mix, Fall 1978] - In Through the Out Door bonus

24.   Fool in the Rain [short version, Fall 1978] - radio promo

25.   Hot Dog [rough mix, Fall 1978] - In Through the Out Door bonus

26.   The Epic (Carouselambra) [rough mix, Fall 1978] - In Through the Out Door bonus

27.   The Hook (All My Love) [rough mix, Fall 1978] - In Through the Out Door bonus

28.   Blot (I'm Gonna Crawl) [rough mix, Fall 1978] - In Through the Out Door bonus

29.   Wearing and Tearing [outtake, Fall 1978] - Coda

30.   Darlene [outtake, Fall 1978] - Coda

31.   Ozone Baby [outtake, Fall 1978] - Coda

32.   In the Evening [live at Knebworth Festival, 4 Aug. 1979] - Led Zeppelin DVD

33.   Rockestra Theme [Rockestra including Bonham, Jones and Plant, live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, 29 Dec. 1979] - Rock for Kampuchea

34.   Hot Dog [live at Sporthalle, Cologne, 18 June 1980] - bootleg

35.   Money (That’s What I Want) [live at Festhalle, Frankfurt, 30 June 1980] - bootleg

36.   Train Kept a Rollin’ [live at Festhalle, Frankfurt, 30 June 1980] - bootleg

As one can imagine, a number of these tracks are very long, and if you wanted to fit all these songs on CDs, each set would likely be a three-CD set. The Beatles' Anthology sets were each two CDs, but they didn't perform really long live versions of their songs like Zeppelin did. 

The sources of the songs are listed after each title. I put together the album covers using old photos of Zeppelins, texture backgrounds and a free Led Zeppelin-esque font.