T. Rex - "Billy Super Duper"

 

At the time of his death in 1977, Marc Bolan was working on several new songs. But there’s no way of knowing whether any of them would have ended up on his next T. Rex album. He apparently left behind no notes, although there are references to the working title of Jack Daniels.

Over the years, there have been attempts, both official and unofficial (see Uncle Dan’s version), to create an album from leftover tracks. The primary version was a 1982 release titled Billy Super Duper that included seven songs recorded in 1977, one from 1976, two from 1975 and one from way back in 1972, and some of the tracks featured new overdubs to make them more fleshed-out tunes. Beyond that, there have been gobs of posthumously released albums with demos, alternate takes and pretty much every note Bolan ever recorded. The truth is, Bolin recorded so many demos between 1975-77, there’s no telling what he might have released had he lived longer.

SIDE A

1. 21^st Century Stance

2. Billy Super Duper

3. Shy Boy

4. Mellow Love

5. Endless Sleep

6. Brain Police

7. Write Me a Song

 

SIDE B

1. 20^th Century Baby

2. Hot George

3. Foxy Boy

4. Love Drunk

5. Depth Charge

6. Messing with the Mystic

7. Sing Me a Song

Looking over some of the last songs he recorded, I was struck by how several titles were similar and wondered if I couldn’t arrange a track list that created a concept album with the two sides of the album kind of mirroring each other. Bolan had attempted to create a concept album in 1975 titled Billy Super Duper, but apparently discarded the concept because his last two albums in 1976 and 1977 didn’t include any reference to it.

For this, I took 10 of the 12 songs featured on the 1982 Billy Super Duper release. It appears that at least seven of them were recorded in 1977 before the overdubs were done. I also included “Endless Sleep,” which Bolan performed on his 1977 TV series. I then added two tracks that are probably from 1976: “Write Me a Song” and the very similar “Sing Me a Song.” And finally, I included “Messing with the Mystic.” Although it’s a demo, the sound quality is pretty good, although not great. But I felt that title-wise it kind of matched up with "Brain Police."

So we end up with "21st Century Stance" paired with "20th Century Baby," "Billy Super Duper" matched with "Hot George," "Shy Boy" mirroring "Foxy Boy," and so on.

The result is a nice 14-track album, with Side A clocking in at just under 20 minutes and Side B at about 18½ minutes. It’s the kind of album where at first glance and listen, there is a concept, but on closer examination, there really isn’t.

Besides the 1982 Billy Super Duper, my source for these tracks was Marc Bolan & T. Rex Unchained: Unreleased Recordings 1972 -1977.

In deciding on an album title, I felt that calling it Jack Daniels would have been just asking for a lawsuit and a title his record company likely would have rejected (plus I didn't think it had anything to do with the "concept" I'm attempting). So, I went with Billy Super Duper. For cover art, I found this image online and redid the wording.

I tried to put together a YouTube playlist for this album, as I've done for other blog entries this year, but unfortunately, some songs can't be found there. Oh well.

 

George Harrison -- "Cosmic Empire"

 

I recently came upon walrusz’s YouTube channel where he’s added some new studio backing to a few demos George Harrison recorded. That led me to read up more on the 50^th anniversary of Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album where I discovered there were a number of outtakes he never officially released in his lifetime.

I’ve often thought that Harrison waited too long to record a follow-up to All Things Must Pass. Yes, it was a triple album (or a double album with an extra disc of jamming) and it was a massive success when it was released in 1970. However, his former bandmates released more albums than he did from 1970 through 1973. Paul McCartney issued five studio albums during that span and John Lennon released four. Even Ringo Starr recorded three studio albums. Meanwhile, George issued two: All Things Must Pass (1970) and Living in the Material World (1973).

Considering George supposedly had tons of songs he’d written that had been rejected by the other Beatles (namely John and Paul), one might think that he’d be keen to now get it all out there and have a follow-up album in 1971 or 1972. But in fact, he had other priorities, including legal issues, a failing marriage, the organization of the Concert for Bangla Desh and the care for his mother who was dying. 

So here's my attempt at an album that could have been.

SIDE A

1.      Cosmic Empire 

2.      Mother Divine 

3.      Window, Window 

4.      Dehra Dun 

5.      Going Down to Golders Green 

6.      Nowhere to Go 

SIDE B

1.      I Live for You

2.      Deep Blue 

3.      Tell Me What Has Happened to You 

4.      Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna) 

5.      I Don’t Want to Do It 

There were several songs George demoed in 1970 that he later recorded for albums, and I decided not to use those.

Looking and searching, I found 11 songs that could have been used for a late 1971 or early 1972 album. I used five tracks that walrusz posted on his YouTube channel: “Cosmic Empire,” “Nowhere to Go,” “Dehra Dun,” “Mother Divine” and “Window Window.” For the latter song, I snipped off the studio chatter at the very beginning as I found it distracting. 

I also included the 2000 overdubbed version of “I Live for You” that George released with the 40^th anniversary of All Thing Must Pass, as well as the demos for “Going Down to Golders Green,” "Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna)," “Tell Me What Has Happened to You” and “I Don’t Want to Do It” from the 50^th anniversary of the album. 

And finally, I included “Deep Blue,” the B-side of George’s 1971 “Bangla Desh” single. I thought about including “Bangla Desh” as well, but it’s very apparent that it was always meant to be a standalone single.

I especially like using the Bob Dylan-penned “I Don’t Want to Do It” to end the album with just George on vocals and guitar. The song's final line “I don't want to say goodbye” and abrupt stop seemed like a great ending, I think. George actually re-recorded the song in 1985 for the Porky’s Revenge soundtrack, and that seems like a sad result for a Dylan song that he himself never recorded. Using it here gives the song a bit more respect.

The result is what I think is a very enjoyable 11-track album. For the album cover, I found this photo of George online and added the words. I titled it Cosmic Empire after the lead-off track.

Here is a YouTube playlist of the album. Enjoy!

The Byrds - "Younger Than Yesterday" redone

I was recently inspired by the Albums That Never Were blog post, in which The Byrds’ album The Notorious Byrd Brothers was redone as if David Crosby had not been fired. I looked at the band’s previous album, Younger Than Yesterday, the first without any input from Gene Clark, and created a new version. This one includes three songs by Clark that were on his first solo album released nearly simultaneously with Younger Than Yesterday.

SIDE A

1. So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star

2. Have You Seen Her Face

3. Needing Someone

4. CTA – 102

5. Renaissance Fair

6. Time Between

7. Everybody’s Been Burned 

SIDE B

1. So You Say You Lost Your Baby 

2. Mind Gardens 

3. The Girl with No Name 

4. Tried So Hard

5. It Happens Each Day

6. My Back Pages

Without contributions from Clark, Chris Hillman stepped up with four songs, plus a co-write with Roger McGuinn. This is interesting because prior to this, no other Hillman-written songs had been recorded by the band other than one track that was a group effort.

Rather than simply inserting Clark's songs, I looked at the album overall to see if I could improve it (at least in my mind). The album as released is very short – the first side clocks in less than 14 minutes. Besides adding three Clark tunes, I also decided to jettison two other tracks to make room for them. I removed Hillman’s “Thoughts and Words” as I didn’t think it contributed much, especially as the opening track of Side B. Plus, Hillman already has four other writing credits on the album. I also removed “Why,” a song co-written by McGuinn and Crosby. This was an odd choice in the first place because the band had released a slower version of the same song as a B side to the “Eight Miles High” single the previous year.

Clark’s solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers, includes both Hillman and Michael Clarke throughout, so it actually has three “Byrds” playing on it. I included the tracks “Needing Someone,” “So You Say You Lost Your Baby” and “Tried So Hard.” The first two I added because I simply liked them the most. I included “Tried So Hard” because I saw a video on YouTube of Clark performing it in maybe the late 1970s so I figured it must have been important to him. Also, Hillman recorded it in the early 1970s with his later group The Flying Burrito Brothers, so obviously he liked the track too.

Finally, I also added one outtake from the album, Crosby’s “It Happens Each Day.” Other than the insertions and deletions, the album's tracklist remains pretty much the same, although I moved the cover of Dylan’s “My Back Pages” to the end to close out the album. Because the album title is inspired by the song, and since it was released as a single, I thought ending the album with it made sense.

The result is an album with more variety, more tracks and a longer running time (each side is just under 16 minutes). It wasn’t until after I’d figured out a tracklist I liked that I realized the songs opening both sides have the same two first words in their titles. Weird.

And now for a special treat (ha!), I went the extra mile and created a second version of the album as a double, adding in more Clark songs and outtakes (see below). Sides A-C are about 15:10 give or take a second, while the fourth side is about 20 seconds shorter. You decide what you like more: a single or double album.

For cover art, I needed a photo that included Gene Clark, making the one I chose a bit dated. But doesn't having a photo of them a year or two earlier fit in with the album's title? Hmmmm. Otherwise, I think it looks good for a simple design. I removed some background imagery and added titles.

SIDE A 

1. So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star

2. I Know My Rider (I Know You Rider) 

3. Think I'm Gonna Feel Better 

4. Time Between

5. The Same One 

6. Mind Gardens 

SIDE B 

1. So You Say You Lost Your Baby 

2. The Girl with No Name 

3. CTA-102

4. Is Yours Is Mine 

5. Everybody's Been Burned 

6. Echoes 

SIDE C 

1. Have You Seen Her Face 

2. It Happens Each Day 

3. Needing Someone

4. Don’t Make Waves 

5. I Found You 

6. Psychodrama City 

SIDE D 

1. Renaissance Fair 

2. Couldn't Believe Her

3. Why

4. Tried So Hard 

5. Thoughts and Words 

6. My Back Pages 

Here's a YouTube playlist of the double album version.

Sources: 

* Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers

* The Byrds' Younger Than Yesterday 1996 version with bonus tracks

* The Byrds box set

The Yardbirds - "Solo Flights"

 

Happy New Year!

In 1966, the Yardbirds' management encouraged band members to bring attention to the group through success in solo projects. The first to do so was singer Keith Relf, who issued two singles, although the highest they appeared on the charts was #50. 

Guitarist Jeff Beck also recorded a track, although it was nearly a year before it was issued, and by that time he was out of the group.

Jimmy Page joined the Yardbirds in June 1966. Although he didn't release a solo single as a member of the Yardbirds, Page had issued a single the previous year. 

I can find no solo recordings by other members of the group. If there were plans for recordings by Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty or even soon-to-depart Paul Samwell-Smith, they may have been canceled after Relf's dismal showing on the charts. I mean, if the lead singer can't get a hit song, how do you expect any of the other members to do so?

I wondered if I took the solo material by Relf, Beck and Page, along with an added soundtrack cut by the band from '66, we could compile a new "Yardbirds" album.

SIDE A

1. Stroll On (The Yardbirds)

2. Knowing (Keith Relf)

3. She Just Satisfies (Jimmy Page)

4. Mr. Zero (Keith Relf)

SIDE B

1. Beck's Bolero (Jeff Beck)

2. Shapes in My Mind (Keith Relf)

3. Keep Movin' (Jimmy Page) 

4. Blue Sands (credited to Keith Relf)

We start the album with "Stroll On," a song the Yardbirds recorded for the film "Blow Out," in which they appear performing the song. Although the writing of the song is credited to the Yardbirds, it's actually a re-write of "Train Kept A-Rollin'," which the band had recorded the previous year.

The next track is "Knowing," one of four songs from Relf's two solo singles. This is followed by Page's "She Just Satisfies" and Relf's "Mr. Zero" which closes the album's first side.

Side B opens with "Beck's Bolero," which is based on Maurice Ravel's "Bolero." Also featured on the song are Page, Keith Moon, John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins. Beck would later say that two or three other songs were recorded at the same session. Sadly, they've apparently been lost, erased or misfiled.

This is followed by tracks by Relf and Page. The last track, "Blue Sands," is an instrumental that first appeared on the B-side of Relf's second single. Although credited to Relf, apparently he doesn't appear on the song at all. It was, in fact, recorded by a British group called The Outsiders. I included it only because it had been credited to Relf, so theoretically, it would have been included in an album if one had been issued at the time.

This compilation results in a very short album, actually more likely an EP. But it is a nice way to package up some loose ends of Yardbirds-related songs. If you want to expand it a bit, there are a couple of tracks by The All-Stars featuring Jeff Beck (that also include Page) that were recorded in 1965.

Three of the Relf tracks can be found on the album All the Falling Angels - Solo Recordings & Collaborations 1965-1976. As far as I've been able to find, the song "Blue Sands" appears to only be available on the original single. "Beck's Bolero" is available on Beck's Truth album. The two Page tracks can be found on the album Session Man: Vol. 1.

For the cover, I chose a stock image of five biplanes, added the band and record company logos, and added the title.

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.

Arthur Lyman -- The Exotic Worlds of Arthur Lyman

The "big three" of tiki exotica music are Les Baxter, Martin Denny, and Arthur Lyman. A few years ago I got two double-CD compilations of works by Baxter and Denny titled The Exotic Moods of Les Baxter and The Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny that were released in 1996. Both featured cover art by Mark Ryden. I play them as background music for our home tiki bar.

However, there wasn't a similar release for Arthur Lyman, and I felt it was lacking from the collection, so I created one myself.

DISC 1

01 - Isle of Golden Dreams

02 - Ebb Tide

03 - Black Orchid

04 - Afro Blue

05 - Jungle Drums

06 - Akaka Falls

07 - Blue Hawaii

08 - Fire Down Below

09 - Aloha No Honolulu

10 - Jungle Fantasy

11 - Harbor Lights

12 - Bolero

13 - Hawaiian War Chant

14 - Bahia

15 - Jungle Jalopy

16 - Bwana A

17 - Beyond the Reef

18 - Caravan

19 - Hawaii Tattoo

20 - Ke Kali Nei Au

DISC 2

01 - Sweet Leilani

02 - Koni Au I Ka Wai

03 - My Tane

04 - The Limbo Rock

05 - Pele

06 - La Paloma

07 - Sweet Someone

08 - Theme from Adventures in Paradise

09 - Mapauna

10 - Quiet Village

11 - Taboo

12 - The Moon of Manakoora

13 - Midnight Sun

14 - Return to Paradise

15 - Whispering Reef Lullaby

16 - Taboo Tu

17 - Misirlou

18 - Ringo Oiwake

19 - The (Jungle) Cat

20 - Yellow Bird

In deciding what tracks to include by Lyman, I searched through various "best of" collections but focused mainly on songs featuring titles about the South Pacific or exotic locations. Both the Baxter and Denny compilations include 40 tracks each, with 20 tunes per disc. So, in keeping with the format, I chose 40 songs of Lyman's music.

The collection begins with "Isle of Golden Dreams," originally released in 1958 on Lyman's Hawaiian Sunset LP. It's a rather slow, "dreamy" piece that I thought would allow the listener to drift into the mood. All the instrumentals presented here can transport you to a mythical tropic island with their use of vibraphones, marimbas, ukuleles and exotic bird calls. I ended the collection with probably Lyman's best-known tune, "Yellow Bird." I recommend you shake up a mai tai and relax.

For the cover artwork, I wanted to use another painting by Mark Ryden like the ones used for the Baxter and Denny compilations, but I couldn't find anything suitable. So, instead, I chose an image of a velvet painting by Robb Hamel, cropped it, and added titles. The title I chose, to go along with the other two compilations, was The Exotic Worlds of Arthur Lyman.