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.

The Beach Boys - "20/20" (double album)

 

It’s no secret that the Beach Boys and the Beatles saw themselves as friendly rivals and influences. Vocal parts of the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” were influenced by the Beach Boys’ “I Get Around.” And the race was on: Rubber Soul begat Pet Sounds which begat Revolver. The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” single certainly upped the ante and expectations were high for the next album Smile.

But then the Beach Boys basically went off the rails with Brian Wilson’s drug use and resulting mental issues. Plus, I would argue that while interesting, the songs recorded for Smile just weren't strong enough. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band came out in May 1967, and when Smile was kind of salvaged with Smiley Smile issued four months later, there really wasn’t much of a competition anymore.

However, the Beach Boys' influence on the Beatles continued at least for a little while. It’s been suggested that the Beach Boys’ Wild Honey may have helped convince the Beatles to use a more of a back-to-basics approach for The Beatles, and certainly the opening track “Back in the U.S.S.R” is a Beach Boys homage.

I wondered if the competition was still in effect, whether the Beach Boys might have followed the Beatles with their own double album (and this is, of course, assuming Capitol Records execs would have agreed to this for a band whose market value was by now greatly diminished).

I wanted to take all the tracks the Beach Boys recorded in 1968 following the release of their Friends LP and expand the 1969 album 20/20 to two discs.

SIDE A

1. Intro 

2. Do It Again 

3. We're Together Again 

4. Well, You Know I Knew 

5. Peaches 

6. Be with Me 

SIDE B

1. All I Want to Do 

2. Walkin'

3. Away 

4. Cabinessence 

5. Sail Plane Song 

6. Been Way Too Long (Can't Wait Too Long) 

SIDE C

1. I Can Hear Music 

2. Old Folks Home / Old Man River 

3. Is It True What They Said About Dixie? 

4. Cotton Fields 

5. Bluebirds over the Mountain 

6. Mona Kana 

SIDE D

1. Oh Yeah 

2. Never Learn Not to Love 

3. Walk on By 

4. Time to Get Alone 

5. I Went to Sleep 

6. The Nearest Faraway Place 

7. A Time to Live in Dreams 

8. Rendezvous (Do It Again) 

Twenty-four tracks are taken from two sessions: May – July 1968 and September – November 1968. The two concessions are “Cabinessence,” originally recorded in 1966 for Smile but which received new overdubs in 1968 before being included on 20/20, and “Away,” an outtake from the Friends sessions.

In arranging the tracks for the four sides of this theoretical album, I considered humor (which was very important to Brian Wilson) and pseudo themes. My version of this album opens with a snippet from “The Gong,” taken from the I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions. I only use the 27 seconds of the Dennis Wilson's (3:16-3:44) "new day" speech as a lead-in for “Do It Again.” I use the alternate version of this song from I Can Hear Music that's about 25 seconds longer than the single version. I thought it was kind of humorous to have "Do It Again" followed by "We're Together Again." The rest of the first side is dominated by Dennis Wilson songs. One of these, "Peaches," was a demo and I've used a fan-created mix that helps smooth out the rough edges.

After opening with the rockin' "All I Want to Do," the second side has a vague travel theme with “Walkin’” followed humorously by “Away,” and then “Cabinessence” (“Who ran the iron horse? Have you seen the grand coolie workin' on the railroad?”) and “Sail Plane Song.” I ended the side with “Been Way Too Long” (aka “Can't Wait Too Long”) and used a fan-created, six-minute “ultimate mix” version.

The third side opens with “I Can Hear Music” and then focuses on covers of older music, including “Old Man River / Old Folks Home” (1920s), “Is It True What They Said About Dixie?” -- with the Wilson brothers' mother on lead vocal -- (1930s),  “Cotton Fields” (1940s) and “Bluebirds over the Mountain” (1950s), before ending with the instrumental “Mona Kana.”

The final side opens with the oddity “Oh Yeah,” and the last five tracks share a vague theme of “time” and “dreams.” To close the final side, I used an edit of only the last 42 seconds of “Rendevous,” an early version of “Do It Again,” to bookend the album.

Overall, I think this gives a much bigger picture of the Beach Boys at this time than the actual 20/20 album. But even if this version of the album had been released at the time, I can’t say if it would have been successful. Given that the actual 20/20 managed to make to only #68 on the Billboard charts indicates that the Beach Boys' career was for the times in the dumper. However, 20/20 surprisingly rose to #3 in Britain, so who knows?

For the album cover, I used a photo from the same photo shoot as the actual 20/20 cover, which I think is far superior.

Here is a YouTube playlist of the album, but it doesn't include the first and last tracks that I used personal edits for.

Sources:

• I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions - A1 [edit], A2, A4, A6, B1, B2, B5, C3, C5, C6, D1, D3, D7, D8 [edit]
• 20/20 - B4, C1, C4, D2, D5, D6
• Made in California - A3
• Mr. J Wilson - A5
• Wake the World: The Friends Sessions - B3
• Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace of a Musical Legacy - C2
• Summer Love Songs - D4
• forjustsomemusicstuff - B6

Elvis Presley – Discography 1960 - 1963

This entry is to close out my Elvis Presley "discography series," but in fact, I made very few changes to what was released during this time. In my opinion, RCA et al did a decent job during these four years of releases. The only changes I make are to replace the 1961 Flaming Star EP with a single (the additional two songs were unnecessary re-releases), redo the third volume of the Golden Records series and add my revised version of the “lost” album, both from 1963.

1960

• SINGLE: Stuck on You / Fame and Fortune (March)
• ALBUM: Elvis is Back (April)
• SINGLE: It’s Now or Never / A Mess of Blues (July)
• ALBUM: G.I. Blues (September)
• ALBUM: His Hand in Mine (November)
• SINGLE: Are You Lonesome Tonight? / I Gotta Know (November)

1961

• SINGLE: Surrender / Lonely Man (February)
• SINGLE (add): Flaming Star / Summer Kisses, Winter Tears (April)
• EP (delete): Elvis by Request: Flaming Star and 3 Other Great Songs (April)
• SINGLE: I Feel So Bad / Wild in the Country (May)
• ALBUM: Something for Everybody (May)
• SINGLE: (Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame / Little Sister (August)
• ALBUM: Blue Hawaii (October)
• SINGLE: Can’t Help Falling in Love / Rock a Hula, Baby (November)

1962

• SINGLE: Good Luck Charm / Anything That’s Part of You (February)
• EP: Follow That Dream (April)
• ALBUM: Pot Luck (May)
• SINGLE: She’s Not You / Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello (July)
• EP: Kid Galahad (August)
• SINGLE: Return to Sender / Where Do You Come From? (October)
• ALBUM: Girls! Girls! Girls! (November)

1963

ALBUM: Elvis’ Golden Records, Vol. 3 (January)

SIDE A

1.       Stuck on You

2.       Fame and Fortune

3.       It’s Now or Never

4.       Are You Lonesome Tonight?

5.       I Gotta Know

6.       Surrender

SIDE B

1.       I Feel So Bad

2.       Wild in the Country

3.       (Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame

4.       Little Sister

5.       Can’t Help Falling in Love

6.       Good Luck Charm

RCA released Elvis’ Golden Records, Vol. 3 in August 1963. I would have pushed it up as a January 1963 release and changed the track listing a bit, as well as organized the songs in chronological order. Removed from the album are “Anything That’s Part of You,” which only made it to #31 on the charts; as well as “She’s Not You,” which was released only seven months prior. Instead, I included “Wild in the Country” (a #26 hit) and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (a #2 hit that had been inexplicably left off). I decided to use this alternate cover I found on the web.

• SINGLE: One Broken Heart for Sale / They Remind Me Too Much of You (January)
• ALBUM: It Happened at the World’s Fair (April)
• SINGLE: (You’re the) Devil in Disguise / Please Don’t Drag That String Around (June)

ALBUM: For the Asking (August)

SIDE A

1.       (It’s a) Long Lonely Highway

2.       What Now? What Next? Where to?

3.       Ask Me

4.       Echoes Of Love

5.       Western Union

6.       Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers

SIDE B

1.       It Hurts Me

2.       Blue River

3.       Memphis, Tennessee

4.       Love Me Tonight

5.       Never Ending

6.       Slowly But Surely

In 1991, RCA released The Lost Album (later re-released as For the Asking: The Lost Album), including songs from recording sessions in 1963. Most of the tracks were supposed to make up a new studio album. But instead, it was decided that another “greatest hits” package would sell better. From the 15 songs recorded during the sessions, I didn’t include the three that were used for singles during this year: “Witchcraft,” “Please Don’t Drag That String Around” and “Devil in Disguise.” I then organized the track list keeping a mix of up-tempo songs and ballads. I think this ends up being a really good album that never quite was but should have been. For a cover, I found a version online and edited the track listing.

• SINGLE: Bossa Nova Baby / Witchcraft (October)
• ALBUM: Fun in Acapulco (November)

If you want to review my previous Elvis discographies, click on the links below:

Elvis Presley’s Debut Album on Sun Records

Elvis Presley’s 1950s Discography with RCA

Elvis Presley Discography, 1964-1968

Elvis Presley Discography, 1969-1977

The Ronettes - "Paradise"

 

I was surprised to learn recently that The Ronettes only released one studio album, 1964’s Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes, during the 10 years the group was together. The group primarily released singles, and many tracks appeared on compilation albums throughout the years. 

Unable to duplicate the success of “Be My Baby,” producer Phil Spector became discouraged with the group’s potential and was distracted by other acts signed to his Philles label, his own insecurities and changing music fads.

So here I present what could have been a follow-up Ronettes album for 1965.

SIDE A

1. Is This What I Get for Loving You?

2. Paradise

3. I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine

4. (Baby, Let’s Be) Lovers

5. Oh, I Love You

6. Everything Under the Sun

7. Keep on Dancing

SIDE B

1. Born to be Together

2. Soldier Baby (of Mine)

3. I’m a Woman in Love

4. Blues for Baby

5. Here I Sit

6. Girls Can Tell

The Ronettes released two singles in 1965: “Born to Be Together” b/w “Blues for Baby” and “Is This What I Get for Loving You?” b/w “Oh, I Love You.” Besides those four songs, eight other tracks were recorded by the group in 1964 and 1965. They sat in the vault for years before appearing on the Phil Spector Wall of Sound compilation LP series in the 1970s and 1980s.

With these 12 tracks, I also included the song “(Baby, Let's Be) Lovers,” which appeared on the 1981 compilation The Ronettes Sing Their Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (somewhat comical since “Lovers” had not only never been released previously, but was never a hit song).

Overall, the result is a nice package of girl-group tracks produced with the Wall of Sound. For a cover, I took a black and white portrait of the group from the time period, colorized it and then added minimal graphics.

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.

Van Halen - "Zero"

Van Halen famously had a 25-song demo tape that made the rounds as the band was searching for a record deal. Over the years, nearly all of those songs (in one form or another) made it onto regular albums, some being included on the band’s last album in 2012. 

I wanted to create an album of any leftover tracks from the band's pre-record deal that could be cobbled together into a DIY album for 1977.

SIDE A

1. Piece of Mind

2. Young and Wild

3. Woman in Love

4. I Wanna Be Your Lover

5. Babe, Don’t Leave Me Alone

SIDE B

1. Light in the Sky

2. Angel Eyes

3. We Die Bold

4. Get the Show on the Road

5. Gonna Take a Lot of Drugs

I sort of considered this exercise as an alternate universe where the band got tired of waiting for a record deal and issued its own low-budget album to sell at shows. Sadly, all the demos that you find on bootlegs sound like third or fourth-generation recordings, but they're at least listenable.

There are some demos from earlier than 1976 floating around the interwebs, but the sound quality on them is not very good. The one exception I made was the inclusion of “Angel Eyes” from 1974 because I simply needed at least one more track. I could be wrong, but I think David Lee Roth is the only one actually performing on the track with vocals and guitar. Besides that song and "Woman in Love" and "Babe, Don't Leave Me Alone" (both from 1976), the rest of the tracks are from 1977.

There's a bit of "Get the Show on the Road" that was later used in the song "Romeo's Delight," but I decided that it was different enough to include here. "Gonna Take a Lot of Drugs" was a joke recording of Roth and Michael Anthony singing different lyrics to Nicolette Larson's "Lotta Love" which had been produced by their producer Ted Templeman. It's doubtful this ever would have been made commercially available, but I thought it was a humorous way to end the album.

For a cover, I chose the rejected cover for the first album. The photo is ridiculous in so many ways with Alex Van Halen looking like the leader, Roth looking asleep, Anthony looking scared and Eddie Van Halen looking mad. And the cover overall looks like it belongs to some new wave group. But it captures the band members as they were at the time. Zero has been used as a title by others for compilations of the band's demos (as opposed to Van Halen and Van Halen II), and I figured it was just as good as any other so I adopted it as well.