John & Yoko's Double Milk & Honey Fantasy Box - 1980

I've been seeing a few other attempts at constructing a John Lennon solo album out of John and Yoko's Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey albums. I've tried this myself on several occasions but was never really happy with the results. Inspired by the others I decided to take another try and see what happens. What I came up with is a box set of three albums, one for John, one for Yoko and a disc of my favorite demos from the project.

Early on I came to the conclusion that the best approach was a hybrid of official versions and alternate mixes and remixed versions. For some of John's songs I had up to ten different versions ranging from demos to the finished product. While the demo disc comes from a variety of sources the two albums are derived from five sources. The two official albums, Double Fantasy Stripped Down, John Lennon's Anthology box and a bootleg called Double Fantasy [Working Version] which contained early mixes of John's Milk and Honey Tracks.

The version of each song was chosen simply because that was the one I liked best and felt would best blend with the other tracks. My biggest issues with John's Milk and Honey tracks have always been the mixes. They put way too much reverb and other effects on John's vocals. John's voice has always sounded best mostly dry with a touch of chorus or flange if not actually double tracked so it was nice to have some early alternate mixes to fall back on. That said I did default to the official versions more often than alternate versions.

John Lennon - Watching The Wheels

Side One
01 (Just Like) Starting Over *
02 Cleanup Time ***
03 I'm Stepping Out +
04 Nobody Told Me **
05 Dear Yoko ***
06 I Don't Wanna Face It **
07 Watching The Wheels *

Side Two
01 Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) */***
02 I'm Losing You ***
03 Borrowed Time **
04 Woman *
05 (Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess +++
06 Grow Old With Me +

Reality Notes

I was really surprised at how much more I could connect this John with pre-househusband John. For some reason my mind has always compartmentalized Double Fantasy John as a unique and separate entity from even Walls and Bridges John.

For Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) I edited the intro and outro of the official version onto the Stripped Down version. I preferred the Stripped Down version but I missed the intro and outro from the Double Fantasy version which give it a bit more polish. I also edited out most of the count ins and studio chatter.

The cover features a self reflecting John watching a sunset.

Yoko Ono - Walking On Thin Ice

Side One
01 Walking On Thin Ice +++
02 Don't Be Scared **
03 Sleepless Night **
04 O' Sanity **
05 Beautiful Boys *
06 Your Hands **
07 Kiss Kiss Kiss *

Side Two
01 Yes, I'm Your Angel *
02 Give Me Something *
03 I'm Moving On +++
04 You're The One **
05 Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him *
06 Hard Times Are Over *

Reality Notes

Everyone always seems to ignore or throw away Yoko's side of this project. While I can't call myself a fan, I have never been in the anti-Yoko camp. I proudly admit to listening to and enjoying Yoko's Plastic Ono album on more than one occasion.

Walking on Thin Ice is an early mix and is half the length of the released single version. I toyed with swapping them out but I stuck with this version. While I passed on the Cheap Trick version of John's I'm Losing You, I did use the Cheap Trick version of Yoko's I'm Moving On.

For the cover I reconstructed (to my liking) the cover for Yoko's best of compilation of the same name.

Double Milk and Honey Fantasy Demos

01 Borrowed Time [DT] ###
02 Beautiful Boy [DT] ###
03 Dear Yoko [DT] ###
04 Watching the Wheels +
05 I Don't Wanna Face It [DT] ###
06 I'm Losing You [DT 2] ###
07 Let Me Count The Ways (Yoko) **
08 (Just like) starting over #
09 I'm Stepping Out [TT] ###
10 Nobody Told Me [DT] ###
11 Woman [DT 2] ###
12 My Little Flower Princess [take 3] ###
13 Grow Old With Me **

Home Demos '75-'80

14 The News Of The Day ##
15 Serve yourself ##
16 Gone From This Place ##
17 Whatever Happened To [take 2] ###
18 One Of The Boys [take 2 edit] ###
19 Life Begins At 40 ###
20 The Happy Rishikesh Song ###
21 Real Love ##
22 Dear John [edit] ###
23 I Don't Know Why (Yoko) ++

Reality Notes

I've gathered the demos into two groups. Tracks 1-13 are all related to Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey. Tracks 7 and 13 were released on the Milk and Honey album as they appear here.

Tracks 14-22 were all recorded during John's househusband days from '75 - '80. Track 23 was recorded by Yoko the day after John was taken from us.

If this were a vinyl box both groups will fit on separate albums with the first LP splitting between tracks seven and eight and the second group having five songs per side. Both groups will fit on one CD.

Editing for the most part was limited to trimming the beginnings and endings taking out count ins, intros and chatter. One Of The Boys and Dear John received multiple internal edits to trim redundant verses and stumble points to create smoother tracks.

For the cover I added text to a print of one of John's drawings.

Sources
  * Double Fantasy
 ** Milk and Honey
*** Double Fantasy Stripped Down
  + John Lennon Anthology
 ++ Season Of Glass (Yoko)
+++ Double Fantasy [Working Version] (bootleg)
  # Double Fantasy [Alternate Version] (bootleg)
 ## Complete Lost Lennon Tapes (bootleg)
### Complete Home Recordings 75-80 (bootleg)

The Originals - Various Artists

So many songs we know and love are not the original versions. They are either covers or remakes (there is a difference though off the top of my head I can't remember). For this compilation I have gathered 20 of the more interesting original versions of songs that became better known as covers. Some of these songs have histories that go beyond the recording era. Others were written and recorded about the same time as the definitive versions. Still others were written and recorded years before the hit version we know and love.

If you find this as interesting as I do head on over to Any Major Dude's site where he has done a great series that explores the origins of many songs which we take for granted that the defacto versions are the original version when in fact they were one version in a long line of previous version. His song swarm series looks at one song and gathers as many versions of that song as possible.

There are a couple of songs here that I did not have the original but did have the first charting version so I provided a link to the YouTube video of the original.)

Track by Track

01 Richard Berry & The Pharoahs - Louie Louie (1955)
Definitive version: The Kingsmen (1963) One of the most covered songs ever (I have almost 50 and that is a small fraction of what's out there). The Kingsman version is notable not only for being the most recognizable but also for how it was recorded. Recorded for $50 in a small studio in one take along with the B side - also only one take. The vocalist had to scream into a microphone hung above the band which rendered his vocal nearly unintelligible leading many to assume the lyrics were dirty. This prompted an FBI investigation into the matter. Weirdly, most missed the actual expletive yelled by the drummer about a minute into the song after dropping a drumstick.

02 Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog (1953)
Difinitive version: Elvis Presley (1956) The first of several Elvis related songs included here. Written by Leiber and Stoller, Thorton's version spent 14 weeks on the R&B charts with seven weeks at number one and was listed as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll" but for some reason everyone only remembers Elvis' version

03 Bessie Banks - Go Now (1964)
Definitive version: The Moody Blues (1964) While I was more familiar with the version on Wings Over America I later found out about Denny Laine's tenure with the Moody Blues who had a hit with this song before he left that band. The Moody's version was released in the UK ten months after Bessie's version and two months later in the US where it peaked in the charts at #10.

04 Arthur Alexander - Anna (Go to Him) (1962)
Definitive version: The Beatles (1963) supposedly a favorite of John Lennon's the song was a regular in The Beatles live sets and appears on their first album.

05 Mark James - Suspicious Minds (1968)
Definitive version: Elvis Presley (1969) Written by Mark James, his version failed to chart. The song was given to Elvis which became his last #1 single.

06 Johnny Burnette - The Train Kept A Rollin (1956)
Definitive version(s): The Yardbirds (1965), Aerosmith (1974) First recorded by Tiny Bradshaw in 1951 the original, with lyrics borrowed from an earlier song, done in the jump blues style but it was Burnette's version that inspired The Yardbirds who inspired everyone else after.

07 Betty Everett - You're No Good (1963)
Definitive version: Linda Ronstadt (1975) Dee Dee Warwick, the sister of Dionne Warwick, niece of Cissy Houston and the first cousin of Whitney Houston, cut the song a few months before Betty Everett in 1963 but it was Everett's cover that was the first to chart. The Swinging Blue Jeans version hit the charts the following year. Linda Ronstadt started performing the song in 1972 and recorded her version in 1975 which hit the #1 spot.

08 Leadbelly - Gallows Pole (The Gallis Pole) (1939)
Definitive version: Led Zeppelin (1970) This song has a long history going back before the advent of recording technology. Originating in Holland it exists in many forms as a traditional folk song. This Leadbelly version is the first known recorded version. It has been recorded many times since then by a variety of artist including Bob Dylan and Judy Collins. The content of the song differs according to what version the artist was familiar with. Led Zeppelin was inspired by the version by American Fred Gerlach, included on his 1962 album Twelve-String Guitar for Folkways Records. Zep credited the song as Traditional: Arranged by Page and Plant.

09 Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats - Rocket 88
Definitive version: Ike Turner & His Kings of  Rhythm I kind of cheated on this one. Rocket 88 is considered to be one of, if not the first, Rock and Roll songs and features what is believed to be the first recorded instance of "fuzz" or distorted guitar and it's a song about a car. It was originally released by Chess Records under the name of Ike's sax player as Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats.

10 Mort Shuman - Viva Las Vegas (1963)
Definitive version: Elvis Presley (1964) Another slight cheat. Elvis recorded the first and definitive version of this song but this is the songwriter's demo that Elvis' producers used to make their arrangements from. Elvis' version was recorded shortly after this demo but was not released until the following year in conjunction of the movie release.

11 Irma Thomas - Time Is On My Side (1964)
Definitive version: The Rolling Stones (1964) Written by Jerry Ragovoy (using the pseudonym "Norman Meade") it was first recorded by jazz trombonist Kai Winding and his Orchestra in 1963 but that version only had the lines "Time is on my side" and "You'll come runnin' back". Irma's version was the first to include the full lyrics written by Songwriter Jimmy Norman for her just before Irma recorded her version which served as the template for the Stones version..

12 Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup - That's All Right (1947)
Definitive version: Elvis Presley (1954) Presley's first single for Sun Records reaching #4 on the local Memphis charts but failed to chart nationally. Eventhough Crudup was credited as the composer he reportedly never received any royalty payments.

13 Earl Jean - I'm Into Something Good (1964)
Definitive version: Herman's Hermits (1964) Written by the songwriting team of Goffin & King, Earl Jean's version peaked at # 38, Herman's Hermits version hit #1 in the UK and #13 in the US.

14 Lou Johnson - (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me (1964)
Definitive version: Naked Eyes (1983) Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David this was one of the few Bacharach songs where Burt had no role in the production of the definitive version.

15 Lavern Baker - Jim Dandy (1956)
Definitive version: Black Oak Arkansas w/ Ruby Starr (1973) Whether or not you can consider Black Oak Arkansas' version definitive is debatable but it was the first version I heard. The cover seemed natural for B.O.A. as their lead singer had been using the stage name Jim Dandy for some time.

16 Dennis Linde - Burning Love (1972)
Definitive version: Elvis Presley (1972) The first recorded version is actually by Arthur Alexander who is featured here with Anna (Go to Him) but this is the original songwriter's demo that both Alexander's and Presley's were modeled after. Linde also played the guitar opening and riffs on the Presley version.

17 Jake Holmes - Dazed and confused
Definitive version: Led Zeppelin (1969) This one kind of hurts. Jimmy Page has a reputation for not giving credit to the original writer's of many of their songs. While one could argue in most cases that Zep's versions are more reworkings and sound little like the originals That does not hold up for Dazed and Confused. On the 1967 Yardbirds tour, they shared the bill with Jake Holmes. After hearing Holmes perform the song, drummer Jim Mcarty encouraged the band to add the song to the Yardbird's set. The song quickly became a jamming vehicle with Page experimenting with the violin bow. With the crash of the Yardbirds and the rising of Led Zep from the ashes Page and crew continued to play the song live. When Page recorded the song (albeit with altered lyrics) for the first Zep album Jake's name was nowhere to be found. Holmes sued but not until 2010. The suit was dismissed after Page and Holmes reached a settlement afterwhich remastered versions of the song are credited as "By Page – Inspired by Jake Holmes".

18 The "5" Royales - Dedicated to the One I Love (1957)
Definitive version: The Mamas and The Papas (1967) The Royals' original release failed to chart but reached #81 on re-release in 1961. The Shirells cover hit #83 in 1957 and #3 in 1961. The Mamas & The Papas recorded the song for their The Mamas & The Papas Deliver and released as a single which reached #2.

19 Helen Kane - I Wanna be Loved by You (1929)
Definitive version: Marilyn Monroe (1959) Written by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby, with lyrics by Bert Kalmar for the 1928 musical Good Boy, it became Helen Kane's signature song. Helen had based her vocal style on "Baby" Esther Jones. Kane had seen Esther perform at The Cotton Club in Harlem some years earlier. Kane was also one of the inspirations for the cartoon character Betty Boop who also performed the song. And of course, my favorite version is by Ginger Grant of Gilligan's Island fame.

20 Harry Champion - I'm Henery The Eighth (1910)
Definitive version: Herman's Hermits (1965) Written by Fred Murray and R. P. Weston it became a signature song of Brittish music hall performer Harry Champion. It was revived in 1961 by Joe Brown before being recorded by Herman's Hermits and becoming their second UK #1.

The cover illustration drawn by one of my favorite comic book artists Donald Simpson comes from the cover of the anthology comic Wasteland

Tyrannosaurus Rex - Chinese Christmas Music

The first job I ever had I worked at an Italian restaurant as a dish washer/line cook. We had a boombox in back that we could play cassette tapes and I used to bring in all kinds of stuff to listen to. One night I was playing Tyrannosaurus Rex and a waitress came in and asked the dishwasher on duty what we were listening to and he replied "I don't know, some kind of Chinese Christmas Music." I laughed and smiled to myself and since that day I have named every Tyrannosaurus Rex comp I make Chinese Christmas Music.

For this construction I have gathered every stray song that did not appear on an album. The sources range from non-album singles and B sides to BBC recordings and session outtakes and cover the period from 1967 to 1969.

Side One
01 Beyond The Risin' Sun
02 Pewter Suitor
03 Lunacy's Back
04 Sara Crazy Child
05 Find A Little Wood
06 Misty Mist (Highways)
07 Pictures Of Purple People
08 Rings Of Fortune
09 One Inch Rock

Side Two
01 Sleepy Maurice
02 Once Upon The Seas Of Abyssynia
03 Sally was an Angel
04 Ill Starred Man
05 The Beginning of Doves
06 Blessed Wild Apple Girl
07 For the Lion and the Unicorn/Hot Rod Mama
08 Deep Summer

Reality Notes

Marc Bolan was my first true musical obsession. The Slider was among the first albums I ever owned. In previous posts I examined Marc's early pre-pre-fame days, his last days and his peak hit period. But, if I had to pick a period that really struck deep into my psyche it would be the first three albums as Tyrannosaurus Rex (I'll address the fourth album and first T.Rex album in a moment).

There is something about the interplay between Marc's warbled fantasy driven lyrics and acoustic guitar and Steve Took's percussion and distinct and imaginative backing vocals that draws me in. When Steve left, producer Tony Visconti and Marc did their best to emulate Steve's quirky backing vocals with marginal success. The two albums that followed Took's departure were transition albums for Marc as he morphed from Tyrannosaurus Rex the underground folky duo to T.Rex the mega star electric guitar slinging glam rockers.

While this comp does focus more on the Marc and Steve lineup, it does include a few songs from the Beard of Stars period with Micky Finn replacing Steve Took. The instrumental Deep Summer and Ill Starred Man are outtakes from the Beard of Stars album sessions.

I'm not sure where the song For the Lion and the Unicorn/Hot Rod Mama comes from. The bootleg I took it from had no info at all. It's obviously a live track from the Steve Took days. I almost didn't include it because of the Hot Rod Mama bits but they were minimal enough to make the song unique.

I have not addressed two periods in Marc's carreer. The first T.Rex album is best treated as a single entity and include any non-LP tracks as bonus tracks on an expanded version. This album has always been one of my favorites and is barely surpassed only by Unicorn as the best Marc album in my opinion.

The other period is from 1974 through 1976. I call this Marc's lost period. Marc began producing his own albums. There are very few artists that can do this successfully. It's a delicate balancing act to be able to suppress the ego enough to be honest with yourself and focus on the needs of the song. It took a few albums for Marc to get the hang of it and give us Dandy In The Underworld. There may be enough non-LP tracks and outtakes to make an album from this period but I'm not sure if I would want that album.

There may be more Marc Bolan related posts in the future but this one completes the short list of material I felt needed addressing. The cover features my favorite picture of Marc and Steve Took with Marc holding what at the time was his brand new white stratocaster guitar before he added the teardrop sticker.

Sources
The Beginning Of Doves
Across the Airwaves
Smashed And Frocked
A Beard Of Stars [Expanded Edition]
Non LP Singles & B-Sides
Beyond the Rising Sun

Melanie - The Kind of Night - 1993

As an amateur recording engineer and record producer I have a short list of big names that I would love to work with. Among the top three are Chuck Berry (sadly no longer with us) Crosby Stills Nash and Young (sadly no longer speaking to each other...again) and Melanie.

I wanted to bring Chuck out of recording retirement. For CSNY I wanted one album of new material done with minimal instrumentation to showcase the harmonies. For Melanie I wanted a simple low key recording that shows off her quiet voice as much as her powerhouse vocals.

While I can't do much about the first two, Melanie did record an album that was produced in a way that I would have done. Unfortunately, that album is as much of a mess as her later discography is. It is a mix of new songs, covers and remakes of old songs. Fortunately, there are 29 songs from the sessions. Plenty to pick and choose from to make one great album.

[If Melanie wanted to release a special vinyl issue for record store day this construction would get my top vote.]

Side One
01 The Natural Man
02 Freedom Knows My Name
03 If I Needed You
04 Taking A Bath
05 Count The Days You're Gone
06 Life Will Not Go Away

Side Two
01 Live Coal
02  Arrow (Cheryle Wheele)
03 Ballerina
04 Tonight's The Kind Of Night
05 Friends and Company

Reality Notes

Melanie is at the top of my guilty pleasure list (though I don't feel too guilty). My biggest issues with Melanie has always been on the production side. More often than not her albums are heavy with strings and other MOR nonsense. I like things simple and clean. Which is why I tend to gravitate to her live albums which are usually just her and maybe one or two other instrumentalists.

My other issue with Melanie comes from her later years. Simply put, Melanie's later discography is a mess. It started with the double album Ballroom Streets which had a few new songs and a lot of remakes. In later years she got into the habit of rerecording her early songs. While I have no real qualms about this practice, many artists revisit old material from time to time, in Melanie's case she often sacrificed space on albums that could have benefited from one or two new songs in order to include the remakes. As a result, we have enough alternate versions of songs to fill at least two albums.

Which brings us to Silver Anniversary. Recorded in the early 90s and released only in Germany and the Netherlands in double CD packages, each with slightly different tracklists. To confuse matters further, six songs were tacked on to the US version of the European only release Silence is King renamed Freedom Knows My Name after one of the songs from Silver Anniversary.

So what good can be found here? The new songs are all great songs. The remakes are good and some even rival the originals. The covers are imaginative even if they don't all live up to expectations. But most of all is the production. Primarily acoustic with sparse instrumentation, no strings or orchestras and almost no drums and some great background vocals. Just great songs. Of the 29 songs, ten originals and four covers make their first appearance on this album. Some of these were rerecorded for later albums but these are the original versions according to timeline. I wanted to include only those songs that make their first appearance on this album.

Because we have ten originals that time out to just over 36 minutes I only needed to include one of the new covers. Melanie's covers have always been hit and miss. Sometimes she manages to truly make the song her own, other times it just feels awkward. I could take two or three of the remaining new covers and pair them with three of the best remakes and have a fine EP but at the moment, I'm fine with this.

I did some light editing, cutting out excessive studio chatter and song title announcements. I left some lighthearted moments in but not enough to get in the way of the flow and overall enjoyment.

One song, Tonight's The Kind Of Night, which I named the album after, is actually a Christmas song that she later rerecorded for a full Christmas album. I could have dropped it and still have had a full album but this version is better than the remake and it's not an all out Christmas carol and only mentions Christmas during the chorus. It's more of a mood piece than a seasonal piece so I kept it in.

For the cover I used the picture from the Freedom Knows My Name album. Now about that discography, I think I may need to go and make some charts.

[Edit: I was just poking around Melanie's discography and noticed that Friends and Company previously appeared on Ballroom Streets and before that on Photograph so technically should not appear here. My view is that even though what we do here is revisionist in nature I feel once I have posted a project that is the final and definitive version. Also, given the timeline, this would not be the first Melanie album to have a remake on it. Plus, this is the better version. And I'm lazy. The purist can just delete that song from the folder. Thanks for listening. [Really? Same goes for If I Needed You. I need a break.]]

T.Rex - There Was A Time - 1971-1973

Between the release of T.Rex's Hot Love single in 1971 and the Truck On (Tyke) single in 1973 Marc Bolan released 17 non-LP songs. Almost enough songs for two albums. When you arrange those songs in chronological order they give an evolving picture of Marc that listening to the albums only gives in snapshots.

Marc had always insisted on giving his fans their money's worth by having at least one unique song on each single. Between 1971 and 1973 Marc was on a roll and released four singles that contained all non-LP tracks.

When you look at Marc's non-LP output from this period it almost seems like he was releasing a new album a few tracks at a time. Similar in the way writers would serialize a novel by releasing a chapter at a time in a magazine. If we gathered those tracks together we could make a fine album that would rest easily along side the three albums he released during that time.

This could be done in one of two ways. Gather all of the best songs that will fit on one vinyl LP or gather everything and put them all on one CD. There is too much material for a single album but not enough songs for a full double album. I played with option one but went with option two and filled out the CD with some rare bonus material.

01 Hot Love (Non-LP Single A Side)
02 King Of The Mountain Cometh (Hot Love B Side)
03 Woodland Rock (Hot Love B Side)
04 There Was A Time_Raw Ramp  (Get It On B Side)
05 Sailors of the Highway  (BBC recording. Never recorded for LP)
06 Cadillac (Telegram Sam B Side)
07 Thunderwing (Metal Guru B Side)
08 Lady (Metal Guru B Side)
09 Children Of The Revolution (Non-LP Single A Side)
10 Jitterbug Love (Children Of The Revolution B Side)
11 Sunken Rags (Children Of The Revolution B Side)
12 Solid Gold Easy Action (Non-LP Single A Side)
13 20th Century Boy (Non-LP Single A Side)
14 Free Angel (20th Century Boy B Side)
15 The Groover (Non-LP Single A Side)
16 Midnight (The Groover B Side)
17 Truck On (Tyke) (Non-LP Single A Side)
18 Sitting Here (Truck On (Tyke) B Side)
19 Children Of The Revolution (Born To Boogie soundtrack feat. Elton John and Ringo Star)
20 Children Of Rarn Suite (Unreleased)

Reality Notes

In 1971 Marc released Hot Love. If the previous single, Ride A White Swan, brought Marc to the edge of stardom, Hot Love pushed him over the edge. In the three short years following Marc had ten singles reach the top ten in the charts. Most of those reached the number one slot. T.Rex was everywhere. Hailed has the next Beatles, Trexstasy reached a fever pitch and in the eyes of the fans, Marc could do no wrong. Former Beatle Ringo Starr even directed a concert film for Apple Films.

My own Trexstasy reached its height in the late 70s and early 80s. I would scour the cutout bins (remember those?) and used record stores for anything that I had not heard yet. Occasionally I would come across a compilation with a new song and on rare occasions I would find a completely new album I had never seen before.

For this comp I gathered all of the non-LP tracks released between 1971 and 1973. I added three bonus tracks to bring it up to double album length. Sailors of the Highway was never recorded for a T.Rex album or single. It was released by Gloria Jones on her Vixen album which Marc produced. This T.Rex version comes from a BBC studio performance. The second version of Children of the Revolution comes from the Born To Boogie soundtrack for the film directed by Ringo Starr, It's an in studio performance featuring Ringo and Elton John. This version was recorded before the single version and is my preferred go to version.

The Children of Rarn Suite comes from this period but was not finished until the eighties by producer Tony Visconti. Originating in 1970 two short excerpts bookended the T.Rex album. This demo was recorded in 1971. The Children of Rarn was an ambitious project that at one time was planned to be a double album with an accompanying novel. Set in a Tolkienesque mythology it tells the story of two races that war with each other for control of their planet. This version first appeared on the compilation The Words And Music Of Marc Bolan 1947-1977. There are other versions out there, some more complete than others but Marc never really finished the piece.

The cover turned out nice.

Sources
Marc Bolan and T.Rex: The Hits and More
The Words And Music Of Marc Bolan 1947-1977
Marc Bolan and T.Rex: Across the Airwaves
Marc Bolan and T.Rex: Born to Boogie Soundtrack

The Rutles - Lunch - (C) Rutle Corps 2010

[I didn't want to post this without the permission of the original creator but it's been a while since I tried to contact him and still no answer. If he sees this and wants me to take it down I will.]

LUNCH is a unique collaboration between Rutle Corps and Circle of Hay celebrating the musical legacy of The Rutles. A legacy that will last long after other musical legacies have ended.

Born from a personal friendship and mutual admiration between now-retired Stig O'Hara and Circle founder Captain Liberty, LUNCH brings the manic energy of Circle of Hay together with the spirit and trousers behind the semi-legendary Prefab Four to create a vivid, intimate and powerful entertainment experience.

The southwestern cast of actors, riders and dancers channel a raw, amateur energy underscored by performance, rodeo and country square dance. With stereophonic sound and stereoscopic visuals, the audience experience The Rutles as not-quite before...

01 Lunch
02 Unfinished Words
03 Lonely-Phobia
04 Now She's Left You (transition)
05 Piggy in the Middle/Hold My Hand
06 Goose-Step Mama / It's Looking Good / Blue Suede Schubert
07 Ouch!
08 Another Day
09 Nevertheless/Joe Public
10 Good Times Roll
11 I Love You (transition)
12 Eine Kleine Middle Klasse Musik / Let's Be Natural
13 Questionnaire (transition)
14 Hey Mister!
15 We've Arrived! (And to Prove It We're Here)
16 Cheese and Onions
17 Shangri-La
18 Major Happy's Up And Coming Once Upon A Good Time Band (reprise)
19 Love Life

Reality Notes

Full Disclosure: I did nothing to this except split the full album MP3 into separate tracks. All credit goes to the original creator of this wonderful mashup and artwork (and the opening paragraphs of this post). Please visit the official website to get the full story.

Lunch is one man's loving attempt to create a Rutles equivalent to The Beatles Love album. If you liked Love and like The Rutles you will love Lunch. My only complaint is that the album is only available as a single video. While this is fine, the album is best to listen to in one go, the OCD in me wants the audio only with the tracks split to sit in the library better.

To accomplish this I downloaded the video and ripped the audio so that I could separate the tracks. I used the track by track description on the website to locate where I should mark the tracks (I hope I got them right). For the purists, I included the uncut MP3 file with the archive.

I've been wanting to do this for some time but only now got around to doing it. This is something special and I felt it should be shared. Please direct all praise for the incredible efforts and talent that went into the creation of this amazing work to the man who put it all together. The backstory alone is worth a hello to the author.

From the creator's website:

Disclaimer

This is a tribute...
Perhaps the most meta, niche tribute imaginable.

I've created this because I sincerely love these songs and the senses of humor that led to the creation of The Rutles.
I hope those people still have senses of humor.

This is not a for-profit enterprise - I make no money from this website.
I have expended tremendous amounts of time and effort (and money) on the production of the LUNCH audio, artwork and website.

It is my hope that this site and my effort will act as a tool of discovery, leading to the purchase of legitimate Rutles merchandise.

Legal

The Rutles were created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes.
The Rutles music was written by Neil Innes and is controlled by copyright.

The first Rutles album, The Rutles is controlled by Warner Music Group.
The second Rutles album, The Rutles Archaeology is controlled by Virgin/EMI.

The Beach Boys - Vocals Only

I've been working on this for a while and I think I finally have things where I like them. This is a collection of vocals only tracks. I had started this a while ago and decided to finish it up after my previous Alternate Universe post which features a song found here.

The goal of this comp was to present the best and most interesting tracks while also maximizing the listening experience by removing anything I felt got in the way and took me out of the moment. This is not a career spanning comprehensive collection though it does cover a good chunk of their output.

If you're looking for more, head on over to Paul's Albums That Should Exist blog. Shortly after I started working on this he posted two fine collections over there. There might be some overlap between mine and his but each of us took a different approach.

Side One
01 Wouldn't It Be Nice
02 She Knows Me Too Well
03 Surfer Girl
04 Farmer's Daughter
05 You Still Believe In Me
06 Girl From New York City
07 Catch A Wave
08 In My Room
09 Help Me Rhonda
10 Little Deuce Coupe
11 Be True To Your School

Side Two
01 Sloop John B
02 Good Vibrations
03 Fun Fun Fun
04 God Only Knows
05 California Girls
06 Loui Loui
07 Surfers Rule
08 Wonderful

Reality Notes

The Beach Boys have released several vocals only mixes in recent years including the entire Pet Sounds album. There are also many unofficial tracks to be found on various bootlegs. I have a three disc collection that gathers as many of these as possible that I no no longer recall where I found them.

That three disc boot sounds like a mix of vocals only mixes, reverse karaoke (OOPS, Out Of Phase) and what could be surround sound channel isolation tracks. The success rate for isolating the vocals is hit and miss so I went through them all and chose the best and most interesting to fill out this comp.

Once I had my tracklist I took each track and I trimmed and edited each one to remove or minimize any between vocal noise and pre/post song chatter and intros/outros. Even some of the cleanest mixes were tightened up by shortening any long quiet passages to make the listening experience smoother. Overall, eight of the nineteen tracks here recieved internal edits and most tracks had the beginnings and endings trimmed.

I included two songs that I found interesting but do not really fall in the same area as the rest. Good Vibrations features only the lead vocal and prominent jaw harp and sounds like an early take before the harmonies and final lead vocal were recorded. Wonderful, which closes the album, features an isolated overdub track full of strange sounds and noises and some background vocals.  I thought it gave the album a nice fun ending.

The three disc bootleg did not have a cover when I found it so I made one for it. I reused that cover here.

Sources
Good Vibrations: 30 Years box set
Pet Sounds: A Cappela
Vocals Only (bootleg)