Pink Floyd – Zabriskie Point (Original Soundtrack)

As I have posted one alternative history LP for Pink Floyd this month, how about another. Zabriskie Point is a film that is most probably more famous for its soundtrack album than the film itself. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and produced by MGM, this was the movie studios attempt at a counter culture film which was thoroughly ignored by the people it was meant to appeal to. From a budget of $7million (not a small amount in the late 60s), the film grossed about $1million in return. It is noticeable for an appearance by a young Harrison Ford. Infamously, leading man Mark Frechette took part in a bank robbery three years after the film came out and died in prison from an accident with some weights. 

However, the soundtrack lived on as it included tracks by the Grateful Dead, Kaleidoscope and songs unavailable anywhere else (at the time) from Pink Floyd. It was because of the Pink Floyd connection that I bought a vinyl copy of this record myself back in the dim distant past. Floyd had spent 1969 producing ‘Ummagumma’ and another soundtrack for the film ‘More’. They had done reasonably well with their LP sales, but this was the first year that the band had not released a single in the UK because, as Roger Waters once noted, without founder Syd Barrett, they just weren’t very good at it. It was because of a recording on their last single of the 1960s that Antonioni came a-calling. 

That recording was that single’s B-Side, ’Careful With That Axe, Eugene’. Antonioni was so impressed with the track that not only did he ask the band to re-record it (under the title of Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up) but to score the entire film. This the band did, but as has already been noted, the director decided against using the majority of their material for the film. This is a shame as there are some nice instrumental pieces here, as well as a couple of actual songs. Out of the actual songs, only ‘Crumbling Land’ made the soundtrack album as well as two instrumental pieces, ‘Heart Beat, Pig Meat’ and the aforementioned ‘Come in Number 51 (etc)’. The rest were consigned to the archive. 

What I have tried to do here is to present a soundtrack to Zabriskie Point that is made up of only Floyd music.

Love Scene – there were numerous version of this instrumental track, because Antonioni could not make up his mind what he wanted. Floyd produced at least seven variations, three of which have been included here. 

Aeroplane – one of many heavy rock pieces Floyd produced for the soundtrack. 

Unknown Song – initially released on the 1997 version of the soundtrack album, this contains melodies that were reused in ‘Atom Heart Mother’ as well as being a signal to what was to come from the band. The acoustic 12 string playing is reminiscent of ‘A Pillow of Winds’ from ‘Meddle. 

Crumbling Land – Pink Floyd do an Americana style song, which David Gilmour later noted, could have been performed better by any number of American bands. 

Auto Scene – A variation (and instrumental version) of ‘Country Song’. 

Heart Beat, Pig Meat – This would sometimes make an appearance with another Floyd project which never saw the light of day as an official released at the time. This was part of ‘The Man & The Journey’ under title of ‘Doing It’. 

The Riot Scene – Most probably the most famous un-released track from these sessions. this piano track was later taken from the archives, given some lyrics and called ‘Us & Them’. It would be included on the classic ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ LP.

Country Song – the second song to contain lyrics, this would ultimately not appear in the film. 

Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up – The afore mentioned reworking of ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’, this would take centre stage at the conclusion of the film. 

On The Highway – A shorter version of ‘Crumbling Land’

Side A

  1. Love Scene (Version1)
  2. Aeroplane
  3. Unknown Song (Take 1)
  4. Crumbling Land
  5. Love Scene (Version 7)
  6. Auto Scene (Version 2)

Side B

  1. Heart Beat, Pig Meat
  2. The Riot Scene
  3. Love Scene (Version 4)
  4. Country Song
  5. Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up
  6. On The Highway

This is not the best Pink Floyd album by any stretch of the imagination, but it still has its merits. It showcases the band as being able to tackle many genres as well as working to a schedule, something that would go out of the window after the success of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. I think there is a more constant feel to this album, compared to ‘More’ and the two vocal tracks (not including ‘On The Highway’ here) were really good. This though is a nice bridge between the first phase of Floyd and the beginnings of their soon to be world domination period. 

Pink Floyd – The Massed Gadgets Of Auximenes

I do like a bit of Pink Floyd, especially in their more experimental days before ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ came out. They were bursting with ideas but they were struggling to find their sound. However, Pink Floyd entered 1969 in reasonable shape sales wise, but there was still some debate as to the direction the band would take. The band’s early material and their hits had been written by Syd Barrett, but due to reasons documented in numerous other places, he had left the band by April 1968. The band had already recruited Barrett’s friend David Gilmour to help take the heavy lifting of live work and so was already in place when Barrett left/was asked to leave. The bands second album, ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ had been released in June 1968 and was a mixed bag of psychedelic jams, first album outtakes, Barrett knock offs as well as one Barrett original. The album is, as drummer Nick Mason described it, a cross-fade between one era and the next. I’ve not seen a more apt description of that album anywhere else. 

With Barrett gone and the psychedelic era drawing to a close, the band were looking for a new direction. A way of keeping themselves busy as well as earning some money, the band took on commissions to write soundtracks. This included the films ‘Speak’ by John Latham, ‘More’ by Barbet Schroeder, ‘The Committee’ by Peter Sykes and there was some contributions to TV shows such as Tomorrows World. They would finish off the 60s by realising the half live, half studio album ‘Ummagumma’. 1969 was quite a productive year, but that does not mean that the music they were producing was as memorable as the work that had proceeded it or what was to come. This was a band treading water and wondering what to do next and listening to the studio set on ‘Ummagumma’ shows this. However, when listening to the material that band put out in 1969, I wondered if there was enough songs to make a stand alone album as a true follow up to ‘Saucerful of Secrets’. Well, this is what I came up.

All of the songs needed to come from the last months of 1968, which means that the ‘Point Me At The Sky’ single would still be part of this timeline. I changed the B-Side from ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’ to ‘Ibiza Bar’ from ‘More’. I quite like ‘Ibiza Bar’ as it borders on a hard rock sound Pink Floyd did not attempt very often. However, one of their other attempts was ‘The Nile Song’ from the same album was also in a similar style and sound very much alike as well. I did not like the idea of having two songs that sounded pretty much the same so I relegated one to a single B-Side. ‘Cirrus Minor’ also appeared on the ‘More’ and it could be argued that it is a strange choice as the opening track. It is a very mellow songs and not the bombastic here were are opening you’d expect on an album. It was the opening track on the original album and to my ears, this was the best place for it. I edited the introduction to ‘Grantchester Meadows’ over the end of ‘Cirrus Minor’ as we moved to a more folk orientated tune and it works quite nicely. We then get to ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’, which is presented here in a stereo mix. The original single version was mono, but as this album would have been released in stereo only as all new Pink Floyd albums have been since 1969; that is the reason why this mix was included. This song was wasted on the B-Side of ‘Point Me At The Sky’. Side A finishes with ‘The Narrow Way (Part 3)’, the first Pink Floyd song with lyrics by Gilmour. Parts 1 & 2 were instrumental tracks and have been edited out, as they would have meant this side of the album would be too long. This record is meant to be more song based so having all of the instrumental noodling would detract from the record. 

Side B starts with a bang and the aforementioned ‘Nile Song’. We then go back to the more folky side of Floyd with the beautiful ‘Green Is The Colour’. The pace picks up again with ‘Biding My Time’ which was one of the few genuine Pink Floyd rarities to get an official release during the 70s, when the band put out the ‘Relics’ album. Cymbaline, one of the more beautiful songs from ‘More’ and like ‘Green Is The Colour’, was wasted on a soundtrack album. What follows is another rarity from the era in the form of the song ‘Embryo’. Only recorded as a demo in late 1968, it slipped out on the Harvest label sampler LP ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’. The song was never finished by the band but it did become a concert staple between 1970 and 71. We finish off with another song from ‘More’ with ‘Crying Song’. 

Playing through this compilation whilst writing this entry, it reminded me that even at this early stage, the band were capable of writing some quality material and this would have been a very good album, if a little eclectic with the amount of styles presented within the grooves. Granted, they were still trying to find the direction they were going to go in but this would have lead nicely into ‘Atom Heart Mother’, the studio album that followed in 1970. It was interesting to note that a lot of these songs were being performed by the band at this time as ‘The Man & The Journey’ show, which I also looked at back in April of 2022. 

Side A

  1. Cirrus Minor – More
  2. Granchester Meadows – Ummagumma
  3. Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Stereo Mix) – Relics
  4. The Narrow Way (Part 3) – Ummagumma

Side B

  1. The Nile Song – More
  2. Green Is The Colour – More
  3. Biding My Time – Relics
  4. Cymbaline – More
  5. Embryo – Picnic – A Breath Of Fresh Air
  6. Crying Song – More

Single

  1. Point Me At The Sky – Single A-Side
  2. Ibiza Bar – More

The name of the album comes from the name given to some of the shows they played in 1969 which would also be known as ‘The Man & The Journey’. 

The cover has been adapted from https://www.reddit.com/r/pinkfloyd/comments/avlk6k/pink_floyd_the_man_and_the_journey_hypothetical/

Smashing Pumpkins – Adhor

When it comes to these what-if records, Smashing Pumpkins really are the band that just keep on giving, especially when it come to the period between their formation in 1988 and initial breakup in 2000. The scale of the material that the band recorded and did not release must be akin to Bob Dylan, in that the could have quite easily released a number of Bootleg Series style releases, but instead, they focused on placing this material on the deluxe editions of their original albums. The first two, ‘Gish’ and ‘Siamese Dream’ only hinted at what was to come. Maybe main songwriter Billy Corgan felt that the best of the outtakes had already been released on their ‘Pisces Iscariot’ album. With that record also being released in a deluxe edition, it would seem not. As has been mentioned in previous posts on the Pumpkins, Corgan shared a lot of material via his website in the early 2000, some of which have not see an official release either. 

It was with the deluxe editions of ‘Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness’ and ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ that the true depth of material that the band had in the archive become clear. These rereleases included so much music it was impossible to sit through them in one sitting. I already tackled what ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ would have sounded like if it had been released as a single album in the same manor as ‘Pisces Iscariot’,  but what about ‘Adore’?

‘Adore’ came out at a challenging time for the band. Not only was Corgan finding the pressure to produce a record that matched ‘Mellon Collie’, but the band was reeling from the sacking of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin due to drug issues. Band relations were also at a low point with Corgan latter summing up these sessions as the work of a group falling apart. Corgan was also having to contend with the death of his mother as well as going through a divorce. Considering we got anything at all was a minor miracle. 

There were clues as to what was coming with ‘Adore’ with their previous releases. The song ‘1979’ included electronic elements as well as stand alone singles ‘Eye’ and ‘The End Is The Beginning Is The End’. ‘Adore’ would not only include the use of drum machines (harking back to the earliest days of the band when they did not have a drummer) but more acoustic guitar and piano. Corgan felt that he was no longer making music for teenagers, but to everyone. Judging by the number of albums sold (which by most peoples standards were quite good), the album lost the band a lot of fans instead of gaining them. Sales were down significantly on ‘Mellon Collie’ and was the first time a Pumpkins album had sold less than the preceding one. 

In preparation for ‘Adore’, the band recorded around 30 songs and at one point of its production, it was going to be a double album. As it was, the album was so long that it was decided that the vinyl version would need to use two discs, even though side 4 was left blank. For this, I was tempted to have a go at putting together a double, but I thought it would be better to have a look at what a record of sessions outtakes would sound like, especially as this was the first album since ‘Siamese Dream’ not to have a compilation of sessions material released after it. There wasn’t exactly a shortage of songs on the ‘Adore’ reissue to choose from. 

The album itself is based on a vinyl format, so I was limited to about 24 minutes per side. The opening song of the compilation is ‘Let Me Give The World To You’, which was almost on the parent album until Corgan got wind that the record label were keen to release this as the first single. Corgan was adamant that this would not be a single, but the only way to prevent that would be to take the song off of ‘Adore’, which is what he ended up doing. The song was rerecorded for the ‘Machina’ project. It did see a limited release on the ‘Machina II’ album in 2000. As an opening song for this collection, it is a good place to start. 

For the rest of the record, I focused on the songs that used minimal electronics. The collection focuses on the acoustic and more mellow of the songs. The more electronic music was relegated to the B-Sides of the single. I would also have the band release one single from this, which would be an alternative version of ‘Do You Close Your Eyes?’. As this was also the era where two CDsingles would come out per release with different B-Sides, there are four extra tracks from the sessions that could have been released. 

For the title of the album, I chose ‘Adhor’ as this is the opposite of ‘Adore’ I also used a picture taken by Yalena Yemchuk who took the picture for the original album as well. 

As a whole, it works well and once again shows how much quality material Corgan was writing at this time, and how much of it was forgotten about as he moved on to the next project. 

Side A

  1. Let Me Give The World To You (Adore Outtake)
  2. Valentine (Sadlands Demo)
  3. Sparrow (Sadlands Demo)
  4. My Mistake (Take 1/CRC Demo)
  5. Chewing Gum (CRC Demo)
  6. Czarina (Take 1/Adore Outtake)

Side B

  1. Do You Close Your Eyes When You Kiss Me? (CRC Demo)
  2. Saturnine (For Piano & Voice)
  3. It’s Alright (Instrumental/Adore Outtake)
  4. What If? (Streeterville Demo)
  5. Blissed & Gone (CRC Demo)
  6. Cross (Adore Outtake)

Singles

  1. Do You Close Your Eyes? – A-Side (Adore Outtake)
  2. Indecision – B-Side (Sadlands Demo)
  3. Waiting – B-Side (Adore Outtake)
  4. My Mistake – B-Side (Badlands Demo)
  5. O Rio – B-Side (Instrumental/Sadlands Demo)

The Beach Boys – 1960-1962

I feel that in the past, I have been a little bit harsh on The Beach Boys with my ‘Endless Bummer’ compilations. Some of the songs they have released are timeless classics. Their story is also one of the great soap operas in music with family feuds, drug abuse, mental health problems and Mike Love. Their story begins in the late 1950’s when a 16 year old Brian Wilson has been soaking up the piano playing of his father, Murray Wilson and the vocal harmony group, the Four Freshman. Brian would teach his family members how to sing the background harmonies, gaining experience for what he would do in the recording studio. In 1958, he received a reel-to-reel tape recorder which he used to overdub his voice along with the aforementioned family. 

When his youngest brother Carl received a guitar for Christmas, the pair of them (along with Carl’s friend David Marks) would start playing together. Brian also started to write songs and other people who would become part of The Beach Boys family started to appear on the scene. These were Mike Love, cousin to the Wilson’s and Al Jardine who was a classmate of Brian. Brian suggested that he, Carl, Love and Jardine should team up as a group which was given the name, The Pendletones, a pun on Pendelton which was a style of shirt that was the fashion at the time. 

This is where the third Wilson brother comes in to the picture. Middle brother Dennis was the only surfer in the group and it was on his suggestion that the group should write songs about the sport and the lifestyle it inspired. From this came the songs ‘Surfin’ and ‘ Surfin’ Safari’. Murray Wilson had had some experience of the music business and most importantly, some contacts. He introduced The Pendletones to publisher Hite Morgan which lead to the group recording a demo of ‘Surfin’. Murray shopped the demo to Herb Newman who owned the Candix Record label. Candix would release the song (backed with ‘Luau’) but had changed the name of the group to The Beach Boys because the labels promotion man felt it would associate them more directly with the surf-music genre. By the end of 1961, ‘Surfin’ had sold 40,000 copies. 

Morgan asked some of The Beach Boys to add some vocals to some backing tracks he had recorded previously with some other musicians. These became the single credited to Kenny & The Cadets’ with Brian on lead vocals, backed with Carl and Jardine along with the Wilsons’ mother, Audree. Another member of Kenny & The Cadets was Val Polite who I believe was a member of the LA based vocal group, The Jaguars. Jardine would leave The Beach Boys to study dentistry and was replaced by David Marks. However, Candix had always struggled with cash flow problems and having a successful single actually didn’t help. Candix would go bankrupt and Murray Wilson tried to find the band a new label. Considering they had had a national hit, be it a small one (‘Surfin’ made number 75 in the Billboard top 100), labels such as Dot and Liberty turned them down feeling that the band where a one minor hit wonder.  

Capitol Records eventually signed the group to a seven year contract and work began on their debut album, ‘Surfin’ Safari’ and it because that album is 60 years old this month that I have put together this collection. This project originally started out as deluxe edition of that album. The Beach Boys have been one of the few bands (in my opinion) that in recent years, have served their fans well by opening up the vaults to the gold contained within. However, what they did not do very often was focus on one album releasing session and live tracks for the period. This would have been the first of those deluxe editions but when it came to it, this actually proved to be a bit tricker than it would be for other bands. That is because The Beach Boys put out so much product in a relatively short time, even by the standards of the 1960s. Just to put this into context, they released ten albums between 1962 and 1965. That does not include the single only tracks and the work Brian completed with other artists. He was a very busy man for the majority of the 60s. No wonder he had a break down at the end of the ‘Smile’ sessions. 

So instead of a deluxe edition of the albums, what I have put together instead is a collection that looks at a particular year, except with this first collection that covers the first three from their first home demos until the start of the sessions for their second album, ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’. I have looked to include as many variations of a song that I could find. This includes demos, false takes and rehearsals. I took inspiration for these collections on the mighty fine compilation, ‘Becoming The Beach Boys – The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions’. This would take a song and have all of the versions of it before moving on to the next one. Granted, it does make it a bit of a heavy listen after the fifth breakdown of a take. 

I would also not normally include any songs that had the hand of Brian Wilson in it that wasn’t released under The Beach Boys name but on this one occasion, I have included those Kenny & The Cadet recordings here. Therefore, all of the other Brian Wilson solo recordings and outside productions are not included here as I think they should have a box set all to themselves. These tracks have also not been presented in the order in which they were recorded. I have followed the running order of the parent albums and added songs that were unreleased at the time where there was space. 

Disc 1 – 1960 Home Recordings

The first CD is a collection of home demos showing Brian getting use to working with the tape recorder as well as working out how to get the best performances out of the group. As a final note, it is interesting that there is a version of ‘Sloop John B’ on these early recordings as The Beach Boys would resist this around the time of their masterpiece ‘Pet Sounds’ LP. 

All of the songs on this disc were taken from ‘The Garage Tapes’ bootleg, except for track 2 which came from the ‘Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace Of A Musical Legacy’ compilation and track 11 which comes from the ‘Rarities 1962-1968’ bootleg. Even though the years on that bootleg are later than the music contained on this disc, track 11 sounds like the other home demos the band recorded so it goes here instead of later. 

  1. Vocal Rehearsal
  2. Happy Birthday Four Freshmen
  3. Surfin #1
  4. Surfin #2
  5. Surfin #3
  6. Surfin #4
  7. Surfin #5
  8. Surfin #6
  9. Surfin #7
  10. Surfin #8
  11. Surfin (Rehearsal)
  12. Bermuda Shorts #1
  13. Bermuda Shorts #2
  14. Sloop John B
  15. Good News
  16. Holly Gully
  17. Happy Birthday
  18. Dream
  19. To Spend One Night With You
  20. Brian At The Piano
  21. July 18th Celebration
  22. White Christmas
  23. Murray Directs Brian At The Organ

Disc 2

Discs 2 & 3 are from the ‘Becoming The Beach Boys – The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions’ with a couple of extra tracks from the earlier compilation ‘Studio Session 61-62*’ which included a couple of takes that were unavailable anywhere else. An alternative version of ‘Barbie’ is taken from the rare Japanese only compilation ‘Still I Dream Of You: Rare Works of Brian Wilson” from 1993 where it was listed at Take 2. 

  1. Surfin’ (Demo)
  2. Surfin’ (Takes 1 & 2)
  3. Surfin’ (Take 3)
  4. Surfin’ (Take 4)
  5. Surfin’ (Take 5)
  6. Surfin’ (Take 6)
  7. Surfin’ (Take 7)
  8. Surfin’ (Take 8)
  9. Surfin’ (Master)
  10. Luau (Demo Take 1)
  11. Luau (Demo Take 2)
  12. Luau (Demo Take 3)
  13. Luau (Takes 1 & 2)
  14. Luau (Takes 3, 5 & 6)
  15. Luau (Take 7)
  16. Luau (Takes 8, 9, 10 & 11)
  17. Luau (Take 12)
  18. Luau (Master)
  19. Lavender (Demo)*
  20. Lavender (Rehearsal Take 1)
  21. Lavender (Rehearsal Take 2)
  22. Lavender (Rehearsal Take 3)
  23. Surfin’ Safari (Takes 3 & 4)
  24. Surfin’ Safari (Takes 5 & 6)
  25. Surfin’ Safari (Take 10)
  26. Surfin’ Safari (Overdub Take 1 On Take 6)
  27. Surfin’ Safari (Overdub Take 2 On Take 10)
  28. Surfin’ Safari (Master)
  29. Surfin’ Safari (Stereo Overdub)

Disc 3

  1. Surfer Girl (Take 1)
  2. Surfer Girl (Take 2)
  3. Surfer Girl (Take 3)
  4. Surfer Girl (Take 4)
  5. Surfer Girl (Take 5)
  6. Surfer Girl (Take 6)
  7. Surfer Girl (Master)
  8. Surfer Girl (Overdub Lead Vocal)
  9. Judy (Take 1)
  10. Judy (Take 2)
  11. Judy (Overdub Takes 1 & 2)
  12. Judy (Overdub Take 4)
  13. Judy (Master)
  14. Judy (Demo – April 1962 Guitar Solo)
  15. Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Take 1)
  16. Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Rehearsal Take 2)
  17. Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Overdub Take 1 On Take 1)
  18. Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Overdub Take 2 On Take 1)
  19. Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Candix Session)*
  20. Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Master)
  21. Barbie (Overdub Take 1) – Kenny & The Cadets
  22. Barbie (Overdub Take 2, 3 & 4) – Kenny & The Cadets
  23. Barbie (Overdub Take 5) – Kenny & The Cadets
  24. Barbie (Overdub Take 7) – Kenny & The Cadets
  25. Barbie (Mono Single Master) – Kenny & The Cadets
  26. Barbie (Mono Album Master) – Kenny & The Cadets
  27. Barbie (Alt. Version) – Kenny & The Cadets
  28. Barbie (Stereo) – Kenny & The Cadets*
  29. What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Demo) – Kenny & The Cadets
  30. What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Take 1) – Kenny & The Cadets
  31. What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Take 3) – Kenny & The Cadets
  32. What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Takes 4 & 5) – Kenny & The Cadets
  33. What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Take 6) – Kenny & The Cadets
  34. What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Take 7) – Kenny & The Cadets
  35. What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Mono Master) – Kenny & The Cadets
  36. What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Stereo) – Kenny & The Cadets*

Disc 4

Discs 4 & 5 cover the sessions for the ‘Surfin’ Safari’ along with any other song that was recorded in 1962. This does include some versions of songs that would appear on the album that came out the following year. This includes both the mono and duophonic mixes of the album. 

** Surfin’ Safari

*** Surfin’ Safari (1990 Reissue)

****Surfer Girl

***** Little Deuce Coupe

^ Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (Box Set)

^^ Unsurpassed Masters Vol.1 (Bootleg)

^^^ Unsurpassed Masters Vol.3 (Bootleg)

^^^^ In The Beginning (Bootleg)

  1. Surfin’ Safari (Mono)**
  2. Surfin’ Safari (Duophonic)**
  3. Surfin Sarafi (2021 Stereo Mix)+++
  4. Country Fair (Instrumental)^^
  5. Country Fair (Overdub 2, Take 13)^^
  6. Country Fair (Mono)**
  7. Country Fair (Duophonic)**
  8. Ten Little Indians (Mono)**
  9. Ten Little Indians (Duophonic)**
  10. Chug-A-Lug (Mono)**
  11. Chug-A-Lug (Duophonic)**
  12. Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Takes 1 & 2)^^ 
  13. Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Takes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8)^^
  14. Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Takes 9, 10, 11 & 12)^^
  15. Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Take 13)^^
  16. Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Take 15)^^
  17. Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Mono)**
  18. Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Duophonic)**
  19. 409 (Mono)**
  20. 409 (Duophonic)***
  21. Land Ahoy (Instrumental Take 1)^^
  22. Land Ahoy (Overdub 1, Takes 2 & 3)^^
  23. Land Ahoy (Overdub 1, Take 4)^^
  24. Land Ahoy (Overdub 1, Take 5)^^
  25. Land Ahoy****
  26. The Surfer Moon (Instrumental Take 1)^^
  27. The Surfer Moon (Instrumental Take 2)^^
  28. The Surfer Moon (Instrumental Take 3)^^
  29. The Surfer Moon (Vocal Overdub, Take 19)^^^^
  30. The Surfer Moon (1st Stereo Mix, Vocal Take)^^^
  31. The Surfer Moon (2nd Stereo Mix, Vocal Take)^^^
  32. The Surfer Moon (Mono)****
  33. The Surfer Moon (Stereo)****
  34. Their Hearts Were Full Off Spring (Demo)^

Disc 5

** Surfin’ Safari

*** Surfin’ Safari (1990 Reissue)

****Surfer Girl

***** Little Deuce Coupe

+ Made In California (Box Set)

++ Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace Of A Musical Legacy

+++Sounds Of Summer: The Best Of The Beach Boys (Expanded Super Deluxe)

^ Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (Box Set)

^^ Unsurpassed Masters Vol.1 (Bootleg)

^^^ Unsurpassed Masters Vol.3 (Bootleg)

^^^^ In The Beginning (Bootleg) Surfin’ (Mono)**

  1. Surfin’ (Duophonic)**
  2. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Overdub 1, Take 13)^^
  3. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Overdub 1, Take 14, 15 & 16)^^
  4. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Overdub 1, Take 17)^^
  5. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Mono)**
  6. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Duophonic)**
  7. Summertime Blues (Instrumental, Takes 1 & 2)^^
  8. Summertime Blues (Instrumental, Take 3)^^
  9. Summertime Blues (Instrumental, Take 4)^^
  10. Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 5)^^
  11. Summertime Blues (Overdub, Takes 6 & 7)^^
  12. Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 8)^^
  13. Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 9)^^
  14. Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 10)^^
  15. Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 11)^^
  16. Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 12)^^
  17. Summertime Blues (Mono)**
  18. Summertime Blues (Duophonic)**
  19. Cuckoo Clock (Instrumental)^^
  20. Cuckoo Clock (Overdub 2, Take 12)^^
  21. Cuckoo Clock (Mono)**
  22. Cuckoo Clock (Duophonic)**
  23. The Shift (Mono)**
  24. The Shift (Duophonic)**
  25. Cindy, Oh Cindy (Instrumental, Take 1)^^
  26. Cindy, Oh Cindy (Instrumental, Takes 2, 3 & 4)^^
  27. Cindy, Oh Cindy (Instrumental, 5, 6 & 7)^^
  28. Cindy, Oh Cindy (Instrumental, Take 8)^^
  29. Cindy, Oh Cindy (Vocal Take)^^
  30. Cindy, Oh Cindy***
  31. Lonely Sea (Mono)**
  32. Lonely Sea (Stereo)**
  33. Lonely Sea (Original Long Mono Version)+
  34. Surfin’ U.S.A. (Demo With Drums)++

The cover image was taken at the same photo session that produced the shot used for ‘Surfin’ Safari’ LP sleeve.

Various Artists – The Boys Diabolical OST

Even though the first series of ‘The Boys’ came out in 2019, this was another one of those shows that I did not see until lockdown. Based upon a comic book, ‘The Boys’ is set in a world where superheroes are seen as heroes by the general public but in the background, they are arrogant and/or corrupt. I am not going to say too much more because if you have not seen it, it is well worth a watch. 

What I didn’t realise until earlier this month was that there was a spin off series that came out between seasons 2 and 3. It was called ‘The Boys Present: Diabolical’. This series was made up of eight episodes all on a different theme and using a different animation style for each. When looking on line, the only soundtrack I found was based upon the original music created for the series. I wanted one that included all of the songs used in this series so this is it. Unlike the majority of my playlists, this one is not designed to be replicated on vinyl.  

  1. Arirang – Hyesu Wiedmann
  2. Kimokawaii – Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson
  3. Laser Baby’s Day Out – Julie Bernstein & Steven Bernstein
  4. Only Wanna Be With You – Hootie & The Blowfish
  5. Pusher Man – Curtis Mayfield
  6. Boyd In 3d – Sherri Chung
  7. Queso – Pell
  8. An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents – Ryan Elder
  9. Levitating – Dua Lipa
  10. I’m Your Pusher – Christopher Lennertz & Matt Bowen
  11. Gimmie – All Talk
  12. Bffs – Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson
  13. Take My Picture – Five Knives
  14. Nubian Vs. Nubian – Dara Taylor
  15. Augenbling – Speed
  16. John & Sun Her – Hyesu Widmann
  17. Old Town Road – Lil Has X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus)
  18. One Plus One Equals Two – Christopher Lennertz & Matt Bowen
  19. Frog Quest 2 – Nervy Talkie

The artwork is taken from the official soundtrack cover. 

Smashing Pumpkins – The Aeroplane Flies High (Single LP Edition)

In October 2020, I put together a couple of Smashing Pumpkins playlists. What this lead to was playing through their back catalogue from Gish to Adore and all points in between. Apart from the stylistic differences between the records (no doubt down increased budgets and Billy Corgan’s ego), the band hit a real purple patch around the recording of the ‘Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness’ album. I say band and not just Corgan because this was the last period where they actually were a band. James Iha contributed a good number of tunes during this period, he and D’Arcy actually contributed musically (instead of having any parts they played replayed by Corgan) and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin even contributed vocals to the song ‘Farewell & Goodnight’. The band dynamic would never be the same after Chamberlin was fired from the band during the Mellon Collie tour after he and touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin both suffered a drugs overdose. Melvin died but Chamberlin, who had struggling with substance abuse for a fews years before this time was given his marching orders to ostensibly protect his health. 

Corgan, and the rest of the band to a lesser extent, must have lived in rehearsal rooms and the studio, laying down numerous takes of what feels like 100 tunes before settling on the 28 that made up the original ‘Mellon Collie’ album. With so many musical outtakes left in the can, the Pumpkins ended up releasing many of them at the time as B-Sides to the ‘Mellon Collie’ singles which would be collected into a box set called ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’. I remember seeing this release before hearing about it and its presentation was what drew me in to begin with. The five singles had been collected in a box that look liked the carry cases used to transport 7 inch singles in, included a handle. 

The box set also contained some exclusive recordings of cover songs which were included on the ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’ single. When I initially played it, I found it impenetrable. There were 33 songs on it and the ‘Pastichio Medley’ seemed to take an eternity to finish. Come to think of it, that first play through of this box set might be the only time I have listened to that track all the way through. This set was not something to play all the way through, but to dip a toe into once in a while to take in the delights that could be unlocked and what delights they were to behold. This is not just some collection of third rate outtakes put out to fleece the fans of their hard earned cash. It proved to be full of A-Grade material that showcased a different dimension to the band and so I come to this collection. 

Whilst playing it again recently, I wondered what this set would sound like if it was complied as an album in the style of ‘Pisces Iscariot’. The band’s record label had had a go themselves at this by releasing a 12 track promo album from the box set back in 1996, but when playing the track in that order did not do the parent release justice. I thought that following the template of ‘Pisces Iscariot’ would allow for more songs as that contained 14 tracks. What I didn’t release until putting this compilation together was how long ‘Pisces Iscariot’ was, clocking in 57 minutes. That must have been a strain on the LP version, which as far as I can tell was not edited down. 

My version of ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ clocks in at 51 minutes but is still based on the LP format. Therefore, both sides should match up in terms of side length, because back in the day, you had to take into consideration the cassette buying fans. Like ‘Pisces Iscariot’, there are 14 songs on the record, one written by James Iha (and includes guest vocals from Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt), a bonus 7 inch single (for those lucky enough to get hold of an early copy) and two cover versions. The biggest difference between this and ‘Pisces Iscariot’ is that the bonus single contain the cover versions.

This version does include one song that was released on the LP version of ‘Mellon Collie’ but as this only ever released in the UK back in 1996 and in very limited numbers, this would have been new to most listeners. 

What was evident from listening back to the deluxe editions of ‘Mellon Collie’ and ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ is that Billy Corgan had great musical ideas to burn. If this album had been released instead of the box set, this would have been seen as more than just a spiritual successor to ‘Pisces Iscariot’ and been as big a hit as the box set had been (well, in the USA anyway). 

Side A

  1. Blank
  2. Transformer
  3. Set The Ray To Jerry
  4. Marquis In Spades
  5. The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)
  6. Medellia Of The Grey Skies

Side B

  1. …Said Sadly
  2. Mouths Of Babes
  3. Cherry
  4. Jupiter’s Lament
  5. Meladori Magpie
  6. Pennies
  7. The Last Song
  8. Tonite Reprise

Bonus 7” Single

  1. Clones (We’re All)
  2. You’re All I’ve Got Tonight

The front cover has been adapted from The Aeroplane Flies High Promo CD release.

The Pink Fairies – The Collection

Back in the dim distant past, or before the internet, finding out information about more obscure bands was a very hit and miss affair. Record Collector Magazine was a good place to start but this did depend on if the editor felt that that particular artists would help sell more copies that month, or the odd reference book. In my case, it was whether I or my family knew someone who had a record collection that they had built up throughout their life and didn’t mind me playing them. Even better was when some of these family friends donated their vinyl to archive. One such occasion happened in 1992. This  particular collection contained records that mostly dated from the 70s and was full of bands and artists a good many I had never heard of. One of those is the featured artists in this post, and that is the Pink Fairies. 

The album in my hands turned out be part of record label Polydor’s Flashback series. The Flashback series was Polydor mining their back catalogue but in a different way from other labels. Whereas other label would produce Greatest Hits or Best Of compilations, Polydor took a different route and produce a good number of budget priced compilations of big names (Cream, Hendrix), bands that had been on the label, or associate label but moved onto pastures new (Fairport Convention), cult acts (Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa) and half forgotten acts (Pink Fairies). Now, at the time, I knew nothing of this. In front of me was an album with a pink background with three hairy looking musicians giving it plenty on stage and a list of songs contained within. The back cover gave a very short history of the band which included a limited list of records the band had released. As soon as I put the needle on the vinyl and the first song played, I knew I was entering into a different world. 

The Pink Fairies came out of the Ladbrooke Groove underground scene of the early 70s. They played the first Glastonbury as well as appearing outside the gates of the Isle of Wight festival. On the second of these, the band played outside because not only were they not on the bill, but felt that music should be free. That being said, they did release three albums on a major label in their first incarnation and people would have had to pay for these. Anyway, it from these early years that this collection is drawn from. The music the band produced was a heady mix of good time rock ’n’ roll from their most self written material with the odd cover in there. Original guitar player Paul Rudolph played a mean guitar and it was wild solo on the opening track of the Flashback album that mesmerised me in the first place. That song was ‘The Snake’, and when you hear it you will see what I mean. Rudolph left after the second album to be replaced with first Mick Wayne, who only appeared on the ‘Well, Well, Well’ single and then Larry Wallis who stuck around for the last album, ‘King Of Oblivion’. After this taster, I was after more Fairies records to add to the collection.

Back in the early days of me collecting records, having to find a record by an obscure artist I was getting into was a very hot and miss affair, and mostly it involved misses. That was down to one simple factor; luck. Not only did the second hand record shop you went to have to have it (which was unlikely), I also had to hope that it was within my merger budget. As it was, on my first trip out I picked up a copy of ‘King Of Oblivion’. That might explain why it has more songs on this compilation that the other Fairies records. The original trio of albums were available in the early 90s on some rather pricey Japanese import CDs, but being a student at the time, I was unable to afford them.  I did pick up a couple more albums along the way but these were from one or more of the numerous times the band has got back together down the years. None of them held a torch to what the band had produced before and that was not probably the reason why they were so cheap. You live and learn. There was the odd semi legitimate release (most of which came from Italy) which had some live stuff, especially from he archives of the BBC. Then, in 2002, the original albums were dusted off by Polydor and released on CD with bonus tracks. Finally I was able to hear then all for the first time after ten years of waiting. As with most of these things, the anticipation only lead to the hardest of falls. I had already heard most of the best songs on the records I had in the collection already. it did feel like a bit of a let down, but it was great to hear them finally and I was able to put this compilation together that I present to you here. Enjoy.

  1. Thor – Never Never Land
  2. Johnny B. Goode – BBC In Concert Radio Broadcast 1971
  3. The Snake Single – A-Side
  4. Portobello Shuffle  – What A Bunch Of Sweeties
  5. Say You Love Me – Never Never Land
  6. Lucille – BBC In Concert Radio Broadcast 1971
  7. City Kids – Kings Of Oblivion
  8. Chromium Plating – Kings Of Oblivion
  9. Raceway – Kings Of Oblivion
  10. Well, Well, Well – Single A-Side
  11. Do It – Single B-Side
  12. Chambermaid – Kings Of Oblivion
  13. Going Down  – What A Bunch Of Sweeties (2002 Reissue)
  14. Right On, Fight On – What A Bunch Of Sweeties
  15. I Wish I Was A Girl – Kings Of Oblivion
  16. Street Urchin – Kings Of Oblivion

Out of all of the bands that I have posted about, I thought that this would be another one in which I would not be able to produce a Spotify playlist. Well, it just goes to show how wrong you can be. Every song is on there, even the BBC In Concert session. I was amazed. What that does mean is that you can enjoy this Pink Fairies compilation as much as I have down the years. 

The front cover is adapted from their debut release, ‘Never Never Land’.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – The Collection

When I heard that there was going to be a collaborative album between the sweet sounding Campbell with the life lived baritone of Lanegan, I thought it was an April Fool’s. It just goes to show how wrong you can be. The duo produced three albums along with associated singles/EPs between 2006 and 2010. With Lanegan’s passing in 2022, the chance of the pair recording together again has now passed. 

Campbell was the driving force behind this pair up, writing most of the songs as well as producing the records but did not want to continue touring. The grind of going out on the road was one of the reasons she had quit Belle and Sebastian back in 2002. The relationship with Lanegan had also become strained but what we got when they did work together, it was a modern version of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood.  Enjoy.

  1. Dusty Wreath
  2. We Die & See Beauty Again
  3. You Won’t Let Me Down Again
  4. Snake Song
  5. Shotgun Blues
  6. The False Husband
  7. Deus Ibi Est
  8. Ramblin’ Man
  9. Time Of The Season
  10. Something To Believe
  11. Come On Over (Turn Me On)
  12. Cool Water
  13. Saturday’s Gone
  14. Lately
  15. Rambling Rose, Clinging Vine
  16. No Place To Fall
  17. Trouble
  18. Revolver
  19. Keep Me In Mind Sweetheart
  20. The Circus Is Leaving Town 

The cover is adapted from the duo’s third and final album, ‘Hawk’. This play list could not be reproduced with one or more songs not being available on Spotify.

Isobel Campbell – The Collection

I only started buying Isobel Campbell’s solo records once she had left Belle and Sebastian. This occurred after the release of the bands ‘Storytelling’ LPs and it as though her leaving was one of the reasons why some of the tweeness left the band. What I didn’t realise until much later is that she released two album whilst still a member of Belle and Sebastian under the name of The Gentle Waves. These Gentle Waves albums could even be considered lost Belle and Sebastian albums as members of the band provide backing to her songs. Campbell released a number of records until 2006, when she collaborated with Mark Lanegan on a number of albums, but more on them later in the month. After the release of he last Campbell/Lanegan collaboration, there was silence for ten years. That does not mean that Campbell wasn’t doing anything. She had moved to American with her husband and had recorded an album but when her label folded, she spent a long time trying to obtain the rights to her own recordings so she could release them herself. Luckily for us, she did this and when ‘There Is No Other’ came out in 2020, there was an option to buy the album with a different, acoustic mix. Any songs where I have used these acoustic versions have been listed as such. Enjoy. 

Disc 1

  1. Milkwhite Sheets
  2. Bang Bang
  3. Hold Back A Thousand Years*
  4. Solace Of Pain*
  5. Renew & Restore*
  6. Time Is Just The Same
  7. Evensong*
  8. Weathershow*
  9. Song For Baby
  10. Argomenti
  11. This Land Flows With Milk
  12. Beggar, Wiseman or Thief?
  13. Hori Horo
  14. O Love Is Teasin’
  15. Are You Going To Leave Me?
  16. Monologue For An Old True Love
  17. Loretta Young*
  18. The Breeze Whispered Your Name (Part 2)
  19. There is No Greater Gold*
  20. Let The Good Times Begin*
  21. There Was Magic, Then…*
  22. Rose, I Love You*
  23. Thursday’s Child (Coda)*

This play list could not be reproduced with one or more songs not being available on Spotify.

Disc 2

  1. City Of Angels
  2. Rainbow (Acoustic)
  3. Ant Life (Acoustic)
  4. Just For Today (Acoustic)
  5. The National Bird Of India
  6. Runnin’ Down A Dream
  7. Love For Tomorrow
  8. Johnny Come Home
  9. Falling From Grace*
  10. Pretty Things*
  11. Flood*
  12. Reynardine
  13. Tree Lullaby*
  14. Yearning
  15. Vultures (Acoustic)
  16. See Your Face Again
  17. Loving Hannah
  18. Willow’s Song
  19. Hey World (Acoustic)
  20. Emmanuelle, Skating On Thin Ice*
  21. Enchanted Place*
  22. The Heart of It All (Acoustic)
  23. A Chapter In The Life Mathiew*

*The Gentle Waves

Some of these songs are from the acoustic version her last album. This play list could not be reproduced with one or more songs not being available on Spotify. 

The cover is adapted from the EP, ‘Time Is Just the Same’.

Belle & Sebastian – The Rough Trade Years

Before I start talking about the band in this era, I will point out that a couple of the tracks on this compilation come from the bands tenure on the Jeepster label. I quite liked the tunes and couldn’t find a place for them on the Jeepster compilation, so I thought I would use them here. They don’t sound out of place which is a bonus. 

The bands time on Rough Trade started with intent as they had Uber producer Trevor Horn to work on their ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’ LP. It not only signalled a period of time on a  new label, but a newish sound. The songs were not as twee as they once were as the songs had a bit more production to them. The instrumentation more diverse and they also started to release singles that was already on an album, which was a change from what had gone before. With Trevor Horn on board, the fact that the band became louder and more mainstream should not have been a surprise. 

This period also produced the ‘God Help the Girl’ project. This was initially an album of songs sung by women but written by Belle and Sebastian’s main songwriter, Stuart Murdoch. Though not classed as a Belle and Sebastian album, I have included songs from this project here because they fit in with the overall sound. These records also had a number of people from the band playing on them so that is close enough for me. The project would eventually lead to a film of the same name and because there was such a focus on this, there was only one Belle and Sebastian album released between 2007 and 2015. 

Disc 1

  1. Fiction
  2. I Didn’t See It Coming 
  3. God Help The Girl*
  4. Come On Sister
  5. The Blues Are Still Blue
  6. Last Trip 
  7. Funny Little Frog
  8. I’ll Have To Dance With Cassie*
  9. Pretty Eve in The Tub*
  10. Your Cover’s Blown
  11. You Don’t Send Me
  12. Song For Sunshine
  13. Calculating Bimbo
  14. Dress Up In You
  15. If You Could Speak*
  16. The Psychiatrist Is In*
  17. Baby’s Just Waiting*
  18. Stay Loose
  19. Perfection Is A Hipster*
  20. Mornington Crescent
  21. Fiction Reprise

Disc 2

  1. Act Of The Apostle*
  2. I’m In Love With The City*
  3. Susie In The Graveyard
  4. He’s A Loving Kind Of Boy*
  5. Stop, Look & Listen
  6. Blue Eyes Of A Millionaire
  7. If She Wants Me
  8. Suicide Girl
  9. White Collar Boy
  10. Dear Catastrophe Waitress
  11. Come Monday Night*
  12. Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John
  13. Musician, Please Take Heed*
  14. I Just Want Your Jeans*
  15. Roy Walker
  16. We Are The Sleepyheads
  17. Another Sunny Day
  18. I’m A Cuckoo (Single Version)
  19. I’m Not Living In The Real World
  20. Asleep On A Sunbeam
  21. A Down & Dusky Blonde*
  22. I Took A Long Hard Look
  23. Night Walk

The cover of this compilation is adapted from the album, ‘The Life Pursuit’.

*God Help The Girl