The Squire Presents

Oh Fleetwood Mac. If there had been one of those American mini series (that seemed to be on the TV regularly when I was kid) about this band, it would have gone on for a year. The band have been so many musicians (well, guitar players really), different line ups and morphed from blues purists to purveyors of soft rock that it has been difficult to keep up. 

My first introduction to the band was ‘Rumours’, the multi million selling album from 1977 that means that no-one in the UK can listen to the songs ‘Chains’ without thinking that motor racing is about to come on the television. My next memory was of the band was the album ‘Tango In The Night’ which came out ten years afterwards and even though not up to the sales and standard of ‘Rumours’ was still a pretty good album. Their 1988 ‘Greatest Hits’ record (the one with the green sleeve) was one of the first CDs I ever bought but this dealt with the soft rock period from 1975 up until that time. This was the period of time where I was first getting into looking into band histories as well as buying my own records and this included my first tentative steps into the world of second hand record shops. Fleetwood Mac were the first band where actively went out to buy all of their records.

What I found when starting to look for the Mac back catalogue was lots of album where there were hairy guys on the cover and no women in the band. Was this a fake Fleetwood Mac (there actually was one of these in the 70s) or a time in the bands history I knew nothing about. As it was, the latter was the correct answer. This hairy bloke band were the group that had produced ‘Albatross’, still the only Mac single to be a number 1 hit in the UK. I had heard of that but I didn’t really put two and two together and didn’t realise these were the same band. I found out that this earlier incarnation was a blues band, and as I was listening to a goo deal of that style of music at the time, I thought I would give them a go. My first purchase of what is known as the Peter Green era was a double LP from the Castle Group called the Collection. It dealt with their records from their time on the Blue Horizon and Immediate record labels. I was instantly hooked. Great guitar playing from Peter Green and if like some humour or Elmore James riffs, you will like the contributions from the other guitar player in this early line up, Jeremy Spencer. 

I then made my way through all of the early albums and didn’t buy any of the more famous 70s and 80s albums for a good number of years. With a limited budget, the blues was winning out in the race of my pounds. I then got to ‘Then Play On’, their third album and the first with third guitar player Danny Kirwan. This was a development of the sound. It still had a blues base but it was moving on from the twelve bars. It was also lacking in any Jeremy Spencer songs. He was given an opportunity to record his songs on an EP that would have come with the LP, but this would remain unreleased until the 1990s. This era would end with Peter Green leaving and the band losing their fan base for the next five years. This second era will be dealt with the next CD compilation. 

This first Fleetwood Mac era has had numerous compilations and box sets, but it has been poorly served by reissues. They are a bit of a mess, especially when they left the Blue Horizon label and signed with Reprise/Warner Brothers. The ‘Complete Blue Horizon Sessions’ covered the first two albums and contains, supposedly, the entire recording output on that label. It is a good place to start of you can find a copy as it is over twenty years old now. ‘Then Play On’ has suffered from multiple different variations and when it was eventually given a deluxe edition in 2013, it was a bit short of bonus tracks. 

If you can find copies of the compilations ‘Show-Biz Blues’ and ‘The Vaudeville Years’ you will hear how much they had left in the can. These compilations have not been readily available down the years and this era continues to be poorly served. In 2019 there was a live compilation of ‘recently’ discovered tapes which was bit lacking in the documentation stakes. The record also included songs that were labeled as demos but I believe that these are actually BBC sessions that did not make the ‘Live at the BBC’ in the 1990s. Someone really needs to make an effort to sorting out this period in the bands history in the same way in which the classic Buckingham-Nicks lineup were compiled over the last few years. The music from this era is great and considering at the time Fleetwood Mac were outselling The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in the UK, it is a shame that this period is not as well known as it should be. 

Disc 1

1. Hellhound On My Trail
2. I Believe My Time Ain’t Long
3. The World Keep On Turning
4. Black Magic Woman
5. My Baby’s Good To Me
6. I Loved Another Woman
7. Allow me One More Show
8. Mean Old Fireman
9. Can’t Afford to Do It
10. Shake Your Moneymaker
11. Love That Woman
12. Love That Burns
13. Rollin’ Man
14. My Heart Beat Like A Hammer (Take 2)
15. Need Your Love Tonight
16. I’m Coming Home To Stay (1^st Album Outtake)
17. Lazy Poker Blues
18. Doctor Brown
19. Watch Out
20. Stop Messin’ Around
21. My Baby’s Sweeter
22. Rambling Pony No.2
23. Need Your Love So Bad
24. A Fool no More
25. No Place To Go

Disc 2

1. Long Grey Mare
2. Baby Please Set A Date
3. Blues With A Feeling
4. Mean Mistreatin’ Mama
5. Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave
6. Looking For Somebody
7. Trying So Hard To Forget
8. Sandy Mary
9. Only You
10. Tallahasse Lassie
11. Homework
12. Early Morning Come
13. That’s Wrong
14. Got To Move
15. Heavenly
16. When I See My Baby
17. I Can’t Hold Out
18. Coming Home
19. (That’s What) I Want To Know
20. Worried Dream
21. Jumping At Shadows
22. Leaving Town Blues
23. You’re So Evil (1^st Album Outtake)

Disc 3

1. Intro
2. Coming Your Way
3. Closing My Eyes
4. Show-Biz Blues
5. My Dream
6. Although The Sun Is Shining
7. Like Crying
8. Something Inside Of Me (Take 1)
9. Tell Me From The Start
10. Like It This Way
11. One Sunny Day
12. Rattlesnake Shake
13. Oh Well (Part 1)
14. Oh Well (Part 2)
15. Albatross
16. Man Of The World (Single Version)
17. Someone’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight
18. (Watch Out For Yourself) Mr Jones
19. Mighty Cold
20. Love It Seems
21. Without You
22. Before The Beginning
23. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)
24. Farewell 

This playlist is dedicated to the memory of Peter Green who passed away recently. That news, as well as the death of Danny Kirwan back in 2018 shut the door on any hope of the blue based line up of Fleetwood Mac to reform and play some gigs. All that is left is the great music which these two fine guitar players left us with. 

These play lists could not be reproduced with one or more songs not being available on Spotify. 

To finish off the month, I have put together a special Beatles What-If project. Being in lockdown allowed my imagination to wander somewhat, but I do hope that you enjoy this alternative history project of what The Beatles Anthology albums could have been.

The Long & Winding Road Vol.1

In 1995, The Beatles released their Anthology project that consisted of a TV series, albums, and a coffee table book. They had also thrown open the doors on the archives to allow unreleased studio recordings to be officially heard for the first time. The project had been running from 1970 when Neil Aspinall, future head of the Apple Company, put together a compilation of archival footage that he called The Long & Winding Road. The film was ready by 1971, but as relations between the band members were not as good as they could have been, they were not involved in the project. This film itself became a part of the archive but permission was given to use some of the footage so that Eric Idle could complete his Rutles project. The project was resurrected in 1980 when John Lennon said that he would be getting back together with the other Beatles for a reunion concert and that it would be used as the end of the Long & Winding Road film. Tragically, Lennon was killed before this could happen. 

Up to this point, Beatles fans had been poorly served by archival material being released. Between 1970, when the band split up, and 1995 when the Anthology project saw the light of day, there were a couple of live albums.  The Live at the Hollywood Bowl and Live! at the Star-Club In Hamburg, Germany albums, both from 1977. In 1980, EMI had asked house engineer John Barrett to listen to and catalogue The Beatles session tapes whilst he recovered from cancer treatment. This led to a multi-media event called ‘The Beatles at Abbey Road’, which included some unreleased material being heard for the first time since they had been recorded. All of the surviving Beatles attended the event and Harrison said that he was happy for his solo take of While My Guitar Gently Weeps to be released. EMI prepared an album called Sessions, but The Beatles undertook legal proceedings to prevent it coming out. All of the songs that were put forward for the Sessions album would be released on the Anthology albums. 

These albums contained material that had not been released before and this took the form of some live cuts, TV appearances, demos and alternative mixes of previously released songs. What these albums showed was that there was little in the way of songs that were not used anywhere else. Most of these songs came from the early days of the band and their recordings before signing with EMI in 1962. What was also missing were any curiosities that had come out down the years, and are little known outside of the most dedicated Beatles fans.  

What if the project had been released in 1980 as planned, but instead of what we got in 1995, these records were made up of some of the aforementioned curiosities, some unreleased mixes and demos. I have seen this as a continuation of my Collection of Beatles Oldies LPs, so as these would still be readily available in this alternative timeline, none of the songs included on those collections are included here.  These albums would be released three single LPs and would have a cover photo close to the period when the music was recorded.  That is why Pete Best is included on the sleeve for Vol.1 as Ringo Starr does not play on many of the songs on that record. All of the sleeves are based on the U.S. version of the Rarities album that was released in 1980. 

I have tried to show where these songs can be found as a number of them have been released officially down the years, but some are still in the archive (or on bootlegs, if you know where to look). There is a gap in these collection between 1963 and 1966, mostly down to the fact that the best archival recordings from that period had already been used on the first Collections of Beatles Oldies LP. I would hope that The Beatles in this timeline would see fit not to double up on material to give their fans the best value for money compilations they could. 

Side A

1. That’ll Be The Day – The Quarrymen – Demo
2. In Spite Of All Danger – The Quarrymen – Demo
3. Hallelujah, I Love Her So – Home Demo
4. You’ll Be Mine Home – Demo
5. Cayenne – Home Demo
6. My Bonnie – With Tony Sheridan
7. Ain’t She Sweet – With Tony Sheridan
8. Cry For A Shadow – With Tony Sheridan
9. ‘Till There Was You – Decca Demo
10. Like Dreamers Do – Decca Demo

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 would be released on the Anthology 1 album (1995).

Track 6 was originally released as a single, but the band was credited as The Beat Brothers (1961)

Track 7 was originally released as a single (1964) 

Track 8 was originally released on the ‘Mister Twist’ EP (1962)

Track 9 is currently unreleased. 

Track 10 would be released on the Anthology 1 album (1995).

Side B

1. Take Good Care Of My Baby – Decca Demo
2. The Sheik Of Araby – Decca Demo
3. Love Of The Love – Decca Demo
4. Crying, Waiting, Hopping – Decca Demo
5. Three Cool Cats – Decca Demo
6. Hello Little Girl – Decca Demo
7. Besame Mucho – EMI Demo (Pete Best on Drums)
8. Love Me Do – EMI Demo (Pete Best on Drums)
9. Please Please Me – Andy White on Drums
10. Bad To Me – Home Demo
11. I’m In Love – Home Demo

Tracks 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 would be released on the Anthology 1 album (1995).

Tracks 1, 3 & 4 are currently unreleased. 

Tracks 10 & 11 would be released on the The Beatles Bootleg Recordings (2013)

The Long & Winding Road Vol.2

Side A

1. A Beginning (Take 4)/Don’t Pass me By (Take 7) – Studio Recording
2. Child Of Nature – Esher Demo
3. Step Inside Love – Studio Jam
4. Los Paranoias – Studio Jam
5. Circles – Esher Demo
6. Junk – Esher Demo
7. Can You Take Me Back (Take 1) – Studio Recording

Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 8 would be released on the ‘The Beatles – 50^th Anniversary Box Set’.

Track 7 would be released on the Anthology 3 album.

Side B

1. It’s All Too Much – Full Length Version
2. What’s The New Mary Jane – Studio Outtake
3. The Inner Light – Stereo Mix
4. Tomorrow Never Knows – Matrix XEX 606-1 – Mono
5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) – U.S. 8-Track Stereo Mix
6. Inner Grove Sgt Pepper’s

Track 1 is currently unreleased.

Track 2 would be released on Anthology 3 (1996).

Track 3 would be released on The Beatles EP Collection (1981)

Track 4 was released on the first pressing of the Revolver LP. When ‘Revolver’ was initially mixed, a different master for ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ was sent off to be pressed. The mix is known as Remix 11. Although subtle, it is different to the standard Remix 8 which was ultimately to replace it. The story goes that each group member was given the first copies from the production line and John Lennon went off to listen to it. But, it turned out that he was unhappy with the mix or that the wrong one had been used and he informed George Martin. Production was then stopped as the new masters were cut and the pressing plates were replaced. First pressings have XEX 606-1 whereas the standard press has XEX 606-2 and beyond (www.thebeatles-collection.com). This version has not been made available since. 

Track 5 was released on the 8-Track version of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band (1967) The 8 track edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band features a longer edit of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise), created to fill more of the tape and “even out” the recording sides. At about 1:15, where Paul’s “Woo!” is heard, the previous 15 seconds are replayed and that “Woo!” is heard again before the song completes (www.aboutthebeatles.com).

Track 6 was released on the initial UK pressing of the Sgt Pepper album (1967). Later pressings, especially in the USA did not include this track. 

The Long & Winding Road Vol.3

Side A

1. Come Together – Brazilian Mono Mix
2. Teddy Boy – Get Back – 1^st Version
3. Dig It – Get Back – 1^st Version
4. Something – Inc. Coda Jam
5. The Ballad Of John & Yoko – NZ Censored Edition

Track 1 was released in Brazil (1970). Both Abbey Road and Let it Be were released in Mono in Brazil. They were not dedicated Mono mixes though, but a fold down of the Stereo one.

Tracks 2, 3, & 4 are currently unreleased. Tracks 2 & 3 were the original versions of songs that would be released later as the Let It Be album. Track 4 includes an extended piano jam that an was exorcised from the final version. 

Track 5 was made specifically for New Zealand radio with references to Christ edited out. This version has not been made commercially available. 

Side B

1. Come & Get It – Studio Demo
2. Old Brown Shoe – Australian Mono Single Mix
3. Don’t Let Me Down – Get Back – 1^st Version
4. Watching Rainbows (Edit) – Demo
5. All Things Must Pass – Studio Demo
6. Goodbye – Home Demo
7. Get Back (Coda) – Get Back – 1^st Version

Tracks 1 & 6 would be released on Abbey Road 50^th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (2019)

Track 2 was released in Australia (1969). It is not a dedicated Mono mix, but is a fold down of the Stereo. 

Tracks 3, 4 & 7 are currently unreleased. Tracks 3 & 7 were versions of songs that would be released later as the Let It Be album. Track 4 is a songwriting jam from the Let It Be sessions.

Track 5 would be released on Anthology 3 (1996).

A Spotify playlist could not be created for these collections due to the amount of songs that have still not been officially released. 

Here is the second volume of The Beatles Collection I put together. Disc 1 uses songs that were recorded around the time of the ‘White Album’, using some demos, singles and outtakes to create a one CD version. It would seem that my choices were pretty consistent as only one song that was used on the A Doll’s House post did not make the cut here, and that would be Savoy Truffle (http://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/the-beatles-a-dolls-house/). There are lot more George Harrison songs on this compilation, showing the improvement he had made as a songwriter at this time. What these discs show; if proof were needed, is just how prolific they were at that time. 

The Beatles are one of the few bands where I feel they improved with age. The songs got better as they went along, and when I pull out one of their records to play, they tend to be from Revolver onwards. Rarely do I go for one of the earlier LPs. The songs are still good but as a cohesive whole, those earlier records just don’t cut it for me. That is most probably why the early material covers one CD whereas the songs from Revolver onwards cover three. Each to their own I suppose. Not using any covers most probably helped though. 

Disc 2 covers the sessions for Let It Be and Abbey Road. I was quite surprised when going back over this, how many of the mixes from Let It Be…Naked I used. I would have felt that the original Phil Spector produced versions would have been ingrained into my brain that I would have gone with those regardless. The whole of Side 2 of Abbey Road was used (except for Her Majesty) as this was a perfect way of completing this compilation. 

Disc 1

1. Back In The USSR
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
4. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
6. Happiness Is Warm Gun
7. Martha My Dear
8. Lady Madonna
9. Hey Bulldog
10. I’m So Tired
11. Blackbird
12. Piggies
13. Mother Nature’s Son
14. Not Guilty
15. Yer Blues
16. Julia
17. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me & My Monkey
18. Sexy Sadie
19. Cry Baby Cry
20. Across The Universe (Wildlife Version)
21. Revolution 1
22. Long, Long, Long
23. Hey Jude
24. Junk (Demo)

Disc 2

1. One After 909
2. Two Of Us
3. Come Together
4. Something
5. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
6. Oh! Darling
7. Get Back
8. I’ve Got A Feeling
9. Revolution
10. Don’t Let Me Down
11. All Things Must Pass (Demo)
12. Let It Be
13. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
14. Here Comes The Sun
15. Because
16. You Never Give Me Your Money
17. Sun King
18. Mean Mr. Mustard
19. Polythene Pam
20. She Came in Through The Bathroom Window
21. Golden Slumbers
22. Carry That Weight
23. The End

The front cover is taken from the compilation 1967-1970 and shows the band looking down from the stairwell of the now demolished London headquarters of EMI in Manchester House, London. This was a re-creation of the shot used on the 1962-1966 compilation and it was planned to be used on the front cover for their Get Back LP but as that album did not come up, it was repurposed here. 

This was compiled before the release of the deluxe editions, so the Anthology 3 version of Not Guilty was used. The full length version of this song can be used as there would still be enough room to still fit into the playing time of one CD. 

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This month, I will only be posting Beatles specific playlists. Having completed a couple of what-if Beatles compilations over the past few months, I thought it was time to look at some playlists I put together a few years back. So much has been written down the years about the band that nothing I could write here would add anything new, so the notes for this collection will be brief. The Beatles are without doubt one of the most influential bands of all time and they were a band that I spent a lot of my childhood listening to. My father had bought the singles, EP and album collections home when they came out in the early 80s and I played them, a lot. I look forward to each new release, but after the Let It Be anniversary in 2020, what else will be released? Well quite a lot (if you know where to look) but it is whether they can actually agree to release it or not.   

This first volume covers the time period from 1963 to 1967 and it brings into sharp focus how much the music changed within those four years. It is also clear how much the band were influenced by what was around them as they developed their songwriting craft. Genres that come and go are pop, rock n roll, folk rock, folk and psychedelia, and I am sure that I have missed one or two off from this list. 

In this first volume, you may noticed an almost complete lack of George Harrison songs. Only Taxman has made the cut and that is purely down to personal preferences. I used The Beatles in Mono boxed set to compile this compilation because these are the mixes The Beatles approved of. I also decided against using any of the covers that the band performed on their records because Lennon & McCartney were producing classic songs, so there was just enough room to fit their songs onto a standard length CD. There was no need to include any songs they did not write themselves. Maybe I’ll do a covers only album in future. 

Disc 1

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. Please Please Me
3. There’s A Place
4. All My Loving
5. I Won’t Be Long
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. She Loves You
8. Can’t Buy Me Love
9. And I Love Her
10. If I Fell
11. A Hard Day’s Night
12. I Should Have Known Better
13. Tell Me Why
14. Things We Said Today
15. I’ll Be Back
16. I’m Down
17. Help!
18. I’ve Just Seen A Face
19. Yesterday
20. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
21. I’ll Get You
22. I Feel Fine
23. Ticket To Ride
24. Day Tripper
25. I’m A Loser
26. Eight Days A Week
27. Girl
28. Michelle
29. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
30. I’ll Follow The Sun
31. You Won’t See Me
32. Every Little Thing
33. In My Life

Disc 2

1. Taxman
2. Drive My Car
3. We Can Work It Out
4. Nowhere Man
5. Paperback Writer
6. RainHere, There & Everywhere
7. ForNo One
8. Got To Get You Into My Life
9. Good Day Sunshine
10. And Your Bird Can Sing
11. I’m Only Sleeping
12. Elanor Rigby
13. She Said She Said
14. Strawberry Fields Forever
15. Penny Lane
16. All You Need Is Love
17. I Am The Walrus
18. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
19. Getter Better
20. Fixing A Hole
21. She’s Leaving Home
22. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
23. Lovely Rita
24. Good Morning Good Morning
25. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
26. A Day In The Life

The front cover is taken from the compilation 1962-1966 and shows the band looking down from the stairwell in the now demolished London headquarters of EMI in Manchester House, London. Images form this photo shoot would also be used for the covers of the bands debut LP (Please, Please Me) and their 1963 EP, No. 1. 

Spotify does not have the Mono mixes on its platform, so I had to compile this using the Stereo versions instead. Damn you Spotify. 

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As I posted a compilation of The Velvet Underground earlier this month, I thought I would continue by looking at the lost forth album the band had been recording in 1969. This seems to be a staple of many of the what-if album websites but the beauty of these things is just that. It is a what-if album. It was never released and so anyone can take the songs and speculate as much as they like about the running order would be, cover imagery etc. The story of this album has also been told many times but here is a summery. 

By the time the band had come to record their third album founding member John Cale had been fired, they had moved to MGM from Verve (an MGM subsidiary) and the sound had changed. This was down to the removal of Cale, who seemed intent to drive the band towards a more drone, noise infused future. Reed on the other hand, seemed to want to achieve some sort of commercial success with the band and having Cale in the band would have stopped this from happening. The fact that the band did not achieve much success during their life time is neither here nor there. They have definitely sold a lot more units since. Multi-instrumentalist Doug Yule was brought in as Cale’s replacement and he was there in time to record the third album. This album had few of the rough edges that had been present when Cale was in the band, and the subject matter of the songs had become more intimate. With the album recorded by the end of 1968, the band hit the road opening a good deal of 1969 playing live. 

In between live dates, the band was also in the studio laying down fourteen songs that the band members do not seem to have been in agreement as to what the purpose of recording them was. Lou Reed and Maureen Tucker both said that these songs would have been the basis of the next album. Doug Yule says that these songs were professional demos and Sterling Morrison says that this was just a way of looking busy whilst they were looking to get out of their contract. Whatever the reason, these songs have been released numerous times down the years but it is the versions that were included on the 2014 Super Deluxe Edition of the ‘Velvet Underground’ album that will will form the basis of this release. 

Out of the fourteen songs that were released as part of the compilation, two did did not make the cut. That was Rock & Roll as this came out as part of the ‘Loaded’ album and I did not want an overlap of songs. The other is I’m Sticking With You’ which sounds a though it should have been added to an album that was directed towards children or a B-Side. Out of the remaining songs, Andy’s Chest was relegated to a B-Side of whatever song was released from this album as an A-Side. Most probably an edited version of Foggy Notion, even though it no doubt would have been banned due to its lyrical content. That means there is a gap to be filled in with the running time as labels like to release albums with similar playing times on each side. Therefore I had a look at other unreleased material and there was a demo recording of Countess From Hong Kong, Though it was a co-write between Reed and Cale, the demo dates from the second half of 1969 so would fit into the time frame of this record. This takes the album up to about 23 minutes per side, which is long for an album of the time but not unheard of. 

So why didn’t the album come out? If, as Morrison says, the band were just killing time, then there was no intention of releasing it at all. However, if we go with Tucker and Reed’s version of events, then it could have been down to the fact that in 1969, MGM were in financial trouble. One of the ways of reducing this would have been to strip their artists roster of any band that were proving to be unprofitable. The Velvet Underground would have fit this category and so they were out. What MGM did not allow the band to do was to take the master tapes with them. By the time The Velvet Underground had signed with Cotillion Records, they had moved on and only a few of the songs were taken forward to what would be the ‘Loaded’ album. What this ‘lost’ album does is nicely bridge the gap between the recording of the ‘Velvet Underground’ and ‘Loaded’ albums showing the progression the band was making. As it was, these songs lay in the MGM vaults until the mid 80s when they were released along with some other outtakes from the Cale era. 

Would this album have turned The Velvet Underground into a commercial group? Doubtful but Lou Reed did not abandon the songs completely as many of them would appear on his solo records throughout the 1970s’. The front cover of this collection was adapted from a gig poster that band played at the Paramount Theatre in Springfield. Unfortunately, I don’t know the date of the gig as the poster didn’t say.

Side A

1. Foggy Notion
2. One Of These Days
3. Countess Of Hong Kong
4. Ride Into The Sun
5. Ocean

Side B

1. I Can’t Stand it
2. Coney Island Steeplechase
3. I’m Gonna Move Right In
4. Lisa Says
5. Ferryboat Bill
6. She’s My Best Friend
7. We’re Gonna Have A Real Good Time 

Single B-Side

Andy’s Chest

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There was a time when I just didn’t understand the fascination people had with The Velvet Underground. I had heard ‘a best of’ album when I was at school and I just didn’t get it. Maybe it was down to the fact that I was spending my time listening to Hendrix, Cream, Traffic, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac and little else. The guitarists in those bands were some of the best that have ever lived. The guitar playing in VU was not up to their high standard. Too much noise, not enough clean notes, that sort of thing. However, three things happened to change that. First up, I heard Candy Says on a documentary about Andy Warhol and I thought that was a good song. Then, a friend at University played me Sunday Morning, the opening song on the debut album and I also thought that was good too. However, it was when I was working in a shop after leaving University that I heard the Loaded album. I really enjoyed this and could not believe it was The Velvet Underground. This was around the time when that album was released in a Deluxe Edition called The Fully Loaded edition which I snapped up and played quite a lot at the time. 

This was it, until a few years later when I saw the Peel Slowly and See box set at a reduced price, so I took a punt. I was quite surprised by the first disc, which contained demos of some of the songs I had found impenetrable back in my school days. It was as though the early line up of VU were a folk band.  There were multiple takes of the same songs, but with a bit of editing, I am sure these would make a good EP release for Record Store Day or equivalent (see below). I then worked my way through the entire box and I found that I enjoyed a number of the songs that in the past I would not have listened to. These include Heroin, Venus in Furs and Run, Run, Run. It was with this box set that I made my first attempt at a career overview, limiting myself to what was in the box and the Fully Loaded edition of Loaded. Like many others, songs from the Squeeze album were not considered for inclusion. It was not until the internet became a part of my life that I even knew that the band continued on for a few years after Lou Reed left. 

The band can be split into two distinctive eras, the first with John Cale and the second with Doug Yule. The Cale era is definitely the more experimental, and it was due to Cale’s desire to go even further with the experimentation that led to his firing. Reed, being the principal songwriter, wanted the band to become more than just an underground act, so adopting a more commercial sound was necessary. Cale didn’t fit in with these plans, so he was out.  CD1 covers the more experimental side, whereas CD2 covers the more commercial sounding material. The band did not achieve commercial success during their lifetime, but due to some notable fans (such as David Bowie), they have been an influence on those who came afterwards and the records have sold steadily ever since. It just goes to show how popular the band has become as not every band gets to have the majority of their albums re-released in multi disc box sets. 

With the release of the 45th Anniversary editions of the four key albums (once again, Squeeze was not part of the reissue campaign), I decided to look again and see if the different versions of the songs including mono mixes, demos and alternative takes/mixes would improve the compilation. What you hear are the results with the different versions listed next to the title. What does surprise me is that all of the versions of these songs are available on Spotify, so both discs can be heard through that platform. The cover artwork was one I found online many moons ago so I cannot acknowledge who made it. 

Disc 1

1. All Tomorrow’s Parties (Mono)
2. I’m Waiting For The Man (Mono)
3. Run Run Run (Sceptre Sessions Acetate)
4. Stephanie Says
5. There She Goes Again (Mono)
6. Femme Fetale (Mono Single Mix)
7. I’ll Be Your Mirror (Mono)
8. The Fairest Of The Seasons*
9. These Days*
10. Winter Song*
11. Chelsea Girls*
12. Heroine (Alt. Version)
13. Venus In Furs (Mono)
14. Here She Comes Now
15. Guess I’m Falling In Love (Live)
16. Sister Ray

* These songs are from Nico’s album, Chelsea Girl. When this was compiled, the sleeve notes from the 45^th Anniversary Edition of The Velvet Underground & Nico album were used. Those notes suggested that the Velvet Underground played on every song of that album. This does not appear to be the case but I liked this mix of songs so I am going to keep it as it was. 

Disc 2

1. Who Loves The Sun
2. Sweet Jane (Full Length Version)
3. Rock & Roll (Full Length Version)
4. Cool It Down
5. Lonesome Cowboy Bill
6. Head Held High (Alt. Mix)
7. Foggy Notion
8. Jesus (Closet Mix)
9. New Age (Full Length Mix)
10. What Goes On (Closet Mix)
11. I Can’t Stand It
12. Beginning To See The Light (Closet Mix)
13. Pale Blue Eyes (Closet Mix)
14. Candy Says (Closet Mix)
15. I’m Set Free
16. Ride Into The Sun(Demo)
17. Ocean
18. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’

Bonus EP

As mentioned above, I said that the demo’s the band recorded before the release of their first album would make a good EP, so I thought I would put it together. I listened to all of the songs and picked what I considered to be the best take. The song Prominent Men only has one take so that limited the choice with that one. It also sounds nothing like anything else that the Velvet Underground ever did, being as it sounds as though it is Lou Reed trying to be Bob Dylan, harmonica and all. These acoustic versions are not the best sonically, being as they were outside of the studio environment, but there is a certain charm about them and show what the band could have been if they had decided to be a folk trio instead of the band that they became once drummer Mo Tucker came on board. 

Annoyingly (even though we should be thankful these exist at all), on each take of Venus in Furs there is some sort of background noise. Be it a car going past outside the loft apartment in which they recorded them, or the squeaking of what can only be assumed to be a chair of some sort. Luckily, this is the only song affected in this way. As these songs were demos recorded in a loft, the arrangements are different from what they would become on the debut album. The arrangement for Heroin is already in place, building the tension and releasing again. All Tomorrow’s Parties sounds like Reed is once more channelling his inner Dylan where as I’m Waiting For The Man is reminiscent of a pre World War 2 blues record, with slide guitar accompaniment (and a spoken version of the lyrics, courtesy of John Cale by the sounds of it). 

The artwork for this EP uses a logo found on line over the picture of the tape box that was used as the cover to the CD box in the version of the Peel Slowly and See compilation I bought all those years ago. I assume that it was the same box that contained the tape on which the songs were recorded. The songs are all on Spotify but have not been edited down into the individual takes. I have supplied the take and the time it starts.

1. Venus In Furs (Demo) Take 3 – 10:24-15:36
2. Prominent Men (Demo) Take 1
3. Heroin (Demo) Take 5 – 8:33-13:31
4. I’m Waiting For The Man (Demo) – 5:20-9:49
5. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (Demo) Take 12 – 9:50-15:30 
6. All Tomorrow’s Parties (Demo) Take 6 – 9:48-12:13

Even though these are demos, this EP would clock in at an impressive 27 minutes and 52 seconds. If this were to be released on vinyl, a 12 inch record would be needed. 

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Back in March, I posted a what-if about Derek & The Dominos’ Layla album had been a double disc expanded edition with the best of the off cuts from the first and second album sessions, with a couple of bonus’ thrown in for good measure. Derek & The Dominos only released the one album during their short life time, but a second album did come out early 1973. This was not the fabled second studio album though, even though the tapes from the 1971 sessions had  occasionally been dusted down and listened to up until 1974, when Clapton released his sophomore solo album. This was the live album ‘In Concert’. After completing the Layla seasons, the band went on a tour of the USA with support coming from Toe Fat and a relative unknown by the name of Elton John. Bobby Whitlock, the band’s keyboardist, has said that like the album sessions that preceded it, there were a good number of drugs being consumed during the tour. Elton John noted though that this did not affect their performance whilst on stage, where he would watch from the sidelines to see what they were doing, especially Whitlock. 

The band played a number of shows on the 23rd and 24th October at the Fillmore East in New York City. All of these shows were recorded (supposedly without the band’s knowledge) and as it would turn out, these are the only record of the band live that is not an audience recording/bootleg. After playing the Layla album to death, I was surprised to find that there was a live album. In the pre-internet age, it was not easy to find out about artists discographies. You had to hope that your local record shop had it in stock. This album also received heavy rotation on my CD player even though I would eventually replace it, along with the Layla CD with original pressings of the vinyl. These early CDs were notorious for that lack of care and attention that record companies had taken with their back catalogues, and would release a version from whatever master tapes they had lying around. I remember the amount of hiss on some of the Cream CDs from the time had the same problem, especially when it came to Fresh Cream (nice clean sound) and Disraeli Gears (sounded like it had been recorded with Dolby on and then transferred via five tape machines to attain maximum hiss. If you listened carefully, you could hear some music in there somewhere).

What surprised me about ‘In Concert’ was the lack of Layla. Was it down to the fact that Duane Allman, so instrumental in the sessions for the parent album only joined them for a couple of shows on the tour and this was not one of them. Without that second guitar player, would the song have worked in a live setting? What was a surprise was hearing songs that were not on Layla. These included Got To Get Better In A Little While (destined to be recorded during the second album sessions) and Roll It Over (the B-side of the band’s withdrawn first single). Having only released one album, the band were reliant on playing songs from Clapton’s back catalogue including songs that he had played during his days with The Powerhouse, Cream, Blind Faith and his first solo album. 

Due to the constraints of the vinyl LP, there were a number of songs that were recorded but not released. Some of these would appear later on 1988’s Crossroads boxset and 1994’s ‘Live at the Fillmore’. Having liked the ‘In Concert’ album so much, I thought it was time to put together an extended live album for the band using all of these sources. This did leave me a little short on the second CD but with the release of the 40th Anniversary boxset, there was a live bonus in the complete set of songs that the band had played on The Johnny Cash Show; the only television performance the band made. All four songs recorded for the show (even though only two were broadcast) have been included at the end as bonus tracks. 

Disc 1

1. Why Does Love Got To Be So Bad?
2. Got To Get Better In A Little While
3. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down & Out
4. Roll It Over
5. Key To The Highway
6. Tell The Truth
7. Blues Power
8. Have You Ever Loved A Woman

Disc 2

1. Bottle Of Red Wine
2. Little Wing
3. Crossroads
4. Presence Of The Lord
5. Let It Rain
6. It’s Too Late (Johnny Cash Show)
7. Got To Get Better In A Little While (Johnny Cash Show)
8. Matchbox (Johnny Cash Show)
9. Blues Power (Johnny Cash Show)

The front cover is similar in design to the Layla Expanded Edition from March, but instead of a black background, I went for red. The photos are taken from the Live at the Fillmore front cover, with an added picture of Clapton playing to cover over the credits on the original release. 

A Spotify playlist could not be produced due to one or more songs not being available on that platform.

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