Deep Purple are one of the greatest rock bands of all time having released such classics as ‘Black Night’, ‘Highway Star’, ‘Fireball’ and most famously, ‘Smoke on the Water’. However, most of the songs they are most famous for date from the period between 1970 and 1975. The classic era as it were, or the Mark II line up as it also known as. It is the Mark I line up that this post is concerned with. This line up included band stalwarts such as Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards) and Ian Paice (drums). The other two members who made up this first line up were Nick Simper (bass) and Rod Evans (vocals).
The band was the brain child of ex-Searchers drummer, Chris Curtis. The idea was that there would be a core of musicians who would then be joined by other members when their particular skills were needed. The original band name was Roundabout to reflect this. Curtis was already a bit erratic and his lifestyle, fuelled by his use of LSD lead to him not sticking with the project for long. Members came and went before the Mark I was in place. All that was left was to pick a new name with Blackmore suggesting ‘Deep Purple’, which was his grandmothers favourite song.
After a period of rehearsals, the group recorded their debut album in May of 1968. ‘Shades of Deep Purple’ came out two months later with the lead single, ‘Hush’ becoming a massive hit in the USA and Canada. Neither single or album did very much in the UK and so the band focused their efforts in the USA, with a gig supporting Cream on their ‘Goodbye’ tour.
The band returned for another US tour, but this time as headliners. Their US record company, Tetragrammaton, felt that they needed more material and another album to promote. The resulting ‘The Book of Taliesyn’ was written in a rush because the band had been so busy, they had not had much time to work on new material. The sessions for the record started before their debut had even been released in their native UK.
You can tell that the band were lacking material. ‘The Book of Taliesyn’ contains only seven songs (even though one was split into the two in ‘Exposition’ and We Can Work It Out’). This also included a couple of instrumentals and three covers. The songs were longer with the cover of ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ breaking the ten minute barrier. The band were unable to take much of a break though because within four months, they were back in the studio recording what would be their third (and last) LP by the Mark I line up. Even though there was only one cover on this album, and one instrumental, the long song quota was met by the twelve minute song ‘April’.
Even though they had had some success, mostly in the USA, the core members of the band were looking to take the band in a harder rock direction. They felt that Rod Evans did not have the voice for the more aggressive material they were writing. Evans also seemed to be keen to move to the US permanently. The core members were also not happy with Simper’s bass playing, which they felt was rooted in the past. Manoeuvres were in place to recruit replacements with Ian Gillan (vocals) and Roger Glover (bass) becoming the new members. With this line up in place, the classic Mark II were ready to go.
However, what if the band had not been rushed into the studio in late 1968 and given time to develop more material. Well, this is the album that we could have had. What we have is a more concise record, rooted in psychedelic rock with prog rock flourishes. I also wanted to take out any covers and along with that, the longer songs, especially ‘April’ which takes up most of the side of an LP. Jon Lord and his classical influences should possibly have been kept for a solo project or two.
The band also released the stand along single, ‘Emmaretta’ in 1969. Said to have been inspired by Emmaretta Marks, a cast member in the musical ‘Hair’ whom lead singer Rod Evans was trying to seduce. The original UK B-Side was the instrumental ‘Wring That Neck’, but as this has been included on the LP, I put original album opener ‘Chasing Shadows’ there instead.
Side 1
Shield – The Book of Taliesyn
Listen, Lean, Read On – The Book of Taliesyn
Wring That Neck – The Book of Taliesyn
Anthem – The Book of Taliesyn
Side 2
Why Did’t Rosemary? – Deep Purple
The Painter – Deep Purple
Fault Line – Deep Purple
Bird Has Flown – Deep Purple
Blind – The Book of Taliesyn
Single
Emmaretta – Non Album Single
Chasing Shadows – Deep Purple
Would this have meant that the Mark I lineup would have continued. I doubt it, but it is interesting to see what the band could have sounded like if they did not feel they had to come up with material on the hoof, and extend their cover versions to pad out the vinyl.
For the cover, I used the name and the art work that was used when the self titled third LP was released.
This is the fifth entry in my on going series of Beach Boys yearly deep dives and this one is posted as yesterday was the 60th Anniversary of the release of the ‘Summer Days (& Summer Nights)’ album
With Brian Wilson off of the road, 1965 would be the year he could finally start concentrating on writing and producing material for the band, as well as others. A deep dive box set for Wilson’s none Beach Boys productions should really be a future project. Anyway, Wilson decided it was time to take the band away from the styles and lyrical subjects that they had used in the past. He also experimented with the LP as an art from. This was shown on ‘The Beach Boys Today!’ album where side one is uptempo tracks whereas side two is made up of ballads.
‘The Beach Boys Today!’ was also their first album of the year. Like the previous two years, the band put out three albums in 1965, even though ‘Beach Boys’ Party’ was essentially a stop gap made up mostly of covers. However, it was still something different as it was made to sound like an impromptu session recoded with acoustic instruments with a party atmosphere. The recording was anything but. The songs were recorded individually in the studio having been rehearsed beforehand. Some consider this to be the first unplugged album.
Even though albums up to and including Beach Boys Today! had dedicated Stereo mixes, for some reason, in 1965, it was decided that these would be replaced with Duophonic mixes. Duophonic mixes consisted of two mono signals with an almost imperceptible time delay (measured in milliseconds) between them. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two master recordings of ‘Graduation Day’ on Disc 9 is that one has a spoken intro and the other does not.
I have not included the sessions for the ‘Beach Boys’ Party!’. This is down to the fact that the Party LP has received an official multi disc sets that the albums before then had not. Therefore I felt that this was a good place to stop (so no ‘Pet Sounds’ etc in future).
Sources for the songs included on this set.
1 – Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 8 – The Alternate “Today’ Album, Part 2 (Bootleg)
2 – Today!
3 – Today! (2012 Remaster)
4 – Summer Love Songs
5 – Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 9 – The Alternate ‘Summer Days (and Summer Nights!)’ Album, Vol. 2 (Bootleg)
6 – Summer Days (and Summer Nights)
7 – Summer Days (and Summer Nights) (2012 Remaster)
8 – Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys (2003)
9 – The Warmth of the Sun
10 – Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 7 – The Alternate ‘Today’ Album, Part 1 (Bootleg)
11 – Today!/Summer Days and Summer Nights!) (1990 Reissue)
12 – Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace Of A Musical Legacy
The 12” single is a curious beast. The first commercially released single* in that format was “For Once In My Life/Glad Rag Doll’, by jazz guitarist Buddy Fite. The numbers pressed were quite small and only available at two Tower Records sites in California. The label proudly boasted that this was ‘The World’s First 12 Inch Single’. It was pressed to play at 33rpm which meant that there was a lot of dead space on the disc. It also took away one of the main selling points of the 12” single but I will come back to these two points later. More were to follow but these tended to be promotional items. It would take until the early days of the disco era for the format to really take off.
This could arguably be down to one man, Tom Moulton. Inspired by DJ’s who would mix between the instrumental and vocal side of Ultra High Frequency’s single, “Walk On The Right Track” as well as other singles were an instrumental version of the title track was included, Moulton managed to pursued the Sceptre Record label to experiment with an already released song. This was “Dream World” by Don Downing. Moulton took the track and extended it to almost twice its original length. The single was re-released with the extend mix as the A-Side with the subheading, Disco Mix Version. Could this be the first disc designated as such? It was not released on 12” though.
The disco mix on the longer form single would be a happy accident. Moulton wanted to test a mix he had completed of “I’ll Be Holding On” by Al Downing. As there wasn’t any 7” acetates available, it was decided to use a 10” instead. Moulton felt that there would be a lot of wasted space pressing this if this was for a 7” so he asked mix engineer Jose Rodriquez to cut it with the grooves more spread out. To do this, Rodriquez needed to increase the sound level which made the sound ‘hotter’ . This was due to the wider grooves allowing an overall wider range which went down well with the DJs. This also gave Moulton the idea to test run his remixes in the clubs before they were let loose on the public.
Other labels took note and throughout 1975, several 12” singles were made for promotional use only. These were designed to help sales of the 7” as they were thought of as not being commercially viable. However, pressure from record shops to have these mixes released to the public eventually lead to the first commercial released 12” of the disco era. That being, “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure. The era of the 12” single had begun.
What I have looked to do is compile some of these 12” mixes from he disco era, so from 1976 until 1982. By the early 80s, disco was all but dead but other genres such as rap were also using the format so I have included some of these pioneers as well. I have also tried to put them in as close to chronological order as possible.
The 12” single is till produced today but it is nowhere near as popular as once it was. It might be time to re-evaluate the format.
Disc 1
Ten Percent (Special 12” Disco Mix) – Double Exposure
Space Age (12’ Promo Mix) – The Jimmy Castor Bunch
Gotham City Boogie – Ultra Funk
Brick House (Original 1977 12” Special Length Disco Version) – The Commodores
Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) (Original 1977 12” Full Version) – Joe Tex
You Should Be Dancing (Special Disco Version) – The Bee Gees
Everybody Dance (Original 1977 12” Single Mix) – Chic
Devil’s Gun (12” Tom Moulton Mix) – C.J. & Co.
Shame (12” Disco Mix) – Evelyn “Champagne” King
Got To Give Up, Pts 1 & 2 (Original 1977 12” Full-Length Promo SingleVersion) – Marvin Gaye
Native New Yorker (Original 1977 12” Disco Version) – Odyssey
Disc 2
Le Freak (Original 1978 12” Single Version) – Chic
Contact (UK 12” Edit) – Edwin Starr
Running Away (Original 1977 12” Long Version) – Roy Ayres feat. Ubiquity
Rasputin (12” Single Version) – Boney M
Got My Mind Made Up (German 12” Mix) – Instant Punk
In The Bush (Original 12” Special Disco Francois K Mix) – Musique
Love Hangover (Original 12” Promo Mix) – Diana Ross
Disc 3
Good Times (Original 1979 US 12” Single Mix) – Chic
Got To Be Real (Original 12” Version Single Version) – Cheryl Lynn
Blame It On The Boogie (John Luongo Disco Mix 12” Version) – TheJacksons
Street Life (12” Full Length French Disco Mix) – The Crusaders feat. Randy Crawford
Funkytown (Original 1979 12” Single Mix) – Lips Inc
Can’t Live Without Your Love (Original 12” Mix) – Tamiko Jones
Boogie Wonderland (Special Disco Mix) – Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions
Let’s Start The Dance (Original 12” Promo Mix) – Hamilton Bohannon
Boogie Oogie Oogie (Original 1978 12” Single Mix) – A Taste Of Honey
Rivers Of Babylon (Original US 12” Single Version) – Boney M
I Will Survive (12” Version) – Gloria Gaynor
Disc 4
Is It Love You’re After (US 12” Promo Version) – Rose Royce
Flashlight (Extended 12” Mix) – Parliament
The Boss (Original 12” Mix) – Diana Ross
He’s The Greatest Dancer (12” Mix) – Sister Sledge
Spacer (12” Full Length Disco Mix) – Sheila & B. Devotion
Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now (12” Mix) – McFadden & Whitehead
Love Sensation (Tom Moulton Long Remix) – Loleatta Holloway
Rappers Delight (Long Version) – The Sugarhill Gang
Rapture (12” UK Special Disco Mix) – Blondie
Disc 5
Super Freak (Original 1981 12” Disco Mix) – Rick James
Jump To The Beat (Original 1980 12” Single Version) – Stacey Lattisaw
Need Your Lovin (12” Version) – Teen Marie
Pull Up To The Bumper (Original 12” 1981 12” Long Version)
The Message (Original 1982 12” Single Version)
Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag (Original 12” Single Mix) – Pigbag
You Got The Floor (12” Version) – Arthur Adams
Sexy Dancer (UK 12” Long Version) – Prince
Last Night A D.J. Saved My Life (Original 1982 12” Single Version) – Indeed
Going Back To My Roots (Original 1981 12” Extended Version) – Odyssey
Forget Me Nots (Original 1982 12” Special Dance Mix) – Pattrice Rushen
Dance Freak (Original Club 12” Mix) – Chain Reaction
*There was a 12” single released by Old Town Records in 1966. This was Betty Lou & Bobby Adams with their song, “Soul Stirrer”. This was a promotional item with the same song on both sides. Being a promo, it was not available for commercial release.
10cc released their first record, ‘Donna’ in September in 1972. A parody of doo-wop records, it was a number 2 hit on the UK singles chart. The follow up, ’Johnny Don’t Do It’ was also an homage to late 50s music but was too similar to ‘Donna’ and did not chart. However, their third single, ‘Rubber Bullets’ hit number 1 and the band continued to have success in both the singles and album charts for the rest of the decade.
10cc did not come out of nowhere either. All four members had been in the recording industry in one form or another since the early 60’s. Graham Gouldman had been in a band called The Whirlwinds which had recorded a song by Lol Creme on the B-Side of their one and only single. Kevin Godley had been in a band with Lol Creme but would join Gouldman in ‘The Mockingbirds’. Godley and Creme reunited and released records under a series of pseudonyms such as The Yellow Bellow Room Boom, Fratboy & Runcible Spoon as well as Doctor Father.
Goudman meanwhile became a songwriter of note, providing songs for ‘The Yardbirds’, ‘The Hollies’ and ‘Herman’s Hermits’. He also spent some time in ‘The Mindbenders’; the lead singer and guitar of which was Eric Stewart. As ‘The Mindbenders’ came to an end, Stewart invested in a recording studio that would eventually be known as Strawberry Studios. Gouldman started recording demos at the studios and soon he would also be a financial partner there. Godley and Creme were also using the studios and eventually all four members would record together, the first being a single called ‘Sausalito’ released under the band name of Ohio Express. The four musicians ended up recorded a lot of what would be called today, bubblegum records for American writer-producers Kasenetz-Katz. The deal meant that they recorded a number of forgettable songs but it did mean that they had the financial backing to upgrade the studio.
Some of this equipment needed testing and out of these experiments came a single called ‘Neanderthal Man’, released under the name of ‘Hotlegs’ (Gouldman was not on this record). The single was a number 2 hit in the UK, but the resulting album was not a success. The musicians continued to create their own music as well as back others who were using the studios. These included Ramases, Dave Berry, Wayne Fontana and most importantly of all, Neil Sedaka.
It was whilst recording with Sedarka that the four musicians decided they should try and make a more concerted effort at not just being sessions guys, but promote the material they had been working on. They released a single under the name of Festival which only reached the promo stage, and then they took a song to Apple Records who rejected it for not being commercial. It was then they came up with Donna, and Eric Stewart later said that there was only one person mad enough to realise it. That mad man was Jonathan King. King heard the track, loved it and signed the band to his UK Records label and the rest is history.
With this, I was looking at releasing a compilation of 10cc that concluded all of the single edits and B-Sides that were different to the versions released on their albums. I was quite surprised at how many there were. It would seem that 10cc were one of the last bands who truly made their single edits different for m the album versions. The cover art is based upon the 2017 compilation During // After – The Best of 10cc. Being a vinyl nut, I also thought it should be released in that format even though it would need to be a triple with a bonus 7″ single thrown for good measure.
Side A
Donna (Single Mix)
Hot Sun Rock (B-Side To Donna)
Johnny, Don’t Do It (Single Mix)
4% Of Something (B-Side Of Johnny Don’t Do It)
Rubber Bullets (Single Mix)
Waterfall (B-Side To Rubber Bullets)
The Dean & I (Single Mix)
Bee In My Bonnet (B-Side To The Dean & I)
Side B
The Worst Band In The World (Radio Version)
18 Carat Man Of Means (B-Side To The Worst Band In The World)
The Wall Street Shuffle (Single Version)
Gismo My Way (B-Side To The Wall Street Shuffle)
Life Is A Minestrone (Single Edit)
Channel Swimmer (B-Side Top Life Is A Minestrone)
I’m Not In Love (Single Edit)
Side C
Good News (B-Side To I’m Not In Love)
Art For Art’s Sake (Single Edit)
Get It While You Can (B-Side Of Art For Art’s Sake)
I’m Mandy Fly Me (Single Edit)
Hot To Trot (B-Side To I’m many Fly Me)
Don’t Squeeze Me Like Toothpaste (B-Side To Good Morning Judge)
Side D
I’m So Laid Back, I’m Laid Out (B-Side To People In Love)
Nothing Can Move Me (B-Side To Dreadlock Holiday)
For You & I (DJ Edit)
One-Two-Five (Single Edit)
Les Nouveaux Riches (Single Mix)
Dreadlock Holiday – Live (B-Side To 10” Of 24 Hours)
Side E
I’m Not In Love – Live (B-Side To 10” Of 24 Hours)
Feel The Love – Oomachasaooma (Radio Edit)
She Gives Me Pain (B-Side To Feel The Love)
Food For Thought (Radio Edit)
The Secret Life Of Henry (B-Side To Food For Thought)
Side F
Woman In Love (Radio Edit)
Man With A Mission (B-Side To Woman In Love)
Welcome To Paradise (7” Edit)
Don’t (B-Side To Welcome To Paradise)
Lost In Love (B-Side To CD Single Welcome To Paradise)
I was trawling through the soundtrack section of my record collection when I came across a selection of Muppet Show LPs, so I decided to give them a play.
The Muppet Show dates to the mid 1970s, but their origin dates back to 1955 when a puppeteer called Jim Henson created a character he called Kermit the Frog. Henson also coined the term Muppet as a portmanteau of marionette and puppet. As the cast of muppet characters increased, so did their exposure. They appeared on shows such as ‘Sam & Friends’, ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ and most famously, ‘Sesame Street’. Henson was keen to develop his own show and a couple of pilots were produced for the ABC Network, but neither was picked up.
However, someone in the UK was watching. That person was Lew Grade. He had had experience of producing puppet shows for TV in the form of ‘Thunderbirds’ and ‘Captain Scarlet’. The show ran from 1976 to 1981 and consisted of 120 episodes. It can best be described as a variety show as it included sketches, musical numbers and running gags. It was also famous for the guest stars who took part. Names such as Steve Martin, Christopher Reeve, Vincent Price, Elton John, Leo Sayer and Alice Cooper all signed on to take part in this unique show.
So back to the records. After a quick spin, it made me realise what a wide musical pallet they had introduced me to. There was folk, rock, pop, music hall, blue grass, light opera, jazz, novelty and even a song featured in an Italian modo movie. The people who put together The Muppet Show must have been well versed in the music of the 19th as well as early to mid 20th Century. This got me thinking. What about the original versions of those records.
What I have tried to do on this compilation is to include the oldest recorded version of each song where possible spread over four sides of a vinyl record.
Disc 1
You Are My Sunshine – Pine Ridge Boys
Lydia, The Tattooed Lady – Groucho Marx
Mississippi Mud/I Left My Sugar – Paul Whiteman’s Rhythm Boys
Blue Skies – Al Jolson
Mad About The Boy – Phyllis Robins with Jack Hylton & His Orchestra
Baby Feet – Jan Garber & His Orchestra
Who – George Olsen
A Foggy Day – Fred Astaire
Side 2
Happy Feet – Paul Whiteman Orchestra with The Rhythm Boys
Sixty Seconds Got Together – The Mills Brothers
On A Tree By The River, A Little Tom-Tit – The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company
Pennsylvania 6-5000 – Glenn Miller
I’m Five – Danny Kaye
Pachalafaka – Irving Taylor (Vocal by Earl Brown)
Cuanto Le Gusta – Carmen Miranda & Andrews Sisters
The Gypsys Violin – Abe Burrows
It Was a Very Good Year – The Kingston Trio
Side 3
There’s A New Sound – Tony Burrell
Mr Bass Man – Johnny Cymbal
Do Wah Diddy Diddy – The Exciters
Simon Smith & His Amazing Dancing Bear – Alan Price Set
I’m In Love With A Big Blue Frog – Peter, Paul & Mary
For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield
Dog Walk – Paul Tracey
Just One Person (From Snoopy, The Musical) – Ensemble Cast
What now My Love – Jane Morgan
When – Abe Burrows
Disc 4
Macho Man (Single Version) – The Village People
Coconut – Harry Nilsson
New York State Of Mind – Billy Joel
Mah Nà Mah Nà (Single Version) – Piero Umiliani
Time In A Bottle – Jim Croce
The Wishing Song – Paul Tracey
Garden Song – David Mallett
Just to finish off, the albums I have in my collection and were the basis for this compilation were ‘The Muppet Show’ (1977), ‘The Muppet Show 2’ (1978) and ‘Jim Henson’s Muppet Show Music Album’ (1979). I also have an EP of music hall songs and ‘A Christmas Together’ which The Muppets produced along with John Denver. However, neither the EP or the Christmas album got much of an airing but the other three albums did. All the music comes from the first four season of the show.
Disney bought the Henson Company and so I thought it was appropriate to have this LP appear on Walt Disney Records.
In April of 2015 (or around that time anyway), something popped up on one my socials about a subscription service where, for £20 a month each subscriber would receive a box of five brand new 7” inch singles. Well, in June of that year, the first of those singles boxes dropped through my letter box and for the next six years, a new box would be on the door matt waiting for me.
This would continue until 2021 when supply chain issues, Brexit and Covid made producing those box sets became increasingly difficult for the company to produce so they decided to stop production. So, in the 76 boxes that did come out and the 400 plus artists that featured on there, a lot of excellent music was produced by bands that I may never had heard of otherwise.
To celebrate the ten years since the foundation of Flying Vinyl, I have deiced to produce a series of sample records. Unlike the samplers I made for Blood Records, there is no way I could feature every artist that featured on this singles, so I had a couple of criteria. One was that the song has not already featured on the podcasts I made celebrating the label. I only did the first two years so that would not be too difficult. The second was that the songs had to be available on Spotify so the artist would hopefully earn some money from this, however pitiful the royalty rate is.
What was interesting was finding that even though these songs are available on that streaming service, some of them are not available in the same version as on the single. What would be interesting to know if these versions were only available on the Flying Vinyl singles? As there was so many good records, I have followed the Blood Records Sampler template and made this a double album.
Side A
Misty Maker Stomp – Jouris
Saviour – Groves
Made Of Concrete – Cagoule
Something In The Water – The Amazons
Fly – Meadowlark
Side B
Eureka Moment – The Big Moon
Shaking Hands – B.Miles
All My Love – Trudy & The Romance
Shalala – Moses Gunn Collective
Ladybird – Beach Baby
World’s Too Fast – The Jar Family
Side C
Father Of The Universe – Venice Trip
Joy In A Small Wage – Asylums
Dove In Your Mouth – Eaves
Voices – The Belligerents
Go – Pleasure Beach
Side D
Hold Me Closer – Lanka
Booored – Magic Potion
Time Won’t Leave – The Temperance Movement
Water’s Fall – Oh So Quiet
Oslo – Holy Esque
The front cover is based on the logo that Flying Records had when they first launched.
For those of a certain vintage, like myself, Marty Wilde was Kim Wilde’s dad. Marty, along with his son Ricky were the songwriting team behind most (if not all) of Kim’s early hits, including the classic ‘Kids In America’. What I didn’t realise until much later was that Marty had been a performer in his own right and was one of the first British rock ’n’ rollers along with Tommy Steele and Cliff Richard. Performing with his backing band the Wildcats, Wilde had a number of hits in the late 50s and early 60s as well as being a regular performer on early British music shows, 6.5 Special, Oh Boy! and Boy Meets Girl. His marriage to Vernon Girl Joyce Baker lead to a decline in his popularity as a teen idol but Wilde was not finished with the music business.
He appeared in a West End production of the musical ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ as well as becoming a noted songwriter. This included penning such tunes aa ‘Jesamine’ for The Casuals, ‘I’m A Tiger’ for Lulu and ‘Ice In The Sun’ for Status Quo. However, Wilde also continued to perform and throughout the late 60s and 70 he released a number of singles under pseudonyms. What this compilation does is collect all of those singles together and present them in chronological order.
Side A
Abagevenney – Shannon (1968)
Alice In Blue – Shannon (1968)
Jesamine – Shannon (1969)
Lullaby – Shannon (1969)
When You Wish Upon A Star – The Scrumpy N Dumpy (1972)
The Scrumpy N Dumpy Boogaloo – The Scrumpy N Dumpy (1972)
Caterpillar – Cold Fly (1973)
Yesterday Started For Judy – Cold Fly (1973)
Side B
Rock & Roll Crazy – Zappo (1973)
Right On! – Zappo (1973)
20 Fantastic Bands – The Dazzling All Night Rock Band (1973)
20 Fantastic Bands (Continued) – The Dazzling All Night Rock Band (1973)
Shang-a-Lang Song – Ruby Pearl and The Dreamboats (1974)
Will You Stop That – Ruby Pearl and The Dreamboats (1974)
Come Back & Love Me – Shannon (1975)
She’s A High Flyer – Shannon (1975)
The front cover of the LP is adapted from the picture sleeve of the ‘Rock & Roll Crazy’ single that was released under the name of Zappo. A good deal of the these records came out on the Magnet label that was bought up by Warner Brothers. That is why that companies logo is on the front cover.
As a bonus, here is a mini album with all of the songs that Marty Wilde recorded under the name of ‘The Wilde Three’. These recordings came out on two singles and featured not only Wilde, but his wife and a pre-Moody Blues Justin Hayward. Side A contains these singles whereas the B-Side contains demos/alternative versions of songs that the group did not release at the time.
Side A
Since You’ve Gone – The Wilde Three (1965)
Just As Long – The Wilde Three (1965)
I Cried – The Wilde Three (1965)
Side B
Well Who’s That – The Wilde Three (1965)
Since You’ve Gone (Alternative Take) (1965)
Just As Long (Alternative Take) (1965)
I Just Wanna Dance (Demo) (1965)
There aren’t that many pictures out there of this group, but this is one of the better ones and is made to look like a Decca EP sleeve from the 60s.
In May 1985, Dire Straits released their fifth album, ‘Brothers In Arms’. This was the first album to sell more than one million units on the relatively new format of the Compact Disc. It was one of, if not the first album where the music was recorded with the CD in mind as some of the songs needed to be edited down to fit on the LP format. It was also the first album to be certified ten-times platinum in the UK and non times platinum in the US. Worldwide, it has sold over 30 million copies.
Considering this is such a monumental album and 2025 is quite a big anniversary for it, what has been officially released is, to my mind very disappointing. What we got was the original album (CD mix) and a a previously unreleased concert. All well and good but where are the B-sides, demos, single mixes, LP edits?
I decided that this was to right time to put together a compilation of all of those tracks, but not just from ‘Brothers In Arms’, but from the bands entire career. This is because, for whatever reason, the band themselves (or most probably songwriter, singer and lead guitar player Mark Knopfler) are just not interested in delving into the archives and including this material.
Apart from the disappointing set for ‘Brothers In Arms’, none of the other Dire Straits albums have received the deluxe treatment. Archive releases have been few and far between. The only major one I can think of was the ‘Honky Tony Demos’ from Record Store Day in 2015. The only other band from that era that has pretty much avoided the deluxe edition box sets is The Police, even though they did get around the doing exactly that for their last studio album, ‘Synchronicity’.
Disc 1
Sultans Of Swing – Demo (The Honky Tonk Demos)
Down To The Waterline – Demo (The Honky Tonk Demos)
Water Of Love – Demo (The Honky Tonk Demos)
Wild West End – Demo (The Honky Tonk Demos)
Sultans Of Swing – Single A-Side Version
East Bound Train – Single B-Side
Where Do You Think You’re Going – Alt. Mix (Money For Nothing)
Joy Division were formed by school friends, Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook after both of them had attended a Sex Pistols concert in Manchester, mid 1976. Ian Curtis joined soon afterwards as their vocalist, with the line up completed by the addition of dummer Stephen Morris. They initially called themselves Warsaw, inspired by the song ‘Warszawa’, a David Bowie’s instrumental from his ‘Low’ album. This name did not last very long as they did not want to be confused with a London band going by the name Warsaw Pakt. The name they chose to use instead was Joy Division. It was the taken from a novel called ‘House of Dolls’ and referred to the sexual slavery wing of a Nazi Concentration Camp. Nothing too controversial there then.
Early recordings were very much in the punk vein and the band managed to create enough of a buzz that they were approached by RCA to record a cover of N. F. Porter’s song ‘Keep On Keeping On’. The band were not too keen on the idea, preferring to record their own material. Matters came to a head and the band asked to be released from their contract. Not standing still, the band recorded and self-released their ‘An Ideal For Living’ EP. The EP featured a drawing of a Hitler Youth member on the cover. This and their name did make people wonder what their political allegiances were.
The band were signed to the newly formed, and soon to be iconic Factory Records. With gigs outside of Manchester and sessions for the legendary John Peel, the band were starting to get noticed but there was trouble on the horizon. Ian Curtis started to have epileptic seizures and the band realised that if they were to continue, this would be something they would need to work with.
Work they did, and their first album, ‘Unknown Pleasures’ was recorded in April of 1979. The band began a gruelling tour schedule which caused Curtis’ epilepsy to get worse. He started to have seizures on stage, which some members of the audience thought was part of the act. Curtis was also a married man with a young child, but had started a relationship a journalist which put his marriage under strain. This, his epilepsy and a tour to the USA seems to have too much of strain of Curtis’ mental health. On the eve of the tour, he took his own life.
For a band that lasted for only four years, Joy Divisions’ fans have been well served with compilations and reissues down the years. However, their rather excellent ‘Heart and Soul’ box set from 1997 had number of emissions from it. Originally, this project was designed to put together what was left off of that box set as a bonus disc, but there was too much outstanding material. I then got a bit carried away and thought it would be good to include all of the available live material. In the end, I rejigged the ‘Heart and Soul’ box set and it has turned into pretty much everything that I could lay my hands on it has become an 11 disc set. As far as I can tell, this would be a comprehensive set, even though I am sure that I have missed a song here and there.
Disc 1
Disorder – Unknown Pleasures
Day Of The Lords – Unknown Pleasures
Candidate – Unknown Pleasures
Insight – Unknown Pleasures
New Dawn Fades – Unknown Pleasures
She’s Lost Control – Unknown Pleasures
Shadowplay – Unknown Pleasures
Wilderness – Unknown Pleasures
Interzone – Unknown Pleasures
I Remember Nothing – Unknown Pleasures
Warsaw – An Ideal For Living EP
No Love Lost – An Ideal For Living EP
Leaders Of Men – An Ideal For Living EP
Failures – An Ideal For Living EP
At A Later Date (Live) – Short Circuit: Live At The Electric Circus
Transmission – Single A Side
Novelty – Single B Side
Digital – A Factory Sample
Glass – A Factory Sample
Auto Suggestion – Earcom 2: Contradiction
From Safety To Where…? – Earcom 2: Contradiction
Disc 2
Atrocity Exhibition – Closer
Isolation – Closer
Passover – Closer
Colony – Closer
A Means To An End – Closer
Heart & Soul – Closer
Twenty Four Hours – Closer
The Eternal – Closer
Decades – Closer
Atmosphere (Licht Und Blindheit) – Single A Side
Dead Souls – Single B Side
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Single A Side
These Days – Single B Side
Komakino – Single A Side
Incubation – Single B Side
As You Said – Single B Side
She’s Lost Control (12” Version) – Single A Side
Disc 3
Inside The Line – Warsaw Demo (18th July 1977)
Gutz – Warsaw Demo (18th July 1977)
At A Later Date – Warsaw Demo (18th July 1977)
The Kill – Warsaw Demo (18th July 1977)
You’re No Good To Me – Warsaw Demo (18th July 1977)
The Drawback – RCA LP Sessions
Leaders Of Men – RCA LP Sessions
They Walked In Line – RCA LP Sessions
Failures – RCA LP Sessions
Novelty – RCA LP Sessions
No Love Lost – RCA LP Sessions
Transmission – RCA LP Sessions
Living In The Ice Age – RCA LP Sessions
Interzone – RCA LP Sessions
Warsaw – RCA LP Sessions
Shadowplay – RCA LP Sessions
Exercise One – Unknown Pleasures Sessions
The Only Mistake – Unknown Pleasures Sessions
Walked In Line – Unknown Pleasures Sessions
The Kill – Unknown Pleasures Sessions
Something Must Break – Transmission Single Session
Ice Age – Licht Und Blindheit Sessions
Sound Of Music – Love Will Tear Us Apart Session
Ceremony – Demo
In A Lonely Place (Detail) – Rehearsal
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Pennine Studios Version
Disc 4
Exercise One – BBC Session
Insight – BBC Session
She’s Lost Control – BBC Session
Transmission – BBC Session
Love Will Tear Us Apart – BBC Session
Twenty Four Hours – BBC Session
Colony – BBC Session
Sound Of Music – BBC Session
These Days – Piccadilly Radio Session
Candidate – Piccadilly Radio Session
The Only Mistake – Piccadilly Radio Session
Chance (Atmosphere) – Piccadilly Radio Session
Transmission – Something Else TV Show
She’s Lost Control – Something Else TV Show
Insight – Eden Studios Demo
Glass – Eden Studios Demo
Transmission – Eden Studios Demo
Ice Age – Eden Studios Demo
Walked In Line (Re-Mix) – Still
Something Must Break – Central Sound Studios Version
Ian Curtis & Stephen Morris Interview – Richard Skinner Radio One
Disc 5
The studio cuts from the RCA sessions are added here because the mixes used on the ‘Warsaw’ album released by MPG Records in 1994. These songs were also released in 1997 on the ‘Heart and Soul’ box set, but the mixes sound slightly different so they were included here form completeness.
Dead Souls – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
The Only Mistake – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Insight – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Candidate – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Wilderness – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
She’s Lost Control – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Shadowplay – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Disorder – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Interzone – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Atrocity Exhibition – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Novelty – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
Transmission – Live at The Factory, Manchester 13th July 1979
I Remember Nothing – Live at The Winter Gardens, Bournemouth 2nd November 1979
Colony – Live at The Winter Gardens, Bournemouth 2nd November 1979
These Days – Live at The Winter Gardens, Bournemouth 2nd November 1979
The Drawback (Alt Mix) – RCA LP Sessions
Interzone (Alt Mix) – RCA LP Sessions
Shadowplay (Alt Mix) – RCA LP Sessions
As You Said (Alt Mix) – Komakino Single Session
Disc 6 – Live at Les Bains Douches, 18th December 1979
Disorder
Love Will Tears Us Apart
Insight
Shadowplay
Transmission
Day Of The Lords
Twenty Four Hours
These Days
A Means To An End
Passover
New Dawn Fades
Atrocity Exhibition
Digital
Dead Souls
Auto Suggestion
Atmosphere
Disc 7 – Live at the University Of London Union 8th February 1980
Dead Souls
Glass
A Means To An End
Twenty Four Hours
Passover
Insight
Colony
These Days
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Isolation
The Eternal
Digital
Disc 8 – Live at High Wycombe Hall 20th February 1980
Isolation – Sound Check
The Eternal – Sound Check
Ice Age – Sound Check
Disorder – Sound Check
The Sound Of Music – Sound Check
A Means To An End – Sound Check
The Sound Of Music
A Means To An End
Colony
Twenty Four Hours
Isolation
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Disorder
Atrocity Exhibition
Disc 9 – Live Preston 28th February 1980
Incubation
Wilderness
Twenty Four Hours
The Eternal
Heart & Soul
Shadowplay
Transmission
Disorder
Warsaw
Colony
Interzone
Disc 10
The Eternal – Live Lyceum Ballroom, London 29th February 1980
Heart & Soul – Live Lyceum Ballroom, London 29th February 1980
Isolation – Live Lyceum Ballroom, London 29th February 1980
She’s Lost Control – Live Lyceum Ballroom, London 29th February 1980
The Sound Of Music – Live at The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April 1980
Wilderness – Live at The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April 1980
Colony – Live at The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April 1980
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Live at The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April 1980
A Means To An End – Live at The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April 1980
Transmission – Live at The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April 1980
Dead Souls – Live at The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April 1980
Sister Ray – Live at The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April 1980
Disc 11 – Live at The High Hall Birmingham University 2nd May 1980
A lot has been written about ‘The Beatles’ or ‘The White Album’ as it is more commonly known. The only double album released during the band’s lifetime, it has become notorious in some circles for having the worst Beatles track ever released on it (‘Revolution #9’), some filler that should have remained firmly in the archives (‘Wild Honey Pie’), and ‘Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da’. This is most probably the most Marmite song in the bands catalogue, as it was not a favourite of the other Beatles, but it was a number 1 hit in the UK for the band Marmalade.
In the past, I had a go at making this a single LP but there was plenty of songs left over that were of high quality that it would have been a shame to lose them. However, there was, in my opinion, only enough quality material for three sides of really good music. A few weeks back, I was on Youtube and the algorithm threw up an intreating mash up of Jackie Lomax’s ‘Sour Milk Sea’ backing track with George Harrison’s vocals from the demo played on top. With three of the four Beatles on this (only Lennon was not involved), could this now be included?
Well, I thought so, so I looked to rejig the tracks to include this as well as another Harrison song, ‘Not Guilty’. This song took 102 takes to get right, and was a strong contender for inclusion but with its thinly vailed barbs at Lennon and McCartney, it was felt that airing their dirty washing in public was not the done thing. I have also included the ‘Let It Be….Naked’ version of ‘Across The Universe. Though it was not recorded for the “:White Album’, it was in the can and does not sound out of place, especially with this sparce arrangement. The introduction to Ringo’s song’ Don’t Pass Me By’ has been reinstated, having been first revealed to the world as the opening song on the ‘Anthology 3’ LP.
Overall, this is still not a perfect album but I would say that these additions make it much better one.
Side 1
Back In The U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Sour Milk Sea
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Side B
Martha My Dear
I’m So Tired
Blackbird
Piggies
Rocky Racoon
Don’t Pass Me By
Why Don’t We Do It In The Road
I Will
Julia
Side C
Birthday
Yer Blues
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me & Monkey
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Long, Long, Long
Across The Universe
Side D
Revolution 1
Mother Nature’s Son
Not Guilty
Honey Pie
Savoy Truffle
Cry Baby Cry
Good Night
The cover was adapted from an image taken and adapted from https://beatlesandrutles.blogspot.com/2020/09/beatles-fantasy-albums.html. I added a picture of The Beatles to the centre which means that they would now have an image on the band on all of the LPs they released during their lifetime. The original cover of ‘The Beatles’ was the only one not to have any image of the band on it all.
