Category: Lost Album

A bit of an odd one here, or just different; I’ll let you decide. I knew that ‘Hey Joe’ was not an original song by Jimi Hendrix but it could be argued that it is the most well know of all of the versions that have been recorded. I must admit that I I wasn’t really aware of any others until I started listening to American Garage bands of the mid 60’s. The excellent ‘Nuggets’ box set from 1998 introduced me to the version by The Leaves, which was considerably faster than the version released by Hendrix. Later on when I started to buy up the expanded editions of The Byrds back catalogue at the turn of the century, they had included a version of the song on their ‘5th Dimension’ album, but this was of a similar speed to The Leaves version. It would seem that any band worth their salt in the Southern California music scene was playing it. 

The authorship of the song has been contested down the years. Some recordings list it as traditional, some by Dino Valenti (which was a pseudonym of Quicksilver Messenger Services’ Chet Powers) or Billy Roberts. 

Roberts copyrighted the song in 1962 and is said to have been performing it for a few years before this. Roberts may well have taken inspiration from other songs for his own, being as he was part of the folk tradition and in that authorship can be a lot more fluid. Just look at some of the works of Bob Dylan. Roberts could well have taken inspiration for his song from the following. ‘Little Sadie’, a traditional folk ballad which does go by a number of other names (such as Bad Lee Brown and Late One Night). It tells the story of a man who is arrested after a shooting a woman, the identity of whom changes depending on the version. The earliest version of this song I could find was released in 1930 by Clarence Ashley. ‘Hey Joe’ by Carl Smith which not only shares the title but the idea of questioning between the characters in the song. Lastly, there is ’Baby Please Don’t Go to Town’ which was written by Roberts’ girlfriend, by Niela Horn.  This last one shares a similar chord progression and melody. 

While the authorship of the song was contested even back in the 60’s, the song itself became a garage rock classic. It it even made its way to the UK when it was recorded by Kenny Barnard, even though he changed the lyrics so he could claim a writers credit for himself. 

It was upon hearing this version by Bernard that inspired me to think about a compilation of the versions recorded before Hendrix did. The Hendrix version is so famous that the slow version became the norm after it was released and the garage rock version played at a much higher tempo has therefore been all but forgotten. I wondered if there were enough versions of it to compile a LP’s worth of material and to my surprise, there was. I have included the demo recording that Roberts made in the early 60s as the opening track followed by The Rogues. This is not strictly ‘Hey Joe’, but seems to be more of an answer record, something we don’t see very often these days. It uses a very similar chord sequence and structure but it is a bit odd to have an answer record to a song that has yet to have a release. 

The version by The Leaves is considered to be the first cover of ‘Hey Joe’ but even this is in dispute as very lo-fi recording by a band called The Swamp Rats seems to have come out first. Strangely, The Leaves version is the only recording of the song to break the top 40 in the US Billboard single chart. The version by the Jimi Hendrix Experience did not even make the charts. 

The remainder of the songs are not in any particular order. They only had to have been recorded before Hendrix released his version. The band, The `Warlocks included here are not the same ones that would change their name to the Grateful Dead. 

Side A

1. Hey Joe – Billy Roberts
2. Wanted: Dead Or Alive – The Rogues
3. Hey Joe – Swamp Rats
4. Hey Joe – The Leaves
5. Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) – The Standells
6. Hey Joe – Love
7. Hey Joe – Tim Rose
8. Hey Joe – The Music Machine

Side B

1. Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) – The Byrds
2. Hey Joe – Safaris
3. Hey Joe – Gonn
4. Hey Woman – Kenny Bernard
5. Hey Jo – The Warlocks
6. Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go) – The Cryan’ Shames
7. Hey Joe – The Shadows of Knight

Bonus 7” EP

As this is my compilation, I thought I would include a bonus 7” EP of the songs that could be said to have inspired the original song. I have included an extra song with ‘Penitentiary Blues’ by Buddy Baker. This shares similar lyrics to ‘Little Sadie’ and could be the earliest version of this songs to be recorded. 

Side A

1. Baby, Don’t Go To Town – Neila Miller
2. Hey, Joe – Carl Smith

Side B

1. Penitentiary Blues – Buddy Baker
2. Little Sadie – Clarence Ashley

To find out more on this, I would recommend ‘Hey Joe: The Unauthorised Biography of a Rock Classic’ by Marc Shapiro. 

The front cover based upon the US picture sleeve of the Jimi Hendrix’s Experiences Hey Joe Single. I included the K-Tel logo because I felt that this was the sort of compilation they may well have released if they had had the inclination. I do remember they liked a themed compilation even though I am sure they would not have released one solely based around one song. 

t has been a while since I did a Beatles post, and even longer since I mentioned about the possibility of putting together a compilation of the songs that The Beatles covered on their albums. I actually covered this sort of thing in a podcast back in 2017 when looking at the original versions of the songs*. This play list creates a virtual album of all of the cover version the band released on their studio album, with the exception of Maggie Mae**. 

I took the view that this album would have been one of the numerous compilations that EMI put together in the late 70s after the bands contract ran out. I was surprised when looking into putting this together that EMI didn’t do this themselves back in the day. I pretty much followed the chronology of when these songs came out back in the day, except swapping some around so the length each sides is similar to the other corresponding side. That is down to the fact that this release if it had happened would have been put onto cassette tape. I also made the tracks on mine be the mono versions as these were the mix the band were happiest with. Annoyingly, I could only use stereo versions on Spotify which is the format EMI would have no doubt used if they had put this out themselves.

The cover is taken from an Italian release called The Beatles in Italy. 

Side A

1. A Taste Of Honey
2. Baby It’s You
3. Roll Over Beethoven
4. Anna (Go To Him)
5. Chains
6. Twist & Shout

Side B

1. Please Mister Postman
2. Till There Was You
3. Boys
4. Devil In Her Heart
5. You Really Got A Hold On Me
6. Money (That’s What I Want)

Side C

1. Slow Down
2. Honey Don’t
3. Long Tall Sally
4. Mr. Moonlight
5. Matchbox
6. Rock & Roll Music

Side D

1. Bad Boy
2. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
3. Words Of Love
4. Act Naturally
5. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
6. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!

* http://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/podcast/episode-54-songs-the-beatles-covered/.

** I did use this as part of an album of the covers the band made during the Get Back/Let it Be sessions which iI had a look at back in November 2021. 

I find it hard to fathom that this month is the 30th Anniversary since the release of Belly’s first LP, ‘Star’. I remember watching the video to their song ‘Feed The Tree’ on some late late music show and then going down to my local Virgin Megastore (which was in Cardiff at the time) and picking myself up a copy. I absolutely loved this album and was excited when, a couple of years later, they released the follow up which was called “King’. That was it though. Two albums, a few single B-Sides and the odd song that had appeared on soundtrack albums. I was gutted that they did not make another album (at the time) and even though I followed the solo career of Tanya Donnelly, it just wasn’t the same. There was a ‘Best Of’ album (which was really more of a compilation of single mix, B-Sides and rarities) in 2002 and then in 2018, there was a new album. I was also able to see the band live, which was something I missed out on the first time around.

However, it was in their initial spell that I was most interested so I wondered if there was enough material from the B-Sides and rarities to make a third album. Well, there was and on the whole it is pretty good. I did consider including a couple of cover version, as I particularly liked their version of ‘Hot Burrito #1” and ‘Think About Your Troubles’. These would have made the record a bit on the long side.  

As it is, the album includes a raft of B-Sides, including ‘Broken’ which was initially only available on a vinyl single and one previously unreleased song, (Lilith) which would see the light of day on the ‘Sweet Ride’ compilation in 2002.

As for the title, I picked ‘Broken’ as it symbolises that the band had split up and also because Belly have only ever had one word album titles. 

Side A

1. Spaceman – Seal My Fate
2. Dancing Gold – Slow Dust EP
3. Lilith (Previously Unreleased) – Sweet Ride (The Best of Belly)
4. Broken – Seal My Fate (7” Version)
5. John Dark – Now They’ll Sleep

Side B

1. Baby’s Arm – Now They’ll Sleep
2. Sexy S – Feed The Tree
3. Dream On Me – Feed The Tree
4. Diamond Rib Cage – Seal My Fate
5. Sweet Ride – Gepetto
6. Thief – Now They’ll Sleep

The cover is adapted from the 7″ sleeve of the ‘Feed The Tree’ single.

The second and final sampler looking at all of the LPs Blood Records released in 2022, and this one does not have any exclusive releases so I was able to produce a Spotify playlist for you. 

Side A

1. Goodbye Bluefish – Low Island
2. Closer – The Kooks
3. Dig! – Sports Team
4. You (Just Looked Right Through Me) – Stanleys
5. Make It Easy – Phoebe Green
6. Nothing To Lose – The Howlers
7. Ghosts (How Can I Move On) – Muse

Side B

1. Alygatyr – Kasabian
2. Wild Horses II – First Aid Kit
3. Innocence & Sadness – Dermont Kennedy
4. Phantom – Rona Sawayama
5. Call Me By Your Name – Leah Weller
6. The Hard Way – Pale Waves

Side C

1. Strawberry Lemonade – Editors
2. Ready For Something – The Amazons
3. The Good Times – Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbot
4. Bubble Wrap – Easy Life
5. About You – The 1975

Side D

1. St. George Wharf Tower – Jamie T
2. Gary Ashby – Dry Cleaning
3. Step Mum – Lauren HIbberd
4. Hideous – Oliver Sim (feat. Jimmy Summerville)
5. Memories – Yungblud & Willow
6. Heart Filled Up – Paolo Nutini
7. You’re Here That’s The Thing – beabadoobee

Happy New Year everyone. If I thought that Blood Records went into overdrive in 2021, then 2022 was something else. Last year, the label put out 57 records which is just five les than their entire output before then. It also means that this years sampler is going to be split over two separate releases with the first being a triple album and the second being a double. As with previous years, I have included one song from each of these albums. 

Due to the amount of releases this year and the likelihood of next year being about the same, if not more, this will be the last set of Blood Records samplers I will be producing. I am beginning to run out of space in the record room. 

The sleeve is one of the Blood Records logos taken from their Facebook page. 

Side A

1. Free To Be Lost – Calva Louise
2. Roman Holiday – Fontaines D.C.
3. They Sing At Night – Sundowners
4. Under The Radar – Foals
5. You Thought I Was Dead – Holy Youth Movement
6. More Pressure – Kat Tempest (feat. Kevin Abstract)

Side B

1. The Grass – Michael Head & The Res Elastic Band
2. Every Window Is A Mirror – Joywave
3. Mecca – Nick Mulvey
4. Moscow Rules – Liam Gallagher
5. Throw Myself Away – Girl
6. Short Ballad – The Coral

Side C

1. If We Get Caught – Bloc Party
2. All the Time – Fatherson
3. I Can’t Drive – Crawlers
4. Hand Of God – Gang Of Youths
5. New Ways – Bear’s Den

Side D

1. Cold Sweats – The Royston Club
2. Payday – Yard Act
3. Glow – Fickle Friends
4. Sick – Sea Girls
5. Get Better – alt-J

Side E

1. Gold Rush Kid – George Ezra
2. Always Ascending – Franz Ferdinand
3. Don’t Let It Get You Down – Miles Kane
4. Sunset – The Feens
5. Surfacing – Larry Pink The Human

Side F

1. Bad Summer – Spector
2. Come Over (Again) – Crawlers
3. If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You – The Wombats
4. Visions – Blossoms
5. Memento Mori (Live) – Architects

This playlist could not be reproduced as Spotify did not have all of the songs on its platform.

A year ago, I posted a collection of what could only be described as, not the best Christmas records that have ever been made. One of the songs on that collection was ‘All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle’ by British actress, Dora Bryan. I knew that there were a number of Beatles related novelty records and I wondered if there was enough to make an LP full of ones with a Christmas theme. To my surprise, there is. 

Even though The Beatles released their first single in 1962, it was in the following year that their popularity skyrocketed with the term Beatlemania being coined in October of 1963 to describe the hysteria the band caused where ever they went. It was in this year that the first Christmas Beatle themed record was released with the aforementioned Dora Bryan. What I find quite surprising, is this is the only one from that year I could find. 1964 would be different matter all together with every other song from this collection coming from that year, with the majority coming from North America. 

The Beatles had not had the best of starts in North America. British artists before them had had some chart success in the U.S., but not that much. Capitol, EMI’s label in the U.S. initially refused the release Beatle records so Vee-Jay, one of the first African-American owned labels were offered a chance to release the bands records. The records did not sell particularly well to begin with but this was about to change. 

The Beatles themselves came to North American when they made a short visit in early 1964, but word of their music and style had been reported in the US press from late 1963. Their single, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ was a radio hit before being released three weeks early than initially planned (by a now on board Capitol) and Vee-Jay started to see the benefit of their deal because the songs they had the licenses for started selling in huge quantities. With an appearance on the Ed Sullivan show and a US tour, it was no surprise that 1964 was also the year where a good many people though that releasing a Beatles themed Christmas record was a sure fire way of achieving massive sales and profits. As it turns out, none of these made much of a dent in the charts with the record being public more keen on the real thing. 

What of the song themselves. For some reason, and this is true of non Christmas related Beatles songs,  Ringo is defiantly the most popular Beatle. He is the only member of the band mentioned by name in any of the titles. It also seems to be a case of finding anything to rhyme with Ringo. For example, there was bingo, by jingo, thingo etc. According to Gerry Ferrier, Ringo also became the name of one of Santa’s reindeer due to not having antlers, but Beatle hair. John might not have been such a popular choice as news that he was married (and with a son) had already became known after initially being kept secret. I’m not sure why the other two aren’t mentioned much. Considering these songs were written in isolation, there is quite a number who share the same title. There are also plenty of references to holding Beatle hands as well.

After 1964, it seems that the time of wanting a Beatle for Christmas had passed. There weren’t any Beatles Christmas related novelty songs from 1965 onwards, unless you know any better. Was it that the bands audience were growing up? Was it down to the image of the band changing, in no small part to the music they were making becoming more mature? Whatever the reason, this is a fascinating snapshot of a time when Beatlemania ruled the world. 

Side A

1. All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle – Dora Bryan
2. I Want A Beatle For Christmas – Patty Surbey
3. Santa Bring Me Ringo – Christina Hunter
4. Ringo Deer – Garry Ferrier
5. Ringo Bells – Three Blonde Mice
6. Santa Bring Me Ringo – Tich

Side B

1. I Want A Beatle For Christmas – Becky Lee Beck
2. Bring Me A Beatle For Christmas – Cindy Rella
3. Bring Me The Beatles For Christmas – Jackie & Jill
4. I Want A Beatle For Christmas – The Fans
5. Christmas With The Beatles – Judy & The Duets

The cover image was taken from a Pinterist post by Nanna, and is based on the Beatles cartoon that ran on US TV between 1965 to 1967. I also included the VJ Records logo because if this had been released back in the 1960’s, I am sure they would have been the company who would want to cash in after losing their cash cow not long after gaining it. 

A massive thanks to Darryl Bullock for his help in putting this compilation together. Check out his rather fine website dedicated to the wonderful world of bad records. https://worldsworstrecords.blogspot.com/

When it comes to the Bee Gee’s 60s catalogue, it has been well served with re-releases in both mono and stereo versions along with alternative mixes and unreleased tracks. A number of these had a Christmas theme so I have put them together as an EP that the band could have released in 1968 instead of the single ‘I Started A Joke’.

The opening song is All My Christmases (Came At Once) which the Gibb brothers had given to The Majority to be used in the film ‘The Mini Mob’, or ‘The Mini Affair’ depending on which market you are looking at. The next two songs were both recorded for a Christmas themed television show called ‘How On Earth’, that was filmed at Liverpool Cathedral. We finish up with a demo of a 1968 song called ‘Come Some Christmas Eve Our Halloween’, which might not have the most festive of lyrics by Robin Gibb, but he would come back to this song for his festive album ’My Favourite Christmas Carols’ in 2006. 

Side A

1. All My Christmas (Came At Once)
2. Medley – Hark The Herald Angels Sing/Silent Night

Side B

1. Thank You For Christmas
2. Come Some Christmas Eve Or Halloween

I could not find a Christmas picture of the group from the late 60s, so I adapted the cover of an unofficial album that shows them performing in a studio. Not very festive, but it does look good. 

Following on from our look at The Bee Gees album that never was in our last post, we are now going to have a look at what Robin did in his first attempt at a solo career. Initially, Robin’s solo career started with a bang with his first song ‘Saved By The Bell’ making number 2 in the UK singles charts. This single is thought to be one of the first to have been a hit with a drum machine on it. The drum machine sound might have been something new in 1969, but it has dated the recording on which it was used. After this impressive start, the momentum was lost. ‘One Million Years’, the follow up single was a minor hit and the parent album which was called ‘Robin’s Reign’ did some good business in Germany and Canada but failed to chart in the rest of the world. Unperturbed, Robin continued to record as a solo artist even though he did admit that at this stage he missed the camaraderie of working with his brothers. 

The songs on these sessions dispersed with the drum machine and for the most part included orchestral arrangements to flush out the sound. Were these songs meant for a second album? Robin himself was unsure and hinted that he was not really trying to be a solo artist, but doing something to bide the time. The production on these songs would say otherwise considering Robin is backed up with what sounds like a full orchestra. As it was, none of these recording saw the light of day until 2015 when the ‘Saved By The Bell’ compilation was released, which was a collection of Robin Gibb’s solo work between 1968 and 1970. If only the solo works of Maurice and Barry would get this sort of treatment. This second album has been given the name ‘Sing Slowly Sisters’ down the years and using the material included on the aforementioned release, I have put together what could have been his second album, especially if Barry and Maurice had continued to release material as The Bee Gees*. In reality, by June of 1970, he and Maurice were back in the studio and by August, Barry had joined them reuniting The Bee Gees who would keep recording until Maurice passed away in 2003.

Side A

1. Engines Aeroplanes
2. I’ve Been Hurt
3. Return To Austria
4. Everything Is How You See Me
5. The Flag I Flew
6. Anywhere I Hang My Hat
7. Life

Side B

1. Sing Slowly Sisters
2. Loud & Clear
3. C’est La Vie, Au Revoir
4. Irons On The Fire
5. It’s Only Make Believe
6. All’s Well That End’s Well

Single

1. Great Caesars Ghost
2. Sky West & Crooked

‘Great Caesars Ghost’ was talked about as being a single at the time, so if we were to continue with the time line of the second LP, why not have a single to go with it. ‘Sky West & Crooked’ was included as the B-Side because it sounds more like a demo and not the finished, orchestrated material that made up the rest of the album. It just sounded too out of place to be on the album but too good to be forgotten about completley. The front cover of the LP is taken from ‘I Design Album Covers’ website (https://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com). 

*See the previous entry for further information. 

The career of The Bee Gees can be broken down into a number of distinct eras. 

1. There is the pre-fame period. They started playing in bands in 1955 when Barry was nine and the twins Maurice & Robin being six whilst they lived in Manchester, UK. They moved to Australia in 1958 and started their recording career in 1963. They would continue to record in Australia with some success until 1966 when they decided to relocate back the UK.
2. 1967 – 1969 and the first brush with fame. They also were a proper band at this time with the addition of drummer Colin Petersen and guitar player Vince Melouney. 
3. 1970 – 1974. The wilderness years and the first solo projects.
4. 1975 -1979. The disco behemoth. 
5. 1980 – 1986. More solo records and outside projects. 
6. 1987 onwards. A return to the top and becoming a heritage act. 

Thinking about it, it amazing how similar in trajectory The Bee Gees career to Fleetwood Mac, especially from 1967 to 1979. Anyway, in this months artists showcase we are going to look at the period between the 1969 and 1970 when The Bee Gees fragmented from a quintet to a duo, and then to nothing at all before reforming with just the Gibb Brothers and hired hands. 

Vince Melouney was the first to go, leaving the group because he wanted to play more blues orientated music than the brothers were producing at the time. Melouney does hold the distinction of being the only non Gibb to have a song on a post 1967 Bee Gees album. His parting was on good terms but not all was well within the Bee Gee camp. Matters came to a head after the release of the ‘Odessa’ album. The only single released from this LP was Barry’s ‘First Of May’. Robin felt that his song ‘Lamplight’ should have been chosen instead but had been relegated to the B-Side of the aforementioned ‘First of May’. Robin feeling that their manager Robert Stigwood was pushing Barry towards being the frontman of the group decided to leave the group and strike out on his own. 

Barry & Maurice soldiered on as The Bee Gees and even showed a doctors note for nervous exhaustion on the ‘Happening For Lulu’ show to explain Robin’s absence. Barry & Maurice decided to produce a film and album under the name of ‘Cucumber Castle’, which had been a song on their 1967 ‘1st’ album. The film consists of Barry and Maurice playing two Princess who have their father’s Kingdom divided up so one if the King of Cucumber, and the other is the King of Jelly. The plot , if it can be described as one, is non sensical. It is essentially a mix of sketches with a curious mix of Medieval imagery combined with scenes with guns that are not exactly from the Middle Ages. The cast includes Frankie Howard, Vincent Price and Spike Milligan. 

These sketches were interspersed with musical numbers from not only The Bee Gees themselves (which on the whole are excellent), but Lulu (who covers Simon & Garfunkel’s Mrs Robinson whilst cleaning the castle) and live footage of Blind Faith from their gig in Hyde Park in 1969. That footage is not Medieval at all either. The film was screen on 26th December 1970 by which time, both Blind Faith and The Bee Gees had split up with the latter actually having the time to reform. This did receive a limited release on VHS back in the day but has not seen the light since. It has also been described as one of the rarest VHS releases of all time. 

You can actually watch the whole thing here, as long as it hasn’t been blocked on removed from YouTube. Apart form the music, it is pretty bad. You have been warned. 

On the music front, both Barry and Maurice well very busy. There was even talk of replacing Robin with a singer called Peter Mason. Though he may have helped on the recording of the song ‘Don’t Forget To Remember’, Mason did not end up as a Bee Gee with one theory stating that Stigwood was against the idea as he was hoping the three Gibb Brothers would reunite. Barry would also do some production work for P.P. Arnold with Maurice working with Australian band Tin Tin. These bouts of production would be fitted in work on the next Bee Gees album. Recordings on the ‘Cucumber Castle’  concluded in October 1969 but would not see the light of day until April the following year. You would think that an album by a major recording artist of the late 60’s would want their album out in time for the Christmas market, but this did not happen because on 1st December 1969, Barry announced he was leaving the Bee Gee’s. 

Maurice and Barry would start the new decade recording material for solo albums with both releasing singles. Barry with ‘I’ll Kiss Your Memory’ and Maurice with ‘The Loner’. With Robin also making recordings as a solo artist, 1970 look like a year of Bee Gees overkill. As it was, neither Maurice’s or Barry’s solo records appeared. In June, Maurice and Robin started to work together again and announced that they would reform as The Bee Gees, with or without Barry. Their elder brother came back into the fold and in November, they would release their ‘2 Years On’ album. 

But what if the ‘Cucumber Castle’ album had seen the light of day in December of 1969, and that Barry and Maurice decided to keep working as The Bee Gees? That would leave a gap in 1970 for another Bee Gees album to be released but what material would it consist of. Robin was still out of the picture at this point so we will have to use the songs that were recorded for the still unreleased solo records by Maurice and Barry. There was enough material from those solo recording to make two solo albums so reducing them down to one shouldn’t be too difficult should it?

Well, the production on the songs is as good as you would expect it to be. However, without the others contributing ideas, the songs themselves are not up to the standards you would expect from this period in the band’s career. They lack the spark and harmonies that having brothers singing together can bring. I have kept the songs from the two singles Maurice and Barry released separate from the album and what we have is a good album, but not a classic. It would have been obvious to all that if this had happened, the Gibb Brothers really needed each other to produce the classic material that they are known for. Apart from the singles, very few of these songs have seen the light of day. ‘One Bad Thing’ was covered by a few artists in 1971 and ‘The Loner’ was used in the film Bloomfield. 

Side A

1. Journey To The Misty Mountains (Maurice Gibb)
2. The Loner (Maurice Gibb)
3. Please Lock Me Away (Maurice Gibb)
4. The Day You Eyes Met Mine (Barry Gibb)
5. Happiness (Barry Gibb)
6. Silly Little Girl (Maurice Gibb)
7. I Just Wanna Take Care Of You (Barry Gibb)

Side B

1. One Bad Thing (Barry Gibb)
2. The Victim (Barry Gibb)
3. Peace In My Mind (Barry Gibb)
4. Mando Bay (Barry Gibb)
5. Soldier Johnny (Maurice Gibb)
6. She’s The One You Love (Maurice Gibb)

Singles

1. Railroad (Maurice Gibb)
2. I’ve Come Back (Maurice Gibb)

1. I’ll Kiss Your Memory (Barry Gibb)
2. This Time (Barry Gibb)

Finding a picture of the two man Bee Gees is not easy, so I took the picture sleeved for the Belgium edition of the I.O.I.O. single. I could edit out the title of the A-Side but the B-Side of Sweet Heart was a bit beyond my skills. The song may have appeared on the Cucumber Castle album, but this would not be the first time the Bee Gees took an album title from a song from a previous LP. I replaced the pink Polydor logo of the original release with the traditional red one, and the catalogue number was the one used by John Hunt at the ‘I Design Album Covers’ site for the unreleased solo albums these songs were taken from.  

As a side note, the ‘Cucumber Castle’ film and album would also be the last time drummer Colin Petersen was involved in a Bee Gees project. He was fired for not turning up to recording sessions and not taking an interest in filming, which is odd as Petersen had been a child actor. Petersen himself put it down the fact that he argued with Robert Stigwood over his role with the band. Stigwood not only managed the band but was their producer, the music publisher and owned the recordings.   

Well, we’ve already had one fake soundtrack album this month, so how about another. This one is taken from a film that has never been officially released because it is a fan edit of The Empire Strikes Back. Now, fan edits are a a curious beast. They are commercially released films that have been modified by an editor to add or remove scenes, re-order the film or even edit multiple films together to make something wholly original. 

One of my favourites as well as one of the most original was the fan edit of The Empire Strikes Back which was made to look as though it had been directed by Quentin Tarantino. That means it incorporates some of the tropes the director is famous for, such as telling the story in a non liner style, incorporating animation for some sequences and most importantly for us, the soundtrack was reworked. Gone is the classical score of John Williams. In its place is a mix of songs taken from Tarantino films, as well as some that were taken from his favoured era of the 60s and 70s. 

This edit is truly awesome and if you can find, I recommend you give it a watch. The soundtrack is also brilliant and that is why I was inspired to create a version of it. If you can find a copy of the film, it is well worth checking out. If you can’t just enjoy the awesome music that has been edited in. In fact, there was so much good stuff that I found that it needed to be a double to do the amount of good music justice. 

Side A

1. Space Oddity – David Bowie
2. Baby, It’s You – Smith
3. The Lonely Surfer – Jack Nitzche
4. Mind Power – James Brown

Side B

1. Run Fay Run – Isaac Hayes
2. Cissy Strut – The Meters
3. Down in Mexico – The Coasters
4. Summertime Killer – Luis Bacalov
5. Good Love, Bad Love – Eddie Floyd
6. Strawberry Letter 23 – Brothers Johnson
7. The Grand Duel (Parte Prima) – Luis Enrique Bacalov

Side C

1. A Silhouette Of Doom – Ennio Morricone
2. Slaughter – Billy Preston
3. Riot In Thunder Alley – Eddie Beram
4. The Last Race – Jack Nitzche
5. The Green Leaves Of Summer – Nick Perito
6. Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell
7. The Lonely Shepherd – Zamfir

Disc 4

1. I Can’t Sleep / They Can’t Touch Her (Betsey’s Theme) – Bernard Herrmann
2. Old Man – Neil Young
3. The Chase – Alan Reeves, Phil Steele & Philip Bringham
4. The Love You Save (May Be Your Own) – Joe Tex
5. Across 110th Street – Bobby Womack
6. The Ecstasy Of Gold – Ennio Morricone
7. The Flower Of Carnage – Meiko Kaji

The cover is an adaptation of one of the DVD sleeve that was produced for anyone who was able to download a copy and burn to a disc.

Remember, fan edits are not to be sold and only download them if you own the original film.