The White Stripes were formed in 1997 by then husband and wife, Jack and Meg White. They officially disbanded in 2011 after releasing six studio albums, one live album and 23 singles. Since then, there have been a plethora of archive releases of unreleased studio tracks and live recordings. The majority of these have been released via Jack White’s Third Man Records label’s Vault series. This has been a gold mine for White Stripes fans but Vault is a subscription service and therefore not available to the general public. This does mean that the majority of these archive releases have been issued on vinyl and due to the nature of The Vault, they have not been available to all but the hardest of hardcore fans. This has given me an opportunity to address this by looking at what each of the White Stripes albums could have looked like if Jack White had followed convention and released the bands back catalogue in deluxe CD sets instead. We start with their self titled debut album.
Jack White was already an established musician in the Detroit area, having played drums in Gobber & The Peas as well as guitar in The Go, The Henchmen and Two-Star Tabernacle. He and Meg White had started dating a few years before this and were married in 1996. A year later, she started to learn the drum on Jack’s kit, making their live debut at local club, the Gold Dollar not long afterwards. A recording of that first ever gig was made and is presented as the opening three songs on Disc 3 of this set. Adopting the motifs of only wearing clothes that were red, white and/or black, they were back at the Gold Dollar a month later to play a fuller set. This was also recorded and is also presented on Disc 3.
In 1998, Dave Buick who one Detroit based independent label Italy Records approached the band to release single. This was ‘Let’s Shake Hands’ which was followed later that year by ‘Lafayette Blues’. Both of these singles are presented with their respective B-Sides on Disc 1. In 1999, the band signed to Sympathy For The Record Industry label and released ‘The Big Three Killed My Baby’ as well as their debut album. They also released a split single with another Detroit band, The Dirtbombs, on the B-Side. Their contribution was called ‘Hand Springs’. The debut album and ‘Hand Springs’ make up the rest of Disc 1.
Disc 2 comprises of alternatives takes from the first LP sessions that originally came out on ‘The White Stripes XX’ set. This disc also includes some early cover versions of Love’s ‘Signed DC’ and Otis Reddings ‘I’ve Been Living You Too Long’, both of which first saw the light of day on a 7” single as part of the eighth Vault package. ‘Let’s Shake Hands’, ’Look Me Over Closely’, ‘Dead Leaves’ and ‘Let’s Build A Home’ are alternative versions that were released with the second and eleventh Vault package respectively. ‘Dead Leaves’ would eventually be re-recorded for the bands third album.
Discs 3 and 4 comprise of live recordings. Live at the Gold Dollar 1 and 2 were originally released as part of Vault page 13. Live at the Gold Dollar III was released as part of Vault package 26. Live at the Magic Bag came out as part of Vault package 34 and Live at the Raleigh came out as part of Vault package 42.
This is the only one of these White Stripes deluxe editions that will be a four disc set. That is because there were a number of releases made from before their first LP came out and I thought this should be included due to their historical importance.
Disc 1
The debut album with single A and B sides from 1999
Jimmy The Exploder
Stop Breaking Down
The Big Three Killed My Baby
Suzy Lee
Sugar Never Tasted So Good
Wasting My Time
Cannon
Astro
Broken Bricks
When I Hear My Name
Do
Screwdriver
One More Cup Off Coffee
Little People
Slicker Drips
St. James Infirmary Blues
I Fought Piranhas
Let’s Shake Hands (Single A-Side)
Look Me Over Closely (Single B-Side)
Lafayette Blues (Single A-Side)
Red Bowling Ball Ruth (Single B-Side)
Hand Springs (Single A-Side)
Side B
Alternative takes, early versions and outtakes
Dead Leave (Acoustic Demo Fragment)
Dead Leaves (Outtake)
I Fought Piranhas (Alternative Take)
Jimmy The Exploder (Take 2)
Jimmy The Exploder (Take 3)
Let’s Build A House (Outtake)
My Little Red Book (Outtake)
Screwdriver (Alternative Take)
Slicker Drips (Alternative Take)
Sugar Never Tasted So Good (Take 1)
Sugar Never Tasted So Good (Take 2)
Wasting My Time (Alternative Take)
When I Hear My Name (Alternative Take)
Why Can’t You Be Nicer To Me? (Take 1)
Why Can’t You Be Nicer To Me? (Take 2)
Signed D.C.
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
Let’s Shake Hands (Alternative Take)
Look Me Over Closely (Alternative Take)
Dead Leaves (Alternative Take)
Let’s Build A House (Alternative Take)
Red Bowling Ball Ruth (Live)
Disc 3 – Live
Tracks 1-3 – Live At Gold Dollar 1 – Bastille Day (14th July 1997)
Tracks 4-14 – Live At Gold Dollar 2 (14th August 1997)
Tracks 15-30 – Live At Gold Dollar 2 (14th August 1997)
St James Infirmary
Jimmy The Exploder
Love Potion #9
St James Infirmary
Jimmy The Exploder
Red Bowling Ball Ruth
I Can Learn
Love Potion #9
Why Can’t You Be Nice To Me?
Marantette Blues (Lafayette Blues)
Jumble, Jumble
TV Eye
Big Girl (Little People)
Screwdriver
Broken Bricks
Jimmy The Exploder
The Big Three Killed My Baby
Stop Breaking Down
Suzy Lee
Let’s Build A Home
Sugar Never Tasted So Good
Do
Little People
One More Cup Of Coffee
Astro
Dead Leaves & The Dirty Ground
Wasting My Time
Red Bowling Ball Ruth
Cannon/John The Revelator/Grinnin’ In Your Face
Let’s Shake Hands
Disc 4 – Live
Tracks 1-16 – Live At The Magic Bag (30th July 1999)
Tracks 17-31 – Live At The Ritz – Raleigh N.C. (26th September 1999)
Released 30 years ago today, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Live at the BBC’ was just one of a number of archive albums recorded at the Beeb that came out in the mid 90s’. Even though a number of BBC Sessions had seen the light of day on the Strange Fruit label, these tended to be a single session and not a career overview. This changed with The Beatles and their BBC sessions album from 1995 and a year later, Mac followed suit. The band were billed as Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, but some of the songs were recorded after he had left with one song being recorded as late as 1971, a full year after Green had gone. What I found surprising is that there wasn’t a contribution from Christine McVie included. The songs were not in chronological order and the sleeve notes were a little on the small side making it quite difficult to read which sessions they did come from. It did not stop this from being an awesome compilation especially as the band did not record some of these songs for one of their studio albums.
As there were a good deal of songs recorded for the BBC that did not make the cut, I thought that on the 30th anniversary of this compilation there should be a follow up. I was genially surprised there has not been a second volume, especially as there was enough material to compile one. Not all of the sessions were kept by the BBC and you can tell that some of them are off air recordings.
Some have also been released on compilations down the years but did not acknowledge they were BBC sessions in the sleeve notes, once again showing the disregard Fleetwood Mac have had when it comes to the majority of their archive releases.
Like the first volume, I took songs from the same years but this time there some audible contributions form Christine McVie. She can heard singing backing vocals on ‘Station Man’ as well as contributing some keyboard parts. For the most part, I have tried to keep the material blues based which is what the band were famous for at the time.
Unlike the majority of my what-if records, this one is designed for CD in the same way the first one was*.
Disc 1
Coming Your Way
My Baby’s Sweeter
Talk With You
How Blue Can You Get?
Please Find My Baby
Buzz Me Baby
Underway
Lazy Poker Blues
Got To Move
Tell Me All The Things You Do
I Can’t Stop Loving Her
Station Man
I Have To Laugh
Stranger Blues
Love That Burns
I’m So Lonely & Blue
Disc 2
Bo Diddley
Black Magic Woman
Tiger
You’re The One
Sweet Little Angel
You Need Love
Mean Old World
Peggy Sue Got Married
Dead Shrimp Blues
Albatross
Without You
The Sun Is Shining
Wine, Whiskey & Women
The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)
Leaving Town Blues
Great Balls Of Fire
The cover mirrors Vol.1, except with a blue tone instead of the sepia one of the original. Unfortunately I cannot remember where I found it online.
*This record did see a limited vinyl release in Japan in 1996, but had exactly the same songs as the standard CD which were over 50 minutes in length. Not exactly a vinyl friendly length.
This was a project I have been milling over for a number of years now. It was inspired by hearing the single version of ‘In-A-Garda-Da-Vida’ by Iron Butterfly. The original album version clocked in a side of an LP filling 17:05, but the single was only 2:52. There was some severe editing going on here butt gave me an idea. How many other songs from this era, and from North America (as I had already covered British psych quite extensively already) had single versions considerably different to the LP ones? Well, not many but there were several that were different mixes, or completely different versions. Mono was also a dying format in the USA in the late 60s and by 1968, few LPs were released in this format. However, singles continued to be so as most radio stations were still using the AM signal, which only broadcast in mono. Stereo singles were also released in this time.
When reissue programmes gathered pace in the mid 1990’s, mono was mostly ignored and so the original vinyl version of these records became sought after by collectors. Slowly, but surely, mono releases started being reissued but this tended to be album mixes. The more obscure single mixes tended to be relegated to specialist compilations or forgotten about.
This is my attempt at compiling a three disc set with as many single version of songs I could find. This includes well known acts as well as the more obscure. It is not only A-Sides as well, but some B-sides as well. Some of the artists were just starting out (e.g. Alice Cooper) whereas some were trying to adapt to a new sound having been part of the previous scene (e.g. The Electric Prunes).
In terms of the artists represented on this compilation, the vast majority come from the USA, but there are the odd interloper from Canada. I also thought this would have been the sort of compilation that Rhino would release. If this ever to come out, with the way these things are released in 2025, it would come out on vinyl and CD so the timings of each disc had to be able to fit on both forms without any loss of songs or a change in the running order. The name of the compilation comes from a song on Disc 1 by The United States of America.
CD1
LP Side 1
On The Road Again (1968 Stereo Single Mix) – Canned Heat
Heroes & Villains (1967 Mono Single Mix) – The Beach Boys
Mr. Soul (1967 Mono Single Mix) – Buffalo Springfield
32-20 (1966 Mono Single Mix) – The Charlatans
Love Street (1968 Mono Single Mix) – The Doors
She Sang Hymns Out Of Tune (1967 Mono Single Mix) – Harry Nilsson
Pandora’s Golden Heebie Jeebies (1967 Mono Single Mix) – The Association
LP Side 2
Omaha (1967 Mono Single) – Moby Grape
Abba Zaba (1967 Mono Single) – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
Rain (1968 Mono Single Mix) – Kak
Hello Hello (1966 Mono Single) – Sopwith Camel
A Girl I Knew (1967 Mono Single Mix) – Steppnwolf
White Light/White Heat (1967 Mono Single Mix) – The Velvet Underground
Brother Lou’s Love Colony (1967 Mono Single Mix) – Colours
In-A-Garda-Da-Vida (1968 Mono Single Mix) – Iron Butterfly
LP Side 3
Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man (1968 Stereo Single) – The Bob Segar System
Talkin’ To Your Toothbrush (1968 Stereo Single) – Mama Cass
Nickles & Dimes (1968 Stereo Single) – The Bag
Dino’s Song (1968 Stereo Single) – Quicksilver Messenger Service
Shadow In The Corner Of Your Mind (1967 Mono Single) – Kenny Rogers & The First Edition
Free Up (Part 1) (1969 Promo Single) – The Surprise Package
White Bird (1969 Stereo Single Mix) – It’s A Beautiful Day
LP Side 4
The Garden Of Earthly Delights (1968 Stereo) – The United States Of America
Hold On (1969 Mono Single Mix) – The Rascals
Last Night I Had A Dream (1968 Stereo Single Mix) – Randy Newman
Coo Coo (1968 Stereo Single) – Big Brother & The Holding Company
Think Twice (1968 Mono Single Mix) – Think Twice
Scorpio Red (1968 Mono Single) – The Holy Mackarel
Change Is Now (1967 Mono Single) – The Byrds
CD2
LP Side 1
Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35 (1966 Mono Single Mix) – Bob Dylan
I Can Only Give You Everything (1967 Single) – MC5
Reflected (1969 Single) – Alice Cooper
Impressions With Syvonne (1967 Mono Single) – Don Grady
Lantern Gospel (1968 Single) – The World Column
900 Million People Daily All Making Love (1968 Single Mix) – The Seeds
LP Side 2
Sanctus (1968 Mono Single) – The Electric Prunes
House Of Painted Glass (1967 Single) – The Sandals
Please (1968 Single) – Kaleidoscope
Pancake Trees (1970 Promo Single) – Jefferson Lee
Smile, let Your Life Begin (1967 Mono Single) – The Factory
Who Is That Girl (1967 Single) – The Scott Richard Case
Bubble Gum (1969 Single) – Kim Fowley
LP Side 3
Fool (1970 Single) – Blue Cheer
Skipping Through The Night (1967 Single) – NGC-4594
Come Down (1967 Single) – The Common Cold
Not To Know (1970 Mono Single Mix) – Moon
Song Of A Gypsy (1969 Single) – Damon
Night Sounds Loud (1968 Single) – Clear Light
One Ring Jane (1969 Single) – Mother Tucker’s Yellow Duck
LP Side 4
L-12 East (1968 Single) – Groundspeed
Nobody (1968 Mono Single Mix) – Three Dog Night
Hungry Woman (1967 Promo Single) – Euphoria
Raising Sorrow (1969 Single) – The Mass
Mary Maiden (1969 Single) – The Scarlett Letter
Who Do You Love (1969 Single) – The Blues Magoos
Revelation In Slow Motion (1968 Single) – Count Five
CD3
LP Side 1
Alone Again Or (1967 Mono Single Remix) – Love
Dark Star (1968 Single) – Grateful Dead
I Want To Take You Higher (1970 Mono Single) – Sly & the Family Stone
Invisible People (1967 Mono Single) – Hamilton Streetcar
White Rabbit (1967 Mono) – Jefferson Airplane
How Could I Be Such A Fool (1966 Mono) – The Mothers Of Invention
You keep Me Hangin’ On (1967 Stereo Single Mix) – Vanilla Fudge
LP Side 2
Tripping Into Sunshine (1968 Single) – T.I.M.E.
Sum Up Broke (1966 Mono Single) – The International Submarine Band
I’ll Slip Away (1967 Mono Single) – Rod Riquez
Choo Choo Train (1968 Single) – The Box Tops
I Feel Like I[m Fixin’ To Die Rag (1965 Original Mono EP Version) – Country Joe & the Fish
I Stole The Goodyear Blimp (1967 Mono Single) – The Book Of Changes
Sing Me A Rainbow (1966 Mono Single) – The Sons Of Champlin
LP Side 3
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (1969 Mono Single Mix) – Crosby, Stills & Nash
Kaleidoscoptic (1968 Single) – Shiva’s Headband
The Big Bright Pleasure Machine (1968 Single) – The Joyride
Uncle Jack (1968 Single) – Spirit
Sittin’ In Circles (1968 Single) – Steve Miller Band
If you look at a discography of The Kinks, you will see that they have released a number of live recordings down the years. The first was ‘Live At Kelvin Hall’ in 1967 and the next being ‘One For The Road’ in 1980. However, there was another, released in-between these but it was included with the 1972 studio album ‘Everybody’s In Show-Biz – Everybody’s A Star’. This live album was not advertised as such. On the back cover, the tracks are listed as just being on sides 3 & 4 of the double album. All very confusing. However, what if these live tracks were not included on the ‘Everybody’s In Show-Biz’ but were released as their own album.
On the 2nd and 3rd of March, 1972, The Kinks played two shows at Carnegie Hall in New York. The band were augmented by The Mike Cotton Sound whose horns had first been heard on the 1971 Kinks album, ‘Mussel Hillbillies’. All of the songs on the original incarnation from ‘Everybody’s In Show-Biz’ were taken from the 3rd March, but when this album was given the deluxe treatment in 2016, songs from the 2nd March were also made available. What was most surprising was how few of the songs were same. The Kinks were known at the time for their unpredictability during their concert but it seems that they could pull out deep cuts from their earlier days. ‘You’re Looking Fine’ being the best example, as it was an album track dating back to 1966 and taken from the ‘Face To Face’ album.
With these additional recordings, it was almost possible to create a double live album. I say almost because without using the more than one version of a song, side 4 would be a little short. Luckily, the deluxe version of ‘Everybody’s In Show-Biz’ included the song ‘History’, a studio outtake which had remained unreleased until 2016. Putting a studio track onto a live album was not unheard of, even in the early 1970s. For example, ‘Live Cream’ by Cream included the song ‘Lady Mama’ which was a totally studio recording. Putting the song ‘History’ at the end of side 4 does mean that sides now match up roughly to each other.
Double live albums became popular in the 1970s, be it as a way of showcasing the band in a concert setting. However, most were released as a contractual obligation (especially if the band had spilt up and there wasn’t a possibility of any new studios recordings), during a period of writer’s block or as a stop gap between releases. It is for this last reason that I think this album could have come out. The Kinks, and in that regard, I mean main songwriter Ray Davies was a busy boy in the 1970’s. They release eleven studio albums during this period as well as being a major concert drawn, especially in America. However, 1976 is the odd year out as this was the only one where the band did not release a new studio album. This would be the year I would have putout this live double album out.
The first LP in this double album follows the original release from 1972, except that I have taken ‘Lola’ off and placed it on side 4 to end the concert performances. Doing this means that sides 1 & 2 match up a lot more closely in terms of playing time on each side and ‘Lola’ sounds as though it should be at the end of the album. It is also an edit so we do not get the full song. The unedited version of this song was not even on the deluxe version from 2016. One thing I would change if I had been in charge of producing this album was to make a mix that made it sound more like a live experience than what we got. There are some abrupt edits between songs and it really sounds a bit shoddy. I’ve heard live bootlegs with more care and attention put into them. I would also have liked to see what other songs were recorded on these nights so I could have taken out ‘Banana Boat Song’ and ‘Baby Face’. They sound a bit out of place to my ears, and they are not complete performances. It was like Ray Davies decided to have a quick sing song of an old tune to fill out the time. Interesting to see what was going through his head at the time, but not essential.
Side 1
Top Of The Pops
Brainwashed
Mr. Wonderful
Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues
Holiday
Side 2
Muswell Hillbilly
Alcohol
Banana Boat Song
Skin & Bone
Baby Face
Side 3
’Til The End Of The Day
You’re Looking `fine
Get Back In Line
Have A Cuppa tea
Sunny Afternoon
Side 4
Complicated Life
Long Tall Shorty
She’s Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina
Lola
History (Studio Outtake)
The cover is one of those rare occasions where I have created the back of the sleeve as well as the front. That is because the picture has pretty much the who band and the Mike Cotton Sound in view (apart from keyboard player John Gosling). As this is a double LP and would have had a gatefold sleeve (this was the 70s you know), having the whole image was the right thing to do.
To end the month, it is time to post another sampler of songs from Flying Vinyl looking at the songs that they put out on their monthly box of seven inch records for 2016.
Once again, I had a couple of rules I needed to follow.
One – none of the songs that I had used on my podcasts I made celebrating the label could be used.
Two – all of the songs had to be available on Spotify so the artist would hopefully earn some money from this, however pitiful the royalty rate is.
Three – I was looking to include artists who had been on the 2015 sampler. I did fail by including yet another song by Beach Baby, but is a cracker so I decided it should stay.
Side A
Lost Direction – Cameron AG
Baby’s Alright – Inheaven
Skin Dives – Tangerines
True – Junk Son
Joey Says We Got It – The Orielles
Dreamland – Johnny Lloyd
Making Eyes – Saltwater Sun
Side B
Make Me Better – Ten Fe
Ay Ay – Otherkin
All My Pride – Black Honey
Summer – Skinshape
Make It Go Away – Eliza Shedded
All That I Want – Royal Sons
Side C
You Stole My Blackout – Palm Honey
Cannonball – Hidden Charms
Pipedreams – Willie J Harvey
Make Up Your Mind – Trash
Make A Man – Estrons
Let’s Go Out – Alex Lahey
What We Haven’t Got Yet – Jaws
Side D
Set The Fire – Swimming Tapes
That Certain Favour – Pinemen
Sleepyhead – Beach Baby
Ice – Fake Laugh
Slipping – Treams
It’s A Secret Life – Paven
The cover is based upon the packaging that the singles came in for some of 2016.
Part one of this series looking into the releases from 2015
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.
