Category: Lost Album

Well, here we are with the third and final volume of ‘Endless Bummer’ the worst recordings of The Beach Boys. A quick recap first though. These collections was inspired by ‘Elvis’ Greatest Shit’ Bootleg and one dedicated to The Beach Boys called ‘Endless Bummer, The Very Worst of The Beach Boys’. As I said back in previous two posts on this topic, that Beach Boys sure does live up to its title. There is a drunk Carl Wilson trying to make his way through ‘Good Vibrations’, Mike Love making a quick buck on some adverts, a Spanish language version of their massive mid 80s hit, ‘Kokomo’ as well Brian Wilson’s father berating him in the recoding. However, all of these recording from this have not been released commercially as far as I can tell, and it is unlikely that they ever will be anyway. 

In these collections, I have only looked at songs that the band officially released with this collection looking at the period between 1980 and 1996.

As the Beach Boys entered the 1980s, they were doing well as a concert band but their records of new material were not. One of the reasons for this could date back to 1974 when the compilation ‘Endless Summer’ was released. It was a massive seller, especially in the USA. All of the songs on that record had all been released before ‘Pet Sounds’, so when the public came to watch the band, they wanted to hear those old hits. What were The Beach Boys to do? Play their new material which might lose them their audience, or play those old hits which might struggle to gain them a new one. With the newer albums, should they continue with the method of working that had been artistically satisfying (for most of the band anyway) but did not sell as many records as they had been doing before etc the ill fated ‘Smile’ sessions? They sort of came up with this hybrid of new material and covering oldies. The concerts still sold out but the albums started to flow the law of diminishing returns. 

This does not mean that there wasn’t quality material being recorded. Dennis and Carl Wilson put out solo albums with both either taking time out for the band or leaving, just not permanently. Mike Love was also recording plenty of material. He recorded two solo albums called ‘First Love’ & ‘Country Love’. Neither saw the light of day at the time as well as front another band called Celebration. Bruce Johnston who spent most of the 1970s out of the band also got in on the solo album act. Brian was going through a hard time due to his growing dependency on drink and drugs. He would become engaged in musical projects but he would not see them through to fruition. Dennis Wilson’s life was also spiralling out of control. Only Al Jardine seems to have taken a back seat when it came to putting out an album.

So, as we can see The Beach Boys were a bit of a mess but that does not mean they were going away. First up was the album ‘Keepin’ The Summer Alive’ as well as the only live performance with the six core members of The Beach Boys on stage when they played at Knebworth. Between that album and their next self titled album five years later in 1985, they struggled to escape their past. The band put out a best of compilation of music from 1970 to 1980. Capitol, their original label put out another best of compilation, a rarities album and a mash up single of loads of their  hits. These were all the rage in the early 1980s. 

‘The Beach Boys’ album followed by yet another best of in 1986, but it did at least have two new tracks on it. ‘Still Cruisin’ appeared in 1989 and was made up mostly of material that had been used in films, and could be argued to be a bit of a rip off. Out of the ten songs that made up this record, the last three were all from the 1960s that had been used in films produced up to six years earlier. We then get to ‘Summer in Paradise’. Arguably the worst record the band ever released, and one of the worst records put out by anyone. It is so bad, I could have included the whole record on this compilation and was very tempted to do so. It has been out of print for years and is noticeably absent from streaming services. There have been numerous podcasts and YouTube videos not his record, but this one by Todd in the Shadows is all you need to get an idea of how bad this record truly is (see below). 

The Beach Boys finished the century guesting on a record by Status Quo as well as putting out an LP of reworking of their earlier output with country starts singing the lead vocals. The output of the band significantly slowed after this but there was still enough to collect another worst of The Beach Boys and without doubt, this is definitely the worst of the three. 

Side A

1. Wipe Out (With The Fat Boys) (Still Crusin’)
2. Make It Big (Still Cruisin’)
3. Rock ’n’ Roll To The Rescue – Percadella Mix (12’ Single)
4. Crack At Your Love (The Beach Boys)
5. Male Ego (The Beach Boys)
6. California Calling (The Beach Boys)
7. Happy Endings (7” Single)

Side B

1. Problem Child (CD Single)
2. Crocodile Rock (Two Rooms – A Tribute To Elton John & Bernie Taupin)
3. Surfin’ (Summer In Paradise)
4. Summer Of Love (Summer In Paradise)
5. Remember “Walking In The Sand” (Summer In Paradise)
6. Summer In Paradise (Summer In Paradise)
7. The Warmth Of The Sun (With Willie Nelson) (Star & Stripes Vol.1)

Bonus 12” Single

1. Here Comes The Night (L.A. (Light Album)
2. Beach Boys Medley (7” Single)
3. Rock ’n’ Roll To The Rescue – Beach Party Mix (12” Single)

Wipe Out – The story goes that this was originally meant to be recorded with Run DMC, but then Mike Love stuck a deal with The Fat Boys instead. A huge hit in the UK and a top twenty in the States, The Beach Boys seemed to be happy to trade on their past. The video was full of what could only be described as Beach Boys cliches as it includes women in bikinis, surf boards, opened topped jeeps and a trip to the beach. 

Make It Big – Used in the film ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ (yes I have not heard of it either), the song tries to inspire an aspiring actress to make it in Hollywood. As will become apparent in this compilation, the lyrics were written by Mike Love who has to put in some call backs to the bands 60s heyday, or the music that inspired them. In this case, Johny B. Goode is name checked. 

Rock ’n’ Roll To The Rescue (Percadella Mix) – As I mentioned in the notes to Volume 2, The Beach Boys were once setting the trends. By the 80s, they were following them and this is a case in point here. The production screams 80s which might have seemed modern at the time, but now sounds more dated than the records they put out in the 60s and early 70s. More references to the past in Mike Love’s lyrics with a mention for surfer girls as well as the songs Tutti Fruity and Blue Suede Shoes. The video once again includes surf boards, women in bikinis and a singer in his mid 40s ogling women young enough to be his daughter. You can work out whom. 

Crack At Your Love – not the worst song on here, but this sounds more like a demo than a fully produced record. The drum machine sounds so dated and the rest of the production has not aged well either. 

Male Ego – A bonus track on the CD version of ‘The Beach Boys’ album, the lyrics are all about a man who is all about the ladies and the potential for one night stands. In fact, he is so sure of his prowess as a ladies man that believes he will still be wooing the ladies well into his eighties. Oh dear. 

California Calling – This is most 60s sounding Beach Boys track in, except for the 80s production that is. More call backs to their heyday with references to surfing, woodies and custom cars. I was surprised to find that Mike Love had nothing to do with writing this. It would seem the other Beach Boys were getting in on the act. 

Happy Endings (7” Single) – ‘Still Crusin’ was meant to be an album of songs that The Beach Boys had produced that were used in films. That album came out in 1989 but this track which was used in the 1987 film ‘The Telephone’, which I have only heard of because it was written by Squire favourite, Harry Nilsson. Why wasn’t this used on ‘Still Cruisin’. Could it be that Little Richard who shares vocal duties on this record seems to ruin it with a performance that does not suit the sentiments of the record. Shocking.

Problem Child – This is also another song from a film, the title of which is the same as the tune. The film was a big hit, but this single was not. By the looks it, but only came out on cassette and promo CD. Once again, the production is so of its time, it has dated quite badly. The call back to previous music seems to be Da Do Ron Ron

Crocodile Rock – A band who have spent the previous five years or so writing loads of lyrics referencing the rock and roll era covering a song written in 1972 doing exactly the same thing. You could not make this up. 

Surfin’ – The next four songs come for the ‘Summer in Paradise’ album and I cannot stress enough that I could have included the whole album, it is so bad. This song was their first ever single and the original recording is basic, and so is the song. However, this update has some of the worst programmed drums you can get and why would you want this old song on your album? Surely they could have written something newer? This is so overtop, I am sure that someone on the albums personal list miss being credited with playing the kitchen sink. 

Summer Of Love – Mike Love raps. Now I know that Brian Wilson did the same thing a few years before but that remains unreleased. This however escaped. There should be a bingo card for anyone listening to this song, the amount of references there are to old hits by not only The Beach Boys, but The Mamas & The Papas. This was written as a potential duet between Bart Simpson and Mike Love, but the producers of the TV show wisely turned it down. The producers of Baywatch did not, and the video of this is full of more women in bathing suits, a beach and a surf board. This is getting beyond a joke. 

Remember “Walking In The Sand” – An absolute classic mid 60s pop record, ruined by the production on this record. How not to produce a cover. 

Summer In Paradise – The parent album was said by Mike Love to be a record about environmental protection. Well, ‘Summer in Paradise’ did do its bit for the environment as it reportedly sold less than 1000 copies in the USA and led to the company that distributed it to go bankrupt. This song about environmental protection starts of with a verse about having fun, fun, fun, singing about surfing and rocking with Rhonda and Barbara Ann. Recycling lyrics, that’s environmentally friendly isn’t it. 

The Warmth Of The Sun (With Willie Nelson) – Written in response to the assignation of John F Kennedy, ‘The Warmth of the Sun’ is a beautiful song. The harmonies are great, the production subtle but perfect. The voices of The Beach Boys on the original 1964 recording are an example of harmonies done brilliantly. Well, Willie Nelson has written some great songs but a great vocalist, he is not. It is almost as though he is talking through this rendition. 

Here Comes The Night – Originally released on the ‘Wild Honey’ album, this recoding was made in 1979 when The Beach Boys were releasing disco records, two years later than its heyday and just before the Disco Sucks movement kicked into gear. The original version was just under three minutes but this breaks the ten minute barrier. Sometimes less is more people. 

Beach Boys Medley – Medleys were big in the early 80s. Even The Beatles released one even though you would be hard pushed to find one on a singles collection from after 1982. Anyway, the idea was to take lots of songs, edited them down and then put them to make continuous listening experience. This one made the top 20 in the USA, but really is a novelty that soon wore out. 

Rock ’n’ Roll To The Rescue (Beach Party Mix) – The same as above really, but with more of it. 80s production has a lot to answer for. 

The cover for this was taken from the ‘Keeping The Summer Alive’ and/or ‘Living With A Heartache’ (depending on where in the world you lived) single picture sleeve. It perfectly sums up the band at that time. Bruce Johnson and Mike Love seem to very happy to be there. Brian Wilson looks ill and Carl Wilson looks like he would rather be anywhere else. Possibly where ever Dennis is as it looks like he is off having fun somewhere else. Al Jardine, well I’m not sure. The title and a different logo were added. 

The YouTube video by Todd In The Shadows regarding the ‘Summer In Paradise’ album is well worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DoFMALzWZI

Looking at classic albums came out 1973 (because everyone loves a 50th anniversary re-release don’t they), one name really does stand out. That is ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ by Pink Floyd. I had a think about what I could post to celebrate the anniversary of this release? How about a live album based around the concert recorded for the BBC performed at the Empire Pool (now Wembley Arena) back in 1974. Why pick this? Well, up until this point, it has never seen an official release as a stand alone release, having been put out piecemeal on the Immersion Edition’s and ‘Early Years’ box set over the last ten years. If it hd been released back in the day, say early 1975, it would have been a nice stop gap between ‘Dark Side’ and whatever the band were planning on releasing as their next album. I say this because ‘Dark Side’ was such an albatross around the bands neck at this point, they did not have that many ideas knocking about as that what their next album should be. There was a proto version of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ which would be the centre piece of the next album they would eventually release in the shape of ‘Wish You Were Here’. There was also the infamous abandoned project, ‘Household Objects’ which saw the band used sounds such as wine glasses filled with water, elastic bands tuned to sound like a bass guitar and aerosol cans instead of hi hats. Needless to say, common sense prevailed on this one and the band just picked up their actually instruments and produced another classic album.

So, what material could be included in this release? Well, the whole of the ‘Dark Side of The Moon’ album of course. I was a bit reluctant to follow the actual LP when it came to sequencing this album. That was because the second side of ‘Dark Side’ clocked in at over 31 minutes. Not only is this very long for an LP, especially in the 70s, but Pink Floyd were always keen to present their music in the best sound quality as possible. 31 minutes on an LP would compromise the fidelity some what. Anyway, I would start thing off with ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. Even at this stage, the song clocked in at over 20 minutes so that would take up the whole side of an LP. Sides 2 and 3 would follow the ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ album. Side 4 would include the encore, ‘Echoes’. 

A double album would be the perfect format for this album. However, it could have been a potential triple because there were two songs which I did not include. These were ‘Raving & Drooling’ and ‘You’ve Got To Be Crazy’, early version of songs that would eventually appear on the ‘Animals’ album. Both were quite long, but ‘Raving & Drooling’ was only 12 minutes long so this additional disc would be quite short in comparison to the other two. Triple albums are quite rare even though not unheard of at the time. For example, ‘Wings Over America’ from Wings was a live triple and that came out in 1976. 

Why did Pink Floyd not release this at the time? Essentially, they would be releasing the same material they had release just over a year before. Even though this was a live version of ‘Dark Side’, this would not have been seen as good value for their fans who had only just purchased the original LP. It would also have released a track that would be on their next album in the shape of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. Why put songs out that you may wish to out out on your next album before you have even recorded it?

Anyway, not long after I had written this entry together, Floyd announced that they were putting the ‘Dark Side’ part of this concert as a stand alone release as part of their own 50th anniversary celebrations. It would be interesting to hear what Side 2 sounds like considering how much music there is on there. 

Side 1

1. Shine On Your Crazy Diamond

Side 2

1. Speak To Me
2. Breathe (In The Air)
3. On the Run
4. Time
5. The Great Gig In The Sky

Side 3

1. Money
2. Us & Them
3. Any Colour You Like
4. Brain Damage
5. Eclipse

Side 4

1. Echoes

What amazes me that when I was looking into this is that the band had been performing the ‘Dark Side Of the Moon’ album in its entirety (granted, not in its final form) a whole year before the studio album came out. What successful band these days would preview their new album before it had even been recorded int he studio. They did not learn their lesson as songs previewed during the 1974 tour would contain songs, some of which would not been recorded in the studio until three years later. 

The cover was taken from a post by andrewskyDE on a Steve Hoffman post regarding this 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.