Category: Lost Album

After 1983’s ‘The Final Cut’, it looked as though Pink Floyd were unlikely to release an album of new material any time soon, if at all. ‘The Final Cut’ was essentially a Roger Waters solo album and even though it was commercially successful, each band member spent the next couple of years releasing solo records. This included the no longer officially a member even though not everyone released it until seeing the lack of a credit for him on the back of ‘The Final Cut’, Rick Wright.  

Whatever the causes, the mid 80s would see a number of law suits flying about which would finally be resolved (sort of) by the end of 1987 by which time, the ‘Momentary Lapse of Reason’ album had been released which did not contain Roger Waters. With all that uncertainty, I am surprised to see that a compilation did not see the light of day during that period just to keep the Pink Floyd name alive. I therefore decided to have a go myself at putting together a spiritual follow up to their classic ‘Relics’ compilation from 1971. In a moment of inspiration, I decided that the name ‘More Relics’ would be a good choice. 

The original ‘Relics’ was a bit of a clearing house contains single A and B sides as none of these were included on any albums at the time, some album tracks and one unreleased song. I have tried to follow this but instead of album tracks, I decided to focus on some more rarities instead. So, what do we get. All of the 1960s singles that were not on the original ‘Relics’, some rare European single mixes, a couple of stray tracks and one unreleased song. 

Side A

1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond – Part 1 (French Jukebox Single Edit)
2. It Would Be So Nice (Single B-Side)
3. Apple & Oranges (Single A-Side)
4. Candy & A Current Bun (Single B-Side)
5. Wish You Were Here – with Stephane Grappelli (Previously Unreleased)
6. Point Me At The Sky (Single A-Side)

Side B

1. Pigs On The Wing – Parts 1 & 2 (8 Track Version)
2. Money (1981 Promo Single Edit)
3. Young Lust (Italian Single Version)
4. Another Brick In The Wall (Single Version)
5. Embryo
6. Give Birth To A Smile

Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Part 1) – Released as a single in France. 

It Would Be So Nice – The first single A-Side to be released that was not written by Syd Barrett, even though the band were still trying to channel his way of writing. It didn’t chart and many members of the band thought it was down to it being awful. 

Apple & Oranges  – The last A-Side recorded with Syd Barrett and their first not to chart in the UK. Roger Waters blamed the production and it does sound a bit of a mess. 

Candy & A Current Bun – B-Side to their debut single, ‘Arnold Layne’. 

Wish You Were Here – with Stéphane Grappelli– The one previously unreleased song on the compilation. An alternative version of the classic ‘Wish You Were Here’ with added violin by legendary player, Stéphane Grappelli. It could be argued that this is a better version than the one that was originally released. 

Point Me At The Sky – The last single released by Pink Floyd in the UK during the 1960’s. Roger Waters called it a ‘notable failure’ and that the band would therefore concentrate on albums because they were ‘no bloody good’ at writing singles.  

Pigs On The Wing – Parts 1 & 2  – Originally released on the ‘Animals’ album. On there, the song was divided into two parts which bookended the LP. When the 8-Track cartridge version was prepared, it was decided to make use of the loop-play function of that format which is where the end of the recording looped back to the beginning. This meant that the album could be played continuously. Part 1 and Part 2 were therefore edited together and a linking guitar solo added, which was played by touring guitar player, Snowy White. 

Money – This version of ‘Money’ was re-recorded for the compilation, ‘A Collection of Great Dance Songs’. Dave Gilmour recorded the whole track because one record label would not give the rights to another one to release the original version, or something along this lines. Gilmour played every instrument on the track himself except for the sax part. That was recorded by Dick Parry who had played the part on the original recording. This version came out on a promo single. 

Young Lust  – Released in Italy on the B-Side of their version of ‘Another Brick In The Wall’, this extended version of the song which runs to 3 minute and 58 seconds. It restores the full 12-bar intro which was cut during production. It also has the full, clean outro without the phone call. At about the 2 minute and 50 second mark as the guitar solo ends, a scream can be heard. This is Roger Waters and it was mixed out of most other versions.

Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2) – The single version of the song which was their first single in the UK for over twelve years. It was also their biggest hit in the UK (and many other markets) when it hit the Number 1 spot. 

Embryo – Record in late 1968 and possibly unfinished. It would be released on a couple of compilations. The first being the Harvest Sampler LP, ‘Picnic – A Breath of Fresh Air’ and the US compilation, ‘Works’. This was a concert table for a couple of years in the early 1970s. 

Give Birth To A Smile – Taken from the soundtrack album, ‘Music Form The Body’. This was composed and performed by Roger Waters and Ron Geesin but the last song on the LP features the remaining members of pink Floyd. 

The album cover is from the Behance website and was created blu Javi Montilla. 

As an added bonus, I did have a second ‘More Relics’ sleeve prepared. Like the original ‘Relics’, this is a hand drawing. This one could be seen as an alternative sleeve for the South American market.

Welcome to 2025 and here is a project I have been looking forward to sharing. Anthony Phillips was the original guitar player in Genesis, playing on their first two albums. ‘From Genesis To Revelation’ and ‘Tresspass’ with his tenure lasting from 1967 to 1970. It was he who was most instrumental in the band becoming professional and a live band. They had not supported their first album with live shows as Phillips, as well as vocalist Peter Gabriel were still at school at the time. The irony of this was that Phillips would develop stage fright. He thought the stage fright would pass but that and a case of bronchial pneumonia brought about his departure from the band. Phillips kept in touch with the his old band mates, and would continue to write with Mike Rutherford. He would also collaborate with Harry Williamson (son of Tarka the Otter author, Henry Williamson) as well as training as a music teacher, studyed orchestration and continuing to write music.

Throughout the seven year period between leaving Genesis and releasing his first solo album, Philips would continue to record demos and was looking to work on a project with old band mate Mike Rutherford. The pair would meet up sporadically due to Rutherford’s commitments to Genesis. The first fruits of this collaboration to partially see the light of day was ‘Silver Song’, a song that the pair had written in 1969 as a farewell to departing Genesis drummer, John Silver. Phillips and Rutherford brought in Phil Collins who was then in the Genesis drummer’s stool to not only provide percussion, but lead vocals. A B-Side was quickly written in the form of ‘Only Your Love’ but with everything ready to go, the Charisma label who had financed the recordings decided against releasing the record. To this day, no one is sure why. 

However, what if this single was scheduled for a release in 1975 when Genesis were taking a break after the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour and the departure of vocalist Peter Gabriel? This could be the prelude to an Anthony Phillips solo album to be released the same year, two years before his official 1977 debut, ‘The Geese & The Ghost’. But what should be on it?

Well, since 2014 Cherry Red Records and the people who have been curating Phillips’ tape archive have been doing a sterling job re-releasing his back catalogue. Each set comes with one disc of unreleased material which is of such a high quality, I am surprised these have not seen the light of day before. I was also surprised by the amount of material that has come out that was written and recorded before 1977 that was not included on his first album. 

With this album following on from the proposed 1975 release of the ‘Silver Song’, this was going to be a a more stripped down affair due to the fact that Mike Rutherford would not have been able to spend much, if any time with Phillips due to his commitments to Genesis and the ‘Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ Tour. I also looked to follow the template of ‘Geese & the Ghost, so we get some vocal and instrumental tracks. Very few of these songs have been re-recorded since they were laid down in demo form. One that did see the light of day before was a re-recording of ‘Stranger’ which appears on the first ‘Private Parts & Pieces’. Another was ‘Take This Heart’ which would be recorded in 1975 by the Charterhouse Choral Society for the Charisma release, ‘Beyond An Empty Dream’. That version is very different from the original demo. As the majority of these are demo recordings, some of the fidelity is not studio quality. However, these are the only recordings I had to work with. 

Side A

1. Queen Bettine (1972 Demo)
2. Picardy Pictures (1972 Demo)
3. Rowey Song (1972 Version)
4. Child Song (1973 Demo)
5. Stranger (1970 Demo)

Side B

1. Guitar Song (1973 Demo)
2. Variation On A Theme Of Fantoms (1973 Demo)
3. Windmill (1971 Demo)
4. Take This Heart (1972 Demo)
5. Rowey Reprise (1972 Version)
6. Master Of Time (1973 Demo)
7. Will The Last Man Off The Ice Rink (Please Turn Out The Lights) (Recorded 1973) 

Single

1. Silver Song (Recorded 1973)
2. Only Your Love (Recorded 1973)

None of the songs really lent themselves to a title except for ‘Variation on a Theme of Fantoms’ so I decided that should be what the album you’d have been called. Phillips has used the artist Peter Cross for many of his sleeves, but I did not have a piece of his artwork I could use. I therefore used a picture I took on a very cold December morning near the village of Moggerhanger, Bedfordshire in the UK.

I was not able to recreate this playlist on Spotify. 

So with the year coming to an end, this also means that I will be wrapping up Britpop themed posts and what better way than taking a dive into a selection of tracks from arguabley the last year of the scene. As with the other entries that have already been posted which looked at 1997, this includes some of the big hitters (Oasis and Pulp), the under card (Shed Seven) and the those who were hoping that Britpop would still be fashionable as they put out their records (pretty much everyone else).  

Side A

1. More Than Us – Travis with Anne Dudley
2. Miyako Hideaway (Radio Edit) – Marion
3. Hurry On Sundown (Hari On Sundown) – Kula Shaker
4. Wait For The Sun – Menswear
5. This Feeling – Puressence 
6. All Around The World (Radio Edit) – Oasis

Side B

1. Begin Again – Space
2. She Left me On Friday – Shed Seven
3. Cracking Up – The Jesus & Mary Chain
4. Like A Friend – Pulp
5. Take It – Ballroom
6. Untouchable – Rialto

Side C

1. The Peccadilloes – Kirsten’s Beach
2. Molly – Carrie
3. A Page A Day – Po!
4. Scorch Comfort – Seafood
5. Small Change – Lodger
6. Tricolore – Mover
7. Radar Intruder – Derrero 

Side D

1. Don’t You Know Who I Am? – Happyland
2. English Country Garden – The Dandys
3. Can Jam (Full Mix) – Mainstream
4. I’ve Had Enough – Hillman Minx
5. 3 O’Clock In The Morning – Jack

Like my previous efforts for 1997, this was produced to be a double LP, this is what the artwork for the gatefold sleeve.

I used Virgin as the record label as they were the ones who produced The Best Album in the World Series of CDs that I bought in the 90s.

The cover comes from https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/10045-the-50-best-britpop-albums/ and pays homage to Sgt Pepper. 

The Last Days of Britpop 1997 Vol.1 – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/various-artists-1997-the-last-days-of-britpop-vol-1/

The Last Days of Britpop 1997 Vol.2 – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/various-artists-the-last-days-of-britpop-1997-vol-2/

On 25th November 1974, Nick Drake passed away in his parents home in Tanworth-in-Arden. His work was not well known at this time and it would take until the end of the decade that his profile began to rise. By the mid 80s, he was being mentioned by a number of musicians as an influence and in the following decade, his gained further exposure due to the BBC broadcasting radio and TV documentaries about him. Sales of his records increased significantly around this time when his song ‘Pink Moon’ appeared in a Volkswagen advert. Cue his music appearing on movie soundtracks and he is now, arguably, the most famous he has ever been. It is such a shame that he is not around to enjoy it. 

Drakes recording legacy is slight. During his life time, he released three studio albums made up of 31 songs. No singles were released from these albums during his lifetime so there wasn’t any obscure non album B-Sides to boost the numbers. Over the years, there have been a few compilations which have delved into the archives and there have been a smattering of unreleased songs that have made it to market. Most famous of these would be the tracks he recorded in 1974 for what could have been his fourth album, but these demos are as far as that project went. Four of these songs were included on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation which came out in 1987. Included on that album were outtakes from his first LP sessions, some home recordings and an alternative take. 

The home recordings were a small window into the treasure trove of recordings he made on a tape player in his parents house, many of which had found their way onto the black market due Drake’s father making copies for fans who knocked on the door ion the family home. Some of these would eventually receive a legitimate release on the ‘Family Tree’ album in 2007. Before this, there was another compilation, ‘Made To Love Magic’ which was designed to supersede ‘Time Of No Reply’. This is did because in 2013, a box set called ‘Tuck Box’ came out containing the three studio albums, ‘Made To Love Magic’ and ‘Family Tree’. However, there are a number of Nick Drake performances that have seen the light of day in an official capacity which for one reason or another were not included in ‘Tuck Box’. This playlist is my attempt to address this by gathering together all of the lost masters for a compilation. 

Side A

1. Rider On The Wheel
2. Joey
3. My Bay’s So Sweet
4. Mayfair
5. Fly
6. Hanging On A Star
7. Clothes Of Sand
8. Man In A Shed
9. Plaisir D’Amour

Side B

1. Time Of No Reply
2. Strange Meeting II
3. Betty & Dupree
4. Magic
5. The Thoughts `of Mary Jane
6. Black Eyed Dog
7. Voice From The Mountain

Side C – (BBC Session)

1. Time Of No Reply
2. River Man
3. Bryter Layter

Side D – (BBC Session)

1. Cello Song
2. Three Hours

So where do these masters come from?

Rider On A Wheel – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.

Joey – The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix with less flanging. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness. 

My Baby’s So Sweet – included on the vinyl version of ‘Family Tree’ as well as some version of the CD. However, it was not included on the CD included in ‘Tuck Box’.

Mayfair – A recording from Drake’s days at Cambridge University. A studio version, with a flub, was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation. 

Fly – Home recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987. 

Hanging On A Star – Included on ‘Time Of No Reply’ and a different take form the one used on ‘Made To Love Magic’ 

Clothes Of Sand – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness. 

Man In A Shed – An early studio recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987.

Plaisir D’Amour – Included as a hidden track on the ‘A Treasury’ compilation from 2004. Was originally scheduled to be included on ‘Pink Moon’ but ultimately it was not. 

Time Of No Reply – The basic track as recorded back in 1968. Orchestrations were overdubbed when this was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation. These orchestrations had been produced on manuscript by Drake’s Cambridge friend, Robert Kirby and were not used in 1969 as the songs were deemed surplus to requirements. However, these orchestrations were pulled from the archives with wonderful results. 

Strange Meeting II – Home recording. Only available on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation from 1987.

Betty & Dupree – not included on the ‘Family Tree’ CD, but was released on the vinyl edition. It was not included on the CD included in ‘Tuck Box’.

Magic – Listed as ‘I Was Made To Love Magic’ on the ‘Time Of No Reply’ compilation. This has the original orchestration produced by Richard Hewson, which Drake was not happy with and he asked that his Cambridge friend, the aforementioned Robert Kirby come and work as the arranger. This 1969 Kirby arrangement was finally recorded in 2004. The recording was also sped up for the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation. 

The Thoughts `of Mary Jane – Taken from ’Time Of No Reply’, this has a slightly extended ending with a dissonant guitar note that was faded out when this song was included on the ‘Made To Love Magic’ compilation.  

Black Eyed Dog – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.

Voice From The Mountain – One of the ‘final four’ songs Drake recorded. The version on ‘Made To Love Magic’ was included with a crisp, well balanced mix. This is the same take as induced on the latter compilation and only included here for completeness.

The BBC Sessions. These five songs were recorded for legendary BBC DJ, John Peel on 5th August 1969 and broadcast a day later. Drake only performed a handful of times in the live arena, and it would seem that no recordings were made. These five songs are the closest we will get. They sound as though they have been recorded from the radio as the studio tapes were no doubt wiped, something there BBC were prone to do in that era so that they could be used again. These rare recordings have only been released in their entirety once on a physical format, and that as a 10” record in 2014. Limited to 1000 copies, it came as part of the signature boxed edition of the book, ‘Remembered For A While’. 

So there we have it. All of these recordings have been released at one point or another but are now all out of print and in some cases, really hard to find and even then, you will be paying a premier to get them. 

The total running time of this compilation is just over an hour so it would be easy enough to reproduce on CD.

The front cover was produced by Behance user, Dorota Kowal

I have raised this point in the past, but I feel it is worth saying again. The biggest complaint I have about reissue programmes of most bands is the way the record labels and in some cases, the artists themselves have treated their fans so badly down the years. A case in point is the deluxe edition of ‘Then Play On’ by Fleetwood Mac that I produced back in June of 2023 (INSERT LINK). Another artist where I feel the fans have been badly treated is David Bowie, Bowie, when he was alive, was one of the first artists to re-released his albums on CD with bonus tracks. Granted, they were a bit thin on the ground compared to the Deluxe Editions we have come to expect since then, but at least it was a start. 

Take for instance the 1990 re-release of 1969’s ‘David Bowie/Space Oddity’ album. That version came with three bonus tracks including a B-Side and a re-recording of an album track that was released as two sides of a single. Not bad, but when the album came out again in 1999, there were no bonus tracks what so ever. The same thing happened when the album was given another dusting down through the first seven years of the 21st Century. No bonus tracks at all. Then in 2009, the 40th Anniversary Edition finally came with a second disc of bonus tracks but this was followed by another re-release in the mid 2010’s in certain territories where once again, there were no bonus tracks to be seen. For the 50th Anniversary in 2019, there was at least a remix of the album which on certain tracks sounded very different from the original as well as a box set called ‘Conversation Piece’ which collected lots of demos and otherwise stray tracks. However, a lot of these demos had been released in vinyl box set mimicking acetate singles that were one of the few ways an artist could listen their tunes once they had recorded them in a studio. That is quite a lot of re-issues and rereleases. 

What I have attempted here for the 55th Anniversary of this album being released is to create an all encompassing box set of the ‘David Bowie/Space Oddity’ album that includes the various mixes of the album, single mixes, demos, BBC Sessions and curios that have come out down the years to create the most comprehensive version of the album I could create. 

Therefore, we have four different mixes of the album, even though to my untrained ears, the version from 1969, 1990 and 2009 sound pretty similar to each other. There are also a couple of stray tracks from the time Bowie was signed to Decca. These were included because they were not included in the rather good Deluxe Edition of his debut album from 1967, also confusingly called ‘David Bowie’. It is no wonder John Peel took the piss out him a year later in BBC broadcast for the Sunday Show for naming his first two albums the same (Peter Gabriel should have taken note). 

Disc 1 – 1969 Album Mix & Singles

1. Space Oddity – 1
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 1
3. Letter To Hermione – 1
4. Cygnet Committee – 1
5. Janine – 1
6. An Occasional Dream – 1
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 1
8. God Knows I’m Good – 1
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 1
10. Space Oddity (UK Mono Single Edit) – 1
11. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Mono Single B-Side) – 1
12. Conversation Piece (Mono B-Side) – 1
13. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (Italian Single A-Side) – 2

Disc 2 – 1990 Remaster & BBC Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 3
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed – 3
3. Don’t Sit Down – 3
4. Letter To Hermione – 3
5. Cygnet Committee – 3
6. Janine – 3
7. An Occasional Dream – 3
8. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 3
9. God Knows I’m Good – 3
10. Memory Of A Free Festival – 3
11. in The Heat Of The Morning (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1 
12. London Bye, Ta-Ta (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
13. Karma Man (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
14. When I’m Five (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
15. Silly Boy Boy (BBC Session Recorded 13/5/1968) -1
16. Let Me Sleep Beside You (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) – 4
17. Unwashed & Slightly Dazed (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) -1
18. Janine (BBC Session Recorded 20/10/1969) -1

Disc 3 – 2009 Digital Remaster & Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 4
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 4
3. Letter To Hermione – 4
4. Cygnet Committee – 4
5. Janine – 4
6. An Occasional Dream – 4
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 4
8. God Knows I’m Good – 4
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 4
10. Space Oddity (Love You ‘Till Tuesday Version) – 5
11. In The Heat Of The Morning (Decca Mono Version) – 1
12. Ching-A-Ling (Mono) – 1
13. Conversation Piece (Stereo Version) – 4
14. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Alt. Album Mix) – 4
15. Janine (Mono Version) – 1
16. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (Full Length Stereo Version) – 4

Disc 4 – 2019 Mix & Sessions

1. Space Oddity – 1
2. Unwashed & Somewhat Slightly Dazed (including Don’t Sit Down) – 1
3. Letter To Hermione – 1
4. Cygnet Committee – 1
5. Janine – 1
6. An Occasional Dream – 1
7. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud – 1
8. God Knows I’m Good – 1
9. Memory Of A Free Festival – 1
10. Conversation Piece (2019 Mix) – 1
11. Regazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola (2019 Mix) – 1
12. Space Oddity (Morgan Studios Alt. Take) – 1
13. London Bye, Ta-Ta (Decca Alt. Version) – 1
14. Memory Of A Free Festival (Alt. Album Mix) – 4

Disc 5 – Demos

1. April’s Tooth Of Gold – 1
2. The Reverend Raymond Brown (Attends The Garden Fete On Thatchwick Green) – 1
3. When I’m Five – 1
4. Mother Grey – 1
5. In The Heat Of The Morning – 1
6. Goodbye 3d (Threepenny) Joe – 1
7. Love All Around – 1
8. London Bye, Ta-Ta – 1
9. Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (Version 1) – 1
10. Angel, Angel, Grubby Face (Version 2) – 1
11. Animal Farm – 1
12. Space Oddity (Solo Fragment) – 1
13. Space Oddity (Version 1) – 1
14. Space Oddity (Version 2) – 1
15. Space Oddity (Version 3) – 1
16. Lover To The Dawn – 1
17. Ching-A-Ling – 1
18. An Occasional Dream – 1
19. Let Me Sleep Beside You – 1
20. Life Is A Circus – 1
21. Conversation Piece – 1
22. Jerusalem – 1
23. Hole In The Ground – 1

Disc 6 – Demos & Sessions

1. Memory Of A Free Festival (Harmonium Mix) – 5
2. Space Oddity – 1
3. Janine – 1
4. An Occasional Dream – 1
5. Conversation Piece – 1
6. Ching-A-Ling – 1
7. I’m Not Quite (AKA Letter To Hermione) – 1
8. Lover To The Dawn – 1
9. Love Song – 1
10. When I’m Five – 1
11. Life Is A Circus – 1
12. Space Oddity (Home Demo Version 3 – Unfaded Start) – 4
13. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Single B-Side – Spoken Intro) – 4
14. Memory Of A Free Festival (Moonage DayDream Mix Edit) – 5
15. Cygnet Committee/Lazarus (Moonage Daydream mix) – 5
16. Space Oddity (Moonage Daydream Mix) – 5

The image I have used for this cover was on the Steve Hoffman forum, but I am afraid I do not know who created it. 

1 – Conversation Piece Box Set

2 – Five Years (1969-1973) Box Set

3 – 1990 Rykodisc Version

4 – Space Oddity 40th Anniversary Edition 

5 – Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen Film OST

I did not include all of the variations of this album, especially not the RCA CD release form the early 1980s which I have not heard, but it is meant to be terrible. I am sure that there is the odd stray track out there that I did not include as it was most probably hidden on an obscure compilation somewhere. I did decide that the mixes produced for the ‘Moonage Daydream’ film, including s mix between ‘Cygnet Committee’ and ‘Lazarus’ with the later appearing on Bowies final album. It seemed correct to include it here though. Please let me know in the comments if there is any missing tracks. However, this just goes to show what could have been produced if Bowie or his record labels had taken the time and care to produce one of these for the 50th Anniversary back in 2019. A missed opportunity I feel.

The second post this month is another volume of songs tracking the last days of Britpop. Like Volume 1, which was posted last month, this is a selection of B-Sides, single edits and the odd different recording, be it demo or rough mix. All the main players are here along with some recordings but some of the eras also rans. There is also a song from one band called Polarbear who would sell a lot more records when they changed their name to Snow Patrol. 

Side 1

1. Cosmonaut No.7 – Scarfo
2. Step Right Up (Full Version) – Mainstream
3. M.O.R. (Road Version) – Blur
4. Jump or Be Sane – Catatonia
5. Heads High – Don
6. Stay Young – Oasis

Side 2

1. Cardboy King – Salad
2. Filmstar (Orignal Version) – Suede
3. Mary Wana – Nicotines
4. Roadie – The Boo Radleys
5. I’m A Man – Sleeper
6. Stay – 18 Wheeler
7. We Still Ned More (Than  Anyone Can Give) (Dust Brothers Recording) – Supergrass

Side 3

1. Holy Cow – Polarbear
2. Scumbag – Pink Kross
3. Michaela – Pippi & The Butcherbirds
4. The Face Smiles Back Easily – Ocean Colour Scene
5. Fill Me – Elcka
6. Superstar – Superstar
7. Raspberries – Comet Gain

Side 4 

1. Oh Yeah, Baby – Dweeb
2. Let It Lie – Dustball
3. Air Hockey – Bennet
4. Bar Bar Bar (Demo) – Elastica
5. Golden Skin – Silver Sun
6. Times Up – Sussed
7. Tomorrow Never Dies (Rough Mix) – Pulp

As this was produced to be a double LP, this is what the artwork for the gatefold sleeve.

I cannot remember where I found this image, but if it was produced by Double J (who has included their name in Damon Alban’s head), I think you. It is wonderful.

Volume 1 can be found here – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/various-artists-1997-the-last-days-of-britpop-vol-1/

Something a little different to finish off the month. By 1997, Britpop was burning itself out. The fun and games of the previous three or so years had started to become stale. The main artists of the period were starting to release music that had lost some of its sparkle which could be argued to have been caused by exhaustion/drug problems etc. 

That didn’t stop some quality music from being released. I put this compilation together from songs that I had not used on previous posts this year. Most of the major Britpop acts are included, with some obscure ones added for good measure. There are stand alone singles, single mixes, B-sides and album tracks. As the are the midst of a vinyl revival, I have made this a double LP. 

Side A

1. Hush – Kula Shaker
2. Young Girls & Happy Endings – Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
3. Echo Bass – The Verve
4. Everything Is Sorrow (Granby Remix) – The Boo Radleys
5. Down A Different River – Super Furry Animals

Side B

1. Taxloss (Single Version) – Mansun
2. Nothing Is Changing – Sleeper
3. Hello Monday – Ocean Colour Scene
4. Death Of A Party (7” Remix) – Blur
5. Don’t Need A Gun – The Charlatans
6. Sometimes I Make You Sad – Supergrass

Side C

1. Brimful Of Asha (Album Version) – Cornershop
2. Thickshake – Silver Sun
3. I Am The Mob (Luca Brasi Mix) – Catatonia
4. Stand By Me (French Radio Edit) – Oasis
5. True Love Waits (Full Band) – Radiohead

Side D

1. Free Me (Acoustic) – Cast
2. Where Are They Now – Gene
3. Best Regrets – Geneva
4. Duschess – Suede
5. Laughing Boy – Pulp
6. Come Together – Spiritulized

The artwork comes from BBC Radio 2 show about Britpop. Used Virgin as the record label as they were the ones who produced The Best Album in the World Series of CDs that I bought in the 90s.

Out of all of the bands that could be classed as Britpop, Pulp formed first. Starting out in 1978 (when Tim Wheeler from Ash was about 1 year old), front man Jarvis Cocker has been the only ever present. It took them two years to play a gig and then in 1981, they had recorded a demo tape which the band gave to legendary DJ, John Peel, who duly gave them some exposure with a Peel Session. The original line up disbanded not long after this as most of the members went off to University and, the Peel Session not leading to any success. A new line up was formed and it was then that ‘It’, their first album was recorded and released in 1983. A second album, ‘Freaks’ was released in 1987 but Cocker took a break to study at Central Saint Martin College, putting the band on hiatus. 

By the 1989, Cocker had resurrected the band and they had a deal with Fire Records. It was whilst on that label that the released the ‘My Legendary Girlfriend’ single. This was made weekly music newspaper, the NME’s single of the week. The trajectory of the band started to rise and ‘O.U’ was made single of the week by Melody Maker, an other UK weekly music paper. Signing to Island Records, ‘Lipgloss’ became their first single to break the UK top 40. Parent album, ‘His ’n’ Hers’ broke into the top ten of the LP charts and the band was on its way, finally. 

‘Different Class’ followed soon afterwards but there were some incidents of controversy. There was the single ‘Sorted For E’s & Whizz’ which was said to be pro drugs and the original artwork showed people how to make a paper wrap which was interpreted as a way of hiding drugs. Then there was the 1996 BRIT Awards when Cocker rushed the stage during Michels Jackson’s over the top performance of ‘Earth Song’ for which he ended up spending a night in jail for. None of this seemed to hurt record sales though.

There would  three year gap before their next album was released. ‘This Is Hardcore’ which was darker than the previous two efforts, mostly down to the pressures of fame, Cocker having a cocaine addiction and a lack of new material. The band would record one more album, 2001s ‘We Love Life’ before splitting. There have been a few reunions but none that herded any new music. They did leave quite of a lot of quality music though for us to listen to and this is shown by the amount of top notch B-Sides they produced during the period they were signed to Island Records. For this, the sixth and final B-Sides collection from the major players of Britpop, Pulp are afforded a double album. 

Side A

1. The Babysitter (Do You Remember The First Time)
2. Deep Fried In Kelvin (Lipgloss)
3. You’re A Nightmare (Lipgloss)

Side B

1. Seconds (The Sisters EP)
2. Street Lites (Do You Remember The First Time)
3. Your Sister’s Clothes (The Sisters EP)
4. The Professional (This Is Hardcore)

Side C

1. Ansaphone (Disco 2000)
2. His ’n’ Hers (The Sisters EP)
3. Ladies’ Man (This Is Hardcore)
4. Tomorrow Never Lies (Help The Aged)

Side D

1. We Are The Boys (Party Hard)
2. P.T.A. (Parent Teacher Association) (Mis-Shapes & Sorted For E’s & Wizz)
3. Cocaine Socialism (A Little Soul)
4. Mile End (Something Changed)
5. 59 Lyndhurst Grove – Live (Common People – French Single)

I normally would not include live tracks on B-Sides collections, but this version of ’59 Lyndhurst Grove’ was. It finishes with a nice thank you by Jarvis Cocker and I felt it was a really nice way to finish off. 

I must admit that Moby passed me by for most of the 1990s. I seem to remember the single ‘Go’, but that is about it. I therefore did not know anything about the artist when I picked up the ‘Honey’ single after listening to it on the radio. Even though I did not think much of the remixes, I still liked ‘Honey’. The mix of an old song with a techno beat intrigued me so a few months later when I saw there was an album for sale with ‘Honey’ on it , I picked it up. What I din’t realise at the time was this was this was Moby’s last throw of the dice as far as his music career was concerned. His previous effort, ‘Animal Rights’, had been a commercial disaster and he was contemplating quitting music all together. Some positive feedback from fellow musicians gave him the confidence to at least give music another go.

‘Play’ was released in mid 1999 to little fanfare. It initially sold enough to break into the UK Top 40, but after his fanbase had bought their copies, it slipped down the chart. However, in an attempt to get the music heard, Moby and his management team decided to license the tracks for adverts. In the end, every song from the album was licensed and exposure for the record increased dramatically. In the end, the record would sell over 12 million copies worldwide and eight singles were ultimately released from it. The album was so popular that in 2000, a compilation album was released called ‘Play: The B-Sides’. This also sold in good numbers but was not a comprehensive set as it did not contain any remixes. Moby recorded so much material in preparation for ‘Play’ that a bootleg came out not long after this called ‘Play: The Outtakes’. 

One of the features of the album of the numerous styles that were incorporated into it. There are the aforementioned techno and blues. However, there was electronica, downtempo, ambient, breakbeat and roots. As successful as this album was, it was also quite schizophrenic. What I looked to do here is repackage these records with more of a theme.

The first disc is called ‘Natural Blues’ and contains songs that sampled blues and roots music. The second is ‘Bodyrock’ which contains more big beat and techno tracks. The third is a reimagining of the album which took out the more uptempo numbers to be replaced by something more ambient.  

Natural Blues

Side A

1. Honey – Play
2. Find My Baby – Play
3. Flower – B-Side (Find My Baby)
4. Run On – Play

Side B

1. Natural Blues – Play
2. Flying Foxes – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)
3. Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad – Play

The cover was used for the ‘Natural Blues’ single. 

Bodyrock

Side A

1. Bodyrock – Play
2. Machette – Play
3. 7 – Play

Side B

1. Flying Over The Dateline – B-Side (Porcelain) 
2. Running – B-Side (Run On)

The cover was used for the ’Bodyrock’ single.

Play

Took out the more upbeat numbers to make something a bit more mellow.

Side A

1. Dispatched – Play: The Outtakes
2. If Things Were Perfect – Play
3. Porcelain – Play
4. South Side – Play
5. The Sun Never Stops Setting – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)

Side B

1. Everlong – Play
2. Inside – Play
3. Graciosa – Play: The Outtakes
4. Rushing – Play

Side C

1. The Whispering Wind – B-Side (Natural Blues)
2. The Sky Is Broken – Play
3. Summer – B-Side
4. Sown Slow – Play

Side D

1. Guitar, Flute & String – Play
2. Deep Seated – Play: The Outtakes
3. Memorial Gospel – B-Side (Run On)
4. My Weakness – Play

The cover is the same as the one used for ‘Play’

This reimagining of ‘Play’ could not be recreated on Spotify as a number of these treks come from the Outtakes bootleg. 

Just because I have been looking at lots of music from the Britpop era this year doesn’t mean there isn’t room for one of the bands that were an inspiration for good number of the musicians during that era. That band is The Beatles and today is also the 55th anniversary of ‘Abbey Road’.

This post could easily have been title ‘The Beatles in 1969’. As it is, this this one was a case of having some album artwork but not having an album to go with it. That is because back in December of 2023, I posted a fake album of ‘Almost Beatles Songs’ (https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/elvis-orbison-almost-beatle-songs/) which was made up of recordings of the songs The Beatles worked on during the Get Back/Let Ot Be sessions that weren’t taken forward by the band. In most cases, they weren’t even taken forward by them when their solo careers started. I talk about the ‘Get Back’ sessions back in November 2021 (and you can read that post here – https://www.thesquirepresents.co.uk/the-beatles-the-get-back-box-set/) so I will not cover old ground here. However, the people behind Almost Beatle Songs produced a number of other tracks that I did not include on my previous post and I was wondering if there was enough material to make up a second release. Well, at the

is time, not quite. 

Anyway, one of the tunes I did not use was an instrumental called l ‘The Palace Of The King Of The Birds’. Brought to the sessions by Paul McCartney, it was attempted three times but was all but forgotten until McCartney used parts of it as one of the songs for his unreleased ‘Rupert The Bear’ album. To me, it sounded like it could have been used as the title for the second ‘Almost Beatles Songs’ LP so I made up a sleeve. How could I use this sleeve for something Beatle related? Well, I came up with a playlist but the title just didn’t fit with the artwork, nor the concept of the album, It also sounded like something that would have been released during the height of the psychedelia and that were over by 1969 which is when all of the songs I was working with came out. So, I changed the name of the album to ’Everest’, which was a working title for the ‘Abbey Road’ record. 

Well, I was playing through ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Let It Be’ again and wondered what it would sound like if I made up an album combining songs from both projects to make a solid LP with accompanying singles. Well, The Beatles could have done this themselves if they had chosen to. It was not set in stone that they needed to release the material recorded for what would become ‘Let It Be’ as its own entity. What they did have from ‘Let Let Be’ were some really good songs, mostly by Paul McCartney  (even though to this day, I cannot stand ‘The Long & Winding Road’). Lennon was working his way through a heroin addiction and had not been focused on writing new material. He did have some good material in the works, which was shown in the ‘Get Back’ documentary from 2021 but these were put to one side for the songs we eventually got. Harrison had plenty of good songs at this time but was reluctant to bring them to the band as he felt (justifiably) that Lennon and especially McCartney were not giving his efforts the respect they deserved. Starr had a couple of ideas but judging from the footage in the ‘Get Back’ documentary, he did not push those for inclusion. 

‘Abbey Road’ is more cohesive LP with some absolutely great songs and is the only Beatles album I can listen to without wanting to skip any of the songs. Yes, I can listen to ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ all the way through (even though I did not include it here as there were far superior songs to be added). I played through both albums and the difference in productions styles of ‘Abbey Road’ and ‘Let It Be’ did not gel in the way I wanted them to. Even with Phil Spector’s production covering over some of the bum notes, the interspersing of banter between songs did not go with the aesthetic I was looking for. However, ‘Let it Be…Naked’ did. That was because of the use of some digital corrections, different takes and production make this sound more like a finished album than the original ‘Let It Be’.

Out of the songs from the ‘Let It Be’ sessions, I picked for the album ‘Two of Us’, I’ve Got A Feeling’ and ‘Let It Be’ for the LP. ‘Get Back’ and ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ would stay as the stand alone single it was back in April 1969. Originally I did have the ‘Let It Be…Naked’ version of ‘Get Back’ on here but it meat that there would be only one song by Harrison so it was jettisoned, especially as it was represented by the single version. 

I was close to keeping the double A-Side configuration of ‘Come Together’ and ‘Something’ as a single, but keep them off of the parent album. One of the greatest combinations of songs for a single, I feel that sales were hurt (in the UK) as this single was released after the ‘Abbey Road’ LP and I believe this prevented it from becoming a number 1 hit there. It didn’t stop it from becoming a number 1 in the USA though. ‘Come Together’ would still be a single A-Side in this alternative universe release, but backed with ‘For You Blue’ from the ‘Let It Be ‘ sessions. ‘Something’ would be kept back as the second song for the LP. This reconstruction also does away with the majority of the songs that would become the long medley. I like the medley but there just wasn’t enough room for it all here so I cut it at ‘Sun King’. 

I did have to make one slight adjustment to ‘Sun King’. As this was part of the Side B melody on the original ‘Abbey Road’ album, the song does stop quite abruptly as it went into the drum beat that started ‘Mean Mr Mustard’. I just added a quick fade to soften the abruptness of the original cut.  As it is, the transition between songs is not as smooth as it was for the rest of the LP. As a little bonus, and to make up for the fact that side two was a little shorter than side 1, I added the ‘Get Back (Reprise)’ from the aborted ‘Get Back’ Album. ‘The Ballad Of John & Yoko’ single has been added to the playlist as it came out between the two singles I have talked about here and fits with The Beatles in 1969 vibe. 

Side A

1. Two Of Us
2. Something
3. I’ve Got A Feeling
4. Octopus Garden
5. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

Side B

1. Here Comes The Sun
2. Because
3. Oh! Darling
4. You Never Give Me Your Money
5. Sun King
6. Let It Be
7. Get Back (Reprise)

Singles

1. Get Back (Single Version)
2. Don’t Let Me Down

1. The Ballad of John & Yoko
2. Old Brown Shoe

1. Let It Be
2. For You Blue

In then end, I did not use the cover I originally was going to use as it was bit too psych for 1969, so I went with one that I believe was used on a bootleg for the ‘Abbey Road’ sessions. The band did put forward the idea of having their picture taken at Mount Everest, but logic stepped in and they just went outside the studio and walked across the road.