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
Rider On The Wheel
Joey
My Bay’s So Sweet
Mayfair
Fly
Hanging On A Star
Clothes Of Sand
Man In A Shed
Plaisir D’Amour
Side B
Time Of No Reply
Strange Meeting II
Betty & Dupree
Magic
The Thoughts `of Mary Jane
Black Eyed Dog
Voice From The Mountain
Side C – (BBC Session)
Time Of No Reply
River Man
Bryter Layter
Side D – (BBC Session)
Cello Song
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).
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
Cosmonaut No.7 – Scarfo
Step Right Up (Full Version) – Mainstream
M.O.R. (Road Version) – Blur
Jump or Be Sane – Catatonia
Heads High – Don
Stay Young – Oasis
Side 2
Cardboy King – Salad
Filmstar (Orignal Version) – Suede
Mary Wana – Nicotines
Roadie – The Boo Radleys
I’m A Man – Sleeper
Stay – 18 Wheeler
We Still Ned More (Than Anyone Can Give) (Dust Brothers Recording) – Supergrass
Side 3
Holy Cow – Polarbear
Scumbag – Pink Kross
Michaela – Pippi & The Butcherbirds
The Face Smiles Back Easily – Ocean Colour Scene
Fill Me – Elcka
Superstar – Superstar
Raspberries – Comet Gain
Side 4
Oh Yeah, Baby – Dweeb
Let It Lie – Dustball
Air Hockey – Bennet
Bar Bar Bar (Demo) – Elastica
Golden Skin – Silver Sun
Times Up – Sussed
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
Hush – Kula Shaker
Young Girls & Happy Endings – Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
Echo Bass – The Verve
Everything Is Sorrow (Granby Remix) – The Boo Radleys
Down A Different River – Super Furry Animals
Side B
Taxloss (Single Version) – Mansun
Nothing Is Changing – Sleeper
Hello Monday – Ocean Colour Scene
Death Of A Party (7” Remix) – Blur
Don’t Need A Gun – The Charlatans
Sometimes I Make You Sad – Supergrass
Side C
Brimful Of Asha (Album Version) – Cornershop
Thickshake – Silver Sun
I Am The Mob (Luca Brasi Mix) – Catatonia
Stand By Me (French Radio Edit) – Oasis
True Love Waits (Full Band) – Radiohead
Side D
Free Me (Acoustic) – Cast
Where Are They Now – Gene
Best Regrets – Geneva
Duschess – Suede
Laughing Boy – Pulp
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.
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
Honey – Play
Find My Baby – Play
Flower – B-Side (Find My Baby)
Run On – Play
Side B
Natural Blues – Play
Flying Foxes – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)
Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad – Play
The cover was used for the ‘Natural Blues’ single.
Bodyrock
Side A
Bodyrock – Play
Machette – Play
7 – Play
Side B
Flying Over The Dateline – B-Side (Porcelain)
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
Dispatched – Play: The Outtakes
If Things Were Perfect – Play
Porcelain – Play
South Side – Play
The Sun Never Stops Setting – B-Side (Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad)
Side B
Everlong – Play
Inside – Play
Graciosa – Play: The Outtakes
Rushing – Play
Side C
The Whispering Wind – B-Side (Natural Blues)
The Sky Is Broken – Play
Summer – B-Side
Sown Slow – Play
Side D
Guitar, Flute & String – Play
Deep Seated – Play: The Outtakes
Memorial Gospel – B-Side (Run On)
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
Two Of Us
Something
I’ve Got A Feeling
Octopus Garden
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
Side B
Here Comes The Sun
Because
Oh! Darling
You Never Give Me Your Money
Sun King
Let It Be
Get Back (Reprise)
Singles
Get Back (Single Version)
Don’t Let Me Down
The Ballad of John & Yoko
Old Brown Shoe
Let It Be
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.
I did say at the beginning of this year that it would be focused on Britpop releases with the occasional anniversary fantasy box set thrown in for good measure, but Beck was an artist I was listening to during this time so it felt right to include him here.
I first heard of Beck whilst watching his debut UK television performance on legendary British music show, ‘Top Of The Pops’. I didn’t know what to make of the performance as I have never been a fan of rapping, and the band seems to be made up of very old men miming quite badly. I then saw a review for his ‘Mellow Gold’ in another British music institution that has now gone to the nostalgia bin in the form of Q Magazine. The review gave it five out of five, something you did not see very often. I was feeling flush that week so ‘Mellow Gold’ was purchased. It was like nothing I had heard before and even though ‘Loser’ had the potential to be a one hit wonder, there was enough in the grooves for me to become very interested in what this guy was going to do next.
What I didn’t realise is that he was going to to quite a lot, and had already done quite a bit already. Beck had been recording in one form or another since the late 80s with some now impossible to find low-fi cassette albums. These were never going to be on my radar, as they were only ever available in the USA and 1994 was essentially the age before the internet, so I did not find out about these releases until much later. What I did have was The Record Shop in Kingston Upon Thames. The haven for vinyl releases in the vinyl desert that was the mid 90s’. If you wanted something rare, and more importantly in this case, imported from abroad, that was the place to get it. I may well have bought ‘Mellow Gold’ there in the first place. Anyway, I digress.
Going back a few weeks after first playing ‘Mellow Gold’, I found that the Beck section had a 10” Beck record in it called ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’. It even came with a limited edition finger painting, which was nothing to shout about but this was only available with the initial run. Whereas ‘Mellow Gold’ was recorded with what sounded like a budget (all be it a small one), ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’ sounded as if the money for its production had been spent having a good time before hand. It was full of curious sound experiments, a tune that sounded as though he was plonking around on a guitar and playing around with the drum machine settings on a cheap Casio keyboard. There was the odd song in there, but this was one for the completist.
I then found out that he had released another album just before ‘Mellow Gold’ called ‘Stereopathetic Soulmaure’. I thought I would give that a go and found that this was in a similar vein to ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’ more noise experiments, home and live recordings. There even recordings made out on the street with guest performers. ‘Stereopathetic Soulmanure’ did have more in the way of songs on it, some of which showed a strong country influence. The song ‘Rowboat’ has some lovely pedal steel playing in it and is possibly the best of Beck’s early songs. There was another album released before ‘Mellow Gold’ called ‘Golden Feelings’ but I have never seen a copy for sale for anything other than a staggeringly high price on line.
Beck was able to release these low-fi experimental albums because his label, which had released ‘Mellow Gold’ allowed him to do so. Great for the collector, but so much if you wanted a record that could be considered song based. Coming back to these records many years later, I wondered what would have happened if the more songs based tunes were released on their own without the more experimental efforts and so we have my version of ‘A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight’.
‘Aphid Manure Heist’ has been edited so that is just the violin intro, as I didn’t like the second section and this also meant that the run times would match up more evenly as this would be another of my what-if albums that would have been released on a 12” LP. It is still quite short for an LP and still has flashes of experimentation and is not exactly commercial, but it holds together.
Side A
Totally Confused – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Thunder Peel – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Modesto – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Today Has Been A Fucked Up Day – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Getting’ Home – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Pinefresh – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Satan Gave Me A Taco – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
Feel Like A Piece Of Shit (Cheetos Time!) – A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight
Ken (Hidden Track) – Stereopathetic Soulmanure
I could have used the more experimental efforts from these two albums and they could have been released as a companion piece called ‘Stereopathetic Soulmanure’ That is a project for another day, or even for somebody else.
Belly are an alternative rock act formed in 1991 by ex-Breeders and Throwing Muses member, Tanya Donnelly. I published a lost album of them which covered some of their best B-Sides back in January of 2023*, but this is complete over view of their work whilst they were signed to the 4AD label.
They only released two albums during this period, the second of which would turn out to be their last LP for twenty three years. This second album was called ‘King’ and was met with lukewarm reviews at the time as this was a bit different from their debut, ‘Star’ which was released two years earlier. The songs on ‘King’ were a bit rockier in sound, with heavier riffs and the lyrics were a bit more personal than they had been before.
Neither the singles or album sold in the quantities that the record label were expecting and this was after they had appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. Tanya Donelly, main songwriter and focus of the band decided to break up the group feeling that there was too much negativity around. She decided to start a solo career. Bass player Gail Greenwood played with L7 and Big Naked as well as her own group. Drummer and lead guitar player, Chris and Thomas Gorman founded a commercial photography business. All went quiet until 2016 when it was announced that they would be going out on a short tour and a year later, they started to record their third album.
I loved Belly and I was really disappointed when they split. I spent the next few years trying to find all of the different versions of singles so I could acquire all of the B-Sides. The album ‘Sweet Ride’ also included some songs that were not available anywhere else.
I thought I would put together a box set focusing on the years they were signed 4AD records, especially as this was one of my favourite bands form the 90s which is my focus for a lot of my playlists this year. What we get here are a five CD set which includes both albums, B-Sides and rarities. If I was curating this set, I would also include a DVD (or Blu Ray) disc which the official videos of the singles, TV appearances from the US and UK (I could not find any reference to any appearances from other countries) as well as their spots at the Glastonbury Festivals in 1993 and 1995 as well as the Great Expectations concert to raise money for the radio station, XFM.
A quick note on some of the songs. ‘It’s Not Unusual’ from the ‘Gepetto’ (Remix Disc 2) and ‘Ivo’ Version ‘ from the ‘Moon EP’ are very similar. I think they cold even be the same even though the credits make it seem as though they are different. The single version of ‘Gepetto’ on Disc 5 was only placed there because there wasn’t space on any of the others discs.
I am sure that if this was to be released, I would hope that there would be some previously unreleased performances included, including more demos.
Disc 1 – Star & Slow Dust EP
Someone To Die For
Angel
Dusted
Every Word
Gepetto
Witch
Slow Dog
Low Red Moon
Feed The Tree
Full Moon, Empty Heart
White Belly
Untogether
Star
Sad Dress
Stay
Dusted (Original Version)
Slow Dog (Original Version)
Dancing Gold
Low Red Moon (Original Version)
Dusted (Orignal Version)
Gepetto (Single Version)
Slow Dog (Radio Remix 3m 50 sec version)
Tracks 1-15 – Star LP
Tracks 16-20 – Slow Dust EP
Track 21 – Single Mix
Track 22 – US Single Promo
Disc 2 – Star Sessions
Gepetto (Remix) – Gepetto EP
Hot Burrito #1 – Gepetto EP
Sexy S – Gepetto EP
Sweet Ride – Gepetto EP
It’s Not Unusual – Gepetto EP (Remix Disc 2)
Star (Demo) – Gepetto EP (Remix Disc 2)
Dusted (Demo) – Gepetto EP (Remix Disc 2)
Are You Experienced? – Stone Free, A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix
Feed The Tree (U.S. Remix) – Feed The Tree Single
Star (Full Band Version) – Feed The Tree Single
Dream On Me – Feed The Tree Single
Trust in Me – Feed The Tree Single
Slow Dog (Remix) – Video Version
Dusted – Indie Top 20 Compilation Volume 16 Version
Gepetto – UK 7” Version
It’s Not Unusual (Ivo’s Version) – Moon EP
It’s Not Unusual (The Usual Mix) – Moon EP
It’s Not Unusual (Unusual Mix) – Moon EP
Full Moon, Empty Heart (Lunar Mix) – Moon EP
Full Moon, Empty Heart (Bloody Mary Mix) – Moon EP
Disc 3 – King
Puberty
Seal My Fate
Red
Silverfish
Super-Connected
The Bees
King
Now They’ll Sleep
Untitled & Unsung
L’il Ennio
Judas My Heart
Tracks 1-11 – King LP
Disc 4 – King Sessions & Live Tracks
Judas My Heart (Live In London) – Sun EP1.
The Bees (Live In London) – Sun EP
Spaceman – Sun EP
Seal My Fate (U.S. Radio Version) – Seal My Fate (Studio)
Diamond Rib Cage – Seal My Fate (Studio)
Think About Your Troubles – Seal My Fate (Studio)
Broken – Vinyl B-Side
Seal My Fate (Live) – Seal My Fate (Live)
White Belly (Live) – Seal My Fate (Live)
Untitled & Unsung (Live) – Seal My Fate (Live)
Thief – Now They’ll Sleep
Baby’s Arm – Now They’ll Sleep
John Dark – Now They’ll Sleep
Lilith – Sweet Ride, The Best of Belly
Super-Connected (Edit) – Super-Connected
Judas Mon Coeur – Sun EP
Disc 5 – Live & BBC Session
Low Red Moon
Dusted
Angel
Full Moon, Empty Heart
Star
Dream on Me
White Belly
Gepetto
Sexy S
Feed The Tree
Slow Dog
Stay
Dusted
Feed The Tree
Gepetto
White Belly
Angel
Gepetto (US. Radio Mix)
Tracks 1-12 – Live Grant Park, Chicago, 7th April 1993
Track 13 – Unknown
Tracks 14-17 – Mark Goodier BBC Session, 25th July 1992
Trak 18 – US 7” Single
Disc 6 – Blu Ray/DVD Disc
Official Videos For The Singles
Gepetto
Feed The Tree
Slow Dog
Super-Connected
Now They’ll Sleep
Seal My Fate
TV Appearances
Full Moon Empty Heart (Later with Jools Holland 18th June 1993)
Slow Dog (Later with Jools Holland 18th June 1993)
Gepetto (BBC Late Show 1993) Can’t find the exact date.
Feed The Tree (Late Show with David Letterman 1993) Can’t find the exact date.
Gepetto (The John Stewart Show 1993) Can’t find the exact date.
Feed The Tree (The Word 1993) Can’t find the exact date.
Are You Experienced (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 25th February 1994)
Seal My Fate (Late Night With Conan O’Brien 30th January 1995)
Super-Connected (Late Show with David Letterman 4th April 1995)
Red (The John Stewart Show 19th June 1995)
Super-Connected (Ray Coke’s MTV Most Wanted 22nd June 1995)
Seal My Fate (Ray Coke’s MTV Most Wanted 22nd June 1995)
Great Xpectations Finsbury Park 13th June 1993
Low Red Moon
Angel
Gepetto
Full Moon, Empty Heart
Sexy S
Star
Feed The Tree
Slow Dog
Dusted
Glastonbury 25th June 1993
Feed The Tree
Angel
White Belly
Glastonbury 23rd June 1995
King
Puberty
Now They’ll Sleep
Untitled & Unsung
Full Moon, Empty Heart
Dusted
Judas My Heart
Super-Connected
Feed The Tree
Slow Dog
Red
Seal My Fate
Gepetto
The cover is based on the 2016 vinyl pressing of ‘Star’.
Between 1994 and 1997, Britpop ruled the airwaves as far as I was concerned, but it did not mean that it was the only music genre I was listening to. The late 60s were never too far away either, especially as several Britpop artists were declaring how that period of music had influence them. Reissue programmes were starting to gather pace and one of these was a reconstruction of the fabled ‘Teenage Opera’ project. I had first heard of this project when I heard lead single ‘Excerpt From A Teenage Opera’ played on Capitol Gold, a radio station that focused on what was called oldies music back in the late 80s, early 90s. Oldies back then would have been anything between the mid 50s and 1969. This was an excerpt but what happened to the rest of it?
For this, we must go back to 1967 when German born producer Mark Wirtz finds himself in London checking out bands on the underground scene. He is also accepts a job on the staff at EMI. Two of the bands who he takes an interest in are Pink Floyd and the In Crowd. The Floyd sign to EMI label, Columbia but Wirtz declined the offer to produce them but looks to work with the In Crowd, especially their singer who goes by the name of Keith West. The In Crowd were already signed to EMI and had released three singles under that name but none of them troubled the charts. The band decided to change their name to the more ‘psychedelic’ Tomorrow and started to work with Wirtz.
Wirtz had had an idea of doing a pop opera style project and had already laid down some basic tracks. One of these was played to West who wrote the lyrics to what would become the first release for this project called ‘Excerpt From A Teenage Opera’. The song, telling the story of a grocer who is taken for granted before he dies was recorded in true stereo, which was rare for a 1967 pop single and it reached number 2 in the UK singles charts. The title of ‘Grocer Jack’ was given to the song later and was not included on the original single credits to imply that it was part of a much larger project. With the song being such a big hit, the music press were keen to find out when the rest would be released.
Reports suggested that the whole thing was already complete and was going to be released as a double album, also rare for the 60s. There was talk of a musical version would be staged which is something that did happen in 2017. There were also reports that MGM were prepared to buy the film rights. However, after this initial interest, the release of second single ‘Sam’ failed to live up the sales of the first and interest quickly faded. This was down to a couple of reasons. First up, ‘Sam’ was quite long for a single closing in at over five minutes so radio stations were reluctant to play it. Keith West also decided to leave the project. He needed to make a choice between being a darling of the underground music scene with his band Tomorrow, or being a pop star recording with Wirtz on the opera project. He opted for Tomorrow, even though he did record one further song for the project. Called ‘Mr Rainbow’ it was a rerecording of the Tomorrow song ‘Hallucinations’ and it was released under the pseudonym Steve Flynn.
Wirtz continued to work with Tomorrow. Their single ‘My White Bicycle’ is a psychedelic classic but neither it, nor the follow-up, ‘Revolution’ seriously dented the charts. By the time their album came out, the band had lost their cohesion. One of the reasons for this could have been that they were expected to play songs from the Teenage Opera project on stage. It would have been difficult enough to do this with the band being a four piece, but they were lacking the orchestra and children to reproduce them in the style of the recording.
After West left, there was a third single called ‘(He’s Our Dear Old) Weatherman’ with Wirtz taking over a lead vocalist. This was the first single not to have a dedicated stereo mix and it can be said that Wirtz knew his opera project was now dead in the water. ‘Except From A Teenage Opera’, ‘Sam’ and ‘(He’s A Dear Old) Weatherman’ are the only songs that can be guaranteed to have been completed for the project. Wirtz continued to produce records and when RPM Records came to compile their version of Teenage Opera in 1996, they used the three aforementioned songs, period productions from Wirtz and incidental music to make it sound like an actual soundtrack.
I decided that if EMI had thought of releasing an album back in the late 60s with some of the music Wirtz had been involved with, I suspect none of the incidental music would have made the cut. That just leaves the two themes (one to start of proceedings and one to conclude), the single A-Sides and even some B-Sides.
SIde A
Theme From A Teenage Opera – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Excerpt From A Teenage Opera – Keith West
Auntie Mary’s Dress Shop – Tomorrow
Barefoot & Tiptoe – Sweet Shop
(He’s Our Dear Old) Weatherman – Mark Wirtz
Dream, Dream, Dream – Zion De Gallier
Mr. Rainbow – Steve Flynn
Side B
Sam (From A Teenage Opera) – Keith West
Shy Boy – Kippington Lodge
Colonel Brown – Tomorrow
Cellophane Mary-Jane – Astronaut Alan & The Planets
Possum’s Dance – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
On A Saturday – Keith West
Theme From A Teenage Opera (End Titles) – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
The following notes for these songs have taken some details from the sleeve notes of the 1996 RPM release and an entry on the Steve Hoffman forum written by user mark f from 5th November 2007.
Theme from a Teenage Opera (B-side of ‘Except For A Teenage Opera) – the first track in the chronology of the Opera but never, according to Wirtz, intended to be part of the final concept. In fact ‘Theme’ was considered by Wirtz to be a throwaway B-side. Apparently, it gained its name only later when a B-side was needed for ‘Excerpt From a Teenage Opera’. Steve Howe plays the lead guitar on the track and contrary to popular belief this is the only Opera related track on which Howe appears. Howe’s guitar, the mandolins and balalaika were added later. Despite Wirtz’s feelings about the track it’s certainly a strong number melodically and the production is excellent.
Excerpt from a Teenage Opera – Incorrectly known as ‘Grocer Jack’, the instrumental track was recorded under the name Mood Mosaic. Though ‘Sam’ would present more complications in editing, ‘Excerpt From A Teenage Opera’ has at least three distinct sections, one of which has Wirtz doing his best Motown impersonation (evident in the section starting with “his arms and legs don’t feel so strong”). Existing recordings show that the rhythm section and keyboards were recorded live, followed by percussion overdubs. At least three more sessions would include orchestra and vocal overdubs. Though Wirtz has claimed that his use of mandolin and balalaika were influenced by Russian classical and dance music, the string band he used was from a local restaurant. Exactly who played on the track is unclear, but Clem Cattini was the drummer. Vocalists included The Ivy League, The Ladybirds and Peter Lee Stirling. Jim Sullivan and/or Vic Flick were more than likely the guitarists and Wirtz believes that Russ Stableford played bass. The children’s chorus was made up of students from the Corona School (a performing arts school in London which still exists to this day). Wirtz claims to have paid the Corona School out of his own pocket, West claims the kid’s vocals were his idea and there are reports that they were fed milk and cookies.
Auntie Mary’s Dress Shop – Recorded during the sessions for the Tomorrow album
Barefoot & Tiptoe – In early 1968, Wirtz married single Ross Hangman. Between them, they wrote several songs including this one. Both Mr and Mrs Wirtz sing on this song as well. The recording also included the Band of the Irish Guards who were not used to sitting down when playing, so they were recorded marching around the studio for the oompah section.
(He’s Our Dear Old) Weatherman – After West left the project, Wirtz claims that he gave up the search for a suitable vocalist but its possible he didn’t try all that hard sensing that he needed to get the track out fast. It can be argued that no other vocalist could have performed it as well as Wirtz. One existing backing track shows that the rhythm section was recorded live with timed sections of silence left for the orchestral overdubs. During the first silence Wirtz can be heard laughing hysterically. The main features of the instrumental track are the prominent accordion and the heavy percussion – again played by Clem Cattini. The children’s vocals were performed by the Irish kiddy folk act The O’Briens, with whom Wirtz recorded one single.
Dream, Dream, Dream – The artists lived on this release was Zion De Gallier. This was the pseudonym of Douglas Ord who was a singer of a band called The Deepbeats who do not see to have made any recordings. This was the A-Side of his second single, both of which were produced by Wirtz.
Mr Rainbow – As noted above, Steve Flynn was a pseudonym for Keith West and this was a rerecorded version of Tomorrow’s song, ‘Hallucinations’.
Sam – Roughly the same history and musicians as ‘Excerpt From A Teenage Opera’ but session recordings indicate even more percussion overdubs, which were later mixed down or totally removed. The heavy use of percussion had been a Wirtz trademark since 1964 and it sounds like Wirtz wanted to recreate his old sound. Sample edits of the backing tracks show that the sections were originally considered to be in a different order. The music papers of the day have Wirtz covertly recording train sounds at railway yards. He did in fact record the church bells at The Dom in his hometown of Cologne, Germany. The 4th Central Holloway Brownies Pack sings the children’s chorus this time because, according to Wirtz, The Corona School was not interested in participating. The issue may have come down to money. It is unclear as to whether the Brownies required milk and cookies. Lyrics printed on the promotional picture sleeve show a spoken word section with a girl (singer Penny Gold) asking Keith if Sam will come back. Promotional copies of the single had no B-side because the original B-side had been rejected (see below). Promo copies also contained a slip warning DJs of the track’s length. Wirtz later edited ‘Sam’ for radio play when it became evident that it was too long. Copies of those edits appear to have been hastily pressed. Advanced publicity claimed that Sam took 80 hours to record but Wirtz says that this is rubbish. In any case, publicists seemed pleased to announce that EMI were concerned about the cost to make the record. The B-Side of ‘Sam’ that was not used would have been interviews by Tim Rice, he of the musicals and working with Andrew Lloyd Webber fame. The second Mark Wirtz idea for the B-side to ‘Sam’ was to have kids being interviewed on various topics. Papers quoted Wirtz as saying that the interviews would address the kids at an adult level with the hope of gaining their perspective on various serious topics. The interviews were conducted apparently with the girls in the ‘Sam’ Brownie troupe but EMI rejected the idea for the B-side. If these tapes still exist, they have not been located.
Shy Boy – A single A-Side by band, Kippington Lodge.
Colonel Brown – Another track recorded by Tomorrow for inclusion on their album.
Cellophane Mary-Jane – A B-side for a single where the artist was listed as Astronaut Alan & The Planets. This looks to have been a group of session players who released numerous singles under loads of different names and Wirtz may well have been a member. The A-side was called ‘Fickle Lizzie Anne’.
Possum’s Dance – Originally released as the B-side to ‘(He’s Our Dear Old) Weatherman)’. According to Wirtz this track was recorded at the end of the ‘Sam’ sessions while the mandolin and balalaika players were still around. It’s possible that the main track was recorded even earlier as Mood Mosaic. Again, despite its charming melodic qualities, Wirtz considers this to be a throwaway B-side.
Theme From A Teenage Opera (End Credits) – a rerecorded version of the opening theme.
The cover is adapted form the one that was used on the RPM records sleeve from this heady days of 1996 and considering this came out in the era when sleeve art was minimal due to the limited space afforded by cassettes and CDs, this is quite a busy effort. All references to RPM have been removed but the Parlophone label has been added. The credit for Kippington Lodge would not, if it this had come out in the 1960s included the separate entry for Nick Lowe as he was just a member of the band and his solo career was some way off into the future. I do not have the necessary I.T. skills to fix that one though.
P.S. – Whilst I was putting this together, I thought that if this LP had been released back in the 60s, it would have been ripe for reappraisal and a Deluxe Edition. If CD 1 was the original album, CD 2 would contain the single mixes, flip sides, all of the incidental music that came with the 1996 reconstruction and any further unreleased material.
CD
Except From A Teenage Opera (Single Version) – Keith West
Theme From A Teenage Opera (Single Version) – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Festival Of Kings – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Sam (From A Teenage Opera) – Keith West
Thimble Full Of Puzzles – Mark Wirtz’ Mood Mosaic (feat The Ladybirds)
Paranoiac Woodcutter #1 – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
The Sad Story Of Simon The Bugle – Mark Wirtz
The Kid Was A Killer – Keith West
Except From A Teenage Opera (Count In Version) – Keith West
Paranoiac Woodcutter #2 – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Mrs Raven – MArk Wirtz
Knickerbocker Glory – Mark Wirtz
Grocer Jack’s Dream – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Lets Live For Tomorrow – Steve Flynn
Farewell To A Broken Doll – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Fickle Lizzie Anne – Astronaut Alan & The Planets
Glory’s Theme (All Aboard) – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Lead The Way – Sweet Shop
Love & Occasional Rain – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Lady On A Bicycle – Kippington Lodge
Geraldine – Zion De Gallier
Grocer Jack (Reprise) – Mark Wirtz Orchestra
Two’s Company, Three Thousands A Crowd – Tim Rice & Samantha Jones
Except From A Teenage Opera (Shortened Version) – Keith West
Sam (From A Teenage Opera) (Specially Edited Version) – Keith West
Except From A Teenage Opera (Single Version) – Mono mix of the song used on the 1967 single.
Theme From A Teenage Opera (Single Version)– Mono mix of the song used on the 1967 single.
Festival Of Kings – This was originally released on the Mark Wirtz Orchestra’s 1970 LP, ‘Come Back & Shake Me’. Even though it appeared on the 1996 ‘Teenage Opera OST’, it is unclear is this was ever meant to be a part of the project.
Sam (From A Teenage Opera)– Mono mix of the song used on the 1967 single.
Thimble Full Of Puzzles – B Side to the ‘Sam’ single. Originally used on the ‘Mood Mosaic’ LP, a Wirtz project that came out just before he started work on the ‘Teenage Opera’ project.
Paranoiac Woodcutter #1 – Originally this tune was first reported B-side to Sam was this instrumental that would later form the foundation for ‘(He’s Our Dear Old) Weatherman.’ It’s unclear whether the song was even recorded around the same time as ‘Sam’ and Wirtz claims the title was a joke name on the session sheets – his obvious Disney influence at work.
The Sad Story Of Simon The Bugle – Listed in the sleeve notes in the 1996 RPM release as a lost track, this has been found in the subsequent years. This completed backing track under this title appears on ‘The Fantastic Story of Mark Wirtz.’ However, that track was probably made after Wirtz left EMI. Unlike other Opera tracks was recorded completely live and was not recorded at Abbey Road. It does have a distinct Opera quality to it but for Wirtz it’s a fairly ordinary arrangement. It also lacks the multiple sections that have come to distinguish the three Opera singles. The opening segment the track on ‘Fantastic Story’ was used on ‘The Song I Sing’ from Wirtz’s solo album Balloon. Later Wirtz added vocals and used the full track as ‘The Chug-a-lug Song’ on his unreleased recording ‘Tempo’. It seems likely that ‘Sad Simon’ was never recorded and even Wirtz admits that the idea may have been a last ditch effort to revive the Teenage Opera. Wirtz says that he had intended to recruit Cliff Richard as lead vocalist on ‘Sad Simon.’
The Kid Was A Killer – B Side to the single, ‘On A Saturday’
Except From A Teenage Opera (Count In Version) – The stereo version of the song but with a count not included on the original release.
Paranoiac Woodcutter #2 – see above
Mrs Raven – Wirtz looked to release this as a stand alone single in 1968 but it only got as far as the promotional disc stage. I believe that this was co-written by Norman ‘Hurricane’ Smith, producer of early Pink Floyd and engineer one numerous Beatles songs. Not part of the Teenage Opera project, but……
Knickerbocker Glory – This was the B-Side of the ‘Mrs Raven’ and this was included on the 1996 RPM release.
Grocer Jack’s Dream – From the 1996 RPM release, this is a backing track for the song ‘Except From A Teenage Opera’.
Lets Live For Tomorrow – B-Side of the ‘Mr Rainbow’ single. This does not sound like Keith West is singing this song to me.
Farewell To A Broken Doll – This was originally released on the Mark Wirtz Orchestra’s 1970 LP, ‘Come Back & Shake Me’. Even though it appeared on the 1996 ‘Teenage Opera OST’, it is unclear is this was ever meant to be a part of the project.
Fickle Lizzie Anne – A-Side of the ‘Cellophane Mary-Jane’ single.
Glory’s Theme (All Aboard) – From the 1996 RPM release, this is a backing track for the song ‘Sam (From A Teenage Opera)’.
Lead The Way – B-Side of the ‘Barefoot & Tiptoe” single
Love & Occasional Rain – This was originally released on the Mark Wirtz Orchestra’s 1970 LP, ‘Come Back & Shake Me’. Even though it appeared on the 1996 ‘Teenage Opera OST’, it is unclear is this was ever meant to be a part of the project.
Geraldine – B-Side of the ‘Dream Dream Dream’ single
Grocer Jack (Reprise) – From the 1996 RPM release, this is a small section of the backing track for the song ‘Except From A Teenage Opera’.
Two’s Company, Three Thousands A Crowd – a comedy record conceived by Wirtz during his Teenage Opera period but in no way connected to the project. The recording has a couple (Tim Rice and Samantha Jones) making love, only to be interrupted by an ever-growing crowd of people who break into a song aptly titled ‘What Goes Up, Must Come Down’ (come to think of it, on paper the idea sounds rather funny). The idea of the crowd entering the room has a striking resemblance to The Beatles later recording of the ‘Hey Jude’ chorus, an irony not lost on Wirtz. The full recording of ‘Two’s Company’ has not surfaced but a partial version is hidden at the end of CD 1 of ‘The Fantastic Story.’ A re-recorded version of ‘What Goes Up’ was later released under the name Cellophane Mop.
Except From A Teenage Opera (Shortened Version) – Released as the B-Side to the US version of the single that was on the New Voices Records label. It is unknown if Wirtz produced this himself but this is the only place this version of the song has been released.
Sam (From A Teenage Opera) (Specially Edited Version) – Wirtz produced this after the song had been released to be played on the radio. Radio stations were reluctant to play songs that were over five minutes back in the 60s, but by the time this came out, the momentum for the Teenage Opera project was waining.
Missing is the track, Little Canoe. Apparently the working title of an intended Teenage Opera track. Wirtz now claims that he may have invented the title – or at least its connection to the Teenage Opera – to appease Opera fanatics. However, an acetate from the Teenage Opera period exists with the word “Canoe” on it. I have not been able to source a copy of this track, but Wirtz has alternately claimed that this recording formed the foundation for another planned Opera track called ‘The Sad Story of Simon and His Bugle.’
