Neil Young - Tonight's The Night: Alternate Acetate

Initially I'd said I wasn't a big Neil Young fan, but since immersing myself in his work I've found myself rather intrigued. Most interesting to me is his mid to late seventies output and his experimental early eighties stuff. Trans and Everybody's Rockin' are quite enjoyable, but I'm really taken by American Stars N' Bars and Rust Never Sleeps. Topping that list is Tonight's The Night which is very weird and raw. The inspiration for the album was the deaths of Danny Whitten, original guitarist for Crazy Horse, and Bruce Berry, a roadie for CSNY, both due to heroin addiction. The album sounds like a miserable wake, fueled by sorrow and hard liquor, with Young and the band sounding as rough and unpolished as they ever could. Maybe that was the only way Young and company could deal with their sadness, and as rough as that had to be for them, it makes for a great listening experience.

The album went through a number changes due to track selection, mixing issues and an insane tour a few years prior to the its release but featuring everything written for it. In fact, the album almost didn't see release as another unreleased Young album named Homegrown had been scheduled. Homegrown was a very sad album dealing with the end of a very intense relationship, and while it might have sold more records initially, Tonight's The Night really went to the bone.

One of the main issues surrounding the album is a confirmed alternate cut featuring dialogues between songs with Neil and the band. That cut of the album is looked at as the holy grail, but it has never leaked. Fans are keeping their fingers crossed that it will be in the next Archives set, but who knows when that will come out and only Young has an idea what will be in it. Until then though, like Chrome Dreams, someone found a fascinating acetate featuring an alternate cut of the album. This version doesn't include any of the dialogues but it does contain a number of songs that appeared elsewhere and two that remain unreleased, including the incredible Bad Fog Of Loneliness. Traces is the other unreleased goodie and is believed to be a demo for the unreleased CSNY album, Human Highway, but only Young and his crew could truly confirm this.

I have one more Neil Young recording to post and it will show up sometime in August, but I don't find it nearly as awesome as Chrome Dreams or this, so please don't be heartbroken if it doesn't blow you away. As for this one, give it a good shake because while it doesn't equal the finished album, it's still very good and quite interesting to hear in a different order. It's a different spin on a classic and is worth some time and attention. For a little more info on it, check this page at Sidestreet Records.


Neil Young - Tonight's The Night: Alternate Acetate

01 Tonight's The Night
02 Mellow My Mind
03 Roll Another Number (For The Road)
04 Tired Eyes
05 Speakin' Out
06 Walk On
07 For The Turnstiles
08 Bad Fog Of Loneliness
09 New Mama
10 Winterlong
11 Borrowed Time
12 Traces

The KLF - Chill Out

As if I haven't given enough love to the KLF already, here is Chill Out. As far as sampling goes, this album, while far simpler, has a similar effect to that of Paul's Boutique, Since I Left You and Endtroducing. The samples add to the mood rather than create it. The steel guitar and ambient sounds add to the majestic vibe and make the album feel like a place rather than a collection of songs. In fact, the original UK pressings of the album were one-track releases making it impossible to skip to later parts of the album. The US release, which is the source of this rip, has multiple tracks, but it's not like you're gonna want to skip through this anyway.

There is so much to say about this album that has already been said, and there is little more I can contribute to it, so here is a link to the wikipedia reference. Yeah, that probably seems lazy, but why mess with perfection?

The KLF - Chill Out

01 Brownsville Turnaround On The Tex-Mex Border
02 Pulling Out Of Ricardo and The Dusk Is Falling Fast
03 Six Hours To Louisiana, Black Coffee Going Cold
04 Dream Time In Lake Jackson
05 Madrugada Eterna
06 Justified and Ancient Seems A Long Time Ago
07 Elvis On The Radio, Steel Guitar In My Soul
08 3am Somewhere Out Of Beaumont
09 Wichita Lineman Was A Song I Once Heard
10 Trancentral Lost In My Mind
11 The Lights Of Baton Rouge Pass By
12 A Melody From A Past Life Keeps Pulling Me Back
13 Rock Radio Into The Nineties and Beyond
14 Alone Again With The Dawn Coming Up


PS-I had planned to post this eventually, but today I got an e-mail from someone I have great respect for. This person said I should post Space, so I figured I would do a quick update and give you the link. This goes well alongside Chill Out, and if you enjoy that you will most likely enjoy this.

Space

Madonna Shock Photo Of Biceps And Arms

A shocking photo of mega star Madonna has surfaced showing what appears to be a badly dehydrated and unconditioned body.

In the pictures her arms are skinny and her biceps appear as strange masses.

"When muscles look that way, it's often the result of very restrictive eating and dehydration," said a doctor and sports nutrition expert.

The singer was photographed in London last Sunday night after having dinner with boyfriend Jesus Luz.

Fans were shocked when they saw her bulging biceps and forearms on display in her short-sleeved top. Madonna has told reporters that she works out for two hours a day, six days a week.

The 50 year-old superstar is currently traveling with her "Sticky & Sweet world tour" that kicked of in Whales and sports a staff and entourage of over 250 people.
_

The KLF - Deep Shit: A Musical Retrospective, Part Three

I really didn't think I'd be able to get this one online tonight, but sometimes things just happen to work out alright. Also, if you're looking for the post about the delay, I deleted it since it doesn't contain anything terribly informative. But forget all that, on to the important stuff!

The third disc of the compilation deals with rarities and remixes, although remixes get the lions share of the attention. There are some really killer tracks here and many of them are quite rare so, if you've been holding back because you had the more common stuff, this one should please you quite nicely. The files are below with the blow by blow. Oh, and don't forget, there is one more post in this series. Come back tomorrow to Chill Out!

The KLF - Deep Shit: This Is What The KLF Were About
NOTE: You MUST download both parts to extract all files.
Disc Three, Part One
Disc Three, Part Two

01 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - Jerusalem On The Moors
The b-side to It's Grim Up North, this isn't so much a new track as a continuation of the closing theme in Part 1. A dark and stormy entrance into disc three.

02 The Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis (Club Mix)
Nothing too far out about this remix, but it's a great one nonetheless. In case you hoped it was longer, here's your wish.

03 The KLF - Kylie Said Harder
The Kylie mixes were pretty damn good, but with the single flopping they became scarce quick. Despite the title, this is still a rather minimal remix.

04 The KLF - Kylie In A Trance
The trance thing is rather evident here, making this a really nice one to vibe out to. It's really a shame that this track didn't catch on, if only for the sake of these remixes.

05 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - It's Grim Up North (Club Mix)
This is the original version of Grim which was produced in extremely limited quantity on grey marble vinyl. I guess it could be looked at as a demo or first draft as it's quite a bit simpler than the final version, but it's not all that different. Still though, nice mix that never gained an official release of any sort.

06 The KLF - Madrugada Eterna (Club Mix)
This might be the only track of this entire compilation that is not a sanctioned KLF recording. In a short trailer for the unreleased White Room movie a remix of Madrugada Eterna played in the background. Eventually, a remix was announced but it never appeared which, sadly, is not all that strange a thing when discussing the KLF. This is not the remix from the trailer and is widely assumed to be a bootleg, but since no one has ever confirmed this and it remains a popular enough track, I think it's suitable for this compilation. Even if it isn't legit, it's still a very nice and mellow mix of an already mellow track. This and the next few tracks are meant for chilling out.

07 The KLF - 3 A.M. Eternal (Blue Danube Orbital)
First off, this remix is by THE ORB, not Orbital. That said, this is a beautiful remix from the second 12" for 3 A.M. Eternal that was released in the UK.

08 The KLF - Last Train To Trancentral (Mu D. Vari-Speed Version)
From the KLF Meets The Moody Boys Uptown 12" for Last Train, this is easily the most messed up remix of them all. It sounds like someone slowing down and speeding up the master tapes at random intervals. Yeah, it might sound stupid, but it's incredible! I totally zone-out when this track comes on! Also, the Moody Boys were a kind of electro-dub group that was related to the KLF, but they were NOT the KLF under a different name. They had their own individual releases and are worth seeking out in their own right. One more note, this was also the soundtrack to a short film called This Is Not What The KLF Are About, which featured video being slowed down and messed with alongside the track.

09 The KLF - 3 A.M. Eternal (Klonk Blip Every Trip)
This one is from the Moody Boys Selection CD single for 3 A.M. which makes it another Moody Boys remix. This one is almost a completely new track.

10 The KLF - What Time Is Love? (The Moody Boys vs. The KLF)
Yet another Moody Boys-related remix, this one credits the Children Of The Revolution as additional performers on the track, but who knows what their contributions really were. As for the track, weird, spacey and featuring a Cymande sample. Taken from the Remodelled & Remixed What Time Is Love 12".

11 The KLF - What Time Is Love? (Virtual Reality Mix)
From the same 12" as the last mix, this one holds similarities to the Vari-Speed version of Last Train. God, I love these Moody Boys remixes!

12 The Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis (Minimal)
Self explanatory.

13 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - It's Grim Up North (Part 2)
As a reminder that the end doesn't mean it's all peace and love, we close with this dark and gloomy instrumental. Yeah, the KLF might sound a little dated, but a lot of this stuff holds up pretty well. Grim is still a pretty mean cut after all this time.

DESCULPAS, BONAPARTE, POMPADOUR E ATÉ SETEMBRO

Para aqueles que me seguem .... houve um grande espaço de interregno e ausência ... Vou - me ausentar ainda em Agosto .... volto em Setembro .... e voltarei ao "blog" ....

Boas Férias

Deixo-vos umas imagens de um biombo que trouxe novos "horizontes associativos" ao meu interior.

The KLF - Deep Shit: A Musical Retrospective, Part Two

Here is the second disc of my KLF compiliation. The third disc will appear sometime on Tuesday and the fourth Wednesday or Thursday. Sorry if it's a bit slow, but they will be here soon enough with some other goodies too. Anyway, this disc focuses on KLF rarities and album tracks. Enjoy!

The KLF - Deep Shit: This Is What The KLF Were About
NOTE: You MUST download both parts to extract all files.
Disc Two, Part One
Disc Two, Part Two

01 The One World Orchestra - The Magnificent
This is one of the few post-retirement tracks from the KLF. It initially appeared in 1995 on the Help compilation which was a benefit album. It's basically a drum'n'bass version of the theme from the Magnificent Seven.

02 2K - Fuck The Millenium
Reborn in 1997 as 2K, Cauty and Drummond made a single live performance in powered wheel chairs to perform what is essentially a rather long remix of What Time Is Love. At one point there was a phone line opened asking whether the millenium should be fucked or not. Sadly, this was not a huge hit, but how many songs where people repeatedly yell that you should fuck something, and not in a sexual sense, receive such a status?

03 The KLF - Make It Rain
Taken from The White Room, this is a spare and dubby jam. Not much to say, just a good track.

04 The KLF - Last Train To Trancentral (Pure Trance)
This is the original trance version from 1990. Significantly different from the Lost Continent version, the melody was co-opted in Go To Sleep from the original, unreleased version of The White Album. I'll have to post that album here eventually, as it's quite interesting, but if you think any of the tracks posted here sound dated, the unreleased version of The White Room will make you cover your ears in shock.

05 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - Rockman Rock (Parts 2 and 3)
King Boy tells us all how tough the Rockman really is. This is from the 1987 album.

06 The KLF - Build A Fire
Taken from The White Room, the theme from Twin Peaks is mentioned as an inspiration quite often. It does bear a striking similarity to that show's memorable theme, and that's in a good way. Simply, a very beautiful track to chill out to.

07 The KLF - 3 A.M. Eternal (Pure Trance)
The original 1989 trance version of this classic. It's a very peaceful track and earns it's version title quite nicely.

08 The KLF - Madrugada Eterna
Taken from Chill Out, this track takes that instruction quite seriously. If you like this, wait till you hear the rest of Chill Out!

09 K Foundation - K Cera Cera (War Is Over If You Want It)
This came out as a one track CD single in 1993 with vocals from the Red Army Choir. Oh yeah, this only came out in Israel. A rather nice mix of Que Cera Cera and John and Yoko's Christmas classic, this is a surprisingly subtle track from people who were anything but.

10 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - King Boy's Dream
Once again, King Boy tells us how it is. This is probably the best Scottish rap boast you'll ever hear!

11 The KLF - What Time Is Love? (Pure Trance)
My favorite of the Pure Trance originals, this dates back to 1988. Engaging and ominous, this feels like 2 a.m. eternal. An easy classic!

12 The KLF vs. Extreme Noise Terror - 3 A.M. Eternal
This is probably the one track recorded for the Black Album that was completed. The whole story behind this track is far too long to be told in this post, but I might have to post the Black Album sessions eventually along with that tale. A totally insane, metallic version with screamed lyrics and fucked-up everything, this was released as a fan-club exclusive although later vinyl pressings have been seen. The legitimacy of those later pressings remain uncertain.

13 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - The Queen and I
This is the one that sparked the rage of ABBA and is the main reason that all remaining copies of the 1987 album were destroyed. Yes, it's cheesy as hell and rather silly, but this is the kind of stuff people should make more of. Mock the hits and speak your mind!

14 The KLF - The White Room
The end to the second disc, the title cut from The White Room is another slightly dubby, chilled-out dance groove. Like a lot of the album tracks, there isn't necessarily a lot of back-story to tell here, but that doesn't make the track any less enjoyable.

The KLF - Deep Shit: A Musical Retrospective, Part One

There are a lot of artists, bands, collectives, labels and movements that are great and deserve to be absorbed into the public consciousness, but it's usually very difficult to explain why that is within the space of an article or short posting. Sometimes a well-designed website or wikipedia page helps, but sometimes you need a book, if not volumes of books. A movie or documentary can help but they are often rather incomplete and give the wrong ideas or leave important people and their actions out entirely. All in all, it's tough, and it's not something I want to do here, so I won't. That said, I am going to try to lay some groundwork to allow one to start their own research on the following topic at hand, at least musically, because as important as the music is, there was a lot more than just music when it came to the KLF.

The KLF, aka The JAMs, The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, The Timelords, 2K, K Foundation and the One World Orchestra among a seemingly endless list of aliases were comprised of Bill Drummond, aka King Boy D, the co-founder of Zoo Records, a member of Big In Japan and manager of Echo and The Bunnymen, and Jimmy Cauty, aka Rockman Rock, a member of Brilliant and a co-founder of The Orb. Starting in 1987, they made some of the least genre-specific music while simultaneously being an extremely powerful force in the dance and pop communities. Between 1987 and 1991, they independently released five full-length albums and numerous singles as well as limited edition remix singles and companion releases. They sampled The Beatles, Elvis Presley, ABBA, Whitney Houston, Samantha Fox, Dave Brubeck, Jimi Hendrix, Sly & The Family Stone, the MC5 and others all without ever clearing a sample, which led to all sorts of legal issues including the destruction of every remaining copy of their 1987 debut album, 1987 (What The Fuck Is Going On?). They collaborated with Tammy Wynette, the country star, and Extreme Noise Terror, a vegan metal group which led to an infamous appearance on British television where fake machine guns were fired into the audience. They made videos where practially nothing and everything could happen, including a road movie based on their album The White Room which was never finished and, despite being widely bootlegged, was screened publicly only once and to an audience of sheep. At various points as a sign their careers were over courtesy only of themselves, they left a dead sheep in the streets with an annoucement that they had left the music industry, they burned a million British Pounds and eventually deleted their entire catalogue and have refused to reissue any item from it since. Over all, you could say they built a mystery and have committed themselves to maintaining it.

Because their releases are unavailable via legal channels, bootlegs of varying quality run rampant and it’s rather difficult to obtain a clear view of what the KLF were really all about. Rather than posting everything they’ve ever done, of which I’m positive I don’t have, I’ve compiled a three disc overview of their career, featuring their singles, album cuts, rarities and remixes. To be honest, while I think this collection does a great job of introducing the KLF, you’ll still have to do a lot of research to find out what they were really all about, but this is a good starting point.

Over the next few days there will be four posts of KLF material, starting today with the first disc of this collection I’ve compiled which I’ve named Deep Shit: This Is What The KLF Were About. The first disc will focus on their singles, while the second will feature rarities and album cuts. The third will feature remixes both created by the KLF themselves as well as additional collaborators and the fourth disc will feature their ambient classic, Chill Out. All of these tracks have been compiled either from my own collection or from extremely high quality lossless copies of their various singles and releases, so while you may hear quality differences from track to track, as some tracks are vinyl sources, these are the best copies available.

I really hope you enjoy this collection and, if you need more KLF goodness, I may be so inclined to make another torrent featuring my collection of lossless rips. Please let me know if anyone is interested in such a thing. Also, if you want to know more about the KLF, especially since this post doesn’t even scrape the surface of their legacy, you should visit the Library Of Mu and the KLF Online archive for starters. There are a number of other sites available but these are fabulous starting points.

The KLF - Deep Shit: This Is What The KLF Were About
NOTE: You MUST download both parts to extract all files.
Disc One, Part One
Disc One, Part Two

01 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - All You Need Is Love (Original Version)
The original version of the debut single from the JAMs which was not reissued due to an unauthorized sample of the Beatles' All You Need Is Love. King Boy D grabs the mic.

02 The KLF - What Time Is Love? (Live At Trancentral)
The second and more popular version of What Time Is Love? This is part of the Stadium House Trilogy and features Isaac Bello on vocals.

03 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - Don't Take Five (Take What You Want)
More rhymes from King Boy D while sampling James Brown and Dave Brubeck. Taken from the 1987 album.

04 J.A.M.s - Whitney Joins The J.A.M.s
The story goes that Cauty and Drummond went to the studio to make a new track but, after hearing Whitney Houston's I Want To Dance With Somebody, decided that it was a better song than anything they would come up with that day and they should just make a track from it. Also includes bits of the Mission: Impossible theme.

05 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - Down Town
King Boy and choir do their thing over the melody from Petula Clark's Downtown. Issued first as a single and then as part of the Shag Times compilation.

06 The KLF - 3 A.M. Eternal (Live At The S.S.L.)
Another part of the Stadium House Trilogy, another revised single and also from The White Room. Ricardo da Force provides the rhymes. In case you were wondering, S.S.L. stands for Solid State Logic, the type of mixing console used for this song.

07 The Timelords - Doctorin' The Tardis
Arguably their biggest hit, this one mashes the Doctor Who theme and Gary Glitter's Rock and Roll Part 2. Some say it's the first mash-up, although you could say that about a lot of the KLF's songs. The record art and video featured an old police cruiser renamed Ford Timelord which noted that "it" made the record.

08 The KLF - Kylie Said To Jason
Meant to be the first single off The White Album, this one bombed pretty bad and led to a complete restructuring of the album. The title refers to Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan, then stars of the Australian soap-opera Neighbours.

09 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - Candyman
Taken from their 1988 sophmore album, Who Killed The JAMs? Funny song about who knows what featuring King Boy rapping.

10 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - It's Grim Up North (Part 1)
Initially meant for the unreleased and unfinished sixth KLF album, The Black Room, this track is supposed to be a form of dark trance. It is indeed dark and rather eerie. For the record, The Black Room would not have sounded anything like this if the stories are true, as it was meant to be a very real metal album. I might eventually have to post the circulating tracks from those sessions.

11 The KLF - Justified & Ancient (Stand By The Jams 12" Version)
The infamous Tammy Wynette single! Technically the third version of this song, this is the definitive version and was a huge hit. This is the slightly longer 12" version.

12 The KLF - Last Train To Trancentral (Live From The Lost Continent)
From the Stadium House Trilogy. This version appears on US versions of The White Room but a different version is on all other editions.

13 The KLF - America: What Time Is Love?
The third version of What Time Is Love? and probably the oddest. It's long, has an orchestra, Isaac Bello takes the mic and it's thorougly unclear what the hell is going on. Lotta fun though.

14 The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu - Burn The Bastards
Borrowing the melody from Sly Stone's Dance To The Music, this is taken from Who Killed The JAMs and is a party starter/finisher. King Boy raps

Hrvatski - Oiseaux 96-98

Keith Fullerton Whitman is Hrvatski. These days he generally records under his given name, but in the mid to late nineties he was creating drum'n'bass experiments that blew minds if you were lucky enough to find them. In this case, he produced the Oiseaux 96-98 album which compiles tracks he recorded from, guess what, 96 to 98! The easiest thing to compare this to would be Big Loada era Squarepusher, but that's not giving Keith the credit he is due. A graduate of Berklee, Keith infused the d'n'b rhythms of the amen loop with field recordings, krautrock stylings, noise, abstract designs and a curious love of birds. Oh yeah, and a really spaced-out remix of Pink Floyd's Cirrus Minor. All that said, he also made killer d'n'b tracks that will melt your speakers.

I can't do Hrvatski justice in text, so I'm just going to post this album for you to absorb. This was released in 1999 on Keith's own label, Reckankreuzungsklankewerkzeuge, and sold out two pressings lightning quick. It, and just about everything else he released on his own, has been out of print since, although he still has some releases available on Mike Paradinas' Planet Mu label and most releases under his own name are easily available, although they are far more sparse and experimental, usually focusing on processed guitar with field recordings. You can read more about Keith/Hrvatski at his extremely detailed official site, which will give you info about a number of his collaborations and alises.

If there were ever an album I wanted people to hear more than Crazy Wisdom Masters or God's Foot, it's this. Please take the time to download this one as it truly mind-blowing. This is a brand new rip from an original copy of the CD in V0 for optimal quality, so don't be concerned about the confines of MP3 in this case. Keith has tried to reissue this a few times over the years, once in a deluxe package with other tracks from this period and another time on vinyl, but none of these attempts have come to fruition. Maybe people think this is a dated sound, but I honestly believe this album rises out of the stereotype of drum'n'bass as there is nothing simple or pedestrian about the tracks. Again, the easiest comparison is Squarepusher, but that doesn't tell you anything other than there are beats. There is SO MUCH MORE here than just beats!

Hrvatski - Oiseaux 96-98
NOTE: Please download both files. You need both to unzip the album.
Part One
Part Two

The State - Comedy For Gracious Living UPDATE

This is my third posting of this album, but I wouldn't be doing it if there weren't an important reason. An extremely gracious user by the name of anothergirl, the source of the original posting of the album over at the fantastic MySpleen site, wrote me to give me the proper names of all the tracks on the album. A lot of the track names remain the same, but there are a good few with entertaining corrections which are worthy of a download. On top of that, I'm posting the album with a fresh download link just in case the previous one has died. So, if you don't already have it, do yourself a favor and grab this excellent album. That reminds me, at one point I commented that this album wasn't great but was still very funny. I would like to retract that comment as this IS A GREAT ALBUM AND IT IS VERY FUNNY TOO! So grab it already!

The State - Comedy For Gracious Living
UPDATE: It's gone because it's released on September 10th.

PS-Here is a link to the original article with the corrected track list if you want to check it out.

UPDATE: I promise this is the last revision. It was brought to my attention that some of the file names were slightly incomplete so I corrected them and re-uploaded the album one more time. The track titles are also corrected in the original post so you can check them out there as well. This upload also has the cover art attached but I've changed the above image to match it so, unless you haven't downloaded the album yet, you shouldn't have to re-download it again. WHEW! Enjoy!

John Oswald - Plunderphonic

In 2004, everyone was losing their minds over Danger Mouse's Grey Album. For the uninitiated, the Grey Album was a mash-up of the music from the Beatles' White Album and the vocals from Jay-Z's Black Album. The Grey Album was creative and rather well-done, but it got most of it's press because of the stern reaction from EMI and the Beatles' lawyers and their claims of copyright infringement. In retrospect, a lot of humor has come of these events in great part due to Paul McCartney's limited-release remix album as Twin Freaks and a Beatles-sanctioned remix album, Love. All this has happened while the Beatles' catalogue remains nearly impossible to sample if you don't pay exorbitant fees, and even then it may not be possible. As for Danger Mouse, real name Brian Burton, his career skyrocketed due to the fame granted because of the Grey Album, but despite doing production work for EMI related artists he still seems to suffer their lawyers' unexplainable wraths as evidenced with the non-release of the music portion of his collaboration with Sparklehorse, David Lynch and a who's-who cast of rock all-stars, Dark Night Of The Soul, of which no reason was ever made public for it's non-availability. All of this said though, Danger Mouse still sampled the Beatles without their permission and, contrary to popular belief, did attempt to sell copies of the Grey Album through his website. Copyright law may be rather draconian and difficult to maneuver around here in the US, but it is the law and if the copyright owner wants to fight for their properties and has the funds to fuel such a legal battle, such as the Beatles or EMI, you'd better be prepared for the worst.

Fifteen years before the Grey Album debacle, John Oswald, a musician and composer from Canada, produced what many consider his magnum-opus, an album named Plunderphonic. What happened to Oswald's album has many striking similarities to the events surrounding the Grey Album. In fact, by today's standards, his story would hit home harder than Danger Mouse's tale ever could have. In 1989, Oswald, after years of creating sample-based recordings, assembled his Plunderphonic album and, out of his own funds, had copies of the album mastered and mass-produced on compact disc. He proceeded to mail the copies to libraries, publications, artists and friends among others at no cost to them. In fact, he refused to charge anything for the album as he did not own the copyright for any of the tracks or artwork he sampled, but was still attacked by the CRIA, the Canadian equivalent of the RIAA, for copyright infringement. Their claim was that despite Oswald not making any profit from his album's release, he was still infringing on the copyright of the sampled authors and the remaining undistributed copies had to be destroyed. Of course, here in the US, people could have complained about his use of their works without their permission, but as there was no profit made or copyright requested for Oswald's work, the physical copies would most-likely remained in existence. Much has been said that the fight to destroy the Plunderphonic album may have been caused by CBS/Sony as they were angry about the sampling of Michael Jackson both on the album as well as the artwork. The artwork, in fact, is probably the origin of their distaste, as it features Jackson's head pasted to the body of a nude French model. It's pretty damn amusing to me, but I'm sure it wasn't for CBS.

Apart from their legal complications, comparing Danger Mouse and John Oswald's work is like comparing a house-cat to an African lion. The Grey Album was catchy and featured the then-popular vocals from Jay-Z's Black Album as well as classic Beatles tracks, whereas Plunderphonic was comprised of tracks from multiple artists, in multiple styles, none of which were particularly commercial sounding. Plunderphonic could be called rough, disjointed or even a test of one's patience, whereas the Grey Album met somewhere between pop and hip-hop. Most likely, if it were released today, Oswald's Plunderphonic would gain little public support, if any, for it's release or distribution and it would be treated as an artsy project only for those who liked noise and calamity. This is an unfair perspective of course, but you can't convince the majority to listen to abstract assemblies of music next to Top 40 radio favorites.

John Oswald continues to work today on various projects using his Plunderphonic sound concepts as the base. You'd do well to visit his excellent website as well as the one he's dedicated specifically to plunderphonics and projects of the sort. Much more information about the non-release of the Plunderphonic album can be found there as well as a link to download the album itself in MP3 format, but that link has been known to go offline from time to time so I'm posting it here as well. If you've got a mind for experimentation you should really download this album and give it a fair shake. It's definitely not an easy listening experience, but it's extremely rewarding. For every moment of inspired dementia, such as Oswald's reworking of Michael Jackson's Bad as dab, there are moments of utter beauty like rainbow, an extreme slowing of an orchestral rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. We need more stuff like this, and we need more people bringing up questions about copyright. Copyright can be a great thing, but it's far too easy to be abused, especially when the so-called abuser is either doing no one any harm or the supposed harm caused is greatly overstated.


John Oswald - Plunderphonic


PS-I hope no one is offended by the album art. I've always thought it was hilarious.

July 2009 Mixtape: Early Nineties Nightmares

Did everyone have a nice weekend? After that Beasties post I wanted to take a few days off, but everything will be back to normal starting this week. As for that Beasties post, what did everyone think? Did you download the torrent? Did you like it? Any problems? Pros, cons, opinions, ideas, anything? Please drop me a line and let me know what you thought. There might be another compilation coming soon that would be a torrent specific download. But for now, on to today's post, the second installment of my monthly mixtape.

Someone very special to me had a birthday recently, and they received a 1gb iPod Shuffle as one of their (plentiful) gifts. This special person has enlisted me to help find the songs they want for their pod which isn’t all that difficult, but they asked for a lot of songs that I hadn’t listened to in a VERY long time, at least fifteen years. In listing these songs, one showcase for music of this sort came up several times, that being Open House Party with John Garabedian. This person and I listened to Open House Party a lot during the early nineties and often taped it to get our favorite new songs that we either couldn’t find or afford. We also listened to it because we didn’t have a lot of friends to hang out with on Saturday nights. Yes, we were lame, but we celebrated our lameness listening to music we loved and we have no shame in that. I do wish I’d have gotten laid a little earlier, but my youth was still alright.

So, while finding the songs this special person wanted I started thinking about songs I loved from the early nineties, several of which crossed over with this person’s list. While a lot of these songs are kind of embaressing to look back on, I must say that several of them are long-time favorites and others are thoroughly pleasing to have re-discovered. The whole experience was so pleasing that I decided to base my July mixtape around some of these cuts.

I should warn you that there is some heavy cheese in this one. At the time I was listening to these tracks I was twelve or thirteen and thought I was cutting edge. This was long before I discovered my loves of noise, jazz, experimental stuff, electronic music, truly weird crap, metal, deeper hip-hop and mutant dance music, among other things. So, in retrospect there is some good stuff here that thrives despite my aging, although that’s not saying a lot of it isn’t cheesy as hell, but if you’ve got a heart for exploration you should give this one a chance. And hey, play along with the name of the blog and tell me if you know any of these cuts, because a lot of people I know have never heard of any of this stuff. On top of that, if you’ve got reccomendations share them in the comments!

One more thing, my special person wanted me to note that they are a she. She was afraid someone might get the wrong idea, although she's the one who said she never wants ANYONE to know anything about her via this blog. Whatever. Alright, on with the music and some info on the tracks!

The Unheard Music July 2009 Mixtape: Early Nineties Nightmares

01 Deee-Lite – Good Beat (Extend The Beat Mix)
I LOVED Deee-Lite back in the day. I own all three of their albums and consider them all quite good. In particular, their first album, World Clique, was a knockout but the singles all had even better remixes. Even the basic radio mixes had an extra sheen on them. Good Beat gained a great glow when they remixed it for radio and video, and this remix is the long version of that mix. I can’t get confirmation on this, but I’m pretty sure this remix was credited to Sampladelic which Deee-Lite’s production label.

02 Hi Tek 3 – Spin That Wheel (feat. Ya Kid K)
Hi Tek 3 was a side-project of Technotronic, so if Ya Kid K’s voice sounds familiar (Pump Up The Jam!!!! Yes? Uh…) now you know why. They had at least one full-length album named The Easy Way. Spin That Wheel appeared on the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack in the US in slightly edited form, and a remix appeared on Technotronic’s Trip On This remix album. I can’t believe I had to reference the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

03 Color Me Badd – Slow Motion (Freeze Frame Mix)
My special person HATES this song and thinks it’s ridiculous that I liked it back in the day. The groove it alright, but the lyrics are pretty awful. Hell, there is a line in here where the lead singer proclaims that “they call me motion lover”. This is a cheese-fest if there ever was one. This track is notable though for being a Howie Tee production and giving a sample credit to Blood Sweat and Tears Spinning Wheel. A little of the melody from Spinning Wheel could be referenced, but it really never jumped out to me until I saw the sample clearance. Regardless, decent track but watch out for the cheese. After all, these are the guys that did I Wanna Sex You Up!

04 Urban Dance Squad – Deeper Shade Of Soul
Does anyone else remember this track? This was the jam for five minutes in the early nineties! Cool video with a bunch of skater dudes and a track that sounds like Rage Against The Machine if they were more concerned with waves and a good buzz than politics. These guys recorded a few more records and did eventually go in the direction Rage was going, at least with their sound, but I prefer this funky mellow vibe any day of the week.

05 Black Box – I Don’t Know Anybody Else (Hurley’s House Mix)
I discovered Black Box after hearing Martha Wash singing for C+C Music Factory. They had a few really good tracks like Everybody Everybody and Strike It Up, but this track, in particular this version, is the shit! Steve “Silk” Hurley did a lot great house records and remixes that I was never able to put his name with until years later, ingraining in my mind how great his productions were. Don’t sleep on Steve Hurley!

06 3rd Bass – Portrait Of The Artist As A Hood (Remix)
3rd Bass were Def Jam’s answer to the Beastie Boys after they parted ways. 3rd Bass were more street and far more concerned with mic skills than partying, but as much as I love their stuff (Derelicts Of Dialect is a classic!) that doesn’t make them better than the Beasties. That said, this track gets all kinds of credit as being one of the first remixes to completely flip the beat and add a new vocal track or verse. I don’t know how accurate that is, but I do remember this remix being special because the extra verse wasn’t provided by an outside MC. This gets placed along-side the remix of A Tribe Called Quest’s Scenario which featured a new beat and completely re-recorded rhymes, several of which were re-written. That Scenario remix usually gets credited as the first to do ths new beat thing, but 3rd Bass’ Portrait was definitely the first.

07 Jeremy Jordan – Right Kind Of Love
I remember hating this song when I was younger because it was a girly jam. You couldn’t dance, jam or rock out to it, you had to slow dance or something. Nothing wrong with getting next to the opposite sex, I just wanted to do that with with a better groove. Time has relaxed me though and I recognize this as a good slow groover that might get you next to a sexy little something. Oh yeah, my roommate wants to note that this track was played in the original 90210. Me, I never watched 90210, it was too GIRLY! I’M A MAN, MAN! Aww, who am I kidding, I say this but I watched Sex and The City regularly.

08 LL Cool J – Jingling Baby (Remixed But Still Jingling)
Now this is the shit! I never heard this on the radio or television, I found out about it when a friend brought over their copy of LL’s Mama Said Knock You Out. That whole cd is great, but this track takes the cake! So much better than the original version! All credit must be given to Marley Marl who secured production duties for the Mama Said album by giving Jingling Baby this much needed rework. Put this shit on and go driving round town with your windows down! A lot of people say the old school is just that, old, but tracks as good as this never, and I mean NEVER, go out of style.

09 Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam – Let The Beat Hit ‘Em (The Brand New Super Pumped-Up C&C Vocal Club Mix)
Ridiculous title, eh? This remix is a C&C production, if the name didn’t give it away, but they did the original version too. This track really introduced me to heavy sampling and using samples out of context. I never found out about Double Dee & Steinski until the late nineties, but I put this alongside the Lessons and lots of those other sample-based classics. Let me know what you think of this one.

10 The Shamen – Move Any Mountain (Beat Edit)
I used to bother my friends and family by making them listen to this track over and over again, much to their distaste. It’s aged alright but there is no question what era it came out in. This is the same version that appears on the album, but for whatever reason the single releases always noted this as the Beat Edit. Beat is short for Beatmasters, although I never found the full version of this track apart from a Beatmasters Dub. I did find a track labeled the Beatmasters 12” version, but it doesn’t sound anything like this one.

11 Prince – Gett Off (Houstyle)
Another Steve “Silk” Hurley remix! I love the extended remix of the album version, but this version is killer! Just check it out now!

12 Pebbles – Giving You The Benefit (Extended Club Mix)
I wish there was a shorter version of this mix, as the album and single mixes just don’t sound nearly as good. I’ve heard this way too many times for it to be as much fun as it used to be, but it’s still good. My friend Scott, who I haven’t seen for years, made fun of me for putting this on a mixtape. His girlfriend started listening to it all the time and he gave me tons of shit for it. On that note, Scott (full name Scott Ernest Henderson), drop me a line if you’re out there. It’s been too long man! I wanna know how you’re doing!

13 Trilogy – Good Time
Another C&C produced track featuring Q-Unique of Arsonists fame and using a sample of the end of the Fat Albert theme song. Remember when all songs featured samples of the Fat Albert theme? Yeah, me neither.

14 A Tribe Called Quest – Scenario (feat. Leaders Of The New School)
Classic! Nothing else to say other than classic!

Beastie Boys - The Paul's Boutique Companion UPDATE!!!!!

The time is here Ladies and Gentlemen!!! The complete Paul's Boutique Companion has been uploaded to Demonoid and can now be downloaded at your leisure! Prepare for 2.23gb of music featuring:

1) Demos and Rough Versions (Lossless versions of the tracks already posted here)
2) B-Sides and Rarities (Lossless versions of the tracks already posted here)
3) Instrumentals
4) Show Vinyl
5) Sample Sources
6) A Lossless 24 Bit, 96 Khz vinyl transfer of the album from an original UK pressing
7) Imagery from the Paul's Boutique era of the Beasties

If you liked the abridged version of the Companion, you'll LOVE this version! So go to Demonoid or just click this link and start downloading!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming!


PS - Is it just me or did this post come off like a commercial?

Soul Coughing - Live Demo Tape & CARTOONS!!!

Sometimes it seems like you go hunting for something, you find it and then something you thought you had squared away disappears. Such is the case for a backup of an FTP site from 1998 containing some Soul Coughing oddities. I thought I knew where it was and I'm sure it's not too far off, but after hunting down the ever allusive Double M demos, the FTP backup has gone invisible on me. This probably doesn't mean too much in the long run but it does mean the tracks featured in this post are not from a singular source and have been slightly tweaked so as to fit together a bit nicer. Kinda cryptic sounding, yeah, but when you're dealing with 128kbps MP3s sourced from cassettes it doesn't matter so much, so the majority of the preceding paragraph is only for audiophiles concerned with such details. If that's a turn-off, you can always ignore these tracks, but I promise you, unless you know someone from the band personally, none of us are going to hear better versions of these ones anytime soon.

Anyway, the four Cough tracks here are from a demo tape dated 1992 which is comprised of live recordings from the very first SC show which was at the Knitting Factory, although the fourth track is from an unknown date and doesn't feature any of the normal SC line-up outside of Doughty. This track, Brooklyn Girls By Train, is catchy enough but I never thought it sounded like typical Cough. Upon seeing the line-up for the band on this recording, all is explained. Apart from the line-up, I don't know anything about this track, so if anyone can fill in the blanks it would be truly appreciated. On top of that, I've got nine of the eleven tracks from the Knitting Factory show but I can't find two of them, so if anyone can help me out there I will forever be in your debt. Oh yeah, and I'll post the whole show too!

So I wanted to share something else for the Cough fans out there. This isn't as rare as these demos or the Double M demos are, and you can find it easily on youtube, but I haven't seen too many decent non-streaming copies floating around so I knew this was post-worthy. These are the El Oso Sound Cartoons, which were created as a promotional tool for El Oso prior to it's release. If I remember correctly, a few of these shorts may have been played on Cartoon Network who may have been involved in their creation, but I can't say for certain so don't quote me here. What I am certain of is that they were shown as special events at record shops and Borders book stores in 1998 but will never be granted an official release due to their use of cartoons from so many different sources. There are Fleischer, Warner, Disney and MGM cartoons included here if I'm not mistaken, which lends more creedance to my Cartoon Network involvement recollection, but I can't and won't say for certain, but if the idea of this video interests you, you should definitely download this because you will truly enjoy it.


Soul Coughing - Live Demo Tape
01 I Shot Lily Brick Down
02 Sideshow Couple/Michael Jackson
03 Like You Did
04 Brooklyn Girls By Train

Soul Coughing - El Oso Sound Cartoons
NOTE: You MUST download both parts or you won't get the complete video.
Part One
Part Two

The State - Complete Series Now On DVD!!!

No new content in this post but I wanted to remind anyone who loves The State that the complete series on DVD is available today! This is a day I've been waiting years for, as opposed to a year I've been waiting days for. Go to your local store that features things of this sort and get it NOW! I COMMAND YOU!

On an unrelated note, I'm disappointed because I was waiting for Amanda Blank's cd which was supposed to be released today but has apparently been pushed to August 8th. For an industry that's falling apart, things like changing release dates aren't helping anyone. So record label people, get it together and stop fucking up!

Thank you for your time and patience! Oh, by the way, the State's unreleased album is still up for download. If it goes offline please drop me a line and I'll reupload it.

Soul Coughing - Double M Demos

OH MY GAWD!!! I feel like I found the Holy Grail! That said, I'm about as close to performing a holy quest as Monty Python were, so I'm probably gonna get pelted with livestock soon, but first, while digging through an old external hard-drive for a Flaming Lips compilation, I found something I've been looking for for months. I'm sure you've guessed what that is by the title of this post, but here is a little info for those who don't know much about Soul Coughing's early days.

First off, if anyone's wondering where the name of this collection comes from, I am the responsible party. When I initially found this collection, it was listed as Ruby Vroom demos, which is a somewhat appropriate name, but these tracks were recorded earlier than the finalized versions of the songs that were re-recorded for RV. If I am remembering correctly, and I'm pretty sure I am, the Cough, prior to signing with Slash, were discussing a contract with John Zorn's Tzadik label. Their album was tentatively named Double M or MM, which is Doughty's nickname for the millenium (see Uh, Zoom Zip). I don't know if the deal fell through or the band simply received a better deal from Slash and Warners, but the Double M album was not to be. These demos though, being definitely from before the band were on Slash, were most likely for the purpose of them getting a deal and recording their first album with that tentative name I mentioned. So, rather than just list these as Ruby Vroom demos, I thought Double M Demos was a more appropriate title. Of course, if you have these tracks under a different name you can simply disregard my creative re-titling.

Anyway, I found these demos on Soulseek or another file sharing service quite a few years ago. Since then, I've only run into one other person that had these demos. I've spent quite a bit of time trying to find anyone else with these tracks as I had given up hope of finding them in my collection, but tonight was the night. So, I want to share my good fortune with you my lovely readers.

About the contents of this collection, the versions of the songs included here are peculiar to say the least. While I've listed the last four tracks as versions, I'm not trying to imply they're remixes or dubs or anything of that sort, they are actually different recordings although they sound like they are from the same era. Also, Doughty doesn't sound nearly as energetic in places as he did on later Cough recordings. His oddly subdued vocal on Casiotone Nation is perplexing. To put it nicely, he sounds stoned, but it could just be that the band was producing the demos themselves and didn't know how to get the vibe right, that or their producer didn't know how to motivate him. The unreleased numbers are nice enough but similarly subdued. The standout is I Shot Lily Brick Down where Doughty actually sings. Jersey Devil is funky but it's understandable why the song didn't get re-recorded as is, although some of the lyrics ended up in The Brooklynites. Michael Jackson is probably the weakest of the unused songs with Doughty telling a rather strange tale about Michael talking to animals and people he doesn't recognize while being paranoid.

There might be another SC post in a few days as I was able to locate an even earlier demo tape from 1992. Most of this tape seems to be recorded live at the very first SC show at the Knitting Factory, although the credits from the tape state that the lineup on one of the songs is completely different from the regular band apart from Doughty. Enjoy!


Soul Coughing - Double M Demos

01 Moon Sammy
02 Supra Genius
03 City Of Motors
04 Bus To Beelzebub
05 Casiotone Nation
06 Mr. Bitterness
07 Screenwriter's Blues
08 I Shot Lily Brick Down
09 Uh, Zoom Zip
10 Jersey Devil
11 Michael Jackson
12 Bus To Beelzebub (Version)
13 Screenwriter's Blues (Version)
14 Supra Genius (Version)
15 City Of Motors (Version)

Neil Young - Trans (Alternate Version)

Continuing with the Neil theme, here is the alternate version of Trans that was withdrawn shortly before the album's release. To be honest, it isn't terribly different from the released version, but there are things worth noting about it. First of all, this version includes If You Got Love which was listed on initial pressings but was not present and remains unreleased. On top of that, this also features the slightly longer version of Like An Inca which is now available on all CD reissues of the album but was otherwise unreleased until 1993. Also featured, although not noted as being present in any info I can find, is the longer version of Sample and Hold which is also present on all CD reissues from 1993 onward. I'm quite surprised not to see this mentioned anywhere, but that's the internet for you. Because of the CD reissue, which is identical to this minus If You Got Love, this version of the album doesn't circulate that wildly any longer, but it's still worth having.

Trans, at one point or another, went by the name Human Highway. Who actually knows when that changed but Trans, in my opinion, is a better album name. Naming the album Human Highway though is understandable as several tracks from the album appeared in Neil's freaky film of the same name. If I ever get into sharing films on this blog I'll have to post that one. Neil Young, Devo, nuclear apocalypse, general weirdness, etc. makes it a definite stoner flick or oddball party entertainer.

On the slim chance someone reading this has a better copy of this, one confirmed as sourced from the acetate in lossless quality perhaps, I would love to hear from you, especially if you might be able to share it with me. I'm not the pickiest guy about compressed audio, but whenever I can get something better I prefer to go that way, and 128kbps MP3s, while passable, are on the low end of my spectrum. Another reason I'd like a lossless rip of the acetate is that they tend to sound great and I would love to compare between a lossless acetate rip and the retail CD.

Oh yeah, don't forget to hit Side Street Records site for their page dedicated to this version of the album. Their site may be disappearing soon so check them out before they go the way of the Dodo.


Neil Young - Trans (Alternate Version)

01 A Little Thing Called Love
02 If You Got Love
03 Computer Age
04 We R In Control
05 Transformer Man
06 Computer Cowboy (aka Skycrusher)
07 Hold On To Your Love
08 Sample and Hold
09 Mr. Soul
10 Like An Inca

Neil Young - Chrome Dreams

There was a mention in the comments recently asking about Neil Young material that didn't make the cut in the first volume of his enormous Archives box set. Well, I'm not the biggest fan of Neil so I can't say that I have much from his earlier years, but I do find his mid to late seventies recordings interesting and have spent some time researching Chrome Dreams, Tonight's The Night and his early eighties computer freak-out, Trans. This said, I've got a few things that are worth posting so, if you like Neil, keep your eyes peeled for the next month or two as there are at least two more posts in the works, but for my first installment of Neil Young goodies, I'm putting the focus on Chrome Dreams.

For those unfamiliar with Chrome Dreams, let's start in 1976 when Neil was preparing the Decade retrospective. It was supposed to see release that November but didn't appear. Rumors abounded that Neil might have suffered an overdose causing Reprise to cancel the release as damage control, but six months later he released a new album, American Stars 'N Bars. By today's standards, this is pretty typical Neil, but in '76, this was confusing business, especially since reviewers had received test pressings of Decade and it was looked at as an easy sell within the industry. Stranger yet, there had been mentions prior to the release of Stars of a different album, even albums, named Ride My Llama (AWESOME ALBUM NAME!!!) and Chrome Dreams.

Apparently Llama and Chrome Dreams were the same albums with different names, but it didn't matter because nothing was heard about either until 1992. That's when a collector found an acetate dated March 16, 1977 that contained some previously released material from the Stars era as well as a number of either completely unreleased songs or versions. Initially, many fans were skeptical and varying information about the acetate's origin further clouded the topic, but eventually a bootleg CD appeared that proved the legitimacy of the acetate as well as confirmation by several fans who were able to examine and play the acetate first hand.

Since then, excellent quality copies of the acetate have circulated and the album, now widely accepted as Chrome Dreams, has been labeled a classic that should have seen release. That said, there is still speculation that the acetate may have actually been an early version of American Stars 'N Bars, but that doesn't take away from the importance of it's discovery. For die-hard fans, finds like these are practically just as good as legitimate new releases, especially when they sound as nice as this one does.

Most of my information about Chrome Dreams comes from the excellent Neil Young database at Side Street Records which discusses many of his rare or unreleased albums in great detail. If you're interested in Neil or Chrome Dreams you should definitely pay them a visit.


Neil Young - Chrome Dreams

01 Pocahontas
02 Will To Love
03 Star Of Bethlehem
04 Like A Hurricane
05 Too Far Gone
06 Hold Back The Tears
07 Homegrown
08 Captain Kennedy
09 Stringman
10 Sedan Delivery
11 Powderfinger
12 Look Out For My Love

Artful Dodger - Self Titled 1975

I'm not going to spend a lot of time explaining the history of this band, especially since there are a lot of sites that do it much better, including their very own site, just DO NOT confuse them for the similarly named British group that produce dance music. That said, this probably won't stay up for too long anyway because the band is pretty vocal about not having their stuff shared online, but that's a problem since all but one of their albums are unavailable, and when I get asked if I have any of their stuff, it's always this album that no one has but everyone wants. The band has said several times that this album, as well as their third and fourth albums, are awaiting reissue via American Beat records, but that's been said since 2007 and nothing has come of it, so I honestly don't think I'm doing anyone a disservice by posting this, but if anyone from the band or representing them would like this removed from my blog, please leave me a message either in the comments or by e-mail and I will gladly comply.


Artful Dodger - Artful Dodger (1975)

01 Wayside
02 You Know It's Alright
03 It's Over
04 Follow Me
05 Long Time Away
06 Think Think
07 Silver and Gold
08 Things I'd Like To Do Again
09 Waiting Place
10 New York City


UPDATE: Sorry guys, but as requested by the band, I am removing the album from download. I feel it's only right that if the artist in question takes the time to request their work is not shared, even if it's not available anywhere else via legal channels, that it is only right to respect their wishes. Let's do like they asked and support the band by requesting the label that owns the distribution rights, American Beat Records, get more reissues on the shelves as soon as possible.

INTERLUDE

So I was going to do a post on Cibo Matto, and I may still do just that, although it's going to have to wait a short while. I thought I had an arsenal of rare Cibo Matto stuff but I've found that the majority of it is readily available. Actually, if you're not familiar with Cibo, you should do yourself a favor and get their first album, VIVA! La Woman!, or the Pom Pom compilation on Rhino. That Pom Pom comp is nice as it has some rare tracks and lots of stuff from both of their full-lengths, but it has eight of the ten songs on VIVA and while that's most of the album, it's missing the track Theme. Man, that track is an ambient love-fest and should not be missed. I recall lots of fun with an ex whenever that track came on in mixtapes and such. What the hell, I'll put that track in this post, but a more detailed Cibo Matto post may be in your future.

As for the remainder of this interlude, I was rather upset to see that my Michael Jackson/Nirvana post was removed in it's entirety and I wasn't notified in any way that it happened. In the wake of Michael's death, I'm not completely surprised at it's disappearance, but I didn't say anything negative about him and I wasn't trying to benefit financially from his passing. Hell, I keep this blog ad-free because I don't think it's right to profit from things the artist may not have wanted released but found their way to the public regardless. So, I would have gladly removed the post if asked to do so, but when I don't even get a bullshit letter from the DMCA saying I pissed them off, I just see the post removed, that really boils my blood. So, if anyone is looking for the Michael Jackson Dangerous Demos, I'm not going to post the links here but, if you're resourceful, I'm sure you'll find them. They're in the same place they were earlier, just not visible from this site. And to whomever is going after people like myself for posting some interesting Jackson-related stuff for the public to enjoy, why don't you go after the people selling bootleg T-Shirts memorializing his death or the people trying to scalp tickets to the service at the Staples Center. I will respect your copyright if you've got an issue with what I'm doing, but send me an e-mail. Hell, I would have been less angry if I'd gotten a message from the DMCA or Blogger directly, but just doing this without telling me is WRONG. No ifs, ands or buts about it, it is wrong. I spend a lot of time writing the dialogue contained on this site and putting up interesting things for people to enjoy, and I don't see why you should be able to derail any of my work, apart from the removal of something you own the copyright to. You don't own my text or the thoughts contained therein, so leave those the hell alone!

Okay, the extremely angry and somewhat juvenile rant is now over. Enjoy some MP3s. Some MP3s more random than others!

Cibo Matto - Theme
Gloria Estefan - Everlasting Love (Classic Paradise Radio Mix)
Gloria Estefan - Everlasting Love (Classic Paradise Mix)


UPDATE: I don't think the post being removed necessarily had anything to do with Michael Jackson, but rather Nirvana. For whatever reason, the Michael Jackson tracks weren't removed from MediaFire, at least not in their entirety, but the Nirvana post was and twice. Can anyone give me some advice about things of this sort? I would like to know if there is some sort of retaliation I can take towards these actions, other than bitching, whining and kvetching like someone on Parking Wars. HELP?

Miles Davis - Sessions UPDATE

Damn! Just as I was ready to publish this post, I got even more unreleased Miles stuff! I was intending for this to be my last post of unreleased Miles for a while but now it looks like I will have to do a few more. So, while this one is probably the largest one you'll see here, keep your eyes opened for even more!

For those familiar with bootleg Miles recordings, there is a series of releases known as the Unknown Sessions compilations. They cover studio material from 1970 through 1976, although they're not known for detailed session information. Using their details as well as those of the aforementioned Miles Ahead, I've taken every track featured in those collections that has not been officially released and I'm including them here. Everything from the original post is included in these files so I'm deleting those links from the initial post. There are now roughly three hours of unreleased material which has been, to the best of my knowledge, accurately labeled and dated. Of course, I'm not claiming to be a Miles Davis expert, I'll give that credit to the Miles Ahead folks, but I definitely love his music, especially his seventies recordings, and I hope you enjoy these recordings as much as I do. Oh, and if you need another reason to visit Miles Ahead (as if I haven't pushed you in that direction firmly enough), I'm not going to list the line-ups for all these recordings. It took a long time the first time and it'll take forever this time, so please forgive my laziness but I'm sure you'll enjoy these recordings regardless.

There are other recordings I've since acquired which I thought about posting here, but they are available elsewhere and I'd like to give credit to someone who has been rather helpful in my search for Miles goodies, so I'd like to refer you to JR Heat Warps' excellent blog, The Heat Warps. There you will find a plethora of jazz and fusion goodies, but you will also find volumes one and two of the Deep Brew compilations which feature unedited recordings from the actual Bitches Brew sessions! I love Bitches Brew and the box-set dedicated to it's source material, but it's name, The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, is terribly misleading. None of the unedited session recordings are featured on it and they are fascinating, so snatch this up over at The Heat Warps and and some spice to your brew!


Miles Davis - Sessions
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

01 So What (incomplete take, 3/20/70)
02 Untitled Original (unknown take, 4/7/70)
03 Jabali (Take 2, 7/12/72)
04 Billy Preston (unknown take, 12/8/72)
05 Untitled Original A (Take 2, 4/24/73)
06 Untitled Original A (Take 3, 4/24/73)
07 Untitled Original B (Take 1, 4/24/73)
08 Big Fun (Take 1, 7/26/73)
09 Peace (Remake Take 3a, 7/26/73)
10 Peace (Remake Take 3b, 7/26/73)
11 Dominique (Take 1, 6/20/74)
12 Sound (Take 2, 11/6/74)
13 What They Do (Take 13, 11/6/74)
14 Turn Of The Century (unknown take, 2/27/75)
15 Minnie (Takes 3 and 4, 5/5/75)
16 Minnie (Take 6, 5/5/75)
17 Minnie (Take 6 Remix, 5/5/75)
18 Minnie (Take 7, 5/5/75)
19 Minnie (Take 7 Remix, 5/5/75)
20 Untitled Original (Take 2, 5/5/75)
21 Untitled Original (Take 3, 3/30/76)
22 Untitled Original (Take 5, 3/30/76)
23 Song Of Landa (Take 2, 3/30/76)
24 Song Of Landa (Take 6, 3/30/76)
25 TDK Funk (incomplete take, 12/27/76)


...And for those who want a brief preview of what they'll be getting themselves into, here are a few sample tracks for your listening enjoyment.
TDK Funk
Sound (Take 2, 11/6/74)
Untitled Original (Take 2, 5/5/75)

Plone - Plaything

So I'm watching television and a commercial comes on with a song I SWEAR I recognize, and when I finally realize what it is I'm hearing I'm even further confused. This would be a commercial for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups which features the song Plaything by the band Plone. Plone, for the uninitiated, were Mark Cancellara, Mike Johnston and Billy Bainbridge who were all from Birmingham, England. Their sound focused on older, analogue keyboards and they released a few singles in the late nineties prior to their debut album, For Beginner Piano, on Warp Records in 1999. The band continued to record and finished a second album, but with Rob Mitchell, one of the founders of Warp and the responsible party for their signing, having been diagnosed with cancer and eventually dying in 2001, their album sat in limbo and they eventually disbanded. Billy Bainbridge joined Broadcast and formed the band Seeland with ex-Broadcast member Tim Felton. Mike Johnston did solo work as Mike In Mono and joined the ZX Spectrum Orchestra and the Modified Toy Orchestra. Mark Cancellara is a dj for a reggae club named Silver Dollar in Birmingham.

Plone's unreleased second album eventually leaked to the net and the collective joy of their fans, but Plaything is a footnote which I'm rather shocked has reappeared. The track was released in 1998 on a Warp Records compilation named We Are Reasonable People. The compilation was given a limited release and is now out of print, apart from digitally via Warp's Bleep website, and all of the tracks, at least at the time, were not going to be made available elsewhere, although that rule has been broken once or twice. Plaything was ripe to be forgotten, understandably, what with an independent label (a large one no doubt, but independent nonetheless) that added the track to a limited release compilation that was not made available in all countries, making it even harder to find due to having to import it, and also for listing it as a single release instead of an album despite it's length. So, when it showed up in a US advertising campaign, the first thought that came to my mind was "someone is really earning their pay!" The second thought was "WHY ISN'T THIS MY JOB???"

So, for your listening pleasure, I present to you Plone's Plaything as well as their untitled and unreleased second album. Also, if I may suggest the We Are Reasonable People compilation as a worthy purchase for download as it contains a lot of great, otherwise impossible to find tracks from the cream of the IDM Electronic scene in the late nineties. That list includes exclusive tracks from Boards Of Canada, Plaid, Autechre, Two Lone Swordsmen, Mark Bell (LFO) and a collaboration between AFX, better known as Aphex Twin, and Squarepusher. The AFX/Squarepusher track is worth the price of admission alone, but I'm sure you'll find plenty of fun throughout this excellent compilation. Just don't try to listen to it all at once, it doesn't really suit itself to that purpose as each track is more like aural wallpaper.


Plone - Plaything


Plone - unreleased second album
01 Multitonal
02 140
03 Slow Arp
04 Swing It
05 Can't Think
06 Farm Yard
07 Arpeggios
08 Saw
09 Grandfather Clock
10 One Song
11 Smoothie Ribbons
12 Dry Pen
13 Old Shoe
14 RY30
15 Smile Song
16 Another One Of Them
17 No Drums