Plug - Here It Comes

Luke Vibert has so many aliases, he and Aphex Twin could have a competition to see who has the most releases that have never been directly credited to them. Vibert primarily records as Wagon Christ these days but he's also well known as Plug for his Drum 'n' Bass For Papa album and the three EPs he released in the mid-nineties. The EPs are startlingly imaginative uses of the jungle rhythms while always bringing melody and his perverse taste for easy listening records to the forefront, whereas the Papa album is a bit more serious.

Apart from a number of compilation tracks, Vibert stopped recording as Plug around the turn of the century, though Todd Osborn aka Soundmurderer somehow managed to get Vibert to give up an EP of unreleased Plug tracks which he released on the Rewind label in 2006. That collection, the Here It Comes EP, is a wonderful reminder of how sweet and twisted those Plug records are and how talented Vibert is.

Below you'll find a link where you can download the aforementioned Here It Comes EP as well as an additional ten tracks from various compilations. That's almost ninety minutes of prime Plug! If that's not enough though, and it really shouldn't be, head on over to Bleep and check out the main Plug releases, all of which will have you bouncing up and down with joy. Then dig deeper into Wagon Christ!


Plug - Here It Comes+

Here It Comes EP:
01 Here It Comes
02 Gangsta
03 Riddim
04 Astronaut

Rarities:
01 The Bowling Green - Strange (Plug Remix)
02 Lunar Laugh
03 Header
04 Dark Matter
05 A Hot One
06 Keep On Going
07 Keen As Mustard
08 Snapping Fuss
09 Argos
10 Ruff Dog

Mike Doughty - Rarities

I'm kinda in flux at the moment, working on a few things including a Hendrix post which will either be up tomorrow or Thursday, so please forgive a lack of extremely detailed notes on this post, but here are nine rare, Mike Doughty tracks, mostly collaborations. Everything is newly encoded except for the Mecca Bodega track which I can't seem to find in lossless. Enjoy!


Mike Doughty - Rarities

01 They Might Be Giants - Your Mom's Alright
02 Mitchell Froom - The Bunny
03 Mike Doughty - Move On
04 They Might Be Giants - Mr. Xcitement
05 MC Frontalot - Your Friend Will
06 808 State - Bond
07 Mecca Bodega - Love On The A Train
08 bt - Never Gonna Come Back Down
09 Mike Doughty - Frog and Banjo

DJ Shadow - More Sight: Additional Rarities

Here is the third set of DJ Shadow rarities that I'm posting, and at the bottom of this page you'll find download links for FLAC versions of the first two collections. There are a few rarities that aren't included here that will be posted eventually, but they will be in a much smaller collection. As for this one, everything here is an MP3 or M4A that I couldn't find an original or lossless copy of. Once again, the art is "borrowed" from Napalm filled tires' awesome flickr page which you should go and visit right now! Enjoy!


DJ Shadow - More Sight


01 Hardcore Hip-Hop (Original Version)
This is the original version which includes the radio intro and a lot of additional samples which don't appear on the instrumental version from the Greatest Bumps compilation.

02 Flashback
From the Turntables By The Bay compilation, Shadow provides all the cuts and scratches on this track.

03 Love, Love
An Outsider leftover, this is the b-side to This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way).

04 DJ Shadow's Beat
A brief instrumental from the single for Lateef's The Quickening.

05 March Of Death (feat. Zach de la Rocha)
This was released in protest of the US invading Iraq in 2003. It was a free download and has not been officially released in any other format, so if you see a 12" of it for sale, please disregard it as it's a bootleg sourced from this MP3.

06 Instrumental 3
This track was created for Zach de la Rocha's solo album. Shadow featured it on his website's streaming radio. Zach did record a vocal track for this but it hasn't leaked. Yet. That "yet" is more wishful thinking than anything else, but who wouldn't love to hear all of the finished tracks Shadow made for Zach? Same goes for the tracks Trent Reznor, El-P, ?uestlove and everyone else involved did for Zach's unreleased album. It's supposedly finished so I guess it might be sitting in a Sony vault somewhere.

07 Reebok Overture
For a Reebok commercial. I know, kinda obvious.

08 Skullfuckery (feat. The Heliocentrics)
A bonus track from some versions of The Outsider, Shadow made a point of mentioning that this track was meant as a bit of a challenge to show he could blend sampled tracks with live performances and keep you guessing as to which is which.

09 Gabracadabra (feat. The Gift Of Gab)
This track is a leftover from The Outsider and was given away at a show Shadow had to reschedule in the UK. Not Gab's best moment but I'll take mediocre Gab any day, and the track is quite good on its own.

10 Count and Estimate (Dub)
This version is on the a-side of the Asia Born/DJ Shadow 12" for Send Them and Entropy.

11 Flobots - Handlebars (DJ Shadow Remix)

12 Erase You (Long Version)
This version was a bonus track with some versions of The Outsider. I know a lot of people hate that album but I honestly don't think it's as bad as people treat it. Yes, it's a bit uneven, but there are still a lot of great tracks on it like this one.

13 Radiohead - The Gloaming (Would You Buy A War From This Man?)
From the first of Shadow's Rogue's Gallery singles, this remix was denied release by EMI, most likely because of the numerous George W. Bush samples. I'd love to find a proper rip of this as I have no hope of ever seeing an original copy, but I don't know anyone that has it. Too bad, because the b-side has the instrumental.

14 Teriyaki Boyz - Kamikaze 108 (Toridoshi Mix)
Not technically a remix, at least as far as I know, Shadow produced this track which appears on the Teriyaki Boyz first album, Beef Or Chicken?

15 Entropy (Part A - Intropy) (Original Version)
16 Entropy (Part B - The Third Decade, Our Move) (Original Version)
17 Entropy (Part C - Count and Estimate) (Original Version)
18 Entropy (Part D - B-Boys Revenge) (Original Version)
19 Entropy (Part E - Back To Back Breaks) (Original Version)
20 Entropy (Part F - DJ Shadow's Theme) (Original Version)
21 Entropy (Part G - Endtropy) (Original Version)
Here is the complete, original version of Entropy. Unlike the version that appears on the vinyl version of SoleSides Greatest Bumps or the tracks on the CD version of that compilation, these feature all the samples that have since been removed. Unfortunately, these seven tracks are transcodes as some of the original files were damaged and they weren't separated at the correct points.



Insight

FLAC Part 1
FLAC Part 2
FLAC Part 3


Foresight

FLAC Part 1
FLAC Part 2
FLAC Part 3

DJ Shadow - Foresight: Additional Rarities

Here is the second collection of Shadow rarities I'll be posting. I was intending to post the lossless versions this week but rather they will appear next week. The same will probably go for the third volume which is sourced entirely from lossy tracks. This volume though, like the first, is comprised entirely of tracks taken from lossless sources and, as such, the lossless version posted next week will be free of transcodes. Once again, art is "borrowed" from Napalm filled tires' flickr page which you should visit immediately. Enjoy!



DJ Shadow - Foresight

01 High Noon Intro - You Are Going On A Musical Trip
This is the intro from the High Noon EP.

02 100 Metre Dash
Excellent B-Side to Six Days which, like most of the post-Endtroducing... singles, seems to have fallen into obscurity due to major label release policy and a lack of promotion.

03 The Number Song (Cut Chemist Party Mix)
I'm only posting this because there seems to be a slight difference between the master used on the earlier releases of this mix compared to the one available on the Deluxe Edition of Endtroducing..., although I might just be hearing things.

04 DJ Shadow vs. Keane - We Might As Well Be Strangers (Remix)
Definitely of the Outsider era, this mix contains no samples and is more of a digital creation on Shadow's part. I've heard from a lot of people who don't care for this track but I like it.

05 Treach Battle Beat
A B-Side to You Can't Go Home Again, this is a stripped down instrumental of Walkie Talkie. I have to wonder whether Shadow chose Home as the first single or the label did since most people I've spoken with don't think it was the right record to go with. Special promos of Monosylabik were given out in the UK prior to that single's release and I think that would have been a better cut to go with, but it is rather experimental so maybe it wouldn't have been a good move after all. What makes this track's appearance all the more ironic is that Walkie Talkie was paired with Mashin' On The Motorway as the next single release, probably promoting the album better but pigeonholing Shadow more as a party rocker than the brilliant collage artist that he is.

Brilliant? Yeah, I said it. I'm waiting for someone to say I'm kissing his ass and yeah, to an extent I am, but I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it.

06 Dark Days (Main Theme)
The theme to the Dark Days documentary. That sentence reads kind of redundant but I know a lot of people who have no idea that the documentary exists. You'd be better off visiting the wikipedia reference for the film to find out more about it, and you should definitely see the film!

07 Untitled Heavy Beat (Part 1 & 2)
This instrumental appears on the soundtrack for The End Of Violence.

08 Cage - Grand Ol' Party Crash (feat. Jello Biafra)
This appeared on Cage's album, Hell's Winter, as well as the second of Shadow's Rogue Gallery picture disc single releases as Donald The Merciless, although the track was unchanged. The instrumental is totally outside of Shadow's general style and rather excellent, although the vocals and Bush-bashing are really dated. Jello, in particular, gets pretty damn annoying as the track goes on, regardless of how you feel about GWB. Cage's verses, while dated, are still excellent. Nonetheless, another example of why just about everyone should stay away from writing political songs about current events as they do not age well.

09 Disavowed
Another B-Side for You Can't Go Home Again, Zach de la Rocha is credited as a co-writer and co-producer although his only contribution appears to be the live drums. Maybe a vocal version is sitting in Shadow's vault. This also appeared on The Private Repress which is a Japan-only B-Sides and Remixes compilation.

10 Divine Intervention (feat. Divine Styler)
This track appeared on the Quannum Spectrum compilation although it fades earlier here so as to remove the additional DJ chatter from the end.

11 Handsome Boy Modeling School - Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II) (feat. DJ Shadow & DJ Quest)
This is probably more of a Shadow track than a Handsome Boy one, but Prince Paul and the Automator get writing credits alongside Shadow so they're probably in there too. Quest provides the turntable pyrotechnics. There is a note in the credits that reads "For all three of you that care, DJ Shadow would like to state that all breaks used in this song were taken from the original source vinyl and not bootlegs or reissues. Suckers.", for which I must assume I'm one of those three people, give or take a few thousand.

12 Blackalicious - Halfway Home
This track appears as the second half of Paragraph President on Blackalicious' Blazing Arrow despite only being listed in the liner notes. Shadow also played this on the In Tune and On Time tour.

13 Blues Explosion - Fed Up and Low Down
This is taken from the Blues Explosion's Damage album which features a number of collaborative productions from Dan The Automator, David Holmes and on this track, DJ Shadow. Just to clarify, the Blues Explosion is the same group as The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, just dropping Spencer from the name despite the fact he still leads the band. This is in a similar vein to the aforementioned Cage track.

14 War Is Hell
This track started like as an UNKLE demo and then made an appearance in Dark Days, although it again appears, albeit in a more finished state, on the Diminishing Returns mix and received yet another release on a limited single alongside the instrumental version of The Outsider Theme, although both of those tracks also appeared on the soundtrack to Vexille. Despite never receiving a wide, standard release, this track must hold some importance to Shadow since it's been reissued so many times in limited or hard to find formats.

15 Dark Days (Spoken For Mix)
The B-Side to the Dark Days single, this mix features dialogue from the film scratched in over an alternate version of the Theme.

16 (Letter From Home)
This (Letter From Home), a series of peculiar interludes that appeared on The Private Press, was issued as a B-Side of sorts to You Can't Go Home Again and should not be confused with either of the Letters that appear on the album. A fourth Letter was issued as the B-Side of the limited Monosylabik single, although I haven't heard from anyone who has that track or has heard it. These tracks, in case you're unfamiliar with them, are difficult to discern the legitimacy of, as in to say it's unclear whether they're all legitimate recordable messages made in the earlier parts of the 1900s or merely made to sound as such. If they are legit, they are truly the most private of private pressings, but even if not they're still remarkable ephemera from Shadow's excellent yet under-appreciated second album under his name.

17 Midnight In A Perfect World (Extended Vision)
Version of Vision? Either way, this is the extended version that appears on the Midnight single and hasn't been released elsewhere.

18 Last Stop
A bonus beat of sorts for the original Hardcore Hip-Hop 12".

19 Handsome Boy Modeling School - The Runway Song Part 2 (Kid Koala & DJ Shadow Ready For Their Close-Ups)
This was initially listed for inclusion on the standard issue of Handsome Boy Modeling School's second album, White People, though it and another track showed up only on the instrumental version of the album. Another peculiar move on the part of Elektra to remove tracks which would have raised the visibility of the album or a decision by the group not to include fluffier pieces that would further dilute an album obviously less than superior to it's predecessor?

20 High Noon Outro
Again, from the High Noon EP.

DJ Shadow - Insight: Rarities

So a friend was telling me about a compilation he picked up in a record shop that sounded almost too good to be true, and upon further examination that sentiment was found to be accurate. That compilation, the Best Of Mo'Wax 12's: The DJ Shadow Collection, can be viewed at discogs and is a fully manufactured bootleg CD, and upon investigating the spectral data and tracks featured, several of them are clearly MP3 sourced and others have been edited, destroying the reason to include them in the first place. What would motivate someone to shorten a track on an unofficial compilation dedicated to compiling rare tracks? On top of that, there are lots of mislabeled cuts and even an early Lyrics Born track that has NOTHING to do with Shadow apart from being issued on one side of a split 12" with him. It's just bad bootlegging, and while it was released several years ago in 2007, it's still strange that someone poured the money into this when most people could get these tracks online. I suppose some people might want it on the premise that they're receiving the packaging and probably a mastered CD, but buying an accurately re-created bootleg of the Brainfreeze mix is different from picking up someone's idea of a rarities collection that isn't terribly rare or even accurate.

With all of this said, I told my friend that I could do a better compilation and make it lossless to boot, or at least openly acknowledge what tracks aren't lossless. My friend was intrigued so I put together a rough comp and, after getting all my tracks together, found myself with three CDs worth of tracks, two being purely lossless and one being MP3 sourced. I'm going to post all three here, but I'm not going to post the lossless versions until I've gotten to the third comp, the one that is lossy. For today though, I present the first one, a collection of tracks all sourced from lossless files, for your enjoyment. I'll either post the lossless versions at the end of the week or at some point next week all in one big post. Let me know if you have any questions about these tracks or their sources. Enjoy!


DJ Shadow - Insight

01 Depeche Mode - Painkiller (Kill The Pain Mix)
Shadow's remix for Depeche Mode. It was initially rejected for release due to sample clearance problems, but Shadow ended up issuing it on a 12" alongside the original edit of Cut Chemist's remix of The Number Song. Since then it has gained an official release in several places, though it's not clear whether any samples were removed or not.

02 In/Flux (Alternative Interlude '93 Version)
Despite the title, this sounds more like an early version of In/Flux than an alternative edit. Most of the vocals are missing and one of the samples from Best Foot Forward is featured prominently, whereas it isn't in the regular version. This appeared on the first Headz compilation.

03 Lifers Group - Real Deal (Shadow Remix)
One of Shadow's first tracks to ever receive an official release, this was issued on Hollywood BASIC, a hip-hop oriented subsidiary of Disney's Hollywood Records. One of Shadow's mentors, Dave Funken Klein, was responsible for getting him the work. It's worth noting that there is a lot of anti-homosexual vitriol being dispersed here, which is thoroughly politically incorrect these days, and even more shocking when you realize this was issued on a Disney subsidiary, though if you take into perspective that the Lifers Group consisted entirely of convicts serving time at the Rahway Prison, all with life sentences no less, and that they were trying to scare their listeners into staying out of prison, I guess it changes the perspective somewhat. I am in no way condoning the statements or opinions of the rappers on this track, but it's important to understand their perspectives and the environment they came from. On a related note, I have a lifelong friend who served about seven years for some white collar crimes that has said, despite having no ill will towards anyone based upon their sexuality, in prison it's truly an issue that rears its head far too frequently. In his words, "I can't watch Oz, it's way too real. Yeah, there is a lot of bullshit on that show, but everyday someone is getting propositioned or used, often against their will, and they got that part of the show totally accurate."

04 89.9 Megamix
This appeared on a split single with DJ Krush.

05 Devil's Advocate (Heaven v. Hell - Bonus Beat)
Weird track from the High Noon EP, featuring a preacher railing against rock music over a remix of High Noon. This is much more a legitimate track than a mere bonus beat.

06 Lesson 4
Shadow's tribute to Double Dee & Steinski's infamous Lesson tracks was his first recording issued strictly under his name, although it was credited simply to Shadow rather than DJ Shadow. This was issued on a promotional version of the Lifers Group 12" for Real Deal due to it being filled with expensive or unclearable samples and is extremely hard to find, at least as a non-bootleg. Shadow issued a slightly different version of this on one of his 4-Track Era compilations, although those are similarly difficult to find.

07 Lost and Found (S.F.L.)
Issued on another split single with DJ Krush, this is cut from the same vein as What Does Your Soul Look Like and Endtroducing. This has appeared on a Mo'Wax comp or two but is no longer available.

08 Shadow's Legitimate Mix
Often credited as a remix for Zimbabwe Legit, an African rap duo that was signed to Hollywood BASIC, this is actually an original Shadow track that did not feature the group. It appeared on their self-titled EP and later on one of the Headz comps. Like Lesson 4, a slightly different version of this also appeared on one of the 4-Track Era compilations.

09 BASIC Mega-Mix
A megamix of early Hollywood BASIC tracks, this appeared on that label's BASIC beats sampler, an excellent compilation featuring tracks from Organized Konfusion, Raw Fusion, Zimbabwe Legit, Lifers Group and two Queen remixes, one from Rick Rubin and the other by Phase 5. I'll have to post the whole thing soon because it's really exceptional. The Phase 5 remix of Queen's Another One Bites The Dust is incredible!


One more thing, I "borrowed" the image in this post from Napalm filled tires' flickr page. There is some really great photography there so go check it out!

Soul Coughing - An Assorted Selection Of Wonderment

As promised, here is a nugget of joy for you all, only to be followed by several more significant nuggets! Credit must be given to LeSanderX who posted an excellent compilation at the "green demon" for which I borrowed several tracks, in particular the lossless rips of Babyfood, Sitcom, Reasons and Zantziger for which I had never seen better or lossless versions circulating online. The versions here have been declicked, though if you'd like LeSanderX's original rips, please don't hesitate to head on over to the "green demon" and grab them! Apart from that, our compilations are pretty similar, though I've also added a lossless rip of the Hello Recordings Club EP and two remixes which aren't easy to find, at least not in their full length forms. So, please enjoy a completely lossless collection of Soul Coughing's b-sides and non-album tracks that received an official release with some additional wonderment thrown in for good measure. And again, props to LeSanderX and lesandrite! Enjoy!


Soul Coughing - An Assorted Selection Of Wonderment

FLAC, Part 1
FLAC, Part 2
FLAC, Part 3
V0 MP3

01 I'm Livin' On Babyfood
02 Theme From Rachel's Sitcom
03 Buddha Rhubarb Butter
04 The Brooklynites
05 Murder Of Lawyers
06 Sugar Free Jazz (Omnitron Jazz Free Sucrose Mix)
07 El Burro In The Underworld
08 My Ass Is In The Bronx
09 Come On and Dig Me 'Cause I'm The Fly Pygmy
10 Sack Full Of Puppies
11 Pounded Cub Scout
12 Unmarked Helicopters
13 Lemon Lime
14 Blow My Only
15 Super Bon Bon (Propellerheads Mezzanine Mix)
16 A Plane Scraped Its Belly On A Sooty Yellow Moon (with Roni Size)
17 The Bug
18 16 Horses
19 These Are The Reasons
20 Adolpha Zantziger
21 Rare Star Ball
22 212
23 Suzi Snowflake

Tracks 1 and 2 taken from Soil X Samples 18, 1994
Track 3 taken from Trademark Of Quality compilation, 1994
Track 4 taken from Blue In The Face soundtrack, 1995
Track 5 taken from Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip compilation, 1996
Track 6 taken from Loss Leaders Revisited compilation, 1996, most likely not different from the Jazz Free Sucrose Jungle Dub on the Sugar Free Jazz single. Despite the odd title, this remix is credited to Omni Trio.
Tracks 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 taken from Hello CD Of The Month Club 7, 1996
Track 12 taken from Songs In The Key Of X compilation, 1996
Tracks 13 and 14 taken from the Japanese edition of Irresistible Bliss, 1996
Track 15 taken from the UK Super Bon Bon single, 1996
Track 16 taken from Spawn: The Album, 1997
Track 17 taken from Batman & Robin soundtrack, 1997
Track 18 taken from The X-Files: The Movie soundtrack, 1998
Tracks 19 and 20 taken from an untitled promotional single which is sometimes listed as a single release of Circles, 1998
Tracks 21 and 22 taken from Japanese edition of El Oso, 1998
Track 23 taken from Made Especially For You promotional EP, 1997

My Bloody Valentine - goodies

And here are the rest of the MBV goodies for your listening pleasure! The first seventeen tracks are CD length if you wanna burn it for your car or whatever, but in the xtra goodies folder are three more tracks that wouldn't fit. Enjoy!


My Bloody Valentine - goodies

01 Instrumental 2
02 Instrumental 1
The first ten tracks of this collection match the track listing for the third disc of an unreleased MBV box set. These first two tracks are from the bonus single included with the original release of Isn't Anything, albeit in reverse order.

03 Cowboy Song
04 Good For You
These two are certified, unreleased MBV recordings. There isn't really any confirmed data about them other than that.

05 Sugar
A leftover from Loveless, this b-side for Only Shallow was only released on a rare flexidisc and promo CD.

06 Kevin Song
07 Bilinda Song
Two more certified, unreleased MBV recordings.

08 Glider (Kevin Shields Remix)
This is the long version of Glider from the Glider Remixes 12".

09 We Have All The Time In The World
MBV's only release on Island Records, this track was contributed to the Peace Together compilation.

10 Map Ref 41°N 93°W
Taken from the Wire tribute album, Whore. Awesome!

11 Archive - Londinium (Kevin Shields Mix)
12 The Frank & Walters - Take Me Through This Life (Remixed by Kevin Shields)
13 Placebo - Pure Morning (MBV Remix)
I didn't include these remixes in my last post because I don't have original or lossless copies of them. The Archive remix seems near impossible to find. The Placebo remix is frickin' awesome!

14 My Bloody Valentine meets Skylab - Incidental Peace
From Offbeat, a Red Hot compilation.

15 Soon (The Andrew Weatherall Mix)
This appears as the a-side of the Glider Remixes 12". This sounds a little dated compared to other MBV recordings, but this mix is still awesome!

16 2 (excerpt)
Kevin contributed this to a La La La Human Steps performance. This excerpt was ripped from a DVD.

17 You Don't Need Darkness To Do What You Think Is Right Outro
As the title says, this is Kevin's outro track for the compilation You Don't Need Darkness To Do What You Think Is Right.


xtra goodies:

2 (Live Bootleg)
This is a longer copy of 2 and features it's proper ending, although the quality is pretty murky.

Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy (Kevin Shields Remix)
Unlike Kevin's remix of Fools Rush In, there isn't much added to this version. Strictly for completists.

Mark Eitzel meets My Bloody Valentine - Incidental One
Also from the Offbeat compilation, Mark Eitzel's contribution seems to be some spoken dialogue on what sounds like a handheld tape recorder.

New Order - 1988 Demos, Rehearsals and Other Ephemera

This is a really great collection of New Order rarities from the Technique era, but rather than go into details about the contents, I'm going to share the original text file included with the FLAC files I've converted these MP3s from. Credit goes out to Tom Hulme for leaking the tape and sharing his thoughts and The Happy One for further elaborating on the details and getting the files out there. Details follow below:

A unique collection of Technique-era demos/monitor mix playbacks/Hooky live playing, as well as several unreleased mixes of 'Blue Monday 1988'.

Digitized from Tom's Hulme's tape, which he received from an engineer at the recording sessions.

He writes:


"In 1988, I was a simple bricklayer working in Box, Wiltshire, UK. Just around the corner from the executive houses I was building was Peter Gabriel's Real World studios.

Incredibly, I just wandered in there one lunchtime to find an empty studio full of instruments, where New Order were recording. The engineer from that recording session gave me a cassette.

The cassette is labeled A&M Studios and has "*New Order* (Various Takes)" typed on both sides. On Side 1 is hand-written "Ideas from Recording etc Jun/Jul etc". On Side 2 is hand-written "Rehersal [sic] - 25/4/88".

Side 1 starts off with some rather tinny jamming, samples, etc. However, the sound quality soon improves and there are lengthy jams, short snippets of conversation (presumably from Peter Hook and Barney Sumner) and various samples of instrumentation, including a couple of rough takes of complete songs. Most of the music has no vocals, but there are a couple of tracks with vocals. Not being a huge New Order fan, I'm afraid that I can't say whether these are early rehearsals of known songs or unreleased rarities!

Side 2 consists of numerous remixes of Blue Monday (I know that song!). They all differ in as far as they have odd samples, loops and synthesizer parts incorporated. It is also interspersed with some rough jams by the boys (and girl!), some bass lines by Hooky and a bit of noodling from Barney.

This tape is totally original and a one-off. I have not made any copies, so it is a totally unique piece of New Order memorabilia."


Tom did a surprisingly good job of summarizing on what was on this tape, and as the following will illustrate, the contents are anything but straightforward for anybody wishing to understand how the group works. Like the best of any sort of art, it raises more questions than it answers!

Incredibly, we have not one but *three* sets of rarities on this tape.

First: unreleased mixes of Blue Monday 1988, different variations made for the band, likely composed for their approval. I believe the version without the 'ah boy this is too much' samples was eventually edited down to become the 7" version, while a version with the samples became the 12" version, though in these mixes the samples are sequenced and are different than the released version. I believe that this is what the "03/03/1988" date refers to.

The entire tape (on both sides) most likely originally consisted of these mixes. Somewhere along the line (likely starting on April 25th) this was taped over with monitor mixes and rehearsals taken from the Technique sessions. You can tell because there is forward bleed-through throughout the first side of Blue Monday 1988, including through a long segment of ambient room recording while the band work on the bass synth line of what I would guess was then known as 'Much Too Old', soon to be reworked into what was released as 'Fine Time'.

Over that, we have a tiny bit of guitar and bass noodling (the latter nothing less than a brief attempt at something akin to 'New Horizon' by Section 25!), and then, for me the highlight of the whole tape, a full demo of Dream Attack, with STUNNING basswork by Hooky at the start. Then we have Hooky playing along live to the backing track and monitor playbacks of the same, similar bass playback along to a work-in-progress Mr. Disco, and various riffs, including a nascent 'The Happy One' and 'All The Way'. This continues on side two, with more Hooky riffing. Then we have rehearsal-type samples of 'Guilty Partner', 'Don't Do It', and what we've termed 'Unknown #2', which didn't survive the cut, though some of the ideas on that number were likely carried into "All The Way"

I believe these all came out of the 4/25 session, as it's clear that the songs were still being composed at that time.

And over that, we have the start of the tape, which totals about 9 minutes, and features more work-in-progress samples of the songs that so far have been composed. Alas, the quality on these is lower than the rest of the tape, I reckon that they're probably at least a couple of generations off. I think these tracks are later than that follows, since we have nearly-complete backings for 'Mr Disco', 'Don't Do It', 'Best and Marsh', and 'MTO' with 'Loveless' being mostly-recognizable. Only 'Run' on here is still in early (slower tempo) form. We also have, for the first time, two samples of songs that never made it to completion. The second in particular features a gorgeous Sumner riff that I swear is naggingly familiar, but I can't place it! I think these were composed over the June/July 1988 timeframe and are what 'Ideas from Recording etc Jun/Jul etc' refers to.

And there you have it!

This version has been mastered by drewc, who also handled some of the live soundboard material that appeared on the first box of tapes which was sold on eBay several years ago.

Where warranted, fades has been inserted, as well as silences, etc being removed, so that the contents could, at 79 minutes exactly, fit onto a single CD. There were multiple playbacks of the Blue Monday 1988 remix material on the tape, all have been included here, although it appears that there's only two different remixes, which were repeated over and over it seems, as can be evidenced by the bleed-through during the long ambient room recording.

Enjoy. I know you've all been waiting to hear this, and I hope it doesn't disappoint!

THO

This is split into two archives for downloading, one for each side of the tape, so make sure you get both. Enjoy!


New Order - 1988 Demos, Rehearsals and Other Ephemera

Side One: "Ideas from Recording etc Jun/Jul etc"

01 Loveless
02 Mr. Disco
03 Don't Do It
04 Run (Early Version)
05 Unknown #1
06 Best and Marsh
07 MTO
08 Unknown #2
09 guitar and bass checks
10 Dream Attack (Demo)
11 Dream Attack (Hooky bass over playback)
12 Dream Attack (monitor playback)
13 Dream Attack (Hooky bass over playback with piano)
14 Mr. Disco (Hooky bass over playback)
15 Low-Fi Hooky Riffing
16 Hi-Fi Hooky Riffing
17 More Hi-Fi Hooky Riffing
18 All The Way (Hooky Bass)
19 low-volume ambient recording (Blue Monday playback plus bass synth to MTO)

Side Two: "Rehersal - 25/4/88"

01 All The Way (Hooky Bass)
02 'The Him' style riff (Hooky Bass)
03 Blue Monday 1988 (No Samples Version, cuts off)
04 Guilty Partner (Rehearsal Takes)
05 Don't Do It (Rehearsal Takes)
06 Unknown #2 (Rehearsal Takes)
07 Blue Monday 1988 (No Samples Version, start is missing)
08 Blue Monday 1988 (No Samples Version)
09 Blue Monday 1988 (Alternate Version 1)
10 Blue Monday 1988 (Alternate Version 2)


PS - If you're craving more New Order gems, you should visit Recycle and The Power Of Independent Trucking. I'm sure you'll find both sites utterly essential, although Recycle is dedicated specifically to the Joy Division and New Order legacies.

Talking Heads - True Creatures Demos

I've been on a real Talking Heads kick lately, listening to their albums and side-projects with a passion. I've also been reading This Must Be The Place by David Bowman which is an excellent history of the band through the 1999 reissue of Stop Making Sense on DVD. I'd love to read an updated version and catch up on details I've missed since, although the basic vibe the book left with me is that David Byrne IS the heart and soul of Talking Heads, Jerry Harrison is a great musician whose presence opened up new possibilities for the band, Chris Frantz is a great drummer who really enjoyed the ride, and Tina Weymouth is jealous and spiteful because she's not the leader. Maybe that sounds a little hard on Tina but in most of the interviews with her featured in the book she bashes David, complains about the labels, says their audience wasn't sharp enough for her other projects, tries to take credit for things she really had nothing to do with and attempts to re-write history. I don't know Tina, haven't spoken to her and don't know much about her outside of her works with Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club, and while one could argue the book could be biased, I would assume that the writer, if he has any credibility, wouldn't alter things for his own gain, so I will take the text as is and my assumption is Tina is bitter. She seems to be the main reason that the group has not reunited, and while David may be the center of the group, he is not Talking Heads. And while I'm on it, Tom Tom Club wasn't that great and most of their best moments on the first album go uncredited to Adrian Belew, SO THERE!

It hurts to see something that was so inspiring get left behind because someone holds a grudge that no one else may understand. Talking Heads really impressed me as a child since they seemed to do whatever they wanted without worrying what others thought. Hire wonderful musicians for an African funk fest? CHECK! Make videos that people are still trying to emulate today? CHECK! Make incredible records that still hold up? CHECK! The Big Suit? CHECK! Etcetera, etcetera, and on and on, the point is they earned a permanent place in my consciousness and I know I'm not the only one that can attest to that.

In digging through my stuff and scouring the internet for interesting goodies, I found an interesting set of demos labeled True Creatures. True Stories and Little Creatures, while great albums, aren't my favorite periods of the Heads' works, but I was interested and grabbed them, and I'm really glad I did because these are great tracks! These appear to be David Byrne on his own with a drum machine, his guitar and more than half of the songs for the True Stories and Little Creatures albums, multi-tracking his vocals and guitar over basic beats that could have all been recorded at home.

Most of the songs on the True Creatures Demos are pretty much fully written, although there are differences in some of the lyrics from the finished versions. Road To Nowhere sounds rather rough lyrically, with Byrne's vocals garbled by his multi-tracking, making one assume the lyrics were waiting to be finished. Wild Wild Life is mostly the same but has a few slight changes in it's lyrics. It is also missing it's speed and attitude from the finished version, as is Love For Sale, making them mid-tempo songs rather than full-blown rockers. Things get really interesting though with the instrumental Hey, not to be confused with Hey Now. This appears to be Byrne experimenting with his synthesizers and samplers as several pitch adjusted samples of his voice make multiple appearances saying only Hey throughout. Overall a great experimental instrumental which is otherwise unreleased, but the shining point of this collection, for myself at least, is Byrne's stripped-down take on People Like Us, making it more ballad-like and reaffirming it's stance of personal strength.

At the moment, I don't have this in better quality than 128kbps MP3, so if anyone has a better copy and wants to share, drop me a line, I'd love to talk to you. As for where I got this from, credit goes to nic1233 at the guitars101 forums. Thanks for sharing man!


Talking Heads - True Creatures Demos

01 Wild Wild Life
02 Puzzlin' Evidence
03 Love For Sale
04 The Lady Don't Mind
05 Hey Now
06 Road To Nowhere
07 Hey (Instrumental)
08 Papa Legba
09 People Like Us
10 City Of Dreams
11 Radio Head
12 Give Me Back My Name


PS - No offense to Tina, I simply call 'em as I see 'em. I'd love to hear you prove the sources wrong.

The Dust Brothers - More, More, More

So I got to speak with Peter Reardon today. Really nice guy! You should check his company, Shadow Hills. They sell top of the line analog recording hardware. I asked him a little about that and he also had some nice things to say about Matt Dike, but I wasn't interviewing him and I didn't ask to share our conversation so I'm leaving it at that. VERY COOL GUY!

What does Peter Reardon have to do with the Dust Brothers you ask? It's simply a matter of degrees of separation as Peter is friends and worked with Matt Dike who worked with the Dust Brothers, and I've been sitting on another post's worth of Dust rarities I wanted to share with you so I figured this was an apt way to start a post.

The first part of this post is a collection of remixes and rarities but the second is an EP of remixes from the Fight Club soundtrack. I can't remember for sure but I might have gotten it from The Lost Turntable a long time ago, and I'm not one to rip anyone off, so if I did indeed get these tracks from there, props and credit to The Lost Turntable for ripping and sharing them initially.


The Dust Brothers - More Productions, Remixes & Other Things

01 Cogasm - A Sign From God
Cogasm was a very short-lived project with The Cure's Robert Smith and David Bowie's late nineties guitarist, Reeves Gabrels. Their only released work is this very song which appeared on the Orgazmo soundtrack. Apparently there were supposed to be two separate mixes of this song on the soundtrack, one by Smith and Gabrels and the other by the Dust Brothers, but only the Dust version saw release.

02 The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) (Dust Mix)

03 Technotronic - This Beat Is Technotronic (Dust Mix)

04 April March - Sugar (Remix)

05 UNKLE - Rock On (Nutcracker Mix)
This remix is SIIIIIIIIICK!!!

06 Urban Dance Squad - Demagogue (Dust Brothers Remix)

07 More, More, More
This Dust Brothers' remake of the Andrea True Connection's classic was made for the soundtrack to HBO series version of Sex and The City.

08 KRS-One - Check It Out
This is also from the Orgazmo soundtrack. The instrumental for this track is named Try Your Luck and also appears on the soundtrack. Sadly, KRS is really, REALLY weak here.

09 Coolio - (I'm In Love With) Mary Jane
From the Half Baked soundtrack. A duo named the Dust Brothers producing a song about smoking weed for a movie about smoking weed? Synergy!

10 Halo - Not At All (Dust Brothers Remix)

11 Whale - Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe (Doggy Style)

12 Money Mark - Maybe I'm Dead (Dust Brothers Remix)

13 The Rolling Stones - Might As Well Get Juiced
One of the few released contributions from the Rolling Stones' Bridges To Babylon album. Decent track, but most of the Dust Brothers' contributions were deleted from the final album. Apparently Mick Jagger thought they were great but Keith Richards wasn't having it.

14 Morgan - Miss Parker (The Dust Brothers Mix)

15 Sukia - The Dream Machine (Norris Stretch Mix)

16 Styles Of Beyond - Winnetka Exit (Dust Brothers Remix)

17 EMF - Lies (Dust Brothers 12" Club Mix)

18 Howard Stern - Tortured Man
This began as a track for Sugartooth's The Sounds Of Solid but, having been left over, was repurposed for Howard Stern's Private Parts soundtrack.


The Dust Brothers - The Fight Club Remixes

01 This Is Your Life
02 What Is Fight Club (Wally Gagel Remix)
03 Finding The Bomb (C.M.G. Remix)
04 Chemical Burn (Headshop Remix)
05 Who Is Tyler Durden (Dust Remix)
06 Homework (Fitz Remix)


PS - The image for this post is the lyric sheet for Wesley Willis' tribute to The Dust Brothers who are credited, albeit rather loosely, with producing his album, Feel The Power. More on Wesley in the near future.

Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box Outtakes

I have been waiting for this for so long! But first, massive credit must be given to plymwhites for hooking things up and Tony for getting me copies of the recordings, I am eternally grateful to you guys and if there is anything I can do, please let me know!

So, a year or two ago I found the wonderful Fodderstompf site and read about these recordings. I started hunting them and the Commercial Zone outtakes, and I eventually found those CZ tracks which are shared here, but I had no luck with the Metal Box Outtakes until plymwhites and Tony came into the picture. After plymwhites connection, Tony got me the three disc set known as Metal Box Demos, although that label isn't exactly correct. Not to be confused with the vinyl boot that contains b-sides and radio sessions, this set contained the ten tracks featured here, three tracks from an unknown radio session, and a ton of tracks that sound like they were recorded with a handheld tape recorder. Those "handheld" tapes aren't necessarily different from the finished versions, although it's hard to really determine if there are differences due to the lack of fidelity, but it's quite likely they were recorded while being played through the monitor at the mixdown sessions. As for the ten tracks featured here, they are legitimate, unreleased, alternate mixes and takes of songs from the Metal Box sessions. That said, the quality of these recordings isn't the greatest as they sound like they've been copied twenty or thirty times and the final cassette might have been stored under the seat of an ancient chevrolet before someone digitized them and shared them with other collectors, but that doesn't matter because the tracks are great!

The Fodderstompf review of these tracks covers most of the details, but a quick run down follows below the tracks in the list below. Also, I've included an eleventh track with excerpts from a few of the "handheld" tracks and some entertaining tape glitches. I know not everyone is necessarily interested in that sort of thing, but I find it very entertaining so I figured I share these bits with you. It reminds me of trading tapes via the mail back in the day before MP3s became so common. Hope you enjoy!

UPDATE: I got reported again for this post, and there isn't even a download link attached to it anymore! Well, tough, I'm not getting rid of the text. I wrote it, it's my post, there is nothing that shouldn't be here any longer, I won't remove it. Anyone that has a problem with that, TOUGH SHIT.

Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box Outtakes

01 Socialist (Alternate Mix)
This isn't terribly different from the released version, although you can hear Wobble at the end of the track chanting socialist. He almost sounds robotic. There are also some keys and mixing differences throughout the track that I found interesting.

02 Death Disco (Alternate Take)
This may not be the complete take, but it's great nonetheless. It's a little bouncier and, dare I say, more "disco friendly" than the released version. Very cool!

03 Beat The Drum For Me (Alternate Mix)
04 Beat The Drum For Me (Alternate Mix)
I can't vouch that there are any huge difference here.

05 Beat The Drum For Me (Dub Mix)
The Fodderstompf review lists this track as two different takes stuck together. I could be wrong but I took it as one dubby mix version, and that's how I'm presenting it to you here. This is a really cool version.

06 No Birds Do Sing (Alternate Mix)
The differences here are pretty minimal, but the track goes on a little longer than the released version.

07 No Birds Do Sing (Alternate Mix, incomplete)
08 No Birds Do Sing (Alternate Mix, incomplete)
These two tracks are probably meant to be one track. It sounds like whomever was taping these tried to continue the second version very close to where the first ended. For the record, these two tracks were combined into one on the discs I received, but I separated them here.

09 No Birds Do Sing (Alternate Mix)
Like the other versions, the differences are minimal.

10 Socialist (Alternate Take)
Not terribly different from the released version, this one starts with someone hitting the foghorn-sounding keyboard. This version also fades out.

11 tape excerpts
Just what the title says, there are bits of Bad Baby, The Suit and Chant in here, as well as a track that probably isn't PiL that I don't recognize. If you were wondering what the "handheld" stuff sounds like, this should give you a good idea, and if enough people want those I can post them, but I don't think anyone is going to care. Those "handheld" tapes are nearly unlistenable, and if you do listen to them you might get tinnitus. You have been warned.


PS - Gotta say it one more time, HUGE thanks to Tony and plymwhites! You guys rule!

PS2 - Happy Birthday Dad!

PS3 - Game system I don't own because the 360, for me at least, is better. I don't believe in BluRay either. Also, a really dumb joke I'm making that I hope you can all forgive me for.

U2 - Lady With The Spinning Head / Salomé

Most people close to me know of my strong distaste for U2. It's not because of their music, at least not their older works, although I do feel most of their best known songs from earlier in their career are severely over-praised, but rather it's because of Bono's big mouth. I'm sure he thinks he's doing good for the world but I genuinely detest his image as a guy who wants to be cool while saving the world in his mind. He has a beautiful voice and is a talented songwriter, but he's his own biggest hype machine and it's really annoying.

The funniest part about Bono's need to hype himself is when he gets caught in his own fuck-ups, like saying how we should erase the world debt and pay our taxes while he moves his band legally out of their home country of Ireland for tax purposes. Remember when he pushed for additional hype for Pop only to have it be a flop when compared to the money spent on it's release, causing a mid-nineties melt-down for Island Records and requiring them to fire a good chunk of their promotions staff, which probably helped Universal with their takeover of the label a few years later. There is also the meeting presidents and world leaders, writing articles for newspapers and thinking the American Idol casts must be blown away when they meet him. He'd be interesting to meet, that's for certain, but more for the anecdotes or goofy stories than for the celebrity.

And then there is the band, a good rhythm section and a guitarist who is playing a variation on the same riff in EVERY SONG THEY RELEASE TO RADIO! What the hell?

All my bitching aside, there was a time when U2 were genuinely creative and working toward making original and inspired music. That part of their career essentially ended after their label didn't promote their album with Brian Eno as Passengers, as they begged them not to release it under their own name due to it's uncommercial sound. Yes, they've had a few really good songs on every album they've done since then, with Beautiful Day being utterly joyous and one of their greatest singles ever, but they haven't recorded a solid album since Zooropa, although I believe more people would be impressed by that Passengers album if they gave it a chance.

Take a step back to 1991's Achtung Baby, and U2 are making joyous, beautiful music that even when flawed is fascinating and enjoyable. Mysterious Ways becomes a classic hit, Even Better Than The Real Thing confounds yet entices with it's great hooks, strange lyrics and video as a miniature representation of their Zoo TV tour, and The Fly still sounds bizarre and futuristic today. They also fucked over Negativland by letting their label push them around and then steal aspects of their "revolutionary" Zoo TV tour from them and the Tape Beatles, but they got away with it because they were taking it to another level previously unseen. What's funny is what they left off from that era or didn't even bother finishing, as some of that material is among the best they ever recorded.

Consider this post a preview of something that may be dug into later this summer, as I hope to go over the best of the Achtung Baby outtakes and sessions with a fine toothed comb, but for now I want to focus on two of the best songs that never got their moment in the sun, Lady With The Spinning Head and Salomé both of which were b-sides from that album's era.

Lady With The Spinning Head (UVI) started life as a rather funky number that eventually grew into Ultraviolet (Light My Way), which appeared on the finished album (the UVI stands for Ultraviolet 1). The lyrics are pretty non-sensical but the percussion is truly funky, sounding more like a human drum machine than anything the band had tried prior. There are also interesting sounds abounding throughout the song, with what might be an Indian influenced keyboard solo in the middle and what sounds like a twisted music box in the intro. It's a hell of a song, especially since it ended up as a b-side, making many wonder why something this good would be rejected for the album. It's rejection is clearly because it sounds far more polished than anything else on the album, but it's still amazing that Ultraviolet would get chosen over Head's twisted brilliance.

When a significant chunk of the early Achtung Baby sessions were bootlegged in April of 1991, six months before the album's release, many fans were introduced to an early version of Head with a track labeled Wake Up on the bootleg packaging, now generally referred to as Take You Down. The backing track remained practically identical to the released song, although it sounds like Bono is singing at least two different songs at the same time. This isn't an exaggeration, it sounds as though whomever prepared the mix left both vocal tracks in the song, but who knows, it could have been intentional. Whatever the cause, Head would see it's initial official release as the b-side of One and then a second issue, as an Extended Dance Remix, on the single for Even Better Than The Real Thing. The Extended version added back a lot of the musical elements left over from the Take You Down version of the song, making it live up to it's Extended label. The Take You Down version remains unreleased.

Salomé is often considered the best non-album track from the Achtung Baby era, if not one of U2's best b-sides ever. It's quite different from most anything they had recorded before and after, with it's emphasis on a funky but subdued bass and drum combo driving the song. Bono sings about the biblical Salomé and her seductive dance while someone samples his voice and uses his calls as backup vocals and distorted textures. The earlier versions, much like the version of Lady With The Spinning Head, are rather similar to the finished one, although they all feature significantly different lyrics, although these follow the same rhythmic patterns as the finished ones. Salomé was released as the normal b-side for Even Better Than The Real Thing although it also appeared as a trance remix on the Melon compilation released to members of U2's magazine/fan club, Propaganda. That trance version, the Zooromancer Remix, was created by Pete Heller and Terry Farley, renown for their participation in the Madchester scene.

If you asked me to listen to anything new related to U2 and Bono, you'd have a hard time convincing me not to walk away. Their output is simply not of the same quality as it was well over a decade ago, and Bono's incessant yapping makes me consider carrying a loaded weapon, but the wonders of songs like these is a great reminder that Bono used to let his talent do the talking. Maybe if they decided to take a few years off and sort the best songs they'd write during that period they might issue something as great as the classics in their catalog, or maybe if they let Eno rule them in the studio as he knows how to get results, but when you're the "biggest band in the world" general rules don't often apply. Too bad, because I'm sure they've still got a little left in 'em. For now though, enjoy these gems, with the aforementioned standard release versions, early versions and remixes.


U2 - Lady With The Spinning Head / Salomé

01 Lady With The Spinning Head (UVI)
02 Salomé
03 Take You Down (Lady With The Spinning Head Demo)
04 Salomé (Early Version)
05 Lady With The Spinning Head (Extended Dance Remix)
06 Salomé (Zooromancer Remix)

Billy Joel - Rarities and Slept-On Gems

I've never understood the cultural bashing Billy Joel gets. Yes, his best known songs are big pop hits that get played on soft-rock radio and will continue to get played until the end of time, but those are his biggest hits as opposed to his catalog. His songwriting chops are generally undervalued by the uninformed, with the assumption being that he wrote a hundred Just The Way You Are or Uptown Girl knockoffs.

In reality, Billy Joel is closer to the American Elvis Costello. Throughout his career he's written music in whatever genres he's chosen with no concern for popular taste, and he's never made himself out to be anything more than he is. That's to say, he grew up in a rough part of New York, played piano as a child, had to learn not to take shit from anyone and comes off hard because that's how he grew up. Why is it hard to imagine the guy who grew up a little rough might have deeper feelings than "kick some ass!", but even more so, why can't people accept that the guy who wrote tons of lovely songs like Piano Man and Just The Way You Are can rock? If Elvis Costello can write great tunes like Alison or Everyday I Write The Book alongside more rocking fare like Pump It Up and Watching The Detectives and be accepted as his eclectic self, why the hell can't Billy Joel be accepted the same?

Whatever the reason for Billy's lack of acceptance as legitimately cool, he probably doesn't care because he knows he has his fans, and hipsters are, were and will continue to be fickle. His live shows are immensely entertaining events where he talks with the crown regularly, sharing stories of his life and taking songs that were more catchy than rocking, like You May Be Right, and making them rock hard enough to get everyone in an arena on their feet and dancing. SERIOUSLY. Everyone can stare at Radiohead in awe and be entertained, but can you say you really had a fun time there?

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a big fan of Billy Joel, and I'm defensive of him because I've heard far too many people write him off as a powder-puff pop artist. I'm not defending everything he's recorded, as his later albums like Storm Front and River Of Dreams, while good pop records, don't hold a candle to his earlier output, although they have their moments like the hauntingly sad and beautiful And So It Goes or the enchanting Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel).

For me, Billy's late seventies and early eighties output stands as his best output, at least in album length. 1980's Glass Houses, for instance, is generally regarded as Billy's attempt to rock, but the songs are all excellent and he and his band sound energetic and inspired. It's "punk" in the way The Police were punk, which is to say they may not have had the punk songs or appearance but they were firm in their beliefs and didn't give a damn what anyone thought, and that's what punk is really about. There is also 1982's The Nylon Curtain, best known for Allentown, but the rest of the album sounds like a love letter to Lennon and McCartney, especially on Laura, a song about a love/hate relationship but actually about Billy's mother. And if you're going to listen to Billy at any length you have to hear Songs In The Attic, a live compilation of Billy and his 1980 touring band consisting entirely of songs from before his breakthrough album, The Stranger, given the full-band treatment and rocking way harder than most would ever expect.

Those three albums really stand out for me but it's worth noting that his other really well-known albums, The Stranger, 52nd Street and the fifties throwback An Innocent Man, are all wonderful, and his earlier releases like Turnstiles, Streetlife Serenade and Piano Man, while not nearly as consistent, have lots of wonderful moments throughout.

For the moment in our modern musical world, with lots of great music from the seventies and eighties being given a renewed respect, Billy still gets the odd stigma of being treated like a one-trick-pony, which is ridiculous. It's really odd to see so-called "yacht rock" getting treated like a hidden treasure while Billy, with his truly wonderful songwriting chops, gets ignored, so I wanted to take a minute and post some of his rarer cuts and a few slept-on favorites most people may not have heard. So, I hope you enjoy these cuts and you should grab Glass Houses and Songs In The Attic next time you're in a used record shop. You shouldn't have to pay much more than five dollars for a used copy of either and you'll find they have really stood the test of time.


Billy Joel - Rarities and Slept-On Gems

01 Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway) (Live)
This version is from Songs In The Attic. The original version appears on Turnstiles.

02 Sometimes A Fantasy (Extended Version)
This song is taken from Glass Houses, although this slightly longer version that doesn't fade out was released as the single.

03 Laura
From The Nylon Curtain.

04 You Got Me Hummin' (Live)
A cover of a Sam & Dave song written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Billy originally recorded this with one of his early bands, The Hassles. This version was recorded in the early eighties with his touring band and appeared as a B-Side for the Tell Her About It 12" single.

05 Stop In Nevada (Live)
A legitimately unreleased song for which I don't have the date of performance. Really good song!

06 Zanzibar (Unfaded Version)
The standard version of Zanzibar appears on 52nd Street, whereas this unfaded version of the take used for the album appears on Billy's My Lives compilation. My Lives is a four CD, one DVD retrospective box set. It features a ton of demos and unreleased recordings, but also has a lot of album tracks which seem to be randomly placed throughout. It's a strange compilation but it's worth it for the demos and unreleased stuff.

07 So Long, Reverend Ike
This is from the iTunes version of My Lives and cannot be purchased without buying the whole box via iTunes. That's ridiculous so I'm sharing it with you. Also, this song, or at least this recording, is unfinished, so don't worry, I'm not short changing you, this is all we've got. Good tune with some rather poetic, biting lyrics.

08 Angry Young Man (Live)
This used to open Billy's shows, and it's got a heluva roar to it. This version is taken from a DVD called Downtown Toys of Billy at Wembley in 1984.

09 Streetlife Serenader (Live)
This version is from Songs In The Attic while the original version is from Streetlife Serenade. Like everything on Songs In The Attic, this blows the original studio version out of the water!

10 Tell Her About It (Remix)
From the 12" for Tell Her About It, this remix was created by John "Jellybean" Benitez. Quite the unexpected bit of name dropping!

11 Captain Jack (Live)
The original version is from Piano Man, but this is, again, from Songs In The Attic. Beautiful, roaring performance!

12 And So It Goes (Demo)
This was written around 1983 about the end of Billy's relationship with the then nineteen year old Elle Macpherson. DAMN! How about them apples? Anyway, he knew the relationship would never last and wrote this beautiful song about it. It was eventually released as the final song on Storm Front and has since been covered a number of times. Beautiful song.

13 2008 Rock Hall Induction Speech For John Mellencamp
In case you've never heard Billy tell a story, this is for you. Billy is wonderfully eloquent and entertaining, and this is a nice example of his flow. Pardon the occasional drop-outs, they're from Billy being censored by VH1.


By the way, if we're discussing Billy's coolness or, in some people's eyes, lack thereof, remember how hot Christie Brinkley was in the eighties. How cool is that?