Una Valli & The Flames – Burning Hot (1968) Album Edit (Take 1)

We’re back with the second and last Flames fan album. This is a pretty simple one. Most of the bonus tracks on the group’s first album, Ummm! Ummm! Oh Yeah!!!, were used on my first fan album. Six weren’t, as they were recorded after Ummm! Ummm! was released. Those cuts are from 1966-1967. In 1968, six songs were recorded with a pop singer named Una Valli for one of her albums and in a similar time frame, one for a Flames single. That song, “Streamliner”, would be the last Flames single to not be on a studio album. Seeing as Una was on six of these thirteen songs, it made sense to emphasize this album as a collaboration, but unfortunately she’s absent from seven, so pulling this off will be tricky. An obvious option was to start and end the album with her. Now there’s eleven middling placements with only four featuring Una. This album mostly goes from one Una song to one sung by Steve Fataar (Steve sounds like his brothers, so they may have gotten a song to sing). The two points where there had to be two Steves feature the four shortest songs, so Una hopefully won’t ever be gone too long.

This album is pretty good, though there are some complaints. Some of the songs seem like they could’ve used a second take. There should’ve been much less or much more Una, so the album comes off like one concept. Blondie Chaplin, a member of The Flames who joined in 1967, has the best voice of the bunch, but is absent vocally here as he was probably absent for the ‘66 and ‘67 songs and was instrumental only on the Unas. He probably played guitar on “Streamliner” and the Una songs. Overall, the album is a good experience, though a little shaky. The cover of this album is a cropped version of the original album that featured the six Una songs and Una being backed by a different band for six more. The title seemed fun and appropriate.

UNA VALLI & THE FLAMES – BURNING HOT

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Satisfaction” (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards)
2. “Like A Baby” (John Madara, David White, Len Barry)
3. “Tell Mama” (Clarence Carter, Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell)
4. “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” (Vicki Wickham, Simon Napier-Bell, Pino Donaggio, Vito Pallavicini)
   
5. “Stop Thief” (Hayes, Porter, Shamwell)
6. “He’ll Only Hurt You” (Dion DiMucci, Matt Maurer, Noel Sherman, Wes Farrell)

SIDE B

1. “Streamliner” (Colin Scott)
2. “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland)
3. “Glory Of Love” (Billy Hill)
4. “Take Me For A Little While” (Trade Martin)
5. “Respect” (Otis Redding)
6. “Down In The Valley” (Solomon Burke)
7. “You Are My Sunshine” (Jimmie Davis, Charles Mitchell)

PERSONNEL

• Steve Fataar – lead guitar (tracks 1-13), lead vocals (apparently tracks 2, 4, 6-7, 9, 11-12)
• Edries “Brother” Fataar – bass guitar (tracks 1-13), possible vocals
• Ricky Fataar – drums (tracks 1-13), possible vocals
• Blondie Chaplin – rhythm guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7-8, 10, 13 and possibly 2, 4, 6, 9, 11-12), possible backing vocals
• Una Valli – lead vocals (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 13)
• Edries Fredericks – possible rhythm guitar (tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 11-12), possible vocals
• Baby Duval – possible rhythm guitar (tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 11-12), possible vocals

Burning Hot (1968) – YouTube, Archive.org

and for the next albums…

Soulfire!! (1968) – YouTube, Spotify

The Flame (1970) – YouTube, Spotify

The Beach Boys & The Flames at the Whiskey-a-Go-Go (1970) – Archive.org (Bootleg)

Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection (1967) Album Edit (Take 1)

My expectations for this album weren’t great. Of the seven songs, four were instrumentals. This would create a lopsided experience. Due to the length of one of them, the songs with vocals would take up eight minutes and thirty-seven seconds, while the instrumental songs would take up twenty-three minutes and twenty-six seconds. To my surprise, the album works bizarrely well. The songs flow very nicely and some of the elements that seem like they shouldn’t work, do. One unnamed track known as, “Instrumental 01/22/1967” is in low quality, but it gives the vibe of being intentional and it only being about a minute makes it not overstay its welcome. “Let’s Roll Another One” is the other low quality track. It also is pretty short. It was annoying that two of the tracks here were unnamed instrumentals. The first one was thus changed to “Let’s Roll Another One Part 0”. The second one, known as, “Instrumental Improvisation 02/24/1967” is now, “Let’s Roll Another One Part 2”. “Let’s Roll Another One” gets “Part 1” added to it. One might wonder why Interstellar Overdrive is on this album when it was featured on the band’s official first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This version is mostly different. Despite the Piper version being about nine minutes, this version is almost twice as long, being a hair under seventeen. To differentiate the two title-wise, this one is called, “Let’s Roll Another One Part 3 – Interstellar Overdrive”. Originally, this album was to end with, “See Emily Play”. The joke would be that you’d think the album would end with a seventeen minute song, but there’s another short tune there. That placement just didn’t work. It was awkward and the idea was used on the previous album, The King Bees.

Honestly, this might be my favorite fan album I’ve made so far. The songs are so inventive and build so well. “Interstellar Overdrive” serves as a grand finale, being a little longer than the other six tracks combined. Usually, the names of my fan albums are just names I come up with, but “Projection” was a considered title for Piper. The picture had a cool psychedelic look, so it was used. The next album to listen to after this is The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. This is a very good album that leads in well. Don’t let me be the judge, though!

SYD BARRETT & PINK FLOYD – PROJECTION

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Let’s Roll Another One Part 0” (Syd Barrett)
2. “Arnold Layne” (Syd Barrett)
3. “Candy And A Currant Bun” (Syd Barrett)
4. “See Emily Play” (Syd Barrett)
5. “Let’s Roll Another One Part 1” (Syd Barrett)
6. “Let’s Roll Another One Part 2” (Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason)

SIDE B

1. “Let’s Roll Another One Part 3 – Interstellar Overdrive” (Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Richard Wright, Nick Mason)

BONUS TRACKS

1. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 08 Arnold Layne (January 28th, 1967 acetate)
2. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 09 Arnold Layne (February 27th, 1967 stereo enhanced)
3. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 10 Candy And A Currant Bun (January 28th, 1967 acetate)
4. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 11 Candy And A Currant Bun (February 27th, 1967 stereo enhanced)
5. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 12 See Emily Play (May 21st, 1967 acetate with alternate ending)
6. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 13 See Emily Play (May 23rd, 1967 stereo enhanced)
7. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 14 See Emily Play at 16rpm
8. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 15 Let’s Roll Another One (Rehearsal)
9. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 16 Instrumental Improvisation
10. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 17 Interstellar Overdrive (October 31st, 1965 Demo)
11. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 18 Interstellar Overdrive (January 12th, 1967 Soundtrack Mix, 9.43 Length)
12. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 19 Interstellar Overdrive (January 12th, 1967 LP Edit, 3.06 Length)
13. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 20 Nick’s Boogie (January 12th, 1967 Alternate Version)
14. Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – Projection 21 Interstellar Overdrive (February 27th, 1967 French “Arnold Layne” EP Mix)

PERSONNEL

• Syd Barrett – lead vocals (tracks 2-4), electric guitar (tracks 1-7), acoustic guitar (track 2)
• Roger Waters – bass guitar (tracks 1-7), scream (track 3), backing vocals (track 4)
• Richard Wright – keyboard (tracks 1-7), backing vocals (track 2-4)
• Nick Mason – drums (tracks 1-7), spoken line (track 3)

Projection (1967) – Archive.org

and if you want the next album…

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) – YouTube, Spotify

The Zombies – White & Dandy (1967) Album Edit (Take 2)

We’ve reached the last Zombies studio album. The next studio album is the actually released, Odessey and Oracle. That album is rightfully considered one of the greatest albums of all time. This album, White & Dandy, hopefully leads into it nicely, and the same with all my fan albums. This album has the pro of being more sophisticated and developed than previous efforts, making it an appropriate piece of the puzzle. The con is that some of these tracks aren’t in the best of quality. The band just wasn’t understood in its time and very little of their work was released. It would’ve been nice for them to make more albums. They barely got Odessey and Oracle made and released! Five of these tracks are demos and four are live recordings that sound good enough to pass as studio. “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” is the only surviving track from the Zombies’ six sessions at the BBC in October and November 1967, thanks to an off-air recording. I’d imagine the others are off-air, too, as the quality is a little lesser than you’d hope, same with the demos. The quality isn’t terrible on the songs, but it’s not as crisp as it’d be nice to be as these songs are so good.

The first four tracks are the live recordings. They set a good tone and groove for the album. They wouldn’t fit as well on, let’s say, side b. “Going To A Go-Go” has a small amount of audience noise and an announcer. This parallels the first track on the elusive, R.I.P.. That album’s first track had audience noises overdubbed. Before starting, I thought the five demos would cover the first five slots on side b, as it happened on a months old attempt at ordering some of these songs. “Out Of The Day” transitions from the live recordings well. “I’ll Call You Mine”, which seemed like an ideal opener to the whole album, is now the end. “I’ll Call You Mine” carries everything well and it’s probably the closest track here to Odessey and Oracle.

This project has been a lot of fun, revisiting some of these and hearing some for the first time. I’d hope that if one were to listen to the studio albums in order; Begin Here, Have Returned, On The Run, Sunrise, White & Dandy, and Odessey and Oracle, they’d get a fulfilling experience. The cover for this album is a modern piece of art for a Zombies tour. It seemed like a weird idea to have a picture of the band for this album, especially as 1967 photos of them don’t give off the right tone. This one does. The title, White & Dandy, came to me when I was watching a Betty White interview, so credit to her for that. Despite being done with studio albums by the Zombies, there are three more Zombie-related projects on the roster. First is the second and final live album, which will be the last Zombies album possible unless lost recordings resurface. The second will be the first Argent album, which will utilize 1968 recordings featuring Rod Argent and the third will be the first Colin Blunstone album, using 1969 recordings of Colin. It’s possible that there could be some more solo albums. Most of Colin and Rod’s solo works were on their albums. I also haven’t done much research on material after the 60’s. Hopefully there will be an equivalent to Zombie Heaven that gives us a complete look at the solo stuff.

Finally, credit to http://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/ for being the inspiration to do this project again. My first attempt at Zombies albums, Are Missing and Feeling Something, could definitely be improved upon, so I’m glad I read their blog and realized what was missing before. Check out their fan albums by the Zombies and many more.

THE ZOMBIES – WHITE & DANDY

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Going To A Go-Go” (Warren Moore, William Robinson, Robert Rogers, Marvin Tarplin)
2. “The Look Of Love” (Burt Bacharach, Hal David)
3. “This Old Heart Of Mine” (Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland)
4. “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” (Ivy Jo Hunter, Stevie Wonder)
5. “Out Of The Day” (Chris White)
6. “Goin’ Out Of My Head” (Bobby Weinstein, Teddy Randazzo)

SIDE B

1. “One Day I’ll Say Goodbye” (Chris White)
2. “I Don’t Want To Worry” (Chris White)
3. “A Love That Never Was” (Rod Argent)
4. “Call Of The Night” (Chris White)
5. “She Does Everything For Me” (Rod Argent)
6. “I’ll Call You Mine” (Chris White)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “The Look Of Love (With Intro)”
2. “This Old Heart Of Mine (With Intro & Outro)”
3. “I’ll Call You Mine (RIP Version)”

PERSONNEL

• Colin Blunstone – lead vocals
• Rod Argent – keyboards, backing vocals
• Paul Atkinson – guitar
• Chris White – bass, backing vocals
• Hugh Grundy – drums

White & Dandy (1967) – Archive.org (with Bonus Tracks)

Odessey and Oracle (1968) – Archive.org (with Extensive Bonus Tracks), YouTube, Spotify

Albums That Should Exist – Zombies

Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd – The King Bees (1967) Album Edit (Take 1)

My second favorite musician of all time is the incredible Syd Barrett. His music has an emotional connection to me that I don’t have with most artists. To honor him, I’ve compiled a large sum of his works. Currently, there’s enough material for seven studio fan albums, plus the three studio albums of his officially released, making ten in total! These ten albums will include every song he’s performed on once. I’d like to include the complete recordings of his, but that task is too Herculean, so I’ll be covering the stuff I can find in a quick reach. I’m unsure on whether I’ll do a live album of his, seeing as most live recordings from the Syd era are long enough to be album-length, making it probably unnecessary for me to bother making some. I wouldn’t say I’m done with searching for his songs. It’s usually been easy for me to say, “Okay, I’ve certainly got everything.” That is not the case here. Fingers crossed that there’s another set of content lying around. I suspect this album and its bonus features encompass all the non-live recordings from the beginning of Syd’s recordings to the end of 1966. I’m pretty certain of that unless something was really hiding.

This fan album, The King Bees, is basically the officially released EP, 1965: Their First Recordings, with two extra songs. That EP covers the first six Floyd songs ever recorded in surprisingly sharp quality, despite being demos. The tracklisting on the EP is pretty good. I spliced the two new songs in the shuffle. When I heard the EP, it seemed that all the songs were covers of 50’s rockers, but only one was, “I’m a King Bee”. Four were written by Syd Barrett and one by Roger Waters. It’s bizarre how un-Floyd they come off here. If this was the only Floyd ever recorded, you’d think they were a 50’s inspired band that certainly wouldn’t be interested in psychedelic music.

The first of the non-1965 songs is the only unique song from 1966, “Stoned Alone” aka “I Get Stoned”. This is a live recording, but I want to include every song once and this one only exists live. It seemed like a good closer to side a. It’s poor quality and out of left field nature makes it seem appropriate for how weird it is. It goes after the first four songs on the EP. The fifth song on the EP starts side b, “Butterfly”, then we get what is apparently from the first professionally recorded Floyd session, “Nick’s Boogie”. It’s a really cool twelve minute song that gives some scale to this album, serving as a good finale. It was recorded in 1967 as without at least one ‘67 song, this album would be far too short. The two non-65 songs total half the album. It seemed like an amusing joke to end the album not with Boogie, but with “I’m a King Bee”. It’s a tad unexpected and hopefully pleasantly so.

The King Bees is an odd first Floyd album, but still a solid one with five of the eight songs written by Syd Barrett. It does include elements present on later albums, like long instrumentals. The title and cover fit with an idea I had for this album. Imagine that it’s trying to sell Floyd as a more poppy act with the cover emulating the first albums by The B-52’s or Weezer. Most of the album conforms to that, but with the two surprises to foreshadow the future. For fun I’ll include pictures considered for this album’s cover, but not used.

SYD BARRETT & PINK FLOYD – THE KING BEES

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Lucy Leave” (Syd Barrett)
2. “Double O Bo” (Syd Barrett)
3. “Remember Me” (Syd Barrett)
4. “Walk with Me Sydney” (Roger Waters)
5. “Stoned Alone” (Syd Barrett)

SIDE B

1. “Butterfly” (Syd Barrett)
2. “Nick’s Boogie” (Nick Mason)
3. “I’m a King Bee” (Slim Harpo)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “Interstellar Overdrive (October 31st, 1966 Demo)”
2. “Interview + Interstellar Overdrive (December 1966 CBC)”

PERSONNEL

1. Syd Barrett – lead vocals (tracks 1-4, 6, 8), electric guitar (tracks 1-8)
2. Rado Klose – electric guitar (tracks 1-4, 6, 8)
3. Roger Waters – bass guitar (tracks 1-8), backing vocals, co-lead vocals on “Walk with Me Sydney”
4. Richard Wright – keyboards (tracks 3–8)
5. Nick Mason – drums (tracks 1-8)
6. Juliette Gale – co-lead vocals on “Walk with Me Sydney”
7. Andy Jackson – mastering
8. Ray Staff – mastering

The King Bees (1967) – YouTube, Archive.org

The Zombies – Sunrise (1967) Album Edit (Take 2)

The last two studio, fan-made Zombies albums were the ones I was most excited for. I knew the material would be more intricate and interesting, creating a nice lead-in to the band’s final album, Odessey and Oracle, which was released in 1968. Sunrise was pretty easy to construct. My listening order fit pretty well. There were exceptions. “Gotta Get A Hold Of Myself” was the first one I listened to and it seemed like the ideal starter. In fact, it started the version of this album I made a while back, The Zombies Feeling Something. Here, it seemed to have more conclusiveness, so now it’s the end. All of the live tracks are on side a from tracks 2-5. They’re less complex and probably not as rehearsed, so they make sense near the beginning, where they can build the atmosphere. They do that job well, with “Sitting In The Park” being a personal favorite. The rest of the songs are studio tracks that clearly had a lot of thought put into them. The band likely thought of them as a big next step in their career. Sadly, the songs were either unsuccessful singles or unreleased, despite being the best material from the beginning to this point.

This album being good shouldn’t surprise everyone as The Zombies are really good. This album has a lot of songs about feelings and has many slow moments, so the rocker songs and louder moments give a stronger impact. The title, Sunrise, seemed appropriate. The cover was the cover to a compilation EP that had a good look.

THE ZOMBIES – SUNRISE

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Is This The Dream” (Rod Argent)
2. “It’s All Right” (Curtis Mayfield)
3. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (Gerry Goffin / Carole King)
4. “When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through Her Eyes” (Eddie Holland / Lamont Dozier / Brian Holland)
5. “Sitting In The Park” (Billy Stewart)
6. “I Know She Will” (Chris White)

SIDE B

1. “I Love You” (Chris White)
2. “If It Don’t Work Out” (Rod Argent)
3. “Don’t Cry For Me” (Chris White)
4. “How We Were Before” (Colin Blunstone)
5. “Indication” (Rod Argent)
6. “Gotta Get A Hold Of Myself” (Angela Riela / Clint Ballard Jr.)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “It’s All Right (With Intro)”
2. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow (With Outro)”
3. “When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through Her Eyes (With Intro)”
4. “I Know She Will (With Studio Chatter)”
5. “I Know She Will (RIP Version)”
6. “I Know She Will (Orchestral Mix)”
7. “I Love You (Alternate Mix)”
8. “If It Don’t Work Out (With Studio Chatter)”
9. “If It Don’t Work Out (RIP Version)”
10. “If It Don’t Work Out (Orchestral Mix)”
11. “Don’t Cry For Me (RIP Version)”
12. “Don’t Cry For Me (Sounds A Little Different Than Other Version)”

PERSONNEL

• Colin Blunstone – lead vocals
• Rod Argent – keyboards, backing vocals
• Paul Atkinson – guitar
• Chris White – bass, backing vocals
• Hugh Grundy – drums

Sunrise (1967) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

Bunker Hill – Friday Night Dance Party (1963) Album Edit

I’m very proud to present the fan album for Bunker Hill! It might make more sense to call this a fan EP as he apparently only ever had seven recordings. Bunker Hill is so obscure that there could be more recordings out there that are unknown, but I doubt it. David Walker was a gospel singer who took the opportunity to sing some songs with the famous Link Wray and the Raymen backing him. He adopted the pseudonym “Bunker Hill” as if it was discovered that he was doing this, he’d be kicked out of his gospel group. One of the songs here, “Hide and Go Seek”, became a hit in the US. Hill was discovered to have sung these songs and had to leave his gospel group. Apparently he infrequently sang with them, but a lack of info leaves that and other aspects of his life a question mark. We sadly won’t likely get answers due to the age and obscurity of these songs. Still, Hill made quite an influence. Some have compared these songs, mainly “Friday Night Dance Party” and “The Girl Can’t Dance”, to punk rock. Not bad for a gospel singer. The official genre for this would be, “proto-punk”. It’s music that’s like punk, but not there yet.

Sequencing this was pretty easy. I knew I wanted my two favorites on this album, “Friday Night Dance Party” and its b-side “The Girl Can’t Dance”, to start and close the album. No other song challenged those slots very hard. “Hide & Go Seek, Pt. 1” and “Red Ridin’ Hood And The Wolf” feature some talking so they fit as the opener of side-b and second-last song, with Red Ridin’ transitioning into Can’t Dance well.

This EP follows the album-structure that I usually use. Side-a consists of a strong rocker that feels like it could start an album, a ballad that flows nicely from it, and a rocking ending with some finality, but not a ton. Side-b has the more abstract songs. It gets more intense until the end. The cover for this album is the cover of the “Friday Night Dance Party”/”The Girl Can’t Dance” single. I’m really into posters/covers which feature exactly two people on opposite ends of the cover making an interesting face and/or body expression. ”The Girl Can’t Dance” is removed from the cover and “Friday Night Dance Party” is stretched to fill the space. Link Wray’s name was above Hill’s, but I reversed them as it’s more Bunker’s thing than Link’s.

“Nobody Knows” doesn’t appear to be on American Spotify. It is on Canadian Spotify, so I guess Spotify thinks that song’s too good for us! Due to the missing song, there’s no Spotify link for this EP. Thanks a lot, Spotify! Do thank my Canadian friend for showing me these gems so I can make them a little more accessible.

BUNKER HILL – FRIDAY NIGHT DANCE PARTY

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Friday Night Dance Party” (Link Wray)
2. “You Can’t Make Me Doubt My Baby” (Bunker Hill)
3. “Nobody Knows” (Bunker Hill)

SIDE B

1. “Hide & Go Seek, Pt. 1” (Bunker Hill)
2. “Hide & Go Seek, Pt. 2” (Bunker Hill)
3. “Red Ridin’ Hood And The Wolf” (Bunker Hill)
4. “The Girl Can’t Dance” (Bunker Hill)

PERSONNEL

• Bunker Hill – lead vocals
• Link Wray – guitar, vocals
• Shorty Horton – bass guitar
• Doug Wray – drums
• Ray Vernon – producer

Friday Night Dance Party (1963) – YouTube, Archive.org

The Zombies – Lighting Up The Saturday Club (1966) Album Edit (Take 2)

We are back with another Zombies fan album and our first live album. As stated before, songs that only exist as live recordings are counted as studio ones, as they sound good enough. It seemed appropriate to include the live songs with studio versions in the fold of fan albums, but not on the studio album ones. The way this was done was by having live albums. I could only locate thirty live recordings as the band’s obscurity led them to not do that much recording and some of what was recorded is now lost. It’s possible that there could be another album or more of material that’s unavailable. Still, this is what we do have, so that’s what we’re working with. This set includes the fifteen live recordings recorded first. “Tell Her No” and “She’s Not There” have several different recordings, so each one is represented once on the album and the three copies are counted as bonus features.

The sequencing was simple. Fortunately, not that many recordings featured an announcer. If there was often one, that’d get annoying. There seems to be a healthy mix present. There’s also the amusing coincidence of all the Chris White songs being on side a and most the Rod Argent ones being on side b. The cover comes from a picture of the band at a live show messed with to be trippy and psychedelic. This could be called a prelude to the more psychedelic stuff to come. I did say I wouldn’t use any more pictures of the band dressed the same, but this one is cool looking and you can’t see what they’re wearing. Seeing as most of these recordings were recorded at the Saturday Club, the title seemed appropriate, though not all the recordings are. I also don’t know if the cover photo is from the Saturday Club.

With that, we’re now halfway through the Zombies. There’s three more fan albums left and then their material can be enjoyed to its fullest.

THE ZOMBIES – LIGHTING UP THE SATURDAY CLUB

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “If It Don’t Work Out (Saturday Club)” (Rod Argent)
2. “I Must Move” (Chris White)
3. “What More Can I Do” (Chris White)
4. “Road Runner (Saturday Club)” (Elias McDaniels)
5. “You Make Me Feel Good (Saturday Club)” (Chris White)
6. “Just Out of Reach (Saturday Club)” (Colin Blunstone)

SIDE B

1. “Tell Her No” (Rod Argent)
2. “Whenever You’re Ready (Saturday Club)” (Rod Argent)
3. “She’s Coming Home” (Rod Argent)
4. “She’s Not There (Saturday Club)” (Rod Argent)
5. “Can’t Nobody Love You (Top Gear)” (James Mitchell)
6. “I’m Going Home” (Bob Bain)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “Tell Her No (Saturday Club)”
2. “She’s Not There (Hullaballoo)”
3. “She’s Not There”
4. “Interview – The Zombies Find America”
5. “Interview – Before They Were Zombies”
6. “Interview – Different Instruments”
7. “Interview – The Zombies Return to University”
8. “Interview – Globetrotting Zombies”
9. “Pop Profile – Colin Blunstone”
10. “Interview – The Zombies Talk About America”

PERSONNEL

• Colin Blunstone – lead vocals
• Rod Argent – keyboards, backing vocals
• Paul Atkinson – guitar
• Chris White – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Hugh Grundy – drums

Lighting Up The Saturday Club (1966) – Archive.org

The Zombies – On The Run (1966) Album Edit (Take 2)

We’re back with more Zombies. This one uses material that was in Are Missing and Feeling Something, my two version 1 Zombies fanedits. Fortunately, it all fits pretty well. There’s a good mix of ballads and rockers. “I’ll Keep Trying” blends those together well. The one surprise was that the three-part ending to Are Missing is now no longer at the very end. The final track, “Remember You”, wasn’t as good a closer as I thought. “You’ll Go From Me” does the job well. The three-part ending is still at the end and in the same order, though Go From Me is now the fourth part. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place as “Come On Time” is very similar to “Just Out of Reach” and “Don’t Go Away” is similar to “You’ll Go From Me”. They seemed distinct enough to be counted as different songs, but the double inclusion is annoying. “You’ll Go From Me” works well enough as a reprise to “Don’t Go Away”. Seeing as the album is called On The Run and “Come On Time” is about going to a show, one could say that this album goes around and goes full circle. That’s the show! This is a light concept album.

The cover for this is a rejected cover for Feeling Something. This one feels like the band is hiding or “On The Run”. That title doesn’t mean anything, I just like it. Overall, On The Run is very good; the best between it, Begin Here, and Have Returned. If these albums were all released in their time, the first two would be seen as very solid starters, but On The Run is where we’re really moving!

THE ZOMBIES – ON THE RUN

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Come On Time” (Colin Blunstone / Harold Bunbrim)
2. “You Must Believe Me” (Curtis Mayfield)
3. “Don’t Go Away” (Chris White)
4. “Whenever You’re Ready” (Rod Argent)
5. “I Must Move” (Chris White)
6. “I’ll Keep Trying” (Rod Argent)

SIDE B

1. “Just A Little Bit” (Rosco Gordon)
2. “I Want You Back Again” (Rod Argent)
3. “Nothing’s Changed” (Chris White)
4. “Just Out of Reach” (Colin Blunstone)
5. “Remember You” (Chris White)
6. “You’ll Go From Me (Don’t Go Away Reprise)” (Chris White)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “Bunny Lake Promo Spot (Come On Time)”
2. “You Must Believe Me (With Intro and Outro)”
3. “Don’t Go Away (With Outro)”
4. “Whenever You’re Ready (Demo)”
5. “I’ll Keep Trying (RIP Version)”
6. “Just a Little Bit (With Intro)”
7. “I Want You Back Again (Alternate Version)”
8. “Nothing’s Changed (Alternate Version)”
9. “Nothing’s Changed (Backing Track)”
10. “Just Out of Reach (Soundtrack Version)”
11. “Remember You (Soundtrack Version)”
12. “Remember You (Soundtrack Version) (With Studio Banter)”
13. “Remember You (Soundtrack Version (From The Soundtrack’s Album))”
14. “You’ll Go From Me (Don’t Go Away Demo with Studio Chatter)”

PERSONNEL

• Colin Blunstone – lead vocals
• Rod Argent – keyboards, backing vocals
• Paul Atkinson – guitar
• Chris White – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Hugh Grundy – drums

On The Run (1966) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

The Zombies – Have Returned (1965) Album Edit (Take 2)

After some consideration, it became apparent that my fan albums on The Zombies could be improved. None of the material on R.I.P. was touched as I counted it as an album worth leaving alone. I no longer think that. The live stuff will also now be dealt with. The live recordings sound good enough that you’d believe they were studio recordings, so they’ll (mostly) be treated as such unless there is an actual studio version. Before, I said there’s only enough material for two fan albums. Now, after looking far and wide, I believe (knock on wood) that I have all the 60’s recordings. There’s now enough material for six fan albums. That’s not including Begin Here and Odessey and Oracle. Seeing as those albums were released in 1965 and 1968, as well as when the non-album material was recorded, the group could’ve been releasing two albums a year from 1965 to 1968. Some material is also lost, so if we’re lucky enough to have it all found one day, we could have more than eight albums. Those eight are only with the classic line-up. Before there were four albums with the classic line-up fully and a fifth which featured them on half the songs. I’ll also make a ninth fan album with the in-name only Zombies line-up that was used for the R.I.P. sessions and a tenth featuring the “Neil MacArthur” stuff.

Despite my first fan album, Are Missing, being set before the first official album, Begin Here, that doesn’t sense. Everything on Begin Here was recorded in 1964, with some songs being from the very first recording session. Some material on Are Missing and this new project, Have Returned, was also from the first session, but some was from early 1965 and most was cut later than Begin Here’s recording. This is in fact a blessing. There is a more digestible nature to having two bookending albums and a ton of material to play with in the middle. It’s also nice that the band’s two big hits, “She’s Not There” and “Time of the Season”, are respectively the first song on the first album and last on the last.

This album is mostly Are Missing with a few differences. The hard hitting opener “Come On Time” and hard hitting three-part closers are all gone, on their way to the second fan album. “I Must Move” is also missing, though that one isn’t important. The other four are. The material here was mostly hard to make work as there’s a lack of strong aspects to give a good first or last impression. It was hard to find openers and closers until finding the four mentioned. In their place are some live songs, which also don’t make strong impressions. The closest was “Rip It Up”, which had a very lovely jazzy keyboard opening. After some deliberation, the best opener seemed to be “Kind of Girl”, originally the closer to side-a of Are Missing. The exception to all this is the side-b closer to Have Returned, which seemed like an obvious choice when I heard it.

“Walking In the Sun” ties things off nicely. There’s a little finality and it’s a good tune to be left on. It makes it all feel done. This song later got overdubs added to it and became the last track on R.I.P.. Because I wasn’t considering that album’s material for the first fan albums, I had never heard Walking or the rest of R.I.P.. It certainly is a solid way to end an album, though all of the songs overdubbed for R.I.P. now featured on my six fan albums use the undubbed versions, which are preferred by fans. Due to the nature of the songs here, many could go anywhere and it’d work out. That’s mainly because of how solid the material is. The 60’s era of the band is incredibly good. I’ve never heard a song I considered bad. The lack of strong impacts makes this album not as good as it could be, but it regardless is a quality experience in hopefully the best order possible.

Inspiration for version 2 of The Zombies comes from me reading http://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/. Reading those articles made me realize how much material there was that I ignored. The person doing it there also cut out the parts of the live songs where an announcer is talking, so they pass more as studio tracks. I lifted their announcer-less version of songs and thus, they get credit for that. Their versions of their fan Zombies albums mostly are in recording order, with Begin Here broken up over multiple albums. Hopefully reordering that stuff is for the better. It’s also fortunate that I found two songs that are absent from their albums. All of the Zombies 60’s recordings, including alternate versions, studio banter, etc, will be featured somewhere on my uploads of the eight albums and first few solo albums. This release includes nine bonus tracks.

“Have Returned” seemed like a good name for an album like this. It’s straightforward. The album cover is from a compilation album called “Complete Studio Recordings”. This picture has a great atmosphere. It alludes to the Zombies being a name about the dead, but features some fun pop musicians. I don’t like how the band looks in matching suits. It’s too much of a copy of the Beatles. This picture was good enough to use, but starting next time, they’ll dress with at least a little more diversity.

THE ZOMBIES – HAVE RETURNED

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “Kind of Girl” (Rod Argent)
2. “Early One Morning” (Richard Penniman)
   
3. “For You My Love” (Paul Gayten)
   
4. “Leave Me Be” (Chris White)
5. “Tell Her No” (Rod Argent)
6. “Sometimes” (Rod Argent)
7. “She’s Coming Home” (Rod Argent)

SIDE B

1. “Rip It Up” (Robert “Bumps” Blackwell / John Marascalco)
   
2. “Soulville” (Henry Glover / Morris Levy / Titus Turner / Dinah Washington)
   
3. “You Make Me Feel Good” (Chris White)
4. “It’s Alright With Me” (Rod Argent)
5. “I’m Going Home” (Bob Bain)
6. “Walking In the Sun” (Rod Argent)
   

BONUS TRACKS

1. “Kind of Girl (Demo)”
2. “For You My Love (With Intro)”
3. “Leave Me Be (Demo)”
4. “Sometimes (Intro)”
5. “Rip It Up (With Intro)”
6. “Soulville (With Intro)”
7. “I’m Going Home (Takes 1 & 2)”
8. “Walking in the Sun (From RIP)”
9. “Walking in the Sun (Orchestral Mix)”

PERSONNEL

• Colin Blunstone – lead vocals
• Rod Argent – keyboards, backing vocals
• Paul Atkinson – guitar
• Chris White – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Hugh Grundy – drums

Begin Here (1965) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

Begin Here (1965) – YouTube

Have Returned (1965) – Archive.org (with bonus tracks)

The Big Three – What’d I Say (1963) Album Edit

An obscure, but still very good band called “The Big Three” is the kind of thing that might be forgotten by history. They weren’t together for very long and only thirty-one recordings survive. Johnny Hutchinson, Johnny Gustafson, and Brian Griffiths made up The Big Three from 1962-1963. Basically all of the acclaim the band receives is from this period. Despite how good people have said they are, they also say their records lack some of the magic. They were under the thumb of the industry, which prevented them from truly expressing how good they were. The documentary, Some Other Guys: The Story of the Big Three details this. Still, the recordings are quality music, though not masterful.

Of the thirty-one recordings, sixteen make up their only LP, Resurrection from 1973. That album isn’t as rewarding as one might hope, as Johnny Hutchinson is absent. And of the fifteen remaining, four feature Hutchinson as the only classic member. Only eleven feature all three. The eleven recordings are the only “real” Big Three recordings, so that’ll be this album. It was a little frustrating that five of the songs are live, which could make the experience jarring. The solution was to make this a concept album, half studio, half live.

One hurdle was that two live recordings, “What’d I Say” and “Bring It On Home to Me”, feature someone announcing the band. This doesn’t make sense as why would there be a need to introduce them twice? To remedy this as much as possible, both start a side. “What’d I Say” is a better opener, sounding like a single, so it’s the very first on the album. Hopefully the impression is given that Say is doing double duty, preparing for the live section and the album as a whole, that’s why it’s live. The rest of side-a features four studio tracks. The last two don’t really fit with the five side-a tunes and thus they’re on side-b. They sound enough like live tracks for the effect to work. “Cavern Stomp”, initially a b-side to a single, seems like the kind of thing that’d be intended to get an audience moving. It doesn’t really make sense as a studio track, due to its nature being about working an audience. The studio songs had too many ballads, three specifically. Now side-a has two studio rockers and two ballads, plus “What’d I Say”, a live rocker. That feels more balanced.

The live stuff had the opposite of the studio stuff’s problem. It featured too many rockers. The studio ballad on side-b is “Let True Love Begin”. It seemed like the most fitting to continue after Bring of all the ballads. It grooves better. The last four songs (starting with “Cavern Stomp”) are all rockers which build momentum for a satisfying conclusion, reminding us that this is a rocker band, not a ballad band. “What’d I Say” is the first song on the At the Cavern EP. The last three songs here are the last three on that album. Just like with my Waitresses fan album, an EP basically bookends the whole thing. This makes sense as an album’s job is to have a satisfying open and close.

For fun, the three unique Hutchinson songs were organized to make a makeshift EP, with the fourth recording being a bonus feature. Anyone still hungry can enjoy all four of the recordings by “The Big Three II”. The cover is the cover for a complete recordings compilation with the album title “What’d I Say” included. While The Big Three never got the respect they deserved, hopefully this will at least incrementally help them be respected. Fortunately, a 2020s band has the rights to the name, so perhaps this act can be remembered.

THE BIG THREE – WHAT’D I SAY

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

1. “What’d I Say” (Ray Charles)
2. “By the Way” (Mitch Murray)
3. “Some Other Guy” (Jerry Leiber / Mike Stoller / Richard Barrett)
4. “I’m With You” (Hiller / Ford)
5. “Peanut Butter” (Cliff Goldsmith / Fred Smith / H.B. Barnum / Martin Cooper)

SIDE B

1. “Bring It On Home to Me” (Sam Cooke)
2. “Let True Love Begin” (Barkan / Baron / Eddy)
3. “Cavern Stomp” (Johnny Hutchinson / Johnny Gustafson / Brian Griffiths / Noel Walker)
4. “Don’t Start Running Away” (Johnny Hutchinson / Johnny Gustafson / Brian Griffiths)
5. “Zip A Dee Doo Dah” (Allie Wrubel / Ray Gilbert)
6. “Reelin’ and Rockin'” (Chuck Berry)

BONUS TRACKS

1. “High School Confidential” (Jerry Lee Lewis / Ron Hargrave)
2. “You’ve Got to Keep Her Under Your Hand” (Noel Walker / Johnny Hutchinson / Saron / Pilmick)
3. “Bring It On Home to Me” (Sam Cooke)
4. “If You Ever Change Your Mind” (Alternate version of “Bring It On Home to Me”) (Sam Cooke)

PERSONNEL

• Johnny Hutchinson – drums, vocals (tracks 1-15)
• Johnny Gustafson – bass guitar, vocals (tracks 1-11)
• Brian Griffiths – guitar (tracks 1-11)
• Paul Pilnick – guitar, vocals (tracks 12-15)
• Faron Ruffley – bass guitar (tracks 12-15)

What’d I Say (1963) and Resurrection (1973) – Archive.org, YouTube

Resurrection (1973) – Spotify