1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2010s, 2020s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United States, Genre: Funk, Genre: Garage rock, Genre: Proto-punk, Genre: Punk rock, Media Type: Music

Death/The 4th Movement (1973-1979) – 2 Fan Albums

February 29, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

For those not in the know, fan albums are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

Death is a classy early punk band that packed politically charged lyrics with aggressive and funky playing. They’re great players, which shows in a lot of my favorite songs of theirs being instrumentals. Still, “Politicians In My Eyes” is an iconic track. Their catalog is a bit confusing. It consists of the occasional non-album single and three LPs recorded with the classic lineup, one of which was not released for decades; then they reformed without their deceased guitarist David Hackney and are still actively recording. On top of all this, the bundle has gone through many name changes. I’ve defined the band as whatever includes its two constant members, Bobby Hackney on bass and vocals and Dannis Hackney on drums. Another amusing discovery is that before David died, the other two members formed a new band called “Lambs Bread” and released several obscure albums. If you consider that even in the music labeled “Death” the guitarist changed, then there’s no reason not to consider Lambs Bread more of Death. The cherry on top is that the guitarist of reformed Death, Bobbie Duncan, had played in Lambs Bread. It is worth noting that much of Lambs Bread is so obscure that I couldn’t find it online. I will still list the info I found.

Another frustrating fact is that while a lot of 70s classic lineup demo material has been released, some doesn’t come with a recording date. The release with this problem is listed as being cut vaguely from 1974 to 1976. It’s also said to mostly predate the band’s 1975 studio recordings. How I’ve ordered things, any song without a known recording year I’ll assume is 1976, which leaves one album’s worth of material with confirmed dates of some 1973 or 1975 and a follow up. However, I suspect that if I did have all the dates the first album would be the 1973 tracks and a ton of demos, then the second would be the studio sessions and what came after. Fortunately, the sequences I’ve made are still strong regardless.

Death – A Tribe Called Death (1975) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Introduction By David” (Recorded 1975)
“People Save the World” (Recorded 1973)
“RockFire Funk Express” (Recorded 1973)
“Free” (Recorded 1975)
“Bobby Bassing It” (Recorded 1975)
“First Snowball In Detroit” (Recorded 1975)
“Keep on Knocking” (Recorded 1975)

SIDE B

“Rock-N-Roll Victim” (Recorded 1975)
“Let the World Turn” (Recorded 1975)
“You’re a Prisoner” (Recorded 1975)
“Freakin Out” (Recorded 1975)
“Where Do We Go from Here???” (Recorded 1975)
“Politicians in My Eyes” (Recorded 1975)

Alternate ideas for this album title were the group’s early name RockFire Funk Express, their first album’s name …For the Whole World to See, or my Spotify playlist Introduction By David. I picked the one I did as it’s been a little joke that’s run through my mind for a while. This album is a bit longer than I’d have liked, but some of the band’s completed albums are similarly lengthy. Also note that for the World album, originally Death were to record twelve tracks, but only got to do seven. This resulted in a little under thirty minutes. Thus, you can imagine that those twelve songs may have totaled around forty-five minutes if completed. Another concern is that the album is front loaded with too many instrumentals, but I wanted to preserve the actual sequencing for World within this one. Otherwise, I might have moved one of the instrus to around the middle of side b.

Death – Can You Give Me A Thrill??? (1979) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Can You Give Me A Thrill???” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“People Look Away” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“The Storm Within” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“David’s Dream (Flying)” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“We Are Only People” (Recorded 1976)

SIDE B

“North Street” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
“Restlessness” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
“Open Road” (Recorded 1979 Or 1980)
“Dannis On The Motor City Drums” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“Views” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“The Masks” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“The Change” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)
“World Of Tomorrow” (Recorded Between 1974-1976)

The 4th Movement (1980) – YouTube, Spotify

The 4th Movement – Totally (1982) – YouTube

Anything I couldn’t find by Lambs Bread is simply not linked. However, you can find some of their material for purchase on their website: https://www.lambsbreadband.com/

Lambs Bread – Truth Of It Is… (1986) – YouTube

Lambs Bread – International Love (1988)

Credited to “The Hackneys” (1992)

“Our Story”
“Under Siege”

Lambs Bread – Sign of the Times (unsure)

1993

“Let’s Go Flying (Musical Dub)”

Lambs Bread – Reggae Mood (1993)

1995

“Fire Up De Ganja (Revisited)”

Lambs Bread – The Hotter, The Better (1995)

Then to Now’s unreleased tracks (unsure of recording date)

“African Princess”
“Dread At The Lambsbread Controls”
“You’re A Big Girl Now”
“Sharing and Caring”

Lambs Bread – Brown Bag Special (unsure)

Lambs Bread – One Sweet Day (2011) – YouTube, Spotify

Death – N.E.W. (2015) – YouTube, Spotify

Finally, here’s every stray track after 1980 I could find, plus one oddity – YouTube

“Politicians in My Eyes” (Early 1974 demo)
“Yes He’s Coming” (1992 (Featuring Death’s classic lineup))
“We’re Gonna Make It” (1992 (Featuring Death’s classic lineup))
“The Masks” (2011)
“Keep On Knocking” (2011)
“Cease Fire” (2017)
“Give It Back” (2018)
“World In Disguise” (2023)

There are modern-era live recordings and a documentary for those interested. Considering how there are no released demos of the studio material of the 70s and 80s other than just once, I bet there are some that were recorded, but not released. Hopefully they will be in due time. More new music, such as LPs, would also be nice.

This is a passion of mine and if one person likes what I do, I’ll feel honored. I like suggestions on what artist to cover next, so if you know of one you’d like me to look at, feel free to suggest ‘em!

2020s, Article Type: Reviews, Country: United Kingdom, Genre: Comedy, Genre: Surreal, Media Type: Internet videos

youhitmetal17times_everyday Days 1-65 (2023-2024) Review

February 28, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

This piece of media can’t be truly appreciated with any kind of discussion beforehand. Just watch it first.

While my interests in media have been mostly relegated to material which exists in a long lasting and understood way, films that get preserved on reels and presented like they always have or books dedicated to text which contains all you need about the art and its message, there are fascinating and difficult to define alternative ways of telling and hosting stories that can be moving and complex in its own way, even offering an experience more or less unique to it. While it’s questionable if youhitmetal17times_everyday hopes to say anything, its nature of delivery as a series of videos you can choose to scroll through in a row, skip through, or read the comments of is unlike much before. I watched most of these multiple months in the project, with people hyping up the series and the experience of watching it in the comments. For just over a month, the same video was uploaded each day, which is a common thing to happen on Instagram, where the series is posted. Despite this repetition, the experience wasn’t nearly as boring due to how short the first video is and the comments. Instagram even sometimes makes a comment visible automatically. The comments that were at the top of the feed were the more amusing or insightful, reflecting the various thoughts a newbie will think. Is it just going to be one video forever? Is everyone else getting bored at the same point? I treat the comments as part of the experience due to their nature being predictable, probably with the creator of the series, Adrian Gray, aware ahead of time of what the comments would be like and how that would affect newcomers.

As you go through the same segment over and over, possibly without knowledge it will ever change, a numbing effect occurs, with it seeming increasingly ridiculous that one would keep watching these. You then overcome significant relief when the story finally changes. After the first change there’s typically a formula of the same video just a few times, then a new swap. While it makes sense to stay true to the concept of repetition, these lose the impact of the initial cycle due to not happening enough to be mind numbing or little enough to not just get annoying. A solution would be hard to find for this due to the nature of the story. To stay true to the origins of the series and themes of being trapped, It does make me hope that the tale ends with something open-ended enough to seem like there’s more coming, then it just repeats over and over again.

Everything we see is a bit off and surreal. As an example, we mostly just get protagonist Mikaeli’s perspective and are asked to relate to him by him having very relatable and typical goals, so any short without him is automatically especially off-putting. That off-putting world is seemingly the “real one”, with Mikaeli in a fake one. This reversal parallels modern life to some, those who relate more to the internet than the real world. Another element of strangeness is that the simplicity of the protagonist and his wants essentially tricks us into rooting for him despite him not having much character or personality. He’s often given little quips that make him memorable. This is not uncommon in media, with us relating to real game show contestants for similar reasons. The notable example is Mikaeli’s “Fair enough” comment. If one just sees the first video once, you might not think much of that, though that line becomes catchy and telling about the character simply by it being emphasized and repeated. Even on a base level, it’s funny that that line always seems to come up.

SPOILERS

Meta-textuallty, we are essentially being put in the time loop by watching all of these, feeling the struggle of Mikaeli to a degree. You can also laugh at the fact that unlike Mikaeli, we don’t have to. We probably do it out of some arbitrary sense of “completeness” or for the extremely minimal differences there sometimes are to two otherwise identical shorts. The sense of being part of an event and being supported by others creates enough fun and enjoyment to watch what is on paper boring and unmarketable. That in itself becomes part of the joy of it all, that it is so different and random. It would be difficult to replicate this experience on film.

Taking the narrative at face value, some of the segments are less interesting than others, basically being set up that has comparatively less humor. The main appeal story-wise is seeing what happens to Mikaeli. The Fair Enough song is the prime example of how potent the comedy can be, while also sticking to the themes. It seems that this series is about being trapped in a cheesy tv show, which would have things like musical numbers. Its music and comedy are both much more clever than you’d expect, with this sense that reality is bending to conform to weird television ideas. By comparison, it’s less realistic to have you from the future show up, though such a concept was still funny. Hopefully that’s resolved, as it hasn’t yet been addressed.

OVERVIEW

Due to the modern medium of a social media app, this may be a commentary on the cyclical nature of quick content, which often falls into numbing patterns. It is important to keep videos short for attention spans, and have a hook. The fact the footage is based on 1980s television draws comparison between both types of mass entertainment. Both game shows and social media videos are criticized as filler for the mind. This series at least seems to treat this particular show as especially formulaic and inane. Whether or not that is connected to Instagram or is given more of a point and payoff remains to be seen.

Watching these day after day might bring with it a vastly different experience to binging. The numbing effect is probably more apparent with the binging, being more invasive on the mind. Unlike with traditional movies, those viewing methods make for two separate feelings from youhitmetal17times_everyday. As such, it’s a wonderful gander into what it’s like to be the type of person that watches things like this with some possibly accidental meta-commentary to boot. It’s a decent watch, even if you end up skipping around, though trust that if you do you’re missing something.

1970s, 1980s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United States, Genre: Hardcore punk, Genre: Heavy metal, Genre: Horror punk, Genre: Punk rock, Genre: Rock, Media Type: Music

Misfits (1977-1981) – 2 Fan Albums

February 26, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

This project became a bit of a mess. I wanted to cover the many, many alternate versions of tracks. Just like Black Flag, Misfits loved to go in the recording studio just to do the same songs over and over, with most not released until compilations many years later. The various Box Sets are sequenced absurdly, with them being sorted in a very strange order. Releases claiming to be comprehensive tended to miss things. Also like Black Flag, Misfits is just okay. I think on average Danzig’s Conservative Merry-Men are better, for all their absurdity, but Damaged is still solid.

The first two albums are my fan albums (which feature no overlap with the two proper (extremely short) LPs), followed by a chronological mix of official albums and self-made compilations of alternate versions for those that don’t want to leave anything behind, other than the post-Danzig era.

Believe it or not, but Static Age is one of my all time favorite album covers. The music itself is okay. Halloween is a bit better, and the rest I’ve heard is just whatever, but I’ll still raise a glass to that cover.

Static Age (1978) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Cough/Cool” (Recorded June 1977)
“Static Age” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“TV Casualty” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Some Kinda Hate” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Last Caress” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Return Of The Fly” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Hybrid Moments” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“We Are 138” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Come Back” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Angelfuck” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)

SIDE B

“Hollywood Babylon” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Attitude” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Bullet” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“She” (Recorded January-February 1978 and Mixed February 24, 1997) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Theme For A Jackal” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978) (C.I. Recording 1978)

Halloween (1981) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Spinal Remains” (Recorded January-February 1978 and Mixed February 24, 1997) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“In The Doorway” (Recorded January-February 1978 and Mixed February 24, 1997) (C.I. Recording 1978)
“Teenagers From Mars” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Children In Heat” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Rat Fink” (Recorded June 1979) (The Song Shop 1979)

SIDE B

“Horror Business” (Recorded June 1979) (The Song Shop 1979)
“London Dungeon” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Horror Hotel” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Ghouls Night Out” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Where Eagles Dare” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Who Killed Marilyn?” (Recorded June 1979) (The Song Shop 1979)
“Spook City U.S.A.” (Recorded June 1979) (The Song Shop 1979)
“American Nightmare” (Recorded June 1981) (Newfound Sound Studios)
“Halloween” (Recorded 1981) (On Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Halloween II” (Recorded 1981) (On Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)

1977-1980 Rarities – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

“She” (Recorded June 1977)
“Bullet” (Recorded January-February 1978) (On Collection I)
“Teenagers From Mars” (Recorded and Mixed January-February 1978)
“Who Killed Marilyn?” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Where Eagles Dare” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Horror Business” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Teenagers From Mars” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Children In Heat” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Who Killed Marilyn?” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 2 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Where Eagles Dare” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 2 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Horror Business” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Teenagers From Mars” (Recorded January 26-February 5, 1979) (On Collection I)
“Night Of The Living Dead” (Recorded June 1979) (The Song Shop 1979)
“Where Eagles Dare” (Recorded June 1979) (The Song Shop 1979)
“Vampira” (Recorded June 1979) (The Song Shop 1979)
“Violent World” (Recorded June 1979) (The Song Shop 1979)
“Last Caress” (Recorded January 1978 and Remixed September 1979)
“Halloween” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Vampira” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“I Turned Into A Martian” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Skulls” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Night Of The Living Dead” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Astro Zombies” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Violent World” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)
“Halloween II” (Recorded and Mixed August 7-September 5, 1980) (Master Sound Productions 1980)

1981 Rarities (Not On Spotify) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

“Vampira” (Recorded and Mixed August 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“Nike A Go Go” (Recorded and Mixed August 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“All Hell Breaks Loose” (Recorded 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“Night Of The Living Dead” (Recorded 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“Skulls” (Recorded 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“Violent World” (Recorded 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)

1981 Rarities (On Spotify)

“Hate Breeders” (Recorded June 1981) (On Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set) (Newfound Sound Studios)
“20 Eyes” (Recorded and Mixed August 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“I Turned Into A Martian” (Recorded and Mixed August 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“Astro Zombies” (Recorded and Mixed August 1981) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“Vampira” (Recorded and Mixed August 1981) (On Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set) (Mix-O-Lydian Studio)
“Devils Whorehouse” (Recorded and Mixed August 1981)
“Nike A Go Go” (Recorded and Mixed August 1981) (On Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set)
“I Turned Into A Martian” (Recorded 1981) (On Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)

Evilive (1987) – YouTube, Spotify (Recorded 1981)

Walk Among Us (1982) – YouTube

1982-1983 Rarities – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

“Earth A.D.” (Recorded October 3, 1982)
“We Bite” (Recorded October 3, 1982)
“Demonomania” (Recorded October 3, 1982)
“Wolfs Blood” (Recorded October 3, 1982)
“Queen Wasp” (Recorded October 3, 1982)
“Devilock” (Recorded October 3, 1982)
“We Bite” (Probably Recorded July 1983) (On Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?” (Probably Recorded July 1983) (On Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)

Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood (1983) – YouTube, Spotify

1985-1987 Rarities – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

“Static Age” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“TV Casualty” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“Some Kinda Hate” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“Hybrid Moments” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“Come Back” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“Angelfuck” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“Theme For A Jackal” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“She” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“Spinal Remains” (Remixed 1985 and Released on Legacy of Brutality)
“Where Eagles Dare” (Remixed 1986 and Released on Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Skulls” (Remixed 1986 and Released on Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Astro Zombies” (Remixed 1986 and Released on Disc 1 of the 1996 Box Set)
“20 Eyes” (Remixed 1986 and Released on Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Violent World” (Remixed 1986 and Released on Disc 3 of the 1996 Box Set)
“Mephisto Waltz” (Recorded August 8, 1986)
“Hate Breeders” (Recorded August 8, 1986)
“Cough/Cool” (Remixed 1987)
“Braineaters” (Recorded September 10, 1987)
“Nike A Go Go” (Recorded September 10, 1987)
“Devils Whorehouse” (Remixed September 10, 1987)

1960s, 1970s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United States, Genre: Avant-garde, Genre: Avant-rock, Genre: Garage rock, Genre: Hard rock, Genre: Proto-punk, Genre: Punk rock, Genre: Rock, Media Type: Music

The Stooges (1969-1973) – 2 Fan Albums

February 25, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

The Stooges are one of the all time great rock bands. Personally, that’s mainly off the strength of their middle effort, Fun House. Still, it was clear there was more to love. There are a lot of live recordings and stray tracks, so it’d be fun to see what can be done, especially because many have given a shot at what could be called the “fourth” Stooges album. My love is mainly with the classic lineup of singer Iggy Pop, bassist Dave Alexander, guitarist Ron Asheton, and drummer Scott Asheton, so I wanted to see what we could cook from them mainly.

On top of their two studio albums, I found eight stray tracks. Two live 1970 tracks are “Going to Ungano’s” and “Have Some Fun”/“My Dream Is Dead”. They suffer from poor sound quality and the first not being a song. However they’re still fun listens, so I’ve linked to them in their natural environment, Live at Ungano’s, August 17, 1970. Two tracks I hear are from 1968 are actually from 1971, “Ron’s Jam” and “What’s You Gonna Do”. Apparently two members of the Stooges, including famous singer Iggy Pop, were absent from these, so they’re getting tossed. The remaining four make for a surprisingly lengthy album of thirty-four minutes. It will be listed below with the surrounding albums. While noticeably less cohesive, it’s still a fine listen.

The Stooges (1969) – YouTube, Spotify

Freaks (1970) (Recorded 1969-1970) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Asthma Attack” (2019 Remaster)
“Lost in the Future” (Take 1)
“Slide (Slidin’ the Blues)” (Take 1)

SIDE B

“Freak” (Take 1)

PERSONNEL

Iggy Pop – vocals
Ron Asheton – guitar
Dave Alexander – bass
Scott Asheton – drums
Steve Mackay – saxophone

Fun House (1970) – YouTube, Spotify

Alexander was later replaced. Nothing came of this period between him leaving and the first breakup other than some live recordings that weren’t released for a long time. I am not very fond of these due to low quality. There might be unreleased material with or without Alexander I don’t know about. I’m highlighting the following releases as they contain songs not featured elsewhere.

Have Some Fun: Live at Ungano’s (2010) (Recorded 1970) – YouTube, Spotify

You Don’t Want My Name… You Want My Action (2009) (Recorded 1971) – YouTube, Spotify

The band then famously reunited with James Williamson on guitar, Ron moved to bass, and the gang retitled “Iggy and the Stooges”. I was able to get one album’s worth of high quality strays for the follow-up to Raw Power that would’ve made a slightly lesser, but still solid installment. In parentheses are the compilations these are sourced from or some other identifier.

Raw Power (1973) (Highlighting the superior Iggy mix) – YouTube, Spotify

Jesus Loves The Stooges (1974) (Recorded 1972-1973) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“I Got a Right” (Born in a Trailer)
“I’m Sick of You” (Born in a Trailer)
“Louie Louie” (More Power)
“Scene of the Crime” (More Power)
“Gimme Some Skin” (More Power)
“Open Up And Bleed” (More Power)

SIDE B

“Money” (More Power)
“Cock In My Pocket” (2022 Mix)
“Jesus Loves The Stooges” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
“Heavy Liquid” (Live at Richards, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1973)
“Born in a Trailer” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)

PERSONNEL

Iggy Pop – vocals
James Williamson – guitar
Ron Asheton – bass
Scott Asheton – drums

Now what of other tracks recorded around this time, sometimes of high fidelity? Well, I either found those other ones really poor songs or more often poor quality. I also didn’t want to bother sifting through the countless releases compiling various live tracks and other oddities, but just know they’re there if you like fuzzy guitar riffs and yelling. My current game is collecting stray tracks, so I thought of an idea.

Let’s say Iggy and the gang breakup, as happened in real life, then the record company asked for another album. Having no desire or ability to make a sixth studio album, and to embrace the punk rock spirit, Iggy took those low quality strays and made a giant and unlistenable compilation. Worried this would damage his career, he credited it as “Twiggy and the Tooges”. He also did himself a favor and got to work on the Kill City album. This album is two and three-quarters hours long. If it was released, it probably would have taken up about four LPs. Note that there’s no rhyme or reason to what versions of songs are picked. (I also don’t count this as a “fan album”. No way I’m relistening to these to make sure they’re sequenced well.)

The Shit Box (1975) (Recorded 1972-1974) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Instrumental” (Heavy Liquid)
“I’m Hungry” (Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition))
“Hey, Peter” (Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition))
“Doojiman” (Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition))
“Johanna” (Heavy Liquid)

SIDE B

“Rubber Legs” (Heavy Liquid)
“Pinpoint Eyes/Cry For Me” (Heavy Liquid)
“Tight Pants” (Heavy Liquid)
“Head On” (Rehearsal) (Raw Power (50th Anniversary Legacy Edition))

SIDE C

“I Need Somebody/Sweet Child/I Like The Way You Walk” (Morgan Sound Studios, Ypsilanti Michigan March 1973)
“Can’t Turn You Loose” (Morgan Sound Studios, Ypsilanti Michigan March 1973)

SIDE D

“Hey Baby” (Detroit Rehearsals Spring 1973)
“Wild Love” (Heavy Liquid)
“Till The End Of The Night” (Heavy Liquid)
“Head On Curve” (Heavy Liquid)

SIDE E

“I Come From Nowhere” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
“Old King Live Forever” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
“Look So Sweet” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
“Mellow Down Easy” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
“Move Ass Baby” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)

SIDE F

“My Girl Hates My Heroin” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
“She Creatures of the Hollywood Hills” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
“I’m a Man” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
“Ballad of Hollis Brown” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)

SIDE G

“Purple Haze” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
“I’m So Glad” (New York & Detroit Rehearsals, 1973)
“New Orleans” (Live, The Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles, 16 September 1973)
“Rich Bitch” (Live, The Academy Of Music, New York City, 31 December 1973)

SIDE H

“Wet My Bed” (Bimbos 365 Club S.F Jan 1974)
“Delta Blues Shuffle” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
“Fire Engine” (Jesus Loves The Stooges)
“I Got Nothin’” (Bimbos 365 Club S.F Jan 1974)

Of course there would later be a well regarded live album:

Metallic K.O. (1976) (Recorded 1973-1974) – YouTube, Spotify

Kill City (1977) (Recorded 1975) – YouTube, Spotify

Kill City is not a Stooges album. It’s a collaboration between the two main minds of the latter day Stooges. It’s also a forgotten oddity, so for my money worthy of being featured. It, like all the other material, showcases Iggy and his gang as not perfect Gods of rock, but those that experimented and at times failed. Still, just because some of this is not perfect doesn’t mean it’s not sharp and helps to define five great musicians from Motor City. You could call them the Motor City Five. Attached below is my friend, Ken’s, concept for a follow-up to Raw Power. I had no part in this.

Head On (1974) – Spotify

1970s, 1980s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United States, Genre: Experimental rock, Genre: Free jazz, Genre: Instrumental rock, Genre: Jazz, Genre: Post-hardcore, Genre: Punk jazz, Genre: Punk rock, Genre: Rock, Genre: Sludge metal, Media Type: Music

Black Flag (1978-1985) – 5 Fan Albums

February 17, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

Black Flag is a band that started off with a lot of recordings and not a lot of albums. Eventually they stabilized with few strays and a lot of albums. It seemed like a fun challenge to sort this all out despite not being terribly fond of the band. The product of the early tracks is an album I’m calling Nervous Breakdown. It contains every unique track pre-Damaged, not including anything re-recorded later. Surprisingly, the result is a shockingly short twenty minutes. Due to a lot of historically relevant alternate versions being left on the chopping block, I made an album of those alternates. There’s enough recordings between these two to make three full LPs. In between Damaged and My War are more alternates and four unique cuts. I decided to make a very short EP and a fuller alternate version album. Finally, two 1985 EPs are combined to create a disparate album, but not anymore than the official My War or Family Man. Minuteflag is left as an EP due to it being a collab with Minutemen and thus it’s own thing. Also, the alternate versions albums haven’t been listened to and were merely ordered in as close to recording date as possible.

In parentheses is the release a track came from.

Black Flag – Nervous Breakdown (1981) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Nervous Breakdown” (Nervous Breakdown) (Recorded January 1978)
“Fix Me” (Nervous Breakdown) (Recorded January 1978)
“I’ve Had It” (Nervous Breakdown) (Recorded January 1978)
“Wasted” (Nervous Breakdown) (Recorded January 1978)
“Clocked In” (EWB track 13) (Recorded October-November 1979)
“My Rules” (EWB track 14) (Recorded October-November 1979)
“Jealous Again” (Jealous Again) (Recorded October-November 1979)

SIDE B

“Revenge” (Jealous Again) (Recorded November 1979 or April 1980)
“White Minority” (Jealous Again) (Recorded November 1979 or April 1980)
“No Values” (Jealous Again) (Recorded November 1979 or April 1980)
“You Bet We’ve Got Something Against You!” (Jealous Again) (Recorded November 1979 or April 1980)
“Louie Louie” (Louie Louie single) (Recorded January 1981)
“I’ve Heard It Before” (Six Pack) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“American Waste” (Six Pack) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“Machine” (Chunks) (Recorded April-May 1981)

PERSONNEL

Keith Morris – lead vocals (tracks 1-4)
Greg Ginn – lead guitar (tracks 1-15)
Chuck Dukowski – bass (tracks 1-15)
Brian Migdol – drums (tracks 1-4)
Ron Reyes – lead vocals (tracks 5-11)
Robo – drums (tracks 5-15)
Dez Cadena – lead vocals (tracks 12-15)

Black Flag – Everything Went Black (1978-1981) (1981) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

“Gimme Gimme Gimme” (EWB track 1) (Recorded January 1978)
“I Don’t Care” (EWB track 2) (Recorded January 1978)
“White Minority” (EWB track 3) (Recorded January 1978)
“No Values” (EWB track 4) (Recorded January 1978)
“Revenge” (EWB track 5) (Recorded October 1979)
“Depression” (EWB track 6) (Recorded October 1979)
“Clocked In” (EWB track 7) (Recorded October 1979)
“Police Story” (EWB track 8) (Recorded October 1979)
“Wasted” (EWB track 9) (Recorded October 1979)
“Depression” (EWB track 11) (Recorded October-November 1979)
“Police Story” (EWB track 12) (Recorded October-November 1979)
“Jealous Again” (EWB track 15) (Recorded October-November 1979)
“Police Story” (EWB track 16) (Recorded October-November 1979)
“Clocked In” (Cracks In The Sidewalk (see note) (Recorded October-November 1979)
“Gimme Gimme Gimme” (EWB track 10) (Recorded November 1979 or April 1980)
“Damaged I” (EWB track 17) (Recorded August 1980)
“Louie Louie” (EWB track 18) (Recorded January 1981)
“No More” (EWB track 19) (Recorded January 1981)
“Damaged I” (Louie Louie single) (Recorded January 1981)
“Room 13” (EWB track 20) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“Depression” (EWB track 21) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“Damaged II” (EWB track 22) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“Padded Cell” (EWB track 23) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“Gimme Gimme Gimme” (EWB track 24) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“Spray Paint” (Licorice Pizza And More… bootleg) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“Police Story” (Let Them Eat Jellybeans) (Recorded April-May 1981)
“Six Pack” (Six Pack) (Recorded April-May 1981)

PERSONNEL

Keith Morris – lead vocals (tracks 1-9)
Greg Ginn – lead guitar (tracks 1-27)
Chuck Dukowski – bass (tracks 1-27)
Brian Migdol – drums (tracks 1-4)
Robo – drums (tracks 5-27)
Ron Reyes – lead vocals (tracks 10-11, 15)
Dez Cadena – lead vocals (tracks 12-27)

Black Flag – Damaged (1981) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – What Can You Believe (1982) – YouTube (Tracks either from the TV Party EP or the 1982 Demos compilation)

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“I’ve Got to Run”
“My Rules”

SIDE B

“What Can You Believe”
“Yes, I Know”

PERSONNEL

Henry Rollins – lead vocals (tracks 1-4)
Greg Ginn – lead guitar (tracks 1-4)
Dez Cadena – rhythm guitar, vocals (tracks 1-4)
Chuck Dukowski – bass (tracks 1-4)
Bill Stevenson – drums (tracks 1-2)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (tracks 3-4)

Black Flag – 1982 (1982) – YouTube (Tracks either from the TV Party EP or the 1982 Demos compilation)

“TV Party”
“Slip It In”
“Modern Man”
“My War”
“Black Coffee”
“Beat My Head Against the Wall”
“Can’t Decide”
“I Love You”
“Nothing Left Inside/Scream”

PERSONNEL

Henry Rollins – lead vocals (tracks 1-9)
Greg Ginn – lead guitar (tracks 1-9)
Dez Cadena – rhythm guitar, vocals (tracks 1-9)
Chuck Dukowski – bass (tracks 1-9)
Emil Johnson – drums (track 1)
Chuck Biscuits – drums (tracks 2-9)

Black Flag – My War (1984) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – Family Man (1984) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – Slip It In (1984) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – Live ‘84 (1984) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – 1984 Radio Tokyo – YouTube

Black Flag – Loose Nut (1985) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – I Can See You (1985) – YouTube, Spotify (Tracks either from the The Process of Weeding Out EP or the I Can See You EP. All apparently recorded March 1985.)

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Your Last Affront”
“Screw the Law”
“The Process of Weeding Out”

SIDE B

“Southern Rise”
“I Can See You”
“Kickin’ & Stickin’”
“Out of This World”
“You Let Me Down”

PERSONNEL

Henry Rollins – lead vocals (tracks 5-8)
Greg Ginn – lead guitar (tracks 1-8)
Kira Roessler – bass (tracks 1-8)
Bill Stevenson – drums (tracks 1-8)

Black Flag – In My Head (1985) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – Minuteflag (1986) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – Who’s Got the 10½? (1986) – YouTube, Spotify

Black Flag – What The… (2013) – YouTube, Spotify

1950s, 1960s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United States, Genre: Country, Genre: Country rock, Genre: Rock, Genre: Rockabilly, Media Type: Music

Clyde Stacy (1957-1961) – 2 Fan Albums

February 17, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

Clyde Stacy is a great country rock singer I recently discovered. I did some research and was fortunately able to find recording dates for most of his tracks. A few songs released on compilations for Clyde were actually recorded by a Clarence Stacy. I didn’t want those to fall in the abyss, so stay tuned to an article for him. “Dream Boy” and my introduction to Stacy, “So Young”, are my two favorites. “I Sure Do Love You Baby” and “Return To Me” are other particular goodies, though all this material is worth rescue from obscurity, though this second “album” is weaker than the first.

Clyde Stacy – Sings SO YOUNG And Eleven More Great Songs (1958) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING
SIDE A

“So Young” (Recorded May-June 1957)
“Hoy Hoy” (Recorded May-June 1957)
“Cotton Pickin’ Chicken” (Recorded May-June 1957)
“Dream Boy” (Recorded July-August 1957)
“A Broken Heart (Is So Hard To Mend)” (Recorded July-August 1957)
“Baby Shame” (Recorded January-February 1958)

SIDE B

“Nobody’s Darlin’” (Recorded January-February 1958)
“Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor” (Recorded April-May 1958)
“I Sure Do Love You Baby” (Recorded April-May 1958)
“You Want Love” (Recorded September 1958)
“Once In A While” (Recorded September 1958)
“So Shy” (Recorded 1950s)

PERSONNEL

Clyde Stacy – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (tracks 1-12)

The Nitecaps

John D. Levan – lead guitar, backing vocals (tracks 1-2, probably 3)
Rick Eilerts – bass, backing vocals (tracks 1-2, probably 3)
Bill Tolbert – drums, backing vocals (tracks 1-2, probably 3)

Other personnel

Patricia Peyton – female vocal (track 1)
Kenny Burrell – guitar (tracks 4-11)
Al Caiola – guitar (tracks 4-11)
Milt Hinton – bass (tracks 4-11)
Panama Francis – drums (tracks 4-11)
Ernest Hayes – piano (tracks 4-11)
Ray Charles Singers – backing vocals (tracks 4-5, 10-11)
Unknown – female vocal (track 7)
Track 12 personnel likely one of the previously listed backing bands

Clyde Stacy – Scotch On The Rocks (1961) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Good Rockin’ Tonite” (Recorded Summer 1960)
“I’ll Try” (Recorded Summer 1960)
“Be My Love” (Recorded Summer 1960)
“Return To Me” (Recorded Summer 1960)
“Well, I Love You” (Recorded Summer 1960)
“Scotch On The Rocks” (Probably Recorded Summer 1960)

SIDE B

“Tranquilizer Cins” (Probably Recorded Summer 1960)
“Summertime Blues” (Probably Recorded Summer 1960)
“Sit’in Down Crying” (Recorded July 1961)
“You’re Satisfied” (Recorded July 1961)
“Live And Learn” (Recorded July 1961)
“End Up With The Blues” (Recorded July 1961)

PERSONNEL

Clyde Stacy – lead vocals (tracks 1-5, 8-12) (Probably serves some other role on tracks where he’s not singing)

The Four Flames

Pete DeMarzo – lead guitar (tracks 1-12)
Johnny Cognetti – bass (tracks 1-12)
Sal Mecca – drums (tracks 1-12)
unknown – piano (tracks 9-12)

Other personnel

Vernon Sandusky – guitar (tracks 1-12), backing vocals (tracks 9-12)
Big Al Downing – piano (tracks 1-12), backing vocals (tracks 9-12)

Here’s a fascinating link about the history of the song “So Young”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q76r0uJhv74

And another with liner note information for most these tracks:

https://www.45worlds.com/cdalbum/cd/bcd17152ah

1960s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United States, Genre: Garage rock, Genre: Pop, Genre: Pop rock, Genre: R&B, Genre: Rock, Genre: Rockabilly, Media Type: Music

The Luv’d Ones (1965-1968) – 2 Fan Albums

February 17, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

For those not in the know, fan albums/album edits are the attempts of me and many others to take songs and put them on an album, typically they’re made to improve upon something, such as an existing album or to take non-album tracks and put them on an album.

The Luv’d Ones are a fun band I’ve listened to a few times. They don’t distinguish much from other hard rock 60s girl bands, but that is still a good sound and they deserve to be enjoyed. One reason I didn’t make an article about them the first time I listened to them is because it seemed everything they did was on a twenty-track compilation album. I decided they still deserved this project, with that comp just being divided in half, as the music drags as one sixty minute block, however I then found some more rare tracks that also help give this article legitimacy. They first recorded under the band name “The Tremelons”, which had the exact same lineup, so it’s strange these early tracks aren’t on that compilation. They also aren’t on Spotify, which is why the fan album with them isn’t on Spotify either.

Those Tremelon recordings were all released in 1965 according to Discogs. The Luv’d Ones box set says the material contained within it was recorded between 1966-1968. Everything released in 1965 or 66 almost is the length of a full album, so I added in some extra tracks and hoped they were recorded in 1966 and thus could hypothetically be released then. The later stuff we’ll say was released 1968.

The Luv’d Ones – Truth Gotta Stand (1966) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Please Let Me Know” (Released 1965)
“Theme For A “D.J.”” (Released 1965)
“Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On” (Released 1965)
“Heartbreak Hotel” (Released 1965)
“Dance Kid Dance” (Released 1966)
“Up Down Sue “ (Released 1966)
“Stand Tall” (Released 1966)

SIDE B

“Yeah, I’m Feelin’ Fine” (Released 1966)
“Walkin’ The Dog” (Released 1966)
“Come Back” (Released 1966)
“I’m Leaving You” (Released 1966)
“Scratchy”
“The Memory Of It All”
“Truth Gotta Stand”

The Luv’d Ones – Portrait (1968) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“It’s Quiet”
“He Cried”
“Come On In”
“Please Get Up”
“And When I’m Sad”
“Walk Me To The Door”

SIDE B

“You’ll Never Know”
“One Day’s Mood”
“Portrait”
“Your Mind Is”

PERSONNEL

Char Vinnedge – lead vocals, guitar
Chris Vinnedge – bass
Mary Gallagher – rhythm guitar
Faith Orem – drums

Char Vinnedge went on to do some solo recordings, none of which I could find. They’re all listed below with possible release dates, which could be wrong.

“Better Look Out” (2011)
“You Asked Me To Go” (2011)
“Friend / Reprise” (2011)
“Silence” (2011)
“It’s Over It’s Done” (2011)
“Life Sentence” (2011)
“Rock Myself To Death” (2011)
“Trucks In My Head” (2011)
“Deathwish” (2011)
“I Never Sing The Blues” (2012)
“Bittersweet” (2012)
“Green Bird” (2012)
“With You I Am Without” (2013)
“How Could You Ask Me To Go” (2013)

1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United States, Genre: Country, Genre: Country rock, Genre: Pop, Genre: Pop rock, Genre: R&B, Genre: Rock, Genre: Rockabilly, Media Type: Music

The Crickets (1955-2013) – 17 Stray Track Fan Albums

February 15, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

This article is a followup to: Buddy Holly (1949-1959) – Nine Fan Albums & Alternate History (Take 2)

With my recent Buddy Holly fan album and story project, I canonized his two proper studio albums as having happened as I didn’t want to alienate those that would prefer to enjoy the official albums as is. My plan was to continue this methodology for the post-Buddy years. On top of that, considering the fact that Jerry Allison is by far the only consistent member, I came up with some fun albums based on the logic that any song with Jerry is the Crickets. I then listened to my albums with this concept in mind. While some may still prefer listening to the official albums as they are and slotting the stray track ones in, I have found many of the official and personal sequences problematic for a few reasons: Some of these tracks are quite bad and some albums have tracks that would fit better elsewhere. Thus, I’ve decided to publish my stray track sequences here, as well as certain story ideas that can’t be reused, then I’ll write the narrative around what I think would make the best albums, with new sequences that arrange any track how I see fit.

For those that are fans of Jerry Allison or Sonny Curtis, I hope I can do them justice by accumulating so many rare recordings, especially because some are quite solid. One example is that Allison, Curtis, and famed Crickets bassist Joe B. Mauldin did some better known recordings as the Crickets, but also some obscure ones under different names. Those obscure ones are gathered and treated like just any other Cricket track.

During the Bobby Vee and later Jerry Naylor eras of the group, there is shaky and unreliable personnel info. Thus, things are listed vaguely.

Any album without a tracklist is an official album, not a construction of mine (unless where noted).

Based on some research, I think that almost every recording credited to Sonny Curtis as a solo artist prior to his 1979 solo album features the then-current Crickets lineup. There’s a few cases where either a track from a Crickets album is released as a solo Sonny single or the personnel is simply known to include them. However, his first two singles and flipsides have worse odds of featuring them, but I still wanted to include those regardless. The other oddity here is from the 1955 recordings he did. Him and Buddy Holly did six songs together. Five were released on my Buddy Holly & The Two Tones project, but one more, “Queen of the Ballroom”, was excluded due to their being a version with Buddy on vocals. This track almost definitely lacks Jerry Allison, but I didn’t want any of these early rarities to go absent from these albums, so here they are.

The primary source I used for information was Praguefrank, as well as Discogs, Nor-Va-Jak Music, and the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

The Crickets & Their Buddies Volume 2 (1959) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

Billy Walker – “On My Mind Again” (Recorded April 8th, 1957)
Hal Goodson & The Raiders – “Who’s Gonna Be The Next One Honey” (Recorded May 2nd, 1957)
Hal Goodson & The Raiders – “Later Baby” (Recorded May 2nd, 1957)
Johnny “Peanuts” Wilson – “I’ve Had It” (Recorded November 10th, 1957)
Buddy Knox – “I Think I’m Gonna Kill Myself” (Recorded January 14th, 1959)
Wes Bryan – “Blue Baby” (Recorded January 14th, 1959)

SIDE B

Billy Walker – “Viva La Matador” (Recorded April 8th, 1957)
Hal Goodson & The Raiders – “Why” (Recorded May 2nd, 1957)
Hal Goodson & The Raiders – “I Always Want To” (Recorded May 2nd, 1957)
Johnny “Peanuts” Wilson – “My Heartbeat” (Recorded November 10th, 1957)
Buddy Knox – “Just To Be With You” (Recorded January 14th, 1959)
Wes Bryan – “I Just Want Your Love” (Recorded January 14th, 1959)

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-12)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 1, 6-7, 12)
Billy Walker – lead vocals (tracks 1, 7)
Mike Mitchell – bongos (tracks 1, 7)
Norman Petty – piano (tracks 1, 7)
Vi Petty – organ (tracks 1, 7)
Bowman Brothers – backing vocals (tracks 1, 7)
Hall Goodson – lead vocals (tracks 2-3, 8-9)
Graham Turnbull – lead guitar (tracks 2-3, 8-9)
Leon Bagwell – bass (tracks 2-3, 8-9)
Johnny “Peanuts” Wilson – lead vocals (tracks 4, 10)
George Atwood – bass (tracks 4-5, 10-11)
Buddy Knox – lead vocals (tracks 5, 11), guitar (tracks 5, 11)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 5, 11)
Don Lanier – probably guitar (tracks 6, 12)
The Roses – backing vocals (tracks 6, 12)

The Crickets – Why Did You Leave? (1960) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Frankie Frankenstein” (Recorded December 15th, 1958)
“Talk About My Baby” (Recorded November 12th, 1958)
“Someone, Someone” (Recorded November 21st, 1958)
“Why Did You Leave” (Recorded May 27th, 1959)
“Red Headed Stranger” (Recorded November 12th, 1958)
“Queen of the Ballroom” (Recorded 1954 or 1955)

SIDE B

“That’ll Be Alright” (Recorded December 29th, 1958)
“After It’s Over” (Recorded December 11th, 1959)
“Wrong Again” (Released April 1958)
“Laughing Stock” (Released April 1958)
“Willa Mae Jones” (Released May 1958)
“A Pretty Girl” (Released May 1958)

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – lead vocals (tracks 1, 7), guitar (tracks 1, 7), drums (tracks 2-5, 8), backing vocals (track 4)
Glen “Bob” Clarke – drums (tracks 1, 7)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 1-12), lead vocals (tracks 2, 5-6, 9-12), backing vocals (track 4)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 1-5, 7-8), backing vocals (tracks 1, 4, 7)
Vi Petty – piano (tracks 2-3)
Earl Sinks – lead vocals (tracks 3-4, 8), rhythm guitar (tracks 4, 8)
The Roses (Robert Linville, Ray Rush, David Bingham) – backing vocals (track 3)
Buddy Holly – guitar (track 6)
Larry Welborn – bass (track 6)
Dudley A. Brooks – piano (track 8)
Johnny Mann, Alan Davies, Bill Lee – backing vocals (track 8)

The Crickets – In Style With The Crickets (1960) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Earl Sinks – lead vocals (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 1-12), lead vocals (tracks 1, 7)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 1-12)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-12)
Dudley Brooks – piano (tracks 1, 2, 3, 7)
The Roses – backing vocals (track 12)
Tommy Allsup – rhythm guitar (tracks 1-5, 7-10)

A common issue with the one-off singers is they can’t sing very well. Bobby Vee and Johnny Burnette are personal least favorites. However, there are some gems. David Box is excellent and by far the group’s best singer that went for a Buddy Holly-vocal style. “You Made Me Love You” also has phenomenal backing vocals.

The Crickets & Their Buddies Volume 3 (1960) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

Derrell Felts – “It’s A Great Big Day” (Recorded February 13th, 1959)
Jimmy Bowen – “You Made Me Love You” (Recorded February 21st, 1959)
The Everly Brothers – “(Til) I Kissed You” (Recorded July 7th, 1959)
The Everly Brothers – “Oh What a Feeling” (Recorded July 7th, 1959)
Jack C. Smith – “Honeysuckle Rose” (Recorded 1959, Released May 1960)
David Box – “Don’t Cha Know” (Recorded August 11th, 1960)

SIDE B

Derrell Felts – “Lookie Lookie Lookie” (Recorded February 13th, 1959)
Jimmy Bowen – “Eenie Meenie Minnie Moe” (Recorded February 21st, 1959)
The Everly Brothers – “Let It Be Me” (Recorded December 15th, 1959)
The Everly Brothers – “Since You Broke My Heart” (Recorded December 15th, 1959)
Jack C. Smith – “There’ll Never Be Another” (Recorded 1959, Released May 1960)
David Box – “Peggy Sue Got Married” (Recorded August 11th, 1960)

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-5, 7-12), rhythm guitar (track 6)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 1, 6-7, 12)
Vi Petty – piano (tracks 1, 7)
The Roses – backing vocals (tracks 1, 7)
Derrell Felts – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 2-4, 8)
George Atwood – bass (tracks 2, 8)
Jimmy Bowen – lead vocals, guitar (tracks 2, 8)
Don Everly – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 3-4, 9-10)
Phil Everly – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 3-4, 9-10)
Chet Atkins – guitar (tracks 3-4)
Lightnin Chance – bass (tracks 3-4)
Floyd Cramer – piano (tracks 3-4)
Jack C. Smith – lead vocals (tracks 5, 11)
David Box – lead vocals, lead guitar (tracks 6, 12)
Ernie Hall – drums (track 6)
Howard Collins – guitar (tracks 9-10)
Barry Galbraith – guitar (tracks 9-10)
Mundell Lowe – guitar (tracks 9-10)
Lloyd Trotman – bass (tracks 9-10)
Hank Rowland – piano (tracks 9-10)

Johnny Burnette & The Crickets – Dreamin’ (1960) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Dreamin’” (Recorded January 7th, 1960)
“Kaw-Liga” (Recorded January 7th, 1960)
“You’re Sixteen” (Recorded September 19th, 1960)
“I Beg Your Pardon” (Recorded September 19th, 1960)
“Singing The Blues” (Recorded November 29th, 1960)

SIDE B

“It’s My Way” (Recorded September 19th, 1960)
“That’s The Way I Feel” (Recorded November 28th, 1960)
“Little Boy Sad” (Recorded November 28th, 1960)
“I Love My Baby” (Recorded November 28th, 1960)
“(I Go) Down The River (Recorded November 28th, 1960)

PERSONNEL

Johnny Burnette – lead vocals (tracks 1-10)
Howard Roberts – guitar (tracks 1-2)
Glen Campbell – guitar (tracks 1-2)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-10)
Johnny Mann Singers – backing vocals (tracks 1-2)
Joseph Gibbons – guitar (tracks 3-10)
Vincent Terri – guitar (tracks 3-4, 6)
George Callender – bass (tracks 3-10)
Ernie Freeman – piano (tracks 3-4, 6)
Milton Pitman – guitar (track 5, 7-10)

Johnny Burnette & The Crickets – Let’s Think About Living (1961) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Let’s Think About Living” (Recorded November 29th, 1960)
“It’s Only Make Believe” (Recorded November 29th, 1960)
“Oh Lonesome Me” (Recorded November 29th, 1960)
“Dream Lover” (Recorded November 30th, 1960)
“You’re So Fine” (Recorded November 30th, 1960)

SIDE B

“Blue Blue Morning” (Recorded November 30th, 1960)
“Pledge Of Love” (Recorded November 30th, 1960)
“Honestly I Do” (Recorded September 22nd, 1961)
“Fools Like Me” (Recorded September 22nd, 1961)
“God, Country And My Baby” (Recorded September 22nd, 1961)

PERSONNEL

Johnny Burnette – lead vocals (tracks 1-10)
Joseph Gibbons – guitar (tracks 1-7)
Milton Pitman – guitar (tracks 1-7)
George Callender – bass (tracks 1-7)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-10)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 8-10)
Dick Glasser – guitar (tracks 8-10)
Clifford A. Hils – bass (tracks 8-10)
unknown – mandolin (tracks 8-10)

Bobby Vee & The Crickets – Rock Around With Bobby Vee (1961) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Stagger Lee” (Recorded September 12th, 1961)
“Party Doll” (Recorded September 13th, 1961)
“Come On Baby” (Recorded September 13th, 1961)
“Lonely Weekends” (Version 2) (Recorded September 20th, 1961)
“Mountain Of Love” (Recorded September 20th, 1961)

SIDE B

“No One Knows” (Recorded September 20th, 1961)
“I’m Feeling Better” (Recorded September 28th, 1961)
“Shanghaied” (Recorded September 1961)
“Keep A Knockin’” (Recorded September 1961)
“It’s Too Late” (Version 2) (Recorded September 1961)

PERSONNEL

Bobby Vee – lead vocals (tracks 1-10)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 1-7)
Red Callender – bass (tracks 1-7)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-10)
Cliff Crofford – lead vocals (track 7)
Sonny Curtis, Joe B. Mauldin, Howard Roberts, Earl Palmer, Ernie Freeman, and Gene Garf have been credited as being part of both sets of Bobby Vee recordings. The main four players listed above are probably on at least most of all the Bobby Vee tracks.

Bobby Vee & The Crickets – Bobby Vee Meets The Crickets (1962) – YouTube, Spotify (Personnel matches the previous Bobby Vee album.)

Despite Bobby Vee’s recordings with Allison being credited as The Crickets, the reunion of Sonny Curtis, along with newbies Jerry Naylor and Glen Hardin, is in my eyes the closest we get to more of the Crickets sound. Mauldin is sometimes credited as being part of the group from the early to mid 60s, but that does not seem to be true. Oftentimes, other players are credited as having partaken in them. There’s some very barebones recordings from 1961 of Allison singing that I suspect were recorded with help from the Bobby Vee-era lineup, but that’s just speculation. If there had been an album of this, I would have made them a Jerry solo album, but as just three recordings, they’re included here. This album probably would have only been released like this if the band needed material quickly, as the flow isn’t great. Still, these songs, as well as the whole Naylor era, are mostly good.

The Crickets – Fell In Love With A Face (1962) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Fell In Love With A Face” (Recorded February 2nd, 1962)
“Never Ever Told Me” (Recorded February 2nd, 1962)
“There’s No Better Way To Die” (Recorded February 2nd, 1962)
“Bottom Of The Sea” (Recorded February 2nd, 1962)
“I’m Not A Bad Guy” (Recorded March 9th, 1962)
“I Don’t Need A Friend” (Recorded September 18th, 1961)

SIDE B

“I Believe In You” (Recorded March 19th, 1962)
“The Real Thing” (Recorded June 4th, 1962)
“My Little Kim Ruth” (Recorded September 18th, 1961)
“It’s All Right With Me” (Recorded September 18th, 1961)
“Smooth Guy” (Recorded February 29th, 1960)
“So You’re In Love” (Recorded February 29th, 1960)
“Break It Easy” (Recorded June 19th, 1962)

PERSONNEL

Jerry Naylor – lead vocals
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, lead vocals (tracks 11-12)
Red Callender – bass
Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals (tracks 6, 9-10)
Glen D. Hardin – piano
Ernie Freeman – possibly on piano
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 11-12)

The Crickets – Something Old, Something New, Something Blue, Somethin’ Else (1962) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – drums
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, vocals
Red Callender – bass
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals
Glen D. Hardin – piano
Glen D. Hardin and Joe B. Mauldin have sometimes been credited as playing bass. Ernie Freeman has been credited on piano.

The Crickets – Surfin’ Special (1963) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“My Little Girl” (Recorded October 17th, 1962)
“Looking All Over Town” (Recorded October 17th, 1962)
“Teardrops Fall Like Rain” (Recorded October 17th, 1962)
“Farewell, My Bluebell” (Recorded October 23rd, 1962)
“The Ballad of Batman” (Recorded 1962)
“Batmobile” (Recorded 1962)

SIDE B

“Lost And All Alone” (Recorded April 3rd, 1963)
“Don’t Try To Change Me” (Recorded April 3rd, 1963)
“Surfin’ Special” (Recorded June 14th, 1963)
“April Avenue” (Recorded June 14th, 1963)
“A Harlem Girl” (Recorded July 17th, 1962)
“Brand New Doll” (Recorded July 17th, 1962)

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – drums
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, vocals
Red Callender – bass
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals
Glen D. Hardin – piano
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 5-6)
Glen D. Hardin and Joe B. Mauldin have sometimes been credited as playing bass. Ernie Freeman has been credited on piano.

The Crickets – California Sun / She Loves You (1964) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – drums
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, vocals
unknown – bass
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals
Glen D. Hardin – piano
Buzz Cason – backing vocals
Glen D. Hardin and Joe B. Mauldin have sometimes been credited as playing bass. Ernie Freeman has been credited on piano.

Despite my criticism of some of the one-off projects, this album is solid other than the Everly Brothers tracks. If it wasn’t obvious, Eddie Cochran is rivaled only by Holly himself and a few others, but that track is out of place for the Crickets. Still two great cuts, regardless.

The Crickets & Their Buddies Volume 4 (1964) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

Eddie Cochran – “Cut Across Shorty” (Recorded January 8th, 1960)
The Raiders – “Dardanella” (Released November 1961)
The Everly Brothers – “No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile” (Recorded September 20th, 1962)
The Everly Brothers – “Dancing On My Feet” (Recorded September 20th, 1962)
Lucille Starr – “The French Song” (Recorded October 24th, 1963)
Joe Carson – “Be A Good Girl” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)

SIDE B

Eddie Cochran – “Three Steps To Heaven” (Recorded January 8th, 1960)
The Raiders – “What Time Is It?” (Released November 1961)
Lucille Starr – “Sit Down And Write A Letter To Me” (Recorded October 24th, 1963)
The Everly Brothers – “The Facts Of Life” (Recorded January 16th, 1964)
Joe Carson – “Guess You Don’t Love Me Anymore” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-11) (Possibly not on track 10)
Eddie Cochran – lead vocals, guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 1, 3-7, 9-11)
Conrad ‘Guybo’ Smith – bass (tracks 1, 7)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 2-4, 8)
Unknown other musicians, possibly Bobby Keys on sax (tracks 2, 8)
Don Everly – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 3-4, 10)
Phil Everly – lead vocals, probably guitar (tracks 3-4, 10)
Billy Strange – guitar (tracks 3-4, 10)
Red Callendar and/or Pat Vegas – bass (tracks 3-4)
Ray Johnson – piano (tracks 5, 9)
Lucille Starr – lead vocals (tracks 5, 9)
Joe Maphis – guitar (tracks 5, 9)
Bill Pitman – guitar (tracks 5, 9)
Wilbur Pitman – bass (tracks 5, 9)
Herb Alpert – trumpet (tracks 5, 9)
Joe Carson – lead vocals (tracks 6, 11)
James Burton – guitar (tracks 6, 11)
Billy Mize – steel guitar (tracks 6, 11)
Bob Morris – bass (tracks 6, 11)
Billy Armstrong – fiddle (tracks 6, 11)
Bobby Bruce – fiddle (tracks 6, 11)
Glen D. Hardin – piano (tracks 6, 11)
Ray Pohlman – bass (track 10)
Hal Blaine – drums (probably on track 10)
Leon Russell – keyboard (tracks 10)
Harold Cliner – trombone (track 10)
Kenneth Shroyer – trombone (track 10)
John Audino – trumpet (track 10)
Anthony Terram – trumpet (track 10)

Sonny Curtis (Possibly with The Crickets) – Beatle Hits Flamenco Guitar Style (1964) – Archive.org

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead guitar

Likely present

Jerry Allison – drums
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard

Tommy Allsup & The Crickets – The Buddy Holly Songbook (1964) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Lynn Bailey – bass
Jerry Allison – drums
George Tomsco – guitar
Tommy Allsup – guitar
Buzz Cason – piano

The Crickets – Surfing, Bo Diddley, and Beatles!! (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Don’t Breathe A Word” (Recorded June 14th, 1963)
“Bring Back My Surfboard” (Recorded June 14th, 1963)
“Don’t Say You Love Me” (Recorded June 28th, 1963)
“A Beatle I Want To Be” (Recorded Late 1963)
“So Used To Loving You” (Recorded Summer 1963)
“Right Or Wrong” (Recorded August 1st, 1963)

SIDE B

“Playboy” (Recorded December 12th, 1963)
“(They Call Her) La Bamba” (Recorded March 23rd, 1964)
“All Over You” (Recorded March 23rd, 1964)
“I Think I’ve Caught The Blues” (Recorded August 27th, 1964)
“Bo Diddley Bach” (Recorded June 1964)
“I Pledge My Love To You” (Recorded June 1964)

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals (track 10)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (absent from track 10)
Red Callender – bass (absent from track 10)
Jerry Naylor – lead vocals (absent from track 10)
Glen D. Hardin – piano (absent from track 10)
Buzz Cason – backing vocals, lead vocals (track 10)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (track 10)
George Tomsco – guitar (track 10)
Stan Lark – bass (track 10)
Glen D. Hardin and Joe B. Mauldin have sometimes been credited as playing bass. Ernie Freeman has been credited on piano.

“Lord Of The Manor” and the Carson tracks are the ones here I like.

The Crickets & Their Buddies Volume 5 (1968) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

Joe Carson – “Release Me” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
Joe Carson – “Who’ll Buy The Wine” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
The Everly Brothers – “I Used To Love You” (Recorded November 12th, 1965)
The Everly Brothers – “It’s All Over” (Recorded November 12th, 1965)
Rusty Steagall – “Motel Rooms And Coffee Shops” (Recorded March 1st, 1966)

SIDE B

Joe Carson – “I’ll Be There” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
Joe Carson – “Fraulein” (Recorded February 10th, 1964)
Rusty Steagall – “Playboy Heart” (Recorded March 1st, 1966)
The Everly Brothers – “Lord Of The Manor” (Recorded February 27th, 1968)
Jammë – “Empty Feelings” (Recorded 1968)

PERSONNEL

Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-10) (Possibly not on tracks 3-4)
Sonny Curtis – guitar (tracks 1-4, 6-7, 9)
Joe Carson – lead vocals (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
James Burton – guitar (tracks 1-4, 6-7, 9)
Billy Mize – steel guitar (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Bob Morris – bass (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Billy Armstrong – fiddle (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Bobby Bruce – fiddle (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Glen D. Hardin – piano (tracks 1-2, 6-7)
Doris Hallcom – bass (tracks 3-4)
Jim Gordon – drums (probably on tracks 3-4)
Don Randi – harpsichord (tracks 3-4)
Leon Russell – keyboard (track 4)
Rusty Steagall – lead vocals (tracks 5, 8)
Don Lanier – guitar (tracks 5, 8)
Glen Campbell – guitar (tracks 5, 8)
Larry Knechtel – bass (tracks 5, 8)
Don Randi – keyboard (tracks 5, 8)
Terry Slater – bass (track 9)
Don Adey – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (track 10)
Timmy Smyser – bass (track 10)
Paul Downing – lead guitar (track 10)

These two Sonny Curtis albums, as well as some Crickets or Sonny material from around this time, are incredibly strong and deserved to have been released on Crickets albums. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say that Style is the best work covered in this post, being comparable in quality with Buddy Holly.

Sonny Curtis (Possibly with The Crickets) – The 1st Of Sonny Curtis (1968) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead guitar
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard

Likely present

Jerry Allison – drums

Sonny Curtis (Possibly with The Crickets) – The Sonny Curtis Style (1969) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead guitar

Likely present

Jerry Allison – drums
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard

Lee Dresser & The Crickets – El Camino Real (1969) – Archive.org

PERSONNEL

Rick Cathaway – bass
Jerry Allison – drums
Lee Dresser – lead vocals, guitar
Glen D. Hardin – piano

Eric Clapton & The Crickets – Eric Clapton (1970) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Eric Clapton – lead guitar, lead vocals
Delaney Bramlett – rhythm guitars, backing vocals
Stephen Stills – guitars, bass (track 11), backing vocals
Leon Russell – piano
John Simon – piano
Bobby Whitlock – organ, backing vocals
Carl Radle – bass
Jim Gordon – drums
Bobby Keys – saxophones
Jim Price – trumpet
Jerry Allison – backing vocals
Bonnie Bramlett – backing vocals
Rita Coolidge – backing vocals
Sonny Curtis – backing vocals

The 70s is the beginning of the downfall of the Crickets. This era is consistently okay, with this album of mostly Buddy Holly covers being one of the better efforts.

The Crickets – Rockin’ 50’s Rock’n’Roll (1970) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead vocals, lead guitar
Jerry Allison – drums, vocals
Jerry Scheff – bass
Glen D. Hardin – piano

This is one of the weaker albums I constructed simply because it spans from the mid 60s to the early 70s. It was one reason I found issue with this “stray track” idea. Note there’s two 1972 Sonny Curtis tracks I could not find: “Sunny Mornin’” and “Lights Of L.A.”.

The Crickets – Million Dollar Movie (1971) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Million Dollar Movie” (Recorded Mid 1968)
“We Gotta Get Together” (Recorded August 27th, 1964)
“Everybody’s Got A Little Problem” (Recorded August 28th, 1964)
“Now Hear This” (Recorded January 1st, 1965)
“Thoughtless” (Recorded January 2nd, 1965)
“Rave On” (Recorded January 3rd, 1965)

SIDE B

“A Million Miles Apart” (Recorded Mid 1968)
“Last Call” (Recorded July 1966)
“Love Is All Around” (Recorded Fall 1970)
“Here, There And Everywhere” (Recorded Fall 1970)
“Unsaintly Judy” (Recorded Spring 1971)
“You Don’t Belong In This Place” (Recorded Spring 1971)

PERSONNEL (Only confirmed contributions listed)

Jerry Naylor – lead vocals (tracks 4-6)
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar (tracks 1, 7-12), lead vocals (tracks 7-12)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 2-6) (Probably on every track), lead vocals (track 2)
Glen D. Hardin – (Possibly plays piano on tracks 1, 7-12)
Buzz Cason – lead vocals (tracks 2-3)
Tommy Allsup – guitar (tracks 2-6)
George Tomsco – guitar (track 2)
Stan Lark – bass (track 2)
Lynn Bailey – bass (tracks 3-6)

Johnny Rivers & The Crickets – L.A. Reggae (1972) – YouTube

PERSONNEL

Joe Osborn – bass
Miss Bobbye Hall – congas, bongos
Jerry Allison and/or Jim Gordon – drums
Dean Parks and/or Larry Carlton – guitar
Herb Pedersen and/or Michael Georgiades – backing vocals
Gary Coleman – percussion
Larry Knechtel and/or Jim Webb and/or Michael O’Martian – piano/organ
Jackie Kelso and/or Jim Horn – saxophone
Chuck Finley – trumpet
Johnny Rivers – lead vocals, rhythm guitar

The Crickets – Bubblegum, Pop, Ballads & Boogie (1973) – Archive.org

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead vocals, lead guitar
Ric Grech – lead vocals, bass
Jerry Allison – lead vocals, drums
Glen D. Hardin – vocals, keyboards

The Crickets – Remnants (1973) – Archive.org

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead vocals, lead guitar
Ric Grech – lead vocals, bass, piano
Jerry Allison – lead vocals, drums
Nick Van Maarth – lead vocals, guitar
Albert Lee – lead vocals, guitar, piano
Steve Krikorian – vocals

A Long Way from Lubbock is an officially released album, though one frustrating issue is that it pointlessly takes recordings from the previous two 1973 albums. There were two much better ideas that could have been used for a follow up. There’s basically one album’s worth of strays listed below that have no overlap with previous albums. The other idea is to cut out the dud tracks and make these albums all much shorter. The Remnants album is bizarrely forty minutes long. The album listed below was all recorded in 1973, except for “Carolyn Walking Away”, where that’s just a guess.

The Crickets – A Long Way from Lubbock (1973) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“That Is Not What I Need”
“Carolyn Walking Away”
“Rock’n Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)” (Recorded October 1973)
“My Mama Sure Left Me Some Good Old Days” (Recorded October 1973)
“An American Love Affair”
“He’s Got A Way With Women”

SIDE B

“You Make It Way Too Hard”
“Ain’t Protestin’” (Demo version)
“Ain’t Protestin’” (Band version)
“Bony Moronie”
“I Like Your Music”
“Now & Then It’s Gonna Rain”

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead vocals, lead guitar
Ric Grech – lead vocals, bass, piano
Jerry Allison – lead vocals, drums
Nick Van Maarth – lead vocals, guitar
Albert Lee – lead vocals, guitar, piano
Steve Krikorian – vocals

Lee Dresser & The Crickets – To Touch The Wind (1975) – Can’t find

PERSONNEL

Lee Dresser – lead vocals (tracks 1-12), guitar, banjo, harmonica (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Larry McNeely – banjo (tracks 1-12)
Pat Smith – bass (tracks 1, 7)
Al Garibaldi – drums (tracks 1, 7)
Dan Crary – guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Pete Jolly – piano (tracks 1, 7)
Red Rhodes – steel guitar (tracks 1, 7)
Joe Osborn – bass (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Jerry Allison – drums, hambone (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Ron Dasaro – organ (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Doug Gilmore – hambone (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Glen D. Hardin – piano (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
Al Perkins – steel guitar (tracks 2-6, 8-12)
The Teesdale Street Choir – backing vocals (tracks 2-6, 8-12)

Originally this album spanned into the 80s with a few solo Sonny singles. Two issues with that is that those 80s tracks almost certainly lacked Jerry Allison and Sonny’s real solo career where Jerry was absent is quite confusing. Many of the released albums are unavailable online and I later found more stray tracks. There’s also some repeats from one album to another. Thus, you can think of this as the last release of his for quite a while with Jerry before they went separate ways into less documented music, though it’s quite short. I liked that the 1973 strays perfectly make up their own album, while this is everything after in the 70s. Note that a track called “When It’s Just You And Me” is from 1975, but isn’t accessible. If it was, it would make this one a bit longer.

The Crickets – Reunion (1978) – Archive.org (All tracks recorded in 1978 except where noted otherwise.)

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“It’s Only A Question Of Time” (Recorded July 10th, 1975)
“Where’s Patricia Now” (Recorded February 1976)
“The Breeze”

SIDE B

“Mulholland Drive”
“It’s Only Rock’n’Roll”
“Cruise In It”
“Rock Around With Ollie Vee”

PERSONNEL (Only confirmed contributions listed)

Sonny Curtis – lead vocals, lead guitar (tracks 1-7)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 3-7)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 3-7)

Note that half of Rollin’ and a 1982 track called “Dream Well All Of You Children” are missing. Also, the three Sonny Curtis albums listed below are not fan albums and instead are official. I’m writing out the tracklisting to make it more explicit what I do have. The personnel notes will be absent for solo Sonny due to this article being more about Jerry.

Sonny Curtis (1979) – Archive.org (Missing Two Tracks)

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“The Cowboy Singer”
“Walk Right Back”
“So Used To Loving You”
“Tennessee”
“Do You Remember Roll Over Beethoven”

SIDE B

“It’s Not Easy Being Fifteen”
“I Fought The Law”
“I’ll Stay With You” (Can’t find)
“Cheatin’ Clouds” (Can’t find)
“Ain’t Nobody Honest”

Sonny Curtis – Love Is All Around (1980) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Love Is All Around”
“You Made My Life A Song”
“Eager For The Edge”
“The Real Buddy Holly Story”
“Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover”

SIDE B

“Wild Side Of Life”
“The Cowboy Singer” (Same recording as on the 1979 album)
“I Fought The Law” (Same recording as on the 1979 album)
“Walk Right Back” (Same recording as on the 1979 album)
“The Clone Song”

With one exception, the personnel for the Waylon Jennings albums won’t be listed due to how confusing it all is.

Jessi Colter, Waylon Jennings & The Crickets – Ridin’ Shotgun (1981) – Archive.org

Sonny Curtis – 1981 and 1982 loose tracks – Archive.org

“Good Ol’ Girls” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“Married Women” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“Rollin’” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“More Than I Can Say” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“I Like Your Music” (From Rollin’ (1981))
“The Christmas Song” (Chestnut Roasting On A Open Fire) (1981)
“Together Alone” (1982)
“Love is All Around” (From Sonny Curtis (2007)) (Unsure of recording date, very roughly guessing 1982)
“Hung Up In Your Eyes” (From Sonny Curtis (2007)) (Unsure of recording date, very roughly guessing 1982)
“My Worst Enemy” (From Sonny Curtis (2007)) (Unsure of recording date, very roughly guessing 1982)
“Party Of The First Part” (From Sonny Curtis (2007)) (Unsure of recording date, very roughly guessing 1982)

Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson & The Crickets – WWII (1982) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Waylon Jennings – guitar, vocals
Jerry Allison – drums
Gene Chrisman – drums, percussion
Chips Moman – guitar
Reggie Young – guitar
Willie Nelson – guitar, vocals
Bobby Emmons – keyboards
Johnny Christopher – guitar, backing vocals
Bobby Wood – piano
Toni White – backing vocals
Mike Leech – bass
Jerry Bridges – bass

Waylon Jennings & The Crickets – It’s Only Rock & Roll (1983) – YouTube, Spotify

Waylon Jennings & The Crickets – Never Could Toe the Mark (1984) – YouTube, Spotify

Most of the Payne stuff feels like a parody of the band, with the new lead singer doing a bad Holly impression. It’s a shame Allison and Mauldin didn’t make Crickets albums with Waylon Jennings or Sonny, especially because most of the Crickets’ 60s and 70s songs lack Mauldin and now that he’s back they’re either inactive or making such poor material.

Gordon Payne & The Crickets – Jigger, Crank & Jive (1988) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Back Home In Tennessee” (Released 1988)
“Blackmail” (Released 1988)
“I Can’t Hold On Any Longer” (Released 1988)
“For A While We Helped Each Other Out” (Released 1988)

SIDE B

“I Got A Woman” (Recorded Late 70s-Early 80s)
“She’s Got A Right To Cry” (Recorded Late 70s-Early 80s)
“Do You Ever Think Of Me” (Recorded Late 70s-Early 80s)
“Let’s Do It Again” (Released 1988)

PERSONNEL

Gordon Payne – lead vocals, lead guitar (tracks 1-8)
Jerry Bridges – bass (tracks 5-7)
Jerry Allison – drums (tracks 1-8)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 1-4, 8)

Gordon Payne & The Crickets – T-Shirt (1988) – Archive.org

PERSONNEL

Gordon Payne – lead vocals, lead guitar
Jerry Allison – drums
Joe B. Mauldin – bass

Sonny Curtis – 1985-1990 loose tracks – Archive.org

“I Think I’m In Love” (From Spectrum (1987), though recorded in 1985)
“Now I’ve Got A Heart Of Gold” (From Spectrum (1987), though recorded in 1985)
“Monetta” (Recorded 1990)
“Evening Shade” (Recording date guessed 1990)
“I Fought The Law” (Recorded June 1990 in Torino, ITA)

Sonny Curtis – No Stranger to the Rain (Released September 1990) – Archive.org

“I’m No Stranger to the Rain” (Possibly the same recording that was on the previous album, Spectrum)
“Hello Mary Lou”
“You’re the Lesson I Never Learned”
“When Amarillo Blows”
“Back When Has Been Lover”
“I Saved My Last Name for You”
“Bad Case of Love”
“Think It Over”
“That’ll Be the Day”
“More Than I Can Say”
“Well, All Right”
“Rock Around with Ollie Vee”
“Midnight Shift”

Gordon Payne & The Crickets – Double Exposure (1993) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Gordon Payne – lead vocals, probably guitar
Sonny Curtis – lead guitar
Jerry Allison – drums
Joe B. Mauldin – bass
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard

Too Much Monday Morning is a shockingly good album that goes to show how much a shame it was that this lineup wasn’t more often all together. Naylor, and especially Sinks and Box are good, but Curtis’ voice feels more at home with the Crickets. After this album, the band would go back to being an oldies act, often redoing their own songs needlessly. Admittedly, not many people are out asking for the next hot Sonny Curtis and the Crickets album.

The Crickets – Too Much Monday Morning (1996) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, lead vocals
Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals
Joe B. Mauldin – bass
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard
Nanci Griffith – guest vocals

Nanci Griffith & The Crickets (1996) – YouTube, Spotify

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Walk Right Back” (Recorded May 29th, 1996)
“I Still Miss Someone” (Recorded May 29th, 1996)
“The Streets Of Baltimore” (Recorded June 17th, 1996)
“I Live On A Battlefield” (Recorded Fall 1996)

SIDE B

“I Fought The Law” (Recorded Fall 1996)
“Maybe Tomorrow” (Recorded Fall 1996)
“I’ll Move Along” (Recorded Fall 1996)
“Morning Train” (Recorded Fall 1996)

PERSONNEL

Nanci Griffith – lead vocals (tracks 1-8), guitar (tracks 3-5, 7-8), backing vocals (tracks 1-3)
James Hooker – piano (tracks 1-7), backing vocals (tracks 4-6), organ (track 8)
Doug Lancio – guitar (tracks 1-8), backing vocals (tracks 4, 6)
Sonny Curtis – lead vocals (tracks 1, 5), guitar (tracks 1-2, 5, 7), backing vocals (track 6), bass (track 8)
Joe B. Mauldin – bass (tracks 1-5)
Jerry Allison – percussion (tracks 4, 7-8), drums (tracks 1-3, 5-6)
Rodney Crowell – lead vocals, guitar (track 2)
Darius Rucker – backing vocals (track 3)
Jim Sonefeld – backing vocals (track 3)
John Prine – lead vocals (track 3)
Philip Donnelly – guitar (tracks 3, 5, 7-8)
Pat McInerney – drums (tracks 4, 6-8), percussion (tracks 3-6), backing vocals (track 6), whistle (track 8)
Ron De La Vega – backing vocals (tracks 4, 6), bass (tracks 3, 5-8), cello (tracks 3, 6)
Lee Satterfield – backing vocals (tracks 4, 8)

The Crickets & Their Buddies (2004) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, lead vocals
Jerry Allison – drums
Joe B. Mauldin – bass
Glen D. Hardin – keyboard
The Everly Brothers, Eric Clapton, Nanci Griffith, Bobby Vee, Albert Lee, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Rivers – guest vocals
Many, many more guest performers. Only ones that have previously worked with the Crickets are listed here.

Mike Berry & The Crickets – About Time Too! (2005) – YouTube, Spotify

PERSONNEL

Sonny Curtis – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals
Joe B. Mauldin – bass, backing vocals
Mike Berry – lead vocals, backing vocals
Chas Hodges – piano, backing vocals, guitar

Chad Hodges & Jerry Allison – Before We Grow Too Old (2007) – Archive.org

PERSONNEL

Jack Clement – dobro
Jerry Allison – drums, lead vocals (tracks 7, 10)
Chas Hodges – piano, lead vocals, guitar

There seems to have been a whole album of John Beland tracks recorded, but this is the only one I could find. The Limitations’ “Well… All Right” I also can’t find.

The Crickets & Their Buddies Over The Years (2013) – Archive.org

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

J.J. Cale – “I’m A Gypsy Man” (Released 1976)
John Beland – “True Love Never Runs Dry” (Recorded 1978)
Bobby Vee – “Buddy Holly Medley” (Recorded April 16th, 1989)
Dale Hawkins – “Rain On The Roof” (Recorded 1990s)
Dale Hawkins – “Well… All Right” (Recorded 1990s)

SIDE B

Dale Hawkins – “So What” (Recorded 1990s)
Dale Hawkins – “I Had A Dream” (Recorded 1990s)
Lonnie Donegan – “Skiffle” (1999)
Lonnie Donegan – “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” (1999)
Chas And Dave – “Look At Me” (2013)

PERSONNEL

- J. J. Cale – lead vocals, guitar, piano (track 1)
- Bill Raffensperger – bass guitar (track 1)
- Jimmy Karstein – drums (track 1)
- Bill Boatman – rhythm guitar (track 1)
- Jerry Allison – percussion (tracks 1, 9), drums (tracks 3-7, 10), triangle (track 8)
- Bobby Vee – lead vocals, guitar (track 3)
- Gordon Payne – lead vocals, guitar (track 3)
- David Falconi (Might be misspelling his name) – keyboard (track 3)
- Joe B. Mauldin – bass (track 3), possibly plays bass on tracks 4-7
- Dale Hawkins – lead vocals, guitar (tracks 4-7)
- Ray Flack – lead guitar (tracks 4-7)
- Joe Osborn – possibly plays bass on tracks 4-7
- unknown – piano (tracks 4-7)
- Joell Le Sonier – accordion (tracks 8-9)
- Margot Buchanan – backing vocals (tracks 8-9)
- Sam Brown – backing vocals (tracks 8-9)
- Sonia Jones – backing vocals (tracks 8-9)
- Gerry Conway – drums (tracks 8-9)
- Brian Hodgson – bass (track 8)
- Paul Henry – guitar (track 8)
- Rufus Thibodeaux – fiddle (tracks 8-9)
- Nick Payne – harmonica (track 8)
- Lonnie Donegan – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (tracks 8-9)
- Sticky Wicket – washboard (track 8)
- Vic Pitt – bass (track 9)
- Chad Hodges – performer (track 10)
- Dave Peacock – performer (track 10)
- Albert Lee – guitar (track 10)
- Track 2’s personnel information is especially confusing, but it does seem Allison, Mauldin, and Curtis are on it in some capacity.

1960s, Article Type: Reviews, Country: United States, Genre: Art rock, Genre: Pop, Genre: Pop rock, Genre: Rock, Genre: Surf rock, Media Type: Music, Media: The Beach Boys

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys (1960-1965) – 8 Fan Albums & Alternate History

February 13, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

This project has been a long time coming. For years I’ve wanted to do a comprehensive Beach Boys fan album series, but was just so overwhelmed by the history. I’ve done a lot of research, but even then feel like I’m missing something. Originally I wanted to include every song ever, but that sacrifices listenability due to what’s simply not good or in really poor quality. I also don’t want to be working on this forever. I’m not a big fan of Mike or Al, so it’s difficult to really care much about them, especially because Mike has a huge and convoluted solo career.

The main goal is to better represent the works of the three Wilson brothers. I find their material consistently interesting and worth listening to in an easier way, instead of being spread across multiple artist names and levels of obscurity. In terms of the other members, I’m not sure what to do, but I have ideas. For the long term members of Mike, Al, and Bruce, anything I like will be a Beach Boys release. The stuff I don’t might be relegated to something else? Maybe in this universe, things like Mike’s re-recordings of Beach Boys songs are considered so bad they can’t be released under the official name? The exception is pre-Beach Boys Bruce, which I like, but find too out of step with the early Beach Boys. For David, Ricky, and Blondie, their outputs were at most minimal and not very much like the Beach Boys. Thus, they will be treated as just helpers who were always more prioritized with other projects, not unlike the various session or touring members.

While I have a way of not finishing things, at least not in a timely manner, this project is dauntingly intended to go up to the current day Beach Boys recordings. I’m really looking forward to it, as I think these album sequences are better than the official ones, feeling a lot more cohesive. The albums here I particularly like are The Beginning of the End, The Survivors, Shut Down Volume 2, and especially All Summer Long. If these sequences were officially released, I think All Summer Long would be considered the group’s first masterpiece. The other four are fine, but have a bit too much filler. The material on Brian’s Bag has been some of my least favorite of this era, but it works better as is here than interspersed with excellent cuts that deserve to thrive as much as possible. It’s also easier to appreciate those lesser tracks this way as they feel at home. As an example, I love surf rock that only cares about being danceable, and the Beach Boys have many successes in that field, but that doesn’t fit with the lush and warm ballads about aspects of life. And now, without further ado…

“Do You Love Me, Do You Surfer Girl?”

In 1961, California teenager Brian Wilson began to learn and sing songs with his family and friends. Clearly a standout among his brothers or most kids his age, his father Murry sought to obtain him a record contract. Eventually, it was arranged for him to perform live. However, at the show, he had such stage fright that he decided to merely be part of a backing group. At his mother’s insistence, his cousin Mike Love and brothers Carl and Dennis were added to his band idea. They were rounded out by friend Al Jardine. Brian wanted girlfriend Judy Bowles to participate, mainly as an excuse for her to take Mike’s place, but she wasn’t interested. As retribution, Brian’s mother said Mike got to sing the first song they recorded and pick the subject. Mike was going to suggest a song based on his job, sheet metal working, but when Dennis added in surfing, Mike went with that, but still took the credit. Mike would go on to claim he was an avid surfer to friends, even doctoring images of Dennis surfing with his own face.

This song ended up being “Surfin’”. The lineup was set to be Mike on vocals and sax, Carl on lead guitar, Dennis drums, Al rhythm guitar, and Brian bass and keyboard. After months of agonizing rehearsing, with Brian taking the proceedings very seriously, they arranged to have a recording session with producers Hite and Dorinda Morgan. Some of the material consisted of ballads and others more rocking tracks reminiscent of what other teen groups were doing. Despite ostensibly being led by the Morgans, Brian more and more exerted control over the project. Even on what was to be their first single, Brian was unsatisfied with Mike and Dennis’ playing, so he played drums himself and excised saxophone entirely.

“I sometimes wish I could play without these guys.” He said.

With prompting from his family, Al left the band. Friend David Marks replaced him, though Al still helped out. David seemed less comfortable with singing. Brian often experimented with including or excluding certain people to get a particular sound. Even Al Jardine was recruited briefly. It was decided that tracks “Surfin’” and “Luau” would be the a and b-side to their first record respectively. Despite going by the name “The Pendletones”, when the single was finally released, it was credited to “The Beach Boys” and was a reasonable hit. This was considered either a decision of a nameless record executive or someone poorly spelling “Brian’s Band”. If it’s the latter, it couldn’t have been a higher up due to their proclivity to eating apples. Ultimately, Murry arranged for Brian to be given a recording contract for an LP. When his aversion to singing on tour became apparent, it was decided Mike would be the lead singer due to singing on the record, while Brian was still the leader. Only the Wilsons and Mike Love were signed to Capitol as official members. This created animosity between them and Al and David, especially as Capitol refused to pay six members, resulting in Al leaving again, declaring he’d never return.

As the group recorded their first album, Brian became more comfortable singing, though he was more interested in the romantic ballad tracks. Capitol, wanting a pure teen rock album, didn’t want these cuts included. Regardless, the group still recorded several. When all was said and done, Capitol created a tracklist which only included the “fun” songs. Surf Songs For Beach Lovers was released in summer 1962 to mixed reviews and little fanfare. Troubles increased when Al sued to be credited as an official member. This was granted to keep the peace. Despite this, he did not rejoin the group. The record credited David Marks as “Al”, due to not having the ability or desire to take photographs with Jardine. Despite their initial hit, the album was considered too underwhelming to keep the band on. The Beach Boys broke up.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – Surf Songs For Beach Lovers (1962) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Surfin’ Safari”
“County Fair”
“Chug-A-Lug”
“Summertime Blues”
“Land Ahoy”
“Luau”
“Beach Boy Stomp (Aka Karate)”

SIDE B

“Surfin’”
“Shut Down”
“Judy”
“Ten Little Indians”
“409”
“Moon Dawg”
“The Shift”

PERSONNEL

Brian Wilson – bass guitar, lead vocals, co-producer, keyboard, drums
Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
Mike Love – lead vocals, saxophone
Al Jardine – guitar, bass (occasional)

Friends

Nick Venet – co-producer, carnival barker
Hite Morgan – co-producer
Dorinda Morgan – co-producer
Murry Wilson – manager, producer (latter uncredited)
David Marks – guitar
Andrea Carlo – voice of girlfriend
Gary Usher – car sound effects

Brian had started making efforts to assist other artists in recording. Carl and Dennis in turn played on a few records for other people while David typically stayed home rehearsing more and more complex pieces. Mike counted his pennies, hoping to put off returning to his job.

In need of more product for the fall season, Capitol compiled the other more serious songs for a throwaway release. The result, The Beginning of the End, was highly successful among fans of more soulful teen music. This resulted in the track from the first album, “Shut Down”, being released as a single and becoming a huge hit. Thus, the first LP was rereleased to be named after that single. Due to the recent progress, the Wilsons, Love, and Marks reformed. At a celebration party, Brian proposed to his girlfriend. Despite this, he was taken aback by a girl he was interested in producing, Marilyn Rovell.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – The Beginning of the End (1962) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“The Beginning Of The End”
“Heads You Win, Tails I Lose”
“Barbie”
“What Is A Young Girl Made Of”
“Lonely Sea”
“Lana”

SIDE B

“Lavender”
“Cindy, Oh Cindy”
“Stoked”
“Little Girl (You’re My Miss America)”
“Cuckoo Clock”
“Visions”
“Happy Birthday Four Freshmen”

PERSONNEL

Brian Wilson – bass guitar, lead vocals, co-producer
Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
Mike Love – lead vocals
Al Jardine – guitar (occasional)

Friends

Nick Venet – co-producer
Hite Morgan – co-producer
Dorinda Morgan – co-producer
Murry Wilson – manager, producer (latter uncredited)
David Marks – guitar

To follow up on “Shut Down”, Brian reluctantly penned another song that he said “lacked substance”. “Surfin’ USA” was an even bigger success than Shut Down, which resulted in Capitol seizing work on Brian’s ballads. Not willing to give them up, Brian agreed to do one album of fun songs, then after another of serious songs. Capitol agreed. Following trends, and at the insistence of the group’s jam rock fans of David, Carl, and Dennis, the next record featured many surf instrumentals. Mike Love was annoyed at his lack of presence, but no one cared. His arguing got him a vocal cameo on “Stoked”, which ultimately ended up being an outtake. Jardine was almost completely absent from the group’s first three LPs. For the first two, he’s only represented by the short time he was in the group before leaving. For the third record, he was brought in to appear on the inconsequential “Boogie Woodie”, as he needed to be present in order to keep being credited. Surfin’ USA was released in May 1963 to reasonably positive reviews.

Judy considered the song “Marie” a declaration of Brian’s feelings towards Marilyn and “Mother May I” about the former’s mother. Judy then broke up with Brian in a semi-public place. Passerby purported hearing Brian cry and breakdown, insisting he couldn’t live without her. Despite this, later that day he announced to his friends and family he was in a relationship with Marilyn. Brian would never mention Judy again.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – Surfin’ USA (1963) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Surfin’ USA”
“Let’s Go Trippin’”
“Noble Surfer”
“Honky Tonk”
“Side Two”
“Marie”
“Misirlou”

SIDE B

“Farmer’s Daughter”
“Surf Jam”
“Punchline”
“Mother May I”
“Finders Keepers”
“Boogie Woodie”

PERSONNEL

Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, co-producer
Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
Mike Love – lead vocals
Al Jardine – bass guitar (occasional)

Friends

Nick Venet – co-producer
Murry Wilson – manager
David Marks – rhythm guitar
Frank DeVito – drums

The band were disappointed with the album’s cover being similar to the others. As such, Brian sought to take control over that and make them more artistic. He didn’t get full control, so things would generally be a back and forth process. He also saw the group’s real strength as vocalists, finding the many instrumentals boring. He thus decided to tour less and spend the time making more and more complex works. He was quoted as saying, “Our records are our legacy. That’s what history will remember us by.” The other band members found this pretentious, especially those that loved instrumental rock. Mike supported Brian, though it’s suspected only because he wrote much of the band’s lyrics and didn’t partake in the instrumentals. He also supposedly said the Beach Boys weren’t really the Beach Boys without him. “We should be called Mike Love & The Beach Boys”.

For the fourth record, Brian was always working in the studio. This included occasionally replacing members with session players. Jardine was brought in to help, enthused by his friends’ success. It was suspected that the reason he finally became a prominent member was because Brian wanted to move away from the more surfing style, which never strongly spoke to Jardine. Still, this upset the other members that didn’t want to be used less, especially now that they’re sharing the spotlight with Jardine. Dennis was the most positive about the change, wanting to support whatever will make the best art.

Carl and David both began working on material for the band, which the label rejected due to not having the commercial viability of Brian’s. Brian, not wanting to start conflict with anyone, didn’t challenge Capitol. He did want to push the boundaries of pop music and if he was going to he would need to play ball as often as he could afford. The Survivors was released in December to lesser commercial success, but increased critical acclaim. It followed with the single “Pamela Jean”/“Hawaii”. The former only featured one Beach Boy, Brian.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – The Survivors (1963) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Pamela Jean”
“Surfer Girl”
“In My Room”
“Ballad Of Ole’ Betsy”
“Spirit Of America”
“First Rock And Roll Dance”
“Little Surfer Girl”

SIDE B

“Back Home”
“A Young Man Is Gone”
“Hawaii”
“The Surfer Moon”
“Thank Him”
“Your Summer Dream”

PERSONNEL

Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, producer, guitar
Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
Mike Love – lead vocals
Al Jardine – bass guitar, vocals

Friends

Murry Wilson – manager
David Marks – rhythm guitar
Hal Blaine – timbales
Bob Norberg – guitar
Dave Nolan – possible guitar
Rich Peterson – possible percussion

During the then unnamed fifth album sessions, Marks began to feel more and more left out, not being an official member and being disliked by Murry. He especially hated having his guitar parts recorded by Carl or session men. Marks’ parents advocated for him and even wanted more involvement in managing the group, which Murry was unwilling to do. Pressures mounted with Capitol wanting the record done as fast as possible due to the recent comparative lack of success, with Brian fulfilling that by throwing out some filler. Still, he included more strong vocals and proficient playing, among other touches to give it the stamp his work was beginning to have. To his dismay, one instrumental track was renamed “Shut Down, Part II” and the album was promptly called “Shut Down Volume 2”, which was a title he hated. “At least people might know the record was junk. The best stuff was on the singles.” The album was another hit.

With Dennis penning new tunes, Carl felt them, Al, and David could start a new project focused more on rocking instrumentation. He was inspired by surf bands of the time. Due to the demands of constantly being on the road, this project did not take off. Carl in a 1991 interview expands on this:

“I of course love Brian, but I just needed to do something else, as well. Denny and I may not have been matching him, but we were doing numbers. It seemed all we ever got to do were a few little things like The Tri-Five and The Four Speeds. I was even tempted to quit the band, but I couldn’t do that to the family. Dad and Capitol wanted us to stick together as much as possible. We insisted on a vote between the band [on whether to form a spinoff group]. Dennis, David, and Brian were on my side, while Mike, Dad, and Al weren’t. I think Al was only against me because he would have been risking getting fired. Mike also probably did because he wouldn’t have been in our band and was mad. What a joke. That all also exacerbated tensions with David as his vote wasn’t counted and dad said he wins out in a tie. Thus, we mostly all stayed together, though you know what happened with Dave.”

Shut Down Volume 2’s cover was mostly the doing of the label, being in stark contrast with the more experimental previous cover. It was considered a necessity to never again blur the band’s face.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – Shut Down Volume 2 (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Fun, Fun, Fun”
“Little Deuce Coupe”
“Catch A Wave”
“South Bay Surfer”
“Rocking Surfer”
“The Baker Man”
“Gonna Hustle You”

SIDE B

“Cherry, Cherry Coupe”
“Surfers Rule”
“Our Car Club”
“No-Go Showboat”
“Shut Down, Part II”
“Custom Machine”
“Be True To Your School”

PERSONNEL

Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, producer
Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
Mike Love – lead vocals
Al Jardine – bass guitar, vocals

Friends

Murry Wilson – manager
David Marks – rhythm guitar
Hal Blaine – tambourine, drums
Steve Douglas – tenor saxophones
Jay Migliori – baritone saxophones
Ray Pohlman – 6-string electric bass guitars
Maureen Love – harp

“Well then, the next album will have loads of our faces! LOADS!”

While still to have many commercial flairs, Brian was determined to include more lavish production and introspective lyrics. Introspective lyrics meant one thing, less Mike. Mike was bitter about barely being used or credited for songwriting, but Brian threatening to kick him out the studio one day was considered a veiled threat to have him fired from the band. Mike would cool off, though still declared to others he was just as talented as Brian.

In a move often criticized as one of Murry’s lowest moments, he began doing whatever he could to make David feel demoralized. He reduced his pay, made him sleep separately from the others in hotels, and encouraged them to record without him. This caused Marks to quit early in these sessions. While he soon wanted back in, Murry forced him to stick to his word, acting like it would be too problematic to reinclude him. Brian later said, “I felt bad for him. I wanted to do something, but my dad was so threatening to me I felt I couldn’t do it. On top of that, I began using the guys less for the instrumentals and turning to session players. David was never that good of a singer, so he basically would’ve had nothing to do even if he had not quit.”

While Murry had intended to exert more control, now with one opponent gone, this actually backfired for him. Brian was taking more and more control from Murry for himself. Seeing as he was getting older, he felt he needed and wanted less input from his dad and others respected him more, no longer interested in supporting or listening to Murry. Brian eventually told Murry to wait outside for some sessions, to which he said no. It was suspected their confrontation could have become physical, but Brian simply walked out the room. Brian initially worked in secret from his father. Soon enough, he grew tired of this and fired him. He had Marilyn do the deed of telling the bad news.

All Summer Long was very successful, but not as much as some other records. Murry blamed the lesser benefits on his absence, though Brian noted the critics still loved it. The symbol of the sun would become an icon in the Beach Boys fandom, coined by Mike as the “Love symbol”. He would go on to say the supposed reference to his last name was coincidental and that he was just thinking about “Peace and Mother Earth”.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – All Summer Long (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Beryl Left Me” (Actually “Bobby Left Me”, title changed to be about a woman)
“I Do”
“The Warmth Of The Sun”
“Hushabye”
“Keep An Eye On Summer”
“We’ll Run Away”

SIDE B

“After The Game”
“Why Do Fools Fall In Love”
“Things We Did Last Summer”
“Girls On The Beach”
“Don’t Worry Baby”
“All Summer Long”

PERSONNEL

Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, producer, marimba
Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
Mike Love – lead vocals, drums (Calm down, it’s just one track.)
Al Jardine – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals

Friends

Murry Wilson – manager (uncredited)
Hal Blaine – drums, percussion, bell-tree
Glen Campbell – 6-string bass guitar
Ray Pohlman – 4 & 6-string bass guitar
David Marks – rhythm guitar
Steve Douglas – tenor saxophones
Jay Migliori – baritone saxophones, piccolo or fife
Leon Russell – piano
Bill Pitman – archtop acoustic guitar
Tommy Tedesco – electric guitar
Jimmy Bond – double bass
Frank Capp – glockenspiel, temple blocks, castanets
Al de Lory – piano
Plas Johnson – tenor saxophone
Bob Norberg – guitar
Dave Nolan – possible guitar
Rich Peterson – possible percussion

The due date for the next album was moved up, causing Brian to rush yet again. “Some visionary”, as quoted by a mysterious source. The result is considered one of the band’s weakest early albums. Among the most mixed reception are Carl and Dennis’ contributions. When asked why the resulting works were so middling, Carl said, “We were still holding out hope on our own project, so saved the best stuff for it.” This did them no favors, with the serious critics that had been consistently praising Brian feeling reinforced in saying he was the only talented member. Brian would refute this, though denied the idea of including more of his brothers’ material on the albums, saying The Beach Boys was simply “His thing”. This comment angered his bandmates, prompting Brian to spend less time around them. They also blamed him for the Brian-centered cover, arguing Brian could’ve stopped it if he cared.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – Brian’s Bag (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Karen”
“Denny’s Drums”
“I Get Around”
“This Car Of Mine”
“In The Parkin’ Lot”
“Pom Pom Play Girl”
“Louie Louie”

SIDE B

“Little Honda”
“Carl’s Big Chance”
“Drive-In”
“Do You Remember”
“Don’t Back Down”
“Wendy”
“Denny’s Drums, Part II”

PERSONNEL

Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, producer
Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
Mike Love – lead vocals, saxophone
Al Jardine – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals

Friends

Hal Blaine – drums, timbales with brush, rim with thin stick
Glen Campbell – 6-string electric bass guitar
Steve Douglas – tenor saxophone
Jay Migliori – baritone saxophone
Ray Pohlman – 6-string electric bass guitar
The Honeys (Marilyn Rovell, Diane Rovell, Ginger Blake) – backing vocals
Murry Wilson – manager (uncredited)

In preparation for the season, Brian released a Christmas record. The reviews were generally positive and the commercial results especially strong. Brian was on top of the world. As a show of good grace for his band, Brian is notably not clearly visible on the cover, which he had to fight to get. This did little to change their view, as Brian was in response prominent on the back. Regardless, while Carl, Al, and Mike were still upset by that and feeling increasingly like Brian’s backing singers, they couldn’t deny the money or musical quality (Well, maybe Mike could). Despite the massive success, Brian was up another enemy after Dennis told him he desperately wanted to write a “real song” for an album and was told no. Brian’s reasoning was that he would drop the “silly” songs and make something truly daring and personal. He continued he would try again to get a deal going for him, Carl, and Al, though when nothing came of this he was considered to have not actually done anything.

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys – The Lord’s Prayer (1964) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Auld Lang Syne”
“Christmas Eve”
“Little Saint Nick”
“The Man With All The Toys”
“Santa’s Beard”
“Jingle Bells”
“Christmas Day”
“Merry Christmas, Baby”

SIDE B

“Frosty The Snowman”
“We Three Kings Of Orient Are”
“Blue Christmas”
“Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”
“White Christmas”
“I’ll Be Home For Christmas”
“The Lord’s Prayer”
“Denny’s Message (Auld Lang Syne)”

PERSONNEL

Brian Wilson – lead vocals, keyboard, bass guitar, producer
Carl Wilson – lead guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson – drums, vocals
Mike Love – lead vocals
Al Jardine – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals

Friends

Dick Reynolds – orchestra
Al Viola – guitar
Cliff Hils – double bass
Jimmy Rowles – grand piano
Jack Sperling – drums
Eddie Rosa – flute and/or alto saxophone and/or tenor saxophone
Chuck Gentry – soprano clarinet, alto clarinet, tenor clarinet, and/or bass clarinet and/or baritone saxophone
William Hinshaw, Richard Perissi, Arthur Briegleb – French horns
Henry Laubach, John Audino, Conrad Gozzo, Raymond Triscari – trumpets
Harry Betts, Francis Howard, George Roberts – trombones
George “Red” Callender – tuba
Edgar Lustgarten, Jesse Ehrlich, Nathan Gershman, Alfred Wohl, Margaret Aue – violins, violas, cellos, and/or double basses
Benjamin Barrett – orchestra master
Dick Reynolds – orchestra conductor

Later that day, Brian came home from the studio and crashed on his couch, falling asleep. He awoke to Marilyn exasperated by a love song he heard he was making about her sister Diane. He insisted he wrote it as a favor to Carl, who wanted his girlfriend named in a song. This would not initially quell Marilyn, though eventually she apologized.

“I’ll change the name in the song, how about Rhonda?”

1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2020s, Article Type: Fan Edit, Country: United Kingdom, Genre: Pop, Genre: Pop rock, Genre: Rock, Media Type: Music

The Beatles – 40 (1981) Album Edit

February 9, 2024 Beryl Parkey Leave a comment

The recent release of the “final” Beatles single got me wondering how long of a Beatles “reunion” album you could make and if that could become a fan album. Considering that the John Lennon demos come from the late 70s or early 80s, ideally the other tracks would come from that same time period. That didn’t get very far, so I decided to include cases after the band’s breakup where there’s just three members together and extend the timeframe out more. This created two issues. The album is still too short and there’s a severe lack of Paul. Paul and George almost never seemed to collaborate after the breakup. Thus, I turned to some sources that might be too strange.

The best is an edit of “Grow Old With Me” by “Rarebeatles” that surprisingly effectively mixes John’s vocal, George Martin’s orchestration, and the backing track of the Ringo cover that featured Paul on bass. An edit like this may have been an ideal “b-side” to “Now and Then”. Another source was the mid-90s jam between everyone but John, for obvious reasons. These may be too informal, but I like them. Note that tracks that don’t feature all three Beatles or were originally from released albums are excluded, to not have duplication. Finally there are two tracks from the “Everyday Chemistry” edit, which takes stems from different solo Beatles songs. They were mainly included to give more length and I simply like them.

This edit is not very fluid, due to the different sources, but I found it an interesting listen. Other similar concepts for this lower the number of Beatles needed to just two or stay in one time frame. Those are indeed more cohesive, so this should be looked at as an experiment to be more Beatley in numbers than style. This is pretty much the closest we’ll ever get to a “true” reunion we can actually make. I also worked on this project months ago and only now got around to finishing and releasing it. For those that want a little narrative for this album, here is what I thought of:

After John Lennon returned to music in 1980, he decided to get the other Beatles together to record an album. After some resistance, he barely managed this. The band began recording, often not together, before John tragically died. The others were not terribly keen on continuing the project, so took a break before realizing John would want them to finish it. Thus, they decided to play by their own rules and do some informal jams, as they were prioritizing having fun, before the daunting task of adding overdubs to some unused John recordings. Due to knowing that he wouldn’t be on every track, and being more interested in their solo projects, the remaining three figured why bother being on every track if it was already fine by their standards? A 1973 outtake called “I’m The Greatest” that happened to feature everyone but Paul was dug up and included as “the imagined single that carried us to this point”. Its mocking lyrics of Paul were favored by George and Ringo due to him not wanting to contribute his own songs to the LP. The album was then named 40 in reference to John. The cover was a then-recent picture of the band. The record received negative reviews, with critics noting the severe lack of cohesion. There was more praise for the tracks that used all the band members and didn’t draw from many or informal sources. Some considered just releasing the singles, “Free As A Bird/Grow Old With Me” and “Now And Then/Real Love”. The remaining members were not new to such criticism and didn’t much care, having solo careers waiting for them.

The Beatles – 40 (1981) – YouTube

TRACKLISTING

SIDE A

“Now And Then”
“All Those Years Ago”
“Real Love”
“Raunchy/Blue Moon Of Kentucky/Baby, What You Want Me To Do?”
“Grow Old With Me”

SIDE B

“Anybody Else”
“I’m The Greatest”
“Thinking Of Linking/Mr. Gator’s Swamp Jamboree”
“Free As A Bird”

PERSONNEL

John Lennon – lead vocals (tracks 1, 3, 5-6, 9), backing vocals (tracks 1, 7), piano (tracks 5, 7, 9), guitar (tracks 6, 8b)
Paul McCartney – bass (tracks 1, 3, 5-6, 8b, 9), lead vocals (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8a, 9), backing vocals (tracks 1-3, 5, 9), guitar (tracks 1, 3-4, a, b, 8b, 9), piano (tracks 1, 3, 9), electric harpsichord (tracks 1, 3), percussion (tracks 1, 3), harmonium (track 3), ukulele (track 4c), synthesizer (track 9)
George Harrison – guitar (tracks 1-4a, b, 6-9), backing vocals (tracks 1-4, 9), synthesizer, lead vocals (track 2, 9), percussion (track 3), ukulele (tracks 4c, 9)
Ringo Starr – drums (tracks 1-4a, b, 5-9), percussion (tracks 1, 3, 4c, 7), backing vocals (tracks 1, 3-4, 9), lead vocals (track 7)
Neel Hammond, Adrianne Pope, Charlie Bisharat, Andrew Bulbrook, Songa Lee, Serena McKinney – violin (track 1)
Ayvren Harrison, Caroline Buckman, Drew Forde, Linnea Powell – viola (track 1)
Mia Barcia-Colombo, Giovanna Clayton, Hillary Smith – cello (track 1)
Mike Valerio – double bass (track 1)
Linda McCartney – backing vocals (track 2)
Denny Laine – backing vocals (track 2)
Al Kooper – electric piano (track 2)
Herbie Flowers – bass (track 2)
Ray Cooper – tambourine (track 2)
Jeff Lynne – backing vocals, guitar, producer (tracks 3, 9)
Joe Walsh – guitar (track 5)
Jim Cox – piano (track 5)
Allison Lovejoy – accordion (track 5)
Rhea Fowler – violin (track 5)
Bianca McClure – violin (track 5)
Lauren Baba – violin (track 5)
Isaiah Cage – cello (track 5)
Billy Preston – organ, piano (track 7)
Klaus Voormann – bass (track 7)
Jérôme Leroy – conductor (track 1)
Paul McCartney, Giles Martin, Ben Foster – string arrangement (track 1)
Jack Douglas – string arrangement (track 5)
George Martin – orchestral arrangement (track 5)

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The Filme Diary

Monthly Archives: February 2024

Death/The 4th Movement (1973-1979) – 2 Fan Albums

youhitmetal17times_everyday Days 1-65 (2023-2024) Review

Misfits (1977-1981) – 2 Fan Albums

The Stooges (1969-1973) – 2 Fan Albums

Black Flag (1978-1985) – 5 Fan Albums

Clyde Stacy (1957-1961) – 2 Fan Albums

The Luv’d Ones (1965-1968) – 2 Fan Albums

The Crickets (1955-2013) – 17 Stray Track Fan Albums

Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys (1960-1965) – 8 Fan Albums & Alternate History

The Beatles – 40 (1981) Album Edit