Disappointing non-releases

The Van Halen Gene Simmons demo should probably get a real release at some point, for the significance and some unreleased tracks.

 

I don't think anyone release hi-def versions with huge sales numbers in mind. When they do it, though, it's usually piggybacked on a mainstream Redbook reissue campaign, either on CD or iTunes.

 

I don't think any of that existed when they were doing reissues in 2008, so yeah, there's that. No one releases hi-def with huge numbers in mind, and so U2's camp probably doesn't even have it on their radar. Although Achtung is on HDTracks, I think, but only 24/44 (and it may have even been a 16/44 recording? Not sure).

I'd pay good money for non-brickwalled ATYCLB and Atomic Bomb releases, I don't even care about the resolution at that point, really.

 

The Action - Rolled Gold is a great set of mono demos from 1967 that was finally released in the '90s. However, the record labels rejected the demos in '67, so this fantastic psych-mod album was never properly recorded and released at the time.

Crazy.

It should've been made and had its place along all the dozens of other classics from that great year for rock music.

 

No real disappointment here, seeing as this was essentially just an alternate title for Aftermath - one that had no chance of being OK'd by Decca.

 

I still recall how much my teenage self was anticipating the release of The Beatles' Sessions album in 1985 - the first "new" album release of theirs in my active record buying life. With little access to music magazines & hardly any general press coverage, we were already well into 1986 until the reality of its non-appearance truly sank in. Cue great disappointment... at least until I found the bootleg release with the gatefold black & white cover a couple of years later.

 

Gethsemane by Love, where the concept would have been similar to that unreleased Byrds album described on page 1 . . .

 

The original version had some songs that later became hard to find b-sides and an unreleased song.

 

Pete Townshend told me, via a letter in 1983, that he had a 10-LP box set of demos compiled for release. Imagine the disappointment when the only thing that came out the next year, was the 2 LP SCOOP. I have no idea how far the 10 LP version got with ATCO, but since there is no sign of even test pressings even hinted at in the "collector" world, I assume it never got past the discussion/proposition stage. Oh, well. Would have been interesting....

 

There is an entire album of Beck material from 1994 that was recorded with the K Records crew -- essentially a sequel to One Foot in the Grave known (creatively) as Beck K Records 2. There is one song, "The Way It Seems," that Beck released on his website to gauge interest. I guess he didn't find sufficient response, 'cause that album is permanently shelved. It's a shame, too, because "The Way It Seems" is fantastic, and the rumor is that the album's full of fully formed songs in great, polished performances.

On that note, there are several rumored or announced projects that Beck has been involved in over the years that have been shelved for some reason or another.

Off the top of my head:
K Records 2
A full album recorded with Pharrell (unfinished, so Beck says)
A completed album called Rococo (2008-2010 or so) -- sort of saw the light of day as three 12" vinyl singles "Defriended," "I Won't Be Long" and "Gimme"
A full album recorded with Dan The Automator Nakamura
A full album recorded with William Orbit
A follow-up to Midnite Vultures (I believe Beck lost much of this work when a hard drive was stolen)
A deluxe, official reissue of Golden Feelings/Golden Leftovers (1991-1993 sessions) will probably never happen but should (and "Western Harvest" and some of the other early four-track stuff too -- there's a great set here, but it only exists in bootleg form)
Full KCRW live sessions
Deluxe reissues of Mellow Gold, Mutations and Midnite Vultures with b-sides and unheard material (the Odelay reissue was botched, in my opinion and that of others, and a reissue series was scrapped)
Various punk-flavored and hip-hop-flavored projects he's mentioned over the years
Tons of other stuff, I'm sure

On the most recent sessions/projects, here's a good article: http://thefutureheart.com/2015/06/18/beck-2015-album-recording-nile-rodgers/

And for those interested in digging in to obscure Beck, these two sites, part of the whiskeyclone mega-site, give some comprehensive entry points:
http://whiskeyclone.net/ghost/ (song database)
http://whiskeyclone.net/disco/ (discography database)

I have grown entirely skeptical of any release plans Beck gives in the press. He's announced more albums than he's put out!

 

Dylan's 1971 material could have been a classic LP, but it was released in an unorganized matter. Here's an imaginary what-if that I put together on another thread:

Bob Dylan: Watching the River Flow [released in an alternate February 1972, Columbia Records]

Side 1:
1. I Shall Be Released [GHv2 version, with Happy Traum]
2. You Ain't Going Nowhere [GHv2 version, with Happy Traum]
3. Spanish Is the Loving Tongue [B-side of Watching the River Flow single]
4. Watching The River Flow [released as a single]
5. George Jackson [acoustic version, single]
Side 2:
6. George Jackson [full-band version, single]
7. Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood) [GHv2 version, with Happy Traum]
8. Wallflower [version from Bootleg Series Vol. 2]
9. Only a Hobo [outtake from GHv2 sessions, with Happy Traum]
10. When I Paint My Masterpiece [GHv2 version]

Imaginary album gets 4 out of 5 imaginary stars in Rolling Stone.

Imaginary reviewer imaginary Greil Marcus notes,

The worries of those, including myself, who were concerned that Dylan was henceforth mired in the schmaltz territory of Nashville Skyline and Self Portrait (somewhat, but definitely not entirely, alleviated by New Morning's rustic charms) will be comforted by the sparseness of this new LP. Dylan rewriting his own persona has been a constant since his first or second record, and perhaps the consensus was that he would fall into a comfortable territory with middle-of-the-road complacence with his last few releases. We needed not worry -- he was just stretching his arms. And although multiple songs here seem initially like also-rans (familiar hits of "I Shall Be Released," "When I Paint My Masterpiece," and "You Ain't Going Nowhere" have been ubiquitous over the last few years from The Band, The Byrds, and others; and the boy-meets-girl shyness of "Wallflower" feels childish and slight), this is indeed a Dylan album for the ages. It's possible in this album to hear everything people want from Dylan -- the protest singer (two amazing takes of "George Jackson" and an inspired "Only a Hobo," a leftover song from his topical glory days that has never made it to wax), the bluesman ("Watching the River Flow" and "Crash on the Levee/Down in the Flood"), the aw-shucks country lover ("Wallflower"), the wise philosopher ("When I Paint My Masterpiece"), and the prankster/comedian (a rewritten "You Ain't Going Nowhere"). And the uproar of Dylan going electric in 1965 seems so silly in retrospect, I won't even acknowledge its significance, other than this sentence.

"You Ain't Going Nowhere"'s rewrite references McGuinn and company; a breezy "I Shall Be Released" loses a verse entirely. So there is a lightness throughout that belies the genius and profundity of these songs, and indeed, gives a more positive angle to the last three platters. I should confess: three of these songs are particularly familiar to me, from versions he recorded in 1967 with The Band. I adore these versions, acquired surreptitiously, and I still hope for their release eventually.

The album as a whole does feel tossed-off, like he could have done better if he cared. But we don't call on Dylan to care; we call on him to give us an idea on what to care about. This album gives us that and more.

[imaginarily published in imaginary Rolling Stone, February 1972]

 

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band - Live at Winterland (both nights could be possible)
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band - Live at The Bottom Line
these two legendary broadcasts NEED an official release.
Too bad Bruce has this management that thinks his best stuff should be in the vaults til all his old fans are dead.

I also left out the Tempe 1980 DVD/Blu-ray sets.....
SO many

The best work of a famous, acclaimed artist, all his best work is unreleased. None of his released live product compares to what sits in the vault.

The Winterland and Bottom Line broadcasts would be amongst the greatest live albums of all time, something the greatest performer in rock and roll has never released. His legacy is not what it should be, and his music misunderstood among those who don't know much of him but the Born In The U.S.A. days.

The Boston Music Hall finale of 1977 would be another incredible one but they probably don't have a better recording of that then what unofficial downloads there are, and they place sound quality over performance.
I hate Jon Landau.

 

David Bowie - Toy

 

thanks for this ! just downloaded The Beatles Band on The Run : )

 

Frank Zappa's Crush All Boxes

It contained what I consider better mixes of songs ending up on You Are What You Think is and Tinsel Town Reb.

 

Pink Floyd's "Household Objects" album

 

UK's fourth studio LP from 1980 (not sure how much of it was recorded), Eddie Jobson's "Theme of Mystery" and "The Pink Album" and, expecially, UK/Eddie Jobson's "Legacy" project from 1995.

 

Led Zeppelin - How the East Was Won - Japan 1971 tour highlights

Love,
Billy

 

Many Neil Young contenders, but "Toast" would top my list.

 

The Duncan Browne / David Bretton follow up to Give Me Take You.

 

Varese was going to put out the only existing soundboard recording of the Lovin Spoonful (pre Kama), but John nixed the idea.

 

That is one sorely needed comp, as many people don't know about those records. You could make a stunning 2-discer with tracks from Kiln House up to Heroes Are Hard To Find.

 

Agreed. Most of those songs are really good. It's frustrating to hear them in crappy mp3 quality aside from the two tracks on Gold Stars.

 

Especially in the wake of John Lennon's "Bigger than Jesus" fiasco....

 

The new issue of Shindig Magazine (#49, July 2015) has a new, exclusive interview with Mick Fleetwood that centers on this period. The article covers the period right after Green's departure pretty well and Fleetwood seems to avoid giving the standard, pat answers that inevitably cover this period.
The emphasis tends to stay the loss of Green and the rise of Danny Kirwan, as well as his eventual deterioration. The introduction of Welch into the troop is also highlighted.
The three records that precede the introduction of Buckingham Nicks are touched on in the closing paragraphs.
The ever-present desire for a good comp covering this period is never touched on.
The issue, as with any issue of Shindig, is well worth any forum member's time.
But the article did leave me wanting more about the last three albums.

As to why we haven't seen a good comp, maybe it is Mick who fails to realize how much fans would like to see this period given it's deserved recognition. Given how much Warner Bros loves FM, I would imagine that they would eventually produce just such a thing if there was any hope of getting a new album from FM. Of course this is uninformed speculation as, goodness knows what the politics really are.