Albums that were buried by their creators or label

I believe the single and double versions had the same amount of music. Get Away From Me was also a double CD that could have fit on a single.

 

Mardi Gras -- CCR

Depending on what story you believe, John Fogerty sabatoged this record by providing only 3 original songs, and only singing lead on those 3 (plus a cover song: Hello Mary Lou), and forced Stu Cook and Doug Clifford to be responsible for the rest of the album. Or Stu and Doug told John that the album was going to be split equally between the three of them. Either way, the album was doomed from the get-go. And didn't someone call it "Fogerty's Revenge"? Arnie

 

Not really ...

The plan was to partner every new Beach Boys album with a '66 to '69 title formerly released by Capitol, beginning with CARL & THE PASSIONS: SO TOUGH. That was the only new album that actually got paired with an older album, though. Brother/Reprise eventually issued a couple of two-fers in 1974, at which time they also released PET SOUNDS as a standalone LP.

 

"God's Foot" by Juliana Hatfield. Recorded in 1996 and still hasn't seen the light of day (aside from two songs included on her hits album). I really hope this sees a release one of these decades, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

I saw the Slip at Barleypalooza. I recall them being quite good, and I was disappointed that I never saw or heard anything else from them. I'll have to look for that comp & see if they sound as good as I remember.

 

Thought of another "sorta" one, David Allan Coe's first release after his contract with Columbia wasn't renewed, awkwardly titled 1990 Songs for Sale. I've read that all of these were intended for his next Columbia album but he was abruptly dropped and for some strange reason, instead of releasing these songs as a new album, Columbia opted instead to recycle a bunch of tracks from his previous album (1987's A Matter of Life and Death) and then add four or five new tracks for a 1989 album called Crazy Daddy, which equally strangely seemed to remain in print much longer than any of his other Columbia albums (except compilations).

 

Then there is that OTHER couple of David Allan Coe albums you're not supposed to know about....

 

Nope. I have both versions. Trust me. Columbia's editing is why McKay broke her contract.

 

Heh, yeah, but ironically those are actually in-print on CD (though I think they're bootlegs). Incidentally, I think none of his four albums for Shelby Singleton's SSS label have ever made it to any format except LPs that are very hard to find and ages out of print.

 

Was just reminded of this sort of strange example...

When Peter Criss was fired (or left, depending on which story you believe) from KISS and released his second solo album in 1980, it disappeared immediately and was apparently hard to find even at the time within the US. Criss has always claimed that Simmons/Stanley essentially used their pull at Casablanca to purposely make sure the album would go nowhere and not be promoted, and part of the condition of his leaving was that he couldn't appear in public without makeup for a certain amount of time, crippling his ability to promote the album. The makeup part is definitely true, as a CNN interview from the time is shot completely from behind. Apparently Criss is sticking to this story, because supposedly he states somewhere in his new autobiography that KISS's manager Bill Aucoin years later eventually confirmed what he had believed all along.

Who knows if it's true, but one would think that the first new album by a departing member of a huge band would have attracted more attention than it somehow did... And it's not a bad album, either. Wouldn't have appealed to the hard-rock crowd, but there's some strong tracks that could have launched him into a new pop-rock/lite-rock career.

EDIT TO ADD: Oh, and to add insult to injury, his 1982 follow-up record wasn't released in the US at all until 1998!

 

Yes. The Columbia edited advance has 16 tracks. The second release has 7 additional tracks.

 

Shades of Randy Meisner's experience!

 

I was wondering if there were any other similar tales of a band or management being accused of scuttling a member/former member's solo record...

 

What's so funny/sad is that Casablanca signed Criss and Asylum signed Meisner and somewhere you have to wonder why Simmons/Stanley and Henley/Frey didn't object to that in the first place. Or if they encouraged it to be able to more effectively damage Criss & Meisner's solo shots.

In an odd bit of coincidence, Simmons appears on Let Me Rock You and Henley/Frey appear on One More Song!

 

We are this deep in this thread and there's no mention of The Beatles "Get Back" album? Is this the Hoffman forum???

I'm unclear on the premise here. Albums that were released then quickly deleted/recalled? Albums that were scheduled to go and scrapped at the last minute? Album that were planned but really only in theory?

 

To my knowledge there were only 2 records released by Singleton's Plantation label - Penitentiary Blues & Requiem For A Harlequin. Penitentiary Blues was definitely released on CD. I don't know about Requiem For A Harlequin though.

 

Featuring Surfer Girls Artwork,on the fronts and backs! I'd had both of Them! They were 20/20-Wild Honey and Smiley Smile/Friends..I remember them very well!

 

"From Out of the Blue" is a very good album, and the singles were especially excellent. Great band. I am surprised that the first 4WD sessions (for RCA) haven't come out in one form or another. I know the players have used some of those songs, but I would think they are all big enough names that this could have gotten some kind of limited release at some point. Perhaps it will someday.

I've searched high a low to find the RCA stuff in the grey market but with no luck.

 

I've read that part of Criss's departure from the band was that a Casablanca contract was guaranteed, so who knows exactly what happened in that case. And I'm not sure if Peter has ever actually accused his second album of being buried in the same way the first one was despite it being unavailable in the States for so long. Maybe Simmons and Henley/Frey felt some regrets the second time around and decided to pitch in, heh.

 

Well, I mainly just meant albums that were actually released but simultaneously disowned or ignored by bands/labels/management, but any of the above could work really.

 

Well, the other two I was thinking of were the 1977 album Texas Moon which is mostly comprised of covers (which I think were all recorded prior to his signing to Columbia in 1974, but I'm not sure) and his 1978 soundtrack album to the film Buckstone County Prison, which has a sound that very much recalls the more blues-influenced thing he was doing on those first two Singleton albums. I'm actually not sure which label released either though, as I've only got needledrops and haven't ever seen a copy in person.

 

Casablanca did do some promo for it...Can't say whether they ultimately had anything with the failure of the album. IMHO, it's a pretty weak album and it came when the Kiss brand name had been significantly diminished. So it's also entirely plausible that the album tanked on its own merits.

 

I remember reading about a group of pop metal kids called Pure Rubbish that were tearing up the second stage at Ozzfest. I bought their e.p., and the recorded a full album, but it was shelved prior to released after the group disbanded.

 

I can think of plenty...

Karen Carpenter's shelved solo LP after A&M hated the result. She later told the press it wasn't finished and it only took fans begging Richard to get it released 16 years later.

Suzanna Hoffs second solo CD that got shelved at Columbia and she was dropped.

Supremes Sing Disney Classics - Almost finished before it was shelved. Diana calls out both Florence and her replacement Cindy's names in different songs on it. Will probably see the light of day next year in a Hip O Select box set of Supremes concept albums...

Donna Summer - I'm A Rainbow - Shelved after Geffen hated the results. Also ended her collaborations with Giorgio Moroder for 12 years.

Terri Clark - Cant remember the title/early 2000's. I will check my CD collection as I have a copy. Mercury Nashville scrapped it after initial singles tanked at Country Radio. Later reconfigured it after they got a hit by sending her back to the studio.

Monica - All Eyez On Me - Scrapped after title track (featuring Michael Jackson) and Too Hood flopped on the charts. Did see release in Japan. Most of the cuts got reworked onto the After The Storm album that replaced it the following year.

 

Most of what Todd Rundgren did with Utopia. If you read the Wizard book, the group members reminisce that even the album that yielded their top 40 hit "Set Me Free" (from "Adventures in Utopia") got the plug pulled on it by the label. That seems to have been the turning point for them, actually. They were just finally getting it going, and nicely transitioning into more of a New Wave sound when that happened.

Todd then effectively finished them off for good with decidedly non-commercial follow-up albums "Deface the Music" and "Swing to the Right".

So, first the label, then Todd. But I can't really hold it against Todd, seeing as how "Swing to the Right" is one of my all-time favorite albums. I blame the label.