Albums known to have been released against the artist's explicit will

This is the first that comes to my sore mind - lovely cover, IMHO! Any other examples - and some background info why the artist(s) didn't want the album out and why the record conpany gave a *** and still put it out?
I'm very curious, I must admit.

 

Dave Mason-- Headkeeper (Blue Thumbs combination of two unfinished albums in progress,live and studio)

Bob Dylan-- Dylan (outtakes released by what was then his former label)

Dr. John-- Remedies and Sun, Moon & Herbs (unfinished tapes put together by management)

Heart-- Magazine (well known story)

 

The Great Lost Kinks Album

 

Bob Lind, on "The Elusive Bob Lind" LP:

May 1966 saw the opportunistic release of an album titled “The Elusive Bob Lind”. “I was 17 when I made that album. Some of my friends wanted records, so I got nine of them together, they put in $12 each, and I went and got an hour of studio time. I took my guitar and recorded these 12 songs – all acoustic, just me and my guitar – all in an hour. I got an acetate copy for everybody and thought that was the end of it. Jump ahead to Los Angeles. ‘Elusive Butterfly’ becomes a hit and my managers get a letter from Verve Folkways saying that they’d just bought these masters. The next thing I know, I hear this album that has strings, drums and all these other instruments, all dubbed over me and my guitar. They didn’t even get the titles right, and credited me with writing songs like ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’ and ‘Song Of The Wandering Angus’. I suppose I should be flattered that some people like the album, but it’s a terrible piece of ****.”

Ugly cover, too:

 

The Y Records version of Shriekbacks "Jam Science". It's not an unofficial release since the album was contractually recorded for Y but when the band signed to Arista, the label decided to rush release the album using unfinished rough mixes without the bands permission. Later in 1984 Arista Records released the "real" "Jam Science".

 

Marshall Chess's attempt to turn younger folks onto the Wolf by using the psychedelic band Rotary Connection as his backing group.

Per Howlin' Wolf: "Dog***t"

 

Skip Spence's "Oar"

[shudder...}

 

Never understood this album.
Dylan had left Columbia and they were pissed. I get that.
But what was the reason for releasing a crappy collection of sub-standard Dylan performances? To embarrass Dylan?
Columbia could have put together a fantastic record of stuff from the vaults coupled with beautiful period artwork and had themselves a great album.
But we got ' Dylan ' instead.

 

Probably most of the Cosmic Jokers releases German Krautrock entrepreneur Rolf Ulrich Kaiser released during the early 70's, culling parts from LSD fuelled mega jams, compiling albums from them. The story goes that one day Klaus Schulze entered a Berlin records store only to be confronted with music he recently played on. When he asked what the fok that was, the clerk informed him that this was the new Cosmic Jokers release. Stunts like that eventually cost RUK his reputation and career. Several musicians sued and the man went AWOL. Apparently to this day!

 

Roots, John Lennon.

John gave some rough mixes to Morris Levy simply to prove that he was holding up his end of the agreement to record some tunes to which Levy's company held the rights. Lennon wasn't delivering a releasable master tape, and he couldn't if he wanted to because he was under contract to EMI. The swift legal action to quelch Roots demonstrates Lennon's opposition to the unauthorized release.

 

Morris got around in his day....

 

gonna assume....

 

Had this in my hands back in the day and didn't buy it. Wtf was I thinking? Not thinking , I guess.

 

These albums' creation was spurred by Warner Bros.' rejection of Zappa's Läther album. After Warner had demanded more albums than Zappa was contractually obliged to provide and had reedited the live album Zappa in New York, a lawsuit ensued, during which Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and Orchestral Favorites were issued without Zappa's permission. - Wikipedia

 

T.B. Sheets by Van Morrison, released by Bang without Van's knowledge or authorization

John B. Sebastian, his first solo album, was released by MGM, which claimed to have the rights to it. A different version was quickly issued by Reprise, Sebastian's real label. Also, MGM then had the gall to release John Sebastian Live, another unauthorized album, before Reprise forced both MGM albums off the market.

 

Some of us actually like that album.

Do we know that whoever put it together at Columbia thought that it wasn't worthwhile?

 

I don't buy the Lather story for one minute.

What I believe instead is that Zappa's dispute with Warner Bros. led to disputes over the release of the four albums (Zappa in New York is the fourth), and Zappa, pissed about the situation, concocted the story that they were intended as one sprawling album so that he could undermine Warner Bros. and play all of the material in question on the radio. Radio stations wouldn't have gone for this as readily if Zappa had said, "Hey, let me play all of these four albums to get back at Warner Bros."

 

Not Available


Originally recorded as a follow up to 1974's Meet the Residents. However, following the Theory of Obscurity, it was immediately locked away in a bank vault with no plans to issue it until the members of the band had completely forgotten about its existence. It did surface in 1978 due to continued delays on the Eskimo record and the Cryptic Corporation's desire to have some sort of the Residents' release,[2] as the re-release of the single "Satisfaction" that same year had garnered some attention in Europe.

In 1978, the official word was that the Residents had stated that Not Available could never be released. The group claimed that they had recorded the album in secrecy as a way of exercising their Theory of Obscurity to its fullest and, in strict accordance with the Theory, the work could never be released until its creators no longer recalled its existence. However, the reissued album's liner notes state that the album was an exercise in group therapy and that the Residents did not want to release it because they felt it was too personally revealing.

 

Hillbilly Joker by Hank Williams III:

Originally in 2003, Hank III was going to release an album called This Ain’t Country as an outlet for his interest in punk and metal. Curb wouldn’t release it, and it would show up in bootlegs before Curb released a version of the record called Hillbilly Joker after Hank III had left the label and without his prior knowledge.

 

Marvin Gaye left Motown because Berry Gordy released his album " In Our Lifetime " before he was finished.

 

I had a George Thorogood LP "Better Than The Rest" (MCA) along with his first 3 Rounder Records releases, and after a show I hung around out back of the venue with them in hand. He signed them all except for that MCA one. He apologized but said he would not sign it.

 

Since they sued to have it taken off the market, I'll take that as a sign the Beatles didn't want the Star-Club album out...

 

Should More Of The Monkees count? I've heard stories that the first the band saw of this was when they spotted it in a record store -- and they were none too pleased. Nesmith called it something like the worst album of all time. It was definitely a factor in the band's decision to ditch musical director Don Kirshner.

 

Allan Holdsworth - Velvet Darkness



Allan claimed the album was just rehearsal tapes, which seems unlikely to me, as it's too well recorded. HOWEVER, he was a well known perfectionist, and there are a few scattered rough moments throughout. So what I think really happened is that he was simply unsatisfied and figured he and the band could do better but the label didn't want to pay for a re-do. That's my theory. Either way, Allan sued and IIRC he won, causing the album's eventual withdrawl.