Jefferson Airplane - Burgers (1972)

 

Side A:
1. Silver Spoon
2. True Religion
3. Sunfighter
4. Highway Song
5. Look at the Wood    

Side B:
6. 99 Year Blues
7. When I Was a Boy, I Watched the Wolves
8. Sea Child
9. Million
10. Keep On Truckin'

By 1972, Jefferson Airplane had formed a dichotomy of sorts. Paul Kantner and Grace Slick formed Jefferson Starship, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna, and Marty Balin left the group, fearing that the band he started was no longer within his control. But what if they were able to get along better? 1972 was the year they released their last album Long John Silver. It was also the year Hot Tuna released their first studio album Burgers, but they had been releasing albums since 1970. 

Jefferson Airplane - Another Plane is Flying (1970)

 

Side A:
1. Have You Seen the Saucers?
2. Let's Go Together
3. Up or Down
4. Mau Mau (Amerikon)     

Side B:
5. Have You Seen the Stars Tonite?
6. Starship
7. Mexico
8. Sunrise
9. A Child is Coming

By 1970, drummer Spencer Dryden was voted out of the band and replaced with Joey Covington. But it became obvious that the band that made it big a few years earlier was already waning in cultural relevance. Most members drifted off to other projects, and no new Airplane album would be released this year. Instead the band released a single for a new song called Mexico which didn't chart, and their first compilation album ironically called The Worst of Jefferson Airplane. 

It was released in November that year and reached #12. However also released that month was a collaborative album between members Paul Kantner and Grace Slick. It was called Blows Against the Empire and was the first to make reference to the band being renamed Jefferson Starship. However Airplane's last album wouldn't be released till 1972 and Starship's first album wouldn't be released till 1974. 

In May of that year, the band Hot Tuna released their first album which featured Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. However it was a live album and the band's first studio album wouldn't be released till 1972. The two sides of the single along with another outtake called Up or Down would be released on the Early Flights compilation album in 1974. 

I originally planned on combining the couple songs from 1970 I could find with tracks from Blows Against the Empire. However the Early Flights album isn't available on streaming and I couldn't find a good quality version of the song Up or Down online so I uploaded it. 

Jefferson Airplane - Loves You (1968)

 

Side A:
1. Runnin' 'Round This World
2. High Flying Bird
3. It's Alright
4. Free Advice
5. In the Morning
6. J.P.P. McStep B. Blues
7. Go to Her

Side B:
8. Come Back Baby
9. Don't Let Me Down
10. Things Are Better in the East
11. Would You Like a Snack?
12. The Saga of Sydney Spacepig
13. Candy Man

Jefferson Airplane performed live for the first time on August 13, 1965, and in the audience was a girl named Grace Slick. Grace was inspired by Airplane to start her own band called The Great Society. A few weeks after Airplane started performing, their drummer Jerry Peloquin was replaced by Skip Spence. The Great Society performed live for the first time on October 15, and the following day, both bands shared the same bill. However also that month, Airplane's bassist Bob Harvey was replaced by Jack Casady. 

The Great Society only released one single while they were together in February 1966, a song sung by Grace called Somebody to Love. However the B-side Free Advice reportedly took over 50 takes to record which caused their producer Sly Stone to quit. In March, Airplane's drummer Skip Spence quit the group and was replaced by Spencer Dryden who joined in July. 

In August, Airplane put out their first album. The Great Society played their last show in September and broke up sometime in the fall. In October, Airplane's female vocalist Signe Anderson announced she was leaving the band. The Great Society were offered a recording contract but by the time it showed up in the mail, Jack Casady asked Grace to join Airplane, and she accepted. Anderson's last performance with them was on October 15, and the following day, Grace performed with them for the first time. The Great Society's contract was bought for $750.

Airplane's second album Surrealistic Pillow was released in February 1967. It would be their first to feature Grace as vocalist and Dryden as drummer. It would also feature two songs by The Great Society that Grace would give Airplane, Somebody to Love and White Rabbit. They would both become the band's biggest hits. Following their success, a live album by The Great Society would be released in 1968 which was recorded in 1966. It featured both of the songs. An official Great Society album wouldn't be released till 1995 which was recorded in 1965. It featured three different versions of Free Advice.

I find the origin story of Jefferson Airplane to be fascinating because of how closely linked they were to The Great Society and how that closeness eventually earned them fame. Some of their early unreleased songs would later be featured on compilation albums like Early Flight, but I thought there should be an album which more closely details their rise to fame.

Neil Young - Dume (1976)

 

Side A:
1. Pocahontas
2. Powderfinger
3. Hawaii
4. Ride My Llama

Side B:
5. Born to Run
6. Sedan Delivery
7. Like a Hurricane

Neil Young recorded the Hitchhiker album in a single night, August 11, 1976, singing and accompanying himself with only his guitar and harmonica. Neil intended to release the album shortly after it was recorded, but executives at Reprise felt that it "wasn't a real record, but a collection of demos", with the musician saying that he "was advised to record the songs with a band". Some of the songs never got a band version recorded of them, but some of the others were actually recorded as band versions during the sessions of his previous album Zuma. The Archives Volume II CD Dume shows that Neil had enough outtakes from the album to make a second one, so why he didn't just release that is beyond me. He didn't release an album this year, instead releasing an album with Stephen Stills as The Stills-Young Band, which I previously talked about in my post about the Human Highway album.

Radiohead - Surface (1998)

 

1. Palo Alto
2. True Love Waits
3. Lift
4. Man of War
5. I Promise
6. A Reminder
7. Get Around
8. Polyethylene (Part 2)
9. Pearly
10. Last Flowers
11. Attention
12. Belly Button
13. Motion Picture Soundtrack

When it came to the albums of Radiohead, I always thought that The Bends was the one that had the most B-sides, though I considered OK Computer to be a close second contender. I thought there was enough material to make a second album though I didn't like all of it. Following the release of OK Computer, the band was suffering from burnout and unsure of their direction. They knew that making a successful follow-up would be difficult, and they didn't release their next album till 2000, though they recorded enough material for a second album around this time. A bonus disc containing B-sides and unreleased tracks from this time was released on the 20th anniversary reissue OKNOTOK, but since then the Minidiscs (Hacked) compilation and the OK Outtakes bootleg were also released. So I had enough material to replace the songs I didn't like. Some of the songs would later go on to other albums, like Motion Picture Soundtrack on Kid A, Last Flowers on In Rainbows disc 2, and True Love Waits on A Moon Shaped Pool. 

Aphex Twin - Analogue Bubblebath (1992)

 

1. Analogue Bubblebath
2. Isopropophlex
3. En Trance to Exit (with Schizophrenia)
4. AFX 2
5. Digeridoo
6. Untitled
7. Alien Fanny Farts
8. Flaphead
9. Phloam
10. Polynomial-C
11. Tamphex (Hedphuq Mix)
12. Phlange Phace
13. Dodecahedron

The story of how Aphex Twin's music got released is the stuff of legend. Richard D. James reportedly signed a record deal with the label Mighty Force while tripping on acid at a rave, who would later put out his Analogue Bubblebath EP in 1991 which would be his first release. The EP was originally released under the name The Aphex Twin but would later be credited as AFX when reissued in 1994. He would later release his Analogue Bubblebath Vol. 2 EP under the label Rabbit City which included the song Digeridoo. The song would later get picked up by R&S Records as a single.

Now it's been said that James went to Belgium where R&S was located with a box of demo tapes he made, and from those tapes they assembled what would be his first album Selected Ambient Works 85-92. But by the time his first album was released, he had already put out several EPs on different labels over the past year. He put out 7 EPs and I'm using 4 of them. The ones I'm not using are two Joyrex EPs released as Caustic Window & the Pac-Man EP released as Power-Pill.

Weezer - Dusty Gems and Raw Nuggets (1995)

 

1. Mykel and Carli
2. Susanne
3. Jamie
4. Lullaby for Wayne
5. Paperface
6. Thief, You've Taken All That Was Me
7. Let's Sew Our Pants Together
8. I Can't Forget the Way
9. Windows Down
10. Superman
11. Dawn Sets Upon Us
12. Just What I Needed

Ah yes, the original Green Album. When I was doing my original run of alternate universe Weezer albums last year, I started with the outtakes from Pinkerton cause I didn't feel as though I had enough outtakes from their first album to make a whole second album. But I was mostly basing this off of an album called Dusty Gems and Raw Nuggets which was the second disc of their 10th anniversary reissue in 2004. However in that time, Rivers had been uploading a lot of his early demos including some outtakes from the first album. Some of which later appeared on their 30th anniversary reissue in 2024. So I thought what was I thinking? I have enough outtakes from the first album to make a second album! In fact I could make an even earlier album too.