Bob Dylan - Self Portrait (1970)

 

Side A:
1. Alberta #1
2. Days of '49
3. Early Mornin' Rain
4. In Search of Little Sadie
5. Little Sadie
6. Belle Isle

Side B:
7. Copper Kettle
8. Gotta Travel On
9. Blue Moon
10. The Boxer
11. Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go)
12. Take a Message to Mary
13. Alberta #2

Here's my single album reconstruction of Bob Dylan's double cover album Self Portrait. At the time it was called Dylan's worst album. Part of it was cause Dylan used an alternate voice on some of the songs that he had been using since his last album as part of his "country phase". I tried getting rid of the songs that use it on the first side but by the second side it was unavoidable. I also tried to keep just the covers and get rid of originals and live tracks.

I'll give Dylan respect for wanting to cover songs from the Great American Songbook, but one interesting thing is that he covered a Simon and Garfunkel song that came out earlier that year. One song I got rid of was the instrumental Wigwam which was the album's only single. For this version I nominate Copper Kettle. It's not my favorite but it might've done well. 

Daniel Johnston - Songs of Pain (1988)

 

Side A:
1. Grievances
2. A Little Story
3. Joy Without Pleasure
4. Never Relaxed*
5. Brainwash*
6. Pothead
7. Wicked World
8. Lazy
9. I Save Cigarette Butts*

Side B:
10. Like a Monkey in a Zoo*
11. Wicked Will
12. An Idiot's End
13. Wild West Virginia
14. Urge
15. Living Life*
16. Tuna Ketchup
17. Premarital Sex*
18. Hate Song
Bonus Track - I Will (The Beatles Cover)

This is a slightly edited version of a Daniel Johnston album. I've been wanting to post something by Daniel for a while. I found this cassette which had a bunch of intros tacked onto some of the songs, so I took them out and then I also took out the songs Don't Be Nice and Since I Lost My Tooth for being too short. The tracks in asterisks had intros that I took out of them. As a bonus track, I took the intro from Never Relaxed and tacked it onto his cover of I Will by The Beatles. 

Yoko Ono - Approximately Infinite Universe (1973)

 

Side A:
1. Yang Yang
2. Death of Samantha
3. Approximately Infinite Universe
4. Peter the Dealer
5. Catman (The Rosies Are Coming)
6. Waiting for the Sunrise

Side B:
7. I Felt Like Smashing My Face in a Clear Glass Window
8. Kite Song
9. Shiranakatta (I Don't Know)
10. Air Talk
11. Move on Fast
12. Now or Never
13. Looking Over From My Hotel Window

This is my second post about a Yoko Ono album. Her last album Fly and this one were released as double albums but this one was her first foray into rock music. The music on the album is better as a result but it also means that I have a lot more material to go through. Admittedly my first draft cut out a lot of the songs but I had to cut out at least 2 more to keep both sides equal.

Yoko Ono - Fly (1971)

 

Side A:
1. Midsummer New York
2. Mind Holes
3. Don't Worry Kyoko
4. Mrs. Lennon
5. Hirake (Open Your Box)
6. O'Wind (Body is the Scar of Your Mind)

Side B:
7. Mind Train
8. You

Ok so here's an idea for an album I saw. Someone took all of John Lennon's tracks from Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey and combined them. Apparently the Yoko songs don't blend together well but combining all of her tracks together wouldn't make up a full album. Then there was another idea I saw. Someone said you could combine all the tracks from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band and release it as a double album. I listened to Yoko's album and I think those tracks would clash even harder. 

Apparently she wouldn't start making rock music until her third album Approximately Infinite Universe, but both that one and Fly are double albums. Both John and Yoko recorded 5 albums in the 70s but one of Yoko's albums wouldn't get released until the 90s. With that in mind I listened to the rest of her albums, so here's my attempt at releasing this as a single album.

The first idea I had was combining the rock songs from side B with the side long song Fly from side D, but when I listened to Fly, I thought it was terrible. People like to say that Yoko sucks at singing, but I bet most of them haven't listened to her sing for 23 minutes with 5 minutes of backwards music at the end. Instead I chose Mind Train as the album closer, but the both sides wouldn't have been equal in length so I also included the songs You from side C and Midsummer New York from side A. 

Blink-182 - When Your Heart Stops Beating (2006)

 

1. I Feel So
2. Lycanthrope
3. All Systems Go
4. When Your Heart Stops Beating
5. And I
6. Lillian
7. Letters to God
8. Cliff Diving
9. Sorrow                                   
10. Weatherman                             
11. There Is                             
12. Elevator                                   
13. Chapter 13                             

In 2001, Blink-182 front man Tom DeLonge suffered a herniated disk and had to cancel some of the tour dates. This led to him starting a side project called Box Car Racer which put out an album in 2002. Side man Mark Hoppus felt betrayed by it from not being allowed to participate even though he contributed vocals on the song Elevator. This led to tension in the band which eventually caused them to break up in 2005. During the time Mark started his own band called +44 which also put out only one album in 2006. Tom also started another band called Angels and Airwaves which went on to be successful, but the band would get back together in 2009. 

The first AVA album came out the same year as the +44 album and was probably closer in sound but I chose to use the Box Car Racer album cause its average song and album length were closer to each other and also the fact that Travis Barker and Jerry Finn appeared on both. 

Modest Mouse - Sad Sappy Sucker (2 CD) (1994)

 

Disc One:
1. Worms vs. Birds
2. Four Fingered Fisherman
3. Classy Plastic Lumber
4. From Point A to Point B (∞)
5. It Always Rains on a Picnic                               
6. Dukes Up                   
7. Every Penny Fed Car                                     
8. Mice Eat Cheese                               
9. Red Hand Case                                   
10. Ugly Casanova                               
11. Play Taps                                                                   
12. Sad Sorta Angry                                 
13. Treat Me Like a Mammal                           
14. Inanimate Know How                             
15. Don't Know Direction
16. …But They're Not Singing Ghosts
17. In Like Roses
18. Nosaysisaysnoone
19. The Neck, A Throne for Bad Ideas
20. Eviction Day for the Guilt                                                                      

Disc Two:
21. Call to Dial-a-Song / Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?
22. Race Car Grin You Ain't No Landmark
23. Secret Agent X-9                           
24. Part Time Pastenseolith                                 
25. Playground for the Shotgun Kids                             
26. Ding, Urch, Ding                                 
27. Study to Use a Crayon                                       
28. Alone on the Shelf                           
29. Rolloff                               
30. Teacher's Field Trip to the Moon
31. The Trouble With…                                         
32. Jumpsuit or Jumpship                                     
33. Teeth Mean Smiles                                           
34. N.R.G.                                 
35. Kirchie's Song                                   
36. Wingtips 
37. Election Song

This is a 2 CD version of Modest Mouse's album Sad Sappy Sucker. It was recorded in 1994 and intended to be their debut album but it wouldn't get released until 2001 after the popularity of their album The Moon and Antarctica. The released version had 15 songs and 9 bonus tracks which came from a Dial-a-Song service the band ran at the time which was similar to TMBG's Dial-a-Song. The only person that left a message was Spencer Moody of the Murder City Devils. 

There was also a demo tape on cassette with the same name that came out the same year but the only tracks they shared in common were the bonus tracks which were mostly 30 seconds long so I cut out all of those except for the message. The original tape had a lot of good stuff on it so I don't know why they didn't use it. The original album tracks comprise of tracks 1-9 and then 21b-23. The first disc makes up the real album and the second disc makes up the solo stuff since I cut out the Dial-a-Song stuff. Also the tracks Classy Plastic Lumber and Play Taps began with the same spoken word intro so I cut it out on both of them so they would be 1:26 long.

The Beatles - London Town (1979)

Side A:
1. London Town
2. Love Comes to Everyone
3. Hard Times
4. Café on the Left Bank
5. Here Comes the Moon

Side B: 
6. Who Needs a Heart?
7. Girlfriend
8. Blow Away
9. Monkey See, Monkey Do
10. Don't Let It Bring You Down

This was my attempt at constructing an album that The Beatles might've put out in 1979. I already know about the gap in John's discography from 1975 to 1980 but what I didn't know was that George also had a gap in his discography from 1976 to 1979. When he released his self-titled album in 1979, some of the songs were recorded almost a year ago. The album could've been released in December 1978 if not for some artwork issues. Paul and Ringo both released two albums around this time but the albums would need to match the sound of George's album if we're using it as a centerpiece, so I'm also using Paul's London Town and Ringo's Bad Boy. 

When The Beatles released Between the Lines in 1976, John contributed one song but had dropped out as a member making him the first to quit, so the band would be forced to go on as a trio. They had considered becoming a studio only band like they did 10 years ago, but they were forced to go on a hiatus only to make a short-lived comeback a few years later. John doesn't make an appearance on the album but rumor is he may be able to rejoin the band in the next year. I cut a little out of the intro to Here Comes the Moon. 

Underworld 1992 - 2002 (2003)

 

1. Bigmouth
2. Dirty
3. Rez
4. Spikee
5. Dark & Long (Dark Train)
6. Cowgirl
7. Born Slippy .NUXX
8. Jumbo

This is my attempt at a single CD version of this greatest hits compilation album by Underworld. It's similar to the Somerset Avenue Tracks album I did a while ago but it doesn't regard any popularity on the charts. I tried to make it mostly instrumental with the exceptions of Cowgirl and Born Slippy. It marks the first album appearances of the first four tracks which were previously available as 12" vinyl singles. The first two tracks were released as Lemon Interrupt. 

I cut out the end of Dirty to make it 10 minutes long and the end of Cowgirl to make it 8 minutes long. The version of Born Slippy is an exclusive edit to this album and the version of Jumbo is the extended version which was available on a Japanese promo version of the album but wouldn't be made widely available until the expanded version Underworld 1992 - 2012. 

Metallica - Load (1997)

1. Fuel
2. Ain't My Bitch
3. The Memory Remains
4. 2 X 4
5. Devil's Dance
6. King Nothing
7. Better Than You
8. Fixxxer
9. Bad Seed
10. Wasting My Hate
11. Prince Charming
12. Thorn Within
13. Attitude
14. The Outlaw Torn

This is my theoretical construction of a single album version of Metallica's Load and Reload albums. For this I enlisted the help of my friend Andrew to work on a track listing. The final result is a little over 79 minutes but the fade out in The Outlaw Torn happens earlier.

When Metallica released Load in 1996, the album did well on the charts but the critical response was mixed. Some criticized the album for not being as heavy as their Black Album and accused the band of selling out. 3 of the 4 singles were mellow with one of them being described as a country song. They originally planned on releasing both albums as a double album but had to release them separately cause their rigid touring schedule prevented them from being able to finish all the songs on time.  

I thought it would be atypical for them to release an album that didn't include a mellow song but maybe it would get a better response if it was all heavy. Each album had 4 singles so I got rid of the mellow singles and kept the heavy ones. But then Andrew also wanted me to get rid of Cure and Slither despite them ranking among the shortest songs on both albums. It was a little tough.

John Lennon / Ringo Starr - Verses (1975)

 

Side A:
1. Going Down on Love
2. Whatever Gets You Thru the Night
3. What You Got
4. #9 Dream
5. Nobody Loves You (When You're Down and Out)

Side B:
6. (It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna
7. Oo-Wee
8. Snookeroo
9. All By Myself
10. No-No Song
11. Only You (And You Alone)
Bonus Track - John and Ringo Advertise Their Albums

This might sound crazy but I remember reading about a supposedly lost John/Ringo collaboration album that was supposed to come out in 1975 called Verses. I tried looking up info about it but I couldn't find anything, but I swear it was something I read online and not something I made up. Because of that, all info about this album is fictional, but it consists of the best tracks from John's Walls and Bridges album and Ringo's Goodnight Vienna album from 1974. The only question I couldn't answer was why would it have been put together?

Both albums were recorded in the summer of 1974 and released in the fall of that year, but both artists also put out compilation albums in the fall of 1975, John's Shaved Fish album and Ringo's Blast From Your Past album. It was said that after John had released Rock 'n' Roll in 1975, he planned on releasing another album that year of all new material, but when Yoko got pregnant with Sean, he had to stop recording all new music for about 5 years. 

Giving us a timeline of about March to October 1975, I think the album would've come out in the summer, in August about a year after all the tracks were recorded. Though if you were a Ringo fan who was excited about Goodnight Vienna coming out in November 1974, you would've had to wait a year before you could listen to songs by Ringo you would've already heard. So again the question is why would it have been put together? 

When I was trying to find a cover I could use for this, I found a pic of them claiming to be from 1975, but upon further research it was more likely that it was taken in 1976. I found out though that they probably had the best relationship between any two Beatles after their break-up, so I think it would've been John's idea to put it out to help promote Ringo's album. I also found out that Ringo recorded a voiceover for a TV commercial promoting John's album and John recorded a voiceover for a TV commercial promoting Ringo's album. Also John wrote the titular track for Ringo to record. The final cover I went with was something simplistic I put together using White Album-era photos. I included both of the advertisements as a bonus track but it's only 1:30 long. 

Frank Zappa - The Yellow Shark (2 CD) (1993)

Disc One:
1. Intro
2. The "Dog Breath" Variations
3. Uncle Meat
4. Outrage at Valdez
5. Times Beach/Movement II
6. III Revised
7. The Girl in the Magnesium Dress
8. The Be-Bop Tango
9. Ruth is Sleeping
10. None of the Above
11. Pentagon Afternoon
12. Questi Cazzi Di Piccione
13. Times Beach/Movement III
14. Food Gathering in Post-Industrial America, 1992
15. Welcome to the United States
16. Pound For a Brown
17. Exercise #4
18. Get Whitey
19. G-Spot Tornado

Disc Two:
1. Library Card
2. This is a Test
3. Jolly Good Fellow
4. Roland's Big Event/Strat Vindaloo
5. Master Ringo
6. T'Mershi Duween
7. Nap Time
8. 9/8 Objects
9. Naked City
10. Get Whitey (Prototype)
11. Amnerika Goes Home
12. None of the Above (Revised & Previsited)
13. Wonderful Tattoo!

Though there weren't a lot of changes that needed to be made to make this, Frank Zappa's last album made while he was alive, The Yellow Shark, was originally intended to be a 2 CD album. Here's something from 1997 I found while doing research on this album. "The Yellow Shark was originally conceived by FZ as a two disk set, but for various reasons was shortened to one. Rumor is, that it contained rehearsals, improvisations, readings and even FZ playing a solo with the Ensemble. Teams are searching the vaults for the missing masters day and night... and for what reason? Will there ever be another release? No one knows, Stay tuned." 

A second album made from rehearsals of the Yellow Shark concerts from 1992 was eventually released in 1999 called Everything is Healing Nicely. In making this album, I listened to the second disc for the first time where I only edited out 30 seconds from the middle of Master Ringo cause the vocalist messed up. The rest of it really paints a picture of what they sounded like.