Frank Zappa - Civilization Phase III (1994)

 

1. Put a Motor in Yourself
2. They Made Me Eat It
3. Reagan at Bitburg
4. Navanax
5. Xmas Values
6. Amnerika
7. Buffalo Voice
8. Get a Life
9. Secular Humanism
10. I Was in a Drum   
11. A Pig With Wings
12. Gross Man
13. Why Not?
14. Dio Fa
15. Waffenspiel

This is a single disc version of Frank Zappa's album Civilization Phase III, the last album he was working on before he died. Most of these tracks were made with the Synclavier which had taken over Frank's creative process for about a decade by that point. He first started using it on the 1986 album Jazz From Hell and this is his first album of original music since then. The project originated in the '60s and featured short clips of people talking inside a piano as well as some newly recorded dialogue that I cut out. There were also two long songs I had to cut out and two other songs had dialogue in it that I cut out. 

Yes - Harmonium (1976)

Side A:

1. Hold Out Your Hand - Chris Squire
2. One Way Rag - Alan White
3. Australia - Steve Howe
4. Flight of the Moorglade - Jon Anderson

5. Giddy - Alan White

Side B:
6. Lost Symphony - Steve Howe
7. Solid Space - Jon Anderson
8. Silently Falling - Chris Squire

After releasing the 1974 album Relayer, the five members of Yes took a break from recording, released a solo album in 1975 or 1976, and then regrouped to record the 1977 album Going For the One. This album was meant to be seen as a return to shorter songs but still included a long song as the album closer. A similar stunt happened in 1971 with their album Fragile where each band member contributed a solo recording to make up for lack of time. It led to the album having shorter songs but it also had a long song as the album closer.

This was an idea previously had by someone else, but I thought this user’s version of the album should’ve included a long song as the album closer, even if it meant making it a double album. Chris Squire’s album Fish Out of Water includes 2 long songs and was even called the most Yes sounding of the solo albums, even though he wouldn’t release another album for over 30 years.

Similar to Kiss’ Best of Solo Albums in 1978, this one originates as a promo album for radio stations called Yes Solo LP Sampler which uses 2 songs from each album for a total of 10 songs. The original user determined the track listing by looking at solo songs that were played during Yes’ 1976 tour. For my method, I’ll simply listen to all the albums and choose the best songs. But since Chris’ album has 5 songs like GFTO and also features Patrick Moraz and original Yes drummer Bill Bruford, his album would be a good place to start. 

The Steve Howe album Beginnings also feature Moraz and Bruford as well as then current Yes drummer Alan White so I thought these songs would pair nicely with the Chris tracks. It features a couple instrumental tracks we can get rid of, but the Alan White album Ramshackled also featured some instrumental songs. I ended up not using the Patrick Moraz album. 

The Who - Lifehouse (2 LP) (1971)

Side A:
1. Baba O'Riley
2. Bargain
3. Love Ain't For Keeping
4. My Wife
5. The Song is Over

Side B:
6. Getting in Tune
7. Going Mobile
8. Behind Blue Eyes
9. Won't Get Fooled Again

Side C:
10. Water
11. Naked Eye
12. I Don't Even Know Myself
13. Postcard
14. Now I'm a Farmer

Side D:
15. Time is Passing
16. Too Much of Anything
17. Pure and Easy
18. Let's See Action
19. Heaven and Hell

In 1971, The Who were planning on releasing a double album rock opera called Lifehouse, similar to Tommy 2 years before it and Quadrophenia 2 years after it. For whatever reason it was cut down to a single album and retitled Who’s Next? Fans have been speculating on what tracks would’ve been on a double album version for years, including Pete Townshend who worked on the unreleased tracks long after the album came out. One user I saw even made double and triple versions of the album. Regardless of story continuity, I wanted to see if I could make a second album from these outtakes. One resource is the Lifehouse Chronicles which includes a couple acoustic demos that I’m opting to exclude. 

There was a 5 song EP that was supposed to come out in 1970 but never did. I figured if they didn't release it as an EP, they could release it as the first half of the album. Most of them would later get released on the Odds and Sods compilation, sometimes only on reissues. The second side would consist of outtakes relating to Lifehouse and other tracks from this time which Odds and Sods also partially include. 

Little Tin Frog - Farewell America (2000)

 

1. Cheshire Cat Fading
2. Construction Paper Head
3. Drowning in Ecstasy
4. Clear as Hell
5. Shadow Queen
6. Welcome to Nowhere
7. Unusual Smash Hit
8. Me, Like That
9. F.D.R. (Needs a Haircut)
10. Paper Shoes
11. Hold to Me
12. World's a Round
13. Aural Sex

Little Tin Frog was a little known band that released one album and 2 EPs in the late 90s. Their drummer Logan Whitehurst would go on to drum in another band called The Velvet Teen and release solo music as Logan Whitehurst and the Junior Science Club. When Little Tin Frog broke up in 2000, they went on a farewell tour and put out this 3 disc anthology with 2 discs of studio tracks and one disc of live tracks. I tried to see if I could make a second album out of tracks from their demo tapes, though I would describe the last three tracks as acoustic demos. 

Aphex Twin - Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments (2015)

 

1. Jynweythek
2. Kladfvgbung Micshk
3. Strotha Tynhe
4. Avril 14th
5. Hy a Scullyas Lyf a Dhagrow
6. Kesson Dalef
7. Prep Gwarlek 3b
8. Petiatil Cx Htdui
9. Ruglen Holon
10. Beskhu3epnm
11. Nannou 2
12. Diskhat All Prepared1 Mixed13
13. Diskhat1
14. Diskprept4
15. Disk Prep Calrec2 Barn Dance (Slow)
16. Diskprept1
17. Piano Un10 It Happened
18. Hat5c 0001 Rec-4

This is all the piano tracks from Drukqs combined with tracks from the Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Part 2 EP. In the same way that the EP was meant as a sequel to Drukqs, this can be the sequel to my version of the album. I didn't like the original cover so I made a better one. This is also one year after Aphex Twin returned to making music with his album Syro. 

Butthole Surfers - Rembrandt Pussyhorse (1986)

Side A:
1. Creep in the Cellar
2. Sea Ferring
3. American Woman
4. Waiting for Jimmy to Kick
5. Strangers Die Everyday
6. To Parter

Side B:
7. Perry                   
8. Whirling Hall of Knives               
9. Mark Says Alright                         
10. In the Cellar                   
11. I Love You Peggy                           
12. Tornadoes                         

From the Cream Corn From the Socket of Davis EP:
1. Moving to Florida
2. Comb
3. Hetero Skeleton
4. Eindhoven Chicken Masque

Last year I saw someone wearing a shirt with this cover on it. I don't think he realized how obscure this album is but he said he got it from Supreme. I think the movie Nope helped bring the Butthole Surfers to more people's attention. But is it worth re-evaluating? I listened to it a couple times but never got into it. It was weird but not so bad it's good like their next album. Recently though I found some outtakes from the Humpty Dumpty LSD compilation and thought it could be re-organized. Eindhoven Chicken Masque was from a compilation album called God's Favorite Dog. There was another track by them on the album that I decided to not use. I also didn't use a track called Perry Intro from Humpty Dumpty. 

Aphex Twin - Drukqs (2001)

 

1. Vordhosbn
2. Omgyjya-Switch7
3. Bbydhyonchord
4. Cock/Ver10
5. Mt Saint Michel + Saint Michaels Mount
6. Gwarek2
7. Orban Eq Trx 4
8. 54 Cymru Beats
9. Meltphace 6
10. Taking Control
11. Afx237 v.7
12. Ziggomatic 17

This is a single disc version of the double disc album Drukqs by Aphex Twin. I took out all the songs that had just a piano in them and kept the more IDM sounding tracks. This takes out some of his popular songs like Avril 14th and more recently Penty Harmonium. The idea of using a prepared piano would be further explored on Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Part 2. 

Bruce Springsteen - The Promise (2 LP) (1979)

 

Side A:
1. Gotta Get That Feeling
2. Outside Looking In
3. Someday (We'll Be Together)
4. One Way Street
5. Because the Night
6. Wrong Side of the Street

Side B:
7. The Brokenhearted
8. Rendezvous
9. Ain't Good Enough for You
10. Fire
11. Spanish Eyes
12. It's a Shame                                                 

Side C:
13. Come On (Let's Go Tonight)
14. Talk to Me
15. The Little Things (My Baby Does)
16. Breakaway
17. City of Night
18. The Way

Side D:
19. Give the Girl a Kiss
20. Iceman
21. Hearts of Stone
22. Don't Look Back
23. Save My Love
24. The Promise

This is a double album of outtakes from the Bruce Springsteen album Darkness on the Edge of Town. The first three sides come from the Promise compilation album and the fourth side comes from the first disc of the Tracks box set. The version of The Promise included is the one from the Promise album instead of the version re-recorded for 18 Tracks. Also I felt like the material was best represented as a double album, although the song Save My Love was technically recorded for the Promise album. 

Boards of Canada - Old Tunes Vol. 2 (1996)

 

Side A:
1. We've Started Up
2. Staircase Whip
3. Statue of Liberty
4. To the Wind
5. David Came to Mahana'im
6. Sir Prancelot Brainfire
7. Mukinabaht
8. It's a Whole 'Nother Year
9. Kiteracer 2

Side B:
10. BMX Track
11. Low Scores
12. Zander Two
13. Magic Teens
14. Northern Plastics
15. Buckie High
16. I Love My New Shears
17. Breaking Nehushtan
18. Orange Hexagon Sun
19. Lick

The tracks on this volume seem to be all exclusive, so I just took out all the short songs and cut it down to the length of an average Boards of Canada album from around this time. 

They Might Be Giants - We Now Know Who (2005)

1. The Ballad of Timothy McSweeney
2. Kids Are Different Now
3. Headless
4. Cut the Strings
5. Save Your Life
6. Maybe I Know
7. Robert Lowell                                         
8. Operators Are Standing By
9. Be Nice and Gentle                               
10. Dark and Metric                                   
11. Chaos by Design                                 
12. Lullaby to Nightmares                                     
13. Don't Cry                                 
14. Be Patient                               
15. Something You'd Like to See      
16. Koenigstein                                             
17. Drinkin'                                     
18. Monster                                   
19. Too Cool Girls                                       
20. Sunshine                                 
21. Art Mover
22. Slow
23. Theme From McSweeney's Issue 6 - Thank Yous

This was an idea for an album I had two years ago. Luckily I still saved the track listing for it. It's basically a sequel to the They Got Lost compilation album that came out three years before it and combines tracks from various projects from 1999 to 2001 that didn't get included at first. 

Devo - Mechanical Man (1974)

 

Side A:
1. Mechanical Man
2. Auto Modown / Space Girl Blues
3. Midget
4. Ono
5. Man From the Past
6. Doghouse Doghouse

Side B:
7. Can You Take It?
8. A Plan for U
9. All of Us
10. The Rope Song
11. I Been Refused
12. I Need a Chick

Hey did you know Devo had enough material to put out an album in 1974? This is coming from both of their Hardcore Devo compilation albums, including bonus tracks from the reissue of the second volume, but I put them on the side of the first volume cause it needed more tracks. This is also excluding the demos of Jocko Homo, Social Fools, and Be Stiff that were recorded this year, but I always preferred the 1977 versions from the Be Stiff EP.