The Beach Boys - Smile (1967)

Side A:
1. Our Prayer
2. Heroes and Villains
3. Do You Like Worms?
4. I'm in Great Shape / Barnyard / My Only Sunshine
5. Child is Father of the Man
6. Wonderful
7. Cabin Essence

Side B:
8. Good Vibrations
9. Vega-Tables
10. On a Holiday
11. Wind Chimes
12. In Blue Hawaii
13. Surf's Up

I've long thought about trying to tackle this album, but what's a better album to end on? I've listened to it a couple times in a couple different ways, and I kind of like the choose your own adventure approach that it has. Plus what else can be said about it already? It's the album that would've rivaled Sgt. Pepper's if it actually came out. But it got canceled in May 1967 and Smiley Smile was released in September which flopped when it came out. Brian Wilson re-recorded the album in 2004 and then released The Smile Sessions in 2011.

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.  

The Banana Splits - Long Live Love (1969)

 

Side A:
1. Long Live Love
2. It's a Good Day For a Parade
3. Pretty Painted Carousel
4. I Enjoy Being a Boy
5. That's the Pretty Part of You
6. The Very First Kid on My Block 

Side B:
7. The Beautiful Calliopa
8. Let Me Remember You Smiling
9. The Show Must Go On
10. I'd Be a Millionaire
11. Adam Had 'Em
12. You Had Your Chance

The Banana Splits were one of a couple fake bands that got popular in the late 60s along with The Archies and Max Frost and the Troopers. They were more well known for their TV show but released one album in 1968. There were enough songs in their discography for a second album, however the last four were from the TV show and were never professionally recorded. 

Bob Dylan - Another Way Home (1963)

 

Side A:
1. House Carpenter
2. Rocks and Gravel
3. Quit Your Low Down Ways
4. Worried Blues
5. Kingsport Town
6. Let Me Die in My Footsteps
7. Walls of Red Wing       

Side B:
8. Rambling, Gambling Willie
9. Baby, I'm in the Mood for You
10. (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle
11. Talkin' Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre Blues
12. The Death of Emmett Till
13. Hero Blues
14. Milk Cow Calf's Blues
15. Whatcha Gonna Do?

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was his second album and his only album released this year. Yet he had enough outtakes from it to release a second album this year. The album had an original tracklist that got aborted. One of these was a song called Talkin' John Birch Blues. The talking blues was a form of blues that featured talking over music instead of singing and was popularized by Woody Guthrie. Bob Dylan was invited to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show and wanted to play the song. The network wouldn't let him and wanted him to play a different song, but he refused and walked off the stage. This controversy caused the label to not include the song on the album. So because of this, he would record a new song a year later to the day called Talkin' World War III Blues. Though he had another talking blues song that I used on this one. Most of these songs would later get released on the Bootleg Series Volume 1.

The Graveyard of Ideas

Hey guys, it's Derrick. This is my two year anniversary post. I wanted to do something different to celebrate, but instead, I've decided to dedicate less time to the blog. In the past year, I've noticed that a lot of the unreleased album reconstruction blogs that I follow have either stopped posting or have been posting less often, and I've decided to do the same. And so, this is a list of some of the ideas I had for posts that I couldn't go through with for one reason or another. I'll start off by saying there was one band with a bunch of unreleased albums that I wanted to make a post about but never knew how. And that band is The Beach Boys. I had at least two ideas for posts for Beach Boys albums that I wasn't able to go through with for reasons & more that you'll see...

1. The Beach Boys - Adult/Child + Love You - Adult/Child is an unreleased album that was supposed to follow the Love You album but they released the M.I.U. Album instead. They're both pretty short so I wanted to combine them but I thought that their styles would be too different. 

2. The Beach Boys - Party! (2 LP) - This album is also pretty short but a box set of outtakes called Uncovered and Unplugged was released which made me wanna go through them. There weren't enough outtakes to make an hour long double album but you could make an expanded version. I talked about this one in my post about Herman's Hermits though I saw one blog recreate this. 

3. Van Morrison - Contractual Obligations - This half hour long bootleg was a tape that Van Morrison supposedly delivered his label as his next album. I listened to it but I decided I couldn't do anything with it.

4. Skip Spence - Oar - I listened to this for the first time hoping to make a post about it for the blog. There was even a box set of outtakes but I decided I couldn't do anything with it.

5. Oasis - Be Here Now - I listened to this for the first time hoping to make a post about it for the blog. I decided I couldn't do anything with it but then another blog I like made his own version.

6. The Kinks - Preservation Acts 1 & 2 - I listened to both of these albums with the intention of combining them into a single album. Act 2 was even a double album. In the end though I decided I couldn’t do anything with them.

7. Tom Lehrer - The Remains of Tom Lehrer - I was gonna make a post about a single disc version of this box set but Needlejuice Records released a CD mainly focused on his orchestral work. It basically had all the tracks on this album except for two solo piano tracks.

8. Ringo Starr - Can't Stop Lightning - This is an alternate tracklist to the album Stop and Smell the Roses. The unused songs were released as bonus tracks on the CD reissue, but after I listened to them, I decided I couldn't do anything with it.

9. Car Seat Headrest - Nervous Young Man - I listened to this double album for the first time hoping to make a single disc version and then make a post about it for the blog, but I decided I couldn't do anything with it.

I guess there weren't that many ideas that I ended up not using which is good. I was inspired to make this post after my Velvet Underground posts cause I also listened to their unreleased fourth album and thought that I couldn't do anything with it but then I found someone asking "What if Nico never left the Velvets?" and that inspired me to re-listen to it. Anyway I have some ideas for posts but I need to listen to some more music first. Doing this blog is fun and helps me listen to music that I otherwise wouldn't.

The Rolling Stones - Some More Girls (1979)

 

Side A:
1. Claudine
2. So Young
3. Do You Think I Really Care?
4. When You're Gone
5. No Spare Parts

Side B:
6. Don't Be a Stranger
7. We Had It All
8. Tallahassee Lassie
9. I Love You Too Much
10. Keep Up Blues
11. You Win Again

The Rolling Stones recorded 50 songs for their album Some Girls but the released version only had 10 tracks. Some of the tracks would later be included on other albums such as Tattoo You, but when it was reissued it included a second disc of outtakes from the album.

The Rolling Stones - Could You Walk on the Water? (1966)

 

Side A:
1. Mother's Little Helper
2. Take It or Leave It
3. What to Do
4. 19th Nervous Breakdown
5. Out of Time

Side B:
6. Ride On, Baby
7. Sittin' on a Fence
8. Sad Day
9. Long, Long While
10. I'd Much Rather Be With the Boys
11. My Girl
12. Looking Tired

When the Rolling Stones were working on their Aftermath album, they originally planned to call it Could You Walk on the Water? and gave it a release date of March 10, 1966. It had a tracklist of 10 tracks in which 5 of them made it on the Aftermath album which had 14 tracks. However before they could issue it, The Beatles made a controversial statement that they were more popular than Jesus, and they used the cover for an American compilation called Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) which came out later that month. Aftermath wasn't be released till April.

However the American version was released in July which took out four tracks from the British version and instead included the song Paint It Black which was released as a single in May. Not only that but they released a single called 19th Nervous Breakdown in February which didn't get included on Aftermath but would later get included on Big Hits. So I thought what if we took these four extra tracks along with others like Breakdown to form this proposed album?

Some tracks wouldn't be released till they were featured on other compilation albums like Flowers in 1967 and Metamorphosis in 1975. Only the track Looking Tired was never officially released even though it was included in the original tracklist for the album. However I did include some songs from earlier in 1965 to round out the album.

Daniel Johnston - 1990 (1990)

 

1. Funeral Home
2. Held the Hand
3. Some Things Last a Long Time
4. Tears Stupid Tears
5. Don't Play Cards With Satan
6. True Love Will Find You in the End
7. Whiz Kid
8. Ain't No Woman Gonna Make a George Jones Outta Me
9. Big Big World
10. Her Blues
11. Ghost of Our Love
12. December Blues
13. Hard Time
14. Girls

1990 is arguably Daniel's best known album other than his unfinished album Hi, How Are You? It contains the songs Some Things Last a Long Time and True Love Will Find You in the End, though a demo of the latter was originally released on his Retired Boxer album from 1984. The majority of the album was recorded in 1988 but the sessions were also left unfinished when Daniel suffered a mental breakdown. In fact the album was supposed to be called 1989 and released that year but it couldn't be finished in that time.

1990 was also not Daniel's first attempt at recording a studio album. His first one would be Continued Story from 1985 where he was backed by a band called the Texas Instruments. However following the release of 1990, Daniel released two EPs. The Big Big World EP was released in 1991 but was recorded in 1986 and features Daniel being backed by a different band called the Rhythm Rats. Next is the Laurie EP which released in 1992 but was recorded in 1989.

The first half of the album is the "solo" half and features tracks from 1990 as well as a version of the song Whiz Kid which is from the Laurie EP but originally came from the Merry Christmas album. The second half is the "band" half and features tracks from the Continued Story album and the Big Big World EP.

Limp Bizkit - Results May Vary (2003)

 

1. Let It Go

2. Armpit

3. Just Drop Dead

4. Crack Addict

5. Relentless

6. Press Your Luck

7. Shot

8. Almost Over

9. Build a Bridge

10. Lean on Me

11. Cowgirls From Hell

12. Masturbation

13. Poison Ivy

14. Until the End

15. Lonely World

16. Why?

Results May Vary was released as the fourth album by the band Limp Bizkit, and it was considered one of the worst albums of all time. The most interesting thing about it is that MTV recorded the making of it as part of a short lived show called Album Launch, and there were only a couple episodes but this was apparently the worst of the bunch. The album went through a long delay period meaning lots of songs were getting written and then thrown out. I was surprised to find that the album and a playlist of outtakes I found were both 16 tracks at 68 minutes. The album was half heavy and half mellow with the outtakes being mostly heavy, so I mostly used the outtakes but replaced some songs with others whenever it felt needed. I didn't wanna include either single when they were called the third worst song and second worst cover of all time. 

Just Drop Dead and Crack Addict were released as promotional singles. Let It Go and Shot were bonus tracks. Armpit was originally from their 1995 demo. Lean on Me and Why? were from their Greatest Hitz album. Crack Addict and Cowgirls From Hell sounded like they were unfinished but were fixed in fan-made versions including an extended version of Crack Addict.

The Who - Empty Glass (1981)

 

Side A:
1. Bitter and Twisted - Roger Daltrey
2. Rough Boys - Pete Townshend
3. Try Me - John Entwistle
4. Free Me - Roger Daltrey
5. Jools and Jim - Pete Townshend

Side B:
6. Talk Dirty - John Entwistle
7. My Time is Gonna Come - Roger Daltrey
8. Cat's in the Cupboard - Pete Townshend
9. I'm Coming Back - John Entwistle
10. Gonna Get Ya - Pete Townshend

This is my last in a series of albums where I combine solo albums released by members of The Who. This is the same year they put out their Face Dances album but all the members also feature on Roger Daltrey's album so that could've been a Who album. For this one I'm using Roger Daltrey's album McVicar, Pete Townshend's Empty Glass, and John Entwistle's Too Late the Hero. It was John's first solo album in 6 years but his also his last one. Also being that this is the '80s, the band's music sounds more new wave but heavier than the other solo albums. 

The Who - Rough Mix (1977)

 

Side A:
1. Parade - Roger Daltrey
2. My Baby Gives It Away - Pete Townshend
3. You Can Be So Mean - John Entwistle
4. Avenging Annie - Roger Daltrey
5. Keep Me Turning - Pete Townshend

Side B:
6. Leon - Roger Daltrey
7. Misunderstood - Pete Townshend
8. Drowning - John Entwistle
9. Don't Worry Baby - Keith Moon
10. Say It Ain't So, Joe - Roger Daltrey

This is the second of three albums I'm planning on making by combining tracks from members of the Who's solo albums. All of these albums were released between the years of 1975 and 1977. Keith Moon released his only solo album during this period meaning they all released at least one album so I had at least four albums I could use.

For this I'm using Roger Daltrey's One of the Boys, Pete Townshend's Rough Mix, John Entwistle's Mad Dog, and Keith Moon's Two Sides of the Moon. In our first album in this series, John released two albums around this time, but this time Roger released two albums around this time. I figured both of them would've sounded alike so I just picked One of the Boys. But John's album sounded like '50s rock and roll like his one before it, and Keith's album was marred by drug problems, so I named this album after Pete's album cause it was rough trying to mix it together. 

The Who - Rigor Mortis Sets In (1974)

 

Side A:
1. One Man Band - Roger Daltrey
2. There's a Heartache Following Me - Pete Townshend
3. Apron Strings - John Entwistle
4. Thinking - Roger Daltrey
5. Sheraton Gibson - Pete Townshend

Side B:
6. The Story So Far - Roger Daltrey
7. Content - Pete Townshend
8. I Feel Better - John Entwistle
9. Reasons - Roger Daltrey
10. Who Cares? - John Entwistle

This is the first in a set of three albums that combines tracks from solo albums by members of The Who. Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and John Entwistle all released albums around 1972-73 at the same time as working on Rock is Dead, Long Live Rock which became Quadrophenia. 

For this I'm using Roger Daltrey's album Daltrey, Pete Townshend's album Who Came First?, and John Entwistle's album Nursery Rymes. John actually released two albums around this time, but his other album Rigor Mortis Sets In was more in the style of '50s rock and roll, though both that album and Pete's included a cover of a song from the '60s as well as songs that would end up on my reconstruction of the Lifehouse album. I found a version of the cover of Rigor Mortis that didn't have an artist name which I could use for my cover. John's albums ended up being the heaviest but I decided to use his other one. Also it would've been more of a collaborative album but maybe they would release this than Odds and Ends. 

The Who - Rock is Dead, Long Live Rock (1972)

 

Side A:
1. Relay
2. Get Inside
3. Riot in the Female Jail
4. Long Live Rock
5. Put the Money Down
6. Can't You See I'm Easy

Side B:
7. Join Together
8. Four Faces
9. We Close Tonight
10. You Came Back
11. Joker James
12. Anymore

This is my take on the unreleased album Rock is Dead, Long Live Rock by The Who which would later become Quadrophenia. There was a tracklist that I found for it online but it only had 9 songs and 2 of them would later be included on Quadrophenia. However the Quadrophenia deluxe edition included two discs of demos that I could use. Some of these songs might've technically been written for Quadrophenia but it's worth noting that all the songs were recorded in 1972. 

The Who - Who's for Tennis? (1968)

 

Side A:
1. Someone's Coming
2. Early Morning Cold Taxi
3. Glittering Girl
4. Girl's Eyes
5. Melancholia
6. Pictures of Lily
7. Doctor, Doctor

Side B:
8. Glow Girl
9. Little Billy
10. Faith in Something Bigger
11. Magic Bus
12. Call Me Lightning
13. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
14. Dogs

After the release of their album A Quick One, The Who's next album was planned to be called Who's Lily? after their recent single Pictures of Lily. However they had an idea to create an album that sounded like a pirate radio station, full of fake commercials and unrelated songs, and from that they developed the Who Sell Out album and the Who's Lily? idea was dropped. I've seen blogs try to recreate Who's Lily? I've also seen blogs try to make a double album version of The Who Sell Out. Both albums seem possible to recreate, but they basically use the same songs so it has to be one or the other. I tried to make a double album version of The Who Sell Out once but felt like I didn't have enough songs to choose. Maybe this idea will fare better.

Who's Lily? seems to be if they took just the songs from The Who Sell Out and combined them with other songs from the era like Pictures of Lily. Though apparently they also had plans to release an album in 1968 that didn't get finished either. I realized that if you combined the non-album songs from 1967 and 1968 together it would be enough for a full album.

One criticism of the Who Sell Out is that the pirate radio idea disappears midway through the second side although the band recorded more jingles that they could've used. Some outtakes included covers like Summertime Blues and In the Hall of the Mountain King as well as instrumentals like Sodding About and... In the Hall of the Mountain King. In fact there were plans around this time to release an instrumental EP but it never got released.