Friday, May 24, 2024

The Zombies - Here's What Remains (1967)

 

Side A:
1. She's Coming Home
2. I Must Move
3. I Want You Back Again
4. Whenever You're Ready
5. I Love You
6. Is This the Dream?
7. Don't Go Away
8. Remember You
9. Just Out of Reach

Side B:                              
10. Indication                                           
11. Gotta Get a Hold of Myself                     
12. Goin' Out of My Head                 
13. She Does Everything For Me                   
14. You Make Me Feel Good                           
15. Leave Me Be                   
16. Tell Her No                       
17. Kind of Girl                   
18. It's Alright With Me                   
19. Sometimes                   

The Zombies were a well-known band from the late '60s despite only releasing two albums. Their legendary long-lost album R.I.P. was finally released in 2000, but a couple years before it there was a box set released called Zombie Heaven. It contained tracks from R.I.P. but also compiled non-album tracks from 1964 to 1967 which could be their own album. There's a lot of material here which is longer than the typical Zombies album but I liked most of it. The first side is all from 1965 and the second side is from 1966, 1967, and 1964. 

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Car Seat Headrest - How to Leave Town (2014)

 


1. The Ending of Dramamine (Part 2)
2. Beast Monster Thing (Love Isn't Love Enough)
3. Kimochi Warui (When? When? When? When? When? When? When?)
4. You're in Love With Me
5. America (Never Been)
6. I Want You to Know That I'm Awake / I Hope That You're Asleep

In 2014, Car Seat Headrest released the album How to Leave Town. It was marketed as an EP despite the fact that it was over an hour long because main leader Will Toledo was working on another new album but didn't want fans to think it was this one. He hadn't released one since 2012 and wouldn't release another one till 2015 with a backing section and a record deal. The EP has two songs over 10 minutes long on it: The Ending of Dramamine and Hey Space Cadet! I cut the first song into three sections and only kept the second one cause it was the only part with lyrics. I also cut out the other song and two shorter songs. It's still not an EP but now it's about 40 minutes long which is the standard.

Monday, May 13, 2024

Girl - Star Waves (2011)

 

1. Pixel Power
2. Odorless
3. Vicar Victual
4. Take Off Your Sample
5. Autofocus
6. Vixens
7. Pockmarks
8. Neptune's Coronation
9. Pleiades Engine
10. Fix 87
11. Windmills
12. Empowered Blocks
13. Exfoliate
14. Misidentify
15. Encompass
16. Spray
17. Hexagons
18. Tinder

Girl was a techno side project by Andrew Huang of Songs to Wear Pants To fame. He had some side projects in the late 2000s and early 2010s before focusing solely on music released under his own name. The generic name contributes to the project's obscurity. The music is from 5 EPs released with this name from around that time. Most of the album covers were a single color with a few having designs on them. I took one and added text to it. 

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Pink Floyd - Cambridge Station (1967)

 

Side A:
1. Arnold Layne
2. See Emily Play
3. Apples and Oranges
4. Vegetable Man
5. Candy and a Currant Bun
6. Paintbox

Side B:
7. Lucy Leave                               
8. Double O Bo                                          
9. Remember Me                                     
10. Walk With Me Sydney                                  
11. Butterfly
12. I'm a King Bee                                   

This is a theoretical second Pink Floyd album of 1967. I'm not about to go on a Pink Floyd alternate universe binge like I just did with The Monkees so don't worry about that. The first side is the EP "1967: The First Three Singles" from 1997. It included the song Scarecrow which would later be on their first album so I replaced it with Vegetable Man from the Early Years box set. The second side is the EP "1965: Their First Recordings" also from the box set. 

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

The Monkees - Changes (1970)


Side A:
1. Oh My My
2. Joanne
3. You're So Good to Me
4. It's Got to Be Love
5. Mama Nantucket
6. Do It in the Name of Love

Side B:
7. The Keys to the Car
8. Do You Feel It Too?
9. I Love You Better
10. The One Rose 
11. Midnight Train
12. Lady Jane

By this point, The Monkees’ label told them that they were contractually obligated to release one more album before they could break up. Michael Nesmith was still a member of the Monkees but wasn't required to attend the recording sessions, so as a result he quit the group. This makes Changes the only Monkees album recorded as a duo after recording two albums as a trio. 

Afterwards, Mike started a country rock band called the First National Band and recorded three albums with them, two of them that year. They included all original songs including some previously recorded with the Monkees, but their first album Magnetic South included some new tracks. I was thinking of replacing the two tracks I already used with both sides of a single they released around this time, but someone said you could improve Changes by including tracks from Magnetic South. Do we really need more of Mike’s country songs on these Monkees albums? 

Monday, May 6, 2024

The Monkees - The Monkees Present (1969)


Side A:
1. Little Girl
2. Good Clean Fun
3. Me Without You
4. Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye
5. Never Tell a Woman Yes
6. You and I
7. The Girl I Left Behind Me

Side B:
8. Listen to the Band
9. A Man Without a Dream
10. Mommy and Daddy
11. Oklahoma Backroom Dancer
12. Shorty Blackwell

This is mostly just The Monkees Present but with the Davy songs from Instant Replay. If we cut out the tracks that were already featured on previous Monkees albums, that leaves us 18 left to choose from. I tried to keep it at 4 tracks per Monkee so I just got rid of 2 tracks from each. 

Sunday, May 5, 2024

The Monkees - Stars and Stripes Across America (1969)

 

Side A:
1. You're So Good
2. Steam Engine
3. Little Red Rider
4. Michigan Blackhawk
5. Time and Time Again
6. Ceiling in My Room

Side B:  
7. Goin' Down       
8. Don't Say Nothin' Bad
9. Calico Girlfriend Samba           
10. Angel Band        
11. If You Have the Time   
12. Penny Music     

After Peter Tork left the band in 1968, the Monkees' plan for their next album was to record new songs that would be mixed in with older songs. They released three albums in two years which had eight songs from 1966 to 1967 and the rest were from 1968 to 1970. Michael Nesmith later left the band in 1970. I listened to the unreleased songs from 1969 but there weren't enough to make a full album. I was thinking of spreading them across the next three albums but I found a couple older songs and thought I had enough to make a new album. This doesn't fix the problem of the next three albums not having enough songs but you could potentially mix the two albums from 1969 together along with some other unreleased songs. 

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 Fathe...