Please Release Me … Top 10 potentially great unheard albums

Nostalgia is a niche sales opportunity in the music industry and labels have become adept at tapping into fans’ desire to have as much music as they can by the artists they adore. I’m thinking of David Bowie’s Toys or Neil Young’s Homegrown which were released about 20 and 40 years after being recorded.

Critical acclaim was unlikely to be foisted upon either album if they were released in 2001 or 1975 respectively, but the focus now is giving the punters what they want.
In the blog’s latest line of compilation lists, Craig Stephen lists a mere 10 albums that never saw the light of day at the time – and probably should have. These include completed albums, works in progress and even just album ideas.

 The Who: Lifehouse (recorded 1971/1972)

After Tommy, The Who intended on doing a science fiction proto-environmental catastrophe rock opera. Sadly, as exciting as this idea sounded, the project was abandoned in favour of the traditional rock delight Who’s Next. Very little of it has not been released (elsewhere) with half a dozen tracks, including ‘Bargain’ and ‘Baba O’Riley’, appearing on Who’s Next and others popping up on Odds and Sods or other albums. But fans still want the album as it was supposed to be recorded and released.

House of Love: Untitled (recorded 1989)

After the burning success of their phenomenal self-titled debut and following their signing to Fontana, the House of Love hit the studio to record what was due to be their second masterpiece. It didn’t quite work out, however. The band was disintegrating and the recording sessions are said to be below par. What is certain is that two singles, ‘Never’ and ‘I Don’t Know Why I Love You’, would have been at the forefront of the album. As would ‘Soft as Fire’ and ‘Safe’, both B-sides but certainly album material. In 1990, after the official second album, Fontana or the Butterfly Album as it is sometimes dubbed, the label issued a collection of B-sides and outtakes called Spy In The House of Love. Among these were four tracks that would have been on that now mythical album. The standout was ‘Marble’, but the other three do hint at the issues the band were experiencing.

The The: Pornography of Despair (recorded 1982)

This would have been Matt Johnson’s debut album under the moniker of The The but was considered too oblique. Several tracks were released as B-sides and some of the album landed on the cassette of Soul Mining, the incredible album that was released in 1983 to massive acclaim and chart success. It is logical to see the merits of this decision as tracks such as ‘This Is The Day’ and ‘Uncertain Smile’ are among the best tracks The The have ever recorded.

 Clare Grogan: Trash Mad (recorded 1987)

When Altered Images broke up in the mid-80s it was only natural that lead singer Clare Grogan be set free on a solo career that capitalised on her beautiful voice and photogenic appearance. Trash Mad was written and recorded and all set to sail in 1987. But … the opening single ‘Love Bomb’, ahem, bombed despite a number of TV appearances. It certainly wasn’t a stinker, in fact it’s a near perfect pop song. Its follow-up ‘Strawberry’ was subsequently shelved and London Records also pulled the album, causing distress to millions of schoolboys. Surely Cherry Red will have eyes on issuing Trash Mad for the first time ever, ending nearly 40 years of hurt.

The Clash: Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg (recorded 1981/1982)

There was the double album (London Calling) and the triple album (Sandinista). How could the Clash possibly follow these lengthy meisterwerks? The original idea was for another double. This was Mick Jones’ baby, but sadly he was outnumbered and outgunned. Fort Bragg was shelved, and instead CBS issued Combat Rock, which is not a bad album to have in your cannon. Jones distilled various elements and influences that The Clash had used previously into a 75-minute, 18-track beast. Fort Bragg would’ve included all of the tracks that made up Combat Rock, and plenty more besides. But ‘Rock the Casbah’ et al would’ve sounded so very different. Various bootlegs have appeared over the years, but the full, unedited and mastered version NEEDS to be given a proper release.

The Bodysnatchers: Untitled (some tracks recorded 1980)

The Bodysnatchers only issued two singles, ‘Easy Life’ and ‘Let’s Do Rock Steady’, eager takes on the ska revival sound that 2-Tone mastered so well. As well as their B-sides, there’s a track that was recorded for John Peel and a version of ‘The Boiler’ which was later covered by singer Rhoda Daker and the Special AKA. In 2014 Dakar recorded an album entitled Rhoda Dakar Sings The Bodysnatchers. You can imagine that the 10 tracks were set to form The Bodysnatchers’ debut album, but it is still a solo effort.

Space: Love You More Than Football (recorded 2000)

Space were everywhere in the 1990s with supernova global hits like ‘Female of the Species’ and ‘The Ballad of Tom Jones’. After the latter, a top five hit in the UK no less, the public’s interest waned and when a single, ‘Diary of a Wimp’, flopped like an octogenarian in a brothel, the Edwyn Collins-produced Love You More Than Football (an impossible construct, of course) was scrapped. Promo copies popped up at the time and the odd track subsequently came out on compilations. It wasn’t till 2019 that a remixed version of the album was included on a boxset of all the band’s material. Is that a proper release for an unissued album? Don’t be so daft, lad.

 Department S: Sub-stance (recorded 1981)

Named after a 70s television series, this English outfit had a surprise UK hit at the end of 1980 with the rather eerie but beguiling ‘Is Vic There?’. Subsequent singles, ‘Going Left Right’ and ‘I Want’, both excellent ditties, flopped and the band have now become known as one-hit wonders rather than the indie stars some liken them to. The album recording sessions were iffy and with poor sales from the two follow-up singles, Stiff Records dropped them. A version of the album has since been released, albeit a very low-key release. Somebody do the proper thing eh!

David Bowie: The Gouster (recorded 1974)

Sometimes there’s a thin line between an unreleased album and the one that came after. The Gouster is one such item. The question is whether it was a bona fide album, or an early version of Young Americans. By 1974 Bowie had become infatuated with American soul and funk. His 1972 single ‘John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)’ was updated with the sound of Detroit and New York for The Gouster. The opening three tracks clocked in at 20 minutes, so only seven tracks would fit onto the vinyl. Four of them, ‘Young Americans’, ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’, ‘Can You Hear Me’, and ‘Right’ were re-recorded for Young Americans which came out in 1975.  That leaves the abovementioned ‘John, I’m Only Dancing (Again)’, ‘It’s Gonna Be Me’ and ‘Who Can I Be Now?’ as discarded waste. The Gouster appeared as part of the Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976) boxset. 

The Clash: Cut The Crap (1984-ish)

Yes, Cut The Crap was released and I retro-reviewed it [here]. But the version that appeared in 1985 was a travesty, a record that only really involved Joe Strummer and band manager/wannabe producer Bernie Rhodes. Paul Simonon was sidelined, and guitarists Nick Sheppard and Vince White and drummer Pete Howard weren’t even playing. Rhodes used an electronic drum machine instead of Howard. Nevertheless, when the new songs were played live in 1984 they sounded fresh and the demo versions made that year were the sound of a proper band. Rhodes takes all the blame for the dismal final effort and that is fully justified. But there is an album in there, it just needs someone to take the original demo tapes and rework them.