Author: Phil Bausch

Remember that band?  The band that had one hit in 1964?

Their lead singer wrote a song that was recorded onto a reel-to-reel recorder by the drummer’s uncle.  A local promoter got the song played on the radio.  Then, a major label released it nationally…and the song made it to number 2 on the charts!

                      (Our 1996 CD of the That Thing You Do! album)

The Wonders were a band from the mind of Tom Hanks.  He wrote the script and directed the 1996 movie, “That Thing You Do!”, about a one-hit-wonder band in 1964.  Hanks loves the music of that era, and it shows.  The movie includes the joy of first hearing your song on the radio, and attaining minor stardom.

Besides being a fun movie…it was Tom Hanks’ first script and directing experience…the movie captures that time in the ’60’s perfectly.  “That Thing You Do!” is the only movie set in that era that has original music that sounds like it actually came from the 1960’s.

The title track is a slice of infectious pop-rock similar to what The Beatles and other groups were putting out in 1964.  The Wonders also do some other good songs “Dance With Me Tonight”, “All My Only Dreams” and “Little Wild One” in their concert scenes…such as being on the “Galaxy Of Stars” tour on the state fair circuit, like Dick Clark’s “Caravan of Stars” in the ’60’s.

         (The Wonders on tour…T.B. Player, Lenny, Jimmy, and Guy)

One of the cool parts of the movie was the whole music history that went with this tour.  It included other acts with their own hits.  The character Diane Dane is a singer who probably is already toward the end of her career, but her song “My World Is Over” sounds like a Dusty Springfield hit, right down to the horn part similar to “Wishin’ and Hopin'”.  The Chantrellines sing “Hold My Hand, Hold My Heart” and sound like the Crystals or Ronettes.  These songs are so accurate to the time, that they can be dropped into the appropriate sixties playlists, and they sound right at home.  The same is true for two instrumentals.   “Voyage Around The Moon” sounds like it came from The Ventures’ album Ventures In Space, and “Shrimp Shack” could be by Junior Walker & The All Stars.

“That Thing You Do” was the first movie for Tom Everett Scott (Guy “Shades” Patterson, the drummer), and one of the first movies for Liv Tyler (Faye, the lead female character) and Charlize Theron (Tina, Guy’s girlfriend).

The other band members included Steve Zahn (Lenny the lead guitarist), Jonathan Schaech (Jimmy the lead singer), and Ethan Embry (T.B. Player,  the bass player).  And of course Tom Hanks played Mr. White who managed the band for Play Tone Records.  Hanks obviously patterned his character after Beatles Manager Brian Epstein.  There were some nice touches from Beatlemania throughout the movie.

(As we entered the theater to see the movie in 1996, we were handed the above 3-inch pin as a souvenir.)

Although the actors were taught to play their instruments and perform the songs for the movie, the actual recordings were written and played by professionals.  Adam Schlesinger, the bassist for Fountains of Wayne wrote “That Thing You Do”, and  Mike Viola of Candy Butchers provided the lead vocals for the songs by The Wonders.  Tom Hanks also co-wrote some of the songs for the movie, and obviously made sure the songs accurately represented the era.

The That Thing You Do! soundtrack made it to #21 on the Billboard album chart, and the single hit #18 on the Adult Top 40 chart.  The song also got an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.  Critics give the film a very positive 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.

If you like this type of 1960’s music…”That Thing You Do!”, is a make-you-smile look into that era.  Enjoy!

Extra:  For another fictional Rock band, here’s the link to an article on Daisy Jones & The Six:

https://ontherecords.net/2023/03/fictional-bandsdaisy-jones-the-six/

“Oh baby baby it’s a wild world.  It’s hard to get by just upon a smile.”

Most of us first heard of Cat Stevens with his break-through single “Wild World”.  It was the first hit from his album Tea for the Tillerman.

The album was released in November of 1970, and “Wild World” hit #11 in 1971.  Cat Stevens (who was born Steven Georgiou in London in 1948) actually started his career in 1967.  His debut album Matthew and Son did well in England, and the title track hit #2 there.  He also wrote the hit by The Tremeloes, “Here Comes My Baby”, and “The First Cut Is The Deepest”, which many artists have recorded.  He didn’t think his Greek name Georgiou would be very memorable, so he chose the stage name Cat Stevens…partly because a girlfriend said he had cat-like eyes.

In 1969, prior to his success in America, Stevens contracted Tuberculosis.  This was a life-changing event.  Not only did he nearly die, but the months of recovery in a hospital made him reflect on his life, and what type of music he wanted to write and perform.  By the time he recorded his 4th album, Tea for the Tillerman in mid 1970, he had a less-produced, more acoustic style that fit in well with the singer-songwriter movement that had just emerged.

Tea for the Tillerman went on to sell over 3-million copies in the United States.  It’s the kind of album you could drop the needle on and enjoy the whole thing.  Many of its songs have become well-known over the years.

His 1971 follow-up album Teaser and the Firecat was another high quality album, and gave him back-to-back albums that few careers could match.  It also sold over 3-million copies in the U.S.

Teaser and the Firecat (with another album cover featuring a drawing by Cat Stevens) gave us “Moonshadow”, “Morning Has Broken”, “The Wind” and “Peace Train”.   I also bought his other albums in the 1970’s, but these two albums represent the best of his career.

Cat Stevens developed a unique style, sometimes punctuating his songs with staccato singing, and dramatic dynamics.  But the main aspect of his songs is that they were well written, and hold up after all these years.  In fact, 47 years later, his songs have been used in dozens of television shows like “This Is Us”, and in many movies like “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”.  “This Is Us” featured “Where Do The Children Play”, “The Wind” and “Moonshadow” (in 2022 they played “Father And Son”).  “Guardians” featured “Father And Son”.

Cat Stevens sings “Father and Son” using a low calm voice for the father, and a higher more excited voice for the son.  The father is trying to convince his son to live by the dreams of the father’s generation, and the son knows he must live life in his own way.

Father: Take your time, think a lot, why, think of everything you’ve got…
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.

The son sees thing differently than his father’s generation.

Son:  If they were right, I’d agree, but it’s them they know not me.
Now there’s a way, and I know that I have to go away, I know I have to go.

Since we were young at that time, it was easy to identify with the son, and now we know that the father wasn’t all wrong.

In 1977 Cat Stevens converted from his Catholic faith to the Islamic faith, and changed his name to Yusuf Islam.  Then in 1978 he quit music completely, and for approximately 30-years simply lived life with his wife and son, rarely singing and playing music.

Slowly, about 10 years ago, Yusuf began recording and performing again, sometimes using the name Yusuf Stevens.  In 2014 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.  The songs he selected to perform at the ceremony were…”Father and Son”, “Wild World” and “Peace Train”.  He still sounded great.  It was good to hear him sing again.

Update:  (September 2020)  For the 50-year anniversary of Tea for the Tillerman, Yusuf “Cat” Stevens has re-recorded the album with new arrangements and updated artwork.

For the song “Father And Son”, Yusuf (which is the only name he uses for the album) recorded the father’s part in his current voice, but used an old recording of him singing the son’s part.  It’s a lot easier to sound like an old man when you’re young, than it is to sound like a young man when you’re old.  Yusuf has the right to reimagine his songs from today’s perspective, and some of the results are interesting, but the original album is his masterpiece.

Update:  And now there’s a really extensive box set.

A Tea For The Tillerman box set with 5 CD’s and more was released December 4th, 2020.  It includes the original album, a 2020 remix of the original album, the recently re-recorded version of the album, called Tea For The Tillerman 2, alternate takes & outtakes, and concert recordings.  This list price is $180.

You can also get the vinyl of the remastered original album, a 2-CD set of the remaster (not the remix), and some demo & live recordings. or a 1-disc remaster of the original album.  The digital set is available on iTunes, including sales of individual tracks.  The box set is also available on streaming services.

Similar sets are also available for Teaser and the Firecat:

After The Beatles arrived in America in 1964, everyone who was musically inclined wanted to start a band.  What was it like for those who did?

I was 15 at the time, and involved in vocal & band (trumpet) music in my small high school in Leigh, Nebraska.  It was in college in 1967 that I was fortunate to meet other budding musicians…and we formed a band.   The name we came up with was “The New Faction”.

We learned enough songs to start playing at fraternity parties and other small venues.  The first songs for any band starting at the time were easy ones like “Twist And Shout”, “Louie Louie”, or the early songs by The Kinks.  We weren’t very good at first, but I distinctly remember a change when we came back to school after the summer break in 1967.   We played in “The Pub” at the dorm complex, and were playing the latest songs, like “Light My Fire”.  My roommate, Eric Pierson, heard us, and said (in a surprised voice) “You got good!”.  This same young man became a brain surgeon, so you can trust him.

(We were still teenagers in this 1967 “New Faction” photo.)

There were a couple of personnel changes, and we wanted a fresh start, so we changed our name to The Rock & Soul Society.

(Two sides of our business card.  Photos enlarge with click.)

The name reflected the type of music we played…mostly the top hits of the day, plus some rock and soul favorites.  About 75% of what we covered were Rock/Pop artists like The Beatles, The Grass Roots, The Buckinghams, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.  The rest were Soul songs from artists like The Temptations, Sam & Dave, and Wilson Pickett.  Unfortunately, none of us were songwriters, so it was all cover songs, like almost all local bands.

Tom Rappl (bass), Steve Vannoy (lead guitar), Greg Nicklas (drums), Dale Murdoch (guitar & trumpet), Flip Bausch (lead vocals & trumpet), and Bob Roose (organ & lead vocals on most of the soul songs).  The photo was taken at “The Columns” near the University of Nebraska football stadium.

Like other local bands, we had to load our amplifiers and other gear (in my case, the P.A. system) into our cars to get to wherever we were playing.  Then we’d drive in a line to a ballroom, prom dance, or other venue within about 100 miles of Lincoln, Nebraska.  We’d unload it all, set it up, play a dance doing three sets of music…then…tear it down, pack it up, and do it all over again.  That was on weekends.  During weekdays, we’d practice and learn new songs.

We were paid decently for the time (typically $250…that would be $1,780 today), but it obviously wasn’t enough to make a living…it was really just because we loved performing the music.

(Singing to my girlfriend…as she posed for a photo.)

(Bob, Greg & me.  Photos are from old slides.)

(Bob, Greg, Dale & Steve)

(“Magical Mystery Tour” or another song with horn parts.)

(Bassist Dean Everitt joined the band, and did a great job.)

It always felt good when people responded enthusiastically to our playing.  I remember when The Beatles White Album came out in 1968.  The single released at that time was “Hey Jude”, and we got great feedback on that one.  But, the album itself had no singles on it, so local bands had to just choose songs we thought would be popular with audiences.  One of the cuts we chose was “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da”.  When it was brand new, we got applause for just announcing we were going to play it.  I also remember getting positive comments about our Grass Roots songs.  They were favorites of mine, because I could sing the lead, and then Dale & I could play trumpets during the instrumental portions, like the original recordings.  It was the same thing with some of the songs by The Buckinghams.

Bands like ours came and went.  We had a pretty good run of three years (‘67-‘69), but then I left, got married (to that pretty girl I was singing to 48 years ago), and did a stint as an Aviation Electronics Technician in the Navy.  However, I’ll never live down the fact that The Rock & Soul Society was playing at a prom in Iowa on the night I should have taken Jeannette to her senior prom in Plainview, Nebraska.

After I left, the band went on for a while longer, but Lincoln, Nebraska isn’t considered a stepping stone to musical fame.  The exception was one of the biggest one-hit-wonders of all time…Zager & Evans.  Their original song “In The Year 2525” was number one for six weeks in 1969.  It was their only recording to make the Hot 100.  One night we were playing in Lincoln before “2525” was released.  A guy came up to me during a break and told me he had recently seen Zager & Evans.  He said “You guys should get yourselves a special song like they have”.  If only it were that easy!

I want to mention one other local band, The Chancellors, also from Lincoln.  They were an exceptional band, which included a friend of mine from grade school, Keith Goins.  Keith and his brother Dennis moved to our small town when Keith and I were both in the 4th grade.  Keith played guitar, and we sang songs together.  He moved to Columbus, where he started The Echoes in high school, and then joined The Chancellors in Lincoln.  Keith was the lead guitarist, and Dennis the drummer.

I’m happy to report that all these years later, our keyboardist, Bob Roose, still performs with a band, Blues Agent, in Omaha.  Steve Vannoy still plays guitar, and his wife Barb plays keyboards.  When Steve & Barb visited Oregon recently, Steve picked up his guitar and played absolutely great.  He told me Dale Murdoch plays guitar with him from time to time.  Me, I still sing along with my music collection.

(Steve Vannoy, September 2017, while visiting the Oregon coast.)

The story of The Rock & Soul Society is typical.  Few local bands get very far beyond the point we did.  It’s partly because we all had to earn a “real” living, and lead lives that included spouses and families.  It points to the fact that those who do “make it” are probably truly gifted songwriters, singers, and instrumentalists.  Also, they very likely made personal sacrifices to follow their musical dreams.

Extra:  The Nebraska Performing Arts Hall Of Fame used our photo for an event in 2021.

David Crosby & Graham Nash loved to blend their voices.

From 1965 into 1968, David Crosby sang harmony and sometimes lead with The Byrds.  During those same years, Graham Nash sang harmony and sometimes lead with The Hollies.  Together, their voices were magic.

When they formed Crosby, Stills & Nash with Stephen Stills in 1968, they took on different roles in the group.  Graham Nash could write memorable melodies.  He wrote five of CSN(&Y)’s nine Top-40 hits…”Marrakesh Express”, “Teach Your Children”, “Our House”, “Just A Song Before I Go”, and “Wasted On The Way”.  His writing was seriously important to the popularity of the group.

David Crosby didn’t write any of their hits.  Instead, he wrote songs of social conscience, or artistic love songs that didn’t fit on the pop music charts… “Guinevere”, “Long Time Gone”, “Deja Vu”, “In My Dreams”, and many more that added depth and beauty to their CSN albums.

After the initial rush of CSN&Y, Graham Nash released his 1971 solo album Songs For Beginners, with…”Chicago”, “Simple Man”, “Sleep Song” and “I Used To Be A King”.

David Crosby’s 1971 album is If I Could Only Remember My Name, with… “Laughing”, “Orleans”, “Music Is Love” and “Traction In The Rain”.

David Crosby and Graham Nash then worked together on three studio albums that made it into the top-30… Graham Nash David Crosby (1972, #4), Wind On The Water (1975 #6), and Whistling Down The Wire (1976 #26).  Some favorite songs from these albums include:  “Southbound Train”, “The Wall Song”, “Games”, “Immigration Man”, “Where Will I Be?”, “Page 43”, “Taken At All”, “Homeward Through The Haze”, and maybe their best collaboration, “Critical Mass/Wind On The Water”.

They continued to do other CSN(&Y) albums and solo albums.  As in the previous article for Stephen Stills, I’ve tried to summarize their careers with single playlists that are approximately CD length.  It’s a way of better seeing their individual contributions to the group, as well as their solo work.

Graham Nash Career Best:

1. King Midas In Reverse (Hollies)
2. Dear Eloise (Hollies)
3. Marrakesh Express (CSN)
4. Lady Of The Island (CSN)
5. Teach Your Children (CSN)
6. Our House (CSN)
7. Simple Man
8. Chicago
9. Sleep Song
10. I Used To Be A King
11. Immigration Man (Crosby & Nash)
12. Southbound Train (Crosby & Nash)
13. Taken At All (CSN&Y)
14. Wind On The Water (Crosby & Nash)
15. Another Sleep Song
16. Prison Song (CSN&Y)
17. And So It Goes
18. Cathedral (CSN)
19. Just A Song Before I Go (CSN)
20. Wasted On The Way (CSN)
21. Find A Dream (CSN)
22. This Path Tonight
23. Encore

David Crosby Career Best:

1. Renaissance Fair (Byrds)
2. Guinnevere (CSN)
3. Long Time Gone (CSN)
4. Almost Cut My Hair (Alternate version, CSN&Y)
5. Deja Vu (CSN)
6. The Lee Shore (CSN&Y)
7. Orleans
8. Laughing
9. Traction In The Rain
10. The Wall Song (Crosby & Nash)
11. Games (Crosby & Nash)
12. Where Will I Be (Crosby & Nash)
13. Page 43 (Crosby & Nash)
14. For Free (Byrds)
15. Homeward Through The Haze (CSN&Y)
16. Time After Time (Crosby & Nash)
17. In My Dreams (CSN)
18. Anything At All (CSN)
19. Delta (CSN)
20. River Rise (with Michael McDonald)
21. Rodriguez For A Night

If you love songs with great melodies, harmonies, and thoughtful lyrics, Crosby & Nash deliver!

Although they were no longer recording together, David Crosby and Graham Nash still put out solo albums.  Among them, Crosby’s Croz (2014) and Nash’s This Path Tonight (2016) are both solid.

David Crosby and Graham Nash provided over 50 years of some of the best harmony anyone will ever hear.  We were lucky to share in it.

Update (July 23rd, 2021):  David Crosby released a really good album, For Free.  Here’s the link for the review:

https://ontherecords.net/2021/07/david-crosbyfor-free-album-review/

(Please check out the previous article on Stephen Stills.)  Here’s the link:

https://ontherecords.net/2017/11/stephen-stills-hey-whats-that-sound/

He doesn’t seem to get the credit he deserves.

If it weren’t for Stephen Stills writing the 1967 #7 hit “For What It’s Worth (Stop, Hey What’s That Sound)”, most people wouldn’t have heard Buffalo Springfield.

The group’s other star-to-be was Neil Young, but “For What It’s Worth” was their only hit.  Some other Buffalo Springfield songs were later played on Album Oriented Rock FM stations, including Stills’ “Rock & Roll Woman” and “Bluebird”.

Next came Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1969.  Stills was a dominant force on the album, with “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, “Helplessly Hoping”, “You Don’t Have To Cry”, “49 Bye Byes” and “Wooden Ships” (which he had written with David Crosby prior to CSN).  But it wasn’t just songwriting and singing, Stills played most of the instruments (only some of the drumming) on all but two tracks.  This takes nothing away from the great songs and contributions by David Crosby and Graham Nash…it was just how the first album was done.

The follow up album was CSN&Y’s Deja Vu in 1970.  Besides lots of lead guitar and other instrumental work, Stills’ main contributions included “Carry On/Questions”, “4 + 20”, and a great lead vocal on Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock”.

Then it was solo time.

The albums Stephen Stills and Stephen Stills 2 were released in 1970 and 1971.  Among the tracks were “Love The One You’re With”, “Do For The Others”, “Change Partners”, “Nothin’ To Do But Today”, “Sugar Babe”, and “Know You Got To Run”.  Stills was not really a singles artist, but the albums did well, reaching #3 and #8 respectively.  Next came one of the best albums of his career.

Manassas was a group of top musicians, as assembled by Stephen Stills.  It was Stephen Stills (lead guitar & keyboards), Chris Hillman (of the Byrds) [guitar & mandolin], Dallas Taylor (Drums), Paul Harris (keyboards),  Fuzzy Samuels (bass), Al Perkins (pedal steel & guitar), and Joe Lala (percussion).  This is a great 2-record album filled with solid songs, including “It Doesn’t Matter”, “So Begins The Task”, “Johnny’s Garden”, “Don’t Look At My Shadow”, “Blues Man”…and many more.  It’s a wonderful mix of Rock and Country Rock.  Critics praised the album.

In fact, I remember reading the glowing review in Rolling Stone, and right next to it was the review of the Graham Nash David Crosby album.  It too got a great review, and is probably the best album by Crosby & Nash.  It includes “Southbound Train”, “Games”, “Immigration Man”, “Page 43” and “The Wall Song”.

But wait, there’s more.  Neil Young also released his Harvest album.  The three albums were all in the Top-10 at the same time in June of 1972.  Manassas (a more expensive double album) hit #4, Graham Nash David Crosby also peaked at #4, and of course Harvest hit #1.  It was amazing that the members of CSN&Y could all have so much simultaneous success.

Stills “solo” studio projects included another Manassas album Down The Road (1972), Stills (1975), Illegal Stills (1976), Thoroughfare Gap (1978), Right By You (1984), Stills Alone (1991), Man Alive! (2005), a collection of 1968 demos Just Roll Tape (2007), some 1972 Manassas outtakes Pieces (2009), and an album with Judy Collins Everybody Knows (2017).

(Photo I took in 1977 at a CSN concert)

Of course sprinkled in were CSN& sometimes Y albums: CSN (1977), Daylight Again (1982), American Dream (1988), Live It Up (1990), After The Storm (1994), and Looking Forward (1999).

In a July, 2021 interview with American Songwriter, David Crosby said of Stephen Stills… “He was he best one in the band.  Best singer, best songwriter, best guitar player.  I admire him tremendously.”

One thing that’s never been released is a really good collection of the best music of Stephen Stills’ career.  There is a box set, Carry On, but some of the song selections and versions are poor choices.  It’s also too sprawling and expensive.  Only the most hardcore fans will have purchased it.

Here’s a suggested career retrospective that would be considered a double album, would fit on one CD, and would attract more music fans.

Stephen Stills Career Best:

1. For What It’s Worth…Buffalo Springfield
2. Rock & Roll Woman…Buffalo Springfield
3. Bluebird…Buffalo Springfield
4. You Don’t Have To Cry…CSN
5. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes…CSN
6. Helplessly Hoping…CSN
7. 4 + 20…CSN
8. Carry On/Questions…CSN
9. Woodstock…CSN&Y
10. Find The Cost Of Freedom…CSN&Y
11. Love The One You’re With
12. Do For The Others
13. Change Partners
14. So Begins The Task…Manassas
15. It Doesn’t Matter…Manassas
16. Johnny’s Garden…Manassas
17. Right Now…Manassas
18. Blues Man…Manassas
19. As I Come Of Age (w C&N)
20. See The Changes…CSN
21. Southern Cross…CSN
22. Daylight Again…CSN
23. Treetop Flyer

This gives a good look at many of the main contributions Stephen Stills has made to the world of music.  Only 6 of the 23 songs are on the CSN Greatest Hits album, so this album would do a much better job of reflecting his career and letting people get to know his music.  Still’s impressive songwriting, excellent guitar playing, and distinctive vocals demonstrate he deserves to be included in the discussion of the best singers, songwriters, and musicians.  Stephen Stills is much more than one-third of a great group.

Bonus:  Here’s a link to the story of Stephen Stills’ “Treetop Flyer”.

https://ontherecords.net/2022/06/stephen-stills-treetop-flyer/

Update 2023:  Stills released an historic live album on April 28th, 2023.

Here’s the link to info and my review of Stills’ live album:  https://ontherecords.net/2023/04/stephen-stillslive-at-berkeley-1971-review/

The Beatles were different than other groups.  They didn’t include many of their singles on their albums, even when they came from the same recording sessions.  In fact, there were 32 songs The Beatles released on singles in England that were not originally placed on their albums.  That includes eleven #1 hits.  It’s absolutely unthinkable that any other group or artist could or would do that.

The reason given by The Beatles and producer George Martin was that they didn’t want fans who bought the single to have to pay for those songs again on an album.  Normally, during each album’s recording sessions, they recorded about 14 songs for an album, and two songs for a single.  The Beatles treated singles and albums as separate ways to present their music, while most artists hoped popular singles would help sell their albums.

That policy on singles didn’t hold in America, and there were major differences between British and American albums.  Despite all the criticism Capitol Records has received over how they put the albums together, sometimes their choices were good.

The British version of America’s first Capitol album, Meet The Beatles, is called With The Beatles.  The American version is far superior, because it has three excellent songs that were not on the British album…”I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “I Saw Her Standing There”, and “This Boy”.  Those three important songs lead off the American album, which was The Beatles’ introduction to most Americans.  Good move Capitol.

Other major early singles that were not on British Beatles albums, but were on American versions include…“She Loves You” (on The Beatles’ Second Album), “I Feel Fine” and “She’s A Woman” (both on Beatles ’65).  The single “From Me To You” didn’t appear on a British or American album until later collections, but would have fit nicely on The Early Beatles.

Above are the two sides of my CD’s (with cardboard sleeves) of the American releases by Capitol records (click to enlarge).  These 1964 & 1965 albums were made available in this form in 2004 & 2006.  It didn’t simply give American fans a chance to enjoy the albums as we knew them, but for the first time it gave us remastered STEREO versions.  When the first four Beatles albums were released on CD, they were in mono only, so having stereo versions was the real draw.

British albums normally had 14 songs, and U.S. albums usually only had 11 or 12.  Capitol used this as an opportunity to “save” some album tracks, and then make new albums by combining them with singles that hadn’t been placed on previous albums.  That’s how we got American albums that didn’t even exist in England, especially…The Beatles’ Second Album, Something New and Beatles VI.

Then in 1966 came “Yesterday”…and Today.  Above is my 1995 promo CD that actually features a version of the infamous “butcher cover”, which was the original cover for the album.  Negative reaction to it from radio stations and reviewers caused Capitol to recall the album and change the cover to a harmless photo of The Beatles and a steamer trunk.  Musically, the album has a lot of good songs, but it’s a real Frankenstein’s monster, pieced together from many parts.  It has the singles “We Can Work It Out” & “Day Tripper”.  Three songs from the yet-to-be-released Revolver…”I’m Only Sleeping”, “Doctor Robert”, & “And Your Bird Can Sing”.  Two songs from Help…”Yesterday” & “Act Naturally”.   Plus, there are four songs from Rubber Soul…”Drive My Car”, “Nowhere Man”, “If I Needed Someone”, and “What Goes On”.

The Beatles decided that beginning with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, British and American albums would contain exactly the same songs.  But, let’s take a look at some of the albums that were missing singles, before and after Sgt. Pepper.  These were songs intentionally left off…by The Beatles.

The Rubber Soul recording sessions included “We Can Work It Out” and “Day Tripper”, which were released as a double A-side single on the same day as the album.  The Revolver sessions included “Paperback Writer” and “Rain”.  The Sgt. Pepper sessions included “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever”.  The White Album sessions included “Hey Jude” and “Revolution”.  And, the Let It Be sessions included “Don’t Let Me Down”.

As great as those five albums are, wouldn’t they have been even more amazing if those singles could have been included?  Of course we can include them with our playlists.

For Rubber Soul…Revolver… and Sgt. Pepper, I drop the missing singles between the original sides of the albums.  Rubber Soul gets “We Can Work It Out” & “Day Tripper”.  “Paperback Writer” and “Rain” sound like they belong on Revolver, and that even places “Rain” just before “Good Day Sunshine”.  In Sgt. Pepper, “Penny Lane” sounds great after “Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite”, and the ending of “Strawberry Fields Forever” transitions nicely into “Within You Without You”.  Producer George Martin would be pleased to finally have those two songs on the album.

Although all the albums were the same starting in 1967, The Beatles still released singles, plus a six song EP (extended play) collection in England to go with their film Magical Mystery Tour.  Capitol had a better idea.  Take those non-album singles…”Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Penny Lane”, “Hello Goodbye”, “Baby You’re A Rich Man”, and “All You Need Is Love”, combine them with the six songs from the film, and you’ve got a really good album, Magical Mystery Tour.  This was such a good idea by Capitol, that when the other Beatles albums were released on CD, the American version of Magical Mystery Tour also became the official British version.

The most “lost” single by The Beatles is probably “Lady Madonna”.  It was released in early 1968, after Magical Mystery Tour, but well before The White Album.  It was a song without a home, although Capitol later put it on a compilation album made up of old singles…Hey Jude.  “Lady Madonna” is on my Magical Mystery Tour playlist.

Singles Chart:  (click to enlarge, save with screenshot)

To find which songs & single versions were not included on British Beatles albums, you can simply look at the Past Masters discs that collected them.

“Love Me Do”, “Get Back” “Across The Universe” & “Let It Be” were on British albums, but in different versions.  In addition, the singles that ended up on the Magical Mystery Tour CD were not originally on UK albums.

So, which is the best Beatles album when you add in the appropriate singles?  No matter which one you choose, you’re right, because there is no one “correct” answer.

Rubber Soul…Revolver…and Sgt. Pepper represent three of the best albums ever recorded.  With the addition of “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever”, Sgt. Pepper is really strong…but it would be easy to justify choosing any of these albums as the best.

And here’s another thought.  Imagine how good The White Album would be if it started off with “Revolution”, ended with “Hey Jude”, and you could fill it in with the 12 best songs off the original double album to make a single album.  That leaves Abbey Road (no singles added), and some people already think it’s the best.

Choosing the best Beatles album?  I should have known better, you can’t do that.  But, it’s fun trying…especially if you listen to all the albums again.

“Light My Fire”…the difference between AM & FM radio.

Jim Morrison (lead vocals), Ray Manzarek (keyboards), Robby Krieger (guitar), & John Densmore (drums)

FM Radio was developed in the 1930’s.  I collect old radios, and had a Sonora table radio from 1948 that was AM/FM and could receive today’s FM stations.  But in reality, it wasn’t until the mid to late 1960’s that FM radio started becoming popular.  FM stands for Frequency Modulation, and AM is Amplitude Modulation.  By modulating the frequency of a radio wave instead of it’s size, FM allows for greater fidelity, stereo, and as Steely Dan said “no static at all”.

(Funny fact:  Steely Dan’s song “FM” actually had an edited version played on AM stations.  The FM was edited out, and the song was simply called “No Static At All”.)

In January of 1967 The Doors released their first album.

The album was not an instant hit, and the first single “Break On Through”… didn’t.  It stiffed at #126.  What to do?  There was this great song on the album, “Light My Fire”, but it was 7-minutes long.  The radio stations with the most listeners were AM, and they mainly played singles that were about 3-minutes long.  No new group was going to get a 7-minute single on the charts.  So, an extremely smart decision was made.  Elektra edited the long instrumental section out of “Light My Fire” to make a single that was under 3-minutes.  It’s one of the great singles…exciting and dramatic.  It went to #1, stayed there for three weeks in July & August of 1967, and sold nearly a million copies.  By September, The Doors album went to # 2, pulled to that position by the power of “Light My Fire”, and only held out of #1 By Sgt. Pepper.

AM radio stations played the 3-minute single of “Light My Fire”, and FM stations played the 7-minute album track.  This was the first time there was such an obvious difference in the versions of the same song being played on AM & FM.  It was a big draw for FM, because Doors fans felt FM stations were playing the “real” version of the song.  It was about this time I bought a Kenwood Receiver/Amplifier that only had the FM band.

  My late 1960’s Kenwood FM Receiver/Amplifier (click to enlarge)

Basically, I listened to FM at home (KFMQ), and AM in my car (KLMS & KOMA), because like most cars, mine only had an AM radio.  AOR (Album Oriented Rock) FM stations began to grow in popularity, FM tuners became more plentiful, and album sales increased.  Originally, FM stations could feature more music and longer songs because they didn’t have as many advertisers as the more popular AM stations.  They also featured less news and information.  Listeners liked the “more music” of FM, as well as the stereo and superior sound quality.  By 1978, FM Radio surpassed AM Radio in the number of listeners, and by the end of the 1980’s most AM stations had shifted from music to the News/Talk format.

It’s interesting that The Doors broke into the mainstream because of the single version of “Light My Fire”, and yet The Doors didn’t include that single on any of their many “Hits” albums.  Fifty years after it was #1, It finally found the light of day in The Doors’ The Singles collection this September.  It’s great we have both versions of the song, but if I could only have one version, I’d choose the single.  Sure the album cut is innovative, but the instrumental kind of meanders for a little too long, and it simply doesn’t pack the power of the single.  The only problem with the single is that it’s mono.  Almost everyone prefers stereo over mono, but they’ve only officially released the mono version, even on the new collection.  There is one rare exception.

When I bought some “jukebox singles” for our vintage 1964 jukebox (in the late ’80’s), I came across this stereo single!  The mix sounds great, and of course I have a digital copy of it on our computer.  Since this stereo mix exists, why not make it readily available and let fans choose it if they wish?  Here’s the stereo single:

Besides “Light My Fire”, some other famous songs that had shorter edited versions for AM radio include:  Bob Dylan’s (6:00) “Like A Rolling Stone” in 1965, Iron Butterfly’s (17-minute) “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in 1968, and Crosby, Stills & Nash’s (7:23) “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” in 1969.  Even today, there are still “radio versions” that include edits or special mixes in order for artists to get their songs on the air.

The most classic “Light My Fire” story comes from The Doors’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.  That show provided the greatest exposure a musical act could get at the time.  Ed Sullivan and the producers decided “Girl, we couldn’t get much higher” must be a drug reference, so they said the lyrics needed to be changed.  After all, they got The Rolling Stones to sing “Let’s spend some time together” instead of “Let’s spend the night together”.  So The Doors agreed to sing “Girl, we couldn’t get much better“.  However, when The Doors performed, Jim Morrison defiantly sang the original “higher”.  The group was told they’d never do the Sullivan show again.  Jim Morrison responded “We just ‘did’ Sullivan”, and that was all they needed.  That’s the version as it was told by Ray Manzarek.

In his book, Set The Night On Fire, Robby Krieger writes that The Doors were told not to sing “higher”, but didn’t take it too seriously.  He says Jim Morrison just sang the song the way he always did, and it wasn’t really a big defiant move.

Once “Light My Fire” ignited their career, The Doors had five years of recording success, with 8 Top-40 hits, and six studio albums.  Their career shockingly ended with the death of Jim Morrison at the age of 27 in 1971.  The group officially disbanded in 1973.  The fact that The Doors are still so highly regarded, speaks to the originality and quality of their songs and recordings.

The term “Folk Rock” didn’t exist, until the American music press came up with it to describe The Byrds’ album Mr. Tambourine Man in June of 1965.

“Mr. Tambourine Man” was an unreleased song by Bob Dylan when the members of the Byrds first heard it.  It was an acoustic folk song in 2/4 time.

Jim McGuinn (lead guitar & vocals), Michael Clarke (drums),  Chris Hillman (bass & vocals), Gene Clark (guitar & vocals), and David Crosby (guitar & vocals).

The members of The Byrds came from a folk background, but had been experimenting with adding a “Beatles sound” to folk songs.  Jim McGuinn (he later changed his name to Roger McGuinn), said The Beatles had already incorporated some folk minor-chord changes into their music as far back as 1963.  In 1964, McGuinn also saw George Harrison play a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar in the film “A Hard Days Night”, and bought his own.

The Byrds had been struggling to become successful in the music business, and McGuinn thought “Mr. Tambourine Man” was their last chance to get it right.  The Byrds changed the time signature to a 4/4 rock beat.  They also selected what they felt were the best verses, in order to keep the song under 3-minutes, so radio stations would play it.  Roger McGuinn’s bright 12-string guitar playing was featured to give it a “jangly” sound.  McGuinn, Crosby, and Clark sang in beautiful three-part harmony as arranged by David Crosby.

Because of the importance of the make-or-break recording, session players were used for the remaining instruments of the single.  They also played on the flip side, but that was it.  From that point on, the playing and singing was by the members of The Byrds.  The single was released in April of 1965.

The song “Mr. Tambourine Man” went to #1, and the album rose to #6.  Other notable songs on Mr. Tambourine Man are the excellent “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” written by Gene Clark, “The Bells Of Rhymney” by Pete Seeger & Idris Davies, and two more Bob Dylan songs “Chimes Of Freedom” and “All I Really Want To Do”.  That last one was also covered by Cher.  She was just coming off the first Sonny & Cher hit “I Got You Babe”.  The duo had heard The Byrds perform the Dylan song at a club in Los Angeles, and rushed to put it out.

The Byrds were the major players in the move to Folk Rock, but they certainly weren’t alone.  The Beau Brummels had released “Laugh Laugh” (#15) and “Just A LIttle” (#8) in early 1965 prior to the success by The Byrds.  Also, The Searchers had used the same jangly 12-string guitar work on “Needles & Pins” (#13) and “When You Walk In The Room” (#35) in 1964.  However, “Mr. Tambourine Man” was the first recording to mix that rock sound with true folk lyrics as written by Bob Dylan.  That’s why the term Folk Rock was so appropriate.

Bob Dylan liked the new arrangements by Roger McGuinn and the rest of The Byrds.  He too had been experimenting with adding a band sound to his music, and he completed the move in 1965 with the classics “Like A Rolling Stone” and “Positively 4th Street”.

Meanwhile, The Byrds recorded their second album of 1965, Turn! Turn! Turn!  The title track (written by Pete Seeger) charted as a single in November, and was another #1 hit.  Other tracks include Dylan’s “Lay Down Your Weary Tune”, and a McGuinn song about the JFK assassination, “He Was A Friend Of Mine”.

Folk Rock grew with artists like The Turtles (“It Ain’t Me Babe” by Dylan), The Beatles (“You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” & George Harrison’s homage to The Byrds “If I Needed Someone”), Barry McGuire (“Eve Of Destruction”), The Grass Roots (“Where Were You When I Needed You”),  The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Mamas & The Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, and more.

Music styles progressed quickly in the ’60s.  Just 6-months after The Byrds released “Mr. Tambourine Man”, the unofficial start of Folk Rock, Gene Clark, Roger McGuinn, and David Crosby wrote the song “Eight Miles High” (November 1965).  The song was inspired by their flight back to America from performing in London.

              (My 1966 picture sleeve for the single “Eight Miles High”)

The song was recorded at the beginning of 1966, and released in March.  Released just weeks earlier was “Shapes Of Things” by The Yardbirds.  Both songs hit the Top-40 in April.  These two are considered the first full-blown examples of Psychedelic Rock.  Other recordings had included elements used in Psychedelic Rock, but these two songs were the culmination of those experiments.

For their third album, Fifth Dimension (July, 1966) The Byrds recorded without Gene Clark, who left after “Eight Miles High”.  He reportedly left because of tensions in the band, as well as a fear of flying.  The quality of the album was not up to the first two albums.  It still had some Folk Rock (no Dylan songs though).  It also had Psychedelic Rock (“Eight Miles” and “5D”), and Country Rock (“Mr. Spaceman”).  It showed The Byrds were willing to expand their sound.

The Byrd’s 1967 album would have more of the same, but at a higher quality level.

Younger Than Yesterday might be The Byrds’ best album…right there with Mr. Tambourine Man.  Like Pet Sounds, it wasn’t extremely popular at the time of release, but has grown in stature.  “So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star” (with a horn part by Hugh Masekela), and “My Back Pages” (written by Bob Dylan) were the hit singles.  Chris Hillman who’s an accomplished guitarist and mandolin player, as well as bassist, really came through with his songwriting.  He contributed the Country Rock songs “Have You Seen Her Face”, “Time Between”, and “The Girl With No Name”.  David Crosby also impressed with “Everybody’s Been Burned” and “Renaissance Fair” (with McGuinn).

The Notorious Byrd Brothers was released in January of 1968.  It was one of their weaker efforts, and didn’t sell as well as previous albums.  On the plus side, the album included a couple of strong songs by Carole King & Gerry Goffin, “Goin’ Back” and “Wasn’t Born To Follow”.  The Byrds blended the elements of Folk Rock, Psychedelic Rock, and Country Rock into their songs, instead of displaying them in separate songs.  It may have been the first album with a pedal steel guitar and a Moog synthesizer.

This was the last album to feature David Crosby.  He left/was fired mainly due to creative differences and some admittedly erratic behavior.  He felt more of his songs should have been included on their albums…in particular his threesome song “Triad”.  Drummer Michael Clarke was also dismissed from the band.

From this point, The Byrds would no longer have hit singles, but would still release influential albums, especially for Country Rock.  The years of many personnel changes (1968-1971), resulted in a real mixed-bag of albums, Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde, Ballad Of Easy Rider, (Untitled), Byrdmaniax, and Farther Along.  They did include some good songs… “Hickory Wind” (by Gram Parsons), “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”, “Ballad Of Easy Rider”, “Jesus Is Just Alright”, “Just A Season”, and “I Wanna Grow Up To Be A Politician”.

The original line-up of The Byrds had a reunion in 1972 for one last album, Byrds (released in March, 1973).  It was a commercial success (#20), and the highest charting Byrds’ album since their first.  However, it was not popular with critics who thought the band had not really jelled.

Good tracks include “Full Circle”, two Neil Young songs “See The Sky About To Rain” & “Cowgirl In The Sand”, and David Crosby’s vocal on the Joni Mitchell song “For Free”.

The Byrds Box Set (4 CD’s) was released in 1990…I couldn’t pass it up.  It’s a great history of the band, has some never before released songs, and four new studio tracks.  These include “From A Distance” (later recorded by Bette Midler, but the Byrd’s folk treatment is better), “Love That Never Dies” and a re-recording of “He Was A Friend Of Mine”, adding a third harmony part.  The three tracks were recorded by Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman.  Highly recommended is a single disc collection of The Byrd’s best songs, 20 Essential Tracks From The Boxed Set.  (Zoom or click to enlarge the image.)

Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, Chris Hillman and Gene Clark all continued to make more good music.  David Crosby became the most famous, with a little help from his friends Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young.

The Byrds were not “America’s answer to The Beatles” as they were once mislabeled; however, they gave us many classic recordings, and were very influential pioneers in the evolution of Folk Rock, Psychedelic Rock, and Country Rock.

Update 1/19/23:  David Crosby passed away at the age of 81.  The last couple of years, David talked about his fragile health.  His family was with him when he passed.  Crosby had been working on a new album, and was planning for a tour before his passing.

Bob Seger showed amazing perseverance.  He had his first top-twenty hit in early 1969 with “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” (#17) under the name the Bob Seger System.  It would be eight years (and 9 albums) until his next hit single, “Night Moves” (#4) in 1977.  Many music careers don’t even last eight years.

Actually, it was the year before, 1976, when Bob Seger made a great decision.  He and his backing group, The Silver Bullet Band, hadn’t been capturing their live rocking sound in the studio, so they released a 2-record concert album, Live Bullet.  It’s one of the best live Rock albums of all time.  In front of his hometown fans in Detroit, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band rocked “Travelin’ Man”, “Beautiful Loser”, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”, “Katmandu”, and the soulful road song “Turn The Page”.

That album got Seger a lot of FM airplay, but it was the one-two punch of also releasing an excellent studio album, Night Moves, later that same year (1976) that brought Bob Seger to national attention.

Night Moves has the hits “Mainstreet” and the title track, plus album cuts that got played like singles…”Rock & Roll Never Forgets” and “The Fire Down Below”.

The songs from those two 1976 albums kept Bob Seger on radio stations throughout 1977, and the public was primed for Bob Seger’s next album, 1978’s Stranger In Town.

If you’re familiar with Stranger In Town, you know it’s one of the rare albums that’s good all the way through.  It has four hit singles “Still The Same” (#4), “Hollywood Nights” (#12), “We’ve Got Tonite” (#13), and “Old Time Rock & Roll” (#28).  That last one became popular again later, when it was featured in the 1983 Tom Cruise movie “Risky Business”.  Stranger In Town went platinum almost immediately, went on to go 6x platinum in the U.S., and broke Seger internationally.

Bob Seger then had a #1 album, Against The Wind in 1980.  It topped the Billboard album chart for six weeks, and had three hit singles, “Fire Lake” (#6), “Against The Wind” (#5), and “You’ll Accompany Me” (#14).  It was another huge seller, with over 5-million copies sold in the U.S.

Bob Seger continued his success with Top-10 albums from 1982 to 2014, including The Distance (#5), Like A Rock (#3), The Fire Inside (#7), Face The Promise (#4), and Ride Out (#3).  That means Bob Seger has had recordings on the charts in six straight decades! 

Even with all those decades in the music business, Bob Seger made one miscalculation…he was late to music streaming.  He held out from having his music for sale online, such as on iTunes, and having it on the various music streaming services, like Spotify or Pandora.  He missed out on a lot of digital sales, and his rightful place in Classic Rock type formats and playlists.

Bob Seger started correcting that with the 2011 release of Ultimate Hits: Rock & Roll Never Forgets.  It’s basically a two-disc length collection of his career, and is a steal at $12.99 for 26 songs on iTunes.  You may also want to cherry pick some more of his songs from other albums.

His latest album is I Knew You When.  It includes a song for his friend, the late Glenn Frey, simply called “Glenn Song”.

Bob and Glenn were both from Detroit, and were good friends.  Glenn played guitar and sang backup on Seger’s first hit “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man”, and then performed (like most of the other Eagles) on various Bob Seger albums.

We watched the television broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors for the Eagles in December of 2016.  Of course this was after the death of Glenn Frey (January, 2016).  The band Kings Of Leon performed a faithful rendition of “Take It Easy”, and I thought they had done a pretty good job.  But then, Bob Seger took the stage to perform “Heartache Tonight”, a song he co-wrote with Glenn Frey, Don Henley & J.D. Souther.  Man did he take everyone to school on how to sing Rock & Roll!  He didn’t overdo it, or sing too hard, he sang it with just the right amount of emotion and grit.  It was satisfying to read articles after the show that talked about how amazingly Bob Seger had performed a song originally sung by his friend, Glenn.

As you can see from the photos, Bob Seger has gone from a young long-haired rock star, to a silver-haired rock star.  He’s in his 70’s…and never forgets how to Rock & Roll.

Sometimes successful musicians have that one amazing peak to their careers, for Bruce Springsteen it was Born In The U.S.A.

The album was recorded in the first quarter of 1984, and released in June.  Prior to the release of the album, Columbia Records released the first single “Dancing In The Dark”.  It turned out to be Springsteen’s biggest single ever, peaking at #2, and going platinum (over a million copies sold).  A couple of things helped the single.  One, was the flip side…”Pink Cadillac”…which could have been a great single on it’s own.  The other thing was the video.  It featured a young Courtney Cox (future “Friends” actress) as a fan who was pulled up on the stage to dance with The Boss.

MTV played the heck out of the video, and it introduced Bruce Springsteen to a lot more music fans.  Other popular videos followed as more singles were released.

Like most people, I originally missed Bruce Springsteen’s first two albums in 1973, but I started purchasing his albums when he broke into the mainstream with his third album, Born To Run, in 1975.  I bought the Born In The U.S.A. album right away in 1984, based on the “Dancing In The Dark” single.  So I dropped the needle and listened closely to the entire album.  Later, I listened to the whole thing again and decided I liked it all…except the first song.

It’s probably because Bruce uses a guttural scream sound in his voice throughout, and because I have a tendency to not like choruses that are essentially one line, such as “Born In The U.S.A.”.  I’m certainly in the minority, because it’s very popular with fans.  By the way, “Born In The U.S.A.” is still widely misinterpreted as a patriotic song with the singer boasting about being born in the U.S.A.  Actually, it’s mainly about being forced to fight in Vietnam, and the poor treatment faced by returning veterans.  And no, Springsteen says the cover photo is not meant to give the impression he’s urinating on the flag.

Bruce was the first artist to have seven Top-10 singles from one album…“Dancing In The Dark” (#2), “Cover Me” (#7), “Born In The USA” (#9), “I’m On Fire” (#6), “Glory Days” (#5), “I’m Goin’ Down” (#9), and “My Hometown” (#6).  He probably could have released an 8th Top-10 hit with “No Surrender”, a song which was played on Rock FM stations more than some of the singles.  There are a lot of Greatest Hits albums that don’t have that many Top-10 hits.

Having so many great songs on the album is a demonstration of Bruce Springsteen’s strong songwriting.  He could have even added “Pink Cadillac”.  With that string of hit singles, Born In The U.S.A. was the top-selling album of 1985.  It has officially sold over 15-million copies in the U.S.A., and over 30-million worldwide.  Springsteen has had a lot of other successful albums, but none have come close in sales.  Born To Run is second, with an official 6-million copies in the U.S.

(This promo shot would have made a good cover too.)

One aspect of overwhelming success is that some people will claim you “sold out” or “became too commercial”.  It’s understandable that early fans might feel that way.  After all, they discovered the artist and liked the way he sounded.  For Born In The U.S.A., there was a change to a more produced sound with synthesizers.  But in reality, it was mostly the same musicians he used for years, and the lyrics were consistent with his previous work.  He was simply at the peak of his Glory Days.

Update:  If you’re a vinyl collector, and you don’t have Born In The U.S.A., you might want to spring 34.98 (list price) for the 40th Anniversary edition.  There are no extra songs, but it’s pressed on red vinyl.  (It was released on June 14th, 2024)

If you zoom in on the sticker, you can see there are some extra inserts provided with the gatefold album.  There is no CD version.  It’s a little surprising that there are no demos, alternate takes, or other songs from around that time that would have made the release more interesting and more attractive to his regular fans.