The Rolling Stones - We Love You (1967)

This album collects leftovers from the tail end of 1966 through the end of 1967, and continues to follow the 12 track format established by most of the other US albums. By this time, most bands were releasing the same albums on both side of the pond, and so the concept of an "American" version of an album more or less vanished, and would only really exist with rare exceptions, like Black Sabbath's debut album. The practice wasn't entirely gone, however, as seen by The Beatles' fantastic Magical Mystery Tour. The fact that "She's Doing Her Thing" was never put out as a single is fuckin' astounding. This album also has four instrumentals, which is more than most, but 1967 was a weird time for the Stones, with members goin' to prison and the like.

I don't remember where I got this album cover from. I think it's from, like, '64 or '65, but I think it's appropriately Psychedelic for this album, while still having some of the old Stones charm present on songs like "Please Go Home"

Side One

1. Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?
2. Back Street Girl
   
3. Get Yourself Together (I Can See It)
   
4. Gold Painted Fingernails
5. Please Go Home
6. Hear It
   

Side Two

1. Title 5
2. My Girl
   
3. We Love You
4. Dandelion
5. She's Doing Her Thing
6. Pieces, Parts 1-5
   

The Rolling Stones - The Unstoppable Stones (1965)

This album cleans up the rest of the tracks from '64, as well as almost all of them from '65, since (discarding the Aftermath Sessions) there's only Three songs that weren't on any album from that year. One of the two US albums released in 1965 was December's Children (And Everybody's), which included a song recorded in 1963 and a song in 1964, so I've done the same. Most of these songs are from the second half of 1964, with one from '63. The reason I chose the one I did from '63 is becasue on Beat Beat Beat, I was trying to keep it contained to Chess and Regent, and 'Money' was one of three songs recorded on November 14th, and also would maybe have been left off as the Beatles had also done a cover of it on their '63 album With The Beatles, and since they were already covering 'I Wanna Be Your Man', they probably wouldn't want to be seen as copying the Beatles too much.

The cover lacks text, but so did their first two uk albums, so I'd reckon it's okay. I took it from, I belive, a Japanese compilation, while I took the title from an Australian compilation.

Side One

1. Each and Every Day Of The Year
2. Da Doo Ron Ron
3. (Walkin' Thru The) Sleepy City
4. We're Wastin' Time
5. Money (That's What I Want)
6. We Were Falling In Love
   

Side Two

1. Key To The Highway
2. Goodbye Girl
3. I've Been Loving You Too Long
4. I'd Much Rather Be With The Boys
5. Try Me
6. Leave Me Alone
   

The Rolling Stones - Beat Beat Beat (1964)

 1964 was a productive year for The Stones, releasing their first three US albums, and having hits with the likes of Heart Of Stone, Little Red Rooster, and Not Fade Away. They weren't the legendary band they'd grow to become, but they were a moderately successful R&B and Blues band.

This album was largely recorded in two locations: Regent studios in London, and Chess studios in Chicago, much like one of the albums released around the same time, 12X5. This album follows a similar format, picking up extra tracks left over from Come On!, from England's Newest Hitmakers!, and from the Chess Sessions. I've included Andrew's Blues as a bonus track, since, while I love it, it would have done whatever the 1960s equivalant of 'Cancelling' was to the band. (Also, it's sung by Gene Pitney, and not Mick Jagger, or any other stone.)

I took the cover and title from this from some kind of strange German comp

For sources, see my last Rolling Stones post.

 

Side One

1. Try A Little Harder
2. It Should Be You
   
3. Mr. Spector and Mr. Pitney Came Too
4. My Only Girl (That Girl Belongs To Yesterday)
5. I Can't Be Satisfied
6. Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind
   

Side Two

1. Meet Me In The Bottom (Down In The Bottom)
   
2. Hi-Heeled Sneakers
   
3. Reelin' and Rockin'
4. Stewed and Keefed
   
5. Tell Me, Baby 
6. Don't Lie To Me

Andrew's Blues (Song For Andrew)

The Rolling Stones - Come On! (1963)

 The Rolling Stones are a pretty okay group, I'd reckon. They recorded a lot of songs between 1963 and 1969, but only most of them ended up on albums. Some of them didn't, and those can be good songs (As vile as it is, Andrew's Blues is a pretty catchy tune). But I'm getting ahead of myself. They recorded a bunch of songs in 1963, but it wasn't until 1964 that their debut album came out, and they really started to get the ball rolling (pun not intended.)

The Blog Albums that Should Exist does a pretty comprehensive cover of the Stones' outtakes output from this time, but where the two of us differ is that they based their compilations off of the Stones' UK discography, they used radio sessions, and they used live tracks. I reckon that I'll use the band's US output as a foundation, since they were still overseen by the band themselves, unlike The Beatles' American output. Additionally, The Rolling Stones have two more albums in the US than in the UK, so there's less work in picking up the slack.

That then brings us to this album, a debut album made out of the 1963 sessions. The band recorded 16 unique tracks available from that year, but there were only ever really about 12 tracks per US album, which what I've got here. How I decided to separate them is considering one track an outtake (Money) that I'd use later, and the others as outtakes from their first album, since that entire album was recorded at Regent studios, and the final three tracks were as well.

The Rest of the '63 songs will be on the next stray tracks album, minus Money, which I have other plans for.

 (For the song files, check out the link I sent above)

 

Side A

1. Road Runner
2. Diddley Daddy
3. Baby, What's Wrong?
4. Bright Lights, Big City
   
5. I Want To Be Loved
   
6. Come On!

Side B

1. Fortune Teller
   
2. Bye Bye Johnny
   
3. I Wanna Be Your Man
4. Stoned
5. Poison Ivy
   
6. Go Home, Girl
   

Jimi Hendrix—Crash Landing (1970)

While working on his fourth album, Jimi Hendrix built up a hearty amount of tracks that didn't end up on some of the proposed tracklists for the album. That's really a shame, since a good bunch of these tracks are fan-fucking-tastic. "Drifting", especially, is a favourite of mine, plus there's the rare studio version of "Machine Gun", clocking in at 12 minutes or so, which finds a good home on this album.

I went with the title and album art of the maligned Alan Douglas album, since all things considered, it's a good album cover, and "Crash Landing" is on the album.

 

Sources

•  First Rays of the New Rising Sun (Beginning, Drifting, In From The Storm, Belly Button Window)
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience [Purple Box] (Come Down Hard On Me)
  
• South Saturn Delta (Pali Gap)
• People, Hell & Angels (Crash Landing)
• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sKhT_6xr5fjaN5l5xCS9Jf8bhwE3rwFK/view?usp=sharing (Machine Gun)
  

Side One (19:34)

1. Beginning - 4:11
   
2. Drifting - 3:48
   
3. Come Down Hard On Me 3:00
   
4. Slow Part (Pali Gap) - 5:00
5. Belly Button Window - 3:35

Side Two (20:19)

1. In From The Storm - 4:15
   
2. Crash Landing - 3:44
   
3. Machine Gun - 12:20
   

Jimi Hendrix — Straight Ahead (1970)

 Jimi Hendrix's unfinished 4th album: one of the great unfinished albums of classic rock, up there with Lifehouse, Smile, Jethro Tull's Chateau album, among others. There's been so many attempts at putting together this album, from the original Cry of Love lp, the much hated Voodoo Soup, the "definitive" First Rays of the New Rising Sun, and other unofficial reconstructions, like that of Soniclovenoize's reconstruction, or The Reconstructor's take, which is similar to my idea, but turned Triple lp. What I've done is made it a double lp, using not the tape box tracklist, as Soniclovenoize and others have done, but rather the "Songs for lp Strate Ahead" memo from Hendrix himself.

So the tracklist written by Hendrix is filled out by 25 songs. The only problem is that three songs don't exist, and one is unreleased. A lot of the songs are in various stages of mixing, with some being just demos, some being basic run-throughs (one without vocals, even!), So this album is by no means "what would have come out", but rather a sketch of what it probably was gonna be. Ultimately, I tried using the versions of songs that were worked on last where available, so, as much as I love it, the Band of Gypsys version of "Lover Man" will be left off, in favour of the final take with Mitch Mitchell on drums. 

I'll be using The Reconstructor's cover, since it's fantastic and I love it a lot

Sources Used:

• The First Rays of the Rising Sun (Ezy Ryder, Room Full Of Mirrors, Earth Blues, Straight Ahead, Freedom, Stepping Stone, Izabella, Astro Man, Angel, Night Bird Flying, Dolly Dagger, Hey Baby)
• Valleys of Neptune (Valleys of Neptune)
• Jimi Hendrix Experience [Purple Box] (Cherokee Mist, Lover Man)
• South Saturn Delta (Drifter's Escape, Bleeding Heart Midnight Lightning)
• West Coast Seattle Boy (Burning Desire)
• People, Hell, & Angels (Hear My Train A-Comin')
• Both Sides of the Sky (Send My Love To Linda)
• The Reconstructor (Heaven Has No Sorrow)
  

Side One (20:23)

1. Ezy Ryder - 4:09
   
2. Room Full of Mirrors - 3:21
   
3. Earth Blues - 4:08
   
4. Valleys of Neptune - 4:03
   
5. Straight Ahead (Have You Heard?) - 4:42
   

Side Two (23:00)

1. Cherokee Mist - 6:02
   
2. Freedom - 3:26
   
3. Stepping Stone - 4:09
   
4. Izabella - 2:51
   
5. Astro Man - 3:35
   
6. Drifter's Escape - 3:02
   

Side Three (25:56)

1. Angel - 4:21
   
2. Bleeding Heart - 3:13
   
3. Burning Desire - 8:49
   
4. Night Bird Flying - 3:52
5. Hear My Train A-Comin' - 5:41
   

Side Four (26:29)

1. Lover Man - 2:57
   
2. Midnight Lighting - 3:07
   
3. Heaven Has No Sorrow - 4:41
   
4. Send My Love (to Linda) - 4:36
   
5. Dolly Dagger - 4:44
   
6. Hey Baby (Land of the New Rising Sun) - 6:04

(AFTERNOTE: I know some of these sides seem very long, and it's true. Most of these side lengths are long for the time, but they're not unprecedented. In 1966, in the UK, for instance, the Rolling Stones' Aftermath has over 26 minutes of music per side. Genesis were infamous for this, somehow managing to cram 55 minutes of music onto their album Duke, with almost all of their albums before that also having 50+ minutes of music per album, so Hendrix having 26 minutes of song per side isn't entirely unreasonable.)

The Band of Gypsys — No Experience Needed (1970)

Jimi Hendrix recorded a lot during the short time his Band of Gypsys group was together, though most of the songs are just jamming. While there are technically more than enough tracks for a hearty album of Hendrix / Cox / Miles vocal songs, a good few are either lacking in quality or are set to go on my reconstruction of Hendrix's fourth album, so they'd have to be left off here. The closest tracks to Jams are "Villanova Junction Blues", "Jungle", and "Once I Had a Woman". If I find some good tunes to replace "Once I Had A Woman" then I'll edit this post. The rest of the album are relatively polished tunes from mid to late 1969 and early 1970.  The earliest song on the album is "Hey Gypsy Boy", being recorded in March 1969, before the experience broke up officially, though it's still got Buddy Miles on drums and not Noel Redding on the no bass, so I'd reckon it fits enough. The title of the album is a pun on the fact that the Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up, so Hendrix didn't need "experience" anymore. 

Sources used

• Both Sides of the Sky (Mannish Boy, Jungle, Power of Soul)
• People, Hell, & Angles (Villanova Junction Blues, Hey Gypsy Boy)
• West Coast Seattle Boy (Lonely Avenue)
• The Jimi Hendrix Experience [Purple Box] (It's Too Bad, Message Of Love)
• Blues (Once I Had A Woman)
  

Side One (22:24)

1. Mannish Boy (I'm A Man) 5:01
   
2. Lonely Avenue 4:22
   
3. Message of Love 3:27
   
4. Once I Had A Woman 7:49
5. Villanova Junction Blues 1:45

Side Two (21:55)

1. Power Of Soul 5:55
   
2. Hey Gypsy Boy 3:40
   
3. Jungle 3:28
   
4. It's Too Bad 8:52