Great Songs That Weren't Included on a Studio Album

[Progbear]

I forgot about 10cc. Most of their B-sides were pretty inessential, but there were a couple of G&C classics in “Waterfall” and “Good News.” I think they were trying to bury their hippie/folkie past by not including those tunes on their albums, which is a damn shame if you ask me, as they really excelled at that sort of thing.

It goes back to their Hotlegs days with the great non-album single track “You Didn’t Like It Because You Didn’t Think of It,” part of which got worked into “Fresh Air for My Mama.”

[Adrian]

First one I thought of was "Hey Jude."

[Trane]

A lot of b-sides of singles are often inferior to the a-side or even most of the album tracks, but there are solid exceptions:

everything that makes Caravan wonderful resumed in 5 minutes

[JJ88]

Well that's a whole other ballgame- it wasn't released for about 30 years.

The UK debut by Procol Harum did not feature 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' (the US version did). The likes of 'Lime Street Blues', 'Homburg', 'In The Wee Small Hours Of Sixpence' and 'Long Gone Geek' were also not on an album.

The Nice had a few. 'America', 'The Diamond Hard Blue Apples Of The Moon', the original version of 'Azrial (Angel Of Death)', all were originally non-album tracks.

Genesis had several, some already mentioned, but there are also the handful of tracks for Decca, 'That's Me', 'A Winter's Tale' and 'One Eyed Hound', which tend to be overlooked. I think purely as songs they are better than quite a bit of From Genesis To Revelation, albeit the rudimentary playing still reflects their lack of experience at this point.

Barclay James Harvest had a handful of non-album singles, some of which pre-date their debut album like 'Early Morning', 'Mr Sunshine', 'Poor Wages' and 'Brother Thrush'. All good songs. There were a few others at the end of their time on Harvest, one under the name 'Bombadil'.

[Scrotum Scissor]

The Byrds had a couple- 'Lady Friend' is about the best.

And the legendary "Triad" with its controversy which seems almost bizarre now. Granted they were released later, but the Preflyte demos only barely predate the eariest recordings for their debut album, which would have fared well with the acoustic rendition of "You Showed Me" and Crosby's "Airport Song" instead of a couple of those rather forgettable cover tunes.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Also: lots of DDR rock. I don’t think it was until 1975 or so that they let rock bands release whole albums. Prior to that, they were relegated to singles and the Hallo series. “Das Lächeln” and “Über Feuer” by Electra, “Soldat vom Don” by Lift, “Suite #1” by Bayon, etc. etc. Electra’s classic epic from their early days, “Tritt ein in den Dom,” finally got an official release in 1979*.

Both Die Puhdys and Panta Rhei (predecessors to Karat) had their debut albums out by late '73. Interestingly, it somewhat coincided with the new political regulations of bordercrossings to the West. I don't think there was a truly great GDR progressive album until the first ones by Stern Meissen and Lift in '76, though.

[pb2015]

And the legendary "Triad" with its controversy which seems almost bizarre now.

I recall reading McGuinn saying that the Byrds version wasn't released because he didn't like the song, not because he had moral objections to it.

[GuitarGeek]

A lot of b-sides of singles are often inferior to the a-side or even most of the album tracks, but there are solid exceptions:

A few off the top of my head:
Hawkwind: 7x7
Hawkwind: Brainbox Pollution
Hawkwind: It's So Easy
Joy Division: Novelty
Joy Division: These Days
The Beatles: Rain
The Rolling Stones: The Singer Not The Song
The Rolling Stones: The Spider And The Fly
Uriah Heep: Son Of A Bitch
Uriah Heep: Tin Soldier (yes, the Small Faces song)
The Byrds: Why (which was a completely different recording from the inferior take that later appeared on Younger Than Yesterday)
Pink Floyd: Julia Dream
Pink Floyd: Paint Box
The Who: Heaven And Hell
The Who: Call Me Lightning

[Scrotum Scissor]

I recall reading McGuinn saying that the Byrds version wasn't released because he didn't like the song, not because he had moral objections to it.

Yes, indeed the "moral objections" came from label managers and not from McGuinn. I believe the main onstacle for McGuinn and Hillman was Crosby's egocentric insistance on including a tune which they outspokenly didn't particularly appreciate - thus seeing this as yet another demonstration of his ascending cockiness. Eventually the whole nagging dispute made for one of the most memorable and least "psychedelic" album covers of the time, though!

[Mr.Flower]

First one that crossed my mind was Jumpin' Jack Flash by the Stones. It preceeded Beggars Banquet by a few months, but was never included on a studio album, just live and compilations.

Beggars Banquet is a classic, it goes without saying, but would it be even more highly thought of if it included JJF? If so, where would it have been in the running order? Track one, side one, followed by Sympathy for the Devil (hell of a one-two punch), or track one side two, followed by Street Fighting Man. It's a tough one ... or maybe they thought it just wouldn't fit?

[JJ88]

^As I said, none of the UK Stones albums feature even one song which was an A-side here. I think 'Little By Little' is the only B side which was ever on an album either. They obviously carefully worked out what they released in the UK and how they released it. The US versions of the albums are a total free-for-all, making it disappointing that ABKCO choose to follow the latter.

One which would have benefitted from the singles is Their Satanic Majesties Request. Take out the crappy jams and replace them with 'We Love You'/'Dandelion' and you have a very solid psych album, I think.

[Jerjo]

One which would have benefitted from the singles is Their Satanic Majesties Request. Take out the crappy jams and replace them with 'We Love You'/'Dandelion' and you have a very solid psych album, I think.

I built a nice playlist doing this and adding some other poppier hits like "Have You Seen Your Mother", "Ruby Tuesday", etc. It makes for a nice listen of what they were like before the descent into darkness began with Beggars.

[Skeptrick]

Stackridge-Purple Spaceships Over Yatton

[JJ88]

^Flowers mops up a lot of those songs....by accident, rather than design, I think! That was the first Stones album I ever heard.

[Lopez]

Yes, indeed the "moral objections" came from label managers and not from McGuinn. I believe the main onstacle for McGuinn and Hillman was Crosby's egocentric insistance on including a tune which they outspokenly didn't particularly appreciate - thus seeing this as yet another demonstration of his ascending cockiness. Eventually the whole nagging dispute made for one of the most memorable and least "psychedelic" album covers of the time, though!

I assume you are referring to the cover of The Notorious Byrd Brothers, the album on which "Triad" would have appeared. Took me years before I got the joke.

[GuitarGeek]

First one that crossed my mind was Jumpin' Jack Flash by the Stones. It preceeded Beggars Banquet by a few months, but was never included on a studio album, just live and compilations.

There was also Honky Tonk Woman. There's an acoustic version of it on Let It Bleed, but the electric version, with the cowbell intro and one of the first uses of Keith's five string open G tuning, is only on the best of releases like Hot Rocks.

^Flowers mops up a lot of those songs....by accident, rather than design, I think! That was the first Stones album I ever heard.

I wouldn't feel like Flowers was such a rip off, if either it or the US version of Between The Buttons hadn't had Let's Spend The Night Together and Ruby Tuesday on it. Putting both of those songs on two LP's released back to back like that just strikes me as pure exploitation. That's one of the reasons why I put together a CD-R that essentially combines both of those records (plus the B-side of Have You Seen Your Mother..., which I think was called Who's Driving Your Plane and I think a couple other songs).

I assume you are referring to the cover of The Notorious Byrd Brothers, the album on which "Triad" would have appeared. Took me years before I got the joke.

What joke? Elucidate, please?

[Progbear]

Both Die Puhdys and Panta Rhei (predecessors to Karat) had their debut albums out by late '73. Interestingly, it somewhat coincided with the new political regulations of bordercrossings to the West. I don't think there was a truly great GDR progressive album until the first ones by Stern Meissen and Lift in '76, though.

Agreed. There were bands with tons of good material out there, as my previous post proves, but the stuff that the authorities allowed them to release on their own albums often fell short. Like that first Electra(-Combo) album from 1974 didn’t come anywhere close to their potential as a band. And they follow that with a cheesy Ekseption knock-off! That third album was kind of a mess, all over the place, being comprised of material written and recorded over seven years (or more), and it really does sound like it. But finally we get a glimpse of what they were actually capable of as a band. Same with the two-thirds live follow-up, Die sixtinische Madonna.

The third Reform album, Uhren ohne Zeiger, is similar. Some of it (the DX7-y stuff) is obviously 1985 and some of it (the stuff with for-real Rhodes piano) is so obviously not. And they end it up with the original Lift recording of “Mein Herz soll ein Wasser sein”!

[Mister Triscuits]

What joke? Elucidate, please?

They should have used the other end of the horse to stand in for Crosby.

[progmatist]

Deep Purple's Black Night. It was released only as a single, but to this day, is an essential encore at a DP concert.

[GuitarGeek]

Deep Purple's Black Night. It was released only as a single, but to this day, is an essential encore at a DP concert.

Strange Kind Of Woman was also a single too. It's on the US version of Fireball, but not the original UK edition.

Who was the first British group to include singles on albums? I know Pink Floyd, after awhile, stopped making singles because they decided they were "no good" at it (and in fact between Point Me At The Sky and Another Brick In The Wall Part 2, there weren't any Pink Floyd singles in the UK), but was there anyone who just sort of said "We're going to use album tracks as singles from now on"?

[Trane]

Deep Purple's Black Night. It was released only as a single, but to this day, is an essential encore at a DP concert.

The opening section/intro of Speed King... absent on the US version of In Rock as well

[Scrotum Scissor]

What joke? Elucidate, please?

The cover to Notorious Byrd Bros. (which happens to be one of my top-25 albums of all time) features Hillman, McGuinn and Mike Clarke appearing from respective stable booths, with an actual horse peeping out from the fourth. According to legend, there was a completely different (and apparently quite elaborate) cover illustration in the making, but Hillman and McGuinn picked the stable-shoot from a promo photo session instead, figuring the horse could stand in for the absent Crosby (aho was indeed let go, or "left" as he himself would have it, halfway through the album).

This is one of the most seriously trippy albums I ever heard, apart from the short duration of the tunes of course - which again makes it fitting how all the songs slide into each other. And Crosby is still all over it - "Tribal Gathering" (that effin' riff!), "Draft Morning", "Dolphin's Smile".

[Mr.Flower]

The Clash's two best singles, Complete Control and White Man (in Hammersmith Palais) were non-album singles, appearing between their eponymous debut and Give 'em Enough Rope. For many of you in the US, they would have appeared on the debut (i've got a US CD with them incorporated into the original tracklisting), but they were standalone singles. To be honest, i think i prefer the US version with them included as they fit well in terms of the original sound and attitude rather than the Sandy Pearlman produced follow up.

[GuitarGeek]

The cover to Notorious Byrd Bros. (which happens to be one of my top-25 albums of all time) features Hillman, McGuinn and Mike Clarke appearing from respective stable booths, with an actual horse peeping out from the fourth. According to legend, there was a completely different (and apparently quite elaborate) cover illustration in the making, but Hillman and McGuinn picked the stable-shoot from a promo photo session instead, figuring the horse could stand in for the absent Crosby (aho was indeed let go, or "left" as he himself would have it, halfway through the album).

This is one of the most seriously trippy albums I ever heard, apart from the short duration of the tunes of course - which again makes it fitting how all the songs slide into each other. And Crosby is still all over it - "Tribal Gathering" (that effin' riff!), "Draft Morning", "Dolphin's Smile".

I'd never heard that story about the cover before. I agree, it is a fantastic album. I think the run of Fifth Dimension, Younger Than Yesterday, and The Notorious Byrd Brothers represent a fantastic trifecta for the band.

The Clash's two best singles, Complete Control and White Man (in Hammersmith Palais) were non-album singles, appearing between their eponymous debut and Give 'em Enough Rope. For many of you in the US, they would have appeared on the debut (i've got a US CD with them incorporated into the original tracklisting), but they were standalone singles. To be honest, i think i prefer the US version with them included as they fit well in terms of the original sound and attitude rather than the Sandy Pearlman produced follow up.

This Is Radio Clash wasn't on any of the albums either, was it? I always thought that was a great song.

[Vic2012]

Traveling Riverside Blues.

BBC Sessions does not count. Curious to know what album sessions that song was recorded.