Best 'unreleased' songs

[Taped Rugs]

Karen Carpenter solo album - recorded 1979, 1980 -- released 1996. Great musicians Gadd, Cappello, Brecker, etc. Great arrangements. The artist died in 1983, waiting for the "music industry" (oxymoron) to release it.

[Trane]

The only album I could place Dr Diamond would be in SABB, between Great Deceiver, Mincer and Nightwatch (instead of Lament or Trio, IMHO), but I like the secvond version better

Somehow, i don't see it on Lark's Tongue or Red. well, maybe Red, but it would'be been nice if they'd released it on the USA live album.

I think you have to hand it to Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull for the sheer amount of splendid songs that didn't make on actual studio albums from 1969-1979. The first major splurge of such songs ended up as the basis for the superior compilation Living In The Past, of course, but there is also the Chateau D'Isaster session, an entire second album from the War Child session (like Rainbow Blues, for instance), and a ton of other unreleased and incidental music appearing on various of the recent Steve Wilson remixes.

Mmmhhh!!! a lot of tracks on LITP were either singles or live or album tracks, so I'd say that only half the compilation was unreleased back then...
But since LITP dates from 71 (and most of the material dating from as "early" as 68), it's safe to say that 100% of it was released for the better part of 48 years.
Moreover, through LITP, Tull made it precisely on purpose so these tracks would be widely available ASAP

the Chateau D'Isaster tapes are indeed a different story, because they were "officially" released twenty years after their recording.

And yes, most of the "real" bonus tracks (that means new songs, no live take or alt-takes) on post-APP albums were unreleased for roughly 30 years as well.

[JJ88]

Karen Carpenter solo album - recorded 1979, 1980 -- released 1996. Great musicians Gadd, Cappello, Brecker, etc. Great arrangements. The artist died in 1983, waiting for the "music industry" (oxymoron) to release it.

I don't think it's a 'classic' which some of her fans do, blaming Evil A&M and Evil Richard for it not coming out. I understand why it didn't come out at the time; a couple of the songs seem more dated to me somehow than her Carpenters work. Richard warned her about 'going disco' and those are definitely the worst tracks.

But having said that, it's definitely not a write-off either. Its better tracks are classy and, perhaps thanks to those players mentioned above and Bob James, a little more 'smooth jazz' in feel than her usual style. So I'm very glad it exists.

Had a few better songs been added to replace the weaker ones, I think it stood a chance.

[mozo-pg]

Sad Rain - Anekdoten (although it's found on the Japanese Cd version and special editions)

[ronmac]

Did Rush ever release "Fancy Dancer"?

If live tracks are included, Hendrix had quite a few that he played for years that never had proper studio recordings. I'm not referring to those that would have ended up on "First Rays of the New Rising Sun." I'm referring to songs like "Lover Man" and "Hear My Train A'Comin'."

[GuitarGeek]

The only album I could place Dr Diamond would be in SABB, between Great Deceiver, Mincer and Nightwatch (instead of Lament or Trio, IMHO), but I like the secvond version better

Somehow, i don't see it on Lark's Tongue or Red. well, maybe Red, but it would'be been nice if they'd released it on the USA live album.

A couple years back, I dreamed up a double LP configuration for USA, which included Dr Diamond, all of Easy Money (i.e. no fade out), Starless, Fracture, and I believe I also threw in The Night Watch. The only thing was, The Night Watch and Dr. Diamond would have had to come from the Pittsburgh show, the one that was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, which Fripp wasn't too happy about.

And yes, most of the "real" bonus tracks (that means new songs, no live take or alt-takes) on post-APP albums were unreleased for roughly 30 years as well.

I don't know what was on those deluxe boxes that have been coming out in recent years, but most of the bonus tracks that were on the previous string of remasters were mostly from singles and EP's. The main exceptions I remember were Warchild, which had the tracks from those sessions that had appeared on Nightcap in the early 90's (e.g. Paradise Steakhouse, Sealion II, etc) and Broadswoard And The Beast, which had a bunch of the orphans from that era that had been on the 20 Years Of... boxset (but GOTTVERDAMMTER! Not my beloved Motoreyes).

[Trane]

A couple years back, I dreamed up a double LP configuration for USA, which included Dr Diamond, all of Easy Money (i.e. no fade out), Starless, Fracture, and I believe I also threw in The Night Watch. The only thing was, The Night Watch and Dr. Diamond would have had to come from the Pittsburgh show, the one that was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, which Fripp wasn't too happy about.

I don't know what was on those deluxe boxes that have been coming out in recent years, but most of the bonus tracks that were on the previous string of remasters were mostly from singles and EP's. The main exceptions I remember were Warchild, which had the tracks from those sessions that had appeared on Nightcap in the early 90's (e.g. Paradise Steakhouse, Sealion II, etc) and Broadswoard And The Beast, which had a bunch of the orphans from that era that had been on the 20 Years Of... boxset (but GOTTVERDAMMTER! Not my beloved Motoreyes).

I never invested in those SW-tampered boxset, but I do have the previous remasters (bar Too Old) until SW, and it's all I need really (I've got the first 6 - incl LITP - on mini-Lp and still my TAAB, Stand Up and Aqualung original vinyls as well)

Yeah, on a few occasion some of these bonus (or then-unreleased) tracks could have bettered the album's vinyl format by replacing a dud, but it's not like any of them was a revolution either.

[3LockBox]

Did Yes release the full stidio version of America (Paul Simon cover) before it appeared in a comp?

[Garden Dreamer]

More on Marriott/West... I'm reading a LONG unpublished interview of West by Jason Obrecht done at the time of this collaboration. West is describing a few of the songs... tells a story that they're staying at West's townhouse in California and Steve hears someone playing drums across the street and likes what he hears so goes to to check it out and just busts into the guy's house without knocking and the drummer is a Mexican guy and he's mad and says"who the hell are you?" but the other guy in the house knew right away who it was and couldn't believe Steve Marriott just came barging into his house!

[Garden Dreamer]

Did Rush ever release "Fancy Dancer"?

Not that I'm aware of. I've only heard it on an early live recording, maybe the one they did in a radio station studio.

[Garden Dreamer]

The Monkees had 3 albums worth of songs that were released years later as Missing Links 1, 2 and 3. Some cool stuff in there, more Mike Nesmith country-rock and some songs written by Peter Tork with him on lead vocal.

[JJ88]

Did Yes release the full stidio version of America (Paul Simon cover) before it appeared in a comp?

Yes, on this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Age_of_Atlantic

Note also the appearance of Led Zeppelin's 'Hey Hey What Can I Do'. A single B side in the US but this was its only release in the UK until the 90s.