Best 'unreleased' songs

[JJ88]

I don't think we've done a thread like this before so here goes. I was thinking of great tracks which didn't come out at the time they were recorded but were only released years, sometimes decades, later.

Bob Dylan has so many examples, obviously- Biograph and The Bootleg Series has countless examples. Another that springs to mind is George Harrison's 'I Live For You- a gorgeous song, as good as anything on All Things Must Pass yet didn't come out for thirty years. (Not crazy about the 'modern' mix on the 2001 CD though.)

The Sun Records archive has many now-classic tracks that the Charly label put out in the 70s. A few of my favourites are Carl Perkins' 'Put Your Cat Clothes On' and Warren Smith's 'Red Cadillac And A Black Moustache'.

Any other favourites?

[andreynovox]

Genesis - Do The Neurotic - as for me - the best Genesis instrumental piece ever.....

[rcarlberg]

I quite like most of the tracks on 'My Squelchy Life.'

[viukkis]

Caravan's Frozen Rose (a.k.a. I Don't Know Its Name Alias The Word) which was left off of In the Land of Grey and Pink is one of their best tracks ever as far as I'm concerned. I can see why it didn't make the cut though, because Winter Wine is even better and has a similar vibe, so the album would have been a bit unbalanced if both songs were on it (particularly as they would have to be on the same side due to Nine Feet Underground).

[GuitarGeek]

[GuitarGeek]

[ronmac]

Beatles had quite a few, most of which they gave away.

[noisynoise]

Genesis - Do The Neurotic - as for me - the best Genesis instrumental piece ever.....

Love that track, although it was released at the time as a B-side (In Too Deep [UK], Throwing it All Away [US]). I remember first playing it on a jukebox in 1986.

[rcarlberg]

Beatles had quite a few, most of which they gave away.

"Gave away" to other artists on Apple Records, hoping to get a hit by somebody else. "Sour Milk Sea" and "Come And Get It" come to mind, though none of the other songs I was thinking of seem to be in the same boat.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

That's the best version of "Doctor Diamond" I've ever heard (I don't have that particular box, alas!)

[per anporth]

^^^

Have you heard this version?!

[ronmac]

"Gave away" to other artists on Apple Records, hoping to get a hit by somebody else. "Sour Milk Sea" and "Come And Get It" come to mind, though none of the other songs I was thinking of seem to be in the same boat.

"Bad to Me" Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas reached #1

"Goodbye" by Mary Hopkin reched #2

"World without Love" by Peter & Gordon reached #1

Al of those songs were better than "Come & Get It," IMO.

[Progbear]

Atlas’ Blå vardag is a five-star album all the way for me, and the APM CD is one of the few that has bonus tracks that are as good as the main album. I think that “Hemifrån” is the only one of these recorded back in the day that never got a release (“Björnstorp” found its way to the Mosaik project LP, while “Sebastian” was written then, but not recorded till the 90s).

Of course, pretty much anything off of National Health’s Missing Pieces applies here.

[arabicadabra]

Aha! I thought this was a thread about unreleased tracks that never got released but somehow got heard. Oh well.

[Buddhabreath]

How about

[rcarlberg]

"Bad to Me" Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas reached #1

"Goodbye" by Mary Hopkin reched #2

"World without Love" by Peter & Gordon reached #1

Al of those songs were better than "Come & Get It," IMO.

"Bad to Me" was 1963, five years before Apple Records. Billy Kramer was never signed to Apple.

"Goodbye" was written by Paul; okay it counts (1969). I was confusing it with "Those Were The Days" produced by Paul but written by Gene Raskin.

"World Without Love" was 1964. P&G weren't Apple artists either.

[rcarlberg]

Aha! I thought this was a thread about unreleased tracks that never got released but somehow got heard. Oh well.

I was thinking of tracks which didn't come out at the time they were recorded but were only released years, sometimes decades, later.

It's in the OP man.

[Progbear]

How about

That wasn’t an unreleased track, just a non-album track.

[ronmac]

"Bad to Me" was 1963, five years before Apple Records. Billy Kramer was never signed to Apple.

"Goodbye" was written by Paul; okay it counts (1969). I was confusing it with "Those Were The Days" produced by Paul but written by Gene Raskin.

"World Without Love" was 1964. P&G weren't Apple artists either.

Whatever. The topic was about unreleased songs. I mentioned The Beatles. You focused on Apple.

[ronmac]

Aha! I thought this was a thread about unreleased tracks that never got released but somehow got heard. Oh well.

An example of The Beatles would be, "I'll be on My Way," a nice hidden gem, the only recording of which was done for the BBC:

[Garden Dreamer]

Humble Pie had an entire album scrapped in 1975 after "Thunderbox".... supposedly the story was the record company said it sounded "too black". They went back and recorded "Street Rats" instead. The missing album was released in the 90's as "The Scrubber Sessions" and it was nowhere near as "black" as the two albums that would have preceded it, Thunderbox and Eat It (which had soul singers The Blackberries guesting). But it's diverse and raw, has an alternate version of "Street Rats" title track and another tune which later showed up on Steve Marriott's solo album, the rest was all new to the ears and a huge treat when released...

[rcarlberg]

Whatever. The topic was about unreleased songs. I mentioned The Beatles. You focused on Apple.

I also linked to a Wikipedia article that went into much greater depth than you. You replied to, and quoted, my post about giving songs to other Apple artists.

Perhaps you can understand my confusion.

[ronmac]

I also linked to a Wikipedia article that went into much greater depth than you.

I didn't realize great depth was required.

[rcarlberg]

Truce. I don't understand why you came out with your fists up. I'm not accusing you of anything.

[JJ88]

The best subsequently released Beatles tracks were- to me- 'Leave My Kitten Alone' and 'Not Guilty'. Although again, the Anthology 3 version of the latter is a dud, taking well over a minute out of the song.

It's a pity there's not more recordings of the earlier songs they gave away. As noted above, 'I'll Be On My Way' is the only one they did for the BBC and IMHO that's not one of the better songs. McCartney later said he thought the lyric was a bit too moon/June and he's right. So there's no Beatles versions of the better ones like 'Bad To Me', 'World Without Love', 'I'm In Love', 'I'll Keep You Satisfied' and 'From A Window'. (There are Lennon demos of a couple of these on bootlegs.)

It took nearly fifty years (!) for Pink Floyd's 'Scream Thy Last Scream' and 'Vegetable Man' to get a release. I've never been sure about the former but 'Vegetable Man' is great and had a few covers in the 80s, despite only being on bootleg at the time.