Willard Grant Conspiracy - Trail's End

Bio:
Willard Grant Conspiracy was an alt-country band based near Palmdale, California, USA.

Originally formed by Robert Fisher and Paul Austin in 1995 in Boston, Massachusetts, the band operated as a collective, with vocalist Fisher the only permanent member throughout its existence. Up to 30 other musicians occasionally contributed to the band, both in the studio and during live performances. Fisher's voice and Americana style have been compared to both John Cale and Johnny Cash, with most songs being acoustic. He was a self-taught musician who followed his instincts—the main reason his music has such a unique sound.

The band toured extensively in 2005 and 2006 visiting 23 countries, including a showcase at the South by Southwest music festival. They continued to tour in the US and occasionally in Europe and the UK until 2016. The band's 2003 release Regard The End, featuring Kristin Hersh as well as Chris Eckman of The Walkabouts, received critical acclaim with Uncut magazine naming it Album of the Month.

WGC released 10 studio albums and 5 live albums between 1996 and 2018, their final release "Untethered" being released posthumously after Robert Fisher died of cancer at the age of 59 on February 12, 2017. He was the beating heart of Willard Grant Conspiracy, was loved by many, and has left behind a legacy that will never die.

This is another band I didn't consider at all for a compilation, until hearing a track by them on BBC Radio 6 the other day. I hadn't really listened to much of their work for several years, despite enjoying the posthumous album "Untethered" which was a surprise release in 2018. So I dug out all the albums, enjoying once more the fine body of work they had released over the years. This collection includes tracks from all studio albums, but for once I've included a live track to end on. The track in question, "The Visitor", is probably my favourite WGC song, I have several versions of it, but my favourite rendition is on the live album "The Green, Green Grass Of Slovenia" which came out in the year 2000.

As ever, info containing track origin & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. Stay safe (or alert!), and I hope you enjoy this latest collection.

  1. Bring It Down (6:36)
  2. Soft Hand (5:39)
  3. Massachusetts (4:00)
  4. Let It Roll (9:19)
  5. Painter Blue (5:23)
  6. Preparing for the Fall (7:43)
  7. Hideous Beast (1:55)
  8. No Such Thing as Clean (8:47)
  9. How to Get to Heaven (4:48)
10. Water & Roses (3:13)
11. Crush (5:42)
12. Incident at Mono Lake (4:13)
13. Untethered (4:21)
14. The Visitor (7:58)

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The Sound - Resonance (1979-1987)

For me, The Sound were one of the more important bands in the early 80s. Largely ignored by the record buying public, despite the wide acclaim for the band in the UK music press back in the day, why they never broke through remains a mystery.
For a full bio of the band, look here: https://www.last.fm/music/The+Sound/+wiki

When I was asked to make recommendations of certain albums for a music site as a "musicologist", picking their 2nd album "From the Lions Mouth" was a natural choice. Quoted below is an excerpt of what I had to say about my pick:
"I always thought 1981 was a rather special year for music, but one of the albums which stood out for me the most back then was The Sound - "From the Lions Mouth." I couldn't comprehend back then why this album was never a commercial success. Maybe because the band didn't have a charismatic frontman like Echo & The Bunnymen's Ian McCulloch, or even U2's Bono (remember this was 1981 when even U2 were considered part of the post-punk scene). In fact the lead singer and guitarist for The Sound, Adrian Borland, looked more like a bank clerk than a musician in a rock band.After the relative failure of this release their record label pressured them to come up with something "commercially successful" for their next release. Borland rebelled against that idea, and instead they released the album "All Fall Down" which was basically their "fuck you" to their record label. Thus ended their flirtation with major labels, and led to their eventual decline until they finally broke up in 1988. As Trouser Press questioned: "It's hard to understand why this London quartet never found commercial success. At their best, The Sound's excellent neo-pop bears favourable comparison to The Psychedelic Furs and Echo and the Bunnymen." For me, I found them better than those bands and it is indeed a tragedy they never found the success they deserved. Sadly, Borland committed suicide in 1999, after suffering for several years with depression."

After their 3rd album release, "All Fall Down" in 1982, I kind of lost track of them and never heard the later albums until many years later. It was thanks to a free CD featured on Uncut back in 2002, featuring a track from the recently reissued "From the Lions Mouth", that my interest in the band was reignited. I dug out my old vinyl copy of the album and fell in love with it all over again. This renewed interest had me seeking out the releases I had missed. While the later albums were not, for me, of the high level of their first 3 releases, they still featured many excellent songs.

This collection features tracks from all 5 of their studio albums, plus the previously unreleased album "Propaganda" (recorded in 1979), a few B-sides, one outtake from "All Fall Down" and one track from a BBC session. Not surprisingly "From the Lions Mouth" features the most heavily, with 4 tracks taken from the album. Thanks once more to Manerg for his help in choosing the artwork, plus a couple of track recommendations. As ever, info containing track origin & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. I hope you enjoy!


  1. Brute Force (3:18)
  2. Deep Breath (2:41)
  3. Glass and Smoke (6:50)
  4. Fatal Flaw (4:32)
  5. World As It Is (2:08)
  6. Shot Up and Shut Down (4:19)
  7. Sorry (3:42)
  8. No Salvation (3:12)
  9. The Fire (2:49)
10. Winter (4:16)
11. Unwritten Law (3:38)
12. Party of the Mind (3:55)
13. Whirlpool (3:59)
14. Judgement (4:58)
15. I Can't Escape Myself (3:44)
16. Coldbeat (3:19)
17. New Way of Life (4:37)
18. I Give You Pain (5:04)
19. Heyday (3:01)
20. New Dark Age (5:50)
 
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Can - Cannulation 1974-79

About 10 years ago I had a discussion with someone who said they hadn't heard much of Can's music after the departure of vocalist Damo Suzuki in 1973, and what he had heard he didn't like at all. While the band never quite reached the heights of the albums featuring original vocalist Malcolm Mooney and his replacement Suzuki, the subsequent 5 studio albums did contain some excellent music, some of which I have compiled here. I think most would agree the first release after Suzuki left, Soon Over Babaluma (released in 1974), was a fine piece of work. American music journalist Ned Raggett stated: "With Suzuki departed, vocal responsibilities were now split between (Michael) Karoli and (Irmin) Schmidt. Wisely, neither try to clone Mooney or Suzuki, instead aiming for their own low-key way around things. Musically, if things are a touch less intense on Babaluma, the sense of a band perfectly living in each other's musical pocket and able to react on a dime hasn't changed at all.", giving the album a rating of four stars out of five.

The album after, Landed (1975), was also very good, musician Barry Adamson included the album in a list of his 13 favourite albums, saying: "It's one of those albums where, in terms of production, there's something transcendental about the average rock song.... I believe that this one of Can's more poppier records – their earlier stuff was much more out there - and I must admit that I love experimentalism wrapped around pop and wrapped around catchiness and wrapped around things that you can remember but still with that avant-garde approach, if you like."

For me there was quite a decline with the next 3 albums, Flow Motion (1976), Saw Delight (1977) and Out of Reach (1978), but each album did feature the odd inspired moments. Saw Delight introduced two new additions to the band, Rosko Gee and Rebop Kwaku Baah (ex-members of the band Traffic), with Can's bassist Holger Czukay giving up the bass in favour of "experimental effects". Out of Reach is probably their most infamous release, Czukay leaving the band during recording. Being the only Can album that features no input from Czukay, it was disowned by the band for many years,  and was not listed as part of their discography on their official website. It wasn't until 2014 it saw an official reissue. 

Their final self-titled album (1979), also known as Inner Space, before the reunion album Rite Time was released 10 years later, saw Czukay rejoin the band, but only as a "tape editor". After the quite disastrous previous two albums this was something of a return to form, the first 5 tracks I think are of high quality, unfortunately the remainder of the album is rather dire. Michael G. Nastos said in his review of the album on allmusic.com: "While Can emerged in ensuing years with different lineups and further sub-developments, this last vestige of the initial band holds firm in resolve, and is at the least an intriguing aside to their more potent earlier albums."

I decided to compile tracks from these 5 studio albums for this collection. There are many good post-Suzuki tracks to be found on the Peel Sessions album and the box set The Lost Tapes, plus various live recordings, maybe one day I'll compile my favourites from those releases. Thanks once again for the comments, luckily no music was lost as I back everything up. Also a big heads up to my pals Manerg (for his continual good advice) and Moonglum, who very kindly helped me out in obtaining a replacement PC. Stay safe, and enjoy!

  1. Splash (7:43) From the album "Soon Over Babaluma", 1974
  2. All Gates Open (8:16) From the album "Can", 1979
  3. Red Hot Indians (5:37) From the album "Landed", 1975
  4. Smoke (E.F.S. No. 59) (5:16) From the album "Flow Motion", 1976
  5. Don't Say No (6:32) From the album "Saw Delight", 1977
  6. Sunday Jam (4:26) From the album "Can", 1979
  7. I Want More (3:30) From the album "Flow Motion", 1976
  8. Full Moon on the Highway (3:30) From the album "Landed", 1975
  9. Come Sta, La Luna (5:42) From the album "Soon Over Babaluma", 1974
10. November (7:45) From the album "Out of Reach", 1978
11. Half Past One (4:38) From the album "Landed", 1975
12. Safe (8:32) From the album "Can", 1979
13. Quantum Physics (8:28) From the album "Soon Over Babaluma", 1974

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Songs from Beneath the Spaghetti Tree Vol. 56

 

My PC died on me just after I finished this latest volume in the Spaghetti Tree series, I had to borrow a laptop from a member of my family so I could post, so thanks to them! Due to being absolutely skint, this will be my last post for a while until I can afford a new (or refurbished) PC. Hopefully sooner than later, as I have a few more artist anthologies I was working on and would like to complete. 

So, I hope you enjoy this new volume, stay safe and see you (maybe) soon!

  1. Muun Bato - Muun Bato (3:54)

  2. Tara King Th. - Shut Up Baby! (feat. Brisa Roché) (2:36)
  3. D, B, M + T - World (5:14)
  4. Euros Childs - Be Be High (2:11)
  5. Chris Joss - Terasonic Overload (3:35)
  6. The Kinks - Plastic Man (3:01)
  7. Diane - Bertrand Cantat (2:04)
  8. Kramer - You Don't Know (3:07)
  9. Momus - Howard Hughes (3:15)
10. Ambrose Campbell - Yolanda (3:11)
11. Diane Hildebrand - Early Morning Blues and Greens (3:12)
12. ROY - Is It You? (Sky Brother) (2:12)
13. Alan Parker - Maximum Thrust 1 (2:21)
14. Halo Noose - Fire (4:47)
15. Marvin, Welch & Farrar - Simplify Your Head (2:47)
16. Yorkston/Thorne/Khan - Waliyan Da Raja (4:20)
17. Gunesh - Girl (3:40)
18. The Soft Machine - Why Are We Sleeping? (5:32)
19. Carton - Deux Cafés (3:16)
20. Caleb Landry Jones - All I Am in You/The Big Worm (3:24)
21. Emile - I Krystalkuglens Skær (2:20)
22. Nice Strong Arm - Aberration (3:59)
23. Soft Hearted Scientists - Whatever Happened to You/The Sleepers in the Hill (5:20)

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Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Murder Ballads & Happy Endings

Bio:

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci formed in 1991 in Carmarthen, Wales. Their best known lineup was Euros Childs (vocals, keyboards), his sister Megan Childs (violin, backing vocals), John Lawrence (guitar, vocals), Richard James (bass), and Euros Rowlands (drums). The band was formed by Euros Childs, James and Lawrence whilst still at school, and they have seen a number of lineup changes (perhaps most notably, the departure of Lawrence following 1999's Spanish Dance Troupe) during their existence. The band split in 2006.

Sounding like a bizarrely sweet and whimsical cross between progressive rock, psychedelia, and pure pop, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were one of the most original and distinctive bands to emerge from the vital post-Brit-pop Welsh scene of the mid-'90s. Gorky's music followed unconventional time signatures and structures, as well as instrumentation (boasting everything from droning moog synthesizers to slurring trombones and steel guitars) and melodic patterns. Furthermore, the band's lyrics were rarely about conventional pop/rock subjects, and they frequently sang in Welsh, which made their already odd music sound even more alien to most listeners.

With their 1997 album Barafundle, the wide-ranging instrumentation remained ("Diamond Dew" has a prominent part for the jaw harp) and there were still psychedelic touches, but the album as a whole was more laid back than their earlier work, tending more towards folk music. This gentler direction was largely maintained and refined in their later records, though the occasional poppier and rockier number, such as "Poodle Rockin'" continued to crop up.

This was yet another collection which took some time to compile, I originally had the idea of doing a Gorky's anthology 6 months ago. Several aborted attempts meant I kept putting it on hold until a week ago when I decided to have one last go. I honestly don't know where I was going wrong with those previous attempts, maybe I was just taking the wrong approach, but this time around I found it much easier to compile. This is in no way a definitive compilation, like Elf Power or Vic Chesnutt I had a large back catologue to choose from. For some Gorky's fans there'll be a few glaring omissions, but I could easily have picked another 27 tracks and come up with a collection equal to this one.

Thanks to Manerg for his suggestions/advice for the artwork, and for putting up with my endless ramblings whenever I need that advice! Without his help a few of these collections might never have seen the light of day or been somewhat inferior. As ever, info containing track origin & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. Take care everyone, hope you enjoy, and stay safe!

  1. Her Hair Hangs Long (5:00)
  2. Miss Trudy (2:41)
  3. Young Girls & Happy Endings (2:25)
  4. Don't You Worry (0:58)
  5. Fresher Than the Sweetness in Water (2:21)
  6. Barbed Wire (3:21)
  7. Bocs Angelica (1:56)
  8. Heywood Lane (2:51)
  9. Country (1:45)
10. Frozen Smile (1:20)
11. Un Hogyn Trist, Un Hogan Drist (3:10)
12. Poodle Rockin' (2:53)
13. Miniature Kingdoms (4:08)
14. Face Like Summer (2:55)
15. Murder Ballad (2:38)
16. Out on the Side (3:23)
17. Merched yn Neud Gwallt ei Gilydd (3:12)
18. Blood Chant (4:55)
19. Cân Megan (3:14)
20. Naw. E. Pimp (2:46)
21. Waking for Winter (3:19)
22. The Girl I've Always Known (2:26)
23. Diamond Dew (2:50)
24. Heart of Kentucky (4:12)
25. Tsunami (3:39)
26. No One Looked Around (1:49)
27. Hi ar Gân (3:04)

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Electrelane - Escape from the Lighthouse

 

Bio:

Electrelane, from Brighton, England, were formed in 1998 by Verity Susman (aka Vera November also making music under her own name Verity Susman) (keyboards, farfisa organ, lead vocals, guitar, saxophone, clarinet) and Emma Gaze (drums). In its last incarnation, the band was composed of these two plus Mia Clarke (guitar, backing vocals) and Ros Murray (bass) (aka Ray Rumours).

Sharing an equal amount of fondness for Krautrock, vintage equipment like the Farfisa organ, and modern production techniques, the band made their recorded debut in January 2000 with the "Film Music" single on Indenial. Following another single for Fierce Panda, the group set up the Sony-supported Let's Rock! label, issuing a pair of singles ("Gabriel" and "Blue Straggler") prior to the April 2001 release of the mostly instrumental "Rock It to the Moon", the band's first full-length.  A second album, "The Power Out", which was recorded by Steve Albini, added more vocals and structure to the songs. It was released on Too Pure in February 2004. A third album, "Axes", which was also recorded by Steve Albini, was released on 9 May 2005. The band's final album, "No Shout, No Calls", was written in Berlin during the 2006 World Cup, recorded in Benton Harbor, Michigan in late 2006, and released in May 2007 worldwide.

 

Of all the anthologies I've compiled so far, I found this the toughest yet, despite the relatively few album releases. I just wasn't happy with the finished result the first couple of times, but now I'm satisfied I've done this excellent band justice with the songs picked.  What inspired me to have one final go was a bizarre dream I had the other night where I was trapped on a lighthouse, along with the 4 members of Electrelane. Maybe their song "The Lighthouse" was at the back of my mind as I fell into this dream, where I helped the band escape from the lighthouse, thus giving the title for this collection!

It seems most fans of the band find the 2nd album "The Power Out" their favourite, but for me it's their 3rd release "Axes" which I most often come back to, followed by their debut album. The excellent cover artwork was once more found by Manerg, who again I sought for advice/feedback on this anthology. So many thanks to him for his help with this particularly difficult to compile collection. Info containing track origin & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. As always, keep safe everybody, and thanks again for all the kind comments. I hope you enjoy!

 

  1. Gone Darker (6:02)
  2. To the East (4:52)
  3. Only One Thing Is Needed (4:32)
  4. Film Music (3:56)
  5. Come On (4:49)
  6. Those Pockets are People / The Partisan (7:35)
  7. I Want to Be the President (4:45)
  8. The Lighthouse (4:19)
  9. Oh Bergina (1:09)
10. Long Dark (Albini version) (4:12)
11. The Valleys (5:18)
12. Eight Steps (4:51)
13. I'm on Fire (2:14)
14. The Invisible Dog (4:19)
15. Saturday (3:54)
16. John Wayne (2:37)
17. Oh Sombra! (2:58)
18. Spartakiade (1:40)
19. Two for Joy (5:49) 

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Desert Island Psych

 

After the recent batch of artist anthologies, I figured I'd compile something much simpler. For a few years now I've had the idea of compiling a "Desert Island Disc", where I'd be cast away on a remote island but have just one CD of favourite tracks over the years to listen to. I came to the conclusion it'd be an almost impossible task as there'd be way too many songs to consider, but you never know one day I may attempt it. So, to simpify things, I decided to go with compiling my favourite psych tunes from the 60s & 70s on to one disc. These would be tracks that I loved when I first heard them, and have never got tired of listening to, which would be handy if stuck for several years on this island!

After much deliberating, realising not such a simple task after all, I managed to whittle it down to the 20 tracks listed here. There's no obscurities as such to be found, and quite a few of these tracks will be very familiar to many of you. Once again great thanks to Manerg for finding the excellent cover artwork for this project, I hope you all enjoy!

  1. Mighty Baby - Egyptian Tomb (5:27)

  2. The Seeds - Bad Part of Town (3:25)
  3. The Pretty Things - Defecting Grey (4:27)
  4. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Until the Poorest of People Have Money to Spend (2:16)
  5. Kim Fowley - Wildfire (4:09)
  6. Sweetwater - My Crystal Spider (3:51)
  7. Pink Floyd - Vegetable Man (Peter Jenner mix) (2:29)
  8. The Byrds - Draft Morning (2:55)
  9. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Electricity (3:05)
10. The Animated Egg - Sock It My Way (3:21)
11. The Beautiful Daze - City Jungle (5:45)
12. The Monkees - Porpoise Song (extended version) (4:10)
13. The United States of America - The Garden of Earthly Delights (2:39)
14. Love - Your Mind and We Belong Together (4:22)
15. The Factory - Try a Little Sunshine (3:32)
16. Kaleidoscope - Dive Into Yesterday (4:44)
17. Euphoria - Did You Get the Letter (5:33)
18. Fifty Foot Hose - Rose (5:05)
19. MC5 - Looking at You (2:46)
20. Twink - Ten Thousand Words in a Cardboard Box (4:29)

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Them - Leave Them All Behind

 

When most people think of the band Them, it's the Van Morrison led band who had huge hits such as "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Here Comes the Night". But, after Morrison quit in 1966 they went on to record several more albums as Them between 1968-1971. The history of Them is quite convoluted, you only have to see the personnel of  the band on their Wiki page to get some idea! This collection focuses on the more prominent members from the many line-ups of the band.
 

The original Them formed in 1964, which consisted of Van Morrison, Alan Henderson, Ronnie Milling, Billy Harrison and Eric Wrixon. In 1965 ex members Billy Harrison and Pat McAuley formed a rival Them. Legal action by Morrison's Them forced the band to use the name 'Other Them' when performing in the UK. The following year Pat McAuley's brother Jackie McAuley joined the band after Harrison quit. Though never billed as such, the band became known as the Belfast Gypsies (or Gipsies), releasing a couple of singles under that name plus another as 'Freaks of Nature'. They released just the one album in 1967. Many recognise this as an album called "Belfast Gypsies" by Them, others will argue it's titled "Them Belfast Gypsies" by the Belfast Gypsies. For the sake of this collection I've billed the one track by them as Belfast Gypsies!

The original Them relocated to the USA after Morrison left, now consisting of Kenny McDowell (vocals), Jim Armstrong (guitar), Alan Henderson (bass), Ray Elliott (sax/flute/organ) & Dave Harvey (drums). They recorded 2 albums in 1968, "Now and "Them"" and "Time Out! Time in for Them" before splitting up. Armstrong, McDowell and Elliot reunited in 1969 as 'Truth' and recorded a number of demos and soundtrack songs later released as "Of Them And Other Tales" in 1995. Alan Henderson kept the band name Them, releasing in 1970 a self-titled album featuring Jerry Cole on vocals/guitar, and "In Reality" in 1971, featuring Jim Parker on guitar/vocals and John Stark on drums.
 

Peter Bardens, who was briefly in Them in 1965, formed the band Village in 1968, featuring future Elvis Costello and The Attractions bassist Bruce Thomas and Bill Porter on drums. They released just the one single, "Man in the Moon" in 1969. After this Bardens released the solo album "The Answer" in 1970, which featured Peter Green on lead guitar. Shortly after Bardens went on to join the prog rock band Camel in 1972. Jackie McAuley, after leaving the Belfast Gypsies, joined up with former Fairport Convention vocalist Judy Dyble to form the folk rock act Trader Horn in 1969. This short-lived musical partnership broke up after releasing only one LP, "Morning Way", in 1970.  The same year McAuley issued a self-titled solo album.

I tried to keep the complex history of this band as short as possible, I think I just about succeeded! For more detailed info I suggest you visit the wiki entries on Them and various ex-members. By the way, whatever happened to that original lead vocalist, Van Morrison???

Once more huge thanks to Manerg for finding the photo for the cover art, hopefully most of you will figure out the meaning behind the photo and it's connection to this collection! Info containing track origin & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. Keep safe everybody, many thanks for all the kind comments, and hope you enjoy!

  1. Them - Gloria (6:19)

  2. Them - Time Out for Time In (2:52)
  3. Truth - Music From Big Puce (4:04)
  4. Them - Take a Little Time (2:11)
  5. Jackie McAuley - Cameraman, Wilson and Holmes (4:51)
  6. Peter Bardens - Homage to the God of Light (6:23)
  7. Them - Black Widow Spider (4:31)
  8. Trader Horne - Better Than Today (3:11)
  9. Truth - 6 O'Clock Alarm (8:28)
10. Them - Let My Song Through (2:35)
11. Jackie McAuley - Country Joe (4:34)
12. Them - Square Room (9:55)
13. Village - Man in the Moon (4:13)
14. Them - Waltz of the Flies (2:21)
15. Trader Horne - Sheena (2:33)
16. Truth - High (6:00)
17. Them - You Got Me Good (2:40)
18. Belfast Gypsies - Gloria's Dream (2:11)

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Manfred Mann Chapter Three - Chips But No Fish

 

From wikipedia:
Manfred Mann Chapter Three was a British experimental jazz rock band founded by South African keyboard player Manfred Mann and long-time partner Mike Hugg, both former members of the group Manfred Mann. The line-up for its debut at Newcastle's Mayfair Ballroom on 24 October 1969 was: Mike Hugg (vocals/electric piano), Mann (organ), Bernie Living (alto sax), Steve York (bass) and Craig Collinge (drums), augmented by a five-piece brass section of Clive Stevens (tenor sax), Carl Griffiths (tenor sax), Dave Coxhill (baritone sax), Gerald Drewett (trombone) and Sonny Corbett (trumpet). The band released two studio albums, and shelved a third. Mann went on to form Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1971.

I can't remember exactly when I first heard Manfred Mann Chapter Three, but I do remember my surprise at how different they were to the previous incarnation of the band. I did like some Manfred Mann, preferring the Mike d'Abo years over the Paul Jones era. I recommend "Mighty Garvey!", released in 1968 it's a fine psychedelic pop album. MMC3 was a huge leap forward, ditching their pop roots for a more progressive/jazz rock direction. Unfortunately the public didn't embrace this change in style, sales for their only 2 albums were rather poor, culminating in their break-up less than 2 years after forming. After their demise Mann formed the much more successful Manfred Mann's Earth Band, a band I never really took to.

For this collection, unsurprisingly tracks from those 2 albums dominate, but I have also included some tracks which were recorded for the shelved 3rd album. Some of these tracks first saw the light of day on the "Odds & Sods – Mis-takes & Out-takes" box set released in 2005. Mostly consisting of Manfred Mann's Earth Band songs, the first 5 tracks featured MMC3, 3 of which came from those 3rd album sessions. "Radio Days Vol. 3 - Live Sessions & Studio Rarities", released in 2019, featured more tracks from the shelved album. The track "Happy Being Me" from the 2nd album is almost 16 minutes in length, it's a decent tune but in my opinion way too long, so have shortened it somewhat. There was a single version released, but the editing was quite poor, otherwise I would have included that instead.

The blog Albums I Wish Existed has recreated the 3rd album, giving it the title "Fish & Chips". You can find it here, but only in mp3. For my anthology I decided to do a spoof on that title, naming it "Chips But No Fish" as it doesn't include the track "Fish". While the track in question has some interesting parts, as a whole I found it somewhat lacking, so it was an easy decision to exclude. 

Finally, a huge thanks to Manerg for his great help with this collection, including the cover art. Again, I hope you're all keeping safe out there, and you can enjoy this rather interesting (ahem) chapter in Manfred Mann's career!

  1. Snakeskin Garter (5:48)
  2. Poor Sad Sue (5:55)
  3. Train Crash (2:23)
  4. Sometimes (2:38)
  5. Time (7:22)
  6. Happy Being Me (edit) (3:53)
  7. So Sorry Please (8:15)
  8. Lady Ace (7:57)
  9. Turn You Away from My Door (3:26)
10. Ain't It Sad (1:57)
11. It's Good to Be Alive (3:29)
12. A Study in Inaccuracy (4:06)
13. Messin' Up the Land (8:42)
14. I Ain't Laughing (2:34)
15. One Way Glass (3:31)
16. Chips (2:09)
17. Travelling Lady (5:49)

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Songs from Beneath the Spaghetti Tree Vol. 55

  1. Elephant Stone - Hollow World (4:03)
  2. Pony del Sol - Les Arbres Menteurs (3:41)
  3. The Go-Betweens - Old Mexico (4:37)
  4. Cat Stevens - Lovely City (When Do You Laugh) (2:39)
  5. Bongos, Bass and Bob - Thorazine Shuffle (5:07)
  6. Calibro 35 - Convergere in Giambellino (3:30)
  7. Eddy Detroit - Beelzeebub (2:24)
  8. Denim - Mrs Mills (3:53)
  9. Nick Eberhardt - Crazy One (3:06)
10. Hotlegs - Um Wah, Um Woh (5:04)
11. The Love Explosion - Bill Wyman : Astral Energy (4:37)
12. Sparklehorse - Someday I Will Treat You Good (3:40)
13. Pretty Lightning - There Is Ooze on Our Shooze (2:14)
14. Juniore - Bizarre (3:36)
15. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Oh Bother (3:45)
16. Brinsley Schwarz - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding (3:32)
17. Deux Filles - Her Masters Voice (2:52)
18. RF Shannon - Tooth Ache (4:16)
19. Bitmap - The Situation (2:56)
20. The Heliocentrics - Burning Wooden Ship (5:35)
21. Drugstore - The Funeral (But Most of All) (4:16)

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