Tag Archives: unreleased

Country, Johnny Cash

Unreleased – I witnessed a crime by Johnny Cash

cashfront

Unreleased – I witnessed a crime by Johnny Cash

The Unreleased series

This is our eighth song in the Unreleased series, I Witnessed a Crime sung by Johnny Cash. Written by Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) and he also does some nice electric guitar on the track.

His late years were spent under the umbrella of Rick Rubin’s American Recordings label, and with Rick at the helm, Johnny recorded some of his finest material to date. From 1993 until his death in 2003, Johnny recorded a boatload of material, and, to date, his label has released American Recordings (1994), Unchained (1996), American III: Solitary Man (2000), American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002), Unearthed (2003), American V: A Hundred Highways (2006), and American VI: Ain’t No Grave (2010).

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Rolling Stones, Unreleased

The Rolling stones – Highway Child (unreleased)

stones bb

The Unreleased series

Beggars Banquet is the seventh British and ninth American studio album by the Rolling Stones. It was released in December 1968. It marked a return to the band’s R&B roots and is generally viewed as more primal than the psychedelia of Their Satanic Majesties Request. It also started off a string records that is usually regarded as the band’s best work.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards hired producer Jimmy Miller, who had produced the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic. This partnership would prove so successful that Jimmy Miller would work with the band until 1973.

The recording sessions for Beggars Banquet started in March and finished in June.

Today’s unreleased track is Highway Child off these sessions.

stones innside sleeve bb

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Beatles, Paul McCartney

Unreleased – 1882 by Paul McCartney

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1882_cover_edit

The Unreleased series

“Looking at it purely bluntly, there was sort of a dip for me and my writing. There were a couple of years when I had a sort of illness.”
– Paul McCartney (about his output around 1972)

But there were gems from that period that never saw the light of day, McCartney  was keeping some of his more interesting material to himself.

Today we present another fabulous unreleased track. 1882 by Paul McCartney was meant to be a part of The Red Rose Speedway album, this was when it was supposed to be a double album. It was however written at least a year earlier (maybe two).

1882 is an incredible song and it’s too bad that McCartney still hasn’t released it, but maybe when he comes to the Red Rose Speedway re-issue he’ll do it. Red Rose Speedway is one of my favourite paul McCartney albums and I have very high expectations for the re-release (if and when…).

It is a “story song” and lyrically quite straightforward but a bit on the dark side, and written right after the break-up of The Beatles.

He did play 1882 live on several shows in 1972 and there are many versions in circulation, and with great sound. He never played it live after the 1972 tour (to my knowledge).

1882 (first demo) – Paul McCartney:
00:00 – 1882 (Demo, 1970)
03:24 – 1882 (Live, 1972, Hague)

The song is sparse and with a hypnotic piano. It’s fun to hear him singing the guitar solo and then hear how similar the actual solo is on the live version.

There is another demo in circulation, couldn’t find it on youtube…but believe me, it is even better! Paul’s home demos from this time often give the listener a window into his private life: kids and dogs can be heard running around and playing in the background and  Linda is almost always present (as she is on the second demo). In this version the rhythm is close to a waltz and the piano is more pounding. It has a faster pace than the first one and the song is longer.

It is available on the world-wide web, but not on youtube. Seek it out people. It is on quite a few bootlegs, my favorite being Momac’s Hidden Tracks Volume 28 (great sound, interesting to great content). One more thing, don’t pay for bootlegs, support the artists by buying their official releases.

paul-mccartney-wings-live

The live version is very different and available on most if not all the European Tour taping from 1972. The Piano pounding waltz has turned into a soaring blues tinged number, I like both a lot.

1882 (live Hague 21 Aug, 1972) – Paul McCartney and Wings:

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Bruce Springsteen, Unreleased

Unreleased – Freehold by Bruce Springsteen

bruce_tj_tour

I was born right here on Randolph Street in Freehold
Here right behind that big red maple in Freehold
Well I went to school right here
Got laid and had my first beer
In Freehold

Today we have found a great “story-song” from Bruce Springsteen that has never been officially released.

This is a sweet and funny song that appeared for the first time live on 8 Nov 1996 in Freehold, NJ. Freehold/ In Freehold is never officially released and I think it has only been played live (not recorded in studio). It is a song in the same vein as Growing Up, but set at an earlier age and in a less serious tone.

The debut of the song was at The Ghost Of Tom Joad Solo Acoustic Tour (Freehold 8 Nov) and it has been played around 20 times after that. It is speculated that the song was written specifically for this event. It was a sort of homecoming show in the sense that he grew up in Freehold, but hadn’t played there since 1967. Bruce Springsteen left Freehold in 1968.

Freehold (first performance, audio):

 

springsteen tj_tour

In 1999 he added a verse based on true events:

Freehold (1999 version):

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The Clash

Rare track – In the Pouring Rain by The Clash

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pouring rain

Today’s unreleased gem rare track is from Joe Strummer’s hand and it was first taped with The Clash, it is the marvelous In The Pouring Rain. I noticed it when it appeared on the soundtrack of The Future is Unwritten, but I knew I had heard it before…

I dug through my old Clash bootlegs and found two of them with  different versions of the song. It exists in at least three kind of incarnations. I believed it was unreleased, but there was a soundtrack to the documentary about Joe Strummer and it is included (damn! he, he). It is hard to find, so I will post this anyway, but not as part of the Unreleased series.

In the pouring Rain (The Clash 1984, Cut the Crap line-up):

Recorded at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle in 1984, great quality! It was played both on the USA and European legs of the tour in 84.

This version is from one of my favorite Clash bootlegs, Give’em Enough Dope. The bootleg gets mixed reviews but I like it, the quality is way above average and the material is  excellent. The drumming is a bit sloppy on some tracks (Topper was deep into his  heroin addiction at this time and Joe shouts: “Come on you bastard! Stay with us, stay with us, keep going” . ) but the rest of the band keep it together.  But that was  the 81 Clash (the first part of the bootleg), now to the 1984 Clash…

give em enough dope

The rest of the CD is taken from various gigs in  1984. The Clash line-up  was Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, Vince White, Nick Sheppard and Pete Howard. This is a line-up that is generally considered second class, don’t believe them,  if you listen to these songs you will understand they are plain wrong.  These songs are incredibly energetic and are performed with a tight professionalism. This lineup handles the old songs great, and the new tunes are great. The guitar playing is fantastic! The album,  Cut The Crap doesn’t do these guys justice. In The Pouring Rain is one of my favourite songs from  the band at this time. It is moving and has all the qualities of a classic rock song, and it’s criminal that this Clash lineup gets slated at all when this is what they did on stage. The song will amaze you.  Make sure you get hold of this bootleg just for this.

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