Your Favourite "Lost" Albums

RocknRollDave

Been listening to "The Lost Crowes" by the Black Crowes which features previously unreleased ditched earlier versions of two of their albums and it got me thinking about "lost" albums, i.e. albums that were recorded but either never released or only released several years later and out of sequence with their other albums, if you get me.


Smile by the Beach Boys is arguably the most famous, alongside The Black Album by Prince (which did eventually get an offical release)..Simple Minds did an album (Our Secrets Are The Same) in 1999 that never saw the light of day until it was included in a box set in 2004 (probably best place for it, IMHO)


There must be others... I think there was a Bowie one? What are your favourites?

Doesn't matter if the album eventually had an official release or if it only ever made it to bootlegs but the only rule I have is that you must have heard the album and it must exist as more than just a rumour and a couple of demo tracks.

Go!

not_the_dj

Bruce Springsteen has loads of this stuff. The 4 CD "Tracks" boxset had some gems on it, and then there's been releases of recordings from the "Darkness" and "River" sessions as well....and there's the full band "Nebraska" sessions that hopefully will make it onto a  future "Born in the USA" multi disc release.

Then there's Dylan with his Bootleg  series of releases, again so much that was just fantastic but never originally saw the light of day for whatever reason....like "Blind Willie McTell" which is a masterpiece.

Legionreturns

I'm not sure it really counts, but the sheer improbability of the Rodriguez story and his original 2 albums still amaze me. Both brilliant albums too. 

scrumhalf

"Lost" in the sense that nobody bothered much about it when it was released. The great lost British psychedelic album.

Jason

Hollywood Brats, came out about 10 years after they split up. A British New York Dolls, still one of my favourite albums. I have the Lost Crowes album and I think they made the right decision, its ok but not a patch on the proper releases (IMO)

Whitecat

Pink Floyd's 'The Endless River' makes for nice daytime background music at work. It's by no means a masterpiece, but it has its moments of brilliance.

guitarfishbay

Elliott Smith's From A Basement On A Hill. He died during production so the instrumentation was completed posthumously 

blobb

The Smiths / The Smiths - Troy Tate album. How different things would have been if that had been released instead of the John Porter version.

impmann

scrumhalf said:

"Lost" in the sense that nobody bothered much about it when it was released. The great lost British psychedelic album.

Thanks for sharing this - I'd never heard it before. Wonderful!

mart

https://isabeleeles.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/the-greatest-albums-youll-never-hear-unreleased-records-by-the-worlds-greatest-artists-isabel-eeles.jpg?w=300&h=300
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/Greatest-Albums-Youll-Never-Hear-Unreleased-Musicians/1781312192

blobb

SoS did a really good 'inside track' feature about Time of the Season from Odessey Oracle, I'll see if I can find a link
...
....

result! Here ya go.

http://www.soundonsound.com/people/classic-tracks-zombies-time-season

scrumhalf

I actually think Time Of The Season isn't as good as some of the others. Hung Up On A Dream is magnificent and Beechwood Park isn't far behind it.

MagicPigDetective

Neil Young's On a Beach. Wasn't released till 2003 but one of his best albums

StageStruck

Hot City by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Much of the songs were eventually to become The Impossible Dream, but the earlier recordings from Hot City stands on their own as a good album. 

Philly_Q

Dusk by Badlands.  I think it was essentially a series of demos for their third album and it wasn't released until several years after Ray Gillen's death, but it sounds good to me and has some great songs.

KKJale

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo with Gram Parsons, the version before his vocals had to be replaced by Roger McGuinn. I think it exists pretty much... back in the '90s a friend who was a huge Byrds fan gave me a cassette of it (which has sadly vanished). 

Oh here's some of it at least:

Rabs

I quite like Hendrix People, Hell And Angels..  Some interesting stuff on there

http://www.nme.com/news/music/jimi-hendrix-2-22-1260120

not_the_dj

MagicPigDetective said:

Neil Young's On a Beach. Wasn't released till 2003 but one of his best albums

That was just on CD. It was on vinyl in '74. 

Chrome Dreams is one of his that's remained unreleased (bootlegs from '77), but bizarrely he released a sequel, Chrome Dreams II in '07. 

merlin

Death - For The Whole World to See.



Monks - Black Monk Time

horse

Lewis Taylor's 'The Lost Album' has some great moments and probably fits the bill

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Album_(Lewis_Taylor_album)

Also, wasn't the (ahem) Steel Panther premise a great lost 80s hair metal album?

english_bob

Buckingham Nicks. 

This was the album that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham made that got them the invitation to join Fleetwood Mac.

It was released in '73 and was big in Alabama, but has been out of print for years and never released on CD despite various statements over the years from Lindsey Buckingham saying that he'd like to. 

If you like 70s era Mac it's well worth a listen.

You can download it from http://www.buckinghamnicks.net/