Friday 24 June 2011

News, Views and Music Issue 103 (Intro)




June 24:

Dear reader, here we are again for our second issue after our unexpected break. How are you getting on with our new look? Do you think it looks a bit better – and do you think it could be better still? Please keep leaving your comments anywhere you like, whether on our forum, our ‘chat’ page or by emailing us (at pattin82@yahoo.co.uk). In the meantime it’s business as usual as study an overlooked gem from Neil Young (his last great album to date in fact, although a case could be made for ‘Prairie Wind’), AAA musicians before they found fame and more birthdays than you can shake a rhythm stick at! In other news, we don’t often side with Archbishops but full marks to Mr Williams for kicking the Coalition and their policies: we didn’t vote for them or their changes (which are going to cost us more money despite the deficit we keep hearing about) and the hatred it’s causing between the haves and have-nots of this world is getting way out of control. Also, what right does an unelected prime minister have for criticising dads who leave single mums – Cameron hasn’t been a father for more than a few years already and he hasn’t had the scars of unemployment, poverty and hopelessness to get in the way of his family life (as you’ll be reading in our Neil Young review below...) How dare you criticise what you can’t and won’t understand from your ivory tower, you faceless puppet. I mean, do we really want such a bunch of incompetents with a back history of scandal and jail sentences telling us all how to live our lives? And should we really put missing dads for whatever reason on the same level as ‘drunk drivers’ as he suggests? So here’s to David Cameron doing the sensible thing and stopping his evil charade sometime soon! 

Talking of evil - who burnt my sims mansion down! Was it you Ringo? (I saw you looking shifty at that last talent show!) Or was it Neil Young getting his own back after last week? Or was it Crosby assuming he knew how to cook better than the chef we hired specially again?!? Either way - *sob* all those Stills paintings, they cost a fortune! At the moment it's back to the old house, but at least Crosby's 'discussion' rate is going well, everyone keeps talking about that fire! Not why I wanted them to be in the news, but hey...All publicity is good publicity, right?! (Now I need a Sim Andrew Loog Oldham!)


Erm, moving swiftly on to our news section...



                                                                

Beatles News: Maccas back at it again. Weve already reported in these pages that the Fab one keeps having auctions of works associated with him withdrawn from sale at auction because of his involvement (the widow of Beatle roadie Mal Evans being a case in point), even though most of his fellow musicians (even Ringo, amazingly!) turn a blind eye. This time around its the daughter of animator Eric Wylam, who worked with Paul in the 1970s on a series of projects - including what became Rupert and the Frog Song in 1984 who has been prevented from selling early drawings and sketches on the basis that as the series was partly Pauls idea he owns the copyright. AS of going to press, the sketches have had to be removed from sale. In happier news, though, theres been a bit more info about Maccas impending wedding to Nancy Shevell. It looks like Maccas brother Mike (once of the Scaffold and a friend of AAA member Graham Nash to boot) will be best man for a third time, just as he was back in 1969 when Paul married Linda Eastman!  

Oasis News: Back when I was 12, I despaired of hearing anything remotely half-decent in modern music. Little did I know that two bands were going to come along who were every bit as important in my collection as all the great bands of the 1960s and unbelievably they both came along in 1994: Belle and Sebastian and Oasis (though it took me a few years to find out about the latter I must admit!) There were two things that made me think that Oasis were going to be big before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon: hearing a tuneless cover of Live Forever by a school band and thinking it was so timeless that it surely must have been around before 1994 and hearing the last two parts of the Radio One documentary Whats The Story?, broadcast to co-incide with the release of second album Morning Glory (which even then was seen as something of a semi-big event). All the stories we talk about today concerning Oasis were mostly learnt from that documentary and for years Ive been dying to hear what the first two parts sounded like. Well now, thanks to the increasingly impressive BBC6 schedule, I can all four parts are being broadcast in the 12midnight shift starting this Tuesday, June 28th at 00:00 and running until Friday, July 1st. Hurrah! 

Simon and Garfunkel News: Just as I was beginning to despair of hearing anything about it at all, the publicity department for Paul Simons latest album So Beautiful, Or So What? seems to have gone into hyper-drive this month. Theres lots of reviews in lots of publications but the best is probably a lengthy and revealing interview published in the Telegraph which is the most revealing yet about the ups and downs of Simon and Garfunkels idea (Simon says that he hates the idea that he or Arty might die when the duo are having one of their funny turns and that the other will never get over their disagreement). Pauls album, released in April in America for some reason but only this week in most of Europe, was also promoted with a Johnnie Walker radio interview You Can Call Me Paul, broadcast on Radio 2 while we were off the air. For those who missed it (me included, actually, thanks to a dodgy timer) its being repeated on BBC6 this coming Monday, June 27th at 3am. Oh and we also pass our condolences to Art Garfunkel whose just revealed that he is suffering from major problems with his throat and will be out of action for some time to come get better soon Art!






ANNIVERSARIES: it’s that birthday feeling once again for those AAA members born between June 26th and July 2nd: John Illsey (bassist with Dire Straits 1983-93) who turns 62 on June 26th, Bruce Johnston (keyboardist and bassist with The Beach Boys 1965-71 and 1979-present) who turns 67 on June 27th and Adrian Wright (synthesiser with The Human League 1981-86) who turns 55 on June 30th. Anniversaries of events include: Arguably the most successful EP of all time – The Beatles’ ‘Twist And Shout’ made up of songs from 1st album ‘Please Please Me’ – is released (June 26th 1963); The Rolling Stones score their first of many UK #1s with ‘It’s All Over Now’ (June 26th 1964); The Stones are also busy the next day, June 25th 1964, filling up the whole panel of Juke Box Jury – the TV company receives several complaints for their ‘monosyllabic’ responses (just as well they never saw Big Brother in the 1960s!); The Denver Pop Festival – a largely forgotten precursor to Woodstock – takes place on June 27th 1969 featuring CSNY; The Fillmore East – home to the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane among others – closes its doors on June 27th 1971; four rather special #1s on June 28th in various years – CSN’s 1st eponymous record is #1 in America in 1969, Wings are at #1 with their ‘Venus and Mars’ record in 1976, 10cc are at #1 in the singles chart in 1975 with ‘I’m Not In Love’ and Paul McCartney is #1 with ‘Coming Up’ in 1980; the first ever Lennon/McCartney song to enter the US charts peaks at #77: Del Shannon’s cover of ‘From Me To You’ (June 29th 1963); Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are in Brixton Prison on drug possession charges and are facing three months and a year respectively (June 29th 1967); The first Hyde Park concert takes place starring Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull (June 29th 1968); The Beatles record ‘She Loves You’ (July 1st 1963); three years later on that date The Beatles play a memorable set in Tokyo’s Budokan – now re-created for the middle of the ‘Beatles Rock Band’ game (July 1st 1966) and finally, John and Yoko’s first joint project – an art exhibition – takes place in London (July 1st 1968).

News, Views and Music Issue 103 (Top Ten): Pre-Fame Recordings




What do you get when you cross enthusiastic teenagers with their first real chance of fame? Well, on the negative side you do occasionally get The Spice Girls (yuk!), but sometimes you end up with pure gold, with raw and unpolished versions of late tracks with glimpses of the genius that will only come to pass years later. For this week’s top five/ten we’ve tried to pull together the ten best available and official or at any rate semi-available and semi-official AAA sets and what a varied bunch they are, from a ridiculously young Beach Boys trying out their instruments for the first time to poppy teenage spin-off records by Simon and Garfunkel light years away from ‘The Sound of Silence’ to an unrecognisable Janis Joplin re-cast as folk singer, classics all.

1)    The Beach Boys ‘Unnamed early tapes’ (recorded as ‘The Pendletones’ in Murray Wilson’s garage 1961, released under the name ‘Lost and Found’ in 2001): “Don’t pop me in the mouth!” The story goes that the Wilson parents Murray and Audrey had to go away for the weekend and decided, against their better judgement, to leave 19-year-old Brian in charge of the household for the weekend. Murray even left his eldest son a bit of money in case of emergency. The minute the car was out the drive, Brian Dennis and Carl were on the phone to cousin Mike Love and neighbour David Marks (then just 13!), who spent all their ‘emergency’ money on a bunch of rented instruments and tape-reels for Brian’s recording machine. The result is basic and crude and the Beach Boys’ faltering attempts at instruments are light years behind their carefully practised vocals (only Brian and Carl actually play anything), but there’s a real charm about these sparse but surprisingly modern-sounding recordings. The end result – which even an irate Murray Wilson grudgingly admitted was quite good when he came home and interrupted proceedings, in between whacking his wayward sons –is much as you’d expect, with a serious Brian and a dutiful Carl forever interrupted by a bored Dennis and a mischievous Marks, whose clearly just having fun hanging round with his elder peers rather than trying to make any real musical statement. Mike Love, for the moment, has a foot in both camps. Still, fascinating to hear, not least for Brian’s already impressive attempts at arranging old songs to sound contemporary and for the harmony blend which is already falling into place after years of singing at Love and Wilson family get-togethers over the years. Even if you do get awfully sick of hearing ‘Luaua’ time after time! Highlight: This early version of ‘Surfin’ Safari’ rocks even more than the record, whilst the Four Freshman ballad ‘Lavender’ is the best of the exclusive stuff, even if it is a tad slow. 7/10.



2)    The Beatles ‘Live at the Star Club, Hamburg’ (recorded as ‘The Silver Beatles’ in Germany December 1962, released under various names and on various record labels from 1973 to date): “And now the waiter’s going to do a song...” Allegedly these tapes only exist because ted ‘KingSize’ Taylor (of fellow Mersey band The Dominoes) wanted to test out his new tape recorder with the sound of some fellow musicians and John Lennon allegedly agreed, unknown to the rest of the band, in return for a drink (as Harrison later put it in court ‘one drunk taping a lot of other drunks does not constitute a business agreement!’) When the tapes re-emerged in the early 70s on a cheap label (later taken to court by the fab four) it completely split the group’s fans: those who loved the chance of hearing the band without the hype of even their earliest other existing concert recordings and those who were disappointed that the Beatles of Hamburg legend sounded bored, fed up and were on less than charming form in the wake of Love Me Do’s poor chart appearance and still suffering in shock with their first trip back to Germany after Stuart Sutcliffe’s untimely death. You also have to say that these recordings are key to the argument that Pete Best was a better drummer than Ringo – his shabby playing here, admittedly with a band he barely knows, is atrocious. Certainly, then, this isn’t the Beatles at their best and the recording is at times so grotty that it’s not worth your while trying to work out what’s going on past the sound of Star Club patrons and noisy waiters (did they always make this much noise?!) Note the lack of Lennon/McCartney originals in the set-list too (the German crowd were much more receptive to songs they vaguely knew, even if they were being sung in a foreign language) and the fact that practically all the cover songs are better heard in their BBC Session variety. But in a historical context, as the earliest live recordings of the fab four, it’s invaluable and even on a bad note much of this ‘album’ is revealing, exciting and lovable. Most of the Beatles still hate these recordings with a passion – one of George Harrison’s last non-musical act in the public eye was to appear in court demanding it’s removal when another label tried to revive it on CD in the 1990s – but Lennon in private is said to have been rather pleased (indeed, the rumour is still strong that Lennon ‘leaked’ his copy in order to see it get a ‘proper’ release!) There’s certainly much interest for the Beatles collector here with no less than five exclusive tracks: ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ ‘Reminiscing’ ‘Little Queenie’ ‘Falling In Love Again’ and ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ (12 and 27 years earlier, respectively, than the more famous Lennon and McCartney solo cover versions!), (plus a further two exclusive songs on the harder-to-find American version). Highlight: the Hamburg waiter taking a warbling cameo vocal on that old chestnut ‘Hallelujah I Love Her So’– erm, no, only kidding, that’s the lowest point in the Beatles canon until at least ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’, instead the highlight is probably an energetic McCartney tackling ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’ far more successfully than he will for the BBC two years later. 7/10.



3)    The Byrds ‘Unnamed early tapes’ (recorded as ‘The Beefeaters’ and ‘The JetSet’ among other names 1964-65 and released in part in 1984 as ‘Early Flight’ and 1988 as ‘In The Beginning’): “Tomorrow Is A Long Ways Away” Boy, success sure is a long ways away given these tapes. Hearing this impressively large batch of pre-Mr Tambourine Man demo recordings (17!), if I was a record company man I’d have groomed Gene Clark as a solo star and told him to give up on the rest of the band, because this is some of the poorest, loosest playing in the history of recorded music between skiffle and punk even though Mr Tambourine Man is worth the cost of admission alone. The Byrds were never the most virtuoso of musicians, but the sheer amount of bum notes and missed harmonies make a good 12 tracks on this set heavier going even than Byrdmaniax. In one sense, though, I’m amazed these recordings aren’t worse: the JetSet (as they were still known) are still very much learning how to play together (weeks before this recording Crosby was the bassist and Clark the guitarist, before Chris Hillman joined, while Michael Clarke was learning to drum on cardboard boxes because he couldn’t afford a drum kit). ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, in particular, sounds like sabotage by a bunch of uninterested youths still at school who took up music to avoid having to take PE or some other lesson, not a future number one.  But Gene Clark is undeniably terrific – he’d already written pretty much all of his great work by mid-1964, back when only Brian Wilson and Lennon/McCartney were into writing songs, and his voice never sounded better, with a winning mix of confidence and vulnerability. By contrast, the rest of the band are pulling on his coat-tails and getting in his way. The choice of material too then is almost there – most of the band’s first two albums’ originals are here and practically all of Gene’s work – it’s just the performances that suffer. The songs exclusive to this set, nearly all by Gene Clark, are terrific by the way and by far and away the highlights: two versions of ‘Tomorrow Is A Long Ways Away’ and the lost rock and roll classic that is ‘Boston’, all of which should have ended up on either ‘Tambourine Man’ or ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ David Crosby’s ‘Airport Song’, too, shows far more of the grace and originality that Crosby’s writing will show in the late 60s than pretty much any of his other songs for the Byrds and the group credited ‘Only Girl That I Adore’ is a sweet little song fully deserving of a re-recording, even if its painfully Beatles-like in every way. A curious mix of the painful and prophetic, the genius and the godawful, often at the same time, rescued by the unheard gems. 7/10.





4)    The Grateful Dead ‘Fire In The City’ and other early recordings (recorded in L.A. as ‘The Warlocks’, both solo and backing Jon Hendricks March 1965-March 1967, released in 2002 with early live recordings as ‘The Birth of the Dead’): “Who you are and what you do don’t make no difference to me!” The Dead had a surprisingly long apprenticeship in the studio before recording their first, self-titled album almost two years after these first studio dates. Lovingly collected by fan Dennis McNally over a period of years, these 16 unreleased recordings (some of them repeats) finally saw the light of day on Rhino as ‘The Birth of The Dead’ along with 14 variable live tracks from this early period and a curio backing one third of Lambert Hendricks and Ross on a jazzy pop song (which became a – very – minor hit in early 1967, though Jerry’s guitar sound at all like ‘our’ Dead). Some of them are junk, it has to be said, lazy blues that were done by a whole host of other people of the time better (and having four of the songs as ‘backing tracks’ in addition to finished versions seems like cheating). But the rest: the Dead are already flying, turning in some tentative but already completely original songs with a literary, hippie twist with band-written highlights such as ‘Mindbender’ ‘Can’t Come Down’ and especially the glorious pop of ‘You Don’t Have To Ask’ with Garcia and Pippen on especially good form as good as anything on their first album, if not a little better.There’s also an early version of the later epic ‘Caution (Do Not Stop On The Tracks)’ which, for fans of the ‘Anthem of the Sun’ album like me, is a must hear with a fully functioning blues song going on without all that feedback and sound effects. Above all, across these recordings  the Dead already sound like a ‘band’ – albeit a band of beginners still – and back each other up nicely, heading in roughly the same direction throughout, unlike say the early Byrds and Beach Boys tapes where the bands sound like they’ve only just met. Surprisingly excellent. 8/10.    



5)    Janis Joplin ‘The Typewriter Tapes’ (recorded in 1966 and released on various compilations, notably ‘Janis’ in 1992): Hearing a teenage Janis’ early recordings merely underlines how different and new her breakthrough sound with ‘Big Brother and the Holding Company’ was. You see, songs like ‘Silver threads and Golden Needles’ ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘San Francisco Bay Blues’ are pure folk, a million miles away from Janis’ powerhouse rock, blues and soul hybrid and much more in keeping with songs by Dylan, Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul and Mary. Even a surprise cover of the old rock standard ‘Hi-Heeled Sneakers’ sounds more like some feeble folk band than the rocker we know Janis can be. Now, Joplin doesn’t sing these songs badly – and even before she’s quite learned what to do with it she has a terrific vocal presence I have to say – but she sounds woefully out of place here, so it’s not surprising her ad-hoc audience don’t sound that taken with her singing either. And whoever is backing her on guitar is no Sam Andrew! Thank goodness Big Brother came along and she could start being herself! 2/10.



6)    The Kinks ‘I’m A Hog For You Baby’ and ‘I Believe You’ (recorded in London as ‘The Ravens’ in November 1963 and released on the Kinks box-set ‘Music Box’ 2009 and the new deluxe re-issue of ‘The Kinks’ 2011): “I believe what you said – that loving days were through” Ray Davies has been notoriously stingy about releasing unfinished and unused tracks from his Komprehensive Kollection of Kinks oddities, but seems to have had a change of heart in the past three years or so. Thank goodness because while, frankly, the long-awaited Kinks set was a disaster the highlights were this charming pair of demos from the band’s earliest days as ‘The Ravens’ (a great name that, wish they’d kept it). The Kinks just sound like every other R and B band around, but already Ray’s distinctive uncompromising Muswell Hill slur and Dave’s attacking guitar style are there to be heard. Ther first song, of course, is an old soul standard (also covered by the Grateful Dead), while the second is a very Beatlesy Ray Davies original that actually sounds very like The Rutles. Still, it’s head and shoulders above most everything else around in late 1963 - The Stones, remember, had only just released their first single, remember and personally I’d put either of these songs on a par with ‘C’mon’ so in retrospect I’m surprised they weren’t released at the time. 5/10.



7)    The Searchers ‘The Iron Door Sessions’ (demo-tape recorded in Liverpool 1963 which helped the band get signed to Pye; released in 2002): “Let’s Stomp!” We tend to think of The Searchers as Beatles-wannabes these days, a fellow Merseyside band who covered much of the same material but were slightly slower of the mark in terms of landmark recordings and writing their own material. But how different things could have been because this set, taped live at the Iron Door Club in the Wirral – the Searchers’ equivalent of the Cavern Club – created far more of a stir with record companies. The Beatles had only released ‘Love Me Do’ when by the time this set was recorded, over George Martin’s better wishes it has to be said and that hadn’t exactly set the world alight; by contrast this set so impressed Pye producer Tony Hatch that he thought The Searchers were going to be huge. He’s right too – the band might be a little rough around the edges, but I prefer my Searchers recordings raw and exciting and dangerous and the sheer charisma of the under-rated lead singers Tony Jackson, Chris Curtis and Mike Pender is there for all to hear. Indeed, Curtis even gets one of his own tracks on the demo-tape (which is more than the Beatles did in Hamburg) with an early version of sweet B-side ‘I’ll Be Missing You’.The shock really is that it took six months for The Searchers to cut this album’s lead track ‘Sweets For My Sweet’, which is pretty much identical to the version here, by which time the Beatles had already changed the world (well, most of it). There are several tracks exclusive to this fascinating (if short) set though: guitar instrumental Jamabalya, the sweet ‘Rosalie’, Chuck Berry’s urgent ‘Maybelline’ and ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’, plus the album’s highlight, the scatter-brained dance number ‘Let’s Stomp’. Full marks to Tony Jackson for keeping his copy of this acetate – thought to be the only one in existence – in such a good condition over the years! (the acetate was found in his collection after his death in 2001). Overall rating 8/10.  



8)    Simon and Garfunkel ‘Various’ (released under the names ‘Tom and Jerry’ ‘Tico and the Triumphs’ ‘Artie Garr’ and ‘Jerry Landis’ between 1957 and 1962; re-released various times since 1969): “Said woo-bop-a-loop-chi-bah you’re mine, I knew it all the time!” Probably the most successful of the whole of this top 10 is a teenage Simon and Garfunkel singing under the pseudonyms ‘Tom and Jerry’ (Garfunkel is Tom, interestingly, and gets his name listed first!) whose first single ‘Het Schoolgirl’, a delightful bit of doo-wop pop, actually scored big in 1957 when the two singers were all of 14. Both singers are still quite fond of this song too (they were still performing it on their 2003 reunion tour and joked onstage in 1970 that their new best-of would be called ‘Hey Schoolgirl and 12 others’). A whole host of flops under a series of unlikely names followed though and in truth none of them are even close to that debut single’s charm. The duo then split – not for the last time – with Artie Garr (!) getting his only writing credit to date with a hopelessly banal ballad in ‘Dream Alone’ (the B-side is even worse!) and Simon (recording as Jerry Landis) getting increasingly desperate to jump on a pop bandwagon. Most of the songs available semi-legally (ie without Simon and Garfunkel’s permission) are pretty awful to be honest and show little of the skill to come (and it’s ironic that a song as strong as ‘The Sound Of Silence’ was an even worse flop than some of these songs the first time round in acoustic form), but there are some gems. I love Jerry Landis’ TV spin-off ‘The Lone Teen Ranger’ as it’s such a clever pastiche of other songs around at the same time, has a distinctive riff nicked from the William Tell Overture and has Paul Simon doing a pretty nifty job as a Texan cowboy. And ‘Two Teenagers’ deserved to do better as the follow-up to ‘Hey Schoolgirl’, even if it is suspiciously familiar to every other 1950s doo-wop song around (well, hey, the guys were only 15 when they came up with this – the Spice Girls are in their 40s now and still getting away with it!) This set is also fun for hearing huge Elvis fan Paul Simon desperately trying to sound like his idol – and succeeding for the most part, even though it’s a style he’s dropped by the time he turns 20 and gets into folk. 5/10.      



9)    The Who ‘I’m The Face’ (released as ‘The High Numbers’ in 1964, re-issued in 1974 on the ‘Odds and Sods’ compilation and in 1994 on the ’30 Years of Maximum R and B’ box set): “I’m the face if you want it babe!” Hmm, an r and b re-write of Slim Harpo’s ‘Got Love If You Want’ with lyrics about fashion isn’t the most auspicious or original start a classic band could have, but The Who always seemed quite fond of their first released track (hence its inclusion in outtakes set ‘Odds and Sods’ some 10 years after its first release and the ‘steal’ from this song for Pete Townshend’s mod-mad character Jimmy in the Quadrophenia song ‘Drowned’). ‘Face’ really doesn’t sound like The Who – Roger Daltrey sounds cod-American, while the dominating sound isn’t Keith Moon’s drumming or Townshend’s guitar but John Entwistle’s uncharacteristic bass ‘swoops’ and Daltrey’s harmonica – and manager Peter Meadon’s lyrics are easily the worst the band ever had to use (until the late 70s at least). And yet I love this song for all of its pill-popping mod-orientated madness – it’s not as perfect as ‘proper’ Who debut ‘Can’t Explain’ by any means but it somehow fits the band’s catalogue as the first real ‘Who’ recording and it’s a lot less wearing than most of the James Brown covers on the ‘My Generation’ LP. 6/10.



10) Neil Young ‘Aurora’ and ‘The Sultan’ (released in Toronto, Canada under the name ‘The Squires’ and finally re-issued in 2009 as part of the Neil Young box-set ‘Archives’): “Aurora!” When Neil Young finally got round to issuing his delayed-by-30-years ‘Archive’ box set, just about the only track still there from day one was this double-sided single by Neil’s first band ‘The Squires’. Interestingly, The Beatles hadn’t quite reached Canada by the time these songs were recorded – and Neil was never that big on Elvis – so these songs instead show a distinct Shadows influence (the only word on either song is a shouted ‘Aurora!’ in the chorus. Neil’s guitar work is, astonishingly, already on a par with hank Marvin’s style by the time he’s 16 and the rest of the band sound pretty hot too, especially the kid with the gong and surf style drumming (Bob Clark?) What a shame they had to fold when Neil tried to take the band out of Toronto because they could have been big too. It’s also pretty weird to hear what already sounds like Neil’s legendary style played quietly without it being drenched in feedback or hung out right on the edge. Still, Young fans who’d saved up hundreds of pounds for the box set on the strength of ‘Like A Hurricane’ and ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ were probably less than amused when the box set started with such an uncharacteristic pair of songs! 5/10.   



So what of our other AAA bands? Well, Belle and Sebastian’s demo tape is effectively debut record ‘Tigermilk’ (recorded as a project to sell as part of a business studies degree!), Buffalo Springfield were signed to Atlantic on the strength of their live work (now sadly lost), CSN were already stars in their own right (although some early demos have crept out on CD re-issues), Dire Straits started off with ‘Sultans of Swing’ and the rest is history, The Hollies’ audition tape became the lovely B-side ‘Whole World Over’, Jefferson Airplane recorded the censored ‘Runnin’ Round This World’ single, Lindisfarne’s early tapes as The Brethren are still under lock and key somewhere, The Monkees were signed before they’d played a note together (although their earliest recordings did come out on the ‘Missing Links Two’ compilation), The Moody Blues were signed on the back of live gigs as ‘Birmingham’s biggest band’ in the Denny Laine era, Oasis recorded a few demos which were released on the back of their early singles, Pink Floyd recorded the still unreleased ‘Lucy Leave’ and ‘I’m A King Bee’ (only available on YouTube), The Stones’ earliest recording became first single ‘C’mon’, The Small Faces  were signed on the strength of an untapped audition at Decca, Cat Stevens was signed after playing ‘I Love My Dog’ for a publisher and 10cc began life as ‘Hotlegs’ (see news and views no 36).



That’s all for another issue – see you next time!

A NOW COMPLETE List Of Top Five/Top Ten/TOP TWENTY  Entries 2008-2019
1) Chronic Fatigue songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/08/news-views-and-music-issue-1-top-five.html

2) Songs For The Face Of Bo
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-2-top-five.html

3) Credit Crunch Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-3-top-five.html

4) Songs For The Autumn
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-4-top-five.html

5) National Wombat Week
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-top-five-national.html

6) AAA Box Sets
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/news-views-and-music-issue-6-top-five.html

7) Virus Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-7-top-five.html

8) Worst AAA-Related DVDs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issu-8-top-five.html

9) Self-Punctuating Superstar Classics
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html

10) Ways To Know You Have Turned Into A Collector
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/10/news-views-and-music-issue-9-top-five.html

11) Political Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-issue-11-top-five.html

12) Totally Bonkers Concept Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/news-views-and-music-top-five-totally.html

13) Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/top-five-issue-13-40-years-of-beatles.html

14) Still Celebrating 40 Years Of The Beatles' White Album
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-14-top-five.html

15) AAA Existential Questions
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15-top-five.html

16) Releases Of The Year 2008
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-16-top-five.html

17) Top AAA Xmas Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-17-top-five.html

18) Notable AAA Gigs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/news-views-and-music-issue-19-top-five.html

19) All things '20' related for our 20th issue
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-20-aaa-songs.html

20) Romantic odes for Valentine's Day
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/news-views-and-music-issue-22-top-five.html

21) Hollies B sides
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-23-top-five.html

22) 'Other' BBC Session Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-24-top-five.html

23) Beach Boys Rarities Still Not Available On CD
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-25-top-five.html

24) Songs John, Paul and George wrote for Ringo's solo albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/news-views-and-music-issue-26-top-five.html

25) 5 of the Best Rock 'n' Roll Tracks From The Pre-Beatles Era
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-27-top-five.html

26) AAA Autobiographies
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-28-top-five.html

27) Rolling Stones B-sides
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/news-views-and-music-issue-29-top-five.html

28) Beatles B-Sides
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-30-top-five.html

29) The lllloooonnngggeesssttt AAA songs of all time
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-31-top-five.html

30) Kinks B-Sides
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-32-top-five.html

31) Abandoned CSNY projects 'wasted on the way'
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/news-views-and-music-issue-33-top-five.html

32) Best AAA Rarities and Outtakes Sets
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/news-views-and-music-issue-34-top-five.html

33) News We've Missed While We've Been Away
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-35-top-five.html

34) Birthday Songs for our 1st Anniversary
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html

35) Brightest Album Covers
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-37-top-five.html

36) Biggest Recorded Arguments
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/news-views-and-music-issue-38-top-five.html

37) Songs About Superheroes
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-39-top-five.html

38) AAA TV Networks That Should Exist
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-40-top-five.html

39) AAA Woodtsock Moments
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-41-top-five.html

40) Top Moments Of The Past Year As Voted For By Readers
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/news-views-and-music-issue-42-top-five.html

41) Music Segues
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-43-top-five.html

42) AAA Foreign Language Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/news-views-and-music-issue-44-top-five.html

43) 'Other' Groups In Need Of Re-Mastering
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/news-views-and-music-issue-45-top-five.html

44) The Kinks Preservation Rock Opera - Was It Really About The Forthcoming UK General Election?
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-46-top-five.html

45) Mono and Stereo Mixes - Biggest Differences
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-47-top-five.html

46) Weirdest Things To Do When A Band Member Leaves
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/nerws-views-and-music-issue-48-top-five.html

47) Video Clips Exclusive To Youtube (#1)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/news-views-and-music-issue-49-top-five.html

48) Top AAA Releases Of 2009
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50-top-five.html

49) Songs About Trains
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-51-top-five.html

50) Songs about Winter
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/news-views-and-music-issue-52-top-five.html

51) Songs about astrology plus horoscopes for selected AAA members
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-53-top-five.html

52) The Worst Five Groups Ever!
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/news-views-and-music-issue-54-top-five.html

53) The Most Over-Rated AAA Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-56-top-five.html

54) Top AAA Rarities Exclusive To EPs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/news-views-and-music-issue-57-top-five.html

55) Random Recent Purchases (#1)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/news-views-and-music-issue-58-top-five.html

56) AAA Party Political Slogans
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-60-top-five.html

57) Songs To Celebrate 'Rock Sunday'
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five_21.html

58) Strange But True (?) AAA Ghost Stories
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/news-views-and-music-issue-61-top-five.html

59) AAA Artists In Song
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-top-five.html

60) Songs About Dogs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-65-top-five.html

61) Sunshiney Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-67-top-five.html

62) The AAA Staff Play Their Own Version Of Monoploy/Mornington Crescent!
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-68-top-forty.html

63) What 'Other' British Invasion DVDs We'd Like To See
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/news-views-and-music-issue-69-top-five.html

64) What We Want To Place In Our AAA Time Capsule
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-70-top-five.html

65) AAA Conspiracy Theroies
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-issue-72-top-ten.html

66) Weirdest Things To Do Before - And After - Becoming A Star
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/news-views-and-music-top-ten-aaa-stars.html

67) Songs To Tweet To
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-74-top-five.html

68) Greatest Ever AAA Solos
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/news-views-and-music-issue-75-top-ten.html

69) John Lennon Musical Tributes
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-77-top-five.html

70) Songs For Halloween
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/news-views-and-music-issue-78-top-five.html

71) Earliest Examples Of Psychedelia
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-79-top-five.html

72) Purely Instrumental Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-81-top-five.html

73) AAA Utopias

74) AAA Imaginary Bands
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/news-views-and-music-issue-82-top-five.html

75) Unexpected AAA Cover Versions
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-83-top-five.html

76) Top Releases of 2010
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-84-top-five.html

77) Songs About Snow
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/news-views-and-music-issue-85-top-five.html

78) Predictions For 2011
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_02_archive.html

79) AAA Fugitives

80) AAA Home Towns
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88-home.html

81) The Biggest Non-Musical Influences On The 1960s
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-89-top-five.html

82) AAA Groups Covering Other AAA Groups
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-90-top.html

83) Strange Censorship Decisions
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-91-top-ten.html

84) AAA Albums Still Unreleased on CD
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/news-views-and-music-issue-92-top-five.html

85) Random Recent Purchases (#2)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/news-views-and-music-issue-93-top-ten.html

86) Top AAA Music Videos
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-94-top-ten.html

87) 30 Day Facebook Music Challenge
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-95-top.html

88) AAA Documentaries
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-top-five-aaa.html

89) Unfinished and 'Lost' AAA Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/news-views-and-music-issue-97-top-ten.html

90) Strangest AAA Album Covers
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/newsa-views-and-music-issue-98-top-ten.html

91) AAA Performers Live From Mars (!)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-99-top-ten.html

92) Songs Including The Number '100' for our 100th Issue
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-100-top-five.html

93) Most Songs Recorded In A Single Day
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/news-views-and-music-issue-101-top-five.html

94) Most Revealing AAA Interviews
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-102-top-five.html

95) Top 10 Pre-Fame Recordings
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/news-views-and-music-issue-103-top-ten.html

96) The Shortest And Longest AAA Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-104-top-ten.html


97) The AAA Allstars Ultimate Band Line-Up
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-105-top.html

98) Top Songs About Sports
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-106-top-ten.html

99) AAA Conversations With God
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/news-views-and-music-issue-107-top-ten.html

100) AAA Managers: The Good, The Bad and the Financially Ugly
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-108-top-ten.html

101) Unexpected AAA Cameos
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-top-ten.html

102) AAA Words You can Type Into A Caluclator
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-110-top-five.html

103) AAA Court Cases
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-111-top-five.html

104) Postmodern Songs About Songwriting
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-112-top-five.html

105) Biggest Stylistic Leaps Between Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-113-top-ten.html

106) 20 Reasons Why Cameron Should Go!
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/news-views-and-music-issue-114-top.html

107) The AAA Pun-Filled Cookbook
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-115-top-five.html

108) Classic Debut Releases
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-116-top-five.html

109) Five Uses Of Bird Sound Effects
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-118-top-five.html

110) AAA Classic Youtube Clips Part #1
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/news-views-and-music-issue-119-top.html

111) Part #2
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-120-top.html

112) Part #3
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-121-top.html

113) AAA Facts You Might Not Know
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-122-top-ten.html

114) The 20 Rarest AAA Records
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/news-views-and-music-issue-123-top.html

115) AAA Instrumental Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_04_archive.html

116) Musical Tarot
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/news-views-and-music-issue-125-top-23-i.html

117) Christmas Carols
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_18_archive.html

118) Top AAA Releases Of 2011
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011_12_25_archive.html

119) AAA Bands In The Beano/The Dandy
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-128-top-five.html

120) Top 20 Guitarists #1
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/news-views-and-music-issue-129-top-ten.html

121) #2
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_15_archive.html

122) 'Shorty' Nomination Award Questionairre
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_22_archive.html

123) Top Best-Selling AAA Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_01_29_archive.html

124) AAA Songs Featuring Bagpipes

125) A (Hopefully) Complete List Of AAA Musicians On Twitter
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_19_archive.html

126) Beatles Albums That Might Have Been 1970-74 and 1980
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_02_26_archive.html

127) DVD/Computer Games We've Just Invented
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_11_archive.html

128) The AAA Albums With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_18_archive.html

129) The AAA Singles With The Most Weeks At #1 in the UK
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_03_25_archive.html

130) Lyric Competition (Questions)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_15_archive.html

131) Top Crooning Classics
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_22_archive.html

132) Funeral Songs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/news-views-and-music-issue-142-top-five.html

133) AAA Songs For When Your Phone Is On Hold
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-143-top-five.html

134) Random Recent Purchases (#3)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-144-top-five.html

135) Lyric Competition (Answers)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146-top.html http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-145-top-five.html

136) Bee Gees Songs/AAA Goes Disco!
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-147-top-five.html

137) The Best AAA Sleevenotes (And Worst)
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-issue-148-top-ten.html

138) A Short Precise Of The Years 1962-70
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/news-views-and-music-149-top-eight.html

139) More Wacky AAA-Related Films And Their Soundtracks
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/top-five-for-news-views-and-music-150.html

140) AAA Appearances On Desert Island Discs
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/top-eight-aaa-desert-island-discs.html

141) Songs Exclusive To Live Albums
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/news-views-and-music-issue-153-top-10.html

142) More AAA Songs About Armageddon
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/aaa-armageddon-songsalbums-top-5-for.html

What difference does a name make? Arguably not much if you’re already a collector of a certain group, for whom the names on the album sleeves just...

This week’s top ten honours the humble motor car. The death trap on wheels, the metaphor for freedom, the put-down of capitalism, a source of...

This week we’re going to have a look at the 10 AAA singles that spent the most weeks at number on the American chart ‘Billboard’ – and it makes for...

Following on from last issue’s study of the American Billboard charts, here’s a look at which AAA albums spent the most weeks on the chart. The...

There are many dying arts in our modern world: incorruptible politicians, faith that things are going to get better and the ability to make decent...

This week we’ve decided to dedicate our top ten to those unsung heroes of music, the session musicians, whose playing often brings AAA artists (and...

Naturally we hold our AAA bands in high esteem in these articles: after all, without their good taste, intelligence and humanity we’d have nothing to...

What do you do when you’ve left a multi-million selling band and yet you still feel the pull of the road and the tours and the playing to audiences...

‘The ATOS Song’ (You’re Not Fit To Live)’ (Mini-Review) Dear readers, we don’t often feature reviews of singles over albums or musicians who aren’t...

In honour of this week’s review of an album released to cash in on a movie soundtrack (only one of these songs actually appears in ‘Easy Rider’...and...

Hic! Everyone raise a glass to the rock stars of the past and to this week’s feature...songs about alcolholic beverages! Yes that’s right, everything...

154) The human singing voice carries with it a vast array of emotions, thoughts that cannot be expressed in any other way except opening the lungs and...

Everyone has a spiritual home, even if they don’t actually live there. Mine is in a windy, rainy city where the weather is always awful but the...

Having a family does funny things to some musicians, as we’ve already seen in this week’s review (surely the only AAA album actually written around...

Some artists just have no idea what their best work really is. One thing that amazes me as a collector is how consistently excellent many of the...

159) A (Not That) Short Guide To The 15 Best Non-AAA Bands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-not-that-short-guide-to-15-of-best.html%20%0d160

160) The Greatest AAA Drum Solos (Or Near Solos!) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-greatest-aaa-drum-solos-or-near.html%20%0d161

161) AAA Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame Acceptance Speeches http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/aaa-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame.html%20%0d162

162) AAA Re-Recordings Of Past Songs http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-re-recordings-of-past-songs-news.html%20%0d163

163) A Coalition Christmas (A Fairy Tale) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/a-coalition-christmas-news-views-and.html%20%0d164

164) AAA Songs About Islands http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/aaa-songs-about-islands-news-views-and.html%20%0d165

165) The AAA Review Of The Year 2012 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2012-news-views.html



166) The Best AAA Concerts I Attended
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-best-aaa-concerts-i-attended-news.html

167) Tributes To The 10 AAA Stars Who Died The Youngest http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/tributes-to-10-aaa-stars-who-died.html



168) The First 10 AAA Songs Listed Alphabetically
http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-first-10-aaa-songs-if-listed.html


171) The 10 Best Songs From The Psychedelia Box-Sets ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Nuggets Two’ http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-best-of-two-nuggets-psychedelia.html%20%0d172

172) The 20 Most Common Girl’s Names In AAA Song Titles (With Definitions) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/girls-names-in-aaa-song-titles-from.html 








180) First Recordings By Future AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/first-





185) A Tribute To Storm Thorgerson Via The Five AAA Bands He Worked With http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/a-tribute-to-hipgnosis-via-five-aaa.html



188) Surprise! Celebrating 300 Album Reviews With The Biggest 'Surprises' Of The Past Five Years Of Alan's Album Archives! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/celebrating-300-album-reviews-10.html


190) Comparatively Obscure First Compositions By AAA Stars http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/comparatively-obscure-debut.html



193) Evolution Of A Band: Comparing First Lyric With Last Lyric: http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/evolution-of-band-comparing-1st-lyric.html







200) The Monkees In Relation To Postmodernism (University Dissertation) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/university-dissertation-monkees-in.html


202) Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain': Was It About One Of The AAA Crew? http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/carly-simons-youre-so-vain-was-it-about.html















217) AAA 'Christmas Presents' we'd most like to have next year http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/aaa-christmas-presents-wed-most-like-to.html




221) Dr Who and the AAA (Five Musical Links) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/dr-who-and-five-musical-links-to-alans.html

222) Five Random Recent Purchases http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-random-recent-purchases-news-views.html

223) AAA Grammy Nominees http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/aaa-grammy-nominees-top-twelve-news.html

224) Ten AAA songs that are better heard unedited and in full http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ten-aaa-songs-that-are-better-unedited.html

225) The shortest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-shortest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

226) The longest gaps between AAA albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-longest-gaps-between-aaa-albums.html

227) Top ten AAA drummers http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-drummers-news-views-and.html

228) Top Ten AAA Singles (In Terms of 'A' and 'B' Sides) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/top-ten-aaa-singles-and-b-sides-news.html

229) The Stories Behind Six AAA Logos http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-stories-behind-six-aaa-logos.html

230) AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!! The Best Ten AAA Screams http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-best-aaa-screams-top-ten-news-views.html

231) An AAA Pack Of Horses http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-songs-about-horses-top-ten-news.html

232) AAA Granamas - Sorry, Anagrams! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-anagrams-news-views-and-music-issue.html

233) AAA Surnames and Their Meanings http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/aaa-surnames-and-their-meanings-news.html

234) 20 Erroneous AAA Album Titles http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/twenty-erroneous-aaa-album-titles-news.html

235) The Best AAA Orchestral Arrangements http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fifteen-great-aaa-string-parts-news.html

236) Top 30 Hilariously Misheard Album Titles/Lyrics http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/top-thirty-hilariously-misheard-aaa.html

237) Ten controversial AAA sackings - and whether they were right http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ten-controversial-aaa-sackings-news.html

238) A Critique On Critiquing - In Response To Brian Wilson http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/a-critique-on-critiquing-in-response-to.html

239) The Ten MusicianS Who've Played On The Most AAA Albums http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-ten-musicians-whove-played-on-most.html

240) Thoughts on #CameronMustGo http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/thoughts-on-cameronmustgo.html

241) Random Recent Purchases (Kinks/Grateful Dead/Nils Lofgren/Rolling Stones/Hollies) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/six-random-recent-purchases-kinksg.html 

242) AAA Christmas Number Ones http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-christmas-number-ones.html 

243) AAA Review Of The Year 2014 (Top Releases/Re-issues/Documentaries/DVDs/Books/Songs/ Articles  plus worst releases of the year) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aaa-review-of-year-2014.html

244) Me/CFS Awareness Week 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/mecfs-awareness-week-at-alans-album.html

245) Why The Tory 2015 Victory Seems A Little...Suspicious http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/why-tory-victory-seems-deeply.html

246) A Plea For Peace and Tolerance After The Attacks on Paris - and Syria http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/a-plea-for-peace-and-toleration.html

247) AAA Review Of The Year 2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2015.html

248) The Fifty Most Read AAA Articles (as of December 31st 2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-fifty-most-read-aaa-posts-2008-2015.html

249) The Revised AAA Crossword! http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2016_07_10_archive.html


251) Half-A-Dozen Berries Plus One (An AAA Tribute To Chuck Berry) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/an-aaa-covers-tribute-to-chuck-berry.html

252) Guest Post: ‘The Skids – Joy’ (1981) by Kenny Brown  https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/guest-post-skids-joy-1981.html


254) Guest Post: ‘Supertramp – Some Things Never Change’ by Kenny Brown https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/06/guest-review-supertramp-some-things.html

255) AAA Review Of The Year 2018 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-aaa-review-of-year-2018.html

256) AAA Review Of The Year 2019 plus Review Of The Decade 2010-2019 https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-alans-album-archives-review-of-year.html



257) Tiermaker https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2019/06/alans-album-archives-on-tiermaker.html

258) #Coronastock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/04/coronastock.html

259) #Coronadocstock https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2020/05/coronadocstock.html