the label didn't hear a single so they went back and recorded one

/What about "Kokomo" !/

neither written by the Beach Boys, nor part of an album!

"the flame" is better than the other cheap trick hit i know. poor them.

an interesting subset of these is those that the artist pretended weren't forced upon them by the label -- like in interviews they'll say they just happened to be inspired to record this song two weeks before its release which just happens to be one of the two on the album without their name in the songwriting credits. christina aguilera's "not myself tonight" is one of these iirc

Another category should be 'the label didn't hear a single so the artist said 'so what?'' into which you could file Kate Bush's The Dreaming and Talk Talk's Spirit Of Eden and i'm sure a few others.

― piscesx, Wednesday, January 15, 2020 8:28 AM (thirteen hours ago)

kelly clarkson's my december, semi-famously

it was co-written by a BBoy

only in Mike's standard "change a word, take a third" approach (tbf the bit he changed was a big improvement)

"The Flame" is dogshit

I used to hear it on the way to baseball practice and I don't want to say it's at fault, but I think my strikeouts were tied to whether I heard it or not before practice

it has terrible lyrics, that song

Smash mouth “all star” and “walking on the sun” both

Kokomo ended up on Still Cruising, but I think they only made the rest of that album after they stumbled into a #1 hit.

Except for the three old songs they tacked on to the end of that album, to bring up the running time to an acceptable 33 minutes. It was my favorite album when I was 8.

re: Free Huey - it's such a shame because Kingsize is more or less a legit good album AND also a couple of tracks too long. Programme-out 'Free Huey' and it's really consistent. I was convinced it was not the case at the time.

Didn't "Love Me Do" come about because George Martin didn't think their songs were strong enough to be singles, and sourced "How do you do it" for their first a-side? He wasn't all that convinced by "Love Me Do" either, but noticed the lack of enthusiasm in their rendering of HDYDI, so went along with it "for now"

― Mark G

lewisohn tells the story a little differently. i don't remember the details precisely, but the writer of "how do you do it" was not in emi's good books by the time of the recording session - there was some sort of financial deal they were going for with the songwriter but it didn't work out, which meant that any incentive they had to release that writer's songs as singles was significantly diminished. "love me do" (which was not a new song, having been recorded with martin at the band's demo session in june with pete best) seemed to martin to at least have some small potential, particularly the novelty of the harmonica.

at the sessions for their next single they brought "please please me" which martin found much more impressive.

Except for the three old songs they tacked on to the end of that album, to bring up the running time to an acceptable 33 minutes. It was my favorite album when I was 8.

― Frederik B, jeudi 16 janvier 2020 11:08 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

eheh. I have to confess I still have a soft spot for "Getcha Back" for that reason !
When I think the first BBoys tracks I loved were that one and "Kokomo"... (the rest came much later, being french, their 60s output was not as part of the global culture as in the US, I guess)...
I think there's a thread about that kind of situations where you only knew very MINOR songs from a band/artist before the big hits.

fred b and i don't always see eye to eye but I love that he, too, dug "still cruisin'" as a kid. "somewhere near japan" and "in my car" are both jams imo.

re: the producer being annoyed about band holding out ---- not to bring anybody down but this has the sound to me of something told as a chuckling, mildly embellished anecdote in a VH1 special and then reported po-facedly in wiki text years down the line. i agree tho that it's better as written.

thread question is a classic ILM puzzler in that i would have sworn i knew fifty of these but, on the spot, can't think of a single example.

also now i have "couldn't get it right" stuck in my head

i'm sure I read this somewhere about Talk Talk's Life's What You Make It. Can't find the source but it's mentioned uncited on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life's_What_You_Make_It_(Talk_Talk_song)#Conception

Same as Boo Radleys- Free Huey, which ruins Kingsize in many ways.
― doorstep jetski (dog latin),

Ah, thanks for the reminder about Kingsize. I think that album is way overdue for a revisit.

Also loving the amount of Weird Al discussion in this thread.

we need a weird al poll

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes)

lewisohn tells the story a little differently. i don't remember the details precisely, but the writer of "how do you do it" was not in emi's good books by the time of the recording session - there was some sort of financial deal they were going for with the songwriter but it didn't work out, which meant that any incentive they had to release that writer's songs as singles was significantly diminished. "love me do" (which was not a new song, having been recorded with martin at the band's demo session in june with pete best) seemed to martin to at least have some small potential, particularly the novelty of the harmonica.

at the sessions for their next single they brought "please please me" which martin found much more impressive.

― revenge of the jawn (rushomancy), Thursday, January 16, 2020 5:36 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is what I remember from Lewisohn's bio, too. The Beatles were essentially signed for their material, so that EMI/Parlophone could own/control some song publishing. The Beatles as recording artists were forced on Martin as punishment for him having an affair with his secretary. I believe Martin still pushed for "How Do You Do It" after "Love Me Do"'s success -- he was sure it would be a #1, and it was later for Gerry And The Pacemakers -- but changed his mind after hearing their new sped-up arrangement of "Please Please Me."

Oh god, Free Huey *is* bad. I can't say this is one of the songs I remember from the album.... it seems like the label asked them for a "Song 2"

Does anyone remember an interview with Lily Allen in '07 or '08, where she said that she didn't like "Take What You Take" from Alright, Still because it was basically pushed on her by producers or label honchos as a peppier potential single? At least she prevailed in regards to single selection (it didn't get slated as one).

Kingsize is indeed a great album, possibly their best IMO. Think I'm the only person who likes Free Huey

xxpost My recollection of the Boston s/t story (from the liner notes of the 2006 remaster) was that Tom presented the album completed to the label. The label, knowing they were recorded in his basement, insisted they were demos, and told him he had to rerecord it in a studio. Tom refused, saying (correctly) that the sound quality was already comparable to what he would get out of studio recording. I don't recall if it was a compromise, or if it was a decoy as suggested by Tarfumes, but the only song they actually recorded in LA was "Let Me Take You Home Tonight," which was the one song on the album Scholz did not have a writing credit on. And they didn't record the whole song, iirc: the electric guitars were recorded in Scholz's basement, and Tom himself did not attend the LA sessions.

This is what I remember from Lewisohn's bio, too. The Beatles were essentially signed for their material, so that EMI/Parlophone could own/control some song publishing. The Beatles as recording artists were forced on Martin as punishment for him having an affair with his secretary. I believe Martin still pushed for "How Do You Do It" after "Love Me Do"'s success -- he was sure it would be a #1, and it was later for Gerry And The Pacemakers -- but changed his mind after hearing their new sped-up arrangement of "Please Please Me."

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat)

right, yeah, that played into it too - that's what i enjoyed about lewisohn's bio, he pushes past all the polite half-truths and reading it honestly gave me a new respect for causality. the actual story of how the beatles got to a point where they could record "please please me" is even more interesting and god-plays-dice-with-the-universe than all that stuff about george martin's tie is!

A large chunk. of the Boo Radleys' single tracks sound forced and out of place on the albums I think. It's Lulu is ghastly. What's In The Box and C'mon Kids are irritating attempts at punky fun times but just come off shrill and unimaginative compared to the rest of the album

i just read about that Martin affair elsewhere; apparently Giles Martin won't speak to him

(him being Lewinsohn)

All in the same vein. All horrible. All break up the flow of the album.

― doorstep jetski (dog latin)

wait hold on, did you just say "sweet johnny" was 'horrible'?

right, yeah, that played into it too - that's what i enjoyed about lewisohn's bio, he pushes past all the polite half-truths and reading it honestly gave me a new respect for causality. the actual story of how the beatles got to a point where they could record "please please me" is even more interesting and god-plays-dice-with-the-universe than all that stuff about george martin's tie is!

― revenge of the jawn (rushomancy), Thursday, January 16, 2020 8:48 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

otm. "I heard them, and they were a mediocre band, but funny as people, so I signed them!" isn't an amazing story, and also makes absolutely no sense whatsoever: one of the largest recording companies in the world doesn't sign untested artists because they joked about someone's tie.

I heard that "Laura" by Bat For Lashes was one of these.

The first PIL album, Warner USA didn't hear any hits so refused to release it unless the band rerecorded it.

So, they did. But nothing has been heard apart from the new "Fodderstompf" which became the b-side of the "Death Disco" 12"

And obv, WB didn't release the album. They did go for "Metal Box" though.

All in the same vein. All horrible. All break up the flow of the album.

― doorstep jetski (dog latin)

wait hold on, did you just say "sweet johnny" was 'horrible'?

― revenge of the jawn (rushomancy)

I love Sweet Johnny. Poodle Rockin' too. Mow The Lawn is bad though, although that album in general isn't up to much.

A large chunk. of the Boo Radleys' single tracks sound forced and out of place on the albums I think. It's Lulu is ghastly. What's In The Box and C'mon Kids are irritating attempts at punky fun times but just come off shrill and unimaginative compared to the rest of the album

― doorstep jetski (dog latin)

I do like It's Lulu. Find The Answer Within however is the worst song on Wake Up and I'm not surprised it killed the album campaign. Reaching Out From Here, Twinside or Stuck On Amber would have been much stronger singles. What's In The Box is great. It was the song that really changed my mind about them. I can see what you're saying about the title track, but What's In The Box is much more imaginative IMO.

As for Kingsize, I remember reading that Martin first approached the label with The Future Is Now and saw it as the lead single (Alan McGee hated it and said they were barely writing B-sides, he also hated Wake Up). Great song, but it wouldn't have worked as single. That album is filled with songs that sounded like hits, but it did feel too late. I'm not sure that songs as commercial as Comb Your Hair or Eurostar would have done anything. Didn't Martin say he couldn't stand the thought of Comb Your Hair becoming a single? Agree with the Free Huey comments. Such a terrible misfire. In the sleevenotes for their best of, Martin defends it and says, "it still sounds like a hit to me".

Sweet Johnny and Poddle Rockin' are great, even if they are forced single attempts. Mow The Lawn is bit less so, formula a bit tired by then though.

I read some horrible article in Shiding recently which goes by the idea that they were pop sellouts after John Lawrence left, becoming "the Euros Childs show" afterwards, which is kind of laughable

^ particularly when you consider when the lead single from the follow-up full-length album was the incredibly great Stood On Gold written and sung by Richard James
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah5FpgT6N4E

He left after Gorky 5 didn't he? The next three albums are so lovely. I wouldn't exactly call The Blue Trees a pop sellout album in any way.

Lawrence is on Spanish Dance Troupe but he doesn't contribute any songs, or they weren't included in the final tracklisting. That article says that he quit over the recording of Poodle Rockin' being included. I remember it being mentioned being in live reviews of gigs not long after Gorky 5 was released, prior to him leaving

Poodlen rocken

"songs that inspired a band member to quit" would be another good topic

That could be Russell Senior with Pulp's Help The Aged

it's true that i don't like the post-gorky 5 stuff nearly as much as the lawrence-era stuff but calling euros childs a "pop sellout" is, uh, a fairly severe mischaracterization of the man i'd say

shame that the "hush the warmth" single never came out - there's a nice cover of richard thompson's "poor ditching boy" that was intended as a b-side. that could be another thread, b-sides the label didn't release because they pulled the single... i know ultrasound originally recorded "goodbye 25" as a b-side to something or another but that single was never released.

B-sides they didn't release because the label pulled the release?

"Superintendent" and "Tomorrow (from Bugsy Malone") from the last Boo Radleys single "Kingsize" - I had to visit MVE daily until I got the promo!

Lauryn Hill - Can't Take My Eyes Off You

― fetter, Wednesday, January 15, 2020 3:32 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

nope, it was previously recorded for the movie Conspiracy Theory then became a radio hit that summer before the album's release. they tacked it onto the end of Miseducation because it was already a currently popular song of hers

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” reached No. 2 on the Billboard Rhythmic Songs chart despite never officially being pushed to radio. According to Williams, it was never meant to be a commercial single.

“It was originally recorded for [the soundtrack for the movie] Conspiracy Theory and ended up on the radio, became popular, and that’s how it ended became a bonus track,” Williams explained.

I read some horrible article in Shiding recently which goes by the idea that they were pop sellouts after John Lawrence left, becoming "the Euros Childs show" afterwards, which is kind of laughable
― PaulTMA, Friday, January 17, 2020 10:02 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Don't know about "pop sellouts" (wrong decade), but they certainly took a sharp right turn around that time.
"Euros Childs show" is understandable, though basically amounts to giving JL all the credit for their previous David Bedford-inspired lunacy which strikes me as dubious (but I wouldn't know).

I’m straining to imagine a world where Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci was ever considered anything like a commercial proposition.

The 90s really were a long time ago, weren’t they?

Patio song got a fair bit of daytime radio play

Funnily I just happened upon a Netflix documentary about Clive Davis where they tell exactly this anecdote about Clive "not hearing any singles" from Bruce, and Bruce therefore obligingly going off to write "Blinded by the Light" AND "Spirits in the Night."

The implication being, of course, that Springsteen is apparently a talented enough songwriter to quickly write songs of the quality of "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirits in the Night," sure, BUT the true visionary genius in this story is the pudgy bald guy in a suit who told him to do it.

"and then old Clive Davis said he surely gonna make us a star, he gonna make us a star"

If Gorky's didn't refuse to play the double-formatting game, then most of their singles from Patio Song onwards would have made the top 40 with ease.

There was a little story about the Commodores on Decades last night, and they said "Brick House" was sort of one of these (producer told them they needed one more song).

Mac Demarco - "Let Her Go" is one of these

superdrag - "do the vampire"