Ringo Starr's "With a Little Help from My Friends" (1970-1981)

Continuing from the previous post in which I did a compilation of Paul McCartney solo songs in which the first letter of each title spelled out "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", I'm now doing a compilation of Ringo Starr solo songs. This time, it's a compilation in which every song features at least one other Beatle, whether John, Paul and George wrote something for Ringo, performed on it or, in most cases, both. This covers the period of 1970 to 1981 since that was when John Lennon was the most active, and when Ringo had the most help from his friends. (See where I'm going with this?)

With a Little Help from My Friends (1970-1981)

Side A (19:43)

1. Photograph - 3:56 (w/ George; 1973)

2. It Don't Come Easy - 3:02 (w/ George; 1971)

3. You're Sixteen (You're Beautiful and You're Mine) - 2:48 (w/ Paul; 1973)

4. Back Off Boogaloo - 3:22 (w/ George; 1972)

5. I'm the Greatest - 3:21 (w/ John and George; 1973)

6. Pure Gold - 3:14 (w/ Paul; 1976)

Side B (18:34)

7. Only You (and You Alone) - 3:26 (w/ John; 1974)

8. Stardust - 3:22 (w/ Paul; 1970)

9. Early 1970 - 2:20 (w/ George; 1971)

10. Attention - 3:20 (w/ Paul; 1981)

11. Down and Out - 3:04 (w/ George; 1973)

12. (It's All Down to) Goodnight Vienna - 3:02 (w/ John; 1974)

Side C (17:40)

13. Sure to Fall (In Love with You) - 3:42 (w/ Paul; 1981)

14. Cookin' (in the Kitchen of Love) - 3:41 (w/ John; 1976)

15. You Belong to Me - 2:09 (w/ George; 1981)

16. Six O'Clock (Extended Version) - 5:23 (w/ Paul; 1973)

17. Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond) - 2:45 (w/ George; 1973)

Side D (18:42)

18. You Can't Fight Lightning - 5:41 (w/ Paul; 1981)

19. Wrack My Brain - 2:21 (w/ George; 1981)

20. I'll Still Love You - 2:57 (w/ George; 1976)

21. Private Property - 2:44 (w/ Paul; 1981)

22. You and Me (Babe) - 4:59 (w/ George; 1973)

In order to get the track listing down, I've used Ringo's 2007 compilation Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr as a reference. Tracks 1-5, 7, 9, 12 and 19 remain the same as they are, and on the digital version, "King of Broken Hearts" was replaced with the extended version of "Six O'Clock" as found as a bonus track on Goodnight Vienna. So technically, that's ten songs which retain their original track listing positions, so we're halfway done already!

Because a good chunk of material comes from Ringo, Ringo's Rotogravure and Stop and Smell the Roses, I've tried to spread songs from each of them as evenly as I could. The first replacement track was "Pure Gold" from 1976, taking the place of "Oh My My". "Stardust" from 1970's Sentimental Journey replaces "Beaucoups of Blues", and then "Attention" occupies "Snookeroo"'s spot. All three songs feature Paul McCartney in some capacity, giving him much more of a presence in the first half. "Down and Out", the B-side of  "Photograph" and also featuring George, substitutes "No No Song", capping off the first half of this compilation.

The second half was where I got truly creative. The first three substitute tracks were "Sure to Fall" with Paul, "Cookin' (in the Kitchen of Love)" with John and "You Belong to Me" with George, the first and last of which both come from Stop and Smell the Roses, and the middle from Ringo's Rotogravure, much like "A Dose of Rock 'n' Roll". The next replacement track is "Sunshine Life for Me (Sail Away Raymond)" from Ringo, another one written for him by good old George.

Track 18 onwards is where it gets truly interesting, since there are only two empty spaces to fill in, but four songs remain. "You Can't Fight Lightning", featuring Paul and an outtake from Stop and Smell the Roses, substitutes Ringo's 1989 re-recording of "Act Naturally" with Buck Owens, and "I'll Still Love You", the last track from Rotogravure, is the replacement for "Fading In Fading Out". This means that the final two tracks are now additions; these being "Private Property" featuring Paul, and "You and Me (Babe)" featuring George. Coincidentally, the latter concludes his 1973 eponymous album, so it's only right that it concludes this compilation as well.

In total, John Lennon contributed to four songs, Paul McCartney to eight songs, and George Harrison to eleven songs (exactly half!), with "I'm the Greatest" featuring joint contributions from John and George, so they really get three-and-a-half and ten-and-a-half, respectively. Of Ringo's albums from this time period, Beaucoups of Blues, Ringo the 4th and Bad Boy are not represented at all.

Ringo was the glue who helped to keep the Beatles together, even during the post-breakup years, and his eponymous album from 1973 is the closest we got to a reunion between the four. During the 1970s, he collaborated with George the most, appearing on All Things Must Pass, Living in the Material World and Dark Horse for a few songs. Even John invited Ringo to play drums for Plastic Ono Band. Paul, still sore about the Beatles' breakup, only played with Ringo a few times that decade, but by 1980, feelings between them had healed enough so that they played together on Tug of War, Pipes of Peace and Give My Regards to Broad Street. Maybe that would be a project worth exploring?

Listen to the playlist

Paul McCartney's "S.E.R.G.E.A.N.T. P.E.P.P.E.R.'S. L.O.N.E.L.Y. H.E.A.R.T.S. C.L.U.B. B.A.N.D." (1970-2020)

Here's something a little different from me; a selection of random Paul McCartney solo songs in which the first letter of each song spells out "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", with Sergeant, of course, being spelled out in whole. This is really helpful to me, as otherwise, I wouldn't be able to feature at least one track from every one of Paul's solo albums, with a few non-album tracks thrown in here and there.

This playlist is meant to be played in order, and don't expect to see many popular hits such as "Live and Let Die" or "Band on the Run". There's a pretty heavy focus on deep cuts.

Part I

1. Silly Love Songs (Wings at the Speed of Sound; 1976)

2. Every Night (McCartney; 1970)

3. Run Devil Run (Run Devil Run; 1999)

4. Get Out of My Way (Off the Ground; 1993)

5. Early Days (New; 2013)

6. Another Day (non-album single; 1971)

7. Nobody Knows (McCartney II; 1980)

8. Tomorrow (Wild Life; 1971)

Part II

9. Pipes of Peace (Pipes of Peace; 1983)

10. English Tea (Chaos and Creation in the Backyard; 2005)

11. Press (Press to Play; 1986)

12. Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me) (Band on the Run; 1973)

13. Ever Present Past (Memory Almost Full; 2007)

14. Rockestra Theme (Back to the Egg; 1979)

15. Seize the Day (McCartney III; 2020)

Part III

16. Little Lamb Dragonfly (Red Rose Speedway; 1973)

17. Only Our Hearts (Kisses on the Bottom; 2012)

18. Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight (Electric Arguments; 2008)

19. Everybody Out There (New; 2013)

20. Letting Go (Venus and Mars; 1975)

21. Your Loving Flame (Driving Rain; 2001)

Part IV

22. Home Tonight (non-album single; 2019)

23. Ebony and Ivory (Solo Version) (Tug of War; 1982)

24. Arrow Through Me (Back to the Egg; 1979)

25. Really Love You (Flaming Pie; 1997)

26. That Day is Done (Flowers in the Dirt; 1989)

27. Sixty Second Street (Egypt Station; 2018)

Part V

28. Call Me Back Again (Venus and Mars; 1975)

29. Little Willow (Flaming Pie; 1997)

30. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Ram; 1971)

31. Backwards Traveller/Cuff Link (London Town; 1978)

Part VI

32. Back on My Feet (non-album single; 1987)

33. Average Person (Pipes of Peace; 1983)

34. No More Lonely Nights (Give My Regards to Broad Street; 1984)

35. Despite Repeated Warnings (Egypt Station; 2018)

Originally, this was going to be a Beatles playlist, but because there were no songs from them as a group that began with the letter "U" - and using any song that started with the word "You" was right out, since that technically begins with "Y" - I switched to using songs from Paul's solo career instead. "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" was the most obvious choice for "U", and so the rest of the pieces fell into place from there. I'd say it makes for quite the listening experience!

The image of Paul comes from his 1989 world tour, with the text (appropriately in the Yellow Submarine font) in the same color as his outfit on the Sgt. Pepper's album cover. For CD purposes, the track listing splits between "Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight" and "Everybody Out There".

Listen to the playlist

The La's' "Callin' All" - 1988 Bob Andrews Mix

The La's are probably the biggest example of "what could've been" in the world of popular music. Between Lee Mavers' entry into the group in 1984, and their subsequent breakup in 1992, they released a grand total of one album and four singles, not counting a re-release of their most well known song "There She Goes", remixed by Steve Lillywhite in 1990. And yet, they've recorded so much more than what their sole eponymous album suggested, including B-sides.

Looking at the sessions for the twenty songs recorded and re-recorded between July 1987 and February 1990, I've noticed that out of these eight sessions, there were three that had enough material each to be its own album, with producers Bob Andrews (July and August 1988), Mike Hedges (April 1989) and Steve Lillywhite (December 1989 to February 1990). The last of these makes up the album we all recognize today, but for this post, as the title suggests, I'm basing it on what might've happened had they released their debut album about two years earlier, with Bob Andrews taking on the George Martin role, and putting Lee Mavers in his place as opposed to letting his perfectionism get the better of him.

I've retitled this album Callin' All, as was believed to be the original title for the album before it was changed to simply The La's.

Callin' All (1988)

Side A (18:02)

1. Son of a Gun - 2:01 [Callin' All, 2-11]

2. I Can't Sleep - 2:25 [Callin' All, 2-10]

3. Callin' All - 3:39 [Callin' All, 2-9]

4. Man I'm Only Human - 4:34 [Callin' All, 1-9]

5. There She Goes - 2:29 [Callin' All, 1-6]

6. Doledrum - 2:54 [Lost Tunes]

Side B (19:20)

7. Feelin' - 1:53 [The La's - Deluxe Edition, 2008]

8. Way Out - 2:53 [Lost Tunes]

9. Clean Prophet - 2:02 [The La's - Deluxe Edition, 2008]

10. Who Knows - 3:30 [Callin' All, 1-7]

11. Come In, Come Out - 2:13 [Callin' All, 1-8]

12. Looking Glass - 6:49 [Callin' All, 2-12]

With Bob Andrews in the producer's seat, fourteen songs were recorded; seven were eventually included on the final album with Steve Lillywhite, while two others ("Freedom Song" and "Failure") are believed to be lost. The remaining five songs - "Come In, Come Out", "Who Knows", "Man I'm Only Human", "Clean Prophet" and "Callin' All" - are therefore brought in to fill the gaps. The official album is 35 minutes long, so it doesn't take much to bring up the album to a similar length.

Out of the replacement tracks, "Callin' All", "Clean Prophet" and "Who Knows" were all debuted during the Bob Andrews sessions. "Timeless Melody" was first tried out back in July 1987 with John Porter, but was never recorded with Andrews, and the oldest recordings of "I.O.U." and "Freedom Song" that we have are with Mike Hedges from April 1989, which are outside the timeframe we want to work with.

"Man I'm Only Human" and "Come In, Come Out" both debuted a little earlier in January 1988 with John Leckie as producer. The former was not re-recorded following Andrews, whereas the latter was with Hedges and Lillywhite, but that didn't make the final track listing either. "Failure" is another song from the John Porter era, and was later recorded with Jeremy Allom and Mike Haas as producers between January and April 1989. "Liberty Ship" seems to be the youngest song recorded for The La's, with the Hedges recording being lost, when it was first tried out.

Is Callin' All really the album Lee Mavers wanted to go for back in 1988? Probably not. He seemed to be his own worst enemy when it came to bringing the songs he envisioned to life, eventually leading to the La's' debut album being released against his own will, and to this day, he's yet to release any new music. However, I'd imagine that if someone had knocked him down a peg, and even told him to restrain both his ego and perfectionism, Callin' All could've come out sooner, and the band wouldn't have to just rely on single releases, and they might have the material ready for a second album, possibly for a 1991 release. Maybe this is the path that could've been this whole time?

As a matter of fact, this is how I feel their discography might have gone:

• "Way Out" b/w "Knock Me Down" and "Endless" - 1987; produced by Gavin MacKillop
• "There She Goes" b/w "Come In, Come Out" - 1988; produced by Bob Andrews
• Callin' All - 1988; produced by Bob Andrews
• "All by Myself" b/w "Failure" - 1989; produced by Jeremy Allom and Mike Haas
• "Timeless Melody" b/w "I.O.U." and "Freedom Song" - 1989; produced by Mike Hedges
• "There She Goes" b/w "Liberty Ship" - 1990; produced by Steve Lillywhite

And yeah, I do have "There She Goes" re-released much like what happened in real life, but the Lillywhite mix is iconic in its own right, so I'd imagine that this is a similar situation to the Beatles' "Love Me Do" and "Let It Be" having different mixes between the single and album versions. Besides, we've already got a different mix of "Way Out" being released in 1987, so why not? And as a bonus, I've even put together a second disc compiling these leftover tracks, along with a track that was only recorded live for the BBC, that I've titled There She Goes:

There She Goes (1991)
Side A (18:05)

1. Way Out (Original Single Mix) - 2:43 [Callin' All, 1-1]

2. Knock Me Down - 3:15 [Callin' All, 1-2]

3. Endless - 3:09 [Callin' All, 1-3]

4. All by Myself - 5:53 [Callin' All, 1-16]

5. Failure - 3:05 [Callin' All, 2-13]

Side B (17:55)

6. Over (Live) - 4:47 [BBC in Session]

7. Timeless Melody - 3:07 [The La's - Deluxe Edition, 2008]

8. I.O.U. - 2:05 [The La's - Deluxe Edition, 2008]

9. Freedom Song - 2:43 [Callin' All, 2-16]

10. There She Goes (1990 Lillywhite Remix) - 2:42 [The La's]

11. Liberty Ship - 2:31 [The La's]

The La's Recording Sessions

Taylor Swift - "Eras" (2006-2024)

Just last week, Taylor Swift finished up her Eras Tour, a tour that lasted well over a year and a half, covering all of her albums up to that point, including the recently released The Tortured Poets Department. We're not sure what she'll be doing come the new year, but we can almost bet that she'll finally release Reputation (Taylor's Version), having hinted at that for about a year now. But in the meantime, I've put together a compilation titled Eras, based upon the tour, and not only does it serve as an audio alternative to the concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, it also acts as an introduction to Taylor's music career.

Any songs marked with an asterisk (*) indicate that they are "Taylor's Version".

Disc 1: Acts I-IV (Lover, Fearless, Evermore and Reputation)

1. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince - 3:54

2. Cruel Summer - 2:58

3. The Man - 3:10

4. You Need to Calm Down - 2:51

5. Lover - 3:41

6. The Archer - 3:31 [later performed as a surprise song on 7/4/24 and 8/19/24]

7. Fearless* - 4:01

8. You Belong with Me* - 3:51

9. Love Story* - 3:55

10. 'Tis the Damn Season - 3:49 [later performed as a surprise song on 6/7/24 and 11/14/24]

11. Willow - 3:34

12. Marjorie - 4:17

13. Champagne Problems - 4:04

14. Tolerate It - 4:05

15. ...Ready for It? - 3:28

16. Delicate - 3:52

17. Don't Blame Me - 3:56

18. Look What You Made Me Do - 3:31

Total length: 66:28

"The Archer", "'Tis the Damn Season" and "Tolerate It" were all dropped from the main setlist when it was revamped to include songs from The Tortured Poets Department, and unlike the first two, "Tolerate It" was never played as a surprise song. For the most part, I will be retaining the original setlist order pre-May 2024.

For the shows opened by Haim in Seattle, Santa Clara and Inglewood, "'Tis the Damn Season" was replaced with "No Body, No Crime". The song was later played as a surprise song in Liverpool (June 15, 2024).

Disc 2: Acts V-VII (Speak Now, Red and Folklore)

1. Enchanted* - 5:53

2. Long Live* - 5:17 [later performed as a surprise song on 5/25/24, 8/19/24 and 12/8/24]

3. 22* - 3:50

4. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together* - 3:13

5. I Knew You Were Trouble* - 3:39

6. Nothing New - 4:18 [later performed as a surprise song on 7/24/24]

7. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) - 10:13

8. Betty - 4:54

9. The Last Great American Dynasty - 3:51 [later performed as a surprise song on 7/24/24 and 11/22/24]

10. August - 4:21

11. Illicit Affairs - 3:10

12. My Tears Ricochet - 4:15

13. Cardigan - 3:59

Total length: 60:53

For the Folklore act, "Invisible String" was replaced with "The 1" beginning with the Arlington shows (March 31 to April 2, 2023), with the sole exception being the second Nashville show (May 6, 2023), in which Taylor performed "Invisible String" in honor of the bench at Centennial Park dedicated to her. "The 1" was later dropped from the revamped setlist, in which Folklore and Evermore were merged into a single act, but was performed as a surprise song on July 13, 2024. "The Last Great American Dynasty" was also dropped in the revamped setlist, but I retained it per the original setlist.

"Long Live" was added to the setlist following the release of Speak Now (Taylor's Version), beginning with the Kansas City shows (July 7 and 8, 2023), before being dropped in the revamped setlist. "Nothing New" was performed during shows opened by Phoebe Bridgers throughout May 2023.

Disc 3: Acts VIII-X (1989, Tortured Poets and Midnights)

1. Style* - 3:51

2. Blank Space* - 3:51

3. Shake It Off* - 3:39

4. Wildest Dreams* - 3:40

5. Bad Blood* - 3:31

6. But Daddy I Love Him - 5:40

7. So High School - 3:48

8. Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? - 5:34

9. Down Bad - 4:21

10. Fortnight - 3:48

11. The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived - 4:05

12. I Can Do It with a Broken Heart - 3:38

13. Lavender Haze - 3:22

14. Anti-Hero - 3:20

15. Midnight Rain - 2:54

16. Vigilante Shit - 2:44

17. Bejeweled - 3:14

18. Mastermind - 3:11

19. Karma - 3:24

Total length: 71:35

In the original setlist, the 1989 act was moved up to make room for the Tortured Poets act. For this playlist, the 1989 act remains the eighth, and the Tortured Poets act becomes the ninth instead. Midnights is still the final act, per both setlists. Virtually nothing changes in regards to the track listing orders.

Disc 4: Surprise Songs

1. Tim McGraw - 3:54 [Taylor Swift; performed on 3/17/23, 3/9/24 and 10/18/24]

2. Our Song - 3:24 [Taylor Swift; performed on 3/24/23, 8/4/23, 5/30/24 and 10/25/24]

3. White Horse* - 3:54 [Fearless; performed on 3/25/23, 2/23/24 and 10/19/24]

4. The Other Side of the Door* - 3:58 [Fearless; performed on 4/28/23, 2/17/24 and 5/24/24]

5. Sparks Fly* - 4:21 [Speak Now; performed on 5/5/23, 3/8/24, 5/29/24 and11/23/24]

6. Teardrops on My Guitar - 3:35 [Taylor Swift; performed on 5/5/23, 2/18/24 and7/23/24]

7. Out of the Woods* - 3:55 [1989; performed on 5/6/23, 11/11/23, 5/10/24, 6/23/24, 7/14/24, 10/20/24 and 11/16/24]

8. Fifteen* - 4:54 [Fearless; performed on 5/6/23, 3/7/24 and 6/2/24]

9. Mine* - 3:51 [Speak Now; performed on 5/7/23, 3/2/24, 6/13/24 and 11/15/24]

10. Come Back... Be Here* - 3:43 [Red; performed on 5/12/23, 2/18/24, 5/24/24 and 6/21/24]

11. Should've Said No - 4:02 [Taylor Swift; performed on 5/19/23, 2/24/24 and 10/19/24]

12. Red* - 3:43 [Red; performed on 5/21/23, 2/16/24, 6/15/24, 7/14/24 and 8/2/24]

13. Getaway Car - 3:53 [Reputation; performed on 5/26/23, 2/17/24, 6/8/24, 7/14/24 and 8/20/24]

14. Haunted* - 4:05 [Speak Now; performed on 6/9/23, 2/25/24, 6/9/24, 10/25/24 and 12/6/24]

Total length: 55:12

Out of all of her eleven studio albums, Taylor's self-titled debut from 2006 is the only one without an act dedicated to it. To fill that gap, I picked out the songs that were most performed as surprise songs throughout The Eras Tour, and they ended up being "Tim McGraw", "Our Song", "Teardrops on My Guitar" (her first crossover hit) and "Should've Said No". Most other songs from that era were performed either once or twice, and I wanted to pick songs that were performed at least three times, so I also set about giving the rest of her Big Machine era (2006-2017) some greater representation, that way every album was equally represented (at least 33%!)

From Fearless, I picked out "White Horse", "Fifteen" and "The Other Side of the Door", the first two of which were Top 40 hits, while the last was later included as part of Fearless (Taylor's Version). I've felt that Speak Now got the short end of the stick out of her early albums, so to compensate, I've included the singles "Sparks Fly" and "Mine", and the lyrically dark "Haunted", which helps to add some musical variety. Red has two additional songs added; the title track (which was, again, a single) and the bonus track "Come Back... Be Here". Reputation had quite a few songs that were played as surprise songs, so I went with the one that was played most - "Getaway Car", which showed up at five performances.

The last surprise song is "Out of the Woods" from 1989, which was played at a staggering seven shows. I'm not quite sure why that is; maybe Taylor was really fond of it out of all the songs that appeared on that album? Who knows? There were two other songs I considered for inclusion - "Hey Stephen" from Fearless and "I Can See You" from Speak Now (Taylor's Version) - but I opted not to as I felt both albums were now already well represented enough. Feel free to add them in if you so desire.

All fourteen songs are meant to be played between "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart" and "Lavender Haze", as the penultimate act. I just put the surprise songs on a separate disc as I picture it being a bonus alongside the main three discs, which I feel are the real showstoppers.

This is similar to Surprise Songs above, minus the text underneath. This is meant to be the cover for the playlist as a whole.

Final Thoughts

In total, Eras runs at over four hours, and is meant to be played in playlist order, which you can listen to here. If you want to play it on shuffle, you can, but either way, it shows just how prolific Taylor Swift is a singer-songwriter. Here's hoping she keeps this up for as long as possible!

The Solo Beatles - "Peace & Love: Imagine Not Included" (1970-2020)

With a presidential election that's not too far ahead of us, there's been a lot of strife, anger and uncertainty leading up to it, so I figured, why not enter the fray with a little musical fun? That being in the form, of course, of a politically-themed playlist utilizing the solo music of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Inspiration came from Moondog385's Looking for Changes playlist back in June, in which he tackled the political aspect of Paul's solo career, talking about the values of equality, progress, kindness and hope. I wanted to see what it'd be like with John, George and Ringo for the ride, and it turned out easier than I thought it'd be; on John's Gimme Some Truth compilation from 2010, there's a whole disc dedicated to his political music titled Working Class Hero, so I used that as a basis for his solo stuff.

Halfway there already, I looked into George's solo stuff to see what songs from him would work. Some of it was more subtle than others, but I could definitely detect hints about wanting to make the world a better place in the lyrics at points. Same thing with Ringo, even though he only gets four spots on this playlist.

Still, Ringo's biggest contribution to this playlist is Peace & Love, named for his catchphrase. It just sounds like something you'd see as a Beatles album title. I also threw in the subtitle Imagine Not Included as a reference to Monty Python's 20th anniversary special Parrot Sketch Not Included. So don't expect John's most famous solo track to appear at any point; it's not the only one which has a political message, after all.

Side A (22:28)

1. Gimme Some Truth - 3:16 (John, 1971)

2. Hope of Deliverance - 3:22 (Paul, 1993)

3. Devil's Radio - 3:52 (George, 1987)

4. Mindfield - 4:06 (Ringo, 1998)

5. Working Class Hero - 3:48 (John, 1970)

6. Tug of War - 4:04 (Paul, 1982)

Side B (24:36)

7. Tears of the World - 4:04 (George, 1981)

8. Everybody Out There - 3:21 (Paul, 2013)

9. I Don't Wanna Face It - 3:22 (John, 1984)

10. Wild Life - 6:48 (Paul, 1971)

11. Run of the Mill - 2:49 (George, 1970)

12. Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple) - 4:12 (John, 1973)

Side C (23:07)

13. Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go - 3:20 (Ringo, 1992)

14. Women and Wives - 2:52 (Paul, 2020)

15. Steel and Glass - 4:37 (John, 1974)

16. Looking for Changes - 2:47 (Paul, 1993)

17. Remember - 4:33 (John, 1970)

18. Save the World - 4:58 (George, 1985)

Even though I'm presenting the playlist as six sides, in reality, it should also fit onto two CDs as well. I've kicked off the compilation with "Gimme Some Truth", which Paul had a songwriting credit that went unnoticed at the time, yet does feature a slide guitar solo by George, making it the most obvious choice for an opener. Ringo makes an appearance on drums for "Devil's Radio", a criticism of gossip journalism, and his first unlikely contribution is "Mindfield" from 1998's Vertical Man, with the first verse containing lines such as "What's right? Who's wrong? Everybody takes sides" and "Man becomes a female", suggesting a message in there. The disc opens with a statement from each Beatle, which feels democratic in my opinion.

"Tears of the World" warns us about the threat of nuclear disaster, and even though "Run of the Mill" was about the dysfunction within the Beatles circle in 1969, the lyrics could also refer to what happens up top. Either way, "it's you that decides." "Don't Go Where the Road Don't Go" provides a bit of light-hearted levity before things get a bit darker, and "Save the World" coming after the ending explosion of "Remember" is darkly humorous.

Side D (22:19)

19. Too Many People - 4:10 (Paul, 1971)

20. I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier - 6:05 (John, 1971)

21. Anthem - 5:01 (Ringo, 2012)

22. Big Boys Bickering - 3:22 (Paul, 1992)

23. Grey Cloudy Lies - 3:41 (George, 1975)

Side E (23:51)

24. Only People - 3:23 (John, 1973)

25. I've Had Enough - 3:02 (Paul, 1978)

26. Isolation - 2:51 (John, 1970)

27. See Yourself - 2:51 (George, 1976)

28. Meat City - 2:45 (John, 1973)

29. How Many People - 4:14 (Paul, 1989)

30. Love First, Ask Questions Later - 4:45 (Ringo, 2003)

Side F (23:54)

31. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) - 3:21 (John, 1970)

32. Hope for the Future - 4:09 (Paul, 2014)

33. The Day the World Gets 'Round - 2:53 (George, 1973)

34. Ebony and Ivory - 3:50 (Paul, 1982)

35. Happy Xmas (War is Over) - 3:34 (John, 1971)

36. Brainwashed - 6:07 (George, 2002)

Disc two starts off with Paul's "Too Many People", and I feel that its message rings truer than ever. Ringo's "Anthem" does a lyrical drop of the title "peace and love", and George's "Grey Cloudy Lies" is probably the darkest song on the playlist, showing how easy it can be to give up and despair. "We gotta keep trying, we can't give up" vs. "I thought to close my mouth with a padlock on the night", with "Big Boys Bickering" right in between.

On a lighter note, "See Yourself" comments that "it's easier to tell a lie than it is to tell the truth", and "Love First, Ask Questions Later" perfectly sums up how Ringo thinks the world should be. It's one of my favorite solo Ringo songs, and it sounds like an outtake from the Magical Mystery Tour era. George's final two songs are sonically opposite to one another; "The Day the World Gets 'Round" is a folk number about ending suffering, and "Brainwashed" is a loud, bombastic number that tells us what he once said back in 1965 to think for ourselves. Appropriately, I made it the final track on the compilation. (For those wondering, "Ebony and Ivory" is the Paul solo version.)

Overall, I ended up using eighteen songs from the 1970s (half of this compilation, no less!), seven from the 1980s, five from the 1990s and three from the 2010s, with "Love First, Ask Questions Later" and "Brainwashed" both representing the 2000s, and "Women and Wives" from McCartney III representing 2020. There were thirteen other songs I ended up cutting due to wanting to keep the runtime down.

From Paul, there was "With a Little Luck", "Coming Up", "Pipes of Peace", "C'Mon People" and "People Want Peace", and the first three were all #1 hits for him. As for the others, I cut John's "I Found Out", "God" and "Power to the People" (as well as "Give Peace a Chance"; I wanted to focus on stuff from 1970 onward), George's "Beware of Darkness", "The Light That Has Lighted the World" and "Cockamamie Business" and Ringo's "It Don't Come Easy" and "Peace Dream". A whole disc could be made out of those songs alone, but I'll leave that job to you.

Neil Young's "Times Square" - A 1988-1989 Compilation

It's safe to say that the 1980s were a controversial decade for Neil Young; he'd signed onto Geffen Records in 1982, and his first album on that label was Trans, which was met with divisive reaction from both critics and fans. From what's been said, David Geffen didn't like Neil's initial submission Island in the Sun, and I bet that he regretted rejecting it when Trans was released. The feud between the two worsened when Neil released the rockabilly Everybody's Rockin', which resulted in a lawsuit from Geffen over releasing music that wasn't commercial or representative of Neil as an artist, only for Neil to countersue.

There were two lessons to come from all of this: Let your recording artists do their own thing, and never ever piss off Neil Young by telling him what to do with his material.

Neil's next albums under Geffen - Old Ways, Landing on Water and Life - also didn't do so well critically, and by 1988, he was back with Reprise Records starting with This Note's for You, but it was next year's Freedom that brought Neil Young some of his best reviews since Rust Never Sleeps in 1979. 35 years after the fact, Freedom is still regarded as one of Neil's greatest works, backed by the lead single "Rockin' in the Free World", a song in which its message still rings true to this day.

My re-sequencing of Freedom is based upon the question of "what if Neil Young had released his songs as soon as he'd written them instead of waiting years to actually release them", and for this exercise, I'm focusing mostly on the stuff he'd written and recorded during 1988 and 1989. It's fairly similar to what I did with my own Hawks and Doves compilation that I'd created two years ago, although it is a bit dated due to the recent release of Archives Vol. 3: 1976-1987. So who knows if, whenever Archives Vol. 4 comes out, this re-sequenced Freedom will become dated itself?

Times Square (1989)

Side A (20:39)

1. Rockin' in the Free World (Live Acoustic) - 3:38 (Freedom)

2. Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero, Part 1) - 8:45 (Freedom)

3. Boxcar - 3:16 (Smell the Horse)

4. Don't Cry - 5:00 (Eldorado)

Side B (18:12)

5. Heavy Love - 5:09 (Eldorado)

6. Days That Used to Be - 3:42 (Ragged Glory)

7. Cocaine Eyes - 4:24 (Eldorado)

8. On Broadway - 4:57 (Freedom)

Side C (18:13)

9. Ordinary People - 18:13 (Chrome Dreams II)

Side D (14:53)

10. No More - 6:03 (Freedom)

11. Feel Your Love - 4:09 (American Dream)

12. Rockin' in the Free World (Electric) - 4:41 (Freedom)

First things first, I'm going to list the songs that have been dropped, all of which were written between 1975 and 1987. "Too Far Gone" is the oldest song on the album, being written as far back as the Zuma era, with "The Ways of Love" being considered for Comes a Time. "Eldorado" first started off as "Road of Plenty" in 1986, and was even performed that same year, and three more songs - "Hangin' on a Limb", "Someday" and "Wrecking Ball" - were all recorded in 1987 for Summer Songs. So that just leaves four songs - "Rockin' in the Free World" (two versions of it, anyway), "Crimes in the City", "Don't Cry" and "No More" - as well as a cover of the Drifters' "On Broadway" that were newly recorded for the end of the decade.

Filling in the gaps was not that hard since around that time, Neil Young had released an extended play called Eldorado which featured two songs that didn't appear on Freedom; those being "Heavy Love" and "Cocaine Eyes". Both tracks were also intended for an earlier version of Freedom titled Times Square, as did another song "Boxcar", which didn't appear on an album until Chrome Dreams II in 2007. Another version of "Boxcar" was later included on Smell the Horse in 2023, and that was the version I ended up using. If the 1988 recording ends up on Archives Vol. 4, then I will substitute it for that version instead, especially since the sound quality of the bootleg is rather rough.

I recently found out that "Days That Used to Be" was written in 1988, following the release of This Note's for You, but I'm not sure if it was recorded for Freedom or not. It did, however, end up on Ragged Glory in 1990, so I figured it was fair game for inclusion as well. Since it was recorded about a year after the final Freedom session, I doubt you'd hear much difference, anyway. Another outtake from 1988 is the eighteen minute epic "Ordinary People", which, like "Boxcar", was included on Chrome Dreams II, but it actually stayed in its 1988 form. The final piece to this puzzle was "Feel Your Love", which was one of Neil's four contributions to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's controversial American Dream album, which also contained two other songs from Summer Songs - "American Dream" and "Name of Love". (In case you're wondering, "This Old House", the fourth song, was first performed at Farm Aid in 1985.)

And now, it comes to putting the track listing together. I've taken cues from both the official Freedom track listing as well as the proposed track listing for Times Square, and went from there. The album starts off with the live acoustic version of "Rockin' in the Free World", followed up by "Crime in the City". "Boxcar" comes next per the Times Square sequencing, with Side A concluding with "Don't Cry", from which I've used the Eldorado version to add some variety.

With tracks 4-7 all being older songs, that left me free to create a whole new Side B from scratch, once again using the Time Square sequencing for reference. Those tracks being "Heavy Love", "Cocaine Eyes" and "On Broadway", with "Days That Used to Be" taking the place of "Wrecking Ball" as track six. "Ordinary People" takes up the entirety of Side C, and Side D begins with "No More", followed up by the acoustic "Feel Your Love" before concluding with the electric version of "Rockin' in the Free World", bringing this re-sequenced Freedom, now going by its original title Times Square, to a hard rocking close.

The final touch, of course, was the cover art. I deliberately designed it to resemble the pages of a newspaper, akin to Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick, and I used an online site known as Canva in order to get the look that I wanted. I even went so far as to making the rear cover as well, that way every song had the lyrics to at least the first verse printed on the cover.

Overall, Times Square clocks in at pretty close to 72 minutes, which is pretty beefy for compact disc, with "Ordinary People" taking up a quarter of that length. Even if you take it out, it still makes for a very strong album by Neil Young, following the coattails of Rust Never Sleeps by ending the decade with a bang, one that's unquestionably justified considering the criticism his 80s output got. I've even put the album together myself as a YouTube playlist; try it out for yourself and see what you think!

The Second Coming - Random One-Off Albums

Yeah, I didn't really have anything in mind for September, and I was struggling to come up with ideas on what to post for that month. Hopefully this will tide you over.

It's So Easy (Buddy Holly, 1959)

Side A (13:11)

1. Raining in My Heart - 2:48

2. Early in the Morning - 2:07

3. Peggy Sue Got Married - 1:50

4. Heartbeat - 2:10

5. It's So Easy - 2:11

6. It Doesn't Matter Anymore - 2:05

Side B (13:29)

7. What to Do - 1:54

8. That Makes It Tough - 2:22

9.Crying, Waiting, Hoping - 1:52

10. True Love Ways - 2:49

11. Moondreams - 2:40

12. That's What They Say - 1:52

I don't know if I'd mentioned this before, but just in case, I'll provide a little recap: For Strawberry Peppers: The Second Coming, the first point of divergence takes place in February 1959, in which the plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper never took place, for they simply put up with taking the bus despite the crap conditions. After the Winter Dance Party Tour is done, Buddy's just fed up and stays at home with his pregnant wife, and they eventually have a daughter, Gabriella Marcia Holly, before taking up a residence in the United Kingdom.

Buddy Holly had released two solo albums in 1958, but supposing he hadn't been killed, he could've put out a third album showcasing his evolving songwriting. Who knows? It might even be regarded as his greatest work! All tracks come from Not Fade Away: The Complete Studio Recordings and More. I used the recording dates as a reference to determine what could have been included on this hypothetical third solo album.

No. 10, Upping Street (The Clash, 1986)

Side A (23:26)

1. Pouring Rain - 3:29 (Joe Strummer 001)

2. Beyond the Pale - 4:41 (No. 10, Upping Street)

3. Limbo the Law - 4:44 (No. 10, Upping Street)

4. U.S. North - 10:32 (Joe Strummer 001)

Side B (24:04)

5. V. Thirteen - 4:54 (No. 10, Upping Street)

6. Dum Dum Club - 3:02 (Sid and Nancy)

7. Ticket - 3:28 (No. 10, Upping Street)

8. Leave It to Luck - 3:08 (Waking Up)

9. Blues on the River - 4:37 (Joe Strummer 001)

10. Sightsee M.C! - 4:55 (No. 10, Upping Street)

1983 spelled the beginning of the end for the Clash when Mick Jones was dismissed due to disagreements with Joe Strummer, and two years later, Cut the Crap was released, killing the band for good. However, Strummer and Jones would collaborate on the latter's No. 10, Upping Street, which many have considered the true swansong of the Clash.

Using the Strummer/Jones songs as a basis, I looked at what the other members put out at the time to see what I could put together. For Joe, I brought in a sixth co-write with Mick, "U.S. North", which was originally intended for 1987's Candy Mountain, as well as "Pouring Rain" and "Blues on the River", both of which go back to the mid-1980s, yet neither was considered for Cut the Crap, which is probably for the best. I also threw in "Dum Dum Club" from the Sid and Nancy soundtrack, which is also contemporary with when the album would've come out.

Paul Simonon didn't put out anything as a solo artist until 1990 or 1991, and even then, he didn't sing lead vocals on any of the songs from Havana 3am's debut album. "Leave It to Luck" comes from Topper's Waking Up, and becomes the only track not sung by either Joe or Mick, adding a little genre diversity into the album. You could consider this album a follow-up to This is The Clash, which I wrote about three years ago.

Radioactive (Kiss, 1978)

Side A (19:26)

1. Radioactive - 2:54 (Gene Simmons; single edit)

2. Speedin' Back to My Baby - 3:37 (Ace Frehley)

3. Hold Me, Touch Me (Think of Me When We're Apart) - 3:40 (Paul Stanley)

4. Tunnel of Love - 3:49 (Gene Simmons)

5. Take Me Away (Together as One) - 5:26 (Paul Stanley)

Side B (18:28)

6. Rip It Out - 3:40 (Ace Frehley)

7. Move On - 3:12 (Paul Stanley)

8. Man of 1,000 Faces - 3:16 (Gene Simmons)

9. Ozone - 4:43 (Ace Frehley)

10. Hooked on Rock 'n' Roll - 3:37 (Peter Criss)

Side C (19:30)

11. Tonight You Belong to Me - 4:41 (Paul Stanley)

12. Living in Sin - 3:50 (Gene Simmons)

13. Snow Blind - 3:55 (Ace Frehley)

14. Love in Chains - 3:34 (Paul Stanley)

15. True Confessions - 3:30 (Gene Simmons)

Side D (17:28)

16. Don't You Let Me Down - 3:38 (Peter Criss)

17. It's Alright - 3:38 (Paul Stanley)

18. I'm in Need of Love - 4:39 (Ace Frehley)

19. See You Tonite - 2:30 (Gene Simmons)

20. New York Groove - 3:03 (Ace Frehley)

Another older album that I'd decided to revisit; Kiss' 1978 album using material from the four solo albums, originally written about in September 2020. Because there was plenty of good material by three of the members during that time (sorry, Peter), pruning it down to two sides wouldn't suffice. If there's enough material for three sides, you may as well fill up four. I arranged each side so that each member opens and closes one, which I feel is more or less democratic.

Of course, not everything would end up on Radioactive, but I'd imagine that six other songs - Gene's "Burning Up with Fever", Ace's "What's on Your Mind" and "Wiped-Out", Peter's "Tossin' and Turnin'" and Paul's "Wouldn't You Like to Know Me" and "Goodbye" - would've all ended up on a second 1977 studio album that I call Larger Than Life, featuring the four studio tracks from Alive II. That's very much two-thirds of all of the solo albums combined that have been utilized! Guess who gets the short end of the stick.

Zero Hour (Van Halen, 1997)

1. Can't Get This Stuff No More - 5:16 (Best of - Volume I)

2. She's the Woman - 2:57 (A Different Kind of Truth)

3. Bullethead - 2:30 (A Different Kind of Truth)

4. Outta Space [Let's Get Rockin'] - 2:53 (A Different Kind of Truth)

5. Beats Workin' [Put Out the Lights] - 5:02 (A Different Kind of Truth)

6. Blood and Fire [Ripley] - 4:26 (A Different Kind of Truth)

7. Tattoo - 4:44 (A Different Kind of Truth)

8. Big River [Big Trouble] - 3:50 (A Different Kind of Truth)

9. Me Wise Magic - 6:09 (Best of - Volume I)

Total length: 37:47

David Lee Roth left Van Halen in 1985 to pursue a solo career, and Sammy Hagar came in to take over on lead vocals. Eleven years later, Roth reunited with Eddie, Alex and Michael, but the reunion didn't last beyond two songs recorded for Best of - Volume I. But what if it led to something bigger?

I've bookended Zero Hour (named after the Zero Demos) with the two tracks from Best of, and since the longest song tended to go last, it made sense for "Me Wise Magic" to close out the album. The remaining seven songs all go back to the mid-1970s, with "Blood and Fire" being based upon an instrumental Eddie Van Halen recorded for The Wild Life in 1984, which I think makes it fair game for inclusion.

The final touch was the album cover, which I've based upon A Different Kind of Truth, down to the color scheme and use of a Dreyfus Hudson locomotive as the base image.

Final Flight (The Yardbirds, 1968)

Side A (22:43)

1. Henry's Coming Home - 2:57 (Little Games)

2. Taking a Hold on Me - 3:02 (Yardbirds '68)

3. Avron Knows - 3:49 (Yardbirds '68)

4. Spanish Blood - 3:15 (Yardbirds '68)

5. Together Now - 3:02 (Little Games)

6. Shining Where the Sun Has Been - 2:52 (Little Games)

7. Think About It - 3:46 (Little Games)

Side B (22:34)

8. Goodnight Sweet Josephine - 2:43 (Little Games)

9. Love Mum and Dad - 3:48 (Little Games)

10. Knowing That I'm Losing You - 2:54 (Yardbirds '68)

11. My Baby - 2:59 (Yardbirds '68)

12. De Lane Lea Lee - 10:10 (Cumular Limit)

The last album that's a revisit from the first draft, published way back in April 2019, over five years ago. What's changed since then? For a start, I've dropped "Dazed and Confused" and "Black Mountain Side" altogether, reverting them back to being tracks for Led Zeppelin's eponymous debut album, and in their place, I've reinserted "Avron Knows" and "Spanish Blood". I've also dropped "L.S.D." due to timing constraints, "Love Mum and Dad" and "My Baby" were both moved to Side B, and "Shining Where the Sun Has Been" to Side A. I still retained "Knowing That I'm Losing You", which eventually became "Tangerine" on Led Zeppelin III, and there, I've replaced it with "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do".

Since I couldn't use Dazed and Confused as the title, I've changed it to Last Flight, which perfectly reflects upon what happened to the Yardbirds by the end of 1968. And much like a phoenix, they rose from the ashes to become Led Zeppelin... and the rest is history.

Taylor Swift Stray Tracks Albums (2004-2024)

I've been doing a fair number of Beatles-related posts recently, so why not break up the monotony and do something with a different artist?

Taylor Swift is quite possibly the most prolific artist of the 21st century so far, having put out eleven studio albums within the span of eighteen years - fifteen if you include the Taylor's Version releases of Fearless, Red, Speak Now and 1989 - but that's just barely scratching the surface as to what she's put out in terms of output. On most of Taylor's albums, she's included some bonus tracks, which gave fans more to listen to alongside the main album, but they didn't always appear on the same releases.

And so, that's where this post comes in, to gather as many stray tracks as possible and compile them together into albums that can fit alongside Taylor's main discography like a glove. I've avoided using remixes as much as possible (i.e. "Bad Blood" with Kendrick Lamar and "Karma" with Ice Spice) as I wanted to focus more on the bonus tracks. I think the remixes are for completionists only.

Beautiful Eyes (2004-2008)

1. Permanent Marker - 3:08

2. What Do You Say - 3:31

3. I'd Lie - 3:34

4. Beautiful Eyes - 2:58

5. Dark Blue Tennessee - 3:07

6. Better Off - 3:20

7. Invisible - 3:26

8. R-E-V-E-N-G-E - 3:29

9. A Perfectly Good Heart - 3:42

10. Being with My Baby - 3:08

11. I'm Only Me When I'm with You - 3:35

12. Brought Up That Way - 4:11

13. I Heart ? - 3:15

Total length: 44:24

Even at such a young age, Taylor Swift was writing and recording many songs by herself, with her first songs being recorded when she was only fourteen years old! However, I don't want to focus on her material pre-2004 since they were recorded solely as demos in order to get a record label deal. The first of these stray tracks albums focuses on the early part of Taylor's career, during the recording sessions of her self-titled debut and Fearless. During that time, she also put out an extended play called Beautiful Eyes; I reused the cover for that and included the two songs that are exclusive to that EP - the title track and "I Heart ?". A third track, "I'm Only Me When I'm with You", also appeared as a bonus track on the self-titled album.

The remaining eight tracks have never appeared on an official album, although they have been leaked online over the years. Out of these unreleased songs, five are confirmed as being originally intended for Taylor Swift and/or Fearless, while the remaining three - "Better Off", "Being with My Baby" and "Brought Up That Way" - were rumored to having been planned to appear. The first half of the track listing is partially adapted from what was originally intended for Fearless, down to "Permanent Marker" being the first track. With the inclusion of these eight songs, Beautiful Eyes now serves as the missing link between Taylor Swift and Fearless, showing that bigger things were yet to come for Taylor. The overall length is a few minutes longer than that of the former album, which ran at just 40 minutes.

Also, no, I didn't forget about The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection; that's better off as a standalone holiday release.

Sources

• 2005 outtakes (tracks 1, 5, 6, 8 and 12)
• 2004 outtakes (tracks 2 and 10)
• 2006 outtake (track 3)
• Beautiful Eyes, extended play (tracks 4 and 13)
• Taylor Swift: Deluxe Edition (tracks 7, 9 and 11)

None of these songs have had re-recordings released as of this posting, but I'm pretty sure we'll see at least half of them show up on Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version) whenever it comes out.

Today Was a Fairytale (2008-2011)

1. Jump Then Fall - 3:56

2. Untouchable - 5:11

3. Forever & Always (Piano Version) - 4:27

4. Come In with the Rain - 3:58

5. Superstar - 4:21

6. The Other Side of the Door - 3:57

7. Drama Queen - 3:11

8. Crazier - 3:12

9. American Girl - 4:10

10. Today Was a Fairytale - 4:02

11. Breathless - 3:51

12. Ours - 3:58

13. If This Was a Movie - 3:54

14. Superman - 4:34

15. Let's Go (Battle) - 4:30

Total length: 61:12

Here's some behind the scenes insight for you: Originally, most of the songs on here were going to be combined with the five officially released songs on Beautiful Eyes, and the tracks included on Speak Now: Deluxe Edition would be on the next album. However, upon doing some research with the unreleased material, I felt that there was more than enough to be spread out over two albums, so here we are.

With the success of Fearless and Speak Now, Taylor Swift was now a rising superstar, even recording a song for Hannah Montana: The Movie (and writing another for Miley Cyrus to sing herself), and even appeared as a part of Hope for Haiti Now when an earthquake struck Haiti in 2010. That's how big a deal she was back then, and Today Was a Fairytale perfectly captures that time period. The cover comes from SoundCloud, and two songs - "Drama Queen" and "Let's Go (Battle)" - have never been released. If you don't have these songs or can't find them online, don't worry; the album functions just fine even without them.

Sources

• Fearless: Platinum Edition (tracks 1-6)
• 2008 outtake (track 7)
• Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack (track 8)
• Non-album single (track 9)
• Valentine's Day soundtrack (track 10)
• Hope for Haiti Now (track 11)
• Speak Now: Deluxe Edition (tracks 12-14)
• 2009 outtake (track 15)

If you want to create Today Was a Fairytale (Taylor's Version), tracks 1-6 and 10 can all be found on Fearless (Taylor's Version), and tracks 12 and 14 on Speak Now (Taylor's Version). "If This Was a Movie (Taylor's Version)" appears as a part of The More Fearless (Taylor's Version) Chapter. "American Girl" and "Breathless" are likely to be cut since they were covers, but as is the case with "Drama Queen" and "Let's Go (Battle)", I don't think you'll lose much without them. If "Crazier" ends up being re-recorded, it'll probably end up on Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version), and we might even get Taylor's own version of "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Best Days of Your Life", and they can be subbed in for the outtakes.

Wonderland (2012-2018)

1. Safe & Sound - 4:01

2. Eyes Open - 4:04

3. The Moment I Knew - 4:46

4. Come Back... Be Here - 3:43

5. Girl at Home - 3:40

6. State of Grace (Acoustic Version) - 5:23

7. Ronan - 4:25

8. Sweeter than Fiction - 3:54

9. Wonderland - 4:05

10. You Are in Love - 4:27

11. New Romantics - 3:50

12. I Don't Wanna Live Forever - 4:05

13. September - 3:07

Total length: 53:30

Red and 1989 have enough bonus tracks and other "era" songs between them to make a whole album. With the addition of songs from the respective soundtracks to The Hunger Games and One Chance, plus the non-album charity single "Ronan", you get a much fuller picture of what Taylor was putting out in the early to mid 2010s. Reputation, however, didn't come with any bonus tracks for whatever reason, so that era is represented solely with Taylor's duet with Zayn Malik, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", from the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. Her cover of "September" concludes the disc.

The image of Taylor on the cover comes from 2015.

Sources

• The Hunger Games soundtrack (tracks 1 and 2)
• Red: Deluxe Edition (tracks 3-6)
• Non-album single (track 7)
• One Chance soundtrack (track 8)
• 1989: Deluxe Edition (tracks 9-11)
• Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack (track 12)
• Spotify Singles (track 13)

Wonderland (Taylor's Version) should be fairly easy to compile since most of the re-recorded tracks have been released thus far without any gaps between them. "Safe & Sound" and "Eyes Open" were both included on The More Red (Taylor's Version) Chapter, so if you have those re-recordings as well as the Taylor's Version releases of Red (tracks 3-7) and 1989 (tracks 8-11), you should be good to go. "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" is likely to be on Reputation (Taylor's Version) whenever it comes out, and "September" will probably be cut altogether.

Til Dawn (2019-2023)

1. All of the Girls You Loved Before - 3:41

2. Need - 3:09

3. Beautiful Ghosts - 4:21

4. Christmas Tree Farm - 3:48

5. Only the Young - 2:37

6. The Lakes - 3:31

7. Right Where You Left Me - 4:05

8. It's Time to Go - 4:15

9. Carolina - 4:24

10. The Great War - 4:00

11. Bigger Than the Whole Sky - 3:38

12. Paris - 3:16

13. High Infidelity - 3:51

14. Glitch - 2:28

15. Would've, Could've, Should've - 4:20

16. Dear Reader - 3:45

17. Hits Different - 3:54

18. You're Losing Me - 4:38

Total length: 67:41

Beautiful Eyes, Today Was a Fairytale and Wonderland all compile the stray tracks from Taylor's Big Machine Records era (2004-2018), before leaving the label in favor of Republic Records, eventually leading to a public dispute over the ownership of the first six albums, which led to her re-recording them. Lover has no bonus tracks, so to represent that era, "All of the Girls You Loved Before" starts things off, having been recorded in 2019, but not officially released until 2023. "Need" was also recorded around that time, but has never been officially released. Folklore and Evermore have three bonus tracks between them, and so the bonus tracks across various versions of Midnights dominate the second half of this compilation, and the title, Til Dawn, serves as a parallel to it. The resulting album runs at over an hour, several minutes longer than Lover, Folklore and Evermore.

The cover once again draws parallels to Midnight, with the picture of Taylor coming from the same sessions. The picture I picked was the one that I personally liked the best, and that it also served as a contrast to the dark blue background.

Sources

• Non-album singles (tracks 1, 4 and 5)
• 2019 outtake (track 2)
• Cats soundtrack (track 3)
• Folklore: Deluxe Edition (track 6)
• Evermore: Deluxe Edition (tracks 7 and 8)
• Where the Crawdads Sing soundtrack (track 9)
• Midnights: 3am Edition (tracks 10-16)
• Midnights: Deluxe Edition (track 17)
• Midnights: The Late Night Edition (track 18)

All's Fair in Love and Poetry (2024)

1. The Black Dog - 3:58

2. I'm Gonna Get You Back - 3:42

3. The Albatross - 3:03

4. Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus - 3:33

5. How Did It End? - 3:58

6. So High School - 3:48

7. I Hate It Here - 4:03

8. Thank You Aimee - 4:23

9. I Look in People's Windows - 2:11

10. The Prophecy - 4:09

11. Cassandra - 4:00

12. Peter - 4:43

13. The Bolter - 3:58

14. Robin - 4:00

15. The Manuscript - 3:44

Total length: 57:13

I don't really have much to say about this companion piece to The Tortured Poets Department; all tracks come from the Anthology digital release, and in the exact same order they appear in. The only change I made to the cover was the text. So yeah, thanks a lot.

...and featuring (2009-2024)

1. Two is Better Than One  - 4:02 [Boys Like Girls]

2. Half of My Heart - 4:10 [John Mayer]

3. Cannonball - 3:41 [Justin Bieber]

4. Both of Us - 3:36 [B.o.B]

5. Highway Don't Care - 4:36 [Tim McGraw ft. Keith Urban]

6. Babe - 3:35 [Sugarland]

7. Gasoline (Remix) - 3:13 [Haim]

8. Birch - 5:30 [Big Red Machine]

9. Renegade - 4:14 [Big Red Machine]

10. The Joker and the Queen (Duet Version) - 3:05 [Ed Sheeran]

11. The Alcott - 4:27 [The National]

12. Us - 4:02 [Gracie Abrams]

Total length: 48:11

An additional album I compiled at the last minute that covers all of Taylor Swift's guest appearances on studio albums as of 2024; the sole outlier, "Cannonball", was originally intended to appear on Justin Bieber's Believe, but it was left off altogether. I didn't include any songs that Taylor co-wrote for or with other artists (i.e. "Best Days of Your Life", "1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back"), because I wanted to focus on songs that she actually had vocal parts in. Originally, I was going to include "Gasoline (Remix)" and "The Joker and the Queen (Duet Version)" on Til Dawn, but they would've stuck out like a sore thumb there, hence their inclusion on ...and featuring. Besides, Til Dawn was already pretty lengthy as it is.

From the Vault: Fearless and Red (2021-2022)

1. You All Over Me - 3:40

2. Mr. Perfectly Fine - 4:37

3. We Were Happy - 4:04

4. That's When - 3:09

5. Don't You - 3:28

6. Bye Bye Baby - 4:02

7. Better Man - 4:57

8. Nothing New - 4:18

9. Babe - 3:44

10. Message in a Bottle - 3:45

11. I Bet You Think About Me - 4:45

12. Forever Winter - 4:23

13. Run - 4:00

14. The Very First Night - 3:20

15. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) - 10:13

Total length: 66:25

Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version) not only contain re-recorded bonus tracks alongside the main album from each, but they also contain songs that have either never been released or, in a few cases, were given away to other artists. Tracks 1-6 come from the former album, and tracks 7-15 from the latter, which is practically an album all by itself thanks to "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)". All tracks are in the order that they appear in on their respective albums.

The two images on the cover are outtake photos from their respective sessions, and are deliberately juxtaposed with the album titles. It looks like Red Taylor is eying her Fearless counterpart for whatever reason, and I like it.

From the Vault: Speak Now and 1989 (2023)

1. Electric Touch - 4:26

2. When Emma Falls in Love - 4:12

3. I Can See You - 4:33

4. Castles Crumbling - 5:06

5. Foolish One - 5:11

6. Timeless - 5:21

7. "Slut!" - 3:00

8. Say Don't Go - 4:39

9. Now That We Don't Talk - 2:26

10. Suburban Legends - 2:51

11. Is It Over Now? - 3:49

Total length: 45:34

I don't have much to say about this one that I didn't already from the previous From the Vault album. The first six tracks come from Speak Now (Taylor's Version), and the remaining five from 1989 (Taylor's Version). It's quite short at 45 minutes and only eleven tracks, but that's due to being uncertain as to what new songs will end up on Reputation (Taylor's Version). So far, possible candidates are "This is What You Came For" (originally released as a single by Rihanna), "Family", "Shaking Thrift Shop" and an untitled collaboration with Drake. Once that album comes out, I'll also add a cover to it.

So where does that leave Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version)? So far, "Beautiful Eyes", "I Heart ?" and "Crazier" have been confirmed as re-registered, but we have no idea what will end up being From the Vault tracks for it. However, we do know that she's recorded at least fifty songs before getting a record label deal, but there could be even more that we don't know about. I'm not sure I'd even call it From the Vault: Taylor Swift; I may as well give each album its own title! Perhaps the collection overall could be titled Taylor's Treasure Trove?

Overall, if you've got all eleven of Taylor Swift's studio albums, as well as some of her bonus tracks and the four re-recorded albums, you should be able to start putting these albums together. I get the feeling that by the time that this post comes out, Taylor will already have put out even more songs we haven't heard of before, so who knows?

The Second Coming - The Beatles' "Inclinations" (1991)

It's always like that, isn't it? You think something that you've finished up is definitive, but then somewhere, in the back of your mind, whatever you've been working on suddenly decides to take a left turn and go in a direction you weren't expecting. Yep, it's happened to me again, only this time, another Beatles album for Strawberry Peppers: The Second Coming, but coming out in 1991. An album titled Inclinations.

Consider this post a "patch" of sorts to the one I made regarding the 1981-2002 Beatles albums back in March, but with some retconning.

Inclinations (November 8, 1991)

Side A (19:12)

1. Here We Go Again - 4:50 (Menlove Ave.)

2. Looking for Changes - 2:47 (Off the Ground)

3. The Light That Has Lighted the World - 3:31 (Living in the Material World)

4. Not for Love, Nor Money - 2:39 (unreleased John Lennon demo)

5. Cryin' - 3:18 (Ringo’s Rotogravure)

6. Put It There - 2:07 (Flowers in the Dirt)

Side B (20:22)

7. Who Can See It - 3:52 (Living in the Material World)

8. Hold On - 1:52 (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)

9. Big Boys Bickering - 3:22 (Off the Ground: The Complete Works)

10. Rocking Chair in Hawaii - 3:08 (Brainwashed)

11. Well Well Well - 5:59 (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)

12. Great Day - 2:09 (Flaming Pie)

The Beatles entered the 1990s with a dark cloud looming over them; it was just last month that John Lennon had narrowly avoided an assassination attempt, but at the cost of the life of their roadie Mal Evans, who had been working with the band for twenty-six years. John, feeling like it was his fault for Mal's death, had gone into seclusion, and it was this isolated period that would inspire his solo album Lost, released in January 1991.

The first release by the Beatles for the new decade was their fourth compilation album, The Best of the Beatles: 1976-1989, otherwise nicknamed "The Orange Album" due to its border, following after 1962-1966/Red, 1967-1969/Blue and 1970-1975/Green, released May 25. Two months later, this would be followed up by their first song of the 1990s, a re-recording of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello's "My Brave Face", having previously appeared on their Flowers in the Dirt album from 1989. Subtitled as the "Nobody's Child Version", it made an appearance on the Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal compilation, which also included the Traveling Wilburys' version of "Nobody's Child". The song had also been recorded by the Beatles with Tony Sheridan back in 1961 in Hamburg.

Bolstered by the recording of "My Brave Face (Nobody's Child Version)", as well as the release of Lost, John Lennon had fully re-entered the spotlight, joining the other Beatles for an appearance on MTV Unplugged. It would be their second live album of the decade, following last year's Tripping the Live Fab, and it served to wet the fans' appetites for a new Beatles album, which would be released in November, close to the Christmas season.

That May, John Lennon had joined Apple Records' latest signing, American grunge band Nirvana, into co-producing their second album, Nevermind, which would come out in September and boost Nirvana into superstardom. John would see a bit of himself in Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain, even acting as a mentor to the young Seattle guitarist. Working on Nevermind would go on to inspire John in having the Beatles' next album take a more stripped back approach following Return to Pepperland, calling back to the acoustic sound of The Beatles I/White, but with influences from folk, country and punk.

The resultant album, Inclinations, would take around six weeks to record between July and August. Several songs were said to have been written many years ago, such as "Who Can See It", "Great Day", "Cryin'", "Not for Love, Nor Money", "Rocking Chair in Hawaii" and "Here We Go Again", with a few newer songs, mainly from Paul, like "Put It There" and "Big Boys Bickering", which was the second time that "fucking" would be used in a Beatles song, following "Working Class Hero" from 1971's Imagine. Since many of the songs on the album were leftovers, it was appropriate then to use a title that had never been used for a Beatles album; Inclinations was said to have been used as a working title for one of their 1960s albums, but it is not certain which one.

Inclinations was released on November 8, 1991 and only managed to peak at #3 in the United States, being beaten out by Nirvana's Nevermind and Michael Jackson's Dangerous, the latter of which also came out later that same month. That may be considered a failure by Beatles standards, especially since the album's sole single, "Put It There", just barely made the Top 20 there for a single week. Truthfully, though, it was just a case of unfortunate timing that hurt Inclinations' chance of success on the charts, but by its twentieth anniversary in 2011, it would be vindicated with many fans calling it one of the Beatles' more underrated albums, wishing that they'd done another like it.

1992 would see the release of Ringo Starr's Time Takes Time and Paul McCartney's Off the Ground, and the Beatles' follow-up to Inclinations, Cloud Nine, would be released on July 2, 1993, having a more polished sound, albeit reviews weren't as strong despite reaching #1. The album would be accompanied by a worldwide tour taking place up to 1994, and it would be regarded as the Beatles' biggest tour up until that point. 1995 saw the release of the Anthology documentary, and into 1996, six albums would be released in conjunction, each focusing on a different period of the Beatles' recording history. The next new Beatles album, Flaming Pie, came out in May 1997, and despite being kept off the top spot by the Spice Girls' Spice, it would receive many glowing reviews, with some calling it a true return to the classic Beatles sound.