The Second Coming - Crosby, Stills and Nash Discography (1986-2016)

I wasn't originally going to make this post, but after learning about David Crosby's recent death, as well as seeing a few tributes to him from fellow alternate history music fans, I thought I'd do one myself that ponders the question, "What if Crosby, Stills and Nash continued making music past 1982?" I've already done a post that shows what their discography would've been like from 1967 up to 1980, so consider this post part two. Once again, 1982's Daylight Again is unchanged from OTL.

This post is largely inspired from Albums That Should Exist, in which Paul imagines a world that Crosby, Stills and Nash (and sometimes Young) put out more albums than they really did. Note that the timings may be inaccurate to the versions he used for his albums; I'm listing where the songs originated from because CSN(Y) tended to re-record many songs years after they were first performed. It's a habit that's practically stuck with them for years. Why that is, I'll never understand.

Allies (March 27, 1986)

Side A (21:13)

1. 50/50 - 4:22 (Right by You)

2. Try to Find Me - 4:09 (Reflections)

3. Melody - 4:07 (Oh Yes I Can)

4. Vote - 2:31 (1984 live performance)

5. Raise a Voice - 2:31 (Allies)

6. Love is the Reason - 3:33 (Reflections)

Side B (21:15)

7. War Games - 2:18 (Allies)

8. Flying Man - 3:25 (Oh Yes I Can)

9. Sad Eyes - 3:22 (Innocent Eyes)

10. He Played Real Good for Free - 3:48 (Allies)

11. Right by You - 5:04 (Right by You)

12. Lonely Man - 3:18 (Reflections)

The release gap between 1982 and 1988 for a new album was an unusually long for the supergroup at the time (sure, there's 1970-1977, but they did plan to release Human Highway three times over before unceremoniously scrapping the project), but it mostly comes down to the fact that David Crosby had been arrested for drug possession. Not only that, he, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash looked pretty washed up during that time; Crosby had gone bald (save for his iconic mustache), Stills had gotten fat, and while Nash looked fine, he had that ridiculous mullet which didn't fit him at all.

There were, however, according to Nash, plans to release an album in either 1985 or 1986, most likely off the heels of Live Aid, but because of Crosby's arrest, that didn't happen, and this part of time in CSN's long, complicated history has been mostly ignored. It probably didn't help that Stills and Nash put out solo albums that hardly anyone cared about.

We may never know what a mid-1980s CSN album may have sounded like, but I managed to cobble together an album consisting of their 1983-1986 material along with some outtakes that, hopefully, comes across as acceptable. Nash is quite prominent on the album, having written and sung five songs, whereas Crosby struggled to come up with good material for another few years. However, this is not an album that I could see ranking very highly amongst CSN's work, despite the inclusion of the song "War Games" which was planned for the 1983 film of the same name.

"Vote" was performed live twice by CSN in 1984, most likely as a reaction to the upcoming presidential election. I believe that this is the same song that Graham Nash initially wrote as far back as the early 1970s before eventually releasing it as a single in 2020. If anyone can provide more information to confirm or confound this, that would be great.

Oh Yes We Can (January 23, 1989)

Side A (21:29)

1. He's an American - 4:18 (1987 live performance)

2. Got It Made - 4:36 (American Dream)

3. Don't Say Goodbye - 3:23 (American Dream)

4. Tracks in the Dust - 4:48 (Oh Yes I Can)

5. Feed the People - 4:24 (Man Alive!)

Side B (23:05)

6. Clear Blue Skies - 3:05 (American Dream)

7. Compass - 5:19 (American Dream)

8. House of Broken Dreams - 3:18 (Live It Up)

9. Night Song - 4:17 (American Dream)

10. Oh Yes I Can - 5:08 (Oh Yes I Can)

11. America (My Country 'Tis of Thee) - 1:58 (Oh Yes I Can)

Ah, American Dream. The album that was hyped up to be CSN's big return to relevance, and with help from their estranged bandmate Neil Young, no less! And the result... was a complete disappointment. To paraphrase Todd in the Shadows, they were trying to be everything except CSNY, and the songs had anything but a group feel to them. Stills, Nash and Young each had four songs while Crosby only had two, which is strange because next year, he put out Oh Yes I Can (of which the album's title is derived from) which contained songs that went back as far as 1978. It's very likely, as was usual for the group, that they all held back their best songs.

Per this scenario, Neil Young never joins CSN, instead sticking with Crazy Horse. I mean, it's crazy enough having to deal with three egos, but four egos is an accident waiting to happen, as it often did. This leaves more wiggle room for the others to deal with, especially Crosby, who takes the lead on the album. In general, I tried to maintain the original album order as best as I could, therefore avoiding having two consecutive vocal spots by the same singer. The album cover design is adapted from a T-shirt that features a wooden ship.

"He's an American" is an unreleased song by David Crosby that he performed live in 1987, most likely fresh off his time in prison. I don't know why that wasn't considered for inclusion on either American Dream or Oh Yes I Can, even though it might have fit thematically. Then again, it may have suffered due to bad 80s production.

Yours and Mine (June 14, 1991)

1. Isn't It So - 3:14 (Stills Alone)

2. Hero - 4:39 (Thousand Roads)

3. I Don't Get It - 3:35 (Man Alive!)

4. Chippin' Away - 4:07 (single release)

5. Haven't We Lost Enough - 3:06 (Live It Up)

6. Yours and Mine - 4:21 (Live It Up)

7. Got to Keep Open - 4:40 (Live It Up)

8. On the Other Side of Town - 3:35 (Crosby & Nash 04)

9. Lady of the Harbor - 3:19 (Oh Yes I Can)

10. Hearts Gate - 2:59 (Man Alive!)

11. Arrows - 3:51 (Live It Up)

12. After the Dolphins - 5:05 (Live It Up)

Total length: 46:31

If American Dream was a massive disappointment for CSN, then the follow-up album, Live It Up, was even worse. The first sign that the album was bad was the cover art with hot dogs on the moon. (Seriously, whoever thought that that art was a good idea was most likely on drugs.) Not helping was questionable production choices, some really bad songs making the cut as well as superior songs that were either relegated to B-sides or not released as all. Live It Up is widely considered to be CSN's worst album for these reasons.

At least half of the original album is intact, although a sixth song, "House of Broken Dreams", had been pushed forwards to Oh Yes We Can, likely having origins going back to 1986. For this album, I adapted the DVD cover for the 1990 compilation film Long Time Comin'. I don't really think you can compare Yours and Mine to the original Live It Up; you may as well compare an apple to an orange.

After the Storm (August 16, 1994)

1. Thousand Roads - 4:31 (Thousand Roads)

2. Amazonia - 2:28 (Stills Alone)

3. Camera - 4:18

4. Unequal Love - 4:44

5. It Won't Go Away - 4:49 (1992 live performance)

6. Till It Shines - 4:19

7. These Empty Days - 2:30

8. After the Storm - 3:34

9. Panama - 4:15
10. Yvette in English - 5:53 (Thousand Roads)

11. In My Life - 2:20

Total length: 43:41

After the Storm is generally viewed as an improvement to both American Dream and especially Live It Up, but it didn't sell well upon release, most likely due to bad marketing. I suspect that poor decisions behind the scenes recording the previous albums was also a factor and people didn't want to take a chance on the album. Either way, it felt like a case of too little, too late for CSN. A shame, really, especially since more than half of the songs were pretty good.

Once again, the weaker material was cut in favor of some stronger solo tracks. This is probably the album that has its content changed the least compared to the albums that came before it. Plus, having the album close out with a cover of the Beatles' "In My Life" seemed fitting as they had been together for over 25 years at that point.

Half Your Angels (October 26, 1999)

1. Faith in Me - 4:21

2. Half Your Angels - 3:59 (1998 internet single)

3. Stand and Be Counted - 4:52

4. Wounded World - 3:12 (Man Alive!)

5. Heartland - 4:28

6. Morrison - 4:45 (CPR)

7. Seen Enough - 5:14

8. Dream for Him - 5:03

9. No Tears Left - 5:06

10. Someday Soon - 3:43

11. Climber - 5:20 (Voyage)

12. Acadienne - 4:02 (Man Alive!)

Total length: 54:05

Looking Forward was CSNY's final studio album, and for the next sixteen years right up until their final breakup in 2015 (and then David Crosby's death in 2023), they released no more albums, instead going on tour and performing songs that, you guessed it, were either filtered away onto solo albums or never released at all. They've made these same mistakes for years, and all that they've done is leave many fans frustrated, wanting to listen to every final nugget of their recording history. It makes you wonder why they haven't even considered putting out archival releases of songs that they've never put out on an album before.

Thankfully, most of these songs have been performed live by CSNY during 1999-2002, which makes it easier to work around the production issues. It also helps that the songs on their own are pretty good for the most part, yet they still can't hold up to the classics of the 1960s and 1970s. Like I did with American Dream/Oh Yes We Can, I removed the Neil Young songs and replaced them with more songs by Crosby, Stills and Nash, among them being their 1998 internet single "Half Your Angels", which gave the album its new title. "Sanibel" was also cut as it was not written by any of the members, and it features Young on vocals. The cover is adapted from a CSN tapestry blanket (I don't know what year it was made) and put into a frame with a plaque reading the album title on the bottom.

Drivin' Thunder (August 12, 2005)

1. Lay Me Down - 3:37 (Crosby & Nash 04)

2. Milky Way Tonight - 3:25 (Crosby & Nash 04)

3. Round the Bend - 5:12 (Man Alive!)

4. Blizzard of Lies - 4:08 (Songs for Survivors)

5. Just Like Gravity - 3:49 (Just Like Gravity)

6. Don't Dig Here - 6:10 (Crosby & Nash 04)

7. Different Man - 2:10 (Man Alive!)

8. They Want It All - 5:35 (Crosby & Nash 04)

9. The Chelsea Hotel - 3:55 (Songs for Survivors)

10. Drivin' Thunder - 4:30 (Man Alive!) 

11. Jesus of Rio - 4:12 (Crosby & Nash 04)

12. How Does It Shine? - 5:21 (Crosby & Nash 04)

Total length: 52:04

Crosby and Nash put out a self-titled album as a duo in 2004 (for which the album cover above was adapted from), their first since 1976, and two years later, they put out a shortened version that highlighted the best of the double album. Around that same time, Stephen Stills released Man Alive!, which consisted of outtakes that went back many years, as listed above with previous albums. Thankfully, his Carry On box set listed when some songs were recorded, which makes the task of picking out material from him much easier.

The resulting album, Drivin' Thunder, is stronger than the sum of its parts, with most material coming from 2004 and 2005, with a few songs held back from earlier in the decade to add some variety. Unfortunately, we're not going to see much of Stephen Stills from this point on since he hasn't written much new material by himself since then, his most recent collaborations in the past decade being with the Rides and former girlfriend Judy Collins. Similarly, Graham Nash hasn't released an album since 2016's This Path Tonight, though he is putting out a new album this year titled Now. David Crosby has put out five albums between 2014 and 2021, making him the most prolific out of the trio in recent years until his death.

CSN 2014 (January 17, 2014)

1. What's Broken - 3:48 (Croz)

2. Can't Get Enough - 6:09 (Can't Get Enough)

3. Exit Zero - 4:32 (2013 live)

4. Radio - 3:33 (CSN 2012)

5. Burning for the Buddha - 4:29 (2013 live performance)

6. Low Barefoot Tolerance - 3:53 (Wretches & Jabberers Soundtrack)

7. In Your Name - 3:53 (CSN 2012)

8. Set That Baggage Down - 4:01 (Croz)

9. Almost Gone (The Ballad of Bradley Manning) - 3:53 (CSN 2012)

10. Time I Have - 3:49 (Croz)

11. Only Teardrops Fall - 4:53 (Can't Get Enough)

12. I'm Here for You - 4:03 (2014 live performance)

Total length: 50:56

Crosby, Stills and Nash were unusually quiet throughout the late 2000s and the early 2010s, and I believe they were planning to record an album of covers as a stop-gap release, but, as you can probably guess, due to behind the scenes drama, it was canned. (Let's imagine that, for this scenario, it was actually released.) It seemed obvious at the time that they were creatively stagnant, and it wouldn't be until later in the decade that they would finally get their songwriting groove back. This album and the next are solid proof of that, though if you want to, you can view it as a double album spread out over two individual releases.

"Burning for the Buddha" and "I'm Here for You" are a pair of Graham Nash-penned songs that have been performed live by CSN between 2013 and 2015. The former was also performed live by Nash solo in 2013; the latter was first performed in 2014. I believe both of those songs were co-written with Shane Fontayne, who co-wrote all of the songs for This Path Tonight.

Back Home (April 15, 2016)

1. Roadhouse - 5:06 (Can't Get Enough)

2. Myself at Last - 5:18 (This Path Tonight)

3. The Clearing - 4:00 (Croz)

4. Watch Out for the Wind - 3:06 (This Path Tonight)

5. Don't Want Lies - 4:41 (Can't Get Enough)

6. Golden Days - 3:38 (This Path Tonight)

7. Somebody Home - 4:30 (Snarky Puppy's Family Dinner - Volume 2; edit)

8. Olympia - 3:42 (2015 live performance)

9. Virtual World - 4:01 (Pierced Arrow)

10. What Makes It So - 4:00 (Lighthouse)

11. Back Home - 4:48 (This Path Tonight)

12. Look Each Other in the Eyes - 3:39 (2016 internet single)

Total length: 50:29

Despite the renaissance Crosby, Stills and Nash were undergoing in the mid-2010s, there was no album to release from them as a group, and by the end of 2015, the group was finished for good. Then in 2023, David Crosby died, which further affirmed that any chance of a reunion between the members had died with him. A half-century's worth of ego, drugs, constant bickering and questionable musical choices had ended with no resolution, no retrospective and no shaking of hands. This supergroup that had all the potential to fulfill their fans' wishes had ended on bad terms with one another.

And yet, they didn't have to. They could've released one more album by 2015, or possibly even two as there was enough good material by them as a group. Chances are it could've been their best album since 1970, but the sad fact is, we may never know if it would've lived up to that hype. After all, a few albums by the group were hyped up and performed underwhelmingly. On a more positive note, I find it rather fitting that the final CSN album concludes with a Stephen Stills-penned song; they started with a song written by Stills - "For What It's Worth" (or "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", depending on whether you see 1967 or 1969 as when they started as a group) - and they end their career with a Stills song. Coincidentally, both of them are politically-themed.

"Olympia" is another Graham Nash song that was also performed live by CSN between 2014 and 2015. Again, it's very likely it was co-written with Shane Fontayne.

What about the leftover songs?

When it came to picking out songs, inevitably, there were going to be some tough cuts made. Out of the remaining songs Paul had picked out for his own CSN/Y albums, there were nine that I ended up cutting (Neil's tracks notwithstanding). The first of them was "Chuck's Lament (A Child's Dream)", that was released on the Amazing Grace and Chuck soundtrack in 1987, and later as the B-side to "Live It Up" in 1990. I presume it would have still been released as a B-side to one of the singles for Oh Yes We Can, since it dates to the late 1980s.

One of my main reasons for cutting certain songs was due to the balance of material between the three members; I tried to give each a minimum of three songs and a maximum of five, but in some cases, that was not always possible. "Somehow She Knew", "Rusty and Blue" and "Time is the Final Currency" were all performed live during the 1990s prior to their actual release on CPR (Crosby, Pevar and Raymond) in 1998, with the former even being performed by CSN in 1992. Similarly, "Dirty Little Secret" and "Lost Another One", both from Graham Nash's Songs for Survivors from 2002, were performed by CSN live in 2003. I simply assumed that solo projects outside of CSN were still a thing by 2005.

In addition, I cut songs that they covered as I wanted to focus on the songs that they either wrote or co-wrote. Stephen Stills' version of Booker T. Jones' "Ole Man Trouble" was released on Man Alive! in 2005, and his live cover of Mudcrutch's "The Wrong Thing to Do" ended up on Live at Shepherd's Bush in 2009. The last remaining song, Crosby and Nash's live performance of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" in 1992, has not been released on any album as far as I'm aware; CSN have even performed it a few times in 2003, and Nash even performed it solo as recently as 2022. Perhaps all three songs could end up on Songs We Wish We'd Written instead?

The Second Coming - Fleetwood Mac's 1990s Albums

On November 30, 2022, the world of music lost yet another iconic musician, for Christine McVie, keyboardist for Fleetwood Mac, died from a short illness at the age of 79. To say that 2022 was a bastard of a year for music would be an understatement, and given that we recently just lost Jeff Beck, David Crosby and Lisa Marie Presley this year, it wouldn't surprise me if 2023 were to follow suit.

Which brings me onto the reason this blog post is being written up. Christine McVie, then married to bassist John McVie, was present during the recording for Fleetwood Mac's fourth album Kiln House, becoming a full member of the band as their keyboardist by the end of 1970. She'd been present on every album since then except for 2003's Say You Will, having left in 1998 before coming back full-time in 2014, even though she contributed to a couple of tracks ("Steal Your Heart Away" and "Bleed to Love Her"). And this does not include her 2017 album with Lindsey Buckingham, which is practically a Fleetwood Mac album in all but name, most likely due to Stevie Nicks' absence.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Buckingham, who had joined the band in 1975 along with on-off girlfriend Stevie Nicks, left in 1987 due to disagreements with the band, marking the end of an era. He'd since come back to the group for a reunion tour in 1997, only to be kicked out in 2018 again due to personal disagreements.

So what if things had turned out differently for Fleetwood Mac by the end of the 1980s? Instead of Lindsey Buckingham getting pissy with the other members, what if they'd worked things out in the group and came back stronger than ever, remaining a hit-making force well into the 1990s? To answer those questions, we must refer to the sessions that produced the all-time classic Rumours which nearly tore apart the group due to relationship drama. The sudden success of their 1975 album, along with drugs and alcohol, most likely didn't help either. Then, according to Stevie Nicks, there was a seven month tour in which fans weren't receptive to the material off of Rumours.

For this scenario, let's imagine that after the tour, the group decides to take a hiatus to sort out their personal relationships, and instead of getting Tusk in 1979, we get two albums - one by Christine and Stevie under McVie Nicks, and another by Lindsey - and an extended play to signal to the fans that they weren't breaking up, just pursuing solo projects. In turn, this may lead to an album in 1985, and feeling reinvigorated, Lindsey agrees to keep the band going into the new decade.

Behind the Mask (1990)

Side A (24:14)

1. Skies the Limit - 3:45

2. No Questions Asked - 4:40 (Greatest Hits)

3. Turn It On - 3:50 (Out of the Cradle)

4. As Long as You Follow - 4:10 (Greatest Hits)

5. Soul Drifter - 3:27 (Out of the Cradle)

6. Affairs of the Heart - 4:22

Side B (23:49)

7. Street of Dreams - 4:28 (Out of the Cradle)

8. Behind the Mask - 4:18

9. Freedom - 4:12

10. Doing What I Can - 4:05 (Out of the Cradle)

11. Save Me - 4:15

12. The Second Time - 2:31

Behind the Mask is often cited as a low point for Fleetwood Mac; some would argue that Rick Vito and Billy Burnette were the best thing to happen to the band, but they didn't really leave much of an impact. I mean, out of the 1975-onward material that was represented on 25 Years - The Chain in 1992, "In the Back of My Mind" and "Love is Dangerous" feature vocals that weren't by Lindsey, Christine or Stevie, although the latter did sing on "Dangerous". Not only that, "Save Me" is the main representation of Behind the Mask on 50 Years - Don't Stop from 2018, along with "Skies the Limit" and "Love is Dangerous" That's how little impact Vito and Burnette left on the group, and it says a lot that the 1968-1974 material gets more recognition.

For this reconstruction, seven songs, mainly those featuring Vito and Burnette, were sent to the chop - "Love is Dangerous", "In the Back of My Mind", "Do You Know", "When the Sun Goes Down", "Stand on the Rock", "Hard Feelings" and "When It Comes to Love". Already, we've got half an album left over to work with. Fleetwood Mac's 1988 Greatest Hits album contained two new songs recorded without Lindsey - Stevie's "No Questions Asked" and Christine's "As Long as You Follow", the latter of which became a single. "Behind the Mask" was a keeper since Lindsey appears on acoustic guitar.

And now we come to the issue with Lindsey Buckingham's material. He didn't release a solo album until 1992, called Out of the Cradle. However, he did begin recording in 1988, which makes it fair game for inclusion. For additional bonus, some songs were co-written with Richard Dashut, who produced for Fleetwood Mac during 1977-1987, and given that Christine (with then-husband Eddy Quintela) and Stevie (with Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers) were also working with outside writers for their songs, it adds to the authenticity of this reconstruction.

In general, I maintained the order of the track listing, with "Save Me" now being part of Side B, and "Turn It On" being part of Side A, so that each singer/songwriter has two spots per side.

Time (1995)

1. Paper Doll - 3:56 (25 Years - The Chain)

2. Don't Look Down - 2:47 (Out of the Cradle)

3. Love Shines - 4:48 (25 Years - The Chain)

4. Destiny - 5:00 (Street Angel)

5. I Do - 4:28 (Time)

6. Countdown - 3:21 (Out of the Cradle)

7. Heart of Stone - 4:39 (25 Years - The Chain)

8. You Do or You Don't - 3:37 (Out of the Cradle)

9. Blue Denim - 4:22 (Street Angel)

10. Sooner or Later - 5:41 (Time)

11. Surrender the Rain - 3:36 (Out of the Cradle)

12. Rose Garden - 4:28 (Street Angel)

13. Nights in Estoril - 4:47 (Time)

14. Make Me a Mask - 4:02 (25 Years - The Chain)

15. These Strange Times - 7:07 (Time)

Total length: 66:39

If Behind the Mask was a disappointment, then Time is one of many definitions of a trainwreckord (apologies to Todd Nathanson; it wouldn't surprise me if he did a video on this album one day). It's such a mess of an album that the only representation it gets on 50 Years - Don't Stop is in the form of its only single "I Do". It doesn't help that Stevie Nicks was on the outs with Fleetwood Mac during that time, mainly due to a dispute with Mick Fleetwood over the inclusion of "Silver Springs" on her 1991 solo album Timespace. That's how bad Time was.

Fortunately, it's not all bad news. 25 Years - The Chain included four new songs - Stevie's "Paper Doll", Christine's "Love Shines" and "Heart of Stone", and Lindsey's "Make Me a Mask" - which are all fair game for inclusion. Unfortunately, this means that there are seven tracks written by Christine McVie, so two of them - "Hollywood (Some Other Kind of Town)" and "All Over Again" - had to be cut to make room for more Stevie and Lindsey contributions. As a result, there are only four tracks from Time being featured, one of which, "These Strange Times", is spoken wood by drummer Mick Fleetwood. So if you wanted another song by a member who wasn't Christine, Stevie or Lindsey, there you go.

Because there's enough good material leftover from Out of the Cradle, we can pull four more songs from that album, including the minor hit "Countdown", increasing his prominence on the album.

Which just leaves Stevie Nicks. Her 1994 album, Street Angel, came out during a particularly bad time in her personal life, and there were no major hits off of the album. It didn't help that she was in drug rehab for Klonopin while the album was being mixed, and several tracks had been written years earlier for prior projects - "Rose Garden" even goes back to the early 1970s! As a result, Stevie gets only four tracks compared to Lindsey and Christine having five each. The tracks I picked off of Street Angel have alternate mixes found on Enchanted from 1998, so you can use those if you prefer them instead.

The Dance (1998)

1. Bleed to Love Her - 4:06 (Say You Will)

2. Hollywood (Some Other Kind of Town) - 5:45 (Time)

3. Thrown Down - 4:02 (Say You Will)

4. My Little Demon - 3:33 (The Dance)

5. Temporary One - 4:00 (The Dance)

6. Sweet Girl - 3:19 (The Dance)

7. Come - 5:59 (Say You Will)

8. Smile at You - 4:33 (Say You Will)

9. All Over Again - 3:36 (Time)

10. Say Goodbye - 3:26 (Say You Will)

11. Twisted - 4:13 (Twister: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Total length: 46:32

The last of the three 90s Fleetwood Mac albums; Say You Will, released 2003, actually had origins going back to 1995-1997. Presumably, there was to be a reunion album by the 1975-1987 lineup, but because of Christine McVie's departure in 1998 due to her fear of flying, that never happened, leaving the album unfinished until 2003. While better received than Behind the Mask and Time, Say You Will suffered mostly by Christine's absence despite appearing on two tracks.

Luckily for us, we have a glimpse of that possible late-90s album on The Dance, a live album released by Fleetwood Mac in 1997. Unluckily for us, however, we have no way of knowing what else would have made the album. The Dance contained four new songs - Lindsey's "Bleed to Love Her" and "My Little Demon", Christine's "Temporary One", and Stevie's "Sweet Girl". Out of those songs, only "Bleed to Love Her" ended up on Say You Will six years later, and it even features on Christine on backing vocals. We will use those tracks as our basis for the 1998 reconstruction.

In order to increase Christine's prominence on The Dance, we're bringing back the two tracks from Time that were dropped - "Hollywood (Some Other Kind of Town)" and "All Over Again". That way, it feels more like a Fleetwood Mac album and less like a Buckingham Nicks album.

Speaking of which, what else is there to choose from Say You Will? Stevie's "Smile at You" dates back to the Tusk sessions in 1979, which makes it fair game for inclusion. Besides, it wasn't the first time she'd re-recorded an older song for later projects. And according to Stevie herself in the Destiny Rules documentary, "Thrown Down" was written during Fleetwood Mac's last tour (1997) at the time, which suggests that it dates back to that period. Stevie's final track for the album, "Twisted", was included on the soundtrack to Twister in 1996, and it even features Lindsey Buckingham on guitar and Mick Fleetwood on drums, making it an honorary Fleetwood Mac track.

And that leaves with Lindsey, who so far has only two tracks to his name. In order to pick two more songs by him, I had to guess just by notes. "Come", according to Lindsey, was about his former girlfriend Anne Heche, who would later leave him for Ellen DeGeneres. The two women became partners in 1997, so that led me to believe that it was written around that time. The final song, "Say Goodbye", was written in 1987 after a fight between himself and Stevie that resulted in him leaving Fleetwood Mac. I'm not sure if the song would've existed had the fight not taken place, it's a powerful one regardless.

So, are all of these albums better than what we were actually given? In many ways, I'd say so, given that there's far more involvement from Christine, Lindsey and Stevie. However, I think the bigger question is, do they stack up when compared to the 1975-1987 albums? It's hard to say, given that Rumours is regarded as one of the biggest albums of all time. Inevitably, with the rise of bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam in the early 1990s, Fleetwood Mac would most likely be viewed as "dinosaurs" by this point. They were pretty much losing relevance by then even in OTL, as Behind the Mask barely made the Top 20 in America, with Time further speeding it up. Alas, it's always egos within bands that either cause them to break up or an important member leaves for other pastures.

Speaking of bands with egos, my next post will be dedicated to another artist we lost recently!

Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell III" - A Complete Jim Steinman Reconstruction

To mark the first anniversary of the death of one Marvin Lee Aday - a.k.a. Meat Loaf - I've put together an album that answers the question of how a purely Jim Steinman composed Bat Out of Hell III would've sounded like. This was inspired from two reconstructions of this attempt; one was by a Vimeo user known as The Archivist who remixed some songs to see what it would sound like, and the other was by the team behind the Cobain Continues Redone timeline who have also based a wiki around it. My approach combines ideas from both attempts, and hopefully it gives the Bat Out of Hell trilogy a proper close.

Bat Out of Hell III: Braver Than We Are (2006)

Disc 1 (57:55)

1. Paradise Lost - 1:31 (fan remix)

2. Seize the Night - 9:46 (The Monster is Loose)

3. Bad for Good - 7:33 (The Monster is Loose)

4. Who Needs the Young? - 5:27 (Braver Than We Are)

5. More - 6:07 (Braver Than We Are)

6. Making Love Out of Nothing at All - 5:25 (fan cover)

7. In the Land of the Pig, The Butcher is King - 5:38 (The Monster is Loose)

8. What Part of My Body Hurts the Most? - 5:19 (fan cover)

9. Only When I Feel/If It Ain’t Broke, Break It - 6:46 (Braver Than We Are/The Monster is Loose)

10. Train of Love - 4:23 (Braver Than We Are)

Disc 2 (59:37)

11. Godz - 3:34 (Braver Than We Are)

12. Skull of Your Country - 3:35 (Braver Than We Are)

13. The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be - 7:54 (The Monster is Loose)

14. Souvenirs - 8:17 (Braver Than We Are)

15. Loving You is a Dirty Job (But Somebody’s Gotta Do It) - 6:09 (Braver Than We Are)

16. Speaking in Tongues - 4:24 (Braver Than We Are)

17. Is Nothing Sacred Anymore? - 5:49 (The Very Best of Meat Loaf; edit)

18. It’s All Coming Back to Me Now - 6:05 (The Monster is Loose)

19. Going All the Way is Just the Start - 11:28 (Braver Than We Are)

20. Cry to Heaven - 2:22 (The Monster is Loose)

The majority of the songs are sourced from the official Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose, as well as 2016's Braver Than We Are. Of course, there's the inevitable issue with Meat Loaf's voice, having strained his voice for so many years, largely due to the fact that he'd never learned to properly sing. Fortunately for us, everything on the latter album was written before 2006, with three songs having their origins tracing all the way back to 1969 when Jim Steinman worked on The Dream Engine. Those being "Who Needs the Young?", "In the Land of the Pig, The Butcher is King" (which was later reworked for the unproduced Batman: The Musical) and "Skull of Your Country" (previously titled "Come in the Night"). Goodness knows why it took Meat Loaf 47 years to finally record them.

Moving forward a little bit, "Going All the Way is Just the Start" - originally titled "Braver Than We Are" - was first worked on in 1972 for Little Friend from Front Street and is one of two tracks co-written with Don Black. "Train of Love" was also demoed back in 1972, but I'm not sure what it was originally intended for. "Godz" and "Souvenirs" were both written for More Than You Deserve - originally The Vietnam Project - in 1973.

"Seize the Night" (originally called "The Storm") and "Bad for Good" both originated from Jim Steinman's 1981 album Bad for Good. Interestingly, four other songs from that album were recorded by Meat Loaf for Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and one other song each ended up on 1984's Bad Attitude and 1995's Welcome to the Neighborhood. On the other end of things, a song never recorded by Meat Loaf, "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", was intended for him, but due to political reasons in the music industry, it was given to Air Supply in 1983. The fan cover I provided a link to shows what it might have sounded like.

"Loving You is a Dirty Job (But Somebody's Gotta Do It)" was first recorded by Bonnie Tyler for Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire in 1986, originally a duet with Todd Rundgren, who also worked with Meat Loaf. Bonnie also recorded "Total Eclipse of the Heart", another song Jim Steinman wanted Meat Loaf to record, but again, did not happen. "The Future Ain't What It Used to Be" and "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" both originated from Original Sin by Pandora's Box in 1989, and is another album containing tracks eventually recorded for Bat Out of Hell II.

"More" was co-written with Andrew Eldritch and recorded by The Sisters of Mercy for 1990's Vision Thing. "Is Nothing Sacred Anymore?" was originally intended to appear on Meat Loaf's Welcome to the Neighborhood and is another co-write with Don Black, but it came out as a non-album single in 1999, having been released on The Very Best of Meat Loaf the year prior. It might be a bit of a cop-out to include a song that had been recorded years prior, but hey, we're working with what's available. "Cry to Heaven" is another track that was intended for Batman: The Musical; I don't know the exact date it was written, but it's believed to be at some point between 1998 and 2002.

The final few songs on this reconstruction are possibly the most recent (presuming a release date of around 2004-2006). Meat Loaf performed "Only When I Feel" and "If It Ain't Broke, Break It" as part of a medley during his "Hair of a Dog" tour in 2005, suggesting that they would've been included. "What Part of My Body Hurts the Most" and "Speaking in Tongues" were both performed by The Dream Engine in 2006, although they could've been written earlier than that; the former is another convincing fan cover. "Paradise Lost" was first revealed in 2007, but I don't know when it was first written.

Overall, running at 117 minutes - nearly two hours! - is Bat Out of Hell III: Braver Than We Are really what Meat Loaf could've recorded had he not kept quarrelling with Jim Steinman? (I mean, they kind of were like a married couple; Meat Loaf even said "I love Jim Steinman, but I wouldn't French kiss him!") Well, it's uncertain as to what the original track listing might have been, but we do know that the seven Jim Steinman penned tracks would've made the cut. Including every song out of the original Braver Than We Are as well as a non-album track and some fan remixes may be a bit excessive, but to that, I say when it comes to Meat Loaf, you don't just go big; you go Jim Steinman. Besides, Bat Out of Hell II was almost half an hour longer than the original Bat Out of Hell, so it's only right that Bat Out of Hell III be bigger than that by at least forty minutes. Listening to all three albums back to back would take nearly four hours. That's a lot of Meat Loaf to consume in one sitting!

Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" and "Milk and Honey Fantasy" - 1981 and 1983 Solo Albums

When it comes to John Lennon's two final solo albums, both with Yoko Ono - 1980's Double Fantasy and 1984's Milk and Honey - people often tend to combine John's tracks from both of them to make a purely John Lennon solo album. Many, myself included, have played this game before, each having their own twist on it. But what about the tracks by Yoko? More often than not, the Yoko songs are discarded, the main reason being that they don't mix well with the John songs despite the intention behind it.

Originally, both Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey were intended by the couple to represent a conversation between a husband and wife, which is why the songs alternate between singers. With only the John songs, the listener is better able to relate to him as a househusband. But is there a way to salvage the Yoko tracks and make an album out of them?

Actually, there is. Two albums, in fact. Yoko's 1997 album A Story was actually recorded in 1974 during John's lost weekend, and many of the tracks included were later re-used for future albums. I've used that as a reference in order to make these albums feel more complete, so that meant tracks from both Season of Glass and It's Alright (I See Rainbows) were utilized. This is based upon the assumption that John and Yoko both did solo projects instead of duet albums and John was never killed. The latter point is mostly to explain why tracks from both of Yoko's solo albums are included, as I doubt the majority of Season of Glass would've existed if John lived.

Walking on Thin Ice (1981)

Side A (21:00)

1. Walking on Thin Ice - 6:00 (non-album single)

2. Give Me Something - 1:35 (Double Fantasy)

3. I'm Moving On - 2:13 (Double Fantasy Working Version)

4. Dogtown - 3:22 (Season of Glass)

5. It Happened - 5:08 (B-side)

6. Kiss Kiss Kiss - 2:42 (Double Fantasy)

Side B (20:15)

7. Yes, I'm Your Angel - 3:08 (Double Fantasy)

8. She Gets Down on Her Knees - 4:13 (Season of Glass)

9. Beautiful Boys - 2:55 (Double Fantasy)

10. Will You Touch Me - 2:37 (Season of Glass)

11. Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him - 4:02 (Double Fantasy)

12. Hard Times are Over - 3:20 (Double Fantasy)

The main inspiration for this was Uncle Dan's Double Milk and Honey Fantasy boxset from 2018, in which for one of the discs, he combined all of Yoko's tracks (barring "Let Me Count the Ways") from both albums into one, with the inclusion of "Walking on Thin Ice", which provided the album title. I wanted to go for a similar approach, albeit my version will focus solely on tracks from Double Fantasy, as well as a few from Season of Glass and the "Walking on Thin Ice" single. Overall, enough material for a complete album running at 41 minutes.

Walking on Thin Ice begins with the title track, running for the whole six minutes; this will be the album's lead single, albeit an edited version is utilized instead. Following this is "Give Me Something" and "I'm Moving On", the latter of which is the version with Cheap Trick as the backing group. Next is the first of the Season of Glass tracks, "Dogtown", which was originally recorded in 1974 before being reused in 1981. Also worked on in 1974 is "It Happened", the B-side of "Walking on Thin Ice", now being promoted to an album track; both sides of the single dominate Side A, which concludes with "Kiss Kiss Kiss", much like Uncle Dan's version did.

Side B utilizes similar cues to Uncle Dan, beginning with "Yes, I'm Your Angel". Following is "She Gets Down on Her Knees", another 1974 track, and then "Beautiful Boys" and "Will You Touch Me", the latter of which makes three tracks originally included on Season of Glass. The album concludes similarly to the original Double Fantasy with a one-two punch of "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him" and "Hard Times are Over", the latter of which also originated in A Story.

So how does Walking on Thin Ice compare to Double Fantasy, much less any theoretical John solo album from 1980? Compared to Double Fantasy, it's obviously more cohesive as we can hear Yoko taking a more pop route with her music. But alas, it will inevitably pale compared to her husband's work, which many Beatle fans will likely prefer. Depending on lyrical content, more tracks from Season of Glass could be included, but as it stands, Walking on Thin Ice is a pretty solid album overall.

And now, the 1983 solo Yoko album!

Milk and Honey Fantasy (1983)

Side A (17:14)

1. My Man - 3:56 (It's Alright)

2. Don't Be Scared - 4:35 (extended version)

3. Sleepless Night - 3:53 (extended version)

4. O' Sanity - 1:05

5. Open Your Soul to Me - 3:45 (Onobox)

Side B (17:02)

6. Your Hands - 3:04

7. Forgive Me, My Love - 3:11 (Onobox)

8. Loneliness - 3:47 (It's Alright)

9. You're the One - 4:34 (extended version)

10. Tomorrow May Never Come - 2:26 (It's Alright)

Right out of the gate, the problem with compiling Yoko's tracks from Milk and Honey is that they're quite short, running at a combined length of a little less than 16 minutes. Even more so if we cut "Let Me Count the Ways" - a track that leads into John's "Grow Old with Me" - running at about 13 and a half minutes. Fortunately, there do exist longer versions of most of the songs on Onobox from 1992, extending the combined length to a little over 17 minutes, albeit I imagine that getting a hold of it is pretty hard. That's more or less a whole side figured out, so now it came down to at least doubling the length and getting creative.

Milk and Honey Fantasy begins with "My Man" from It's Alright, which was originally written in 1980 while John was still alive, yet Yoko didn't record this until after he'd been murdered. Once again taking cues from Uncle Dan, we follow that with the extended versions of "Don't Be Scared" and "Sleepless Night", and then "O' Sanity", the shortest Yoko track from the sessions at just slightly over one minute. The first side concludes with "Open Your Soul to Me", an outtake considered for Double Fantasy, but was later recorded during the sessions for Season of Glass.

The second side begins with "Your Hands", followed by "Forgive Me, My Love", another outtake considered for Double Fantasy, but again, re-recorded for It's Alright; it was even considered for a musical John and Yoko were planning before he was killed. Next is "Loneliness", yet another track originally started in 1974, followed by the extended version of "You're the One" and concluding with "Tomorrow May Never Come", the latter of which was also first recorded in 1974. Originally, I wanted to include "There's No Goodbye", a demo that eventually ended up on Take Me to the Land of Hell in 2013, but I opted against it instead.

Admittedly, Milk and Honey Fantasy is quite short, running at just 34 minutes, mainly because I was unsure as to which songs were about John after his death. But hopefully it turns out okay, especially with the extended versions of some songs helping the length a bit. That being said, a couple of more tracks wouldn't hurt. Both albums combined will fit onto a single CD.

Neil Young's "Hawks and Doves" - A 1980-1981 Compilation

With Neil Young putting out a new album this month, titled World Record and with his most frequent backing group Crazy Horse, I figured that I'd post something to mark this occasion, knowing that this is his 45th studio album since putting out his eponymous debut in 1969. Seriously, 45 albums across a period of over 50 years! But of course, he's also recorded at least six more albums' worth of songs that haven't been released in any form until his Archives series, beginning in 2009 with Vol. 1: 1963-1972 and Vol. 2: 1972-1976 eventually coming out in 2020, with Vol. 3 1976-198? due out in 2023 - hopefully!

Like I mentioned in a previous post, The Reconstructor did a revision of Neil Young's 1970s discography, although since the release of Archives Vol. 2, it's since been reworked. I did an Excel sheet compiling the revised Neil Yong discography, and so far, everything up until Hitchhiker follows what The Reconstructor has in mind; the only 70s albums that aren't final (yet) are American Stars n' Bars (which I've reworked as an odds and ends album of outtakes from 1971-1976), Oceanside, Countryside (the original title for Comes a Time) and a reworked Rust Never Sleeps. Of course, the sheet is far from a finished product, and things up until 1987 (at least, from what I've read online thus far) are subject to change. But today, I figured I'd go into a little more detail regarding Neil's first two albums of the 1980s.

Hawks and Doves and Re-ac-tor both marked the beginning of a commercial downturn for Neil Young, at least until 1989's Freedom. Although most of Rust Never Sleeps had been recorded in 1978, it was actually released the following year, as by that point, he'd had a son born with cerebral palsy, and that took up a lot of his time just caring for him. Yet he'd managed to take the time to record some new material during the first two years of the new decade, and by 1982, he was touring once again, and getting into petty squabbles with David Geffen.

With Hawks and Doves, the first side consisted of unreleased material from 1974 to 1977, while the second side was all new material recorded in early July 1980, and yet the album was still not even half an hour long! Heck, the second side was just short of thirteen minutes! Meanwhile, Re-ac-tor was close to 39 minutes in length, but that was because two tracks - "T-Bone" and "Shots" - were pretty lengthy, the former running at nine minutes, and the latter almost eight. Without those two tracks, Re-ac-tor comes up at nearly 22 minutes. Put them together, and the combined length is just short of 35 minutes, with two wildly uneven sides. Clearly, Neil was padding out his albums due to what was going on in his personal life, but if he was that focused on raising his son Ben, why couldn't he have waited it out before recording an album, let alone releasing one?

Luckily, there is a way around this. There were some songs during that timeframe that Neil didn't release at the time (or at all), and so I utilized those to help bring the album up to a reasonable length.

Hawks and Doves (1981)

Side A (22:29)

1. Opera Star - 3:31

2. Surfer Joe and Moe the Sleaze - 4:15

3. Get Back on It - 2:14

4. Southern Pacific - 4:07

5. T-Bone - 3:47 [edit]

6. Rapid Transit - 4:35

Side B (22:16)

7. Coastline - 2:24

8. Stayin' Power - 2:17

9. Winter Winds (Turbine) - 3:15 (unreleased 1980 live recording)

10. Motor City - 3:11 (unreleased 1980 live recording)

11. Union Man - 2:08

12. Comin' Apart at Every Nail - 2:33

13. Are There Any More Real Cowboys? - 3:01 (original Old Ways 1 version)

14. Hawks and Doves - 3:27

One would assume that right out of the gate, this album wouldn't work because the country sound of Hawks and Doves and the proto-grunge vibes of Re-ac-tor clash with each other, and they'd be right. However, the way I've arranged the album was so that the heavier tracks would take up the first side, and the second side would be largely country. All tracks from Side A come from Re-ac-tor with "Motor City" (we'll get to that) and "Shots" (pushed forward to Rust Never Sleeps, first played live in 1978) removed, and "T-Bone" cut down to less than four minutes. I've provided a link to my edit of the track, but if you're curious, here's how I edited it down:

About half a minute of the opening guitar intro is cut in two different places (0:15-0:27 and 0:39-0:55), meaning that Neil's vocal comes in at the 33-second mark. The next edit comes in at 1:59 up to 3:20, removing the entire third verse (which is basically the same as the first) and merging the second verse's four "got mashed potato" lines with the fourth verse's two "ain't got no T-bone" lines, thereby making them a whole new verse. The next cut is from 4:10 to 5:51, which not only cuts the sixth verse (again, a repeat of the first), but it also allows the fifth verse with its two "got mashed potato" lines to transition into the seventh, right at the first "ain't got no T-bone" line. The third "ain't got no T-bone" comes from a guitar solo, shortened at 5:59 to 6:26. The final edit combines the eighth and ninth verses, with a cut between 7:10 and 8:36. Overall, well over five minutes have been cut entirely, and each of the four new verses sound unique to one another as opposed to repeating paired counts of "got mashed potato" and "ain't got no T-bone" between them.

The track arrangement of Side B is based upon that of a lone concert that Neil Young did in 1980, as detailed in a post by Albums That Should Exist, with the inclusion of "Are There Any More Real Cowboys?", which is said to have originated during the Re-ac-tor sessions, using the original recorded version for the first version of Old Ways from 1983. We don't have the 1980 recording, so that will do for now. Two other tracks, "Winter Winds (Turbine)" and "Motor City", come from the 1980 concert; in the case of the latter, I used that version instead of the official version to give the album some variety. The remaining five tracks all come from Hawks and Doves.

There are two other tracks from the Re-ac-tor sessions that have yet to be released - "Get Up Now" and "To Me, To Me". We still don't know how they sound, and I'm not sure how they will sound compared to the rest of the album, or even if they will fit. But as it stands, Hawks and Doves sounds pretty good, now running close to 45 minutes, with the first side being more "hawkish" and the second side more "dove" sounding. If Neil Young had put out an album like that in 1981, and hadn't signed up with Geffen Records, perhaps things could've turned out differently for him in the 1980s; they were practically a wilderness decade for many artists who came of age in the 1960s to early 1970s. But what do you people think?

The Second Coming - Electric Light Orchestra Discography (1970-1971 + Retcons)

Here's another Second Coming post from me, this time focusing on the sons of the Beatles, the Electric Light Orchestra! This one is a bit more different as not only am I adding new albums, I'm also making some retcons from the first draft. We'll come back to that in a bit, but for now, here's the three new albums by ELO, beginning with...

The Electric Light Orchestra (December 4, 1970)

Side A (22:48)

1. Looking On - 7:48 (Looking On)

2. Turkish Tram Conductor Blues - 4:38 (Looking On)

3. What? - 6:42 (Looking On)

4. When Alice Comes Back to the Farm - 3:40 (Looking On)

Side B (22:13)

5. Open Up Said the World at the Door - 7:10 (Looking On)

6. Mr. Radio - 5:04

7. First Movement (Jumping Biz) - 3:00

8. 10538 Overture - 5:32

9. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Lettuce - 1:27 (Looking On)

This is actually the Move's third album Looking On, which is practically an ELO album in all but name, but with "Brontosaurus" and "Feel Too Good" removed and replaced with three tracks that ended up on ELO's debut album from OTL. I think it's reasonable as said album first began recording in 1970, around the same time as Looking On. For this scenario, ELO forms outright upon Jeff Lynne's entry into the Move, signing onto Apple Records at the same time, while the remaining members of the Move such as Carl Wayne and Rick Price carry on without Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan. Richard Tandy and Bill Hunt also become ELO members in 1971.

Message from the Country (June 4, 1971)

Side A (19:44)

1. Message from the Country - 4:45

2. Ella James - 3:11

3. No Time - 3:38

4. Don’t Mess Me Up - 3:07

5. Until Your Mama’s Gone - 5:03

Side B (20:21)

6. It Wasn’t My Idea to Dance - 5:28

7. The Minister - 4:27

8. Ben Crawley Steel Company - 3:02

9. The Words of Aaron - 5:25

10. My Marge - 1:59

Besides the change of band name on the cover, nothing about Message from the Country has changed whatsoever. ELO were on their way to stardom from this point on.

No Answer (December 3, 1971)

Side A (22:48)

1. Tonight - 3:15 (Message from the Country)

2. Look at Me Now - 3:17

3 Down on the Bay - 4:14 (Message from the Country)

4. Nellie Takes Her Bow - 5:59

5. The Battle of Marston Moor (July 2nd 1644) - 6:03

Side B (23:18)

6. Chinatown - 3:06 (Message from the Country)

7. Do Ya - 4:03 (Message from the Country)

8. California Man - 3:35 (Message from the Country)

9. Manhattan Rumble (49th Street Massacre) - 4:22

10. Queen of the Hours - 3:22

11. Whisper in the Night - 4:50

No Answer was the name of ELO's debut album in America after a bit of miscommunication regarding the album's name; I couldn't come up with another title for this album, so I decided to keep it as a placeholder for now. This album compiles the leftover tracks from their OTL debut along with five bonus tracks included on the reissue of Message from the Country, including the 1971 version of "Do Ya", which eventually ended up on A New World Record in 1976.

So those are the first three albums by ELO for The Second Coming. 1972's The Lost Planet and 1973's Hocus Pocus both remain unaltered from the original draft. The albums from 1974-1977, however...

The Falcons of Eldorado (September 28, 1974)

Side A (22:53)

1. Overture/Eddy’s Rock - 6:36 (Eldorado/Introducing Eddy and the Falcons; edit)

2. Can’t Get It Out of My Head - 4:21 (Eldorado)

3. Brand New 88 - 3:23 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

4. You Got Me Runnin’ - 3:15 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

5. Boy Blue - 5:18 (Eldorado)

Side B (22:32)

6. Are You Ready to Rock - 2:31 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

7. This is the Story of My Love (Baby) - 5:46 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

8. Laredo Tornado - 5:29 (Eldorado)

9. Poor Boy (The Greenwood) - 2:57 (Eldorado)

10. We’re Gonna Rock ‘n’ Roll Tonight - 5:49 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

Side C (20:52)

11. Dark City/Rock and Roll Winter - 5:51 (Eldorado/Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

12. Nobody’s Child - 3:40 (Eldorado)

13. Illusions in G Major - 2:36 (Eldorado)

14. Everyday I Wonder - 5:21 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

15. Crazy Jeans - 3:24 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

Side D (20:25)

16. Mister Kingdom - 5:50 (Eldorado)

17. I Dun Lotsa Cryin’ Over You - 3:23 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

18. Come Back Karen - 4:32 (Introducing Eddy and the Falcons)

19. Eldorado - 6:40 (Eldorado; edit)

And this is where the retcons begin to take place; in retrospect, I wasn't particularly happy with how both The Falcons of Eldorado and Face the Music ended up. The tracks that were included from Introducing Eddy and the Falcons were spread out over both of them, when really, they should all be a part of the same album. And so, I decided that the tracks from both Eldorado and Introducing Eddy and the Falcons would all be part of the same album, making The Falcons of Eldorado a double. In turn, this makes this the final album to feature Roy Wood as a member of ELO, afterward starting his own side projects, having previously done so while as a member, before fading into the background.

After that, 1975's Face the Music is released as it was per OTL, as is 1976's A New World Record, but with "Surrender" replacing "Do Ya" and having its position swapped around with "Above the Clouds". Likewise, 1977's Out of the Blue retains the original double album track listing.

Light Years (September 15, 1978)

Side A (23:38)

1. Ball Park Incident - 3:42 (Wizzard Brew)

2. Momma - 7:03 (ELO 2)

3. Roll Over Beethoven - 7:52 (ELO 2; edit)

4. See My Baby Jive - 5:01 (Wizzard Brew)

Side B (23:50)

5. Showdown - 4:09 (On the Third Day)

6. Daybreaker - 3:34 (On the Third Day)

7. Rattlesnake Roll - 4:02 (Mustard)

8. Indiana Rainbow - 3:53 (Mustard)

9. Latitude 88 North - 3:24 (Out of the Blue)

10. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday - 4:48 (Wizzard Brew)

As several tracks have been moved back onto the regular albums, Light Years now becomes a single album featuring ten non-album tracks, ending with "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". Afterward, ELO's discography happens as it did up to 1983 per the original draft, albeit the track listing to 1980's All Over the World is now as follows:

All Over the World (August 1, 1980)

Side A: Songs from Xanadu (22:46)

1. I'm Alive - 3:46 (Xanadu)

2. The Fall - 3:34 (Xanadu)

3. Don't Walk Away - 4:48 (Xanadu)

4. All Over the World - 4:04 (Xanadu)

5. Drum Dreams - 3:06 (Xanadu)

6. Xanadu [w/ Olivia Newton-John] - 3:28 (Xanadu)

Side B: 1972-1979 Outtakes (23:42)

7. Baby, I Apologize - 3:43 (ELO 2)

8. Bluebird is Dead - 4:24 (On the Third Day)

9. Everyone's Born to Die - 3:43 (On the Third Day)

10. Doin’ That Crazy Thing - 3:25 (non-album single)

11. Goin’ Down to Rio - 3:45 (non-album single)

12. The Quick and the Daft - 1:49 (Out of the Blue)

13. Little Town Flirt - 2:53 (Discovery)

So Side A now focuses on the tracks that were recorded for Xanadu, including the title track featuring the recently deceased Olivia Newton-John, and Side B features outtakes from 1972 to 1979, including a solo Jeff Lynne single from 1977.

What happens after 1983?

I could see ELO continuing past Secret Messages, and they still remain attached to Apple Records right into the 2010s. They would probably take a hiatus in the late 1980s due to Jeff Lynne's focus on the Traveling Wilburys, but they make a comeback in the early 1990s with Eric Troyer as their new keyboardist and joint lead vocalist, effectively butterflying away ELO Part II and The Orchestra. Songs from both projects, however, become official ELO songs. Their post-1983 albums are as follows:

Balance of Power (1986)

Armchair Theatre (1991)

Moment of Truth (1994)

Zoom (2001)

Light Years II (2006; compilation album)

No Rewind (2010)

2015's Alone in the Universe and 2019's From Out of Nowhere are unchanged from OTL, except they're now credited to ELO. This brings ELO's discography up to twenty albums, twenty-two if both Light Years albums are counted, compared to OTL's fourteen (fifteen if Xanadu is counted).

The Second Coming - Pink Floyd Discography + Roger Waters Solo (1967 - 2006)

Our next band to get an upgraded discography for The Second Coming is none other than Pink Floyd! In addition, there will also be upgrades to Roger Waters' initial solo career.

Originally, I had Syd Barrett stay with the band until 1972, before recording for The Dark Side of the Moon even started. After that, he started his own band with David Bowie, Kevin Ayers, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Robert Wyatt known as Hunky Dory. They were active until Syd Barrett's death in 1977, and broke up the following year after completing Wish You Were Here, a collaboration with Pink Floyd. That was very much influenced from Auran's Gummaumma timeline from 2019 when she did something similar with the concept, only the group formed in 1977, the same year of Barrett's death in that timeline. I liked the idea behind it for when I did the first Strawberry Peppers story, but in hindsight, a lot of things required plenty of suspension of disbelief and it came off as rather messy. Instead, I've decided to drop the Hunky Dory subplot altogether, but the concept will not go unused.

Projection (May 5, 1967)

Side A (20:28)

1. Lucy Leave - 2:53 (1965: Their First Recordings)

2. Arnold Layne - 2:57 (The Early Singles)

3. Double O Bo - 2:56 (1965: Their First Recordings)

4. Remember Me - 2:45 (1965: Their First Recordings)

5. Walk with Me Sydney - 3:11 (1965: Their First Recordings)

6. Butterfly - 2:59 (1965: Their First Recordings)

7. Candy and a Currant Bun - 2:47 (The Early Singles)

Side B (19:56)

8. Interstellar Overdrive - 16:49 (Tonite Lets All Make Love in London)

9. I’m a King Bee - 3:07 (1965: Their First Recordings)

This pre-Piper album, utilizing pre-Floyd recordings, was originally posted as part of chapter three in February 2019, albeit now with the inclusion of "Double O Bo" and "I'm a King Bee" to bring the album up to forty minutes. I moved the latter track to close out side B to mark a juxtaposition between the lengthy jam of "Interstellar Overdrive" and a three-minute cover, akin to "Revolution 9" and "Good Night" on the Beatles' White Album.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (October 27, 1967)

Side A (19:26)

1. See Emily Play - 2:54 (The Early Singles)

2. Lucifer Sam - 3:07

3. Matilda’s Mother - 3:08

4. Flaming - 2:46

5. Pow R. Toc H. - 4:26

6. Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk - 3:05

Side B (20:12)

7. Astronomy Domine - 4:12

8. Remember a Day - 4:33 (A Saucerful of Secrets)

9. The Gnome - 2:13

10. Chapter 24 - 3:42

11. The Scarecrow - 2:11

12. Bike - 3:21

Originally posted as part of chapter four in March 2019, nothing as changed about the track listing, other than reverting the album cover back to the original.

The Massed Gadgets of Hercules (July 12, 1968)

Side A (20:02)

1. Vegetable Man - 2:30 (The Syd Barrett Tapes)

2. Apples and Oranges - 3:08 (The Early Singles)

3. Corporal Clegg - 4:13 (A Saucerful of Secrets)

4. Golden Hair/Paintbox - 5:43 (The Madcap Laughs/The Early Singles; edit)

5. Scream Thy Last Scream - 4:28 (The Syd Barrett Tapes)

Side B (20:22)

6. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun - 5:28 (A Saucerful of Secrets)

7. In the Beechwoods - 4:43 (The Early Years 1965-1972)

8. Julia Dream - 2:35 (The Early Singles)

9. See-Saw - 4:36 (A Saucerful of Secrets)

10. Jugband Blues - 3:00 (A Saucerful of Secrets)

Originally titled Scream Thy Last Scream along with a different album cover and posted as part of chapter 10 in April 2019; once again, the track listing remains unaltered from three years ago. The new album title was the original name for A Saucerful of Secrets. This is Pink Floyd's only album with the lineup of Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Richard Wright and David Gilmour; as mentioned above, Barrett leaves the group just before the album comes out, and they will carry on as a quartet for almost a decade.

The Man and the Journey (June 13, 1969)

Side A (21:32)

1. Daybreak [Grantchester Meadows] - 7:26 (Ummagumma)

2. Work [Sysyphus Part 3] - 1:49 (Ummagumma)

3. Teatime [Sysyphus Part 4] - 6:59 (Ummagumma)

4. Afternoon [Biding My Time] - 5:18 (Relics)

Side B (22:55)

5. Doing It! [The Grand Vizier’s Garden Party Part 2] - 7:06 (Ummagumma)

6. Sleeping [Quicksilver] - 7:13 (More)

7. Nightmare [Cymbaline] - 4:50 (More)

8. Labyrinth [It Would Be So Nice] - 3:46 (The Early Singles)

Side C (20:10)

9. The Beginning [Green is the Color] - 2:58 (More)

10. Beset by Creatures of the Deep [Careful with That Axe, Eugene] - 5:54 (The Early Singles)

11. The Narrow Way [Part 3] - 5:51 (Ummagumma)

12. The Pink Jungle [Main Theme] - 5:27 (More)

Side D (22:14)

13. The Labyrinths of Auximines [Let There Be More Light] - 5:38 (A Saucerful of Secrets)

14. Footsteps/Doors [Embryo] - 4:39 (Works)

15. Behold the Temple of Light [Something Else/Syncopated Pandemonium] - 7:04 (A Saucerful of Secrets)

16. The End of the Beginning [Storm Signal/Celestial Voices] - 4:53 (A Saucerful of Secrets)

Originally posted as part of chapter 12 in May 2019, the original track listing contained a couple of Syd Barrett tracks based upon the assumption that he stayed with the Floyd until the early 1970s. Again, it's described in detail above. Sides A and B are The Man portion of the album and sides C and D make up The Journey; all tracks crossfade into one another to make four continuous sides of music.

Nothing changes about the 1970-1973 albums (Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, Obscured by Clouds, The Dark Side of the Moon), for they are released per OTL.

Paranoid Delusions (September 12, 1975)

Side A (25:36)

1. Four Notes [Parts I-III] - 8:42 (Wish You Were Here; edit)

2. You’ve Got to Be Crazy [Dogs] - 16:54 (Animals; edit)

Side B (26:21)

3. Shine On, You Crazy Diamond [Parts IV-VII] - 9:54 (Wish You Were Here; edit)

4. Raving and Drooling [Sheep] - 10:06 (Animals; edit)

5. The Farewell March [Parts VIII & IX] - 6:21 (Wish You Were Here; edit)

Now here's where things diverge from the original draft of Strawberry Peppers; the follow-up to The Dark Side of the Moon is based around the songs written and performed during 1974. This album was inspired from The Reconstructor's take on the concept as well as ChargedSpaceStation's 1975 and 1976 albums by Projection from the alternate Pink Floyd timeline of the same name. Akin to the latter, I've split the "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" suite into three sections and then inserted the two lengthy Animals tracks in between, using the official studio versions rather than the versions used from The Extraction Tapes. Regarding "Shine On", I've cross-faded parts V and VI into one another with a one minute overlap, meaning that the entire, uninterrupted suite runs at just below 25 minutes. This is quite possibly the most unique take on this approach I think anyone's ever done!

And for those of you who are curious, "Wish You Were Here" (the six-minute version from Experience) is released as a non-album single that November with a shortened version of "Shine On, You Crazy Diamond" as its B-side. The remaining tracks from both Wish You Were Here and Animals do eventually come out as Roger Waters solo tracks.

The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking (January 21, 1977)

Side A (19:37)

1. Apparently They Were Traveling Abroad - 3:12

2. Running Shoes - 4:08

3. Arabs with Knives and West German Skies - 2:17

4. For the First Time Today, Part 2 - 2:02

5. Sexual Revolution - 4:49

6. The Remains of Our Love - 3:09

Side B (22:32)

7. Go Fishing - 6:59

8. For the First Time Today, Part 1 - 1:38

9. Dunroamin, Duncarin, Dunlivin - 3:03

10. The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Part 10 - 4:36

11. Every Stranger’s Eyes - 4:48

12. The Moment of Clarity - 1:28

Originally posted as a part of chapter 51 in June 2020; nothing has changed about the album in terms of track listing, and once again, I envision the concept being developed earlier in 1976. This is also the last album in which Roger Waters is a member, as he quits following the In the Flesh Tour. How does the Floyd survive without him? Well...

Mihalis (November 30, 1979)

Side A (25:35)

1. Mihalis - 5:46 (David Gilmour)

2. Against the Odds - 3:57 (Wet Dream)

3. Cat Cruise - 5:14 (Wet Dream)

4. Siam - 4:48 (Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports)

5. So Far Away - 5:50 (David Gilmour)

Side B (23:01)

6. Mediterranean C - 3:52 (Wet Dream)

7. Do Ya? - 4:36 (Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports)

8. Raise My Rent - 5:33 (David Gilmour)

9. No Way - 5:32 (David Gilmour)

10. Pink’s Song - 3:28 (Wet Dream)

Originally posted as a part of chapter 63 in November 2020; again, this is where things diverge from the original Strawberry Peppers. Both the old track listing and the new one share six songs between them, and this one, along with the next three, take influence from another of ChargedSpaceStation's old Pink Floyd timelines, So You Think You Can Tell..., but each track listing is altered based upon the order of the solo albums from OTL. This is Pink Floyd's first album with Rick Wills on bass guitar and Snowy White on guitar, as well as Robert Wyatt providing drums, percussion and vocals on a few songs, adding more of a jazz-influenced sound to the band.

In addition to the album, Pink Floyd releases a cover of Unicorn's "There's No Way Out of Here" (the band associated with David Gilmour from 1973) as a non-album single in August 1979.

The Wall (Roger Waters and the Bleeding Hearts Band; May 9, 1980)

Side A (23:20)

1. When the Tigers Broke Free - 2:11 (Echoes)

2. In the Flesh (Behind These Cold Eyes) - 3:10

3. The Thin Ice - 2:23

4. Another Brick in the Wall (Reminiscing) - 2:01

5. Goodbye Blue Sky - 2:38

6. The Happiest Days of Our Lives - 1:21

7. Another Brick in the Wall (Education) - 4:02

8. Mother - 5:34

Side B (23:55)

9. Welcome to the Machine - 6:32 (Wish You Were Here)

10. Young Lust - 4:01 (album/single hybrid)

11. One of My Turns - 3:38

12. Don’t Leave Me Now - 4:00

13. What Shall We Do Now? - 3:17 (The Wall Film Soundtrack)

14. Another Brick in the Wall (Drugs) - 1:08

15. Goodbye Cruel World - 1:19

Side C (24:56)

16. Hey You - 4:55

17. Is There Anybody Out There? - 2:46

18. Nobody Home - 3:32

19. Vera - 1:17

20. Bring the Boys Back Home - 1:19

21. The Final Cut - 4:41 (The Final Cut)

22. Comfortably Numb - 6:26

Side D (24:18)

23. Who’s Sorry Now? (The Show Must Go On) - 2:10

24. In the Flesh (Isn’t This Where We Came In?) - 4:16

25. Run Like Hell - 4:24

26. Waiting for the Worms - 3:59

27. Stop - 0:35

28. The Trial by Puppet - 4:58

29. Outside the Wall (It’s Never Too Late) - 3:04

30. The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot (Postlude) - 0:52 (Vera Lynn single)

In general, the revised track listing follows that of what I had originally posted for chapter 63, as well as the original notes for my personal mix of The Wall, give or take a few seconds each song. Among some of the changes I've made include "What Shall We Do Now?" ending sooner, with the TV smashing sounds happening as soon as Roger Waters sings the word "wall", and "Outside the Wall" being a completely different mix; it's now the official album version transitioning into the original demo, giving The Wall a more hopeful yet bittersweet ending. As an addition, I've included a snippet of "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" as a postlude, a reference to the track "Vera" and the film adaptation. Imagine a wholly new recording with the Beach Boys providing vocals, and that's the new conclusion to The Wall.

Fictitious Sports (November 20, 1981)

Side A (22:44)

1. Short and Sweet - 5:30 (David Gilmour)

2. Mad Yannis Dance - 3:19 (Wet Dream)

3. I Was Wrong - 4:12 (Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports)

4. It’s Deafinitely - 4:27 (David Gilmour)

5. Hot River - 5:16 (Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports)

Side B (24:43)

6. Holiday - 6:11 (Wet Dream)

7. I’m a Mineralist - 6:16 (Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports)

8. Summer Elegy - 4:53 (Wet Dream)

9. Waves - 4:19 (Wet Dream)

10. I Can’t Breathe Anymore - 3:04 (David Gilmour)

Originally posted as a part of chapter 70 in April 2021; in a sense, Mihalis and Fictitious Sports could be considered sister albums, almost like Pink Floyd's very own Rubber Soul and Revolver, given that all of the tracks come from the same three OTL albums. Again, some tracks - "Short and Sweet", "It's Deafinitely", "Summer Elegy" and "I'm a Mineralist" - were originally on Mihalis, before being replaced by "Raise My Rent", "No Way" and "Pink's Song", with "Do Ya?" being pulled from the original version of About Face. More on that in a bit, but first...

Spare Bricks (Roger Waters; July 16, 1982)

Side A (24:07)

1. In the Flesh [Movie Version] - 3:04 (The Wall Film Soundtrack)

2. When the Tigers Broke Free [Full Length] - 3:16 (The Final Cut)

3. Have a Cigar - 5:08 (Wish You Were Here)

4. Another Brick in the Wall (Drugs) [Movie Version] - 1:12 (The Wall Film Soundtrack)

5. The Last Few Bricks - 11:27 (The Complete Another Brick in The Wall suite)

Side B (22:48)

6. Three Different Ones - 11:28 (Animals)

7. Bring the Boys Back Home [Movie Version] - 1:19 (The Wall Film Soundtrack)

8. Mother [Movie Version] - 6:35 (The Wall Film Soundtrack)

9. Pigs on the Wing - 3:26 (Animals; 8-track version)

Originally posted as part of chapter 72 in May 2021 sans the Animals tracks; the idea behind Spare Bricks hasn't changed much. The movie versions of "Bring the Boys Back Home" and "Mother" ended up respectively swapping places with "Have a Cigar" and "The Last Few Bricks", and for side B, I included both "Three Different Ones" and the 8-track version of "Pigs on the Wing" to flesh out the track listing a little. As neither of those tracks ended up on Paranoid Delusions, I didn't want to waste them, so they ended up here instead. They fit pretty well lyrically if I do say so myself.

About Face (November 18, 1983)

Side A (24:43)

1. Born Again Cretin - 3:10 (Nothing Can Stop Us)

2. Love on the Air - 4:19 (About Face)

3. Private Person - 3:36 (Identity)

4. Cry from the Street - 5:13 (David Gilmour)

5. Eyes of a Gypsy - 4:13 (Identity)

6. Yolanda - 4:12 (Mid-Eighties)

Side B (23:53)

7. All Lovers are Deranged - 3:14 (About Face)

8. Boo to You Too - 3:26 (Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports)

9. Drop In from the Top - 3:25 (Wet Dream)

10. Cruise - 4:40 (About Face)

11. Amber and the Amberines - 4:11 (Mid-Eighties)

12. Funky Deux - 4:57 (Wet Dream)

Originally posted as a part of chapter 75 in July 2021; the new track listing has differs quite a lot from the original, and makes for quite possibly the album that's the most all over the place for Pink Floyd. I mean, seriously, you've got collaborations with Pete Townshend, Eric Stewart and Dave Harris, as well as Robert Wyatt contributing his only songs (that weren't by Nick Mason and Carla Bley) for the band. I wanted to go for songs that hadn't been released as part of an album by Robert Wyatt as I didn't want to interfere much with his solo discography. I see Robert leaving the band shortly following the album's release, likely as a response to some of the backlash it would've gotten at the time. This is also the last album to contain tracks that originated from the late 70s solo projects (Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports was recorded in 1979).

Nothing has changed about Roger Waters' The Post War Dream; you can read more about it in chapter 77, posted August 2021. After that point, beginning with 1987's Radio K.A.O.S., Waters' solo career carries on per OTL, save for one moment which we'll come to later.

Identity (April 8, 1985)

Side A (21:26)

1. Until We Sleep - 5:15 (About Face)

2. How Do You Do It - 4:45 (Identity)

3. Lie for a Lie - 3:16 (Profiles)

4. Blue Light - 4:35 (About Face)

5. Out of the Blue - 3:35 (About Face)

Side B (24:05)

6. Confusion - 4:17 (Identity)

7. You Know I'm Right - 5:06 (About Face)

8. Let's Get Metaphysical - 4:09 (About Face)

9. Seems We Were Dreaming - 4:57 (Identity)

10. Near the End - 5:36 (About Face)

Originally posted as a part of chapter 78 in August 2021; the track listing mostly follows that of David Gilmour's About Face solo album with the gaps being filled in for those that were included in the fictional About Face ("Murder" is never written as John Lennon didn't die in 1980). I could see this being Pink Floyd's most successful album of the decade, albeit still not without its critics at the time. And this was where Pink Floyd's story more or less concluded in the original Strawberry Peppers, but since then, they've put out three more albums, starting with...

Learning to Fly (September 7, 1987)

Side A (15:37)

1. Signs of Life - 4:24 (A Momentary Lapse of Reason)

2. Learning to Fly - 4:52 (A Momentary Lapse of Reason)

3. Voices - 6:21 (Identity)

Side B (12:46)

4. The Dogs of War - 6:10 (A Momentary Lapse of Reason)

5. Strange Rhythm - 6:36 (Identity)

Side B (16:23)

6. Cuts Like a Diamond - 5:36 (Identity)

7. One Slip - 5:05 (A Momentary Lapse of Reason)

8. On the Turning Away - 5:42 (A Momentary Lapse of Reason)

Side D (14:26)

9. By Touching - 5:39 (Identity)

10. Sorrow - 8:47 (A Momentary Lapse of Reason)

This was perhaps the most difficult alternate album for me to put together for Pink Floyd, as I was unsure as to whether or not I wanted to cut any songs. Regrettably, I ended up having to remove the "Yet Another Movie/Round and Round" and "A New Machine/Terminal Frost" suites; from what I've read online in a few lists ranking every Pink Floyd song, they didn't rate particularly high, which influenced my decision to cut them. However, I could see them as being part of a David Gilmour extended play released around that time so nothing comes off as wasted. I'm also not too pleased with how short side B is; I'd like to include a Nick Mason/Rick Fenn track from that time period to bring it up to snuff. Maybe something from the White of the Eye soundtrack that sounds the most Floydish?

Nothing is different about The Division Bell from 1994, so we'll be doing a time skip to the next decade.

On an Island (March 6, 2006)

1. Castellorizon - 3:54

2. On an Island - 6:47

3. The Blue - 5:26

4. To Kill the Child - 3:31 (To Kill the Child/Leaving Beirut single)

5. Take a Breath - 5:46

6. Red Sky at Night - 2:51

7. This Heaven - 4:24

8. Then I Close My Eyes - 5:26

9. Flickering Flame - 6:45 (Flickering Flame: The Solo Years Volume 1)

10. Smile - 4:03

11. A Pocketful of Stones - 6:17

12. Hello (I Love You) - 6:16 (Soundtrack of The Last Mimzy)

13. Where We Start - 6:45

Total length: 68:11

So here it is, folks; the very last Pink Floyd album for The Second Coming. It also marks Roger Waters' return to the band after being separated from them for over twenty years, barring a brief reunion at Live Aid in 1985. I've looked at any solo recordings Roger did for the first half of the 2000s, and I included them onto the official On an Island track listing based upon a timeline made by Dan Martin had Roger Waters stayed following The Final Cut. In many ways, it's a pretty bittersweet album for Pink Floyd as it's the final time the classic lineup played together prior to Richard Wright's death in 2008. The Endless River becomes a solo album by Wright, completed posthumously by the rest of the band and released in 2009, and then the Floyd breaks up for good.

After that, the timeline for Pink Floyd more or less diverges back to how they were in OTL, albeit the band members are on much friendlier terms with one another, all thanks to Roger quitting in 1977 rather than staying and eventually forcing his concepts upon the others. That, and the others insisting upon compromising with Paranoid Delusions two years earlier. Still, one has to wonder what might have happened had Roger stayed on...