Lost Gems in Lossless Audio

Gerry Rafferty - On A Wing And A Prayer

2011-07-24T16:46:00.003+10:00

Gerry Rafferty is a Scottish singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the folk group The Humblebums along side comedian Billy Connolly, recording two of that group's three albums before Connolly disbanded the duo. Gerry then recorded a well-regarded solo effort Can I have My Money Back? before forming a new group with his song writing partner Joe Egan, Stealer's Wheel, who would have huge success with the single Stuck In The Middle With You. After the demise of Stealers Wheel, Gerry again launched his solo career, releasing the hugely successful City To City album with it's classic hit single Baker Street.

A low-key later release, On A Wing And A Prayer was the last Gerry Rafferty album to chart in the UK. The album is most notable for two songs co-written by Gerry and his brother Jim Rafferty, who also gets credit for the artwork, and another song credited to Jim alone.

Gerry Rafferty passed away on 4 January 2011.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5

Password: None

File Format: FLAC

Artwork:Front cover and insert

Special Notes: None

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Hunters & Collectors - Cordless (Unplugged)

2011-07-24T15:37:00.001+10:00

Hunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, and fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, older brother of Nick Seymour of Crowded House fame. Originally they were influenced by the Kraut-rock genre and the productions of Conny Plank, featuring strong percussive influences, noisy guitar, and driving bass lines. The band's name is taken from a track on the 1975 album Landed by German group Can, and the sound of their self-titled debut has been compared with Remain In Light, the 1980 album by Talking Heads. During the course of their career the band's lyrics became more accessible and their music became more commercial.

Over the course of 2 studio EPs, 3 studio albums and 1 live album, the line-up evolved from a 6-piece band (bass, drums, 2 guitars, keyboards and percussionist) with a separate 6-piece horn section known as the Horns Of Contempt to a 6-piece band (bass, drums, guitar, trumpet, trombone and french horn with the horn players doubling on keyboards as required) by the time of their commercial break-through with their 1986 album Human Frailty. After that album they added a second guitarist and this line-up remained stable until the group disbanded in 1998.

Despite the claim that the recent H&C box set contains everything the band ever recorded, there are a number of notable exceptions that did not make it to the two rarities CDs included in that set.

The CD single release of Holy Grail featured 4 tracks (Where Do You Go?, True Tears Of Joy, When The River Runs Dry and Holy Grail) recorded for radio station Triple M as part of their Cordless series (equivalent to MTV's Unplugged sessions). The recordings of True Tears Of Joy and When The River Runs Dry also appeared on a Triple M Cordless compilation album.

Well, the tracks are almost cordless - clearly someone forgot to tell lead guitarist Baz Palmer he needed to unplug!

Files:

Part 1 Part 2

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: None.

Special Notes: None.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Gerry Rafferty - North And South

2011-07-24T14:58:00.001+10:00

Gerry Rafferty is a Scottish singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the folk group The Humblebums along side comedian Billy Connolly, recording two of that group's three albums before Connolly disbanded the duo. Gerry then recorded a well-regarded solo effort Can I have My Money Back? before forming a new group with his song writing partner Joe Egan, Stealer's Wheel, who would have huge success with the single Stuck In The Middle With You. After the demise of Stealers Wheel, Gerry again launched his solo career, releasing the hugely successful City To City album with it's classic hit single Baker Street.

North And South is a return to form by a revitalised Gerry Rafferty after the 6 year hiatus since releasing Sleepwalking. Producer Hugh Murphy returns and the celtic folk influences are stronger than ever.

Gerry Rafferty passed away on 4 January 2011.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4

Password: None

File Format: FLAC

Artwork:Front cover and insert Booklet Part 1 Booklet Part 2

Special Notes: The artwork files are in PNG format and are larger than normal, but that's the way I found them.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Gerry Rafferty - Sleepwalking

2011-07-24T14:28:00.002+10:00

Gerry Rafferty is a Scottish singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the folk group The Humblebums along side comedian Billy Connolly, recording two of that group's three albums before Connolly disbanded the duo. Gerry then recorded a well-regarded solo effort Can I have My Money Back? before forming a new group with his song writing partner Joe Egan, Stealer's Wheel, who would have huge success with the single Stuck In The Middle With You. After the demise of Stealers Wheel, Gerry again launched his solo career, releasing the hugely successful City To City album with it's classic hit single Baker Street.

Sleepwalking was the last of Gerry's run of albums for EMI. Gerry made a significant change to his sound with this album, using a different producer and featuring synthesisers more prominently than his usual folk instrumentation. At only 37 minutes it is also the shortest of Gerry's albums, which normally run around 50 minutes, and the lyrics reveal his growing disillusion with the music industry and performing. For the first time since the Stealers Wheel days the artwork is not by John "Patrick" Byrne. It would be Gerry's last album for 6 years.

Gerry Rafferty passed away on 4 January 2011.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Front cover and insert

Special Notes: None

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Billy Thorpe - East Of Eden's Gate

2011-01-06T07:31:00.008+11:00

William Richard "Billy" Thorpe AM was an Australian musician who achieved fame as a pop singer in the 1960s and a hard rocking guitarist in the 1970s. And like most Australian pop and rock stars of the 1960s and 1970s, Billy was born in the UK. He then when on to further fame in the US in the 1980s where he is best known for the album Children Of The Sun.

Like it's predecessor Stimulation, East Of Eden's Gate is a straight rock album. However, this album sees Billy in a more cynical mood, and it was after this album that Billy would stop touring and recording rock music for several years to pursue other interests including children's toy development and soundtrack work, before joining Mick Fleetwood in The Zoo for the Shakin' The Cage project. East Of Eden's Gate has never been officially released on CD except for the title track which appears on the Children Of The Sun ... Revisited album, and unlike his other US albums, this album was never officially released in Australia in any form.

Billy Thorpe passed away suddenly on 28 February 2007.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Front cover and insert

Special Notes: As this album was never officially released on CD, this rip comes from a pirate CD edition. Despite this, the quality of the artwork isn't too bad.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Billy Thorpe - Stimulation

2011-01-06T07:18:00.004+11:00

William Richard "Billy" Thorpe AM was an Australian musician who achieved fame as a pop singer in the 1960s and a hard rocking guitarist in the 1970s. And like mosy Australian pop and rock stars of the 1960s and 1970s, Billy was born in the UK. He then when on to further fame in the US in the 1980s where he is best known for the album Children Of The Sun.

After the space rock of the Children Of The Sun suite and it's sequel on the bulk of the 21st Century Man album, Stimulation is a return to a straight rock album. The title track was a minor hit and apparently popular in Europe with dance music DJs. Like 21st Century Man, this album features Aztecs stalwart Gil 'Rathead' Mathews on drums, although Billy also experiemnts with drum machines as well as some Police style white reggae on what was side two of the LP. Stimulation has never been officially released on CD.

Billy Thorpe passed away suddenly on 28 February 2007.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Front cover and insert

Special Notes: As this album was never officially released on CD, this rip comes from a pirate CD edition. This means the quality of the artwork isn't that great.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Billy Thorpe - Million Dollar Bill

2010-12-02T12:55:00.005+11:00

William Richard "Billy" Thorpe AM was an Australian musician who achieved fame as a pop singer in the 1960s and a hard rocking guitarist in the 1970s. And like mosy Australian pop and rock stars of the 1960s and 1970s, Billy was born in the UK. He then when on to further fame in the US in the 1980s where he is best known for the album Children Of The Sun.

While Children Of The Sun is often referred to as Billy's first solo album, Million Dollar Bill was actually the first album credited to just Billy Thorpe, despite including Aztec stalwarts Gil 'Rathead' Matthews and Warren 'Pig' Morgan. In a change of direction from the hard rocking Aztecs sound of the early 1970s, Million Dollar Bill features a strong funk sound throughout, with the exception of what is Billy's second most famous song in Australia, the breezy summer hit It's Almost Summer.

Billy Thorpe passed away suddenly on 28 February 2007.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Full booklet and insert

Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Sky - Mozart (US Title: The Mozart Album)

2010-12-01T07:40:00.006+11:00

Sky was a British-Australian classical-rock fusion band formed in London in 1978 by classical guitarist John Williams, fellow Australian guitarist Kevin Peek, keyboarder Francis Monkman of Curved Air fame, famed session bass player Herbie Flowers and drummer Tristan Fry. Their unique style combined with the virtuosity of the individual members and easy accessibility of the compositions quickly gained them a huge and steady fan base. As a result of the success of the first album, the group went on to release their even more successful double record second album. Those first two albums remain in print. Francis Monkman left after the second album and was replaced by Steve Gray. John Williams departed after sixth album Cadmium.

Seventh studio album (and eighth overall including Sky Five Live) Mozart (or The Mozart Album as it was titled in the US) hardly seems like a Sky album at all. Credited to Sky with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin-In-The-Fields, it's more like the Academy of St Martin-In-The-Fields with (brief) guest appearances from Sky. For me, it's a bit too much like Hooked On Classics with its fairly repetitive percussion. However, apparently it was Sky's biggest seller in the US where as well as the slightly altered title, it also had the alternative cover posted below. As the name suggests, the album consists of arrangements of works by Mozart.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Full booklet and insert from the UK edition
Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Sky - The Great Balloon Race

2010-07-02T18:02:00.004+10:00

Sky was a British-Australian classical-rock fusion band formed in London in 1978 by classical guitarist John Williams, fellow Australian guitarist Kevin Peek, keyboarder Francis Monkman of Curved Air fame, famed session bass player Herbie Flowers and drummer Tristan Fry. Their unique style combined with the virtuosity of the individual members and easy accessibility of the compositions quickly gained them a huge and steady fan base. As a result of the success of the first album, the group went on to release their even more successful double record second album. Those first two albums remain in print. Francis Monkman left after the second album and was replaced by Steve Gray. John Williams departed after sixth album Cadmium.

Sixth studio album (and seventh overall including Sky Five Live) The Great Balloon Race is an album of several firsts for Sky. It is the first album without founder John Williams, the first album to use several additional guest musicians and the first album with vocals (a spoken word piece from guest composer and musician Tony Hymas). It is also the first studio Sky album to substantially recorded in Australia at Kevin Peek's studio in Western Australia and is considered the most jazz-influenced of all their releases. It includes one Kevin Peek co-composition with another of his former Adelaide bandmates Trevor Spencer.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Full booklet and insert
Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Sky - Cadmium

2010-07-02T17:43:00.005+10:00

Sky was a British-Australian classical-rock fusion band formed in London in 1978 by classical guitarist John Williams, fellow Australian guitarist Kevin Peek, keyboarder Francis Monkman of Curved Air fame, famed session bass player Herbie Flowers and drummer Tristan Fry. Their unique style combined with the virtuosity of the individual members and easy accessibility of the compositions quickly gained them a huge and steady fan base. As a result of the success of the first album, the group went on to release their even more successful double record second album. Those first two albums remain in print. Francis Monkman left after the second album and was replaced by Steve Gray.

Fifth studio album (and sixth overall after Sky Five Live) Cadmium is an album of firsts and lasts for Sky. It is the first album to feature especially commissioned compositions by an outside composer with two pieces by Kevin Peek's old Adelaide band mate Alan Tarney, and it is the last album to include John Williams.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Full booklet and insert
Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Eric Clapton - Orchestra Night (DJ Copy)

2009-11-07T19:31:00.004+11:00

A blurb about this album will appear soon.

Recording of the last concert of the 1990 series of shows at the Royal Albert Hall on February 10. Although there are several bootleg versions in circulation, this version claims to be sourced from the original BBC radio broadcast (or "DJ copy") discs.

Files:
Part 1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5 Part6 Part7 Part8 Part9
Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: No

Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading. Please note that there are two discs in this set so there are two disc images and two CUE files.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Fleetwood Mac - 1975 King Biscuit Flower Hour (KBFH) Radio Show (CD Source)

2009-10-12T18:57:00.016+11:00

Fleetwood Mac was originally an English blues band formed in 1967 in London by Peter Green after working with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – although McVie’s spot was temporarily filled on early gigs and the first single by Bob Brunning. After adding talented slide player Jeremy Spencer, the band recorded two no-frills blues albums, Fleetwood Mac and Mr Wonderful. Green soon began to see the limitations of this format and after the addition of third guitarist Danny Kirwan began to move the band towards other styles including blues-rock and hard rock on the third album Then Play On, the recording of which Spencer was largely sidelined from although he remained a member of the band. After Green departed as a result of mental health problems, Spencer and Kirwan lead the band on the next album Kiln House before Spencer departed for religious reasons to be replaced by the band’s first American member, Bob Welch. The band was also officially joined by McVie’s wife Christine, and the trio of Kirwan, Spencer and Mrs McVie would lead the band for two albums, Future Games and Bare Trees, after which Kirwan was asked to leave due to deteriorating mental health related to alcoholism. He was replaced by vocalist Dave Walker who recorded two songs on next album Penguin but was sacked after the following tour due to incompatibility and guitarist Bob Weston who lasted for Penguin and Mystery To Me before being dismissed for allegedly having an affair with Fleetwood’s wife. The quartet of Fleetwood, McVie, McVie and Welch made one further album Heroes Are Hard To Find before Welch departed citing exhaustion. While scouting recording studios in California, Fleetwood was played a track from the virtually unknown self-titled debut by Americans Lindsey Buckingham and Stephanie “Stevie” Nicks. Fleetwood then asked Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac, which he only agreed to do on the basis that his partner Nicks join as well. This created the most successful and most enduring line-up of the band.

The album presented here is a live recording from the 1975 first tour by the new line-up, sourced from the 1990s CD distributed by King Biscuit Flower Hour for broadcast by radio stations in the US. As they had not yet established themselves let alone reached the mega-stardom that came with their next album Rumours, the band plays a mixture of songs from the current album, which was also entitled Fleetwood Mac, and from earlier line-ups, as well as one from the Buckingham Nicks album. The original uploader has edited out the adverts and announcer breaks that were built in to the original CD so that the version offered for download here plays as an uninterrupted live album.

There has long been a bootleg available claiming to be sourced from a KBFH show from this tour crediting the concert as being recorded at New Haven, Connecticut on 11 November 1975, with artwork from that release included in the download. However, the fairly reliable tour schedule hosted here shows the band as playing Austin, Texas in early November and Birmingham, Alabama on 12 November followed by several gigs in North Carolina, so it is highly unlikely they travelled to Connecticut for one show on 11 November. A number of download sites offering versions of this CD release credit the concert as being recorded at the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey on 17 October 1975 (among a range of other dates including May), while the current KBFH website has a concert available for online streaming credited as being recorded at the New Jersey venue on 7 June 1975. Although the concert schedule shows the band played that venue on both of these dates, it would seem that the June date listed on the offical site is most likely to be the correct one.

Files:
Part1 Part2 Part3
Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: No

Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Gerry Rafferty - Snakes And Ladders

2009-10-06T16:03:00.008+11:00

Gerry Rafferty is a Scottish singer and songwriter. He began his career as a member of the folk group The Humblebums along side comedian Billy Connolly, recording two of that group's three albums before Connolly disbanded the duo. Gerry then recorded a well-regarded solo effort Can I have My Money Back? before forming a new group with his song writing partner Joe Egan, Stealer's Wheel, who would have huge success with the single Stuck In The Middle With You. After the demise of Stealers Wheel, Gerry again launched his solo career, releasing the hugely successful City To City album with it's classic hit single Baker Street.

Snakes And Ladders was released in 1980 following City To City in 1978 and Night Owl in 1979, and like those albums was produced by Hugh Murphy and the cover was by again John Byrne. Although not as successful as the previous two albums, Snakes And Ladders still made it to a very respectable No 3 in the UK charts. The distinctive Rafferty style is there, and the lyrics touch on Gerry's growing disenchantment with the pressures of fame. Personally I find the use of spoken word introductions and endings on a couple of tracks are a bit jarring. Gerry would significantly change his sound with a different producer for his next release Sleepwalking in 1982.

Gerry Rafferty passed away on 4 January 2011.

Files:
Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4
Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: Front cover and back insert

Special Notes: None.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, this link was found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Sky - Sky 4 Forthcoming

2009-09-19T14:08:00.011+10:00

Sky was a British-Australian classical-rock fusion band formed in London in 1978 by classical guitarist John Williams, fellow Australian guitarist Kevin Peek, keyboarder Francis Monkman of Curved Air fame, famed session bass player Herbie Flowers and drummer Tristan Fry. Their unique style combined with the virtuosity of the individual members and easy accessibility of the compositions quickly gained them a huge and steady fan base. As a result of the success of the first album, the group went on to release their even more successful double record second album. Those first two albums remain in print. Francis Monkman left after the second album and was replaced by Steve Gray.

This fourth album features no original compositions and was originally intended to be an album of purely Western classical works. However, one of the pieces is a modern Greek composition while another is a Brazilian folk tune, and the last track is a cover of a Hoagy Carmichael tune, which might be a classic but is hardly classical!

The classical works are fairly straightforward renditions as arranged for a five piece band, except for Ride Of The Valkyries, which according to Herbie Flowers was intended as a "musical joke", and meant to sound like a small band struggling to play the tune - maybe they got that right after all.

Files:
Part1 Part2 Part3
Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: Front cover and back insert

Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Sky - Sky 3

2009-07-12T19:50:00.018+10:00

Gerry Rafferty - Big Change In The Weather

2009-07-12T19:43:00.011+10:00

http://www.filefactory.com/file/b49a394/n/GR_BCITW.rar

Password: None.

File Format: FLAC

Artwork: None.

Special Notes: As this track has never been released on CD, this download has been ripped from the original vinyl single.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, this link was found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

John Stewart - Bombs Away Dream Babies Go Hollywood

2009-06-19T07:47:00.013+10:00

John Stewart was an American songwriter and singer recognized for his contributions to the American folk music movement of the early and mid 1960s while a member of The Kingston Trio from 1961 to 1967. He is also known as a successful songwriter having written hits for The Monkees (Daydream Believer) and the Lovin' Spoonful. Although critically well-regarded, most of his solo works were not commercially successful, causing him to be dropped by several major labels.

However, he is probably most widely known for his own hit cross-over to pop music with the single Gold taken from his 1979 album Bombs Away Dream Babies. This album was popular with Fleetwood Mac fans because of the involvement of both Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

Released in 1995 by Polydor in Europe, the actual title of the album presented here is The Best Of John Stewart: Turning Music Into Gold. However, this title is something of a misnomer, as the album is not a comprehensive overview of John's long career. This CD is actually a 2-for-1 compilation of his two most successful recordings.

What is included on this album is:

1. The complete Bombs Away Dream Babies album (Tracks 1 to 10). This album has been released on CD by the reissue label Razor & Tie but that has been long deleted and is highly sought after.

2. The complete 1980 follow-up album Dream Babies Go Hollywood (Tracks 11 to 20). To the best of my knowledge, this album has never been released on CD apart from this compilation.

3. Two bonus songs (Tracks 21 and 22) that were never released anywhere else in any format, one of which was written by John's wife Buffy Ford.

John Stewart passed away on January 19, 2008.

Files:

Files:
Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5
Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: Full booklet and back insert

Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Hunters & Collectors - Live Demons In Amsterdam

2009-05-19T19:52:00.016+10:00

Hunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, and fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, older brother of Nick Seymour of Crowded House fame. Originally they were influenced by the Kraut-rock genre and the productions of Conny Plank, featuring strong percussive influences, noisy guitar, and driving bass lines. The band's name is taken from a track on the 1975 album Landed by German group Can, and the sound of their self-titled debut has been compared with Remain In Light, the 1980 album by Talking Heads. During the course of their career the band's lyrics became more accessible and their music became more commercial.

Over the course of 2 studio EPs, 3 studio albums and 1 live album, the line-up evolved from a 6-piece band (bass, drums, 2 guitars, keyboards and percussionist) with a separate 6-piece horn section known as the Horns Of Contempt to a 6-piece band (bass, drums, guitar, trumpet, trombone and french horn with the horn players doubling on keyboards as required) by the time of their commercial break-through with their 1986 album Human Frailty. After that album they added a second guitarist and this line-up remained stable until the group disbanded in 1998.

Despite the claim that the recent H&C box set contains everything the band ever recorded, there are a number of notable exceptions that did not make it to the two rarities CDs included in that set.

Live Demons In Amsterdam is a 6 track EP (or is that mini-album?) from 1995. It was only available in Australia and was given away free with copies of early H&C albums around the time that the Demon Flower album was released.

The tracks were recorded live at the Melkwej, Amsterdam on 28 April 1994.

Files:

Part 1 Part 2

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: Will be added soon.

Special Notes: None.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

The Who - More Odds And Sods (Updated 19 Sept 2009)

2009-05-16T16:08:00.020+10:00

No, this is not a post of Odds And Sods, the well known compilation of left over tracks by The Who, although the post does contain a number of Who "rarities".

Lately I've been tracking down out-of-print albums that had individual rare tracks among stuff that is more generally available. The idea of this post is to make those individual rare tracks I have found more easily available to others.

Unless otherwise noted the files are in FLAC format. There will be no artwork with any of these files.

The Who - Magic Bus (Long Version)
The long version of Magic Bus was originally included on the Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy compilation. When that album was first released on CD, the long version was not included because it only existed in fake stereo, and no mono or true stereo master could be found. The long version was included on the Story Of The Who CD and more recently on the 2007 Japanese release of Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy, which is where this download was sourced.

File: http://rapidshare.com/files/236537627/MagicBusLong.rar

The Who - Eyesight To The Blind (Alternative MFSL Version)
Eyesight To The Blind is a cover version of a Sonny Boy Williamson II song recorded by The Who for their 1969 album Tommy, where it is also referred to as The Hawker after the character from the story line the song portrays in that context. For some reason, certain pressings of the original vinyl album featured an alternative recording of this particular song with Roger Daltrey delivering a noticeably different vocal performance.

When the album was released on CD by Master Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL), there were two significant differences to other editions. First, the songs that cross fade into each other were joined as one track, meaning the MFSL edition has 21 tracks rather than the usual 24 tracks of other editions, and second, the MFSL edition also featured the alternative version of Eyesight To The Blind.

Some sources claim the MFSL is a completely different mix of the album, or that other tracks are alternative versions, but more reliable sources such as Whitefang's discography of The Who's recordings indicate that this is the actual only variation.

Strangely, this alternative version was not included on the disc of bonus material from the 2003 Deluxe edition of Tommy.

File: http://rapidshare.com/files/233461039/EyesightMFSL.rar

The Who - Guitar And Pen (Alternative MFSL Version)
This alternative take of Guitar And Pen was a bonus track on the Master Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) edition of The Who's 1978 album Who Are You. It was not included among the bonus tracks from the 1996 re-mixed edition of the album which did include an alternative mix of the originally released version.

File: http://rapidshare.com/files/233461041/GuitarPenMFSL.rar

The Who - Leaving Here (Alternative Who's Missing Version)
The recent Deluxe Edition of My Generation included a bonus disc of non-album tracks tracks recorded around the same era, many of which have been already included on other compilations. However, the version of Leaving Here on the My Generation bonus disc was a different take to the one previously available on Who's Missing, which is currently out of print.

File: http://rapidshare.com/files/252390305/Who_LH.rar

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs - Pick Me Up & Play Me Loud

2008-11-27T20:05:00.015+11:00

William Richard "Billy" Thorpe AM was an Australian musician who achieved fame as a pop singer in the 1960s and a hard rocking guitarist in the 1970s. And like mosy Australian pop and rock stars of the 1960s and 1970s, Billy was born in the UK. He then when on to further fame in the US in the 1980s where he is best known for the album Children Of The Sun.

Pick Me Up And Play Me Loud was Billy's last Australian album before heading to the US, and was a return to the Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs name after the previous album Million Dollar Bill was credited to Billy Thorpe despite including Aztec stalwarts Gil 'Rathead' Matthews and Warren 'Pig' Morgan. While it retains a touch of the funk sound of that previous album, Pick Me Up And Play Me Loud is features more straightforward rockers, including a remake of Billy's signature tune Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy), the original version having been a non-album single.

Billy Thorpe passed away suddenly on 28 February 2007.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Full booklet and insert

Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

London Symphony Orchestra & Guests - Tommy

2008-11-09T20:31:00.011+11:00

A blurb about this album will appear soon.

Files:

This album was reissued by Repertoire Records on 20 April 2009.

Links will be restored if the reissue CD goes out of print.

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: Yes - full booklet.

Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Power Of Zeus - The Gospel According To Zeus

2008-10-23T20:26:00.012+11:00

A blurb about the album will appear here soon.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Front cover and insert

Special Notes: This is the pirate Buy Or Die release - the back insert isn't all that good.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Snowy White - Goldtop (Correct Track List)

2008-10-18T20:26:00.029+11:00

UPDATED - NEW LINKS - CORRECT TRACK LIST
Terence "Snowy" White is an English blues and rock guitarist. Although he has released numerous recordings of his own and recorded two albums as a member of Thin Lizzy, he is most widely known for his association with Pink Floyd.

The title of this compilation highlighting his work from 1974 to 1994 comes from Snowy's signature guitar - the Gibson Les Paul Goldtop he purchased in 1966. While some of the tracks featured here - particularly his solo hit Bird Of Paradise - may be available on other Snowy White compilations, much of his work is out of print and this CD included seven tracks which had not previously been released - some of which have not been released since.

The Pink Floyd association began when he was asked to join them playing guitar and bass on the 1977 In The Flesh tour of North America in support of the Animals album. His audition consisted of recording a solo to bridge Pigs On The Wing (Part I) and Pigs On The Wing (Part II), creating one of the better known Pink Floyd rarities as this extended version was only ever released on the 8-track cartridge version of Animals before being included on this CD. Snowy went on to appear in the live performances of The Wall as part of The Surrogate Band who opened the show and supplemented the members of Pink Floyd during the show. He has since regularly toured with Roger Waters.

The association with Pink Floyd continues on this compilation with the inclusion of Drop In From The Top from Rick Wright's 1978 solo album Wet Dream (featured in full elsewhere on this blog) and a guest appearance by David Gilmour on the track Love, Pain And Sorrow.

Fans of Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green can find rare rehearsal versions of two tracks from his In The Skies album - the title track and Slabo Day - with Snowy taking the lead. (For more Peter Green rarities, there's a great blog featuring Fleetwood Mac solo work in the links section.)

The rare material also includes two tracks backing Al Stewart during a live concert broadcast on US radio.

Files:
Part1 Part2 Part3 Part4 Part5
Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork: Two versions of the front cover but no back insert.

Special Notes: These new links point to an upload with the correct track listing with Highway To The Sun at track 1.

The original links posted pointed to an upload that included the song Love, Pain And Sorrow twice - at track 1 and at track 8. This meant the song that should have been at track 1, Highway To The Sun featuring Chris Rea, was not included. This seems to be a common configuration of this album around the internet - when I looked at the track list on my CD ripping software, the on-line database recognised it including the duplication of this track.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

Richard Wright - Wet Dream

2008-10-16T21:02:00.015+11:00

Richard "Rick" Wright was a founding member and the keyboard player of Pink Floyd. Wet Dream was the first of his three solo albums and was recorded in 1978 between the Pink Floyd albums Animals and The Wall during the recording of which Rick was ousted from the band.

As well as Rick's distinctive piano and synth playing, Wet Dream features guitar work from everyone's favourite David Gilmour substitute Terence "Snowy" White who will feature in another post on this blog as well as saxophone from Mel Collins. It is largely instrumental with a few tracks featuring Rick's vocals.

The album has enough of a Pink Floyd feel to satisfy fans and demonstrates how much Rick contributed to the classic Pink Floyd sound. Personally, I like this album more than David Gilmour's first solo effort recorded just before this at the same studio.

Richard Wright passed away on 15 September 2008.

Files: Part1 Part2 Part3

Password: None

File Format: APE

Artwork:Front cover and insert
Special Notes: None. The album is ready to burn after downloading.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: Like other links on this site, these links were found through extensive internet searches, sometimes on some fairly dodgy sites. Occasionally the links are found on forums that allow the posting of currently in-print albums, which I do not condone.

PAQ

2008-10-10T19:48:00.027+11:00

The purpose of this posting is to present a PAQ (or Potentially Asked Questions) list that relates to the blog and it's contents.

1. Why have you called this list PAQ and not FAQ?

As you may know, FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. This phrase has always annoyed me. How do they know that the questions are frequently asked? How do they know that the questions are asked at all?

I decided to call my list PAQ or Potentially Asked Questions. It could also stand for Precognitively Answered Questions. These are questions I think people might ask or that they might like to know about the blog.

Just be glad I didn't call it POQ.

2. Why lossless audio and not MP3s as the files are so much bigger?

I agree that MP3s can sound just fine when listening on your computer speakers or even on a generic MP3 player. However, I like to burn my music files to CD so I can play them in the car or occasionally even my home stereo system when I'm allowed.

I find that even CDs created from high bit-rate MP3s still sound a bit dull to my ears. I have also had a lot of trouble with skips, drop-outs and even electronic noise and distortion when converting some MP3s to CD.

For those reasons, I have decided to track down and collect lossless audio files wherever possible. And having found them, I want to share them and make them easier for others to find.

3. Why direct links to files and not torrents?

Despite the implication of the name "torrent", it can be a very slow way to download files. You need to rely on "seeders" - other users making the files available and having their computers on. Some of the albums I am after came up on lots of torrent searches, but all the activity downloading the albums could be over a year ago and there are no current seeders. Of course, I could ask someone to re-seed, but it seems to be much easier to find direct links. And with torrents you are expected to leave your computer on and make the files available to other downloaders.

And that's another problem for me - although the theory is that because everyone is accessing small parts of the files from different machines the process is safe, the reality is you are allowing other people to have access to your computer.

Does that mean I'll never download torrents? No, if a torrent is the only way I can get an album I'm after then I'll download it that way.

4. How do you select the albums you list?

Quite simply, they are albums that were of interest to me, and having found them on various - sometimes dodgy - sites after extensive searching I thought I would make them easier for others to find.

5. Are there any albums you are after?

Currently I am looking for the following albums. If you can point me to lossless CD rips of any of these it would be greatly appreciated.

Sky - Five Live (Preferably the full 2 CD version - I don't want to miss out on The Animals)

Kevin Peek with Rick Wakeman and Jeff Wayne - Beyond The Planets

A Quick Guide to Burning Lossless Audio Files to CD Using Nero

2008-10-10T15:18:00.015+11:00

This blog provides links to out-of-print albums converted into lossless audio flies, usually in either Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Monkey’s Audio (APE) or WavPack (WV)formats and then further archived into multi-part WinRAR (RAR) files.

The purpose of this guide is to demonstrate how easy it is to download these files and then use Nero to create standard Audio CDs for your listening pleasure with just a little preparation.

There is other free software available that will burn these files to CD and supposedly do it better, but Nero is what comes bundled with most CD burners and like me most casual users are happy to stick with Nero.

If you are experienced in creating Audio CDs then some of these steps will be obvious to you, but I have written this guide from the perspective of a relatively new user. Hopefully it will help people avoid some of the frustrations I experienced the first time I tackled this process.

Setup:

If you don’t have them already, you will need the following additional software on your computer:

WinRAR – an archive program similar to WinZip that can be downloaded for free from here.

WinRAR will open ZIP files, but WinZip will not open RAR files (as far as I know).

Audio Codecs – files that tell Nero how to handle FLAC and APE files that can be downloaded for free from here and the file to handle WV (WavPack) can be downloaded from here.

Once downloaded, the Codecs need to be placed in the “Audio Plugins” folder for your version of Nero.

For Nero 5, the path is Program Files > Ahead > Shared > AudioPlugins

For Nero 6 & 7, the path is Program Files > Common Files > Ahead > AudioPlugins

Creating your CD:

1. Because of their size, the albums will have been archived into multi-part WinRAR (RAR) files. The first step is to download ALL the parts of the file by pasting the links in the post into your browser in turn and then following the download instructions.

2. After you have downloaded all parts of the file to your hard drive, double-click on Part 1 with WinRAR to extract the contents. This process should automatically extract the contents of all the parts at once.

3. You should now have on your hard drive a folder that contains the artwork for the album (when it is available) and 2 other files:

The first will be a large file with the extension *.flac or *.ape or *.wv. This is the album in lossless audio as one single continuous file. If you burn this file to a disc it will be exactly that – the album in a lossless audio format as one single continuous file, and not a standard Audio CD.

The second will be a smaller file with the extension *.cue. This is the CUE file or Cue Sheet – a text file that contains information about the album, usually the name of the performer, the title of the album and the title of the individual tracks. Most importantly, it will contain the times where the individual tracks start and finish, and where the gaps between songs are.

It is the CUE file you use to create a standard Audio CD in Nero.

4. Open Nero and select the “Burn Image” option. Use the “Add” function to select the CUE file and then select “Burn”. If everything has been set up correctly you will soon have a great sounding Audio CD with individual tracks.

Note:

In some cases, you may need to edit the CUE file - for example if the file extension listed in the CUE file doesn’t match the actual file or if the CUE file contains a file path for the FLAC/APE file.

To view the contents of the CUE file, select the file with a right-click of the mouse, then select "Open With" and choose Notepad.

Example 1 - if the file is called "album.flac" but the CUE file lists it as "album.wav" you will need to edit the CUE file (or alternatively convert the file from FLAC format to WAV format).

Example 2 - if the CUE file lists a file path something like "C:\folder\album.ape" you need to remove the "C:\folder\" part.

In both examples, simply right-click on the CUE file and then open it using Notepad or Wordpad and make the appropriate edits then save the changes.