Covered: Neil Young: Alternates, Volume 1: 1966-2001 (A Fabio from Rio Guest Post)

Back in March 2026, I posted no less than ten volumes of the "Covered" series for Neil Young. Surely, you'd think, that's enough. Ten volumes is more than any of the other dozens of artists in the "Covered" series. But no, there's more! In making those ten albums, guest posted Fabio from Rio did most of the hard work, collecting hundreds of different cover versions, and presenting them to me in an organized fashion. But I did most of the selecting of which songs made the final cut. This, by contrast, represents Fabio's choices for the best of the rest. I had a little say, but just a song or two here and there where I suggested a different version or something like that. 

Fabio found enough for four volumes of "Covered" alternates. Here's the first one. Across these four volumes, about half the songs are different versions of songs that were included on the previously posted ten Neil Young "Covered" volumes. But the other half are songs that didn't feature on those volumes at all.

Fabio has written some liner notes, which are included in the download zip. But since these volumes are more like an addendum to those earlier ten volumes, he wrote just one essay for all four volumes, without song-by-song explanations.

For some musical acts in the "Covered" series, they had a lot of hits, and the choices of which covers to pick is pretty straight forward - the hit versions. But with Neil Young, it was much more subjective, since there have been tons of covers, but very few hits. So one person's trash is another person's treasure. You may well like some of these better. 

This album is an hour and two minutes long.

01 Flying on the Ground Is Wrong (Guess Who)
02 Down to the Wire (Yellow Hand)
03 Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing (Carpenters)
04 Down by the River (Buddy Miles)
05 Til the Morning Comes (Francoise Hardy)
06 I Believe in You (Linda Ronstadt)
07 Hold Back the Tears (Jessi Colter)
08 Revolution Blues (Band of Blacky Ranchette)
09 Already One (Aaron Springfield)
10 Human Highway (Jim Witter & Cassandra Vasik)
11 Borrowed Tune (Marc Jordan)
12 Pushed It Over the End (Rich Hand)
13 Big Time (Black Crowes)
14 The Old Laughing Lady (Stereophonics)
15 Motion Pictures (Mercury Rev)
16 Mellow My Mind (Hederos & Hellberg)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/kra1ih4k

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/yfTyPoRmZ7KvcBd/file

The cover image is from 1969 or 1970. It was taken from a black and white photo of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.

Elliott Smith - Umbra Penumbra, Portland, OR, 9-17-1994

Here's something a bit unusual from singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. This is the earliest known acoustic concert by him, all the way back in 1994. 

From 1990 until 1996, Smith was a member of the rock band Heatmiser. While still in that band, he began a solo career in 1994. He released his first solo album, "Roman Candle," in July 1994. The album was a fluke. He had recorded it in a friend's basement, and sent the songs to a record company in hopes of getting a record deal to release a solo single. But the company liked his demos enough to want to release all of them as an album. Smith later said, "I thought my head would be chopped off immediately when it came out because at the time it was so opposite to the grunge thing that was popular ... The thing is that album was really well received, which was a total shock, and it immediately eclipsed [Heatmiser], unfortunately." 

Smith performed over a dozen solo concerts on the West Coast promoting the album. This one is the best sounding recording from that tour, by far. I had this as a bootleg for ages. But in 2020, it was released as a bonus disc for a deluxe edition of his 1995 album "Elliott Smith." Normally I don't released officially released stuff, but I'm making an exception here because I think this concert doesn't get enough attention. One can practically put it with his studio albums due to the sound quality, as well as the song selection. He performed ten songs, but only three of them were from the "Roman Candle" album (tracks 6, 9, and 10). Most of the others were unreleased at the time. One of those, "Alphabet Town," would be released on Smith's 1995 self-titled album.

The last song, "Half Right," was one that would be released on the last Heatmiser album, "Mic City Sons," released in 1996. The other main singer-songwriter in that band was Neil Gust. He joined Smith to sing the song here. The song though was written by Smith. Smith's solo version of it eventually was released on the archival album "New Moon."

This album is 34 minutes long. 

01 talk (Elliott Smith)
02 Some Song (Elliott Smith)
03 Alphabet Town (Elliott Smith)
04 Whatever [Folk Song in C] (Elliott Smith)
05 talk (Elliott Smith)
06 No Name No. 4 (Elliott Smith)
07 Big Decision (Elliott Smith)
08 talk (Elliott Smith)
09 Condor Ave (Elliott Smith)
10 No Name No. 1 (Elliott Smith)
11 talk (Elliott Smith)
12 No Confidence Man (Elliott Smith)
13 talk (Elliott Smith)
14 Crazy Fucker (Elliott Smith)
15 talk (Elliott Smith)
16 Half Right (Elliott Smith with Neil Gust)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Gr3DMRQc

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/Hxn19sSJEVvr8To/file

The cover photo is from 1994. But I don't know the details. 

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 7: 1987-2012 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I'm back from my two week vacation from Peru. It got off to a rough start due to the plane flight there, which I posted about. But everything else since then went great, with no more problems. :) I even had good weather the whole time, despite it being the rainy season there.

Here's the last album in a series that contains all the songs written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick. Though note that there's a bonus album of sorts still to come that will be explained later.

As I mentioned in Volume 6, the Bacharach-David songwriting partnership broke up around 1973, and they didn't collaborate for a long time after that. The second half of Volume 6 consisted entirely of songs written by Bacharach and another successful songwriter, Carole Bayer Sager. (In fact, Bacharach and Sager were married for a few years around this time). 

The Bacharach and Sager collaboration continued for a little while. The first songs are from a 1987, and are all co-written by those two. One song, "Love Power," was a hit. After that, there are a bunch of songs from 1989 to 2011, one song per year with many years skipped. "Sunny Weather Lover" from 1993 is a key song here, because it's the first song Bacharach and David wrote together since about 1972. However, that was a rare collaboration. Their songwriting partnership didn't reignite after that. (They also co-wrote two songs for the 2000 movie "Isn't She Great," but Warwick didn't sing them.) Furthermore, both of them were simply getting older and didn't write songs nearly as often as they used to. 

So the rest of the songs were written by Bacharach with others or David with others. For instance, "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" was a Number One hit in the U.S. for Christopher Cross in 1981, and was written by Bacharach with Sager and two others. Track 101 is an unreleased live version by Warwick recorded in 2005.

The last four songs are from a 2012 album called "Now." It was billed as a celebration of Bacharach and David songs. However, it mostly consisted of rerecordings of old hits. The four new songs, presented here, were written by either Bacharach with others or David with others. For instance, "99 Miles from L.A." was written by David with Albert Hammond, and was a hit for Hammond in 1975. 

Hal David died in 2012, so that ended the chance for any more songs written by both of them. Bacharach died in 2023.

While I was on vacation, a commenter noted that a song, "(Theme From) The Valley of the Dolls" was included on Volume 4 of this series, despite neither Bacharach nor David being involved in writing it. Now that I'm back home, I was able to repost that album with that song removed. That also means that the numbering of all the songs after that has been fixed as well. So you might want to redownload Volumes 4, 5, and 6 if you're a stickler about such things. Also, since I had complaints about the cover art for Volume 1, I've posted an alternate version of the cover at the bottom of my write-up for that album that uses the original black and white photo, in case anyone wants that.

Thanks again to Mike Solof for putting this together.   

This album is one hour long. 

092 Take Good Care of You and Me (Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne)
093 Love Power (Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne)
094 In a World Such as This (Dionne Warwick)
095 Heartbreak of Love (Dionne Warwick & June Pointer)
096 On My Own (Dionne Warwick)
097 Sunny Weather Lover (Dionne Warwick)
098 Captives of the Heart (Dionne Warwick)
099 If I Want To (Dionne Warwick)
100 On My Way (Dionne Warwick)
101 Arthur's Theme [Best That You Can Do] (Dionne Warwick)
102 Keep Me in Mind (Dionne Warwick)
103 99 Miles from L.A. (Dionne Warwick)
104 Is There Anybody Out There (Dionne Warwick)
105 It Was Almost like a Song (Dionne Warwick)
106 Love Is Still the Answer (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ieF2gBUW

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/DKTsSUgj9dgKC43/file

The cover photo shows her in concert in an unknown location, in February 1989.

Various Artists - Covered: Neil Young, Volume 2: 1990-1995

Phew! I had a hell of an adventure getting to Peru yesterday. Perhaps I’ll vent and explain what happened when I have some time. But I’m here and things are back on track, which is what matters. Anyway, here’s some more Neil Young. I’ll try to post another Dionne Warwick album next, when I have a chance.

The rest of the notes here are written by Fabio from Rio. Take it away Fabio:

By the early 1990s, Neil Young was experiencing a somewhat surprising cultural resurgence. After a creatively uneven decade in the eighties, he had his own creative revival starting at the end of that decade. Around the same time, a new generation of alternative rock musicians began openly citing him as a major influence. Bands associated with the emerging grunge and indie scenes embraced both the raw guitar power of albums like "Rust Never Sleeps" and the emotional directness of his acoustic work. Young himself responded by reconnecting with heavier sounds and younger audiences, eventually earning the affectionate nickname "the Godfather of Grunge." The covers collected in this volume reflect that moment of rediscovery, when artists from alternative rock, indie folk and roots music revisited Young's catalog and helped introduce it to a new generation of listeners.

--- 

Note that Fabio wrote individual paragraphs about all the songs in this volume. To see that, please look at the Word file added to the download zip file. Thanks again to Fabio for his help putting these albums together. 

This album is an hour and five minutes long.  

01 Powderfinger (Cowboy Junkies)
02 Cortez the Killer (Matthew Sweet & the Indigo Girls)
03 Interstate (Sand Rubies)
04 Heart of Gold (Lawrence Gowan)
05 Don’t Let It Bring You Down (Amanda Marshall)
06 Tell Me Why (Hemingway Corner)
07 Harvest (Jeff Healey Band)
08 Pardon My Heart (Malcolm Burn)
09 Barefoot Floors (Nicolette Larson)
10 Fuckin' Up (Pearl Jam)
11 Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing (Breits)
12 Tired Eyes (Cowboy Junkies)
13 Down by the River (Indigo Girls)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/CP1Df3ec

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/LOfGFvSDjqXA0te/file

The cover photo dates from 1967. I used the Krea AI program to improve some details. Note that when I first posted this album, I used a cover image that got some complaints. I decided I could do better, and found a different photo. I replaced it about two weeks later. 

Various Artists - Covered: Billy Steinberg & Tom Kelly: 1980-2019

I don't keep a close eye on music news, but yesterday I happened to hear that songwriter Billy Steinberg died. Specifically, he died on February 16, 2026, at the age of 75. That probably doesn't mean anything to most people, because I don't think he's very well known as far as songwriters go. But it meant something to me, because I had already made a "Covered" album of the songs he and songwriting partner Tom Kelly made. (It's one of several dozen "Covered" albums I've made but haven't gotten around to posting yet.) Due to his death, I decided to post this sooner rather than later.

Steinberg and Kelly wrote a lot of hits from the 1980s to the 2000s that you probably know without ever knowing who wrote them. Even though they were male, somehow they had the most success with females covering their songs. They had five Number One hits in the U.S., all sung by women: "Like a Virgin" by Madonna (1984), "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (1986), "Eternal Flame" (co-written with Susanna Hoffs and recorded by the Bangles in 1989), "So Emotional" by Whitney Houston (1987), and "Alone" by Heart (1987).

Billy Steinberg was born in Fresno, California, though his family moved to Palm Springs when he was a teenager. After graduating from college, he formed a band called Billy Thermal. However, they didn't have any success, and one album they recorded around 1980 wasn't released until decades later, after he made a name for himself as a songwriter. He had his first songwriting success with "How Do I Make You," which was a hit for Linda Ronstadt in 1980.  

Tom Kelly was born in a small town in Illinois in 1952. He went to a college in that state, but dropped out to pursue a music career. He was a backing musician for Dan Fogelberg in 1976 and 1977. He also did a lot of session work, for instance singing backing vocals on Toto albums. He had his first songwriting success with "Fire and Ice," a minor hit for Pat Benatar in 1981.

Both Steinberg and Kelly independently had songs on Benatar's 1981 album, "Precious Time." They met at a party that year, and soon began writing together. Previously, both of them had written lyrics and music. But they soon fell into a pattern where Steinberg generally wrote the lyrics while Kelly wrote the music. Their really big break as a songwriting team was "Like a Virgin" by Madonna. After that, they were in high demand. What's on this album is just the cream of the crop of the many dozens of songs they wrote for well-known musical acts.

Their partnership continued very fruitfully until the mid-1990s. At that point, Kelly tired of songwriting and dropped out of the music business. He'd already had enough success to live on the royalties he'd made. However, Steinberg kept going with new songwriting partners. From the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, he mostly wrote with Rick Newels, who already was a successful professional songwriter. From the mid-2000s to about the mid-2010s, he mostly wrote with Josh Alexander.

Steinberg had a lot of songwriting success after he stopped working with Kelly. But I listened to his big hits and, to be honest, didn't like them very much after about 2000. They suffer the same problems as most popular pop music since about 2000: formulaic and forgettable. So I generally didn't include most of those. To be honest, even a lot of their earlier stuff was formulaic and forgettable, but sometimes, in fact many times, they had some real winners.

But in case you're curious, Steinberg's biggest later hits include "I Turn to You" by Melanie C (2000), "Love Doesn't Have to Hurt" by Atomic Kitten (2003), "Too Little Too Late" by JoJo (2006), "Don't Hold Your Breath" by Nicole Scherzinger (2011), and "Give Your Heart a Break" by Demi Lovato (2012). After that, the hits petered out, although some older songs keep getting rerecorded and making the charts again, especially "Alone" and "I Drove All Night." For instance, Alyssa Reid went all the way to Number Two in the British charts with "Alone" in 2012, although it was titled "Alone Again" and had the now practically obligatory rap section.

I'm not a fan of Whitney Houston's version of "So Emotional." But since it was a massive Number One hit, I wanted to include it in some form. I found a radically different cover version by Jon McLaughlin from 2019 that I like much better, so I used that instead. Had it not been for that song, this album would end in 2000.

Here are their Wikipedia pages: 

Billy Steinberg - Wikipedia

Tom Kelly (musician) - Wikipedia  

That album is an hour and ten minutes long. 

01 How Do I Make You (Linda Ronstadt)
02 Fire and Ice (Pat Benatar)
03 Like a Virgin (Madonna)
04 Sex as a Weapon (Pat Benatar)
05 True Colors (Cyndi Lauper)
06 Eternal Flame (Bangles)
07 Alone (Heart)
08 In Your Room (Bangles)
09 I Touch Myself (Divinyls)
10 My Side of the Bed (Susanna Hoffs)
11 I Drove All Night (Roy Orbison)
12 Night in My Veins (Pretenders)
13 Lucky Love [Acoustic Version] (Ace of Base)
14 I'll Stand by You (Pretenders)
15 Falling into You (Celine Dion)
16 California (Belinda Carlisle)
17 One and One (Edyta Gorniak)
18 Everytime It Rains (Ace of Base)
19 The Consequences of Falling (k.d. lang)
20 So Emotional (Jon McLaughlin)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/d2ZX8iYV

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/mbkA9S64SvICLiu/file

I don't know the details of the cover photo. But that's Tom Kelly on the left and Billy Steinberg on the right. There are patches of white in Steinberg's hair, which went completely white in later photos of him. 

Vince Gill - Royal Albert Hall, London, Britain, 12-5-1994

Here's a concert by country star Vince Gill. 

I have to admit I'm not familiar with Gill's music, and hearing this didn't do much for me. However, I recently got some music from musical friend Progsprog, and I saw he had this concert. I looked it up, and while it was traded some years ago, it seems to no longer be publicly available. So I figure it's kind of up to me to put this back into circulation.

This is a fine concert, if you're into Gill's music. Progsprog has it listed as a BBC concert, which is what got my attention at first. However, after doing some digging, I found evidence it was a radio broadcast, but I couldn't confirm specifically if it was a BBC one, so I decided to err on the side of caution and not mention the BBC part. If anyone can help confirm or refute that, I'd appreciate it. I can always change the title and cover as more information comes in. 

Since I don't know much about Gill, here's some excerpts from his Wikipedia entry:

Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. ... Gill's commercial peak came in the first half of the 1990s, starting with his breakthrough album When I Call Your Name. He has made 65 entries on the Billboard country music charts, including four solo number one hits: "I Still Believe in You", "Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away", "One More Last Chance", and "Tryin' to Get Over You", all between 1992 and 1994. ... All of Gill's albums released in the 1990s were certified platinum or higher, with "I Still Believe in You" (1992) his highest, at quintuple-platinum. Gill has won 22 Grammy Awards, the most among solo male country music artists. ... Gill is known for his songwriting, his tenor singing voice, and his lead guitar work, with many critics noting his proficiency in both emotional ballads and up tempo material. He plays guitar, mandolin, banjo, and Dobro.

And here's the link to the full entry:

Vince Gill - Wikipedia 

I would add to that that he was a member of the Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and has been a member of the Eagles since 2017. He also is married to Christian singer Amy Grant.

Thanks again to Progsprog for sharing this. 

This album is an hour and 41 minutes long. 

01 Oklahoma Borderline (Vince Gill)
02 talk (Vince Gill)
03 Pocket Full of Gold (Vince Gill)
04 talk (Vince Gill)
05 Ridin' the Rodeo (Vince Gill)
06 talk (Vince Gill)
07 Look at Us (Vince Gill)
08 Take Your Memory When You Go (Vince Gill)
09 talk (Vince Gill)
10 Tryin' to Get Over You (Vince Gill)
11 Rita Ballou (Vince Gill)
12 talk (Vince Gill)
13 Whenever You Come Around (Vince Gill)
14 talk (Vince Gill)
15 What Do Cowgirls Do (Vince Gill)
16 The Heart Won't Lie (Vince Gill with Dawn Sears)
17 One More Last Chance (Vince Gill)
18 Don't Let Our Love Start Slippin' Away (Vince Gill)
19 Nothing like a Woman (Vince Gill)
20 talk (Vince Gill)
21 Liza Jane (Vince Gill)
22 When I Call Your Name (Vince Gill)
23 South Side of Dixie (Vince Gill)
24 talk (Vince Gill)
25 I Still Believe in You (Vince Gill)
26 talk (Vince Gill)
27 Oklahoma Swing (Vince Gill)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/hiLbgz3U

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/4D7du8y3dVcglII/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

Kevin Gilbert - Covers (1986-1996) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the third and last album that make up guest poster Mike Solof's collections of his favorite songs from the music career of Kevin Gilbert. The first two albums focused on original songs, but this one consists entirely of cover versions.

As I mentioned in my write-up for the first album in this series, Gilbert often mixed a catchy pop sensibility in his songs with the musical complexity of prog rock. As a result, he especially liked prog rock type bands that also had some pop appeal. Probably his favorite band of all was Genesis. In fact, he was such a Genesis fan that he once performed the entirety of the Genesis double album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" in concert! This album contains three Genesis covers, as well as some other prog rock songs that are almost never covered by anyone, such as "Siberian Khatru" by Yes and "Karn Evil 9" by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. And yet we can see Gilbert's pop side as well, with covers of songs like "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band and "If I Fell" by the Beatles. Definitely interesting stuff here.

As usual, Mike has included a PDF in the download zip that has more information and photos and such. But note that it's the same PDF as in the other two Kevin Gilbert albums he put together. 

This album is 60 minutes long.

Here's a list of the original musical acts for each of the songs here: 

01 Suite- Judy Blue Eyes - Crosby, Stills and Nash
02 Firth of Fifth - Genesis
03 The Joker - Steve Miller Band
04 Rendezvous 602 - U.K.
05 Back in NYC - Genesis
06 Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
07 Rocket Man - Elton John (with Pink Floyd intro)
08 Siberian Khatru - Yes
09 If I Fell - Beatles
10 Karn Evil 9 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
11 The Musical Box - Genesis 

And here's the usual song list: 

01 Suite- Judy Blue Eyes (Toy Matinee)
02 Firth of Fifth (Kevin Gilbert & Mickey Sorey)
03 The Joker (Kevin Gilbert)
04 UK Suite [Rendezvous 6-02 - Danger Money - Caesar's Palace Blues] (Kevin Gilbert & Mickey Sorey)
05 Back in N.Y.C. (Kevin Gilbert)
06 Kashmir (Kevin Gilbert)
07 Rocket Man (Toy Matinee)
08 Siberian Khatru (Kevin Gilbert)
09 If I Fell (Toy Matinee)
10 Karn Evil 9 (Kevin Gilbert)
11 The Musical Box (Giraffe)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/mvhs6yEL

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/o1G0R8xtPXiJqQL/file

I believe I found the cover image in an Instagram post. It had some distracting things on it, like some text added on top. But I wiped that out using Photoshop. I don't know exactly when or where it's from. 

Kevin Gilbert - Originals (1984-1996) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's a really interesting album put together by guest poster Mike Solof. Have you ever heard of Kevin Gilbert? If you have, congrats, because he's not as well known as he sound be. Mike is a huge fan of Gilbert's music, so much so that he put together three albums to showcase Gilbert's musical talent. The first album, this one, consists of the original songs Mike considers the best. Then he's made another one of the best rarities, and a third one of the best cover versions. If you want to get started, this is the obvious first album to listen to. Then, if you're interested, check out the other two. (Then, hopefully, more than that.)

For a quick overview, I'll quote the intro paragraph to his Wikipedia entry, which states me "was an American singer, songwriter, musician, composer, and producer. He was best known for his solo progressive rock projects, Toy Matinee, and his contributions to 'Tuesday Night Music Club' (1993), the debut studio album of Sheryl Crow. Kevin Gilbert died from autoerotic asphyxiation. He was found dead at his Los Angeles-area home on May 18, 1996, at the age of 29."

Here's the link to the rest of the Wikipedia page:

Kevin Gilbert (musician) - Wikipedia

I have to admit I wasn't familiar with Gilbert's music before Mike made these albums, although I'd previously heard good things about his career here and there. After hearing the albums Mike made, I have to agree that Gilbert was a very talented musician who deserves to be much better known than he is. He often combined a catchy pop sensibility with the complexity of prog rock. That is a very difficult combination to pull off. It's a real shame he died so young, and the strange manner of his death probably didn't help his musical legacy.

Note that this albums combines songs from Gilbert's solo albums, as well as songs he did with bands he was in: Giraffe, Toy Matinee, and Kaviar. All the lead vocals are by Gilbert. 

Anyway, Mike has written extensive notes about Gilbert, his life, and why he likes his music so much. You can find that in the PDF included with the download zip, as usual for Mike's guest posts. 

This album is an hour and 23 minutes long. 

01 When Strangers Part (Kevin Gilbert)
02 This Warm Night (Giraffe)
03 Air Dance (Giraffe)
04 Tired Old Man Suite (Kevin Gilbert)
05 Last Plane Out (Toy Matinee)
06 Things She Said (Toy Matinee)
07 The Ballad of Jenny Ledge (Toy Matinee)
08 Goodness Gracious (Kevin Gilbert)
09 Shadow Self [Alternate Version] (Kevin Gilbert)
10 Miss Broadway (Kevin Gilbert)
11 Single (Kaviar)
12 The Sultan of Brunei (Kaviar)
13 The Best Laid Plans (Kevin Gilbert)
14 Certifiable No. 1 Smash (Kevin Gilbert)
15 All Fall Down [Alternate Horn Mix] (Kevin Gilbert)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GvEgk98D

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/BNCnBxCFRjJRq5o/file

I don't know the details of the cover image. It was found by Mike.

Various Artists - Covered: Tom Waits, Volume 2: 1994-2004 (A Fabio from Rio Guest Post)

Here's the second "Covered" volume for Tom Waits. Like the Covered albums made for other musical acts, the talent of a songwriter is shown through cover versions, rather than that person performing their own songs.

And like the rest of this series for Waits, most of the heavy lifting in making this album is thanks to Fabio from Rio. He basically found a zillion Waits covers, then whittled them down to his favorites. That was still a very large number, so I then listened to them and whittled them down a lot more.

Fabio also answered my request to do the write-ups for each album in this series. So here's what he had to say about this one. And thanks, Fabio, for all your work on these albums. Take it away:

--- 

Around the mid-1980s, Waits began to break away from conventional arrangements. The music became more percussive and raw, foreshadowing a major stylistic shift. This period marks the end of his "classic singer-songwriter" phase and the start of a more radical artistic reinvention. Waits embraced experimental instrumentation, junkyard percussion, polyrhythms, and global folk influences. His work became deeply theatrical, influenced by Brecht, Weill, and his collaborations with his wife Kathleen Brennan. Songs feel like surreal street operas populated by grotesques and dreamers. This second volume includes mostly songs from that period.

The best known cover here is probably "Way Down in the Hole," due to its use in the HBO series "The Wire." (The Blind Boys from Alabama's version was used as the first season opening music, and other versions were selected for the remaining four seasons, including Waits' own original version.) Norah Jones' delicate outtake "Picture in a Frame" also got some recognition, especially after its inclusion in special editions of her breakthrough album "Come Away With Me."

"I Don't Wanna Grow Up" sounds so natural in the Ramones' catalog that many listeners assume it is an original. It was used as the opening track and first single of their last studio album. Waits' version (from the excellent 1992 album "Bone Machine") is way darker. 

"Little Boy Blue" was only performed by Waits in the movie "One from the Heart." Here we have a bluesy version by jazz singer and pianist Holly Cole. Other highlights of the volume include Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Whistling Past the Graveyard" and John Hammond's "Big Black Mariah" (which is taken from an album he did fully dedicated to Waits songs). 

On the mellower side, there are soft-sounding melodic folk versions by Shawn Colvin and Valerie Carter that prove Waits can write poignant ballads. Overall, another very nice flowing album with well performed covers that honor Waits' music.

--- 

This album is 58 minutes long. 

01 The Heart of Saturday Night (Shawn Colvin)
02 Whistling Past the Graveyard (Screamin' Jay Hawkins)
03 16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six (Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band)
04 I Don't Want to Grow Up (Ramones)
05 Better Off without a Wife (Pete Shelley)
06 Little Boy Blue (Holly Cole)
07 Whistle Down the Wind (Valerie Carter)
08 The Briar and the Rose (Niamh Parsons)
09 Dirt in the Ground (Christine Collister)
10 Heartattack and Vine (Popa Chubby)
11 Invitation to the Blues (Jennifer Warnes)
12 Big Black Mariah (John Hammond)
13 Picture in a Frame (Norah Jones)
14 Way Down in the Hole (Blind Boys from Alabama)
15 Jockey Full of Bourbon (Los Lobos)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/MNjwyd5t

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/mxY4ZbqkQbuXcpA/file

The cover photo was taken in San Francisco in 2002.

Various Artists - Covered: Tom Waits, Volume 1: 1973-1994 (A Fabio from Rio Guest Post)

It's high time I post more for the "Covered" series, highlighting great singer-songwriters. This time, we're looking at the songs of Tom Waits. Enough material has been found for four volumes. Here's the first one. As with all albums in this series, the focus is on cover versions, instead of versions done by the songwriter.

First off, I've gotta say I wouldn't be posting this now had it not been for the help of musical friend Fabio from Rio. It was he who suggested making Covered albums for Waits. I would have wanted to tackle him eventually, but that probably would have been well into the future. I have an issue with Waits: I can't stand his voice. As a result, even though it's easy for me to see he's a very talented songwriter, I haven't been that familiar with his songs. But Fabio is a big fan. He sent me literally hundreds of Waits cover versions, with recommendations on the best ones. I went through that and narrowed it down quite a lot. Hopefully this will make a strong collection that can turn the curious on to Waits' music.

Fabio from Rio helped with all aspects of putting this together. He even wrote the write-ups for the four volumes for Waits. So first I'm posting the relevant Wikipedia page:

Tom Waits - Wikipedia 

And now, take it away, Fabio (and a big thanks to him for all his work on this!):

For the general public, Tom Waits is "that guy with the raspy wino voice and the weird songs. Wasn't he one of the convicted fellows in that offbeat Jim Jarmusch movie?" A few music aficionados may also know him as the writer of songs like Springsteen's "Jersey Girl" or Rod Stewart's "Downtown Train", but that is usually where the story ends.

What many are not aware of is that Waits is widely recognized by his peers and by musical experts as an exceptional and influential songwriter. He is praised for his unique voice, vivid storytelling, poetic lyrics, and innovative musical style that blends genres like blues, jazz, vaudeville, and experimental rock. Waits is also known for creating three-dimensional characters and detailed narratives, often exploring life on the fringes. His lyrics are celebrated for their specificity, humor, melancholy, and ability to evoke strong moods, often drawing comparisons to Beat poets and Mark Twain.

Waits is a "songwriters' songwriter," with songs covered by literally hundreds of artists, many of them great composers themselves. He has been subject to many tributes. While searching for tracks for that project, I collected about three dozen different albums fully dedicated to his songs, and around 400 assorted covers, adding up to almost 1,200 tracks and 80-plus hours of music!

I initially selected about 220 different tunes (an almost fully comprehensive "Tom Waits songbook" that would comprise about 15 hours) which Paul wisely helped reduce to around 60 tracks across four volumes. We could have another four or eight volumes with additional top-notch Tom Waits songs - there is enough quality material for that - but I feel this reduced version is just the right size for a first dive into Tom Waits vast catalog. I hope you enjoy it!

Some listeners may find Waits' music difficult to approach due to his peculiar tone (which, contrary to popular belief, was not destroyed by booze and cigarettes, but was conscientiously cultivated as a vocal persona, as he mentioned in some interviews). The fact that some of his more experimental work sounds like monkeys loose in a crystal store doesn't help either. For those, a "Covered" collection focusing on his more melodic output is a great starting point, where one may discover the essence of Waits' music (often through soothing, frequently female, voices).

This first volume includes performances from a long range of years (1973 to 1994), but most of the songs here were composed during Waits' early and middle phases (the seventies and early eighties). His first albums feature piano-led ballads, romantic melancholy, and a relatively smooth, crooning voice. The character is that of a late-night drifter, nostalgic and tender. As his career progressed, Waits' voice grew tougher (both literally and figuratively) and his narratives darker and more cinematic. His late seventies and early eighties albums introduced sardonic humor, social misfits, and a sharper sense of irony, while still rooted in jazz, blues, and cabaret traditions.

Waits started as a folk singer/songwriter in the early seventies, with heavy jazz influences, when his voice was still not so rough. You can hear this in the first selection of this collection, "Rosie," from his 1973 first album. It's the only song in these four volumes that is the composer's own interpretation. He also first caught the ear of the public with an early cover of "Ol' 55" by The Eagles (which we skipped in favor of Sarah McLachlan's 1993 version, which both Paul and myself prefer). Other famous interpreters at the first volume are Johnny Cash and Marianne Faithfull (with songs Tom composed specifically for them), and also 10,000 Maniacs, Elvis Costello, Crystal Gayle and Canned Heat, which showcases the full range of styles and performers reached by Waits' compositions.

---

Thanks again, Fabio. I'll just add that there were only a few cases where Waits wrote hit songs, so we weren't tied down much by that factor. ("Downtown Train" is probably his biggest hit, thanks to the 1989 Rod Stewart version, included here.) And often, his songs didn't get a lot of covers until many years after they were written. So if you don't see some of his songs you really like from this era, wait before you judge. There's a good chance those songs could show up on one of the later volumes.

This album is 54 minutes long. 

01 Rosie (Tom Waits)
02 Foreign Affair (Manhattan Transfer)
03 Jersey Girl (Bruce Springsteen)
04 Is There Any Way Out of This Dream (Crystal Gayle)
05 I Hope that I Don't Fall in Love with You (10,000 Maniacs)
06 Strange Weather (Marianne Faithfull)
07 Downtown Train (Rod Stewart)
08 Gun Street Girl (Canned Heat)
09 San Diego Serenade (Nanci Griffith)
10 Tom Traubert's Blues [Waltzing Matilda] (Rod Stewart)
11 More than Rain (Elvis Costello & Brodsky Quartet)
12 Ol' 55 (Sarah McLachlan)
13 Down There by the Train (Johnny Cash)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Sn7DrCs1

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/t3zNaMkqIymk1K6/file

The cover photo was taken in Chicago, Illinois, on May 30, 1986.

Dan Fogelberg - Best of Live: 1974-1995 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I just posted a "best of" album guest poster Mike Solof made of his favorite studio tracks by singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg. He wanted to divide his music up into a studio best of and a live best of, so here's the companion live best of.

Mike is a really big fan of Fogelberg's music and is making these to help me, and others like you, better enjoy his music. As he usually does, Mike made a PDF with more information and pictures, which is included in the download zip. I encourage you to give that a look. It's the exact same one as for the studio best of.

For the studio best of, all the songs are officially released, and usually from his studio albums. For this one, most of the songs come from official live albums as well. But four of the songs here come from bootlegs. Specifically, tracks 10, 11, 13, and 16. But they're excellent sounding ones, just as good as the live albums.

By the way, Fogelberg's last concert was for the "PBS Soundstage" concert in 2003. (He died of cancer in 2007 at the age of 56.) I would really like to post that here, but I've only found a few songs from it on YouTube. If anyone has all of it, please let me know. Thanks. 

This album is an hour and 13 minutes long. 

01 Songbird (Dan Fogelberg)
02 The Power of Gold (Dan Fogelberg)
03 Blow Wind Blow (Dan Fogelberg)
04 Hard to Say (Dan Fogelberg)
05 Innocent Age (Dan Fogelberg)
06 Looking for a Lady (Dan Fogelberg)
07 Once upon a Time (Dan Fogelberg)
08 Make Love Stay (Dan Fogelberg)
09 The Chauvinist Song (Dan Fogelberg)
10 Morning Sky (Dan Fogelberg)
11 Someone's Been Telling You Stories (Dan Fogelberg)
12 Part of the Plan (Dan Fogelberg)
13 talk (Dan Fogelberg)
14 Song from Half Mountain (Dan Fogelberg)
15 Souvenir (Dan Fogelberg)
16 To the Morning (Dan Fogelberg)
17 Here Comes the Sun (Dan Fogelberg)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/9q7tK9se

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/QZQOzX6EPddIoQh/file

As with the cover to the studio album, Mike picked this one. I don't know exactly where or when it comes from. 

David Byrne - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: In Concert, London, Britain, 1994

Here's a David Byrne solo concert he did for the BBC in 1994. I'm pretty sure this one hasn't been in public circulation at all until now.

This concert is a big mystery to me, because I couldn't find any information about it whatsoever! It's clear that it has to be from 1994, due to the song list, which closely matches other 1994 concerts. He was promoting his 1994 album, simply called "David Byrne," and played some songs from it that he never played before or since.

I got this from musical friend Progsprog. He's sent me quite a few other things that haven't been in public circulation (including some I still have to post), so this fits that pattern. But unfortunately, he knew absolutely nothing about where it comes from. So the location of London is a TOTAL GUESS, based on the fact that probably 90 plus percent of the BBC concerts I post have taken place in London. But that could very easily be wrong. If anyone knows anything about this mystery concert, please let me know and I'll update the information. I'm posting this here in hopes that someone will be able to help.

The setlist.fm website indicates he toured Britain in September 1994, and played three concerts in London at that time. So this concert is probably from that month. However, there's evidence he also played a concert in London in May 1994, while also appearing on a TV there at that time. So I can't even be sure about the month.

But the lack of info about the when and where of this concert doesn't take away the fact that the performance is very good. This was early in Byrne's solo career, so he played a good number of Talking Heads songs. 

Oh, and since I had previously posted a 2002 BBC concert by Byrne, I just renamed that to "BBC Sessions, Volume 2." That meant changing the album cover art and so forth. So here's an updated link to that one:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2025/01/david-byrne-bbc-four-sessions-union.html

This album is 55 minutes long.

01 A Long Time Ago (David Byrne)
02 talk (David Byrne)
03 [Nothing But] Flowers (David Byrne)
04 This Must Be the Place [Naive Melody] (David Byrne)
05 Stay Up Late (David Byrne)
06 Strange Ritual (David Byrne)
07 talk (David Byrne)
08 Back in the Box (David Byrne)
09 Once in a Lifetime (David Byrne)
10 Angels (David Byrne)
11 talk (David Byrne)
12 Buck Naked (David Byrne)
13 Psycho Killer (David Byrne)
14 Burning Down the House (David Byrne)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/26sdsr8E

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/2JcV4NSTq2Kv661/file

The cover photo is from a concert in Gent, Belgium, on June 8, 1994. The original was in color, but the color was mostly washed out and just generally orange-ish. So I ran it through the Kolorize colorization program. I think it looks much better as a result.

Nirvana - Palaghiaccio di Marino, Marino, Italy, 2-22-1994

I've never posted a Nirvana album until now. That hasn't been deliberate, I do like their music. But it seems to me there's a huge amount of attention on the bootlegs of just a few musical acts, like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana, and so on. I figure other websites are taking care of them, and I'd rather post more obscure stuff that's getting neglected. But if I can post something from those big acts that's different, I will. Recently, I got a request to post this Nirvana concert. I looked into it, and realized there were things I could do to improve the sound quality, so here it is, hopefully sounding better than ever before.

In late 1993, Nirvana released the album "In Utero." It was a big hit, going on to sell about 16 million copies worldwide. This appears to be the only truly excellent sounding live recording from the tour to promote the album, due to it being broadcast on Italian radio at the time. (That's not counting the "MTV Unplugged" concert, which was a different type of concert.) 

It's also important because it was one of the very last concerts Nirvana performed before the band's leader Kurt Cobain committed suicide, ending the band. This concert took place on February 22, 1994. After that, the band had one TV show appearance, plus four more concerts, with the last one on March 1st. On March 4th, Cobain very nearly overdosed on drugs, resulting in a canceling of the rest of the tour. About a month later, he was found dead of suicide back in Seattle, Washington. Apparently he died on April 5th, though his body wasn't discovered until three days later. So this concert is close to the last word from the band.

In terms of sound quality, this was almost too good. What I mean by that is the recording made for radio focused so well on recording what was happening on stage that very little audience noise was recorded. So I used MVSEP to split the tracks into crowd noise and everything else. Then I greatly boosted the volume of the crowd noise, and put the tracks back together. The crowd noise is still rather low sometimes, but at least now the songs get an expected crowd reaction. While I was at it, I noticed the vocals were also relatively low in the mix, which I've noticed is all too common for live recordings. So I fixed that too, using the same MVSEP method.

This recording already sounded excellent. But it should sound even better now, due to those two fixes. 

This album is an hour and 16 minutes long. 

01 Radio Friendly Unit Shifter (Nirvana)
02 Drain You (Nirvana)
03 Breed (Nirvana)
04 Serve the Servants (Nirvana)
05 Come as You Are (Nirvana)
06 Smells like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
07 Sliver (Nirvana)
08 Dumb (Nirvana)
09 Run to the Hills [Instrumental] (Nirvana)
10 In Bloom (Nirvana)
11 About a Girl (Nirvana)
12 Lithium (Nirvana)
13 Pennyroyal Tea (Nirvana)
14 School (Nirvana)
15 Polly (Nirvana)
16 talk (Nirvana)
17 Very Ape (Nirvana)
18 talk (Nirvana)
19 Lounge Act (Nirvana)
20 talk (Nirvana)
21 Rape Me (Nirvana)
22 Territorial Pissings (Nirvana)
23 All Apologies (Nirvana)
24 On a Plain (Nirvana)
25 talk (Nirvana)
26 Scentless Apprentice (Nirvana)
27 Heart-Shaped Box (Nirvana)
28 Instrumental Jam (Nirvana)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UYMnAkbw

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/user/files/VUoUXk0iyzJhI6t/file

The cover photo of Kurt Cobain isn't from this exact concert, but it's close. It's a concert in Milan, Italy, that took place just a couple of days later. I actually tried to use a screenshot taken from this exact concert, but I decided the quality was low and it was better to try something else.

Richard Thompson - BBC Sessions, Volume 8: 1992-1994

Here's another BBC album by singer-songwriter Richard Thompson. This one consists of studio sessions, with all the performances in solo acoustic mode.

Actually, this album only consists of two studio sessions, both for BBC DJ Andy Kershaw's radio show. The first 10 tracks come from a session in 1992, when Thompson was touring to support his 1991 album "Rumour and Sigh." The remaining tracks are from a session in 1994, when Thompson was touring to support his album from that year, "Mirror Blue." Most of the songs are from those two albums, though there are some surprise choices thrown in as well.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 51 minutes long. 

01 I Ride in Your Slipstream (Richard Thompson)
02 Now that I Am Dead (Richard Thompson)
03 Withered and Died (Richard Thompson)
04 King of Bohemia (Richard Thompson)
05 I Misunderstood (Richard Thompson)
06 I Feel So Good (Richard Thompson)
07 talk (Richard Thompson)
08 King of Bohemia (Richard Thompson)
09 The Bloater - Job of Journeywork [Instrumental] (Richard Thompson)
10 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
11 For the Sake of Mary (Richard Thompson)
12 Taking My Business Elsewhere (Richard Thompson)
13 I Can't Wake Up (Richard Thompson)
14 Mingus Eyes (Richard Thompson)
15 Easy There, Steady Now (Richard Thompson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/cHgk6XpK

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/437N8eR52xaKTxj/file

The cover photo is from a concert at The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, on March 10, 1992.

The Posies - Black Session, La Maison de la Radio, Paris, France, 3-1-1994

The Posies are one of my favorite bands that had their best years in the 1990s. I keep wanting to post more music from them, but it never seems to get to the top of my "to do list." But here, finally, is a concert from 1994, which was right around their peak of popularity and creativity, in my opinion.

Note that I have posted a couple other Posies albums, including this 1996 acoustic concert, which I posted back in 2018:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-posies-acoustic-duo-99x-fm-atlanta.html

My favorite studio album by the Posies is "Frosting on the Beater," released in 1993. So I've been wanting to post an album from just after that. Unfortunately, Posies bootlegs are rare and hard to find, since they're not nearly as popular as they should be. (In my opinion, they would have been huge if they had their careers about 20 years earlier, because their style didn't really fit with what was popular at the time.) I came across this bootleg, liked the sound quality, and decided to post it.

Unfortunately, I kind of regretted that decision, because I didn't realize how much work it would take to get it in good shape. The main problem is this was a broadcast from a French radio station. On the plus side, that meant soundboard level sound quality. But I've noticed that sometimes in continental Europe, DJs talk all over concerts like this to prevent them from becoming listenable bootlegs, and this was one such case. A DJ talked in French at every opportunity, including over the music, and sometimes even talking over the singing! Using the UVR5 audio editing program, I managed to get rid of his voice in most cases, although I had trouble with one instance of the talking over the singing. 

That's why I have "[Edit]" in the titles of three of the songs early on. Actually, I could have put that in the titles of most of the songs, but I only used it in the most egregious cases. This French DJ made the annoying BBC DJ Brian Matthew seemed restrained in comparison in the way he talked over the music. Ugh! 

But there was another big problem: about half of the song "How She Lied by Living" was missing. According to some notes about the bootleg I found, one source with the annoying talking French DJ ended right then, midway through the song. The rest of the concert is from a different source that had far less DJ talking for the remaining songs. But that second source didn't include the rest of this one song. So I found a different version from a concert in Toronto, Canada, in April 1995, and used that to patch in the missing part of the song.

Yet another problem was that the vocals were too low in the mix. So I fixed that for all the songs using the UVR5 audio editing program again. Furthermore, the applause after songs were often damaged as a result of the talking French DJ, or were sometimes missing altogether. I sometimes had to patch in good bits of cheering over bad or missing bits.

But, bottom line, the concert should be all fixed, and it makes for an excellent listen. This is the Posies in full band mode, when they were at their most rocking, as an effort to somewhat fit into the grunge sound of the time. (They were from Seattle, after all.) 

Note that four songs all covers: "I Am the Cosmos" by Chris Bell of Big Star, "Wiggly World" by Devo, "Song of a Baker" by the Small Faces, and "Black Night" by Deep Purple. (What diverse and good musical taste that shows, by the way.) All the others are originals, mostly from the "Frosting on the Beater" album.

This album is an hour and nine minutes long.

01 Definite Door [Edit] (Posies)
02 When Mute Tongues Can Speak [Edit] (Posies)
03 talk (Posies)
04 I Am the Cosmos (Posies)
05 Love Letter Boxes [Edit] (Posies)
06 Flavor of the Month (Posies)
07 talk (Posies)
08 Earlier than Expected (Posies)
09 Solar Sister (Posies)
10 Dream All Day (Posies)
11 Any Other Day (Posies)
12 talk (Posies)
13 Burn and Shine (Posies)
14 How She Lied by Living [Edit] (Posies)
15 talk (Posies)
16 Coming Right Along (Posies)
17 talk (Posies)
18 Lights Out (Posies)
19 Wiggly World (Posies)
20 Song of a Baker (Posies)
21 Black Night (Posies)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/QUnzTUL8

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/uif1oYWJDoz9Lrs/file

The cover image of Jon Auer is from a concert at the Phoenix Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon, Britain, in July 1994. I wanted to use a photo showing both Ken Stingfellow and Auer, the band's two lead singers and songwriters, but this was the best image I found from 1994. It's a screenshot I took from a YouTube video.

Various Artists - Covered: Don Covay: 1961-1994

Here's another lesser known songwriter celebrated in my "Covered" series. This time, it's Don Covay.

Covay was born in South Carolina in 1936, but spent the latter half of his childhood in Washington, D.C. In 1957, he started out as a chauffeur and opening act for Little Richard. He had dreams of being a famous soul singer, but for years he drifted from record label to record label with poor sales.

His first success came into 1961, writing the song "Pony Time." He own version only reached the lower part of the singles charts. But then Chubby Checker covered it later that year and it went all the way to Number One. That established a pattern: while he kept his own solo career going for decades, other singers usually had much more success with his songs. 

In the mid-1965, he was signed to Atlantic Records and associated labels. Atlantic had a relationship with Stax Records, so Covay was able to co-write songs with Steve Cropper and other soul music greats there, like David Porter and Booker T. Jones. For instance, "See-Saw" and "Sookie Sookie" were co-written with Cropper. (I have different versions of both of those songs in my Covered albums for Cropper.) 

Probably Covay's most celebrated song is "Chain of Fools." Aretha Franklin had a big hit with it in 1967, but he'd actually written it about 15 years earlier after seeing a chain gang of prisoners working by the side of a road. Rolling Stone Magazine put it on their list of the top 500 songs of all time. 

He was the instigator being the brief soul supergroup "Soul Clan," consisting of himself, Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, Ben E. King & Arthur Conley. He wrote the band's one hit single. However, that was just a one-off. After that, his career declined for a few years. But he had a minor revival with a few hits in the early 1970s. I've included one of those as the only song here credited just to him, "I Was Checkin' Out, She Was Checkin' In."

But musical tastes were quickly changing in the late 1970s, with the rise of disco, punk, and new wave. After a few years of declining sales, Covay quit the music business altogether. But he had some later revivals. For instance, in 2000, he put out his first new album in over 20 years, "Adlib," filled with famous guest star appearances. He died of a stroke in 2015 at the age of 78.

I tried when I could to use the original hit versions. But some of these were never hits, just songs that I thought were worthy of inclusion. And I did occasionally avoid the hit versions for various reasons. For instance, I only wanted one song mainly sung by Covay, so I used the Rolling Stones version of "Mercy, Mercy" when in fact Covay had a hit with it in 1964.  

Here's his Wikipedia entry:

Don Covay - Wikipedia 

This album is an hour and 16 minutes long. 

01 Letter Full of Tears (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
02 There's a Party Goin' On (Wanda Jackson)
03 Pony Time (Chubby Checker)
04 Long Tall Shorty (Kinks)
05 Mercy, Mercy (Rolling Stones)
06 Don't Drive Me Away (Ben E. King)
07 Tonight's the Night (Solomon Burke)
08 I Don't Know What You've Got but It's Got Me (Little Richard)
09 Three Time Loser (Wilson Pickett)
10 Love Bug (Lena Horne)
11 Chain of Fools (Aretha Franklin)
12 See Saw (Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers)
13 Soul Meeting (Soul Clan [Don Covay, Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, Ben E. King & Arthur Conley])
14 I'm Gonna Take What He's Got (Etta James)
15 Demonstration (Otis Redding)
16 Sookie Sookie (Tina Britt)
17 She Said Yeah (Joe Tex)
18 This Old Town [People in This Town] (Staple Singers)
19 The Usual Place (J. Geils Band)
20 I Was Checkin' Out, She Was Checkin' In (Don Covay)
21 Watch the One Who Brings You the News (Millie Jackson)
22 Thunder (Jimmy Witherspoon)
23 Back to the Streets (Soul Summit)
24 It's Better to Have [And Not Need] (Huey Lewis & the News)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Tk5zvnir

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/e4C0OqUVzjf2LS9/file

I don't know any details about the cover image, but it looks to date from the early 1960s. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it using the Kolorize program. 

Tom P*tty & the Heartbreakers - Drivin' Down to Georgia - Non-Album Tracks (1993-1994)

Note that I'm experimenting with reviving the links for some Tom P. albums I'd had to hide due to concerns about copyright issues. For some reason, this one pops up as a new album, even though I made it years ago. But there are about ten others I revived today, all of the non-album tracks compilations. Do a search for "Heartbreakers" or use the side labels to find the other ones. If these manage to stay posted, I'll will revive the rest of his hidden albums soon.

Here's another stray tracks album for Tom P. and the Heartbreakers.

(Note that I'm not using the full name of this artist due to concerns about copyright issues.) 

The first song here comes from "Finding Wildflowers." Tracks 2, 3, and 10 are unreleased, and come from a radio show of outtakes called "Behind the Glass." Tracks 4, 5, and 8 are from the "Playback" box set. Track 6 is from the "An American Treasure" box set. Track 7 is from "Live Anthology," and track 9 was released as a B-side.

A long-promised album consisting of outtakes from P.'s 1994 album "Wildflowers" was finally released in 2020, called "Wildflowers and All the Rest." In fact, so much material was released that there even was a "super deluxe" box set version. Note that NONE of the songs here come from "All the Rest." There were so many good previously unreleased songs on that that it makes for a nice single album all on its own. But P. was so prolific in the early 1990s that there's enough material for that, plus this, plus the another stray tracks album I've made,"Mary Jane's Last Dance."

This album is 39 minutes long. 

I'm not including the track list due to copyright issues. But you can find it in the mp3 download file.

https://pixeldrain.com/u/bb4UPyEt

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/hnRrbl3P4nW11JO/file

The cover photo was taken in Hollywood in 1993.

Various Artists - Covered: Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham, Volume 2: 1968-2023

Here's the second and final album of the "Covered" series for the songwriting team of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham.

In the first volume, I noted that Penn and Oldham had a lot of success writing hit songs from about 1966 to 1968, while based in Memphis, Tennessee. The first song here is from 1968. But after that, there was a sharp drop with their musical successes. Penn later claimed that there was a lot of fruitful collaboration between white songwriters like Spooner and him and the black singers they were mainly writing for during that time period, but that changed as the years went on. He saw the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 as a key moment. After that, race became more of an issue, and the expectation grew that soul music songs sung by black singers would be written by black songwriters too.

Due to this changed environment, Penn and Oldham split up. Oldham moved to Los Angeles, where he found a lot of success playing keyboards as a session musician. That continued for decades, with him playing on albums by the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Aretha Franklin, Jackson Browne, the Everly Brothers, J.J. Cale, Linda Ronstadt, and many, many more. 

Meanwhile, Penn moved to Nashville, the home of country music, and tried to find success writing country songs. However, although his style had always been an interesting combination of soul and country music, he didn't do well writing just  for country singers. In 1973, he finally released his first solo album, "Nobody's Fool." While it was critically acclaimed, it sold very little. He did have some success as a songwriter and/or producer, but in a low-key way.

In 1994, Penn and Oldham reunited for Penn's second solo album, "Do Right Man." This mostly consisted of Penn's versions of his biggest hits from the 1960s. It was critically acclaimed. And while it also wasn't a big seller, it generated enough interest for Penn and Oldham to essentially start a new career as duo, going on tour to promote the occasional new album by Penn. Since then, Penn has released three more studio albums. The two of them have built up a following. As I write this in 2025, they are still going on tour, despite the fact that they're both in their early eighties.

Penn continues to write new songs, though it seems not often with Oldham anymore. He's had the occasional successful late career song. For instance, "Don't Give Up on Me" was the title track to Solomon Burke's acclaimed 2002 album by that same name. And "Memphis Women and Chicken" from Penn's 1994 album is usually performed in the concerts by Penn and Oldham.

Most of the songs here were written by Penn with others instead of Oldham. However, "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" was written by Oldham without Penn. Unlike the hit-filled Volume 1, there really aren't any big hits here, though arguably some could be considered classics, and the songwriting is still at a consistently high level. Some of the songs were written much earlier than when the versions here were recorded. For instance, "Keep On Talking," recorded by Texas in 2023, was first released by someone else in 1965. In cases like that, these are the versions I like best.

This album is 45 minutes long.

01 I Met Her in Church (Box Tops)
02 A Woman Left Lonely (Janis Joplin)
03 Rainbow Road (Percy Sledge)
04 Lonely Women Make Good Lovers (Bob Luman)
05 Zero Willpower (Irma Thomas)
06 Like a Road Leading Home (Jerry Garcia Band)
07 Where There's a Will [There's a Way] (Dan Penn)
08 Time I Took a Holiday (Nick Lowe)
09 Don't Give Up on Me (Solomon Burke)
10 Memphis Women and Chicken (Gary Nicholson)
11 I Hate You (Nicki Bluhm)
12 Keep On Talking (Texas)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/twgxcZ9G

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Vm9TnixuDiQ2TBW/file

I don't know what year the cover photo is from. But I did find this photo of the two of them together, probably in the 1990s. I used Photoshop to move them closer together.

Various Artists - Elvis: The Tribute, Pyramid Arena, Memphis, TN, 10-8-1994

Here's another interesting tribute concert, with loads of big stars. All of the songs performed were made famous by Elvis Presley. 

This concert seems to have mostly disappeared down the memory hole. An album of highlights from the concert was released, called "It's Now Or Never: The Tribute To Elvis." However, it's only 45 minutes long, containing just 15 songs. But the full two plus hour long concert was broadcast on TV at the time, so excellent sounding video footage of it exists.

This concert took place in 1994 despite the lack of any big anniversary or other important timely reason for it. Instead, the Elvis Presley estate decided that Presley's music was being forgotten by younger generations, so the concert was meant to help bring his music back into the spotlight.

As you can see from the album cover or the song list, a great many music stars performed in this concert. A few more - Jon Bon Jovi, Jeff Beck, and Cher, at least - backed out at the last minute. I found that mentioned in a newspaper article, though it didn't give a reason why. 

I used two versions of the video files of this concert, converted them to audio format, and broke them into mp3s. During that process, I cut out some material. There were several sections of a few minutes each that consisted of short films highlight different aspects of Presley's life. I removed all of those, plus their intros, since they were meant mainly to be seen, not heard. I also edited out some more talk by the announcers. However, I kept all the intros relevant to the songs. Plus, of course, I kept all the music.

The concert was mostly hosted by Karen Duffy, an MTV DJ, and singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. But actor John Stamos introduced a few acts, and TV host Phil Donohue introduced one, and sometimes one act introduced the next one.

Occasionally, I had a little trouble with the edits at the starts and ends of songs. For instance, there were quick cuts to or away from TV commercials, as well as the short films I mentioned above. I tried my best to smooth things out, but occasionally the transitions between tracks is abrupt.

Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana, James Burton, and the Jordanaires didn't have any performances on their own. However, all of them were key backing musicians or singers for Presley. From time to time, they backed up some of the other music acts. 

All of the performances were live from the concert, with two exceptions. I think "Too Much" by NRBQ actually took place before the TV broadcast began. But I slotted it into a logical spot in the concert. And U2 didn't show up for the concert, but sent video footage of their performance to be broadcast instead.

By the way, if you want to know more about the concert, I found a New York Times article of it from the time. Here's the link (I think you have to click on Option 2 to see it):

RemovePaywall | Free online paywall remover 

This album is two hours and three minutes long.

01 talk (Karen Duffy)
02 Good Rockin' Tonight (Sammy Hagar)
03 Too Much (NRBQ)
04 Baby, Let's Play House (Michael Hutchence & NRBQ)
05 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
06 talk (Chet Atkins)
07 How's the World Treating You (Chet Atkins)
08 talk (Karen Duffy)
09 Mystery Train (Dwight Yoakam)
10 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
11 Don't Be Cruel (Marty Stuart with the Jordanaires)
12 talk (Marty Stuart)
13 All Shook Up (Cheap Trick)
14 talk (John Stamos)
15 That's Alright Mama (Kris Kristofferson)
16 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
17 One Night (Billy Ray Cyrus with the Jordanaires)
18 talk (Karen Duffy)
19 Lawdy Miss Claudy (Travis Tritt)
20 talk (Karen Duffy)
21 Blue Moon [Edit] (Chris Isaak with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
22 Love Me (Mavericks)
23 talk (John Stamos)
24 talk (Carl Perkins)
25 Blue Suede Shoes (Carl Perkins with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
26 talk (Carl Perkins)
27 Rip It Up (Iggy Pop)
28 Memories (Mac Davis)
29 talk (Mac Davis)
30 talk (Bryan Adams)
31 Hound Dog (Bryan Adams with Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana)
32 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
33 Always on My Mind (Sam Moore)
34 talk (Karen Duffy)
35 Heartbreak Hotel (John Cale)
36 talk (Karen Duffy)
37 I Want You, I Need You, I Love You (Ann Wilson)
38 talk (Karen Duffy)
39 Teddy Bear (Tanya Tucker)
40 talk (Kris Kristofferson)
41 Trouble (Paul Rodgers)
42 talk (Phil Donahue)
43 [Marie's the Name] His Latest Flame (Scorpions)
44 Can't Help Falling in Love (U2)
45 talk (Kris Kristofferson & Karen Duffy)
46 It's Now or Never (Wet Wet Wet)
47 talk (Mac Davis)
48 Love Me Tender (Tony Bennett)
49 talk (Mac Davis)
50 Young and Beautiful (Aaron Neville)
51 talk (Mac Davis)
52 Jailhouse Rock (Michael Bolton with Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana & Carl Perkins)
53 talk (Karen Duffy)
54 Tryin' to Get to You (Faith Hill)
55 talk (John Stamos)
56 See See Rider (Jerry Lee Lewis with James Burton & NRBQ)
57 Kentucky Rain - Suspicious Minds (Eddie Rabbitt & Mavis Staples)
58 talk (Karen Duffy)
59 Burning Love (Melissa Etheridge)
60 talk (John Stamos)
61 Amazing Grace (Billy Ray Cyrus & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/GWnJSkKo

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/cqa2ziePj3VTmo8/file 

The cover image is a pretty weird one for this concert, but bear with me for the explanation. It depicts Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley (the daughter of Elvis Presley). They had recently gotten married at the time of this concert. (Their marriage only lasted from 1994 to 1996). The weird thing is that neither of them performed at this concert. However, they did attend it. At one point near the end, you can hear the announcer mention their names, along with those of Janet Jackson (Michael Jackson's sister) and Priscilla Presley (Lisa Marie Presley's mother). All four of them briefly stood up and waved to the crowd. 

The main reason I chose them for the cover is because this was the only decent photo from the concert that I could find. The mere fact they were at the concert made news, especially due to the fact that they had just been recently married. I think the image shows the two of them backstage before or after the concert. Even this picture was rather low-res and rough, but I used the Krea AI program to improve the image quality. 

Peter Gabriel - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: In Concert, Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Pilton, Britain, 6-26-1994

Here's another BBC album from Peter Gabriel, the top winner of my February 2025 poll. I promise to be focusing more on posting more from the poll winners. This is his full set from the 1994 version of the annual, massive Glastonbury Festival.

The previous volume in this series is from 1979. I really wish I could find some BBC material between that year and this one, since the 1980s were his most creative and commercially successful era of his solo career. But I can only go with what's out there. I'm also a bit disappointed, because this happens to be quite similar to a Peter Gabriel concert I posted that was part of the 1994 Woodstock Festival. It was from the same tour, and the two shows are only two months apart. But again, I just have to go with the shows that happened, not the ones I wish happened. At least this concert is about 20 minutes longer than the Woodstock one, so it has a few more songs.

Gabriel released the studio album "Us" in late 1992. He was still touring to support it in 1994 after not really touring since 1988. The sound quality was a little subpar compared to the usual unreleased BBC concerts I post. Maybe there were some difficulties in recording at the huge Glastonbury Festival. However, I was able to make some adjustments to improve the sound a bit, especially by boosting the lead vocals in relation to the instruments. This should sound better than any other version out there so far, but still not fantastic.

This album is an hour and 56 minutes long.

01 talk (Peter Gabriel)
02 Come Talk to Me (Peter Gabriel)
03 Quiet Steam (Peter Gabriel)
04 Steam (Peter Gabriel)
05 talk (Peter Gabriel)
06 Games without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
07 Across the River (Peter Gabriel)
08 Shakin' the Tree (Peter Gabriel)
09 Blood of Eden (Peter Gabriel)
10 Red Rain (Peter Gabriel)
11 San Jacinto (Peter Gabriel)
12 Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel)
13 Digging in the Dirt (Peter Gabriel)
14 Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
15 Secret World (Peter Gabriel)
16 In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel)
17 Biko (Peter Gabriel)
18 talk (Peter Gabriel)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/11mD2N19

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/tBvj7PPIDHpzrGi/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert.