So, occasionally the record labels get it wrong (!), and leave great songs in the can. Sometimes they come to light years later on a Deluxe Edition rerelease, sometimes as a "Previously Unreleased" track on an artist's Greatest Hits compilation.
Sometimes they're still sitting in a record company vault somewhere, still never having been officially released (but some fan has found an acetate and uploaded to youtube, or circulated amongst other fans on bad-quality cassette dubs).


What are some of your favorites?



I think this unreleased Ronettes track is lovely... not quite up to "Walkin In The Rain", but much better than the other unreleased tracks eventually released on the Rare Masters Spector LPs and Back To Mono box. AFAIK still officially unreleased.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuFHMjkL3Mk

This gorgeous version of "Time After Time" was recorded by Dusty Springfield for her "Where Am I Going?" album, but remained unreleased until it was issued on a Dusty box set in 1994.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1smDuu8D1Ok

More Dusty... this great song was intended for Dusty In Memphis but left off in favor of (what I consider to be) some inferior numbers ("Don't Forget About Me", "Breakfast In Bed", "Land Of Make Believe"). Later issued as a B-Side to a 1970 single.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNVIOxwuqtI

My favorite Tammi Terrell song, "Lone Lonely Town", was unreleased until its inclusion in a Motown "Northern Soul" compilation in 1994
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtGJO-TtOI0

Nice mid-60s New York soul demo, later released on an Ace/Kent CD. Apparently, a version by female soul singer Sylvia Hill also exists (unreleased) in the Capitol vaults.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju452rHsJWs

"Leave My Kitten Alone" by The Beatles. That was shelved until 1995, but "Mr. Moonlight" got the go-ahead for the LP Beatles For Sale.

Bruce Cockburn had a song from the early 80s that I love called I Want To Dance With You. Also Lloyd Cole's Blame Mary Jane, though that one may have been a B Side (I don't remember). REM's Bad Day is a good one too.

Bob Dylan is the clear cut winner in this category.........he has way too many to mention......................

"Blind Willie McTell," "Foot Of Pride," and "I Wanna Be Your Lover" just for 3

The Stones' "Do You Think I Really Care" finally showed up on the deluxe reissue of Some Girls a couple years ago.

And Metamorphosis (1975) was an early example of a vault release. Their cover of an obscure Stevie Wonder song, "I Don't Know Why," just missed the Top 40 when issued as a single, and is a favorite among Stones fans.

I agree about Bob Dylan. I'll add "Lay Down Your Weary Tune" and "Percy's Song," both recorded during "The Times They Are a-Changin'" sessions and eventually released on the "Biograph" compilation.

Dylan is far and away #1 on my list as well--over the years he has consistently made some puzzling decisions as far as final album track listings go. It's a game one could play all day--would "Desire" have been a better album if "Joey" had been deleted and "Abandoned Love" included? I think so.

I've probably written this before, but I bought "Metamorphosis" in the late 1980's on a cheap cassette having no idea for several years what it was. I played the crap out of "I Don't Know Why" and "I'm Going Down", however.

Oh, yeah! Forgot about that song, which is a favorite of mine, too.

I feel old when I realize that LMKA has been an official part of the Beatle catalog for nearly 20 years now. Younger listeners hearing it as it pops up on "Anthology 1" probably need to be educated about how, back in the golden age of Beatles bootlegs (roughly 1985-95), the very existence and quality of LMKA simply amazed those you managed to hear it. Damn, I'm old.

Other songs not mentioned yet which sat in the vaults for decades:

"You're The Boss"--Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret--deleted from the "Viva Las Vegas" soundtrack because Col. Parker worried about the fallout of Elvis having a co-star of equal talent.
"Dear Landlord"--an outtake from Janis Joplin's "I've Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!". As it is apparently the only existing outtake/alternate take from that album...one wonders how it even managed to survive.
The Who, "We Close Tonight"--"Quadrophenia" outtake officially released on the 1998 reissue of "Odds And Sods". It is unclear whether there are any other outtakes/alternate takes from "Quadrophenia"--at least one of the additional songs found on the 1979 soundtrack album are said to feature Kenney Jones--but this version of WCT features vocals by Keith Moon. Also noteworthy because it is one of the few Who outtakes released in the 1990's which I don't think had previously been bootlegged.
"Alley Oop"--Apparently the only surviving Lovin' Spoonful outtake, finally released in 2002 and again appearing on a very cool 45 with picture sleeve created for "Record Store Day" on Black Friday three years ago. (The only Record Store Day and/or Black Friday for which I have ever got up and waited in line to buy something.)

Off the top of my head: Bowie - 1980 Floor Show (there are several discs worth of out takes from that also, but the whole thing is basically an out take; as only 1 song has seen official release; & that was even "semi-official)

Stones - CS Blues

Bevis Frond Bevis Through the Looking Glass album is mostly out-takes. A very good album on it's own merit.

I agree about "Leave My Kitten Alone" by The Beatles. As Stumpy Joe said, it's hard to believe that song has been officially availlable for so long now. I also like "Not Guilty" and even "If You've Got Troubles" with Ringo's now-classic "Oh rock on, anybody!"

Then there's the Beach Boys Smile album...

And 12 Bar Original. I love that one.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer out-take "Oh, My Father" from Tarkus.

Rick A.

From the show, but not released on vinyl until the '80s, "All The King's Horses" by The Monkees.

Fantastic shared lead vocal by Mike and Micky.

Tull's "Jack-A-Lynn" and "Beltane" are favorites of mine.

I keep coming back to the Fleetwood Mac shoe-arm LP Almanac. There are 4 tracks on there, either demos or finished tracks, possibly recorded for the never released Buckingham-Nicks 2nd album. Stevie and Lindsay in mostly acoustic mode: Watch Devil (aka Watch Chain), Without You, Nomad (aka Candlebright), and Sorcerer. Stevie has re-recorded and released these in recent years, 3 solo / 1 F Mac, but these original versions are SO much better, Stevie in her best prime time voice...

Then there's the F Mac cut Smile At You in its early unreleased version, also eventually re-recorded and released. Again the original is SO much better, Stevie in her most vengeful voice...

I have been listening to Buckingham Nicks again lately (including those demos that I have gathered from various sources), and I agree with you, Robin. Stevie and Lindsey sounded so great together, and those raw demos are fantastic. We really need a Buckingham Nicks release on par with the long-awaited Dennis Wilson Pacific Ocean Blue reissue, including the demos of the songs intended for the follow-up album.