Showing posts with label Mike Solof Guest Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Solof Guest Post. Show all posts

Monday, September 28, 2026

Paul McCartney - Solo Rockers (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I recently posted three compilation albums of rockers from the solo careers of the four ex-Beatles, and three more compilation albums of ballads from them. All of those were put together by guest poster Mike Solof. But when Mike made those, he discovered there were a lot more rockers and ballads by Paul McCartney than any of the other ex-Beatles, since he's had a long and very prolific career. So Mike decided to make an extra rockers album just of McCartney songs, as well as an extra ballads one. Here's the rockers.

All the songs are taken from studio albums or singles. There are no special edits done by Mike this time. 

By the way, note that the range of years given in the title, 1969-2026, is for the entire project. On this album, the actual range ins 1972 to 2007. As usual, see the mp3 tags for all the details. 

This album is an hour and two minutes long.

01 Junior's Farm (Paul McCartney)
02 Night Out (Paul McCartney)
03 Rinse the Raindrops (Paul McCartney)
04 Angry (Paul McCartney)
05 Beware My Love (Paul McCartney)
06 Used to Be Bad (Paul McCartney)
07 Rock Show (Paul McCartney)
08 Getting Closer (Paul McCartney)
09 Hi, Hi, Hi (Paul McCartney)
10 Jet (Paul McCartney)
11 Magneto and Titanium Man (Paul McCartney)
12 Fine Line (Paul McCartney)
13 Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney)
14 Ever Present Past (Paul McCartney)
15 Get Out of My Way (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/5rb7nkZK 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/sD7pOUGHyzFduOl/file

Now that this is an album only featuring McCartney, there's no need for Mike to use AI to create images of imagined Beatles reunions. So this is a real photo of McCartney in concert. Mike selected the picture though, so I don't know what year it's from or other details. 

Thursday, September 24, 2026

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Ballads, Volume 3 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the third and last of three albums collecting ballads from the solo careers of the ex-Beatles John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. I've also finished posting a similar series of three albums of rockers from them. All of these were put together by guest poster Mike Solof. But we're not quite done. Because McCartney has been so prolific, he gets an extra album of rockers and another extra album of ballads.

Once again, pretty much everything here comes from studio albums. "Mama You've Been on My Mind" is an exception, since it's a demo version that came out as a bonus track. But Mike made new mixes of four songs. A couple of them were at my request. The thinking is some of these songs were a bit too rocking to fully qualify as ballads. So the mixes strip the songs down some more.

This album is one hour long.

31 [I Want To] Come Home (Paul McCartney)
32 King of Broken Hearts [Mike's Mix 2026] (Ringo Starr)
33 Jealous Guy [Ultimate Mix] (John Lennon)
34 Warm and Beautiful (Paul McCartney)
35 Life Itself (George Harrison)
36 Love Is (Ringo Starr)
37 Happy with You (Paul McCartney)
38 Out the Blue (John Lennon)
39 Sat Singing [Mike's Mix 2026] (George Harrison)
40 Early Days (Paul McCartney)
41 Photograph [Mike's Mix 2026] (Ringo Starr)
42 Only Love Remains (Paul McCartney)
43 Imagine [Mike's Mix 2022] (John Lennon & Julian Lennon)
44 Mama You've Been on My Mind [Demo] (George Harrison)
45 As Far as We Can Go (Ringo Starr)
46 Tragedy (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/tCJixTR6

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/88IHsZeczEOLSre/file

Mike Solof sure does love imagining what the Beatles would have looked like if they all were still alive. Here's another cover image Mike made using an AI program. It's in the same style as the two previous albums in the ballads series.

Sunday, September 20, 2026

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Rockers, Volume 3 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the third and last album compiling the best rockers from the solo careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Once again put together by Mike Solof (with some suggestions from me). 

There's one more best ballads album coming. Then, since McCartney has so much solo career, and his heart keeps on ticking, there's another album of extra rockers from him, and another of extra ballads. (On top of that, you'll also notice slightly more songs from him on these other albums too.)

Most of the songs here come from studio albums. There are a couple of exceptions though. "Soily" is a great McCartney rocker from his Wings years. He put out a live version, but no studio version. The version here is an unreleased studio take. Also, "I'm Losing You" and "Cleanup Time" were both included on Lennon's 1980 album "Double Fantasy." However, these are special remixes done by Mike. Oh, and the last song is an unusual one. "Givin' Grease a Ride" originally appeared on a 1974 album by Mike McGear, McCartney's brother. But Mike (Solof) did another edit to remove McGear and focus on McCartney's participation on it. McCartney co-wrote it, and the backing band on the recording was Wings. 

This album is 59 minutes long. 

31 Soily [Take 7] (Paul McCartney)
32 Goodnight Vienna (Ringo Starr)
33 I'm Losing You [Mike's Mix 2025] (John Lennon)
34 Old Siam, Sir (Paul McCartney)
35 Any Road (George Harrison)
36 Cleanup Time [Mike's Mix 2025] (John Lennon)
37 Spin It On (Paul McCartney)
38 It Don't Come Easy (Ringo Starr)
39 Sue Me, Sue You Blues (George Harrison)
40 House of Wax (Paul McCartney)
41 Whatever Gets You thru the Night (John Lennon)
42 Any Road (George Harrison)
43 Home to Us (Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr)
44 Drowning in the Sea of Love (Ringo Starr)
45 Givin' Grease a Ride [Wings Only Version] [Mike's Mix 2025] (Mike McGear with Paul McCartney and Wings) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/nNBttgVC

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/d5Oeosromzuc9dy/file

The cover is another imagines Beatles reunion image that Mike asked an AI program to make. I pointed out to him that it was odd if the crowd was behind the Beatles, but Mike pointed out it could have been a stage in the center of the crowd. 

Thursday, September 17, 2026

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Ballads, Volume 2 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is the second out of three albums where guest poster Mike Solof gathered together ballads from the solo careers of the Beatles. 

Since this is a collection of released songs, I don't have much to say. You can find more sourcing details in the mp3 tags. Also, Mike has included a list of the source albums in his PDF file added to the download zip. 

All of the songs are the official studio album versions, with the exception of "Run of the Mill," which is an unreleased demo version. However, when it comes to putting a ballads album like this Mike noticed a lot of the Beatles solo career songs tended to be more of the rocking variety. So, for five of the songs here, Mike made mixes to make these, well, more ballad-esque. Those are the ones with "[Mike's Mix 2026]" in their titles.

This album is 48 minutes long.

15 Somedays (Paul McCartney)
16 Give Me Love [Give Me Peace on Earth] (George Harrison)
17 Bless You (John Lennon)
18 Heal the Pain (Paul McCartney & George Michael)
19 Grow Old with Me [Mike's Mix 2026] (Ringo Starr)
20 Run of the Mill [Demo] (George Harrison)
21 Tomorrow (Paul McCartney)
22 Beautiful Boy [Darling Boy] (John Lennon)
23 Only You [Mike's Mix 2026] (Ringo Starr)
24 Footprints (Paul McCartney)
25 Woman [Mike's Mix 2023] (John Lennon)
26 Golden Blunders (Ringo Starr)
27 Days We Left Behind (Paul McCartney)
28 Grow Old with Me [Mike's Mix 2023] (John Lennon)
29 Just for Today [Mike's Mix] (George Harrison)
30 Jenny Wren (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/1CCu6UDj

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/9EfenBAkeihKu2n/file

The cover is more AI art Mike found on the Internet. He likes those more than I do. All the ones in this ballads series have the same style.

Thursday, September 10, 2026

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Rockers, Volume 2 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is the second out of three albums where guest poster Mike Solof gathered together rockers from the solo careers of the Beatles. I've already explained pretty much everything you need to know in the write-up to "Volume 1," so I'll keep this write-up short.

All the songs here have been officially released, except for "Dispute and Violence." This was a collaboration between George Harrison and Ravi Shankar that was performed during Harrison's 1974 concert tour. 

This album is an hour and one minute long. 

Note that, for this album and the others in this series and the ballads series, Mike wanted the track numbering to continue from album to album. That way, you can put them in one folder and listen to them as a single album if you want. 

15 So Glad to See You Here (Paul McCartney)
16 What You Got (John Lennon)
17 Wake Up My Love (George Harrison)
18 One (Ringo Starr)
19 Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Paul McCartney)
20 Devil's Radio (George Harrison)
21 Instant Karma [We All Shine On] (John Lennon)
22 Have You Seen My Baby (Ringo Starr)
23 Girls School (Paul McCartney)
24 Tight A$ (John Lennon)
25 Cloud 9 (George Harrison)
26 Oh My My (Ringo Starr)
27 Monkberry Moon Delight (Paul McCartney)
28 I Don't Wanna Face It [Mike's Mix 2025] (John Lennon)
29 Dispute and Violence (George Harrison & Ravi Shankar)
30 Only Mama Knows (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/jjye47MU

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/L7Adyk612Rd8gDn/file

The cover image is another one Mike made using AI, imagining Beatles reunions that never happened. In my opinion, this one has a late 1970s vibe.

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Ballads, Volume 1 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Yesterday, I posted "Solo Rockers, Volume 1," featuring rocking songs from the solo careers of the four Beatles. It was created by guest poster Mike Solof. This is the exact same concept, also done by Mike, but with ballads. There are different definitions of ballads, but in this case we're talking about love songs usually done in a more mellow mode than the rockers.

For the rockers, Mike's selection of songs was pretty straightforward. But when it came to picking ballads from the Beatles' solo careers, it was harder going. He found enough for three volumes, the same as for the rockers. But in some cases, he chose to make some new "Mike's Mix" edits of songs that toned down or removed drums and some other elements to help the songs fit into the ballad mode. His edit of "Blow Away" by George Harrison on this volume is a good example. The original, which was a hit in 1979, is pretty close to a rocker. But Mike's edit transforms it pretty dramatically, and hopefully allows you to appreciate the song in a new way. 

This album is 53 minutes long.

01 Bluebird (Paul McCartney)
02 Never without You [Mike's Mix 2026] (Ringo Starr)
03 Here Comes the Moon [Mike's Mix 2025] (George Harrison)
04 Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him [Mike's Mix 2025] (John Lennon)
05 So Bad (Lindsay Pagano & Paul McCartney)
06 I'm Yours (Ringo Starr)
07 Blow Away [Mike's Mix 2026] (George Harrison)
08 Heaven on a Sunday (Paul McCartney)
09 Old Dirt Road [Mike's Mix 2025] (John Lennon)
10 Little Willow (Paul McCartney)
11 I'll Still Love You (Ringo Starr)
12 Dark Sweet Lady (George Harrison)
13 Love [Take 31] (John Lennon)
14 Baby's Request (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Hi6PcHRM

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/opD0riXacqTFSaL/file

Mike chose some more AI artwork that he found on the Internet for the cover.

Monday, September 7, 2026

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Rockers, Volume 1 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

In the 1970s, the Beatles remained extremely popular but there was no new Beatles music to sell, so the record companies repackaged their music in different ways. For instance, in 1976, an album called "Rock n' Roll Music" was released, containing all rocking Beatles songs. And in 1977, another one came out called "Love Songs." A similar one came out in most countries but the U.S. in 1980 called "The Beatles Ballads." Guest poster Mike Solof was inspired by these albums to create similar albums, but for the Beatles' solo careers. He's taken roughly equal numbers of songs by the four ex-Beatles and mixed them together. This was enough for three albums of rockers and another three albums of ballads. 

But wait, there's more! Paul McCartney has been prolific, and stubbornly refuses to die. (Ha ha) As a result, Mike also made an extra album each just for more rockers and ballads from him. So here's the first of eight albums. We'll start with some rockers.

Note there's nothing really new here. These are just already released songs, but hopefully repackaged in an interesting way. Just like those 1970s repackaged Beatles albums. By the way, interesting fact: "Rock n' Roll Music" went all the way to Number Two on the U.S. album chart in 1976, and was only kept out of the top spot by the Paul McCartney and Wings album "Wings at the Speed of Sound." 

As usual with Mike's posts, please check out the PDF file he's included with the download zip. 

This album is 54 minutes long. 

01 Save Us (Paul McCartney)
02 Rock and Roll People (John Lennon)
03 Horse to the Water (George Harrison)
04 You're Sixteen [You're Beautiful and You're Mine] (Ringo Starr)
05 The Mess [Reworked] (Paul McCartney)
06 Cleanup Time (John Lennon and Yoko Ono)
07 Cockamamie Business (George Harrison)
08 Lonely Road (Paul McCartney)
09 Snookeroo (Ringo Starr)
10 Cold Turkey (John Lennon)
11 Helen Wheels (Paul McCartney)
12 All Those Years Ago [Paul on Vocals, Ringo on Drums] (George Harrison)
13 After All These Years (Ringo Starr)
14 Big Barn Bed (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/tuCsvKEk

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/plP5cXglEj9HZci/file

Mike is more of a fan of making new AI pictures than I am. In 1969, the Beatles played a short concert on top of Abbey Road studios in London. For this one, he asked an AI program to make an image of an imaginary Beatles reunion on that rooftop many decades later. Mike was particularly pleased at how the AI creatively added two big beer bottles at their feet. 

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Pat Benatar - Greatest Hits Live (1980-2015) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's another nice guest post by Mike Solof. It's a collection of the best songs by Pat Benatar - as judged by Mike, who is a big fan. But there's a twist, because he chose all live versions. Well, except for three songs at the end he couldn't bear leaving out, which apparently were never performed live.

This album came to be because I had posted a concert by Joan Jett, and I was planning on posting one by Pat Benatar as well. Those two have always been linked in my mind, since they were pioneering female rock and rollers that became famous at the start of the 1980s. Anyway, since Mike is a bigger Benatar fan than I am, I asked him what would be the best concert recording from her. Instead, he came up with this idea, to make something that contains all of her best known songs, most of them performed within a year or two of being recorded.

The songs are in rough chronological order of when they were first released. But the actual performance dates jump all over, from 1980 to 2015. A little over half of the songs here are from bootlegs, but very excellent sounding ones. The following songs, however, are from official live albums: tracks 8, 9, 10, 12, 17, 20, and 24 through 28. You can find more details in the mp3 tags.

Finally, as always with Mike's posts, check out his PDF for comments from him, as well as some more nice photos of Benatar. He's also included a gapless single file version of the album, for those who like that.

This album is two hours and seven minutes long. 

01 Heartbreaker (Pat Benatar)
02 I Need a Lover (Pat Benatar)
03 We Live for Love (Pat Benatar)
04 Treat Me Right (Pat Benatar)
05 You Better Run (Pat Benatar)
06 Hit Me with Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar)
07 Hell Is for Children (Pat Benatar)
08 Promises in the Dark (Pat Benatar)
09 Fire and Ice (Pat Benatar)
10 Helter Skelter (Pat Benatar)
11 Shadows of the Night (Pat Benatar)
12 Lookin' for a Stranger (Pat Benatar)
13 Anxiety (Pat Benatar)
14 Fight It Out (Pat Benatar)
15 The Victim (Pat Benatar)
16 It's a Little Too Late (Pat Benatar)
17 I Want Out (Pat Benatar)
18 Oh Oh Song (Pat Benatar)
19 Love Is a Battlefield (Pat Benatar)
20 Sex as a Weapon (Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo)
21 Invincible (Pat Benatar)
22 We Belong (Pat Benatar)
23 Cool Zero (Pat Benatar)
24 All Fired Up (Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo)
25 True Love (Pat Benatar)
26 Lipstick Lies [Studio] (Pat Benatar)
27 Silent Partner [Studio] (Pat Benatar)
28 Tell It To Her [Studio] (Pat Benatar)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/cBKEwVKq

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/2EXi12DYTbXNaf6/file

The cover image was selected by Mike. I don't know when or where it's from, exactly. 

Sunday, August 23, 2026

John Carpenter - John Carpenter Presents: Trailers of the Mind... It's All in Your Head! (1974-1994) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's another guest post by Mike Solof. He really outdid himself this time, with this collection of John Carpenter's movie music. 

Mike is a big fan of the movies of John Carpenter, who is especially renowned in the horror genre. But it turns out Carpenter composed the music for nearly all of his movies, and Mike is a fan of that music as well. His original plan was to collect his favorite songs from most of Carpenter's movies, and post that. However, some of the songs had spoken dialogue from the movies over them, and others did not. I thought that was an imbalance, and asked him if he could add in some more dialogue. Mike took that suggestion and ran with it. He labored many, many hours carefully adding dialogue, until all the songs here are a mix of music and that dialogue. In so doing, he created something new: songs from the movies with dialogue that helps set an ominous mood and reminds you of key movie scenes. He spent a long time getting the timing of the words and music to be to his satisfaction.

In case you're not familiar with Carpenter's name, you'd probably recognize many of his movies, such as "Halloween," "The Thing," "The Fog," Escape from New York," "Christine," "They Live," and many more. Personally, I'm not into the horror movie genre. But even I found this an interesting listen.  

If you want to know more, as usual, please read the PDF that Mike wrote and added to the download zip. 

01 The Fog [Prologue - The Curtain Rises] (John Carpenter)
02 Dark Star - Hello Bomb [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
03 Assault on Precinct 13 - This Is a Goddamn Seige [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
04 Assault on Precinct 13 - Hey, This Is Regular Vanilla [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
05 Halloween - The Evil Has Gone [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
06 Halloween - Halloween Theme [Death Has Come to Your Little Town] [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
07 The Fog - There's Something in the Fog [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
08 The Fog - We're Honoring Murderers [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
09 Escape from New York - I Heard You Were Dead [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
10 Halloween 2 - You Don't Know What Death Is [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
11 Halloween 3 - The Hills Ran Red with Blood [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
12 The Thing - Weird and Pissed Off [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
13 Christine - Show Me [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
14 Prince of Darkness - This Is Not a Dream [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
15 They Live - I've Got One that Can See [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)
16 In the Mouth of Madness - The Curtain Closes [Mike's Mix 2026] (John Carpenter)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Z6EV9Jbp

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/6HM3OKjRehmqVD2/file

The cover art is a graphic made by someone named Tyler Champion. The original was in just two tones. I colorized it with the help of the Kolorize program. Then I added the text at the top and bottom.

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Jimmy Buffett - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes Live (1978-2008) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is another guest post by Mike Solof. I am putting words into his mouth, but I think what happened is that he Felt he really enjoyed the 1977 album "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," by Jimmy Buffett. But after hearing it many many times, he wanted to hear it in a different way. So he collected live versions of all songs on the album and put them in the same order as the original. 

He managed to find live versions of all of the songs, with all of them in excellent sound quality. Most of them come from a year or two after the album was released, though a couple are from significantly later. None of the songs are extended, so don't expect drastically different versions. In fact, this album is a minute or two shorter than the studio version.

This was Buffett's breakthrough album that turned him into a big star, helped greatly by the conclusion of the hit song "Margaritaville." If you like the album a lot, you should enjoy this one.

This album is 39 minutes long.

01 Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes (Jimmy Buffett)
02 Wonder Why We Ever Go Home (Jimmy Buffett)
03 Banana Republics (Jimmy Buffett)
04 Tampico Tundra (Jimmy Buffett)
05 Lovely Cruise (Jimmy Buffett)
06 Margaritaville (Jimmy Buffett)
07 In the Shelter (Jimmy Buffett)
08 Miss You So Badly (Jimmy Buffett)
09 Biloxi (Jimmy Buffett)
10 Landfall (Jimmy Buffett)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/9UBFHbeV 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/z8ghyGoVXlXDmgg/file

The cover image is from a concert at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 4, 1976.

Wednesday, July 1, 2026

The Carpenters - Singles Uncovered, Volume 3: 1976-1981 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is the third and last volume of "Singles Uncovered," a Carpenters collection curated by guest poster Mike Solof.

In my write up for Volume Two, I gave my thoughts on why Mike chose to include some songs, but not other songs. For this write up, I thought I would go straight to the horse's mouth – I asked him to explain his selection. Here's what he had to say:

"Hi everybody, I hope you’re liking the series so far. As Paul explained in the last post, I started with the theory of doing all the singles, but then hated some of the singles (lol) so I didn’t include them. As for the non-singles that I might of included… Did I do that??? If so, sorry, but they were probably songs that I knew and loved, so consider them singles adjacent and think of them as bonus songs without Paul’s perplexing method of not numbering the bonus songs (lol). Looking forward to your feedback… See you next project which is a fun Jimmy Buffett one, and which also might be posted soon."

This album is one hour and two minutes long.

01 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do (Carpenters)
02 Can't Smile without You (Carpenters)
03 Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (Carpenters)
04 Two Sides (Carpenters)
05 I Just Fall in Love again (Carpenters)
06 The Christmas Song [Merry Christmas to You] (Carpenters)
07 I'll Be Home for Christmas (Carpenters)
08 Little Altar Boy (Carpenters)
09 Leave Yesterday Behind (Carpenters)
10 If I Had You (Carpenters)
11 Touch Me When We're Dancing (Carpenters)
12 Because We Are in Love (Carpenters)
13 Want You Back in My Life Again (Carpenters)
14 Those Good Old Dreams (Carpenters)
15 Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore (Carpenters)
16 The Rainbow Connection (Carpenters)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PdtgCZu1 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/NH0bCyNdcDfuLLs/file

The cover image was chosen by Mike. I don't know the details. But they look pretty young. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.

Monday, June 29, 2026

The Carpenters - Singles Uncovered, Volume 2: 1972-1976 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

The day before yesterday, I posted "Volune 1" in this series of Carpenters albums made by guest poster Mike Solof. This is the second volume, and the third volume will be coming very soon. 

As mentioned in the write-up for "Volume 1," this blog has already posted some different attempts to strip the Carpenters' music of excessive production and get it back to basics, especially Karen Carpenter's voice. But Mike has taken a different approach. He used his editing skills to get rid of most of the strings and excessive backing vocals, but still keep guitar, bass, and drums, as well as the lead vocals.

Also, note that while this is called "Singles Uncovered," that's not strictly true. Most single A-sides from this time are included. But there are some that Mike didn't like so he left them off. And I think they're also are some non-singles that he did like that he included.

This album is one hour long.

01 It's Going to Take Some Time (Carpenters)
02 Goodbye to Love (Carpenters)
03 Road Ode (Carpenters)
04 I Won't Last a Day without You (Carpenters)
05 Top of the World (Carpenters)
06 Sing (Carpenters)
07 This Masquerade (Carpenters)
08 Yesterday Once More (Carpenters)
09 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (Carpenters)
10 Please, Mr. Postman (Carpenters)
11 Only Yesterday (Carpenters)
12 Happy (Carpenters)
13 Solitaire (Carpenters)
14 Love Me for What I Am (Carpenters)
15 Tryin' to Get That Feeling Again (Carpenters)
16 There's a Kind of Hush (Carpenters)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/MY3dHuzL 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/2TR4KryTZswXVd9/file

The cover image was chosen by Mike. I don't know the details.

Saturday, June 27, 2026

The Carpenters - Singles Uncovered, Volume 1: 1969-1972 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Hi Everybody,

This is Mike Solof, a frequent guest poster at this blog, and temporary introduction writer. Paul just texted me and asked if I would write a brief intro to my latest project for him, since he is gallavanting around Spain on vacation right now. I told him I would be happy to give it a whirl. So here, just like Paul would, is my whirl (written as if in Paul's voice):

Over the years, I have featured a lot of variations on Carpenters songs for this blog. Today, we continue that tradition once again. In the past, I have featured full acapella, and near acappella versions, piano recitals, and BBC sessions (some done by another guest poster, Fabio from Rio). Obviously there is just something about Karen’s voice and her harmonies with her brother Richard that we just can’t seem to get enough of around here. So when Mike approached me to do yet another take on their music, it was a no brainer. His versions follow the same path he takes with his Uncovered Beatles series. In those, he created new versions of songs you know and love by ripping apart the the commercial versions using modern audio editing technology, and eliminating the excessive and unneeded additions which in this case was all the orchestral backings, as well as the overuse of choral singers in their later years. This leaves the basic tracks, which usually include Karen’s and Richard’s vocals, accompanied by bass, drums, piano,  and guitar. Mike occasionally left in other instruments as well to fill out the extra quiet spots. He calls this "Pure Carpenters," and I tend to agree.

So here is Volume One, which covers the years 1969-1972. two more volumes will follow.

I did convince him he would have to change his picture for the cover though. What you see, presented here, is a shot he found online of Karen and Richard mixing their first album. His original version, had a beautiful picture of just two random carpenters working on a house. That’s his sense of humor, so ask him for that version if you’d like a copy. He’s strange in that way, but he hopes you enjoy this new project as much as he enjoyed putting it together.

---

Thanks, Mike. This is the real Paul writing again. Everything up above is true except for the part about the  original cover art featuring to actual carpenters working on a house instead of the two members of the Carpenters. Mike really wanted to use that, but I fought him tooth and nail on it. However, you can see it below if you're curious. You can also see it in the PDF file that he included in the download zip.

This album is 56 minutes long.

01 Ticket to Ride (Carpenters)
02 Your Wonderful Parade (Carpenters)
03 Don't Be Afraid (Carpenters)
04 All of My Life (Carpenters)
05 [They Long to Be] Close to You (Carpenters)
06 I Kept on Loving You (Carpenters)
07 We've Only Just Begun (Carpenters)
08 Mr. Guder (Carpenters)
09 Maybe It's You [Piano Version] (Carpenters)
10 Merry Christmas Darling (Carpenters)
11 For All We Know (Carpenters)
12 Rainy Days and Mondays (Carpenters)
13 Saturday (Carpenters)
14 Superstar [Groupie] (Carpenters)
15 Let Me Be the One (Carpenters)
16 Drucilla Penny (Carpenters)
17 One Love (Carpenters)
18 Bless the Beasts and the Children (Carpenters)
19 Hurting Each Other (Carpenters)

Maybe It's You [Orchestra Version] (Carpenters) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/aiKnKZiF

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/p7xLQDFG3Cz009H/file 

The cover image was chosen by Mike. I don't know the details. But they look pretty young. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.

Also, just for fun, Mike asked me to make this alternate cover, which is a, uh, much more literal take on the word "Carpenters."

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Klaatu - The Sampler Album (1976-2005) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's another Mike Solof guest post. This one came about because I was conversing with Mike, and the band Klaatu somehow came up. I mentioned that I'd heard of them, but I'd never gotten around to listening to their music. So Mike volunteered to enlighten me by making a sampler album containing what he considers the cream of their crop.

The band has a very unusual history. Probably their biggest claim to fame is that when their debut album came out in 1976, there was a widespread rumor that their album actually was a secret Beatles reunion album. Of course that wasn't true. But I can understand why some people believed the rumor, because the band had a Beatlesque sound. And I consider that a very good thing. If you like that style of music - and who doesn't? - you should give this a listen.

There's a lot more to this band and their history. But I'm not going to tell it here. For one thing, Mike has written extensive liner notes, which are included in the download zip, as is his wont. And you can also read Wikipedia for more:

Klaatu (band) - Wikipedia

I asked Mike why Woman is only a bonus track. Here's his response. "In case you are all wondering (and I know you all are) why I considered 'Woman' a bonus cut and not part of the main set, here's the answer (taken from Wikipedia): 'The trio very briefly reunited in 1988 at George Martin's AIR Studios in London with John Jones to record a single, "Woman," though no one was particularly happy with the results as the song was written by someone outside of the band (Paul Vincent Gunia) for the German television series Tatort. Initially, Long had wanted to merely use the Klaatu name, but could not get the rest of the band's approval without their involvement. The single was released only in West Germany and did not chart, making it an extremely rare item in the Klaatu catalogue; Draper confirmed that the song was considered for a few rarities compilations, but all three band members had agreed to not include the track.'"

This album is an hour and two minutes long.

01 Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (Klaatu)
02 Anus of Uranus (Klaatu)
03 Sub-Rosa Subway (Klaatu)
04 Doctor Marvello (Klaatu)
05 We're Off You Know (Klaatu)
06 Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III (Klaatu)
07 Around the Universe in Eighty Days (Klaatu)
08 Little Neutrino (Klaatu)
09 A Routine Day (Klaatu)
10 The Love of a Woman (Klaatu)
11 I Can't Help It (Klaatu)
12 True Life Hero (Klaatu)
13 Knee Deep in Love (Klaatu)
14 I Don't Wanna Go Home (Klaatu)
15 California Jam (Klaatu)
16 All Good Things (Klaatu)

Woman (Klaatu)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/vcsQKLJM

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/473QSPC1alBVbpl/file

Klaatu was a notoriously elusive band. For the band's first few years, there were no publicly available photos of them at all. They finally relented a bit in the early 1980s, when they briefly went on tour. So I think this promo photo dates from that time. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program. Also, the background was just blank white. So I took some artwork of the pyramids from one of their album covers and put that in the background to make things look a little more interesting.

Monday, May 18, 2026

Frank Zappa - 1971-1988 Strictly Commercial Live (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Guest poster Mike Solof has been busily slaving away in the salt mines, coming up with more albums to post at this blog. In particular, he's got a big Beatles project coming that hopefully will knock your socks off. Unfortunately, I've fallen behind getting some things ready to post, but hopefully I'll catch up soon. For this album, he came up with the idea of collecting live versions of all the songs on the Frank Zappa best of collection "Strictly Commercial."

I'll leave most of the explaining to Mike, in his PDF notes included in the download zip. But Zappa was well known for his lead guitar playing, and he's able to stretch some songs out here. For instance, the official album is about an hour and 17 minutes long, whereas this is almost two hours long. A lot of the difference there is with "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow." The official album has the three minute long single version, but this is a 20-minute-long live version of the entire suite. 

As is Mike's style, he's included a gapless single file of the album in the download zip, for those who prefer to hear it that way.

By the way, all the songs here feature Frank Zappa, except for one. His only Top Forty hit in the U.S. was "Valley Girl," in 1982. But that featured his daughter Moon Unit Zappa on lead vocals instead of him, and she was only 14 years old at the time. So it turns out he never performed the song before dying in 1993. But, much later, in 2010, his children Dweezil and Moon Unit performed the song in concert just once. So that's the version included here. But note the sound quality is a bit rough on that compared to everything else. It's one of only two unreleased versions (along with "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace)." All the others were chosen from the many dozens of official live albums.

This album is an hour and 56 minutes long. 

01 Peaches en Regalia (Frank Zappa)
02 Don't Eat the Yellow Snow (Frank Zappa)
03 Dancin' Fool (Frank Zappa)
04 San Ber'dino (Frank Zappa)
05 Let's Make the Water Turn Black (Frank Zappa)
06 Dirty Love (Frank Zappa)
07 My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama (Frank Zappa)
08 Cosmik Debris (Frank Zappa)
09 Trouble Every Day (Frank Zappa)
10 Disco Boy (Frank Zappa)
11 Bobby Brown Goes Down (Frank Zappa)
12 I'm the Slime (Frank Zappa)
13 Joe's Garage (Frank Zappa)
14 Fine Girl (Frank Zappa)
15 Planet of the Baritone Women (Frank Zappa)
16 Sexual Harassment in the Workplace [Instrumental] (Frank Zappa)
17 Tell Me You Love Me (Frank Zappa)
18 Montana (Frank Zappa)
19 Be in My Video (Frank Zappa)
20 Valley Girl (Dweezil Zappa & Moon Unit Zappa)
21 Who Are the Brain Police (Frank Zappa)
22 Muffin Man [Extra Guitar Mix] (Frank Zappa) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/424ohU9v 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/WWM2Cx8sAJ0funq/file

The cover art is by Greg Joens. The original version was in black and white. I colorized it (because I hate black and white covers) with the use of the Kolorize program.

Tuesday, March 24, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Bonus Volume: Foriegn Language Versions, 1964-1967 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the finale for guest poster Mike Solof's collection of all the songs Dionne Warwick sang that were written by Hal David and/or Burt Bacharach. This is a bonus volume. That's because, while Mike was putting his collection together, he noticed that Warwick sang a number of Bacharach-David songs in foreign languages. There weren't a lot, but it's enough for a short album. 

Everything here is from 1964 to 1967. She sang three songs in French, then two songs in German, and finally four songs in Italian. All were released as singles in those countries. So this is an interesting curiosity, especially if you speak any of those languages.

This album is 28 minutes long. 

01 Un Toit ne Suffit Pas [A House Is Not a Home] [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
02 Reach Out for Me [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
03 How Many Days of Sadness [French Version] (Dionne Warwick)
04 You'll Never Get to Heaven [If You Break My Heart] [German Version] (Dionne Warwick)
05 Walk On By [German Version] (Dionne Warwick)
06 A House Is Not a Home [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
07 The Windows of the World [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
08 Walk Little Dolly [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)
09 Walk On By [Italian Version] (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/bD6LzqHD

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/Mcve2ptBTCaZJi9/file

The cover photo was taken near the Nice Jazz Festival in Nice, France, on July 11, 1987. Since this is a foreign language version album, we wanted a photo of her in one of the foreign countries here, though unfortunately you totally can't tell that from the photo.

Saturday, March 21, 2026

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.

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 6: 1972-1985 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Things changed drastically for this volume of all the songs written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach and sung by Dionne Warwick. Since the start of Warwick’s hit-making years in 1963, she was signed to Scepter Records. She was their biggest star by far. But in 1971, her contract ended and she signed a new deal with Warner Brothers Records. (Scepter Records went bankrupt a couple of years later.)

For her first album on her new label, released in 1972, all seemed well, because all the songs were written by Bacharach and David. But in 1973, the two songwriters wrote the songs for the movie “Lost Horizon,” without Warwick’s involvement. This turned out to be a disaster. The movie was a flop and so was the soundtrack. But worst of all, Bacharach and David had a falling out during the making of the soundtrack. They wouldn’t write songs together for many years, and both of them had much less success without the other one. To make matters worse, Warwick’s new record company expected her to have most of her songs written by Bacharach and David. When that couldn’t happen anymore, that resulted in more lawsuits, including Warwick suing the songwriting duo.

Decades later, Bacharach wrote about this dispute in his autobiography: "It was all my fault, and I can't imagine how many great songs I could have written with Hal in the years we were apart. So I now know that on every level, it was a very bad mistake." But at other times, he suggested that both he and David were somewhat creatively exhausted, so they probably wouldn't have been able to keep their streak of hit songs going much longer anyway. That can be seen by the fact that the two of them had wrote very few hits for most of the rest of the 1970s. 

The first seven songs are from 1972. The eighth song, "One Less Bell to Answer," is from 1977, but was written in the 1960s. The Fifth Dimension had a hit with it in 1970. Warwick didn’t have much success without Bacharach and David for most of the 1970s, but she resumed having hits in 1979. 

In 1985, she resumed performing some songs written by Bacharach, but not David, since Bacharach and David wouldn’t reconcile until later. Instead, Bacharach was cowriting songs with Carole Bayer Sager at the time. The rest of the songs here are written by those two, from 1985. One of those songs,”That’s What Friends Are For,” was a massive hit, helped by Warwick being joined by some other big stars. Not only did it reach Number One in the U.S., it was the biggest selling song in 1986. 

Warwick had this to say about working with Bacharach again in 1985: "We realized we were more than just friends. We were family. Time has a way of giving people the opportunity to grow and understand... Working with Burt is not a bit different from how it used to be. He expects me to deliver and I can. He knows what I'm going to do before I do it, and the same with me. That's how intertwined we've been."

This album is 55 minutes long.

078 Be Aware (Dionne Warwick)
079 [They Long to Be] Close to You (Dionne Warwick)
080 Hasbrook Heights (Dionne Warwick)
081 I Just Have to Breathe (Dionne Warwick)
082 If You Never Say Goodbye (Dionne Warwick)
083 The Balance of Nature (Dionne Warwick)
084 One Less Bell to Answer (Dionne Warwick)
085 Early Morning Strangers (Dionne Warwick)
086 That's What Friends Are For (Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)
087 Extravagant Gestures (Dionne Warwick)
088 Finder of Lost Loves (Dionne Warwick)
089 How Long (Dionne Warwick)
090 Stay Devoted (Dionne Warwick)
091 Stronger than Before (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ku4tY3Qr

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/msqzMLVw1J3DQje/file

The cover photo shows her at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, on February 9, 1972.

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 5: 1969-1970 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here’s another album of Dionne Warwick singing all the songs written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Once again, thanks to Mike Solof for putting these albums together.

Warwick, David, and Bacharach had a great thing going from about 1963 until 1970. They had hit after hit after hit. The end of this album marks the end of that golden era. The three of them would still collaborate together, but much more intermittently. There are two more volumes dealing with those later years.

This album is 53 minutes long.

061 I'll Never Fall in Love Again (Dionne Warwick)
062 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head (Dionne Warwick)
063 Dream Sweet Dreamer (Dionne Warwick)
064 Knowing When to Leave (Dionne Warwick)
065 Let Me Go to Him (Dionne Warwick)
066 Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets (Dionne Warwick)
067 Paper Mache (Dionne Warwick)
068 The Wine Is Young (Dionne Warwick)
069 Check Out Time (Dionne Warwick)
070 Make It Easy on Yourself (Dionne Warwick)
071 The Green Grass Starts to Grow (Dionne Warwick)
072 The Very First Person I Met [In California] (Dionne Warwick)
073 They Don't Give Medals to Yesterday's Heroes (Dionne Warwick)
074 Walk the Way You Talk (Dionne Warwick)
075 The Look of Love (Dionne Warwick)
076 Who Gets the Guy (Dionne Warwick)
077 Only Love Can Break a Heart (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/nMDebKmr

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/4j7hPKMNNw5COdY/file

The cover photo shows her on the Engelbert Humperdinck TV Show some time in 1969. 

Friday, March 13, 2026

Dionne Warwick - Dionne, Burt and Hal: The Definitive Songbook, Volume 4: 1968 (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

I am posting this while waiting in an airport for a flight inside Peru. So far, my vacation is going great after a rough start getting here. This is another volume of Dionne Warwick singing songs written by Hal David and/ or Burt Bacharach. At this point, their songwriting partnership was going strong and they were still writing all their songs together.

Thanks again to guest poster Mike Solof for putting these albums together.

This album is 45 minutes long.

048 As Long as There's an Apple Tree [Extended Version] (Dionne Warwick)
049 Do You Know the Way to San Jose (Dionne Warwick)
050 Let Me Be Lonely (Dionne Warwick)
051 Odds and Ends (Dionne Warwick)
052 Promises, Promises (Dionne Warwick)
053 The April Fools (Dionne Warwick)
054 Reach Out and Touch - All Kinds of People (Dionne Warwick)
055 This Girl's in Love with You (Dionne Warwick)
056 Wanting Things (Dionne Warwick)
057 Where Would I Go (Dionne Warwick)
058 Who Is Gonna Love Me (Dionne Warwick)
059 Whoever You Are, I Love You (Dionne Warwick)
060 Walkin' Backwards Down the Road (Dionne Warwick)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/PQUwnfKQ

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/VBcAZtk0uWxyYgh/file

The cover photo shows her on an unknown TV show in London, in 1968.