The Great Lost Albums

I'd nominate the Walkabouts' Satisfied Mind, but I would.

(I know Rob M and esoj know the latter, but still...)

Looking at the question again, wasn't this kind of like "102 Beats That" anyway? My answer for a forgotten but loved album would probably have to be "Unholy soul" by the Orchids, for being poptastic, dreamy, melodic, everything a GOOD guitar pop record should be, only without sales or kudos. One day, you will all realise how wonderful the Orchids were...

And Dion's Spector produced "Born To be With You". Though to be fair it was in Mojo's Buried Treasure section a while ago and has so been reissued on CD.

M

Ooh yes, fabulous albums. Whatever did happen to ROC, I wonder. I can't believe they didn't get the recognition that was awarded to, say, Saint Etienne and Belle & Sebastian. Both of whose 'perfect [summery] pop' niche ROC slotted nicely into.

And: Cindy Dall's eponymous/un-named album from about '97. Sweet, haunting/haunted, spectral music. Floating on air and barely there but supremely moving. A dropped jigsaw piece.
I don't even have it myself anymore, my copy was stolen. Gah.

Also, Hair and Skin Trading Company put out some pretty great albums in the early 90s - they are (I believe) the rhythm section from Loop, and their sound is more texturally and melodically varied than Loop's - which, when looked at from one perspective, is something of a loss, but actually comes across really well on record.

Eleventh Dream Day-Beet. Jumped ship to Atlantic in 1989, way before everybody was crying sellout. I was worried it was gonna suck, boy was I wrong,eventually they went back to the indies. Hard to locate at least in my neck of the woods but well worht the hunt.

That they were. Only really got around to actively liking them fairly recently.

and not sure how a band on sarah is lost with that built in fanbase, but yeah, again, even as we speak released one of the most perfect pop albums ever anxious to hear the radio sessions cd that is surely due soon?

don't have suggestions of my own, maybe the rodney allen lp which is the best teen angst record ever but likely to remain out of my reach forever(well i have a third or fourth generation tape not put to cd).

Not groundbreaking albums exactly, but both a cut above the morass of post-Pixies college rock of the time.

Mathhew Fisher's first delightful solo album from 1971 or soemthing.

Folk jazz rock country blues children's music, or something. And Elvin Jones is on it! Just reissued on CD.

Cassette-only concept album detailing a day of barrell-scraping songwriting to fulfill a contractual obligation.

May not be obscure, but really does deserve to be top of any canon.

So he looked like Charles Manson. What kind of reason is that to not have sold well?

Yes - I don't think they have ever been on CD. I guess it's too much to expect remastered, expanded editions from Polydor, but you'd expect that someone there would have the wit to put out a budget-priced best of called 'In Love With A German Filmstar' or something equally imaginitive. M&M is probably in my top 30 albums ever, should I ever get round to writing a list.

Which band has the most lost albums? Seems like it has to be the Beach Boys, if you count various solo projects. Dennis Wilson's unreleased album. Smile. Didn't Brian record one in the 80s that was never released? And they had another one in the 70s that never came out too right?

I was thinking of a different kind of lost album I guess, should have started a new thread.

The Gurus - The Gurus Are Here

Thank you, Sundazed!!

I think Munich Machine by Hell is one of the best electronic albums of the 90s, electro/house with a dark and seedy, almost desperate vibe, but based on the thread I started about it, few people have heard it:

Hell: Munich Machine

Dusted Reviews, 04.30.10, and OTM:

(Chris Bell's) I Am The Cosmos is one of the two or three greatest "lost albums" in the history of rock and roll

Limp Bizkit's elusive 'Panty Sniffer' and Space's 'Love You More Than Football'

still haven't gotten the new I Am The Cosmos -- can't quite bring myself to spend the $$$$. Anyone want to say it's the greatest thing ever and totally worth it? I have the Ryko version.

VU was 'lost' till it was released around 1985

Child Rebel Soldiers : Kanye, Pharrell & Lupe Fiasco.

Both Us Placers and Don’t Stop were very promising.

All of them were at the top of their game in 2007 too.

Juliana Hatfield’s God’s Foot. Legitimately insane that her label rejected it. I hope it can get a legitimate, properly mastered release one day

the magical world of the strands

The Great Lost Kinks Album is worth seeking out, though several tracks are very minor, but "The Way Love Used To Be" is amazing, and the whole thing is a Kinks way of life, around and in the corners. Occasionally I remember thinking of rounding up my own Great Losts like this, incl. stray b-sides, soundtrack bits--ibut this guy actually does it, and this is the one I started with: http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2016/07/buffalo-springfield-stampede.html
He's an opinoinated cuss, but stay with him and he'll tell you just why he chose each track, also about audio choices (sometimes upgrading both, dropping one track for another for more unified effect of a certain kind etc., also tweaking the stereo etc.) (Scroll down right rail to see artists, listed alphabetically by first name, or B for Buffalo Springfield.)
Links for Buffalo Springfield's Stampede, Captain Beefheart's It Comes To You In A Plain Brown Wrapper, Bob Dylan's Medicine Sunday, the Garcia-proposed, Dylan-rejected version of Dylan and the Dead, and 2017 upgrade of Syd-era Pink Floyd gathering The Shape of Questions To Heaven all work, and I checked for viruses etc.
However, the other two Syd Floyds in this trilogy, Themes From An Imaginary Western and Vantage Pointhad some kind of bait-and-switch-looking links, so didn't do those.
No idea about any other Albums That Never Were; he's done a bunch.

Oh yeah, also good link for the United States of America set, which he titles Gifts and Creatures: For my re-imagining, we will use the core of The American Metaphysical Circus, but patch in the original United States of America recording of “You Can Never Come Down”, the three Moskowitz-led United States of America recordings from 1968 and two outtakes from the self-titled 1967 sessions in order to make it a more appropriate follow-up that will almost solely feature lead vocals by either Dorothy or Joseph. Sources are simply the 1996 One Way Records remaster of The American Metaphysical Circus and the 2004 Sundazed remaster of The United States of America, the later featuring a number of the required bonus tracks for this reimagining. We will call the album Gifts and Creatures, the original, intended title of The American Metaphysical Circus, with cover art featuring imagery from The United States of America’s live shows in 1968.

The Great Lost Kinks Album was the lost album for me when I was in high school, so lost that I never managed to get a copy. In recent years have finally listened to a playlist of it. "The Way Love Used to Be" is on the Percy soundtrack I guess, which also has the great "God's Children" which I was first exposed to on a MOJO film music CD.

Oh yeah, a playlist, hadn't thought of that. Which service has 'em all? Wiki has backstory and even indicates which track came out on which subsequent comp (apparently all or have been in catalogue since TGLKA was deleted in '75, per Ray's lawyers):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Lost_Kinks_Album

I should put together a Wanna Buy A Bridge? playlist, Dan Selzer has told the story on ilx threads of his getting the licensing for all tracks but one---fell though at the last second---so no dice.

Which service has 'em all?
Which service do you have?

Seems like there is an official Rough Trade Wanna Buy A Bridge? playlist on Spotify.

Then there is one on Apple Music as well, with the same track order as the Wikipedia page.

And Dan S’s track order, with two songs added.

Can't tell you how often I heard "Alternative Ulster" on the Downtown Beirut jukebox but still don't know the proper lyrics. Trying to avoid clicking on any lyrics button right now.

Probably heard it even more than Lulu singing "The Boat That I Row," which interweb just told me was written by Neil Diamond.

Currently I just listen to YouTube Music (and Bandcamp, but they wouldn't have Great Lost Kinks or Wanna Buy A Bridge? playlists, I assume).

They might

Great deconstructionist site Dow, tons of stuff to delve into!

YouTube has both. xp

https://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/typicalgirls/2006-February/000749.html

The initial hold-up was Warner's control of We are All Prostitutes, though I think there may have been some issues with the Robert Wyatt as well.

Everything else was more or less going to be licensed from the original artists who owned the rights or the small labels who did.

Geoff Travis gave me the "ok".

I met Nikki Sudden after his show when he came to NY, he was going to help me with liner notes and getting in touch with the Raincoats. Then he died later that night.

I kinda lost steam after that. I did consider an "alternate" Wanna Buy a Bridge with a dozen totally different early Rough Trade tracks, instead of just tacking on my expanded version.