Music that cannot be found

[Phil_A]

What are some genuinely "lost" pieces of music that you are aware of? As in, can't be bought from the usual places and/or isn't shared online in any form? I've had a few of these on my wishlist over the years but they surprisingly still never come to light, even in an age where every form of media is up for grabs.

Position Normal - Part Of The Bugger Sod Empire
10" EP released prior to their first proper album, for years I wondered if this was just a hoax as it was so hard to find.

Patrick Duff - Seven Sermons Of The Dead
I've followed Patrick's post-Strangelove career as best as I can over the years, unfortunately he doesn't seem to have a publicist or any consistent method of releasing his albums - they're all over the shop. There's one that was a major label release on EMI, one single on Bandcamp, one self-released and sold through his website that no longer exists, another album sold exclusively on some completely random platform you've never heard of. This one is the most obscure and intriguing of all, it was apparently a 2CD experimental piece incorporating a full choir, Tibetan singing bowls and Dave Francolini from Levitation. Apparently it was released in 2013 but through what means it is honestly impossible to say. I assume it was sold direct through his site when it was still up, but the entry for it on discogs lists a record label that doesn't seem to exist. In any case it doesn't seem to be available now in any form, physical or digital.

Trunky Holiday - 12 Golden Spanners/More Noise Than Work
These were apparently a bunch of arty reprobates based at Portsmouth Poly in the mid-eighties. They definitely existed as there are a couple of extremely manky 16mm videos of the band on youtube, as well as some footage shot in Germany years later with an entirely different line-up - but the existence of the two cassette albums they apparently made is somewhat questionable. Given the nature of the D.I.Y. scene of the time, I have a suspicion that unless you happened to be there and were able to ask for copy direct from the band, you are probably never going to hear what those actually sounded like. Nonetheless, I would love to hear them, somehow.

[Famous Mortimer]

Probably not affecting your search results, but it's "Seven Sermons To The Dead".

[JesusAndYourBush]

This was a tape I copied from a school friend who knew the band.  I put it online because copies of it are probably pretty scarce.  If any of them went on to something bigger it's the the sort of thing that'd be sought after, but if they didn't then nobody would give a crap.  I uploaded it anyway.

Terpsichorean Muse - "Hymn & Me" (1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8enDjBBaT68

[alan nagsworth]

Four really groovy little chiptune-ish dance tunes that Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs has on his MySpace before he got more successful as a proper house music musician. I'd fucking love to hear those tunes again.

Also an industrial hardcore tune by Sickboy called "McFly Ain't Chicken" that sampled dialogue from Back To The Future. I think that was also a MySpace rip. Gone but not forgotten.

[popcorn]

Sorry for saying what might be patronising and obvious, but has everyone tried Soulseek for their long-lost music things? I only started using it recently and was amazed at what I could get hold of. I even pirated some stuff for a friend who had bought a vinyl player with mp3 conversion ability to rip a bonus track off something he absolutely could not find anywhere online. Saved him a job.

[Head Gardener]

The Beatles/McCartney's Carnival of Light is still unreleased after 52 years

[chveik]

Sorry for saying what might be patronising and obvious, but has everyone tried Soulseek for their long-lost music things? I only started using it recently and was amazed at what I could get hold of. I even pirated some stuff for a friend who had bought a vinyl player with mp3 conversion ability to rip a bonus track off something he absolutely could not find anywhere online. Saved him a job.

aye, it's wonderful. found Fushitsusha's Black Box and loads of other stuff unavailable everywhere. it's particularly useful if you're looking for bootlegs.

[Brundle-Fly]

What are some genuinely "lost" pieces of music that you are aware of? As in, can't be bought from the usual places and/or isn't shared online in any form? I've had a few of these on my wishlist over the years but they surprisingly still never come to light, even in an age where every form of media is up for grabs.

Position Normal - Part Of The Bugger Sod Empire
10" EP released prior to their first proper album, for years I wondered if this was just a hoax as it was so hard to find.

I've got the Buggersod 7" single if that helps? It was sold to me by Buggersod himself who used to work in the long-gone Rough Trade basement shop in Covent Garden.

[Brundle-Fly]

The Piranhas only released one album with the two hits but they did actually record a follow-up album. The record company didn't like their new more serious direction and shelved it. Someone I know who's heard it says it sounds like Talking Heads, if they had come from Goring-by-Sea.  The guitarist left to join Marillion and the band split soon after.

[NoSleep]

I was going to say Mother by Gilli Smyth, which only existed in the form of terrible vinyl rips to low grade mp3s for many years, but I'm happy to say that now I've found it was reissued 3 years back (and is on its way to me as I write).

To me Mother is like a companion album to Daevid Allen's Now Is The Happiest Time Of Your Life (both issued around the same period) and I hold them in equal esteem.

[rasta-spouse]

I'm having difficulty finding anything by the Abominable Snowmen/Abdominal Showmen/Abominable Showmen. I have no idea what the proper name is. Heard them on a Munnery Resonance show maybe 15 years ago.

A sort of Glaswegian funk/rap outfit with a song that had 'Guantanamo Bay' in the lyrics. Only heard that one song, liked it a lot, can't seem to find much trace of it. Singer had a strong accent.

[RicoMNKN]

I really liked the three singles the romo band Boutique put out.  According to the comments on Youtube for one of them "the album was indeed recorded, but I've never heard it.  No idea if they'd be able to make it available somehow - as it was done for a major, I guess the rights could be held in perpetuity."

I suspect major labels recording but not releasing pop albums when singles flop is quite common.  Seem to remember Denim and Fierce Girl having the same thing happen to them.

[momatt]

Last time we had this thread I mentioned a rare test press on Mo'Wax by Black Lodge - Hotline.
So rare it may as well doesn't exist.

Then I managed to track down a hand-made CDR of the tune and some other crazy rare tracks.
It's since had a vinyl re-release on Warp records and is even available on Spotify, along with a couple of mnew albums.
Hooray!
https://open.spotify.com/album/3dEhXUidsICko59KA3xuL3

Conclusive proof that God exists and is listening to my incredibly petty and silly requests.
Thanks Big Guy!

Can I have the unreleased Sam Sever solo album (Something for the Head) now please?  Thanks.

[buzby]

Patrick Duff - Seven Sermons Of The Dead
I've followed Patrick's post-Strangelove career as best as I can over the years, unfortunately he doesn't seem to have a publicist or any consistent method of releasing his albums - they're all over the shop. There's one that was a major label release on EMI, one single on Bandcamp, one self-released and sold through his website that no longer exists, another album sold exclusively on some completely random platform you've never heard of. This one is the most obscure and intriguing of all, it was apparently a 2CD experimental piece incorporating a full choir, Tibetan singing bowls and Dave Francolini from Levitation. Apparently it was released in 2013 but through what means it is honestly impossible to say. I assume it was sold direct through his site when it was still up, but the entry for it on discogs lists a record label that doesn't seem to exist. In any case it doesn't seem to be available now in any form, physical or digital.

After his debut on Harvest, he self-released three albums - The Mad Straight Road, recorded with a bunch of Bristol musicians (CD, which came with 6 postcards and could be bought signed), the aforementioned Seven Sermons To The Dead (Double CD) and Visions Of The Underworld (digital release on iTunes, CD and a limited edtion LP/CD box set of 200 copies that came with three postcards, a signed photo of Duff aged 2 and a wax-sealed piece of art made by him).  All of these were available to buy from the shop on his website (here via the Wayback Machine). The full website with the shop went down near the end of 2016 and was replaced by a more basic website, but that had gone too by mid-2017.

The Wayback Machine dump of his site has got the full Archives section where he wrote essays on the creation of each of the albums (the Seven Sermons To The Dead one is here).

The Ambedo Records label that Seven Sermons To The Dead was put out under seems to have been created for that album (Ambedo seems to have been the name of his manager Thomas Brooman's company at one point too, judging by the logo) - it's only other release was a split single with Aberdeen singer/songwriter Craig John Davidson who supported him when he was touring in 2013.

Given they were self-released, you could try contacting him on Twitter or Facebook and seeing if he still has any copies lying around.

[billyandthecloneasaurus]

I've sort of got the opposite of this, in that I have a piece of music I've been unable to identify after 10+ years of asking on forums and googling lyrics.  I downloaded what was supposed to be the youngest was the most loved by Morrissey on limewire but realised some sneaky pranksters had uploaded THIS instead.

https://youtu.be/z2ss7aCw2cY

If it existed solely for this prank, I admire the effort massively.  There's sort of two songs,  and for something incredibly DIY the production values aren't even that awful. And c'mon

rocks rocks motherfreaking rocks,  jesus died for us on the cross, man, that sucks!

are actually some pretty inspired lyrics

[JesusAndYourBush]

There seems to be a Lou Reed parody tacked on the end, so perhaps if you found a Lou Reed forum or some place where you might find a bunch of Lou Reed fans you might find someone who's heard the parody before. (Both parts will be from the same comedy album/show/thing/whatever.)

[Phil_A]

After his debut on Harvest, he self-released three albums - The Mad Straight Road, recorded with a bunch of Bristol musicians (CD, which came with 6 postcards and could be bought signed), the aforementioned Seven Sermons To The Dead (Double CD) and Visions Of The Underworld (digital release on iTunes, CD and a limited edtion LP/CD box set of 200 copies that came with three postcards, a signed photo of Duff aged 2 and a wax-sealed piece of art made by him).  All of these were available to buy from the shop on his website (here via the Wayback Machine). The full website with the shop went down near the end of 2016 and was replaced by a more basic website, but that had gone too by mid-2017.

The Wayback Machine dump of his site has got the full Archives section where he wrote essays on the creation of each of the albums (the Seven Sermons To The Dead one is here).

The Ambedo Records label that Seven Sermons To The Dead was put out under seems to have been created for that album (Ambedo seems to have been the name of his manager Thomas Brooman's company at one point too, judging by the logo) - it's only other release was a split single with Aberdeen singer/songwriter Craig John Davidson who supported him when he was touring in 2013.

Given they were self-released, you could try contacting him on Twitter or Facebook and seeing if he still has any copies lying around.

Thanks Buzby, did you know he had another album which came about a year ago? I'd heard nothing about it whatsoever and it was only a chance googling that bought it to light, and then I had to check it was definitely the same Patrick Duff, as the cover and blurb don't give much away. It seems to be sold exclusively through some indie site called Environmental Studies.

https://www.musicglue.com/environmental-studies/products/patrick-duff-leaving-my-fathers-house-limited-lp

Seems like he could do with a new manager or something as his stuff seems to come out with no fanfare and passes by with no attention at all.

[buzby]

Thanks Buzby, did you know he had another album which came about a year ago? I'd heard nothing about it whatsoever and it was only a chance googling that bought it to light, and then I had to check it was definitely the same Patrick Duff, as the cover and blurb don't give much away. It seems to be sold exclusively through some indie site called Environmental Studies.

https://www.musicglue.com/environmental-studies/products/patrick-duff-leaving-my-fathers-house-limited-lp

Seems like he could do with a new manager or something as his stuff seems to come out with no fanfare and passes by with no attention at all.

Yes, Environmental Studies is a Bristol-based 'micro-indie' label run by local promoter Paul Horlick, so it makes sense from a geographic perspective for Duff to release music through them. The label also put out the first releases from Julian Cope's Dope project (before it moved to Head Heritage). Music Glue is an online distributor for loads of smaller indies and artists doing self-releases (sort of like a UK version of Bandcamp) - I bought my copy of TVAM's Psychic Data album through them.

[Roy*Mallard]

I was going to say Mother by Gilli Smyth, which only existed in the form of terrible vinyl rips to low grade mp3s for many years, but I'm happy to say that now I've found it was reissued 3 years back (and is on its way to me as I write).

To me Mother is like a companion album to Daevid Allen's Now Is The Happiest Time Of Your Life (both issued around the same period) and I hold them in equal esteem.

Wonderful album. One of the best from the Gong family.

It'd been on cd at least twice before the recent reissue (3.99 on Am'zon right, now too). Firstly on Spalax, who released a lot of Krautrock stuff and a Japanese mini LP sleeve cd release from about 10 years ago. I've got 2 copies of the LP (including a white label promo, same with Daevid Allen's 'N'existe Pas', another legendary album), the Spalax release and the Japanese cd. Just don't have the recent reissue. 

[NoSleep]

I'm not sure how I missed those earlier reissues; it wasn't for lack of searching.

[sardines]

The mention of Fushitsusha above reminds me that Keiji Haino has been doing dj sets the past few years.
Some have apparently even been released on a Japanese label.
Yet the usual places come up empty.

[Kalabi]

Back in the 90s a mate had taped one of those late night channel 4 shows that had videos for dance tracks, it wasn't The Trip and I don't thin it was Mirrorball, but anyway, the track as I remember it was a kind of break beat / drum n bass type track with a trippy cgi video flying through a kind of cyber human body, ending in the ear I think. The track was called "A Fragment of the Body" and was by Target (wobbly memory on this as well however).

We used to enjoy watching it when a bit stoned, but I've never been able to track the song down, might end up having to rip it off the original vhs tape.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've sort of got the opposite of this, in that I have a piece of music I've been unable to identify after 10+ years of asking on forums and googling lyrics.  I downloaded what was supposed to be the youngest was the most loved by Morrissey on limewire but realised some sneaky pranksters had uploaded THIS instead.

https://youtu.be/z2ss7aCw2cY

If it existed solely for this prank, I admire the effort massively.  There's sort of two songs,  and for something incredibly DIY the production values aren't even that awful. And c'mon

rocks rocks motherfreaking rocks,  jesus died for us on the cross, man, that sucks!

are actually some pretty inspired lyrics

Gah, that really reminds me of someone, but I can't put my finger on who. But now this will haunt me for years too. So thanks for that!

[lazyhour]

Earl Brutus's 3rd album "20 Brutus Greats". All recorded apparently.

[Chriddof]

Gah, that really reminds me of someone, but I can't put my finger on who. But now this will haunt me for years too. So thanks for that!

If you're talking about the second song, I'm thinking it's a lot like Pavement (but with a saxophone or something). In fact it's more Pavement than Lou Reed to my ears, although there is a touch of Lou in the vocals.

[Famous Mortimer]

Maybe try the ASpecialThing forums? It's probably American, so maybe someone there knows an obscure musical comedy group?