BY MIKEY MIGO
It's out there. It may be locked in a safe, on a shelf or decomposing in a trash yard somewhere but some of the most loved, respected, and acclaimed artists of all time have abandoned projects that have never seen the light of day. For whatever reason, these songs or even albums were left to the wayside and never heard denying the ears of their fans more music.
The most common case of this is sadly death. When an artist dies in their creative prime and while recording there's a great chance there are unreleased b-sides or even an unreleased album or two that was never released. Of course we do see a lot of posthumous releases. 2Pac and Biggie have released like three times as many albums in the afterlife than while alive. Some of the stuff was legitimate finished products and some stuff was remixed or reworked for more financial gain, but this is a prime example of how unreleased work can be in high demand. There is no creative crime in this. Life is something that a release date can't control. Beatles did it with "Free as a Bird", Nirvana with "You Know You're Right", and many respectable others have given us the last drops of noise they created. But still, there's more! There is some work out there that would have been a great experience for music fans. Pink Floyd was to release "Household Objects" as their follow up to "Darkside of the Moon". I don't know what drugs they were on, but I'm sure they were involved, as the entire album was to be recorded of them using homemade instruments made out of random items like cardboard and rubber bands. They snapped out of this crazy idea and moved on to something a little more feasible. None of this was ever heard. In the history of music there are tons of stories like this.
These projects or at least what was finished of them might see the light of day once those in control of the property sees fit. We don't know the reasons and we should respect the artist memory and intended vision. Still, the greedy ears of the diehard fans would love to have a crack at these unheard gems.
Then there are the Hannibal Lector types that savagely deny us the experience of listening to their work. The bands and artists that are still out there right now releasing albums have held back on is. Maybe the band didn't like it, couldn't agree on it, or just have a built up vault of work in wait of the apocalypse. If it sucked, it sucked. So what? These are artists that can easily live on with million album sales if one album flops. It's denying the fans of a piece of the evolution of the band. If you're that hesitant about sharing your art, remember that art is subjective to begin with. Obviously at one point there was inspiration for the work, why not share it. Enough of my soap boxing. Let's take a look at some of the currently active artists that have withheld musical experience from us…
THE ARTIST: U2
THE HOLD-BACK: The Rick Rubin version of "No Line on the Horizon"
I'm a big fan of U2's latest album. It's easily their best since "All That You Can't…" and it may even be better than that one. U2, even at their worse, is still better than 95% of artists of the same genre. Yeah, that's right. I'm saying the "Pop Mart" stuff was good. It's different, but good. While it might not be on the epic level as other U2 albums I'd rather have it in my collection than not. So this irks me. In 2006, the band began writing and recording "No Line on the Horizon" with iconic producer Rick Rubin at the Abbey Road Studio. Rubin and the band respectfully split ways as they had different visions. There was still material written and recorded though. Rubin's idea was for a more stripped down "back to basics" style which sounds cool. Even if it wasn't done they could have put it on an EP or something.
THE ARTIST: Green Day
THE HOLD-BACK: "Cigarettes and Valentines"
In 2003, Green Day recorded twenty new tracks for their follow up to "Warning". Somehow the master tapes were stolen from the studio. This resulted in the band being so upset they decided not to recreate that album, but rather top it. This album ended up being their super hit "American Idiot". At the time the band was having personal issues and the "stolen album" was rumored to be and denied that it was released under a fake band name. I just have a hard time being convinced that these masters were up and stolen from the studio. I could almost bite the bait if it were a lesser famed band, but this is Green Day. Are you telling me there are not security guards AND cameras at their chosen studio? I'm leaning towards the idea that the album wasn't up to their standards and they just either scrapped it for parts or put it under the bed somewhere. The creative leap from "Warning" to "American Idiot" is just too drastic for there not to be something hidden in between.
THE ARTIST: Guns N' Roses
THE HOLD-BACK: Chinese Democracy
Joke to use before 2010.
THE ARTIST: Zack De La Rocha
THE HOLD-BACK: Post-RAGE Solo Material
Once Rage Against The Machine broke up, the band went the "Audioslave" route while Zack pretty much did nothing. Most people I knew at the time were in pretty big anticipation for the De La Rocha solo stuff, but it never really came. Outside of a few guest appearances and one track on a "Fahrenheit 9/11" inspired soundtrack, there hasn't really been any of this material released. All we know is that he and Trent Reznor had worked on about twenty tracks and that he worked with the likes of DJ Shadow, EL-P, and The Root's Questlove on tracks. It's a little bit of a bummer to know this is sitting somewhere and not in my own collection. While it may not have been on par with his RAGE work, I'm sure it's with tons of merit and rockness. I'm sure the pressure of creating a personal identity after that much time and success with the band was high, but it's a in the least a step towards something more defining. De La Rocha's voice is strong enough to carry even the worse of albums so I don't see why this potentially awesome work hasn't seen light.
THE ARTIST: Prince
THE HOLD-BACK: Apparently, a lot.
It's always been known that Prince is constantly creating music and has some unreleased music that he's not yet put out. But from the story filmmaker Kevin Smith told in one of his "Evening With" DVDs Prince has an entire vault of unreleased albums, yes ALBUMS and a few dozen, yes DOZENS of music videos just sitting there. I'm sure there's some gems hidden in there. I suppose it's easy to have this kind of surplus when you're entire home is wired to record audio. So, I'm pretty sure that at least one of these hidden gems was recorded while Prince was taking a dump. That's some shit I'd like to hear.
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