Albums that never were are, in most cases, shrouded in clouds of mystique, through time become things of legend, and often even urban ones. Of course, the most well-known in that respect is the originally announced but never released in its intended form, Smile by the Beach Boys, an album that to this day has the largest legend behind it and countless bootleg variations by awaiting fans.
Its original mastermind, Brian Wilson, had his version of the album decades later, and the band released the found tapes from the archives as such, but the album itself never came out under the band’s name.
Almost every big name in modern music has at least one such album under their belt (or somewhere in the archives), Neil Young is notorious for abandoning projects and then coming back to them, Bruce Springsteen also seems to be too, his latest box set of unreleased albums is proof enough, and so was Prince, Frank Zappa, the list goes on.
These 18 unreleased albums could have been massive hits
The reasons for some albums never seeing the light of day can vary from serious to ridiculous. There could be creative differences among the artists involved, labels could change their minds, there could be personal problems and challenges, technical issues, musical trends could change, legal issues could crop up, or, simply, the recording artists were striving for perfectionism or had a sudden change of heart.
Whatever the case may be, along with some of the albums we previously talked about, the following 18 didn’t originally see the light of day, but definitely should have, even though some of them cropped up or will so, in some shape or form, later on.
Beatles - Carnival Of Light (1967)
You think rave is a relatively new thing? Well, not really, as this slice of unreleased music by the Beatles (some also call it Unreleased) was commissioned for one such rave (Million Volt Light and Sound Rave), an event held at the famous Roundhouse in London in the winter of 1967.
This 14-minute piece (an extended EP?) recorded at the same time as “Penny Lane” sessions, is a full-on experiment with echo all over the instruments and vocals. McCartney still has the tapes, but the official release is not in sight. Yet.
Velvet Underground – 1969
Velvet Underground did release an album in 1969, the self-titled one, and they do have a live album under the 1969 title, a great one at that. The thing, though, is that they recorded quite a bit of studio material the same year that never got an official release until later (or in a different shape and form) within a proper album as such and that includes songs such as “Stephanie Says,” “Ocean,” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll.”
Jimi Hendrix – Black Gold (1970)
Hendrix’s untimely death left behind a slew of unreleased and often unfinished music in the archives, which was being released over the decades in all shapes and forms. The die-hard fans (and who isn’t?) are aware that there is an unreleased piece of Hendrix music titled Black Gold suite.
It seems that Jimi's original intention was to release it as a concept album based on events from his life, and it was to be accompanied by a superhero cartoon/comic book. The original acoustic direct-to-tape recordings ended up with Hendrix's original drummer, Mitch Mitchell, and then the Hendrix estate, but no release is in sight yet.
Jeff Beck - The Motown Album (1970)
As the seventies began, Jeff Beck was in a sort of limbo. To overcome it, and as a big fan, Beck went to Detroit to record an album at Motown Records. The sessions came up with nine or ten tracks, and Beck noted in an interview that it was supposed to be all instrumentals written and produced by Motown’s Holland-Dozier-Holland.
It seems the sessions went awry and were never really completed, with the recorded material still lying somewhere in the archives.
Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young – Human Highway (1973)
The masterpiece that was Deja Vu (1970), also produced tensions between the big ego's that always existed within C,S,N & Y. Human Highway sessions took place in 1973, but the bickering among the band got to a point that even most of the material for the album was recorded, it never got released as such, with most songs ending up on different joint or solo projects by the band members, Neil Young’s “Comes A Time” being a more prominent one.
Pink Floyd – Household Objects (1974)
With the psych/prog pop of Dark Side Of The Moon, turning into one of rock's classics and best-selling albums of all time, Gilmour, Waters, and co. thought it might be time to go back to the early avant-psych days and do something completely different - recording an album where the instruments would be exchanged for the stuff from the intended album title - household objects.
The project was never finished in its intended form, with pieces/snippets ending up on Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here reissues.
David Bowie – The Gouster (1975)
Back in 1974, during a break in the U.S. leg of his Diamond Dogs tour, Bowie went into Philadelphia's Sigma Sound, with sessions stretching into the following year. And it was all Bowie's take on soul music, including the original version of “Fame" that included John Lennon.
The album was to have seven songs, and the sessions were completed, but at some point, Bowie changed his mind, and the album and some of the original songs were transformed into the Young Americans album. Versions of the original The Gouster are circling the internet these days.
Paul McCartney – Hot Hitz / Cold Cuts (1975/1981/Late ’80s)
At one point in the mid-seventies, McCartney got the idea to collect non-album singles and outtakes, both from solo and Wings albums. At the time, though, his then-label was not interested. McCartney revived the ideas in the early eighties, and then abandoned them himself by the end of the same decade.
Since it was a case of loose songs, some of which appeared elsewhere on McCartney’s later albums, the album as such never materialized and probably never will.
Beach Boys - Adult/Child (1977)
After a hiatus of a few years and a revived interest in the band, the Beach Boys returned with the Love You album, recorded in 1976 and released in 1977. They immediately set to record their next project, Adult/Child, produced by Brian Wilson with orchestral arrangements by Dick Reynolds.
It was to include unreleased tracks from their mid-phase albums Sunflower and Surf's Up. The three Wilson brothers were all enthusiastic about the project, but it seems Mike Love and Al Jardine were not so much, so the project was shelved.
Joy Division - Warsaw (1978)
The original debut by Joy Division was to have the above title and was to be released by RCA. The band recorded 11 tracks, but neither of the two sides was satisfied because the band didn’t like the production sound, and RCA wasn’t sure how to handle the album. The tapes ended up with Joy Division's manager and were later a subject of quite a few bootlegs.
Marvin Gaye – Love Man (1979)
By 1979, Gaye’s career was in the doldrums, with his previous album Here, My Dear being undeservedly ignored at the time. With disco at its height of popularity, Gaye decided that he wanted to show all the artists doing the genre how it should be done. The album was completed, the artwork done, but then, at some point, Gaye decided he didn’t like it, and the whole thing was shelved, with only some of the songs from the album appearing later on in re-worked form.
Bruce Springsteen – Electric Nebraska (Early ’80s)
The all-acoustic Nebraska album is considered an absolute classic to this day, but was only rumors for years of the existence of full band versions of all of the songs on the acoustic albums have, in recent years, been revealed as true.
Springsteen was always an artist who recorded his songs in a few versions, which would often be quite different from one another, with quite a few of his songs never included on any album, as evidenced by his recent box sets of unreleased material. There is talk that the electric version of Nebraska will eventually see the light of day.
Paul McCartney - Return to Pepperland (1981-89)
While McCartney started recording songs for this intended project early on in the eighties, the key focus came up when he recorded two songs with Billy Joel’s producer Phil Ramone in 1986, with Joel’s backup band involved. Later on, McCartney added songs, including the one featured in the intended album title. For some reason, he never released the project, with various bootleg versions of the album circling around.
Prince & The Revolution – Dream Factory (1986)
Prince was one of those artists who had quite a few projects he began, but then never finished or simply abandoned. Dream Factory was a project that was supposed to follow his Parade album, which he then reworked into another that was to be a triple album titled Crystal Ball, finally ending up as a double album masterpiece that was Sign O’ The Times. Since there is so much Prince material in his archives, there is a chance that the original version of Dream Factory might be released.
Brian Wilson - Sweet Insanity (1990)
By this time, abandoned projects that involved the late genius Brian Wilson's versions were becoming something of a regular event. After releasing his self-titled solo debut in 1988, he completed this album for Sire Records, with the involvement of his then-psychologist Eugene Landy, and with guest appearances by both Bob Dylan and Tom Petty.
Two versions of the album were presented to Sire, and both were rejected, as the company didn’t like a supposed rap song called "Smart Girls" with lyrics by Landy, included on both versions of the album that never had their official release.
Roxy Music - Untitled (Mid-‘00s)
Roxy Music reunited at the turn of the century, with a series of excellent concerts, so the band's original lineup, with the addition of former member Eno and original producer Chris Thomas, went into the studios laying down basic sketches of some 15 to 16 songs. At one point, as Phil Manzaner pointed out later, Bryan Ferry said that he had no inspiration to write lyrics for these songs, so they were never completed and are still lying around somewhere.
The Replacements - Reunion Album (Early/Mid-‘10s)
Given their previous shambolic history, it was quite surprising to see serious optimism surrounding the Replacements reunion in the mid-2010s, mostly sparked by some excellent live concerts. It seems that Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson went into the studio to record new music, but keeping to their tradition, things seemingly went awry, and the eventual album never materialized.
Stinson later said that he had taken songs he’d written for the Replacements and repurposed them for his solo work. Westerberg kept quiet.
Soundgarden - Final Album (2017)
When Chris Cornell died in 2017, Soundgarden was in the midst of recording an album with Cornell’s involvement. After Cornell passed, a legal dispute about the recorded material ensued, only to be resolved sometime in 2023, but the material recorded at the time has not surfaced in any official form yet.