Odds && Sods

The Lost Crowes is right – only hardcore fans will know of the music on this two-CD set, and even then, chances are they haven't heard it. And it's not like this is an odds-n-sods collection of outtakes and B-sides, either: The Lost Crowes contains two complete unreleased albums called Tall and Band, recorded in 1993 and 1997, respectively, but in the vaults until now…

Spacemen 3’s 1987 album The Perfect Prescription is considered the band’s transition point from psychedelic re-creationists to an original act. But it’s also seen as the moment when founding members Pete Kember and Jason Pierce began to branch off in their own directions—the beginnings of Pierce’s band Spiritualized can be heard in “Walking with Jesus.” Released 16 years later, Forged Prescriptions gathers outtakes, alternative mixes, demos, and rarities from the 1987 recording sessions. “Things Will Never Be the Same” opens with Kember’s vocals sounding more angsty and prominent in the mix. Fans of The Brian Jonestown Massacre can identify the seeds of Anton Newcomb’s inspiration in this song.

With Queen officially enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Hollywood Records reintroduces the band yet again with the release of Platinum Collection, Vols. 1-3. While Vols. I & II are full of Queen classics you already know by heart, the third cobbles together odds and sods from the far corners of Queen's canon along with solo cuts from Freddie Mercury and Brian May…

Less a greatest-hits set than an odds and sods collection, this eponymous release was compiled nearly a year after Coroner's breakup. Forced by record company Noise to honor their contract, the band's original members temporarily reunited under less than cooperative circumstances (drummer Marky Edelmann was especially difficult, forcing the recruitment of a replacement for some tracks), and it's no small wonder that anything resembling a complete career wrap-up was achieved…