Five times legendary artists blocked the release of an album
Mariah Carey recently discussed the Garbage-inspired alt-rock album that she made in 1995, and almost 30 years later, it finally looks set to see the light of day. This revelation got us pondering at Far Out towers about other records that didn’t make it to public consumption.
Carey wrote of the project in her memoir: “I’d bring my little alt-rock song to the band and hum a silly guitar riff. They would pick it up, and we would record it immediately. It was irreverent, raw, and urgent, and the band got into it. I actually started to love some of the songs. I would fully commit to my character”.
She added: “I was playing with the style of the breezy-grunge, punk-light white female singers who were popular at the time. You know, the ones who seemed to be so carefree with their feelings and their image. They could be angry, angsty, and messy, with old shoes, wrinkled slips, and unruly eyebrows, while every move I made was so calculated and manicured. I wanted to break free, let loose, and express my misery—but I also wanted to laugh. I totally looked forward to doing my alter-ego band sessions after Daydream each night.”
Carey wasn’t the first artist to have their creative wings clipped by a record label, and she won’t be the last either. Ultimately, it is them who have the final say, for better or worse, and if they want a project to be held back, then it will be. Meanwhile, in other circumstances, the musicians have been the ones to intervene and stop an album from being released.
Five times legendary artists blocked the release of an album:
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye’s career is coated in tragedy, and the last few years of his life saw the musician become a shadow of his former self. Much to his great frustration, Gaye’s popularity had drifted, and he couldn’t buy a hit for love or money, but Love Man was intended to solve all of his woes.
It was 1979, and Gaye was plotting ‘Ego Tripping Out’ to be his huge disco-infused comeback single, but the public felt differently about the release. Their indifference, coupled with his recent hefty tax bill of $4.5 million, made Gaye give up on the project and go on a worldwide tour to alleviate his financial woes while simultaneously sacrificing the record that could have rejuvenated his career.
Mick Jagger
Rick Rubin is a masterful producer who revived the career of Johnny Cash and has worked with everyone from Kanye West to Metallica. In 1992, he became friendly with The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, and the two plotted a solo venture with the assistance of the Los Angeles-based jazz group, The Red Devils.
Together, they even recorded a whole album’s worth of material, but having adopted the jazz freestyle mindset, they went into the process without a clear idea of what they wanted to create. The result of this risky endeavour could of either been genius or a disaster, and the fact it’s never officially been released suggests it falls into the latter.
Prince and The Revolution
Throughout his career, Prince was always searching for the perfect album and wasn’t prepared to settle for anything that fell slightly short of the bar. In 1986, he plotted to release one final album with The Revolution before calling it a day with the group, and the plan was to bow out with Dream Factory.
He planned for it to be a double album, and despite it being an LP with The Revolution, most of the tracks solely featured Prince. However, after the band disbanded, ‘The Purple One’ hoped to release a triple album called Crystal Ball, but his label deemed it too outrageous. Thankfully, some of his work from Dream Factory was later incorporated into the timeless Sign O’ The Times, but we have yet to hear the album officially as Prince intended.
David Bowie
In 2000, following a world tour that concluded with a headline date at Glastonbury Festival, David Bowie was hungry to carry on working. His motive was to revisit a collection of songs he’d originally recorded in the ’60s and give them a modern twist. “I’ve pulled together a selection of songs from a somewhat unusual reservoir and booked time in a studio,” he said. “I cannot wait to sit in a claustrophobic space with seven other energetic people and sing till my tits drop off”.
He titled the project Toy and was ready to release it. However, Virgin/EMI struggled to find time in their scheduling calendar, and it kept getting pushed back. Bowie’s priorities also changed with new material taking precedence, and ultimately, Toy fell to the back of his mind. In 2011, it was leaked online, and finally, fans were able to devour his recreations. The LP was given an official posthumous release a decade later.
The Stone Roses
When The Stone Roses announced their comeback in 2012 with a series of concerts at Manchester’s Heaton Park, they were more popular than ever before. For a few years, they milked the nostalgia scene dry and played their first two albums across the world.
Their fans were desperate for them to see if The Roses could still produce greatness in the studio. After years of demanding them to record new material, the band finally answered their prayers. In 2016, they returned with their first material in over 20 years, ‘All For One’, which was an extreme disappointment. Follow up single, ‘Beautiful Thing’, was slightly better, but abandoning album three was undoubtedly the best way to protect their legacy.
