The Greatest Music Never Sold: Secrets of Legendary Lost Albums by David Bowie, Seal, Beastie Boys, Chicago, Mick Jagger, and More! (Paperback)

by Dan LeRoy (Author)
Key Phrases: crazy wisdom masters, kling klang, railroad blues, Country Mike, Ray Davies, Warner Brothers (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Greatest Music Never Sold is a never-before-attempted look at the legendary lost recordings of the pop music world. It reveals the secrets of 20 albums - works by superstars and supergroups such as Mick Jagger, Seal, Chicago, David Bowie, Prince, Sheryl Crow, and the Beastie Boys - that have never been officially released. New interviews with artists, band members, producers, engineers, and label executives shine a light into the darkened studio vaults, revealing the ego battles, politics, and career confusion that have buried work by these pop music greats. Certain to appeal to record collectors, bootleggers, and ardent music fans everywhere, The Greatest Music Never Sold is a rare look into one of pop music's hidden corners.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Backbeat Books (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879309059
• ISBN-13: 978-0879309053
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #429,176 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Includes chapter on Ray Davies' "80 Days" demos, August 7, 2008

By	David Emlen - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book includes a chapter on the demos Ray Davies recorded in 1987 of the songs he wrote for the musical "80 Days". Dan is pretty thorough in his research, interviewing playwright Snoo Wilson, director Des McAnuff and arranger Robby Merkin. Very informative, and highly recommended to any Kinks fan who wants to learn more about these songs.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and Enlightening, August 4, 2007

By	Big Daddy Cat "Big Daddy" (Pixberg, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This is such a great idea for a book, I can't believe someone hasn't thought of it before now. LeRoy does the idea justice, as the book is thoroughly-researched (he spoke to just about everyone who is anyone) and informed. And, unlike many people who attempt books on rock music, LeRoy is a fine writer. An excellent book for anyone who is interested in popular music...and for anyone who just likes a good read!

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too much of it is meaningless, September 11, 2008

By	mianfei - See all my reviews

When I saw "The Greatest Music Never Sold" in Borders yesterday, I was really curious. As something of a lover of obscure and little-known music, I was hoping for some details of, in Richie Unterberger's words, "artists who never got to record at all".

Instead, too much of "The Greatest Music Never Sold" deals with albums by mainstream artists who were past their commercial prime and could not have what they wanted released by major labels. Of these, the albums by Seal, Mick Jagger and David Bowie are most especially superfluous and offer absolutely nothing that will be remotely interesting to the serious music historian. The last Style Council album, whose rejection is very well-known and was actually hardly unexpected after "Confessions of a Pop Group" was a major commercial failure, is even less interesting. Even the Jungle Brothers' story seems too much like the probably common rejection by major labels of radical music following a major musical revolution and has very little that is interesting. The same is true of Brian Wilson, whose career since leaving the Beach Boys has been full of rejected recordings.

Adam Ant's "Persuasion" and Chicago's "Stone of Sisyphus" are much more interesting, especially the conflicts between band members involved in both the making and ultimate rejection of them.

The most interesting story, Juliana Hatfield's "God's Foot", really shows the difficulties major labels have had since the tightening of budget occurring simultaneously to the "punk revolution". The way in which Atlantic asked such a high price for "God's Foot" that there was no means for Hatfield to have it released, despite very lengthy efforts to find a label is something that would make "The Greatest Music Never Sold" worthy.

Unfortunately the sidelights at the back of the book add as little as most of the chapters to a book claiming to represent the greatest music never sold. I imagine any serious critic would have grave doubts about such a claim.