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Speaking of Fiona Apple, here is a brief list from memory of LPs and singles that are famously unreleased. (I didn’t qualify LPs that were later reconfigured under the same title.)
Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine
Completed 2003-2004.
Probably art directed.
Tracks leaked.
Badfinger, Head First
Completed 1975.
Cover photo shot taken but subsequently lost.
Finally released in 2000 based on a tape copy of Phil McDonald’s mix.
The Beach Boys, SMiLE
Not completed, 1966-1967.
Art directed and covers/booklets printed.
Recreated by Brian Wilson, 2004.
The Beatles, Get Back
Completed 1969.
Art directed.
Superseded by Let It Be, 1970.
Victoria Beckham, Come Together
Completed 2004.
Art directed.
Promo copies issued.
Notorious second solo album produced by Damon Dash.
Danielle Brisebois, Portable Life
Completed 2000.
Art directed.
Promo copies issued.
Cancelled.
Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan In Concert
Recorded 1963.
Art directed.
Cancelled.
Bob Dylan, The Basement Tapes
Recorded 1967.
Released 1975.
John Fogerty, Hoodoo
Completed.
Art directed.
Acetates and test pressing created; acetates and master tape destroyed by John Fogerty.
Jimi Hendrix
First Rays of the New Rising Sun
Tentatively sequenced.
Released per artist’s original intentions, 1997.
Paul McCartney
Cold Cuts
Compilation of previously unreleased material, 1978/1980.
Never issued.
Monty Python
Hastily Cobbled Together For A Fast Buck
1987 compilation by André Jacquemin of previously unreleased material.
Never past the proposal stage.
Prince and the Revolution, Dream Factory
Completed 1986.
Mastered and art-directed according to Alex Hahn’s Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince.
Abandoned when the group split.
Prince, Crystal Ball
Completed 1986.
Mastered.
Rejected by Warner Bros. for its length. Superseded by Sign ‘O’ The Times.
Prince, The Black Album
Completed 1987.
Mastered and art-directed. Promo copies pressed.
Finally released 1994.
The Rolling Stones, Necrophilia
1972 compilation of previously unreleased material.
Art-directed.
Sort of became Metamorphosis.
The Rolling Stones, “Cocksucker Blues”
To this day, the last Rolling Stones single remains unreleased (it is absent from the contents of Singles 1968-1971). It was incendiary enough for Decca to have rejected its release (after insisting the group owed one more single to fulfill its contract) then, and maybe even now.
Sheryl Crow, Sheryl Crow
Completed 1992.
Promo cassette distributed.
Release cancelled.
XTC, “Wrapped In Grey” single
Art directed and pressed as 7” and CD, both of which included previously unavailable demo tracks.
Withdrawn by Virgin Records. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back; XTC refused to record anything else for Virgin, who eventually released them from their contract.
Frank Zappa, Läther
Completed and mastered, 1976/1977.
Finally released as intended 1996.
