Beatles, Floyd & The Who: Lost

The Beatles, Pink Floyd and The Who are included on a list compiled by Gibson.com of artists who've recorded albums that never officially saw the light of day.

The Beatles - Get Back:
"Paul McCartney's idea for 1968 was that they should 'get back' to their roots and make an album free of studio refinement and overdubs... In the end, tensions prevailed and the sessions grinded to a halt. Producer Phil Spector eventually pieced together the Let It Be album from those sessions, but that string-laden LP was a far different animal from what Macca intended."

Pink Floyd - Household Objects:
"In 1974, in the wake of Dark Side of the Moon's monumental success, Pink Floyd came up with the idea to create music using nothing but household objects. Rubber bands, cardboard boxes and water-filled crystal wine glasses were among the tools employed in the effort, but the challenges proved insurmountable. 'It just got too difficult and pointless,' said David Gilmour."

The Who - Lifehouse:
"Simply put, Lifehouse was a project toppled by the weight of Pete Townshend's grand ambitions. Conceptually, in the wake of Tommy, Townshend wanted to construct a multimedia extravaganza that would incorporate music that reflected the personalities and state of mind of Who fans. The complications involved in the undertaking precipitated a nervous breakdown in Townshend, but not before he wrote some of his finest songs. Fortunately, although Lifehouse was abandoned, much of the material found its way onto Who's Next.

Bruce Springsteen - electric Nebraska:
"Springsteen's original intent was that the disc be a full-on rock and roll effort. To that end, he recorded Nebraska's songs with his E Street Band before deciding his homemade demos would better serve the message he wanted to convey. Drummer Max Weinberg later described the electric versions of the songs as 'hard-edged' and 'killing.'"

Neil Young - Homegrown:
"This mostly acoustic country-rock album -- recorded in 1974 -- was so close to being released, the cover art already had been designed. Young has described the album as 'the missing link between Harvest, Comes a Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon.' Many of the songs centered on his deteriorating relationship with his girlfriend, actress Carrie Snodgrass, and Young felt they were too personal and opted to release Tonight's the Night instead."

The Kinks - Four More Respected Gentlemen:
"The songs for this never-released Kinks album, recorded in 1968, were originally intended for a U.S.-only LP to be released in tandem with a Europe-only version of their Village Green Preservation Society disc. Instead, record executives opted to shelve the former album, and instead released a longer version of the latter disc in both the U.K. and U.S.

--Sal Cirrincione