What was the first record to have a secret track at the end?
Can’t tell you, but Monty Python’s “Matching Tie and Handkerchief” album (~1974) was the first to have three sides. Does that count?
Hard to hide a track on a record, i.e., vinyl. First album I’m aware of that had one was Nirvana’s Nevermind, with “Endless Nameless” at the end. That’s 1991. I’m fairly sure somebody had done it before that, however.
In fact, now that I think of it, some pressings of Black Sabbath’s Sabotage (1976-ish) had a little ditty called “Blown on a Jug” at the end of side two. Used to have it on my cassette, though it’s not on the cd. However, that’s not a full-blown song, just a drunken Ozzy trying to be funny for a few seconds.
Wasn’t there a Beatles album with a hidden track that went, “Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl but she doesn’t have a lot to say…”?
Sorry, can’t think of the album. One of the later ones, though.
That was “Abbey Road.” Later editions had the song listed, but originally it was not. It surprised a lot of people.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t the first. I do know that Johnny Winter’s album “Second Winter” (1969) had three sides – but on two records.
Before “Matching Tie and Handkerchief,” Johnny Winter had a 3-sided 2-disc album. I think it was “Second Winter,” and the fourth side had no grooves at all. “Matching Tie’s” extra side was done by pressing two grooves side by side on one side of the disc. There was no clue in the liner notes, if I recall correctly, but the chance of which track you got depended on where the needle happened to drop. I imagine some people heard the album several times before hearing the third groove.
The vinyl “Yer Album” by the James Gang (when they still had Joe Walsh) had a little track in that space between the end of the final song and the record label. Side one said, “Turn me over, turn me over…” Side two said, “Play me again, play me again…” If you had a turntable with an automatic changer, the tone arm lifted before these played.
Before I figured out the double track gag on the Python album, I just thought I had gone insane. I had listened to both sides and thought it was hilarious and played it for a friend. I inadvertantly dropped the needle in the second track and heard something completely different! It took us a while to put it together that the album was crazy, not me!
The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper… had some gibberish on the out groove of side two.
Joe Walsh often had things scratched into the vinyl after the last track.
The Smoker You Drink, the Player You Get had “Y - because we like you.”
But Seriously Folks had “Luncheon counters of the deli kind.”
There was also something in So What, but I can’t find my copy of that.
These were never meant to be played, of course. I’ve heard other artists doing the same thing, but Walsh did it more consistently.
Pun intended?
actually monty python wasn’t the first to do a ‘three’ sided record. i posted a question on this board within the last six months asking the same thing. i just really don’t feel like searching for it now. anyway, i dug out a book of recording history, and there were a veritable bunch of records in the 30s and 40s that had up to and including (i think) 7 different tracks on a side. tool’s also done it, where the second groove only occured during one song, IIRC.
Tengu - well, of course. I’ve also been known to use litotes and bite the 'eads off whippets.
Reality Chuck - I had forgotten the “Y - because we like you”! My very first concert ever was Grand Funk Railroad, with the James Gang as warm-up.
ubermensch I tried to find the post you mention but was not successful. Did like the thread about the Marilyn Vos Savant is wrong website.
Thanks all for the replies so far.