10 Lost Albums That Were Released Years Later

We don't really have to worry about not being able to get ahold of music anymore. Ever since the age of Spotify, we can pretty much pull together any kind of song that we want to without a care in the world. But what about those few albums that have been lost to history over the years?

That's not to say that these songs were necessarily not good enough. For the most part, some of these tracks could have been on par with some of the greatest things that these bands ever ever done, only to be scrapped at the last minute. Some say it was because of label drama, others think it was just a change in direction, but one thing's for sure. It's a miracle that we actually got to see these records come to fruition.

After years of waiting, these albums were eventually given to the public in some capacity, just not in the manner that you'd expect them to. As much as these records still hold up, it's almost like their old artifacts that have been lost to time. Considering that most of these were coming from a completely different headspace than when they were released, these are almost like getting a behind the scenes look at what went on behind those closed studio doors.

Looking back on the story of the Beach Boys, it's hard not to feel sorry for Brian Wilson at the time. Here you have one of the greatest artists of his generation, and yet he's being told by everyone that what's he's doing is either too weird or not good enough to actually be made. While everyone was wrong about Pet Sounds, that kind of criticism can take its toll on even the sharpest minds.

Just after making one of the greatest pop albums of all time, Brian went into the studio to do it all over again, using the experimentation of Good Vibrations as his template. Once things started rolling on the new album Smile, it became clear to everyone that Wilson was hitting a wall, and would most likely suffer some sort of breakdown if he decided to go any further.

Though most of his songs would eventually be folded into psychedelic albums for the rest of the '60s, we finally did get to hear a version of Smile in the early 2010's, attributed to just Brian Wilson. Though it's rough around the edges, you can hear the bones of what Brian was getting at here, making songs that were equal parts wacky and catchy at the same time. Considering this was 40 years in the making, this is probably the closest we can get to see what's in Brian's head.