Lil' Mo: Based On A True Story (Advance) (Elektra/EastWest, 1999)

Lil' Mo's debut album was pushed back at least twice before it finally saw the light of day in 2001. Originally intended to be released in 1999, it was fraught with delays whilst the record label, Elektra Records, decided on Mo's image and sound. Before they had even started, they had already decided to leave off the excellent "5 Minutes" (with Missy Elliott) as it had supposedly underperformed in the charts. In between the release of that and another song soon to be ejected "Ta Da", Mo released the radio-play only single "If You Wanna Dance" which would also eventually find its way into the recycling bin . This led to delays on her debut album
for the first time while Elektra Records allegedly tried to soften her "gangsta girl" image and much of the material she recorded for it was scrapped. I know that at least one album advance (from 2000) exists featuring unused contributions from Missy Elliott but the above version is an even earlier version although it shares the exact same catalog#. Some such as "My Story" and "How Many Times" were eventually released on the album but just over half were not. The tracks that went unreleased include "More Than You Know", "If You Wanna Dance", "Phinlee Ova Yoo", "Right & Wrong", "Nobody Somebody", "Nothing But The Good Times", "What About The Children" and an interlude. Most of these unreleased tracks were produced by Flavahood, a production company out of NYC that had previously produced songs for Nicole Wray and En Vogue. Some appeared on the later advance but none would go on to make the final cut of the album. Such a shame as almost all of them are way better than the crap that did end up on it, notably the awful "Superwoman Pt II" and "Gangsta"...

Intro 1:56
My Story 3:06
More Than You Know 4:09
If You Wanna Dance... 4:04
How Many Times 4:38
She Cood Neva B Me (intro) 1:23
She Cood Neva Be Me 5:14
Time After Time 5:29
Phinlee Ova Yoo 4:34
Right & Wrong 4:18
Player Not The Game feat. Carl Thomas 4:26
Nobody Somebody 4:43
Nothing But Good Times 4:52
What About The Children 4:21
Outro 1:12

Categories: 90s, Album, Carl Thomas, EastWest Records, Lil' Mo, Promo, R'n'B, Unreleased