Taking the Long Way (lost unreleased songs from Chicks album; 2006)
Taking the Long Way album art.
Status: Lost
After the success of their 2002 album, Home, and the controversy surrounding them after the start of the Second Gulf War, American Country music band The Chicks (then known as the Dixie Chicks) took a long, much-deserved break. They returned to the recording studio with an angrier, bleaker musical output in 2005. The resulting studio album, Taking the Long Way polarized critics but is now seen as the Chicks' second-best album (behind Home).[1]
The album had a large song selection that left a few tracks on the studio floor. Four confirmed tracks are listed on the album's Wikipedia page: "Come Cryin' To Me[2]," "Baby Love," "Flowers," and "Whatever it Takes." Of these songs, only "Whatever it Takes" was performed live. A live version of the song was also available on YouTube for a couple of years before it was removed for copyright violation.
Status
None of these songs have been released, even on bootlegs, likely due to studio problems and album space limitations. Natalie Maines, the band's lead vocalist, has played two of the songs during a couple of performances during her solo career. Unfortunately, no recordings of her performing them solo exist, either. The best bet to hear these tracks is to wait for the album to either be re-issued or for the studio to stop sitting on them.