Artist. Performer. Entertainer. Comedian. Actor. Philosopher. Commentator. Representative. Spiritual Medium.
"Bill Corey is an English artist I discovered from Aphex Twin's online presence, for he was the namesake
of his now-defunct Discogs account. The story of Bill Corey is peculiar, if he is not an alias of Richard D.
James himself.
At this point in time, this is what I have conjured up:
1 JAN 2004 : The release of Bill Corey's debut album, "Hounds of Hell" , as listed later on in the site's
lifespan.
9 FEB 2004 : The first archive of billcorey.com is made on Wayback Machine. The page talks of the new
Bill Corey LP, "Hounds of Hell" , which wasn't released "for legal and moral reasons". Corey also adds,
"I believe that the original master recordings have already been leaked through the internet by my fans, so
there really doesn't seem much point in me releasing them now anyway!".
Outtakes (from what I can tell are actual tracks from the album) are put up for download underneath.
None of these were downloadable from the archive. The copyright date at the bottom of the page reads
January 1st, 2004, which I later found was the release date for his debut album.
26 JAN 2005 : The archived version of billcorey.com now differs from the previous archives throughout 2004.
The page now has a tracklisting, 1 through 24, for the Hounds of Hell album. Despite the links to the majority
of the tracks saying "UNAVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD" , saving them to your computer was still accessible.
The previously listed "outtakes" are in their correct positions in the tracklisting. Revealing them to be in-takes
instead. The page also warns of the forthcoming project of Corey's, "Man In The Mist" .
9 APR 2005 : "Man In The Mist" is completed on this date, as said by the man himself on the track
"Slice T". The release the next year, "Greatest Tits" , would also list the same date, though it's more likely
that the track was just copied over from MITM to Tits rather than both releases being completed on the
same day.
29 APR 2005 : "Man In The Mist" is released on billcorey.com, 20 days after completion.
13 SEP 2005 : The currently completely lost release, "The Cat Who Knew Too Much" , is released on
billcorey.com.
25 OCT 2005 : The website archived at this date now differs from its predecessors; the last EP and debut
album from Bill Corey are listed, "Man In The Mist" and "Hounds of Hell" respectively, and at the top
of this list, an "unreleased session" with the name, "The Cat Who Knew Too Much" . On the archived
version of the site, only "Man In The Mist" is downloadable.
2 JAN 2006 : My speculated date for when the final Bill Corey project, "Greatest Tits", was released.
This is because of the dates listed of releases from WéMè Records (the record label which issued
the physical and digital releases of the album) before and after it, and the increased activity of archives
of the site between 1st through 4th of January. This release was never mentioned on Bill's personal site
along with his other releases.
"Greatest Tits" is a mixture of tracks from "Man In The Mist" , "Hounds of Hell" , and potentially,
"The Cat Who Knew Too Much" . This would make the release a compilation, rather than an album.
14 APR 2006 : The billcorey.com domain now no longer hosts the [f]arts of Bill Corey, nor any trace of
him. This is the current state of the website today.
From the look of this timeline, it seems Bill Corey appeared as suddenly as he disappeared. All that
remains from this story without the use of the lovely archive.org is the Greatest Tits album. And now,
this. My main goal of recounting this and displaying it on the current internet is just to make it known,
with some sort of aim to get these lost releases found if possible, whether it be from someone who saw
the website live nearly 20 years ago or the man himself, assuming that he is still among the living.
if you have something of interest, please post to either the r/OldBillCorey subreddit, or mail to
hobschorah202 (at) proton _ me. "
- T[oilet] [e]P[istle].
Discography
Currently lost projects:
Debut Album: Hounds of Hell
Unreleased Session: The Cat Who Knew Too Much
Found projects:
Last EP: Man In The Mist
Recent Release: Greatest Tits
THANKS
hobschorah202 (at) proton _ me
July 23rd 2023