The Good That Won't Come Out

"The Good That Won't Come Out" is the second compilation album (sixth overall) by British singer-songwriter Alesha, a "rarities" comprised of demos, outtakes and alternate versions that had accumulated throughout Alesha's career. Released on March 17, 2008 by Ensemble, the album celebrated Alesha's five–year career. The Good That Won't Come Out followed Alesha's commercially successful fourth studio album Alesha Is the Queen (2007) and preceded her fifth studio album The Second Coming, released later in 2008.

The release of The Good That Won't Come Out was accompanied by Alesha's MTV Unplugged concert, which featured acoustic performances of various hits as well as previously unreleased songs from the album. Alesha also released the Diamonds & Dollar Bills EP with Putanovska, which was a number one bestseller on the singles chart. The EP featured "Diamonds & Dollars" from The Good That Won't Come Out.

Upon its release, the album became Alesha's third to top the charts.

Background and development
Alesha began her recording career in 2003 with the release of her debut album Look Out Below. By 2006, Alesha had released three studio albums and an "admittedly premature" greatest hits compilation. Whilst recording her fourth studio album, Alesha recorded an album's worth of material that was ultimately scrapped. In 2007, Alesha released her fourth studio album Alesha Is the Queen, which was certified diamond and produced a commercially successful string of singles. Five years into her career, Alesha decided to commemorate the milestone with a collection of rarities – demos, outtakes, alternate versions and some brand new material.

According to Alesha, the new material was designed to be "the complete opposite of Alesha's] last album." Several ballads as well as acoustic or rock-oriented songs had been selected to appear on The Good That Won't Come Out. The artwork for the record reflected the contrast with [[Alesha Is the Queen (2007) by using the same vector-based design with darker imagery. The album, however, is not a complete departure from Alesha Is the Queen, containing several up-tempo, pop songs as well.

Music and lyrics
Although the album celebrates five years of Alesha's career, the majority of the songs on The Good That Won't Come Out were taken from more recent years of Alesha's career. Alternate versions of "Infernal Superstar" and "Built This Way", singles from Alesha's third studio album Buried Underneath (2005), appeared on the album. The pop remix of "Infernal Superstar" had been performed live by Alesha on The Queen Tour and appears hear in studio form. "Built This Way" features alternate lyrics. A demo version of the infamous 2007 single "Power Power" with different lyrics and only Alesha's vocals is also featured.

In addition to these alternate versions, demos of songs written for other artists are featured on the album. Natasha Hilton's "Diamond Rain" and Josie Matthews's "Girl, Interrupted" were both written by Alesha and released in 2007. A recording of Kelly West's "Gone", not to be confused with Alesha's own single "Gone", is an iTunes bonus track. In 2005, Alesha released the single "Midweek Sex" with Kandi and CeCe Winston. Kandi had originally wanted to release a cover of Norwegian singer Annie's "Heartbeat" as the single before changing her mind; that cover version is featured on The Good That Won't Come Out.

"Introduction" was originally written to serve as the intro for Alesha Is the Queen in 2007, but ultimately nixed. A cover of "Moonbaby" by the eponymous singer, known formally as Miranda Cooper of Xenomania fame, was also recorded in the Queen sessions. "Lost in Time" is a ballad from the Queen era that was performed on The Queen Tour. "Devil's Centerfold" is an electropop sequel to "Infernal Superstar" that Alesha recorded for the album. "All I Can Do" and "Let the Band March on" are acoustic outtakes that Alesha highlighted in her MTV Unplugged concert. The final two songs are live recordings of Elliott Smith and Rilo Kiley cover versions taken from the Unplugged performance.

Reception
In a brief review, AllMusic's William Ruhlmann called The Good That Won't Come Out a collection of "alternate takes, surprising cover versions, and different mixes of familiar songs make this a delight for collectors and hard-core fans. To anyone else, it's pleasant but non-essential." The album peaked at number one on the official albums chart, Alesha's third album to top the chart. It sold 400,144 copies and was certified platinum.

Tracklisting

 * 1) "Introduction" (from Alesha Is the Queen sessions)
 * 2) "Heartbeat" (with Kandi & CeCe Winston) (canceled single)
 * 3) "Moonbaby" (from Queen sessions)
 * 4) "Diamonds & Dollars" (with Putanovska (previously unreleased)
 * 5) "Power Power" (demo) (demo with alternate lyrics)
 * 6) "The Drugs in You" (from Chic/Freak sessions)
 * 7) "Girl, Interrupted" (demo for Josie Matthews)
 * 8) "Diamond Rain" (demo for Natasha Hilton)
 * 9) "Infernal Superstar" (Pop Remix) (studio version, as heard on The Queen Tour)
 * 10) "Devil's Centrefold" (sequel to "Infernal Superstar")
 * 11) "Built This Way" (alternate version) (features alternate lyrics)
 * 12) "Lost in Time" (from Queen sessions)
 * 13) "All I Can Do" (as heard on MTV's Unplugged)
 * 14) "Let the Band March On" (as heard on MTV's Unplugged)
 * 15) "Baby Britain" (Live & Unplugged) (Elliott Smith cover)
 * 16) "The Good That Won't Come Out" (Live & Unplugged) (Rilo Kiley cover)
 * Bonus tracks
 * "Gone" (demo for Kelly West) &mdash; iTunes pre-order bonus track
 * "London Brat" (Live & Unplugged) &mdash; iTunes bonus track

Credits
All songs written by Alesha Kurdadze except:
 * "Heartbeat" &mdash; written by Anne Lilia Berge Strand, Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland
 * "Moonbaby" &mdash; written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and Matt Gray
 * "Built This Way" (alternate version) &mdash; written by Samantha Ronson, Dallas Austin and Alesha
 * "Baby Britain" &mdash; written by Elliott Smith
 * "The Good That Won't Come Out" &mdash; written by Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett