* Because the Variety Show Mix had 13 songs and we're only supposed to do 11, so I thought I'd do it according to the rules this time.
* Because I finally got my burner running again.
* Because the Variety Show Mix was put together months ago and I've long since come up with new musical obsessions I wanted to share.
* Because somebody's gotta fill in the gaps left by others (who shall remain nameless)!
Here is the tunes, then:
Side One:
"Fifty States of Freedom" - Brewer & Shipley "Duck People, Duck Man" - Megapuss "Got a Feelin' " - The Mamas & The Papas "He Can Be Found" - The Louvin Brothers "Just a Closer Walk With Thee" - Dave Van Ronk
Side Two:
"Bellbottoms" - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion "A Gun on His Hip and a Rose on His Chest (Sept. 2008)" - Megapuss (way not safe for work or children) "'Cause I Love You" - Carla & Rufus "There She Walks" - The Monks "Don't Doubt Yourself Babe" - The Byrds "Kahuna Sunset" - Buffalo Springfield
I had weird experiences during the production of my mix. Lots of technical difficulties. Two computers broke. I accidentally tried to burn music onto DVD-R's. The endlessly unflappable Meg Martin tried to help and wound up hitting me in the back of the neck with a garden rake. And last minute program changes and brain-farts rendered the playlist on the tastefully designed sleeve inaccurate.
However, despite all these obstacles and a completely unrelated battle with 24-hour psoriasis ... I finished my disc and circulated it to almost everyone on time. So for that I'm giving myself a long standing "o" and I am not looking askance at the other members of the club who just, whups, decided to punt, punters.
Anyway, the theme here is 1970s variety shows, home of baby blue backgrounds, lots of light bulbs, long microphones, sparkly instruments and, whenever possible, 25 musicians on a paper mache stage....
"Wild and Free" is by Curtis Mayfield and is an excellent kick-off song for a mix CD. I credit myself for thinking of doing it.
"Fallin' in Love" is by Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, who recorded for Playboy Records and who kept their name even after Reynolds left the ground, although they later became Hamilton, Joe Frank and Dennison. I am sad that we now live in a world where a group like that with a name like that could never even remotely have a pair of hit songs.
"Ruby (Don't Take Your Love to Town)" is by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition and I'm fascinated by the flow of the line, "It wasn't me that started that whole crazy Asian war."
"Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)" is by The Looking Glass and maybe it's a little overplayed, maybe it's a tune that could push this mix too far in the K-Tel direction, but it's smooth as velour warmed by the sun.
"It Never Rains in Southern California" is by Albert Hammond, who is the father of Albert Hammond, Jr., who plays guitar for the Strokes. That and this song are good contributions to the world. Unfortuantely, he also wrote "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" for Starship (as seen in the motion picture "Mannequin") and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before." Despite those last two achievements, he has not yet been dragged by his ankles behind a car, but there's still time.
"Beggin'" is by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. You should never beg, especially when love is involved. Unless you establish a safety word first.
"Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" is by Tammy Wynette and is a masterpiece of the articulation of a romantic strategy.
"Have You Seen Her?" is by the Chi-Lites and features one of the greatest openings of all time. Seriously, stick your earbuds in, crank up the volume and tell me that's not a swell sound -- the fuzztone guitar, the choral harmonies, the saggy drums, the precise clavinet. Even the talkin' blues has just enough truth and pathos to save it from corniess. Even M.C. Hammer couldn't fuck it all up.
"Windows of the World" is by Dionne Warwick and it came this close to getting booted off the mix in favor of another Warwick/Burt Bacharach collaboration, "Always Something There to Remind Me," later given a second life when remade in the 80s by Naked Eyes. "Always Something..." is more upbeat and less schmaltzy, but it doesn't have one crucial element that "Windows" does and that is: That plucked stringed instrument (is it a harp?) that makes the whole thing worthwhile.
"Eastbound and Down" is by Jerry Reed and was the theme song for "Smokey and the Bandit."
"Reflections of My Life" is by The Marmalade and is one of the greatest songs ever made.
"Never Can Say Goodbye" is by The Jackson Five, but here it's by Isaac Hayes from his "Black Moses" album. It was originally to be the closing number but yesterday I was listening to XM while shaving and heard the Marshall Tucker.
"This Ol' Cowboy" is by The Marshall Tucker Band and I heard it for the first time in years on XM Radio on Tuesday and decided it had to go on the mix. Great summertime jam/barbecue soundtrack/music for a morning pontoon cruise, even if the narrator does go on a little too long. I don't think Marshall's primary kiss off about being used to sleeping alone quite packs the punch he intends.
Apologies to the songs that didn't make the final cut: "Rosalinda's Eyes," by Billy Joel; "Everybody is a Star" by Sly and the Family Stone; "Suavaceto" by Malo; something obscure by Steely Dan; something obscurer by Elton John; "When You're Hot, You're Hot," by Jerry Reed; et al.
1) Sexy Coffee Pot Tony Alvon & The Belairs I pulled this from the first mix in My Other Seedy Club, which did its first round back in late 2006. So no, I wasn't cool enough to find it on my own.
2) Allah Wackbar Ofo The Black Company This came from the awesome Nigeria '70: Funky Lagos compilation, which I highly recommend. It's incredible and almost worth it just for those boots on the album cover.
3) Got to Give It Up The Dirtbombs I don't think you can go wrong with a Detroit garage band covering Marvin Gaye.
4) I Felt Like a Gringo The Minutemen Nothing screams "80s music" like the Minutemen. At least, this is what the '80s should be remembered for. The Minutemen are one of the influential-but-underappreciated bands from the early '80s American hardcore movement.
5) Bull in the Heather Sonic Youth I love Sonic Youth but the fact I didn't really discover them until 1994's Experimental, Jet Set, Trash and No Star hurts my hipster credibility. I grew up in Clifton Forge. Sometimes it took a little longer for things to trickle into the mountains.
6) Teenage Wristband Twilight Singers The Afghan Whigs are one of the great unappreciated bands of the '90s. This was singer Greg Dulli's next band, which was nearly as great. He's now in the Gutter Twins with Mark Lanegan, and that band is awesome too.
7) Rebellion (Lies) Arcade Fire Arcade Fire's a guilty pleasure for me. They remind me too much of U2 or the Talking Heads sometimes, but I really like their music.
8) It Might Just Be a One-Shot Deal Frank Zappa The beginning & end of this will probably be a little too Zappa-esque for most people, but damn that 2-minute slide guitar solo in the middle is a thing of beauty.
9) Rider on the Stormy Sea Mary Timony One time my college friend Liz, who grew up in Worchester and still trades music with me from her current home in LA, made me a mix-tape of "bitchy women" (riot grrl stuff) and "witchy women" (Timony, Stevie Nicks and PJ Harvey, mostly) that had a photo copy of a Boston phonebook page with Mary Timony's number highlighted.
10) Moya Godspeed You Black Emperor! I saw this band at the Orange Peel in Asheville during that venue's first year. They had about nine people on stage with crazy film loops playing in the background. I think this could provide a soundtrack for lots of life experiences.
11) In My Hour of Darkness Gram Parsons The last song off Gram Parson's last album before he died of an overdose. An end for him, but a beginning for Emmylou Harris, who sings here and was preparing to launch a successful solo career. Apparently a lot of people were upset at Parsons when he wrote this, as he's shown up drunk for the funeral of a good friend, but he made up for it by writing a verse about the guy.
12) Don't Laugh I Love You Ween
13) Excerpt from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, read by Ed Begley Sr.
This is the theme of my life these days, and therefore the opening song of my debut CD.
2. Modern Mystery by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
This song will make your head bop. I liked it even before I saw the YouTube video (here), which chronicles the misadventures of a paperboy. Maybe the “Modern Mystery” is how newspapers are supposed to survive. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. Haha, get it? Reading? OK, never mind.
3. Blue Ridge Mountains by Fleet Foxes
These guys are everywhere, but I still can’t help but like them. I struggled to decide whether to put this song or “White Winter Hymnal” on this mix. I think this one won out just because of the title. My favorite line: “Let’s drive to the countryside; leave behind some green-eyed lookalikes so no one gets worried, no….”
4. Keep a Secret by The Whitest Boy Alive
German minimalist pop. What could be better? These guys started as an electronic dance project. Maybe they have an identity crisis.
5. Untrust Us by Crystal Castles
Canadian electronic music. Initially, it may sound like total jibberish. But I think I know what they are saying. And I think it has something to do with love, or candy, or the weekend.
6. Half a Person by The Welcome Wagon
Rev. Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife, Monique, make up this band. They started in their living room and have no musical experience. But then they ran into Sufjan Stevens, who produced and helped to arrange this album, “Welcome to The Welcome Wagon.” I like how echoey and mournful the tune is. It was originally performed by Morrissey’s former band, The Smiths. And now I want to be a back scrubber.
7. A Measure of the Same by Birds of Avalon
Birds of Avalon is a Raleigh, N.C. band. I like one guitarist’s name: Cheetie Kumar. Cheetie and another guitarist in Birds, Paul Siler, used to be in a band called The Cherry Valence. Maybe that means something to one of you. It means nada to me. I just like this song a lot. It jams.
8. Music by Cornelius
And now we move from Raleigh, N.C. to Tokyo. Wheeeeeeeeeee!
9. Space City by Drive-by Truckers
This song may seem a little out of place on this mix. But then again, we've already been through Germany, North Carolina and Japan. When I first heard this song, I had to listen to it over and over and over again. I wanted to make love to the singer just because of the sound of his voice. I love every single zip of the fingers on the guitar strings. It's sad. It's just sad, sad, sad.
10. Rainbow Flows by Husky Rescue
They pass me by.
11. The Wanting Comes in Waves by The Decemberists
When I first heard this song, it reminded me of some alt rock version of Bohemian Rhapsody. But not quite as good. But still pretty good. I think The Hazards of Love is a concept album, and the concept has something to do with shape-shifting animals and forest queens. I’ve also heard “The Rake Song” off the album, and I like that one, too. But I’m not compelled to rush out and get the whole album to find out what happens to the forest queens.
