3 Discoveries for This Week
Track a Tiger - Sound as Ever
Ian Love - The Only Night
Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
Thanks to Mike for the third one. Cee-lo's back with DM in tow!
Sunday, March 26, 2006
I'm on a major Bill Withers kick right now.
1) Donny Hathaway - A Song for You
2) Bill Withers - Let Me in Your Life
3) Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly
4) Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me
5) Lauryn Hill & D'Angelo - Nothing Even Matters
6) Bill Withers - Can We Pretend
7) Prince - Starfish & Coffee
8) Neil Young - Don't Let It Bring You Down
9) Bill Withers - Use Me
10) Jungle Brothers - I'm Gonna Do You
11) A Tribe Called Quest - I Left My Wallet in El Segundo
12) William Bell - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
13) Neil Young - The Painter
14) Dooley Wilson - As Time Goes By
15) Bob Marley - Turn Your Lights Down Low
16) Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale
17) Joni Mitchell - California
18) Billy Joel - Vienna
19) Bill Withers - Stories
20) Bob Dylan - My Back Pages
1) Donny Hathaway - A Song for You
2) Bill Withers - Let Me in Your Life
3) Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly
4) Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me
5) Lauryn Hill & D'Angelo - Nothing Even Matters
6) Bill Withers - Can We Pretend
7) Prince - Starfish & Coffee
8) Neil Young - Don't Let It Bring You Down
9) Bill Withers - Use Me
10) Jungle Brothers - I'm Gonna Do You
11) A Tribe Called Quest - I Left My Wallet in El Segundo
12) William Bell - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
13) Neil Young - The Painter
14) Dooley Wilson - As Time Goes By
15) Bob Marley - Turn Your Lights Down Low
16) Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale
17) Joni Mitchell - California
18) Billy Joel - Vienna
19) Bill Withers - Stories
20) Bob Dylan - My Back Pages
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Selections from Grey's Anatomy - Season Two
Pardon me while I exude what's left of my Grey's Anatomy load.
After scouring all that I care to scour of Alexandra Patsavas' selections from season two, I have found these nineteen tracks to best suit my recent mood. I won't bore you with any links, photos, etc. I just ask that you consider listening to a couple 30 second clips on iTunes, or Googling these bands. I've really enjoyed each of these tracks this week, a week - for me anyway - filled with music.
1) Slow Runner - Break Your Mama's Back
2) Monotypes - Dead Streets
3) Ben Lee - Catch My Disease
4) Anya Marina - Miss Halfway
5) Mark McAdam - Too Hard
6) Inara George - Fools in Love
7) Rosie Thomas - It Don't Matter to the Sun
8) Foy Vance - Homebird
9) Kate Earl - Someone to Love
10) Kendall Payne - Scratch
11) Corinne Bailey Rae - Like a Star
12) Jim Noir - I Me You
13) Moonbabies - War on Sound
14) Gemma Hayes - Two Step
15) The Headlights - Everybody Needs a Fence to Lean On
16) Keren Ann - Not Going Anywhere
17) Joe Purdy - Far Away Blues
18) Tegan and Sara - Not Tonight
19) Merrick - Infinity
A curmudgeonly old woman who once babysat me while my parents were out of town said, "Never trust a Greek." Ms. Patsavas and a few other Greek-Americans I'm more closely associated with here in New York are beginning to break my Greek-weary spell. So, to those of you untrustworthy, miserly, moody, greasy Greeks out there who read this meek web log, please thank Ms. Alexandra Patsavas in your bedtime prayers for helping me to begin trusting Greeks again. And pardon the "greasy" tag; it was admittedly a low blow. Being of German and Irish descent, there was more than one summer's day I was nicknamed "the sweater."
Still to come... a review of a musical review starring yours truly.
Pardon me while I exude what's left of my Grey's Anatomy load.
After scouring all that I care to scour of Alexandra Patsavas' selections from season two, I have found these nineteen tracks to best suit my recent mood. I won't bore you with any links, photos, etc. I just ask that you consider listening to a couple 30 second clips on iTunes, or Googling these bands. I've really enjoyed each of these tracks this week, a week - for me anyway - filled with music.
1) Slow Runner - Break Your Mama's Back
2) Monotypes - Dead Streets
3) Ben Lee - Catch My Disease
4) Anya Marina - Miss Halfway
5) Mark McAdam - Too Hard
6) Inara George - Fools in Love
7) Rosie Thomas - It Don't Matter to the Sun
8) Foy Vance - Homebird
9) Kate Earl - Someone to Love
10) Kendall Payne - Scratch
11) Corinne Bailey Rae - Like a Star
12) Jim Noir - I Me You
13) Moonbabies - War on Sound
14) Gemma Hayes - Two Step
15) The Headlights - Everybody Needs a Fence to Lean On
16) Keren Ann - Not Going Anywhere
17) Joe Purdy - Far Away Blues
18) Tegan and Sara - Not Tonight
19) Merrick - Infinity
A curmudgeonly old woman who once babysat me while my parents were out of town said, "Never trust a Greek." Ms. Patsavas and a few other Greek-Americans I'm more closely associated with here in New York are beginning to break my Greek-weary spell. So, to those of you untrustworthy, miserly, moody, greasy Greeks out there who read this meek web log, please thank Ms. Alexandra Patsavas in your bedtime prayers for helping me to begin trusting Greeks again. And pardon the "greasy" tag; it was admittedly a low blow. Being of German and Irish descent, there was more than one summer's day I was nicknamed "the sweater."
Still to come... a review of a musical review starring yours truly.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Three Free Downloads
I found these today when checking out the music used in season two of Grey's Anatomy. I don't even have TV, and yet I'm checking out TV show soundtracks.
Regardless, these three songs are free for you to download. The first two are notable because they're quite good. The third is notable because one of my classmates and good friends, Robyn, was a Wienermobile Girl for an entire year after college, and Grey's Anatomy is one of her favorite shows, odd coincidences for odd February afternoons.
Slow Runner - Break Your Momma's Back
Monotypes - Dead Streets (you may have to follow the "music" link to download this one)
Mike Tarantino - Wienermobile Girl
Also, for whatever reason, I found it important to note that Salon.com's Audiofile is an awesome place for some free music. They offer everything from James Taylor to Cat Power.
I found these today when checking out the music used in season two of Grey's Anatomy. I don't even have TV, and yet I'm checking out TV show soundtracks.
Regardless, these three songs are free for you to download. The first two are notable because they're quite good. The third is notable because one of my classmates and good friends, Robyn, was a Wienermobile Girl for an entire year after college, and Grey's Anatomy is one of her favorite shows, odd coincidences for odd February afternoons.
Slow Runner - Break Your Momma's Back
Monotypes - Dead Streets (you may have to follow the "music" link to download this one)
Mike Tarantino - Wienermobile Girl
Also, for whatever reason, I found it important to note that Salon.com's Audiofile is an awesome place for some free music. They offer everything from James Taylor to Cat Power.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Off with Their Heads!
The tease is out on the new film from Sophia Coppola, and apparently the French aren't all mad. Michèle Lorin, the president of the Marie-Antoinette Association in France, seems to think come this fall we'll take to the streets, crazed with "Marie-Antoinette mania." And thanks for that lovely image, Michèle. I'm hoping heads will roll.
London's The Independent threw together a little piece on it. You can read it in its entirety here.
The teaser trailer begins with 18th Century men on 18th Century horses in 18th Century France, and what to my wondering ears should sound, but the lovely clanging of four little 20th Century English musicians, known most commonly as Manchester's own New Order. The teaser plays out like a beautifully crafted Duran Duran video from 1986, perhaps 1987, and Kirsten Dunst looks, say it with me - ah, ah, ah, en Français - incredible, but something about this pairing strikes me: it was ok when Rob Reiner used The Great American Songbook to express love as he did in When Harry Met Sally... (and I mean, c'mon let's face it. He stole the idea from Woody Allen, right? The whole movie is just a slightly sunnier W.A. movie), but is it ok to do the reverse, use modern music to score a period piece cum Vangelis? Discuss.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
I began responding to Martin's comment on the 125 Songs Before Pearl Jam, and it turned into this:
Paul Carrack? Allmusic.com calls him "pop music's ultimate journeyman," saying "his finest work often came at the expense of his own identity as a performer."
I agree, this Englishman first came into prominence in the heat of late 70s prog-rock with the band Ace. Their wonderfully cured song "How Long" has helped me through more than one lonely night.
It was his solo song "Don't Shed a Tear" I remember loving most as a scabby-kneed tike.
However, I remember Mike & the Mechanics as a band who produced seemingly flawless pop music with a hint of message. "The Living Years" and "All I Need is a Miracle" were both on heavy rotation around the Wastler household in the middle 80s.
And yet, his work for the band Squeeze is what I think he's most often recognized for thanks to the Ben Stiller-helmed flick Reality Bites, at a time when Carrack had reconnected with the band to rerecord their biggest hit (at least with him at the wheel. I also like "Black Coffee in Bed"), "Tempted."
That being said, there's something in his voice that's both saccharine and earnest. It's as put-on as Elvis Costello, and it's as blue-eyed soul as Daryl Hall. And you can't go wrong with either of those.
Ok, so perhaps you can. "You Make My Dreams Come True" still pangs a sharp pain in the heel of my velcroed Reeboks every time I imagine his acid-washed jean dance. That's what it was: a Hall-a-palooza of tapered-jean tawdriness.
As for the Flaming Lips, you're right about their post Ten status. And like I said, there are several post Ten songs, but none ventures into my high school years when - let's face it - music snobbery begins to take shape.
I was attempting to find the purest music to represent myself after having read some other bloggers' posts about their first loves, musically speaking, and feeling their selections were a bit wonky.
Most appeared to be filled with the pretensions of a post-Pearl Jam/post-Nirvana/post-Soul Garden/post-STP/post-whatever grunge band you first connected with viewpoint.
In other words, I felt these people weren't revisiting themselves as they were before the plaid, before the butt-cuts, before the hiking boots, black jeans, and dirty caps. They were allowing all these things - and more - to inform their decisions. I am totally opposed to this. It's as though music's influence on the twenty-something's life began in 1995. I know Ten was released in 1991, and that's when I received it, but I wasn't really weened off my taste for heavy duty pop music until, well, I'm still not off it, clearly. Point is, high school began for me in '95, and it was then that I started listening to music for more than just the armrest thumping songs to listen to in the car. I was searching for something beyond that which life offers. I was looking to enhance life.
I'm of the opinion life, that of the music-lover, began much, much earlier. One of my earliest memories is singing Springsteen and Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson and the Pointer Sisters while staying with my extended family - my parents out frolicking, attempting to enjoy the last few available years of youthful exuberation, and probably conceiving my brother - I hope no one is offended by that image.
I remember JT, MJ, Billy Joel, and Whitney Houston overtaking our roadtrips to Kansas City and Colorado. I very vividly recall the cassette tape travel kit strewn about the back seat of my dad's Porsche filled with summertime favorites: The Diamond, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Jim Croce, and even The Material Girl (although pop'd never admit it).
This is when music first infused my soul, took over my body, and turned me into something bigger than I could ever be alone.
I remember breakdancing with Andy Bradshaw in my navy blue Member's Only jacket on the carpet of our basement floor while listening to Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Royce Mitchell and I used to have a radio show in his basement on our First Sonys. He would always, always play "Rock & Roll All Night" by Kiss. I was maybe five at the time. This was music.
I watched the USA for Africa video of "We are the World" again last night (thank you, Martin). We used to have it on VHS. I wore that thing raw. James Ingram, Sheila E, and Lindsey Buckingham are still my favorite sights in the bizarre vid. Yeah, yeah, Akroyd was there, but he was still musically valid: the Blues Brothers hadn't too many years earlier broken the top 40, and he was buds with all those cats no small thanks to LA's star-heavy drug scene. That video, in all its weirdness with MJ getting special filters, hair & makeup, and what I'm sure is not the first and certainly not the last gawdy, bejeweled military costume, with the cheap-o Hanes Beefy-Tees all the other performers were forced to wear, with Bob Dylan's studied "I've lost my singing voice" immitation, and just mainly with too much Springsteen and not enough Warwick, was AWESOME! It's a special day when you can get all those personalities into one room, especially after having to sit through Dick Clark's not-so-rockin' American Music Awards.
If you have the chance, check that out. Check out Paul Carrack.
That's all the links I have time for kids. I hope you found this entry as fun to read as I did to write. Happy Valentine's Day.
Paul Carrack? Allmusic.com calls him "pop music's ultimate journeyman," saying "his finest work often came at the expense of his own identity as a performer."
I agree, this Englishman first came into prominence in the heat of late 70s prog-rock with the band Ace. Their wonderfully cured song "How Long" has helped me through more than one lonely night.
It was his solo song "Don't Shed a Tear" I remember loving most as a scabby-kneed tike.
However, I remember Mike & the Mechanics as a band who produced seemingly flawless pop music with a hint of message. "The Living Years" and "All I Need is a Miracle" were both on heavy rotation around the Wastler household in the middle 80s.
And yet, his work for the band Squeeze is what I think he's most often recognized for thanks to the Ben Stiller-helmed flick Reality Bites, at a time when Carrack had reconnected with the band to rerecord their biggest hit (at least with him at the wheel. I also like "Black Coffee in Bed"), "Tempted."
That being said, there's something in his voice that's both saccharine and earnest. It's as put-on as Elvis Costello, and it's as blue-eyed soul as Daryl Hall. And you can't go wrong with either of those.
Ok, so perhaps you can. "You Make My Dreams Come True" still pangs a sharp pain in the heel of my velcroed Reeboks every time I imagine his acid-washed jean dance. That's what it was: a Hall-a-palooza of tapered-jean tawdriness.
As for the Flaming Lips, you're right about their post Ten status. And like I said, there are several post Ten songs, but none ventures into my high school years when - let's face it - music snobbery begins to take shape.
I was attempting to find the purest music to represent myself after having read some other bloggers' posts about their first loves, musically speaking, and feeling their selections were a bit wonky.
Most appeared to be filled with the pretensions of a post-Pearl Jam/post-Nirvana/post-Soul Garden/post-STP/post-whatever grunge band you first connected with viewpoint.
In other words, I felt these people weren't revisiting themselves as they were before the plaid, before the butt-cuts, before the hiking boots, black jeans, and dirty caps. They were allowing all these things - and more - to inform their decisions. I am totally opposed to this. It's as though music's influence on the twenty-something's life began in 1995. I know Ten was released in 1991, and that's when I received it, but I wasn't really weened off my taste for heavy duty pop music until, well, I'm still not off it, clearly. Point is, high school began for me in '95, and it was then that I started listening to music for more than just the armrest thumping songs to listen to in the car. I was searching for something beyond that which life offers. I was looking to enhance life.
I'm of the opinion life, that of the music-lover, began much, much earlier. One of my earliest memories is singing Springsteen and Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson and the Pointer Sisters while staying with my extended family - my parents out frolicking, attempting to enjoy the last few available years of youthful exuberation, and probably conceiving my brother - I hope no one is offended by that image.
I remember JT, MJ, Billy Joel, and Whitney Houston overtaking our roadtrips to Kansas City and Colorado. I very vividly recall the cassette tape travel kit strewn about the back seat of my dad's Porsche filled with summertime favorites: The Diamond, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Jim Croce, and even The Material Girl (although pop'd never admit it).
This is when music first infused my soul, took over my body, and turned me into something bigger than I could ever be alone.
I remember breakdancing with Andy Bradshaw in my navy blue Member's Only jacket on the carpet of our basement floor while listening to Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Royce Mitchell and I used to have a radio show in his basement on our First Sonys. He would always, always play "Rock & Roll All Night" by Kiss. I was maybe five at the time. This was music.
I watched the USA for Africa video of "We are the World" again last night (thank you, Martin). We used to have it on VHS. I wore that thing raw. James Ingram, Sheila E, and Lindsey Buckingham are still my favorite sights in the bizarre vid. Yeah, yeah, Akroyd was there, but he was still musically valid: the Blues Brothers hadn't too many years earlier broken the top 40, and he was buds with all those cats no small thanks to LA's star-heavy drug scene. That video, in all its weirdness with MJ getting special filters, hair & makeup, and what I'm sure is not the first and certainly not the last gawdy, bejeweled military costume, with the cheap-o Hanes Beefy-Tees all the other performers were forced to wear, with Bob Dylan's studied "I've lost my singing voice" immitation, and just mainly with too much Springsteen and not enough Warwick, was AWESOME! It's a special day when you can get all those personalities into one room, especially after having to sit through Dick Clark's not-so-rockin' American Music Awards.
If you have the chance, check that out. Check out Paul Carrack.
That's all the links I have time for kids. I hope you found this entry as fun to read as I did to write. Happy Valentine's Day.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Lush Sounds for a Sunday
I am attempting to enter the wicked world of HTML. Buried in this entry are several free downloads from the artists themselves.
My listening patterns this week have included Hem, Over the Rhine, The Guggenheim Grotto, and - as always - Josh Ritter.
I first heard the Joseph Arthur cover of "In the Sun" on a live cut from Coldplay's appearance on Austin City Limits. At the end of their performance, Martin quipped, "This is the best song ever written in my opinion." It's a very good song, Chris, yes.
Other highlights in this mix include former roommates', Redder Records' generous free cover of Nada Surf's "Inside of Love," as performed by in-house genius/former workerbee, Ben Barnett AKA Kind of Like Spitting (say that ten times really fast) and songs from the second season of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Music Supervisor Alexandra Patsavas should win an award. According to IMDB, she hasn't yet. Finally, I'm still rockin' Trespassers William, even though Mazzy Star did it better and a decade earlier.
1) M. Ward - Transfiguration, No. 1
2) * Hope for a Golden Summer - Hearts in Jars
3) * The Guggenheim Grotto - One for Sorrow
4) * Josh Ritter - Girl in the War
5) The Elected - I'll Be Your Man
6) Sam Winch - I Got Some Moves
7) Rosie Thomas - Since You've Been Around
8) Merrick - Infinity
9) Michael Stipe & Coldplay - In the Sun
10) * Hotel Lights - Stumblin' Home Winter Blues
11) Gillian Welch - Revelator
12) Over the Rhine - I Want You to Be My Love
13) * Kind of Like Spitting - Inside of Love
14) Trespassers William - Lie in the Sound
15) Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
16) Damien Rice - Prague
17) * hem - Carry Me Home
18) M. Ward - Transfiguration, No.2
I know, I know. Nobody's going to visit all of these links. I just had to prove it to myself that I can do this HTML thing. At least check out the ones with *highlighted songs. There you can hear what I'm talking about. Wait. You can't actually hear me talking. I should try and rephrase that, but I won't.
I am attempting to enter the wicked world of HTML. Buried in this entry are several free downloads from the artists themselves.
My listening patterns this week have included Hem, Over the Rhine, The Guggenheim Grotto, and - as always - Josh Ritter.
I first heard the Joseph Arthur cover of "In the Sun" on a live cut from Coldplay's appearance on Austin City Limits. At the end of their performance, Martin quipped, "This is the best song ever written in my opinion." It's a very good song, Chris, yes.
Other highlights in this mix include former roommates', Redder Records' generous free cover of Nada Surf's "Inside of Love," as performed by in-house genius/former workerbee, Ben Barnett AKA Kind of Like Spitting (say that ten times really fast) and songs from the second season of ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Music Supervisor Alexandra Patsavas should win an award. According to IMDB, she hasn't yet. Finally, I'm still rockin' Trespassers William, even though Mazzy Star did it better and a decade earlier.
1) M. Ward - Transfiguration, No. 1
2) * Hope for a Golden Summer - Hearts in Jars
3) * The Guggenheim Grotto - One for Sorrow
4) * Josh Ritter - Girl in the War
5) The Elected - I'll Be Your Man
6) Sam Winch - I Got Some Moves
7) Rosie Thomas - Since You've Been Around
8) Merrick - Infinity
9) Michael Stipe & Coldplay - In the Sun
10) * Hotel Lights - Stumblin' Home Winter Blues
11) Gillian Welch - Revelator
12) Over the Rhine - I Want You to Be My Love
13) * Kind of Like Spitting - Inside of Love
14) Trespassers William - Lie in the Sound
15) Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
16) Damien Rice - Prague
17) * hem - Carry Me Home
18) M. Ward - Transfiguration, No.2
I know, I know. Nobody's going to visit all of these links. I just had to prove it to myself that I can do this HTML thing. At least check out the ones with *highlighted songs. There you can hear what I'm talking about. Wait. You can't actually hear me talking. I should try and rephrase that, but I won't.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
125 Songs Before Pearl Jam
There is little order to this list, and yes, I probably broke every rule, but I hope you enjoy remembering these songs as I have.
Rather than explain why I put these songs up, perhaps, if any of them strike you, purge a memory, anything, feel free to comment.
The Captain and Tenille - Do That to Me One More Time
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
Atlantic Starr - Always
Peter Cetera - The Glory of Love
Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting - All for Love
Luther Vandross - Here and Now
Michael Bolton - How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
John Secada - Just Another Day
The Cars - Drive
Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstadt - I Don't Know Much
The Commodores - Easy
Phil Collins - Against All Odds
Spandau Ballet - True
Duran Duran - Ordinary World
Tears for Fears - Sowing the Seeds of Love
Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over
John Waite - I Ain't Missing You
Mr. Big - To Be with You
Bonnie Raitt - Not the Only One
Marc Cohn - Walking in Memphis
Bruce Hornsby - That's Just the Way It Is
Joshua Kadison - Jessie
Bad English - When I See You Smile
The Jeff Healey Band - Angel Eyes
Whitney Houston - The Greatest Love of All
TLC - Baby-Baby-Baby
Wilson Phillips - Hold On
Big Mountain - Baby, I Love Your Way
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
Mr. Mister - Kyrie
Cutting Crew - I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight
Billy Vera & the Beaters - At This Moment
Jefferson Starship - Sara
Stevie B - Because I Love You
Lisa Loeb - Stay
The Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now
Peabo Bryson - If Ever You're in My Arms
James Ingram - I Don't Have the Heart
Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram - Somewhere Out There
Mike & the Mechanics - The Living Years
Meatloaf - I Would Do Anything for Love
Richard Marx - Now and Forever
Cyndi Lauper - True Colors
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 You
Rod Stewart - Downtown Train
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Nelson - Can't Live Without Your Love and Affection
Kenny Loggins - Meet Me Halfway
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Go West - King of Wishful Thinking
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
Boy Meets Girl - Waiting for a Star to Fall
George Michael - Freedom '90
Madonna - Like a Prayer
Calloway - I Wanna Be Rich
Milli Vanilli - Blame It on the Rain
Lisa Stansfield - Been Around the World
Dolly Parton - 9 to 5
A Ha - Take on Me
Escape Club - Wild Wild West
C&C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
Ready for the World - Oh Sheila
The Whispers - Rock Steady
Deniece Williams - Let's Hear It for the Boy
Kenny Loggins - Footloose
Billy Ocean - Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car
Inner Circle - Sweat (A La La La Long)
Soul II Soul - Back to Life
Susan Vega - Tom's Diner
Paula Abdul - Opposites Attract
Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise
New Kids on the Block - The Right Stuff
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up
Technotronic - Pump Up the Jam
Salt & Pepper - Shoop
MC Hammer - Too Legit to Quit
Snow - Informer
Wrex N Effect - Rump Shaker
EMF - You're Unbelievable
Young MC - Bust a Move
Us3 - Cantaloop
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
Scandal - The Warrior
Steve Perry - Oh Sherrie
Asia - Heat of the Moment
Pat Benetar - Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Jane Child - Don't Wanna Fall in Love
Dan Baird - I Love You Period
Squeeze - Tempted
Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
Ray Parker, Jr. - Ghostbusters
Huey Lewis & The News - The Power of Love
Bob Seger - Old Time Rock & Roll
Terence Trent D'Arby - Wishing Well
Paul Carrack - Don't Shed a Tear
Del Amitri - Roll to Me
Glass Tiger - Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone
Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Janet Jackson - Alright
Ini Kamoze - Here Comes the Hotstepper
Queen - We Are the Champions
Glenn Campbell - Rhinestone Cowboy
John Cougar Mellencamp - Small Town
Blues Traveler - Runaround
The Spin Doctors - Two Princes
The Jeff Healey Band - Angel Eyes
Prince - Seven
They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
Crash Test Dummies - MMM
The Flaming Lips - Tangerines
Green Jelly - The Three Little Pigs
4 Non-Blondes - What's Going On
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet
Boyz II Men - Motownphilly
Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison
R Kelly - Bump 'N Grind
Warren G - Regulate
En Vogue - Free Your Mind
Bill Conti - You're the Best
Robyn - Show Me Love
The Pointer Sisters - Pink Cadillac
Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now
Genesis - I Can't Dance
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen
REM - It's the End of the World as We Know It
USA for Africa - We are the World
- A few of these songs may or may not have come to my attention after receiving Pearl Jam's Ten, but if they are in the same vein as the rest of the songs that appear on this list, especially if they're songs I'm embarrassed to admit to loving at one time, I felt it necessary to include them - within reason. No song on this list, to my knowledge, was released in last half of the nineties.
- Phil Collins regrouped with bandmates Genesis to record "I Can't Dance," but it was "Against All Odds" that sold me on that short, silly Englishman with the single tuft of hair.
- Rod Stewart's in a trio with Sting and Bryan Adams on the Adams-penned "All for Love," and he sings a cover of Tom Waits' "Downtown Train."
- Linda Ronstadt sings duets with James Ingram and Aaron Neville, so I counted that as one entry for her.
- James Ingram appears in a duet and on his own.
- Prince appears twice as a songwriter with "Seven" and "Nothing Compares...."
- Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Lionel Richie, and several others I grouped under "parental influence" appear on "We are the World." And just about everyone on this list, apart from John Popper, were a part of this song, but it meant so much to me as a little kid, I had to include it.
- But it's Paul Carrack, my favorite singer of the eighties who appears on this list three times. Any guesses as to how it's possible?
There is little order to this list, and yes, I probably broke every rule, but I hope you enjoy remembering these songs as I have.
Rather than explain why I put these songs up, perhaps, if any of them strike you, purge a memory, anything, feel free to comment.
The Captain and Tenille - Do That to Me One More Time
Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart
Atlantic Starr - Always
Peter Cetera - The Glory of Love
Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting - All for Love
Luther Vandross - Here and Now
Michael Bolton - How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
John Secada - Just Another Day
The Cars - Drive
Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstadt - I Don't Know Much
The Commodores - Easy
Phil Collins - Against All Odds
Spandau Ballet - True
Duran Duran - Ordinary World
Tears for Fears - Sowing the Seeds of Love
Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over
John Waite - I Ain't Missing You
Mr. Big - To Be with You
Bonnie Raitt - Not the Only One
Marc Cohn - Walking in Memphis
Bruce Hornsby - That's Just the Way It Is
Joshua Kadison - Jessie
Bad English - When I See You Smile
The Jeff Healey Band - Angel Eyes
Whitney Houston - The Greatest Love of All
TLC - Baby-Baby-Baby
Wilson Phillips - Hold On
Big Mountain - Baby, I Love Your Way
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again
Mr. Mister - Kyrie
Cutting Crew - I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight
Billy Vera & the Beaters - At This Moment
Jefferson Starship - Sara
Stevie B - Because I Love You
Lisa Loeb - Stay
The Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now
Peabo Bryson - If Ever You're in My Arms
James Ingram - I Don't Have the Heart
Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram - Somewhere Out There
Mike & the Mechanics - The Living Years
Meatloaf - I Would Do Anything for Love
Richard Marx - Now and Forever
Cyndi Lauper - True Colors
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 You
Rod Stewart - Downtown Train
Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Nelson - Can't Live Without Your Love and Affection
Kenny Loggins - Meet Me Halfway
Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
Go West - King of Wishful Thinking
Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy
Boy Meets Girl - Waiting for a Star to Fall
George Michael - Freedom '90
Madonna - Like a Prayer
Calloway - I Wanna Be Rich
Milli Vanilli - Blame It on the Rain
Lisa Stansfield - Been Around the World
Dolly Parton - 9 to 5
A Ha - Take on Me
Escape Club - Wild Wild West
C&C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
Ready for the World - Oh Sheila
The Whispers - Rock Steady
Deniece Williams - Let's Hear It for the Boy
Kenny Loggins - Footloose
Billy Ocean - Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into My Car
Inner Circle - Sweat (A La La La Long)
Soul II Soul - Back to Life
Susan Vega - Tom's Diner
Paula Abdul - Opposites Attract
Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise
New Kids on the Block - The Right Stuff
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up
Technotronic - Pump Up the Jam
Salt & Pepper - Shoop
MC Hammer - Too Legit to Quit
Snow - Informer
Wrex N Effect - Rump Shaker
EMF - You're Unbelievable
Young MC - Bust a Move
Us3 - Cantaloop
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
Scandal - The Warrior
Steve Perry - Oh Sherrie
Asia - Heat of the Moment
Pat Benetar - Hit Me with Your Best Shot
Jane Child - Don't Wanna Fall in Love
Dan Baird - I Love You Period
Squeeze - Tempted
Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
Ray Parker, Jr. - Ghostbusters
Huey Lewis & The News - The Power of Love
Bob Seger - Old Time Rock & Roll
Terence Trent D'Arby - Wishing Well
Paul Carrack - Don't Shed a Tear
Del Amitri - Roll to Me
Glass Tiger - Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone
Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight
Janet Jackson - Alright
Ini Kamoze - Here Comes the Hotstepper
Queen - We Are the Champions
Glenn Campbell - Rhinestone Cowboy
John Cougar Mellencamp - Small Town
Blues Traveler - Runaround
The Spin Doctors - Two Princes
The Jeff Healey Band - Angel Eyes
Prince - Seven
They Might Be Giants - Birdhouse in Your Soul
Crash Test Dummies - MMM
The Flaming Lips - Tangerines
Green Jelly - The Three Little Pigs
4 Non-Blondes - What's Going On
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet
Boyz II Men - Motownphilly
Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison
R Kelly - Bump 'N Grind
Warren G - Regulate
En Vogue - Free Your Mind
Bill Conti - You're the Best
Robyn - Show Me Love
The Pointer Sisters - Pink Cadillac
Jesus Jones - Right Here Right Now
Genesis - I Can't Dance
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen
REM - It's the End of the World as We Know It
USA for Africa - We are the World
- A few of these songs may or may not have come to my attention after receiving Pearl Jam's Ten, but if they are in the same vein as the rest of the songs that appear on this list, especially if they're songs I'm embarrassed to admit to loving at one time, I felt it necessary to include them - within reason. No song on this list, to my knowledge, was released in last half of the nineties.
- Phil Collins regrouped with bandmates Genesis to record "I Can't Dance," but it was "Against All Odds" that sold me on that short, silly Englishman with the single tuft of hair.
- Rod Stewart's in a trio with Sting and Bryan Adams on the Adams-penned "All for Love," and he sings a cover of Tom Waits' "Downtown Train."
- Linda Ronstadt sings duets with James Ingram and Aaron Neville, so I counted that as one entry for her.
- James Ingram appears in a duet and on his own.
- Prince appears twice as a songwriter with "Seven" and "Nothing Compares...."
- Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Lionel Richie, and several others I grouped under "parental influence" appear on "We are the World." And just about everyone on this list, apart from John Popper, were a part of this song, but it meant so much to me as a little kid, I had to include it.
- But it's Paul Carrack, my favorite singer of the eighties who appears on this list three times. Any guesses as to how it's possible?
Coming up...
I'm busy putting together a list of songs that were important to me - that are important to my life, my love of music, but most importantly they're a list of the songs that affected me first.
I was busy putting together a list of music for two friends at school who sit with me and sing a capella versions of the cheesiest songs we can think of from the seventies, eighties, and especially the early nineties, when suddenly I discovered all these songs had something in common. All of them were songs that in one way or another played a huge importance in my understanding of what makes songs ... tick, for lack of a better word. What is it that drew me to these songs, and why? And what happened after receiving Pearl Jam's "10" in fifth or sixth grade that changed all that?
The parameters I have set for this list are:
1) No more than 125 songs can be applied to the list.
2) No more than one song per artist.
3) No music by Michael Jackson, James Taylor, Billy Joel, The Beatles, or anything else weighted with strong parental influence may be included. In other words, these songs all have to be personal discoveries, either through channels like friends, radio mix tapes (of which I had hundreds), or the occasional memory of MTV - which we didn't have until after Pearl Jam.
4) Most importantly, this cannot include songs from the time period that I later loved and wished to have listened to at the time. It must be music that I honestly listened to at the time, whether I still do or not.
I'm busy putting together a list of songs that were important to me - that are important to my life, my love of music, but most importantly they're a list of the songs that affected me first.
I was busy putting together a list of music for two friends at school who sit with me and sing a capella versions of the cheesiest songs we can think of from the seventies, eighties, and especially the early nineties, when suddenly I discovered all these songs had something in common. All of them were songs that in one way or another played a huge importance in my understanding of what makes songs ... tick, for lack of a better word. What is it that drew me to these songs, and why? And what happened after receiving Pearl Jam's "10" in fifth or sixth grade that changed all that?
The parameters I have set for this list are:
1) No more than 125 songs can be applied to the list.
2) No more than one song per artist.
3) No music by Michael Jackson, James Taylor, Billy Joel, The Beatles, or anything else weighted with strong parental influence may be included. In other words, these songs all have to be personal discoveries, either through channels like friends, radio mix tapes (of which I had hundreds), or the occasional memory of MTV - which we didn't have until after Pearl Jam.
4) Most importantly, this cannot include songs from the time period that I later loved and wished to have listened to at the time. It must be music that I honestly listened to at the time, whether I still do or not.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
February is notoriously a very difficult month at my school. To put it plainly, it's when everyone begins fighting and holding grudges and biting and kicking and scratching each other. I've ironically entitled this mix "Smile It's February" for it's mostly down-trodden atmosphere. Enjoy!
PS Note the correct usage of the word "ironically."
1) Chet Baker - I Fall in Love Too Easily
2) Marc Shaiman - I Have Dreamed (The State Dinner)
3) Israel - You Are Not Forgotten
4) Hem - The Fire Thief
5) Over the Rhine - I Want You to be My Love
6) Cat Power - Where Is My Love
7) Hank Williams - Tennessee Waltz
8) Fleetwood Mac - Songbird
9) Whiskeytown - My Hometown
10) Hotel Lights - Miles Behind Me
11) Neil Young - Are You Ready for the Country?
12) Joe Cocker & Leon Russell - Space Captain
13) Elvis Costello - What Do I Do Now?
14) Scott Walker - 30 Century Man
15) Tom Waits - Hold On
16) Antony & the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone
17) Juliet Turner & Brian Kennedy - I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You
18) Leonard Cohen - Winter Lady
19) Enescu - Romanian Rhapsody, Op. 11, No. 1
PS Note the correct usage of the word "ironically."
1) Chet Baker - I Fall in Love Too Easily
2) Marc Shaiman - I Have Dreamed (The State Dinner)
3) Israel - You Are Not Forgotten
4) Hem - The Fire Thief
5) Over the Rhine - I Want You to be My Love
6) Cat Power - Where Is My Love
7) Hank Williams - Tennessee Waltz
8) Fleetwood Mac - Songbird
9) Whiskeytown - My Hometown
10) Hotel Lights - Miles Behind Me
11) Neil Young - Are You Ready for the Country?
12) Joe Cocker & Leon Russell - Space Captain
13) Elvis Costello - What Do I Do Now?
14) Scott Walker - 30 Century Man
15) Tom Waits - Hold On
16) Antony & the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone
17) Juliet Turner & Brian Kennedy - I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love with You
18) Leonard Cohen - Winter Lady
19) Enescu - Romanian Rhapsody, Op. 11, No. 1
Monday, January 30, 2006
For whatever reason, I entitled this mix FUNKY, yes, all caps. It should be entitled SYNTHS or something funnier like, "Yes, I live in Williamsburg." This is a classic hipster move: claim to love eighties synth r&b, and throw in a bit of pop for familiarity's sake. That being said, this mix is one I've been working on since this summer when first I heard "I Like It" by DeBarge at my favorite restaurant on the Lower East Side, The Pink Pony. So, laugh as you will, but this mix makes me shake, it makes me move, it makes me laugh, and most importantly, it makes me happy.
1) DeBarge - I Like It
2) The Whispers - Rock Steady
3) Shalamar - The Second Time Around
4) Diana Ross - Upside Down
5) Carl Carlton - She's a Bad Mama Jama
6) Lakeside - Fantastic Voyage
7) Earth, Wind, & Fire - Let's Groove
8) Prince - Controversy
9) Rick James - Give It to Me Baby
10) The Human League - Fascination
11) Shannon - Let the Music Play
12) Mtume - Juicy Fruit
13) Skyy - Call Me
14) Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
15) Leon Ware - Why I Came to California
16) Ready for the World - Oh Sheila
17) Midnight Star - No Parking on the Dancefloor
1) DeBarge - I Like It
2) The Whispers - Rock Steady
3) Shalamar - The Second Time Around
4) Diana Ross - Upside Down
5) Carl Carlton - She's a Bad Mama Jama
6) Lakeside - Fantastic Voyage
7) Earth, Wind, & Fire - Let's Groove
8) Prince - Controversy
9) Rick James - Give It to Me Baby
10) The Human League - Fascination
11) Shannon - Let the Music Play
12) Mtume - Juicy Fruit
13) Skyy - Call Me
14) Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody
15) Leon Ware - Why I Came to California
16) Ready for the World - Oh Sheila
17) Midnight Star - No Parking on the Dancefloor
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Re:Discoveries
1) KT Tunstall - Other Side of the World
2) Secret Machines - Nowhere Again
3) Billy Bragg - Sexuality
4) XTC - River of Orchids
5) Erin McKeown - To the Stars
6) Left Banke - Walk Away Renee
7) Richard & Teddy Thompson - She May Call You Up Tonight
8) Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Handle with Care
9) Rilo Kiley - With Arms Outstretched
10) Rilo Kiley - Go Ahead
11) Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come On Come On
12) The Elected - I'll Be Your Man
13) Mary Gauthier - Mercy Now
14) Teddy Thompson - I Don't Want to Say Goodbye
15) Neil Diamond - Captain of a Shipwreck
16) Etta James - Someone to Watch Over Me
17) Nico - I'll Keep It With Mine
18) Bob Dylan - Talking World War III Blues
1) KT Tunstall - Other Side of the World
2) Secret Machines - Nowhere Again
3) Billy Bragg - Sexuality
4) XTC - River of Orchids
5) Erin McKeown - To the Stars
6) Left Banke - Walk Away Renee
7) Richard & Teddy Thompson - She May Call You Up Tonight
8) Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins - Handle with Care
9) Rilo Kiley - With Arms Outstretched
10) Rilo Kiley - Go Ahead
11) Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come On Come On
12) The Elected - I'll Be Your Man
13) Mary Gauthier - Mercy Now
14) Teddy Thompson - I Don't Want to Say Goodbye
15) Neil Diamond - Captain of a Shipwreck
16) Etta James - Someone to Watch Over Me
17) Nico - I'll Keep It With Mine
18) Bob Dylan - Talking World War III Blues
Sad Sack: Music for Rejection... and/or other shoulder schlumping moments life presents
Subtitled: Dying to Live
1) Willie Nelson - He Was a Friend of Mine
2) Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
3) Townes Van Zandt - Dead Flowers
4) Edgar Winter - Dying to Live
5) Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
6) The Rolling Stones - Memory Motel
7) Whiskeytown - Sittin' Around
8) Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From
9) Josh Ritter - Come and Find Me
10) Gillian Welch - Revelator
11) Bonnie Raitt - Since I Fell for You
12) Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis - Angry All the Time
13) Neil Young - Heart of Gold
14) Rachael Yamagata - The Reason Why
15) John Prine & Bonnie Raitt - Angel from Montgomery
16) Tim Hardin - Reason to Believe
17) Nick Drake - Which Will
18) Emmylou Harris - A Love that Will Never Grow Old
19) Dave Van Ronk - He Was a Friend of Mine
Subtitled: Dying to Live
1) Willie Nelson - He Was a Friend of Mine
2) Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
3) Townes Van Zandt - Dead Flowers
4) Edgar Winter - Dying to Live
5) Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
6) The Rolling Stones - Memory Motel
7) Whiskeytown - Sittin' Around
8) Kings of Convenience - I Don't Know What I Can Save You From
9) Josh Ritter - Come and Find Me
10) Gillian Welch - Revelator
11) Bonnie Raitt - Since I Fell for You
12) Bruce Robison & Kelly Willis - Angry All the Time
13) Neil Young - Heart of Gold
14) Rachael Yamagata - The Reason Why
15) John Prine & Bonnie Raitt - Angel from Montgomery
16) Tim Hardin - Reason to Believe
17) Nick Drake - Which Will
18) Emmylou Harris - A Love that Will Never Grow Old
19) Dave Van Ronk - He Was a Friend of Mine
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Rhythm, Blues, Funk, & Soul
Check this mix out. If this doesn't turn you on, well, I'm sorry. Nothing will.
1) Chuck Berry - Little Queenie
2) Doris Troy - Just One Look
3) Koko Taylor - Voodoo Woman
4) Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Good Morning Little School Girl
5) Barrett Strong - Money, That's What I Want
6) Muddy Waters - I Just Wanna Make Love to You
7) James Brown - Cold Sweat
8) Junior Walker - Roadrunner
9) The Meters - Cissy Strut
10) Slim Harpo - Baby Scratch My Back
11) Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions - We're a Winner
12) Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothin'
13) Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
14) Jamie Lidell - Multiply
15) Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain
16) Donny Hathaway - A Song for You
17) William Bell - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
18) Little Willie John - I Need Your Love So Bad
19) Rickie Lee Jones - Easy Money
20) Big Bill Broonzy - The Glory of Love
21) Charles Brown - Black Night
22) Leon Russell - Tight Rope
23) Sonny Boy Williamson - Bring It On Home to Me
24) Stevie Wonder - Living for the City
Check this mix out. If this doesn't turn you on, well, I'm sorry. Nothing will.
1) Chuck Berry - Little Queenie
2) Doris Troy - Just One Look
3) Koko Taylor - Voodoo Woman
4) Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Good Morning Little School Girl
5) Barrett Strong - Money, That's What I Want
6) Muddy Waters - I Just Wanna Make Love to You
7) James Brown - Cold Sweat
8) Junior Walker - Roadrunner
9) The Meters - Cissy Strut
10) Slim Harpo - Baby Scratch My Back
11) Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions - We're a Winner
12) Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothin'
13) Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
14) Jamie Lidell - Multiply
15) Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand the Rain
16) Donny Hathaway - A Song for You
17) William Bell - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
18) Little Willie John - I Need Your Love So Bad
19) Rickie Lee Jones - Easy Money
20) Big Bill Broonzy - The Glory of Love
21) Charles Brown - Black Night
22) Leon Russell - Tight Rope
23) Sonny Boy Williamson - Bring It On Home to Me
24) Stevie Wonder - Living for the City
Monday, January 09, 2006
These are the front-runners for the first CD I'm putting together for a photo shoot I'm going to on Saturday.
Neil Young - Old Man
Bob Dylan - Queen Jane Approximately
Chuck Berry - Little Queenie
The Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden
The Beatles - For You Blue
Leonard Cohen - The Guests
Whiskeytown - Sittin' Around
Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You into the Dark
Doris Troy - Just One Look
Charles Wright - Express Yourself
Jamie Lidell - Multiply
Van Morrison - It's All Over Now Baby Blue
Junio Walker & The All Stars - Roadrunner
James Brown - Cold Sweat
The Meters - Cissy Strut
Marvin Gaye - Pride & Joy
Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothin'
Curtis Mayfield - We're a Winner
Slim Harpo - Baby Scratch My Back
Rickie Lee Jones - Easy Money
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Going to a Go-Go
Koko Taylor - Voodoo Woman
Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want)
Donny Hathaway - A Song for You
William Bell - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
Leon Russell - Tight Rope
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Good Morning Little School Girl
Neil Young - Old Man
Bob Dylan - Queen Jane Approximately
Chuck Berry - Little Queenie
The Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden
The Beatles - For You Blue
Leonard Cohen - The Guests
Whiskeytown - Sittin' Around
Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You into the Dark
Doris Troy - Just One Look
Charles Wright - Express Yourself
Jamie Lidell - Multiply
Van Morrison - It's All Over Now Baby Blue
Junio Walker & The All Stars - Roadrunner
James Brown - Cold Sweat
The Meters - Cissy Strut
Marvin Gaye - Pride & Joy
Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothin'
Curtis Mayfield - We're a Winner
Slim Harpo - Baby Scratch My Back
Rickie Lee Jones - Easy Money
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Going to a Go-Go
Koko Taylor - Voodoo Woman
Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want)
Donny Hathaway - A Song for You
William Bell - Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
Leon Russell - Tight Rope
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Good Morning Little School Girl
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
A Max Wastler Christmas (2005)
Every year my Christmas CD is about the same. Kenny Loggins, any number of versions of "Please Come Home for Christmas," and several other favorites make their way to the mix, but this year, I tried to include some new finds, like the selections from Ron Spector's Christmas productions, "Sleigh Ride" and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home);" the latter was nicely covered years later by U2. No Charles Brown, Dolly Parton, Amy Grant, or Ave Marias this year. No Grinch, either. I hope this list finds you and yours enjoying the last drops of holiday cheer, and perhaps I opened your eyes to the wonderful world of Redbone, Leon Redbone.
1) Kenny Loggins - Celebrate Me Home
2) The Eagles - Please Come Home for Christmas
3) Ray Charles and Betty Carter - Baby, It's Cold Outside
4) Ray Charles - Winter Wonderland
5) Chuck Berry - Run Rudolph Run
6) Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
7) Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas
8) Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock
9) Burl Ives - Holly Jolly Christmas
10) The Drifters - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
11) The Ronettes - Sleigh Ride
12) Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
13) Stevie Wonder - What Christmas Means to Me
14) Leon Redbone and Dr. John - Frosty the Snowman
15) John Mellencamp - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
16) Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas is You
17) Jack Johnson - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
18) Bing Crosby - Mele Kalikimaka
19) Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad
20) John Lennon - Happy Christmas (War is Over)
21) Paul McCartney and Wings - Wonderful Christmas Time
22) Elton John - Step Into Christmas
23) Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus is Coming To Town
24) Bob and Doug MacKenzie - The 12 Days of Christmas
25 Mozart - Greensleeves (any classical guitar version)
Every year my Christmas CD is about the same. Kenny Loggins, any number of versions of "Please Come Home for Christmas," and several other favorites make their way to the mix, but this year, I tried to include some new finds, like the selections from Ron Spector's Christmas productions, "Sleigh Ride" and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home);" the latter was nicely covered years later by U2. No Charles Brown, Dolly Parton, Amy Grant, or Ave Marias this year. No Grinch, either. I hope this list finds you and yours enjoying the last drops of holiday cheer, and perhaps I opened your eyes to the wonderful world of Redbone, Leon Redbone.
1) Kenny Loggins - Celebrate Me Home
2) The Eagles - Please Come Home for Christmas
3) Ray Charles and Betty Carter - Baby, It's Cold Outside
4) Ray Charles - Winter Wonderland
5) Chuck Berry - Run Rudolph Run
6) Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
7) Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas
8) Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock
9) Burl Ives - Holly Jolly Christmas
10) The Drifters - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas
11) The Ronettes - Sleigh Ride
12) Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
13) Stevie Wonder - What Christmas Means to Me
14) Leon Redbone and Dr. John - Frosty the Snowman
15) John Mellencamp - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
16) Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas is You
17) Jack Johnson - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
18) Bing Crosby - Mele Kalikimaka
19) Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad
20) John Lennon - Happy Christmas (War is Over)
21) Paul McCartney and Wings - Wonderful Christmas Time
22) Elton John - Step Into Christmas
23) Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus is Coming To Town
24) Bob and Doug MacKenzie - The 12 Days of Christmas
25 Mozart - Greensleeves (any classical guitar version)
After seeing Breakfast on Pluto, I went back and re-re-re-rediscovered Astral Weeks by Van Morrison. Mr. Morrison and I have enjoyed a long standing relationship from my slick-footed poolside twist days from years ago via "Brown-Eyed Girl," to my all-but obsessive phase around the age of 21. I found these two longer songs to best express a mood I was searching for a few stressful weeks ago. Also, the version of "4th Time Around," as found in the only scene worth its salt in Crowe's Vanilla Sky, hit me one morning as I watched it - half naked and alone. It's a beautiful version. The other songs are some old favorites, some new discoveries, and for the most part reflect that which I was feeling on the day I made this CD.
1) Bob Dylan - Fourth Time Around (from the Bootleg Series)
2) Van Morrison - Cyprus Avenue
3) David Gray - Lullaby
4) Joni Mitchell - Rainy Night House
5) The Mountain Goats - You or Your Memory
6) Nicolai Dunger - Prelude
7) Pixies - Where is My Mind?
8) Wilco - Wishful Thinking
9) The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
10) Sly & The Family Stone - If You Want Me to Stay
11) Al Green - I'm Glad You're Mine
12) The Allman Brothers - Melissa
13) Antony & The Johnsons - Frankenstein
14) Jeff Buckley - Satisfied Mind
15) Van Morrison - Madame George
16) The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want
1) Bob Dylan - Fourth Time Around (from the Bootleg Series)
2) Van Morrison - Cyprus Avenue
3) David Gray - Lullaby
4) Joni Mitchell - Rainy Night House
5) The Mountain Goats - You or Your Memory
6) Nicolai Dunger - Prelude
7) Pixies - Where is My Mind?
8) Wilco - Wishful Thinking
9) The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset
10) Sly & The Family Stone - If You Want Me to Stay
11) Al Green - I'm Glad You're Mine
12) The Allman Brothers - Melissa
13) Antony & The Johnsons - Frankenstein
14) Jeff Buckley - Satisfied Mind
15) Van Morrison - Madame George
16) The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want
In iTunes, this mix is entitled "Good Weekend." I made it the weekend I came home for Christmas, and for the most part, this CD reflects that sort of happy, dancey, funky mood only a weekend can bring. Most of the songs come from Pitchfork's tracks of the year, or were inspired by their list. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
1) Art Brut - Good Weekend
2) T Rex - Children of the Revolution
3) Lady Sovereign - Random
4) The Streets - Fit But You Know It
5) Kanye West - Golddigger
6) M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun
7) Cody Chestnutt - Look Good in Leather
8) Jamie Lidell - Multiply
9) Kanye West - Heard 'Em Say
10) Damien Marley - Welcome to Jamrock
11) Madonna - Hung Up
12) Robyn - Show Me Love
13) Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
14) The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
15) 50 Cent - Just a Touch
16) Amerie - 1 Thing
17) Kanye West - Touch the Sky
18) Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
19) Jackson Browne - Sky Blue and Black
20) Shawn Smith - Leaving California
1) Art Brut - Good Weekend
2) T Rex - Children of the Revolution
3) Lady Sovereign - Random
4) The Streets - Fit But You Know It
5) Kanye West - Golddigger
6) M.I.A. - Bucky Done Gun
7) Cody Chestnutt - Look Good in Leather
8) Jamie Lidell - Multiply
9) Kanye West - Heard 'Em Say
10) Damien Marley - Welcome to Jamrock
11) Madonna - Hung Up
12) Robyn - Show Me Love
13) Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone
14) The Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
15) 50 Cent - Just a Touch
16) Amerie - 1 Thing
17) Kanye West - Touch the Sky
18) Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up
19) Jackson Browne - Sky Blue and Black
20) Shawn Smith - Leaving California
This mix was made in celebration of vacation. I put it together over the course of my first week back home for the holidays. Jeff Daniels' Celebrity Playlist inspired some of the cuts, as did walking around the CD shop at Newark's airport. Hope you enjoy this rather laid back mixture of whipped marshmallow flavor.
1) Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You Into the Dark
2) Nickel Creek - Jealous of the Moon
3) Clifton Chenier - I'm a Hog For You
4) Canned Heat - On the Road Again
5) Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home
6) Jimmy Cliff - Many Rivers to Cross
7) Lyle Lovett - If I Needed You
8) Jeff Tweedy - Be Not So Fearful
9) Wilco - Hell Is Chrome
10) Bright Eyes & Britt Daniel - Let the Distance Bring Us Together Again
11) Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
12) Doris Troy - Just One Look
13) Chaka Khan - Love Me Still
14) Edith Piaff - C'Etait Une Histoire D'Amour
15) M Ward - You Still Believe in Me
16) Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek
17) Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
18) John Prine - Jesus, The Missing Years
19) Leonard Cohen - The Guests
1) Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Follow You Into the Dark
2) Nickel Creek - Jealous of the Moon
3) Clifton Chenier - I'm a Hog For You
4) Canned Heat - On the Road Again
5) Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home
6) Jimmy Cliff - Many Rivers to Cross
7) Lyle Lovett - If I Needed You
8) Jeff Tweedy - Be Not So Fearful
9) Wilco - Hell Is Chrome
10) Bright Eyes & Britt Daniel - Let the Distance Bring Us Together Again
11) Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
12) Doris Troy - Just One Look
13) Chaka Khan - Love Me Still
14) Edith Piaff - C'Etait Une Histoire D'Amour
15) M Ward - You Still Believe in Me
16) Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek
17) Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band - Express Yourself
18) John Prine - Jesus, The Missing Years
19) Leonard Cohen - The Guests
Thursday, October 27, 2005
I made this CD for my roommate, Blake, earlier in the year. I also wrote this to accompany it, but I never gave it to him.
Enjoy.
1) Loudon Wainwright III – Rufus is a Tit Man
2) Loudon Wainwright III – One Man Guy
3) James Taylor – Steamroller Blues
4) Temptations – I Wish It Would Rain
5) Kate Wolf – Sweet Love
6) Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
7) Al Green – Simply Beautiful
8) John Gorka – When He Cries
9) Shirley Brown – Woman to Woman
10) Sam & Dave – Hold On, I’m Coming
11) Sam & Dave – Wrap It Up
12) Eddie Floyd – Knock on Wood
13) The Pretenders – My City Was Gone
14) The Cars – Let the Good Times Roll
15) Old 97s – Bird in a Cage
16) Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
17) Michael Buble – Home
18) Patti Page – Old Cape Cod
19) Eartha Kitt – Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)
20) The Golden Girls Theme
The first track is just fun, well-thought out, and what a dad! I’m sure if my dad was a musician, he would’ve written many a funny song for me, but never would it be so explicitly lewd, boyish, and something I could look at lovingly while at the same time want so badly to sneak the album to a friend’s basement where we could listen and giggle while gnawing on Topps Baseball Card gum.
With Loudon’s live version here, you can almost hear the middle finger strumming the guitar, his sly smile smirking through the bottom half of his face when he sings, “One Mayeeayeeayeean Guy is Me!” Whereas Rufus’ 21st century cover of his father’s beautifully written dirge takes on a new timely topical meaning (Oh my God! You’re Gay!), Loudon’s was clearly written in response to the whining of critics and record execs that he was too difficult to pin down, too free with his view on what a song was, what a performance was. See at the time, music was just beginning to see itself as a package that could be shrink-wrapped, reproduced en masse, and musicians thusly began to receive pressure to reproduce such studio quality performances live. Now today, with Ashley Simpson making the front page of major newspapers across the country for lip syncing her vocals - granted only *some of her vocals - it’s impossible for some performers to refer to themselves so freely, so generally. Ashley Simpson is a bad example, but people like Caprice Bourret, Victoria Silvstedt, Willa Ford, models each in their own right, have albums, Willa’s at one time was in the top ten on billboard, and her video was number 1 on TRL - at the height of TRL and Carson Daly’s popularity. Loudon is to me a fore-thinker, not a genius, but a wise artist willing to look at the present and see the impending struggle true performers would face in the years to come. He was right to fight with management. It may have kept him from being a household name where I grew up, but let’s face it, few of the household names where I grew up ended up being true artists. Even Sir Paul, when prodded by Mojo sometime last year, went so far as to explain which of the Beatles songs, and there were many, were just about drugs and not something more. Fucking Paul McCartney spoiled for millions the true mystery of what it is to be at the same time commercially viable, critically bowed before, and socio-economically viable in every way. I mean, that’s more than likely never going to happen again. Wilco can’t sell like the Beatles, because Tweedy looks progressively more like a Ming Dynasty shitzu and they haven’t appealed to the general pop community since “Box Full of Letters,” when I was throwing on flannel shirts, black jeans, and strapping my hat to my belt loop. Music today is in dire straits, and there aren’t any clear favorites to pull us out. Maybe Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure was wrong, there isn’t any one clear band that’s going to lead this generation’s push into importance. Sometimes, I wish I was a baby boomer.
Steamroller was a Jeep standard back when I had the Jeep. I used it to whip girls into a frenzy of industrial strength sexual tension. It never worked, but that’s ok. James Taylor will forever remain that one musician I belong to. Do you know what I mean by that? I mean, no matter what he does, what court room he ends up testifying in to some crazy charge like *gasp* gadzooks! child molestation, I will forever be a James Taylor fan.
I heard this song for the first time when I would wash cars with my dad as a toddler. The Temptations, The Beach Boys, Michael Jackson, and Neil Diamond, among a couple others were the tapes my dad had in the garage, and more often than not, we listened to the oldies, because for lack of explanation, it is and will forever be car washing music. It’s muscle memory for me to find that station when washing cars. So, this song, as amazingly sad as it is, and incredibly well crooned, is above all else, a sudsy memory, but it is gorgeous. And I really have been feeling the thoughts of the song. They just say it so well, so believably.
I first heard this Kate Wolf song as a cover John Gorka did on a tribute album, and I liked it. I like her downer tone, her sort of quiet snarl, and just the way she little more than whispers “sweet love...” it’s beautiful.
Al Green. I’m not even going to talk about the sex part of Al Green. He does enough of that - Jesus, did you see him on the Daily Show? - If he’d gone on pantsless, as much as he flopped around on that couch, he - and Stewart would’ve too - would have exuded their loads for all the American public to see. Gross. So I did talk about the sex part. It’s Green. He just whips it out of me. I mean, the simplicity, the fuzzy hum over the song. The mistakes. The audible inhalation. It’s all so ... sex in a stairwell. It’s so upside-down hooking up in a second floor room of someone else’s house. The beauty in the awkwardness.
The sincerity with which he sings this utterly ridiculous song is what I love most about it. Oh, and I wrote a poem my senior year about a boy who made a face like Charles Bronson. It made me laugh.
When I was working retail in London, we had this CD, Latenight Tales, part of a collection that was being released in London at the time, this one was selected by a pair of famous DJs, Sly and Robbie. Jamiroquai had a selection, Fatboy Slim had one, but this one from Sly and Robbie was a real gem. Selections from Motown and Stax, mixed in with New Wave and modern tracks, all of which made sense together. But this one track, I remember hitting me differently every time. Sometimes, I hated this song, I thought this dumb bitch should just shut up, dump the man, and move on. Sometimes, mostly on the night’s I’d mop the awful orange rubber flooring, I’d find myself sympathizing. Perhaps it was the fact that i always think of the Donna Summer video for “She Works Hard for the Money” when I do things like mop and sweep, and I projected Shirley’s voice onto that hard working woman on her hands and knees, cleaning the bathroom of some dingy gymnasium so that her husband could go and sleep with some woman named Barbara. Gross.
The version I have doesn’t sound like the original version of this song. Sam and Dave sound as if they’re on their last breath. I picture these two grey-haired fools in puke green and powder blue leisure suits circa 1981 crooning in some Miami hotel banquet room to a group of retired Stax Records employees and tow-headed frat-tastic spring breakers at the Ramada Inn singing here. But this song is still so pungent. The horns, their back and forth, just the make-up. It’s impenetrably great. And if you know anything about Sam and Dave, their egos riding higher than their drug habits, they’d each be working the far corners of the stage because they couldn’t stand each other, but they sound as if they’re sitting on stools, or rather, bouncing up and down from sitting to standing on stools next to one another cum Simon and Garfunkel circa turtlenecks and jeans. So together. So in tune with one another.
The rip through the title words of this song sounds as if they’re saying “Rabid Love” which is what it is. Fucking Rabid. This song is rough and meaningful. “Wrap it Up, Lady. I don’t care. I love you, and I’ve got two and a half minutes to tell you because Stax are cheap bastards and want us to fill this album with one more top forty track so that you and I can afford to keep doing drugs, living in this orange condo, and driving my gold Mercedes, which I still think was a wrong decision. I’m sorry baby...”
Knock on Wood was such a good song the first time in the sixties when you had better knock on wood, because you’re lucky she’s with you, that they decided it should be rereleased as a disco track in the seventies because you’re lucky you’re still alive after eating all that whipped cream, doing all that coke, and making out with that dude that looked like a chick.
I love this baseline so much. It was used as Rush Limbaugh’s lead in on his righty radio program recorded in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and syndicated across the country and around the world. But then, you get into this song, and it talks about something I feel. Where did you go, St. Louis? I look at you now, and all I see are just tons and tons of families, unhappy with their lot in life. 2.5 car garage for 2.5 cars. 2.5 storey house for 2.5 kids. 2.5 weeks of vacation a year. it’s like a half-life. What happened? What happened to weekends spent watching the Cardinals after a long day of golf. What happened to winters spent with the kids on Art Hill because you could give two shits what the market was doing today? It’s like everything that mattered at 12, now, at 24 seems to have gone away. And I’m sure at 48 it’ll be only faint memories. I mean my dad talks about taking a quarter to the store to buy chocolate and Coke and coming home and putting the dime that remained in his piggy bank. Sheesh. My kids are going to need money clips for their diapers. Ok, enough complaining. Chrissy did enough.
I used to sing this song to myself all the time. My mom was chairperson for the school auction when I was a Junior. They had a New Orleans theme “Let the Good Times Roll.” Well, at the time, I was unaware there was another song of that title. A Fats Waller song, I think, or Louis Jordan, it’s a great tune, but this song, by Ocasek, stuck with me every spring. I’d sing it in my car. Just lay back, relax. Let ‘em roll-oh, let ‘em roll. Hopefully, you’ll soon be doing the same thing. Just a little reminder to chill out.
This is a great song I discovered on a drive back from Bowling Green with my then girlfriend, Caroline. Or no, it was Florence, Kentucky. Somewhere around Louisville I put in this CD I’d found in my CD case a few days earlier. Not mine, some burnt CD a girl made - it was chick music, chick handwriting - and some numbskull at the college radio station, WGRE stuffed it in my case when I left my CDs there by accident - who am I to complain?... As we stumbled up the border into Indiana, the sun fully set for a while, Caroline on Jumbo coffee numero 5, I was driving, and this song hit us both like a brick, we went “Aw...” in unison the minute Rhett Miller sings “... but at least it’s your cage.” Great tune - great version of this tune.
I listened to this song about a million times when I heard it. It’s drive, it’s length, it’s repetition, it’s message. It’s an unbearably perfect song. And what he says at the end there about working until you’re so confident in yourself that you’ll be able to face all odds, shine your light against the mountain so wide, so high, so that all who see it, see you, and know you, and love you, and hate you will know it’s your light, because it’s so noticeably you. Brilliant. For me that line was about my movie. I can’t wait to have the confidence in my creation to the point that I can project it on a screen a mile wide a mile high a mile deep.
As much as I hate Michael Buble, for his infomercials, for his attack on the Norah Jones’ of the world, for his poor Frankie imitations - which often times, as he neared death, I found to be Frankie imitations as well - and generally for being a schmuck, something about this tune hits hard. Sure it’s schmaltzy, but he’s right. It’s a nice sound. It’s a sad state of affairs when you’re a jazz singer singing in Paris, Rome, and I think he mentions London, and you want to go home. To Chilicothe, or even Chattenooga, regardless, home is home is home is home, and it acts as a lure whether it was the best 20 years of a person’s life or the worst, something about it constantly pulls at them. Knowing a place is a very human thing. Hearing someone talk about St. Louis, be it in person or on television, I still want to know who or what were involved: exact locations, people, and or zoo animals with whom I may have been acquainted. Perhaps it’s the know-it-all in me.
Something about being required to sing a song at school. Something about knowing the lyrics so well that you’re able to bend them and shape them and make them your own. I didn’t like this song at first, but by the time I was finished singing it, it’d become a whole new song for me; I love Jeff Buckley for this very reason. His ability to take and make songs his own is an admirable feat, something all artists should strive for. Elvis did it with Perkins and Big Mama Thornton. I did it with this song. Girls grabbed their hearts, guys patted me on the back. I owned all two minutes of that stage. It was fun.
I love this Cole Porter song. He was such a funny writer. I still haven’t seen De-Lovely, but Eartha Kitt only had a few big recorded hits, and this one, I hadn’t heard until I heard it in the gym’s locker room - one of the nice things about working out in an upscale gym: different sound systems in different parts of the gym means lots of new music. I found myself singing along with this one uncontrollably. I am in love with Earth Kitt now. I liked the Louis Armstrong version, but I love the way she slurps up every vowel.
The Golden Girls theme was always something I looked forward to. That and “As long as we’ve got each other...” at the beginning of every Growing Pains episode were such good songs, not to mention TV Themes. The piano’s drive here, is how I’d imagine the gravel on 231 skipping beneath my car as I rushed to be your friend again if I had the means to do so. I love the fact that “the biggest gift” equals the best friend. It’s so eighties. It’s so true.
Enjoy.
1) Loudon Wainwright III – Rufus is a Tit Man
2) Loudon Wainwright III – One Man Guy
3) James Taylor – Steamroller Blues
4) Temptations – I Wish It Would Rain
5) Kate Wolf – Sweet Love
6) Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
7) Al Green – Simply Beautiful
8) John Gorka – When He Cries
9) Shirley Brown – Woman to Woman
10) Sam & Dave – Hold On, I’m Coming
11) Sam & Dave – Wrap It Up
12) Eddie Floyd – Knock on Wood
13) The Pretenders – My City Was Gone
14) The Cars – Let the Good Times Roll
15) Old 97s – Bird in a Cage
16) Bob Dylan – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
17) Michael Buble – Home
18) Patti Page – Old Cape Cod
19) Eartha Kitt – Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)
20) The Golden Girls Theme
The first track is just fun, well-thought out, and what a dad! I’m sure if my dad was a musician, he would’ve written many a funny song for me, but never would it be so explicitly lewd, boyish, and something I could look at lovingly while at the same time want so badly to sneak the album to a friend’s basement where we could listen and giggle while gnawing on Topps Baseball Card gum.
With Loudon’s live version here, you can almost hear the middle finger strumming the guitar, his sly smile smirking through the bottom half of his face when he sings, “One Mayeeayeeayeean Guy is Me!” Whereas Rufus’ 21st century cover of his father’s beautifully written dirge takes on a new timely topical meaning (Oh my God! You’re Gay!), Loudon’s was clearly written in response to the whining of critics and record execs that he was too difficult to pin down, too free with his view on what a song was, what a performance was. See at the time, music was just beginning to see itself as a package that could be shrink-wrapped, reproduced en masse, and musicians thusly began to receive pressure to reproduce such studio quality performances live. Now today, with Ashley Simpson making the front page of major newspapers across the country for lip syncing her vocals - granted only *some of her vocals - it’s impossible for some performers to refer to themselves so freely, so generally. Ashley Simpson is a bad example, but people like Caprice Bourret, Victoria Silvstedt, Willa Ford, models each in their own right, have albums, Willa’s at one time was in the top ten on billboard, and her video was number 1 on TRL - at the height of TRL and Carson Daly’s popularity. Loudon is to me a fore-thinker, not a genius, but a wise artist willing to look at the present and see the impending struggle true performers would face in the years to come. He was right to fight with management. It may have kept him from being a household name where I grew up, but let’s face it, few of the household names where I grew up ended up being true artists. Even Sir Paul, when prodded by Mojo sometime last year, went so far as to explain which of the Beatles songs, and there were many, were just about drugs and not something more. Fucking Paul McCartney spoiled for millions the true mystery of what it is to be at the same time commercially viable, critically bowed before, and socio-economically viable in every way. I mean, that’s more than likely never going to happen again. Wilco can’t sell like the Beatles, because Tweedy looks progressively more like a Ming Dynasty shitzu and they haven’t appealed to the general pop community since “Box Full of Letters,” when I was throwing on flannel shirts, black jeans, and strapping my hat to my belt loop. Music today is in dire straits, and there aren’t any clear favorites to pull us out. Maybe Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure was wrong, there isn’t any one clear band that’s going to lead this generation’s push into importance. Sometimes, I wish I was a baby boomer.
Steamroller was a Jeep standard back when I had the Jeep. I used it to whip girls into a frenzy of industrial strength sexual tension. It never worked, but that’s ok. James Taylor will forever remain that one musician I belong to. Do you know what I mean by that? I mean, no matter what he does, what court room he ends up testifying in to some crazy charge like *gasp* gadzooks! child molestation, I will forever be a James Taylor fan.
I heard this song for the first time when I would wash cars with my dad as a toddler. The Temptations, The Beach Boys, Michael Jackson, and Neil Diamond, among a couple others were the tapes my dad had in the garage, and more often than not, we listened to the oldies, because for lack of explanation, it is and will forever be car washing music. It’s muscle memory for me to find that station when washing cars. So, this song, as amazingly sad as it is, and incredibly well crooned, is above all else, a sudsy memory, but it is gorgeous. And I really have been feeling the thoughts of the song. They just say it so well, so believably.
I first heard this Kate Wolf song as a cover John Gorka did on a tribute album, and I liked it. I like her downer tone, her sort of quiet snarl, and just the way she little more than whispers “sweet love...” it’s beautiful.
Al Green. I’m not even going to talk about the sex part of Al Green. He does enough of that - Jesus, did you see him on the Daily Show? - If he’d gone on pantsless, as much as he flopped around on that couch, he - and Stewart would’ve too - would have exuded their loads for all the American public to see. Gross. So I did talk about the sex part. It’s Green. He just whips it out of me. I mean, the simplicity, the fuzzy hum over the song. The mistakes. The audible inhalation. It’s all so ... sex in a stairwell. It’s so upside-down hooking up in a second floor room of someone else’s house. The beauty in the awkwardness.
The sincerity with which he sings this utterly ridiculous song is what I love most about it. Oh, and I wrote a poem my senior year about a boy who made a face like Charles Bronson. It made me laugh.
When I was working retail in London, we had this CD, Latenight Tales, part of a collection that was being released in London at the time, this one was selected by a pair of famous DJs, Sly and Robbie. Jamiroquai had a selection, Fatboy Slim had one, but this one from Sly and Robbie was a real gem. Selections from Motown and Stax, mixed in with New Wave and modern tracks, all of which made sense together. But this one track, I remember hitting me differently every time. Sometimes, I hated this song, I thought this dumb bitch should just shut up, dump the man, and move on. Sometimes, mostly on the night’s I’d mop the awful orange rubber flooring, I’d find myself sympathizing. Perhaps it was the fact that i always think of the Donna Summer video for “She Works Hard for the Money” when I do things like mop and sweep, and I projected Shirley’s voice onto that hard working woman on her hands and knees, cleaning the bathroom of some dingy gymnasium so that her husband could go and sleep with some woman named Barbara. Gross.
The version I have doesn’t sound like the original version of this song. Sam and Dave sound as if they’re on their last breath. I picture these two grey-haired fools in puke green and powder blue leisure suits circa 1981 crooning in some Miami hotel banquet room to a group of retired Stax Records employees and tow-headed frat-tastic spring breakers at the Ramada Inn singing here. But this song is still so pungent. The horns, their back and forth, just the make-up. It’s impenetrably great. And if you know anything about Sam and Dave, their egos riding higher than their drug habits, they’d each be working the far corners of the stage because they couldn’t stand each other, but they sound as if they’re sitting on stools, or rather, bouncing up and down from sitting to standing on stools next to one another cum Simon and Garfunkel circa turtlenecks and jeans. So together. So in tune with one another.
The rip through the title words of this song sounds as if they’re saying “Rabid Love” which is what it is. Fucking Rabid. This song is rough and meaningful. “Wrap it Up, Lady. I don’t care. I love you, and I’ve got two and a half minutes to tell you because Stax are cheap bastards and want us to fill this album with one more top forty track so that you and I can afford to keep doing drugs, living in this orange condo, and driving my gold Mercedes, which I still think was a wrong decision. I’m sorry baby...”
Knock on Wood was such a good song the first time in the sixties when you had better knock on wood, because you’re lucky she’s with you, that they decided it should be rereleased as a disco track in the seventies because you’re lucky you’re still alive after eating all that whipped cream, doing all that coke, and making out with that dude that looked like a chick.
I love this baseline so much. It was used as Rush Limbaugh’s lead in on his righty radio program recorded in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and syndicated across the country and around the world. But then, you get into this song, and it talks about something I feel. Where did you go, St. Louis? I look at you now, and all I see are just tons and tons of families, unhappy with their lot in life. 2.5 car garage for 2.5 cars. 2.5 storey house for 2.5 kids. 2.5 weeks of vacation a year. it’s like a half-life. What happened? What happened to weekends spent watching the Cardinals after a long day of golf. What happened to winters spent with the kids on Art Hill because you could give two shits what the market was doing today? It’s like everything that mattered at 12, now, at 24 seems to have gone away. And I’m sure at 48 it’ll be only faint memories. I mean my dad talks about taking a quarter to the store to buy chocolate and Coke and coming home and putting the dime that remained in his piggy bank. Sheesh. My kids are going to need money clips for their diapers. Ok, enough complaining. Chrissy did enough.
I used to sing this song to myself all the time. My mom was chairperson for the school auction when I was a Junior. They had a New Orleans theme “Let the Good Times Roll.” Well, at the time, I was unaware there was another song of that title. A Fats Waller song, I think, or Louis Jordan, it’s a great tune, but this song, by Ocasek, stuck with me every spring. I’d sing it in my car. Just lay back, relax. Let ‘em roll-oh, let ‘em roll. Hopefully, you’ll soon be doing the same thing. Just a little reminder to chill out.
This is a great song I discovered on a drive back from Bowling Green with my then girlfriend, Caroline. Or no, it was Florence, Kentucky. Somewhere around Louisville I put in this CD I’d found in my CD case a few days earlier. Not mine, some burnt CD a girl made - it was chick music, chick handwriting - and some numbskull at the college radio station, WGRE stuffed it in my case when I left my CDs there by accident - who am I to complain?... As we stumbled up the border into Indiana, the sun fully set for a while, Caroline on Jumbo coffee numero 5, I was driving, and this song hit us both like a brick, we went “Aw...” in unison the minute Rhett Miller sings “... but at least it’s your cage.” Great tune - great version of this tune.
I listened to this song about a million times when I heard it. It’s drive, it’s length, it’s repetition, it’s message. It’s an unbearably perfect song. And what he says at the end there about working until you’re so confident in yourself that you’ll be able to face all odds, shine your light against the mountain so wide, so high, so that all who see it, see you, and know you, and love you, and hate you will know it’s your light, because it’s so noticeably you. Brilliant. For me that line was about my movie. I can’t wait to have the confidence in my creation to the point that I can project it on a screen a mile wide a mile high a mile deep.
As much as I hate Michael Buble, for his infomercials, for his attack on the Norah Jones’ of the world, for his poor Frankie imitations - which often times, as he neared death, I found to be Frankie imitations as well - and generally for being a schmuck, something about this tune hits hard. Sure it’s schmaltzy, but he’s right. It’s a nice sound. It’s a sad state of affairs when you’re a jazz singer singing in Paris, Rome, and I think he mentions London, and you want to go home. To Chilicothe, or even Chattenooga, regardless, home is home is home is home, and it acts as a lure whether it was the best 20 years of a person’s life or the worst, something about it constantly pulls at them. Knowing a place is a very human thing. Hearing someone talk about St. Louis, be it in person or on television, I still want to know who or what were involved: exact locations, people, and or zoo animals with whom I may have been acquainted. Perhaps it’s the know-it-all in me.
Something about being required to sing a song at school. Something about knowing the lyrics so well that you’re able to bend them and shape them and make them your own. I didn’t like this song at first, but by the time I was finished singing it, it’d become a whole new song for me; I love Jeff Buckley for this very reason. His ability to take and make songs his own is an admirable feat, something all artists should strive for. Elvis did it with Perkins and Big Mama Thornton. I did it with this song. Girls grabbed their hearts, guys patted me on the back. I owned all two minutes of that stage. It was fun.
I love this Cole Porter song. He was such a funny writer. I still haven’t seen De-Lovely, but Eartha Kitt only had a few big recorded hits, and this one, I hadn’t heard until I heard it in the gym’s locker room - one of the nice things about working out in an upscale gym: different sound systems in different parts of the gym means lots of new music. I found myself singing along with this one uncontrollably. I am in love with Earth Kitt now. I liked the Louis Armstrong version, but I love the way she slurps up every vowel.
The Golden Girls theme was always something I looked forward to. That and “As long as we’ve got each other...” at the beginning of every Growing Pains episode were such good songs, not to mention TV Themes. The piano’s drive here, is how I’d imagine the gravel on 231 skipping beneath my car as I rushed to be your friend again if I had the means to do so. I love the fact that “the biggest gift” equals the best friend. It’s so eighties. It’s so true.
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