11:24 a.m. - May 18, 2007
Friday Mix Preview!
Finally! I did it!
All of the files on my back-up hard drive that weren�t in my music library are now on the new music drive AND in my iTunes library! Woot.
I still have some mix CDs that you loverly people have sent me to put on the iPod. Many times I gave those a listen or three at work and made a snap decision on what songs were worthy. Now, I have more time to decide.
Phase II of the project will start soon, and it may be the most exciting for you all, since it involves going through all of the CDs I have left and putting missing songs on there, and THEN possibly getting rid of all of them (making sure I have my entire music library backed up on another drive, of course of course).
Right now, the song tally is about 18,312.
So, to celebrate, instead of lamenting about poor Kristin�s digestive issues (her last few teeth are all erupting at once, causing a lot of saliva, which means that she�s had a lot of problems keeping milk down and�other things on the other end. She went to the doctor yesterday and it was just teething, but still�that smell (from both aspects of that)) I�m going to give you 24 of the 18,312. (Why 24�well�see below)
These are from a mix that is done and sitting in my car ready to be mailed (TODAY, I PROMISE!) and so I�m picking eight from each CD. Let�s get on with the show, eh?
1. Shake Some Action � The Flamin� Groovies. There are always bands that fall through the cracks, and this is one of them. They had a great name, and a great sound. But they were in the wrong place at the wrong time at first, and then when they moved to England they were forgotten about in the States until it was too late. This, though, is a fantastic song. Just fantastic!
2. Where Were You? � The Mekons. An early blast of punk rock from the still-going Mekons, this is rough and loud and wonderful. They�ve changed directons more often than a New York City cabbie but still make good tunes when they decide to make a record!
3. Yolanda Hayes � The Fountains of Wayne. From their new album, this is a great tale of a worker at the DMV. Haven�t you ever wondered about how some people are at home, like workers at the DMV, or in the toll booth, or the one that rings up your coffee at the convenience store? Is this just me? Sigh�
4. That�s When I Reach For My Revolver � The Mission Of Burma. When I accidentally filled up the hard drive on our computer, I was putting on a lot of neglected live CDs on it. This is from The Horrible Truth About Burma, a live document from their original last tour in the early 80�s. Guitarist and songwriter Roger Miller had tinnitus, and had to play with noise-reduction headphones. Did he turn it down? NO! Are you kidding!
5. The Sick Bed Of Cuchulain � The Pogues. Do you know how hard it is to spell Cuchulain? Do you know how hard it is to listen to the Pogues and not want to go out and drink about six Guinness?
6. Running Wild � Judas Priest. Excuse me�.I just need to shut the door and air guitar�.there�.much better. Hell Bent For Leather is the best heavy metal album ever, and I will fight to the pain anyone who says different!
7. Wiggly World � Devo. You know, back in high school, everyone thought Moose and I were weird for liking them. (OK, not just because of Devo, but it added to their evidence.) The heck with them all. Who�s laughing now? All the hipster doofuses like me rule the world! It�s never straight up and down!
8. Shiftless When Idle � The Replacements. Oh, I�m a sucker for bad puns. I�m a sucker for good puns, too. Wait, are there any good puns? Anyway, crank it up and rock out. Tommy rocks the bass and you need to remember he was just 14 or so at the time!
9. Theme From An Imaginary Western � Mountain. Those that have received mixes lately probably have this one. Sorry. I dig it in all of its turgid, lumbering glory. I bet my brother would dig a mix or two. This is his era, baby!
10. Honey Hush � The Rock And Roll Trio. It may have been a little too raw and raucous for the �normal� folk back in the 50�s, but this is prime rock and roll here. The sound here is great. That guitar part sounds so modern, really. Johnny Burnette should be more famous or known than he is now.
11. How Does It Feel To Feel � The Creation. They were so convinced that this would be a hit that they released it as a single three times in the States but no one bit. It�s a shame, because it�s nice and noisy and squealy. Of course, the guitarist, Eddie Phillips, used to play his guitar with a bow at times, a trick Jimmy Page nicked.
12. I�m Gonna Make You Mine � The Shadows Of Knight. In my last job, one of my customers (who lived in the Chicagoland area) said that she followed this band in the 60�s. She was a self-proclaimed �tough girl� that had the big beehive hair and the attitude. I found a Shadows Of Knight CD and sent it to her. It helped keep the account happy until our company imploded and I jumped ship!
13. Ol� Sol � The Dave Clark Five. When my sister moved away, I inherited some of her albums in my precocious youth. One of them was American Tour by the Dave Clark Five. (No, it�s not a live album, it just celebrates their tour.) This was the closing track, a raucous affair that shows they were having all kinds of fun just pounding everything out. As a kid, I thought that all real rock and roll should be as loud and fun as this, and I still do.
14. The �In� Crowd � Dobie Gray. As a child of the 70�s, all I knew from Dobie Gray was �Drift Away�, a fine piece of soul. I had no clue he had been around for a while. This is another fine, fine tune, and hit #13 on the charts. But that was his only real chart smash until the 70�s, for some reason. He was in the original LA production of Hair, though.
15. Let It Rock � Chuck Berry. Remember the original Saturday Night Live? I about cringed when some NBC hack said the 90�s were the best decade because they created �memorable characters�. The original SNL wasn�t about creating a character franchise (though they did that), it was about edgy comedy teetering on the edge of chaos. Anyway, I bring this up because I remember when the Voyager space probe was launched, and they had a recording of various sounds of Earth. One of the snippets was a Chuck Berry record. On SNL, they said that they have received the first transmission from an alien being. It said, �Send More Chuck Berry.� Indeed!
16. Meant For You � The Beach Boys. It�s only 40 seconds long, but that doesn�t mean it isn�t wonderful.
17. Running To You � The Cars. The Cars always tucked away great songs on Side Two of their albums. This was the penultimate cut on Panorama, and I think it�s Ben Orr on vocals. It�s a hidden gem, for sure, featuring the typical Cars motif and some nifty electronic drums and tasteful guitar work from Elliot Easton.
18. Going Back To Cali � LL Cool J. I don�t think so�(BTW, I love that booming bass percussion thing deal bit, whatever it is�)
19. Do It Clean � Echo And The Bunnymen. Another one that I�ve put on a lot of mixes because, well, why not? It�s a great tune and needs to be heard by the masses! And I�m just the man to do it.
20. Manifesto � Roxy Music. I may have a man-crush on Bryan Ferry, you know. And I�m OK with that�
21. Under Your Skin � Luscious Jackson. They were an underrated group, but I knew they wouldn�t last long by just looking at the songwriting and other credits. It seems that they hardly worked on each other�s songs as a unit. Some of the stuff was just OK, but some was pretty nifty, like this one. It�s got a great groove and sound.
22. I Can�t Stop Thinking About It � The Dirtbombs. Some good things do come out of Detroit, like the Stooges, and this outfit. This is a bit more punk rocky than their later soul-ish efforts, but it�s still a delicious garagey stew.
23. Africa � The Meters. Oh, the soulful Meters. How the public ignored you. How we need to right this wrong? The groove is just fab here. Just fab!
24. Tip On In � The Fabulous Thunderbirds. I think the iPod Gods just wanted to end this little segment with some great grooves. This is classic blues rock from the T-Birds, recorded before they got a hit and when the purists still thought they were the bees� knees. I think they�re out and about still rockin� along in some fashion.
There you have it, a perfect way to kill a Friday, eh?
