Sucking in the '70s - Volume 5

   I confess to an unnatural (and perhaps unhealthy) fascination with the 1970s.  It could be that as a Gen Xer
who's lived through the general rightward turn of the last 30 years, I just can't get my head around all the crazy shit people were up to when I was just an innocent tyke.  I tend to look up on the period with not quite equal parts bewilderment, jealousy, affection, a wee bit of judgmental dismay, and a whole lot of profound wonder at some of the self-serving musings of the day - especially all the pop songs that rationalized egoistic behaviors in the name of finding oneself.  Case in point - The Commodores Easy and lines like "I wanna be free to do the things I know are right" after the protagonist has told his girlfriend he's leaving her.  Still, I really do like the song - something about the vaguely countryish melody just gets to me.  Which is a long-winded way for me to introduce the fifth volume of my Sucking in the 70s compilations (volumes 1-4 are still available for download, btw).

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Color Him Father The Winstons (If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why Can't I Touch You? Ronnie Dyson Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard Paul Simon Chico And The Man (Main Theme) Jose Feliciano I Can See Clearly Now Johnny Nash Easy The Commodores Daniel Elton John Country Road James Taylor Take It Easy The Eagles (Don't Fear) The Reaper Blue Oyster Cult A Love That's Real The Intruders Love on a Two-Way Street The Moments Midnight Rider The Allman Brothers Band Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues Danny O'Keefe Break Up to Make Up The Stylistics Bell Bottom Blues Derek & The Dominos Help Me Make It Through The Night Sammi Smith Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got) The Four Tops O-o-h Child The Five Stairsteps Because The Night Patti Smith Group

The Essential Replacements Collection

   I watched the documentary about The Replacements, "Color Me Obsessed" (you can see it on youtube, fyi) several months ago.  Unlike most music documentaries, there's, uh..., no music in the film.  Nor are there any interviews with the band.  Instead, it's just 2 hours of folks (mostly fans, but also people who knew 'em way back when, musicians who were influenced by them, etc.) reminiscing about The Replacements (also known as The Mats to their legions of Gen X fans) and talking about their music.   The film could have used some tighter editing, but I think the conceit still works (it works even better in All Over But the Shouting, the book that would seem to have inspired the

documentary).  Seeing it also inspired me to put together a couple of Replacements mixtapes using my usual formula - obscurities, a cut from each formal release, and lots of live tracks - especially the covers the Replacements were so known for.  I don't think I necessarily captured the ineffable essence of the band (notwithstanding the title), but I tried.   Oh, and if you're just now discovering The Replacements and want more - go buy Let It Be, Tim, and Pleased to Meet Me (and then Hootenanny, Stink, etc.....).

p.s. By the by, I've re-upped most of the links on the site over the last couple of months.

pps.  I neglected to mention when I first posted this that The Replacements (Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson) recently put out a 5 song ep "Songs for Slim".  All the proceeds go to help pay Slim Dunlap's (the guitarist who replaced Bob Stinson) medical bills.  So go out and get it if you haven't - it's pretty damn good!!! (Busted Up from Side A is from Songs for Slim just in case you were wondering.)

Side A

Hey, Good Lookin'

Busted Up

Ought To Get Love

I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

Kissing in Action

Cool Water

Nightclub Jitters

Route 66

No More the Moon Shines on Loreena

Chasing the Night

Gary's Got A Boner

More Cigarettes

California Sun

Little GTO

Bundle Up

Cruella DeVille

Date to Church

Back To Back

If Only You Were Lonely

Side B

Hold My Life

Perfectly Lethal

Jungle Rock

'Round and 'Round

20th Century

Heartbeat, It's a Love Beat

Stuck in the Middle

My Little Problem

Ain't No Crime

Left Here In The Dark

Till We're Nude

empty is your heart

Another Girl, Another Planet

I Wanna Destroy You

Street Girl

Pool & Dive

Time Is Killing Us

We Know the Night

Within Your Reach

In the Land of the 3 Named Singer Songwriter

          As early March weather in the Northeast tends to be reliably crappy, I always wish I was heading to SXSW in Austin.  Great music, great food, and usually great weather.   So as a little wistful homage, I give you  tonight's compilation of 3 named Texas singer songwriters.  Now, I usually don't go for cute themes, but, well, there are a lot of durn good 3 named singer songwriters in Texas (all of the ones below have some sort of connection to Texas even if they don't all live there now).  So if you find it annoying, just change the name of the comp  (and the artwork) after you download it.

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Yesterday Tomorrow Was Today	Billy Joe Shaver
Leavin' Texas	Jerry Jeff Walker
Last Train to Amsterdam	Ray Wylie Hubbard
Think It Over One Time	Robert Earl Keen
What Do You Do When You're Lonesome	Justin Townes Earle
Another True Love	Dickie Lee Erwin
Contrabandistas	Bobby Earl Smith
You Broke the Rules	Susanna Van Tassel
Scratch upon Her Windowpane	Jo Carol Pierce
Be Here To Love Me	Townes Van Zandt
Running With You	Sarah Elizabeth Campbell
Don't Be A Stranger To Your Heart	Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Sympathy For A Train	Willis Alan Ramsey
Lucky Moon	Jon Dee Graham

Take the (Johnny) Cash

   This is usually the time of year when I feature some alternative country woman artist such as Neko Case, Kelly Willis, Lucinda Williams, or Gillian Welch (they've all been re-upped, by the way).  In order to fend off any potential charges of sexism, I've decided to feature a lil' ol' male country artist named Johnny Cash. :)  Basically, I stayed away (at least I think I did) from any cuts that appear on either his 3 cd greatest hits collection or the Love, God, Murder discs.   I could probably have made another 2-3 volumes, but if you decide that you need a lot more Cash, there's always the recent 63 cd box set with every Columbia album he ever released and 2 cds of rarities.

Download Volume One

If I Give My Soul

One Too Many Mornings

Ridin' On The Cotton Belt

Any Old Wind That Blows

Oh What A Good Thing We Had

Wo Ist Zu Hause, Mama

Honky-Tonk Girl

Banks Of The Ohio

Billy & Rex & Oral & Bob

Cold Shoulder

Hidden Shame

Wrinkled, Crincled, Wadded Doll

The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore

Troublesome Waters

The Letter Edged In Black

Girl From The North Country

Just the Other Side Of Nowhere

Tell Him I'm Gone

Navajo

My Old Kentucky Home

Old Chunk Of Coal

Download Volume Two

I Washed My Face In The Morning

Fools Hall Of Fame

To Beat The Devil

The Fable of Willie Brown

Crystal Chandeliers And Burgundy

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

Life's Railway To Heaven

Six White Horses

Go On Blues

So Doggone Lonesome

Roughneck

That's Enough

Wildwood In The Pines

Don't Think Twice It's Alright

Don't Step On Mother's Roses

There You Go

I Don't Know Where I'm Bound

Bottom Of The Mountain

Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby

Sugartime

Amen

I'm Living in the 80's - Disc Five

    Yes, it's that time of year again - time for another 80s (mostly) postpunk mixtape.  I tried to avoid the most obvious tracks, but I confess to not being as much of a maven about this stuff (there's a bunch of bands - like The Jesus and Mary Chain - that just weren't on my radar or I didn't quite get during my misbegotten late teen/early 20s years).   And there were some obvious cuts I just couldn't resist - I'm looking at you The Waterboys' This is the Sea.  (Also, I just noticed that the links for Discs 1-4 aren't working, so I'll try to re-up them.)

       I should also mention that my posting on the blog is going to be reduced from now on - life change stuff, less free time, and all.  Plus, I'm starting to run out of ideas for mixtapes. :)

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A Walk Across The Rooftops	The Blue Nile
Coldsweat	Sugarcubes
Colours Fly Away	The Teardrop Explodes
Pushing Up The Daisies	Colourfield
Cattle and Cane	The Go-Betweens
Watching you Without Me	Kate Bush
Leave Me Alone	New Order
For Belgian Friends	The Durutti Column
Colours Fly And Catherine Wheel	Simple Minds
It's So Hard	Jesus And Mary Chain
Bikini Red	The Screaming Blue Messiahs
The Last Of The Famous International Playboys	Morrissey
The Back Of Love	Echo & The Bunnymen
Killing An Arab	The Cure
Here Come Cowboys	The Psychedelic Furs
Kingdom Of Love	The Soft Boys
Love at First Sight	The Gist
This Is The Sea	The Waterboys

On the Right Side of 2012

     It's my annual "best of" (actually I prefer "my favorites") compilation  and I must confess I always feel a little self-conscious about this one in a way that I rarely do about my other compilations.  Not so much about how it will be received, but more along the lines, "so this is the kind of music I listen to....Are my tastes too stereotypically 40something? Am I in a bit of rut in terms of expanding my palette? But I'm over it now. :) I should also mention that there were a few artists I left off because they had appeared on the best of 2010 or best of 2011 comps.  Anyway, happy listening and a Happy New Year to all!


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Hang Loose	Alabama Shakes
3 Pears	Dwight Yoakam
Please Return To Jesus	Bap Kennedy
Slip and Roll	Aimee Mann
Leonard	Sharon Van Etten
Magic Summertime	Eleni Mandell
Blackwind	Patrick Watson
Tell Me A Tale	Michael Kiwanuka
Who	David Byrne & St. Vincent
Dirty Money	Antibalas
All Your Gold	Bat For Lashes
Sweet Life	Frank Ocean
Montauk	Rufus Wainwright
The Kingdom Has Already Come	Iris Dement
Adam and Eve	Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
Yet Again	Grizzly Bear
Splitter	Calexico
Human Being	Cat Power
I Like To Keep Myself In Pain	Kelly Hogan
Deep River	Bobby Womack

More Bowie Covers

     In addition to being inspired to do a Bowie covers compilation by seeing the Feelies perform Fame in Something Wild, I should also cite Seu Jorge's great set of Bowie covers from the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou soundtrack (specifically The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions cd) as inspiration.  For some reason, I only got it earlier this year.  Not only the cd is great, but it also validates my argument that the best tribute albums are usually one artist paying homage to another artist.  (And yes, I realize that kind of invalidates my putting together a tribute compilation like this, but I prefer not to dwell on that. :)  I also recognize that including Nirvana's version of The Man Who Sold the World is a bit on the obvious side (especially since Richard Barone's version is quite dandy).  Blame it on my Gen Xer mentality if you must.

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The Man Who Sold The World	Nirvana
Queen Bitch	Capsize 7
Watch That Man	Lulu
Ziggy Stardust	Bauhaus
Oh! You Pretty Things	Seu Jorge
china girl	rhonda harris
Andy Warhol	Tubalcain
Ashes to Ashes	The Wee Trio
Starman	Culture Club
Red Money	Swahili Blonde
Changes	Lewis & Clarke
Soul Love	Marti Jones

All About Bowie

    As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I saw the 1986 movie Something Wild again recently and was struck by how good The Feelies were as the high school reunion band - especially their cover of David Bowie's Fame.  In addition to sending me on a Feelies listening binge, I also started listening to more Bowie, and, of course, more Bowie covers.   The pickings were a little slim - especially given how many Bowie tribute albums there are - but I consider that a testament to Bowie rather than an indictment of his songwriting.  There's some interesting interpretations (starting with M. Ward's version of Let's Dance) as well as some nice straightforward covers (Culture Club's take on Starman).  Disc Two comes next week.

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Let's Dance	M. Ward
After All	Ventilator
The Gospel According to Tony Day	Edwyn Collins
John, I'm Only Dancing	Vivian Girls
Suffragette City	The Get Up Kids
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)	Ex-Voto
Fame	Dennis Coffey
The Sun Machine (Memory Of A Free Festival)	Mercury Rev
Fall in Love With Me	Guy Chadwick
Drive in Saturday	Teacher and the Pets
The Bewley Brothers	Sister Crayon
Heroes	TV On The Radio

Tarnation - Gentle Creatures

          I was tempted to indulge in just a bit of nostalgia for the alternative country of the 1990s, but I'll refrain and just say that Tarnation's out of print 1995 album "Gentle Creatures" is an underappreciated gem.  It's out of print now (as is their also out of print follow-up Mirador), but, unbeknownst to me til about 20 minutes ago, the lead singer (and creative force) Paula Frazer has put out several solo albums.   Which I will shortly be checking out. :)

(p.s.  I still haven't figured out new solution to the recent file-sharing problems, but I figured I'd give filefactory.com a shot.)

Download

Game Of Broken Hearts

Halfway To Madness

The Well

Big O Motel

Tell Me It's Not So

Two Wrongs Won't Make Things Right

Lonely Lights

Gentle Creatures

Listen To The Wind

The Hand

Do You Fancy Me

Yellow Birds

Burn Again

Stranger In The Mirror

It's Not Easy

On the Right Side of Christmas 2012

    Yes, it's time for another compilation of Christmas music.  I don't know if it flows quite as well as some

of the previous Xmas compilations (which are still available to download here), but it's a little more mainstream - probably the one you could play with the least amount of complaints at a holiday party.  

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Christmas Is Quiet	Wild Colonials
Get Down for the Holidays	Jenny O.
Go Where I Send Thee	Kenny Burrell
You'll Never Find My Christmas	Bishop Allen
Born In Bethlehem	Lonnie Donegan
Gift X-Change	Calexico
Away In A Manger	Buddy & Julie Miller
The First Snowflake	The Boy Least Likely To
The Bells Of St. Mary's	Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans
I Want A Boy For Christmas	Del-Vets
Christmasville USA	Jimmy Charles
Merry Christmas Loopy Lu	The Kaisers
Jingle Bells	Paul Franklin
California Christmas	Sleepy Rebels
Deck Us All With Boston Charlie	Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
Blue Christmas	Heartless Bastards
The Gift Of Giving	Bill Withers
Sweet Secret Peace	Neil Finn
Please Come Home For Christmas	Willie Nelson
Silent Night	Tom Waits
I Saw Three Ships	Nat King Cole
Little Drummer Boy	Miracle Legion
O Holy Child	Dusty Springfield
Auld Lang Syne	The Black On White Affair

A Real Cool Time in Hoboken

      Well, I'm about halfway moved into the new digs, so I'm finally able to post something.  I mentioned my fondness for the soundtracks to Married to the Mob and Something Wild when I posted them about two years ago.  I hadn't seen either film, however, in a long time so I had to watch Something Wild again this summer when it was on HBO.  The film still holds up well, imho, and I had forgotten how great the Feelies are in the film as the band at the high school reunion (check it out if it's been a while).  In addition to delving back into the Feelies, I also spent a lot of time listening to other Hoboken bands from the 1980s and 1990s. And since I didn't post anything last week, it's a two disc compilation of said Hoboken bands.  (And I do know that Ben Vaughn was from Philly, but I know he frequently played Maxwell's - the hub of the Hoboken scene.)

Disc One

That Time Is Gone	The dB's
Magdalena	Ben Vaughn
On the Roof	The Feelies
Living In Confusion	The Schramms
George Says	Kate Jacobs
I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City	Richard Barone
Path to Springs	Yo La Tengo
The Undertow	The Feelies
Who Betrays Me	The Cucumbers
If And When	The dB's
Nuts & Bolts	The Bongos
Daddy's Gone For Good	Ben Vaughn
Country Song	Tiny Lights
What Can I Say	Yo La Tengo
Funeral Song	Dave Schramm

Disc Two

Real Cool Time	The Feelies
Ups and Downs	The dB's
How Many Lives	The Schramms
My Siberia	Kate Jacobs
Don’t Say A Word (Hot Chicken #2)	Yo La Tengo
Young And Dancing	The Individuals
Carved In Stone	Ben Vaughn
Loveless Love	The Feelies
Sweet Blue Cage	Richard Barone
Skydiving	The Bongos
Right Here, Right Now	The Cucumbers
Wild and Small	The Schramms
Bad Reputation	The dB's
Some Kinda Fatigue	Yo La Tengo
Vibrato In The Grotto	Ben Vaughn

I just moved...

....so I still haven't hooked up my desktop computer where I have all my music files and such.  As such, there's no mixtape tonight.   I'm hoping to be a little more moved in by Sunday, but damn, I got a lot of crap to sort out. :) 

50,000 Obsessive Elvis Costello Fans Can't Be Wrong

    I'm moving into a new place tomorrow so I don't have much to time to write tonight.  But I do hope you enjoy my collection of Elvis Costello obscurities - I tried to make it a cross-section of stuff from various points in his career.  There's also a lot of good stuff I didn't include, so I may have to make another 1-2 of these at some point.

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Temptation (live)

From Head To Toe

New Rhythm Method

Still Feeling Blue

Blame It On Cain (Honky Tonk Demo)

Peace Like a River

Aubergine (with Jazz Passengers)

The Night Before Larry Was Stretched

A Condemned Man

Sticks and Stones

So You Want To Be A Rock N Roll Star

My Mood Swings

Little Boxes

What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend (Live)

Gloomy Sunday

Impatience

Sad About Girls

That Day Is Done (With The Fairfield Four)

Keep Your Eye on the Road

    I lost (or perhaps a better way to put it is that Time Warner misplaced it) my internet last night, but I've

got it back.  And since I live in one of the sections of NYC that never lost power during Hurricane Sandy, I can't complain too much.   Regular readers/downloaders of this blog will remember that I tend to post road song compilations around this time of year and this year it's no different.  The mix below is a little more mellow than usual.  I don't know why exactly - perhaps I'm just mellowing out a bit. :)

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Goin' To Acapulco	Jim James & Calexico
Time For Me To Come Down	Amy Rigby
Old Shoes (& Picture Postcards)	Tom Waits
Several Miles	Ron Sexsmith
Eight Days On The Road	Aretha Franklin
The Road Is A Lover	Alison Krauss & Union Station
Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight	Emmylou Harris
Churches off the Interstate	Laura Cantrell
White Line Fever	Merle Haggard
Eye On The Road	Bob Neuwirth
Sheila's On The Road	Tommy Womack
I'm Coming Home	Robert Earl Keen
Wheels	Stars of Heaven
Wayfaring Stranger	Mandy Barnett
Jackson	Lucinda Williams
Northbound	Tim Easton
Nevada Moon	Rosalie Sorrels
The Road to Ensenada	Lyle Lovett
We'll Be Here Soon	Phosphorescent
Goin' Home	Dan Auerbach

In Defense of Folk Rock

    A couple of years ago, I posted a compilation featuring male artists (Billy Bragg, John Prine, and Ron Sexsmith) who, in one way or another incorporated folk into their music.  Tonight's compilation has a slightly different premise as I feature four female artists (Sarah Harmer, Jenny Lewis, Shannon McArdle, and Sharon Van Etten) who offer different variations on the ever-sturdy folk rock.  I am aware that Lewis (especially her band Rilo Kiley) is more likely to be considered indie rock, but like I said, it's different variations on folk rock.  

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Rabbit Fur Coat	Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins
Washington	Sarah Harmer
One Day	Sharon Van Etten
Poison My Cup	Shannon McArdle
I'm That!	The Mendoza Line
Almost	Sarah Harmer
I Wish I Knew	Sharon Van Etten
Sing A Song For Them	Jenny Lewis
Wedding Dance	Slow Dazzle
Go Ahead	Rilo Kiley
Lodestar	Sarah Harmer
Kevin's	Sharon Van Etten
Life of His Own	Sharon Van Etten
Close Call	Rilo Kiley
The Dream Of Axes	Shannon McArdle
How Deep in the Valley	Sarah Harmer