November 12, 2005

106: Sunrise

The cover is a snap I took just before daybreak in Elizabeth, New Jersey on Thanksgiving morning 2005, as my wife and I awoke extra early to go see the Macy's parade.

The Title: This disc has no title. I created the packaging for #105, 106, and 107 all in one shot, and I was not inspired with titles.

  1. Don't Stop Me Now - Queen, as heard in Shaun Of The Dead.
  2. Lovely Day - Bill Withers
  3. Deacon Blues - "Steely Dan is not one guy!"
  4. I Can't Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt
  5. Walk In The Sun - Bruce Hornsby
  6. Thin Line Between Love and Hate - The Persuasions (1973)
  7. Margarita - The Traveling Wilburys
  8. Wild Mountain Honey - When I was a teenage DJ at WBMT 88.3 FM, We played a LOT of Steve Miller. Our Steve Miller Band Greatest Hits LP got a lot of use. It was nice to include Mr. Miller on one of my mixes for the first time in at least 10 years!
  9. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart - You might think it impossible to include this Wilco song on a mix, but I think I pulled it off. Sandwiched between a trippy 1970s song and a loopy 1980s song, I think it works.
  10. America Is Waiting - When I was a college DJ at WERS 88.9 FM, I played this sample-heavy experiment-rock track from David Byrne & Brian Eno on the afternoon world music/jazz fusion/experimental show Gyroscope.
  11. Screenwriter's Blues - Soul Coughing
  12. Desire - The "Hollywood Remix" of the U2 song.
  13. Mass Romantic - New Pornographers
  14. All The Right Friends - A surprisingly retrograde R.E.M. song from the Vanilla Sky movie soundtrack.
  15. Panic - The Smiths
  16. Soap Star Joe - This Liz Phair track brings the mix to a dead halt. I should have cut it out.
  17. Frere Jacques - The famous nursery rhyme, recorded in the style of "The Space Between" by Dave Matthews Band, credited to "Dave Math Shoes". I found the web site advertising this collection and I loved it.
  18. A Bit Of Alright - Paul Peña wrote the song "Jet Airliner" which Steve Miller made a smash hit. This song was (at the time) used in Boston.com/jobs TV commercials.

November 01, 2005

105: Apple

The cover photo is my wife's hand holding a freshly-picked apple October 16, 2005.

The Title: This disc has no title. I created the packaging for #105, 106, and 107 all in one shot, and I was not inspired with titles.

  1. Never Destroy Us - I found this song by The Dears when researching music for our SXSW trip earlier that year.
  2. Count On My Love - I don't apologize for liking all phases of Liz Phair's career, from the lo-fi indie rock to the current hi-fi power pop.
  3. When My Baby's Beside Me - You can only read so many critics saying how awesome Big Star are before you buy their CD for yourself.
  4. Who Did You Think I Was? - This is from John Mayer's attempt to be taken seriously as a blues-rock trio.
  5. Times Like These - Foo Fighters
  6. Chest Fever - The Band
  7. Diddley Daddy - Bo Diddley
  8. Hickory Wind - You can only read so many critics saying how awesome Sweetheart of the Rodeo is before you go buy the CD for yourself.
  9. Photograph - The first time I heard this Jamie Cullum song, I thought he sounded *exactly* like Paul McCartney. The rest of this CD is a little too jazz-y for my taste.
  10. Fine Line - Paul McCartney
  11. Something Wild - Maia Sharp was the female singer Du Jour on the radio that week.
  12. No Way To Treat A Lady - Canadian rocker Bryan Adams had a flourishing sideline as a tunesmith for other artists. Along with his writing partner Jim Vallance, Adams contributed songs for KISS, Krokus, .38 Special, and Joe Cocker, among others. Two women named Bonnie covered this song: Bonnie "Total Eclipse of the Heart" Tyler, and Bonnie "A dozen Grammys" Raitt.
  13. Get Your Hands off My Woman - Ben Folds
  14. Don't Pass Me By - The Georgia Satellites cover Ringo's song as a Southern-fried rave up.
  15. Free Girl Now - I had this Tom Petty CD single lying around for 5 years without listening to it. I finally cracked the seal and gave it a slot on this mix.
  16. Eight Years Old - I generally like Ben Lee, but I was trying too hard to find new music when I picked this track off one of his CDs for this mix.
  17. Paul Newman's Eyes - I saw Dogs Die In Hot Cars at SXSW that spring.
  18. Forty Feet - Franz Ferdinand
  19. Vox Humana - I saw this terrible Kenny Loggins video on "V-66" when I was a teenager, and I bought the cassette.
  20. Sleeping Bag - ZZ Top