October 14, 2007

114: Living In The Now

The Cover: Quite uninspired, actually. Just some mucking about with Photoshop. I do like the font choice.

The Tracks: Heavy on the new music, with a selection of vinyl:

  1. I'm Shipping Up To Boston | DROPKICK MURPHYS
  2. Dashboard | MODEST MOUSE
  3. Runaway | TRAVELING WILBURYS (Another reason to love iTunes: the Traveling Wilburys recently released a box set, including their two albums, five extra tracks, etc. Since I already own the two albums, I was able to spend $4.96 to buy the five extra tracks a la carte, instead of shelling out for the whole box!)
  4. Australia | THE SHINS (aka my wife's ringtone)
  5. In The Mood | ROBERT PLANT
  6. 1,2,3,4 | FEIST (Another mildly embarrassing song from an iTunes commercial.)
  7. Mary Lynn | MICHAEL PENN
  8. All Through The Night | JULES SHEAR (Shear is better known for his songwriting for other people; I found one of his LPs with this song, vastly improved in Cyndi Lauper's cover version.)
  9. What Light | WILCO (a Volkswagen commercial?)
  10. The Underdog | SPOON
  11. Smile (edit) | LILY ALLEN
  12. Wouldn't It Be Good | DANNY HUTTON HITTERS (from the Pretty In Pink soundtrack, a cover of this song was on the HBO show "Extras".)
  13. Young Folks | PETER, BJORN, & JOHN
  14. I Trained Her To Love Me | NICK LOWE
  15. Gone Daddy Gone | GNARLS BARKLEY (I heard this cover version on a cable show called "Live From Abbey Road".)
  16. Sleeping With The Television On | BILLY JOEL (My favorite Billy Joel song which no one else knows.)
  17. Rehab | AMY WINEHOUSE
  18. Everything I Need | MEN AT WORK (The single from their third LP which no one bought.)
  19. Ever Present Past | PAUL McCARTNEY
  20. Running Up That Hill | PLACEBO (This cover has been on a few TV shows, trailers, and commericals.)
  21. Your Own Worst Enemy | BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (so so so SAD!)

July 31, 2007

113 Man Band

The Tracks: This is the first mix I composed after purchasing a "USB" turntable. A miracle of modern technology, a "USB" turntable is simply a record player with both traditional "RCA" output wires and a USB cable output. This feature makes it easy to play music from vinyl on your PC and record it. Since I bought this new turntable, I have listened to dozens of LPs and 45s which I haven't played in years. All I have to do is press RECORD, and I can save these songs as MP3s, import them into iTunes, and I can add them to playlists. I may never buy an album recorded before 1987 again, when I can find a used LP at a record store or a yard sale for 99¢ ! Number 1 on this mix is Marvin Hamlisch's solo piano "Solace", a melancholy track from The Sting movie soundtrack. The LP was a birthday gift from my wife in 2005, with autographs from stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford!

The Title: While composing this mix, I started to notice there were a bunch of tracks where the artist played all the instruments themselves, either live or multitracked. So I called the mix One (Hundred and Thirteen) Man Band.

The Cover: I did a GIS for the artwork, and the font inspired the pink and grey color scheme.

  1. Solace - Marvin Hamlisch - Solo piano
  2. The Hardest Button To Button - The White Stripes - As heard on The Simpsons
  3. Zak & Sara - Ben Folds - My sister-in-law Sara's name would have been Zak had she been a boy!
  4. Don't Look Back - Barry & The Remains (A Boston-based band most famous for opening for The Beatles on tour.)
  5. Midnight Blue - Lou Gramm - HMV cutout bin
  6. Slipping Away - Dave Edmunds (Edmunds let Jeff Lynne (ELO) produce this LP, and as a result, the normally roots rockin' Dave sounds distinctly New Wavy here.
  7. I Wanna Know - The Mavericks - Scrubs TV show
  8. Let's Live For Today - The Grass Roots (I still have a hard time believing that the same Creed Bratton who played guitar on this song is the same guy from The Office.)
  9. Trouble - Lindsay Buckingham - Austin TX record store
  10. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore? - Prince (the great B-side to "1999")
  11. I Think She Likes Me - Treat Her Right - Providence RI yard sale
  12. Diner - Martin Sexton - Scrubs TV show
  13. My Favorite Waste of Time - Marshall Crenshaw - One Man Band
  14. Strapped For Cash - Fountains of Wayne
  15. All For Leyna - Billy Joel - Birthday present, circa 1986
  16. When The Stars Go Blue - Blake Lewis - American Idol
  17. It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference - Todd Rundgren - One Man Band
  18. What Matters - Matthew Sweet
  19. Roscoe - Midlake - CD swap with George
  20. What Can I Say? - Brandi Carlile - Tower Records liquidation sale
  21. Daylight Fading - Counting Crows - Yard sale
  22. More Than This - Norah Jones

March 15, 2007

111 and 112: Odyssey

Mixes 111 and 112 were composed at the same time. I used a photo taken of an art installation for the cover photos. We had just returned from a trip to Texas, where we visited an art museum. The cover for #111 (in orange) is the original color of the art installation; #112 (in blue) is the "negative" image of the same photo.

The Title: Odyssey is the name of an avant-garde Journey cover band we saw perform while we were visiting Texas.

The Tracks: I really dug deep into the history books for some of these songs:

  1. Claire - The Push Stars
  2. In the Meantime - Spacehog
  3. Hey Jude / Sgt. Pepper (Reprise) - From The Beatles "LOVE"
  4. Why Does This Always Happen to Me? - "Weird Al" Yankovic featuring Ben Folds on piano
  5. In Between Days - Ben Folds
  6. One-Sided Love Affair - Elvis Presley
  7. Ain't Never Gonna Give You Up - (the only) Paula Abdul (song I like)
  8. Big Bang Baby - Stone Temple Pilots
  9. Cinnamon Girl - Suzanne Hoffs & Matthew Sweet
  10. Poison - Bel Biv Devoe
  11. You Only Live Twice - Pat DiNizio (the Smithereens lead singer, on solo piano, covering the Bond theme song.)
  12. Divine Intervention (DEMO) - Matthew Sweet
  13. Where Or When - Dave Edmunds
  14. Hey Porter - Johnny Cash
  15. Memphis - Chuck Berry
  16. See the World - Gomez
  17. Speed of Sound - Coldplay
  18. Help Me, Suzanne - Rhett Miller
  19. Better Days - Bruce Springsteen, featuring Randy Jackson on bass
  20. Age Of Consent - Grant Lee Phillips

  1. Sly - The Cat Empire
  2. Driven To Tears - The Police
  3. Tell Her This - Del Amitri
  4. Nothing Lasts - Son Volt
  5. You're So Damn Hot - OK Go
  6. What'd I Say, Pts 1 & 2 - Ray Charles
  7. Life On A Chain - Pete Yorn
  8. New Frontier - Counting Crows
  9. TLC: Creep
  10. Going Through The Motions - Aimee Mann
  11. Think I'm In Love - Beck
  12. Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is - Jet
  13. Sold Me Down The River - The Alarm (I put this Alarm song next to the Jet song because they both remind me of the Rolling Stones.)
  14. I Want It All - Queen (I heard this Queen song on a Coca-Cola commercial.)
  15. Jesusland - Ben Folds
  16. Somebody Told Me - The Killers
  17. Get Back - The Beatles, from the CD "Love"
  18. Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order