122: All The Music That Fits

While packing and preparing to move to a new apartment, I did a Thoreau-ian "simplify, simplify" purge of my possessions. Part of that project is recycling Rolling Stone back issues from the 1980s. Since I bought the complete Rolling Stone 1967-2007 on DVD-ROM, technically I don't need ANY of those back issues clogging up my bookcases anymore. Rather than unilaterally toss 'em all out, I only discarded the issues which were too tattered to keep, and/or the issues I had scissored to ribbons during my teenage collage-making days.

After placing those issues aside, but before dropping them in the recycling bin, I leafed through the stack: about a dozen issues, all from 1985-1989. This quick skim inspired some MP3 purchases from that era (see below).

Another side-effect of packing? A slew of new music discoveries. Since I hardly ever hear new music on the radio, I tend to find new music on the RCN Music Choice channel: Adult Alternative. And when do I listen to this channel? When packing boxes!

1. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend is my wife's new ringtone.
2. "All Around the World Or The Myth of Fingerprints" [demo], Paul Simon
3. "On A Night Like This" Los Lobos (from the movie soundtrack Masked and Anonymous)
4. "Take The Joker & Run" Steve Miller Band: I found a special re-release of Miller's Fly Like An Eagle, which includes several outtakes, including this one. It's a early version of "Take The Money & Run", but the arrangement is exactly like "The Joker". It's really funny and odd to hear it like that!
5. "Waiting for a Miracle" Bruce Cockburn
6. "Real Love" Lucinda Williams
7. "Smoking Gun" Robert Cray Band
8. "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters" Elton John (I just bought his album Honky Chateau, and re-discovered this great song.)
9. "People Got A Lotta Nerve" Neko Case
10. "Satellite" The Hooters
11. "Trashcan" Delta Spirit
12. "Lips Like Sugar" Echo & The Bunnymen
13. "The Big Bang Theory (Theme)" Live in Concert, Barenaked Ladies
14. "Mykonos" Fleet Foxes
15. "Hurt Feelings" Flight of the Conchords
16. "Folsom Prison Blues" Merle Haggard & The Strangers: I like putting together the faux badasses of FotC next to the faux badass of this song.
17. "I Know" [live] Pat McGee
18. "I Want to Make The World Turn Around" I had completely forgotten this Steve Miller Band song until I read a review of the LP in my old Rolling Stone magazine...
19. "Used To Be Bad" A completely ordinary blues duet between two old fogies: Paul McCartney & Steve Miller.
20. "Absolutely Still" Better Than Ezra
21. I liked "OK It's Alright With Me" the first few times I heard it, but Eric Hutchinson is starting to sound like a second rate Jamie Cullum or Maroon 5?
22. "Phantom Limb" The Shins

Moving

A lovely mix CD from my wife!

1.       "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" She & Him Volume One
2.       "I Got You (At the End of the Century)" Wilco Being There
3.       "Deep Red Bells" Neko Case Live from Austin
4.       "Los Angeles, I'm Yours" The Decemberists Her Majesty The Decembrists
5.       "Right Moves" Josh Ritter The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
6.       "Classic Cars" Bright Eyes Cassadaga
7.       "Cab" Train For Me, It's You
8.       "As Long As You Follow" Fleetwood Mac
9.       "One Sweet Duet" John Craigie A Picnic On the 405
10.   "Put Your Records On" Corinne Bailey Rae
11.   "The Way I Am" Ingrid Michaelson Girls and Boys
12.   "David" Nellie McKay  Get Away from Me
13.   "Viva la Vida" Coldplay Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
14.   "Campus" Vampire Weekend
15.   "The Underdog" Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
16.   "Keep the Car Running" Arcade Fire Neon Bible
17.   "Chocolate" Snow Patrol Final Straw
18.   "Come On Get Higher" (live)  Sugarland Love On the Inside
19.   "Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight" Amos Lee
20.   "Passing Afternoon" Iron & Wine Our Endless Numbered Days

Easy Rockers of the 1970s

In a prior life, I was a radio DJ at a series of radio stations in Maine and New Hampshire. The gig I'm talking about today was Portland's 93.1 WMGX. I was the overnight DJ at WMGX starting in 1996. When I joined WMGX, the music format was what we now jokingly call "Yacht Rock" or "Easy Rock". It was heavy on the early- to mid-seventies pop-rock. We played some contemporary music too, but the most memorable music we played was the Yacht Rock.

Back when I was a DJ, radio studios had special cassette decks which were wired to record only when the announcer's microphone was on. I could record all my "breaks" over a six-hour shift onto one side of a 60 minute tape. I have literally dozens of "aircheck" tapes of my nights on WMGX. I have listened to a few of these tapes recently, which has brought back a lot of memories of that line of work, and my life in the mid 1990s.

I had fun talking on the radio, and I actually liked the music we played. Deejaying can be a lot of fun, during the daytime, anyway, when the building is full of people. Overnights, however, is a lonely and boring shift. I basically played the music, read magazines, and killed time, between the spots where I actually talked. This was before there was free and easy Internet, so I couldn't sit and browse the Web, update my Facebook, and blog about how bored I was. If I have ever shared with you a mind-bendingly obscure bit of music trivia (did you know Melissa Etheridge is from Leavenworth, Kansas? Did you know Linda Rondstadt sings backup on "Heart of Gold"?), I know this stuff because I literally read every liner note, every music trivia book, and The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits cover to fucking cover.

I actually spent a lot of time making mix tapes in the studio down the hall- I would use my own CDs from home + CDs I borrowed from the enormous collection in the studio. I would start a song in the main studio, leave the studio doors ajar, and crank up the speakers. While working on a mix tape down the hall, I would half-listen to the music from the main studio. When a song I was playing over the air wound down, I would hustle back and press START on the next track, then back to the tape!

I also pilfered a ton of LPs from the station's old vinyl collection, which was literally packed away in a storage closet. I had zero guilt about taking home stacks of LPs that would never be used again, or, in a lot of cases, had never been used in the first place.

So working overnights paralyzed my social life, and crippled my weekends too- I never had a problem sleeping during the day, but on the weekends, I would attempt to switch back to a regular schedule, so I could spend time with my girlfriend, but I ended up staggering about in a zombie-like haze, trying to stay conscious during daylight hours.

Last but not least, all DJs are paid peanuts. If you don't like the pay, there's a dozen people happy to take less to do your job.

Here's a representative sampling of the "easy rockers" I played every night on WMGX, in no particular order.

NOTE: When in the following list I say we played "lots of" or "plenty of" an artist, that means we played the same few songs every day, NOT that we played a wide variety of their songs. I would guess we played no more than 6 or 7 songs by each of these artists, but we played all of these acts at least 4 or 6 times a day.

• Lots of Van Morrison, including "Moondance" and "Brown-Eyed Girl" (of course), but also "Wavelength", a song I have never heard anywhere else.
• I think the Program Director had a crush on Rod Stewart, because we played him constantly, including "Reason To Believe", "The First Cut is the Deepest", "Tonight's The Night", and "You're In My Heart".
• Lots of Jackson Browne, including "The Pretender", "In The Shape Of A Heart", "You Love The Thunder" and "Running On Empty"
• Lots of Crosby Stills Nash and Young, including "Southern Cross", "Carry On", and the ultimate bathroom break song, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes".
• Billy Joel: Lots of the Piano Man, including "It's Still Rock n Roll To Me", "You May Be Right", and "Movin Out"
• Lots and lots of Elton John, mostly "Levon", "Tiny Dancer", "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me", and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"
• Plenty of James Taylor, but the least timeless of these songs has to be "Your Smiling Face".
• All of The Eagles Greatest Hits Volume 1.
• "Baker Street" and "Right Down The Line", by Gerry Rafferty
• Classic one-hit wonder "Romeo's Tune", by Steve Forbert
• "Crazy Love" by Poco
• After voluntarily listening to Jimmy Buffett for the first time in a decade, I was struck how he is a mediocre singer, and his songs are all midtempo and dull. How is the Margaritaville myth so strong that "parrotheads" pay big bucks to see him every summer? We played lots of "Margaritaville", "Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes", "Cheeseburger In Paradise", and so on.
• Pure Prairie League, "Amie"
• "Dreamweaver" by Gary Wright
• "Nights In White Satin" by The Moody Blues
• The Doobie Brothers, "Black Water"
• I think "Old Man" and "Heart of Gold" were the only two Neil Young songs we played. Trust me, I wanted to play "Cinnamon Girl", "Needle & The Damage Done", or "Rockin In The Free World" instead.
• Plenty of Steely Dan, including "Do It Again" and "Reelin In The Years"

Coming soon: a sampler of the contemporary pop-rock I played back then.

121: More Records Than The KGB

Mix 121 is named for a lyric from the song "Paper Planes" by M.I.A., which I also just bought as my new default mobile ringtone!

1. "A Venture", from The Yes Album, their debut LP. I bought this entire album on MP3 from the Amazon.com MP3 store for a dollar!
2. Paul McCartney wrote "Wings of a Nightingale" for The Everly Brothers' "comeback" album EB'84. I had heard OF this song for 25 years before I finally acquired a used copy of the LP and heard it for the first time. It's quite nice, but unexciting.
3. "The Frown Song" Ben Folds
4. "Looking Over My Shoulder" is from 'til tuesday's debut album Voices Carry. When I was a teenager, I borrowed this LP from the Topsfield Public Library, and I have had a crush on Aimee Mann ever since. I still think she looks incredibly sexy (if a bit intense!) in this cover photo.
5. I am a big fan of Squeeze. The only album of theirs which I hadn't listened to was 1985's Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti. A few months ago at a used record fair in Providence, R.I., I bought two 12-inch singles from that album: "King George Street" and "Last Time Forever". The 12-inch remixes were nothing special, but they inspired me to include the LP version of "King George Street" on this mix.
6. I first heard "Paper Planes" by M.I.A. in the awesome trailer for Pineapple Express. Since I don't listen to music on the radio, I didn't hear it again until I saw the railroad montage in Slumdog Millionaire.
7. "Crackin' Up" Bo Diddley
8. "Slippery Hips" is from the debut album by actresses Shawnee Smith & Missi Pyle. Smith is best known for the TV show Becker, and the five Saw movies. Pyle was in Galaxy Quest, Bringing Down The House, and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. I bought the album because I met Missi Pyle at the stage door of the Broadway show Boeing Boeing, and now I must do anything she tells me to!
9. "Creature From The Black Lagoon" Dave Edmunds
10. "Radiation Vibe" We just saw Fountains of Wayne at the Paradise Rock Club, on a all-acoustic, we're still working on the new album tour. They played ALL the songs we wanted to hear, including this one. We left that night 100% satisfied.
11. "Flaming Pie" This silly two and a half minute Paul McCartney piano boogie is infectious. I listened to it in the car three times in a row the other day.
12. "Function At The Junction" Shorty Long
13. "The Makings Of You" Curtis Mayfield
14. "Queen of the Supermarket" This might be the prettiest Bruce Springsteen song ever, and maybe the most romantic. Also, I can't recall another Springsteen song where he drops the F-bomb?
15. "It's All My Fault" John Wesley Harding
16. "Strange Overtones" David Byrne & Brian Eno
17. "15 Step" Radiohead
18. "Love Comes Tumbling" This is a b-side from U2's "Pride" 12-inch single. I put it on the mix because it reminds me of an old high school friend of mine who helped turn me into a diehard U2 fan. I already liked the song "Pride", and I had already seen the "Sunday Bloody Sunday" video, but she showed me why they were awesome! Meredith, this one's for YOU!

Ranking All 185 Beatles Songs

Writer "JBev" completed a Herculean and thankless task: he ranked and reviewed all 185 Beatles songs (written by the Fab Four), from 185^st to 1^st. (NOTE: I am sorry to report that his website has disappeared since I first found it in 2009.) Of course I don't agree with all of his choices, but that's not the point.
I think it's kind of arbitrary to be so precise in your rankings- after all, how do you choose which song is 112th as opposed to 113th? -- but I have attempted something a little less precise. I have ranked all 185 original Beatles songs from 1/10 stars, to 10/10 stars, with two additional special categories- a 11/10 Stars Best of the Best, and a 0/10 Stars Bottom Ten list. Enjoy and Discuss!
NOTE: Each list is in alphabetical order.

 0/10 Stars Bottom Ten
“Blue Jay Way”
“Don’t Bother Me”
“It’s All Too Much”
“Maggie Mae”
“Only A Northern Song”
“Revolution 9”
“Run For Your Life”
“Tell Me What You See”
“The Night Before”
“Wild Honey Pie”

1/10 Stars
“Dig It”
“I’ll Be Back”
“Julia”
“Little Child”
“The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill”
“Think For Yourself”
“Wait”
“When I Get Home”
2/10 Stars
“Ask Me Why”
“Doctor Robert”
“Hold Me Tight”
“I Wanna Be Your Man”
“I’ll Get You”
“I’m Happy Just To Dance With You”
“Love You To”
“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”
“Magical Mystery Tour”
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”
“One After 909”
“Sun King”
“Tell Me Why”
“The Inner Light”
“The Word”
“Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?”
“Within You Without You”
“You Like Me Too Much”
“Your Mother Should Know”
3/10 Stars
“Another Girl”
“Baby’s In Black”
“Dig A Pony”
“Every Little Thing”
“Fixing A Hole”
“For You Blue”
“Hello Goodbye”
“Honey Pie”
“I Me Mine”
“I Need You”
“Not A Second Time”
“P.S. I Love You”
“Piggies”
“Savoy Truffle”
“Sexy Sadie”
“Thank You Girl”
“The Fool On The Hill”
“What Goes On”
“What You’re Doing”

4/10 Stars
“All Together Now”
“Baby You’re A Rich Man”
“Because”
“Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite”
“Cry Baby Cry”
“Day Tripper”
“Flying”
“Good Night”
“I Call Your Name”
“I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party”
“I Feel Fine”
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”
“I’ll Follow The Sun”
“Long, Long, Long”
“Rocky Raccoon”
“She’s A Woman”
“There’s A Place”
“You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)”

5/10 Stars
“All I’ve Got To Do”
“For No One”
“Good Day Sunshine”
“Her Majesty”
“I Am The Walrus”
“I Want To Tell You”
“I’m So Tired”
“Love Me Do”
“Martha My Dear”
“Mean Mr. Mustard”
“No Reply”
“Octopus’s Garden”
“Old Brown Shoe”
“Polythene Pam”
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)”
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
“You Never Give Me Your Money”
“You Won’t See Me”
6/10 Stars
“Ballad Of John And Yoko”
“Do You Want To Know A Secret”
“Don’t Pass Me By”
“Drive My Car”
“Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey”
“From Me To You”
“Get Back”
“Glass Onion”
“I Want To Hold Your Hand”
“I’ll Cry Instead”
“I’ve Got A Feeling”
“If I Needed Someone”
“It’s Only Love”
“She’s Leaving Home”
“Things We Said Today”
“This Boy”
“We Can Work It Out”
“Yes It Is”
“You Can’t Do That”

7/10 Stars
“All You Need Is Love”
“And I Love Her”
“And Your Bird Can Sing”
“Any Time At All”
“Come Together”
“Eight Days A Week”
“Good Morning Good Morning”
“Happiness Is A Warm Gun”
“Hey Bulldog”
“I’m A Loser”
“I’m Down”
“I’m Looking Through You”
“I’ve Just Seen A Face”
“Lovely Rita”
“Michelle”
“Oh! Darling”
“Revolution 1”
“She Came In Through The Bathroom Window”
“Yer Blues”

8/10 Stars
“All My Loving”
“Birthday”
“Can’t Buy Me Love”
“Don’t Let Me Down”
“Girl”
“Got To Get You Into My Life”
“Helter Skelter”
“I Will”
“If I Fell”
“Misery”
“Nowhere Man”
“Paperback Writer”
“Taxman”
“When I’m Sixty-Four”
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
“With A Little Help From My Friends”
“Yellow Submarine”
“You’re Going To Lose That Girl”

9/10 Stars
“A Hard Day’s Night”
“Back In The U.S.S.R.”
“Getting Better”
“Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End”
“Help!”
“Here Comes The Sun”
“I Should Have Known Better”
“I’m Only Sleeping”
“It Won’t Be Long”
“Lady Madonna”
“Mother Nature’s Son”
“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
“Penny Lane”
“Please Please Me”
“Revolution”
“She Said She Said”
“Ticket To Ride”
“Two Of Us”
“You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”
10/10 Stars
“A Day in the Life”
“Blackbird”
“Eleanor Rigby”
“Here, There, And Everywhere”
“In My Life”
“Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
“Tomorrow Never Knows”

11/10 Stars Best of the Best
“Across The Universe”
“Dear Prudence”
“Hey Jude”
“I Saw Her Standing There”
“Let It Be”
“Rain”
“She Loves You”
“Something”
“Strawberry Fields Forever”
“The Long And Winding Road”
“Yesterday”