Mix Tape No.34

100 minutes

33: Haphazard, Humdrum, and Humble.

100 minutes.

32: Brevity Is The Soul Of Wit, Volume 2

"All songs under 3 minutes or less.. guaranteed!" 120 minutes

Mix #31 (Thirty-one)

"mostly from the CD library of 103-7 'Peak' FM"

30: The Fast Driving Mix Volume II

"The 30th Anniversary Mix. Recorded at Peak FM, of course."
There are plenty of disadvantages to working the overnight shift. One of the advantages of working all alone in the office is that no one is around if you want to do two things at once, and risk possibly not doing your paid job as well as your boss would like. That is the exact scenario I often found myself in at "Portland's Best Music!" 103.7 "Peak" FM. I would play Ace of Base and Seal in the master control studio, while recording cassettes of my personal music in the second production studio across the hall. I would simply 'chock' both doors open, and leave the monitor speakers on high enough to warn me when the Madonna record was running out. I'm not saying I never missed my cue, but there's no need for me to sit there listening to that same Hootie & The Blowfish record all the way through. This is one of the reasons why so many DJs have been replaced with computers in the last 15 years.

1. "Been Caught Stealing" (12 inch remix) Jane's Addiction: My 1993-1994 internship at WFNX was my trial by fire into the world of alternative rock. I did odd jobs for Neal Robert in the afternoons, and he used to play this version of this song off the CD single.
   
2. "Jumpin Jack Flash" The Rolling Stones
   
3. "Runnin Down A Dream" Tom Petty, featuring Mike Campbell tearing off one of my all-time favorite guitar solos.
   
4. "Animal" Pearl Jam: I can't overstate the impact Vs. had on the world in 1993. Pearl Jam were already one of the biggest bands on Earth when Vs. was released in September. The album set a record for copies sold in one week (unbroken for 5 years!) and it's gone 7x platinum since. This is for a band which didn't grant interviews and released no promotional videos. They succeeded on merit. We'll never see a physical album or CD fly off the shelves like that again. I would guess WFNX regularly played seven tracks off the record. "Animal" still sounds great in 2011. The snare drum sounds a little "1990s", but the rest of the recording and performance are full-tilt amozzing. I still have a vinyl LP copy !mint!sealed! if anyone wants to make me an offer? Serendipitously, Pearl Jam recorded and released the Orpheum Theater show I saw on the tour, April 12, 1994. Unfortunately, a single CD can't hold the entire concert, so their performance of "Animal" didn't make the cut.
5. "Few and Far Between" 10,000 Maniacs: Man I love the arrangement on this song. The drums sound amazing, the horn section is terrific too.
   
6. "Closer to Fine" Indigo Girls
   
7. "If I Can't Change Your Mind" Sugar
   
8. "Gee Angel" Sugar
   
9. "Rockin Stroll" The Lemonheads
   
10. "Sold Me Down The River" The Alarm
    
11. "Stop!" Jane's Addiction
    
12. "Cannonball" The Breeders
    
13. "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" Lenny Kravitz
    
14. "Divine Thing" Soup Dragons
    
15. "Interstate Love Song" Stone Temple Pilots
    
16. "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)" Van Morrison
    
17. "Jump In Line (Shake Shake Senora)" Harry Belafonte: this is why I bought this soundtrack CD. I could not wait 15 years for iTunes to be invented.
    
18. "Werewolves of London" Warren Zevon
    
19. "No Surrender" Bruce Springsteen wanted this song as the leadoff single from Born In The U.S.A. Jon Landau convinced him that he needed to broaden his audience with "Dancing In The Dark" instead. It's a testament to the LP's depth that the album spawn SEVEN top 10 singles, and in the end, "No Surrender" wasn't ever a single.
    
20. "After Midnight" (alternate mix) Eric Clapton, from the Crossroads box set.
    
21. "Cult of Personality" Living Colour
    
22. "Monkey On My Back" Aerosmith
    
23. "Hazy Shade of Winter" The Bangles, sounding their best thanks to killer production quality from Rick Rubin.
    
24. "Demolition Man" The Police

90 minute cassette

29: Acquaintances

"Exclusively collected from the WZPK "Peak" FM Music Library." However, the collection is not full of Top 40 songs which I played on the air. The mix contains mostly AAA and alt-rock. 100 minutes.

28: Revisited!

My notes on the cassette insert say "Side 2 originally recorded May 1995, both sides re-recorded March 23, 1996. The collection is chock-full of contemporary music, including plenty of alt-rock, and music I was then playing on the Top 40 radio station 103.7 "Peak" FM. 90 minutes.

25, 26, 27: The History of My Compact Discs

Like a band who releases a "Greatest Hits" collection with only two albums' wirth of music, perhaps this was an idea whose time had not come yet. I created a three-cassette series collecting music from CDs over the previous 9 years. By focusing so closely on such short time periods, I ended up capturing particular memories well.

Mix 25 - Compact Discs: The Early Years 1987-1989; 90 minutes

Mix 26 - Compact Discs: The Emerson College Years 1990-1992; 60 minutes

Mix 27 - Compact Discs: The WFNX Years 1993-1994; 90 minutes

24: Really Zany Mix

Featuring music, stand-up comedy, sketches from comedy CDs, and TV theme music.
100 minutes

23: Join Together

This mix contains songs I liked to play on the guitar.
90 minutes

22: Name That Tune

All the song titles are people's names (Linus & Lucy, Jools & Jim, Jack & Diane...)
90 minutes

21: Brevity Is The Soul Of Wit

"Presenting 32 songs under 3 minutes long" 90 minutes

20th Anniversary Mix

This mix is a bit of a misbegotten patchwork. I received my first big batch of free CDs from the BMG Music Service, and I assembled this mix over the space of six months. Conceived 1/30/1995; Recorded 4/7/95  5/25/95  10/6/95

SIDE A

1. Polly: Nirvana
2. "Sexual Healing" A cover of the Marvin Gaye song from Soul Asylum, on the No Alternative benefit CD.
3. We Belong: Pat Benatar
4. "Sometimes" I met the members of the band James when interning at WFNX in 1993-1994.
5. Good Thing: Fine Young Cannibals
6. Nice Work If You Can Get It: Sting
7. Is She Really Going Out With Him? Joe Jackson [live]
8. Harvest Moon: Neil Young
9. Blues Before Sunrise: Eric Clapton
10. So Whatcha Want? Beastie Boys

SIDE B

1. Take Me To The River: The Commitments
2. Angels: David Byrne
3. I Alone: LIVE
4. A Good Idea: Sugar
5. Two Hearts Beat as One: U2
6. Gee Angel: Sugar
7. Plush: Stone Temple Pilots
8. When I Come Around: Green Day
9. Rise: Public Image, Ltd.
10. Unseen Power of the Picket Fence: A song by Pavement, mostly about their favorite R.E.M. songs, on the No Alternative benefit CD.
11. Can't Fight It: Bob Mould, on the No Alternative benefit CD.

El Mix 19

SIDE A

1. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody): Talking Heads
2. Pop Song '89: R.E.M. [live and acoustic]
3. Euro-Trash Girl: Cracker
4. Almost Hear You Sigh: The Rolling Stones
5. Fell On Black Days: Soundgarden
6. One on One: Hall & Oates
7. Strong Enough: Sheryl Crow
8. You Made Me The Thief of Your Heart: Sinead O'Connor
9. Here Comes The Rain Again: Eurythmics

SIDE B

1. What Time Is It? I swear this will be the last Spin Doctors song in one of my mixes!
2. The Stake: Steve Miller Band
3. Heat of the Night: Bryan Adams
4. Lawyers, Guns & Money: Warren Zevon
5. Authority Song: John Cougar Mellencamp
6. Crime in the City (60 to 0 part 1): Neil Young
7. Up All Night: Boomtown Rats
8. Demolition Man: The Police
9. All You Zombies: The Hooters

(90 minute Maxell cassette)

N's 14th Music Mix

I liked this cassette so much, I made a CD-R version of it once I upgraded to a CD recorder in 2001.

Side A: "Mostly Sedate"

1. Angie: The Rolling Stones
2. Mary: The 4 Of Us
3. Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm: Crash Test Dummies
4. Love Song: The Cure
5. Series of Dreams: Bob Dylan
6. Leave a Tender Moment Alone: Billy Joel
7. Deep Dark Truthful Mirror: Elvis Costello
8. Evan Dando covers the Victoria Williams song "Frying Pan" for the tribute CD Sweet Relief.
9. "How Could You Want Him When You Could Have Me?" I think this may be the last appearance of Spin Doctors on one of my mixes.
10. Ordinary World: Duran Duran

Side B: "Heaven & Earth"

1. Country Road: James Taylor
2. Find The River: R.E.M.
3. All That Heaven Will Allow: Bruce Springsteen
4. Bright Side of the Road: Van Morrison
5. Wildflowers: Tom Petty
6. Save Me Now: Jeff Lynne
7. Cloud Nine: George Harrison
8. Here Comes The Sun: Nina Simone
9. Seasons Of Wither: Aerosmith
10. "Look Up To The Sky" is a one hit wonder from The Indians, who sound very much like The Cranberries.
11. "Can't Rain All The Time" by Jane Siberry can be found on The Crow movie soundtrack.

(90 minute TDK cassette)

18: Sampler - Christmas Gifts of 1994

Back in the mid-1990s, I used to receive tons of CDs for Christmas presents. Almost all of these songs came from CDs I got for Christmas in 1994.

SIDE A

1. Jungle Boogie: Kool & The Gang (from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack)
2. All She Wants to Do Is Dance: Don Henley
3. Superstition: Stevie Wonder
4. And Your Bird Can Sing: The Beatles
5. Hourglass: Squeeze [live]
6. Crazy Little Thing Called Love: Queen
7. Tears of a Clown: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
8. I Wanna Be Your Man: Paul McCartney [live]
9. I Need Love: Sam Phillips
10. Bang & Blame: R.E.M.
11. Zombie: The Cranberries

SIDE B

1. Like A Rolling Stone [rehearsal]: Bob Dylan, from The Bootleg Series box set
2. You Belong To Me: Bob Dylan, from the Natural Born Killers soundtrack
3. Stuck in the Middle With You: Stealer's Wheel, from the Reservoir Dogs movie soundtrack
4. You Don't Know How It Feels: Tom Petty
5. Hazy Shade of Winter: The Bangles
6. Big Empty: Stone Temple Pilots, from The Crow movie soundtrack
7. Not For You: Pearl Jam
8. From Us To You/You Really Got A Hold On Me: The Beatles [live on the BBC]
9. Come As You Are: Nirvana [unplugged]
10. Time Baby III: Medicine, from The Crow movie soundtrack
11. Lucas with the Lid Off, Lucas

(90 minute TDK cassette)