127 The Whiskey River

The first four tracks on this mix all clumped together. I started with "Horchata", from Vampire Weekend's second album Contra. (FYI, a horchata is a traditional beverage, made of ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barley, or tigernuts.) With "Horchata" as the germ, I built three other songs with fun and exotic instrumentation around it: the pseudo-reggae of "Last Night", the steel drums of the least-cool Rod Stewart song ever, and the accordion of "Gumboots", from Paul Simon's Graceland (aka "You don't feel you could love me/But I feel you could")

1. "Last Night" Traveling Wilburys
2. "Horchata" Vampire Weekend
3. "Love Touch" Rod Stewart
4. "Gumboots" Paul Simon
5. "Peace Train" 10,000 Maniacs; I just saw Yusuf, aka Cat Stevens, at Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity.
6. "An Innocent Man" Billy Joel
7. "Sentimental Heart" She & Him
8. "Ruby Tuesday" The Rolling Stones
9. "Summer" Buffalo Tom
10. "We Are Sex Bob-Omb" from Sex Bob-Omb dovetails nicely into...
11. "Yer Blues" The Beatles
12. "Rollin' and Tumblin'" Muddy Waters inspired the title of this mix:

If the river was whiskey, and I was a divin' duck
I would dive to the bottom, never would I come up

13. "Damn Good" David Lee Roth: Have you ever completely forgotten a song? Forgotten a song so completely that you don't even remember knowing it in the first place? I recently bought David Lee Roth's solo CD Skyscraper for $1. David Lee Roth's solo career took off when I was a teenage Van Halen fan, so me and my friends had a lot of loyalty to Diamond Dave. I wanted the CD for the hit single "Living In Paradise", but for the heck of it I listened to the whole disc one day. That's when I rediscovered "Damn Good", an acoustic ballad (with nice guitar work from Steve Vai.) It's NOT a "damn good" song, BUT the point is, I had not heard the song in 22 years! It was weird dusting the cobwebs off this teenage memory.
14. "Put Me On Top" Aimee Mann
15. "Bang Bang Bang" Tracy Chapman
16. "Smoke On The Water" Deep Purple
17. "Hunger Strike" Temple of the Dog
18. "I Hate Myself For Loving You" Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, the original version, before it was appropriated for Monday Night Football.
19. "I Love Your Smile" Shanice I think I added this song because I saw someone on TV named Shanice?
20. "Shadowboxer" Fiona Apple

126: Summerbeast

1. "Run" Vampire Weekend
2. "Driver 8" The Old '97s. A slightly harder-rocking, slightly less subtle version of one of my favorite R.E.M. songs.
3. "Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)" Icicle Works. Rediscovered on a VH1 1980s video showcase.
4. "Jealous Again" The Black Crowes. A live, in-studio, acoustic performance, from the new Crowes album.
5. "Never" Heart. So richly imbued with Eighties-ness, it's hard to mix this track among other less exuberantly artifical songs...
6. "TiK ToK" ...until Ke$ha came along.
7. "Wash Your Face In My Sink" The Dream Warriors. Was this Canadian hip-hop duo a one-hit wonder, or was this song popular only among me and my friends at WERS in 1991?
8. "The Distance" Cake. Before I met my wife, I only new Cake as the 1990s alt rock band which covered "I Will Survive". I mostly hate disco, and this Gloria Gaynor song is one of my least-favorite hits in a genre I hate already. To sum up: Cake's cover is a boring, overlong, overly ironic remake of a song I hated in the first place. It turns out my wife has, like, four Cake CDs, and in the intervening years, I have found a bunch of their songs I actually like, including "The Distance", one of my new ringtones.
9. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" I don't listen to Jimi Hendrix enough. I gotta start putting him on more mix CDs. Mostly this song makes me think of a) hippies, and b) that scene it's in in Almost Famous, when the band trades in their bus for the jet plane.
10. "Free Fallin" [live], from the comprehensive new Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live Anthology. Great sing-along from the audience.
11. "One True Love" Semisonic is another one-hit 1990s alt-rock band, whom I have gotten to know better. Around the turn of the century I really got into their almost-hit "Chemistry", and later, the drummer wrote a memoir which could have been titled "What It's Like To Be A One Hit Wonder."If you want to dig deeper into 1990s nostalgia, check it out. Jen Trynin also wrote a book about her year in the spotlight, which could have been called "I Would Have Been Alanis Morrisette (If It Weren't For Alanis Morrisette.)"
12. "Via Chicago" Wilco. We went to Wilco's music and arts festival in North Adams this summer. This track is from Wilco's album Summerteeth.
13. "Stratford-On-Guy" Liz Phair. I have the complete Rolling Stone magazine, cover-to-cover, on DVD (1967-2007.) Around the time I was assembling this mix I re-read Liz' 1994 Rolling Stone cover story.
14. "Do You Love Me" Ridiculously catchy new Guster song, with pleasant Wall of Sound production.
15. "Can't Do A Thing (To Stop Me)" Chris Isaak. Apparently there's a cable channel called FUSE, which aired a special Fifty Sexiest Music Videos Ever. My wife and I were not surprised to find the "Wicked Game" video at Number One, which inspired including this Isaak song.
16. "Hackensack" [live, acoustic] The fact that Katy Perry has heard Fountains of Wayne, and recorded a nice cover song, has raised my opinion of her. It's still unfortunate that she married Russell Brand.
17. "Ugly Truth Rock" Matthew Sweet
18. "1901" Phoenix. It's like Duran Duran and Joy Division had a love child in France with Bryan Ferry as the midwife.
19. "Pictures of Matchstick Men" Camper Van Beethoven
20. "It Ain't The Cold War Harry" Grant-Lee Phillips

124: The Hank Scorpio Dictionary of Soul

1. "These Days" R.E.M. Live at the Olympia. Have you ever continued to follow your favorite band long after their creative peak, then looked back in regret, wishing you hadn't bought their last four albums? I used to be a big fan of R.E.M. I have all their CDs up through Reveal (2001). Not long after that, I looked back at the previous decade, and wished I had given up the R.E.M. habit after Automatic for the People in 1992. If anyone is interested in buying used copies of Monster (1994), New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996), Up (1998), and Reveal, let me know...
2. Soap on a Rope" Chickenfoot. A unabashedly retro hard rock supergroup: Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, and Chad Smith. I got this single for free on Amazon.
3. "I Hate My Generation" Cracker
4. "Camera One" Josh Joplin Group sounds remarkably like R.E.M.
5. "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" Weezer. I have never been a particular fan of Weezer, but this song is a lot of fun.
6. "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell has very similar guitar rhythm to the Weezer song, above.
7. "Carol Brown" by Flight of the Conchords turns "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" back on the guy. I love Jemaine talking back to his ex-girlfriend backing chorus.
8. "Already Gone" might be my favorite Eagles song.
9. "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)" (Extended Club Mix) Hall & Oates. I am a collector of 12-inch dance remixes, specifically remixes of 1980s rock and pop songs (non-disco.) I have never heard of a group re-releasing their remixes as part of catalog reissues, but I found some Hall & Oates remixes re-released on Amazon.
10. "Mississippi" Sheryl Crow. Thanks to RDM for including this song on a mix CD he gave me. Bob Dylan's original version is one of the first songs my son heard on our iPod the day after he was born.
11. "I'm Looking Through You" The Beatles. I have liked singing to my son since Day One (literally.) I sang this song to him on Day One. I don't know how I chose this song, but there you go.
12. "Rock Me On The Water" Jackson Browne
13. "In Your Room" The Bangles. In November 2009, I saw one of my favorite musicians, Matthew Sweet, live onstage in Arlington MA (!!) as part of his "Under The Covers" side project with ex-Bangle Susannah Hoffs. One of the final performances of the night was an acoustic version of "In Your Room". NOTE: Susannah and I share a birthday!
14. "Planet Claire" The B-52's. I saw a cheer group dance to this song in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2009.
15. "Poker Face" Lady Gaga
16. "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" Tina Turner. I also used to sing the chorus of this song to my newborn son. Who knows why.
17. "Free Will" Rush
18. "Maggie May" Susannah Hoffs & Matthew Sweet
19. "Singalong Junk" Paul McCartney. Another singalong to my son.

LEFT: Me and my son, 2009.
RIGHT: Paul and Mary McCartney, 1970.

123 No Man Can Say

This mix is not particularly inspired- it's overloaded with random songs pulled from CDs and LPs I had recently bought at yard sales.

1. "Mais Que Nada" Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 • One of those instrumentals I have heard a thousand times and never knew the name. I heard it in the movie Joe Versus The Volcano, so I was able to find the title in the end credits and VOILA here we are. Also known as Music From A Baseball Pitching Change.
2. "Too Many Dicks [On the Dancefloor]" Flight of the Conchords • I am glad to hear that FOTC is not going to continue for a third season on HBO. I loved season 1, but season 2 was nowhere near as good. This song was a highlight!
3. "White Lines [Don't Do It]" Duran Duran feat. Grandmaster Flash • Craig Ferguson once lip-synched this song (with a puppet chorus) as the cold open of The Late Late Show, I shit you not.
4. "We'll Be Together" • Sting
5. "I DoWanna Know" REO Speedwagon • I had not heard this song in 20 years when I found the LP at Antiques USA in Arundel, ME, for $2. Not exactly a rock 'n' roll classic, I had seen the video for it as a teenager, on Boston's UHF video channel V-66. For some strange reason, this completely ordinary rock song's catchy chorus stuck with me into the 21st century. Listening to it again for the first time in two decades was like watching a video of a long lost dream. Very trippy.
6. "Sonny Feeling" • Wilco
7. "Bittersweet" • Hoodoo Gurus
8. "Baby You're A Rich Man" [mono mix, 2009 remaster] • The Beatles
9. "Sugar Magnolia" Matthew Sweet & Susannah Hoffs • A Grateful Dead cover from their second disc of classic rock cover songs, Under The Covers Vol 2. I went to see the dynamic duo play an acoustic set, with my friends George and Mandy, in November.
10. "Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)" Hall & Oates • From Hall & Oates early seventies era.
11. "It Hasn't Happened Yet" John Hiatt • From John Hiatt's pre-fame era.
12. "Slowly [oh so slowly]" • Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band
13. "Rock'n Me '76 Slow" Steve Miller Band • An outtake from the Fly Like An Eagle sessions, it's a slow acoustic version of the rock classic.
14. "Across The River" • Bruce Hornsby & The Range
15. "Don't Change" • INXS

16. "Girl Of 100 Lists" The Go-Gos • I was inspired to include this song after reading a 1983 Rolling Stone cover story about the Go-Gos.
17. "Time Stand Still" The Hooters • Only after I bought this song on iTunes did I realize why it sounded so good- it's a unintentional remake of their own song "Satellite". Oh well.
18. "Rollin' And Tumblin'" Canned Heat • I first heard this blues standard covered on Eric Clapton Unplugged.
19. "Hey Ya" Booker T. • The organist/leader of Booker T. & The MG's covers the Outkast song on the organ!

Fifty Bands

This post was inspired by a Facebook meme that's going around.

"Test your memory and your love of live music by listing 50 artists or bands (or as many as you can remember) you've seen in concert. List the first 50 acts that come into your head. An act you saw at a festival and opening acts count, but only if you can't think of 50 other artists. Oh, and list the first concert you ever saw (you can remember that, can’t you)?"

I tried to leave out:

• bands you've never heard of;
• bands I saw at Lollapalooza;
• bands I saw for free;
• and bands whose concerts I have no memory of!

Here's what remains, in pure stream-of-consciousness order:

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mother's Milk tour, Orpheum 1988? Still the loudest concert ever.
2. Peter Gabriel is the first concert I saw, at Great Woods in 1987, with Youssou N'Dour opening. My mom went with me. I saw PG again on the US tour, and again on the UP tour.
3. ZZ Top, the Worcester Centrum...
4. ...and The Black Crowes opened for ZZ Top on the Recycler tour in 1990!
5. Paul McCartney 1989 and 2001
6. The Dead Milkmen
7. Violent Femmes, Orpheum, 1994? I thought the balcony was going to collapse during "Blister in the Sun".
8. Billy Joel at the old Boston Garden, on the Storm Front tour; even in 1990 he could not sing the high parts in "An Innocent Man" anymore.
9. AC/DC, I think it was the Blow Up Your Video tour, with Cinderella opening.
10. Aerosmith: December 31, 1989, at the old Boston Garden, with Skid Row opening.
11. Wilco 2002, 2003, 2009
12. Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band
13. Ben Folds, 2002- the cover photo of Ben Folds Live was taken at the show I went to.
14. Letters to Cleo, Avalon
15. Bob Dylan 1999, 2004?
16. Natalie Merchant, twice in the 1990s
17. Liz Phair 1998, 2003
18. The Breeders
19. Bob Mould
20. John Hiatt
21. Nick Lowe
22. Sting 1987, 1988
23. Sinead O'Connor
24. Bruce Springsteen 1992, 1995, 2001
25. Fountains of Wayne
26. The Thorns
27. The Jayhawks
28. Chicago
29. The Beach Boys
30. Little Feat
31. Steve Miller Band
32. George Thorogood
33. Spin Doctors
34. The Lemonheads
35. R.E.M.
36. Barenaked Ladies twice
37. Buffalo Tom
38. New Pornographers
    At this point, I could not think of any more off the top of my head, so I read some old blog posts to jar my memory...
    
39. Lucinda Williams
40. Squeeze
41. John Wesley Harding
42. Pearl Jam at the Orpheum, on the Versus tour, maybe the best show I have ever seen.
43. Ellis Paul
44. Robert Plant at SXSW is the closest I have been to a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer- me, my wife, and our friends were all up against the barricades for this show.
45. Prince
46. Hall & Oates
47. The Cranberries
48. Alison Krauss & Union Station
49. Indigo Girls
50. Guster

and many more...