'Twas The Night Before Christmas

I remember a lot of the Rankin and Bass specials, but I don't remember this one. Maybe you do and this will bring back all sorts of warm and fuzzies. If it does, I'd love to hear about them.

Enjoy!

01 'Twas The Night Before Christmas.m4a

P.K. & The Sound Explosion - Christmas Disco - 1977

This record sounds exactly like what you would think a record with this title would sound like. Super cheese ball sanitized studio disco set to Christmas tunes. It's got all the favorites with a disco twist.

I'll have to admit that you have to have a certain penchant for this kind of thing to appreciate it. I don't think even I could sit down and listen to the record from start to finish and feel good about myself, but it is nice to have the songs in a big ipod playlist. When put on random, they do provide little surprise spots of spice and flavor that do work out great.

If I can point to one interesting song on the record it would be "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" which basically rips of the "Louie Louie Riff" and puts it under "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". That is a pretty amazing feat that you don't hear everyday. Nice job.

Enjoy!

01 Jingle Bells.m4a
02 Winter Wonderland.m4a
03 Silver Bells.m4a
04 Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let Is Snow!.m4a
05 White Christmas.m4a
06 Jingle Bell Rock.m4a
07 Sleigh Ride.m4a
08 Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.m4a
09 Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.m4a

P.K. And The Sound Explosion.zip

SAP Music Christmas Mix 2008

The next month is going to be very exciting here, because of all the Christmas music I have to share and write about. There is so much, that I wasn't really sure where to put my annual Christmas mix, so I decided to just put it as a second post on this the first day of the season.

I've been doing Christmas mixes for years now, giving the CD's away. It seems like each year I make more. I think last year I made 75 discs that I gave away. Now I have this blog and an even easier way to share the wealth.

Like my Halloween mixes I start selecting songs the moment Christmas ends. I find new songs, I come across songs in my library that I think may work for the following year. By the time October rolls around I usually have more songs than will it on a CD. Such was the case again this year. This year I added in the extra flare of mixing the songs together in garageband. I didn't get as fancy as the Halloween mix because the songs aren't as conducive to overlapping and having sound effects running under them. Still I think I've created a nice flow and there are a few interesting tricks hear and there.

So what's on the mix this year? I'm not sure if I should say yet. I think maybe it would be fun to keep it a mystery for a while. Also that will limit the amount of people who find it to those who read this blog and not those who find the blog because they are searching for a particular Christmas song. Those people can find their music somewhere else. Also any copyright complainers should be kept away. So here's the mix or podcast or whatever you want to call it. If you really want a track listing let me know and I'll get one for you. I you want the tracks broken out, you can also burn this podcast to a CD and then rip it. The tracks will be separated out.

So have fun and Merry Christmas.

SAP Music Christmas Mix 2008.m4a

You can download a CD cover here.

VA - Something Festive - A&M Records

Today marks the beginning of the Christmas season in my book and so therefore it marks the beginning of the season for this blog. Get ready for a daily dose of Christmas music. Hopefully from records that you don't see everyday.

The thing I like about Christmas records are that there are so many versions of the same finite group of songs so you can really compare and contrast singers and arrangements. It also makes the original songs or the oddball songs that aren't sung by a thousand other folks stand out. Many of the times they are mediocre at best, but every once in a while you find a gem.

So today I'm starting with an A&M compilation called "Something Festive". I really like the Herb Albert and the Sergio Mendes songs. They set the mood for the album as a 70's easy listening time capsule. The arrangements are fun and kind of so weird that they almost seem other worldly. You listen and think, someone really wrote this. It is an interesting style because I don't think it has ever been revived as far as I know. I guess that either means it's not worth going back to or that it was done so well the first time that there is no reason to revisit and reinvent. I don't dare answer that question.

The back up singers on "The Christmas Song" is a great example of that early 70's sound that hasn't been heard since. It is more a factor of production than anything else I think. It reminds me of some of the work The Carpenters were doing.

"Partridge In A Pear Tree" is also good. It has that Herb Albert Mexicali thing going on that I find appealing. It is also an instrumental so you don't have to go mad listening to those repeating lyrics over and over again.

"My Favorite Things" has the same 70's easy listening choral sound. Sounds a little Disneyesque.

I really like "The Bell That Couldn't Jingle" as a song. It think it is really catchy. This version is okay, but there is a version on Herb Alpert's Christmas record that I think is even better. I may be posting that before the end of the year so keep an eye out.

Pete Jolly's song is jazzy and light.

A really interesting song is the melancholy "Snow" by Claudine Longet. She sings with an almost Karen Carpenter melancholy, but with a French accent and more breathy. The arrangement is very Carpenters as well in my opinion. It stands out on the record as a kind of odd ball because it is haunting and a little depressing. Not exactly easy listening.

The album ends on a fun note with Jingle Bell Rock. Herb's trademark trumpet driving the melody of this Christmas staple.

So start getting yourself in the mood with this record from Christmas past.

Enjoy!

01 Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass - Winter Wonderland.m4a
02 Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 - The Christmas Song.m4a
03 Liza Minnelli - Raggedy Ann & Raggedy Andy.m4a
04 Julius Wechter & The Baja Marimba Band - Partridge In A Pear Tree.m4a
05 We Five - My Favorite Things.m4a
06 Burt Bacharach - The Bell That Couldn't Jingle.m4a
07 Pete Jolly - It's The Most Wonderful Time.m4a
08 Claudine Longet - Snow.m4a
09 Julius Wechter & The Baja Marimba Band - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.m4a
10 Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Band - Jingle Bell Rock.m4a

Something Festive!.zip

Tomorrow Never Knows - Ipod Playlist 11.24.08

If you pay any attention to the title of this blog you'll pick up on the fact that this playlist a day old. Well, it was a pretty good playlist, but my day was just so full I never quite squeezed out the time to write this blog, but I've got time now, so let's get to it.

Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles - Revolver
Nobody But Me - Save Ferris - It Means Everything
Little Bit Of Feel Good - Jamie Lidell - Jim
Fish Fry - Big Black - Songs About F**king
24 Hour Party People - Happy Mondays - 24 Hour Party People Soundtrack
Evil Is Alive And Well - Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things
I Won't Share You - The Smiths - Strange Ways, Here They Come
What It Feels Like For A Girl - Madonna - Music
Utopia - Terveet Kadet - Aereton Joulu 7" EP
G.I. Sex - Fang - Landshark/Where The Wild Things Are
For No One - The Beatles - Revolver
A Good Man Is Hard To Find - Lou Monte - Pepino The Italian Mouse And Other Italian Fun Songs
Change Your Mind - The Killers - Sawdust
Signifying The Monkey - Willie Dixon
Istanbul (Not Constantinople Remix) - They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) CD Single
Let The Funk Flow - EPMD - Strictly Business
Charmless Man - Blur - The Great Escape
Venus In Overdrive - RIck Springfield - Venus In Overdrive
Strength Through Wounding - AFI - Black Sails In Sunset
How Soon Is Now? - The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
Lies - Injections - Killed By Death Vol. 12
Why Don't You Lie - King Khan And BBQ Show - What's For Dinner?
Debaser - The Pixies - Doolittle
Soul Man - Sam And Dave - The Best Of Sam And Dave
Digital - Joy Division - Substance
On The Back Row Of A Broken Dream - Flogging Molly - Float
Sailin' On - Half Off - Shoot Guns
Three's Company - Television's Greatest Hits, Vol. 3
Machine Gun Funk - The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die

First of all I want to say that while this new imix thing is extremely cool and I hope is providing an easy way for people to find some of this music, it is also very frustrating because the itunes store doesn't have all the music. I could be more forgiving if it was some hard to find thing, but the fact that the itunes store still doesn't have The Beatles is a huge hole in their catalog. I get that it isn't their fault and is the fault of Paul and Ringo who won't put The Beatles catalog for sale in any downloadable form. There are also things like Jack Johnson, which I know is on the itunes store, that somehow don't get picked up and put into the list. That happened on one o the earlier lists. I just don't get it.

So enough complaining. What about the music? Ah, yes the music.

"Tomorrow Never Knows" is one of the songs that intrigued me as a kid when I was really discovering The Beatles. I remember listening to a show on Sundays called "The Lost Lennon" tapes and I think it was on that where I learned about this process used in this song where Paul carried around a looping tape recorder all day and the endless recording and rerecording is what ends up on this track. The tape basically becomes over saturated with sound. You'll hear bursts of that noise when you listen closely. There is also all sorts of other tricks they used by recording things and then cutting up the tape and splicing it back together. Crazy stuff.

Save Ferris. I always compare them to No Doubt because they were contemporaries. Both bands had the ska thing going. Both bands were from Orange County. However in my opinion Save Ferris is so far the superior band mostly because of the lead vocal talents of Monique Powell who is simply amazing. She could sing Gwen under a table. Unfortunately Gwen had the looks that couldn't be beat on MTV. Do check them out.

I've already said before Jamie Lidell's album "Jim" is one of the best albums of the year. Great blue eyed soul and this is one of the great songs off that record.

Skipping down a bit I want to bring Fang to the attention of people. They were a great hard core punk band from the bay area. They were however not as obsessed with speed and had kind of a slower Flipper sound. I had a tape of them growing up and loved it. A few years ago I found this CD at Amoeba. The cashier actually commented on the record saying it looked interesting an wondered what the band was like. I told her and she seemed interested. That is the only time that has ever happened. They have a track called "Fun With Acid" which is one o my favorites of the era. There is a version on this record and an even better, faster version on the "Not So Quiet On The Western Front" compilation.

The Willie Dixon track is a fun number. It is a story that tells a story about a monkey taunting a lion. It's kind of a kids song and I've put it on a mix I made for my daughter a few years ago. The mix is all songs about monkeys.

AFI is a pretty big band these days. They've tapped into a formula and market and been very successful. Myself, I'm not a big fan of their current music. But long before they became MTV favs they were making amazing music. The album "Black Sails In Sunset" is a great introduction record in my opinion. It was the first I heard and owned. This track "Strength Through Wounding" is one of the best tracks on the record. Classic AFI. By the way AFI back in the day did a great cover of "Hanging Garden" by the cure. One of the best Cure covers ever. Their covers of the Misfits "Halloween" and "Demonomania" are also great.

I think I'll end by pointing out that if you are ever looking for a good introductory soul record "The Best Of Sam and Dave" is a great record to begin with. Sam And Dave perfected soul in my mind. Sam Cooke I consider a sort of godfather to soul (sorry James Brown), but it really got perfected by the likes of Sam and Dave. I'm sure people will argue and list some other artists, but I'm not that schooled. I just have a few soul records and this one has been in my collection for many many years and I love just about ever track on it. "Soothe Me" is one of my all time favorite songs, not just by Sam and Dave, but of any artist.

Okay, I got one more song to mention. If you are ever feeling stress at work. You boss is driving you crazy. You feel like you are in a dead end job sitting in a cubicle. Put on "Digital" by Joy Division. It is a cathartic song as Ian sings

Feel it closing in,
Feel it closing in,
The fear of whom I call,
Every time I call,
I feel it closing in,
I feel it closing in,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out.

I feel it closing in,
As patterns seem to form.
I feel it cold and warm.
The shadows start to fall.
I feel it closing in,
I feel it closing in,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out,
Day in, day out.

I'd have the world around,
To see just whatever happens,
Stood by the door alone,
And then it's fade away.
I see you fade away.
Don't ever fade away.
I need you here today.
Don't ever fade away.
Don't ever fade away.
Don't ever fade away.
Don't ever fade away.
Fade away. Fade away.
Fade away. Fade away.
Fade away. Fade away.
Fade away.

And on that depressing note I sign off.

Cheers!

Wild Billy Childish & The Blackhands - Who Do You Think You're Kidding Mr. Hitler/Chatham Jack - 1993

Gotta love Mr. Childish. Okay maybe you don't, but I certainly do. This record should catch a lot of people's attention just because the title has Hitler's name in it. That is sort of a lightning rod. The song has kind of a reggae beat to it, which seems a little different for Billy. At least it does to me. It also feels like a pub song.

"Chatham Jacks" has what sounds like an accordion in there. This one sounds like it has a little zydeco to it. I'm not an expert on zydeco, but that is was comes to mind with the accordion and the blues mixed together. It just sounds like it came from down on the Mississipi Delta.

I've never seen, Billy but I do hope to before I die. On a related note, I am extremely upset that Holly Golightly is going to be in LA next weekend at Spaceland when I'm out of town for Thanksgiving. UUUURRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH! I missed her the last time she came across the pond and now again. Hopefully one day the stars will align. By the way I bough her latest effort with the Brokeoffs called "Dirty Don't Hurt" a few weeks back. It also has a rootsy bluesy American flavor to it. A little different than some of the other records I have from her, but still very good.

Anyways, this may be the last "record" posting before we dive into the holidays so have have fun with it.

Enjoy!

01 Who Do You Think You're Kidding Mr. Hitler_.m4a
02 Chathams Jack.m4a

Here Comes The Sun - Playlist 11.18.08

Another long play list from this morning with so many good songs to blog about. I'm putting the album info on the list as well so you can track down the tracks yourself.

Jordan's 1st Choice - Against Me! - Reinventing Axl Rose
Here Comes the Sun - Voodoo Glow Skulls - Who Is This Is
Wilkommen - Al Hirt - Music To Watch Girls By
Deceptacon (The DFA Remix) - Le Tigre - Remix
Am I Going Insane - Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Souls For Rock 'N' Roll
Free Time - The Aggrolites - Reggae Hit L.A.
Sister Morphine - The Rolling Stones - Unplugged
Pint After Pint - Charlie Overbey - The Charlie Overbey Compilation: Just The Hits Folks, Just The Hits
Wasp/N.I.B. - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Midnight Rambler - The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
Faith - George Michael - Twentyfive: For Living
Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson - Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
Lap Of Luxory - Oingo Boingo - All The Pieces 7"
Young And Lovestruck - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - Searching For The Hows And Whys
Angel - Jack Johnson - Sleep Through Static
Desafinado - Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto Featuring Carlos Jobim - Getz/Gilberto
Misery Town - Cheater - Home Is Where the Heart Is
Burnin' Up - Jonas Brothers - A Little Bit Longer
Glory Box - Portsihead - Dummy
Everything You Ever - Neil Patrick Harris - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd
Sidekick - Rancid - Let's Go!
Be Good To Yourself - Journey - Revelation
Blowin' In The Wind - Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Killer Queen - Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
Wait For Me - Jamie Lidell - Jim
I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor - The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert
Volare - Wayne Newton - Danke Schoen
Lust - The Raveonettes - Lust Lust Lust
We Don't Get Along - Phil Seymour - Phil Seymour
Riddles - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - Sinner
Spinning Ceiling - Mark Sultan - Sultanic Verses
Unworthy of Your Love - Stephen Sondheim - Assassins
Shuffle your Feet - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
The Prisoner - D.O.A. - Bloodied But Unbowed
Damaged I - Black Flag - The First Four Years
River, Stay 'Way From My Door - Frank Sinatra - All The Way

And then my day at work began.

You can find many of these tracks on Itunes. Check out this Imix.

So I have a little to say about almost every song. "Jordan's 1st Choice" from Against Me! is pretty emotional. The singing claws down deep in your gut and rips you inside out. Fantastic.

"Here Comes The Sun" is a sped up ska punk version of The Beatles song. I saw this guys many a year ago when this record came out. Must have been in '93 or '94 I think. Bought this CD at the show. They opened for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Great show.

"Wilkommen" I believe I wrote about in an earlier post. Check it out.

"Deceptacon" is a pretty fun track, but this remix by The DFA is sooooo unbelievably great. It's a great dance track with the punk screeching attitude you'd expect from Le Tigre. Favorite lyric is "Linoleum floor. Linoleum floor. Your lyrics are dumb like a linoleum floor." You can find this remix on a CD on Amazon.

The review on Allmusic.com com says it all in it's review of this remix CD. "But unquestionably the highlight of this remix package is the bona fide juggernaut hurricane remix of "Deceptacon" by modern-day art punk heroes DFA."

"Am I Going Insane" Pretty good Sabbath song, but I'll save my Sabbath commentary for the upcoming track.

"Free Time" is just one of the many great track off of "Reggae Hit L.A.". I know I've said this before here, but this album is a must have. These guys are so talented. Some of the best reggae ever as far as I'm concerned. I'm no expert on the genre, but I know the major players and records and this is at the top of the list in my book.

"Sister Morphine" is one of those not so popular Stones tracks that you find buried on their records that is great. Simple song with lots of raw emotion. Check it out.

"Pint After Pint" is from a CD I picked up at a local show. It is pretty much demos and what not. Don't think it has ever been officially released by any label. Charlie is a great song writer and puts on a great show. I wrote a little about him in my Supersuckers post, where he was one of the opening acts. He played under the moniker Charlie and the Valentine Killers. If you ever have a chance to catch him, do so. This song features some violin and when I saw him he had a fiddle player in the show. Sounded great.

"Wasp/N.I.B." is one of the all time great Sabbath songs or pair of songs. The two songs are connected on the album and clock in at over 9 minutes. Actually I think if there were a fight between the two songs N.I.B. would win out. Iomni's riff on that song is so iconic. Pure Sabbath.

"Midnight Rambler" great Stones song.

Okay now this is getting tedious I know. Commenting on every song. You're going to be reading forever. It is hard, though not to with this list. But I'll jump ahead and point out some must listen to's and notables.

"Glory Box" by Portishead is one of the quintessential Trip Hop songs of all time. Dummy has to be one of my favorite records of the 1990's. It paints a beautiful dreamy landscape.


If you haven't heard of seen Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog" go check it out on itunes. Joss is a genius and this musical is genius. Neil Patrick Harris does a fantastic job and all the songs are clever and fun. And not to give away the ending, but it is a gut wrencher. Very daring Joss. Well done.

This track has a very cool E.L.O. thing happening with the backing vocals. You'll know what I mean when you hear it. It's that electronic processing to the voice that E.L.O. did back in the day.


Have to talk about "Freebird" if only to mention that this song is now forever connected to "Forrest Gump" in my mind now. The song was used to perfection in that film when Jenny was all coked out and she climbs on the balcony railing. Also I just want to say that the whole end of the song which is featured in that part of the film is so great. It build and builds and then releases and then before you know it the swirling and frenzied guitar builds again to another amazing climax. Listen to the second half of that song with the volume at 11 or with head phones adn close your eyes. It is guitar rock and more specifically Southern Rock at its greatest. You can find this on Skynyrd's debut record "Pronounced 'Leh-Nerd Skin Nerd'" from 1973.

"Sidekick" is funny because for some reason I had this song in my head as I was doing things around the house this morning and I was literally humming the song just moments before the song came up on the ole Ipod. I just about flipped when it came up because of the weird coincidence.

And yes that is a track from the new Journey record. The new singer isn't half bad and I kind of like this track.

I mentioned Joan Jett yesterday and then today a track from Sinner came up. This is a good example of the what you can find on the new record. Lyrics that are about something. They make a statement while still being very catchy.

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club track is from their Howl record a record that I kind of initially dismissed because it was so different than their previous work, but this past year I have fallen in love with this record.

The list starts winding down with two classic hard core punk songs. Both are classics from D.O.A. and Black Flag. "Bloodied But Unbowed" was featured here this last Spring. Check out that entry for more info.

And then we finish with Sinatra. This album "All The Way" is one I grew up on. Our family had this on an 8-track that lived in my father's car. We played that thing over and over and over. I know every lyric to every song on that record and it is one of my favorite Sinatra records of all time. You have to get it if not for "High Hopes".

Sp that was a lot. I think I may take a day or two off and just let people absorb these last two lists.

I know your eyes in the morning sun

This morning was a big music morning. The ipod started long before the daily walk and to the playlist is extra long today. I am however writing this at the end of the day, which means I've been able to put a little more time and effort into this post. Hope you enjoy it. So here goes.

Ain't Been To No Music School - The Nosebleeds

April 29, 1992 (Miami) - Sublime

Groove Is In The Heart (Jellyjam Beats) - Deee-Lite

Blind Nuns - Wasted Youth

Mirage - Siouxsie and the Banshees

You Cross My Path - The Charlatans

Gotham City - Out Of Order

Bron-Yr-Aur - Led Zeppelin

Dancing With Myself - Billy Idol

Fire - Jimi Hendrix

Los Angeles - X

I've Never Been In Love Before - Chet Baker

AC/DC - Sweet

Mary's Little Boy Child - John D. Loudermilk

This Twilight Garden - The Cure

99 Luftballons - Nena

Little Ghost - The White Stripes

This Could Be All - Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly

In The Breeze - Jack McManus

Sent For You Yesterday And Here You Come Today - Count Basie

Chain Of Fools - Aretha Franklin

I'm Eighteen - Alice Cooper

How Deep Is Your Love - The Bird & The Bee

Susanne - Weezer

Django - Modern Jazz Quartet

Master Of Puppets - Metallica

Let's Dance - David Bowie

It Takes Two - Zac Efron

Virginia Waits - Ennio Morricone

Our House - Madness

The first track I'd like to talk about it "Gotham City" by Out of Order. Out of Order was a band from Chicago. This track comes from their "Paradise Lost" LP which I had as a kid. The sad part of this story is that that record is part of a handful of records that disappeared from my room when I went away to college. The who

le album is great. It is out of print, but you can basically get the sum total of the record on their "Survival Of The Fittest" compilation. The song is great because it is basically the theme from the old Batman TV show, done punk rock style and then some simple lyrics thrown over it. For anyone looking for a little nostalgia, check out this old Puszone article in which pushead reviews this record and mentions "Gotham City"

If you don't know who Pushead is or was, he was an artist who also wrote articles for Thrasher magazine. He also had a music label and band Septic Death. If you don't recognize his name you make certainly recognize his artwork, because he has done lots of art for Metallica and some other big bands. Back when I was a kid he was mostly doing w

ork for underground band, Thrasher magazine and Zorlac skateboards. Check out everything Pushead at this website.

Wow that was a big detour.

The next track to point out is "AC/DC" by Sweet. This is a pretty fun song, but I must say the version Joan Jett did on her album Sinner last year makes the original seem tame. And now that I've worked Joan Jett into the conversation, I have to say that her record last year was one of my favorites. It is great from start to finish. Kathleen Hanna from Bikini Kill and Le Tigre fame contributes song writing duties on about half the tracks. It is one of her strongest records to date.

And to wrap this up I want to point people to another great cover that is on this playlist. The Bird and The Bee's version of the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" rivals the original and may be one of the most beautiful songs from this past year.

Inara George's voice sounds like gentle morning sunbeams. Makes the opening line "I know your eyes in the morning sun" make you feel warm and fuzzy all over.

I first heard this song on "Morning Becomes Eclectic" a fantastic public radio show here in LA. You can find it on the internet and check it out. I think it may also be available on Itunes as a podcast.

The moment I heard it I knew I had to get this song. I did some research and learned about The Bird And The Bee. The song is on the "Please Clap Your Hands" EP. I found the CD when I was in New York for work. I actually was at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square and I bought it there. The song became an instant favorite in my family. My daughter has it on her ipod shuffle and knows all the words. Find it on Itunes and buy it. It is well worth the 99 cents. If you come across the whole EP, pick that up. All five songs are good.

As part of a new experiment I took this play list and made an Imix with Itunes which I submitted to the Itunes store. Not every song showed up on the list, but quite a few of them did. If you want to buy some of these songs just click on this link to find the songs on itunes. Let me know if this is helpful to anybody.

Cruise Control - No Condom, No Sex - 1988

Couldn't resist picking this record up when I saw it. I vaguely remember this track making some waves back in the day obviously for the subject matter. The album cover cracks me up. It is trying to be shocking and provocative with the condoms on the cover. I guess it kind of was at the time, but from a design stand point I think the layout is just poor.

The track itself is a fairly bland electron pop club song. I'm pretty sure record sales would have been entirely as a result of the novelty factor and not because someone thought this was an amazing dance track. Check it out and judge for yourself. There are plenty of versions to sample from.

Enjoy!

01 No Condom, No Sex )(Let Reasong Govern Passion Mix).m4a
02 No Condom, No Sex (Rock Single Mix).m4a
03 No Condom, No Sex (Single Mix).m4a
04 No Condom, No Sex (Single Instrumental).m4a
05 No Condom, No Sex (Chamber Acappella).m4a

Drop?

This morning is a short list, because I was listening to a podcast for most of my walk. So here goes.

Boyz-N-The-Hood - Eazy E
Drop - Ying Yang Twins
Detroit Rock City - Kiss
Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper

See? Short and sweet.

Gotta love that thumpin' bass of Easy E early in the morning. "Drop" is the kind of song that makes me wish I was young and still going out dancing in clubs. The ipod headphones are good, but that is the kind of song that when it is pumping through a club, rocking your body, you can't help but get your groove on.

"Detroit Rock City" made me chuckle a little this morning. This is the version from the album with the long intro of someone watching TV and then getting in their car and driving. The part that makes me laugh is that once in the car the car radio is turned on and the radio dial searches for music. It lands on Kiss singing "Rock and Roll All Nite". Kiss were such shameless whores that they even promoted their own music with in their own music. Shameless. But that is what made Kiss Kiss.

"Only Women Bleed" an oddly pretty song from the little boy Alice.

So all in all an okay way to start the day. Now I'm going to go back to listening to some King Khan and BBQ for the rest of the morning. Seriously if you haven't checked them out yet, do it now.

Kurtis Blow/Ralph MacDonald Split 7" - 1984

Admittedly I'm not much of a sports guy. I played soccer as a kid, but skateboarding was my real religion. I'm old and out of shape now, so I don't get on a ramp or session a street spot much anymore, but it is still my sport of choice. I however do appreciate other sports even if I don't really follow them. I don't watch basketball regularly, but when I'm at my parents house I will watch a game with them. Basketball is going non stop in their house all fall and winter. So for all you basketball fans here are a couple songs about Basketball.

Kurtis blow gives us an old school rap about basketball. And when I say old school I mean old school. This is the old style rap that had that distinct delivery that white people co-opted and did so poorly. The other track is by Ralph MacDonald is more of a disco number. You might remember him from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack where he contributed "Calypso Breakdown". Ralph was an accomplished percussionist and song writer. He co wrote the 1981 R&B hit "Just The Two Of Us". That song, sung by Bill Withers, can be found on Grover Washington Jr's jazz/R&B classic album "Winelight". Ralph is also a Grammy winner. Nice job Ralph.

Both of these songs feature lyrics that praise basketball players from the 70's. They are kind of a who's who grab bag of basketball. I recognize many of the names, but not all. I'm sue a basketball fan will. I'm hoping they also like hearing these two blasts from the past.

Enjoy!

01 Basketball.m4a
02 (It's) The Game.m4a

King Khan & BBQ @ The Echo 11.10.08

Last night I went and saw King Khan and BBQ Show. Opening for them was The Flash Express and The Duchess and The Duke. I had seen The Flash Express a few years ago and I must say they were even better last night. The Duchess and The Duke were fine as well. A little more mellow, but the songs were beautiful. The harmonies reminded me a little of The Raveonettes. The highlight was however King Khan and BBQ. My hopes were so high for this show and they surpassed my expectations. They sounded great. BBQ voice translated to live performances so well. In fact both of them sounded great. For the most part the crowd was great, singing along and dancing. I say for the most part because I was in front and the crowd did get a little crushy. In fact both my knees are black and blue this morning from being smashed against the stage. I took plenty of photos of the night. I must admit I was still playing around with my settings for The Flash Express and so the photos aren't all that great. By the end of the night I think I got some good shots of King Khan and BBQ. Here's the link to my Flickr page to check out all the evening's photos.

Cheers!

These two are of The Duchess and The Duke.










































And here's some artsy shots of The Duke's guitar.

Do You Wanna Shake

Took the skateboard into work today and made pretty good time. Hence the short playlist, but there are some good notables on here.

Home Again - Beach House from "Devotion"
Horror Show - The Libertines from "Up The Bracket"
I'm Happy Just To Dance With You - The Beatles from "A Hard Days Night"
Wax And Wane - Cocteau Twins from "Garlands"
Zombie Jamboree - King Flash and The Calypso Carnival
Superfly - Curtis Mayfield from "Superfly"
Always See your Face - Love from the "High Fidelity" soundtrack
Skin Divers - Duran Duran from "Red Carpet Massacre"
Do You Wanna Shake - Novo Combo from their self titled record

First off I'd like to point out that two songs from my Halloween mixes showed up today. "Horror Show" was on the 2007 mix and "Zombie Jamboree" was on this years mix.

Not sure if I've written about The Libertines before, but they were one of the great bands of the 21st century. If you have the chance pick up their records. I like to say they are a little bit of The Smiths with a little more rock and roll. Great British centric music.

Hadn't heard "Wax And Wane" for a while so that was a nice time. Love "Garlands" because it is definitely from a darker period of the Cocteau Twins. I like their latter dreamier less dark stuff as well, but I love Garlands. Allmusic.com doesn't give it a very good review, but what do they know. It's raw and maybe not as refined as their latter work, but that is the appeal. I think I like it because it was the first record of theirs that I heard.

Love the Superfly.

Don't know much about the band Love and to be honest when it came up today I didn't much remember the song, but I have to say I really love it. I guess there is a reason I rated it high and it ended up on my ipod. You can read up on them on allmusic.com. After writing this I'm going to do some reading myself.

Any regular reader should know I love Duran Duran and I'm also a fan of this latest record. Sure it may not be the old Duran Duran from the 80's, but it doesn't need to be. There has been much talk about bringing on all the modern producers and me I'm on the side of if it sounds good it sounds good. I think the end product is good and so I think the boys did the right thing. "Skin Divers" has a touch of early Duran Duran dark sexuality, but it also sounds modern. Well done.

Then as I walked to my office Novo Combo came on. This record was featured on the blog earlier this year. It is a fairly new record to the collection and so I don't know the record inside and out. What surprised me is that when this song came up I thought it sounded like some obscure Bon Scott era AC/DC song and was very surprised when I looked at the ipod to discover it was Novo Combo. I know think of this band differently. This is a real rock and roller of a number.

So there you go. Another handful of songs to think about, read about or listen to today. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow, but we'll see.

Cheers!