Music To Process Music To: A Playlist - 08.02.09

It's been a long weekend of breaking up tracks from records I digitized months ago. I'm trying to clear off some of the files on my computer so I can make room for a whole new round of records to digitize. I did a bunch of Christmas records from last December. I did some 7" 45's that I did a long time ago and I did a few LP's that I digitized this last Spring. I still have a few to go. Anyways, the reason I even write about this is because during the hours I spent doing this I had the trusty old Ipod on random and over two days I listened to some great music and quite a wide variety of music. I haven't shared my ipod playlists in a while, but I thought since this one is so big it may be interesting as a bit of a time capsule for the soundtrack to this weekend. That statement is kind of true, because I of course listened to some CD's in the car and I did listen to some vinyl this weekend as well. Still checking out some of the great records I got from my friend Chad. Those records are kind of what inspired me to clean house so I can get to digitizing some new records. There is a stripper record I can't wait to rip and share with everyone. But that's down the road. So on with the list. I'm including artist and album info in case you want to track some of these down. Let me know what you think. See any favorites? Any you despise? Any guilty pleasures?

Enjoy!

Rumpshaka Zweety RCA Records Presents: Now Playing (RJC 67752-2)

Don't You Want Me? The Human League Greatest Hits - Human League

The Na-Na Song Sheryl Crow Tuesday Night Music Club

Drive R.E.M. Automatic For The People

Young Girl In Love Night Ranger Dawn Patrol

That's Rock'n' Roll The Dwarves Free Cocaine(1986-1988)

Fire Bruce Springsteen Live 1975-1985

With A Smile And A Song Disney (Frank Churchill - Larry Morey) Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs

Electrofize Me Fe Fi Fo Fums Electrofize Me (7")

Lulu's Back In Town Leon Redbone On The Track

True Spandau Ballet The Singles Collection

Concerto Brandebourgeois 3 in Wendy CARLOS Switched-on Bach

Giant Steps John Coltrane Giant Steps

Severance Paint It Black New Lexicon

My Girl Michael Jackson SAP Music Michael Jackson Mix 2009

Yo Ho With Tuba, Harpsichord And Vocal - Yo Ho Mega Mix Disneyland Pirates Of The Caribbean (Limited Edition)

Security Effigies Remains Non-Viewable

The Rebel Fleet/End Title John Williams Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Debaser The Pixies Doolittle

Strip Adam Ant The Essential Adam Ant

No Control Bad Religion No Control

It's My Life The Animals The Best Of The Animals

She Caught The Katy The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers [Original Soundtrack]

Brother And Sister John Williams Star WarsTrilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology

Gigantor Dickies Flipside Vinyl Fanzine

Warsaw Joy Division An Ideal For Living

Pass This On The Knife Deep Cuts

Blinuet Zoot Sims Rushmore

Bring on the Dancing Horses Echo & the Bunnymen Pretty in Pink [Original Soundtrack]

Come As You Were The Bird And The Bee One Too Many Hearts - EP

Shooter [Feat. Lil Wayne] Robin Thicke The Evolution Of

Lay Lady Lay Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline

Before The Lobotomy Green Day 21st Century Breakdown

Eleanor Put Your Boots On Franz Ferdinand You Could Have It So Much Better

Problems Life Sentence Life Sentence

Take Me Out Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand

Where D'You Go Jamie Lidell Jim

Step On Happy Mondays Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches

Down in Jamaica Kabbalist Promo Only Caribbean Series July 2009

Get Lucky (The Twelves Remix) New Young Pony Club Get Lucky

Safe in New York City AC/DC Stiff Upper Lip

Girls (Feat. Anthony Kiedis & John Frusciante) Tricky Blowback

Dangerous Type The Cars Candy-O

Guess Who I Saw Today Nancy Wilson Tripping In Love

Especially You Alter Ego S/T E.P. 7"

Birdies Singing Kelley Stoltz Spring Mix 2008

Freewill Rush Permanent Waves

Someone Must Get Hurt She Wants Revenge She Wants Revenge

Less Deicide, More Minor Threat Paint it Black CVA

Mother's Lament Cream Disraeli Gears

Hardest Geometry Problem In The World Mark Mothersbaugh Rushmore

It Can Happen Agression Don't Be Mistaken

Walk Right In Wanda Jackson Tears Will Be The Chaser For Your Wine CD-4

Enchanted Tiki Room - Closing Disneyland Adventureland

Urami Bushi Meiko Kaji Kill Bill Vol. 2

Love Plus One Haircut 100 Pelican West

Stench Of Burning Death, The Repulsion Horrified

Androgynous Joan Jett & The Blackhearts Sinner

Hyrule Castle (Main Theme) Nintendo The Legend Of Zelda - Melodies Of Time

Suddenly, Seymour Ashman, Howard & Alan Menken Little Shop Of Horrors (Original Movie Soundtrack)

Subterranean Homesick Alien Radiohead OK Computer

Hysteric Yeah Yeah Yeahs It's Blitz!

Last Night The Strokes Is This It?

Ride On AC/DC Who Made Who

Prologue - Enter 007 Michel Legrand Never Say Never Again

Take The 'a' Train Duke Ellington & His Orchestra Ken Burns Jazz: Duke Ellington

Public Enemy #1 Mötley Crüe Too Fast For Love

Bust A Move Young M.C. Stone Cold Ryhmin'

Sunshine (Wake Me Up This Morning) Labelle Summer Sunshower - SAP Music Summer Mix 2009

Never Understood The Jesus And Mary Chain Munki

If Rap Gets Jealous (Ft. Kirk Hammett) (Clean) K'naan Promo Only Modern Rock Radio February 2009

Can't Stop Rock N Roll AC/DC Stiff Upper Lip

Beautiful Girls Van Halen Van Halen II

Rock & Roll Stew Parts 1 & 2 [Single Version] Traffic The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys[Bonus Track]

Easy Street Elaine Stritch Stritch

Loyal To No One Dropkick Murphys The Meanest Of Times

Still is the Night Sam & Dave The Best of Sam & Dave

Monkey To Man Elvis Costello The Delivery Man

Let's Go Crazy Prince Purple Rain

Might Be Stars The Wannadies The RCA Records Label Music Sampler Volume 1

Morphine Michael Jackson Blood On The Dance Floor

La Bohème: Si, Mi Chiamano Mimi Mirella Freni, Luciano Pavarotti Essential Puccini

Reason To Believe Bruce Springsteen Nebraska

In The Midnight Hour The Commitments The Commitments

Mountain Song Jane's Addiction Nothing's Shocking

Tear It Down Def Leppard Hysteria [Deluxe Edition]

Oh How Happy The Jackson 5 Third Album

Drugs Black Lips 200 Million Thousand

Church Key Dave Myers & The Surftones Hangin' Twenty

Waiting For A Girl Like You Foreigner 4

It's All I Can Do The Cars Candy-O

The Legend Jerry Reed East Bound And Down

Mean Mean Man Wanda Jackson The Best Of Wanda Jackson

Chasing Cars (Live Acoustic Version) Snow Patrol Grey's Anatomy, Volume 2

Lovesick Blues Frank Ifield The Best O Frank Ifield

Boys On The Docks (Murphys' Pub Version) Dropkick Murphys Do Or Die

Killer Queen Travis Sing (Single #1) [UK]

Mr. Pitiful Matt Costa Mr. Pitiful - Single

Open The Door British Sea Power Do You Like Rock Music?

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You Black Kids Partie Traumatic

I'm Free The Who Tommy

Viva la Revolution The Adicts Songs of Praise

I Know It's Today Leah Greenhaus, Marissa O'Donnell, Sutton Foster Shrek the Musical

Over At The Frankenstein Place Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon, & Richard O'Brien SAP Music Halloween Mix 2008

The Caterpillar The Cure The Top

Ratón Vaquero Francisco Gabilondo Soler SAP Music Cinco de Mayo Mix 2009

Kuso Breakin Nou Breakin Lily Maximum The Hormone Buiiki Kaesu

Falling Down Oasis Dig Out Your Soul

Troubles The Beta Band Heroes To Zeros

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Black Sabbath Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

She's My Witch The Monsters The Monsters/ Lightning Beat-Man Split 7"

Exsanguination AFI Black Sails In Sunset

Without You The Feeling Join With Us

Bullwinkle P. II The Centurians Big Surf Hits

Foreplay Long Time Boston Boston

Like A Prayer Madonna Like A Prayer

A Long And Sad Goodbye Lenny Kravitz It Is Time For A Love Revolution

Hands The Raconteurs Broken Boy Soldiers

Intergalactic The Beastie Boys Hello Nasty

Seether Veruca Salt American Thighs

A Little Less Conversation (Elvis Vs JXL Radio Edit Remix) Elvis Vs JXL A Little Less Conversation (Single)

Just What I Needed The Cars The Cars

Faithfully Journey Journey's Greatest Hits

Don't Cry For Me Argentina (Miami Spanglish Mix Edit) Madonna Don't Cry For Me (CD Single)

Take It Easy Jackson Browne For Everyman

Sweet Adeline Weezer Undone - The Sweater Song (Single)

Heaven Can Wait Michael Jackson Invincible

Sorry for the lame formatting. I tried to get this all into columns by doing a lot of tabbing and it looked okay in the preview, but the moment I published it, all the work I did went away and it turned into this jumbled mess.

Music For Babysitters

I'm not sure why these artists and songs were chosen for this record. I don't know that they are just for babysitters. Am I to take from this that this album is for teenage girls? Or is this a record for babysitters to use while baby sitting? Maybe it isn't for teenagers, because the woman taking care of the children on the cover doesn't look too, too young. I can't really get a handle on the point of this record. I guess that is why I bought it.

The cover photos are fun as well. I love the idea that the babysitter does her job in a strapless dress. Very practical when little kids are grabbing at you.

For you children of the 80's you might want to take a listen to track 11 "Istanbul". This was covered by They Might Be Giants and was a big hit for them. This is the original from 1953.

Enjoy!

01 Tony Bennett - Rags To Riches.m4a
02 Percy Faith - And This Is My Beloved.m4a
03 Johnnie Ray - To Ev'ry Girl - To Ev'ry Boy.m4a
04 Dan Terry - Teen Ager.m4a
05 Jerry Vale - For You, My Love.m4a
06 Belmonte - Arthur's Mambo.m4a
07 Guy Mitchell - Sippin' Soda.m4a
08 Dan Terry - Seventeen.m4a
09 Frankie Laine - Answer Me.m4a
10 Dan Terry - Saddle Shoe Shuffle.m4a
11 The Four Lads - Istanbul.m4a
12 Paul Weston - Stardust.m4a

Music For Babysitters.zip

Michael - A Mix

Wow, it's been well over a week since the last post. Most of my music listening time has been spent like many other people, re-listening to Michael Jackson. I committed myself to listening to anything and everything I could get my hands on. As I listened not only to the hits, but to some deeper album cuts and remixes and demos and such I found quite a few hidden gems I thought I'd like to share with people. So as to not attract attention, I'm keeping this track listing a mystery. What I can say is that I think most of these tracks will be ones you either haven't heard or you may not have heard in a while, but they are all great. I pulled from all periods of Michael's recording career so you can hear the wide range of his music. The hard thing was narrowing this down to fit onto one disc. I suspect I may have a follow up coming soon, because there were quite a few tracks that didn't make this mix, that I still would like people to hear.

It had been a while since I had really listened to young Michael. He really had an amazing voice and even though I love his music in the eighties and I think on the whole the songs are his best, hit voice in the 70's was the best. It seems that as he got older his voice which was his major talent got overshadowed by the dancing and the videos and the music production which were always as good if not better than any other pop being produced at the time. So treat yourself to this mystery mix and remember the good times with Michael.

18 tracks of pure talent.

Michelle Lee - Michelle Lee Sings L. David Sloane - 1968

Okay 80's pop culture fans this one is for you. The record isn't an 80's record, but to me Michele Lee is strongly connected to the 80's because of her role on Knotts Landing. I have to admit I was far too young to be watching this show because it was basically a sleazy soap, but for whatever reason I watched Dallas and Knotts Landing and Dynasty with my mother back in the day. A big part of that is because I didn't get cable until the late 80's and so I mostly grew up with just the local networks stations. We didn't have the sort of niche programing that kids have today. Heck I didn't even have MTV until '87 or '88. So at least for the first season I watched Knotts Landing and while my mother continued watching later seasons I didn't, but I was always a little aware of what was going on as I would over hear my mother talk about the show with others. So there is the 80's connection and my connection to posting this record from 1968.

While I'm being honest here I should say, that before seeing this record I wasn't even aware that Miss Lee sang. I knew she had been around long before Knotts. I loved and still love the Herbie movies the first of which she is in (The Love Bug). So when I saw this I was quite surprised and interested. It turns out she can really sing and there are quite a few great performances turned in on this record. If you are a fan of that Bacharach style of song writing and production, then I think you'd like this record. It reminds me a lot of what he was turning out in the late 60's. I know I'm not exactly making a giant leap with that comparison since the record does include several Bacharach cuts like "The Look Of Love" a Bacharach classic made famous the year before by Dusty Springfield and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" made famous by Dionne Warwick that same year of 1968. Highlights on this record for me are tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10 & 11. Oddly enough I don't have L. David Sloane on my list and I'm pretty sure that was the minor hit from the record. It's okay, but the others are better.

Enjoy!

01 I Didn't Come To New York To Meet A Guy From My Home Town.m4a
02 The Look Of Love (From _Casino Royale_).m4a
03 Love Is Blue (L'Amour est blue).m4a
04 Goin' Out Of My Head.m4a
05 I Can't Believe I'm Losing You.m4a
06 Spooky.m4a
07 L, David Sloane.m4a
08 Can't Take My Eyes Off You.m4a
09 Kiss Me Goodbye.m4a
10 Honey (I Miss You).m4a
11 Do You Know The Way To San Jose.m4a

Michelle Lee Sings L. David Sloane.zip

Quarterflash - Quarterflash - 1981

I digitized this record a couple months ago and I've been taking my own sweet time photographing the cover and processing the tracks. But then I watched the Tony's last week which lead me to the soundtrack to Rock Of Ages. That's the new Broadway musical will all 80's hard songs. One of the tracks is "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash. Hearing that seemed like a sign to get this puppy up and out there.

However the full story to posting this record isn't all just Broadway. My real inspiration is that the record is really good. To be honest I've had the record for years, but whenever it took a turn on the turntable, I just played the hits "Harden My Heart" and true gem of the record "Find Another Fool". I mean after "Find Another Fool" there isn't much reason to continue on the record because it is so great. At least that was my thinking for years. For whatever reason I gave the whole record a little closer listen recently and I found that a quite dug a few other tracks on here. I thought that there were probably plenty of folks who never heard these tracks and would also like to hear them, since they will never get radio play.

The first true treasure on this record is "Valerie" which is on side one. The song is a perfect power pop tune and should have been a huge hit. If it had been released today I think it would have been, however the subject of a lesbian crush I don't think was as accepted amongst mainstream music back in 1981. Post Katy Perry, no one would even blink. If anyone is looking to cover a song I would nominate this as a great choice. The song also, if sung by a male singer would also still work great. It is just a well crafted song.

"Try to Make It True" which closes out side one is another really good song. It features some of that signature saxophone. I can't believe I've gone this far in a post about Quarterflash and not even mentioned the saxophone. There probably is a list somewhere of great bands with saxophone and Quarterflash should definitely be on that list. I wish it were used more these days. It was definitely big in the 80's.

Side 2 has a couple songs I like, "Right Kind Of Love" (more sax) and "Love Should Be So Kind". They are definitely not as strong as the selections on side 1, but they are worth a couple listens.

And before closing out I guess I should make some mention of the first two tracks. The only things I have to say as on a completely personal note. They will always bring strong memories of my elementary school days. 1981 and 5th grade is when I started to get my own taste in music branching out from my parents' music. I fell in love with rock music and other than girls, it became my latest obsession. I spent all my allowance on buying tapes from Flipside Records and buying blank tapes to record songs off the radio. Quarterflash was there at the beginning of this journey and will always hold a special place in my heart.

Okay, enough of the schmaltz.

Enjoy!

01 Harden My Heart
02 Find Another Fool
03 Critical Times
04 Valerie
05 Try To Make It True
06 Right Kind Of Love
07 Cruisin' With The Deuce
08 Love Should Be So Kind
09 Williams Avenue

Summer Sunshower - SAP Music Summer Mix 2009

It seems like I'm getting worse and worse at posting at any sort of regularity. I'm sorry. I know I keep saying that, but I do mean it. Maybe this mix will help make up for it and will give you something fun and interesting to listen to this summer.

The last few mixes I posted I didn't say much in the way of what was actually on the mix. I'm trying to avoid attention from pesky people and an search engine looking for places to complain about. However I know it must be frustrating, not know what is going to be on the mix before spending all that band width and time. So I want to strike a balance. I'm hoping that by just writing about the tracks and not actually posting or listing the files, that anyone looking to cause problems will just blow by this posting if it pops up. So let's all cross our fingers and hope this stays under the radar.

The first track is Steal Away by Murder by Death. This song could fit on a Halloween mix, but it does have the line about a Moon in June, so I figure it works for summer as well. Keeping with the macabre theme I went to Patti Smith with he fine fine tune "Summer Cannibals". Be careful with this song, because once you hear it I think it will get stuck in your head and then you will be sining about cannibals all day and people might look at you with a cautious eye.

Next up is something a little newer, "Swollen Summer" by The Bravery. After that I have a track that I credit to a coworker. I hadn't listened to Elvis Costello in a while and my friend was telling me how much he loved him. That prompted me to dive back into some Costello records. This song "The Other Side Of Summer" is a result of that recent listening.

The next song needs a little detour story. One day I was at work and in our "Kitchen area" there was a box of CD's with a piece of paper on it that said free to whoever wants to give the cd's a home. It was filled with mostly promo CD's sent to our music department from music companies trying to get songs into TV shows and movies. So of course I took the entire box or 60-70 CD's and I've been ripping them and listening to them. On them there are a lot of artists I've never heard of and a couple of them have made their way to this mix. This next track "The Sun Will Shine" by Ashen Keilyn is one of them. It is a pretty little song.

Miss Ludella Black won the next slot with "Last Summer". You know I couldn't do a mix without someone from the Billy Childish stable.

The next two tracks come from my recent listening of 60's rock. The first one is by Gun, a band I kind of stumbled across. The song is Sunshine and is a great late 60's flower power/summer of love type song. The next if by Traffic. I recently bought a bunch of records at a garage sale. The were all late 60's and early 70's records and belonged to a lady that obviously was a hippie at heart. Anyways, I got some early Traffic records, which made me dig into relistening to most of the Traffic catalog. "Paper Sun" reminds me of early Pink Floyd psychedelia.

Keeping with the decade I made a complete change of pace and headed to the beach with Annette Funicello and "Muscle Beach Party". Nothing says summer like the beach and so this starts off a run of songs around the theme of the beach. "Hot Foam Rider" by Surf Raider, "Surf Combat" by Naked Raygun, "Surfin' USA" by The Jesus and Mary Chain" all play off the surfing theme.

The next couple tracks may not be surf related, but they are bands heavily influenced by Jesus and Mary Chain's wall of sound guitar noise. Crocodiles is a band whose recent release sounds at times like a tribute to many 80's bands. There are some that sound so much like Echo and The Bunnymen it is scary. "Summer Of Hate" which is included here sounds like JAMC. And then off of the heavily JAMC influenced "Chain Gang Of Love" the Raveonettes give us "Noisy Summer", noisy being the key word.

The next couple come from that box of CD's. A band called Black Summer Crush do a song called "Memphis Sun". Don't know anything about them other than they obviously love Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, because that is definitely the vibe they got going here. This was a nice find. Then I go a little country with Jim Lauderdale and his song "Borrow Some Summertime".

Death Cab For Cutie give a low key contribution with "Summer Skin". Then I pick things up with a newer R&B/Soul song by Shontelle, "Cold Cold Summer". It's not a happy summer song, but it is a really good track none the less. It's for any of you who have recently broken up with a boyfriend or of girlfriend and will be spending the summer alone. Enjoy the pain.

The next track is a deep album cut from some other recently digitized vinyl. I digitized a bunch of records by Labelle and I've been listening to them. I wasn't very familiar with any of this music so it has been fun discovering how great Labelle was. I think like many other children of the 80's the name Labelle just makes us think of Patti's work in the 80's. Her work with Labelle in the 70's is a whole other animal. It is a lot funkier and trippier. Tracks are long and get deep into the funky music weeds. "Sunshine (Wake Me Up This Morning" is a track I listened to on the ipod on my walk to work one morning and I fell in love. I knew it had to be on this mix.

"Summer Sun" by someone or some group names Koop comes from the mystery box of CD's. Think 60's loungey jazz. Reminds me of a lot of the music on all those lounge compilations from the 90's.

Art Brut recently had an album come out. I've been listening to that a lot. I love how English it is. It is sort of a more punk rock version of The Streets in my opinion. "Summer Job" is included here.

As the mix comes to the end I decided to go out softly. The second to last song is the classic "Summertime Rolls" from Jane's Addiction. This could have come earlier amongst those tracks from the 60's, because of the vibe, but it seems more like a closer. It was the closer for a while, but then I decided to go out with a ballad off the new Journey record. Thought that might surprise some people. Yes, it is the new version of Journey with that Steve Perry sound alike. To some that may be bad, but I'm not so snooty. The guy can sing and this track sounds like it could have been off of Escape or more likely Frontiers. The song is "Like A Sunshower" and is was gave me the name for the mix. If you like Journey and their ballads, you should like this track. If you aren't into them, then you'll probably hate this, because it is distinctively Journey doing their formula. I'm a sucker for it.

Anyways, that rounds out the set coming in just under and hour and seventeen minutes. Just right to be burned to a CD if you are still rolling that way. I hope everyone has fun with these songs and that this will tide you over at least until the next post.

Enjoy!

Summer Sunshower - SAP Music Summer Mix 2009.zip

John Cougar - Jack And Diane/Can You Take It 7" - 1982

Haven't posted in a while. I've been pretty busy. To be honest I'm mostly busy because I've been trying to squeeze more exercise into my day. So in reviewing what kinds of things I have sitting waiting in the wings, this seemed like something that would require the least amount of writing. Lame I know.

Back in 1982 I loved this single. I'm sure many a reader can recall those wonderful days rocking out to this song. It is a great pop song. I don't think I ever sat down to learn the lyrics, but I'm pretty sure I can sing along with the whole thing. That is the sign of a good pop song. Memorability.

The B-side "Can You Take It" reminds me a little of "Hurts So Good" one of the other great early singles from John Cougar. Yes, I still call him John Cougar and rarely add the Mellancamp.

Hope everyone has fun with this one and gets all nostalgic.

Enjoy!

01 Jack And Diane.m4a
02 Can You Take It.m4a

Hap Palmer - Walter The Waltzing Worm - 1982

Picked up this record a while back not knowing anything about Hap Palmer. I just knew i loved the cover and the thought of a song about a waltzing worm sent my mind spinning.

As you might have guessed Hap Palmer writes children's songs. And some of them are quite catchy. I did a little research into Hap and found that he is still actively performing. In fact he's got some performances coming up here in the LA area. Check out his website fir details. www.happalmer.com

Hap studied music in school and while working at the Hollywood YMCA began singing folk songs for kids. He tried his hand at writing songs for adults, but found that writing for children was far more liberating. When you think about it is quite true. Most pop songs are only about a couple topics. Falling in love and breaking up. Sure there are a few other topics like partying or social issues, but you don't hear many songs about worms or parts of you body (unless is it breasts or booties). The one biography I read inferred that one of the innovations Hap brought to his children's song writing was to write songs that incorporated movement for the kids. He figured why fight against a child's need to move. Use that energy to get them involved in the song. My gut tells me that he wasn't the first to think of this, but he has obviously been successful with the formula.

This record sounds like an 80's record (lots of cheap synths) and I would have bet dollars to dimes that this would be out of print, but it isn't. You can find new and used copies on Amazon and I bet Hap is hocking them on his website too.

So if you are going to check out these tracks, you of course must check out "Walter the Waltzing Worm". Also the opening track "What A Miracle" and "A Genius Of Course" are quite catchy too. I also like some of the songs about jumping and stretching and such near the end. The music though is sooooo cheeseball. Reminds me of walking by the old organ stores that were in malls in the late 70's and early 80's with the guy playing along with programed rhythms at the front of the store.

The last comment I want to make about the album is about the last track. It kind of stands out as a real misfit. It doesn't sound like a children's song at all. It gets real dissonant and after the main part with lyrics it sounds more like a soundtrack to a thriller from the 70's. I can't imagine what a kid thought when listening to this record. You have all these upbeat songs about twisting and jumping and moving and then at the very end it gets super dark like you're watching a Hitchcock or perhaps even a David Lynch movie. Strange. But it's yet another reason to check this out.

Enjoy!

Enjoy!

01 What A Miracle.m4a
02 Walter Te Waltzing Worm.m4a
03 A Genius Of Course.m4a
04 Slide Whistle Suite.m4a
05 Flick A Fly.m4a
06 Song About Fast, Song About Slow.m4a
07 Swing, Shake, Twist and Stretch.m4a
08 All The Ways Of Jumping Up And Down.m4a
09 Surprise Song.m4a

Hap Palmer - Walter The Waltzing Worm.zip

SAP Music Cinco de Mayo Mix 2009

This is a first for me. I've never made a Cinco de Mayo mix before. To be perfectly honest, I've never really had any reason to celebrate the holiday. But I've been digitizing some fun ranchera records lately and have been listening to a lot os Spanish music and I thought why not throw something together.

You'll notice that some artists appear on here more than once. Usually I try to avoid that when making a mix. But I have two reasons for this. The first is that in those instances, both songs really are pretty good and I couldn't decide which to cut. The second reason is that I'm not exactly rolling in Spanish music. Actually I have a bunch of more contemporary Latin music, but I didn't think it fit in with the vibe of everything else.

A bunch of these tracks or from records and so there is lots of cracks and pops, but I think that adds to the flavor of the mix. Some tracks are pulled from CD's. I don't know the exact rules of the holiday as in if it is primarily a Mexican holiday or if it is in all of Latin America. I'm in Southern California and I know it is big here. That is all I know. So while some of these songs are definitely Mexican in origin, I've pulled from other sources as well. I hope my broad brush isn't offensive to some people. I've basically gone by the rule of if it is Spanish and sounds Latin and I like it I put it on the mix.

Most of the mix is quite traditional. Towards the end I've gone for some covers and for a couple songs that are a little more punk or in the case of Voodoo Glow Skulls ska-punk. Actually Burro I guess wouldn't be considered a cover since it is Beck just singing a Spanish version of Jack-Ass. And then I brought it all back home with some very recognizable songs that even English speakers should recognize.

So have a listen. Hopefully you'll like what I put together. Then you can impress your friends by having some interesting music for your Cinco de Mayo party or maybe just have it playing in your office during the day.

Enjoy!

01 Viva Mexico - Alberto Vazquez.m4a
02 Ratón Vaquero - Francisco Gabilondo Soler.m4a
03 Ay! Jalisco No Te Rajes - Alberto Vazquez.m4a
04 Esta Noche Voy a Verlo - Yolanda del Rio.m4a
05 La Tequilera - Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles.m4a
06 Canción Del Mariachi (Morena De Mi Corazón) - Los Lobos With Antonio Banderas.m4a
07 Contigo Con Ellas Y Con Todas - Little Joe & The Latinaires.m4a
08 Amor Gigante - Compay Segundo.m4a
09 El Gallo Colorado - Miguel Aceves Mejia.m4a
10 La Llorona - Lila Downs and Mariachi Juvenil de Tecalitian.m4a
11 No Me Olvides Amor - Yolanda del Rio.m4a
12 Las Ciudades - Lola Beltran.m4a
13 El Cuarto de Tula - Beuna Vista Social Club.m4a
14 Chipi Chipi - Gustavo Santaolalla.m4a
15 El Conejo - Los Cojolites.m4a
16 La Pistola Y El Corazon - Los Lobos.m4a
17 ¿qué Grande Es Tu Amor? - Optimo.m4a
18 Hotel California - Gipsy Kings.m4a
19 Burro - Beck.m4a
20 El Clavo Y La Cruz - The Plugz.m4a
21 Sin Berguensa (Si Habla Espanol) - Voodoo Glow Skulls.m4a
22 Guantanamera - Compay Segundo.m4a
23 Cielito Lindo - Trini Lopez.m4a

Here's the whole thing.
SAP Music Cinco de Mayo Mix 2009.zip

Kitty Wells - Heartbreak U.S.A. - 1961

I inherited this record this past year along with a stack of others. I must say, though that this is one of the records that jumped out at me when I was first thumbing through the records. Over the recent years I've fallen in love with a lot of old country artists. Many of the country western records of the 50's and early 60's are really good. I've really come to love many of the female artists from that era. But with all of this said, I have to admit that I consider myself still fairly uneducated when it comes to actually having heard much of this music. I have the records I've collected, but that's not tons. Before this record I had one other Kitty Wells record and I enjoyed that. This however by the look of it looked like an older record, which got me excited. It turns out this was her 7th release.

If you have any love for Patsy Cline I think you'll really enjoy this record. It has much of the same vibe. The songs are all really well written pop songs with a country twist. It's not really hillbilly music. The theme of the record as you could guess from the title is broken hearts and heartaches. A subject not exclusive to country music, but that twangy guitar and vocals suits the subject perfectly.

Some highlights for me are the title track and "Heartaches By The Numbers". Both are very catchy and you'll find yourself humming them long after listening to them. Another favorite here is "Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sun Shine In)" which has been done by many artists. It has religious overtones speaking of the devil and such which may turn some off, but I like it. I think it is a really uplifting song and one I find running through my head many a day when I'm cheery. It's a good song to have around when you are down as well, because it is uplifting.

For a little more info on Kitty check out the Wikipedia entry on her. According to that site she is considered by Billboard the 6th most successful female artist ever. That's pretty impressive, especially when I think much of what she has done is sort of being forgotten. I think if you ask the average person to name a Kitty Wells song they might have trouble. Name a Patsy Cline song and I think you'll get more takers. It makes you think how much will the Britney's and Miley's of today will be remembered 50 years from now. Maybe they will be remembered, but will anybody be singing their songs. Okay I think "Hit Me Baby One More Time" will stay with pop culture, but I fear time won't be so kind to Miley or to the rest of Britney's catalog.

Sorry for the contemporary side track. Back to Kitty. Give the whole thing a listen. I think you'll find a few tracks on her that you will fall in love with. Also I do apologize in advance that I think there may be a skip or two on here that I couldn't avoid.

Enjoy!

01 Heartbreak U.S.A..m4a
02 Heart To Heart Talk.m4a
03 Heartaches By The Number.m4a
04 My Heart Echoes.m4a
05 I've Got A New Heartache.m4a
06 Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sunshine In).m4a
07 This Old Heart.m4a
08 I'll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms).m4a
09 Excuse Me (I Think I've Got A Heartache).m4a
10 Cold, Cold Heart.m4a
11 The Best Of All My Heartaches.m4a
12 Leave All The Heartaches To Me.m4a

Kitty Wells - Heartbreak U.S.A.zip

SAP Music Spring Mix 2009

Thought it was time to share another mix. I've named this one a Spring mix, but that is mostly because I'm putting out in the Spring and not because it is Spring themed. Usually I try to have some theme to my mixes, but sometimes I just like to share the music I've been listening to lately. This is a collection of old and new songs that I've been playing a lot on my ipod.

So what's on this mix? Well as per usual I'm keeping that a bit of a mystery. This way only the faithful readers of the blog will be rewarded with the musical goodness and those using Google search looking for a specific song won't. I can say that the music ranges from Brit pop to R&B. There is music from the 50's on up to some tracks from just the last couple months.

The one track I would like to mention specifically is the Theme Song to Being Erica. Being Erica is a Canadian show that premiered earlier this year. My wife and I have really fallen in love with this show. So if you have a chance to catch it, do watch it. If you have any love of the 90's you'll definitely love it. The premise involves time travel and a girl named Erica going back in time to try and do things differently. Many of those things are from her early 20's in the 90's. The sound track selection for those episodes are usually pretty good. Anyways, the opening song to the show is done by a Canadian artist and it isn't available commercially anywhere. I just digitized it right from an episode of the show.

Actually one other thing I'd like to mention is that a couple other tracks on this mix were featured in a UK film called "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging". The film was produced by Nickelodeon for the UK market. I don't know if it had a North American release. It might be available on DVD now. The film is definitely for teen girls, but I must say that if you are a fan of teen films of the 80's I think you'll like this as well. It's a fun, funny and somewhat innocent teen romance. The innocence reminds me of John Hughes' version of being a teen.

Another track was featured in Nick and Nora's Infinite playlist, which was one of my favorite movies last year. Again if you are a fan of 80's teen movies like "Pretty in Pink" or "Say Anything" you should like this movie. I love the film for a couple reasons. The first is that it is a great romantic movie. The characters live in a cynical world and yet somehow they are trying to keep their innocence and belief in love. The second reason is that the film is a love letter to New York, the city I most want to live in. And the last reason is that the sound track is great. I think it will be viewed as a great time capsule of the New York music scene in generations to come. If you haven't already do check out the movie and the soundtrack.

Wow, I didn't plan on writing so much, but it is hard to just put this out there without a few bits of commentary. There is also a track by a guy my son discovered on myspace named Brooke Pridemore. If you can support the little guy and check out his music. Okay, that is the last plug.

So with that said, I hope you all like the collection.

Enjoy!

SAP Music Spring Mix 2009.zip

Carl Stevens - African Sounds - 1965

If you have any love of exotica this record will be right up your alley. Though not exactly exotica, because it's not trying to sound like music from the South Pacific or South America it is making some vague attempt at being African. I use the term African very loosely. The sound is actually decidedly Western or American. The real plus of this record is that the production is fantastic. Recorded on 35 mm film, no expense was spared. This copy that I have is also quite great in my opinion, which has made for a pretty clean rip.

The jacket art is also pretty good. Very colorful and fun.

The record starts off with the classic Baby Elephant Walk. This track always makes me think of Homer Simpson. I've forgotten exactly why. I'm sure it was featured in an episode of the Simpsons way back in the day. It's been long enough that I've forgotten the specific scene or context. Whatever the case, it makes me think of Homer.

"Afrikaan Beat" is another great one. It starts off with a rhythm on a triangle or some other metal instrument. The rhythm of it reminds me of I think the Baretta theme. If I'm mistaken on that it's another 70's cop show like Swat or Starsky and Hutch. Give it a listen and tell me which it is. Now don't get excited thinking this is going to turn into a funky 70's riff, because it doesn't. The song stays pretty mellow, but still has a charming groove to it. In fact there is a liberal use of guitars throughout the record that are quite "groovey".

Then there is "Lion Sleeps Tonight", which I believe I may have featured here before by another artist. This is another fun instrumental of that song.

If you try out just these first 3 tracks you'll get the flavor for the rest of the record. I personally love every track on here. There is an irony to the happiness in the songs when put in the light of today's knowledge of all the tragedies that are going on in Africa. Maybe that will put you off. It is kind of a sad thing to think about, but then again if you start to get down, the music will pick you right back up again.

Enjoy!

Carl Stevens - African Sounds.zip

01 Baby Elephant Walk.m4a

02 Afrikaan Beat.m4a

03 Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight).m4a

04 Botha-Bothe.m4a

05 Jolly Jika.m4a

06 The Call Of The Jungle.m4a

07 Skokiaan.m4a

08 African Waltz.m4a

09 Wa-Chi-Bam-Ba (Valley Of A Thousand Hills).m4a

10 King Kong.m4a

11 Tsetse Fly.m4a

12 Tiana-Tche (The Jungle Roars).m4a

Ramsey Lewis Trio - Hang On Ramsey - 1965

I picked this record up not knowing anything about Ramsey Lewis. I was attracted by the title (I like Hang On Sloopy) and the odd cover with the trapeze artists. I get the pun of hang on, but the trapeze acrobats seem like a stretch. I also noticed a couple Beatles song which was a plus. I'm always interested in hearing how people murder or perhaps do well with Beatles covers. Happily, I was pleasantly surprised when I listened to the record. It actually is a really strong jazz record.

As it turns out Ramsey Lewis is an accomplished Jazz musician, who's garnered 3 Grammys and commercial success with 5 gold records. He's still performing today. You can check out his latest news and concert schedule at his website. www.ramseylewis.com You can also read up on his career on Wikipedia.

I discovered in my reading that Hang On Sloopy was a hit for ole Ramsey. It is top notch for sure. The Beatles covers (A Hard Days Night, And I Love Her) also are great. I also happen to really like Satin Doll. Give it a spin and find your favorite.

Enjoy!

01 A Hard Day's Night.m4a
02 All My Love Belongs To You.m4a
03 He's A Real Gone Guy.m4a
04 And I Love Her.m4a
05 Movin' Easy.m4a
06 Billy Boy_Hi-Heel Sneakers.m4a
07 The More I See You.m4a
08 Satin Doll.m4a
09 Hang On Sloopy.m4a

Ramsey Lewis Trio - Hang On Ramsey! part 1.zip
Ramsey Lewis Trio - Hang On Ramsey! part 2.zip

Bohannon - Jammin' In The Street 12" - 1986

I feel so bad about how much I've been neglecting this blog. Days wiz by and before I know it a week has past and I haven't posted anything new. I do apologize.

Anyway, here is a 12" dance track from the 80's. Hopefully something you haven't heard before. Still it is a good track.

Enjoy!

01 Jammin' In The Streets Part 1.m4a
02 Jammin' In The Street Part II.m4a