Five years ago, when this mix was thrown together, we were a couple weeks away from a U.S. Presidential election. Maybe that's why the mix ends with Neil Young's empathetic "Campaigner", where he opines that "even Richard Nixon has got soul". Perhaps I was trying to find similar unexpected substance in the eventual winner. No such luck.
I included both the album and instrumental version of Dr. Dre's "Big Egos". Same title, different song: the druggy "Sway" by The Rolling Stones and Dean Martin's playful song of the same title.
Other stuff: John Mellencamp's fierce "Rain On The Scarecrow", Tom Waits' droll "Reeperbahn", GZA's percussive "Sparring Minds" featuring Inspectah Deck, a radically different version of The Pixies' "Monkey Gone To Heaven" by ex-Pixie Frank Black, Carly Simon's James Bond theme "Nobody Does It Better", Duke Ellington's sweet "You, You Darlin'" with Herb Jeffries on vocals, an acoustic version of "Close To Me" by The Cure, the radio single mix of "Autobahn" by Kraftwerk, Funkadelic's giddy "One Nation Under A Groove", the Chicago anthem "Lake Shore Drive" by Alliota, Haynes & Jeremiah, a live version of Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" by Nirvana, a demo version of "Tombstone Blues" by Bob Dylan with The Chambers Brothers, Les Paul & Mary Ford's innocent "How High The Moon", Kate Bush's atmospheric "Running Up That Hill" and the oddly space age "Telstar" by The Tornados.
