Thursday, March 25, 2010

03-25-10: All These Girls They Come And Go

Alex Chilton died last week, so this week's mix is a small tribute to him with his hit "The Letter" from his teenage years fronting The Box Tops, and a demo version of his "What's Going Ahn" with Big Star. The latter song has slightly different lyrics than the album version, where the word "resigned" replaced "forsaked". There's also an extra line at the end of this version.

Also featured on here is the Kinks ballad "Strangers", which was one of the rare ones written not by Ray Davies but his brother Dave. I have a live version by him, as well as the original and covers by Alexis P. Shuter, Golden Smog and Norah Jones performing live.

The rest: the shambling "Darklands" by The Jesus & Mary Chain, the sunny "Dinninit" by De La Soul, the wry "What Is It, Sisters" by The Watts Prophets, the Smokey Robinson-written "Ain't That Peculiar" by Marvin Gaye, the dramatic "Somebody To Love" by Jefferson Airplane, the beat-boxing "Stick 'Em" by The Fat Boys, Gene Pitney's anguished "Every Breath I Take", the forlorn "The Man Who Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was A Married Man" by Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright, Beck's countrified "Sleeping Bag", the groovy "Evil Vibrations" by The Mighty Ryeders, Jay Electronica's confident "Exhibit C", Jay-Z's petulant "Can I Get A...", a cover of Hall & Oates' "Sara Smile" by the Bird And The Bee, the lush "Elizabeth Waltz" by John Barry and the wise "Living A Little, Laughing A Little" by The Spinners.

The Letter The Box Tops
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Thursday, March 18, 2010

03-18-10: Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right

Only one song repeats on this week's mix: the bass-heavy "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, also on here as a falsetto-led reggae-tinged cover by The French band The Dynamics.

I saw Gil Scott-Heron in concert recently where he played the gorgeous "Your Daddy Loves You" and dedicated it to his son who was in the audience. On this mix, it's followed by Cat Stevens' poignant "Father And Son".

Gang Starr's "Sacrifice" featuring Scarface samples the moody "Deliver The Word" by War.

The rest: the giddy "Rio" by Duran Duran, the aggressive "World Destruction" by Time Zone featuring John Lydon and Afrika Bambaata, Dan The Automator's frantic "A Better Tomorrow" featuring Kool Keith, a cover of The Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman" by The Supremes, the chipper "Optimistic Voices" by The MGM Orchestra with The Debutantes and The Rhythmettes from the film The Wizard Of Oz, a remix of Ghostface Killah's "Mighty Healthy" by KinG, the punchy "Bloodshot" by The String Kings, the poppy "Stuck In the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel, a live acoustic version of "Up The Junction" by Squeeze, a cover of Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist Of Fate" by Jeff Tweedy, the pained "Here Comes The Night" by the Van Morrison-led Them, a version of the standard "Bye Bye Blackbird" by Albert Ayler, a cover of 10cc's "I'm Not In Love" by Dee Dee Sharp and the forlorn "I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore" by Edith and Sherman Collins.

Rio Duran Duran
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Thursday, March 11, 2010

03-11-10: For In This Crazy Paradise, You Are In Love With Pain

On previous mixes, I've included covers of Stan Getz's classic bossa nova collaboration with Joao and Astrud Gilberto called "The Girl From Ipanema" by both Frank Sinatra with Joao Gilberto and Archie Shepp. On this week's mix I've included live covers by Sammy Davis Jr. and Lou Rawls as well as a version by Cher to go with the original also on here.

Pavement's "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence" is their homage to R.E.M., who are on here with their melancholic "(Don't Go Back) To Rockville".

Ron Banks of The Dramatics passed away this week, so "Highway To Heaven" by him and them seemed appropriate.

The rest: a remix of Real Live's "Real Live Shit" with Ghostface Killah and Cappadonna teaming up with Killa Sin and Lord Tarik, early John Lee Hooker with the traditional "Moses Smote The Water", a long and slow cover of The Four Tops' "Reach Out And I'll Be There" by Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder's layered "Ordinary Pain", RZA's atmospheric "Bobby Did It (Spanish Fly)" with Ghostface Killah and Jamie Sommers among others, The Bar-Kays' Issac Hayes sequel "Son Of Shaft", Ice Cube's witty "Check Yo Self" with Das EFX, a live version of "One More Cup Of Coffee (From The Valley Below)" by Bob Dylan with The Rolling Thunder Revue, the languid "I'm Wishin'" by Lorez Alexandria, Peter Gabriel's somber cover of Paul Simon's "The Boy In the Bubble", the moody "Everything In Its Right Place" by Radiohead, Marlene Dietrich's wise "Illusions" and a live version of Paul Westerberg's purposeful "MamaDaddyDid".

The Girl From Ipanema (live) Sammy Davis Jr.
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Thursday, March 4, 2010

03-04-10: Lemonade Was A Popular Drink And It Still Is

The version of Barry White's "Playing Your Game, Baby" on this week's mix is labelled on his recent box set as an "alternate", but actually it's a modern remix by his original music director and engineer. Generally, I would say don't mess with perfection, but I like how some of the percussion is brought more to the forefront and the instruments sound a little more crisp. The remix of Black Moon's "I Got Cha Opin" samples the original Barry White tune.

Given Guru's near death scare this week, I had to throw up Gang Starr's classic "DWYCK" with Nice & Smooth.

Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It Up" was supposedly about his fear of dancing, a phobia I share. The version on here is the rare full version, nearly twelve minutes.

The rest: Peggy Lee's brassy cover of Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", the dramatic "Mount Harissa" by Duke Ellington, the subduded "Breakdown" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Eddie Cochran's rhythmic "Nervous Breakdown", Black Flag's frantic song of the same name, the wry "19th Nervous Breakdown" by The Rolling Stones, the David Bowie-sampling "Dirty Run" by Ol Dirty Bastard, the odd "Please Don't Go Topless, Mother" by Troy Hess, the soulful "If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now" by The Philadelphia Story, the mash up of "C.R.E.A.M." By the Wu-Tang Clan over instrumental covers of Beatles songs, the live "unplugged" version of "Pennyroyal Tea" by Nirvana, Leonard Cohen's somber "Famous Blue Raincoat", a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" by Nina Simone, an acoustic version of "Love" by John Lennon and a demo version of "I Give Up" by Roy Orbison.

(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay Peggy Lee
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