Thursday, December 25, 2025

06-09-16: Told Stories Of A Virgin Mother

The Kris Kristofferson song "To Beat The Devil" first appeared on his self-titled 1969 debut album, but was written about Johnny Cash and for him to record, which he did for his album Hello, I'm Johnny Cash from the following year. Cash re-recorded a stripped-down version over two decades later while recording for the Rick Rubin "American" albums. All three of those versions are here along with a version by Waylon Jennings from his 1972 album Good Hearted Woman.

The Janis Ian song "Stars" is the title track from her 1974 self-titled album. This mix includes contemporaneous versions by Cher, Mel Torme and Nina Simone performing live at Montreux Jazz Festival.

The rest: the full extended version of Prince's "Pop Life" from 1985's Around The World In A Day, Bohannon's rhythmic "Dance With Your Parno", Redman's A Tribe Called Quest-sampling "Don't Wanna C Me Rich", the 1976 midwest punk anthem "Bible Belt Baby" by The Gizmos, an acoustic demo of "Cadillac" by T. Rex, the jazz-inflected "EZ On The Motion", Ghostface Killah's vivid "Shakey Dog", the yodeling "I Left Her Standing There" by The Dezurik Sisters, an early alternate version of "Androgynous" by The Replacements and a live 1982 version of "Marie" by Randy Newman.


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Saturday, December 6, 2025

06-02-16: I Can't Bag Your Love

"Cortez The Killer" is a song from Neil Young's 1975 album with Crazy Horse, Zuma. Previous mixes have included the original and a cover by Marissa Nadler. This mix features covers by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Jay Farrar with Shannon McNally as well as a live version by Neil from 1976.

"Lovin' You" is a number one single by Minnie Riperton from spring of 1975 from her second album, Perfect Angel, released the previous year. This mix features the album version of her single as well as an alternate full band arrangement.

"Hot Wire My Heart" is a 1976 single from Crime, and considered the first single released by a West Coast punk band. It is here along with a version by Sonic Youth from their 1987 album Sister.

The rest: Suburban Lawns' witty "Unable" from their eponymous 1981 album,  the melodic "Rock City" from the 2025 album Phonetics On And On by Horsegirl, Chicago's own Mannequin Men with the anthemic "22nd Century" from their 2007 album Fresh Rot, Jewel T's booming 1988 single "I Like It Loud". the 1975 #1 single "Philadelphia Freedom" by Elton John, the philosophic "P.O.P." by Denzel Curry with Key Nyata and Sauce Walka, William Bell's mellow 1974 single "Get It While It's Hot" by William Bell, the frenetic 2007 single "I'm Me" by Lil Wayne, the Bob Dylan co-written outtake "Nowhere To Go (Take 1)" by George Harrison from the sessions for his 1970 album All Things Must Pass, a retro-inspired 1970 cover of The Beatles' "Something" by the one album band The Templeton Twins and the funky title track to Fela Kuti's 1975 album He Miss Road.

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Thursday, October 23, 2025

05-26-19: Let The Buzzards Eat Me Whole

"Last Kind Words Blues" was written and first recorded by Geeshie Wiley in 1930. This mix features recent versions by Robert Plany & Alison Krauss as well as Rhiannon Giddens to accompany the original.

"Human Nature" was released as the fifth single from Michael Jackson's Thriller album in the summer of 1983. This mix features Miles Davis' instrumental cover from a couple years later as well as a more recent cover by Laura Mvula to accompany the original.

The Madlib-produced "DBZ" by Your Old Droog with Method Man and Denzel Curry samples the obscure soul track "Deep Shadows" by Little Ann.

The rest: the wry "Please Mrs. Henry" by Bob Dylan & The Band from The Basement Tapes, a cover of Prince's "She's Always In My Hair" by D'Angelo, Prince's original version of The Time's 1984 hit single "Jungle Love" that he helped write, a remix of the Foster Sylvers' 1973 hit "Misdemeanor",  the J Dilla remix of D'Angelo's "Me And Those Dreamy Eyes", the menacing "Deadly Combination" by Big L and 2Pac released after both of them were murdered, the frenetic "Keleya" by Malian singer MOussa Doumbia, a cover of Seals & Krofts's hit "Summer Breeze" by The Main Ingredient, a cover of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" by Shirley Bassey, Paul Westerberg's melancholic "Self-Defense" and a cover of Prince's "Sometimes It Snows In April" featuring Princess.

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Friday, October 10, 2025

05-19-16: Make Love Singing Songs

"Love You To" is a George Harrison compostion for The Beatles 1966 album Revolver that refers to their earlier hit "Love Me Do" and also incorporates Indian musical elements including tabla and sitar. This mix features the original version along with two earlier takes.

Three other songs repeat across the mix: Lee Hazlewood's 1966 ballad "My Autumn's Done Gone" with an early 21st century version by Tindersticks; Merle Haggard's 2011 song "What I Hate" with a recent snippet by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy; and a BBC version Radiohead's "No Surprises" along with another show recording by Michael Kiwanuka.

Sadevillain is a blending of MF DOOM vocals over the music of Sade, as in "Hot Pants", featured here.

The rest: the funky "Flavors Of Karma" by Earthgang and Spillage Village, the full 12 inch version of "Flash Light" by Parliament, the spacey track "The Ultimate Warlord" by the mysterious artist known as The Warlord, Corey Hart's 80s smash "Sunglasses At Night", the dramatic "Showdown" by Electric Light Orchestra, the strings-heavy "Alice" by Jev, the opening voiceover for the 1979 film Manhattan by Woody Allen, an extended disco remix of Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love's Theme", a cover of The Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down" by Ghanian singer Carlotte Dada  and the Wu-Tang Clan-sampling "Problems (Triangle Park mix)" by Ray Vaughn with Pusha T.

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Tuesday, September 30, 2025

05-12-16: People Come And Go And Forget To Close The Door

"Gymnopedie No. 1" is part of Erik Satie's piano compositions Gymnopedies or Trois Gymnopedies (Three Nude Dances) written in 1888. This mix features Francis Poulnec's 1951 version, Yusef Lateef's 1965 version, Gary Numan's 1980 version and Coctails' 2010 version.

"Some Of Them Are Old" was written by Brian Eno for his 1973 debut album Here Come The Warm Jets. This mix features covers by Outrageous Cherry and St. Vincent as well as the original.

The mix is bookended with the first and last song from Bruce Springsteen's 1975 album Born To Run: "Thunder Road" and "Jungleland".

The rest: a live version of The Rolling Stones' then-newly recorded "Far Away Eyes" with fiddler Doug Kershaw, John Prine's ever-relevant "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven", the dire "God's Getting Worried" by Virginia Dandies, an abridged reading by Allen Ginsberg of his "Howl (Part II)", Lenny Bruce's jazz--accompanied "Psychopathia Sexualis", the bizarre "Cocktails Darling" by Gordo, The Mexican OT & Curren$y & LES with the moody "1982", Lionel Richie's final Commodores 1982 hit "Oh No", the recent Ghostface Killah collaboration with Kanye West "No Face",  Alan Burnham's eerie 1981 track "Science Fiction", Tave's philosophic "Block" featuring IDK & Musiq Soulchild and an early take of "Gold Dust Woman" by Fleetwood Mac.


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Friday, July 25, 2025

05-05-16: But It's Your Mind That I Want

"Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For A Hand In the Snow)" was written by Yoko Ono about a protracted custody battle for her daughter and first released in October 1969 for her husband John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album. This mix features that version as well her solo album version from four years later, as well as a rare version by The B-52s that was originally released and then pulled from their 1983 album Whammy! and a version by Yo La Tengo.

"Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" is the title track to the 2002 album by The Flaming Lips and has appeared on a previous mix as has a cover by Jesse Malin. This mix features a version sung in Japanese as well as a live BBC version.

The rest: the original unedited mix of WAR's "Low Rider", a cover of their hit "Why Can't We Be Friends" by Inner Circle lead singer Jacob Miller, William Onyeabor's blissful "Everyday", the robotic "Computer" by Microbes, a mash of of Nas' "The Flyest" against MF DOOMs beats called "The Flyest Angel", Etel Beatty's languid "It's Your Love", the sinister "Ace Trumpets" by Clipse, a cover of Bob Dylan's "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry" by Yo La Tengo, a cover of Dylan's "She Belongs To Me" by Dr. Marigold's Prescription, an outtake from Dylan's 1976 album Desire called "Rita May", a cover of his "Masters Of War" by Cher, a cover of his "Maggie's Farm" by Linda Gayle, a Dirt7 remix of Digable Planets' "9th Wonder" and Nikki Giovanni's wry "Luxury Poem".

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Friday, June 20, 2025

04-28-16: Cooling Out With Ol Girl On A Fat Ass Date

Sly & The Family Stone's "Stand!" was the lead single of their 1969 album of the same name. Previous mixes featured an extended version of the song as well as a cover by Solomon Burke. This mix features a live version from the Isle of Wight Festival recorded the following year as well as a cover by The Jackson 5. It also features Funkadelic's "Funk Gets Stronger (Killer Millimeter ver)" with vocals by Sly Stone and his song snippet "Sylvester", both from the early 80s, and a new edit of Sly & the Family Stone's "Family Affair" by Questlove.

A few other songs repeat across the mix: the title track from The Beach Boys' 1971 album "Surf's Up" along with an a cappella version, Prince's non-album track "Sex Shooter" with the original version he wrote and produced for Apollonia 6 and the 1974 track "It Don't Get Pay To Get Up In The Morning" by Johnny Taylor along with the original demo by songwriter Mack Rice.

The rest: a demo version of Christopher Cross' 1980 hit "Sailing", Heltah Skeltah's menacing "Undastand", Blackalicious's blissful "Make You Feel That Way", a demo version of Liz Pahir's 
"Whip Smart" Copperfield's spacey "Make It Good To Me Baby", Cherrelle's original 1984 version of the Robert Palmer hit "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On" written and produced by Jam & Lewis, Black Star's frantic "So Be It", the satiric "Hang Fire" by The Rolling Stones and a 2003 recording of his 1970s album track "Sail Away" by Randy Newman.


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Thursday, May 1, 2025

04-21-16: All Paint Chips, All Love Fades

"Take Care" is a song from Big Star's third album 3rd, recorded in 1974 but shelved until years later. This mix features the original album version along with a demo and a cover by Yo La Tengo.

One other song repeats on this mix: the 1982 top ten hit "Only The Lonely" by The Motels, along with an acoustic version recorded years later.

The J Dilla-produced "Little Brother" by Black Star samples "Ain't Got Time" by Roy Ayers Ubiquity, both here.

The rest: early Jimmy Cliff ska single "King Of Kings", the Ayers production "You Said" by Sylvia Striplin, the Dum Ditty Dum mix of "Behind Bars" by Slick Rick with Warren G, the grateful "The Day I Found Myself" by The Honey Cone, J-Live's jazzy "A Charmed Life", The Unknown's hypnotic "Dream Sequence", the giddy "Just Like Me" by Paul Revere & The Raiders, Huggy Bear's fierce "Her Jazz", John Lennon & Yoko Ono's Angle Davis tribute "Angela", Broadcast's atmospheric "Before We Begin", the defiant "The Kids Are Having None Of It" by Frazey Ford, Connie Converse's spare "Sad Lady", the early 80s home recording "Hold Me In Suspension" by Paul Westerberg of The Replacements, Sidney Joe Qualls' dreamy "I'm Being Held Hostage" and the spiritual "Prince Of Peace" by Pharoah Sanders with singing by Leon Thomas.

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Friday, April 18, 2025

04-14-16: Into Yellows And Blues And A Tune I Could Not Have Sung

"Joanne" by former Monkee Michael Nesmith was his only top 40 single as a solo artist, reaching number 21 on the Billboard charts in October 1970. This mix features a cover by Kim Deal of The Breeders recorded with just her acoustic guitar in Steve Albini's studio in Chicago in 2018.

Ultra were the one-time duo of Kool Keith and Tim Dog, who relased their one and now rare album Big Time in 1996. "Ain't Nobody Happenin''" from that album features Motion Man as well.

The rest: a stripped-down mix of Smokey Robinson's single "Cruising", the menacing "Ambitionz Az A Ridah". the gritty disco single "Miss Broadway" by Belle Epoque, Kim Carnes' hit 1980 cover of Smoneky Robinson's "More Love", a cover of Gl Scott Heron's "The Bottle" by Brother To Brother, the defiant "Ain't Nobody Straight In LA" by The Miracles, OMC's breezy 1995 single "How Bizarre",  the frenetic "Nudes" by The Performing Ferret Band, the moody spoken word "Blue Montage" performed by poet Langston Hughes with Leonard Feather, the aptly-titled "Beats To The Rhyme" by Run-D.M.C., the 1968 non-album single "Do It Again" by The Beach Boys, the stomping glam rock track "Little Bird" by studio group The Damned, the elegiac album outtake "Midnight To Stevens" by The Clash, the winsome Jimme Rodgers meetup called "The Carter Family & Jimmie Rodgers In Texas (take 4), a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Ooh, Baby, Baby" by The Five Stairsteps, a cover of Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Stevie Wonder's version of the pop standard "Sunnny" and a cover of Stevie Wonder's 1984 single "I Just Called To Say I Love You" by John Prine.

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Sunday, March 9, 2025

04-07-16: My Many Veins I'll Rip And Let Them Run On Music Manuscript

"Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most" is a jazz standard from 1955, with lyrics by Fran Landesman set to music by Tommy Wolf. The title is a jazz rendition of the opening line of T.S. Eliot 's The Wasteland, "April is the cruelest month".  This mix includes versions by Julie London, Lou Rawls, Bobbi Boyle & The Trio, Betty Carter and Norah Jones.

One other song repeats across the mix: Van Morrison's "Come Here My Love" from his 1974 album Veedon Fleece, here with a cover by This Mortal Coil from their 1986 album Filigree & Shadow.

The rest: a cover of Sly & The Family Stone's "Running Away" by The Raincoats, the elegant "Lorelei" by Rosebud, Sly & The Family Stone's doo wop-inflected "This Is Love" from their 1974 album Small Talk, Steely Dan's Mark Knopfler feature "Time Out Of Mind" from their 1980 album Gaucho, the sample-heavy "Prayers" by Mike, a cover of Sly & The Family Stone's "Everybody Is A Star" by the family group The Stairsteps, Clipse's "Intro" from the opening of their 2002 debut album Lord Willin', The Last Poets' righteous "E Pluribus Unum", the plaintive "Sometimes" by DMX, the mellow "It Is So Nice To Be Stoned" by Ted Lucas, the giddy nearly eponymous 1985 B-side "Like 1000 Violins" by One Thousand Violins, the demo version of Madvillain's "Figaro", the playful "Punch Line" by Doreen Davis & Bobby Lyons, Woody Guthrie's then-seventeen-year-old daughter Nora's ethereal "Emily's Illness", Bruce Springsteen's jazzy "Spirit In The Night" from his 1973 debut album "Greetings From Asbury Park" and a demo version of Amy Winehouse's "Back To Black".

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Monday, February 24, 2025

03-31-16: You Too, In The End Must Leave

"(They Long To Be) Close to You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and recorded a few times in the 1960s before the hit version by The Carpenters in 1970. Previous mixes have featured that version as well as versions by Bobby Womack, Carmen McRae, Diana Ross, Isaac Hayes, Yvonne & Lisa, The Dells and the recently departed Jerry Butler with Brenda Lee Eager. This mix draws from the over five hundred other versions to include covers by The Cranberries, Pearl Bailey, Nancy Wilson, The Soul Searchers and Ella Fitzgerald performing live with a snippet of the other Carpenters' standard "We've Only Just Begun".

Two other songs repeat across the mix: the 1982 non-album single "Let's Go To Bed" by The Cure, along with an acoustic version from two decades later and Roky Erikson's 1980 song "I Walked With A Zombie" here with a cover by R.E.M. from a decade later.

"Big Bad Wolf" by The Sham-Ettes is a loose cover of "Lil Red Riding Hood" by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs.

"Every Bomb You Make" by The Police is an early version of their 1983 hit single "Every Breath You Take" with different lyrics.

The rest: the atmospheric "Scenic" by Ozean, a cover of The Postal Service's "Brand New Colony" by Colin & Kay, the blunt "Illegal Business" by Boogie Down Productions, the RZA-produced "Winter Warz" from Ghostface Killah's 1996 debut album Iron Man, the innocent "NYC" by Lew Kirton, Jay-Z's defiant "Where I'm From", the Neil Diamond-written "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" by The Monkees,  a live cover of The Beatles' "Nowhere Man" by The Replacements, a cover of Sam Cooke's "Twistin' The Night Away" by The Faces, a live version of Bob Dylan's passionate "Something There Is About You" with The Band and a live cover of Tom Waits' "Yesterday Is Here" by Bettye Lavette.

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Thursday, January 30, 2025

03-24-16: When I'm Picking Tomatoes, That's When I Ketchup With You

"Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is a Bob Dylan song written for the soundtrack to the 1973 film Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid. Previous mixes have included covers by Antony & The Johnsons and Jerry Garcia as well as Dylan's original version and live versions he performed with The Band and The Rolling Thunder Revue as well as a bootleg backstage rehearsal. This mix includes covers by Low, Warren Zevon, Television from their live 1982 album Blow Up, Cat Power on a rare unreleased Peel radio session and Jerry Garcia with a more acoustic version accompanied by David Grisman and Tony Rice.

Two other songs repeat across the mix: "Asking For It" from Hole's 1994 album Live Through This as well as a live version and "Bitch" from The Rolling Stones 1971 album Sticky Fingers here with an acoustic cover from 1989 by Great White.

The rock photographer Lynn Goldmsith released one album in 1983 under then name "Will Powers" with the lead single "Adventures In Success" co-written by Robert Palmer and Sting, here with a Joey Negro edit of the extended version.

"Easy As Pi" is a version of Madvillain's "Great Day" with the music of Sade replacing Madlib's production as part of the MF DOOM/Sade album Sadevillain Pt. 2 by Sean H.

The rest: Kool Keith's impatient "Make Up Your Mind", the playful "When Banana Skins Are Falling" by the Slim Galliard Quartet, a cover of Roy Rogers' "Happy Trails" by Van Halen, the ethereal "Operation Lock Down" by Heltah Skeltah, the jazzy "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash, the Tom Moulton 12" remix of McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" and a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Backstreet Girl" by Don Nix.

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