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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Monday, December 16, 2024

03-17-16: Sometimes Late When Things Are Real And People Share The Gift Of Gab Between Themselves

"I Saw The Light" is the first track of Todd Rundgren's 1972 double album Something/Anything? and was a top 20 single. It has appeared on a previous mix but this mix features covers by Stan Barber, Teenage Fanclub and Yo La Tengo.

One other song repeats on the mix: the early Kinks demo "Tell Me Now So I Know", here with a cover by Holly Golightly.

"I Used To Work In Chicago" is a drinking song written in the mid 1940s and often performed with alternate bawdy lyrics that vary widely. The version here is by Sammy Kaye and his chorus.

The rest: a demo version of Grateful Dead's "Eyes Of The World", Stereolab's dreamy "Ticker Tape Of The Unconscious, Bishop Nehru's MF DOOM collaboration "Meathead", the loping "Got To See U Soon", the frantic "Disintegration Nation" by The Flesh Eaters, Lupe Fiasco's jazzy "Samurai", the sincere "I Guess That Don't Make Me A Loser" by Brothers Of Soul, Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth's funky "Get On The Mic", the seductive "Let's Make Up For Lost Time" by Retta Young, a cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" by Waylon Jennings, a cover of The Kins' "Strangers" by Wye Oak, Teddy Grace's charming "(I've Been) Dispossessed By You",  the raw "Girl" by The Keggs, Scott Walker's ethereal "Plastic Palace People", the heartfelt "Don't Leave Me Mama" by Little Murray & The Antics, a cover of America's "Tin Man' by Chocolate Milk and an acoustic version of "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)" by George Harrison.



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Wednesday, November 27, 2024

03-10-16: Everybody Wanted Last Year's Future

"A Day In The Life" is the final song on The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Previous mixes have included all vocal and demo versions as well as the original album version along with covers by Chocolate Snow, Grant Green, Bobbi Boyle & The Trio and Neil Young performing live. This mix includes covers by Barry Gibb and The Bee Gees for the soundtrack to a 1978 film sharing the same name as the Beatles album, a recent version by Robyn Hitchcock and a version by Jose Feliciano recorded live on April 21, 1969 in London.

The rest: a demo version of TV On The Radio's "Staring At The Sun"; an alternate mix of "King Of Pain" by The Police; the original version of Bikini Kill's 1993 single "Rebel Girl"; a demo version of Joni Mitchell's "Help Me"; the first complete take of Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman"; Cathy Hamer's hopeful "Lady Full Of Dreams"; Sammi Smith's atmospheric "Saunders' Ferry Lane"; then long version of Elvis Presley's tender 1971 single "I'm Leavin'"; Golden Flamingo Orchestra's 1979 NYC-centric single "The Guardian Angel Is Watching Over Us"; the nostalgic "Everybody Watching" with Snoop Dogg, Miguel and Raphael Saadiq; the dramatic "I'll Die For You" by Ghostface Killah; the 1977 single "Give Me Some Skin" by James Brown; the official remix version of "Everything She Wants" by Wham!; the Studio Rio remix of Bill Withers' "Lovely Day" and the Phillipians remix of The Pharcyde's "Runnin'".

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Friday, November 8, 2024

03-03-06: Heading For The Highest Heights For The Climax Of The Night

"I Love You, Suzanne" is a single from Lou Reed's 1984 album New Sensations. This mix also includes a recent cover by the Afghan Whigs.

"Jack U Off" is the final song from Prince's 1981 album Controversy. Also on the mix is a 2005 cover by Robyn.

The rest: the alternate version of Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain", the eerie "Violence Grows" by Fatal Microbes, Archie Shepp's moody "Blase" with Jeanne Lee on vocals, the frenetic "Rules And Regulations (EP version) by We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It!!, A Number Of Names' early 80s proto-techno classic "Shari Vari (original mix)",  the stormy "Bad Tune" By Earth, Wind & Fire, Hi-Tek and Talib Kweli's Reflection Eternal with the jazzy "Africa Dream", Rob's funky "Make It Fast, Make It Slow", KMD's bouncy "What A Nigga Know (full version)", Wee's tender "I Think I'm In Love With You", Brothers & Sisters' Bob Dylan cover "My Back Pages", KA's contemplative "Hymn And I" and Elkie Brooks' lush "Fool If You Think It's Over".


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