Shuffle-a-gogo: MP3 player and random team up

10 more songs on shuffle on the MP3 player with real time comments....

1. CHEAP TRICK - Baby Loves to Rock - The first side of All Shook Up is easily my fave Cheap Trick album side, and this is one of my favorite Cheap Trick songs.
2. AMBOY DUKES - Baby Please Don't Go - This might be one of those songs that you just can't do a bad version of.
3. JIMMY CASTOR BUNCH - The Bertha Butt Boogie - Christ, I don't even remember putting this on my MP3 player, but I'm glad I did. Is it just me, or does this song sound like a funky collision of Frank Zappa and Ray Stevens? I know this song is going to be stuck in my head tomorrow.
4. the RECORDS - I Don't Rmember Your Name - Yeah, I love Teenarama and Starry Eyes like any other self respecting power pop geek, but this is about as perfect as a pop song gets. And I love the "west end" / "best friend" rhyme.
5. PIXIES - Space (I Believe In) - The intro doesn't really go anywhere, and I couldn't remember why this made the cut when putting songs onto the player, but once that "Jefrey with one F" part kicks in it's a killer Pixies cut.
6. PSYCHEDELIC FURS - I Wanna Sleep With You - Pretty much anything off of those first three Furs albums is a welcome treat on shuffle.
7. LL COOL J - I Can't Live Without My Radio - After that Records/Pixies/P Furs trifecta I'm not really in the mood for LL. Sorry, but next cut please.
8. the SUNRAYS - I Live For the Sun - Good dumb fun surf pop. Although I can't hear this without thinking of the Surf Punks cover ("You're block-ing my rays!"). Whooooh-ooooh-ooooh.
9. U2 - Wild Honey - When it started I thought this was mistake - it didn't sound like the kind of U2 song I'd like, but damn this is a solid song.
10. SUPERCHUNK - My Noise - This is one of those songs that sounded bigger than life when it came out 15+ years ago and still does today.

Whoooh whoooh.

Chicaago: walls of windows

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Mix Disc Covers: some more single artist best-ofs

Once again, some old single artist best of mixes...

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ABOVE: the dB's were another band that I could not condense to a single disc.

BELOW: the Kingston Trio (but only the early Dave Guard years) and Nirvana. For the Nirvana I used the Rolling Stone cover of Bart Simpson, but had to cut an extra finger to make it genitalisticly closer to the original cover.

ABOVE: the Tall Dwarfs

BELOW: Teardrop Explodes and Didjits

MP3 Player Shuffle-a-gogo

10 songs on shuffle with real time commentary....

1 the GODFATHERS - Sticks and Stones - a helluva tune from Hit By Hit, an album that kicked my ass when I first heard it.
2 TRAFFIC - Feelin' Alright - a long time favorite from a band I didn't realize how much I liked until I picked up the double disc hits collection 7 or 8 years ago.
3 PETE TOWNSHEND - Let My Love Open the Door - This song came out right at about the time I was really starting pay close attention to music and I used to just wait for it to come on the radio.
4 KRAFWERK - Computer World 2 - Hearing this just makes me want to listen to all of Computer World
5 SQUEEZE - Another Nail in My Heart - 45's and Under is, for my money, one of the most perfect greatest hits album ever. nd yet, for some reason, I hardly ever play anything else by Squeeze.
6 FELT - Rain of Crystal Spires - Finally one I had to look at the screen to see what the hell it was. At first I thought it might be Tom Verlaine. This is from the Creation Records Soup boxset, which whenever anything from it comes up on shuffle I have to look to see what it is, but I'm always pleasantly surprised. Great jangley guitars and organ. Now I'm thinking I need to buy a Felt album or two.
7 PLACEBO - Black Eyed - I don't think that Placebo have gotten their due - they have a killer catalog and are always trying new things while not deviating from what made them so great in the first place.
8 THIN LIZZY - Don't Believe a Word - One of those songs that don't ring a bell for me by the title, but the second that guitar comes in I remember what a great song it is.
9 NEKO CASE - Lions Jaws - This isn't one of my faves from Fox Confessor, but it's still a great song. At first, when this came up on shuffle, I was a bit bummed becasue it wrecked the flow of some great bouncy melodic songs. But once her voice kicked in I just didn't care.
10 bis - Sale or Return - Outside of the Beasties, this is probably my favorite record to come out on Grand Royal. Too bad after two albums they lost all sense of fun and became incredibly bland.

Mix Disc Covers: single artist best-ofs

In the pre MP3 player era I used to make lots of single artist mix disc best-ofs to play in the car and office. Many of these often got so much play that I tended to not return to the artists' full albums anymore.

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ABOVE: Big Black and Green Day

BELOW: the Velvet underground (which I couldn't keep to a single disc) and the Fall Outs

ABOVE: the Move

BELOW: House of Love and the Shazam

 

I've made several XTC best-of discs over the years, done rarities collections, a double disc Colin Moulding overview, and yet I still felt compelled to make more. So here are two collections, each focusing on faves from 4 albums. 

more pictures around Chicago

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ABOVE LEFT: WHen you get off the elevator and walk up to the cigar shop in this building on Wabash you're hit with the one-two punch of the overpowering smell of cigars and the creepy stare of this cigar shop greeter.

Mid 60's Chicago area home ads and articles

Looking through some old files from my Dad I found these ads and articles for Chicago area homes in the mid 60's. [ CLICK TO ENLARGE]