When in the car I've been listening to a lot of Oldies radio lately. Oldies as in "songs that were considered oldies when I was a kid" not "songs that were popular when I was a kid." So basically 50's and 60's. Growing up, when I wasn't listening to children's music, I was usually listening to this class of oldies. It had been a good while since I'd found a station to scratch this itch, so now that I have one, I tend to listen to it pretty much every time I'm in the car and the Twins aren't on. Admittedly a large part of that is the dearth of good radio stations out my way.
I've been thinking about trying to expose my children to some of the era. They get a fair amount of Beatles and Elivs in their musical diet already, but not too much else. We've got a road trip coming up this summer, which might be a good time to work on the musical education of my kids. So the question I'll pose today: if you were making a 50's and 60's mix without any Beatles or Elvis, what would be a necessary add?
Because I cleared a lot of iPod space, I can seek out new albums and add them without having to remove other things, so it's easier.
I grabbed five new albums this week. Immediate impressions:
Aaron Dilloway The Gag File: He releases a lot, but this and Modern Jester are the two albums he's worked carefully on and refined over and over. The rest are more like one-offs, sketches, jams, etc. Compared to Modern Jester, some songs The Gag File is almost like real music in structure and song lengths. I think my wife's reactions will be more like "I don't like that" rather than "You're Joking", or "That's 'music'?". To keep folk from saying he went pop, the centerpiece is "No Eye Sockets", manipulated field recording of conversations in bars or something.
Colin Stetson All This I Do for Glory. More Colin Stetson, less Bonny Bear. That's a good thing.
Gas: Narkopop: More Gas. That's a good thing.
Sylvan Esso What Now: Good Sophomore effort. This electro-folk duo reminds me a lot of Postal Service, (not at all Gibbard-y though). "Die Young" and "Radio" will end up on mixtapes for sure.
Katy B Little Red: (not "new") Bad Sophomore effort. I like her debut lots and her third quite a bit, so I wondered why I never checked out the one in the middle. Now I see: The things I like about KB are gone, it's like pop-club (and too garage!) with a generic singer, rather than club made pop with Katy B singing over it.
1. Current 93 “The Song of Solomon VI:10”* How He Loved the Moon (Moonsongs for Jhonn Balance)
2. Bad Bad Hats “Midway” Psychic Reader
3. Shannon Stephens “Hard Times Are Coming” The Breadwinner
4. Kornél Kovács “szikra Intro” The Bells
5. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy “I Am the Sky”* Blue Lotus Feet
6. Coil “Cold Cell” The Ape of Naples
7. Zola Jesus “Ego” Taiga
8. Porter Ricks “Port of Call” Biokinetics
9. Jan St. Werner “Kroque AF”* Felder
T. Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps” Maps
E. Aphex Twin “Nanou 2” drukQs
*Notes:
1. "Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?"
5. A mantra of Paramahansa Yogananda.
9. I've gotta think this song title is a pun. Maybe it isn't.
To Phil's Q:
Just a few thoughts: Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison, Jimi Hendrix, The Big Chill OST
Oldies I took a liking to as a kid:
It's My Party by Leslie Gore
Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry
Blue Moon by The Marcels
Little Old Lady From Pasadena and Dead Man's Curve by Jan & Dean
Pretty much anything Beach Boys
2017/05/05 - FMD
01. “The Obvious Child” – Paul Simon – Rhythm Of The Saints
02. “Yesterday Is Here” – Tom Waits – Franks Wild Years
03. “Birth In Reverse” – St. Vincent – St. Vincent
04. “The Motivator” – T. Rex – Electric Warrior
05. “Shine A Light” – Cults – Static
06. “Went About” – Kye Kye – Young Love
07. “Bathysphere” – Cat Power – What Would The Community Think
08. “Neuromancer” – EMA – The Future’s Void
09. “Animal” – New Kingdom – Paradise Don’t Come Cheap
10. “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” – The Velvet Underground – Loadedstrong> – Loaded
01. Testament - "Rise Up", Dark Roots of Earth
02. Black Sabbath - "Sweet Leaf", Mater of Reality
03. Symphony X - "The Sacrifice", Paradise Lost
04. Judas Priest - "Breaking the Law", British Steel
05. Behemoth - "Inner Sanctum", The Apostasy
06. King Diamond - "Black Hill Sanitarium", The Graveyard
07. Type O Negative - "3.O.I.F.", Bloody Kisses
08. Wicked Maraya - "Johnny", Lifetime in Hell
09. Type O Negative - "September Sun", Dead Again
10. Queensryche - "The Mission", Operation: Mindcrime
To the suggestions so far, I would add the Everly Brothers, Herman's Hermits, and the Monkees.
If ya had to pick one song from each...?
For HH, "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good" struck me at a young age. When I was a little older I went for "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and "No Milk Today."
"There's a Kind of Kush (All Over the World (Tonight))"
my favorite Monkee's tune (and you can tell it's one of Mike's)
Over this? 😉
I had the cassette. That one always got the FFWD. Goodness, it's awful. Probably 30 years (más o menos) since I last heard it.
I do get a bit of nostalgia though for the way nostalgia sounded when I was a kid. (Meta-nostalgia?)
This just in. Monkey Mike Nesmith's mother invented whiteout.
"This just in"? Not exactly new news. There's a reason Mike never got back together with the rest of the band -- he never needed to.
Well, it was new news to me. I don't think NBB was claiming a major scoop.
This just in, Peter Tork was the brother to Eric Torkelson who played running back for the Packers in the late 1970s.
This just in: Dave Brubeck is Dead.
My favorites from the Everly Brothers are "All I Have to Do is Dream" and "Devoted to You". I agree with Beau on Herman's Hermits. For the Monkees, I'd choose "Daydream Believer" and "I'm a Believer". But for all of them, there are other good songs as well.
Not what you're looking for, but give the soundtrack to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil a try.
Looking at our nursing home set list (and ignoring the Beatles) -- sorry if some of these creep into the 70s:
All I Have to Do is Dream
Blowin' in the Wind
The Boxer
Bye Bye Love
California Dreamin'
Can't Help Falling in Love with You
Carolina on My Mind
Cecilia
City of New Orleans
Cupid
Day After Day
Different Drum
Feelin' Groovy
Fire on the Mountain
Folsom Prison Blues
Games People Play
Georgy Girl
Get Together
Go Now
Happy Together
Help Me Rhonda
I Can See Clearly Now
I Fought the Law
I Walk the Line
I'm a Believer
Incense and Peppermints
Johnny B Goode
King of the Road
Lean on Me
Leaving on a Jet Plane
Lonely People
Monster Mash
My Girl
One Toke Over the Line
Puff the Magic Dragon
Put a Little Love in Your Heart
Ramblin' Man
Rock Around the Clock
Runaway
(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay
Spirit in the Sky
Sugar, Sugar
Teach Your Children Well
The Letter
The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)
Too Late Baby
Top of the World
Tracks of My Tears
Turn, Turn, Turn
Under the Boardwalk
Wake Up, Little Susie
What a Wonderful, Wonderful World
Windy
Wolly Bully
You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling
Now this is a list I can work with.
I'm realizing I'm also a fan of groups like the Crystals, Ronettes, and Chiffons.
1. “Fool Forever” Thao & the Get Down Stay Down A Man Alive
2. “Joyful Girl” Ani Difranco Dilate
3. “Intruders” The Antlers Familiars
4. “David” Courtney Barnett The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas
5. “Lemonworld” The National High Violet
6. “Chicago” Sufjan Stevens Illinois
7. “To Love Somebody” Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else
8. “Help Me Mary” Liz Phair Exile in Guyville
9. “Desperado” Johnny Cash American IV: The Man Comes Around
T. “Dutch” Dessa A Badly Broken Code
B. "Things We Never Say" Bad Bad Hats Psychic Reader
Whoa, BBH on two lists same day?
Siblings* Sufjan and Shannon on two lists on the same day?
*no relation, though they used to play in the same band and he did some instruments on her first album
Kinks - Really Got me
LuLu - To Sir With
Loving Spoonful - Summer in the City
Zombies - She's Not there
The Who - Happy Jack
Beach Boys - Barbara Ann
The Troggs - wild Thing
Ronettes - Be My Baby
Ccr - Up Around the Bend
Otis - Dock of the bay
Four Tops - Reach out I'll be There
Jackson 5 - ABC
Jimmy Soul - If You Want To Be Happy
Also, "I Want You Back" is clearly the superior J5 song. Dat bass line...
(ETA: though ABC has a pretty sweet bass line too)
Also, "I Want You Back" is clearly the superior J5 song. Dat bass line...
Agreed but young kids might prefer ABC.
Agreed but young kids might prefer ABC.
And it segues nicely when you want to teach them hip hop in 10+ years:
And then dancehall/hiphop crossovers (sampling the sample):
I think the best from J5 is clearly "Jayou". The flute line...
01. Future - "Super Trapper" from FUTURE
02. cupcakKe - "Tarzan" from Queen Elizabitch
03. Feedtime - "Box n Burn" from Gas
04. Devin the Dude - "You Know I Wantcha" from Acoustic Levitation
05. The Magnetic Fields - "'01: Have You Seen It in the Snow?" from 50 Song Memoir
06. PC Worship - "Tranquil Pain" from Buried Wish
07. Caddywhompus - "Waiting Room" from Odd Hours
08. Jonwayne - "Out of Sight" from Rap Album Two
09. Allison Crutchfield - "Chopsticks on Pots and Pans" from Tourist in This Town
10. Pile - "Fingers" from A Hairshirt of Purpose
BT. Japanese Breakfast - "Machinist" from Soft Sounds From Another Planet
I'm so excited for this album, y'all.
Recent purge:
(Compilation) - Midnight Blues
(Soundtrack) - Clerks 2
(soundtrack) - Weeds
Ani DiFranco - (most of) Little Plastic Castle
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Bill Cosby - (all)
The Black Keys - Rubber Factory
The Black Keys - The Big Come Up
Breakbot - By Your Side
Brian Eno/David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Charlie Parker - The Essence Of Charlie Parker
The Chi-Lites - Give More Power To The People
Christopher Titus - Love Is Evol
Dane Cook - (all)
Donovon - Mellow Yellow
Donovon - Sunshine Superman
(Fisher Price) - Little People: ABC Sing-Along
The Flaming Lips - The Dark Side Of The Moon
Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant
Gary Louris - Vagabonds
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - The Swell Season
Golden Smog - Blood On The Slacks
Hanne Hukkelberg - Little Things
Henry Rollins (spoken word) - (all)
Jane's Addiction - (all)
The Jayhawks - Mockingbird Time
King Tuff - Black Moon Spell
Kings Of Leon - Because Of The Times
Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring For My Halo
Martin Sexton - Seeds
Mitch Fatel - (all)
Neko Case & Her Boyfriends - The Virginian
Norah Jones - Not Too Late
Paul Simon - The Paul Simon Songbook
Paul Simon - Surprise
Peter Bjorn And John - Falling Out
Pink Floyd - The Wall (live)
The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages Of...
Prof - Kaiser Von Powderhorn 3
Roxxy Hall Band - She's The One
Roy Orbison - Black & White Night
Rufus Wainwright - Poses
Shannon And The Clams - I Wanna Go Home
The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
Soundgarden - (all)
Squirrel Nut Zippers - (most of) Hot!
Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstasy
Stevie Wonder - Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants
Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Tonya Donelly - Beautysleep
Tonya Donelly - Whiskey Tango Ghosts
Tim O'Reagan - Tim O'Reagan
The War On Drugs - Future Weather
Weezer - Pinkerton (extras from re-issue; kept the original album)
The White Stripes - (most of) Icky Thump
Wilco - Complete Singles (1994-2002)
Wilco - The Wilco Book CD
X-Ray Spex - Germ-Free Adolescence
That's a pretty good purge list. I'd keep a couple of those (Soundgarden -- wut?) but yeah a lot of that needed to go.
Jane says, she's done with Hungry Joe... he treats her like a rag doll. I would have a tough time purging Jane's Addiction and Soundgarden completely.
nice.
as for soundgarden and jane's, those were both exhaustively listened to in junior high/freshman year. as i've mentioned, i have no place for nostalgia in my music listening, and since i've had those in my digital collections for many years but never really listen to them, they got the axe.
Yeah, I get it. I, however, can't seem to shake the 80's and 90's. Guilty pleasures.
My solution: get new old stuff. I just picked up Reed's Berlin. Great album. Can smell the Bob Ezrin on it though.
You'll regret that Stone Roses purge. Or, you would if you had any taste. 🤡
Yeah, thinking on it, I'm not sure why I took that one off. Listened to it a bit, though not enough for it to click. I mean, if I left Spiritualized on there, the Roses should probably stay too.