Neil Young is 75 years old today which is definitely worthy of a FMD post. One of those artists I discovered when I was a teenager that I have loved consistently ever since. Although he hasn't put out anything lately that I have found super compelling, he's also been releasing a bunch of stuff from the archives that have been amazing. I can continue to listen to both live recordings and album releases from each decade since the 60's and do so frequently.
I think we've talked about this before, but yesterday's guitar conversation got me thinking a little more about what other instruments people played, wished they could play, etc.
I played trumpet all through high school. I actually recently picked it up again (not to learn, just, literally, picked it up and played it for like 3 minutes). It is amazing how my fingers still knew which positions to go to - muscle memory after all these years. At the same time, my embouchure was completely atrophied, and was only strong enough to barely squeak out the range of a single scale.
How about you? What did you play? What would you like to play? When was the last time you picked up an instrument you used to play?
Apparently Weird Al covered a bazillion songs on his last tour. True covers, not parodies. A lot of the ones I listened to were pretty straightforward, so I don't know that he added or took away much from the songs. But still. It's Weird Al!
Anyway, you can check it out the whole list - 4+ hours of covers! - here:
And I suppose it's worth making note of this particular TMBG cover:
Not too long ago I was listening to the song "Coconut" by Harry Nilsson. Though I'm well familiar with the song I was struck at how well constructed it was, with just layer upon layer being added up to this much bigger cacophonous sound than it start as. Just really subtle building. Lots of songs will do a stripped down verse, add something obvious on the next one, and build in a way that just isn't quite so smooth.
So I'm curious about other songs that you think of as building slowly, or subtly, up to a much larger sound.
I literally finished putting this together around noon, but here you are: a rough cut of the 2020 Summer Mix.
Okay, I swear I'm going to figure out how to break this into individual tracks. For now though, it's just two tracks; one for each part. I'm hoping to have the grand opening for the next FMD. In the meantime, it's dangerous to go it alone! Take these.
Some quick notes:
We had a lot of submitters, and a lot of you chose longer songs. After that, there were a lot of other songs that should be on there, so the mix ran a little long.
As such, for several reasons it just made more sense to split it into two parts. Each has a theme of sorts.
I'll put up the tracklist with the full release. I think it's more fun to listen to it cold first.
These should be downloadable. I know at least in iTunes, if you use the "Song Info" option on each track, go to sorting, and select "Remember playback position", it makes it more manageable to skip around the longer tracks.
Have at it. 2020 is a weird year, and this is appropriately a weird mix. I like it though.
Look, things are complicated in this country. We all know that. We're reckoning with a lot of horrible facts about both our present and our past. But, at bottom, I think we can acknowledge that some flawed, complicated people came together and set up a novel framework that genuinely enabled things to get better. And this weekend is a time to reflect on that. A chance to think about what we might do to make things better too - because, at bottom, we're all flawed, complicated people too.
Anyway, let's identify some songs of hope and pride, and maybe a bit of patriotism - real patriotism, not that "everything we do must be the best because it is us" stuff.
And to kick it off, here's Ray Charles singing America The Beautiful at the 2001 World Series.
Your doorbell rings. On the steps is a traveler, someone who looks to be in their early twenties. They’re a local resident. They think they haven’t gone far out of their way, but they seem confused. In reality, they’re lost. They have appeared on your doorstep at the end of a sudden journey.
The traveler looks down at a note in their hand. By their puzzled expression, it’s clear that the note was not there a moment ago. They hand you the note. It reads:
I have arrived from the past. When I left, it was August 7th, 1965. My journey has left me unable to talk with you, but I can listen. I know the general outline of the intervening years between now and when I left.
Back home, I play & listen to music all the time — it helps me make sense of the changing world around me. I am permitted to stay with you for the span of five songs. Please play songs that will tell me something about your world, and how your world emerged from the world I just left. I will take what I hear back with me.
You bring them inside your home, stall for time by getting them something to drink. What are you going to play? Why?
