Until December Consolidated

Instead of calling this a pick, it's just a consolidation of the lead singer of Until December and the band he changed to: Consolidated. I'm so clever. Not. But these guys are from the Bay Area. They were almost a big name in show business. They kind of just missed their opportunity and their brushes with success were marred by the way they were. As Until December, they had some cool music that could fit in right next to Depeche Mode and similar music, but they were so militant about their B&D and gay-ness that the public was not ready for it to be so in the face. Too bad because they had some great tracks. And when the lead singer left to start Consolidated, he just became so militant about an activist communistic vegan lifestyle that it took away from the actual songs being pretty darn good. They had a good sense of humor. They do not sound like the band they came from. The last song is them with rapper Paris (another activist, but for the Black Panthers) who also had his own great raps and guested on this one track with these boys. He did not have a sense of humor. Kind of a dick, but some good songs. One that I play at most of my gigs still to this day. 

Until December Consolidated

01 Consolidated - You Suck

02 Consolidated - This Is A Collective

03 Consolidated - Tool And Die

04 Consolidated - Consolidated

05 Until December - Live Alone (Razormaid Mix)

06 Until December - Free Again

07 Until December - Slave

08 Until December - Heaven

09 Until December - Until December (12'' Version)

10 Until December - No Gift Refused

11 Until December - We Are The Boys (Extended Mix)

12 Until December - Bela Lugosi's Dead

13 Until December - Call Me

14 Until December - Secrets (I Won't Tell) (Extended Version)

15 Consolidated Featuring Paris - Guerrillas In The Mist

Family Beat

I started with thinking of doing a Specials Family pick, but never really got too far, since Terry Hall died and everyone made pretty good picks with him at the center of the pick. They were pretty good, so I transitioned to The (English) Beat. They had a nice selection, but I never really finished it. So I made the hard decisions and axed a bunch of stuff and was left with this. Obviously: The Beat, Fine Young Cannibals (and their offshoot 2 Men A Drum Machine and a Trumpet which I really liked), General Public and then some solo appearances. I did not include any of Saxa's appearances. Sorry. But Ranking Roger solo and with the Easy Star All Stars, Sting, Big Audio Dynamite and (my favorite) as Rude Boy in the Scooby Doo episode with the Ska Zombies. And Dave Wakeling solo. As well as both of them with separate reformed Beat's. I didn't include Pato Banton, except for the (English) Beat track. I wanted to include the Dub (English) Beat track from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but I had to cut somewhere. BTW,  I like the cover it looks real legit.

Family Beat

01 Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing

02 English Beat - Tears Of A Clown

03 English Beat - Pato And Roger A Go Talk

04 Sting with Ranking Roger - The Bed's Too Big Without You

05 General Public - Tenderness

06 General Public - I'll Take You There

07 Fine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy

08 English Beat - Can't Get Used to Losing You

09 Easy Star All Stars - Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite

10 2 Men A Drum Machine & A Trumpet - I'm Tired Of Getting Pushed Around

11 Fine Young Cannibals - Ever Fallen In Love

12 Fine Young Cannibals - Suspicious Minds

13 English Beat - Save It For Later

14 Ranking Roger - So Excited

15 English Beat - I Confess

16 Big Audio Dynamite with Ranking Roger - Looking For A Song

17 Dave Wakeling - She's Having A Baby

18 General Public - Hot You're Cool

19 The Beat featuring Ranking Roger - Maniac

20 The Beat featuring Dave Wakeling - How Can You Stand There

21 Rude Boy & The Ska-Tastics - Yer Dead Right Mate (Extended Version)

22 English Beat - Mirror In The Bathroom

What's The Connection? Obscure

This Obscure connection goes all over, but mostly progish. Probably because they want it to be obscured. A couple of Obscura songs that aren't prog and some straight up Rock N Roll. It started becuase I always wanted to find a use for the Figures On A Beach song. I found it as a twelve inch single and it was poppy enough and weird enough for me to latch onto it. I used it on an another WTC about cameras, but I wanted to use it again. You will recognize all the bands on here, since all of them have been on one pick or another. They aren't being rescued from obscurity. None have been obscured. And now I have used all the versions of the word, I could. And the cover is fairly obscure too. I made it with an obscure background texture, a semi-transparent text and the logo.

What's The Connection? Obscure

01 Pink Floyd - Obscured By Clouds

02 Wobbler - Clair Obscur

03 Ash - Obscure Thing

04 Nico - Camera Obscura

05 Focus - Claire Obscure

06 Klaus Schulze with Bill Laswell - VII-6 Obscured By Klaus

07 The Trash Can Sinatras - Obscurity Knocks

08 Japan - Obscure Alternatives

09 Hawklords - Obscura

10 Can - Obscura Primavera

11 Steve Howe - Camera Obscura

12 Enigma - Camera Obscura

13 Figures On A Beach - In Camera Obscura (Dance Mix)

14 The Smashing Pumpkins - Obscured

Femmes Fatale 8

This is the last one for awhile. I have another two almost ready, but need to finish them up. Like all of this series, the even pick is a bit less mellow, while the odd pick is on the mellower side. Not sure why I did it that way, but I did. A couple of the artists on here that I will talk about. One is Romeo Void. This song was a local hit in the Bay Area at the time, but it wasn't the big, big hit, but I liked the song a lot. They were good in concert. I saw them in SF at a not so big club, they were quite good. The other band is Martha and the Muffins who were trying to rebrand as M+M at the time (it didn't quite work. They were from Canada. There was this girl who liked me and drove me around every now and again and she loved Martha and the Muffins a lot and would play a cassette of their music and Iended up liking them a lot. This was a later track, but i still liked the band. I remember going to Mexico with a different girl in the early 80's and having an amazing time. It was right around the time that Missing Persons (and the Motels) released their new songs that were getting played all over in the Mazatlan bars. We met the owners of Carlos and Charlies. It wasn't a big deal then, but was starting to take off. They loved this track. Back then you could get lobster dinner for two, several margaritas, appetizers, dessert, a mariachi band playing at your table, a caricature plus a generous tip for ten bucks. Perfect for a broke student like me! Had an amazing time and have been back to Mexico many, many times since. Back then no issues with cartels.

Femmes Fatale 8

01 Tawny Reed - I Got A Feeling

02 The Primitives - Crash

03 Sandie Shaw - (There's) Always Something There To Remind Me

04 Romeo Void - White Sweater

05 Barry St. John - Bread And Butter

06 Billie Davis - Tell Him

07 Marlena Shaw - California Soul

08 No Doubt - Just A Girl

09 The Motels - He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)

10 Truly Smith - Boy From Chelsea

11 Glenda Collins - Something I Got to Tell You

12 Yazoo - Situation (US 12-Inch Remixed by Francois Kevorkian)

13 Martha And The Muffins (M+M) - Black Stations-White Stations

14 Samantha Jones - Go Ahead

15 Shirley Bassey - Big Spender

16 Tina Tott - Burning In The Background of Your Mind

17 Antoinette - There He Goes (The Boy I Love)

18 Sharon Tandy - Hold On

19 Go-Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed

20 Lorraine Silver - Lost Summer Love

21 Missing Persons - Walking In L.A.

22 The Breakaways - That's How It Goes

23 Jane Wiedlin - Rush Hour

24 Dana Gillespie - You Just Gotta Know My Mind

25 Annette Funicello - Blame It On The Bossa Nova

Femmes Fatale 7

It's been a while since I posted one of these picks. The original Femmes Fatale pick had six in the series (yes, I just updated the links on each) and I was working on the next four. I only finished two more. The odd numbered ones are more mellow than the even numbered ones. I still didn't put them all in one numbering system, even though I keep thinking I will. This one has more older songs, but I am working on a few more newer ones on number nine (any suggestions?)  All of these are ones I have liked for some time or another. Dorothy Lamour I always liked not just as a singer, but as an actress. I first saw her in Hope and Crosby Road Trip movies (I have all of them) but then I watched many of her other appearances in movies, got her singing on various media. I just like her. And yes, more than Virgina Mayo, sorry.

Femmes Fatale 7

01 Mama Cass - Dream A Little Dream Of Me

02 Barry St John - Hey Boy

03 Linda Thorson - Bad Time To Stop Loving Me

04 Lulu - To Sir With Love

05 Eartha Kitt - C'est Si Bon

06 Dionne Warwick - Walk On By

07 Jo Stafford - You Belong To Me

08 Jackie Trent - Where Are You Now (My Love)

09 Claudine Longet - God Only Knows

10 Truly Smith - My Smile Is Just A Frown Turned Upside Down

11 Dinah Washington - Mad About The Boy

12 Julie Grant - Come to Me

13 Helen Shapiro - You Don't Know

14 Jackie Deshannon - What The World Needs Now Is Love

15 Tammy St. John - Dark Shadows And Empty Hallways

16 Shirley Bassey - Something

17 Peanut - Thank Goodness For The Rain

18 Petula Clark - Downtown

19 Dorothy Lamour - The Man I Love

20 The Paper Dolls - Something Here In My Heart (Keeps A-Tellin' Me No)

21 Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By

22 Kiki Dee - Amoureuse

23 Nancy Sinatra - Sugar Town

24 Cilla Black - Anyone Who Had A Heart

25 Sandie Shaw - Girl Don't Come

What's The Connection? Burgers

This connection came about because of the last few picks I had. Thinking of Tommy's Original Burger Shack and jonesing for a double cheeseburger with chili and wax peppers on the side. I had Jimmy Buffet ready and then a song I didn't use a "concerto" by Focus about hamburgers. It was twenty minutes long and I wanted to add more songs, so get that one on your own. It's good. A couple of these tracks have burger in the title, but really aren't about burgers, but I will let that slide. The DJ Otzi track I think was also called the fast food song, but here it is again as a burger song. It's mishmash so enjoy it. Pay me Thursday for this compilation today!

What's The Connection? Burgers

01 The Rolling Stones - Give Me A Hamburger To Go

02 Descendents - No Fat Burger

03 Less Than Jake - Hamburger Hop

04 Cousin Deems Sanders & His Goatherders with Walt McCoy - Goatburger Boogie

05 Skee-Lo - The Burger Song

06 Mano Negra - Hamburger Fields

07 Jah Wobble - Burger Bar

08 Throbbing Gristle - Hamburger Lady (Carter Tutti Remix)

09 John Cougar Mellencamp - Hotdogs And Hamburgers

10 Charley Pride - Burgers and Fries

11 Primus - Hamburger Train

12 Todd Rundgren - Hamburger Hell

13 Kool & The Gang - Raw Hamburger

14 The Wonder Stuff - Burger Standing

15 Alien Sex Fiend - Burger Bar Baby

16 Vandals - Anarchy Burger (Hold the Government)

17 Little Feat - Hamburger Midnight

18 Jimmy Buffett - Cheeseburger in Paradise

19 Gang Of Four - Cheeseburger

20 ZZ Top - Burger Man

21 Purple Hearts - Let's Get A Burger Man

22 Frank Zappa - Cruisin' for Burgers

23 DJ Ötzi - Burger Dance

Facsimile

This pick was fun to make and there are a hundred other songs I could have included (tell me your favorites that I missed).Tried to get a secondary theme, but I couldn't hold it. I added a country cover. Ooops. I added an INXS cover. Ooops. Nothing worked out the way I planned it. But either way it turned out well. I think if I had my albums laid out better, I might have found a bunch more. This is what I found/remembered. I didn't want to just call it a Rock covers compilation, although it kind of is. I called it a Facsimile, but I was thinking more of a copy of a copy, like the movie Multiplicity (which is why I used a still from that movie in the cover.) These covers are all good, but very different from the originals. And like the movie there is at least one that is kinda retarded (and by that I mean that I would listen to the original all day before putting this one on), but most are quite good.

Facsimile

01 The Neville Brothers - Fly Like An Eagle

02 Jr. Walker & The All Stars - These Eyes

03 Theodore - Rockin Me

04 Johnny Mathis - Evil Ways

05 Paris Hilton - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy

06 Wilson Pickett - Hey Joe

07 Señor Coconut - Smoke On The Water

08 Robots With Rayguns featuring Carl Gershon - Need U Tonight

09 Bananarama - Long Train Running

10 Figures On A Beach - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

11 Isaac Hayes & Millie Jackson - Feels Like The First Time

12 Speaker Junk - Foxxy (Original Mix)

13 Dan Hartman - Free Ride

14 Heaven 17 - Don't Fear The Reaper

15 Soul Hooligan With Diana King - Evil Woman

16 Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Fire

17 Shiny Toy Guns - Burning For You

18 Kim Wilde - Born To Be Wild (Radio Mix)

19 Big & Rich - You Shook Me All Night Long