Life's Good, Too

I did this mixtape as a pick both two and too as a continuation, but completely separate from the first one of the Life's Good picks. Some I had extra for the first part, some was recommended (thanks for the recommendations) and some just came to me as I was going along. I still wanted to convey a good life, a life filled with groovy vibrations. Just nice songs. One of my favorites of this one is the Lil Brian. It can't get any better than a summer day enjoying yourself on a drive and being so laid back that you can steer with your thighs. I purposely did not use Simon and Garfunkel and instead used Harpers Bizarre. Yes, I like both versions. It's just weird that I heard that version first. I think you could probably do one of these with all Bossa Nova songs, but I was good.

Life's Good, Too

21 Cocoa Tea - Good Life

22 Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams

23 The Specials - Do Nothing

24 Barenaked Ladies - Good Life

25 Tony Bennett - The Good Life

26 Lil Brian & the Zydeco Travelers - Thigh Drivin'

27 Prince - The Good Life

28 Harpers Bizarre - The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

29 Barbra Streisand - Lazy Afternoon

30 Wham! - Club Tropicana

31 Harmony Grass - What a Groovy Day

32 C2C - Happy

33 Boney M. - Sunny

34 Astrud Gilberto & Walter Wanderley - So Nice

35 The Mindbenders - A Groovy Kind Of Love

36 OneRepublic - Good Life

37 Ringo Starr - Life Is Good

38 Small Faces - Lazy Sunday

39 Cracker - The Good Life

40 Beach Boys - Good Vibrations

41 Spanky and Our Gang - Lazy Day

42 Isley Brothers - Summer Breeze

What's The Connection? Free

On this day we hope we are as Free as the constitution of the USA. We'll see how the election goes today and hopefully we do not see too much more of the dangerous rhetoric on both sides for the next few elections. I had already done a Freedom WTC and, sorry I used two of the same songs in each.  (Soup Dragons and the Who) I used the Soup Dragons, because I was listening to the Untouchables and wanted a compilation using their song and the Soup Dragons and Special AKA. The Who was by accident. Most of these songs in this connection have nothing to do with being free to vote and just use Free in the title. Some of my favorite Free songs. Go vote if you are American.

What's The Connection? Free

01 REM - Radio Free Europe (Original Hib-Tone single)

02 Tom Petty - Free Fallin'

03 Concrete Blonde - Free

04 Cream - I Feel Free

05 Emma Bunton - Free Me

06 The Soup Dragons featuring Junior Reid - I'm Free

07 Who - I'm Free

08 Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free

09 The Fall - Free Range

10 Kinks - Set Me Free

11 Until December - Free Again

12 Ray Charles - Don't Set Me Free

13 Sylvers - Free Style

14 Chicago - Free

15 Voice Farm - Hey Free Thinker

16 Edgar Winter - Free Ride

17 Special Aka - Free Nelson Mandela

18 Ringo Starr - Free Drinks

19 Jimi Hendrix - Stone Free

20 Ohio Players - I Want To Be Free

21 Untouchables - Free Yourself

Peter Case Pick

Over the last several days or so, I've made a pick for The Nerves family and separately for Paul Collin's Beat. Now it's the turn for Peter Case. Frankly, I love some of his stuff and don't care as much about some of the other stuff. He was amazing with The Plimsouls. I included several songs (including a different version of one song). I included one track of each of the Breakaways and the Nerves. I tried to get songs he wrote. The other good ones I put in the previous picks. The rest is his solo work. And, for me, some of it is hit and miss. I tried to get a little something from across the whole output of his, though. So if you are into some of that I am not as into it, you still get it. Most is pretty good though. Judge for yourself. I can make a Case for the Plimsouls being the peak of his best stuff. I'm willing to have you change my mind.

Peter Case Pick

01 The Breakaways - One Way Ticket

02 Peter Case - Banks Of The River

03 Peter Case - On The Way Downtown

04 Dave Alvin & Peter Case - Monday Morning Blues

05 Peter Case - Steel Strings

06 Peter Case - Bumble Bee

07 Peter Case - Pelican Bay

08 Peter Case - Have You Ever Been In Trouble

09 Peter Case - Charlie James

10 Peter Case - Beyond The Blues

11 Peter Case - Gone

12 Peter Case - Entella Hotel

13 Peter Case - Old Blue Car

14 Peter Case - Every 24 Hours

15 Peter Case - Blind Luck

16 Plimsouls - Oldest Story in the World

17 Plimsouls - Zero Hour (Original Version)

18 Plimsouls - Now

19 Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away

20 Peter Case - Coulda Shoulda Woulda

21 The Nerves - When You Find Out

22 Plimsouls - Everywhere at Once

Wall Of Voodoo Family

A couple of days ago I did a pick of Stan Ridgway who was the first lead singer of Wall Of Voodoo. He has so much solo stuff that's good that I have more here and no doubles. The next main lead singer was Andy Prieboy and I have a few tracks with him solo and with other artists. You will notice Johnette Napolitano on several tracks with him and with Marc Moreland. She did a few things with both of them fom Wall Of Voodoo, including Pretty & Twisted (reminds me of Concrete Blonde- a juxtaposition of names). Joe Nanini drummed for Lonesome Strangers. He also played for a bunch of bands as a touring musician and was a studio musician, but I couldn't confirm the exact tracks he played on. I did include some Wall Of Voodoo, but they are less well known tracks. One from an extra track from a cassette and another from the movie Weird Science and the first one from a UK only single.

Wall Of Voodoo Family

01 Stan Ridgway - Behind Closed Doors

02 Stan Ridgway - Bing Can't Walk

03 Lonesome Strangers - Lonesome Pine

04 Stan Ridgway - This Town Called Fate

05 Andy Prieboy with Johnette Napolitano - Whole Lodda Love

06 Johnette Napolitano with Marc Moreland - Hurting Each Other

07 Pretty & Twisted - The Highs Are Too High

08 Stan Ridgway - End of the Line

09 Stan Ridgway - Your Rockin' Chair

10 Stan Ridgway - Hanging Johnny

11 Stan Ridgway - The Overlords

12 Marc Moreland Mess - Hey Lady

13 Department of Crooks - Plan 9 From Las Vegas

14 Stan Ridgway - Big Dumb Town

15 Wall Of Voodoo - Big City

16 Andy Prieboy - Tomorrow Wendy

17 Stan Ridgway - Sixteen Tons

18 Wall Of Voodoo - Exercise

19 Wall Of Voodoo - Deep In The Jungle

Paul Collins Pick

I always knew them as the Beat, but they ended up being Paul Collins' Beat and eventually as Paul Collins and every variation thereof. A few days ago the pick was The Nerves and that's where Paul Collins came from. It's where the they became the Breakaways (however briefly) and then he broke off to become The Beat. Even from those early days, I loved his song Rock N Roll Girl which for some reason is still not his most famous song. I don't understand why it isn't. But he does have quite afew other good songs over the years as evidenced by this pick. I included a Breakaways track and a couple of Nerves tracks that were in the Nerves family pick. Sorry but you need them to get the rest.

Paul Collins Pick

01 The Breakaways - Walking Out On Love

02 Paul Collins Beat - She Doesn't Want to Hang Around with You

03 The Beat - Let Me Into Your Life

04 Paul Collins' Beat - Dance Dance

05 Paul Collins - It's Gonna Be A Long Time

06 Paul Collins' Beat - Give Me The Drugs

07 Paul Collins' Beat - On The Highway

08 Paul Collins Beat - Hey DJ

09 Paul Collins' Beat - Dreaming

10 Paul Collins - Rock And Roll Shoes

11 Paul Collins - I Need My Rock N'roll

12 The Beat - Working Too Hard

13 Paul Collins - Helen

14 Paul Collins Beat - I Still Want You

15 The Nerves - Give Me Some Time

16 The Beat - You Won't Be Happy

17 Paul Collins' Beat - Broken Hearted

18 Paul Collins' Beat - All Over The World

19 The Beat - There She Goes

20 Paul Collins - Only Girl

21 Paul Collins - C' Mon Let's Go!

22 The Beat - Rock N Roll Girl

23 Paul Collins - Go

24 The Nerves - When You Find Out

Stan Ridgway Pick

A few days ago I posted a pick of Wall Of Voodoo and this is the followup. Most people associate Stan Ridgway with that band and he was integral to it. As the singer he gets quite a lot of credit for the band's sound and if you listen to much of his solo stuff, you can see why. The voice is distinct. And some of the solo stuff he's done sounds like Wall Of Voodoo and it's quite good. I'm going to say that the other fellows in the band were equally as important, but let's leave that for a future Wall Of Voodoo Family pick that I am working on now. This pick is missing a few of my favorites since I will use them on the upcoming pick. But that being said most all of them are here. Including Stan playing with Stewart Copeland on a great song. And his biggest "hits" which it's funny to say, he doesn't have hits, but fan favorites might make more sense. I tend to like his stuff that sounds like Wall Of Voodoo best, but his covers of standards are pretty good. Who does it better? Frank? Or Stan?

Stan Ridgway Pick

01 Stan Ridgway - Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket)

02 Stan Ridgway - Mr. Trouble

03 Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat

04 Stan Ridgway - I Wanna Be A Boss

05 Stan Ridgway - Mission Bell

06 Stan Ridgway - Lonely Town

07 Stan Ridgway - Camouflage

08 Stan Ridgway with the Fowler Brothers - Cannon Song

09 Stan Ridgway - Salesman

10 Stan Ridgway - The Coffee Song

11 Stan Ridgway - Calling Out To Carol

12 Stan Ridgway - Can't Complain

13 Stan Ridgway - The Last Honest Man

14 Stan Ridgway - Walkin' Home Alone

15 Stan Ridgway - Drive, She Said

16 Stan Ridgway - Goin' Southbound

17 Stan Ridgway - Peg And Pete And Me

18 Stan Ridgway with Stewart Copeland - Don't Box Me In

Beat The Case Of The Nerves

The fancy title is because I was looking at some Erle Stanley Gardner books as I was coming up with it. He wrote all the Perry Mason books (and as AA Fair wrote my favorite detective novels with Bertha Cool and Donald Lam). All his Perry Mason books are titled "The Case of the ..." and when the main protaganists of the band The Nerves end up being The Beat and Peter Case, it just made sense in my head. Really it's The Nerves Family Pick. Nerves became the Breakaways which turned into solo stuff for Jack Lee, The Beat (later Paul Collins Beat) and The Plimsouls which led to Peter Case solo. These guys are semi famous. Their songs ended up in Caddyshack, and Valley Girls as well as covers by Blondie that went ballistic. I liked most all of it. I have saved a few tracks to be used only in solo picks, so don't despair if your favorites aren't there yet. But these are my very favorites of each. I know it's Halloween, but I decided to send you to another site (Groovy Library) for some great Halloween tracks instead of posting some myself. George did a great job with Halloween this year!

Beat The Case Of The Nerves

01 The Nerves - Hanging On The Telephone

02 The Nerves - Give Me Some Time

03 The Nerves - When You Find Out

04 The Breakaways - One Way Ticket

05 The Breakaways - Walking Out On Love

06 Jack Lee - It's Hot Outside

07 The Beat - Let Me Into Your Life

08 The Beat - Working Too Hard

09 Plimsouls - Now

10 Plimsouls - Zero Hour

11 The Beat - There She Goes

12 Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away

13 The Beat - Rock N Roll Girl

14 Plimsouls - Everywhere at Once

15 Peter Case - Steel Strings

16 Paul Collins' Beat - Dreaming

17 Peter Case - Banks Of The River

18 Peter Case - On The Way Downtown

19 Peter Case - Beyond The Blues

20 Peter Case - Gone

21 Peter Case - Entella Hotel

22 Peter Case - Every 24 Hours

23 Paul Collins - I Need My Rock N'roll

24 Plimsouls - Playing With Jack

25 Paul Collins Beat - I Still Want You

26 Peter Case - Coulda Shoulda Woulda