Shaggin' On The Beach 1

Coming from California, I knew beach music as Surf music. Beach Boys, The Ventures, Surfari's, etc. and then later various surf punk bands. I was surprised to find that there was a complete other side to Beach Music: Shaggin'. Or Carolina Beach Music. I always thought of this as R&B. The more I looked in to it, the more I liked it. And the more other stuff I found that I had no real idea about (like Belgian Popcorn and Northern Soul) which I will post here later. First, this is my pick of Carolina Beach Music, or music you can Shag to. I would guess there are millions of other choices out there (and I will post a few more tomorrow), so if I miss a few of your favorites (or you think one of these doesn't cut it) leave me a comment and let me know.

Shaggin' On The Beach 1

01 Lil' Bob & The Lollipops - I Got Loaded

02 The O'Kaysions - Girl Watcher

03 Alabama - Dancin', Shaggin' On The Boulevard

04 Temptations - Lady Soul

05 Brenton Wood - Gimme A Little Sign

06 Wilbert Harrison - Kansas City

07 Rod Stewart - The Motown Song

08 O.C. Smith - Brenda

09 Lamont Dozier - Cool Me Out

10 Drifters - Under The Boardwalk

11 Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs - Stay

12 Mary Wells - My Guy

13 Four Tops - It's The Same Old Song

14 The Trammps - Hold Back The Night

15 Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)

16 The Swingin' Medallions - Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)

17 Chairmen Of The Board & General Johnson - Carolina Girls

18 Catalinas - Summertime's Calling Me

19 The Globetrotters - Rainy Day Bells

20 Lloyd Price - Stagger Lee

21 Spiral Staircase - More Today Than Yesterday

Girls and Guitars

This pick is all about Girls & Guitars. Also featured on Butter Boy's blog who has some more great comps on his site. Some of my picks of great guitarists who happen to be female. These are all some kick ass guitarists. Seen many of them live in concert and they shred. A few are not usually the first ones you think of, because they are in male fronted bands, but that shouldn't matter. I'm not going to name each of the guitarists (just find the bands on some wiki), but some of these are just really well known and a couple less so. I wish we could all see a couple of them still, but the bands are no more. The Cramps and Betty Blowtorch, we're only going to be able to see on someone's video channel. And it's too bad because they rocked. Anyway, I didn't include a few obvious choices (maybe in volume two if I ever make it), so be sure to call me on it in the comments.

Girls and Guitars

01 St. Vincent - Rattlesnake

02 The Breeders - Cannonball

03 Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - I Love Rock n Roll

04 The Great Kat - Beethoven On Speed

05 Marnie Stern - Transformer

06 L7 - Pretend We're Dead

07 Gretchen Menn - Scrap Metal

08 Jennifer Batten - Whammy Damage

09 Vixen - Edge Of A Broken Heart

10 Nashville Pussy - Go MotherFucker Go

11 Orianthi - According To You

12 Nori Bucci - Recurring Nightmare

13 Heart - Barracuda

14 Pretenders - Mystery Achievement

15 One-Eyed Doll - Be My Friend

16 Sleater-Kinney - Oh!

17 Betty Blowtorch - Hell On Wheels

18 Lita Ford - Kiss Me Deadly

19 The Donnas - Take It Off

20 Sarah Longfield - Cataclysm

21 Nili Brosh - A Matter Of Perception

22 Halestorm - I Miss The Misery

23 The Cramps - What's Inside a Girl

What's The Connection? Hot 2

The second volume of the Hot connection. More songs with "Hot" in the title. You could do a ton more of these but this is the last for now. Leave a comment below about my choices (and great taste or perhaps my lack of good taste.) Mostly older songs, but a couple newer ones. Some people may not know Goober and the Peas, but they were great in concert! Well worth seeing them live in their original Nudie suits. AOR band Hush didn't make it nationally, but in the Bay Area they were pretty darn good. Robert Berry was in that band. You've probably heard all the other bands. But if not, ask me and I'll tell you about them. No more hot connections for awhile.

What's The Connection? Hot 2

01 Goober & The Peas - Hot Women (Cold Beer)

02 Triumph - Hot Time in the City Tonight

03 Led Zeppelin - Hots On For Nowhere

04 The Bar-Kays - Too Hot To Stop (Pt. 1)

05 Kool & The Gang - Too Hot

06 Prince - Hot Thing

07 Lyle Lovett - She's Hot To Go

08 The Cure - Hot Hot Hot !!! (Extended Remix)

09 Rascal Flatts - Hot In Here

10 5 Seconds Of Summer - She's Kinda Hot

11 Karen Young - Hot Shot

12 Sun - We're So Hot

13 Saturday Night Band - Touch Me On My Hot Spot

14 Katy Perry - Hot N Cold

15 Sylvers - Hot Line

16 Frank Zappa - Hot Water

17 Hush - Hot Tonight

What's The Connection? Hot 1

This Connection is songs that have "hot" in the title. Obviously there are millions of songs to pick from. I started with Fishbone (one of my favorite bands that I've seen live many, many times.) They usually did  the song Fishbone (Is Red Hot). Later, I saw them open for the Chili Peppers and they had a song called They're Red Hot. I don't know who started it but I heard it first with Fishbone. Both were good calls to get you excited about the bands. Anyway, I looked at some other bands I liked and came up with enough for almost two CD's worth of Hot songs. Here's the first hot WTC? These songs are red hot!

What's The Connection? Hot 1

01 Billy Lee Riley - Red Hot

02 Olivia Newton-John - Totally Hot

03 Rolling Stones - Hot Stuff

04 Jerry Reed - When You're Hot, You're Hot

05 Soft Boys - I Got The Hots

06 Nelly - Hot In Herre

07 Nick Gilder - Hot Child In The City

08 Heatwave - Too Hot To Handle

09 Fishbone - Fishbone (Is Red Hot)

10 Arrow - Hot Hot Hot

11 Donna Summer - Hot Stuff

12 Commodores - To Hot Ta Trot

13 Throbbing Gristle - Hot On The Heels Of Love

14 Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell - Drop It Like It's Hot

15 Power Station - Some Like It Hot

16 Y&T - Hot Shot

17 Loverboy - The Kid Is Hot Tonite

18 General Public - Hot You're Cool

19 Red Hot Chili Peppers - They're Red Hot

20 The Fall - Hot Aftershave Bop

What's The Connection? Vacation

People tend to take vacations in the summer, although for many it's been staycations or having a holiday at home. But this was made some time ago, before the really bad inflation and huge gas prices. All the songs have vacation in the title. Yes, I know that some people say they go on holiday (that's another WTC?). This one is strictly a vacation connection. I knew I had to have the Go-Go's in here, the rest went around that. I came up with a few good ones. Again let me know if your favorite vacation song isn't in here. And enjoy whatever vacation you are having this year. I hope it's sweet. And yes, that's me on the Jetski.

What's The Connection? Vacation

01 Young Fresh Fellows - Empty Set Takes a Vacation

02 Sister Sledge - Let's Go On Vacation

03 Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Mideast Vacation

04 Ricky Nelson - A Long Vacation

05 Lionel Richie - Sweet Vacation

06 Orleans - I Need A Break (From My Vacation)

07 The Party - Summer Vacation

08 Bo Diddley - Bo's Vacation

09 Buddy Guy - Your Mind Is On Vacation

10 Alabama - Vacation

11 Johnny Cash - When I Take My Vacation In Heaven

12 The Ramones - Endless Vacation

13 The Fleshtones - Bazooka Joe's Vacation

14 Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation

15 Black Oak Arkansas - Spring Vacation

16 Chuck Berry - Vacation Time

17 Van Morrison - Your Mind Is On Vacation

18 Sugarland - Operation Working Vacation

19 Connie Francis - Vacation

20 Vitamin C - Vacation

21 Freezepop - Vacation

22 Circle Jerks - Paid Vacation

23 Beach Boys - Spring Vacation

24 Go-Go's - Vacation

What's The Connection? Sunshine

After I had the Summer connection done, I had to work on the Sunshine WTC? For me there were some obvious choices that I liked immediately (Dean Martin and Prince, of course), but also Earth Wind & Fire and Nina Hagen had to be in there. The hardest part is narrowing it down (and remembering all the possible songs). I'm sure if I thought about it today, I'd come up with a bunch more to make another volume of Sunshine songs, but I never really did. I got most all of my favorites, so I'm happy with it. But if you have a favorite that I'm missing, let me know in the comments. Either way, no matter where you are, this is a great album to play on a hot sun shiny day.

What's The Connection? Sunshine

01 Beatles - Good Day Sunshine

02 Stevie Wonder - You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

03 Ray Charles - You Are My Sunshine

04 Donovan - Sunshine Superman

05 Tom Tom Club - Sunshine and Ecstasy

06 Earth Wind & Fire - Sunshine

07 Katrina And The Waves - Walking On Sunshine

08 Cream - Sunshine of Your Love

09 Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine

10 The Brady Bunch - It's A Sunshine Day

11 Jonathan Edwards - Sunshine

12 Nina Hagen & Cast - Let The Sunshine In

13 Love & Rockets - It Could Be Sunshine

14 Miss Kittin & The Hacker - Walking In The Sunshine

15 Fishbone - Everyday Sunshine

16 Eddy Grant - Walkin' On Sunshine

17 Joi - Sunshine & The Rain

18 Fuzzbox - Pink Sunshine

19 Prince - Play In The Sunshine

20 Dean Martin - Powder Your Face With Sunshine (Smile! Smile! Smile!)

21 Lee Oskar - Sunshine Keri

22 Praxis - Sunshine

What's The Connection? Summer

I've been doing lots of Pol's Picks, but WTC? (or What's The Connection?) are my favorite picks. Since we're in July (in Texas) the connection today is Summer. Although I made this originally in summer 2000 it is timeless. Back in 2000 I was listening to Lil' Brian and the Zydeco Travelers. From Thigh Drivin' to Summer Girls they had a great sound. I added a bunch of other Summer songs that I liked and came up with this WTC?. Some much older and a few that are now old classics as well. Never thought I would say that Dino was old, but there you go. The funk of Kool & the Gang and Sly and the Family Stone right next to Shonen Knife and the Stray Cats. The first time I really heard Sly and the Family Stone, I was blown away! I listened to the album over and over. Just so great! Obviously a million other Summer songs are available. Tell me your favorites in the comments below.

What's The Connection? Summer

01 Kool & the Gang - Summer Madness

02 Bangles - Bitchen Summer

03 Bananarama - Cruel Summer

04 The B-52's - Summer Of Love

05 Lil' Brian and the Zydeco Travelers - Summer Girl

06 Dino - Summergirls

07 War - Summer

08 Don Henley - The Boys Of Summer

09 Mungo Jerry - In The Summer Time

10 The Motels - Suddenly Last Summer

11 Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze

12 Stevie Wonder - Summer Soft

13 Chad and Jeremy - A Summer Song

14 The Danleers - One Summer Night

15 Jamies - Summertime, Summertime

16 Sly and the Family Stone - Hot Fun In The Summertime

17 Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City

18 Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues

19 Shonen Knife - Summertime Boogie

20 Surfin' Lungs - Who Stole The Summer

21 Stray Cats - Lonely Summer Nights

You Prolly Don't Have These

I'm guessing you probably don't have many of the following tracks. Some were never released on CD or LP, but they deserve to be heard. I hope you get at least one new favorite. Some are local bands from the Bay Area, a couple were local in their area, but I got their demo or single (in one case a flexi disc). A few got a real release by a record company, but most did not. A couple like The Residents put out tons of albums, but are still considered fringe bands (not to me.) All of these tracks deserve a listen. There are some cool songs here on this pick. If you like one or another, and want to know more about that band, leave a comment asking me and I will answer. I'll tell you a little bit about one: Julia's Child. This is not really a band, but a musician who was also a DJ in a major market (I can't tell you his name). He produced it on cassette. And he never got to play it on the commercial stations he jocked at. He always treated the song like a joke, but I always loved the song. It did get radio play on several college stations across the nation.

You Prolly Don't Have These

01 Full Moon Tan - No Money, No Chick, No Car
02 Uncle Rainbow - Anyway The Wind Blows
03 Bobb Haskit - Take Me There
04 The Endmen - Letter From Constance
05 Negativland - Yellow Black And Rectangular
06 MCM And The Monster - Godzilla
07 Inflatable Boy Clams - I'm Sorry
08 Limbomaniacs - Caffe Latte
09 Julia's Child - The World Owes Me A Lunch
10 The Residents - Kaw-Liga
11 Voice Farm - Free Love
12 Babylon Representatives - Ratz On Acid
13 Until December - Heaven
14 Mysterians - Mr Famous
15 Inka Inka - Brainwash
16 Jennifer Rambles On - Hate #1
17 Grotus - Good Evening
18 Pop-O-Pies - Truckin'
19 Cerebral Corps - Pam's Purple Spirograph
20 World Entertainment War - Marlboro Man Jr
21 Shnazz - (I Want To) Jump On Your Bones

Looking Glass Originals

Back in 1986 Siouxsie & The Banshees put out an album of all covers called Through The Looking Glass. A very good album that showed their influences. They had recorded some covers before which were also good. I played the heck out of the album when it came out. I was surprised that so many people had no idea that some of the songs were covers. So I put together a compilation of the originals. Ten songs on the album. I had room for a few more, so I added another version of one of the songs and then added the originals of four more covers that the Banshees had done as B-Sides on other albums/singles. I did not add Wild Thing, because it was The Creatures (which is only Siouxsie and Budgie and not the entire band). It is my pick after all.

Looking Glass Originals

01 Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us

02 Kraftwerk - The Hall Of Mirrors

03 Jungle Book - Trust In Me

04 The Band - This Wheel's On Fire

05 Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit

06 Doors - You're Lost Little Girl

07 Iggy Pop - The Passenger

08 John Cale - Gun

09 Roxy Music - Sea Breezes

10 Television - Little Johnny Jewel

11 Ben E. King - Supernatural Thing--Part I

12 Velvet Underground, The & Nico - All Tomorrow's Parties

13 Beatles - Dear Prudence

14 Beatles - Helter Skelter

15 Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity - This Wheel's On Fire

Handcuff Dancing 2

Part 2 of my pick of the songs played at New Wave night at The Cabaret in the Bay Area. I promised I would tell you about the title and how I came up with it. Probably only me and my friends ever called it this, but when we went dancing at this (and other clubs in the area) we would encounter the goth looking girls, who only looked that way for that night of the week. Not like today when half the baristas in your local coffee shop look goth. Well, anyway, these girls (and I say girls, but it was just mostly girls) used to dance with their legs pretty much not moving except for a slight bend every now and again. And their hands would move to the music up and around and all over, but their wrists would stay together as if they were handcuffed. I always called it Handcuff Dancing. Most of them wore a hundred of those plastic/rubber wrist bands like Madonna did. Surprisingly, most of those girls were not interested in velvet covered handcuffs once they got to my house, but a few were. I had a lot of fun at these New Wave nights. I was sad to see the place close.

Handcuff Dancing 2

18 Freur - Doot Doot

19 Romeo Void - White Sweater

20 Alphaville - Big In Japan

21 Ministry - Work For Love (Sex Slave Edit)

22 SPK - Mouth to Mouth

23 Cube - Love's Taboo (Repel The Spell Mix)

24 Siouxsie & the Banshees - Cities In Dust

25 Psychedelic Furs - Heartbreak Beat

26 George Kranz - Din Daa Daa (US Remix)

27 Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)

28 Stranglers - Skin Deep

29 Paul Lekakis - Boom Boom (Let's Go Back To My Room)

30 Shriekback - Lined Up

31 Bauhaus - She's In Parties

32 Martha & the Muffins - Echo Beach

33 Our Daughter's Wedding - Lawnchairs

34 Echo & The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses

Handcuff Dancing 1

Somewhere in the 80's, new wave clubs became underground popular to go to in the Bay Area, where I was living. One of those clubs in San Jose was called The Cabaret. Saw many great shows there, but a night or two was set aside for new wave DJ to come in and play the new wave "hits" if you can call them that. They were for all of us there and eventually they became popular enough that they got played on more than the college stations. This pick includes some of my favorites from those nights. I'll tell you about the title tomorrow.

Handcuff Dancing 1

01 Tones on Tail - Go!

02 Cure - The Love Cats

03 The Smiths - How Soon Is Now?

04 Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me)

05 Frank Tovey - Collapsing New People

06 Peter Murphy - Final Solution

07 Human League - Things That Dreams Are Made Of

08 Yello - Vicious Games

09 Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink

10 The Sisters of Mercy - Walk Away

11 Blancmange - That's Love That It Is

12 The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary

13 Depeche Mode - See You

14 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

15 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

16 Killing Joke - Eighties

17 Modern English - I Melt With You

Industrial Dance 4

Several more of bands you've already heard in this series, but it's my pick. I'm sure you must have a few of your favorites that I may have left out. Be sure to leave it in the comments. I have enough songs prepared for a couple more volumes, but this is the last one for now. A couple of cool tracks here. Radioactive Goldfish was considered techno, but I lumped them in here. I got records from Cheetah at a record convention (along with Schnitt Acht - who is supposedly just heavy metal). I listened to the albums when I got home and said, wow. Never did get either on CD, so these were from the LP's. The band a;Grumh I found on a CD hunt. Loved them and ended up getting a few more. The fact that they covered Pink Floyd was just bonus. A few of these perhaps are more than just Industrial Dance, but I think they fit anyway. Some are so typical of the genre that no one can argue. Hamburger Lady in it's original form may be more industrial than dance, but with the remix, no doubt that it's danceable.

Industrial Dance 4

44 Carter USM - Bedsitter

45 Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System - Hard Left

46 A Split Second - Colosseum Crash (12'' Version 89)

47 Throbbing Gristle - Hamburger Lady (Carter Tutti Remix)

48 Lead Into Gold - Faster Than Light

49 Cat Rapes Dog - Ironman

50 Schnitt Acht - Grouch

51 Radioactive Goldfish - LSD Is The Bomb

52 Pankow - Kunst Und Wahnsinn

53 Big Black - The Model

54 Rammstein - Du Hast

55 Meat Beat Manifesto - Prime Audio Soup

56 Peace Love + Pitbulls - Do The Monkey (Hitch-Hike To Mars)

57 My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - After The Flesh

58 a;Grumh... - Another Brick in the Wall Part II

59 Front Line Assembly - Maniacal

Industrial Dance 3

I continue the Industrial Dance pick today with older and newer (at least at the time I made this) tracks. A couple of nice remixes and some bands you've already seen before. It's obvious that I like bands like Cabaret Voltaire who I've seen live multiple times. In England as well as in the US. The time I saw them in the UK was pretty cool. Hadn't planned on seeing them, but heard they were in town while I was there. Saw them in a relatively small club in some remote area near London. Called a friend who got me a ticket at the door. Very different type of show compared to the NY venue I saw them in. A little rawer (and smaller club) in the UK, but still as cool as ever. The collaboration between Lustmord and Chris & Cosey (TGT) is one of my favorites. I especially like the Razormaid remix which was not widely available.

Industrial Dance 3

31 The Normal - Warm Leatherette

32 Nine Inch Nails - Burn

33 Skinny Puppy - Worlock

34 Pigface - Sickaspfuck (Full Gimball #1 Club Mix)

35 Cabaret Voltaire - Sensoria (12 mix)

36 Ministry - Thieves

37 SPK - Mouth To Mouth

38 Lords of Acid - I Sit On Acid

39 The Genetic Terrorists - Machine Gun (Razormaid Mix)

40 Acid Horse - No Name No Slogan (Cabaret Voltaire)

41 My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - A Girl Doesn't Get Killed By A Make-Believe Lover... 'cuz It's Hot

42 Portion Control - Raise The Pulse

43 Throbbing Gristle - Adrenalin

Industrial Dance 2

Continuing the Industrial Dance pick series. Here's volume two. As you will probably surmise after a while is: I like this genre. Some borderline songs here. If it wasn't remixed by Adrian Sherwood, I would put Einsturzende Neubauten in the straight industrial category, but Adrian spices it up and makes them a bit more danceable. I really like the Clock DVA (I used another one of their songs as my signature song, when I was on the radio). A few obvious choices in here, but I will mention only My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult (shortened later to Thrill Kill Kult). Their show in San Francisco had to have the most smoke/fog in any show I have ever been to. You could barely make out the band. Just flashes of lights. And I was in the front. More coming.

Industrial Dance 2

17 Einsturzende Neubauten - Yu-Gung (Adrian Sherwood Mix)

18 Clock DVA - The Hacker

19 Cyberaktif - Nothing Stays

20 Snowy Red - Breakdown

21 Dessau - Isolation

22 Front 242 - Welcome To Paradise V 1.0

23 Nitzer Ebb - Join In The Chant

24 Bigod 20 - The Bog

25 My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Kooler Than Jesus

26 Front Line Assembly - Mindphaser (12 Version)

27 A Split Second - Flesh (The Original Mix)

28 DAF - Goldenes Spielzeug

29 Leather Strip - Strap Me Down

30 Severed Heads - Dead Eyes Opened

Industrial Dance 1

Industrial Dance pick is a series of my favorite songs that you would classify as danceable industrial music. It has such a boring title, but it is what it is. Throbbing Gristle, to me is the start of industrial music. But Industrial dance is a little different. Some people call this EBM or Electronic Body Music and I think I even have an old CD that's called Electronic Body Music. Although TG had some industrial dance, it wasn't until Front 242 or Skinny Puppy that it started to gain traction as a "genre". Some of the tracks on this series, may not fit your description, but I just think if it's danceable and industrial sounding, it goes. Enjoy what I chose. Either way it is a great follow up to the Grebo pick of yesterday.

Industrial Dance 1

01 Butthole Surfers - Who Was In My Room Last Night?

02 KMFDM - Godlike

03 White Zombie - More Human Than Human [Meet Bambi in the King's Harem Mix]

04 Nine Inch Nails - Head Like a Hole

05 Ptp - Show Me Your Spine

06 1000 Homo Djs - Supernaut

07 Front 242 - Headhunter V 3.0

08 Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod

09 Rob Zombie - Dragula

10 Throbbing Gristle - Hot Heels United (Carter Tutti Remix)

11 The Genetic Terrorists - TGT

12 Sheep on Drugs - Motorbike

13 Skinny Puppy - Assimilate

14 Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People

15 Revolting Cocks - Something Wonderful

16 Cabaret Voltaire - No Escape

Grebo

In the late 80's or so, I started listening to some bands that were making alternative music that was starting to be called Grebo. I had no idea it was called that until later, but I liked the sound. Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Carter USM and Pop Will Eat Itself all had this sound. I had early 12"s from Age Of Chance, the weird commercials in-between tracks on Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Add early Jesus Jones and EMF and it was unbelievable what it sounded like. Less than ten years later and the Grebo movement had changed and become Industrial Dance, but they left an indelible mark on the music scene. Here are some of my favorites in this pick.

Grebo

01 Gaye Bykers On Acid - All Hung Up

02 Hawkwind - Time We Left This World Today

03 Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missile F1-11

04 Mega City Four - Pride and Prejudice

05 Senseless Things - Girlfriend

06 Hunters Club - Talking Terror

07 Carter USM - Twenty Four Minutes From Tulse Hill

08 The Bomb Party - Our Love Is Pushing Up Daisies

09 The Wonder Stuff - A Wish Away

10 Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction - Wild Child

11 Pop Will Eat Itself - Can U Dig It

12 The Family Cat - Steamroller

13 Jesus Jones - Never Enough

14 EMF - Children

15 Age Of Chance - Kiss

16 Crazyhead - Baby Turpentine

17 Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Kill Your Television

In-Frelling-Fix

I know how I came up with the title, so let me address that first. An "In Fix" is To insert (a morphological element) into the body of a word. Usually a swear word. Taking the word Unbelievable and adding the f-word (with an "ing") between "un" and "believable". I was looking at that and wanted to have a title with a swear word, but not a real one. So "Frell" was the swear word that the characters in Farscape used when they wanted to swear. And I had this CD I was making with jazz, but not jazz. Rock, but not rock. And none of it was quite what I would characterize as prog rock (although I'm sure some would.) So I used the in fix title for this playlist pick. Interesting, but doesn't make a difference to the music on here. Although the last track is also an In Fix. Ta da!

In-Frelling-Fix

01 The Dregs - Cruise Control

02 Frank Zappa - Peaches En Regalia

03 Renaissance - Kings & Queens

04 Traffic - Low Spark Of Hi-Heeled Boys

05 Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire

06 Return to Forever - Medieval Overture

07 Weather Report - Havona

08 Quiet Sun - Sol Caliente

09 King Crimson - Indoor Games

10 Soft Machine - Out-Bloody-Rageous

Infectious Pop Sensibilities 2

Part two of the series. Not sure that I will put any more up for now, so this will have to do in the meantime. Weird, different pop songs, that sometimes are borderline offensive and sometime are just pop songs that should have been hits (according to me, who is often wrong). Some rare songs, some easily found. Most on some album or another, but a couple of 45's in here. The cover is my idea of pop sensibilities, not sure that it's infectious. But oh well, it's my pick.

Infectious Pop Sensibilities 2

24 Red Zone - News From The Red Zone
25 Grotus - Good Evening
26 Evolution Control Committee - Rocked By Rape
27 Sparks - Your Call's Very Important to Us.  Please Hold.
28 Bill Nelson - Hard Facts From The Fiction Department
29 Jane Bond & the Undercover Men - Stuff We're Not Supposed To Know
30 Bongwater - Celebrity Compass
31 Negativland - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
32 Tom Waits - Step Right Up
33 Dead Milkmen - The Puking Song
34 King Missile - Detachable Penis
35 Zander Schloss - Salsa Y Ketchup
36 Monty Python - Sit On My Face
37 Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - My Wife & My Dead Wife
38 Residents - Constantinople
39 Killer Pussy - Teenage Enema Nurses In Bondage
40 Inflatable Boy Clams - Marin
41 Bonzo Dog Band - Big Shot
42 MCM and the Monster - Godzilla
43 Tigers - Spider In The Bath
44 Butthole Surfers - Kuntz
45 Aerosmith - Big Ten Inch Record
46 AC-DC - Big Balls

Infectious Pop Sensibilities 1

This is a series. Every time I start looking at making a new mix tape or CD or playlist pick, I end up with some new or old songs that just don't fit. But I like the songs. Sometimes I just cram them in but many times I put it in a side pile to figure out where they do fit. When I had too many, I started making this series. Stuff that I like, that I don't care if anyone else thinks it's popular or not. Sometimes it is and sometimes I smash my head and ask, Why isn't this a hit? But I also put aside stuff that I know will never be a hit, but I love it anyway. Here's disc one.

Infectious Pop Sensibilities 1

01 Sparks - Dick Around

02 Beat Farmers - Zeppelin Medley

03 The Flaming Lips - Can't Get You Out Of My Head

04 Ween - Pollo Asada

05 Inflatable Boy Clams - I'm Sorry

06 Cake - Rock 'N' Roll Lifestyle

07 Robyn Hitchcock - Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl

08 Beck - Loser

09 Devo - Beautiful World

10 Paula Yates with BEF - These Boots Are Made For Walking

11 Bjork - It's Oh So Quiet

12 John Hegley and the Popticians - I Saw My Dinner On TV

13 Chumbawamba - Cartrouble

14 Stan Ridgway - The Coffee Song

15 Bauhaus - Party of the First Part

16 Wild Willi Becket & Jont - Averagely Surprised

17 They Might Be Giants - Instanbul (Not Constantinople)

18 Swamp Zombies - Creep

19 Talking Heads - Psycho Killer

20 The Kinks - (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman

21 Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling

22 Toy Dolls - Nellie The Elephant

23 Violent Femmes - Kiss Off

It's An Obsession 2

The second half of my playlist, It's An Obsession. All songs I was obsessing over in the 80's when I made the tape. I re-did it as a CD and then as a playlist. I listened to these songs and I obsessed over making tapes, so what does the title refer to? No idea. I don't know if now, I would put Billie Jean and Kissing The Pink on the same pick, but it made sense then. The cover is a recreation of the cassette label I made originally. See the first side yesterday for more of the story.

It's An Obsession 2

12 Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination

13 David Bowie - China Girl

14 Kissing The Pink - Love Lasts Forever

15 The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another

16 Eurythmics - Love Is A Stranger

17 Duran Duran - Union Of The Snake

18 A Flock Of Seagulls - Modern Love Is Automatic

19 Devo - Through Being Cool

20 Kissing The Pink - Watching Their Eyes

21 David Bowie - Criminal World

22 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

23 Men Without Hats - The Great Ones Remember

It's An Obsession 1

This is another one of my old mixtape cassettes redone as a CD and then as a playlist pick. It's all just stuff I was listening to back then. Not sure of the timeline, but somewhere in the 80's is my guess. You might be able to figure it out by checking release dates of all of these, because it's probably mostly of that year. I'm also not clear on the memory of how I named this, but I was listening to these songs as if it was an obsession. Side 2 tomorrow.

It's An Obsession side 1

01 David Bowie - Let's Dance

02 Jump 'N The Saddle - The Curly Shuffle

03 Kissing The Pink - Big Man Restless

04 Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

05 Depeche Mode - Told You So

06 Ric Ocasek - Something To Grab For

07 Human League - Hard Times

08 Eurythmics - This Is The House

09 Prince - Sexuality

10 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Messages

11 ABC - Poison Arrow

Eric Troyer

This pick of Eric Troyer is interesting. Not that many people may be aware of Eric Troyer. It's one of those things where looking at album covers helps (or maybe now, following wiki links) Eric Troyer has played with so many different artists, but probably is best known for being in ELO part 2. Being a big Jim Steinman fan I recognized that Troyer appeared on some Meat Loaf and Steinman productions, which meant Bonnie Tyler and Taylor Dayne and Celine Dion, too. Finding him on Air Supply and Billy Joel as well as John Lennon and Lou Reed solidified it for me. Suzanne Fellini was just the icing on the cake, with one of my favorite tracks of hers. So here's my pick of his stuff.

Eric Troyer

01 Electric Light Orchestra Part II - Hello

02 Meat Loaf & Cher - Dead Ringer for Love

03 The Orchestra - Jewel & Johnny

04 Celine Dion - It's All Coming Back To Me Now

05 Eric Troyer - Mirage

06 Billy Joel - Tell Her About It

07 Taylor Dayne - Original Sin

08 Suzanne Fellini - Love On The Phone

09 Graham Parker - Temporary Beauty

10 ALEAtronic featuring Eric Troyer - Imagination

11 Gene Simmons - Radioactive

12 Electric Light Orchestra Part II - Honest Men

13 Billy Joel - Uptown Girl

14 Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

15 Lou Reed - New Sensations

16 Air Supply - Making Love Out Of Nothing At All

17 Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out For A Hero

18 Jim Steinman - Bad For Good

19 John Lennon & Yoko Ono - Woman

Carole King

Carole King is known for her songwriting and her own albums, especially Tapestry. All sorts of her great songs have been done by a variety of artists. I put this together when Nina Hagen covered one of her songs. I'm sure there are other compilations of Carole King songs, but these are my favorite picks. I included her singing some of her own hits, plus amazing songs like Natural Woman done by Aretha Franklin and put them next to tracks by the Motels and Nina Hagen. I hope you enjoy this playlist.

Carole King

01 Carole King - It's Too Late

02 The Shirelles - Will You Love Me Tomorrow

03 Donny Osmond - Go Away Little Girl

05 Grand Funk - The Loco-Motion

05 James Taylor - You've Got A Friend

06 Bobby Vee - Take Good Care of My Baby

07 Carole King - Jazzman

08 The Drifters - Up On The Roof

09 The Everly Brothers - Crying In The Rain

10 Skeeter Davis - I Can't Stay Mad At You

11 Herman's Hermits - I'm Into Something Good

12 The Monkees - Pleasant Valley Sunday

13 The Righteous Brothers - Just Once In My Life

14 Chiffons - One Fine Day

15 The Cookies - Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)

16 Carole King - Sweet Seasons

17 Freddie Scott - Hey Girl

18 The Animals - Don't Bring Me Down

19 Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

20 Blood, Sweat and Tears - Hi-De-Ho

21 The Cookies - Chains 

22 Carole King - It Might As Well Rain Until September

23 Martika - I Feel The Earth Move

24 Grand Funk - Some Kind Of Wonderful

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

26 Nina Hagen - Giant Step

Electric Banana 2

Part two of the old cassette Electric Banana. I had some old songs and some new songs to surround a few Berlin tracks that I liked from their Pleasure Victim album. Not that the garage and new wave and punk sounded anything like Berlin, but somehow I believed it did. And listening to it again, I realize that it kinda goes, but kinda not. Anyway enjoy the cover and the tracks on this pick. I'm glad the c-90 cassette found new life on here for you.

Electric Banana 2

16 The Bangles - Want You

17 Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard

18 The Rockats - Go Cat Wild

19 Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy

20 The Berlin Brats - Tropically Hot

21 Berlin - Pleasure Victim

22 Droogs - Set My Love On You

23 Stranglers - Walk On By

24 The Standells - Dirty Water

25 The Crowd - Suzy Is A Surf Rocker

26 Sex Pistols - (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone

27 Berlin - Masquerade

28 The Knickerbockers - Lies

29 Altered Images - Little Town Flirt

30 Guess Who - Shakin' All Over

31 Surf Punks - New Lead Guitar

Electric Banana 1

Please don't ask how I came up with the title for this one. I don't remember. Although I did hand draw the banana. This was originally a cassette that I made around the time of Berlin's second album, but the first with Terri Nunn back at the helm. Which is why this cassette features four songs from the band on the whole cassette. each side became a CD and now a playlist. The pick is some tracks I was listening to in 1982. Some old garage and some new punk, a couple of covers, new wave and some rock. I hope you like the mix.

Electric Banana 1

01 The Rockats - Make That Move

02 Buddy Holly - Rave On

03 Berlin - Tell Me Why

04 The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction

05 Dead Kennedys - Rawhide

06 The Balloon Farm - A Question Of Temperature

07 Sex Pistols - Rock Around The Clock

08 Bobby Fuller Four - I Fought The Law

09 The Ramones - Rockaway Beach

10 Swinging Blue Jeans - Hippy Hippy Shake

11 Eddie & The Hot Rods - Do Anything You Want To Do

12 Gary Usher - The Beetle

13 Grand Funk - The Locomotion

14 The Slits - I Heard It Through The Grapevine

15 Berlin - Sex (I'm A...)

Electrowave

Not the same as the Clash Of TheTitans series. First this is only one comp. But as I was making the other playlists, I realized there was some stuff that was much like new wave and little like electro and it was pretty good. So I took some new stuff and matched it with a couple of older tracks that fit to make this one for you. Ladytron, Freezepop and Miss Kittin started this for me, the rest came naturally.

Electrowave

01 Human League - The Sound Of The Crowd

02 Freezepop - Bike Thief (Kryptonite Remix)

03 Snake River Conspiracy - How Soon Is Now-

04 FPU - Ocean Drive (Tigas White Linen Vox)

05 Laptop - Greatest Hits

06 Ladytron - Seventeen

07 Blur - Girls & Boys

08 Golden Boy w-Miss Kittin - Rippin Kittin

09 Bis - Robotic (Adult Almost Instrumental Remix)

10 Wonderland Avenue - White Horse

11 Tiga & Zyntherius - Sunglasses At Night

12 Felix Da Housecat - Madame Hollywood (Tigas Mr Hollywood Version)

13 Love Inc - You're A Superstar

14 The Tubes - Prime Time

15 Mount Sims - Black Sunglasses

16 Count 2 Infinity - Popism

17 Soft Cell - What!

Clash Of The Titans 8

This is the last of this series, probably. This pick is a little different than the others, because in addition to all of the other vague descriptions of electroclash, all of this pick is covers. And one mashup. Some great songs are covered here. You probably will figure out the originals of each (if not ask in the comments). You know I love covers of songs, especially if they are done in a little different style. Well here you go. The last of the Clash Of The Titans series and also all covers. Lots of different mixes, nearly the same cover.

Clash Of The Titans 8

01 Ryuichi Sakamoto - We Love You (DNA 12 inch Mix)

02 Dub Pistols featuring Terry Hall - Rapture

03 Adam Sky And Crossover - I Am The Fly

04 Seelenluft featuring Florian Horwath - Horse With No Name

05 Herve - Cheap Thrills

06 Speaker Junk - Foxxy (Original Mix)

07 Melanie C - I Want Candy (Ultimix 127)

08 Superpitcher - Baby's On Fire

09 Eric Prydz And Steve Angello - Woz Not Woz (Club Mix)

10 M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade featuring Laurie Anderson - Oh Supaman

11 The Disco Boys - B-B-B-Baby (Radio Edit)

12 My Robot Friend - Isolation (Magik Johnson Remix)

13 The Disco Boys - Hey St. Peter

14 Sharam - PATT (Party All The Time) (Radio Edit)

15 Deep Dish Vs Dire Straits - Flashing For Money

16 Scissor Sisters - Comfortably Numb (Tiga Remix)

Clash Of The Titans 7

Only a couple more to go, So if you love these comps, enjoy the last ones. If you hate them, good luck it's nearing the end. This really is a clash, even though the music all fits together, it's not really new wave, it's not really electro, it's not really disco, etc. It's a clash of all those things and house. But none of those things either. I mean could I be more vague? The pick makes sense when you listen to it.

Clash Of The Titans 7

01 Simian Mobile Disco - Hotdog

02 Chromeo - Needy Girl

03 Basement Jaxx - Take Me Back to Your House (Jaxx extended mix)

04 The Migrants - I Thought That (Boris Dlugosch Remix)

05 Switch - A Bit Patchy (Eric Prydz Remix)

06 Beasy & Leon - Mojitos Revenge

07 Fedde Le Grand with Camille Jones - The Creeps

08 Bob Sinclar - Tennessee

09 Lcd Soundsystem - Tribulations (Tiga's Out Of The Trance Closet Mix)

10 Freaks - The Creeps (You're Giving Me) (Vandalism Mix)

11 M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade - Body Language

12 Axwell Featuring Maxc - I Found U (Classic Mix)

13 Paul Van Dyk - For An Angel

14 Kraak & Smaak - Money In The Bag (Crazy P Remix)

Clash Of The Titans 6

A continuation of the indescribable pick of Electroclash, new new wave or nouveau disco, tech pop or just dance music. Who the hell knows. It just fits together for me. This volume of the playlist has more remixes. It has a couple of more well known tracks and a couple I doubt you've heard before. Enough with the introductions, because we all know there isn't anything that will make it understandable except to listen to it.

Clash Of The Titans 6

01 Klaxons - Magick (Simian Mobile Disco Remix)

02 Linus Loves - The Terrace

03 Booka Shade - Darko (Radio Slave Remix)

04 Delia Gonzales & Gavin Russom - Relevee (Carl Craig Remix)

05 Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler

06 Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends

07 Fedde Le Floyd - Put Your Hands Up For The Wall

08 Fuzzy Hair vs Robbie Rivera - The Cat (Fuzzy Hair Mix)

09 Nick Terranova with Gina Martina - Elektro Fuck (Elektro Fuck Mix)

10 Beckers - Colour Me Blind (Phatjak Remix)

11 Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down (Sander Van Doorn Remix)

12 DJ Zebra - C'mon Fuck Me

13 Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank

Clash Of The Titans 5

This volume of the electroclash pick has one of my favorite tracks from a band (producer?) I have no idea about. I just know I like the track. Ctrl Z vs Screwface. Especially when it is Zedd. Control Zedd. So obviously not from the US. But what a way to start off a volume than with that intro. A bunch of remixes and cool unknowns. I just like it. No explanations or reasons. 

Clash Of The Titans 5

01 Ctrl Z vs Screwface - StereoTypical

02 Blackjoy - Moustache (La Stache)

03 Eyerer & Chopstick - Haunting

04 GusGus - Desire (G-G Remix)

05 Booka Shade - In White Rooms

06 Fuckpony - Ride The Pony

07 Havana Boys - So Horny (Original Mix)

08 David Guetta vs The Egg - Walking Away (Tocadisco Remix)

09 Vinylgroover & The Red Hed - This Life (Electro Remix)

10 Mason - Exceeder (Mashtronic Remix)

11 Abel Ramos - Te Quiero Puta

12 Ctrl Z - Badman (Screwface Remix)

Clash Of The Titans 4

More electroclash in this series pick. Although I would suggest that only some of this is really electroclash and the rest is a some other kind of flavor edm. A couple of tracks that are covers, at least one that feels like a cover but is an original. A few remixes and one of my own edits. All danceable and kinda go well together. Over the last couple of volumes, you've probably noticed some of the same names come up. No accident.

Clash Of The Titans 4

01 Max Sedgley - Happy (Make You Happy)

02 Milke - She Says

03 Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'

04 Wekan - Skid

05 Riot In Belgium - The Acid Never Lies

06 Justin Timberlake - SexyBack (Linus Loves Remix)

07 Tiga - Burning Down The House

08 Eric Prydz Vs Pink Floyd - Proper Education (Daft Mix)

09 Henry Mancini - Pink Panther Theme (Fischerspooner Mix)

10 Armand Van Helden - My My My

11 Playgroup featuring KC Flightt - Front 2 Back (Kenny Dope Gotta Mix)

12 Booka Shade - Mandarine Girl

13 The Egg - The Wall (Mylo Remix)

14 Darude - Sandstorm

15 Robert Miles - Children (Pol's CYF Edit)

16 Tiësto - Adagio For Strings