Golden Earring Pick

His death was not covered well because he died on the same day as Ozzy Osbourne (I'll post something for him in a couple of days), but George Kooymans from Golden Earring was good guitar player (and vocalist) who wrote some amazing songs and deserves a spotlight, so here is my pick. He co-wrote Radar Love which wasn't even their biggest hit (but the one most people associate with the band) and wrote Twilight Zone which was. He and his band were from the Netherlands. And since that is part of my heritage, I knew the band's output fairly well. Moontan was not my first listen. I loved songs like Sound of the Screaming Day, Smoking Cigarettes and Daddy Buy Me A Girl. Add on the later hits during the 70's and 80's and of course I loved this band. These are some of my favorites over the years. I hope I got your favorites in here, too.

Golden Earring Pick

01 Golden Earring - Long Blond Animal

02 Golden Earring - The Devil Made Me Do It

03 Golden Earring - I've Just Lost Somebody

04 Golden Earring - Another 45 Miles

05 Golden Earring - Radar Love

06 Golden Earring - Twilight Zone

07 Golden Earring - Who Do You Love

08 Golden Earring - Smoking Cigarettes

09 Golden Earring - Back Home

10 Golden Earring - Going to The Run

11 Golden Earring - Daddy Buy Me A Girl

12 Golden Earring - Dong-Dong-Diki-Digi-Dong

13 Golden Earring - When The Lady Smiles

14 Golden Earring - She Flies on Strange Wings

15 Golden Earring - Still Got The Keys To My First Cadillac

16 Golden Earring - Holy Holy Life

17 Golden Earring - Hold Me Now

18 Golden Earring - Sound Of The Screaming Day

19 Golden Earring - Instant Poetry

Mythical Island

This continues the mixtape pick of the wormhole series. The titles are all based on a game I play on my phone (ask for my friend ID if you play) But whether you do or not, only the title is related. I called it the wormhole series because the covers all have a wormhole on it. But I realize I am also taking you down a wormhole each time. I was inspired by some old disco tracks I had forgotten about and filled in with some unrelated songs that fit (in my mind). Everytime I hear Max Headroom, I wish there was a lot more. I know it's cheesy and completely outdated, but I still love it. The Dennis Parker track is probably the closest he's sounded like the Village People and that's no mistake because Jacques Morali and Casablanca records was involved. Side note: supposedly he was a porn actor and so was Marilyn Chambers - another wormhole. The porn stuff has little to do with the music.

Mythical Island

01 Ronnie Milsap - Hi-Heel Sneakers

02 Clock DVA - The Hacker

03 The Art Of Noise featuring Max Headroom - Paranoimia (Extended Version)

04 Dolly Parton - I Wanna Fall In Love (Disco Mix)

05 Cory Daye - Pow Wow

06 A Taste Of Honey - Ain't Nothin' But A Party

07 Dennis Parker - I'm a Dancer

08 Celi Bee - Love Rocket

09 Nightlife Unlimited - Dance, Freak & Boogie (Special 12'' Disco Mix)

10 Herbie Mann - Superman (Original 12'' Mix)

11 Marilyn Chambers - Shame On You (Jimmy Michaels Extended Edit)

12 Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead (12 inch Version)

Paisan

No special reason to post this today, except I finally whittled it down to make this Italian pick that I call Paisan. I almost called it Gabagool, or an Italian swear word (stugatza), but I liked Paisan better. Kept the capicola for the cover which I love on my sandwiches and is affectionately called gabagool by some with Italian American heritage (and made famous in the Sopranos). These are the songs that I associate with Italy. Lots of Dean Martin, several from mob movies. A couple you may not know, but should. First is by Jorge Buccio. If you haven't heard him live in Little Italy at Puglia's in New York, you should. Such a great performer. If you like Adam Sandler movies, you've probably seen him. Tell him I said hello. The other is Joe Dolce. His song is about Italians living in Australia and about a rebelious kid with that heritage. Always funny and fits in well. The rest are older tracks.

Paisan

01 Nino Rota - Godfather Waltz

02 The Gaylords - From The Vine Came The Grape

03 Louis Prima - Buona Sera

04 Connie Francis - Al Di La

05 Dean Martin - Arrivederci Roma

06 Nat King Cole - Non Dimenticar (Don't Forget)

07 Al Martino - I Have But One Heart

08 Dean Martin - On an Evening in Roma (Sott'er Celo De Roma)

09 Louis Prima - Oh Marie

10 Jerry Vale - Love Me the Way I Love You

11 Tony Martin - There's No Tomorrow

12 Perry Como - Anema E Core

13 Julius La Rosa - Domani (Tomorrow)

14 Al Martino - To Each His Own

15 Jerry Vale - Mala Femmina

16 Dean Martin - Return to Me (Retorna Me)

17 Al Martino - Speak Softly Love

18 Louis Prima - Angelina (Zooma Zooma)

19 Paul Anka With Frank Sinatra - My Way

20 Joe Dolce - Shaddap You Face

21 Lou Monte with Joe Reisman and his Orchestra - Lazy Mary (Luna Mezzo Mare)

22 Julius La Rosa - Eh Cumpari

23 Lou Monte with Joe Reisman and his Orchestra - Roman Guitar

24 Jerry Vale with Percy Faith & His Orchestra - Pretend You Don't See Her

25 Dean Martin - Innamorata (Sweetheart)

26 Vic Dana - More

27 Rosemary Clooney with Mellomen Orchestra - Mambo Italiano

28 Jorge Buccio - The Napkin Song

Blame It On H.I.V.

This isn't my fault. Another five days went by and even though I thought no more of these were coming, here's another one. Blame this one on H.I.V.  Seems like yesterday, but it's been some forty years that everyone was worried about contracting Aids and that we were holding concerts and benefits to fight it. Now it's responsible for this mixtape pick. All of this playlist seems to be at 108 bpm. I can't find a reason why. Your guess is as good as mine. We'll have to see if there is another one of these in five days or not.

Blame It On H.I.V.

01 Yvonne Elliman - If I Can't Have You

02 INXS vs Smokey Robinson - Need To Be With You Tonight

03 Perry Como - Magic Moments

04 Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are

05 Marlena Shaw - Yu-Ma-Go Away Little Boy

06 Tavares - More Than a Woman

07 Cameo - She's Strange

08 The Fatback Band - Freak The Freak The Funk

09 B.T. Express - Express

10 Diana Ross - Upside Down

11 Nina Hagen - Revolution Ballroom

12 Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok

13 The Weeknd - I Can't Feel My Face

14 UB40 - Hip Hop Lyrical Robot

15 Sweet - Ballroom Blitz

16 Sweat Band - Freak To Freak (Single Version)

17 Brian Eno - No One Receiving

18 Bananarama - Cruel Summer

What's The Connection? Hands Up 1

 Another connection in the Up series. This time it's Hands Up. I'm pretty sure most of these are about putting them up in celebration and not because of police action, although for a couple of these songs, that may not be the truth. Figure it out for yourself. I'd rather it was because of night club action rather than police billy club action. Go back a couple of days for another Up connection that might explain a little more.

What's The Connection? Hands Up 1

01 Fall Out Boy - Dear Future Self (Hands Up)

02 The Black Eyed Peas - Hands Up

03 Cascada - Hold Your Hands Up

04 Groove Armada - Hands Up

05 Scritti Politti - Hands Up

06 Right Said Fred - Hands Up For The Lovers

07 Chris Brown - Hands Up

08 Rory Gallagher - Hands Up

09 Teddybears Sthlm Featuring Elephant Man - Throw Your Hands Up

10 Kylie Minogue - Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love) (Pete Hammond Remix)

11 Ottowan - Hands Up

12 Heaven 17 - Hands Up To Heaven

13 Steven Lee - Hands Up (Radio Edit)

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

15 Saga - Hands Up

16 Michael Franti & Spearhead - Hands Up To The Sky

17 Army Of Lovers - Hands Up (Radio Version)

18 Tracey Thorn - Hands Up To The Ceiling

19 The Fall - Hands Up Billy

What's The Connection? Wake Me Up 1

I kind of cheated a littl on this WTC. One of the tracks does NOT have Wake Me Up in the title. Supersuckers leaves out the Up. A couple of them mix the words up (I figured that was okay, though.) Several have Don't in the title as well. I had the first part of Wake up four days ago, so look for that and in the future I will have a continuation of all of these. Eventually. But for now you got what you got. I did put on two versions of the Wham! song. One to start this playlist and one to end it.

What's The Connection? Wake Me Up 1

01 Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

02 Norman Witcher - Wake Me Up

03 Supersuckers - Wake Me When It's Over

04 Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends

05 The Peppermint Rainbow - Don't Wake Me Up In the Morning, Michael

06 Scott Bradlee & Postmodern Jukebox - Wake Me Up

07 First Choice - Wake Up To Me

08 Foals - Wake Me Up

09 Remy Ma featuring Lil' Kim - Wake Me Up

10 Ian Dury - Wake Up and Make Love with Me

11 Jonas Blue - Don't Wake Me Up (feat: Why Don't We)

12 Avicii featuring Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up

13 Josh Vietti - Wake Me Up

14 Claudine Longet - Wake Up To Me Gentle

15 John Entwistle - Nightmare (Please Wake Me Up)

16 Chris Brown - Don't Wake Me Up (Original Version)

17 Molow - Wake Me Up (Radio Edit)

18 Glass Tides - Wake Me Up

19 Rascal Flatts - Come Wake Me Up

20 Flint Westrock - Wake Me Up With Kissin

21 The Overtones - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Top Pick Albums 1984

Yesterday the top songs of the year 1984 and today the top albums. This pick was from then. What I was listening to and enjoying in 1984. Remember that people were talking about the book 1984 and saying that the US was becoming Orwellian because of the actor in the White House. Democrats had been saying that he was going to push the button and start WW3 and yet he won another term by a landslide and none of the bad ever happened. Kind of like now. Reagan who's now revered was then called a Hitler. The music reflected that, but I was in tune with something a little different. Lots of Trevor Horn (ZTT, Art Of Noise, Frankie). I loved the second Violent Femmes album. U2 had Brian Eno working with them. Bauhaus was Tones on Tail (and soon to be Love and Rockets). The Red Hot Chili Peppers were just a newer little band playing clubs (I saw them so many times in California). Just all great albums and songs this year. Two picks from each album. Including the Soundtrack to great movie Repo Man.

Top Pick Albums 1984

01 Tones on Tail - Go!

02 Hoodoo Gurus - I Want You Back

03 Robyn Hitchcock - Uncorrected Personality Traits

04 Violent Femmes - Country Death Song

05 U2 - Pride (In the Name of Love)

06 Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized

07 Art Of Noise - Beat Box (Diversion One)

08 Red Hot Chili Peppers - True Men Don't Kill Coyotes

09 Depeche Mode - Master And Servant

10 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Two Tribes

11 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mommy Where's Daddy

12 Violent Femmes - Never Tell

13 Art Of Noise - The Army Now

14 Depeche Mode - People Are People

14 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax (Come Fighting)

15 U2 - The Unforgettable Fire

17 Hoodoo Gurus - Leilani

18 Tones on Tail - War

19 Robyn Hitchcock - Sometimes I Wish I Were A Pretty Girl

20 Iggy Pop - Repo Man

Top Pick 1984

So it's the last Thursday and Friday of the month and I have been posting my pick of each year in the 80's and posting them. First time for me to post these here. I originally made these into cassettes and then later into CD's and gave them to friends and radio listeners that asked for them. Until I ran out each year. Like the previous top picks, I do the single songs on Thursday and the next day it's the top ten albums. Some of these songs were not only what I listened to at home, but also at clubs I was going to. Hard to believe that a club was playing Public Image Limited and the Stranglers, but they were getting more New Wave. General Public was everywhere. Not so much Butthole Surfers and Chris and Cosey, but they were so much on my radar. I hope you like these picks. I still wonder how much of this I would keep on the list today? Did any of these make it on your list then?

Top Pick 1984

01 dB's - Amplifier

02 Alphaville - Big in Japan

03 Dalis Car - Artemis

04 Cabaret Voltaire - Do Right

05 Fad Gadget - Collapsing New People

06 Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five - Hustlers Convention

07 Style Council - The Paris Match

08 Butthole Surfers - Dum Dum

09 Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

10 The Cure - The Caterpillar

11 Chris And Cosey - October Love Song

12 Public Image Limited - This Is Not A Love Song

13 Stranglers - Skin Deep

14 Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy

15 The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another

16 Blancmange - That's Love That It Is

17 General Public - Hot You're Cool

18 The Fall - C.R.E.E.P.

19 The Smiths - What Difference Does It Make

20 The Replacements - I Will Dare

Blame It On F.L.U.

Every five days or so, like a miracle a new playlist pick has been getting posted that I have nothing to do with. This might be the last one. But don't blame me if it isn't. Blame this one on the FLU. The whole thing started almost a month ago at 118 bpm, but it wasn't me. Five days ago it went up as high as 153 bpm and that's high enough. Now it seems like it has dropped down 5 bpm from the random beginning. Too many weird things happening. Just emjoy it or don't. Doesn't matter to me. I probably will get the FLU. This one doesn't follow the rules again. I can't think of any disease or malady with the initials of F.L.U. Can you? (Influenza doesn't count here.)

Blame It On F.L.U.

01 Chocolate Milk - Blue Jeans

02 Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up

03 Magazine - Shot By Both Sides

04 Big Daddy - Hit Me With Your Best Shot

05 KC & The Sunshine Band - Get Down Tonight

06 Lydia Lunch - Spooky

07 Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love

08 Taste Of Sugar - Hmm Hmm

09 Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around And Fell In Love

10 Depeche Mode - Everything Counts

11 Foghat - Slow Ride

12 Neil Young - Like A Hurricane

13 Sun - Wanna Make Love (Come Flick My Bic)

14 Erasure - A Little Respect

15 The Buckinghams - Kind Of A Drag

16 Adrian Belew - Elephants

17 Sam & Dave - Soul Man

18 Joe Tex - Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)

19 Scritti Politti - Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)

20 The Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go

What's The Connection? Wake Up 1

I was looking for songs with Up in the title. I already have a connection with Shut Up. And I noticed lots of Waking Up songs. Too many in fact. So I divided it up into this one with only Wake Up in the title and a bunch of others that will eventually come. Which one of these songs is your favorite? There's a wide variety to choose from. The cover has Chandler from Friends sleeping on the job. Wake Up, Chandler!

What's The Connection? Wake Up 1

01 Rage Against the Machine - Wake up

02 Joss Stone - Wake Up

03 XTC - Wake Up

04 Organica - Wake Up

05 Dub Syndicate - Wake Up

06 Magics - Wake Up!

07 Bodyjar - Wake Up

08 Aphrodite's Child - Wake Up

09 Tim Armstrong - Wake Up

10 Arcade Fire - Wake Up

11 Bobby Rush - Wake Up

12 Funkadelic - Wake Up

13 Omega Red Star - Wake Up

14 Daniel Sahuleka - Wake Up

15 The Meditations - Wake Up

16 The Replacements - Wake Up

17 Yoko Ono - Wake Up

18 Grant featuring Jessi Mason - Wake Up

19 Citizen Fish - Wake Up

Soda Pop

I was listening to Kim Mitchell (from Max Webster see the Webster Pick from a couple of days ago) and his hit and thinking of the difference between areas of the country/world where they call it either Soda or Pop or even just Coke (regardless of brand). The difference seems to be regional. I thought of a few songs right away that had a soda pop as the main part of the song (Suicidal Tendencies Institutionalized came to mind). Even though that song came first to mind, I didn't include it. "All I wanted was a Pepsi and she wouldn't give it to me." I did include The Faction. I didn't include REM Orange Crush (although I probably should have). I also didn't include I'd Like To Buy The World A Coke or Come Alive even though both are good songs and were used as Coke and Pepsi commercials. There were a couple of commercials I skipped like Chuck Berry singing about Dr Pepper even though I liked them. This is what was left and what you get in this WTC. Only one song is repeated, but so different that I had to. Also, I didn't include the 7-Up song (lime and the coconut). Too bad, you got enough.

Soda Pop

01 The Andrews Sisters - Rum And Coca Cola (Jojo Effect Remix)

02 Beth Hart - Coca Cola

03 Golden Earring - Rum And Coca-Cola

04 JFA - Cokes & Snickers

05 Britney Spears - Soda Pop

06 Mohawks - Pepsi

07 The Faction - Let's Go Get Cokes

08 Robbie Williams - Soda Pop

09 Seth Boulton - Don't Drink the Soda Pop

10 Back Alley - Soda Pop Man

11 John Fogerty - Soda Pop

12 Lou Rawls - Scotch & Soda

13 Jimi Hendrix - Fried Cola

14 The Ventures - Cookies & Coke

15 Daddy Mack Blues Band - Soda Pop

16 Blenders - Soda Shop

17 Mel Tillis - Coca Cola Cowboy

18 The White Stripes - Little Cream Soda

19 Kim Mitchell - Go For Soda

20 Bill Doggett & His Combo - Soda Pop

21 The Who - Coke After Coke

22 Emeralds - Soda Pop

23 Death Of Samantha - Coca Cola & Licorice

24 Sham 69 - King Kong Drinks Coca Cola

25 Rick Skylar - Crying In My Cherry Soda Pop

26 Ray Lynch - Celestial Soda Pop

27 Tommy Sands - Soda-Pop Pop

Space Time Smack Down

I've been enjoying this playlist pick series. Unofficially, I call them my wormhole mixtapes. But only because the covers all have a spiral-ish wormhole in the background. I usually start with a track or two and there were a few that seemed not to go together at all. Aldo Nova, XTC and Olivia Newton-John. For the first two, it was songs they are known for, but the latter was a song that wasn't a huge hit, but I liked. I've played it at funeral parties. Yes, people have them. Not often, but if they do, the songs played are usually somewhat irreverent. I ranged the rest of the tracks to build between those three. That was fun and spanned a few genres.

Space Time Smack Down

01 Aldo Nova - Fantasy

02 Veronica Unlimited - What A Lousy Party

03 Earth Wind & Fire - Boogie Wonderland

04 Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At

05 The Isley Brothers - It's A Disco Night (Rock Don't Stop)

06 The Dynamics - Miss You

07 Shonen Knife - I Wanna Eat Choco Bars

08 Fixx - Are We Ourselves

09 Richard Hell And The Voidoids - Blank Generation

10 Pearl Harbor & The Explosions - Drivin'

11 Boomtown Rats - Rat Trap

12 Graham Parker - Heat Treatment

13 XTC - Generals and Majors

14 Phil Manzanera - Carhumba

15 Boys Don't Cry - Wanna Be A Cowboy

16 Human League - The Sound Of The Crowd

17 The Diamonds - Little Darlin'

18 Fatboy Slim - The Rockafeller Skank

19 She Wants Revenge - Tear You Apart

20 Olivia Newton-John - Heart Attack

21 Blondie - X Offender

Webster Pick

This is my pick of the degenerate band from Canada: Max Webster (and their leader Kim Mitchell). Mitchell and the rest would never have come to my attention except for the blog site from George Glass that he calls Groovy Library. He has a bunch of playlists, like here, but from his twisted mind instead of mine. I like a bunch of the series he does. One thing is he seems to highlight quite a few bands from Canada. One of those bands that appears often is: Max Webster. I never heard of them before his site, but now here I am highlighting the band and Kim Mitchell. I'm kind of pissed off at George for getting me this involved in a rock band from Canada. They are actually quite good, they are a Rush favorite and apparently in Canada they were quite popular. I can hear why. Check out these tracks if you were like me and had no clue about them. My pick of their stuff. Includes the track they did with Rush. How could I have missed these guys? They played with Rush. And they are good. Did I say that already?

Webster Pick

01 Kim Mitchell - Acrimony

02 Kim Mitchell - Wishes

03 Max Webster - Let Go The Line

04 Max Webster - Gravity

05 Kim Mitchell - All We Are

06 Kim Mitchell - Bad Times

07 Kim Mitchell - Patio Lanterns

08 Kim Mitchell - Go For Soda

09 Max Webster - Diamonds, Diamonds

10 Kim Mitchell - That's A Man

11 Max Webster - A Million Vacations

12 Max Webster - Paradise Skies

13 Max Webster - Battle Scar

14 Kim Mitchell - Lager And Ale

15 Kim Mitchell - Rock N Roll Duty

16 Kim Mitchell - Easy To Tame

17 Max Webster - Hangover

18 Max Webster - Here Among The Cats

19 Max Webster - High Class in Borrowed Shoes

20 Max Webster - Check

Blame It On P.O.X.

I take no responsibility for this pick, Not for the fact that it isn't even following the rules. I mean P.O.X. doesn't stand for something, it's not even an acronym. It's just short for Small Pox (or chicken pox). So it hasn't followed the rules at all. Well, I guess it's a malady or disease. And it obsolves me from taking responsibility, so in that sense it is. It is being posted five days apart from the last one. And the bpm is five away from the last one. But all that is just coincidence, I am sure. The songs don't match much so this must be over. But if it isn't, don't blame me.

Blame It On P.O.X.

01 OutKast - B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)

02 Inmates - Dirty Water

03 Abba - When I Kissed The Teacher

04 Frog Sandwich - Dorky Days

05 Waitiki - When First I Love

06 Joy Division - Transmission

07 Queen - Crazy Little Thing Called Love

08 Untouchables - Free Yourself

09 Ike & Tina Turner - Nutbush City Limits

10 Josie And The Pussycats - Road Runner

11 Supertramp - Take The Long Way Home

12 Black Eyed Peas - Pump It

13 Brian Setzer Orchestra - Brand New Cadillac

14 Fleetwood Mac - The Chain

15 Vandals - Ladykiller

16 Just Brothers - Sliced Tomatoes

17 Con Funk Shun - Can't Go Away

18 Ministry - Stigmata

19 Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy

20 Dramatics - Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get

21 Rosie Ledet - You Can Eat My Poussiere (You Can Eat My Dust)

22 Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

One Thirty Four

This is a wide variety of songs all at 134 bpm. No real reason for that except that I had several picked out to use in this pick and they happened to be at that speed, so I looked for more to match. (Isley Brothers, Shriekback, Blondie and Bauhaus were the ones that started it.) Blame it on them and serendipity. They build up in key as they progress. A couple of these tracks are kind of out there, even for the bands. Love the Grudge track. The Bauhaus is, well, b-side material. The Isley Brothers is one of my favorite dance tracks of theirs. And for a made for a movie soundtrack song by the Wonders, it's pretty good. Liked the movie, too. All in all, a decent mixtape.

One Thirty Four

01 Grudge - I'm Gonna Smash Your Face In

02 Stevie Wonder - Uptight (Everything's Alright)

03 Isley Brothers - Livin' In The Life-Go For Your Guns

04 Kraftwerk - Tour De France

05 Shriekback - Nemesis

06 Bauhaus - Watch That Grandad Go

07 Queen - Keep Yourself Alive

08 Shirley Jones - Do You Get Enough Love

09 The Zombies - She's Not There

10 The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup

11 Blondie - Atomic '98 (Tall Paul Mix)

12 Fleshtones - I've Gotta Change My Life

13 Gun Club - Ghost On The Highway

14 Adult Net - Honey Tangle

15 Sade - Your Love Is King

16 Switchfoot - Where I Belong

17 Elvis Costello & the Attractions - (Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes

18 The B-52's - Roam

19 The Wonders - That Thing You Do!

Celestial Guardians

This pick is what I have been referring to (behind the scenes) as my Wormhole mixtapes. The title has to do with a game and the whole wormhole thing has nothing to do with that at all. It's because I have been using wormholes as the backgrounds on the covers. The songs this time are all more rock oriented, not for any other reason except that I was listening to some rock. It started with Max Webster (a band from Canada that wasn't that popular outside their country) who hung out with Rush on this track. They toured with Rush too. I may have to do a pick of them, because they are pretty good and deserve a better listen. But reminded me of Colosseum, Shooting Star, Starz and Shnazz. All under-rated rock bands. I filled in with some deeper tracks and a sort of hit.

Celestial Guardians

01 Shooting Star - Last Chance

02 Deadsy - The Key To Grammercy Park

03 Triumph - Rock & Roll Machine

04 Colosseum - The Kettle

05 Trapeze - Black Cloud

06 Juicy Lucy - Who Do You Love

07 Rainbow - Since You Been Gone

08 Max Webster - Battle Scar

09 Yesterday And Today - 25 Hours A Day

10 Buffalo - Suzie Sunshine

11 Golden Earring - When The Lady Smiles

12 Starz - Cherry Baby

13 Scorpions - Hey You

14 Chango - Sacapa-Chango'

15 Shnazz - Bad Boys

16 The Cherry Bombz - Hot Girls In Love

17 Angel City - Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again

Beatle Ringo

This is the last pick of the four individual Beatles tracks. I cheated a little bit with this last one with Ringo Starr. He really only has 11 tracks that he is featured on. But there are a few tracks that were attributed to all the Beatles and I gave them to Ringo to help fill out the numbers. Flying, Dig It and Maggie Mae all have Ringo as co-writer. I also included the last cheat which is the last track. It's sort of a Beatles track. It was released as the Beatles, but both John and George were dead by the time it was released. I like the track though and it also has Ringo as co-writer. I did not include any tracks released as solo Ringo tracks even if they had a couple of Beatles on it. No matter how much I liked them.

Beatle Ringo

01 Beatles - Don't Pass Me By

02 Beatles - Octopus's Garden

03 Beatles - Act Naturally

04 Beatles - Flying

05 Beatles - What Goes On

06 Beatles - I Wanna Be Your Man

07 Beatles - Maggie Mae

08 Beatles - Dig It

09 Beatles - Yellow Submarine

10 Beatles - With A Little Help From My Friends

11 Beatles - Good Night

12 Beatles - Boys

13 Beatles - Matchbox

14 Beatles - Honey Don't

15 Beatles - Now And Then

What's The Connection? I Want You 2

This is part two of the WTC I Want You Like volume 1 (which was June 30th) which is also a subset of the Want connections. The numbering continues from the first part, but not from the greater whole. These all have I Want You in the title. Surprisingly all pretty much different songs, too. See some of the other volumes to read the backstory. I'm not getting into it here. For alphabetical reasons, I made the zip file WantIYou2. That way the folders end up together.

What's The Connection? I Want You 2

24 Eight To The Bar - I Want You

25 Jackie Lee Cochran - I Want You

26 Bob Dylan - I Want You

27 Kiss - I Want You

28 Michael Schenker - I Want You

29 British Electric Foundation featuring Tashan - I Want You

30 Marvin Gaye - I Want You

31 Cee-Lo Green - I Want You

32 Jody Watley - I Want You

33 Dean Martin - I Want You

34 T-Boones - I Want You

35 Dusty Payne - I Want You

36 Dead Or Alive - I Want You

37 Brian Redmond & The Soundbox - I Want You

38 Elvis Costello & the Attractions - I Want You

39 Concrete Blonde - I Want You

40 The Thorns - I Want You

41 Supermax - I Want You

42 Creations - I Want You

43 West Minist'r - I Want You

44 Madonna - I Want You

Blame It On A.L.S.

I will not take the blame for this pick. It's not my fault, once again. That's just the way it goes. That each song is the same bpm at 148 and that it just happens to be five more than the last one and that this is posted five days past the last one is ALL COINCIDENCE. And it certainly means I bear no responsibility for it. Although it is werid that just yesterday someone was talking about Feargal Sharkey. I will have to do something someday with some songs of his. All that being said none of these maladies and illnesses are anything fun, so don't take my flippance to have anything to do with the actual three letter diseases.

Blame It On A.L.S.

01 Revolting Cocks - Something Wonderful

02 Sleater-Kinney - Oh!

03 Kissing The Pink - Love Lasts Forever

04 Brian Eno & David Byrne - Help Me Somebody

05 Chuck Higgins - Pachuko Hop

06 Daryl Hall & John Oates - Sara Smile

07 Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta

08 Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf

09 Bang! Bang! - Candystop

10 Chicago - 25 Or 6 To 4

11 Malo - Nena

12 Rockpile - Teacher Teacher

13 The Undertones - Tearproof

14 Jim Croce - Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

15 Beatnix - Stairway to Heaven

16 Devo - Mongoloid

17 Joy Division - Novelty

18 Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women

19 Roy Orbison with kd Lang - Crying

20 Scientist - First Dangerous Match

21 Sammy Hagar - Red

Start Beginning the Launch

I often times have no clue about what I am doing with these picks. Things just come to me. Some times they end up making sense and other times, I have no idea if it's working or not. This is one of those picks. I think the idea was cool, but I also think I may not have it quite right, yet. Maybe you can help. I was listening to Aldo Nova Fantasy and like the intro/start of the song. It's a minute or so of cool sounding music. And that made me think of some Steve Miller and Van Halen and Boston. I also brought in Chango (who most people don't seem to know) but think Brooklyn based early Santana. I like them. Then I pivoted a little bit with the Pink Floyd, Elton John and Jackson Browne. And the Cars and Alan Parsons Project fit in between. Not what I was first going for, but it still sounded kinda cool. But I think it might be better split, but what do you add for each side?

Start Beginning the Launch

01 Aldo Nova - Fantasy

02 Steve Miller Band - Space Intro-Fly Like An Eagle

03 Pink Floyd - The Happiest Days Of Our Lives-Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2

04 The Alan Parsons Project - Sirius-Eye In The Sky

05 Boston - Foreplay-Long Time

06 Cars - Moving In Stereo-All Mixed Up

07 Steve Miller Band - Threshold-Jet Airliner

08 Pink Floyd - Brain Damage-Eclipse

09 Elton John - Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding)

10 Van Halen - Eruption-You Really Got Me

11 Chango - Sacapa-Chango'

12 Jackson Browne - The Load Out-Stay

What's The Connection? Dollars 2

You'll have to go back to April to see part one of this dollar connection. I told you the story then, so I am not going to get into the issues with fiat money (which is what dollars are). But this connection is on convenience day (7/11) and if you are American or have traveled through the States, you will understand the reference. Although I get that part of the East coast is taken over by Wawa and there aren't that many 7/11 convenience stores there anymore. Either way dollars are fairly convenient so that's the tie. I have a feeling that dollars will be less convenient in the future. Not sure if it will be replaced by bitcoin or not, but it seems pretty convenient, too. In the meantime, lots of songs about cash dollars.

What's The Connection? Dollars 2

23 Sweet Reason - Hundred Thousand Dollar

24 Kendrick Lamar featuring James Fauntleroy & Ronald Isley - How Much a Dollar Cost

25 Billy Paul - Let The Dollar Circulate

26 Triumvirat - Million Dollars

27 Don Henley - If Dirt Were Dollars

28 Bottle Rockets - 1000 Dollar Car

29 Funkadelic - 2 Dollars & 2 Dimes

30 King Perry - Keep a Dollar in Your Pocket

31 Bernie Worrell - Dissinfordollars

32 Johnny Cash & Waylon Jennings - The Ballad of Forty Dollars

33 Albert Collins - Cash Talkin' (The Workingman's Blues)

34 William Sheller - Rock 'n' Dollars

35 Haruomi Hosono - Green Buck Dollar

36 Skatalites - Silver Dollar

37 King Tubby - Six Million Dollar Version

38 Percy Faith - Greenback Dollar

39 Hiss Golden Messenger - Mighty Dollar

40 Gaelic Storm - If Good Times Were Dollars

41 The Upsetters - Dollar In The Teeth

42 Maroon Town - Pound To The Dollar

43 George Thorogood & The Destroyers - Twenty Dollar Gig

44 Faron Young - I've Got Five Dollars And It's Saturday Night

45 Jimmy Dell - I've Got A Dollar

Shining Revelry

This pick is sort of in the same vein as a comp from the other day. It also has a wormhole on the cover. The title has nothing to do with the songs. I did start with the Undertones, Feargal Sharkey and That Petrol Emotion tracks just becuase I had been putting together their family pick which you saw yesterday. The CJ & Co. was waiting for a while and Charo, normally Miss Cuchi Cuchi, was ready to spend some time in this playlist. A few covers and a few surprises (I hope they are pleasant ones for you). Like the last one, it's based on the same game. Did you figure it out yet?

Shining Revelry

01 Tubes - What Do You Want From Life

02 Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart

03 That Petrol Emotion - Big Decision

04 Was (Not Was) - I Feel Better Than James Brown

05 Tuxedomoon - Fifth Column

06 They Might Be Giants - Instanbul (Not Constantinople)

07 We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It - Walking On Thin Ice

08 Weezer - We Are All On Drugs

09 Wire - I Am The Fly

10 Wall Of Voodoo - Far Side Of Crazy

11 CJ & Co - We Got Our Own Thing

12 The Raconteurs - Steady, As She Goes

13 Translator - Everywhere That I'm Not

14 X - I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts

15 XTC - Respectable Street

16 Charo Of The Salsoul Orchestra - Let's Spend The Night Together

17 The Impressions - Gyspy Woman

18 Muse - Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

19 Tremeloes - I Like it That Way

20 Robots In Disguise - You Really Got Me

21 Bang Data - Fortunate Son (Fortunate Hijo)

22 The Undertones - Tearproof

Undertones Family Pick

There is no doubt that the Undertones were a great Power Pop Punk band. Raved about by John Peel. While they only had four albums, they had some great tracks on them. One of my favorites is Tearproof which barely makes it onto some lists. This pick looks at the split after. They basically broke in two. Feargal Sharkey went solo with a stop along with Vince Clarke (in the Assembly). And the brothers O'Neill with some buddies (not the whole story at all) became That Petrol Emotion. Frankly, I liked them, but was not raving about them. They sounded like a crappy Big Audio Dynamite to me. I listened again recently and I was wrong. They are better .Mick Jones mixed with Tom Verlaine, with a little Grebo mixed in. They aren't either of those, but that's my description. Just relisten to them, if you haven't in a while.

Undertones Family Pick

01 The Assembly - Never Never (Extended Version)

02 Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart

03 Feargal Sharkey - You Little Thief

04 The Undertones - Tearproof

05 That Petrol Emotion - Genius Move

06 The Undertones - Get Over You

07 The Undertones - Here Comes the Summer (Original Single Version)

08 That Petrol Emotion - Big Decision

09 The Undertones - It's Going To Happen

10 That Petrol Emotion - Hey Venus

11 That Petrol Emotion - Groove Check (10'' Mix)

12 That Petrol Emotion - Spin Cycle

13 That Petrol Emotion - Keen

14 That Petrol Emotion - It's A Good Thing

15 The Undertones - Teenage Kicks

16 Feargal Sharkey - Listen To Your Father

17 Feargal Sharkey - More Love

18 The Undertones - You Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It)

19 The Undertones - Wednesday Week

20 The Undertones - My Perfect Cousin

21 The Undertones - Jimmy Jimmy

22 Feargal Sharkey - Someone To Somebody

23 Feargal Sharkey - She Moved Through The Fair

Blame It On T.K.O.

I am not to blame for this pick. And franksly I do not want to be. Out of all of them so far, I am least happy with this one. I think it has to do with Michael Franks (who I love, btw) but this song after listening to it a few times, just hasn't aged that well. Not just the content of a song about a joystick (do people still use joysticks?) in fact I have been looking for more than the three decent Joystick songs to make a video game connection. That's not happening soon. But the song is dated in it's sound and not in a good way. Not my fault though. It's upped another 5 bpm and another 5 days. Too bad.

Blame It On T.K.O.

01 Michael Franks - Now That Your Joystick's Broke

02 Ray Materick - Linda Put the Coffee On

03 Combustible Edison - Junglero

04 Inka Inka - Is This Justice

05 The Alan Parsons Project - Let's Talk About Me

06 Gaelic Storm - Devil Down Below

07 Antonio Carlos Jobim - Aguas De Marco

08 Klaus Nomi - Total Eclipse

09 Doobie Brothers - Minute by Minute

10 Steve Morse Band - Heightened Awareness

11 The Ventures - Walk Don't Run 2000

12 Bananarama - No Feelings

13 Pixies - Vamos

14 Bee Gees - I Started A Joke

15 Iggy Pop - Candy

16 John Fogerty - Centerfield

17 Todd Rundgren - Bang The Drum All Day

18 Lou Reed - Don't Talk To Me About Work

19 Aerosmith - Draw The Line

20 Belinda Carlisle - Mad About You

21 Grateful Dead - Dark Star

22 Beach Boys - Rock And Roll Music

23 Big Daddy - Star Wars

24 Bob Welch - Sentimental Lady

Extra Dimensional Crisis

I had fun making this mixtape. I had (and always have) a folder of stuff I want to use, but I haven't found the combination to pick a good mix. I had several tracks in there from over two years ago. And then I was relistening to the CJ & Co album and not stopping at their big hit and realized it would fit right in with a couple of other leftovers to make all of them gel. I was right! I added the remix of War, a little Yello and Gichy Dan and I had this. I was dancing all over the kitchen. A little old and a little new. The title you will never guess. It does not come from one of the songs, but rather from a game I was playing. If you figure out which one, I will send you my friend ID and we can play against each other (or with each other) for both of our benefits. In the meantime, enjoy this wormhole of music. I kept wanting to spell it crises, but it's only one.

Extra Dimensional Crisis

01 Laid Back - Bakerman

02 Dinosaur L - Clean Your Bean #1

03 Ray Barretto - A Deeper Shade Of Soul

04 Foals - In Degrees (Purple Disco Machine Remix)

05 CJ & Co - Sure Can't Go To The Moon

06 House of Prayers - Shake Your Booty (Original Mix)

07 Hyper Crush featuring LMFAO - This Is My Life

08 Yello - Tied Up

09 Grey & Hanks - Dancin'

10 Gilla - We Gotta Get Outta This Place (Long Version)

11 Gichy Dan - Cowboys and Gangsters

12 Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head

13 Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling (Radio)

14 Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera - Moves Like Jagger (Cutmore Radio Edit Clean)

15 The Trammps - Hold Back The Night

16 War - Low Rider (Kyle Watson Remix)

17 One Track Mind - I Like You (Remix)

tnd

It's been a while since I made one of these mixtapes. This one definitely goes all over the map. Some hits and well known tracks on this pick, but also some deeper cuts. They mix well soundwise. Not sure I would do a gig playing all these tracks, unless they were very eclectic (and drunk) but it is fun. I didn't start this one with a specific track, but rather the image of the spiral that I came across while looking for a texture for another playlist. I didn't use it and then ended up manipulating it a bit. I like adding the digital noise. A few tracks with food: Chili, Cinnamon, Cream, Cocaine, Jelly Beans, Lemon... okay, one of those things isn't food. None of that has anything to do with the random three letters. That's just the way it is. Unless you can come up with something that my subconscious mind didn't pick up. I'm waiting. I had fun with this one.

tnd

01 Blow Monkeys - Digging Your Scene

02 Felix & His Guitar - Chili Beans

03 J.J. Cale - Cocaine

04 Neil Young With Crazy Horse - Cinnamon Girl

05 Shock Headed Peters - Burn The Fun Guarantee

06 Billy Joe Royal - Hush

07 Jelly Beans - Baby Be Mine

08 Eagles - New Kid in Town

09 Arthur Mckay - She Squeezed My Lemon

10 Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy

11 The Nips - All the time in the world

12 Association - Enter The Young

13 Shriekback - My Spine Is The Bassline (12' Edit)

14 Los Lonely Boys - Born On The Bayou

15 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - I Won't Back Down

16 Cream - Sunshine of Your Love

17 Turtles - How You Loved Me

18 The Residents - Kaw-Liga

19 Scorpions - Hell Cat

20 Joan Jett - Scratch My Back

21 Don Armando's 2nd Ave. Rhumba Band - I'm An Indian Too

Beatle Paul

Ok, this pick is part three of the individual selections of members of the Beatles within the Beatles. No more than seventten tracks, had to feature the main songwriting or vocal skills of the individual Beatle. Today it's Paul McCartney. Check out the previous ones at this Beatles link. All of them are done, except for Ringo. He'll hopefully be posted this month, though. So these tracks in this playlist are mostly attributed to Paul as the writer, although as you know their songs were always Lennon/McCartney. These have more of the obvious Paul feel to me. Also some of the biggest hits. Remember these were not compiled for anyone, except for me, but I do hope you like them anyway. You probably can't tell the subtle ombre background I made in each of these covers. 

Beatle Paul

01 Beatles - Oh! Darling

02 Beatles - Martha My Dear

03 Beatles - Blackbird

04 Beatles - For No One

05 Beatles - Yesterday

06 Beatles - We Can Work It Out

07 Beatles - Here, There And Everywhere

08 Beatles - And I Love Her

09 Beatles - Penny Lane

10 Beatles - Good Day Sunshine

11 Beatles - I've Just Seen A Face

12 Beatles - Get Back

13 Beatles - Eleanor Rigby

14 Beatles - I'll Follow The Sun

15 Beatles - Things We Said Today

16 Beatles - Let It Be

17 Beatles - Hey Jude

America 1

Happy 4th of July! If you are not from the USA, you may not know that we celebrate this day as our Independence Day. So as proud Americans we light things on fire (fireworks), drink beer and BBQ hotdogs, steaks or chicken. I spent a 4th of July in Europe (France) and was surprised to find a bar that celebrated it with us. They had hotdogs and decorated it with American flags. We didn't get fireworks, but they did play a bunch of American music. Not any of these songs, well, maybe John Mellencamp. What's funny to me is that many of these bands on this mixtape pick are not American bands. That's okay, they just had to have America in the title. Either way as you listen to this, BBQ something and eat it.

America 1

01 John Mellencamp - R.O.C.
K. In The U.S.A.

02 Night Ranger - (You Can Still) Rock In America

03 Blow Monkeys - My America

04 Beach Boys - Spirit Of America

05 Stranglers - Big In America

06 Santana - America

07 Kansas - Song For America (Single Edit)

08 Brian Eno & David Byrne - America Is Waiting

09 James Brown - Living In America

10 Yes - America (Single Version)

11 Patrick Juvet - I Love America

12 Iggy Pop - Wild America

13 Village People - America

14 Prince & the Revolution - America

15 Brooks & Dunn - Only In America

16 Nice - America

17 Jackson Browne - For America

18 Supertramp - Breakfast In America

19 U2 - The Hands That Built America (Theme From Gangs Of New York)

20 Jay & The Americans - Only In America

Blame It On T.I.A.

It's been another five days and yet another afflicted playlist pick. As usual for these, I didn't do it. I blame it on anything else I can. I take no responsibility for this being 1ll at 138 bpm and in a key mixing order (although the energy is all over the place). You definitely would not, in normal circumstances, put these in this order if you were to play them for an audience. If you did you would have to blame the autopen for signing off on these tracks. Not sure how many more of these I am going to do. What do you think? Maybe one more T.K.O.?

Blame It On T.I.A.

01 Melanie C - I Turn To You

02 Kinks - You Really Got Me

03 The Killers - Somebody Told Me (Mylo Remix Edit)

04 Shonen Knife - I Wanna Eat Choco Bars

05 Lounge Lizards - Incident On South Street

06 Asia - Heat Of The Moment

07 Gaelic Storm - Johnny Tarr

08 War - Low Rider

09 Missing Persons - Walking In L.A.

10 Isley Brothers - Shout (Part 1 & 2)

11 Santana - Everybody's Everything

12 Band Of Oz - Shaggin'

13 Slade - Mama Weer All Crazee Now

14 Lou Reed - Rock 'N' Roll

15 Ruts - In A Rut

16 Hollies - Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)

17 Joe Jackson - Fools In Love

18 Le Tigre - TKO

19 Jonas Brothers - Sucker

20 The Who - I Can't Explain

21 Gino Vannelli - I Just Wanna Stop

Happy Anniversary!

This connection or pick of anniversary songs is because today is my anniversary. Been married quite a while (since '07 if you want to know). I actually celebrate it twice a year six months apart because we had a church wedding six months after our actual wedding. Makes it kind of fun. Now these songs, however, are not all celebratory, but they do all have Anniversary in the title. Just don't play them for you other half and expect it to be all nice-nice. Some are. Some are not. I keep hoping there will be a better, newer anniversary song to celebrate, than the Little River Band, which isn't really about their anniversary, but celebrating that his significant other is happy with someone else. But it sounds happy! Oh well! Duran Duran is more in line with the sentiment, but it's not their best song.

Happy Anniversary!

01 Mission UK - Prelude Anniversary

02 Al Stewart - Anniversary

03 Tony! Toni! Tone! - Anniversary

04 The Pogues - Anniversary

05 Todd Rundgren - Happy Anniversary

06 Tom Jones - Anniversary Song

07 Shep And The Limelighters - Our Anniversary

08 Blur - Anniversary Waltz

09 Toy Dolls - The Anniversary Waltz

10 John Cale - On A Wedding Anniversary

11 Andy Williams - Anniversary Song

12 Suzanne Vega - Anniversary

13 Duran Duran - Anniversary

14 The Cure - Anniversary

15 Cowboy Junkies - Anniversary Song

16 Merle Haggard - Anniversary Blue Yodel

17 Al Jolson - Anniversary Song

18 Little River Band - Happy Anniversary

19 Giveon - Heartbreak Anniversary

20 Saint Etienne - Sadie's Anniversary

21 Jim Capaldi - Oh How We Danced (Anniversary Song)

22 Jimi Hendrix - 51st Anniversary [Mono]

23 Robert Plant - Anniversary

Eric Clapton With

I've done a few "With" picks, probably most recently Todd Rundgren With which turned out pretty good. But I guess not too many of these. Here's Eric Clapton With a bunch of other bands. Not really fair since he was a studio musician who loved playing on people's albums. I didn't include any tracks with him solo, nor did I include any Yardbirds nor any Cream. I did leave Derek & the Dominos on this pick. Oh well. I also included a track from the Bunbury's Bunbury Trail (which is another supergroup Eric was in - this time with the Bee Gee's). No rhyme or reason. But the tracks are all good. I almost added Yoko Ono, because Clapton plays on Don't Worry Kyoko... (a great song, but it didn't fit and it wasn't quite the best next to Brian Wilson anyway. Sorry about that. You will have to add it yourself.

Eric Clapton With

01 Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings - Melody

02 The Bunburys (Eric Clapton & The Bee Gees) - Fight The Good Fight

03 George Harrison - Wah Wah

04 Paul McCartney - Freedom

05 Ringo Starr - Never Without You

06 Derek & The Dominos - Layla

07 Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps

08 Brian Wilson + Eric Clapton - City Blues

09 Buckwheat Zydeco - Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad

10 Doris Troy - Ain't That Cute

11 Steve Winwood with Eric Clapton - Dirty City

12 Roger Waters - 4.41 AM (Sexual Revolution)

13 Bobby Whitlock - Where There's A Will There's A Way

14 Billy Preston - That's The Way God Planned It (Parts 1 And 2)

15 Toots And The Maytals - Pressure Drop

16 Tina Turner - What You Get Is What You See (Extended Rock Mix)