Digging Your Groove 1

And thus began another series in Pol's Picks. These are songs that I just liked the whole groove about it. Either the tempo or the bass line or something didn't quite fit with other playlists I was making or something about the sound was different. BUT, I still loved the song. So it ends up on this list. Mostly 80's songs, but a few that aren't. They just have that feel. Which you will figure out once you start listening to the series. I have a few ready and I am posting them all. Look for them in the next few days. I don't know why some of these songs were not more hugely popular. Well, to be fair, some were.

Digging Your Groove 1

01 Soho - Hippy Chick

02 Blow Monkeys - Digging Your Scene

03 Banderas - This Is Your Life

04 Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now

05 Hipsway - The Honeythief

06 Was (Not Was) - Spy In The House Of Love

07 A Certain Ratio - Shack Up (radio edit)

08 Betty Boo - Doin' The Do

09 Deee-Lite - Groove Is In The Heart (Ultimix)

10 Laid Back - White Horse

11 Electronic - Getting Away With It (AOM Raindance Mix by Peter Fenton & Steve Smith)

12 Colourfield - Can't Get Enough Of You Baby

13 Tom Tom Club - Man With The Four-Way Hips

14 Cristina - Drive My Car

15 Divinyls - Pleasure And Pain

16 Escape Club - Wild Wild West

17 The The - This Is The Day

dancing with myself 2

This is side 2 of this previous cassette. I'm guessing 1984 based on the songs I put on this playlist pick. Generation X had recently switched out Billy Idol who went solo and was all over the air waves. Prince had put out another amazing album after Controversy. All these hits played on my cassette deck all day long. Loved this kind of stuff. All songs I picked from my playlist of back then.

dancing with myself 2

11 Spandau Ballet - Only When You Leave

12 Bonnie Tyler - Here She Comes

13 Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days

14 Billy Idol - Rebel Yell

15 Freddie Mercury - Love Kills

16 Thompson Twins - Doctor! Doctor!

17 Cyndi Lauper - She Bop (dance mix)

18 Re-Flex - The Politics Of Dancing (Extended)

19 Culture Club - Karma Chameleon

20 The Fixx - One Thing Leads To Another

21 Generation X - Dancing With Myself

Mariachi Inspired

Cinco De Mayo is one of those holidays that is American, but pretends to be Mexican. It isn't celebrated, really, in Mexico. It isn't Independence day for Mexico. It was mostly in California and it celebrates a small war that Mexico won (against all odds, like the Alamo, but with better outcome). It is mostly about beer and getting drunk and causing havoc in the streets of the city with Mexican flags on your low rider. But that has nothing to do with this pick. These are all songs that were inspired by Mariachi bands. Listen and you'll get it. Now drink beer, get arrested. Congratulations! You celebrated Cinco De Mayo!

Mariachi Inspired

01 Love - Alone Again Or

02 Freddy Fender - Before the Next Teardrops Falls

03 Molotov - Frijolero

04 Dwight Yoakam - Sorry You Asked

05 Los Lobos featuring Antonio Banderas - Cancion Del Mariachi (Morena De Mi Corazon)

06 Elvis Presley - Guadalajara

07 Devotchka - Bad Luck Heels

08 Metalachi - Crazy Train

09 Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire

10 Nariachi Mexicano - Mariachi Loco

11 Beck - Burro

12 Zander Schloss - Salsa Y Ketchup

13 Calexico - Crystal Frontier (Widescreen Version)

14 Doug Sahm and Band - (Is Anybody Going to) San Antone

15 Tubes - Malaguena Salerosa

16 Plugz - El Clavo Y La Cruz

17 Mariachi El Bronx - 48 Roses

18 The Mavericks - Dance The Night Away

19 Genesis - Illegal Alien

20 Vandoliers - Sixteen Years

21 Hot Banditoz - La Cucaracha Dance (Party Remix)

22 Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

23 Mariachi Mexteca featuring Hugh Cornwell - Golden Brown

dancing with myself 1

Yes, I know that the title isn't capitalized. It was a choice I made at the time (mid 80's) and that I stayed true to. This was another one of those cassettes that I had made back then. I updated it a little when I went to make this playlist pick. Mostly by adding the extended version of Bill Idol's White Wedding, but the rest is just as it was. Although I added the dancing girl to the cover. The title stayed the same, the background was almost like that. Part 2 coming tomorrow.

dancing with myself 1

01 Billy Idol - Eyes Without a Face

02 Prince & the Revolution - When Doves Cry

03 Culture Club - Do You Really Want To Hurt Me

04 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Listen To Her Heart

05 Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night

06 Wang Chung - Don't Let Go

07 Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now

08 Big Country - In A Big Country (12'' extended remix)

09 Kenny Loggins - Footloose

10 Billy Idol - White Wedding (Extended Version)

Collections Of An Ass. Man.

This is one of those cassettes made by someone else for me, from my albums. At the time I was the Assistant Manager of a record store. This was early 80's, probably '81 or '82 and I was proud of having several hundred albums. Thinking about it, it must have been later in 1982 because the John Waite had just come out and she loved that album (so did I). This pick was made from those albums by an old girlfriend who also loved music. The title was chosen by her, the music chosen by her. But the albums I owned were all chosen by me. I was picking albums by their covers. I sometimes hadn't even heard the music at all. Kate Bush was one of those albums. I loved the cover and got it (using my discount at the store), then discovered I loved Kate Bush. Still one of my favorite artists. The cover is a recreation of what the cassette looked like. We were both proud that I was an Ass. Man. Young and dumb.

Collections Of An Ass. Man.

01 Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough

02 Jackson 5 - I'll Be There

03 Dionne Warwick - Message To Michael

04 Mary Wells - My Guy

05 The Platters - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

06 Paul Revere & the Raiders - Louie Louie

07 Everly Brothers - ('Til) I Kissed You

08 Dionne Warwick - Going Out Of My Head

09 The Platters - Harbor Lights

10 Everly Brothers - Let It Be Me

11 Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream

12 Dionne Warwick - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself

13 Everly Brothers - Like Strangers

14 Dionne Warwick - You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)

15 Dolly Parton - I Will Always Love You

16 John Waite - Change

17 John Waite - Mr. Wonderful

18 Kate Bush - Them Heavy People

19 Kate Bush - L'Amour Looks Something Like You

Be Quiet... Or I'll Throw You Out 2

The second half of this playlist pick. Mostly Industrial dance, but some is just barely over that line. I'm not sure they even called it that back then, but I could be mis-remembering. Either way this pick is just what I was playing around that time. Let me know if this was even on your radar or not. What are the songs you were listening to? This is volume 2, so make sure you pick up volume 1 as it will make more sense together.

Be Quiet... Or I'll Throw You Out 2

10 Ministry - Let's Get Physical (Banned Original Mix)

11 Ministry - You Know What You Are

12 Nitzer Ebb - K.I.A.

13 Skinny Puppy - Dig It

14 Keith Leblanc - Taxcider

15 SPK - Sheer Naked Aggression

16 Cabaret Voltaire - No Escape

17 Manufacture - Passion For The Future

18 Negativland - Christianity Is Stupid

19 Big Black - Racer X

20 The Neon Judgement - Concrete (It Feels So Strong)

Be Quiet... Or I'll Throw You Out 1

This is one of those cassettes I used to make. Kinda of Industrial Dance. A bit like the Please Show Membership Card pick a bit back. And I do have a series of my favorite Industrial Dance tracks that I will put up later. But  this is just what I was listening to back then. I will post volume 2 tomorrow. Wait until you hear both sides of this once cassette and now redone as a playlist pick.

Be Quiet... Or I'll Throw You Out 1

01 The Jazz Butcher - Do The Bubonic Plague

02 The Genetic Terrorists - TGT

03 Die Warzau - I've Got To Make Sense

04 Nine Inch Nails - Down In It

05 Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System - What's My Mission Now (Fight the Devil)

06 Mark Stewart - The Wrong Name & The Wrong Number

07 Cassandra Complex - Beyond Belief

08 Front 242 - Funkahdafi

09 KMFDM - Oh Look