Take It Easy Tree

It's part three (or maybe even four or more) of the Take It Easy series if you include the Slow Down series. And I guess also related is the Life Is Good compilation. All of them are good, but this pick is a bit more easy. It's titled Tree instead of Three, so it appears in the right order in your folder directories. Again, Too and Tree. So probably no fourth one, unless we come up with a way to say four and stay alphabetical. Anything goes for the pun.

Take It Easy Tree

44 Cocoa Tea - Good Life

45 Beatles - Slow Down

46 Apples & The Three Oranges - Free & Easy

47 Hopeton Lewis - Take It Easy

48 Fishbone - It's A Wonderful Life (Gonna Have A Good Time)

49 Barefoot Jerry - Slowin' Down

50 The Peddlers - It's So Easy

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

52 Willie Hutch - Easy Does It

53 Röyksopp - So Easy

54 Green On Red - Easy Way Out

55 Barenaked Ladies - Easy

56 Cocteau Twins - Love's Easy Tears

57 Chris Isaak - Let Me Down Easy

58 Satyr - Free & Easy

59 Cake - Easy To Crash

60 Beth Hart - Take It Easy On Me

61 Y&T - Cheap And Easy

62 Jimmy Lindsay - Easy

63 Robin & the Hoods - Slow Down

64 Romeo Void - Just Too Easy

What's The Connection? Sucker 1

Lots of different meanings in these songs. This Connection is made up of songs with Sucker in the title. We got lollipops, people who believe anything and people who are blowing (although I might argue that involves sucking). I was starting with the Jonas Brothers since I just recently made their family pick (a week ago) and that started me to think. Betty Blowtorch, Stevie Wonder, Parliament, Xavier (listen for Bootsy) and Run DMC came soon after and the rest just filled in. So, don't be a sucker and just listen for yourself. The cover is interesting. Look closely and besides the lolly's there is an octopus in the background. Can't suck more than those tentacles.

What's The Connection? Sucker 1

01 Deep Purple - Bludsucker

02 Betty Blowtorch - I Wanna Be Your Sucker

03 Pop Will Eat Itself - Wise Up Sucker

04 Run DMC - Sucker MCs

05 LCD Soundsystem - Yr City's A Sucker

06 Parliament - Tear The Roof Off The Sucker

07 Stevie Wonder - All Day Sucker

08 Dimples D. - Sucker D.J.'s (I Will Survive)

09 Jim Reeves - Yonder Comes A Sucker

10 Xavier - Work That Sucker To Death

11 R.G.'s All Nite Funk Band - Go For It Sucker

12 Teena Marie - I'm a Sucker for Your Love

13 The Wolfgang Press - Sucker M.F.

14 Jonas Brothers - Sucker

15 Van Halen - Sucker In A 3 Piece

16 Erasure - Sucker For Love

17 Ministry - The Last Sucker

18 Red Hot Chili Peppers - No Chump Love Sucker

Chance To Trickle

Usually a pick of this name would mean to me, bathroom songs, but it isn't. Bathroom songs are songs long enough to to run so you have time to go to the bathroom and back before you need to change the song. Very handy to have a few of these if you are DJing somewhere and you have to go. As you get older, trickle could also mean prostate problems. This is also not what this compilation is about. Just a mixtape with the Manhattan Transfer on it and a bunch of mostly jazzy poppy songs. Actually a barrage of them. Much more than a trickle.

Chance To Trickle

01 Victor Feldman's Generation Band - Brazilia

02 Al Jarreau - (Round, Round, Round) Blue Rond A La Turk

03 Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good

04 Carole King - It's Too Late

05 Barry Manilow - Ready To Take A Chance Again

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

07 Bing Crosby - Please

08 Annette Funicello - Ballin' The Jack (Studio)

09 Dean Martin - For Once In My Life

10 Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Thud

11 Dorothy Lamour - The Man I Love

12 Michael Franks - Popsicle Toes

13 Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox - Bad Romance

14 Weather Report - Harlequin

15 Manhattan Transfer - Trickle Trickle

16 Tom Jones - She's a Lady

17 John Klemmer - Touch

18 Nancy Sinatra - How Does That Grab You, Darling

19 Van Morrison - Precious Time

20 Tom Scott & The LA Express - Spindrift

Ik Ben Blauwe

Direct translation is I am blue, but it's more subtle than that. That is also a derogatory slur that I am calling myself. And that means I am punching down (see, self deprecating joke), which is really bad, I hear. Anyway it refers to an Indonesian of Dutch heritage, but in an offensive way. I have been researching slurs and working on a list of songs that are offensive to people and that may refer to illegal aliens. Of all races and countries of origin. If you know some put them in the comments. This pick, however, is not those songs. Just other songs I have listened to while researching and that I enjoyed and hadn't placed anywhere else. The cover is my Pop as a boy. He was never offended by anything (said it was stupid to be offended by someone else's opinion). He and my mom were in what was considered a mixed marriage. He would have hated all these songs, except for CCR and Kingtinued. Too bad, Pop, I like them.

Ik Ben Blauwe

01 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Keep On Chooglin'

02 Haim - Rock N Roll Rules

03 Butthole Surfers - The Shame Of Life

04 The Smiths - How Soon Is Now (12' Version)

05 Rockin' Billy and the Wild Coyotes - Gator Country

06 The Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running

07 Goldfinger - 99 Red Balloons

08 The Cure - Purple Haze

09 Dramarama - Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)

10 Asleep At The Wheel - Hot Rod Lincoln

11 Tim McGraw - I Like It, I Love It

12 Commander Cody - Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (That Cigarette)

13 Soft Cell featuring Pet Shop Boys - Purple Zone

14 Darkness - I Believe In A Thing Called Love

15 Switchfoot - Ba55

16 Barnstorm - Turn To Stone

17 Cerebral Corps - Pam's Purple Spyrograph

18 Fischer-Z - The Perfect Day

19 Kingtinued (Elvis Presley) - Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Top Pick Albums 1986

Yesterday it was the top pick of singles of 1986 and today it's the top albums of 1986. This was the last year that I allowed compilation albums into my top albums. This year I had a soundtrack and two compilations in the list. In 1988 I started a separate section of compilations (greatest hits, soundtracks etc) and did a top ten for them separate from the album section. Looking back at these choices, I think I would change my mind on some of them. In fact some of the top singles from yesterday may have come from better albums than some of these, But this is what I chose then, so I'm sticking with it. I'm choosing the Pretty In Pink soundtrack as the sample cover, because at the time it was an amazing album with not a single bad track on it. Like usual first ten tracks were the original pick and the second ten were added now to round it out to two per album.

Top Pick Albums 1986

01 Public Image Limited - Rise

02 XTC - Dear God

03 Beastie Boys - She's Crafty

04 George Clinton - Do Fries Go With That Shake

05 New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle

06 The The - Heartland

07 Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink

08 The Cramps - Can Your Pussy Do the Dog

09 Laurie Anderson - Language Is A Virus

10 Robyn Hitchcock - Eaten By Her Own Dinner

11 The Cramps - What's Inside a Girl

12 The The - Infected

13 Beastie Boys - No Sleep Till Brooklyn

14 XTC - Grass

15 Public Image Limited - Home

16 Robyn Hitchcock - My Favourite Buildings

17 George Clinton - Hey Good Lookin

18 Laurie Anderson - Sharkey's Night

19 Echo & The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses

20 New Order - Paradise

Top Pick 1986

Another of my Top Picks of the year. We're still going through the 80's with today's pick being 1986. I remember a few things specifically about this year. I went to the CMJ convention in New York and got to go the Apollo Theatre (beautiful) for their awards show. We went in busses. Sandra Bernhard and Ronald Reagan Jr. hosted it. Peter Gabriel played off his new album, as did Run-DMC. I missed my bus back to Manhattan because I was getting radio drop-ins from Run-DMC who were big dicks and racist as hell. And I was one of the early people to play them on the radio. I was disappointed to say the least. Ended up in Harlem after 2 AM unable to get a cab and walking several blocks to catch a subway. No issues except being told to get out of their neighborhood multiple times. It's cleaned up a lot since then. Most of these bands I saw live (not Kate Bush, unfortunately) and I loved these tracks.

Top Pick 1986

01 Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

02 Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missile F1-11

03 Blow Monkeys - Digging Your Scene

04 Run-D.M.C. - Walk This Way

05 Book Of Love - I Touch Roses

06 Kraftwerk - Boing Boom Tschak

07 The Residents - Kaw-Liga

08 Siouxsie & The Banshees - Cities In Dust

09 Eurythmics - Missionary Man

10 Front 242 - Quite Unusual

11 Shriekback - Gunning For The Buddha

12 Beat Farmers - Powderfinger

13 Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire

14 SPK - In the Dying Moments

15 They Might Be Giants - Don't Let's Start

16 The Fall - Mr. Pharmacist

17 Kate Bush - Experiment IV

18 Wall Of Voodoo - Dance You Fuckers

19 Toy Dolls - Olga, I Cannot

20 Tuxedomoon - Atlantis

Figures Of Speech

A mixtape of leftover songs that I've been listening to that all fit in the same camelot key (7A). I had to supplement with a couple of songs to fill it out, but that was the start of it. Funny how they all do sound good together and they progress in BPM as they go as well. The title of the pick was because of the Sparks song (I do love Sparks). There are a couple of songs here that are less available than others: Adam & the Ants was originally on a flexidisc only, for instance. And how many Other People tracks do you know of?

Figures Of Speech

01 Cake - Short Skirt, Long Jacket

02 Tones On Tail - The Never Never (Is Forever)

03 Donna Summer - Bad Girls (12'' Single)

04 Frank Zappa - I Don't Wanna Get Drafted

05 Todd Rundgren - We Gotta Get You A Woman

06 Charles Johnson - Never Had a Love So Good

07 808 State - Pacific State

08 Jethro Tull - Bouree

09 10cc - Art For Art's Sake

10 J Geils Band - One Last Kiss

11 Tuxedomoon - What Use-

12 ABBA - Lay All Your Love on Me

13 Other People (Dave Ball) - Have a Nice Day

14 Tubes - Don't Touch Me There

15 Sophie Ellis-Bextor With Fred Schneider - Supersonic

16 Stranglers - All Day And All Of The Night

17 Until December - Secrets (I Won't Tell)

18 Florence DeVore - Kiss Me Now (Don't Kiss Me Later)

19 Sparks - Metaphor

20 Adam & The Ants - Antmusic