Gelukkig Nieuwjaar (repost)

This is a repost of a New Year's Connection all about New Year's songs.  Not any one genre at all. You may notice that I named this What's The Connection? in the Dutch traditional greeting for the New Year. I have some Dutch in my heritage, so it's what my family says. I get that it's impossible to pronounce if you do not speak Dutch. Just remember that the "G" is softer than you think. Anyway enjoy the cover (Amsterdam fireworks in the background) and the weird songs mixed in with more mainstream stuff. For more New Year's songs  ← click there.

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! Lucky New Year

01 Lightnin' Hopkins - Happy New Year
02 Eagles - Funky New Year
03 Kid Rock - Happy New Year
04 Violent Femmes - Happy New Year Next Year
05 The Residents - Mr. Skull's New Year's Eve Song
06 Camera Obscura - Happy New Year
07 James Brown - Merry Christmas My Baby And A Very, Very Happy New Year
08 Bing Crosby - Let's Start the New Year Right
09 Tom Waits - New Year's Eve
10 Stevie Ray Vaughan - Happy New Year Blues
11 Graham Parker - New Year's Revolution
12 Barry Manilow - It's Just Another New Years Eve
13 Bowling For Soup - Merry Flippin' Christmas (Happy Freakin' New Year)
14 Brave Combo - Mambo in a Brand New Year
15 The Malibooz - And A Happy New Year
16 Michael Franks - The Way We Celebrate New Years
17 O'Jays - Christmas Just Ain't Christmas, New Years Ain't New Years Without The One You Love
18 Pink Martini - Congratulations-A Happy New Year Song
19 B.B. King - Bringing In A Brand New Year
20 Dan Wilson - What A Year For A New Year
21 Joe Walsh - New Year's Eve

CCCC (Cake, Camp, Crack)

A little northern California indie alt rock served family style. This pick (I called it the Chocolate Chip Connection while I was making it) but it's really the family crossovers of Cake, Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. The first 13 tracks are just them, but the next seven are where they went to or came from. The biggest glue to all of this are the three Davids and Michael Urbano. Lowery in CVB and Cracker, Urbano in all three, Immergluck was in CVB and Cracker. And then they were in the other bands - look them up and you'll see. I picked at least one track in each band that had them on it, and I still had to love the track.

CCCC (Cake, Camp, Crack)

01 Cake - The Distance

02 Cracker - I'm A Little Rocket Ship

03 Cake - Wheels

04 Camper Van Beethoven - Reason to Believe

05 Cracker - Get Off This

06 Camper Van Beethoven - Take The Skinheads Bowling

07 Cracker - Low

08 Cake - No Phone

09 Camper Van Beethoven - The Day That Lassie Went To The Moon

10 Cake - Never There

11 Camper Van Beethoven - Northern California Girls

12 Cracker - Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)

13 Camper Van Beethoven - Pictures of Matchstick Men

14 Third Eye Blind - How's It Going To Be

15 Counting Crows - Mr. Jones

16 Monks of Doom - Chang

17 Smash Mouth - I'm a Believer

18 Pixies - Where is My Mind

19 Bourgeois Tagg - I Don't Mind At All

20 The Ophelias - Lawrence of Euphoria

Fall Do Overs

The last couple of days I've had picks that were somewhat related to The Fall, so I figured I should get right to the heart of it. These are all by the band covering other people's songs. A "do over" for them. I've always liked the band and especially their covers, so here are as many as I could figure out. I go against my rule of only putting enough songs in these playlists that end up being CD length (up to 80 minutes in my world). This is almost half hour too much. Sorry, but I didn't have the heart to cut any and I know I should have. You are just going to have to suck it up and deal with my shortcomings. I wanted them all in one place.

Fall Do Overs

01 The Fall - Junk Man

02 The Fall - Loop 41-Houston

03 The Fall - Mr. Pharmacist

04 The Fall - Black Monk Theme Part I

05 The Fall - Gotta See Jane

06 The Fall - I'm Going To Spain

07 The Fall - This Perfect Day

08 The Fall - Higgle-dy Piggle-dy

09 The Fall - Lost in Music

10 The Fall - Funnel Of Love

11 The Fall - Bound

12 The Fall - F-'oldin' Money

13 The Fall - Last Chance To Turn Around

14 The Fall - Stout Man

15 The Fall - Jungle Rock

16 The Fall - War

17 The Fall - Kimble

18 The Fall - Just Waiting

19 The Fall - Stay Away (Old White Train)

20 The Fall - Why Are People Grudgeful

21 The Fall - A Day In The Life

22 The Fall - White Lightning

23 The Fall - Victoria

24 The Fall - I'm a Mummy

25 The Fall - I Can Hear the Grass Grow

26 The Fall - White Line Fever

27 The Fall - Strangetown

28 The Fall - Rollin' Dany

29 The Fall - The Legend Of Xanadu

30 The Fall - I'm Not Satisfied

31 The Fall - There's a Ghost in My House

32 The Fall - Shut Up!

Laura Elise (Adult Net, Brix Smith)

Yesterday I posted a pick of Mark E Smith. Today it's his ex-wife Brix E Smith's early solo work, mostly with Adult Net, but also a couple of singles she released as Brix. It does not include any of the stuff from the 2010's and later where she was with the Extricated and also later with Marty Wilson-Piper. Don't get me wrong, that's all good music but didn't fit with this stuff that was more on the poppy psychedelic side. I was lucky enough to meet her a few times and she was smart, cute and fun. That was when she first was doing Adult Net stuff but also still touring with the Fall. The bikes on the cover are because she went to my house and rode my bike. It was fun. Anyway, I like her work with the Fall a lot, some of their best work and I really like her solo stuff. Here's some of it. Her given names are Laura Elise, so that's why the title.

Laura Elise (Adult Net, Brix Smith)

01 Adult Net - White Night (Stars Say Go)

02 Adult Net - Incense And Peppermints

03 Brix Smith - Oringina

04 Adult Net - Take Me

05 Adult Net - August

06 Adult Net - Waking Up In The Sun

07 Adult Net - Spin This Web

08 Adult Net - Edie

09 Adult Net - Sad

10 Adult Net - Baby You're Away

11 Adult Net - Where Were You

12 Adult Net - Honey Tangle

13 Adult Net - Tiffany Tuesday

14 Adult Net - Tomorrow Morning's Daydream

15 Adult Net - Going Nowhere

16 Adult Net - It's The Way

17 Brix Smith - Hurdy Gurdy Man

18 Adult Net - Sea Of Rain

19 Adult Net - Over The River

20 Brix Smith - Space Oddity

Mark E Smith

I am a Mark E Smith fan, especially in The Fall. And was happy to find him on other recordings besides the millions with the Fall. He did some guest spots and he was sampled and he did some side projects. This pick is a sampling of all that. Not as popular in the States as he was back home, but he definitely had some followers here. I figured he was probably a drunk and an ass, but anyone who could put out music like him was worth my time. He always looke dlike he would be yelling at someone to get off his lawn. Just my kind of guy!

Mark E Smith

01 Mouse On Mars - 21Again

02 Tackhead featuring Mark E Smith - Repetition (Repetition)

03 Coldcut featuring Mark E Smith - (I'm) In Deep

04 Gorillaz featuring Mark E Smith - Glitter Freeze

05 Edwyn Collins - Seventies Night

06 Shuttleworth featuring Mark E Smith - England's Heartbeat

07 DOSE featuring Mark E Smith - Plug Myself In

08 Blaney featuring Mark E Smith - Thinking Of You

09 Jan St. Werner featuring Mark E Smith - Back To Animals

10 Von Südenfed, Mark E. Smith, Mouse On Mars - The Rhinohead

11 Mouse On Mars featuring Mark E Smith - Cut the Gain

12 Ghostigital - Not Clean

13 12 Inch featuring Mark E Smith - Inch

14 Mark E Smith - Dissolute Singer

15 Mark E Smith & Ed Blaney - Real Good Time Together

16 Inspiral Carpets featuring Mark E Smith - I Want You

17 Long Fin Killie - The Heads Of Dead Surfers

18 The Clint Boon Experience - You Can't Keep A Good Man Down

19 The Fall - Totally Wired

Top Pick Albums 1989

This year the Top Pick Albums were again joined with the Top Compilations. Second year for me to do it. It gave me some older songs I enjoyed that year to go onto the year end mixtape I made. Some I heard for the first time as some (one) of these compilations were my first look into the band (Swell Maps). The rest it was just an excuse to round out the tape. More than half of the top album picks this year had a female singer. Even The The had a guest female. I saw most of these bands live this year too. The choice of cover went to Ministry. Too cool, although I almost used Bowie and the way cool cd packaging.

Top Album Pick 1989

01 The Sugarcubes - Regina

02 Pixies - Monkey Gone To Heaven

03 The The - Kingdom of Rain

04 De La Soul - Magic Number

05 Nina Hagen - Move Over

06 Ministry - So What

07 The Primitives - Sick Of It

08 Adult Net - Honey Tangle

09 Kate Bush - Be Kind To My Mistakes

10 Lush - Bitter

Top Compilations 1989

11 Oingo Boingo - Only A Lad

12 Bill Nelson - Acquitted By Mirrors

13 The Dickies - Banana Splits

14 Wire - 1 2 X U

15 Death In June - Love Murder

16 David Bowie - Rebel Rebel

17 Chris and Cosey - Love Cuts

18 Bauhaus - Night Time

19 The Fall - Introduction-Cruiser's Creek

20 Swell Maps - Gunboats

Top Pick 1989

Last Thursday and Friday of the month and even though it's Christmas, it's also time for my pick of the top songs of the year and this year was 1989. The end of the 80's! BTW, Merry Christmas! As always these were the songs I was listening to (a lot) then. Some may have been on good albums, but my album pick is tomorrow. My taste was changing through the decade as I was exposed to different music (and meeting bands and seeing 1000's of shows). A couple of local bands on this list and many that weren't. At least one track from a movie soundtrack and one song that I had only on cassette (later it came out on CD.)

Top Pick 1989

01 Lard - The Power Of Lard

02 Cliff Martinez - Looks Like A Tablecloth

03 Nine Inch Nails - Down In It

04 The Jesus And Mary Chain - My Girl

05 Consolidated - Consolidated

06 The Jazz Butcher - Do The Bubonic Plague

07 Flesh For Lulu - Decline And Fall

08 Revolting Cocks - Let's Get Physical (Unreleased Version)

09 World Entertainment War - Marlboro Man Jr

10 Keith Leblanc - Taxcider

11 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Good Time Boys

12 Barry Adamson - Autodestruction

13 Ice-T - Freedom Of Speech

14 Die Warzau - I've Got To Make Sense

15 Front 242 - Welcome To Paradise V 1.0

16 Pankow - Kunst Und Wahnsinn

17 We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It - International Rescue

18 The Genetic Terrorists - TGT

19 Ledernacken - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

20 Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (Acoustic)