So... the Tuesday drive to work requires a little less of a jump start than the Monday drive. That's why today I just listened to the first six tracks of R.E.M.'s latest, Reveal.
1. The Lifting 2. I've Been High 3. Reno 4. She Just Wants 5. Disappear 6. Saturn Return
I like this album better and better the more I listen to it.
I've Been High R.E.M.
have you seen? have not, will travel have I missed the big reveal?
do my eyes do my eyes seem empty? I've forgotten how this feels
I've been high I've climbed so high but life sometimes it washes over me
have you been? have done, will travel I fell down on my knees
was I wrong? I don't know, don't answer I just needed to believe
I've been high I've climbed so high but life sometimes it washes over me
so I dive into a pool so cool and deep that if I sink I sink and when I swim I fly so high
what I want what I really want is just to live my life on high
and I know I know you want the same I can see it in your eyes
I've been high I've climbed so high but life sometimes it washes over me
washes over me close my eyes so I can see make my make believe believe in me
Monday, July 30, 2001
On the Monday morning drive to work, it's very important to get the week started right with appropriate music. This morning I played
1. Steamboat / The Beach Boys 2. Sail On, Sailor / The Beach Boys 3. Sail On, Sailor / The Beach Boys 4. Sail On, Sailor / The Beach Boys 5. Marcella / The Beach Boys 6. If Only / Hanson 7. Livin' La Vida Loca / Ricky Martin 8. What Makes You Happy / Liz Phair
Yes, it's a Sail On, Sailor kind of morning...
Sail On, Sailor The Beach Boys
I sailed an ocean, unsettled ocean Through restful waters and deep commotion Often frightened, unenlightened Sail on, sail on sailor
I wrest the waters, fight Neptune's waters Sail through the sorrows of life's marauders Unrepenting, often empty Sail on, sail on sailor
Caught like a sewer rat alone but I sail Bought like a crust of bread, but oh do I wail
Seldom stumble, never crumble Try to tumble, life's a rumble Feel the stinging I've been given Never ending, unrelenting Heartbreak searing, always fearing Never caring, persevering Sail on, sail on, sailor
I work the seaways, the gale-swept seaways Past shipwrecked daughters of wicked waters Uninspired, drenched and tired Wail on, wail on, sailor
Always needing, even bleeding Never feeding all my feelings Damn the thunder, must I blunder There's no wonder all I'm under Stop the crying and the lying And the sighing and my dying
Sail on, sail on sailor Sail on, sail on sailor
Saturday, July 28, 2001
I got up early today to work on the latest in my World music mixes. Now the art is done and I just need to finish editing the music files.
Then I got distracted downloading stuff from AudioGalaxy. They've installed some blocking features recently, so the experience is not quite the same as it was before (although it's nothing near as bad as Napster). Anyway I found some cool stuff.
Ladybug Transistor, a cool band with a sound direct from 1968.
Alex Chilton's version of the Oogum Boogum Song. I love Alex Chilton.
Burro, a mariachi version of Beck's Jack-Ass (also done by Beck).
Thursday, July 26, 2001
Sometimes when I am trading mixes with people, I wonder what they think about those Ricky Martin songs I throw in from time to time. Tonight I used "Por Arriba, Por Abajo" on a mix of world music. That song makes me want to dance a silly dance.
Wednesday, July 25, 2001
Okay, the dude at Brass City Records in Waterbury played some extra cool stuff for me today. I don't actually have any of it myself yet, but it will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.
Orange Peels. This sounds like absolutely perfect pop. I heard about 4 songs from their CD "So Far." I can't wait to hear more.
Wondermints. Man, oh, man. I saw these guys as Brian Wilson's backup band a couple of weeks ago. This is a fine, fine pop band. I am so psyched. Today at Brass City they were playing a collection of rarities. But I'm guessing just about anything this band does is going to sound golden.
Go to it!
Friday, July 20, 2001
One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers
This music makes me feel good. Which is really kind of ironic, considering the topics of most of the songs. Poverty, prejudice, heartbreak, death and dying...
Still. The beat and the voices are beautiful, the guitar is funky, and the sadness of the lyrics is balanced by hope and spirituality. It's great stuff.
You can read about these tracks all over the net. I downloaded them from AudioGalaxy but they are available lots of places. The tracks really are great. The best way to describe it, I guess, is to say that it sounds like a DMB album. I do love Everyday, the album they actually released, but the Lillywhite sessions are more in keeping with what you expect from DMB.
The best cover art (reportedly endorsed by Steve Lillywhite himself!) is available here. Have fun!
Monday, July 16, 2001
Otto Kitsinger has some incredible concert photos of a bunch of different bands. His U2 pictures are simply amazing.
Sunday, July 15, 2001
I just found out that The Wallflowers are playing Connecticut this Tuesday. I really, really wanted to see them. But they are playing at Foxwoods, a big casino here. What a conundrum. I hate casinos just about as much as I love The Wallflowers. I think I'm going to have to give this a miss. :-(
This morning I saw a review of the James Taylor concert we went to at Tanglewood a few weeks ago:
Tanglewood Comfortable For Taylor By ROGER CATLIN The Hartford Courant July 05, 2001
LENOX, Mass. - Of course James Taylor felt at home during the first show of his two-night stand at Tanglewood Tuesday.
After all, he and his band had rehearsed there before the start of their summer tour. The place is practically home for him since he married the marketing director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which runs Tanglewood. And for a guy raised in Massachusetts, there are all those Bay State references in his songs, from the Lowell worker in "Millworker" to even more local connections.
"I wrote that song just a couple miles from here, in Stockbridge," Taylor said after "Fire and Rain," his pensive, 1970 song about a relationship inside a sanatorium there ("Anyone tonight here from Riggs?" he asked, jokingly.)
And though the holiday eve performance was packed (and could relate to the jazzy vocalese of "Traffic Jam" in the encore), hardly anyone left until he sang "Sweet Baby James" as his fourth encore, cheering lustily its reference to the all-too-familiar "turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston."
Outdoor shows by Taylor, 53, are such a summer tradition that he's written about it before, in the song "That's Why I'm Here."
The 2001 "Pull Over" tour is his first with his band in three years, though, and he's celebrating by highlighting their contributions. Percussionist Luis Conte introduced "Mexico" with a solo, sax man Lou Marini highlighted a version of "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" and vocalist Arnold McCuller got a special hand for the soulful counterpoint on "Shower the People."
Because he had a horn section, he made sure to use it on covers of Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is" and Eddie Floyd's "Knock on Wood."
Some war horses got different arrangements. "Steamroller" took a trip to New Orleans, "Carolina in My Mind" got some nice pedal steel guitar (and a rolling backing visual) and "Sweet Baby James" got a beautiful cello counterpart from a member of the BSO.
Taylor has some new material, and took the risk of presenting three new songs in a row in the show's first set. With the promise of hits to follow, and because the new songs had the same relaxed, samba quality of his recent material, they went over well.
Friday, July 13, 2001
I've been listening to all those Wierd Al Yankovic polka medleys. They make me laugh uncontrollably. I love them just as much today as I did when I was 14 years old. And now there are lots more of them than there were back then. ;-)
Thursday, July 12, 2001
You can blow out a candle But you can't blow out a fire Once the flame begins to catch The wind will blow it higher...
~ Peter Gabriel, Biko
Wednesday, July 11, 2001
Velvet Underground, Greatest Hits
"I'm waiting for my man Twenty-six dollars in my hand Up from Lexington, one two five, Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive, I'm waiting for my man..."
Monday, July 09, 2001
Morning music:Green Cheese. This is great music for a Monday morning. A vintage Susie mix, inspired by Katynka and other Bad Girls of my acquaintance.
Better not look down, if you want to keep on flying Put the hammer down, keep it full speed ahead Better not look back, or you might just wind up crying You can keep it moving if you don't look down
BB King, "Better Not Look Down"
Sunday, July 08, 2001
Listening to
Southern Culture on the Skids: "Too Much Pork for Just One Fork," "Banana Puddin'," "King of the Mountain," and "Fried Chicken and Gasoline."
Chickasaw Mud Puppies: "Superior," "Cold Blue," and "Words."
It's a hickabilly morning chez Susie.
Friday, July 06, 2001
I'm listening to Too Much To Feel, a mix I made in February 2000. (Check out the track list here.)
This is a somewhat unusual mix for me, because I mostly used songs from sampler CDs I got for free at the record store, so I didn't know several of the bands before I made the mix (like Guster, Collapsis, and Sun-60). My favorite songs on here are hard to pick, but I think I'd have to say "My Insatiable One" by Suede, "Camel Walk" by Southern Culture on the Skids, and "Bulletproof Belief" by Julia Darling top the list. But there are at least 6 other songs on this mix that I like almost as much as these.
The one song I probably wouldn't use if I had it to do over again is "Higher" by Creed. Not that there's anything wrong with the song... it's just that I made the mix before that song became so incredibly popular (and overplayed). The first time I heard it was on the compilation sampler I used to make this mix. I liked the guy's voice and the 80s arena-rock sound of it. But I guess I got tired of hearing it after awhile, when it was playing everywhere last summer. Still, in the end, if that's the only problem with this mix, it's a fairly minor one.
The title of the mix, Too Much To Feel, comes from the Folk Implosion song, "My Ritual." This is a very cool song. I love the way the folky acoustic guitar is paired with that big, bad, bass line that shakes the car when you play it loud (or even not so loud, for that matter). This song makes me think that Folk Implosion is a really good name for this band. And the lyrics are great, too.
My Ritual Folk Implosion
My blood moves I feel all right My ritual followed us to paradise My blood moves I feel all right Don't touch me Cause I've had too much to feel tonight
I'm a martyr of a new and magic kind It's gettin' easy not to suffer all the time
My good time I feel all right My ritual followed us to paradise My blood moves I feel all right Don't touch me cause you're still too much to feel tonight
Not tonight, I repeat, me over I'm a martyr of a new and magic kind It's getting easy not to suffer all the time My sense of humor might have narrowed with my age But happy anarchy is all I really crave
Trying to be good, while I get my fill Will I get what I need? I don't know if I will When I take it in, will I make it my own again My own again
My good time, I feel all right My ritual got me through another night
I'm a martyr of a new and magic kind It's getting easy not to suffer all the time My sense of humor might have narrowed with my age But happy anarchy is all I really crave It's all I want. It's all I need So come over.
One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley and The Wailers
I'm listening to Too Much To Feel, a mix I made in February 2000. (Check out the track list 
