I've always given my mix tapes odd names. The one recently evicted from the player had a fairly uninspired name because I was going through a bit of an emotional crapfest and wanted to inspire myself: Mushy Gushy Love Songs. Oddly enough, most of the songs had nothing at all to do with love.
I once titled a genuine Mix Tape with: Eating Cherry Chapstick While Frolicking in the Rain. Yup. A cassette. This loosely ties in with the story, so stick with me.
Today's first "Mix Tape" was titled: Lovesick Puppy. The sequel is aptly named: Lovesick Puppy's Puppies. And there are a few mushy gushy love songs on these gems.
I give you track lists and a little commentary.
Lovesick Puppy:
Too Too Kind - Lazy Susan
Throwing Stones - Kim Virant
Sleeping In - Kim Virant
Kegger - Kim Virant
While You Were Out - Blue Spark
Cupid Song - Blue Spark
Peace of Mind - Diamond Star Halo
Ashes - Goodness
Eveready - Goodness
Sex & Rebellion - Goodness
Disco 77 - Goodness
Catching Fireflies - Goodness
Coat of Arms - The Rockfords
Sureshot - The Rockfords
The Rules - Tube Top
Burning Bridges - Soda Jerk
Things U Do - Second Coming
Touch Me All Night Long - Cathy Dennis
Typical mid-1990's Seattle band mix tape here with the one random catchy pop song added to fill space at the end. Nothing monumentous? How about the fact that 2/3 of the tracks are Goodness and Goodness-related bands and performers?
Lazy Susan... singer Kim Virant... Kim Virant married to Chris Friel of Goodness. The Rockfords, also featuring members of Goodness. Blue Spark because Garth Reeves is a genius... and a member of Goodness. Am I on a Goodness kick? Not really, but they did play a sold out show in Seattle over the weekend and this broke girl missed it.
Tube Top and Soda Jerk off a compilation CD. If anyone has a copy of Soda Jerk's indie release... hey, I need that entirely too bad. I am an obscure music collector. Got it on cassette? I can deal with that, I know how to transfer those things.
Second Coming, but not Second Coming. Obscure, impossible to get. And I will not divulge my source. I suspect this is one of the songs that Maxi went on to record during the first Second Coming breakup that ended up hidden away somewhere for legal reasons. This was the holy grail of unreleased Second Coming tracks to me for years. No, I don't share, but it is on youtube.
And yes, a dancy pop song to end the whole shebang. Because I'm weird like that. I'm not even sure how I came across the song.
Lovesick Puppy's Puppies:
Give It Up - Super Deluxe
Enough is Enough - Super Deluxe
Knockout - Super Deluxe
Minneapolis - That Dog
Hawthorne - That Dog
Hesitation - Sweet Water
Slightly Used - Best Kissers in the World
Vicodine - Best Kissers in the World
Hungover Together - Best Kissers in the World
Good - Better Than Ezra
Try - Michael Penn
No Myth - Michael Penn
All Wrong - God Lives Underwater
The Ultra Love - Maxi
Toy Soldiers - Martika
Smooth Operator - Sade
The Sweetest Taboo - Sade
You Should Be Mine - Jon Secada
Longing - Josh White
The Chair - George Strait
It Ain't Cool to be Crazy About You - George Strait
Did I ever warn you I was diverse to a fault? This illustrates my eccentric taste pretty well.
Super Deluxe. More 1990's Seattle awesomeness. As you go through this, you may recognize the bands but not the tracks. Some of this stuff is from little-known indie releases after the bands had been dropped from major labels or otherwise faded from sight. I love this Super Deluxe record, but most people probably stopped following them well before this point.
Following up with some That Dog. You may remember them as a one-hit wonder. The tracks I selected here are a couple favorites. I would have never noticed them beyond their hit song back in 1997-ish, but for a friend who gave me a mix tape at a Goodness show in Bellingham. This was the period of time that I was dating He Who Shall Not Be Spoken Of Ever. It started snowing as I was driving home from that show and I was passing through Everett when I heard these two tracks for the first time. That mix tape had some gems on it, for sure, and of course the tracks that I knew only as "the unreleased Sweet Water" at that time, which fans would know as Suicide.
Which brings us to the Sweet Water track, fittingly, though not off the Suicide record, but rather from Clear The Tarmac, which must have come out over 6 years ago now, because I know I was listening to it a lot during the time we were house hunting.
Best Kissers in the World, I love you, even if you can't spell Vicodin correctly. The EP these tracks come from is pure listening pleasure, but I had to pick a few favorites. Carrie Akre from... Goodness... guests on Hungover Together. Can't go wrong with Carrie Akre.
Better Than Ezra was another one-hit wonder. I stuck with the hit in this case. I remember driving to a lot of concerts with this one playing on the radio.
I came across Michael Penn many years ago at Bumbershoot and he impressed me so much that I've been a fan ever since. I've included his only known hit as well as a personal favorite track here. He scores films mostly these days, which makes my heart a little sad. I love his songwriting.
I think I saw God Lives Underwater at a show back in the day. I hate to say it, but I can't really remember who I saw with who when anymore. That's right. I thought I'd never forget the date, location and details of every concert I had ever been to. Guess I was wrong. It makes me a little sad to think that music has fallen to such a low priority in my life that I can't remember what year I saw Second Coming at Brewstock or Fates Warning in Portland. Either way, hit song, I still love it.
Finally, the expected Holy Grail track. The Ultra Love was a Second Coming song. They played it and Things U Do at shows back in the day... including at Brewstock, whenever that was. Once again, not saying where I found it, not sharing it, try looking it up on youtube.
We journey into a little pop paradise here. One hit wonder Martika put out an amazing song with Toy Soldiers. I don't think too many people even remember it. I don't even think I liked it when it came out because I was too deep into other stuff at the time, but it's held up to the test of time well.
Sade. Because, Sade. You can't have a Lovesick Puppy without a little Sade.
Josh White, former singer of Marble and Man Ray. This track is off his solo CD. Good luck finding that gem anywhere. I really wonder whatever happened to Josh. He had such an amazing voice and wrote such creative, emotional and slightly dark lyrics. I hope he's well wherever he's gone away to.
Wrapping it up, a little classic country. Yes, I like country. I don't lie when people ask what I like and I say "everything." Seriously.
Well, that's my foray into music for the day. Almost.
The Cherry Chapstick Mix Tape? That was my gift to the friend who gave me the one with That Dog and Sweet Water on it.
Oh, and my awesome friend, MGX, brought me back an autographed laminate from Fates Warning's Seattle gig last month. Too cool! I need to snap a pic of that soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment