A Nice Sunday

Today's listening:

Neil Young-S/T
Neil Young-Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
John Coltrane-A Love Supreme
Miles Davis-Birth Of the Cool
Wake Up Mordecai-North To the Nth Degree
The Kinks-Kink Kontroversy
Nick Drake-Pink Moon
Destroyer-Destroyer's Rubies

Then my wife and I slow danced to a bunch of Elton John songs. It was a pretty nice day to be honest.

The Ipod is loaded

I am leaving tomorrow for a week long trip to the Virgin Islands to sit on the beach and listen to a bunch of albums. I am actually working on a couple of different mixes of Simon and Garfunkel, The Kinks, Elton John, and The Doors. Before I leave, though, I was going through iTunes and looking at albums that I could download. I settled on the Bee Gees Odessa (big surprise), but I came across something that really made me laugh.

If you go to the Guided by Voices section of iTunes and find the fantastic album Alien Lanes, you can click on at least two songs and the sample will play you the entire song. This amuses me to no end.

For the record, Alien Lanes is my favorite album of all time. I cannot even begin to explain what the album did for me and what it still means to me to this day.

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters

Some updates of what I've actually been doing for a month:

I really liked the Stevie Wonder song "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" before. After hearing it last Tuesday, I now love it. Words cannot explain how ecstatic I was at the moment I heard it. The song has new meaning to me, and I will probably smile every time I hear it for the rest of my life.

I have been working on a bunch of new mixes the past month, and have completed two pretty cool ones. The first is a great mix by the Pixies. I've been meaning to do that for awhile, and finally put one together last week. It's a good mix, and it reminded me how great the song "No. 13 Baby" is. I am ready to add it to the Purple Notebook, but I have yet to come up with a name. This shouldn't be too hard considering the wealth of imagery in their songs.

The second mix is in the Purple Notebook, but has yet to be named. It's what I like to call a concept mix. It is a 60 minute mix to an imaginary Wes Anderson movie. One of my favorite things about his movies is the soundtracks full of greats songs and cool instrumentals from Mark Mothersbaugh. For many years I have heard songs and thought that they would fit perfectly in a Wes Anderson film. I picked a bunch of them out, added some of my favorite instrumental tracks from my collection (mostly Brian Eno songs and Portastatic film scores), and threw in a great early Rolling Stones song. The result is pretty cool. You can imagine the movie in your head. The only problem thus far has been coming up with a name, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them.

Finally, the other night my friend was in town and he picked me up to go out to the bar. When I got in the car, I told him I had a song to play for him and then proceeded to play "Rocket Man." Sadly, this isn't the only "Rocket Man" story I have from the last couple of weeks, but it does reveal my main recent listening obsession. Elton John. So, if you hear Madman Across the Water or Tumbleweed Connection blasting in the distance, you know who the guilty party is.

Rocktober

In the span of five days last week, I saw seven different bands, and somehow still have my hearing. Seeing this many concerts in such a short time is pretty foreign to me these days. I used to go to concerts all the time, but, as will happen as you get old, I go to less and less every year. This past week has been fun, but I can tell you that I am really tired.

Last Saturday night, my wife and I went to the Dayton Music Festival to catch Bob Pollard's new band, the Boston Spaceships. Opening the show were two really cool bands Hospital Garden and The Sailing. Hospital Garden was pretty good, and I was especially impressed with The Sailing. Their energetic sets perfectly set the stage for the Spaceships to come out and blow the crowd away.

Now, I've seen GbV/Bob solo about 35 times, and at this show I only saw ONE SONG that I have ever seen live before. They ended the night with the stalwart classic "Game of Pricks," and for a solid two hours before that they played a perfect mixture of new material and obscure classics. This would be like going to see Springsteen and him playing his next two albums, a bunch of songs from the Tracks boxset, and then finishing with "Born to Run." To translate: This was a real treat for a die hard fan like me.

It helps that Bob has a fantastic band along for the ride. Chris Slusarenko and Tommy Keene were monsters of the guitars, new comer John Moen pounded the material along with precision, and the always great Jason Narducy brought his usual great bass playing and wonderful backing vocals. And Bob, well, Bob was in great voice, and, when you play songs like "Dorothy's a Planet" and "Headache Revolution," well, you're going to give the crowd what they want. It was a great show, and I hope Bob keeps this band around for a few more tours.

On Sunday I went to Gem City Records and caught two sets as part of their Sunday instore series. A band that has been getting a lot of spins around our household lately, Wake Up Mordecai, was one of the two bands. They put on another good set, playing a few new songs and a couple off their first EP North to the Nth Degree, including my personnel favorite "Now We're Communicating." I am told that "Girls Don't Ride In Viking Ships" was recently played on WOXY, which is pretty cool. I highly recommend these guys if you haven't checked them out.

After a couple of days healing from our busy weekend, we headed to Cowtown (or the more recent nickname, C-Bus) for a night with Death Cab for Cutie. My wife and I attended the show with my long partner in rock crimes, JB. We arrived as openers Tegan and Sarah took the stage. Though I haven't spent much time with their music, I thought they were a pretty decent opening act for the evening. A good portion of the crowd treated them like royality as they played, which might account for the crowd of statues during Death Cab's set.

We got up close in the packed crowd for Death Cab, and the band did not disappoint. They played a blazing set that reminded me at times of Pearl Jam. The three of us had a great time as the band knocked out song after song, but the rest of the crowd wasn't quite on the same page. It seems that between mild applause they found their shoes very interesting. We decided to watch the last couple of songs and the encore from the top of the lawn where we could have a bit more fun.

So it was a pretty good week. It was fun to see a bunch of cool bands in fine form. At the very least, it was a good warm up for the madness of AC/DC that I'll be witnessing in a couple of weeks. I might want to invest in some earplugs before then.

Because I'm old.

Genius

September Gurls-Big Star
Caroline No-The Beach Boys
Shake Some Action-The Flamin' Groovies
Alone Again Or-Love
Waiting For My Man (Live)-The Velvet Underground
Visions of Johanna-Bob Dylan
You're Gonna Miss Me-The 13th Floor Elevators
There She Goes Again-The Velvet Underground
Modern Girl-Sleater-Kinney
Down On the Street-The Stooges
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times-The Beach Boys
Andmoreagain-Love
Octopus-Syd Barrett
All Tomorrow's Parties-The Velvet Underground
Sunday Morning-The Velvet Underground
T.V. Eye-The Stooges
So You Want to Be a Rock 'N' Roll Star-The Byrds
Surf's Up-The Beach Boys
Femme Fatale-The Velvet Underground
Mr. Spaceman-The Byrds
Care of Cell 44-The Zombies
So Sad About Us-The Who
One of Us Must Know-Bob Dylan
Dig Me Out-Sleater-Kinney
Salt of the Earth-The Rolling Stones

This is the play list I've been listening to a lot this week as I ease my way back into walking everyday. It is also my first experiment using the new iTunes software called Genius. Basically, you choose a song that you like and Genius creates a playlist from your library. Naturally, I picked the Big Star classic "September Gurls," one of my all time favorites, to experiment with this new software.

I have mixed feelings after my first experience with Genius. As an avid mix maker (see my blog about the Purple Notebook), I was excited about the possibilities of this program. I use mixes for a number of reasons. I am always looking for new ways to hear songs I am familiar with, and placing them alongside other songs within a mix helps to do this. Many times it helps me hear a song differently out of it's original context, giving it new meaning to me. I also like to use mixes to explore songs and artists that I am not as familiar with. I've become a big fan of many musicians after doing this, often digging into deeper album cuts and rarities.

Genius succeeded in doing both of these things, yet, it also exposed a couple of potential flaws in making mixes. I rarely use the same artists over when making a mix such as this, and Genius did this seven times. I also usually avoid putting back to back songs from artists, something that also occurs here. I also found the overall selection slightly puzzling. I think The Velvet Underground would fit on a mix with Big Star, but not in the manner they are represented here. I find it odd that The Stooges "T.V. Eye" makes the cut, yet not one Beatles song shows up.

But, as I said, Genius did get a couple of things right. The Who, Flamin' Groovies, Zombies, and Rolling Stones songs were all great picks. I also was not very familiar with the Love song "Andmoreagain," but I really liked the song and won't be too surprised if it shows up in future mixes. Also, despite a couple of flow issues, there were a couple of really good stretches of this mix that I really enjoyed. The "Surf's Up" to "One of Us Must Know" part of the mix was really strong in particular.

So, basically, Genius doesn't quite live up to the hype for me (in this case, super mix maker!), but I admit it is a pretty cool toy to use. I'm always looking for new ways to experience music, and I think Genius is a nice new way to accomplish this. That can't be a bad thing.

Wednesday Afternoon Playlist

Safe As Milk-Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
River Song-Dennis Wilson
Mournin' Glory Story-Harry Nilsson
Every Night-Paul McCartney
Afraid-Nico
Waitin' 'Round To Die-Townes Van Zandt
American Crucifixion Resurrection-The 4 Seasons
Perfectly Lethal-The Replacements
Absolutely Sweet Marie-Bob Dylan
5D (Fifth Dimension)-The Byrds
Song to the Siren-Tim Buckley
Widow's Walk-Van Dyke Parks
Afternoon Tea-The Kinks
God Knows I'm Good-David Bowie
Diamond Meadows-T.Rex
Baron Saturday-The Pretty Things

I wish I could blame my lack of posts recently on the wind storm that knocked out power all over town. But, we didn't lose power at all. It seems I have just been too lazy to write any new posts. I blame this on football. I did make a mixtape on Sunday that is pretty great. It's called 34 Gems. I'll write more about this after I have absorbed it a little more, but I do think that this might be my best mix in a while.

One of my favorite activities, and one that gives me the opportunity to listen to a lot of music, is my constitutionals. Roughly a year ago, I started walking about five miles a day. Since then, I have logged over 1,200 miles. In fact, I was out walking last Sunday when the wind storm that knocked out most the power in town started. I have not been able to go since Sunday because the trails that I frequent are closed until they can clear all the debris. Needless to say, I am getting antsy to get back out, especially since the weather has been so beautiful in the aftermath of the storm.

So, to help fight my antsy feeling, I created the above play list. A lot of the songs are from the most recent albums that I have purchased, though some are older songs from iTunes that I haven't listened to in a while. I think the play list flows remarkably well. I really like the Harry Nilsson/Paul McCartney/Nico/Townes Van Zandt combination. The list also has the song from which I named this blog, a great unreleased track from the re-issue of one of my all time favorite albums The Replacements Let It Be. I originally bought the album right after Christmas my junior year in high school with a gift certificate to Best Buy that my Grandma got me. Thanks Grandma, though I am not sure she would have approved of an album that had a song called "Gary's Got a Boner."

Another highlight of this one is the inclusion of "Song to the Siren" by Tim Buckley, a song I have been going back to again and again lately. I love this song. It's from his album Starsailor, a strange album that I got a couple of months back. The album is definately not what I was expecting from an artist I thought was primarily a singer/songwriter. The songs are jazz influenced and slightly experimental in nature. It's an interesting listen.

The Purple Notebook

About a year ago, my wife went to Hawaii on a family vacation and left me home by myself. For a month. The first couple of days I kept myself pretty busy, but it wasn't long before I was extremely bored. You can only take so many days of watching cable all day and having the biggest decision of the day being if I was going to drink tea or beer. Around the fourth or fifth day, I decided that I needed something occupy my time.

After exhausting a couple of different ideas, I had a revelation: What if I started to catalog my various mix CD's I had made over the last couple of months? I started listening to the CD's and writing the play lists down in my newly purchased purple notebook. Rather quickly, I ran out of CD's and turned to an old box filled with old mixtapes I had never labeled.

With these tapes I was transported back to different times in my life, the mixtapes guides to places and memories I had since forgotten. Among these tapes:

Beer for Breakfast-a great country music tape I had made to take to my friend's house for a long night of drinking a few years back.
Zebra Cakes-a two cassette anthology of power pop classics.
Gorch Approved-a tape where I mixed some of my favorites of the time with dialogue from the classic Scharpling and Wurster bit.
GbV-probably the best mix I've ever made, all Bob/GbV tunes for my wife back before we even started dating.

A year later I have filled up the first third of the rather large notebook. I've taken to calling it The Bible, and have even started to decorate it (there's now a cool Sleater-Kinney sticker on the cover). Of all the thousands of mix tapes I've made over the years, most have been lost to time. I now keep track of the lists, so, even if I do lose a classic like the Cars/Cheap Trick/AC/DC mix I had at the turn of the century, the mix isn't lost to time.

Also, I plan on using the notebook to share some the lists on this blog. I am sure everyone is dying to see the tracklist of Snapshot of My Uncle's Stereo in the 70's. It's even better than it sounds. By all accounts, an absolute classic.

August 24-New York City to Atlanta to Dayton

A Song For Jeffrey-Jethro Tull

Changes (Mono)-The Zombies

Stealing Stealing-The Yardbirds

Revolution 1-The Beatles

Wealth And Hell-Being-Robert Pollard

Seein' Her-Paul Westerberg

Meet Me In The Meadow-Paul Westerberg

$100 Groom-Paul Westerberg

Crippled Inside-John Lennon

Sunrise-Arthur Brown & Kingdom Come

Isolation-John Lennon

It's Raining Today-Scott Walker

Punky's Dilemma-Simon & Garfunkel

Taking Tiger Mountain-Brian Eno

Disguises-The Who

The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener-Petula Clark

Soap Shop Rock a)Burning Sister-Amon Duul II

In the Beginning-Genesis

Naked Man-Keith Moon

What Am I Doin' Hangin' 'Round?-The Monkees

This Girl's In Love With You-Petula Clark

Heinz Baked Beans-The Who

A Tramp Shining-Richard Harris

So Long Dad-Harry Nilsson

Ram On-Paul & Linda McCartney

Working Class Hero-John Lennon

Hair Pie: Bake 1-Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

Maybe I'm Amazed-Paul McCartney

Come Together-The Beatles

There She Goes Again-The Velvet Underground

We had a couple of hours to kill at LaGuardia Airport before we started the process of flying home. This is the play list from the airport. I decided to go ahead and continue with the shuffle for the last part of the trip. The shuffle had been pretty enjoyable up to this point, plus, I was tired and didn’t feel like bothering to find an album to listen to. You may think that is a painless endeavor, but I have spent way too many hours of my life making these decisions. My wife can back me up on this.

One thing that I haven’t mentioned is that I did not skip any songs while on this trip. I do this a lot when I am walking or in the car, but I decided at the beginning to just let it play. I am actually glad that I followed through with this. I must admit, though, when the third straight Westerberg song came up early in this list, I had serious temptations to skip to the next song. “$100 Groom” is not among Paul’s best achievements, but I stayed with it. It is a funny song to listen to on your honeymoon, I guess. I am just glad that the events of this song differ from our actual wedding.

Much like the rest of the week, there was a healthy dose of Beatles and post Beatles solo work on this list. I would definitely call myself an unapologetic Beatlemaniac. I do not think they are overrated in any way. Sure, I’ve heard the songs four million times, and there are times I do not want to hear another one of their songs for a very long time. I just put the albums back on the shelf (or, these days, take them off the iPod) and go back to them when I am ready. I do this with most of my favorite artists. I just happen to be in the middle of another one of my quarterly Beatles phases, which explains the abundance this week.

Another highlight of this list was the appearance of Brian Eno’s “Taking Tiger Mountain” from the album of the same name. When I first heard this song I listened to it, along with his song “Here Come the Warm Jets,” on repeat for about a month. They seemed like two sides of a perfect, long lost single. The song is minimal, coasting on an unbelievable guitar tone and atmospheric vocals. I always thought the song was perfect for a second act scene in a Wes Anderson movie. Maybe someday.

There is also a bonus cut from Keith Moon’s solo album Two Sides of the Moon. The album is bizarre, as it features Keith Moon crooning a bunch of covers, including “The Kids Are Alright” by the Who. The song “Naked Man” is actually a Randy Newman song. This is funny because, around the same time I bought the Moon album, I also bought Nilsson Sings Newman. This is the great album in which Harry Nilsson covers Randy Newman. To make things even more confusing, while in New York, I bought the Van Dyke Parks album Song Cycle, which contains “Vine Street,” a Newman song that is also on Nilsson Sings Newman. Confused yet? Perhaps my conscience is trying to tell me something. I think I will go listen to Sail Away now.

I Dig Love-George Harrison

Sidewalk Song (27th Street)-Johnny Rivers

All The Grinning Women-Clouds Forming Crowns

Teenage Head-The Flamin’ Groovies

Vega-Tables-Brian Wilson

Spanish Tide-Familyh

Waiting For My Man-The Velvet Underground

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey-The Bealtles

Getting Better-The Beatles

Love You In The Fall-Paul Westerberg

Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand-The Who

Down by the Sea-The Strawbs

Ant Man Bee-Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band

What Kind Of Fool Am I?-Grandpaboy

Valentine Day-Paul McCartney

Solsbury Hill-Peter Gabriel

Taking Me Home-Sleater-Kinney

Sunrise-The Who

Don't Fall Down-The 13th Floor Elevators

You Tore Me Down-The Flamin’ Groovies

Bad Worker-The Replacements

Nowhere Man-Paul Westerberg

Arthur Comics-The Stalk-Forrest Group

Got You Down-Paul Westerberg

Tunesmith-Johnny Rivers

Because She's In NYC-Electroshock Marigold

Miracle Cure-The Who

River Deep, Mountain High-The Flamin’ Groovies

Here I Go-Syd Barrett

Effervescing Elephant-Syd Barrett

More Westerberg, Beatles, and two Barret songs to end it. Going to the absurd, there is even a song where Westerberg covers The Beatles. This list is a fitting end to say the least. I listened to this on the plane from New York to Atlanta. When we got to Atlanta, we ate very quickly and boarded our next plane. I didn’t get the iPod out for the rest of the trip because I was able to fall asleep for most of the last plane ride. I would not listen to my iPod again for about a week due to my sudden case of strep throat. It is a very rare occurrence for my iPod to sit for a whole week.

Besides the usual suspects in this last play list, a couple of cool songs of note did pop up. There were three tracks for The Flamin’ Groovies, including the rocking “Teenage Head.” There was also a cut from my most recent purchase, “Arthur Comics” by The Stalk-Forrest Group. I had never heard of the The Stalk-Forrest Group before, but a little digging revealed them to be an early version of Blue Oyster Cult. Being a big fan of that band (much to my wife’s dismay), I checked out the earlier band. It’s a pretty cool album. You can hear some of signature BOC sound forming, but I was surprised by the touches of the Stones that I heard in places. The first couple of times I heard “What Is Quicksand,” the beginning made me think my iPod had switched to a Stones song.

This last day did not match up to the magic of the list the day before, but it was a solid list in it’s own right. Overall, I would say that the shuffle experiment was successful. Though some artists got more than their share of play, I still think there was a nice mix of different groups. I am also surprised that I was able to stay with it the entire time, but I think that had to do with my state of mind more than anything else. Vacation will do that to you.

August 23-New York City

Hobo Chang Ba-Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
One Eyed Hound-Genesis
Paranoid-Black Sabbath
Cripple Creek Ferry-Neil Young
Well-Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Doctor Robert-The Beatles
Christmas Song-Jethro Tull
Gentle on My Mind-Glen Campbell
Disney Girls (1957)-The Beach Boys
New York Mining Disaster 1941-Bee Gees
Old Brown Shoe-The Beatles
The Tracks of My Tears-Johnny Rivers
You're Gonna Miss Me (Live)-The 13th Floor Elevators

Today’s list was pretty typical at the start. I liked Beefheart, Black Sabbath, and Jethro Tull all popping up. I will admit to being kind of annoyed by the fact that it played my least favorite songs off two of my favorite albums off all time. “Doctor Robert,” though having my name in the title, is my least favorite track off of Revolver. Here, separated from the other great songs from the album, it isn’t so bad. The same cannot be said for “Cripple Creek Ferry.” I don’t particularly hate the song, but it may be the best example of filler you can find.

The list really takes off with the Glen Campbell song. I really love “Gentle on My Mind,” and “Disney Girls (1957),” a sweet Bruce Johnston penned song from Surf’s Up, is a perfect follow up. As the guitar strumming starts on “New York Mining Disaster 1941,” I realize that the shuffle is really on a roll. This perfect song comes from the Bee Gees first album, an incredible slice of pop music that I really cannot get enough of. Any fan of 1960’s pop would be well off to hunt down this album.

An overlooked (at least by me) George Harrison single “Old Brown Shoe” keeps things rolling. The next song is a very familiar song, though not necessary this version. It’s Johnny Rivers covering the Smokey Robinson & the Miracles classic “The Tracks of My Tears.” This version can be found on Rivers’ album Rewind. It’s not a bad cover, but I find the Jimmy Webb songs from Rewind to be the real highlights of that album. Nonetheless, this cover fits pretty well along side the other great songs on this list.

The list ends with a live version of the 13th Floor Elevators classic “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” This bonus track from their self-titled album is a lively take, and perfect end to the list for the day. I would say the stretch I’ve outlined is a prime example of how the shuffle mode can be a very good thing. I don’t think I could have programmed a better list myself. It’s like bringing out all of the good qualities of a good radio station, one that unfortunately no longer exists, at least on the radio dial.

August 22-New York City

Afternoon Tea-The Kinks
Leif Erikson Visits Montreal In the Spring (And Slowly Goes Insane)-Wake Up Mordecai
Serenade To A Cuckoo-Jethro Tull
Eat At Home-Paul & Linda McCartney
Absolutely Sweet Marie-Bob Dylan
You'd Better Come Home-Petula Clark
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow-Brian Wilson
Gigolo Aunt-Syd Barrett
Terrapin-Syd Barrett
You're Getting Married (Solo Home Demo)-The Replacements
Yeti (Improvisation)-Amon Düül II
Oh Baby (Studio Demo)-The Replacements
Mother Nature's Son-Harry Nilsson

This list seems pretty short, but in actuality, there is over an hour of material here. What is the reason for so few songs? All 18:12 of “Yeti (Improvisation).” I discussed Yeti earlier, and to this point had only run across the more standard songs from that album. Today I hit the flipside, getting all 18 minutes of this Krautrock beast. Distorted guitars cry, organs fade in and out of the picture, frantic drumming and bass lines come and go. For the uninitiated, this can be a difficult listen. But, much like their peers Can and Neu!, the patient listener is rewarded with a great listen. As the song progresses, it latches onto your consciousness, and before you know it, you’re along for one fantastic ride.

It’s a ride I wasn’t always willing to take. There was no way I would have had the patience for anything this long when I was younger. It might have been the by product of listening to Alien Lanes 4,000 times in a row, but I think it just comes from not being exposed to a very wide variety of music. I’ve broadened my tastes over time, seeing albums and songs as part of the larger puzzle. I try to stay open-minded and challenge myself to try new things because, though these things may be alien at first, they often reveal themselves as mind-blowing music. I think it would be a crime now if I hadn’t listened to “Supper’s Ready” or “Sister Ray” because I didn’t have the attention span. It has been a lesson well learned.

The rest of the list was pretty standard for the week. More Westerberg. Back to back Barrett songs. One cool discovery was the introduction to Petula Clark’s “You’d Better Come Home.” I am fairly new to the Petula Clark universe, only really knowing “Downtown” until recently. This song is really great; I’ll have to make it a point to listen to what else I have by her.

August 21-New York City

Wind Chimes-Brian Wilson
Close The Window-Clouds Forming Crowns
Taxman-The Beatles
Runaway Wind-Paul Westerberg
Soap Shop Rock c)Gulp a Sonata-Amon Düül II
She Said She Said-The Beatles
In Hiding-Genesis
My Generation/Land of Hope and Glory-The Who
The Blimp (Mousetrapreplica)-Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Healing Festival-Tim Buckley
Lookin' Out Forever-Paul Westerberg
Situation Vacant-The Kinks
Tribal Gathering-The Byrds
Tried to Hide-The 13th Floor Elevators
Interstellar Overdrive-Pink Floyd
Tommy Can You Hear Me?-The Who
Made To Make You Dream-Clouds Forming Crowns
Downtown-Petula Clark
Vampires & Failures-Grandpaboy
Batman-The Who
When You Dance You Can Really Love-Neil Young
Our House-Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Oh My Love-John Lennon
Am I Very Wrong-Genesis
Archangel Thunderbird-Amon Düül II
Bad Boy-The Beatles
Yeti Talks to Yogi (Improvisation)-Amon Düül II
Eye Shaking King-Amon Düül II
Almost Bleeding-Clouds Forming Crowns
(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock (Outtake)-The Replacements

Three out of four songs towards the end of this list are Amon Duul II. All of these songs come from their 1970 album Yeti, a very cool double album. It is kind of jarring to go from The Who, Neil Young, and early Genesis right into three cuts from Yeti. It actually wasn’t that strange of a transition, as the three songs played all represent the more straightforward side of this band. You see, the first disc of Yeti is a more song-oriented disc, while the second disc is completely improvised. It’s a great album though, and I am actually glad that it played a couple of the songs in a bunch.

Also, all three of Paul Westerberg’s guises are represented here (The Replacements, Grandpaboy, and Paul Westerberg, naturally) and my iPod showed its awareness of current events by playing “Batman.” There are also three Clouds Forming Crowns songs, which I always enjoy. CFC is a band from Cleveland made up of Tim and Todd Tobias. I am a huge fan of Tim Tobias’ guitar playing. The track “Floating” from Race To the Blackout has one of my favorite guitar breaks in recent memory. Every time I hear it I get goose bumps. Not bad from a guy who is best known for being a bass player. That is criminal in my mind!

Speaking of guitar playing, does it get any better than “Interstellar Overdrive?” I know I talked up Syd Barrett a bunch yesterday, so all I’ll say today is that I’ve probably heard this song hundreds of times now, yet it never ceases to amaze me.

August 18-20, New York City

Sexy Sadie	The Beatles
Lemons Never Forget	Bee Gees
In Blue Hawaii	Brian Wilson
In the City	The Who
Ain't Got Me	Paul Westerberg
Our Prayer	The Beach Boys
Someone I Once Knew	Paul Westerberg
Wined And Dined	Syd Barrett

The remainder of the trip I was in shuffle mode. I do not do this very often, mainly because I always have a pretty clear idea of what I want to listen to. Being in a new city with a whole week off must have rubbed off on me because I went into shuffle mode Monday morning while I waited for my wife to get ready and stayed there for the rest of the trip. I have mixed feelings about shuffle mode. On one hand it is like having your own personal radio station that is programmed straight from your tastes. On the other, it can be frustrating, as, much like radio, you have no control of what comes next. I may have Syd Barrett on my iPod, but I am not always in the mood for Syd Barrett.

This is actually a pretty short list, covering only about twenty minutes. This is mostly to do with the fact that it was our first morning on vacation and we had not yet settled into our morning routine. As the week went on, we figured out our timing a little more and I had more time to listen. Plus, we discovered that the Olympics were playing in the morning, and we ended up watching many of the basketball games in our hotel before we went out. You think I would pass on a chance to watch LeBron being coached by Coach K?!

The list, though short, is a mirror of the longer list for the week. The shuffle started right where I left off the day before with one of my favorites from The Beatles. You may know it as the White Album. There are also two of the many Paul Westerberg songs that would pop up throughout the week. I ended up adding a lot of his songs the night before we left after being very impressed with his latest 49:00 album/experiment. I am a huge fan of both his Replacements (see blog name!) and solo stuff, and I think the new album is great.

23 Years Ago	Paul Westerberg
Summer's Almost Gone	The Doors
Chambermaid	Pink Fairies
To The Path!	Robert Pollard

This list is even shorter! We went to the Guggenheim on this day, and I think we slept in a little bit if I remember right. I do remember that we ate at a really good pizza place for lunch near the Guggenheim. Keeping with the theme, the morning started off with another Westerberg song, “23 Years Ago” from Folker. I saw him on that tour and it was one of the greatest concert experiences of my life. Today also marked the first appearance of Mr. Pollard. I am sure there will be many more.

Think About It	The Yardbirds
She Hangs Out	The Monkees
Rats	Syd Barrett
Tuesday Afternoon	The Moody Blues
Octopus	Syd Barrett
The Unknown Soldier	The Doors
The Return of Rubezahl	Amon Düül II
Heroes And Villains	Brian Wilson
Down By the Borderline	Tim Buckley
Sven the Blue Jay	Wake Up Mordecai
Natural Mean Lover	Grandpaboy
Don't Put Me On	The Flamin' Groovies
Lovely Rita	The Beatles
Tell Me Why	Neil Young
My Human Gets Me Blues	Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band
Anonymous	Sleater-Kinney
She's Goin' Bald	The Beach Boys

By Wednesday we had settled into our morning routine more or less, and I had figured out about the amount of time I could listen to my iPod. I did most of my music listening in the morning while my wife was getting ready for the day and I was watching the Olympics. One of my favorite times to listen to music is while watching sports. They are two of my favorite hobbies, and, along with drinking beer, they complement each other very well. I don’t remember what events I watched each day, but I did watch both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, and the gold medal women’s soccer match which was really great.

The play list for today was kind of odd. There weren’t very many current songs played, and the songs seemed to switch from pop songs by the Monkees and the Beatles into much more challenging material by Captain Beefheart and Amon Duul II. It was an interesting list, but the listening experience ultimately had a strange flow.

There were two Syd Barrett songs, another artist who would pop up a lot during the week. Despite my comments earlier in the week about not always wanting to hear Syd, I love his music and he is the main reason I got into Pink Floyd. I used to hate the band, but after getting my Dad a copy of Piper At the Gates of Dawn a couple of years ago for Christmas, I found myself starting from that album and moving forward. It’s not that much of a jump from Saucer Full of Secrets to Meddle. Within a couple of months I was a fan of all the material and had added Pink Floyd to a list of bands that I had formerly hated and then turned to like. They joined Bruce Springsteen and REM on this ever-growing list.

August 17, 2008-Flying from Dayton to New York City

My wife and I got married on April 26 of this year, and we finally left for our honeymoon on August 17. It was our first trip away together, and we spent a week in New York City. We had a fantastic time and it ended all too soon. It was my goal to start this blog soon after we returned so that a lot of this was still fresh in my head. Unfortunately, the day after we got back, I started feeling really horrible and I ended up going to the doctor. I had strep throat, and a week's vacation from work suddenly turned into two weeks off. Now, I am feeling much better and will try to go day by day through the magic of iTunes.

Imagine	John Lennon
Crippled Inside	John Lennon
Jealous Guy	John Lennon
It's So Hard	John Lennon
I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama	John Lennon
Gimme Some Truth	John Lennon
Oh My Love	John Lennon
How Do You Sleep?	John Lennon
How?	John Lennon
Oh Yoko!	John Lennon

I started the trip off by listening to John Lennon's Imagine in the Dayton Airport as we awaited our flight to Atlanta. I had listened to The Beatles Anthology 3 in my car the few days leading up to our trip, which had me in the mood to listen to a couple of solo albums from the Beatles members. Imagine is a great record. I would probably rate this one just below Plastic Ono Band, but it does have some really great songs on it. Everyone is familiar with the title track, which I think is great, but "Gimme Some Truth" is the highlight for me. It was the opening track off of a great post-Beatles mix tape I made years ago. This album also has "Oh Yoko!" which was featured in Rushmore, one of my all time favorite movies and soundtracks. I am glad that I revisited this album as I've been neglecting it for a while in favor of Plastic Ono Band. There is definitely some of Lennon's best work here.

I'd Have You Anytime	George Harrison
My Sweet Lord	George Harrison
Wah-Wah	George Harrison
Isn't It a Pity	George Harrison
What Is Life	George Harrison
If Not For You	George Harrison
Behind That Locked Door	George Harrison
Let It Down	George Harrison
Run of the Mill	George Harrison
Beware of Darkness	George Harrison
Apple Scruffs	George Harrison
Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)	George Harrison
Awaiting On You All	George Harrison
All Things Must Pass	George Harrison
I Dig Love	George Harrison
Art of Dying	George Harrison
Isn't It a Pity (Version Two)	George Harrison
Hear Me Lord	George Harrison

As we started the flight process from Dayton to Atlanta to New York City, I stayed the course of post Beatles material and listened to All Things Must Pass by George Harrison. My favorite Beatle is probably John, and Paul wrote some of my absolute favorite songs, but this first solo album by George is my favorite post Beatles solo album. The first disc especially rolls with great song after great song, and the second isn't far behind in the quality department. "I'd Have You Anytime," the epic "Isn't It a Pity," "All Things Must Pass," the Dylan cover "If Not For You," and "What Is Life" are all among my favorite songs Harrison ever wrote. As much as I love his Beatles output, I really think these songs outshine them.

The Lovely Linda	Paul McCartney
That Would Be Something	Paul McCartney
Valentine Day	Paul McCartney
Every Night	Paul McCartney
Hot As Sun Glasses	Paul McCartney
Junk	Paul McCartney
Man We Was Lonely	Paul McCartney
Oo You	Paul McCartney
Momma Miss America	Paul McCartney
Teddy Boy	Paul McCartney
Singalong Junk	Paul McCartney
Maybe I'm Amazed	Paul McCartney
Kreen-Akrore	Paul McCartney

I finished with Paul McCartney's first solo album McCartney. It's hard to compare this album to those of his former band mates. Lennon and Harrison's albums are dark meditations, produced in the studio with Phil Spector with help from various musicians. McCartney is a breezy home produced affair with Paul playing all the instruments himself. I think this album really sets the table for what McCartney wanted to do after he left the Beatles: write, record, repeat. Though it has it's share of filler, it is hard not to fall for the charm of this album. I really love "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Every Night" finds it's way into my head pretty often. It isn't his best work, but I always find enough to enjoy to keep me coming back to it.

After listening to these albums, I went into shuffle mode. I will post the next couple of days soon.