Mix Tape #1

Hi again, Inspired by the Friday Mixtape section of the awesome Hidden Track blog over at the Glide Magazine site, I thought I'd finally post this first mix tape that I had prepared ages ago.

I had prepared to upload this as long ago as September last year, but, as Ashley Naylor presciently once sang: "Life gets in the way", and it never happened. So here you go, better late than never.

Here is a bunch of awesome tunes that I was listening to at the time, but they are all great that I still think they should be shared amongst the music fans out there!

Here's the list, all sequenced to be two sides of a tape, roughly even in length with the same flow a good mix tape should have:

Side 1:
1. Sick as a dog - Brad Sucks - 3:14
2. Blue - The Jayhawks - 3:10
3. Couldn't I Just Tell You - Todd Rundgren - 3:22
4. Behind The Wall Of Sleep - The Smithereens - 3:24
5. Into Your Arms - Lemonheads - 2:45
6. Jessica Something - The Tearaways - 3:57
7. Star Sign - Teenage Fanclub - 3:54

total time 23:46

Side 2:

8. Back Against The Wall - Cage The Elephant - 3:48
9. Der Kommissar - After The Fire - 5:42
10. Fill My Eyes - Cat Stevens - 3:00
11. Junior's Farm - Wings - 4:20
12. Death Plunge - Glorious Mono - 1:36
13. Sign O' The Times - Prince - 4:57

total time 23:23

Track 1 is a great little tune from slacker pop (I really hate that term) artist Brad Sucks from his first record "I Don't Know What I Am Doing". It's available free at his website, along with a heap of remixes.

Track 2 is a great song from the Jayhawks. The parent album of this song "Tomorrow The Green Grass" is a classic and deserves a more than a few listens.

At the time this mixtape was created I was listening to a lot of Power Pop, so tracks 3-7 are classic power pop tunes that can all be found on the Poptopia! series of albums released by Rhino Records in 1997. Some are more well known than others, but each of them is a killer tune.

Track 8 is from another group, and a recent one, who have been lumped into a category called "slacker pop" like the aforementioned Brad Sucks. Cage the Elephant has an odd (on paper at least) hybrid of folk music, psychadelic, rock and hip-hop that is actually quite appealing. They have just released a new record, but this one is from their first, self titled LP released in 2008.

Track 9 is the 12-inch mix (remember those?) of a one-hit wonder from the 80s that gets quite a few spins in my house. My kids love it. It's a rocked-up cover of a dodgy pop song by Falco, called "Der Kommissar" or "The Commissioner" in English (Falco was obviously German). It's a great cover.

Track 10 is a deep cut from Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens from his 1970 LP "Mona Bone Jakon". Where the hell does he get those obscure album titles from?

Track 11 is a single only release from Macca and Wings. I much prefer his rockers to his mushy love songs!!! (Note: The artist in the Grooveshark screen is labelled "Apollo C. Vermouth" which is one of Paul's many pseudonyms)

Track 12 comes to us from the vast archives of Songfight.org who have developed a highly competitive and fun weekly competition over the last 10 years. Their music archive is free to download and contains LOADS of great songs. Glorious Mono's "Death Plunge" is just one of many.

Track 13 is from one of Prince's many masterpieces. A good way to round off a nicely balanced set, in my opinion. Get into it!