This mix was a fairly long time in the making, and even longer in the posting. I am embarrassed to say that the Australian duo and I started it in the Spring of 2013. And then my gutbucket brethren helped me finish it up last winter. The basic idea was for us to pick artists where we have a distinct preference for their early work or later work. Basically, this was a concept for artwork in search of a mix. I started disk 2 not only because I had more musical ideas, but because this artwork needed another 20 or so faces...
DISK 1
Johnny Dark
01 Ella Fitzgerald - Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
I found Ella's voice far more appealing when she dropped to a lower register and lost the 'girlish' quality.
Robert Song
02 Leonard Cohen - Sisters of Mercy
Always had a fascination with Leonard Cohen. His young voice seems much sweeter than I remember it being at the time, certainly is when compared to his current style.
doowad
03 Merle Haggard - The Wild Side Of Life
I'd like to follow that with some smooth honky-tonk from Merle's later years. The Wad & I saw him open for Bob a few years back and I could have listened to Merle sing the phone book, I just love his voice.
Johnny Dark
04 Russell Morris - The Big House
My next choice comes from an artist who was something of a teen idol here in the 60's. His voice seems to have weathered very nicely over the intervening years.
Robert Song
05 Wings - Wild Life
There was a time when Paul McCartney could really go wild vocally and shake off the pretty boy only sings ballad image. Helter Skelter for example but there are numerous other examples early on in his post-Beatles career.
doowad
06 Charly García - Nos Siguen Pegando Abajo (Pecado Mortal)
Anyway, this is a guy I really like, but I got into him with this MTV Unplugged album he did in the 90s. I do love some of the group work he did in the early and late 70s, very Beatlesesque, but in the 80s, he got a little too synthy for my tastes, at least for artists I respect (there is a fine line between crappy good music and good crap music). Even though he was old enough to flub a few of the lines, he put in a hell of a performance. Kind of the Argentine Lennon, though he looks a bit like Frank Zappa with highlights.
Johnny Dark
07 Paul Young & The Q-Tips - SYSLJFM (The Letter Song)
Before his solo success Paul Young fronted a soul revival band called the Q-Tips in the late 70's/early80's. I caught up with him again at an 80's all-star spectacular 7 or 8 years ago, where all traces of what was a passable blue-eyed soul voice had completely disappeared. In fact he was embarassingly bad. Here he is before the fall.
Robert Song
08 Etoile de Dakar - Absa Gueye
Youssou N'Dour was still a teenager when Etoile De Dakar recorded their first album which this pick comes from. Mark Hudson described his voice at this time as " a high pitched, gilded shriek, the voice of a teenager, raw, androgynous, capable of an almost supernatural tonal range". His voice became smoother and more controlled as his career went on but nothing compares to those early years.
doowad
09 Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio - El Barzn
I hadn't thought to put this group on this mix, but this song really represents why. These guys are my favorite Mexican rock band, but while their early music was great, they bordered on party music (classic rock lyrics about "instead of melons, God gave you oranges".) Great rhythms, naturally, but rather narrow vision. This was not that far into their history, less than 10 years, but they had progressed like other groups (Beatles and Beastie Boys come to mind) from mindless to profound. This song is a protest speaking in defense of Mexican small farmers, who are sharecroppers at best and indentured servants at best. I have always loved the vocals, long before I could decipher all of them, but most of this album just really comes together as a perfect unit, with very tasteful melodies. I wish I could sing like this, though, Dylanesque in the machine-gun nature of the lyrics. A barzn is yoke, and this talks about the literal yolk breaking on his oxen, but also the metaphorical yolk of indebtedness that all poor dirt farmers have around the world. El Barzn as a proper noun is also the name of the farmer's union in Mexico. But since, as Dylan said, power and greed and corruptible seed seem to be all that there is, this protest song really did nothing and now it is not only the landlord coming down on the farmers, but the multinationals.
Johnny Dark
10 Frank Sinatra - That's Life
Give me Rat-Pack Frank over big band crooner Frank anytime.
Robert Song
11 Dexys - Lost
I loved the first three Dexy's Midnight Runners albums. Kevin Rowlands vocals were passionate but at times could be indecipheral. So after 25 years when they released the album 'One Day I'm Going To Soar' last year under the shorten band name of Dexys, it was a joy to hear him singing with the same passion and being able to understand almost every word.
doowad
12 Miguel Bos - Gulliver
Bos is an interesting character, his mother was a good friend of Pablo Picasso and would leave young Miguelito to play with his friend Paloma. She was a famous actress, his dad was a famous bullfighter (which he deals with a lot on this album). Miguel was always a gentle soul, and to this day hasn't officially come out of this closet, but we understand. In any case, his early years were quite bordering on teeny-bop, and has had to really fight for his true self to come through. This is from his "later" period where his vision and voice really came of age. One thing about him that impresses me besides his voice and cool lyrics is that his albums really challenge the listener. You usually don't enjoy it at first, even his most strident fans. This album was one of them, Sereno from 2001. And his albums are clearly-defined statements, each with their own continuity and vision. For many of those reasons, I thought it was a perfect fit after Dexys.
Johnny Dark
13 The Faces - Cindy Incidentally
My 85 year old mother has become quite fond of Rod Stewart in his recent incarnation as an interpreter of the Great American Songbook. I prefer him from around 1973.
Robert Song
14 Gregory Isaacs - Don't Pity Me
When he was young he was the Cool Ruler, but after the cocaine and the jail time he was never the same
doowad
15 Steve Earle - Sparkle and Shine
Here is one of the few artists who actually came out of his heroin addiction with most of his soul intact. I like all periods of Steve Earle's career, but he really has mellowed well as an elder statesman.
Johnny Dark
16 Chris Smither - Make Room For Me
Another who's voice has weathered nicely over the years. This one from his latest release.
Robert Song
17 David Byrne - Un Di Felice, Eterea
Who would have thought from his early Talking Heads days that one day David Byrne would record stuff like this.
doowad
18 Chavela Vargas - No Volver
We have tended to focus on the "autumn years" as Monty Python puts it. And here's a singer I love at all stages, but there's something in the innocence of her voice from her first albums, before the tequila and cigars and before being chased out of Mexico for swearing at her audiences from stage. One of the most expressive vocalists you'll hear in any language, mi Chabuelita, Chavela Vargas...
Johnny Dark
19 Paul McCartney & Wings - Maybe I'm Amazed
Recently caught a concert film of McCartney and Wings 1976 US tour, from which my selection is lifted. He sounded as good to me during this concert as anything he recorded with the Fab Four.
Robert Song
20 The Modern Lovers - She Cracked
I guess Jonathon Richman might have just been trying to be Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground early on his career but that was at least way better than where he ended up some fifteen years later
doowad
21 The Ramones - I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You
Okay, well, time for a group that I'm sure is universally preferred in their younger incarnation. Though they had some nice stuff later, there was nowhere to go but down from their debut album
doowad
01 David Bowie - Oh! You Pretty Things
I picked this Bowie pick more out of ignorance of most of his later period, and laziness to dig deeper than anything. I have heard good things about his more recent work, though "Dancing in the Streets always seemed like the classic jump the shark moment for picking him in his prime.
Funky Ratchet
02 Them - I Can Only Give You Everything
As far as Van Morrison goes, I'm sure an easy case could be made for the Astral Weeks/Moondance era but I still find the '60's R&B Van with Them much more to my liking. I'll leave my enjoyment of his Bang Records contractual obligation songs (i.e. "Ring Worm") for another time. Van's ego is the result, I assume, of the bit of revisionist history that occurs on the Nuggets II box set, crediting "I Can Only Give You Everything" as a Van solo track rather than a Them track; however, that's easily rectified with a few key strokes.
Strange Loop
03 Gene Harris - Elephant Blossom Blues
He was ok with the Three Sounds in the 60's and went the synth-soul route like other jazz players in the 70's, but he really shined once he came back on the more "traditional" jazz scene with Ray Brown and then went on to do his own amazing thing. By far my favorite jazz pianist!
doowad
04 Joan Manuel Serrat - Lucia
A published poet and songwriter without par in many languages. He should re-record all of his songs just like this, with a light touch piano and with his aged voice. Nothing compares to it, and his early work is so overproduced, it renders it unlistenable at times.
Funky Ratchet
05 Willie Nelson - Devil in a Sleeping Bag
After disappointing record sales and a self-imposed retirement in the early 1970's, Willie returned with the Shotgun Willie album in 1973. Right on the cusp of the Outlaw country movement, before they all began singing self-referential songs about being an outlaw, Willie started his trek toward becoming a punch line, and Waylon became a caricature of himself. I grew up on early '70s Willie and I've always loved the strength of his voice and songs during this period.
Strange Loop
06 Ween - I'm Holding You
This track is the opener from their 1996 country album 12 Golden Country Hits for which the duo hired Nashville players to back their awesome, weirdo shit. For me, this album and the one before it, Chocolate and Cheese were the beginnings of the more grownup and experimental
doowad
07 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Just as Brother Loop went to his well for his pick, so will I. It amazes me how easily Wilco can do this type of pretty little songs. These kinds of songs just fit like a glove.
Funky Ratchet
08 REM - Wendell Gee
It’s hard to imagine any incarnation of R.E.M. beyond about 1986 recording this little folk tune. I wouldn’t say I like one era of this band at the expense of others, but part of me is partial to the early- to mid-1980’s R.E.M., at the height of their folky southern gothic capabilities and just before they began leaning toward a bigger rock sound that would fill larger venues.
Strange Loop
09 The Beach Boys - I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
Sadly, Brian was just better on drugs & madness.
doowad
10 The Beatles - Girl
John Lennon probably would have done quite interesting things in the 80s, but truly he only had one consistent solo album, with some great singles. As has been rehashed over and over, the greatest thing John & Paul had was each other. Amazingly, I had not used this song on a mix previously, but I learned new appreciation for it after watching one of doowadette's favorite movie Across the Universe. Of course nothing compares to the original, especially when you are talking to one of the greatest voices of the 20th century in his prime. I consider Rubber Soul to really be the last Beatles album. It wasn't Yoko that killed the group, but the solipsism found through Lysergic acid diethylamide.
Funky Ratchet
11 Beck - Lost Cause
My first awareness of Beck was “Loser,” “Devil’s Haircut,” and the like but I’ve really come to prefer his low-key 2002 break-up album Sea Change, which nods to his early countryish output on K Records while keeping a little of the experimental flavor he came into in the ‘90s.
Strange Loop
12 Chet Baker - Everything Happens to Me
My favorite Chet Baker tune of all time, from back when he had only been chasing the dragon for a little while and wasnt a total mess. Although, his version of Almost Blue is another great, great song from MUCH later in his life
doowad
13 Nat King Cole Trio - Calico Sal
Nothing to compare between this and the schmalzy tripe he released later. Not even cheezy enough to be good pap, but this just warms the soul.
Funky Ratchet
14 Howlin' Wolf - Spoonful
To be fair, I pretty much love Howlin' Wolf's entire catalog. But given a choice, I'll take early lean/mean Wolf over the latter stuff, including the tepid bloat of the London Sessions. Now if I can just get my hands on that elusive Complete Chess Masters box set...
Strange Loop
15 Frank Zappa - Zomby Woof
I like the wacky changes and musicianship of the Zappa of this period best.
doowad
16 Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band - Grown So Ugly
Well, yes, a bit obvious after the Frank pick, but what the fuck. I prefer this album as a balance between his early blues stuff and his later experimental weirdness. The title to this track seemed more than appropriate!
Funky Ratchet
17 Bruce Springsteen - State Trooper
I'm probably more of a Springsteen appreciator than a fan but Nebraska is the distinct exception. If I'm being perfectly honest, I'm obsessed with this album. As much as can acknowledge the durability of his career and music, he has always, to me, seemed to split the difference between artist and workhorse. Nebraska, however, is lightning in a bottle.
Strange Loop
18 Primus - My Name Is Mud
Primus sucks.
doowad
19 Tom Waits - Chicago
We are all huge Waits fans, so it was either not pick any Waits period here or pick “all of them” in Sarah Palin style... And by picking “later Waits” after Funky jumped the gun with “Middle Waits”, we are forcing Strange Loop's hand. And since he always kind of looked like early waits to me, that is just the icing on the cake of this epic mix.
Funky Ratchet
20 Tom Waits – Down, Down, Down
There are Tom Waits tunes that I love from all stages of his career so far, but I much prefer dark and weird Waits over his early barroom/lounge singer persona. In fact, I find his affectations during that period grating enough that I can’t even stand to watch interviews from those years. Granted, there has always been, and still is, a Waits “persona;” I just find it more to my liking from the mid-80’s on. I also enjoy many of the more recent songs too but the newer albums have begun to strike me as simply “Tom Waits performing as Tom Waits,” rather than striving to break any new ground.
Strange Loop
21 Tom Waits - Looks Like I'm Up Shit Creek Again
Well, song sums up my position as the default “early Waits” pick. And well, since doowad thinks I look like early Waits, I guess it's only natural...
