For Christmas, The Official Father-in-Law of The Jim did something quite unique ... he made me a mix CD. He & I share some musical interests (although I think he's far more accepting of country than I've ever been). Anyway, he apparently thought it would be fun to try to "get into my psyche" and develop a CD that I would appreciate.
Overall, I think he did a great job. For fun, I thought I'd go through each track and give you my thoughts:
(Note: I've included a link to LastFM or YouTube for each track so that you can hear the tunes yourself. Make sure to check them out.)
1) "High Time" by Michael Penn: Michael Penn is far & away the most talented member of the Penn clan, which includes his more famous, sanctimonious brother and his chunkier, recently-deceased other brother. Regardless, I've been a fan since I heard Seen the Doctor once on 120 Minutes. (How's that for kicking it Old School?) He has a real talent for combining jangling, folky music with more hard-driving rhythms and a melodious voice. I hadn't heard this song before, and I was quite impressed. As my buddy Will pointed out, he can't fathom a world where his Dad would even know who Michael Penn is. It was a strong showing out of the gate.
2) "She Says" by Howie Day: This was new for me. It took me a while to figure out, but this sounds very much like a combination of standard coffee house musician & John Meyer. It's OK, but it doesn't really stand out a whole lot.
3) "Fresh Feeling" by Eels: Now THIS is more like it! I love me some Eels. This is one of their more melodic, orchestral cuts, while I usually prefer their more hard-driving stuff, like Rags to Rags or Mr. E's Beautiful Blues, but really, I like all of it. I also think Mr. E has, for me, one of the most identifiable voices out there, along the lines of Tom Waits or John McCrea.
4) "Turn on Me" by The Shins: Just a classic, sounds-like-The-Shins song. Is there any band more identifiable with a movie that The Shins with Garden State? They only had 2 songs on that soundtrack, but for some reason, I always think of that movie whenever I hear them. Of course, I guess Simon & Garfunkel are probably more intrinsically tied into The Graduate, but you get my point.
5) "Easy Tonight" by Five for Fighting: I typically like piano groups, such as Keane or Ben Folds Five, but Five for Fighting doesn't seem to be in the same class. Decent song, but not overly memorable.
6) "Today" by Joshua Radin: This has a very Simon & Garfunkel feel to it. (Yes, it's my second Simon & Garfunkel reference today.) I think he's done a good job of going with that style without getting too cliché. Not bad.
7) "Dracula from Houston" by Butthole Surfers: I was all about 90's alt. music back in the day, but I never had any exposure to Butthole Surfers for some reason. Sure, I heard "Pepper" , but that's really all I know. They seem palatable, and "Dracula" is about 100 times better than "Pepper", but I can't say it moves me to go search out more from them.
8) "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley - This is one of my all-time favorite covers, right up there with Johnny Cash's Hurt and Jonathan Coulton's Baby Got Back. It was listed as the Imogen Heap version, but it was definitely Jeff Buckley. Always an awesome choice!
9) "Hooch" by Everything - Probably not the strongest track on here, but I already had the MP3, so that must mean I like it. It's your standard, meaningless one-hit summer wonder back from some year in the 1990's.
10) "Hold on Hope" by Guided by Voices: Guided by Voices always seems like a band I should appreciate, but I've never really made the plunge with them. For some reason, I thought this song sounded vaguely reminiscent of a more melodic & polished Milton Mapes, but that's probably a stretch. Probably a B- song.
11) "All in my Head" by Shawn Mullins: I've never really considered myself a Shawn Mullins fan, but I can't think of a song he's done that I didn't really like, including his work with The Thorns. This was one of those "why don't I own all this guy's albums" moments.
12) "Heroes" by The Wallflowers: I always appreciate a good cover, and this one isn't horrible (even if it doesn't do much more than copy the David Bowie version). It's also probably the only good thing to come out of the Matthew Broderick version of Godzilla. (I actually skipped out from my research job whenever that hunk of crap opened to go watch it with my roommate back in college. Clearly, I was really committed to that project.)
13) "Overkill (Acoustic)" by Colin Hay: This was shocking, because I had coincidentally mentioned my recent interest in Colin Hay a couple of days before receiving the disc. Colin used to be the front man for Men at Work, but this acoustic cover of one of those early songs really shows the guys talent. The performance was so impressive that they essentially made an entire Scrubs episode around it, with Colin playing throughout. There's a great part midway through where his voice kicks it up an octave or two, and he instantly sounds like he's back in his 1980's voice. A++ song!
14) "Have it All" by Jeremy Kay: This one has a quasi-pop-blues feel to it. Decent, but not overly original.
15) "Windowsill" by The Arcade Fire: Arcade Fire is incredible in concert. They've got a ton of people on stage playing every conceivable instrument, and everyone's running around like they're in a sprint. The only band I've ever seen surpass that frenetic energy live was Polyphonic Spree ... and nobody has more people dancing around than The Spree! That being said, this track was almost overly mellow. I like my Arcade Fire with a little kick.
16) "Don't Look Away" by Joshua Radin: Our second Joshua Radin song, and I REALLY liked this one. This really stands out for me.
17) "Good Time" by Leroy: This one reminds me of when Bob Schneider gets into his hip-hp/funk moods. It's not as good, obviously, because ... c'mon - Bob Schneider! That being said, though, this is pretty kickin' as well.
18) "Sideways" by Citizen Cope: He labeled this one as Corey Taylor - he must have gotten a mislabeled MP3. Anyway, the song is utter bad-assery! I've actually listened to it three straight times just writing this description. Pure awesome!
19) "Waiting for my Real Life to Begin" by Colin Hay: Did I mention Colin Hay is awesome? He channels his inner Nick Drake on this one, and it really works great. I hope this guy is at least huge in Australia, because he deserves to be a bad ass somewhere.
So there it is. It's hard to argue with that CD, and I've definitely enjoyed listening to it off and on since Christmas. Not to brag, but it's definitely better than the one he gave his daughter!
Until next time,
The Jim
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2 comments:
I enjoyed this post, Jim! I think I'm going to have to recreate your CD for myself.
Well I am glad that you like the CD. I am not sure that I am more understanding of any sort of or genre of music. Trust me, "country" has a "ton" of amazing and talented" musicians. What makes a good tune in the end result is "talent". I am not sure J.R. told you, but my old clunker computer gave up the ghost a few weeks ago and it has taken me up until yesterday to finally acquire another blogging machine.
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