Hi all.
Welcome to my second mix. My music collection is nothing like T-bone’s or Ackx4’s, so I don’t have a lot of obscure rarities here. Basically, I just tried once again to make what I thought would be a fun mix using songs I love. I hope you enjoy it.

1. Birdsongs of the Mesozoic – “Theme from Rocky and Bullwinkle”
The Roger Miller incarnation of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic was just brilliant. I loved the physicality of the playing in addition to the wildly inventive sounds they made. This song is a great example of how Roger Miller combined his technical virtuosity with a sense of humor.

2. Butthole Surfers – “Cowboy Bob”
Probably my favorite Butthole Surfers song.

3. Shudder to Think - “Nine Fingers on You”
I know a lot of people hate Shudder to Think, and I actually find a lot of it abrasive and unlistenable, but I think this song is just awesome. Girl you’ve got to hustle for your muscle machine…

4. 50 Foot Wave – “Clara Bow”
Kristin Hersh’s latest project. It’s all great, but this is the song I tend to play on repeat.

5. Loud Fast Rules – “Black & Blue”
Loud Fast Rules is, of course, the band that went on to become Soul Asylum. This song first appeared on the “Barefoot and Pregnant” compilation, then they recorded this song again later as Soul Asylum and included it on the Times Incinerator cassette-only release. But when they reissued the combination CD of Say What You Will Clarence and tracks from Time’s Incinerator , they replaced the Soul Asylum version of “Black & Blue” with this earlier recording. I know what you’re thinking… It sounds just like “Runaway Train.”

6. Baby Ray – “Sorry”
Awesome band. Awesome song. I’m just so disappointed that they broke up. They played a few shows last year and released Low Rises (which is great and absolutely worth checking out, as is Monkeypuzzle , which is where this track comes from) and I was psyched at the thought of them playing around more. But no sooner did the CD come out then they announced that they were doing their last show. Huge loss to the Boston music scene. Baby Ray prompted a lot of comparisons to XTC and you can really hear it in this song.

7. Smoking Popes – “Before I’m Gone”
I love this song, but I don’t really have anything to say about it. Moving right along…

8. Count Zero – “Golden Years”
My favorite local band. As if Peter Moore’s brilliant song writing weren’t enough, they’re also fabulous at doing really interesting and distinctive covers. This song is awesome live.

9. The Partridge Family – “Love Is All I Ever Needed”
Sound Magazine was the first album I ever owned (well okay, it was really my older sister’s and she charitably let me play it) and I still love it today. Maybe it’s just because you never really get over your first love, and I still hear it with the same ears. I don’t know and I don’t care. I still enjoy it.

10. Dexy’s Midnight Runners – “Thankfully Not Living in Yorkshire It Doesn’t Apply”
I find it impossible not to bop around to this song. It always puts a big smile on my face.

11. Della Reese – “Come on-a My House”
My favorite version of this song. Della has that great delivery –sort of a lascivious snarl-– and I love the fast cha-cha-cha beat.

12. Jamie T. – “Salvador”
I don’t listen to a lot of ska-flavored stuff these days, but this is another one of those songs I can’t resist bopping around to.

13. Jonathan Richman – “Stop This Car”
I have to be in the mood for Jonathan Richman and can only take him in small doses, but this is my favorite. It’s such a singular song and I find it completely irresistible. If you don’t like it, all I can say is “Wow, man like your vibes are so uptight.”

14. Count Zero – “Cure of a Kiss” (Live Acoustic)
This is from a live radio performance (Carmelita’s show, I think??). I love the studio version of “Cure of a Kiss” that is on Robots Anonymous , but this version has an entirely different charm and I might even prefer it. This song is full of great Peter Moore lyrics like “The clock pickpockets the cause from his eyes.”

15. Pussy Galore – “Cunt Tease”
This song cracks me up. I guess it sort of continues the humorous misogyny theme I began last CD with “Girl on the Screen.”

16. Exmo-6-Desmo – “Tooot”
I mostly included this one because I just like saying Exmo-6-Desmo. Hmmm, I guess I don’t actually get to say Exmo-6-Desmo here. I just get to write Exmo-6-Desmo, which is decidedly less fun because I have trouble typing hyphens. I dig their music, but was never wild about the vocals, so this song is perfect.

17. Christmas – “Tommy the Truck”
One of my favorite local bands of yesteryear. I thought Michael Cudahy was just brilliant - just so marvelously inventive - and he and Liz Cox were a great combo. I rarely hear people cite Christmas when they are talking about favorite Boston bands. I think they deserved more recognition than they got.

18. Soul Asylum – “Never Too Soon”
From While You Were Out , this is one of several songs that I think it was a mistake to omit from the Best of the Twin/Tone Years compilation.

19. Volcano Suns – “White Elephant”
Another one of my favorite local bands from yesteryear. It was great to see them play last year and I hope they get together for another outing again sometime.

20. Snide Rhino – “Tell Me Something”
Snide Rhino features Peter, Eric, and Izzy of Count Zero (but with Eric on vocals and Peter on drums) and Andrew Hickman, who produces the most amazing sounds on saxophone. Oodles of fun to see live.

21. The Wombats – “In a Minute”
The Cleveland Wombats from the 80s, that is, not the contemporary Wombats from the U.K. A few people singled out the Wombats as one of their favorite tracks off my last mix, so I figured I’d throw another one on. This is also off Zontar Must Die (as opposed to the other albums in the Wombats’ extensive discography) and features that same great lo-fi sound.

22. Brian Jonestown Massacre – “Nailing Honey to the Bee“

23. Brad Sucks – “Dirtbag”
From the CD I Don’t Know What I’m Doing . Sort of like “Creep” in an Internet-fame one-man-band kind of way.

24. Think Tree – “Holy Cow”
A Think Tree classic, although the recording could never equal the live performance. Think Tree was just a great live band and Holy Cow was always a highlight. Apparently a lot of people took this song seriously and found it offensive. Sigh.

25. Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel – “Lust for Death”
I saw Foetus play in London and it’s actually one of the few shows that I’ve walked out of. I think I just found him really boring – just a bunch of boring noise. Meanwhile, Hole has some great songs on it like this one.

26. Naked Raygun – “Surf Combat”
This song just has such an awesome tick to it.

27. Wire – “12xU”
I don’t think I need to say anything about this one. A classic.

I really enjoyed listening to this mix - It will probably end up in my car where I do most of my more careful listening. A few highlights:

Smoking Popes - I think for some reason I thought this band was a lot more abrasive than they are. I really like this song.

Della Reese – “Come on-a My House” - So happy to have this in my collection. I think there is a cooking show or commercial that uses this version. Puts me in the mood to entertain for sure!

Snide Rhino – “Tell Me Something” - Wow what a time warp experience I had hearing this. I cocked my head like a puppy when it came on. I think I had this song at the end of the first Clem Snide demo way back when - is that possible??

Think Tree – “Holy Cow” - YAY Think Tree!

Thanks, Hopey

i'm only half way through this one, and it's great and all over the place so far, but i just wanted to say that i was convinced that dexy's midnight runners song was a sparks song until the chorus. obviously, i was wrong.

alright, done. this was pretty great. a bunch of stuff i'd never heard before and some stuff i never thought i'd wanna hear like that foetus song).

that jamie t song was one of my favorites on here. i have some googling to do. naked raygun is always awesome. and i might actually have to look into picking up a shudder to think record.

this one deserve bonus points for the cover alone. killer job, lady.

I have a few I can give you. They're hit or miss.

Haven't had a chance to listen to this yet but I wanted to say you did a killer job on the cover. Plus I'm happy there's a song about Clara Bow. Will get back to this.

Man, this is freakin' awesome! If I were to ever actually dance it would probably be to this mix. Come on-a My House rules.

Great job again on the artwork, too.

2nd one in here, much enjoying, thank you --- not that it matters a bunch, but who's the hair-swingin' guy in the picture inside?

That’s Dave Pirner, circa 1986 or so. I guess it fits since there are two Pirner tracks in the mix, but mostly I just love the movement and feel of that image.

soul asylum and....?
(i'm guessing #5, pardon my ignorance!)

Fun mix! Stand outs were Smoking Popes, Dexy's (although the vocals were a bit strange), Christmas,Snide Rhino, and Brad Sucks. I always wanted to check out Smoking Popes. Great cover art. Makes me want to just use a generic white with black type cover for my next mix. I especially like the way you incorporated your avatar into the cover. Great stuff.

the smoking popes are like morrissey fronting the buzzcocks. i like 'em.

my fave version of "come on a my house" was sung by Connie Stevens....IIRC...or was it Stella Stevens? It was some movie about a fraternity in the early 60's....made in the early 60's.....I taped it off of TV and have it around someplace.....that song just sticks in my mind....well that and the pictures of Steela and Connie in High Society magazine.....

I have another version of that song on an old 78.....I forget who sings it, but it was recorded in the 1920's....weird to think of pop culture from before teh war......and how a lot of it was forgotten.......

anyhow....coool song!!!!!

ah, you must be in Group 1.....

I have that Rocky and Bullwinkle on a ryko disc comp....and it's a backward tracked bonus (plays forward but counst backward...?) You can only access it by playing the other BSM song.....and yes, it is AWESOME.

I'll look forward to hearing your mix in the MP3 derby disk!!!!!

Noone knows or cares enough about Soul Asylum/Loud Fast Rules to notice that I totally got that wrong about “Black and Blue.” I just looked at my copy of Time’s Incinerator and there wasn’t a Soul Asylum version included on that release at all. I must have confused it with the original release of “Say What You Will…”

I never know what people are going to respond to in these mix trades. I almost deleted “Come on-a my House” at the last minute and put something else on. And I would have thought Baby Ray’s “Sorry” would have been one of the stand-out tracks in the mix. I think it’s such an awesome song. But I’m happy that folks found some tunes they liked.

Meanwhile, I appreciate all the compliments on the cover. I got a kick out of it myself -- although I must admit I thought more people would have been familiar with the Hüsker Dü album.

these kids today , i tell yuh...

so....WHAT should that credit read?

I'm pretty stewpit.

The track in the mix is correct as listed. It's Loud Fast Rules performing "Black and Blue" and it's off a compilation called Barefoot and Pregnant. I just screwed up in my description when I was trying to add a little bit of color. That'll learn me.

The point I was trying to make was that they did another version of the song later after they had become Soul Asylum. For some reason, I had it in my head that it was on Time's Incinerator, but it must have been on their first album, Say What You Will... Anything Can Happen. That album is out of print, but was re-issued and re-titled Say What You Will, Clarence... Karl Sold the Truck, with tracks added from Time's Incinerator. In the reissue, they also replaced the Soul Asylum version of "Black and Blue" with this earlier Loud Fast Rules recording. The song was recorded in 1981 or 1982 or so, when they were still in their teens and definitely had more of a punk thing going on.

I've been sitting and stewing about how to review this mix for a good while. Not that I've put that much thought into it, but this mix more than any other for me, has taken took repeated listens for anything solid to materialize in terms of my reactions to it. I've heard some songs 4 times, others 3 times, and I still feel that I could use another listen or two before commenting. Anyway, I'll make a few remarks. Definitely one of my favorites of the whole trade. Very good collection of rock music. And all stuff I've never heard before. Really creative songs, not typical in structure or sound, by and large. each song very individualized - I felt that Hopey had a strong relation to each one.
The beginning was one of the best ever for a mix, especially considering the title of the offering.
Cowboy Bob......this one really got my attention --- what the heck is Bob up to that is eliciting the shrieks from these women? Seems more than standard rodeo feats...Hopey, do you know?

(I really did like most of this mix, so even if I don't mention a song, assume that I probably still liked it.)

Shudder to Think -- took a few listens to grow to like this.
50 Foot Wave-- one of my favorites. Just saw from your notes that this is Kristen Herch -- I never would have guessed that! The line in the chorus "Just another stupid summer" was great. And that melody line.......there's a Divinyls song that has a very similar progression in it. If I think of what song that is, I'll let you know.

Loud Fast Rules -- fun song, dance-inducing!

I just recently got a Baby Ray cd for 50 cents in Greenfield. Surely they don't know this band have talent. This song was cool in a sort of dissonant, new wavy way. Sorry I missed them. Now I want to hear that cd I got.

Very cool cover of Golden Years -- the slowing down is very strange at first -- like you're being slowly injected with thorazine. Sounds a lot like Bowie. I've wanted to see Count Zero for a while, and now even moreso.

Partridge Family -- took a few listens but now I like this song! Had never heard it before. I always like the Albuquerque song they did.

Della Reese -- wow, what a song. I thought this was some lady from the Bahmas or Honduras. Della does it good. Got to be the only song where a compliment about someone's hair and an offer of a pomegranate is made.

Jonathan Richman -- I enjoy his recounting of his automotive discomfort here -- he makes it fun - not easy to do.

Pussy Galore -- love the juxtaposition of the male and female vocals.

Tooot -- fun messy instro.

Soul Asylum -- solid.

Volcano Suns -- love the first line as it applies to me, it seems. Another fun rockin' number.

Snide Rhino -- lyrics really matched the music, patient annoyance, which isn't easy or common. Funny song, and yeah, that didn't sound like a sax to me.

Brian Jonestown -- loved the music of this song -- like an old Brit invasion song to me, cool drivin' groove.

Brad Sucks -- this was great -- grunge guy addresses his critics, tells 'em what they want to hear.
That's how I heard it anyway.

Think Tree -- very funny, that and a bit asshole- ish if taken at face value, but I'm sure they realize that. Seems like a Butthole Surfers song.

Naked Raygun -- been wanting to hear these guys. Enjoyed it a lot.

Wire -- another great punk song, danceable.

Thanks, Hopey!