A Whoopee in Hell Christmas, Redux

Once upon a time, not long ago, when people wore pajamas and lived life slow, we used to post mixes on this blog. The most popular of them was the 2008 Christmas mix I made from tunes I'd scraped from across the blogosphere--nothing traditional, but soul, blues, country, indie rock, and hip-hop. In the spirit of Christmas (and because we're a day or two behind on our reviews, what with Christmas travel), I'd like to post (a slightly updated version of) that mix, along with a much revised version of the text that accompanied it.

I've lived in the Upper Midwest most of my life, and what I've missed most these last few Christmas, in California and Texas with my wife, or even worse, sitting on the knife edge of the quickly approaching Sahara Desert in Nigeria, was the snow and cold. Obviously, apartment living helps--I haven't shoveled a meaningful amount of snow in three years. But today, I'm back in the Upper Midwest, at the parents' house, looking out on some light drifting, and feeling the sharp bite of the cold when I go out. I'm not much for Christmas--frankly, it's a holiday that has little meaning for me, now that I'm grown and in that liminal space between being my parents' son and having my own family--but I do love winter.

As such, we begin this mix with the Rev. A. W. Nix, who has a depression-era message of Christmas warmth--the kind that you feel deep down up in your bones from sidling up next to Satan. Having gotten our priorities and our souls right with God, we're able to get down to our sexy, funky business. While I love a great pop song more than the next guy ("Baby Jesus, born to rock!" is E's Christmas manifesto on track two), my highlights are the blues and soul songs, particularly Sonny Boy Williamson II's message of Christmas materialism (blues singers almost inevitably call St. Nick "Santy Claus," which is fine by us), and of course Clarence Carter's loverman "Backdoor Santa," who looks ridiculous but still cuckolds you Christmas morning--"he don't come but once a year," if you get his drift.

Also, some of you may recognize the lead singer of Adam's House Cat as the Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood. He and guitar hero Mike Cooley were singing about smack-addled Santas long before writing the "Southern Rock Opera." And we end, naturally, with some spoken-word recollections my Mr. Johnny Cash, from his 1963 Columbia album, "The Christmas Spirit":

Christmas came, and Christmas went,

Christmas that year was heaven-sent.

And my daddy put on his rubber boots

and faced the floor, waitin' for the thaw,

back home in Dyess, Arkansas

A Whoopee in Hell Christmas, Redux

1) How Will You Spend Christmas - Rev. A.W. Nix
2) Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas - Eels
3) Christmas With the Devil - Spinal Tap
4) There ain't no Santa Claus on the Evenin' Stage - Captain Beefheart
5) Christmas Feeling Ska - Toots & the Maytals
6) Poor Mr. Santa - Andre Williams
7) Santa Claus - Sonny Boy Williamson
8) Backdoor Santa - Clarence Carter
9) Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin' - Albert King
10) Christmas Celebration - B.B. King
11) This Christmas - Donny Hathaway
12) I Hear Jingle Bells - Freddie King
13) Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas - The Staple Singers
14) Lonely This Christmas - Lucky Soul

15) Christmas Time is Here - Mayer Hawthorne

16) Christmas '83 - Centro-matic

17) Listening To Otis Redding At Home on Christmas Day - Okkervil River

18) Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis - Neko Case
19) Grateful for Christmas - Hayes Carll
20) Merry Christmas from the Family - Robert Earl Keen
21) Too Much Wine - The Handsome Family
22) Christmas is for Losers - Mike Nicolai
23) Here It Is Christmas - The Old 97's
24) Jesus Christ - Big Star
25) The Christmas Song - Weezer
26) Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas - Harvey Danger
27) A Poundland Christmas - Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire
28) Christmas In Baghdad - Black Lips
29) Christmas Lullaby - Cary Grant
30) Santa's Out of Rehab by Christmas - Adam's House Cat
31) Merry Christmas Baby - The BellRays
32) Jingle Bells (Dan The Automator Remix) - Dean Martin

33) Thank God It's Not Christmas - Parenthetical Girls
34) Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa - De La Soul

35) Christmas in Harlem - Kanye West
36) My Christmas Bells - Hard Call Christmas (Peanut Butter Wolf)
37) Jingle Bells - Ice-T
38) Santa Claus is Sometimes Brown - El Vez
39) Please Come Home For Christmas - Charles Brown

40) Santa Claus' Daughter - Charlie Rich
41) They Shined Up Rudolph's Nose - Johnny Horton
42) Lonesome Christmas (Part 1) - Lowell Fulson
43) Silent Night - Tom Waits
44) Christmas As I Knew It - Johnny Cash

part 1 (tracks 1-20) here

part 2 (tracks 21-44) here

Brandon

Whoopee in Hell Mix #6: There will be machinations unforeseen...

Our semester starts in six days. My vacation has not been as productive as it might ought to have been--visions of a finished article and a dissertation chapter danced in my head twelve days before Christmas, but what I've got is a 3/4 finished article and zero words and a lot of notes for a chapter. It's going to be a long road this semester. I've got 40,000 words to write between now and August (maybe even a shade more), and that's not counting my new little project (She's Making Whoopee in Hell Tonight--perhaps you've heard of it? Probably not).

But a new semester means a new schedule, and although there's not as much time on the bus as this fall, I find myself on the look out for some new tunes as I get ready to do the monthly complete iPod wipe and reload. Two of my biggest recent acquisitions have been a pair of multidisc compilations by forgotten (but dearly beloved by the cognoscenti) country music stars of the 1950s and 1960s--Johnny Horton, the king of the Texas rockabillies (and singer of historical songs from our collective childhoods), and the grand eccentric Charlie Rich (more on him in a week or so, as we move on with Reading Rock). When placed alongside old friends like the Gourds and Son Volt, and paired up with new (and soon to be rocking Milwaukee) finds like the Gaslight Anthem (this, by the way, is my first-ever link to a band's Myspace page. I feel like I've finally made it as a blogger), it's going to be a happy bus ride. I think my wife might even like it.

So, if you're a lifelong schooler (half teacher, half student, all broke...one more degree to finish) like me, enjoy the rest of whatever winter break you may have. If you're a working stiff like the rest of the world, go buy a box set of old country or some concert tickets (you've earned it--and surely, you're making more money than me...), and download you some good music.

Alt. country + classic country + soul = happy travels.

Whoopee in Hell Mix #6: There will be machinations unforeseen...

1) She Left me for Jesus - Hayes Carll
2) God's Got It - Old Crow Medicine Show
3) Kansas City Star - Roger Miller
4) Hallelujah Shine - The Gourds
5) 3 Dimes Down - Drive-By Truckers
6) Medicine Hat - Son Volt
7) I Feel so Good - Richard Thompson (yes, this is its second appearance)
8) The Golden State - John Doe w/Kathleen Edwards
9) 6 o'clock News - Kathleen Edwards
10) Harvest (Neil Young Cover) - Rufus Wainwright
11) All For the Love of a Girl - Johnny Horton
12) Whiskey River (Album Version) - Willie Nelson
13) Dance, Dance, Dance - Crazy Horse
14) Sixteen Tons - James & Bobby Purify
15) Stand by Your Man - (The Magnificent) Candi Stanton
16) Shut Out the Light - Bruce Springsteen
17) The '59 Sound - Gaslight Anthem
18) Lookin' Out My Backdoor - Creedence Clearwater Revival
19) Mister Garfield - Johnny Cash
20) Si Tu Dois Partir - Fairport Convention
21) L'Encre de tes Yeux - Francis Cabrel
22) Feel Like Going Home (demo) - Charlie Rich
23) Skinny Love - Bon Iver

Get tracks 1-15 here, and 16-23 here.

Posted by Brandon

Whoopee in Hell Mix #5: Solitary Man (a mix for staying in for days at time)

So I realized today that I hadn't left the house in almost four days.

This is not ideal.

In my non-teaching life, I'm a writer (well, a dissertator--which means I'm a writer), and a variety of self-imposed deadlines are fast approaching. I have a scholarly article on Nigeria's ruling party (the People's Democratic Party--an ironic name if ever there was one), and the first chapter of my dissertation, both of which need to be done by the end of the month. so I'm at the desk, suffering from internet-induced ADD, getting little done (but, as my wife would point out, at least I'm showering).

So, here's a mix for the self-imposed shut-ins among us (especially those of us trapped in a tiny, somewhat stinky one-bedroom with a lovely wife and a pile of books to the ceiling).

Whoopee in Hell Mix #5: Solitary Man

1. Solitude (Soundtrack from The Thing) - Ennio Morricone
2. Have You Ever Been Lonely? - R.L. Burnside
3. Solitary Man - Johnny Cash
4. Just Call Me Lonesome - Elvis Presley
5. Rockin' Alone In An Old Rockin' Chair - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
6. Solitude - Billie Holiday
7. A Solitary Life - Richard Thompson
8. Alone So Far- Old 97's
9. Shakin' Sugar - Wilco
10. Lonesome Suzie - The Band
11. Lonely - Tom Waits
12. Ballad Of A Lonely Man - Mike Ness
13. Honk If You're Lonely - Silver Jews
14. I Can't Stand Myself - James Chance & The Contortions
15. Mexican Lonelieness - Matt Dillon With Joey Altruda, Joe Gonzalez & Pablo Calogero
16. Solitude - Black Sabbath
17. Lonely Town - Stan Ridgway
18. You and You Alone - Souled American
19. Bad Fog Of Loneliness - Neil Young
20. Closing Down My House - Travel By Sea
21. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Grandpaboy
22. Lonely Tenement - David Johansen
23. Alone In The Endzone - Radio Birdman
24. Lonely Night - Chrissy Zeppy Tembo
25. Kicked Out The House - De La Soul
26. Slip Inside This House - Primal Scream
27. We Live As We Dream, Alone - Gang Of Four
28. My House - Lou Reed
29. All By Myself - Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
30. Just Don't Want To Be Lonely - Blue Magic
31. Long Lonely Nights - Clyde McPhatter
32. Lonely Hours - Lowell Fulson
33. Keep It To Yourself - Sonny Boy Williamson
34. Lonely Boy Boogie - John Lee Hooker
35. Lone Wolf - The Blasters
36. Get Lonely - The Mountain Goats
    

Get tracks 1-17 here; tracks 18-36 here.

Posted by Brandon

Rounding Out the Collection: Richard Thompson (1988-1994), and Whoopee in Hell Mix #4

The first time I heard Richard Thompson was in January of 2000, at my friend Andre's house in Massachusetts. At the time, I was taking a month off from my Freshman year of college--our school offered a January term during the eponymous month, but I had transferred in some AP credits, and I figured the time could be better spent traveling. This was the first time I'd really traveled in the normal way on my own--I had been on lengthy camping trips with no real adult supervision, but I had never boarded a plane on my own.

Andre was a guitar-player (later, he would go on to play in a series of bands, and gigs out semi-frequently now in the Boston area with his latest project), someone who's music taste was more expansive than my own, and much more focused on musicality, as opposed to gut reaction. He liked Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Van Morrison, and Traffic--I liked the Minutemen. We had become friends over shared conversations about people we agreed on--Springsteen and Neil Young the most prominent--but despite my devoted interest in becoming a music snob, Andre was much further along. H e had a copy of Richard Thompson's 1991 album, Rumor & Sigh--an album I've grown quite fond of in the intervening years--but when he played it for me that January, it seemed tiresome and same-sounding. Later I would discover that this was because of the terrible, dated production of Mitchell Froom, who had gotten his mitts into Thompson when he had signed with Capital in the late 1980s, and had slathered a thick layer of fuzz and keyboards over the top of Thompson's exceptional guitar playing and compelling singing--a layer so thick I appreciated neither quality at the time. The only song that stuck out was called "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," where Thompson sang a ballad about a couple named James and Molly (and James's bad end) over an acoustic guitar accompaniment that was anything but bare. In fact, it was the best flat top guitar picking I'd ever heard, but having no musical knowledge, and having mostly listened to blues and punk guitar players, I didn't really appreciate how exceptional it was. Nor did I really appreciate how well the song was crafted: a wry tale of a love so true but so ill-fated, a love sealed not with a kiss, but with the gift of leather and chrome (and a boy with somewhat ridiculous priorities):

Says James "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world
Beats a '52 Vincent and a red headed girl.
Now Nortons and Indians and Greeves won't do,
Ah, they don't have a soul like a Vincent '52
Oh he reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys
Said "I've got no further use for these.
I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome,
Swooping down from heaven to carry me home"
And he gave her one last kiss and died
And he gave her his Vincent to ride.
("1952 Vincent Black Lightning", from Rumor & Sigh)

Now this is some cornball stuff, and it smelled suspiciously like folk music--something I had every intention of staying as far away as I could from. I didn't want it tainting my Husker Du records, or mixing in with my Pixies.

But by 2002, I had started drinking, and on certain nights, I could almost understand why Andre thought this was such an excellent song. Further drinking led me to purchase Richard Thompson's 1982 record Shoot Out the Lights, which had two things I hadn't really heard from him before--beautiful, magnificent electric guitar playing, and gorgeous vocal harmonies (between Richard and his wife/partner Linda). I learned that this was the last of a series of albums they had recorded together since 1974, along the way having become devout Sufi Muslims (Richard remains one today). Other than "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" and the depressing but humorous "God Loves a Drunk," none of my friends really caught on to Thompson:

All of my friends don't comprehend me
Their kind of style it just offends me
I want to take 'em, I want to shake 'em
'Till they pay me some heed
(from "A Man in Need," off Shoot Out the Lights)

But that's not really the point. I wanted to talk about the two records of RT's that I've finally rounded up to complete my collection. The pair of records--Amnesia (1988) and Mirror Blue (1994)--are both albums I've avoided because they don't fit my idea of a good Richard Thompson record.

The first two are from the Froom period I mentioned earlier, when crappy production combined with a rather drastic change in his style of arrangement to produce music that sounded very little like his earlier work with Linda Thompson. This period--from Amnesia to You? Me? Us? (1996) produced his most dated-sounding records. The songwriting was still, for the most part, top-notch, but the arrangements involve a lot of electric-sounding drums and layered organs and keyboards, make him sound like a folkier 'Til Tuesday.

Richard Thompson - Reckless Kind (track 3 from Amnesia)

Rumor & Sigh came out in between the two records I'm discussing here, and was a major critical and commercial success (and nominated for an Alternative Rock Grammy), which gave Froom, from the sound of Mirror Blue, some ideas. Several of the tracks feature production that sounds like it was built off a tape loop stolen from Tom Waits circa Raindogs, but rather than sounding innovative or avant-guard, it simply doesn't suit Thompson's songwriting or singing, which at this time was evolving away from his earlier electric sound and towards an aggressive acoustic approach honed during his mostly solo acoustic touring.

Richard Thompson - For the Sake of Mary (track 1 off Mirror Blue)
Richard Thompson - Mingus Eyes (track 8 off Mirror Blue)

The most successful songs on both records are the slower numbers, where the "innovative" production has the least chance to get in the way (I imagine taking Froom's name and turning it into a verb--to "Froom" meaning to take something of inherent quality and obscure it through well-meaning but misguided obfuscation. For example, "The argument in my term paper was well thought out, but I froomed it, and because she couldn't tell what I was saying, the professor gave me a C+."). In particular, Beeswing (from Mirror Blue) and "Waltzing's for Dreaming" (Amnesia) rival Thompson's best ballad work.

Richard Thompson - Waltzing's for Dreaming (track 9 from Amnesia)
Richard Thompson - Beeswing (track 10 from Mirror Blue)

Now they say love's for gamblers, oh the pendulum swings
I bet hard on love and I lost everything
So don't send me home now, put a shot in my arm
And we'll drink out old memories and we'll drink in the dawn
And Mr Bandleader won't you play one more time
For I've good folding money in this pocket of mine
(from "Waltzing's for Dreamers")

But all of this is really an elaborate segue into the minimally anticipated but lovingly prepared Whoopee in Hell Mix #4, "A Town with No Future" (A Richard Thompson Compendium). There's a pair of "Greatest Hits" packages already (one for the Richard & Linda years and one for the Capitol [read: Froom] years), but nothing career-spanning and focused on his studio recordings (there are also two multidisc comps focused on live tracks and outtakes here and here). This mix covers roughly every studio and "official" live record (including his five records as a member of the British folk/psychedelia group Fairport Convention), but rather than compile it chronologically, I went the Bob Pollard route. It's arranged as a mix, sequenced for listening, rather than posterity. And bear in mind not ever song was sung by RT--he was only rarely the lead singer in Fairport Convention, and his wife sang more than half the songs on the early records. But except for his acoustic cover of the old chestnut "Shenandoah," these are all RT compositions, and that's his lead guitar you hear on the Fairport Convention tracks, back in the day when he has making his name as one of the premier Brit guitar players not named Clapton, Page, or Beck.

Whoopee in Hell Mix #4: "A Town With no Future" - A Richard Thompson Compendium

1. Roll Over Vaughn Williams - Richard Thompson
2. Shoot Out The Lights - Richard & Linda Thompson
3. Beat The Retreat - Richard & Linda Thompson
4. Shenandoah - Richard Thompson
5. Cooksferry Queen - Richard Thompson
6. I Ain't Going To Drag My Feet No More - Richard Thompson
7. Crawl Back (Under My Stone) - Richard Thompson
8. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight - Richard & Linda Thompson
9. Matty Groves - Fairport Convention
10. Man In Need - Richard & Linda Thompson
11. I Feel So Good - Richard Thompson
12. Tear-Stained Letter - Richard Thompson
13. Valerie - Richard Thompson
14. The Angels Took My Racehorse Away - Richard Thompson
15. Time Will Show The Wiser - Fairport Convention
16. Don't Renege On Our Love - Richard & Linda Thompson
17. When I Get To The Border - Richard & Linda Thompson
18. Time To Ring Some Changes - Richard Thompson
19. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning - Richard Thompson
20. The Cavalry Cross - Richard & Linda Thompson
21. Meet On The Ledge - Fairport Convention
22. I'll Regret It All In The Morning - Richard & Linda Thompson
23. Wall Of Death - Richard & Linda Thompson
24. Both Ends Burning - Richard Thompson
25. Turning of the Tide - Richard Thompson
26. I Can't Wake Up To Save My Life - Richard Thompson
27. Sibella - Richard Thompson
28. Don't Sit On My Jimmy Shands - Richard Thompson
29. Dark End Of The Street [Live] - Richard & Linda Thompson
30. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight [Live] - Richard Thompson
31. God Loves A Drunk - Richard Thompson
32. Dad's Gonna Kill Me - Richard Thompson

Get Tracks 1-14; 15-32

Posted by Brandon

Whoopee in Hell Mix #3: Baby Jesus, Born to Rock! (and Getting to Phoenix...)

The desktop widget that updates me on the weather says it's -8° right outside my window. I was outside once today, to help my wife scrape her windshield and make sure her car started (it did, thank god). It's one of those days--the 25 mph winds, the bitter cold--when they would have canceled school when I was younger. Of course, it's not a school day, and in any case, my school year is over.

So, as you've noticed, we've had our first post from my good friend and fellow contributor. We'll do a post about us in a little while. But the proximate result of his first post is that we're happy to present you with dueling Christmas Mixes this holiday season.

Unlike my colleague, I've mellowed rather a lot over the years, and can almost look you all in the eye and say I like Christmas. And I do--especially the cold, white aspect of it. I've lived in the Upper Midwest most of my life, and what I missed most last Christmas, sitting on the knife edge of the quickly approaching Sahara Desert in Nigeria, was the snow and cold. Obviously, apartment living helps--I haven't shoveled a meaningful amount of snow in three years.

But you're hear for the music. Instead of Compton's weakest link, we begin on this side with the Rev. A. W. Nix, who has a depression-era message of Christmas warmth--the kind that you feel deep down up in your bones from sidling up next to Satan! So having gotten our priorities and our souls right with God, we're able to get down to our sexy, funky business. While I love a great pop song more than the next guy ("Baby Jesus, born to rock!" is E's Christmas manifesto on track two), I spend half my time on rowdy soul and rockabilly--my highlights are Sonny Boy Williamson II's message of Christmas materialism (blues singers almost inevitably call St. Nick "Santy Claus," which is fine by us), and of course Clarence Carter's loverman "Backdoor Santa," who looks ridiculous but still cuckolds you Christmas morning--"he don't come but once a year," if you get his drift.

Also, some of you may recognize the lead singer of Adam's House Cat as the Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood. He and guitar hero Mike Cooley were singing about smack-addled Santas long before writing the "Southern Rock Opera." And, since I have a natural need for one-upmanship, if the first mix brought you "Christmas in Vietnam," on this mix the Black Lips will give you "Christmas in Baghdad," crackly from the 7 inch vinyl. And we end, naturally, with some spoken-word recollections my Mr. Johnny Cash, from his 1963 Columbia album, "The Christmas Spirit":

Christmas came, and Christmas went,
Christmas that year was heaven-sent.

And my daddy put on his rubber boots

and faced the floor, waitin' for the thaw,
back home in Dyess, ArkansasJohnny Cash's childhood home (Dyess, Arkansas, circa 2007)

Whoopee in Hell Mix #3: Baby Jesus, Born to Rock!

1. How Will You Spend Christmas - Rev. A.W. Nix
   
2. Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas - Eels
   
3. Christmas With the Devil - Spinal Tap
4. There ain't no Santa Claus on the Evenin' Stage - Captain Beefheart
5. Christmas Feeling Ska - Toots & the Maytals
6. Poor Mr. Santa - Andre Williams
7. Santa Claus - Sonny Boy Williamson
8. Backdoor Santa - Clarence Carter
9. Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin' - Albert King
10. Christmas Celebration - B.B. King
11. This Christmas - Donny Hathaway
12. I Hear Jingle Bells - Freddie King
13. Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas - The Staple Singers
14. Listening To Otis Redding At Home on Christmas Day - Okkervil River
15. Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis - Neko Case
16. Grateful for Christmas - Hayes Carll
17. Merry Christmas from the Family - Robert Earl Keen
18. Too Much Wine - The Handsome Family
19. Christmas is for Losers - Mike Nicolai
20. Here It Is Christmas - The Old 97's
21. Jesus Christ - Big Star
22. The Christmas Song - Weezer
23. Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas - Harvey Danger
24. Santa Claus - Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire
25. Christmas In Baghdad - Black Lips
26. Christmas Lullaby - Cary Grant
27. Santa's Out of Rehab by Christmas - Adam's House Cat
28. Merry Christmas Baby - The BellRays
29. Jingle Bells (Dan The Automator Remix) - Dean Martin
30. Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa - De La Soul
31. My Christmas Bells - Hard Call Christmas (Peanut Butter Wolf)
32. Jingle Bells - Ice-T
33. Santa Claus is Sometimes Brown - El Vez
34. Please Come Home For Christmas - Charles Brown
35. Santa Claus' Daughter - Charlie Rich
36. They Shined Up Rudolph's Nose - Johnny Horton
37. Lonesome Christmas (Part 1) - Lowell Fulson
38. Silent Night - Tom Waits
39. Christmas As I Knew It - Johnny Cash

Get it in two parts (Part one, tracks 1-18) (Part two, tracks 19-39).

And as an aside, you'll notice that this mix is labeled #3. That's not a mistake. Whoopee in Hell mix #2 is lost in cyberspace, just as its author (and my buddy and co-contributor) is lost in Arizona. Coming from Illinois to Idaho this morning, his plane was late in Chicago, and having missed his connection, he's stuck in Phoenix, waiting for a plane. He's told me he may be stuck until Christmas morning, his mix sadly unposted. So until we get to see your take on Christmas music, brother, this is for you. Keep the faith.

Glen Campbell - By the Time I Get to Phoenix
Wanda Jackson - By the Time You Got to Phoenix
(the thunderclap of misery that is) Isaac Hayes - By the Time I Get to Phoenix

And, last but not least...

Centro-Matic - Keep the Phoenix in Slow Motion
Public Enemy - By the Time I Get to Arizona

Safe travels, good people. Leave and travel well.

Posted by Brandon

Whoopee in Hell Mix #1: There's Nowhere to Hide in Tacoma

Since I’m still trying to get the hang of this blogging thing, I figured I’d post something that might bring some people in—something that might have a little more appeal than the blues stuff (although I’ll be talking about a real interesting fellow named Josh White in a few days, and I want to talk about a Richard Thompson album that’s new to me). Every couple of weeks or so I’m going to try to throw up one of the mixes I make for my own use (as a way to bring some of my piles and piles of music into my iPod rotation). They’ll sometimes have a theme, sometimes not. One of my favorite bloggers, A Truer Sound (the finest alt. country blog in all the land, I reckon), did something similar for a while (although I think he said he’s taking some time off the mixes), and I always enjoyed checking them out.

When I make mixes for myself, I tend to start with a single song I’m really digging, and then try to work with things I associate off that track. For this mix, it was “Thrice All-American,” by Neko Case, off her Furnace Room Lullaby record (Bloodshot, 2000). Without going into too much irrelevant shit, I love her take on her “hometown” (she wasn’t born in Tacoma, just raised there)—a place she’s deeply ambivalent about (and would

almost certainly not enjoy living on a permanent basis). I feel very similarly about my own hometown—also a fading industrial city of little culture but a certain amount of innate beauty (if you cock your head a little to the right and squint, at least). Normally, I don’t love most of Neko Case’s work (with the exception of her New Pornographers tracks, which I almost always like best on those albums)—I find a lot of Blacklisted tedious and samey-sounding, for example, but the poppier songs (this one, “Hold On, Hold On,” a couple others on Fox Confessor) really show off her voice (her oft-backing band, the Sadies, are much the same for me—a few great tracks, not as great in full album form).

There’s some other stuff on here that’s big on the blogs—“Lost Coastlines” by Okkervil River, which I had picked for this mix back when I first got back to the States without knowing it was the “big” song off the album (and I saw them this fall—they really have become a great live band—much better than when I saw them in ’06). There’s some old R.E.M., a song off my favorite Pavement album, some Louvin Brothers, and in closing, some Willie Nelson off The Red-Headed Stranger. Think of it as an early Winter mix—I’ve been rocking it while walking up State Street in Madison, at dusk between the University and the Capitol, all lit up in pale blue for the winter season. in With the fresh snow of the last few days, it’s been a great listen. Enjoy!

Whoopee in Hell Mix #1: There’s Nowhere to Hide in Tacoma

1. Thrice All-American - Neko Case
2. Then He Kissed Me - The Crystals
3. Holland, 1945 - Neutral Milk Hotel
4. Lost Coastlines - Okkervil River
5. Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod? - The Mountain Goats
6. (Don't Go Back to) Rockville - R.E.M.
7. The Late Greats - Wilco
8. Gold Soundz - Pavement
9. Mad at a Girl - Robbie Fulks
10. Satellite - The Replacements
11. A Dame with a Rod - The Juliana Hatfield Three
12. Angel - Rod Stewart
13. Eli, the Barrow Boy - The Decemberists
14. Layin' Around the House - The Gourds
15. Moonlight Mile - The Rolling Stones
16. In the Pines - The Louvin Brothers
17. Pushkin - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
18. Hands on the Wheel - Willie Nelson

Or, for those willing to commit, here's the whole thing here. (And, given our hosting limitations, do grab the whole thing from Mediafire. It's a very fast download, and it gives me time to figure out hosting for some more tracks!)

Posted by Brandon