Neo-Exotica, post-exotica, whatever you want to name it. 18 tracks that still retain the original feel/rhythm but with an obvious modern sound. Mostly instrumentals, and all good. Artists include The Red Fox Tails, Space Age Sunset, The Waitiki 7, The Tiki Torches, Kenny Sasaki & The Tiki Boys, Bahama Soul Club, Chalk Dinosaur and others. I don't have any particular favs. It's a nice flow to sit/kick back and relax. Enjoy!
I'm not sure if I'll continue on with the Halloween mixes hence, released now. There was little interest last year, including some of my best Halloween mixes, and so here we are with a bigger mix than usual. Of the 26 tracks, most are '50s and '60s. A couple from soundtracks as well (Riz Ortolani's Tranquillità e angoscia from the film, Don't Torture a Duckling, and Franco Piersanti's Il Nido del Ragno from the film, The Spider Labyrinth).
Big favs in The Crew's "The Jaguar Hunt," Screaming Lord Sutch's "All Black & Hairy," The Wolf Man's (aka Wolfman Jack) "Strange," Monster Fever's "Hunger Pains," The Verdicts' "The Mummy's Ball," and The Gig Experiment's 10 minute "A Noite das Bruxas (The Halloween Night)." They're all good. Enjoy!
Pol, over at his blog, "What's the Connection?" mentioned my posts regarding Canadian music (check out his Kim Mitchell/Max Webster mix here - "Webster Pick" ), and wouldn't you just know it, I had to once again dig out some great classic Canadian tracks. Many rare outside the border. Check out Gino Vannelli's "Jack Miraculous." This was before you've heard the bg music to Mario Kart/Mario Party, and elevator music on speed. Yeah, you gotta check it out.
Valdy's "Peter & Lou" - a big favorite. Steel River's "Ten Pound Note" sounds like The Band, or so I thought many years back. The same deal with Ginette Reno's "Beautiful Second Hand Man" - I thought either Marilyn McCoo or Petula Clark.
Toby Swann's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - you guessed it, a rockin'/punkified version of the well endeared Wizard of Oz tune. Murray McLauchlan's "The Farmer's Song" - I still listen to it from time to time, for that lump in throat feeling. 18 tracks, all 70s sans a couple of early 80s. Mostly pop rock. Enjoy!
Many deep cuts, 16 in all. Psych, blues rock, hard rock, a bit of heavy acid rock, etc. Bands include US's Whalefeathers, & Corpus, Germany's Baumstam, France's Les Variations, Canada's Wanka, & Emerald City, Netherland's Cosmic Dealer, UK's The Way We Live, and more. Enjoy!
A hodgepodge of genres. Psych, Rock, Pop, Mod, etc. The Rascals, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Third Rail, The Kinks, Chad & Jeremy, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus, The Sundowners, and more. 18 deep cuts in all. Enjoy!
Several fine goodies including Maxine Brown, Babs Tino, Yvonne Carroll, Tini Yuro, Dee Dee Warwick, Paula Watson, Toni Carroll, Varetta Dillard, and more. 20 tracks in all. Enjoy!
Continuing on... Johnny Bronay, Charles Jones, The Miller Brothers, Aubrey Adams, Donnie Myles, The Carousels, Chuck & Dobby, The Jewels, and more. Enjoy!
From '53 to '63. The Vel-Tones, The Derbys, The Rhythm Masters, Marie Knight, Dorisetta Clark, The Spirals, The Jive Chords, and more. 20 tracks in all. Enjoy!
From 1953 to '66. Willie Wright & His Sparklers, Linda Willoby, Mari Norleen, Robert Knight, Marv Johnson, Maureen Evans, Dean & Jean, Bobby Bunny & The Jackrabbits, Bill Giant, and more. Also one of my all-time Sam Cooke favs, "Movin' and A'Groovin'." 20 tracks in all. Enjoy!
All modern tracks. Plenty of experimental but not abstract - it's all rhythmic and grooves. Krautrock, Kosmische Musik, Motorik, a bit of Avant-Garde, Electronica, Progressive and Psychedelic Rock, and of course, Experimental Rock. Favorite favs would be Mint Field's "Contingencia," Village Cucumber's "Salarifarilariland," Mihaly Wulfen's "Slow Morning," and Klas Travelling's "1st Klas." 18 tracks in all. Enjoy!
50s & 60s, mostly rare or unsung gems. A mix of doo-wop, R&B, popcorn, etc. Check out Charlie Feathers' "Jungle Fever." Also Larry Williams' "Hootchy-Koo," The King Bees' "Give Me Your Number" and Caterina Valente's "Taboo" plus a couple of not-so-rare in The Blisters' "Shortnin' Bread" and Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Toki's Theme." Enjoy!
All 70s sans one track (Luis Bacalov's 67's "A ciascuno il suo (rhythm version)"). Alan Moorhouse, Klaus Weiss, Alan Parker, Gianni Ferrio, Piero Umiliani, Luigi Zito, Keith Mansfield, etc. The usual great artists. Enjoy!
Some sixties in there so not all early rockin' rollers. The Treniers' "Everything's Wild in Wildwood," The Deep River Boys' "Rock Around the Clock," Tiny Bradshaw's "Built Like a Railroad Track," Little Richard's rehearsal take on "Hound Dog," Big Joe Turner's "Midnight Cannonball," Willie Egan's "I Can't Understand It," etc. All good to great. Enjoy!
16 deep cuts by The Pretenders, Cliff Richard, Men at Work, Cutting Crew, Survivor, etc. Enjoy!
20 tracks of rockin' and some groovin' library/lounge tracks, all 70s sans 69's "Relax in Blues" by Giuliano Sorgini, and 1980's "Place Here #3" by Neil Amsterdam. Big favs in Klaus Weiss' "Morning 2," Gert Wilden & Orchestra's "Dirty Boy" and Tony Tape's "Open Road." All good tracks by Franco Micalizzi, Alberto Baldan Bembo, Alan Moorhouse, José Roberto Bertrami, Remigio Ducros, and many others. Enjoy!
I must be desperate with the horny subtitles, lol. 18 smooth and sexy lounge tracks, from '66 to '80. Arawak's "Accadde a tutti noi," The Mystic Moods Orchestra's "Down Easy" and Alessandro Alessandroni's "Vele al vento" are big favs, especially the latter. Luciano Simoncini, Piero Piccioni, Alan Parker, Remigio Ducros, Ennio Morricone, Syd Dale, and others. Enjoy!
Last year we had A Modern Motorik Kinda Day (and A Modern Motorik Kinda Night), and this time, more the same. Again, all dozen tracks are fairly rare. They're all good to great including The Shadow Sea's "The Remnant (Extended Electronic mix)," Sappy's "You Can Turn a Phrase," Mayor Dadi's "In Laos" and Vert-X's "Clus." Speaking of Vert-X, they along with a few other bands, piqued my interest to explore the recherché side of modern motorik, albeit by happenstance. A bit of a long story I'll save for perhaps another time. Anyway, enjoy!
The original plan was to do another desert rock mix, but noticed Ape Machine's "Ape'n'Stein." Ha, so clever! It's Edgar Winter's Frankenstein, and so off with yet again another covers mix, and a good one at that. How good I say? Well, one track in particular and hands down, the best version (so far) of a Pink Floyd track - Syrek's "Have a Cigar." Terry (Syrek) is a massive shredder. And good vocals to boot. Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders' "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" is, you guessed it, hands down the best version (so far) of Dylan's poignant ballad. But, I wouldn't say their version isn't as poignant... need to be heard!
Of all the tracks, I'd say a dozen are quite rare. The exceptions, and I'm guessing here, are Earthless' take on Hendrix's "Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)," Juliana Hatfield's not-as-subtle version of Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You," and pianist David Sides run-through of Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends." On the rarer side of note - TheClavhens' take on The Beatles but aptly titled, "Why Don't We Do It in the Snow?," Solace's covering Pink Floyd's "In the Flesh" (the second version), and Brian Bromberg's double-bassing Kansas' "Carry on Wayward Son."
16 tracks, a variety of genres, and they're all good, and some more than good. Enjoy!
Volume 16, back at the first of the year, was going to be the last in the series. After listening to Chuck Willis' "Whatcha Gonna Do When Your Baby Leaves You" and Peggy King's "Up, Up, Up (Flying High)" (both on this mix), I changed my mind. Once again, all good to great tracks, with a few deep album cuts as well. With the two aforementioned big fav tracks, there's also Bill Haley & His Comets' "Hawk," Roy Gaines' "Black Gal," Frances Faye's "Frenesí" and Eddie Cooley & The Dimples' "Driftwood" as well. They're all good. Of the 17 volumes so far, I'd say it's in the top 5. Enjoy!
And whoppers they are. Big, BIG fav in The Versatiles' "Passing By." 18 tracks including The Tremaines, The Premiers, Jay Jay & The Selectones, The 5 Embers, The Comic Books, and many more. Enjoy!
