The sequel to the long-ago By the Numbers took a few liberties not taken in the original: an ordinal, rather than cardinal number (“21st Century Schizoid Man”); a song in which part of the title, but not the actual number, is mentioned (“5 D,” which uses the word “dimension”); and the Prince song, in which “4″ is used in a sense other than numerical. Not to mention that the Brothers Johnson, as did Shuggie Otis in the original, don’t actually say “23,” but do say “22.” I figure that this departure from stylistic purity will help if ever I do By the Numbers 3.

Track listing for 111144-2:

1. The Fixx: Saved by Zero
2. Len Barry: 1-2-3
3. Prince: I Would Die 4 U
4. The Byrds: 5 D (Fifth Dimension)
5. Dave Dudley: Six Days on the Road
6. Rosanne Cash: Seven Year Ache
7. Herman’s Hermits: I’m Henry VIII, I Am
8. The Temptations: Cloud Nine
9. The Yardbirds: Happenings Ten Years Time Ago
10. Neil Sedaka: Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen
11. Alice Cooper: I’m Eighteen
12. Paul Hardcastle: 19
13. King Crimson: 21st Century Schizoid Man
14. The Brothers Johnson: Strawberry Letter 23
15. Edwin Starr: Twenty-Five Miles
16. Toni Basil: I’m 28
17. The Showmen: 39-21-40 Shape*
18. Little Carl Carlton: 46 Drums 1 Guitar
19. Paul Simon: 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
20. Sammy Hagar: I Can’t Drive 55
21. Candy and the Kisses: The 81
22. Nena: 99 Luftballons
23. Wilson Pickett: Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)

* Occasionally shown as “39-21-46.”

With one notable exception, these are songs with “give” or “gimme” in the title — and given how ferociously Chrissie Hynde demands “Give it to me,” I wasn’t about to leave off “Brass in Pocket.” And yes, Rick Astley is rolled into the mix. Artwork from a mid-20th-century ad for “NoMend” hosiery.

Track listing for 111143-2:

1. The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter
2. Supertramp: Give a Little Bit
3. Abba: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
4. Spencer Davis Group: Gimme Some Lovin’
5. George Benson: Give Me the Night
6. Crazy Elephant: Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’
7. Jessica James and the Outlaws: Give Her Up (Baby)
8. The All-American Rejects: Gives You Hell
9. Rick Astley: Never Gonna Give You Up
10. Spanky and Our Gang: Give a Damn
11. James Brown: I Don’t Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing
12. The Chairmen of the Board: Give Me Just a Little More Time
13. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush: Don’t Give Up
14. 1910 Fruitgum Co.: Indian Giver
15. Jerry Butler: Never Give You Up
16. Brenton Wood: Gimme Little Sign
17. Parliament: (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) Give Up the Funk
18. Pretenders: Brass in Pocket (I’m Special)
19. The J. Geils Band: Give It to Me

Actually, these selections are not entirely random, and some of them might not be crap; this compilation originated from an urge to come up with something with high WTF factor for automotive purposes — in the unlikely event I have a passenger, that’s the response desired — and the name and graphic originate with the fabled Woot grab-bag, which I’ve been fortunate enough to purchase three times now. The songs range from very recent to more than thirty years old, which enhances the WTFitude.

Track listing for 111142-2:

1. Bazuka featuring Tony Camillo: Dynomite
2. She & Him: I Was Made for You
3. Deftones: Hole in the Earth
4. Daft Punk: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
5. Joan Baez: Time Rag
6. The White Stripes: Icky Thump
7. Plain White T’s: 1, 2, 3, 4
8. Alison Krauss + Union Station: New Favorite
9. Weezer: Pork and Beans
10. Leo Kottke: Up Tempo
11. Death Cab for Cutie: I Will Possess Your Heart
12. Stone Temple Pilots: Sour Girl
13. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody
14. The Replacements: Waitress in the Sky
15. Gorod 312: Nevidimka
16. R. E. M.: Losing My Religion
17. The Explorer Club: Do You Love Me
18. Susan Fassbinder: Twilight Cafe
19. Modest Mouse: Float On
20. Jimmy Webb: If You See Me Getting Smaller I’m Leaving

Last year I sort of promised Michael Bates I’d have another Songs without Words, and “Rinky Dink” would be in it. Well, I do, and it is. (There’s also a discussion of pop/rock instrumentals at that link, and at this one.) And yes, it’s that David Seville.

Track listing for 111141-2:

1. The Tornadoes: Telstar
2. Spencer Ross and His Orchestra: Tracy’s Theme
3. The Rebels: Wild Weekend
4. A. B. Skhy: Camel Back
5. Johnny and the Hurricanes: Reveille Rock
6. Mongo Santamaria: Watermelon Man
7. Billy Strange and His Orchestra: Goldfinger
8. The Marketts: Surfer’s Stomp
9. Morris Stoloff and His Orchestra: Moonglow and Theme from Picnic
10. Los Indios Tabajaras: Maria Elena
11. The Incredible Bongo Band: Apache
12. Charles Randolph Grean Sounde: Quentin’s Theme
13. Dave “Baby” Cortez: Rinky Dink
14. The Brass Ring: Love Theme from Flight of the Phoenix
15. Sandy Nelson: Let There Be Drums
16. Les Paul: Whispering
17. Duane Eddy and the Rebels: Because They’re Young
18. Henry Mancini and His Orchestra: Baby Elephant Walk
19. David Seville: Armen’s Theme
20. The Astronauts: Baja
21. Ferrante and Teicher: Theme from The Apartment
22. Travis Wammack: Scratchy
23. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: Casino Royale
24. Chris Barber’s Jazz Band: Petite Fleur
25. The Fireballs: Torquay
26. Mantovani and His Orchestra: Games That Lovers Play
27. The Ventures: Nutty
28. The Beach Boys: Let’s Go Away for Awhile
29. The Champs: Tequila

Prodded by Both Sides Now, I put together twenty-six songs about fools, of which there have been an abundance during what Mr Kasem calls the Rock Era. The Mothers track is not the original from Freak Out!, but the doo-wop remake from Cruising with Ruben and the Jets. The original photo is “The Pigeon Crowd” by Andrew*, borrowed under Creative Commons.

Track listing for 111140-2:

1. Brenda Lee: Fool #1
2. Dino, Desi and Billy: I’m a Fool
3. The Rolling Stones: Fool to Cry
4. The Shirelles: Foolish Little Girl
5. Elvin Bishop: Fooled Around and Fell in Love
6. Ike and Tina Turner: A Fool in Love
7. The Main Ingredient: Everybody Plays the Fool
8. Freddie and the Dreamers: If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody
9. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers: Why Do Fools Fall in Love
10. Connie Francis: Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool
11. Joe Barry: I’m a Fool to Care
12. The Drifters: Fools Fall in Love
13. Led Zeppelin: Fool in the Rain
14. Aretha Franklin: Chain of Fools
15. The Beatles: The Fool on the Hill
16. The Tams: Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy
17. Lesley Gore: She’s a Fool
18. Bobby “Blue” Bland: I Pity the Fool
19. The Bobby Fuller Four: Love’s Made a Fool of You
20. Lulu: Oh Me Oh My (I’m a Fool For You Baby)
21. Sanford Clark: The Fool
22. Debbie Gibson: Foolish Beat
23. The Mothers of Invention: How Could I Be Such a Fool
24. The Demensions: My Foolish Heart
25. The Doobie Brothers: What a Fool Believes
26. Rick Nelson: Fools Rush In

Once again, we have a small collection of longer-than-average songs, illustrated with some longer-than-average legs. (Bless you, Hanes.) Nine tracks on this disc, minimum six minutes each: a couple of them exceed ten minutes.

Track listing for 111139-2:

1. The Chambers Brothers: Time Has Come Today
2. Steely Dan: Deacon Blues
3. Sugarloaf: Green-Eyed Lady
4. The Temptations: Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone
5. Arbogast and Ross: Chaos (Parts 1 and 2)
6. George Benson: This Masquerade
7. The Who: Underture from Tommy
8. The Moody Blues: Nights in White Satin
9. Jackson Browne: The Load-Out/Stay

The title, of course, sends up Talking Heads, yet I resisted the temptation to include “Burning Down the House,” which qualifies as a song about a building. On the other hand, “Mayonaise,” in its Corganized form, isn’t really about food at all. Evidently the process of constructing these things is starting to get to me.

Track listing for 111138-2:

1. The B-52’s: Love Shack
2. The Association: Broccoli
3. Average White Band: Cut the Cake
4. The Four Tops: 7 Rooms of Gloom
5. Smashing Pumpkins: Mayonaise
6. Madness: Our House
7. Dee Dee Sharp: Gravy
8. Wendy Rene: Bar B Q
9. Jim Lowe: Green Door
10. Tin Tin: Toast and Marmalade for Tea
11. The Clique: Sugar on Sunday
12. Cathy Carr: Ivory Tower
13. The Marathons: Peanut Butter
14. Susan Christie: I Love Onions
15. Frijid Pink: House of the Rising Sun
16. Trini Lopez: Lemon Tree
17. The Drifters: Three Thirty Three
18. The Newbeats: Bread and Butter
19. Freddie and the Dreamers: A Windmill in Old Amsterdam
20. The Warner Bros.: Oleo Margarine
21. The Clash: Rock the Casbah
22. Jan and Dean: Popsicle
23. Bow Wow Wow: I Want Candy
24. Parliament: (Tear the Roof Off the Sucker) We Want the Funk

Long-time sound (and video) guy Marc Wielage once observed that there were dozens of songs containing the words “hold on” or some variation thereof, so it was a relatively simple matter to assemble two dozen or so “hold” songs and then trim off enough to fit CD length. The young lady has been on hold for I don’t know how long.

Track listing for 111137-2:

1. The Miracles: You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me
2. 38 Special: Hold On Loosely
3. The Beatles: I Want to Hold Your Hand
4. Argent: Hold Your Head Up
5. Ambrosia: Holdin’ On to Yesterday
6. Mel Carter: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me
7. Carolyne Mas: Hold On
8. Ian Gomm: Hold On
9. Wilson Phillips: Hold On
10. Johnny Nash: Hold Me Tight
11. DeBarge: Who’s Holding Donna Now?
12. Eddie Money: Baby Hold On
13. The Grass Roots: Baby Hold On
14. Simply Red: Holding Back the Years
15. Fleetwood Mac: Hold Me
16. Toto: Hold the Line
17. Joe Tex: Hold What You’ve Got
18. Thompson Twins: Hold Me Now
19. Electric Light Orchestra: Hold On Tight
20. Sam and Dave: Hold On I’m Comin’
21. Richard Marx: Hold On to the Years

This was originally a tape series, and a very long one: sixteen C-90s, which is twenty-four hours of music, all from the period December ‘63 to May ‘69, with no repeats. The last tape, Volume 16, was completed in 2000. CD conversion started shortly thereafter and has proceeded at a spectacularly slow pace: Volume 15 was a year ago. And the fact that CDs contain 80 minutes, maybe, while I used to cram 91, even 92 minutes onto a cassette, has never really been dealt with — five tracks from the tape don’t appear here — hasn’t bothered me as much as I thought it would.

The next volume, though, won’t be a version of a tape: it will be constructed from scratch. Not that I’m worried about having enough material. I just hope it won’t take me another year to do.

Track listing for 111136-2:

1. Del Shannon: Stranger in Town
2. The Beach Boys: Don’t Worry Baby
3. Dionne Warwick: Reach Out for Me
4. The Yardbirds: Shapes of Things
5. Elvis Presley: U. S. Male
6. The Seekers: I’ll Never Find Another You
7. Stevie Wonder: A Place in the Sun
8. Gary Lewis and the Playboys: She’s Just My Style
9. The Animals: Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
10. The Arbors: The Letter
11. Jackie Wilson: Whispers (Gettin’ Louder)
12. The Beatles: Love Me Do
13. Petula Clark: Don’t Give Up
14. Percy Sledge: Take Time to Know Her
15. The Easybeats: Friday on My Mind
16. Dusty Springfield: Stay Awhile
17. Edwin Starr: Agent Double-O-Soul
18. The Newbeats: Run, Baby, Run (Back into My Arms)
19. Brenda and the Tabulations: Dry Your Eyes
20. The Hollies: On a Carousel
21. Jay and the Techniques: Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie
22. The 5th Dimension: Stoned Soul Picnic
23. The Bee Gees: Words
24. Creedence Clearwater Revival: I Put a Spell on You
25. The Turtles: It Ain’t Me Babe
26. Bob Dylan: Subterranean Homesick Blues
27. The Temptations: Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
28. The Lovin’ Spoonful: Darling Be Home Soon

Neil Diamond’s recording career, like Gaul, was divided into three parts: the Big Bang (on Bang Records, natch), the West Coast Incubation (on Decca/MCA’s less-unhip Uni label), and the OMGWTF Period (on Columbia, mostly). The man had dozens of hits, and a fair compilation wouldn’t attempt to squeeze him down to a single CD, but I never said I was being fair. And give Diamond credit: even some of the latter-day stuff has held up pretty well, and the ones that didn’t, well, they didn’t make it onto this disc. The cover photo, which is not called “Thank the Lord for the Knight Time,” derives from an old jewelry-store ad.

Track listing for 111135-2 (all tracks by Neil Diamond):

1. Solitary Man
2. Cherry, Cherry
3. I Got the Feelin’ (No No No)
4. You Got to Me
5. Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon
6. Thank the Lord for the Night Time
7. Kentucky Woman
8. Two-Bit Manchild
9. Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show
10. Sweet Caroline
11. Holly Holy
12. Cracklin’ Rosie
13. I Am … I Said
14. Done Too Soon
15. Stones
16. Song Sung Blue
17. Play Me
18. Longfellow Serenade
19. If You Know What I Mean
20. Forever in Blue Jeans
21. September Morn
22. Love on the Rocks
23. Hello Again
24. Yesterday’s Songs