New and Unreleased

Fools Rush In

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.

Cover art, Wendex 111140-2Track 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

New and Unreleased

Comments (0)

Permalink

Superlong 3

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.

Cover art, Wendex 111139-2Track 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

New and Unreleased

Comments (0)

Permalink

Fewer Songs about Buildings and Food

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.

Cover art, Wendex 111138-2Track 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

New and Unreleased

Comments (0)

Permalink

You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me

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.

Cover art, Wendex 111137-2Track 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

New and Unreleased

Comments (0)

Permalink

Mid-60s Mania Volume 16

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.

Cover art, Wendex 111136-2Track 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

Mania
New and Unreleased

Comments (0)

Permalink

Diamond (A Girl’s Best Friend)

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.

Cover art, Wendex 111135-2Track 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

New and Unreleased

Comments (0)

Permalink

Major Babes 3

This is the third Major Babes collection. Like its predecessors, it comprises a list of songs with girls’ names in the title. This time around, things were a little more flexible, in that it wasn’t required that the name be evoked in the lyrics, giving me an excuse to throw in an instrumental for once. The Scott English track, incidentally, was remade with a different (but not that different) title. A car show somewhere along the Pacific Rim was the background for the cover photo.

Cover art, Wendex 111134-2Track listing for 111134-2:

  1. Rod Stewart: Maggie May
  2. Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart: Alice Long (You’re Still My Favorite Girlfriend)
  3. Scott English: Brandy
  4. Kenny Rogers and the First Edition: Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town
  5. Jimi Hendrix Experience: The Wind Cries Mary
  6. Ritchie Valens: Donna
  7. Tommy Roe: Hooray for Hazel
  8. The Dovells: Betty in Bermudas
  9. Blood, Sweat & Tears: Lisa, Listen to Me
  10. Jimmy Soul: Twistin’ Matilda
  11. Boomer Castleman: Judy Mae
  12. Curtis Lee: Beverly Jean
  13. Glen Campbell: Brenda
  14. Neil Diamond: Cherry, Cherry
  15. The Contours: Shake Sherrie
  16. The Hollies: Dear Eloise
  17. Jan and Dean: Linda
  18. The 4 Seasons: Dawn (Go Away)
  19. Bobby Goldsboro: Honey
  20. The Charts: Deserie
  21. The Strangeloves: Cara-Lin
  22. Larry Hall: Sandy
  23. The Association: Pandora’s Golden Heebie Jeebies
  24. The Crickets: Deborah
  25. Chubby Checker: Lazy Elsie Molly
  26. Los Indios Tabajaras: Maria Elena

New and Unreleased

Comments (0)

Permalink

Surrounded by Temptations

This is, of course, a collection of Temptations tracks, and mostly a fairly-obvious one, though stuff like “My Baby” (and its pretty-decent B-side, “Don’t Look Back”) had to be snipped to fit on the disc, and I was quite insistent on including the always-overlooked “I Want a Love I Can See,” which dates to 1963 and features a Paul Williams (!) lead vocal. (David Ruffin had yet to come on board.) The young lady with the 360-degree perspective was working for Van Raalte.

Cover art, Wendex 111133-2Track listing for 111133-2 (all tracks by the Temptations:

  1. I Want a Love I Can See
  2. The Way You Do the Things You Do
  3. Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)
  4. My Girl
  5. It’s Growing
  6. Since I Lost My Baby
  7. Get Ready
  8. Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
  9. Beauty Is Only Skin Deep
  10. (I Know) I’m Losing You
  11. All I Need
  12. You’re My Everything
  13. (Loneliness Made Me Realize) It’s You That I Need
  14. I Wish It Would Rain
  15. I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)
  16. Please Return Your Love to Me
  17. Cloud Nine
  18. Run Away Child, Running Wild
  19. Don’t Let the Joneses Get You Down
  20. I Can’t Get Next to You
  21. Psychedelic Shack
  22. Ball of Confusion
  23. Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)
  24. Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone

New and Unreleased

Comments (1)

Permalink

The Bad Stuff

Assignment: A lot of songs with “Bad” in the title. Difficulty: No Michael Jackson or Jim Croce tracks. Success: Reasonable. This is, of course, the Dark Side of last month’s The Good Stuff, and it might even have been more fun to assemble. The cover is swiped from a legendary French hosiery ad by the late René Gruau.

Cover art, Wendex 111132-2Track listing for 111132-2:

  1. Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas: Bad to Me
  2. Grand Funk: Bad Time
  3. Little Anthony and the Imperials: Hurt So Bad
  4. Steely Dan: Bad Sneakers
  5. The Jelly Beans: I Wanna Love Him So Bad
  6. Doug and the Slugs: Too Bad
  7. Bruce Springsteen: Badlands
  8. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bad Moon Rising
  9. The Cookies: Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad (About My Baby)
  10. Elvis Presley: I Feel So Bad
  11. Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes: Bad Luck (Part I)
  12. Melanie: Bitter Bad
  13. The Jive Bombers: Bad Boy
  14. Miami Sound Machine: Bad Boy
  15. The Beatles: Bad Boy
  16. Donna Summer: Bad Girls
  17. The Miracles: Bad Girl
  18. Led Zeppelin: Good Times Bad Times
  19. Kim Carnes: It Hurts So Bad
  20. Jimmy Dean: Big Bad John
  21. Robert Palmer: Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)
  22. Chris Clark: Love’s Gone Bad
  23. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs: Oh That’s Bad, No That’s Good
  24. Meat Loaf: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

New and Unreleased

Comments (1)

Permalink

The Good Stuff

Assignment: A lot of songs with “Good” in the title. Difficulty: No “Goodbye” or “Goodnight” tracks. Success: Reasonable. Besides, where else are you going to hear Tammy Wynette and the Knack on the same disc? Oh, and if you don’t recognize the cover, don’t blame Desenex.

Cover art, Wendex 111131-2Track listing for 111131-2:

  1. James Brown: I Got You (I Feel Good)
  2. 10cc: Good Morning Judge
  3. Herman’s Hermits: I’m Into Something Good
  4. Barbara Lynn: You’ll Lose a Good Thing
  5. Billy Joel: Only the Good Die Young
  6. Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys: Good Old Rock ‘N’ Roll
  7. Rufus: Tell Me Something Good
  8. Frank Sinatra: It Was a Very Good Year
  9. The Beach Boys: Good Timin’
  10. Linda Ronstadt: You’re No Good
  11. The Knack: Good Girls Don’t
  12. Stevie Wonder: Nothing’s Too Good for My Baby
  13. Eric Burdon and the Animals: Good Times
  14. Chic: Good Times
  15. Bunny Sigler: Let the Good Times Roll/Feel So Good
  16. The Cars: Good Times Roll
  17. Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure: Don’t Mess Up a Good Thing
  18. Sam Cooke: Good News
  19. The Rascals: Good Lovin’
  20. Crazy Elephant: Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’
  21. Bobby Vee: Take Good Care of My Baby
  22. Little Richard: Good Golly Miss Molly
  23. The Beatles: Good Day Sunshine
  24. Tammy Wynette: Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad
  25. Paul Revere and the Raiders: Good Thing
  26. Elvis Presley: Good Luck Charm
  27. Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Goode

New and Unreleased

Comments (1)

Permalink