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

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.

Track 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

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.

Track 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

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.

Track 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

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.

Track 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

Rather a lot of songs begin with this admonition, and the young lady with the weapon (she was actually selling hosiery, but who’s to know?) might be in a mood to enforce it. My first search for “Don’t” songs produced a list of nearly eight hundred; restricting it to those actually beginning with “Don’t” cut it back by three-fourths, and these were the ones that made the final, um, cut.

Track listing for 111130-2:

1. Electric Light Orchestra: Don’t Let Me Down
2. Elvis Presley: Don’t Be Cruel
3. Patty Duke: Don’t Just Stand There
4. Joe South: Don’t It Make You Want to Go Home
5. Herman’s Hermits: Don’t Go Out into the Rain
6. Beverly Bremers: Don’t Say You Don’t Remember
7. The Orlons: Don’t Hang Up
8. The Beach Boys: Don’t Worry Baby
9. The Beatles: Don’t Let Me Down
10. The Marvelettes: Don’t Mess with Bill
11. Paul Revere and the Raiders: Don’t Take It So Hard
12. Bettye Swann: Don’t Touch Me
13. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Don’t Do Me Like That
14. The Animals: Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
15. Petula Clark: Don’t Give Up
16. Crowded House: Don’t Dream It’s Over
17. Gerry and the Pacemakers: Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying
18. Peppermint Rainbow: Don’t Wake Me Up in the Morning, Michael
19. Elton John: Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me
20. Della Reese: Don’t You Know
21. The Human League: Don’t You Want Me
22. The Searchers: Don’t Throw Your Love Away
23. The Buckinghams: Don’t You Care
24. Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over
25. Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds: Don’t Pull Your Love
26. The Band: Don’t Do It

Because I can, again yet another collection of songs that are seldom heard in stereo, with yet another variation on the same cover art. This includes rather a lot of DES — “Digitally Extracted Stereo” — which is essentially fakery, but often really good fakery. One such (no points for guessing which one) actually made it to a commercial release.

Track listing for 111129-2:

1. The Surfaris: Wipe Out
2. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich: Save Me
3. The Crystals: He’s Sure the Boy I Love
4. The Beach Boys: Help Me, Rhonda
5. The Essex: A Walkin’ Miracle
6. Procol Harum: A Whiter Shade of Pale
7. Bill Justis: Raunchy
8. The Zombies: She’s Not There
9. The Dave Clark Five: Because
10. Diane Renay: Kiss Me, Sailor
11. The Marvelows: I Do
12. Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames: Yeh, Yeh
13. Jerry Butler and Betty Everett: Let It Be Me
14. Leapy Lee: Little Arrows
15. The Dixie Cups: Iko Iko
16. Jimmy Reed: Big Boss Man
17. Spencer Davis Group: I’m a Man
18. Terry Stafford: Suspicion
19. Senators Bobby and McKinley: Mellow Yellow
20. Neil Diamond: You Got to Me
21. Sam Cooke: Wonderful World
22. Manfred Mann: Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)
23. Jorgen Ingmann: Apache
24. The Ronettes: Do I Love You
25. Herman’s Hermits: A Must to Avoid
26. Ritchie Valens: Donna
27. The Nashville Teens: Tobacco Road
28. Thurston Harris: Little Bitty Pretty One
29. The Champs: Tequila

This is a sequel of sorts to Choice of Colors, from many months back. Originally this was going to be simply a Blues collection, to be titled after the Bobby Vinton cut included herein, but I decided that this was sheer overkill. Speaking of sheer, the young lady in the picture is wearing hosiery by Alba; tinting by yours truly with as much mechanical assistance as possible.

Track listing for 111128-2:

1. David Bowie: Golden Years
2. Bobby Vinton: Blue on Blue
3. The Nightcrawlers: The Little Black Egg
4. The Browns: Scarlet Ribbons
5. The Rolling Stones: Paint It, Black
6. Jim Lowe: Green Door
7. Van Morrison: Brown-Eyed Girl
8. It’s a Beautiful Day: White Bird
9. Gary Lewis and the Playboys: Green Grass
10. Petula Clark: The Other Man’s Grass Is Always Greener
11. The Hollies: Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress
12. UB40: Red Red Wine
13. Madonna: True Blue
14. Clear Light: Black Roses
15. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs: Li’l Red Riding Hood
16. Neil Diamond: Forever in Blue Jeans
17. Nick Drake: Pink Moon
18. The Marcels: Blue Moon
19. Brian Hyland: Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini
20. Cat Stevens: Bitterblue
21. The Doobie Brothers: Black Water
22. Yellow Balloon: Yellow Balloon
23. Sheb Wooley: The Purple People Eater
24. Ram Jam: Black Betty
25. The Lemon Pipers: Green Tambourine