Monday, March 15, 2010

1989 (mix CD of every year of my life series):
1. Monkey Gone to Heaven (The Pixies)
2. Mexican Seafood (Nirvana) (official audio)
3. The Mayor of Simpleton (XTC) (what makes this song great)
4. Roam (B-52's)
5. Diamonds <ダイアモンド> (Princess Princess) Japan
6. Lie Still, Little Bottle (They Might Be Giants) (unofficial upload) (official audio)
7. John the Fisherman (Primus) (unofficial upload) (official audio)
8. Higher Ground (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (unofficial upload) (official audio)
9. Shake Your Rump (The Beastie Boys)
10. Asadoyayunta (Ryuichi Sakamoto) Japan (unofficial upload)
11. Be Kind to My Mistakes (Kate Bush)
12. Love's Recovery (Indigo Girls) (official audio)
13. I Want It All (Queen)
14. Janie's Got a Gun (Aerosmith)
15. Crossfire (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble)
16. Rooms On Fire (Stevie Nicks)
17. My Finest Hour (The Sundays) (audio only)
18. Mania (Throwing Muses) (unofficial upload)
19. Kimi no Koto Bakari (Gyoza Daioh) Japan
20. Negative Creep (Nirvana)
21. The Blue Bus Blues (Bakufu Slump) Japan (unofficial upload)

I think I'm gonna go on record and state 1989 is among my less 'successful' mixes. I'll attribute it to the times (including possibly the adjacent mixes). These were my college years which were expanding my horizons, but since a lot of these songs I didn't get into at the time, I think changes and crossroads in the music scene, or various music scenes, are also reflected. The collection is just a smorgasbord of conflicting tastes and disjunct segues. It doesn't necessarily work, but as a reflection of the times it's probably perfect. NB: less successful ≠ I don't like it.

1988:
1. What I Am (Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)
2. Peek-A-Boo (Siouxsie & the Banshees)
3. Turn the Page (live) (Rush) (unofficial upload) (official audio)
4. みん なのうた Minna no Uta (Southern All-Stars) Japan (official audio)
5. Bonin' in the Boneyard (Fishbone)
6. Angel of Harlem (U2)
7. Junkie (Steve Vai) (official audio)
8. Strange Weather (live) (Tom Waits) (unofficial upload)
9. Brenda, Brenda ("Bagdad Cafe")
10. On Children (Sweet Honey in the Rock) (audio only)
11. M (Princess Princess) Japan
12. Juno (Throwing Muses) (unofficial upload)
13. Jane Says (Jane's Addiction) (unofficial upload)
14. Where is My Mind? (The Pixies) (unofficial upload) (official audio)
15. 僕 の右手 Boku no Migite (The Blue Hearts) Japan (unofficial upload)
16. Handle With Care (The Traveling Wilburys)
17. Teenage Riot (Sonic Youth)
18. Don't Believe the Hype (Public Enemy)

When I was in college at Oberlin, I was playing the Edie Brickell & New Bohemians CD in my dorm room with my door open and a woman knocked on the door and then just stared at me looking puzzled, obviously listening to the music. Turns out she was from Dallas and knew the band from the local scene and hadn't known they'd made their major label debut. She let me copy a cassette she had of a demo that they sold at shows which had a lot of the songs on the CD. 

The Steve Vai song is an anachronism that I'm allowing under the circumstances. Times were changing in the mid-80s and Steve Vai's career was also in flux as he finished his stint with Frank Zappa and released his debut album in 1984 on cassette on a tiny label, but it went no where. CDs very quickly and suddenly burst in popularity as the consumer choice for audio recordings. In 1988, Vai's debut album was re-released on a different label and on CD and who knows when or if I'd come across the album if that hadn't happened. The CD had a 1988 copyright and that's why I always thought it was released that year.

And it was totally weird how the CD got to me. I was hanging out with Amina in her room (same dorm as mentioned above (Third World House), but I think at least a year later) and I dug the plain CD, no packaging, out of a crack in the wall panel where someone had jammed it. She had no idea who it was or how it got there. I recognized Steve Vai's name but knew next to nothing about him and she said I could have it. I ended up quite liking the CD (much of it being quite strange) and at one point played "Junkie" for Amina and she was like, "this is so painful!", laughing uncomfortably because it was such over-the-top, heart-on-sleeve heroin withdrawal despair. I'm chewing on glass but I don't even bleed. 

1987:
1. Moon (Rebecca) Japan (unofficial upload)
2. I've Got My Mind Set On You (George Harrison)
3. Never Let Me Down Again (Depeche Mode)
4. Shogunade (Ryuichi Sakamoto) Japan (unofficial upload)
5. Miuzi Weighs a Ton (Public Enemy) (official audio)
6. Time Stand Still (Rush)
7. Who Needs Information? (Roger Waters) (official audio)
8. Tux On (Marillion) (official audio)
9. Drink Before the War (Sinead O'Connor) (official audio)
10. Telephone Call from Istanbul (Tom Waits) (unofficial upload)
11. Tom's Diner (Suzanne Vega) (unofficial upload)
12. The Funky Avocado (live) (Michael Hedges) (unofficial fancam upload)
13. In God's Country (U2)
14. The Painted Desert (10,000 Maniacs) (audio only)
15. 世界でいちばん熱い夏 Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu ('92 mix) (Princess Princess) Japan (unofficial upload) (official video)
16. Here On Earth (Love and Rockets)
17. Beds Are Burning (Midnight Oil)
18. It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (R.E.M.)
19. 終わらない歌 Owaranai Uta (The Blue Hearts) Japan (unofficial upload)

1986:
1. Kiss (Prince)
2. Walk Like an Egyptian (The Bangles)
3. Willie the Wimp (live) (Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble) (unofficial upload)
4. Wild Wild Life (Talking Heads)
5. Who Made Who (AC/DC)
6. V Thirteen (Big Audio Dynamite)
7. A Kind of Magic (Queen)
8. You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon)
9. Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
10. 大 きな玉ねぎの下で Under the Big Onion (Budokan) (Bakufu Slump) Japan (unofficial upload)
11. Fall On Me (R.E.M.)
12. Blue Chair (Elvis Costello & the Attractions) (official audio)
13. She's An Angel (They Might Be Giants) (official audio)
14. There is a Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths) (official audio)
15. Left of Center (Suzanne Vega)
16. Don't Get Me Wrong (The Pretenders)
17. Green (Throwing Muses) (audio only)
18. Another Day (live) (Sting) (official audio)
19. Dear God (XTC)
20. The Brazilian (Genesis) (unofficial upload) (computer re-creation of the lightshow, pretty much how it looked)

1982-1985
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