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[dazmann]

I was reading Brother Jacks blog the other day, and there was a posting about Jeff & Dave each compiling a (C90?) mixtape of their favourite-songs-of-all-time on a recent tour. Apparently this was something suggested by Peter Stampfel.

I'd post a link to the orignal thread but I forgot to bookmark it...

The question is..what was the tracklisting for both the mixtapes?

[jefflewis]

I don't think Jack ever completed the assignment, but drummer Dave did. Maybe he can post his mix track list. Since we were traveling with laptops (and not tape decks) the format limitation was an 80-minute CD, not a 90-minute tape. If I had an extra 10 minutes (on a 90 minute tape) there's certainly more material i would have included. My original list of all-time favorites ended up being 5 hours long, so it was very challenging to whittle it down to the following 80 minutes!! I had to make some agonizing cuts!! Of course this was all controversial, and Jack and Dave thought many of my choices were horrible, but what can I say? These songs mean a lot to me, they might not mean much to other people... everybody will have a very different list! It was interesting to discover that much of my list leans towards songs with a certain connected philosophy. Dave's list was more "world music" with much material in languages none of us speak, so the lyrical content was less important to him.

Jeffrey's All-Time Favorites, for various reasons, on one 80-minute CD:

(not in any particular order)

1) The Carnival Is Dead and Gone - Current 93
2) Box of Rain - The Grateful Dead
3) Affection - Jonathan Richman
4) Systematic Death - Crass
5) Etiquette - Daniel Johnston
6) Your Heart Out - The Fall
7) Creature with the Atom Brain - Roky Erickson
Summer Day Reflection Song - Donovan
9) Mind Playin' Tricks - The Geto Boys
10) Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
11) Jerusalem - Simon Finn
12) The Seventh Seal - Scott Walker
13) Evil Hoodoo - The Seeds
14) The Fang - Nervous Norvus
15) Madman - Heron
16) Nothing - The Fugs
17) Escape (I Need a Break) - Whodini
1 The Stallion, Pt. 3 - Ween

Oh, there's so much more I wanted to put on this list! Really this is a 3-volume project. But the challenge is to really whittle it down, it has to fit onto one CD (or tape)!!!

[dazmann]

Thanks.

Controversial? I'd say! Rolling Stones and no Beatles! Ouch.

Glad to see The Fall make an appearance..I'll have to remind myself on that track.
My choice would have been The Classical. Top tune.

The 80-min limit does restrict entire music genre's too. I'd like to include some Krautrock/Cosmiche synth music (Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream etc.), but
including a 25+ min track would derail the project.

Nice to see Current 93 making an appearance too.

[jefflewis]

Exactly, the time limit caused some choices to be dropped! Long songs are at a disadvantage!
Otherwise I would definitely have included some Krautrock ("Hallogallo" by Neu! is the most essential track to me), and some Fela Kuti (like Hallogallo, "He Miss Road" was a song that WAS on my list but had to be chopped for the final squeeze...), and of course "Marquee Moon" too!!

[misshelenc]

One day I will have to use the list as a reference and go on youtube and listen to a load of them.
I used to be the queen of the mix tape when I was about 16, but I haven't made anything like that for, wow, well over 5 years. Since whenever it was that I realised that my taste in music can not only be pretty horrendous but also that it's all old stuff. And no one cares. x
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Never trust a heart so bent it won’t break.

[jefflewis]

Oh yeah, also my choices for my mix CD were somewhat limited by what songs I actually had on my laptop in digital format... I probably would have found a place for Pink Floyd's "Jugband Blues" or some other stuff if I had it in my iTunes library.
That's one reason why mix TAPES are really a better format! With a mix tape you can take songs from LPs, songs from tapes, songs from CDs, but with a mix CD you can only include stuff that you already have in digital form. Plus you can't control the space between songs the way you can with a mix tape. I guess you could, if you got fancier with editing in some program. But with tapes it was a natural part of the process...

MHC, you probably made totally cool mix tapes! Who cares if the songs are old?!? It's usually more about finding out that these songs mean something to the person who made the mix, than personally thinking that every song on a mix fits one's own opinion of what a great song is. When i get a mix it's less like "oh I love every song" and more like "this is interesting, this shows me what songs that person loves," or "this is interesting, this shows me what songs that person THINKS I would love!" And of course every mix can have some unexpected new discoveries that become favorites that you never find anyplace else!!

[misshelenc]

I always thought the tape was the superior format, in that, I could do all my own artwork, put quotes and stuff on it, glue pretty things on, and, like, making a cd is a bit too easy for me, I like the idea it took hours to make a tape, they always seemed more special like that. Making life harder for myself is one of my main talents.
Thank you for being so kind though. I doubt any of them exist any more but they were made with love and individually for those people so I like that I was so generous with my time and record collection.
xxx
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Never trust a heart so bent it won’t break.

[AFB]

I'm getting well into my playlists/compilations at the moment - I threw myself into the future with Spotify. It's really quite good. I love doing them based on themes

If anyone's interested, here's my Scandi-pop playlist:

http://open.spotify.com/user/junkfunk/playlist/1OgPtaCwaZmBiuWZW0LdMH

And a funk and soul playlist:

http://open.spotify.com/user/junkfunk/playlist/4uJuAtJ92FlMdJX25UgKiv

Such fun. I won't share my Bee Gees playlist, however.

[jefflewis]

I've never heard the phrase "Scandi-pop"!

[misshelenc]

^ me neither!

Thanks for posting them hun I will have a look through, I will try and move myself into some new music and maybe stop listening to the same 5 bands or whatever over and over....xxx
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Never trust a heart so bent it won’t break.

[AFB]

Ha, I may have made up the phrase... but I can't think of any other way to describe a band like Friska Viljor!

[dazmann]

Some thoughts on your choices -

1) Current 93 - The Carnival Is Dead And Gone

This interesting curio reminds me of something else...but I can't quite place it....good though.

7) Creature with the Atom Brain - Roky Erickson

Never heard this one before. I've heard of him - but not his music. I like the vocal-delivery - very country-and-western but the music is straight rock. Probably my favourite tune on the list and I'll be checking out more.

This is also the only tune on the list where I can detect some similarity with JL's own songs.

9) Mind Playin' Tricks - The Geto Boys

Nice rap tune.

11) Jerusalem - Simon Finn

Wow! Who is this guy? Sound like he's getting crucified whilst singing. Quite a feat!

15) Madman - Heron

Lovely breezy song...the main riff sound very much like Wings "Love Is Strange" from around the same time

1 The Stallion, Pt. 3 - Ween

Great tune. Gonna check out more from this album.

Jeff - got any thoughts for a Volume 2...

[jefflewis]

Yeah, i've totally got volume 2, 3, 4, and 5! Because my initial pile of favorite songs was about 5 CDs long! The hardest part is whittling it down to just one CD worth...

Speaking of Ween, I am opening up for Gene Ween tomorrow in Brooklyn! I am really excited. He's doing his solo project under his own name, Aaron Freeman, it's all covers of Rod McKuen songs... it's actually quite good stuff... I'm sure he'll play some Ween songs too. He's playing as an acoustic trio apparently. They don't want me to play as a full band so I'll just be solo or duo.

I should post Peter Stampfel's All-Time Favorites CD, that's a really great compilation.

[dankent]

While at one of the Jeff & Pete gigs in England I asked Jeff for his top ten favourite albums. After stumbling across this thread, I figured you guys might like to listen to these too. The list went as follows. Silver apples: Contact, The Fugs: Virgin Fugs, Donovan: Fairy Tale, The fall: Dragnet, Pebbles volume 3: The acid gallery, Daniel Johnston: Don't be scared, Jonathan Richman: I jonathan, Peter Stampfel + Micheal Hurley: Have Moicy!, The grateful dead: American Beauty, Woody Guthrie: Dust bow ballads. Also I'd like to see Pete's all time favourite cd tracklist if you still have access to that
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My Blog: http://www.dankentcontent.tumblr.com

[jefflewis]

Here's the full track list from the "Peter Stampfel's All-Time Favorites" CD!!

Shombolar Sheriff & The Revels

It Won't Be Wrong The Byrds

Down In Mexico The Nutmegs

Holiday For Strings Dave Rose Orchestra

Surfin' Bird The Trashmen

Banjorino Dixieland Jug Blowers

Beck's Bolero Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page


Hitchin' A Ride Vanity Fare


Mom And Dad's Waltz Lefty Frizzell


Let's Do The Boston Monkey Les Cooper & The Soul Rockers


Tim-Tayshun Red Ingle & Cinderella G. Stump (Jo Stafford)


Dogs The Who


The Wind Nolan Strong & The Diablos

Expecting To Fly Buffalo Springfield

Yellow River Christie


My Love Will Never Die Otis Rush

He Will Set Your Fields On Fire Reno & Smiley


Don't You Just Know It Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns