Mixtured.

Hey folks, just wanted to let you know that I got to participate in the latest Mixtured Mix Tape. For those of you who don't know about it, read this: About Mixtured.

This month's theme was "Songs that would have cleared the dance floor of your senior prom." Though I only knew one other contributor on the compilation, it ended up being a very good batch of songs with some of my all-time favorite artists represented. You can stream the mix here and read all the comments by the participants: Mix #2: Songs That Would’ve Cleared the Dance Floor at Your Senior Prom.

Looking forward, I've got a compilation ready for next week (hint: it's got something to do with the festivities in Las Vegas this weekend!), but then I'll be off till I post the third installment of Candy Apples & Razorblades-- at least as far as posting compilations is concerned. I'm still anxiously awaiting comments and questions and recommendations regarding my Post-Punk series-- as my post from earlier today was met by a resounding chorus of crickets!

Rebellious Jukebox Jewel Case Artwork.

Hey Folks,

Todd Remley, one of my readers who I'd never 'met' until now, was kind enough to put together some artwork for all five volumes of Rebellious Jukebox. I asked him if I could share it here at Burn and Shine with the rest of you, and he was fine with that. Here's a sample of the first volume:





Download the artwork for all five volumes here: Rebellious Jukebox Jewel Case Artwork

Also, now that you've had a chance to see (and maybe listen?) to the whole series, I'd love to hear your thoughts. What great Post-Punk bands did I miss? (In particular, I'd love get some recommendations regarding Post-Punk bands from countries other than the U.K. and U.S.) What great Post-Punk track featured here had you never heard? Maximum Jack, why the hell did you include ___________, they are complete shite?! Feel free to list your favorite top ten (or however many) Post-Punk artists or albums or both. Did you ever see any of these bands live? Share your experiences here, please. Speaking of live Post-Punk. I'll leave you with these four lads from Leeds:

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 5: Noise

The fifth and final installment in my Post-Punk series. A caveat: I'm not a huge fan of bands that are anti-music, so this should probably be subtitled, "Noise, for People Who Don't Like Noise". Some of these tracks are downright danceable, for crying out loud. Just check out the Throbbing Gristle track, "Hot on the Heels of Love", featured here.

I make these comps primarily for my enjoyment, and then the idea is to share them here. So I love every track here, and have probably listened to this compilation more times than any of the others-- even if I don't sit around all day listening to the more difficult albums by some of the artists featured here. I've never understood the concept of listening to noise, and, let's face it, some of these artists have put out albums that make Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music seem like soft rock.

It's true: I don't understand noise, but I do realize how innovative these artists were (many, still are!). Their bold attempts to go where no band had gone before really pushed the envelope, at a time when Rock & Roll seemed to be regressing.

So if you are a little skeptical of the idea of a "Noise" compilation, please, go into this with an open mind. On the other hand, if you are already a fan of the genre, be forewarned that this compilation will probably seem tame.

Happy Listening!

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 5: Noise

01. Theoretical Girls (Jeffrey Lohn), “Theoretical Girls” [ca. 1978]
02. Savage Republic, “Machinery” [1982]
03. Big Black, “Bad Houses” [1986]
04. Chrome, “March of the Chrome Police (A Cold Clammy Bombing)” [1978]
05. The Birthday Party, “Zoo Music Girl” [1981]
06. Caberet Voltaire, “Landslide” [1981]
07. The Ex, “Human Car” [1980]
08. DNA, “You & You” [1978]
09. Public Image Ltd. “Flowers of Romance” [1981]
10. Killing Joke, “The Wait” [1980]
11. Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, “Nacht Arbeit” [1980]
12. Naked Raygun, “Swingo2” [1983]
13. Notekillers, “The Zipper” [1980]
14. The Mekons, “Karen” [1980]
15. Pere Ubu, “The Modern Dance” [1978]
16. Sonic Youth, “I Don’t Want to Push It” [1982]
17. The Pop Group, “We Are Prostitutes” [1979]
18. Throbbing Gristle, “Hot on the Heels of Love” [1979]
19. X [Australia], “Suck Suck” [1979]
20. SPK, “Mekano” [1979]
21. Swans, “Big Strong Boss” [1983]
22. This Heat, “S.P.Q.R.” [1981]
23. Virgin Prunes, “Pagan Lovesong” [1982]
24. Crass, “White Punks on Hope”[1979]
25. Flipper, “Love Canal” [1980]
26. Theoretical Girls (Glenn Branca), “You Got Me” [1978]

Total Time: 1:19:04

Download it here: Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 5: Noise

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 4: Pop

It will come as no surprise to those of you who have been reading Burn and Shine for any time at all, that the “Pop” volume of my Post-Punk series would most likely be my favorite. Guilty as charged-- I can’t help it, it’s in my DNA. I could listen to songs like the Soft Boys’ “Queen of Eyes” or Hüsker Dü’s “Pink Turns to Blue” a million times and never grow weary of them. While both of those tracks have been near and dear to me for quite some time, this volume actually has the greatest percentage of songs which are relatively new to me.

As I previously mentioned here at B&S, discovering Black Randy & the Metrosquad a few weeks ago was the instigator for this Post-Punk series. I also mentioned in that very same post, that I recently picked up The Lines’ early singles compilation. I cherry picked their very first A-side for this compilation, the almost Power Pop, “White Night”.

The Cigarettes are another fairly new to me band. I have to thank Laura @ Needles + Pins for turning me onto them about a year ago. Thanks LCP!

Scotland’s tv21 is another new to me band. They only released one album during their heyday, Thin Red Line from 1981. I don’t remember who recommended it to me, but it stayed in my car player for about a week solid. BTW, I don't think it was ever released on CD, so you will have to find this using your favorite music search engine (I like Captain Crawl). RIYL: Echo and the Bunnymen or the Teardrop Explodes.

The rest of this compilation is filled with artists that I discovered while I was working at the Disc Exchange in Knoxville (1999-2006). In particular: Felt, Orange Juice, the Embarrassment, the Homosexuals, Wah! and the Swell Maps. Ah, the record store. Those were the days!

Happy Listening!

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 4: Pop

01. Devo, “Uncontrollable Urge" [1978]
02. The Lines, “White Night” [1978]
03. The Soft Boys, “The Queen of Eyes” [1980]
04. Boys Next Door, “The Night Watchmen” [1979]
05. The Fall, “Rebellious Jukebox” [1979]
06. Buzzcocks, “Breakdown” [1977]
07. Hüsker Dü, “Pink Turns to Blue” [1984]
08. Alternative TV, “The Ancient Rebels” [1981]
09. The Associates, “A Matter of Gender” [1981]
10. The Cigarettes, “Can’t Sleep at Night” [1980]
11. Dream Syndicate, “That’s What You Always Say" [1982, EP Version]
12. The Embarrassment, “Sexy Singer Girl" [1981]
13. Felt, “Something Sends Me To Sleep” [1981]
14. The Homosexuals, “Walk Before Imitate” [1978]
15. Magazine, “Touch and Go” [1978]
16. The Monochrome Set, “The Lighter Side of Dating” [1980]
17. Orange Juice, “Falling and Laughing” [1980]
18. Swell Maps, “H.S. Art” [1979]
19. Wipers, “Up Front” [1980]
20. The Teardrop Explodes, “Second Head” [1980]
21. Telvison Personalities, “The Glittering Prizes” [1981]
22. tv21, “Waiting for the Drop” [1981]
23. Wah! “Other Boys” [1981]
24. XTC, “Things Fall to Bits” [ca. 1978]
25. 100 Flowers, “Our Fallout” [1983]
26. Black Randy & the Metrosquad, “I Slept in an Arcade” [1980]
27. Stiff Little Fingers, “Bloody Sunday” [1980]

Total Time: 1:19:37

Download it here: Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 4: Pop

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 3: Swing

“Disco Sucks” might have been a mantra for some of the original punks (or really, their brainless followers), but that is most certainly not the case with most of the Post-Punks. As evidenced on the first two installments of Rebellious Jukebox, dancing was very much a part of the Post-Punk zeitgeist. This third volume, Swing, continues to show that in addition to the Velvets and Roxy, these artists were also paying attention to Chic and Donna Summer.

Volume Three begins and ends with the vocals of Alan Vega, who shows us yet another unlikely influence on a Post-Punk artist: his crooning has often been compared to Elvis Presley, and “Fireball” might be the prime example. His band, Suicide (a duo actually, with keyboardist Martin Rev), was part of the original CBGB's scene (along with Talking Heads and Come On-- also featured here) and could easily be included on a Proto-Punk compilation.

The European continent makes a fairly sizeable contribution on this volume of Rebellious Jukebox as bands from Germany (Kraftwerk), France (Metal Urbain) and Belgium (The Honeymoon Killers) all make an appearance. I realize this series is very Anglo-American, but I intend to remedy this on a future installment (next September, maybe?).

Another Athens, GA band makes the cut here, bringing that quaint Southern city’s total up to four (the other three bands were all on the first volume: Pylon, B-52’s and Oh-Ok). This time it’s the vastly under-rated Method Actors, who have recently been given the reissue treatment from Acute Records.

Another band that are just now starting to get their due thanks to a recent reissue is San Francisco's the Units. If you aren’t from the Bay Area and didn’t live through the golden era of Post-Punk, you’d be forgiven if you thought “High Pressure Days” was a long lost Devo track. Probably my favorite track on this compilation, and the one newest to me, as I had never heard it before Community Library put out History of the Units: The Early Years 1977-1983 last year.

Enough out of me, Happy Listening!

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 3: Swing

01. Alan Vega, “Fireball” [1981]
02. Gang of Four, “I Found That Essence Rare” [1979, Peel Session]
03. Depeche Mode, “Photographic” [1981, Some Bizzare Version]
04. Kraftwerk, “The Model” [1978]
05. Minutemen, “Life as a Rehearsal” [1982]
06. Fire Engines, “Discord” [1981, Peel Session]
07. Talking Heads, “I Zimbra” [1979]
08. Come On, “A Kitchen in the Clouds” [1978]
09. Tuxedomoon, “Incubus (Blue Suit)” [1981]
10. The Sound, “The Fire” [1981]
11. The Better Beatles, “I’m Down” [1981]
12. The Honeymoon Killers, “Histoire À Suivre” [1982]
13. The Method Actors, “My Time” [1981]
14. Soft Cell, “Bedsitter” [1981]
15. Colin Newman, “& Jury” [1980]
16. Manicured Noise, “Metronome” [1979]
17. Suburbs, “Tiny People” [1980]
18. Units, “High Pressure Days” [1980]
19. Caberet Voltaire, “Landslide” [1981]
20. Echo & the Bunnymen, “Read it in Books” [1979, Original Single Version]
21. Metal Urbain, “Hysterie Connective” [1978]
22. The Wake, “Favour” [1982]
23. James Chance, “Contort Yourself” [1978, Original Version]
24. Scritti Politti, “Double Beat” [1978]
25. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, “Electricity” [1980]
26. Suicide, “Diamonds, Fur coat, Champagne” [1979]

Total Time: 1:19:08

Download it here: Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 3: Swing

PLEASE NOTE: When I zipped this puppy up and loaded up at Megaupload, I was in a bit of a rush, apparenttly, and the title for this comp comes up as "Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 3: Gloom". Of course, this is volume 3, but it should say "Swing". Instead of rezipping, I thought I'd just let you know and you can fix it once you've downloaded it. Apologies and Thanks Eric for noticing and letting me know!

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 2: Gloom

I think I mentioned this in last year's Halloween post, but as most of you know the Post-Punks were a gloomy bunch. Some of the very first Post-Punk bands I gravitated toward had a Gothic bent: The Cure, Siouxsie, Depeche Mode, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Sonic Youth (even R.E.M. and the Smiths neither of which will be represented on the first five volumes of Rebellious Jukebox). Not exactly sure why that is: I'm not a "black on the outside because black is how I feel on the inside" kind of guy. Looking back, I think it was sort of a natural progression from my heavy metal phase. What some of these bands were doing, isn't too far removed from those early Black Sabbath records that I love (just check out A Certain Ratio's "All Night Party" to see what I mean).

Interesting too, that this compilation features many of the artists before they were stars here in the U.S. One notable exception is Gary Numan, who's song, "Metal" was on the very same album as his #1 smash hit, "Cars". Simple Minds, the Human League, the Cure, New Order and Adam Ant (doing his best Brian Eno impression) are all here before they became household names a little later in the 80's. I even kick the compilation off with Warsaw, which was essentially Joy Division, before they became Joy Division. Most the others here never reached much more than cult status fame, although in Bauhaus's case that cult was rather large. Probably the most obscure band on this comp is Your Food out of Louisville. A band I recently learned about and just had to get them on here. There is one track on here that sticks out like a happy thumb when you listen to it. I won't give it away, but I figured I needed to break up all the gloom. I didn't want to be held responsible for someone slashing their wrist listening to this playlist.

Gloomy listening!

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 2: Gloom

01. Warsaw, “Leaders of Men” [ca. 1978]
02. The Comsat Angels, “Independence Day” [1980]
03. Fad Gadget, “Collapsing New People” [1984]
04. The Feelies, “The Boy With Perpetual Nervousness” [1980, Demo Version]
05. Crime, “San Francisco’s Doomed” [1978]
06. Bauhaus, “Silent Hedges” [1982]
07. The Jesus & Mary Chain, “Taste of Cindy” [1985]
08. A Certain Ratio, “All Night Party” [1979, Original Single Version]
09. The Cure, “Plastic Passion” [1979]
10. New Order, “Dreams Never End” [1981]
11. Gary Numan, “Metal” [1979]
12. Desperate Bicycles, “Obstructive” [1980]
13. Bunnydrums, “Shiver” [1983]
14. Clock DVA, “4 Hours [1981, Original Single Version]
15. Human League, “The Path of Least Resistance” [1979]
16. Mission of Burma, “Trem Two” [1982]
17. Wire, “Marooned” [1978]
18. Your Food, “Leave” [1984]
19. The Durutti Column, “Sketch for Summer” [1979]
20. Simple Minds, “Reel to Real” [1979]
21. Ultravox, “While I’m Alive” [1977]
22. Laughing Clowns, “ Clown Town” [1981]
23. Adam & the Ants, “Cleopatra” [1979]
24. Josef K, “Romance” [1979]
25. The Undertones, “Boys Will Be Boys” [1980]
26. Joy Division, “She’s Lost Control” [1979]


Total Time: 1:19:37

Download it here: Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 2: Gloom

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 1: Women

"Young people have a biological right to be excited about the times they're living through. If you are very lucky, that hormonal urgency is matched by the insurgency of the era, and your built-in adolescent need for amazement and belief coincides with a period of objective abundance. The prime years of postpunk-- the half decade from 1978-82-- were like that: a fortune." Simon Reynolds, from Rip it Up and Start Again.

Okay here we go, today I'm posting the first volume in my Post-Punk Series, Rebellious Jukebox. As I mentioned in my last post, there are five Wednesdays in September and I'll drop one compilation on each of those. Here's what's in store: 5 Discs, 132 Songs, 6.5 Hours worth of Post-Punk madness. These five discs are separated into five mini-themed comps: Women, Gloom, Swing, Pop, and Noise.

When I first decided to tackle Post-Punk, I thought I would do three maybe four compilations at 20 tracks each. Needless to say, that expanded pretty quickly and I just didn't have the heart to make many cuts. There are 130 (129 if you're picky) artists represented. I'll explain the ones I doubled up as we get to them. The earliest track I used is from 1977, and the latest track is from 1986. Most of them, however, fall within the five-year period generally considered to be the golden age of Post-Punk, 1978-1982.

I said I didn't make many cuts and, of course, that's not entirely true. Instead of just randomly leaving out an artist I loved, I decided to skip certain sub-genres of Post-Punk, which I felt could be tackled at some later date. In particular, you'll find no American Hardcore, Ska Revival, Mod Revival or Kiwi Pop in this series and very few artists from Australia. The New Romantics are here only in their earliest form, as are the Synth Poppers. All of this is subjective. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on my picks and omissions. I've already started compiling stuff for future volumes, so any recommendations you have will be taken very seriously! I don't claim to have heard everything, and I'm always looking for new stuff to listen to.

Today's compilation features the Women of Post-Punk. In a way, it is the perfect introduction disc to the series and to Post-Punk in general, as nearly every sub-genre is represented within it's 27 tracks. Of the songs I selected, I'm pretty sure I only heard two of them back in the day. In the late 70's and early 80's I was more interested in AOR, and didn't really know much about Post-Punk. I did have a friend who was way ahead of his time. In 1979 (we were in sixth grade), he made me a tape with the Sex Pistols' Nevermind the Bollocks on one side and the B-52's self-titled debut on the other.

I wish I could say that that tape immediately changed my listening habits. Alas, it would be a few years before I discovered how great that gift was. Let's put it in perspective. In sixth grade I was still very much in my Kiss phase-- Destroyer was my favorite album of all time. My older siblings (sister: 10 years older, brother: 8 years older) both listened to a lot of music, but my sister was buying 12" Disco singles and my brother was an avid Classic Rock fan at the time. Radio in Chattanooga wasn't that great (it still kinda sucks), and we didn't get MTV in our area until '81 or so. That tape sounded like it came from some other planet, but I did listen to it all the way through, so technically the first song I heard on this compilation was "52 Girls", though I can't claim it made much of an impression at the time. The other track, of course, would be "Mental Hopscotch" which I heard via MTV in 1982. It is the most New Wave-y track on any of the comps, but I still think it's a great song and Missing Persons' Spring Session M is miles better than anything else the Bozzio's ever produced and a nice little document of how Post-Punk influenced the mainstream.

Enough babbling, I'll let the ladies take it from here.

Happy Listening!

Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 1: Women

01. The Slits, “Instant Hit” [1979]
02. Au Pairs, “We’re So Cool” [1981]
03. Suburban Lawns, “Unable” [1981]
04. Essential Logic, “ Fanfare in the Garden” [1981]
05. Lizzy Mercier Descloux, “Wawa” [1979]
06. Pylon, “Stop It” [1980]
07. Bush Tetras, “You Taste Like the Tropics” [1980]
08. Delta 5, “Anticipation” [1980]
09. Siouxsie & the Banshees, “Mirage” [1978]
10. Family Fodder, “Savoir Faire”[1980]
11. LiLiPuT/Kleenex, “Ain’t You” [1978]
12. Young Marble Giants, “Final Day” [1979]
13. Romeo Void, “Myself to Myself” [1981]
14. X, “Nausea” [1980]
15. Snatch, “All I Want” [1978]
16. Altered Images, “Dead Pop Stars” [1981]
17. B-52’s, “52 Girls” [1979]
18. ESG, “Moody” [1981]
19. Missing Persons, “Mental Hopscotch” [1982]
20. Animals & Men, “Terraplane Fixation [1980]
21. The Raincoats, “Fairytale in the Supermarket [1979]
22. Tom Tom Club, “On, On, On, On . . .” [1981]
23. Oh-Ok, “Brother” [1982]
24. The Flying Lizards, “TV” [1980]
25. Inflatable Boy Clams, “Marin” [1981]
26. Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, “Orphans” [1978]
27. Marine Girls, “In Love” [1981]

Total Time 1:15:47

Download it here: Rebellious Jukebox Vol. 1: Women