April Fool.

I know I promised a companion compilation to last week's Cheap Trick playlist, and it is ready to go. I will probably put it up in the next week or so. Meanwhile, I found a 20 track disc in my car that I had put together last year around this time titled "April Fool". I had totally forgotten about it. I popped it in, and really enjoyed it, though there was a track on it, which I had just used in the Power Pop Explosion series (The Yachts' "A Fool Like You"). So I went back to the drawing board and fleshed it out a bit. While it's not strictly a Power Pop compilation, there are quite a few Power Pop acts on here. Not surprisingly, given the theme, there is also a good bit of classic R&B. A dose of garage, a pinch of punk, a little indie-rock, and a sprinkle of Lee Hazlewood, and there you have it. Oh, and a mystery track! Burn and Shine, what will you think of next?

Happy April Fool's day everybody!


April Fool

01. Superchunk, "Like a Fool"
02. The Bobby Fuller Four, "Fool of Love"
03. Sam Cooke, "Fool's Paradise"
04. Oxford Circle, "Foolish Woman"
05. Ike & Tina Turner, "A Fool in Love"
06. Let's Active, "Mr. Fool"
07. Elvis Costello, "You Little Fool"
08. The Last, "Fool Like You"
09. Blur, "Fool"
10. DM3, "Foolish"
11. MG & the Escorts, "A Somebody Fool"
12. The Searchers, "She Made a Fool Out of You"
13. Pat Ferguson, "Fool I Am"
14. Lee Hazlewood, "Whe a Fool Loves a Fool"
15. M. Ward, "Fool Says"
16. Eagles of Death Metal, "Now I'm a Fool"
17. Ronnie Lane, "April Fool"
18. All, "Fool"
19. Nick Lowe, "Man of a Fool"
20. Teenage Fanclub, "Everybody's Fool"
21. The Names, "Baby You're a Fool"
22. Larry Saunders, "All My Friends Call Me a Fool"
23. The Black Hollies, "(Baby) I'm Your Fool"
24. Sex Clark Five, "Fool I Was"
25. Bad Religion, "1000 More Fools"
26. Mystery Track

Total Time: 1:13:05

Download it here: April Fool

Do You Want To Hear the Best Song Ever?

How to explain?

Okay, so I think I’ve mentioned before that I frequent a Guided by Voices message board. I know, I know, message boards are sooo 1990s, but this particular board is quite a beehive of activity. You can go on there and “talk” about pretty much anything. Most of the discussion does not necessarily revolve around Robert Pollard, but everyone there does have a love for most-things-Bob in common. The other commonality seems to be a love for Rock & Roll in general. In fact, music is probably the most active topic—you can find a thread on just about any band you can think of. Heated arguments occasionally ensue, because aside from Pollard projects, you can’t get much of a consensus on any other artist. The boarders are very passionate about their taste in music and extremely knowledgeable when it comes to Rock History. I can’t tell you how many great recommendations I’ve gotten from that board over the last few years.

There is one thread in particular, titled “The Best Song Ever . . . Right Now At Least”, which I have long thought would make a good source for a Burn and Shine compilation. As you can probably surmise from the title of the thread, it is a place where members name a particular song that is currently kicking their ass. Sometimes these can be obvious, like “Unsatisfied” or “A Day in the Life”, but usually people venture into the thread to divulge the virtues of songs a little more off the beaten path.

I decided to go through the last few pages (the thread started in March of 2005 and is currently up to page 316) picking songs that were on my hard drive that had not yet made one of my compilations here at B&S. It has my signature all over it—you’ll see some of my favorite artists—but I can’t take credit for the choices. In order to give credit to the people who inspired the compilation, I’ve put their screen names in parentheses next to the song they nominated.

I’ll let the compilation speak for itself, but I will say that I think it turned out pretty fabulous, and I will continue to mine that thread for future Burn and Shine compilations.

Happy listening!


Do You Want To Hear the Best Song Ever?

01. Mission of Burma, "Progress" [1985] (Pimple Zoos)
02. The Monkees, "What Am I Doing Hangin' Round?" [1967] (Chapter 18)
03. Bobby Fuller, "Let Her Dance" [1965] (Steve Cock)
04. Brian Eno, "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More" [1974] (Man of Dimension)
05. Dinosaur Jr, "Does It Float" [1985] (Man of Dimension)
06. Archers of Loaf, "Death in the Park" [1995] (Ultra Maroon Blazer)
07. Martha & the Muffins, "Echo Beach" [1979] (The Third Man)
08. The Clash, "Jail Guitar Doors" [1977] (Dannyramone)
09. The Stranglers, "Golden Brown" [1981] (LARM)
10. Devo, "Beautiful World" [1981] (Dirty Dutch)
11. Low, "Starfire"[1999] (Lookit55)
12. Throwing Muses, "Not Too Soon" [1991] (MoreHotDogsPlease!)
13. The Wedding Present, "Dare" [1991] (Pimple Zoos)
14. Screaming Trees, "Seeing and Believing" [1986] (MoreHotDogsPlease!)
15. Undertones, "My Perfect Cousin" [1979] (LARM)
16. Wire, "Map Ref. 41n 93w" [1979] (Jscott)
17. The Byrds, "Wasn't Born to Follow" [1968] (Berno)
20. 20/20, "Backyard Guys" [1979] (Berno)
19. Roxy Music, "Editions of You" [1973] (Breadwinner & Klutz)
20. Nick Drake, "From the Morning" [1972] (Riff Randall)
21. X, "White Girl" [1981] (Dirty Dutch)
22. Tall Dwarfs, "Crawl" [1990] (Spastic Semicolon)
23. Sex Pistols, "Bodies" [1977] (Dirty Dutch)
24. Them, "Richard Cory" [1966](LARM)
25. The Church, "Tear It All Away" [1982] (RedLetterDay)

Total Time: 1:19:25

Download it here: Do You Want to Hear the Best Song Ever?

Countdown!

Someone sent me the link to the above video about two years ago. It's about ten minutes long but well worth the time. I always thought it was a pretty great concept and that it would make a good theme for a compilation. So here's my musical version of the countdown:

01. The Triffids, "25 to 5" (1:06) Originally found on the album In the Pines (1986).

02. The Vibrators, "24 Hour People" (1:53) Originally found on the album V2 (1978).

03. Elf Power, "23rd Dream" (2:08) Originally found on the album Back to the Web (2006).

04. John Guilt, "22 Revolutions" (3:59) Originally found on the EP By Any Other Name (2003).

05. The Lucksmiths, "21" (5:09) Originally found on the EP Boondoggle (1994).

06. The Misfits, "20 Eyes" (1:47) Originally found on the album Walk Among Us (1982).

07. Jonathan Richman, "Nineteen in Naples" (3:00) Originally found on the album I'm So Confused (1998).

08. Alice Cooper, "I'm Eighteen" (3:01) Originally found on the album Love it to Death (1971).

09. The Cure, "Seventeen Seconds" (4:00) Originally found on the album Seventeen Seconds (1980).

10. Whiskeytown, "16 Days" (3:55) Originally found on the album Strangers Almanac (1997).

11. You Am I, "Fifteen" (3:06) Originally found on the album #4 Record (1998).

12. Guided by Voices, "14 Cheerleader Coldfront" (1:31) Originally found on the album Propeller (1992).

13. Big Star, "Thirteen" (2:52) Originally found on the album #1 Record (1972).

14. Dirty Looks, "12 O'Clock High" (3:58) Originally found on the album Dirty Looks (1980).

15. Nine Below Zero, "11 Plus 11" (2:33) Originally found on the album Third Degree (1982).

16. Waxwings, "Ten O'Clock Your Time" (3:21) Originally found on the album Low to the Ground (2000).

17. The Moldy Peaches, "Lucky Number Nine" (2:08) Originally found on the album The Moldy Peaches (2001).

18. The Byrds, "Eight Miles High" (3:38) Originally found on the album Fifth Dimension (1966).

19. Echo & the Bunnymen, "Seven Seas" (3:21) Originally found on the album Ocean Rain (1984).

20. The Pretty Things, "Midnight to Six Man" (2:21) Originally found on the album Get the Picture? (1965).

21. The Mountain Goats, "Cubs in Five" (2:05) Originally found on the album Nine Black Poppies (1995).

22. Lloyd Cole & the Commotions, "Four Flights Up" (2:38) Originally found on the album Rattlesnakes (1984).

23. Wire, "Three Girl Rhumba" (1:24) Originally found on the album Pink Flag (1977).

24. The Clean, "Billy Two" (2:23) Originally found on the EP Boodle Boodle Boodle (1981).

25. Ultra Vivid Scene w/ Kim Deal, "Special One" (3:16) Originally found on the album Joy: 1967-1990 (1990).

26. The Plimsouls, "Zero Hour" (2:35) Originally found on the EP Zero Hour (1980).

Total Time 1:12:52

Download it here: Countdown!