I will not be talking about appliances today -- thankfully, we seem to be holding steady after several days of death and destruction. Instead, here, at last is my long promised review and attempt at track identification for the Magical Mystery Disk Smed so kindly sent me a week or so ago. Unfortunately my original review was lost in the Great Appliance Suicide of 2007. It was more detailed. And funnier. You�ll have to live with this one instead. freshhell and I are doing a near simulpost on this CD, so click on over to her place and see what she has to say -- she�ll be posting later this evening. Then click back to Smed tomorrow to see what we really heard.

1. I love the way this track starts with a ramping up of electronic forces. It�s a great way to start a mix CD. I don�t know the artist or the song, although I�d guess its title is "For God�s Sake, Give More Power to the People." The sound to my ear is late �60s Motown moving into funk. Given the subject matter, which seems more 1970s Black Power/Civil Rights era, I�d place this just this side of 1970. 1971 or 2 perhaps?

2. This was the only track I couldn�t stand. It�s a total rip-off of the Jackson 5�s "ABC" called (I think) "Candy Girl." Rip-off elements include a little kid fronting a chorus of older kids (although this kid�s voice is way more annoying than young Michael Jackson�s), the basic theme/chord structure and even the "nyah-nyah" secondary melodic element, which here appears in the instrumentals toward the end, rather than in the vocals as in "ABC." The instrumentals here, though, are pure 1980s, of the I-just-got-one-of-those-newfangled-digital-keyboards-and-now-I-can-pretend-to-be-a-real-musician variety. Drum machines? Check! I don�t recall having heard this before, but I may have just tuned it out. If I had to wager a guess for the band, I�d say it�s probably one of those producer assembled boy bands from the �80s like New Edition. I skip this track in the car. I don�t want AJ listening to it: he might like it.

3. Easy: Bill Withers, "Ain�t No Sunshine." Bill Withers does not get enough attention. He�s an incredible vocalist and this is easily one of my favorite songs. And amazingly, its use in the Hugh Grant vehicle "Notting Hill" did not ruin it for me. Interestingly, it is probably the track that turns up on more of the mix CDs I make than any other. Its subject matter and musical materials are surprisingly supple and work well with a variety of genres on a mix.

4. Falco: "Amadeus." Anyone around in the 1980s has got to remember this one. It was ubiquitous. But not this version. This is the original German recording. I knew it existed, but I don�t remember hearing it before. It�s quite different, more talky and less clubby than the English language version. Plus it took me back to the era when I wore a swath of black rubber bracelets up my arm and wore leggings under my bubble skirts. Why yes, I did like Madonna in "Desperately Seeking Susan," why do you ask?

5. Bay City Rollers: "Rock, and Roll Love Letter." I probably wouldn�t have identified this one if Smed hadn�t recently sent me to the link to the video of this song on youtube. The link is lost my old computer (the dinosaur I�m typing on at the moment can�t access youtube), so you�ll have to track it down on Smed�s page, sometime last week, I think. Maybe he�ll post it with his answers tomorrow. It�s worth it for the white points. Alas, they don�t really rock and roll until their jeans explode. Probably just as well.

6. Is that a Moog? I�m not sure. This is a more recent track than any of the above, I think. I don�t know it, but I really like it. Called, perhaps, "I�m all set now." It sounds like a couple of Brits. The division of vocal labor -- an altoish female voice, followed by a bass in a gravelly register, reminds me of Belle & Sebastian, although this is much peppier. AJ loves this song. He can�t understand the words, but he walks around humming it, not quite sure what it is.

7. This song opens with drums then guitar then a talky female voice beginning, "Let�s get together and talk about the modern age." Sounds pretty current. There�s an interesting processor effect on the vocals but not the instrumentals, which makes it sound like guitar and drums are performing with the radio in a Dodge Dart. Excellent use of pedal guitar in a non-country style. I really like this a lot. The voice sounds kind of familiar, but it�s nobody on my playlist. I�m guessing that I might at least have heard of this person.

8. This is an oddly segmented track. It opens with something that is meant to sound like the ip-ip-ip of a reel-to-reel recorder rewinding. Then comes a guitar/glockenspiel ostinato with a female voice made to sound like a small female chorus with a vintage process not unlike the one in the last track. Simplistic and nostalgic. The chord changes in the interstitial instrumentals between verses sound incredibly familiar, but I haven�t been able to identify what it�s reminding me of. Maybe an early Genesis track? I�m guessing the title is "Boys and Children Sing for Summer." After a couple of verses it breaks down into a meterless guitar riff, which is the conduit for the voice to emerge from the vintage process sound. This has the effect of the peeling back of a veil over the sound, or perhaps of Dorothy opening the door to her black and white Kansas house and suddenly finding herself in technicolor Oz. The meter changes to triple (it was standard duple at the beginning). This section sounds like an all-girl XTC. Another guitar riff, and we�re back to a harder rocking version of the opening duple section (same words). This ends with some "la-la-las" that sound like Sam Phillips� background vocal riffs on the soundtrack of "The Gilmore Girls." Glockenspiel solo returns it to triple and a random conversation between "Kate and Chris," which seems like the performers are just having a chat in the middle of the recording. Then we get some harder rocking guitars -- another instrumental interlude-- a long one this time -- and another return to duple meter. This takes you to the end of the track. Interesting, but ultimately more lightweight than it could be. They�ve got the chops, why not use them?

9. The opening sax/guitar riff reminds me of Laurie Anderson�s Big Science from the 1980s (especially "Example 22"), although I�d guess this is much more recent. I�m not sure of the title. It opens "My life is in a rut." Best line? "I only have one body. It just can�t do the splits." This is a little manic. The voice reminds me a little of Chrissie Hynde (but I�m sure it�s not). Great organ solo in the middle. The band is really interesting. The sax and organ make it sound a little like a manic cabaret band.

10. Lindsey Buckingham: "Trouble." I remember this one. Early 1980s. I think this was Buckingham�s first solo break from Fleetwood Mac. But Smed can tell you that, I�m sure. I always liked the mandolin solo (or is it a guitar imitating a mandolin?) in this one.

11. I don�t know what this is, but it manages to mention both sheep and Pittsburgh, so it�s got my attention. I mean, that�s not easy to do. "Your Daddy runs sheep." It�s a waltz in the style of Carol King. Prominent comping from the barroom piano. It sounds 1970s, but who knows. It might just be trying to imitate that style. Something about it seem disingenuous to me.

12. I remember this one too, although I have no idea who sings it: "I�m gonna tear your playhouse down." This one reminds me of a party I went to in college in the suite of some friends at another college nearby where some of the furniture mysteriously disappeared through a second story window and ended up on the lawn.

13. "Rock and Roll Evacuation," but I don�t know who sings it. This was new to me. It�s hilarious in a Spinal Tap sort of way. Plus it rocks -- it�s hard to sit still with this one on. Best line? "Mr. President, I don�t like you. You don�t know how to rock." Given that this "rock" is rhymed with "Iraq," this one has to be pretty recent. A good song when you�re in a militantly anti-republican kind of mood.

14. "Hello Dad, I�m in jail." This is creepy psycho track. Imagine Steve Martin playing a psycho sketch for SNL, filtered through a radio and accompanied by atonal instrumentals. I have no idea what/when/who/why for this track.

15. This is the wildest track of the bunch. First of all, it�s about 14 minutes long, which in itself caught my attention. This track is a little symphony. It�s brilliant and complex and references about fifty different musical genres, including (but not limited to), West African thumb piano music, Japanese koto, bagpipe music, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Schoenberg, Aaron Copland, power rock, and old timey fiddle. It opens with a beautiful, ethereal likembe (thumb piano)-like solo, although it may be played on marimbas. There are also wind chimes or glass bottles going here that add to the atmosphere -- this is the most diverse group of percussion instruments I�ve ever heard outside a 20th century classical piece. A high violin ostinato enters in a different meter, brushed cymbals crescendo and begin to eclipse the melody. It dissolves into the cymbal sound, and a new section enters, with unison violins and a power rock-like guitar buzzing like an enormous insect. Percussion here? It sounds like drum kit with assorted trash. Then the guitar comes in in traditional power rock formation but �the meter�s in 7/4. The meter keeps changing throughout this piece. There�s a return to the unison violins with guitar, but this time the violins� timber is extended by a chorus of unmetered, uncontrolled bicycle horns. It�s funny, and it�s also really interesting because of the way it hooks up with the anxious sound of the strings. Back to the 7/4 section. Guitar solo -- a little atonal and hello, we�ve got a funk bass. But it�s still pretty atonal. Lots of woodblock in the percussion. Changeable meter. This section accelerates and becomes noisier for a couple of minutes and then dissolves into a Schoenbergian violin solo against musique concrete (birds tweeting) and an instrumental shimmer that I can�t identify. Then a cappella violin that reminds me alternately of Ralph Vaughan Williams� solos like "The Lark Ascending" and the Copland violin concerto. Is that hammered dulcimer? The violinist is good, but not a professional classical musician in sound. The tone is not steady, nor is the pitch. I could go on, but since you can�t actually listen to it, I�ll stop there. I don�t know who this is, but I�d have to guess Frank Zappa, if only because he�s the only musician working in rock who I�ve known to use weird meters like this. But I might also believe it�s from some concept album from the 1970s that I�ve forgotten about.

16. Nice organ and drum opening. The voice is Peter Gabriel and given the style, I�d have to say Genesis, probably early. I don�t know the song or the album, though. I�m a huge fan of Genesis from this era. Bring it on!

17. Opens with a great bluesy guitar. And everyone loves a talking guitar. "I Ain�t Superstitious." I know I�ve heard this one before. Why do I get the feeling I�ve heard it in a beer advertisement? It sounds like a metal band singing the blues. I should probably know who this is, but I don�t.

That�s the list. Check out Smed�s place tomorrow for the answers. I know I will be.

6 people said it like they meant it