In light of smed's entry today on the method in his mad music mix-making skillz, I thought I'd report on my side of the story, namely my review of disc 1 of my own personal Smed mix. You can read about how Smed put it together here.

In case you haven't read Smed's entry, here's the whole list:

I've Changed My Address - The Jam
1880 Or So - Television
My Wicked, Wicked Ways - Blue Mountain
Let Him Dangle - Elvis Costello
Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johnny Cash
Back to Me - Kathleen Edwards
My Old Faded Rose - Johnny Cash
Misguided Angel - Cowboy Junkies
The Madonna Trilogy - The Meat Purveyors
Jesus Was Way Cool - King Missile
I've Got A Fang - They Might Be Giants
Sleeping With Your Devil Mask - Robyn Hitchcock
Doctor Dark - Captain Beefheart
Mind - Talking Heads
(I Spy For The) FBI - The Untouchables
I Am the Resurrection - The Stone Roses
Mysterons - Portishead
C'est La Vie - Robbie Nevil
In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle - They Might Be Giants

Although Smed titled the disk "Miscellany at its Best," it has, in fact, a pretty clear over-riding theme of religion/sin & redemption. This is evident from just reading through the titles. One of the beautiful things about mix-making is that such themes often arise surreptitiously -- Smed had been unaware of it until I pointed it out to him.

This disk has, for me, everything a good mix should have: synergy, variety, flow, humor, and excellent musical chops. There was a good mix of familiar and unfamiliar. Five new-to-me bands were Television, Blue Mountain, King Missile, The Untouchables and Portishead, although I'd heard of several of them. I only owned one of the tracks already -- "In the Middle, in the middle" by They Might Be Giants. And strictly speaking, that CD belongs to AJ. It's from TMBG's kids' album No!, a favorite in our house (although one could argue that this CD is no more kid-oriented than any of their other disks -- AJ is also fond of TMBG's versions of "Istanbul" and "The sun is a mass of incandescent gas").

The rest of the tracks were by bands/singers I know and love but singing songs I was either less familiar with or haven't heard in a while. Interestingly, most of these songs were on LPs owned by a former roommate of mine, so the end result was that I feel like Smed is an old friend, even though we've never met.

Also, no mix with two tracks by the Man in Black can be a waste of my time. AJ is particularly fond of the swooping vocalizations on "My Old Faded Rose"

There isn't a dud on this mix, but rather than confront the whole thing, I'm going to focus on a few of my favorite tracks. First up is the Madonna trilogy by The Meat Purveyors, which I've mentioned in a couple of previous entries because it is really fantastic. What makes it work especially well is the way it calls attention to American song lyric tropes. I didn't recognize that it wasn't an actual bluegrass song until the chorus "Like a Virgin" came in, because the words ("I made it through the wilderness," etc.) seemed so appropriate for the bluegrass idiom. The shift into triple meter also helped disguise the original tune. The other two tunes are "Lucky Star," performed first in duple, as the original, at a manic tempo with a rocking mandolin solo, followed by a slightly disjunct and even faster "I'm burnin' up for your love." The mournful tone makes for great contrast, yet made me want to jump up and dance and, quite counter my usual sedate personality, shout "Yee-haw!" I am seriously incapable of holding still during this part of the track. This is followed by a reprise of "Lucky Star" sung at first in the same manner of its first appearance and followed by shift to major led by a mandolin solo and ending with an infectious waltz version with pitch-perfect bluegrass-style vocal harmonies.

This track is followed by another new-to-me-song, and one that is funny in a totally different way, "Jesus was Way Cool" by King Missile. I heard this first in my car and I actually had to pull off the road because I was laughing so hard. Imagine Sean Penn's character from Fast Times at Ridgemont High evangelizing and you'd just about have it -- "He turned water into wine. And if he wanted to, he could have turned weed into marijuana, or sugar into cocaine, or vitamin pills into amphetamines." The lyrics are spoken rather than sung over what sounds like a high school student plunking out chords on the school piano in an empty auditorium, which makes you feel like you're listening in on auditions for the school musical. Definitely a theater piece.

Captain Beefheart's "Doctor Dark" is not funny at all (okay, maybe just a little bit). This is serious music. Smed had asked me, before he made the disk, if I had heard any Captain Beefheart. I'm sure that I have, but I couldn't remember what it was exactly, so he told me to expect some (there's another track on the disk I haven't gotten to yet). "Doctor Dark" is brilliant from a musical perspective. Stylistically, I'd probably describe it as something between metal and free jazz with a little bebop thrown in. You don't hear too many rock songs that mess around with meter like "Doctor Dark" does -- the intro starts in seven (Seven!) before moving into a more traditional 4 or 8 (depending on how you want to count) beat organization when the voice comes in, which settles in just long enough to get into your ear and then changes again. That latter trait, buoyed by ostinato-like figures in the guitar, is what makes it so effective because you get just enough time to figure out where you are before you find that you're some place else. You're constantly forced to reimagine where you've been based on where you've arrived. And there are shifts between shifts -- within the extended intro in seven the organization of the seven shifts between 3+4 and 4+3. This song would actually be great to use in an introductory lecture on meter, because the effect of the change of beat hierarchies is so clear. Also, you can definitely hear the Zappa connection on here -- never a bad thing in my book. I'll be listening to this a lot. What surprised me is that AJ really, really likes this song. He doesn't usually get too effusive about his musical tastes, but he definitely has a flair for the dramatic and he can have enough of vocal music of any genre, frequently asking for music with "no words." He made me play this song several times in a row, something that I was happy to do and something he hasn't asked for since he was obsessed with a Dan Zanes tune, "Que Fortunidad" three years ago. I attempted to get AJ's review: "What do you like about it?" "I just like it. It's nice and dancey."

Actually, despite its great rhythmic drive, I can't think of too many songs that would be more difficult to dance to. Fortunately, Smed has provided some tunes that are dancey even for the adult contingent in the Harriet household. The funky (stylistically speaking) "(I Spy for the) FBI," to which AJ has replaced the lyrics with "I Spy with my little eye," is one. This is followed by space-like "Mysteryons" by Portishead, which makes AJ giggle like you wouldn't believe. If he were playing this CD in his little blue foot-powered car, this is the song that would make him have to pull over.

"C'est La Vie" made me snort mainly for its association with the perpetual soundtrack at my high school job at a crappy clothing store. Plus I have a soft spot for pop songs that make use of tired French clich�s.

"In the middle" is probably our family's favorite song off TMBG's No! disk, a jingle for a hypothetical PSA on traffic safety. AJ was happy to hear it here, but he thought that meant the CD was for him. "Nope. It's mine all mine." Maybe I'll share. But only if he doesn't complain when I'm wailing "Yooouu mahay bahee mah Luhkee stahr!"

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