Friday, June 10, 2005

The Summer Chillin' Mix

Okay, the latest round of mix CDs is underway. Here's my contribution -- a CD of quieter songs (with a few staccato bursts of electric guitar feedback thrown in, just to keep you awake), suitable for contemplation, late-night navel gazing (is that lint?) and well, just about anything else you like to do at night.

1. Everything in its Right Place – Brad Mehldau – 6:55
2. Film Noir – Danny Cohen -- 3:50
3. God Bless You Kid – The Blue Nile – 4:56
4. Beyond the Reach of Love – Paul Brady – 4:34
5. Velouria – The Bad Plus – 5:37
6. Lucky One -- Gemma Hayes – 5:30
7. Contemplation Rose – Van Morrison – 5:15
8. Johnsburg, Illinois – Tom Waits – 1:33
9. Lighthouse – Joe Henry – 5:11
10. You Never Told Me That You Care – James Carter – 6:38
11. The Rose Above the Sky – Bruce Cockburn – 6:23
12. Psalms – Victoria Williams – 3:20
13. No Worries – Yankee Celtic Consort – 3:58
14. Dimming of the Day – Richard and Linda Thompson – 3:59
15. Everything in its Right Place – Christopher O’Riley – 4:06

The first and last songs are jazz and pseudo-classical takes on Radiohead. Danny Cohen and Tom Waits sing like they gargle with Drano, and make surprisingly lush, beautiful lounge music. The Blue Nile sound like Marvin Gaye if he was from Scotland. Paul Brady sounds like Van Morrison. Velouria is a jazz take on The Pixies song of the same name. Gemma Hayes, a lovely Irish lass, sounds like Joni Mitchell with a lilt, backed by noisemakers My Bloody Valentine. That's where you'll hear the guitar feedback. Van Morrison also sounds like Van Morrison. Joe Henry is my favorite songwriter, sings like a weirder version of Sinatra, and writes piano lounge ballads if the lounge was on Pluto. James Carter is a monster on the tenor sax, and this is an old jazz standard that he plays beautifully. Bruce Cockburn, another longtime favorite, heads off into the mystic, and contemplates God's mercies in the light of a divorce. Victoria Williams sounds like Olive Oyl, but I love her anyway. Yankee Celtic Consort are a Columbus band who make beautiful Celtic-inspired music. Richard and Linda Thompson are incomparably great, and this is a gentle lullaby about love and contentment that should put you in a good mood for sleep, or anything else.

Any takers?

5 comments:

mg said...

i'll trade my summer mix for yours. I'll try to bring it to church on sunday.

Andy Whitman said...

You got it, Mike. I look forward to hearing your mix.

Anonymous said...

YES! YES! YES! And again YES!
I love that song, Dimming of the Day, that is on an earlier mix I made about a year ago.
I'm a long time Tom Waits and Van Morrison fan as well.
I don't think I'll be visiting CV this weekend but maybe soon? Or there is always the Teddy Dellesky delivery service (thank you for the Nina Simone book! I look forward to reading it this summer)

My latest mix is almost done.
Here is the partial list (lots of Iron and Wine)
1. Faded From the Winter- Iron and Wine
2. Drunkards Prayer- Over the Rhine
3. Another Morning- American Music Club (thank you Paste Magazine)
4. Colors- Amos Lee
5. An Angry Blade- Iron and Wine
6 Born- Over the Rhine
7. In the Devil's Territory- Sufjan Stevens
8. Free Until they Cut me Down- Iron and Wine
9. Seen it all Before- Amos Lee

Then there will be some Black Keys, possibly some Nick Drake,South San Gabriel and whatever else tickles my fancy by the end of the weekend.

Andy Whitman said...

Your CD is on the way, Josh.

Van is truly the Man. I love so many of his songs. But I picked "Contemplation Rose" thinking that most people wouldn't be familiar with it. It's beautiful, and ranks up there with the best he's ever done, IMO. How many people (Dylan excepted) can afford to record masterpieces and not release them for twenty years?

I agree with your comments about Pour Down Like Silver. Actually, the version of "Dimming of the Day" on my mix is from the soundtrack to "Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" or whatever that ridiculous movies was called. Bad movie, great soundtrack. It's the R&L version you know and love, plus some overdubbed strings. I don't know if I like it better than the PDLS version, but it's very, very good.

By the way, I replaced "Velouria" with "Smells Like Teen Spirit." So you get a jazz band covering Nirvana rather than The Pixies.

I'm looking forward to hearing your mix.

And Megan, I'd love to hear your new mix. I had a CD for you yesterday, but we missed connections (yeah, I know, waving doesn't count). We'll be out of town next weekend, but I'll try to catch you in a couple weeks.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Andy,
I was wondering if you could send me your email address. Mine is mrsdylan@sbcglobal.net
I am setting up a livjournal acct. for you.