MUSIC: Yet Still More Mixed Bag

The second round of Lefty Brown's Mixed Bag blogger CD exchange project has commenced, and I'm still trying to listen to all the discs I got in the first round. Jeez, I'm slow!

From Logan Polk's House of the Ded comes The Ded Mix. I used to listen to a lot of rap, but these days I tend to avoid it; that said, I found myself enjoying the tracks Logan put on this disc -- Jay-Z & Linkin Park's "Izzo/In the End," Bubba Sparxxx's "Deliverance" -- even Kanye West's "Jesus Walks." I mean -- rap? Jesus? Neither is high on my list of priorities, and yet, you've gotta love a song which includes the line, "The way Kathie Lee needed Regis/That's the way I need Jesus." There are some classic rockers in here, which I love -- "Sloop John B" by the Beach Boys, CCR's "Long As I Can See the Light," and "Desperado" by the Eagles -- along with a bunch of 90's bands, like Green Day, Alice in Chains, Counting Crows, Soul Asylum, and Beck. I've never liked Alice in Chains or Counting Crows, and Beck is hit-or-miss with me (this song, "Girl," with that video game soundtrack sound, is pretty fun), but I dug Soul Asylum's "I Did My Best," and I really appreciated the inclusion of Green Day's "Macy's Day Parade," which is from the one album of theirs I've never owned, Warning. I should get that. There were only a few tracks by performers I'm not familiar with. My favorite was "Valley of the Dolls" by Jon Oszajca;* I think I'm going to have to check out more by that guy. Fun yet plaintive song, with big Mariachi horns. I also liked Phantom Planet's "Lonely Day," a very upbeat track despite the title. Willie Nelson's "Last Stand in Open Country" is fantastic, even if guest vocalist Kid Rock (who I usually like, for the most part) doesn't quite mesh with Willie. The closing track is a surprise, "Stardust" by Nat King Cole -- it's a gorgeous tune, but just seems out of place after what's come before. This is a solid disc, mostly mellow, with a good range of musical styles, from country to hip-hop to grunge to classic rock, and a few real stand-outs. The only track I could really do without is Robert Downey Jr.'s "Smile." Stick to acting, chum...**

From Delenda Est Carthago,*** Greg Burgas sends a disc labeled, "As uncool as you though it would be!" Well, I guess I'm even more uncool, because I didn't open my disc with a song about Pussy. Pussy Control, that is, the... heroine? of Prince's "P Control." Prince is a dirty little bastard! But he makes a hell of a song. Greg was also cool enough to immediately follow this raunchy tune with the Indigo Girls, singing "Come on Home." I've always liked the Girls -- in fact, I have the album this song is from, but it never really grew on me. A second track from the same album is also here, "Tether," and it's also good stuff. Listening to the songs on this mix, I really enjoyed them, and now I need to replay that album, give it another chance. There are a couple of other repeated artists on Greg's disc: Steve Earle appears twice (once with Lucinda Williams), and Marillion appears thrice. I like Steve Earle. I don't like Marillion. So that's a bummer. Especially since the album ends with a 12-minute Marillion track, "Neverland," which itself ends with about a minute and a half of what sounds like wind chimes. Ugh. Of the bands totally new to me, I didn't care much for Magnetic Fields, but "Better or Worse" by Liquid Jesus overcomes a slow start to really grab you, and I loved Streetwalkin' Cheetahs' "White Collar Money." A pair of fine songs come toward the end of the disc: the Pogues rollick it up with "Streams of Whiskey" -- bless those drunken Irish bastards! -- and the Geto Boys confide, "Damn It Feels Good To Be a Gangsta," which you may remember from Office Space. (Or you may not.) But then a pair of not-my-cup-of-tea tunes follow: PJ Harvey's "Send His Love To Me," and ABBA with something that isn't "Dancing Queen," so I kind of tuned it out (I really only like that one song). The stuff that works for me on this mix really works, but the stuff that doesn't really doesn't.

Man, I've still got about a half dozen of these discs to talk about! And I have to start getting my track list together for my own contribution to the second round. My work is never done!

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*Gesundheit!
**...p.
***Literally, "Let the buyer beware."