Fluxblog
February 19th, 2016 1:39pm

The Arriving Beauty Queen


Siouxsie and the Banshees “Kiss Them for Me”

“Kiss Them for Me” is a song about the life and death of Jayne Mansfield, full of specific references to her career and public persona. But more than that, it’s a song about glamor that can give the listener a contact high sensation of glamorousness. The music, which pulls in elements of bhangra, hip-hop, dance music, and orchestral pop, has a slick, trebly tone that feels like being sucked into a fantasy world where everything is gleaming and perfect. It’s like every beat and note is coated in glitter.

A lot of Siouxsie’s music and art is in some way about embracing forms of glamor, and creating an alternate reality for yourself. I’ve never felt like this was an option for me, given the circumstances of my body and life, but when I listen to “Kiss Them for Me,” I am grateful to feel it vicariously. Which is funny, because the song itself is doing the same thing, about a woman who willed herself into this glamorous life. Maybe glamor is really just some idea of a life that’s more beautiful than your own, and claiming a part of it for yourself. You need to be defiant. I’m too willing to accept my lot, but people like Jayne and Siouxsie aren’t, so they remake themselves and the world around them. Even Jayne’s gruesome car crash death, which Siouxsie sings about in the fourth verse, becomes lovely and romantic.

“Kiss Them for Me” is one of those songs in which the best hook is not the chorus itself, but rather the pre-chorus – “nothing or no one will ever make me let you down.” The melody on this part is just glorious, and I love the way it seems to ascend dramatically up to the proper chorus, as if that’s some other physical plane. I imagine that it’s like walking up a staircase to a terrace overlooking some incredible view of a city, and looking down at everything, feeling like you’re truly someone special.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 18th, 2016 1:16pm

Your Life Is Your Act


Daryl Hall “Something In 4/4 Time”

This is a track from Daryl Hall’s Sacred Songs, which he made in collaboration with Robert Fripp in 1977 shortly after Fripp worked with David Bowie on ”Heroes”, but was shelved by Hall’s label RCA until 1980 because they figured it was too uncommercial. That last bit is confusing to me because even with Fripp’s atmospheric guitar parts, it’s a fairly straightforward pop-soul record, and the late ‘70s is clearly the time when it would’ve had the greatest commercial impact. At this point in Hall’s career, he’d only had a few hits with John Oates – “Rich Girl” in 1976, “Sara Smile” in 1975, and “She’s Gone” in 1973. He wasn’t quite as defined as he would be in the ‘80s, when the duo had a string of major hits between 1980 and 1982. “Something In 4/4 Time” sounds like a hit to me, so I wonder what RCA didn’t like about it. Was it too rock for an artist who had been previously sold as a soul singer? Was it too meta?

It’s definitely meta. Hall’s lyrics are specifically about trying to appease a record label while holding on to his identity. “You’re selling yourself and it’s a matter of fact,” he sings. “Your love is your life and your life is your act.” He’s being very transparent and self-aware here, but also quite idealistic. The verses start out rather cynical and pragmatic, but he always come to the conclusion that he can only succeed by being himself, and by being truly passionate. Hall’s vocal sounds very confident and optimistic, and you only really get a sense of his doubt on the breakdown, when Fripp plays a solo that contrasts Hall by seeming a bit cold and distant. Fripp makes his guitar seem analytical somehow, like something taking in all of Hall’s data and figuring out what it all means. When it snaps back to the soulful, cheerful hook about knowing you’ve got to make something people can relate to, it’s like Fripp’s guitar has decided that it agrees.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 17th, 2016 1:16pm

So It’s An Obsession


Eurythmics “Love Is A Stranger”

Annie Lennox is doing her best to warn people off of love in this song, hard-selling the addictive and destructive side-effects of falling in love the way you might advise someone to stay away from crack or heroin. She is so insistent and specific about what it does to you that at some point it feels like a reverse psychology ploy – why yes, I would like to be distorted and deranged and wrenched up and left like a zombie! It sounds a lot more interesting than this totally blah life I’ve got going at the moment.

Dave Stewart’s track is built around this steady pulse that feels overtly sexual, but also paranoid and anxious. It sounds like the obsession Lennox is singing about, suggesting a one track mind that’s plagued by doubt and guilt. There’s flashes of delicacy and loveliness, and Lennox’s voice is often totally gorgeous, but it mostly sounds dark and lurid, like getting inside the mind of someone kinda gross and scary. And I think that’s the point here – you’re supposed to see yourself in this feeling, and recognize how icky and damaged it is. This isn’t really about “love,” of course – love isn’t like this at all – but it’s a very accurate depiction of something it’s often confused with.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 16th, 2016 12:22am

Red Hot Magneto


Peter Gabriel “Modern Love”

If you’re only familiar with Peter Gabriel’s most popular work – “In Your Eyes,” “Sledgehammer,” “Don’t Give Up,” “Games Without Frontiers,” “Biko” – it may come as a surprise that he actually rocked at one point in the late ‘70s. It was certainly a revelation to me, anyway.

“Modern Love” was released on Gabriel’s first solo album in 1977, which came out a few years after he departed from Genesis after touring for their definitive prog masterwork The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. I suppose some of that record ~rocks~, but certainly not in the lusty, thrusting, straightforward way that “Modern Love” rocks. It’s hard to imagine that this song wasn’t directly influenced by Led Zeppelin – the main riff feels very Houses of the Holy/Physical Graffiti-era Jimmy Page to me, and those records came out only a few years before this was recorded. The guitar part – played by Robert Fripp, of course! – is offset by an organ part that nods in the general direction of soul music. This all suits Gabriel’s voice very well, so it’s a shame he didn’t really explore this sound more after the late ‘70s.

Gabriel’s vocal performance is about as raw and passionate as he ever got on tape. He’s howling, he’s shouting, he’s rasping like he’s all tapped out but can’t stop going. There’s a lot of self-deprecating humor in this song, with him portraying himself as this grand romantic fool while dropping witty lines about Venus, Lady Godiva, and the Mona Lisa. This is basically a song about being exasperated by sexual frustration, and while that could be played straight, it’s a lot more sympathetic as a farce.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 15th, 2016 3:00pm

More Idols Than Realities


David Bowie “Up the Hill Backwards”

It’s funny to me that David Bowie recorded three albums in a row with Brian Eno, but waited until the record after that run was completed to make “Up the Hill Backwards,” basically his own version of an Eno rock song. It’s there in the melody, in the affect on Bowie’s vocal performance, and that solo from Robert Fripp. It’s there in the sentiment of the lyrics too, which approach complicated emotions from a cold, logical perspective without losing touch with humanity.

“Up the Hill Backwards” was written in the aftermath of Bowie’s divorce from his first wife, and he acknowledges the feeling of adjusting to a new status quo at the top of the song: “The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom and the possibilities it seems to offer.” It’s a peculiar turn of phrase, but very evocative. The language is so passive and indecisive, and the construction of the line emphasizes the “vacuum” rather than the freedom or possibilities. The melody seems vaguely upbeat, but paired with the lyric, you get the sense that any optimism in the song has been arrived at by a process of elimination. (“Well, I don’t feel miserable or angry or scared, so I must be feeling OK.”)

The rest of the song is like he’s talking himself out of having an ego. “It’s got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it,” he sings in the refrain, seeming a bit like he’s overcompensating for being self-centered and narcissistic in the past. After all, if this is in fact about his divorce, it has something to do with him, right? The passive voice continues through the song, with Bowie singing about the world moving on regardless of what happens to him or anyone else and sounding rather calmed by the notion that nothing really matters, including the difficulties ahead of him.

The odd neutrality of Bowie’s voice in this is countered by Fripp’s guitar part, which is by far the most expressive element of the song. His solo is very melodic, and starts off with this sort of casual bearing before escalating to this frantic peak that suggests a stronger feeling buried beneath the self-imposed rationality of the song – somewhat ecstatic, and more than a little bit terrified.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 12th, 2016 1:27pm

Talking So Vague


Lou E “What Do You Do It For?”

A lot of indie acts think they know how to write a jangly, melodic pop tune like this, but focus too much on the jangle and only give you the most basic effort with the melody. Not so with Lou E! There’s a richness to the vocal melody and bass line in “What Do You Do It For?” that could pass as vintage British Invasion – maybe not Lennon/McCartney level, but certainly on par with your better Hollies and Kinks songs. There’s never too much going on at any point in this song, but every moment has some variation on a melodic theme that’s just, well…very pleasing. Everything in this track is aiming for maximum pleasantness, and it achieves that goal with style and grace. Frankly, if this guy is going to be this good, he ought to consider a better name than “Lou E.”

Buy it from Bandcamp.



February 11th, 2016 1:40pm

A New Face For Now


Wild Nothing “Reichpop”

I love the way the mallet instrument being played in this song – marimba, I think? – immediately creates this feeling that you’ve entered some strange and heavily atmospheric place. The rest of the instruments seem to react against that sound and its hypnotizing repetitive beat – the drums fill in the rhythm, and the guitar and keyboard parts kinda bounce off it, like there’s some implied force field. The vocal melody is lovely, and makes great use of Jack Tatum’s wispy, airy voice. There are other Wild Nothing songs where his voice can seem a bit too nondescript, but here it clicks into place rather nicely and fills out a tonal range rather than blending into a haze of treble.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 10th, 2016 1:32pm

Before The World Was Strange


Milk “‘No Evil’ Oil”

I love the way Milk songs can have this lazy, laid back and spacious feeling to them while also being weirdly overstuffed with sound. There’s bit of guitar and piano overdubbed all over this track like clothes and papers cluttering the floor of a messy room, but it never quite gets in the way of the main vocal melody and guitar hook. All these extra sounds are fairly subtle in the mix, and come together to make this otherwise straight forward indie rock ballad feel off-balance and disorienting. It sounds kinda like walking around drunk in broad daylight, but in “pleasantly stumbling around” way and not a “about to puke or do something embarrassing” way.

Buy it from Bandcamp.



February 9th, 2016 2:38pm

Treat Me Like A Tennis Pro


Eleanor Friedberger “Because I Asked You”

“Because I Asked You” has a very loose, casual, and friendly tone, which makes sense for a song in which Eleanor Friedberger is basically listing off a bunch of things that her boyfriend does at her request. She’s not asking for any major sacrifices or significant personality changes, and some of it is kinda silly. There’s a bit of tension, but not much – it’s really just about an adult person knowing they can ask for things, and that there’s a give and take in healthy relationships. It’s pretty easy to go through life accommodating other people without ever realizing that you can ask for things too without seeming needy or demanding. A lot of the time it’s just kinda chill, like in this song.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 5th, 2016 1:43pm

I Can Finally Sleep At Night


Lake Street Dive “I Don’t Care About You”

It’s funny how once particular retro sounds become popular enough, they end up belonging to multiple eras. A few years ago a soul-rock tune like this would’ve seemed like an outlier, but with the massive success of an act like Alabama Shakes, it’s now just a good example of what popular rock music sounds like right now. Not complaining, though! This is a very well-made song from top to bottom, and Rachael Price’s vocals are terrific in conveying a feeling of wounded pride as well as putting on a big theatrical show. This is the type of band that trades on people being like “wow, but the pipes on that singer!,” and Price certainly delivers on that.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 4th, 2016 4:16am

Some Sexy Dreams


Tricky “Diving Away”

One of the most distinctive qualities of Tricky’s music is his tendency to have his raspy, muttering vocals shadow a melody sung by a conventionally good singer. In the early days of his career this typically highlighted the ever-shifting dynamic between himself and his singer and real-life partner Martina Topley-Bird – the power play between the singer and the svengali; the older man and the younger woman; the dominant and the submissive. In other cases, like this loose adaptation of an old Porno for Pyros song, it’s more like creating a beautiful proxy for himself. This track makes me think of all the times I’ve ever fantasized about being able to shape-shift into a traditionally attractive body, and what I’d do with that privilege even if I had it for just a little while. I think even in a fantasy scenario like that, it’d be hard to not just be myself with all the hangups and fears I’ve built up from a life of not having that form. This track is like that – as lovely as the voice up front is, the seams are showing. It’s a broken mask.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 3rd, 2016 1:43pm

Pushing On Your Physical Existence


Flume featuring Vince Staples and Kučka “Smoke and Retribution”

Flume’s arrangement for “Smoke and Retribution” is jagged and unstable, with the beat and pretty much everything else in it reacting against a harsh keyboard part that sputters and bleeps like a malfunctioning alarm. It may be the freshest, most original rap track that I’ve heard in a few years, and the kind of thing that would only come from a hip-hop outsider like Flume. Vince Staples’ verses ground the song, and his emotional performance adds to the extreme dynamic of the track. The contrast gives the impression of someone trying to stay focused in a chaotic world, and the only relaxed moments come when the song shifts into sung parts by Kučka, which quickly shift from introspective to miserably fatalistic.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 2nd, 2016 3:26am

For Lonely Days


Massive Attack featuring Tricky “Take It There”

It was sad to read a bunch of aggregated news items about this song that didn’t even mention why it’d be significant that Tricky would be on this track. I suppose that even though so much popular and cool music today owes a massive debt to the work of Bristol acts like Massive Attack, Tricky, and Portishead, it’s all been more or less written out of the story, and what amounts to a Blue Lines/Protection reunion after more than 20 years is somehow not particularly noteworthy. Deeeep siiiiiigh! I don’t think any topic triggers a “get off my lawn” anger in me more than everyone under 30 having virtually no awareness of Tricky.

“Take It There” doesn’t sound like a reunion. There’s so much overlap in Tricky and Massive Attack’s aesthetics that they sound like they’re lurking around in the space they’ve always been. If anything, that space has become darker and more claustrophobic with time, and more like where Tricky was in the late ‘90s. The low piano chords in this track sound oppressively heavy, like a weight bearing down on the rest of the music that forces the beat to drag. Tricky and 3D rap in the odd way they do – a bit hazy on the rhyming, but just enough on beat to qualify. Their rasps are even deeper than ever, as though whatever darkness they had growing in them in the ‘90s has metastasized. There’s an ascending guitar part in the second half of the track that shakes off some of the weight, but it never stops feeling hopeless.

Buy it from Amazon.



February 1st, 2016 1:45pm

The Edge Of My Seat


Sunflower Bean “Come On”

There are certain types of rock songs that are clearly written to be played live, in which all the dynamic shifts are there to specifically jolt an audience. These kind of songs are most typically found on debut records, which are typically written and workshopped extensively in concert before being recorded, and so it’s not a big surprise that a lot of bands lean on that material for the rest of their careers. (Look at the setlist for most any reunion tour – most acts strongly favor playing the songs from their early years, which they also probably have better memories about, and whatever the last record was before the breakup is either ignored or barely touched.) “Come On” is definitely this sort of song, and is basically a bunch of time-tested moves artfully strung together into a piece of music that seems to just glide by you like a speeding car. The best bit is the rather Peter Buck-ish arpeggio played on the chorus, which contrasts with a chunkier guitar riff and the “right now” vocal hook.

Buy it from Amazon.



January 29th, 2016 6:04am

Fist Fighting With Fire


Rihanna “Love on the Brain”

Rihanna’s new album has no bangers, an awkward flow, few obvious hits, a spectacularly botched release via Tidal, and a total absence of Kanye West despite him being attached as the record’s “executive producer” up until very recently. But it does have a couple of the best ballads of Rihanna’s career. That’s not the most difficult bar to clear – ballads have never been her strong suit as a pop star – but I’d rate “Love on the Brain” and “Higher” near the top of her catalog in terms of songwriting quality and vocal performance. She pushes herself a bit further on “Higher,” but “Love on the Brain” is the true revelation, with her getting across just the right mix of vulnerability and toughness on an old school soul track. She reminds me of Millie Jackson on these tracks, particularly in how she leans into the low grit of her vocal range, and how a line like “it beats me black and blue but it fucks me so good” echoes Jackson’s incredible 1973 hit “It Hurts So Good.”

Buy it from iTunes.



January 28th, 2016 6:07am

Move In Space And Time


Bullion “Never Is the Change”

I’ve missed a couple stages of Bullion’s development as a songwriter and producer, but I’m happy to catch up with where he is now on this single. “Never Is the Change” is rather like Hot Chip at their best, at least in terms of being this very groovy dance track with vocals that are disarmingly lucid. It’s that thing of addressing emotional topics in this calm, thoughtful way, and while it can seem a bit aloof, it’s not indulging the sort of “I’m a robot-man making electronic music bleep bleep” routine that somehow never dies. (That shtick always strikes me as being influenced by Kraftwerk in only the most painfully literal ways.) The most interesting thing to me about this song is when he gets away from the microphone and plays this extended keyboard solo that’s very expressive, but also slightly awkward in an endearing way. The vocal and lyric sets up the idea, but I think the solo is where he really expands on it and gets across a deeper feeling.

Buy it from Amazon.



January 27th, 2016 1:05pm

These Fragile Things


Space Captain “Two”

There’s a lightness and elegance to this song that’s at odds with its lyrical sentiment, which from the start is telling you to “keep your crippling fear, let nobody come near you.” This could be cheap irony, but it comes out sounding rather sincere, making it more like a lullaby for the severely anxious than a bleak joke. The trajectory of the song suggests something a lot deeper, too – it starts out in this weightless, jazzy zone before drifting into cosmic psychedelia, and climaxes with this spiky riff that brings out all the nervous energy and bad vibes that up to that point in the track had only been mentioned in the lyrics.

Buy it from Amazon.



January 26th, 2016 1:38pm

Put It In The Machine That Fits


Ty Segall “Emotional Mugger/Leopard Priestess”

This song is like a sculpture carved out of a big block of midrange, with jagged chunks of treble jutting out in all directions. This is about as menacing as psychedelic rock before it shifts into metal – it’s still got that hard psych vibe, but it’s very much a bad trip. It may be mostly treble, but Ty Segall’s guitar and synth parts are all very distinct, and overlap and contrast in ways that emphasis their melodic and rhythmic qualities. Segall takes a few different approaches with this voice, sometimes forcing it down to below his normal range, and other times embracing the tinniness of his tenor to approximate that “I have destroyed my mind” Ozzy quality from old Black Sabbath records.

Buy it from Amazon.



January 25th, 2016 1:18pm

Now You Ain’t Having It


Little Shalimar featuring Killer Mike, Bun B, and Cuz Lightyear “Savage Habits”

In the Pitchfork review of the Rubble Kings soundtrack, Jonah Bromwich says that this song “doesn’t quite pound in the way you might hope” for a track featuring both Killer Mike and Bun B. I think I know what Bromwich is getting at, but at the same time I’m pretty sure “Savage Habits” is a better song than the sort of generic banger one “might hope” for. Little Shalimar’s arrangement gives Killer Mike and Bun B plenty of space for some prime alpha male chest-thumping, but offsets that with a strange looped sample – I think it’s a violin? – that induces a sick, paranoid feeling. That trilling sound just kinda gnaws at you, and while it doesn’t undermine the vocal performances, it does contrast sharply in a way that subverts the toxic masculinity on display. The sung chorus retains some of the aggression but amps up the melancholy, shifting away from the intimidating style of Mike and Bun for something more obviously tragic.

Get it for free from the Adult Swim site.



January 19th, 2016 3:17pm

1986 Survey Mix


1986

This is the fourth in my series of 1980s survey mixes, which are moving backwards in time from 1989 to the start of the decade. These compilations are designed to give more context to the music of the ‘80s, and give a sense of how various niches and trends overlapped in this cultural moment.

With this set we officially enter the middle of the decade, which I believe is the part that is best remembered today, at least in terms of cultural signifiers and cheesy songs that never seem to go away. This is an exceptionally dorky crop of songs, and while a lot of it stands on its own pretty well, it can feel a bit overwhelming or even stifling all together. It’s actually pretty understandable how flagrant rockism could thrive in this era – every song that feels even a bit raw and edgy seems like a miracle in this context.

Thanks to Chris Ott, Paul Cox, and Chris Conroy for their assistance in curating this set.

If you want to go back to previous collections in these series, they’re all right here: 1987, 1988, and 1989. The 1985 survey will be ready sometime in late February or early March.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

Peter Gabriel “Sledgehammer” / Genesis “Invisible Touch” / Paul Simon “You Can Call Me Al” / Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait” / Prince “Kiss” / Cameo “Word Up!” / New Order “Bizarre Love Triangle” / Stacey Q “Two of Hearts” / Janet Jackson “When I Think of You” / Robert Palmer “Addicted to Love” / Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark “If You Leave” / Crowded House “Don’t Dream It’s Over” / Howard Jones “No One Is To Blame” / Madonna “Live to Tell” / Heart “These Dreams” / Cocteau Twins “Love’s Easy Tears” / The Smiths “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” / Sonic Youth “Expressway To Yr Skull”

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Pet Shop Boys “West End Girls” / Bananarama “Venus” / Duran Duran “Notorious” / The Bangles “Manic Monday” / Wham! “I’m Your Man” / Kool and the Gang “Stone Love” / Dolly Parton “Think About Love” / The Moody Blues “Your Wildest Dreams” / Talking Heads “Wild Wild Life” / R.E.M. “Fall On Me” / Big Black “Kerosene” / Killing Joke “Adorations” / The Art of Noise “Paranoimia” / Beastie Boys “Paul Revere” / Boogie Down Productions “South Bronx” / Cyndi Lauper “True Colors” / Berlin “Take My Breath Away” / Depeche Mode “Stripped” / Arthur Russell “Let’s Go Swimming”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

Lionel Richie “Dancing on the Ceiling” / Jermaine Stewart “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off” / Samantha Fox “Touch Me (I Want To Feel Your Body)” / Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith “Walk This Way” / Huey Lewis and The News “Hip to be Square” / Slayer “Angel of Death” / Metallica “Master of Puppets” / Megadeth “Peace Sells” / Peter Cetera “Glory of Love” / Whitney Houston “The Greatest Love of All” / Whodini “Funky Beat” / Schoolly D “Saturday Night” / Teena Marie “Lips to Find You” / Tina Turner “Typical Male” / Eurythmics “Missionary Man” / The Jets “Crush On You” / Zapp “Computer Love”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

James Brown “Living In America” / Farley Jackmaster Funk “Love Can’t Turn Around” / Mantronix “Bassline” / Five Star “Can’t Wait Another Minute” / Siouxsie and the Banshees “Cities In Dust” / Human League “Human” / Wang Chung “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” / Belinda Carlisle “Mad About You” / Primal Scream “Velocity Girl” / Public Image Ltd “Rise” / Big Audio Dynamite “C’mon Every Beatbox” / Erasure “Oh L’Amour” / Alabama “She and I” / Hank Williams Jr “Mind Your Own Business” / Van Halen “Why Can’t This Be Love?” / Kenny Loggins “Danger Zone” / Eddie Money “Take Me Home Tonight” / The B-52’s “Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland” / Mr. Fingers “Can You Feel It?”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

Europe “The Final Countdown” / Falco “Rock Me Amadeus” / LL Cool J “Rock the Bells” / MC Shan “The Bridge” / The Descendants “Enjoy” / Dag Nasty “Circles” / Gang Green “Alcohol” / Rites of Spring “All Through A Life” / Lee “Scratch” Perry and The Upsetters “All Things Are Possible” / Oran “Juice” Jones “The Rain” / Simply Red “Holding Back the Years” / Bruce Hornsby “The Way It Is” / The Feelies “Let’s Go” / XTC “Grass” / We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It “Console Me” / fIREHOSE “Chemical Wire” / Shop Assistants “I Don’t Want To Be Friends With You” / The Fall “Living Too Late” / Elvis Costello and The Attractions “I Want You” / Hüsker Dü “Hardly Getting Over It” / Randy Travis “On the Other Hand”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Eric B. and Rakim “Eric B. Is President” / Kool Moe Dee “Go See the Doctor” / Lovebug Starski “Say What You Wanna Say” / Biz Markie “Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz” / Regina “Baby Love” / Mike and The Mechanics “All I Need Is A Miracle” / Mr. Mister “Kyrie” / Gene Loves Jezebel “Desire (Come and Get It)” / Iggy Pop “Real Wild Child” / The Georgia Satellites “Keep Your Hands To Yourself” / John Cougar Mellencamp “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to ‘60s Rock)” / Echo and the Bunnymen “Bring On the Dancing Horses” / The Go-Betweens “Spring Rain” / The Chills “Pink Frost” / This Mortal Coil “Come Here My Love” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “The Carny” / Dead Or Alive “Brand New Lover” / Cutting Crew “(I Just) Died In Your Arms”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

Volcano Suns “White Elephant” / Billy Joel “A Matter of Trust” / Murphy’s Law “Beer” / Embrace “Money” / Sly Fox “Let’s Go All the Way” / Stetsasonic “My Rhyme” / Wired “To the Beat of the Drum (On the Burn Mix)” / Robert Owens “Bring Down the Walls” / El Debarge “Who’s Johnny” / Bronski Beat “Hit That Perfect Beat” / Adonis “No Way Back” / A-Ha “The Sun Always Shines On TV” / Bon Jovi “Livin’ On A Prayer” / Chris De Burgh “Lady In Red” / Chris Isaak “Blue Hotel” / Giant Sand “Thin Line Man” / The Mekons “Hello Cruel World” / James “So Many Ways” / The Housemartins “Happy Hour” / Game Theory “Erica’s Word” / Carly Simon “Coming Around Again” / New York Mets “Get Mets-merized!” / Kronos Quartet “Purple Haze”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Queen “One Vision” / Steve Winwood “Higher Love” / Michael McDonald “Sweet Freedom” / The Pretenders “Don’t Get Me Wrong” / Doctor and the Medics “Spirit in the Sky” / Boston “Amanda” / The Damned “Eloise” / Sigue Sigue Sputnik “Love Missile F1-11” / Pointer Sisters “Goldmine” / Half Man Half Biscuit “All I Want for Christmas Is A Dukla-Prague Away Kit” / The Lyres “No Reason to Complain” / Cleaners from Venus “Living with Victoria Grey” / Roxanne Shante “The Def Fresh Crew” / Timex Social Club “Rumors” / Steve Earle “Guitar Town” / Cowboy Junkies “Baby Please Don’t Go” / Billy Ocean “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” / Dionne Warwick featuring Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and Gladys Knight “That’s What Friends Are For” / Linda Rondstadt and James Ingram “Somewhere Out There” / Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam “All Cried Out”




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