Covers Project Vol. III

Another volume in the monger covers series. Two of the tunes here have appeared on previously posted mixes (Nikki Corvette's "Under My Wheels" and Brett Anderson's "California Sun"). A couple of notes: 1) the Heavy Metal Kids "Girl of My Dreams" isn't technically a cover, as Bram Tchaikovsky's version was a cover of an unreleased song by, yes, the Heavy Metal Kids 2) if you're familiar with the Troggs original version of "Wild Thing" then you'll understand why I threw their weirdo '75 reggae version of the song on this collection. 

Here Comes Success 

 1. Jeff Dahl One of the Boys (Mott The Hoople) 

2. Diamond Dogs Connection (The Rolling Stones) 

3. Matthew Sweet American Girl (Tom Petty) 

4. John P. Strohm Somebody's Baby (Jackson Browne) 

5. Sarah Borges Stop & Think It Over (Compulsive Gamblers) 

6. Nikki Corvette Under My Wheels (Alice Cooper) 

7. Heavy Metal Kids Girl of My Dreams (Bram Tchaikovsky) 

8. Amanda Jones The First Time (The Boys) 

9. Bleu You Might Think (The Cars) 

10. Per Gessle I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (The Ramones) 

11. Crash Kelly Lonely Planet Boy (New York Dolls) 

12. Patti Smith Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones) 

13. Tim Krekel Version City (The Clash) 

14. Kelly Willis Success (Iggy Pop) 

15. Garland Jeffreys 96 Tears (? and the Mysterians) 

16. Beagle Love Grows (Edison Lighthouse) 

17. Hutch Maybe Baby (Buddy Holly)

18. The Yo-Yos Hey Tonight (Credence Clearwater Revival) 

19. Myracle Brah Too Many People (Paul McCartney)

20. Dramarama Hitchhiking (Willie Alexander)

21. Michael Monroe High School (MC5) 

22. Brett Anderson California Sun (Joe Jones... later the Rivieras)

23. The Troggs Wild Thing (The Troggs)

The Covers Project Vol. I

Pretty self-explanatory. Great versions of (mostly) great songs. This is an older mix that I recently re-listened to on a long car drive - totally hit the spot. Volume II wasn't quite so much a bullseye.

 Covers I  

1. Frank Black & the Stax Pistols Breathless (Jerry Lee Lewis) 

2. Joan Jett ACDC (The Sweet) 

3. The Sights Stay With Me (The Faces) 

4. The Smithereens The Slider (T.Rex) 

5. DMZ Cinderella (The Sonics) 

6. The Dirtbombs Ode to a Black Man (Phil Lynott)

7. Jason & the Scorchers Country Roads (John Denver) 

8. The Jam In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Picket) 

9. Phantom Helmsmen Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves (Cher) 

10. Bram Tchaikovsky I'm A Believer (The Monkees) 

11. Generation X Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon) 

12. The Pogues Honky Tonk Women (Rolling Stones) 

13. Jon Spencer All Shook Up (Elvis Presley) 

14. The Inmates Some Kind of Wonderful (Soul Brothers Six) 

15. Waco Brothers The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff) 

16. Supersuckers Eastbound & Down (Jerry Reed) 

17. Georgia Satellites Games People Play (Joe South) 

18. The Yayhoos Love Train (The O'Jays) 

19, J. Geils Band Where Did Our Love Go (The Supremes) 

20. Webb Wilder Slow Death (Flamin' Groovies) 

21. Mojo Nixon Girlfriend in a Coma (The Smiths) 

22. The Coolies Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)

Dom Mariani mix

Dom Mariani must be one of the most unjustly ignored rockers of the past two decades. He's been the main songwriter/singer/guitarist for (by my count) six different bands in that time, three of which are responsible for absolute classic albums (the Stems' debut "At First Light... Violets Are Blue", the Someloves' only full-length "Something Or Other", and the DM3's "Road To Rome"). Of course, none of those albums have made the tiniest ripple in North American charts, so I can only hope Mariani sells truckloads in his native Australia. After all, there's gotta be some kind of justice in this world, doesn't there?

This is a self-made mix from a number of Mariani's bands and albums. One thing that's immediately impressive throughout is Mariani's consistency. Whether in the context of the garage/psyche revivalism of the Stems, or the sweet pop of the Someloves, or the more muscular power pop of the DM3, his emphasis is always on indelible hooks. It's almost hard to believe that someone so good can be ignored for so long. If you're a fan of Big Star, Badfinger, the Hoodoo Gurus - or any ultra-melodic power pop/punk band of the last twenty years - then this collection is guaranteed to amaze you.

Dom Mariani

1. 1 Time 2 Times Devastated
2. Dead Star
3. Second Floor
4. Just Like Nancy
5. I Thought That You Were Foolin'
6. Soultop
7. Something Heavy
8. Show You
9. Far From Here
10. Homespun Blues
11. Quicksand
12. Rock 'n' Roll Boys (Rock 'n' Roll Girls)
13. At First Sight
14. Sunshine's Glove
15. Don't Talk About Us
16 TV Sound
17. Snapshot
18. When It Ends (acoustic version)
19. Cold Cup
20. The Golden Ones (DJ Moogy remix)

#1, 9 from DM3 1 Time 2 Times 3 Red Light (1994)
#2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16 from DM3 Road to Rome (1996)
#4 from DM3 Garage Sale Vol. 2 (Italian Style) (2003)
#10, 19 from Dom Mariani Homespun Blues and Greens (2004)
#11 from DM3 Rippled Soul (1998)
#12 from the Stoneage Hearts Guilty As Sin (2004)
#13 from the Stems At First Sight, Violets Are Blue (1987)
#14 from the Someloves Something Or Other (1990)
#15 from the Someloves It's My Time (1986)
#17, 18, 20 from Dom Mariani Shell Collection (2006)

10 songs by Silver Sun

It's possible Silver Sun may have been popular in their UK homeland, but they never made so much as a squeak in North America. They deserved better. Although their timing was a little off for this kind of music... aw shit, scratch that - I'm being an idealist again. This kind of music hasn't been trendy since the early days of the British Invasion. Cool, yes. Trendy, no. Silver Sun are what I always hoped Jellyfish would sound like back when I hadn't heard them yet - ultra melodic, kinda Queen/Beach Boys harmonies-upon-harmonies, and the fuzz, buzz, and momentum of punk. Oh yeah, this is power pop, but the type that doesn't shirk from the word "power" and just puts the pedal to the metal and rocks. Plain awesome, in other words.

Silver Sun

1. Golden Skin
2. Dumb
3. Last Day
4. This 'n' That
5. I'll See You Around
6. Scared
7. Hey Girlfriend
8. Only A Girl
9. Jody
10. She Wants A Puppy, She'll Have A Puppy

#1, 2, 3, 4 from Silver Sun (1997)
# 5, 6, 7, 8 from Neo Wave (1998)
#9, 10 from Disappear Here (2005)

PG13 mix

Yeah, what the hell - this month has been a frenzy of mixes, so why not one more? This one was put together as a request. The challenge was to compile a mix for a teenage daughter that wouldn't induce mom to stick an icepick in her ear. It also works as an apologia for the previous mix - completely free of dirty words and nasty thoughts. Well, maybe a nasty thought or two. But overall so clean you could eat your lunch off it. No guarantee about the icepick though. And it's 66% pure female too. Although, somewhere, there should be some fine print about the definition of "purity" in this context.


HEADACHES & ICEPICKS

1. Brett Anderson California Sun
2. The Riff Randels When You Go
3. The Yum Yums It's Gonna Be A Hit
4. Nikki Corvette Under My Wheels
5. Suzy & Los Quattro Freak Show
6. Josie Cotton He Could Be The One
7. The Muffs Honeymoon
8. The Donnas Can't Keep It A Secret
9. The Successful Failures All I Can Take
10. Les Hell on Heels Ain't So Cool
11. The Prissteens I'm Devastated
12. Tammy & the Lords of Misrule Wig Wam Bam
13. The Wildhearts One Love, One Life, One Girl
14. Ben Kweller I Don't Know Why
15. The Fondas Don't Come Back
16. The Pandoras I Didn't Cry
17. Detroit Cobras Shout Bama Lama
18. Edna Swap Next To You
19. Silver Sun Jody
20. Slender Means Hidden Grove
21. The 88 Love You Anytime
22. Volumizer I Promise You, Thomas
23. American Heartbreak Last of the Superheroes (of the 1970s)
24. Joan Jett Riddles

Slowcore Vol. IV

The slowcore series has been going for a while now. This is music for the wee small hours of the morning, either while getting up or while coming down. Head full of regret, stomach full of Advil, rear-view mirror full of nothing but wrong turns - then throw on some slowcore and... wallow.

SHOULD'VE LISTENED TO THE JUNKMAN

Slowcore Monger Vol. IV1. Greg Brown Whatever It Was
2. Terry Boylan Subterranean Homesick Blues
3. Chris Cacavas The Crying Shame
4. Frankie Miller Baton Rouge
5. Bob Forrest Memphis
6. Goodman County Drugstore Wine
7. Ian Hunter Silver Needles
8. Pat Todd & the Rank Outsiders Your Heart, Your Soul, & Your Ass
9. The Circus In Flames The Cuckoo
10. Beads Queen Anne
11. Four Hours Sleep Original Lover
12. Tim Easton Stones Throw Away
13. The Cinders Snow
14. Mick Flannery Safety Rope
15. Genya Ravan Junkman
16. Chris Mills Signal/Noise

Power Lounging Vol. II

A second volume in the power lounger series. Power lounging means hanging around in the sun with a serious commitment to wasting time, preferably while on the drink. This mix is fringely mongerous with a slightly time-warped 50s sock hop mentality (and one old 60s chestnut for good measure).

A Sack of Monkeys - Power Lounging Vol. 2

1. Roman Candle Why Modern Radio Is A-OK
2. Wilco Sunny Feeling
3. Noisettes Never Forget You
4. Vetiver More Than This
5. Tim Armstrong Take This City
6. John Fred Judy In Disguise
7. Genya Ravan Stubborn Kind Of Girl
8. Herman Brood & His Wild Romance Hit
9. The Hellcats Don't Fight It
10. Albert Hammond Jr. Miss Myrtle
11. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs Soft Shock
12. Baby Shakes Come On Babe
13. Brownsville Station Let Your Yeah Be Yeah
14. The Fondas Might As Well Go
15. Cracker Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out With Me
16. The Kilians Said & Done
17. The Damwell Betters Subway
18. The Weight Closer Than A Friend
19. Robbers On High Street You Don't Stand A Chance
20. The Iguanas If You Should Ever Fall On Hard Times
21. Four Hours Sleep w/ Paul Kelly If I Had My Way