Songs from the County Hell: The Devil Mixtape

Stay on the other side of the road
'Cause you can never tell
We’ve a thirst like a gang of devils
We’re the boys from the county Hell
--THE BOYS FROM THE COUNTY HELL, 1984

I admit it, I looked at someone else’s devil tape. It’s the only way to explain how Van Halen appears below. Plenty of better artists on that other list, but somehow it inserted that song directly in my head and now I can’t get it out. It’s ironic because that was an embarrassing mistake of a schoolboy album purchase, the first VH LP was, but now it’s come back to, ahem, haunt. Please don’t click the link.

Similarly, “Devil With a Blue Dress On” is included here for one reason only, and that’s the rare mention of a wighat. I’ve only ever come across the term here, in the Cramps’ “Call of the Wighat”, and in Tommy Tucker’s “Hi-Heel Sneakers”. Seems like something the devil would don.

The Pogues like to sing about the devil and about hell. They even use "Straight to Hell" by the Clash as their stage entrance music. "The Boys From the County Hell" could win the Grammy for Best Insult in a Lyric, should it ever be nominated:

At the time I was working for a landlord
And he was the meanest bastard that you have ever seen
And to lose a single penny would grieve him awful sore
And he was a miserable bollocks and a bitch’s bastard’s whore

Robert Johnson was the bluesman who was said to have sold his soul to the devil in return for talent – a talent which included writing at least three haunting tunes about his mythical benefactor. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a California kid who I found unappealing – the way he looked, the way he sang, and the way he appropriated from Robert Johnson for his band, the Gun Club (pictured above with Kid Congo Powers, seated)—but in "Preaching the Blues," he (along with Ward Dotson on slide guitar) got a truly diabolical result.

"Handsome Devil" is one of the Smiths harder rocking songs; I’m pretty sure it was the B side of their first single. Morrissey would hate being on a mixtape right next to someone like Tricky. I don’t think "Hell is Round the Corner" mentions the devil, but Tricky (pictured, left) does a nice job looking like him in the video, while producing a song that sounds like it's coming from an underworld cave.

The Devil Mixtape

Devil’s Haircut – Beck
Devil Dance – The Devils
Race With The Devil – Gene Vincent
Friend of the Devil – Grateful Dead
Preaching the Blues – The Gun Club
Devil with a Blue Dress on – Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels
The Boys From The County Hell – The Pogues
Whiskey You’re the Devil – The Pogues
Hellhound on my Trail – Robert Johnson
Me and the Devil Blues – Robert Johnson
Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil) – Robert Johnson
Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones
Makin' Deals – The Satans
Handsome Devil – The Smiths
Hell Is Round the Corner – Tricky
Runnin’ With the Devil – Van Halen

Here’s a link to BD’s The Devil mixtape. I did not look at this list (which has four of the same songs) before I made this tape.

The Pride of Poverty

When they busted my chops over That Summer Feeling, it sent a chilling effect through the site. So cold it got, that I’ve now lost for the first time in several mixtapes. But for what it’s worth, I’m partial to the Rolling Stones’ version of Money, but I like the original too…I wanna thank Jace the Ace Face for a brief flirtation with DC funk in the 1980s, with Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers’ succinctly titled “We Need Money” one of the better examples on record…And finally (so soon?) I remember watching this clip of Elvis Costello when it first aired on Letterman about 26 years ago. In fact, for some strange reason, I recorded it on my ghetto blaster (built-in mic recording output from TV speaker), and kept it on an actual mixtape which is still kicking around the gaff. An embarrassment of riches this aint, but there is a pride in poverty.

The Poor Man's Rich Man Poor Man Mixtape

Money, That’s What I Want – Barrett Strong
The Poor Orphan Child – The Carter Family
We Need Money – Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers
Bankrobber – The Clash
Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Man Out of Time – Elvis Costello
Poor Paddy on the Railway – The Dubliners
Big Boss Man – Jimmy Reed
Promised Land – Johnny Allan
Sometimes I Wantcha for Your Money – The Milkshakes
I’m a Man You Don’t Meet Everyday – The Pogues
Money, That’s What I Want – Rolling Stones
Do Re Mi - Woody Guthrie

Here is a link to the winning mixtape. Check out some Japanese folkies rocking the last entry from BD’s homeboy.

That Summer Feeling? (Redux)

Blogger deleted one of my mixtape posts. There was a copyright complaint. This is the first time I've been exposed to such a thing, and I assume it was because of the three MP3 files linked to the post. (They don't explain what the particular infraction was, just delete the whole post.)

I'm wary of posting portable versions of copyrighted works (i.e. MP3s). I've only posted stuff that is presumably in the public domain, or came from an obscure non-commercial source, or was out of print for decades because there's no market for it. I only post the odd tune, not whole albums. We'll see if any of my other posts get zapped; I wonder why only this one did.

I'm reposting it again, this time without the link to any portable musics.

Monday, December 01, 2008

That Summer Feeling?

The local radio station played a set of summery songs the other day, thumbing its nose at the season that’s in it, and in the meantime reminding me of a one-hit job that should be on the Summer mixtape. Len’s (or is it LEN’s?) charming nerdpop illuminated some year or other approximately a decade ago, or at least its one hit “Steal My Sunshine” romp did…At least two tracks here – “Parklife” and “Rockaway Beach” – are included because they put me in mind of a warm summer’s day without necessarily being explicit about it….But it is just the start of winter where I am, and so bracing workouts of “School’s Out” and “Surfing USA” seem just a bit silly right now…

The Undertones are here twice, because despite their dour appearance on the cover of their first LP, here was a band that actually sounded like summer, notwithstanding the one track that namechecks the season. Something about Feargal Sharkey’s high vibrato vocal and two bright rhythm guitars that evokes hot pavement, bright skies, and sweat…Jonathan Richman recorded "That Summer Feeling" at least twice, but here's a live version from a 1983 tape called The Penthouse Radio Show. It's been sitting in my attic for a very long time and needed to be heard again...

The Summer Mixtape

School’s Out – Alice Cooper

Surfing USA – Beach Boys

Parklife – Blur

Summer School – Bucky and the Premiers

Under the Boardwalk – The Drifters

Summertime Blues – Flying Lizards

That Summer Feeling (Live 1983) – Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers

BONUS TRACK: I’m a Jerk (Live 1983) – Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers

The Trip – Kim Fowley

Sunny Afternoon – The Kinks

Steal My Sunshine – Len

Summer in Siam – The Pogues

Rockaway Beach – Ramones

It’s Up to You – Shop Assistants

June Rhyme – The Stingrays (London)

Here Comes the Summer – The Undertones

Under the Boardwalk – The Undertones

Island in the Sun - Weezer

Here's a link to the original Summer mixtape tracklisting.

Motor Boys Motor: The Cars Mixtape

The Milkshakes (featuring Billy Childish and Mickey Hampshire) were, to coin a term, extra-retro, that is, not simply revivalists or nostalgia merchants, but a group of artists respectful of past traditions who also actually improved on the original. (The original, in this case, being Cavern/Star Club-era British beat.) Kid Vinil in Brazil wrote in his blog about a show he saw where the Milkshakes opened up for Link Wray at the Electric Ballroom in London in the early 1980s. Google Translate mangles his native Portuguese:

But it was there that understand the intent of the sound of Milkshakes "garage" in their smallest detail.

The sound was dirty, the amplifiers were all old vintage, and the voice of Billy was connected to an old valve amplifier that sent you a few boxes of estouradas and voice distorted.

Initially I was disappointed with the technical quality of the sound, as expected at the main stage with all that paraphernalia of light and sound.

Now the originality and authenticity of sound Sixties thing that moment was priceless, it seemed that I was back in time and was seeing a band called the "British Invasion" in the 60s. The show of Link Wray was spectacular, but the brightness of Milkshakes that night was in my memory for ever.

It’s in my memory forever too – I was there, and also at a few other Milkshakes gigs, most memorably at the legendary Hope and Anchor pub in Islington. Listen to their take on Bo Diddley’s Cadillac to hear this sense of respect for tradition without stooping to mere tribute; listen to their own composition – Jaguar – to hear a straight-faced British twist on the long-established American tradition of singing about cars.

Demo Portability X 2:

Check out two (2) demo versions of the Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner” and also two (2) demo versions of the Beastie Boys’ “Car Thief”.

The Cars Mixtape

Car Thief (Demo) - Beastie Boys
Car Thief (Demo 2) - Beastie Boys
Hot Rod Racer - Dick Dale
[Brand New] Cadillac – The Hergs
Rocket 88 - Jackie Brenston
Gas Money - Jan and Arnie
Jaguar – The Milkshakes
Cadillac – The Milkshakes
Cadillac Walk - Mink Deville
Roadrunner (Demo) - Modern Lovers
Roadrunner (Demo 2) - Modern Lovers
Helen Wheels - Paul McCartney and Wings
Phantom Wheels - Scooter Gil and the Accents
Boss Hoss – The Sonics
2-4-6-8 Motorway - Tom Robinson Band
Low Rider - War


Here's the original Cars tape.

Dandelion Whine: the Flowers Mixtape

When there’s no future
how can there be sin?
We are the flowers in the dustbin
--GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, 1977

When critics said the Sex Pistols were nihilistic, this must have been the line they were referring to. It's not fair. Nihilism suggests immorality, but with this couplet, John Lydon evokes something more like thoughtful exasperation, and, more poignantly, deep sadness. But at this point, you would be right in thinking: "I thought this was supposed to be a mixtape about flowers?"

A shamrock is a flower, right? Close enough. I've been looking for an excuse to put the Royal Teens, the band behind the original "Short Shorts", on a mixtape. "Sham Rock" would be one of the sleaziest grooves ever made were it not simultaneously so innocent...



Flowers grow where? In gardens -- that's where. In "Beautiful Gardens", the Cramps updated Kim Fowley's cartoon acid trip vibe featured on the last mixtape. The track here is from a cassette bootleg I bought in Camden Market 25 years ago, featuring live versions of most tunes from the Psychedelic Jungle LP...Psychedelic is also the theme of Pebbles Volume 3, the album that brought Chrystal Chandlier's "Suicidal Flowers" to my attention. While the singer featured there provides adequate back-up for Jim Morrison, the Better Sweet is an early Grateful Dead doppelganger on "Like the Flowers", featured on volume three of the Bad Vibrations compilation series.

The Flowers Mixtape

Like The Flowers – Better Sweet
The Wildwood Flower – Carter Family
Suicidal Flowers – Chrystal Chandlier
Beautiful Gardens (Live 1981) – The Cramps
BONUS TRACK: Don't Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk (Live 1981) - The Cramps
BONUS TRACK: Primitive (Live 1981) - The Cramps
New Rose – The Damned
La Vie En Rose – Grace Jones
Rose of My Heart – Johnny Cash
Give My Love to Rose – Johnny Cash
Orange Blossom Special - Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
Blue Flower – Mazzy Star
Sham Rock – The Royal Teens
God Save the Queen – Sex Pistols
Apple Blossom – White Stripes
Blue Orchid – White Stripes
Pictures of Lily – The Who
Dandylion Clock - Wild Billy Childish & the Musicians of the British Empire
Psycho Daisies – The Yardbirds

Here is the track list for BD's Flowers tape.

Together Forever: The Wedding Mixtape

I was ready to concede right away; I just didn’t have much of anything on topic for weddings. Of course I took this literally (I mean, look at what I’m doing with this project – if I’m not overly literal, who is?). There’s Pretty Thing, my favorite Bo Diddley recording, which I would play at any wedding in which I was put in charge of the music (as the bride walked down the aisle, of course)… Bryan Ferry talked about taking wedding vows in Let’s Stick Together… And of course there’s Chapel of Love by the Dixie Cups, which Jonathan Richman says he recorded in the 70s only because he heard that Iggy Pop liked the song…

Then I saw that BD’s list had some stuff that was not necessarily about the ceremony itself, just about being married. It occurred to me that extending the meaning could include quite a few more songs about husbands and wives, marriages, being together forever, etc. But a lot of those—like Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division, Someone Must’ve Nailed Us Together by Len Bright Combo, and Married With Children by Oasis—are more about unhappy marriages potentially splitting at the seams. As such, I could have possibly held them back for the Divorce theme, which is next on the list, and they might have fit in just as well. Others—including Wouldn’t It Be Nice by the Beach Boys and Semaphore Signals by Wreckless Eric—are simply dreams about the possibility of someday getting hitched. Meanwhile, the 70s funk classic leading off the mixtape is all about not getting married, and getting shacked up instead. Turns out to not be a bad tape at all, but I’m left feeling a little dissatisfied (and, it’s a little too short), so I will take the hit on this one.

The Wedding Mixtape

Shack Up – Banbarra
Wouldn’t It Be Nice – Beach Boys
Pretty Thing – Bo Diddley
Let’s Stick Together – Bryan Ferry
Peggy Sue Got Married – Buddy Holly
Chapel of Love – Dixie Cups
Melancholy Serenade (Honeymooners Theme) – Jackie Gleason Orchestra
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Someone Must’ve Nailed Us Together – Len Bright Combo
Married With Children – Oasis
Wedding Ring – The Stingrays
Semaphore Signals – Wreckless Eric

Here is a link to BD’s winning wedding tape.

Whoa Dad: the Fathers Mixtape

The Vietnam War flick Apocalypse Now did more for Jim Morrison’s career than anything he did himself while he was still alive, bringing The Doors to a generation of teenagers too young to have known their seamier side in real-time, even if they remembered their Top 40 hits from always being on the radio. The oedipal pomp-rock opus that ended the film (“The End”) paved the way for more pop music daddy dissing in subsequent years.


But your dad won’t understand
That our love is true
And I can’t leave you here
So he...can hit on you
--24 HOURS TO VEGAS (1984)

Daddy likes men
--WE’RE A HAPPY FAMILY (1977)

Dear Daddy, I write you, in spite of years of silence
You cleaned up, found Jesus, things are good or so I hear
This bottle of Steven’s awakens ancient feelings
Like father, step-father, the son is drowning in the flood!
--SAY IT AINT SO (1994)

“The Mad Daddy” is the Cramps’ tribute to the Cleveland beatnik DJ and original horror movie host Pete “Mad Daddy” Myers, who debuted on WJW in Cleveland in 1958…Just like in the Notorious B.I.G.s “Big Poppa,” in Ella Mae Morse’s “Shoo Shoo Baby”, references to “papa” and “daddy” are clearly terms of sweetheart endearment. Or are they? The WWII soldier sayanara song never properly resolves this question…Spoonie Gee’s “The Godfather” serves the same purpose as Roxanne Shante’s “Big Mama” (see the Mothers Mixtape), at least in terms of boasting his parentage of rap. His paternal claims came earlier, in 1987, but eight years after the pioneer MC’s first record…

The Fathers Mixtape:

The Mad Daddy – The Cramps
Diddley Daddy – Bo Diddley
The End – The Doors
Shoo Shoo Baby – Ella Mae Morse
24 Hours to Vegas – The Huns (Iowa 1984)
Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag – James Brown
Daddy and Home – Jimmie Rodgers
Big Poppa – Notorious B.I.G.
Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway – Gerry Rafferty
We’re a Happy Family – Ramones
Son of Byford – Run DMC
Listen to Your Father – Feargal Sharkey
The Godfather – Spoonie Gee
Papa Was a Rolling Stone – The Temptations
Whoa Dad – The Trashmen
Gone Daddy Gone – Violent Femmes
Say it Aint So – Weezer