One of the reasons I first made the Timothology back in 1996 was to share the highlights of my CD collection with friends. If I remember right, another reason was to make the complete history of rock and pop in America; I kind of did that, but out of order and with a bunch of mutant songs mixed in as well. That reason is still there for Strange Aeons, but my musical tastes have become broader and deeper (and thank goodness for that development). I'm still trying to give people stacks of tracks they'd never encountered before and I would guess that this set is going to be a success in that regard.
This disc is meant to thank everyone who clued me in to a track I'd never heard before and that I enjoyed. It's also a fitting way to wrap up the mix. It's also also meant to be linked with discs 46 and 47--songs from people who are no longer with us, a celebration of a producer that killed himself 45 years ago, and then all the new things I had no idea about; thankfully, my friends are looking out for me and they've sent me YouTube links or burned their own CDs to let me know about some cool stuff that I needed in my life.
These aren't the only songs on the set that someone else told me about, of course; every single disc has something on it that I wouldn't have known about unless I got super lucky and heard it on Pandora or something. The radio in the Detroit area is virtually useless for uncovering new stuff, but the internet and my friends are great sources for music I hadn't heard.
So. Until next time--if there is a next time--this is the final playlist for any Timothology. I hope you like it.
Timothology: Strange Aeons Disc 48 / 48
Theme: Songs my friends hipped me to
Label phrase: "With a little help from my friends"
01) Beepin Squeal / Bob Kelly
02) Roadrunner / The Modern Lovers
03) Bad Girls Go to Hell / The Forbidden Dimension
04) Rochambeau (explicit version) / The Spider Bombs
05) Telstar (live) / The Tornados
06) Waterloo / ABBA
07) Waterloo / Stonewall Jackson
08) El Paso / Marty Robbins
09) Crucify Your Mind / Rodriguez
10) A Little Respect / Erasure
11) We Take Care of Our Own / Bruce Springsteen
12) Rudi (A Message To You) / Jump Around / Woman If You Love Me (medley) / The Lidds
13) Soy Bomb / Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives
14) Turkish Song of the Damned / The Pogues
15) Superbeast / Rob Zombie
16) Skylab (Theme from the Monks) / The Monks
17) Monk Chant (live) / The Monks
18) Missile Silo / Crunchy
19) La Bomba / Tonio K.
20) (It'll Be) Just Like Tron / The Cooper Vane
21) This Time Next Year / Pat McCurdy
22) Handlebars / Flobots
23) Clean Elvis / Dan Reeder
Monday, September 2, 2013
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Disc 47 / 48
Hey, I did this twice so it's a tradition. "Joe Meek Fights Back From the Grave!" is my personal testimonial that the RGM Sound is not dead. If you know me well enough to have a Timothology you already know about Meek and I don't need to restate the depth of his influence and genius here. I also don't need to remind you just how much I needed a bunch of bouncy upbeat pop songs that resonate so well with someone who has never been comfortable in his own skin. And I probably don't need to mention: drums miked so close they sound like thunder or rifle shots, angelic women's voices in the chorus, early synthesizers, death ditties, stomping feet used in lieu of percussion instruments, a key change for the last verse, and bleepy electroskronk sound effects at the beginning and/or end of a song.
So. Here it is, in final release form after over a hundred attempts to codify what Joe Meek means to me in one disc (and occasionally two: "He Heard a New World" and "Meeksville Sound is Dead"; as it turns out, I didn't want to drop any of the other 47 discs from the set to make room for two RGM tributes). 79 minutes of music from people who were influenced by Joe Meek enough to want to create art in his memory (or just rip off his percussion sound, as the Dave Clark Five did).
The final track on this disc is perhaps the best Meek tribute ever made, and I don't know that the artists were trying to do that when they recorded it. Listen to it again and then meet me at the bottom of the post.
Timothology: Strange Aeons Disc 47 / 48
Theme: Joe Meek tributes and soundalikes
Label phrase: "Joe Meek Fights Back From the Grave!"
01) No. 1 With a Bullet / Alan Moore and Tim Perkins
02) Red Rocket / The Tornados
03) Joe Meek / Wreckless Eric
04) Bits and Pieces / The Dave Clark Five
05) The Orbitus / The Ron Drand Orchestra
06) Joe Meek's Dream (single version) / Narrow Sparrow
07) Johnny, Are You Queer? / Josie Cotton
08) Telstar / Les Fradkin
09) Baby, I Love You / Andy Kim
10) Navy Blue / Diane Renay
11) Ghost Power / The Chords
12) I'm Gonna Love You Too / Terry Jacks
13) Meek My Joe / Die Zorros
14) Lonely Joe / Robb Shenton
15) Popcorn / Hot Butter
16) Fox on the Run / The Sweet
17) My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From Titanic) / Los Straitjackets
18) Unforgettable Love / Russ Sainty
19) Joe Meek / The Pocket Gods
20) Insufficient Data / The Masonics
21) Strange New World / Jacqueline Hyde and the Moonfolk
22) White Noise Maker / Frank Black
23) The Mighty Atom / The Kaisers
24) Joe Meek / Pluto Monkey
25) He Stood in the Bath and He Stamped on the Floor / Jonathan King
26) Passport to the Future / Jean-Jacques Perry
27) The Staircase Stomp / The Deadbeat Poets
28) Maybe / Jill Read
"Jill Read" does not exist and never did. The vocals on that track were provided by Dave Edmunds, who figured out how to pitch-shift his voice (by recording at a slower speed and then playing the tape back normally, I believe) and make himself sound like a woman. In order to fit seamlessly with the backing musicians, he would have had to record his track in a different key and at a precisely calibrated speed for every single note, word and phrase so that it would mesh with the rest of the band. I don't know if he recorded his part first and then arranged all the backing instruments or got the band to lay down the backing tracks first and then calculated everything he'd have to do to synch up with them, but either way it's an inconceivable amount of effort for a song that he wasn't even releasing under his own name.
A production gimmick from start to finish that gives you a technique that nobody ever did before, and a song that wouldn't have been possible without pushing the envelope of what was considered possible. Just like Joe Meek did in his kitchen in 1962.
So. Here it is, in final release form after over a hundred attempts to codify what Joe Meek means to me in one disc (and occasionally two: "He Heard a New World" and "Meeksville Sound is Dead"; as it turns out, I didn't want to drop any of the other 47 discs from the set to make room for two RGM tributes). 79 minutes of music from people who were influenced by Joe Meek enough to want to create art in his memory (or just rip off his percussion sound, as the Dave Clark Five did).
The final track on this disc is perhaps the best Meek tribute ever made, and I don't know that the artists were trying to do that when they recorded it. Listen to it again and then meet me at the bottom of the post.
Timothology: Strange Aeons Disc 47 / 48
Theme: Joe Meek tributes and soundalikes
Label phrase: "Joe Meek Fights Back From the Grave!"
01) No. 1 With a Bullet / Alan Moore and Tim Perkins
02) Red Rocket / The Tornados
03) Joe Meek / Wreckless Eric
04) Bits and Pieces / The Dave Clark Five
05) The Orbitus / The Ron Drand Orchestra
06) Joe Meek's Dream (single version) / Narrow Sparrow
07) Johnny, Are You Queer? / Josie Cotton
08) Telstar / Les Fradkin
09) Baby, I Love You / Andy Kim
10) Navy Blue / Diane Renay
11) Ghost Power / The Chords
12) I'm Gonna Love You Too / Terry Jacks
13) Meek My Joe / Die Zorros
14) Lonely Joe / Robb Shenton
15) Popcorn / Hot Butter
16) Fox on the Run / The Sweet
17) My Heart Will Go On (Love Theme From Titanic) / Los Straitjackets
18) Unforgettable Love / Russ Sainty
19) Joe Meek / The Pocket Gods
20) Insufficient Data / The Masonics
21) Strange New World / Jacqueline Hyde and the Moonfolk
22) White Noise Maker / Frank Black
23) The Mighty Atom / The Kaisers
24) Joe Meek / Pluto Monkey
25) He Stood in the Bath and He Stamped on the Floor / Jonathan King
26) Passport to the Future / Jean-Jacques Perry
27) The Staircase Stomp / The Deadbeat Poets
28) Maybe / Jill Read
"Jill Read" does not exist and never did. The vocals on that track were provided by Dave Edmunds, who figured out how to pitch-shift his voice (by recording at a slower speed and then playing the tape back normally, I believe) and make himself sound like a woman. In order to fit seamlessly with the backing musicians, he would have had to record his track in a different key and at a precisely calibrated speed for every single note, word and phrase so that it would mesh with the rest of the band. I don't know if he recorded his part first and then arranged all the backing instruments or got the band to lay down the backing tracks first and then calculated everything he'd have to do to synch up with them, but either way it's an inconceivable amount of effort for a song that he wasn't even releasing under his own name.
A production gimmick from start to finish that gives you a technique that nobody ever did before, and a song that wouldn't have been possible without pushing the envelope of what was considered possible. Just like Joe Meek did in his kitchen in 1962.
Disc 46 / 48
I spent a lot of time crossing off songs from this list, putting them back on, rearranging things, and basically going through dozens of drafts of this disc while I was assembling it. I wanted to make a disc showing what world culture has lost with the deaths of these singers, and to remind people that the art outlives the artist. It is my hope that the Timothology will be remembered longer than I am; people's kids might even take the discs off the shelf and listen to them (or download them to a data wafer the size of a fingernail clipping and have all the music forever). In this way they will at least know there was a guy named Tim who put together a whole bunch of music for his own amusement and that of his friends.
In order to be included in this playlist, one of three conditions had to be met: 1) A solo artist had to be dead (Ronnie Montrose, Ritchie Valens, Hank Williams and Desmond Dekker were all billed under their names, instead of being part of a band). 2) If a musician died and the band they were in broke up or retired (Morphine disbanded after Mark Sandman's death, for example). 3) Fifty percent of the original members of the band had died (which the Ventures and the Ramones have in common; AFAIK the Ventures are still touring but the Ramones are not).
Broke a couple rules on this one as well, or at least bent them. But I wanted to have Joey Ramone's cover of "What a Wonderful World" on it, because it's so wonderfully optimistic and positive. And then "Carbona Not Glue" because the Ramones got sued by the makers of Carbona, who were less than thrilled that their industrial solvent was being sung about as a better high than sniffing glue.
Shooby Taylor had more fun siging than perhaps anyone else ever did, or ever will. And so I had to double-dip with Johnny Cash on this one; it wouldn't be a Timothology disc without some outsider music on it. For that matter, the Joe Meek track on this disc is a tribute to Eddie Cochran, who is also represented on the track list. References to other references. Wheels within wheels.
For a good long while, "Last Dance" was the last track on the disc. Then I got Vincent Price singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", and that's just not a song you can follow.
Timothology: Strange Aeons Disc 46 / 48
Theme: Voices (and instruments) of the dead
Label phrase: "...To the LAST stop..."
01) People Who Died / The Jim Carroll Band
02) La Bamba / Ritchie Valens
03) Chantilly Lace / The Big Bopper
04) Not Fade Away / Buddy Holly
05) I Want to Dance With Somebody / Whitney Houston
06) C'mon Everybody / Eddie Cochran
07) Telstar / Ronnie Montrose
08) Buena / Morphine
09) Lost Highway / Hank Williams
10) Israelites / Desmond Dekker
11) Crazy Country Hop / Johnny Otis
12) Billie Jean / Michael Jackson
13) In My Life / Johnny Cash
14) Walk Don't Run / The Ventures
15) Ooby Dooby / Roy Orbison
16) Carbona Not Glue / The Ramones
17) Just Like Eddie / Heinz
18) Since You're Gone / Bo Diddley
19) Kentucky Rain / Elvis Presley
20) Folsom Prison Blues / Shooby Taylor and Johnny Cash
21) Cut the Mullet / Wesley Willis
22) Greece (instrumental) / George Harrison
23) Last Dance / Donna Summer
24) What a Wonderful World / Joey Ramone
25) Bring On the Lucie (Freeda Peeple) / John Lennon
26) Somewhere Over the Rainbow / Vincent Price
In order to be included in this playlist, one of three conditions had to be met: 1) A solo artist had to be dead (Ronnie Montrose, Ritchie Valens, Hank Williams and Desmond Dekker were all billed under their names, instead of being part of a band). 2) If a musician died and the band they were in broke up or retired (Morphine disbanded after Mark Sandman's death, for example). 3) Fifty percent of the original members of the band had died (which the Ventures and the Ramones have in common; AFAIK the Ventures are still touring but the Ramones are not).
Broke a couple rules on this one as well, or at least bent them. But I wanted to have Joey Ramone's cover of "What a Wonderful World" on it, because it's so wonderfully optimistic and positive. And then "Carbona Not Glue" because the Ramones got sued by the makers of Carbona, who were less than thrilled that their industrial solvent was being sung about as a better high than sniffing glue.
Shooby Taylor had more fun siging than perhaps anyone else ever did, or ever will. And so I had to double-dip with Johnny Cash on this one; it wouldn't be a Timothology disc without some outsider music on it. For that matter, the Joe Meek track on this disc is a tribute to Eddie Cochran, who is also represented on the track list. References to other references. Wheels within wheels.
For a good long while, "Last Dance" was the last track on the disc. Then I got Vincent Price singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", and that's just not a song you can follow.
Timothology: Strange Aeons Disc 46 / 48
Theme: Voices (and instruments) of the dead
Label phrase: "...To the LAST stop..."
01) People Who Died / The Jim Carroll Band
02) La Bamba / Ritchie Valens
03) Chantilly Lace / The Big Bopper
04) Not Fade Away / Buddy Holly
05) I Want to Dance With Somebody / Whitney Houston
06) C'mon Everybody / Eddie Cochran
07) Telstar / Ronnie Montrose
08) Buena / Morphine
09) Lost Highway / Hank Williams
10) Israelites / Desmond Dekker
11) Crazy Country Hop / Johnny Otis
12) Billie Jean / Michael Jackson
13) In My Life / Johnny Cash
14) Walk Don't Run / The Ventures
15) Ooby Dooby / Roy Orbison
16) Carbona Not Glue / The Ramones
17) Just Like Eddie / Heinz
18) Since You're Gone / Bo Diddley
19) Kentucky Rain / Elvis Presley
20) Folsom Prison Blues / Shooby Taylor and Johnny Cash
21) Cut the Mullet / Wesley Willis
22) Greece (instrumental) / George Harrison
23) Last Dance / Donna Summer
24) What a Wonderful World / Joey Ramone
25) Bring On the Lucie (Freeda Peeple) / John Lennon
26) Somewhere Over the Rainbow / Vincent Price
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