Greatest Misses (August 2004)
We’ve skipped ahead several years, but don’t worry, you aren’t missing anything. We’re doing something a little different this week.
The idea behind this mix was that these were songs that somehow never made it onto one of the original twenty tapes. They aren’t things I didn’t know about at the time and only discovered later, they were things that by all rights should have been included but somehow got overlooked.
Even with this simple mission it’s a flawed collection. There are things here that it’s pretty easy to explain to omission of and were never serious contenders.
As you can see, there’s no way this could be a single 90- or 100-minute tape. I will talk about that later.
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- Billy Joel – A Matter Of Trust
Please save all your groanings until the end of the lecture. I won’t deny that I liked Billy Joel, and still like this song. I don’t know that the series needed MORE Billy Joel, but if I was going to put some on Love Eats Dirt, this might have been a better choice.
- Hoodoo Gurus – What’s My Scene
This is just a great, solid song. I first discovered the band while in Lafayette, but it also wouldn’t have been out of place on one of the Kelley-era tapes, such as That’s About the Size of It.
- Pixies – Here Comes Your Man
I got into the Pixies late with Trompe le Monde, which I loved and mined the hell out of. Even though I went back and got their earlier stuff, it seemed strange to jump all the way back once I was done with the later album. How Can There Be a God When There’s So Much Corn got “Planet of Sound” which is one of the screamy Pixies songs, and given the amount of grunge on that one, it probably could have benefitted from this more melodic tune.
- Dash Rip Rock – Pack Your Bags
This was a local Louisiana band. Although I first listened to them and saw them live while in Lafayette, it was later at LSU that I really heard a lot of them. This song got added to about five different tapes, but never made it to the final cut, and I don’t know why. There are a bunch of tapes it could have gone on, but I’m going to put it on Me and the Soviet Union.
- The Jesus and Mary Chain – You Trip Me Up
Definitely should have gone on Love Eats Dirt. “My Little Underground” was considered for that one as well.
- Love and Rockets – Life in Laralay
Honestly, there is just enough Love and Rockets already. Still, this could replace “Ball of Confusion” on Bad Karma, since I like it better than that one.
- The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
One of my all-time favorite songs, and even though it was already a few years old when I started this whole mess, I went through a Police phase during it. It would work fine on Life in the Big City.
- The Church – Under The Milky Way
This song was everywhere for a while, but there’s a reason. It’s gorgeous without seeming too calculated. It would be fine on Gene Pool of the Damned.
- Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill
This is a tough one. Love Eats Dirt is probably accurate for when I was listening to this, but Kate’s already on there singing with Peter Gabriel on “Don’t Give Up”. And Paradise Misplaced just isn’t right for it. So I’m not sure on this one.
- Men At Work – Overkill
I really like this song, but when did it come out? Still, it can easily join in with some of the crazy stuff on How Can There Be a God When There’s So Much Corn and then Altered Beast came out right afterwards. He appears non-stop after that, and I like all the songs of his I’ve picked. So what can I do? Simple. Go back in time, get into him earlier, and put this on A Hand Big Enough to Slap the World. Seems obvious in hindsight, doesn’t it?
- Faith No More – Epic
Sure, this can go on A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That.
- Depeche Mode – People Are People
All the scads of Depeche Mode songs, including one of them twice and yet somehow their biggest hit was avoided. The hell? It’s tempting to simply replace the duplicate “Shake the Disease” with it, but instead I’ll put it on Life in the Big City.
- They Might Be Giants – Ana Ng
I liked They Might Be Giants pretty steadily from Flood, despite their sporadic appearances here. This suffers from the same “earlier album” problem that the Pixies did above. I think it could go on Dead Fly in My Nehi.
- Husker Du – Never Talking To You Again
I never got into Husker Du, though I know I’m supposed to. Kelley introduced me to this song and I dig its stark forwardness. It could have gone on It Never Ends!
- Miracle Legion – Just Say Hello
This whole mess started with a copy of a copy of a mix tape of unknown origin, and after I left Lafayette Ben presented me with another of those. It contained, among other things, this song, but at the time I had no idea who it was. No one else seemed to know either. For years I liked this song with no success in identifying it. (You can read about this quest here.) If I got the tape in 1988, as I think I did, this song could go on Gene Pool of the Damned and just be credited to “Unknown”.
- Donald Fagen – New Frontier
Who am I kidding? Love the song, but there’s not a single tape this would fit on.
- The Replacements – Can’t Hardly Wait
It’s a much better song than “Achin’ to Be” and can replace that on That’s About the Size of It.
- Lush – De-Luxe
This is another one that got added and removed several times. Shoulda been on Dead Fly in My Nehi.
- Alphaville – Big in Japan
I’m not sure. Maybe replacing “Fallen Angel” on Bad Karma?
- Kraftwerk – Pocket Calculator
Definitely one for Life in the Big City.
- Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – If You Leave
A no-brainer. Love Eats Dirt.
- Don Dixon – Praying Mantis
I played the hell out of this on KRVS. Why isn’t it on Paradise Misplaced?
- Peter Gabriel – In Your Eyes
I don’t know about this one. It’s a good song, but I think it can still be omitted.
- Suzanne Vega – Tired Of Sleeping
This one might be cheating. I never got Days of Open Hand and only heard it after I started dating Becky, so I hadn’t actually heard it at the time that I might have put it on A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That.
- U2 – With or Without You
I fell under the spell of this song just as everyone else did, and I’m surprised it didn’t turn up on Paradise Misplaced or Gene Pool of the Damned.
- Elvis Costello – Alison
I got to Elvis Costello late, of course, and no one can deny how great this song is, but I’m not sure it has a place. “Oliver’s Army” was an odd choice for Aversion Therapy, but I don’t think this would fit there, and any further on down and it becomes even more anachronistic. So I’m okay with continuing to leave this off.
- R.E.M. – Driver 8
This is my all-time favorite R.E.M. song. But the only open slot I have for it is on Love Eats Dirt, which it doesn’t really fit on. After that it’s two albums previous and getting overwhelmed by new stuff. Once again we’ll have to grab the time machine and put it on Aversion Therapy.
- Cocteau Twins – Lorelei
Angel introduced me to the Cocteau Twins and though I really liked them, I was kind of wary of putting them on a tape for some reason. This probably could have gone on Love Eats Dirt.
- Peter Murphy – Indigo Eyes
I could see this on Gene Pool of the Damned, couldn’t you?
- Duran Duran – Ordinary World
Stop laughing! This is a really good song! It totally should have gone on Jacking Into the Net, Stat!
- Ultra Vivid Scene – Lightning
I love this song, no lie, but I don’t think anyone can say this album or band is under-represented on the tapes as is. Instead of this, I might suggest “She Screamed” or “Crash” from UVS’s first album, as only one track from it ever got included. But I don’t know where I’d put either of them.
It’s pretty self-explanatory, no?
Click on the player below to listen to this mix!
(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)
Tags: Alphaville, Billy Joel, Cocteau Twins, Dash Rip Rock, Depeche Mode, Don Dixon, Donald Fagen, Duran Duran, Elvis Costello, Faith No More, Hoodoo Gurus, Husker Du, Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, Love and Rockets, Lush, Matthew Sweet, Men At Work, Miracle Legion, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Peter Gabriel, Peter Murphy, Pixies, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shriekback, Suzanne Vega, The Church, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Police, The Replacements, They Might Be Giants, U2, Ultra Vivid Scene
