That’s About the Size of It (June, 1990)

 

My second semester in the Pentagon dorms was a drag, with the guy directly below me and the guy directly above me having a contest to see who could be the most annoying. The one below me was also the RA, so I wasn’t going to get any help there. As a result, in January of 1990 I returned to LSU but was now residing in my very first own apartment. It was an efficiency in the Library Apartments in Tigerland, on a street named after some football player. There’s not a street, building, or water fountain in Baton Rouge named for Robert Penn Warren, but there’s a whole subdivision devoted to football players.

It was very cool having my own apartment, small as it was. Among my neighbors were Ingolf (a/k/a “Wolf”), who was a really nice guy, and Corey, who was in a lot of my writing classes. I was now an English major and was doing a lot of writing, though ultimately very little of it proved to be remotely worthwhile.

Kelley and I were still together, despite the long-distance relationship. It was a strain — she was pretty much the only person I knew in Natchitoches, and she lived in a dorm, so when I went there to visit her, there was nothing to do and nowhere for me to stay, but in a Motel 6. Eventually I ended up driving up there on Friday, picking her up, driving back that evening, and then returning her on Sunday (when she didn’t just drive down herself). That’s 16 hours of the weekend in a car. Also around this time I began driving for Domino’s Pizza, so I was working as well. It was getting harder and harder to maintain the relationship.

The Mighty Lemon Drops – At Midnight R.E.M. – Get Up The Pursuit Of Happiness – She’s So Young The Feelies – Away James McMurtry – I’m Not From Here Uncle Green – Vulnerability The Replacements – Achin’ To Be Deacon Blue – Real Gone Kid Michelle Shocked – On the Greener Side The Sundays – Here’s Where The Story Ends Sinéad O’Connor – Jump In The River Kate Bush – Love and Anger	The Cure – Pictures Of You The Beloved – Hello The Smiths – Stretch Out And Wait The Lilac Time – American Eyes The Stone Roses – Elephant Stone The Lightning Seeds – Pure The House of Love – Shine On The Jesus and Mary Chain – Blues from a Gun Depeche Mode – Policy Of Truth Shriekback – Shark Walk Nine Inch Nails – Head Like a Hole Spacemen 3 – So Hot (Wash Away All Of My Tears)

With this tape I broke the 90-minute barrier. Originally it was a 90 minute tape, but almost immediately afterwards I bought two albums that demanded to have representative songs on it. I decided to give the newish 100-minute tapes a try, inserting a new song onto each side. Despite horror stories from well-meaning friends, I never had a single tape break on me.

Although a lot of my usual type of stuff can be found here, you can definitely see Kelley’s influence in the “crunchier” music that is also seeping in.

• The Mighty Lemon Drops – At Midnight
• R.E.M. – Get Up
• The Pursuit Of Happiness – She’s So Young
• The Feelies – Away
• The Replacements – Achin’ To Be
• Deacon Blue – Real Gone Kid
• The Smiths – Stretch Out And Wait
• The Stone Roses – Elephant Stone
• The House of Love – Shine On
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Blues from a Gun
• Depeche Mode – Policy Of Truth
• Shriekback – Shark Walk
• Spacemen 3 – So Hot (Wash Away All Of My Tears)

These are just more of the same from before. The sheer number of them shows that I’m going into a rut here that will continue a bit on the next mix. That Shriekback song is really scraping the bottom of the Go Bang! barrel. “Shine On” only sounds like the most pretentious song ever because you haven’t yet heard the one on the next mix. I really gave those guys far too much credit. On the flip side, that Spacemen 3 track is a lovely, lovely song.

• James McMurtry – I’m Not From Here

Son of Larry, the writer. Sound Woohoo (Warehouse) had little listening kiosks now where you could slip on some headphones and try out some new stuff, and it usually featured lesser-known artists. I sampled this album, Too Long in the Wasteland and even though it was a lot more country/folksy/not-having-synthesizers than I usually went for, something about it grabbed me. Probably the fact that it’s a really well-done album with some great songs on it.

• Uncle Green – Vulnerability

Back when I worked at KRVS, Ben and I had a policy that any albums which came in and were on clear vinyl got played. Thus, “Chemical Way” by Uncle Green got played on the show, but that was the last I heard of these guys until I stumbled across their You CD and recognized the name. This is another great album that remains a favorite. I like this song, but the track that is far and away my favorite got saved for the next mix, and I’m not sure why.

• Michelle Shocked – On the Greener Side

Michelle’s new album, Captain Swing, took a while to grow on me, but eventually it did. I remember cleaning my apartment one day and listening to both Michelle Shocked and the Indigo Girls. “It’s lesbians with guitars day over here!” I told someone who called. I later found out that Michelle Shocked is not, in fact, a lesbian, but I don’t think she’d mind the error.

• The Sundays – Here’s Where The Story Ends
• The Lightning Seeds – Pure

These are the two tracks that forced me to go to 100 minutes. The Sundays’ first album is a thing of beauty and “Pure” is just a dazzling, gorgeous song.

• Sinéad O’Connor – Jump In The River

Sinead’s back! It’s a shame that now she’s only known for being a kook because she tore up a photo of the Pope on Saturday Night Live to protest sexual abuse in the Catholic church. It’s a shame both because it took attention away from the fact that she is tremendously talented and because you know what? She was right.

• Kate Bush – Love and Anger

This is a strange one because I don’t own this album and never did. I don’t really know where I heard it or who I borrowed it from to put it on the tape. It is a Kate Bush mystery! But I do like the song!

• The Cure – Pictures Of You

This song clocks in at seven and a half minutes and almost didn’t make the cut. I was wary of putting anything that long on a tape, since I only had so much room to work with. But it stayed on and became the longest song at the time to get featured on one of these tapes.

• The Beloved – Hello

This was a band that the British mags were liking. I bought the album and liked this track okay, but the rest of it was a bit too disco for me and I didn’t keep it for long.

• The Lilac Time – American Eyes

I can’t tell you much about this album, apart from the two songs that made it onto my tapes. I don’t have it anymore, so it must not have had much of an effect on me. Still, this is a great little song. The bit around the break, “…and never quite goes,” gets me every time.

• Nine Inch Nails – Head Like a Hole

And then there’s this. Back on Gene Pool of the Damned I mentioned seeing the Jesus and Mary Chain at Tipitina’s in New Orleans, with another band opening. This was that other band, which none of us had ever heard of before. And I have to say, they blew the crowd away. I don’t know how many people were at that show, but I’m pretty sure every one of them bought a copy of Pretty Hate Machine the next day.

Honestly, I have no idea where this title came from. I know it was something I’d say from time to time, but I’ve no idea what was so memorable about the phrase that became the title of one of the tapes. It’s such a lame title that when I was working on making covers, it gave me almost nothing to go on, so I just went with a sort of 50s retro theme.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

It Never Ends! (November, 1989)

 

Kelley and I hit it off and that summer we started dating. Although she was going to school in Natchitoches (pronounced “NAK-a-dish”), about four hours from Baton Rouge, she was in New Orleans for the summer, so I saw a lot of her. I was still living in the Pentagon dorms, which weren’t air conditioned and which were unbearably hot.

Kelley was a positive influence on me in a lot of ways. She was from Dallas and introduced me to a lot of more folky-type music than I’d been used to. She also really liked movies (she was a theater major) and I saw a lot of movies while we dated. I had also made friends with Jody, who influenced my musical taste as well and got me into comic books again. I was really starting to develop a life away from New Orleans.

When the summer ended Kelley went back to school in Natchitoches. We still saw each other on weekends, when either she would come to Baton Rouge or I would go to north Louisiana. Where I wasn’t going, for the most part, was back home.

Spacemen 3 – Revolution The Cure – Fascination Street The Replacements – Talent Show The Jesus and Mary Chain – Between Planets Deacon Blue – Wages Day The House Of Love – Road John Moore + Expressway – Something About You Girl The Proclaimers – Over And Done With Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Little Miss S. Morrissey – Suedehead Tom Tom Club – Suboceana	R.E.M. – You Are The Everything The Feelies – It’s Only Life Indigo Girls – Prince Of Darkness Alex Chilton – Baby The Smiths – I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish Elvis Costello – Veronica The Stone Roses – She Bangs the Drums Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus New Order – Sub-Culture Shriekback – Nighttown The The – Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)

With constant long trips between Natchitoches and Baton Rouge, I spent a lot of time listening to music in the car. My old mix tapes came in quite handy here, as well as the tapes I made for entire bands. I would also buy CDs and put them on tapes to listen to on the road. Any song that got rewound a lot before moving on to the next was a contender for the next mix tape.

By this time I had tape-making down to a science. I knew approximately how much wiggle room I had on a Maxell XL-IIs 90-minute tape, and I had written a spreadsheet in Excel that would calculate the time on each side and the total time. I could plan things out so as to squeeze as much as I could onto a tape.

• Spacemen 3 – Revolution

You might wonder why, since I enjoyed DJing at KRVS so much, I never became a DJ at KLSU. Truth is, I did try out for it, but didn’t make it. I remember not being terribly upset about it at the time, but I’m sure there were a fair number of sour grapes involved. One thing I remember about the experience was that, while I was in the studio, I saw the new Spacemen 3 album (which I already had and loved). There was a sticker on it with notes from one of the station guys saying how awesome it was, how every track was worth playing, and so forth. A few days later the same guy wrote a review of the album for LSU’s newspaper and declared it as a ho-hum album that just showed how the British music press will go nuts for anything these days.

• The Cure – Fascination Street

Disintegration didn’t grab me at first, and that kind of bummed me out. Then I listened to it at night, with most of the lights off, and that’s when I got it.

• The Replacements – Talent Show
• Deacon Blue – Wages Day
• The House Of Love – Road
• The Proclaimers – Over And Done With
• Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Little Miss S.
• Indigo Girls – Prince Of Darkness
• Alex Chilton – Baby
• The Smiths – I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish
• Shriekback – Nighttown

Not a lot of specialness here. The Smiths are a little played out at this point, and the second Deacon Blue album was not so good. I’ve been slagging Go Bang! by Shriekback, but “Nighttown” is a good tune, and probably should have been featured sooner.

• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Between Planets

Automatic is probably the best-known JAMC album, and it’s a really good one, revving up Darklands just enough.

• John Moore + Expressway – Something About You Girl

This is a terrible song. Really, it’s awful, and I’m sorry it’s here. When Bobby Gillespie left the Jesus and Mary Chain to found Primal Scream, this guy, John Moore, took over for him. He too left and formed this band, and I bought the CD because of the JAMC connection. And it was bad. I guess this song was an attempt to find something good about it but man, it’s bad.

• Morrissey – Suedehead

This is the end of the Morrissey, which is a shame because I really should have followed him more closely. I liked Viva Hate and I’ve liked every single I’ve heard from him since, so I don’t know why I never went any further with him.

• Tom Tom Club – Suboceana

I have no idea where I first heard this song or why I bought it, but I’d like to point out that I owned it as a cassingle.

• R.E.M. – You Are The Everything

I think this is a beautiful song, and one of my all-time favorites. I saw REM in concert around this time and bought a t-shirt, which was stolen from my seat while I was still at the show. So Jill helped me hand make one. It turned out really nice and I was sad when it finally became to small for me.

• The Feelies – It’s Only Life

This is a very nice and very subtle album. How subtle? I didn’t really care for it at first and got rid of it. I saw it again in the record store, realized that I actually did like it, and bought it again!

• Elvis Costello – Veronica

I love this song and maybe a couple others on Spike, but my newly-found appreciation for Elvis Costello quickly turned into a newly-found appreciation for his older stuff, not so much the newer stuff.

• The Stone Roses – She Bangs the Drums

I really don’t know what to say about this album other than GUYS IT IS SO GODDAMN AWESOME.

• Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus

Depeche Mode returns with a new album that I absolutely love, and consider to be their last good one (though it won’t be the last one I buy). Violator was full of the energy and drive I found missing from Music for the Masses, and I played the hell out of it.

• New Order – Sub-Culture

I have no idea why this tune from 1985 suddenly appeared here. Had I rediscovered Low-Life? I honestly don’t have a clue but hey, it’s a great song.

• The The – Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)

I wasn’t quite as crazy about Mind Bomb as I had been about the previous albums, and I wonder if I should listen to it now with more mature ears. I found it to be too sedate for a The The album, and I actually found Johnny Marr’s guitar work on it to be distracting. This is the end of the line for them, I’m afraid. (And I didn’t know until very recently that Matt Johnson is doing a parody of the intro to “Ballroom Blitz” by (The) Sweet at the beginning of this song!)

Among the people I had become friends with were George and Dave, the Hardcore Boys, who DJed the Saturday night Hardcore show for KLSU. Through them I helped hone my ability to rant, and developed a character called “Pentagon Man” as a sort of iconized rant with his motto, “It Never Ends!” That’s him on the cover I made. There may still be stray Pentagon Men doodled in various places around the LSU campus – I remember drawing one on a wall in the Astronomy building. The back cover is, of course, a t-shirt for a Frat Party…these were ubiquitous at LSU.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Aversion Therapy (June, 1989)

 

In January of 1989 I started at LSU, living in the Pentagon dorms. It was a good time, and I spent it trying to shake the grime of New Orleans off of me. I was running with Liz’s crowd, making new friends, and not going back home on the weekends.

I matured to some extent, and tried new things, like an acting class (and briefly toyed with going into theater.) I also did a lot of things I hadn’t done before – got a lot more social, went to parties, went and played pool at The Bayou. Michelle and I never panned out, but I did start dating Jill at this time, which didn’t last very long due to unresolved issues for both of us (mine was named Katie, I forgot what hers was named.) But, unlike my other doomed relationships, we were able to stay friends. I at last discovered how much I enjoyed learning, and dove into a wide variety of classes.

I opened my mind a lot at this point — too much, in some ways — and read a lot of philosophy, weird mystic crap, and basically tried to figure out a spiritual angle for myself. Unfortunately, this resulted in me taking in a lot of junk at this point, like Tarot cards, but I eventually figured out the psychology that was really behind them and discarded them. It was a big awakening for me. Fortunately, I balanced a lot of this woo-woo junk with Flim-Flam by James Randi, which started me on a better path.

Just after I made this tape I headed for New Orleans with Ben (from Lafayette) to see Alex Chilton in concert, and with us was a friend from high school named Anita who I had somehow gotten back in touch with, and her friend Kelley. I confess that I kind of had a thing for Anita, but it was Kelley I would end up with.

The Pursuit Of Happiness – Hard To Laugh Guadalcanal Diary – Always Saturday The Jesus and Mary Chain – Everything’s Alright When You’re Down The Mighty Lemon Drops – Take Me Up Indigo Girls – Closer To Fine The Replacements – I’ll Be You R.E.M. – Stand Deacon Blue – Dignity The The – This Is The Day Michelle Shocked – V. F. D. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Circle Alex Chilton – Let Me Get Close To You Siouxsie and the Banshees – Burn Up

Jonathan Richman – Roadrunner Love and Rockets – 4 Stars (Jungle Law) The House Of Love – Christine 10,000 Maniacs – Like the Weather Everything But The Girl – Heaven Help Me Elvis Costello – Oliver’s Army Wire – Eardrum Buzz Shriekback – Big Fun Christmas – Richard Nixon Voice of the Beehive – What You Have Is Enough Violent Femmes – Lies The Sugarcubes – Delicious Demon The Cure – In Between Days The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before

What’s notable is what isn’t here. This is the first tape without a Depeche Mode song. Boy, I really wasn’t crazy about Music For the Masses, I suppose.

• The Pursuit Of Happiness – Hard To Laugh

Although I may have read about this album (Love Junk) in one of the music mags, I’m fairly sure it was another one picked up on a whim. It is a great album, full of good rocking tunes.

• Guadalcanal Diary – Always Saturday

The follow up to the incredible 2 x 4 was Flip-Flop which…well…do I need to say it? This was the one track worth salvaging off of it.

• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Everything’s Alright When You’re Down
• The Mighty Lemon Drops – Take Me Up
• Deacon Blue – Dignity
• The The – This Is The Day
• Michelle Shocked – V. F. D.
• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Burn Up
• 10,000 Maniacs – Like the Weather
• Shriekback – Big Fun
• Voice of the Beehive – What You Have Is Enough
• The Sugarcubes – Delicious Demon
• The Cure – In Between Days
• The Smiths – Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before

Nothing special about these. “This is the Day” is a little out of place, and that Shriekback song is not overly good.

• Indigo Girls – Closer To Fine

Yes, I too got caught up in the neo-boho crunchiness of pop music in 1989.

• The Replacements – I’ll Be You

The Replacements followed up Pleased to Meet Me with this bizarrely overproduced album. It’s okay, and has some good stuff on it, but it’s so clearly the beginning of the end for them.

• R.E.M. – Stand

R.E.M. hit it huge with Green, and for good reason. It’s a very good album. As overplayed as “Stand” came to be, it’s still a lot of fun to listen to.

• Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Circle

Speaking of neo-boho, here it is incarnate. Jill and I went to see Edie in New Orleans (McAllistar, perhaps?) and it was the weirdest show I ever went to. It was an older (than us, at least) crowd, and there was row seating. Everyone sat down, and the few people who tried to stand up were chastised back into sitting down by the people behind them. When the band played “What I Am”, suddenly it was as though someone had pressed the “dance” button…everyone stood up, shook around a bit, and had a good time, and then immediately returned to their seats when the song ended, remaining there for the rest of the show.

• Alex Chilton – Let Me Get Close To You

As I said, the Replacements’ tribute to Chilton got me to check out the man himself, and there was no better time to jump on board than for High Priest, which is a hell of an album. I’ve seen him perform a number of times and he’s never disappointed.

• Jonathan Richman – Roadrunner

Twelve years later, I discover the Modern Lovers. I don’t remember who pointed me towards Jonathan Richman. It’s possible that I stumbled into him myself or read a review somewhere. This track is credited to Richman only here because it came off a “Best of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers” CD I picked up. Of course, by this point Richman is a solo act (and still is) and is another one you should see if you get a chance. This song is four minutes of pure pop bliss.

• Love and Rockets – 4 Stars (Jungle Law)

This is the jumping-off point for Love and Rockets for me. Their fourth, self-titled album is a sludgy mess with few indications of how good the band could be. Most folks would have put the hit single “So Alive” in here, but this tune is much better than that one, which is something, because this one is not very good.

• The House Of Love – Christine

This band was all over the British music mags (which, at this point, I stop following.) I adore this song, and they did a couple other good ones but boy howdy are they a pretentious, non-fun bunch the rest of the time.

• Everything But The Girl – Heaven Help Me

Jill turned me on to this album (Love Not Money) and while I like the whole thing, this song is just amazing.

• Elvis Costello – Oliver’s Army

Here I am catching up with the rest of the world on Elvis Costello. I grabbed a “Greatest Hits” CD because I felt I should check him out and it was everything I imagined. Why this song instead of just about any other? No idea.

• Wire – Eardrum Buzz

It’s a shame that, given Wire’s incredible catalog, the only representative I have of them is this totally disposable, near-novelty song. Don’t get me wrong, I like it, but nobody (including me, at the time) is going to go, “Wow, I need to hear more of these guys!” upon listening to this.

• Christmas – Richard Nixon

A very odd album that I ended up giving away. These folks later went on to ride the “swing” train as Combustible Edison.

• Violent Femmes – Lies

A new Violent Femmes album, hooray! Oh. It’s full of Gordon Gano’s Jesus songs.

Liz and I had a common problem of individuals whose presence in our heads kept us from making wise romantic decisions. We joked about needing some kind of aversion therapy to get the positive associations away from those people. Something along the line of her saying “Katie!” and then burning me with a cigarette (I was smoking around this time – and no, we didn’t really burn each other.) That’s where the title came from.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Gene Pool of the Damned (December, 1988)

 

I returned to New Orleans and began to stagnate. I had a job working for Orleans Sea Food Company, dating nobody, and falling back on previous habits, such as hanging out on computer BBS systems again. I orbited the same circle of friends before (even attempting to become friends with Merlin again, which ultimately didn’t take) and although many of them had now moved on to somewhat different things, not a whole lot had changed for everyone. It was a strange part of my life, actually, very aimless, and I’m not sure what I was trying to accomplish. I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself, so I just kind of floated around.

For some reason there was a lot of high sexual strangeness going on (none of it affecting me). There’s no need to name names here, but a lot of the people I knew now seemed to be involved in various intricate and unsettling permutations with one another. (And let’s be frank here, it’s not like I was missing a lot of this by choice…not my choice, at least.) I was constantly getting second- and third-hand reports of the latest doings and trysts. The whole thing was very odd and soap-opera-ish because in addition to all the screwing, there were all these weird petty jealousies and such going on.

The only issue of my own I had during all this was a brief fling with a girl named Beth who I met through Christine (now living near St. Louis). They visited New Orleans and I hooked up with Beth during that time. Eventually I flew out there to spend a week with her and wasn’t off the plane fifteen minutes before getting to meet Beth’s new boyfriend.

To back up a little, though, when I was going to USL, my trips back and forth to New Orleans often included a pit stop to give Liz a ride to/from home. Liz was one of the gang with Katie and Charlyn, and was now going to LSU. I ended up palling with her and her friends there, including Michelle, who I got kind of sweet on. During this time I started to head up to LSU on weekends to hang out there, and started to consider staying up there for good.

Rob told me that such plans were futile, that a change in location would not help me, but by December I didn’t care. I had to get out of New Orleans, away from these people. I had had enough of all of it and I headed for Baton Rouge and Louisiana State University and I never looked back (much).

Colourbox – Hot Doggie The The – Slow Train To Dawn R.E.M. – Exhuming McCarthy Deacon Blue – Raintown The Jesus and Mary Chain – Sidewalking The Cure – Catch Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights Morrissey – Hairdresser On Fire Guadalcanal Diary – Litany (Life Goes On) 10,000 Maniacs – Don’t Talk The Mighty Lemon Drops – Inside Out Shriekback – Go Bang	Love And Rockets – Yin And Yang And The Flower Pot Man (Remix) Depeche Mode – Shake the Disease Sinéad O’Connor – Mandinka The Bolshoi – Modern Man The Sugarcubes – Motorcrash Siouxsie and the Banshees – Peek-A-Boo Michelle Shocked – Anchorage The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out Voice of the Beehive – I Say Nothing Jerry Harrison – Cherokee Chief The Replacements – The Ledge

In keeping with how the story has gone, this one also represents a bit of stagnation. It’s not a bad mix, but there are a lot of wells I’m going back to here, and one especially egregious example of such. There is something notable, nevertheless: around this time I bought my first CD player. Since I was living at home, working, and had few expenses, I was buying a LOT of CDs (including a lot of things I already owned on vinyl.) Not only was this tape constructed pretty much entirely from CDs I owned, it’s one where I believe I still have every song on it on CD.

• Colourbox – Hot Doggie

This is from the 4AD compilation, Lonely is an Eyesore, and it’s by far my favorite track on there. I also liked the Cocteau Twins and Clan of Xymox tracks on there and dug both bands, though neither one of them ever made it onto a mix for some reason. As much as I love this song, I never really sought out any of Colourbox’s other stuff.

• The The – Slow Train To Dawn
• Guadalcanal Diary – Litany (Life Goes On)
• The Mighty Lemon Drops – Inside Out
• Love And Rockets – Yin And Yang And The Flower Pot Man (Remix)
• Sinéad O’Connor – Mandinka
• The Bolshoi – Modern Man
• The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
• Voice of the Beehive – I Say Nothing

Nothing notable here, really, just some more of the same. That Bolshoi track seems kind of out of place here for some reason. And just as trivia, I believe “Slow Train to Dawn” was the first song I ever played on KRVS.

• R.E.M. – Exhuming McCarthy

You can’t tell by this track, but this is the point where I fell for R.E.M. hard. I like Document well enough, but I now went back and really started devouring the previous stuff like never before.

• Deacon Blue – Raintown

Here’s how much I was buying music: I’m in Tower Records one night and I see this album by a band called Deacon Blue, called Raintown. I like the cover. The band is named after a Steely Dan song I like. I like the album title. Something about the entire package (except the music, which I haven’t heard) “clicks” for me, so I buy it. Fortunately, I turn out to really like the album. (I tried this same thing with other CDs and didn’t encounter success.)

• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Sidewalking

Barbed Wire Kisses came out after Darklands, even though a lot of it was recorded before that album, and it shows the JAMC progressing from the fuzzy sound of their first album to the more melodic second. On the one hand it gives a bit of context to the progression, but at the cost of taking away the surprising about-face they did.

I’m jumping ahead a bit here, but I eventually saw the band play at Tipitina’s (with an opening act to be named later). My friend Jody accompanied me and I warned him that everything I had read about the JAMC in concert assured me that they were AWFUL live. Sure enough, they were halfway through this song — one of my favorites — before I recognized what they were playing. (In fairness, I saw them two more times after that and they were much better.)

• The Cure – Catch

Also jumping ahead here…at LSU I ended up auditioning for a play, and the audition required “performing” a song as though the lyrics were dialogue. This is the song I picked for that. (I got called back but didn’t get the part.)

• Kate Bush – Wuthering Heights

Not sure why I suddenly get into Kate Bush here, with a song that wasn’t new to anyone except me.

• Morrissey – Hairdresser On Fire

Right as I’m getting into The Smiths, they break up and Morrissey goes solo. Is it cheating to have both on the same tape? At least I put them on different sides.

• 10,000 Maniacs – Don’t Talk

R.E.M.’s newfound mainstream success had a lot of similar acts being pushed hard. These were the darlings of the indie rock scene at the time both because of their affable sound and because let’s face it, Natalie Merchant was way cute.

• Shriekback – Go Bang

Shriekback put out a new album for which this is the title track. And Stephen and I wanted to love love love it like we did the others but lord, it was not that good. It did have some moments on it, but for the most part it was something of a mess (and the inclusion of an ill-conceived cover of “Get Down Tonight” by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, featuring a rap, was pretty much a test for even the most devoted fans.) Nevertheless, the fact that they didn’t follow it up with anything for some time means that four tracks from this album will get mined from it, when maybe two would have been enough.

• Depeche Mode – Shake the Disease

This is the WTF-est track on here. Yes, you are remembering correctly. It’s not a remix or live or anything, it’s the exact same song that was already on The Cool New Music Tape II. I have no idea why it’s back.

And it’s not like Depeche Mode wasn’t putting out new music, either! Music For The Masses had come out and was wowing everyone (except me, I guess — I never loved it as much as everyone else seemed to, but it eventually grew on me more.) I will say that the album works best as a whole, with few tracks that sound as good in isolation (I had already used “Strangelove” on Paradise Misplaced.) The track that probably should have gone here is “Little 15″. But even without the new album, there was so much else I could have put if I wanted an older tune. Hell, I hadn’t ever used “People Are People”!

• The Sugarcubes – Motorcrash

Looka little Bjork! The British music press adored the Sugarcubes and I liked their first album as well, even the songs where whatshisname would come in and start talking all over the place. We also saw them play at Tipitina’s and ended up leaving after only a few songs because, honestly, they weren’t that good. (I think I won the tickets by calling into WTUL, which I listened to a lot at work.)

• Siouxsie and the Banshees – Peek-A-Boo
• Jerry Harrison – Cherokee Chief

I’m sure Siouxsie fans regard Peepshow as the absolute nadir of the band, but it was great for a faux-goth like myself. And did you know Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads (and yes, the Modern Lovers, but I didn’t know that yet) put out a solo album (two, actually)? Unfortunately for him, most people didn’t know this. It’s not bad, if a bit more by-the-numbers than you’d expect.

• Michelle Shocked – Anchorage

If this seems unusual for me, you’re not wrong. But again, the British music mags went gaga for Michelle-Shocked’s Texas Campfire Tapes, so when I saw her new album, Short Sharp Shocked at Sound Woohoo (our name for Sound Warehouse), I gave it a try, and ended up liking it a bunch, to my own surprise.

• The Replacements – The Ledge

I mentioned it in a comment on the last mix, but it deserves proper mention, and this is a worthwhile place to do so. While I was at USL, Michael Dodd, my former friend who became a hated enemy, took his own life. Afterwards I played this song during my radio show as a “tribute” to him.

“Gene Pool of the Damned” was one of the nicer terms I had come up with to describe the circle of friends I had grown up with who were now in these weird, angry, incestuous relationships with each other. The Barrel of Monkeys from the cover was another metaphor I used, since there didn’t seem to be any way to have just one of them without getting the whole bunch along for the ride. (and see if you can find me in the diagram on the back cover!)

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)