A Hand Big Enough to Slap the World (January 1993)

 

Kyle graduated from LSU in May of ’92, and I was looking to get away from that apartment complex anyway, so Kurt and I ended up moving in together around that time. We managed to find a place that wasn’t so close to campus that we were surrounded by fratboys and living on a football player street, but was close enough for the carless Kurt to get to school. We ended up in Place DuPlantier apartments on Lee Drive. Rent there was more than we should have paid, but it turned out to be a pretty good apartment. It was great living with Kurt, who was the best roommate I ever had. We had a lot in common, including a lot of the same habits, which led to a messy apartment but very few arguments.

My work was becoming more frustrating as I was starting to learn the joy of working tech support. I had the usual stupid user stories and headaches, and the usual clueless boss (not my immediate boss, but the head of the department) who made things extra difficult. I started to get dreams of becoming a network administrator in the private sector, and the huge dollars and respect that would garner me. It got to the point where a ringing phone would send my blood pressure up, even at home, because I had been conditioned to expect some annoying problem on the other end.

However, in other respects things were going great. Jeff and I were becoming really good friends and Becky and I had gotten more and more serious, to the point where by the time this tape was made, we were engaged.

Pixies – Trompe Le Monde Nine Inch Nails – Wish Pearl Jam – Alive Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away Live – Pain Lies on the Riverside Suzanne Vega – 99.9 F° Nirvana – Lithium Sugar – Helpless Velvet Crush – Ash And Earth Dada – Dim Toad The Wet Sprocket – Hold Her Down Soul Asylum – Runaway Train Ultra Vivid Scene – Poison

Poi Dog Pondering – Lackluster The Lemonheads – Confetti The Jesus and Mary Chain – Rollercoaster Eugenius – Oomalama They Might Be Giants – I Palindrome I Spin Doctors – Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong The Judy Bats – Our Story Juliana Hatfield – Lost and Saved Teenage Fanclub – December T-Bone Burnett – Primitives The Sundays – Love Shriekback – Beatles Zebra Crossing? Spiritualized – Step Into the Breeze R.E.M. – Nightswimming

This tape is a lot less lazy, with a bunch of new stuff and some returning favorites.

• Pixies – Trompe Le Monde
• Pearl Jam – Alive
• Live – Pain Lies on the Riverside
• Nirvana – Lithium
• Ultra Vivid Scene – Poison
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Rollercoaster
• The Judy Bats – Our Story
• Teenage Fanclub – December
• T-Bone Burnett – Primitives

It’s the end of the road for Live, The Judy Bats, Teenage Fanclub, and T-Bone. I love this Ultra Vivid Scene song but I’m not sure why I never grabbed more from the first album.

• Nine Inch Nails – Wish

Trent Reznor took his sweet time following up his debut album, and therefore when Broken turned out to be slightly more than an EP, it was hard not to be disappointed. In fact, we coined the term “Broken” to describe any CD that annoyingly clocked in at under 45 minutes. I liked this song, but the rest didn’t do a lot for me, and neither did The Downward Spiral a few years later. What I’m saying is, Nine Inch Nails and I part ways here.

• Red Hot Chili Peppers – Give It Away

This is the funnest song ever.

• Suzanne Vega – 99.9 F°

It’s been ten tapes and six years since we last saw Suzanne Vega. She had an album in between, but I had kind of lost track of her. This new album, of which this is the title track, knocked my socks off, and made me fall in love with her all over again.

• Sugar – Helpless

Bob Mould’s back in his “Sugar” incarnation. I dug the hell out of this album and was just as excited about more to come from this group as Bob seemed in interviews.

• Velvet Crush – Ash And Earth

I have no idea where I heard about these guys, but I remember scouring every record store looking for the CD until I finally had to get Parasite to special order it for me. And then I wasn’t sure what I had, as it was too fuzzy to be Material Issue but not moody enough to be The Jesus and Mary Chain. It took me a while to acclimate to the sound.

• Dada – Dim

What I remember most about this CD: it stunk. I don’t mean that figuratively, though I don’t own it any more and let’s face it, this is not a good song. I mean the CD itself had this horrible stench to it.

• Toad The Wet Sprocket – Hold Her Down

Out of all the poppy songs on this album, I chose a song about rape. Go, me!

• Soul Asylum – Runaway Train

I know, I know. I too bought this album for some reason, and I too eventually sold it back. I still like this song well enough, though.

• Poi Dog Pondering – Lackluster

For some reason I always associate these guys with Kelley, but here they are debuting way after we broke up, so obviously I got them from someone else. This album is a lot of fun, even if it does often stray into tie-dye-and-hacky-sack territory.

• The Lemonheads – Confetti

I had enjoyed Favorite Spanish Dishes and Lovey, so when It’s a Shame About Ray came out, I bought it right away. The loyalty of me and other fans was repaid when, a few months later, the album was reissued with a bonus track, their cover of “Mrs. Robinson”. Thanks! Evan Dando and company catch a lot of flack still, but this album is still a great slice of pop.

• Eugenius – Oomalama

Anyone remember these guys? I believe they were originally called Captain America, but a little-known comic book company had something to say about that, so they changed their name. When I was recreating these tapes on mp3 I had a hard time finding this track. Some may say the effort was not worth it.

• They Might Be Giants – I Palindrome I

They Might Be Giants appeared before, and I had been listening to them since, but they never quite made the cut for some reason. Even though this song from Apollo 18 makes it, and there’s more where that came from, they will once again vanish for several tapes.

• Spin Doctors – Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong

Guys, I am so, so sorry.

If I had no scruples, this track would be thrown down the memory hole and replaced with something else, say…”Renee Remains the Same” by Material Issue, or “Our Swingin’ Pad” by Jonathan Richman, or “De-Luxe” by Lush. But no, I am a man of honor and this is what’s on the tape. I assume that I liked it at some point, but I honestly can’t remember this song…this band not irritating the hell out of me. This is the absolute nadir of the series as far as I am concerned, and I know a few things coming up.

• Juliana Hatfield – Lost and Saved

I don’t know anything about the behind-the-scenes antics of all these musicians, but I just assumed that every guy Juliana Hatfield sang about was Evan Dando. I don’t know if that’s true or not. Juliana was (and is, I think) immensely talented but always seemed to be holding back, like she was afraid of doing too well. She should have been much more huge than she was.

• The Sundays – Love

Remember this band? I didn’t think much of their second album, including the cover of “Wild Horses” that was in heavy rotation. This song was the only thing I salvaged before selling it back.

• Shriekback – Beatles Zebra Crossing?

It had only been four years since Go Bang!, but that album combined with the fact that the last one had been a pretty limp compilation had convinced me that this band was done. So I was surprised not only when Sacred City was released, but also that it wasn’t bad!

• Spiritualized – Step Into the Breeze

One of the bands that Spacemen 3 self-destructed into, Spiritualized kept up the theme of “like this chord? I hope so…it’s all you get for the next six minutes.” This is the band that finally convinced me that of all drugs, I liked the music that heroin inspired the best.

• R.E.M. – Nightswimming

Everybody loves Automatic For the People except me. I suppose I did at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight I now recognize it as the beginning of the end for R.E.M. This song I love, but the rest of the album is now just dreck to me (and even with this song, I wish I could hear a version without the piano and strings. Why do you pay a guy like Peter Buck and then slather goddamn strings over everything?)

Not much to explain here; it’s pretty self-explanatory. I was angry about something or other. A lot of people were bugging me, I suppose, and I needed a hand big enough to slap the world. The cover is a literal interpretation.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Me and the Soviet Union (December 1991)

 

Just before I moved out of my apartment in the summer of ’91 I decided to call a girl I’d met in one of my creative writing classes, Becky. I finally got my courage up to ask her out, but before I could do so, she mentioned a new boyfriend she had. However, shortly after that the boyfriend was no more, and I decided to ask her out. We started dating on August 14th.

Things were great – Becky wasn’t like most of the other girls I had dated. She was less prone to self-destructive behavior stemming from a terrible family life. In a lot of ways, although she was younger than me, I found her very intimidating. Still, we got along very well and were fairly serious in a short amount of time. Through her I expanded my circle of friends to include Jeff, Sean and Joanna, Deshae, Martin, and Doug. Most of these were people I had sort of known before, but she knew a lot better.

I tried to get into writing some more at this time, since I was still toying with the idea of going to graduate school for an MFA in Creative Writing, but that plan was slipping further and further away the more I realized I just wasn’t interested in doing it. Problem was, I didn’t know what I was interested in. So I graduated from LSU in December of 1991 with a degree in English and absolutely no idea where I would go from there.

Dramarama – Until The Next Time Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – Kill Your Television The Trash Can Sinatras – Obscurity Knocks Toad the Wet Sprocket – Butterflies Ultra Vivid Scene – Three Stars The Lightning Seeds – The Nearly Man The Charlatans – The Only One I Know The Soup Dragons – Mother Universe [Remix] Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine – Midnight on the Murder Mile U2 – Mysterious Ways Bob Mould – Out Of Your Life Head Candy – Mona Lisa Overdrive Pixies – Subbacultcha Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit

The Jesus and Mary Chain – Head On Voice of the Beehive – Adonis Blue Uncle Green – I Don’t Know (I Just Wish) R.E.M. – Half A World Away The Lemonheads – Ride With Me Power of Dreams – Maire I Don’t Love You Material Issue – Very First Lie Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Woyaho The La’s – There She Goes Trout Fishing in America – Sleepytime Cartoon Crash Test Dummies – Comin’ Back Soon The Sundays – Can’t Be Sure The Stone Roses – Waterfall Straitjacket Fits – Down in Splendour

This isn’t a bad followup to the previous, and still has a good variety.

• Dramarama – Until The Next Time

I don’t remember how I got into these guys, but Vinyl is a whole lot of fun. I have a memory of this song: the power had flickered off in the middle of the night and come back on, and my CD player just started playing what was in it. I slept through it until, suddenly in my ear was “BANG AND HERE WE GO!”

This was also the time when bands were playing with the CD format. There’s a hidden track on this album called “Steve is Here” which is about a minute long. Except instead of being one minute-long track, it’s 60 one-second long tracks. You won’t know this unless either you’re watching the track counter on the player go up or, in my case, you’re got six disks in the player on shuffle and keep hearing it load a list, play one second of sound, and then load a different disc.

• Ned’s Atomic Dustbin – Kill Your Television

More of the fun music coming out of England at the time. There really was something in the water over there.

• The Trash Can Sinatras – Obscurity Knocks
• Ultra Vivid Scene – Three Stars
• The Lightning Seeds – The Nearly Man
• The Charlatans – The Only One I Know
• Bob Mould – Out Of Your Life
• R.E.M. – Half A World Away
• The Lemonheads – Ride With Me
• Material Issue – Very First Lie
• Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Woyaho
• The Sundays – Can’t Be Sure
• The Stone Roses – Waterfall

These are the holdover from previously. It’s the end for the Lightning Seeds and The Stone Roses, and The Sundays are going to take a break. Bob Mould is leaving us as well, but he’ll be back soon.

• Toad the Wet Sprocket – Butterflies

These were the new indie darling, and for good reason: Fear is a damn fine album (this track sort of belies the jangle-pop rest of it.) I’ll eventually use three tracks off of it but not “Walk on the Ocean” or “All I Want”, the two biggest songs from it.

• The Soup Dragons – Mother Universe [Remix]
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine – Midnight on the Murder Mile

“Mother Universe” is another track from the Indie Top 20 CD I got so much mileage out of on Dead Fly in My Nehi. Speaking of which, I said before that only one of the bands was one I would continue to follow? Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine is that band. I have 101 Damnations and still love it (and its title) and I used to have 30 Something but I don’t know what happened to it.

• U2 – Mysterious Ways

I managed to make it through their early career, their serious phase, and their first bombastic phase without paying much attention to U2, (and, fair enough, I owned and liked The Joshua Tree) but they finally hit paydirt for me with Achtung Baby, despite it being a little bit of all of that rolled into one. Nevertheless, this is one of only two songs by U2 that will make it onto these tapes.

• Head Candy – Mona Lisa Overdrive

Not a great song by not a great band that nobody but me has ever heard of, but hey, they had the comic character “The Vision” on their CD cover and a song named after a William Gibson book, so I gave them a shot. Something tells me these guys listened to a little Blue Oyster Cult.

• Pixies – Subbacultcha

Yes, I didn’t get into the Pixies until Trompe le Monde, which is the album the true fans all hate, mostly because it got people like me into the band. I’ve since bought their other ones and I like about half of each one, but honestly, I can do without the songs that are just Black Francis screaming, and this album has less of that than the others.

Jeff and I used to try to turn this into a “Subway” sandwich shop ad. “SHE WAS HAVING A TURKEY SUB I WAS HAVING A TURKEY SUB WAY DOWN DOWN DOWN IN THIS…Subbawaya!”

• Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit

Speaking of screamy bands, in 1991 you were obligated to own this, since it was of course Changing Everything. And it did…in hindsight, not exactly for the better. Things are about to get a lot more dour and miserable in the American music scene, folks.

• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Head On

I don’t know why it took me this long to get to THE song off Automatic (it’s the fifth track I’ve pulled off it.)

• Voice of the Beehive – Adonis Blue

Voice of the Beehive are back with their second album, Honey Lingers (it was going to be called something else that sort of rhymes, but their label balked.) It’s okay, but it didn’t consistently grab me as much as the first one did.

• Uncle Green – I Don’t Know (I Just Wish)

Speaking of disappointing follow-ups, Uncle Green’s What an Experiment His Head Was is just…well, it’s not good, people.

• Power of Dreams – Maire I Don’t Love You

Remember Rob? I briefly got in touch with him again at this time. He was living uptown in New Orleans and doing something that got him promotional CDs. This was one of two he gave me, and I liked it pretty well, though I eventually got rid of it. In fact, when compiling these mp3s I figured this one would be impossible to find but it turned out my library had a copy of it.

• The La’s – There She Goes

I have a very vivid memory of dropping Becky off at her dorm one night and this song coming on after it and me just feeling this overwhelming sense of joy.

• Trout Fishing in America – Sleepytime Cartoon

Becky had a friend in Shreveport named Deshae. They were such good friends, in fact, and Deshae was such a great person, that I felt like I really wanted to make a great impression on her. This was a band that Deshae and her friends really dug, and they’re great fun. It’s two guys, and they just make this nice, fun music. When they tour, they tend to do two shows: a kid’s show during the day and an adults show at night. (They play many of the same songs.) We saw them a couple of times and always enjoyed it.

• Crash Test Dummies – Comin’ Back Soon

This is a clever song in its way but oh my god this is one of the most insufferable bands in history.

• Straitjacket Fits – Down in Splendour

The other CD Rob gave me. I love this song and could just listen to it on endless repeat. The rest of the album, Melt is similarly moody and haunting.

On August 19, 1991 there was a coup in the Soviet Union that failed, basically putting the final nail in the coffin of the USSR. A few days earlier I got a new girlfriend. I had told someone, “A lot has happened in the past week for me and the Soviet Union.” The cover design is a rather literal interpretation.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

Dead Fly in My Nehi (July 1991)

 

And the beat went on. My betrayal of Kelley’s trust culminated in me cheating on her with, of all people, Katie. Had she known this at the time she would have gone ballistic, as she hated to hear anything about Katie (which I suppose is understandable, up to a point). In addition, I was trying to make plans for graduate school (I would graduate in December) and Kelley and I both noticed they didn’t include her. So we called it quits. When I think about it, I’m kind of surprised we lasted as long as we did, because we really didn’t have a whole lot in common. Breaking up made a lot more sense than us ever being together, actually.

Predictably, as soon as it was all over and I was free to tango with whomever I want, all the women I’d been cheating on Kelley with disappeared. I even wanted to try to get together with Katie again, but that was a lost cause. I went back to her place once and we were just sitting around talking and suddenly I felt incredibly uncomfortable and realized I hardly knew this person. I bolted first chance I could.

That was the bad stuff. On the other hand, this is possibly one of the best tapes I ever made and has a lot of good memories associated with it. It was summer, I was driving for Domino’s again so I was making some money, I had that weird giddy feeling you get after you break up with someone, and things seemed good, actually. I was hanging out a lot with Anna and Kurt, and also Kyle (who I had met through BBS) and Chris, and we had a really good time. We were playing a lot of role-playing games, like Talislanta and Champions, along with other games like Illuminati! and Talisman. It was a great, fun summer, and Anna and Kurt and I still have a lot of in-jokes from this time.

Towards the end of this period, Kyle’s roommate suddenly lost her mind and moved out, leaving Kyle in the lurch for a roommate. My rent was going up on my smaller place, so I decided to move into Tiger Plaza with him, changing my address to a different street named after a different football player.

DiVinyls – I Touch Myself Ultra Vivid Scene – Lynn-Marie #2 The Shamen – ProGen Bob Mould – Stop Your Crying Inspiral Carpets – This is How it Feels R.E.M. – Losing My Religion Uncle Green – A Word Of Advice World Party – Take It Up Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Black and Blue James McMurtry – Terry The La’s – Timeless Melody The Replacements – Bent Out of Shape Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine – Sheriff Fatman

EMF – Unbelievable Nine Inch Nails – Down in It The Jesus and Mary Chain – Here Comes Alice Birdland – Sleep With Me The Sundays – I Kicked A Boy New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Big The Lemonheads – Different Drum The Stone Roses – Made of Stone The Lightning Seeds – Sweet Dreams The Charlatans – White Shirt Ride – Taste Material Issue – Diane McCarthy – Get A Knife Between Your Teeth The Trash Can Sinatras – Circling the Circumference

This is a great tape with only a few missteps on it.

• DiVinyls – I Touch Myself

I’ll hear nothing bad about this song! Seriously, this song is hilarious; I especially like the part where, in case you doubt her sincerity, she assures you, “I honestly do!”

• Ultra Vivid Scene – Lynn-Marie #2

As soon as I fell in love with Ultra Vivid Scene’s second album, I knew I had to have the first, self-titled one as well. I put in a special order at the indie record shop and soon fell in love with that album as well. Could Kurt Ralske and Co. do anything I didn’t love?

• The Shamen – ProGen
• Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine – Sheriff Fatman
• Birdland – Sleep With Me
• New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Big
• McCarthy – Get A Knife Between Your Teeth

On some fateful day in 1991 I wandered into Paradise Records (which we called Parasite) and purchased the Melody Maker Indie Top 20, volume 9 (a descendent of the Indie Top 20 Records that had served me so well back in my radio station days.) It was a goldmine of great British music. England was going through its whole “Madchester” scene and a lot of really catchy, fun music was being produced. There are no fewer than five tracks on this tape from this one CD alone. Only one of these bands became one I would stick with, but I loved all these tunes.

One I’m surprised didn’t make the cut was “Monster in the House” by Finitribe. One day we were listening to the Indie Top 20 CD and Anna and I were singing along to this song. Chris asked us to stop because, “I can’t hear the lyrics.” The punchline is: there are only two lines in the song, repeated over and over, so we told him, “The lyrics are ‘A thing like this could warp his mind for life!’ and ‘Just who the hell do you think you are?’ Now you know them.”

• Bob Mould – Stop Your Crying
• Uncle Green – A Word Of Advice
• World Party – Take It Up
• The Replacements – Bent Out of Shape
• Nine Inch Nails – Down in It
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Here Comes Alice
• The Sundays – I Kicked A Boy
• The Stone Roses – Made of Stone
• The Lightning Seeds – Sweet Dreams

Much fewer holdovers here, and only a couple that have been around for a while. I had definitely gotten out of the rut I was in! It’s the end of the line for The Replacements, though, and probably a bit too late.

• Inspiral Carpets – This is How it Feels
• The La’s – Timeless Melody
• EMF – Unbelievable
• The Charlatans – White Shirt
• Ride – Taste
• The Trash Can Sinatras – Circling the Circumference

Complimenting the sounds from the Melody Maker disc were a bunch of new British bands I had also discovered. Laugh if you will at EMF here, but you know you love that song. This stuff sounds like pure, undistilled summer to me.

• R.E.M. – Losing My Religion

A bit of a downer, sure, but listening to this song, you knew it was going to be huge. And it actually doesn’t completely not work in the context of the rest of the tunes here.

• Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Black and Blue

This one from these folks’ more-or-less ignored second album also works pretty well.

• James McMurtry – Terry

But this one? God knows I love me some James McMurtry but wow, does this song bring the whole party to a crashing halt. It’s a good song but boy, is it out of place. What was I thinking?

• The Lemonheads – Different Drum

My first exposure to this band that would, before too long, blow up huge, was their EP, Favorite Spanish Dishes, which featured this cover (as well as covers of “Step By Step” by New Kids on the Block and “Skulls” by Danzig. It’s well worth finding.) The screams that you hear around the middle were a thing running throughout the EP.

• Material Issue – Diane

And THIS bit of Britpop — ha! Fooled you! They’re from the US, but their British-tinged brand of full-force power pop melds completely with the stuff from this second British invasion.

My beverage of choice at this time was Lemon Nehi, and one day I was cleaning up and discovered a half-drunk bottle that now had a dead fly floating in it. Why did this prompt the title of a tape? I have no idea, but the title is kind of funny. For the cover, I went a bit literal, while the back cover is a character sheet from the Champions RPG, based on my character from those days, Killerwatt, the electrical alien.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That (December 1990)

 

The strain on my relationship with Kelley grew even more, and this is the point when I started cheating on her. I’m not proud of this, and I won’t try to defend it, but it happened. Jill and I fooled around a little, and Jill also introduced me to a friend of hers name Denise that I slept with. In addition there was a girl in my English class named Cherie who was also in a long-distance relationship. She and I spent an evening rolling around on my floor, but we both chickened out before we got too far. I don’t know what it was that all of a sudden I had all these women around me.

I knew that sooner or later I was going to have to break up with Kelley, but for a lot of reasons, it didn’t seem that easy. We had gotten somewhat serious before all this, so stepping back would be tough. And there were issues that it’s not my place to talk about here that also made things difficult. But it would have to be done.

On a more positive note, there was a woman that I met who I wasn’t cheating on Kelley with named Anna. We met in my Astronomy class and later had a Creative Writing class together. Her boyfriend Kurt came to LSU not long afterwards and we all became really good friends. In fact, Jill was working at the snack bar in the LSU Student Union and when Kurt first came in, she remarked to him that he looked a lot like someone else she knew. She didn’t know we had already met. People felt Kurt and I looked alike, like brothers or something, but if that was ever true, I think it’s less true now. Anna and Kurt are the first two people in this history that I’ve consistently stayed in touch with since meeting them.

By this time Baton Rouge was becoming a home to me, not just the place I went to school. I had real friends there, a job (I was driving for Domino’s Pizza, which was actually a lot of fun), and an apartment. I was going back to New Orleans less often, since there wasn’t much left for me in that city. In fact, I hardly spoke to anyone there. I also started getting into the BBS scene in Baton Rouge, which wasn’t nearly as fun as it had been in New Orleans, but still introduced me to a few cool people.

The Lightning Seeds – All I Want The Cure – Like Cockatoos Ultra Vivid Scene – Special One The Sundays – Hideous Towns Bob Mould – It’s Too Late The Lilac Time – The Girl Who Waves At Trains Sinéad O’Connor – Black Boys On Mopeds Indigo Girls – Hammer and a Nail World Party – Way Down Now Syd Straw – Future 40′s (String Of Pearls) Everything But The Girl – Driving James McMurtry – Shining Eyes Steve Wynn – Carolyn

The Jesus and Mary Chain – Her Way of Praying The Stone Roses – Bye Bye Badman Uncle Green – Time To Make Demands The Replacements – Nobody R.E.M. – The Flowers Of Guatemala They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse In Your Soul Michelle Shocked – Silent Ways House of Love – Beatles and the Stones The Smiths – This Night Has Opened My Eyes Shriekback – Underwaterboys Depeche Mode – Halo Nine Inch Nails – Sin Spacemen 3 – Lord Can You Hear Me

• The Lightning Seeds – All I Want
• The Sundays – Hideous Towns
• The Lilac Time – The Girl Who Waves At Trains
• Sinéad O’Connor – Black Boys On Mopeds
• Indigo Girls – Hammer and a Nail
• Everything But The Girl – Driving
• James McMurtry – Shining Eyes
• The Jesus and Mary Chain – Her Way of Praying
• The Stone Roses – Bye Bye Badman
• The Replacements – Nobody
• R.E.M. – The Flowers Of Guatemala
• Michelle Shocked – Silent Ways
• House of Love – Beatles and the Stones
• The Smiths – This Night Has Opened My Eyes
• Shriekback – Underwaterboys
• Depeche Mode – Halo
• Nine Inch Nails – Sin
• Spacemen 3 – Lord Can You Hear Me

That’s a LOT of retreads there, and it’s pretty indicative that this is a fairly dull mix. There’s nothing particularly bad here (except maybe that House of Love track; fortunately, we’re saying goodbye to them) but nothing that would be a first choice for anyone. Not a whole lot of thought went into this. (This is the end of the road for The Smiths, by the way. And Shriekback is going to take a little break after this.)

• The Cure – Like Cockatoos

Another retread, but this one has a story behind it. Before I got my job at Domino’s, I briefly tried out for a political action group. This involved going door-to-door looking for donations and petition signatures. It was miserable, and not only because I was terrible at it. To keep myself in any kind of positive spirits, I would sing this song to myself over and over. I don’t know why it worked (it’s not a particularly happy song), but it did.

• Ultra Vivid Scene – Special One

This is the brightest spot here. Sound Woohoo briefly had a free magazine they distributed, which would spotlight new music. Their description of this band sounded interesting, so I tried out the album (Joy: 1969-1990). I loved it and to this day I love it. It’s one of my all-time favorite albums, and I love this song as well.

• Bob Mould – It’s Too Late

I know this is heresy, but I never got into Husker Du. I tried, I really did, but it just didn’t grab me. This solo album of Bob Mould’s did, however, even if it is a bit bombastic and obvious in places (This is Black Sheets of Rain. His previous solo album, Workbook, is much more subtle.)

• World Party – Way Down Now

This was one I got into through Kelley. She heard this song on the radio or something and liked it, so I ended up buying the CD.

• Syd Straw – Future 40′s (String Of Pearls)

No idea how I first heard this Syd Straw album, but it’s a lot of fun. And yeah, that’s Michael Stipe doing guest vocals.

• Steve Wynn – Carolyn

Another one from the Sound Woohoo preview kiosk. I like this song a fair amount, but the rest of the album didn’t grab me. In fact, for the longest time it was hard to find this track as an mp3 — I guess I wasn’t the only one who didn’t dig on this album too hard. I have an impression that this version is different from the original CD track I had, but I can’t tell you why that might be.

• Uncle Green – Time To Make Demands

This is a track that would be someone’s first choice. Much as I like “Vulnerability” from the previous tape, this song is just so much rockin’ fun.

• They Might Be Giants – Birdhouse In Your Soul

Hard to say who introduced me to these guys. There’s a term among TMBG fans: “Floodite”. It is a (derisive, naturally) word for fans who came on board with the release of Flood. I would be one of those fans. Jill, Kurt, and Kyle all were listening to Flood as well, so I don’t know where I heard it first. I had heard the band previously (I had the “Don’t Let’s Start” single) but hadn’t really “gotten” them until this point. (And even then it took me a while to really warm to some of their more oddball tracks.) Flood for me is such a double-edged sword, though. It’s a great album, no doubt, but because it has some humor on it and was so popular, it pigeonholed them as a “funny” band, as though they’re in the same league as Weird Al Yankovic or something. And the fact that they’re so popular among geeks, who can’t help but quote lyrics from them a la Monty Python doesn’t help either.

I got into a discussion on a forum one time about the band and said, “It’s strange to me that a band whose lyrics are constantly about paranoia and dread would get tagged so much as a joke band.” Someone said, “Which songs of theirs mention paranoia or dread?” and all I could reply with was, “Well, just for a start, ALL OF THEM.” Which is only a slight exaggeration.

They just don’t come much blander than this title, do they? Maybe the title prejudices me against thinking this tape is interesting. I’ve no idea what prompted such a dull title, though I do recall my friend Ben from Lafayette using this phrase when asked what he’d been doing lately. I do like what I came up with for the cover, however.

Click on the player below to listen to this mix!

(xspf player courtesy Lacy Morrow and Fabricio Zuardi.)

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.)