1. Holiday in Waikiki - The Kinks 5/5

I like this song a lot. I remember listening to it a lot as a kid. So much better than the Beach Boys'
Beach themed music.

2. A Minha Menina - Os Mutantes 4/5

Os Mutantes aren't one of my favorite Brazilian bands, and I still don't get why they are the most
popular Brazilian bands with Non-Brazilians. That said, this is a very good song. And its mix of psych guitar
crunch with harmony vocals fits well following up the Kinks. I think I recall reading they were the only Brazilian
band you liked? If my memory is correct, have you heard Secos e Molhados? I think you'd like them.

3. A Tender Object - Orange juice 3.5/5

I've only gotten into Orange Juice the past few years. A bit surprising to me given how influential they were
on a lot of bands I really grew up on. I don't recall ever hearing about them until about five years ago though.

4. (I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea - Elvis Costello 5/5

Great tune...I love the rhythmn, beat and pacing of this song. Taking Liberties, the b-sides collection, which this
first appeared on is still my favorite Costello album. I like the spookier keys on this so much more than they driving
keys which that typify some of Costello's more popular late 70's/early 80's work.

5. Police and Theives - The Clash 5/5

I love reggae, but this is an improvement on Junior Murvin's version. I still don't get why people here like
London Calling more than S/T. S/T is a top ten all time rekkid for me.

6. Redondo Beach - Patti Smith 4/5

I bought this in college and didn't care for. I repurchased it sometime in the last five years and liked it more but it
quickly sank into my collection. I should get it back into rotation and see if I like it more than I think, but this is a
good song and I obviously am not that familiar with the album. I lived within 5-10 blocks of Redondo Beach for about 10 years
and didn't know what song you were talking about when you first said you put it on your mix.

7. Heaven - Pere Ubu 3/5

I've never explored their catalog because I saw them open for the Pixies on the doolittle tour and was pretty unimpressed
with them live. Probably still my least favorite song so far, but it isn't bad at all and they are pretty highly thought of.
I should probably pick something up.

8. The sad Skinhead - Faust [4/5]

I've never heard anything by Faust. I like this though which surprised me a little. I've never really got the appeal of
Can and I thought these guys were very similar. Maybe I'm confusing them with someone else?

9. No Bulbs - The Fall 5/5

The Fall are great. One of my favorite 80's bands. I love the guitars and always get a kick out of Mark E. Smith.
I'm a bit surprised this is on the listenable one as I think you are defining "unlistenable" as stuff the other GA boys and a few
others would call garbage. I suspect the Fall would fit that description. But screw them, this is great.

10. Roads Girdle the Globe - XTC 4.5/5

Not my favorite song by them, but still a great tune and it fits better on the mix then a lot of songs by them that I like more.
Downgraded to 4.5 rather arbitrarily because I feel like I'm giving too many 5's. Another one of my favorite 70's/80's bands. Nice
to see their early work getting renewed attention these last few years.

11. The Dream Police - Tubeway Army 3/5

I'm not that familiar with Tubeway Army...I always think of "Cars" when i think Gary Numan. This is much better than that at least.
Still one of the weaker tracks on the mix so far even if its not bad.

12. A Song From Under the Floorboards 4/5

I like Magazine a lot now, but have only been listening to them for a couple of years now. I never liked them in the 80's. I think I bought
a cd used based on pricing, got a very unrepresentative and poor sample of their sound and never went back until recently.

13. TVC 15 - David Bowie 5/5

One of many, many 5/5 songs from Bowie in the 70's. As Bowie sings, "Trans-i-tion" The tracks to come are nothing like the ones up til now
I guess this works as well as anything could as a bridge.

14. My Old School - Steely Dan 4/5

Another Good song. Looking at the track listing I was going to say it seemed out of place but it works with TVC 15 as an intro and I'm a firm believer
in the KonstantinL kitchen sink mix theory that any song can fit with the right sequencing.

15. Dress Sexy at My Funeral - Smog 3.5/5

I'm not sure it works so well on the mix. But I've never heard it before and I like it so I don't really care. Its a bit repetitive though.

16. Captain Bad Ass - Songs: Ohia 4/5

One of my favorite bands still active. Another good song. I'm wondering your thinking on how this and smog fit your theme but if its just that they
are good songs that's cool with me.

17. You Got To Go Down - Blind Gary 5/5

I'm guessing at least part of the answer to my question posed above was the need for a transition to this song. I'm glad you included this
so all's good. What's this from? A compilation or a full Blind Gary studio album?

I enjoyed this. Less stuff that's new to me than most but the most consistent high quality song selections of any of the mixes so far which I think was your goal.

Thanks for the review!

First of all, yeah, quality was my main goal with this one. These might not be what I'd call the 17 best songs ever, but they're up there. I kinda had a vaguely beach/island/exotic theme going at the beginning, but things ended up taking a different turn at the end so I could include the Smog and Steely Dan tracks. I also sort of had driving and good weather in mind.

To adress some other points:



I didn't say Os Mutantes was the only Brazilian music I like, but they are the only band I've heard much of. Actually I downloaded 3 Caetano Veloso albums last night (including Transa) and plan on buying my favorite. I don't think I've heard Secos e Molhados (unless they're on the world music mix you gave me a while back), but I will check them out ASAP.




They're actually not very similar. Faust are kinda all over the place and have much more in common with Frank Zappa than Can. They never seemed to take themselves seriously, and a large portion of their catalog is divided between satire and bizarre studio wankery. I think they were pretty great.



I was determined to put this song on a mix even though I know it doesn't entirely fit. It might not be all that interesting musically, but there are some great lines in it.




This song comes from a comp, Down in the Basement, taken from Joe Bussard's collection of 78s from the '20s and '30s. The Luis Russell song that I opened the Unlistenable mix with is also from that. I'm pretty new to this type of music so that comp and some Louis Armstrong are pretty much all I have from that time period. I'm working on branching out, though, and I plan to get some Charlie Patton, hopefully more Luis Russell, and whatever else people might recommend.

Maybe I was confusing you with Z...someone said they only liked Os mutantes recently. I think I might have included a Secos & Molhados song but I'm not sure if it would be representative of their sound or not.

Their style was a bridge from tropicalia to brazilian rock with a heavy dose of glam rock.




If you are a member of emusic, they have a pretty strong collection of old blues at least they did a few years back when I first joined. I'd recommend Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Big Bill Broonzy and Lonnie Johnson in addition to Charlie Patton.

1. The Kinks - Holiday In Waikiki - *** nice start to the mix.
2. Os Mutantes - A Minha Menina - **** yes. these guys are great. nice selection. i like the mood and flow so far.
3. Orange Juice - Tender Object - *** his voice sounds familiar. i like it, upbeat.
4. Elvis Costello - (I Don't Want to Go To) Chealsea - *** never listened to much elvis costello, another thing i have to fix.
5. The Clash - Police & Thieves - **** love the clash. love joe strummer. these last three song went together quite well.
6. Patti Smith - Redondo Beach - ** its ok. fits well in the mix, i just dont care for the vocals.
7. Pere Ubu - Heaven - *** other stuff i heard by them has been grating, so i didn't expect to like this, but i do. very pleasant.
8. Faust - The Sad Skinhead - *** interesting. a bit noisy, but good.
9. The Fall - No Bulbs - ** i just never liked the fall. and this track is quite long.
10. XTC - Roads Girdle the Globe ** the mix is losing me here. the last two songs just kinda plodded along.
11. Tubeway Army - The Dream Police * still plodding for me. don't care for the vocals or pace at this point.
12. Magazine - A Song From Under The Floorboards *** nice pick up.
13. David Bowie - TVC 15 **** great
14. Steely Dan - My Old School *** i couldn't really believe steely dan was on this mix. it fits fine, though. it's probably just my own past interfering with my ears, but it made me chuckle a little.
15. Smog - Dress Sexy At My Funeral **** i like it.
15. Songs:Ohia - Captian Badass ***** this has to be my favorite song from molina.
16. Blind Gary - You Got To Go Down ** this is different. not bad, but feels slightly out of place.

you introduced me to some older stuff that i'm not familiar with. i thought the flow from 1-8 was really good, but then it kinda dragged for me in the middle, with some great songs towards the end. i felt there was an overall pacing and mood that was consistent throughout, some of the tunes just didn't match my taste in music. thanks for the mix, quality stuff.

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed most of it.

Definitely do yourself a favor and pick up some Elvis Costello. I still don't have much, myself, but I've found each of his first 5 albums to be incredibly rewarding. It's stuff you can really spend a lot of time with.

I don't know what other Pere Ubu stuff you've heard, but you might also like some of their earlier stuff like The Modern Dance (first album) and Terminal Tower (a collection of early EPs).

And if you haven't heard much Smog, maybe check out Dongs of Sevotion (terrible album title, but it's where "Dress Sexy" comes from), Red Apple Falls, or Knock Knock.

1. Holiday in Waikiki - The Kinks – this is a great opener, and perfect for getting me in the mood for warm weather. I feel like I should be frugging to this. 5/5
2. A Minha Menina - Os Mutantes – Again with the beach dancing… so far, this is sounding like something I’d break out at a summer bbq. Now I just need a mojito. 4/5
3. A Tender Object - Orange Juice – I started listening to this cd in the car, and this is the first song I had to skip over midway because I got bored with it. He sounds kinda like Joe Strummer, doesn’t he? 2/5
4. (I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea - Elvis Costello – adore Elvis…. Strangely enough, last Friday I saw a dvd of the old Tom Snyder-hosted “Tomorrow Show,” and Elvis appeared as a guest. He looked so young and sounded so fresh. 4/5
5. Police and Thieves - The Clash – Was this song featured in “Rude Boy?” Another thing I started watching the other night, and I want to say this is the first song that the Clash performed in the movie… I could be wrong though. 4/5
6. Redondo Beach - Patti Smith – Okay, I might be offensive by saying this, but I really don’t know a lot of Patti Smith nor am I particularly inclined to hear more. When the song came on, I though her voice beared a slight resemblance to Debbie Harry’s, but maybe I should say it’s the other way around. Not bad. 3/5
7. Heaven - Pere Ubu – Another band I don’t know a ton about. From songs I’d heard of theirs in the past, this doesn’t sound like what I remember. This almost has a reggae-vibe to it. 3/5
8. The Sad Skinhead - Faust – Again, a band I know very little about. Interesting. Is that vague enough? 3/5
9. No Bulbs - The Fall – this is fun! 4/5
10. Roads Girdle the Globe - XTC – Hadn’t heard this song before. I like the music, however the voice is plodding. 3/5
11. The Dream Police - Tubeway Army – I have a friend who was supposed to set me up with some old Tubeway Army/Gary Numan stuff, but he has yet to come through for me. I like this. 4/5
12. A Song From Under the Floorboards - Magazine – wow, haven’t heard this song in ages. I don’t own anything by Magazine. Something I should remedy soon, I imagine. 4/5
13. TVC 15 - David Bowie – Wahoo. You’d be hard pressed to find a Bowie song I don’t enjoy. 5/5
14. My Old School - Steely Dan – Steely Dan aren’t bad per se, but just not the sort of band I think, “Hey… you know, I could really go for some Steely Dan right now!” Plus they were so popular on 70s radio, I think I’m oversaturated. This is a good song, and I will admit that the lyrics are catchy. 3/5
15. Dress Sexy at My Funeral - Smog – The title of the song alone is enough to make me smile. I actually listened to this song before any of the others. It’s nice, but a little underwhelming. 3/5
16. Captain Bad Ass - Songs: Ohia – I don’t know why but the first thing that came to my mind with the title was the “Juggernaut Bitch” cartoon, which my husband has been quoting a lot lately. But I digress. I like this, but not sure if it fits with the rest. 4/5
17. You Got To Go Down - Blind Gary – Nice finish to the mix. 3/5

Well done, Drinky. I can definitely see myself popping this one into the cd player again and again, esp. as the weather warms up. Thanks! 3.5/5

Awesome, I'm glad you liked it!

1. "Holiday in Waikiki" - The Kinks
What at first seems nothing more than a fun little harmless trifle actually ends up being a rather subversive commentary on the commercialization of and encroachment on a previously untarnished paradise. Very, very clever stuff.

2. "A Minha Menina" - Os Mutantes
I loves me some fuzz, and this track's got plenty of it. I don't understand a word of what they're singing, but that doesn't curtail my fun in the least. This is the sort of stuff that causes billy g to have to go change into some dry pants.

3. "Tender Object" - Orange Juice
Ah, Darrin's precious Orange Juice...I've been curious to hear what they sound like. I can see how they became one of his favs, as this is some good tuneage. I especially like the guitar-bass interplay. The vocals are probably the only thing I could really do without, but even they aren't teddible.

4. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea" - Elvis Costello
One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists. I STILL don't know what he's singing where it sounds like "skiddle waddle," though. Possibly the best drum intro ever, and two of the most infectious riffs -- both the guitar riff and the organ riff.

5. "Police & Thieves" - The Clash
It's got the angsty political message you'd expect, but it's far too subdued to be considered anything approaching angry. I kept waiting for it to kick in, but it just kept plodding along. The bassline is kind of catchy, but otherwise, I can think of a couple dozen Clash songs I like better. There REALLY isn't any need for this song to last over six minutes, either. Three would have been PLENTY.

6. "Redondo Beach" - Patti Smith
Ack! That voice!!! Like nails on the chalkboard. Same reason I can't stomach Sleater-Kinney. I can't handle caterwauling positioned as singing. The backing track is OK, but kind of an extension of the previous track's plodding. Me thinks the mix has hit a lull.

7. "Heaven" - Pere Ubu
I'd probably like this song a lot more if the opening credits from TV's "Lost" didn't repeat ad nauseum in the background.

8. "The Sad Skinhead" - Faust
I like the well-placed xylophone. It's nice to hear that somewhere other than an Oingo Boingo song. However, I ain't crazy about the singer, and the drummer makes Meg White seem like John Bonham. Practice, people, PRACTICE!

9. "No Bulbs" - The Fall
Now this is more like it! I dig pretty much everything about this one. I used to always confuse The Fall with The Call, based solely on their names, which was stupid of me. "When The Walls Came Down" was enjoyable back in the day, but I'd rather listen to this right now. 7:50's a bit long, though. Brevity is a desirable quality, all you rockers of the world. I liked this song a lot better three minutes ago.

10. 'Roads Girdle The Globe" - XTC
There's a preponderance of tasty bass on this mix, and this track may have the most delicious yet. The XTC singer's got a very distinctive voice, and it almost always works perfectly, which is certainly the case here. This song encapsulates practically everything good about XTC. Very good. And that 4:50 length? Just right!

11. "The Dream Police" - Tubeway Army
A minimalist vibe throughout, with a riff that some might find repetitive, but which I quite enjoyed. I really need to explore Numan and Co. beyond "Cars." This is FT-approved.

12. "A Song From Under The Floorboards" - Magazine
Unlike the Tubeway song, there really isn't much enjoyable about this repetitive minimalism. It's not awful, but it's just THERE, and that's pretty bloody unfortunate, innit?

13. "TVC15" - David Bowie
This is one of those Bowie songs I don't list when rattling off my favs of his, yet everytime I hear it, I end up singing that damn chorus over and over for the next couple of days. "Oh, my TVC15...uh-oh, TVC15..." or
"Traaaaaaaaaansiiiiiiiiiition...Traaaaaaaaaansmiiiiiiiiiision..." Great piano throughout this one, as well.

14. "My Old School" - Steely Dan
As with the earlier Costello track, this is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists. For those who don't "get" Steely Dan, pay close attention to the lyrics here and you'll see what the fuss is all about. And if you don't, piss off!

15. "Dress Sexy at My Funeral" Smog
This is a bit Hayden-esque, and that's a good thing, because I like Hayden. And despite having a cloudy name, he enunciates quite clearly. Clever lyrics with understated guitar. Is that the riff from Led Zep's "The Rain Song" I hear sprinkled intermittently throughout? Well played, Smog. There's a hint of Malkmusishness here, as well. I like this.

16. "Captain Badass" - Songs; Ohia
This is ominous, with a dash of danger. I wish I could figure out why I love Neil Young's voice but don't care for Molina's, when they really aren't that dissimilar. One of life's great mysteries remains unsolved. This is better than most of what I've heard from him before, but doesn't beat most of the other stuff on this mix. I honestly don't automatically dismiss a song when it hits the seven-minute mark, but this is another one that needn't drag on so long.

17. "You Got To Go Down" - Blind Gary
Before hearing one note of this mix closer, I will admit being more than a little intrigued by both the song title and artist name. As it turns out, the real intrigue is trying to figure out how Drinky managed to transfer from 78 to MP3. I was expecting (and kind of hoping) that since this is one of those old-timey Delta blues songs and all, the "go down" referred to in the title would be one of those "squeeze my lemon"-type double entendres. Unfortunately, in this case, it's referring to hell and not Colonel Angus. Other than that, it's 100% authentic, though.

I really enjoyed this mix on the whole. Only a couple of songs I had previously heard, and quite a few artists with whom I have been wanting to become more familiar. Bravo, Drinky! A solid B+ for you!!!