Mixing It Up 5: Minksellaneous

OK, after a pause long enough for the Minks to cross most of Canada–so much for the “do some easy posts to keep the blog going while work crested” plan–we come to the last one ..and let's finish up with an unthemed mix of various things. They’re all appropriate in some way, but they don’t fit nicely into themes as the other sets did. Honestly I figure they never got to disc 2, so I’m mostly amusing myself at this point in the mix making.

Oh, and by popular (well, four people bugged me about it) demand, a surprise at the end of the post.

Rheostatics • Saskatchewan (from Double Live)

Hey, they'll be driving through there. Twice. And it will take a lot longer than this song, even if it does run to more than eleven minutes. I wish I had listend to Jay when he told me, waaaay back in the day, about how good the Rheostatics were. It took my infatuation with Whale Music, and its quite decent film adaptationYes, I also have a little crush on Cynthia Preston as the pingpong academy escapee. It was age-appropriate at the time.to bring me around, via the soundtrack. Excerpt from a live performance.

The Clash • Koka Kola (from London Calling)

Yes, a punk song about white collar drugs and the advertising industry. That's what we needed. If you’re less than 50 years old and you don’t have a favourite Clash song, I’m confused by you. I was 10 years old when this performance happened.

Dawn Tyler Blues Project • Take It Outside (from Ten Dollar Dress)

Some Montreal blues wouldn't go amiss either. I don't know if the Minks’ll be playing venues where they'll have to worry about fights breaking out though… but based on some of the photos on the tour blog, it’s both possible and not a problem for them. I can’t find any video for this particular tune online, but if you want to see Dawn, check this out.

David Bowie • The Bewlay Brothers (from Hunky Dory)

Don't worry if the lyrics don't make sense. Bowie wrote these lyrics to confuse Americans because "the Americans always like to read things into things". I like to think of this song as the evil twin of the Laughing Gnome. Or maybe it’s all a plot relating to Bowie’s role as The Sovereign of the Guild Of Calamitous Intent. The touring tie-in could be either the bit about the Devil not being able to sing about it, even if he were here, or the bit about flaying your mark onto the darkness (which is surely kind of what a tour is all about) but really does this need justification?

Oysterband • A Fire Is Burning (from Holy Bandits)

I think the Oysterband owned me the first time I heard “we do our best work in the dark, we do our thinking on the run”. It wasn’t the thing that turned me on to them (that was a special cover of the Oxford Girl in the Abbey Pub in Chicago), or even on the first album of theirs I got, but it’s the one that sealed the deal. “The times have been our teachers and they teach an iron rule.” A little bit of “all for one, don’t let the bastards grind us down” energy is just what you need to get through the rigors of a tour, right?

Richard and Linda Thompson • When I Get to the Border (from I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight)

Hmm, apparently for some reason I really want to hit the Minks with Richard Thompson. Well, I guess everyone should have more Richard Thompson in their lives. This one fits on a tour mix anyway, as it’s a “heading out to find a better place” song. It features reports of death by drowning in a barrel of wine, which for most musicians I know, is always a fear while touring.

Kenny Rogers • Tennessee Bottle (from The Gambler)

Sure, everyone knows The Gambler and Coward Of The County, but why doesn't everyone know this one? It's a pretty great “contented criminal” song with only one really terrible (but pretty funny, actually) lyrical misstep. And I once heard a story about Townes Van Zandt losing a tooth at a poker game while touring, which is pretty close to losing an eye, surely.

Faithless • Mass Destruction (from No Roots)

I also have a little crush on Sister Bliss. This is just here because I like it. And because “Misinformation is a weapon of mass destruction” is a good soundbite slogan summary of rather a lot of the world’s problems. Video

Emerson, Lake And Powell • Touch And Go (from Emerson, Lake, & Powell)

You know the cheesy 80s song The Final Countdown by Europe? This is the cheesy 80s song that wants to be when it grows up. The tour connection should be obvious here. Video from 1986 with crap sound–Youtube has a couple of better quality performances, but they’re all with the standard Emerson, Lake, Palmer line-up, and they never get the total, full-on cheese that they got with Powell.

DJ Shadow • Six Days Remix feat Mos Def (from Six Days EP)

This is for when the touring cycle starts to bite. It'll mellow you out. And for the downer days, you need to remember that tomorrow is another day. It seems like it goes on forever, but it’s also over in a flash. Marvelous video

The Dandy Warhols • We Used to Be Friends (from Welcome to the Monkey House)

I also have a little crush on Veronica Mars. I don't know about Kristen Bell, but the character I have a crush on. Here is where I give up the pretense of having some kind of tour connection for these miscellaneous songs. How about a sock puppet video or something a hundred times geekier than that?

Men Without Hats • O Sole Mio (from Pop Goes The World)

The whole “back side” (hey kids—once upon a time there were these things called “records”, and they had two sides) of this album is excellently weird pop. Fun to listen to, and just joyously bizarre. Fuck the Safety Dance. I couldn’t find a performance of this one, but here’s another one from that same “back side”.

Ice-T • Lethal Weapon (from The Iceberg: Freedom of Speech…Just Watch What You Say)

'cause sometimes you need some Old School gangsta brag rap. And hey, there's a positive message for the kids. “Fully strapped. Always packed. Go to the library get some more ammo, know what I’m saying?” Look: it’s a concert video with a framing narrative.

Golden Palominos • Ride (from Dead Inside)

Another Nicole Blackman poem set to music. “There are only so many Kung Fu movies you can watch.” Word. I don’t need to say more about this obsession of mine, right?

Everlast • Babylon Feeling (featuring Carlos Santana) (from Eat At Whitey's)

He's not so much trying to rap anymore, which is probably good, and you have to give props for the whole “I call her Baby for short” thing. That’s really a very clever line. Plus: Santana! Homemade Video

David Francey • Working Poor (from Torn Screen Door)

More class warfare stuff. David Francey can actually build a house. Like from wood. He has “street cred” for this song.

Genesis • The Battle Of Epping Forest (from Selling England By The Pound)

Crazy prog rock song about a British gang war. I love the Reverend. 1974 live show.

Dick Gaughan • Tom Paine's Bones (from Outlaws & Dreamers)

Yes, folk music about historical figures of history and politics. I am exactly that old.”Independence is my happiness, and I view things as they are, without regard to place or person; my country is the world, and my religion is to do good.” That's not a lyric, that's something Tom Paine wrote in Common Sense. No one knows where Tom Paine’s bones are. He died in America, and it is rumoured that his remains were brought back to England but their whereabouts are now completely unknown. Or at least if anyone knows, they aren’t talking. I’ve talked about this all before. A pretty fine homemade video.

And now the promised surprise: a purely temporary bit of interweb magic that will allow you to listen to all of these songs:

Oh, and one more bonus, the number one Stolen Minks fan at my house: