So it seemed like a sensible idea at the time. Happily sitting listening to the new Tindersticks Lp "Falling Down a Mountain" and I thought it would be a wheeze to suggest to friends Neil and Dave that they compile a C45 length mix to reflect the theme of Mountains. I gave a week for the challenge and waited to see what happened. Well as it turned out lots happened! Mountains of stuff.
As I decorated I thought of all the Mountain references in rock and there are many. I also pondered what would be going through Neil and Dave's minds. They have similar yet at times quite different tastes in music and I wondered if they would be choosing the same music.
Neil's was the first compilation to arrive. Beautifully packaged with pictures of the sleeves the tracks came from. A bit of a bizarre entry but I was delighted that he had appreciated the 45 minute challenge. His came in at 46.06. Not bad and if you were lucky in your Memorex or Boots purchases tapes could have that extra minute! Making tapes in the 70s was an art form not appreciated in these Spotify and i-tunes days. I don't want some technologically brilliant algorithm to choose my next piece of music - no I want a creative and individualist talent to take me from The Beach Boys to Zeppelin or from The Housemartins to Scouting for Girls! Neil's first track set me a challenge as judge. Whilst the "Green and Red of Mayo" is quite a brilliant track do the hills of Mayo really classify themselves as mountains? Is Croagh Patrick's Peak really the K2 of the republic? Hard one that. Still as I listened to the expansive sound of the sax helping to create the majestic mood of the track I couldn't help think that Susie may be right and that a mountain could be anything over 1000 feet. I checked the height of Croagh Patrick on wikipedia and discovered it was 2530 feet so pretty damn high in reality and as people go up barefoot I think it deserves inclusion on a Mountain Mix! However, I was a tad disappointed to listen to the lyric carefully and hear what I think was the line about the ocean having fishes from herring to whales. Now I know Davy was an ex-school teacher and surely he knows a whale is a mammal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croagh_Patrick
Track 2 was Around the Sun by REM which if you listen to it really carefully mentions the work mountain once. Mmm. Still as the compilation is called "Tenuous Mountain Links" we shall give that. That is the joy of a mix like this - you have to entertain the listener as well as make them think and ponder. The Gorillaz track "Fire Coming Out of A Monkey's Head" certainly met the mountain challenge and you can't help wondering about Robbie Robertson as you listen to the vocal. Cracking track however! Nice mix taking us into the Shamen but I was so glad when we switched to the Stranglers and Southern Mountains. The Housemartins was a surprising inclusion with Caravan of Love but once again great to have the pace lifted by the underrated Scouting for Girls with the Mountains of Navaho. The Levellers obviously enjoyed themselves on The Devil Went Down to Georgia and the tenuous links came back with "Andy's Chest" from the sublime Transformer album from Lou Reed. Is he really the girl on the back of the LP cover or am I dreaming? Think I was dreaming.
So we went onto Hendrix at the foot of a mountain before reaching the plateau with Nirvana - what a fine track!And cleverly Neil takes us back down to the foot of the mountain with Paul Weller. Clever that as a last track. Like it .. foot of the mountain last...
So overall a 4 star review for the compilation!
..otherwise known as Neil.
ReplyDeleteThat's odd, five votes for the new category!
Davy Corton's fishy knowledge (or lack of it) was a good spot. I think he was probably thinking more about writing for his audience rather than satisfying accuracy?
Your comments have been duly noted and will be taken into account for the next challenge.
Why will this only let me post as anonymous?
no idea - maybe you need to sign in with a google enabled account?
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