The Second Mix Tape Revisited
My wife Kelly was digging through old boxes and came across a Memorex 90 minute cassette mix titled "Goofy... Silly... Sappy, Volume II". We still have a cassette deck on one stereo in our house and another that is in the Grand Caravan (one of the only things I still like about the Dodge, thanks). She put it on the other day and listened all the way through.
The cassette was made by yours truly in 1993 and given to her as part of her 22nd Birthday presents and dorm/residence hall festivities. That would be April, so at that point we'd been together for about 4 months. We'd already gotten very serious, we'd road tripped from Oregon to San Francisco together for Spring Break weeks before, we'd broken up briefly (one week) and then got back together. We've been together ever since. :)
She asked that I "upgrade" the cassette to CD for her and, music geek that I am, I said "It was a 90 minute cassette and CDRs are only 80 minutes, so some stuff will have to get cut." She understood and said to use my best judgement for what to take off.
Four songs on the original tape (on Side B) didn't make it to CD. They were:
1. "Desperate Heart" by Flame - This was a power ballad from the dying days of hair metal, when new hard rock acts were still trying to compete with grunge. It has not held up well, though I still have the song on MP3. The original version was a cassette-to-cassette dub. Yeah, it was 1993. That still happened! Anyway... cheesy song. It hasn't held up. Gone!
2. "Man of Golden Words" by Mother Love Bone - I'll still defend this song to death and I loved, loved, loved this band but given that Pearl Jam appear elsewhere on the original cassette mix I view that as coming very close to breaking one of my mix "rules": No using the same artist twice! Technically using MLB and PJ on the same mix isn't breaking that rule but it's close. Not Phil Collins and Genesis or Aimee Mann and Til Tuesday or Morrissey and The Smiths on the same mix close but in the ballpark.
3. "I'll Come Looking" by The Cages - Really obscure! So obscure that I couldn't find an MP3 of it anywhere on the internet! I wanted to include it for the CD upgrade but no luck. Nice song from a duo that came and went really fast.
4. "The Max" by Prince - He was going through the Symbol phase (same album that gave us "7"). The song was put on the original as a rather intimate joke. I'm not even going to explain. The joke has not held up, nor has the song.
What is left is 21 songs and I thought it would be fun to list them and add a few comments.
Side A
1. "Love Street" - The Doors
Kelly grew up in a very conservative home where bands like The Doors were pretty much a "no". So being able to put stuff like this on a mix was pretty fun.
2. "San Francisco Bay Blues" (from MTV Unplugged) - Eric Clapton
As noted above, we had road tripped to S.F. so this one seemed fitting. Clapton was selling a ton of his Unplugged album at the time.
3. "Love Hurts" - Nazareth
Don't know what I was thinking with this overused ballad. Still kicks ass, though.
4. "Looking Through Patient Eyes" - PM Dawn
I still miss PM Dawn... What a great batch of songs they came up with. And their choices for samples were great. This one took from George Michael's "Father Figure".
5. "Hard To Get" - Starclub
Not even a one-hit-wonder. More like a minor-hit-wonder. But damn... this one holds up! I put it into my MP3 player. :)
6. "Into The Mytic" - Van Morrison
7. "Easy" (Commodores Cover) - Faith No More
8. "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" - Toad The Wet Sprocket
Kelly wound up dedicating this song to her mother at our wedding. She danced with her Dad to Lulu's "To Sir With Love".
9. "Shy of the Moon" - The Wallflowers
I got into Jakob Dylan and Co. on their first album. It took a few more years for them to get big via their 2nd disc and "One Headlight", "6th Ave. Heartache", etc. First album is really good if you've never heard it.
10. "The Mystery" - Celestial Navigations
Not even a song. A great, short story (about 3 minutes) written and performed by character actor Geoffrey Lewis and then accentuated with music by two other guys. They've done several albums of stories with music/sound effects. Very cool stuff. :)
11. "New Mistake" - Jellyfish
This is probably my favorite on this mix because Jellyfish were one of my "secrets"; a band I loved but that few really knew of. We still listen to and love Jellyfish's 2 albums (plus b-sides, other stuff) to this day!
12. "No Rain" - Blind Melon
13. "Oceans" - Pearl Jam
Kel grew up (in part) in Gold Beach, Oregon (we got married there in 1995) so I wanted something that references the sea. My brain was so wired to Pearl Jam that "Oceans" seemed a great fit. LOL
Side B
1. "May This Be Love" - Jimi Hendrix
I gotta give myself some props. This was a helluva way to kick off Side Two!
2. "Truly, Madly, Deeply" - Bakers Pink
3. "Looking Out My Back Door" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Early, early on in our relationship I was listening to CCR in my room and Kelly joked that they sounded like a "country fair jug band". I was offended! But she actually isn't too far from the mark. This was put on the tape with a smile. It became a reoccuring joke every time we heard CCR.
4. "Big Sky Country" - Chris Whitley
Whitley died a few years ago of lung cancer. He recorded some great stuff in his too short career. "Big Sky Country" is a total night time song, best heard really, really late. To me it's a truly 'perfect' track.
5. "I Love You Period" - Dan Baird
One of the great shoulda-been-even-bigger minor hits of the 90's!
6. "Dyslexic Heart" - Paul Westerberg
Every mix has the 'message' song. This was mine. It still is, really.
7. "She's Storing It Up" - Uncle Green
I had completely forgotten this song/band/album until Kelly handed me this tape. I had it on CD circa 1993. Listening to it again definitely reminded me of Crowded House.
8. "Love Me Do" - The Beatles
It didn't originally close the cassette mix but it seems a nice place for the CD upgrade to end. So familiar, so played, yet still so great.
The nicest thing about doing this is that Kelly is now motivated to find all the old cassettes. And there were a lot of them! I believe they are in some box, still un-opened from our November 2009 move.
I hope she/we can find them. Even song choices that make me go "Really?! You chose that!?" are still fun. They remind me of these constant things I have loved for so much of my life: Music and, duh, her. :)
J
The cassette was made by yours truly in 1993 and given to her as part of her 22nd Birthday presents and dorm/residence hall festivities. That would be April, so at that point we'd been together for about 4 months. We'd already gotten very serious, we'd road tripped from Oregon to San Francisco together for Spring Break weeks before, we'd broken up briefly (one week) and then got back together. We've been together ever since. :)
She asked that I "upgrade" the cassette to CD for her and, music geek that I am, I said "It was a 90 minute cassette and CDRs are only 80 minutes, so some stuff will have to get cut." She understood and said to use my best judgement for what to take off.
Four songs on the original tape (on Side B) didn't make it to CD. They were:
1. "Desperate Heart" by Flame - This was a power ballad from the dying days of hair metal, when new hard rock acts were still trying to compete with grunge. It has not held up well, though I still have the song on MP3. The original version was a cassette-to-cassette dub. Yeah, it was 1993. That still happened! Anyway... cheesy song. It hasn't held up. Gone!
2. "Man of Golden Words" by Mother Love Bone - I'll still defend this song to death and I loved, loved, loved this band but given that Pearl Jam appear elsewhere on the original cassette mix I view that as coming very close to breaking one of my mix "rules": No using the same artist twice! Technically using MLB and PJ on the same mix isn't breaking that rule but it's close. Not Phil Collins and Genesis or Aimee Mann and Til Tuesday or Morrissey and The Smiths on the same mix close but in the ballpark.
3. "I'll Come Looking" by The Cages - Really obscure! So obscure that I couldn't find an MP3 of it anywhere on the internet! I wanted to include it for the CD upgrade but no luck. Nice song from a duo that came and went really fast.
4. "The Max" by Prince - He was going through the Symbol phase (same album that gave us "7"). The song was put on the original as a rather intimate joke. I'm not even going to explain. The joke has not held up, nor has the song.
What is left is 21 songs and I thought it would be fun to list them and add a few comments.
Side A
1. "Love Street" - The Doors
Kelly grew up in a very conservative home where bands like The Doors were pretty much a "no". So being able to put stuff like this on a mix was pretty fun.
2. "San Francisco Bay Blues" (from MTV Unplugged) - Eric Clapton
As noted above, we had road tripped to S.F. so this one seemed fitting. Clapton was selling a ton of his Unplugged album at the time.
3. "Love Hurts" - Nazareth
Don't know what I was thinking with this overused ballad. Still kicks ass, though.
4. "Looking Through Patient Eyes" - PM Dawn
I still miss PM Dawn... What a great batch of songs they came up with. And their choices for samples were great. This one took from George Michael's "Father Figure".
5. "Hard To Get" - Starclub
Not even a one-hit-wonder. More like a minor-hit-wonder. But damn... this one holds up! I put it into my MP3 player. :)
6. "Into The Mytic" - Van Morrison
7. "Easy" (Commodores Cover) - Faith No More
8. "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted" - Toad The Wet Sprocket
Kelly wound up dedicating this song to her mother at our wedding. She danced with her Dad to Lulu's "To Sir With Love".
9. "Shy of the Moon" - The Wallflowers
I got into Jakob Dylan and Co. on their first album. It took a few more years for them to get big via their 2nd disc and "One Headlight", "6th Ave. Heartache", etc. First album is really good if you've never heard it.
10. "The Mystery" - Celestial Navigations
Not even a song. A great, short story (about 3 minutes) written and performed by character actor Geoffrey Lewis and then accentuated with music by two other guys. They've done several albums of stories with music/sound effects. Very cool stuff. :)
11. "New Mistake" - Jellyfish
This is probably my favorite on this mix because Jellyfish were one of my "secrets"; a band I loved but that few really knew of. We still listen to and love Jellyfish's 2 albums (plus b-sides, other stuff) to this day!
12. "No Rain" - Blind Melon
13. "Oceans" - Pearl Jam
Kel grew up (in part) in Gold Beach, Oregon (we got married there in 1995) so I wanted something that references the sea. My brain was so wired to Pearl Jam that "Oceans" seemed a great fit. LOL
Side B
1. "May This Be Love" - Jimi Hendrix
I gotta give myself some props. This was a helluva way to kick off Side Two!
2. "Truly, Madly, Deeply" - Bakers Pink
3. "Looking Out My Back Door" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Early, early on in our relationship I was listening to CCR in my room and Kelly joked that they sounded like a "country fair jug band". I was offended! But she actually isn't too far from the mark. This was put on the tape with a smile. It became a reoccuring joke every time we heard CCR.
4. "Big Sky Country" - Chris Whitley
Whitley died a few years ago of lung cancer. He recorded some great stuff in his too short career. "Big Sky Country" is a total night time song, best heard really, really late. To me it's a truly 'perfect' track.
5. "I Love You Period" - Dan Baird
One of the great shoulda-been-even-bigger minor hits of the 90's!
6. "Dyslexic Heart" - Paul Westerberg
Every mix has the 'message' song. This was mine. It still is, really.
7. "She's Storing It Up" - Uncle Green
I had completely forgotten this song/band/album until Kelly handed me this tape. I had it on CD circa 1993. Listening to it again definitely reminded me of Crowded House.
8. "Love Me Do" - The Beatles
It didn't originally close the cassette mix but it seems a nice place for the CD upgrade to end. So familiar, so played, yet still so great.
The nicest thing about doing this is that Kelly is now motivated to find all the old cassettes. And there were a lot of them! I believe they are in some box, still un-opened from our November 2009 move.
I hope she/we can find them. Even song choices that make me go "Really?! You chose that!?" are still fun. They remind me of these constant things I have loved for so much of my life: Music and, duh, her. :)
J