Hello, fans of music and music listening! Welcome to Episode 19 of this little thing we like to call the Listening Party!
This week on the show, we start a brand-new mixtape which was made for listener Stephanie Felice. Stephanie did not request any particular sort of music, but mentioned in her accompanying letter that she was a fan of folk music so David attempted to craft a mixtape with that in mind.
He thinks he succeeded! Do you?
This week we listened to:
- The Baptist Generals – “The Dog That Bit You” – Jackleg Devotional to the Heart, 2013
- Barbara Sipple – “Song for Life” – Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies of the Canyon, 2006
- Ohio Knox – “Pound or My Dog Dad for Robert Downey (a prince)” – Ohio Knox, 1971
- The Super Friendz – “Fireflies” – Mock Up, Scale Down, 1995
- The Association – “Dubuque Blues” – The Association, 1969
- Field Music – “From Hide and Seek to Heartache” – Plumb, 2012
- The Feelies – “The High Road” – The Good Earth, 1986
- Belle and Sebastian – “Jonathan David” – single b/w “Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It” and “The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner”, 2001
- Sufjan Stevens – “Sleeping Bear, Sault Saint Marie” – Michigan, 2003
- John Grant – “Down Here” – The Queen of Denmark, 2010
- Judee Sill – “The Donor” – Heart Food, 1973
Thanks for listening.
Here is a good BBC documentary about the great Judee Sill if you’d like to know more.
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I enjoyed Side One of this mixtape a lot but, oh Dave, I beg to differ as to the degree of similarity between the oboe and the English horn. If you had a twin brother, as I did, who played the oboe (loudly) all through high school, you’d have been yearning for him to switch to its deeper, mellower woodwind cousin.
The Ohio Knox song and its connection to Robert Downey Sr. really piqued my curiosity. A search turned up a movie on YouTube called Pound (1970) written and directed by him in which dogs are played by human actors. Apparently, he used to bill himself as “Robert Downey – a prince” in his movie credits. Robert Downey Jr. plays a puppy in Pound. You have to, well, Marvel over the journey that cute little kid took from having a role in his daddy’s movie to becoming a hugely popular and wealthy actor.
I was never a grunge rock fan, but when I lived in Halifax I worked with a woman who was dating one of the Super Friendz so that track took me right back. As well as having a ridiculous number per capita of those pubs you spoke of, Halifax also is home to a lot of universities and colleges which means there are a lot of young people around to support the music scene there.
My ears perked up on the very first song when you said the Baptist Generals were from Denton, Texas! I went to college and graduated from the University of North Texas located in Denton and now my son goes there as well! I live less than an hour from Denton and even though I know that it’s ground zero for so many local bands, the one I remember best is Brave Combo. I’m probably dating myself here, but Brave Combo was probably the biggest band to come out of Denton back when I was going to school there. In fact, not long after I graduated, I attended a co-worker’s wedding who hired Brave Combo to play at her wedding. The wedding just so happened to be on my birthday, so someone tipped off the band about this which resulted in Brave Combo playing “Happy Birthday” for me with all my co-workers dancing in a circle around me. It was quite magical!!
Sneaky Dragon Listening Party had now become a part of my daily listening regimen. Please keep up the great work, I enjoy learning alongside of listening to everything you bring to the podcast. I find myself looking up many of the artists and songs you feature on the podcast, so you’ve gotten me quite involved into learning even more than what you cover on the show. I still owe you a playlist of one of my own Mixes that I compile for my own listening each year, I just need to find the best one suited for public display!
Oh, Judee Sill… what a unique talent and troubled person she was. I think I have everything she recorded, and it’s a treasure trove. It was a true delight to hear the Donor on this list. I had always believed the story about her sacking by Geffen, so thanks for clearing that up too.
Glad that Barbara Sipple went on to have a successful career. Her singing was pretty great here, even though this was the one song on this list that I really didn’t care for. It was like it had been written by someone who’d had folk music described to them, but had never actually heard any of the good stuff.
Great to hear Ohio Knox – never caught them before. Dallas Taylor was such an amazing drummer and, sadly, another musician with a bottomless capacity for self-destruction. He wrote a fine memoir, Prisoner of Woodstock, that was perhaps a little too candid for some of his contemporaries. The sex and drug confessions were bad enough, but making fun of Stephen Stills’ ever-expanding waistline was a step too far. He was pretty much cast out from the LA music scene after that, embarking on a second, successful career as a drugs counsellor.
Lots of other great songs this episode. I’m a huge fan of John Grant, and appreciate you going for a fairly deep cut there. Also loved the songs from Sufjan (of course) and Belle and Sebastian (yes, really).
Mary, only narcissists enjoy hearing themselves talk. You have a great voice for the Listening Party – clear, warm and brimming with laughter. Dave, you’re okay too. 🙂
Yeah, Mary’s laughter is infectious as hell, maybe someday Eve will join in the fun too!
Okay, you asked for it David…
You wrote back in May under the comments for Episode 15 that you “insisted” I sent you one of MY favorite playlists. I am in no way close to the audiophile you are, my stuff is just a compilation of music I hear and like. I usually hear it on commercials, radio, in a store…wherever, and I Shazam it so I can reference it later and add it to my ever-growing playlist. I compile one playlist a year and I started back in 2008 with this…I must admit that I’m a bit behind on the 2018 & 2019 playlists, so I’m going to present you with my 2017 Mix Playlist.
2017 is special to me because the first few songs are in memorial to a good friend I lost in December 2016, in fact we worked together at Lone Star Comics back in the 80’s and were roommates in college. Shattered by The Stones is what we used to listen to while we cleaned the Comic Store every night. So, here you go, my Mix Playlist 2017:
Shattered – The Rolling Stones
All The Young Dudes (David Bowie_Ian Hunter) – Mott the Hoople
Magic – Pilot
Movie Star – Harpo
Pick Up The Pieces – Average White Band
Song 2 – Blur
Clap Your Hands – Parov Stelar
Blue (Da Ba Dee) – Eiffel 65
Flathead – The Fratellis
God Only Knows – John Legend & Cynthia Erivo
Both Sides Now Oscars 2017 – Sara Bareilles
Comedy Tonight (Stage Version) – Zero Mostel & Company
The Sound of Fear – Eels
Just Another Day – Lady Gaga
Living (feat. Alex Clare) – Bakermat
Just A Little – Beau Brrummels
City Lights – Glen Iris
Suddenly I See – KT Tunstall
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in D Minor – Franz Liszt
Never My Love – The Association
Words Of Love – The Mamas and The Papas
Popsicles and Icicles – The Murmaids
I also enjoy doing the “covers” for the Mix Playlists. I started out with the big, basic lettering pop font kind of a design but it’s evolved into something else. I’ve always found something comfortable and soothing about the glow of those old tuner receivers and tape decks from the 70’s, you know the ones that had that green or opal glow and all the needles that measured something that didn’t matter? For some reason, maybe because I love them, the Mix Playlist covers now reflect those wonderful tuners…
Here’s a look at them all:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/23248668@N07/Fv6bDW