gts010 “countsheep”
Get out your slide rule, it’s time to interpolate your butts off! Integers are nice and discrete, they come at regular times like a steady tympani backbeat, and then along comes Kate Bush to blow that all up.
01-01 Phil Harris & Alice Harris – ARA 136 – One-Zy Two-Zy (1946)
— the song goes back 25 years earlier to Eddie Cantor, but this version is cute as a rug in a bug’s ear. In fact the B-side is “Some Little Bug”. Have 2 copies of this disc, first attempt to buy it, got cracked shipping from San Francisco. Great eBay lady, always adds extra bonus 78’s to your order, but can’t order from her anymore. Too much arrives broken, and i don’t want that on my conscience: a record survives 80 years, only to get smashed because of my order.
01-02 Aimee Mann – Magnolia OST 01 – One (1999)
— sure do like me some Three Dog Night, but a rare case where the cover is just as good as the orig.
01-03 Lene Lovich – Stateless 01 – Lucky Number (1979)
— something in the air besides the atmosphere!
01-04 Blur – Blur 02 – Song 2 (1997)
— classic parlor game song: try writing down the lyrics then compare them to the actual lyrics. Don’t feel bad, everyone gets it wildly wrong, and the results are hilarious.
01-05 Josie & The Pussycats – Josie And The Pussycats OST 01 – 3 Small Words (2001)
— listened to this ten times before “Aha, ‘for’ stands in for ‘four’ and ‘too’ is for ‘two’”.
02-01 Kate Bush – Aerial 02 – Pi [excerpt] (2005)
— full song is much longer, the lyrics are as predictable as they are irrational.
02-02 Schoolhouse Rock – Best Of SR 02 – Three Is A Magic Number (1973)
— still looking for an excuse, someday someway, to play “Conjunction Junction”. Of course, this is Loudon Wainwright Junior Junior.
02-03 Loudon Wainright III – Loudon Wainwright III 07 – Four Is A Magic Number (1970)
— and makes a tricycle even more stabler.
02-04 Swingle Singers – The SS Christmas Album 10 (excerpt) – Dag Visen (1980)
— a-capella shout-out to Brubeck.
02-05 Architecture In Helsinki – Gideon Coe 2005-10-25 – It’s 5! (2005)
— out of all these songs, this is the one which pops into my head the most, unbidden at odd times.
02-06 5 6 7 8’s – Kill Bill OST 11 – Woo-Hoo (2003)
— another one where the J-Pop cover is better than the original. Bandname is the narrative fit here, but the chorus aligns like a sardine with the “Song 2” in the last set.
03-01 Steps – Step One 03 – 5, 6, 7, 8 (1998)
— disco line dancing had an afterlife in Holland long after it mercifully died out in the States.
03-02 Scooter Lee – Walking On Sunshine 09 – 634-5789 (2004)
— subjugates the tune for shameless yet fun self promotion, wonder what happens if you call her 800 number today?
03-03 John Lee Hooker – Live At The Cafe Au Go-Go 08 – 7 Days (1967)
— crazy that only 15 years separate this from his appearance in The Blues Brothers.
03-04 Slim Gaillard – Laughing In Rhythm 105 – 8, 9 and 10 (1945)
— 25 years later, Slim was a favorite on Sesame Street, making this cut harken to our second set tonight.
04-01 Beatles – Revolution 9 [take 22] (1968)
— extra appropriate here for the aside “the sheep were sheeping”.
04-02 Suzanne Vega – 99.9F 04 – 99.9 F° (1992)
— one of only 2 songs which got airplay, from an album with no crappy tunes.
04-03 Plugz – Repo Man OST 11 – Reel Ten (1984)
— as this plays, the glowing radioactive Ford Fairlane ascends to the heavens. Yet another album with no crappy tunes, one includes the immortal lyric: “Consequently, Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole.”
05-01 Negativland – Escape From Noise 15 – Time Zones (1987)
— been waiting years to hear this on the radio. Had to do it myself.
05-02 Film School – Film School 08 – 11:11 (2006)
— pardon me for hearing The Cure here.
05-03 Aria – Hero Of Asphalt 04 – 1100 (1987)
— from Russia, just when they thought the future was looking bright.
05-04 Genesis – Wind And Wuthering 101 – Eleventh Earl Of Mar (1976)
— epic from the band’s post-Gabriel Hackett-positive era.
05-05 Kokomo Arnold – Decca 7083 – The Twelves (1935)
— think he just insulted your mother.
06-01 Nick Lowe – Untouched Takeaways 11 – 12 Step Program (2004)
— wisdom to tell the difference about something or other.
06-02 Jesus Jones – Liquidizer 06 – Song 13 (1989)
— hear a premonition of Collective Soul.
06-03 Beat Happening – Beat Happening 09 – Fourteen (1985)
— nerdfolk as only 1985 could produce.
06-04 Uncle Tupelo – Anodyne 09 – Fifteen Keys (1993)
— no King, no Honey, just pure drippin’ Tupelo.
06-05 Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones 05 – 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ott-Six (1983)
— he’s a pro whittler, don’t try this at home.
06-06 Mary Martin & Lauri Peters – Sound Of Music OST – Sixteen Going On Seventeen (reprise) (1965)
— this is the reprise with Mary Martin, not the duet with Lauri and Brian Davies.
06-07 Pete Wingfield – Breakfast Special 01 – Eighteen With A Bullet (1975)
— finally know what Kiss was talking about years later, about that Love Gun.
06-08 Kaia – Kaia 01 – 19 (1996)
— bring it down with a strummin’ good ballad.
06-09 Robert Gordon & Danny Gatton – The Humbler 12 – Twenty Flight Rock (2000)
— not quite psychobilly but great latter-day billy.
… and a bonus track…
07-01 The Who – Tommy 103 – 1921 (1969)
— unheralded but one of the best on the double album. Concurrent contradiction of the Townsend/Daltrey duet hits nice.