DIR : Nick Drake

Song Time Artist Album
Northen Sky 3:46 Nick Drake Bryter Layter
One of These Things First 4:52 Nick Drake Bryter Layter
Fly 3:01 Nick Drake Bryter Layter
Poor Boy 6:09 Nick Drake Bryter Layter
Hazy Jane II 3:47 Nick Drake Bryter Layter
Hazy Jane I 4:29 Nick Drake Bryter Layter
Time Has Told Me 4:28 Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
Way to Blue 3:12 Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
Day is Done 2:30 Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
Fruit Tree 4:51 Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
Pink Moon 2:07 Nick Drake Pink Moon
Place to Be 2:43 Nick Drake Pink Moon
From the Morning 2:32 Nick Drake Pink Moon
Which Will 2:58 Nick Drake Pink Moon
Which Will 3:50 Lucinda Williams Sweet Old World
They’re Leaving Me Behind 3:17 Nick Drake Family Tree
Tomorrow is a Long Time 3:40 Nick Drake Family Tree
Milk and Honey 3:00 Nick Drake Family Tree
Bird Flew By 2:55 Nick Drake Family Tree
Strange Meeting II 4:27 Nick Drake Family Tree
20 Songs/1.2 Hours

DIR : Joe Strummer

Song Time Artist Album
Should I Stay or Should I Go 3:09 The Clash Combat Rock
Armagideon Time 3:47 The Clash The Future is Unwritten
Lost in the Supermarket 3:47 The Clash London Calling
I’m Not Down 3:06 The Clash London Calling
Train in Vain 3:08 The Clash London Calling
Up in Heaven (Not Only Here) 4:32 The Clash Sandanista!
Charlie Don’t Surf 4:54 The Clash Sandanista!
King of the Bayou 2:52 Joe Strummer Earthquake Weather
Island Hopping 2:37 Joe Strummer Earthquake Weather
Sikorsky Parts 3:36 Joe Strummer Earthquake Weather
Trash City 4:12 Joe Strummer & The Latino Rockabilly War The Future is Unwritten
Get Down Moses 5:05 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Streetcore
Ramshackle Day Parade 4:03 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Streetcore
Burning Streets (London is Burning) 4:32 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Streetcore
Midnight Jam 5:50 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Streetcore
Global a Go-Go 5:55 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Global a Go-Go
Mega Bottle Ride 3:33 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Global a Go-Go
Tony Adams 6:33 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Rock Art and the X-Ray Style
Diggin’ the New 3:08 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Rock Art and the X-Ray Style
Keys to Your Heart 3:39 The 101ers The Future is Unwritten

20 Songs/1.3 Hours

My Playlist 21116

Part of my perception of the rock music I like was that to make the pantheon of greatness there had to be hard core drinking and drugs involved and at least the hint of promiscuity. The stories of John Bonham’s binge drinking and choking to death on his own vomit or Jimi Hendrix overdosing on heroin or the partner swapping during the height of Fleetwood Mac’s popularity were all part of the muse that made rock music. That’s sad, really, and not true. Most of the songs on this list are either from professed Christian musicians or popular musicians who turned from sex and drugs and still made rock and roll. Sometimes in these songs a bit of the bite is gone, but the beauty blossoms. As I get older, I prefer more and more the beauty to the bite.

Song Time Artist Album
You Are More 3:37 Tenth Avenue North The Light Meets the Dark
Fade Into You 4:54 Mazzy Star So Tonight That I Might See
Rescue 5:35 Lucinda Williams West
In the Sun 5:36 Joseph Arthur Come to Where I’m From
Morning Has Broken 3:20 Cat Stevens Teaser and the Firecat
Slow Train 5:59 Bob Dylan Slow Train Coming
Close Enough for Jazz 3:46 Van Morrison Born to Sing: No Plan B
Finally Home 3:30 MercyMe All That is Inside Me
Go, Love 4:52 Mark Knopfler Privateering
Hard Bargain 3:23 Emmylou Harris Hard Bargain
Hallelujah 3:26 Allison Moorer Getting Somewhere
Devel’s Been Talkin’ 3:35 NEEDTOBREATHE The Reckoning
Don’t Give Up Hope 4:07 Third Day Move
Smoke Signals 8:26 Marc Ford Weary and Wired
Dark Horses 3:54 Switchfoot Vice Verses
Live 5:10 Lenny Kravitz 5
Higher Ground 3:43 Stevie Wonder Innervisions
17 Songs/1.2 Hours

My Playlist 20808

This list is about as country as I get, and that’s not really country at all – even with songs from Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris and the like. It’s just southern. For me, there is some common denominator, something comfortable about the sound. The bands here seem to know what I mean. The Rolling Stones even give me a taste, and they’re not from the south (maybe south London, but I don’t know). I do know it’s a music I gravitate toward. Hope you do to.

Song Time Artist Album
It Ain’t Nothin’ to Me 5:12 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Southern Accents
Sugar Magnolia 3:19 Grateful Dead American Beauty
Anyway the Wind Blows 3:56 JJ Cale & Eric Clapton Road to Escondido
Done Gone Blue 3:51 Los Lobos Good Morning Aztlan
Idle Time 4:26 Marc Ford It’s About Time
Brothers 5:05 The Vaughan Brothers Family Style
The Eyes of Sarah Jane 3:48 The Jayhawks Rainy Day Music
Sometimes a Great Notion 3:34 John Mellencamp Big Daddy
Nick of Time 3:53 Bonnie Raitt Nick of Time
I Don’t Want to Talk About It Now 4:48 Emmylou Harris Red Dirt Girl
Water of Love 5:27 Dire Straits Dire Straits
I Threw It All Away 2:26 Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline
Hands on the Wheel 4:23 Willie Nelson Red Headed Stranger
Drunken Angel 3:20 Lucinda Williams Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Carry You Home 4:35 Cross Canadian Ragweed Cross Canadian Ragweed
Muzzle of Bees 4:56 Wilco A Ghost is Born
Country Honk 3:07 The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed
Kentucky Woman 2:25 Neil Diamond Single
(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville 4:33 R.E.M. Reckoning
19 Songs/1.2 Hours

Blue : MyPlaylist20427

I had a could of songs I wanted to use in a new Playlist and they both had Blue in the title – Willie Nelson’s Blue Hotel and Alexi Murdoch’s Blue Mind. Thought it might be fun to do an entire list of songs with Blue in the title. Did a little searching and deciding (no Blues, just Blue) and here’s the list I came up with.

No Mom, this doesn’t mean I’m feeling blue, and neither are most of these songs.

Song Time Artist Album
Blue on Black 5:31 Kenny Wayne Shepherd Trouble Is…
True Blue 5:02 Gary Louris Vagabonds
For You Blue 2:33 The Beatles Let It Be
My Blue Heaven 3:34 Django Reinhardt Swing in Paris
Blue Moon 2:38 Elvis Presley The Sun Sessions
Blue Hotel 3:31 Willie Nelson Songbird
Beautiful Bluebird 4:27 Neil Young Chrome Dreams II
Talkin’ Blue 4:07 Bob Marley & The Wailers Natty Dread
Way to Blue 3:12 Nick Drake Five Leaves Left
Out the Blue 3:21 John Lennon Mind Games
Bluebird 3:25 Paul McCartney & Wings Band on the Run
Tangled Up in Blue 5:43 Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks
Blue Mind 5:44 Alexi Murdoch Time Without Consequence
Blue Deep Ocean 4:56 Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene
Blue Guitar 6:09 Cowboy Junkies Miles from Our Home
Blue Eden 6:24 Neil Young & Crazy Horse Sleeps with Angels
Blue Sky 3:44 Patty Griffin Flaming Red
Blue Sky Mine 4:20 Midnight Oil Blue Sky Mining
18 Songs/1.2 Hours

Influence of Joy : MyPlaylist20410

I originally made this playlist soon after I had taken my youngest daughter to see her first real concert – Robert Plant and the Band of Joy in The Woodlands. She loved it, and for me it was like Alt-Country Zeppelin.

There is one song from the Plant album Band of Joy and one from Patty Griffin – she was the band’s back up singer, lead singer on occasion. The rest is built around the vibe of those two songs. Enjoy.

Song Time Artist Album
All My Bridges Burning 4:52 Los Lobos Tin Can Trust
Silver Rider 6:06 Robert Plant Band of Joy
Thru These Architect’s Eyes 4:22 David Bowie Outside
All Because of You 3:39 U2 How to Dismantle the Atomic Bomb
Strange Currencies 3:53 R.E.M. Monster
Lucky Kid 4:02 Sheryl Crow C’mon C’mon
Righteously 4:42 Lucinda Williams World Without Tears
The Man Comes Around 4:42 Johnny Cash American IV: The Man Comes Around
Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town 3:16 Pearl Jam Vs.
Wake Up and Live 4:59 Bob Marley Survival
Darkness 3:13 The Police Ghost in the Machine
It All Depends 5:06 Eric Clapton Behind the Sun
The Pearl 5:02 Emmylou Harris Red Dirt Girl
Never Grow Old 3:11 Patty Griffin Downtown Church
Uncloudy Day 4:39 Willie Nelson Greatest Hits (And Some That Will Be)
I’ll Fly Away 3:58 Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Angel in the Snow 2:37 Elliott Smith New Moon
No Reason to Cry 3:04 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers Mojo
18 Songs/1.2 Hours

Songs From the Year I Was Born : 1966

Here’s what Mark says about this playlist of songs from the year he was born : 1966.

Movie lovers generally agree that 1939 was the greatest year for movies. There’s no similar consensus on a best year for music. But I think 1966 would have to be in the running for that spot. How many years see an album as incredible as The Beatles’s Revolver or Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde or The Beach Boys’s Pet Sounds? Well, 1966 had all three.

So here’s a playlist of songs from 1966. I haven’t tried to make this a “best of” or “greatest hits” list, just some random, sometimes off-beat, selections from the astonishing depth and breath of sheer musical awesomeness on display in ’66. And it just scratches the surface: I could easily whip up a dozen more 1966 playlists this good or better.

Lovin’ You 2:30 The Lovin’ Spoonful Hums of the Lovin’ Spoonful
Uptight (Everthing’s Alright) 2:53 Stevie Wonder Up-Tight
Summer Wind 2:58 Frank Sinatra Strangers in the Night
I Idolize You 3:43 Ike & Tina Turner River Deep, Mountain High
Obviously 5 Believers 3:34 Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde
Barefootin’ 2:34 Robert Parker Barefootin’
Rainy Day in June 3:11 The Kinks Face to Face
Bang, Bang 2:42 Nancy Sinatra How Does That Grab You?
Psychotic Reaction 3:06 The Count Five Psychotic Reaction
Wild Thing 2:34 The Troggs Wild Thing
I Am Waiting 3:11 The Rolling Stones Aftermath
Somebody Groovy 3:15 The Mamas & The Papas If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears
Season of the Witch 4:56 Donovan Sunshine Superman
For No One 2:02 The Beatles Revolver
Tell Me to My Face 3:05 The Hollies For Certain Because
He’s All I Got 2:47 The Supremes I Hear a Symphony
I’m A Boy 2:37 The Who My Generation: The Very Best of The Who
Here Today 2:54 The Beach Boys Pet Sounds
Take A Giant Step 2:34 The Monkees The Monkees
Batman Theme 2:21 Neal Hefti 60s Instrumentals
20 songs/1 hour

My Playlist : 20120

Ten years ago I was already listening to about half of these bands, half I hadn’t heard of yet. That’s one of the reasons I like putting these lists together – they’re a story of where you’ve been, where you are now and (perhaps) a little glimpse of where you’re going.

Song Time Artist Album
Meet Me in the Indian Summer 4:00 Van Morrison Down the Road
Beautiful Night 3:54 The Waifs Temptation
Let it Roll 4:35 Kim Richey Bitter Sweet
Atmosphere 3:51 Son Volt Okemah and the Melody of Riot
Kingdom of Days 4:02 Bruce Springsteen Working on a Dream
A Ride Back Home 3:13 John Mellencamp Life, Death, Love & Freedom
Love Throws a Line 3:38 Patty Griffin Impossible Dream
Lithium 4:17 Nirvana Nevermind
I Might 4:01 Wilco The Whole Love
Susie (Dramas) 3:25 Elton John Honky Chateau
Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard 2:44 Paul Simon Negotiations & Love Songs
Waiting in Vain 5:41 Annie Lennox Medusa
Sikorsky Parts 3:36 Joe Strummer Earthquake Weather
A Bride’s Place 5:50 Cowboy Junkies Sing in the Meadow
All I Do 6:30 The Derek Trucks Band Songlines
Taboo 5:34 Santana Santana III
Stand Back 3:28 The Allman Brothers Band Eat a Peach
Tryin’ 2:53 The Eagles The Eagles
18 Songs/1.2 Hours

DIR : The Jayhawks

I made some compromises here – all my Jayhawks favorites wouldn’t fit on one disk. So, I’ve included songs from all their albums to give a comprehensive picture of their music. But that means I’ve left off some of their great live songs in lieu of selecting my favorites. Anyway, this is a great list of songs from one of the bands everyone should get to know.

Song Time Artist Album
Two Angels 4:07 The Jayhawks Blue Earth
Ain’t No End 3:45 The Jayhawks Blue Earth
Blue 3:10 The Jayhawks Tomorrow the Green Grass
Two Hearts 3:22 The Jayhawks Tomorrow the Green Grass
It’s Up To You 3:38 The Jayhawks Sound of Lies
Haywire 5:21 The Jayhawks Sound of Lies
Waiting for the Sun 4:21 The Jayhawks Hollywood Town Hall
Crowded in the Wings 4:53 The Jayhawks Hollywood Town Hall
Sister Cry 4:08 The Jayhawks Hollywood Town Hall
Settled Down Like Rain 3:01 The Jayhawks Hollywood Town Hall
Baby, Baby, Baby 5:20 The Jayhawks Smile
What Led Me to This Town 4:11 The Jayhawks Smile
I’m Gonna Make You Love Me 3:41 The Jayhawks Smile
Better Days 4:36 The Jayhawks Smile
Stumbling Through the Dark 2:26 The Jayhawks Rainy Day Music
Save It for a Rainy Day 3:09 The Jayhawks Rainy Day Music
The Eyes of SarahJane 3:48 The Jayhawks Rainy Day Music
Cone to the River 4:29 The Jayhawks Rainy Day Music
Tiny Arrows 5:52 The Jayhawks Mockingbird Time
She Walks in So Many Ways 2:36 The Jayhawks Mockingbird Time
20 Songs/1.3 Hours

My High School Musical

The songs on this list are from bands I saw live when I was in high school. And I can tell you, this ain’t no Glee list. I just laugh when my daughter gets so excited about the High School Musical movies on Disney Channel. I think the soundtrack of my high school experience is just a little better than anything Disney has to offer, and the memories of being there are infinitely better than some teenager singing on TV.

Song Time Artist Album
Hells Bells 5:12 AC/DC Back in Black
Even the Losers 4:01 Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Damn the Torpedoes
More Than a Feeling 4:45 Boston Boston
Natural Science 9:18 Rush Permanent Waves
The Chain 4:31 Fleetwood Mac Rumours
Just What I Needed 3:43 The Cars The Cars
Rehumanize Yourself 3:10 The Police Ghost in the Machine
Walks Like a Lady 3:16 Journey Departure
Bloody Well Right 4:33 Supertramp Crime of the Century
Tunnel of Love 8:12 Dire Straits Making Movies
Cross-Eyed Mary 4:09 Jethro Tull Aqualung
Crazy Little Thing Called Love 2:44 Queen The Game
Owner of a Lonely Heart 4:29 Yes 90125
Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love 3:50 Van Halen Van Halen
Great White Buffalo 6:21 Ted Nugent Double Live Gonzo
Cinnamon Girl 3:00 Neil Young Everybody Know This is Nowhere
Pearl Necklace 4:07 ZZ Top El Loco
17 Songs/1.3 Hours