Other Mixes By Pop Kulcher
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Desert Island Selection: Pop Kulcher's Fave 45 (volume 1)
| Artist | Song | |
| The Beatles | Rain | |
| The Clash | Death Or Glory | |
| Big Star | The Ballad Of El Goodo | |
| The Who | The Kids Are Alright | |
| Neutral Milk Hotel | Holland, 1945 | |
| Rolling Stones | Tumbling Dice | |
| David Bowie | Queen Bitch | |
| Grateful Dead | Ripple | |
| Velvet Underground | Sweet Jane | |
| R.E.M. | So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) | |
| Elvis Costello | Beyond Belief | |
| Bob Dylan | Like A Rolling Stone | |
| Beach Boys | God Only Knows | |
| Talking Heads | Once In A Lifetime | |
| The Replacements | Bastards Of Young | |
| The Kinks | This Time Tomorrow | |
| Pixies | Debaser | |
| Simon & Garfunkel | The Only Living Boy In New York | |
| Modern Lovers | Roadrunner | |
| Brian Eno | St. Elmo's Fire | |
| The Shins | New Slang | |
| Liz Phair | Fuck & Run | |
Comment:
Well, after 5+ years on AOTM, I've finally taken the plunge and compiled a 2-cd set of my all-time favorite songs (inspired in part by Rob Conroy's recent reposting of his similar mixes). I've come close before (like my 40th Birthday Mix, where I picked one song per year, or my audiobiography, where I compiled the songs that most influenced my life), but this is the first straightforward attempt to simply compile the proverbial desert island collection, the essential songs I simply could not live without, the ones I'd be sure to grab as my home was going up in smoke, etc. My only self-imposed limitation was one song per artist (to keep it varied, and avoid the obvious result of a disc full of Beatles and Who songs, and to force myself to pick my very favorite song from each of my favorite artists).Some of this, of course, is pretty obvious, and likely to show up on many lists by other music fans. Some is a bit more personal, I'm assuming. While in some cases it was essentially impossible to pick between competing favorites for a particular artist (i.e. "Rain" vs. "A Day In The Life"), some were easy for me (i.e. "Tumbling Dice," "Like a Rolling Stone").
Incidentally, I ordered this in descending order. It's a bit artificial -- it's hard to say that any one of these is better than the next, or that "Rain" is my favorite song of all time, but I made an effort to line it up from top to bottom.
Volume 2 is finished and will be posted soon; that one breaks away a bit from some of the classic-rock-focused selections here.
Feedback:
It's impossible to criticize this. The songs I know, which is nearly all of them, are fabulous. And what would be the point of saying I think you should have put this T.Heads track or that Beach Boys track. You know these are your favourites, nothing anyone says will change that. So this is bloody brilliant, it couldn't be anything else with you at the controls.
Hmmm... well I'll bite. I think that there's a dramatic difference in quality between the bulk of the songs and a few that stick out to me as less worthy: for example, the Liz Phair song is cute, if gimmicky, but hasn't aged all that well. Just my opinion, of course. A great Kinks song, that's for sure. Interesting choice by Costello, and mostly undeniable choices otherwise.
An interesting exercise (that I have been planning but avoiding since I received Rob's original). 4,9,12,13,14,18,19 and 21 would probably make my list.
Stunned that you could nail this mix, I'd drive meself bonkers should I try and emulate the feat.
Further to Sean's comment -- I listened to this on the drive to work today, and, sure enough, concluded that the Liz Phair track (while still a personal fave, and one that I actually think ages ok) is a tad on the gimmicky side and didn't quite hold up to the rest of the mix. At the same time, I realized I'd totally forgotten Amy Rigby, who I've been head-over-heels for throughout the past year, so I think I'll be swapping those when I revise this tonight.
As for Elvis, while he has loads of great tunes, I view "Beyond Belief" as akin to "God Only Knows" for sheer studio joy; typically brilliant Elvis lyrics, but augmented by one of his greatest vocal performances and a production that's operatic in scale yet a mere 2 minutes long.
As for Elvis, while he has loads of great tunes, I view "Beyond Belief" as akin to "God Only Knows" for sheer studio joy; typically brilliant Elvis lyrics, but augmented by one of his greatest vocal performances and a production that's operatic in scale yet a mere 2 minutes long.
i've been contemplating doing this for 2-3 years now, & i've been actually working on it for about a year - between yours, & rob's recent revision, you guys are probably going to kick my ass into completing my own. only a few of these would turn up on my own list, but these are undeniably personal, & it's just chock full of great tunes. i applaud you on so many different levels for actually doing this, so kudos.
Good for you! I love this type of mix and to do one you have to put your heart into it. It is a soul searching job to even attempt. "God Only Knows" and "The Kids Are Alright" would probably make my list-but who knows at the time.
So you've taken the plunge, eh? ;-) Congrats on finally putting the time together to do this... and with such fine results. Aside from the fact that these types of mixes are more subjective than any other types of mixes (and thus should remain impervious to nitpicking), I think limiting your choices to one track per artist defeats the purpose: your favorite songs are your favorite songs and it's up to you to then take the extra steps to 1) figure out how to make a mix out of repetitious artists and 2) determine just how many tracks by your absolute favorite artists actually edge out the one-hit wonders and sentimental favorites. To me, that's part of what keeps it interesting.
A great mix as has been previously noted, and one that I've been toying with, but have yet to even start a real list much less a mix. Nice comments too!
well you've certainly fired everybody up with this ! I shouldn't argue with anything on anybody's personal faves list, but I would love to ! Especially over a beer ! Excellent.
More cool stuff, amigo! Love the selections from the Beach Boys, Pixies and the Clash -- and you'll get no complaints from me about that Liz Phair track. I guess I'd go with "I Will Dare," "Radio Free Europe" and "Back of A Car" as my faves from the Reps, R.E.M. and Big Star, respectively -- but that's just my own ears. So where's Menudo? Must be on Vol. 3
wow wow wow, amazing. a lot of these would be chosen to be on an island with me as well.
Beyond Belief once again... the "I'm Not in Love" of the post-punk era!
I've collected assorted playlist of tunes for years to put in a potential desert island type mix but... this is an wonderful collection.
Rain, Ballad of El Goodo, Like A Rolling Stone and This Time Tomorrow are probably among my desert island songs too... very nice mix.