The cool factor is great with this one. Nice art too.

Looks like a good 'un to me. And a great cover, to boot.

Magnifique. If you're serving up copies of this beverage I'd like my thirst quenched cheers.

It would help if I mentioned the fact that the previous request for a trade was made by French Connection via Gobi's, where I'm staying at present.

looks really like something that came along withthe spring, nice to see some swedes too (mando diao)

What I know of this, I like. If it's halfway as good as the rest of your mixes, fine sir, then I'll have a double! By the way, that bird on the cover looks like Jean Harlow. Is it she?

I know little here, Sir Valis, but if it brings back the sun then I'll have wot ever beverage is being served up to honour it's return...tres cool!!!

Lookin' real good. Especially like the Mental, Jules, Sopwith and of course the Undertones.

rad lookin' mix, dood..!
"drink, drink, drain your glass; raise your glass high..."

sun & moon milkshake music: if this don't bring in the spring I don't know what will . . .I'd like to hear those babasonico sounds . . . & "sunshine superhead" sounds vaguely reminiscent . . .

Very cool. The Undertones are certainly one of the greatest groups around when it comes to sun invocations.

Excellent! Great selections - good to see you back at work.

what i know is excellent and the rest i want to check out.

Cheers, brother Valis...bout time you brought some hurt our way! Wow...Sopwith Camel!
Noodle Nuts all-around!

Looks like a stiff 'un to me, ma'e! Can't wait to knock it back.

A warming draught. I'm a bit lost with quite a few of these tunes but I love the feel. I too long for the return of the sun...which is just starting to happen here. It's still light when I get home from work, buds are budding (magnolia trees!), birds are birding, seasonal adjustment is in full working order.

Always great to see you around Valis;) Keep on mixing, drinking and dancing in he sun!!

Hmmm, it's supposed to be 80 down here in sunny Tejas again. I'll try to send some vibrant rays your way. This looks like a mix to throw open to windows for! Love the coda especially.

May thy thirst be slaked!

Looks great Valis! Are you allowed to give yourself mix of the week? If not, I'll do the honors. Great to see the Aerovons, the Beach Boys, the Undertones, Sopwith Camel and SOS. You're welcome for the trip to the Dentists. Lovely cover too!

Damn, damn, damn but this is good. Just good, good, good.

Would it be so wrong to pick your own for MotW? Don't know that J. Shears tune, but Feel Flows always stops time for me whenever I hear it.

Holy guacamole, valis!!! I've just been listening to this, & it's sounds unbelievably
even better than it looks. Like angels licking your ears! Echoes of the summer of love, vibrations from some visionary future. The first two tracks blend into a seductive intro (are those the same Undertones who did "Runaround" & "Jimmy Jimmy"?? this track is so different!), & then the aerovons take that "across the universe" riff & run with it & we're off into an ecstatic alternate universe of dreamy atmospheric cocktails.
Twenty stars!
P.S. I see the cute little trick you did putting the ultra-short "brief synthophonia" right after the ultra-extended "longest drink". Contrast
brings out the highlights, eh?

good to the last drop!

I haven't been to this site in ages. I see I've missed a bunch of great mixes--this one included.

Ah, thank you valis for this tasty concoction -- a mix to be savored, fer sure, and a perfect musical intro to summertime. Had this playing at work, and every second song, employees were scrambling for the liner notes to see who was playing. Like an orange-vanilla cream soda -- frothy and satisfying. Thanks!

sun, sounds and music - what better combination.

I tell you what, mister. You can't listen to this mix and not be happy. Really, really great stuff from one of the masters around here. This ones a favorite amongst the younger set in the Porterhouse, as well. Just flawless, really.

I don't even know how to describe this mix - yes, it's many parts Beach Boys, circa Pet Sounds/Smile through Holland; and yes, it's a few parts late-Beatles - but it is very much more. Never before have I heard a mix that so aptly captured what the mixer set out to capture - here the coming of the sun - and in my case, sitting on my patio, gazing up at my maple tree while a cool breeze ripples the liquid in my pool and in my beer - the sun is going down and the tiki torches are being lit and the kids are in bed and we're talking about sailing away from here once and for all......
The opening is outstanding - and each subsequent track melts into the next like an ice cube in a glass of iced tea. There are no individual tracks here - they've become one - they've merged and married and melded together to welcome warmth back to this little corner of the world.
When I was about 12 years old - we were at the beach and it was a hot, sticky, sultry South Jersey day. "Sailing" by Christopher Cross was a hit then. I know, I know - he sux - that's the point here though - I have a very vivid memory of that song wafting over the multitude of beach-goers' boom boxes one afternoon as the hazy August heat lay heavy on our heads. It was like the greatest symphony in the world was playing the greatest song in the world at that moment on that overcrowded beach - everything was right - the heat - the humidity - the day - the warmth of the sun - the promise of steamed clams for dinner - the whole thing was right there. That's what this mix is.

Can't improve upon what my esteemed colleagues so eloquently wrote, but me like mix!!

I listened to this last night as the rain beat down, as it's done for the past week. The consistent groove of this mix made the sun come up. Not the yellow sun of the Earth, but a cyan sonic sun of good feeling and hope. It's still raining outside, but not in my head.

Beautiful.

Ironically, the day I received this is the day the rains came... You didn't engineer that did you?
Thank you for including me among the recipients of this really stunning disc.

Sksl!

This mix is so good that I had to make notes on about the 7th listen so I could respond in a deserving fashion. Opening with sweet quarter-note piano chords and harmonies, the Tiny Volcano track feels like it is right out of the Beach Boy Pet Sounds/Sunflower era. I love it. Kids playing voices in the background to boot! We continue with more sweet quarter note Beach Boys-esque piano chords and lovely harmonies, this time with vocals with the Undertones' track. Did these guys listen to Pet Sounds over and over, or what? A lovely mood piece.

When you first mentioned a "pure pop heart attack" mix that would bring about the same emotions and aural sensations that Feel Flows does, I was at a loss. I was thinking about the all-enveloping sensation of sounds washing over me that Feel Flows delivers (the "heart attack"), rather than the "pure pop" aspect. Although the mix is very heavy on the very sweet organ/piano/mellowtron (?)/harpsichord(?) type alternative keyboard-sounding sounds, I'd say that it delivers a very direct hit on the pure pop aspect rather than the all-enveloping sound aspect.

Back to the tracks:Track 5 Oddfellows is just coming on, and the repeated listenings just confirm that this is a total POP MASTERPIECE, and one of my three faves on the disc. Where are these guys from? (and by that I mean what part of London). The opening is pure Yardbirds (For Your Love, I believe), changing into very sweet Zombie-like vocals. It strikes me that this gem would go well in the background while watching Blow Up. Did you ever see that one - London circa 1966 (what's real, what isn't - what happened, what didn't?). Making a mix with tracks like this (with some from your great Lotus), would be an interesting project me thinks. A mix to watch a movie by. Track six would work well on that as well. Give me a long-term project - pick a movie you'd like to watch whilest listening to a mix.

Lano Places offers up another wonderful pop song, with a Peter Noone-sounding vocalist doing a better song that Herman's Hermits ever did (head to head with Kind of a Hush - what's better?). Although the Lano Places track is excellent, is does not compare to the next of my three faves on the mix:

Bottlefly is the second of the three perfect pop pieces on this one, imo. The thing about your mix is that almost every track reminds me of another group or track. Some are obvious, like the Beach Boy sound-alikes. But I cannot place what Bottlefly is pointing me to. Certainly a classic 60's sound (and that 60's pop is the period I love). What an absolutely great song that is! My wife thought that it sounded a bit REM-like. Are all Bottlefly's tracks this good? Definitely has a western twang to it.

I want to double back to the Aerovons, in reference to the pointers to other songs. It really does sopund a lot like Beatles' Across the Universe. Maybe in the same key? Try singing the line "We're gonna bring it back", and sing "Ja'I guru dev la", or whatever Lennon is singing. Similar melody to me, and a little break in the sweet chords. Also, both songs mention paper cups.

On to When, which is a charming pop piece recalling Donovan. I like the organ and harpsichord-like sounds.

The Dentists' song is a pretty good one, but the others really do outshine it. Lennon's track has lovely tinkling piano that fits into the sweet aural mode, while anchoring the listener to a familiar track while many of the others may be unfamiliar. Fits in very well here.

Shifting gears to a bossa nova without vocals - I like the shift in tempo, setting us up for the third of my pop faves of the mix, the Mental as Anything cut.. I've heard of the group, but never heard their stuff. FANTASTIC! It puts me right in the Caribbean on the beach, or maybe Mexico on the south west coast (ever been there?). but the chorus on this song is just an absolute killer of a hook. I love it! I'd like to be in Puerto Escondido right now dancing in the street. BTW, I was there (back in the 80's) the first time I heard Spandau Ballet's Parade album, and what perfection that was with some tequila and a noisy crowd.

The Squires' track changes us up again, and seems to be the "Pet Sounds" instrumental track of the mix. A nice instrumental track anchoring by the interesting drumming.

Jules Shear is a nice track, with piano chords and vocal modulations reminding a lot of B. Wilson's I'm a Cork in the Ocean. After a brief interlude with Sopwith Camel, we are back to the hooks with the very charming acoustic El Loco. Very nice track! Where is Babasonicos from? Again, this track reminds me of one I know, especially with the on-set of the horns, but I can't think of what it is.

Mando Diao brings us to the finale with some very strong vocals, and a very good song. The Beach Boys are a fitting closer, given all the sweet sounds that have preceded it. One of my favorite Beach Boy cuts.

You write on the CD the phrase ".an invocation to bring the sun." I see the themes given most of the song titles, but for me this really works given all the pop gems on this. Excellent song writing, and fantastic vocals throughout, with the controlling sensibility being that of 60's mod London.

Thanks again for this mix Valis. It really is excellent. I haven't even checked it out on the site, but I am going to try to post this lengthy comment. Keep `em coming!

Steve

Valis - read the bottom, then the top, then the middle. Go Cards!

Valis - I made a mistake below - the "We're gonna bring it back" snippet has the same melody as "Nothin's gonna change my world", not the other line I mentioned from that song. It just occurred to me.

Since The Beatles were/are my all-time favorite band and Pet Sounds is in my top five cds ever, its natural I would be attractive to this mix.

I started listeming to this mix at my favorite part of the day, as darkness turns to dawn with my first cup of coffee. And as to empathise the theme the sun arose on a November morning.

While other artist have anaylized this and rightly so I want to touch on the emotional impact this mix has made upon me. Since emotions are hard to communicate just let me say this is a mix that I wish I could have done. I "live for the sun" and you brought it to me.

Oh yea, the title track is my fav.

Valis, thanks for this, it is awesome (as I am sure you well know). The sequence from 1 to 2 is so perfect I had to check it out time and time again - fantastic. I love the overall Beatles/Beach Boys feel. Oddfellows Casino has just entered my current top 20 of all time. This is probably the best mix possible to get in a great mood for the day (and best listened to on a very early morning's long drive to a meeting you don't want to go to). Anyway, you get the picture. I am really enjoying this.

we've been having a Valis moment in the Gobi household - you definately know your stuff - come back!!