Today’s art is the cover on a CD made for me in 2001.
Self Portrait
pen, ink, and glitter on paper, 2001
©Timothy J. Lambert, USA
Timothy was still living in NYC then, and he sent the CD in the spring/early summer of 2001, when he already had his Keith Haring Radiant Baby tattoo and before he moved to Houston in October. Below are the works he recorded, introducing me to songs he knew I’d love, or already loved, or just needed to know existed. =)
1. Wicked Little Town, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
2. Here With Me, Dido
3. I’m Not In Love, Olive
4. Take Me Down, Boss Drum
5. Lover, Lover, Lover, Ian McCulloch
6. Within Your Reach, The Replacements
7. Born To Make You Happy, Britney Spears
8. Lady Bunny Speaks Out, Lady Bunny
9. America, Simon & Garfunkel
10. Jeannie’s Diner, Marilyn E. Whitelaw
11. Move On, Boss Drum
12. Special, Garbage
13. Nightingale, Sandra Bernhard
14. Sorcerer, Buckingham Nicks (1974)
15. Nomad (demo), Buckingham Nicks
16. Gold Dust Woman, Hole
17. Thank You, Dido
18. Origin of Love, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
In the late 1990s, Jim sent me a CD of songs he chose for me. It was in a jewel box, and I later made a cover for it with stickers when I put it in my CD case. His playlist was aimed at the California dreamin’ sensibilities and memories of adolescent/hippie Becky.
1. Wishin’ and Hopin’, Dusty Springfield
2. Age of Aquarius, The Fifth Dimension
3. Better Shop Around, Captain and Tennille’s version
4. I Think I Love You, The Partridge Family
5. Sharing the Night Together, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
6. Kodachrome, Paul Simon
7. California Girls, The Beach Boys
8. Your Mama Don’t Dance, Loggins and Messina
9. Little Willy, The Sweet
10. Mother and Child Reunion, Paul Simon
11. Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree, Tony Orlando and Dawn
12. Don’t Pull Your Love Out, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
13. Temptation Eyes, The Grass Roots
14. Only 16, Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
15. Cecilia, Simon & Garfunkel
16. Say A Little Prayer, Aretha Franklin
17. Midnight Confessions, The Grass Roots
18. I Am a Rock, Simon & Garfunkel
19. Wendy, The Beach Boys
20. California Dreaming, The Mamas & The Papas
I miss MIX TAPES! Now everybody just tells you to go look at their Spotify playlists. Not the same at all.
These CDs were part of my most recent writing playlist. No way am I choosing a song from one of their mixes, making it seem like I slighted the other. Instead, here’s a song from Wham! that gave Timothy, Jim, Timmy, and me the title of our third novel. I miss my writing partners!
Timmy, Timothy, me, and Jim back in the early part of the century?
During all the vinyl and CDs that kept me sane all through lockdown, and those plans are still going in my mind, I’ve been thinking of also making a Themes double album mix. I haven’t thought of making a Themes, since 2006. That continued a previous compilation I made of some BT songs; not the musician, they were songs I listened to while riding the Blacksburg Transit.
The current ideas I’ve had were to pick some goodies of that pandemic era, and that motivation was also triggered by some corner of the Internet called Photo Friday. That theme reminded me of all those records and CDs, and I think the challenge to condense all of that to something tangible that won’t take nearly 20 years to
livelisten to, is a lot like walking into the record shop trying to only buy one album.The only way I know any new music now is either I already know and remain interested in the artist/group; I hear it on Instagram on people’s reels; it stirs up controversy; or it’s on a movie soundtrack–though I see very few movies, those songs generally end up being talked about on social media.
I’m so out of the loop that if I went into a music store without a specific purchase in mind, I wouldn’t begin to know what to look for. These things happen when you are 135 years old.
I sometimes buy one with an interesting cover, and see what happens! Sometimes, it’s surprisingly good, sometimes not, and then there are times when I really should have known better. Like a bubblegum pop perky dance mix of my heart will go on originally sadly sung by Celine Dion and the Titanic closing credits, but totally ruined for beats per minute alignments that you would only hear at a Dance Dance Revolution arcade game.
Anyway, you never know until you try. Tower Records used to have listening areas to try out their featured albums before you buy them. Those days are long gone! So were the days of our MTV.
I MISS those days!