The Bell That Couldn't Jingle

The first song on my Xmas comp is something I've been wanting to include for awhile.



Last year I was listening to "Holiday Jangle" by the Found Sound Orchestra, and thought the sample sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. It was from this song, which I have on that LP displayed above (A&M's Something Festive -- possibly the only song on this year's mix that I own on physical media) but hadn't heard in ages. I added the FSO intro to my version, which is why the levels are so weird.

"Bell That Couldn't Jingle" was a mini-standard during that period in the mid-60s when every album was mandated by law to have at least one Bacharach/David (this is actually a Bacharach/Kusik song). The version on my Spotify playlist is by Herb Alpert, because they don't have Burt's version, probably because it isn't even on CD.

Eleven Pipers Piping

Happy December! Here is my 2001 Xmas playlist for everyone's enjoyment

(click image to download)

ELEVEN PIPERS PIPING: XMAS 2011
01. The Bell That Couldn't Jingle - Burt Bacharach
02. Cha-Cha All the Way - The Capitol Orchestra
03. Come All Ye Faithful Surfer Girls - The Chevelles
04. We Four King - The Blue Hawaiians
05. Christmas Day (I Wish I Was Surfing) - Emmy the Great & Tim Wheeler
06. Six White Boomers - Fleshtones
07. Seven Nation Santa - Smash-Up Derby
08. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe - Harry & the Potters
09. Santa Don't Go - Farrah
10. Merry Christmas All - The Grip Weeds
11. Christmas On My Mind - Hep Stars
12. Candy Cane - The Jigsaw Seen
13. Beautiful Xmas Lights - James Kochalka Superstar
14. Christmas with the Devil - Judith Owen
15. Christmas in the Air - Carole King
16. Last Christmas Twist - Fettdog
17. The Little Wiped-out Drummer Boy - The Spongetones
18. Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree - The Magnetic Fields
19. All I Want is Truth (for Christmas) - The Mynabirds
20. Cherry Cherry Christmas - Neil Diamond
21. Christmas All Over This Town - The Plimptons
22. Christmas Day - She & Him
23. Blue on Christmas - Erica Smith
24. Put The Lights On The Tree - Sufjan Stevens
25. Child's Christmas In Wales - Superchunk
26. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day - Wilson Phillips
27. First Of May / Thank You For Christmas - The Bee Gees

The collection is also on Spotify, minus a few unavailable songs, which are replaced with holiday songs by Justin Bieber and Coldplay, so it's all good.

Love You Live

The bonus version of Some Girls made me think of this album.

Pulse

76 minutes of Pink Floyd here.



And 70 more minutes here.

It's unfortunate that the only official Floyd live albums are from the latter Gilmour-Mason-Wright era, and that Pulse is the only Floyd album on spotify.

Live 1967

Next live album: Hey Hey, it's the Monkees



The Live 1967 album came out during the mid-80s Monkees revival, and showed that they really could sing and play, and really were in the young generation, and really did have something to say.

Really. Just like a real band. And hopefully, someday, they'll be inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, over Jann Wenner's dead body.

How The West Was Won

I borrowed this album from the library a few years ago, and disc one still slays me.

One For The Road

Today's live album is One For The Road, which was my gateway to the Kinks.



OFTR was my first Kinks album, so I learned most of these classics from the live versions. I knew them from the songs played on the radio like "Lola" and "Superman", but discovered many new favorites that turned out to be old favorites because they were all from the mid-60s. A few months later, I picked up Spotlight On The Kinks with the original studio versions of these songs and never looked back. Rock bands will come, rock bands will go, but rock and roll will go on forever!