ARCHIVE MIX: BAROMETER FALLING (2001)

Autumn has officially arrived, and as we put the finishing touched on the Duets mix, Bar Clock goes back to the archives and pulls out this gem from the founding father of the Postcard Mixer - Wayne Henning.

Sent out in November 2001, Wayne delivered a two-disc set of all-Canadian music (with "lots of East coast flavor" as noted by fellow Canadian and current Vancouver resident Rob Janes). Here are a few brief notes that Wayne wrote at the time:

- I had some difficulties normalizing the production values as a whole. Anything pre-1995 that has not been professionally remastered or anything taken from my vinyl vault (Fitzgerald) are the culprits.
(Note: the mix available here for download has been sound normalized)

- The segue from "Courage" to "November" is off by two full beats. The beep shoulda hit ya as soon as Courage went silent. Shite. Oh well.

And, just for some perspective - this mixer group was still in its infancy back then and the delivery (or delay) of the next mix was often subject to the realities in the world at that time. An actual post from Mr. Henning dated 13 Nov 2001:

Fucking anthrax! Let's delay the call for another week.

Best, Wayne

At this time, Bar Clock is uploading the first mix. We'll throw out the bonus disc, entitled "Overtime" later on this season. In the meantime, here's the tracklist (Note the intentional Tragically Hip trilogy popping up in the final third of the mix):

Four Strong Winds - Neil Young
Big Horns - Ian Tyson
Early Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot
Black Crepe Hat - John Bottomley
Now More Than Ever - Pat Temple & High Lonesome Players
If I Sang It Pretty? - Bob Snider
White Line - Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
Do Remember Me - Colin Linden
Sally's Dream - Bill Bourne
#10 from Music Inspired by the Group of 7 - The Rheostatics
One More Colour - Sarah Polley & Band
The Collection of Marie Claire - Daniel Lanois
Seven Years - Cowboy Junkies
Canada Geese - Gordon Downie
Titanic Terrarium - The Tragically Hip
Courage - Sarah Polley & Band
November in Ontario - Skydiggers
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot
Deep Forbidden Lake - Neil Young

Download this fine mix here:
http://www.box.net/shared/5a5m7vl2l6

(Sorry, Wayne did not include any Shatner...)

ARCHIVE MIX: NONVERBAL (2002)

This next archive mix takes us all the way back to January 2002. We had started the mixer group in August 2001 and the flood of mixes landing in our mailboxes during that period was very welcome given the news at hand those days. We were already up to Volume 11, and this was actually the "bonus" mix of instrumental music that Michael "The Vault" Herst - the one-time New West employee, had sent along, which featured a couple of unreleased songs (Slobberbone, Radiohead) at that point. With the new tradition of bonus mixes being shipped along with the regular disc, we were already pushing 20 shared mixed not even 6 months into the project. Here are a few quips from Michael regarding Nonverbal:

I had so much fun putting the mix together. My wife is a little sick of listening to it, but she will learn to deal. Mogwai are quickly becoming an all time favorite for me...The Lil Capn Travis album (Lonesome and Losin') is one of the better alt.whatever releases I've heard in some time... And if I'd heard it before I made the disc, the instrumental song Peelin' Out In Zeus' Yard would have been track #1 on nonverbal. It's that cool.

1. 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong - Mogwai
2. Machine Gun - The Commodores
3. Smell Memory - mum
4. Hunting Bears - Radiohead
5. It's About That Time / Willie Nelson - Miles Davis
6. Summer Overture - Clint Mansell and Kronos Quartet
7. Magnetic Heaven - Slobberbone
8. Are We People - Tristeza
9. Deep Sea - Boxhead Ensemble
10. Topolino - Drums & Tuba
11. Purple Haze - Kronos Quartet
12. In A Sentimental Mood - John Coltrane
13. Easy Muffin - Amon Tobin
14. T Plays It Cool - Marvin Gaye
15. Bach Minuet in G - Willie Nelson
16. 7% Solution - All About Satellites and Spaceships
17. Self Portrait In Three Colors - Charles Mingues
18. She Loves Me Not - Creeper Lagoon
19. Austin Texas Mental Hospital (Part 1) - Stars of the Lid
20. JB Into - Texas Trumpets
21. Danelectro 1 - Yo La Tengo
22. Jugglers' Revenge - Beachwood Sparks
23. Extra Kings - The Avalanches

Get this fine mix here:
www.box.net/shared/dp4i15osg4

ARCHIVE MIX: THEME FOR LAKE AND CABIN (2006)

Even though the first theme mix will be released shortly, I felt this archive mix was appropriate with the holiday weekend right around the corner. This next archive mix was part of the fourth (and final) round of the original Postcard Mixer group. This mix comes to us courtesy of Eric "Happy Day" Murken. Here's Murk's original write-up:

Eric Murken's Theme for Lake and Cabin (2006)

I catered a friend's wedding about 10 years ago at a family friend's lake home about 6 hours north in Wisconsin. I drove food for 150 people up to the lake house in my beater Mazda 626 hatchback, filled to the ceiling in 90+ degree weather. Only lost one flat of strawberries on the way. My (future) wife and I stayed in the old cabin near the main house and prepped the food the day before everyone else arrived. While cooking, we found an old cassette player with a bunch of mix tapes - mostly old country, ranging from the 40's through the 70's. We listened to those tapes all weekend long, and a year later our newlywed friends assembled many of the tunes on a CD mix.That original "Cabin Tape" is burned into my brain, and has joined us for so many road trips - songs like "Abilene", "16 Tons", "King of the Road", etc. Lately I've been hankering for more of the same, but with new songs, so I assembled this one, "Theme for Lake and Cabin," revisiting many of the same artists. Good for back porches, long road trips, and campin'... Fave track: Roger Miller - Reincarnation (there's a solo Tweedy Lounge Ax show out there where he covers this one...great stuff)

Tracklist:
1 The All American Boy - Bobby Bare
2 Devil Woman (Single Version) - Marty Robbins
3 Headin' Down the Wrong Highway - Johnny Bond
4 Run, Boy - Ray Price
5 Why Baby Why (Single) - Webb Pierce & Red Sovine
6 I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know - Skeeter Davis
7 Down On the Corner of Love - Buck Owens
8 Much Too Young to Die - Ray Price
9 Your True Love - Carl Perkins
10 Too Much Water - George Jones
11 Just One More Time - Don Gibson
12 Make the World Go Away - Eddy Arnold
13 Happy Birthday to Me - Hank Locklin
14 Makin' Believe - Kitty Wells
15 If You Ain't Lovin' - Faron Young
16 Down on the Trail of Achin' Hearts - Hank Snow & Anita Carter
17 Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar - The Louvin Brothers
18 T For Texas - Doc Watson
19 Honky Tonk Man - Johnny Horton
20 T'ain't What You Want - Pee Wee King
21 Dixie Fried - Carl Perkins
22 It's a Little More Like Heaven - Hank Locklin
23 Guess Things Happen That Way - Johnny Cash
24 Goodbye Lonesome (Hello, Baby Doll) - Johnny Horton
25 I Stayed Long Enough - Tammy Wynette
26 Southern Loving - Jim Ed Brown & The Browns
27 Reincarnation - Roger Miller
28 The Winner - Bobby Bare
29 Somebody Somewhere (Don't Know...) - Loretta Lynn
30 Are You Sure - Willie Nelson

Get this fine mix here:
http://www.box.net/shared/7mauvcjcw8

ARCHIVE MIX: I SHALL BE MOVED (2008)

Postcard Mixer started way back in 2001 and has produced a lot of quality mixes - and we're going to use this forum from time to time to share some of that music once again. In addition to several volumes of music, Postcard Mixer led to the formation of a splinter group (known as the PCFHRemix Group) where the most opinionated of the Postcard lot would weigh in on a track-by-track basis on their peers' mixes. This first mix in the archive series comes from that splinter group and is brought to you by the Judge. Included is the abridged version of the Judge's legendary liner notes which accompany his mixes.

Rock in a Weary Land - The Southern Sons
The Southern Sons have been together, in one form or another, since the 1930s. This version is from 1953's 'Deep South Gospel' and was released on the fantastic Alligator Records. I don't know much about them or pretend to sit around and listen to them all of the time, but I can't deny them. It does not get any more southern or any more gospel than these fellas.

What's Left behind - The Sadies
This was one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums of 2007 and I cannot wait for another Sadies album...whether it is the absurd spaghetti surf of their second-to-last release (an original soundtrack for the documentary Tales of the Rat Fink) or a more laid back affair such as New Seasons.

I Walk on Guilded Splinters - Cher
I really can't stand Cher, but this song has been crying out for inclusion on a mixer since I first heard it a few years ago...this slice comes from the 1969's very rare '3614 Jackson Highway.' Basically, Jerry Wexler & Co. sent Cher to Muscle Shoals with all The Swampers and Shoals crew and urged her to come out with a new sound and a new image. She did...Cher's version does not have the brooding that Dr. John's version has, but what it lacks in creepiness, it makes up for with funk...That's Patterson Hood's dad on bass.

Shake For Me - Howlin Wolf
At one time, this mixer was going to be a soundtrack for a stripper and this song was going to be on it (with songs by he Coasters, the Sonics, and others) and as the mixer changed, this song just kept getting left on...because it is so freaking great. I am always trying to throw Mississippi artists on my mixers because coming from a place that is associated with so much that is wrong, I have a chip on my shoulder and want to highlight the good...

Ever Lovin Man - The Dirtbombs
There is no other band that is the epitome of rock and roll that is as consistent as the Dirtbombs...I want to sit forever and look at Mick Collins's record collection. I had heard this album all of ONE TIME when I decided to put Ever Lovin Man on the mix. It was the first song to jump through the speakers and grab me by the throat. I credit (blame) the backing vocals for that.

Heart Attack - The Moaners
The pivotal track #6. I figure by this point, you have all jumped ship and started looking ahead to the random disc that came in your package. Anyhow...another Mississippian rears her head on the mixer...Melissa Swindle (formerly of Trailer Bride) and The Moaners put out a brilliant sex-soaked slice of greasy rock and roll a few years ago that gets better with every listen.

Katrina - Black Lips
To be fair, I am not all that familiar with them outside of their most recent album and their live show....which is incredible and not for the faint of heart. Katrina is the most fun song about the hurricane I think I have ever heard. I was going to contrast this with the Legendary K.O.'s 'George Bush Doesn't Like Black People' but it didn't flow well.

Crack Whore Blues - The Neckbones
It is hilarious now to imagine the likes of John Stirratt sharing the stage with these fellas, but it used to happen on a regular basis. (He also helped mix their second album.) This really is the seminal Oxford, MS band. They toured with RL Burnside, opened for Fugazi, lived with Blue Mountain, and put the place on the musical map...and I bet most of them still live and work in and out of music in and around Oxford. ND credit: One of the Neckbones punched Matt from Fat Possum out on the night that they released this record...their relationship with Fat Possum became strained thereafter.

Expressway to Your Heart - The A-Sides
Terrible transition from sweaty, meaty, big and bouncy rock to pussified indie rock-strained Philly soul....I'd never listened to Philly's A-Sides until I heard this cover of the Soul Survivors classic...I usually hate it when a soul song is stripped and re-created for another audience, but I hold no ill will against these kids...they took the song and made it their own and didn't embarrass themselves.

Welfare Bread - King Khan & His Shrines
Along with acts like the Neckbones, the Dirtbombs, the Black Lips, and others found on this mix, the music is new but shares so much with the sounds that preceded it that I don't hate it...what I guess I am saying is that the more new music I hear, the more I like old music...or new music that sounds like it could have been created 30 or 40 years ago. Welfare Bread comes from the 2007 album 'What Is!' which was actually put out by King Khan & His Shrines (I guess BBQ was busy)...

Ghost - Apollo Sunshine
I have probably listened to this album more than any album in the past year...I'm pretty certain that AS is not for everyone (K-Fly seems smitten) but the self-titled 2005 album has paid off more than almost any album I think of that I have heard in the past couple years.

Jealous Guy - Donny Hathaway
Donny Hathaway is pretty much known for two things: The Ghetto and Roberta Flack (I guess he is also known for getting a shout out in Winehouse's Rehab as well...but I digress). Not taking anything away from those two things, I absolutely love his take on the Lennon classic...It is especially cool to remember that when Hathaway recorded this song, it had only been out for about a year. I have no idea what Lennon thought about it, but choose to believe that he loved it as much as I do.

Let Me Roll It - Brendan Benson and the Well Fed Boys
Stoner Pop? I've used this song on a mixer before, but after a billion mixers, it is getting hard to be completely original each time...it is one of my favorite Macca songs ever...so gritty and non-Paul...and Benson does not do a bad job of bring the fuzzy with a straight-up copy of the song. This is one of those songs that I love listening too very loud, very late at night on very old speakers...

Cherry Chapstick - Li'l Cap'n Travis
Cap'n Travis isn't for everyone...the vocals are what they are...to these ears, they are endearing...and live, these guys cannot be touched. I don't know why I love this song so much...I wanted to throw a Cap'n Travis song somewhere on the mixer, and figured closing with this song would be good as anything...but only because I couldn't find a place for Sugar Buzz....Cherry Chapstick and Boone's Farm wine...making out in the summertime....I love it!

Hope you enjoy.

www.sendspace.com/file/i5gch6

Sean