Mix Tape Field Day



And now for something completely related (and thanks for all the yeses).

In December I bought an iMic and introduced my iMac to a top-end Denon cassette tape deck that I found on top of a dumpster a few years back. The two got along marvelously, despite their differences. They allowed me to convert a box of old cassettes to mp3, and some of the fruits of this labour will be shared with you in the weeks ahead. Most of the cassettes I converted were originals, but I did convert a few mixed tapes of songs from 7"s and CDs that were once part of my collection but alas, were (in most cases) foolishly traded away. My discography would have been roughly three times the size had I clung on to everything I bought back in the day, but I couldn't afford to expand without some contraction. I've since re bought, and sometimes resold again, several of those albums, but some of the more obscure stuff has never crossed my path again, lamentably (waah! I want my Crayons back!). Fortunately, I taped some of those songs before trading (using a lower-end tape deck, mind), and most of the recordings sound surprisingly good in mp3 format.

So, this week I'm gonna share with you a whole mess of mp3s from four mix tapes made in 1994-5: three that I made myself and one mystery mix tape with no labels that some nice bloke made for me, which I need *your help* to demystify. So off we go. For the completists on the bus, I've tracked down the releases for most of the songs and have noted them in the comments field; corrections and anecdotes welcomed.

From the mix tape "Second Rate Tape of Misc Stuff Gone"
Crayon - Forever Nearly True
Grover - 3D Girl
Envelope - **1/2
Jeffersons - Radon
Unrest - Bavarian Mods
Unrest - She is Today or Nova Scotia (which is it, please?)
Velocity Girl - Your Silent Face (New Order cover)
Jale - To Be Your Friend
Versus - Astronaut
Lazy Circle - Manchester or You've Risen (which is it, please?)
Lazy Circle - Hypnotized
Orifice - Electric Landlady
Shiny Beast - Averice
Sloan - Pretty Voice
Eggs - Erin Go Bragh
Eggs - Rebuilding Europe (Wimp Factor 14 cover)
Eggs - Obliviist Pt 3

From the mix tape "Taped These Songs and Then Traded These Recordings Away To Some Total Strangers"
The 6ths - Rot in the Sun
Erectus Monotone - Fall Marches
Erectus Monotone - Fragment
Seam - Shame
Seam - Driving the Dynamite Truck
Helium - Wanna Be a Vampire Too, Baby
Helum - XXX
Vomit Launch - Stillness

From the mix tape "Sordid, Sorted, and Sold"
The Spinanes - Bad Karma
Versus - N.I.T.A.
Versus - Big Head On
Dirt Merchants - Love Apnea
Crayon - Another King of the World
Crayon - Green Stamp
Helium - Termite Tree

From the mix tape "Mystery Tape"*
Velvet Crush - Drive Me Down (great song! I got this one at long last!)
Mystery Band - Mystery Track 1 (is this New Order?)
Mystery Band - Mystery Track 2 (help!)
Mystery Band - Mystery Track 3 (S.O.S.!)
Mystery Band - Mystery Track 4 (huh?!)

* if you can solve 2 or more of these 4 mysteries (and if you are willing to leave your email in a comment so I can email you to get your addy) you shall win the unclaimed copy of Wingtip Sloat's excellent and out-of-print "Half Past I've Got" double 7" leftover from the last YSKOD contest!

P.S. I'm afraid I didn't tape any of the other songs from any of these releases...if you have the complete recording, feel free to post a link in the comments.

9 comments:

r3000 said...

Mystery Track 4 is "Made Up in Blue" by The Bats (NZ). Not sure about the others but Track 1 is probably not New Order.

Anonymous said...

Ah, right you are! Now that you've solved it, I checked my iTunes library and discovered I had this song in there 3 times...once as Bats (very bad quality), once at The Bats (96 kbps), and once as "Mystery Band" (best quality even though it's 3rd generation!). Thanks for resolving one of my "library mysteries" for me!

G

Anonymous said...

Mystery track 3 is "The Well of Loneliness" by McCarthy. Don't know the others, though.

Anonymous said...

Mystery Track 2 is McCarthy's "The Well of Loneliness"
(:

Anonymous said...

Ah, right again! I also had this in my iTunes library already, along with the rest of "I Am A Wallet"...thanks for solving another library mystery for me!

G

Ramone666 said...

#1 could be The Durutti Column?

Anonymous said...

Sorry I missed out on the last call for the M's.. if you could repost some Moon Socket at some point in the future it would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I also have a mystery tape with some song that I'm searching who play them for years... I'm tired of searching the web with no result. Think I can send it to you so you can publish it?
It's from the 90's too. Recorded from the radio. Thanks G.

Crumple Morris said...

Hi

Loving your blog!

I'm pretty sure Mystery Track 3
is That Petrol Emotion - though I don't know the track. Sounds like early stuff.

Hey G - I'd like to do more sleuthing so post a link in the comments - if that's OK!