Young Liars

Late afternoon, non-plagiarized Friday Random Ten. Sorry for the delay. Like you care.

This one's for Box Turtle Ben

“This is an ex-box turtle! He wouldn't VOOM if you put ten thousand volts through' em!”

Or, to channel Tom Lehrer:

“Plagiarize!
Remember why the Good Lord made your eyes!
Let no one else's work evade your eyes!
And plagiarize! Plagiarize! Plagiarize!”

1. A Skull, A Suitcase, And A Long Red Bottle Of Wine from the album “Invisible Hitchcock” by Robyn Hitchcock

2. Blues Mary from the album “Can't Have Nothin' Nice” by Gear Daddies

3. chivalry from the album “25 Years: Decade 2” by Mekons “I was out late the other night/ Fear and whiskey kept me going” what a brilliant couplet.

4. Poor Boy from the album “Way To Blue (An Introduction To Nick Drake)” by Nick Drake, yes, I bought this album because of the VW commercial. At least I didn't buy it at Starbucks. One of my more Boomer/Yuppie moments.

5. We Walk from the album “Murmur” by R.E.M.

6. A Million Miles Away from the album “Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits Of The '80s, Vol. 10” by The Plimsouls
Excellent slab of power pop. Peter Case never could hit this mark again.

7. Someone's Looking at You from the album “The Fine Art of Surfacing” by The Boomtown Rats Another fine piece of post-punk.

8. Motel from the album “100 Flowers Bloom (Disc 1)” by Gang Of Four GoF are Mekons contemporaries (and fellow art-school dropouts) , but the Mekes got fired after two albums. Guess Virgin didn't believe them when they said they couldn't play their instruments.

9. 100 Nights from the album “Holidays In Eden” by Marillion

10. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum from the album “Love & Theft” by Bob Dylan Bobby channels Tom Waits.



And for kicks, a Bonus Friday Meme from Hey Jenny Slater: The meme: What are the ten most embarrassing musicians/groups/acts you have in your music collection, and how many songs by each one do you have? This is gonna hurt, so send the children out of the room.

1. Easy: Journey. Two albums: Evolution and Infinity. Throwbacks to high school, before Journey turned into mega-super-stars, and then blew up under the weight of their egos.

2. Weird Al Yankovic. This has been a well-kept secret till now. Sometime in the future, my son will likely have to go for therapy and it'll be my fault. When he was an infant, when I'd get up in the night or early morning with him, I'd sit in the recliner and play “Al In The Box”, this box set of Weird Al's greatest hits. I'm so sorry, Eric.

3. Styx. And I'm not gonna tell you how many are on my list because it's worse than you might imagine. But no, “Babe” is not one of the songs. Still makes me retch.

4. The Alan Parsons Project. Not much excuse for this one. I'll never be an Insufferable Music Snob now, and I just have to accept that fact.

5. Tiny Tim. Well, technically, he's teamed up with Brave Combo doing a cover of Stairway to Heaven. But still, it's Tiny Tim.

6. Asia. One Song: Heat of The Moment. Power pop with proggy overtones is a weak spot.

7. Corey Hart. Yes, “Sunglasses at Night”. Well, there's a whole class of songs here, kinda. Many years ago, Rhino did a comp called Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the Eighties, and I've got most of the fifteen discs on my computer here. Lots of good stuff on there, and a fair number of overplayed klinkers like this. But this one is especially cringeworthy.

8. Head East. “Never Been Any Reason” If you grew up in the Midwest in the 80's, you saw Head East. I downloaded this stinker one drunken night so I could play it loud. Sounded pretty good, as I remember, but it's still embarrassing.

9. Kansas. Another prog/guilty pleasure from my pre-college days. Again, too much to be proud of on my computer.

10. The KNack. Two albums: the first, and a recent called Normal As The Next Guy. I first got the album BEFORE they became omnipresent on the radio: if you can get past the overplay (and the overdone campy teen age horniness) they are a talented power pop band with a good ear for a hook. If you can't get over it, fuck you, they're not as lame as the Romantics, who are STILL overplayed, and also sold out to a beer commercial.


I'm not going to include the Golden Throats comps. Although technically, songs by Leonard Nimoy, Senator Sam J Ervin, and Eddie Albert would be embarrassing. But not in this package. If you're not familiar, check 'em out. Truly scary, and the best music to get your neighbors to call the cops on your party. “For the LOVE of GOD, would you stop playing the Shatner!”