[badfaith]

I was thinking recently about the ancient art of the mix tape... when long ago angsty lovelorn teenagers expressed their fondness for others through 90 minutes of carefully selected tunes, or just demonstrated a considerations of a particular subject.

Although we now have play lists of limitless extent, I feel a certain art, science even, is being lost to the world... with the time restriction forcing you to be highly selective of the songs you want to use or not use, and of course the art of balancing recording levels, starting recordings at tricky intervals between tracks to craft a little piece of joy for yourself or others.

So if you were given just 90 minutes to compile such a masterpiece of expression through the work of others, on a given subject (sexiest songs, perfect chill out tape, etc.) what would be on it?

[CellarDoor]

I loved doing mix tapes when I was young.

There would be a long preparation : calculating everything to the second for exact timing, choosing what would be on side A and side B, the opener and the closer, listening to how the different songs flowed..

Then there would be the actual making process : getting all the tapes ready, starting the recording at the same time, hoping the timing was right...

And finally, listening to the whole thing when completed.

Since those happy times, I've done a few compilation CDs also. But it isn't as fun. The computer calculates eveything, does the copy, checks the CD...
Mix tapes is a highly nostalgic occupation. I did party mixes, ELO mixes...

The most recent CD compilation I made was a post-punk mix (extended definition with noise, goth, shoegazing..) roughly in chronological order :

1 - Heart of Darkness - Pere Ubu
2 - Public Image - PiL
3 - Shot By Both Sides - Magazine
4 - Disorder - Joy Division
5 - Damaged Goods -Gang of Four
6 - Grinding Halt - The Cure
7 - Cleopatra - Adam and the Ants
8 - Crosseyed and Painless - Talking Heads
9 - Change - Killing Joke
10 - Decades - Joy Division
11 - Spellbound - Siouxsie and the Banshees
12 - Decline and Fall - The Virgin Prunes
13 - Leave Me Alone - New Order
14 - From Her to Eternity - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
15 - The Killing Moon (allnight version) - Echo and the Bunnymen
16 - The Hardest Walk - The Jesus and Mary Chain
17 - Schizophrenia - Sonic Youth
18 - Sometimes - My Bloody Valentine

[badfaith]

That's one impressive CD!!!

All the basic food groups represented, so to speak... I particularly like the inclusion of Public Image Ltd. (They were a damn site better than the sex pistols (longer career notwithstanding))

If only they made retail compilation albums the way fans do, they would be so much more appealing, and you'd get a better flavour of the genre you were investigating, not just a bag of songs that sold reasonably well.

[videoheadcleaner]

I still make the odd compilation CD. Recently made this one:

Remix Compilation

1 The Presets - This Boy's In Love (Lifelike Remix)
2 Depeche Mode - Enjoy The Silence (Reinterpreted)
3 Faker - Sleepwalking (Hong Kong Blondes Remix - Edit)
4 Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows (UNKLE Remix)
5 Keane - We Might As Well Be Strangers (DJ Shadow Remix)
6 Kasabian - L.S.F. (Jagz Kooner Mix) (Edit)
7 Karnivool - The Only Way
8 Hard-Fi - Cash Machine (Roots Manuva Dub Remix)
9 Dirty Vegas - Days Go By (Paul Oakenfold Vocal Remix)
10 The Cure - Let's Go To Bed (extended mix)
11 Thom Yorke - Atoms For Peace (Four Tet Remix)
12 Paul Weller - Wild Wood (Portishead Remix)
13 Elbow - Powder Blue (Andy Votel Mix)
14 Bloc Party - The Pioneers (M83 Remix)
15 Doves - Satellites (Soulsavers Remix)
16 Starsailor - Poor Misguided Fool (remix live)

That's only one of more than 100 mixed CDs I have made.

[badfaith]

How about a coma inducing chill out mix?

[badfaith]

Ladies and gentlemen start your bongs!

My chill out mix as follows:

1. Wildlife Analysis -Boards of Canada
2. Sparks -Royksopp
3. Pumpkin -Tricky
4. Olson -Boards of Canada
5. Mourning Air -Portishead
6. Small Hours -John Martyn
7. Ask For Answers -Placebo
8. Melt -Leftfield
9. Lozenge of Love -Radiohead
10. Black Milk -Massive Attack
11. All I Need -Air
12. Indian Summer -The Doors
13. Moon, Turn the Tides, Gently, Gently Away -Jimi Hendrix Experience
14. Slow This Bird Down -Boards of Canada
15. Headphones -Bjork

[badfaith]

Smiley tunes: these always make me,well, er, you know...

1. Way Out There- Carter Burwell (Raising Arizona Souundtrack)
2. Geoff Muldaur- Michael Kamen (Brazil soundtrack)
3. Emotional Weather Report-Tom Waits
4. Sam Hall- Johnny Cash
5. Phlump- Mint Royale
6. Rock Island Line- Lonnie Donnegan
7. Das Spiegel- The Chemical Brothers
8. 8 Ball- Underworld
9. There Is A Mountain- Donovan
10.She Don't Use Jelly- The Flaming Lips
11.Velvet Snow- Kings of Leon
12.The Slow Train- Lemon Jelly
13.Man In A Shed- Nick Drake
14.(Nothing But) Flowers- Talking Heads
15.Oblivion- Terrorvision
16Games Without Frontiers- Peter Gabriel
17.Frank's Wild Years- Tom Waits

[badfaith]

Sunday Morning Mix:

Morning Glory- Tim Buckley
Poor Boy- Nick Drake
To A Flame- Stephen Stills
The Sea- Fotheringay
One Too Many Mornings- Bob Dylan
Horizons- Genesis
Light- Talvin Singh
Prelude in Blue- Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
Run Wild- New Order
You Do Something To Me- Paul Weller
Traffic Light Lady- John Martyn
Sullivan Street- Counting Crows
Bron-Yr-Aur- Led Zeppelin

Suzanne- Leonard Cohen
Boulder To Birmingham- Emmylou Harris
Ordinary Joe- Terry Callier
Astral Weeks- Van Morrison
Grandma's Hands- Bill Withers
Ivo- Cocteau Twins
Under African Skies- Paul Simon
Stranger On the Shore- Acker Bilk
Slow Moves- Jose Gonzalez
Wooden Ships- Crosby, Stills, and Nash
All The Kings Horses- Robert Plant
A Trick of the Tail- Genesis
The Sound of Silence- Simon and Garfunkel
In the Garden of Eden- Courtney Pine
Flowing Water- Dhafer Youseff

[theharrisonfords]

[badfaith]

It's that voice, I personally find it grating.

But you could always put your mix on here.