Fifty and fabulous

This is a big post. May 2010 will be the first month where I, RJ Battles, posted fifty blog posts. Now, I'll admit: not all fifty are gold. One, in fact, had to be deleted because it wasn't properly thought-out and was full of half-formed thoughts.

There's another that I'd like to delete- "Good Advice"- because it's corny and stupid, but I have to keep it up because it's true and honest and there's a chance someone could be helped by it.

Anyway, some of the posts are pretty good; a couple are favorites:
"Legion"
"Ideas for an Aimee Mann collection"
"Goat Boy"
"Another idea for a TV show", and one of my best,
"The Daily Guru"

I friend came over this afternoon and after we hit up McDonalds we covered ourselves with tan amplifier and roasted in the backyard. After a cold shower we cooled off in the air conditioning of my bedroom and I told her about my TV show idea and she liked it. That made me happy. A little enthusiasm and support goes a long way. Maybe I'll actually do this instead my usual endless planning without action.

On craigslist I saw a VHS camcorder listed for $10. (I don't like Everybody Loves Raymond) but I saw the cast on Inside the Actors Studio and Patricia Heaton (I think that's her name) had some good advice: "If you're not getting work, start your own project; set up production of a play at a local theater; don't wait for someone else to discover you- make your own opportunities". I'm not an out-of-work actor, but this show is something I could do in my spare time and create almost entirely on my own. Once I find a camera, the only limit is my own creativity and effort. And now I know I've got at least one friend who likes the idea and is willing to help.

I'll try to provide more updates on the show and less about my terrariums. How does that sound?

Another idea for a TV show

It's 3:45am and I couldn't sleep tonight and I just got another idea for a TV show (a serious idea this time).

Five years ago I worked with a guy named Tyler Hands. I told him he should quit and start his own show on the Travel Channel. Every week he'd go to a different place in the United States and the show would be called Hands Across America.

For some reason I just remembered that incident a few minutes ago. Then I got the idea for a show on the Travel Channel where the host (me) would focus on a different location every week from his (my) own house (actually, I rent- it's not my house).

I would research a place that I've never been to and then I would try to create the experience of being there by cooking a local recipe or trying to play native songs & instruments. While doing this I could share facts and trivia about the location.

It's the perfect show because there are endless possibilities, and the network would love it because it could be produced on a tiny budget.

I could call it Travel From Home, or Explore Your Home, but most likely I'll think of something better than those. I like Around the World, Now.

I'm gonna do a practice episode right now.

Note: I hearby copyright this TV show idea. It's mine, all mine.

A sad day

I just read about the deaths of Dennis Hopper, 74 and Gary Coleman, 42. Hopper had cancer and Coleman suffered a head injury.

I grew up with Diff'rent Strokes. I've seen it since then a few times and realized it's just a typical 1970s/80s sitcom and not really funny. But Gary Coleman always seemed like a nice guy and I felt bad about all the troubles he's had in his life. I think he deserved better. (Also, the 25 year-old son of Dana Plato killed himself. He looked just like his mother, who was beautiful. It's sad that he killed himself. Of course I rolled my eyes when I read that he had been "an aspiring rapper".)

I first saw Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet. I've always been amazed by the life he led. He was an artist and one of the first people to buy a painting by Andy Warhol. He was friends with James Dean. He's worked with all the biggest stars in movies and TV and was even the lead actor on an old episode of The Twilight Zone. And he's been directed by everyone from Francis Ford Coppola to David Lynch.

When I saw him doing TV ads for Ameritrade, I think it was, I felt he was "selling out" but when I thought more about it, I realized that it's just work and he has kids that are going to want to go to college and everything and he was just thinking about their future.

It reminds me of something Ryan Adams (the younger one) said. A lot of people were giving him shit about an ad he did for The Gap and he said something I'll always remember; it was something like "They paid me $30,000 for five hours of work and that means I can keep making music and don't have to get a job in a factory." Excellent point. People say that the Pixies are selling out because of their ongoing reunion tour. They worked very hard and while they were together they were under-appreciated. They deserve to get paid. And Frank Black has a few kids now. I'm sure he wasn't making millions off Catholics records- now he has the security to do what he wants and take care of his family.

Beautysleep

Two years ago my Corsica died and when it did I decided to go without a car. I lve close enough to work so I just walk. But I decided that I'd like to buy another car before winter comes back.

One thing I'm looking forward to, and always think about when I think about driving is thinking about driving around with Tanya Donelly's Beautysleep in the CD player. It's, for me, the perfect driving record.

I'll admit: it's a slow, dreary record in places- I read somewhere that the vocals had to be sped up on some songs because of the pace- but I like it. It has some of her best songs:
"The Night You saved My Life"
"Moonbeam Monkey"
"The Storm"
"So Much Song", &
"The Wave"

I don't own the album- I downloaded it- but I'll probably burn a copy and tack on the bonus track "Head for Math" along with the Sleepwalk songs, "After Your Party", "Last Rain", and the original version of "Days of Grace".

Plans for June

Everyday at 8am and 9am, Bravo plays reruns of The West Wing. I've been told that a in a certain second season episode, they mention a resturant that I used to work at.

The episode is called "17 People" and it's the one where the staff finally starts to find out that Preident Bartlet has MS. Ainsley Hayes is talking with Sam Seaborn and she mentions that she's spending the weekend in Northampton, MA so she can participate in a debate at Smith College and she plans on getting the best pizza in the world.

Right now they're playing shows from the first season, but within the next three weeks they should be running "17 People" and I've been trying to see it for the past year and a half.

Next week I'm probably going to see Kristin Hersh. If it was a full-band show I'd definitely go; I'm not crazy about seeing anyone solo-acoustic.

Other than that, I'm not sure. I'm hoping that my dad's side of the family will be going on a kaayaking trip sometime next month. That's always fun. I'd like to go to Quabbin but I'm not sure if they allow that kind of thing anymore. I haven't been there since I was a kid and my dad took me and my brothers there to fish.

The Daily Guru

Lately I've been obsessed with the blog The Daily Guru. It's written by a man who calls himself "The Music Guru" and the reviews...

So many adverbs. And he'll use "truly" ten times in one post, sometimes in two sentences in a row.

The other striking feature is how everything is described in such an extreme way. He won't just say something is great, it's always the "most memorable bassline in the history of music" or "she undoubtably has the most unique voice of her generation".

I skimmed through the blog and found these quotes:

"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" The Eurythmics
"Showing that she knew no boundaries in terms of pitch, her performance on the song is, without question, one of the most important moments in music history."

"Midnight Train to Georgia" Gladys Knight & the Pips
"Having been featured in coutless films, most notably in a rather iconic scene in The Deer Hunter, "Midnight Train to Georgia" is, without question, one of the most perfect and iconic songs ever recorded."

"You Really Got Me" The Kinks
(Skimming through the review I noticed that the word "iconic" was used at least three times.)
"Though it has been covered countless times over the past forty years, there truly is nothing that can compare to the phenomenal original 1964 recording as the Kinks truly changed the world with their hit "You Really Got Me"."

"Hunger Strike" Temple of the Dog
Without question, the combination of the voices of Vedder and Cornell found on "Hunger Strike" rank among the most stunning musical moments in history, and there are few songs that have ever been recorded that can boast such phenomenal vocals."

"Around the Way Girl" LL Cool J
""Kicking off with one of the most memorable lines in history, LL Cool J's rhyme of "I want a girl with extensions in her hair, bamboo earrings, at least two pair", immediately sets a tone like no other song that had been previously recorded."

"Walk on the Wild Side" Lou Reed
"Even without this knowledge, the fact that a song that so directly speaks of prostitution, drugs, and so many other "taboo" subjects became a top ten hit is yet another reason why there is no other artist worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Lou Reed."

And my favorite:
Star LP Belly
"Whether it is the eerie, dark overtones of "Gepetto" or the deeply introspective title track, Donelly's lyrics transcend generations and rival any words ever written."

You can read the entire review of Star by going to The Daily Guru and going to October 9, 2009 in the archives.


So when you get some time, look around The Daily Guru and when you find some good quotes post them in the comments section. I think this'll be a lot of fun.

RJ Battles

From time to time I like to look at current state of the blog, RJ Battles, and try to decide if I like the direction it's going in, and how do I feel about it overall?

Right now I'm happy with some things, discouraged by others. The good news first:

I'm happy with the rate that I've been posting at. I've been very productive this year and especially the last two months (does the quality match the quantity? no, but I'll work on that). But at least if someone finds RJ Battles and likes it they'll have a lot to read and look at.

The bad news:

I feel like there's nothing here to get really excited about and nothing to get involved in (though there are a couple posts where you can vote for your favorite Prince record sleeves). And while my writing has gotten better, it's been a while since I wrote something that I really loved and was proud of, a post where I really impressed myself.

I'm always comparing myself to Final Girl, but I also know that ultimately I can't compare my writing to hers or anyone elses. She has her writing style and I have mine and I just need to develop mine further and focus on my strengths.

I'll be happy once I feel that I write well enough that my posts are well thought-out and organized and easy to read. I want to be as clear as possible and hold the reader's attention throughout. I'm not going to be clever or funny but I can be entertaining and interesting.

There's one thing I do that makes me feel like an awesome writer. Whenever I feel like I'm not doing well I go and read the blog The Daily Guru.

I've mentioned The Daily Guru here before. I posted his review of The Breeders' Pod along with my re-write. His writing style is horrible. It reads like any music magazine hack's record review. Everybody is a "genius" and every song is "iconic". And he doesn't seem to notice that he'll use the word "truely" ten times in one post. It's really funny, at least to me. if you wanna have a good time, look up his review of Belly's Star that he posted last year.

I feel like an asshole for writing all this but if you're gonna call yourself a "guru" (a word that I hate) you're kind of asking for it.

Upcoming Kristin Hersh show, New Throwing Muses demo up today

In June Kristin Hersh is playing, I think, three US dates, one of which is at The Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass, and I'll be going (hopefully I won't have a 6:30am shift the following morning cause I'd like to have a few screwdrivers or Cape Codders).

On CASH music, the website where Hersh has been posting her new songs for the past couple years, the latest Throwing Muses solo demo, "Swollen", arrived today. This is the fifth one so far ("Sunray Venus", "Milan", "Terra Nova", and "Freesia"). The only one that has grabbed me was "Sunray Venus", which sounds pretty good as it is. Still, they're just demos and a there are a couple that I'm interested to see how they turn out when they're played by the full band.

Also, the new solo record, Crooked, comes out this summer, I wanna say July. From what I read it's being released as a book or with a book and with artwork and whatnot.

It's a big year for KH and TM- This summer KH's autobiography comes out, as Rat Girl in the US and Paradoxical Undressing in the UK. I'm looking forward to that; she's a great writer and her blogs were always fun to read and it'd be cool to hear about the early Throwing Muses records.

Finally, a new 50 Foot Wave EP has been recorded and there's a new live CD out called Cats & Mice.

"It's Alive!"

The next Final Girl Film Club is coming up some (actually June 28, I think) and I'll be participating this time. The movie will be It's Alive! which I've never seen, though I'm familiar with the movie poster- a baby carraige with a little claw sticking out. I don't remember it being on HBO when I was a kid but I always saw it at the video store in the horror section.

I'm looking forward to this; I think it'll be a lot of fun.

Note: The above picture is not from the movie. Also, Final Girl mentioned that there was a remake made recently or in the past few years- I don't remember hearing about that. I wonder when it came out and if it was just one of those direct-to-DVD movies.

Sign O' the Times

Sign O' the Times (1987) Prince

In 1984 and 1985 I loved Prince. He replaced Michael Jackson as my favorite. I loved Purple Rain and was excited about Around the World in a Day but that second record wasn't so great. Then there was Under the Cherry Moon and my interest dropped off a little.

And I didn't like "Sign O' the Times" at the time though "U Got the Look" was cool. What got me back was "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man". Great song- I still think it's exciting.

Anyway, I didn't really start to like SOtT until I'd moved away from home and came back for a visit and brought back some old tapes to play in my car.

I'm thinking about the album now because today I was on Spin.com and read through their list of the 125 best rock & roll albums of the past 25 (I think ) years. SOtT was #2, which surprised me. Top 10, sure, but #2 seemed odd. Still, I'm not going to disagree. And really, what can you say about those kinds of lists anyway?

But I do think it might be his best album overall. The only song I would drop is "It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night". I remember I'd always fast forward past it and it would always take fucking forever. It's almost 9 minutes.

Because I got it on tape I always forget it's a double album (same thing with 1999).

Also, I think the cover photo is beautiful, probably his best. No, definitely his best.

Note: I mentioned before: on Youtube you can find a video of Kevin Smith talking about his experience filming a documentary for Prince and it's very funny. Also, I'm pretty sure Prince is insane at this point, which is sad. I mean, he's not lying in bed like Brian Wilson did; he's functional. It's just that, as his assistant told Smith, he's living in "Princeworld"- his own private, fragile bubble.

Well...

Thank you everyone. All your prayers worked and I'm feeling much better today. I think it was allergies, though they're not something I usually have.

Anyway, I had the day off from work so I was able to take it easy. As I mentioned before, the Final Girl Film Club's latest movie review was yesterday. I wanted to participate and I watched almost all of City of the Living Dead, but I decided not to participate this time.

On the one hand, it's a great way to meet new people and expose them to my blog, RJ Battles. But I wasn't too interested in the movie or in writing about it so it seemed wrong to join in just for attention. And that's just what I would've been doing if I'd written this time.

The other two times I did it for the right reasons. Amityville II is on my top five list of scariest movies so I was thrilled when it was chosen (I was also dying to see what Final Girl would write about it, but unfortunately she was busy and didn't have a chance to watch it). The other time it was a trilogy hosted by Boris Karloff called Black Sabbath which I enjoyed watching and reviewing. It was a challenge to write about it without trying to copy Final Girl's writing style which I'm jealous of.

Anyway, I spent today with friends. I cleaned one of my friend's bedroom and he grilled some chicken and corn on the cob for me and another friend. Then me and that other friend went back to my place and waited for yet another friend to show up (he never did), and we had some Tater Tots & Texas Toast and Arizona Raspberry Iced Tea.

Now I'm alone at home where I just watched this week's Nurse Jackie. I'd also gone for a walk around the block ("around the cemetary" sounds too creepy) because it's cooler outside than it is in my bedroom. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight.

Tomorrow it's back to work but I don't have to go in till 11:30am so it's cool.

OK, I'm gonna try to go to sleep now. Wish me luck.

Troy, VT

If I had to choose a favorite Aimee Mann song I might choose "Mr. Harris". It's one of her nicest songs and just a straight love song, and you can clearly see the characters.

She mentions her mother calling from Troy, VT so a while back I looked up Troy- nothing too interesting, but it's way up there by the Canadian border and the Wikipedia page says that the town is mentioned in the Aimee Mann song "Mr. Harris" from the Whatever LP.

So that was cool.

You guys, I've been so sick for the last two days. Last night I tried watching Chinatown all the way through and I was really into it and halfway through I had to turn the sound down, take off my glasses and lay down. Right now I'm on my third try with the same cigarette. I nearly threw up the first time and put it out with one hand and covered my mouth with the other.

Luckily I'm off today and hopefully I'll feel better soon.

Velouria back cover

Velouria (1990) Pixies

I've put the spotlight on the Velouria EP before here at RJ Battles, but today I just want to focus on the back cover- in all its forms- because it's so good.

So here they are,

from top to bottom:

The 4AD EP
The Elektra EP
The 4AD seven inch single
The EP on cassette

Another vote

Which do you like better, the back cover of the Purple Rain record album (top) or the back cover of the CD album (bottom)? As CJ said on the "College Kids" episode of The West Wing, "You've gotta rock the vote!!!!!!"

Vote Baby Vote (are you registered baby?)

When I was a kid I bought the "When Doves Cry" seven inch single and it had the sleeve on top- the one without text.

I just came across this twelve inch single cover and it feels strange to me to see that picture with text.

Which image do you prefer?

Vote here at RJ Battles.


Note: When I was a kid my brother made fun of me for liking Deee-lite. I can't blame him. The album that I owned, Infinity Within, had some very lame political songs like "Vote Baby Vote" and "I Had a Dream I was Falling Through a Hole in the Ozone Layer". Mmmmm, thought-provoking.
Anyway, to this day, he'll bring up songs that I listened to back then and sing a section of them.

Terrarium: Part Ten

My lush beautiful terrariums are not so lush anymore. I've got two miniture replicas of Death Valley. The spider plant cuttings got too much moisture and I think it was too soon to plant the basil. Plus they weren't getting enough sun.

Yesterday I threw down a few new basil seeds. Once they sprout I'm going to set the terrariums up in a spot where they'll get more light.

Wish me luck.

Payday

It's Friday, payday, and I stocked up on food after work. It was a hot day but late in the afternoon the clouds got dark and and the breeze was cooler. It felt like rain but it's 10:20pm and it's still dry.

It's just a quiet Friday night: doing laundry and watching City of the Living Dead for the Final Girl Film Club on Monday. I'm taking a break now but I'm liking it. Curious to see what's up with the guy whose blow-up doll came to life.

It's good to have money again. Since I'm working early tomorrow morning I'll be going to bed soon, but maybe tomorrow I'll get some popcorn to have with the rest of ther movie tomorrow night. It'll be a nice quiet Saturday night at home and I've got some more laundry to do too.

Good advice

One day when I, RJ Battles, was around 8 or 9, I came across Dear Abby and Ann Landers in our local paper. I liked them so much that I went into our garage to read all the columns from the stack of old papers.

Right away I realized that I would do very well with my own advice column. Ann and Abby's answers were always bullshit and I could've done much better. The only column I liked and agreed with was Dr. Ruth's.

Then I found and liked Miss Manners's column, which I found in 2000. This after coming across her book from the 70s, Miss Manners's Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior. That book, which is a collection of past questions and answers along with new essays on various subjects, is fucking awesome. She's so funny and clever and I love when people write in thinking someone else has done something rude but it turns iout that they themselves have been the rude ones. The one thing that annoys me is when letter-writers copy Miss Manners's writing style and try to sound like her. They end up sounding like assholes.

Anyway, one thing I've learned other people is that people who are trustworthy are trusting of others, and shady people are suspicious of everyone else- people tend to think that other people are basically like them.

Another thing I've learned is is that when you want to discover someone's true intentions is to ignore what they say and look at what they actually do. I think the saying is "Actions speak louder than words". It's true.

It's always been my dream to have my own advice column and, for a while, I had one. It was on a music forum.

I'd like to have one here. I think I might've tried before, but it was probably before I had any readers. Anyway, if you have a problem, Ask RJ.

More Cyndi

The cover for the True Colors album is pretty cool, as is the front sleeve for the "What's Going On" single.

I had never heard of Man Ray at that time but the picture is based on a black & white photo of his of a woman with glass globes on her face to look like tears.

Around the World in a Day

Around the World in a Day (1985) Prince and the Revolution

As a kid I thought the album cover painting for ATWIAD was pretty cool. I didn't realize till a few years ago that the mountain range in the background is the shape of a recling nude woman.

The sleeves for the singles could pull apart to make a long poster, which I still think is cool. "Raspberry Beret" has the girl in the black dress, "Pop Life" is the white- haired crying man, and "America" is the black baby with the flag.

A couple good B-sides came along too: "Hello"- the weak one- was about Prince's experience with "We Are The World"; I love "She's Always in my Hair" and "Girl". All three are included on The Hits/ The B-sides.

Note: Elvis Costello wanted to record a cover of "Pop Life" but Prince said no (EC did do it when he toured for Blood & Chocolate). Later he wanted to sample it for "The Bridge I Burned", the "new" track for his Warner Brothers collection, Extreme Honey, and Prince said no again.

1999

1999 (1983) Prince

I first heard Prince's "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore" when I got The Hits/ The B-sides. Now most people know it from the Alica Keys cover a few years ago. I like these sleeves, especially the smoky picture (painting?) of Prince.

My TV plans

The other night my buddy and I were watching Deadliest Catch on Discovery or TLC. It's the show that follows around Alaskan Crab fishermen; it's become a big hit and now they can even afford to have Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" as their opening theme song.

Me and my buddy wanna produce our own show in his living room with a painted backdrop and wooden traps and lobsters and crabs that we'll borrow overnight from the supermarket he works at. The two of us will play all the characters with him as the young, bumbling "greenhorn" and me as the chain-smiking, mullet-wearing captain. We'll call it Catching Crabs.

My other idea is for A&E to do a spin-off of both Intervention and Hoarders. The druggies will move in with the hoarders - they'll sell of all valuables for dope and then once their high they'll clean up everything else. If the hoarders get uncomfortable the junkies can always hook them up with something to calm them down. We'll call it Interhoardtion or something like that.

Two problems solved; everyone's happy.


Note: there's a cable TV station called TRU TV and they run Cops re-runs from the early 90s. They also do a couple shows, one is about repo men and another is called Southern Fried Stings. The thing is, both are bullshit re-enactment shows but they try to look like real footage and there's just a quick disclaimer at the beginning of each saying it's based on real stories. Fuck that.

I have a question

I have a question and maybe you know the answer.

When I'm posting something here, I'll look at something I wrote two sentences ago and want to change it. I'll go back and change it and everything's fine. But sometimes when I do that, the text that comes after the change will get aerased while I'm typing in new words.

Am I explaining that right? Sometimes if I re-write the second to last sentence, the last sentence will get erased while I type. It's fucking annoying. It's happened on Facebook too and I just can't see why it would happen or why anyone would want to write that way and it would be an option.

So what's happening? Am I doing something- do I hit a button by accident?

Annie Lennox

I love when a music video is related to an album cover and that's the case with the video for "Why" from the Annie Lennox Diva LP. In the video, directed by Sophie Muller- who also directed for No Doubt's "Don't Speak" and "Simple Kind of Life" (which is very similar to the video for "Why")- she sits before a mirror and puts on makeup and by the end of the song she looks like she does on the Diva cover.

Also, "Why" is just a cool song, one of my favorites from the 90s.

The Diva album itself is good and bad. Too many songs sound cold and electronic- she'd have done better to have a full band. Some of the foregettable songs (I can't remember their names) sounded dated back in 1992 and haven't gotten any better.

Some music magazine reviewers complained that the material itself was uneven and Lennox might do better with songwriting help. Her next record, Medusa, was a collection of covers, still many of the songs were disappointing. The best were "A Whiter Shade of Pale", Paul Simon's "Something So Right", and "No More I Love You's"- a song I want to like, but I can't get past all the weird baby talk.

Anyway, back to Diva. I love "Why", "Walking on Broken Glass", and a ballad from Side Two, "Stay By Me", which is one of my favorite songs ever. Whenever I hear it, it reminds me of being in high school and listening to it by the pool on a perfect summer afternoon (I've always been a dork).

Note: a few of the songs from this record made it onto the soundtrack of that stupid Demi Moore movie Striptease.

Note Two: One of the B-sides, "Step by Step", became a big hit for Whitney Houston.

True Colors, the song

True Colors (1986) Cyndi Lauper

This is probably her best record sleeve, even better than "Whats Going On" with the Man Ray tribute. I don't know which side I like better- the full black and white or the one with the rainbow oil slick.

Lauper has put out some cool B-sides:

"Right Train, Wrong Track" (from "Girls Just Wanna have Fun")
"Unabreviated Love" (from "My First Night Without You")
"Cold" (from "Who Let in the Rain")

But I think "Heading for the Moon" is the best. It's super-gay, but it's cool at the same time.

She must love "Witness", by the way; I think it's been used as a B-side about 35 times.

Money Changes Everything

Money Changes Everything (1984) Cyndi Lauper

I had the 7 inch single as a kid and I really liked the live version.

The Best Remixes

The Best Remixes Cyndi Lauper

This isn't something that I would buy, plus everytime I saw it at a store it was over twenty dollars. I did, a long time ago, buy the 12 inch single for "Change of Heart"; it had a good extended version. On The Best Remixes, "The Goonies R Good Enough" is listed as "Good Enough".

1 Girls Just Want to Have Fun (6:08)
2 She Bop (6:26)
3 Good Enough (5:27)
4 Change of Heart (7:55)
5 Whats Going On (6:34)
6Money Changes Everything (6:25)

Firepile and Red Heaven

Red Heaven LP (1992)
Firepile (1992)
The Curse live CD (1992) Throwing Muses

I love the Red Heaven-era sleeve design. The Red Heaven album cover itself is cool; I don't know, but I always thought the image looked a lot like Madonna during the Blond Ambition tour.

The logo is also used for Firepile and The Curse.

Limited copies of Red Heaven came with a bonus disc, Live at Maxwell's Hoboken. There are only two songs each from The Real Ramona and Red Heaven; the rest are older Throwing Muses songs. Here's the tracklisting:

1 Juno
2 Marriage Tree
3 Pearl
4 Two Step/ Dovey/ Mexican Women
5 Run letter
6 Soap and water
7 Rabbits Dying
8 Cry Baby Cry
9 Couting Backwards/ Handsome Woman
10 take
11 Soul Soldier
12 Bea
13 Delicate Cutters

Juliana Hatfield

I just want to take a moment to talk about Juliana Hatfield. I only know one of her songs; "Spin the Bottle" was used in the movie Reality Bites. It's ok but what I like are her background vocals on other peoples songs. She sings on "You Could Make a Killing" from Aimee Mann's I'm With Stupid and later on "Deathly" from Bachelor #2. I first heard her on the Belly B-side "Hot Burrito #1", their cover of the Flying Burrito Brothers song.

I think she was also a member of the Lemonheads for a while and I like the way she sounds on "My Drug Buddy".

Sliding and Diving

Sliding & Diving (1996) Tanya Donelly

The Sliding & Diving EP led the way for the Lovesongs for Underdogs LP in 1997. I like it- and prefer the "Bum (Remix)" to the album version- but I could do without "Human".

By the way, I know the lyric is "sliding & diving", but I swear I've seen this EP titled as Sliding & Driving. Is one the US and one the UK version? I know for Sleepwalk the US version is just called EP.

Prince and the Revolution

Take Me With U Prince

Prince's record sleeves are awful as often as they're good. Take Me With U is one of the weak ones, very 1984. On the other hand, I love the flower photos from the Purple Rain-era.