Playlist “Slave-1”

A Sony Walkman is the cargo hold, and Captain Solo is the mix-tape.

Slave-1

What’s the Kill Bill Hero Walk ?  It’s when O-Ren arrives.  Go watch the movie again.  I’ll wait.

Suspect I used I’m Alright on a different playlist, and just now noticed that I put Kenny Loggins and Kenny Rogers in the same playlist.  Which, in some parts of the Universe, must be like mixing pasta and antipasto.  B-O-O-M.

This is a really up-tempo mix.  Not apparently so, with a 9-min GnR pseudoballad and Ms. Fiona Apple slow-dancing the place up; but songs have their own special motivations when they’re a favorite.

One of {Diwali}’s friends, {K#2}, was a huge fan of “Degrassi Junior High” and “Degrassi High”.  To this day {K#2} will seethe with fury at mention of how Joey Jeremiah and Tessa Campinelli hooked up – an affair culminating in a scene featuring yon Gowan track, where they seal the deal.

For those geeks averse to ’80s Canadian-teen melodrama, I give you what you came to see.

Slave-1 (“SW:ESB”)

 

 

 

Playlist “Starfury”

Babylon 5 should not be overlooked in the history of great sci-fi.

Starfury

It is a sad fact that most radio stations (those that play Driver Seat) tend to cut off most of the intro vamp to the song for the sake of time.  It has an amazing beat, as does Disco Science.  Need to tame the volume levels yet on some of these tracks.  Disco Science thunders from the earbuds, young Robert Zimmerman is subdued when Maggie’s Farm follows.

Let’s Get Rocked flashes me back to the summer of 1992 and a complicated tangle with a girl {ChasingCrazy}.  She’d fade to obscurity when I’d meet {SJL} that autumn.  Flash forward to summer of 2002, {ChasingCrazy} calls me out of the blue (I was single at the time) and we had another inexplicable pas de deux which, again, evaporated before I started dating {Diwali} that November.  A blog gets personal ?  That’s unpossible.

Bad Bad Leroy Brown, a fun song I’d heard at the wedding of one of {Diwali}’s old friends many years ago.  Head Over Heels, used brilliantly in a scene from “Donnie Darko”, was also, coincidentally, played at our resort in Cuba the night I proposed to {Diwali} [SPOILER : She said Yes].  I proposed on the beach at sundown; later, as we sat in the warm night air waiting for the evening stage show to start, Head Over Heels echoed out against the hills.  That was May 19, 2005 – also the day that Star Wars Episode III was released in theaters.

I did warn you I obsess over numbers and dates.

Some songs pull you through more than others; You’ve Got The Love has done so at least three times, at the tail end of some tough-ass runs.  I like this playlist and use it frequently, and the second-last track has inspired me to push on when I have little left in the tank.

The Starfury was the go-to fighter-interceptor on Babylon 5, a show you should watch start-to-finish at least once.  Full respect to continuity.

Starfury (“Babylon 5”)

 

 

Playlist “Heart of Gold”

Yet Neil Young’s song isn’t on the list…

Heart of Gold

A very long time ago I had in mind to write a sci-fi TV series.  Putting the cart before the horse, I intended to have Deep Six as the theme song.  Never got past notes on the concept and a list of main characters, and in the end “Fringe” did a far better job of a similar concept but a different story.

This playlist is another with no subtle theme to it; more a collection of songs I like that I hadn’t used yet.  I don’t like flying, or heights (huzzah, synergy) but if I had to fly somewhere in a helicopter, I might request a tape player belting out Long Tall Sally.  **Post a Comment below this entry with the movie referenced there, and win nothing whatsoever**

Wagon Wheel is one of the few songs to which I know all the words and could make a passable, blindfolded go of a karaoke try.  The first version I ever heard of the song was at a Blue Rodeo concert, when guest Dustin Bentall did his cover.  I seldom get to Evangeline.  I really should find out if Matthew Sweet did more records than the one that has Girlfriend on it (possibly named the same).

This playlist is named after the ship from Douglas Adams’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”.  I have not seen the movie, but did enjoy the books.  I did not envision the ship as pictured, in my head when reading.

Heart of Gold (“HGTTG”)

 

 

Playlist “Defiant”

Everyone says “Enterprise” so I thought I’d go a different way.

Defiant

This is another example of a playlist not so much built on an auditory premise as it is a collection of songs that I like that I hadn’t used anywhere else.  Two 007 theme tracks; a Matt Good song that I never reach because the runs haven’t been long enough; two appearances by Blue Rodeo, easily Canada’s best band.  Come those who will say Tragically Hip – to which I reply that T.Hip have been doing “college music” since after ‘Trouble At The Henhouse’ and even before then were in decline since their arguable peak with ‘Fully Completely’.  Here would be where {Mattress} would interject and promote the Hells out of ‘Day For Night’.

If A View To A Kill isn’t my favorite track from this playlist, the disco god-send of Stayin’ Alive is.

Turning the tide against the Dominion :

U.S.S. Defiant (“ST:DS9”)

 

 

Playlist “Eldridge”

Name not familiar ?

Eldridge

Funny thing about this playlist is that it wasn’t so much constructed around a cohesive set of driving songs, as it was a collection of good songs I hadn’t used yet and decided to collect together.  Had to include You Don’t Mess Around With Jim; wish that iPods played out loud for others to enjoy.  Second thought, maybe I don’t wish that feature on public transit users or people with teenage kids.

I never seem to get past the Metallica track before I’m done the run.

The Eldridge was better known as the U.S.S. Eldridge – even better known as The Philadelphia Experiment, if one believes it happened.

U.S.S. Eldridge (DE-173, US Navy)

 

 

Playlist “Serenity”

‘Firefly’ was an amazing show.

Serenity

MG opening the list, Marshall batting second.  Have I ranted about Lana Del Rey yet in a Playlist post ?  Doesn’t matter, I’ll go at the topic again.  She’s amazing.  I’d say she’s better than Adele, which some would consider blasphemy, but it’s true.  LDR has an edge to her voice and Adele doesn’t; would that LDR had done the title track to “Skyfall”.  People dump on Del Rey because she had a bad go of SNL that time, as if somehow a single bad performance on a show two decades past its prime is a coup-de-grace for an upstart’s career.  To that end, Sinead O’Connor is also a great artist, so what if she tore up a picture of the Pope.  We’ve still go enough pics of him around.

…

There.  Rant ended.  Pick up her “Born To Die” disc, it’s solid.

The Zeppelin and Beasties tracks on this playlist are at so low a playback volume that it takes away from their contribution.  Could You Be Loved has that great beat; I could run with that on Repeat.  Same with Urgent.  And the Joe Cocker song makes me think of that Washington State anti-drinking PSA from the early 1990’s.  I looked on YouTube; it’s not there.

I never get to the Wagner track on this playlist.

You know the Serenity :

Serenity (“Firefly”)

 

 

Playlist “TARDIS”

I would hope you know what ‘TARDIS’ stands for.

TARDIS

 

I read somewhere that U2 wrote Goldeneye – the song, not the movie.  I enjoy this playlist and don’t seem to listen to it as often as I should.  Maybe I choose a run’s selection by alphabetical order and just never make it down as far as ‘T’.  Short Change Hero made for an amazing opening sequence to the video game “Borderlands 2”.  Thought the intro to the original “Borderlands” was great !

You probably know where the playlist’s name comes from.

TARDIS (“Doctor Who”)

Playlist “Mockingbird”

There aren’t enough Flying Circuses any more.

Mockingbird

Giant is a long opening track, but a good one.  Matt Good’s records were always great for opening strong, and this was the lead track (‘Beautiful Midnight’).  I hear Golden Brown and get the sense I should have just been laid out from a punch by a pikey bareknuckle-boxing champ.

I said before I like Springsteen songs where he doesn’t sound drunk and/or slurred.  I’ll say out loud that I think Brilliant Disguise to be his best song.  Best written if nothing else.  Shake Your Foundations was actually introduced to me by an article in an actual paper-copy of The Onion (this article here).

The playlist is named after Rick Hunter’s fanjet from “Robotech”.  Certainly I could have gone with an easy choice – the SDF-1…the SDF-3…the VF-1S in Battloid mode painted up in Roy Fokker’s Skull-1 colors.  Even the Ikazuchi-class cruisers from Sentinels, which are one of my favorite starship designs.  Nope.  I chose the Mockingbird.

Mockingbird (“Robotech”)

 

Playlist “Pillar of Autumn”

Because that’s why.

Pillar of Autumn

I said that Playlist “Planet Express” felt short.  Well, this one is a contender for that title.  It kicks ass, don’t get me wrong.  And in the early days when I’d be struggling to finish the 12 minutes of running in twelve 1-min bursts, I welcomed this playlist.

Double-shot from AC/DC, and one of my favorite Matt Good songs.  In fact everything about this playlist says “Here comes the rock, get moving.”  The Flogging Molly song makes for a good closer, especially if the run is done and I’m walking home.  I discovered the song, and the band, from the track’s use in an episode of “Stargate Universe”.  I really did enjoy that show.

This playlist is named after the ship from the original “HALO” video game.

Pillar of Autumn (“HALO”)

 

Playlist “Planet Express”

Not to be underestimated.

Planet Express

If this is not the shortest playlist by total length in minutes, if certainly feels it.  Three times, at least, I have had the iPod fall silent during the late intervals of a run.  Good opener followed by a VERY VERY loud Bif Naked.  I think I re-tuned this track to a -80% volume in iTunes and even that could use another drop.  The product of someone else’s digitizing a track which I totally did not download from ‘teh Intarwebz’.  The R.E.M. track is a motivator, as is the Manson track.  I discovered Mechanical Animals on a full play-through of that album and liked it.

One is a very significant song for me, necessitating its inclusion even if it isn’t an adrenaline kick.  Matt Good gets an appearance, and close on Loggins.  I think I’d used I’m Alright before in a different playlist.

This playlist is named after an icon ship from a show that was better than it was given credit for, and whose only failing was to have aired at a time when “The Simpsons” was still a rising star.

Planet Express ship (“Futurama”)