The Weekly Mixtape: 2/4/11 — In Love At Last

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to a couple who told me that the first time they met, they couldn’t stand each other.  Or they saw each other but there was no spark; not even a little romantic interest.  But at some point, maybe just from being around each other for long enough, something changed.  And years later they can’t imagine being with anyone else.

So it is with a lot of the artists now in my regular rotation.  The first time I heard them I thought, “what is this crap?”.  Or I knew of them but never really bothered to give them a shot.  There’s only so many hours in the day, right?  But our paths kept crossing until one day, I got it.  The connection was formed, never to be broken.  I was, so to speak, in love at last.  Seems apropos so close to Valentine’s Day I guess.

My humble contribution to the Weekly Mixtape is a batch of songs that got me over the hump with some of my now-favorite artists.  These are the tracks that, after I heard them, meant there was no turning back.

1. Rush — “Xanadu”, from A Farewell to Kings (1977)
2. Pearl Jam — “Go”, from Vs. (1993)
3. Genesis — “The Musical Box”, from Nursery Cryme (1971)
4. King’s X — “Out of the Silent Planet”, from Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (1989)
5. Randy Newman — “Marie”, from Good Old Boys (1974)
6. King Crimson — “One More Red Nightmare”, from Red (1974)
7. XTC — “Love on a Farmboy’s Wages”, from Mummer (1983)
   
8. Can — “Vitamin C”, from Ege Bamyasi (1972)
9. The Who — “Our Love Was”, from The Who Sell Out (1967)
   
10. Steely Dan — “Bodhisattva”, from Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)
    
11. Chicago — “Poem for the People”, from Chicago II (1970)
12. The Zombies — “A Rose for Emily”, from Odessey and Oracle (1968)
13. Muse — “Knights of Cydonia”, from Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
14. Utopia — “Love in Action”, from Oops! Wrong Planet (1977)
15. Doves — “Catch the Sun”, from Lost Souls (2000)
16. Waylon Jennings — “Rainy Day Woman”, from The Ramblin’ Man (1974)
17. System of a Down — “Cigaro”, from Mezmerize (2005)
18. The Bad Plus — “Anthem for the Earnest”, from Suspicious Activity? (2005)
19. Opeth — “Death Whispered a Lullaby”, from Damnation (2003)
20. Stevie Wonder — “You’ve Got It Bad Girl”, from Talking Book (1972)
21. Bee Gees — “Nights on Broadway”, from Main Course (1975)
22. Frank Zappa — “Montana”, from Over-Nite Sensation (1973)
23. Porcupine Tree — “Deadwing”, from Deadwing (2005)
24. Wilco — “Either Way”, from Sky Blue Sky (2007)
25. Emerson, Lake & Palmer — “Karn Evil 9: First Impression, Part II”, from Brain Salad Surgery (1973)