Because obsessing over the dates of old pictures isn't enough, I'm now making year-based playlists of music.
Some of these real early ones will be short, other years may take awhile to put together and be kinda long.
Here is 1927, with multiple tracks by Dock Boggs and the Carter Family, plus singles by Uncle Dave Macon, Blind Willie Johnson, Victoria Spivey, and more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nShTt6rBYDM&list=PLfQclYkh2u0uisdG6LvxmuoLPeY80FQv8
Next up for these year playlists is 1951, featuring two tracks each by Hank Williams and Howlin' Wolf, other familiar names like Elmore James and Flatt & Scruggs, and my fave rendition of "I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again" by the wonderful Maddox Brothers and Rose.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0v159nmQHrd1ASGPc5d1Fmf
"Year playlist" numero tres is 1940. Big band swing meets solo folk with three famous jazz orchestras, three tracks by the absolute hero Woody Guthrie (and two by his sometime collaborator and folk blues giant Lead Belly), along with some early piano blues by Champion Jack Dupree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nz3WeHGtjg&list=PLfQclYkh2u0sge1dF6H47PsHTB73Qwb3k
Next "Year Playlist" is 1974. Which means lots of funk from James Brown, his associates like Maceo Parker & Fred Wesley, plus Patti LaBelle, the Ohio Players & more.
From the rock side of the ledger, it’s 1974 so it's gonna be from the margins. Two middle-aged rockabilly sides from Charlie Feathers & the best of pub rock with Nick Lowe fronting Brinsley Schwarz. Then some junkshop glam from the UK & meatball rock from Canada filling out the dozen.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0tlC1msT4PwooxTeyvxg9nf
The year playlist for this week is 1960, a year at the heart of the period when old conventional wisdom said there was nothing good coming out music-wise.
Blues, R&B, C&W, and most notably a pile of rock n roll instrumentals (including the first song ever to reference LSD) proves that wrong.
Ike & Tina Turner, Elmore James, Marty Robbins, Link Wray, and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates are among those to help cement 1960's credentials.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0szfpS5CtucMB23Z1aTwnqC
This week's Year Playlist is 1983, reflecting music I played on my college radio show back then, including stuff I became aware of during my first stint in London.
Starting off with hip hop, it veers into a hodgepodge of pop/rock/indie released that year. Less than halfway through, it's taken over by what nowadays fits in the umbrella term “garagepunk”. Back then, it would've been split into garage rock, trash, cowpunk, hardcore, goth, folkpunk, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0s6HNp283KYLdu7gM3BRHUL
#playlist #Year1983
Back to nearly a century ago w/the next Year Playlist: 1930. That means two songs by the grandfather of country Jimmie Rodgers, pop & jazz standards from Fred Astaire and King Oliver, and a surfeit of old-timey folk, blues, and trad music. Benny Goodman, Mississippi John Hurt, and the Carter Family are well known, but the eerie gothic drama of Geeshie Wiley and the fast fiddle reel of Eck Robertson & Family are also worth a few listens.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0vqy6VcDJrw0wcvBzTIVDuO
I must stay true to basing these #YearPlaylists on the aggregated playlists from my 2018-19 internet radio show. It’s been fine so far, but when I get to certain years, there are way too many tracks for a playlist.
IMO, a playlist should be between 10 and 25 songs (at least 30 minutes and no more than 90 minutes - the length of most cassette tapes).
This wasn’t a problem with the #YearPlaylists so far: 1927, 1951, 1940, 1974, 1960, 1983, & 1930. The longest one had 23 songs.
But for years like 1966 or ‘77, I have four times that many that I must include. I'm not going to make five-hour playlists, so there’ll have to be some Part 1, Part 2 stuff.
#YearPlaylist: 1966 - Part 1
There’s a certain vibe here, so don’t bother unless you enjoy loud, clanging (& clearly horny) teen bands, snarling about society’s pressure blowing their minds--that sort of thing.
Sample songs:
Bad Girl
Blowing My Mind
Dirty Books
Going All the Way
Yep, 18 tracks of garagerock at its most primitive, interrupted briefly by ‘66-style soul (Carla Thomas), blues (Howlin’ Wolf), rock ‘n’ roll (Bo Diddley), & pop (David Bowie).
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0shVQixdDyHortTzqz_sr0y
#YearPlaylist: 1949
It's 1949 so here's a city/country mix of jump blues, hillbilly boogie, a back mountain murder ballad, some of the first recorded bluegrass, and a dash of New Orleans gumbo.
Personal faves Hank Williams and the Maddox Bros. & Rose are here alongside Louis Jordan and John Lee Hooker (recording under a pseudonym).
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0te3siKwx04bSf8GlW-BVnp
#YearPlaylist: 1956 Part 1
Out of 21 cuts, 17 not surprisingly are of the rockabilly persuasion, including multiple contributions from Joe Clay, Johnny Burnette, Carl Perkins, and a young Roy Orbison.
The youthful vitality is infectious, but after so much of it, it's just as well the set ends with Howlin' Wolf and Otis Rush, who sound like the whiskey-drinking adults in the room next to a bunch of manic teenagers on bop pills.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0sYZTjpHLG6dKjvTbDavkmW
#YearPlaylist: 1977 Part 1 (A to E)
I like punk rock and I cannot lie
(What can I say, it’s a vibe)
Songs/vibes include:
Ain’t Nothing to Do
Antisocial Disease
Blank Generation
Boredom
Born to Lose
But Willie Williams, The Commodores, and Candy McKenzie prove there was other music in 1977
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0vcixCai6pIw2yUZD-SPOcf
#YearPlaylist: 1988
A short one. Prob because in 1988 I was back in university as a “mature” student & became a parent, hindering music discovery.
Some of these I heard for the 1st time on mixtapes I got in the mail from my old record shop comrade in London. He knew I was missing out & went out of his way to keep me informed with batches of new releases on cassette.
All hip hop, with 1 exception, this playlist is dedicated to Jace the Ace Face.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0tJSH5b9JIagu4oC2u4Cdit
#YearPlaylist: 1929
It's an understandably rustic mix this time, with half of the recordings coming from the famous Anthology of American Folk Music. Ethel Waters and Jimmie Rodgers bring the more polished sounds, while Memphis Minnie and Cannon's Jug Stompers account for 4 of the 17 songs.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0s6tNJjwhgSg_KZ6HsbUzZs
#YearPlaylist: 1969 Part 1
This year's (part 1) playlist has some classic rawk:
Born on the Bayou
Gimme Shelter
Kick Out the Jams
And a hunk of funk:
Butter (For Yo' Popcorn)
Cissy Strut
Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky
It's My Thing
And it starts and ends with tracks from (Iggy and) The Stooges' debut
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0vHaDj2C6EdBwoinrQ05QFY
#YearPlaylist: 1941-1943
Not enough 1941/42/43 tracks on my old show for "year playlists" but I have to include them in this thread so it's a multiyear job.
One reason there ain't much is because of the 1942-44 recording ban for union members.
Not sure how tracks here swerved the ban - but I note that some were done for movies.
There's 2 versions of Blues in the Night (viral song in the early '40s) and 2 tracks by the Andrews Sisters (Shoo Shoo Baby for the win).
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0uvSOO2q2_IB7GJTxubbmfa
#YearPlaylist: 1971
What a year. I know there's even books about this being the best year for albums or something, but it was no slouch for singles either.
A few classics by legends, tons of funk, soul, reggae, underground rock, and even a country song.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0twHNzbsjAYRXFhbGJ-6gLe
#YearPlaylist: 1992-93
Since I only played two things from '93 on my old show, they get squeezed into this 1992 playlist.
It's a strange one because almost every track is either hip hop or hip hop-adjacent, or garagepunk produced or inspired by Billy Childish.
Well, that's not counting a few indie and R&B outliers by the Breeders, Morrissey and En Vogue.
There's also four whole tracks off of Luscious Jackson's debut record! (hip hop adjacent)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0vGZ_3mERi6euH3KNBt4RPf
Couldn't actually find Minute Man by Thee Milkshakes on YT, except as part of a full album posting. So that's why I moved it to the end of the playlist.
If you really want to hear Minute Man, which is a great Link Wray-style instrumental, it starts at 17:59 in the video. (i.e. here, in this link):
#YearPlaylist: 1963 Part 1
What a year!
Lots of surf & other instros by The Blazers, Ronnie Kae, Link Wray, Dick Dale, Gary & Larry, Lonnie Mack, The Citations, & Neil Young's first group, The Squires. There's also vocal groups: the Chiffons, Crystals, Ronettes, Beatles & Beach Boys.
Plus various strands of R&B from Sonny Boy Williamson II, Bob & Earl, Derek Martin, and an early Rolling Stones demo, with some early ska from Lord Tanamo and Clancy Eccles.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0voZeZi0oFKpf3vCUFQgwlN
#YearPlaylist: 1953
There's three icons here in Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, and Hank Williams.
But in addition to the latter's posthumous release - "Angel of Death" - my faves are the Davis Sisters ("Rock-a-Bye Boogie"), LC Smith ("Radio Boogie"), Rufus Thomas ("Bear Cat") and Guitar Slim ("The Things That I Used to Do").
Also, the first version of much covered "Iko Iko", originally called "Jock-A-Mo", by Sugar Boy and His Cane Cutters.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0svC9t7JCm_YeRzqLRquTKs
#YearPlaylist: 1976
In addition to much #YearZero punk from a parade of likely suspects, there's also proto-punk from the Runaways and the 101ers, pop from ABBA and Bryan Ferry, one-hit wonders from Wild Cherry and Chris Spedding, and funk from the JBs.
A few obvious reggae classics from Dillinger, Clint Eastwood, and Junior Murvin are sprinkled throughout the noiselist.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0v2PRLM3Spg1FI1zGtgADQc
#YearPlaylist: 1981 Part 1
LA, NY, DC, SF, Chicago, London, Coventry & Manchester are the collective provenance of this list's 19 records from 1981.
But LA accounts for half, from Gun Club, X, Black Flag, The Bags, & TSOL--most of which contribute more than one.
If there's an outlier, it's the one hit--Kids in America by Kim Wilde--but it doesn't really sound out of place alongside the US punk and UK post-punk records that account for the the balance.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0uzOhuGrGjDSWrhGQ68qcyX
#YearPlaylist: 1958 Part 1
Extremely rocking set of half a dozen pre-surf intros, featuring both twangy guitar and sax, with a similar quota of rockabilly, plus R&B, pop/jazz and folk in smaller doses.
Roy Brown, Laura Lee Perkins, Chuck Berry, and the Collins Kids are probably my faves.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0tdre074AnUqfcOsM6g5s8Z
#YearPlaylist: 1967 Part 1
I am so grateful that Dublin Digital Radio was perfectly happy to have someone do a show that played music recorded between 1925 and 2019, from across many different genres.
That's how I did it on the show, with years all mixed up, but now I'm replaying them in year batches.
Here is part one of 1967.
Genres this year include ska, garage rock, pop, psychedelic rock, blues, soul, country, folk rock, and funk.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0s36H0BuQy9-0RiQxAaWA-L
#YearPlaylist: 1970
Featuring the Turtles, and Kermit the Frog
Alice Cooper, and Jerry Reed
Bob Marley, and Wanda Jackson
Plus some other big names, and some not so big names.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0vTKE3iYESGuuIkUhcI74v8
#YearPlaylist: 1932-1935
I feel like a failure, not having enough records to have individual year playlists for this period. My rules don't allow me to fill in the gaps, I must use the playlists from my old show.
It starts out with a topical Depression-era pop song, followed mostly by jazz but there's a few other things in there.
My faves are It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Aint Got that Swing), Garbage Man Blues, and Rye Whiskey.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfQclYkh2u0vCnVD4f_oy7AZV2C9LQrip
That whole Kim Wilde album is amazing, in my opinion.
@sk76 Ah! Ah! Funny enough: I posted yesterday an attempted digitization of my Bob Marley's "Small Axe" 7 inches! The sound is terrible, pops and cracks all along, but it is indeed the original '71 version. 😎
Attached: 1 audio Un autre test avec probablement un des disques les plus crades de chez crades que je possède : Small Axe de Bob Marley (la « première » version pressée en 45 tours, pas celle de l’album). Bon là le denoiser peut rien faire hein, mais malgré tout le son est moins dégeu que quand il passe par l’ampli (qui mériterait une révision en profondeur et sûrement un remplacement des condensateurs). Bob Marley – Small Axe (reggae – 1971) #reggae #PouetRadio
@blunt I love it. The 7” is on my wish list on Discogs.
I wonder if there’s some software that can reduce the surface noise.
@BM24 so good here performing on tv with James Browns’s band
Another all time fave Youtube video. Funkiest performance in history delivered to least funky audience on earth. Marva Whitney & the J.B.'S - It's My Thing.(1969) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PKpQwQ4ZGQ
SK
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TheZorse
Richard Troupe
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