Man, am I feelin' Radio Dazed today. Here's my take on the latest Radio Daze mix from Dirk over at Hambonian Entertainment.
Tracks:
- Ride Like the Wind - Christopher Cross, Pop #2, AC #24. The relentless groove more than makes up for Cross' mushmouth. Bonus points for having backing vocals from soft rock stalwart Michael McDonald. More on the album here.
- Heart Hotels - Dan Fogelberg, Pop #2, AC #1. I'm not much of a Fogelberg fan, but this song is much better than his insipid ballads. Saved by a Tom Scott solo on Lyricon.
- Hurt So Bad - Linda Ronstadt, Pop #8, AC #25. I've recently become infatuated with Ronstadt's Mad Love album and this gem isn't even the best song on the thing. It's everything a cover should be: Ronstadt turns a fantastic '60s soul ballad and makes it completely her own. ♥
- Brass in Pocket (I'm Special) - The Pretenders, Pop #14, Dance #28. I never thought of this as a soft rock cut, but it fits perfectly in this mix. Chrissie Hynde's voice isn't that great and I absolutely love it.
- New Romance (It's a Mystery) - Spider, Pop #39. Oh wow. I've never heard this one before. It's a fantastic pop song and now I'm ticked off that I haven't heard it before. And then I find out that these guys wrote John Waite's song, "Change"?!? "Change" is a cover?!? Mind blown. Searching for Spider albums now.
- Theme from New York, New York - Frank Sinatra, Pop #32, AC #10. Not my favorite Sinatra but I love it because Sinatra.
- Answering Machine - Rupert Holmes, Pop #32, AC #12. Well played, Dirk, well played. I bet I haven't heard this one since 1980, but I could easily sing along with it. The catchy melodies are accompanied by lyrics every bit as clever as those in Holmes' "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)". In fact, I'm not sure this song isn't better than Escape.
- Shining Star - The Manhattans, Pop #5, AC #21, R&B #4. Ahhhhh...I loves me some smooth soul ballad. Not as good as "Kiss And Say Goodbye", but a big hit for them. This song reminds me of going to swim meets in the summer of '80.
- Little Jeannie - Elton John, Pop #3, AC #1. Harmless enough (I like the electric piano part), but I prefer '70s Elton John. The kind of song that doesn't make me change the radio station, but it doesn't make me yearn for a copy.
- Magic - Olivia Newton-John, Pop #1, AC #1. ThankyousirmayIhaveanother. Makes me wish Mixcloud had a song repeat function. This song is so good it makes me want to watch Xanadu (again). Could this possibly be my favorite ONJ song? Ima hafta think bout that. This one has already made two previous appearances on this blog: here and here.
- More Love - Kim Carnes, Pop #10, AC #6. An easy pick? Sure, but it fits so well in the sequencing here. This song has already been graded at A- on this blog. Click here for a full review.
- JoJo - Boz Scaggs, Pop #17, AC #29. Nice choice for a closer. When Scaggs left the blues for Westcoast pop with Toto as his backing band, he gained a fan in me.
While New York, New York seems strangely out of place, I'm going to give this mix my seal of approval.
The Radio Daze series of posts:
Original Rhino series reviewed at The CD Project
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Radio Daze Revisited by Hambonian Entertainment
Volume 1
Volume 2
| Herc's Hideaway series | |
| Volume ½ | Volume 11 |
| Volume 6 | Volume 12 |
| Volume 7 | Volume |
| Volume 8 | Volume 14 |
| Volume 9 | Volume 15 |
| Volume 10 |
Dirkel is certainly keeping the spirit of the series alive and I applaud him for that. Dazing ain't easy especially when you're trying to keep it chronological.
ReplyDeleteHoping #4 is released on my birthday.