NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA . . . . . Route 66 Theme (opening theme) . . . . . Route 66 and Other Great TV Themes/More Hit TV Themes
NICK DRAKE . . . . . Pink Moon . . . . . Pink Moon
DEPARTMENT OF EAGLES . . . . . Balmy Night . . . . . In Ear Park
IT HUGS BACK . . . . . Q . . . . . Inside Your Guitar
WILCO . . . . . War On War . . . . . Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
THE KINKS . . . . . 20th Century Man . . . . . Muswell Hillbillies
LEONARD COHEN . . . . . Everybody Knows . . . . . Live In London
ELVIS PERKINS . . . . . How's Forever Been Baby . . . . . Elvis Perkins in Dearland

THE SPECIALS . . . . . International Jet Set . . . . . More Specials
10CC . . . . . I'm Mandy, Fly Me . . . . . How Dare You!
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG . . . . . AF607105 . . . . . 5:55
THE POSTMARKS . . . . . Eight Miles High . . . . . By-the-Numbers
OASIS . . . . . I'm Outta Time . . . . . Dig Out Your Soul
THIRDIMENSION . . . . . Save Me . . . . . Permanent Holiday
THE HELIO SEQUENCE . . . . . Lately . . . . . Keep Your Eyes Ahead

JENNY LEWIS . . . . . Trying My Best To Love You . . . . . Acid Tongue
ARTHUR ALEXANDER . . . . . Anna (Got To Him) . . . . . The Ultimate Arthur Alexander
THE BEATLES . . . . . A Shot Of Rhythm & Blues . . . . . Live at the BBC
THE YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS . . . . . Good Times Rock & Roll . . . . . Because We Hate You/Let the War Against Music Begin
ROBYN HITCHCOCK & THE VENUS 3 . . . . . Saturday Groovers . . . . . Goodnight Oslo
THE CLEANERS FROM VENUS . . . . . Illya Kuryakin Looked At Me . . . . . Golden Cleaners
HUGO MONTENEGRO . . . . . The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Theme . . . . . The Music From U.N.C.L.E.: The Original Soundtrack Affair
MORCHEEBA . . . . . Everybody Loves A Loser . . . . . The Antidote
EDWYN COLLINS . . . . . The Magic Piper (Of Love) . . . . . Austin Powers: Original Soundtrack
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND . . . . . There She Goes Again . . . . . The Velvet Underground & Nico

PJ HARVEY & JOHN PARISH . . . . . Passionless, Pointless . . . . . A Woman A Man Walked By
JOSEPH ARTHUR . . . . . Lovely Cost . . . . . Vagabond Skies
THE ROLLING STONES . . . . . Ruby Tuesday . . . . . Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)
JARVIS COCKER . . . . . Quantum Theory . . . . . Jarvis
YO LA TENGO . . . . . Madeline . . . . . And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
JOSH RITTER . . . . . Monster Ballads . . . . . Animal Years
M. WARD . . . . . Hold Time . . . . . Hold Time
THE BOOKS FEATURING JOSE GONZALEZ . . . . . Cello Song . . . . .Dark Was the Night

Some songs are so perfect that their only imperfection is their brevity (although greater length would probably be ruinous anyway). The Nick Drake tune that began this program works that way for me, so I suppose you could say it would have to be all downhill from there. Not really the case, though, as Department of Eagles followed with one whose title describes the kind of night that might include a pink moon. From there it was a dream-like new one from It Hugs Back with some effects that brought to mind the Wilco tune that followed. Then it was the Kinks with Ray Davies feeling a bit dislocated followed by a slyly funny Leonard Cohen track on bascially the same subject, which brought on Elvis Perkins to finish this opener with the beautifully sad tune that closes his new disc.

An old one from the Specials sent this section off on an aeronautical path dotted with crashing planes, as it was 10cc next with their tale of a stewardess (those of you old enough will recall that flight attendants used to go by that name back in the '70s) who went above and beyond the call of duty, followed by Charlotte Gainsbourg gaining some peace of mind as her flight goes down. From there it was the Postmarks reinventing an old Byrds classic, Oasis from their last one with a track that includes a snippet of a John Lennon interview that took place a few days before he was killed, Thirdimension quite literally calling out for help and the Helio Sequence trying to believe they've moved on when clearly that isn't the case.

The next set began with a Jenny Lewis track that has its roots in the kind of pop ballads Carole King and Gerry Goffin used to do so well. It was followed by an Arthur Alexander tune, who was a favorite of the Beatles back in the days when they were just starting to gain some traction, and they continued to play his tunes even after they broke through, as shown by this BBC appearance from 1963. That was followed by a bit of satire from the Young Fresh Fellows led by Scott McCaughey, who is one of Robyn Hitchcock's Venus 3 on the affectionate look back at the early '70s UK glam kids that came next. From there the Cleaners From Venus offered a window into Swinging London of the '60s, and then it was on to the theme from the TV show that included Illya Kuryakin as a main character. Morcheeba followed with a track that sounds like a spy movie theme song, which led to Edwyn Collins from the first Austin Powers movie and a track that rather blatently borrowed its hook from the Velvet Underground.

Loss, loneliness and the end of romance was this final set's theme, starting with a new one from PJ Harvey and John Parish that hauntingly sums up a relationhip's frayed remains. Then it was Joseph Arthur trying to rekindle a spark, followed by the Rolling Stones facing up to the obvious and Jarvis Cocker turning to high-level physics for solace. From there we finished with a wistful Yo La Tengo flowing nicely into Josh Ritter looking back through the power of music (one of many highlights from the amazing performance he and his band gave last weekend out here in New Jersey), followed by M. Ward's dream-state attempt to capture a moment in song, and the Books featuring Jose Gonzalez with their hypnotizing take on a Nick Drake tune, bringing us full circle in the process.

Here's another one from Leonard Cohen