NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA . . . . . Route 66 Theme (opening theme) . . . . . Route 66 and Other Great TV Themes/More Hit TV Themes
THE YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS . . . . . New Day I Hate . . . . . I Think This Is
THE BUZZCOCKS . . . . . I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life . . . . . Operators Manual
BRENDAN BENSON . . . . . I’m Easy . . . . . Lapalco
SUPERGRASS . . . . . Rush Hour Soul . . . . . Life on Other Planets
ARLO . . . . . Too Sick To Tango . . . . . Stab the Unstoppable Hero
EELS . . . . . What’s A Fella Gotta Do . . . . . Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire
R.E.M. . . . . . Living Well Is The Best Revenge . . . . . Accelerate
DEER TICK . . . . . Easy . . . . . Born On Flag Day
THE SEEDS . . . . . Pushin’ Too Hard . . . . . Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968

THE THREE DEGREES . . . . . When Will I See You Again . . . . . When Will I See You Again: Best of The Three Degrees
JENS LEKMAN . . . . . Sipping On The Sweet Nectar . . . . . Night Falls Over Kortedala
THE TOYS . . . . . A Lover’s Concerto . . . . . The Best of the Girl Groups, Vol. 2
STUART MURDOCH . . . . . Come Monday Night . . . . . God Help The Girl
THE CURE . . . . . Friday I’m In Love . . . . . Galore
THE POSTMARKS . . . . . Go Jetsetter . . . . . Go Jetsetter
CAMERA OBSCURA . . . . . Swans . . . . . My Maudlin Career
PETER & GORDON . . . . . A World Without Love . . . . . The British Invasion: History of British Rock, Vol. 1
MOJAVE 3 . . . . . Breaking The Ice . . . . . Puzzles Like You
THE BEAU BRUMMELS . . . . . Laugh Laugh . . . . . Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968

WILCO . . . . . Sonny Feeling . . . . . Wilco (The Album)
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND . . . . . Blue Sky . . . . .
RYAN ADAMS . . . . . Rosalie Come And Go . . . . . Gold
ROBYN HITCHCOCK & THE VENUS 3 . . . . . Up To Our Necks . . . . . Goodnight Oslo
THE BAND . . . . . Rag Mama Rag . . . . . Rock of Ages
PROFESSOR LONGHAIR . . . . . Hey Now Baby . . . . . New Orleans Piano
LONG JOHN BALDRY . . . . . Don’t Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King Of Rock & Roll . . . . . It Ain't Easy
BOOKER T. . . . . . Hey Ya . . . . . Potato Hole

THE MINUS 5 . . . . . The Lurking Barrister . . . . . Killingsworth
WARREN ZEVON . . . . . Lawyers, Guns And Money . . . . . Excitable Boy
THE BOBBY FULLER FOUR . . . . . I Fought The Law . . . . . Son of Frat Rock { Various Artists }
THE CLASH . . . . . Police And Thieves . . . . . The Clash (U.S. Version)
WILLIE WILLIAMS . . . . . Armagideon Time . . . . . The Best of Studio One, Vol. 2: Full Up
BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS . . . . . Redemption Song . . . . . Uprising
BOB DYLAN . . . . . When The Ship Comes In . . . . . No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7)
BETTYE LAVETTE . . . . . A Change Is Gonna Come . . . . . Change Is Gonna Come Sessions

It doesn't get much better than two guitars, a bass and drums, and the new Young Fresh Fellows disc is swimming in just that. From there we traveled down a path full of high-energy stuff, with the Buzzcocks from the glory days leading to a Brendan Benson track that always recalls the punk-pop pioneers from Manchester. Supergrass added a retro touch of glam to the mix, and then Arlo snapped us right back into the guitar pop. The energy kept rolling out with a new one from Eels followed by one of the many excellent rockers from R.E.M's last one, which led to Deer Tick and a track that builds to a great release before the Seeds took us home with their big hit from 1966. That also enabled us to bid farewell to Sky Saxon, the man who wrote that tune and also sang lead vocals, who passed away a few weeks back.

Another recent music world death to acknowledge was that of Fayette Pinkney, who was one of the Three Degrees from their beginnings in 1963 up through the late '70s. At their peak in the early and mid-'70s they were one of the prime examples of the Gamble & Huff Philly Soul sound; we heard their big hit from 1974 and followed it with Jens Lekman, who clearly is a Philly Soul fan. After that it was the Toys with their big 1965 hit based on a Bach minuet, which fed nicely into an R&B infused number from Stuart Murdoch's latest project. Then we heard the Cure explaining why Friday is their favorite day of the week, and followed it with a new track from the Postmarks that has a similar forward momentum. Camera Obscura offered one of the poppier tracks from terrific recent release, which segued quite nicely into Peter & Gordon doing a Lennon/McCartney tune that was their first big hit in America. Then we had Mojave 3 reaching back to those British Invasion days followed by the Beau Brummels first big hit—they really only had two, but the timing  was such that it earned them the label of being the first American band to crack the British hegemony of the American charts in 1964.

Although the lyrics to both songs have little in common, the sound of the new Wilco track that opened this section conjured up the Allman Brothers Band classic that followed, so we went with it. From there stream of consciousness took over and brought us Ryan Adams with a nice roots rocker followed by Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 adding a bit of the Bo Diddley beat accented by a horn section. Therefore it only seemed natural to bring in the Band from New Years Eve 1971, who were followed by the one and only Professor Longhair. Rhythm having firmly taken over, we finished with Long John Baldry letting the boogie woogie flow followed by Booker T. accompanied by the Drive-By Truckers and Neil Young covering Outkast to put the capper on.

In addition to the new Young Fresh Fellows disc that opened this show, Scott McCaughey also has a fresh Minus 5 release that's just come out; the litigious mood of that one worked just fine with the favorite from Warren Zevon that followed. Then it was the Bobby Fuller Four with their classic, a tune the Clash also recorded, although here we heard them covering one originally done by Junior Murvin. The mood edged closer to the Apocalypse with Willie Williams before Bob Marley offered some hope and positivity with a song that has always sounded to me like it could have been written by Bob Dylan. A track from Dylan followed with a vow to the narrow-minded many that they will get what's coming to them one day, and then it was Bettye LaVette covering Sam Cooke's powerful vision of what the future would bring to end this one in a stirring fashion.

Here's another one from the Postmarks