NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA . . . . . Route 66 Theme (opening theme) . . . . . Route 66 and Other Great TV Themes/More Hit TV Themes
THE SPECIALS . . . . . International Jet Set . . . . . More Specials
THE POSTMARKS . . . . . Go Jetsetter . . . . .
BLONDIE . . . . . Sunday Girl . . . . . Parallel Lines
BERTRAND BURGALAT . . . . . Ma Rencontre . . . . . The Sssound of Mmmusic
ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM AND ELIS REGINA . . . . . Aguas de Marco (Waters Of March) . . . . . The Girl From Ipanema: The Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook
LORENZO JOVANOTTI . . . . . Piove . . . . . The Sopranos - Peppers and Eggs: Music From The HBO Series
KRAFTWERK . . . . . Trans Europe Express . . . . . Trans-Europe Express

ARCTIC MONKEYS . . . . . Crying Lightning . . . . . Crying Lightning
CREAM . . . . . Tales Of Brave Ulysses) . . . . . Disraeli Gears
SUPERGRASS . . . . . Diamond Hoo Ha Man . . . . . Diamond Hoo Ha
ALICE COOPER . . . . . Under My Wheels . . . . . Killer
THE NEW YORK DOLLS . . . . . ’Cause I Sez So . . . . . 'Cause I Sez So
JARVIS COCKER . . . . . Angela . . . . . Further Complications
THE DEATHRAY DAVIES . . . . . A Calendar Crime . . . . . The Kick and the Snare
THE COCKTAIL SLIPPERS . . . . . Gotta Crush . . . . . Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN . . . . . Crush On You . . . . . The River
CAMERA OBSCURA . . . . . French Navy . . . . . My Maudlin Career

TIM BUCKLEY . . . . . Carnival Song . . . . . Goodbye and Hello
THE BEATLES . . . . . Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite . . . . . Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Remastered)
GROUCHO MARX . . . . . Lydia The Tattooed Lady . . . . . Demon in Disguise
ELVIS COSTELLO . . . . . Sulpher To Sugarcane . . . . . Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
THE ROLLING STONES . . . . . Country Honk . . . . . Let It Bleed
RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOTT . . . . . Richland Woman Blues . . . . . A Stranger Here
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT . . . . . Candy Man . . . . . Revisited

WILCO . . . . . Sonny Feeling . . . . . Wilco (The Album)
BOB DYLAN . . . . . Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues . . . . . Highway 61 Revisited
FINIAN MCKEAN . . . . . Every Day That Passes . . . . . Shades Are Drawn
THE NATIONAL . . . . . So Far Around The Bend . . . . . Dark Was the Night
THE MINUS 5 . . . . . Scott Walker’s Fault . . . . . Killingsworth
SCOTT WALKER . . . . . Plastic Palace People . . . . . It's Raining Today: The Scott Walker Story (1967-70)

A new album from the Postmarks will be available in a little over a month; the disc's first single is a lot of fun, and it inspired a globetrotting opener that began with an old Specials tune about an especially perilous airplane flight. The Postmarks track reminded me of a favorite from Blondie, and Deborah Harry singing in French brought on some wonderful pop music from France by Bertrand Burgalat. From there we heard the sublime Bossa Nova sounds of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Elis Regina, which brought on Italy's Lorenzo Jovanotti with an atmospheric tune about love's rebirth. The transportation mode changed for the final track as Kraftwerk made their way across Europe.

Arctic Monkeys will also have a new disc at the end of August, and the first single is also quite appealing. I heard a bit of Cream in there, which was one of the bands they were listening to while making this new record, and then it was a Supergrass track from their last one that evokes a similar response for me. From there it was an old favorite from Alice Cooper bringing on one of the more New York Dolls-like tracks from that band's recent disc. Jarvis Cocker latest album supplied another great rocker, and then it was the Deathray Davies shifting the sound into slightly more of a pop direction. That trend continued with the Cocktail Slippers from their latest (produced by Steve Van Zandt) with a tune that quite naturally flows into an old Bruce Springsteen song (from a Steve Van Zandt co-produced record), which led to Camera Obscura pretty much expressing the same sentiments to finish it off.

As I've mentioned before, sometimes tunes appear in my brain from out of nowhere and stay on a continous loop; this time it was a very funny tune about a tattooed lady named Lydia that Groucho Marx first sang in the Marx Brothers picture At The Circus. Here we heard him at 81 singing it to conclude a Carnegie Hall performance from 1972 that consisted of him telling stories and singing songs from his life in show business. Carny-related tunes from Tim Buckley and the Beatles preceded Groucho, and following was a wonderful old David Bromberg track about a carnival dancing girl who proved irresistable to every man who saw her. The bawdiness of that one seemed to work well with the Elvis Costello tune that followed, and then it was the Rolling Stones with their country version of "Honky Tonk Woman" bringing on a couple of Mississippi John Hurt tunes—first by Ramblin' Jack Elliott from his recent release and then the old blues master himself recorded live at Oberlin College in 1965.

A new one from Wilco that expresses a certain sense of dislocation was followed by an old favorite from Bob Dylan. Then we heard Finian McKean documenting a downward spiral into one from the National that's very similar, both lyrically and musically. The Minus 5 attempting to pin it all on Scott Walker conjured up the man himself with one of his distinctive melodramas, which seemed a good a place as any to put this one to rest.

Here's another from Groucho Marx