NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRA . . . . . Route 66 Theme (opening theme) . . . . . Route 66 and Other Great TV Themes/More Hit TV Themes
R.E.M. . . . . . Sitting Still . . . . . Murmur [Deluxe Edition]
IT HUGS BACK . . . . . Work Day . . . . . Inside Your Guitar
THE DOLEFUL LIONS . . . . . Saturday Mansions . . . . . Out Like a Lamb
BLACK WHALES . . . . . Origins . . . . . Origins EP
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE . . . . . Saturday Afternoon/Won’t You Try . . . . . Woodstock Two
JOSEPH ARTHUR & THE ASTRONAUTS . . . . . Temporary People . . . . . Temporary People

LUSHLIFE . . . . . The Songbird Athletic . . . . . Cassette City
NATACHA ATLAS . . . . . Just Like A Dream . . . . . Something Dangerous
JOE STRUMMER & THE MESCALEROS . . . . . Gamma Ray . . . . . Global a Go-Go
THE POSTMARKS . . . . . Thorn In Your Side . . . . . Memoirs at the End of the World (Dig)
MORCHEEBA . . . . . Everybody Loves A Loser . . . . . The Antidote
BECK . . . . . Gamma Ray . . . . . Modern Guilt
THE LAST SHADOW PUPPETS . . . . . Black Plant . . . . . Age of the Understatement

ARCTIC MONKEYS . . . . . Crying Lightning . . . . . Humbug
THE ROLLING STONES . . . . . Let It Loose . . . . . Exile on Main St.
PERCY SLEDGE . . . . . When A Man Loves A Woman . . . . . The Incredible Soul Collection
SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS . . . . . It Hurts To Be Alone . . . . . Causes 2
JUNIOR WALKER & THE ALL-STARS . . . . . What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) . . . . . The Definitive Collection
TINKERSTICKS . . . . . The Hungry Saw . . . . . The Hungry Saw
MARIANNE FAITHFULL . . . . . Hold On, Hold On . . . . . Easy Come, Easy Go
ULTRA ORANGE AND EMMANUELLE . . . . . Sing Sing . . . . . Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND . . . . . Femme Fatale . . . . . The Velvet Underground & Nico

TUXEDOMOON . . . . . What Use? . . . . . What Use
VITESSE . . . . . Out Under Stars . . . . . You Win Again Gravity
THE BOOKS FEATURE JOSE GONZALEZ . . . . . Cello Song . . . . . Dark Was the Night
DAVID BOWIE . . . . . Weeping Wall . . . . . Low
KNIGHT BERMAN, JR . . . . . Wardenclyffe . . . . . A Score For Tesla - Music from the film Megahertz
LAURIE ANDERSON . . . . . Big Science . . . . . Big Science
BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE . . . . . E=MC² . . . . . Big Audio Dynamite - Planet BAD: Greatest Hits
CINDERPOP . . . . . A Lesson In Science . . . . . A Lesson in Science

We began this time with the B-side of R.E.M.'s first single; like others, I was turned into an immediate fan by the combination of punk energy and jangly guitar on both tracks, so much so that I went see to them at Maxwell's (Hoboken, NJ) in their first-ever Northeast show by myself because I couldn't convince anyone else to go with me. Their loss. It Hugs Back is a UK band that features some excellent guitar pop on their debut disc from earlier this year, and they were followed by one from the Doleful Lions that begins in a similar place and ends with some unaccompanied harmony singing that carries a subtle hint of foreboding. That led to Black Whales with the title tune from their upcoming EP, due out in September; something about that one brought to mind an old tune from Jefferson Airplane, heard here in the version they did at Woodstock as the 40th anniversary of that event approaches, and then we finished with Joseph Arthur offering one from his last disc that builds to a brilliant cacophony of sound by the time its over.

Raj Haldar is the one-man show behind Lushlife, and the various musical influences he combines with old-school beats make his new disc something way more interesting than your typical hip-hop record. Natacha Atlas likes to combine the sounds of her Middle Eastern background with more modern styles; here we heard a guest rap from Princess Julianna on a tune that flowed nicely into one from Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, whose voracious appetite for all kinds of music was clearly reflected in his own tunes. One from the upcoming Postmarks disc that sounds like the theme song for a movie of international intrigue that's yet to be made led to Morcheeba with one that recalls Shirley Bassey in full-throated James Bond mode. Beck followed with his own take on a bit of secret agent music before the Last Shadow Puppets closed out this section.

Alex Turner's other band will have a new disc out later this month; here we began with the first track that's been made available and followed it with a Rolling Stones tune that shares a similar sentiment even as its set to a different sonic palatte. The vicissitudes of love were further explored in a soulful manner by Percy Sledge, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Junior Walker & the All-Stars, and then we heard Tindersticks introduce a different intensity with more of a rock & roll approach. That continued with Marianne Faithfull covering a Neko Case song with some assistance from Cat Power flowing into Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle, which inevitably conjures up the Velvet Underground.

Another old 7-inch that goes back some three decades by Tuxedomoon kicked off the final section; the prominent bass rhythms on that one fed nicely into the synth-pop of Vitesse, which was followed by the Books along with Jose Gonzalez and their sublime reworking of an old Nick Drake tune. Then we heard a David Bowie instrumental from the first of his three '70s collaborations with Brian Eno, and that led to new music from Knight Berman, Jr., who also composes and records music as the Marble Tea. He has just released a soundtrack to a film that is still seeking a distributor; it's called Megahertz, and to quote Knight is about "a self-destructive DJ who encounters Nikola Tesla in the afterlife, and the ways they help each other work through the tattered energies of their lives." Sounds like my kind of film. From there we rode the science theme until the curtain came down with Laurie Anderson, Big Audio Dynamite and Cinderpop.

Here's another one from Junior Walker & the All-Stars