Naked Light - a mix of rock, alt rock and prog rock for your weekend

As mentioned in my post yesterday - the long hot summer we've been having has limited my computer time and so I haven't been putting mixes together or posting very much.  However, I was enjoying my Naked Light mix last night and thought it was about time I shared something.  I particularly like this mix as it draws down music from rock, alt rock and progressive rock genres and then blends them together.  As with some of my mixes, I try to include some homegrown Kiwi music and so on this mix I've added a local Auckland band called Villainy with a track titled "Paradise Lost".  I finished with a cover of Sounds of Silence by Phyllotaxis.  I know this is a much covered track but they are a favorite band of mine and I particularly like their rendition of this classic. 

Feedback always welcome....

Tracklist:

01 - The Natural Heart - Miracle Of Sound

02 - Clear - Echo 2 Locate

03 - In A State - Unkle

04 - Mekong - The Refreshments

05 - More Or Less - Screaming Trees

06 - Paradise Lost - Villainy

07 - The Phone Booth - The Editors

08 - Rain - The Luka State

09 - Lovely - Visionary

10 - Long Time Coming - Delays

11 - Ghost - Traceless

12 - Sound Of Silence - Phyllotaxis

Naked Light

Ghost Town - mix of rock, blues-rock, country rock with a little bit of New Zealand rock thrown in for good measure

It's Good Friday afternoon on a dreary autumn day and I'm having a few beers and listening to my music.  I've just finished playing my Ghost Town mix and thought I'd take a few minutes between beers to share it with ya.....

This is what I call a bitza mix - bits of everything.  Well, not really everything but I've taken tracks from genres such as country rock, blues-rock, rock and probably some borderline pop.  Every now and then I also like to showcase some music from my homeland - New Zealand.  In this mix I've included some tracks from Graham Brazier (RIP), who was the front man for Kiwi favourites Hello Sailor, the legend Mark Williams who now fronts Dragon, a dark number from the great music-man himself Greg Johnson and an acoustic version of their song 'Bullet For Your Gun' from 2000's rock band Black River Drive.

Tracklist:

01 - Turning Away - Dougie MacLean

02 - Ghost Town - Bo Bruce

03 - Closing Time - Semisonic

04 - Gravity - Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

05 - Back To Zero - Third Eye Blind

06 - Autumn - Graham Brazier

07 - Around The Sun - 8mm Overload

08 - Feel For The Night - Mark Williams

09 - Other Side Of You - American Bang

10 - Winter Song - Greg Johnson

11 - Bullet For You Gun - Black River Drive

12 - Everything Is Going Great - Tiny Stills

Ghost Town

After The Rain - A music mix including some Kiwi & Aussie artists

After The Rain is a mix I put together some time back that brings together music from pop, folk rock & alt country genres with the inclusion of some Kiwi and Aussie artists.  The mix opens with well known New Zealand artist Anika Moa and is followed by the big sound of British artist Rag 'n Bone Man with his song 'Skin'. Aussie artists Ed Kuepper, Paul Kelly, The Black Sorrows and Missy Higgins compliment the rest of the lineup in this mix.

Tracklist:

01 - My Old Man - Anika Moa

02 - Skin - Ragnbone Man

03 - Stamina - Anastasia

04 - I Used To Cry - Imany

05 - Far From Any Road - The Handsome Family

06 - If I Had A Ticket - Ed Kuepper

07 - Darken Your Eyes - Jack Marks

08 - The Stable Song - Gregory Alan Isakov

09 - This Old Dark Machine - James Vincent McMorrow

10 - Randwick Bells - Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls

11 - Roaring Town - The Black Sorrows

12 - 49 Candles - Missy Higgins

After The Rain

Days End - Rock / Pop compilation

I was playing this compilation last weekend while I was outside doing some well overdue gardening and thought it would be a good one to share.  Days End is a mix of mostly rock & pop tracks with an alt rock/hip-hop number from Blacklite District thrown in for good measure and a very cruisy electronic number by Canadian duo Bob Moses.  I've also included a couple of covers that are particularly well done - Lou Reed's 'Sweet Jane' by Mott The Hoople and the Split Enz track 'I Got You' by New Zealand band Shihad. 

 Tracklist:

01 - Human - Aquilo

02 - New Sensations - Sunsleep

03 - Monster - The Automatic Automatic

04 - Emeralds - Bear's Den

05 - The Roller - Beady Eye

06 - The Lost Gospel - Madrugada

07 - Tearing Me Up - Bob Moses

08 - I Got You - Shihad

09 - Sweet Jane - Mott The Hoople

10 - Cold As Ice (The Remake) - Blacklite District

11 - Beauty Is Truth - Sad Lovers And Giants

12 - Medicine Man - Charlotte OC

Days End

Lutha - Earth (1973) - New Zealand Psychedelic / Prog Rock

This is the second album from Dunedin band Lutha, which was released after their self titled album in 1973 on the HMV label.  I got to see these guys at a concert in Dunedin in 1972 when I was a teenager.  

Tracklist:

01 - Earth

02 - Here And Now

03 - Empty Rooms

04 - Dandylions

05 - What Do You Do

06 - Waterfall (Pure Land)

07 - Places

08 - The Old Tree

09 - My Babe

10 - Policeman

11 - Questions

Lutha - Earth

Lutha - Lutha (1972) New Zealand psychedelic rock / prog-rock

Lutha formed in Dunedin New Zealand during the late 60's and released 2 albums before calling it a day in 1974.  This is their self titled first album, which was released in 1972.  More about Lutha can be found at AudioCulture.

Tracklist:

01 - Then I Saw A Face

02 - Sun Song (Anaximander Rambling)

03 - I Really Want To Be With You

04 - Andrianna

05 - Mountain Side

06 - Stop! The Music Is Over

07 - Why Is Gone

08 - My Turn To Cry

09 - So Many Tears

10 - I Am But All Alone

Lutha - Lutha

The Simple Image - Spinning, Spinning, Spinning (1968) - New Zealand pop/rock & psychedelic rock band from the 60's

Here's another album from my New Zealand music collection.  The Simple Image was a New Zealand band that was popular here in the 1960's.  In their short career they achieved 4 top ten chart hits including the extremely popular Spinning, Spinning Spinning. This album was released in July 1968.

Tracklist:

01 - Spinning, Spinning, Spinning

02 - Love Of The Common People

03 - Hold Me Tight

04 - I Don't Want To Love You

05 - Walk On

06 - The Little Bell That Cried

07 - Bring It On Home

08 - Something Happened To Me

09 - Take Me To Tomorrow

10 - Treat Her Like A Lady

11 - Brand New Woman

12 - Tomorrow Is Another Day

13 - Hawaii

The Simple Image - Spinning, Spinning, Spinning

Absolutely Kiwi

This is a compilation of  New Zealand (Kiwi) artists and bands - mostly from the 80's.  Some like Tim Finn and Shona Laing have had international success but most are better known in NZ and Australia.  Tim of course a member of Split Enz and Shona Laing did a stint with Manfred Mann Earth Band.  Also, Charlie Tumahai from Herbs was the bass player in the UK band Be-Bop Deluxe.

Tracklist:

01 - Why Does Love Do This To Me - The Exponents

02 - Isabelle - Greg Johnson

03 - Sweet Lovers - Holidaymakers

04 - Youthful - Anika Moa

05 - (Glad I'm) Not A Kennedy - Shona Laing

06 - Break In The Weather - Jenny Morris

07 - Persuasion - Tim Finn

08 - Language - Dave Dobbyn

09 - For Today - Netherworld Dancing Toys

10 - Magic What She Do - DD Smash

11 - What's The Time Mr Wolf? - Southside Of Bombay

12 - Sensitive To A Smile - Herbs

Absolutely Kiwi

Ragnarok - Ragnarok

As promised, here is the first Ragnarok self-titled album that was released in New Zealand in 1975.  Lea Maalfrid appears on this album as part of the original Ragnarok lineup but left the band shortly after its release to pursue a solo career.

Tracklist:

01 - Fenris

02 - Butterfly Sky

03 - Fire In The Sky

04 - Rainbow Bridge

05 - Raga

06 - Caviar Queen

07 - Dream

08 - Dawning Horn

Ragnarok - Ragnarok

Below is the original Ragnarok lineup with Lea Maalfrid, Ramon York, Mark Jayet, Ross Muir & Andre Jayet

Ragnarok - Nooks

While my Blog will mostly share my compilations - I will also on occasions share some rips from my New Zealand vinyl collection.  Today, I want to share an album from one of my favorite Kiwi bands - Ragnarok.  I saw them many times playing in pubs during the 70's.

Ragnarok formed in Auckland in 1974 and their music could best be described as classic mid-70's psychedelic prog rock. This is their second album 'Nooks', which was released in 1976.  This is a very rare album here in NZ and I paid quite a lot of money for it.  The album rip hasn't had any post processing in any way so you'll hear a few nicks but it's a pretty clean copy. I also have a copy of their first album 'Ragnarok', which I'll share another day.

Tracklist

01 - Five New Years

02 - Waterfall - Captain Fagg

03 - Fourteenth Knock

04 - Paths Of Reminiscence

05 - The Volsong

06 - Semolina

07 - Nooks

Ragnarok - Nooks

From left - Ramon York, Mark Jayet, Ross Muir and Andre Jayet (deceased).

Kiwi As Vol.2

This is a repost of this compilation.  I was listening to it the other day and noticed one of the tracks that I had ripped from vinyl was slightly distorted on the vocals/high end, so I took the post down.  It was possibly caused by a dirty stylus but I don't have time to re-rip that track at the moment so I replaced it with an old favorite of mine called Bondi Road by Dragon.  So, here's the compilation again, which is made up entirely of artists and bands from New Zealand.

Tracklist:

01 - Glorafilia - Zed

02 - My Delerium - Ladyhawke

03 - People - Mi-Sex

04 - Asian Paradise - Sharon O'Neill

05 - Show No Mercy - Mark Williams

06 - The Way I Feel - Jan Hellriegel

07 - Bondi Road - Dragon

08 - Venus - The Feelers

09 - Magic - DD Smash

10 - Forever Tuesday Morning - The Mockers

11 - Victoria - The Exponents

12 - Sweet Lovers - Holidaymakers

Kiwi As Vol.2

Kiwi As Vol.1

This compilation is a dozen songs from some hugely talented Kiwi (New Zealand) artists and bands from the 70's, 80's  and 90's. There's a few Kiwi classics in here that never grow old and you'd still likely hear some of these songs being played at parties and events.  I've been lucky enough to have seen most of these artists performing in pubs or concerts over the years. Unfortunately, some of the musicians performing in this compilation are no longer with us.....

Tracklist

01 - Gutter Black - Hello Sailor

02 - Rain - Dragon

03 - Dance All Around The World - Blerta

04 - Be Mine Tonight - Th' Dudes

05 - Nature - The Mutton Birds

06 - (Glad I'm) Not A Kennedy - Shona Laing

07 - Burning Rain - Midge Marsden

08 - The Otherside - Breaks Co-op

09 - Maxine - Sharon O'Neill

10 - I Need Your Love - Golden Harvest

11 - What's The Time Mr Wolf - Southside Of Bombay

12 - Song 27 - Push Push

Kiwi As Vol.1