I love you so much that it hurts my head...

My Academy Fight Song pressing of Brand New's The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me came in the mail today.

It's been a tumultuous adventure for this release, a full two years of drama for two wax discs. There was controversy about obtaining the rights to Nicholas Prior's photograph on the front cover, controversy about many how colors they'd press (and how many of EACH color), controversy about whether or not to make it 180 gram, controversy about ordering it in January for a July shipping date (a date that was then moved to September), and, finally, controversy over the fact that the band's merch store pressed their own version (at a lower vinyl grade).

But that's all over.

It's here. In my hands. And somehow, it all seems worth it. Academy Fight Song has been nothing but a pleasure to deal with given all the red tape they had to cut through to release this LP set, and I'd recommend their services to anyone interested in their pressings. They updated their customers every step of the way, and were wonderfully transparent given propensity for embarrassing delays. In short, their loyalty was to the customer, and it showed.

Yet, it's about the product, which is of impeccable quality.

The highs are crisp, the lows are deep, and the sound is as immersive as the first time I heard it. The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me always deserved the full vinyl treatment, and it's stunning to be able to experience that now. It makes a deeply personal album, even more intimate.

Live: The Black Keys @ The Fox Theater (9/29)

While it’s commonly measured in intervals of time, music behaves more like a presence than anything else. More than a mere denomination for one’s metronome, music ebbs and flows through listeners, taking them to a place that’s deep inside themselves. It’s not supposed to be perfect, it’s supposed to grab you by the throat and make you pay attention.

You're supposed to feel music. You don’t count it out for enjoyment; you let it wash over you as its own living force. You let it take you on a ride.

Bands like the Black Keys understand this innate quality to music, which is why they were able to level the Fox Theater with their brisk wall of sound. Hitting on a healthy amount of material from their back catalog, as well as their new album Brothers, the Black Keys put together a set that moved audiences, instead of one where they merely played at them.

Right away, fans were swept up in the Black Keys' minimal, yet robust, sound. Beginning with “Thickfreakness,” Dan Auerbach let his clunky, crunchy guitar do most of the angular talking over Patrick Carney’s fat, punchy beats. It set the tone for a raucous night ahead, one filled with deep sounds, white noise freak-outs, and muscular riffing.

Throughout their 6 LPs, the group’s songwriting has always remained consistent, but it’s the force with which they recreate these songs live that made their stage show captivating. Cuts like the dizzying “Girl Is On My Mind” and the squealing “The Breaks” illustrate just how MUCH sound the Keys can squeeze out of their guitar/drums makeup. Even the group’s slicker cuts, like the reverb wrapped “Next Girl” or the shuffling “Tighten Up,” benefited from the Black Key’s live thump, which granted these songs a bit more muscle than their recorded counterparts.

As the evening went on, it became clearer that the Black Keys are successful in tapping into this raw energy because of the chemistry shared between Auerbach and Carney.

Always a hard worker behind the drum kit, Carney comes across as positively manic on stage, his intricate fills clamoring through overdriven waves with a crisp decisiveness. Auerbach, on the other hand, has a tunefulness and a soulful quality that he injects into these songs, even as his hand crawls up the fret board like a frightened spider. They compliment each other beautifully; Carney providing the primal punch to Auerbach’s tempered aggression. While the band brought out additional musicians to help recreate the more layered tracks off of Brothers (the richly textured “Everlasting Light” comes to mind), it was clear that essence of the Black Keys lay with Carney and Auerbach's charisma.

They, after all, are the group’s heart and soul, and they wanted the Fox to remember that.

Whether it was the clattering crunch on “Grown So Ugly” or the scattered blast beats on a stripped version of “Strange Times,” the evening’s most memorable moments came when Carney and Auerbach locked into a solid groove with one and other. The duo offered up extended versions of a few of their songs, most notably “Stack Shot Billy,” where they reveled in long segments of guitar bravado and stutter-stop rhythms. Small touches like that helped show that Carney and Auerbach care about making music in the moment, providing the audience with some improvisational flourishes to make the evening unique.

Simply put, the Black Keys weren’t concerned with playing something sterile and lifeless. They wanted to bring the feeling of their records alive, rather than just play them note for note.

As a result, the Black Keys live experience is a loose affair. The thunderous drums and sharp keyboards on “Too Afraid To Love You” were punctuated with Auerbach’s howling vocals. Elsewhere, “Set You Free,” held itself together with sleazy, crawling rhythms, and scattered drumming. Yet the evening’s real highlight was a powerful rendition of “I Got Mine,” which found Carney and Auerbach in noisy synchronicity. The two musicians took turns dictating the arrangement’s frightening pace, expertly displaying the song’s winding melodies with relentless fury.

Ultimately, it was the perfect way to end their set, completely unhinged.

While most live acts find a way to successfully bring their music to life, it’s rare to find a group that operates with such give and take. Above all else, the Black Keys understand what grants music the ability to reach out and grab listeners: Tension. Their songs are a battle between two huge forces, a quality that grants character to these songs, one that’s far beyond the group’s song craft. When you go to a Black Keys concert, you feel as though Auerbach’s wailing guitar and Carney’s rumbling drums can go off the rails at any moment, and before they do, the duo dials it back to avoid a messy crash.

That rise and fall gives their music its vivaciousness, its overwhelming presence, and most importantly, a life of its own.

Jimmy Eat World- Invented (*****)

Love and art go hand in hand.

Love is a necessary property for creation. It provides that initial spark of inspiration, the consciousness to form something from nothing, and the bravery to reveal what makes us vulnerable. Love and art are important to each other because of how they influence the process we create in, the things we create, and how we view ourselves after we create them. Given all of this, it seems that human beings would like to believe there’s something about both love and art that’s pure, that in exploring these concepts we’ll ultimately reveal what we value most about ourselves.

Love and art also go hand in hand (in hand?) with pedantic philosophizing.

Artistic philosophy aside, however, Jimmy Eat World’s latest album, Invented, embodies all those tricky concepts and then some.

Reuniting with famed producer Mark Trombino (who helmed 1999’s Clarity and 2001’s Bleed American), Jimmy World have created an personal record that focuses on the human desire to love, and how we attempt cultivate it within our lives. Set against a backdrop of richly layered arrangements and arresting melodies, Invented is type of record most bands spend their whole careers chasing, a record that balances accessibility with emotional resonance.

The disc immediately pulls listeners in with the energetic strum of “Heart Is Hard To Find,” a track reveling soaring strings, handclaps, and acoustic sparkle. Front man Jim Adkins hits it all home with honest lines like, “I can't compete/With the clear eyes of strangers/I'm more and more replaced/By my friends each night…” setting the tone for what’s to come.

And what follows is a record that’s sonically detailed and incredibly nuanced. The spidery chug of “My Best Theory” and the driving fuzz of “Coffee & Cigarettes” might provide Invented with some spunky weight, but the real breathtaking moments are when Jimmy Eat World explores more lush compositions. “Evidence” is a first half standout, complete with Zach Lind’s deep drums, Rick Burch’s commanding bass, and Tom Linton’s stringent, but crunchy rhythms. Adkins ties it together with his breathy croon and immersive lead work, almost to the point where listeners can feel the care that’s been placed between the notes.

Unlike past Jimmy Eat World albums where the overall sound was dictated by specific moods, Invented is a more complicated collection of songs. Avoiding the cold decay of Futures and the shimmering splendor of Chase This Light, Invented seems to operate on a more organic level, and thus, feels wider in scope.

Songs on Invented aren’t so much heavy or light as they are textured. Soft keyboard lines crop up frequently, like on the slow dance thump of “Stop” or the spiraling melodies of “Littlething,” always in an effort to add more color and vibrancy. Strings swath a great deal of the songs here, and guest vocals from Courtney Marie Andrews and Rachel Haden add tenderness to Adkins’ earnest lyrics. Ultimately, all these accents give the songs on Invented a cinematic quality, one that perfectly compliments Adkins’ prose.

While Jim Adkins has always had a way with words, those words really take center stage on Invented. Forcing himself into a situation of artistic vulnerability, Adkins began experimenting with “object writing,” using photographs from Cindy Sherman’s The Complete Untitled Film Stills and Hannah Starkey’s Photographs 1997-2007 as a jumping off point for his thoughts. He began to craft back-stories for the people preserved in these photographs, which in turn led to some of his most eloquent breakthroughs as a writer.

The ghosts Adkins writes about on Invented are tragic figures, not because they’re self-destructive, but because they’re not privy to life’s big picture quite yet. They’re still figuring it out on songs like “Stop” where Adkin’s sweetly pleads, “If you’re really as strong as your defenses/Than let them fall…” Elsewhere, he laments about self-preservation and the importance letting go on the expansive “Cut.” Set against thunderous drums, warm backing harmonies, and swirling strings, Adkins reminds us that human beings are fragile creatures, “I know there’s no depth/You wouldn’t sink for the chance/I’m sorry boy/I’m not cut for this no more…”

Yet perhaps the most revealing moment comes on the album’s title track, where Adkins becomes self-aware about the whole love/art relationship.

Beginning with gentle acoustic guitar, “Invented” builds into an ocean of twinkling keys and crisp cymbals, crashing down in monolith sized riffs as Adkins wrestles over what people want most. Do we want to be with the person that’s gone, or to retreat into the picturesque ending of the relationship we had? Do we yearn to stay connected, or display our achievements/failures?

Do we value the product or the process, and what does it mean with both are gone?

Adkins explores these questions with simple speech, “You’re always in my head/You’re just what I wanted/I live in constant debt/To feel you, invented…” He effortlessly explores this love/art relationship, never tipping his hand to suggest one is more valid than the than the other, “There’s a cinematic end/I picture it just right/Having trouble with the right words/But you tell me with your eyes/There’s something good I miss/Something I can’t find…”

In the end, the only answer might be to keep searching and Jimmy Eat World certainly tries to with Invented. By implementing pristine sounds, spacious atmospheres, and moving lyrics, Jimmy Eat World finds a way to make these big questions approachable and personal. They explore the high and lows of modern intimacy, tapping into the beauty of human condition as we search for meaning in our lives.

For Jimmy Eat World, life, love, and art seem to all be the same, and they’ve invented a wonderful way to express that.

Key Cuts: Evidence, Cut, Invented

Sounds Like: Sea Change (Beck), Deja Entendu (Brand New), Transatlanticism (Death Cab For Cutie)

Click on the artwork to sample Invented for yourself!

...And The Kitchen Sink

It should come as no surprise that my taste is eclectic. Right?

Brandon Flowers- Flamingo (***)
If there was any doubt that Brandon Flowers is the primary creative force behind The Killers, look no further than Flamingo. The ten-track puesdo-concept album about Las Vegas (or being lonely in Las Vegas) finds Flowers cherry picking from The Killers' Bowie meets Springsteen worship, with gentler and often successful results. “Only The Young” finds guitars chiming and crying over spacious keyboards while the stutter-stop twinkle of “Hard Enough” features tender guest vocals from Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis. In true Vegas fashion, Flowers’ hammy and overwrought voice makes some of the songs overstay their welcome but that’s part of Flamingo’s charm. Flowers stayed away from making a serious record, as he often attempts to with The Killers, and he made an honest record for himself, rather than his band or his label. The results seem perfect for any night drive with miles of desert ahead.

Key Cuts: Only The Young, Hard Enough, Playing With Fire

Grinderman- Grinderman 2 (****)
It’s difficult to make dangerous rock n’ roll theses days. There’s no market for it; everyone wants something slick, auto-tuned, and compressed, something that’s heavy on beats but light on grooves. So when a dirty, sleazy, and downright evil sounding record like Grinderman 2 comes along, you know there’s some guts behind that decision. Nick Cave’s savage blues project has emerged from their bourbon soaked cocoon, producing an immense record with no apologies. While the content matter is familiar Cave fair of murder, obsession, and rough sex, he finds some interesting ways to inject humor into an otherwise demonic album (“I stick my fingers in your biscuit jar…”). Yet what really stands out on Grinderman 2 is the strides Cave has taken in expanding the group’s sound. Grinderman’s first album was loud and raw, but not much else. Grinderman 2 is decidedly larger in scope, reveling in longer songs that feature clamorous waves of wailing wah and dusty drums. “Kitchenette” is a loopy, low-end boogie while “When My Baby Comes” is swathed in eerie strings before erupting in phantasmal distortion. The excess works, and Cave manages to find a way of pushing the production without stripping the songs of their grit. With Grinderman 2, Cave created an album that rivals even his darkest material with the Bad Seeds by sticking to his guns and warped fantasies.

Key Cuts: Mickey Mouse & The Goodbye Man, When My Baby Comes, Kitchenette

Linkin Park- A Thousand Suns (*½)
Rap-rock was never highbrow art, but it’s hard to dispute Linkin Park’s mastery of it. It’s the reason fans were upset when Minutes To Minute turned into Linkin Park’s answer to The Joshua Tree. Those listeners were hoping for more consistency, not experimentation, and it was a shock to the system. In theory, A Thousand Suns should be an easier pill to swallow knowing the band could drop a surprise, except it’s not. While the album covers the similar, soft textured aesthetic of its predecessor, Linkin Park flounders under the weight of the album’s pretension. Half the album is comprised of ambient, glitchy interludes that go nowhere, while its actual songs come across as parodies of Public Enemy fed through Kid A’s iPod. Oh, and then there’s “The Messenger,” the album’s acoustic closer where Chester Bennington decides to scream out of tune for about 3 minutes. While the record sounds pristine thanks to Rick Rubin and Mike Shinoda’s deft production, the band sounds confused, attempting to be vaguely political with a record that lacks urgency. In all, it showcases Linkin Park dealing with ideas and sounds that are over their heads. At least they brought the rap part back, except not really.

Key Cuts: When They Come For Me, Year Zero (Nine Inch Nails)

Terrible Things- Terrible Things (**½)
When it’s all said and done, Terrible Things are a band comprised of scrappy castaways. Vocalist/guitarist Fred Mascherino (ex-Breaking Pangea/Taking Back Sunday), guitarist Andy Jackson (ex-Hot Rod Circuit), and drummer Josh Eppard (ex-Coheed & Cambria) thought they could make better music together than with the bands that shunned them, and the results are mixed. While their self-titled debut is a fun slice of lean power-pop, Jackson and Eppard play backing band to Mascherino the entire time. The disc employs the same crunchy but slick one-two punch of Mascherino’s solo effort, Bend To Break, but with more formulaic accents this time around. Strings come and go on “Been Here Before” while guitars inevitably sparkle before they crash on “Up At Night." Some how it’s not as exciting the second time around. Mascherino’s usual charm is evident behind the microphone but it overshadows Jackson, and the stories they tell fail to leave a mark. It's clear they're desperately upset at someone, or something, but the music isn’t telling the same tale. In the end, Terrible Things is very much Bend To Break: Part Deux, which is a shame considering most of the songwriting is credited to the whole band. The good news is that it sounds rather innocuous, which is perhaps why they were dismissed from their mother bands in the first place.

Key Cuts: Up At Night, Terrible Things, Conspiracy

The Weepies- Be My Thrill (***)
Charmingly intimate and instantly accessible, The Weepies never have to push hard to create a beautiful sounding record. Be My Thrill, their fourth LP overall, finds the musical duo of Deb Talan and Steve Tannen churning out soft rock anthems that would feel right at home in a Charlie Brown holiday special. Whether it’s the shuffling hook of “Red Red Rose” or the Elliot Smith-like harmonies on “Hummingbird,” The Weepies craft immediate pop music in refreshing fashion. With subtle embellishments of brushed drums and quaint piano, the record retains a certain level of minimalism without feeling lo-fi. There are some drawbacks though; the album’s tandem vocals sport a clear winner when it comes to charisma (Talan’s meek but silky delivery proves quite the attraction), and the album isn’t as richly layered as 2008’s Hideaway, but Be My Thrill is genuinely entertaining. It’s an album reminding music fans that middle of the road records can house decent songs without being contrived or calculated. Not everything needs to be a grand statement, and it’s refreshing to hear The Weepies embody that.

Key Cuts: Red Red Rose, Add My Effort, Hummingbird

Weezer- Hurley (****)

By all accounts, Hurley should have been the critical and mainstream nail in the coffin for Weezer.

Fans have been clamoring about the decline in their work since Weezer (The Green Album) and it finally came to a head with last year’s Raditude. While the record contained a handful of decent cuts, its sheer goofiness and push towards hyper slick pop (I’m looking at you Dr. Luke and Lil Wayne) made even the faithful Weezer fans cringe. It's not that the record was abhorrently bad, it’s that the band seemed preoccupied with singing to a younger generation about silly things, a generation that was in diapers when Rivers Cuomo’s sweater was unraveling.

And it seemed like Hurley would follow suit in Weezer’s unraveling: The album was named after LOST’s Jorge Garcia (Or was it the clothing company?), would feature additional songwriters (AGAIN!), and would memorialize Mr. Garcia on the cover in pure Raditude fashion (Uh….dude….). It seemed all the stars were aligned for Weezer to make an album that even their most trusting fans would despise.

But then the band did what it usually does, and threw a quirky curveball.

They drew on the unhinged nature of 1996’s Pinkerton for inspiration.

Make no mistake, Hurley isn’t Pinkerton II: The Saddening, but the lop-sided arrangements, fuzzy swagger, and the “just-out-of-his-singing-range” Cuomo make quite the impact. Miles away from a full on metal record, and too heavy to function as a pop album, Hurley comes with aggressive hooks and a newfound sense of energy, displaying a revitalized Weezer in the process.

The disc begins with the overdriven, runaway train of “Memories,” a speedy arrangement where Cuomo reminds listeners of their humble roots and his penchant to name check the 90s. From here, the disc takes off with the crunchy, soaring power-pop of “Ruling Me.” A sister song to Weezer (The Blue Album’s) “No One Else,” “Ruling Me’s” spiraled drumming and chugging riffs give the song a retro aesthetic as Cuomo’s dorky charm takes center stage, “We first met/In the lunchroom/My ocular nerve went/POP! ZOOM!”

In many ways, it offers what Weezer fans have been hungry for since 2001.

While the band has opted for some back-to-basic approaches in the past, it’s sometimes sacrificed Cuomo’s sincerity as a singer. Weezer’s often criticized for having a workman-like attitude when it comes to their melodies, but that stilted delivery is absent on Hurley. Instead, the album’s biggest strength is the band’s ability to revisit older aesthetics rather than attempting to emulate them. This keeps Cuomo’s singing fresh while still giving them wiggle room to add musical flourishes.

“Where’s My Sex?” revisits the barbed-wire plod of “Crab,” but Cuomo’s vocals come across almost schizophrenic throughout coy turns of phrase like, “Meg likes to hide it/She says that it gives her a kick/It may be under the rug/Or stuck in a shoe closet…” Elsewhere, “Unspoken” challenges Cuomo’s highest singing register as he’s backed by unconventionally warm acoustic guitar and lilting flute runs. Then, as if Cuomo’s sentiments of, “In the evening, every night/I am dreaming of a chance to make it right…” came across too sweetly, the track erupts in jumpy distortion and wild drumming that would rattle the loosest of fillings.

Clearly, this is a different Weezer from the one that was packaging Raditude with Snuggies just a year ago.

Cuts like “Unspoken” and the drum machine blasted “Smart Girls” continue to display a band that walks a fine line between pop genius and musical insanity. Cuomo’s strength as a songwriter has always been when he can make an arrangement feel bigger than the instruments Weezer’s playing, and there are a great deal of those moments present on Hurley. While Weezer (The Red Album) expanded their sonic palette, Hurley focuses it. The album functions as a big sounding rock record that features small embellishments to suit its songs, like Michael Cera’s dancing mandolin on “Hang On” or the spacey keyboards riding under the lumbering stadium stomp of “Trainwrecks.”

But above all, the Weezer seem excited throughout Hurley’s 10 tracks, a welcome change of pace from Cuomo’s pseudo irony. It proves that they can write a consistent, raw album that’s as big as their nerdy dreams. Hurley might not be quite the Pinkerton love-child fans were hoping for, but it ultimately comes across as an earnest effort from a bad constantly scrutinized for coasting on their talents.

While fans will always stack their first two records above everything else they put out, it’s refreshing to know that Weezer takes it all in quirky stride. Albums like Hurley remind listeners that a sense of humor is just as important to a great record as great riffs. After all, they’re just songs, and half the fun is in not knowing what to expect next.

Because odds are, Weezer would have made everyone furious if they released Weezer (The Bluer Album) instead.

Key Cuts: Ruling Me, Unspoken, Where’s My Sex?

Sounds Like: New Wave (Against Me!), Bend To Break (The Color Fred), Heaven Tonight (Cheap Trick)

Click on the artwork to sample Hurley for yourself!

Middle Of It All

Between Labor Day, birthday stuff, mixes, working, and a whole host of other things, it’s been busy lately. Good thing there’s some music in the middle of it all, even if it’s nothing to break the bank over.

Interpol- Interpol (***)
Interpol’s major label debut, Our Love To Admire, drew an unfair amount of ire from die-hard fans. Despite leaving an indie label, the band was still evolving on their terms. While their work was more polished, and hooks began creeping into their hazy songs, their music remained powerful as they experimented with their slow burning sound. It’s sad, then, to see a group grow so self-conscious about their fans’ backlash, self-conscious to the point where they would stop growing try to appease them. And they do try; Interpol’s self-titled album comes across mechanical and painfully constructed, a regression to consciously placate the old guard rather than risk anymore fans in the gamble of growth. The 10 blackly tinged movements that make up Interpol avoid the same penchant for hooks that its predecessor embraced, while the pain and the torment we’re supposed to experience is drowned in a monotonous fog. While “Success” opens up with Interpol’s familiar chiming guitars and warm bass, the song feels stilted when it should feel expansive. This is symptomatic of most of Interpol, songs with promising beginnings are buried under Xanax flavored riffs and Paul Banks’ increasingly robotic croon. Cuts like the locked in neutral “Lights” and the angular “Barricade” confirm such a diagnosis, both dissolving away into a mid-tempo quagmire. Really, the only time Interpol hits on the atmosphere it aims for is when the band expands their instrumental palette, which isn’t often. The haunting “Always Malaise (The Man I Am)” features funeral style piano and sweeping strings, while the jumpy and dry “Try It On” continues to descend into the bowels of something nightmarish. Unfortunately, moments that contain any real dread on Interpol are few and far between, and the group seems bent on conforming to their morose masquerade just a bit too eagerly, to the point where it’s formulaic. It’s a shame, because some of these tracks could have been real engaging portraits of romantic decay, rather than just another shade of black.

Key Cuts: Success, Always Malaise (The Man I Am), Try It On


Jenny & Johnny- I’m Having Fun Now (***)
People are obsessed when celebrities get together. It has everything to do with simple math: If “One Person I Admire” hooks up (+) with “A Person Of Equal Or Greater Fame” this becomes (=) “The Internet’s Biggest Obsession Until They Disappoint Us.” Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice fall into this equation, sort of. Recording music under the cutesy title of Jenny & Johnny, they created I’m Having Fun Now, a reverb soaked valentine to each other whose narcissism rarely illicits a reaction from people that aren’t Jenny OR Johnny. Now make no mistake, it’s certainly a listenable record; the spacious tremolo and swooning voice of Lewis gives “Big Wave” a breezy and summery feel, but it also earmarks why the record falls short. At Lewis’ best, her sardonic humor and endearing quests for intimacy make her records shine, be it her solo offerings or her work with Rilo Kiley. Rice, on the other hand, straddles a fine line between being a tuneful protégé of Conor Oberst and Tom Petty, stumbling into quirky arrangements with varying consistency. Unfortunately, both these rather charming qualities are absent on I’m Having Fun Now. While the indie power couple works hard to make the record cohesive, their rather one note personalities strip these songs of the ideological tension they so desperately need. The rolling bass of “Slavedriver” backs a loopy take on relationship power struggles rather than an exploration of its dynamics. Elsewhere, the chiming rockabilly of “Just Like Zeus” finds Lewis in pure-male worship mode, which is shocking considering she’s always been such a strong woman. Still, the record is a pleasant listen because some of the disciplined production covers up the ho-hum lyrics. “While Men Are Dreaming” is an airy womb of shimmering keys and harmonic vocals, while “Animal” shambles along with spiky lead work. I’m Having Fun Now isn’t a disaster, but it’s rather bland tone is a bit surprising for a duo of musicians that typically make gripping work. Oh well, such is the case for a couple in love, because when they’re together the relationship takes priority over everything else.

Key Cuts: Big Wave, While Men Are Dreaming, Animal

Mike & Liz's Monday Mixes: Volume Four (BEATLEMANIA!)

I could write several tomes about The Beatles, which is to say that I love them and their music. So in love, in fact, that it's probably criminal. Yet, I came late to Beatlemania. Unlike most people my age who grew up with their parents pleasantly blasting Beatles 1 in their cars, I grew up tortured by the Fab Four's greatest hits packages. The simple truth is that my folks ruined their magic for me, exposing me to the played-to-death singles that even the heartless knew by heart. It wasn't until I heard Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver did I realize these guys were making special music, that they were trailblazers and true creative titans.

Thank goodness for that, right?

Luckily, Liz over at Dance To The Radio shares my sentiment for this band, and so we've decided to dedicate this week's set of mixes to The Beatles' musical legacy. Liz happily assembled songs from The Beatles' post-Rubber Soul era while I took the pre-Revolver material. The results are two quirky sets of songs that, in my humble opinion, do this timeless music a great justice in the era of the iPod.

What astounds me about Liz's near-perfect mix is her attention to sequencing. The OCD part of me swoons as hers begins with with the rock and circumstance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and ends with delicious denoument of "The End." Additionally, Liz painstakingly makes the Abbey Road medley seem as seamless as the rest of the tracks, which is no easy task. She also included some of my most favorite/underrated Beatles songs (Oh! Darling, Something, I'm So Tired) and, overall, made a mix fit for George Martin himself.

Despite my natural affinity for the second half of The Beatles' career, I'm really happy with the way my mix turned out. Sorry for the mono enthusiasts, but nearly all my cuts are from the 2009 stereo remasters. This is because I feel the stereo versions offer more clarity and better spacing for the instruments, which was my whole reason for dropping some fat stacks on it in the first place. But ultimately, what I loved about this project was the chance to bundle up The Beatles' unbridled sense of youth, something that I think everyone loved about them regardless if you preferred With The Beatles or Let It Be.

Plus, that opening riff to "Paperback Writer" is heavy as hell.

I Saw Her Standing There

Long Tall Sally

Drive My Car

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

Paperback Writer

A Hard Day's Night

The Word

No Reply

Love Me Do (Original Single Version)

Twist & Shout

Day Tripper

Help!

Michelle

All My Loving

I Want To Hold Your Hand

Rock & Roll Music

From Me To You

Yesterday

I Should Have Known Better

Nowhere Man

We Can Work It Out

I'm A Loser

Rain

Girl

You're Gonna Lose That Girl

She Loves You (Mono)

Please Please Me

You Really Got A Hold On Me

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

Misery

Roll Over Beethoven

In My Life

Download & Enjoy!

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Back In The U.S.S.R.

I've Got A Feeling

Oh! Darling

When I'm Sixty-Four

Revolution

Taxman

Good Day Sunshine

Here Comes The Sun

Blackbird

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

Dear Prudence

Her Majesty

Don't Pass Me By

Martha My Dear

Eleanor Rigby

Don't Let Me Down

Fixing A Hole

The Long & Winding Road

The Ballad Of Yoko & John

Getting Better

Something

Come Together

Glass Onion

Carry That Weight

I'm So Tired

Because

Across The Universe

Tomorrow Never Knows

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Let It Be

The End

Download & enjoy!