miamizsun wrote: Okay.
That was the best review ever. 

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:


Well, you can just take a photo, upload, then tell it how you feel or want it expressed...like in the style of Hemingway with a dash of humor.

Here is the list, written plainly and with a small smirk, the way a man might write if he had seen many trains and drank many drinks.

• 1. "Never Marry a Railroad Man" – Shocking Blue

  The Dutch girl sings of a man who loves the track more than the home, and the guitar cuts clean and sharp like a good knife.

• 2. "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" – Gordon Lightfoot

  It is a long song about iron and sweat and the cold north, and it is honest music, though it may take a full bottle of ale to see it through to the end.

• 3. "Train Leaves Here This Morning" – Gene Clark

  The morning comes whether you want it to or not, and this song rolls slow and sad, like a man leaving a town he should have left a year ago.

• 4. "Southbound Train" – Graham Nash / David Crosby

  Two men sing in harmony about a country that is losing its way, which is a fine thing to sing about if you have a guitar and nothing better to do.

• 5. "Now as the Train Pulls Away" – Vigilantes of Love

  A song about the heavy space between a man on a platform and a woman on a coach, and it hurts in the way that good, simple things hurt.

• 6. "Train" – The Autumn Hearts

  The music moves like a night freight through the dark, understated and steady, for people who prefer the silence but need some noise to fill it.

• 7. "Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)" – R.E.M."

  Young men from Georgia making a great deal of jangly racket about boxcars, and though you cannot understand a single word the boy mutters, the rhythm is true.

• 8. "In a Boxcar" – Bychanski Hayman

  It smells of wood smoke and old blankets, a sparse acoustic tune for those who believe riding the rails is romantic until the frost sets in.

• 9. "This Train" – The Melody Chamber

  There are no words here, only the steady, building thrum of instruments trying to be a locomotive, which saves them the trouble of having to think of lyrics.

• 10. "Make the Trains Run On Time" – Steve Lane

  A sharp, angry piece of business that beats you over the head with the drums, reminding us that efficiency is usually the enemy of a good time.

• 11. "Long Twin Silver Line" – Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band

  This is loud music for big American engines and men who wear denim, and it moves fast enough to make you forget you are going nowhere.

• 12. "Runaway Trains" – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

  He uses the synthesizers here, which a younger man might not have done, but the sorrow in it is real and the momentum cannot be stopped.

• 13. "Billy" – Tishamingo

  A southern tale of a man on the run with guitars that wail like a widow, which is precisely what happens when Billy stays in town too long.

• 14. "Tucson Train" – Bruce Springsteen

  An old fighter sings about waiting for his woman on a platform in the desert, and the violins come in to prove that even tough men get lonely.

• 15. "Last Train to Clarkston" – Bubblegum Lemonade

  It is very bright and very sweet, like a drink made for summers in France, though a man can only take so much sugar before he needs a steak.

• 16. "Train Full of Gasoline" – Ducks Ltd.

  The guitars go very fast, like a mechanical beast carrying fuel that is about to catch fire, which makes for fine listening if you enjoy a good disaster.

• 17. "Aboard My Train" – Kevin Morby

  He sings a roll call of all his friends while the band ambles along, which is a pleasant way to ensure your friends still buy your records.

• 18. "Ghost Station" – Tender Engines

  A cold, echoey track that sounds like a station where no one arrives and no one leaves, which saves a man a lot of money on tickets.

• 19. "Night Train to Munich" – Shake Some Action

  A fast, swinging piece of pop music about European intrigue, best enjoyed if you are actually on a train to Munich and running from the police.

• 20. "California Zephyr" – Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard

  They took the words of old Kerouac and made them a lonesome country song, which is the proper thing to do with a writer who drank too much.

• 21. "Silver Train" – East Village

  A pretty, shimmering tune from England that uses the locomotive to talk about love, as if a great iron machine ever cared about a man's feelings.

The Bottom Line Up Front

This is a collection of twenty-one tracks built on iron, grease, and the steady rhythm of the rails. It is honest music, moving from the loud, fast-rolling engines of American rock to the quiet, lonesome freights of British indie-pop.

The summary is brief, as a man's words should be when the music speaks for itself:

• The Rhythm is True: The compilation moves with a deliberate momentum, capturing the heavy space of final goodbyes on a platform and the raw romance of the boxcar before the frost sets in.
• The Tracks are Varied: It balances the sweet, sugary pop that requires a steak to recover from, with the gritty, southern wails of men who stayed in town too long.
• The Work is Clean: There is no unnecessary racket here; every track serves a purpose, mimicking the hypnotic thrum of a locomotive running straight through the dark night.

A final drink must be raised to Kurt from La Quinta, the man who put this mix together. He is a man who clearly knows his way around a track, a tape, and a long journey. He assembled these songs with the precision of a good mechanic, ensuring that while the trains run on time, the ride remains wild enough to keep a man awake until the final station.

 miamizsun wrote: I have to be careful with that word around here.
It doesn't have anything to do with electric or hybrid. 

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

and horsepower? that's gotta come into the equation 

 Steely_D wrote: Here's looking at chew....    

There's this feature called Copy and Paste.

 SeriousLee wrote: Music is my funk flusher. 

 ColdMiser wrote:


A big thumbs up! 

 ColdMiser wrote:

I just get ChatGPT to do it for me. Except I can’t be bothered to enter the song names.

 ColdMiser wrote:
I'm two behind. Heck, still haven't listened to Kurt's offering yet. It's not that I don't have time, just been in a funk lately and I need to be in a right mindset to listen to something that I will give my opinions on. But it will come. 

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:
I always been of the same mindset. If someone is going to go to all the trouble of creating a music mix for you to listen to, package it, mail it... the least one can do is give it a good listen and tell them what you think about it. I know people have busy lives but hell, it's not that time consuming in the grand scheme of things. 

 ColdMiser wrote: I'm glad to see someone is doing their job. 

Yeah, I get that this is probably the toughest part of being in this this group. It is for me... BUT.........
I remember soon after I started here, Mr. Lazy chastised us all to make sure we acknowledge every ones work here. 
I concur.  

 miamizsun wrote:
OK, finally found the time to give this my proper attention. Nice collection of Indie Rock to enjoy!

Midlake - Like Kurt, I immediately thought of Alan Parson's Project. 
Tallest Man in the World - I'd forgotten about this guy! Been awhile, good to hear him again. Coolest artist name EVAH!
Memphis - Like Anna's voice and her songwriting is top notch too. 
Madison Cunningham - Nice style here, I'll be she is really good live. 
Why We Build the Wall - Wow! From the Hadestown play. I wasn't aware that it came from an album. And it's my daughter's favorite Broadway play no less. 
Ex-Void - Power pop right down to the 12 string guitars. Musically this is my favorite of the mix so far. 
Mk.gee - A Jersey guy! Interesting name. Could be a website also. 
Hard Sun - I was surprised to see this is from 1989. Thought it was 21st century.
Looking Back - Mrs Miser loves Lord Huron, this one is a bit spacey but still drew her into the room to listen. 
Paisley Fields - a gay country singer from Brooklyn? How Midnight cowboy is that?
Blue - The Jayhawks have the best harmonies since CSN.
Tiny Cities - Another NJ band I've never heard of. Good mellow sound, goes down easy
David Rawlings - a lot of good musicians on this, guys from Old Crow Medicine Show and Dawes along with Gillian Welch. 
TWEN - McDreamy sounding, nice find!
Vic Chestnut - vaguely aware of this guy, quite the tragic background story with him. I may have to seek out that tribute album they did for him. 
Old Mervs - More good power pop sounds from Down Under.

Nice to hear you are out there seeking out cool stuff to share with us. I'm amazed at what you dig up. I enjoyed exploring with Dr Google as I listened to see who all these folks are. So much good independent artists out there doing their thing. You did well as always! Thank You!

 ColdMiser wrote:

Are we gonna send him the William Goldsmith All-“Darkness Darkness” CD that everyone gets after the hazing?


or was that just me?

 ColdMiser wrote:

nice! and welcome 

 ColdMiser wrote:
The more the merrier.

A quick announcement about a "new" member joining our little Culture Club. Please welcome Dejaveux to our midst. Since we have an opening in June he will be sliding into the rotation. I'll share your respective addresses with him so he gets his mix to correct place. And vice versa with the rest of the club. Looking forward to what music he has in store for us! 

The Front Sleeve...

The CD...

The Back Sleeve...

Kind of self explanatory. 
I always try to look for songs...
#1 I really like them. Yeah. Some probably think my songs are pretty simple and not "complex" enough. Oh well. I am a very simple man I guess.  

#2 They can't be "run of the mill", "played to death" pieces. Most times.
There are a lot of train/ railroad songs out there. My inspiration came from riding the Verde Valley Railroad at Cottonwood, Arizona last Fall. They had a soundtrack playing in the background the whole train ride. Mostly the typical "train songs" that are overplayed. But there were a few gems here and there that caught my attention.
So that was the result of this mix.
Oh. Yes there's always a misspelled word somewhere in my artwork.

That back picture sleeve is actually a picture I took... not "borrowed".
It's an early morning shot of the abandoned Kaiser, Eagle Mountain Railroad. My son and I built a railbike and rode that line for about 15 miles. They've have since tore out those tracks.

 SeriousLee wrote: Mr. Lazy suggested a while back, and most of us responded to the topic... What influenced your musical taste?
There's one for you.
I've had on the back burner... "My Favorite Songs... How Many I Can Fit On One CD" topic coming soon.
There's another one. 

 SeriousLee wrote: I'm glad I beat you to it. 

Hey go for it.
There's plenty of songs still out there. I had to cut a few because they wouldn't fit.
I always try to stay away from the well known stuff... the best I can anyways.

Yeah. I don't mind the packing part... it's the paperwork I wasn't expecting. International... really? 
That and the cost. Whew. 

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:

I laughed when I saw your sleeve. I have a hard time coming up with a good theme (although I feel like I lucked out this time) so not long ago I figured I should start thinking of a theme now before my turn comes around. Guess what theme I was thinking about? That's right, your current theme. 

As for shipping, I sell stuff on eBay (very little nowadays, though) so I'm use to packing and shipping to the USA.