Any Major Telephone Vol. 2
The first Any Major Telephone mix attracted a nice response, in the comments here and on Facebook, with loads of suggestions, some I had already on my shortlist, some I don’t even know. I’ll see what I can find on the suggestions I don’t already have; if I can, then there will be a third volume, compiled by the readers of this blog.
In the meantime, here are 24 tracks of my choosing, all featuring or suggesting telephone calls. Two belong together: In “Woman To Woman”, Shirley Brown tells the woman her man is cheating with to lay the fuck off; in an answer record, Barbara Mason explains to Shirley exactly why her man is straying. It’s pretty brutal stuff.
The Bobby Vee track could have featured on the Bacharach: The Lesser Known Songbook mix, for it’s a David/Bacharach composition (and, yes, that’s how they used to be credited; take a look at the image in the file’s ID3 tag).
Disclaimer: Inclusion in this mix does not in itself imply my endorsement of a track. I want to make the explicitly clear and ask you to remember that when you hear track 5.
As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes covers. PW in comments.
1. Mott The Hoople – One Of The Boys (1973)
2. The Mothers of Invention – Telephone Conversation (1968)
3. Jim Croce – Operator (That’s Not The Way It Feels) (1972)
4. Little River Band – Home On Monday (1977)
5. Paul Evans – Hello, This Is Joannie (1978)
6. Love Unlimited – Walking In The Rain (1972)
7. Brenda Holloway – Operator (1965)
8. Shirley Brown – Woman To Woman (1974)
9. Barbara Mason – From His Woman to You (1974)
10. Bunny Sigler – Regina (1973)
11. Eddie Floyd – 634-5789 (1967)
12. Johnny Fallin – Party Line (1959)
13. John Lee Hooker – Just Me And My Telephone (1951)
14. Effie Smith – Dial That Telephone (1953)
15. Orville Reed – The Telephone Girl (1927)
16. Jim Reeves – He’ll Have To Go (1960)
17. Bobby Vee – Anonymous Phone Call (1963)
18. Joe South – A Million Miles Away (1969)
19. Ben Folds Five – Your Most Valuable Possession (1999)
20. Kraftwerk – Der Telefon Anruf (1986)
21. Wham! – Battlestations (1986)
22. Sheena Easton – Telephone (Long Distance Love Affair) (1983)
23. Zhané – Request Line (1997)
PW = amdwhah
BEST TELEPHONE. SONG. EVER.
Bootsy Collins – What’s A Telephone Bill?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIDXdH6R6T8
I hesitated before I downloaded this mix. The name that leaped out at me was Jim Croce. If you lived in Colorado in the late 60s – early 70s you could hardly walk into any store without hearing “Operator” or “Leroy Brown” (I refuse to write “Bad Bad”) on the store muzak speakers. And you couldn’t go into a small club without hearing some guy and his guitar playing “Time in a Bottle.” I’ve had it up to here and early with Jim Croce!
But I know your track record and my iPod is heavy with your mixes, so I got this one too. And it is pretty good! I love your mix of Soul and Country and Rhythm and Blues. (I deleted Croce without even a listen.)
While you’re taking suggestions for your next mix, may I suggest Falco. “No Answer (Hallo Deutchland)” from his second album “Junge Roemer” (1984) is one of my very favorite songs, telephone or otherwise.
I look forward to each one of your posts. Thanks again.
Great mixes (as always).
Love – The Red Telephone
Waits – Telephone Call From Instanbul
Tom T Hall – Tulsa Telephone Book
Calling You – Jevetta Steele
Van – Call Me Up In Dreamland
Rev Al Green – Call Me
Raffi – Bananaphone
Stones – Off The Hook
X – Your phone’s off the hook
CALL ME BY SKYYYYYYYYYYYYY
That is all.
What! Still no City Boy and “5705”? Guess you’ll keep me hanging on (the telephone). Actually that would make a good song title!!
Lou Reed – NY Telephone Conversation
Spirit Of Memphis Quartet – Atomic Telephone
“Beechwood 4-5789” by The Marvelettes.
Billy Joel – Sometimes a Fantasy – has a great telephone dialing opening. I was young and impressionable when I listened to that album nonstop though, so I may be biased in that respect.
Love the mix! My only suggestion (for now!) for Volume 3 would be Hanging on the Telephone by the Nerves (Blondie’s cover was a hit, but The Nerves version kills it)