Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in:

• All Over the Musical Map: Finding New England, Part 1
• All Over the Musical Map: Finding New England, Part 3
• All Over the Musical Map: Finding New England, Part 4
• Part 5 TBA

Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 16 through 30 is at the end of listing. Tracks have to be downloaded on an individual basis because of SaveFile's weird hiccups.

Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it.

Yay! I finally finished programming the soundtrack so it shows up exactly the way I want it to, complete with art.

Due to the size of the full post, however, LiveJournal keeps giving me "post is too large" warnings. I have to break this whole thing up into 5 posts.  Apologies in advance.

This is a soundtrack of songs about New England or artists from New England (the "from" is interpreted very broadly here). I ended up with something on the order of 69 (no snickering!) songs, many of them from people you've actually heard about.

For a brief overview of New England's unique culture and heritage, here's a good overview from Wikipedia. Upon reading the page and confirming that it's all true — yeah, I guess I can see why the rest of the U.S. thinks we're a bunch of weirdos. I like to think that it isn't us who are weird so much as it's all of you.

We are, if nothing else, an arrogant lot. (I'm joking about that last part. Sort of.)

While it's true that when someone goes through the list of U.S. regions with a strong musical tradition, New England is not the first place anyone would pick. I'm very sure that the Mississippi Delta (Blues), Austin (Americana), Nashville (Music City U.S.A. for the Country set), Chicago (Jazz), Seattle (Grunge), Orlando (Boy Bands), L.A. (Metal and Rap), and New York City (Punk and Rap) would all be vying for a spot on the list.

New England, by contrast, wouldn't even see the list, let alone be on it. There really isn't a typical "New England" sound. Hell, there isn't even a typical Boston sound. Fair enough. But what New England lacks in a cohesive, identifiable musical style, it makes up for it in variety.

Other sections of this soundtrack can be found in:

• All Over the Musical Map: Finding New England, Part 2
• All Over the Musical Map: Finding New England, Part 3
  
• All Over the Musical Map: Finding New England, Part 4
• Part 5 TBA

Track listing is under the cut and, where appropriate, a brief description of what makes the song fit in the soundtrack. Download for Tracks 1 through 15 is at the end of listing. Tracks have to be downloaded on an individual basis because of SaveFile's weird hiccups.

Please comment if you download...or even if you just feel like it.

Say it with me, people: "Liz is an idiot."

Liz is an idiot because she staring at a 67-track themed mix at 2 a.m., ensuring cover art is matched to the right individual tracks, and tagging the lot so the information I provide will show up on MP3 players, as opposed to whatever tags iTunes uses.

Did you know that if you indicate the tracks are linked together by checking the ticky-box in iTunes, it wipes out the art associated with a track? I did not know this. I know it now, but I didn't know it when all my associated art mysteriously disappeared.

I also never cease to be amazed at how easily iTunes "loses" MP3 files. Jesus, Apple. If Windows MediaPlayer can do an automatic scan of my music folders without me constantly reloading files, iTunes should be able to do the same thing.

*wham-wham-wham*

Let's not get into compiling the track listing with massive amounts of links. Because, oh no, I can't just throw a bunch of tracks together. I can't go half-way on anything. No, I have to have fun with it. I have to provide educational links because there are some artists in the mix where someone is gonna say, "I beg to differ."

Yes. I. Am. Having. Fun. Yes. I. Always. Grind. My. Teeth. Like. This. When. I. Am. Having. Fun.

All I can say is, 67 tracks? I'm bundling those puppies into groups of ten and zipping them together for download. I am not loading 67 individual tracks up to SaveFile. I'll be here for years if I do that.

Honestly, I was so involved with what I was doing that I only just looked up at the clock and saw the time.

I have to crawl into bed now.

Ahhhh, 'tis the season for everyone. So Happy Holidays — whatever holiday you happen to be celebrating — to one and all of you.

As for me, I've decided to go with the scientifically accurate Winter Solstice. Here, for everyone to enjoy, is my early Winter Solstice present: the lovely voice and song-writing artistry of Shawn Colvin, with a bonus review of a live CD highlighting Columbia recording artists.

So dive on in, with 24 sample MP3 downloads from Shawn Colvin and 4 sample MP3 downloads of live performances from Bruce Cockburn, Rosanne Cash, Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Darden Smith.

Please comment if you donwload.

( The glorious voice of Shawn Colvin, plus live performances from Columbia Records )



Now Playing:

Because I can't resist...

The last brass token for the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) sold at 10:23 a.m. today at Government Center station to an East Boston woman... — Read more about the last MBTA token

Good-bye little brass T token, hello Charlie!





It's the end of an era. Truly.

You know what that means, right?

Music download!

M.T.A. — Kingston Trio
But did he ever return?
No he never returned,
And his fate is still unlearned. (Poor ol' Charlie.)
He may ride forever 'neath the streets of Boston,
He's the man who never returned... — Read more about the history of the song 'M.T.A.' and Charlie, the man who never returned.

Because everyone knows that when you're naming the SmartCard that will allow people to use your public transportation system, you must name it after the guy who was not only trapped on the T, but got so lost that he never, ever returned.

Gawd, I love my city...

I know. It's a looooong weekend and I'm posting this. That's because it took me forever to write this up the way it should be.

In any case, you are all in for one hell of a treat. Okay, maybe it's more me that's in for a hell of a treat.

This mega-massive post with many, many MP3 samples to download, colorful covers, and drooling fangirlism is my salute *stands with hand over heart* to Marshall Crenshaw.

Dive in and enjoy the greatness!

Please comment if you download.

( The History of Pop and Rock, via Marshall Crenshaw )


Now Playing:

Some of you might remember my post on the Borders Books & Music Penny CD from the other day.

Well, here's another example of the Penny CD and what corporations consider a "good" music mix, this time courtesy of Borders and BMG, thus proving why individual consumers are much, much better at this sort of thing.

Of course, since individual consumers aren't actually using the mixes as a marketing tool beyond, "Check this cool artist I've included...think you could throw some love their way," it's probably no big shock.

Please comment if you download.

( Music Equals Life, or in this case, soft pop )



Now Playing:

Ahhhhh, now this is a throwback to my Bordersverse daze: the Penny CDs.

The Borders Books and Music private label Penny CDs (I suspect that Barnes and Nobles has something similar) are a clever marketing ploy to get people to spend more money in the store's music department. To give Borders a credit here, in general, the Music/DVD/Multimedia department tends to have a very, very, very deep selection of genres and artists (it's usually better than the neighboring Barnes and Nobles when comparing local stores head-to-head...sorry B&B fans), and these Penny CDs are just one way to capitalize on the inventory.

( The Art of the Borders Penny CD )



Now Playing:

Dance music, set to classical violins. You'd think this would be a taste of awesome, right?

You'd be wrong.

As always, sample MP3 downloads and picture of the CD under the cut.

( The Bland that is Bond )


Now Playing:

vichan asked for songs about death so she could put together a soundtrack for her NanoWriMo project.

She quickly learned a very important lesson: "do not ask such things when the person on your FList with 14GB of MP3s on their home computer is struggling with being too brain dead to write something that isn't utter shit."

Bet she's glad I didn't start digging into the 2,000-plus CD collection.

Below the cut are 16 songs I tossed up on Savefile for her. It isn't a soundtrack, since it's just 16 random songs in no particular order. Also, some of the artists and track listings are misspelled on the project page because I was doing it on the fly and some of these songs I've posted here as part of other soundtracks or musical downloads.

The link at the end of the track listing goes directly to the project page.

Click, download, and enjoy the tunes! Please comment if you do.

( 16 Songs About Death )




Now Playing:

This time it's the latest CD from Blue October and some of that old-time retro-music feel from James Hunter.

As always MP3 samples under the cut.

( The latest from Blue October and something retro frmo James Hunter )



Now Playing: