on mixtapes

jer and i were playing tennis today, and our conversation revolved around the topic of Semisonic’s last CD, “All About Chemistry.” That CD, if you haven’t heard it, is a debacle of catastrophic proportions. Gone was the Semisonic of such terrific albums as “The Great Divide” and “Feeling Strangely Fine;” here was a new Semi with a horny Dan Wilson. And you know, horny lead singers aren’t a bad thing necessarily, but not when they gross you out. Track by track, Semisonic had gone from “Closing Time” and “Singing in My Sleep” (tracks 1 and 2 on FSF) to “Chemistry” and “Bed” (respectively 1 and 2 on AAC). Chemistry is passable, demonstrating Dan Wilson’s knack for melding together the rhythmic lyric and the pop hook, although the words are juuuust a little bit contrived, even for him. It’s on “Bed” where he makes the great, and tragic, mistake of taking things too far:

“Well show me a friendship that’s pure and chaste/
And I’ll show you and engine that’s dying to race/
Well the time has come for me to find/
Another way to get my soul fed/
I know we could be the sweetest friends/
But if that’s where it ends/
Then I’ll find someone else to bed/
Bed/
Find someone else to bed.”

so you know, with Dan Wilson’s less-than-sexy-man voice, that kind of seductive come-on is not particularly effective.

His voice is much better suited to tracks like “FNT” or “Secret Smile,” where his geekiness is sweetness, and becomes a strength rather than a liability. I mean… listen to “Singing in my Sleep” and tell me that his voice works so well with the attitude of the song. That is completely gone in AAC. :( it makes me sad.

Anyway, “Singing in My Sleep” is all about (cue fanfare here) the mixtape. This isn’t the only piece of pop art that’s done this sort of thing — High Fidelity, anyone? Anyway, it got me thinking about the mixtapes i’ve made for people (none, actually, although i’m thinking of putting one together now), those people have made for me, and those people have made for other people.

Mixtapes are possibly the most wrenching way to get to a person’s heart. Well, at least they are if you’re the kind of person who is aurally inclined, at least, and i suspect many of you are. anyway, i’m one of those people, and i’ve been lucky enough to be have been the recipient of one of thoooose kinds of mixtapes once and only once. i’m wary of spelling out who this person is — i know he used to read my blog, but since i think he thinks i’m ignoring him for some reason (i’m not ignoring him) i’m not sure if he stops in at any time. so i’ll just leave him anonymous, but i’ll say that every once in a while i think back and wonder how it could have been. it’s one of those things.

the tracklisting on it was masterful. it included such songs as…
top gun theme
omd – dreaming
yaz – only you
james – sit down
pet shop boys – always on my mind
baltimora – tarzan boy
… and a ton more i can’t think of right now.

but i remember it made me weep, and i think a piece of my heart will always go out to that person who made it for me….

it’s funny how people manage to burrow their ways into your heart.