A mixed bag.

I received this mix from Rosalind. I had no idea what to expect, and I think at the end of it, I still don't. Full of surprises, Rosalind.

We start out with Cut the Cake, by Average White Band.  It is definitely funky. I am transported to a disco scene where people wear sequins and bell bottoms, everyone's dancing and someone has dreams about making it big somewhere.

We move into Shape of Things by Blossom Dearie. This is a change of gears somewhat. It is jazzy and cheerful sounding, but a bit dark if you actually listen to it. Jazz and murder marry, I find.

Straight into Nothing Ever Happens by Del Amitri. I remember this from somewhere, and liking it a lot. It's very much a child of its time, pop rock after all, singing about things changing and never changing. 

Tomorrow's Girls by Donald Fagen is a jazzy pop song that I don't know how to feel about. I find the lyrics annoying. No girls are your girls, Mr Fagen. I wish I was more eloquent and then I could put my finger on why I find this song upsetting. I think it just hasn't aged well. Or maybe it's me, and I just don't like girls described as having hungry eyes under any context. 

And then a song about war. A slightly humorous one. The Minotaur's Song by the Incredible String Band.  It's psychedelic folk, which makes me think of my mother and flower dresses. 

Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes reminds me a bit of Flight of the Conchords. It's a bit my mother in flower dresses as well, which of course would not be unlike Flight of the Conchords. It's not, by the way, it´s Kevin Ayers.

Leonard Cohen with Alexandra Leaving. Man. Cohen always hits the nail on the head, doesn't he? What tremendous grief for a loss that is still to happen. Or at least that's how it feels to me. The way some people are lost to you the moment you meet them.

Journey by Duncan Browne reminds me somewhat of James Taylor, Bob Dylan? Very folksy, the sort of music that my parents would listen to when they were hanging out with friends.

 Mary Hopkin & Morgan Visconti with Dog Eat Dog lies somewhere between folk and pop and the singer's voice sounds a bit young Dolly Parton. 

Only to do What is True feels bluesy. It's by a band called Medicine Head. I don't know what to make it. In my notes I wrote the title, followed by "It is" and then nothing. I just started writing about the next song. Which, I mean, I've gone back, and tried. And no. I think it is a temporal anomaly and I just can't seem to grip any corner of it.

Bathsheba Smiles by Richard Thompson feels very much like the typical aren't women treacherous and deceitful line. 

Abhainn an T-Sluagh by Runrig I loved. I don't know if it is the musicality of the language or the music itself, but it is beautiful.

And suddenly, Broadway. Ute Lemper with Speak Low. I don't think I've ever watched the musical this is part of. It's nice.

Dogging by Fascinating Aida. There's a pastime you don't hear songs about very often! And it will probably stay that way. It reminded me of Les Luthieres, an Argentinian group some friends of my parents loved and my parents would send me and my sister elsewhere while they listened.

Fighting Away the Tears by Feist. I don't know. I mean, Feist is cool and all, but this song seems oddly out of place in this mix.

And to end: K-Passa with an unnamed track. iTunes recognises it as Innominate, which I think means nameless anyway. It's a cool song, and a good end to the mix.

Overall I think I found some interesting things I had never heard before and will follow up on, thank you, Rosalind!