Ben, could you give us a link to the post that had track lists in it, so we do not have to do any work? Thanks.

Honestly, I do and do and do for you, and what are the thanks I get?

Thanks, Ben!

Thanks Ben, I got mine already (kudos to Royal Mail) and I am listening to it in the middle of the night as I waste time on the internets get important things done.

Ben: whence to you get your new music reccs?

Thanks so much Ben. The CD rules! It scares the children!

Is the guy on the first track (disc 5) singing while inhaling?

Got mine--thanks Ben! All I can conclude from listening to the first half of CD 5 is that you engage with music in a way that I don't. I'll listen to the rest on my way home tonight.

Rob: no idea, but that album (cantare la voce) is basically a set of vocal experimentation, so, maybe.

I'm listening to mine today.

First response is that I like the first half better than the second half, but that may just be a sign that my ears are getting tired.

In particular the John Zorn is fantastic and I want to get a copy of that album. Really, one of the best songs I've heard in a while.

I think the sequencing on the first half is also really strong. It manages to transition between prety different styles of music while both preserving a sense of mood, and preparing the listener such that the transitions feel enlightening rather than shocking.

I will comment more as I continue to listen.

The Atomic & School Days track is so awesome.

The Stanley Brothers track is fantastic -- one of my new faves. The Richard Youngs track I enjoyed but I was a little surprised -- somehow it seemed a little too mellow for the Ben w-lfs-n of my imagination. Everything else I haven't yet processed.

I have to agree with NickS about the sequencing but I think that the Henry Cow and Pretty Boys tracks are both super awesome.

Also, Brock Landers pls check your email kthx.

Just got mine! Hooray! Track 2 has only just begun; you hit it out of the ballpark on Track 1 (Richard Youngs) as far as my taste in autumnal music goes.

Ben- my email has now been checked.

A couple more thoughts.

I don't like all the songs on the CD, but I've really enjoyed listening to it. I can see how Ben's experience with radio is helpful, the whole set is interesting. Even the songs I don't like are generally sufficiently intriguing that I'm happy to listen to them once. I suspect that pretty soon I will start skipping certain tracks (for example tracks 6, & 7 don't do that much for me, and 8 gets on my nerves a little bit) but spending a day listening to it has felt very productive and has kept me musically awake all day.

So far the high points for me are the tracks 1-4 (in particular tracks 1-3), track 10 and track 16. I don't have a good handle on track 15 yet, but I will pay extra attention to it based on Ben's recommendation.

I've gone ahead and ordered a copy of The Big Gundown. I've heard really good things about John Zorn, and that sounds like a relatively accessible album, and "The Ballad of Hank McCain" is definitely the hit for me off the CD, I've forced two of my coworkers to listen to it already. It matches my taste for pop music that is extremely well done and simultaneously serious and ironic.

What would be great now, Ben, is if you could send me a copy of one of the other CDs in about 2 weeks after I've had a chance to really get to know this one and I could start on something new.

Wait, all the DC people except me got their CDs already?! Damn post office.

I got mine and it was a big success. The Norwegian stuff especially. More later.

Hurrah! Terriffic mix of ambient prog, Ben! Some of the high points of the mix for me are the Franco Battiato, the Guigou Chenevier, the Clive Bell & Sylvia Hallet, the Bilmo, and the Zorn. Bilmo was new to me. I'll look for more now. Loved the Zorn piece when I heard it on your show; thanks for including it. Ehrers: I think I like his laptoppy stuff better, personally, but "Ain't no Grave" suits the mix. The Henry Cow and Pretty Boys tracks are sweet. "Dijana" might be my favorite track. Who are the Pretty Boys and are they trying for a Slavic version of Comus' "Diana" ? (If they aren't, someone should.)

Thanks, Ben! Great mix!

Don't worry, Matt F, I haven't gotten my cd, either.

:(:(:(

REMEMBER to listen to the radio in only 7 hours and 40 minutes, people! You'll be able to hear my favorite Univers Zero song evar!

APPARENTLY there's a motherfucking basketball game at 7, so I don't think I'll be able to play the full 3 hours. mother fuck I hate sports.

CD came today! Thanks, Ben. The progression (on mix #3) from the "normal" songs at the beginning to the later ones that, well, aren't, is cool. The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum song at the end is great, in a frightening way.

Shit! I think I might have sent becks the wrong one.

My cd still hasn't come. I think my postwoman hates me.

Got my CD yesterday. Many thanks, ben. Haven't had time to sit down and give it a proper listen-through, but the bits I've heard I've enjoyed.

21: "sports" s/b "America"

I was starting to wonder why mine hadn't come yet, but last night when I got home it had arrived. I noticed, though, that I had given you the wrong address (I live on a street, not an avenue), but the post office managed to figure it out. You would think that after 17 months I wouldn't make mistakes with my address.

Anyway, I'm listening to it right now. Thank you.

I like the CD's mix. Some tracks more than others, but it was all interesting enough to keep listening. I think my favorite was the Nils Økland. The Fall theme comes through. The Waits reminded me of his Ruby's Arms.

I hate to say this, as it is so unhip: I loved the packaging. The magnetic snaps! So that's how they work. Also, the way you scooped out the cardboard so the case would fold. Lots of care there.

Ben, thank you.

md, I hope it isn't unhip to like the packaging, because how unhip would that make the packager?

I mean, thanks!

What would The Packager's super-power(s) be? Answers involving sealing people or things really tightly are too plausible (in the sense that such an ability might be of actual use in super-heroic activities). Answer's involving his package might work, but need to be more clever than "He'd have a big package." I'm stumped.

Perhaps he would be able to endow whomever he chose with a large package? "Packager" makes me look for transitivity.

He could seal people and things really tightly with his package.

"seal" is a lousy euphemism.

You got a better one?

Is "packaging" not a task which is part of the creation of a movie script? I don't know what the term means in this usage but it might be something which could reasonably be done by a super-hero. Though presumably the super packaging power would act on dialogue and directions in real-life situations rather than scripts.

So The Packager would take real-life situations and transform them into self-contained edifying units of entertainment? I could see that.

He is the sidekick of The Producer.

And they fight against the nefarious Gaffer and Best Boy.

Best Boy? More like Worst Boy, am I right?

(39 -- I was going to say that but opted against it.)

I just got a referral from this old Making Light post which is a bit apposite. We might have to reconsider calling The Producer and The Packager "super-heroes".

I'm sure my package is the best.

Best for what purpose? The packager is concerned with appealing to both niche and broad audiences, after all.

Somebody really ought to make a fat-bottom-girls joke about "broad audiences".

Like for instance, "Broad audiences make the rockin' world go 'round." But with more cleverness and self-referentiality.

Just a note, receiving the w-lfs-n collection got me to start on a new collection myself. I'm working on an autumnal colelction. It's almost done, I'm mostly working on sequencing. I will post a track list when it's final, but I can say that I've gone very northern on this one. A lot of traditional british isles music. Very folky.

Anyway, Hopefully I'll have the track list later tonight, but this an invitation to say anyone who wants a copy let me know.

Compilation done. I am happy with it.

I was inspired by listening to Wolfon's CD to take some risks with this one. I ended up reaching deep into my music collection for some of the tracks. It isn't purely a fall mix, is has turned out to be more of a geographic mix. Of 16 tracks, 9 of the performers are from the United Kingdoms, 3 are from Canada, 2 are from Maine, 1 is from Chicago, 1 from San Francisco. So I am tenatively titling the compilation 54º00´N (the official lattitude of the UK).

The set is almost completely acoustic, 3 of the tracks are field recordings. There are a couple of traditional ballads, but I have not been a purist, and there are a range of moods and styles.

I want to particularly recommend this compilation for members of the unfoggetariat with children. Several of the songs on here are folk songs in the sense that they are meant to be learned and sung by anybody.

As Richard Thompson says about his 1000 years of popular music project, the songs are the stars here.

Also relevent, Hans Fenger, instructor for the Langley Schools Music Project

"I knew virtually nothing about conventional music education, and didn't know how to teach singing. Above all, I knew nothing of what children's music was supposed to be. But the kids had a grasp of what they liked: emotion, drama, and making music as a group. Whether the results were good, bad, in tune or out was no big deal -- they had elàn. This was not the way music was traditionally taught. But then I never liked conventional 'children's music,' which is condescending and ignores the reality of children's lives, which can be dark and scary. These children hated 'cute.' They cherished songs that evoked loneliness and sadness."

1 -- Ferron "Cactus" from Driver
2 -- Archie Fisher "Merry England" from Sunsets I've Galloped Into
3 -- Ewan McColl "Manchester Rambler" from Black and White
4 -- Sylvia Herold "Katie Cruel" from Bowl of Crystal Tears
5 -- Michael Smith "The Dutchman" from Michael Smith/Love Songs
6 -- Cindy Kallet "Tide and the River Rising" from Dreaming Down a Quiet Line
7 -- Billy Bragg "Heart Like a Wheel" from Reaching to the Converted
8 -- Sheila Behman "Desperado" from Langley Schools Music Project
9 -- Leon Rosselson "Wo Sind Die Elefanten?" from Wo Sind Die Elefanten?
10 -- Field Recording "Aikendrum" from Scotish Drinking and Pipe Songs
11 -- Grdon Bok "The Arbutus" from Return to the Land
12 -- Martin Carthy "Sovay" from Life and Limb
13 -- Gordon Lightfoot "Marie Christine" from Back Here on Earth
14 -- Richard Thompson "Blackleg Miner" from 1000 Years of Popular Music
15 -- Field Recording "Song of the Thrush" from Scotish Drinking and Pipe Songs
16 -- Andy Irvine "Autumn Gold" from Andy Irvine / Paul Brady

This was made with unfogged in mind, so e-mail me if you want a copy.

NickS has been a model CD recipient, very feedbackful. The rest of you oughtta take notice.

I am (slightly) shamed.

I gave a copy of the above referenced mix to a friend who commented that the uncredited duo on track 10 sounded like Ewan and Peggy; a claim I agreed with upon closer inspection. So I inadvertantly included two songs by them on the mix.

Also the mention of the Stanley Brothers above got me to listen to Live 1956 and it is excellent.