Cousteau "Last Good Day Of The Year"

Hopefully you had many good days this year . . . but either way, this is the last good day of 2012.

Happy New Year!


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The Head And The Heart "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"

This is a song that makes it's way to the playlist on New Year's Eve.

Which really doesn't make any sense.  Because if you are going to ask someone out for New Year's Eve, you should do it before New Year's Eve.

So I'm posting it the day before New Year's Eve, to remind you to ask that special someone out, NOW!

Enjoy this recently released version of the classic tune, from the Holidays Rule compilation.


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Mumford And Sons "Lover Of The Light"

As noted on the earlier-this-week posts, the statistics of the Top 25 are pretty interesting.

For years, the Number One album on mvy was usually by a stalwart, heritage artist.  Someone like Bob Dylan or Mark Knopfler was most likely to garner the votes to get the top spot.  And that’s because our listeners, young and old, were operating under the consensus mind that Bob Dylan is a pretty amazing artist, and so lots of different kinds of listeners were voting for his album.

But over the course of the last few years, the Top spot has gone to a young artist who can build enough consensus from the bottom up.

Instead of being an established artist, the Number One record has been by a upstart artist with a breakout record.  And maybe that record started with the younger end of the audience, but was quickly embraced by the full spectrum of listeners.

Yes, your college student kid may have brought home the record first, but even your Dad taps along to the beat when the song comes on the radio.

So it was with last year’s Number One record, from Adele.

Adele’s “21” album managed the incredible feat of receiving twice as many votes from mvyradio listeners, as the Number Two record.  (You're gonna crack up, when you realize what was Number Two, last year)

I didn’t think anyone could pull that off again.

And yet, here we are.  Mumford And Sons’ “Babel” record actually receive more than twice the votes of the Number Two record.

You can view the whole list, and draw your own conclusions about what folks were excited about this year, on our Top 25 of 2012 page.


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JD McPherson "Fire Bug"

One of the things I wonder as I look over the Top 25 of 2012 list, makes me feel a little guilty for casting aspersions.

But I look at some folk's lists and think, "Okay, did you really listen to this album?"

And I say this because I know for certain that there are some folks who have not listened.  How do I know?  Because occasionally, we get votes for albums that aren't even out yet!  The folks are voting for the singles (which are out), but they most definitely haven't listened to the album.

So I take it a step further and assume that many of the votes we get are based on the voter liking the single, but the voter has never listened to the album.

Album listening is increasingly rare, in this digital, singles-driven world.

Hell, I don't always get around to checking out full length albums.

Looking at the voting list, the number of full length albums that I've listened to more than 5 times?  It's pretty short.  I really have to like a full record these days, to give it multiple plays, what with so many records competing for attention.

"Signs And Signifiers" was definitely one of those records.  So I'm glad it made the list.

JD McPherson is #15 on mvyradio's Top 25 of 2012.  Check out the full list (so far)!


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Joan Osborne "Shake Your Hips"

The Top 25 countdown is always an interesting, educational experience for me, because it is an exercise in perception versus reality, which is a great thing to keep in mind at all times when programming a radio station.

I can hear a song and think it's great.

We can play a song and get great feedback from the listeners.

We can keep that song in rotation, and follow the chart success of the tune, on Billboard.

We can believe that our listeners love the song/artist.

And then the Top 25 voting happens.

I have never been a huge fan of Joan Osborne's records.  I do think they are uniformly good, solid efforts.  But previous releases have never quite hit my sweet-listening spot (whatever that is).

However, her 2012 album "Bring It On Home" had the grit that I was looking for.

And every time her version of "Shake Your Hips" hit the airwaves, I cranked it up.

So I thought this record was a surefire Top 10 choice for mvyradio listeners.

Not quite.

While it wasn't completely off the radar, it didn't have the impact I thought it was having.

In a year when the most important name in politics may have been Nate Silver, I'm happy that a little bit of statistical sampling is there to keep our list in line.

View the list as we reveal it, at mvyradio.com.


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Max Gomez "Run From You"

Here's an end of the year Let Me Ruin This Song For You post.

I keep an iTunes playlist of all the songs that record companies and promoters and artists have asked me to listen to, to consider for adding to mvyradio's rotation.  It being the end of the year, it's time to cull that list.

Lots of songs have run their promotional course.  If they didn't catch on before the end of the year, it's unlikely that their will be a promotional budget to keep pressing into the new year.  So I delete those.

I also keep a number of songs on the list, not because I think I'm going to add them.  I just like them.  And when you are listening to 100 songs you're probably not going to like, it's good to have a couple of ringers in there.

And there are a straggling few that I've kept on the list for one reason or another.  Like, they merit a blog post.

I couldn't remember why this tune by Max Gomez had been hanging around on my list for so long, until I hit "Play" and recalled that I was saving it for a  Let Me Ruin This Song For You post.

Listen to the tune.  See if it doesn't remind you of a famous 80s hit.  And if you want to see if you've guessed correctly, click through the link below, to be taken to Youtube to hear the 80s song.



Hear Max Gomez on Youtube.


Hear the mystery 80s tune on Youtube.

Mitch Miller "12 Days Of Christmas"

We had these "Sing Along With Mitch!" Mitch Miller records when I was a kid, and my sisters and I would listen to them endlessly.  Hearing this song now, takes me right back to our living room and the Christmas tree and the stockings and the build up to the holiday that seemed to go on forever (not unlike this song).

I'm a Dad now, and I'm acutely aware that what I am doing now, today, the way the living room looks and the songs we are playing and the gifts we give each other and the special foods we eat, that these are the memories that my kids will leap back to, when they are in their mid-40s, thinking about what Christmas sounds like and smells like and feels like to them.

It's kind of a strange premise---to give the future a memorable past, you must live in the present.

But it's a good resolution for me, who spends a whole heckuva lotta time reflecting on the things that have gone by.  Live in the present.  Make today and every day memorable for the kids.

Not that every day has to be Christmas.  But can every day be visceral?  Can every day have sounds and smells and a feel?  Can I make every day something more than a rote recitation of a bunch of random, useless and frankly weird items you could by for your true love (not unlike this song)?

It's hard to make scrambled eggs, special.  But, though she's been gone for 20-plus years, I still remember what my Grandmother's eggs taste like.  Why?  They were just eggs and milk and salt and butter---no different than the way my mother made them or the way I make them now.  Why were they special?  Was it love?  Care?  Passion?  I don't know how they were different.  They just were.

I, like probably every parent in America, have spent a lot of time thinking about my relationship with my kids these past 10 days.  I guess that's why I'm wandering down this path now.

My wife and I have spent weeks thinking about what fun things we can do for the kids for Christmas.  But I don't know how much time I've spent thinking about making things memorable.

This is starting to feel like a New Year's resolution, more than a post for Christmas Day.

It also feels a little like a wandering post from a guy who is avoiding putting that train table together and is instead working on scheduling a blog post for Christmas Day.

Anyway . . .

I hope you have a happy, and memorable Christmas.  And that you only receive as many Leaping Lords as you feel comfortable with having.



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Boss Martians "3 Ghosts"

A weekend/Holiday post, since today is kinda like a weekend/Holiday day for many folks . . .

There are multiple Christmas songs about so many various bits of Christmas minutiae, but I have to say that this recent discovery (recent for me, anyway) is the only song I've ever heard devoted to the ghosts of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."


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Soupy Sales "Santa Claus Is Surfin' To Town"

A weekend/Holiday post: 

If you start searching, you may be shocked to find out just how big an intersection there is between Christmas music and Surf music . . . though very little of it is performed by Children's TV Hosts.


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Matt Mullholland "Silent Night"

Here's another "I Looked At The Internet Today So You Don't Have To"  feature.

I keep seeing this video being posted on Facebook by various friends of mine.  I have weird (and hilarious) friends.

It will be your instinct to stop this video after the first 30 seconds.  Don't.  It just gets awesome-er as you go.  Not that anything surprising happens.  It just wins you over with its ridiculousness.


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