1. Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes) (I Dream of Jeanne Mix) - Book Of Love
2. In the Name of Love '88 (Shep Pettibone Mix) - Thompson Twins
3. Heart Like a Wheel (Extended Mix) - The Human League
4. World Without Love - Anything Box
5. Be Near Me (Munich Disco Mix) - ABC
6. Revenge of the Girlie Men - 808 State
7. Good Life (Indulgence Mix) - Inner City
8. Call Me (Ralphi's Extended LP Mix) - Deee-Lite
9. The Dance Dome (To the Megadome) - Bassrace
10. Pump Up the Jam (Razormaid! Mix) - Technotronic
11. People are Still Having Sex (Remix) - LaTour
12. It's a Fine Day (Razormaid! Mix) - Opus III
13. Halcyon (7" Version) - Orbital
14. Behind the Wheel/Route 66 (Megamix) - Depeche Mode
15. World (The Perfecto Mix) - New Order
16. I Feel You - Schiller

Notes and other random things: Merry Christmas to everyone around the world, though I understand fully that only my listeners will probably see this message. Doesn't mean I can't send out some good holiday vibes to those others who really should be listening to this crazy podcast full of old people music. I can say that because I am old. When did that happen!???

It seems that I've been so busy over the past few weeks that I forgot to go back and finish the write-up for my last podcast. I'll probably just leave it as is since my mojo for that episode has long since waned, especially since I put this beauty together. Before I get to what's in store, I want to give you:

The Top 10 Reasons Why This Podcast is Better Than Anything You'll Get From Santa.

10. Both good and bad boys and girls are treated equally. 

9. No sooty smell.

8. Milk and cookie bribes are not expected in return for work completed.

7. This podcast is a gift from the heart, not a workshop.

6. No pointy-eared, poorly dressed, undersized labor force was used in the making of this podcast.

5. No gift receipt necessary.

4. No rooftop damage or reindeer mess to clean up.

3. Never have to exchange it for a different size.

2. Doesn't need batteries.

1. It just is.    

So, what will you find on Christmas morning when you open up this sound spectacular? We'll start at the start. Book Of Love has made a couple of previous appearances on CRC. This addition was inspired by the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which I watched again during my trip home last week. The song appears in a few different scenes, though the producers chose the Requiem Mass version of the song, which is a lovely instrumental piece. If you haven't seen this Steve Martin and John Candy classic, rent it or buy it. There is a howlingly funny car rental scene that will leave you in stitches. As a side note, the producers also used a snippet of Dream Academy's Power to Believe in the film too.

Next, I want to jump to 808 State for a couple reasons. First, there is a beat matching snafu here. As many of you know I record these in a single take, so little errors need to be considered part of the realness and charm of this podcast, but it's not entirely my fault. Well, yes it is, but there is a split second of silence on the album before the track begins and it slipped my mind before I hit play. My low quality mixer can't cue a hundredth of a second anyway, so in the heat of battle I forgot I had to delay just a smidge before pressing the play button to get it right. Anyway, Revenge of the Girlie men is an appropriate title and they exacted a penance on this mix. Yeah, they caused me to goof, but the rest of the episode, I think, was strong enough not to want to re-record everything just for that minor issue. I think you'll agree.

As much as I hate 808 State for pulling that silent space gag on me, I just love these guys. How they generate so much funkiness out of circuitry and cold machines is quite cool and their textures and sounds and beats were always premium quality. I have just one issue with these guys and it's that I can't remember the names of any of their songs. As the band is, with few exceptions, an instrumental outfit, there is no chorus to help remind you of what their songs are called. You know how a band like Nine Inch Nails says "head like a hole" so often in one song you can pretty much be sure that the song is called Head Like a Hole? Well, it's much harder with 808 State. I hear some of their riffs in my head, but unless it's a popular tune like Cubik or 1 in 10 or Pacific, I have to sift through their albums to match the song title with the noises in my head. Maybe, like in the case of this tune, they should have avoided the Revenge of the Girlie Men title and gone with something a little more accurate like, Muddy Staccato Bassline Overlayed with Warm String Instruments and Portamento Wackiness. Then, I'd know exaclty what song I'm hearing in my brain.

You may have noticed there is a lot about Love and Sex in this episode: Book of Love, In the Name of Love by the Thompson Twins, World Without Love by Anything Box, and one of the great talking songs of the last decade in People are Still Having Sex by LaTour. I really didn't plan to have so much devotion to the topics, it just sort of happened. PASHS and Ebn-Ozn's A-E-I-O-U and Sometimes Y are a couple of the only tunes you'll hear from the era with a spoken word bridge in the song.

Thompson Twins, by the way, took their name from the comic series The Adventures of Tintin, my favorite comics of all time and the source of my DJ namesake as well. The Thompson Twins were a pair of bungling detectives who more often than not did more to hamper cases than help. What's more interesting is that one of the Thompsons spelled his name with a "p" and the other without. So, the band could just as easily have called themselves the Thomson Twins in retrospect, though they are referred to as the Thompsons (with a p) in the comics. Another bit of trivia is that the band references In the Name of Love in their song Love on Your Side.

The Opus III/Orbital mix I have done before on CRC. It occurred in my second episode, though I had to remove it from the archives to make room for new episodes. That was before I upgraded my account to procure more bandwidth. I revived it here because it works so well and it gave me an opportunity to play with loop effects with regard to Opus III singer Kirsty Hawkshaw's wispy vocals.

New Order's World makes a reprise appearance, though the mix here is a Perfecto mix, which to anyone familiar with DJ culture can mean only one thing: the influence of Paul Oakenfold. Perfecto is his brand and he did the honors on this excellent track.

Depeche Mode's Behind the Wheel/Route 66 is a real treat and a rare (and expensive) find. I had the cassette single back in high school and lost it. As with most things at that age you don't see far enough into the future to think you won't be able to buy it again at some date. When they released the single again on CD I was ecstatic. There was only one problem: I could have sworn that there was a track on the cassette that blended Behind the Wheel and Route 66 into a single long track. The reissued CD was an either/or proposition. I was totally annoyed and disappointed. I did what I always do in that situation and consulted the internet - after it was invented, of course. Back then, you had to scour music stores in the hopes of finding what you wanted. Eventually, I found an original release of the CD, which in fact had the Megamix that I sought for so long. I had to pay a pretty penny for it, but it was worth every last one. You get to hear some of it right here.

Finally, as my Christmas gift to everyone, I included a 16th song. I usually do 15, but I really wanted to do something special for this episode. To make it even more special I went outside my 80s/90s comfort zone and tossed in Schiller's amazing track I Feel You. The vocals you may recognize as the one and only Peter Heppner from the electronic band Wolfsheim. I don't know what it is about this song, but I think it is one of the most perfect electronic pop songs you will hear anywhere. Interestingly, Anything Box's World Without Love (also included here) shares that distinction in my view. I Feel You has a gorgeous lead synth and wonderfully simple and sappy lyrics, but it still makes the hair on my arms stand straight up everytime I listen to it. Sure, it was made in 2004, but I simply couldn't resist. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

That's it for now. Please have a safe and very Merry Christmas, everyone!