Otis Redding – The Art of the Mixtape

Homecoming: An Envisioned Soundtrack

A soldier arrives home from Afghanistan to find his lost high school love. Problem is she’s marrying another man, old ghosts of the past linger the town, it’s the perpetual misty fall/winter of New England. Hearts will be mended, hearts will be broken. The envisioned soundtrack.

1. Friends Like Those – Robert Ellis – from Photographs

2. S’posin – Fats Waller – from The Joint Is Jumpin’

3. North Side Girl – JD McPherson – from Signs & Signifiers

4. I’ve Never Found A Girl – Eddie Floyd – from I’ve Never Found A Girl

5. Don’t Tell All Our Friends About Me – Blake Mills – from Honey I’m Home Live Sessions

6. Mr. Nobody Is Somebody Now – Johnnie Taylor – from Who’s Making Love

7. Something Biblical – Andrew Bird – from Hands of Glory

8. Standin’ (Townes Van Zandt Cover) – Vetiver – from Live at Glasslands 9/21/12

9. She Lit A Fire – Lord Huron – from Lonesome Dreams

10. Time And Time Again – Bahamas – from Barchords

11. Cheers (Blake Mills Cover) – Floating Action – from ???

12. Some Things Never Change – Robert Francis – from Strangers In The First Place

13. Someday We’ll Be Together – Diana Ross & The Supremes – from Cream of the Crop

14. Pain In My Heart – Otis Redding – from Pain In My Heart

15. Cemetery – Robert Ellis – from Photographs

Homecoming: An Envisioned Soundtrack (Full Playlist .zip file)

Summer Gems 2012: A Mixtape

To grab the mix, either click on the image or the text.

Track-listing:

1. Peoples – Cheers Elephant

2. The Fritz – Cruiser

3. The Walk – Mayer Hawthorne

4. Everyone Knows – Vacationer

5. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) – Talking Heads

6. Milk – Theme Park

7. The Hale Bop – Mystery Jets

8. She’s So Scandalous – Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

9. Fletcher – Blitzen Trapper

10. Sir Duke – Stevie Wonder

11. Skin It Back – Little Feat

12. Carrying The Torch – Generationals

13. My Baby Is The Real Thing – Allen Toussaint

14. Come On Sock It To Me – Syl Johnson

15. Got To Be Some Changes Made – The Staple Singers

16. Scratch My Back – Otis Redding

17. Knock On Wood – Eddie Floyd

18. Blackmail – Robert Palmer

19. Ain’t Gonna Stop – Natural Child

20. Greatest Hits – Mystery Jets

21. If You Let Me Be Your Anchor – Dawes

(Image Courtesy of We Are Handsome)

Unfortunately, James Carr was his own worst enemy, suffering from bipolar disorder his whole life. Ultimately, its the only refuge we can give ourselves in trying to figure out just why this man wasn’t as equally lauded as Otis Redding. While popular consensus might have slipped from his legacy, he was critically lauded, especially for his 1967 album You Got My Mind Messed Up. Many point to his version of “The Dark End of the Street” as being the definitive version and the best on the album, but my favorite is “Forgetting You” a half midnight oil burner/barnstormer that finds Carr in peak form, putting on a vocal performance that even Otis Redding himself might be hard pressed to match.

Forgetting You – James Carr

The Dark End of the Street- James Carr