#638: Messing with people

Continue 2 occasionally play mostly-off-the-wall music at work, but needta get some new sounds in2 my bag of tricks 2 get me outta this musical rut I've been in 4 a coupla months. Got 1/2adozen new things ordered, some upbeat silly motivational stuff 4 work (Abba, Tracey Ullman, Nik Kershaw, etc.), will keep you posted on how that works out.
Meanwhile, Saturday nite's playlist looked like this....

Fleetwood Mac -- Oh Well, Green Manalishi, Why?, I Believe My Time Ain't Long, Albatross, Station Man, Stop Messing Around, Trinity, Heroes are Hard to Find, Bermuda Triangle, Black Magic Woman, Need Your Love So Bad, Did You Ever Love Me, Paper Doll, Love Shines, Heart of Stone, Goodbye Baby, Love in Store, Everywhere, Silver Springs, Not That Funny (live freakout version), Tusk (USC fanfare version), Beautiful Child, etc.....
Doobie Brothers -- Neal's Fandango, I Cheat the Hangman.
The Church -- Under the Milky Way, Reptile.
Four Tops -- Reach Out I'll Be There.
Miracles -- Tears of a Clown.
Marvin Gaye -- What's Goin' On, I Heard it Through the Grapevine.
Temptations -- I Can't Get Next to You, Ball of Confusion, Papa Was a Rolling Stone.
Gladys Knight and the Pips -- I Heard it Through the Grapevine.
David Ruffin -- My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me).
Supremes -- Up the Ladder to the Roof.
Edwin Starr -- War.
Spinners -- It's a Shame.
Stevie Wonder -- Signed Sealed Delivered.
Barrett Strong -- Money (That's What I Want).
Love -- Alone Again Or, A House is Not a Motel.
Sly and the Family Stone -- Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin.

The Mac trax up there R bits&pieces from their THE CHAIN/25 YEARS best-of box-set, & whether it's the really loud stuff like "Green Manalishi" or the delta-bluesier stuff like "I Believe My Time Ain't Long" (which absolutely DOES NOT sound like a buncha White guys from England), people's eyes always bug out when they learn who's doing the music.
...& I'm still discovering things from The Box -- like Bob Welch's "Bermuda Triangle," which has summa the same spacey atmosphere as his "Hypnotized" ... only it's not quite as good. & Christine McVie's rather good 2 "new" songs (at the time the box was released), "Love Shines" & "Heart of Stone" -- good quality stuff from her, as always.
+ there's Lindsey Buckingham's "Trinity," & the middle-period "Heroes are Hard to Find," & the very pleasant & haunting Peter Green-era "Albatross" (which made #1 in England), & more. & there's Buckingham's Xtremely long & freaked-out 'live' "Not That Funny" -- why do so many of his live songs sound like he's having sex? ("Big Love," "Go Insane," etc). & they had the nerve 2 NOT put his great live 1980 "I'm So Afraid" on here...?
Moved in2 some other things after that. "Neal's Fandango" continues 2 get rave reviews from customers -- think the Doobies missed-out onna hit there. The old Motown hits kept me movin at work when I was starting 2 bog down -- they always work. Don't usually play "War," but noticed this time 'round how Edwin Starr sounds like The World's Most Overwhelmingly Masculine Drill Sergeant while he delivers his anti-war message.
Didn't much care 4 "Papa was a Rolling Stone" when it came out a million years ago, but it sure grows on you -- & how about that intense downbeat atmosphere conjured-up by producer Norman Whitfield? Was also reminded that the Tempts have lost a couple members recently....
Gladys & the Pips' "Grapevine" is sure straightforward in comparison, tho 4 me the whole song is worth it just for those ad-libbed lines in the chorus, right after "I'm just about to lose my mind" -- "Oh, YES I am ... Oh, YES I am...."
...& is "Tears of a Clown" THE perfect single of all time, or what? It never seems 2 wear out....
More soon....