On Tape (or The Night Harman Kardon Died)

Lots to explain here, but the good news you've probably already heard (sorry, we'll turn it down) is we have a new receiver after our old one (how old was it? when it sat around the house, it didn't have a CD input) gave up the transitored ghost. The new one could push 7 speakers if there was space enough for seven speakers in our living room, but we own a house in Santa Barbara, which means there's room enough for us, plus we were the silly ones to get two dogs approximately the size of shetlands. The new one is a Harman Kardon, too, but much fancier and varoomier.

Of course, after checking out how it sounded on a variety of musicks (Eno's Another Green World, my sonic taste test of choice, Archers of Loaf's "Web in Front," Glenn Gould playing Beethoven, Peter Gabriel's "Down the Dolce Vita," my kind of classical music, Andrew Bird's "Fake Palindromes"), I had to finish that cassette tape I was a few cuts shy of completing. You can take the boy out of the twentieth century, but you can't take the twentieth century out of the boy.

Whoa Nelly and the Horse You Came In On

Side A
Laura Veirs "Galaxies"
Stephen Malkmus "Loud Cloud Crowd"
Nouvelle Vague "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
The Decemberists "We Both Go Down Together"
Wilco "Jesus, Etc." (live)
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?"
Fountains of Wayne "I Know You Well"
Drive-By Truckers "Tornadoes"
Chris Stamey Experience "McCauley Street (Let's Go Downtown)"
Sally Timms & Jon Langford "Broken Bottle"
New Pornographers "Streets of Fire"

Side B
Amy Rigby "The Trouble with Jeannie"
Elvis Costello "Tears Before Bedtime"
The Raveonettes "Love in a Trashcan"
Blue Hawaiians "Jet Black" (live)
Big Star "Dony"
Son Volt "6-String Belief"
Television "Glory"
Neko Case "If You Knew"
Bettie Serveert "Attagirl" (acoustic)
Richard Thompson "Oops! I Did It Again" (live)
Silver Jews "How Can I Love You If You Won't Lie Down"
Magnetic Fields "A Chicken with Its Head Cut Off"
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! "Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood"
Shout Out Louds "Please Please Please"