Monitor Mixtape: The Underdogs
From a post on Carrie Brownstein's Monitor Mix blog, available here.
These songs were originally compiled on a rainy day a few weeks ago, with no promise of sun, so they might sound better to your ears under gray skies. The mix could easily be called "The Underdogs."
Many of these artists never gained recognition while they were around (or alive) or still don't get the widespread attention they deserve (Pylon, Van Zandt, Frank, Sill). Some of these tunes are culled from the bands' less popular albums — namely, the songs by Television, Wire, and The Undertones. I love "Days" as much as anything on Marquee Moon and, in my opinion, Wire's 154 is a better and more challenging overall album than its two groundbreaking predecessors. (Though the three albums together form one of the best trifectas in late-'70s music.) Lastly, Small Faces are simply incredible and always make me happy, and I'm still surprised that more people don't seek them out.
Monitor Mixtape: The Underdogs
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