It was fun putting these together as actual podcasts using real music. I put them together using Winamp and Sound Forge. I doubt anyone in this thread is going to like mine, but if someone has a mind to try they can be heard via streaming audio or downloaded (titles are links).
I haven't tested all of them yet. We had some glitches in our phone line while I was uploading them, so any glitches you hear within the "CDs" are because of that.
RickJay: Challenge 1: Put together a CD for me of songs with titles that contain a geographic place name - the name of a city, province, state, region, country, whatever - that is not located in the United States. Non-geographic places ("the kitchen") or metaphorical places ("my heart") are not permissible, nor are nationalist or geographic possessives ("Russian.")
01. Dead Can Dance - Song Of Sophia (Bulgaria)
02. Happy Rhodes - Just Like Tivoli (Italy)
03. Kate Bush - Brazil
04. Loreena McKennitt - Tango To Evora (Greece)
05. Style Council with Tracey Thorn - The Paris Match
06. Heather Nova - Verona
07. Amazulu - Cairo
08. Dave "not that one" Stewart and Barbara Gaskin - Leipzig
09. Charlie Chan - Prayer For Israel (no political statement intended, it just fit the theme)
10. Bel Canto - Bombay
11. Kirsty MacColl - A New England (meaning a brand new England, not the American region)
12. Tori Amos - Jamaica Inn
Notes:
01. Lisa Gerrard on vocals. From The Serpent's Egg.
02. From Building The Colossus
03. Not used in the Terry Gilliam movie, but it was on the soundtrack.
04. From The Visit.
05. Tracey Thorn is from Everything But The Girl. From The Style Coucil's album Café Bleu.
06. From Oyster
07. From a 12" single.
08. Not the same Dave Stewart from Eurythmics. This Dave was in National Health and Hatfield and the North. This was a vinyl single.
09. An enigmatic Australian artist. This is from her album Wild Swans.
10. Anneli Drecker on vocals. From Magic Box.
11. There are many different Kirsty versions of this Billy Bragg song. This is from What Do Pretty Girls Do.
12. From The Beekeeper.
RickJay: Challenge 2: Put together a CD of songs performed by artists who are not from countries where the majority first language is English. (Celine Dion is out, party because Canada is mostly English even if Quebec is not, and mostly just because I don't like Celine Dion)
I had had one already put together with foreign-language songs when it was clairified that they could be singing in English, and I had one of those almost done just in case, so what the heck. Here are both of them.
01. Eva Ayllon (Peru) - Bandida
02. Eleftheria Arvanitaki (Greece) - Dinata (album version)
03. Dulce Pontes (Portugal) - Cantiga da Terra
04. Le Mystere des voix Bulgares (Bulgaria) - Polegnala E Todora
05. Zap Mama (Zaire, Belgium) - Din Din
06. Márta Sebestyén (Hungary) - Szerelem, Szerelem
07. Adriana Calcanhoto (Brazil) - Esquadros
08. Madredeus (Portugal) - O Pastor
09. Emma Shapplin (France) - Vedi Maria
10. Yma Sumac (Peru) - Cuncho
11. West India Company/Asha Bhosle (Asha's from India) - My Shooting Star
12. Akiko Yano (Japan) - Rose Garden
Notes:
Title is a play on silly people who think forgeign-language speakers are deaf and will understand better if it's all louder.
01. From Rebeca.
02. From I Still Remain An Outcast (I think).
03. From Caminhos.
04. From Vol. I.
05. From self-titled album, Zap Mama. Group was started by Marie Daulne (hence the Zaire-born and Belgium-raised).
06. From Aprocrypha. Márta has also sung with Muzsikás.
07. From Senhas.
08. The singer is Teresa Salgueiro. From a Greatest Hits compilation, Antologia.
09. From Carmine Meo.
10. From Voice of the Xtabay.
11. From New Demons, which is a soundtrack to a dance show by a Canadian troupe called La La La Human Steps. Asha's one of the most famous Bollywood singers ever. She has about a billion albums.
12. Akiko is also Mrs. Ryuichi Sakamoto. This is from her album Tadaima. If you didn't love this delightful song, I don't want to know you.
ESL-opia (my favorite)
01. Hector Zazou with Anneli Drecker (France and Norway) - I'll Strangle You
02. Velvet Belly (Norway) - Wide Open Spaces
03. Sugarcubes (Iceland) - Planet
04. Komeda (Sweden) - Flabbergast
05. Ephemera (Norway) - Last Thing
06. Takako Minekawa (Japan) - Fantastic Cat
07. Rainbirds (Germany) - Big Fat Cat
08. Anne Pigalle (France) - The 1000 Colours Waltz
09. Bel Canto (Norway) - Shimmering, Warm & Bright
10. Bjork - One Day (Iceland)
11. Stina Nordenstam (Sweden) - Another Story Girl
12. Emiliana Torrini (Iceland) - Unemployed In Summertime
Notes:
Title is play on English as a Second Language.
01. This is from Hector's album Sahara Blue. The male voice is Gerard Depardieu.
02. Anne Marie Almedal on vocals. From Window Tree.
03. Bjork of course on vocals. From Planet 12".
04. Lena Karlsson on vocals, from What Makes It Go.
05. Christine Sandtorv, Jannicke Larsen and Inger Lise Střrksen are Ephemera. From Balloons And Champagne.
06. From Recubed.
07. Katharina Franck on vocals, from Two Faces.
08. From Everything Could Be So Perfect.
09. Anneli Drecker on vocals, from Shimmering, Warm & Bright.
10. From Debut.
11. From Memories Of A Color.
12. From Love In The Time Of Science.
RickJay: Challenge 3: Put together a CD of songs with titles at least six words long. For bonus points, do this without including any song put out by an emo band in the last three years.
I have no idea what emo is, so I hope I didn't include any. I kinda doubt it.
Why Did I Make These Titles So Goddamn Long? (my 2nd favorite)
01. Happy Rhodes - If Wishes Were Horses How Beggars Would Ride
02. Crystal Gayle - Is There Any Way Out Of This Dream (Tom Waits song)
03. Eddi Reader - What You Do With What You've Got
04. Kirsty MacColl - We'll Never Pass This Way Again
05. The Sundays - You're Not The Only One I Know
06. Cocteau Twins - Throughout The Dark Months Of April And May
07. Kate Bush - The Man With The Child In His Eyes
08. Eva Cassidy - How Can I Keep From Singing?
09. Feist - When I Was A Young Girl
10. A.C. Marias - One Of Our Girls Has Gone Missing
11. Wendy MaHarry - How Do I Get Over You
12. Jane Siberry - Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog
Notes:
01. Slightly edited, this is from Many Worlds Are Born Tonight.
02. Written by Tom Waits for Crystal, from the soundtrack of One From The Heart.
03. From one of the best albums of the 90's, Mirmama.
04. RIP, oh brilliant songwriter who was killed unnecessarily. From Electric Landlady.
05. Harriet Wheeler singing, from Reading, Writing & Arithmetic.
06. Elizabeth Fraser singing, from Victorialand.
07. From her first album, The Kick Inside.
08. RIP, oh beautiful-voiced one. From Eva By Heart.
09. Leslie Feist is from Canada. This is from Let It Die.
10. A.C. Marias is Angela Conway's band. The album is the same name ("One of Our Girls...").
11. From Fountain of Youth.
12. Another Canadian, now known as Issa. From Bound By The Beauty.