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About Today’s Mix:

You’ll note the Prince reference in the title of this week’s mix, which might just be a slight nod to our Prince-loving pals over at Ickmusic.

Meanwhile back at the ATV ranch, we’re still in the midst of a vacation-like hiatus from posting. Your fearless blog leader (Matt) has been out of town or otherwise occupied for most of the past two weeks. And when I am around, things have been, well, busy. I guess you’ll have that as you head towards the end of the year, and towards all of the holidays and events that come with that end of the year stuff.

A few weeks back, I promised a trip back to 1991, and hopefully you’re ready to do that, because we’re traveling back to the beginnings of grunge-tastically loud music as we speak!

During my teenage years working at the record store, and later at the radio station, I loved to read the weekly industry magazines like Album Network, HITS Magazine, and FMQB. This wasn’t exactly a new development – I’d been reading Billboard Magazine each week at the library since I was 8 years old, already aware of my desire to eventually work in the music industry.

The 90s brought exposure to a new treat – in the form of sampler CDs that I would receive from Album Network, HITS, and FMQB, each loaded with 15-20 new tracks from both emerging and established artists. The HITS discs always had cool titles and art, while the Album Net discs tended to have the occasional rare/unreleased track – either a track that was exclusive to radio, or perhaps a live or acoustic version of a current radio favorite. Album Network also serviced really cool holiday discs at Christmas filled with exclusive holiday cuts from current artists, and also classic favorites. As much as I loved these discs, it’s a shame that I didn’t hold on to more of them, but you can only keep so many CDs before your collection officially spirals out of control, right?

Occasionally, I see these sampler CDs in the used bins, and I’m always on the look out for any oddball tracks that they might contain. During a recent record store trip, I found a doozy of a comp from the Album Net folks and thought that it might be fun to revisit a random week in 1991, according to Album Network. Do you remember Rhythm Corps, Child’s Play and No Sweat?

How about Big Dish (not to be confused with Fig Dish,) The Radiators, and Tyketto? One of these is not like the other….

There are two tracks of note that I’d like to point out here:

“Hunger Strike” by “Temple of the Dogs” – a whopper of a typo,  printed on the album art, liner notes and the CD!

It’s interesting to read the liner notes, which were written prior to the release of Pearl Jam’s Ten later that year:

Sometimes the best songs come from playing with friends. No pressure; no hype. That’s how Temple of the Dogs happened. They were longtime friends from different well-known Pacific Northwest bands who got together and the result is an explosive combination of all their strengths: powerful guitars, one of the best drummers alive and vocals that will pin you to the wall. “Hunger Strike” is one of those songs that touches you instantly beneath the words propelling you effortlessly along. This track will whet your appetite for Temple of the Dogs’s first album, coming in April.

How ’bout that?

Now I was really excited to find this next track, which might be the rarest track I’ve shared with you to date here on ATV. About 10 years ago, a group of us were communicating on a music email discussion group and one of the members was on the hunt for a track that REO Speedwagon frontman Kevin Cronin had recorded in support of the soldiers overseas with Desert Storm. None of us were familiar with the track, and as far as I know, my buddy Mark never got his hands on the song.

That changes today with my acquisition of “Hard to Believe,” a track that Cronin recorded in 1991 with friends Bill Champlin, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Richard Marx. The track is credited officially to Cronin, but Champlin grabs the spotlight handling the majority of the vocals on this one, and with the impressive artists on this, I’m surprised that this hasn’t popped up on someone’s compilation – but I guess there’s still room on the eventual REO box set, right? “Hard to Believe” is a cool tune, although nearly 20 years later, the synths, etc; sound a bit dated for sure.

Here’s a disc’s worth of the best music from February of 1991, according to Album Network.  It’s kind of hard to believe that Tyketto didn’t become the next Led Zeppelin, right?  I guess that’s why we had Kingdom Come.  Enjoy this mix!!

Download complete mix (this link is good for one week only.)

Track listing:

1. Rhythm Corps – “Satellite” – from The Future’s Not What It Used To Be
2. R.E.M. – “Losing My Religion” – from Out of Time
3. The Replacements – “When It Began” – from All Shook Down
4. Tyketto – “Forever Young” – from Don’t Come Easy
5. Van Morrison – “Youth of 1000 Summers” – from Enlightenment
6. Child’s Play – “Wind” – from Rat Race
7. Big Dish – “Miss America” – from Satellites
8. Nils Lofgren (with Bruce Springsteen) – “Valentine” – from Silver Lining
9. No Sweat – “Tear Down The Walls” – from No Sweat
10. Kevin Cronin – “Hard to Believe” (unreleased)
11. House of Lords – “Heart on the Line” – from Sahara
12. Steve Morse Band – “Simple Simon” – from Southern Steel
13. Sisters of Mercy – “Detonation Boulevard” – from Vision Thing
14. The Radiators – “Red Wine” – from Total Evaporation
15. Temple of the Dog – “Hunger Strike” – from Temple of the Dog
16. Johnny Law – “Too Weak To Fight” – from Johnny Law