#02 Smoking Guns

Will the popularity of "Paper Planes" bring back a renaissance of guns sounds in popular music? This internet blogger doesn't know for sure, but it seems like reason enough for a gun-themed mix. This week we find ourselves in a violent, twisted crime drama filled with gun shots, snare drums, and Nancy Sinatra. It's the same old story: boy finds gun, takes gun to town, murder, death, rebirth, etcetera, etcetera. You can fill in the details.

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01 Nancy Sinatra - "You Only Live Twice"
02 The Clash - "Tommy Gun"
03 Ice Cube - "My Summer Vacation"
04 Johnny Cash - "Don't Take Your Guns To Town"
05 Piero Piccioni - "Keep Running"
06 Curtis Mayfield - "Billy Jack"
07 Snoop Dogg - "Murder Was The Case"
08 The Sonics - "Shot Down"
09 John Barry - "Main Title" (from the Ipcress File)
10 Bill Withers - "Better Off Dead"
11 King Tubby - "King Tubby's Explosion Dub"
12 The Flatmates - "Life Of Crime"
13 The Bobby Fuller Four - "I Fought The Law"
14 Ennio Morricone - "Studio Di Colore"
15 Gene Pitney - "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance"
16 Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - "Mo' Murda"
17 Nancy Sinatra - "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"

#01 Falsettos

This week we pose the question: how does using only half your vocal chords make your music roughly twice as sexy? For the answer we go to some of pop music’s most distinguished falsettos including Curtis Mayfield, Prince, Frankie Valli, Brian Wilson, and Eddie Kendricks. We also visit Slim Smith of the Uniques and Junior Murvin, two of the most prized falsettos of Jamaica. In a mere 55 minutes this mix will help erase all those memories of BeeGees imitations, and give you a new excuse to listen to Tiny Tim and D’Angelo.

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01 Curtis Mayfield - "Pusherman"

02 Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs - "Stay"

03 Al Green - "I'm Still In Love With You"

04 The Uniques - "My Conversation"

05 Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons - "Rag Doll"

06 Dexys Midnight Runners - "Thankfully Not Living In Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply"

07 The Beach Boys - "We'll Run Away"

08 The Delfonics - "La La Means I Love You"

09 Eddie Kendricks - "Girl You Need A Change Of Mind"

10 The Isley Brothers - "You Walk Your Way"

11 Junior Murvin - "Police And Thieves"

12 Sparks - "Something For The Girl With Everything"

13 Prince - "Kiss"

14 Tiny Tim - "Ever Since You Told Me That You Love Me (I'm A Nut)"

15 D'Angelo - "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"