Number Ones That Never Were: Best of 2006 Edition

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01) Intro/WABC Promo: From the archives, a truly profound (Marvin Gaye) and perverse (The Osmonds!) promo for The Top 100 Songs of 1971 (mixed with some Krup sfx as well as The Ramones on Space Ghost). You can find almost anything on the internets.

02) Supermassive Black Hole/Muse: A band still in search of their own sound but I give them credit for their ability to rip others off with bombast and aplomb.

03) Think I'm In Love/Beck: Everyone's favorite Scientologist (actually the only Scientologist anybody really likes) returns to form after (IMHO) the disappointing "Guero" (although I did like the remix version, "Guerolito").

04) Life/...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead: A once-overrated band becomes one of the country's most underrated bands as it continues to expand it's sound rather than wilt away in the indie stew.

05) 2:19/Tom Waits: The first of three tracks to be featured in this mix from, hands-down, the record of the year: Orphans. This one's from the Brawlers' disc. A Bawler and a Bastard coming up...

06) Ain't No Other Man/Christina Aguilera: I know, I know -- I'm gonna lose my indie cred by including this one but what the hell does indie cred really mean anymore?!?! Besides, as someone who is quickly approaching his late '40s, I can honestly say I had indie cred when most of you were still in diapers. Plus, it's a smoking hot song and the gal has pipes. So there.

07) Crazy As She Goes/The Legion of Doom: This mashup kills two birds with one stone by mixing two of '06's most infectious songs: Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" and The Raconteurs' "Steady, As She Goes."

08) Hold On, Hold On/Neko Case: An other-worldly voice, by way of The Great White North.

09) You Are Free/Joseph Arthur: He's a total freak. But a talented one. The inclusion of "You Are Free" should make up for me leaving "Even Tho" off of last year's mix (click the song title to hear what you missed).

10) Roadmovies/Bettie Serveert: The kids are allright (namely singer Carol Van Dyk and guitarist Peter Visser), 14 years after their brilliant debut, Palomine.

11) Charlie/Red Hot Chili Peppers: Stadium Arcadium made a lot of people's Best of '06 lists. I thought the album was a bit bloated, but live these guys were pretty unbeatable. This version's from their FUSE performance which I had the pleasure of editing (click here to watch a clip).

12) Adventure Rocketship/Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3: Robyn sounds like he's a young man again thanks in part to the help of Pete Buck (REM) and Scott McCaughey (The Minus 5).

13) Incinerate/Sonic Youth: ...speaking of sounding younger and younger, these oldster/hipsters show the kids how it's done.

14) Lady Madonna/The Beatles: I didn't think they'd pull it off but George Martin and his son Giles created a rich, "new" Beatles' masterpiece for, of all things, Cirque du Soliel in Vegas. I especially dig the bits from "Hey Bulldog."

15) World Wide Suicide/Pearl Jam: Eddie and the boys let the world know, "We're Not Dead Yet!" with this piece of blistering agitprop-pop.

16) Tell It To Me/Tom Waits: Another classic "Bawler" from Mr. Waits.

17) I'm In Love (with Arthur Dove)/Portastatic: Some sugar from Superchunk's Mac McCaughan.

18) Decent Days and Nights/The Futureheads: Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs get all the love that these guys should be soaking up.

19) Dirty Mind/The Pipettes: Yes, 2006 was a bit of a lean year for great music. Still, ya gotta admit, this is a fun track.

20) Who Vibrations/The Who Boys: Redefining the mashup. Available at The Who Boys website.

21) Level/The Raconteurs: Jack White. 'nuff said.

22) I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer/The Cardigans: Aimee Mann Meets The Pretenders. Should be a winning combination but these guys can't seem to get any respect.

23) Bicycle, Bicycle, You're My Bicycle/Be Your Own Pet: Ah youth. These kids do seem to have a future (I believe they're all still teenagers).

24) Wish I Never Loved You/The Buzzcocks: Ah age. These guys could be the previous bands' grandfathers. Watch 'em rock, they're over 40!

25) Police Sweater Blood Vow/The Fiery Furnaces: Believe it or not, this is their most accessible record to date.

26) Gold Lion/Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Karen O and the boys more or less survive the sophomore slump.

27) Mrs. McGrath/Bruce Springsteen: The Boss adds some American sentiment to this powerful Irish ballad ("I'd rather have my son as he used to be/Than the King of America and his whole navy.")

28) Someday Baby/Bob Dylan: The new Bruce.

29) House on the Lake/Roseanne Cash: Roseanne says goodbye to her dad and stepmom.

30) Ascension Day/Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint: Costello added words to Toussaint's minor key adaptation of Professor Longhair's "Tipitina." The result is arguably Elvis' most successful collaboration to date.

31) Black Swan/Thom Yorke: Some solo cheerfulness.

32) Army Ants/Tom Waits: A "Bastard" of a bedtime story.

Bonus Track: 33) Sames and Opposites/Demetri Martin: Can I have my indie cred back now?

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