Fall in L.A. isn’t markedly different than any other season of the year. There are fewer seventy-five and sunny let’s-go-to-the-beach days. And there are people (read: mental defectives) who wear heavy winter coats when the temp drops below sixty-five. Still, fall in L.A. isn’t really fall, just like the woman serving your latte isn’t really a barista. She’s just poorly playing the role until things turn around in the spring (and she lands that sitcom pilot).
Even though I love L.A. in more ways than I care to list, I still have to imagine fall more often than I actually experience it. Thus, the mix below is the fall of my mind. It’s meant to be played in a world, real or imagined, where leaves change more noticeably and blow in wind that nips at your ankles; a place where the moon is full and shines bright, it’s glow unimpeded by light pollution of the city; in a dive bar with whiskey soaked floors and a jukebox full of blues; on walk through a graveyard cloaked in opaque white fog; in a hinterlands cabin where corduroy, flannel and beards are necessary, not a fashion statement.
I tried to make this thing flow, to make give it a sense of rhythm. But I’ve probably failed by including some tracks I refused to leave off. The mix moves from moody Miles Davis to some Texas rap that I’ve been bumping of late. Then there’s some personal blues favorites and a few folk tracks thrown in for good measure – if it’s fall, I’m putting on my damn flannels and playing some Dylan or (Nick) Drake. The hour and a half ends with The Doors classic “Riders on the Storm” because, no matter where my mind is, I’m still in L.A. And the storm Jim’s singing about has nothing to do with the weather. – Max Bell
Download:
ZIP: Passion of the Weiss Fall Mix Series #7 — Max Bell
Track list:
1. Miles Davis – Generique
2. Miles Davis – ‘Round Midnight
3. Duke Ellington and John Coltrane – In a Sentimental Mood
4. Mayer Hawthorne – Thin Moon
5. Gayngs – The Gaudy Side of Town
6. Lil Keke – Comin’ Down
7. UGK – 3 in the Mornin’
8. Geto Boys – Mind is Playin’ Tricks on Me
9. James Brown – Forever Suffering
10. John Lee Hooker & Van Morrison – Never Get Out of These Blues Alive
11. Tom Waits – New Coat of Paint
12. Luther Allison – Bad News is Coming
13. Bobby “Blue” Bland – I’ll Take Care of You
14. Nick Drake – Pink Moon
15. Bob Dylan – Girl From the North Country
16. The Rolling Stones – Under my Thumb
17. The Zombies – Time of the Season
18. The Smiths – There is a Light That Never Goes Out
19. Black Sabbath – Planet Caravan
20. The Doors – Riders on the Storm
