Bort's Compilation Collection

[doctoracula]

That Bouncing Souls cover is horrible! The Get Up Kids version of Close to Me is okay from what I remember. My favorite from the first CD is the MTX cover of Crash.

it worked live!  i swear!
the GUK cover is way too close to the original.  i don't see the point

[angry ryan]

It doesn't have the creepy breathing noises.

[bort]

Man there were so many of those tribute/ironic cover albums in the mid to late 90's.

i'd say late 90s early 00s was when the floodgates really opened.  though regardless of the time frame, there was definitely more than we needed.

[The Gerge]

Another Year On The Street
(Vagrant, 2000)
This is one of those comps/label samplers (and there will be many more) where one has to consider the bang you get for your buck.  Pretty weak overall, but for 5 bucks, will I complain?  The fact that many of these tracks are exclusive is nice.  I always appreciate a compilation that can give me something new rather than rehashing album material.  However, the songs themselves don’t really hold up.  Never cared for A3 and the Get Up Kids, and these tracks here aren’t helping the case.  Face To Face are well past their prime by this point.  Even Saves The Day, whom I normally like, put forth a song that’s a bit drawn out.  I don’t like GUK, why would I want a more boring version of them with the New Amsterdamns?  Throw in some 3rd tier shit like Automatic 7 and this whole thing hardly seems worth it.  BUT WAIT.  This comp has some ripping songs by Rocket From The Crypt (and to a lesser extent, the Gotohells – remember them?  From like, 2 comps ago?)  It also has “D In Detroit” by the Anniversary, which is probably the best thing this label ever released.  There’s also a song by No Motiv on here called “Get A Life” which sounds like something Rally Records would release (and yes, that’s a compliment).  No, I guess I won’t complain.
BA: 6/20 (.300)

are you crazy sir?
that is by far saves the day's best song and always will be

[bort]

Best Of Moog (Electronic Pop Hits from the 60's and 70's)
(Loud Records, 1999)

This is one of those comps that I LOVE.  Not only is it a collection of music that I was obsessed with back in '00-01 (back when I was doing my Moog Power radio show), it's also one of those collections that's so good there's no need for improvement.  If I were to make a mix of early electronic pop hits I'd just copy this entire disc.  It's great for people who love POP music, it's great for electronica-junkies, it's great for kids.  I've had kids boppin' around to "Popcorn" and "The Savers" one time for a science lesson (measuring heart rate before and after exercise) and they wanted to dance to it everyday, just for fun.

[Pleasedontrock]

I enjoy this thread.

[bort]

i enjoy you PDR, i enjoy you.

[Pleasedontrock]

i enjoy you PDR, i enjoy you.

I feel I should note that I half-witnessed that weird "oops I bumped in to you now I'm going to talk to you about Canada for an hour" thing at Insub. You were all class.

[bort]

I feel I should note that I half-witnessed that weird "oops I bumped in to you now I'm going to talk to you about Canada for an hour" thing at Insub. You were all class.

A part of that incident has been a running joke between Jessie and I.  If you ever see her shouting "Go hockey!" it's a reference the conversation we had with that dude.

[make believe]

Best Of Moog (Electronic Pop Hits from the 60's and 70's)
(Loud Records, 1999)

If I were to make a mix of early electronic pop hits I'd just copy this entire disc.  It's great for people who love POP music, it's great for electronica-junkies, it's great for kids.  I've had kids boppin' around to "Popcorn" and "The Savers" one time for a science lesson (measuring heart rate before and after exercise) and they wanted to dance to it everyday, just for fun.

I don't know about this.  I think most people that are into electronic music or even pop music on a serious level would find this a bit too cheesy and silly.   

[bort]

I don't know about this.  I think most people that are into electronic music or even pop music on a serious level would find this a bit too cheesy and silly.

Hmm, I would think the opposite.  A casual synth/electronic music fan probably wouldn't care about the genre's roots, but I'd think a serious fan would.  The music sounds "fun" but I guess I don't see the cheese/silly angle - jean jaques-perrey, hugo montenegro, dick hyman, et al are all accomplished composers.

[Christian]

Hmm, I would think the opposite.  A casual synth/electronic music fan probably wouldn't care about the genre's roots, but I'd think a serious fan would.  The music sounds "fun" but I guess I don't see the cheese/silly angle - jean jaques-perrey, hugo montenegro, dick hyman, et al are all accomplished composers.

best name

[bort]

Bite Back: Live @ the Crocodile Cafe
(Popllama, 1996)

Live stuff from a bunch of good bands like Fastbacks, Built To Spill, Presidents of the United States of America, and Girl Trouble.  Some 2nd tier Seattle stuff too like Tad, Love Battery, et al.  I was never a huge fan of Mudhoney but I've always liked "1995" and they do it well here.  Surprisingly I like the Minus 5 track better than the Young Fresh Fellows one.  Some filler (did anyone, ever, really like Mad Season?) but otherwise a pretty decent collection.  Basically it's a round-up of well-recorded live versions of songs that aren't necessarily the "hits," so it's nice for completionists.  There are certainly better venue benefit comps out there, but this one's pretty dece.
BA: 9/18 (.500)

[Matt]

I enjoy this thread!

[ChaddDerkins]

Yeah if I haven't mentioned it already, I really like this thread!  I am counting the days until DGC Rarities Vol. 1!!

[bort]

Blue Room Released: Made On Earth
(Blue Room, 1997)

Another compilation that I deem as worthy only because I bought it from the dollar bin.  It's a techno label sampler and not a terrible one at that - though that's more of a comparative statement.  There was a lot of unlistenable drek in the late 90s techno scene, and IMO, trance was the easiest genre to "get wrong."   Other than Saafi Brothers w/ Groove Titan and Total Eclipse, the only other big name (at least in the states) that Blue Room had was Juno Reactor (one of my favorite techno acts) and there's a remix of "Laughing Gas" that I don't think is found anywhere else.  Listening to this makes me wish I was listening to comps in reverse alphabetical order, since most of my great techno comps are in the T-Z range.
BA: 4/12 (.333)

[bort]

Yeah if I haven't mentioned it already, I really like this thread!  I am counting the days until DGC Rarities Vol. 1!!

Less than 20 discs away!

[Pleasedontrock]

I am counting the days until DGC Rarities Vol. 1!!

I loved this one, even though it was basically a sonic youth tribute from what I remember.

[bort]

Bomb Anniversary Collection 1991-2001
(Bomb Hip-Hop, 2001)

Well, if you're thinking about getting into turntablism and underground hip-hop you've found a good starting point.  4 discs spanning 10 years that cover a lot of territory during the 90s.  There was more out there than gangsta and bling, and what ground was gained so that groups like the X-ecutioners, J5, Blackalicious, Aesop Rock, etc could make a living is in part due to this label.  Anyway, in terms of the music, there's a lot of cutting and scratching.  If you want to know what sounds were being created by hardcore turntable jammers back 15 years ago, this is it.  Some of the genre's superstars are found here: Qbert, Mix Master Mike & Invisbl Skratch Piklz, (rapper) J-Live, DJ Z-trip, JS-1, Peanut Butter Wolf, RJD2, and a bunch more that were up-and-comers at the time (Shortee, DJ Faust, DJ T-Rock).  In addition to that, is a few more choice tracks that landed their way onto my hip-hop mixes (The Bort Compilations known as "Bort's Bombs, Vols. 1-8).  Now that's the ultimate compliment!   The beatbox duo Metabass'N'Breath, slow and steady rappers Dilated Peoples, and DJ Static (whose song "My Definition" is the first track on my first hip-hop mix - kinda kicks the whole thing off) all get the highest marks.  Truthfully it's not all home runs but with a multi-disc catalog review collection like this it's understandable.
BA: 28/60 (.467)

[doctoracula]

DGC never did rarities vol 2, did they?

[bort]

DGC never did rarities vol 2, did they?

Nope.  Commenting on this fact is the only edit I've ever done to a wiki page.  IIRC the label switched to the Buy-Product series for two volumes, and then the "label" just melted into Universal completely.

[bort]

Straight Outta Burbank: The Bomp! 25th Anniversary Collection
(Bomp!, 1999)

Do I really need to review this?  Do I really need to rub it everyone's face that I bought this when Media Play was going out of business for like 3 bucks?  I guess some could argue that one could find/make a better pure Bomp! mix (as this collection has Bomp! stuff as well as tracks from subsidiary labels like Voxx, Alive!, and Total Energy), BUT, what's here is still a who's who of (the original) garage/punk revival and power pop torch-bearers.  Check it: Zeros, Dead Boys, Barracudas, DM3, Psychotic Youth, Iggy & The Stooges, Dils, Flesh Eaters, Johnny Thunders, Lazy Cowgirls, the Breakaways, Nikki & The Corvettes, MC5, Dave Allen, Pink Fairies, Kim Fowley, and MORE!  I couldn't even trim this down to a single disc; though they aren't particularly indicative of the typical Bomp! sound, the Roosevelt Sykes, Tav Falco, and Sun Ra tracks are great.  That whole first disc has very, very few skippable tracks, making it a rare comp indeed.
BA: 28/45 (.622)

[SuburbanArgyle]

Yeah if I haven't mentioned it already, I really like this thread!  I am counting the days until DGC Rarities Vol. 1!!

I love parts of this CD. It makes me sound like a real square but the Counting Crows song on there would end up on my all-time best songs list, if I had one. In fact, "jamie" probably would also.

[doctoracula]

thats one of the best counting crows songs!
it was rightfully a hit single

[SuburbanArgyle]

See I don't remember it being a hit single at all. In fact I don't remember ever hearing it aside from that CD. Was it played on the radio?