Since we’re heading into the season of the long, slow sunset, here’s a mix I created for that scenario 35 years ago. I was a prematurely sentimental-romantic-nostalgic type of person, about the finish college in Ann Arbor. The places I lived had exceptional views of the sunset.
Started in 1985, the mix steadily expanded from one cassette to two-and-a-half-hours, then, around 2000, I sub-curated it into a single CD that I could burn. This is that version.
I and this mix are a mutually-reinforcing seasonal loop at this point. Is there an actual, coherent vibe that could work for anyone else in 2021? I have no idea. I make no excuses or apologies for this musical message from a different time (of me and the world).
Try this for your own golden hour on some summer evening, and then make your own mixtape and share it back.
- Spanish Moon (live): Little Feat
- Fun to Be Happy: Love Tractor
- Warm & Soothing: Kate Bush
- Lions: Dire Straits
- Orchid Girl: Aztec Camera
- Wild Kingdom: Alex Chilton
- The Ink in the Well: David Sylvian
- Prisoners: The Rain Parade
- North Star: Robert Fripp & Daryl Hall
- In Your House: The Cure
- Les Amoureux: Bill Nelson
- Horizons: Genesis
- Flesh #1: Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
- Thrasher: Neil Young
- The Birth of the True: Aztec Camera
- Evaporation: Shriekback
- The Chauffeur: Duran Duran
- Follow Me Home: Dire Straits
- California: Joni Mitchell
- The Charm of Transit: Bill Nelson
Cover: John Hilgart collage for the first cassette iteration of this mix, 1985.