Mystery Tape #1 - The First In A Series Of Unmarked Cassette Mix-Tapes

I was looking for one song. Just one! I knew it was a song that I had on a mix-tape cassette. The problem is this:

• I have a lot of mix-tapes. The ones that I consider worthy of road trip material got the treatment. Labels, artwork, the whole nine! (See previous posts). The song I was looking for was not on any of these marked tapes.
• I have roughly 25 of these marked mix-tapes. I have about 100 unmarked mix-tapes! That's a lot of searching! Time-consuming and tedious.
  
• "Skip to next track" is not in cassette's vocabulary. Did I say this will take some time?

The thought of banging my fingers on a hunk of machinery for days and days did not entice me to jump on this project. So, I created a little game for myself. I call it Mystery Tapes.

I will document these unmarked plastic music vessels on this website. And this way, I can recover even the most tucked away nuggets I might have hiding in these naked tapes. I might find the song I am looking for, eventually. We'll see.

Just because my strict guidelines for being a worthy mix-tape might have disregarded these castaways years ago, the fact is: These unmarked tapes were used more as holding tanks for future mix-tape mastery.

I believe I just took a dull, repetitive task and made it into a mission with a passion.

OK, I'll stop blabbing! I present to you...

...Mystery Tape #1...





Side A:

1. The Stairs - Mexican R&B
2. Camper Van Beethoven - Where The Hell Is Bill?
3. Self - Lucid Anne
4. Love And Rockets - Bound For Hell
5. Dukes Of Stratosphere - My Love Explodes
6. Sugar - The Gift
7. Jason Falkner - Miracle Medicine
   
8. Kevin Gilbert - Shadow Self
9. The Stairs - Mr. Windowpane
10. Ween - Piss Up A Rope
11. Meat Puppets - Station
12. Dukes of Stratosphere - Your Gold Dress

Side B:

1. Ween - Tick
2. Kevin Gilbert - Goodness Gracious
3. Meat Puppets - Why?
4. Jason Falkner - Afraid Himself To Be
5. The Stranglers - Peaches
6. Camper Van Beethoven - Lassie Went To The Moon
7. Squeeze - Break My Heart
8. Mano Negra - Soledad
9. Harry Nilsson - Joy
10. Kevin Gilbert - Kashmir

Favorite Song: Mano Negra - Soledad. What a vibrant, spicy song from the early 90's. I forgot how cool these guys are. I also have a friend at work named Soledad. I dedicate this first Mystery Tape to her. Hi Soledad!

Honorable Mention: Kevin Gilbert - Kashmir. What a find this was. The late Kevin Gilbert's rendition of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir is an instant classic. Shadow Self is also a great tune. Too bad that Mr. Gilbert is no longer with us. He would have done more fine work.

I hope you enjoy first Mystery Tape. I enjoyed converting it, even though the one song still eludes me. I'll get it soon, I'm sure.