Wow.  I've gotten a deluge of CDs lately, and I'm already behind.  Here's my review of The Gov's.

A Life without Lychees (Hans Reichel)
This song is exactly the kind of song that I love.  Catchy, quirky, not too repetitive, different, fun.  You can also throw in groovy and snazzy.  (Why not?)  Ithe mosquito solo in the middle might've gone on just a tad long, but overall I love it.

Play with Me (Extreme)
I'm not normally a fan of this kind of classic-rock sounding stuff, but this song (as the title implies) avoided the cheese of it all.  I noticed a lot of the tracks on this CD relied on the lyrics to make the song.  In this case, the lyrics made the song!  And made it good.

Missed Me (Dresden Dolls)
I'm glad to finally hear something else from the Dresden Dolls.  This song, also, didn't have much to it without the lyrics, although in the end (once I payed more attention to them) it grew on me.

Sinnerman (Nina Simone)
Wow!  This version of Sinner Man blew me away.  I've always liked Nina Simone's faster stuff, although usually you hear the slow "smoky voiced" stuff.  But this is great.  A jazzed up version of a classic -- what?  hymn?  Americana?  Whatever it is, integrating the gosepel-sounding call/response in the middle was genius.  Love this track.

Sex Education Ghetto Style (Gil Scott-Heron)
Kind of amusing in the words and the beatnik-ness, but not something you can listen to over and over again.

It's Still Rock and Roll to Me (Billy Joel)
Yes, I like Billy Joel.  Always have.  My dad had a bunch of his tapes when I was growing up and I always liked him.  (Him and the Pointer Sisters).  And this is my favorite song of his.  I don't know how you found that out.

Happiness (Goldfrapp)
This is a good background song, but its does get too repetitive for me to, say, select it on purpose for a listen.

Objection! (Noriyuki Iwadare)
Aaron Copeland (of the "Beef Is What's for Dinner Song" fame) meets anime BGM.  Well, maybe not anime BGM, just any ol' BGM, but his name is Japanese so we'll say anime BGM.  Anyway, not my thing.  Most 20th century music that aims at "classical" sounds like it's trying too hard, in my opinion.

The Village Green Preservation Society (The Kinks)
This is another one that grew on me once I started paying attention to the lyrics.  There's not much to the music, but now I really enjoy listening to it.

Someplace Simple (James Yorkston)
It seemed like this track also wanted to rely on the lyrics to carry it, but I just couldn't stay interested in it long enough to follow where the lyrics were going.

Little Secrets (Neil Cowley Trio)
When people ask me "what kind of music do you like?" I normally answer, "It's easier to tell you what kind of music I DON'T like," and jazz trios (or quartets or quintets, etc.) are on the top of my list.  It might be a great track, but it's not my bag.

Serendipty Doodah (William D Drake)
This one, however, IS my bag.  I liked it a lot.  William Drake might not have the most melodious voice, but it's good enough and it fits the song well.  It also reminds me a bit of The Fiery Furnaces.

Duplexes of the Dead (The Fiery Furnaces)
As different as The Fiery Furnaces sound, a lot of their own songs all sound the same.  This one reminded me of a lot of their other stuff.  I do enjoy it, and a mix CD is a perfect place for The Firey Furnaces.

Landed (Ben Folds)
This one sort of surprised me.  There are other songs on the CD I don't like, but this is the only one that was just boring.

Switch (Amon Tobin)
Now this is the kind of Jazz I can dig on (as opposed to "Little Secrets").  Very "aw yeah" smooth and continuous.  Like a good scotch.  Actually, I could drink scotch while listening to this.

Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen) (Baz Luhrmann)
This one started out amusing, but it kind of got old.  Another one whose beatnik-ness tried to carry it, but in this case it tried for too long.

Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) (Peter Sarstedt)
Points to this one for all the French words pronounced better than I can do, and the French accordion to complete the mood.  But again, this one relied on the lyrics, and I just can't get into the "you, beautiful woman, are hot shit now but I know where you came from" type of song.  The guy should just get the hell over it already.

Marconi's Radio (The Secret Machines)
This is a great song... in certain circumstances.  I listened to it in the car, which totally didn't work.  This song would work best in a live concert or -- again -- sitting in the dark with a drink.

 

Overall, I thought this was a great CD.  It's almost like my own tastes with a jazz twist.  I'll be listening to this one a lot.  Thanks, Gov.

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"Old" is the old new.

Cheers for the review Sycess, glad you liked it. Ive got your compilation on my Ipod at the moment (I like to go over a cd a few times before I comment, but a review is forthcoming), in the meantime I'll give you all some notes about my own.

 

A Life without Lychees (Hans Reichel)

When I found this I absolutely loved it, then I played it to death and hated it, then left it a while and its again one of my favourites, and will be the opening track to the movie on my life. If you're interested in seeing something rather cool by the composer visit http://www.daxo.de, you won't be disappointed, though it'll probably start to freak you out after a while.

Play with Me (Extreme)

Ahh, Play with me, Always liked this track, cheesy 80s rock, but with talent. I included it as a tribute to George Carlin (as it was taken off the Bill and Ted soundtrack), wasn't sure if it would work on the cd, but I think I sandwiched it well.

Missed Me (Dresden Dolls)

This one has all the theatrics that I love about the dolls, Amanda Palmers voice never grows old. I saw her perform sneakily at Glastonbury (she did a couple of numbers with Ben Folds), but Sycess is right, this ones all about the lyric.

Sinnerman (Nina Simone)

Discarded this one last time when I took my soundtracks compilation orchestral only, but I felt I had to include it this time regardless.

Sex Education Ghetto Style (Gil Scott-Heron)
This one was simply a breather to get over Nina really.

It's Still Rock and Roll to Me (Billy Joel)
When I was young and impressionable in the late 80s "We didn't start the fire" was one of the first vinyl 7inch singles I ever bought (with my own pocket money no less), even though I had no clue who Billy Joel was. I have to confess in the 20 or so years since, I still hadn't delved into his back catalogue until now, and this song just struck a chord with me. Its the sort of song I like playing aswell.

Happiness (Goldfrapp)

Saw her at Glastonbury, Id sort of given up on her after Supernature, which I felt went a little bit too plastic pop commercial sell out ordinary (if that makes any sense) compared to her previous records, though I reckon she's sort of back on track with her latest album. On reflection however this one is still a little bit too samey, though I remember really digging it when I was at the festival (though that could have been the copious amounts of pear cider). It does have a beatlesque quality though.

Objection! (Noriyuki Iwadare)

This ones an oddity on the compilation. Its sort of like a secret shame of mine that I like collecting music like this. What I will say is that its an orchestral version of what it was originally used for, and while a quick google may yield the answer, I wonder if any of the 'Twelve' know where the original came from? I will say the thing in question took up a lot of my time last month. Banana in the post to the person with the correct answer.

The Village Green Preservation Society (The Kinks)

This one's going to become the English national anthem when the Taffs n Jocks finish their separation process.

Someplace Simple (James Yorkston)
This one is the only track I have of his, admittedly I think it bores after a while, but I saw him live a few years back, and it was one of the highlights of that particular festival, and Ive wanted to include something of his on a cd for a while. 

Little Secrets (Neil Cowley Trio)
Have to disagree with you Sycess, when people ask me what music I like, Jazz trio's are up there with psychedelic punk and biscuits, that said, Ive seen a lot of bad jazz trios and quartets in my time so I know what you mean, but these struck a chord with me and I really enjoyed them at Glastonbury.

Serendipty Doodah (William D Drake)

My favourite song on the compilation, I saw him play in a smokey little bar in Soho a few years back, and he was once part of another favourite band of mine, Cardiacs. Its his piano playing that gets me usually, but the lyrics on this one stood out for me.

Duplexes of the Dead (The Fiery Furnaces)

The trouble with selecting a Fiery Furnaces song has always been for me; how weird do you want to go? A lot of their work is highly stylised and gels well with the rest of that particular album but can sound really bad if taken out of context, but Ive always tried to strike a fine line between accessibility and their uniqueness, as they can be a hard band to listen to. Their latest album ‘Widow City’ is one of their more accessible records however.

Landed (Ben Folds)

Included this one because Ive started getting back into his work (and there was me thinking it was just a college thing I grew out of). Saw him at Glastonbury, and a few days earlier in a bar in Newcastle, both gigs I came away with a smile. This song strikes a chord with me for some reason. Lost loves n all that jazz no doubt.

Switch (Amon Tobin)

Tobin’s work is an odd one for me, as I find a lot of his stuff hard to listen to, but I do enjoy this. Taken from Permutation, which is a dark chilled out jazz album which occasionally veers towards drum n bass.

 

Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen) (Baz Luhrmann)

Another nostalgia trip from my uni days, I actually can’t remember why I included this, though not sad I did.

Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) (Peter Sarstedt)

A late entry on the compilation, I watched Darjeeling Limited recently and Sycess sums up the scene this comes from perfectly.

Marconi's Radio (The Secret Machines)

I was looking for a bookend so to speak, but nothing lived up to the weirdness of Reichel. In the end I went for this track because it’s the kind of slow build, sinister, end of days, type sound that Ive always aspired to myself. My friend tried to get me into Secret Machines a couple of years back, but its taken till now for me to really dig their groove.

Hope you guys like it (or at least some of it)