Good morning.... It's freakin' cold. Well it wasn't on Friday, but here in the middle of the week, it pretty chilly. It even snowed a little in San Antonio this morning...stress the "little" part. I'm sure a bunch of you readers further north are getting more than that, so this isn't that bad. I'm currently enjoying a recording of the show while I finish what I started last Friday night. Thanks to Jeanne and Ross for letting me take care of their place over the holiday weekend. "While the mice are away........" lol. Music for Listeners 11/24/01 1)Built to Spill-"Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" From the CD 'Ancient Melodies of the Future'. 2)Catherine Wheel-"Half Life" From the CD 'Chrome'. 3)Mercury Rev-"Nite and Fog" From the CD 'All is Dream'. Playing at La Zona Rosa in Austin on Thursday December the 4th. 4)The Charlatans-"Feel Flows" From the CD 'Up to Our Hips'. 5)The Smiths-"Hand in Glove" From the CD 'The Smiths'. 6)James-"Next Lover" From the CD 'Seven'. 7)Adorable-"Kangaroo Court" From the CD 'Fake'. 8)White Stripes-"Last Night" From the CD 'Is This It?'. 9)Badfinger-"Come and Get It" From the CD 'Music From the Magic Christian'. 10)Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-"From Her to Eternity" 1987 version made for the Wim Wenders Soundtrack to "Wings of Desire". 11)David Bowie-"Ashes to Ashes (Live)" From the Limited Edition second CD of CD set of Bowie at the BEEB. 12)...and You Will Know Us as the Trail of Dead-"Relative Ways" Brand new single played from the 12" single. Thanks to Bart. 13)The Flaming Lips-"What is the Light?" From the CD 'The Soft Bulletin'. 14)Led Zeppelin-"In My Time of Dying" From the CD 'Physical Graffiti'. 15)Spoon-"Fitted Shirt" From the CD 'Girls Can Tell'. 16)Aphex Twin-"Alberto Balsam" From the CD 'I Care Because You Do'. I've played this song for three blind individuals, and all of them said that it's was one of the most astounding things that they had ever heard. Typewriters and all...it's this weeks MP3 of the week....so go get it. 17)Jimi Hendrix and the Band of Gypsy's-"Machine Gun (Live)" From the vinyl LP 'Band of Gypsy's. 18)Nick Drake-"Clothes of Sand" From the CD 'Time of No Reply'. 19)Thievery Corporation-"Shaolin Satellite" From the vinyl LP 'Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi'. 20)Dub Trees-"Cobalt Waterfall" & "A Way of Being Free" From the CD 'Nature Never Did Betray the Heart That Loved Her'. 21)Low-"Sunflower" From the CD 'Things We Lost in the Fire'. 22)"The 3 A.M. Recording". Some fans hate it, some think it's shear brilliance. I think it's a terrific statement that U2 didn't and might I add, still hasn't run out of gas. It takes guts to just stop in the middle of a tour and make an album. While they were on break between legs of their ZOO TV world tour, U2 did just that. Just over a year and a half after they released the great 'Achtung Baby', they settled into a studio in Berlin to make a short E.P. to promote the European leg of the tour. Out came a full album and one of their best, but underrated efforts. It was released later in the year, but no one, not even the band was expecting them to record an album in six weeks. "U2 already has a new album out? They just left finished a tour I thought." Even though it was recorded in such a short time, this recording does not fall short. Each and every song has a story, or is at the very least, is like a soundtrack of it's own film. It also serves as a great collection of some of U2's best work to date. Songs like "Numb", "Dirty Day", and "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car" show how influenced they were with the electronic music of the time, but also how bitter they could be about the state of the world and it's affairs. Looking back, it's certainly a turning point for the band. Science fiction meets science realism. Wim Wenders' films meeting Brian Eno's ambience. Pure greatness!! Like the Berlin recordings by Bowie, Nick Cave, and Lou Reed, this music just bleeds Germany. Rough and randy in some places, nice and sweet in others, but also and bitter and lemony to fill in the gaps. Here, in it's entirety...one part Berlin, two parts U2....their underrated classic, 'Zooropa'. An album so good, it deserves two quotes. "Those days gonna run like horses over the hill". "...and I feel, like I'm slowly drifting from the shore." Peace and hugs, Michael listen in live 1:05 AM-4:00 AM Friday Night/Saturday mornings in San Antonio FM 91.7 or world wide at www.krtu.org Music For Listeners web-site: http://hometown.aol.com/orbfile23/myhomepage/index.html MPEG3 of the week site: http://home.satx.rr.com/music4listeners/Mpeg3%20of%20the%20week/