Hello and welcome to another Mixtape Monday here at The Hideaway. Today's tape is AAA in The Legendary Somewhat Alphabetical Mixtape Series, beginning our third run through the alphabet. Tape AAA is also Volume VII in the sub-series Greatest Hits.
In the grand scheme of things, this is tape 53 in The Legendary Somewhat Alphabetical Mixtape Series. However, due to missing or damaged tapes, this is actually the 47th tape of the series we've been able to feature on Mixtape Monday. For quick links to all of the other tapes we've featured on Mixtape Monday, click HERE. We used a TDK SA90 like we usually do. We attached a label to side A with the title and Dolby encoding information. The J-card has the title written on the spine as well as AAA and a gold star sticker. Artists are listed as well. An image of the J-card is at the end of this post.
One of our viewers recently asked if we punched the safety clips, aka write or record protection tabs, out on the tapes we made to prevent them from being recorded over. The answer is no, we never did. The tapes in The Legendary Somewhat Alphabetical Mixtape Series were primarily played in the Alpine decks that the intended recipient and her older sister had in their cars (a 1976 Camaro and a 1974 Firebird) at the time, so there was no chance they would be recorded over. Eaten by the deck or warped in the heat, maybe, but not recorded over. We're going to take a chance today, pop the tape AAA in our Sony TC-WE805S and try not to press the little red-dotted REC button!
I know immediately what this song is. It's Tchaikovsky, right? Then the clap track begins, and it is the Invasion of the Medleys all over again. We did not know each other in 1982, though she later shared a story when we got together of her color guard practicing with this song for their appearance in the Rose Bowl Parade, throwing their fake rifles high and twirling them fast. I've only seen pictures of her in a uniform with a stylish white hat and fringed go-go boots, practicing and performing, yet every time I hear "Hooked On Classics", I can clearly imagine watching her all decked out and in action. This track is taken from the album of the same name, pictured above, and is the full-length version rather than the edited single.
The high-energy signature sound of Stars On 45 announces their entry in the Invasion of the Medleys is the tape's second track. She always sang along to this song at work or in her car, so I have a sweet spot for it, and with no prompting, she begins to hum, then sing along as I play the tape. Great back-to-back musically triggered memories of her - still cannot fathom that the beautiful woman smiling at me from across the room will be sixty years old in a few months. This is also the full-length album-side version of the track, clocking in just under sixteen minutes. I sort of kept track while listening and counted 29 different Beatles songs in the medley.
The echoing riffs of Billy Idol's "Flesh For Fantasy" mean that the medley madness has ended after taking up nearly half of side A. With all the effects and cuts, this is the Below The Belt mix of the song. However, nearly two and a half minutes into the track, another song comes fading in. It's a radical remix of "Hot In the City", and those of you who own the import twelve-inch single of "White Wedding" pictured above know full well that the Invasion of the Medleys has indeed continued. At the five-minute mark, "Hot In the City" abruptly ends, and "Dancing With Myself", the third and final song in the "Mega-Idol Mix", begins. The medley lasts eight minutes and begs the question, "Which of the dozen medleys that come to mind did I put next on this tape?"
There's a snare hit and then the accordion begins, and I know exactly what medley I put next on the tape: it's "Polkas On 45" from the 1984 album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D. I love this song and used it on more mixtapes than I probably should have.
The Invasion continues with "Hooked on Polkas" from 1985's Dare To Be Stupid. I bought Weird Al albums expressly for his creative polka medleys for mixtape purposes. I may love this one more than the previous one and am guilty of hiding it on more mixtapes than I can remember.
It's not an accordion, but I recognize the next track on the tape as soon as I hear the opening riff. The song is the title track from 1986's Polka Party. It's great, though I will confess to not liking it as much as the two previous "Weird Al" medleys. Yankovic is a "greatest hit" for me, and she has always tolerated him - we went to see him and his crack band live twice during the mid-eighties when these albums were released. I go over and look at the deck's tape counter and see that there is room for possibly two or maybe even three more songs.
The next thing we hear is George Jetson's famous line, "Jane, stop this crazy thing!" from the closing credits of The Jetsons. It takes me longer to remember this song than the first six on tape AAA. There are more than two dozen television show theme songs in the mix, in various edits, and all were featured on the double album Television's Greatest Hits that we featured on The Hideaway more than ten years ago! We featured the twelve-inch single of "Jane, Get Me Off This Crazy Thing!" in the same post. Our favorite vinyl archivist, DJPaulT, posted his restoration of the otherwise identical Canadian version of the single back in 2022 — don't click through hoping to download it as his shared links have expired. The song ends, and then the tape stops playing. I wonder if I mustered up more medleys for side B.
Side B starts with Prince's "1999", and I'm wondering if I included the entire first side of the first record of that awesome two-record set, as it's a non-stop medley with "1999" followed by "Little Red Corvette" and "Delirious". As I am anticipating the end of "1999", it seems to play on longer than I recall. It's just my mind playing tricks on me. Soon the song ends, and sure enough, "Little Red Corvette" comes fading in just like on the album. We've listened to those three songs in that order a countless number of times, though I guess it's more of a "greatest hit" for me than for her. I begin high-fiving myself in my head for making the brilliant decision to include this "natural" medley, one of the greatest album sides in history. Then the song ends and the next song starts...
And it's not "Delirious". It's "Tuff Enuff" by The Fabulous Thunderbirds from the 1986 album of the same name. Now that the medleys have stopped, my mind moves onto the next topic: "When did I record this tape?" Since AAA is not dated anywhere, the best I can do is look at when the songs and albums were released or added to my collection. Looking back through the tracks so far, I count two albums released in 1986: Tuff Enuff (January) and Polka Party! (October). Her brother had let me borrow a couple of earlier Thunderbirds records, and I returned the favor when I picked up Tuff Enuff. When he returned it to me a couple of days later, I asked him how he liked it, and he said the band's sound was "too commercial" now and that they had lost their "edge" which I thought was weird cause they sounded the same to me, except a little more polished and produced and then I realized that was exactly what he was talking about. That's why he's in both the Arizona AND Tucson Blues Halls of Fame.
"Shot through the heart and you're to blame/you give love a bad name" is how the fourth song on side B of AAA begins. Slippery When Wet is another 1986 album, released in August. I bought the album the day it was released and dubbed it onto a tape with my favorite songs from the band's first two albums on side B. That tape lived in my car's Blaupunkt deck for at least a solid month. The album and the singles released from it dominated rock and pop radio. A friend bought the Slippery When Wet CD for me that Christmas (it came in a clear plastic longbox with the booklet in the top pocket and the case/CD in the bottom pocket) when my girlfriend and a few other friends pitched in and bought me my first CD player. This means that soon, I will be including tracks from CDs on these mixtapes. Despite not having a player of my own, I had been stockpiling discs throughout the summer of 1986, beginning with Led Zeppelin's fourth album from Columbia House and peaking just before Christmas with Springsteen's Live/1975-85 triple-disc set. I was hoping to get a player soon. My wife asks me, after I spit out the memory above to her if I'm sure it was Christmas 1986. She thinks it might have been 1985. I say I'm not sure, but the CD release dates seem to confirm that it was indeed 1986.
I recognize the single edit of "Addicted To Love" not long after the song begins. Or maybe I recall that she had bought the 45 in the sleeve pictured above, although the time on the counter checks out after the song finishes - the single is about two minutes shorter than the album version. This song would definitely be a "greatest hit" for both of us. I made the mistake of looking up when Robert Palmer left us and read that he had a heart attack when he was five years younger than I am right now.
What it comes down to is I love "We Will Rock You" and she loves "We Are The Champions", so what we have here is the best of both worlds as both songs play together as they always should forever and ever. Amen. I never liked the cover art on News Of The World, but I sure played the album a lot, though it has been a while since I listened to it, probably back when the disappointing News Of The World 40th Anniversary Edition box set came out in 2017. I remember quite clearly Freddie Mercury left us at the much-too-young age of just 45, and I'm hoping the next song snaps me out of this negative thinking space I have found myself in.
For a couple of minutes, the next song distracts me. "Self Control" just sounds great: beautiful sounding production, excellent performance from Miss Branigan, who lost me after the almost as great single "Gloria". We both like the song, so it could pass as a mutual "greatest hit" for us. I thought the song might have a Miami Vice link, so I looked it up. Turns out the song was heard in an episode of the show, performed by "an unidentified house band" rather than Branigan's hit version.
Speaking of Miami Vice, Sheena Easton played an ill-fated singer named Caitlin Davies in the fourth season of the show in 1987. I was a fan of Sheena Easton's first hit in the US in 1981, "Morning Train", its follow-up, "Modern Girl", and the Bond theme "For Your Eyes Only". Then she lost me until 1984's Strut album with the title track and Prince-penned "Sugar Walls". My lady also liked Sheena's initial hits and can quote a couple of titles I missed. She really liked the sassy Strut and bought it on one of our nights out. I bought her the twelve-inch versions of the two singles mentioned above.
And speaking of twelve-inch versions, the album pictured above gathered more than a few of them together and was a terrific acquisition. Number One On The Streets is a double album with sixteen tracks, including eleven songs in their twelve-inch single versions. Michael Sembello's "Maniac" was extended to almost six minutes by John "Jellybean" Benitez from its original four-minute and change version on the Flashdance soundtrack and Sembello's Bossa Nova Hotel album. We both love the song, especially the Jellybean version presented here on tape AAA. My Spidey sense is tingling. I check the tape counter, and it looks like we have room for one more song on side B.
While I've never been a Gloria Estefan fan, my sweet, sweet baby has been a big fan, bringing two Miami Sound Machine albums into our marriage, including Primitive Love. She loves "Words Get In The Way", and I searched for years to find her the Spanish-language version of the song before finally finding it on a 1990 compact disc titled Exitos De Gloria Estefan. Based on the albums and songs from 1986 on this tape, as well as those from the previous tape, my best guess is that tape AAA was created in late November or early December 1986. Definitely before Christmas 1986. It may very well prove to be the last mixtape I will make for her with all vinyl sources. We should find out when we feature the tape labeled BBB next time on Mixtape Monday.
As I was finishing up this post, my wife shared another memory with me, and it's a possible game-changer in terms of when these tapes may have been recorded. She said she remembers me giving her a little soft-sided storage case that said TDK on it with maybe ten or twelve tapes inside labeled "Greatest Hits". Now that she said it, it makes sense, and I recall acquiring about six soft-sided TDK storage cases by buying the blank tapes in bulk from Price Club. Hmmmmm......
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