Music Library Compilations: Fs and Gs

Famous Shovels In Twain: The Believer 2006 Music Issue. There are a few tracks I like on this comp (Juana Molina and Six Organs of Admittance, for instance) and some I don't, but there is nothing coherent about it.

Fantasy Original Jazz Classics Sampler (rel. 2002). I generally think of Fantasy as a rock catalog because of CCR, but they definitely have jazz here. This selection leans heavily on white-friendly jazz.

Fast Product: Rigour, Discipline, and Disgust (1979). This is a great collection, with early Mekons and Gang of Four singles, as well as the Fire Engines and Human League, from when the latter was - more or less - a punk band.



Fifteen Minutes: A Tribute To The Velvet Underground (1994). Although there's some great names on the roster here (Nirvana, Buffalo Tom, Screaming Trees, Half Japanese, Ride, Wedding Present, Swervedriver), it's a pretty snoozeworthy effort. Echo & The Bunnymen's version of "Foggy Notion" is the high point, and it's not that great.



FLCL Original Soundtrack Vol 1: Addict (2000). This is mostly the work of the pillows, who I have reviewed elsewhere, but it still kicks.



Flying Nun 25th Anniversary Box Set (rel. 2006). A phenomenal argument for the deep bench of the mostly-New Zealand, some-Oz Flying Nun label. Yes, the Clean, the Chills, Bats, Tall Dwarfs, Able Tasmans, Verlaines, 3Ds, Bird Nest Roys, and the Renderers are all extraordinary, but so are the bands I've never even heard of outside of this collection. Excellent stuff, all around.



Folk Music U.S.A. Vol. 1 (rel. 1958). Top-notch Smithsonian collection. I picked it up when I didn't have another copy of "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground," but this is thoroughly great.



The FolkScene Collection (1998). Outside of Richard Thompson's "Waltzing's For Dreamers," Dave Alvin's "Barn Burning," and Iris DeMent's "Our Town," this collection is utterly toothless twaddle. Some may call it Americana, but that's only true if the best America can do is the weird pumpkin whipped cream on top of some caffeine-free sugar-and-additives monstrosity that ends with "-accino."

Foundry: Sounds of Birmingham (1995). This is an old collection with a few songs by a couple of great early-90s Tuscaloosa bands: rock-with-horns-but-not-ska band Pain and the pre-Dexateens punk band the Phoebes. This is not one of the songs on the album.



Four Songs By Arthur Russell (2007). Proving that Arthur Russell is hard to cover, even Jens Lekman sounds out of his element here.



Freedom Haters Unite!: A Bloodshot Records Sampler, Vol. 6 (2006). Yet another of many Bloodshot samplers that I own, this one - like all of them, really - is reasonably strong.



Freedom Sings (2001). This is really a live album documenting a benefit for the First Amendment Center with a bunch of Nashville greats covering songs that have something to do with restricting freedom, I think? It's for a good cause.



Funk/Soul Revival: Classic Tracks and the New Breed (2007). I think this is a compilation from a label called Funk/Soul? It has Budos Band and is pretty damn good, at least.



Garage Swim (2013). First-rate compilation of a bunch of excellent garage-influenced bands active today, many of which I have waxed poetic elsewhere on this site. It's free at the [adult swim] site, so go get it.



Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (2000). Curated by the RZA, this soundtrack is one of the best Wu Tang-adjacent albums I've heard.



Ghostly Swim (2008). Another free [adult swim] compilation, although I like this one less. Full of electronica circa 2008.



Glitter From The Litter Bin (2003). Glam nuggets from the cracks of the 70s.



Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal (2006). Like the Eccentric Soul releases, this is a Numero Group collection of soul nuggets, in this case all with a gospel focus. Solid, y'all.



Guitar Player Presents Legends of Guitar: Country, Vol. 1 (1990). This is a much better collection than it has any right to be, with some truly excellent guitar players represented (although many are arguably representing the country subgenre of western swing).



Guitarrorists (1991). This is a compilation of instrumentals by indie rock guitar greats. It is none of their best works, but it is ok.