I do feel a little guilty about the lack of physics posts recently, but the fact is, they're very hard to write-- a lot of fiddling goes into finding a coherent way to present the topic in question, and then there's a great deal of self-editing needed to ensure that I don't say anything actually wrong about the physics of whatever thing I'm talking about. Yeah, I know, this goes against the grain of one of the prevailing versions of the blogging ethos, but then, I've never been a True Believer in the whole "transformative power of weblogs" thing, and I'm just not that crazy about saying stupid things in public forums.

So I'm doing the mix tape thing again, because, well, why the hell not?

This one dates from summer/ fall 1997. '97 was a weird year, on a personal level-- my sister got married, which was a lot of fun, but that same summer, a favorite uncle was diagnosed with brain cancer, and died very quickly. And, really, that's '97 in a nutshell...

The title refers to the fact that, at the time, I was in a weird situation where I kept meeting interesting and attractive women who lived quite a long distance away from me. I was carrying on lengthy correspondence with three different women through a lot of 1997, and I'm not sure there was any point during the year when all of us were in the same country, let alone the same time zone...

It's also one of the best sing-along-in-the-car tapes I've ever recorded, possibly because I spent a lot of time traveling that year.

Side One:

• "On Your Own," the Verve. Before Urban Hymns and the ubiquity of "Bittersweet Symphony," there was A Northern Soul, and this song, probably the best track off the album. Just as cheery as anything else Richard Ashcroft has ever been involved with, too.

• "Let Down," Radiohead. Radiohead is one of those bands where you're almost better off viewing the singing as just another instrument. The lyrics are kind of creepy, if you think about them, but Thom Yorke's voice is actually quite lovely.

• "Please Don't Rock Me Tonight," Fountains of Wayne. This song title sold me on the record, and I love the rich harmonies on the plea not to be rocked.

• "Not Where It's At," Del Amitri. The lyric "She wants that one bit of geography I lack" is probably where I got the title for this tape. It's not literal in the song, of course...
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