Air's Essential Mix, 1998

Some have boldly said that Air's Essential Mix was the best EM ever. Whether or not that's true, you have to concede the tracklist (below) is simply staggering...and making it all sound like pieces of the same pie is a feat just short of brain suregery.

I finally got around to reading Nick Hornby's "How To Be Good" and, never one to leave his musical knowledge out of the equation, Hornby expunds in a certain passage about the magic of Air's first album. Lest I forget, I remembered how much I enjoy the band, and how scandalously little time I have spent with them of late. (The book, incidentally, while not among his best, was still worth every minute I spent with it. Bittersweet and hilarious. Appropriate, methinks.

Downloads: Part One, Part Two

Setlist Part 1:
David Bowie - "Speed of Life"
The Beatles - "The End"
Beck - "Lloyd Price Express"
Rollerball - "Executive Party Dance"
Dooplereffect - "Pornographic Movies"
M.A.S.H - "Suicide IS Painless"
Quincy Jones - "Summer In The City"
Sergie Gainsbourg - "En Melody"
Soft Machine - "The Soft Wead Factor"
Michel Polnareff - "Computer Dream"
Minnie Ripperton - "Loving You"
John Lennon - "How Do You Sleep"
Jeah-Jacques Perrey - "Flight Of The Bumblebee"
Beaste Boys - "Car Thief"
Ween - "Roses Are Free"
The Cure - "In Your House"
Sly Stone - "In Time"
Frank Sinatra - "Water To Drink"
Prince - "Crazy You"
Kraftwerk - "Stratovarius"
Small Faces - "Ogden's Nut Gone Flake"
The Velvet Underground - "Ocean"
Money Mark - "Pinto's New Car"
Richard De Bordeaux - "La Drogue"
Stanley Cowell - "Travelling Man"
Supergrass - "Lose It"
Funk Factory - "Rien Ne Va Plus"
Brian Eno - "On Some Faraway Beach"
Michel Polnareff - "Polnareve"
Midnight Cowboy - "Everybody's Talking"
Francis I ai - "Generique FR3"
Phoenix - "City Lights"
The Pharcyde - "Passin'me By [Fly As Pie Remix]"
Chic - "At Last I Am Free"
David Bowie - "The Man Who Sold The World"
Beck - "Deadweight"
Ween - "A Tear For Eddie"

Setlist Part 2:
Pink Floyd - "More"
Jacques Dutronc - "Le Temps Des Copains"
Horace Andy - "Spying Glass"
Lou Reed - "Lady Day"
Rolling Stones - "Fingerprint File"
Air - "Remember (David Whitaker Version)"
Parliament - "I Just Got Back"
The Beatles - "Tomorrow Never Knows"
Brigltte Bardot - "Contact"
Casion Royale - "The Look Of Love"
Etienne De Crécy - "Prix Choc"
Iggy Pop - "Dum Dum Boys"
Thomas Bangalter - "Ventura"
Prince - "Papa"
Kraftwerk - "Europe Endless"
Idrlss - "Loran's Dance"
Buffalo Daughter - "Jellyfish Blues"
Funkabelic - "No Head No Backstage Pass"
Air - "You Make It Easy [Demo]"
Shirley Bassy - "Light My Fire"
Prince - "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker"
Chateau Flight - "Monorama"
Serge Gainsbourg - "Cannabis"
Michael Jackson - "Ben"
Beach Boys - "Money Mark"
Money Mark - "Trust"
Snoop Doggy Dog - "Gz and Hustles"
Beastie Boys - "Transitions"
Prince - "Bob George"
Soratch-Pet-Land - "Up From The Skies"