L'avventura - Mystery Mix
A young man and woman meet on a scenic train ride through the countryside. As idle conversation goes on, the man asks the woman, "Which came first for you? Music or love?" She responds "Music, of course. A fiancee you've gotta look for, but a radio can be bought". The man goes on to say that it was "love" for him, and that he knows a great deal about the ways of the heart.
With so many distractions as of late, I needed something to get me back on track, and while taking the early hours of the day to watch the exquisite, cinematic and tragically beautiful Michelangelo Antonioni film from 1960 entitled "Laaventura" I discovered the aforementioned conversation between these two strangers on a train. What came first for me, besides the unconditional love from my parents and siblings, was "the love of music". Ever since I was a child, I had such a profound appreciation for music that, according to my parents, I even said "No, da, da, da" to my grandmother when she forgot the words to "Rockabye Baby" while trying to rock me to sleep. Even though I haven't mastered a musical instrument up to this point in my life, it's clear to me that I have musical notes coursing through my veins, and a vast catalog of melodies and rhythms stored in my cerebral cortex to be called upon at a moment's notice.
Awhile ago on Eclectic Grooves, I had a series called "Plain Brown Wrappers" which featured cryptic reviews of obscure records without revealing the name of the artist or album. The idea was to have the visitors try to guess who the artist was, and get everyone engaged in an ongoing conversation about rare artists and albums that they have discovered throughout their lives. It was one of the most popular series since the inception of the blog that unfortunately fizzled due to a lack of visitor participation. My latest idea for a mystery mix series came from scouring the Waxidermy message board, and noticing that there were more comments and participation from people when they didn't know the name of the songs on the mix. It was the not knowing that made people more curious about the songs contained in the mix.
Today is my first foray into the land of the mystery mix, and with that I'll leave you with one last note. L'aaventura is an Italian term that has a double meaning of "fling" and "adventure". Please join me on this musical adventure, or fling, if you will.
If you are curious about any of the songs or artists contained on this mix, please leave me a comment

























