Anatomy of a Mixtape - Olive Juice '87 Part VIII "Reset the Counter"


"Reset the Counter"
Part 8 of 12

Track #4 - “Something About You”

As an 8th grader in a small town on the south shore of Massachusetts, I used to walk around singing “Something About You” by Level 42 in my head while thinking about one girl, and one girl only. Yes, I had a crush. A big one. And while I never made her a mixtape or even made it known that I had a crush on her, this track seemed to sum up everything that my 14-year old self felt at the time.

Congratulations Olive Juice. You beat me to it.

Unlike the first three songs, this one has a very clean launch and a slightly extended intro. It’s obviously not the radio single edited version. And with a very clean ending to the recording to match, it’s obvious this wasn’t dubbed from the radio. 

Here we have the first evidence of a song from his, or at least someone’s, personal music collection.

I’m starting to feel good about where this might be headed.

Track #5 - “If You Leave”

The OMD hit from the final scene of “Pretty in Pink”, we’re getting into some very powerful songs. This is a clean recording as well.

Olive Juice clearly had access to a collection of some New Wave hits of the era, possibly from an older sibling, or they could have even been his own. But this a distinct and noticeable departure from the first three sentimental Top 40 pop songs that led off the mix.

And I’m feeling more confident with my determination that Olive Juice is a male with his choice of song here.

Track #6 - “King for a Day”

A deep cut from the Thompson Twins, circa 1985. We’re not in Kansas anymore. Off of a release that followed up their best known hits of “Doctor, Doctor” and “Hold Me Now”, this track didn’t enjoy nearly the success of those two songs. Olive Juice is walking us down a path of 80s obscurity that is starting to feel less familiar and unpredictable.

Track #7 - “It Dosn’t [sic] Matter”

Second misspelling and we’re still only on side A. Even if he’d spelled it right, it’s unlikely that the populace would recognize this as “It Doesn’t Matter” from Depeche Mode’s fourth album “Some Great Reward”, released in 1984. 

Going this deep with a song choice is really laying yourself out there. When you go with popular songs and songs chosen as “singles” from albums, it gives you the protective armor of, “Hey, this song’s popular. Everyone likes this, I’m going to put it on this tape for you because it’s a great song. It’s popular.”

But when you go with a deeper track like this, then it becomes, “Hey Dave Gahan found the perfect way for me to express myself to you and it’s in words like, 

It doesn’t matter, if this all shatters
Nothing lasts forever
But I’m praying that we’re staying together

“And when I lay awake in bed at night listening to this song, it reminds me of you.”

There’s no protective armor when you start throwing synth pop on a mixtape for someone.

But the object of Olive Juice’s affection might be the one who really needs the armor. While lyrically this song covets a long-lasting relationship and sounds innocent enough (I mean let's face it, it's more reminiscent of a Baby Einstein “Sea Dreams Soother” lullaby machine than a Depeche Mode hit) there is a spine-chilling keyboard cord, a B-flat augmented in D major to be exact, played sporadically, yet not-so-suddenly, throughout. This B Flat augmented triad is the type of chord more appropriate for an overly-obsessed boyfriend who’s hiding in the bushes, staring through the bedroom window, as opposed to a lover’s mixtape. 

When one raises the fifth, it doesn’t exactly give me the warm fuzzies. Perhaps you’d disagree.

But the overall intensity of the situation and personal feelings at play here may explain the misspellings.


*A special shout-out to my niece, Katie Geiger, for being my resource to identify that chord.
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