A CD for Everyone

We swore we wouldn't post another music entry, as this site is solely devoted to the culinary world and home entertaining, but as we've said before, the soundtrack to a great dinner or cocktail party is 15% of the success rate. Astute hosts will tailor the musical selection to the assembled guests, and very recently Cafe Drake crafted the following playlist as background for a three-course dinner for six. Our five (varied in taste) guests were so enthralled with the tunes underscoring the meal and conversation we sent each home with a quickly burned CD of the night's music. Of course you needn't have every track listed, but the general mood of even a few selections is (almost) guaranteed to spark appetites at the table. As an alternative, simply shuffle a few songs by a handful of the artists. For those of you far off but visiting Cafe Drake via cyberspace (thanks for all the emails this month from new site visitors/friends-we've-yet-to-meet), we'll be happy to send you a copy of this playlist gratis (just email your address). Note: this mix rawks at varying intervals, so be certain to up the mood prior to dinner with a long cocktail hour. Oddly working in alphabetical order (iTunes cued up our list in this manner), the ambiance moves from the excitement of the starter course through the seriousness of the entree, and ends with a bittersweet exuberance perfectly matched to dessert and port.

1. Me & Guiliani Down by the School Yard - !!! (Chk Chk Chk) -
2. Stay Golden - Au Revoir Simone
3. The Disco Song - Au Revoir Simone
4. Elephant Woman - Blonde Redhead
5. Black Gloves - Goose
6. We Don't Know How it Grows - Half-Handed Cloud
7. Words of a Friend - Head Like A Kite
8. Love Like Semtex - Infadels
9. Somerville - Pernice Brothers
10. Year of the Rooster - Sufjan Stevens
11. They Don't Know About Us - The Boyfriends
12. She's Leaving Town - The Corn Sisters
13. That's When the Party Started - The Dismemberment Plan
14. Katy at the Mall - The Dirty Projectors
15. Time Bomb - The Format
16. Payphone Country - The Galactic Heroes
17. Stories of Big Cities & Bigger Hearts - The London Apartments
18. Music is Happiness - The Octopus Project
19. Faster Than You Go - The Cansecos
20. Paul Simon - The Russian Futurists
21. NCR (Funkstorung Version) - Ike Yard
22. Launderette - Vivien Goldman
23. Heart & Soul - Diane & the Javelins
24. My Friend Bobby - Pamela Blue