I finally made my first custom playlist on my iPod, a sequence of '90s rock. I've had the iPod for months now. But it took the better part of that time to overcome the assumption that making any mix would take hours, as it did in the days of recording CD tracks to a cassette.

Without any real reason, the first half of the 21-song playlist turned out to be unsettling while the second half is one of the best upbeat, party-oriented mixes I have ever heard.

The first half opens with Bush's "Everything Zen" but goes downhill from there. The sluggish "Lightning Crashes" (Live) after "Ants Marching" (Dave Matthews Band) is like rain on a parade. "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette is one of the decade's better songs but becomes a disconcerting irritation in between "Lightning Crashes" and "Tonight, Tonight" (Smashing Pumpkins). ("1979," with its steadier, more evenhanded presentation, would have been the better Pumpkins selection. And "Selling the Drama" instead of "Lightning Crashes" would put air back in the balloon.)

A fantastic party begins at track 11, though. "Low" (Cracker) is presented the way it should be--away from the rest of that album. "Santa Monica" (Everclear), "Long View" (Green Day), "Been Caught Stealing" (Jane's Addiction), "Shimmer" (Fuel) and "My Own Worst Enemy" (Lit) form a relentlessly appealing sequence of guitar-driven rock with infectious hooks, pinpoint production and humorous lyrics.

Gwen Stefani's voice is among my favorites, but here, "Just a Girl" (No Doubt) somehow provides an especially refreshing diversion. I'm still debating whether "Even Flow" (Pearl Jam) next is a clever "retro" break or simply out of place, but as a great song, it can't hurt. The second half finshes as strongly as it begins: "Send Me On My Way" (Rusted Root) is cheerfully organic without being trite; "Dammit" (Blink 182) is light and shallow without being useless. "Buddy Holly" (Weezer) delivers a lighthearted but intelligent penultimate track before "Plowed" (Sponge) captures the sound of 1995 and ends the mix with a satisfying cadence.