Ickmusic’s Friday Five: February 15, 2008
by Michael
Monday may have been blue, but its Friday I’m in Love. So while everyone is binging on the spoils of Valentine’s Day let’s all hit shuffle and let the tunes get us through the remains of the day.
What to say about last week? It inspired my Valentine’s Day card to my wife and took us from Peter Gabriel to Kanye West in just 5 short steps. It also revealed Pete’s got a thing for Johnny Cougar and our readers are digging playing along and have music collections that are all over the map. For those new to the ‘Friday Five’ it’s quite easy, I hit the shuffle button, hope the Spice Girls don’t pop up and share the first five tracks along with thoughts, memoirs and the occasional fun fact.
The rest is up to you, feel free to add your random five in the comments and remember honesty is the best policy!
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. LL Cool J – Doin’ It (from All World)
Well if it’s gonna be that kind of party… What a way to kick the post Valentine’s Day five into gear. I’ll say that I don’t have much other to say about this track than, Mmm-Hmm!
2. Alice Smith – Fake is the New Real (from For Lovers, Dreamers & Me)
Great track from one of my favorite ‘new to me’ artists of last year. If you’ve not checked out this record you owe it to yourself to remedy that situation.
3. Raekwon – Ice Cream (from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx)
There was a time when The Wu Tang Clan could do no wrong. From coast to coast everyone was feeling the vibe and buying in on the brand. It was genius marketing, a crew nine members deep with each ready, willing and able to release solo records that everyone was clamoring for. Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Method Man and Cappadonna all chime in with a verse on this track but for me it’s Ghostface Killah who delivers the KO.
** Not suitable for little ears!
4. The Beatles – Revolution (from 1967-1970)
For as much crap as I can talk about The Beatles (and trust me, I’ve got volumes) I do enjoy their music. If I’m being completely honest this does just remind me, to this day, of the Nike commercial.
5. Miles Davis – I Fall in Love Too Easily (from Love Songs)
Over the years I’ve amassed a rather large collection of Miles Davis recordings. I find myself often coming back to the early 60’s material with Gil Evans as a safe haven of some of the most beautiful and tasteful melodies ever committed to tape.
That’s it for me, now it’s your turn, you know what to do!
February 15, 2008 - 5:13 pm
Ahhhh….if only you had included the mp3 of “Doin It!”
February 15, 2008 - 6:49 pm
Well, here we go, and if the Partridge Family pops up, well, that’s a two out of 23,000 chance!
“In The Heat Of The Night” by Ray Charles — Theme from a great 1967 movie and a pretty good track by itself.
“Wake Up Sunshine” by Chicago, from “Chicago,” the silver album (1970). A pal taped an hour off a new radio station for me in 1970, and this was the first song on the tape . . . and the first Chicago song I ever heard.
“Caress Me Baby” by the Blues Project, 1966. I don’t know as much about these folks as I should. A number of its members went on to be in Blood, Sweat & Tears. Nice bluesy track.
“Future Blues” by Canned Heat, 1970. Not as good as we thought they were back then, but still fun.
“Anji” by Simon & Garfunkel. An instrumental from the”Sound of Silence” album, 1966. Pretty but slight.
February 15, 2008 - 6:52 pm
It’s always a treat when Miles shows up on the shuffle.
Here’s my last 5:
Sour Mash / Morgan’s Privateers (1972, from “A Whale of a Tale”) – This is actually Herman’s Hermits, after Peter Noone left. They went into the studio with their friend Peter Cowap in 1972 and recorded this album, which went unreleased until Keith Hopwood finally released it from his own studio in 2000. This particular track has a strong Irish, sea-shanty feel to it.
Roger Waters / Perfect Sense (Parts 1 and 2) (2007, from concert boot, Mumbai, India) – Roger got custody of me in the Pink Floyd divorce, and I’ve got all his solo work. This is a live version of an “Amused to Death” track. Not my favorite, but not bad. I wish he had done “What God Wants” at that show.
Squeeze / If I didn’t love you (1982, from “Singles: 45s and Under”) — My absolute favorite ’80s pop band, and this track is a perfect example as to why. Brilliant songwriters and ballsy musicians. For some reason, though, they never had a bass player strong enough to match the rest.
Elephant’s Memory / Gypsy Wolf (1972. from “Elephant’s Memory) — This was the band John Lennon tapped to be his backup for the horrible “Some Time in NYC” album. They’re much better on their own, doing their own material. Very loud, fast tempo, blues-based numbers with the instantly recognizable sax wailing.
Clifton Chenier / It’s hard (1965, from “Louisiana Blues and Zydeco”) — The absolute master of zydeco. If you like NOLA music, I don’t have to tell you about Chenier.
February 16, 2008 - 5:30 pm
1. What I’m Looking For –Brendan Benson. I will have to listen to this song. Can’t think of what it sounds like right at this moment.
2. Heathens — Drive-By Truckers. I enjoy the DBTs when I need some good Southern Rock to listen to. I probably have more than enough though so I haven’t bought their latest album.
3. Naked As We Came — Iron & Wine. I probably will never have enough Iron & Wine. I believe that this song is probably the most romantic song I have ever heard. And it is not boring, sappy, cheesy or a retread of every other love song.
4. Sweet Illusions–Ryan Adams. Hard not to enjoy.
5. My Darling, Anything — Lucky Soul. Great album from 2007 that has a sound as if it is from the 60’s.
February 16, 2008 - 8:10 pm
1. “Mists of Down Below”–The Duhks. Starting out good.
2. “Sleeping Diagonally”–The Six Parts Seven. Who? What? Upon doing some research, I find out that this is from an album of remixed versions of the band’s back catalog, and this particular song has vocals by Sam Beam (which is why I thought it was an Iron & Wine track that got mislabeled).
3. “Truck”–The Octopus Project. Who? What? (It’s some sort of electronic psychedelia.)
4. “Here in the Real World”–Alan Jackson
5. “The Dead Heart”–Midnight Oil
There’s not a whole lot I can say about these songs, except that they don’t sound very good back to back to back.