Ickmusic’s Friday Five: March 27, 2008
Guess who just got back today? Them wild-eyed boys that had been away, haven’t changed, haven’t much to say but man, I still think them cats are crazy.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but we’re back! When we last met the five revealed my affinity for German industrial racket, Miles Davis, and deep catalog soul records. I found out we’ve inspired a Wednesday version of the five over at Septenary and a Facebook group. Our ‘faithful fivers’ rallied before the storm knocked the lights out of the site for a few days. So for you first timer’s… I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and then show you my five with some words for each track.
Then it’s your turn!
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. Colin Hay – Overkill (acoustic version) (MP3) (from Man @ Work)
This has always been my favorite Men at Work tune. Long before Zack Braff turned it into a theme song for Generation Y, I regarded this as one of those seminal tunes. I got to see Colin last summer and was blown away at how alive and current this tune still sounds.
2. Joe Jackson – Is She Really Going Out With Him? (acoustic version) (from Live 1980/86)
I guess the shuffle is digging the acoustic versions today! In this case however, the original far exceeds this lifeless version. I’m an unapologetic supporter of all things Joe Jackson but every once in awhile his attempts at being clever fall just short of the mark.
3. Frank Zappa – A Token of My Extreme (from Joe’s Garage: Acts I, II & III)
“This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER…” from the record that every self-respecting music fan should own at least one copy of (if not multiple), this is one of the transitional tunes meant to further the story. Even in these tracks Frank displays a sense of musicality and composition that had not been see in rock music before and has not been seen since. To say I’m a Zappa fan would be an understatement.
4. Spinal Tap – Hell Hole (MP3) (from This is Spinal Tap)
It’s been said that “parody is the highest form of making fun of someone else’s shit” and no truer words have been spoken when referring to Spinal Tap so I won’t even try. So say us all… “Tap into America!”
5. Brand Nubian – Hold On (from Everything Is Everything)
Revolutionary Hip-Hop dropping knowledge over the tender hook of Simply Red’s “Holding Back the Years”. While I’m sure many aficionados will decry the overt commercialism of this track I’ll admit to it being the hook that reeled this suburban white boy in and expanded his mind.
Time to shuffle on and now it’s your turn, what comes up in your shuffle?
7 Comments
KathyB
I was so proud of what came up in my shuffle last week, and then I never had a chance to post it. I am considerably less proud of what came up this week as I hit “Refresh”:
1. Niyorah—”Nothing to Prove” This was the iTunes Discovery Download sometime in September 2006, and I wasn’t that crazy about it, but don’t hate it enough to delete it.
2. Madeline Adams—”Against the World and Losing the Battle” I’m pretty sure I got this from 3hive. I tend to download anything from that site that’s labeled “Folk,” but my reaction to this particular song was just “eh.” Not terrific, but there are lots of worse things out there.
3. Sonny Boy Williamson—”Your Funeral and My Trial” I’m not a huge fan of blues (although I’ve been trying to become more of a fan for years), but I do like this song.
4. The Rosebuds—”Kicks in the Schoolyard” I don’t have the faintest idea what this song is or where I got it, but I rated it only two stars.
5. David Kernan from the Original London Cast Recording of Side by Side by Sondheim—”Could I Leave You?” I love this recording of this song. Even though it was written for a woman character, Kernan’s take on it is great. (And of course I need to have some bizarre show tune on my list to make it complete.)
Ed from Concord
1. U2 – “Bad” – 1987-10-09 Carrer Dome, Syracuse University
2. John Butler Trio – “Mist” – Sunrise Over Sea
3. Green Day – “She” – International Superhits!
4. Merle Haggard – “Are The Good Times Really Over” – Last Of The Breed
5. Bat For Lashes – “What’s A Girl To Do? – Fur and Gold
whiteray
1. “Why” by Annie Lennox, Arista single 12419, 1992. Sometimes I’m in the mood for this; today, I’m not. But it’s great when I am.
2. “Time” by Hootie & the Blowfish from “Cracked Rear View,” 1994. I was covering high school athletics for a newspaper back then, and one of the football players tipped me to Hootie. New and refreshing then, overplayed now, but it only pops up every 25,000 plays or so.
3. “Takin’ Care of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Mercury single 73487, 1973. Clunky fun.
4. “Tattooed Lady” by Robin Scott from “Woman From The Warm Grass,” 1969. Pleasant pastoral folk.
5. “Queen of the Slipstream” by Van Morrison from “Poetic Champions Compose,” 1987. A great track from one of Van’s lesser-known works. A delight!
Gonzo
Now that I have a Zune, I’ll play along!
I should qualify that I only use it for running, so it’s an interesting yet limited selection.
1. Faith no More-“Jizzlobber.” I always mean to buy more FNM records. maybe this is a hint.
2. Bowie – “Battle for Britain (The Letter)” – Earthling is perhaps my favorite latter day (post “Scary Monsters”) Bowie album, and one that fits into his ouvre rather well.
3. Soundgarden – “Searching with my Good Eye Closed.” Classic grunge!
4. Misfits – “Queen Wasp” One of my favorite punk groups (assuming we’re talking Glen Danzig era).
5. The Raconteurs – “Salute your Solution” – from their new disc, which I highly recommend. Jack White is my homeboy.
With that, I leave to drink, dance and karaoke. Cheers!
Pete
1. Jason Lytle & Aaron Burtch (from Grandaddy) – “Hewlett’s Daughter” – live acoustic show at Good Records in Dallas, May 9th, 2006 – I fell in love with Grandaddy’s The Sophtware Slump back when it came out in 2000-2001. Beautiful, melodic, space rock. Grandaddy is no more. But Jason is supposedly holed up in a studio somewhere in Montana – and I look forward to hearing whatever he has to offer.
2. Miles Davis – “Spanish Key” – live at the Fillmore, April 12, 1970 – ‘Bitches Brew’ era Mile Davis and his incredible gang tear it up at the Fillmore, opening this night for the Grateful Dead.
3. Nino Moschella – Decisions” from ‘The Fix’. Funky ass Fresno Funkety-Funk.
4. The Ramones – “7-11” – from one of my favorite Ramones albums, ‘Pleasant Dreams’… “I kissed and hugged her and I said good-bye. Last thing I knew she would not make it alive. Oncoming car ran out of control. It crushed my baby and it crushed my soul.”
5. “Exit Only” – Fugazi – I haven’t listened to much Fugazi. I’ve just always sort of known I should be listening to them. Ever since I was an intern for my congressman in Washington DC- summer of 1991 baby. There was a Fugazi-loving staffer named John. Hi John.
Jim Russell
Considering I haven’t gone to bed yet, I’m going to count this as actually getting mine in on Friday this week! And no fooling — Colin Hay came up on mine as well:
1. One more opponent – You and I / Chess (2001, Denmark cast) – I have about six or seven different versions of the musical “Chess”, all of which are wildly different. The 2001 Denmark cast is one of the best, although nobody beats Murray Head doing “One night in Bangkok”.
2. Like a rolling stone / Jimi Hendrix (1973, soundtrack from film “Jimi Hendrix”) – Jimi doesn’t add much with his cover of this — certainly nothing like the way he transformed “All along the watchtower”.
3. Wayfaring sons / The Colin Hay Band (1990, from “Wayfaring Sons”) – An absolutely fabulous track from an absolutely fabulous post-Men-at-Work album. This album is well worth hunting down. Colin shows a definite Irish influence with this one.
4. The ocean / Full Tilt (from MySpace) – A cover of the Led Zep tune by a local NJ band featuring a bass player I went to high school with, and a female vocalist of the Grace Slick school taking on the Plant vocal. Nice stuff — see myspace.com/fulltiltnj if you’d like to hear it.
5. Think I’m on the right track / Stevie Wonder (1973 boot from Berkeley CA Community Theater) – Stevie can do no wrong in my book, especially in concert.