Friday Five

The Friday Five: January 22, 2010

Friday Five

Friday Five : ‘frī-(,)dā,-dē ‘fīv : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.

Editor’s Note: The nightmare of recovering my hard drive continues, so I’m still relying on my iPod to provide the shuffle. Hopefully I’ll be back up and running by next week’s Friday Five. – Michael

The Five:

1. “Buddy Holly” by Weezer (from Weezer, 1994)

My 11-year old son absolutely loves Weezer, so much so that he’s taken to belting out “Say it Ain’t So,” spontaneously.

2. “Each Year” by Ra Ra Riot (from The Rhumb Line, 2008)

I never get tired of hearing this record. With any luck, we’ll get something new from the band in the next year.

3. “WWXII” by The Damnwells (from One Great Century, 2009)

A somber view of the secondhand victims of war, the refrain of this song stings like nails; “We don’t feel no shame / And we don’t take the blame / Men on TV tell me there’s no other way / We’ve got to take mama’s baby away.”

4. “I Love U in Me” by Prince (from The Hits/The B-Sides, 1993)

One of the most beautifully dirty tunes in the Prince’s catalog.

5. “Black” by Pearl Jam (from Ten, 1992)

I finally purchased 2008’s “Legacy Edition” of Ten just before the holidays, and found myself wrapped back up in the impact of this set of songs had on my life and “Black” is definitely a high point of that.

What’s on your shuffle today?

14 Comments

  • Apurva Muddappa

    I am new to the site…just got a Zune 120GB for Christmas, only about 20GB on it so far…YES a ZUNE!! So here is my 5 for this morning:
    1. Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown
    2. David Gray – Nemesis
    3. Coldplay – Swallowed by the Sea
    4. Duran Duran – Save a Prayer
    5. U2 – Is that All?

  • Bill C

    Rick Shea-Mesquite Rick Shea is a pedal steel guitarist who has played with Dave Alvin. A great record.
    Buffalo Springfield-Everybody’s Wrong
    Wilco-Spiders
    Elvis Costello-The Other Side of Summer-one of Elvis’ best tunes.
    Paul McCartney-Magic-An all too common nondescript McCartney song.

  • Anne

    1. Season of the Witch–Donovan
    2. Jesus, I Lift My Eyes–Jars of Clay
    3. Crazy in Love–Beyonce ft. Jay-Z
    4. Natural Man–Harlem Shakes
    5. 200 More Miles–Cowboy Junkies

  • Rob C

    1. Bruce Springsteen – Your Own Worst Enemy (from Magic)

    2. The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour (from Magical Mystery Tour)

    3. Paul Westerberg – Dyslexic Heart (from Singles, the soundtrack)
    One of the gems from the Singles soundtrack. Hard to believe that I didn’t know who Westerberg was before this album. This started my love of the Replacements.

    4. The Rolling Stones – Rocks Off (from Exile on Main Street)
    I didn’t get why Exile was highly regarded for the longest time & then one day I suddenly saw it!

    5. Supertramp – The Logical Song (from Breakfast in America)
    I’m not the biggest Supertramp fan, but I’ve always loved this song, probably because of the theme.

  • EightE1

    John Mellencamp, “Peaceful World.” I’m probably pretty close to alone on this, but I think the music he’s made since ’96 stacks up well against his classic stuff. He has certainly surrounded himself with terrific bands in that time, sympathetic accompaniment. His writing’s been sharper, too. This is a good example.

    Jayhawks, “Save It for a Rainy Day.” God, how good was this album (Rainy Day Music)? The more I listen to it, the more it sounds to me like the equal of Tomorrow the Green Grass, even without Mark Olson. This is just a perfect acoustic country-rock song. Love the harmony vocals from Tim O’Reagan.

    Motorhead, “Sweet Revenge.” From Bomber, an underrated record. Sounds like a Sabbath outtake with Lemmy singing. Now wouldn’t THAT be an interesting band?

    Rickie Lee Jones, “Remember Me.” One of my favorite singers, period. This is a straight-up country tune from her most recent record, which I really need to listen to some more. Beautiful stuff.

    Black Sabbath, “Warning.” Hey, speaking of Sabbath … According to Wikipedia, this was originally written and recorded by Aynsley Dunbar’s Retaliation. Never heard the original, but I can’t imagine it sounded nearly this evil.

  • Gonzo

    1. Dr. Octagon – “I’m Destructive”
    10+ years on, still the best Kool Keith record.

    2. Faith No More – Surprise! You’re Dead!
    Remember Jim Martin’s cameo in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey?

    3. Dr. Octagon – “Wild and Crazy”

    Hey, what the…!

    4. Prince – America

    Underrated gem from Around the World in a Day. The 12″ version is incredible.

    5. Busta Rhymes – “Keep it Movin'”

    The first Busta Rhymes album is still great. The second is ok. The third, mediocre. After that………

  • Pete

    1. Guns n Roses – “Used To Love Her” – First song of the day? I do believe this will be a great day.

    2. Tom Petty – “Wake Up Time” (from Wildflowers) – I’ll take a downtempo Petty tune any day of the dang week.

    3. The Rolling Stones – “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” – One of the top-ranked Bad Ass riffs in Rock n Roll.

    4. George Clinton – “It’s All In The Game” (feat. Belita Woods) – This is from George’s surprisingly strong 2008 album of R&B covers, ‘George Clinton & His Gangsters of Love’.

    5. Grateful Dead – “Way to go Home” – This is from a bootleg of my first GD show at Desert Sky Pavilion in 1994. I’m pretty sure I had a great time.

  • Laila

    I have followed this site on and off for a couple of years. Not big on comments, but it’s my second week posting. Here are my 5:

    1. Miami- U2
    2. (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea – Elvis Costello
    3. The Bars (Live) – Black Flag
    4. Good Queen Bess – Duke Ellington
    5. Pantomime (Live) – Incubus

    Also have to say of all the shuffles, big thanks to Gonzo for reminding me of Dr. O. I haven’t jammed to my “Dr. Octagonecologyst” record in a long while!

  • Judd6149

    Here is my Spotify generated Fri-5:

    To create this, I was listening to a “radio” station made up of Blues, Country, Rock & Soul from the 60’s & 70’s:

    1. Rory Gallagher: Can’t Believe it’s True
    2. Terry Reid: Things to Try
    3. Tammy Wynette: Joey
    4. Taj Mahal: Bacon Fat
    5. Randy Newman: Rednecks

    Spotify radio stations are excellent for music discovery!

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