Friday Five

The Friday Five: January 20, 2012

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.

The Five:

“Stay” by Erykah Badu (from Live, 1997)

“I’ma test this out…” admits Badu at the beginning of this track, copping to the fact that she intended to cover the Rufus classic at the Soul Train awards show, but “got scared.” She then proceeds to absolutely kick the type of performance that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

“Pope” by Prince (from The Hits/The B-Sides, 1993)

“You don’t understand … I ain’t scared of you mutha fuckers!”

“Born in the U.S.A.” by Bruce Springsteen (from Greatest Hits, 1995)

I suppose I’m beholden to discuss The Boss’ new tune in this space, but I have only listened to it once or twice. The jury is still out, as far as I’m concerned. It’s not a bad song, it just seems a little heavy handed. While not as big a Springsteen fan as most of you that read the Five, I still felt the absence of Clarence at the close where his solo clearly should have been.

“Home Sweet Home” by Mötley Crüe (from Theatre of Pain, 1985)

Vince Neil recently played a show locally. I don’t know why that matters, I just found it odd to think he’s still out there trying to sustain some form of a career without the Crüe. I suppose that will all stop once their Vegas residency starts.

“Stuck With You” by Huey Lewis & The News (from Time Flies… The Best of Huey Lewis & The News, 1996)

“Stuck With You” is only behind “If This Is It” in my list of favorite Huey Lewis tunes.

What’s on your shuffle today?

10 Comments

  • Phil

    KISS – “Hooked on Rock and Roll” (1972 KISS/Lips Demos)
    Demo that is, ironically, from back before KISS became a real rock ‘n’ roll band. Bop-shoo-bop, shoo-bop-bop-shoo-bop?! Seriously, best as I can tell, the collection of demos from which this comes was actually from Peter’s pre-Wicked Lester (and by extension, pre-KISS) band Lips.

    Pink Floyd – “Goodbye Blue Sky” (The Wall, 1979)
    “Look mummy, there’s an aeroplane up in the sky.”

    KISS – “Black Diamond” (Alive!, 1975)
    Considering today is Paul Stanley’s 60th birthday, it’s fitting that iTunes picked another KISS tune (maybe I should have made it an all-KISS playlist?). It’s hard to believe I was only 5 when this album came out, and I wish I had a nickel for every time I played guitar on a tennis racket pretending to be either Ace or Gene. Alive! is very nearly a perfect live album (overdubbing accusations aside) and contains the now definitive versions of  their early hits (at least for the songs from the self-titled debut). Peter’s vocals on “Black Diamond” really make the song for me. I wish I could have frozen time for KISS at this moment right here.
      
    Sugar – “Fortune Teller” (Copper Blue, 1992)
    Though I was aware of Hüsker Dü in the 80s through a couple of mail-order SST compilation cassettes, I somehow missed out on Bob Mould’s excellent 90s output with Sugar. I guess I was too wrapped up with college, Anthrax, the burgeoning grunge scene, and MTV. I’m grateful that a co-worker introduced me to Sugar around 1999, a point in time where I was probably more prepared to appreciate it.

    The Police – “Can’t Stand Losing You” (Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings, 1993)
    A repeat from my January 6 Friday Five. Looks like my iTunes has a bit of a Police crush lately. At least it picked a good song.

  • Anonymous

    1.  “Romeo and Juliet” – Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing:The Very Best of Dire Straits
    2.  “Money” – Barrett Strong – The Motown Story
    3.  “Reelin’ In The Years – Steely Dan – Billboard Top 100, 1973
    4.  “When I Paint My Masterpiece” – Bob Dylan & The Band – Rock of Ages
    5.  “Wah-Wah – George Harrison – The Concert for Bangladesh

  • Pete

    1. “Beauty School Dropout” – Frankie Avalon (Grease Soundtrack, 1978) – Honesty is the best policy when it comes to the Friday Five. I’ll always love this movie.

    2. “The Swan” – Yo-Yo Ma (Portrait of Yo-Yo Ma, 1990) – Absolutely beautiful piece of music, from Carnival of Animals by Camille Saint-Saens. Seriously, just watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNbXuFBjncw

    3. “The Fizzy and the Still” – Mark Knopfler (Kill To Get Crimson, 2007). Haven’t spent a lot of time with this Knopfler record. But it’s hard to find fault with anything that includes Mark’s guitar.

    4. “My Philosophy” – Boogie Down Productions (Live Hardcore Worldwide, 1991). Old school classic!

    5. “Norma Jean Riley” – Diamond Rio (Diamond Rio, 1991) – A semi-guilty pleasure. Early 90’s country. Catchy as all hell.. “I wish I had a doooog..” (http://rd.io/x/QNKaK28Bgg)

  • Anonymous

    First, I totally agree on Erykah Badu’s live cover of Chaka Khan’s “Stay.” Also wanted to thank the curator of this site for his recommendation of the Kasey Chamber/Shane Nicholson duet album, Rattlin’ Bones, a couple weeks back. Fantastic!

    Now on to the Friday Five …

    1) Maxwell — “This Woman’s Work” (MTV Unplugged, 1997).
    2) Bonnie Raitt — “I Will Not Be Denied” (Nick Of Time, 1989).
    3) Tom Petty — “Running Down A Dream” (Greatest Hits, 1993).
    4) Steve Earle — “Rivers Of Babylon” (Train A Comin’, 1995).
    5) Prince and the New Power Generation — “The Morning Papers” (Symbol album, 1992).

    Enjoy the weekend.

  • Anonymous

    Miss Being Mrs. Loretta Lynn- Van Lear Rose.  This is the album produced by Jack White.  A great song, and a great album.
    Cuttin’ The Rug-Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds.When I first heard Rick Richards of Georgia Satellites was teaming up with Izzy Stradlin I cringed.  But it worked.
    Somebody Got Murdered-The Clash from Trick or Treat.  Enough said.
    Long Gone Lonesome Blues-Hank Williams.  Only on the shuffle can you get the Clash and Hank WIlliams back to back.
    Great Atomic Power-Charlie Louvin.  I have been on a real kick for old time classic country swing music lately, and listening to a lot of the Louvin Brothers, Bob Wills, etc.  This is from Charlie Louvin’s 2010 solo release. For 70 plus years old, he still brings it.

  • Blerd

    The Black Crowes “Seeing Things”: I’ve always been impressed by how soulful Chris Robinson’s voice is. After meeting him once, I was also impressed by the high grain of pot he apparently smokes. Talk about contact. Geezus.

    Tony Rich Project “My Stomach Hurts”: Clapton plays some tasteful guitar here. Nice, moody track. Too bad this guy got the one-hit wonder draw. He’s released a lot of interesting work.

    Thin Lizzy “Whisky In The Jar”: my iPod is ready for the end of the work week, apparently.

    Solange “This Bird”: Granted, she’s never made a “Crazy In Love”, but when it comes to actual musical quality, Solange definitely > Beyonce.

    Tina Turner “Why Must We Wait Until Tonight”: A nice sex-you-up jam from the Nineties, written by Bryan Adams. Who knew Mr. Milquetoast was hiding a little bit of freak inside him?

  • Dennis Corrigan

    Waiting for the snow to begin…
    1. “Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)” by Led Zeppelin from Led Zeppelin II. Yeah, I know, it’s two songs.  Back when iPods and iTunes couldn’t handle gapless albums, I joined these two tracks together because everyone’s so used to hearing them back to back (Why Page split them across two box sets is beyond me, but anyway).  I think Pete kicked off a Twitter discussion one what songs have to be played back to back.  These got my vote.2. “Little Miss Strange” by Jimi Hendrix from Electric Ladyland.  Notable for Noel Redding’s lead vocal3. “Starfish and Coffee” by Prince from Sign ‘O’ The Times.  One of my favorite Prince songs and not just for the obvious reason.  4. “Mr. Unreliable” by the Inmates from the Children of Nuggets box set.  I’ve never gotten into this set all that much.5. “Santa Claus is Back in Town” by Elvis Presley from the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll box set.  Well, it is supposed to snow tonight, and we didn’t have a white Christmas.

    Hope you hear something great this weekend!

  • EightE1

    Sly & the Family Stone, “Family Affair.” It certainly is.

    Live, “I Alone.”  I think I could have written Throwing Copper, when I was in high school.  Not that Throwing Copper is a bad record — I still like it.  I was just THAT fucking good. Yeah, baybee.

    Ray Lamontagne, “You Are the Best Thing.” Aw, thanks, Ray.  I appreciate that.  And the Van Morrison horns.

    Jefferson Starship, “Miracles.” Dirty, filthy, dirty, DIRTY Marty Balin.

    Richard & Teddy Thompson, “Persuasion.” So gorgeous. 

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