• Friday Five

    The Friday Five: April 6, 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:

    “No One Like You” by Scorpions (from Hard Rock Gold, 2009)

    (In my best Beavis voice:) YES! RAWK!

    Do you know why this song rocks so hard? It isn’t the notes that guitarists Schenker and Jabs play, it’s the space they leave in between that builds the tension and makes you nod your head. (See also: AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”)

    “I Walked In” by Brougham (from Can’t Hardly Wait, 1998)

    Who? Oh, dear God, this is awful. I rarely do this, but I’m not submitting myself to any more torture than required. Skip!

    “Revolution” by Judas Priest (from The Essential Judas Priest, 2006)

    Wait, this isn’t Jane’s Addition’s “Mountain Song”? Let’s see when it came out … according to Wikipedia: “Revolution” is a song on the album Angel of Retribution, by the heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was their first single since 1992’s “Night Crawler” to enter in the United States charts.it reached #23 in the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

    Okay, so this is totally inspired by “Mountain Song,” right?

    According to the producer Roy Z: “The bass intro to ‘Revolution’ is actually from a cassette tape the band recorded back in the 1970s. We loaded the riff into Pro Tools and built the rest of the song around it. We went for a raw, modern ’70s vibe. It is a wide-open rock and roll song.”

    Way to CYA, boys.

    “I Found Love (C+C Underground club mix)” by C+C Music Factory (from Ultimate, 1995)

    I don’t have any issue with C+C Music Factory. At the time, I’d happily dance my ass off to these tunes once or twice a week. Nowadays, I can’t bear to listen for more than a minute or so. Skip!

    “Best of Your Heart” by Rufus & Chaka Khan (from Street Player, 1978)

    Every single one of you should be listening to more Chaka Khan. The world would be a better place.

    What’s on your shuffle today?

  • Friday Five

    The Friday Five: August 21, 2009

    https://ickmusic.com/pics/FridayFive01.png

    Friday Five : ˈfrī-(ˌ)dā,-dē ˈfīv : On the sixth day of every week I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have 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:

    Editor’s Note: I’m running short on time this Friday, but the tunes are cranking and getting me through the busy day before heading down to NYC for some Acoustic 80’s (featuring Jason Hare of Popdose). I swear it’s an odd coincidence that each tune this week has a title consisting of two words.

    The Rolling Stones “Miss You” (from Forty Licks, 2002)

    Green Day – “Brain Stew” (mp3) (from Insomniac, 1995)

    Billie Holiday – “Blue Moon” (mp3) (from First Issue: The Great American Song Book, 1994)

    Rufus & Chaka Khan – “Sweet Thing” (mp3) (from Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, 1975)

    Alexisonfire – “Accept Crime” (from Old Crows / Young Cardinals, 2009)

    What has got you moving today?

  • Friday Five

    The Friday Five: May 29, 2009

    Gives A Meal Shuffle-Appeal!

    Friday Five : ˈfrī-(ˌ)dā,-dē ˈfīv : On the sixth day of every week I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five and drop a little knowledge and insight for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, sometimes there isn’t. Sometimes we have 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:

    Toad the Wet Sprocket
    – “Nothing Is Alone” (mp3) (from 1992-09-16: Fox Theater, Boulder, CO, USA)

    “And now the song so happy that Todd had to sing it.” From 1990’s Pale this remains one of my favorite Toad songs.

    Stevie Wonder – “Sir Duke” (from Songs in the Key of Life)

    To say that this song is one of the nearest and dearest to my heart would be an understatement. This song is truthfully sunshine for the soul. Don’t believe me? Next time you are having a bad day, put it on. You’ll thank me later.

    Just to prove my point, here’s the set up. Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket, see what I did there?) has played so long that the venue has sent him and the crowd out into the streets where Glen along with Nickel Creek bring the encore to the streets and close the evening with a joyful rendition of Stevie’s classic “Sir Duke” (mp3).

    Chaka Khan – “I Feel for You” (from Epiphany: The Best of Chaka Khan, Volume One)

    Okay, so this is a Prince track featuring Grandmaster Melle Mel – that’s him on the “Ch-ch-ch-chaka-chaka-chaka Khan” – and Stevie Wonder on Harmonica. I mean really, how can you go wrong?

    Prince – “Sexy Dancer” (from Prince)

    Hey, look at that. It’s almost as if iTunes is paying special attention today. Stevie, Chaka, Prince… this could rank in my top 10 fives!

    Jamiroquai – “Virtual Insanity” (mp3) (from High Times: Singles 1992-2006)

    With the exception of the Toad the Wet Sprocket tune that kicked us off, this has turned out to be one damned funky five. The futuristic blend of soul, acid-jazz and funk of Jamiroquai has always resounded with me and this track is no exception.

    **BONUS**

    Down to the Bone – “Greedy Fingers” (mp3) (from Supercharged)

    Okay, I’ve only done this once before… but the sixth track to shuffle up was just so good and fit the overall shuffle so well that I simply had to include it. More soul, acid-jazz and funk only this time of the instrumental variety. If you’ve never heard of the UK’s Down to the Bone consider yourself schooled in coolest collective of UK’s jazz groove.

    Okay, I’ve shown you mine, now show me yours!