• Friday Five

    The Friday Five: September 25, 2009

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    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:

    The Juliana Hatfield Three – “Spin the Bottle” (from Become What You Are, 1993)

    In the early ‘90s Juliana Hatfield was kind of like everyone’s slightly older, slightly dirty sister – whereas Liz Phair was your slutty college-aged sibling, but I digress. After obtaining a moderate bit of notoriety with her first band, Blake Babies, she struck out on her own releasing her debut solo record, Hey Babe, in 1992. It wasn’t until 1993’s Become What You Are and the inclusion of this particular tune in the generation defining film Reality Bites that secured her place as an alternative rock superstar. With its simple sing song melody and lyrics that seem ripped from every teenage girl’s diary she connected with Gen X’ers soft side.

    Hall & Oates – “Kiss on My List” (from Greatest Hits: Rock ‘n Soul, Part 1, 1983)

    Little known fact: In an interview with Mix magazine, Daryl Hall said: “Eddie Van Halen told me that he copied the synth part from ‘Kiss on My List’ and used it in “Jump.” I don’t have a problem with that at all.”

    Channel Live – “Homicide Ride” (mp3) (from Station Identification, 1995)

    Taking cues from the grimy sparse beats of Wu-Tang Clan and the vivid street imagery of the Notorious B.I.G. the hardcore rap duo behind Channel Live should have been huge. Add to it the tight production and guidance of “the Teacher” KRS-One and it just further boggles the mind how this crew could only drop one single record and disappear.

    Dweezil Zappa – “Anytime at All” (mp3) (from Confessions, 1991)

    In the rampant resurgence of Beatlemania in pop culture in recent weeks I had nearly forgotten about this gem of a cover. Confessions was produced by Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt and his influence can be heard all over the record, but no more than on this the cover of an album cut from A Hard Day’s Night. The layers upon layers of vocal tracks (provided by Nuno, Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa) take the song to a new level and the addition of a backwards tracked guitar solo – an obvious nod to George Harrison’s use of the technique – make for a truly stellar tribute.

    Camera Obscura – “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken” (from Let’s Get Out of This Country, 2006)

    Scotland’s Camera Obscura is easily one of my favorite groups of the last few years. The perfect blend of lush orchestral indie-pop married with beautifully twee vocals and just a hint of a throwback to a simpler time the band here is issuing a – albeit 22-years-late – response to Lloyd Cole‘s classic “Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?”

    Okay, I’ve shown you mine, you know what to do…

  • Rock

    “Eruption” Zappa Style

    Dweezil Zappa – “Eruption” (YouTube)

    My brother-in-law sent this one over… You’ve got to love Dweezil for all his self-deprecating “aww shucks” modesty before ripping a killer version of Van Halen‘s signature crescendo. The 2009 Zappa Plays Zappa tour will be canvasing the rest of the world though June. You can find the dates as well as other goodies at the official site.