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:

Great Lake Swimmers – “Unison Falling Into Harmony” (from Lost Channels, 2009)

Largely overlooked in favor of the indie folk-pop of Fleet Foxes, Canada’s Great Lake Swimmers released one of the most lush, yet intimate folk-rock records of the past year.

U.S.A. for Africa – “We Are the World” (from We Are the World: U.S.A. for Africa, 1985)

I’m fairly certain I could fill an entire page writing about “We Are the World”, what hearing  it again reminded me of was the time in which Michael Jackson could do no wrong and how, even at eleven, I was in awe of his considerable talent.

Miles Davis – “All Blues” (from Kind of Blue, 1959)

To say Miles is a force in my life and my musical DNA would be an understatement, I even named my son after him. Part of Davis’ magnum opus, “All Blues” is eleven and a half minutes of pure bliss.

The Notorious B.I.G. – “Sky’s the Limit” (feat. 112) (from Life After Death, 1997)

I never connected with the tunes on Life After Death nearly as much as I did Ready to Die.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention – “Happy Together” (from Fillmore East, June 1971, 1971)

It occurred to me as this track started – and it is a brilliantly crass take on The Turtles classic – that only one of the artists featured on the Five this week is still with us. Not the thought I want to leave you with on a Friday, so I highly suggest hitting play on the track above and regaling in the joy. Baa-Ba-Ba…

Okay, so who’s next!