Ah Friday it’s time to relax and you know what that means a glass of wine, your favorite easy chair and of course the Friday Five shuffling on your home stereo. So go on indulge yourself, that’s right, kick off your shoes, put your feet up, lean back and just enjoy the melodies. After all, music soothes even the savage beast….

For those who have not joined in the Five, here’s how it works: … I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and share my five with a bit of insight for each track.

Then it’s your turn! Just share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments and see what your fellow readers are listening to as well.

Here are this week’s tracks:

1. Effcee – Purple Rain (from Electro Goth Tribute to Prince)

Imagine Garbage covering Prince with a less adept lead singer (Shirley Manson is amazing) and that is about the sum of this. To illustrate just how bad this collection is, Rebecca Romijn (yes, that one) performs “Darling Nikki”. For a much more fitting (and listenable) tribute head over to Psychotic Leisure Music and check out Dump’s That Skinny Motherfucker with the High Voice, it’s well worth the time.

2. Diana Ross & Lionel Richie – Endless Love (from 80s Gold)

I’m not sure what frightens me more, the fact that I have no less than 4 instances of this song in my iTunes library or the fact that I actually genuinely, in my heart of hearts, like this song.

3. Ra Ra Riot – Too Too Too Fast (from The Rhumb Line)

A record that is sure to place highly on my year end list, The Rhumb Line by indie pop darlings Ra Ra Riot delivers 10 undeniably catchy and sprite tunes. If you don’t have this record yet, you should.

4. Jellyfish – The Ghost at Number One (mp3) (from Socrates, Pathos, and Plato)

This is the demo of the tune from the bands power pop opus Spilt Milk. I’ve been revisiting my power pop past lately and this is always at the top of the list. The quality is not all that great but this one absolutely deserves to be played on 11.

5. The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back (from Greatest Hits)

This is the first bass line that I ever tried to learn. So damn funky!

What’s kicking you into the weekend?