Ickmusic’s Friday Five: May 9, 2008
Rainy Days and Mondays always get me down…
Spring has finally sprung this week in New England and in a twist of fate it’s pouring outside (it’s been beautiful all week). I guess Meatloaf was right when he sang “two out of three ain’t bad” because it’s Friday and I’ve got The Five to keep me company while waiting out the rain. Last week’s Five was positively on fire! The familiar Fivers Club all showed up en masse and we had quite a few new and welcome additions to the group. For the first timers here’s how we get down… I hit shuffle in iTunes and share the first five random tracks that pop up with some insight and thoughts on the track, then it’s your turn!
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. G. Love & Special Sauce – Baby’s Got Sauce (from G. Love & Special Sauce)
This is definitely in my “All Time Top 5” list for most ridiculously sweet and perfect love songs.
2. Biffy Clyro – Umbrella (from Radio 1’s Live Lounge, Volume 2)
While by in large an unremarkable version, this is a testament to the power of a well written pop song.
3. The Brian Setzer Orchestra – Sleepwalk (from The Dirty Boogie)
Again, the power of a beautiful melody can transcend time, fashion and fads. The arrangement here deserves a special nod for the fact that it takes liberty with the simplicity by adding the full horn section to Brian Setzer’s blazing fret work.
4. Prince – How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore (from Girl 6)
This tune never did much for me in any recorded version. It was not until I heard it live that it really stuck.
5. Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble – Lenny (from Texas Flood)
The story goes like this, Stevie’s wife Lenora scraped together the $350 needed to purchase a 1965 Stratocaster that had caught his eye in a pawn shop months earlier. She presented it to him for his birthday and that night as she slept Stevie wrote “Lenny”. Lenora remembers “He was sitting on the edge of the bed and said, ‘Listen to this.’” He proceeded to play his tribute to his loving wife “Lenny”.
How are you ringing in the weekend?
11 Comments
Anonymous
Here on Friday for once . . and first in line! Here goes:
1. “Jada” by the Pointer Sisters from “Pointer Sisters,” 1973. Smooth and sassy, an album track from the girls’ first album.
2. “Porters’ Chant” by Michael Conn from “Globetrekker, Central China,” ca. 2004. “Globetrekker” is a show I try to see every time it’s on — God bless DVR — and the incidental music can be stirring.
3. “This Is Mine” by Lucy Kaplanski from “Flesh and Bone,” 1996. Country? Folk? Alt-confessional? Just good music.
4. “Tomorrow’s Going To Be A Brighter Day” by Jim Croce from “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” 1972. Of all the music folks who died young, I probably miss Jim Croce the most. (And Jim Morrison the least.)
5. “Terraplane Blues” by Robert Johnson, Vocalion 3416, 1936. The staff of the hotel in San Antonio, Texas, where Johnson recorded this and other songs, does not know which room Vocalion used, but the manager did know which back door Johnson would have been required to use to enter the hotel, so last spring, I stood in Robert Johnson’s footsteps.
Skittles
1. “They” by Jem from Jem, 2004. This is my favorite track from this album. I remember it being used in an episode of “Crossing Jordan,” and immediately trying to find it.
2. “What’s a Girl To Do?” by Cristina from Sleep It Off, 1984. Cristina is one of my new obsessions. I had never even heard of her before receiving a promo copy of a new ZE Records compilation, which featured one of her songs. This is the first track from her fantastic second album.
3. “Mind Over Matter (Remix)” by Elizabeth Daily from the “Summer School” soundtrack. Actress and singer Elizabeth Daily, aka E.G. Daily, wasn’t originally supposed to sing this song for the Summer School soundtrack…Debbie Harry was. Apparently, due to legal circumstances, Debbie dropped the song and it went to E.G. I think she does a fine job with it.
4. “Wordy Rappinghood (Remix)” by Tom Tom Club, from Tom Tom Club, 1981. This song has always amused me, and holds a special place in my heart because it was on a mix cd a fellow English major, and crush, gave me in college.
5. “Body and Soul” by Tori Amos from American Doll Posse, 2007. One of the better tracks from Tori’s last effort. I really hope she skips the concepts and wigs for the next one (and gets some fresh blood to produce).
ljhord
1. “Take The Money and Run” by The Steve Miller Band from “Steve Miller’s Greatest Hits”, 1978. Here’s what happens when Billy Joe & Bobbi Sue cut loose.
2. “Anymore” by Travis Tritt from “Essentials”, 2003. Travis might be just a good ol’ boy from Georgia but he can sure enough sing a love song! He also does a nice acting job portraying Mac Singleton in the music video.
3. “Roll Me Away” by Bob Seger from”The Distance”, 1982. Another long-haired singer with a passion for Harleys and this song always makes me wish I had one, too.
4. “Shower The People” by James Taylor from “James Taylor Live, Disc 1”, 1993. JT suggesting that we show the people we love the way that we feel.
5. “Got You On His Mind” by The Subdudes from “The Subdudes”, 1989. Another great love song! My thanks to my friend Lashelle in San Antonio for introducing me to The Subdudes!
Gonzo
“Baby’s Got Sauce” (and in fact that whole album) is some of my favorite summertime chill music!
Here’s mine:
1. Public Enemy – “Thin Line Between Law & Rape” From Muse-Sick-N-Hour-Mess-Age. Not a bad album, but can probably be pointed to as the beginning of their descent.
2. Tribe Called Quest – “Clap Your Hands”
Hot track from my hands-down favorite Tribe album.
3. Lords of Acid – “Rubber Doll” This is one of those albums that I always think of getting rid of but for “Pussy” alone, I’ve kept it. This is a pretty unremarkable song.
4. Scissor Sisters – “Tits on the Radio” Solid album. I taught a course on radio history this semester, and prefaced every class with a song about radio. I almost played this one day, but thought better of it.
5. Misfits-“Vampira” YES! I just loaded the Misfits box onto my Zune the other day. The same day that I listened to the whole thing straight through. Gotta love it.
Pete
It being Mother’s Day weekend and all, I thought I’d jump into my own Friday 5 theme! Yow! I pulled an iTunes search for “mother”. 19 songs came jumping back. I hit Shuffle, and away we go.
1. “Mothership Connection” – Parliament / from Mothership Connection (1976) / The perfect groove to kick off the weekend. The first Parliament album to feature Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley post-J.B.s.
2. “Mother of Earth” – The Sadies / from Tremendous Efforts (2001) / alt-country & western from Canada’s Sadies. Recommended for anyone who needs some twang in their life.
3. “Mother Father” – Journey / from Escape (1981) / From that classic Journey album that every American male my age and had in 1981.
4. “Mother” – Pink Floyd / from The Wall (1979) / It was inevitable, wasn’t it? I wonder how many people would/will hit this song in their shuffle. I never tire of this album, especially sides 1 and 2 (or “Disk 1” in CD talk).
5. “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother” – Jerry Jeff Walker / from Great Gonzos (1991), a greatest hits compliation / Jerry Jeff’s version of a wild Ray Wylie Hubbard song. A snippet of the lyrics:
Anne
1. ” San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” by Scott McKenzie. Classic hippie music from the late 60’s.
2. “Put Da Lime in Da Coconut” from The Muppets. You always say to be completely honest about the songs that come up in our shuffle so here it is. I probably should have lied for this one.
3. “The Joker” from Fatboy Slim on Palookaville. Great version of a classic song.
4. “Birds of Paradise” by Basia Bulat on Oh, My Darling. If you have not listened to her yet, I highly recommend the album. This came out in the beginning of this year and it is a beautiful album.
5. “Seconds” by U2 on War. It is easy to understand why U2 has such a following when you hear music from their early albums. This one came out in 1983.
Michael
If it’s any consolation I have not only “C is for cookie” but “Put Da Lime in Da Coconut”, “Fraggle Rock” and many other Muppets-related tunes in my collection.
Anne
I have two kids and The Muppets songs are for them. That’s my story and I am sticking to it!
jazzmaster
Pete ~ This is the best list I’ve seen so far! G. Love… BSO… Prince.
Hot damn!
jazzmaster
Oh… And how could I forget SRV?!?!?!
Jim Russell
Anne: The Muppets “Coconut” could easily have popped up on my shuffle. In fact, it is in multiple categories — along with other Muppet songs (“Rainbow Connection”, “Rubber Duckie”, the absolutely brilliant “I hope that something better comes along”), as well as in my Harry Nilsson covers collection (along with Three Dog Night’s “One”, Richard Barone’s “I guess the Lord must be in NYC”, and Fred B52s Schneider’s version of “Coconut”).
Okay, it’s Monday, so time for me to post *my* Friday Five. (It’s traditional by now.)
1. John Fogerty / I will walk with you (2004, from “Deja Vu All Over Again”) — This man still has the knack of writing a simple song that jumps out at you as a classic. It’s quite extraordinary.
2. Prince / Let’s go crazy (1987, live in Paris) — Who knows where I picked this up. Probably here.
3. Overture from “Annie Get Your Gun” (1966, Broadway version) — So I’m a theatre geek, deal with it. If you’ve ever been to my website, you’d see that I played Buffalo Bill in this show once.
4. Yes / Siberian Khatru (1972, from “Close to the Edge”) — There are people who think lyrics reign, and those who think music reigns. If you are in the former, you hate this song. If you are in the latter, you probably love it. Eric Clapton can get stuffed — this is the song where you find out that Steve Howe is, in fact, God.
5. Nat “King” Cole / Route 66 — I’m not sure which version of this came up, but it sounded like the first one. (Cole recorded this, like, 17 times.) Always nice to hear, but this time, I thought that Cole is too smooth for this song. Route 66 should have some grit and grime to it.