Ickmusic’s Friday Five: May 23, 2008
Despite Mother Nature’s insistence on having a spring that actually lasts a few months, it’s the official “unofficial” beginning of summer. That said it’s time for another themed Friday Five, this time it’s the ‘summer’ edition. I set up the following smart playlist in iTunes (I’m including this in case any of the faithful fivers want to play along at home):
Match > All
Playlist > is not > Ω Archive
Name > contains > summer
This only turned up 75 tracks which is more than enough to shuffle up a Friday Five. Last week was a blur for me but it looks like the friends of five made sure that the shuffle kept rolling through the weekend (though Jim’s ‘Monday Five’ was noticeably absent). For those of you reading this for the first time, here’s how it works… I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes and then show you my five with some words for each track.
Then it’s your turn!
Here are this week’s tracks:
1. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – Summertime (MP3) (from Greatest Hits)
What more can I say? It’s not summer until I hear this track.
[audio:03 Summertime.mp3]2. Candy Dulfer – Summertime (from Candy Store)
It’s impossible to hate on Candy Dulfer. She’s an absolute knockout who can blow like there’s no tomorrow. She can hang with Maceo, dazzle with Prince and hold her own as she does here. Her solo records tend to fall on the Acid Jazz side of the flop and this is no exception.
3. Incognito – Summer’s Ended (from Jazz Funk)
Speaking of Acid Jazz here’s the group that all but invented the genre from their 1981 debut record. It’s an astounding statement that 27 years later this record still sounds vital and fresh as it does.
4. Less Than Jake – Summer Nights (MP3) (from Greased)
Who can resist power-punk/ska versions of the soundtrack of Grease?
[audio:01 Summer Nights.mp3]5. Y & T – Summertime Girls (studio version) (from Open Fire)
I blame Jeff Giles of Popdose for this one. Seriously, I had managed to forget the power and majesty that was Y & T until Jeff posted this track and it sent me on a shame spiral of finding and purchasing the catalog that I had long lost when I owned the cassettes and LP’s.
All fun aside, before you head out this Memorial Day weekend to your picnics, barbecues and family gatherings take a few moments and remember the 4,079 men and women who have lost their lives in operations in Iraq and the 505 lost in Afghanistan. Whether or not you agree with the current administrations direction it’s imperative to honor the men and women of the armed forces who have died in military service to their country.
Have a great and safe holiday weekend and let us know what’s taking you there!
13 Comments
ljhord
Gosh, I only came up with a total of 9 “summer” songs. Here are the first five:
1. “Summertime Blues” by Eddie Cochran from “Summertime Blues”, 1994.
2. “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams from “So Far So Good”, 1993.
3.”Summer Rain” by Johnny Rivers from “The Essential Rivers”, 2006.
4. “Summer Long” by Kathleen Edwards from “Back To Me”, 2005.
5. “In The Summertime” by Mungo Jerry from “Rock On 1970: In The Summertime”, 1996.
KathyB
I made a playlist last summer to deal with the hot weather. It had a lot of songs with “summer” in the title, plus songs with the word “hot” and songs by Hot Hot Heat and the Reverend Horton Heat. Unfortunately, I don’t have any songs by Donna Summer.
Using that playlist as my source, the first five songs that come up in shuffle are:
1. “Summer Son” by Texas. I really like Texas, but I don’t much care for this song.
2. “Indian Summer” by Manhattan Love Suicides.
3. “Summer in the City” by dj BC. (Who? What the heck is this? I’m guessing it’s a cover of the Young Rascals song.)
4. “When Summer Ends” by Rod McKuen. I actually used to like Rod McKuen when I was around 6 years old, but I outgrew that. This song actually came from a type company–as a bonus when I joined their “Font of the Month” club a few years ago, they threw in some Rod McKuen MP3s to go along with the Rod McKuen-inspired typeface. They also threw in a bonus type set and some bonus clip art and some colored pencils.
5. “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” by Stevie Wonder. Finally, something I can smile about when typing it.
Too bad that “Summerteeth” by Wilco and “Another Lost Summer” by Blanche didn’t make it–those are my two favorite “Summer” songs. “Another Lost Summer” was #7 on the shuffle.
Skittles
1. “Summertime” by Big Brother & The Holding Company from Live at Winterland ’68. An excellent performance of the song. Makes me sad Janis is gone.
2. “Picnic in the Summertime” by Deee-Lite from Dewdrops in the Garden. Oh, how I love Deee-Lite. They were my first concert without the parental units. This was, I believe, the first single from their final album.
3. “Indian Summer” by Tori Amos from Scarlet’s Hidden Treasures. This is a b-side from the Scarlet’s Walk album. Not one of my favorites…it kind of bores me, actually.
4. “All Summer Long” by The Beach Boys from Endless Summer. I used to play my dad’s copy of this album all the time when I was a kid. In fact, I think I got ahold of a magic marker and wrote my name on the album cover, forever claiming it as mine. I still have it, too.
5. “Cruel Summer” by Bananarama from Greatest Hits. To this day, I can’t hear this song without thinking of The Karate Kid.
Michael – That Y&T song always makes me think of Real Genius, one of my favorite 80s movies. Good times.
ceriddell
1 “English Summer Rain” by Placebo, from “Sleeping With Ghosts”
2 “Summer Madness” by Kool & The Gang, from “Kool & The Gang Gold”
3 “Summertime Blues” by The Who, from “Live At Leeds”
4 “Summertime” by Bon Jovi, from “Lost Highway”
5 “Long Hot Summer Night” by Jimi Hendrix, from “The Ultimate Experience”
Anne
I only have 24 songs with the word summer in it.
1. Summer by War. Love it!
2. Summer Town by Blitzen Trapper
3. These Long Summer Days by She’s Spanish, I’m American. This was a little side project between Josh Rouse and his Spanish girlfriend.
4. Wait for the Summer by Yeasayer. Great album.
5. One Kiss Don’t Make a Summer by Lucky Soul. My favorite song from that album.
girasol
I only had 10 “summer” songs. For better or worse:
1. The Door into Summer by the Monkees, “Aquarius, Pisces and Jones” – one of my many guilty pleasures
2. Indian Summer Sky by U2, “The Unforgettable Fire” – I don’t know what the heck this is about, but I like it a lot. “So wind blow through to my heart/So wind blow through my soul”
3. Summersong by The Decemberists, “The Crane Wife”
4. Girls in Their Summer Clothes by Bruce Springsteen, “Magic” – Oh yeah!
5. Last Day of Summer by Kirsty MacColl, “Titanic Days” – I just got this a couple of days ago and am listening to this song for the first time. I like this better than some of the other songs on the CD I’ve heard so far.
Pete
Living in Phoenix, I almost searched for ‘Hell’ in iTunes, but since this weekend is supposed to be in the 80’s, I’ll stick with summer…..
38 songs come up, though 5 of them are assorted versions of “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” by the Boss, and 4 are “Long Hot Summer” by the Style Council.
1. “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”| Bruce Springsteen | Magic (2007) | Shocker!
2. “White Summer – Black Mountain Side” | Led Zeppelin | Coda (1982) | Cool to hear Jimmy rip it up in this instrumental.
3. “Summer Teeth” | Wilco | Summerteeth (1999) | I got it, Kathy… Great album.
4. “Long Hot Summer” | The Style Council” | Introducing the Style Council (1983) | Cool, laiid back. soulful.
5. “Summer… It’s Gone” | Grandaddy | Just Like the Fambly Cat (2006) | my least listened to (and final) Grandaddy album, but still has its great moments.
whiteray
Still Friday here . . . for sixteen minutes. And a summer sort brings us . . .
1. “Boys of Summer” by Don Henley, Geffen single 29141, 1984. Great single, better than I thought Henley ever could record. Still great!
2. “Feels Like Summer” by Al Green from “The Belle Album,” 1977. A sweet, slinky album track from a master.
3. “Indian Summer” by the Doors from “Morrison Hotel,” 1970. Moody piece that’s autumnal, which is not exactly what we were looking for here, but hey, “summer” is in the title.
4. “Looking For the Summer” by Chris Rea from “Auberge,” 1991. Is this the second week in a row for Chris? Sometime recently, anyway. Another moody gem.
5. “Summer of ’71” by Helen Reddy from “Helen Reddy,” 1971. Okay, a guilty pleasure; memories linger from the song, the sound, the summer.
whiteray
I should note, some great randoms here . . . props for “Summer Rain” by Johnny Rivers, which might be my favorite single of all time!
Jim
“Last Summer” Lostprophets
“Summer Shoulders” The Prime Ministers
“Summer, Highland Falls” Billy Joel
“Bummer in the Summer” Love
“Summerland” Everclear
And My favorite hot, summer, southwest hell song is “Doin’ Time” Sublime
KathyB
“Titanic Days” by Kirsty MacColl is a fabulous album. “The Last Day of Summer” is actually one of my least favorite songs on it, but that’s more a testament to how great the rest of the album is than the quality of that song. I think it was out of print in the U.S. for a while.
Jim Russell
Sorry I missed last week. I was under a crazy bad deadline for some coding, and worked through the weekend. At least I made Monday this time…
I got 72 hits on the “summer” search.
1. The Time / My summertime thang (1990, from “Pandemonium”) — Okay, this starts me off on the right foot.
2. Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks / Summer in Monterey (1995, from “Orange Crate Art”) — Now it’s really feeling like summer. Wilson harmonies as good as they get.
3. Decemberists / Summersong (2006, from “The Crane Wife”) — Not bad. The melody sounds like they borrowed a tad too much from Oasis, though. Also, the drummer sounds exactly like Ringo.
4. Paul Simon / Satin summer nights (1997, from “Songs from ‘The Capeman'”) Paul wrote some great songs for his disaster flop musical, including this New York street doo-wop treat. Especially since lead vocals were handled here by cast member Marc Anthony (yes, that Marc Anthony).
5. David Sancious and Tone / Summertime harmonies (1976, WLIR broadcast from My Father’s Place, Roslyn NY) Wee-hah! Ending up with with some fine jazz from the former E Streeter. Summer has begun.
Larry OKC
1)U2 Indian Summer Sky – The Unforgettable Fire ( yes !!)
2)Suddenly Last Summer – The Motels ( warming up !!)
3) Summertime – Ella and Lois from Complete Verve Sessions ( are you kiddin me ??)
4) Summer of Drugs – Victoria Williams ( god bless Victoria)
5) Summer Teeth – Wilco ( ahhhhhh – my favorite band)
Could not have planned a better shuffle.
how about a last chance for good luck
6) Never Dreamed You Would Leave in Summer – Stevie !!!!!!!!!