Ickmusic’s “Black Friday” Five: November 28, 2008
Now that everyone has slept off their L-tryptophan induced coma and quite possibly spent the morning hunting down the best deal on the latest greatest gizmo it’s time to relax and what better way to do that than with a shuffle through some tunes. And in celebration of the day, we’re limiting the results to only tunes with the word “Black” in them.
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. Weather Report – Black Market (from 8:30)
An absolutely masterful live performance highlighting the genius of Joe Zawinul, Peter Erskine, the brilliant Wayne Shorter and the incomparable Jaco Pastorius. Jaco’s bass percolates along the afro beat rhythm as Shorter blows hard bop lines that are out of this world.
2. Metallica – Fade to Black (from Ride the Lightning)
It has always been my theory that the entire Black Album is a vein attempt to capture what the band did in what is easily one of the bands most significant tunes. From the opening movement to the fade it is Metallica at their best.
3. AC/DC – Back in Black (from Back in Black)
Classic.
4. Pearl Jam – Black (mp3) (from Ten)
This is easily one of my favorite songs from the 90’s period. Eddie Vedder is a master of conveying the depths of the human condition and this is by far one of his finest moments. Up for grabs is the classic MTV Unplugged version.
5. Prince – Black Sweat (from 3121)
This is as close to the funk as he’s come in ages.
What’s saving you from long lines and aggressive shoppers?
4 Comments
KathyB
Not tremendously interesting except for one song.
1. “Blackbird” by Dick Hyman from “The Age of Electronicus” (year unknown). A lite-jazz electronic version of the Beatles song. It’s actually pretty obnoxious.
2. “Black Luck” by Liz Tormes from “Limelite” (year unknown). A free track I picked up somewhere. I think I’ve liked Tormes’s work before, but this song didn’t do much for me. And it abruptly comes to a premature end.
3. “Black City” by Division of Laura Lee from “Black City” (2002). Another one of those I could take or leave. Preferably leave.
4. “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” (live, acoustic) by Richard Thompson from “KBCO Studio C Volume 3” (1991? maybe 1992). Great song, spectacular performance.
5. “Black Lake” by Barbara Cohen and Little Lizard from “Black Lake” (1995) I’m listening to this for the first time since I put it in my iTunes and thinking it sounds like a nice enough female-fronted rock song, but nothing special, classic or extraordinary about it. At least, not enough to give an interesting comment about.
ceriddell
1 “Black” by Pearl Jam from New York, 8/7/03 – as Michael says, one of Eddie’s finest moments.
2 “Black Cat” by Janet Jackson from Rhythm Nation – a standout track on an album full of ’em – no Jam/Lewis songwriting credit on this one but it’s still full of their classic sound.
3 “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden from Superunknown – probably the band’s finest moment.
4 “Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin from IV – what can you say about this band that hasn’t been said already – classic.
5 “Pump It” by Black Eyed Peas from Monkey Business – a great hard-hitting way to open this album. Great video, too.
Anne
1. “Paint It Black”, The Rolling Stone, “Aftermath”, 1966.
2. “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress”, The Hollies, 1966?
3. “Black River”, Amos Lee, “Amos Lee”, 2005. Love this guy.
4. “After the Blackbird Sings”, The Wallflowers, “The Wallflowers”, 1992.
5. “Blacklisted”, Neko Case, “Blacklisted”, 2002. I am pretty sure I had a different Neko song come up last week. I am also pretty sure that this is at least the third time I have had Neko come up on my Friday Shuffles. Love her!
Jim Russell
Well, it’s been a *long* time since I participated here — I went to Australia this summer, and when I got back I got out of the habit of posting. I’ll try to do better.
Comments first:
I love Weather Report. I was just discussing Wayne Shorter with my son (who’s planning on majoring in Jazz Performance next year). I couldn’t believe that Wayne is 75 years old already.
“Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)” is one of those songs that always makes me turn up the volume.
Okay, what did I come up with on my shuffle? (I restricted it to titles, otherwise I would end up with far too much Black Sabbath and Frank Black):
1. Laura Nyro / Blackpatch (1970, from Columbia/Epic loss leader “Different Strokes”) — I began listening to Laura because of my early teen obsession with the Fifth Dimension. This cut is remarkable in that its sound is almost exactly like what Carole King would do a year later with “Tapestry”. Oh, and remember when record companies would do “loss leader” LP’s, putting cuts from all their artists on a cheap LP designed to make you buy the albums?
2. The Walkmen / Black sails (2006, from “Pussy Cats”) — The Walkmen released a track-for-track cover of the entire Harry Nilsson album “Pussy Cats”. It’s more of a loving tribute than a new vision, but it’s fun nonetheless. I prefer Harry’s rendition of this track, though.
3. Monty Python / Blackmail (1976, from “Live at City Center”) — I love throwing a few comedy albums into the shuffle. “This is for fifteen pounds, and it’s to stop us from revealing… the name of your lover in Bolton!”
4. Carl Palmer / The enemy god dances with the black spirits (1977, from ELP’s “Works, Volume I”) — this ELP double-album gave one side to each member, and then had them join together for side 4. This Carl Palmer track is interesting, but sounds a bit like a movie soundtrack.
5. Herman’s Hermits / Two lovely black eyes (1966, from “Both Sides of Herman’s Hermits”) — This album showcased the normal sugary pop of the Hermits on side 1, and then let them do English pub songs on side 2. “Two lovely black eyes” is a side 2 track, and is well-suited to singing loudly while drunk.