The Friday Five: April 24, 2009

For those who have not joined in the Friday Five here is all you need to know; each Friday 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 more the merrier!

The Five:

“Love Song” by 311 (from 50 First Dates)

On occasion a cover song reimagines the original to such a point that it becomes its own unique entity (see John Cale‘s “Hallelujah” and Jimi Hendrix‘s “All Along the Watchtower”) and far surpasses the original. This is one of those cases. As much as I love the original, 311‘s sun-drenched take on The Cure track captures the essence for me.

“Love Left Us Strangers” (mp3) by Space Needle (from The Moray Eels Eat the Space Needle)

In the late 90’s I worked for a little record store in upstate New York. Anders Parker of Space Needle (and Varnaline) was a former employee and this record was the soundtrack to the winter of 1997.

“Song That Jane Likes” by Dave Matthews Band (from Remember Two Things)

“I’ve got a little sister named Jane and this is the ‘Song That Jane Likes’…”

“Like It Is” (mp3) by The Damnwells (from One Last Century)

Easily a contender for one of my favorite records of 2009, this one came at the recommendation of Jeff from Popdose and it’s been in constant rotation ever since. If you like what you hear you can download the entire record (legally) from the band’s official website (and really it’s free, so why wouldn’t you download it?)

“Don’t Get Me Wrong” (mp3) by Lily Allen (from Radio 1: Established 1967)

Sometimes the song just fits. I don’t think that I’ve exposed my deep seated hatred of The Pretenders on Ickmusic yet. Despite that I absolutely adore this reading of their 1986 classic. Miss Allen adds her signature ska-lite lilt to the tune while staying spot on in her rendition of Chrissie Hynde‘s delivery.

Tag! You’re it… what’s the soundtrack to your afternoon?