Friday Five

The Friday Five: May 28, 2010

Friday Five

Friday Five : ‘frī-(,)dā,-dē ‘fīv : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a 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 Five:

“Hurts So Good” by John Mellencamp (from The Best That I Could Do 1978–1988, 1997)

Now there is nothing wrong with kicking the Friday Five off with a little kick in the ass. This is especially true when it comes to the particular brand of ass kicking that Mr. Mellencamp circa 1984 was dealing out. Despite having a kick ass video, I still associate this tune with the visual of Lori Singer and Sarah Jessica Parker getting down at the cowboy bar in Footloose.

“The Way You Make Me Feel” by Michael Jackson (from Bad, 1987)

Why anyone doubted that this man had a ton of game is beyond me. Case in point: “The Way You Make Me Feel,” which finds Jackson singing the praises of his lady friend’s physical attributes with that same bravado that I mentioned last week — the difference here being nearly 20 years.

“Without You” by The Doobie Brothers (from The Captain and Me, 1973)

While this soundly fits in the ass kicking, rock ‘n’ roll mood set by the first tune in the five; I’m more of a fan of the Michael McDonald chapter in the Doobies history. That said, this definitely kicks some ass.

“Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon (from Excitable Boy, 1978)

I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here, so if you are fan of Kid Rock, you may want to skip to the next track. I’ll be damned if this isn’t the first time that I’ve heard Zevon’s calling card since that lazy, half-assed, poor excuse for a rock star, Kid Rock, went and appropriated it for his own use. I swear, the first time I heard his co-opting of “Werewolves” and Skynard’s “Sweet Home Alabama” I let a string of obscenities fly that would make George Carlin blush.

“Dance the Night Away” by Van Halen (from Van Halen II, 1979)

Being a “drooling fanatic” when it comes to Van Halen, I could talk until I’m blue in the face about Eddie’s influence alone. But this song is my hands down, all time, without a doubt favorite Van Halen song. Oh, and it kicks ass.

What’s on your shuffle today?

17 Comments

  • Ken Shane

    1. The People In Me – The Music Machine
    2. Kick the Stones – Chris Whitley
    3. Down In Hollywood – Ry Cooder
    4. Crying Time – Eric Lindell
    5. Tennessee Jed – Levon Helm

  • dopeburger

    “Shedding My Skin” by The Morning Benders.
    -These guys are on tour with Broken Bells right now. They have a really nice retro psychedelic pop vibe about them.

    “Back in Your Arms (live)” by The Stanky Brown Group.
    -This is in my iTunes cause I sent Ken Shane the mp3’s…the SBG was how we met and how I got introduced to the ick music and popdose guys so I’ll be forever grateful for them.

    “Jesus is Just Alright (live)” by The Byrds
    -I always think of ‘Freaks and Geeks’ when I hear this song.

    “Lover’s Spit” by Broken Social Scene
    -You Forgot it in People was one of the albums that brought me over from the dark side (i.e., John Mayer & Coldplay). That’s 2/5 gratitude-inducing songs so far….

    “Greet Death (live)” by Explosions in the Sky
    -Well, that’s one way to close out a playlist….

  • Mindy

    So happy this started off with John Mellencamp then moving right into Michael Jackson…you can’t go wrong 🙂

    I needed that little boost! Another great mix Mr. Parr and thank you for posting a little early…

    My Friday Five were a little less kick as and a little more mellow (ok really mellow)

    Rachael Yamagata – Horizon
    Missy Higgins – On A Clear Night
    Josh Ritter – In the Dark
    Andrea Bocelli – Contico
    Papa Roach – Last Resort (ok not so mellow)

    • Ken Shane

      My friend Rick saw Josh in Brooklyn last weekend. He said that at one point Josh had all the lights turned off in a pretty large venue, stepped away from the microphone, and played In the Dark, well, in the dark. Rick says it was incredible. You could hear every note.

  • EightE1

    Merle Haggard and Janie Frickie, “A Place to Fall Apart.” A desperate man’s final missive to the woman who left him. Damn. Even in the ’80s, nobody sang a song like this quite like Haggard. Frickie I can take or leave — she sticks to harmony vocals on this one. This is the kind of music — old-school country — that my father-in-law and I like to play on vacation, sitting out on the back porch with some after-dinner beers, the day beginning to close down.

    REM, “All the Right Friends.” From the In Time compilation. The pace is quicker than a lot of the band’s more recent output, but the pulse seems absent to me. I dunno. I quite enjoy recent REM — I am, for example, one of the few people outside the band’s immediate family who actually liked Around the Sun — and I loved Accelerate’s return to uptempo material. This one just doesn’t do it for me, though.

    Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, “Night of the Lotus Eaters.” Not much to say about this, either. It sounds almost like a Tom Waits-like thing, with that mildly industrial percussion behind him, the mysterious stuff. But this is not all that great.

    Oh My God, “My Juliet.” Popdose sweetheart Kelly Stitzel knows these guys and talked them up so much, I simply had to check them out. This new record, The Night Undoes the Work of the Day, is very good. This one is a loose piano ballad. “Yes, I’ve failed you a thousand times / And been guilty of the coldest crimes / But my pain is not a pantomime / I am so very sorry.” Bloody brilliant.

    Elizabeth Harper, “Low Tide.” Languid tune from (spoiler coming) then next subject of my Popdose “Can’t Say No” column. She reminds me a bit of the Sundays on this song, and I very much miss the Sundays (and, for that matter, Innocence Mission — where have those bands gone?). Harper’s somethng of a chameleon — her latest musical guise is as a blip-blip 80s-style synth-pop diva called Class Actress. Someone to watch out for, definitely.

  • Kristi

    Have a great weekend, Michael! 🙂

    My 5:

    1) Rise – Owsley
    2) We Said Hello Goodbye – Phil Collins
    3) Passing On – The New Frontiers
    4) Lost Children – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
    5) Handshake Drugs – Wilco

  • Rosanne Cash

    ‘Fade Into You’ Mazzy Star
    ‘Jack-Ass’ Beck
    ‘Muddy Water’ Bessie Smith
    ‘Prelude #4 in E Minor’ James Rhodes
    ‘Wear Your Love Like Heaven’ Donovan

  • azecho

    chris bell-i kinda got lost: great power pop gem that would’ve fit great on a big star record (for obvious reasons). wasted talent…

    passion pit-make light: this band already sounds dated. they never made much of an impression on me. flavor of the week, i suppose.

    j rawls-red peppers: nice after-hours instrumental jam w/ jazzy, brazilian vibe.

    can’t stand it-wilco: love the hammond flourishes by jay bennett. summerteeth is a top ten all-time album for me…

    rural alberta advantage-rush about: i love this band and album. they are awesome live too. i expect big things from them…

  • Pete

    How cool is it to have Rosanne Cash join in? Pretty damn cool, that’s how.
    Here’s my random afternoon shuffle…

    “Soylent” – Carbon Silicon
    “Day of the Eagle” – Robin Trower
    “Oh, La” – Ra Ra Riot
    “Don’t Throw Yourself Away” – Jesse Johnson
    “Mama You Sweet” – Lucinda Williams
    “Ties That Bind” (live) – Bruce Springsteen

  • twojams

    Well, sheesh, how’s a girl supposed to follow Rosanne Cash? So cool to see her chime in here! Here are mine:

    “The Late Show” – Jackson Browne. Late for the Sky is such a great, great album. From beginning to end, consistently good songs. This was a go-to hangover album back in the days when I needed such a thing; it was so wonderful to just lay back and soak it up.

    “To Have and Not To Hold” – Madonna. I think Ray of Light is a pretty good album, this isn’t a standout track, though.

    “Ripple” – Grateful Dead. This is the version from Reckoning. This song is one of the musical ties that binds my family (parents and siblings) together. We have actually had singalongs to it – I think one was around a Christmas tree one year. There is video somewhere.

    “Adagio from Symphony #9” – Beethoven, as performed on the Baby Genius Bedtime Beethoven collection. What can I say, I have stuff in my iTunes that I loaded for my kids when they were infants, not so, so long ago.

    “Galvanize” – The Chemical Brothers. Used mainly for workouts and running.

    Happy Friday!

  • Dave Lifton

    No Shoes – John Lee Hooker
    When I Take My Sugar To Tea – Frank Sinatra
    The Knew – Jason Falkner
    Country Home – Uncle Tupelo (live)
    Underground – Ben Folds Five

  • Dogmann

    So YOU’RE the guy that liked The Doobies with MM.

    Hawkwind-Levitation
    Cracker-Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey
    Silos-Cuba
    Tangerine Dream-Force Majure
    Nektar-A Tab In The Ocean

  • Mike

    Sorry. I’m on CP Time.

    1) Hold Back the Night by Sinead O’ Connor (from “Faith & Courage”, 2000)-I could literally listen to this woman sing anything. I used to think she was strangely attractive, too. Unfortunately, aging well was not in her plans. “Faith & Courage” is such a good album, as is that reggae covers thing she did a couple years later.

    2) “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” by England Dan & John Ford Coley (from some damn 70s compilation)-“We could go walking through a windy park”? Who the hell wants to go for a walk through the park when it’s windy? Anything to distract people from the fact that I have this song on my iPod.

    3) “Early in the Morning” by The Gap Band (from “Gap Band IV, 1982)-Charlie Wilson is one of the most imitated singers in R&B history. Hard to believe this is their highest-charting pop song. Me (and lots of other people) would’ve probably said it was “You Dropped a Bomb on Me”.

    4) “Sweet Little Lass” by Dag (from “Righteous”, 1994)-These guys were funky as shit. They should have been so much bigger than they ended up being. Maroon 5 would sound like these guys if they put a little more stank in their music. I can’t help but think that the “L” in the last word of the song title was not originally meant to be there.

    5) “Blow Your Mind” by Jamiroquai (from “Emergency on Planet Earth”, 1993)-Definitely no stank here, but these guys were way more successful than any other band recreating the sound of 1979/1980 funk music would have been in the nineties.

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