The Friday Five: June 17, 2011
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:
“Last Chance” by Maroon 5 (from Hands All Over, 2010)
I was severely underwhelmed by this record. Given its pedigree, you would expect more, but I found myself pondering that age-old question: “where’s the beef?”
“Severed Hand” by Pearl Jam (from Pearl Jam, 2006)
I listened to this record earlier this week and was reminded just how much I dig it.
“Welcome to the Club” by The Brothers Johnson (from Blast!, 1982)
Get down with the git down!
“Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F’ Wit” by Wu-Tang Clan (from Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, 1993)
Form like Voltron!
“The Marrying Kind” by Prince (from Musicology, 2004)
This one is incomplete with out it’s funkier sister “If Eye Was the Man in Ur Life.” As a matter of face, I’m switching off the shuffle now.
What’s on your shuffle today?
10 Comments
Anonymous
1. “Only The Lonely” – Chris Isaak – Baja Sessions
2. “South of I-10” – Sonny Landreth – Big Ol’ Box of New Orleans, Disc 4
3. “Beast of Burden” – The Rolling Stones – Best of The Rolling Stones, 1971-1993
4. “Big Red Sun Blues” – Lucinda Williams – Lucinda Williams
5. “Let It Be Me” – Ray LaMontagne – Gossip In The Grain
dslifton
“I’m The Man” – Joe Jackson. Damn right, I am.
“Young Man Blues” – Still sufferin’, even though I’m old.
“Big Tears” – Elvis Costello (12-5-77) – One of his best B-sides.
“Surfin’ Safari” – The Beach Boys. Summertime and the livin’s easy.
“Valentine” – Nils Lofgren. Thought I might escape this week without any Bruce for once, but he sings backup here.
Jeanne Marie
Hot In The City – Billy Idol
I Know What I’m Looking For Now – Tift Merritt
Stick With Me Baby – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Keep The Car Running – Arcade Fire
One Step Up – Bruce Springsteen
David_E
1. “Reelin’ In The Years” – Marvelous 3. Sneer meets sneer in awesome cover tune.
2. “Merry Go Round” – The Replacements. This song makes me so wistful …
3. “Man In A Uniform” – Prince. Eh. Not one of his finer moments.
4. “In A Funny Way” – Mercury Rev. Swirly whirly dreamy whispery noodling.
5. “The Meaning” – Supertramp. You don’t hear enough clarinet in rock anymore. 🙂
kathy7
1. Keep Your Mind Wide Open-AnnaSophia Robb, From Bridge to Terabithia (Dang kids)
2. It Ends Tonight- The All-American Rejects
3. White Lies- Paolo Nutini
4. One Word (Peace)-The Subdudes
5. Draw the Line-Aerosmith
My poor iTunes Library has been sorely neglected for awhile now. We got a new computer last Christmas and I still haven’t transferred everything. I don’t listen to music from it all that much, but this is a fun thing to do.
Anonymous
1. “Thank Me Someday” – Buddy Guy. Ferocious fretwork from the blues legend in his mid-70s on this track from his latest album Living Proof. Inspiring.
2. “The Eyes Have It” – Geri Allen. This is from the jazz pianist’s late ’90s release Eyes In The Back Of Your Head. Allen starts off playing the pensive undercurrent to Ornette Coleman’s alto sax but shifts into scurrying vamps that prod Coleman to more elastic explorations. Great duo piece.
3. “Napoleon” — Ani DiFranco. One of my favorites from her live Living In Clip album. Anyone who works in a corporate setting can identify with the line “Everyone is a f-ing Napoleon.” Yet beneath this rousing track’s sneering contempt is a sweetness and concern. Hell, the song almost turns into a sing-a-long at the end.
4. “Purple Rain” — Prince. This song still has a palpable emotional currency that endures almost 30 years after it was written. Damn, I feel old.
5. “Machine Gun” — Jimi Hendrix. Along with compatriots Buddy Miles on drums and Billy Cox on bass, Hendrix delivers a powerful anti-war statement, filled with Miles’ rapid-fire staccato rhythms, a mournful backing vocal hymn and frenetic axework capped off by distorted anthem shards at the end. Stunning piece from the Live At The Fillmore East album.
de10ero
John Eddie-Frank Sinatra Said
That’s life, shooby-dooby-dooby
The Beatles-One After 909
A Fab return to their rocking roots
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band-The Little Things (My Baby Does)
God speed the Big Man’s recovery
M Ward-Rave On
Cool reworking of the B Holly rave-up
James Hunter-Mollena
Somewhere up there Sam Cooke is smiling
Blerd
Happy Friday everyone. Here’s my five:
1) “You
Just Don’t Know” by Phyllis Hyman- One of the great voices of soul music. Hell,
of music in general. She definitely helped pave the way for the Anita Bakers of
the world. One of the greatest at conveying the emotion behind a lyric, on par
with Luther in that respect. The emotion here: longing. Of course, many of her
songs pack an additional emotional punch in light of her suicide.
2) “She’s
So High” by Blur- The Gallaghers won the battle, Damon Albarn won the war. I
swear I’ve heard the main riff in this song somewhere before. And there’s a
mid-section that’s almost an exact replica of the mid-section of “What’s the
Frequency, Kenneth” by R.E.M. That riff is gonna be kicking around my head all
day. And now thanks to the title, I have that horrible Tal Bachman song in my
head. AND Duncan Sheik’s “On a High”-since they’re practically the same song
(except for the fact that Duncan
is awesome.)
3) “Lie
To Me” by Ne-Yo- “Year of the Gentleman” was a better soul/pop album than
anything Justin Timberlake, Usher or Chris Brown could come up with in their
wildest dreams. From a melodic and songwriting standpoint, I’d say Ne-Yo is
probably the truest heir to Michael Jackson in existence.
4) “Ruby
Dear” by Talking Heads- Their stuff post-“Speaking in Tongues” doesn’t really
hit me. I mean, it’s pleasant and all, but doesn’t stick to the ribs the way
their earlier stuff does. I might actually wind up unchecking this song.
5) “Codeine”
by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit- Excellent songwriter, great Twitterer,
kick-ass live performer (I saw him-and the rest of the band, of course) play
about a month and a half ago and also got to shake his hand as he walked
through the crowd. “Here We Rest” is a pretty solid album.
Shannon J
“Indefinitely” – Old 97’s, from Fight Songs
“My Thang” – James Brown, from the 40th Anniversary Collection
“Central Two-o-Nine” – Robert Plant/Band of Joy
“Old Shoes (and Picture Postcards)” – Tom Waits, from Closing Time
“Love You To” – The Beatles, from Revolver.
Charlie
(She) Got Me Bad – Hall& Oates from Do It For Love (2003)
River – Jackopierce from Finest Hour (1996)
Smokin’- Boston from Boston (1976)
If – Jane Monheit from Come Dream With Me (2001)
Kill The Headlights – Nicole Atkins from Neptune City (2007)