The Friday Five: July 29, 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:
A quick Friday Five for all you patient girls and boys. It’s also the first Friday Five shuffled up from Spotify!
“Cold Day in the Sun” by Foo Fighters (from Skin and Bones, 2006)
“Tame” by Pixies (from Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies, 2004 )
“You Left a Long, Long Time Ago” by Willie Nelson (from One Hell of a Ride, 2008)
“Down incognito” by Winger (from The Very Best of Winger, 2001)
“Not the Red Baron” by Tori Amos (from Boys for Pele, 1996)
What’s on your shuffle today?
13 Comments
EightE1
We start spooky, get punky and rocky, and end with Smokey.
Tim Buckley, “Song Slowly Song”
Sham 69, “Borstal Breakout”
Van Halen, “Little Guitars”
The Damned, “New Rose”
Smokey Robinson, “Happy (Love Theme from ‘Lady Sings the Blues’)”
BillC
Brand New Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat-Dylan from some bootleg. Cool version of a cool song.
Hitchhiker-Neil Young from Le Noise. And that is what it is. Noise.
Sgt. Pepper/The End-Mac from a show from the 2010 tour. Not sure which one, but does it matter?
White Girl-X from Unplugged. Love X, love this song, love this album.
House is Rockin-Brian Setzer Orchestra Guitar Slinger. If this doesn’t wake me up, nothing will.
Chris Holmes
1. Kiss, “Love Her All I Can” (from Dressed to Kill) – I have always been a big fan of Kiss’s 3rd album, even with that power pop sheen applied by Neil Bogart. The best songs on it, like this one, just pop from the speakers.
2. The Amsterdams, “Apple” (from Adolessons) – I stumbled upon the Amsterdams as a last.fm recommendation. They’re decent enough I guess.
3. Warrant, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (from Cherry Pie) – See, I happen to think this is pretty good for an average hair metal act. The last stand of hair metal, as it turns out.
4. Soundgarden, “Mind Riot” (from Badmotorfinger) – My favorite cut from Badmotorfinger, hands down. LOVE the sinister feel on the chorus, and this is Chris Cornell at his peak. This album came out the year after Cherry Pie, which goes a long way toward explaining why things went down the way they did in the metal world.
5. Kaiser Chiefs, “Try Your Best” (from Yours Truly, Angry Mob) – Well look who’s been listening to their old Duran Duran records!
Michael Parr
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is a really good tune. It popped up when I was shuffling though my library a few weeks back and I actually hit the repeat and listened to it twice.
Anonymous
1. “I’d Love To Change The World” – Alvin Lee & Ten Years After – Super Hits of the 70s
2. “Gone Fishing” – Chris Rea – Auberge
3. “I Will” – Alison Krauss – Now That I’ve Found You
4. “Fountain of Sorrow” – Jackson Browne – Late For The Sky
5. “Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)” – The Contours – 20th Century Masters:Millenium Collection
Phil
Pink Floyd – “Sheep” (Animals, 1977) – Not my favorite cut, but I love the album as a whole. I never really appreciated the genius of it until I listened to it while deeply engrossed in some code I was writing. Definitely a soundtrack for programming. And if you dig this kind of Floyd, you absolutely must check out Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade – Live Frogs: Set 2 — a live cover of the entire album from the Primus frontman. Almost better than the original!
Def Leppard – “Little Wing” (Adrenalize (Deluxe Edition), 1992) – I don’t like this cover as much as others I’ve heard, but at least the flute(?) solo sets it apart a bit. What can I say? It’s “Little Wing.”
Red Rider – “Lunatic Fringe” (Over 60 Minutes with Red Rider, 1998) – Absolutely love this song — the spacey-ness, the agressiveness, Cochrane’s voice. Brings back good 80’s memories. “Lunatic Fringe, I know you’re out there.”
Rush – “The Weapon” (Signals, 1982) – Signals is one of my favorite Rush albums of all time, but this may well be the weakest track of the set. But then again, a weak Rush song is how many times better than some artists’ best work?! Just sayin’.
Andrew Peterson – “Mountains on the Ocean Floor” (The Far Country, 2005) – What are the chances of Peterson popping up on shuffle a second time in as many Friday Fives for me?! I really like his voice, but there’s not really that much I can say about this that I didn’t say last time.
Dennis Corrigan
Got a chance to meet up with the proprietors of this fine site last night and we ended it at Dylan’s Candy Bar. The background music featured any song it could find that had “candy”, “sugar”, etc. in it’s title (including “Brown Sugar” which seemed just a tad over the top in a store packed with kids). Anyway, inspired by that sugar high and with a nod to some prior themed Friday Five’s, I put together a smart playlist with song titles containing “sugar”, “candy”, “sweet” or “honey”. Of the 164 songs in the playlist, here’s the Friday Five:
1. “Sweet Lady Mary” by the Faces from Long Player. My love for the Faces knows no bounds, and this is one of my faves
2. “Sweet and Tender Hooligan” by the Smiths from Sound of the Smiths.
3. “Take the Bitter With the Sweet” by Muddy Waters from the Chess Box. Features some, uh, colorful studio banter during the first minute or so of the take.
4. “The Long Honeymoon” by Elvis Costello from the Costello & Nieve live box set. I’m not the biggest Elvis Costello fan, but I think he does some interesting things on tour, like this one with just him and his long-time keyboard sidekick.
5. “Sweet Home Chicago” by Magic Sam from West Side Soul. This could be my most favorite blues record
Hope you hear something equally sweet this weekend!
Michael Parr
Awesome Friday Five!
Michael Parr
Awesome Friday Five!
David_E
1. “Call Back” – Truth & Salvage Co. Thanks to Ken Shane for this one. Also, thanks to the ’70s.
2. “Through All That Nothing” – Del Amitri. Justin Currie waxing melancholic. Surprise.
3. “Woodgrain” – Wilco. Under 2:00 of Jeff Tweedy demo-ing something.
4. “Trampoline” – Greenberry Woods. Not a favorite, but somehow my bands always end up sounding a lot like this.
5. “True” – The Black Eyed Peas. YES! Ending with a spectacular flame-out as the Peas do an unnecessary Spandau Ballet cover on a Adam Sandler soundtrack! (That is the sound … of my soul … dying.)
Anonymous
1) Joe Lovano – “Miss Etna” (Tenor Legacy). Lovano pairs off with Joshua Redman for this spirited uptempo blast of dueling tenor saxmen.
2) “Someday” – Shawn Colvin (Cover Girl). Colvin offers a fine rendition of the classic Steve Earle track about small town claustrophobia.
3) “Who Is He And What Is He To You” – Meshell Ndegeocello (Peace Beyond Passion). The covers continue as Meshell serves up a lean, sultry take of the Bill Withers tune with dollops of streaky organ thrown in for good measure.
4) “No Moon At All” – Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden (Jasmine). An engaging laid-back stroll from two of jazz’s most nuanced practitioners.
5) “Walk On (Live)” – U2 (America: A Tribute To Heroes). An impassioned, uplifting anthem that connects on every note. It’s hard to believe that in a month and change, a decade will have passed since 9/11.
dslifton
“Black Books” – Nils Lofgren (Asbury Park, 12-4-01). From one of Bruce’s holiday shows. If I don’t get a Bruce song for the third Friday Five in a row, this is otherwise pretty damn close.
“Ram On (Reprise)” – Themeweavers, LLC. From WFMU’s Tom Scharpling’s tribute to McCartney’s Ram album, featuring Aimee Mann, Death Cab, and Ted Leo.
“Going Back to Harlan” – Emmylou Harris. From Wrecking Ball, the album where I finally realized how incredible Emmylou is.
“No Expectations” – The Rolling Stones. I think this was the last song Brian Jones recorded as a member of the Stones.
“Ultimate Sacrifice” – Ben Folds Five. A seemingly off-the-cuff song written in concert and released on Naked Baby Photos.
Anonymous
“The Book of Right-On” by Joanna Newsom from The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004). I have a love-hate relationship with Ms. Newsom — I can’t decide whether I love her or hate her.
“Becoming” by The Brilliant Mistakes from Distant Drumming (2008). I highly recommend you check these guys out because they’re awesome. One of the guys in the band is the editor of the ASCAP magazine and the friend I was staying when I was in NYC last summer works with him. The first night of my vacation, we went to see them play at this awesome piano bar in the East Village and I thought they were fantastic. After the show, we all went bar hopping around the Village, which wound up being maybe the best first night of a vacation I’ve ever had. A copy of this album was my parting gift when I visited the ASCAP office my last day in town. I miss NYC.
“Fat Man & Dancing Girl” by Suzanne Vega from 99.9F (1992). I love this album so much. It’s probably my second favorite of hers, after Nine Objects of Desire.
“Right In Time” by Lucinda Williams from Car Wheels On a Gravel Road (1998). I bought this album when it was released after the guy who owned my favorite record store at the time handed it to me and said, “Buy this. If you’re not obsesssed with it in two days, I’ll pay you $100.” I never got that $100.
“Turn It On” by Lindsey Buckingham from Out of the Cradle (1992). So, apparently the upcoming new Lindsey record is supposed to have more of an Out of the Cradle sound. I am so excited about this, I can barely stand it.