The Friday Five: August 12, 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:
“After the Love Has Gone” by Earth, Wind & Fire (from The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire, 2002)
My favorite example of The David Foster Key Change™. Truthfully, while this may be quiet storm pap at its sappiest, its still one of my favorites.
“Pop-Eye Stroll” by The Mar-Keys (from The Complete Stax-Volt Singles: 1959-1968, 1991)
The Complete Stax-Volt Singles is probably the most intimidating box set in my library. A staggering collection of classic funk and soul, the box is a basically the encyclopedia of great music.
“All Hell’s Breaking Loose” by KISS (from Box Set, 2001)
I never really cared for Lick It Up era KISS.
“Two Weeks” by Grizzly Bear (from Veckatimest, 2009)
I still don’t know how to pronounce the title of this record, but I love it.
“Feel So Good” by Mase (from Bad Boy’s 10th Anniversary… The Hits, 2004)
Today’s Friday Five is sort of akin to MXC’s “Sinkers and Floaters.” This right here is what they call a sinker.
What’s on your shuffle today?
11 Comments
Anonymous
1. “Midnight In Harlem” – Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator (Bought this new album off of iTunes for specifically for the studio version of this song. VERY nice!)
2. “Love And Happiness” – Al Green – I’m Still In Love With You
3. “Born In Time” – Eric Clapton – Pilgrim (I would love for Mr. Clapton to release an entire album of Bob Dylan cover songs!)
4. “Sky Blue And Black” – Jackson Browne – The Next Voice You Hear
5. “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” – Jimmy Cliff – Young, Gifted And Black, #1
Michael Parr
“Midnight in Harlem” is hands down my favorite track off that record.
Anonymous
Michael, check out this YouTube video of the song from the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival. The Tedeschi Trucks Band is great and Susan is mighty fine in a little blue dress! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7czlanjaObs
Phil
Rough Cutt – “Black Widow” (Rough Cutt, 1985)
Slow-ish, ballad-y, over-reverb-y fare from one of the second-tier revolving-door-roster L.A. metal bands (Ozzy guitarist Jake E. Lee being one of a few notable big-name players). This particular band had the advantage of having Ronnie James Dio’s wife Wendy as a manager, thus garnering quite a bit of attention and direction from the man himself, but even that (and soulful vocalist Paul Shortino) couldn’t save Rough Cutt from a life of relative obscurity outside the Sunset Strip scene. Overall, this eponymous debut album was quite good at the time, but unfortunately it hasn’t aged as well as others from the same era.
The Damnwells – “God Bless America” (Air Stereo, 2006)
My introduction to The Damnwells was “I Am A Leaver,” a much better track from this same album. This track could have been made much better by removing the unnecessary drum noise opening and the incessant sizzling cymbal that plays through to the second verse. Then there’s the whole middle part that makes absolutely no sense in the context of the song and the noisy feedback-laden outro that fades into a completely different musical theme. Probably not the strongest song to have ended the album on. But then again, band leader Alex Dezen has never been one to follow convention.
Megadeth – “Good Mourning/Black Friday” (Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?, 1986)
This song opens with the sweet arpeggiated “Good Mourning” instrumental before taking a more sinister direction into the sneering and snarling we have come to expect from Mustaine. The song changes tempo several times, gaining speed with each change, before finally heading off the tracks amid the chants of “Black Friday.” Good stuff.
At The Drive-In – “Ursa Minor” (Vaya, 1999)
I have basically given up trying to describe At The Drive-In to other folks. If you haven’t heard them before, you really need to take a listen and make up your own mind about them. This one comes from the 7-track EP released less than a year before the band’s swan song Relationship of Command, which in my opinion should be mandatory listening. Vaya represents a more put-together and polished version of a band that essentially started life alot closer to its hardcore origins than it ended up, and one that will always be an example where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Jim Ward with Sparta, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López with The Mars Volta).
King’s X – “67” (Ear Candy, 1996)
Low, rumbling, groovy ode to channel surfing. I love guitarist Ty Tabor’s super-saturated distortion on this track, and like everything off Ear Candy, “67” contains lots of instrumental and vocal embellishments that you usually only pick up on when wearing headphones.
dslifton
“A Little Mascara” – The Replacements. Alternate take of one of Tim’s best tracks.
“Rock-A-Hula Baby” – Elvis Presley. Silly song from Blue Hawaii, which has my favorite line of dialogue in an Elvis movie, “Do you think you can satisfy a schoolteacher and four teenage girls?” The look on his face says, “I already have.”
“Tell The World” – Vivian Girls. Here’s an idea, let’s drown everything in reverb to cover up the fact that we can’t sing or play and we’ll claim to be a post-modern take on a girl group! Scheduled to be deleted on my next sync.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” – Aretha Franklin. That’s more like it. Saw her sing this in 2005 and wept like a baby.
“Here Lies Carl Mays” – The Baseball Project. Sad tale about the pitcher who famously killed Ray Chapman with a beanball in 1920.
Anonymous
1. Everclear — “I Will Buy You A New Life” (So Much For The Afterglow, 1997). An infectious pop-rock blast from Art Alexakis and company.
2. Cassandra Wilson — “Strange Fruit” (New Moon Daughter, 1995). Backed by spartan guitar plucks and sorrowful trumpet wails, Wilson brings austere, chilling vocals to the Billie Holiday classic.
3. Bob Dylan — “Tweedle Dee And Tweedle Dum” (Love & Theft, 2001). Dylan’s world weary seer surveys some shady characters over a brisk, percolating track infused with a spirited rockabilly sensibility on guitar.
4. D’Angelo — “Lady” (Brown Sugar, 1995). Perhaps a bit redundant toward the end but nonetheless, a platter steeped high in earnest R&B goodness. D, it’s been 11 years since Voodoo. Just sayin’ …
5. Beth Orton — “Thinking About Tomorrow” (Daybreaker, 2002). I think this is a truly underrated album. The musical vibe on this ebbs and flows perfectly with Orton’s lyics. She starts out ruminating about “habits so hard to break and so easy to make” and eventually finds a place of quiet contentment.
Michael Parr
I still feel a little dirty for actually liking Everclear before they became a parody of themselves.
Anonymous
“Disco Clone (Remix)” by Cristina from Disco Clone 12″ Single (1979). I love Cristina so much and this track never gets old. Kevin Kline’s speeches are the best.
“Buddy Holly” by Weezer from Weezer (1994). And suddenly it’s the summer between sophomore and junior year of high school and I’m tooling around in my newly inherited car with my newly acquired drivers’ license.
“Dolphin Song” by Tori Amos from A Piano (2006). This is one of the unreleased songs from the From the Choirgirl Hotel sessions. It’s so bad it makes me laugh.”Smoooooo like Dolphin.” Oh, Tor.
“On My Back” by Some Girls from Some Girls (2003). I love this record and this is probably my favorite track. “On my back I can become one with the couch I’m living on” is such a great line.
“Bum Leg” by Cake Like from Delicious (1994). Do you know Cake Like? They were Kerri Kenney’s all-girl punk band. They were awesome and this track rules. When I was recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery last winter, I would sing this daily.
Pete
Be gone work week, be GONE I say!!
1. Kansas – “Dust In The Wind” / “All we are.. is dust in the wind dude…”
2. Roots Manuva – “Buff Nuff” (Cadence Weapon Tuff Mix)
3. Lotus – “Turquoise”
4.George Clinton – “It’s All In The Game” (feat. Belita Woods)
5. Nils Lofgren – “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” – Magic!
Dennis Corrigan
Let’s see if I can throw out a Friday Five that’s better than the mess CC’s throwing out there tonight:
1. “American Pie” by Don McClean from American Pie. I think is one of the first songs I can remember playing on the radio from when I was a kid.
2. “Phonograph Blues” by Robert Johnson from The Complete Recordings
3. “When Doves Cry” by Patti Smith from Land
4. “The Rain Song” by Led Zeppelin from Houses of the Holy
5. “Roll It Over” by Derek & the Dominos from the Crossroads box set. George Harrison sits in on this. If I listen to Layla, I will almost always put All Things Must Pass on next or vice versa
Well, at least it ate up some innings. Hope you hear something great this weekend!
Mike
“Time & Love” by Laura Nyro
“Too Late for Love” by Def Leppard
“Monte Hall” by 3rd Bass
“Long Race” by Bruce Hornsby & The Range
“Never Forget You” by The Noisettes