Friday Five

The Friday Five: October 7, 2011

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:

Water Runs Dry” by Boyz II Man (from Motown Milestones in Music, 1995)

Oh, Boyz II Men, whatever happened to you? My wife’s statement upon hearing this: “Are you actually going to make this public?” Which she followed closely with, “this is what is wrong with kids today, they don’t any sappy break-up songs to listen to.”

Words” by Umphrey’s McGee (from Saftey in Numbers, 2006)

Jammy goodness from Umphrey’s 2006 effort.

Back to the Earth” by Rusted Root (from When I Woke, 1994)

Okay, the shuffle is just messing with me now. I can’t recall the last time that I heard this record, but the recent inclusion of “Send Me on My Way” in a commercial nabbed my son’s attention, who asked me to add it to his iPod. I’m drawing the line if he asks for a hacky sac.

Lemon Meringue” by Fishbone (from Give a Monkey a Brain…, 1993)

That’s more like it.

So Appalled (feat. Jay-Z, Pusha T, CyHi Da Prynce, Swizz Beatz & The RZA)” by Kanye West (from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, 2009)

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is almost a year old and still gets played once every other week in the Parr household.

What’s on your shuffle today?

11 Comments

  • dslifton

    Damn, mine’s all over the map today.

    “Easy To Love” – Charlie Parker. I don’t like the attempt to put strings behind him, but he had such a way with a tune that you barely notice.

    “Push It” – Salt-N-Pepa. Another “How did this get on here” moment, and further proof that I don’t edit these.

    “My City Of Ruins” – Bruce Springsteen (Giants Stadium, 8-31-03). Unsurprisingly, one of the most emotional moments from one of the best shows on The Rising tour.

    “Next To You” – The Police. Remember when Sting was raw and full of energy? Neither does he.

    “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be” – Duke Ellington. It’s a good thing it’s a beautiful day in Chicago because I’m now in the mood to walk down U Street in DC, eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl, and stare at the Ellington mural on the True reformer building. And I used to have to walk across the Duke Ellington Bridge every day to get to the Metro to go to work.

  • Anonymous

    Growin’ Up-Bruce from Live ’75-’85 “Big Man, help me out!”  Still hard to believe we will never hear those words again.

    Keeping Up With You- Junior Brown from Long Walk Back.  I have a lot of Junior Brown on my iPod.  Sometimes it comes on and I love it. Other times, not so much.  Today was a not so much day.

    Tom Petty – Your’e gonna Change or I’m gonna leave from Timeless-A tribute to Hank Williams.  I remember listening to this collection when it first came out and loving it, but I honestly didn’t remember this being on it.  Very cool.

    Boxmasters-You Crossed The Line.  Billy Bob Thornton’s band.  He is a good actor.  Enough said.

    Beatles-Think for yourself from Revolver.  One of my top 2 Beatles’ albums. 

  • Anonymous

    1.  “Maria Elena” – Ry Cooder – Boomer’s Story   

    2.  “I’m A Man” – Spencer Davis Group – Summer Of Love: Hits of 1967

    3.  “Summertime” – The Sundays – Static & Silence

    4.  “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” – Annie Lennox – Best

    5.  “Brilliant Disguise” – Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel Of Love

  • EightE1

    Setting up a Web site at work, which is requiring me to perform a lot of repetitive, tedious tasks.  I’m combatting the repetition and tedium by treating myself to runs through albums I’ve long loved but haven’t listened to in their entirety in a long while.  The last couple days, I’ve made it through The Beatles’ White Album, the first Foreigner record, Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys, Petty’s Pack Up the Plantation, and Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Good times, indeed.

    Jimi Hendrix, “We Gotta Live Together.” From Band of Gypsys. See above.

    Adele, “He Won’t Do.” Slow burner from a record that I’ve really grown to love.

    Joe Cocker, “Girl from the North Country.” Actually, Cocker and Leon Russell singing Bob Dylan, from the amazing Mad Dogs & Englishmen. Another full album I’ve dug this week.

    Joe Cocker, “Superstar.” Actually, Rita Coolidge singing Leon Russell & Bonnie Bramlett (later to be covered by Karen & Richard Carpenter), still from the amazing Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

    Ryan Adams, “Chains of Love.” From the forthcoming Ashes & Fire, which sounds like his best record in a decade to these ears.

  • Pete

    1. “Coming Up” – Paul McCartney (Live at Glasgow, 1979) – from the special edition of McCartney II, which I didn’t listen to in full until a few months ago. My bad. 

    2. “A Little Bit of Riddim” – Michael Franti & Spearhead (All Rebel Rockers, 2009) – I like Michael, and I like his girlfriend Jolene Rust. Become her friend on Facebook, and be treated to daily eye candy. It’s nice. Real nice.

    3. “Jupiter” – Nels Cline & Gregg Bendian (Insterstellar Space Revisited – The Music of John Coltrane, 2005) – an avant-garde / experimental take on Coltrane’s ‘Interstellar Space’ album. Not the kind of music I could play around friends or family – but sometimes I like to crawl into the Nels Cline wormhole and be confused, thrilled, and/or frightened.

    4. “Three Little Birds” – Bob Marley & the Wailers (Legend – Deluxe Edition, 2002) – Reggae 101, I know, but I’ll always love this song.

    5. “London You’re A Lady” – The Pogues (Peace & Love, 1989) – Is there anything better on a Friday than the Pogues? I think not. 

    Happy long weekend!

  • Mike Duquette

    1. The Clash, “Protex Blue”: heh heh condoms heh heh. From the U.K. version of The Clash’s first album. Shocked that both U.K. and U.S. versions are readily available on CD, and not combined on one disc. Actually, now that I type that, no I’m not.

    2. Sade, “Bullet Proof Soul”: no, iTunes, how YOU doing.

    3. The Police, “Message in a Bottle”: oh, hell yes.

    4. Weezer, “Pink Triangle (Live on Y-100 FM, Philadelphia)”: an acoustic take that’s definitely a recording straight off the radio, yet released on the deluxe edition of Pinkerton. Not as egregious as the cassette demos on the recent deluxe edition of Nevermind, but we need to stop using cassette dubs.

    5. George Michael, “I Want Your Sex (Part 1)”: guys, my iTunes is coming on really strong.

  • Dennis Corrigan

    A fine fall evening gets underway with a pumpkin ale & my Friday Five

    1. “Daniel and the Sacred Harp (Alternate Take)” by the Band from A Musical History. A rollicking acoustic kickoff
    2. “Debris” by the Faces, originally from A Nod is as Good as a Wink … To A Blind Horse”.  My love of this band has been pointed out many times.  This Ronnie Lane penned track is a particularly fave, with Rod supplying harmonies.
    3. “Spirit of America” by the Beach Boys from Little Deuce Coupe.  Some nice Brian falsetto but filler’s filler
    4. “One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21” by the Flaming Lips from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.  I think this was one of the first albums I bought on iTunes
    5.  “Look on Yonder Wall” by Elmore James from The Sky is Crying – The History of Elmore James.  Thankfully Elmore redeems a five that went a little south. Interesting track as it’s more harmonica driven (by Sam Myers of later Anson & the Rockets fame) than Elmore’s slide

    Hope you hear something good this weekend!

  • Anonymous

    1) Anita Baker – “It’s Been You” (Rhythm Of Love, 1994). Probably one of the more pedestrian tracks on an otherwise solid album but Anita’s vocals convince you of the gradual realization of a love that’s been there all along.
    2) Cee Lo Green – “I Want You” (The Lady Killer, 2010). Nice follow-up with booming vocals from an unswerving champion of old-school R&B.
    3) Buddy Guy – “Cities Need Help” (Slippin’ In, 1991). A sharply etched guitar intro, understated organ scrolls kick in, a pleading, whispering falsetto vocal comes into the picture. Guy’s vocals grow cagier as he delves into urban blight and then lets his guitar do the talking with fiery fretwork that soars and escalates in intensity.
    4) D’Angelo – “Cruisin'” (Brown Sugar, 1995). Sublime cover of the old Smokey Robinson tune.
    5) Sting – “Be Still My Beating Heart” (Nothing Like The Sun, 1987). Not a bad tune but the brooding semi-detachment here just seems to throw a wet blanket on the tunes that came before.  

  • Mike

    It’s still Friday somewhere, right?

    01-“Never Letting Go” by Phoebe Snow-What a great voice. Haven’t delved too deeply into her catalog, but what I’ve heard is very pretty.

    02-“When It Started” by The Strokes-You know it’s late when I get through 30 seconds of this song and have to check my iTunes to make sure I’m not listening to a previously unheard Vampire Weekend song.

    03-“In the Midst of Revolution” by The Family Stand-These guys never had a pop hit, but they made tons of money producing for the likes of Daryl Hall and Paula Abdul. On their own, they were a bit more avant-garde. This is basically a minute and 45 second long guitar solo.

    04-“Pad & Pen” by A Tribe Called Quest-Tolerable late period Tribe. “Beats, Rhymes & Life” out on DVD soon!

    05-“Lebanese Blonde” by Thievery Corporation-Nice blood pressure lowerer. Good music to space out too. And one reason why the “Garden State” soundtrack is pretty much perfect.

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